Being a Banner [ 1 of JA ]

46

The day was bright and sunny, the grass smelled clean and looked freshly cut. I was worrying about the chance of rain later today, but Dalia assured me that the weather channel was having a hard time getting the weather correct. A week ago it was cold and now it was warm, something I've never felt happen to New York.
Someone kept calling Dad. He said it had been happening every night the entire week after I'd go to bed. One night I woke up at two in the morning to hear him on a call he answered at ten earlier that night. That person was very persistent; they kept calling dad almost every hour since early this morning. Before we left to pick up Dalia, I heard him snap at the receiving end. He had said that he didn't believe the caller, and that everything was alright. Thankfully he wasn't 'Other Guy angry.'
      We three had been at the park for ten minutes, and I didn't see Jax and Levi. Dalia and Dad walked in front of me, their hands intertwined. I saw Dalia's thumb running over his, and I smiled at the sight. Even if Jax wasn't my future love, I still wanted to be with someone who wanted to be with me and love me unconditionally.
      "There you are!" I hear from the far right. I saw Jax and Levi running over to me on the paved trail.
      "Sorry we're late," Jax huffed. Levi sounded like he was having an asthma attack.
      "You're fine! I'm just glad you guys are here." I laugh.
      "Damn is it a fine day for a walk in the park!" Levi exclaims. Dad and Dalia turn around, giving Levi a look. "Sorry Bruce," Dad and Dalia start cracking up as Jax and I giggle and snicker. That's when I see Levi's eyes on me, as if he's glaring.
      "Levi, what's wrong?"
      "Something about you looks different. . ." He mutters in thought.
"You parted your hair again!" Jax says, looking at my head.
I laugh, "I did! I'm going to keep it this way too,"
"Wow," Levi says, a small nod. "It's looks good,"
Suddenly, Dalia turns around, her smile big and cocky. "I told you so!" Dad and the boys laugh as I jokingly roll my eyes. Soon, the boys and I start a separate conversation from Dad and Dalia. It was about me hating the Yankees, which threw the boys in a silly debate about the worst teams in New York.
It wasn't the change of topic that threw me off from listening, but the sound of Dad's phone ringing. I watched him take it out which automatically turned the screen on. I saw the name as 'P. Coulson,' but I didn't want to be nosey. Trying to listen to the boys, I heard Dad ask Davao what to do.
"They're going to ask me to help," Dad growled.
"With what?" Dalia asked.
"I don't know! They want to use me for something out of the blue. He hasn't called me in years, the last I ever saw him was before Kerry was—"
"You like the Dodgers?!" Levi asks me. I looked to the boys, forced a laugh and nodded.
"Yeah," I say, looking at Dad. "I do. . ." I couldn't hear Dad anymore, but Jax nudged my arm.
"You okay?" He asked. I looked at Dad, then placed my hand on Jax's arm.
"Hold on a sec," I whisper. "Did I hear my name?" I run up behind Dad, forcing a smile.
His brown eyes look down at me, then to Dalia. She looks back with a small nod. Dad then sighs as he puts his phone in his pocket. He leads me off the paved trail a few feet away from Dalia and the boys. We stand in the grass along with people having a nice picnic and Corn-hole game.
      "So," Dad sighs, scratching the back of his head. "This old friend of mine keeps calling me, asking to help him and his company out. To them I'm their number one in Gamma research. They want me to come to them, and it's going to be a while before I can come back." I stare at Dad, my brows furrowed in confusion.
      "This came out of the blue," I say. "How long will you be away exactly?" Dad starts fidgeting with his hands. He stutters over his choice of words, but I already knew the answer.
      "A few weeks," he says.
      "You don't know at all, do you?" I ask. "Do you even know where you're going?"
      "Babe, please—"
      "I want to come with you," I say. Dad's eyes widen as he shakes his head.
      "What? No,"
      "Why not?"
      "Because I'm your father and I say so," Dad whispers harshly.
      "Who's going to watch me?"
      "Dalia will. Kerry, listen—"
      "I won't be in your way, I'm never in your way!" I exclaim. "You said it's about gamma? So what about it? What's the case?"
      "It's. . .complicated," Dad says.
      "Complicated?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips. "Okay, so translating from Bruce Banner's way of speaking, that means you have no idea—"
      "Why are you getting offensive?" Dad snaps. "I thought today we could relax a little bit, all of us after the week we've had! I didn't want to tell you now but Dalia thought I should so it didn't look bad before telling you days before I have to leave!"
      "Hey!" I sarcastically laugh. "We can both agree on that! You tell me things that blow my whole life out of proportion right before it happens!" Dad stares at me, face flustered as he tries to make a sentence.
      "What? I don't even know what you're saying anymore!"
      "You left me alone, and I never saw you unless I stayed up passed twelve am!" I snap, tears forming at my eyes. "I hardly knew you! You became a workaholic. One day I remember you having brown hair, and the next thing I know you have grey streaks—that was a two year difference until I noticed. I didn't see you grow old and you never saw me grow up,"
Dad was taken aback. He shook his head as I wiped away small tears that formed on my waterline. He had his hands at his head, pulling his grey-streaked hair until they fell down his face and to his scruff.
"Oh my God," he whispers, looking back at me. "Kerry, I—" his brown eyes darted over my shoulder. At first I didn't notice, and me being me I thought something was on my baseball t-shirt. When I looked behind me, I saw no one but happy park goers and Dalia and the boys watching us.
"Oh God. . .oh God—oh my God—"
"Bruce?" Dalia asks, walking over to us. "Is everything okay?" Dad is turning his head around every which way like an owl looking for food. His eyes are wide and full of fear, true fear, like something was after him.
"Dad—" I reach my hand out to take his arm, but he swats it away.
"Get away from me! —all of you! Get as far away from me as possible!" Dad yells, earning the attention of others.
"Bruce what's going on?" Dalia asks, her hands covering my shoulders.
"Do what I say! Get Kerry out of here! NOW!" Dad shouts as he spins around. He takes off down the large open grass field of the park as Dalia pulls me away.
"Dalia let go!" I cry as Jax takes me by the arms.
"Is Bruce okay?" Levi asks. "I'm scared!"
"What's going on?" Jax asks me.
"Let go!" I snap, pushing Jax's arms off me.
I run before anyone could grab me again. The faint cry of Dalia and Levi calling my name fades behind me as I follow the tiny, far away figure of Dad. My legs burned, and my mind told me to stop, but my heat told me to keep going. I was sure I wasn't breathing at all while trying to wrap my head around what was going on.
I was running through picnics and frisbee games trying to catch up to Dad. People were yelling at me, and then screaming altogether. I couldn't understand what it was until I heard someone yell at the top of their lungs, "TACKLE HER!" I was hit with what felt like a house of bricks, throwing me off my feet and onto the hard ground. The grass didn't help at all when landing hard on my right side. Pain shot up my right arm and I considered it broken or dislocated.
I had no time to groan as two hands picked me up from the ground, one from two different men in camouflage. Looking out onto the field I saw Dad running towards some trees.
"State your name!" the man on my left yelled into my ear. I was breathing fast and heavy as I watched Dad.
"DAD!" I screeched, writhing in the mens' grips. "DAD!"
"STATE YOUR NAME!"
BOOM!
Dad had vanished into a ginormous cloud of white smoke, which rose ghastly into the sky. The whole park grew silent and the sky grew darker. I screamed as my father was nowhere to be seen. The men hoisted me up all by themselves, their grips tight and painful. One was talking into an ear piece about me, but I didn't care and couldn't hear as I sobbed loudly for my father.
Roaring louder than my sobs was a sound that was somewhat familiar. It wasn't a voice, more like an animal roaring. From the cloud of gas I saw a gigantic shadow of a creature standing as tall as a house. With its big green hands it wiped his eyes, roaring in pain from the gas. The mens' grip loosened to their shock at the sight of the creature. The creature tumbled out of the smoke, anger written on his face as he wiped his eyes one more time. His green eyes looked in my direction.

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Edited one of my favorite scenes!! So exciting!!