Hey guys! I know, its been FOREVER since I updated, but when the chapter you're writing is half full of movie dialogue, it gets tedious. Speaking of which, since it is full of movie dialogue, I made it twice as long to make up for it. See? I care about you guys! The story line is also going to be changing up a bit, but I promise its worth it.
Disclaimer: The Avengers are property of Marvel. I only own Alyss and Dante(who's a real ass)
Bruce and I walked in silence, opposite the way Loki and the guards had gone. I could tell that we were getting closer to the bridge. I heard the agents; they were murmuring and typing away on their computers. We took a left and walked through the door, where we found Natasha, Steve, and Dante sitting in the leather chairs and a tall muscular man with long blonde hair standing, they were all looking at screens. Dante looked up at me and his eyebrows rose in alarm at me standing next to Bruce. I quickly sat in the chair to the left of his and Bruce peered over the back off the chair directly in front of him. Dante shot me an angered look but I pretended to be more interested in the agents who scuffled around quietly.
"In case it's unclear," I heard Fury say. I looked down at my screen. "You try to escape; you so much as scratch that glass."
He pressed a few buttons on the control board in front of him and a large hole opened beneath the chamber Loki was in. Loki walked towards the glass and peered down.
"30,000 feet, straight down in a steel trap!" Fury yelled over the wind. "You get how that works?!"
He closed the hole. "Ant. Boot." He motioned to each respectively.
I saw Dante smirk; he must be getting to like Fury now. I think I was too.
Loki laughed darkly, "It's quite an impressive cage. Not, I think, built for me."
I think I knew who it was built for, but I kept my eyes down and mouth shut.
"Built for something a lot stronger than you."
"Oh I've heard." My heart skipped a beat as he looked directly at the security camera. "A mindless beast, who makes play that he's still a man." Loki smirked slyly.
I kept my eyes focused on the screen, but out of my peripheral I noticed Bruce shift uncomfortably.
Loki moved around the cage a bit. "How desperate are you? You call on such lost creatures to defend you!"
"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace, and you kill because it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."
I cheered for Fury inside my head. He must've put on his bad ass eye patch today because he was working it!
"It burns you to have come so close." Loki sneered. "To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power; and for what?" he looked again at the camera. "A warm light for all of mankind to share?"
I looked up now, uneasily. Steve's expression matched mine.
"And then to be reminded what real power is."
Fury sauntered away from the cage, towards the door. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."
Loki looked towards the camera again and the transmission was cut. We all looked up at one another.
"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Bruce joked. I rolled my eyes and Dante chuckled lightly.
Steve heaved a sigh. "Loki is going to drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?"
The tall blonde man, Thor, I guessed, spoke without turning away from the now blank screen.
"He has an army called the Chitauri," I couldn't place his accent, but it was definitely foreign. "In the realm of Asgard, very well known."
Thor turned around and I admired at the man's beauty. He had on strange armor like clothes and extremely muscular arms.
"He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I expect, for the Tesseract."
"An army." Steve said. "From outer space."
I could tell that Steve was just about done with living in our time.
"So they're building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Bruce gathered.
Thor turned to Bruce. "Selvig?"
"He's an astrophysicist."
"He's a friend."
"Ah yeah, that's right," Dante said, leaning back in his chair. "He has him under some sort of spell."
"Along with one of ours," Natasha inputted quietly.
"I want to know why Loki let us take him." Steve said, glancing at everyone.
"Yeah, even he packs a mean punch; he can't lead much of an army from in here." Dante yawned. I noticed a bruise blooming on his cheek.
"I don't think we should be concentrating on that, that guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." Bruce said, staring at where the screen used to be uneasily. I smiled and held back a giggle.
"Have care how you speak," Thor said, coming towards the table. "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard; and he's my brother."
What a joy kill.
"He killed 80 people in 2 days." Natasha said nonchalantly.
Thor froze. "He is adopted."
"I think it's about the mechanics," Bruce continued. "Iridium. What do they need the Iridium for-"
"It's a stabilizing agent." Interrupted a voice. We turned to see the famous Tony Stark waltz in with Phil beside him. He muttered something to Phil, who nodded and smiled in response.
This guy was definitely shorter than he looked on TV.
"Portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." He took the whole room in, and then each of us. He sauntered over to Thor, looking up at him. "No hard feelings, Point Break, you have a mean swing." He tapped Thor's arm. Dante gave me a 'don't ask' look.
"Also, means the portal can open as wide and as long as Loki wants," Tony traveled over to Fury's computers and began to tamper with them. Agent Hill glared at him but he effectively ignored it. "Uh, raise the misting mass. Ship the top sails."
The agents looked up at him questionably and a few even scoffed and ignored him.
Tony didn't notice. "That man is playing Gallagha! He thought we wouldn't notice, but we did."
Dante let out a laugh, although no one joined him. Tony clasped a hand over his left eye and looked around, making a comment about Fury's eye. He then began muttering about the power source as he looked through Fury's notes. My ears picked up some small contraption clicking into place as he turned around.
"Something to kick start the cube." He said turning and catching my accusing gaze. I motioned with my eyes at the source of the click, but he looked avoided my glance.
"When did you become an expert at thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked warily.
Jesus that was a mouthful.
"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, extraction theory papers; am I the only one who did the reading?"
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked
"He would have to heat the cube to 120 million Kelvin just to break the cooling barrier." Bruce said as he paced.
"-Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum theorem effect-"
"-Well, if he could do that then he could achieve heavy ion fusion in any reactor on the planet."
"Finally!" Tony declared walking over to Bruce and extending his hand. "Someone who speaks English."
"Is that what just happened?" Steve asked. Yup, he was done.
"Your guess is as good as mine Bro." Dante said.
I smiled softly to myself. I couldn't remember the last time I was around people with such high intellect, if ever.
"It's good to meet you Doctor Banner. Your work on antielectricparacollisions is unparalleled; and I'm a huge fan of how you turn into an enormous green rage monster."
I winced at Tony's lack of tact. I've been around those type of people too.
"Thanks." Bruce replied half-heartedly.
"Doctor Banner is only here to track the cube." Fury said while walking into the room. "I was hoping you might join him."
"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Steve said, trying to be of some use.
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube, and I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn 2 of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."
"Monkeys? I don't understand." Thor asked, obviously lost.
"I do!" Steve cut in. "I understood that reference."
An awkward silence ensued.
"Shall we play, Doctor?" Tony asked Bruce.
Bruce nodded, "This way Sir." He stopped and looked back at me, "Alyss?"
I smiled, he remembered me. I felt Dante's hand shoot out to grasp my knee under the table and his glare bore into the back of my head. I tapped his hand lightly and stood up before following the men out of the room.
Once we got a safe distance away from the room, Tony looked back at me.
"So, I haven't heard about you before. What's your story?"
Bruce chuckled lightly. "This is Alyss; she just came here several days ago. They convinced her in much of the same fashion as they did me."
"Ah, are you able to rip them in half too?"
I laughed nervously, "No, no at all. It's just that my brother and I weren't the best people before, so they brought us in and promised not to shoot or arrest us so long as we became their guinea pigs."
"Oh SHIELD, the Mother Theresa of intelligence organizations." Tony joked.
We rounded the corner and walked into the lab. Tony whistled.
"Nice little place they gave us here. Though it could use more glam."
Bruce went over his computer. "I found more files for you, Alyss."
I nodded and stood in front of my screen, where he then sent the files over to.
Tony looked over at my screen.
"Filing? They gave you your own sexy secretary Bruce?"
Mine and Bruce's cheeks visibly grew a few shades darker.
"I'd be careful," Tony said. "Of my last two, one became my girlfriend and the other one ended up being Natasha Romanov." He moved on to another computer and I looked over at him.
"So, when are you going to explain what you did to Fury's computer?" I asked.
He raised an eyebrow at me, "OK, I seriously need a list of your powers." His computer made a small dinging noise. "Oh, here they are."
I rolled my eyes at him.
"Genius-level intellect, superhuman strength, durability, superhuman hearing, healing factor, stamina, and reflexes. Charming. Oh and Dante must be your brother. Superhuman strength, durability, healing factor, stamina, agility, and reflexes, levitation, power of suggestion, energy blasts, and slight indications of teleportation." He looked over at me. "Why don't you have any 'mystical' powers?"
"Good question, remind me to ask my parents."
"Ah, that's right, poor little orphan Alyss-"
"Tony," Bruce cut in. They shared a look and Tony decided to keep his comment to himself.
He leaned over Bruce's counter, where they inspected Loki's staff and I continued my filing.
"The gamma radiation is definitely consistent with Selvig's reports of the Tesseract, but it'll take weeks to process." Bruce said.
I had finished my filing and was now watching Bruce scan Loki's spear.
"If we bypass their main frame and make a direct route to their home requester-"
I blanked out at this point. I was able to understand most of what they were saying and other parts I got the gist of, but now it was just ridiculous and tiring to attempt to keep up with them. I rested my head on my hands and starred at the glowing spear. It looked like something out of a comic book. I looked up when I heard Bruce chuckle.
"All I packed was a toothbrush." He said.
Tony laughed and walked over to a nearby computer. "You know you should come by Stark Tower some time. Top 10 floors is nothing but all R and D, you'd love it. It's candy land." He then turned to look at me, "And don't worry, Daddy Warbucks here will be sure to have a floor of toys built just for you." I chose to hold my tongue.
"Thanks, but last time I was in New York I kind of broke… Harlem." Bruce grimaced.
I stood up straight and Tony smiled at him. "Well, I promise a stress-free environment. No surprises." He then poked Bruce hard in the side a mechanized screw-driver, which made him yelp and me jump. "Nothing?" Tony asked, bewildered as Bruce grasped his side.
"HEY!" I heard two voices shout. We turned as Steve and Dante walked in angrily. Dante walked around the table and snatched me away from Tony and Bruce. I made an annoyed noise.
"Are you nuts?" Steve asked sternly.
"You really have a lid on that thing don't you?" Tony said, ignoring Steve. "What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? A huge bag of weed?"
"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked his glare holding.
"Funny you should ask."
"Threatening the safety of my sister isn't funny," Dante growled, not releasing his death-grip on my arm.
"Or the safety of the entire ship. No offense Doc." Steve said, looking at Bruce apologetically.
"It's alright; I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Bruce went back to his work quietly.
I managed to break free of Dante's grasp and I glared at him.
"We have to talk," he hissed.
"You need to go sit down and think about how you're going to apologize." I retorted and his eyebrows tightened.
"Apologize? You're the one who's been acting like a pre-pubescent girl the entire time we've been on this ship!"
"Oh please, you've acting like one you're entire life. I've just finally gotten tired of cleaning up after your shit!" I said, voice dripping with acid.
His eyes widened at my comment, but then narrowed. "Who saved your ass last week, huh? Who saved you from those sickos 8 years ago?! Maybe I should've left you there longer, you would've been more appreciative then!"
I lost it. I slapped him hard across the face before he could dodge.
"You're an ass Dante." I whimpered as angry tears welled up in my eyes.
"Hey now…" Steve said, taking a step forward.
"No, no; let them focus on their own family issues." Tony interrupted.
"And you need to focus on our problem Mr. Stark." Steve said sternly.
"You think I'm not?"
Dante glared at me, holding his cheek. "Who knew it would take all this attention to change you. I thought I raised you better."
I walked right up to him. We were practically nose to nose.
"And I thought you cared."
His hand twitched and then tightened into a fist.
"We can handle this in the training room of you want." I challenged.
"You're a bitch but you know I'd never hit you."
"Because you can't, I'm too fast for you."
"You're a dirty fighter, that's all."
"You're scared. That's why you made me go in first last week, in the middle of a factory filled with armed men. You knew you would've gotten destroyed, but since I'm a little faster, I wouldn't have as many bullets through me. What if that creature had gotten me huh? You don't care for anyone but yourself." He glared down at me in silence. "Sometimes I wish you never made it out of the fire."
He stared for a second longer before stomping angrily out of the room. I turned back towards Bruce, Tony, and Steve, who were still arguing. Bruce was looking towards me, obviously concerned.
"…It's bugging him too, isn't it?" Tony said, turning to Bruce.
Bruce snapped out of his daze and looked between the two men. "Ahhh, I just want to finish my work here, and uh-"
"Doctor?" Steve pressed.
I took a seat in the chair next to Bruce and buried my face into my arms. I heard Bruce sigh.
"A warm light for all mankind, Loki's jab at Fury about the cube,"
"I heard it."
"Well I think it was meant for you," Bruce said, directing his answer towards Tony. I heard the sound of a Tony's plastic bag rustling. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still on the news."
"The Stark Tower? That big ugly-" Steve paused upon seeing the look Tony threw his way. "-Building in New York."
"It's powered by the arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?"
"It's just the prototype." Tony replied proudly.
"So why did SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? What are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"
"I should probably look into that."
Bruce took a seat next to me and gently placed a hand on my shoulder as the two men continued their argument.
"Hey," he said softly. I reveled in the warmth and weight of his hand and sighed softly. "Are you ok?"
I shook my head and he scooted closer to wrap his arm around both of my shoulders.
"Of the people in this room who is A: wearing a spangley outfit and B: not of use?" I heard Tony ask.
"Steve," I again felt Bruce's voice resonate through my form. It was calming and I resisted the impulse to bury my face into his chest. "Tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"
"Just find the cube." Steve said. I could hear him trudge off through the door. I'll be able to remember his footfalls now; they were a perfect and precise rhythm, a march.
"That's the guy my dad never shut up about?" Tony asked, taking the seat to the right of me. "I wonder if they should've kept him on ice. So then Princess, what did your brother say to you? That we're bad influences and you can't go to the dance?"
I sat up and wiped at my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt. Bruce's arm fell from my shoulders. I shouldn't have moved.
"He's just being sort of jerk." I said curtly.
"Judging by the slap you gave him, he was being more than that." Tony said, wrapping his arm around the back of my chair. "Be honest now, what did he say?"
"Tony, don't push it." Bruce said. I appreciated it.
"Trust me when I say that it's good to know everything about your secretary. Like I said earlier, girlfriend and Natasha Romanov."
Bruce sighed.
"It's nothing you guys. Honestly," I reassured them. "We don't fight often, so when we do, it gets a little out of hand. So can we drop it?"
"Anything for you," Tony cooed and stood up. "Back to work, Doctor Banner."
Bruce gave me another sympathetic look before standing up and typing away on his computer.
I laid my head back down on my arms as they spoke to each other and eventually, I fell asleep.
I awoke to Bruce gently shaking my shoulder. "Hey, Alyss."
"Hmm," I sat up slowly and noticed that the sky had lightened outside. We were in the lab all night.
"Maybe you should retire to your room now." He offered.
"I suggested it a few hours ago, but you look so pretty when you're sleeping." Tony said. "Bruce said that, by the way."
Bruce shot a glare at him.
"I told you I was going to say it."
I stood up and rolled my eyes at them.
"I think I will go back now." I yawned.
"What? You're just going to pretend that you didn't hear a word I said? That's cold Alyss."
I stretched and headed towards the door.
"I'll see you later Bruce,"
"Alyss! Is this your way of playing hard to get? Daddy Warbucks won't get you that pony you've been wanting at this rate."
I smirked. "Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I'll love ya, tomorrow; you're always a day away!"
I heard him laughing wildly as I exited down the hall.
I soon found myself in the same predicament as before, I was lost. I walked around the empty halls until I came past a door with a distinctly female voice behind it. It belonged to Natasha. When I heard the male voice respond, my heart nearly stopped. She was speaking to Loki. I stood next to the door and listened intently.
"… You brought the monster." Loki's voice growled.
"So, Banner, that's your play?" she responded.
I put two and two together; Loki was going to use the Hulk I had to tell Bruce. I gained a sudden remembrance of the route I took and raced down the halls. I stopped at the door to the lab and almost fell over.
"Alyss?" Bruce asked, confused.
"I knew she'd come crawling back." Tony said threw a mouthful of blueberries.
"You have to leave Bruce," I panted, supporting myself on a shelf.
"Calm down," he said and walked towards me. "What's wrong? Why do I have to leave?"
"Yes, why does he have leave?"
I turned at the sound of Fury's voice and straightened as much as possible.
"Oh, hey there Nick." Tony said, turning Fury's attention away from me.
"Mr. Stark, what do you think you're doing?"
Bruce gripped me by the forearm and looked me in the eyes. "What's going on Alyss?"
"I overheard Loki and Natasha," I whispered quickly. "He's going to use the Hulk."
"What?"
My eyes widened and the sound of Steve's and Dante's footsteps. "Oh no."
"So what is Phase 2?" Tony asked Fury.
Steve and Dante stepped into the room holding a large gun, which Steve slammed onto a counter.
"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons," Steve said.
"Sorry, but the computer was moving a little slow." Dante said, avoiding looking my way.
"We gathered everything relating to the Tesseract, this does not mean –"
"Sorry Nick," Tony interrupted, turning his screen around. "What were you lying?"
Thor and Natasha entered through the doorway. Natasha looked directly towards me.
"Alyss, move. You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment Doctor?"
Bruce rounded the table ahead of me, letting go of my arm.
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." He said dryly.
"Loki is manipulating you."
"And you're doing what exactly?"
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."
"Yes and I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little bit twitchy."
I saw Dante's eyes move from Bruce to me. He gave me a pleading, almost alarmed, look. I looked from Bruce to my brother and couldn't help but to grow anxious as well, as the individuals argued. I took a few small steps around the table, simulating trying to see the computer screen.
"…We learned that not only are we not alone but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned."
"By people who want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor snapped.
"You're not the only threat. The world is filling up with people who can't be matched. Who can't be controlled. If we hadn't gotten to Dante and Alyss when we did, they probably would've ended up as powerful enemies to us."
"So you clip our wings before we can fly," I inputted. "Did you really plan to just stick us in a cage so we could be controlled?"
"What were we really your guinea pigs for? To help test the cube?" Dante asked. His hands turned into fists at his sides.
Thor stepped forward. "Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to the rest of the universe the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."
"You forced our hand, we had to come up with –"
"A nuclear deterrent, because that always calms everything right down." Tony interrupted in his sarcastic style, shoving his hands into his pockets.
I watched in disgust as they all argued. Did everyone forget why they were here? Loki was still locked away in the other room wasn't he? We were still tracking the cube, but we were acting like children. I gripped the end of the table tightly. The sound of so many voices at once was exasperating, but my sudden onslaught of meekness wouldn't allow me to say anything. I glared at the golden rod in front of me, at its ethereal blue power source. Such a small thing caused so much-
I wasn't seeing the room in anymore, or the staff. Instead I wondered around clumsily in an unknown blurry place. There was movement around me, people, but they didn't seem to notice my presence. I confusedly drifted about and came to the front of what I assumed was a large plane or helicopter. The two pilots were steering against harsh winds. I went back the way I came and saw an older man laughing as he closed a glowing cube inside of a box. There was also a man in a holding a bow and quiver full of arrows standing next to him. I suddenly grew aware of my circumstances. How was I doing all this?
I shot back to the room and the air escaped my lungs. I blinked hard and looked up to the group who had fallen silent. Dante stared at me, having noticed the disruption in my behavior. I looked up at him but didn't know what to say. I caught a strange noise, or at least I thought I did; it was being disturbed by the wind outside. I was brought back by Bruce's voice.
"…I got low. I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out." Bruce described it as though he tasted every word that left his mouth. "I moved on, I focused on helping other people, I was good until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk. You wanna know my secret Agent Romanov? You wanna know how I stay calm?"
At that point Dante strode over to me silently and grasped my shoulder. No one seemed to notice, they all had their eyes trained on Bruce. Then I saw why.
"Dr. Banner, put down the scepter." Steve commanded.
Bruce flinched and looked down at his hand that held the scepter. His eyes widened, he had grabbed it unconsciously. One of the computers made a ringing sound and we all looked over at it. Bruce set down the scepter and walked to the computer.
"Sorry kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all." Bruce said sourly.
"You've located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.
The room erupted again in voices speaking over each other. I looked up at my brother to meet his questioning gaze. He led me closer to the door, anxious to leave but I planted my feet down, wanting to see what would happen next.
"I don't know what happened – It was like I left the ship and –"I paused. The noise had gotten louder, and was more frantic sounding. Something was definitely out there, but I couldn't tell where. Stupid wind.
"Alyss? You left to where?" Dante asked. I shushed him and closed my eyes, trying to get past the voices and the wind's disruption.
It was outside the window. And it wasn't just any noise.
"DANTE!" I screamed. I grabbed his arm and made a run for the door as the others looked at us. Then the room exploded.
I didn't have time to scream as we flew through the air. I hit the floor in the hallway and the air escaped my stomach. I coughed and felt a pair of arms pull me up into a sitting position. I winced and opened my eyes. Steve loomed over me, looking down the hall as Tony ran by.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"Where's Dante?" I heaved.
He looked next to me and I followed his gaze. My brother lay there in a crumpled heap.
"Steve!" Tony called from the down the hall.
"I'll be fine, you can go." I began to crawl towards Dante. Steve looked at both of us once more before running down the hall to catch up with Tony.
My head was spinning. The amount of sound that hovered in from everywhere didn't help. I made it to Dante's side and fell against the wall. I examined him from the corner of my eye. His face was banged up and little drops of blood had begun bleeding through his shirt from where glass had hit him. An agent ran by but paused at seeing us, I waved him off. Dante and I have been through worse; though the threat of being inside a giant ship falling out of the sky was pretty far up there on the shitty situation list.
Fury limped out from the destroyed room, cursing under his breath. He looked at the two of us before speaking.
"How bad does it hurt?"
I scoffed, "I'll live. He's a little too tired to feel much right now."
Fury bent down by us and handed me a gun.
"Then you can help. Come on." He began to pull Dante's right side up by the shoulder and I positioned myself into a squat to lift his other side. Though Dante was reasonably easy for me to lift, the height difference between Fury and I made it awkward. Dante's left foot dragged on the floor as we maneuvered to the control room.
I heard an earth-shaking roar come from below me and tripped over a step. Fury stopped and looked at me.
"I think the Hulk has been let out." I gasped. He gritted his teeth and faced forward.
"Hurry up then,"
We turned another corner and a rush of agents came by. 3 stopped and 2 took Dante away from us. Fury rushed into the control room and began shouting orders. The third agent began asking me questions and I growled at him. He stopped and left after that.
I came into the control room and leaned against the wall. I sighed and tried to calm myself. I'd heal faster that way. I regained as much composure as I could muster and I walked over to Fury's side.
"Director, what can I do?" I asked.
"Find the Hulk, help contain him if possible. Leave the situation if you can't." he said without looking at me.
Agent Hill's eyes widened, "You want her to engage the Hulk?"
"She and her brother aren't human and are damn near indestructible, she can handle it." He turned this time to meet my confused expression. "Tell me his location and I'll send your brother to meet you when he wakes up. Go."
I nodded and ran down the hall. I could hear his roars from down below and I shoved agents out of the way. I heard shooting but ignored it, it wasn't my orders. I came to an elevator shaft that had been blown open. I peered down, but it was too dark to see the end. The Hulk's roars rumbled the entire cavern. 'This might be the only way for me to get to him.'
I gulped and jumped down. After a 2 second fall (that felt more like 10), my feet met the top of the elevator. I took out Fury's gun and shot apart the bolts that held a section of the roof together. I entered the now swinging elevator from there and raced into a room filled with jets in repair. I saw Thor go flying across the room and heard a thunderous roar. I saw the intercom and made a run for it.
"Thor and the Hulk are on Research level 4." I said. The room grew silent, and I could hear the Hulk's panting. He heard me. I steadied my gun in front of me and inched to the side before settling behind a crate. I listened carefully. The Hulk stopped breathing. That wasn't good.
The crates beside me blew apart suddenly as the Hulk crashed threw them, eyes landing on me. I jumped up and discarded the gun, knowing it would do me no good. I was hit by the end of his hand and flew across the room towards the large window. I hit the floor and tumbled to a stop. His footsteps were nearing and as I looked up, his fists came down. I winced, waiting for impact, but the hits never came. The Hulk let out another enraged roar. I looked up and saw a translucent green force field around me. The Hulk continued to pound his fists on it and I grew weak. 'Am I the one doing this?'
"Bruce! Stop it!" I screamed at the large creature.
He didn't let up his relentless barrage of hits. I struggled to stand and he slowed, but only slightly.
"You need to calm down!" I shouted. He was beginning to tire and was breathing hoarsely, like a child throwing a temper tantrum. I held my hands out in front of me to get his attention. He slowly stopped, but still held a scowl while looking at me.
"Bruce, Hulk, whoever you are,"-Ok, not the greatest way to address him -"You need to calm down. It's Alyss, remember me?"
He huffed.
"I helped you, remember? Just please, settle down."
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Trying to reason with a giant, green, rage monster was not on my schedule today. Thor suddenly came flying back into the room and smashed the Hulk over the head with his hammer. My force field shimmered away and I followed the path of destruction that they had made. Thor had laid his hammer onto the Hulk's chest, who was in too much of a daze to fight back. I heard Dante before I saw him. He ran in, entering the same why that I had. He looked at the three of us before crouching next to the Hulk's head. He hesitantly placed a hand on his forehead before muttering some words.
I saw the Hulk's form begin to shrink and Thor removed his hammer from his chest. I turned away and blushed, turning to look away from Bruce's now mostly naked form on the floor.
"What sort of craft was that?" Thor asked Dante.
"I 'suggested' that he should calm down."
Before Thor could respond, the ship began to slant. Dante and I fell over immediately, but Thor only fell into a crouch. He hit a large crate that was falling and it shattered apart, weapons flying everywhere. We struggled back onto our feet.
"We have to get Bruce back to the bridge," I said.
Dante picked up Bruce's unconscious form and threw him over his shoulder.
"You go then; I must find my brother." Thor said. He took off towards the other side of the level.
Dante and I located the stairs, and began to ascend upwards, although at an angle, to the control room's floor.
"You know, I must really love you if I'm caring your naked boyfriend for you." Dante said.
I sighed, agitated. "He's not my boyfriend. And thank you."
"Hey, about what I said before, you know I was only trying to protect you from something like this."
I stayed quiet.
"I know I have a shitty way of showing it lately, but I love you, you know? It's just been confusing lately and, well, I don't know how to deal with things. I didn't mean what I said either, about leaving you behind." I heard him sigh. "I'm really sorry. Really, I'll make it up to you somehow."
I stopped. "If you really want to make it up to me, you'll apologize to Bruce." I said without turning around.
He sighed. "Yeah, I'll apologize."
I began to move again and he followed suit.
"I mean a real apology too."
"I know."
We continued up the stairs for what seemed like forever. The sounds of gun shots and general panic ceased and the ship eventually straightened. We made it to the main floor and saw agents carrying the wounded. A few came over and took Bruce away on a stretcher cautiously. I stared after them but Dante grasped my hand and pulled me away. We walked to the control room, where we were shuffled in by medics who were eager to be sure we were okay. Dante shooed them off and we sat down in the leather chairs in the uncharacteristically quiet room. I leaned my head down onto the table and closed my eyes, trying to erase the sight and sounds of the wounded and possibly deceased being carried out of the room.
Dante squeezed my hand and I felt calmness rush over me.
Whew, that was a mission! I hope you liked it though!
I love reviews, just throwing it out there.