A rare dreamless night's sleep came to an end when Jarvis began to gently beckon Bruce awake.

"Mr. Stark requires your presence in the lounge."

Bruce failed to pay attention to his first wake-up call.

"Dr. Banner," the program continued. "Glenn Talbot is here to speak with you."

That warning took Bruce a half second to be jerked awake. "Talbot…"

"That is correct," JARVIS confirmed.

Bruce wished he could be as collected as Tony's butler. He didn't want to go out there... But he needed to. Bruce cursed under his breath as he went to make himself presentable.

"I would've confronted your superior face to face, but I'm not interested in seeing him at the moment," Glenn Talbot lectured in a rough tone.

"Banner's pry not gonna show knowing you're around," Tony glowered back.

"It's a miracle he's stuck around here. He doesn't mind being Fury's dog?"

Tony's fingers tightened around his brandy glass. "I'll escort your ass straight out that door…"

"I'll just storm right back in," Talbot countered. "Ca-…"

"Can we have a moment alone, Tony?" Bruce interrupted from the entryway. His eyes were glued to the back of Talbot's graying hair. The man turned, and Bruce's breathing quickened.

"Heard you never came to my memorial," Talbot snorted.

"There never was one," Bruce scowled.

"You left like a good boy, didn't you?"

Bruce clenched his fists at his sides.

"You don't even have it in you to end the General when he's down, do you?"

Bruce knew the tormenting was intentional, but regardless, it was slowly becoming harder to keep his cool.

"That's it," Tony decided. "You're out."

Talbot derisively snorted. "Don't want to make headlines for a change, Stark?"

Bruce saw Tony's fingers curl into a tight ball. "Why don't you explain what you did to Ross?" Bruce demanded. "Why would Ross become the one thing he hates more than anything? Why create another monster?..." He felt his anger slowly simmer down into remorse. "Why make himself a guinea pig?"

Talbot sank back into the couch, his attention focused on the Doctor. "He volunteered after his daughter passed. Figured he had nothing left to lose…and if it killed him, we could've easily blamed you."

Bruce saw that explanation coming from a mile away.

"And if it kills him now, you can't blame Banner," Tony threatened, forcing himself to relax in his armchair. "Eyes and ears are everywhere here. Your secrets are out, pal."

Bruce chose to ignore Tony's comment. He took a seat across from Glenn and continued the conversation with a question that pressed heavily on his mind. "He's a Hulk now?"

Talbot grinned from beneath his dark mustache. "Not exactly."

"Then what is he capable of?" Bruce wondered with a wary curiosity.

"Strength," Talbot began. "Heightened immune system…Well, until recently."

"What caused the change?"

Talbot folded his hands in his lap. "I administered a small dose of blood about four weeks ago-the administered sample was based on a replication of yours we had a team cook up. Creating a copy of what's ailing you took us years to solve… Ross' results seemed positive, fairly normal, even, until his body craved more of the blood. I gave him another dose, then another the next day…"

Bruce leaned forward, the back of his finger rubbing his chin. "He's suffering withdrawal."

"He assumed obtaining an actual sample of your blood would help him. Or end him…"

Tony's eyes narrowed. "Then we let him suffer. He took a risk when he agreed to be a lab rat."

Bruce recalled the General's swollen red veins. Not only was that abnormal, but it also posed a risk. "What if it worsens? Say, instead of the sweats he lets out a Hulk of his own?"

Glenn Talbot chuckled. "He's in your good hands now."

Bruce turned to his partner with a panicked look. "We need to tell Fury."

"Jarv!" Tony called out. "Notify Fury. Have him put Ross on lockdown."

Talbot rose from the couch and proceeded towards the entryway. "I should prepare the ammo." He shot Bruce a glare. "Just in case the beast gets out of hand…"

Bruce couldn't swallow back the lump in his throat. His first instinct said to grab his phone and call Natasha. He knew she was likely to be working, and with that in mind, he needed her to get everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. to safety. "Where are you?" he gasped, interrupting her "hello."

The urgency in his voice was all she needed to know there was an emergency. "At base. Wha-…"

"Get out!" Bruce shouted. "Evacuate everyone."

"Bruce?"

He cursed under his breath. "You need to be prepared for another Hulk. Ross."

"Does Fury know this?" she quickly asked.

"Tony's warning him now."

"I'll make sure Ross is sedated and taken down to the holding block."

Bruce feared that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bulletproof glass wouldn't be enough, even with the addition of a steel bar enclosure. "Please be careful, Natasha," he begged with a crack in his voice.

"It'll be over soon," she promised. "Just stay calm for me."

The call ended and Bruce helplessly followed after Tony to the tower's basement level. "Don't tell me you're going there…"

"I never miss a chance to suit up." He gave Bruce a rough pat on the shoulder. "Stay here," he urged.

Bruce shook his head as he watched his friend with pleading eyes.

They reached the lowest floor of the tower and Tony gave his partner an equally pained expression. "We can't risk two of you guys going at it."

"But if it's the only way…"

Tony turned away and strutted towards his wall of suits. "I'll come pick you up," he promised. "Do me a favour and keep calm here."

Bruce watched as Tony stood before the latest member of the Iron Man family. The suit's chest opened up, followed by the arms and legs. Bruce turned away, unsure of how he could stay calm when his friends were potentially facing a threat that he was responsible for…

Contacting Fury was first on Natasha's agenda. She hurried down a hall past a cluster of rookies as her phone continued to ring. Natasha rounded the next corner bound for the nearest elevator.

The Director answered her call before the first ring could finish. "Heading down to the medical bay," Fury huffed.

The call ended as quickly as it began. She wondered if she would make it to Ross' room before he did. More importantly: was Ross conscious? Natasha hoped he was. Bruce could use the good news. She brushed past the two doctors chatting just outside the elevator when her eyes spotted a blur of black disappear behind a doorframe. Natasha followed after it, immediately recognizing it as Fury's coat.

The room was quiet aside from a steady series of beeps whispered by a heart rate monitor. "The son of a bitch," Fury muttered as he hovered over the foot end of Ross' bed.

Natasha stood at his side and acknowledged Ross' pale complexion. "Think he'll make it?"

Fury's eye rested on the ceiling's security camera. "All we can do is wait and see."

"Vitals look normal?"

Nick nodded. "Nothing abnormal yet. Dr. Banner can rest easy."

She begged to differ. "This has him paranoid."

Fury paused for a minute as he observed the swollen veins protruding from the General's arm. "I've given samples of his blood to a different team," he began.

Natasha respected his choice to leave Bruce and Tony out of the blood research.

"Something's corrupted it. They assume it's the same gamma exposure Banner has in him, but they'd need to test his."

Natasha recalled the sample recently taken from Bruce. Her own blood was mingled with it, but the gamma took over, according to Bruce.

"Let's get Ross moved into a detention cell," Nick continued. "And give him a little something to keep him this quiet."

"And then we wait?"

"We wait," Nick finished. He slowly turned on his heel. "Do me a favour and call Stark. Have him park his suit here in case we enter an emergency. I don't want him flying around and making a spectacle of himself."

"That's his specialty," Natasha quietly remarked. She watched her boss wordlessly leave before relaying the message to Tony. From there, her top priority was to go to Bruce and hope to God that he didn't worry himself sick.

"Dr. Banner," JARVIS announced over the sound of the local news. "Agent Romanoff is on her way up."

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned off the day's weather report. Bruce had never felt more relieved to hear of her presence. "Thank you." He hurried to open up the front door before taking two glasses from a cabinet.

Natasha poked her head in to find him slouched over the kitchen counter with his head turned towards the door. "Still unconscious." She drifted towards him, her body still able to feel his lips on her neck, his hands on her breasts… "You holding up, okay?
Her hand reached for his and he instinctively pulled her closer. "Just waiting for this to pass," he murmured.

Natasha watched his fingers intertwine with hers. "You want a distraction?" She felt sick for asking it. Clearly, it was a rough time for him, and she hoped he could sense the lack of enthusiasm in her voice.

"Maybe once this passes…" Bruce should've felt overjoyed from his night with her, but it hardly felt magical. He felt guilty for thinking that and he gave Natasha's hand a gentle squeeze. There was too much happening for him to feel truly happy. "Morning never should've come."

She quietly laughed. "Did you at least sleep well?
He couldn't even remember if he ate breakfast. "I suppose…"

"No nightmares?"

"None that I can recall at the moment."

Natasha rubbed the side of his arm. "It's gonna be okay, Bruce."

He forced a smile. "I trust you."

She caught herself absently staring into his eyes. "So." She paused. "No awkward feelings?"

A brief chuckle escaped him. "It was perfect…"

Natasha snorted. "You're not picturing me naked right now, are you?"

"No," he hastily replied.

"Sorry," she gently answered.

Hearing her apologize was both rare and strange to Bruce's ears. He had grown so used to hearing himself repeat it to her over and over.

Natasha intently observed his face as she attempted to pinpoint what it was about him that seemed different. Bruce's eyes met hers and then she knew what it was. His dark orbs seemed more tired than usual, more frantic… "I think I should let you sleep," she suggested.

He shook his head and left her side to find the glasses he left out. "I don't see that happening. Can I get you a drink? Coffee?"

Natasha was no stranger to having thoughts consume her. Granted, she did a much better job at hiding it than Bruce. "I'll have coffee," she decided.

He started up the coffee maker and exchanged the two glasses for mugs. "Glenn Talbot was here this morning," he awkwardly began.

Natasha took a seat at the counter overlooking his kitchen. "The bastard has a lot of nerve."

Bruce set a mug beneath the instant coffee maker's drip when it signaled that it was ready. "He does," Bruce agreed. "I thought I was going to go off on him…"

"You should go off on him."

Bruce passed her a cup of coffee. "I'd be blamed for that," he sulked. "Never mind Tony's cameras-I'll still be looked down on as a fuse. Piss me off and I just might kill you." He shoved his mug under the coffee machine.

Natasha left her seat to search for some sugar. "People will have to know what dicks the military are before they start ridiculing you." She found a spoon and reached for a ceramic jar beside the coffee maker. "If you ask me, it's gonna be pretty damn hard convincing people you're the bad guy. You helped save the city. Hulk is a hero, and Bruce Banner is, too."

"Sometimes I wish I could've kept my identity secret…"

Natasha laughed as she stirred sugar into her drink. "I'm really not keen on being a public figure, either." She smiled at Bruce. "I was recognized wearing a wig recently. Some spy I am," she nonchalantly remarked with an eye roll.

Bruce took his mug by the handle and brought it to his lips. "We all need Tony's confidence."

"He's more annoying than confident." Natasha went to the fridge to add some milk to her coffee.

Bruce paused to carefully blow on his beverage. The steam fogged his glasses as he took a sip. "So Tony's staying at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base?" he wondered.

"I'm sure he'll be back," Natasha promised. "Fury had me tell him to get out of the suit before admirers flocked."

He took another slow sip of coffee, but it was only making the knots in his stomach tighten.

His breathing was beginning to sound rougher and the lack of colour in his cheeks worried Natasha. "Wanna try laying down? I can stay here and wake you if anything comes up…"

Sleep seemed like Bruce's best option to escape from his day, but he knew nightmares were bound to come. He gingerly set his mug aside as he kept his gaze glued to the floor. "I'll try."

"I won't leave," Natasha swore with a smile.

He returned the grin, but he couldn't accept her offer. "You have things to do."

Natasha casually crossed her arms. "Do I?"

Bruce nodded. "I'm sure you do."

She smirked. "What if my mission was to keep an eye on you? I can't turn down an order from my boss." He sighed heavily. "You can buy me dinner-we'll be even," she wagered.

"I feel like I owe you more than dinner," he softly replied.

"Friends really shouldn't need to owe each other anything," Natasha shrugged. "Just watch my back in the future, okay?"

He reached for her hand, allowing the tips of his fingers to lightly brush hers. "I will," he vowed.

Bruce continued to intently study her face until she took a small step back. "Get some rest, Bruce." He did as instructed and Natasha took her coffee over to the living room. She made herself comfortable on the couch by turning on the TV and quickly changing the channel away from the news. Natasha stopped on the first channel not showing a commercial. A rom-com was playing, and Natasha sat back and absently watched for a good half an hour. When what felt like the movie's concluding arc had begun, her phone began to buzz in her hip pocket.

It was Tony.

She quickly accepted the call in a heartbeat. "Brief me."

"You with Banner?" His voice sounded rushed.

"Yes." Natasha wasn't a fan of the urgency in his tone.

"Keep him there."

"Stark, what happened?" she demanded in a low growl.

"Talbot showed up here," Tony explained.

Natasha swore she heard a crash in the distance.

"We were losing Ross so he gave him a hit. The blood."

Natasha could overhear the high-pitched blaring of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s emergency alarms…

"It set him off."

Natasha found herself turning in the direction of Bruce's bedroom as her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. "Watch your back, Stark." She abandoned the coach and padded down the hall to Bruce's room. He was resting atop his comforter and staring up at the ceiling, and she knew he wasn't sleeping. "Bruce…"

He instantly shifted upright and he found that his own panicked expression was mirrored through Natasha.

"We'll get through this," Natasha managed, carefully approaching the bed.

Bruce could sense a strain in her voice.

She sat down on the bed's edge and pressed her phone between her palms. "Ross was almost gone," she began in a low voice.

Bruce knew there was going to be a catch to her warning, a catch far from a happy ending.

"Talbot gave him a hit of blood."

Bruce knew what was coming next. "Dammit!" he hissed.

Natasha knew she needn't continue. "Stark's handling this."

That was the last thing he wanted to hear. "I'm going."

"You're staying here, Bruce," she hollowly warned.

He rose from the bed and Natasha was quick to follow his movements. "I didn't see Tony take the tranquilizers with him," he gruffly announced. "He needs those to stop a Hulk."

Natasha couldn't say no to his plan. There had to be hundreds still working at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base. Any threat needed to be taken down ASAP…