Beauty and The Beast ((Bruce Banner/Hulk love))

Chapter 17 (EDITED)

**Aero's POV**

When the explosion rocked through the room, I had barely had time to think about moving but thanks to my speed I had a bit of a jump on everyone else. Natasha, Bruce and I were thrown backwards through the glass windows on one side of the lab. I wasn't really able to look where the others were thrown to but, it had to be in all sorts of directions. I bounced off the grate floor below us pretty hard. I let out a groan as I shifted in pain against the metal floor. Just because I healed fast didn't mean I couldn't feel pain. My hand went to the back of my head rubbing the spot that had connected with the floor. I forced myself to my feet and looked around at the surrounding area trying to find Bruce or Natasha. “Mitchell! Romanoff!” I heard Nick’s voice call out through the intercoms. I pressed mine so that I could speak back to him. 
“We’re okay,” I called back though I wasn't actually sure if we were yet. I saw Natasha struggling with her foot stuck under some fallen pipes. I easily lifted the pile of pipes freeing her foot, which she gave me a thankful look for. I looked back to see Bruce - who was laying not far from us- struggling, but not from any obvious injuries. Realization washed over me like a tidal wave. Bruce wasn't struggling out of pain from the fall, he was fighting against the Hulk. 
"Natasha... Run." I whispered quickly, jerking her to her feet and shoving her along away from Bruce. She looked at me confused silently asking me to explain. I glanced back at Bruce, I could see on his face how hard he was struggling. "Just please, trust me." I shoved her forward which thankfully she didn't question anymore. She jogged off deeper into the helicarrier, hopefully far enough away from whatever was about to happen down here. I - on the other hand- stayed behind. I slowly turned toward Bruce, who was lying where he had fallen still. "Hey... We're okay..." I tried to coax. I kneeled down getting closer to his level. "Bruce... you gotta fight it." I instructed in the calmest tone I could manage. He was grunting and groaning as he tried to hold his composure. He was shifting uncomfortably, his muscles tensing. "Hey! I swear on my life, I'm gonna get you out of this... you're gonna walk away," I promised, I didn't want him to be suffering. I reached my hand towards him slowly. 
"Your Life!" The voice that came out was far deeper than Bruce's usually was. I jumped back pulling my hand back to my chest. It was clear that he was losing the battle, and there wasn't much I was going to be able to do. His chocolate brown eyes were now glowing green. Fear raced through my veins, but I didn't run - I wasn't going to leave him. I was one of the few people that stood a chance against the Hulk. He let out a particularly loud groan and his back arched in pain. I noticed the color of his skin turning green as it creeped up his neck. I could do nothing but watch as his muscles grew and the rest of his skin turned green. He tried to move away from me, stumbling over other fallen debris. The purple shirt he had been wearing had started to rip exposing the skin of his back and his arms. His head snapped back in my direction one last time, though I wasn't sure what he was looking for. I caught the last glimpse of his brown eyes before they were consumed by the green of the hulk. 
"Bruce..." I couldn't do anything to stop the change. He stumbled away from me still finishing changing into the Hulk. He yelled out in anger or pain, I wasn't quite sure which. I lifted myself onto my feet, I had to be ready for anything and I sure wasn't going to allow my fear to show on my face. Bruce turned around quickly, full blown hulk now, and roared at me. I did the only thing i could think of. I turned and ran hoping he would chase me and I could occupy him and keep others out of danger. I could hear his thundering footsteps behind me telling me my plan was working. Hulk's roar echoed through the whole helicarrier. I was somewhere in the Helicarrier I had never been before, but that wasn't my main focus at the moment. I sprinted through what appeared to be a glass hallway. Hulk wasn't even fazed as he came smashing through it behind me. I put my arms over my head shielding myself from as much of the glass that was flying around as possible. Just as I came to the end of it, Hulk swung his arm, knocking me into a wall. Unfortunately, the contact with me threw him off balance as well sending him tripping into the opposite wall. I let out a loud groan as pain raced up my back from the contact with the wall, but as soon as it was there it was gone. I pushed away the thought of the pain and got back to my feet. At my only 5'2'' stature, Hulk towered over me as he came stalking back in my direction. “Bruce…” I tried, but his face was tired in anger and I was pretty sure he couldn't hear me. I crossed my arms in front of me as I braced myself for Hulk's swinging fist. Instead of Hulk's fist coming in contact with me, Thor crashed through the wall sending Hulk flying just in time. They both crashed through the opposing wall, landing in one of the indoor jet hangers. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and rushed through the hole to rejoin the fight. When I came into the room, Thor was dodging all of the Hulk’s wild punches, and getting in some of his own. When Hulk knocked Thor away into a pile of stuff that had been down there for storage, I rushed over to the Hulk cutting off his path towards the others that were behind us. The Hulk roared at me, swinging his arm wildly in an attempt to hit me. I dodged it quickly, but when he switched hands on me I was cut off guard. Thor rejoined the squabble in time to prevent the Hulk from hitting me, again. Between Thor and I, Hulk had his hands too full to worry about anyone else on the helicarrier- which was a good thing. 
"Lady Aero, Please. Stay back. You will get hurt." Thor begged, holding the weight of the Hulk’s large green fist. "Dr. Banner will be upset if he hurts you..." Thor looked at me with concerned eyes. I nodded my head slowly, understanding that as much as I wanted to - I wasn't really helping. I looked around for something to assist us in fighting the Hulk, without actually putting myself in any danger of him hurting me. Thor let out a tired huff of air as he came sliding over beside me. I patted his shoulder in understanding, before he headed back in to keep the Hulk’s attention on him. I saw rope laying on the ground near some boxes. An idea popped in my head, though it wasn't a great one I was hoping it would buy us some time. I grabbed the rope and ran full speed at Hulk, keeping low to the ground so his swings missed me- not that he could really see me. I wrapped up his feet with the rope, causing him to trip. 
"That won't hold him long," I helped Thor to his feet since he had been knocked away yet again. "But i'll distract him... You get a plan." I told him firmly. I was planning on using my speed to keep Hulk focused on me. I turned my head to the large green being when he roared out in frustration. Hulk ripped through the ropes like they were string- yep, I knew that wasn't going to last very long. Hulk threw Thor up through the ceiling bringing us onto another level of the helicarrier, It was one of the other research labs. I hurried up to join them but Hulk threw Thor just in time for him to slam into me and send us both flying across the room. Thor had had enough since when he crashed into me, to grab me so that we rolled together when we hit. I sat up a bit, and something outside the window caught my attention, It was a jet. I reached up to touch the intercom in my ear only to find that it was missing.  I must’ve lost it at some point during my fighting with the Hulk. The SHIELD jet lined up with the glass window that showed outside the helicarrier. I watched in almost slow motion as the jet began to shoot at us, at the Hulk more specifically. "NOOOO!" my voice echoed out. The bullets bounced off the Hulk's green skin, and around the metal room. Thor dove to get out of the way to protect himself from the flying bullets. He pulled me along with him, putting himself between me and the room behind us. I crouched down shielding myself as the sound of the bullets and the hulk’s roar echoed in my head. Once the shots had stopped, the Hulk jumped out of the now broken window at the jet. No longer worried about being shot, I moved away from Thor. My eyes were glued to the Hulk as he landed on the top of the jet. His green fist collided with the metal, beating on the jet until an electoral spark caused it to catch fire. I could only watch in horror wishing I could do something to help. The jet was unable to stay in the air as the hulk ripped at it. The pilot tried to eject but the Hulk caught him and slung him aside. Thankfully the parachute still opened and he floated down away from danger gently. The jet without a pilot was spinning out of control, quickly falling from the sky. Hulk continued to beat on the empty jet, focused on the task at hand. The jet exploded causing Hulk to yell in pain and hurtle towards the ground. "BRUCE!!" I cried out as fear ran through my body as I watched the hulk fall through the layer of clouds. I rushed forward towards the broken window, but Thor's arms wrapped around my waist keeping me on the helicarrier. I tried to fight, wanting to go after Hulk, to make sure he was alright. 
"Lady Aero, Stop. You can't help him if you jump out as well." Thor tried to reason with me. My brain was in a haze. I just stopped fighting, my muscles relaxed and I just slipped to the ground. I couldn't do anything but sit there. "Lady Aero!" Thor shook my shoulders. My eyes clouded over and everything got dark. I vaguely remember Thor yelling my name, but I was unable to answer as I slipped into the darkness.

(Word Count : 1893)