AN: Hello my dear readers, been a while hasn't it? Thanks for all the reviews, an extra-long chapter as an apology for the wait. Let me know what you guys think, this story is still chugging along despite the infrequent updates. Thanks for your continued support of my story! Let me know what you guys think.
Natasha sat sullenly at a grubby wooden table that had definitely seen better days, barely taking in her surroundings. It had been just under eight hours since she had found out that Clint had been turned by some outside force and instead of being outside hunting down her best friend like she wanted, she instead found herself halfway across the world in India of all places.
The home to the largest growing population on the planet was a place of contradictions. It boasted a great cultural heritage, intermingled with an unprecedented growth in technology coupled with some of the most poverty-stricken shantytowns in the world. A land where the concept of tradition and family honor was as important as life blood, yet corruption ran as rampant as any disease that might be found in the slums.
The spy had been to the birthplace of Hinduism before; normally she was rather fond of the culturally diverse nation with its heavily spice laden food and bustling streets. Her pale skin made her stick out like a sore thumb, so rare was the opportunity for her to take a mission in India. Perhaps that was why she recalled her time in India so fondly; she rarely had to kill anyone here.
But for once she was here on business rather than pleasure.
The whole incident with the Asgardian god of mischief bursting out of the Tesseract and subsequently stealing said Tesseract, was a signal for the start of a war humanity wasn't quite ready for. Luckily Nick Fury was one step ahead of the rest of the world and had a master plan for just such an unexpected occurrence. That master plan was the reason why the Russian spy found herself playing shepherdess for a lost lamb rather than out chasing the bad guys and pounding in someone's skull.
Personally, she had her doubts, but orders were orders. One did not say no to Nick Fury without deadly consequence. Granted, Natasha was usually that consequence. She wondered briefly who would be sent to assassinate her if she ever did double cross the one-eyed man. There were only a handful of people in the world who could get the drop on her, and Clint was probably the only person on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s payroll.
The redhead had been briefed as she was flown into India, the hypersonic speed of the Quinjet making the trip half as long as it would have taken had she been in a regular military transport, or god forbid a civilian airplane. Comfort was probably the last thing on the Quinjet engineering teams list of necessities and very likely the first thing to be thrown out the door in the design phase.
Bruce Banner and his alter ego had a dossier that made for an interesting in flight read. The scientist had managed to elude capture for the past few years by living on the outskirts of civilization, keeping no technology on his person and spending only cash when he wasn't living on the handouts of those he had helped. While that was good enough to throw off most the American agencies tasked with tracking the man and most foreign agencies, it wasn't enough to fool S.H.I.E.L.D.
In fact, .E.L.D. was part of the reason why Banner had been able to keep off the radar so easily. The man was good, but he wasn't that good. Of course, the spy agency had an ulterior motive for helping the modern-day Dr. Jekyll. A cornered Banner usually meant billions in property damage and plenty of body bags to go around. That made for a bad day for a lot of people, least of all those who end up in the body bags.
To this day no one could claim to have successfully contained the man's emerald counterpart. The only effective solution when taking on the Hulk was to evacuate everyone within a ten-mile radius, let the beast take its rage out on some buildings and other inanimate objects and wait for it to take off into the wilderness. Shitting your pants while you wait it out isn't required, but most people end up doing it anyways.
The few theoretical devices S.H.I.E.L.D. had on hand were untested, and for the most part it's inventors prayed profusely that they would stay that way. No one knew of the Hulk's true limits, and the fool who wanted to find out had been mindwiped and reinserted into civilian life on the Director's orders after he could not be talked down. Despite millions of dollars thrown at R&D, no one could confidently say they had a solution to the greatest living manmade disaster to date.
That said Nick Fury didn't want the risk that some country did manage to figure out a way to contain the man and potentially gain access to a walking weapon of mass destruction. And on the off chance they needed to locate the scientist, it was much easier to already know where he was rather than having to waste the time and resource needed to track down a man determined to stay off the grid.
Perhaps that had been the right call, after all Natasha was here waiting to talk to the man himself to see if she could convince him to come in and help them out with their little missing Tesseract problem.
Her sensitive ears picked up the soft patter of a child's bare feet through the sound of distant night traffic; India was a country that never truly slept, and it was easy to become lost to the constant white noise of so much humanity packed into one location. A good spy learned to keep an ear out for unusual noises in such a situation, and Natasha was who the good spies in the world tried to learn from.
Standing up, the Black Widow smoothed out the earth toned sari she wore. With practiced motion, she checked on the blades hidden by the thigh holsters and briefly touched the gun hidden beneath the shabby table. None of those weapons would do her any good if Banner were to lose his temper, but it settled her nerves somewhat to feel like she was prepared.
Of course, the question was, how do you prepare to confront a man capable of ripping you limb from limb?
Unbidden an image of Ichigo tearing a monstrous hollow in two with his bare hands came to mind. She gave a slight smile as she recalled confronting that man in his own living room.
On a whim, Natasha reached her senses out, pulling on the power that she had learned to tap into from the Japanese doctor. The familiar dizzying cloud of white spiritual stripes sharpened into focus. Surprise colored her features as she caught sight of the dark emerald streaked strip wavering in the room full of pristine white spiritual cloths.
It was mostly white, but here and there it was tainted with dark toxic green splotches that seemed to grow and shrink at random intervals. The mesmerizing lava lamp motions of the infected parts was hypnotizing to look at. It seemed that Dr. Banner's little anger problem might have some spiritual component to it. That might explain why science had been of no help to the unfortunate man.
The young Indian girl she had paid to lure Banner to their current location in the remote outskirts of town darted into the room. Her inquisitive dark brown eyes shot Natasha a nervous look, pausing momentarily to see if she would receive more instructions. The former KGB spy tossed the girl a wad of rupees, a bonus for a job well done before nodding once at the open window.
The girl scrambled up the shelf and out the opening just as a disheveled looking man stumbled in through the entrance.
Bruce Banner looked almost nothing like his photo in the dossier. Gone was the cheerful handsome man who was once a rising star of the physicist world, replaced by an older more weathered individual whose face was guarded and reserved. His clothing had the dusty look of a man who had traveled far, and the odor that clung to his body suggested he hadn't seen a bath in quite a while.
His face was weather beaten and tanned, his hair a wild muss that desperately needed a barber's attention. The five 'clock shadow on his face was a permanent fixture that complemented well the exhaustion suggested by the dark bags under his eyes.
Banner watched with little emotion as the girl who had led him to this trap escape through the open window. He removed his glasses, folding them up and hooking them onto a breast pocket before blowing out a breath and running a hand through his hair.
"Should have got paid up front Banner," he muttered sardonically.
"You know for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle," Natasha said as way of greeting, careful to step into the light slowly so as not to alarm her mark.
"Avoiding stress isn't the secret," the rumpled man replied as he turned to examine her as one might examine an animal one wasn't sure was dangerous or not.
There was almost a wry amusement to his expression as he stepped further into the room.
"Then what is it?" the redhead asked, playing along with his nonchalant attitude, circling around to keep the table between them. "Yoga?
Banner turned and shot a quick shrewd look over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the woman before him. The self-deprecating expression hadn't left his face. Despite his outwardly calm demeanor, his hands had begun to wring together in a less than tranquil manner.
"You brought me to the edge of the city," he observed, stepping sideways to keep his back away from the windows and entrance as he spoke. "Smart."
He edged over to a gap in the wall and peered out into the darkness, careful to keep as little of himself as exposed as possible. "I assume the whole place is surrounded?"
"It's just you and me," Natasha replied reassuringly, stepping closer and keeping her hands out to show that there was nothing to fear.
"And your actress? She a spy too?" he asked with a jerk of his chin towards the open window. "They start them that young?"
Natasha gave her classic alluring smile, one that had disarmed countless men who later came to regret it. It was the kind of smile that spoke of hidden promises without a single word needed to be spoken, the sort of smile that set a man's soul alight with desire.
Banner stared back unblinkingly, pious as a monk this one.
Shrugging an exposed creamy shoulder carelessly, the redhead met his gaze fearlessly.
"I did," she whispered softly.
Banner stayed on the opposite side of the table, observing her with lidded eyes. For a man who had just been led into a trap, he was surprisingly collected, giving little of his inner thoughts away even to a master interpreter of body language like Natasha.
"Who are you?" Banner finally asked.
Although it was a question in words, the inflection in his voice was off. He was asking to be socially polite, but it was obvious to the spy that the man didn't care for an actual answer. He was just going through the motions.
Perhaps his apathy was the reason for her slip up, but for whatever reason Natasha gave him an honest answer instead of one of her usual aliases.
"Natasha Romanoff."
"Are you here to kill me Ms. Romanoff?" he asked in a detached fashion. "Because that's probably not going to work out. For everyone."
Her pulse skipped at the man's blunt statement, knowing exactly what he was referring to. She didn't need him jumping to conclusions and Hulking out on her before she could even get to the point of the meeting. Time to bring out those diplomacy lessons.
"No, no, I'm just here to talk Dr. Banner," Natasha replied immediately trying to reassure the man.
"So, who you working for?" he asked casually. "CIA? FBI? KGB? MIB?"
He chuckled at the last one.
"None of the above," Natasha replied, fluttering her eyelashes at him flirtatiously, capitalizing on his unexpected levity to try to deescalate the situation. "Although you're a man that's anything but small when you're green."
The twitch at the corner of his lip belayed an emotion that stirred beneath the surface of the seemingly calm man. She would have to be careful with this dance, one wrong step and she was going to be stomped flat rather than massaging an aching foot.
"I work for an organization that has been watching you for a very long time Dr. Banner. You've done surprisingly well in covering your tracks for a man who has not had espionage training. We helped clean up some things you missed."
"Thanks?" A mocking smile crossed his face. "I'm assuming you're here to cash in on that favor I didn't ask for."
The redhead chuckled softly at how he had unknowingly hit the nail on the head. "Our world is in danger Dr. Banner, we have need for a man of your talent. The world has need for you."
Banner snorted, leaning over the table and rapping his knuckles sharply on the wooden surface.
"I've heard that one plenty of times before. The Chinese, the Koreans, the Russians, hell even the Israelis. They've all made similar offers of clemency and aid for my 'special' condition. Well I don't buy it! I won't be anyone's weapon Ms. Romanoff; you can go tell your masters that if they want the other guy so badly, they'll have to come down here and get him themselves."
Natasha fought back a frown. That little tidbit had not been in any of their reports, although perhaps Fury hadn't given her full access to Banner's files. She wouldn't put it past the Director to do such a thing, he'd done it in the past. But on the off chance that he hadn't, someone had dropped the ball badly if they didn't notice agents from four separate countries approaching to make offers to the scientist. She'd have to follow up on this once things settled down.
"I'm afraid you've misunderstood," she said pleasantly. "We have need for Bruce Banner the man with the PhD, not the Hulk."
"Me?" he asked in astonishment, unable to conceal his surprise at the unexpected revelation.
Reaching out to the phone on the table, Natasha opened it by pressing her thumb against the state of the art security scanner. The screen lit up, displaying an image of the Tesseract and a laundry list of readings that had been taken by sensors prior to the object being stolen. Most of it was gibberish to Natasha, but she could tell by the way Banner's eyes narrowed that it meant something to him.
"We fished that out of the sea a couple months back," she said.
They had found another surprise along with the glowing blue power cube, one of the super soldier variety. Everyone knew the heroic story of Steve Rogers giving his life to help defeat the Nazis during World War II. Only a chosen few knew the whole story, which made the man even more impressive than the propaganda made him out to be.
The Black Widow slid the phone over to the scientist, sharp eyes missing nothing as Banner donned the glasses he had in his shirt pocket to examine the device. The bait had been placed on the hook and the line cast. Now to see if she got a bite.
"The readings on this thing is impossible," he muttered under his breath as he flicked through the reports with rapid swiping motions.
With each swipe his eyes narrowed further. Even just observing him from across the table Natasha could practically see his mind moving as it processed the information he was taking in.
"If these scans are real, this thing must have as much energy as a star stored in it!" he exclaimed in amazement. "How on earth could it be solid?"
"That thing," Natasha said with careful injection of heavy regret in her voice, "was stolen from us by foreign agents about 18 hours ago, which is why we need your help tracking it down. I'm told you're probably one of the few people on the planet with the knowledge on how we might go about doing this in a timely manner."
"Who are you people?" he asked with a glare over the rim of his glasses.
He tossed the phone irately onto the table. "I'm not helping anyone until I know who you are and what your intentions are for that object. We're talking about something that could change human history here. Hell, its very existence has already unequivocally changed our fundamental understanding of the universe!"
"That object happens to be in the hands of some very bad people," Natasha replied quietly, smoothly deflecting from the question of who she worked for. "We're trying to secure it to make sure that history changing event doesn't take place."
"Bad guy is a term relative to which side of the gun barrel you're on," Banner countered coolly with a heated glare. "So, I'll ask again. Who are you working for?"
Natasha allowed her smile to drop a degree as she detected the subtle beginnings of hostility. The scientist might still be arguing like he was on the college debate team, but the subtle widening of his stance and slight tensing of his shoulders indicated he was unconsciously preparing to fight. Time to give some ground if she didn't want him clamping up.
The spy in her wanted to resist giving away as much information as possible; information was power in her world. But survival instincts won out in this case. Banner wasn't someone you wanted raising his voice at you.
"I work for the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistic Division. We're not tied to any one nation, but backed by a large number of countries that recognize that some threats extend beyond borders and jurisdictions. A policing organization that can cross lines and deal with certain problems without red tape getting in the way is sometimes necessary in a world that is becoming more global."
"Someone really wanted to be able to call your organization S.H.I.E.L.D. huh?" Banner sniggered. "You're still not answering my question about your intentions though."
"We work to protect the world Mr. Banner-"
"STOP LYING TO ME!" he roared, bringing his hands down onto the table with a sudden and terrifying crunch.
Her heart skipped a beat and Natasha moved on reflex, body exploding into action from years of experience evading dangerous situations in the field. She had the gun out from beneath the table and pointed at Banner, her finger a twitch away from unloading a magazine full of 9mms into his face.
"I'm sorry," he apologized insincerely with a faux smile. "That wasn't very nice of me…I just wanted to see what you would do…"
The former physicist made to straighten up, but frowned when he found himself frozen in place. His muscles were visibly straining to obey his command to move, but his body remained hunched over the table, trembling as it fought against an invisible grip.
"Well now this is interesting," he murmured, curious eyes moving away from the barrel of her gun hold her gaze. "I don't know how you're holding me in place, but do you really think you can…hold…me…?"
Blue eyes flashed a deep unnatural green and his shirt swelled. His muscle seemed to squirm like a living thing, the fabric of his clothing straining to hold him back. The veins on the side of his neck bulged outwards, and his breathing became more ragged and shallow.
Natasha swallowed back a lump of anxiety in her throat as she felt her own arms move against her will, forced to inch upwards despite the shadow bind connection that could freeze a charging bull elephant in place. This was the first time she had caught someone of such considerable physical strength, she had not expected the shadow bind to work both ways.
"Dr. Banner," Natasha mustered out as gently as she could manage. "I'm going to let you go. But I need you to remain calm."
It was a hell of a gamble, but at the rate this conversation was going he was going to Hulk out and smash her either way, shadow bind or not. The pistol she was armed with might as well be a pellet gun for all the good it would do her, and the knives resting against her thigh suddenly felt horribly inadequate in the face of the transforming man before her.
The spy released her shadow, nearly groaning in relief as the pressure on her body lifted. Banner straightened up, panting heavily but eyes returning to its normal color. His keen gaze traced the retreating length of shadow with interest, although he still showed a level of disregard that was surprising for someone who had just been exposed to the supernatural.
"Neat trick," he said, wiping the sweat that had built up on his forehead with the back of his hand. "Must be a hit at parties. I'd show you mine, but it has the tendency to end the party."
Natasha raised a hand up to her ear piece, the almost invisible flesh colored communication device chirping noiselessly as she tapped it once with her index finger.
"Stand down," she ordered flatly.
The scientist shot an amused look out the window. "Just us huh?"
They might not have been able to see it, but dozens of heavily armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents backed down from their ready positions. The rapid reaction security force Fury had insisted come along with the redhead had been seconds away from tearing the small shanty house apart with lethal gunfire.
"Will you help us Mr. Banner?" Natasha asked bluntly, ignoring the catastrophic confrontation that almost just happened.
"I'm guessing your boss wants my help tracking this device because of the trace amounts of gamma radiation it lets off. Am I right?"
Natasha shrugged. "I'm not privy to the Director's thoughts and the eggheads like to keep to themselves. I was told to retrieve you if at all possible and that you were a vital component to the operation to recover the Tesseract."
Banner sighed, taking his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"I haven't done any scientific work of this caliber in years, surely there's someone better you can contact."
"My boss wants you," Natasha responded frankly. "He's willing to offer a lot in exchange for your cooperation."
"Oh yeah?" Banner asked skeptically. "Like what?"
"Whatever it is you want," she replied automatically, the lie coming easily enough. "Money. A new identity. Whatever it is you need."
The scientist laughed softly, the normally jovial sound of joy tainted with regret and sadness.
"What I want you can't give Ms. Romanoff, no matter the resources you have at your disposal. Believe me, I've tried."
There was a long pause before Banner slipped his glasses back on. A sigh of defeat escaped him, his mouth curling into another sardonic smile.
"I'm getting tired of running anyways," he said. "I'll go with you if that's what you want. Just don't say I didn't warn you when this all ends in tears."
Natasha opened her mouth to reply but tensed when she heard footsteps echoing from the entryway of the small hovel they were holed up in. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had been given explicit orders not to get near the premise unless they heard gunfire, but they sure as hell wouldn't let anyone else just waltz in.
Banner had perked up as well having apparently picked up on the noise and wisely backed away from the entrance to stand closer to Natasha.
"Friends of yours?" he asked out of the corner of his mouth, careful to keep his voice low.
"I don't have friends," Natasha replied stonily.
An Asian woman appeared at the entryway, her eyes being the most immediately noticeable feature about her. They were a pearl white, blind to the world save for the way they focused unerringly on the only two occupants in the room. Despite the lack of pupils, Natasha knew when she was being keenly observed.
The itching feeling on the back of her neck never failed her.
The woman was of average height, boasting an above average bust line and cascading brown hair that was so light it was borderline blonde. Her face was flawless, easily overshadowing even the models adorned the pages of magazines. She wore simple homespun clothes, the only thing of note on her person being a pair of sparkling crystal hair clips embedded on either side of her head.
The Black Widow narrowed her eyes, silently drawing on the spirit ribbons to try to get a read on the newcomer. Much to her surprise, there was no cloth attached to the woman. But the way her eyes flickered to the spirit clothes drawn in by Natasha was unmistakable.
This woman was spiritually sensitive.
"It's not often I run into someone who has their spiritual powers awakened," the woman said in soft airy voice, her English accented but understandable. "And for two such beings to be together…well generally that has never spelled anything good in my experience."
"And who might you be Miss?" asked Dr. Banner politely in a tone usually saved for talking to someone with a mental condition. "I'm fairly certain I don't have any spiritual powers."
Natasha decided to stay quiet, playing the observer for now. There was no telling who this woman was and what she was capable of, but if she was anything like Ichigo, fighting was not going to be the answer here.
The beautiful Asian woman remained at the doorway, her eyes now focused entirely on Dr. Banner. The man shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny, unnerved by their uninvited guest's unnatural stare.
"You may call me Inoue," she responded after a long moment of observation. "I'm a wandering healer of sorts, although sometimes I cure ailments people don't even know they have. Like you for example."
"Me?" Dr. Banner asked, perplexed at the odd turn of the conversation.
The Russian spy watched attentively as Inoue reached a hand out and pulled Dr. Banner's spiritual cloth forward to examine before her eyes. The green kaleidoscope of splotches cleared from where the woman's hand made contact, creeping away as if repelled by something in her touch.
"There lurks within you a beast unlike anything I've ever seen," the newcomer murmured. "I wonder…"
The woman's grasp on the spiritual cloth tightened and she gave it a mighty yank.
Dr. Banner collapsed onto the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut, but Natasha could see that his soul form had been yanked clear out of his body.
The bewildered translucent spiritual form of Banner stared at the two women before him in astonishment, gaping down at the chain in his chest that Inoue was holding. He struggled to stand up but found his legs could barely lift him.
"What?" Banner whispered as he held up a ghostly hand for examination. "What the hell is this?"
Natasha burst into motion, charging towards the foreign woman while she appeared distracted. Shadow encased her hands in gauntlets of absolute darkness, the fingertips shaped intro cruel hook like claws with but a thought. One hand grabbed Inoue's throat in a tight choking grip while the other locked onto the woman's wrist holding onto Dr. Banner's chain of fate.
"Let him go," Natasha demanded, eyes narrowing dangerously.
Inoue smiled calmly, darting out her free hand in a sharp palm thrust into Natasha's chest. At once there was the familiar feeling of detachment as her soul departed her body. The redhead snarled as her physical form fell lifelessly onto the floor. But now that she was out of her body she felt more confident in using her powers in its full force.
The gauntlets spread out in a dark disease like pattern, engulfing her entire body in a knightly armor constructed straight from the hellish nightmares of madmen. A faceless visor encompassed her head, the harsh angled lines following the pattern of the rest of the twisted version of armor she had conjured.
Blades of midnight grew and extended from her hands, detaching to form two wicked curved short instruments of death. The weapons sliced through the air with a faint hiss as the spy weaved them in a mirrored figure eight pattern.
"I'm not going to ask again," Natasha warned. "Let Dr. Banner go."
Inoue turned her head to face the spy, eyes examining her opponent's new form with interest.
"My, you seem to have quite a good grasp of your powers for someone who's only learned of them recently," the Asian woman complimented. "Against anyone else you might have proven to be a serious threat."
The redhead frowned beneath her mask of shadow, wondering how Inoue could so easily spot her inexperience. Putting that unsettling thought aside, the spy hurled herself forward, using her shadow to enhance her speed and reflexes. Instead of directly striking at the woman, the spy launched herself at the ceiling before rebounding off it at an angle towards the wall behind Inoue.
Wood splintered and metal dented underneath her feet as she began a gravity defying free run using every surface in the room, a feat that would have been impossible for her physical form.
Natasha rapidly deflected herself from wall to wall, her movements becoming a blur of motion to the naked eye.
Despite standing in the eye of the hurricane of destruction, the Asian woman remained unmoved, her face displaying little concern.
Calling on her shadow's ability to hide from the senses of the spiritually aware, the Russian spy gave her rapid dashing a few more seconds of dizzying rebounds before lunging at her foe.
Natasha's reiatsu fabricated blade was inches away from removing the woman's head when a golden shield appeared, encasing the self-proclaimed healer.
There was a horrid screeching as blade met shield, a shower of golden sparks but no visible damage done. The armored woman slammed a knee into the shield, but it did not give way despite the heavy sound her blow made. A dozen blows was rained on the barrier with rapid succession to the same effect.
In a bright flash, Natasha found herself trapped within a pyramid made of the same impenetrable light as the shield that had so neatly deflected all her attacks. She slashed rapidly at the barrier, panicking when it showed no signs of taking any damage.
This was not good.
Inoue reached a hand out and touched the pyramid, caressing the odd structure. "You're far too inexperienced with you power to even put a scratch on Santen Kesshun."
Natasha understood the Japanese name of the technique as 'Three Sacred Links Shield'. So, an ultimate defense of some sorts? Everyone had a weakness, she just had to bide her time and find it.
Inoue flattened the palm of her hand against the pyramid, her face taking on the look of concentration. "Soten Kisshun!"
The armor encasing the spy shattered in an instant, exploding into a thousand tiny black shards. A heaviness not so dissimilar to when she had first been forcibly brought out of her body by Yoruichi suddenly struck her, leaving her weak and barely able to stand.
"Still," Inoue said with a warm smile. "I'm impressed Ms. Parker."
Natasha started at the false name. She had given it to only one person that she knew of.
"Ishida mentioned you had some talent, but I don't think he realized you had progressed this far already," the woman continued, unperturbed by the redhead's reaction. "You might actually be able to put up a good fight in a few years."
"You know Ishida?" Natasha asked carefully.
That certainly changed things. Her gut told her not to let her guard down, but so far Ichigo and his friends hadn't harmed her. Too much anyways.
"Do you know Ichigo Kurosaki as well?" she asked, unable to resist.
Inoue gave a mysterious smile. "Perhaps. But I'm not here to answer your questions Ms. Parker."
The woman pulled on Banner's soul chain, forcibly dragging the man until he was in front of her.
"What was all that?" asked the shell-shocked scientist. "Am I hallucinating?"
He shot Natasha a worried look. "Did you drug me or something?"
Inoue was staring at Banner again with her strange eyes, her mouth moving wordlessly as she examined something only she could see.
After a long moment of silence, the woman gave another tranquil smile. "How very interesting. I haven't seen something like this since my youth. I wonder if you will be able to tame the beast as he did?"
"The beast?" asked Banner with a frown. "Are you talking about the other guy?"
The woman nodded. "Whatever you call the creature that resides in you. It is powerful, perhaps almost as powerful as the other one that I know of. It is locked deep within you, but you obviously have no control over it even if you have come to begin to understand how you can channel its rage."
"How do you know all this?" Banner demanded.
"I'm a healer," Inoue replied with a soft smile. "I wouldn't be very good at my job if I couldn't make a diagnosis, now would I?"
"Can you cure me?" Dr. Banner asked, the desperation in his voice almost painful to hear.
Inoue frowned. "If I had been there at the time when you had acquired your unique condition I could have perhaps done something about it. Now…well it could still be done I suppose, but not without great risk to your own soul."
"Please, I'll do anything." Dr. Banner pleaded. "Release me from this nightmare."
Inoue let go of his soul chain, reaching a hand out to traced some sort of pattern over the man's head, her finger leaving a silvery pattern in the air that shimmered and vanished as rapidly as it had appeared.
"There is…" she whispered, "a touch of destiny about you. All those who are meant to do great things have it, an aura of sorts that few can detect. Whatever it is you are meant to do, I don't think this affliction was placed upon you by coincidence. No, I think it would be best if I were to leave you as you are. One day you will need this power."
"It's a monstrosity!" snapped Banner. "How can the Hulk be of any help? The only thing it can do is destroy! The only things I can do is destroy!"
Inoue frowned. "You have not tried to understand it. There is more to the beast than the unquenchable rage it exhibits. Until you come to an understanding with it, you will never truly be in control."
"How?" the scientist demanded. "There is nothing to understand! It is the primitive part of my brain given unlimited power and form, the darkest parts of humanity given flesh and blood. What is there to understand?!"
The Asian woman reached her free hand forward, resting it gently against his forehead.
"Let me show you," she whispered.
Natasha felt an odd drop in her stomach, as if she were on a plane that had plummeted a couple thousand feet. There was a feeling of vertigo and suddenly she found herself tumbling through darkness, dragged along with Inoue and Dr. Banner who was freefalling ahead of her if his panicked yells were any indication.
They fell towards a growing sphere of light, a ball of white fire that grew larger by the second. It flared and blinded Natasha completely, forcing her to raise her hands to cover her eye reflexively. A crushing weight fell upon her and she blacked out momentarily, her ears ringing.
When Natasha opened her eyes again, it was to a desolate world. She had to fight back a gasp of shock as she turned and gazed upon the ruined remains of what was once a great city of some sorts. Grand majestic skyscrapers reached up far into the filth caked heavens, well beyond what the eyes could see, giant steel and glass corpses claimed by age and rust.
Clouds of toxic yellow and green spewed across the darkened sky, forming a sea of foamy froth, flashes of lightening crawling across the tumultuous vapors like white spidery veins. The rumble of distant thunder washed over her, and she could only watch, mouth agape at the unnatural formations before her.
The streets of the broken city were grimy and deserted, not a single person to be seen. Broken down and colorless cars laid limply across the roads, abandoned by owners who had long since left whatever this place was. An endless shower of broken glass rained down from the buildings, glittering shards of diamonds that disintegrated into dust before it could hit the earth.
Life had given up on this place, chaos chased away by the boredom of a world that had consumed itself long ago and left only the mockery of what had been behind. This was a place where gods went to die, where the crushed remains of hopes and dreams drifted from the sky as ash and dust.
"What is this place," Natasha whispered in horror, barely able to acknowledge the presence of Dr. Banner and Inoue.
The Asian woman looked out at the world with the same airy expression, as if such a harsh and unforgiving place was an everyday occurrence to her.
"My, you must be a very troubled man," she commented with a sidelong glance at Banner. "I haven't seen an inner world this disarrayed in a very long time."
"My inner world?" the scientist asked uncertainly. "What does that mean?"
Inoue turned and looked at the two humans she had transported to this place. "Each of us has a world within us, a place we mentally create to retreat to in our times of need. When we sleep, when we dream, this is the sanctuary we go to."
"And this is my inner world?" Banner asked hesitantly. "A reflection of who I am?"
Inoue shook her head slowly. "No, it is not entirely your own. Not anymore."
A booming crash sounded in the distance, much too close and destructive to be thunder. A cloud of dust exploded outwards from a building miles away and an endless skyscraper began to list sideways.
The enormous tower of concrete and steel smashed into the building adjacent to it with a sound like the world coming to an end. Together they collapsed onto the ground with an earth-shaking rumble that kicked up a mountain of debris that colored the air an ashy gray.
The wall of refuse surged forward like an avalanche. Natasha barely had time to raise her hand to her face before she was swallowed by the cloud of dust and ash.
Holding her breath, she was surprised to find that the debris simple passed through her like she was a ghost. She watched as a glass shard larger than her hand tore through her sternum and out her back without ever leaving a mark.
"We are uninvited guests here," Inoue said serenely. "We are but ghost to this world. Nothing here can touch us anymore than we can touch it."
Natasha glanced over at Dr. Banner and was shocked to see that the same did not hold true for the physicist. His clothing was a shredded mess, bloody wounds showing through on exposed flesh that had been cut to ribbons. But even as she watched, the lacerations on his body seemed to grow smaller and the rivulets of blood less prominent.
"Dr. Banner," she exclaimed in alarm. "Are you alright?"
"It's him," he whispered, seemingly unable to hear her. "He's coming."
"Who's-?"
A blur of movement in the distant caught her attention and Natasha turned to watch as a spec on the horizon rose into the air, arching forward in a trajectory that was going to bring it alarmingly close to their location.
As the seconds ticked by, the distant blur became visible and the unmistakable green form of the Hulk came crashing towards them like a living ballistic missile.
The green monstrosity landed with a deafening noise a few hundred feet away from them, body coiled and hunched over. Its feet left a great crater on the floor, scattering nearby cars and wreckages like they weighed nothing.
Standing up, the great behemoth walked over to them with the deliberate motion of a predator that knew it had nothing to fear from its prey. It casually batted aside the twisted remains of a eighteen wheeler, the forty-ton vehicle screeching and spitting sparks across the concrete floor as it slammed into the side of a building.
Up close, Natasha could say with certainty that distant photography and first hand reports did the Hulk little justice. Almost twice as tall as a man and easily four times as broad at the shoulder, the green giant had thick corded muscle that bulged like truck tires rippling all along its body. Each step it took left an indentation on the ground, a soft thump like a car stereo's bass kicking into her chest.
Its breath came in harsh inhales and exhales, as if it suffered from some form of asthma, it's feature twisted into a permanent half snarl. What was most surprising was the green eyes that stared out from the unexpectedly human face. Despite the unsettling rage reflected in those emerald orbs, they also gleamed with cold calculative intelligence.
"So, we meet at last Bruce Banner," the Hulk growled.
Its voice raised the hairs on the back of Natasha's neck, the timbre and pitch of its speech so low it was like listening to the movement of the earth itself. No human vocal cord could ever hope to match that tone despite it speaking their language.
Dr. Banner straightened up, staring back at his counterpart in fascination. "You can talk? I didn't think you were capable of anything but rage."
"I was born of your rage," the beast rumbled with a savage snarl, "So I can no more shed it than you can shed your pathetic human skin. But I am not ruled nor defined by it. I simply choose to use it unlike you."
"What are you?" Dr. Banner demanded, his voice trembling. "How can you exist?"
The Hulk shrugged its massive shoulders. "Why does the sun and moon exist? Cosmic chance that has given birth to a million stars and breathed life onto barren worlds of shadow and fire. My existence is no more coincidental than yours, we are all accidents of destiny."
Taking a step forward, the green monstrosity glared down hatefully at the dwarfed man before him, jabbing an enormous finger into the human's face.
"But you, you were born king," it bit out, practically spitting acid with each word it spoke. "A nothing! A nobody who runs and cowers from your own power! And I, many times your superior must bow to your whim. Life is an unfair thing, but today you have foolishly come here to this place to challenge me. Today I will become king!"
The beast reared a massive fist back and threw it at Banner like an oncoming train. The man barely had time to flinch, but a golden barrier sprang up before him, blocking the strike.
The Hulk howled, punching away at the shield Inoue had erected around them, bringing both fists back to smash heavily against the barrier.
"NO!" the green beast bellowed. "I will be imprisoned no more! You are not worthy to be king!"
"Tsuki no mai!" shouted Inoue.
An explosion from the unscathed shield engulfed the Hulk as it brought its meaty fist against the golden barrier, sending the monster stumbling backwards. A dart of golden light shot out from the hairpin on Inoue's head, streaking forward in a flash of light. It smashed into the stomach of the Hulk, knocking the creature off its feet and propelling the massive body through the air.
Buildings crashed and fell as Inoue's attack carried the monstrosity away from them, leaving both Banner and Natasha to gape at the destruction caused by the attack.
"I think we have overstayed our welcome," the Asian woman said delicately. "Best we take our leave before the beast returns."
Raising both hands to the heavens, she made a quick slicing motion, filling their vision with blinding light again.
When Natasha's teary eyes began to clear, she found herself lying face down on the dirty floor of the house she lured Dr. Banner into. Carefully pushing herself up and checking for injuries, she glanced about and saw the unmoving form of Dr. Banner lying to her right.
"Not to worry, he is simply unconscious from the experience," Inoue said. "For a man who is not in touch with his reiatsu, forcibly going into the inner world will have taken its toll on him."
"What was the point of that?" Natasha asked as she stood up. "Why show him that?"
Inoue turned a considering look to the unconscious man. "Like I said before, this one has a touch of destiny about him. He must learn to control his power if he is to accomplish whatever it is the fates have set out for him to do. Running and hiding isn't an option for someone like him. Now that he has been made aware of the beast within him, he will have no choice but to confront it."
"What happens if he loses?" Natasha asked uncertainly. "The Hulk seems to think that if it can beat Banner then it would be in control."
Inoue smiled at the spy. "A very astute observation. I have a friend who had a similar problem. For years, he feared the power that lay dormant within, the few times that he lost control were truly frightening. Our situation eventually forced him to confront his inner power and he finally conquered it, giving him the strength to do what was necessary. Hopefully, if I'm not wrong, Dr. Banner will have the inner strength to do the same."
"And if he can't?" Natasha pressed, eyes darkening with accusation. "We don't always win against our inner demons."
Inoue stood up and walked towards the exit. She turned once to look back at the two humans inside with the same serene expression she had held throughout most of their entire encounter.
"Then I will kill him."
A chill ran down Natasha's spine at the unflinching promise from the healer.
"You think you can kill the Hulk?" she asked in disbelief. "That thing has survived a direct hit from a nuclear missile!"
Inoue chuckled gently, her expression sad. "I always found my powers rather ironic."
She raised a meticulous hand up to examine them. "The same hands that can heal anything could also destroy everything."
Inoue turned and stepped out into the darkness, her voice floating in.
"Tell Dr. Banner it was good meeting him, and to pray we never meet again. I fear if we did, it would only mean the worst."
Natasha dashed to the doorway, but by the time she got there the woman was nowhere to be seen.
"Operative Romanoff?" asked the stern-faced sergeant who oversaw the squad backing her up. "Is everything alright?"
The spy glanced at the man who gave no indication that anything unusual had happened.
"Nothing," she finally said. "Prep the Quinjet. And get Rawlings to check on Dr. Banner, he fell unconscious a moment ago, I want a report on his vitals. And get Wilkins to send an update on the situation to HQ. We've got Banner on board."
AN: Soooo…. what do you think?
I always felt that Inoue had the potential to be the most powerful character in the Bleach Universe. Her ability as Aizen once said intruded on the territory of God, the ability to make and unmake at will.
The only thing holding her back was her good nature, and perhaps arguably some BS about someone with more powerful reiatsu being able to "resist" being rejected out of existence. But if she could repair the Hougyoku and revive arrancars seemingly more powerful than herself then I'm inclined to believe it's more of a willpower issue.
Anyways I tried to stay as true to the movie scene as possible on the first half while injecting things here or there, then went off the rails on a sideways tangent into a parallel universe of my own creation near the end.
Leave me your thoughts, both good and bad! I love hearing back from the readers even and I might even steal an idea or two if it appeals to me =)
Stay safe everyone. Until next time!