Hey ya'll! So glad to see everyone who reviewed, thank you soooo much! If I get two more reviews that puts me at 100! So, if I get two more reviews, whoever is the 100th reviewer, I'll dedicate a chapter to you! Bribery, I know... Is it working? lol. This a big chapter, the explanation, talking about what happened, seeing how she takes it (Who am I kidding, we all know how she takes it!). Next chapter will be her dealing with her family. That should be... Fuuuuun. ;) Also, we get to see the extent of Simon's injuries (yaaay injured Simon!) And maybe some more of the Avengers... Who knows? Well, anyways, I hope you like this chapter.
Disclaimer: I only own Minnie. She's kind of in shock and trying to understand while keeping a level head.
The next morning I woke up to someone knocking on the door. I looked down at Bruce who was still holding onto me tightly, he hadn't moved. "Bruce, honey, there's someone at the door." I said softly. He didn't let go. I sighed, and managed to finally wriggle out of his desperate grasp, and then move to the door. I had put the sliding lock thing on the door the night before, that way even if someone did get the key, they wouldn't get in. I left that lock on, and opened the door.
"Is that thing in there?" Gwen demanded.
"Fuck. Off." I said to her before I slammed the door. I walked back to the bed as she continued to knock on the door; I looked down at Bruce, then went and got a glass and filled it with water from the fridge. I climbed into bed with him and put the glass on the bedside table, and then I ran my fingers through his hair. He stirred lightly as I continued to lightly run my fingers through his hair. When he woke up he looked up at me and I smiled gently.
"Hey." I said softly to him. I picked up the water I had poured for him and handed it to him. "Sit up, take a drink." I said and he did as I told him, when he had finished the entire glass of water I took it and set it down. "Are you feeling up to talking?"
"There's really no avoiding it anymore." he said and I shook my head as I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my arms on them. I rested my chin on my arms and looked at him curiously. "It started as an experiment to make people immune to gamma radiation. I let a colleague inject me with some serum they claimed would make me immune, something they had tested, but not on humans. They exposed me to high levels of gamma radiation, much higher than any human should be exposed to. It reacted with whatever they had just injected into me, and I changed into... The other guy." I nodded slowly. "Are you understanding so far?"
"Kind of..." I said and he raised an eyebrow making me smile. "I don't know what gamma rays are." I admitted and he nodded.
"Gamma rays are the highest energy form of light." he said as he crossed his legs, facing me. "It's a type of radiation, like what's present in a nuclear blast." he said, and I got the feeling he was giving me the shortest possible answer, but it was enough to know it was dangerous.
"Oh Bruce," I said softly as I reached forward and lightly ran my hand over his cheek. He touched my hand and I sighed. "What happened next?"
"I had hurt someone I worked with, someone I knew, and the colleague I had worked for the Armed Forces, they were the ones who were backing the research. Turns out, they were trying to bring back the Super Soldier project, like Captain America. And, well, according to them, I was exactly what they were looking for. But not me, the other guy." he sighed. "I left the states, I fled, and eventually made my way to Rio de Janeiro, I stayed there for five years." he said and I nodded. "I worked at a soda bottling plant, I studied meditation, and breathing techniques a little martial arts..." he said and I smiled. "But I had to be careful. One day I sliced my finger open. My blood got into a bottle, and some poor person in Wisconsin got radiation poisoning."
"Oh shit they were able to track the bottles, weren't they?" I asked with wide eyes and he nodded. "Sorry, continue." I said covering my mouth.
"Yeah, well, you're right, they tracked me down, and I turned for the first time in a long time at that point." he sighed. "I got away, managed to get back to the states, found this guy I had been emailing with who turned out to be a cellular biologist, that a-"
"I know what that is smart ass." I said and he smiled. "If I don't know what something is, I'll ask." he grinned and I shook my head.
"Anyway, a friend and I went to see him, meanwhile, this soldier who had seen the other guy in Brazil decided to join the super soldier program, he was injected with something similar to what Steve was injected with, but it made him power crazy." he explained. "The cellular biologist had duped my blood and tried out this cure on me, I don't go into it, but it seemed to have worked. Until the super soldier showed up and the biologist injected him with my blood."
"Oh shit." I muttered. "Is that what that... Thing was, attacking Harlem?"
"Yeah." he said softly. "Hard to believe that was a man once, huh?"
"Yeah." I breathed. "So, when does the other guy come out?"
"It used to be any time I was angry or excited, any time I really got my heart racing. I can control it for the most part, but sometimes I just... Lose control." he said softly and I nodded slowly.
"Like that night after our date..." I said slowly, he nodded as he ran his hand through his hair. "I shouldn't have- I'm sorry."
"No," he grabbed my hand. "You're the best thing that's happened to me in years." he softly kissed my knuckles. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to scare you, but then I went and I did that anyway." he sighed as he shook his head.
"You did scare me Bruce." I said softly and he looked away. "You scared me when you came out of the shadows, and you were... Different. You scared me when you showed me what you were capable of," I continued. "But most of all, you scared me when you took off like that." I reached out and touched his face, making him look back at me. "I thought I'd never see you again, and more than anything, that thought terrified me." I said as I looked into his dark eyes.
I kissed him longly, he didn't respond at first, but then it seemed to click for him, I wasn't freaking out, I wasn't upset (I mean, I was a little, but I wasn't going to bring that up now), and I wasn't leaving. I was kissing him. He wrapped his arms around me and I finally broke the kiss. "You say you're in control of the other guy for the most part, right?" I asked and he nodded. "I can live with that." I said and he stared at me, he obviously had no idea what to say. I just smiled and climbed onto his lap so I was facing him, my legs on either side of him; he wrapped his arm around my waist and held me there as we kissed. He pulled back and lightly ran his thumb over the small cut Simon had inflicted on my lip, then his fingertips over the bruising around my neck.
"Come on." he said. I got off of him and followed him into the bathroom where he picked up a washcloth and got it wet before he lightly dabbed away at the small cut. "Have you taken care of this?"
"No honey, I've been too busy taking care of you." I said as I sat on the side of the bathtub. I looked over at it and then at him. I turned on the taps and closed the drain before there was another knock on the door. "When I get back, I want you to be in that tub." I said. I went to the door and opened it only to stare in surprise at who was on the other side of the door. "Steve." I said and Steve Rogers looked me over before he blushed. I realized I was still only wearing Bruce's purple shirt and I cleared my throat. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, Minnie, I uh, we, that is got word that Dr. Banner had... Turned."
"He had." I said. "But he's fine now."
"Minnie we need to take him into SHIELD for debriefing."
"Well he's a little busy at the moment." I said as I looked over at the bathroom. Bruce was standing in the doorway.
"Minnie, he's not in trouble, Director Fury just needs to figure out what set him off this time."
"I can tell you exactly what set him off." I said. "It was someone trying to strangle me. Bruce saw, he changed, he took care of it, and he's fine now." I said sharply.
"I know you're just trying to help him, but he needs to come in." he said softly and I nodded as I crossed my arms.
"Well I'll talk to him about it, but right now, he's in the bathroom." I said and Steve nodded. "Look, uh, I'm in room 906, why don't you go there, hang out, order some room service, oh, and have Dallas bring me some clean clothes."
"Actually, he already sent those for you." he said and through the crack in the door he handed me a bag with some clothes in it. "He's how I found out where Dr. Banner was."
"Well, that's nice, but seriously now Steve, I need to get back to him."
"Minnie you can't protect him forever."
"Watch me." I said before I shut the door in his face.
