The two giants lunged towards each other, intent on ripping their opponent apart. They exchanged powerful blows that made the ground quake under the force of their battle. "You're throwing it all away! You could have everything with Hydra." Madman's voice reverberated loudly off of the nearby trees.
Snarling, the Hulk answered with another fist, unaffected by the red giant's offer. I waited for my opening, quickly searching for a pattern or mistake so that I could get close enough to hopefully weaken the target and possibly subdue him. With ease I jumped into the nearest tree, catching a branch and swinging myself up. Finally I saw my chance to jump onto the Hulk as he continued to grapple with Madman, but just as I bent my knees to make the leap an arrow flew by and embedded itself into the tree trunk.
I turned my attention to the direction the arrow had come from, ignoring the burning sensation warming my upper arm. The archer was approaching, weaving his way through the heavily wooded area. "Can't let you do that." He called.
Hawkeye, one of SHIELD's former agents. He doesn't miss shots like that. It must have been a warning. "You wasted your shot." I moved forward, making it across the branches from tree to tree in order to get closer. From a distance I didn't stand a chance with his aim, but up close I could go toe to toe.
He had another arrow in his hand and I had to act, striking as I dropped down with my feet first. The arrow slipped from his grasp as he brought his arms up to shield his head at the last moment, giving me a surface to dismount and land ready to go. Despite his skill I had the upper hand with my enhanced durability and speed. I crouched down low as his foot swept past the area my upper body would have been in, grabbing the fallen arrow and taking a swipe towards his head as I stood. As he leaned back to avoid the attack and threw off his center of gravity I pushed him back with a hard stomp kick between the ribs and into the company of two Hydra agents that had made their way to the scene.
I had a little ways to go to catch up to the fighting giants now. They'd managed to move off to the west and slightly downhill while I'd been busy. A glimpse of fiery red hair caught my eye as Black Widow decided to engage, standing between me and my target just as her partner had done. I caught her fist with my own hand, stopping just shy of crushing the bones as a current of electricity rendered my arm momentarily useless and it dropped to my side.
"You don't know what you're doing. You and Dr. Banner were close before you ended up with Hydra." She grabbed for my injured arm while the other tingled from the shock, twisting so that my arm rested on her shoulder as she prepared to throw me much like Eric had done many times. The response was almost a reflex now as I moved my arm despite the lack of feeling and hooked it under her leg, flipping her instead.
I closed and opened my hand, shaking it to get the feeling back as she caught herself and gained some distance by turning her momentum in a turn over. "And I'm supposed to believe you? The famous Black Widow? A former agent of SHIELD?" The truth is I didn't know what to believe, but I wasn't going to let it show. I knew I had orders. I knew the consequences of failure. And I knew that if we could subdue the Hulk some of my most recent questions had a chance of being answered.
She shook her head at my response, moving in once again to attack. Unlike her partner, she was much quicker and better prepared for hand to hand combat. I would have had the upper hand had it not been for the small discs she'd pulled from her belt and managed to attach to me. The pain was sudden and intense, but then I was numb before I hit the ground as my limbs failed me.
I was still awake as I laid there waiting for the feeling to return to my body. Small rocks began to jump up from the ground and I could hear the trees closest to us crack and come crashing down. Romanoff's gloved hand clasped my shoulder and I was turned over as she raised a fist to either knock me out or finish me off.
Before her fist came down, a much larger green hand pulled her off of me and that was all I could see until the equally large form of Madman came running over me in pursuit of the Hulk. Had the Hulk really just pulled his own teammate off of me? What good would that do unless he'd thought that maybe she'd been in danger of being trampled? I felt the pins and needles all over as my body finally came to, allowing me to sit up and take in my surroundings.
"You think you can save her?" Madman shrank, quickly morphing into a form smaller than his original. He took on the frame of a woman with long, curled hair and hazel eyes.
I recognized the woman who'd appeared as Dr. Banner's mother. She'd been dead for years, but Dr. Sterns or maybe it was Madman that was able to recreate her image and change his form to match. Despite the shift happening right before him, the Hulk still paused, mesmerized by the game being played.
"Or are you just trying to make up for the guilt?" Just as quickly as she appeared, she was gone and replaced by a Dr. Banner lookalike. His tone was harsh and full of resentment. Slower this time, he shifted again into a slightly larger man, somewhat resembling his last form. Dr. Sterns was now taking the form of Brian Banner. "This is all because of you."
At that the giant snapped out of his daze, angered once again. Dr. Sterns managed to dodge the large foot that came stomping down and grew until he was Madman once more. "You had this one chance and you couldn't see the opportunity I was handing you."
I could tell that the Hulk was still shaken by what he'd seen. That must have been the plan I was supposed to pick up on. This was my way to get close. Rolling to my feet, I ran towards the giants that were now deadlocked. I stopped short, close enough to reach my target and yet I didn't move. My inner turmoil was enough to make me hesitate. This was someone's life. I didn't even have all of the facts and I was expected to help end this person's existence because they were deemed a threat if they didn't accept our offer.
I looked up to the Hulk as I reached forward, suddenly feeling a sort of déjà vu. We were in a clearing of a forest, just the two of us. It was a fleeting thought, maybe it'd been a dream of mine, but it was enough for me to question myself again. Maybe I had known this person before. Why would I question my actions so much otherwise? He'd now had two chances to crush me and it didn't seem to cross his mind once.
"Hydra has no room for those who question orders. I'll put you out of your misery too." With a twist Madman knocked the Hulk off balance and managed to send him sliding off to the side. Faster than I could react a flash of red swung in my direction, knocking me off of my feet and sending me in the opposite direction until my body slammed into a tall tree. There was a burst of light upon impact and then nothing.
"If you get knocked down, you've got to get up quickly. It doesn't matter how much it hurts. If they think you're weak, they'll give you a reason to stay down." Eric helped me to the nearest chair. The room had become very familiar to me, especially when the lessons here didn't sink in as quickly as expected.
"You can't really win in that situation, can you? If you get up, they could continue. If you don't get up then you still lose." I sighed and took the ice pack he'd made along with a piece of gauze, applying them across my cheek.
"Not really. It's more about being strong to the end. Hydra doesn't like hesitation or weakness." He knelt down and began to pull the boot from my left foot in what I could only assume was gentle in his opinion.
I pulled away from his prying hands as he poked at my swollen ankle, "I'll wrap it up when I get to my room. I just don't trust myself with stitches." There was an ugly bruise in the shape of a partial boot print beginning to form as a reminder of my most recent lesson.
"Alright, just need to get some ice on it at least." He reached for the remaining ice pack and a wrap to secure it to my foot. After he'd finished with my ankle he stood, moving around the room to clean up and retrieve the materials needed to stitch up the wound on my cheek.
"No mercy, huh?" Dr. Sterns was leaning in the doorway, "I'll finish up here, go on and grab something to eat. I've got a job for you later." He nodded towards Eric who returned the gesture and exited the room.
The blonde brought a tall chair over and pulled on a pair of gloves before seating himself next to me, gesturing for me to remove the ice pack. "You really don't have to do this, Dr. Sterns." I removed the gauze and ice, watching from the corner of my eye as he took a closer look.
He smiled as he began to dab at the wound to clean it off, "I want to make sure you're doing alright here. This is just the sort of thing I thought would happen if we were rushed." He sighed, carefully finishing up as he reached for the needle next, "I know things are tough now, but it'll all work out for the better in the end, I promise." He assured.
Everything was a blur, all of the colors just as bright as I last saw them, but with no definition. I allowed my eyes to close again until my head stopped swimming, trying again to make out the world around me once the feeling passed. My entire body protested painfully as I tried to prop myself up on my hands, threatening to fail me. Dr. Sterns never once did anything other than lend a helping hand when I was trying to work through some sort of inner turmoil or struggle. The thing he'd become, Madman, I didn't know. Was that really how my mentor had felt all along or was this new form thinking completely on its own?
Shaking at the thought of another attack, I looked around. My nerves, particularly the ones along my back were screaming for me to stop moving. Every breath intensified the pain around my chest and ribs causing me to limit the amount of air I took in as I attempted to lessen the discomfort. The ground shook as a set of too large footsteps approached, sending fresh waves of pain through my body that so desperately wanted to slip back into unconsciousness.
The Hulk stopped in front of me, looking disheveled with dirt and thick greenish blood smeared all over. I couldn't help flinching away from him, squeezing my eyes shut when he leaned in closer. They opened a moment later when I felt his fingertips press against my wounded arm. His eyebrows were furrowed with a look of question almost as if he were asking if I was alright. I placed my hand over his, prepared to at least attempt to push his away in case he suddenly remembered that he should probably crush me.
My nerves lit up, this time with a pleasant sensation that dulled the pain I'd been in. Alarmed, the giant pulled away, allowing the pain to come flooding back. I bit my lip at the sudden return, letting out a noise of pain and bracing myself to keep from collapsing. Tilting his head slightly, the Hulk extended his hand once more towards mine and let me reestablish contact. I watched him pale, his skin hinting at its original tone as he watched me curiously. All too quickly the ground began to shake violently once more as Madman came barreling through the trees and collided head on with the Hulk, sending them both tumbling yards away.
"Nice work." Eric came into my field of vision, moving to stand where the Hulk had been. "Maybe Madman will finish him off after all." He mused.
I frowned, reminded of his frosty side that I'd begun to overlook. "You don't think he'll try to bring him in alive?"
He knelt down beside me, giving me a better look at his own battered appearance, "That's up to him. He's pretty upset though. You freezing out there just might have put the nail in the coffin." Suddenly his hands shot out and wrapped themselves tightly around my throat. He pulled me up with him, quickly readjusting his grip so that his arm was pressed firmly to either side of my neck to cut off blood flow, "Trust me, you don't want to make it back either way. I'll be quick at least."
AN: So I felt it'd be a little incomplete if I didn't touch on Madman's shape shifting a little bit. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. Thank you so much for reading. Hopefully I'll have another update soon.