Hey ya'll! Here's chapter 17, I hope you enjoy! I took my little sister to see the Avengers for the first time tonight, and she loved it. She's a huge Tony Stark fan, but I may have turned her into a Captain America fan, but I do know that she LOVES the Hulk now. We had a great time, I feel lucky to live in a town where they're still playing the Avengers at first run theaters. After we watched it I knew I needed to come home and get another chapter out, so I came home, and I finished writing this chapter, and I am now presenting it to you, and I hope you enjoy. =)
Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers. I wish I did. Le sigh.
Brian stared at the work in front of him. He stared, but didn't really see. He was thinking about her again.
Rebecca.
He remembered the first time he saw her. Walking down the hall of the science building in college. She looked nervous, apprehensive almost. He could picture that day like it was yesterday. She was young, fresh faced, with not a stitch of makeup on her face, her curly brown hair was pulled back into a half ponytail, but her curls still bounced when she walked, her book bag slung over one shoulder, but a small stack of books held tightly to her chest with a paper on top of them.
It was her first day of classes. Someone bumped into her, sending the books and the paper flying out of her hands. She scrambled for the books, Brian wanted to help, but he didn't, he just stood there. The paper flew away from her with the breeze and found itself a home against Brian's left leg. He bent down and picked it up, he glimpsed at it as he straightened up. Rebecca. Her name was Rebecca.
"Oh-" he looked up as she walked over to him, "Thanks for catching that!" she beamed at him and he nodded as he handed the paper back to her.
"No problem, you look a little overwhelmed." he said as he handed it back to her.
"First day of classes, what can I say?" she asked with a roll of her sparkling brown eyes.
"Well you... Don't want to be late." Brian shrugged and she gasped.
"You're right!" she said and looked at the paper. "Uh, do you know where Professor Lee's class is?"
"Yeah, uh, you go down this hall, take a left, it's at the end of that hall on the right, you won't be able to miss it." BrBRBR "Well, thanks." she smiled and then stuck her hand out. He looked at it for a moment before he slipped his hand into it. "I'm Rebecca."
"Brian."
"Well, Brian, I hope I see you around." she grinned at him and he smiled lightly before she turned and ran down the hallway, her curls bouncing behind her.
Brian growled to himself at the memory. That was not what he needed to be thinking about right now. He continued to work, but as he worked, memories kept coming back. Their first date, at a popular pizza place for students, their first time, moments together with him in the lab, and her working on her work, just moments that didn't mean anything, but at the time meant everything. Brian slammed down his pen earning him an odd look from Fleischer who was writing out a formula on the white board. Brian shot him a look and Fleischer looked back at what he was doing.
He thought back to the day of his accident as he took a drink from his flask. He had been in the hospital for close to a month after that for testing, and even though everyone said he was okay, he knew he was different. Rebecca wanted children, but he wouldn't, not if there was a chance he would pass that along. Unfortunately for him... Fate had a different idea.
Brian took an even longer drink from the flask before he looked at Fleischer. He opened a drawer and pulled a needle and a few small bottles out. He looked at them all and then decided on one. He filled it up, thorazine, a hell of a drug. Brian wondered briefly why it was in the lab in the first place, but assumed they had kept it there in case he was to flip out or something along those lines.
He tapped the end of the needle and walked up behind Fleischer silently, before jabbing the needle into the German scientist's neck. He injected him with enough to knock him out for a three or four hours, which was plenty of time. After Fleischer was unconscious on the ground Brian knelt down and began to pilfer through his pockets. Keys, and a wallet. Brian grinned to himself before he polished off the rest of the flask, and tossed it onto the counter. He spun the keys around on his finger before he slipped the wallet into his pocket and took off the lab coat, and threw it on the counter as well. He walked to the elevator and pushed the button. You would think they would make getting out of there a little harder.
Bruce woke up suddenly. It was early, just dawn by the very little amount of light creeping through the window. "Jarvis," his voice was rough, and not completely awake. "What time is it?"
"It's five fifteen Dr. Banner." Jarvis replied.
"Is anyone else awake?" he asked.
"Captain Rogers is awake, as is Agent Romanoff, and Agent Barton is just waking up as well." Jarvis replied and Bruce sighed. He looked down at himself, his arm were wrapped around Minnie who had her back to him, her breathing was even and shallow, she was still asleep. Bruce settled back down in the bed and felt Minnie shift against him. He tensed up, worried he had woken her, but she was just moving a little, and then settling. He sighed, resting his forehead against her head.
She smelled faintly like lilies of the valley, a smell that had become comforting to him. It was curious that she wore that scent, he wondered if she knew anything about the toxicity of the actual flower and the effect of the berries, which when eaten, even in small amounts would produce a reduced heart rate. He wondered about that as he absentmindedly started tracing circles on her hip. She stirred lightly, but he didn't notice. It wouldn't surprise him he decided, if she did actually know that about the lily of the valley. That thought drew a small smile to his face, one that grew when she suddenly turned around and kissed him.
He smiled; when he was a kid, he never thought he'd be smiling so easily again. After his mother was killed he had completely shut down. It made high school hard, he was beyond normal intelligence, far beyond it, and he was emotionally shut down. It made him a very easy target for school bullies.
"What are you frowning about?" Minnie whispered, lightly running her thumbs over the corners of his mouth. She gently ran one thumb over his bottom lip and he kissed her thump.
"I'm not frowning." he said softly, as he moved her had so it was gently cupping his face. She smiled and lightly ran her fingers through his curls, before pulling him close to her. Their lips met and he sighed into the kiss. His right hand found its way into her wavy red hair and kept her there for a moment after their kiss ended. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.
"What's wrong?" she asked and he sighed before sitting up.
"Just... All this moving around, dragging you and the girls around all the time." he shrugged. "It's not how I pictured life."
"When is life ever what we picture it to be?" she asked and he smiled lightly. "I didn't picture this either," she continued and he felt a small guilty feeling creeping into his gut and she sat up. "But that's not to say we won't do the best with what we've got to work with? Right?" she smiled. He nodded and she stood up, she went to the pile of clothes on the dresser and changed quickly, before folding the clothes and putting them away. She brushed her hair into a ponytail and picked up a small bottle of spray perfume. She sprayed a little of it in her shoulders as he stood up, she dropped the perfume into the bag and slipped her feet into a pair of flats.
He got up as she walked out of the room to go get the girls up, leaving him standing there, in a field of lily of the valley.
I got Makayla out of bed and gently shook Amanda. She groaned and rolled over, pulling the blankets over her head, making me do something my mother used to do to me. I yanked the blankets off of her making her groan. She sat up and shot me a glare making me smile.
"Up and at 'em sweetheart." I said with a grin. She sighed and I tossed some clothes at her. I gave her a good swat on the behind as she tried to lay back down she sighed before getting off the bed. I got Kayla changed and dressed and everything before I brought her downstairs. I poured her a bowl of cereal and told her to eat while I brought our bags outside.
"Morning Phil." I said to Coulson who was talking to Natasha, Clint and Steve.
"Good morning Minnie." he said. "Your transportation is on its way."
"What kind of transport are we talking about?" I asked.
"Well, in order to keep you looking as inconspicuous as possible, we got you an RV."
"An RV?" Natasha asked in horror and I shook my head.
"This is revenge for bringing up the cellist in front of the barista, isn't it?" I asked and Phil smiled.
"Come on Minnie. We're all adults here." he said and I rolled my eyes.
"Someone should go wake up Thor." Clint said and everyone somehow looked to me.
"Sure I'll do it." I shrugged as I walked back into the house. I was walking upstairs when I passed Bruce on the stairs.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I've gotta go wake up Thor." I said and he quickly grabbed my wrist, turning me back around.
"That is a very bad idea." he said and I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah well, tell that to your teammates, they seem to think it's a good idea." I said and started up the stairs again. "Go check on your daughter, she's in the kitchen and she's being awfully quiet." I said as I got to the top of the stairs. "Jarvis, what room is Thor in?"
"Third room on the right Mrs. Banner." Jarvis replied.
"Thank you Jarvis." I said softly. I went to the bedroom and knocked on the door. "Thor?" I asked, knocking a little harder. A deep grunt signaled he had heard me. "Thor?" I pushed open the door and tried not to laugh at the sight of the god of thunder in a blanket burrito. "Thor it's time to wake up." I informed him as I went to the bed.
"The night is still upon us." he groaned.
"Jarvis raise the blinds." Jarvis opened the blinds and Thor groaned again.
"Lower the blinds." he ordered.
"I'm afraid Mrs. Banner has authority over me when Mr. Stark is not home sir." Jarvis informed Thor who glared at the ceiling.
"Thor, we have to go. SHIELD is bringing us a vehicle-"
"Mrs. Banner, the SHIELD Agents are at the front gate."
"Let them in Jarvis." I said. "Thor, we should go, now." I said softly. "HYDRA and HAMMER will be coming here looking for us. We are all fugitives now." I said and then stood up. "Let's go." I said and swatted his arm.
"How is it you are so good at persuasion?" Thor grumbled with a small smile.
"I have a three year old daughter, you pick it up." I nodded and left the room as Thor got out of bed. I went downstairs and saw Clint talking with Bruce in the kitchen where Amanda was putting something away. Kayla had her head down on the table, her spoon clutched in her hand. "Bruce?" I asked and he looked over. I nodded at Kayla and he chuckled before he walked over and picked her up. She rested her head against his shoulder and slept soundly in his arms.
"Are you ready?" Clint asked and I nodded slowly.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I said softly.
"Amanda? Ready?" Clint asked and she nodded.
"Yeah, I'm ready." she sighed.
"Come on then." he said. I paused and grabbed the box of pop tarts from the pantry knowing Thor would want them and then pulled my keys from my pocket. Thor thanked me as I passed him the box of pop tarts on his way out and I looked up at the ceiling.
"Jarvis, when I leave, enforce Security code 11312."
"It will be my pleasure, Mrs. Banner." Jarvis said.
"HYDRA and HAMMER will come here looking for us Jarvis. When they do, I want all of the files and projects sent to my computer and I want it wiped from the house hard drives."
"It already is." Jarvis replied and I smiled.
"The labs are to be sealed as if the Hulk was in there trying to get out."
"Nothing in, nothing out."
"And I want SHIELD as well as the police notified when they come."
"Agent Coulson is on speed dial."
"I'll talk to you when we get to LA Jarvis." I said and the AI spoke with what sounded like a smile in his voice.
"I look forward to it, Mrs. Banner."
"Thank you Jarvis."
"Am I to still enforce security code 5516?" he asked and I smiled.
"If the opportunity presents itself." I said as I grinned.
"Good bye Mrs. Banner, and good luck." With that I shut the door to the house, locked it, and typed in a security code on the touch screen. With that the house was sealed. I walked over to the very nondescript looking RV SHIELD had assigned us and I shot Phil a look, he was smirking when he saw me and I rolled my eyes.
"Just for this," I said as I pointed to it. "I'm going to tell her about when you first met Steve." I said and the smirk fell. I nodded and Phil sighed before he handed a GPS to Clint who had decided he was driving.
"It's been programmed with your destination, your stops and everything." he said to Clint who nodded.
"Thanks." he said, taking it, and then shaking Phil's hand.
"Good luck, all of you." he said before I stepped onto the RV. It was a very wide RV with two couches, a booth table, a kitchenette, a bedroom, and a bathroom. All of our bags had been shoved into the bedroom, in the closet, and Kayla had been put to bed on the large bed in the back. Amanda almost instantly joined her, Erik was sitting on one of the couches with Thor, Natasha was sitting in the passenger's seat, next to Clint, Steve was sitting on the other couch and Bruce was sitting at the table, a pile of folders next to him, one of them open, he was writing on one of the papers.
"What's all that?" I asked as I joined him.
"Hm? Oh, it's all of the work I've done with Tony, the ideas we bounced off each other, the concept design for the EpiPen, things like that." he shrugged, closing his folder.
"No honey, go ahead and keep working." I said waving my hand at him. I held up a book I had taken from Tony's library and he smiled as he opened the folder again and continued to work while Clint started to drive.
We were off, and almost immediately everyone wanted control of the radio.