OK! I'm gonna answer a few of your guy's comments:
I am Misty N: Hey, don't judge my cliffhanging skillz! I learned from the best, Cliff Hanger from 'Between the Lions' on PBS.
animangel: We already talked about the Hungarian thing, but THANKS AGAIN! I appreciate any help you can give in a hopefully less awful translation. I mean, I knew it would be bad, because honestly Google translate is only helpful if you already know the language you're looking up, but that's all I had, so I'd be really thankful for your help!
EowynPevensie90: Thanks for the support! I appreciate that, and yes, I'm feeling much better now. Also, I read every review for my stories, and I noticed you review a lot, so thank you so much for the awesome support!
Guest: I know this was all the way back in chapter 7, but somebody made a comment on Peter's strength and senses always being undervalued in other stories, or however you wanna put it. I totally know what you mean, and I'm hoping to capitalize on that in later chapters, but I don't want to give too much away so, thanks for the review and keep reading to see what happens!
Banner had a kid. Banner had a super-powered kid. A doubly-super-powered kid, with both the abilities of a spider… and the Hulk.
Steve stared unseeingly as he sat at the kitchen counter in Avengers Tower. They had gotten home hours ago, everyone exhausted and quiet.
I mean, it's not like they didn't all see it coming. When Clint had said the boy turned green, everyone had their suspicions, especially with the way Bruce had reacted when he'd found the boy.
Steve thought that everyone, Bruce included, felt the same way now, though. It hadn't been said yet, nobody had suggested it, that Peter might be the… might be Banner's son. If he had just been the man's child, that would be one thing, but the boy turned green, too. The idea that the Hulk had a son, it just seemed so absurd. It sounded absurd.
Steve heard him before he had even entered the room, but didn't move to acknowledge Tony until the man turned on the chainsaw.
Steve whirled around, "Tony, what in the-?!"
Tony grinned, revving the chainsaw once more before putting it down, "Gotcha! I finally surprised you! Ha!"
Steve sighed, exasperated, "You only surprised me when you turned on the chainsaw, but I heard you all the way down the hall."
Tony pouted, "Whaaat?! Auh, Cap, couldn't you have given me just this one?"
Steve stared blankly back, before his countenance turned concerned, "How's he doing?" he asked quietly.
Tony frowned, looking in the direction of Bruce's bedroom down the hall, "I don't know, he's been kinda out of it. I don't get why though," Tony moved towards the liquor cabinet, taking out a bottle and glass, "He just found out he had a kid. I mean, I know I would rather die in a hole, but-"
"-Think about it," Steve brushed over Tony's comment, "Bruce's worst nightmare has come true. Not only has his failed experiment created another Hulk, but his own child now has to deal with the demons he's been fighting for so long. In his eyes, he did that to his own son. Wouldn't you feel depressed to have such a legacy?"
Tony stared at Steve for a moment, before looking down at the glass of liquor in his hand, swirling around the liquid and watching its movements.
"I can imagine, I guess," he answered quietly.
Steve stared at the glass as well, suddenly remembering what Tony had told him, one especially drunken night, about Howard- or the Howard that Tony grew up with. The harsh, drunken soul Tony had called father and Steve's brilliant friend from back in the day were two very different people.
Tony sucked in a breath of air, as if he had been drowning in his memories, and cracked a somewhat forced smile, "Right, well, we need to figure out a way to get him out of his funk, and I think a boy's night out would be just the thing!"
Steve frowned, "Tony, I don't think Bruce would like tha-"
"CLINT! Get in here! JARVIS, where's Clint? Send him in here. And get Bruce, too. Tell him it's urgent," the billionaire was practically vibrating, he was so excited.
"Tony, that's not-" Steve tried again.
"-What happened? JARVIS said it was urgent," Bruce walked in, Clint right behind him.
Looking the man over, Steve winced. Banner looked pale and slumped, as if the whole world bared down on his shoulders.
"And why is there a chainsaw on the kitchen counter?" Clint asked, confused.
"We're going out- undercover!- on an important totally SHIELD-sanctioned mission. A totally, very serious matter, and it requires all of us to go, so let's head out!" Tony marched towards the elevator, completely ignoring his teammates' protests of confusion.
"Tony-"
"Wait, then where's Thor and Nat-"
"I didn't get any notice from SHIELD about a-"
Tony was seemingly too far away from the other three to hear, but called loudly from the elevator, "Meet me on 7th Ave in Midtown in 20 minutes! JARVIS will give you the address! DON'T BE-" his last words were cut off by the closing doors.
The kitchen filled with silence.
"Steve?"
"Yeah?"
Bruce sighed, "We're going to a club, aren't we?"
Steve nodded, "Tony thought it might… get you out of your…funk."
Bruce took a calming breath, "Yeah, I… expected as much. Tony took me clubbing when we had thought that Reed, Susan and Victor had been killed in that space station accident last year. It's alright, I could use a drink, I guess."
The three of them headed towards the elevator, only to be stopped as a small figure walked down the hallway towards them.
Clad in a pair of SHIELD issued child's pajama pants and an old t-shirt of Bruce's, and dragging a throw blanket behind him, the little boy was the picture of adorableness. Peter rubbed his eyes, shuffling sleepily towards Bruce.
The boy didn't let go of Bruce 'til he had finally fallen asleep, and had slumbered peacefully in the man's arms up until a few minutes ago.
"Hey, hey," Bruce said gently, kneeling down, "What are you doing up, Buddy? It's..." he looked around for a clock as he had no watch, "It's really late, Peter, you should be in bed."
The little boy tugged at Bruce's hand and looked down, mumbling something.
"What's that?" Bruce asked kindly, before smiling, "You can't sleep. Alright, I'll tuck you in. It's too late for us adults to be up either."
Looking up at Clint and Steve, Bruce's tired smile turned pleading.
Clint chuffed a laugh, "We'll cover for you. But you owe us, Banner. Babysitting Tony is not my idea of a night on the town," the man walked into the elevator.
Steve merely smiled at Peter and nodded his head, "Get some sleep, Doc."
Bruce picked Peter up and carried him back to their shared room.
Tony had plans in the works for each Avenger to have their own floor with their own individual bathrooms, kitchens, and any other necessities. This idea came about after Thor's snoring almost caused Bruce to Hulk out and Clint slipped a few laxatives into Tony's coffee after he left his dirty underwear on the couch. It was a needed change; however, in the meantime, Bruce and Peter shared a room on the main floor across from Steve and in between Tony and Natasha.
Bruce set the boy down on the bed, shifting him into his nicely formed pillow nest and laying down beside him. The boy curled into his side, latching onto him like a lifeline. He was already fast asleep, breathing softly and quietly.
Bruce watched the child, his child. He was so perfect, completely at peace and happy to be with Bruce. The boy was unmarred, perfect actually, except for the half of his blood that was contaminated with gamma radiation. Bruce's blood.
Bruce felt his emotions boil up within him, even as he shoved them down, trying to contain the green that was most likely clouding his eyes and tinting his skin. He had done this to his own son, given his child the curse of the Other Guy.
A voice in Bruce's head whispered to him, that may have been true, but the boy seemed fine. He didn't seem affected by the radiation, not like Bruce. It was almost as if the merging of genes and whatever else had been introduced to the boy's system had balanced out the monster gene. This lead Bruce's mind to a whole new flurry of thoughts.
That's right, my son's been experimented on, Bruce remembered.
The medical tests that had been run on Peter not long after they'd first gotten to the helicarrier had shown signs of experimentation; scarring from where the needles had pricked him numerous times, chemicals in his system that were often used in animal experimentation, adaptions to the boy's anatomy that were known reactions to a number of illegal steroids. Just the thought of somebody hurting his son- and how could Mary have let that happen? Or Richard? Did they know about it? Were they even a part of it? What all was done to Peter? Would there be any residual effects, anything that could ultimately harm the boy? And the child's powers? What all could he do? Would he develop more abilities as he grew older?
Bruce's head spun with all the thoughts, he thought he might be sick. A tug from Bruce's side caught his attention once more, as a tiny hand had wrapped itself in the man's shirt.
Peter appeared to be having a bad dream. Bruce held him closer, humming an aimless tune to calm the boy down.
None of that mattered, at least not right now. Bruce was exhausted after today, and he just needed to sleep.
Closing his eyes, the man quickly slipped into a blissfully dreamless sleep, not to awaken until the next morning.
I know, I know, not very interesting, but I needed a change of scenery and I also wanted to make a few points about how much of a big deal this is for Bruce.
I have a feeling that I might have gone a little overboard with his response to it and everything, but I figure that Bruce is a pretty emotional guy, and he's had to deal with a lot of bad stuff in his life. If he wants to get a little emotional about this, he is perfectly within his rights to do so!
I do hope you liked this chapter though! A little character development, and more to follow soon!
HAVE A NICE NIGHT, MY FELLOW NOCTURNALS!
