A GODS WEAKNESS [l.laufeyson]

TWENTY EIGHT

     Thor and Astrid rush in the Quinjet as Thor starts attacking at the controls trying to get the ship to power up.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Astrid isn't exactly convinced watching Thor hit the controls.

"Don't... you sound like Loki... aha!" He manages to get jet to light up.

"Voice verification required."

As Thor starts shouting code names, Astrid's mind wanders back to Loki. She felt awful for leaving him behind. But her priority at this point was to save Asgard.

"Welcome, Point Break."

"You did it!" Astrid hugs Thor. It was one step closer to home, but now one thing stands in their way. Suddenly a scowling Hulk barges in through the Quinjet door. Any metal that stands in his way peels back. Frantic, Astrid turns to the Quinjet's console.

"Friend stay!"

"No, no, no!" Thor shouts as Hulk enters destroying the hull of the Quinjet.

"Stay!"

"Stop! Stop breaking everything!"

"Don't go!" Suddenly, Astrid triggers a message on the flight console.

"Nice work, big guy. We don't know where Ultron's headed, but you're going very high, very fast." A video of Natasha pops up on the screen as Hulk stops short. His whole demeanor changes. Astrid steps out of the way so that Hulk can see a recorded message from Nat on the console. "...So, I need you to turn this bird around, okay? We can't track you in stealth mode..." Hulk is now right up against the console screen. "...So I need you to help me out. Okay? I need you to..."

"No! No, Banner!" Hulk convulses. He drops to his hands and knees, his whole body warping. Hulk roars and grabs at his face, shaking his head, trying to fight this back. But he can't help it... he's transforming back into Bruce. The transition is rough and chaotic, it's as if Banner is fighting to get out of the Hulk. Throughout the process, Hulk smashes back and forth, further wrecking the Quinjet.

"Thor! What's happening to him?!" Astrid panics. Thor pulls her in his arms and out of the way. For someone who hasn't seen this before, it was terrifying.

As Hulk calms down. Thor rushes to Banner's side to help ease the transition.

"Banner. Hey, hey, hey. You all right, Banner? Sun's going down. Sun's going down. That's it, breathe. I won't hurt you. Sun's going down."

"...Thor?" Finally the transition is over and Bruce recognises his old friend.

"Yeah." Bruce is groggy, disoriented. Thoughts, memories, and observations begin to flood his brain.

"What happened to your hair?"

"Some creepy old man cut it off."

"It looks good."

"Thanks."

"Where are we? How's Nat?"

"Nat is good, I'm sure."

"And what about Sokovia?"

"Sokovia?" Thor realises that Bruce has no recollection of what happened.

"The city, Sokovia. Did we save it?"

"Banner, listen."

"What?"

"Sokovia. Ultron. That was two years ago." Meanwhile, Astrid is still stood by the control panels watching Thor and Bruce. She feels bad for the guy.

"What are you saying? I've been Hulk for two years?"

"I'm afraid so." Bruce's eyes bulge trying to process this information.