The Broken Link (Adventures of the Littlevengers One Shot!)

Part 2

§ Part 2 §

Tony stood his ground and started poking him again and again. Bruce stood up and yelled, backing away with his hands up, and Thor was yelling at Tony. Just as Tom stood to get a better look, Tony poked him one last time in the side and Bruce disappeared behind the hill.

A loud growl filled the air and the mini Hulk leapt onto the top of hill. Thor grabbed the action figure from his pocket and stood beside Tony, holding it into the air as if it were his hammer. Tom started racing up the hill and looked over his shoulder to see Maria racing after him. Hulk roared again and swiped at the two, causing them to fall on their butts and begin to roll down the mountain. Steve had managed to stand before freezing up, Hulk staring right at him.

The Hulk raced over to him and Steve backed away two steps before crying out, his face red and eyes wide with panic. The Hulk paused in his tracks and ran in an awkward circle for a minute. Tom thought little of it and took it as his chance to bolt up on to the hill. Steve snapped out of his frozen state and ran less than five steps before collapsing on the ground. Hulk lost whatever interest in spinning and targeted Steve again. Just as his fist rose up, a little over half the size of a shoe box, Tom ducked in front of him and took the hit to the side. He fell over Steve and turned to hold the Hulk down.

"Go! Go! The tranq!" he called wildly to Maria and she bolted past him and to the van. She focused all her strength into her legs as she flew down the hill and cussed loudly as the door remained lock. Not a second later, she punched through the window and unlocked the door. She slid it open madly and reached under the passenger seat for the tranquilizer.

"Ri! Steve! Inhaler!" she looked back to see Tom getting hit continuously by the Hulk but failing to be thrown by him. She looked to the far right and saw Steve lying on the ground. She grabbed his inhaler mask and raced back up the hill. She loaded the syringe into her gun and aimed. Hulk had managed to take Tom down, his anger getting worse. He raised both fists to squash him when Maria pulled the trigger and the Hulk went down.

Tom sat up quickly, his head banging and body sore. Hulk started to disappear and Bruce's color came back. Tom picked him up in his arms and cradled him close. He looked up to see all the kids hanging out on the bridge, but none of them were jumping. They all sat, close to one another, fear in their expressions. One guilty face stuck out from the rest, sitting to the far left, and staring heavily at Bruce's body.

"Tom! We need to get to the hospital now!" Maria exclaimed, holding a panicking Steve in her arms. His breath was short, his wheezing decreasing with every second. Maria knew this wasn't good because it meant that he was getting less oxygen in. His lips were slightly tinted blue and his shoulders were hunched, neck tight. He breathed hastily into the mask but it didn't seem to be working. Upon closer inspection, Tom realized his fingernails were slowly turning blue and that his face was drowning with tears.

§.-.-.-.§

"He'll be fine, he got lucky" the doctor said to Maria and Tom outside of the room. Maria let out a heavy sigh of relief and Tom rubbed a hand over his face. His body was covered in bruises and he was ready to collapse at any minute now that he knew Steve would be okay.

"He should stay the night, just to make sure everything is running smoothly" he added and Maria nodded.

"Could the kids stay? I know they're not going to want to leave" Tom said and the doctor shook his head sadly.

"You can stay until visiting hours are over and come as soon as they open up tomorrow, but we are going to have to run some tests on him to make sure he's okay. I'm sure the other kids wouldn't want to see that."

"I suppose not" Tom said absent mindedly, staring into the room. Steve had been tucked into a large white bed, tubes attached to his nose and connected to a few monitors. All of the kids surrounded him, sleeping on the thick blankets. The only two who were not asleep were Tony and Bruce. Whereas Bruce wanted to avoid eye contact with anyone, Tony made a deliberate point to not stop staring at Bruce. Tom and Maria went into the room and Tom stared harshly at Tony. When the boy noticed, he looked back over at Bruce once before looking guilty at the floor.

§.-.-.-.§

"Are we home yet?" Steve asked excitedly.

"Almost kiddo" Bobbi answered from the back of the car and Maria smiled, seeing Steve's face light up in the rear view mirror. Steve had been kept until later on that day and, according to the doctors, was sick and tired of being connected to machines. When they got home, everyone came together for a big dinner that Jan and Tom agreed to make as a welcoming present to Steve. They all knew he hated his visit to the doctors, heard that he had cried during all the tests, calling out for Maria. It was so bad that his wailing was interfering with their data and they called Maria over to keep him calm while they tested him.

At the front door, all the kids yelled surprise, except for Tony and Bruce. Toilet paper, thankfully clean, was decorated over the stair banister and somehow on the chandelier. While Maria started wondering how on earth they got it that high, Steve was still staring wide mouthed at the décor. His mood suddenly changed and he looked around warily. When he noticed Bruce wasn't there, he smiled again and jumped up once excitedly when he looked up again. After ten minutes of play, everyone was called in for dinner. Maria went upstairs, saying she would get their missing members. She walked into Tony's room first and saw him drawing on a paper at a small desk.

"Time to eat" Maria said softly, hanging onto the side of the doorway. Tony got up without a word and left, leaving his paper work in the open. After he thudded down the staircase, Maria checked his papers to see some pretty intricate blue prints for who knew what. They were small designs of things, a helmet one of the main attractions, that held incredible detail. At the very back of the stack of papers was a more childish drawing of the Hulk, colored in green so hard that the paper tore twice. Maria sighed heavily and dropped the papers.

She walked over to the spare room where Bruce had been hanging out and opened the sliding door to the closet. The night light was turned off and all his Harry Potter books were stacked neatly in the corner. The messy blankets proved that Bruce had slept there that night, probably avoiding all contact with the other kids. On his small green pillow was a note written in tiny writing.

I'm sorry I hurt everyone. It won't happen again, promise. Goodbye.

§.-.-.-.§

So, what did you think ;) Let me know with a comment! I decided to cut this in two because otherwise it may seem like a lot to take in at once. This is for a one shot contest! So go check out the original story too! The author is who I dedicated it too!

-Ela :D