A/N: I do not own Avengers.
Steve, Tony, and Natasha ran over to Bruce to look at the bite. "That's a bite, all right," Tony said.
"I – I can't stay here," Bruce stammered. "I've got to – to leave. You're all in danger if I stay. You need to make that cure."
"We can't make it on our own," Natasha said. "You know what to do, not us. We need your help before you're overtaken, Bruce. Just try to stay calm."
"Yeah, sure, okay," Bruce said. He took a few shaky deep breaths.
"We should get up to the lab," Steve said, "so you can walk us through what to do."
"And we're gonna want to do it fast," Tony said. "Running how much the virus had spread is that town upstate against the time it took us to get there in the Quinjet, I'd say people are overtaken by this in under half an hour."
"Could we not – not talk about that now?" Bruce said. "I don't want any stress, because the last thing we all need is me hulking out now. I wouldn't be able to help you then, and…I don't even want to think about a zombie Hulk."
"Let's just start by going upstairs, okay?" Steve said.
Bruce nodded.
The team headed up the stairs. By the time they reached the lab, Steve noticed black lines weaving their way out from the edges of the bite wound. They entered the room and turned on the lights. The lab and all of its equipment was untouched, as none of the zombies had made it that far up the tower.
"Bruce, hold up, stand back," Tony said. "Just want to do something fast."
"What is it?" Bruce asked, backing up from one of the tables in the room.
"Something to keep us all safe." A small device popped up from the shoulder of Tony's armor and shot four disks onto the floor, forming a ten-foot-wide square around Bruce. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., activate containment cube."
The disks spread a clear blue forcefield from them. It connected the four across the floor and spread up ten feet as well, forming a large cube surrounding Bruce.
"Can you hear me, buddy?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, I can hear you,"" Bruce said. "What is this?"
"A containment cube. You can see and hear through it both ways, but it's basically indestructible. From in there, you can walk us through how to create the cure, and once you're…overtaken, we'll be safe to continue our work."
"What if…you know, Hulk takes over?"
"I tested this thing against seven simultaneous ARC Reactor blasts from my different suits of armor, and it held up. It'll be fine."
Bruce gave a nervous chuckle. "You really think your suits are stronger than the Hulk?"
"Let's all hope so."
"Bruce, you'll be fine in there," Natasha said. "Once we have the cure ready to go, we'll use it on you first."
"Thanks."
"So where do we start?" Steve asked.
Bruce walked them through the steps for creating the cure from the sample of zombie blood; the three took notes on what he said for reference. Once Bruce finished, he asked, "Got all that?"
"Sure do," Tony said. "Steve, keep an eye on him. Nat, help me start working on this."
"Will do," Steve said.
Several minutes later, Bruce said, "Steve, is it just me, or does the bite on my arm…not look as bad?" He held up his arm for Steve to see.
At first, Steve couldn't even tell where the bite was, as it looked nothing like it had before. Gone was the patchwork of black lines spreading out from it; all that remained were the original teeth marks.
"You're right," Steve said. "It looks better than when we entered the lab."
"That was just, like, fifteen minutes ago, right? Do you think this is part of the process? That it looks like the infection's going away, and then it…gets a lot worse?"
"I don't know. Tony, come look at this."
Tony walked over, leaving Natasha in charge of working on the cure, and asked, "What is it?"
"The bite, it doesn't look as bad as it did before, right?"
"That's…odd," Tony said. "Yeah, you're right, it doesn't look as bad. What's going on, then?"
He held up one of his hands and a blue light came from his armor. It penetrated the forcefield and shone on the wound. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., what're we looking at?" Tony asked.
"I'm not sure," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said. "It appears as though the unknown pathogen is being suppressed by something."
"Suppressed by what?"
"Conducting further scans…. The pathogen has been bonded with the gamma radiation in Dr. Banner's bloodstream."
"What's she saying?" Natasha asked.
"The zombie virus and Bruce's gamma radiation have somehow…combined," Tony said. "What does that mean, though? Will that keep him from experiencing any symptoms of being infected?"
"In the most likely scenario, yes and no," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said. "As long as he remains in this form, he should be free of any effects of the infection. But if he transforms into the Hulk, in all probability, the pathogen will take over as well."
"So we're looking at human Bruce but zombie Hulk?"
"Correct, sir."
"What – what does any of this mean?" Bruce asked.
"If F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s right," Tony said, "the gamma radiation bonding to the zombie virus means that as long as you're in your human form, you'll be safe from going all flesh-hungry. But if you turn into the Hulk, the zombie virus'll take over too."
"So…I'm good then, right?"
"Define good," Natasha said.
"Well, I can help with making the cure, then. I'm fine; I'm not a danger to any of you."
"As long as you don't get angry," Tony said. "I don't think we want to meet this version of you when you're angry."
A/N: Please R&R! Chapter 3 coming soon!