Tethered Silence

He doesn't flinch at gunfire. He doesn't crack under pressure.He doesn't trust anyone and he never lets his guard down.

Austin Maddox is a hardened SHIELD operative, formerly a decorated U.S. Army sniper with scars that run far deeper than his skin. Haunted by a childhood steeped in abuse and molded by the discipline of war, he has built walls so high and thick no one has ever scaled them. He obeys orders. He follows rules. He feels nothing and that's how he survives.

But then comes him.

Bruce Banner. A man who lives his life quietly, carefully, balancing on the edge of an uncontrollable rage. A man who doesn't look like a threat until he is. Sent alongside Agent Romanoff to recruit the elusive scientist in Calcutta, Austin expects complications. What he doesn't expect is the first crack in his armor.

Over the course of the Avengers Initiative and the chaos that follows gods, aliens, war Austin finds himself increasingly tethered to Bruce. Not by force, not by assignment. But by something slower. Quieter. Dangerous.

This is the story of a man with nothing left to give and the one person patient enough to stay.