Chapter Ten

'Despair.'

The word kept swirling around in her head like an annoying fly that wouldn't leave her alone. It was the same raspy voice that kept whispering it in her mind and it took all of Reyna's willpower not to rip her hair out.

'You will be the embodiment of despair.'

Reyna groaned. "I don't wanna be anything…"

"What was that?"

Reyna sat up in the bed she was ordered to stay in to see Peter walk into her room. He was dressed like himself, having decided to leave his Spidey-suit behind. Tony was the most shocked to see that Spiderman was such a young guy, expecting him to be a grown man (which technically he was but not according to Tony). He was dressed casually in a graphic gray t-shirt, a simple blue hoodie, and jeans. The concerned look on his face was what stood out over everything. He reached her side and she had to look away guiltily. She really did feel horrible about how she was feeling; Peter was so worried about her well-being and all she was thinking about was how Bruce was spending his time with his beautiful, smart, kind ex-fiancé.

"Nothing…" she mumbled in reply. "I'm so bored that I think I'm going crazy."

Peter nodded in understanding. "How are you feeling?"

"Not sick, if that's what you mean. Any new info on this alien species inside me? I feel okay for now but it could be eating me from the inside for all I know." She said it jokingly but the very thought of that terrified her.

"We've all been taking turns studying that black goo that came from your arm but we haven't had much luck yet. Probably because it's not from this world. But we won't give up and you'll be better in no time!"

Reyna nodded distractedly. "Sounds good."

Peter ran a hand through his already messy, dark hair. He trained his brown eyes on her and she had to force herself not to look away. It was an intense look. When he placed a hand on the side of her face and began rubbing his thumb against her cheek, she flinched.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," he whispered. "You're okay now." Then he did the worst possible thing; he leaned forward and kissed her. It wasn't a bad kiss, actually it was very nice. He was a really good kisser! But unfortunately, she really wasn't feeling it. The nagging voice in her head was louder in her head now, yelling about how he was nothing and that he would be crushed- by her.

"Ahem."

Peter pulled apart first and just grinned as Bruce stood awkwardly at the doorway. He didn't even bother to look embarrassed and kept his hand on Reyna's face. "Kinda busy here, bodyguard. Can I help you?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows, trying to conceal an amused smile. "I wanted to check on Reyna's vitals. Make sure she was doing alright. Should I come back later?"

"No, no, you do your job doc," Peter conceded. "I gotta head to class." He faced Reyna again and pecked her on the lips. "I'll stop by after to see you." He stood up to leave and goofily took a bow in front of Bruce before making his exit.

If Reyna were herself, she would have laughed. She would have found him cute and would have enjoyed the kiss that Peter gave her. Then she would have been embarrassed to have been caught by Bruce. But she wasn't herself at the moment. When she saw the look on Bruce's face at having seen them, she felt irritated. So much so that she actually became angry. Upset.

Bruce stepped forward into the room, holding his hands up like he was mock-surrendering. "Didn't mean to interrupt." He took the stethoscope from around his neck and held onto it as he approached her bed.

Instead of responding to that comment, she snapped, "How's Betty?"

Bruce paused for a moment but then acted like she never said anything. He placed the end of the stethoscope on her back and listened to her heartbeat.

"That good, huh?" Reyna replied sarcastically. "That didn't take you long to get back together. She seems really nice. Plus you guys have history. It was just a matter of time."

"Your heart has accelerated abnormally. How are you feeling? You don't look flushed."

Reyna had no idea why she was feeling so frustrated. Even if she really were angry with Bruce she wouldn't be acting like this. It was like an out-of-body experience where she could see what she was doing like it was another person acting out but she couldn't stop herself from lashing out. What was wrong with her? She tore the stethoscope off of her and glared at Bruce.

"Why aren't you answering me?"

"You and Spiderman looked cozy," was Bruce's response. A guilty look crossed his features immediately but he remained silent after that.

"I'm tired. Can you leave?"

It didn't take long after Bruce left for Reyna to start crying. She didn't know where that profound anger came from but it was not her. She couldn't even stop herself from saying the words that were coming out of her mouth.

'He toys with your heart. He brought on that despairing emotion by returning to that woman when he should be with you.'

She glanced down at her arm to see that the lesion that had been on her arm had expanded and now there was what looked like black goo fitted over her right arm like a glove. There were talons where her finger nails should have been. The new gloves were smooth to the touch but this new appendage only increased the panicky turmoil swirling in Reyna's head. She didn't scream- even though she wanted to- as to not alert anyone that something was wrong.

It didn't go away for the rest of the day but she tried her hardest to keep it hidden beneath her sheets. It proved to be more difficult than she anticipated when Tony came by to pay her a visit.

"Hey sleeping beauty," he said, upon entering her room. "How 'ya feelin'?"

"I've been better."

Tony nodded and pulled up a chair next to her bed. "Heard about your bitch fit. You seem to be better now though. I would say green isn't your color, you know, like envy. But I guess you do like green seeing as you have a thing for the Hulk."

Reyna blinked at his choice of words but didn't say anything.

"Oh but wait, turns out you might really not have a thing for green after all. I was wondering why you were so 'team Spidey' before but now I see it's because you're dating him. So, if you're dating Spiderman, why are you leading Bruce on? Why do you care if Betty is back?"

"He's not my boyfriend," was Reyna's lame reply. "Spiderman and I have only been on one date and that's only because Bruce didn't want to do anything with me. Why are you taking his side on this?"

The anger within her was flaring again and she sent an intense glare his way. Who did he think he was? She was infected with some disgusting parasite that was probably eating her from the inside and all he wanted to scold her about her relationships- or her lack thereof.

Tony's eyes suddenly widened and he jumped up from his seat. "Your eyes!"

The rage suddenly left her body and she closed her eyes tightly as if to clear her vision. When she opened them again Tony was inching towards the door. "Uh…what?" She honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

"I'm just going to go get Bruce. He'll want to know about this."

At the mention of Bruce, her heated alter ego reared its ugly head. Without realizing it, her body leaped up from the bed and blocked the door before Tony could escape. He jumped back in surprise. She placed her hand on the door and watched as the black on her arm began expanding to cover her entire body. Once she was covered and the goo began surrounding her face, her world went dark.

"It's so amazing to see you again, Bruce. I thought you'd be gone forever but when I saw you- the Hulk- saving the city from the aliens, I couldn't believe it. So you can control him now?"

Bruce watched Betty's lips move as she continued to talk to him but he couldn't focus on the words coming out of her mouth. The image of Reyna's upset expression and the tone of her voice just wouldn't leave his mind and it was eating him up inside. He knew there was something wrong with her, but it still hurt to have her react to him in that way. What made him feel even worse was the fact that he was being so affected by it. It was obvious to everyone that he really cared about her but he still couldn't bring himself to show it.

"I'm sorry…what was that?" Bruce asked.

Betty didn't look annoyed and just continued talking. Bruce still wasn't listening.

A loud crash nearby caused them both to stop. Bruce furrowed his eyebrows and stood up from his seat. He held a hand in Betty's direction as if to stop her from moving and said, "Stay here." He exited the room and made his way towards where he thought he heard the noise.

"Hello? Is everything alright?"

Another crash reached his ears and with a heavy heart he realized it was coming from Reyna's room. He picked up his pace and began running down the hall. When he reached the door, he threw it open and stared at the scene, unsure of what he was looking at.

Tony was on the ground, breathing heavily with a bloody lip. He was holding on to his side and glaring at a strange form standing over him. It was something he had never seen before. It was clearly female, due to its shape and size but it wasn't human. She was completely black from head to toe in what looked like a body suit. She had sharp claws and even sharper teeth but the most unnerving part of her entire look was her snow white eyes. It was a monster and Reyna was nowhere to be seen.

"Took you long enough," Tony commented sarcastically. "I haven't been able to make a getaway. Think you can Hulk out and help me out?"

The monster made to attack Tony again but once she realized that Bruce was in the room, she trained her empty eyes on him and roared. Bruce had to admit, it was pretty terrifying.

"Where's Reyna?" Bruce asked. He could feel the Hulk getting ready to show his face.

"That is Reyna."

A/N: I am so sorry for this chapter taking forever! I've been so busy! I vacationed at Disney (which was amazing!) and now I'm back at work doing my internship working in a lab! No, it's not the Blood Bank lab, but I'm in Microbiology and I literally have no time for anything after I get back home. I'm just glad I finally got this one out. And of course it's really short...sorry guys. I hope it was okay though. Please review!