Changing Colors - A Bruce Banner Story

Sky's The Limit

Bruce breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth systematically, trying to calm himself down. He had never been afraid of flying when he was younger but the Hulk had changed him in ways even he sometimes couldn't imagine.

Claustrophobia happened to be one of these ways. If anything ever happened while they were in the air and the Hulk emerged, a tiny aircraft like this one would never be able to take his weight, or his rage.

He glanced over at the woman next to him, feeling bad for putting her in danger like this. The pilot too. He had to leave tonight though, and he didn't think he could get through a flight like this on his own.

He set his duffle bag and his backpack on the seats behind him and offered to put her bag back there too.

She shook her head, "Thanks but I'll hang on to it." He noticed she was only carrying a small bag made of violet fabric. No, not violet. Indigo.

He laughed a little and she shot him a look.

"Sorry," he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "It's just, your bag matches your name."

She stared at him for a moment but then she laughed a little, "Yeah I guess you're right."

Suddenly the plane lurched forward and Bruce grabbed onto his armrest. He had momentarily forgotten about the glorified tin can he was sitting in,  but the calm he had felt a second ago was already gone.

He grabbed his backpack and shuffled things around until he found a small bottle of pills and a canteen. He popped one in his mouth and took a drink of water. Then he put everything back and set his bag on the back seat again.

He saw Indigo looking at him curiously and sighed, "They're supposed to help me sleep."

"Do they work?" she wondered out loud.

He shook his head, "Nothing works."

Then realizing how dark that sounded he smiled, "But they will help me relax for the next nine agonizing hours."

She smiled at him but he could see something sad in her eyes. He knew that look well, and he had come to hate it. She pitied him, just like everyone else. He looked away, and focused his gaze out the window.

"Are we all buckled in?" Jimmy called from his place at the very front of the plane.

Bruce just nodded so Indigo gave the "all clear," and the plane started to move. He gripped his arm rests as the plane took off and tried to relax. Getting worked up wouldn't help him keep the Hulk in check if something were to go wrong.

When they were flying at a steady altitude he finally let go of his chair and stretched his fingers out. They were soar from holding on to the arm rests so tight.

He looked over to see Indigo sketching something on a little pad of paper. He couldn't tell what it was from the angle she held it at, but something told him it was probably good. The way she held her pencil and brushed lightly along the page just had a skilled look to it.

Since she clearly wasn't in the mood to talk- and his medication actually was making him tired for once- he leaned his head up against the window and closed his eyes.

When he opened them up again the sky looked different somehow. He could still see the stars, just less of them. It was cloudy.

He glanced over at Indigo who had put her notepad away and was asleep in her chair. Then he looked at his watch for the time. 4 AM.

That was the first time he had gotten more than four hours of sleep in a single night. He racked his brain, trying to figure out if he'd had any nightmares. If he had, at least they weren't bad enough to wake him up.