"Nature made me a freak. Man made me a weapon. And God made it last too long." -Logan/"Wolverine"; from Logan (2017)

"I take it you're Dr. Banner," Mae said, looking at him closely. She held out her hand, hoping she sounded just a little respectful. In all honesty, she had never heard of him before. His file said he was some kind of scientist who worked on gamma radiation, but if his work was well known outside the science community, Mae didn't know. Keeping a low profile meant that she was more focused on keeping herself and her daughter out of harm's way, so she didn't always have the luxuries of keeping up with the latest news. Mae's concentration was on other things.

With a small, almost anxious smile, he shook her hand and nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you keeping at bay?" he asked, his voice sounding almost timid.

With a sigh of slight annoyance, but understanding in regards to his curiosity, Mae nodded slightly. "It's a split personality," she responded. "A more violent part of me that I have some difficulties keeping under control. The barriers keep her locked away, keep me in control of my body and my powers."

"You've got another personality living in you?" Steve's face looked almost confused, as if he hadn't quite heard what Mae had said.

"Yes. Like I said, she's extremely violent and she has to be locked away. Sometimes there'll be little cracks and she'll show herself, but only for a second. I haven't had a problem with her in a long time."

The look that came across Steve's and Bruce's face almost made Mae feel ashamed, but she wasn't. Mae wasn't going to allow herself to feel a little self conscious over the petrified looks people she barely knew were giving her. Did she really want to worry about what others thought of her? Not really.

Sighing, Mae tried for a reassuring smile. "Listen, I'm OK," she said. "Everything's OK. You'd know if something was up."

"We'd like to think that, too." Fury's presence interrupted whatever comments or questions Steve and Bruce might have. It was a relief on Mae's part, since she wasn't one to really feel comfortable talking about the awful that came with her abilities. Fury's gaze went to Mae's for a moment before he nodded to the two men beside her. "Gentlemen," he said coolly. Before he could say anything else, Steve had taken out a ten dollar bill and handed it to Fury. Mae sat herself down at the large glass table near the back of where the S.H.I.E.L.D. workers were stationed, propping her legs up on the table. Steve had wandered off, but still staying close enough to hear whatever Fury had to say. "Doctor, thank you for coming," he said politely, shaking Bruce's hand.

"Thanks for asking nicely," Bruce responded. "So, uhm. . . .how long am I staying here?" There was no malice or irritation behind his words, just genuine curiosity.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract."

"Where are you with that?"

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," Coulson added. "Cell phones, laptops — if it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes-and-ears for us."

"We're still not gonna find him in time," Natasha put in.

"You need to narrow your field," Bruce replied. "How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" Fury asked.

"Call every lab you know," he informed. "Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places."

With a nod, Fury called Natasha to take Bruce to where he'd be working.

. . . .

Twenty minutes later and no one had any idea where to find the Tesseract or where the enemy was. Bruce was still out and about, working on whatever he told Fury; Steve and Coulson were talking. That meant Mae, who was still sitting at the table, was left to herself, trying to keep herself busy by thinking — how was Mackenzie doing? Was she behaving? Was Nicole having a hard time with her? Mae couldn't help but feel worried on how her daughter and her friend were doing. Were more of those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents giving them a hard time? Was Mackenzie handling everything well?

Unconsciously, Mae started biting her fingernails. It was a habit Mae rarely did; it only showed up every once in a while when she found herself really overthinking things.

"We have a hit," someone called. "Sixty-seven percent match. Cross-match, seventy-nine percent match."

Coulson hurried over to look at the screen. "Location?"

"Stuttgart, Germany. He's not exactly hiding."

"Captain, Billie." Fury looked at Steve and Mae expectantly, his expression solemn but holding a bit of seriousness. Standing up from where she was sitting, Mae looked at Fury, a heaviness weighing down in her chest. Folding his hands behind his back, Fury straightened his shoulders ever-so-slightly. "You're up."

Mae and Steve shared a look, as if they were possibly having some sort of silent conversation. With nods given in Fury's direction, they were led by some of Fury's men to where they'd change out of their civilian clothes and into the proper fighting attire.

(A/N):

This wasn't my best chapter, and it was probably a little too similar to the movie in some aspects, but hopefully you guys found some enjoyment in it. Also, I am aware that I took a bit too long in posting this. I don't need constant reminders whenever that happens. Just be patient, you guys know that any new chapters will be up sooner or later, right? Reminding me about the whole 'the previous chapter's up I think you made a mistake, etc., etc., etc.' thing is something I don't need. I hope that made sense.

Do I own the MCU? No.

Thanks.

Kaia Milligan