Chapter 37
A knock at the door interrupted Ruby and Rob's meal preparations. Ruby looked at the clock on the stove: 6:15.
"Great," she huffed. "He's been late for everything my entire life and now he's early."
"Don't sweat it, Babe," Rob patted her on the butt as he eased past her, "I'll get it. You finish up here."
Honestly, everything was done; it just needed to be plated and served. There was no reason for her to feel stressed, but for some reason she was. Her emotions were warring inside her head. On one hand, she still harbored all the resentment built up from his treatment of her since her mother's death. It was something she was not going to be able to get over without some time and effort even knowing the reason behind it. On the other hand, she felt that she had to immediately start making up for all the years they had lost because of Hydra.
"Here he is," Rob announced, preceding her father into the dining room. "Let me take your jacket and make you a drink. What are you having?"
"Scotch, neat," John said, handing over his jacket.
"Have a seat. Dinner's almost ready," Rob said as he left the room.
"Hey, honey," John smiled at Ruby over the counter that divided the kitchen from the dining area.
"Hi, Daddy," Ruby wiped her hands on a towel before coming around the counter to hug her father. "How was the drive?"
"Traffic is terrible out there," he said as he hugged her back. "A wreck has everything backed up for miles. It's a good thing I gave myself plenty of time to get here."
Rob came back into the room and went to the sideboard where Ruby kept the liquor, "that's the only bad thing about living here. With these roads, it doesn't take much to gridlock the entire area." He poured John a drink and brought it to him. "So how long are you planning to be here?"
John took the drink, "that depends on Ruby. I'm trying to talk her into coming back to Houston."
"Really?" Rob looked surprised.
"Daddy," Ruby warned, "I don't want to start this evening off arguing."
"Sorry, baby," John held up his hands in surrender, "you can't blame an old man for trying. I won't say another word."
"Enough about that," Ruby came out of the kitchen with a hot platter. "Dinner is served."
The three of them took their seats and filled their plates. They chatted amiably for a few minutes about the pros and cons of living in the bay area.
"I know we're not supposed to talk about it," Rob said during a lull in the conversation, "but I'm curious."
"Rob…," Ruby started.
"No," he held up his hand to stop her, "let me finish. If you and John have reconciled, why wouldn't you want to go back to Houston and help him with the business? It doesn't make any sense to me, so help me wrap my head around it."
"Well," Ruby looked at her father before continuing, "we are reconciled, yes, but we are still have a long way to go before we can go back to a normal relationship, if that's even possible after everything we've been through. As for the business, I have no interest in it at all. I don't have a head for that kind of thing. I love what I'm doing now and for the first time in a long time, I'm happy with my life. I'm simply not ready to give that up."
Rob frowned when she said she was happy with her life, seeing it for the lie that it was, but before he could voice his objection, John coughed violently, turning red in the face.
"Daddy, are you okay?" Ruby asked with concern.
When John started wheezing and clutching his chest, she jumped up in alarm, "Rob, call 911!"
She hurried to her father's side, "daddy? Do you have any pills? An inhaler? An EpiPen?" she went through every possible scenario.
He didn't respond as he struggled to breath. Ruby was on the verge of panic as he started turning an alarming shade of blue and slid from his chair to the floor knocking the remains of his scotch of the table.
"Daddy!" she cried, hovering over him helplessly.
She turned to see Rob sitting at his place, watching the events unfold.
"Rob! What are you doing? Did you call 911?"
He answered calmly, "no, it's already too late."
"Too late?" her voice was shrill. "What? How do you know that?"
He motioned with his chin, "see?"
Turning back to her father, she saw that he was no longer fighting to breath and his eyes were glassy.
"No. No. NO!" she shook him, trying to get a response. "Daddy!" she wailed before collapsing over him, sobbing.
The traffic had finally eased up and they were finally making good time.
"We're only a few minutes out," Danvers told him.
"I'm okay," he assured her.
In truth, Bruce was far from it and she probably knew that. Different scenarios kept flashing through his head, all of them ending with Ruby's death. Combined with his memories of the last time they spoke, if it could be called that, at the compound…, A rumbling growl rose from his chest. No, he was far from okay.
The clock on the dash read 6:30.
Izzy looked at the clock on her phone: 6:30. It was time to finish this.
Getting out of her car, she crossed the busy road, dodging cars even though she had the light. She had the code for the building, obtained from watching a real estate broker key it in when she toured a vacant apartment. Taking the elevator up to the 8th floor, she hurried down the hall to Ruby's apartment.
From inside, she could hear voices; Ruby's raised and high pitched and her boyfriend's low and calm. She tried the door and found it open. Closing it behind her, she crept into the apartment, her gun drawn and ready.
Strong hands closed on her shoulders and lifted her away from her father, turning her into Rob's chest, where he held her, murmuring calming words. At first, Ruby allowed herself to sink mindlessly into the comfort of his arms, then the memory of his actions had her shoving him away.
"You!" she stepped back, putting space between them. "How are you so calm?"
He shrugged, "it was inevitable. He had to go."
"What are you talking about?" she asked shrilly. "What's going on?"
"Honestly?" he shook his head, "as smart as you are, you haven't figured it out yet?" He turned his back to her and went over to where he kept his briefcase.
Realization dawned, draining the blood from her face. "You're with Hydra," she stated flatly.
"There you go," he smiled over his shoulder at her before unlocking the briefcase.
"They figured out what my father was up to."
"Right again," he confirmed before turning around to face her. "He was a fool to think he could hide it from us."
"So, you poisoned him?" Without waiting for his response, she raised her chin defiantly, "I supposed you think I'm going to just take his place as your puppet? Well, you can forget it! I'm not doing anything to help you."
"No, we no longer have any interest in you. We got what we needed from your father's business already. Now it's time to move on." He raised the gun he had retrieved from the briefcase and pointed it at her.
Bruce didn't wait for Danvers to stop the SUV before jumping out and rushing to the building. The outer door was locked, but with another growl and a ripple of green across his skin, he ripped it off its frame and tossed it across the road barely missing a car. Bypassing the elevator, he took the stairs, bounding up them at high speed.
Izzy only had seconds to take in the scene before she saw Ruby's boyfriend raise a gun and point it at her best friend.
"No!" she screamed and fired her gun at him.
Too many things happened at once for Ruby to process.
Rob pointed a gun at her, "I just have to tie up loose ends."
Izzy screamed and shot at him. The bullet missed, but it distracted him enough that he missed when he fired at her, burying itself in the wall behind her.
She instinctively dropped to the floor and hid behind the table.
The sounds from the two shots echoing down the stairwell to Bruce were enough to tip him over the edge. With a roar, the Hulk emerged and crashed through the door on the 8th floor. The door to Ruby's apartment stood open down the hall as he raced towards it.
Danvers heard the gunshots and the Hulk's roar down on the street. She immediately shot into the air towards Ruby's apartment, hoping to reach it before he did.
"You interfering bitch!" Rob snarled before aiming at Izzy as she pulled the trigger a second time.
The two shots were almost simultaneous. Hers clipping him in the shoulder spinning him away from her before he could get off another shot. She pulled the trigger again, but her hand didn't obey the command from her brain. She looked at it in confusion and saw that she had dropped the gun. Looking down, she saw a bloom of blood centered on her chest.
That wasn't right, was her last thought.
The Hulk crashed through the door and into the apartment just as Izzy collapsed to the floor. Across the room, a man spun to point a gun at him and emptied the clip. The bullets bounced off harmlessly and did nothing but piss him off more. With a growl, he leapt across the space and swatted the puny human.
From her hiding place behind the table, Ruby heard the next two shots, but didn't dare look up until she heard the familiar roar of the Hulk as he crashed into the room. She peaked over the edge of the table in time to see Rob shooting at the Hulk in a panic.
"Bruce!" she screamed.
The Avenger didn't hesitate before hurtling across the room and swinging at Rob, knocking him through the outer wall of her apartment.
Danvers caught the body of the Hydra operative as he crashed through the wall and flew out of the apartment. It was too late to save the man, every bone in his body was broken from the impact, but at least she kept him from plummeting into the traffic below and causing a scene.
Correction: more of a scene.
Ruby slowly rose and faced the Hulk. Her apartment was in shambles, but she didn't give it a second look before racing across the room and throwing herself at him.
"Oh, Bruce!" she cried as he caught her awkwardly.
Over his shoulder, she saw Carol Danvers fly through the hole in the wall with Rob's limp body.
Under her, she could feel the Hulk tense at Danvers appearance.
"It's okay," she said soothingly, "she's a friend."
Ruby was surprised how she could go from total panic to calm the moment she was in his monstrously large arms. Like she was shielded from all the bad.
"I'm okay, Bruce," she told him. "It's okay now."
She continued to murmur soothingly to him until she felt him shrinking. Before long, it was just her Bruce holding her in his arms against his naked body.
"You're naked again," she told him softly.
He hugged her tightly, "I need to get someone to design me a super suit."
Pushing her away to look at her, he asked, "are you okay?"
Ruby nodded, "I'm okay. Or as well as I can be with everything." She teared up, "oh, Bruce! He murdered my father." She leaned back against him and sobbed.
"Get her out of here before all hell breaks loose," Danvers said from behind her. "There's a containment team on the way and I'll stay to run interference with the locals."
"No," she pushed away from Bruce, "I can't leave him like this."
"Ruby, trust Danvers, she'll make sure he's taken care of," Bruce told her.
She looked at the other woman who gave her a nod, "don't worry. I've got this. Just go with Banner before the cops get here. Believe me, you don't want to go through that in your state."
Ruby nodded and let Bruce lead her towards the door. At the sight of Izzy's body slumped on the floor, she shook with renewed tears.
"She saved me," she sobbed. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be standing here."
"At least she got one thing right," Bruce nodded.
"No, she did more than that. There's so much she helped me get through. If it hadn't been for her…,"
"Danvers will make sure she's taken care of too," he looked back at the other woman.
"Absolutely," she confirmed. The wail of sirens drifted through the hole in the wall. "Go! The SUV is in the parking garage." She threw the keys to Bruce.
With one last look at her best friend, Ruby let him lead her from the apartment.
Two hours later, at SHIELD's west coast facility that was still under construction, Ruby paced back and forth in the room she had been given. They had flown in silence, just finding comfort in being with each other and Bruce had been pulled away almost immediately when they landed. He had protested, but Ruby assured him she'd be okay for a while and just needed to rest. Now, she regretted letting him go.
A soft rap at her door stopped her halfway across the floor.
"Come in."
The weak smile on her face faded when Fury walked in and shut the door behind him.
"You," she spat. "Get out!"
The director held up his hands, "just give me a minute, then if you still want me to leave, I'll go."
"I'm not interested in your apologies."
"Oh, I'm not here to apologize," he told her. "I'm just here to let you know that Banner didn't have anything to do with my actions. He actually threatened to rip my head off at one point."
"That didn't stop him from going along with it though," she sniffed.
"No. Especially not when he realized you were in danger and we needed to find out who was setting you up." He sighed, "everything he did, he did to protect you. And he hated every minute of it."
"Is that it?"
"Yeah, that's all I wanted to say."
"Then get out."
After the door shut behind him, Ruby continued to scowl at it for several seconds.
In truth, nothing he said made a difference. She had already forgiven Bruce. The moment he burst into her apartment all big and green and angry, she had realized how stupid she was being. Fury was the one she should be mad at, not Bruce. He was just another victim of the director's manipulations.
Another tap came at her door.
"I told you to get…," she started and then stopped when Bruce looked in. "Oh, I thought you were Fury."
"He's been to see you already?" he paled.
"Yeah," she nodded.
"And?"
She approached him, taking the door out of his hand, and swinging it open to let him in.
"We need to talk."
He stepped into the room and let her shut the door, "we do? I mean, of course."
"Yeah," she stepped close to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "later. Right now, you have too many clothes on."
He smiled, "first you complain because I don't have any clothes on, then you complain because I have them on. How's a guy supposed to know what to do?"
She smiled back, "let me give you a hint," and pulled him down for a kiss.
Five months later, she was waiting anxiously at the SHIELD compound. The funeral for her father had been a private affair attended by her and just a few of his closest associates. Ruby had thought she was through with the tears but had broken down during the service. If it hadn't been for Bruce, she might not have made it all the way through. Most of it was from anger, directed at Hydra. She had just gotten her father back only to have him taken away again. Forever this time.
The next few months after that were spent attending to his business. While she still had no interest in taking it over, it had been his entire life's work. She couldn't just dissolve it and sell it off. One of his associates mentioned during the funeral service that she could put it in a trust, and she had investigated the possibility. Entrusting her father's legacy to a bunch of lawyers was a huge step, but in the end, it was better than the alternative.
Her mental state was much clearer now. She felt so much better after she let all the anger she had been harboring since that fateful day at the compound. Though she had felt the anger to be justified, it had eaten away at her like a slow poison, tainting everything she did. Letting it go, forgiving Izzy and then Bruce had made her feel like herself again. She wasn't quite ready to forgive Fury, though. That would take a lot longer. Maybe when she got back from Kree, she would be ready. Maybe not.
"Hey, you," Bruce strode up to her outside the hangar and dropped his bags on the concrete next to hers before taking her into his arms and kissing her thoroughly.
"Miss me much?" she asked breathlessly when he released her. "I've only been gone for a week."
"Any time away from you is too long," he smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Are you ready for this?"
Her stomach did a little flip and she blanched.
"Hey," he looked at her with concern, "you don't have to do this if you don't want to. Nobody's forcing you."
"Oh," she took a bracing breath, "I want to go. It's the chance of a lifetime. It's just the traveling through space part that I'm not so sure about."
"Don't worry, I'll be with you the entire time," he assured her.
"Yeah, but which one of you? Remember that hydra craft you tore apart?"
"This time, I'll be there too," Carol Danvers said joining them.
"That's a bit more reassuring," Ruby said weakly. "It's still space."
"Come on," Bruce smiled, "if a talking racoon and a tree can do it…,"
She giggled, "I guess you're right."
"Of course, I am," he grinned, "I am a genius."
"Yeah, one that still hasn't figured out how to keep his clothes on during a fight," Danvers laughed.
"Hold on! I thought they had designed you a super suit?" Ruby asked.
Bruce blushed, "I kind of destroyed the prototype."
The two women laughed.
"We'll have to see what I can come up with on Kree," Ruby wiped tears from her eyes. "Something in green since that's your color."
"Ha-ha, very funny," Bruce tried to frown but failed.
"Come on, you two," Danvers started towards her spaceship parked on the pad, "you can argue once we're in the air."
"Argue?" Bruce snorted, "this isn't arguing."
"Besides," Ruby leaned in and whispered, "there's always the million-mile-high club…."
"Say no more, woman!" Bruce bent and threw her over his shoulder. "Watch out space, here we come!"
The End
