(Okay, am reaaaaally nervous about this one... erk)
Chapter Twelve
Tony
"Hey buddy."
Hulk was stacking some of his rocks on top of others when Tony slipped inside. His feet felt like they were weighted with lead and they dragged across the floor as he crossed to the rage monster.
"Tony!" Hulk boomed happily, and took a few steps towards him. His massive face began to fall as he looked behind him towards the door where Steve and Thor entered. He waited a few moments, rocking between his feet. "Tony?" he rumbled, his deep voice hesitant. "Tony not good?"
"No, Big Green," Tony said, his own voice cracking slightly. "Not good. Something's... something's happened."
Hulk's brow's began to draw together suspiciously. "Tony," he rumbled. "Tell? Hulk will stop it. Tony will be good again."
"I..." Tony dipped his head. Those great green eyes, looking at him with such... compassion. It was just like Bruce. Well, of course it would be, but it was worse, somehow. It was something to do with the strange and savage innocence of Hulk; he would stop it whatever it was, and Tony would be good again. That was what he could comprehend - and that simple sympathy was like a knife.
Hulk didn't even know.
He took a deep breath against the howling in his head. "Big Guy, I need you to stay calm, okay? Remember your rules."
Hulk stood still for a long moment, and then a fire began to build in his eyes. "Bruce," he said, low and dark. "Where Bruce?"
"That's just it," Tony croaked. "Oh, Green Bean, I'm so sorry... I'm so fucking sorry. Bruce is..."
His throat closed around the words, and he choked.
Hulk began to tremble. "Where Bruce?"
"The big head guy," Tony managed, his hands clammy, "he stole Bruce. He stole him."
Hulk's trembling ceased.
"Be ready," Steve murmured.
"Aye," Thor murmured back.
Tony took another step towards the motionless Hulk. It seemed that the news had... broken him. "Hulk. We'll get him back. We will. We won't stop until we find him and you two are together..." he broke off again, his mouth numb and his useless heart pierced with shards.
Hulk's face was crumpling, slowly, so slowly. His eyebrows drew down and his mouth began to open in a soundless wail, his teeth bare and his lips pulled tight in agony. His eyes (oh god, those eyes, no, Tony couldn't even handle looking at them) were great round circles. The whites could be clearly seen, and rising in their depths was utter anguish. A tiny sound, all the more heartbreaking for his immense size, emerged from Hulk's mouth.
"Hulk," Tony said. "We'll get him back..."
"Bruce," said that small voice – a boy's voice, just a child. "Bruce..."
Tony's own eyes clenched shut. "I know."
Hulk's head began to sink, his shoulders hunched against the enormity of whatever it was he was feeling. His curly hair lowered nearly to the ground, face still frozen in that rictus of horror and grief, mouth still gaping wide in a silent scream. A long, low moan began to issue from his open mouth.
Tony reached out one hand blindly, and fumbled until it rested against Hulk's furnace-warm skin. "I know."
Hulk's moan trailed a little and he took a shuddering breath. Under his hands, Tony could feel the giant lungs filling, hitching.
"I'm so sorry," Tony whispered, and bit his lip against the tearing sensation in his ribcage.
Hulk's moans dropped an octave, and he began to rock himself very slightly. Those mammoth hands began a soft, self-soothing motion – wrapping and petting each other, trembling when the expected smaller hand wasn't there to take up the slack. "Bruce," the Hulk mourned, and oh god. Oh Jesus. Oh god, Tony couldn't do this.
What could he say to Hulk? What could anyone say to a guy when the rest of his very self had been ripped away, just as they were beginning to need each other?
Abruptly Tony knew exactly what he would have wanted to hear. He couldn't see through the wet haze and he dashed his eyes roughly, before slipping his own hand between those rough palms. "We're gonna get him back," he hissed, and took a step closer until his face was nearly pressed against Hulk's bicep. "We are gonna get him back. I promise."
Hulk's eyes opened to gaze down at the hand caught between his own. One giant finger lifted Tony's hand, and he regarded it for a long moment. His face was still frozen in that twisted, soundless cry, but as he looked at Tony's hand, preposterously tiny in his own, a poisonous green fire began to blaze behind his eyes.
"Not Bruce," Hulk rumbled, and his teeth clashed together. The fire mounted higher.
Tony gripped his finger. "I promise. We'll get him back. I promise."
Hulk met his eyes, and oh. Oh fuck.
The utter, utter fury in them.
The madness.
With terrifying suddenness, the Hulk threw his head back, and screamed.
"Holy..." Tony vaguely heard Steve say, and Thor let out a soft Asgardian oath as the scream echoed, full of such anger and hurt that Tony could almost believe it was pain made audible.
"Hulk," Tony said urgently, and clambered as close as he could to that giant green body, the heat pouring off it like waves of hate. "Hulk, please-"
Hulk batted him away with a casual backhand, and Tony went sprawling. "Thor. Move in," he heard Steve say through ringing ears, and he blindly held up his own hand.
"No, no wait," he said, and spat out some rubble. He'd grazed his face on the floor, but nothing seemed to be broken, just bruised. "Wait!"
"Friend Tony, we will discuss this afterwards," Thor said tightly, raising Mjolnir in readiness.
Hulk roared. His back was arched, his face turned up to the roof as though his hatred alone could bring it down. He roared and roared, the sound going on and on, cutting straight through Tony's flesh to vibrate in his bones and sinuses. Hulk screamed out his anger and pain and hate. Hulk roared like a maelstrom of rage.
Then, faster than the eye could follow, he moved. His huge hands swiped and grabbed at whatever was close – his rubble and blanket bed, his numbers experiment, the rocks from the smash corner, anything. Tony covered his head as rocks went flying. The air was thick with shards and debris, and through this dirty fog the Hulk loomed like the promise of death.
In seconds, his once- orderly room was a nightmare. The destruction was catastrophic.
Hulk ripped a metal beam to smithereens and sent a rock hurtling into a wall, where it burst into powder. And that roar went on, and on, and on – and it was a small child screaming for his father, a little boy reaching for his only friend, half a mind lost without its twin. Tony clenched his eyes, gritted his teeth. The pain from his tumble was nothing compared to the pain in that roar.
Hulk's hand slammed against the adamantium wall – and it left a perfect indentation of his fist. Tony choked. "Bruce!" Hulk howled, and his other fist joined its fellow against the wall. The indent was even deeper. "BRUCE!"
"Now!" Steve barked, and Mjolnir came crashing through the air to land in Hulk's solar plexus. Hulk roared again, his eyes alight with grief and madness, and threw a boulder in a vicious overhand swing that impacted with Thor's head. The god was thrown back in a tangle of limbs, cape and blond hair against the adamantium wall. His legs trembled as they tried to support him.
"Stop it! All of you!" Tony shouted, trying to haul himself to his feet as showers of rock dust and rubble descended around him, a horrible mockery of rain. "For fuck's sake!"
The star-emblazoned shield bounced off Hulk's head, and he turned with an enraged grunt to glare at Steve, who eyed him back warily. "Hulk," he said, but that was all he had time to say before Hulk was on him.
They always seemed to forget how fast he was.
"No!" Tony screamed as Steve was tossed into the air to crash against the metal roof. He fell to the floor with a sickening thump, his limbs twitching. "Hulk, no!"
Hulk roared again, his fists clenched, his muscles rippling as he fought against his pain. He whirled faster than thought and began to smash once more at the walls that held him. He was practically incandescent with rage, his eyes aglow as Tony had never seen them. He punched against the adamantium in a frenzy, the metal dinting beneath his gargantuan fists.
"Hulk..." Tony said wretchedly. Hulk just bellowed and punched, lost in his rage, lost to them utterly. Tony's eyes were stinging again; rock dust and blood covered his hands and face. No. No, he wouldn't accept it. He was Tony fucking Stark, and he couldn't accept it.
This couldn't be all that was left of Bruce.
Steve coughed and began to push himself onto his knees. His fingers groped for his shield. Mjolnir went skidding back along the ruined ground to Thor, who was definitely more lucid.
"Hulk!" Thor shouted, and Hulk turned only to meet the hammer smashing into his jaw again. He span out of the blow, grunting and growling in anger. His massive hands dug into the floor.
The ten-inch thick, adamantium floor...
... and ripped it.
Tony gawked. Holy... holy fuck.
Hulk actually pulled the adamantium up from housings where it had been poured whilst still liquid hot, his fingers digging deep into the so-called "unbreakable" metal and denting it. He tore a great square of it as though it was merely paper, and shook it out like a maid laying a bedsheet. The clang as it hit Thor was ear-splitting. Thor went careening backwards, and though he tried valiantly to keep his footing, he went staggering back into the wall again.
Hulk brandished his piece of adamantium and held it before him, a shield. He'd done this before, Tony remembered. In Harlem, he'd used cars as boxing gloves. Hulk was reverting.
Thor's hammer went flying back to his hand, but it was clear he couldn't match Hulk's rage-fueled strength. His eyes were unfocused, and the arm lifting the hammer was shaking. He took a slow breath, steeling himself. "Now," he said, and it was his usual voice, proud and determined.
"Not the lightning, Thor!" Tony hollered, even as Hulk snarled in challenge. "You'll kill us all!"
Thor's mouth hardened, and he squared his shoulders. Then he took one or two running steps and leapt into the air. Hulk's eyes followed him as he traced a graceful trajectory to land Mjolnir squarely against Hulk's left cheekbone – or at least, that was the intent.
Instead, Hulk grabbed Thor's leg and smashed him into the ground, over and over, not unlike the way he had treated his brother so long ago.
But instead of smashing him a few times and leaving, Hulk... kept going.
His face was locked in an insane grimace of rage, and his arm worked like a piston as he slammed Thor again and again into the ground. The God of Thunder was as limp as a wet rag as his body whipped through the air over and over. Rubble danced in the air and clattered against the ruined floor, jolting around them in a perverse sort of fountain as the deafening impacts caused it to fly and bounce.
Steve's shield lashed out again, cutting deeply into Hulk's upper arm. He growled in anger and whirled, leaving Thor to crumple on the floor like discarded laundry. He took a step towards Steve and his hands clenched into fists. His expression promised death.
Captain America looked so damned small as Hulk advanced, looming, a spectre of revenge. Each ominous step created a inaudible boom that could be felt in the bones of Tony's jaw and teeth.
Tony could barely see through the mess in his eyes and the haze of rock dust and the tears that made everything sting, but god damn it. Fuck this. Fuck this, he was not going to die like this, and Hulk was not going to be a murderer again!
He laboriously pulled himself to his feet, swaying. The arc reactor was flickering – the impact had shattered the outer casing. He had maybe fifteen minutes. The pain in his heart was fitting, he thought briefly, bitterly. Tony set his jaw.
"Tony, get out," Steve rasped, but seriously? Fuck that, too. Hulk – their Hulk, Bruce's Hulk – was still in there, and hurting, and Tony wasn't fucking leaving.
"Rule One," he grated. "Rule One."
Hulk bellowed at Tony, and then roared like a bull elephant at the walls. He then threw himself against them, once, twice. The metal was buckled and hopelessly twisted. It screeched as it warped. Hulk would be out in seconds.
He'd be lost.
(Just like Bruce... no. NO!)
"HULK!" Tony screamed at the top of his lungs. "Rule ONE!" Spots flew through his vision from the force of it.
Hulk... paused.
"Rule One, big guy," Tony panted, trying to see through the blur. "Tell me what Rule One is."
Hulk panted, his breath deep and rasping. His eyes were still alight with that murderous fury.
"Rule. One," Tony said.
Hulk roared again, and then broke off. His head swayed from side to side, torn between two opposing and overwhelming compulsions. Tony's aching heart battered against the metal of the reactor casing. Hulk had to come back to them. He had to hope that their friendship was stronger than the impulse to tear his way out.
"Tell me!" Tony barked.
Hulk snarled, and jerked his head away – only to have his gaze land on a rock that had somehow escaped his frenzy of smashing.
"Tell..." Tony stopped. There was something. Something there.
Hulk was still looking at the rock. The insane light in his eyes slowly, gradually dimmed.
"Hulk?" Tony said, scarcely daring to breathe. "What is Rule One?"
Green eyes blinked - and the rage dissipated like smoke, to be replaced by a terrible aching sorrow.
"No... scare," Hulk rumbled, his voice faltering. Then he dropped to a crouch, his head drooping, his corded shoulders bowed underneath the weight of his grief and his new guilt. "No smash," he whispered like a gale.
One green finger reached out to touch the lone rock.
"Thor," Tony hissed, and hobbled over to where the god lay, keeping one eye on Hulk as he went. "Thor. Can you answer? Steve? Are you okay?"
"I'm... gonna be fine," Steve said, and wiped at his damp hair, stumbling to Thor as well. "Thor, can you talk?"
Thor was a motionless lump underneath his red cape. It took both Steve and Tony to roll him over – Asgardians were physically denser than humans, and thus a LOT heavier – and Tony winced at the massive bruises across Thor's face. "Hey, Point Break," he murmured. "I'm still not kissing anyone, so wake up, you big noble bastard."
Thor twitched.
"Get up, lazybones, you're missing all the excitement," Steve urged, and clasped Thor's arm.
There was no more movement, and Tony sat back on his heels. "Shit," he said miserably, and looked up at Hulk. The giant was still frozen, gazing at that rock that seemed to hold so much significance.
Then Thor groaned and said, "It is well the good Doctor is not here to hear you offer to kiss another man," he said through thickened, bruised lips, and Tony laughed aloud in overwhelming relief.
Steve blew out a long sigh. "You're all right," he murmured.
"I may..." Thor winced. "I may have some minor inconveniences to deal with over the next few days, but... uhn, I believe no lasting damage has been done. My armour has taken the brunt of the blows, and I heal even as we speak."
"You gave us a fright there, Fabio." Tony ran a hand through his hair, damp with sweat. He laughed a bit shakily. "Can we all try not to do that anymore?"
Thor chuckled painfully, before his hand clasped around Steve's forearm in return. The Captain slowly helped Thor to sit up, and he gasped a moment, his breath coming fast. Then he steadied himself against Steve's solid shoulder. "Forgive me for taking the lead in this, my friend... but despite your vaunted healing gifts I am not so... easily damaged as you."
"No offense taken," Steve said ruefully, and put a hand against his own arm where blood could be seen to seep across the blue fabric. "That was a pretty hairy moment there, pal."
Tony stood again, the relief making him feel liquid and drunk. He glanced back at Hulk, who had shuffled over to that rock that was keeping him so mesmerised. "Okay, Big Green," he said, and tried not to flinch. "Look. We'll call that a Rule Two, okay? Rule Two?"
Hulk didn't answer. He picked up the rock instead. His hands, so recently such terrible weapons, were gentle and delicate as they brought the rock close.
It was vaguely cat-shaped.
"Bruce," he said, and gave a subterranean croon of anguish. "Big head talky small man."
"Yes," Tony said, and inched towards him. He hated himself for the fear that rose and strangled his voice when he said, "Hulk, please don't..."
"Hulk no mean to...," Hulk began. And then his head slumped against his chest again. His great eyes squeezed shut. "Hulk sorry. So sorry. So sorry."
Steve glanced between Hulk and Tony, before snapping his mouth closed. "Hulk. It's all right," he said. God, if Tony could bottle and sell the reassurance in that voice, he'd be... well, richer.
"Not good," Hulk crooned, and turned carefully. He was obviously aware of how much he had frightened them, telegraphing his moves, cautious and deliberate. He still held that cat-shaped rock in his hand, cradling it as though it was the most precious thing in the world. "Hulk smash Team," he moaned, and brought the rock closer to his face. "Not good. Hulk not good, never good. Hulk bad."
"Oh god, no," Tony muttered under his breath. "Not you too."
He took another trembling step towards the giant, and raised his hands. "You're not bad," he said, trying to speak as calmly as possible. "You're our Hulk. You made a mistake. Rule Two. And you said sorry. Rule Three. That's good."
Hulk's fingers stroked the rock absently. "Bruce not be proud. Team not be proud. Hulk wrong. All wrong. So sorry." He keened for a moment, and Tony felt the stupid remnants of his heart thump in sympathetic agony.
"You're not a monster, Bruce," he said softly.
Hulk's eyes snapped open.
"You're not," Tony insisted, and took another step closer. "That's what you both think, isn't it? Well, you're wrong. You're not."
"Look what Hulk do!" Hulk howled, and turned away, sheltering his rock with his back. "No. Go. Hulk not... not..."
"You're our friend," said Steve, and Tony hurriedly gestured at him as if to say, yes, this is good, keep going. "You're our teammate. We need you."
"Hulk is monster," he growled, and shuffled a little on the spot. "No Bruce. No one. Just Hulk for always and always and always. Hulk should be left alone."
"No," said Thor indistinctly. Hulk's eyes flicked to him, widening in shock. "You are a valued comrade, a brother. You are not this monster you fear."
Hulk made a confused sound, and then shook his head. "Hulk... Hulk need Bruce," he said, and moaned, rocking himself again. "Need Bruce. Not understand. Not understand!"
"Confusion equals smash," Steve murmured, and Tony nodded sharply.
"Can you..." Tony licked his lips and took another faltering step. "I know you can sometimes feel Bruce's thoughts, just like he can feel your emotions. Can you feel him now?"
Hulk's face twisted. He huffed once or twice, and his chin rose as his eyelids slid shut again. "No," he said eventually. "Too far. Too long." They opened, and one fist knuckled the ground in frustration. "Need Bruce!"
"We all do," Tony said and steeled himself against the surge of anger and sorrow. "I know."
Hulk held out the rock. "For Bruce," he said wretchedly. "Hulk made. Present for Bruce. Now, no Bruce. Hulk need... Hulk smashed Team. Hulk wrong, Hulk not good, Team never be proud of Hulk again! Bruce never be proud of Hulk again! Bruce never come back for ever and always. Hulk monster, monster, monster – the cruel man is right, the cruel man is right! Why? Why Team no hate Hulk?" His lips peeled back from his teeth and he snarled, his head thrashing as he wrestled with rage and guilt and loss. Tony's eyes filled involuntarily. There was just so much agony in that sound. "Hulk hates Hulk! But Team no... Bruce. Bruce. Hulk need Bruce, Hulk no understand, no understand..."
"This is unbearable," Tony breathed as the Hulk practically tortured himself before them, flaying himself open with his guilt and anguish and confusion. "He has to.."
It hit him.
"He's coming with us," he said flatly.
"Say that again?" Steve said, an unaccustomed sharpness in his tone.
"Hulk. He has to. He'll work himself into a frenzy again if we don't, and he'll end up pulling the Tower down." Tony looked up at the crumpled green face, the anger and horror yet lurking in the corners of his eyes. "He can feel Bruce when they're close. And I have the feeling Bruce will need him just as much."
Not to mention that Hulk was likely to get more and more uncontrollable as time passed... and it might be a good idea to have Thor and Steve, not to mention Clint's tranq arrows, on hand.
"Ah, Friend Tony..." Thor said uncertainly, but Steve's expression was clearing.
"You're right," he said.
Tony blinked. "I am? I mean, of course, but why do you only now admit it?"
"We might need Hulk," Steve said, and helped Thor to stand. "Bruce definitely will. If this is what Hulk is like after only a few hours of separation, I hate to think how Bruce is feeling."
The numbness. That awful, hollow voice – those deadened eyes. Tony shuddered.
"Plus, as you say, he can feel Bruce when they're close. I'm looking forward to seeing how Natasha deals with disguising the Hulk." Steve looped Thor's arm over his shoulders, and grunted. "Holy moly, you are heavy."
"Asgardian," Thor said huffily.
"Hulk..." Hulk began, and then he carefully and deliberately lifted his hand to Thor. "Sorry. Hurt Shouty Long Hair. So sorry," he said, and rumbled softly leaning forward to offer his outstretched hand, massive and open. "Hulk help. Make better. Hulk carry heavy As-garden?"
Could Thor forgive that far? Tony held his breath. Hulk had just pounded him through the floor after all, possessed by his grief-stricken madness.
"T'would be beneath my dignity," Thor protested.
"It'd be a heck of a sight easier on me, though," Steve said, and muttered something into Thor's ear.
Tony reached out a hand (that was only shaking the tiniest bit, thank you very much) to rest it on Hulk's upper arm. Hulk jerked the cat-rock away a little, but relaxed immediately. Then his hand reached out and brushed the back of one finger against Tony's gashes. "Hulk so sorry," he rumbled forlornly. "Tony. Tony special. Hulk hurt. Hulk made Tony weak."
"Weak? Me?" Tony snorted. "My name is Iron Man, Jolly Green, and don't you forget it."
"Light go on, light go off," Hulk said, and tapped Tony's chest once.
The reactor! "Oh shit!"
Tony raced out of the room, yelling as he went. "JARVIS, get me a reactor! Now!"
"Sir, the closest spare reactor was located in your garage. I have already sent Dummy with it to you; he is en-route and will reach your current position in-"
"No time for that, I gotta..."
Tony crashed into an arm holding a welcome box, and Dummy whirred worriedly at him, his 'head' rotating as he looked down at his creator.
"...Eight seconds."
"Arrgh," Tony managed, and fumbled for the box. The code entered, it clicked and hello, shiny new lease on life, there you are.
His fingers were clumsy as they ripped off his AC/DC t-shirt and navigated the panes of cracked glass that enclosed his current battery. "Shit!" he swore as a shard sliced into his forefinger, and he stuck it into his mouth.
"Hold still," came an unexpected voice.
Tony's head whipped up and Natasha stood there, her face cool as always but with concern flickering deep in her eyes. "JARVIS informed us when Hulk attacked you," she explained without prompting, her tone matter-of-fact, professional. "Tell me what to do."
Tony stared at her a little, and then the sharp pang in his heart reminded him that yeah, he might actually have to trust the ex-Russian creepy spy assassin person just this once because, y'know, imminent messy death.
"Take it out, it twists," he said, and leaned back.
Her head bent to the task. Her fingers were nimble and sure as she removed the flickering reactor and replaced it with the new one. She followed his directions perfectly, moving smoothly between one stage and the next. She reattached the plate, her small fingers dipping surely into the place Tony was the most vulnerable. She didn't pause, but settled the four points of transference to the new magnet, and carefully pressed down against the pipe grafted to his ribcage in order to secure the replacement reactor with a firm twist. The minute it hissed into place and lit up with that familiar, reassuring blue glow, Tony let out a giant gust of relief and sagged. "Oh thank fuck," he said.
She sat back on her heels and her mouth curved up into a faint smile. "You're welcome."
"No, really," he said, and caught her hand. "Natasha. Thanks."
She regarded their hands for a moment, and then said, "Stark..."
"Tony. You just had your hand up to the wrist in my chest, I think we can do first names now."
"Tony." Her smile twitched, as though she was fighting it. "Like I told Bruce. I care. I do. I'm just... not built to show it."
Damn, had he misjudged her. "I know. And, yeah... so. Me too?"
She squeezed his hand. "I know."
She looked up at the open adamantium door, the twisted, buckled frame of the Hulk Cage. From the outside it looked like a dome blown by a glassblower with the hiccups. The relief imprints of Hulk's knuckles could be clearly seen through the metal. "How is he?"
"Come on in," he said and stood with wobbly legs. Christ, he felt like Bambi. Too many shocks.
"Is he ready for..."
"He thinks we hate him." Tony laughed shakily. "Come on in, help me show him. He reacted... well, yeah. You were right about him reverting, but we got him back. His rules brought him back. I don't know how long it'll last, though."
"The more time it takes to find Bruce..." she said, and her lips tightened.
"Right." Tony felt around the edges of the new reactor, the comforting whirr escaping into the palm of his hand. "He's so confused. It's... god. It's so hard to watch."
"Here," she said, and ducked under his arm to support him as they walked towards the door. "Are the others injured?"
"Fucking gods and super-soldiers," he grumbled.
"I take it that's a no."
"It's a sort of," came Steve's voice as they entered. He was holding the cat-rock. "I've been better, but I've taken harder knocks. I think something in him recognised that he didn't want to hurt us. He just wanted to get out and find Bruce."
"Tasha," said Hulk, shame etched in every deep line of his face. He was holding Thor gently and carefully, and the god was looking a little uncomfortable to be held in those great arms like a princess on her wedding night. Hulk turned his eyes away, guilt settling over him like snow. "Hulk... Hulk not good, Tasha. Tasha should leave."
"I'm not going," she said calmly, looking up at his face. Tony couldn't feel any tension in the arm that supported him - but then, she was far too well-trained to show fear even if she was scared fucking spitless. She simply stood, looking up at Hulk as though he hadn't so nearly become once more the creature who had almost spilled her life out two years ago.
"Tasha," Hulk mourned. "No, no. Hulk not good. Go. Hulk just wants to be left alone!"
"No," she said. "Hulk, Hulk look at me."
He reluctantly raised his eyes. Natasha's hand tightened around Tony's waist, and she lifted her chin and held that utterly confused green gaze. "We are friends. We are Avengers. We don't leave our friends behind."
Steve made a small noise of shock, and Tony coughed into his hand. Well, well, well. Natasha Romanov, super spy with a heart of ice? Tony was calling bullshit on that.
"He's coming with us to find Bruce," Tony said.
She nodded slowly. "That means using the quinjet. He'll have to stay put in there until we need him."
"Hulk stay?" Hulk's eyes dropped to the ground again. "Leave Hulk here."
"No, you're coming with us," Natasha repeated, and shared a significant look with Steve. He winced.
"Quinjet it is."
"We can't really hide you, Tony, so we'll use your fame to our advantage." she said then. "We'll put you out the front as the focus of the group, and the rest of us will be disguised as your security and advisors. Clint and I can remain hidden in crowds, but Steve and Thor are hopeless at it. I hope you're feeling ostentatious."
"Did you want a laser light show? Because that can be arranged," Tony said. He inwardly sighed at being the show pony once more - well, sure, it could be fun. Attention always was. But right now he had bigger things to worry about.
"Do you have any leads?" Steve asked, his hand clamped over his bleeding shoulder.
"Clint's getting the information together," she told them.
Tony and Steve glanced at each other, and Thor struggled to a sitting position in Hulk's arms. "What have you found?" Thor asked.
"We've put together a list of places of interest," she said. "There are two other Osborne facilities that have accounted missing equipment and strange occurrences – one in Miami, the other one here in New York. We think the New York situation might have something to do with that Spider-kid, though. There are three other possible locations here in New York, the most likely being Empire State University. It's a significant location. Sterns was a professor at Grayburn College in the Department of Cell Biology. The building he worked in has been deserted ever since Blonsky trashed it. There have been two police reports regarding lights in the windows within the last two weeks, though any patrols sent to check the area haven't reported anything out of the ordinary."
"Such as a guy with green skin and the ability to do all sorts of weird psionic shit," Tony said, his heart sinking. "Harlem. Bruce is gonna love that."
"We're not yet certain," she said. "It could be another decoy."
"Bruce," Hulk said miserably.
"Let's check it out," Steve said, hefting the cat-rock. "Bruce deserves to see his present."
Bruce
Sterns was quite a sight.
"I love what you've done with your hair," Bruce said weakly.
The thin green lips tightened in a smile.
"Mockery," he said. "Well, I can't say I wasn't expecting it. But from you, Bruce? You, who know what this power means? You should know better."
"May I ask what precisely you are able to do now?" Bruce struggled to his knees and pushed a hand against his pattering heart. His eyes roved around his surroundings. Banks of computers, a large, ominously familiar glow trapped by wires, the half-shadowed shapes of equipment in the background. A warehouse? Probably.
Sterns laughed softly. "Ah, no. I don't think so. You'll have to try a little harder to get me to spill my secrets, my friend."
"I can see a fusion generator over there," Bruce said, trying to keep the man – man? – civil. "You're building a bomb, yes? Maybe I can help with that. I have some prior..."
"I see your association with that bunch of costumed clowns has muddled your wits," Sterns sighed. "Such a shame. No, I have no intention of allowing you anywhere near my work. Yes, it is a bomb. No, you will not be working on it."
"So why am I here?" Bruce hauled himself to his feet, and looked Sterns in the eyes. And swallowed.
The man had been a slight, mousy fellow – excitable as a rabbit, garrulous and enthusiastic. Now his head towered over his skinny form, a long green column nearly nineteen inches high. His skin was a brighter, paler green than Hulk's, and it looked sickly by comparison. His eyes had darkened to that virulent gamma-green, and his hair and eyebrows were lank and black, the former combed in a pathetic attempt over the giant dome. Bruce wondered how on earth he was able to reach.
"Don't you get terrible neck strain?" he asked aloud.
Stern's face twisted into an ugly expression, and a bolt of something hot and hissing came blasting from his forehead to slam into Bruce's chest. He choked and staggered back until his blindly-searching hand reached a wall. There he rested, panting.
"Mock me once more," Sterns sneered, "and I will stop your heart."
"Telekinesis," Bruce croaked. "A very impressive secret. Thanks for beng so forthcoming."
Sterns smiled. "A necessary revelation. And I have already formulated every possible contingency. There is no harm in allowing you to know just how much you are outclassed here."
"Outclassed," Bruce said to himself, and then faked a laugh he didn't feel. "I'm still the Hulk, Sterns. If I were you, I'd reweigh my options."
"Ah yes, your green friend," Sterns said, and walked over to a table where shiny, wicked-looking implements were set out in rows. Bruce recognised some of it, and his heart skipped a beat. "Interesting that we haven't seen a glimpse of him yet. Your control over your condition has improved manifold."
He doesn't know. Even if he's gotten into SHIELD's files, Clint and Natasha don't report in anymore. Fury and Hill mustn't have written it up – oh, of course, they're protecting me from Ross and from the Council. He really doesn't know about the separation.
"I can let him out," Bruce said between his teeth. "I'll do it."
Sterns turned back, a syringe in his hand. "Then do it. But spare a thought for poor Harlem this time, would you? They've only just finished the repairs from your last visit."
Bruce just glared at him, breathing heavily.
"Did he say Harlem?" Sterns said in faux-shock. "Why yes, he did. It makes little difference that you know where you are, Doctor Banner. You have no way of contacting your friends. You will not unleash the Hulk in this heavily-populated area, you soft-hearted fool. I have set traps and decoys in bases all over the country. I have planned for every possible method of escape. You are stuck here."
"They're not idiots. They'll find me," Bruce said.
"I am surrounded by idiots!" Sterns suddenly raged, and his eyes burned with insanity. "This whole world – idiots, imbeciles, morons everywhere! It is a cavalcade of stupidity! Each of these stupid, pathetic humans – a waste of the air they breathe. They cannot hope to govern themselves when they cannot even think properly. Why is the human disgrace so abominably dense? What they do to the planet, what they do to each other? A foul pack of monkeys, rutting and fighting and howling at each other, my god, they call themselves evolved? I have solved all their petty little problems. I could fix all their woes!"
"They, them, their." Bruce shook his head, even as his mind reeled. "You talk like you're not human, Samuel. You talk like you're not one of them."
"I am better than them!" Sterns hissed. "You know this! You began it! Immune to disease, stronger than any other being on this planet – how can you say that you belong with them, their pettiness, their greed and bickering? They hounded you for years!"
"I am human," Bruce said, and the memory of Tony's voice saying those words to him surfaced. It felt like years, not weeks since he had known the heat of Hulk behind his eyes, Tony's face across a screen, all that time spent working, bickering, snarking, fighting, laughing. You ARE human, Debbie Downer.
I break the Law of Conservation of Mass.
A really weird human.
"No matter what," he continued, and the struggling embers of his emotions fanned briefly, a warm glow in his chest, "I'm still human. A really weird human."
Sterns looked disgusted. "And you seem proud. Pah!"
"It's no bad thing to be human, Sterns. Yes, there are jerks and dickheads everywhere. Yes, there are wars. Yes, we're screwing the planet – and this is interesting rhetoric from a guy building a bomb, can I mention?"
"Hypocritical of you to chastise me for building bombs, don't you think?" Sterns smirked.
"I didn't think I was making the world better by blowing it up," Bruce retorted. "I knew what it was when I built it, and you can be damned sure I knew what that meant about me. I can't say the same about the fucking serum. Where's your ethical responsibilty, Doctor?"
"I have no peers to judge me," he said, and his huge head rose slightly.
"Just the rest of the planet," Bruce retorted. "Just all the people you intend to mutate and kill. I'd give you a slow clap if my hands worked properly."
"Them? The cattle, you mean? Hah! They will thank me!"
"Like you thanked me?" Bruce snorted. "I'm sure you were really over the moon at first. It's great to be a gamma mutant, isn't it? How many years did you run? Two? Three?"
"No one will ever have to run, not in my utopia," he breathed. "We will be celebrated. A new race, Bruce! We will be their titans, their creation myths!"
"Do you know what the odds are in achieving a stable mutation? I was a fluke, you madman. You'll kill half the planet!"
"I will wipe it all clean," Sterns declared, and the syringe glinted in his hand. "I will make it better. With my mind, I could make advances the likes of which you, Doctor Banner, you so-called supergenius, ha, cannot dream of accomplishing! Even your precious Stark with all his gifts cannot even come close to matching my intellect!"
"Maybe not," he replied, dragging himself up the wall. He was going to be on his goddamned feet. "Maybe neither Tony nor I can match you. But we're not the only Avengers, and the rest do just fine without any scientific know-how. They'll find me. They won't stop."
Find me, Tony. Find me, Hulk. Find me.
"Why should they bother?" Sterns laughed, an ugly sound. "You, the monster? You, the uncontrollable force of nature, a terrorist and a fugitive? You do know that General Ross was still petitioning to have you released to the Army not three months ago?"
Bruce hadn't known that. "What does that matter? I'm not his. I'm an Avenger."
"The only reason you remain an Avenger," the word was sneered, "is that Ross was offered a deal to stand down by your Director Fury. SHIELD's files, I tell you, laughably easy to hack into. You are only free on the proviso that your muscle-minded alter ego remains under control. Tell me, if you let him out now, how long would it be before you were once more on the run, do you think?"
Hulk. Oh god, Hulk. He would be mad with rage. He would be unstoppable. Bruce closed his eyes and groped for his emotions, but they were beginning to slip away.
No. No, no, no.
"I see you understand me," Sterns said. "Now. Hold still."
Bruce's eyes opened. "What..."
The syringe was less than three inches from his skin. He blurted wordlessly in shock and swiped at it with one hand, and he was abruptly held in an invisible grip stronger than steel. He struggled against it anyway, even as the syringe drew his blood and capped itself before his eyes.
"No need for replication and concentration now, my friend," Sterns breathed and the syringe came floating back to lie docilely on his open palm.
"My blood again?" Bruce snarled. "For all your talk... still the same... old tune, isn't it?"
Sterns practically glowed as he held the syringe up to his eyes. "You cannot provoke me. Last time it was the foolish dreams of a pathetic human – eradicate disease, create cures, win meaningless prizes. I no longer wish to help humanity, oh no. I will fix them."
"You're a total maniac," Bruce said flatly. "You saw what this thing did! You were there! And you want to turn the whole world into things like me and you? Like Blonksy?"
Sterns pursed his lips. "Oh, not like you. You're obviously flawed – you're an early experiment, just a trial run." He tapped his overlarge head. "I will remake the world to be like me. I will be their beloved Leader, and I will usher in a glorious new age."
Holy shit, Tony get your ass here quickly, he's turning crazy into a communicable disease.
"It won't work," Bruce said desperately and strained against the telekinetic hold. "I'm a failed experiment, yes. Guess who the success is? It's not me, and it's not you!"
Sterns paused.
"Steve Rogers," Bruce hissed. "Steve Rogers is the success. And do you know why?"
With a snarl, Sterns stalked back towards the equipment Bruce had noticed before. His blood was quickly added to some bizarre-looking receptacle, and the green glow of the bomb intensified. "It's because of who he is," Bruce called after him, voice cracking. "Because Steve really is Captain America, and he would remain Captain America, even if you took the serum away!"
And he reeled backwards as it struck him...
Pepper's sad face, hollow ice where his heart should be, his friends, his... his family, risking their lives. Without him. "I just wish that what happened to you could happen to him, you know? That the Iron Man could just get zapped out of him, and he'd be normal and safe from now on."
His own reply: "But then he wouldn't really be Tony anymore, would he?"
He'd had the answers for so long. God, but he was a fool, such a fool.
"I'd still be Hulk, and Hulk would still be me," Bruce said hollowly. "Even if there had never been a gamma bomb or a serum, there'd still be two parts to who I am. I've been split in half ever since I was three years old."
"But the gamma radiation made you powerful! Magnificent! A being of such glory, such godlike strength..."
Bruce thought of Hulk; of his unending rage and of his desperate need for approval. Of balloons and paintings and sparring, of showers and a hand that swallowed his own and yet moved like it was still a part of him. Of booming laughter and terrible sadness and great green arms that enfolded him; of an embrace safer than anything in the world; of a terrible fury born of injustice and the need to protect. Of an invisible friend who became a monster and then became a friend again. Of running away from the truth of himself for years, until Tony forced him to look it in the eye.
His laugh was dull and bitter – even to his own ears, he sounded dead. "No. The gamma... it doesn't make you better, Sterns. It doesn't make you greater, or more worthy, or superior to an unenhanced human. It turns you inside out instead. It exposes what you are, deep down inside."
"Very, ah, poetic," Sterns scoffed, and there was a whine from the machinery. "I'm afraid I don't believe a word."
"I was a scared child who wanted to be strong," Bruce said, and raised his eyes to stare at Sterns. "You were pretty quick to leap on to my desperation and need, all those years ago. I must have been a godsend. Tell me, how many times were you passed up for Fellowship? How many times did other colleges and universities and colleagues surpass you? How many times did the game-changing discovery pass you by?" He paused. "How many times did I make you feel stupid?"
Sterns slammed a hand against a metal facing and growled, "you were never enough to intimidate me!"
"Ah. So, quite a bit then." Bruce tipped his head back and tested the telekinetic hold. "Sorry about that. My brain's gotten me into some pretty sticky scrapes over the years."
"You..." Sterns' teeth gritted with a clearly audible sound. "No. You were an altered human. You were clearly more. Not like these pathetic apes and their ridiculous..."
"I was born with my brain, Sterns." Oh god, and yet another memory leapt into his mind's eye – telling Tony. His face, lit by the cool light of the reactor – dark secrets and a bright blue light. Stories about men who should have been fathers who instead betrayed their sons. "I have always been smart. The gamma didn't change that at all."
Sterns jerked backwards, and then he snarled, "you lie."
"I'm not lying. Stop this. It won't get you what you want, Sterns. It won't do anything the way you want."
"Lies!" Sterns barked again, and his machine began to whirr and rattle. "I will not believe it!"
"Somehow I knew that," Bruce said, the frustration enough to choke him even through the tendrils of numbness that were seeping into his mind. "Somehow I thought, will the crazy guy listen to reason? Well, let's examine the innate dichotomy presented by the terms 'crazy guy' and 'reason'..."
"I am above your insults, Mister Green," Sterns said, and his hands flew over dials and knobs. He banged a counter once, hissing between his teeth.
"Let me guess, graduate students?" Bruce said sardonically.
"Shut up!" Sterns snapped, and the machine flickered into beeping electronic life.
"You've got my blood," Bruce said. "You're building some sort of gamma bomb. You want to irradiate the whole world. Really, world domination? Are you serious? For a man with such a vast and powerful intellect, you're acting out the script of some two-bit villain in a Saturday morning kid's show. You've been stripped bare, just like I was. Why can't you see this?"
Keep talking. Tell me more. Don't look too closely at my blood.
"It is for the best," Sterns said, taking a deep breath. Then he turned and gave Bruce a rather beatific smile. "You are simply too unintelligent to see it. I feel pity for you. You will apologise to me, one day. You will see that I was right. The whole world will be like you, like me. You will not have to flee or fear for your freedom, and neither will the world fear or hate you for your strength. You'll see."
"You have no idea what I fear," Bruce said in a low voice, and closed his eyes again. His feelings were a dull, faint echo and he groped for them in vain. He was becoming more dead than alive.
Tony. Hulk.
Hurry.
Hulk
Hulk misses Bruce.
Hulk misses Bruce.
Hulk misses Bruce.
Hulk misses Bruce.
Hulk misses Bruce.
Hulk misses Bruce.
Hulk misses Bruce.
Hulk needs-needs-NEEDS Bruce!
Hulk's mind does not work.
Hulk misses Bruce. It is all wrong, all wrong, everything is wrong!
There is a fire in Hulk's head.
His arms do not hold their thoughts, and he cannot think. Hulk cannot think. It is all wrong. Hulk is all wrong.
Hulk smashed Team!
Hulk misses Bruce. Bruce could tell Hulk that it is good. Bruce could be proud of Hulk, Bruce could be happy with Hulk. But Hulk smashed Team.
Hulk is not good, not good, not good, and Hulk misses Bruce.
Hulk smashed Team, but they are not scared of Hulk. The experiment is not good; Hulk smashed Team. He cannot bring them all together, cannot make them strong around Bruce and not alone. But Team is smashed and Bruce is alone again, just like Tony said. It did not work.
They tell Hulk it is all okay. It is not okay! There is no Bruce!
They lead him to a big metal bird and Hulk climbs in. He sits and there is fire in his mind and Hulk misses Bruce. He misses Bruce so, so much.
Shouty Long Hair is hurt. Hulk hurt him. Star Man is hurt. Hulk hurt him. Tony...
Tony! Tony, the light that makes Bruce afraid, it was shiny on, shiny off, and Hulk did that!
Tony is hurt and Hulk hurt him! Hulk is not good, and he misses Bruce, and he is not good, and he misses Bruce, and he misses Bruce and he misses Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce
Team touches Hulk. Shouty Long Hair has his hand on Hulk's hand, and his face is all purple-yellow-brown, like Bruce's was. Bruce. When Hulk... when Hulk hurt... Bru-
No. Hulk cannot give into the fire. The anger. It burns, and oh, how Hulk knows it. He knows it wants to eat him until there is no Hulk left. Until everything that is Hulk is gone.
Tasha stands, because she is small. Puny. She drapes over Hulk's back, and her hair, the bright red red red hair that Hulk likes so much, is splashed over her face. Her eyes are chips of green rock. Little black arms around Hulk's arm, holding on tight. It is good. It is like a wall against the fire.
Hulk misses Bruce. He never got to see the kitty. Hulk must give Bruce his present.
Shooty Bird has his legs on Hulk's foot, crossed over. He has his shooty out, and he is making the cord go thwip as he rubs sharp-smelling stuff on it. His face is all dark. He is angry, and Hulk cannot look at him because it makes Hulk's rage burn brighter. And that is not good. Not good.
Hulk is the biggest and strongest, but Hulk doesn't know if even he can control the fire.
Bruce can. Bruce can control the fire. Bruce is stronger than Hulk in their mind. Hulk misses Bruce.
(Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce...)
Star Man is hurt, and his blue is all red on the shoulder. Hulk hurt him. Hulk is not good. Star Man pats Hulk's arm, over and over. He says things like, "we're gonna get him back, pal." Or "it's okay, Hulk. We're here." Hulk knows, but it is not good. Nothing will ever be good again.
Tony holds Hulk tight. He kneels on Hulk's knees and wraps his arms as far as they will go around Hulk's front. Tony smells like Bruce – like the white place, and like thoughts that zip and zing, and like experiments, but Hulk cannot feel them in his arms like he can feel Bruce. It helps. Hulk smells Tony's hair, and it helps. Tony helps against the fire – makes it better.
(BruceBruceBruceBruceBruceBruceBruceBruce...)
But it is not Bruce. And Hulk misses Bruce.
The fire is building. It will take Hulk away, and Hulk will hurt Team.
Tony, make it better. Please, please, make it better. Bruce. Bruce. Bruce...
Hulk is afraid.
.
OMG you guys... 170 reviews?! 120 Faves?! 190 ALERTS ASJGHFFFGHLHGGGL
*DEAD*
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