Chapter 25

Monday morning came without word from Bruce; he was still MIA. Ruby dragged herself reluctantly out of bed to get ready for the day. While brushing her teeth, Izzy came through the adjoining door.

"What do you think you're doing?" Izzy demanded, standing in the bathroom doorway with her hands on her hips.

"Bruthing ma teeth," Ruby said around the toothbrush.

"You need to stop and just go back to bed. You need more time to recover."

Ruby spit and wiped her mouth on a towel before answering.

"If I spend another minute recovering, I'm going to lose my mind. I'm going to the lab and do some work."

"How about I get dressed and we go into town, just the two of us? You know, spend the day together. Catch a movie?"

"That's sweet," Ruby planted a quick kiss on her friend's cheek as she pushed past. "But the quicker I get this thing solved, the quicker we get to go home."

"I think everyone would agree with me that you need to take a few more days off, Ruby."

Ruby spun and looked at her friend with disbelief, "what has gotten into you? First you encourage me to do this, now you are doing everything you can to convince me not to do it. Which is it, Izzy?"

Izzy plopped down on the couch, her shoulders hunched forward, "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you. This thing with Bruce had got you all screwed up. You're not eating. I hear you tossing and turning all night. You've been complaining about headaches so much that now I'm getting sympathetic headaches. I think you need to take it easy for a couple more days, that's all."

Feeling bad that she snapped, Ruby sank down on the couch next to Izzy and wrapped an arm around her.

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm more irritable than I thought. Don't pay any attention to me. How about I go in for just a few hours this morning, then meet you at the pool for lunch?"

Izzy leaned her head against Ruby's shoulder, "I guess that'll be okay. Will there be ice cream?"

Ruby laughed, "just the soft-serve from the cafeteria.

Later, in the lab, Ruby thought about what Izzy had said. She had to admit she was more than a little worried about her friend. Over the past few days, she had oscillated between being super supportive and downright discouraging of her efforts on the TOE. If there has always been one constant in her life, it was Izzy and her unwavering support. Maybe coming here had been a mistake. After all, she could work on the theory anywhere. There was no way she was going to leave, though, as long a Bruce was still out there somewhere. She kept playing the scene over and over in her mind.

Girl mine.

She couldn't shake the odd feeling that phrase gave her. It wasn't a bad feeling. In fact, she hadn't felt threatened by the Hulk at any time during the event on Thursday. Just a little overwhelmed. Okay, more than a little, but still. She needed to talk to Bruce about it so here she was staying until she could. With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the last white board and picked up a dry-erase marker.

"Let's do this."

By the time Ruby gave up and went to meet Izzy for a swim, her head was pounding, and she was getting spots of lights behind her closed eyelids. As she crossed the open field to the pool, she paused as a wave of nausea threatened to bring up the scant breakfast she had forced down earlier. Bending over and resting her good hand on her knee, she closed her eyes to wait for it to pass. Maybe she should just go lie down instead, she thought.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she told the person without opening her eyes. "I just need…,"

Before she finished the sentence, her stomach heaved and there went her breakfast. All over the shoes of the person that stopped to check on her.

"Whoa, that doesn't look like it," he exclaimed as he took a step back. "Why don't you let me take you to the infirmary?"

She held up a hand to stop whatever he was about to do, "I think I just need to go back to my room."

"Yeah, I'm not giving you a choice. Let's go."

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Ruby looked at her would-be rescuer and gasped, "oh shit!"

Eyes wide, she clamped her hand over her wayward mouth. She had just thrown up on the new Captain America!

"I'm so sorry!"

John Walker smiled down at her, his blue eyes full of concern, "that's okay. I won't tell anyone it was you. Besides, I'm about to leave, so I'll just toss them in Lemar's locker and let him find them when we get back." He grinned down at her.

Taking her arm in a firm grasp, he turned her towards the main building. Hanging her head to hide her burning face, she steeled herself for the humiliation that awaited.

There was a line in the corridor outside the infirmary, made up of mostly trainees. Walker left her propped up against the wall at its end while he went to see Dr. Bennett and let her know she had another patient. Ruby looked at the guy nearest her. She recognized him from the dormitory but didn't recall his name.

"Busy today," she commented.

He nodded, wincing slightly at the movement, "looks that way."

"What are you here for, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Same as everybody else, I guess," he indicated the others.

Ruby frowned, "is there something going around?" That would explain her nausea.

"I'm not sure migraines are contagious, but a lot of us are getting them."

"Do you think it's something we ate?"

He snorted, and winced again, "have you seen everything going on in the hangar? My moneys on some project causing this."

She guessed that made better sense than something they ate. Before she could comment, Dr. Bennet stepped out into the corridor and claimed her attention.

"I need a show of hands," she said in a voice just loud enough to carry to everyone gathered. "Who is here because of a headache?"

Everyone waiting in the corridor raised their hand.

The doctor's lips thinned, "well, let's get you guys somewhere more comfortable to wait." She looked at one of the trainees. Ruby remembered her as one of the most senior in the dormitory. "Larsen, why don't you take everyone to the cafeteria for now." She raised her voice to address the group again, "make sure you stay hydrated. You might be there a while."

She nodded at Larsen, who turned and came down the hall, past the group, "come on. Let's get out of the way until the doc's ready to see us."

The group shuffled after her unenthusiastically, as she pushed through the doors leaving the infirmary area. Ruby sighed and trailed behind them. This was going to be a long day.

"How many cases?" Fury asked the doctor six hours later.

"As of today, we're up to 23, but I'm sure there are some out there that haven't got bad enough to come see me yet."

"Any commonalities?"

"They're mostly trainees from the dormitory, but there are two agents and four scientists who haven't been near the dorm. Male and female alike are affected in like percentages. Most are young, but that's the demographic for the trainees," Dr. Bennett shrugged. "The only thing that connects all of them is this campus."

Fury leaned back in his chair, "and the tests you ran?"

"Preliminary results are negative for toxins, known drugs, and autoimmune system components, but more in-depth tests are still running looking for metabolic waste or by-products that we missed the first time around. Seven of the affected reported a drop in appetite, and all body temps were half a degree or so above normal. I'm not sure if these are related to the headaches, but I'm not going to discount them."

"What does your gut tell you?"

"That we're not going to find a smoking gun in their blood or urine."

That got his attention, "oh? What do you think it is then?"

"I think it's something external causing the headaches. Do you have any projects that involve vibrations? Exotic particles? Magnetism? Gravity?"

Fury snorted, "only most of them."

"I think you should shut them down for a couple of days and see if this goes away."

He shook his head, "not happening. In case you haven't noticed we are in the middle of the next great space race here. Narrow it down and I'll consider it."

"Then what do you want me to do in the meantime?" she asked in a huff.

"You're the doctor," Fury told her. "Give them an aspirin and tell them to call you in the morning."

Despite her pounding head, Izzy crawled out of bed the next morning. Digging in her purse, she pulled out the phone, hoping there was a response to her report from yesterday waiting on her. She had relayed the name of the Hydra operative being held at the campus and prayed the woman wasn't important enough to warrant a rescue attempt. She wasn't anyone that Izzy knew, but their cells were so isolated that she could be anybody from the lowest facility staff to the head of another cell.

She had also relayed the affect that the transmitter hidden on Ruby's bracelet was having on the personnel in the compound, including her. The device was only supposed to affect Banner, but apparently the idiot that designed it screwed up, because it was affecting everyone in its vicinity, some more than others. Maybe they had something to counter it or, now that it had the desired effect on Banner, she could destroy it. Her headache was bad enough as it was, but watching Ruby suffer through it was almost unbearable. Since she was ground zero, she was getting the worst of it. The longer it was active, the worse it was going to get, and she wasn't sure her friend would survive it. She was tempted to destroy it anyway and report it as an accident.

Contact operative.

Enlist help with objective.

Terminate target.

Terminate operative.

Izzy moaned and flopped back on the bed. This wasn't fun anymore. She had joined Hydra because she believed their line about trying to rein in all-powerful organizations like SHIELD and SWORD, and the super-powered individuals used to enforce their will on the world. It hadn't taken long for her to figure out the true goal, though. By that time, she was in too deep to extract herself. So, when she was assigned to watch Ruby and spy on her father, she leapt at the chance. Spying was harmless, she told herself. After all it was just some rich asshole and his spoiled brat.

She hadn't counted on Ruby being such a likable person and becoming her best friend. Over the years, she managed to forget she was Hydra except for the monthly reports she had to give to her handler. The additional assignments were easy enough. Drive a wedge between father and daughter? The old bastard was doing a bang-up job of that all on his own. Get Ruby to feed her information about her father's movements and travel plans? Her friend was more than happy to volunteer that information without being prompted since she was always left behind. Getting Ruby to accept a position at the institute had proven a bit trickier, but when her father quashed all other offers, well, the poor girl didn't have a choice, really. After that, her friend's drive and curiosity did the rest of the work. All they had to do was make sure the formulas and theorems were on the server and she had found them and immediately started working on them. Izzy had taken credit for all of it, though.

She was either the greatest spy ever or the worst.

Now they wanted her to kill Ruby. Nope. Wasn't going to happen. Somehow, she was going to have to figure out a way out of this mess. A way where both she and Ruby survived and continued to be BFFs. Maybe this Frankie chick could prove useful after all.

But first she needed to get away from Ruby for a while to clear her head. She wouldn't be able to plan her way out of a wet paper bag if she stayed within the range of the transmitter.

Ruby was feeling a little better. The doctor had given her a bottle of pills after examining her and taking a blood and urine sample but didn't have an explanation for the headaches that she and others were experiencing. The pills didn't help with the pain, per se, instead they just knocked her out for about ten hours straight. It's amazing what ten hours of sleep can do for a person. Maybe she was turning the corner on whatever this was.

Getting up, she checked in on Izzy and found the room empty. She was disappointed that her friend had left without saying anything to her, but Izzy was a grown woman and didn't need to ask her permission to go anywhere. At least her friend was feeling well enough to be up and about. As far as Ruby knew, Izzy's headache hadn't gotten bad enough for her to visit the doctor yet.

When she left her room a while later, she found a note taped to her door.

Going to see Andy at the hospital. You were sleeping so I didn't want to wake you. Hope you're feeling better. See you later! -Izzy-

Now she felt rotten for being upset at her friend. What kind of friend was she being? One with a miserable headache, she told herself.

In the lab, she stood in front of the last white board with the marker in her hand. She was close, she could feel it. If her headache would just go away, she was sure it wouldn't take her any time at all. But, in addition to the constant throbbing of her head, she could help but worry about Bruce. It was Tuesday and he still wasn't back. Did she succeed in driving him away? Or was he in some kind of trouble? What if Hydra got him and he was their prisoner right now? What if he was being tortured, while she stood here whining about a measly headache?

"Okay, Ruby," she took a deep breath. "Get a grip. He's an Avenger. He can take care of himself. You know this."

Again, she stared at the board and willed herself to focus on the problem at hand. After another few minutes of infuriating mental blankness, she replaced the marker in its tray.

"That's it," she announced decisively, "I'm going to talk to Fury."

Turning away from the board, her bracelet from Izzy caught on the edge of the tray and snapped, falling to the floor.

"Oh, come on!" Ruby whined. "Can't one thing go right for me this week?"

She bent over to pick up the bracelet, but the rush of blood to her head made her sway alarmingly and she almost fell before she caught her balance against the wall.

"Okay," she breathed, "so I'm not doing that right now. I'll come back and get it later when I feel better."

Pushing away from the wall, she strode to the door, pausing by the computer panel to ask where Fury was. Luckily, he was in his office and she could find her way there. Letting the door shut behind her, she left without another thought for the bracelet laying on the floor.

"What do you mean 'we know where he is'?" she asked in disbelief.

Fury leaned back in his chair and calmly answered, "I think it's pretty self-explanatory, Ms. Beaumont."

"Is he okay? Why hasn't he come back? Oh, no! You didn't send him to the raft, did you?" Her voice rose with each question.

The director shook his head, "yes, he's okay. And, no, we didn't send him to the raft."

Ruby collapsed back in her chair with relief. "Then why hasn't he come back?"

"Well, I felt that he needed to take a little time away. He was supposed to come back yesterday, but with all the headaches everyone is getting, I figured he should wait a little longer. We don't want any repeats of last week, do we?"

"So," Ruby cocked her head, "you think the headaches and his outburst are related?"

Fury shrugged, "I don't know, but I'd rather not take any chances right now."

She nodded. What he said made sense, but still….

"So, he's safe?"

Fury chuckled, "yes, he's safe. We are keeping an eye on him. From a discrete distance."

Alone in his cabin, Bruce was beginning to chafe about not knowing what was going on back at the campus. It had taken less than 48 hours for his head to clear up and, looking back at the last week, he could plainly see his downward spiral. The cause was still a mystery, but Clint had told him during a visit to replenish his stock of MREs that something was going on within the compound that might be related to his loss of control. If that was the case, then he was the best person to figure it out. But he was also the last person that needed to be exposed to whatever it was.

In his mind, he had toyed with different scenarios that would allow him to return and work on the problem without being affected. A faraday cage would stop any transmissions from reaching him, but wouldn't do anything if the source was biological, chemical, magnetic, or radioactive in nature. Magnetic fields could be redirected, but the faraday cage would make it problematic. A hermetically sealed clean room would protect from biological or chemical hazards, but not magnetic. Radiation could be stopped by a thick enough lead barrier, but Bruce was confident he could rule it out as a source since he had been affected. Gamma radiation no longer had any effect on him.

In short, unless the source could be narrowed down, there was no practical way to protect against it. So here he stayed. It was the best option for now.

Unfortunately, with nothing to keep him occupied, he spent an inordinate amount of time beating himself up for what happened at the pool. It didn't matter if some outside force was ultimately found to blame. If he had been just ordinary Bruce Banner, the most damage he might have inflicted on the trainee was a black eye. As it was, the trainee was in the hospital, Ruby had a broken arm, and the pool was demolished. He was a threat to everything and everyone he came into contact with.

While he didn't regret returning to earth and taking up the fight against Thanos, everything he did came with a cost. If only there was some way to control the Hulk. Some way to get all the benefits with none of the negative consequences.

Around and around his thoughts went in an unending circle from which there was no escape.