Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

People underestimated Elizabeth Ross all the time.

Sometimes she thought it was because she was a feminine woman who enjoyed dress-up and make-up; apparently looking pretty meant a lot of people assumed there wasn’t a brain.  Conversely, sometimes she thought it was because she was the epitome of the nerdy academic, a genius who’d gone to Harvard at fourteen; the youngest female scientist to ever be published in her field.  Apparently, a brain meant a lot of people assumed she didn’t attend boxing classes.

Sometimes she thought she was underestimated because she was called Betty (she blamed her grandmother, but she did love her).  Her name was a hark-back to more innocent times, evoking images of war-time girlfriends of proud soldiers.  Maybe people assumed she was the same; the helpless woman left behind when her man went off to war.

Betty scowled fiercely at the thought, but it was what Bruce Banner had made her in the end; the woman he’d left behind.

Betty touched the necklace she wore and frowned as she looked out of the window at the rain pouring down outside her home, ricocheting off the sidewalk.

It had been three years since Bruce had left her. 

In many ways, Betty understood.  The small amount of time she’d spent with Bruce on the run had been eye-opening.  Bruce would never ask her to live like that.  But it hurt to be left behind; to have the choice taken from her.  If she could have chosen for herself…

Betty shook herself.  She knew she was being too melancholic, but it was the anniversary of Bruce inviting her to look at his lab; a stumbling request which had turned into their first date.  It felt like eons had passed since then.  In those days, they’d simply revelled in being with each other, stupid in love.

It was over, Betty reminded herself.  She would always love Bruce, but he’d made his choice to leave her.  The note which had accompanied the necklace he’d returned to her had been full of apologies and excuses; he didn’t want to hurt her, he couldn’t ask her to accept the Hulk, it was all his fault she’d been hurt…   

He forgot that his condition, the existence of the Hulk, was as much her fault as his.  They had researched together, experimented together.  She had agreed to perform the experiment when her father had pressed them for results.

Betty sighed.

She missed Bruce, but she had moved on.  She had good friendships and a satisfying career.  She even dated sporadically (and sure, no-one who had come close to making her feel the way she did with Bruce, but she was ignoring that).

And Bruce had moved on too.

Seeing him battle aliens on the news report the year before had been terrifying.  She’d thought about reaching out after seeing him in paparazzi photos with Tony Stark in New York, but just as suddenly as Bruce had surfaced, he had disappeared again.  Still, she thought her melancholy wouldn’t be as bad if it weren’t for the photo which had been printed the day before which showed Bruce was back in New York, walking with Tony Stark through Central Park and eating hot dogs.  The article hadn’t mentioned Bruce.  It had focused on Stark’s surgery to remove the arc reactor from his chest and the decision for Stark to move back to New York.

The photo meant nothing, Betty reminded herself, even if Bruce was back, it didn’t mean he would stay.  And she’d spent enough time moping over him on their anniversary – she doubted he was doing the same.

Betty turned away from the window to return to marking the latest batch of essays from her senior class.  She crossed over to the small portable television perched on her filing cabinet and switched it on for background noise.

“…breaking news, I repeat we have breaking news from the capitol,” the blonde newscaster’s panicked voice had Betty turning to watch.

The image drew a gasp from her; there was a devastated building, debris and chaos…

“SHIELD headquarters has been attacked and there is a claim that Hydra are behind…”

“April,” the male newscaster beside cut in, “SHIELD’s files are being posted to the internet!  Who knows what this means for national security and…”

Betty spun on her heel and made for her computer, not waiting for the rest of the report.  She logged in and immediately launched a program to hide her IP and mask her identity.  She had created it hoping Bruce would contact her and she’d have a safe way to contact him, but he never had. 

Once she was protected, she immediately made for the SHIELD files and started to download any information she could find on the super soldier serum to a USB device.  It was possible that there was a way to help Bruce hidden in SHIELD’s secrets.  She started a secondary search for anything on the Hulk and started to download those files too.

Almost thirty minutes after she had begun, the files began disappearing from the internet.  She figured the CIA had finally stepped in to minimise the impact to national security.  She checked her downloading and bit her lip.  She had four more files to go…

She tapped her fingers on her desk and watched as file after file blinked out on the internet page. 

Two more files…

Files continued disappearing…

One more file…

The file she had just downloaded blinked off the page…

Download complete.

Betty fumbled for the USB key, her heartbeat racing, and snatched it out without doing the proper eject procedure.  She switched her computer off, got up and hid the USB key in her handbag in the small cloth purse which also carried her spare tampons, burying it beneath them. 

She took a deep breath and returned to her work, reaching for the stack of essays.  Her eyes flickered to the TV screen and the chaos in D.C., the news about Hydra…

Betty bit her lip; she’d check the files out eventually…and on something stand alone.

o-O-o

Betty bided her time.

There was enough to do with the end of the academic year, with exams, and graduation.  Culver was filled with stressed students and giddy graduates. 

The news reports were filled with the fallout of the discovery of Hydra in SHIELD; of arrests of people revealed as Hydra sleeper agents.  Calls for Captain America to face Congress and explain himself still filled the airwaves despite the debacle of Black Widow’s appearance.

There was article after article about the Avengers Initiative which Tony Stark announced days after the fall of SHIELD.  The team would deal with supernatural and alien threats in the absence of SHIELD.  Some news reports relayed that Stark, the Hulk, Hawkeye and War Machine had already saved a lot of U.S. operatives whose missions had been compromised when the SHIELD files hit the internet.  There was no mention of whether Black Widow and Captain America would eventually join them.

Betty waited until the second week of the Summer vacation to buy a new laptop.  She settled onto her sofa with a mug of tea and started to go through the files.

It was horrifying just how much SHIELD had known about the research she and Bruce had performed.  They’d had all the official documentation from the project, but they’d also had surprisingly detailed notes from a spy – an intern Betty remembered being bright, perky and very blonde.  She’d been less surprised that they’d had very little on the Hulk’s abilities.

She moved onto the super soldier files.  She almost choked when she realised that in addition to Erksine’s original research, the files included old Hydra files from Armin Zola.  The data was incredible, but Betty frowned as she realised that some of it was dated in the Sixties, Seventies and even the Nineties.  Hydra had continued experimenting, she realised with horror.  But then, why wouldn’t they, Betty reasoned; her own father had pursued the idea of the super soldier all his life.

It was late when Betty took her first break from the files. 

She wondered what she was doing.  It wasn’t as though Bruce would thank her for involving herself.  But scientifically, objectively, the files were fascinating.  From examining them, she could already deduce that the effect of any super soldier serum was unpredictable across the board.  Erksine hypothesised that his not only enhanced physical and mental attributes, but personality traits and flaws.  Zola had noted that the serums would create some physical and mental enhancement, but what was uncertain – there was no consistency.  Further some variations caused psychosis.

Even accounting for the differences in serum formula, the variation had to lie in the recipient’s own DNA, Betty considered.  Perhaps the use of the catalyst was another variant on top of that; vita-rays had impacted Steve Rogers one way; gamma radiation had impacted Bruce in another.  She picked up the newspaper and looked at another picture of Bruce with Stark.  It looked like Bruce had finally decided to stop running.  Her mouth twisted.  It made sense.  If anybody could protect Bruce from the government and her father, it was Stark.

Betty tossed the paper down as the pizza arrived.  She paid the delivery boy and took the box back into her study with a heap of napkins.  She wanted to finish the files before morning and there had been a series of video files she hadn’t even touched.

Two hours later, Betty regretted the pizza she’d eaten as she watched horrified as James Buchanan Barnes was tortured into compliance again.

She shut the video off before it finished and blinked back her tears.

God.

How could anyone do that to another human being?

She rubbed her hands over her face.  She shouldn’t be surprised given her own history and what had happened to Bruce. 

It was sickening though. 

Barnes had been stripped of his identity; he’d been mind-wiped repeatedly.  He’d been turned into nothing but a weapon; a soldier to be aimed at the enemy with trigger words embedded deep into his subconscious.  The Winter Soldier was everything her father had spent his life trying to create. 

She hesitantly reached for the mouse and brought up the final video labelled December 1991.  If Sergeant Barnes could live through the torture he had endured, Betty could stand as a witness to it…

The sight of a road threw her.

Betty clapped a hand over her mouth as events unfolded on her monitor; the cold-blooded murder of Howard and Maria Stark by the Winter Soldier. 

The video ended and Betty ran for her bathroom.  She threw up messily into the sink.  Her knees were weak; her body shaking.  She blinked tears out of her eyes and tried to catch her breath.

Did Stark know, Betty wondered.  Did Steve Rogers?  There had been news footage of Rogers fighting the Winter Soldier…had he known it was his old friend?  Had he known Barnes had killed the Starks?

Betty cleaned up methodically, her mind racing.  She brushed her teeth vigorously and made herself a mug of tea while she hid the USB key.  She burned the few notes she’d made before she climbed into bed with her tea and considered everything she had learned.

Rogers knew, Betty realised. 

Most of the news articles had noted the absence of Captain America in the recent Avenger sightings.  The remarks had been even more pointed once Black Widow had been spotted with Stark.  At least, Betty figured, Rogers knew the soldier he’d fought was Barnes; his absence made sense if he was searching for his friend and it also made it unlikely that he had told Stark.  Maybe Rogers didn’t even know the rest of it.

Stark needed to know. 

God.

If someone had killed her parents – even her father who she had all but disowned – she would want to know.

It was slowly seeping into her brain that what she knew about Barnes, about the super soldier serum, about her own research – it all made her a target.  She knew too much.

She wasn’t safe.

Betty’s heart pounded in her chest.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

In.

Out.

She opened her eyes.

Nobody knew she knew the truth. 

Betty latched onto that thought with alacrity. 

Nobody knew she knew and that was her saving grace, Betty thought.  But…she needed to check if Stark knew about his parents and, if he didn’t, to tell him; he deserved to know the truth.  Which meant her knowing about the files was going to come out.

She couldn’t count on her anonymity and the cover of nobody knowing. 

She needed protection.

For all he was caught up in his own angst, she knew Bruce would protect her without hesitation; his alter ego would protect her without hesitation.  She wondered if Bruce had realised most of Hulk’s behaviour when they had been together had been rooted in Hulk’s need to protect her.  It was one of the reasons why she hadn’t gone after Bruce regardless of his leaving her behind – that and she knew her father would have been twice as bad about tracking them down if she had been with Bruce.    

Stark could protect her. 

If he could protect Bruce, he could definitely protect her even from her father.  So, if he was giving room and board to Bruce in New York, he could give room and board to Betty too.

She could be with Bruce again.

She pushed that thought right out of her head.  It was too tempting, too hopeful…she didn’t even know if Bruce still loved her, and maybe even if he did, she deserved grovelling, a lot of grovelling, before she just let him back into her life again.

Betty rubbed her temples.  She was tired.  Too tired.  She’d think about everything in the morning, Betty decided.  She left the light on as she snuggled down to sleep, fearful that the videos of torture and murder would prevent her rest, but when she closed her eyes, sleep pulled her under. 

o-O-o

The phone was ringing.

Betty jolted awake and grimaced.  Her eyes flashed to the clock and the early hour before she picked up the phone grumpily.  “Hello.”

“Hi, Doctor Ross, this is Tracy from Dean Walker’s office, we have an investor who would like to discuss funding your research.  We apologise for the short notice and disturbing your vacation, but the Dean has requested your presence at the meeting,” Tracy chirped cheerfully in her ear.

Betty repressed the urge to groan.  She breathed in.  She should be excited about someone wanting to invest, although she suspected this was just another ploy by her father to interfere in her work.  “What time?”

Tracy crisply provided the details and Betty signed off, promising to be there. 

She sat up in bed and rubbed her head; there was a dull ache at the back of her eyes from too little sleep.  She sighed.  She really needed to work out how she was going to get to New York and Tony Stark without alerting her father or tipping anyone else off to what she knew.

Investor, Betty reminded herself.  She needed to make sure she acted normal and normal was going into work and meeting with a potential investor.  Bob Walker was bombastic and a bit full of himself, but he was generally a good Dean and he would not have requested her presence unless it was important. 

She forced herself to get up and dressed as she guzzled a giant mug of coffee needing the hit of caffeine.  Outside it was sunny and the temperature was balmy so she settled on a favourite wrap-dress; it was the perfect length for business – just hitting her knees and it had three-quarter sleeves which balanced the v-shaped neckline.  She put the purse carrying the USB key into her handbag – she wasn’t letting it out of her possession.  She slipped on her heeled sandals and made her way to her car.

The drive to the university was short and she parked in the staff area which was almost devoid of vehicles.

Betty headed straight for the Dean’s office.  She was ushered inside and almost froze at the sight of the man sitting in the visitor’s chair…

Tony Stark winked at her as he got to his feet and adjusted his cuffs.

Bob made the introductions in his usual blustery fashion and Betty found herself shaking Stark’s hand automatically.

“Doctor Stark,” Betty murmured guardedly.

“Doctor Ross,” Stark replied with an easy and charming smile, “call me Tony.”  He turned to the beaming Dean beside them.  “Bob, you won’t mind if I discuss the details of my proposal directly with Doctor Ross?  After all, who better to determine if I can help and I cannot possibly keep you from the rest of your schedule after barging in…”

Betty watched, amused as Stark managed to bamboozle Bob into agreeing; the Dean’s conference room was opened up for them and within minutes they were ensconced there with a coffeepot and a plate of cookies.

Betty poured the coffee and handed a mug to Stark – Tony, who took it with an expression of such ardent relief she had to smile.  “Coffee addict?”

“Whatever makes you think that, Doctor Ross?” Tony quipped and greedily slurped some of the coffee.  He was slumped in the chair beside her and close-up she could see the shadows under his eyes and deeper lines at the edges of his mouth.

“You can call me Betty,” Betty offered.  She sat back in her chair and took a sip of her own coffee.  “Did Bruce send you?”

Tony shook his head.  “He doesn’t know I’m here.”  He looked at her and his brown eyes were surprisingly sombre.  “You downloaded SHIELD files.”

Betty tried to stay expressionless but feared she’d failed. 

“The IP mask virus?”  Tony smiled.  “It was a nice piece of coding, but my coding is better than your coding.”

It wasn’t said arrogantly just as a statement of fact.  Betty sighed inwardly because his coding was undoubtedly better than hers.

“My programme tracked you, but you were smart; you had an external device and we couldn’t eliminate the copies you’d made there and then.  You also haven’t opened that device since on any networked computer,” Tony said.  “When you purchased a new laptop yesterday, I figured you wanted to use it to view the files in an isolated way.”

“You know it’s creepy you tracked me like that?”  Betty muttered. 

Tony looked at her pointedly before he sat forward.  Look,” he said, “I’m guessing you downloaded those specific files because you want to help Bruce.”

Betty felt her cheeks heat.  She hated that she was so transparent.

“But there was a reason SHIELD buried that stuff,” Tony continued, “if any of the bad guys realise you downloaded the files before I could get to them…”

Betty couldn’t disagree with him, and hadn’t she already decided that she needed to tell Tony about what she had discovered and to ask for his protection?  His sudden presence at Culver was a boon.

“Have you or Bruce looked at the files, the ones I downloaded?” asked Betty abruptly.

Tony shook his head and reached for his coffee.  “Bruce doesn’t believe it would add any value to his research.  Besides, we prioritised mission files and rescuing people who weren’t Hydra.”  He regarded her intently and sighed.  “I’m too late; you’ve looked at the files already.”

Betty looked at him.  “Would you have waited once you had the laptop?”

Tony grimaced.

“There’s something you need to know that I found out,” Betty continued, “and I don’t think telling you here would be appropriate.”

Tony frowned.  “Me?”  He grimaced. “My Dad, right?”

Betty gave a nod.  “You’re also right about my safety,” she admitted, “as soon as I finished reading and watching…I knew I wouldn’t be safe if anyone found out that I knew the content of those files.”

Tony’s eyes widened.  “So…”

“So, as soon as I tell you, the bad guys are probably going to realise I know more than I should; I’ll need your protection,” Betty pretended a bravado she didn’t fully feel.  “I think it’s best if I return with you to New York.”

He blinked at her, gaping for a long moment, before he literally shook himself.  “You want to return with me to New York for protection?”

“It’s the only real solution to ensure my safety,” Betty pointed out. 

He got to his feet, paced, stopped and pushed his hands in his pockets before turning to look at her again.  “Your father…”

“Would kill for the information I saw yesterday,” Betty acknowledged, her fingers tight on her own mug. “He might suspect something when I move, but he can hardly complain if my new research grant means I need to be onsite in New York at Stark Industries.”

Tony huffed but looked impressed.  “That could work.”

“You’re one of the few people with the resources to keep him at bay,” Betty noted.

Tony nodded, but she could almost see his mind racing as he considered the options.  “So you’ll tell me what you know in return for my giving you protection?”

“I’d be willing to tell you what I know without asking anything else of you,” Betty said sharply, “but as I said; my telling you will reveal my own knowledge of the files.”

Tony hummed.  He pulled out his cell phone and dialled a number.  “JARVIS, arrange for the helicopter to collect Doctor Ross and myself from Culver, and for someone to pick up the car.  Doctor Ross and I will be flying back to New York once we’ve arranged her new arrangements with Culver.”

Betty breathed in shakily, relief flooding through her. 

She was going to New York.

Butterflies erupted in her body, making her stomach wobble. 

She was going to see Bruce.

o-O-o

Bruce was waiting for them on the roof when they landed. 

Tony sighed at the sight of him.

“I’ll handle Bruce,” Betty declared brightly.

Tony looked at her sharply.

“Hulk protects me,” Betty pointed out.  She bit her lip.  “I need you to find someone you trust unequivocally to be with you when I tell you what I discovered.”

Tony searched her expression.  “I’m really not going to like this, am I?”

“Really not,” Betty agreed.

They climbed out and Betty wasn’t surprised when Bruce hurried over to help her exit.  They got clear of the helicopter before Bruce whirled on Tony, a tinge of green on his skin.

“Tony! You had no right to…”

Betty smacked her hand on his chest and got up into his face.  “Zip it, Bruce!” She turned to Tony.  “Go!”

Tony looked curiously at her and Bruce, but he conceded.  “JARVIS will tell you where to find me when you come inside.”  He left without any further discussion.

Betty turned back to Bruce and poked him in the chest.  “Where do you get off yelling like that?!  I asked to be brought here so Tony could protect me like he’s protecting you!”

“Betty…”

“I read the SHIELD files on the super soldier serum, Bruce,” Betty stated. 

He pushed a hand through his dark ruffled curls.  “You shouldn’t have done that, Betty.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do, Bruce, since you left.  I won’t lie and say you had nothing to do with it, but you do remember what I research, right?” Betty poked him again.

Bruce looked devastated.

Betty sighed.  “I don’t have time to discuss us, Bruce,” she said, “I don’t even know if there is an us to discuss, but regardless it needs to wait.”  She held his questioning gaze.  “I found out something about Tony’s parents; he needs to know.”

Bruce nodded slowly.  “Should I be there?”

“Is Hulk protective of Tony?” asked Betty.  “Because the discussion might make him angry if he is.”

Bruce’s eyes glinted green for a second.  “I have a lot more control now and if Tony needs a friend to be there…I want to be there.”

Betty bit her lip.  “OK.”

“I’ll show you inside,” Bruce offered.  He gestured awkwardly for her to precede him and they slowly made their way into the building and an elevator.

Bruce cleared his throat.  “JARVIS, please take us to Tony.”

“Of course, Doctor Banner,” JARVIS replied, “and welcome to the tower, Doctor Ross.”

“Thank you, JARVIS,” Betty was awed by how real the AI sounded, “I look forward to getting to know you.”

The elevator ride was excruciating; there was no easy back and forth as there had always been between them.  Betty gave a sigh of relief as the doors opened.  They’d clear the air, she promised herself, but after she had told Tony about his parents.

They walked into what looked like a large living area; sofas where arranged in a square in front of a large fireplace and a gorgeous view of the New York skyline.  It took her breath away, but Betty forced herself to focus.  There were four other people in the room.

Tony gestured at her to join him in front of the fireplace; he’d lost his jacket and loosened his tie.  “Betty, meet Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, and Maria Hill; they’re former SHIELD agents but they work for the Avengers Initiative now.”

Betty nodded at them.

“And my best friend, Rhodey,” Tony introduced the African American sat on a nearby armchair with a warm smile.

“Colonel James Rhodes,” Rhodey corrected.  “It’s an honour to meet you, Doctor Ross.”

“Betty,” Betty said.  She turned to Tony.  “There’s no easy way to tell you this.”  She pressed her lips together.  “When I looked through the SHIELD files on the serum, your father made a version back in the Nineties.  Hydra sent an assassin to intercept it…and he killed your parents.”

Tony held her gaze and ignored the reactions of others in the room.  “That’s not everything.”

Betty shook her head.  “The assassin they sent was the Winter Soldier – James Barnes.”

Tony breathed in sharply and stormed away to stare out of the window, hands deep in the pockets of his suit pants.

“He didn’t have any agency, Tony,” Betty continued, “the videos…they show how they stripped him of his identity and made him their weapon.  Hydra killed your parents for the serum; the Winter Soldier was just the tool they used.”

Tony looked back at her sharply.  “You’re certain?”

Betty nodded.  “What they did to him…it’s horrifying.”

“Does Rogers know?” asked Rhodey.

It took Betty a moment to realise he was asking Romanoff.

The former spy looked coolly back at the Colonel and didn’t speak.

“Nat,” murmured Barton.

Her eyes flickered to her fellow agent and something softened in her expression.  She looked over to Tony with a hint of regret.  “Zola implied Hydra ordered a hit on the Starks,” she conceded.  “Steve suspects…” she sighed, “we suspected it might have been the Soldier, but we had no proof.”  She paused briefly before continuing.  “Steve wanted to tell you himself once he knew for certain.”

“Once he found Barnes and Tony couldn’t touch him without going through Steve,” Bruce corrected harshly.

Tony shook his head.  “I can’t deal with this,” he muttered and left, heading out to the elevator which immediately opened and shut before anyone could join him.

Rhodey got to his feet.  “JARVIS, don’t lockdown the workshop until I get there.”

“You may wish to make haste, Colonel,” JARVIS said.  “Undoubtedly Sir will order a blackout once he reaches the workshop.”

Rhodey glanced back at Betty.  “Thank you for telling him.”  He gave a pointed look at Romanoff as he left.

Maria Hill grimaced.  “Excuse me, it looks like I need to plan some additional contingencies.”  She swept out of the room already on her phone.

Romanoff turned her cool eyes on Betty.  “Congratulations; you’ve created mistrust between Stark and Steve.”

Bruce bristled beside her. 

Betty placed a hand on Bruce’s arm.  “It seems to me Rogers did that himself when he decided not to tell Stark his suspicions about the death of his parents.”

Romanoff raised an eyebrow.  “Steve’s a good man.”

“Really?  Good men don’t decide to keep a secret like this,” Betty retorted, “that speaks for itself.”

“You…”

Bruce growled – or rather Hulk growled a warning.

Barton cleared his throat.  “Right,” he reached for Romanoff, “Nat, let’s stop baiting the Hulk’s girl and take a walk.”

Romanoff frowned but let Barton pull her from the room.

Betty fidgeted as the room cleared and she was left with Bruce.

“You did the right thing,” Bruce said.

Betty nodded, struggling to hold back her tears as the import of everything that had happened since she’d watched the videos suddenly seemed to crash into her.

Bruce approached her slowly and drew her into a hug.  She hugged him back; the familiar comfort made her heart ache.

Betty eased back.  “You should know I asked Tony for the same protection he offered you; I’m not going anywhere.  If you run, you run, but I’ll be staying here.”

Bruce cupped her cheek.  “I think I’m done running.  I’ll make it up to you; I swear.”  He reached out and touched her necklace briefly before stepping away.  He smiled at her almost shyly.  “You want to see my lab?”

Betty’s lips twitched; he’d said almost the exact same thing when they’d first met.  “Really, Bruce?”

“I like to go with the classics,” Bruce joked gently, holding out his hand.

Betty felt her hope surge back to life; the love she’d felt for him rising up to swamp out the hurt.  It was a start; a new start.  She breathed in deeply and took his hand.

fin.