Chapter 4: Pushed Too Far

******Where We Left Off******

Clint resigned himself to the coming confrontation. He just hoped no one got hurt. Although his closest friend was a woman whom he often sparred with, he didn't really enjoy fighting a woman. He took comfort in the thought that if the woman really did have some type of powers, he probably couldn't hurt her that much. He watched her step out of the elevator and grimaced. This was not going to end well. He tried to appear casual as he drew near them. The one-eyed guy, however, noticed Clint and eyed him warily. When Clint reached out to grab Buffy, Xander threw himself in front of her.

"What's your problem, man?" Xander demanded.

Clint didn't respond. He just hit the guy in the face, expecting that would end his involvement. However, the guy knew how to take a hit and hit him back.

"What the hell?" Buffy said, stepping between them. She pushed Xander back and then glared at Clint.

Clint blinked in surprise. The woman was beautiful and several inches smaller than he. Since he wasn't a tall man, most women could look him in the eye. Not this woman. She looked up at him in seething anger. Clint inwardly cursed Tony. "I'm trying to test your reflexes," he finally said.

"Test? You wanna test me?" she asked incredulously. She looked around the lobby, trying to spot Tony. Then she looked up and caught his guilty look as he stood with Nick Fury looking down at him. "You want to get your ass kicked then that's fine by me." Without another word, she stepped up to him and hit him so hard, his feet went off the ground. Airborne, he flew several feet before crashing into a wall.

Buffy was so angry that she could barely see straight. She stepped forward to beat the arrogant man unconscious when Xander grabbed her arm. "Don't, Buffy!" he ordered.

"He hit you, Xander!" she replied. "They want to know what a slayer is, I'm going to show them!"

Xander glanced at the growing audience. "Not the right time. Not the right place," he reminded her.

Buffy realized that he was right. She stepped over to the guy she'd just decked. "You tell Tony the next time he tries to set me up, he better be covered in armor. I'll show him what real power is!" she said coldly.

Clint was still so stunned by the woman that he didn't reply before she left with the one-eyed guy. He glared up at Tony and Fury, who stood on the second floor, looking down at him. Wincing as his back protested, he slowly got to his feet and made his way up to join them.

"Told you," Tony said to Fury. "She hit him once. Did you see that? She's like a mini-Thor."

Fury was thoughtful, his mind racing with possibilities. "There's others like her?" he asked.

"I don't know. I know there's one. A Faith who is working at the hellmouth in Ohio somewhere," Tony said.

Clint made it up to them. "She is really pissed at you," he told Tony.

Tony winced. "She is?" he asked. Since she'd only hit Clint once, Tony was hoping she wasn't too mad. "You shouldn't have hit Xander. She's very protective of him."

"Yeah, well, thanks for telling me that now," Clint replied with a glare.

"I was right about him, too," Tony said with a smug smile. "Xander is going to be perfect. He knows what she can do better than anyone. He lost an eye fighting some demon guy, yet he still comes to her defense. He's the epitome of selfless and brave."

"The girl said the next time you want to test her you better be covered in armor because she's going to show you what real power is," Clint said.

Tony frowned. "She was that mad?"

"I think it was the restraining hand of her friend that kept her from beating me senseless," Clint said with a grimace.

Nick Fury laughed. "Looks like you're going to have to start interviewing a new bodyguard," Nick said.

"I hope not. Pepper will be pissed. Not to mention I like having my own superhero," Tony said with a grin.

"Should've thought of that before you set her up twice in the span of an hour," Nick pointed out.

"The woman is not like Natasha," Clint said. "Natasha likes underplaying her skills to catch her opponents off guard. She uses finesse more than brute force. This girl knows her power and isn't afraid to use it. I hope you didn't make me a new enemy."

"I'll talk to her," Tony said.

"I'd like to talk to her myself," Nick said.

"My slayer. Go find your own," Tony said firmly.

"I don't think she's the type of person you can own," Clint said dryly.

"You know what I meant," Tony said. He decided to go talk to his new scientist. "Her best friend Willow is my new head of Robotics. I'll get her on my side." He turned to go to his elevator.

"Don't forget about Banner," Nick called out. "Let me know if he contacts you."

Tony lifted his hand in acknowledgment but didn't stop or turn back toward them.

"So what do you think?" Nick asked Clint after Tony left.

"I feel like I was hit by Thor's hammer," Clint said, rubbing his bruised jaw.

"You kind of look like you were," Nick observed. "If she is who Tony says she is, then we can't allow her to be wasted as his personal bodyguard. Go track her down. Apologize. See if she's open to working for us."

"Now is not the time to approach her. She's too pissed," Clint replied. "I should have Natasha with me anyway. Sometimes woman respond better to other women."

Nick nodded. The implications of Tony's revelation needed to be researched. "We gotta go. I got to see what I can find out about this new development," he said.

Clint followed him.

Tony found Willow talking to the assistant Pepper had already hired for her. The assistant was in charge of her personnel and was setting up the interviews.

"Thanks, Tina," Willow said before turning to Tony. "Hey, Mr. Stark. I've got my first interview lined up today and several tomorrow. We'll have this place lock and loaded before too long!"

Tony smiled at her eagerness. "That's great. I knew you'd be the right person for the job," he said.

Willow flushed at his praise. "I hope so!" she said. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I'm hoping you can intervene and keep your friend Buffy from quitting on me," Tony said. He told Willow what had occurred.

"Buffy told me about the Fury incident. She was pretty pissed. She has an innate distrust and dislike of the military and government organizations," Willow said.

"Me, too! We're a perfect match!" Tony insisted. "Fury rejected me initially for the Avengers program because he said I didn't play well with others."

"Buffy does like calling the shots, but that's not all. We trusted someone involved with the military, and things got ugly," Willow said.

"The ex?" Tony wondered.

Willow shook her head. "No, Riley was great. He left the military. Even with AWOL for a time because of what they did to Buffy," Willow explained. "Buffy also had to jump through hoops with the Watcher's Council. A bunch of stuff shirts trying to stay relevant in the fight made Giles perform this sadistic ritual on her when she turned 18. It almost got her and her mother killed. Giles quit the council over it. Needless to say, our experiences with organized bodies have never been good. I won't even go into the disasters they caused with Faith."

"So do you think she'll stay mad for long?" Tony asked.

"Depends," Willow said with a shrug.

"On what?" he asked.

"How well you grovel," Willow said with a grin.

"Seriously?" Tony asked.

"Look, Buffy's reasonable. But if she's really pissed over your latest stunt that got Xander slugged, it may take her a bit to cool down. No one messes with Xander," Willow said, giving him a disapproving look. "He's ours, and we take care of what is ours." There wasn't a man on earth that Willow loved as much as Xander. Nor would there ever probably be again.

"He wasn't hurt!" Tony said defensively.

"Not the point. You pulled a stunt last night that could've gotten him hurt, remember? That's twice!" Willow reminded him.

"I'll behave. I promise. I just wanted to know what her skills are," Tony said.

"Well, then ask her to spar with you or someone else. Don't have strange guys attack her," Willow said. "Does Pepper know?"

Tony winced. "No. I'd rather she not," Tony said.

"Too late!" a voice behind them said. They turned and saw Pepper, who marched up to Tony. "One day, Tony! You managed to run off your new security guard in one day!"

"How did you find out?" Tony wondered in amazement.

"She called me," Pepper said. "She said thanks for the opportunity, but she didn't think it was going to work out. She can't work for a guy who thinks it's okay to endanger her friends or her sister. She doesn't trust you."

That remark hurt. Tony frowned in displeasure. "I didn't mean to upset her so much. I just had to know. Then I wanted to show Fury what she could do," Tony said.

"No, you wanted to show off and one up him," Pepper corrected. "You better go find her and apologize."

"I'd give her a day to cool off," Willow advised. "She can be a bit stubborn when she's angry."

"Why was Fury here?" Pepper asked Tony.

"He's trying to track down Bruce. It seems he's gone dark, and that concerns him," Tony shared.

"Did you try calling him?" Pepper asked in concern. She liked Bruce. He got Tony in a way few people did and had the intellect to keep up with Tony, which so few did.

"I did. I got his voicemail," Tony said. "I'm going to have JARVIS look for him."

"I'll talk to Buffy when I get home," Willow told him.

"You don't think Xander will quit, too?" Tony asked in alarm. Buffy was fascinating, and he didn't want to lose her. However, he needed someone like Xander.

"Nah. He needs a job. He loves working for your company," Willow said. "You told him you could give him x-ray vision. He's not going anywhere."

Tony smiled in relief. "Don't worry. I'm not going to let him be permanently damaged or anything," Tony said.

"Just show me the specs of any experiments you want to do with him, please? I can't promise things will go well for you if something happened to him," Willow cautioned.

"Is that a threat?" Tony asked curiously.

"No. Not a threat. Just letting you know," Willow said casually. "But I don't always have much self-control when someone I love is hurt or killed. And Buffy? She died saving her sister once. I brought her back from the dead, so it's not a good idea to go pissing either of us off."

Both Pepper and Tony's eyes widened in shock at both her words and with the casual tone she used to deliver her threat. Pepper was reassessing her and wondering if she'd misjudged Willow. Tony, on the other hand, was intrigued. Utterly. "What? You raised the dead? Buffy died? How dead? That's not possible!" Tony exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, well, we deal with the impossible all the time," Willow replied with a sardonic smile.

"Ms. Rosenburg, you're first appointment has arrived. They're waiting in the conference room," her assistant said to her.

"We'll get out of your way," Pepper said, looking pointedly at Tony.

"But I have questions!" Tony protested. "Lots and lots of questions!"

"Let me get the positions filled here, and I promise to sit down with you and answer all your questions," Willow said.

"Fine," Tony reluctantly agreed. He let Pepper lead him out of Willow's lab.

"Tony, you're going to have to back off the new employees or you'll scare them off," Pepper warned.

"Did you hear what I heard?" Tony asked as they got on his elevator.

"I was standing right next to you," Pepper said dryly.

"She can raise the dead! Or she's a liar. Or maybe she's got delusions of grandeur," Tony said.

"All three possibilities are alarming," Pepper said. "Why don't we just focus on her robotic talents? That's why you hired her, remember?"

"How can I not find out what she can do? She is a scientist but claims to have magical powers," Tony said.

"She does have some powers. We've both seen some," Pepper reminded him. "And if she can raise the dead, it's best if you tread lightly. For once, Tony, listen to me."

Tony put his arm around her and hugged her against him. The elevator opened. They walked out together. "Don't worry, Pepper. I won't do anything stupid. I'll focus on Xander for now," Tony said. "You should've seen him! When Clint seemed to be a threat, he immediately confronted him. He didn't hide behind Buffy. When Clint hit him, he took the hit, and then hit him back."

"Clint hit him?" Pepper asked in outrage.

"Oh, Buffy didn't mention that part?" Tony asked with a wince.

Pepper sighed. "No, she didn't," Pepper said flatly.

"It was nothing," Tony said dismissively. "I'm going to call Xander. He seems more reasonable than Buffy. Don't worry. Everything will work out."

"I hope so," she replied. "Let me know if you hear from Bruce. I hope he's okay."

"How could he not be? He is indestructible. Nothing on earth or any other planet can kill him," Tony said.

"That we know of. Remember that. There's things out there and even on this planet we don't know about," she reminded him. The realization of how small they really were and often how powerless sometimes kept her awake at night. Her recent brush with death had hit that point home. She hoped that Buffy and Willow would be new allies—allies and not new enemies. They didn't need any more of those.

******A Few Days Earlier******

Dr. Bruce Banner had flown into Cleveland, Ohio to speak at a conference at Oberlin College, an old liberal arts college not far from Cleveland in a tiny town called Oberlin. The college offered to pick him up, but he opted to rent a car. The college was less than an hour away. Bruce enjoyed the tranquil drive. Ohio was much more relaxing to drive in than New York City. The traffic in New York City was so insane that it made the Big Guy come out sometimes. He never drove if he could avoid it in the city.

He flew in on the red-eye and made it at the college by ten. Things went well. Now that he was no longer a fugitive and Tony had cleared the way in the academic world again for him, he could actually publish some of his work. This was his first request to speak in a long time. The college was small but very prestige. He had been happy to make some new contacts. He left the conference feeling good about the entire experience. His problem occurred on the drive back.

His rental car broke down right outside of Orberlin. He hadn't brought a car charger, and his cell phone was dead. He got out of the car and popped the hood. It was dark, and he couldn't see much with just the glare of his headlights. A flashlight was another tool he didn't have. The highway he was on didn't seem to have much traffic.

"Sir, do you need some help?" a voice called out.

Bruce turned and saw a young woman. He frowned in confusion since she had appeared out of nowhere and had no car. "Uh, where did you come from?" he asked.

"There," she said, pointing to the line of trees. A few more people suddenly appeared. "Here's some of my friends. I'm sure one of them can help you if I can't."

"Do any of you have a phone?" Bruce asked.

"No. But it wouldn't matter if we did. This road is in the middle of a dead zone," the girl said. She walked closer to Bruce. She seemed harmless enough, so Bruce wasn't concerned.

She gave his car a cursory glance before stopping next to him. "What's the problem?" she asked.

"I can't see much. It just seemed to lose power," Bruce replied.

"Too bad for you," the girl said. Then she flashed him a smile before her face changed. No longer was she the pretty, innocent girl she first appeared to be. Now her face was deformed, and she appeared to have fangs.

Bruce was so startled that he wasn't afraid. However, the Big Guy sensed the threat. When the girl's teeth tried to pierce his neck, he took over. The Hulk was enraged and threw the girl far away from him. He roared in outrage. Suddenly, he was surrounded by strange human like creatures that were all baring fangs. They attacked all at once. Bruce receded more and more as the rage of the Hulk engulfed him.

*******To Be Continued*********

The Hulk in the hellmouth. Who would've thought? I hope you're enjoying this! More soon!