Devil of Menace

12 - Ego

The ego driven men ignore my plea as the energy in the room burns my fingers. Steve puffs out his chest, attempting to assert his power as Tony remains unmoving at the action. "Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds." Steve prompts. Thor laughs at them and I look away from the pair in shame. "You people are so petty," He says, "And tiny." He adds. Tony rubs his head awkwardly and moves away from Steve. "Yeah, this is a team." Banner mumbles. Fury sighs, "Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr Banner back to his-" But he's interrupted. "Where? You rented my room." Banner reminds him. "The cell was a precaution Bruce." I reassure. 

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Banner fumes, silence falls on the room as we all feel the shame consume us. "I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" Banner explains, aiming the last sentence at Natasha who looks unnerved at his confession. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" He asks. Nat, Fury, and I reach for the guns in our holsters, "Dr Banner. Put down the scepter." Fury orders. 

Bruce looks down and is shocked to see the glowing scepter in his hands. "I told you something was wrong, that thing had an energy surge." I explain and as I finish my sentence the computer beeps. We all turn to look at it. "Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all." Banner jokes quietly. "Located the Tesseract?" Thor asks. "I can get there faster." Tony says before anyone says anything. "Look, all of us-" Steve starts before Thor cuts in, "The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it." He reiterates. Tony turns to leave but Steve and I stop him. "You're not going alone." Steve sneers. "You gonna stop me?" Tony queries. "Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve repeats his earlier threat. "I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony threatens. "Hey, he's younger than me." I remind Tony and he shrugs. "Put on the suit." Steve echoes. 

Banner, who's still looking at the screen mutters, "Oh my god." Suddenly everyone in the lab is thrown in every direction. Steve, Fury, Thor, and Tony are thrown across the room as Nat, Banner, and I end up in the lower equipment room. "Put on the suit!" I hear Steve's muffled voice yell. "Yep." Tony shouts in agreement. "Hill?!" Nick's voice crackles through the earpiece. "Turn up that engine! Number 3 engine is down! Can we get a run in? Talk to me." We hear Maria's voice over the comms talking to some agents to try and assess the damage. "Turbine's loose. Mostly intact, but it's impossible to get out there and make repairs while we're in the air." A faint voice replies. "We lose one more engine, we won't be. Somebody's got to get inside and patch that engine." Maria orders clearly through the comms system. "Stark! You copy that?" Nick asks. "I'm on it!" He calls in response. "Coulson! Initiate official lock down in the detention section then get to the armory! Move out!" Fury demands before the comms goes quiet. 

Natasha and I look over to Banner, who's breathing heavily from the impact. His hands grip the grated floor as he attempts to maintain control but his eyes are deep green and his face can only be described as intense. "I'm okay. We're okay, right?" Nat says quietly, mainly to herself. "Right." I nod. Banner struggles to supress the rage at the events, his face is slowly morphing. Nat pulls herself painfully from the debris as I talk to Banner, lucky enough not to be caught under anything. "Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay. Listen to me." I murmur. Two SHIELD agents approach but Natasha dismisses them with a wave of her hand. "We're gonna be okay. Right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never-" Natasha begins,

"Your life?" Banner asks, the bitter amusement in his voice is growing into a growled threat. Another explosion rocks the Helicarrier once more and as the lights cut out, Banner's transformation begins. "Bruce." Natasha pleads. He gives the pair of us a knowing yet solemn look as he begins the Hulk. I help pull Nat out of the rubble, quickly scanning her for serious injuries but she insists she's fine. We stop and remain stock still as Banner detects our presence. We bolt up the stairs with the Hulk hot on our heels. Nat rolls under a turbine and I follow before we crawl through a maze of pipes. The Hulk pulls them from behind as we scramble through as fast as we can. We fall under and through the catwalks and escape stealthily.

A primal roar of rage echoes through the carrier. The Hulk is enraged.