Chapter 11
Sitting in the jet, Clint and Tony analyse the footage of the drones. There’s so many cars leaving and they have no way of knowing what car Natasha is in.
There’s no infrared scanning, no technology they could have deployed more than what they have.
They’re in Russia.
Tony can’t even redirect the satellites overhead.
Clint growls in annoyance at the lack of movement.
“I should be out there looking for her, on the ground,” he grumbles.
Tony gestures to the drones.
“Yeah,” he snorts, “what could go wrong with that?”
Clint shrugs.
“Better me than any international incident you lot make,” he challenges.
Steve and Bruce are still in the makeshift compound, searching for any clues, any leads that can bring Natasha back to them.
Clint watches the three drones, and Tony another three.
One trudges deeper into the Russian tundras, whilst the others head towards the cities.
Tony groans in annoyance.
“How are we—“
He’s cut off as a loud noise from the compound as the Hulk powers through a brick wall.
The growl that emanates feels like it breaks sound barriers as Clint shudders and the suit crawls to completely cover Tony.
“Fuck,” they both say simultaneously, as they move in tandem to corral the Hulk.
Flying up, Tony realises that Steve is chasing after him.
“What happened?” he yells.
“I don’t know!” Steve yells back into the ear piece.
“He was on the computer, and hacked into their medical files, and then all of a sudden he changed!”
Clint has no idea what to do.
He can chase them but he doesn’t have the ability to fly like Tony and can’t run like Steve.
Cursing, he sprints back to the Quinjet. They don’t have fucking time for this.
He thinks he might have jinxed it by saying it, but really he’s better off looking for her by himself.
He’s so angry already, at not pulling her out on time, at being in Greece for gods sake. What good is working as a team if they’re a liability?
Clint turns once, watching as the Hulk reaches the small town. This is not his fight, he knows where his fight lies and it’s not here.
.
Despite Tony throwing small bombs trying to redirect the Hulk, there’s a determination to the green monster that he can’t defend. He doesn’t even have Hulkbuster to help.
“She’s not there!” he shouts.
The small blasts do nothing to deter him, even Steve with all his strength, can’t stop the momentum the Hulk.
“Stop!”
Throwing a car into the nearest building, the Hulk roars, a guttural sound that rips through the town, breaking some windows in the nearest building.
It turns out it’s a supermarket, people run with their shopping, small children crying as it all seems to happen in an instant.
The small building evacuates quickly as it crumbles and somewhere in the town a wartime bell starts ringing.
The whirring stops Steve in his tracks, a sound he hasn’t heard in so long.
Tony hovers next to his changed friend and tries again, hands up.
“Big guy, she’s not here! Okay? She’s been taken!”
He yells the words as panic engulfs the town.
Steve tries to direct them away from the path of the Hulk. They don’t understand him.
Another car gets thrown, this time at Tony as he deflects it but it hits straight onto another building.
There’s fire, screams and chaos as finally, Tony’s yells seem to get through.
“She’s not here. They don’t have her! Okay?”
The Hulk takes two steps back, another growl and then..
“Not here?” he questions.
Tony shakes his head, and points to the road.
“Not here. Somewhere out there okay?”
The Hulk trudges to where Tony points, leaving destruction and possible death in his wake.
The bell continues and Steve tries to ignore it, even as it drags in his soul.
That sound, it feels to him like the universal meaning of war; but this time, it’s him that brings it upon these people.
As much as possible he tries to make things right, staying behind to move big things, apologising, and helping the fire brigade put out the remaining fires.
He can’t understand them but he thinks it means something that he helps.
It’s not enough.
It feels like hours before he stops.
He doesn’t see Tony, or Bruce, or Clint for that matter who didn’t even join in the fight.
Steve sits, exhaustion from sensory overload of sound, sweat and sights invade all his senses. An elderly man offers him a glass of water and he takes it gratefully.
“I’m sorry,” he says again.
The man clasps him on the shoulder.
“Not you,” he says in broken English.
“Monsters,” he points, to where the Hulk disappeared.
The alarm finally stops.
Steve nods, head pounding, flashbacks of the war at the forefront of his mind.
“Monsters,” he agrees.
.
Tony keeps talking. It’s all he can do.
Fear keeps him in a state he only knows how to deal with in words.
“Come on, Hulky, Green man. Destroyer of towns. Come with me.”
Flying around the Hulk’s head, he leads him away.
He needn’t worry though, by the time they reach the tree line, there’s change.
First a little, and then he’s Bruce again.
Tony lands next to him, his face shield lowering as their eyes meet.
It’s good because he’s naked.
“Clothes,” he says, breaking the silence.
He flies up again, locating a clothesline and steals pants and a top that looks vaguely Bruce’s size.
He marks the location and orders new clothes to be sent there; he does it on the spot because he knows he’ll forget.
Landing softly, he hands Bruce the clothes, averting his eyes as he dresses in silence.
“What happened?” he asks, unable to help himself.
Bruce licks his lips, “Tony, they fixed her. She’s healed but then.. they.. then they tortured her, they’re going to use..”
Bruce pauses, spitting on the floor.
“There’s a chemical they have.”
His face is hard.
Fists clenched, Tony feels like the Hulk is too close for this conversation to be had.
“Don’t worry—“ he starts.
“No. It’s important.”
Bruce lets go of his hands
“They’re drugging the girls, it’s a neurostimulant. It combines with the Nanites, and makes them… compliant.”
Tony is confused.
“I don’t—“
“The guards, the higher ups, they also have them, they use pheromones that mix in, they’re compliant and they can’t fight back. Even if they wanted to they can’t.”
Nothing Bruce says is making sense.
Tony puts the suit in sentry mode and pushes his friend to sit down.
“Tell me again. Tell me what you saw.”
Bruce looks forlornly at Tony.
“We sent her there for them to fix her, but they’re going to break her. They’re monsters, she was right, she’s not coming out; not the Natasha we knew.”
The words physically hurt.
He wants to tell Bruce he’s a liar, he’s wrong; but he holds his tongue and takes in his words.
“What do you remember of the compounds?” he asks, instead.
Bruce shrugs. “Most of it I think.”
Nodding Tony trusts this assessment.
“Can we fix it?”
He rephrases the question.
“Can we reverse it?”
Tony knows he can. Even if it takes longer than a week, he knows he can help.
“I don’t know,” Bruce admits.
Standing, Tony offers him a hand and helps him up.
“Come on,” he tells him, “it sounds like we have a lot of work to do.”
.