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Betty Ross was no stranger to impressive feats of architecture and human invention. She’d toured impenetrable military compounds, run experiments in cutting edge science labs outfitted with the latest technology, and visited centuries-old European museums and cathedrals. Modern or historical, buildings were nothing more than brick and mortar, no matter how imposing they looked.

Even so, as she reached the foot of Stark Tower and stared up at the neon blue ‘A’ hanging hundreds of feet overhead, her heart thundered in her chest, each beat a strike of lightning. From a distance, the high rise blended in with the surrounding towers. But up close — up close...

The building was sleek, with sweeping curves and seemingly endless rows of tinted windows. Maybe it was confirmation bias, but it felt different. Special. She’d never been superstitious, yet Stark Tower felt as otherworldly as the aliens that besieged New York a few weeks prior.

Then again, most people would say the same about the Hulk, who was normally just another five foot eight man. Stark Tower and its owner were no different.

Taking a fortifying breath, she strode through the large glass door into a hive of bustling activity. Near the entrance, a young man sat at a long desk, tapping away on a sleek laptop. Off to her right, a peal of laughter rang out from a group of children gathered around a red-haired woman in a pantsuit. 

A school tour, most likely. Hopefully, some of those kids would pursue STEM when they were older — Betty might even work alongside them one day.

‘Good morning,’ the receptionist said. ‘How can I help you?’

‘My name’s Elizabeth Ross. I’m here to see Bruce Banner.’

His fingers darted across the keyboard with a smattering of clicks, then he frowned. ‘Is he expecting you?’

After video clips of the Hulk in New York were splashed over the news? He’d better be. ‘I don’t have an appointment, but he’ll want to see me.’

His eyebrows shot up as he reached for the phone, and Betty’s face heated. She probably wasn’t the first woman to show up unannounced at Stark Tower. How many groupies did Iron Man have by now? 

Still, she kept her gaze steady as the man dialled the number. ‘Dr Banner, it’s Luis from reception. A woman named Elizabeth Ross is asking to speak to you... No, she’s alone. I’ll send her straight up.’

-x-

Seventy-six. Seventy-seven. The floor number ticked higher as the elevator ascended, each second bringing Betty closer to the eighty-second floor. Her stomach twisted like a sponge being wrung out, coiling and uncoiling until her throat dried out. Turning her back to the display, she ran a hand down her dress, smoothing out the rumples.

The whole way here, she’d kept her composure, faking it until she made it like she had at so many funding meetings over the years. She should’ve known the facade wouldn’t last.

Four years. Four years since she last saw Bruce before he fled New York. He’d sent her a handful of postcards since then, crammed with reassurances and tidbits about his life, information always months behind. By the time she received them, he had already moved on.

Why hadn’t he told her he was back in New York? Had he met someone in the year since his last postcard?

The elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors slid open with a trilling ding. Slowing her breathing, she tried to settle her nerves.

‘Betty?’

Her eyes snapped open, and she spun to face the open door.

Bruce stood by a flowering potted plant, a soft expression on his face. His hair was longer and scruffier than last time, but it suited him. He’d put on some weight too — good. He’d always been a little thin.

Yet his eyes hadn’t changed one bit. Warm like melted chocolate, they radiated love and… 

Contentment. 

Maybe he’d finally found his peace.

Her heartbeat stuttered, and her roiling stomach stilled. She stumbled forward to pull him into a tight hug and sighed as his warm arms wrapped around her without hesitation. Her favourite kind of homecoming — instant, all-encompassing, right. The faint scent of musk clung to his clothes.

‘I’ve missed this,’ she murmured.

‘You’re not the only one.’ His breath tickled the skin of her neck, sending goosebumps trailing along her skin. ‘How did you know I was here?’

She snorted. ‘I saw the fight on TV then made an educated guess.’

She could’ve stayed wrapped in his embrace forever, but there was so much she wanted to know, so much they had to discuss. Reluctantly, she shifted her weight back, though not far enough to break contact. ‘Where have you been in the last year?’

‘A few places,’ he said, and she couldn’t wait to hear the story behind each one. ‘Ultimately, I settled in Kolkata, in eastern India.’

‘Why there?’ Whenever she’d thought of him — which, admittedly, was too often — she imagined him tucked away somewhere in South America. Argentina, perhaps, or Peru. Apparently she’d been some ten thousand miles off.

‘Why not there?’ he asked rhetorically. He broke their embrace and led her down the hallway. ‘I was travelling through and caught the tail-end of a cultural festival. I stayed a few days, loved it, then stumbled across an abused girl in the slums. One thing led to another, and I set up a medical clinic. It was good for me. Gave me something to focus on.’

‘Of course you did.’ He wasn’t even a medical doctor, but that was Bruce. Always empathetic and wanting to help people, especially people who suffered abuse like he had.

The hallway fed into an open-plan living and dining room decked out with cool-hued furniture, a pale green rug, and an unlit gas fireplace. Despite the modernistic feel, it felt surprisingly cosy. The room belonged on the glossy front cover of a home renovation magazine.

‘Green?’ she asked, toeing the rug.

Bruce shook his head. ‘There was a blue one initially, but Tony changed it a few days ago while I was in the lab. If you see him, don’t say anything. It bugs him when people don’t react.’

‘Right.’ Trying to needle reactions from the Hulk usually ended badly. Tony would either be the best thing to happen to Bruce or the worst. Sighing, Betty sank into a dark grey armchair, the soft cushions melding around her. ‘And when did you get back?’

‘A few days before the fight. A government agent tracked me down, told me about the threat, and brought me back.’

‘Brought or forced?’

‘Brought for now, although I’m sure Tony’s offer to live here was at least partially to make sure that doesn’t change.’ He smiled wryly. ‘Apparently, he doesn’t have enough toy scientists to play with and doesn’t want to share.’

Genuine fondness peeked through his dry words. Fancy that. ‘You like him, don’t you?’

Bruce shrugged. ‘He doesn’t care about the other guy.’

Tony’s reputation was mixed to say the least, but if he could see past the Hulk to Bruce, maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. ‘How long are you staying here?’

‘At this point, indefinitely.’ Bruce paced across the rug, each step ruffling the fibres and shifting them so they darkened. ‘What about you? I heard that you left Culver.’

She nodded. ‘Two years ago. I negotiated for more funding, so I’ve been able to expand my research.’

‘No wonder your articles have been more ambitious lately.’

‘You still read them?’ she asked, shocked. Maybe the communication hadn’t been as one-way as she thought. 

‘How else would I keep up to date on cellular biology?’ he teased, a touch flirtatiously.

‘And here you say you’re not a charmer.’

Bruce scoffed under his breath, but his eyes sparkled as his pacing brought him back towards her. ‘If I am charming, it’s only when I’m with you.’

‘Good.’ It was like he’d never even left. Leaning forward, Betty lowered her voice. ‘Then you should stay with me all the time.’

Bruce stopped, his expression stricken. Bottle green footprints marked the sage rug like a trail. ‘Betty,’ he said quietly, ‘nothing’s changed. Even though I’m not on the run anymore, I’m still not safe to be around.’

‘You’re not a risk to me.’

‘I’m one of the Avengers now. Pepper — the CEO — she almost died because she works with Tony.’

And millions of others almost died even though they didn’t. A laugh tore from her throat, harsh and disbelieving. ‘You’re kidding. Aliens almost destroyed New York, and you think it’s safe anywhere? If I’m going to be in danger either way, I might as well be by your side.’

‘Not all dangers are equal. Just because you could fall from a ladder doesn’t mean you should skydive without a parachute.’

‘Everyone dies eventually,’ she said softly. Between her mother’s early death and her father’s work in the military, she’d come to terms with mortality at a young age. No one was guaranteed a future. Just the present and whatever they did with it. ‘When I do, I don’t want to have regrets. So unless you genuinely don’t want me around, I’m not going anywhere. Not this time.’

Bruce sighed, but a reluctant smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. She wanted to trace his lips to coax out more of that sweet smile and clenched her hands together to stop herself. ‘I never could change your mind once you made it up,’ he said.

A mechanical voice cleared its throat. ‘Dr Banner, Mr Stark plans to order takeout for dinner and wants to know if you would like to join him.’

‘No, thank you, JARVIS. I have company.’

Betty twisted in her seat, scanning the room for the intruder. The room remained empty apart from her and Bruce. ‘Am I missing something? Or, more accurately, somebody?’

‘My apologies, Dr Ross.’ The voice didn’t come from any one direction, but rather from everywhere. Like surround sound in a movie theatre. ‘I am a user interface computer system designed by Mr Stark and, as such, do not have a physical form.’

Her eyes widened, and she turned back to Bruce. ‘He’s telling the truth,’ he said.

Virtual assistant technology was nothing new; Betty had even downloaded Siri to find hotels and eateries while travelling for work conferences. But most of it was limited to simple commands with pre-programmed responses, and there was no way Tony Stark could have prepared a response to something as specific as her question. ‘And you can understand what we’re saying?’

‘My language faculties are quite advanced,’ he said, sounding oddly prim.

‘JARVIS takes some getting used to,’ Bruce said apologetically. ‘Just think of him as a person you can’t see, and you’ll be fine.’

‘Right. Sorry if I offended you, JARVIS.’ If Tony Stark could create a flying, weaponised suit of armour, maybe she shouldn’t be shocked by an AI who could understand and create unique sentences.

‘Mr Stark did not design me to be easily offended.’ JARVIS paused, then added, ‘Dr Banner, I passed your message on to Mr Stark. He said your companion is also welcome.’

-x-

‘You’re Thaddeus Ross’ daughter,’ Tony said bluntly, stepping out of the elevator alongside the red-haired woman from earlier. The spicy aroma from the cardboard takeout boxes filled the room, making Betty’s stomach grumble. ‘I met him once. He tried to have me thrown out of a bar.’

Thoughts of food fled Betty’s mind. That was a rather aggressive conversation starter from someone renowned for his charisma. Then again, she’d heard he could be a prick. ‘That sounds like my father.’

‘Would it kill you to start with “hello”?’ the woman asked with an exasperated sigh. She held out a neatly-manicured hand to Betty and gave her a firm handshake. ‘I’m Pepper.’

‘Betty.’

‘Is he still so uptight?’ Tony asked, unrelenting.

‘I wouldn’t know.’ Once, her father’s betrayal had gnawed away at her, each memory a maggot latching onto her skin. Now, with the benefit of time, only the faintest tinge of bitterness laced her reply. ‘We haven’t talked much since he made Bruce a fugitive.’

Tony glanced at Bruce but pressed on anyway. ‘Is that how you knew where to find Bruce?’ he demanded. ‘Did your father send you to bring him in?’

‘Tony,’ Bruce said quietly. Reprovingly. ‘Drop it. I trust Betty with my life.’

‘It’s a simple question. Isn’t it suspicious that you haven’t told anyone where you’re staying, yet she waltzes up to my doorstep, asking for you?’

Betty met Tony’s challenging glare directly. After the interrogations she’d endured every time her general — sorry, father — caught her sneaking in after curfew, Tony’s questioning felt like small talk. ‘He called me, yes. He saw Bruce on TV and wanted me to promise not to get involved again. As for your other question, it wasn’t hard. Bruce wouldn’t trust the government or military enough to live in anything they might provide, and the only civilian I recognised from the battle was you.’

His expression softened. ‘You told him to take a hike, I hope?’

‘Something like that.’

‘I like you. She can stay.’ Tony brushed by them and into the other room.

She’d passed, then. She should tell her father she and Tony had bonded over him -- he’d be apoplectic.

Betty started to follow him, but Bruce snagged her elbow before she could take more than two steps. ‘I’m sorry about that. He should behave himself now that’s out of his system, but I understand if you want to leave.’

‘Would you believe me if I told you he means well?’ Pepper asked.

‘It’s fine,’ Betty reassured them. ‘I would be suspicious too in his shoes.’

Besides, Bruce needed more people in his life who cared about him. An overprotective genius with access to military-grade weaponry wasn’t a bad person to have in his corner. Especially since he didn’t tiptoe around the Hulk.

-x-

‘So you witnessed Bruce’s college years.’ Tony gestured between them with his whiskey glass, dark gold liquid sloshing up the sides. Spread across the table, empty plates and boxes were all that remained of dinner. ‘The poor decisions, the experimentation with alcohol, the dating mishaps... Got any wild or embarrassing stories to share?’

So many. The time she walked in on Bruce practicing what to say when he met her father, back when the general’s opinion carried weight. Or the night they got drunk and climbed the largest tree on campus, a towering sycamore, only for her fear of heights to ambush her at the top. Bone-cold, they’d huddled in its boughs for a whole hour before Bruce coaxed her down.

Her chest warmed at the memories. Bruce valued his privacy, however, and these were his friends, not hers. 

‘I plead the fifth,’ Betty said, laughing.

Tony’s eyes lit up like a researcher on the heels of their first breakthrough. 

Before he could reply, Bruce cut in. Back tense, he said, ‘Nothing wild by your standards. A few parties. Some awkward moments. Nothing particularly entertaining.’

‘But you admit there were parties. There’s no point playing coy; I’ll get it out of you eventually.’

Bruce’s mouth twitched even as he shrugged nonchalantly. ‘You’ll be disappointed when you do.’

‘Doubt it. One of these days, I’m going to get you to loosen up. Especially now I have this one here to help me.’ Tony winked at Betty.

Chuckling, she raised her hands in a show of neutrality, not ready to be deputised just yet. ‘I feel like we have different definitions of the word “loose”.’

‘I’m willing to settle for yours.’

Pepper rolled her eyes and reached out to top up her glass of wine. ‘We don’t even know what Betty’s plans are. Are you relocating to New York?’

Bruce relaxed into the couch. It seemed that although Tony’s antics amused him, he still disliked being the centre of attention. She’d always thought he looked more self-conscious as the topic of discussion than as an orator. Then again, perhaps that was no wonder, given how little attention most of their students paid in class.

‘After my contract expires at the end of the year,’ Betty said. ‘I have contacts at a few colleges here and should be able to find a job.’

The smile slipped from Tony’s face. He studied her, his gaze serious for the first time since that initial interrogation. Did he think she sounded naïve to uproot her life so suddenly? Crazy, even? Perhaps, but she’d known Bruce for over half her life. She wasn’t rushing in blindly.

Instead of a condemnation, Tony said, ‘Send Pepper your résumé.’

Betty blinked. ‘Pardon?’

‘Most of our operations don’t require a cellular biologist, so I can’t guarantee anything permanent. But we’re exploring a new line of research that you might be able to help with.’

Stark Industries produced weapons and technology. Although they employed numerous scientists, their research all tied back into those sectors. What topic relating to her field could they — 

The grainy news clips flashed before her eyes. Iron Man blasting an alien through a pickup truck. The Hulk hoisting another over his head. Captain America shielding civilians from enemy fire.

Oh. Wow.

‘It’s linked to the invasion, isn’t it?’ she asked slowly. ‘You have access to alien tissue and want to study it at the cellular level.’

Bruce cleared his throat; it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. She flashed him a smile and was met with the smallest incline of his head. He knew what they were researching — and she was willing to bet she was right.

Aliens.

All signs of amusement vanished from Pepper’s face. Her back straightened, and her voice dripped with professionalism as she replied, ‘The government decreed that all Chitauri remains must be surrendered to them for appropriate disposal. It would be illegal for Stark Industries to contradict those orders.’

Pepper’s reply reeked of maintaining plausible deniability. ‘I didn’t mean to imply you would do anything unlawful,’ Betty said carefully.

If true, the potential was endless. Understanding Chitauri cells could hold the key not only to theorising about other alien lifeforms, but also to deepening their understanding of the limits of the human body. Knowing how other humanoids had developed would shed light on how humans could have developed and how they might continue to develop in the future. The insights could be used to develop new medicines, too. Antivenoms, maybe, or vaccines, or —

And what implications could it have for the future of genetic engineering? In the wrong hands, the information uncovered could be abused. Stark Industries would have to run rigorous background checks before granting anyone access to the tissue.

Betty rubbed her temple. She was getting too far ahead of herself.

‘Are you interested?’ Tony asked.

Bruce smiled at her knowingly. After all, he knew her just as well as she knew him. How many afternoons had they wasted debating whether the government would be prepared when — not if — aliens first made contact? How many pages had they filled with theories and sketches about what they might look like?

As much as Betty enjoyed teaching, this was a childhood dream. She couldn’t very well refuse. 

‘What email address should I send it to?’

-x-

Betty buttoned up her coat and stepped out into the chilly midnight air. Golden lights shone from the windows overhead, twinkling through the darkness like halogen stars. Tyres screeched as cars whizzed past, and far away, a siren blared. Fortunately, the cars parked at the curb were empty — the driver Pepper had organised for her hadn’t arrived yet. 

‘Tony and Pepper seem nice,’ she said.

Bruce raised his eyebrows. ‘You sound surprised.’

‘And you weren’t?’ A yawn bubbled up in her throat, and she pressed her hand to her mouth.

The skin around his eyes wrinkled as he smiled. ‘No, I was. But according to Pepper, Tony changed after Afghanistan. Mellowed, which is a frightening thought. And they believe what matters is someone’s current choices, not their past mistakes.’

‘You’ve always been a good man, Bruce.’ She lowered her voice; the closest person was a block away, but she didn’t want to risk anyone overhearing. ‘The Hulk never changed that.’

‘Maybe,’ he said noncommittally. 

‘Undoubtedly.’ Her chest ached at the thought that he couldn’t acknowledge his worth. That he could save a city and still not trust himself. Something else for Betty and Tony to work on, she supposed.

He exhaled, and his breath condensed into a wispy cloud between them. ‘Regardless, you know what my dad was like. Living in Willowdale with you was the first time I felt at home since I was seven.’

‘Until now?’

‘Yes.’

‘You’ve built a family.’ It was a weird hodgepodge of one — a renowned scientist with complicated self-esteem who could transform into an invulnerable green hulk, an arrogant billionaire turned superhero, a well-mannered businesswoman, and now Betty. But that didn’t make it less meaningful. ‘They’re good for you.’

‘I think the Avengers are all good for each other.’ Headlights flashed across his face as another car approached, bringing out the amber in his eyes. ‘How long are you in town?’

‘A few more days. I took Monday off work, so I don’t have to rush back.’

‘I can meet you at your hotel in the morning,’ he suggested. ‘We’ll put on our tourist hats and explore the city.’

She nudged his arm. ‘It’s a date.’

The low rumble of an engine grew louder before cutting off. A sleek, expensive black car idled on the street, its passenger window wound down. A man with short, greying hair and square glasses leant across the seat. ‘Dr Ross? Ms Potts sent me.’

Springing forward, Betty hugged Bruce. That familiar musk enveloped her, drawing her in, and she pressed her face into the crook of his neck. Another siren blared in the distance, but for the first time since the accident, everything felt right. She could have lingered on the doorstep for hours, lulled into semi-sleep by his gentle warmth.

With a sigh, she pulled away. ‘I’ll see you first thing tomorrow morning.’