AN: So. I have an apology to make:

I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED FOR SO LONG PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!

It was hectic with exams, and then it was hectic with the end of term, and then it was hectic with Christmas, and then it was hectic with my birthday (only a couple of days ago, btw), so the general consensus is that it was…

Hectic.

Anyway, please don't send assassins to Australia to kill me, I've dutifully (and happily) taken up writing properly once again (in fact, I started re-writing a book I started a year ago) so, yeah.

I really hope you enjoy, and thank you SO MUCH FOR THE AMAZING REVIEWS!

Xxx

~Fen~

12. The Café From Hell

'W-What about my parents?' Penny asked, confused. Bruce looked vaguely uncomfortable, and she tilted her head to the side. 'What's going on, Bruce?'

He gave her a pained look. 'How much do you know about your parents, Penny?' he asked quietly, and she frowned.

'That they were both agents, and worked with intelligence. CIA. My dad was American, and acted as an emissary between the two countries. That's how they met.' Her frown deepened when she saw his face darken. 'Why?' she asked. 'How much do you know about them?'

She saw his hands clench into fists, and he sat down on the bed, punching the mattress loudly with his knuckles.

'Dammit!' he growled angrily, and Penny jumped. He glanced up at her quickly and his eyes widened. 'Oh. No. Not you, Penny. You've done nothing wrong. It's…It's SHIELD.'

'What about them?' she asked, and took a seat next to him. When he didn't answer, she laced her fingers through his and stroked his hand with her thumb lightly. 'Hey, I'm right here. Don't worry about the Other Guy…and changing. Whatever you want to say, you can tell me. I'll keep you here.'

Bruce slid his eyes to her and sighed. 'Penny…Your parents weren't agents. Not for the CIA, at least.'

She felt a frown pull her eyebrows together. 'Yes, they were. They weren't home a lot, so I don't remember too much about them, since I was so young, but they were definitely CIA. My mother was – '

'They were SHIELD agents,' he said quietly, and Penny froze.

'They…They were what?'

'They were both working for SHIELD. Similar to what you said, except it was your mother who was the emissary. Not your father. They worked together…and then when their cover was blown in Barcelona…I'm sorry Penny.' He looked up at her, and Penny felt her heart thundering in her chest. It was impossible. Her parents couldn't have worked for SHIELD.

Ever since they'd died, Penny had possessed an enormous amount of distrust for government agencies, and felt nothing but hatred towards the CIA…It was only grudgingly that she'd accepted the job for SHIELD, since they'd come to ask her specifically, and that the job had been one to helpothers. If what Bruce was telling her was even remotely truthful…Then she'd been wrong for her entire life.

'How…How do you know this?' she asked shakily.

'When Tony hacked into SHIELD, everything classified became unclassified.' He took a deep breath. 'Your background history was classified on your file, and I was curious.'

She frowned. 'You could have just asked me. You didn't have to go behind my back'

He shook his head. 'But you wouldn't have told me the truth. Not intentionally, but because you didn't know the truth. Penny…'

She held up her hand to stop him, and felt tears brimming in her eyes. It had all been lies? 'I don't…I don't understand. Why wouldn't they – ?' She turned to Bruce. 'Why wouldn't Fury have told me?' she choked, and buried her face in her hands.

It was SHIELD's fault. It was all their fault. She'd been directing her hate in the wrong place for her entire life. And then she'd…

'Hey,' Bruce soothed, and she felt his hand rubbing her back gently. 'Shh…It's okay.'

She shook her head. 'No. No it's not. It's…It's all their fault. SHIELD killed my parents. Oh…Oh, God. And then they…then they had the nerve to ask me to work for them. Oh, Bruce.' Big, fat tears rolled down her cheeks, unbidden. 'I've been working for my parents' murderers.'

He pulled her hands away from her face, and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. 'No. No. You had no idea. None of this is on you. None of it, do you understand?' She nodded against his shoulder, and tried to take a deep breath, which failed, turning into a massive sob. He stroked her back, just in between her wings, and she breathed in his scent, letting it wash over her. Not for the first time, it calmed her, and made her feel better.

Penny felt Bruce press a kiss on top of her hair, and she closed her eyes against the world. Thousands of thoughts were spinning through her mind, ricocheting around her brain, threatening to overwhelm her.

'But…Fury. He would have known,' she said shakily, after a while. 'How could he not tell me?'

'I don't know,' Bruce said honestly, and pulled her back to hold her by the shoulders. 'But we're going to find out. Once this is over – and it will be over – we'll ask him ourselves.'

'We?' Penny sniffled, and he smiled.

'Of course. I wouldn't leave you to confront Fury by yourself. The man is terrifying.'

This made Penny smile slightly, and Bruce brought his hand to her face. There had been so much lying. Ever since she became involved, and even before that…there had been lying. Penny felt like the curtain had been dropped and she was standing on a stage, utterly exposed, with no memory of her lines or part. She didn't know who she was anymore.

'Who am I, Bruce?' she asked softly, not meaning to speak the words out loud. When he looked at her curiously, she had to elaborate. 'I feel like I've lost who I am to SHIELD. They took away my parents, they dragged me into their chaos, and now I…I feel like I've started running the race, but it's already over. I've been left behind. Out of the loop.' She looked down at her lap, and bit her lip to stop another hysterical sob from bursting out.

It was all so messed up. Loki was going to do something horrible to the world, try to enslave it, or worse…People would probably die, and here Penny was, crying about people long dead.

Bruce frowned. 'You are Penelope Masters. That's all you need to know. I don't think we can ever truly know who we are. I mean…from a non-subjective point of view, look at how quickly things can change. Take me, for example. One moment, I'm a physicist trying to better the world, the next I'm a giant, green, radiation mockery of a man. Or in your case: one day a scientist, trying to develop a cure for said mockery, the next day, you've got a pair of wings. Nothing is definite. If there's something that science has taught me, it's that you can never know everything. Even names change. You might not always be Penny Masters, but you'll always be you.'

Penny smiled at him softly. How did he know how to comfort her like that? 'Ugh,' she groaned. 'I'm so pathetic. There are bigger problems than my parents,' she said, wiping her tears away.

'There are bigger problems, that's true,' Bruce agreed. 'But that doesn't mean you're pathetic, or that your parents aren't important. It just means you care. Which to me, quite frankly, is the most important thing in the world.'

Penny smiled, and stretched up to press a kiss to his warm cheek. 'You know just what to say.'

'That must be a nice change for you. Since, you know, you're always the one calming me down,' he smiled wryly. 'Is there anything I can do to help?' he asked.

'Yes. Get some sleep,' Penny said, just as she stifled a yawn. 'Some proper sleep. On the bed.'

'You need it more than me,' he argued.

'Well…Why don't we both sleep on the bed?' she asked quietly, not sure he'd like the idea. 'You asked how you could help…Sleeping next to me…Well…It would help.'

He stared at her silently for a while, and tilted his head to the side. 'Alright…I could use the rest.'

'Good. I agree. Because – and I say this with love – but you look like Hell,' Penny mumbled.

Bruce's grip on her froze. 'You say it with love?' he asked quietly.

Penny's gaze snapped to his. 'Did I say love?' she said quickly. 'Because, you know, if you don't – '

He kissed her gently on the lips, silencing her, and Penny melted. He brought his hand up to her hair, and pulled it loose from the hair-tie holding it in place, not for the first time that day.

But so much had changed since earlier.

Penny could feel his warm skin beneath his shirt, and every place he touched her felt heavenly, a blissful fire burning against her skin, travelling throughout her body and making her shiver pleasantly.

Bruce buried his hand in her hair, and Penny sighed against his mouth. He tasted sweet, and warm, and –

He pulled away, gasping.

'Sorry. Just…My pulse,' he said shakily, and Penny pressed her finger against his neck. His pulse was erratic, and quite high. It was probably a good thing that he'd stopped.

'Probably for…the best,' she said, and then winced at the playful glare he sent her.

'I'm pretty sure it is, but that doesn't make it any better. Especially since I just want to kiss you senseless. Among other things,' he growled. Penny felt her cheeks flame the brightest red she'd ever felt and Bruce grinned. 'I'm alright now. I guess I'll just have to settle for sleeping next to you.'

She nodded mutely, and kicked her shoes off, before Bruce stood and flipped back the covers. He already had his shoes off, and lay down on the furthest side of the bed. Penny switched off the lamp and crawled under the covers, laying on her side, facing Bruce, and he turned so that he could look at her.

'How're your stitches?' he asked. Penny couldn't see him, but could hear his voice, right in front of her.

'Better. Hurts when I move too much, although my wing is alright. Just aches.' She was lying with her uninjured wing spread out behind her, and her injured one was pinned to her back, with the duvet covering it. Thankfully, both her cut and her fractured wing were on the same side of her body, and she was able to lie on her side with relative comfort.

She felt Bruce reach out the hold her hand, and she smiled, stifling another yawn. 'Thank you,' he said softly.

'What for?' Penny asked, letting her eyelids close.

'For caring.'

~Ingrid Michaelson: The Way I Am~

If you were falling, then I would catch you.

You need a light, I'd find a match.

'Cause I love the way you say good morning.

And you take me the way I am.

If you are chilly, here take my sweater.

Your head is aching, I'll make it better.

'Cause I love the way you call me baby.

And you take me the way I am.

I'd buy you Rogaine when you start losing all your hair.

Sew on patches to all you tear.

'Cause I love you more than I could ever promise.

And you take me the way I am.

You take me the way I am.

You take me the way I am.

Bruce awoke to the smell of daisies tickling his nose.

He blinked his eyes lazily, and looked down to see a mass of soft brown hair resting beneath his chin. It took him a second to realise it was Penny, and not, in fact, a luscious beard that he'd grown overnight.

During the night, they'd moved closer, and Penny was now laying with her cheek resting on his chest. Her jumper had ridden up in the night, so that her uninjured wing could stretch out, and it was spread over one of Bruce's arms. He could feel the feathers tickling his forearm, which was wrapped around her waist, holding her close.

Penny's bare stomach was pressed against his hip, and their legs were intertwined. Her hair spilled across his chest, and Bruce was about to say something, when he stopped.

He paused.

He waited a moment.

He waited – for what? – he didn't know. Perhaps for her to wake up? Whatever it was, he didn't want to wake her up himself. He couldn't see her face, but could tell from her breathing that she was still asleep.

Asleep, on top of him.

Bruce couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. She…She'd trusted him enough to sleep next to him, and to wake up and find that she was even closer…

The realisation that she really did trust him hit him like a train.

Bruce knew he should get up – they had to get to New York before Loki put his plan into action – but he really didn't want to. What he wanted was to stay like this forever. He wanted someone to care about him, he wanted to be able to care about someone, but mostly he just wanted to be close. Ever since Betty…He hadn't really had a functioning relationship. Not that what he had with Penny could be considered as functioning, but… it was the most important thing in his life, all the same.

Current impending doom aside.

Loki. That was something else that caused Bruce concern. Not only was the alien threatening the safety of humanity by messing with forces he couldn't hope to control – mainly, the Tesseract – but, he had also manipulated Bruce. Natasha Romanoff had been right. Bruce had walked right into his trap. He should never have agreed to work for SHIELD in the first place.

But…then Penny had been there in Calcutta, so unafraid, and innocent, and they'd promised him a cure…So, here he was – once again – in the thick of things. Honestly, all he wanted was for people to leave him alone. Alone kept people safe. Alone kept him safe. He didn't want anyone else around.

Bruce's gaze drifted downwards to the sleeping girl on his chest, and he realised that perhaps that wasn't true. He didn't want to be completely alone. Sure, he worried constantly about causing Penny harm, but he was too selfish to send her away. He could think of at least a thousand ways to break her heart, to make her leave, but he refused to even contemplate causing her that pain. And if he were telling the truth, Bruce wasn't even sure that it would be enough to make her leave him alone. While she'd seemed so timid at first, if there was one thing that Bruce had noticed, it was that when it came to him, she was immovable with her opinions; her knowledge of what was right and wrong, morally and ethically.

Almost as if sensing he was thinking about her, Penny stirred, and her breathing changed. He knew she was awake now, but she didn't move. She didn't pull away. She just stayed there, her head resting on his chest, and Bruce listened to her calm, quiet breathing.

'We…should probably go,' Bruce said after a long while, and Penny tilted her neck to look up at him.

'I didn't mean to fall asleep on you…' she began, her voice slightly hoarse with sleep, and Bruce smiled.

'Don't go apologising on me, Penny,' he scolded.

'How did you even know I was going to apologise?' she smiled lazily.

'You have a very specific frown that you get, right before you do,' Bruce observed. 'Besides, you promised. No more apologising. I'm fine, you're fine. We're both fine.'

'I'm more than fine. I…actually had a good sleep. No waking up or anything.'

'Yeah. It was a great…' Bruce glanced at the clock next to him, 'four hours. It was a fantastic four hours, full of sleep and no nightmares.'

Penny frowned delicately. 'Do you usually have nightmares?' she asked, and he paused before answering.

'Most nights…' he said eventually, and saw her frown deepen.

'What of?' she inquired, and propped her chin up on her hand, still resting against his chest. It made him smile momentarily, before he remembered what they were talking about.

'Mostly just…the past. I have nightmares about the Other Guy. The experiment. Not yours – the one that changed me. I can never remember specific details…just mostly destruction. And a lingering sense of anger.'

She tilted her head sadly. 'Right. But… No nightmares last night?' she asked hopefully, and he nodded.

'None last night.' He reached out a hand to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, his fingers skimming along her jawline, before he withdrew his hand. Her skin was soft, and warm, and alive, and she was right there in front of him, not running away, not screaming in terror. Just…there.

Penny's hands released her chin, and she dropped her face onto his chest, hiding it in his shirt.

'We actually should go, shouldn't we?' she mumbled into the fabric. Bruce chuckled.

'Yeah, unfortunately, we've got a world to save. Although, you won't be taking part in the saving part.' This made Penny raise her face from his chest.

'What do you mean, I won't take part?' she asked, frowning.

'There is no way in Hell I'm risking you. Not now. Not when I've only just found you,' Bruce said quietly. He saw her gaze soften, and she pressed a kiss to his chest.

'Ugh. You know exactly how to manipulate me, Dr Banner,' she groaned, and rolled her eyes. 'But I want to help.'

'You can help by staying safe. I'll need to concentrate, and I can't do that if the Other Guy is too worried about you, to focus on Loki.'

'The Other Guy worries about me?' she inquired, and Bruce nodded.

'All the time. Whenever I'm worried, he's worried. So, a lot, is what I'm getting at.'

'Well, usually, I'd be able to tell you that I'm the kind of girl that doesn't get into trouble very often, but lately…' Penny's gaze slid behind her shoulders to her wings, and she frowned. 'Lately, I haven't had such a great track record.'

'That's exactly why I need you safe. The Tesseract is in New York, and it's not going to be safe there…'

'Hold up,' Penny put a hand on his chest. 'You're not taking me into New York?' she inquired.

Bruce shook his head. 'No, I'm still taking you. I'm just going to make sure you're someplace safe. A nice café or something.'

'Great,' drawled Penny. 'I'm sure nothing bad could possibly happen in a café,' she said sarcastically, and then frowned. 'Sorr – I mean – Ignore that. I'm just worried about what'll happen to you when I'm not there.'

Bruce smiled. She'd stopped herself from apologising. 'I did survive thirty-something years before you came along, you know? But luckily for you, I'm about as indestructible as they come.'

She nodded. 'But…What if you have an incident?'

Bruce smiled tightly. 'I'm pretty sure I'll be counting on it.'

A few minutes later, and they'd packed up their essentially non-existent possessions, realising that they had no new clothes to change into, since all they owned was what had been given to them, and what they fell in.

Bruce nudged Penny on the arm gently. 'Hey,' he said. Penny glanced up from pulling her shoe on to tilt her head to the side. Something about his voice seemed…strange.

'What's up?' she asked.

'There's another thing I meant to mention. I mean, there's not a lot we can do about it now, at least, not until we run some more tests. There's a lot about you that we didn't have time to figure out, but, before we were attacked…I was doing some scans on your blood, and something weird came up.'

Penny rose an eyebrow. 'I had my DNA drastically altered by gamma radiation, Bruce. I have wings sticking out of my back. I'd be a little surprised if something weird didn't come up.'

He smiled. 'Hah. Yeah, but this was something different.'

'Again, not seeing the cause for concern,' Penny smiled, and stood up. She put a hand on his arm. 'What's bothering you?'

'Aside from our possible destruction? The fact that your DNA was already different, Penny.'

Her smile froze, and she let go of Bruce's arms. 'W-What do you mean?' she asked quietly. Bruce smiled sympathetically.

'Your DNA was already different, before the gamma hit you. You already had a…a fully submersed mutation – '

'You mean like a cancer?' Penny interrupted worriedly, and Bruce shook his head.

'No. Not like a cancer. It was suffused within your double helix. Like it had been a part of it for years.'

'What?' Penny exclaimed, and started pacing. 'But, no. I would have noticed something, some kind of physical evidence to suggest that… I mean, i-if I had – if I had some kind of...some kind of…mutation,' she finished slowly, and turned to Bruce. 'I don't understand,' she said quietly.

'Hey, it's nothing to worry about. Not at the moment, at least. You've been fine for the past two and a bit decades, you'll be fine until we can look into it a bit deeper,' he assured her, rubbing her arm gently. 'And, I don't know if you didn't experience any side-effects. I mean…You always had a sore back, right?' he asked, and Penny nodded. 'And that was right where your wings grew.'

'I guess…' she frowned. 'But surely that wouldn't have been it? There'd be more?' she inquired.

'Mannerism, perhaps? You're a very shy person.'

'I am not!' Penny gasped, and Bruce rose an eyebrow. 'Fine. I might be a little shy…'

'Penny, you squeaked when we first met. Squeaked,' he grinned. 'And while I'm not saying that it wasn'tadorable, I am saying that perhaps it was more than shyness. Maybe…I dunno. Maybe you just have a few characteristics of a bird. Also, I noticed that you haven't needed your glasses since the accident. Your vision must have gotten better, too.'

'Well, I'll let you know if I start getting a craving for birdseed and worms at any point in the near future,' she smiled, and pulled her hair into a low ponytail. 'But…I guess that can all wait until later.'

'Yeah, but there's something else,' Bruce frowned. 'I mean…you've had blood tests in your life, right?'

Penny paused. 'Actually…I don't know if I've taken many. I've always been pretty healthy. No unexplained illnesses, or diseases, so…Not many blood tests, or the like. I mean…the usual ones I suppose, but wouldn't that mean that…?'

'That somebody would have seen your mutation,' Bruce nodded. 'But…since your parents worked for SHIELD. Who's to say that SHIELD wasn't the one to take the tests?' He looked at Penny. 'And even if not, you would have given SHIELD a sample of your blood before you started working with me, too, so they definitely have you in the system…'

'So…SHIELD knows,' Penny finished for him. 'They knew! Fury knew!' she exclaimed, and punched a pillow viciously. 'I am going to tear that man apart.'

'I'll help,' growled Bruce, and Penny sent him a warning glance.

'You're okay, though?' she asked worriedly, and put a hand to his cheek. 'Right now?' she inquired. He smiled tightly, and nodded.

'It's just the thought that SHIELD have been manipulating you…for your entire life,' he said, his brown eyes swirling murderously. 'It's not right.'

Penny tried to smile. 'And here I was, thinking that I'd never heard of SHIELD before a week ago. Turns out that they've been in my life since the beginning.' She scowled. 'I don't know if I've mentioned, but I hate the government.'

'You and me both,' Bruce said softly, and kissed her lightly on the lips. When he pulled back, Penny was smiling, and she realised that she'd completely forgotten that the impending doom of the Earth was hanging over their heads.

'But we've got to go!' she chirped, and glanced around for her things, before remembering she didn't have any things. 'Oh. Right.'

'Yeah, let's go. You wanted to know why we're going to New York?' he asked, 'Well, remember how I was looking at the readings of the Tesseract just before we left?' Penny nodded. 'The scanner locked onto its position.'

'Its position where?' Penny inquired, as they left the motel room, closing the door behind her. She walked over to the motorbike. 'It's in the centre of New York, isn't it?'

Bruce smiled tightly. 'Try Stark Tower.'

Penny was grumpy.

Bruce had left her at a café.

A café.

She remembered her reaction, when Bruce had pulled up outside the quirky café, and she'd just stared at him.

Earlier:

'You are joking, right?' she asked, and he smiled slightly.

'It's your fault for thinking I was kidding,' he said seriously. 'Your safety is not a joke to me.'

Her glare softened. 'I know. I don't want to make you anxious, I just…Are you sure there's nothing I can do?' she asked, and Bruce turned to look towards Stark Tower, which they could see a far way off.

'Unless you can do something about that,' he said, pointing to the giant, dark hole in the sky, directly above Tony's building, '…then I doubt you'd be much help, Penny.'

She sighed, staring at the hole. As she watched, something came out of it. A small dot. Then another, and another, and soon lots of small dots were bursting forth from the giant rip in the sky.

'Uh, Bruce,' she said, pointing. 'Pretty sure that's not a good thing.'

He stared back upwards, and his eyes widened. 'Yeah. I'm gonna go now,' he said. 'But not because I want to,' he said quickly.

'It's because you can actually help. I understand. I'm just glad one of us can,' she said quietly.

'It'll be okay, Penny. You'll be safe here. Promise me you'll be safe,' he implored, reaching out to take her hand. 'I couldn't live if I knew something had happened to you…'

Penny smiled, despite the fearful tears that were forming in her eyes. She was so scared. What if this was the last time she saw him? What if the Hulk couldn't save Bruce?

What if?

Bruce pulled her closer, and she bent down to press her lips to his. It was a deep, desperate kiss, like Bruce was promising that he'd come back, that he'd survive, and that they could be together. Penny gripped the collar of his shirt tightly and relished the moment, not wanting it to end.

When he eventually pulled away, it was only to pull her into a tight hug. Penny's nose was pressed up against his warm skin, and her cheek grazed his neck. It felt so good.

She inhaled deeply, breathing in his warm scent, but for the first time since she'd met him, it didn't calm her. It made her heart thump in her chest, threatening to escape, at the thought losing him. She didn't want anything to happen to Bruce, because she couldn't stand the thought of him not being there. In such a short time, he'd become central to her life, and she felt her tears drip down her face onto his shirt, the salty water staining it dark.

'I love you,' she said thickly into the crook of his neck, and felt him freeze. 'I know I kind of said it last night, but that was just in passing, and you might not want it, but now I really mean it, so just – '

'I love you too,' he said softly, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist.

'You better stay safe,' she half-sniffled, half-growled into his neck, and finally pulled away. 'Because I will be so bloody cross if you get hurt.'

Bruce cracked a smile. 'Indestructible, remember?'

Penny nodded, and watched as he restarted the bike engine.

'I'll see you soon,' he promised, and once again, Penny nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

She stared after him as he roared away on the motorbike, and her heart felt heavy, knowing that without a doubt, he was heading towards the one place she wanted him to be running away from.

You better stay safe.

Present:

So now, here she was, sitting in the café.

She'd been there for about an hour now, and glared half-heartedly at the empty cup of Earl Grey before her, imagining it was Bruce's face. She wanted to glare at him.

No, she didn't, she reasoned. She wanted him to be safe.

But she'd never actually believed that he would leave her behind. Even though she knew he'd done it to keep her safe, and that he had to go, Penny was so not happy about it.

But mostly, it was worry. She wanted to help. In whatever way she could, she wanted to help. Bruce had mentioned that he'd probably have to Hulk out, but she was still worried. What if Loki had some kind of nasty, evil, Hulk-destroying weapon none of them knew about?

The thought made Penny's grip on the cup in her hands tighten, and she jumped when she snapped the delicate handle clean off. She glanced around, hoping that no-one had seen, and sighed in relief when the few people in the shop continued about their business, oblivious to the girl having a small crisis in the corner. They were all too busy watching the television screen, documenting the goings-on occurring on the other side of the river.

Penny honestly didn't want to know what was happening, but no matter how hard she tried not to look, she found herself staring at the screen every few seconds, looking for a glimpse of green, or Bruce's familiar face.

When he finally appeared, Penny had to clamp her hand over her mouth in an effort not to cry out.

The TV showed him standing before a massive…Penny didn't know what it was. Bloody terrifying, was what it was. A huge, armour-covered, flying whale-thing. She thought for sure he was going to be killed. Beside him, Penny saw Steve, Thor, Clint and Natasha, and she felt a happy swell in her heart, knowing they were safe.

But then she remembered the alien whale.

It sped towards Bruce, who looked as though he'd just gotten there, was still human. Penny stared at his handsome face, blurrily depicted by the pixels of the TV screen, and couldn't help but squeak when he spun around and transformed into the Hulk within seconds, just as the alien whale slammed into –

– his fist.

Penny gasped, and stood up involuntarily, making the table rattle as her knees clipped the edge. She ignored the pain, and stared at the screen as Bruce was forced backwards, and the leviathan whale…

It flipped, exposing a soft spot of some kind, and Tony Stark – fully kitted out in his Iron Man suit – sent a flurry of torpedoes towards it. The beast exploded, sending chunks of meat and metal flying everywhere. The Hulk was standing with the others, utterly unscathed. He bellowed loudly, and the aliens screamed down from the surrounding buildings, a cacophony of terrifying shrieks and squawks.

He did say indestructible… Penny thought to herself.

That was when she heard a different scream. A much closer scream.

Penny jumped out of her chair, and ran to the window. At first, she couldn't see what the problem was, but then she saw a group of tall, armoured things pulling people out of buildings, shooting them…killing them in the street.

Penny felt her heart leap to her mouth as she saw one of the aliens rip a small boy away from his mother, who was the source of the screaming. She pleaded in protest, and Penny scrambled for the front door. She had to stop them.

She ran for the alien, and forgot about her wings. She heard a tearing sound as her uninjured wing ripped the top of Bruce's jumper, springing free of the confining fabric, and stretched out wide as she burst out of the café entrance.

'Stop!' she shouted at the alien soldier. It didn't even look up.

'STOP!' Penny screamed at the top of her lungs, just as the alien shot the mother of the child.

She felt her heart freeze and a numbness spread throughout her body. She'd just witnessed a murder. Right there, in front of her.

She made a decision. She could still save the boy. Penny was almost at the alien now. The boy screamed in fear as the alien turned to him, and she collided with the monster.

They went tumbling, and Penny yelled as the stitches on her back strained, and she landed on her fractured wing. She felt cold, metal, pointy things digging into her, and something hard hit her across the face, making her grunt. She blinked through tear-blurred eyes and she realised she was staring into the end of some kind of gun.

The alien had recovered in mere seconds, and was now standing over her, gun aimed at her head. She froze, and waited for her death.

It didn't come.

For a few seconds, the alien stood there, staring at her. Penny could tell it was looking directly at her, although she couldn't see its eyes. She could feel her unrestrained wing spread out against the bitumen, and she glared up at the alien, the monster who had killed a mother in cold blood.

And then, it lowered its gun.

She stared at it, confused, and saw the little boy cradling the body of his mother out of the corner of her eye.

Get out of here! she wanted to call out, but didn't want to remind the alien that he was there.

'What are you waiting for?!' she gaped at the alien. 'Just kill me already,' she snapped.

The alien held a hand to its head, and gargled something in a warped, harsh voice. Penny frowned. What the Hell was going on?

Suddenly, the alien hauled her to her feet, and she cried out in pain as it tore at her shoulder, her back and wing smarting. The alien started dragging her towards some kind of metal contraption. It was all metal, harsh angles, and thoroughly foreign looking, vaguely chariot-like. She originally had no idea what it was, but then realised that this was how it must get around. It was a vehicle. There was another alien at the front of it, evidently acting as the steering.

She struggled against the grip of the alien as it dragged her closer, and she clawed and fought against it. She didn't know what it wanted with her, but it couldn't be good.

'Let me go!' she shrieked, and pulled hard, kicking out with her leg. It had no effect, and within moments, the beast had secured her to the back section of vehicle with some kind of metal chain. She pulled and struggled, but the creature just stepped onto the vehicle and the alien at the front made it move.

Penny gasped as it lifted in the air, and she struggled once more to pull free. Nothing worked, however, and she cried out as she saw another alien stalking out of a building, before making its way over to the little boy, who was cradling his mother and sobbing.

She screamed, and the last thing she before they flew away was the little boy crumpling to the ground, his lifeless gaze staring directly at her.

AN: Ughhhhh. I'm sorry that was sad. Mleurghh I feel bad for writing that part, but honestly, when Loki attacked New York, PEOPLE DIED. And he wouldn't have discriminated. Children must have been amongst the death toll, so…yeah. Sorry. My only defence is that there was at least a lot of cute Penny/Bruce fluff beforehand, which I hope you got your fix for, because things are about to get interesting soon.

Not that it wasn't already.

As always, thank you so much for reading! I still love writing this story, even if I haven't updated in a while (sorry). Unfortunately, as I'm going into Year 12 this year, I'll probably by updated quite a bit slower, so – in advance – SORRY! I'll try and write whenever I can :D

Thanks for R&R-ing!

Xxx

~Fen~