—chapter eighteen:
duty calls

"THE CALL OF DUTY
WAITS FOR NO ONE."

3 YEARS LATER. . .
SOKOVIA

Sokovia was cold.

    The snow was falling and the winds were biting as Jackson was racing through the woods, riding piggyback on the Hulk as they both did their best not to get blasted. Guards were everywhere, coming in from every which way—up and down below, respectively. Everyone was doing their best to plow them all down but they just kept on coming. Whenever one would get knocked down, two more would show up in their place and frankly, Jackson had about enough of it. 

      "All right, tough guy," Jackson spoke, patting the Hulk on the shoulder as they rode along, "just like we practiced." Jackson climbed onto his shoulders before she felt him reach up and grab her from around the waist and launch her through the air like a javelin. With the enhanced agility she had acquired, she moved a lot like an aerialist—quickly, swiftly, and gracefully—as she bounced from tree to tree, knocking out robots as she went. "Woo hoo!" she whooped as she landed back on the Hulk's shoulders in time.

     "Shit!" Jackson heard Tony swear through the comms unit. "Language," Steve then went on to scold him before moving on to ask, "JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?"

     "There seems to be some sort of energy shield surrounding the base," JARVIS reported.

     Jackson then made a move to launch herself off of the Hulk's shoulders before grabbing onto one of the flying soldiers, succumbing it before taking it over, shooting at all other ones before hitting the ground running. She had learned a lot about what she could do within the past three years, training to get a hold on her abilities and using them to her advantage. The one major thing she could do was manipulate her own emotion and turn it into an energy source. The more emotion she felt, the greater the energy that could be released. She hadn't found the chance to use that power yet, in fear that she'd hurt others and herself, but she had other abilities that she could rely on.

     For one, she could extend on putting others to sleep, putting them in a dreamlike haze instead of full-on knocking them out. It was mostly used to keep people from freaking out about what was going on around them as a way to calm them down. She'd do this when Tony would be having an anxiety attack, which let her relax him without getting too close, now that she was able to tap into his psyche mentally.

     "Loki's scepter must be there," said Thor, "there's no possible way that the shield could power without it. At long last."

    Guns were ablaze, rapid with firepower as Jackson ran her way through the forest, honing in on all of the soldiers' emotions and using them to create a shockwave with a clap of her hands, knocking them all out of her way. "At long last is starting to last a little long, boys," she and Natasha said at the same time. There was a pause before they both spoke again. "We've gotta stop doing that."

    "Well, we lost the element of surprise," Clint reported sarcastically.

    "Wait, hold on," Tony then interrupted, "are we not going to discuss the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"

     "I know," Steve griped, Jackson hearing some sort of crashing noise through her earpiece, "it just slipped out."

     "Guys," Jackson piped up, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

     "Jackson, honey," Tony chimed in, "you're gonna have to be a little more specific than that because there are a lot of bad feelings going on right now."

     "The city's people are upset. They're getting angry and it's not sounding too good from where I'm standing. Tony, didn't you send a legion down there to help them?"

     "I think we know by now that not everything works out in my favor, Marie," Tony argued.

     "There's an enhanced on the field," Steve noted. Jackson raised a brow at that. "Aren't we all technically enhanced?"

     "You know what, Edwards?" Steve questioned and Jackson raised her hands in mock surrender, although he couldn't see. "Sorry, boss."

     "Clint's hit!" Natasha yelped, "Also, somebody wanna deal with that bunker?"

    There was a roar on the other end of the comms unit and then a crashing sound. "Thank you."

    Without second thought, Jackson began to climb a tree. That way, she had a vantage point so she could be able to see everything that was going on down below. She scoped out all the soldiers manning guns and knocked them out, watching them fall over all at once.

     "Mind Games to Tin Can, how we doing with that shield?" Jackson asked, "Any luck?"

     "Did you just call me 'tin can'?" Tony questioned, "But to answer your question, I'm closing in. At least, I think I am."

     "Roger that." Jackson took another look around before jumping straight onto the back of one of the soldiers, once more succumbing it and taking over its psyche, controlling it from the inside out, like a ventriloquist and its dummy. She used its body as a shield as she forced it to shoot at the other incoming soldiers.

     "And. . .the drawbridge is down," Tony reported.

     "Good," Jackson commended before throwing the soldier off to the side. "Now, someone's gotta get in there and get the scepter."

     "Clint's hit pretty bad, guys," Natasha updated, "we're gonna need evac."

     "You need me to put him in a lullaby? Try to make it hurt a little less?"

     "You're too far. I'd rather you stay where you are than try to come all this way. Maybe later when we're back on the jet."

     "Jackson, find Bruce," Steve commanded, "sun's startin' to get low."

     "Okay." Jackson nodded before going to look for Bruce. Jogging through the forest, she centered herself, letting herself tap into the Hulk's psyche and trying to locate him. "Hey, tough guy," she whispered, smiling a little, "you did a good job today. How about we get you outta here?"

    There was a huff and a groan out in the distance and Jackson followed it, leading her to find the Hulk tearing apart a snowmobile and throwing it all over the place. "I think you got all the bad guys out."

     The Hulk turned to her, still huffing before baring a grin. Jackson made her way down to him, doing her best not to upset him. She knew that she was somewhere in his mind but she still didn't want to risk it and do something to scare him. Although she had been with Bruce for roughly three years, she hadn't seen the Hulk all that much so she wasn't sure if he remembered her.

     Almost instantly, to answer her question, the Hulk got to his knees so he could rest his forehead against Jackson's. Jackson pressed her hands to his temples and rubbed soothing circles into them, feeling him grow smaller and into Bruce as he tumbled down the hill. She soon walked down the hill to where Bruce lay, writing a certain pattern into his arm with the pad of her finger that told him it was her while he was still in his shaken state.

     "Hi," he whispered, his mind beginning to register what was going on.

     "Hi."

"Guys, I got Banner," Jackson reported as she hitchhiked her way to the jet with Bruce fire-manned over her shoulder.

    "I don't think I'll ever get over your being able to carry me like this," Bruce snorted, wondering how he ended up with Superwoman as his girlfriend. "You know, you don't have to carry me like this. Or carry me at all, anyway."

     "It's the serum that's doing all the heavy lifting for me, Beast Boy," Jackson said.

     "So does that make you Raven?" Bruce asked, catching on to her Teen Titans reference.

    Jackson shrugged, shifting Bruce back into place afterward. "I guess so. We're a lot like them, in a way. For obvious reasons."

     "I think you can put me down now," Bruce suggested and Jackson put him down, helping him land upright on his feet. He smiled at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead before they made their way back to the jet. 

Everyone was on board, making their way back to New York. Jackson was looking over Clint and enchanting him with a lullaby, to ease him of some of his pain. Natasha was talking with Bruce and then requested, "Thor, report on the Hulk."

     "The gates of hell are filled with the screams of his victims," Thor responded jovially, raising a fist in triumph. Jackson did her best to stifle her laugh and Natasha turned around to give the Norse god a look. Thor then began to backpedal—and backpedal horribly, more or less. "Eh, but not the screams of the dead, of course. Wounded screams, mainly whimpering, great deal of complaints, and tales of strained deltoids."

    Jackson couldn't help but to laugh at that point, almost sobering right up at the look of betrayal on Bruce's face. "I'm sorry, honey, but it's just a teensy bit funny."

    Bruce could only put his head back into his hands after that.