a/n : yeah okay fine - I'm sorry for this.

but lol have fun!!

please comment, vote, and react!

✰✰✰

THINGS ARE GOING WELL.

Really well. Spencer is... she's enjoying herself.

She didn't even think it was possible to enjoy time with Bruce this much, but apparently, it's completely possible. Easy, even.

Spencer Rebecca Banner had completely dismissed her summer homework, for one, because Bruce Banner was now letting her work on Avengers work with him. Seriously - he's sitting there, asking Spencer's opinions on prototypes and Spencer doesn't know anything about any of this, but she's trying to offer her limited knowledge and ideas.

And Bruce is accepting it.

"I think we design it with the motor on top," Bruce suggested, adjusting the display in front of him to indicate his design. He glanced down at Spencer to gauge her reaction, but she was squinting down at a notebook with scribbles in it before she peered up.

"What..." her finger pointed to a specific part of the sketch. "What if you move that axel back here? The motor would fit perfectly."

Bruce paused. He thought over it a little bit, then scrunched his face a little as he turned to type a few things in for dimensions, and viola - Spencer's idea fit on the screen.

"We should move the axle forward," Bruce said. "With the center of gravity here-" he pointed, "then we've got better balance. It can take more hits."

"Right, that makes sense," Spencer said, mulling over the screen to absorb everything she could.

Bruce watched her for a second before turning back to his tablet. With eyes on his own screen, he directed Spencer, "put your glasses on."

Spencer looked at him. "What?"

Bruce scoffed, then looked at her. "You can't see anything, Spencer, I just flipped the image and repeated your idea to you-" he stressed. "And you didn't even notice. Glasses on."

Spencer debated arguing, but she doesn't even care enough too. She's much more focused on talking to her dad about this project, so she grabbed them from where she stashed them in her backpack and shoved them on.

It's not all fun, though - Bruce has gotten Spencer to give into testing. He promised her it's all precautionary, and nothing's gonna hurt. And she holds him to that, okay? Because the second she sees a needle/blood/knife, it's game over. Spencer makes sure he's well aware of that.

Then there's everyone else - and that hasn't been too awful, either. Ever since Tony got back, and Clint joined him, the compound seemed alive with energy. There's always something going on between Clint and Pietro - which, on multiple occasions, has led to Spencer dropping her cup/plate/utensils. And apparently, Bruce had finally told Tony that Spencer's vegetarian, which suddenly led to an increase of enjoyable snacks/meals for her.

And she's been avoiding Natasha pretty well. Maybe the woman had taken the hint that Spencer literally never wanted to see her, but she's not hanging around Bruce as much, so cue some healthy father-daughter bonding.

Spencer's even taken the time to call her mother. Yes, that's how calm she is. She called her mom and made it very clear that she felt ultimately betrayed and lied to, and her mom didn't even argue - she completely understood. And Nicole promised April, Spencer's friend, was in good health, so she didn't have to reach out if she wasn't completely comfortable.

And Spencer wasn't. So she didn't.

"Have you heard of the species of whales discovered?" Spencer questioned Bruce who was working on paperwork. Spencer was sketching whale idli in her physics notebook.  "It was found in the Gulf of Mexico - could you imagine?" Spencer added in a mumble, more to herself than anything. "Finding that in the ocean."

"It must be scary," Bruce noted, glancing between his screens. "Must've felt like the jackpot, too."

Spencer smiled. "Imagine calling off work that day. Would really suck."

Bruce made a sound of agreement. Spencer went back to her sketching.

After a few minutes, Bruce's voice cut through her haze. "Spencer," he said, and she looked up. "Would you mind getting Peter for me?" he asked, and Spencer closed her notebook and nodded. "He should be outside, today," he added as Spencer stood up. "Maybe with Clint? Pietro?"

Spencer said, "I'll go get him."

Spencer was in a daze. This is fair, because she's usually in a daze when something goes wrong, so it's fitting that she is then.

The sun was practically blinding when she gets far enough out of the lab wing to see the light of day. When she gets to the side door of the compound, she even puts her hand up to block the sun's glare.

It's warm outside. The sun is kissing her skin - because Spencer is wearing a muscle tank top today -Yep. She's feeling confident today - and her hair is swinging slightly. And she felt good, so good, actually, that's when she rounded the corner of the left-wing of the avenger compound, she didn't even see the giant wooden obstacle wall in front of her.

In fact, she didn't even realize that Peter is turning to her, horrified, and screaming until after the words sort themselves out in her head. And that's a long time after the actual 12-foot, 3 feet thick wall fell. In her direction.

Spencer can't outrun it. She's not Pietro, and from what it looks like, even Pietro couldn't outrun this. Not to mention, he's nowhere in sight, and it's inches away from Spencer's head, and oh God, I'm gonna die in front of the Avengers training, how embarrassing is that?

Instinctively, Spencer's arms snapped from her side and went to protect her head - which shouldn't help anything.

At least, she didn't think it would.

Because Spencer Rebecca Banner is considering death right now - the inescapable approach of it as this huge ass wall comes tumbling down on her and is blocking the light of the sun she was finally adjusting to. Spencer knows her chances - she's only got like a little but it muscle, despite the tank top, and it's okay, it's okay if she died but just not in front of Peter-

She can see the sun again.

She's not knocked off her feet, and Spencer Rebecca Banner can see the sun again.

Slowly, she lowered her arms. She doesn't feel anything weird, and Peter is still yards away from her, and it's clear nobody saved her from anything but...

But the wooden wall is at her feet. It's at her feet and it's got a hole in it the width of her body as if her arms had really -

No. Spencer's arms couldn't have broken through that thick of wood. She would have felt it. Noticed it. She would have had broken arms by now, or something, but she's standing there, unharmed. And the wood is splintered.

And why are SHIELD agents staring at her?

Then Spencer finally looked at the wood below her, and the shape of the hole that just saved her entire life. It's boxy - just like the position of her arms. The position she'd learned from an eighth-grade self-defense seminar.

Spencer looked down at her arms, thinking she'd see splinters and cuts and that the adrenaline might have numbed the pain.

But what she does see is a lot scarier. A lot.

Spencer screamed.

She didn't even know she was doing it until she did, and she wished that she jumped out of her skin when she jolted in fear, but that's not possible.

It's also not supposed to be possible that Spencer Banner is staring down at green skin.

Her breathing was choppy. There was a blur by Peter, who was advancing on her, but Spencer didn't notice. In fact, she didn't notice anything else until there are hands-on her arms, holding her in place. She's fighting against the grip, horrified, but the hold didn't budge.

"Stop, stop, don't move." Spencer knows that voice - the accent is the dead give away. She couldn't decide if his hands and his voice are making the whole thing worse, but there was not enough oxygen in her head to even consider anything serious. She was just hyperventilating.

Pietro got closer.

"Look at me, look," he directed her, shaking her shoulders softly, enough for her to raise her horrified - and watering - eyes to him. Peter was yards behind them, closing in.

Pietro doesn't let him get too close. "Get Banner," he told the boy, strictly, without room for argument.

Peter took another look at Spencer before running off towards the door.

Spencer took the break from Pietro's stare to look around - all these SHIELD agents. All looking at her. All scared. Terrified.

"Banner," Pietro called. Spencer doesn't budge. Why are they still staring? Is she getting worse? She doesn't even want to look. "Spencer. Look at me. Please."

She listened. She moved rigidly, but she moved back to focus on him. She can't tell if he's scared. He looks worried, at least, which is fair because he's completely risking his life-

"Eyes on me. Do you know how to listen, dragă?" he said, almost harshly, and Spencer can barely hear his voice. It's drowning in a rushing noise in her ear - like water's all around her. Lik she drowning, or something. But she turned, anyway. "There," he said when her eyes met his. "Good. Don't look anywhere else."

Spencer nodded. Stiffly. Quickly. She was afraid her neck is gonna snap or something. She should be dead. She should be dead. She's green?

"Spencer? Spencer, oh my God, Spencer."

She broke her stare from Pietro to look off to her side. It's Bruce. Staring right at her. God, he looked just as scared as those SHIELD agents.

"Spencer, what happened?" he asked frantically, stepping onto the wooden platform as he came closer. Spencer can't look at him, not after she's green. The color of -

Oh, God.

Pietro noticed the change, and his hands tightened around her. Instead of asking for her attention again, he just looked at Banner.

Bruce watched. Carefully. Spencer's eyes catch on her skin, and it's... it's going back to normal. But she knows she's not crazy, because the blotches of green, they're - they're so vivid. And real.

"Spencer," Bruce called again, more desperately this time, and Pietro's hands slipped down Spencer's arm a little bit. "I'm sorry."

That's all he can say. He can't think of anything else, maybe, but that's all he said. He does other things - rubs his face with his hands and watches as Pietro helped Spencer out of the rumble she stood in.

And then, when Spencer's close enough, and she pulls out of Pietro's hold, she falls into Bruce's arms.

And he hugs her. Tightly. Impossibly tight.

✰✰✰

SPENCER IS CURRENTLY IN THE BATHROOM OF LAB 204.

She's staring in the mirror above the sink. She's pulling and tugging at her skin enough to make it red and blotchy, but she keeps doing it. She's not going for red. She's going for green.

Outside the bathroom doors is the horrific reality that Spencer has to face. That she did get Bruce's mutated genes. That she was part...hulk. Part monster.

Outside, that was all fact.

But in this bathroom, right here, she could pretend that this was all some fever dream. That it was some horrible nightmare that she didn't have to recognize after she woke up.

She pulled at the skin at her chin. Wake up.

There's a knock at her door.

"Are you alive in there?"

It's Pietro's voice. It's wrapped in his accent, but Spencer knows that his tone is softer than usual. And as much as she doesn't want it to, it comforted her. She hated it.

She's the enemy, not the victim.

Spencer pulled away from the sink. The illusion of the nightmare was fading away, and she was being met with the cold hard truth that she wasn't making this stuff up.

Spencer hesitated, but she opened the door, slowly.

Pietro, who had been leaning against it, pulled away slowly, his eyes trained on Spencer who met his for a second. But then they're on the ground, searching for Bruce Banner's shoes.

She found them and looked up.

"Come on," he said, softly. "Come 'ere, I want to make sure you're alright."

Spencer squinted. "I'm not alright," Spencer told him, hardly, disgusted that he would even say that. "How could you think I'm alright, I-"

"Spencer, please-"

"I just broke through a wood wall with my bare hands - I was green - how could I be alright?" Her voice cracked. Maybe shattered. Spencer's not even sure how strong her voice is anymore.

Something moved closer at her side.

Spencer saw Pietro. He's still staring down at her, but his eyes aren't soft like before. They're something else, and Spencer doesn't want to read into it so she just stepped forward toward Bruce. She slipped into a lab chair.

"Fine," she said. "Do what you have to."

Bruce tried to say something encouraging, and he followed with a squeeze to her shoulder, but Spencer's numb. She couldn't even feel a wall falling on her. She's pretty numb.

"She's okay with me."

Spencer's not supposed to hear those words. It's mumbled in the back of the room, from her father, and she knows it not for her.

But then there's another voice she's not supposed to hear.

"I know."

The stool at Spencer's side shifted, and Pietro sat in it. Bruce stood in front of them, going through his medical bag.

"No blood," he said, staring at her before turning to Bruce. "She won't handle it well."

Spencer scoffed. Laughed? It's exhausted and it's a breath, but it makes Bruce feel almost okay, and Pietro tried not to smile at her.

"No blood," Bruce promised Spencer.

"Good," Pietro muttered, low enough so only Spencer could hear the next part. "Would hate for a broken lab."

Spencer Rebecca Banner does not find this funny.