Lost it All – Bruce Banner/The Hulk
I was sat in the back of an ambulance being checked over while I continued to stare at the orange flames still kicking at what was my house before the fire started an hour ago. Tears filled my eyes as I tried not to look at the gurneys wheeling two burnt bodies out, the dead bodies of my parents. An oxygen mask was strapped to my face to help me breath as I'd inhaled quite a lot of smoke. My parents and I had been stuck in the burning house for a while before the fire engines had arrived.
I didn't want to admit it, but the fire was my fault. I knew it was deep down, but my mind wouldn't let me accept it so I blamed it on faulty kitchenware when the police asked me. It's not like I was going to say I burst into flames when I get angry or upset about something, they'd have me locked up for sure.
"Excuse me, I need to talk with Miss Haldeman." A man wearing a long black trench coat and eye patch said, walking over to where I was situated.
"Not possible, she needs medical help to get the smoke and ash out her lungs." the paramedic tending to me replied.
"That's not necessary, SHIELD has more than an adequate medical staff. She will be well looked after. If you please Miss Haldeman." He gestured for me to follow him and I decided to comply, pulling the mask off and trailing behind him.
I found myself being ushered into the back of a car and heading in the direction of the city centre. The ride was silent until we pulled up outside Stark Tower, which was when I began to get fidgety. I trailed behind the man who brought me here before walking into a lab where I saw only one man working in.
"Take a seat Chrystina." I sat down in the chair he was pointing to before focusing my attention of the man walking over with a small smile as he saw the hesitant expression on my face. "I am Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD. And I think you know why I have brought you here, the fire in your home was not caused by an appliance; but rather yourself Miss Haldeman."
"I don't know what you're talking about." I said softly, fiddling with my fingers which rested in my lap. "The oven was faulty."
"You shouldn't deny it, you have a powerful gift which can help us if you become an Avenger."
"A gift? I just killed my parents and you call what I have a gift?!" I exclaimed, feeling my annoyance begin to rise. The unfortunate familiar tingling sensation started appearing in my hands and I panicked, shooting off the chair and holding them under cold water in the sink just as flames picked at my fingers.
"Doctor Banner, if you would run a few tests on her that would be great. Then bring her to the meeting room."
I kept my eyes trained on my hands which were now producing steam as the fire was extinguished. I tensed slightly as I heard someone walking over to me before a larger pair of hands grasped hold of mine, removing them from the stream of freezing water. I glanced up and saw it was the man I had seen in here before as he dried my hands off on a lab coat hanging from a hook near the sink.
"I know what it feels like, being paranoid that what you possess can kill." he said softly, moving his gaze to my face so I could see his dark eyes. "I'm Bruce."
"Chrystina Haldeman." I replied quietly, pulling my hands back as I began to feel self-conscious. "How would you know what I feel? No one understands me, not even my parents did."
"Even heard about the gamma radiation experiment that went wrong a couple years ago? And how it made him turn into a monster?" I thought for a minute before nodding my head. "That was me." My eyes widened slightly before I quickly composed my expression again.
"I'm sorry." I whispered. "But maybe we could be the things nature didn't intend together?" A smile touched at his lips as he led me back over to the chair I was in before, making me sit down.
"I'd like that."
I leant back in the chair as I allowed him to run the routine tests on me, thinking that maybe I hadn't lost it all in the fire; I still had the beginning of a friendship or maybe something more with a man who understood my fears completely.