Alright, I know this isn't what ya'll were expecting, but here ya go. I love reading your reviews, so feel free to let me know what you think. Thanks for reading! =D
When the world came back into existence I was in the middle of a snow covered city nearing dark. It was freezing, but I was fine because I had a heavy winter coat and a pretty blue scarf on. And some leather gloves with fur around the edges to boot. Maybe this bracelet does more than randomly take me places; it must protect me to some extent. I pulled out the phone Tony had given me and the date read November 22, 1995. Time to see if this thing works, I found his number and hit call. On the seventh ring I was beginning to lose hope, until a very sleepy Tony answered the phone.
"Uh…hello? Do you know what time it is?" I almost started dancing, it worked!
"Tony, it worked!" At the sound of my voice, he snapped to awareness.
"Lisey? Is that you?" I laughed.
"Yeah it's me. I'm calling you from 1995!" Silence. "Tony, are you still there?"
"Yeah…I just can't believe it. Where are you?" I looked around a bit more, it appeared I was in Russia, if the signs in Russian were anything to go by.
"I think I'm somewhere in Russia." I heard him muttering under his breath.
"Impossible…from California to…1995…the physics is…"
"Tony, just go with it. I do and it makes it a lot easier."
"O-okay, just be careful alright?" I smiled.
"I will don't worry." I looked up and saw a small figure dart behind a bench; I had I feeling I should go talk to them. "I've got to go, I'll call you later Tony."
"Just…yeah, be safe. Bye Lisey."
"Bye Tony." I hung up and walked toward the bench. The person appeared to be a little girl, she looked to be about ten or eleven. I just sat down and pretended that she wasn't there; about five minutes later she came around and sat on the other end of the bench. She had fiery red hair and startling blue eyes, and the coat she was wearing couldn't be warm enough. I was jolted out of my thoughts by her voice.
"It is not safe in this part of the city." I turned to look at her.
"I'm a little lost actually, maybe you can help me. I'm Annalise, but call me Anna."
"You are in the worst part of Stalingrad, I can show you to a safer part." I smiled at her. Just then a large gust of wind blew past us, causing her to shiver violently. I feel so bad for her, she looks so cold.
"Oh my goodness, you look absolutely freezing!" I quickly took my scarf off and before she could do anything I wrapped it around her neck. "There you go, that's much better! And look, it really brings out your eyes." She looked shocked.
"Why would you give me this? You don't know me or anything about me." I smiled at her.
"I know all I need to. You offered to help me when you didn't know me, and you were cold." I tied to take her hand but when I did, she recoiled like I was going to hit her. Her hands were ice cold! I slipped off my gloves and handed them to her. "I want you to have these too." She hesitated. "Please take them, I want you have them." An inkling of gratitude and maybe…trust entered her eyes.
"Thank you…Anna." She put the gloves on and then got up and started to walk away.
"Follow me, there is a safe place not far from here." I followed her for about fifteen minutes, until we came to a run-down looking building. She motioned to come inside.
"You can stay here until morning, then it will be safe to go to the other side of the city." She turned to leave.
"Wait, what is your name?" A look of unease crossed her features.
"Tatiana Sokolova." That sounded familiar for some reason.
"Thank you Tatiana. You're a good kid, be careful out there." She gave me a small smile as she opened the door.
"Thank you, for your kindness. I will not forget it Anna." As the door closed behind her I remembered why her name sounded familiar. Tatiana Sokolova was an alias for Natalia Romanoff, the Black Widow. I stepped forward onto one of the creaky rotted floorboards unsure if I should go after her. But my bracelet made the decision for me, flaring bright and hot, taking me from the old building in the blink of an eye.
It felt like I was shoved and then suddenly appeared somewhere else. Unfortunately, I landed on tree stump and being me I fell off and cut my leg on the stump in the process. I wasn't bleeding too badly, but I'm probably gonna need stiches, great. Looking around I discovered I was on a college campus, Culver University, according to a sign. I had lost the coat and was wearing shorts and a shirt with the college logo on it. I also had some kind of badge clipped to my belt loop, it must be an ID type thing. While I had been sitting on the ground holding my bleeding leg, and trying to figure out where I was, I hadn't noticed a person come up behind me.
"That was quite the fall, are you okay?" I whipped my head around to see I was looking into kind brown eyes. I was face to face with Bruce Banner, the Mark Ruffalo version.
"Uh…I'm okay, I just cut myself a bit." He glanced at my leg and narrowed his eyes at me.
"You're going to need stiches, so this doesn't get infected." I knew it! I started to stand up, but that sent a sharp wave of pain through my leg almost causing me to fall down. Dr. Banner grabbed my arm, to keep me foam further injuring myself.
"Here, let me help you. I can stich it up inside, come on."
"Thanks, that would be great." I let him help me inside to a lab of sorts. This must be before the accident that turned him into the Hulk. I sat down on table after it was cleared off by Dr. Banner. He grinned sheepishly as he dug around for his medical supplies.
"Sorry about the mess, Betty's been after me for ages to clean up, but it just hasn't happened." I laughed.
"It's okay, it's no big deal." He smiled at me.
"I'm going to start now, okay?" I nodded at him. "So what are you studying?" I knew what he was trying to distract me and it was much appreciated.
"I'm getting my Master's in English." He raised a brow.
"That's interesting, most of the students here are going into some sort of science or math. But that's great." I winced as he pulled a bit too hard. "Sorry."
"S'okay, I'm tougher than I look. Hey do you know if anyone around here needs an assistant? I have a little extra time and I think it would be a great experience." He looked surprised.
"Really? As an English major I wouldn't think that you'd want to hang around this sort of stuff." He gestured around the lab. I just laughed.
"Just because I'm in a different field doesn't' mean I don't find it fascinating Dr. Banner."
"Actually, Betty and I might have a place for you. We do need someone to help with little things around the lab. If you really want to help, that is." He was done with the stiches and was just wrapping my leg with some gauze.
"I would really love to help out. That would be great!" As he finished he stood up and grinned at me.
"Well I guess you're our new assistant." Just then a pretty brunet walked into the room.
"New assistant? You finally found someone Bruce?" This must be Betty Ross. She came over and hugged Dr. Banner from behind. Aww their so cute.
"Betty, this is…oh just realized I don't know your name." I smirked at him.
"Annalise Harrison, at your service. But call me Anna." Betty smiled and shook my hand.
"Nice to meet you Anna. Glad to have another girl in here." This might actually be fun, who knows.
For the next eight months I became the personal assistant to Betty Ross and Bruce Banner. Delivering papers, getting coffee, cleaning test tubes, and whatever else they needed. Thank god I had Tony or I never would have survived, he was more than happy to make sure I didn't sound stupid. He was actually a bit jealous that I was working with Bruce Banner and not him. I really learned a lot, my knowledge of gamma rays and the like was nowhere near the level of Bruce or Betty; but I was able to keep up with them eventually. I became good friends with Betty, we would have girl's night and go shopping, and it was nice. My relationship with Bruce on the other hand, was…different. Ever since that day when he stitched me up, he felt the need to look out for me. Things changed when we had a conversation about family. I had been working with them for about a three and a half months, when Bruce (he insisted I didn't call him Dr. Banner) broached the topic of my family. I was cleaning the microscope lenses, when he startled me.
"So Anna, do you have any siblings?" I decided to go with the cover story Tony and I had come up with; it was close enough to the truth anyway.
"Well, I was adopted. I have one brother, but I don't see him much." Bruce looked shocked.
"What about your parents?"
"Both of them died in a car accident years ago." He looked aghast that he'd said anything.
"I'm so sorry Anna, I shouldn't ha-"
"Bruce, its fine. It was a long time ago. It's not like I don't have a family, I have some really great friends that I call family." He had an unsure smile on his face.
"Alright, if you're sure." I grinned at him.
"Stop worrying so much, dad, I'm fine." I think I may have broken him, his mouth was moving but no words were coming out.
"Err…Bruce? Are you okay? I'm sorry you just remind me of my dad." And he did, my dad was a smart unassuming guy and Bruce was so similar to him. He seemed to snap out of it.
"No, you just surprised me that's all… I think it's really…special Anna." He smiled at me.
"Thanks Bruce, I just think really highly of you, and I-" He chuckled.
"It's fine Anna. I actually means a lot to me." We went back to what we were doing, but there was a shift in our relationship. Bruce would invite me over for dinner at least twice a week, just to hang out. And he would shoot dirty looks at guy's that flirted with me; not that I was interested in any of those dorks anyway, but was sweet. I started to think of him as a dad figure in my life, and I think maybe, he thought of me as a daughter.
It had been almost eight months exactly when Bruce decided to test the Gamma radiation on himself. I had known this was going to happen, but I had hoped I wouldn't have to be there to see it go horribly wrong. Betty's dad the general came to see the results of the experiment; he was such a jerk, I really didn't like him. Right before they started I pulled Bruce to the side.
"Bruce, I want you to know that if something goes wro-" He sighed.
"Anna, nothing will go wrong. We've gone over it hundreds of times."
"Okay, I get it you're confident. Just be careful alright? I wouldn't want anything to happen to my dad." His eyes softened and he ruffled my hair.
"Don't worry Anna, I'll be fine. This will be over before you know it." With that he went in the room holding the machine that would change him into the Hulk. I stood outside with Betty watching through the window. I knew that I had to keep her from ending up in the hospital; that was something I could do, keep her from getting hurt. Right as Bruce changed, I pulled her from the room. The roar of the Hulk was deafening, along with the sounds machinery being smashed it was a terrible noise. Betty seemed to be in shock at seeing Bruce morph into a giant green Hulk. I had to get us out of here.
"Betty! We have to get out of here, now!" She looked around in panic.
"What about Bruce?!" Bruce is not in control of himself and is going to smash us if we stay here any longer!
"We have to go! Come on Betty, now!" I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the building. But before I got us out, the place started to collapse due to a rampaging Hulk. A piece of the ceiling landed in front of us and Betty tripped and fell, most likely twisting her ankle. As I moved to help her a light fixture fell and hit my arm, breaking it and l think my shoulder got dislocated. I looked behind me and to my dismay I could see green. Ignoring the pain, I helped Betty up and made a mad dash for the exit. Once we were outside I could see flashing lights but before I could head towards them, Bruce (the Hulk) landed right in front of us. Both of us froze, we were only about two yards away from him. But he just looked at us and then jumped away. After he was gone, the emergency people rushed towards us to help. Betty limped over to the medics and I started to follow her, but I started to feel faint from the pain and I collapsed right into an EMT's arms. The last thing I saw was Betty's worried face.
I woke up in a hospital bed and the familiar voice of my favorite doctor.
"…so sorry Anna, I had no idea this would happen. I never meant to…" I opened my eyes to see him near tears. Oh Bruce.
"It's not your fault, so don't beat yourself up." His head jerked up, not expecting me to be awake.
"Anna! Are you okay?" I gave him a little smile.
"I'll be fine, my arm only has a hairline fracture. And my shoulder has been popped back into joint." He looked upset.
"I did this, this is my fault!" I sat up and touched his arm, but he jerked back.
"Bruce calm down, I don't blame you for any of this. It was an experiment gone wrong, there was nothing you could have done." He seemed to calm down a little bit, but he still kept his distance.
"I can't be around you, Betty or anyone else. I'm a monster." Now you're going to make me mad.
"Bruce, you listen to me! You are not a monster; you are a Doctor who helps people, who helped me. I refuse to think of you as a monster! You will always be Bruce, the man I look up to." He gave a sort of crooked smile.
"You always were too stubborn for your own good." He sighed. "I'm going to have to disappear, General Ross already told me never to come near Betty again when he kicked me out of her room, he basically told me I was property of the US government; he'll come after me."
"Just…just be careful okay?"
"As careful as I can be."
"I'm going to miss you." He hesitated when I reached over to hug him, but relented when I gave him the puppy dog eyes.
"Goodbye Anna, I hope I'll see you again someday." I grinned at him as he was leaving.
"Oh don't worry, you can't get rid of me that easy." He smiled at me before gently closing the door. After he left, I fell asleep due to some pain meds they gave me, drifting off to dream about my strange family.
When I woke up I wasn't in the hospital, in fact I had no idea where I was. The pain meds must have really knocked me out to not notice the bracelet going off. My arm still hurt, but it was almost back to normal; huh this bracelet does a lot more that I first thought it did. Looking around I saw that that I was near a large circus tent. But what immediately captured my attention, was a small groaning noise; it sounded like someone was hurt. I came around to the other side of the tent and was met with a horrifying sight. There was a teenage boy laying on the ground, and he had been beaten to a bloody pulp. I crouched down to check his pulse, and to my relief he was still alive. Bruce had taught me quite a bit about medicine; good thing he did, looks like it's gonna come in handy. I started when he opened his eyes.
"Uh…" I made him look at me.
"Hey, stay with me kid! Look at me, I'm gonna get you some help, just hold on." I ran into the large tent to look for someone to help, but there was no one there; but I did see a large first aid kit, so I grabbed that. Kit in hand, I ran back out to the kid. He was still conscious, but barely. I kneeled down beside him, and started getting stuff out of the box.
"Hey talk to me. What's your name kid? How old are you? Can you tell me what year it is? " I had to make sure he knew who and where he was. He blinked at me a couple times.
"Mmm…I'm Clint…Barton, It's 1987. I'm sixteen." I stopped what I was doing and stared at him. This would be the infamous Hawkeye someday.
"Okay Clint, I'm gonna fix you up. Can tell me what happened to you?" He scowled, waking up at bit more.
"Swordmaster…he beat me up. I caught him with money he stole from the circus. He was gonna give me some to keep quiet, but I wouldn't take any; I was about to tell the ringmaster but… And Barney just stood there, he didn't do anything!" I stopped him from getting up.
"Slow down there buddy, I need you to stay still. Tell me who Swordmaster and Barney are." I felt along his ribcage to check to see if any were broken. His sharp intake of breath indicated I hit a tender spot.
"Sorry, I'm trying to be careful." He just nodded.
"S'okay. Swordmaster is…was my mentor, he taught me acrobatics and knife throwing. Barney is my brother, he thought I should have taken the money." I finished my examination and started to bandage him up.
"I think you have three broken ribs and at least two are fractured; you have a concussion, but the rest is just cuts and bruises. You were lucky, nothing else was broken. Alright I need you to sit up so I can wrap your chest." I helped him sit up and take off his shirt. After a moments silence of me just bandaging his ribs, he broke my concentration with his voice.
"You didn't have to do this." I looked at him in surprise.
"Of course I did! I couldn't just leave you here." I finished up with the bandaging and moved on to stich up some of the bigger cuts.
"Thank you, I won't forget this." It reminded me a lot of what 'Tatiana' said to me. I rubbed the back of my neck.
"What will you do now? Are you going to stay here with the circus?" He shook his head.
"No…I'm leaving, I can't stay here. I got an offer to come work for some agency, I think I might look into it." Of course, S.H.I.E.L.D. must have approached him.
"I think it'll be a good thing for you Clint. But where are you staying tonight?" He thought about it for a second and sighed.
"I guess I'll stay here one more night, but then I'm out of here."
"Okay, let me help you." I had finished with his stiches and had him lean on me so he wouldn't fall. I helped him into one of the smaller tents. I found a little cot for him to lay on, and then I stayed and woke him up every couple of hours because he had a concussion. I didn't sleep much that night.
When dawn broke the next morning, Clint was already awake getting ready to go. He grabbed his bow and a quiver full of arrows and that was it. I left the tent with him, to make sure he would be fine. When we got near a bus station, I made to leave. But I was stopped by Clint.
"Hey, hold on! I don't know your name." I turned around and laughed.
"Wow, I'm sorry. My name is Annalise Harrison. But call me Anna, everyone does." He frowned.
"Will I ever see you again Anna?" I grinned at him.
"I have a feeling that we'll meet again someday Clint. Be careful out there, alright?" He cracked a smile for the first time.
"I will." He started to walk off, but turned and gave me a wave. "Thank you Anna; here's to someday." I waved until he was out of sight. Then I leaned against a light pole and sighed.
"To someday Clint." Just as I was about to fall asleep; my bracelet flashed bright causing me to fall backwards into a hot white light, the deserted bus station vanishing.