One Love, A Thousand Lifetimes

Chapter 45

Bruce watches as James shifts a bit and his eyes open. He looks around the cage and room until his eyes meet Bruce's.

Bruce holds his ground as the other man springs to his feet. For a few seconds he tries to break out of his cuffs until he gives up and slams his metal arm against the glass while yelling. He keeps that up a few times before he realizes that it's hopeless.

The man is seething, his eyes meeting Bruce's again. "Banner."

"James," Bruce replies appearing calmer than he was letting on.

Steve barges into the lab and Bruce watches as he spots James. "Bucky?"

James' eyes flicker to Steve, then meet Bruce's eyes again.

"Steve, it's not him," Natasha says.

Bruce watches as James looks at Natasha and says, "Betrothed."

"Shut up," Clint pipes up.

"I'm not talking to you."

"Don't care," Clint retorts.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.," James scoffs while turning his head to the former agents. "All because I killed one of you?"

Fury speaks up, "It's about more than that."

James looks at Tony. Bruce knew he was about to make him a target, so he speaks up, "It's about protecting innocent people."

The other man glares daggers at Bruce. "Who are you protecting? I've seen the footage. You're just like your father, Banner. A monster and a coward."

Bruce doesn't say anything, just storms out of the lab and into the elevator. He felt like his skull was going to split in half on the way up to the apartment.

James mentioning his father triggered him and he tried to breathe, but nothing helped, including trying to get into his head. It was like the Hulk put up his own barriers, making conversation impossible. Bruce is sweating through his shirt by the time he's home and swaps it for a plain white t-shirt. When he looks at his wrists they were starting to turn green and he clenched his teeth in pain from the Hulk. Natasha was downstairs, but the pounding was too intense for him to wait for her to do the lullaby.

He only knew one other way to get his emotions out and heads to the gym in the other room.

He wraps his hands, makes his way to Natasha's punching bag and begins to hit it. After several minutes, it didn't stop the pounding in his head, but rather made it worse. It appeared what works for Hulk, has the opposite effect on him.

"Ahhh!" he exclaims as he hit the bag one last time, breathing heavily and on the verge of a hulk out.

He turns to see Natasha leaning against the doorframe. She makes her way towards him and unwraps one of his hands, then does the lullaby, which immediately calms him down and lessens the pain in his head.

He closes his eyes to go into his mind and talk to Hulk, who let down his barriers.

"Hulk, stop!" Hulk roars and Bruce continues, "She's safe. I'm safe."

That seems to calm him down as he grunts in acknowledgement.

Bruce brings himself back to reality and opens his eyes to see Natasha looking at him.

"Is the Big Guy okay?"

He nods. "He doesn't want either one of us to get hurt."

She takes his other hand and unwraps it. "I'm worried about you."

"I thought I'd be able to handle this, but I clearly can't." Bruce sighs and closes his eyes for a few seconds. "He took it too far."

"I agree. But you're not your father, Bruce."

"How can you say that after what you just witnessed?"

He turns his head away, but she cups his face in her hands. When he looks into her eyes, all he sees is understanding and love.

"You're not him. I know you better than anyone and I know you're angry right now, but I also know you would never hurt anyone. If I thought for a second you were going to hurt me, I wouldn't have started a relationship with you in this life. I know what it's like to be this mad. You've seen me take out my emotions on this bag before. Did it help?"

"No," he says then shakes his head.

"Does that tell you what you need to know?"

He nods, finally having some sort of peace in knowing that he's not his father and that punching something doesn't help him. Natasha holds him to her and he wraps his arms around her.

"I love you," he whispers.

"I love you too," she says in a calm voice, then breaks the hug. "Promise me you'll tell me if you're upset or angry. You can't keep bottling stuff like this up to the point where you'll explode at the last minute."

"I promise."

"James is going to keep trying to trigger you. He's going to test everyone here and hit us where it hurts the most. There's a good chance he took the time to learn about us."

"He had enough time. He probably knows more than we think. How long until Strange can get him out?"

"Strange told me he can't perform the spell yet, but he wouldn't tell me why."

"Do you think he knows something we don't?"

"It wouldn't be the first time."

All of the sudden something felt off.

Note: 

Two chapters in one day!!!

Sorry if Bruce seems a little out of character, but I could see him punching a gym bag if he's already provoked enough and it's a last minute option to remain in control.