The Unknown Variable

(Beta'd as of 1/16/14 by Espacole

Hey Ya'll! I own nothing, I never have and never will, at least, as far as you all know.

My head was throbbing and the ground felt as if it was shifting beneath my back. I slowly opened my eyes, my head throbbing against the bright sunlight. A bright green canopy hung high above me, a saw a bright bird fly by.

'huh,' I thought to myself, 'I thought those only lived in the…' my thoughts froze as I registered the view around me. 'rainforest…'

I quickly sat up, which was a bad idea as my head exploded in pain. Placing my head in my hands I tried to banish the throbbing pain.

"Fire girl ok?" A deep voice asked behind me. I spun around to see a large green… thing, staring down at me.

He was about ten feet tall, and was totally buff. He wore only shredded shorts. Everything about him was green, his eyes, his hair, his skin…even the whites of his eyes were tinted green.

(Yup, you guessed it! Hulk! ^.^ )

Under different circumstances I would have been terrified, but the creature was just sitting there, staring at me with his head tilted to the side like a child. It was sort of cute.

"Fire girl ok?" He asked again, his voice was also rough, like his vocal cords weren't supposed be speaking.

"Yeah…" I answered slowly. A cold hand appeared on my shoulder and the pain disappeared.

I turned to see Death kneeling next to me, however, before I could say or sign anything, the Big Guy started growling. I looked back over at the large beast to see that it wasn't growling at me, it was growling at Death.

"You can see him?" I asked, confused and in awe.

The green monster just glared harder at Death and his growls became deeper and more threatening.

"I don't think he likes you." I whispered to Death, as the thing clambered to his feet. "Go," I told him.

Death shot me a look saying, 'are you crazy I'm not leaving you here with this thing."

"I'll be fine." I told him, and realized that I had said the same thing to Dad not too long ago.

Death gave me another worried look before disappearing.

The reaction was instant. Big Green instantly calmed down, and sat down right next to me. Looking around with a glare on his face, as if daring Death to come back.

"You know," I said, causing it to look down at me, "He was a friend."

The large green guy shook his head and said, "Hulk protect fire girl. Like Hulk protect Bruce."

"Bruce?" I repeated, something about the name Bruce…along with the large green guy seamed familiar somehow…

My eyes widened as I started at the large green monster next to me. He wasn't a monster, he was just a bad experiment gone wrong.

"Your Bruce Banner's alter ego? Aren't you." I asked. I had discovered Dr. Banner's medical history concerning Gama Radiation while I was digging through SHIELD's files.

"Hulk protects Bruce." Hulk insisted.

I almost smirked, I could do this. "I bet you do a great job." I told Hulk.

Hulk nodded, his anger seemed to be fading.

"What happened?" I asked, looking up at the sky. It was bright blue once again; the storm seemed to have moved on.

"Fire girl falling. Hulk saw, Hulk jump and save small fire girl." Hulk told me, for a moment I wondered why he kept calling me fire girl until I realized it was because of my hair.

"Thank you." I told him and Hulk look at me weirdly.

'No doubt no one's ever thanked him before.' I thought to myself.

My stomach growled and Hulk looked down at me, I tried to stand put my ankle throbbed painfully and I fell down hissing in pain.

"Fire girl hungry and hurt." Hulk stated as he stood and carefully pick me up. "Fire girl like Hulk food or Bruce food?" he asked as he started to carry through the trees.

I was shocked for a moment how such a large being could be so gentle. I snapped my attention back on what Hulk was asking.

I had no idea what Hulk would eat, so I went with the other option.

"Bruce food please," I responded, my headache slowly fading.

A few minutes later, Hulk brought me to a clearing full of bushes covered in berries.

"Are they safe to eat?" I wondered aloud as Hulk carefully set me on my feet.

"Safe," Hulk nodded. I limped over to the large plant, and begun to pick the berries. Slipping one into my mouth I grinned. They tasted like fresh blackberries. I didn't think they were, but they were definitely good.

My head cleared as I ate, and I could finally feel the energy pulsing beneath my skin. It was still a bit wilder than normal, and I decided to wait to it to calm down some more before I tried to Zap

'…ok I needed a new name for that…' I thought to myself.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't notice Hulk shifting back into Bruce until he groaned, lying on the ground. The shreds of pants still intact enough to hide anything I shouldn't see.

Hurrying over to his side, as fast as I could with a hurt ankle, I knelt down next to him as he opened his eyes.

"Wha…" he muttered in confusion.

"Dr. Banner, are you ok?" I asked, my wide eyes connecting to his brown ones when he jerked back in shock.

"Who… what…" Dr. Banner said, as the bits and pieces of Hulk's memories came to him.

"You… you were falling." Bruce said, looking to me in confusion.

"Yeah," I said, sitting down besides the befuddled doctor. "The big green version of you caught me. Saved my life." I told him.

"Thanks by the way." I added with a shrug.

Now, if possible, Dr. Banner looked even more confused. "I…he didn't hurt you?"

I gave Bruce a look. I might not know much about situations like this, I wasn't sure anyone was, but stereotyping a part of you couldn't be healthy.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'. "Actually, you were a big softy, and very protective."

"Really?" Dr. Banner asked, his scientific personality starting to show, but thankfully, before he said anything, he noticed that he was almost naked, lying on the forest floor with a strange girl.

His face turned red, as he held the shreds of pants up, and stood up. Looking around, he sighed, "Come on. I know where we are. I'm staying not far up ahead."

I stood up, and took about three steps before Bruce noticed that I was limping.

"I thought you said you weren't hurt?" he asked, looking at me with narrowed eyes.

"No," I denied with a grin, "I told you, you didn't hurt me. I'm not sure how I hurt my ankle."

Bruce wrapped my arm around his shoulders and helped me along the forest floor.

"So, how did you end up falling out of the sky anyways? Airplanes don't usually fly over this part of the jungle." Dr. Banner asked.

I shrugged, and replied, "The storm messed up my sense of direction."

"What?" Bruce replied, as we stepped through the trees into a small clearing with a decent sized cave.

"Your living in a cave." I drawled with a sigh.

"Ah…yeah." Bruce said his face red in embarrassment.

"Eh, it's alright Dr. Banner. I understand." I said as he led me inside.

Suddenly, the doctor realized that I had been using his tittle this whole time and became suspicious.

He narrowed his eyes and said, "How do you know my name? Who are you working for!?"

I sighed, and plopped down onto the dirt floor. "I know your name because I hacked into SHIELD's files. I don't work for anyone."

"SHIELD?" Bruce asked, wondering if this was a new agency after him.

I rolled my eyes again, and after explaining what SHIELD was, I asked "So, just what are you a Doctor of? Your file didn't say."

Bruce still looked hesitant so I added, "Seriously, do you think Hulk would have let me life if I was a threat?"

That struck home for Bruce and he sighed before answering, "I have a PhD in Physics, Masters in Genetics, and have a bit of Med School under my belt."*

I nodded, "I have a Masters in Electric Engineering, Physics, and a PhD in Metaphysics."

Bruce's jaw literally dropped, and his eyes widened in surprise. "Your joking." He replied, in shock.

"Nope," I replied, popping the 'p' again.

"But… you can't even be sixteen!" The physicist said in disbelief.

"I'm fifteen." I answered, rolling my eyes.

Death appeared again, and seeing that Hulk was Bruce once again, he walked over and put his hand, which was glowing, over my ankle.

'Hah,' I thought with pride, 'I knew I was you who kept healing me.'

Bruce had an interesting reaction to Death's presence. He stiffened up, and his jaw locked. I looked at him in concern. However, when his skin started to take on a green tinge, I shooed Death away.

We didn't need Hulk coming out; the cave wasn't big enough for him.

Death gave me annoyed look, and after signing, We'll talk about this later he left.

I sighed, that was one of the first signs I learned.

Bruce settled down, though was confused as to what put Hulk on edge so badly.

"It's alright." I said, "Perhaps he was just startled."

Bruce gave me a look that said he didn't believe me, but went along with it.

"Tell me the truth, how did you get here?" he asked me, "You're from the US, right?"

"Your right, don't worry you'll see how I got here when I leave." I told him. Personally, I wasn't too concerned with showing Bruce my powers. He was on the run and had issues of his own. Mine weren't going to get around. "But let's just say, I'm far from normal."

Bruce laughed, "You're talking to the wrong person about that. But I have to say, you're the only person I've met that was never scared of the Hulk."

I shrugged again; I seemed to be doing that a lot in this jungle. "He might be over protective…" I started but at Bruce's incredulous look, I continued, "Ok, really over protective, but underneath he's just a giant, green, teddy bear."

"Hulk, a teddy bear? I'll believe it when I see it." Bruce snorted in disbelief.

I rolled my eyes, "Look, I don't know what it's like having another side of yourself in your head, but instead of always fighting for control, have you ever just tried cooperating with him?"

Seeing his look I sighed again and added, "Just give it a try at some point. Who knows what the two of you could do if you worked together."

I exited the cave, and while I was calling my energy, which was now back to normal, and said in parting, "He is much more than just a monster, Dr. Banner. He is a part of you."

With that, I Flashed (yes, I came up with a new name. Zapping sounded too similar to one of those lights that zap bugs, to me) away. Leaving an awe struck, and bamboozled fugitive behind.

'I seemed to have that effect on a lot of people.' I thought to myself as I sored through the sky at high speeds. 'I have Tony doesn't kill me too badly. Eh, who's kidding,' I sighed, 'I'm dead meat.'

*I wasn't sure what Bruce's qualifications were, so I picked a few that I thought fit what I knew about him. I love Hulk and Bruce (though not the actor that plays him in Avengers…) this whole chapter turned out a bit different than planned, but hey. That's the fun in writing. (Oh, and don't worry. No doubt I'll add more of Banner in here before the Avengers show up)

Thanks to all of you, and Espacole for Beta'ing.
Cp