"Please," the young girl whispered urgently, holding a 10 rupee note, "My- father,"
Bruce turned around when he heard the voice and pointed towards his current patient, "Is he like this?"
There had been a spread of flu in the local area, many people would come to him with sick family members. But that wasn't important now, the girl nodded her head vigorously. She ran, he followed.
...Until the girl started to outrun him in a different direction altogether. "Hey! Wait! Where are you going!"
"Doctor Banner," said a voice behind him. He turned around, suddenly on guard as he went head-to-head with a female.
She had short red hair, glossy lips and brown eyes. She was wearing a leather jumpsuit, but the name tag was carefully hidden from the light.
A professional.
"Who sent you here?" he demanded instead, "Who else is here?"
"My name is Agent Romanoff and I'm from S.H.I.E.L.D.," she started slowly, eyeing him as if he were a beast out of his cage. Which he supposed he is, Bruce thought sardonically.
"Who else is here?"
"Just you, me and your little lady friend," she answered carefully, after quite a bit of contemplation.
His head jerked slightly at the mention of- "Luna?" Romanoff nodded once. He growled, she let her hands fall on her gun.
"What do you want?"
"Do you know anything about the Tesseract, Doctor Banner?" The what?
"No. What is it?" he frowned.
"See for yourself."
She threw a folder on the table, his hands picking it up and flipping it open. The Tesseract seemed new, almost alien with its ways. With the Gamma radiations it gave out...
"Why?" It was a simple question, barely worth anything. But the answers were limitless, and Bruce didn't know which he wanted answered. She didn't give him one.
"Your actress," he said instead, "She's a spy too? Do they all start that young?"
"I did."
"How did you find me?"
"We never lost you, we just… kept our distance."
"Are you here to kill me, Miss Romanoff? Because that's not gonna work out for everyone."
"Nick Fury seems to trust you." She smiled, looking completely normal in that spot, but Bruce knew that was not the case, "and I need to bring you in."
"What if I say no?" he asked uneasily.
"I'll persuade you."
"What if… the other guy says no?"
"It's been more than a year without an incident, and I don't think you want to break that record."
And he didn't. Not unless he'd have to. "What do you want?"
She smiled, and his stomach dropped.
I know this is short, but I have been continuously busy for the past… year. I know, I know, this is procrastination, but… I was reading!