Hey guys! I decided to make a chapter two of bonding!
I was bored and I got this idea for a chapter. There isn't much of Tony in this, but I think I have an idea for the third chapter and he is going to be in it.
If I get good response for this chapter I'll continue! I promise.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or followed! Thank you!
It was another day at the Avenger's tower. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and the avengers were having breakfast.
"Hey Steve, can you pass me the milk?" Bruce asked as he was drinking his coffee while reading today's newspaper.
"Sure Bruce." Steve passed over the full pitcher of milk. Bruce took it and poured it into his obviously decaf coffee.
Tony was sitting next too Bruce, tapping away at one of his Stark tablets. Steve was across the table from them and was eating a half boiled egg. Natasha and Clint were sitting together, eating corn flakes and observing the table. Thor had gone to Asgard for a visit. He was never at the Avenger's tower for a long time at once. He had duties at Asgard.
Today was a day like any other. The avengers always started their days out like this. Everyone would come in and sit at the breakfast table at their usual spots. After that, Natasha and Clint would usually go to S.H.I.E.L.D as they still held their jobs as shield assassins. Tony and Bruce would go to the labs to work and Steve would go to the gym to vandalize more punching bags. Bruce did doubt that they all did the same thing all day, but he was never walking around to find out.
Today was a little different though. Natasha and Clint had one week off on paid leave for one reason or another. Bruce would never bother to find out as he knew that they were very secretive and would open up to absolutely no one. Though, that did mean that most of the avengers would be at the tower today.
Bruce took another sip of his decaffeinated coffee. He looked outside the huge wall to wall windows and saw the New York skyline. It was about 9 in the morning and the streets were as busy as ever. Bruce really didn't have anything planned for today, so he asked what the others were going to do.
"Hey, you guys doing anything today?" He asked.
"I'm going to the gym." Steve stated.
"I'll be at the lab," said Tony.
"Clint and I were going to the gym too." Natasha glanced at Clint and he nodded softly.
So everyone had something to do except for Bruce. For some reason, he really did not feel like going to the lab today. He thought that it had to do something with being up until 3 the last night. So he had an idea.
"Hey can I train with you guys?"
Bruce had a feeling that he would need to know how to do hand to hand combat. After all, he couldn't always rely on the hulk.
At first, the others all looked at him as if he had grown an extra head. Their eyes widened at the thought. Bruce was about to backtrack and tell them to forget he ever had the idea when Steve shook himself out of his stupor.
"Uh, ye-yeah sure you can come Bruce."
Natasha was next. "I think that's a good idea. You're going to have to learn manual combat some time or another."
Bruce relaxed a bit. He was glad that the others would except him like that. And honestly, he was a bit surprised that they didn't say no because of the danger of the Hulk. He would've thought that they would be afraid that the Hulk would make an appearance. Bruce was sure he could hold him in for a little fight. He had done it before of course.
Tony's was still looking at Bruce with a silly, malicious grin on his face. Bruce didn't know how he could pull off a grin like that, but he did. "Wait, if Bruce is fighting someone I am definitely seeing this. I better tell JARVIS to record it."
Bruce repressed the urge to roll his eyes. Instead he said, "It's settled then. We can go down to the gym after breakfast."
The others nodded in agreement.
Bruce did have some experience in combat from his "trip" to Brazil. Sometimes when he was on the run, kind people would help and teach him how to fight. At least, it would be like that until he had to run again.
Bruce was a little rusty though. It'd been so long since he was in a real fist fight. He was pretty sure that he could still take a hit though.
So that's why, half an hour later Bruce found himself in the gym, along with Natasha, Clint, Steve and Tony.
"All right Bruce lets see what you can already do." Natasha beckoned Bruce to the mat in the centre of the gym that was used for combat training. Clint and Steve would be standing guard on the edge of the mat in case anything went wrong. Namely Bruce turning in to the Hulk. Bruce was determined not to let that happen though. Tony was a few ways away sipping on a glass of what looked like…orange juice? He never thought he had it in him to drink anything other than coffee or scotch.
Bruce walked over and stood across from Natasha on the mat.
"Don't go easy on me okay?" Bruce asked tentatively. "I can take a hit."
"Whatever you say boss." She smirked which was kind of scary considering that Bruce was standing across from her about to take her on.
Bruce stood with his hands in front of his face, ready to block a punch. Natasha posed in a battle ready position as well. They waited for a minute or two, no one daring to breathe.
Finally, Natasha was the one to take the first move.
She drew her hand back as if she was going to throw a punch, but instead of throwing a punch, she kicked up into Bruce's face. Bruce saw this coming at the last second as he saw a twitch in her right leg. He ducked down low and just avoided getting a foot in her face.
Natasha's eyes widened at this show of quick reaction. Bruce ignored it and went in for a right hook. It didn't hit as Natasha was quick to dodge. Bruce knew that she was surprised at him to know how to fight, but it sort of came with being on the run for so long.
Bruce leaned back, breathing in and out a couple times. He had never felt this exhilarated from being in a fight for a long time. It was always the Hulk who did the dirty work. Honestly, Bruce thought it was exiting. He had to push the Hulk to the back of his mind as he could sense Bruce's excitement.
Bruce focused his attention on Natasha once again. She started to roundhouse kick at Bruce and Bruce leaned back at the last second. This time, the edge of her shoe caught its mark. Bruce felt something hard hit his nose. He cried out and held a hand to his nose.
He raised a hand to Natasha and Natasha stopped her fighting.
"Uh, Bruce, your eyes are green. Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked, with just the tiniest bit of fear in her voice.
Bruce slightly shook his head and smirked inwardly. People were always so quick to judge. She didn't know what was coming.
Bruce straightened up quickly and turned sideways as he aimed a quick kick at Natasha's midsection. It was well placed and Natasha wasn't expecting it. She would have anticipated it coming if it was anyone other than Bruce who was battling her. Bruce's kick found its mark and Natasha stumbled back a couple of steps in sheer surprise.
"Rule number one. Don't let your opponent distract you." Bruce noted.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Clint and Steve looking slightly apprehensive and more surprised than anything. Tony burst out laughing at Natasha. "Good one Bruce!" he shouted.
Bruce's eyes flitted back at Natasha. She was getting ready for another attack and had a sneer on her face. She drew her hand back and faked a right hook only to make it into an uppercut. Bruce barely dodged that as he went into a sweep of his own. Natasha jumped back and somersaulted onto the floor. Bruce had no idea how she did that as she ended up standing right in front of him once again.
Bruce remembered what his teacher in Brazil had told him: "Always defend. You have a better chance of winning if you use defence as offense."
So Bruce heeded that advice and did not throw as many punches as he dodged most of Natasha's. He let Natasha throw all the punches and kicks. He dodged every single on of them except the last expertly placed kick. Natasha had spun around and placed a kick for Bruce's arm. Bruce side stepped, but that did nothing in blocking it. That's why something sharp on Natasha's shoe caught onto Bruce's skin and caused it to rip.
"Agh!" He cried out. He blocked another punch and felt a well of anger spike out of nowhere. That was when Natasha stopped. The other guy had noticed Bruce was hurt. He pushed him to the back of his mind. As Bruce looked at where he was cut, he saw a wound the size of his palm spewing crimson blood.
"Hey you all right?" Natasha asked.
"Yeah, yeah I'm good. Just get me a bandage and a Kleenex, quick."
Natasha narrowed her eyes. She reached out to the wound.
"Stop!" Bruce shouted. Natasha drew her hand back in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Steve asked from one side of the gym.
"Whatever you do, don't touch the blood." Bruce said frantically.
"Why?"
"Because it's radioactive and poisonous. If you touch it, you will die."
Natasha took a couple steps back. That was usually the reaction when people found that out.
Seconds later, Bruce saw Tony come over with a Kleenex and a heavy duty bandage in hand.
"Put them on the ground. Don't touch my hand." Bruce said. Tony looked like he was going to say something, but thought better of it. He instead placed the tissue and bandage on the ground.
Bruce picked up both items, painfully aware that the others were standing a bit farther away from him. He cleaned most of the blood and applied the bandage. Then he went to the washroom that was built in the gym and washed the remaining blood of his hands.
Once he was done, he walked back into the gym area and saw the other standing in the exact same places he left them in. Bruce felt a pang of sadness.
To lighten up the mood he said, "Would you like to continue, Miss. Romanoff?"
Natasha's eyes widened and he saw the smallest glimmer of fear in her eyes before she said, "Of course."
The rest resumed in their watching as Natasha and Bruce took their places at the mat. This time, Bruce had a plan. He knew that Natasha was going to throw the first punch, and sure enough, she did. First she punched at Bruce's stomach. Bruce saw this coming and ducked low to the ground to avoid it. He rolled to the side and came up standing on the other side of Natasha. She whirled around and quickly punched Bruce's face. He saw a hand coming at his face and the next thing Bruce knew was a shot of pain. Black spots appeared in his vision and he told the other guy to back of for what felt like the millionth time. He felt himself going green around the edges, but he pushed it down deeper into his mind.
As Natasha came in for another punch, Bruce dodged it and launched himself forward. He used his and Natasha's momentum, ducked low, grabbed Natasha's torso and pushed forward.
This was also another trick he learned in Brazil. He breathed deeply and everything seemed to move in slow motion. As the momentum from both him and Natasha translated into power, he flipped Natasha onto his back. She twisted severely onto her back and landed onto the floor, hard.
Bruce heard a soft "Umph!" as Natasha landed on the floor. Bruce quickly turned around to see Natasha on the floor with pure amazement in her eyes.
Bruce smirked softly and held out a hand for Natasha to pull herself up. She accepted it and pulled herself onto her feet. She rubbed her back as she looked at Bruce, speechless.
Bruce looked at the others watching the fight and saw that they were as surprised as Natasha was. Bruce took a minute to catch his breath. Once he knew his heartbeat was in a safe place, he looked at the others again.
"Well? What do you think?"
"What do you think…Bruce, how the hell did you do that? And how did you do that without any training?" Tony asked, being the first to come out of his stupor.
"I am an expert of SHIELD, trained by the best and you just pinned me to the ground!" Natasha stated.
Bruce rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I was taught in Brazil by a teacher who knew about the Hulk. He thought that I needed the training. And he was right."
"Damn…" Clint said.
"But I still need practice guys. The trick I just showed you is basically the only useful trick I know."
"Hey…I could teach you how to shoot!" Clint exclaimed from behind Bruce.
Bruce bit the inside of his mouth. He didn't think that was a very good idea.
"And of course, I'll help you with the guns." Natasha quipped from on the mat.
He looked at the two of them. They looked so eager. Finally he said, "Fine."
I went over to Natasha as she said, "JARVIS, activate the shooting range."
"Of course Miss. Romanoff."
There was a faint whirring as four targets appeared in the gym of the side, each one farther than the next. Natasha walked to the corner of the gym where they put all of their equipment. She picked up two different kinds of guns-a simple revolver and a more complex AK-47.
"Lets start with the guns first." She said while glaring at Clint. Clint pouted as he realized that he would be teaching how to use the arrow yet.
Natasha handed over the revolver to Bruce.
"I want you to shoot at the first target."
Bruce nodded and took his stance. A rush of memories came to his mind as he remembered when he last held a gun in his hand. He was trying to kill himself. He froze for a second, as the memories came rushing back as a waterfall in his head. He didn't think the others noticed this. He pushed the memories to the back of his mind, along with the other guy and aimed for the target instead.
He let out a small puff of air as he held his arms out in front of him. He clicked off the safety and tensed his index finger.
Finally, he shot and the bullet flew until it hit the target, more or less in the centre.
"Hey that was good!" Natasha exclaimed.
"Hey big guy, shoot for the farthest target! I'll give you ten bucks if you hit the centre!" Tony called from where he was sitting.
Bruce smirked. "You're on."
He stood on the mat once again in a shooters stance. He drew in a breath of air and let it out slowly. Bruce eyeballed the last, farthest target and aimed straight for the middle. His finger tensed and he shot the gun. The shot rang out in the air as it hit the target.
And sure enough, there was a bullet hole smack dab in the middle.
A small smirk played on Bruce's mouth as he walked over to Tony. "I think you owe me."
"Whatever…" Tony sneered, but handed over the ten bucks nevertheless.
"Damn Bruce, how did you do that? I never knew you could shoot a gun that well."
Bruce sighed. "I don't know. Practice, I guess?"
But what the others didn't know was that there was more to that sentence than Bruce was ready to let on. What he had told the Avengers on the helicarrier was only half the truth. Bruce had tried to take his life more than once. He had tried four times before. Each time he had totally and utterly failed. Each time, the other guy would appear and wreak havoc on the world surrounding him.
To never forget his failures, he had kept his gun that he shot himself with each time, close by. In fact, it was lying in one of the drawers in his room under a lot of clothing. He could never and would never let himself forget.
"Hey Bruce, you okay?" He heard Steve's polite voice.
"ye-yeah, I'm fine. Just got a little distracted there." He blew it off like it was nothing. That was what he always did.
Bruce walked over to Natasha and handed over the gun to her.
"You know what guys, why don't we continue this tomorrow? I'm a little tired."
"Sure Bruce." Natasha said.
He walked over to the doors to the gym and just before he left, he heard Clint say, "Same time tomorrow? I'll show you how to use the bow!"
Bruce turned around slightly and smiled softly. "Of course."
Then he opened the doors and left. He walked over to the elevator and stepped in.
"My room please."
"Of course Dr. Banner," came JARVIS's reply.
The elevator started to move, and soon it stopped on floor 37, where his room was located. He stepped out of the elevator and walked quickly to his room. The door creaked as he opened it and he winced at the sound.
Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He scrambled over to the drawer where he kept his gun. There was a whole bunch of clothing in the drawer. If anyone was going through it, they would have to dig pretty well to find the gun. Finally, after a lot of digging, Bruce came up with the sleek gun.
He picked it up and ran a finger along its surface. The grooves and ridges were oddly comforting. It was a reminder of all his failures. All five of them. He knew that sooner or later, something would happen that would be so horrible that he would've let down everyone in the tower.
Bruce slid down to the floor and cradled his head in his hands.
Until that day came, the gun lay in his drawer under the many articles of clothing. For now, he would allow the others to bond with him, but he would never fully bond with them. He couldn't let himself.
He just couldn't.
He couldn't allow himself to forget, and that was his curse.
Wow. Well, that was a dramatic ending.
Now this was a short break from "Only one person left."
Don't worry, I'll be back to that with an update in a bout a week!
Please review! I love reading them.
-Detective DG.