An hour and a half later had Tex and Darcy laughing hysterically at the obviously posed and fake weddings in each of the magazines. "Oh my god!" Tex said, grabbing her left side when it started to hurt to much from her laughter. "If my wedding ever looks like that, I'd shoot myself!" She pointed to an over the top elaborate wedding, including the cake being topped by edible, gold leaf.
"Well, there goes that idea..." Darcy said, making Tex double over in pain and laughter once more. It had come as a surprise to Tex that Darcy was such a romantic, and that Darcy was also with Iceman when she accidentally let slip 'I wouldn't mind something like this for Bobby and I." Though the conversation quickly moved on from that subject by Tex, who saw the look of utter horror on Darcy's face that she had messed up.
"I don't think I'm going to find anything that I like in these magazines." Tex said finally, shoving the magazines on the floor, much to JARVIS's annoyance, who thought the house would finally stay clean now that Tony had left. "Anyway, we've got to try and figure out what Br-"
"OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO RIGHT!" Darcy yelled, forgetting that Tex had a broken rib and dragging the other woman down to the lab. "BRUCIE!" She yelled, making Tex flinch at the nickname.
"Really Darcy?" Tex asked, raising an eyebrow as Darcy laughed.
"He told me not to sneak up on him, so now I announce my presence!"
"Touché!"
"What, Darcy?" Bruce asked, moving around the table and placing a few pieces of equipment on it. "As you can see I am really busy." He was back to ignoring Tex once more, wanting to push her as far away from him as he could. He was no good for her, he couldn't give her anything she wanted (Even though they both wanted the same things).
"I was wondering what type of wedding you want!" Darcy said, sitting down on one of the seats and grinning at him. "Tex doesn't know, so I thought we would ask the groom-to-be." Tex crossed her fingers behind her back in silent prayer that Tony had told Bruce what Darcy knew, thankfully it seemed he had.
"Well, I don't know, but I believe Tex and I shall discuss it later on." Bruce said in a tone of voice that instantly let Darcy know the subject matter was closed to further discussions. "Now if you don't mind, can you leave Dianne and I alone to discuss some things? I don't want you to get any radiation poisoning."
"Is that what the science kids are calling it now? Radiation poisoning? Nice!"
Before either Tex or Bruce could murder her, she had left the room and shut the door behind her cheekily. "I'm going to kill her! Are you sure she's not Tony's daughter?" Tex asked, moving to look at what Bruce was doing. "No! No way in hell am I letting you do that!"
"What? I was just going to place a small bit of radiation on my blood to see what happens..." Bruce said, looking down at her with a sly smile. "Nothing more, Dianne." He moved beside her to gather a few more tools that he would need, ignoring Tex's small noise of protest.
"H-h-have the other guys seen you on a bad day...?" Tex asked, her voice slightly more meek then what it normally was. "Like... A proper bad day?" She noted that Bruce's back stiffened before he went back to his calm manner as he continued to set up the experiment on the table. I guess that's a no... They think he's bad days is when he's in rage! "JARVIS, lock the door and do not let anyone down here no matter what!" She whispered to the AI, knowing that she was probably going to get hurt.
"Mrs Banner, I do not think..." JARVIS tried to argue, but Tex cut him down instantly.
"Do it, JARVIS!"
"Yes, Mrs Banner."
Tex watched quietly as Bruce finished setting up and then started to roll his sleeve up, showing an arm filled with scars from random tests he had done to himself that he hid from the others. How much did SHIELD know about him? Clearly they didn't know about this part of him, the part that he reverted in to when he got to calm and was left on his own with nothing more to do.
The insane part.
"Let me do it." She said, pushing away from her spot and watching as Bruce stared at her, his eyes had a small glint of insanity and desperation in them, the same glint he had when he had created the Gamma Radiation bomb all those years ago. She took the needle from his hands and started to set up in order to take some blood samples, his cool and calm eyes unnerving as he watched her. "They've let you get to calm, to withdrawn... The insanity is coming back." She whispered, wiping his skin down with an alcohol swab.
"They don't know, do they?" She asked as the needle pierced in to his vein and the blood started to fill the vial. "You've hidden it from everyone apart from me? And I worked it out myself..." She removed the vial and started to fill a second one, Bruce's silence scaring her more then if he had shouted and hit her. "They think your bad days are when you turn in to the other guy? They don't know you, how well you have hidden under that disguise..." She finished filling the vial and took it away, ready to pull the needle out, but stopping at Bruce's voice.
"Another vial."
"Bruce two is..."
"I said another vial, Dianne!"
Tex sighed as she started to fill up the third vial quietly, she knew as soon as her real name was uttered from Bruce's lips he was to far gone to be talked out of it. She pondered quietly what the others would do if they ever found out, would they send him away? Would SHIELD kill him? The thought made her quiver in terror, she didn't want to live a life without him in it, but how long could he hide this side from them?
Most of her research had been centred not only on The Other Guy, but also on trying to keep Bruce in a balance that was safe for him and everyone around him. She feared this part of Bruce's psyche over The Other Guy because this part was cold and calculating, his genius mind coming up with things that Tex could only ever dream of. Putting the vial down on the table with the other two, she finally removed the needle, pressing a cotton ball to the small dribble of blood that had appeared on his arm.
Perhaps if his heart rate started to race a little more he would come out of this psyche? But how do you get his heart racing without risking him forming in to The Other Guy? Emotional triggers from what I have gathered are Grief, Anger and Fear... Which means... Oh I can't believe I am doing this...
Tex moved to straddle Bruce's lap, feeling his breath catch in his throat as he stared down at her, trying to work out her motivations. Damn him for being smart! She thought, knowing she would only have a short time before he caught on to what she was doing. "Tell me what you are doing..." She whispered, gently letting her hand run up from his stomach to rest over his heart, she did it in a possessive gesture, but also so that she could feel his heart rate, which was slowly starting to pick up from its calm and calculated beat.
"What do you hope to achieve with this?" She whispered, as she gently kissed his ear lobe. Please forgive me! You need this! Your friends can't know! She closed her eyes as she brushed her lips against his cheek, shivering as his fingers bit in to the skin of her hips, which had become exposed as he singlet rode up from her movements. "Do you think you can create another bomb? One more powerful then any the world has seen?"
It was his turn to shudder at her touch, as her lips brushed over his pulse point before her teeth dragged down the sensitive skin of his throat. Pick up! God damn it heart beat pick up! I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS WITH HIM LIKE THIS! Her thoughts were cut off when Bruce grabbed the back of her head and drew her face down to his, capturing her in a bruising kiss.
She felt his heart beat continuing to pick up away from the 'dangerous levels', all the time as he kissed her, her mind recorded the data of his heart beat to find out when he would go back to being his normal self. She moved her hips against his and heard him gasp in to the kiss, but still his heart beat stayed in the 'danger zone'. She didn't know what to do as their hips ground in to one another's and the kiss turned even more passionate, Bruce's fingers tangled in her hair and hers running down his back, but one hand always stayed on over his heart.
Please forgive me! She begged in her mind, before moving to whisper against his ear. "You're just like your father..." Instantly she was shoved to the ground, her head hitting the table on the way down and dazing her, but it had the desired effect. She could see Bruce hunching over the table, before he threw his hand out, tumbling the vials to the ground to smash, his blood seeping across the floor towards her. His breathing came out in rugged gasps as he fought with the anger that was building up inside him, his clam and calculated demeanour all but gone as he glared down at her.
She grunted as his boot connected to her uninjured side, tossing her down to land on her left side with a yell of pain, which instantly brought his anger down. "Oh my god, Tex!" He whispered, bending down and stroking her hair. "I'm so sorry! I'm so, so, so sorry!" He cradled her body against his, holding her tightly against his chest, his heart rate back to normal once more.
"Why haven't you told them...?" She asked, staring up in to his chocolate brown eyes which were filled with self hate and desperation.
"They can never know, Tex. They'll try and kill me again, they think I'm normal again... They can never know the truth, I don't want to die..."
The pain in Tex's body was to much as she felt her mind start to shut down in order to ignore it and get better. Her hair throbbed and so did both her sides, she swore she could feel her rib clicking every time she tried to breath, a bad sign. "Rib... Clicking..." She whispered, before passing out in his arms.
"I'll fix it. I promise."
In the lounge room, Steve and Natasha watched the screen with terror, never had they seen the doctor act like that before. "Is this what SHIELD wants to know about him?" Natasha asked, staring at Steve who shrugged his shoulders, his eyes still glued to the screen. "Is he really in control?"
"I don't think so, Natasha. I don't think he's ever been in control..." Steve said, his fists clenched at his side as he stared at his friend. "I think the doctor has more secrets then he will ever share with us..."
"But she knows, she knows his secrets... I can get her to talk, Steve. We need answers!"
"Wait till Tony gets back, and we'll show him the foota-"
"Footage has been deleted." JARVIS's voice rang out, making Natasha curse loudly in Russian.
"He covers his tracks..." Steve said, staring at the now blank screen.
Ok guys!
For those of you who are not up to date with Bruce Banner's character from the comics, the most recent adaption is that he is criminally insane and the dominant personality is Hulk, he reverts back to Bruce Banner when he is to calm and left to his own. I decided to take this and play with it for this story, which means Bruce Banner now has two dangerous levels, when he is to calm and isolated he reverts back to his insane self (The same self that created the gamma radiation bomb in the first place) and if he gets an emotion trigger (The three I will use are: Fear for his life, grief and anger) he turns in to The Other Guy.
The sentence; You are just like your father. Comes from the fact that Bruce used to see his father beating his mother constantly when he was child. We will learn more as the story progresses.
I might have to put the rating up to M soon and also a warning in the summery for Dark!Bruce. Sorry if that causes any of your readers to feel uncomfortable and not want to read it anymore, but this is how the story is heading.
Jabberwocky.