...

Bruce Banner, a hand on the mountainside behind him for balance, slowly brought himself on to his two feet.

I watched as his gaze appraised the two of us, before latching onto the lone bag slung over Jane's neck.

"How did you two get up here?" The man questioned warily, his gaze slowly moving onto me. "The tattoo says you're not military, but what would I know?" he added, forcing an uncomfortable laugh out at something he probably didn't think we'd get.

Still, it was a little annoying that everyone thought the mark on my forehead was a tattoo- Even Jane had!

It was purple for crying out loud. Tattoos aren't meant to be purple!

"Would you believe me, if I said we flew?" I retorted, watching him as he narrowed his eyes.

"Doesn't matter." He stated, shaking his head as a hand went through his untamed hair. "You should leave."

I idly started pacing around the edge of the cliff while Jane Foster settled for standing in the same spot.

"Bruce Banner-" His eyes narrowed as a wary expression took over, though he didn't do anything else. "Ostracised. Condemned, and named a criminal in the eyes of the world." I continued as Banner's expression turned darker. "And all for the wrong reasons." I sighed, coming to a stop, once again right before Jane.

My words didn't do anything to change the man's expressions.

"It's like looking at a mirror."

"You need a better mirror." The man retorted, with no amusement in his voice or eyes. "Seriously though, if you know what's good for you, you need to leave."

"You're running out of supplies." I pointed out. "At some point, you're going to have to leave yourself, probably find a low-key job somewhere, and inevitably fuck it all up because the world's completely against you."

"Thanks for the tip." The man remarked, a dark expression covering his face.

"...Honey, we talked about this." Jane felt the need to jump in, earning a pair of rolled eyes from me.

I turned my gaze towards her, a grin on my face. "Honey? I didn't know we were there yet."

"Well, maybe if you told me your name-"

"Are you really doing this now?"

She shook her head, and promptly focused back on the other stranger on the cliff.

"You're a couple?" Bruce Banner remarked, a hint of tiredness in his voice. "Dates to the zoo are generally meant to see regular animals, you know?"

My humorous expression ceased, as a wince appeared over Jane's expression.

He genuinely believed he was an animal?

God's, that's way darker than I'd expected.

"You clearly know my track record, but what makes you think I plan on going back anyway?"

I took a step closer and watched as the man's guard shot right up.

"I am going to have to ask you to stand back."

"What? You want me to jump off the cliff too?" I responded immediately, earning more wariness from the other.

"Trust me, that's a better result than what would happen to you otherwise."

"You gonna hulk out on me?"

The man considered the words for a moment before letting out a sigh.

"It's not usually by choice."

At that, I promptly reached into my pocket, earning a startled reaction out of the man, before I promptly threw the wristband I'd spent the night working on towards him.

Other than giving it a brief look over, he didn't make any other action.

"You're angry, I get it-"

"Don't even-" The man started shaking his head, his expression clouding further.

"Like I said. You're angry, at the world, at its people, at your luck-" I sighed, lowering my head the slightest. "-but most importantly, at yourself."

"At myself?" The man bit out. "Why would I be angry-"

"Because. You genuinely believe that you should've died to that radiation. You really think that fixing it, and saving your own life in the process, was a bad choice, and you've been wrestling with it ever since."

The man opened his mouth to respond, before promptly closing it. His body slacking as his back laid back on the mountainside.

"You've made your point. You can-"

"Oh, I am far from it." I bit out. "I am here to tell you you're wrong. Hell, I'd even say stupid-"

His expression twitched.

I took a step forward.

"But most importantly, I think you're a coward-"

"Stop it."

I blinked, my gaze immediately turning towards Jane Foster. The woman's angry expression was admittedly unsurprising-

"You said-" She continued, only to find herself spoken over by the man in question.

"He's right. I am a coward. I am stupid. And I was wrong." The man took in a deep breath. "And people died for it."

"Oh boohoo," I remarked on reflex. "People died, so I am going to throw myself to the literal wolves." I bit out. "Why don't you just grow a goddamn pair and try to use your blessings to help the world instead of feeling sorry for yourself!"

I ignored the sudden slap that echoed off my arm, my gaze locked onto a disgruntled, mildly pissed, Banner.

"Blessings!?" The man yelled out, standing to his feet. "You call that thing a blessing? You're more deluded than you look! How the hell am I supposed to use it to help people!?"

"I am talking about your mind."

He froze.

"I am talking about every painstaking Ph.D. You got under your belt."

I took another step closer.

"I am talking about every reason Beccy fell for you in the first place."

At which point whatever expression he'd had crumbled as pure utter bemusement took over.

"...Are... are you talking about Betty? I don't know a Beccy."

"Oh. My bad." I nodded. "Yeah, uh, her. Satan's daughter."

Bruce let out a snort.

"You've met Ross."

"Didn't need to." I deadpanned, only to watch as more bemusement took over.

"Then how do you-"

"Told you, don't work for him. I am here of my own free will."

"...Your free will sucks then."

I opened my mouth to retort.

"He's not wrong." Jane Foster remarked from my side, earning a mock-glare from me.

Shaking my head, I turned back towards Bruce and... Frankly was at a loss. I'd obviously expected him to be wary but... I wasn't entirely sure I could convince him to do anything right about now.

"Besides," The man sighed. "I go back, you really think they'll care about my mind?"

"Tony Stark might..." Jane beat me to the punch, her gaze shifting between me and him, before settling on me as a hushed whisper came out. "You said you work for him? Can't you, you know?"

In all fairness, I was about to offer him the choice of Asgard- Though in hindsight a mostly military-like organization was probably the last place he'd want to be at.

"Stark?" Bruce remarked, narrowed eyes taking over his expression. "I am not working for that asshole. I'd be going from radiation to nuclear weapons-"

"Ah." I raised a single finger. "He's actually cleaned up his act."

Bruce blinked.

"What?"

"Oh yeah, gone full superhero."

"You're kidding."

"I am surprisingly not."

The three of us fell into a momentary lapse of silence, one I took the advantage of walking closer to the man in question. This time, to my surprise, not eliciting any hostile reaction for doing so.

"You can see for yourself- Even if you don't want to work with him, you don't have to-"

The man's eyes narrowed the slightest.

I put a hand to the back of my head, shaking it. "Look, I am not saying you have to go back to work or anything, okay? I am just here to offer you a chance back into society, with no one looking over your shoulder. No one to hound you. If you want to work for an egomaniac superhero, by all means, do it. If you want to settle down and steal your chick from her latest boyfriend, I am not gonna stop you..."

By this point, the man's expressions were frankly all over the place.

"I am just here to offer you a hand, so? Take it."

"One problem with that. Well, two actually." Bruce stated, shaking his own head. "I can't risk any of that. Because if I have a single incident, the entire world will be on my ass."

"Not if you work for Stark. No one can bully that guy into anything."

"And if I don't want to work for Stark?" The man bit out, a hint of self-loathed triumph filling his eyes-

"Then I am afraid you're just gonna have to settle for wearing that wristband for the rest of your life." I sighed.

He blinked in response, his gaze for a moment turning to stare at the aforementioned article on the floor a few feet away from him.

"What?"

"It's super-advanced science or rudimentary magic. Whichever way you want to see it, regardless it might not stop the transformations or cure of it, but it'll let you decide when to have them."

"...You really expect me to believe that?"

"Try it on, get angry, see if you Hulk out."

"...I am not going to do that. And if you really think a placebo's gonna do anything to stop him from coming out then you're more deluded than I thought-"

"Hey, if anyone's deluded here, it's her." I pointedly remarked, pointing at Jane Foster. The woman's expression twitching. "I mean seriously you should see her Ph.D. work."

"Oi..."

"..." Bruce Banner didn't seem to take in the words, instead electing to shake his head. "Look, I appreciate you coming all the way here, but even if that were true- That... somehow a bracelet-"

"Wristband."

"Whatever it is! Even if by some miracle it actually worked-" Bruce Banner stood up to his full height. "There's still problem number one."

I took a step back, mostly to make sure I stood right in front of Jane. A single hand outstretched before her.

"And that's the fact, I don't have a reason to trust you. Because if there's anything I've learned, it's that when an offer's too good to be true, it always is."

Of course, that was the moment my worry skyrocketed as instead of staying behind me, Jane promptly pushed my hand aside and took way too many steps towards the literal Hulk.

So much for being saner than me.

"Well, you should! And if you need a reason- any reason it's because he's-" She pursed her lips, briefly looking back towards me.

"What?" Bruce Banner snorted. "A genius? Rich? Because I've met both-"

Her head snapped back towards him.

"He's kind! Kinder then anyone like him has any right to be!"

... Did Jane Foster genuinely believe we were going to convince him to come along with us over kindness?

I am officially done.

"Kind?"

Bruce Banner scoffed. "It sure as hell doesn't look that way to me."

"Well, he is! When he first tried to find you and accidentally broke into my apartment-"

I promptly facepalmed.

Bruce Banner's incredulous expression practically rocketed into his face with the way his expression rapidly changed, his lips mouthing the words 'accidentally.'

"Accidentally teleported..." I felt the need to point out, though Jane wasn't listening.

Bruce however seemed to pick up on my words as a look of understanding filtered through his eyes, as well as genuine curiosity.

"-and watched me knock myself out against a wall-"

I had to cover my eyes.

This was literally too embarrassing to watch.

Bruce Banner was officially out-weirded by the two of us.

"-he could've just left! Set off on his way to your location and wouldn't have had to look back!"

"Can I-" Bruce Banner raised a hand to speak, only to promptly wilt back at the sudden ferocity likely gracing Jane's own expression.

"No! You're going to listen first!" She promptly pointed a finger back towards me. "He didn't have to stick around, but he did! You know why?"

The poor bastard looked so confused, I almost felt sorry for him.

"So I wouldn't get nightmares out of it! He risked probably ending in jail, or worse, just so I wouldn't have to spend the next five years in therapy! That's what makes him kind! The rest of him, the intellect, the stupid-"

I twitched.

"The everything, that all comes after it!" The woman finished her rant, her breath shallower than before as Bruce Banner appraised her.

"...You sound smitten."

"Maybe I am."

"That makes you biased."

"Maybe it does."

A beat passed in silence before a different, somewhat hard to decipher expression took over.

"How long have you known him?"

Uh oh.

"A day and a half," Jane answered with conviction.

I sighed.

"That makes you foolish."

Yet to my surprise, the words didn't slow the woman down at all. "So? Have you never been foolish yourself?"

"..." Bruce Banner after a tense moment of thinking, let out a long sigh, as an honest-to-god smile took over his face. "Yeah, I have."

"...

Look, I am not saying you're wrong to not trust him, but... If there's anyone out there you should put your faith in, it's him. I did and... So far, besides him threatening to throw me at a panther, it's worked out."

Oh my god, you were doing so well, why would you say that-

Bruce Banner snorted.

I literally cannot even anymore.

"...Fine." The man sighed. "Fine, fine. Why not? But just so we're clear... It's not him I am putting my faith on."

Jeez, thanks.

God's why do I even bother?

"It's you." Bruce Banner remarked, staring pointedly at Jane.

"Does that mean?" The woman's expression, I'll admit, practically glowed at the words, as a massive smile cut her face.

"One condition." Bruce Banner remarked, tersely. "Well, two. But you can worry about that one later." He turned to look me in the eye.

"Shoot." I shrugged.

"...Stark's a hero now? That I have got to see."

...

After opening up another portal towards said newly registered superhero and a mountain of questions filled with disbelief from the resident Hulk.

Bruce Banner eventually settled for-

"This goes against everything I've ever learned."

"...You're still going through it, right?" I deadpanned, earning a slap on the arm from Jane.

"You kidding? I am actually starting to believe you now. There's no way the military's involved... If they had this tech, they wouldn't even need me."

I opened my mouth to speak and promptly closed it.

Shit.

Was I a bigger target for them?

Scratch that, stupid question.

"So?" Jane took over my lack of words, eyeing Bruce Banner with far more kindness than she'd started with earlier today.

"... I guess... It's time I took another leap of faith, huh?"

"Well, preferably before dinner-"

Jane let out another long sigh.

"You see what I have to deal with?"

"You have my condolences." The man remarked, shaking his head, before turning his gaze down towards the wristband held in his hand. "This really works?" He questioned, looking towards me.

"Only one way to find out," I grinned. "And if it doesn't, I could always make a better one."

"...Right." The man stated, shaking his head in the process.

After putting it on, showing no visible reaction in doing so, not that I'd expected him to, he promptly took in a deep breath and went through the portal designated to Tony Stark's lab.

When Jane made to follow him, I promptly stopped her, grabbing her by the hand, earning a bemused look in return.

"Kind?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "I am not a hero you know?"

She blinked once and promptly shook her. "No, you're not. But Stark is."

I made to roll my eyes-

"And if I had to put my faith in either of you, I'd choose you."

I froze, just for a single moment before, almost on instinct, my head dove towards her, leaving a peck on her cheek.

"Well freakin' done, Foster."

Her shit-eating grin admittedly almost killed the mood.

Huh. So that's what it's like dealing with me.

Rolling my eyes, I promptly held her shoulders and forced her through the portal. The woman giggling all the way.

Needless to say, I was somewhat relieved we'd wound up in Stark's lab, the man himself stood right in front of his Iron Man suits.

Bruce Banner, somewhat surprised and worried, was right next to the two of us, his gaze up ahead.

I couldn't blame him, really.

I held in the long sigh that threatened to come out, even as Jane's gasp died out in my ears.

We were currently surrounded by a bunch of idiots holding guns.

"You a real motherfucker, you know that?" The sound came out from behind me, the portal closing down and disappearing to show one Nickolas J Fury.

...

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