The Girl Who Can't Be Moved

Chapter Six

Bridgette ran down the halls, desperately trying to smother memories that fought and clawed their way to the surface, making her stagger.

That all white room with no windows...The never ending tests...She would scream and scream as loud as she could but no one ever came for her...No one came to save the little girl...The induced pain that felt like liquid fire, making her cry...They were drilling, drilling into her, trying to break the skin, her armor!-

"No!" muttered the girl, pressing a hand to her temple. "No, no, no!" She was breathing hard, struggling to keep a lid on the past. To keep it air tight and locked away forever. She swore she would never have to think of that again, that she wouldn't have to even look back at it. Stumbling, she took refuge around the next hall, leaning with her back against the wall. She hadn't had a flashback in years and now wasn't exactly a great time for one. She was not going to stand for it.

There was a flicker of movement just at the edge of her peripheral vision and she looked up quickly, alarmed. Relief flooded her when she saw that it was the Captain, though his back was to her. Her brow furrowed, he looked suspicious, like he was up to something. Allowing herself this distraction, as it was well timed, she tiptoed toward the Captain. He came to a halt at one of the many sliding doors, regarding it studiously. Bridgette could see a keypad that would require a password and she raised a brow, interested. Instead of trying to work the technology, Steve gripped the edge of the door and pulled. It took a moment and his muscles strained for victory that was acquired only a moment later.

"I suppose that's one way to handle it," she commented. Steve spun around, startled by her voice.

"Oh. Miss Smith. I," he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I didn't know you were there." She gave a sly smile.

"Up to something?" she asked, interested. The Captain look toward the now open door, guilt obvious.

"I could help if you'd like," she offered. The blonde glanced at the now unlocked room and back to the girl. It'd be a perfect distraction.

"It's rather...unauthorized," he explained. She grinned up at him, the glint returning to her eyes.

"Why Captain, that's the best kind."

The dim and secretive room pulled them inside, revealing the different levels of equally sized, boring bland cases. Her shoulders sagged in lack of obvious excitement and she glanced up at the Captain.

"Sooooo, do we just start going through each one?" she asked. He gave a short nod.

"Seems like our best option."

"And what are we looking for, in particular?"

"Anything that shouldn't be here."

"You got it."

Steve took the lead with a cat like leap onto the second level. Smirking, Bridgette copied him to the step, the jump simple enough for her. He raised a blonde brow and she blushed faintly before jumping onto the next level in order to start her search. It was the little girl inside that wanted to show off a little bit for the hero. Her hero. He was always her hero. Quickly, she smothered the silly daydreams and set to work, forcing open the cases.

Case number one: Paperwork.

Case number two: Classified Paperwork.

Case number three: Super classified paperwork.

"I'm sensing a trend," she mumbled to herself. Still, the busy work was a nice relief, it kept her distracted enough. Even though she kept finding nothing but paperwork and other vague items, the steady motions of moving to the next case, fingers fitting underneath the lift, the pull of her muscles flexing to break the seal of the case. It was...comforting.

"So," began Steve. "That was impressive, you know. How you dealt with the Hulk." His voice carried from the lower level and she inclined her head in his direction to hear better, being pulled from her daze.

"Hm? Oh, Bruce?" She gave a small laugh. "Yeah, that was definitely exciting. The perfect reason to never piss off the quiet ones."

"Isn't that the truth." Now bored, she hopped onto a closed case, settling into her usual style. She removed the ear piece and tapped it a bit, unable to tell if she was imagining the humming sound or if she was just hearing things. Bringing the piece closer, eyes squinting as she tried to find a problem. Her nail was able to catch on a small lift, shifting back. Curious, she returned it to its spot. She smiled, satisfied with her victory. No more humming.

"-You're a monster..."

"Oh no, you brought the monster." Her brow furrowed in concern. What was this? Some sort of mass communication? Was everyone hearing this?

"So, Banner. That's your play."

Without any hesitation, the girl swung herself over the railing, dropping straight down to the main floor. Her landing was quiet and she propelled herself through the doorway.

"Bridgette?" called the Captain. But she was already gone.

"Loki's planning to unleash the Hulk. Send Thor in," came the message. Bridgette put on an extra burst of speed, practically flying through the halls. Panic was starting to flutter through her viens, only encouraging her faster. A sickening feeling, panic. A feeling that she hated to revisit. The propulsion forced her bangs back as she sailed around the next corner. She had to get to Bruce, had to stop Loki's plan. If he released the Hulk, it wouldn't be like last time. There would be more people, noises, and interference, she would have a hell of a time getting him to stop and focus in on her. To quiet him. To save him from the god of mischief.

The lab came into view and she pulled open the door, running inside.

Okay, so running into a scientific lab was probably not her greatest idea.

"Ah!"

"Whoa!"

"Watch it!"

Crash!

Not her greatest idea: confirmed. She had plowed directly into Dr. Banner, who at the time was holding some kind of scientific device that went airborne the moment they connected. Luckily, Tony had the reflexes to snatch it before it hit the ground, whatever it was. Bruce's arms encircled her so to stop her forward motion, but the momentum knocked both the doctor and the girl off their feet, skulls cracking against each other from the opposing forces. The two crashed onto the floor, her forehead bumping against his chest now.

"Oww..." they chorused.

"Sorry, doc," she apologized, pulling herself up onto her knees. She was leaning over him, the layers of her hair acting as curtains, cutting off her peripheral vision. She was very close to the man, one hand splayed against his chest, the other keeping his arm pinned between her hand and her body, his arm was loosely around her lower waist from his earlier attempt at stopping her. Looking down at the doctor who rubbed his forehead, she noticed that she knocked his glasses off as well. Embarrassed by her performance, she grabbed the glasses and helped Bruce to his feet, her hand small against his own. She tiptoed and returned the glasses to their proper place on his nose, fingertips grazing the sides of his face. After brushing off his shoulders and giving his chest an apologetic pat, she gave a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that," she said again, with a shade of a blush.

"It's...it's all right," Bruce stuttered. "Yeah, it's, um, it's all right."

Bruce forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to settle the now stirring Hulk inside of him. The brief flash of pain when their heads collided had woken him, ready to react the quick hurt. As soon as it registered to him that it was Bridgette and only an accident, the other guy started to react to their physical contact instead. He felt his arms wrap around her so to bring her to a standstill, which failed. He felt her body fully against his as they fell to the ground, her head coming to rest against his chest. Her hand resting against his chest, above his pounding heart while the other slipped down his arm before reaching the ground. She had leaned over him, assessing the damages, her short hair tilted forward as the blue eyes regarded him. Then she helped him to his feet, and when she leaned in close to return his glasses, he held his breath. It had been so long since he last had full physical contact, especially from a woman. The Hulk, by this point, was itching to stretch and to fully react to the increased heart rate. Bruce couldn't understand. Why the other guy was reacting so strongly to her? It about made his head hurt, but that could just be from the fall.

"So what is it, Lassie?" asked Tony, setting the equipment down. "Timmy fall down a well? Grandma in a ditch?"

The girl looked between the two, confused. Banner was still hyperly aware of how close she was to him, standing in his personal space.

"Didn't you...get the message?" she asked slowly. Both men gave her mirroring looks, clearly stating that they didn't know what she was talking about.

"What message?" asked Stark. She gestured to the earpiece, expression falling into a grimace.

"I...probably wasn't suppose to hear that, was I?" she guessed, guilty.

Concerned, Bruce couldn't control how his hand reached out to graze her arm. "What did you hear?" As soon as his fingers brushed the material of her jacket, he quickly recoiled. Control. He had to keep control, even if the other guy wanted the contact as well. For whatever reason.

The door slid open once more, revealing Agent Romanov and Director Fury. They both looked rather tense, only confirming the message Bridgette overheard.

"The man of the hour!" greeted Tony, gesturing to the Director. "Just the one we've been looking for!"

"What're you getting at Stark?" asked the Director. "This isn't the best time to go hacking into unauthorized files." The Iron Man pulled a screen forward, pointing at the weapon diagrams he had found while he was snooping in places he shouldn't have been.

"So what's Phase 2?" he asked nonchalantly. "Because it looks like a blast. Really fun."

At that point, the Captain stormed in, dropping a piece of weaponry on the counter loudly to attract full attention.

"Phase 2 is manufacturing Hydra weapons," answered Steve. "Sorry, computer's a little slow for me."

Bridgette noticeably paled at the name, the color rushing away from her face. Hydra...!

The arguing started up quickly, escalating in volume and intensity quickly. Natasha actually moved herself in front of the girl, standing between her and Bruce. Bridgette looked at her strangely. What was she doing?

"Dr. Banner, you may want to consider removing yourself from this environment," she advised. Banner stepped toward Tony and the screen, gesturing to the missile blueprint.

"I'm not going to leave just because you get jumpy. I'm more concerned why SHIELD's creating nuclear weapons with the Tesseract acting as the primary power source," he argued. Director Fury took a cautious step forward.

"Doctor, it may be best if you calm down. Agent Romanov, would you escort the doctor back to his-"

"Where? You rented my room," he remarked darkly. Loki's cage. Bridgette looked between the doctor and the director. They built that holding container for Bruce, the Hulk? Her heartbeat started to pick up, the feeling of dread growing.

Fury tried to smooth the situation over quickly. "The cell was just in-"

"-Just in case you needed to kill me?" interrupted Bruce. "But you can't. I know-I've tried!"

Bridgette gave a quiet gasp as she looked over at the doctor, wide eyes startled. Silence filled the room quickly and Bruce folded his arms over his chest, shifting uncomfortably. He shrugged.

"I got low," he explained. "I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the "other guy" spit it out."

The girl could feel her chest constricting, breathing with some difficulty. She wanted to cry. Right there. She just wanted to cry her eyes out. Again, her own echoes were haunting her. She placed a hand to her temple, fighting to block it out. They needed to stay out, to stay buried.

A teenage Bridgette ran up the flights of stairs, taking steps at a time. The sound of military units entering the building were loud and obvious. She was breathing hard, wheezing as the tears rolled down her face. She looked up the stairwell. The stairs would take too long. Looking down the empty column she could see their uniforms and guns filling the first level. Quickly, she prepped her feet on the railing ledge and jumped to the next level, hands finding their holds. Good, this was much faster. She continued her climb, creating a distance between herself and the men.

It was only a matter of moments before she was able to burst through the door that led to the roof. Half gasping and half sobbing, she kept looking over her shoulder, long hair whipping in the wind. Her bare feet were dirty from the concrete but she kept running, legs pumping hard. The edge of the rooftop was drawing closer with each step. She didn't slow down. She wouldn't ever slow down. She wouldn't let them get her again.

Her foot found the ledge just as the roof door slammed open again, the shouts and commotion from the men jarringly loud. Taking a big breath, she took one last fantastic jump. The busy night city traffic was so far below her, little spots of lights in the streets. She rotated her body so that she was looking up at the sky as she fell. Her arms were outstretched as she started the descent, finishing the arch of her jump.

The sky was so clear that night which was odd for the city. She could see the moon and even the twinkling stars. The breath was ripped from her as she gained speed, the ground racing to meet her. Slowly she closed her blue eyes. She was ready.

People screamed when the girl drilled into the ground, actually forcing a small crater beneath her. Cars swerved to get out of the way, crashing into each other. Civilians called for 9-1-1, and an ambulance's sirens could be heard wailing.

Bridgette began to cry once more when she realized that she wasn't dead. She wasn't even bleeding. She was still alive and she hated herself for it.

"It was because of people like him!" argued Fury, snapping Bridgette out of her echo. The Director was pointing at Thor, his entrance she missed as well. They were creating the weapons because of the Asgardians?

"Me?" asked Thor, not understanding. "My people only want peace!"

"But you're not the only people out there!" Fury argued back. She took a breath, regaining her voice.

"But having a nuclear deterrent of the Tesseract's level is a huge calling card," she reasoned. "We'd be drawing too much attention too ourselves to too many unknown sources!"

"It's better than being completely unprotected!" snapped Fury. Banner took a warning step forward.

"Are you all really that naive?" asked Romanov. "SHIELD monitors all potential threats."

Bridgette sighed, exasperated. "But how can you monitor what you don't know? That energy could be sending a signal to who knows how far!" Banner stepped up also.

"Is Captain America a potential threat? You consider the rest of us a hazard," he pointed out. Tony Stark looked over at the Captain, mocking brow raised.

"Are you on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?" Steve Rogers clenched his fists, stepping forward to engage, more than ready.

"Take away that suit, Stark. What are you?" he growled. Clearly implying that he was nothing without the Iron Man.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," he answered coolly. Steve clenched his jaw, irritation rising.

"I swear to God, Stark, one more crack..."

Tony raised his hands defensive, looking around. "Verbal threat! I feel threatened!" Bridgette huffed and made her way over, shoving both of the men so that she could stand as referee in the middle.

"Girls, girls, you're both pretty. Now knock it off," she snarked, giving each of them a stern look. "We're suppose to be a team!"

"A team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb," classified Banner.

A small beeping sound came to life, added to the noise they were making with their arguing. The device that was tracking the Tesseract's energy.

"Now what?" grouched Steve. Bruce made his way over to the computer, putting his glasses on again. He typed something, eyes squinting as he read the screen. For some reason, Bridgette had the feeling of dread creeping over her. Looking around, she couldn't find anything wrong. Nothing seemed alarming or out of place-

BOOM!

REVIEW! Please and thank you, you guys have been fantastic so far! I know we're still sticking to the movie script, but you'll see why we need it soon enough!

Dun, dun, dun, here come the bad guys! Hope you enjoyed!