Chapter 11
The next day she had doubts about her decision. And every day after, she woke up with doubts. It wasn't easy, trying to live a new life, especially when the habits of your old one were so easy to slip into. On the surface, not much had changed. She still worked at the Takeris' store. She still acted as doctor's secretary for Bruce, though she assisted more now, as often as possible. Bruce no longer chided her about her work habits, but if she started to look tired, he would ask her about it and she would have to remember to answer honestly. Trust, it turned out, was a harder habit to keep than to break.
On the surface, not much about her relationship with Bruce changed either. He seemed to be making a point not to treat her any differently than he had before, even perhaps pulling away just a bit. This confused her. Because despite his obvious attempts to keep their relationship neutral, she felt more bonded to him than she had to any other living soul. The trust that they shared, his big green secret and her guilt-stained past, was something she had never had before. But, not knowing any other way, she was forced to follow his example. So their relationship continued as it ever had, but with a higher level of trust and a deeper sense of connection that Alice just couldn't seem to get a handle on.
The short Indian spring bloomed into a swelteringly humid summer, and with it came sickness. Dehydration and heat exhaustion were common, and an outbreak of malaria hit the slums especially hard. Bruce and Alice found themselves working almost around the clock and Alice learned more than she ever wanted to know about the disease. The Takeris started giving her a few less shifts at the store just so she could get some sleep, but she still felt overwhelmed and she knew Bruce felt it too. They were running out of medicine and soon there would be little they could do to help the growing number of people coming to them. There was so much sickness and they were only two people.
One unusually cool night, they were working a block of buildings on the west side, checking on a family whose two children were very sick. Bruce had just finished his examination and was washing his hands while Alice pressed cool clean cloths to their foreheads, trying to bring down their raging fevers. There was a clatter on the stairs and Alice turned toward the noise. A little girl peered up through the railing, her eyes wide and shining with unshed tears. The mother of the sick children started chastising her in rapid Hindi, but the girl didn't budge. Her big, sad eyes found Bruce and she started chattering in a high-pitched, desperate voice.
"Slow down," Bruce said, holding out his hand, his face and voice soothing, "Tell me what's wrong."
The little girl suddenly looked self-conscious and a little lost. Alice felt something tickle her senses.
"Mi baba," she said,'my father'.
She paused. Alice felt that tickle again, a tinge of something not quite right. She turned and tried to catch Bruce's eye, but his attention was fixed on the girl. He crouched to be eye level with her and pointed to the beds where Alice sat.
"Like them?" he asked kindly. For the first time, Alice wished he was not so kind.
The little girl nodded and the tears were back in her eyes.
"Please," she said, in English now, and held out her little fist, a few bills crumpled in her fingers.
Bruce was on his feet and moving before Alice could react. He had his bag and was hurrying down the stairs when she caught up to him.
"Bruce, wait…" she said, following him down the stairs.
"Stay here and try to get their fevers down," Bruce said, not even looking back at her, "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"But Bruce, I don't…"
But Bruce wasn't listening anymore. He hit the bottom of the stairs and the little girl took off jogging down the street, Bruce hot on her heels. Alice hesitated, running a hand through her hair, pacing on the sidewalk. She didn't like it. Something was wrong about this, she wasn't sure what, but she could feel it in her gut. And if there was one thing she had always been able to trust it was her own instincts.
She thought about the little girls in the beds upstairs for the briefest of seconds.
"God damn it," she muttered under her breath, and then took off running in the direction Bruce had disappeared.
Keeping up wasn't easy. Alice was only able to catch brief glimpses of Bruce as they wove through the crowd, but she kept pace as they made their way further and further out of the city. The crowds thinned and the buildings grew further and further apart. They were nearing the opposite edge of the slums, a place Alice had never been before. She tried to catch up with Bruce...
Someone grabbed her from behind, and before she could scream a gloved hand clamped over her mouth. She managed to catch a glimpse of Bruce and the girl running into an abandoned building before she was pulled into a clump of bushes out of sight.
"What the hell is she doing here?" she heard someone whisper harshly. English, American, male. It was hard to see in the dark, but the black uniforms and organized, harsh voices made her guess military.
"Don't know, she came out of nowhere. We figured she'd stay with the others."
A different voice this time, but the same rough American English. Definitely military.
"Fuck me. Well, just keep her quiet, we don't need another Culver incident."
Alice sat very still in the dirt and tried to peek through the scrub. She could hear the static of radios and voices, but it was difficult to make out what was being said. She heard a distinctly female voice over the radio. It sounded like she was speaking English, but with just a hint of accent that was unfamiliar to Alice. Through the bare branches of the brush she could just make out shapes moving inside the house. And that was when the full realization of the situation hit her. These men were here for Bruce.
She fought down panic and forced herself to remain very still. If they were after Bruce, it was unlikely that they were terribly concerned with her well being. From the attitude of the one that seemed in charge, it would be much easier for everyone if she simply wasn't there. They could kill her.
As that thought flitted through her mind, she felt the old familiar relief wash over her. This could be it. They could kill her and it would all be over. But just as quickly as the wave of sensation broke over her, she saw Bruce's face, like it was embedded on the backs of her eyelids, and she heard his voice as if he were whispering in her ear.
"You helped make my life worth living…"
There was a loud crash and a raised voice inside the house. Bruce's voice.
"We have a situation!" the commanding voice rasped, "Move!"
The whole area surrounding the house surged forward. Alice could see the black barrels of guns lunging toward the house.
"Stop!" she managed to choke out before another gloved hand clamped itself over her mouth, yanking her back.
"What the hell, Curtis?" the voice in command hissed.
But it was too late. There was only a second's pause and then Alice heard Bruce on the radio.
"Natasha, if anything has been done to her, this will cease to be a matter of negotiation."
His voice was low and dangerous, but it carried over the deathly silence of the still night air. There was a pause, and then a crackle of static over the radios.
"Let her in."
The commander, who Alice could now see was a large man with a square face and sharp eyes, put a hand to his ear.
"Ma'am, I don't believe that would be…"
"God damn it, Hurley, that is an order!"
The woman's voice was sharp and unforgiving. It scared Alice almost as much as Bruce's voice. Apparently it scared the commander too because he gave a nod to his man, Curtis, and Alice found herself stumbling to her feet and rushing inside.
She paused only long enough to assess the situation. A slight red-headed woman in a long skirt was pointing a gun at Bruce's head. Bruce had his eyes fixed on the woman, but he reached his hand out to Alice as she came in. She hurried over and took it, letting him pull her in close to his side. She narrowed her eyes at the other woman, Natasha.
"Really? A handgun? You realize that's like trying to shoot down a nuclear missile with a Nerf dart, right?"
The frighteningly glazed look that had been in Natasha's eyes started to recede. She lowered the gun.
"Are you okay?" Bruce asked, his eyes still fixed on Natasha.
"I'm fine," Alice said, turning to look up at him, "Are you okay?"
Bruce turned his eyes down to her and smirked.
"Aren't I the nuclear bomb in this metaphor? I think I'm fine. I thought I told you to wait with the kids?"
Alice shrugged.
"Yeah, well, I didn't like that girl."
"What, the sweet one with the big, sad eyes and the handful of cash?" Bruce said, quirking an eyebrow.
"Yep, didn't like her."
Bruce rolled his eyes.
"Of course you didn't."
"Bruce, what's going on?" Alice asked, but the question was really directed toward Natasha, "Who are you?"
The gun had disappeared and the other woman now stood with her hands behind her back, feet slightly apart. Parade rest. She was military too.
"My name is Natasha Romanoff. I'm an agent with a government organization known as SHIELD."
Alice heard government organization and she squeezed Bruce's hand tightly.
"We've come to ask for Dr. Banner's help in tracking something for us."
"Tracking something?" Alice asked, looking up at Bruce.
"It's emitting gamma radiation," Bruce explained.
"So what, do they expect you to sniff it out like a bloodhound? Is that even possible?"
Alice felt a shudder of disgust when she thought about using him that way, and it showed in her voice and her face. Bruce smiled at her and squeezed her hand.
"No," he said gently, "Remember, I was an expert in gamma radiation before the accident. I'm still the leader in my field."
"We need his expertise to track the low level radiation, help us come up with new ideas," Natasha said.
"So says you," Alice quipped, her eyes narrowed. Natasha sounded sincere, but the woman had come here with an army and that didn't exactly scream 'Trust me!'.
A blue light on the table caught Alice's eye. It was coming from a cell phone and she picked it up. There was a picture of a glowing cube on the tiny screen.
"Is this it?" she asked, "The thing you're trying to find?"
"It's called the Tesseract," Natasha said.
"It's pretty," Alice said, feeling at a loss and completely out of her element.
"It contains enough energy to blow our entire planet to dust," Natasha said as she took the phone from Alice's hand.
"And you lost it?" Alice snorted, "Some secret government agency you guys are."
Natasha didn't respond, but Alice had the satisfaction of seeing Bruce try to hide a smirk. She gripped his hand tight.
"If he's going, I'm coming too."
"No!" Bruce and Natasha both said simultaneously.
They glanced at each other. Natasha seemed content to let Bruce take the lead, so he turned to face Alice taking both her hands in his.
"I don't want you anywhere near this stuff," he said, "It's gonna be a horrible combination of dangerous and boring."
"You don't really think I'm just gonna let you take off with Agent Nerf Dart, do you?" Alice said, jerking her thumb toward Natasha, "That's how people never see each other again. I've seen spy movies, I know how this stuff works."
"I'll be done before you know it," Bruce said, though he sounded surprisingly unconvincing, "Besides the people here need your help…"
Natasha cleared her throat and they both looked at her.
"Actually, Miss Ripley, I'm afraid we're going to have to relocate you."
Alice felt her stomach drop and she immediately covered her nervousness with anger.
"Are you kidding me?" she shouted, "Why, what did I do?"
Natasha stayed calm and matter of fact.
"You've been an associate of Dr. Banner's for over a year now. As a result, your information is logged into SHIELD's database, including location and background. We're not sure how much of that information has been compromised in this breach. It would be safer for everyone-" Natasha gave Bruce a pointed look, "-if we relocated you."
"Wait, hold on," Alice said, her head swimming, "You mean, you've been keeping tabs on me? You read up on me?"
"We had to know who we were dealing with."
Alice wanted to slap the calm, collected look right off Natasha's pretty face, but she restrained herself. She took a couple of deep breaths and tried to remain calm.
"We're fully prepared to take you anywhere you might want to go," Natasha said, "We'll pay for room and board while the situation is being dealt with and when it's all over, you'll be free to do as you wish."
But Alice knew that wasn't really true. It would never be true again. She would never be able to go anywhere without feeling like someone was looking over her shoulder. She looked up at Bruce. He met her eyes with apologetic resignation. Was this what it was like for him? Every day, feeling as if someone in the background was pulling the strings of his life?
"This sucks," Alice said.
Bruce squeezed her hand.
"It'll be over soon," he said again, and again Alice just couldn't make herself believe him. She looked back at Natasha.
"I'm guessing it would be better for everyone if I went without fighting tooth and nail, right?"
Natasha gave her just a hint of smile. Alice felt like a cornered mouse making a deal with a hungry cat.
"That would be ideal, yes."
"Then I want some medical help for these people."
She could see that her request had thrown the agent off guard and she allowed herself a small twinge of satisfaction.
"We have a serious malaria outbreak in this city and there's not nearly enough medicine or people to go around. I want supplies and a team out here helping them. You give me your word, and I'll go wherever you want me to go."
Natasha gave Alice a considering look and, even though this woman scared the shit out of her, Alice met her eyes and held them steady. Finally, the red head nodded.
"Done," she said, putting a hand up to her ear, "We got 'em. Fuel up, we're in the air in an hour."
Natasha walked out, still speaking into her ear piece, leaving Alice and Bruce alone. She looked up and saw that he was smiling brightly at her. It lit up his whole face and Alice had to remind herself that she was angry with him. After all, he was taking off for the great unknown with a shady military organization, and she was just supposed to sit quietly and wait for him to show up again. What was she supposed to do, knit? She glared at him.
"What are you grinning at?"
"That was a good call, with the medicine." he said, "I wish I'd thought of it."
Alice smirked. She'd thought it was pretty clever herself, and she was glad that he approved.
"Well, since we're being jerked around against our will, someone needs to help these people."
She let go of Bruce's hand and crossed her arms over her chest, turning so her back was to the open door and she was facing Bruce straight on.
"Bruce, you don't have to do this," she whispered.
Bruce rolled his eyes.
"I think I do, Alice. They aren't giving me much of a choice."
"There's always a choice!" Alice hissed, "Especially for you! You could just jump out that back window and take off, never to be seen again, and there's nothing they could do to stop you. You've done it before."
All trace of Bruce's smile was gone now.
"That was different."
"How?" Alice demanded, "How was it different?"
"I didn't have you."
Alice froze, her heart in her throat. She swallowed to try to get it back where it belonged.
"I can't leave you with them," Bruce said, "Not without some assurance that you'd be safe. As long as they have me and I do what they say, you'll be taken care of. Without that…" He paused, and then shrugged, "There's no reason for them to protect you."
Alice opened her mouth to snap back some sort of retort, but Natasha walked back through the door.
"We're ready," she said, "Let's go."
The SHIELD men had gone to Bruce's house and Alice's hostel and gathered all their belongings. The bags were stacked on the landing strip when they arrived at the small airport. There was a small passenger plane and a helicopter, both already running when they arrived. Natasha got out of the back of the Jeep and headed for the helicopter, Alice and Bruce following behind her.
"Dr. Banner, you'll be riding with me in the helicopter; Miss Ripley, you'll be taking the jet!" Natasha called out over the noise of the engines, "It'll take you wherever you'd like to go!"
Alice glanced at the open door of the jet. There was a big man in a dark suit standing at the top of the stairs.
"That's Agent Thompson!" Natasha said, "He'll be making all the arrangements for you! Whatever you need, let him know!"
Alice adjusted the strap on her bag nervously. She didn't like this. A bodyguard? What was she supposed to do with Big Brother looking over her shoulder at all hours of the day? She felt awkward already.
"Hey!"
Alice tore her eyes from the jet and looked at Bruce. He was smiling, but she could see the anxiety in his eyes.
"It'll be okay," he said, "It'll all be over soon."
He kept saying that, and she wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself, but either way he wasn't doing a very good job. She nodded anyway and smoothed down the lapels of his jacket, just to give her hands something to do. Their bags were being loaded into their respective aircraft. Bruce glanced over his shoulder at the helicopter, his hands clasping and unclasping, his feet shuffling under him. He was nervous, more nervous then she'd ever seen him. Alice suddenly forgot all of her own anger, her own nerves, her own feelings, and all she could think about was how hard this was for Bruce. It was a small space in that helicopter and they would be several hundred feet in the air. This was the last thing he wanted to do, the last place on earth he wanted to be, but he was doing it just to keep her safe. And that was all Alice wanted for him too. She just wanted him to be safe. She took his fidgeting hands in hers.
"Hey!" she said, raising her voice over the engine noise.
He looked down at her.
"Be careful!"
He smiled and this time a tiny bit of it seemed to reach his eyes, "Don't worry about me!"
"What else have I got to do?" she asked, smirking.
"Time to go, Doctor!" Natasha called.
Alice felt a knot tighten in her stomach and her grip on Bruce's hands tightened. She didn't want to let go. She didn't want him to go. Feeling desperate, and afraid, and knowing that this might be the last time she ever saw him again, Alice took his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his. It took only a moment for Bruce to put his arms around her and kiss her back. Alice could feel desperation in the strength of his arms pulling her close, trying to envelope her whole body the way his hand always enveloped hers. She clung to him, trying to give him something to hold on to when she was no longer with him. His touch had always made her feel safe. Now he clearly needed her to return the favor. She could only hope that this, as little as it was, would be enough. When Bruce finally pulled away, it felt like a part of her went with him.
Before either of them could say or do anything else, two armed men were on each side of him, leading him toward the helicopter. Alice watched them take him and bundle him into the back, his bag clutched to his chest. He looked so awkward and uneasy, not like the man she'd come to know at all. It made her chest ache. The blades of the helicopter began to whirl faster and slowly it started to lift off the ground, blowing dirt and debris into Alice's face. She shielded her eyes, but she kept her gaze fixed on Bruce. He glanced down at her and smiled weakly. Then the helicopter turned and he was gone. Alice stood and watched until it was indistinguishable from the night sky around her.
"Where too, ma'am?"
Agent Thompson had descended the stairs of the small plane and was now standing behind her, his hands behind his back, looking down at her with all the emotion and expression of a robot. Alice sighed.
"I don't know," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose and saying the first thing that came to mind, "Ever been to Germany?"
For a moment, she thought she saw Agent Thompson's eyebrow rise, but when she blinked it was gone.
"No ma'am," he said, his deep voice flat.
"Neither have I."
Desperate to feel like she was still in charge of something in her life, Alice strode toward the plane, passing up the agent without a glance back.
"Come on, Tommy, let's go on an adventure."
"It's Agent Thompson," He said as he caught up to her.
She felt a smile twitch at the corners of her lips. This might not be so bad after all.