The confrontation
Genevieve turned trying to decipher where the gunfire came from-but the chaos of all the people running around was interfering with the sound direction.
“Anyone get where the shots came from?” she asked hoping at least Clint saw something.
“To the left” Clint said.
She turned and pushed through the sea of people and security who were coming in her direction. When she hit a clear hallway she sprinted down it trying to see if could catch someone. She threw open the door-waited a few seconds-then cautiously peeked around the corner. She didn’t see anyone-and more importantly she wasn’t met with a hail of bullets. She was about to start down the hallway when Steve was beside her.
“Ok team Jen and I are going through the first door-everyone pair up Sam and Clint, Tony and Thor-” Steve stopped realizing he was one man short.
“Maria and I are trying outside” came Nat’s response.
Steve nodded “Right ok check in with any changes” he commanded as he started down the hallway.
“Tony where are we going?” Bruce asked quietly as they snuck through the kitchen-ignored with the hustle of people.
“My car should be around the back of the museum here. We drive away and I don’t know go for a drive for a bit” DiNozzo said with a shrug.
Tony and Bruce rounded a corner and came face to face with Callen and Sam. Tony got in front of Bruce gun drawn-while Callen and Sam already had theirs drawn-all four just stared at one another.
“Where are you two going?” Callen snapped quietly.
“Getting him out of here-everything else is happening out front” Tony said.
Sam nodded “Come on G we got to go” he said.
G nodded “Be safe” he said nodding to the other two men.
“You too” Tony said as they split up.
They got to his car easily enough with having to pause at every sound making sure they didn’t come face to face with anyone else. Bruce and Tony climbed in-Bruce scrunching down as Tony started the car. Bruce held his breath as they drove by all the military officials-who paid them no mind with all the other excitement.
“You can breathe now B-we are in the clear” Tony said.
Bruce shot a look at him “T I am never in the clear. Ross thinks he owns me-he will hunt me until one of our dying day-and with the Hulk I don’t think it will be me” Bruce mumbled looking out the window.
“What do toy mean?” Tony asked.
“How much research did you do earlier?” Bruce asked looking at him.
“There was some experiment that went bad and Ross said you were to blame” Tony said.
Bruce sighed “I was contracted by the government-and Ross- to try and replicate the serum that they used to create Steve. I had this brilliant idea to try and use gamma radiation” Bruce said.
“Like him-Why?” Tony asked making sure to keep his eyes on the road.
Bruce shrugged wringing his hands “Trying to outdo him I guess? I was trying to save the world-it was pitched to me as if it could be done-it could cure ailments-problems-even cure diseases-so I agreed” Bruce said.
Bruce realized Tony was pulling under this overpass to a diner that sat there. He looked curiously at Tony.
“Let’s go eat something-Boss man eats here a lot. I doubt any other government bigwig knows about it-much less step foot inside” Tony said unhooking the seatbelt.
“I am too nervous-I don’t think I can eat anything” Bruce replied.
Tony looked at him “Fine you can watch me eat then” he said with a smile.
They went inside and found a small obscured booth-so no passerby could see them. One of the waitresses walked up and smiled when she saw who it was.
“Hey Tony” she said with a smile placing two menus on the table.
“Elaine how are you?” Tony said with a smile.
“Fine-Fine-No Gibbs today?” she asked.
“No-No Boss is at some government party” Tony said.
“Gibbs really?” she said with a raised eyebrow.
“I know” Tony said with a laugh opening the menu. “I’ll have a roast beef sandwich a coffee- and a tea for my friend here” he added.
“What kind?” she asked.
“You have different kinds?” Tony asked with a smile.
Bruce smiled “if you have chamomile that would be great” he said quietly.
“Sure thing honey-Tony it’ll be right out ok” Elaine said heading toward the back to place their orders.
Tony looked across at Bruce once Elaine had left. “Ok she’s gone you can finish your story” he said.
Bruce smirked at him “Not much to say-Ross worked us hard-me especially. I was trying to please him-I was with Betty at the time-his daughter-and for the most part I enjoyed what I was doing. I truly thought I was going to change the world. But nothing was working out-until I had this idea to use gamma radiation-Ross seemed to love the idea. I had to try it on someone-I didn’t want some innocent person effected-so I decided with my history with exposure through Brian-I used myself as a test subject-or Ginny pig-whatever you want to call it” Bruce said quietly smiling as Elaine brought their food-and placing a plate of fries in front of Bruce.
“Umm I didn’t order these” Bruce said in confusion.
“On the house-any friend of Tony’s is a friend of ours. Besides you need some meat on your bones” Elaine said with a wink.
They waited until Elaine left to help another customer and Tony had started eating before he asked a new question.
“So I am assuming the experiment didn’t work out?” Tony asked stealing a fry.
Bruce chuckled “that’s an understatement” he said.
“Did the experiment hurt?” Tony asked.
Bruce cocked his head in thought “I remember it kind of hurting-but I had felt worst. I remember seeing one of Ross’s men had hit my assistant to get him out of his way. That infuriated me-obviously-then I remember seeing green. The last thing I remember was seeing the look of horror on Betty’s face. That was how the Hulk was born” he concluded with a shrug.
“By trying to save your assistant” Tony said.
“He killed people in the process” Bruce replied.
“So you or he went on the run?” Tony asked.
“Ross caught me easily after the experiment-when I finally escaped I decided to go on the run-to get out of the country for a while” Bruce said.
“What happened when Ross caught you?” Tony asked.
“Tried to see what made the Hulk tick” Bruce said vaguely.
Both had finished their food-Tony decided it was time to get on the road again-can’t stay in one place for too long if you are technically on the run. That and he was sickened by what Bruce had just insinuated in his last statement-he needed new scenery so he wouldn’t get angry at the fact that no one could protect Bruce-again.
Jen followed Steve down the hall-she had initially rolled her eyes at him taking the lead-but then remembered he had the indestructible shield – almost indestructible himself-then there is her.
They went down hallway-upon-hallway following the sound of a person running.
“Steve are we sure this is an actual person?” she whispered.
Steve stopped and glanced at her-it had never occurred to him they were following a recording.
He closed his eyes and tried to listen-but the running had stopped. He knew they needed either keep going or duck into a room-staying in an open hallway wasn’t a good idea.
“Team report” he commanded waiting for feedback.
“Nothing where we are Cap” Clint said.
“Aye we haven’t gotten any either” Thor said.
Suddenly at the end of the hallway the door exploded-sending a thick smoke everywhere.
“We have smoke” Steve called to anyone who was listening over the comm.
Steve ran down the hallway to see if he could see the cause of the smoke. Jen tensed when a huge thick arm grabbed her around the waist-she hadn’t sensed anyone behind her. He lifted her off the ground and throwing her into a side room. She landed on her back with such force it knocked the wind out of her. The man was looming over her and wasn’t expecting the high heel he got to the groin. He screamed in pain cursing her grabbing her leg and swinging her into the wall-luckily she stayed conscious. She stood up shakily-the room spinning- and her vision splotchy -trying to figure out how she was going to stop him. They traded a few blows-but he had the upper hand-weight and making her unsteady on her feet with the repeated blows. She knew she had to stop him –she would have to use one of her powers.-which hates using unless there is no other choice. She saw him go for his gun so she summoned what little strength she had left and sent an energy wave at him throwing him back through the window-hearing as he screamed down and crashed to the streets of D.C.
“Jen-report” Steve yelled.
“He threw me in a room” she said quietly.
Steve ran down the hall having to try each room since he wasn’t sure which room she was thrown into because of the smoke.
There was a weird Pop and her back burned. She looked down to see blood seeping through her gown. ‘Damn I didn’t see that coming’ she thought as she crumbled to the floor.
“I need everyone down here! A strange bullet has just gone through a wall and I think it’s hit Jen” Steve yelled into the comm as he ran down the hall.
Just then Thor, Tony and Gibbs came into the hallway in front of him.
“Damn what’s with the smoke?” Tony asked coughing.
“Thor break a hole in the damn wall so the smoke will go outside” Steve demanded. “I can’t figure out which room she’s in” he added.
Thor shrugged and used his hammer to knock a hole in the wall. Gibbs just stood back watching the super hero’s work-trying to stay out of their way.
“PROBIE! What are you waiting for?” Mike’s voice yelled from the room in front of him.
Gibbs looked at the door and tried the knob. Of course it was locked. So he was about to throw his weight against it to open it-when Steve stopped him.
“Let me Agent Gibbs” Steve said as he threw his shield against the door.
Genevieve was laying on the floor feeling the blood seeping out of her. She heard Steve, Gibbs and Thor coming to get her and knowing they might not get to her in time. She was trying to breath calmly as she clutched her wound-easing her heart beat down in a last ditch effort to slow the blood-since her hand wasn’t doing anything. Was the room getting brighter? To her amazement she watched Shannon lean down and brush her hair-a comforting gesture she used to do.
“Sh-shannon?” Jen breathed.
“Hi sweetie-don’t worry-Gibbs is on his way” she said.
Jen smiled up at her aunt-“I am glad you’re here-don’t want to die alone” she whispered.
Her last few conscious thoughts were Shannon’s pensive face, the sound of a door breaking and a wiz of Steve’s shield through the room and the thought that she wanted to feel Bruce’s lips on hers one last time.