1.5

I saw red behind my eyelids; the sun was rising. I shut my eyes tightly, covering my face with my arm. I felt the fire blanket slowly sliding off of me and onto the floor. I didn't bother to catch it.

Images of the Hulk flashed behind my eyelids:

The look in his eye...

His sneer...

His roar...

His fists coming down on my head...

I shook my head, and I sat up. I stretched, rubbing my eyes and face. I looked around blearily. I was still in the lab, again. I was alone, again. I let my legs dangle off the side of the table and I twisted my torso, sighing at the series of cracks I heard, and felt, go down my back. I slid off the table, careful to avoid the blanket on the floor. I bent down; I picked up the blanket. I stared at it, and I sighed.

'I need a plan.'

I folded the blanket and put the emergency supplies back in the box.

'The Hulk is the biggest issue right now, so how do I take care of him?'

I put obvious tools back where I knew they would go - leaving the tools that I didn't recognize.

'The Hulk comes out when Bruce is too stressed to keep him in. What were the biggest stressors?'

I stacked files and notes that were, obviously, connected and important.

'There was the explosion, for sure.'

I put the monitors that weren't in use in standby mode.

'And there was the fight.'

I put blank paper and pens in a stack on the table I'd been sleeping on.

'I can't stop the explosion, so I need to get him as far away from the fight as possible.'

I walked to the main desk, looking at the monitor with Tony's scan on it.

'Maybe I can convince him to take a walk around the ship with me?'

Tony and Bruce walked back in - Tony with two coffees and Dr. Banner with some hot tea in hand. I leaned around the display, sending them a forced smile.

'Hopefully, the walk will make it easier to calm him down when everything goes down.'

"Morning, guys!" I said, sending them a little wave.

"Good morning." Dr. Banner smiled at me.

Tony smirked at me, shaking his head. "Morning, Sunshine. You sleep well?"

I shrugged my shoulders, moving to sit on top of the desk. "Pretty well, you know, considering that I was curled up on a table all night." I looked to the screen, pressing all the buttons I remembered Tony pressing the last time around. "But I'm feeling pretty good. You?"

The men walked around the desk to stand next to me. Dr. Banner leaned back against the window, taking a sip of his peppermint tea. I looked back at Tony through the screen as he quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Pretty well," He answered me, only to swiftly change the subject. "Since when did you start hacking? Don't tell me that was one of your paying jobs."

I chuckled. "Oh, no." I finished inputting all the data that the program had asked for. "To be honest, I'm not the best with anything more complicated than Microsoft Word. My knowledge of comupters is pretty basic."

Tony's eyes narrowed at me in disbelief.

"So," He put the coffees down on a random table, turning the monitor to face him. "You just started pressing buttons without knowing what they did?"

I refused to meet his gaze. "I guess you could say that..."

"What were you thinking??? You're lucky that you pressed all the right things!"

I cleared my throat, glancing out the window. "I guess you can call it a hunch..."

Both men looked at me in an instant, and I could sense that they were feeling a little uneasy. I hinted at a "future knowledge" scenario, and they had no trouble catching on.

"Anything we need to know?" Tony asked, picking up his cup and sitting next to me.

I continued to stare blankly out the window, thinking back on what I had told everyone last time.

' "You don't keep secrets from your partners, either!" '

I turned back to Tony with a smile. "It's nothing we can't handle."

He stared at me for a moment. Then he nodded.

"Alright." He took a sip from his cup.

I nodded back at him, my smile never leaving my face. Then, as if a thought had suddenly come to me, I let my smile fade into a thoughtful expression.

"I do have a question, though." I turned to Bruce, who raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Since I fell asleep here last night, I have no idea where my room is. You think you could show me really quick, Dr. Banner?" I sent him my most sincere, sheepish grin. "The scan won't be done for a while, anyway. I'm sure we'll be back before it's finished."

Bruce did the same as Tony; he stared at me for a moment. But, in the end, he nodded, too.

He stood up straight. "Sure, I can show you." He smiled at me as I hopped off the desk. "Right this way."

I glanced at Tony over my shoulder as we walked towards the door, briefly noticing that the progress bar on the monitor was at seventy-three percent. "See you later, Stranger!"

Any discomfort in Tony's form melted away to be replaced with a playful pout. "It's Tony!"

I turned back around, letting myself laugh as I followed Bruce through the door and into the hallway. Once we were away from the lab, we walked in silence. I made sure to stay behind the Doctor. I didn't want him to see my expression, which I'm sure was not "all smiles" anymore. There were plenty of twists and turns, but we made it to my room fairly quickly.

"Alright, Jamie," Bruce turned to me with a grin. "This is it."

He took one look at my face, and his grin fell away.

"You think we can talk in there for a minute?" I asked, completely serious. "I promise, I wouldn't drag you out here if it wasn't important."

"Wait," He paused, narrowing his eyebrows at me. "You lied to us."

I didn't look away this time.

"Something's going to happen, and you didn't tell us."

"Yes," I confirmed bluntly, catching him by surprise. "I lied to you, and I lied to Tony. I did it for good reason. You spread knowledge of the future, and everyone and their mom will try to change it. Then, I have no idea what will happen and I have nothing to work with."

He stared at me in stunned silence. I shook my head.

"Look," I put a hand on his shoulder. "I want nothing more than for you to process this. But, frankly, we don't have time."

He nodded solemnly. "What did you want to tell me?"

I sent him a grateful grin, letting my arm fall back to my side. "Right now, everyone on the team is having a shouting match in the lab."

Bruce's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "You were getting me away from that?"

I nodded. "For the most part, yes. But I still need to warn you."

"About what?"

"The ship is going to be attacked. There's going to be some explosions, and I don't know what's going to happen after that. Is there anywhere you need to be for that?"

He paused for a moment to think. "Well -- "

I heard a boom in the distance. The entire ship shook, knocking both of us off our feet and onto the floor. In the moment, I tried to stabilize myself by taking a few steps and leaning against the wall, but that did no good. The ship shaking pushed me right back off the wall. I landed roughly on my side. Bruce landed right in front of me, his tea mug shattering on the ground between us.

I'd closed my eyes for the impact, but I opened them wide as soon as the ship had stopped shaking. I lifted my head. I looked at Bruce, looking for his face.

"Bruce! Are you okay?" I asked desperately.

I heard him groan, burying his face into the floor. I felt my blood drain from my face and my hands grow clammy.

I swallowed thickly. "Bruce?"

He shook his head, moving to sit on his knees. He took a deep breath. Then he turned to me, a nervous grin on his face.

"Don't worry, Jamie." He nodded. "It's me. I'm alright."

I let my head dangle in front of me for a moment as I heaved a heavy sigh of relief. I looked back up at him, my chest feeling so much lighter; I'd done something right.

"Are you okay?" He asked me, crawling to my side.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

The two of us helped each other up. Once we were on our feet, a cluster of soldiers ran past us in the direction of the bridge.

Bruce gave me a side glance. "Let's go. We need to see if we can help."

Part of me hesitated to follow. We had just been attacked.

'Is it really a good idea to bring him to the bridge?'

But I followed him nonetheless.

----------------------------------

"Take us to the water!" Fury shouted over the pandemonium. "We're flying blind."

Bruce and I rounded the corner, entering the bridge.

"Navigation's recalibrating after the engine failure." A random agent shouted back at Fury.

"Is the sun coming up?" Fury asked him in exasperation.

The agent glanced away nervously before meeting Fury's eye once more. "Yes, sir."

"Then put it on the left." Fury ordered. "Get us over water. One more turbine goes down, and we drop."

He shook his head, turning around. Then he saw us. I waved at him with an awkward smile. Bruce nodded in greeting.

"Anything we can do to help?" I asked, laughing nervously.

He marched towards us, looking Bruce in the eye. "For a man that needs to stay calm, you sure pick a funny place to be, Doctor."

No one had any time to respond. Without warning, different monitors were hit with what looked like arrows. My eyes widened in realization.

'Hawkeye.'

The monitors started blowing up. Agents were scrambling away from their screens. Anyone in the open was finding cover to regain their bearings. I saw Bruce put his hands over his ears from the corner of my eye.

Then, I heard someone speak over the PA. "Engine one is now in shut-down."

'Shit.'

I grabbed onto the nearest rail as the ship started to tip.

"We are in an uncontrolled descent." PA Agent continued.

I turned to Bruce as I heard him groan in pain. He had curled up on the floor with his knees to his chest.

"Sir," An agent shouted from across the room. "We've lost all power in engine one."

"Oooh no...." I muttered, glancing between Bruce and the dozens of agents in the bridge. "Not good... Not good..."

"It's Barton." Fury spoke into his earpiece. "He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention level. Does anybody copy?" Then he nodded, taking his hand away from his ear.

Suddenly, I heard something roll beneath my feet. I felt a body connect with mine, sending us to the floor.

"GRENADE!" Agent Hill shouted in my ear.

The room fell into absolute chaos. Enemy soldiers swarmed in. People were shooting at each other. The Hulk came out to play. Monitors were smashed. People were smashed. I watched with wide eyes as Fury was thrown out the front glass like a ragdoll.

I felt tears roll down my cheeks. "Damn it!"

I stayed close to the ground, ducking and crawling until I found a soldier on the ground. She was already dead, a bullet wound in her left lung. I felt more tears fall. She must have drowned in her own blood. I closed her eyes.

'It never get's easier to see, does it?'

I reached for her discarded weapon, placing the pistol against my forehead.

I pulled the trigger.

Then everything went dark.