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Five seconds of peace

I hum a little tune to myself as I wrap bandages around someone's arm. I've been living in Calcutta for a while after I left Wakanda. It's a place where I can do a lot of good. For the past few months, I've just been Doctor Banner. No one seems to care how old you are when you're the only one willing to provide free medical services. It also helps that some people remember my dad when he was here, they even set me up where he used to stay. I had no idea he used to live here until I told Tony that I was moving here.

Fin Fang Foom squeaks as a young tan girl with a rosy pink aura runs up the stairs of where I work.

"Please help. my mother. They're going to kill her, " She pleads.

I grab a first aid kit, just in case I don't get there soon enough. Gang violence has been getting worse lately and civilians are paying the price. I do my best but things are really bad here.

She leads me to a run-down house on the edge of the city. Once we get inside the girl climbs out of a window.

"Should've gotten paid up front, Banner," I mutter under my breath as I turn around to see a 20-something man with a copper aura sitting at a table.

"You know, for a girl who's supposed to be avoiding stress you picked a hell of a place to settle."

"Avoiding stress isn't the secret," I retort, studying the man closely.

He chuckles, "Then what is it? Yoga?"

"You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart. I assume the whole place is surrounded," I venture while stroking Fin.

"Just you and me," He answers.

I arch an eyebrow in disbelief. This guy is not good at lying. "Who are you? You've been following me for two weeks."

"And here I thought I was being discreet. I'm Rick Jones."

I tilt my head curiously. "Are you here to kill me, Mr. Jones? Because that's not going to work out for everyone."

"No, of course not. I'm here on the behalf of the US government," he explains.

"Hm. Ross. How did he find me?"

"We never lost you. We've kept our distance, " He tells me.

I bet Tony told them. There's no other way they could've found me. Ross isn't that competent. "What is it exactly that you want, Mr. Jones?"

"We need you to come in."

I bite back a laugh, " Come in? I don't do that. I never have."

"We were hoping that you'd make an exception this time."

"For Secretary Ross? That's a bold assumption. What if I say no?"

He smirks, "I'll persuade you."

"You do know I could easily get rid of you?" I threaten carefully to judge his reaction.

"You've been clean for a few years now. I don't think you'll want to break that streak."

I let out a small laugh, "Well, I don't always get what I want."

"Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe," Mr. Jones reveals.

"I actively try to avoid those," I remark. "Have you ever been dead center of one? It's not fun. Sorry, you came this whole way for nothing."

I turn to leave but he stops me. "Agent Coulson asks you very nicely. He says you owe him."

"It must be pretty bad then."

He hands a phone to me with pictures of a green man with a big head, no doubt the fault of gamma radiation. "This gentleman is Samuel Sterns. He's an old acquaintance of your father."