Bruce comes too with a pained yell.
Ross is standing over him, a repulsive happiness in his eyes as he watches Bruce suffer. "Ross." Bruce hisses the name. He has never hated someone so much in his life.
"Morning Banner" the smirk on his face really makes Bruce want to slug the man in the nose. "We're moving today. Time for you to get some exercise."
Bruce has a wild thought for a moment that Ross means exercise as the Hulk, but he shakes the thought off. They hadn't had done anything with the Hulk yet, and it would be a serious risk to anyone in the near vicinity to let the Hulk out now, especially since Bruce has been in near constant pain during his 'stay' inside wherever he is. "Wonderful." He feels the vertical bed he has been strapped to move and he had no idea where they're going. He tries not to think about how much this is probably going to hurt, because nothing they had done to him so far had been painless.
O~O~O~O~O~O~
"I've got him!" Tony's voice breaks the silence that had enveloped the work room the team had sat in.
"Where?" everyone clamors to their feet quickly waiting for his answer.
"Towanda, Pennsylvania."
There is rushing as the team quickly scatters to suit up before meeting at a quinjet ten minutes later. Clint and Natasha quickly get behind the controls of the quinjet and set them moving.
The flight will take less than an hour.
O~O~O~O~O~
Bruce pulls himself up out of the water gasping for air and going limp on the floor as soon as he's far enough out of the water that he won't slip back into the pool and drown. He gasps for air for a minute before forcing himself to control his breathing. Thirty six minutes. Thirty six minutes in the pool. He feels the prick of a needle as another dose of whatever the hell is keeping the Hulk suppressed is pushed into his bloodstream. He doesn't even have the energy to flinch.
The pool had been horrible. They had made him swim laps, then they started adding weight to his body for a 'strength' test until there was so much weight that Bruce had been forced underwater if he stilled for even a second. There were a few times that he thought for sure he was going to drown as the weight coupled with his pained exhaustion had pulled him under and only survival instinct had gotten him moving again.
"Up Banner!"
Bruce jerked a little before beginning the slow process of pushing himself up. It was so hard and he was so tired and everything hurt and he just wanted to sleep for a year. (God, he wanted to go home stuff himself on one of Steve's lovely home cooked breakfast plates and then Puppy Pile in the living room or something. He wouldn't be able to sleep alone after this. Not immediately.)
A kick to his ribs sent him over the edge of the pool and into the water when he didn't move fast enough for the Doctor who commanded him. Bruce thrashed as water rushed over his head and into his nose and mouth and he couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe?!
His vision greyed along the edges and his thrashing slowed as he started to pass out. (No! No that's bad, that's not okay, he needs to stay awake.)
Suddenly a hand grips the back of his shirt and he is ripped out of the water.
For a moment (one glorious moment) Bruce thinks it's Tony or Clint pulling him out of the water. Then the Doctor backhands him in the face even as Bruce struggles to pull in enough air and he knows. (Not yet. No, not them, not yet, but they're coming he knows they are.)
"Get up!" the same angry voice is yelling at him.
Bruce tries. He forces his limbs, shaking and weak and exhausted, under him and pushes himself half way up, still trying to breathe past the feeling of water. He tries, but his limbs fold under him and he hits the floor with a thud.
"Banner!"
A kick to the side, and Bruce rolls over. He tries again. He forces arms and legs to move, trying to push himself up, but he collapses again.
"Banner! Get Up!"
Another kick, but Bruce doesn't move. He's so very tired. Another kick- harder this time- but Bruce only grunts. The same booted foot kicks him twice more, before a hand latches onto the back of his neck and lifts him up.
Bruce is limp in the man's hold. He hears a snort of disgust before the man growls "Fine. Punishment it is."
Bruce only manages to shudder he's so tired. (Punishment is bad. He only gets that when he doesn't do something the scientists or doctors want him to do. It hurts)
He feels his body being dragged over the floor back to his 'room'. When they arrive Bruce's vision is blurring and he knows he's this close to passing out. Then the entire building shudders and the man holding him drops his body to the floor.
"What the hell?"
The building shakes again and Bruce can hear thunder raging.
And he laughs.
It's weak and raw and ragged and painful for his injured and exhausted body but he laughs. (God, he had never been so glad to hear destruction and thunder in his life.)
The man takes a step towards him, but when the building shakes a third time, the man shakes his head and turns, rushing outside and shutting the door.
Bruce wants to get up, to meet up with the team, but his vision is still fizzing out at the edges and he's so tired and they can find him, so Bruce stays right where he was dropped.
O~O~O~O~O~O~
They drop in from above like Avenging Angels.
Tony doesn't even pause; he just takes out the wall stopping him from getting inside.
Thor is seconds behind Tony, the lightning crackling around him causing every electronic device in the area that Tony hadn't upgraded (meaning everything that wasn't the Avenger's Tech) to short out and either die or explode.
Steve comes in behind the Thunder God, his shield strapped to his arm, and normally warm calm blue eyes are angry and cold. The shield is used to knock out anyone that gets in his way. (Bruce was part of his team, and in a place where everything he had ever known had changed so much, Steve protects what's his viciously.)
As soon as Clint and Natasha land the quinjet, they rush through the hole Tony left behind, their eyes cold and dangerous. (They were Hawkeye and Black Widow. Two of the world's best Assassins. And someone had taken and hurt one of their own. They had killed for a lot less than that before. No one was safe.)
The five Avengers destroy everything in their way leaving crumbling building and occasionally fire behind.
Tony finds Bruce first JARVIS having located him.
When he walks into the room Bruce was inside he went completely still. For one moment (one horrifying moment) he thought Bruce was dead.
Bruce was lying on the floor soaked to the bone, as pale as a ghost, bruises and cuts standing out in stark contrast, with blood dripping from wounds eyes closed and his breath coming in shallow gasps.
He rushes forward, hands carefully rolling the man over "JARVIS? Is he alive and can I move him without causing injury?"
Tony watches as JARVIS scans Bruce over through the helmet before answering "Yes sir. Mr. Banner is still alive, though his pulse is slowing. You can move him without causing further injury, but I suggest being careful sir."
Tony cursed sharply as he lifted the man, apologizing silently as Bruce moaned softly, his eyes fluttering slightly. Tony only got a glimpse of Bruce's eyes, but he knew immediately Bruce had been drugged.
"Tony?" one of the team calls over his Com and Tony isn't really sure who it was but he answers them anyway.
"I've got him. He's injured and I'm going to need some help taking care of this. He's drugged to the gills on something probably to stop him from Hulking Out. I don't know what it is, what it does exactly and how long they've had him on it. Probably the entire time he was here, and I'm going to have to find out about long term side effects if there are any" Tony is rushing for the quinjet as quickly as possible even as he talks. He only stops when a voice- weak and wavering- speaks up.
"T'ny. Tony. Blow t'up. Burn it."
"What? Bruce?"
"They h've my blood. Experimenting on it. Blow it up. No more. Don't…Don't want anyone else…"
"I've got it Bruce. Nothing will be here when I'm done. Promise." Tony can feel the rage crawling under his skin and he wants to hit something, but he has Bruce so instead he loads the man into the quinjet where Thor is waiting. "Watch him Thor."
"I will Man of Iron."
"I'll be back." Tony whips around and calls into the Coms. "Clint? Tasha?"
"What?"
"I'm going to run a virus through this entire network of computers. Any information sent out of here will be destroyed before destroying the computer it was sent too, no matter where it went or where it bounced around. If it originated from here, it's getting destroyed and taking the computer it's on with it. After I do that, this entire faculty needs to burn. They ran experiments with the Hulk."
There are curses from everyone before he receives an affirmative answer. Steve lets them know he's going back to the quinjet as the other three slip back inside.
Tony is quick to insert his virus even as he hears buildings farther away explode as Natasha and Clint start destroying the faculty.
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Two times.
Bruce flat-lines two times on the quinjet as his body fights the drugs and damage caused by his stay in the faculty.
He scares the hell out of his team each time and causes the rage simmering in their minds to expand and jolt violently. Tony makes and remakes plans for the Council each plan getting more and more vicious as he stares at Bruce. He hadn't dealt with them yet. Hadn't even taken the time to tell Fury what they had done. There had been no way Tony was going to take any focus away from searching for Bruce so he had just let JARVIS gather proof and evidence on anything and everything they had even thought about doing in the last year and kept looking for Bruce.
But he had Bruce now, so he could focus on what to do to the Council. (Bruce who was his best friend, who stole his blueberries and ate the entire bag if Tony left it unsupervised for any length of time, who could keep up with him, who had become trusted and cherished and was now laying in a bed pale and recovering from being a Lab Rat thanks to the Council. Tony was going to destroy them.)
Tony takes a deep breath and tries to reign in the rage.
He fails utterly.
As Tony looks around the Stark owned and operated hospital where Bruce was recovering, he could see he was not the only one struggling with his anger.
"When Bruce wakes up, I'm going to deal with the Council. I want to do this in person. Any suggestions?"
The entire team grins in anticipation, their eyes darkening as they lean forward, Natasha voicing the thoughts of everyone in the waiting room. "I have a few."
O~O~O~O~O~
Bruce wakes up slowly, as if he is finally breaching the surface of the ocean after a storm. He blinks slowly, wondering vaguely why he wasn't in pain. The disjointed thought that "I died" passed through his head before he realized that couldn't be true. He blinks again and it takes him a few minutes to work out what was wrong with the white ceiling he was looking at.
The shade was wrong. He wasn't inside his 'room' at the faculty.
He jerks as the memories rush through his head, blurry and unfocused and coming back as quick flashes of colors and feelings with the vague sense of words being said. "Oh!" he breathes the exclamation in shock as he realizes his team had found him and pulled him out.
It is only then that he notices the vague impression of the Hulk in the back of his mind and he isn't even shocked at the wave of relieved welcome that rushes through him. The Hulk wasn't completely present yet, but the drugs were wearing off if he could feel even a bit of his other half where before there had been nothing.
For the first time in his life, Bruce reaches out for the Hulk willingly and with welcome. He feels the impression of the Hulk in his head still in surprise as Bruce brushes against it without fear or negative emotion. The Hulk remains still for a moment before reaching back towards Bruce and letting him feel what the Hulk felt.
Anger.
Pain.
A need for Vengeance. (A capital 'v' is needed)
Edgy.
The Hulk wanted out and he wanted to hurt Ross and destroy the place that had caused his smaller self to fear and be harmed. He wanted to hurt the people who made him be shoved into the darkest parts of Bruce's mind where neither of them could reach each other. Bruce gets the impression that the Hulk had gotten used to having Bruce in his head like Bruce had gotten used to the Hulk and had not appreciated that taken away.
Bruce shares his memories and feelings with the Hulk, letting him know that the Avengers had come for them both, had saved them, and had already destroyed the faculty and information gained. (He doesn't have to double check. He remembered asking Tony to do it and he knows Tony would have made sure to do what Bruce had asked.)
He feels the Hulk still in his mind as he absorbs what Bruce had shared. Bruce can feel the Hulk anger cooling under the knowledge that everything he wanted to do was done. (Not including hurting Ross but Bruce is sure arrangements can be made. After this Bruce wants to deal with the Ross issue so this can never happen again and considering the effort the Avengers went through to get him back Bruce is also sure they wouldn't mind helping make those arrangements.)
Bruce pulls away from the Hulk and opens his eyes again, wondering absently when he had closed them, before looking around. He sees a pair of glasses on the side table on wheels within his reach and he pulls them on as he glances around the hospital room. He tries not to tense at the sight of the IV and ignore the flashback to the first couple days when they dosed him on whatever stopped the Hulk from surfacing and after when they wanted to test other things.
His eyes are pulled away when a voice at the door yells "Bruce!" and the sound of a coffee cup hitting the floor echoes in the room even as Bruce turns to see Tony rushing forward.
"Tony?"
"Damn it man! Do you have any idea what you did to the team? Do you know how many times I had to replace not only the training room (Clint, Natasha and Steve had all vented in there and had managed to damage the place quite a bit) but basically the entire electronic collection in the tower? (Thor had a bad habit of…sparking…when angry enough and considering his 'sparks' were actually condensed lightning he had succeeded in frying everything in his room, the hallways leading from his room to wherever he, the living room, and the kitchen) You are not allowed to get kidnapped without me ever, ever again!" even as he rants Tony is scanning his chart, the equipment and Bruce himself.
Bruce had a thought that someone had to have taught Tony how to read the charts and equipment while Bruce was unconscious and he spared a slightly pitying thought for whatever doctor or nurse that had to deal with a worried Tony.
Tony was…snarky when he worried. Very snarky with no verbal filter. Not even the minimal one he normally had. (Unless you were a member of the Avengers or Pepper who he tended not to be snarky with directly, rather turning that snarky attitude onto other people.)
"Sorry Tony." Bruce's voice is soft and scratchy and Tony instantly hands over a cup of water which Bruce takes gratefully. "What happened?"
Tony's eyes darken as he plops into a comfortable chair next to Bruce's bed (Bruce knows Tony brings the comfy chairs into the hospital any time a team member is bad enough to need an extended stay at the Hospital, just like he knows it is never empty as the team rotate who sits with the injured member, He's done it himself for the others.) as he answers "Ross was hired to get to you."
Bruce chokes a bit on the sip of water he had taken before managing to ask "Hired?"
"Hired. The Council of SHIELD was behind it."
Bruce watches Tony's chocolate brown eyes darken to black and he knows the Council's days are limited. (Bruce has no idea how protective his team is of him, that each and every member's eyes had darkened and filled with rage upon learning the cause of Bruce's stay in a Lab. He has no idea that right then as Tony spoke to him the other Avengers were literally composing a list of punishments for the Council that Tony had every intention of using.)
"Bruce." Bruce looks up at his best friend. "I promise they're going to regret it. They won't have their power much longer and that's the very least of their problems." (Tony hadn't been known as the Merchant of Death for nothing. It wasn't just Tony's weapon making skills that had earned him the title. Very few people had managed to see Tony past all the masks to care for him while earning the loyalty and love of Tony Stark. Those that had managed were people Tony protected to the fullest extent of his abilities both legal and illegal. Bruce was one of those people, and Tony was especially protective of Bruce because Bruce refused to protect himself.)
Bruce nodded slowly. He didn't ask what other measures were being put into place, what else Tony had planned, and Tony didn't offer the information.
Instead the two men simply chatted about simple things like what Tony had been working on for the team and what else the two of them could work on when Bruce came home.
O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~
Okay my darling readers: This is your chance to send in ideas for Tony's revenge against the Council.
Surprise me.
Hope you enjoyed this and for those of you who celebrate it: Happy Belated Easter.