Bruce dropped the phone and ran. He ran out of his lab. He ran to the stairwell and up the stairs. He ran to his room.
Banner pulled a backpack out of his closet and packed it with only the things he knew he would need… and as many pairs of pants as he could. He reached under his bed and pulled out a shoebox. He opened it to reveal a few wads of cash that he had been saving for emergencies, two passports, and a gun. He emptied the contents of the box into his backpack before zipping it up.
Banner opened the door just enough for him to peek out and make sure that no one was coming. He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him.
"Where do you think you're going?" Banner stopped in his tracks and turned around. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Tony who had asked the question.
"I'm not exactly sure," he said to the billionaire. "Out?"
"Out where?" Tony asked him.
Banner didn't know whether or not he should answer Tony's question out loud. He shortened the gap between the two of them and said quietly, "Out of SHIELD."
"Good." Tony rubbed his hands together. "How can I help?"
The scientist couldn't believe his ears. He didn't think that any of his teammates would be so willing to help. "I need to get out of the building," he answered.
"I can definitely help with that," Tony smirked.
"Are you sure this isn't too conspicuous?" Dr. Banner asked.
"Nah," Tony said with a wave of his hand. "They'll just think it's me."
Banner cautiously approached the black helicopter and pulled open the door so he could climb in. Happy, Tony's personal driver, was sitting in the pilot's seat. Apparently he can fly helicopters too.
The blades above whirred to life and they took off. Bruce had no idea where he was going; where he was going to meet up with Ari. All he could do was point Happy in the general direction of the Parkers' house and hope he would catch her somewhere in between.
Banner turned back to see Tony, still standing on the roof of Stark Tower. Steve had joined him. They watched as the helicopter flew out of sight. Bruce knew he might not ever see them again.
Just when he thought he had gotten out of the tower without SHIELD knowing, the voice of Nick Fury came over the helicopter's radio. "Dr. Banner. Land now or we will open fire."
Happy glanced at the scientist. "What do you want me to do?"
Bruce knew that he couldn't give up that easily. "Keep going," he said. "We have to find Ari."
"This is your last warning," Fury said. "Land now or we will open fire!"
Banner looked back to see a SHIELD helicopter following them. A terrible thought hit him. What if they already caught Ari? No. He shook the thought from his head. There was absolutely no way she would let herself be caught. She's too smart for that.
The sound of gunshots resonated from the helicopter behind them. Thankfully, none connected. Why do they always have such horrible aim? Banner asked himself. More rounds were fired, still not connecting.
They were no longer flying over the city. In fact, Banner didn't even think that they were in the same state anymore. Ari was still no where in sight. We really should have planned this better. Bruce thought. There were more shots fired.
Suddenly, something big and black flew right in front of the helicopter's windshield, startling Happy. The helicopter door opened and Ari stepped inside. Her dark hair was a mess and her cheeks were flushed. "What did I miss?" She asked, smiling.
Bruce was speechless. He hadn't seen her in so long that all he could do was smile at her. She looked exactly the way he remembered her.
"Um," Ari started, "you do know you're being followed, right?"
"What do you think?" Happy called back.
"Do you want me to go take care of it quick?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at her. She smirked and jumped back out of the helicopter.
Bruce watched as she flew back to the other helicopter and climbed aboard with ease. He could exactly see what she was doing, but he had a pretty good idea when SHIELD agents began to throw themselves out of the helicopter. They soon pulled open their parachutes. He watched as Ari climbed into the pilot's seat and began to land the helicopter. Happy didn't wait for her, knowing she would catch up.
Although Bruce knew that Ari could take care of herself, he still worried about her. He kept looking behind him to see if she was following.
Ari flew in through the open helicopter door, falling over and crashing into the opposite wall. "Ari!" Bruce called back as he tried to unbuckle his seatbelt.
Then he realized that Ari was laughing. "I'm fine!" She assured him. "You could have slowed down a little, though."
"Sorry!" Happy hollered over his shoulder.
Ari slowly stood up and closed the door. She leaned over Bruce's chair and said, "You might want to land this thing soon." Happy looked over at her, confused. "You're running out of fuel," she explained.
"Oh," Happy said, embarrassed. "Right…" He began to look for a place to land.
Bruce looked up at Ari and took her hand while she ran her other hand through his hair. "Hey," he said.
"Hey." Ari smiled back at him.