Alright, guys! Without further ado, here's the nice and long next chapter! I hope you guys are enjoying my story so far! I know I am XD Thanks to everyone who's left a comment; it always makes me super happy to know that someone is liking my story :D So please enjoy this chapter and don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you think! I'm about to start one hell of a shit storm next chapter, so keep reading! .
Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own anything related to the Marvel Universe...If I did, I'd be in fudging tears right now
Chapter 3: We Need to Have a Little Talk
Ben sat quietly on a stool within the metallic lab that the short-haired blonde had lead him to. He's wasn't sure what floor he was on, but it certainly appeared to be a lab of some sort, judging from the equipment that surrounded them.
He eyed the man with caution when he noticed that his grip was still resting on his bow, with an arrow already notched and shoulders tensed. He had no idea who this man was, and even though he might know the man who was apparently his father, he wasn't about to let his guard down. What exactly is going on here? More importantly, what the hell just happened to Banner, he thought curiously. He's never seen anybody have a panic attack like that before…
After watching a long 15 minutes go by on a clock mounted to the wall, Ben sighed impatiently and slouched, placing his elbows on the cool edge of the table and resting his chin on his hands. He could feel a pair of eyes watching him as he sat there, and he flicked his warm brown eyes up to catch the archer staring at him.
Ben furrowed his eyebrows and he blushed lightly. "Wha-what are you looking at," he stuttered in a weak attempt to feign confidence. Damn…I need to work on that…. He berated himself mentally. He wasn't exactly the most confident or assertive guy. He hated to admit it to himself, but he was actually pretty shy; he usually kept to himself most of the time and he didn't exactly make that many friends throughout school.
Most times, people would try talking to him and he would just draw a blank and make a fool of himself somehow. The mere thought of a girl even talking to him made him wince−he had mastered the art of looking like a complete idiot in front of them. His mom told him all the time that he was a "handsome kid," (much to his embarrassment) but that only made it a more troublesome problem when the girls started showing more interest in him in high school. Just thinking about it made Ben cringe. Why do I have to be so awkward…he thought quickly before the archer interrupted his train of thought.
Clint shrugged and chuckled as he apologized friendlily, "Sorry, kid. It's just…you look so much like him," he paused and added while fiddling with an arrow, "it's not every day you learn that the biggest awkward, dorky genius on your team had a long lost son that he didn't even know about. Hell, it never happens."
Ben looked away rather sullenly and sighed, "Don't tell me that…I've gotten that all my life from my mom." He clenched a fist on his lap tightly and muttered hotly, "I am nothing like him...I just can't be."
Clint raised his eyebrows in response to the boy's clear dislike for his friend, Bruce, and his eyes grew serious. "You know, kid…I know it might not mean much coming from some random guy you've just met, but Bruce isn't a bad guy. He's actually one of the nicest people I've ever met−super awkward most of the time−but he's a good guy."
"Then why did he leave my mom, huh," Ben retorted snappily, spinning around on the stool slowly to face the man addressing him; hearing things about his "Dad" that he could relate to easily didn't exactly sit well with him. Especially when he wanted to be nothing like him.
Clint sighed and looked at the ceiling, as if searching for how to answer, but he returned his steely gaze to the boy and responded rather sensibly, "Well, that's not for me to share, but I can tell you this, he had to leave, kid…your dad's had it tough, and he probably left to keep your mom safe."
He let his answer hang in the air for a bit, and he watched the boy mull it over in his head, still rather unconvinced. "Look," he added, "I'm not going to tell you the details, that's up to Bruce, but I promise you, your father is a great guy, and one heck of a friend, So please, just give him a chance."
Ben pursed his lips and crossed his arms, thinking. He wasn't sure what to think of this guy's spiel. He probably just wanted to make Banner sound better than his already preconceived ideas of him. But…he also sounded pretty sincere.
Ben felt torn and he chewed his lip as he pondered the archer's words. There were still so many things that he wanted to know…especially, what exactly Banner was keeping his mother safe from? What could be so bad that he'd just up and leave? Certainly his mother wouldn't have loved someone so dangerous. She was so…so kind hearted; she'd never fall for some sort of convict or criminal. Would she? No, that HAD to be out of the question. So, it had to be something else. Just what was it?
He looked up with narrowed brown eyes and asked slowly, "What exactly was he keeping her safe from?"
The man sighed and ran his hand over his face tiredly. Fixing him with a weary smile, he said, "Man, you're a curious one. Why don't you ask him yourself, kiddo?" As soon as he spoke, a small ding came from his leather jacket pocket, and he grabbed ahold of his phone, his eyes quickly scanning over a text message he had just received.
"Alright, we're all clear. We should be safe to go back up now. Just do us all a huge favor and try not to get too angry." Clint's mouth spread in a small grin, and he laughed at what he had just said.
Ben raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing…nothing…just you know…anger issues and you guys…," his chuckles faded and he shook his head in dismissal, "hehe… never mind. It's really not that funny." He turned to open up the lab door, and gestured for Ben to move, "The name's Clint by the way. Clint Barton." As the boy approached him and the exit, he offered his hand to give a firm hand shake.
"Uhm, nice to meet you, Mr. Barton," Ben said shyly as he took his hand.
"Oh geez, kid! Just Clint is fine. You're makin' me feel old," Clint whined playfully in an attempt to break the ice further.
Ben smiled sheepishly and nodded, "Right, Clint," he bounced nervously on the balls of his feet and asked, "Soooo…what exactly are we all clear on?"
Clint groaned and continued to make his way to the elevator doors. He pressed the little silver button, and, as he waited, he flicked his wrist so his bow retracted into a small and neat block in his grip. "Well….uhm…you'll find out soon enough, okay?"
Bruce paced back and forth nervously around the room. He was wringing his hands as he walked and ranted worriedly to Tony. "How the hell am I supposed to explain this to him? He's not going to believe me!"
Tony sighed deeply; this same conversation had been going on for the past forty five minutes since he'd calmed down from his close call with the other guy, and it was getting preeeetty old to the engineer.
"Bruce! For the last time, I'm sure the kid will listen to what you have to say. Just tell him the truth and be honest about it. Sure, he's gonna be a little bitter with you, but daddy issues are a given for any kid who grew up with a single mom. All you need to do is explain why you left Betty and I'm sure he'll understand."
Bruce looked incredibly unconvinced and bit his lip. "Tony…," he swallowed uneasily, "what if…what if he hates me even after I explain? And…I know Betty said he wasn't like me, but what if he is? It could just be lying dormant or something! I couldn't live with myself if I've doomed some teenager to this!" Bruce ran both hands through his dark hair, and grasped it fretfully in his hands.
Tony stood up from his lazy slump on a couch and walked right up to the physicist, placing both hands on his shoulders calmly, and smiling reassuringly, "C'mon…I think we both know that that is very unlikely, especially if Betty said so in that letter. Besides, even if he was like you, who better than to help him than the original green rage monster."
Bruce creased his eyebrows in annoyance at his friend and muttered harshly, "That isn't funny, Tony."
"Whaaaaat? I'm just trying to cheer you up. You're so wound up right now, I'd swear you'd explode! You'll need to have a clear head when that kid gets back up here, so you really need to loosen up."
Bruce licked his lips and nodded timidly, "I know…I just…I just don't want him to hate me. Betty said…"
"Forget what Betty said! From what I've seen so far, that kid is a carbon copy of you- looks and personality. He's probably just at nervous as you right now. Plus, if it's any consolation at all, Clint just texted me back saying that he had a little talk with him…He said that he's a little more open to hear your side of the story now, so, you better thank Legolas later. They'll be here any minute now."
Eyes widening, Bruce resumed his pacing and watched the door anxiously. "Where is everyone," he asked in a panicked tizzy.
Tony raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Natasha and Steve thought it would be best if you talked to him alone."
Bruce froze when he heard the word alone, and his mouth opened instantly to sound his protest, "Bu…"
"No, Bruce. This isn't something that the team can help you with. This kid is YOUR son, and he needs to hear your story from YOU, not the team and definitely not Fury or SHIELD. In fact, we've all agreed that not a word of this will be shared with Fury at all, alright? After all, you said Betty wants you to keep him safe, right?"
Bruce nodded in response and he began to inhale and exhale deeply in an attempt to calm down before Ben walked through the door. He felt like running away right as they spoke, but he knew that this wasn't something he could just run away from. Besides, he told himself he was done running now. It was time to face his problems head on. Shaking his head lightly, he sighed softly, "Right….Tony….Thank you."
"No problem, big guy," Stark said happily. Soon afterward, there was a soft rap on the door; causing Bruce to jump and Tony to snigger at his friend. "Relax. You've got this."
Tony opened the door, and let it swing open wide. Clint and Ben stood next to each other, and Clint patted the kid on the shoulder, "Just keep what I said in mind, okay?" With that, Clint nodded at Tony, and they exited the room together, shutting the door behind them.
The two stood on opposing sides of the room, looking at anything except each other to avoid the other's gaze, and the silence was so loud you could hear a pin drop.
Ben shuffled his feet awkwardly and he cleared his throat, "Sooo…your friends seem nice…" Shit! Why did I say that!? What does that have to do with ANYTHING!?
Bruce looked up from his feet and ruffled the hair on the back of his head causally, "Uh…yeah, they're very close friends…."
"So…The Avengers…you're living with a bunch of super heroes…are you, like, a part of the team or something?"
Bruce swallowed and fidgeted nervously, "Uh…yeah…I kinda am."
"Oh…" Ben said quietly, "I guess that's pretty…uh...cool."
Silence fell over the two again, and warm brown eyes met warm brown eyes. Bruce breathed in deeply to steady himself, and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, would you like to sit," he asked while gesturing lightly to the arm chair and couch beside them.
Ben nodded quietly in response and silently took a seat on the black leather couch, whilst Bruce took the arm chair to the right of him. They sat silently for a minute or two before Ben spoke up and broke the lingering silence.
Averting his shy gaze to the ground, Ben asked softly, "What did you do that was so bad that you were forced to run away and leave her?" He looked at Bruce with a sullen expression on his face, and added, "Clint told me that you had to….but why? What could be so bad…?"
Bruce took off his glasses and ran his hand over his face. Here goes nothing…
"Well…it's… kind of a long story, but…a long time ago, I was a professor at a university working on an experiment with Betty, uh, your mother, and a few select others. We were building a device that had extremely high gamma radiation and…" Bruce stopped and looked at Ben. The boy's eyes were focused intently on him, but he couldn't see any sign of resentment or anger. As far as Bruce could tell, he was hanging on every word and looked a lot calmer than he had expected, still rather morose, but he was still willing to listen calmly.
Ben creased his eyebrows slightly and urged gently, "And?"
Bruce cleared his throat and continued. "Uhm, well…the experiment…something went wrong. " He paused hesitantly and swallowed. What he said now was going to sound crazy, but there was no going back now, he had to tell him. He deserved to know.
Continuing uneasily, Bruce murmured, "I'm not really sure how to say it…but the experiment backfired and a lot of people got hurt…and I…well I got this…"
"Condition? Did the radiation poison you," Ben chimed in curiously. Bruce was caught slightly off guard by Ben's sudden concern and curiosity.
The boy's eyes were softened and full of apprehension; he had tilted his head and asked again, "Were you hurt? And left because you didn't want to make mom sick too?"
"Well…yes. The radiation did something to me, but your mom was fine," Bruce looked down at his feet and bit his lip. "This going to sound crazy, but…the radiation that poisoned me caused me to have something like a really severe case of split personalities…so I have this 'other guy' that takes over my mind and body whenever my heart rate gets too high; so whenever I'm nervous or scared, or angry…especially when I'm angry… I…I become this monster…"
Bruce stopped when he heard Ben gasp quietly. The boy's eyes had widened in sudden realization and he starred at Bruce with an open mouth. "Don't tell me," he said breathily, "that…that big green thing from the invasion on the news...there's no way! That couldn't be you!"
"Uh…wow…you jumped to conclusions pretty quickly," Bruce breathed as a small wave of panic washed over him, so he averted his gaze from the boy ashamedly. Ben had put two and two together pretty quickly before he could even finish explaining.
Ben looked dazed and he shook his head in disbelief, "No…no, that can't be right. That shouldn't even be possible? That thing is huge! All that mass couldn't just come out of nowhere! That literally cannot be possible… Tell me I'm wrong!" His baffled looking face was burning into Bruce, awaiting an answer.
Bruce winced and didn't answer for a moment. "…I wish I could," he replied in a hushed tone. He looked up from his hands and observed the boy, whose face was stricken with shock, trying to comprehend his words. His mouth opened and closed, at a complete loss for words. So, Bruce saw this as an opportunity to finish his explanation before he could hear Ben's reaction.
"This monster…it's constantly in the back of my head, and when it first hit me, I destroyed a lot of stuff. It was much harder for me to fight… it was next to impossible. So, the army decided that they wanted to capture me and try to find a way to weaponize this…this monstrous ability and use it on their soldiers…actually, it was General Ross, your grandfather, who wanted to catch me so badly. I was dating Betty at the time of the incident, but I had to run away to get far away from her father and so I couldn't hurt her…or anyone else for that matter. I was safe in a small country in South America for a long time, but eventually General Ross picked up my trail, because I slipped up a little while working in a factory, and I had to run again. I ended up returning to New York because I had been contacting someone in secret, who believed that they could help cure me, but I ran into your mother…and your grandfather shot at us…despite her being in danger. So, I…I hulked out, and got us out of there. We were on the run for a short time until we could get to the person who was helping me, but it didn't work…it only prevented me from turning for a short time," Bruce squeezed his eyes shut and breathed deeply briefly, "Long story short, I almost destroyed all of Harlem trying to fight off one of Ross's soldiers that he had turned into a monster to hunt me that day. And the next thing I knew, I was on the run again without saying good bye to your mother, and apparently after I left… she found out she was pregnant with you," Bruce stopped and breathed out shakily and rubbed his hand tensely, "I didn't come back to New York for years after the incident, and only I only did because I was asked to join the Avengers Initiative by….uh…this secret organization, but that's another story really….so…now I'm here. I didn't go looking for your mother because I was afraid to find out that she probably moved on…who would waste their time waiting for some troublesome freak like me, who was never around," he finished, quietly hiding his face in his hands to avoid the boy. He was sure that Ben would hate him still…who wouldn't?
But Ben sat soundlessly, starring wide eyed at the floor, hardly making a move; he was completely frozen in thought. He briefly shook his head and ran his hands through his messy hair, and stuttered, "That was…uh…a lot to take in." A lot to take in! Are you kidding me?! Ben's heart was pounding out of his chest. He just found out that his dad was the gigantic green rage monster that he had seen on TV during the alien invasion of New York. It suddenly made sense why his mother had watched the event with such a troubled look−she wasn't scared…she was worried about Banner!
Bruce frowned and fumbled with his glasses in his hands nervously. "Are…are you mad at me still," he asked quickly. He was dying to know what was going on in Ben's head. He looked so calm about it! Well, not calm, but he wasn't nearly as freaked out as he expected him to be! There had to be something on the kid's mind! There was no way there wasn't, and it had Bruce teetering on the edge of his seat.
The boy was quiet and he wrung his hands absent-mindedly. He was bouncing his foot anxiously on the ground and after pondering his thoughts, he sighed shakily, "No…I−I'm still not sure what to make of all this, but…"
Bruce blurted out in a flood of worrisome words, "Ben, I swear I never wanted to leave your mother! I never asked for this! I just couldn't stay here; her father was out to get me and was even willing to put her danger or use her to get to me…I had to protect her. Please understand."
"No…I understand," Ben said calmly, fixing Bruce with softened eyes, "all this time…I thought you left my mom because you were just some idiot who didn't care about her or me, but…you loved her…right?"
Bruce sighed and smiled hopefully, "Yes, and I still do. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't miss her."
"And me," Ben asked watching Bruce expectantly with hopeful brown eyes. Truthfully, Ben wanted nothing more than to hear that his father cared about him. He had grown up his life without him, and for a long time, he had had the hope that he'd come back to him and his mom.
Bruce blinked and mumbled solemnly, "Uh…I didn't really know that you were even…I didn't know Betty was pregnant at all… I'm sorry."
Ben was disappointed and looked down at his feet in an attempt to hide it. "Oh…"
"But," Bruce said quickly, "I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to meet you. I've always wanted to have kids. I just wasn't sure if I could have them without…"
"Them being like you. You're afraid that I could have inherited your same gamma radiation…uhm…problem," Ben said timidly, his face slightly worrisome and growing more so by the minute.
"Oh my god," Ben gasped quietly, "that…that's why my mom always checked my blood every month!" He leapt up out of his seat and looked at Bruce with panic in his eyes, "You don't think I…"
"No," Bruce interjected, standing up to place his hands on the panicking boys shoulders. "You're mother's letter said she's never found a single trace of radiation. I'm sure you're fine. You're completely normal," Bruce said calmly to reassure Ben, but also to reassure himself of his own fears.
Ben was shaking slightly and he shook his head, "Right…right…I−I'm sure that I'm alright…" Ben didn't say it aloud, but, truthfully, his mother hadn't been able to check his blood for the past three months after his 18th birthday since she was hospitalized. But he had to be alright…Yeah! Nothing could be wrong. Both his mother and father knew that.
Suddenly, a ring tone went off, making Ben jump and fumble to get his cell phone out of his pocket to answer the call. "Hello," Ben said calmly now, "Yes, this is Ben…"
Bruce watched as the color drained from Ben's face and take on a look of horror. The boy dropped his phone and sprinted for the door, flinging it open and running towards the elevator.
"Ben!" Bruce called after him, but he stayed put as he watched the silver doors slide shut. There was a growing pit of worry gnawing at his stomach, and Bruce's eyes instantly shot to the phone lying on the ground. He quickly snatched it up in the hopes that however had called was still there, and put it to his ear, asking questioningly, "Hello?"
A woman's voice answered sympathetically and he asked who it was. "Hi, this is Trinity Hospital. I'm afraid I have some bad news…"
Bruce froze in a way much similar to Ben. The color drained from his face and the phone fell unceremoniously onto the ground. The voice on the phone was calling to inform that the hospital's patient, Betty Ross, was in critical condition and wasn't going to last the night. They were requesting for family and close friends to go arrive as quickly as possible.
Bruce had dropped the phone and ran.