Chapter 12

Ruby jumped off the bed, snatched up the over-sized bag and hurried towards the door. Bruce grabbed her arm as she reached for it.

"No, not that way."

She huffed, but realized he was right. If Hydra was out there, they would be expecting them to rush out the front door. She turned away and walked to the window at the back of the room, pulling him with her. Releasing him, she bent down and pulled it open.

"Better?" she asked looking over her shoulder at him.

"Perfect," he answered, but he wasn't looking at the window. His eyes were focused on her butt with the dress pulled tight across it as she bent over.

"Hey!" she snapped. "We don't have time for that."

Bruce shook his head and looked sheepish, "right. Let's get out of here."

He insisted on going through the window first, then helped her down from it. Immediately behind the cabin, the treeline started and stretched up the side of the valley. Gun fire sounded to their right and back towards the main road.

Bruce turned left, away from the sound.

"Bruce, wait."

"What?"

"According to the map I had, the helicopter port is this way," she pointed to the right.

"In case you can't tell by the gun fire, that's also where the bad guys are," he said with sarcasm.

She wanted to punch him for using that tone with her.

"I'm not stupid, Bruce."

"Good. Let's go." Again he started to the left.

"Wait."

"What?" he asked impatiently.

"Two things, Mr. Smarty-Pants." She held up a finger, "one, the gun fire is back on the main road, that's almost three blocks away."

"But getting closer the longer we stay here arguing."

"Two," ignoring him, she held up a second finger, "where do you think SHIELD is going to land their helicopter?"

She raised her chin, daring him to argue that point.

He opened his mouth to argue, but snapped it shut and nodded. "You're right."

"Can you say that again?"

This time he ignored her, grabbing her by the arm and plunging into brush and weeds at the tree line. A few yards into the cover of the trees, they turned right and started picking their way carefully in the dark.

"How far is it?" he asked her softly.

She held up her thumb and forefinger about three inches apart, "this far."

He stopped and looked down at her. She couldn't make out his expression in the gloom, but assumed he wasn't amused.

"About a half a mile," she corrected.

As he continued to push through the brush, she heard him mutter, "God help me."

Her dress, while perfect for their dinner out, was not suitable for the undergrowth they found themselves dealing with. Ruby found herself wishing they were back up on the mountainside, where the poor, rocky soil made it difficult for anything other than trees to grow. Within minutes, she was sure she was leaving a bloody trail from all the scratches and scrapes on her legs and arms. She was beginning to regret insisting they come this direction.

After an indeterminate amount of time, she caught a glimpse of light ahead and to their right.

"Bruce."

"I see it," he answered.

Together they crept closer to the edge of the trees, until they could see what lay beyond. She had been right, there was the helicopter. Excited, Ruby started forward out of the bramble, but once again Bruce stopped her.

"Do you have a death wish?" he hissed.

"No, but if you yank on my arm one more time, you're going to have one," she said through gritted teeth.

"Look, Ruby," he pointed at the helicopter.

With an impatient huff, she squinted through the darkness. "I don't see...," she trailed off.

There were dark figures skulking around the helicopter. Ruby counted four.

"Six," Bruce corrected.

Dejected, she backed away from the edge of the trees, careful not to move to quickly or make any noise. Bruce wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Don't worry. SHIELD will be here soon and then we'll have backup," he whispered in her ear.

"I hope so."

She leaned back into his warmth and he wrapped both arms around her, pulling her against him. Together they waited and watched the helicopter port. Ruby was so tired it would have been easy to drift off, but Bruce was absently running his thumb over her ribs just below her breast and making her body tingle in a delightfully distracting way. From the bulge pressing into her bottom through the thin material of the dress, she guessed he wasn't unaffected either.

She wiggled slightly and was rewarded with a quick intake of breath near her ear. Bruce tightened his hold on her.

"Ruby...," he warned in a low rumbling voice that she felt more than heard.

She grinned at his response and was going to reply when she felt his stiffen.

"Shit," he whispered.

"What?" Instantly alert for danger, she looked for what had triggered his alarm. Her heart thudded loudly in her chest when she saw two of the figures walking towards the trees.

"Did they see us?"

"Shhh."

"Should we run?"

"Hush," he ordered. "Stay still."

Ruby knew he was right. If they moved now, they would be seen, but with the two men walking straight at them, it was hard to fight her urge to run.

The men were just yards from the trees when they froze and looked back towards the helicopter. One put his hand to his ear and signaled his companion with the other. Together, they turned and ran back to join the others.

"What...," Ruby began then she heard the distinct sound of an aircraft approaching.

"They're here," Bruce whispered unnecessarily.

She had to shield her eyes when the area was flooded with light from the hovering Quinn jet. She heard the sharp retorts of the people on the ground firing then the lower sound of the weapons on the jet returning fire. Within seconds, the people on the ground were either down or scattered and the area was clear.

As the jet touched down, Bruce pushed her forward, "let's go."

Together, they pushed their way through the brush and broke free of the tree line. Both broke into a run as the back ramp of the jet lowered to reveal SHIELD troops inside. More gunfire came from their right, making her falter, but Bruce was right there by her side urging her on. What had previously seemed like a short distance now seemed to stretch out farther than she had expected but she ran on, her breathing in rhythm with her strides.

They had covered maybe half the distance when Bruce grunted and stumbled. Blood bloomed on his thigh from the bullet that found its mark. She stopped and tried to help him and was greeted by glowing green eyes and a snarl.

"Go!"

Without a word, she turned away from him, tears in her eyes and blindly ran on. Shots peppered the ground around her but, strangely, none hit her. Reaching the asphalt pad, two of the soldiers ran out to meet her, one to help her to the safety of the jet and the other to cover her as she sprinted the last few yards. Arms reached out to catch her and pull her into the safety of the jet, then pushed her deeper into the interior before she collapsed, panting, on a bench.

"We got her! Go. Go. Go!" someone shouted.

"Wait!" she called out. "We can't leave him!"

"Don't worry, Ma'am," one of the soldiers assured her, "we aren't going to."

True to his word, the jet lifted off and followed the Hulk as he rampaged through the Hydra soldiers while adding gunfire from the air. As much as she wanted and needed rest, Ruby found herself wide awake and anxiously watching out the window just behind the pilots, only catching an occasional view of him in action. She flinched every time one of the soldiers fired at him from point blank range even though she knew he was impervious to the projectiles. But still, surely he felt the impact at least?

However, the close range shots only enraged him even more and he roared at the enemy as he flung them effortlessly away, smashing their weapons like twigs in the process. In short order, the hydra troops were either laying on the ground, or in trees in some cases, unconscious or had retreated in defeat. A second jet had joined the one Ruby was on and, before the dust had settled, landed and dispersed ground troops to conduct the final clean up and round up all the Hydra soldiers left behind by their comrades.

The jet she was on touched down also, but only to drop off additional troops and to collect Bruce after he changed back. He stumbled onto the jet on shaky legs, still somewhat disoriented after his transformation. One of the remaining soldiers draped a blanket over him since he was once again naked.

Flopping down on a bench next to her, he gave her a lopsided grin, "are we having fun yet?"

Without answering, Ruby reached down and hefted the over-sized bag she had been lugging around and plopped it unceremoniously into his lap.

"What's this?" he frowned.

"Clothes," she told him simply.

He opened the bag and peered at its contents then chuckled.

"Trust you to be practical."

"What did you think I had in there?"

He shook his head still smiling, "to be honest, I don't really know. I guess I just thought it was stuff like shampoo, soap, toilet paper." He shrugged.

"Yeah, I thought about that when we passed that WalMart up on the mountain while we were running for our lives." She tried to scowl at him, but her lips twitched in the beginning of a smile.

"What? You mean you didn't notice that Avon lady trying to sell perfume to a bear?"

She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle.

"Are there even Avon ladies around anymore?" he mused.

Maybe it was a combination of their exhaustion or the surreal events over the last few days but neither of them could contain their giggles after that. They laughed even harder at the confused looks from the soldiers around them, leaning against each other for support and comfort.

In the early hours of the morning, just before sunrise, the jet set down at a remote airfield outside of Houston. A large, black SUV was waiting for them. As they climbed in, an angry voice greeted them.

"You can't even go to the bathroom by yourself without getting into trouble?"

Ruby started with a small yelp as Nick Fury leaned forward out of the shadowed corner he had been lurking in.

"Thank you, we appreciate your concern, Fury," Bruce answered irritably. "Oh, and by the way, I found the Hydra cell in Houston. You're welcome."

"Fuck my concern!" Fury snapped back. "And we were there to find the cell, not get your ass kidnapped by them along with the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the state."

Bruce felt his anger rising and the Big Guy stirring inside him. It must have shown because Ruby's cool hand was suddenly on his.

"Easy, Bruce. I don't have another set of clothes stashed for you," she murmured.

And just like that, the anger died and he was just tired again.

"We did get some good intel on them, though," he offered to ease the tension in the SUV.

For the next ten minutes, while the vehicle wound its way through the nearly empty streets of the city, he and Ruby filled Fury in on the computer files she had found on the server at the institute, the emotion suppression collar, what she had overheard for the short time she was Hydra's prisoner, and their suspicions about her father. What had at first seemed like a lot, now that they laid it out it seemed more circumstantial than factual. Except for the collar. He had immediate, painful personal knowledge about its capabilities.

Sitting back to contemplate the information, Fury harrumphed. "That seems pretty thin," he gave voice to Bruce's own thoughts. "Beaumont is the one that brought the Hydra activities in Houston to our attention in the first place. He's the one that made the initial connections that we've been looking into. Why would he do that if he is working for Hydra?"

Bruce shrugged, "I'm just telling you what we think."

Fury turned his gaze to Ruby and she visibly shrank back in the seat, "do you believe your father is working with Hydra?"

"If he isn't working for them willingly, then he has to be doing it against his will," she allowed. "They could be using me a leverage," she suggested. "That might be why they were so intent upon kidnapping me along with Bruce. Why else would they want me? Apart from my father, I'm nobody. I have no value."

Bruce's heart ached with the pain in that admission. He wanted to tell her that she did have value. That she was brilliant and funny, and just as strong mentally as any of the women he had worked with in the Avengers. But now was not the time. Not with Fury watching them like a hawk.

They rode for a few minutes in silence with Ruby leaning comfortably against him. He was pulled out of his own thoughts by a soft snore and looked down at her. She was asleep, her mouth slightly open and a spot of drool making a dark spot on his borrowed shirt. Carefully, he eased his arm out from between them and then pulled her down so that her head rested on his thigh. She smacked her lips and mumbled something unintelligible, but never opened her eyes.

Across from them, Fury snorted and shook his head. When it looked like he was going to say something to break the silence in the car, Bruce just brought a finger to his lips and shook his head. Let sleeping girls lie, Fury. Let them lie.