Before We Fall

Chapter 28

Bruce's fingers gripped my shirt as he huffed out.

"Dr. Banner. Bruce." I looked over at Nat. "You got to fight it. This is just want Loki wants. You're gonna be okay, just listen."

"You hurt?" A man yelled from across the room. Nat waved them away and they went running. I turned back to Bruce and pressed my hand to his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat.

"Bruce." I whispered his name. He looked at me as his back arched up. I saw a flash of green in his eyes, but it went to his normal eyes. He let out a loud huff and he gave me a pleading look. Begging me to move. I slowly crawled my way out from under him and grabbed Nat's hand, pulling.

"I swear on my life, I will get you out of this. You'll walk away." Nat promised Banner.

"Your life-" I jumped in fright when Banner hissed at her. I pulled on her harder as Banner's clothes started to rip, him going bigger. Nat pulled on her leg and finally got free. She stood up and my eyes widened when I saw the Hulk looking back at us.

I started to pull on Nat's hand and we both turned, running for the stairs. I grabbed onto a bar on the level above and pulled myself up. Nat followed after me just as the Hulk ripped the stairs away. We ran across the platform, the gates behind us being ripped out from under us. I looked back at Nat but she wasn't there.

I jumped when I heard a loud roar come from the Hulk, so I quickly hide behind a large pole bout twice my size. Holding my breathe, I listened to his loud footfalls. Fingers wrapped around my waist and I was jerked backwards. My body was thrown across the room and I landed hard on the ground.

All the air in my lungs came out all at once. In result, I took in short, rapid breathe, gasping through the pain in my chest. His footsteps came near me and I laid there, frozen. I felt a finger on my arm and the Hulk rolled me over onto my back. He huffed and it moved my hair away from my face. He roared out, swipping me away from him.

I rolled on the floor, then slammed into a wall, face first. I felt blood rush to my face, as blood poored out of my nose and mouth. I whimpered out in pain when his fingers wrapped around my waist again, lifting me up. He lifted me up to his face and we locked eyes. He huffed and dropped me. I caught myself on my hands and knees as he ran away from.

I let out the breath that I had been holding and slowly stood up. I gasped out in pain as my right side throbbed. I grabbed onto it as I reached the stairs. I jerked around, when I heard the Hulk roar again. Fearing he would come after me again, I quickly got up the stairs.

I was walking down the gated pathway back to the bridge when I felt like I was being followed. I waited for a moment. Jerking around, I managed to block the bow that was thrown at me. Clint kicked my knee and I was forced down on it. I swung my head forward, catching him in the manhood.

He was forced to his knees and I head butted him. He fell back but we both got up quickly. I held up my fists as he gripped his bow in his hand. He suddenly moved, twirling the bow around. I managed to catch it before it hit me. He grabbed my hair and yanked it. I let out a hiss at the pain.

I stomped on his foot then jerked my other leg up and into his manhood. He kneeled and I yanked the bow out of his hand. Throwing it across the room, he wrapped his arms around my knees. He lifted me over his head and I fell forward. My body covered his face as I grabbed onto a bar. I yanked myself out his grip and over his shoulders. I kicked his back before I landed on the ground.

My body was forced against the bar as Clint wrapped his arms around my neck. He pressed down on my neck, cutting off my oxygen. I grabbed onto one of his arms, ready to yank it away. I stomped on his foot again, elbowed him in the stomach then threw my head back. His grip loosed and I yanked his arm away.

I turned back around and didn't see him. I stiffened up as I knew he was waiting for the right minute. I slowly breathing and closed my eyes, listening. When I heard the lightest footsteps, I jerked around. Clint swung his bow, hitting me across the face. He wrapped the cord around my neck then slammed his head down onto mine. I bit his arm and he let out a hiss.

He grabbed a fist full of hair and slammed my head into a metal bar. He unwrapped the bow around my neck before gently placing me down on the ground. I felt his thumb rub against my cheek before he ran off. My vision was blurry but I got up anyway. I held onto the bar as I made my way towards the bridge.

I didn't see anyone come up to me but they wrapped one of my arms, placing it over their shoulder. An arm wrapped around my waist as they leaned me onto them, taking most of my weight.

"I got you, Donovan." I heard Sitwell's voice. He helped me to the bridge and sat me down in one of the chairs around the table. "I need a medic over here."

I saw two medics run over to me. They snipped off my shirt and started to patch up my chest. Another medic came over and started to wipe away the blood on my face.

"Agent Coulson is down." I heard Fury's voice come through my ear piece.

I felt tears come up and run down my face but they were wiped away by the medic. They finished stitching me as the doors opened then someone sat next to me. I looked up and saw Steve and Stark staring at me. I pushed the medics away and turned in my chair to face Fury.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury said as he threw the cards across the table at Steve. I watch as Steve picked one up and looked at it.

"We're dead in the air. Our communications are down, the location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming." Fury said. "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though because I was playing with something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative."

"The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they can become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them too. To fight the battles we never could. Phil Coulson died, still believing that idea. In heroes." Fury finished. Stark got up and walked away. "Well it's an old fashion motion."

I got up and walked out. I walked towards one of the holding room and the door slid open. Clint and Nat both turned to me.

"Can I come in?" I asked for permission.

Nat cocked her head and I walked in. I sat down on the bed, next to Clint's legs. He reached up with one hand and touched my bruised and cut up cheek.

"I did this?" He questioned. I grabbed his hand and took it away from my face. I just held it in my hands, remembering the feeling of it.

"Not all of it. Fought with the Hulk, well more like bullied by him, then two minutes later, you happened. For a 90- something year old woman, I think I did pretty damn good for myself." I told him. He laughed slightly and I smiled. I moved as he got up and went into the bathroom. My head jerked around when the door opened and Steve walked in.

"Time to go." He told us.

"Go where?" Nat asked him.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" He asked her. The bathroom door opened and Clint walked out.

"I can." He told him. Steve looked at Nat and she nodded her head.

"Got a suit." Clint nodded. "Then suit up."