Hey, guys! I'm so sorry I haven't updated for a couple of months; it just got preeeetty busy here at school and I've had a lot of work to do with all my second semester classes and what not. But without further ado, here's the fourth chapter. I'm sorry if I broke anybody's hopes and dreams...I'm just a buttmunch like that. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please don't forget to leave a review- it gives me life .
Disclaimer: Marvel Characters and Universe: Do I own them? No. Am I eternally sad about it? Yes.
Chapter 4: Cross My Heart
Bruce ran through the living room where the team was sitting; all of them looked rather alarmed since Ben had just come running through like hellfire not too long ago. Bruce tried to continue running past his worried friends, but his arm was caught in a firm grip. He tugged urgently at his captured arm, but to no avail.
"Let go of me," he pleaded desperately. He jerked his head around to shoot a glare at the person grasping his arm, and met the concerned eyes of Tony.
"What happened in there, Bruce," he asked.
Ben burst through the doors of the Avenger's tower, sprinting right past the guards who had caught him earlier today.
"Hey!" One of them cried after him, preparing to give chase after the boy who was running away suspiciously from the tower at break neck speed.
Ben kept running, completely ignoring the angry calls that slowly trailed further and further away from him as he put distance between himself and the tower.
Panicked thoughts raced through the boy's head. He knew deep down that his mom's illness couldn't be cured, but he was nowhere near ready to lose her yet. So, much was happening in his life right now, and he needed her to be by his side. His mom meant everything to him; she had raised him all by herself after all, and she was his best friend and the only family he had ever known…
"Hey, mommy?"
"Yes, my love?"
"Why don't we have any pictures of daddy? Or grandpa? Or grandma? Or…or anybody?"
Betty smiled softly and pulled the messy haired child up onto the couch and into her lap, "Now, Benjamin. Can I tell you a secret?"
"Yes!"
Looking around playfully, and then cupping her hand by Ben's ear, she whispered, "You have to promise to never tell anyone, okay? Cross your heart?"
Ben nodded his head happily, and made a cross over his heart.
"Well," Betty said stroking his hair tenderly, "a long time ago, there was a mysterious man who mommy fell in love with, but your granddad forbad me from ever seeing him. So, they ran away together and left all of the pictures and family they've ever had behind, so that they could be together. And they promised each other that they'd never take pictures ever again, so that their families could never ever find them, and so now we can never have pictures or else your mean old granddad will find us and try to take you away."
"But mommy…then where is daddy now? You said you were supposed to be together." He looked up at his mother with big, curious brown eyes…his father's eyes.
Betty shook her head and grinned down at the frowning boy, tapping his nose lightly with her fingertip and humming, "Silly goose, he went to go make sure that all of those old pictures were hidden from all those people, and he's adventuring around the world to hide each picture in a secret hiding place that no one but us can find."
"Really," Ben asked with curious, star-struck eyes.
"You know it! Now we can be together forever, and you and me are going to wait until your daddy finishes hiding all the pictures," she sighed rather unhappily, "and then, one day, he'll come back to us."
She shook the sadness from her face, and smiled down at her son, "Now, you have to promise to not tell anybody this secret, okay?"
"I promise, mommy! Now we can wait for daddy together," he shouted excitedly as he leapt off her lap and jumped happily around the room.
"That's right…" Betty breathed out sadly as she looked forlornly out the window upon the clear summer day, "now we can wait."
Ben panted heavily as he sprinted down the street, bobbing and weaving through the large crowds of city dwellers. He might have shoved a few people along the way, but he didn't care. He had to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. Fortunately for him, it wasn't too far from the Avenger's tower, but it was still quite a ways to run. Ben cursed silently to himself for walking all the way there in the first place. What the hell was I thinking!? I should have just taken a cab like mom said! Gah! I should never have let her convince me to go find HIM.
As Ben ran, he felt the dull ache return to his head. It hadn't bothered him for a little while now, but a couple months ago he was starting to get them when he was stressed out too much in certain situations…which was quite often now. His thoughts flitted back to his conversation with Banner back at the tower. He had learned so much about the man who claimed to be his father; and some of those things were rather worrisome to him. Could it…could it possibly be related to THAT? No…
The thought disappeared as soon as it came; his main concern right now was getting to his mother before she… No! She's going to be okay, he told himself, you're going to make it!
Practically flying around the corner of the block, he spotted the hospital doors and put on a huge burst of speed. Skidding through the sliding glass doors, he knocked over a civilian, but kept running to the elevator, snatching a visitor's pass from the little wicker basket sitting on the front desk as he dashed past.
The receptionist looked up at the boy in surprise, but must have recognized him as the young man who had been frequenting the hospital for the past three months, since she let him continue with a very meager warning of, "Please, slow down, sir…"
He barely paid attention to the woman's words as the elevator doors opened, painstakingly slow, and he threw himself in. He pounded his finger repeatedly into the fifteenth floor button, and waited for what seemed like hours as he kept his eyes fixed on the little hand that inched past each floor. It was completely silent except for his heavy breathing and raging thoughts.
I'm going to make it. It's okay now. She's going to be okay. She's got to be. She HAS to be!
The elevator creaked to a slow halt, and a mechanized voice announced "fifteenth floor" as the doors opened way to slow for his taste.
"Mom," Ben called out, as he squeezed through the still opening elevator doors, and raced down the hall past a few startled and rather angry nurses and doctors, "Mom!"
He skidded to a halt at the room at the end of the hall, and flung the door open in a rush, bursting through without hesitance. "Mom, I'm here," he huffed loudly and looking around the room wildly.
His mother's bed was empty.
Ben's eyes widened in terror and the air constricted in his chest. "Where…Where is she," he breathed out in a tight voice.
A young, dark nurse came trotting into the room lightly, having followed the panicked boy down the hall, and frowned. "Excuse me, uhm, Ben," she said quietly after glancing at her clip board, "Your mother has been moved to the operating room for an emergency procedure…"
"Is she okay," he interrupted worriedly, grabbing the woman by her upper arms and looking down at her with wide, terrified eyes, "tell me…please." His eyes started to water, and he watched the nurse expectantly.
"I'm sorry. There's no way to tell currently while she's in surgery. We're doing all we can for her, but, for now, you just have to wait patiently."
Ben's mouth dropped open slightly, lost for words, and he hung his head, hands still on the nurse's forearms. The boy began to shake lightly with sobs, and his grip tightened lightly.
"I…I didn't get to see her…" he choked quietly.
The nurse smiled sympathetically and moved her hand up to pat his arm comfortingly, "I'm really, truly, sorry. You can wait here or in the waiting room if you'd like, but now I really ought to…"
"What if she dies," Ben said a little louder, "I…I never got to say good bye to her."
The nurse winced as his grip tightened rather painfully on her arms. She tried taking a step back, and calmly asserted herself, "Sir. I'm really sorry, and I'm sure your mother knows you love her very much, but I really have to go now."
Ben's shoulders shook heavily now, and he growled lowly, "I left her alone…and I promised her," he looked up at the nurse with tears streaming down from his angry electric green eyes, "that I'd NEVER leave her! Not like HIM!"
The nurse gasped, and tore herself away from his grip. She turned and fled from the room, slamming the door shut behind her, leaving him alone in the silence of his mother's empty room.
Ben fell to his knees and slammed his fists into the ground, crying out in anguish. He squeezed his eyes shut as the tears streaked down his cheeks, and he curled up against the foot of the bed, hugging his knees tightly to his chest. The dull ache from earlier was now a harsh pounding in the back of his head, and it felt like his heart was about to burst through his chest. His emotions were completely out of his control as the world felt like it was crashing all around him after the nurse delivered the news. It made him sick to his stomach that he wasn't here by her side when he needed to be. I should never have left her today, he thought bitterly.
He knew he'd beat himself up like this if he wasn't here at a time like this, and now he felt like his head was about to explode. Gah! No one ever tells you how painful it is to lose someone you love…Wait…sh-should it hurt…no. Not this much, surely?
Ben's eyes shot open, and he bolted upwards, tripping backwards over his feet and slamming his back into the wall. NO! People certainly felt pain, but not actual psychically, agonizing pain pounding in your head and radiating throughout your body. Not like this! Panic surged through Ben like wild fire, and his heart started to race heavily in his chest. Suddenly, a sharp pain split through his head and he let out a yelp, his hands shooting up to grasp his head tightly.
Ben hadn't experienced such pain before in his entire life; he had broken his arm once, back in third grade, when Tyler Figs had pushed him off of the slide during recess, and he had accidently spilt scalding hot water on himself when he had tried making mac and cheese by himself in fifth grade, and he had even gotten beat up multiple times, by again, Tyler Figs, in his sophomore year of high school, but that…that was NOTHING compared to this.
It had started out with the stabbing pain, but it rapidly grew to an excruciating pain. It was as if someone were pouring boiling hot acid onto his exposed brain, and his veins felt as if they were burning with it. Ben fell hard onto the tiled floor, and dug his nails into his head as he spasmed on the ground, screaming in pain.
"Wha-what's happening to me," he hissed through gritted teeth. Nothing like this had ever happened to him in his entire life, and all he wanted was for it to stop. Ben tore his hands away from his head, and watched in absolute horror as his skin slowly started to turn a pale green, spreading from his fingertips and slowly growing up his arms. Another jolt of pain shot through his skull, and Ben doubled over with another loud scream.
Suddenly, the door to the room flung open, and he heard distant sounding footsteps as they ran to his side.
"Get them out of here," he heard someone yell, and then the sound of many angry people being forced out of the room ensued.
"Ben!"
Ben kept his eyes shut tightly and cried out again in anguish as another wave of scalding heat radiated throughout his body.
"Ben! Listen to me," He heard louder this time, feeling a pair of hands wrench his fingers away from the sides of his head.
"I need you to look at me, Ben," he heard someone say desperately.
Ben shook his head weakly and groaned painfully.
"I can help you, but you have to do what I tell you, Ben. Now, please, open your eyes!"
Ben opened his eyes feebly, and saw Bruce kneeling in front of him; his father's eyes met his calmly, although, they were also filled with fear and uncertainty.
"Alright, I know…I know this hurts, but you need to do exactly as I tell you and you can make it stop," Bruce stated shakily. Ben moaned and nearly doubled over again, but Bruce held him steadfast. "Now, you need to take deep breaths. Come on, nice and slow. Focus on me; don't even think about the pain. Just focus on exactly what I'm telling you."
Ben began to do as Bruce told him, and he started to breathe deeply, keeping his pained gaze fixed on the image of his father. He was scared, and he hung onto Bruce's words desperately. He'd do anything to end this hell that he was going through right now.
"Now, I want you to picture a door, and you're going to slam it on…on the other guy, okay," Bruce explained.
Ben winced and shook his head, eyes widening slowly with fear, "bu…but there's nothing there! There's nothing! It's just….AUGH!" He shut his eyes tightly again, and he tried to curl in on himself once more.
Bruce's breathe caught in his throat, and he shook his head in disbelief. But…but if there's nothing there…does he mean there's no other guy? Is that even possible? His eyebrows furrowed, and he inhaled a deep breath to calm himself. That may be the case, but he'd have to figure that out later. He still had to find a different way to help Ben.
"O-okay, then…uh…just keep breathing. You need to calm yourself down at least," Bruce murmured softly.
Ben barely looked up at Bruce, as tears rolled down his cheeks, "But…but my mom…she's…" He choked on a sob and keeled over, growling lowly through bared teeth.
"Bruce," Steve came through the door and shut it quickly behind him, " there is a doctor demanding to be let in here right now, the team's not letting anyone through, but this doesn't feel right…maybe he could help out somehow. All they can hear is the kid screaming; they're worried."
"No," Bruce said sternly, glancing back at the tall, muscular blonde, "Don't let him or anyone else through, unless they can get me some information on Betty Ross." He looked back at the boy flailing on the ground, and then slowly back at Steve, "I think I have an idea, but I need to hear some news…and…and I hope for our sake that it's good."
Steve exhaled heavily, but nodded at his friend, "I'll see what I can find out." With that, he had exited the room, and let the door shut behind him.
A curious green presence growled lowly in the back of his head, and Bruce inhaled deeply and exhaled to calm himself; quickly slammed the other guy behind an imaginary door, before he decided to make a grand entrance.
Turning back to Ben's side, Bruce's eyebrows furrowed in concern to see that he wasn't screaming anymore. "Uh…Ben," he swallowed, "Ben…are you alright?" He reached out carefully to touch the boy's shoulder, but his hand shot up to crush his wrist in an iron grip.
Bruce gasped in shock, and tried to yank his arm away, but a menacing growl rumbled from Ben's hidden face.
"This is all your fault," he snarled harshly, squeezing his fist tighter around Bruce's wrist, "you left her and now she's going to die! Now, I'm going to be alone forever! YOU DID THIS TO ME!"
Bruce's startled brown eyes widened in shock, and an angry roar surged forth in his head to defend him, but he squeezed his eyes shut and took a moment to stifle it. Now is not the time to go on a freaking rampage, you moron! I have to fix this…
A brief image of Betty filled his mind, and her shining blue eyes looked straight at him.
"Talk to him," she encouraged softly, "don't let him discourage you. He's just hurting, Bruce. He's afraid to be alone and is going to need someone to help him with life now. It's a lot to ask of you, but I know that you can do it. You're his family too, and I know you'll get along eventually. I love you, Bruce, and if I don't get to see you before I'm gone, I want you to know that there was never a doubt in my mind that you'd come back."
Bruce opened his eyes again, and blinked a couple of times. He winced a little as he recalled that Ben was still crushing his wrist, and yelling angrily at him, accusing him of ruining his and Betty's life.
"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! I HATE YOU FOR LEAVING HER AND ME! I…"
Suddenly, Ben felt himself be pulled into a tight embrace; Bruce's arms wrapped around his shoulders and held him close to his chest, and chin resting gently on his head.
The boy gasped lightly, and his angry ranting fell silent. He stayed there in the warm embrace of his father's arms, and heard him mumble something quietly into his hair.
"I'm so sorry, Ben," Bruce murmured softly, "I-I never meant for this to happen…I'll never leave you alone again," he paused and added quietly, "I promise."
Ben's breath caught in his chest upon hearing his father speak, and the angry green glow faded from his eyes as they welled up with tears. His head fell into Bruce's chest and he sobbed quietly into his father's shoulder. "I…I left her alone…I promised her…"
Bruce stayed silent and simply held Ben as he cried. He barely noticed as Steve and Tony walked up behind him, until Steve placed a hand on his shoulder.
He glanced up from his son and met the hardened gaze of the soldier. His sorry blue eyes said it enough, and Bruce's heart clenched in his chest. He knew what he was going to say, but also knew that Ben didn't need to hear it…not yet.
Inhaling deeply, Bruce's eyes closed tightly and he shook his head lightly at his friend.
Steve nodded, understanding his intentions, and left the room to give him and Ben some privacy.
Tony stood there for a moment, watching his best friend with saddened eyes, and left the room without saying a word to him. He marched past Steve and Natasha, who were currently discussing matters with the rather unhappy doctors, and went to go get on the elevator.
Slipping his phone out of his pocket, he pressed the first speed dial number, and pressed the device to his ear.
"Yes, sir? How may I be of assistance to you?"
"Jarvis," Tony said sorrowfully as he ran his hand through his short, dark spikes, "I need you to make up a room…I'm afraid to say we have a new addition to the team tonight."