Chapter Text
Natasha meets the elusive doctor first. Dr. Beverly Banner follows the small child closely, the SHIELD agent feels a jolt surprise at the alertness in the doctor’s eyes and the obvious compassion for the little girl. Romanoff supposes she’d been expecting more harden lines and suspicion, not a trusting doctor, who easily follows children to the outskirts of the city. When the child escapes through the window Banner pauses, a wry smile grows on her face. Natasha steps out of her hiding place and the biophysicist turns, body deceptively calm. The Black Widow talks to the doctor like a scared animal, slow but firm. Banner smiles, throws out a few quips as though they were actually having a conversation and then she turns an about face, screaming and slamming her hands on the table. Natasha feels the fear race through her and her body reacts, immediately drawing her gun. Banner smiles down the barrel of the gun as though amused by its presence.
“I’m sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and the other guy doesn't make a mess? Okay? Natasha...” The doctor apologizes softly. Natasha slows her breathing and tells the men around the hut to stand down. Dr. Banner quirks an eyebrow, snarks, and agrees to come to SHIELD. As they load up, Natasha realizes in that moment, the Dr. Banner she sees is a mask. The danger of Dr. Banner sits heavy in her stomach the whole way to SHIELD.
Steve’s first impression of Dr. Banner is she’s distinctly uncomfortable. She’s dodging the people, looking around for a place to hide. Her wild curls, wide eyes, and nervous hands tell a story of fear. Steve can’t help but stare and study her, in the back of his mind he can hear the roar of the monster lurking behind the sun worn skin. She smiles and greets him but her discomfort disrupts the ritual, as though she isn’t used to greeting anyone. She wrings her hands before and after their handshake.
“Word is you can find the cube.” Steve tries. She almost instantly recoils from him, hands pulled close to her stomach. Steve can’t help but offer a smile, she’s so uncomfortable, he almost turns and tells Agent Romanoff to take her back to land.
“Is that the only word on me?” She asks softly, her eyes are sharp waiting for the answer. Steve locked eyes with the genius.
“Only word I care about.”
Dr. Banner graces him with another smile acknowledging his attempt at a comforting lie. Natasha ushers them inside as the helicarrier takes off, Dr. Banner laughs, but to Steve it sounds like a choking sob.
Tony’s first impression of Dr. Banner comes from a list of papers SHIELD had handed him months ago. Beverly Banner: on a good day a giant green rage monster, on a normal day a genius scientist, and on bad day a target of US Military––Tony’s kind of person. When he finally meets her in person, he sees the way she’s curled in on herself and something in the back his head snarls. Everyone around her is tense, and Beverly is doing everything in her power to disappear in her own skin. Stark knows what it is like to be the freak in the room. So he straps on his smile and dances to the tune only scientists would understand. She falls into step easily, soon they are in the lab. He invites her repeatedly to the Tower, planting ideas that the Hulk is something that can be used for good. Tony coaxes her out of her shell, she laughs quietly. Every peaceful sound is a win, then the Capsicle comes in and destroys all his hard work.
“Are you nuts?” The Super Soldier demands after he witnesses Tony shocking Beverly with some of the equipment. Dr. Banner’s joking smile dies a very sudden death as she reassures the Captain there is no danger from Tony’s antics. Tony blatantly ignores Rogers trying to keep the gentle banter going.
“You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?” Tony asks rapid fire and gets an amused snort for his effort.
“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve demands, his body language all wrong and Banner slips back into her head. Tony knows he’s lost most of his progress. He does his best to boost the woman’s confidence, snarking at Steve. Then they turn to more important things, like Fury and the secrets his secrets have. Finally the star spangled stick up his ass leaves, Tony turns back to Beverley; he does his best to undo the damage of Steve’s distrust.
“Hey, I've read all about your accident. That much gamma exposure should have killed you.” Her face twists into something other than calm emotion.
“So you're saying that the Hulk...the other guy... saved my life?” Dr. Banner breathes calm back into her body “That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?” Tony backs off, throwing out a non-answer. Tony isn’t sure why she reacted the way she did, but he stores it in the back of his mind to think about when the world isn’t in crisis.
Fury tenses when the Avengers find Phase Two, the one thing he thought he could keep hidden on his damn helicarrier. He realizes that having Rogers and Stark in the same room is perhaps not the best of ideas; then Natasha aggravates the Hulk, maybe out of fear, maybe out of professionalism. The point is Fury can’t see a way out of a confrontation from someone else and one member of this crew might accidentally kill them all.
“I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.” Beverly snips at Natasha’s suggestion to remove herself from the situation. Stark’s eyes are alight with pride when the woman stands up for herself. He throws himself into the argument in her defense and everything goes to hell. They all start to argue at once. Fury keeps an eye on the agitated woman and he tries to calm her, explain the reasoning for the cell in a nonthreatening manner. Then the truth falls out when no one expected it.
“In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!” The words come out, short and weighty. Tony and Steve faces fall. The entire room falls silent and Dr. Banner continues on.
“I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!” As Dr. Banner speaks, the words grow sharper and sharper. The air changes, and everyone knows they are on the edge of something. Then the woman fasten her gaze on Romanoff, pinning her there. Dr. Banner snarls for a moment lifts the scepter. Everyone holds their breath, but in her usual casual fashion Beverly doesn’t turn, instead making a joke out of her anger. Tony offers the woman a smile, then a bomb explodes and everything falls apart.
Thor finds the Hulk fascinating. He didn’t know the woman –– Banner –– who housed such a creature, but there is more to her than meets the eye. No weak thing could have such power. He recognizes the fear, the confusion. This creature, the Hulk, isn’t trying to hurt, it’s doing its best to escape. They clash and Thor feels exhilaration. He knows that this creature will be an comrade one day. And maybe the woman who kept this power could be a friend. Thor resolves that if he continues to have dealings with these Avengers he will pay attention to Dr. Banner and treat her with the respect a mighty warrior is due.
The battle of New York is over, and the Hulk shrinks into Banner. Clint’s first thought is one of confusion. The woman housing the Hulk is small and gentle eyed. She’s mostly naked when she comes to, but she doesn’t seem particularly surprised or bothered by it. Steve immediately finds her clothing that she can cover herself with. At shawarma she eats more than any of them, much to Barton admiration and surprise. She finishes her food, politely cleaning up the table, still wrapped in the found clothing that hangs off of her. No one speaks. When the team splits, Tony lays claim to her as he all but ushers Dr. Banner away (“uh, you can call me Bev” She whispers as they say good-bye). Something about that bothers Clint as she passively leaves, a thought that seems stuck somewhere in his mind. As Natasha fills him in on everything he’s missed, it clicks for Hawkeye: she has become a part of his unit, therefore she is someone to protect and be protected by.
Banner lays in the ridiculously large bed that Tony insists she sleep in during her stay (how long will it be before she forgets how to sleep on the ground?). The whole way to his Tower, Tony fills the silences with his chatter, with all the possibilities a genius, hero such as herself could do in his R&D labs. The word for what she is, monster, suddenly replaced by a small thought ––hero. Emotion wells up in her chest and tears begin to leak down her face. Her heart doesn’t set off any warning bells, but the sobs wrack her frame. She is exhausted, yet sleep is not her ally. Beverly fears the nightmares, the flashes of Hulk memories that will bleed through. The fear that flashed across everyone’s faces when the bomb had forced a transformation in the helicarrier.
“Dr. Banner, are you in need of assistance?” JARVIS’s voice cuts across her mental spiral. She sighs.
“No, thank you JARVIS.” She whispers through the tears. Beverly takes a deep breath and relaxes, maybe, just maybe, it will be ok.
Days in the new Avenger Tower are the best that Beverly have ever had. She’s totally out of the public eye and Tony’s given her, her own personal lab. It has everything she wants, and for the first time she is comfortable in her own skin. She creates, builds on projects that Tony keeps sending her. Dr. Banner keeps her scientist hours, sleeping between tests and when it’s convenient. She emerges occasionally to find Steve, Natasha, and Clint around. Thor’s gone back to his home world, the Tesseract in tow. Everything is good.
“Dr. Banner?” Steve calls, wandering into the room she was last seen in. He finds the woman sprawled out on the couch, TV on, mouth wide open. She’s snoring, her curly hair tangled in a nest fit for rats, and Steve’s mouth curls into a grin. He quietly approaches, he knows she hasn’t eaten much today, and lays a hand on her back. She wakes with a slight start.
“Dr. Banner, dinner.” Captain Rogers says softly, trying not to laugh at her sleepy, unfocused stare. She stares at him for a brief second and promptly rolls over. Steve laughs out of surprise, and then stares at her for moment, unsure of what to do.
“Move over Cap.” Tony says, blanket in hand. The super soldier watches as Tony lays the blanket out and then scoops the smaller woman up. She huffs but clings on.
“Bed or food?” Tony asks. She mutters something. He nods. He carries her into the dining area. The rest of the team stare at the odd sight.
“Is Dr. Banner ok?” Clint asks eyeing the half asleep woman. Tony nods absently.
“Bev’s fine, she was up the last couple of days. JARVIS was monitoring her for any dangerous signs of exhaustion, she’s still within survivable parameters.” The billionaire explains as he sets her down on a chair. Natasha walks over with a plate of food and places it in front of the biophysist. Beverly picks at the food and says nothing the whole evening. Occasionally Tony will push food around on her plate, or ever grab her forgotten fork and stab food on it. The meal ends and Tony immediately goes to grab her, but Cap gets there first.
“It’s alright Stark. I can take her.” Steve offers. The two men lock eyes for a moment before Tony nods. Beverly goes easily into his arms and falls asleep to the rhythm of his steps. As Steve lays the Doctor onto her bed it clicks: this woman is the lynch pin of their group. She is the one that they want to be. Calm, kind, and understanding are the traits that make up her daily interactions with people. The rest of the Avengers float around her, taking the light she has to offer. Steve sighs.
“I’m sorry Dr. Banner.” He whispers, apologizing for everything that was his fault.
“Don’t be.” Dr. Banner responds, before rolling over. Steve stares for a moment in surprise and then laughs quietly as he leaves the bedroom to go find Tony. Tony is right where Steve thought he would be, in the lab.
“Is that normal?” Steve asks referring to the level of exhaustion Dr. Banner managed to achieve.
“Brilliant science is time consuming. Sleep is for the weak, you just go until you can’t see straight then run a few more tests.” Tony says, his words hold fondness in every sound.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Steve asks.
“Bev’s an adult woman, Rogers. She can decide what she wants to do.” The words have an edge to them. Steve lifts his hands in surrender.
“That’s not what I meant Tony. If that were you needing to be carried to bed, I’d ask her the same thing.” Tony stares at the Captain for a moment as if deciding something.
“The military still considers her property. Did you know that? Legally on paper she’s a weapon, a stolen weapon.” The billionaire states, Rogers whips his head in surprise at the non-sequitur.
“What?”
“See, Fury didn’t tell us everything so I went digging for some answers. General Ross, hired her to work on the Super Solider serum, pushed her to point of self experimentation. Held her hostage, and continued experimentation. SHIELD is still in litigation with the US Military over who ‘owns’ Beverly. Also you gotta think, what was it in her past that gamma radiation brought to life a giant green indestructible Hulk?”
Steve finds himself in the lab with Tony for the rest of the night. Something about wanting to know Dr. Banner’s past lights a fire of determination in Steve’s mind. Military files are easy for Tony to hack (Steve pushes away his concern for military security for a later date). He gets through in a matter of an hour and pulls up what Ross recorded. Steve finds himself breaking a table in response to what they find: confinement, torture, exhaustion, experimentation, the list of atrocities that Beverly suffered is long. Ross had managed to contain the Hulk using different experimental devices. Containment followed routine abuse and recordings of Banner’s recovery. Tony sits and watches everything unfold. The video footage goes on for countless hours. He hits the control pad.
“JARVIS, delete everything related to Ross and Dr. Beverly Banner, use facial recognition, since the good General couldn’t be bothered to use her name. Any trace of it, on any database, I want it wiped, now.” Tony orders softly, his mouth pulled tightly. The AI does so efficiently, Tony goes back to clicking on his computer. Steve watches him, unsure if he can say anything that won’t cause one of them to explode into a rage.
“Her favorite color is purple, do you think they knew that?” Tony asks suddenly, his voice low. Steve remains silent.
“It’s funny, the little things you get to know about a person. What makes them laugh, what makes them cry, and what gets them right in the heart!” Tony’s voice rises in volume until he shouts the word heart, hands slamming on either side of his workstation. Steve steps forward, resting his hand on the other man’s shoulder.
“Dr. Banner probably didn’t want us to worry or maybe she didn’t want anyone to know. She just wants to be left alone to do her work. I think that’s the best gift we can give her. That’s probably the only thing we can give her.” Tony is quiet, eyes unwavering, and his body still. Steve takes it as a sign of Tony listening so he presses on.
“Nothing we do or say will change what happened to her, but all of us together we can offer her is our support in whatever she wants to do.” Tony offers a quick nod in response before he returns to his work, ignoring the man behind him. Steve takes that as his sign to leave. As he walks out of the lab, Captain America feels a kinship to Iron Man that hadn’t existed before start to grow. For the first time they are speaking the same language. Steve returns to his room and hopes that he’ll be able to sleep after all he’s seen.