They sat in silence, she and Yensin. Only sound to be heard was the crackling of a small fire that Yensin had made a few minutes prior. Otherwise they said nothing.
Deep inside the pits of their stomachs, the aches of eagerness kept them down. They were expecting someone to burst through the thick metal door, dragging someone behind them. Their captor had told them to anticipate the event for they would both be a part of it and be active participants in the literal and figurative dissecting of whomever they were bringing in.
Yensin had shot off immediately with ideas of who it could be: someone from the UN, the President of the United States, a House member or Congress member from the U.S., the leader of a rivaling terrorist group. The list continued, with names of people she had never heard of before—big important people.
When the time came, their minds had suddenly cleaned themselves of those names, taking new guesses as to who it could be. Yensin expected it to be a U.S. official, while she was beginning to hope it was all a hoax and they weren't actually bringing anyone.
The bustling of footsteps outside the door and the loud voices reverberated throughout the caves and the two scientist "Doctors" cringed, gazing up at the door expectantly. Her brows sloped downward in worry as Yensin stood up. The sound of the lock made her stop breathing for a moment.
More yelling progressed and finally the door was shoved open. A group of men carried in a limp body, bloodied and tattered. A few of the men yelled at her, causing her to jump out of her seat and over by Yensin. They set the body down on the seats and she could barely make out the left over rags of a suit.
The men began speaking wildly in the language she didn't understand. Neither her, nor Yensin, made a move to look at each other. One of the men turned around and snapped his meaty fingers at Yensin, calling him over. Hesitantly he obeyed and the man whispered in his ear. The two of them nodded and a couple of the men left, while the rest began covering their mouths with cloth and setting up Yensin's equipment.
Eyes wide and alert, she stepped forward to Yensin and muttered, "What's going on?"
"This man has been critically injured…we must fix him." Yensin whispered.
Without wavering, her eyes fell on the form. She gasped at the bloody heap, his face stained brown with dirt and blood, his dark brown hair light with dust and rubble. There was a large gash in his chest. The face wasn't recognizable, even if it had been cleaned up, but the facial hair certainly was unique.
"He has shrapnel in his heart. We cannot remove it safely, so we are simply finding a way to keep it at bay." He muttered again, wiping off his hands with a rag.
"You're operating on him? You aren't a doctor—you're a physicist! An engineer!" she hissed, looking down at the poor soul again.
"I have to help," he sighed, looking at the man sadly.
The group of terrorists gathered around the man after Yensin ordered them to retrieve certain items, one being a car battery. Anxiously, she bit her lip as Yensin held up a knife to the dim lamp. Her brows furrowed and she stepped forward.
"Yensin, aren't you going to give him anesthetic?" she asked, her eyes darting between the men and the body.
His gaze read that he found her question stupid and then proceeded to lower the knife to the body's chest, "You may want to cover your ears."
Unconsciously, she stepped away in horror as the knife dug into the mans skin and his eyes half opened. A yelp escaped his lips and his eyes glazed over multiple times, like he was struggling to keep consciousness. He kept yelping until finally his chest was open. She wanted to throw up, to make sick all over the floor, but her body just wouldn't let her. Only dry air heaved out of her sore throat, her body doubling over one of the extra chairs. The men enclosed around the form as the man began yelling and screaming in pain, some of the terrorists threatening him in their language and preparing to harm him as Yensin worked on him.
The sound of his horrid screams shook her body to the core and she slapped her hands over her ears to stop it all. Although muffled, they were still present. Tears formed in her eyes and dripped down her cheeks, forming canyons in the dust caked on her pink face. She clenched her teeth closed so she wouldn't cry out loud, but her lip quivered menacingly.
After a lifetime, Yensin finished and stood, covered in blood. The other men wrapped the body up in cloths and all rose to leave the room immediately, laughing with one another. She shook her head profusely, her hands trapping the screams in her head. Surely this man must be dead.
Yensin found his way over to her and touched her shoulder with his bloody hand, "Calm down, girl."
He tried to say it sweetly, but she found no comfort.
"I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go home."
"Do not worry, he is safe now. He is alive. We will not be here much longer." He said, his attempt to comfort lacking in luster.
Her long, scruffy brown hair whipped around her face as she shook her head and she looked at him with pink puffy eyes, "We'll be here forever…until we die."
Broken and beaten, she fell against his knees and cried. His bloody hand patted her shoulder.
…
Again, the two of them sat around the fire, staring at it numbly. It had been a week since Yensin had operated on the man. He was alive, but hadn't wakened and she thought he wasn't going to make it another day.
Kicking a pebble across the dirt, she saw from the corner of her eye, movement from the makeshift bed. Furrowing her brows, she carefully peered at the body.
A shallow breath sucked a gallon of oxygen out of the atmosphere, the chest of the body filling, heaving out harsh breaths. He was awake. Yensin made no attempt to stand, but she couldn't help but jump from her seat. Rushing to his side, she stepped around the end of the makeshift bed and sat beside him, looking down at his fearful chocolate eyes. They darted around until they landed on her, staring at her like a crazy man.
All she could do without startling him was smile, "You're awake. Welcome."
Steam rose from his crusted lips and he carefully swallowed down a burning wad of bile. His eyes left her only for a moment, "What's…going…on…"
She smiled again, "Shhh…rest for a moment first."
"I feel…like I've…been…resting enough…"
She chuckled, "Then use your energy to introduce yourself. I'm Joni Accion. They call me Scotty."
His eyes narrowed and his body shivered, "Tony…Stark…"
"Dr. Robert Bruce Banner…born to atomic physicist Dr. Brian Banner and his wife Rebecca," Scotty read aloud to herself through gritted teeth. Besides the pilot and co-pilot, she was the only one on that specific plane.
She cringed at the next line, moaning to herself, "Oh…'his father was an alcoholic'…'and murdered Rebecca out of rage'—oh goodness."
"We're just over the Mediterranean, Agent Accion." The co-pilot called.
"Thank you." She said half-heartedly, not really paying attention.
She flipped through the files, running her fingers across the multiple pictures they had of Bruce and his alter ego, The Hulk. The Hulk was monstrous, and almost every picture of him was that of rage and destruction. Bruce Banner, on the other hand, appeared nervous and calm, even uncomfortable in some instances. The file stated that despite the abuse, he turned into a rather meek nuclear physicist. Retrieving him would be nicer than getting Tony.
Crinkling her nose, she thought of a synonym for retrieving. None of the heroes could be considered dogs.
A beeping from her pocket distracted her just as she got to the page about the G-bomb he was testing. She awkwardly dug for the beeping and pulled out her communicator. Flipping the top up, Agent Coulson's face appeared, surrounded by a black marble backdrop.
"Agent Accion, how is the trip going?" he asked pleasantly.
"Rather well, actually. Making good time…just passed over the Mediterranean," she shrugged with a slight smirk. The communicator beeped again.
"I've sent you more information about the…power source that was taken. Fury wasn't very helpful in informing you," he said immediately. She pressed the flashing light and the image of the Tesseract appeared, along with a picture of Loki.
Silently, she read to herself. Everything about the Tesseract she knew, but she didn't know that Loki planned on ruling the world with it.
"So this God wants to enslave us…" she muttered.
"With the power source it shouldn't be too hard for him," Coulson said bluntly. Scotty smirked and shook her head.
"Well he's got us to deal with," she said proudly, closing the picture. He nodded and flinched when familiar fingers clutched his shoulder.
His face was slightly pushed out of the way to reveal Peppers, "Scotty?"
"Pep?" she yelped, covering her mouth after the outburst. The pilot and co-pilot didn't even budge. Expressing embarrassment, she smiled down at the communicator, "Oh my God Pep! How are you?"
"Hi honey! Look at you, you look so beautiful!" Pepper winced emotionally, touching her own cheek gently.
"Me? Have you seen yourself? You look gorgeous! You're glowing!"
The pilot gazed over his shoulder and Scotty tried not to glare.
"Really? I've been using this cream that's supposed to stop wrinkles before they can form and—"
"Ladies, please. I'm here to talk about business." Coulson said off screen. Pepper snickered and covered her mouth.
"Oops! Sorry Phil. I miss you Scotty." Pepper cooed before handing the device back to Coulson.
"Phil?" Scotty asked, quirking a brow.
"It's no problem Ms. Potts."
"I thought your name was Agent."
"As you can see, I've just departed from a meeting with Mr. Stark," Coulson said, pressing his lips together indefinitely.
Melancholy, Scotty twisted her mouth, "How did it go? Was he up to it?"
Coulson dead panned, but kept his eyebrows high and positive, "Not directly."
"Weird," she commented, "He kind of likes the direct approach."
"But, with Ms. Potts' help, I think he might change his mind." Coulson smirked devilishly. Pepper stuck her face next to Coulson's and smiled.
"He's doing his homework right about now."
Scotty laughed quietly and looked down at her lap, "Good. It's a great opportunity. I think I turned out all right."
Her eyes stayed in her lap, remembering the day she left. She had wanted so badly to leave, but the feeling of Tony begging her to stay would've been a nicely added touch. But her words had angered him and she left as a hated acquaintance. He had no affiliation with her anymore as far as they both were concerned. They weren't in contact and Scotty only heard about his recent work from the news.
The view on the screen shifted, and only Pepper's face was staring at her, her lips twisted in caution, "He does miss you."
The sentence amused her greatly, "Pep, as much as I trust your valued opinion, I don't find any ounce of truth in it."
"We're approaching the India-Pakistani border." The co-pilot called.
"It is true. I had him write a letter about it. It helps him express his feelings." Pepper nodded professionally.
Cautiously, she looked up at her best friend, "And it said…?"
"…He never gave it to me."
"Damn it Pep."
"May I have the communicator, Ms. Potts? This is our floor." Coulson coughed. A distant ding sounded through the communicator and an ominous light flooded their faces with gray. Pepper waved sheepishly.
"We'll have lunch sometime." She whispered.
"Love you, Pep." Scotty smirked. Pepper blew her a kiss and Coulson appeared on the screen.
"So you're about to land in India?"
"I didn't quite hear where we were…but probably." Scotty sighed.
"Perfect. Update me once you make contact with Dr. Banner."
"Yes sir."
She lifted her other hand up to prepare to shut the communicator when Coulson waved, "Agent Accion."
Her hand froze and she looked at him expectantly. He smirked, "He's been receiving S.H.I.E.L.D newsletters."
"We have…newsletters?" she asked, blinking profusely.
"…Yes…and from what I saw, he kept a few with articles about you."
"Bye Coulson."
She slammed the communicator shut and the co-pilot shifted in his seat, "preparing to land."
Plastering her nose into Dr. Banners file, she trudged out of the plane in Indian styled clothing to blend in. Her heels pressed firmly into the dirt and she squinted at the picture of Banner on one page, the only picture that actually had a clear look at him. He was surrounded by a mob of people bustling back and forth, looking over his shoulder, squinting in the sunlight. His clothes looked worn and somewhat dirty, like they were aged or worn before his time. Gray slunk through his side burns and the sides of his curly, faded brown hair, dark stubble speckling his chin. Bags were forming under his exhausted eyes.
"How can such a timid man hold in such a…a…"
"Monster?" the pilot questioned, stepping off the plane with a grunt.
Quirking a brow and examining her surroundings, she pursed her lips, "Monster wasn't really the word I was looking for."
"You've seen the pictures. He's a monster," the pilot replied, tipping his helmet up, revealing a sweaty brow.
"I'll believe that when I see it," she ended, tightening her grip on the file and starting forward.
The pilot followed her, catching up rather quickly, looking over her shoulder at the file. She was reading about the Gamma radiation accident. The words made her stomach churn at the idea of such a disastrous thing happening to someone like him. Skipping the rest of that page, she flipped a few pages forward to a picture of a beautiful young woman. Her photograph was also fuzzy, but her beauty was evident.
A large finger pointed at the picture, "That's Betty Ross…his old flame. Fell in love with the Bruce but couldn't love the monster."
"Alter-ego. It's an alter-ego," Scotty corrected nonchalantly, reading the name, along with General Thadeus Ross', Betty's father.
"Her dad sounds like a real ass," she grumbled, checking the top of the next page before setting that page down gently.
The pilot coughed and laughed, also pointing to another name, "This guys does too. Major Glenn Talbot. He and Dr. Banner hated each other."
She read on from the name and found that he was a competing suitor for Betty. No wonder Banner might've hated him. Getting in the way of love. She blinked herself out of the thought and smacked at the pilot's hand, "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't glance over my shoulder. It's a nuisance."
With that, the pilot stopped walking altogether and allowed her to leave him in the middle of a deserted plot as she walked out into the slums. Scotty had no idea where she was going, but she thought that finding the only white "doctor" in India wouldn't be too hard. It could be fairly easy since he was supposed to be in the general vicinity anyways. According to the file that is.
Slipping through the thin alleyways, she found herself in a slew of houses with no one in sight. The only people she could see were actually their feet sticking out of the doorways or behind corners. Cautiously, she poked her head around a few walls, looking down passages before proceeding through without hesitation.
Movement in her peripheral caught her attention, and she reached for her gun strapped to her thigh, but didn't draw. A little girl cowered behind a wall, staring at her with scared eyes. Scotty loosened her stance and let go of her gun, her eyes softening, resorting to kneeling with her hand out to touch the girl. The girl, visually frightened, cowered away some more.
"मुझे माफ करना, छोटी लड़की, तुम सफेद चिकित्सक का पता है? ग्रे बाल, पुराने कपड़े, तरह? (Excuse me, little girl, do you know of the white doctor? Gray hair, old clothes, kind?)" she asked quietly and slowly, in the broken Hindi she could hear from her ear piece.
For a moment, she thought she saw the girl react. The girl stepped out from the wall and lowered her head, looking at Scotty worriedly, "आप क्यों जानना चाहते हो? (Why do you want to know?)"
Scotty smiled and scooted forward on her knees, but the girl backed away. She stopped and relaxed her shoulders, "मैं उसे देखने की जरूरत है.तुम मेरे लिए उसे मिल सकता है अगर आप जानते हैं कि वह कहाँ है? (I need to see him. Could you get him for me if you know where he is?)"
"... वह ही आता है जब तुम बीमार हो ... (he only comes if you are sick)."
Her palms were beginning to sweat, "मेरी ... पिता बहुत बीमार है, और लिए सफेद डॉक्टर देखना चाहता है. (my...father is sick, and wishes to see the white doctor)"
Silence between them, in the distance the soft hum of people. He was probably out there; the girl would never find him.
"तुम कहाँ रहते हैं? मैं उसे वहाँ का नेतृत्व कर सकते हैं. (where do you live? I could lead him there)" the little girl suggested with a shy shrug.
A grin couldn't help but spread on Scotty's face, "वहाँ मैं रहते हैं.उस झोंपड़ी में. यहाँ, भुगतान के रूप में कुछ पैसे ले लो. (I live there, in that shack. Here, take this money as payment)" she replied too soon, pointing at a random shack off on a large plot. The girl nodded and ran off the opposite direction.
"Great...now it's time to get the house."
With a determined stance and mindset, she puffed out her chest and stomped over towards the shack, with lit windows and the banging of pots and pans. Not planning on stopping, she pushed her way through the door and stared down at three men at a table, and another kneeling by a bucket with a pot. They stared up at her, not too startled.
This was going to be easy. With a booming voice, she said proudly, "मुझे माफ करना, सज्जनों. लेकिन मैं अपनी जगह की जरूरत में हूँ. (Excuse me, genetlemen. I am in need of your place)"
The lack of sleep was yet again plaguing her. Her eyes threatened to close and her muscles planned on giving out any minute now. She had slung herself over a chair behind a beaded curtain, hidden away in the side of the shack. Full view of the table and the rest of the shack was necessary.
"I knew it…she couldn't find him." She muttered.
Easily she had confiscated the shack from the four men, who had put up no fight. Of course she promised to give it back to them once her business was through. Until then they were free to roam around their land until Dr. Banner had shown up.
In her time in the silence, she read more of the file. Nothing could really stick in her mind, so she felt it a complete waste in the end. She just kept reading about Betty Ross over and over again because that was the most interesting thing about it.
Suddenly, footsteps in the dirt alerted her to guests, and she sat up in her chair, her back snapping in a million different places.
"वह यहाँ है जल्दी करो! (Hurry he is in here!)" the little girls voice called desperately. A set of heavy footsteps followed her onto the porch.
"हाँ ठीक है धीमा. (Yes okay slow down)" the owner of the footsteps chuckled.
The tone of the voice made Scotty halt for a moment. It sounded wise and warm hearted. Like he didn't mind having to chase this girl throughout the town to get to another patient. She could tell that he was smiling.
The cloth was rustled and the little girl dashed across the house, while Dr. Banner stopped halfway across the floor.
"Hey..." he began to protest suddenly. Scotty furrowed her brows and peeked out the curtain in time to see the little girl climb up the bed and jump out the window. Her face read that she was impressed; she didn't tell the little girl to do that.
A large sigh came from the middle of the room, "Should've gotten paid up front, Bruce."
Scotty sucked in a breath and stepped out, "You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, India wouldn't have been my first choice."
His large gray eyes glanced over at her, unfazed by her appearance. "Avoiding stress isn't the secret," he chuckled, his voice hinting at sarcasm.
Trying not to smile, she folding her arms behind her back, "Yoga?"
"You brought me to the edge of the city, smart," he pointed out, playing with his calloused hands. "I uh...assume you have the place surrounded?"
Nervously, she chuckled and nodded, "Just you and me, Dr. Banner."
Dr. Banner nodded his head slowly, chewing on the inside of his cheek. There was a silence and they both sort of gazed around the shack. Clapping his hands together quietly, he shrugged, "And your actress buddy, is she a spy too? Do they start that young?"
Her mouth dropped open but nothing came out. She just shook her head, holding her tongue instead, smiling casually.
"Who are you?" he asked, cracking his knuckles carefully.
"Joni Accion," Scotty smiled.
"Are you here to kill me? Because I don't think that would work out for everyone," he inquired.
Her eyes widened and she shook her head wildly, "No, no, of course not! I'm here with S.H.I.E.L.D."
For a moment, she thought she saw a glare from him. He shifted his weight and looked at her skeptically, "how did you find me?
Pressing the button on her earpiece once, she received an answer; "S.H.I.E.L.D has been keeping tabs on him, even diverting possible threats away from him."
"S.H.I.E.L.D has been…watching you…keeping tabs. We've even diverted possible threats against your safety. Managing to keep you safe," she said, keeping her voice low and secretive.
This pilot knows a little more about this than I do, she thought, a hint of jealousy nipping at the thoughts heel.
Finally, with a chuckle, he smiled, finding what she said funny. A little unnerved, she didn't make any movements. In his file, any stress or over exerting of a stressful emotion could set him off. No doubt she didn't want to get on his bad side, no matter how much she secretly wished to see his alter ego out of fascination.
"Keeping me safe. I like that," he muttered.
"Now its time for you to come with us, back to our headquarters," she added.
He smirked and looked her straight in the eye, "Why?"
She shrugged and smiled sweetly, "Fury must trust you. I know he needs you to come in."
Carefully, he stepped away from the door, "And what if I said no."
Unfazed, she smirked, thinking of as many answers as possible. She decided to keep it simple and sat down again, "I can be very persuasive."
"And…what if the other guys says no?"
Pursing her lips, she didn't say anything. He caught her on that one. She pressed her ear piece again and the pilots voice muffled, "He should be fine. He hasn't freaked out for almost a year."
"You haven't had an…accident…in a year. I don't think you want to break that streak," she tried to say as nicely as possible, trying not to come off as snide or threatening.
"I don't, every time, get what I want," he said, sounding like he was trying to keep his heart from splitting in twain.
Feeling her agent side coming on, she sadly tried to do her persuading with pathos, "Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe."
"Well I actively try to avoid those," he asked ponderingly.
Sighing, she thought about the power this thing could really hold. This Loki guy could do anything, and she had barely heard of him. She pulled out her communicator and pressed a few buttons until a picture of the guy, along with the Tesseract, appeared on the screen. She held it up for him to look at, "It's called the Tesseract. Apparently it has the potential to wipe out the entire planet."
"What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?" he said rather snidely, like he was trying to protect himself from the possibility of being surprised. Like it was expected of Fury to use him like that.
Concerned that he was getting the wrong idea, she stood, clutching the communicator tightly. "Our purpose isn't to exploit you, Dr. Banner. He wants you to find it. It's been taken. It omits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace," she said, reading off of her screen.
"There is no one that knows gamma radiation like you. If there was, I wouldn't be here."
He nodded sullenly and began to pace, "So you don't want the other guy."
"As far as I know, no."
"As far as you know?" he questioned, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, his brows rising.
"As far as I know, Doctor. I'm not the highest on the food chain at the moment," she muttered, clenching her jaw. A year and a half with S.H.I.E.L.D only got her training, new equipment, a new outlook and government access. Which, even for a S.H.I.E.L.D operative, wasn't a lot.
The look on his face was unreadable. It was obvious he was torn, but he looked like he would soon pick one side or the other, and it wasn't going to be S.H.I.E.L.D's. He always looked like he was pondering the biggest questions, and he could never quite figure them out.
Without looking away, she began playing with her nails, scratching them and poking them. He again looked at the floor, thinking extremely hard about what to say and what to do. A minute passed before he lightly stepped up to the table, looking down at her now, examining her playing with her nails.
"Wouldn't he tell you everything?" he asked, looking at her frustratedly.
"Like I said, I'm not high up on the food chain. You would have to ask Fury, he needs you on this," she said, trying not to get riled up or annoyed or frustrated.
From what she read in the file, his control of himself was very high, but she wasn't going to take chances by losing her temper either. She had hoped he would've been cooperative.
"He needs me in a cage," he muttered, cocking his jaw, looking at her like she was a monster.
Her brows furrowed and she stared at him shocked, "Dr. Banner…no one is going to put you in a—"
Suddenly he slammed his hands onto the table, "STOP LYING TO ME," and she yelped in surprise. A small little fazor type device unsheathed itself from her shoulder and pointed at him. He quickly backed away, holding his hands up in defense as her wild eyes stared him down in shear fright, her fazor going unnoticed to herself. He had certainly taken her aback.
"I'm sorry. That was rude. I just wanted to see what you would do. How about we find another way in which you don't use that and the other guy doesn't make a mess?" he asked nicely, his voice warm and gentle, reassuring her surprisingly fast.
Furrowing her brows, she turned to her shoulder and saw the fazor. "Oh God," she gasped. Harshly, she used her hand to shove it back into her shoulder.
"I am so sorry—that's really turned into a reflex! I didn't mean for that to happen at all!" she apologized, standing up and covering her cheeks profusely.
A small smile spread across his lips and Scotty couldn't help but smirk a little and set her hands back down at her sides. She rubbed her elbow, slightly giggling. An odd noise emitted into her ear, and the voice of the pilot spoke.
"We have the target ma'am. On your orders, we'll shoot," he muttered.
She placed her finger on her the earpiece, her face shifting into worry. "Excuse me?"
"Our targets are locked on Banner. On your orders we'll—"
"Stand down! False alarm," she spat, looking away from Dr. Banner.
No reply came, so she assumed they had put away the guns. Turning back to the Doctor, she couldn't help but be taken aback at how he was looking at her. Still, he was pondering, but no longer was it about the big questions, but apparently her. His eyes swirling with wonder, his hands rubbing together slowly, creating friction, his brows lowered slightly. All she could do was shrug and nod, trying to stay professional like Fury had taught her.
"So…what will it be Dr. Banner?" she asked.
He blinked wildly and looked away from her, examining the shack. "Do I get to pack?"
"No."
"Unfortunately no," she sighed, pressing her lips together.
Luckily, he didn't seem too disappointed, "That's fine. I have a lot of expendable items anyway."
With a large, rough hand, he gestured to the exit, "After you, Agent Action."
"Accion," she said under her breath.
"…I'll get it right sooner or later," he muttered self-consciously, pressing his lips together awkwardly.
Trying not to smile, she sauntered towards the door and stopped next to him. She held out her hand again, "It will be a pleasure to work with you Dr. Banner."
Slowly he took it and shook, keeping his grip gentle but firm, "Please, call me Bruce."
I made some adjustments to a lot of the dialogue, because I got a hold of it!
Hurray for IMDB quotes!