Parker tried to tear herself from the grip the machine had on her arm. She hated getting her blood pressure taken. But Dr Elba had insisted as he seemed to be the only one caring for Parker's health and wellbeing at the moment.

He was worried for his coworker even if they didn't share the same surgery and barely saw each other. The last time the pair had sought his assistance was with a serious brain surgery so Dr Elba knew he was a last resort.

"It's just taking your blood pressure, calm down Parker." He told her as he put the instrument away, the reading was too high. He then placed a hand on her forehead, pulled up her eyelid and shone a small torch at her. Her eyes watered, Dr Elba noticed it looked like she hadn't properly slept in days.

"I'm fine. Always have been always will be." Parker lied. She has never truly been 'fine' since her childhood, her blood pressure and anxiety have slowly been increasing every single time she smoked a cigarette or felt a shot of adrenaline. Ironically it was only when she came to India that the number stopped growing.

"How can you be fine? If you're fine after almost getting impaled by arrows and persuaded through the streets then I need to call a physiatrist." Dr Elba wasn't joking despite the tone of his voice.

Parker had managed to loose her rogue archer and the first thing she did was find Elba, it was the closest and the furthest thing from Bruce she could get. She then told him everything she reasoned it wouldn't help anyone to keep it a secret, but Bruce's own "personal investigation" on his coffee table was left out from the story. That wasn't her secret to share.

"I'm fine." Parker snapped, something she normally never did. It shook herself and and she brought her knees up to her chin and sat on the bed like that. It reminded her of the old days, sat like this after being brought home by the wrong sort of friends.

"No you're not." Dr Elba had a calming voice, a voice that knew he was right.

"I said I'm fine!" Parker lost her temper in a second and shouted in the mans face. He didn't flinch at all, he had been the subject of friends and patients rages too many times to count that it no longer affected him, "Crap, I'm sorry." Parker turned away and undid her self to stand up and pace around the room.  She wiped her hand over her forehead, she was ashamed of her actions and her short fuse.

"You don't have to be fine all the time." If Dr Elba was just Mr Elba then he would have made a great Agony Aunt.

Parker didn't know how to respond, her feet almost sent her in the direction of the window instead of staying in the centre of the space. She wanted nothing more than to lean out and smoke a cigarette, she touched her lips and went the other way.

"Just help me out Elba." She asked turning to face his huge muscular frame, one that wouldn't look out of place on a superhero.

"I've searched all I can for Banner. There's no trace of him anywhere." He had searched and trekked everywhere since his disappearance, just as hell bent on finding him as Parker. SHIELD had covered their tracks well, as was expected.

The closest he had gotten to the truth was the house that Bruce met Natasha in or, rather, what was left of it. It was suspicious and the Doctor had used all his skill in trying to deduce why Bruce had been there in the first place but he was rewarded with a blank slate.

The blonde bit her lip and looked away. It was the news she had been hoping was wrong but secretly knew it was the truth. Bruce was gone. Yet somehow that didn't make what she was going to do any easier.

"I need to get out of Calcutta. Now," She stood with her arms half crossed and began to bite her thumb nail. The man was about to respond but she interrupted him, "It needs to be under the radar."

"Under the radar? Parker you are about as above the radar as a human could possibly be," She responded by raising an eyebrow, "You've got a crazy masked guy shooting arrows at you and you're the only white and blonde American women in a fifty mile radius."

"I never said he was masked." Parker muttered under her breath to avoid his accusation.

"What?"

"I saw him, he wasn't wearing a mask. Just some serious body leather."

"You saw him?" Dr Elba's voice showed his utter disbelief, he couldn't believe that Parker had failed to mention the crucial fact. It was like Parker leaving out the fact that a person was actually afraid of needles when they were having an injection. It wasn't done.

"Yes I saw him, in fact I accidentally stabbed him."

"You stabbed him!" Dr Elba almost shouted but he lowered his voice. That's wasn't something he would want to broadcast to his patients.

Parkers annoyance had now peaked, "Yes I bloody stabbed him! Now do you realise why it had to be under the radar?"

"No," Dr Elba commanded with a firm voice, "Under the radar is exactly what you don't need, he is working under the radar. You need to leave in the most crowded and public way possible." He crossed the room and sat down at his desk and opened up his laptop.

Parker would have questioned Dr Elba but she was beginning to feel the mental exhaustion of the last weeks and she could see no other option than to just go with it.

She thought she might stand a better chance of finding Bruce at home in New York City. She could phone around, she could spend days searching the Internet,  "Okay then. Get me on the first flight to New York City."

The atmosphere of the room changed ever so slightly. They were a team again, not as good as Bruce and Parker or the Avengers but Dr Elba was a superhero in his own right.

"Where are your manners Parker?" He chuckled as he began to work, locating the next flight.

"Sorry seems I left them somewhere. I'll get back to you when I find them." She smirked a bit as she relaxed her shoulders and ran her fingers through her hair. Parker sat on the stool next to him and allowed herself one little moment of glee, she spun on the chair.

"I think it's more like you left them with someone else." He commented as he began to scroll through the various flights leaving that evening from Calcutta, the smile on Parkers lips turned to one of sadness.

"Well that someone has disappeared and turns out to have a creepy obsession with superheroes," Shit, she thought, she didn't mean to say that. Parker raced to think how to cover it, "Thought my brother was the only one who cut out articles from newspapers anymore."

Parker missed her brother more than she wanted to say and that was the only reason she could justify leaving. He was the second smartest person she knew so naturally he could help her find the one man cleverer than him.

"Superheroes huh? Didn't think Banner would be interested in that sort of stuff."

"We all have hobbies I guess."

"What's yours?" He asked her.

Parker had to stop and think for a second, her favourite pass time had somehow altered since coming to Calcutta. Before it was simple; everything a young women shouldn't do.

Now she enjoy helping people until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. To see them walk away with no pain or slightly less worries.

Or maybe she enjoyed that so much because it was always just her and Bruce in the surgery. No, she couldn't say that being with Bruce Banner was her favourite hobby, even if that was the truth.

"I quite like crossword puzzles actually. Bruce would always do the sudoku in ten seconds when I was slaving away over a bloody crossword clue."

"That's cute." He said in a passing tone as he found the perfect flight for Parker. Calcutta to New York City with a stopover in Dubai, leaving in two hours which would make it the dead of night. Even better, it had a couple empty seats. He tilted the laptop so the women could see her literal ticket home.

After reading the screen and swallowing any doubts that remained Parker nodded. As this was really happening however, she would have to come clean.

"I'll book you a seat then?" He proceeded to the booking phase; he was going to secure the window seat for her.

"Please. But Elba there's something you should know. Parker Miller isn't my real name."

He looked up from the screen and thought for a second. He watched the way she chewed her bottom lip out of nervousness. She always seemed to have to have a distraction, either her nails or lips or a cigarette.

Dr Elba decided in that moment that he didn't care about the revelation, his only care was keeping the women safe, for Bruce's sake, "What name should I put in then?"

"Catherine Parker."

"Catherine Parker it is." He said the name slowly as he typed it in, the girl silently thanked him as he also put his bank details in with the name, "Can I call you Cathy?"

"No." She replied.

"Kat?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? Kat?" Her shoulders had tensed again.

"Parker it is then." He said in mock defeat, not knowing the very sensitive nature of the topic as he clicked on the final button.

The plane ticket was booked and paid, Parker Miller or - as it said on the ticket - Catherine Parker was going back home without the one person that made her feel at home.

The mechanical clinking of the ancient printer started behind them making her jump. As soon as she had said her real name aloud, her senses had heightened as if she was exposed from all angles. It was somehow worse than the pursuit, at least then she knew where the danger was. Now, it seemed like everything was a threat.

Dr Elba fetched the A4 paper and gave it to Parker as if he was giving her a bar of gold, "You better run. Civilisation waits for nobody."

The weight of the situation then hit Parker like a ton of bricks. She was actually leaving.

Actually leaving whilst Bruce had vanished and a madman was pursuing her. None of it felt real.

She found some form of comfort from Dr Elba, wrapping her hands around his shoulders for a hug. She had wanted to say thank you, but couldn't. There wasn't a lot to be thankful for at the moment, the bad outweighed the good ten-to-one.

Suddenly she regretted every decision she had ever made, all of them that lead up to this fateful moment.

Dr Elba sensed her reservations in the hug and he pulled her away, "Promise me you'll get on that plane."

Parker nodded, "I will. Promise me you'll search for Bruce."

"I won't stop," He replied and Parker walked over to the door and opened it, the hinge creaked slightly and she cringed, "Catherine." The man called and she cringed again.

"Yeah?"

"Promise me you won't get shot by any arrows."

"I'll try my best." Parker didn't smile as she closed the door.

Dr Elba didn't smile either as an arrow  flew from beyond the window and hit the place where Parker Millers hand had been resting on the door.

Clint Barton never missed his target and now it was playing right into the palm of his own hand.