Clint was fiddling with the handcuffs when Bruce woke up. He'd been in lock up and labs while on the run, so he'd gotten used to sleeping in these kinds of situation. Clint had been in situations like this before, but they give him an adrenaline rush, he can never relax, his mind was always racing so he couldn't sleep.
"Do you know a girl came looking for at Stark tower while you were away." Clint said looking up from the handcuffs. He was trying to make small talk, he couldn't stand the silence anymore. Bruce looked confused. "Yeah, she said she saw you on the news and figured you would be there. Or that we'd know where you were."
"Who?" Bruce yawned.
"Her name was Betty."
Bruce laughed and smiled, but the smile and his eyes were sad. "I would have been in here a lot earlier then!"
"What do you mean?" Clint asked confused.
"It was Betty Ross right?" Bruce asked. Clint nodded. "The only daughter of one General Ross? The one who hunted me down and is holding us here?"
"Oh! Oh man, that sucks!" Clint said when he realized what was going on. "I thought it was just a crazy random happenstance that they had the same last name." Clint shook his head thinking about it. "Damn, Bruce you have literally the worst luck. There is literally one girl a guy shouldn't fall for and it's the daughter of archenemy! Just… wow…"
"Yes, thank-you for reminding me." Bruce joked, but still looked sad.
Clint felt bad, so he shut up and went back to fiddling. Suddenly, the lock on the door started to jiggle. He had a plan, but he wasn't expecting someone to come so soon so he hadn't told Bruce yet.
"Ok, eu tenho um plano. Eu vou bater-lhe na cabeça com estes e então eu vou colocá-los sobre ele. Entendeu? (Okay, I have a plan. I'm going to hit him over the head with these. And then I'm going to put them on him. Got it?)" Clint spoke quickly in Portuguese. He knew Bruce spent time in Brazil.
"O quê? (What?)" Bruce asked. Clint wasn't sure if that was a what, to his plan or because he didn't understand him.
"Então, nós vamos correr como o inferno. (And then we're going to run like hell.)" Clint smiled at him, getting up and preparing himself.
"Clint, não. Você está com fome? (Clint, no. Are you hungry?) Bruce said.
"Fome? (Hungry?)" Clint asked.
"I mean, doido? (Crazy?) Bruce said.
"Oh, that makes more sense and yes." Clint said smiling at him. The door opened, blocking the person coming in's view of Clint. He hit the man over the head and he dropped the ground, Clint quickly put the handcuffs on the unconscious man. He took the man's gun and ran towards the door. Bruce didn't follow, he just kind of sat there in shock. "God, Bruce! COME ON!" Clint grabbed him by the collar, pulling him up and out the door.
The hallway was deserted. Clint had no idea where they were or how to get out. "Bruce, do you remember anything from before you got to that room?" Clint asked.
"Yeah, we came from the left and there were stairs only going down, so I think we should go right." Bruce suggested.
"Fine! Keep moving." Clint said still pulling Bruce behind him. They ran down the hallway stopping at every intersection to make sure the coast was clear. They made a couple of random turns along the way. They made it pretty far until they both heard the familiar sound of boots and guns clicking into place behind them. "Freeze!"
Bruce complied, but Clint burst into action. He knocked a majority of the guns out of the guard's hands. Clint may be better at long-range weapons, but he was a master of hand-to-hand combat. Bruce kind of just sat back and watched Clint do all the work. He couldn't run, he couldn't just leave Clint behind. It wasn't until guards came from the other end of the hallway and one came at Bruce with a tranq gun, did he move. He knocked the gun out of his hand and flipped the guard onto his back.
"Where'd you learn how to do that?" Clint asked while taking on two guards at once.
"I didn't just learn a little Portuguese during my time in Brazil." Bruce said as another guard charged forward. "I picked up a little jiu-jitsu for some self-defense and breathing exercises."
Clint had taken a gun and started using that, he took another one and tried to hand it to Bruce for him to use, but Bruce just dropped. He hadn't killed anything with one before, including himself, and he wasn't about to start now.
"Bruce!" Clint yelled. It was a 10 on 1 fight. He could handle up to 10 on a good day, but today was not a good day, he needed help. Bruce took out the guy he was fighting and turned to help Clint, when he felt a familiar pinch in his neck, he took out a dart.
"Damnit! NO!" Bruce yelled. He tried to work up his adrenaline, just enough to counteract the tranqulizer, but not enough to bring the other guy out. He was able to help Clint out a little, taking out one or two men before his moves started to get sluggish. A couple of guards jumped on him, pinning him to the ground. He continued to struggle to get them off until he finally passed out from the drugs.
Clint kept fighting, he would pull a guard off Bruce, but another would appear. Suddenly a bullet grazed his leg, cutting pretty deep. He finally just tackled as many guards off of Bruce as he could. He just kept punching until they stopped moving, then a gun slammed into the back of his head and he went down.
Clint woke up in room larger than the first room he woke up in. It was large and white except for the black catwalks and vents. If only he could get up there, he could get out of here and get help. But, there was no way up. His entire body ached as if the guards continued to beat the crap out of him after he was passed out. He got up and did a few lunges to stretch out his aching body.
Suddenly an intercom squeaked on. "Thank-you for finally waking up and joining us, Hawkeye. You can finally help us preform our experiment."
"And what would that experiment be?" Clint asked the disembodied voice. "How can one guy be so incredibly handsome and so talented at the same time?"
"No, to see if we can control the Hulk into not smashing you into a million pieces."
"Oh, that's kind of you."
"And then we're going to see if we can control him into smashing you into a million pieces."
"Okay, not so kind…"
A door that Clint didn't even realize was there, opened and Bruce was pushed in. He had a large metal headband and a metal collar around his neck.
"Hey Brucie."
"Clint, I'm sorry."
"Why? I think we did pretty good. We got pretty far. Who knew you could fight like that?" Clint said, avoiding what Bruce was really sorry about.
"You know what I mean." He said sullenly.
"I don't think it will end up that bad. Jade Jaws like me! He didn't bother me once in New York. He even listen to me when I talked to him."
"Clint, it was once! You saw him and he met you ONCE! Plus, that was a controlled change, in much more favorable conditions." Bruce tried to explain.
"Bruce, I know you're pessimistic about pretty much everything. But, listen to me, trust me. I trust you which mean I trust him, I know you won't hurt me and neither will he."
"Clint, just cause you have trust in me doesn't stop the fact that the other guy is an unstoppable destroying machine." Bruce said pulling at the collar on his neck. Suddenly, Bruce screamed, the band around his head was shocking him. I was ten times worse than the handcuffs. He fell to his knees and Clint ran over to him.
"This is not good." Bruce said trying to catch his breath.
"Doctor Banner, will you please stop playing adrenaline collar?"
"Oh, this is much worse." Bruce said through clenched teeth. "Clint, get as far away from me as possible and try to stay still. Also don't be afraid, he can smell fear and he doesn't like it."
"Don't worry, I won't be afraid."
"Are you ready to being the experiment?"
"Not particularly." Clint yelled back.
"Too bad."
A needle inside the collar stabbed Bruce in the neck. He could feel the liquid be pumped into his veins, pure adrenaline. He tried his hardest to keep his heart rate down, but with the chemical in him, it was impossible. The transformation was more painful than it usually was. He wanted to keep fighting it, to try to protect Clint, but he couldn't for long. He had to let go and let the other guy take over. Maybe he could punch his way out for them and do minimal damage to Clint.
Clint had only seen Bruce change once and it was nothing like this. The first time it was one fluid motion, one second Bruce was there, the next the Hulk was standing in Bruce's place. This looked painful, like Bruce was trying to stop the inevitable. Once the transformation was over, the Hulk just stood there bellowing and yelling at nothing. He didn't even notice Clint was there.
Suddenly the Hulk screamed even louder. Clint could see the sparks fly from the headband. The Hulk struggled desperately trying to rip off the band around his head, but his fingers were too large to get underneath it. Something glistened on the ground that caught Clint's eye. It was sharp piece of metal that broke off the adrenaline collar when Bruce changed. If he could get above the Hulk, he could try to break the headband with this.
The Hulk was distracted getting frustrated punching the wall that wouldn't crumble. He took a deep breath and ran near the Hulk to grab the metal piece. He held the piece between and ran, jumped off the wall on to the Hulk's back. The Hulk stood up straighter, which brought Clint closer to the catwalk. He jumped up and grabbed the bottom of the catwalk before the Hulk could grab him. The Hulk roared and the headband shocked him again. He continued to punch at the wall.
Clint watched the Hulk for a minute, trying to get his aim just right. And then he jumped off the catwalk and on to the Hulk's head, who bellowed. He stabbed the piece of metal repeatedly into the headband until it finally broke off. Clint half jumped, half thrown to the ground. The Hulk's roars and bellowing turned into grunts and heavy breathing.
"Hulk?" Clint said. The Hulk turned quickly, winding up a punch and really to roar again, but he stopped when he saw Clint.
"Katniss?" The Hulks voice rumbled.
"Ha! Where did you hear that one?" Clint laughed.
"Tin man." The Hulk answered.
"Oh right." He forgot how Tony kept making Hunger Games jokes after he woke up from his fall. Everyone blamed his concussion, but Clint thought Tony actually thought he was being clever. Clint forgot that the Hulk was there. "How are you Hulk?" Clint asked. "And how's Bruce?"
"Bruce scared. Don't like here. Hulk don't like here too." The Hulk grumbled. "Hulk punch. Wall won't smash." He said frustrated.
"I think you might be able to smash that." He said pointing up. "And if you give me a ride I might be able to get you out of this place."
The Hulk smiled and stood moderately still as Clint climbed on. The Hulk jumped up pulling down half of the catwalk while Clint was finally high enough to reach the vent. He knocked off the cover, but didn't have enough time to get in. The Hulk jumped again ripping down more of the catwalk, Clint jumped off and climbed into the air vent.
Guards started pouring in, shooting the Hulk with tranq guns. He swatted most of them a way, but enough were embedded in him to put him out. The Hulk looked up at Clint with sad eyes, as if to say he had trusted him to get him out too.
"Don't worry buddy." Clint yelled to the Hulk. "I'll going to get help and I will be back to get you out. I promise."
Clint could swear the Hulk had nodded to him as if he understood. He slowly turned back into Bruce as the tranqs took full effect. Clint turned to leave before he could see what they did with Bruce's unconscious body. He started into the vents, hoping to find away out before anyone could find him.
AN: It might be awhile until I post again. I go back to school tomorrow and I have a full busy schedule this semester so I don't think I'll have enough time to write until the next break. I'll try to write and post as soon as possible though.
I hope this chapter is good enough to hold you over! Thanks for reading so far!
