Loki's Little Witch [en]

chapter 7. one sacrifice

The elevator doors opened making Natasha raise her arms holding her gun in front of her, carefully stepping out of this one into the hallway, not without looking both sides first, fearing she would find the same she did on the entire story below that one: absolutely no one, but the deep silence that came from each of the labs that connected to that hallway only made her fear that it would be the same, or at least that was the case until she was able to catch at corner of her eye, a shadow move stealthily under the flashing red light of the security alarm two labs ahead of her, which made her rush towards it, gasping before bursting into it in a swift move. 

"Stand down!"

She yelled as she got entered the lab, pointing her gun without really knowing to who or what, but it was only a matter of seconds before she followed her own order, after scanning the place and finding what was supposed to be in that lab: agents, each in his own station, unharmed but frozen, with their gazes lost in the space, almost as if they were on a trance which made the redhead frown trying to figure out what was going on until a vague mumble, hardly perceptible under the alarm was heard, caughting her attention, making her turn to find the owner of that voice, who breathed shakily with his eyes crystallized, and without hesitation she ran to him in search of answers.

"What is going on?" she inquired, arriving next to him, but that didn't cause him to flinch, he didn't even blink, his eyes remained lost within himself.

"I didn't... I–I... it wasn't my fault..." he continued mumbling, as his breath began losing control.

"What wasn't your fault? What are you talking about?" she insisted, trying to get a coherent answer from him.

"No, I didn't do it, he made me do it, he... he made me."

"What are you—"

She insisted one more time, yet she wasn't able to finish her question when the sound of some glass breaking in the distance cause Natasha to turn left in a fast move, lifting her gun again into the air, making her heart race for the first time as she realized the sound came out from the lab across her: Banner's lab.

She swallowed before taking her first step back into the hallway that led to the lab, still pointing her gun in front of her, "Bruce?"

She whispered, stepping over a few pieces of broken glass that were on the floor causing them to break even more, following the trail of things lying on the floor that led directly to the storage.

"Bruce?" she repeated, frowning at the image her eyes saw as she slowly pushed the door open, finding Banner on the floor, struggling to stand up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it was an accident," he weeped as if he was a little child, only puzzling Nat further than before, making her take a few steps closer to him to softly pat his back, "no!" he shouted at the pure contact of her fingertips, causing her to jump back exalted, "please don't! Please!"

He continued sobbing, now closing his hands into fists making Natasha catch a glimpse of that particular vein in his neck turn green which made her feel her heart stop in an instant, knowing in that moment that every word that came out of her mouth the next seconds mattered more than anything.

"Bruce," she mumbled as softly as she could, kneeling next to him and throwing her gun to the ground to show him her open hands in front of her, "it's me. It's Nat. Focus on my voice," she continued, as he kept on struggling next to her, "everything is alright. You're fine. Everyone 's fine... I'm fine and I'm here, I swear on my life I..."

"No!" he shouted once again, as she tried to stroke his back with one of her fingers again, "please stop dad!"

Hulk's voice shouted the last sentence, making Natasha realize it was too late, right as his shirt started ripping while every vein on his body began turning into that intense green, that she, without losing another second, stood up and began running away back into the hallway as fast as she could.