Face It All Together

by Periwinkle Skittles

Anybody ever wonder what Bruce's secret was to keeping calm during those years in India? Well, turns out that 'secret' was a friend of his. This is the story of how he meets that friend with special powers and how they stick together during the events of The Avengers. Oh, I forgot one little thing. His friend? Yeah, she's a mutant dog.

10. Chapter 10

Bleh, this chapter's short- I'm sorrrrrrrryyyyyy! Anyway, here's a new chapter, I hope you like it!

The title of this chapter is from Roxette 'Listen to Your Heart'

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Marvel

Chapter Ten

Sometimes You Wonder If This Fight Is Worthwhile

"Access denied?!" Tony exclaims, staring at the screen with wide eyes. Said words are plastered on it in red. "Jarvis should've gotten past all of the security." He starts tapping on his phone, muttering under his breath.

Next to him, Bruce is inspecting the screen. After a moment, he says, "Well, SHIELD is a top secret government agency. Maybe their security measures are more complex than others?"

"Jarvis still would've been able to decrypt them." Tony retorts, brow furrowed as he does this and that to his phone.

I watch them a few feet away, sitting on the floor. "Maybe they saw it coming," I suggest, "and Fury did something to stop you."

Tony ponders about it, "Well, the program should've stopped any alerts of the hacking, but if… since I planted the bug on the bridge, then…" His eyes widen in realization, "That bastard! Ahh, I should've seen this coming!" He starts banging his head on the wall, muttering about how he was an idiot to put it on the bridge, where apparently there's more security and other stuff. I hear him grumble a few more smart words that don't make sense.

Bruce and I glance at each other, and I shrug cluelessly. Finally, Tony walks back to us and says, "Alright. Eye-Patch is probably on his way already to chew us out, so be ready." He sighs and lifts himself up onto the table.

"It'll be fine." I say, walking towards them, "I could try and keep him calm, if you want."

Bruce sits down next to Tony and says, "Er… I don't think it would be wise to be in his mind, unless it's necessary. Or any of the agents, for that matter. You don't want them finding out about…"

"I've done it before." I say, "But I guess you're right." I bend down and stretch, letting out a yawn. The clouds have cleared, so now natural light is pouring into the room. Sighing, I straighten up and walk over to the table, "Alright, places everyone."

Tony snorts and pats the top, "You should sit up here with us. That'll be a scene." I huff and then consider jumping on. Before I can, Bruce says, "Just stay down there, 'Mit. If we're all sitting on the table it'll look suspicious.

"Okay." I reply and move to sit down next to the table leg. The moment my rump touches the ground, Fury bursts into the lab.

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" he demands, striding in. He looks angry and I have to resist trying to telepathically calm him down.

Tony replies casually, "Uh, kind of been wondering the same thing about you?" Fury stops in front of him, glaring, "You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are." Bruce says, "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now." Tony gives Fury a 'ha!' look, and Bruce continues, "When we get a hit," he points to the screen hanging from the ceiling, "we'll have the location within half a mile."

"Yeah, then you get your cube back. No muss, no fuss." Tony says, bring the screen down to him, "What is 'Phase 2?'"

A loud clang catches our attention and we turn to see Steve plopping a weapon on another table. "Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." he says sternly, "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me."

I frown and say to Bruce and Tony, "Weapons? That's terrible- they can't do that! And powered by the Tesseract…"

Fury sighs, "Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract." He walks over and touches the weapon, "That does not mean that we're making-"

"I'm sorry, Nick." Tony interrupts, turning the screen, which shows blueprints for weapons, "What were you lying?" I frown, glaring at Fury.

"I was wrong, Director." Steve says coldly, "The world hasn't changed a bit." Just then, Thor and Natasha walk in.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce asks the assassin, standing up. She walks towards him, "You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, Doctor?" I bite back a growl. I don't think so, missy.

Bruce puts on a fake smile and replies, "I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed."

Natasha continues walking towards him, saying, "Loki is manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what, exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." she points out. I narrow my eyes. The assassin has that viper-like form again, like she could strike at any moment.

Bruce moves in front of the scepter, "Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." He grabs the screen and points to it with his glasses, "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

There's a pause and we all turn to Fury. He simply glares, and then points at Thor, "Because of him." I blink in surprise? What does he have to do with this?

Thor looks equally confused, "Me?"

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town." The director explains, "We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor says, but Fury counters, "But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

Bruce glances at me, but I try not to notice. I haven't realized that, if I ever went bad or if Loki got control over me, I would be pretty unstoppable. With my telekinesis and telepathy- I guess I'm more powerful than I thought.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve retorts.

Thor steps forward and says, "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth the ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?" Fury questions, "You forced our hand. We had to come up with something."

"A nuclear deterrent." Tony says sarcastically, "Because that always calms everything right down."

Fury turns on him, annoyed, "Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark."

Steve backs him up, seemingly glad that they're ganging up on Tony, "I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-"

Tony raises a hand, "Hold on, how is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve counters snarkily. I frown. Alright, things are starting to heat up a bit.

Thor speaks up, "I thought humans were more evolved than this."

"Excuse me," Fury drawls, "Did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

Thor frowns and says, "You treat your champions with such mistrust."

"Well, Thor's right about that." I say to Bruce, shrugging, "They aren't treating you guys very well by keeping all these secrets."

Natasha, who is watching them, asks, "Are you boys really that naive? SHIELD monitors potential threats."

My frown turns into a scowl. Potential threats? "So, isn't that everyone here?" I ask Bruce, "They were watching you, Tony, Steve-"

"Captain America's on threat watch?" he asks aloud, although I can't tell if it's directed at me or not.

Oblivious, Natasha replies, "We all are."

"Wait, you're on that list?" Tony asks, "Are you above or below angry bees?"

I sigh, "Tony, this isn't really the best time for-"

Steve interrupts me, snapping, "Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack-"

"Threat!" the genius calls, pointing, "Verbal threat! I feel threatened!"

"Tony!" I scold gently and then notice something odd. My mind is tingling a little as I keep the mental connection with him. It seems familiar…

I turn to the scepter and see that the blue stone is glowing. My eyes widen and I exclaim in Tony's mind, "Tony! The stone!"

He falters a little in his argument with Steve and glances at me. I wince and go into Steve's mind, trying to calm him down. The super soldier's shoulder loosen a little bit, but before anything else can happen, Thor catches everyone's attention.

"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." The Asgardian scoffs. Bruce, who I notice is a little wound up, says, "That's his MO, isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

I immediately delve into his mind, reassuring him, "Calm down, Bruce. It's alright. We're going to figure things out."

"You need to step away." Fury warns.

Tony rolls his eyes and puts a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" he jokes, but Steve smacks his hand off, "You know damn well why! Back off."

Tony turns to him, his gaze hardening, "I'm starting to want you to make me." Steve circles him, taunting, "Yeah, big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

I continue trying to subtly sooth Steve's mind, desperate for him not to take the bait. He hesitates, and then says, "I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

"I think I would just cut the wire." Tony replies casually. I pull out of Steve's mind and say to the genius, "Tony, you're really not helping. Please, just back off."

Steve glances at Bruce, and then says to Tony, "Always a way out. You may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Tony scoffs, "A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle."

"Tony!" I exclaim and he twitches slightly. Steve sizes him up and challenges, "Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds."

Behind me, Thor laughs, "You people are so petty... and tiny."

"Yeah, this is a team." Bruce says sarcastically.

Glancing at him, Fury orders Natasha, "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-"

"Where?" Bruce interrupts, tensing a bit, "You rented my room." I step towards him, sending soothing thoughts.

Fury shakes his head and defends, "The cell was just in case-" My eyes widen. Cell? Okay, these people are trying to make the Hulk mad.

"In case you needed to kill me. But you can't. I know, I tried!" Bruce says. I curse myself for getting distracted and go back into his mind, but hesitate when he shakes his head a bit. Everybody's watching him, and he sighs, "I got low. I didn't see an end. So, I put a bullet in my mouth, and the Other Guy spit it out. So, I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I raised a dog. I was good! Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk." I sense him getting angrier with each word and see him reach for the scepter.

"Bruce, stop!" I whine, "It's the stone. It's making you guys mad."

My owner pauses and glances behind him, looking at the stone in the scepter. His eyes flicker to me for a moment, and then a loud beeping pierces the air.

"What's that?" I ask, and he straightens up. He walks across the room and mutters loudly, "The signal." Natasha follows him as he taps on the box computer, "You located the Tesseract?"

"I could get there fastest." Tony offers.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard." Thor says, "No human is a match for it." Tony turns and starts walking out of the room anyway. Steve grabs his arm to stop him.

"You're not going alone." he snaps. Tony slaps his hand away, "You're gonna stop me?"

"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve challenges. The genius narrows his eyes, "I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Tony…" I groan, and to my surprise, he whirls on me. "Stop it!" he snaps.

Fury, thinking that he meant him, retorts, "Stop what, Stark? Bre-"

Suddenly, there's a loud explosion and I'm knocked off my paws. The table shudders and tips over, crashing down onto me. I yelp, trying to scramble away, but something hard hits me in the head and I fall back down. Stars dance before my eyes and darkness threatens to take over my mind.

I groan and squeeze my eyes shut, feeling a sharp pain on the back of my head. For a moment, I just take a few breaths and try to keep myself conscious. I can hear sirens wailing and footsteps stomping, but they sound muffled. Then, I open my eyes again and yelp in surprise.

Loki's scepter is right in front of my nose, its tip barely brushing my forehead. The blue vines come at me this time, wrapping around my mind and filling my vision with blue. Whining, I smack the scepter away with a paw and attempt to stand up, but the table is still on my back. For some reason, the blue vines still linger in my mind, making everything seem slurred. I try to lift the table off with my telekinesis, only to find that it's much harder now and feels like I'm trying to lift it with water.

"Hill!" Fury's call jerks me back to reality. I see him struggling to get up and let out a whimper. He turns to me and staggers over, grunting as he lifts the table off my body. I scramble out from underneath it and give myself a shake. The sharp pain in the back of my head doesn't leave, and the blue vines are making me feel groggy. I try to tear them away, but it's harder in my own mind and I'm too dazed to focus on it.

"Stark, you copy that?" Fury asks, and I realize he's talking into his earpiece, "Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section, then get to the armory." He pushes his way through the debris and runs through the hallway, "Romanoff?"

I blink and look around. Where are Bruce and Natasha? I know I should feel panicked, but the realization doesn't jolt me thanks to the blue vines. So, I woozily lumber over to the shattered window and gaze down. Sure enough, my owner and the assassin are on the level below.

Natasha's leg seems to be stuck underneath something because she's struggling to move. Meanwhile, Bruce is on his stomach, groaning. Giving myself another rough shake, I leap down onto the level, wincing as the glass shards dig into my paw pads.

Natasha glances up at me and I sniff her, checking for injuries. Putting a finger to her earpiece, she says, "We're okay."

Behind me, Bruce groans again and I turn around. His fists are clenched, and his skin is tinted with green. Again, thanks to the blue vines, I don't feel any panic or fear, which should scare me even more, but it doesn't.

"We're okay, right?" Natasha mutters, sounding a little worried. Bruce moans and hunches over, breathing in strained pants.

"Doctor?" Natasha asks, "Bruce? You gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're going to be okay. Listen to me." A few meters away, a couple of agents approach. Natasha fervently waves them back and they disappear. The assassin tries to push me along too, but I just stupidly stay where I am.

"We're going to be okay, alright? Natasha continues reassuring Bruce, who's looking even greener now, "I swear on my life, I will get you out of this. You will walk away and never ever-"

Bruce suddenly whips his head towards her and screams in an animalistic voice, "YOUR LIFE?!" He moans again and lurches upwards onto his knees. His face contorts in pain and his shirt rips as he begins to grow. Natasha gasps and struggles even harder to remove her leg from underneath the metal object pinning her down.

Staggering, Bruce slides down onto the lower level and collapses. His screams and groans echo loudly, but they barely get past the blue vines in my mind.

All of the sudden, Bruce pauses in his transformation and glances at us. Our gazes meet and his eyes widen. "Am…" he chokes, "Help…"

I blink repeatedly, feeling the blue vines loosening a little. They aren't… the stone hasn't taken over my mind fully- I know that much- but I still feel slurred and I can't…

"Bruce." Natasha whispers, and then my owner morphs fully into the Hulk. The assassin once again tries to get out from underneath the metal, but fails. I narrow my eyes and will my telekinesis to work. The vines are hindering me, but… if my normal consciousness can get through the gaps…

Finally, the metal lifts up just enough for Natasha to pull her leg out and scramble onto the lower level. I drop my hold, gasping for breath. Why was that so hard all of the sudden? What did the stone do to me?

I hear Natasha grunt as she hits the ground and see Hulk glare at her over his shoulder. She whirls around and dashes up the stairs. Roaring, he charges after her and rips the metal out from under her feet. Thankfully, she uses her gymnastics skills to swing higher and flip into the ceiling and out of sight. Hulk snarls and tears the grates out, making her go faster and faster until she drops back onto the ground and disappears into the maze of metal. Hulk roars in frustration and goes to search for her.

I tilt my head, watching the scene with blue-tinted vision. Well, I better go help them. With that, I jump down onto the lower level and trot after him.

Okay, so in case you are confused, Amity isn't fully being controlled by the stone (mainly cuz nobody is controlling the scepter right now and she's also a telepath so that makes her have more resistance) but she is slightly 'under the influence' (not in the druggy way, guys ;)) so her powers are kind of off and she can't use them fully...

On another note, did anyone see Pitch Perfect 2? OMG it was so good! Much better than the first movie. It was colorful and the music was so good and it was funny and romantic and EVERYBODY WAS SO FLIPPIN HOTTTT!

Plus, I just got new glasses yesterday, so I saw all of the hotness in super HD... Whoa, what are you talking about? I'm not drooling, you're drooling... 8D_

Till next Sunday!

-Periwinkle Skittles