Chapter 1
I walked down the street towards a building that I'd been searching for all morning. My back pack, which carried most of my belongings, was starting to get heavy on my back. I took a candy bar out of my bag, and took a bit. I took a deep breath, then knocked on the door.
"It's open," A voice said from inside. I walked into the building, and looked around. I could see a small cot lying in the corner. There was a stove and fridge at the other end of the room, and I could see a door, which most likely lead to the bathroom, in the back of the room. There was a man with brown eyes, and graying brown hair standing in the middle of the room behind a small table.
"Can I help you?" He asked me.
"Yeah I'm looking for Mr. Banner," I replied, taking another bite of the candy bar. The man stood there for a second as if he was contemplating weather or not to answer me, then he smiled.
"Well you found him," He said. I was surprised, mom never mentioned him having gray hair, but then again she hasn't seen him in 16 years, and he'd been through a lot since she'd last seen him.
"Would you like something to drink?" He asked. I nodded my head. I ate the rest of the candy bar, and put the wrapper in the small trash can in the corner.
"Well you know my name how about telling me yours," He exclaimed, grabbing a glass and filling it with water.
"Cat," I replied. He looked at me funny, and handed me the glass.
"Cat?" He asked. I took a sip of water, then set the glass down on the table.
"Eh mom was a hippie," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. He chuckled at my comment.
"Actually you knew her 16 years ago," I stated.
"I did?" He asked. I nodded my head, and pulled out a photo of me and mom.
"Oh yeah Sammy I remember her. How is she?" He asked. I looked down at the ground.
"She died from cancer a few weeks ago," I mumbled.
"Oh I'm sorry…"
"It's okay you had no way of knowing," I said, cutting him off.
"Um well not to be rude but why are you here?" He asked.
"Well a few years before she died she told me that my 'father' who'd… ugh… died almost ten years ago wasn't actually my father, that she'd married him a year after I was born, and well right before she died she told me about my real dad," I stated, looking up at him. I could already see Dr. Banners eyes grow wide at what I was saying.
"Oh I think I know where this is going," He mumbled.
"Yeah," I replied. He sat down, and I grabbed the glass and took another sip of water.
"What's in the bag?" He asked, after a few seconds.
"My entire life, everything I own," I replied. He looked at the medium sized bag that I'd set on the floor, and raised his eyebrow.
"Not much there," He stated.
"Yeah after my stepdad… died mom decided it would be fun to buy an R.V. and travel. So when she died I didn't really have too many things," I explained, sitting down.
"Um I have a question I'd like to ask you," Dr. Banner mumbled.
"Go ahead and ask, and I'll try and give you an answer… if I know the answer that is," I said. He smiled.
"Well two question actually. Um first off just so there's no confusion you're saying I'm your dad?" He asked. I laughed and nodded my head.
"Mom was sure, she said you were the only person that she was with before I was born, then about nine months after you left I was born, and the only other person she'd been with after you was my stepdad, who she met a year after I was born," I explained. Dr. Banner nodded his head.
"And your second question would be…" I asked.
"Oh yeah uh…" He rubbed the back of his head, "Do you know about my… condition?" He asked. I smiled, and nodded my head.
"Yeah my mom heard about it on the news, and when she told me about you she also told me about that," I replied. Dr. Banner nodded his head, and smiled at me.
"So not to be rude, but why did you come here. Cause as you can see I don't exactly have much to offer," He stated, motioning to the tiny room of a house. I chuckled, and Dr. Banner raised his eyebrow.
"Well I wanted to get to know my dad, and well now you're really the only family I have left," I explained…
I was brought out of my memories by a girl running up the stairs, and a woman shouting something I couldn't understand. Even though I'd been here for over three months I was still learning how to speak their language.
"Get out. There is sickness here," I think she said. The girl started to speak really fast and I couldn't understand her.
"Slow down," Dad said.
"My father," The girl exclaimed. I could see she was hold money in her hands, and she looked like she was about to cry.
"Like them?" Dad asked, pointing towards the person lying on a mat in the corner.
"Please," She said. Dad nodded his head, and motioned for me to come with him. I followed him and the girl down the street towards a building. The girl was about to cross the street, when dad stopped her, and I watched as a car drove by. Then we ran into the building. The girl ran through the room, and disappeared. Dad sighed.
"Shoulda got paid up front banner," He mumbled.
"You know for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress you picked a hell of a place to settle," A woman said, walking into the room.
"Avoiding stress isn't the secret," Dad replied.
"Then what is it, yoga?" The woman asked. I shifted from one foot to the other, and dad looked back at me worriedly.
"You brought us to the edge of the city smart. I uh… assume the whole place is surrounded," Dad stated.
"Just you, me, and your daughter," The woman replied.
"And your actress buddy. She a spy to, they start that young?" Dad asked.
"I did," She stated.
"Who are you?" Dad asked.
"Natasha Romanoff," She replied.
"Are you here to kill me Ms. Romanoff?" I cringed at his question. "Cause that's not gonna work out for everyone," He said, once again giving me a worried look.
"No of course not, I'm here on behave of S.H.I.E.L.D." Natasha explained. I released the breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. how'd they find me?" Dad asked.
"We never lost you doctor we've kept our distance. Even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent," Natasha stated.
"Why?" dad asked.
"Nick furry seems to trust you. But now we need you to come in," Natasha said.
"What if I said no?" Dad asked.
"I'll persuade you," She replied.
"And what if the other guy says no," Dad said.
"You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you want to break that streak," Natasha stated. I hate this entire situation, why can't they just leave him alone.
"Doctor we're facing a potential catastrophe," Natasha stated, bringing me back from my thoughts. Dad chuckled. Man we really do sound almost exactly the same when we laugh.
"Well those I try to avoid," Dad replied. Natasha pulled up a picture of a blue cube on her phone, and slid it across a table, which I hadn't noticed until just now, towards us.
"This is the Tesseract it has the potential energy to wipe out the planet," Natasha explained. Dad put his glasses on, and picked up the phone.
"And what does Furry want dad to do? Swallow it?" I asked, a bit annoyed. Dad chuckled again and Natasha smiled at me.
"He wants your dad to find it. It's been taken. It emanates a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace, and well there's no one that knows gamma radiation like your dad. If there was that's where I'd be," Natasha replied. Dad took his glasses off.
"So Furry isn't after the monster?" Dad asked.
"Not that he's told me," Natasha replied.
"And he tells you everything?" Dad questioned.
"Talk to Furry he needs you," Natasha said, ignoring his question.
"He needs me in a cage?" Dad asked. I flinched again at his question.
"No one's going to put you in a cage," Natasha replied.
"STOP LYING TO ME," Dad shouted, slamming his hands down on the table, causing me to jump. Natasha pulled out her gun, and aimed it at him. Dad took a step away from me, trying to get the gun away from my general direction.
"I'm sorry that was mean I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way where you don't use that and the other guy doesn't make a mess, okay, Natasha," Dad said, glancing at me with another worried look plastered across his face.
"Stand down," Natasha said, putting her hand to her ear. I heard the sound of people moving out side.
"Just us?" Dad asked…
