09
The Hulk
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Will stared at his brother.
Bruce's skin was slowly turning green as he writhed on the floor, seemingly in pain.
Will looked over to see Natasha grunting, trying to get free from the metal beam that was weighing her down.
He wanted to go over there and help her, but family comes first. Quickly, crawling over to his brother, he gently put his hand on his back and the other in his hair, whispering soothing words, hoping to calm him down.
Which worked. For two seconds.
Will could feel Bruce's muscles relax for a fraction of a second before he continued to writhe.
Natasha let out a few pain filled groans, raising her hand to her ear piece saying into it, "We're okay." Before looking over at the Banner brothers. One with a look of concern and fear. The other letting out strained groans as he convulses on the cold floor, his skin showing a tint of green. "We're okay, right?" she asks, more to herself, as she makes eye contact with Will. Who shrugs, unconvincingly bravely.
"Doctor?" She asks hesitantly, with a hint of fear which she tried to hind.
Banner just responds by groaning loudly.
"Bruce?" Will whispers, hoping to get through to his brother in some way, "Come on, Bruce. You have got to fight it. Remember that time when you nearly changed because that woman spilt hot tea on you? Remember how you had held The Other Guy back? How strong you were?" He asked, as Bruce sits up on his hands-on knees, his head hanging low. Will reaches up and runs his hand through his brother's soft hair, massaging his scalp, "You need to do that again for me big brother, just this one time. Bruce, please!"
Natasha then continues for him, "This is just what Loki wants. We're going to be okay. Listen to me." She almost starts to plead as she notices that Will's attempts of calming him were failing. For the first time in a long time, Will wasn't able to calm the beast. Which scared all three of them.
The younger Banner heard fast footsteps approaching. Looking up, he saw two workers head towards them asking them if they were hurt. However, the assassin gestured for them to leave, which they did very quickly once they noticed the squirming man on the floor.
Turning back to Bruce, she continued to tell him, "We're going to okay. Alright? I swear on my life, I will get you out of this. You will walk away and never ever..."
In a monstrous voice, almost hulked Bruce, shouted, "Your life?!" As he yelled this, he spun around to face Natasha, knocking his brother on his back side.
Suddenly, Bruce's back flicked back, his head tilted to the ceiling, he let out screams and groans as The Other Guy ripped his way through Bruce. His skin now rapidly turning green as he couldn't hold it again longer. His purple shirt, which was brand new, Will couldn't help but point out at the worst possible time, started to rip as his arms grew in mass.
Bruce still fought back against the Hulk, and his last attempted at protecting his brother and Romanoff, he flung himself away from them. Just before his mind was completely gone, he looked over at his younger brother. Seeing Will stare at him with a hint of fear in his eyes broke his heart. "Bruce." He whispered, a small tear falling from his eye and running down his cheek. He hated seeing his brother in pain.
They held rare eye contact for a few seconds until Bruce wasn't able to hold it back anymore.
The Hulk finally broke free. Stepping forward, he smashed his hand against the wall, letting out a roar, getting used to the feeling of being set free once again.
Natasha used this time to try and yank her leg out from under the beam. Glancing over at her friend, who was sitting there, shocked, scared. "Will." She whispered, harshly, making him flinch, "Will, help me."
That seemed to snap him out of his daze, he shook his head, wincing as he had forgotten the wound on his head. Going over to her, he weakly grabbed at the piece of metal, trying to lift it. It had only moved a few inches, but that was enough for the red head to slip her foot out.
Natasha quickly got to her feet, grabbing Will by the arm, dragging him along. They turned to see a huge silhouette of the Hulk. Will could feel tears gather at his eyes again as he looked on at his brother. He knew how much Bruce hated this and how much it hurt him.
As Will was lost in his thoughts, Natasha tightened her grip on his arm, pulling him towards the stairs as The Hulk charged to them. She pushed Will to go first, following close behind him.
He was able to reach the top, but Natasha had to tap into her skills by jumping up to the higher ledge, using the railing to flip herself. She then jumps down to the same level as Will, telling him to run, barely missing The Hulk's hand as he grabbed for the metal floor.
Ungracefully, Will follows the assassin, who skilfully runs and flips over obstacles. Banner occasionally, tripped and stumbled but was able to keep up with Natasha.
After a few minutes, Will notices that it's unnaturally quiet. He reaches forward, stopping the assassin by grabbing her hand. Raising a finger to his lips, to silently tell her to be quiet.
Nodding, Natasha continued to walk, her feet hardly making sound, unlike Will's who stomped.
Breathing in sharply at sudden heavy footsteps, Romanoff paused, looking around for any sign of green.
Before continuing, she brought out two guns from her gun holders. When she was happy that they were fully loaded, handed one to Will.
Suddenly terrified, he tried to open his mouth to protest but his friend shook her head, telling him to not speak, which could alert The Hulk of their location. He swallowed a thick lump in his throat, tried to stop the shaking of his hands, he reached forward and picked the gun up, which felt unusually heavy in his hands.
Continuing, they tip-toed around, keeping an eye out. This lasted for a few minutes before the Hulk sudden appeared roaring at them, causing Will to fall back into Natasha as he jumped.
The assassin, acting quickly, pushed the doctor behind her and shot at a pipe that was above the beast's head, causing steam to burst down and distract it.
They then both ran away as they could hear the Hulk's howl of anger behind them, following that was loud, heavy stomps heading in their direction. Will could see Natasha limp as she ran so he roughly grabbed her arm, feeling sorry for a split second, before helping her run faster.
As they ran down a narrow passage, The Hulk chased after them, sparks flying as he crushed the metal walls, making the two duck.
Unfortunately, The Hulk caught up with them, and with his big, green hand, he smacked them. Their bodies flying off to the side and hit the metal wall so hard it dented.
Natasha let out a series of grunts and groans of pain, while Will let out a loud cry which was soon cut off as he hit his head again. Will's vision started to turn black around the edges and his ears started to ring. He could slowly feel his arms and legs go numb and he tried desperately to move.
Natasha watched as The Hulk got thrown away by Thor, she had never been so thankful before. She just sat there, shaken, for a few seconds, but then remember her friend she turned to see him lying on the ground, unmoving. She immediately thought the worst.
Wincing, she crawled over to him, and rolled him on his back. Pressing two fingers to his neck, she sighed in relief when she felt his strong heartbeat.
"Will." She said, gently slapping his face. He didn't respond. Natasha was about to continued when she heard the roar of the Hulk again. Realising that they were running out of time, she slapped him across the face, shouting his name.
This time he did respond. His eyes opened wide as he gasped. Eyes darting back and forth, he was able to focus on Natasha's green eyes. He was quiet for a few moments until he spoke, "Did you slap me?"
Letting out a laugh, she helped him sit up, "You wouldn't wake up otherwise."
This made Will realise the banging pain in his head. Reaching up to his hair, he could feel that it was wet. He bought his hand back down and saw, in the bad lighting, blood, "Oh. Well, isn't that good." He said sarcastically.
Then there was silence.
At the same time, they seemed to realise that they both could have died by the hands of Will's brother. They both just sat there, staring into the distance, shaking, either at the cold or fear, they weren't sure.
Suddenly, they could feel the Helicarrier tilt to the side, "It's Barton. He took out our systems. He's headed for the Detention Level. Does anybody copy?" They could hear Fury say through Natasha's ear piece. It was quiet enough, and they were siting close to each other, that Will could hear it.
He watched as she raised her hand to her ear and say, "This is Agent Romanoff. I copy." She then stood up.
But before she could leave, Will stood up as well, not as fast as he was still dizzy, "Wait, Natasha!" She listened and stopped a few steps away, "He is still under Loki's influence. Just...just please be careful." Natasha could see the concern and affection in his brown eyes.
She wasn't stupid, she was trained to see certain emotions. Natasha knew that he felt something for her, something more than friends should. But she couldn't let that affect her work. She couldn't let it affect her.
"Don't worry, Will, I will be fine. Just stay here where no one can find you. You have a gun if anything happens. Once this is all over, I will come back for you."
With that, she left. Leaving Will to fend for himself.
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