The Girl With Six Marks
Taming The Beast
Chapter Two
Breakfast Disaster
The Cabin
The sun peeked through the windows and filled the bedroom with light. The couple on the bed groaned from the sudden brightness that filtered through the curtain-less glass and Bruce pulled the covers over both of them.
From under the blanket Alyanna tickled Bruce's chin, wrapping her leg around around his waist. "Good morning," she cooed, kissing him sweetly.
Bruce hums before wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Good morning to you beautiful."
Alyanna throws the blanket off of them and jumps up in excitement. "We have so much to do today! We cannot waste a minute!"
She jumps off the bed and runs towards the restroom. Bruce's chuckles and turns over to bury his head into the pillow. "Five more minutes," he pleads jokingly.
He was suddenly hit in the head by a towel. "If you don't get up in the next thirty seconds, I'm leaving without you," she calls from the bathroom.
Bruce scoffed, "You don't know where the car keys are."
Alyanna dangles the key outside the door, earning her a growl from the doctor.
As they packed up the car for their daily adventures, Alyanna had a suddenly feeling that she couldn't shake off. Her mind wandered to her suit that remained in her suitcase. She promised Bruce that she wouldn't bring it but something in her gut told her to put it in the car. As Bruce started up the car, she turned and walked back into the cabin, retrieving her compacted device and placing it in her backpack.
When she made it back to the car, Bruce gave her a questioning stare. "Everything alright?"
She smiled reassuringly. "Yes, now where are we going to eat?"
Bruce didn't question it but he couldn't help but feel his hand burn with nervousness.
Local Diner
The door opens with a jingle as the couple walks into the only local dinner that was just a few miles from their cabin. Bruce allows Alyanna to walk through first, who gave him a bright smile in return. The waitress behind the bar greeted them warmly.
"Welcome to Becky's! Have a seat wherever you like!" The pair nodded in thanks before heading towards a booth in the far corner.
"Well this isn't too bad. It's very homey," Alyanna comments, looking at the homestyle western decor of the restaurant.
Bruce picked up the menu and glanced through it briefly. "The foods pretty simple too."
Alyanna briefly looked at the menu but placed the page down and reached out to grab Bruce's arm.
"So what do you want to do first? There's the sky view, white water rafting, rock climbing, and lots and lots of hiking. Oh there's one trail that leads to a beautiful rock edge that has the best sunset view." Alyanna expresses excitedly, giving Bruce a right smile.
The scientist couldn't help but feel overjoyed with being able to experience new things with his soulmate all to himself. "Oh yeah? And how long of a hike is that?"
"Oh only 10 miles," She replies smoothly.
Bruce's smile faltered slightly. "That's not so bad," he said to himself, looking back down at his menu.
Alyanna raised an eyebrow in amusement. "10 miles there and 10 miles back."
The menu dropped to the table as Bruce gave Alyanna a perplexed expression. He leans forward, resting on his elbows as he gives her a serious look. "Now remember hun, the Hulk may be invincible but my old bones probably can't take on rock climbing or hiking a marathon!"
Alyanna giggles. "Oh come on! It's not so bad! Steve runs that daily."
Bruce narrows his eyes. "Super soldier," he motions to his left. "Normal guy who happens to turn into a radioactive monster," he motions to himself.
The brunette woman rolled her eyes. "Yeah well that 'monster' can cover 10 miles in two jumps."
Bruce shrugs, "then maybe you should go hiking with him," he responds playfully, earning himself a kick to the knee.
He mocks pain before they both interrupted into soft laughter.
Alyanna calms while placing a hand over his arm. "Order me a sweet tea, I am going to go to the restroom really quick."
He nods, his eyes following her as she stands and turns to walk towards the other side of the dinner.
As Alyanna passed by a man sitting at the bar, he suddenly turned and knocked into her. She stumbles back but regains her footing. "Oh I'm sorry," she quickly says, even though she knew very well that it wasn't her fault.
She expected him to apologize as well. Instead, the man turns fully towards her, a scowl stitched onto his face while his eyes glared dully at her. He was a tall younger man, supporting a beard and wearing a baseball cap. "Watch where you going next time you asian twat," he hisses harsly at her, loud enough for the busy diner to hear.
"Excuse me?" Alyanna was stunned by the stranger's words. It was completely random and highly unexpected. The diner became quiet, which caused Bruce to look up from the menu to see what was going on.
"You heard what I said you jap!" He all but screamed in her face.
Alyanna took a step back, her eyes narrowing as she glares back at the man. Was this guy serious? Did racist people like this still exist? She looked up to see the concern face of Bruce and decided that it would be better to just ignore the man to not risk Bruce getting upset. That was the last thing she needed.
With a sharp glare sent towards the man, Alyanna turns her back to him and continues on her way to the restroom.
When she felt the hand on her shoulder, Alyanna knew that this day would not have been exactly the way they planned.
"Hey I'm not done with you!" The man growled, but he was suddenly cut off as a tight grip reached around his neck.
"Get. Your. Hands. Off. Her." Bruce said in a low and deadly voice, his eyes glowing a bright green as anger coursed through him.
The man coughed and gasped for air, staring at him with a blank face. Alyanna was shocked to see that Bruce had moved so fast. She quickly moved to him, placing a calm hand on the arm that was choking the man. "Bruce, let him go. He's not worth it," she said gently, the eyes of all the patrons were staring at them now, waiting to see what was going to happen next.
"Ya'll take it outside!" An older man behind the counter said sternly.
Bruce's heavy breathing didn't subside as he glared daggers at the man. Alyanna places a hand on his shoulder, hoping that her touch would calm him. Her back burned with rage but she could slowly feel it beginning to cool down.
Bruce felt the touch of his soulmate and the other guy seemed to crawl back into his place. He was angry, Bruce for once was angry as himself. This man dare disrespect his soulmate in front of him; he had never felt that much rage towards one single person. He had to remind himself that the man in front of him was human, an arrogant annoying human, but he could have killed this guy.
Bruce blinked a few times, his eyes returning back to its normal color. His breathing began to slow and he removed his hand from around the man's neck.
The guy staggered back, his hand coming up to his neck as he gave Bruce a scowl. "Yeah buddy, listen to your Chinese whore!"
Glass and wood splattered everywhere as the man flew through the diner's wall. He landed a few yards away on the dusty ground. He was knocked unconscious as he laid there in a heap.
Bruce stood there in the large hole he had just created by throwing the disrespectful man through the restaurant. Alyanna stood there with her mouth gaped open, shocked and stunned to see what had just happened. Bruce roared as he began to turn green and jumped out of the hole and landed on the ground with a thump. His body began to expand, his clothes ripping to shreds as his muscles pulsed.
"Bruce no!" Alyanna managed to scream, her heart racing as she felt powerless to help him.
The diner erupted into chaos as the customers scrambled to escape. The owner of the diner, the old man from before, took a shotgun out and aimed it towards the Hulk.
"No don't!" Alyanna hollered, holding her hands up to stop him. "You'll only make it worse!"
The hulk stumbled as his body grew to full size, and he huffed and growled as he looked around. Alyanna knew she had to act fast, or else the Hulk would kill an innocent man if he had not already been dead.
Alyanna leaped to the ground, her shoes crunching against the gravel. "Bruce please!" She tried again, running up to him.
The Hulk turned and swiped at her, causing Alyanna to jump back, hurt spread across her face. The beast looked down at her for a moment, seeming to almost recognize her, but the rage clouded his vision and he was back to focusing on the source.
The Hulk turned to the man who began to wiggle and groan. He roared and moved to lunge towards him when Alyanna quickly pulled out her concealed handgun and shot at him, knowing the bullets would have no effect on him but enough to get his attention.
He growled and turned to glare at her, she kept her weapon pointed and her mind went to her suit. Her eyes flickered to the car, but then it dawned on her; Bruce had the keys.
The Hulk moved towards the restaurant and Alyanna jumped in front of him and shot a few more rounds into him. They bounced off of him easily and he growled in response before turning and taking off towards the desert. Alyanna let out a sigh of relief before turning to the man. She ran to him to check to see if he was okay.
Despite his sour attitude before, the guy looked up at her with a confused stare. "W-what happened?" He stuttered out, his hand rubbing his head.
"Please don't move sir, you may have broken something," she tells him. She pulls out her phone and dials for an ambulance. "Even though you were a real jerk, I've got help on the way."
"What? What do you mean?" He asked confused, looking at her as if he had no idea what had happened a few minutes ago.
Alyanna stands and narrows her eyes at him. Did he suffer from a head injury that wiped his memory? Whatever it was, it wasn't her concern at the moment. Her soulmate was running loose and the last thing she needed was for him to get lost in the desert or stumble upon a town.
She looked around for the keys on the ground but came up empty. She ran to the car and used the back of her gun to smash the window. Unlocking the door, she searched for her suit.
Behind her, the owner came up to her. "Ma'am I don't know what's going on, but this diner is all my family has. We don't have insurance for...mutant destruction."
She found her suit and pulled the compacted device out. She held it out in front of her and pushed the button. The technology scanned her body before beginning to attach itself it her. The sleek black metal morphed to her body perfectly, and it lit up with power.
She turned to the owner, who stepped back in fear. Her face masked lifted and she pulls out a small card from her right breast compartment. She hands it to him with an apologetic smile. "Here is my card. We'll cover the whole thing and even compensate for the trouble. Again sorry for the mess, everyone's breakfast is on us."
The owner looked at her with astonishment before accepting the card. When he looked down his eyes bulged as he saw Tony Stark's name and information.
The sound of her booster igniting caused the man to look up just in time to see her take off into the air and towards the path the Hulk had ran off to.