July 31, 2016
Bruce had fallen in and out of semi-conscious trances since he found out he was in a coma.
Sometimes it just felt like he was there but he couldn't see and he couldn't talk or move or open his eyes. Other times it was as if he was sleeping.
He couldn't keep track of how long these lasted, so he had no clue what day it was or anything about what was happening outside of him unless a doctor was in while he was "awake."
But, today, when he tried to actually open his eyes, he did.
He blinked back fiercely, surprised by how bright the lights were. He suddenly felt much more aware of his surroundings. his arm felt itchy, so he absent-mindedly started scratching at the IV until it came out, which started a chorus of machines beeping and doctors flooding in the room. Everything just started feeling like a blur after that.
Doctors came at him, poking him with needles and shining things in his eyes and he was so shocked that he wasn't turning into a green rage monster. He assumed it was that the rest of his body was slowly waking up from the coma.
There were also people shouting questions; not just at Bruce, just in general. Doctors and nurses were shouting questions at each other about Bruce's vitals, others asking Bruce generic questions that he couldn't answer because it was all too much being thrown at him.
At one point, he was so fed up at people trying to treat him with things he started to get up on his own, which started a new wave of commotion from the people swarming him.
"SIR! I'm going to have to ask you to sit down, PLEASE!"
"Why should I do that?"
"Sir, you've just come out of a comatose-"
"I know that; even if I wasn't a doctor, I could figure that out."
"Well, we wouldn't even know you were a doctor-"
Bruce barely even heard the one person he decided to talk to over the rest of them still prodding him and asking each other questions.
"Can I please just have one doctor in here at a time? Lots of people around me gets me pretty angry."
"Sir, we-"
"Please, it would make everything a whole lot easier."
"I- fine."
The doctor Bruce was talking to ushered everyone out, even though he had to put up a fight to do so. This made Bruce feel a lot calmer, and eventually it was just Bruce sitting in his hospital bed and the doctor sitting in a chair across from him.
"Where am I?" Bruce asked firmly and immediately.
"You're in a hospital."
"Obviously. What state? City? Give me some details."
The doctor looked taken aback.
"You're in St. Louis, Missouri."
"That doesn't seem to be too close to where I was."
"You were originally found in a truck in the bottom of some pond in Camdenton, Missouri. After seeing you in the ER there, we flew you out here. You would've almost died for sure if you'd stayed there. It's actually quite a miracle you've survived this long."
"There's a lot of things that are a miracle about me," Bruce muttered quietly. "How long have I been…"
"Today is August eighteenth-"
"So, not incredibly long-"
"2016."
"Oh," Bruce took a long whistle. "Fuck."
"Um, yeah. That. Do you have any more questions? Because if you don't, I have some questions for you." He said, tapping the chart in his hand that Bruce was sure was completely empty.
"No…I guess not.'
"Good. Let's start with… what's your name?"
"Doctor Bruce Banner." He said with a chuckle.
"Well, if you're a doctor, why do you need us?"
"I actually don't need you-"
"That was a joke."
"I really don't find it too funny.'
"Unfortunately, you probably have to stay here for quite some time-"
"That doesn't really fit my plans. I've already missed my flight-"
"Well, I'm sorry to say this, but you're going to miss anymore until we figure out the rest of your mysteries-"
"Those are my mysteries to keep." Bruce said as he got out of the bed and walked away as quickly as he could. He reached the elevator before the doctor did and made sure the door closed behind him.
Once at the front desk, he stopped and asked the receptionist "Excuse me, but have there been any visitors or calls for me?"
"What's your name, sir?"
"Bruce Banner. Doctor Bruce Banner."
"Um…" she looked at her computer screen for about thirty seconds. "Not recently, no."
Bruce felt a little pang in his heart.
"Okay. Thank you anyway."
He walked outside, not sure where exactly where he was going, considering he had no car or anything in St. Louis, plus he was only wearing a hospital gown.
He was halfway down the parking lot when the receptionist was running at him yelling "Wait! Stop!"
He turned around, slightly agitated, when she came skidding to a stop in front of him, holding a paper.
"You had one call." she said through deep breathes from running. "From a Mr. Tony Stark. He didn't leave a message, but we received it a few days after you were admitted."
Bruce seriously didn't know what to say. everything that had happened in the last twenty minutes had seemed to rush by so fast, and now it seemed like time had stopped. For Tony Stark. As it always does.
"Well," the receptionist said, "I just thought you'd want to know. Seeing as he's the only person who called, you seem to be pretty important to him."
"Yeah…I guess you could say that…" Bruce said. "There's a lot of things that Tony could define as 'important,' though, seeing as he's the head of his own company and-"
"Tony Stark doesn't run Stark Industries anymore." She said matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean, Tony Stark doesn't run Stark Industries anymore?"
"A few years ago he gave the company over to Pepper Potts. She runs it now, much more efficiently, I might add."
Bruce couldn't believe what he was hearing. Could all of this really happen while he was basically taking a nap? Granted, a four year nap, but could he seriously go through all that so quickly?
"Do you know what he's doing now? Where he is?"
"He's been off the radar…" Once she said that, he almost lost trying to contact Tony, but then she added, "but I've actually got a job interview with him… I've been following his new work in the medical field through scientific journals, and I applied to work with him as an intern."
"I really, really hope you aren't kidding right now. Sorry, but even though I've had a pretty unbelievable day, it's kind of a pretty big coincidence that you're about to see apparently the only person that cares about me, seeing as no one else tried looking for me…"
"I wouldn't' have come out here if I wasn't seeing him. He came up when I searched for your name, and I thought maybe I could pass on a message for you…"
Bruce almost couldn't believe it. This whole day he couldn't believe, actually. So now he's been gone for four years, and the first thing he wants to do is see Tony, obviously- he was on his way to see him when he initially got into the accident, right?
But everything he just heard about Tony- handing over his company, switching from engineering to medical- would Tony even want to see Bruce anymore? God, would he remember who he was? Sure, he was the only person who called him, but that was only days after he'd been admitted.
Or maybe Tony was having some sort of mid-life crisis, and was having emotional problems that Bruce would surely just make worse? Not only that, but being near Tony would put him at risk of getting hurt by the other guy. Everything Bruce was finding out today was putting him on edge, and he assumed the only reason he wasn't Hulk-ing out was the fact that he was probably still doped up on medications or still slow from just "waking up.'
"Where is he?"
"Michigan."
"When you see Tony," Bruce said, "tell him I say 'hi,' and that I'm okay."
"Are you sure? Is that all you want to tell him?"
"That's probably more than he wants to know."
