Chapter 4: Fear and Worry
"…Within the core of each of us is the child we once were. This child constitutes the foundation of what we have become, who we are, and what we will be." ~Neuroscientist Dr. R. Joseph
Brown eyes slowly peeled themselves open, and squinted at the abrasive fluorescent lighting that shinned down from above. A slight groan escaped through his lips as he raised himself from the thin hospital-issue mattress, only to be greeted by searing pain drilling itself into his right temple. He let out another groan, deeper this time, and just loud enough to stir the blonde asleep on the couch across the hall. Bruce propped himself up on one elbow, using his other hand to cup his throbbing head.
He was just about to sit up when sun-kissed hands met his chest and pushed him back down to the white sheets. "Oh, no you don't, Banner. You're not getting out of here that easily," smile on his face. He paused for a moment, the edges of his grin falling slightly. "Are you okay?" The doctor had to blink a couple of times through the haze before he saw it was Clint who stood in front of him.
"Why am I in the medical labs? What happened?" he asked.
Clint's blue orbs gave the brunette a quick once-over before responding smugly, "You decided to take a little nap underneath a collapsed ceiling. Don't worry though, your Prince Charming rescued you before anything serious could happen," the sarcasm spreading a huge grin across his face. Bruce mentally rolled his eyes, a slight smile of his own tugging at his lips.
A serious look ghosted into the archer's features. "Cap and I were really worried about you. Are you okay?" The physicist gave a slight nod in response, causing pain to shoot through his frontal lobe, making him wince.
"Wait, you said that the ceiling fell on top of me? And I didn't Hul—the other guy didn't make an appearance?"
Clint took a step back, leaning against the marble counter, arms crossed. He looked at the doctor, "No. That's what's weird though. Why wouldn't he?" He stared more intently now, almost studying him, "Any ideas why he wouldn't?"
Bruce's brow furrowed. "I have no idea. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but Tony's lucky that his tower's still standing in one piece, more or less." He lowered his eyes, fingers running across his light stubble. The archer could practically hear the physicist's gears whirling away, trying to make sense of it.
"Hey, the point is, you didn't have an incident, and you're okay now. That's all that matters."
Bruce raised his eyes up to meet his friend's before shifting down again. "Yeah, I guess you're right." A smile found its way to his lips.
"Fantastic! Now I say we head down to the lab and see how Cap and Stark are doing, who knows what he was doing down there to begin…" The archer's words trailed off in echo and his words began to meld together. The room around him began to tilt and blur. He could feel his body begin to dip toward the ground, his head throbbing like an army of Hulks were beating the sides of his skull. The hammering of his head and the sound of the blood pounding in his ears intensified until it was all he could hear. He squeezed his eyes shut and brought his hands up to his pounding head, as if that could somehow make it stop. The last things he remembered were Clint's warm hands catching him by his shoulders and the man's wordless plea, before his brown eyes rolled back, and he was enveloped in that strange blue light.
The soldier took the stairs down three at a time, the sound of pounding feet resonating off of the concrete walls. From what he could tell as he made his way down to Tony's lab, it seemed that most of the damage had been centered on the first few floors.
Once he made his way to the ground floor that housed reception, he sprinted to the thick titanium door marked in bold black letters: "PRIVATE AREA, NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONEL", and hurriedly punched in the seven digit passcode Tony had given him during his first visit to the tower. It was fairly easy to remember, considering that the serum gave his brain an upgrade, as well as body.
From there, Steve was able to take the private elevator down to Tony's private lab. Although the entire tower was self-sufficient on arc-reactor technology, the elevator had its own separate power supply that was not connected to the main generator, so that if something were to ever happen, they would still be operable.
According to Tony, this high-tech underground bunker was distinctive among all the other labs that were in the tower, and was the one he hid away in most often. He remembered Tony saying something about how the lab down here had reinforced steel and concrete walls built in for the more extreme experiments, in case one of them were to explode or something; and how it could absorb more of the shock, causing only minimum damage. Personally, he thought that Tony just liked it down here better because he could be alone and drink as much as he wanted to. The lift doors opened silently, and before they could close again, the soldier was already sprinting down the hall.
He came to a screeching halt in front of the lab's entrance. It was massive, probably ten feet tall and four feet thick, dead bolted and laden with encryptions, but luckily all Steve had to do was place his eye over the… What had Tony called it, a…retinal scanner...? and confirm his identity through his personal passcode. A blue light shot from the circular divot in the wall, scanning his blue orb while he hastily but clearly stated, if not in a slightly-embarrassed tone, "Peggy Rogers". He could hear the slight clunk of the deadbolt sliding back just before the doors swung open.
The scene inside was a mess. Bits of computer parts were strewn left and right, a couple of tablets were lying on the ground with their screens badly fractured, an amber liquid continued to drip from the walls, probably having come from half-filled bottles of liquor being smashed against the wall (although if that was from the accident or from Tony's drunkenness, Steve would never know), a massive burn mark trailed its way across the ceiling, as if someone had taken a flame-thrower to it, and something resembling a metal arm was moving erratically in the corner, as if it were somehow trying to comfort the fire-extinguisher in its claw-like hand…he could ask about that last one later…
His eyes finally found Tony lying in the corner of the room, fully encompassed in his Iron Man armor. He rushed over just as the man's arc reactor began to flicker back on, causing his eyes to glow with the same white-blue light.
"Tony. Tony, can you hear me?" Cap questioned, lifting his finger in order to tap the man's face plate.
With a groan, the inventor opened up his helmet and swatted away Steve's rising hand. "Yeah, Capsicle, I can hear you just fine," Tony quipped in reply. He picked himself off the ground, swaying slightly from all the alcohol running through his system.
"What happened down here, Tony?" Steve demanded accusingly.
The philanthropist used a hand to steady himself against the wall, before turning to Cap, "I was still trying to crack the "magic" of the residual tesseract energy that we had after the invasion. But I still haven't' been able to figure out the damn stuff, even though I've run it through every program, through every test I could think of! I've created countless programs, and still nothing! It's just too foreign for any of my tech to make sense of! For some reason, I was having JARVIS run through a few more algorithms when the energy seemed to replicate itself right in front of me somehow and friggin' exploded! Might never figure out how it managed to do that." he mused, mostly to himself. He paused and pinched the bridge of his nose, frustrated. "I had just enough time to summon the Mark X from downstairs before the shockwave hit."
Having understood the general gist of what had happened, at least, Steve murmured, "Well, I guess that explains the scorch marks," eyes glancing up to survey the dark slashes above them.
"Yeah," he scoffed. He strode over to the mini bar that he'd managed to sneak down past Pepper's watchful eye and found an undamaged bottle of, "Scotch, maybe?" before pouring it into a glass and downing it in one gulp. "The tower was so close to being finished; now look at it! Reduced to rumble yet again because of this damn tesseract energy! I really wish that Banner would come down here and help already; this whole thing has been driving me crazy, and I could really use that brain of his…"
This got Steve's attention. Guilt, for some reason of another, began to eat away at his insides. He knew that he'd have to tell him sooner or later, he just did not want to be the one to have to do it, especially with Tony in one of his moods. "But, that's one of the responsibilities that come with the shield, I guess."
Steve placed a steady hand on the suit's cool metal, his eyes burning through the man's skull, and told him, voice filled with that signature deadly calm of his, "Tony, Bruce is hurt." The billionaire spun around, almost falling on his face in his drunken state, and locked brown eyes to blue. He could tell by the set of his jaw and by the gleaming in his eyes that Cap thought it was serious. Tony's eyes flashed from Steve's to the patch of red smeared along the side of the patriot's jeans, and he felt his heart sink like a stone.
His brown eyes widened, almost taking on a crazed look, before he shoved the super-soldier aside and made a break for the sealed doors, repulser blasting away any debris or equipment in his way.
"Tony, STOP!" The genius ignored his orders and continued to stubbornly walk toward the exit, determined to find his best friend and make sure he was okay as soon as his head broke above ground.
"Come on Tony," Steve demanded as he grabbed hold of the armor, "Stop acting crazy!"
Tony threw him only a backward glance before casually flicking the soldier from his suit. This flick would've caused a normal person to fly into the concrete walls, probably breaking a bone or two in the process, but only cost Steve a slight loss in balance, although it did leave him more than a little peeved off. The patriot regained his composure and charged toward the billionaire, latching onto the suit's arm and began to slowly drag a startled Tony back into the lab.
Although Cap's strength managed to slow Tony down considerably, it did not deter him from his goal, and he continued his advance toward the exit. Struggling to contain his teammate, muscles straining from the armor's pull, Steve wrapped his arms completely around the brunette's body.
"What are you doing, Steve?" he demanded.
"I'm trying to save everyone in this building!" This caused Tony to pause in his escape attempt, if for only a moment.
Steve, arms still wrapped around the suit's cool metal, pleaded, "We have to stay here Tony! Clint has Bruce, he'll be fine, but right now we need to stay down here and figure out what happened in case it happens again."
This stopped Tony's struggling completely, before bringing the man's eyes to the ground, worry evident in his stance. After a moment, he straightened up and with a far-away look in his eyes, turned to the Living Legend, head nodding slightly. "Yeah." He tried to clear away some of the thickness in his throat, "Yeah, JARVIS?" When no reply came, Tony began furiously tapping away at screens, and shifting around holograms until his turned back to Steve. "JARVIS's communication and linguistic systems are down on all of the sublevels. The damage appears to be minor, but I'll work on getting him back online. The power couplings were probably disconnected after the main power was shut down by the energy dispersement field..." everything after the first few words was lost in a sea of techno babble and made as much sense as just about anything else in the twenty-first century did to Steve.
Lips curled up slightly, Steve followed behind the wondering inventor, feeling at least a small victory, if only for the moment. He still did not fully understand what was going on, and he might not ever understand, but at least now the man who could fix it was on the track of doing so.
Bruce could feel the gentle nudge of his mother's hand on his shoulder, urging him to wake from his fitful sleep. He rubbed his eyes with small fists and sat up to see the silhouette of his mother against the moonlit window. His vision began to clear as his eyes grew accustomed to the dark, and he reached for his glasses, only to find them already in his mother's awaiting hand.
"What wrong, Momma?" he wondered, a bit worried that she had come to talk with him in the middle of the night. Father didn't like it when they were alone together.
She smiled warmly and pushed a strand of hair away from his face. "Nothing, Sweetie," she murmured, "Your father is pas- asleep on the couch again, so I wanted to lay here with you while I could. That's all."
Bruce's face lit up at this, and he moved over so she could lie next to him in the small twin bed. His back pressed against the cool, hard wall behind him, sending a slight chill down his spine.
The dark haired woman lay next to her son, arm around his shoulders, silently smoothing back his mess of curly locks. Bruce pressed his head against her soft torso and enjoyed the feel of her fingers in his hair. His eyes began to grow heavy, but he chose not to fight them, and was slowly drifting to sleep, when she whispered to him, "I love you so much, Robert. You are so special: more than you could know. Despite what anyone tells you, I know that you'll do great things in this world. " A soft hum rose from her throat, its musical tones drifting into the dreams of the child next to her, comforting him in his slumber, a smile spreading over his young, pale cheeks.
"Bruce. Bruce. Hey, are you okay?" Bruce looked up into the worried eyes of the archer, a deep, never ending blue. "You were out for a couple of minutes. What happened?" Bruce blinked a few times, and wiped away the fresh tears that began to sting his eyes, before he rolled over on his side, partially hiding his face from the archer, trying to chase away the feeling of longing that had developed deep in the pit of his stomach.
Dazed, the physicist replied, "Ugh, I have no idea, Clint. I thought I saw…I thought I saw my mother…" he tried to swallow, throat suddenly dry, "At first I thought they were just dreams, or old memories, but now I'm not so sure." He gazed up at Clint, a look of desperation present in his brown orbs.
The archer looked down, not really sure how to respond. "What are you talking about? You mean, like, you had a vision or something?"
He gave a slight nod, a lump already rising into his throat, "Or hallucinations."
This sparked something in the agent, prompting Clint to spring from his crouch. "Well, if it's a hallucination, then you probably just have more head trauma than we thought. We'll just take you down the hall and give you an MRI or CAT scan or whatever." His hand reached for Bruce's, ready to lead him away to one of the other rooms housing the right equipment.
Bruce chuckled despite himself at this, and shook his head at Clint's attempt. "But that's the thing, Clint. I don't think it was the ceiling falling down on top of me that caused this. I've been having these—whatever theses are—for weeks now. Sometimes they feel like memories, so vivid it's like you're actually there, as if it's actually happening. But there's no feasible way that could be possible… Some feel like nightmares. And there are some that just feel….surreal. I didn't bring much attention to them before; I thought they were just night terrors. But now…this is the first time I've had one while I wasn't already asleep or unconscious…" He confessed with a pained look.
Clint seemed to physically deflate. He turned and looked at the doctor, who was still sitting on the white tile. He lowered himself to the ground, and sat next to his friend. "So, what are we going to do? I mean, are you okay? Do you have any idea what this is or why this is happening?" he questioned.
Bruce sat there, head in hands. His eyes took on a glazed look; he stared off to somewhere across the room, not really focusing on anything in particular, just deep in his own thoughts. He stood up abruptly, anxiously running a hand through his curly, mess of hair. Despite the calm, warning voice in his head, he began to pace. He knew that this kind of behavior would only make the situation worse, would only make him more worked up, but right now the voice of reason was not one he wanted to listen to. "I-I don't know. Just…just give me a second to sort this all out." he stammered.
Clint sat there patiently, waiting for the doctor to work through everything that was swimming through the man's head. The doc seemed pretty shaken over what he saw, and it was obviously scaring the hell out of him. It was after about twenty minutes of Bruce pacing and incoherent mumbling that he finally stopped. Clint looked up and uncrossed his legs from atop his chair. "What is it? Did you think of anything?" he asked.
"No…well, maybe…I need to run some tests first to be sure…I need to talk to Tony." His hand still seemed glued to his chin from where he'd been thinking, continually running it across what little bit of stubble he had at the moment, and his eyes still had a glazed look about them. "JARVIS, where is Tony's current location?" he inquired to nowhere in particular.
"Sensors indicate that Master S-Stark is currently located on Sub-Level three, in his personal laboratory, with Master Rogers. However, due to damage to my internal-nal systems, I am unable to contact anyone below the tower's ground floor, and therefor am currently unable to contact them at this time." replied the AI, a slight glitch audible in his otherwise steady British tone.
Bruce was already heading out the door before JARVIS had even finished, prompting Clint to jump up and follow him. "Thanks, J!" he called as he jogged ahead.
"If we can't reach Tony and Steve from up here, then we'll just have to chat with them down there." he explained as they rounded the corner to stairwell.
"Yeah, I got that," Clint breathed, rolling his eyes slightly. He followed the doctor down to the main floor of the tower. His eyes flitted to the chaotic, flashing red-and-blue emergency lights on the usually busy street outside. It was obvious to Clint that the N.Y.P.D. had no more idea what was going on than he did, and that they were just trying to secure the perimeter of the building in case another bomb were to go off, or something.
The archer arrived by the scientist's side just as he finished entering the passcode to the sealed metal doors in front of them. They slid open soundlessly, and the pair climbed into the lift together. Bruce did not say anything the whole ride down; he just stared at the distorted reflection of himself on the elevator's cool metal surface with that same slightly desperate look on his face. Clint was not about to break the silence.
The lift gave a soft thud, and the doors opened to reveal an exasperated but visibly relieved Steve Rogers. Steve gave the pair one of his huge, Captain America smiles, and said, "You're okay! I wasn't sure how serious your injuries were. I was just coming up to check o-"
Bruce stopped him mid-sentence, "Steve, where's Tony. I need to speak with him."
"He's down in the lab trying to get JARVIS up and running again. Why? Bruce?" he replied, obviously confused by the harshness in his friend's voice.
He immediately began walking down the hall, sliding past the blonde as if he was not really registering Steve was there anymore. "Bruce! Wait! Why are you in such a rush?"
Without slowing, he shot back, "I have something I need to tell him."
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