Bruce woke up to a cold space beside him. Usually Natasha was there. Maybe she left early for her morning coffee.
"Natasha?" he asked, walking out into the kitchen.
The whole apartment was empty.
"FRIDAY, where's Nat?" he said to the AI.
There was no answer.
"Weird." Bruce walked out into the residential hallways. It was around 9 o'clock, so people should at least be getting out of bed. It was empty.
He walked to the end of the hallway that lead to the common areas, surprised to feel a force field stop him from entering the commons like a wall.
Bruce squinted at the force field and poked it.
Almost imperceptably, there was a ripple of bluish light that expanded from where he touched, like the aftereffects of throwing a stone into a lake.
"Hello?" Bruce called.
Surprisingly, his voice seemed to bounce back at him.
Bruce poked the force field again. It was very solid, as if it was a wall.
Interesting.
He went down the hallway, knocking on the doors, hoping someone would answer even if they were groggy and half-dressed. Unfortunately, no one did.
Bruce went to Tony's doghouse room, the only one he knew was empty. He tried the handle. It didn't budge.
"Huh."
Bruce felt an itch at the back of his mind.
No, not now, he batted the thought away. We shouldn't destroy the residential hall. That means we'll have to fix it.
The Hulk whined like a child.
Stop it, Bruce thought. Then he had another thought. Fine. Try Tony's door. Lightly.
His vision went super clear, as is whenever he let the Hulk half-take over. He felt himself punch Tony's door.
Instead of it shattering, the punch made the wall ripple like the force field had, only on a much larger scale. Small, tiny hexagons on the door were now blank, glitching in and out of focus.
Bruce picked up a small piece that had fell off the door and examined it closely.
It resembled the nano-technology that he and Tony had tried to develop a while ago, but it was never this small.
"Huh," Bruce repeated.
He let the Hulk punch the door again. This time, more nano-bots fell off or turned blank.
Faintly, with the Hulk's added power, Bruce could hear shouting somewhere far from here. He was acutely aware of his very own heartbeat, at 130 steady and slowly climbing.
"Settle down," he muttered. "Just one more time."
Bruce punched the door again.
This time, the whole door just went blank, a big, white rectangle where a nice hardwood door used to be.
One more time?
He sighed. "Fine. But this is the last time."
Bruce punched the white space where the door had been and left a Hulk fist-sized indent.
He ran his fingertips along the ridges gently to feel how much more metal there is. The bottom was flimsy, could be easily broken.
"Never mind," Bruce sighed. "Do it again."
He punched the dent and it broke through, making a hole.
Bruce peeked through the whole, seeing nothing. He shrugged and tore the wall apart.
See? Hulk good sometimes.
Bruce sighed. "If you insist. Where was that shouting coming from, anyway?" he asked.
Other way.
Bruce turned half a circle.
Up stairs.
He went up the stairs. "This door?"
That is only door stairs lead to.
"Don't sass me."
Bruce opened the door to see a room in chaos with General Ross staring at him with a bunch of other people looking very alarmed and very armed. Bruce waved awkwardly. "Sorry to interrupt. I'll be going now."
"Wait a second, Banner!" Ross started.
Bruce slammed the door on the general's face, making the hinges shudder.
"That was fun."
Ross bad.
"That we agree on."
YOU ARE READING
VII's 12 Days of Winter Writing
FanfictionA prompt list by a very good friend of mine. Will be featuring Brutasha mainly.
