A/N: Hello, everyone! I realize that it's been roughly two months since I last posted, and I'm extremely sorry. You must have all thought I'd abandoned this story, and that's an awful feeling :(
Actually, I was just taking a break for Lent and realized only just now that my message about my hiatus hadn't posted. I'm extremely sorry for that, especially since the last chapter ended in a cliffhanger!
Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Read and review please :)
I wipe the tears forming from the smoke to see a massive hole in the floor. That is definitely not good. My body is paralyzed - from shock, I think. Come on, I tell my body, I've got to get out before there's another explosion. Move. I remain seated on the floor as a cough racks my body. Someone hauls me up and drags me out of the room, making me stumble. Outside, I see Rogers, Tony, and Barton standing together, Roger's hand still on my wrist. "Where are the others?" I ask, finally regaining my senses.
"I think they fell down the hole," Rogers replies.
"And we just left them there?" I ask, my voice coming out louder than I expected.
I don't get an answer. Barton opens the door across the corridor and we enter the main room.
It is chaos inside.
People are running around, getting to various different computers at once and getting to different rooms through the walls aligned with doors leading to many different corridors. Several people bump into me before I press myself against the wall. We try to get the attention of a few people, but they either don't acknowledge our presence or just shake their heads and move on. I can see the head of Fury in the centre of the room, shouting orders, but it's impossible to get to him with this crowd in the way. The whole floor suddenly tilts to one side, almost making me lose my balance. Rogers grabs one agents. "What's going on?" he asks.
"Our engines have been hit by a projectile," he replies, trying to wriggle his way out of Roger's grasp.
"How do you not know that a projectile is coming towards you?" Tony asks.
"It was invisible to the radars," he says, finally freeing himself and running off in a direction.
"You could have looked out the window!" Rogers shouts.
As if someone has heard him, someone cries, "There's another one coming!"
Everyone ducks and flees from the giant glass window covering the entire wall, some of them under tables. With everyone out of the way, I can see a massive dark shadow approaching, fast. I don't crouch. I extend my hand and brace myself for the blow. The missile hits my force field, its shrapnel some glass panes, creating an almost beautiful sea of broken fragments on the floor. The massive force of the missile rocks me a little, but otherwise I'm ok. My eyes meet with Fury's. He pushes everyone out of the way and comes to us. "What do you need?" he asks me directly.
It takes me a while to comprehend his question. The energy of the several force fields I've made today is draining me. "I need a clear view, preferably outside," I finally answer.
"Barton, take her to the roof. Rogers and Tony, go take care of the engines."
"You better go get your suit," Rogers says to Tony. My mind suddenly rings, as though it has thought of something, but before I can arrange my thoughts, I'm pulled along by Barton.
We race through the corridors, squeezing through the rabble of people or Barton pushing them away altogether. The floor tilts occasionally, making us lose our balances and occasionally fall. "If the engines aren't working, shouldn't we be in free fall right now?" I ask.
He asks this question through his communicator. I realize that mine is letting all the lines through and that I can't communicate with anyone directly. This always happens at the worst times.
"The engines are seeming to take turns working," he replies.
"Is that normal?" I ask. I am promptly ignored.
It is only after the umpteenth turn that I think to ask, "What about the others? Agent Romanoff?" I say specifically, to get his attention.
He presses his communicator closer. "Romanoff, do you copy?" he asks. There is no reply.
"Even I can't hear you," I say. It's true. I can hear everything but him. It seems that his communicator is broken on his side.
He takes out the earpiece from his ear. "Must be broken," he says. He ponders for a while, slowing his gait. Then he picks it up again. "They'll be fine by themselves," he replies, looking slightly unconvinced.
As she falls, she twists her body, making a perfect tumble as she hits the ground. Debris falls on top of her. She immediately tries to get on her feet, when she suddenly realizes she is trapped under a fallen beam. She tries to push herself out, but can't. In the middle of her struggle, she hears ragged breathing. "Banner?" she asks, looking up.
In the middle of the room, Bruce is on the floor on all fours. He has a grimace of pain on his face and is breathing heavily. His veins stand out and his forehead shimmers with sweat. "Banner," she repeats, realizing with horror what he is going through. He groans with the effort of containing himself. "You're going to be ok. I swear you're going to be ok. On my life."
With these words, he is the first one to realize what is going on. He needs to tell this to her. "It's happening... again..." he manages to get out, before he feels himself let go and be taken over. But the chemical must still be left in his body, because the transformation is slower. He can actually feel his muscles grow bigger and his mind slip quickly from his control. Not again, he thinks. He slips his clumsily large hand into his pocket and quickly takes out the container that Elizabeth had given him. Without a second thought, he inhales it.
Flash.
He thought he had just blinked. But now, after the darkness, he sees himself chasing Romanoff with great agility and strength. He stops himself and grabs onto a metal beam to slow himself down. So the transformation is partial. He still can't completely control himself. But he sees with satisfaction Romanoff run out of sight, into safety.
Flash.
He is standing in the middle of an empty space. Water pipes and wires surround him. He is still underground. He looks up briefly to see a hammer flying towards him, hitting him straight in the chest. Normally, it would have broken him in two. But his partial transformation allows him to merely stumble back a couple of steps. The hammer returns to Thor's hand who gets ready to throw it again. Bruce tries to say something, to show Thor that he is still himself. But then it turns dark again.
She is sitting against the wall, her chest heaving from the effort of running for her life. She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself. It's worse the second time round. The second time... her mind catches on to something, almost closing its fingers around the idea. But she is interrupted by static on her communicator. "There is an intruder on the fourth floor. He's approaching the main system. Does anyone copy?"
She waits for a second for someone to respond. Anyone can take on an intruder. From the looks of it, the tilting floor is proving to be more of a problem. The only sound on the other line is static. No one is answering. She takes another deep breath to calm herself. "This is Agent Romanoff. I copy."
He stops straight in his tracks. I do too, having heard those particular words with perfect clarity. We both look at each other and I know that he's watched every single video recording of this too. I know that he's memorized every detail of what happened on that night.
I know that he's realized that what is happening now is an exact replica of when Loki invaded the helicarrier.
Simultaneously, we run back the way we've come. "We're the only ones not affected by the previous event. We've got to disrupt anything that's going on," he says.
"I don't get it," I say, panting from the effort of running. "If everything's going on like before, it's going to turn out fine, like last time, right?"
"Everything is a trap," he says.