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

Chapter 19 (EDITED)

**Aero's POV**

I shot up in the sitting position with my eyes wide, I gasped for air. My head was pounding, probably from bouncing it off a metal wall. I winced at the feeling of my sore and tight muscles, something I knew would go away soon. "Good to see you're awake..." I heard Steve's voice from somewhere beside me causing me to jump a bit. I hadn't expected anyone to be there with me. I whined again moving the sore muscles that I could practically feel healing by the second, the small ache would subside soon enough. I looked at Steve. He was leaning by the door.

"What happened?" I asked, attempting to pull together my scattered memories. A lot had happened over the last hour or so. I forced myself off the small cot and back to my feet. I held myself up with the wall letting my legs adjust to being stood on again. I took a couple deep breaths.

"I thought you were indestructible?" Steve questioned, obviously seeing me struggling a bit as I was getting up. I shot him a small glare in annoyance at the mention that made me seem weak. I stood up straight, my back popping a few times.

"I have a healing factor, which means I can get injured, but it'll heal almost instantly. But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. Plus, have you ever had a Hulk throw you into a wall? It is not fun," I explained my soreness.

"Well, We need you to suit up. We're getting ready for a fight." He offered me one of the SHIELD leather suites, much like the ones I usually wore. I nodded my head, accepting the suit from him. He left the room quickly allowing me to change alone. Once I was dressed and ready to go, I stepped out of the infirmary. Steve was waiting outside of the room for me. "Natasha and Clint are already in the jet waiting for us, Tony headed out already." Steve explained to me as we hurried through the helicarrier. I nodded in understanding, though I had questions of when Hawkeye ended up back on our side, when he was on Loki's pay roll not that long ago.

"Keep up, Old Man." I snickered and kicked my running up to my highest gear getting me to the jets Natasha and Clint were standing by in a matter of seconds. I headed straight for Clint and wrapped my arms around him tightly in a hug. He returned it for a moment before I pulled back and decked him in the shoulder. "That was for worrying us," I scolded. Clint laughed and rubbed the place that I had hit on his arm. Steve -who seemed to be a bit out of breath- joined us on the flight deck. Under Steve's instructions, we boarded the jet Clint had gotten for us. I settled into one of the seats in the back. My mind drifted off to worrying about Bruce, and I guess that worry was written across my face.

"He's okay..." Natasha touched my shoulder as passed me. As if she was reading my mind, she gave me a sympathetic look. I turned away ignoring it, that was not what I needed to be focused on right now. Not with an alien army breathing down our necks. We needed to stop Loki. Natasha took the co-pilot's seat next to Clint and Steve stood just behind them. We were soon in the air and on the way to New York.

**Bruce's POV**

"You fell out of the sky..." A voice I didn't recognize woke me up. I was laying in a pile of rubble causing me to shift uncomfortably as I sat up. My mind was clouded from the recent change, I tried to place what had happened. I looked down to see that I no longer had any clothes on, causing me to use my arm to help cover myself. I rubbed my face with my free hand groaning again. I turned my head to see an old man in a security guard uniform standing on top of the rubble. He looked relatively unfazed by what he had seen - if he had seen anything.

"Did I hurt anyone?" I asked in a worried tone. I had really hoped that the building I was currently in hadn't had a whole lot of people in it when I came crashing down. I looked up at the old man. He seemed completely unharmed.

"No one around here to get hurt..." He motioned to the empty warehouse around us. That was lucky than, cause I could have hit something much worse like a school or a hospital. "you did scare the hell out of some pigeons though," He chuckled to himself. I wrapped my arms around myself as I sat in the rubble.

"Lucky..." I grumbled. I rubbed my face again still trying to clear my thoughts, I hated the after effects after hulking out. My head always felt like it was pounding and I found it hard to get my thoughts back in a straight line. My mind turned the others on the Helicarrier, more specifically Aero. The hulk had been so focused on her when we first changed. I wondered if she was alright, if he had actually hurt her.

"Or just good aim," The old man got my attention again when he spoke. I turned my head looking at him in confusion. I didn't understand what he had meant. "You were awake when you fell," He informed me. I looked up at him cringing a bit.

"So you saw?" I asked in a worried tone. I had hoped that I had been lucky and had gone unnoticed for the most part, but I was wrong. This old security guard had seen me. I couldn't even look at him as I placed my head in my hand in shame.

"The whole thing..." He chuckled under his breath again. "right through the ceiling. Big and green and buck ass nude." He continued explaining obviously seeing humor where I didn't. "I didn't think those would fit ya until you shrunk down to a regular sized fellow." He tossed me a pile of clothes with a small "here". I began putting on the pants first trying to cover myself the best I could.

"Thanks," I mumbled. I stood up pulling the pants into place and looping the belt to keep them in place. Memories of the Hulk slinging Aero into the wall replied in my head, making me feel almost sick to my stomach. I heard the old man say something but didn't quite understand since I had been in my own thoughts. "What?'' I asked.

"From outer space? An alien?" He questioned again. I guess that had been what he had asked the first time if I was an alien. I looked up at him confused and shook my head no, there was no real easy explanation to give someone. "well son, you have a condition." He observed. Okay, maybe there was one easy explanation.

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement. I pulled the shirt on quickly before beginning to button it. I walked down the pile of rubble towards flat ground, stumbling a bit over the rocks. The security guard came over to me having climbed down himself.

"So which one is it?" He questioned.

"I'm Sorry?" I asked in return, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Are you a big guy that gets all little, or a little guy that sometimes blows up large?" He questioned using the hand movements for effect. I shook my head at the question.

"Ya know... I don't know..." I told him simply. Half the time I wasn't sure anymore. He looked at me with a knowing face, but said nothing else. He was a wise old man.

"Got somewhere to go?" He asked as we stood at the open door of the warehouse. I thought about Aero and the other Avengers, Loki and the war on earth. Aero's beautiful smile flashed through my mind as I thought about her sitting in the lab watching me. It was followed by the memory of Hulk towering over her getting ready to hit her again, the fear that was on her face in that moment, though I knew she was trying to hide it.

"Stark Tower..." The words left my mouth slowly as I remembered that's where we had thought Loki was going to do his plan, as a slap in the face to Tony. "I... No...." I felt bad for putting Aero and everyone else on the helicarrier in danger, I couldn't show my face now. Then, I realized that Aero and the others were going into this fight with or without me. "Yes..." I reluctantly said. I felt confused and conflicted at the situation.

"I'd expect some confusion of the mind..." the older man walked towards me. "since your body is kind of all over the place." He motioned for me to follow him as he continued to the open door. "But it has to be one or the other," He told me.

"I know where I can do the most good, but it's where I can do the most harm." I told him looking down at the ground. I tucked the end of the button up shirt into my pants as we walked.

"That's no different from anyone else." The old man disagreed as he walked me out of the warehouse. 

(Word Count : 1589)