Story: "Safe Keeping" (Part 7 of 7)
Nov. 28th, 2012 12:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis story fills a square on my second card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
cottoncandy_bingo fest. This fest encourages people to create and share material focused on what is variously called fluff, schmoop, gentle fiction, light reading, comfort reading, positive thinking, chicken soup for the soul, or anything else that offers a fun alternative to usual run of sex, violence, and angst of modern media. I'm hoping to attract some new readers for my writing.
The following story belongs to Schrodinger's Heroes, featuring an apocryphal television show supported by an imaginary fandom. It's science fiction about quantum physics and saving the world from alternate dimensions. It features a very mixed cast in terms of ethnicity and sexual orientation. This project developed with input from multiple people, and it's open for everyone to play in. You can read more about the background, the characters, and a bunch of assorted content on the menu page.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. This is a crossover with the Hulk from The Avengers. So it doesn't match up exactly with the various Hulk movies, and Bruce Banner is played by Mark Ruffalo. The story goes into alternate-universe mode after the lab accident while Bruce is running from General Ross but before Bruce meets any of the Avengers.
There is a sequel, "Two Spirits, One Past."
Fandom: Hulk / The Avengers / Original (Schrodinger's Heroes)
Prompt: Safe
Medium: Story
Summary: Bruce Banner, on the run in America, seeks help from his college lab partner Alex. She is not happy that people have left him in such a shabby state, and decides to get more involved than Bruce intended.
Content Notes: Hurt/comfort. Angst. Advanced science. Bruce and Alex are science buddies. Fragile!Bruce. Protective!Alex. Cuddling. Teamwork. Ross!whump. Safe ending.
"Safe Keeping" Part 7
"You're strong, Bruce," Quinn said. "You've survived worse with less backup."
Bruce twitched. "What makes you say that? You don't even know me."
"The way you move, the way you dress, the way you talk," Quinn said with a shrug. "You don't need to explain anything, and I don't even need to send myself a note. Alter!Quinn will see it too. You're a survivor. You'd manage fine on your own. With some support from friends, you'll do great."
"Yeah, I'm a terrific success story," Bruce said sourly.
"You're still alive, so yes, you are," Quinn said, not backing down.
Bruce looked away. "Whatever. I don't want to fight about it."
"Of course, Bruce. I'm trying to lift you up, not cut you down," Quinn said.
"I should go," Bruce said softly. "You've all made good points. I don't really want to leave but ... the life I had here is already wrecked. I can't go back to it, no matter how much I wish I could. Yeah. Let's do this."
"All right, you said that you had contacts and plans. Let's explore some of that in case you need any of it. We can cross-reference things in the destination dimension," Alex said.
They weren't ten minutes into that process when they were interrupted.
"Perimeter contact," Kay said over the comm. "Block or pass?"
Bruce picked up the duffelbag and nodded.
"Let them pass, Kay," said Alex.
"Acknowledged," Kay said.
Everyone crowded around to wish Bruce well. "Finish the paper," Morgan whispered into his ear. "In my dimension, Dr. Banner won a Nobel for it." Bruce was too stunned to reply before Morgan passed him on to Alex.
Alex hugged Bruce goodbye. "Core!me misses you already, Bruce. Alter!me looks forward to meeting you," she said. "Just ... be safe, old friend."
"I will be, thanks to you," Bruce said. He pushed the button on the terminal, and the air rippled into a portal. He handed the terminal to Alex. Then he turned to go.
"I hear choppers," Ash said.
Bruce paused, the duffelbag swaying slightly in his grip.
"Don't look back," Morgan said.
"I never do," Bruce said. He stepped through the shimmering portal and vanished.
Alex turned away, and then a flare of not-quite-light blotted out her vision for an instant.
Bruce stepping out of a portal into the Tef.
Greetings, introductions. Bruce shaking hands with Alex. Alex pulling a startled Bruce into a hug.
Kay keeping watch. Bruce acknowledging her with a cautious nod.
"Hey, Alex, are you all right?" Quinn asked. He had an arm around her shoulders.
She shook her head, trying to clear her vision, then said, "Yes, I'm fine, or I will be. Just give me a minute." The glare was fading. The headache it left behind was less than usual.
"You flashed again, didn't you?" Quinn asked.
"Yes, I was thinking a little too much about quantum mechanics, we opened portals, and Bruce is kind of an anomaly," Alex said. They had all picked up some weird psychic abilities as a result of one incident. She had mostly gotten rid of that, but sometimes things randomly returned for a brief moment. "I saw Bruce arrive. He'll be fine. He'll be safe."
"That's the important thing," Quinn agreed.
They settled on the couch to rest, but it didn't last long.
Someone was pounding on the door again. Alex opened it. A craggy man in an army uniform stood there, backed by several burly soldiers.
Alex bared her teeth in what a particularly dull person might have mistaken for a smile. Between her ankles, Schrodinger hissed. "General Ross," Alex said with a graceful sweep of her hand, "come into my parlor."
* * *
Epilogue
"I was assured that you were a better technical consultant than Tony Stark, and that you could deal with any challenges put forth by the cute little girls whose skirts Banner decided to hide behind this time," said General Ross.
"Working on it as we speak ..."
"Are you any closer to getting us the fuck home?" General Ross snarled at his hapless consultant. All around lay an empty, grassy plain in which the soldiers huddled together around their commanding officer. Butterflies fluttered above a patch of wildflowers.
"Uh, yes sir, any minute now," said the mousy little man. He adjusted his black-framed glasses and then pushed a button.
Reality flickered, bounced off the Teferact's firewall, and crashed hard. Wind howled and snow drove into the thin desert fatigues of the troop.
General Ross heaved himself to his feet. He glared around at the hilly terrain with its raging blizzard. Then he reached down and lifted his consultant by the collar. "Tony Stark could have done better than this," he roared, "in a cave, with a box of scraps!"
"I-I -- I'm not Tony Stark," Justin Hammer confessed in a tiny voice.
* * *
Notes:
Some of the epilogue lines come from the movie Iron Man. General Ross is from Hulk fandom. Justin Hammer is from Iron Man 2. Just some jerks I felt like bouncing off a wall.
~ END ~
cottoncandy_bingo fest. This fest encourages people to create and share material focused on what is variously called fluff, schmoop, gentle fiction, light reading, comfort reading, positive thinking, chicken soup for the soul, or anything else that offers a fun alternative to usual run of sex, violence, and angst of modern media. I'm hoping to attract some new readers for my writing.The following story belongs to Schrodinger's Heroes, featuring an apocryphal television show supported by an imaginary fandom. It's science fiction about quantum physics and saving the world from alternate dimensions. It features a very mixed cast in terms of ethnicity and sexual orientation. This project developed with input from multiple people, and it's open for everyone to play in. You can read more about the background, the characters, and a bunch of assorted content on the menu page.
Begin with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. This is a crossover with the Hulk from The Avengers. So it doesn't match up exactly with the various Hulk movies, and Bruce Banner is played by Mark Ruffalo. The story goes into alternate-universe mode after the lab accident while Bruce is running from General Ross but before Bruce meets any of the Avengers.
There is a sequel, "Two Spirits, One Past."
Fandom: Hulk / The Avengers / Original (Schrodinger's Heroes)
Prompt: Safe
Medium: Story
Summary: Bruce Banner, on the run in America, seeks help from his college lab partner Alex. She is not happy that people have left him in such a shabby state, and decides to get more involved than Bruce intended.
Content Notes: Hurt/comfort. Angst. Advanced science. Bruce and Alex are science buddies. Fragile!Bruce. Protective!Alex. Cuddling. Teamwork. Ross!whump. Safe ending.
"Safe Keeping" Part 7
"You're strong, Bruce," Quinn said. "You've survived worse with less backup."
Bruce twitched. "What makes you say that? You don't even know me."
"The way you move, the way you dress, the way you talk," Quinn said with a shrug. "You don't need to explain anything, and I don't even need to send myself a note. Alter!Quinn will see it too. You're a survivor. You'd manage fine on your own. With some support from friends, you'll do great."
"Yeah, I'm a terrific success story," Bruce said sourly.
"You're still alive, so yes, you are," Quinn said, not backing down.
Bruce looked away. "Whatever. I don't want to fight about it."
"Of course, Bruce. I'm trying to lift you up, not cut you down," Quinn said.
"I should go," Bruce said softly. "You've all made good points. I don't really want to leave but ... the life I had here is already wrecked. I can't go back to it, no matter how much I wish I could. Yeah. Let's do this."
"All right, you said that you had contacts and plans. Let's explore some of that in case you need any of it. We can cross-reference things in the destination dimension," Alex said.
They weren't ten minutes into that process when they were interrupted.
"Perimeter contact," Kay said over the comm. "Block or pass?"
Bruce picked up the duffelbag and nodded.
"Let them pass, Kay," said Alex.
"Acknowledged," Kay said.
Everyone crowded around to wish Bruce well. "Finish the paper," Morgan whispered into his ear. "In my dimension, Dr. Banner won a Nobel for it." Bruce was too stunned to reply before Morgan passed him on to Alex.
Alex hugged Bruce goodbye. "Core!me misses you already, Bruce. Alter!me looks forward to meeting you," she said. "Just ... be safe, old friend."
"I will be, thanks to you," Bruce said. He pushed the button on the terminal, and the air rippled into a portal. He handed the terminal to Alex. Then he turned to go.
"I hear choppers," Ash said.
Bruce paused, the duffelbag swaying slightly in his grip.
"Don't look back," Morgan said.
"I never do," Bruce said. He stepped through the shimmering portal and vanished.
Alex turned away, and then a flare of not-quite-light blotted out her vision for an instant.
Bruce stepping out of a portal into the Tef.
Greetings, introductions. Bruce shaking hands with Alex. Alex pulling a startled Bruce into a hug.
Kay keeping watch. Bruce acknowledging her with a cautious nod.
"Hey, Alex, are you all right?" Quinn asked. He had an arm around her shoulders.
She shook her head, trying to clear her vision, then said, "Yes, I'm fine, or I will be. Just give me a minute." The glare was fading. The headache it left behind was less than usual.
"You flashed again, didn't you?" Quinn asked.
"Yes, I was thinking a little too much about quantum mechanics, we opened portals, and Bruce is kind of an anomaly," Alex said. They had all picked up some weird psychic abilities as a result of one incident. She had mostly gotten rid of that, but sometimes things randomly returned for a brief moment. "I saw Bruce arrive. He'll be fine. He'll be safe."
"That's the important thing," Quinn agreed.
They settled on the couch to rest, but it didn't last long.
Someone was pounding on the door again. Alex opened it. A craggy man in an army uniform stood there, backed by several burly soldiers.
Alex bared her teeth in what a particularly dull person might have mistaken for a smile. Between her ankles, Schrodinger hissed. "General Ross," Alex said with a graceful sweep of her hand, "come into my parlor."
* * *
Epilogue
"I was assured that you were a better technical consultant than Tony Stark, and that you could deal with any challenges put forth by the cute little girls whose skirts Banner decided to hide behind this time," said General Ross.
"Working on it as we speak ..."
"Are you any closer to getting us the fuck home?" General Ross snarled at his hapless consultant. All around lay an empty, grassy plain in which the soldiers huddled together around their commanding officer. Butterflies fluttered above a patch of wildflowers.
"Uh, yes sir, any minute now," said the mousy little man. He adjusted his black-framed glasses and then pushed a button.
Reality flickered, bounced off the Teferact's firewall, and crashed hard. Wind howled and snow drove into the thin desert fatigues of the troop.
General Ross heaved himself to his feet. He glared around at the hilly terrain with its raging blizzard. Then he reached down and lifted his consultant by the collar. "Tony Stark could have done better than this," he roared, "in a cave, with a box of scraps!"
"I-I -- I'm not Tony Stark," Justin Hammer confessed in a tiny voice.
* * *
Notes:
Some of the epilogue lines come from the movie Iron Man. General Ross is from Hulk fandom. Justin Hammer is from Iron Man 2. Just some jerks I felt like bouncing off a wall.
~ END ~
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-11-29 04:35 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-29 04:55 am (UTC)At any point, the bad guys could have quit while they were ahead. But no, they just had to poke karma with a sharp stick.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-29 04:58 am (UTC)The Klingon word for 'tribble' is yIH, pronounced "Yicchhhhh!"
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-29 05:23 am (UTC)Yes, it's a good way to detect disguised Klingons. *chuckle* But you just know some pervert Klingon likes them.
>>The Klingon word for 'tribble' is yIH, pronounced "Yicchhhhh!"<<
I always loved that. When I grow up, I want to be Mark Okrand.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-30 05:53 am (UTC)and g-d DAMN I like your sabertooth karma tribbles. I wish we could manifest just a couple three...
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-30 08:01 am (UTC)*HUGS* Hey, I know lots of kinky people. As soon as someone points to a "universal" aversion, I think "Somebody else is going to kink that."
>> and g-d DAMN I like your sabertooth karma tribbles. I wish we could manifest just a couple three... <<
Well, I don't usually go up against people as vile as General Ross. Most of the time, ordinary karma tribbles suffice. But I have been known to release them by the dozens into a deserving environment. After all, they only attach to legitimate targets.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-30 03:10 pm (UTC)Rule 34a? *laughter*
You *are* deliciously twisted. Glad I found you... :)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-11-30 05:53 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-30 06:23 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-30 02:54 pm (UTC)Oh, and even though I had the whole schmear to hand at once? Thanks for not cliffhanging. At least when the next installment is out in hours or days, it wouldn't be so bad, but when the lights go out and they're falling and the next book isn't for six or eight months? That's just *mean*. IMNASHO.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-11-30 08:21 pm (UTC)That's fair.
>> Thanks for not cliffhanging. <<
I look for good breakpoints, often with a bit of plot tension, but I don't like cutting away right in the middle of something important. It's not just frustrating; it breaks continuity, making it difficult for readers to remember the flow of action. So that undercuts the story.
*ponder* Thinking about it in a more cinematic manner, I tend to break either between scenes, or where there is at least a camera cut to a different angle. I am somewhat limited by trying to keep the sections roughly the same size, though.
>> At least when the next installment is out in hours or days, it wouldn't be so bad, but when the lights go out and they're falling and the next book isn't for six or eight months? That's just *mean*. IMNASHO. <<
There's a theory that cliffhangers will keep people coming back for more. I guess it does with some folks, but for me, it's just irritating and I'm more likely to quit. I hate when books break chapters in the middle of the action, too. I want a stopping point there.
Also, I don't post things until they're complete. It drives me nuts when people post-in-progress and then never finish something. So these are really serialized short stories, divided and posted after production.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2012-12-03 10:17 pm (UTC)*deliberate: see pic
(no subject)
Date: 2014-03-06 02:08 am (UTC)This series took a little work to wrap my head around, but I remembered the Avengers!Fic you wrote of them watching SH and dug in. This is good.
And this Bruce? So much love for this Bruce and for Alex.
Thoughts
Date: 2014-03-06 03:04 am (UTC)Yeah, I couldn't resist. They both needed to be voted off the planet.
>> This series took a little work to wrap my head around, but I remembered the Avengers!Fic you wrote of them watching SH and dug in. This is good. <<
I'm glad you decided to give it a try!
>> And this Bruce? So much love for this Bruce and for Alex. <<
Yay! Basically, this is the story I wrote because Bruce in The Avengers roused up all my protective instincts. I kept wanting to shove him behind me and keep him safe. So, I sent him to Alex, because nobody is getting to Bruce through Alex.
There are a couple other stories in this series too.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-08-27 12:00 am (UTC)I like the idea of booting Ross into a dimension where he can do no harm, and Bruce going into one where he's safe. :)
Thank you!
Date: 2014-08-27 06:16 am (UTC)Yay! I'm glad you liked it.
>> I like the idea of booting Ross into a dimension where he can do no harm, <<
Not fatal, but ... final.
>> and Bruce going into one where he's safe. :) <<
After watching the body language in The Avengers I really wanted to send Bruce-and-Hulk where somebody could take care of them.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-20 02:49 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2014-09-20 04:45 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-09-20 04:47 am (UTC)Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-09-26 07:21 am (UTC)Yay!
>> Normally I get it with Sam from Supernatural and the urge to cluehammer the everloving fuck out of Dean--Dean's able to defend from a lot of things, but oh, that man has weak points, and *how* I would enjoy seeing some unending force exploit those until he *shatters like the trash he is*.<<
Dean is parentified out the wazoo though. Add in the massive PTSD and alcoholism and it's easy to see why he treats Sam so poorly. Dean doesn't mean to be a shitty brother. He just doesn't know how to have anything other than a crisis-to-crisis lifestyle.
"John Winchester, I could just SMACK you."
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-09-26 04:42 pm (UTC)I understand, just don't sympathize, I guess. Parentified children don't always hurt thier charges.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2014-09-27 02:46 am (UTC)But Dean isn't Sam; he's nowhere near as smart, is a poor reader at best, and is not skilled in social dynamics. He wasn't taught much about those things. He was taught hunting. And that's a problem.
>> he knows hitting is wrong from school... <<
But the chance of school teaching him what else to do instead of hitting or yelling or getting drunk, that actually works, is very slim. Few schools teach coping skills or nonviolent conflict resolution. I really wish they would; people need it and often don't get it at home.
>> he has reasons for what he does, but even in wish'verse he was an asshole, and in canon he's outright abusive. <<
I don't think Dean has much in the way of better examples. Even when he does manage to flounder into one, he doesn't know what to do with it and panics and backs away and hurts people. That doesn't make it okay, but it is absolutely a result of his horribly disadvantaged upbringing.
>> It's hard to watch, to the point where I can't rewatch SPN at all. <<
I don't blame you. I think I kind of watch it because it's hilariously bad.
>> I understand, just don't sympathize, I guess. <<
That's fair.
>> Parentified children don't always hurt thier charges. <<
Agreed. Some parentified children actually turn out to be quite decent people with excellent nurturing skills. I think it depends a lot on whether they are good at the caretaking role and enjoy it, or whether they feel burdened and anxious about it.
If you want to see an example of positive parentification, that even enjoys some adult support later on, check out the Danso & family thread in Polychrome Heroics which begins with "The Ones Who Would Do Anything."