Chapter 20

Take It Back

Fury's ability to sneak up and basically show up out of nowhere had certainly startled the group. They relaxed when they saw it was him, though they were questioning how he'd found them and got there. Bruce and Tony quickly guessed that he had tracked the quinjet. With everything going on Fury was bound to have tricks up his sleeve for getting around and making sure the team was safe.

"We don't have time for questions," Fury quickly commented before he could get bombarded, "Things are getting worse than you all think." Fury looked at Bruce who still hadn't gotten up. "I'm sorry about Rick, Bruce."

It had been the first time Bruce had ever heard Fury call him by his name rather than Dr. Banner. It seemed Fury did actually mean what he said but at the same time it was weird hearing that from Fury, the one man who Bruce secretly hated more than others. He had been the one to give the order to leave him behind after all but this really wasn't a good time for that. Bruce just nodded then looked down at the ration supply in his hands still.

"Listen up," Fury addressed them all, "I know Rick's death hit you all fairly hard. You all knew him, if it was training him, or just in passing from Dr. Banner. However there will be time to properly mourn him later. This creature, Tyrell, the collector, whatever he is, didn't just take Rick. He's taken several others from your past and is rounding others up as we speak. He's started a full out hunt after just about everyone. He's managed to keep people like Betty Ross close to him."

The name caused Bruce to look back up at Fury a look of dread spreading across it quickly.

"He will start to kill them off all in order to draw you all out of hiding," Fury explained.

"The bastard," Clint growled.

Natasha's hands clenched into fists, she knew all too well what it was like to have people who are important to you get taken and used to control you. She could understand what Bruce was feeling very well. She could see his eyes go to the odd green of Hulk's at the thought of what Fury was saying but the green giant didn't show up again, luckily. Natasha could guess that this information would send it into a blind rage and this close to the group they could get more injured. Not to mention Ross really wasn't that far off.

"So where is he hiding?" Steve asked, "He wants us to come to him? Can we really do that?"

"He's chosen an old S.H.I.E.L.D. base, he had it altered," Fury explained.

"Altered how?" Tony asked.

"I don't know," Fury replied shaking his head, "The ones who altered it are completely on his side; none of my guys could get in there. What I do know is Tyrell is in fact in there, that's all my old sources could gather. He's not trying to hide from you either. He made sure that broadcast could be traced back but I got my information from a more reliable source."

"Do you think we should charge in there?" Clint asked, he was actually afraid of the idea but at the same time part of him was trying to tell him to go. If he didn't face Tyrell now there was a good chance that what happened at the Madhouse would affect him for the rest of his natural life.

"Honestly? No," Fury replied, "People are going to die no matter what you do and walking into an obvious trap would be stupid. Are you going to do it anyways though? Well, that's why I'm here."

"You know that at least one of us is going," Bruce spoke up though his voice was soft.

"Dr. Banner if you're going to do this then the others have to agree to go with you," Fury replied.

"No they don't," Bruce stood up still holding the ration pack, "they in fact shouldn't go with me. Tyrell made this personal for me by killing Rick. Clint's already been in there, Natasha got what she wanted by getting Clint back. Tony and Steve are safe."

"Got what I wanted?" Natasha stepped in front of Bruce, she wanted to slap him. "Yes, I came to get you because I wanted to save Clint but if that's all I wanted then we would have left after. I would have left you alone so you could go back to living completely alone in the middle of nowhere. Things change Bruce, I stayed because the others needed help, I stayed because out there Ross is hunting you. So you don't get to pull the going solo shit."

"Natasha it's safer if I go alone, I'm angry," Bruce replied, "angrier than I've ever been. I feel like I could explode. I want to explode to be honest. I want Hulk to rip out and just rip that jerk limb from limb."

Natasha pushed Bruce against the cave wall, her arm across his chest. She didn't care about the green eyes staring her down, threatening to unleash a monster. "No, you listen. It's not safer it's stupid to go alone. You think you're the only one who has to avenge Rick? Steve helped train the boy. He helped us get Clint back. He helped us years ago when we needed him. Not to mention that I kind of want to punch this Tyrell guy in the face a few thousand times for everything he's done. So once again you don't get to decide to go in alone. We're coming with you."

"No you're not," Bruce yelled in response. The others were stunned into silence. They expected that any moment a giant green monster would be tossing Natasha away. Fury was the only one who seemed relaxed.

Natasha didn't even flinch at the yell, she never broke eye contact with Bruce as she held him there. "You don't get to make that choice. We're coming Bruce. Fact is you need us as much as we need you. That's why you came back when I asked you to. When I went up to that cabin and you told me that you were helping me because of the look I gave you. Well, you gave me a look too. You wanted to come back. You wanted to do right. You wanted the past gone. You wanted those nightmares to end. You think by leaving us now those nightmares are going to end? They'll only get worse. You're trying so hard to convince everyone you're a third wheel, that you're fine on your own. Well you're not. You say you want to be left alone but it never ends up that way. Fact is you hate being left alone and fact is now you're not alone. So sit down, shut up, eat your ration pack and go to sleep because tomorrow morning we're all going to that base together. Not just you, not just me, all of us. Got it?"

The two kept eye contact for a while as Natasha started to loosen her grip on Bruce. As she did so Clint moved over and placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder. He looked from Clint, to Steve and Tony who both gave a nod of agreement to what Natasha had said. His gaze went back to Natasha, knowing that she meant every single word of it. His eyes started to return to normal as he pushed Hulk back with the silent promise that all of that rage inside him would get out in the morning.

It felt like an hour had past, rather it had barely been over a minute before Bruce nodded. "Yeah… I got it."

Natasha took a step back from Bruce letting him relax and slide down to the floor. She looked back over at Fury, "There's your answer on if we're going or not."

"I knew you all would be hotheaded enough to rush in," Fury replied, "so I came to give you some advice. This Tyrell guy loves his mind games. He'll probably try to split you up and hit you where you least expect it. Try to avoid getting killed."

"Well that tends to be a good idea on most outings with the group," Clint commented, "Anything else?"

"Yeah, the base he's taken is one of the larger ones," Fury replied, "Mostly underground. Chances are he's going to try to tire you all out before making any move. Try not to give him the upper-hand."

"Anything helpful?" Tony asked.

Fury gave an annoyed to look to Tony, "Yes, if you must know Mr. Stark all information is helpful if you use it right. I brought you all a box of supplies, it's waiting outside."

"Director Fury," Steve spoke up when it seemed like Fury was done, "We spoke to the Brood creature. She mentioned something of the end of the world coming which was why Tyrell was doing this. Do you know what's going on?"

Fury shook his head, "I was informed about their belief on the end of the world before and I tried to keep an eye out for it. There's been nothing. All of the big organizations that could cause it are under Tyrell's command. I haven't heard anything from any of our other allies about something else coming. Strange hasn't sensed any demons, the Fantastic Four haven't heard about anything either. There's just nothing. It seems to be relatively normal except for the current situation. Not about an apocalypse."

"So maybe Tyrell's belief on soon differs from ours," Steve replied thinking about it, "I mean soon to him could be five years to us."

"Could be but I'll keep searching to see what comes up," Fury replied, "I'll be in touch. Good luck against Tyrell. I'll try to slow his forces down with my own resources to buy you all some more time to deal with him. Figure if my contacts can keep a few of his forces at bay then you won't have to deal with them at the base. I'll send the coordinates to your quinjet. Good luck. Mr. Stark, Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton, Dr. Banner." He gave each of them a nod and quickly left them to their thoughts.

Tony and Steve went to get the box Fury had mentioned and bring it up to the cave. Tony was quickly looking through it for parts to his armor, which he joyfully found. Bruce had started to eat the meal in small bites but still better than nothing. His back still to the cave wall he at least seemed a bit calmer, or at least hiding everything well.

Clint sat down beside Bruce on one side and Natasha had taken the other side. Generally the two would have sat beside each other but considering Natasha put herself closer to the cave entrance showed that she was worried Bruce would try to run anyways despite their talk. Clint taking the other side helped almost anchor Bruce to the cave so he couldn't really think of leaving.

Bruce poked around in his food pack for a bit more eating bits and drinking some water. Natasha seemed content with what he'd eaten and didn't pester him to eat more. Eventually Bruce drifted off and leaned against Clint. Sure the cave wasn't easy to sleep in but it was better than nothing. Clint was the next out returning Bruce's lean, then Steve, then Tony.

Natasha listened to the light snores coming from her team mates. She looked across Bruce to Clint, glad that he seemed to be rather deep into sleep already and wasn't kicking from a nightmare or something. Even Bruce seemed very peaceful when he was sleeping. She guessed that the several Hulk outs he'd endured were not that kind on him and really did help him ease into a dreamless sleep. Natasha's hand moved over the injury again, it was almost healed but it was still something that now would cling to her mind. She had almost failed everyone. They wouldn't be here if she had failed, Tyrell would have won. She yawned and leaned heavily on Bruce who didn't stir at all. Her mind only flashing to one thing: Tomorrow this ends. Win or lose. We're taking our lives and world back