Rock-Bottom Runaway

The Capture

Bruce couldn't be sure what had happened when he woke up, nor how it was possible for the Hulk to have been taken down in such a rage. All he knew is that living was the last thing he wanted. He wanted to die.
The scientist weakly glanced down to see himself dressed in an orange jumpsuit.

"Where am I...?" He groaned quietly. Suddenly, a voice arose and filled the room.

"You're under state confinement." The voice replied through the speakers. Bruce muttered to himself in confusion, then looked around as he hauled himself off the bare ground. When he looked around, the man observed that he was locked in a sort of chamber, surrounded by a circular wall of thick glass. The room was empty, apart from a chair and a small television. It wasn't just any programme... They were playing the same continuous loops of videos of the Hulk destroying cities, time after time.

Bruce frowned heavily in irritation.
"Get me out of here, I need to talk with Natasha."

"Romanoff? She's dead, Banner. You killed her."

You killed her. You killed her. You killed her.
The words echoed through Bruce's mind over and over. His heart sank into a pit of dark lava. He couldn't remember it. Any of it. The entire day had become a blur. The last thing Bruce remembered was entering the store.
Banner suddenly got up and sprinted to the glass, and began to pound it with his fist.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE NOW!" He bellowed, glaring through the glass. Green veins suddenly began to bulge from his neck and temples. "ROSS!"

"Code three." The speaker said simply. Steam began to fog into the room, the gas clearly a sedative. Bruce covered his mouth and nose for as long as he could, but eventually fainted.

Not knowing how much time had past, Bruce woke up again with a groan, flickering his heavy eyes open. His brain felt numb, his body weak and tired.

"Alright Ross... you have me... just tell me what happened. Where is Natasha?" Bruce demanded, barely able to wrench his body up from the floor.

"MIA. Assumed dead from your violent attack on New York. Wouldn't be the first time." General Ross replied through the speaker.
This time, Bruce didn't need gas. He rested his head back down to the ground and fell unconscious.
A soft sob came pumping in, making tears flood his closed eyes until he had to open them to let the tears roll out. He didn't want to move - he didn't feel motivation for anything. His life felt meaningless and empty like it once had been before.

"Doctor Banner." A different voice arose from the speakers. It sounded familiar. A voice he dreaded to hear. "We need to keep you in here for a while. I'm collaborating with General Ross as it's his profession. Until we know you have full control, you may be able to leave with full supervision. We'll be taking your blood every week to work on an official cure."

"It's impossible." Bruce snapped. Anger suddenly floated around him. He hated being treated like an animal to be experimented on. He suddenly found the energy to hurl himself up and walk to the glass once again. He stared soullessly at the tall eyepatched man who wore a long black coat. "Fury, you know I've spent my life searching for a cure. I'm the only one who can, and it's impossible."

Fury bored into Bruce's eyes, his face serious and made of stone.

"Then you'll stay here until the end of your days." Fury said.

"What? No Fury, you can't!" The doctor exclaimed. It was only until he lifted his arms again that he realised that his wrist had a watch around it that monitored his heart beat.

"Code thr-"

"No! It's not a code three!" Bruce growled. He took a couple of deep breathes to officially calm down. "It's not a code three."
There was a long pause. "Nick. You don't think I would've wanted any of this. What happened to- Na- natasha... it's just -"

"I knew that it was never going to work. She was my most valuable agent. One of those reasons was because she didn't feel for people. Then you came along and took that away. Look at what happened now Banner! You are a monster. Not just because of the Hulk, but for letting her love you when you knew that you couldn't handle it!"

"When I came along? You forced me onto that mission, Fury, you are the reason this all happened. Not me, not her. YOU! I would NEVER hurt her. You just needed an excuse to put me in another cage." Bruce snapped. He refused to believe that he killed his own lover.

"Code three." Nick told one of the workers, snapping his fingers impatiently. Bruce checked his heart beat on the watch. It wasn't even close to 200 BPS.
His eyes widened as gas slowly leaked into the room. Bruce stumbled back and landed himself in the singular seat in the room before passing out in front of the television.
Months had passed. Bruce sat everyday, watching his alter ego destroy cities over and over again. There wasn't a moment where he didn't think of Natasha. He refused to believe she was dead. MIA, they had said. She was missing, not dead. Banner had a plan to escape, and he was going to search the ends of the earth for her. He was going to be a wanted criminal, hunted by the government, but it was nothing new. That had always been his life.