Dedication of this chapter to poison_apple007 who has shown incredible kindness to me with such amazing positive feedback. Thank you so much, my friend!

Sometimes, you felt so much affinity with the villains from Disney movies, it was slightly worrying. You were surrounded by idiots and fools, and simply taking over the entire universe seemed a more efficient solution than dealing with their incompetence. Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately), there were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents watching your every move to make sure you didn't do anything of the sort.

Everyone in the lab was supposed to have a specific task, and to execute that task properly. Unfortunately, people had a tendency to royally screw up everything. Which was what was happening right now. You left for an hour to get yourself a coffee outside the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and came back to find the most dangerous and powerful energy source in the world out of control and the entire area being evacuated. You just had to take care of everything yourself. Your hair was a mess, your glasses were askew (if you don't have any, then just go with it), and that coffee you so desperately needed was growing colder by the second as you furiously typed on the keyboard, in a desperate attempt to fix what was happening.

The director walked in, and started talking with Dr. Selvig, who explained the situation to him. Agent Barton also came down from the ceiling. You started noticing the Tesseract was gathering up greater and greater amounts of energy, and as you realized what was happening, you covered your mouth with your hand and your eyes round as saucers.

Suddenly, a great burst of light shot out from the cube, a portal of sorts, and at the other end appeared a crouching figure. He stood up, holding a sceptre. You glanced at Dr. Selvig worriedly before slowly backing away.

"Sir, put down the spear," Director Fury spoke to the strange man.

All hell broke loose when the man in green blasted and stabbed most of the nearby agents with his sceptre. You avoided the line of fire by sheltering yourself behind a table that had flipped over.

Meanwhile, the man you now knew as Loki seemed to have Barton and Dr. Selvig on his side. The director kept talking and you knew that he was stalling, as the ceiling was going to cave in very soon. The Tesseract's activity was too powerful.

Soon, Loki turned to you. With a most superior smirk on his face, he asked, "And why aren't you dead yet, woman?" All the other scientists had been knocked out by his murderous rage, but with his words, you weren't so sure they'd wake up anymore.

You froze. You couldn't say anything back to him. So you just stood with your chin up high and tried to look like he didn't scare you at all. Which was false, obviously.

"Are your lips sewn shut? I've had that happen to me. However, you will learn your manners, girl, and speak when you are spoken to!"

He approached you in a few long strides, and grabbed you by the neck, lifting you up so your feet no longer touched the floor. "Speak to your new king!" He shouted.

You obstinately refused. You were scared out of your mind, but you weren't going to give in. This man-well, you doubted he was only a man- was a criminal, and most likely crazy. He had just killed most of your comrades before your eyes, so you were going to make a stand against him, however stupid it might seem to you later.

Loki glared down at you. His expression of rage soon turned into one of sadistic and maniacal satisfaction. "Have it your way then," he uttered.

He levelled the glowing spear at you, but didn't poke your chest with it as he had for the others. Instead, a glowing blue light seeped from it into your mouth, and you instantly felt a terrible agony in your throat.

It felt like you were drinking liquid fire, except so much worse than even that unquantifiable pain. You opened your mouth to scream out, but not a sound escaped. The blue light escaped your mouth and you clutched your throat.

"That ought to teach you, you filthy mortal woman. You will never again defy your superiors. And if you do, I will watch you writhe, squirm, and beg-oh, but you can do that no longer. You see, if I did this, for example-" he fired his spear at your knee, causing pain to explode as you felt the sensitive skin behind your knee be slashed open, "-I may not hear your pathetic, agony-filled pleas and cries. But I will see it in your eyes, added to the pain of not being able to speak a word again. And seeing you so shattered, voiceless, will enchant me more than seeing you a subdued, mindless drone."

With one last look of hate and superiority, Loki turned away to address Director Fury. A ringing filled your ears from the pain in your wound, but tears streaked down your cheeks for another reason.

Your voice. He had taken your voice. The one thing you thought was reasonably beautiful about you was gone. You couldn't sing, you couldn't laugh, you couldn't talk.

These thoughts coursed through your head in merely a few seconds before you pulled yourself together. You were Y/N, the best scientist S.H.I.E.L.D had, you would not mope around when it was not time, and now was definitely not the time.

The ceiling would cave in any second. Director Fury had been shot while you were dazed, but luckily wasn't dead. Loki had gotten away with Barton, Dr. Selvig, a few men and the Tesseract. You needed to get out now.

"Dr. Y/L/N, we have to leave NOW!" The director shouted, running to the exit while clutching his shoulder.

You motioned to your leg, which was now oozing blood. The director ran toward you and quickly wrapped his arm around your shoulders to help you walk. Luckily, before he did, you grabbed your latest project, a conveniently small device, that had not been damaged by the whole scene.

Surprisingly quickly, thanks to the director's knowledge of all the quickest paths in the facility, the two of you escaped in a helicopter with Agent Coulson waiting for you.

As you flew off, you caught up to Loki's getaway truck, and he shot you down. You tumbled out of the helicopter, and landed hard on the ground, luckily away from the helicopter which had just burst into flames. You saw Coulson on the ground near you before everything went black.

*LATER IN TIME AND SPACE*

You woke up to the sound of a steady beeping noise. Irritated, but at least knowing you were safe (because evil psychos wouldn't give you medical attention), you opened your eyes slowly to the blinding white lighting of a hospital room.

You glanced around and saw a woman standing next to you. As soon as she realized you were up, she spoke into a walkie-talkie. "Sir, she's awake. I'll bring her to meet the rest of the team."

You looked at her in confusion. Weren't you in a hospital? Who was she? And who was she talking to? And what team was she referring to?

You tried to ask all these questions to her, but couldn't speak. That was odd.

She pulled you upright, and spoke to you in a straightforward business like tone. "Hello I'm Maria Hill. You'd usually know that, but the shock and injuries you've received have caused temporary amnesia. Your memories should come back in a few minutes. You're Y/N, by the way, Y/N Y/L/N. Now come with me, we're going to meet the director."

As you were dragged along the hallway, you struggled to assimilate all these crazy notions. You were SO confused.

Finally, you arrived in a big room with lots of windows that showed clouds. You were flying?! This was so weird.

Then you saw a man all in black, with an eyepatch. You thought that you liked his eyepatch. It made him look like an awesome deadly pirate.

Then he spoke. His voice was so familiar, you could only concentrate on what it sounded like and registered nothing of what he said.

Except one word. Tesseract.

Suddenly, everything came rushing back to you. You were a scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D., Pirate man was The director, your boss, you had lost the most powerful energy source in the world to a homicidal maniac who had made you mute.

The enormity of it all caused your knees to cave in. Knees, which you now noticed, had been fixed. How long had you been out of it?

Right before you crashed on the floor, someone caught you, but ended up being squished on the floor by you, effectively cushioning your fall. You quickly rolled off him, feeling terribly guilty, but decided to simply lie on the floor for awhile, not trusting your legs yet.

The man stood up and looked down to you. "Hi," he said. His eyes looked a bit perplexed and embarrassed behind his glasses. "Are you ok?"

You opened your mouth, then remembered your predicament and closed it sadly. But you quickly hid your gloomy emotions. Crying about your life was for when you were alone in bed at night, ideally with a tub of ice cream. You didn't want to force it on people, no one ever wanted to hear it anyways. And it's not like they could hear it now.

You smiled comfortingly up at the man wringing his hands in front of his purple shirt and put your thumbs up, back still on the cold hard floor. You had no intention of getting up.

"I'm Bruce, by the way. Bruce Banner." Your eyes widened in shock. This man was probably one of the greatest scientists if your time. The things you wanted to discuss with him... You mentally slapped yourself for having thoughts that constantly went back to your... problem.

The Director spoke up. "Sorry about her, Dr Banner. She's had a bit of a shock, she was there when Loki arrived and he took away her voice. This is Dr. Y/L/N, she's been working on the Tesseract and she'll be helping you track it down."

At this, you raised your head slightly to look at the Dircector, but you noticed the presence of many other people in the room.

There was a blonde man in an odd American flag suit. Then, there was a woman in a really really tight catsuit with short curly red hair. There was a gigantic man with shoulder length blonde hair and biceps the size of your head. Then, there was Dr. Banner, who was glancing down kindly at you. The other people were the Director, Agents Coulson and Hill, and other random agents.

Suddenly, a voice came from the door, and you saw it belonged to a man with brown hair wearing a suit and strutting in like he knew everything.

You didn't really listen to what he was saying, there was a pounding in your head. However, when he came closer to you, you actually registered his words.

"How does Fury even see these?" He was standing at the control panel.

"He turns," Agent Hill answered.

"Sounds exhausting," he said, to which you smiled. He then looked around. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did. And there's a girl on the floor."

At this, you waved up at him. He waved back, looking slightly curious about you. Then, he lied down on the floor right next to where you were and stayed there for a few seconds before saying, "This ceiling is ugly. Awful really, when you look at it. Someone should fix that. A nice lamp or something, that could work..."

"Mr. Stark, if you could please stop making yourself into this helicarrier's interior designer and get to work on finding the Tesseract with Drs. Banner and Y/L/N, that would be great, thank you very much."

At the director's words, he stood up and walked out, not even saying a word to you. You didn't think it was rude, probably just his way of doing everything. In the lead.

You tried to sit up, but your head spun, so you brought yourself back down. Dr. Banner kneeled down and gently helped you up. Once you were standing, he supported you with his arm around your waist (after he awkwardly asked you permission to do so) and you quite enjoyed the contact, although he looked terribly uncomfortable.

*LATER IN TIME AND SPACE*

Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner had managed to calibrate the sceptre so as to locate the frequency of the Tesseract's radiation with your help and information, sent by text message to them as it was quicker than paper.

Now, you were simply waiting. Stark had left, probably to go hack into S.H.I.E.L.D's database. You worked for them, but you didn't get involved in other people's business. If Stark wanted to snoop, you wouldn't stop him.

You got a text. What's that you've got? -BB

You looked up at Bruce. You found it nice of him to text you instead of speaking to you and then waiting for you to type up a reply. It made you feel as if the two of you were equals.

As for what he asked, you were fiddling with your invention, the one you had salvaged from the facility before everything exploded. You texted him back.

Have you seen Star Trek? -Y/I

?-BB

Have you? -Y/I

Yes, but how is that relevant? -BB

If you've seen Star Trek, you should be familiar with the concept of a mind meld. -Y/I

Yes... -BB

Well, this little contraption can achieve results similar to that of a Vulcan mind meld. It permits two minds to connect together and share. -Y/I

That's amazing! And it works? You've tested it? -BB

Not yet. But given my current state, it could prove very useful. I haven't found any volunteers to test it with, though. -Y/I

Well, we aren't doing anything else right now... -BB

You were about to reply when Tony walked back in. Bruce threw you a look as if to say Maybe later? And you smiled, nodding.

Soon, while you were simply minding your own business, all of the Avengers team walked into your lab, arguing. And when you have a team of the world's most powerful beings, an argument can quickly turn into something bad. Very bad.

You frustratedly glared at all of them, but were unable to do anything to stop them. You couldn't scream to get their attention, so you just listened.

In the midst of the cacophony, Bruce's words burst through and created a heavy silence. "... In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know, I tried!"

You slipped nearer to Bruce, slowly. You saw he was getting tense and you needed to calm him. None of these other idiots could do it if they thought he was a risk,a liability. You saw him as a normal person, with normal feelings, just with a... condition. A green condition. But all conditions could be dealt with, if you could accept help from others when it got too burdensome for only one set of shoulders.

"You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

He needed someone right now to show him he wasn't what everyone thought he was, what he thought he was. He had grabbed the sceptre, and the Captain had told him to put it down, but he didn't look like he was about to do so.

You stepped in front of him and gently grabbed his hand. Not the one holding the spear, you didn't want him to think you were trying to contain him, like he was a threat. You were holding his hand as a gesture of support, of peace. You looked into his eyes.

They were so full of uncertainty. There was shame, there was frustration, and there was anger. So much anger. But the others were incompetent morons to think that that anger was the greatest threat for them. It wasn't. It was the greatest threat for him.

You couldn't say you understood what he felt. That would be a blatant lie. You could only guess at the guilt, the self-hate he felt in that moment for himself. His suffering could not be fathomed by anyone, but you could still try to help ease it.

So you used your eyes. You tried to force into your gaze all the sincerity with which you felt he was alright. He was not the unstable freak they made him out to be. He was Bruce Banner, a clever, kind, sincere man that never wanted any trouble in the first place. But what he had, everything and anything he had, he had to embrace it and turn it to his advantage because you knew he could do it. You just had to show him you knew it so he could know it too.

You saw his eyes soften, slowly, and you heard him place the sceptre back on the table, but you didn't break eye contact or let go of his hand. You needed to prove to him that what you had shown him was real, not just a ruse to get him to let go of the weapon. If he didn't trust you, he wouldn't let you in to help.

You heard something beep, then Stark moving things around. It was probably the Tesseract that had been located, but he could do that alone. You also felt the rest of the team's eyes on you, probably wondering how you did what you just did.

And then everything exploded. Yet again. You were really starting to get tired of that.

You and Bruce fell through the floor which had just opened. You landed hard on your stomach, the wind knocked out of you. A pipe fell on your leg, keeping you captive.

You glanced to the side and saw Bruce. He was clenching and unclenching his fists, repeatedly. His head was twitching, and you could see sweat forming on his skin. The other guy was coming. But Bruce was fighting him.

You tried to think of what you could do. How could you communicate with him? Suddenly, your eyes lit up and you instantly started tapping the floor with your fists.

Alright. I am here. Alright. Together. Your message in morse code was slow to tap, but fast enough for Bruce to still be able to understand it. He looked at you.

There was brown, mixed with green. The two colours refused to blend, seemingly fighting for dominance. You just looked into them, trying to help, even though all you had to offer was your presence. He turned away the space of a moment as a pipe had broken and made a loud noise, but that's all it took.

The eyes were now fully green.

You focussed on getting free, as you heard clothes ripping. Finally, after a tough struggle, you managed to get your leg out from a pipe, although it was awfully numb.

You stood up. Then you noticed it was terribly quiet. You slowly turned around, and what you saw took you by surprise. Not because there was a giant green being before you. No, that part you'd expected.

You were surprised by the fact that he wasn't moving. He just stared at you, looking unsure of something.

You optimistically thought that, perhaps, Bruce knew that you weren't the cause of all this anger the Hulk was feeling. Perhaps the Hulk was trying to think, to assess whether or not he should hurt you.

You extended your hand, slowly, just as you had done back in the lab upstairs, when Bruce had grabbed the sceptre. Still, with the greatest care to not make a sudden movement, you gently closed your hand around his wrist, so much greener and bigger than yours. You couldn't wrap it all the way around.

The contact didn't seem to change anything, but at least the Hulk hadn't been aggressive toward you. You thought perhaps everything was going to be alright.

Then, right on top of you, an electric cable blew up, sending sparks flying everywhere and knocking you backwards as a ton of material crashed between you and Greenie.

You heard the Hulk roar and his thundering footsteps going the other way, seeing as your side was blocked by a ton of rubble, glass, metal and pipes.

Quickly, you started to remove all of it to make a path out if where you were trapped. You had to get back to the Hulk. He would only hurt himself and others if you couldn't help.

By the time you escaped, valuable time had gone by. You rushed out, following the trail of smashed windows and hallways. You ended up in an area surrounded by windows. All you had the time to do was take that in before you were tackled to the ground and heard bullets rain all around you.

Protected by the massive form of the Hulk, the bullets could not hurt you. You saw they were coming from a jet outside, jet which you noticed was getting closer.

Wait a second. The jet wasn't moving toward you. You were moving toward it. The Hulk clutched you tight as you both smashed through the window onto the jet, where the Hulk bashed things in a bit.

But you had a problem. The two of you were falling toward the ground below at an alarming speed. The both of you flipped around so that the Hulk's back was facing the ground. He was going to take most of the impact.

With his huge green arms wrapped around you to keep you safe, you felt the Hulk brace himself for the impact. You squeezed your eyes shut, burying your head in his chest.

*A FEW MINUTES LATER IN TIME AND SPACE, AFTER A SPECTACULAR CRASH THAT WOULD HAVE PUT ANY METEORITE TO SHAME*

You opened one eye, then the other. You weren't dead, which was good.

You felt cold, and realized that you weren't in the Hulk's embrace anymore. Turning around, you looked for him, but he was nowhere in sight.

Starting to panick, you stood up from the giant crater you were in and started walking around, searching for the man you were overwhelmingly worried about.

"Y/N? Y/N!" You suddenly heard, and you closed your eyes in relief. He was alright. "I'm coming!"

And suddenly, there he was, climbing over a wall that had fallen. He ran to you and enveloped you in his arms.

"You're safe, you're okay," he mumbled into your hair. "I'm sorry. I am so so sorry."

You pulled away and noticed he had tears running down his cheeks. Your heart shattered, and you wiped them away with your thumb, smiling gently and shaking your head.

He looked at you for a long moment, seemingly taking you in. "I have to go back," after a few moments of peace.

You nodded. Of course he had to go back. You believed in him and you knew he could help. Whether he was Bruce Banner or the Hulk, he was not to be forgotten. You kissed his forehead in a spontaneous show of trust, confidence, and perhaps more toward this man you felt the need to help so much.

He smiled, slightly flustered, and his blush was the most adorable thing you had ever seen. Suddenly, he seemed to build up a wave of confidence and before it could wash over and become a mere puddle, he bent his head down and kissed your lips.

It was amazing. He was gentle and delicate at first, as if scared you would break. Then, it became passionate and intense, forceful and full of meaning. Finally, it blended into a mix of the two, soft and rough.

And that was when it clicked in your head. You pulled away quickly, breathing heavily, but eyes alight with the brilliance of your idea.

Bruce looked confused at first, and was about to start to apologize profusely. But then, he saw the gleam in your eyes. "Wait, wait, you just thought of something. Something big," he said, and you nodded enthusiastically.

You searched for something to write on, or draw on, anything. You were still wearing your lab coat, and rummaging through one of its pockets, you found a Toblerone wrapper (they helped you think) and a worn out Mickey Mouse pen. That would have to do.

As you quickly sketched and wrote, spreading out your plan, his eyes widened and he passed a hand through his hair. "This... This could work!" He exclaimed. "It's brilliant, you're brilliant, Y/N! You figured it out!"

He jumped in joy, and you jumped with him, and soon he was spinning you around in his arms. "We have to get to the others," he said, his eyes shining with hope and joy at your solution.

You nodded, and the both of you made your way to central New York on a "borrowed" motorbike, both of you absolutely ecstatic.

*LATER IN TIME AND SPACE, IN NEW YORK WHERE ALIENS ARE FALLING FROM THE SKY*

The "party", as Tony had called it, was coming toward you. You were huddled with Bruce, setting up the last bits of your plan. Finally, you were done, and you stepped back, hoping this would work.

"Dr. Banner! Now might be a really good time for you to get angry!" The captain said to Bruce, who was slowly walking to the gigantic flying beast.

You prayed this would work.

"That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry," Bruce responded. With that, he swiftly changed into the Hulk and punched the monster in the face.

You clapped your hands together then started your victory dance. The Hulk looked back toward you and smiled, before jumping off to smash at the Captain's orders. His eyes were a beautiful homogenous blend of brown and green.

You had done it. He had done it. As you had been kissing Bruce, you realized he kissed in the same way as his two personalities: gently and then strongly. But then, the two somehow melted together. You then realized you could make that happen with Bruce Banner and the Hulk.

How? Your mind meld machine. You had initially thought to use it between two different people as a means of communication, but you realized that you could make compatible two sides of the same person with it. And it had miraculously worked.

The Hulk and Bruce now worked as one, and you were so proud of them both.

Now, as the battle raged on, you realized you had to help. You looked up at Stark tower and decided to go do your thing and save the world through your awesome science skills.

Together with Dr. Selvig and Agent Romanoff, you managed to find a way to clause the portal by using the sceptre.

As Tony sent the missile into space and you waited for him to return, to no avail, you shed a tear. When Agent Romanoff closed the portal, you turned away.

But then you heard gasps and saw him coming back he had made it! But he was falling to the ground, limp as a rag doll. Wel, a rag doll in a heavy suit of metal.

Suddenly, Bruce jumped out from a building and caught him, and you shook your head in amazement at what he had accomplished.

A few minutes later, all of you stood before Loki as he woke up. Admitting defeat, he said tiredly, "If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now." But you weren't done with him yet.

"Listen, Reindeer Games," Tony said, addressing Loki. "You are going to give Y/N her voice back right now."

Loki chuckled, still slightly defiant. "And why should I do that?" He asked, smirking.

Tony smiled. "You see that angry green rage monster right there?" Loki's smirk slid off his face. "Yeah, you've met him. Well, it is personally important to him that she gets her voice back, and refusing to comply would make him...angry. And you know, you wouldn't like him when he's angry."

Loki warily looked at the Hulk, and then waved his hand at you, muttering words in an ancient tongue. You felt a warmth enter your throat and you knew you had to test it out.

Tentatively, you spoke, "Always bring a banana to a party?" Then you smiled and whooped. "Yes, yes, it's back, I am back everyone!" You laughed in pure joy, and skipped off, singing Happy, by Pharell Williams because that's what you were: happy.

You arrived in a sitting room that wasn't too demolished and flopped on the couch, singing every tune that came to your mind. All of a sudden, you heard footsteps and you turned your head, seeing Bruce walking toward you. He sat on the couch next to you and said, "I love your voice."

You smiled and leaned your head on his shoulder. "You know what I love?" You asked. You booped his nose with your finger and then answered your own question.

"You."

Alright, my penguins, how are you doing?

So, I wish to thank you all for reading these, it brings me insane amounts of joy to see you comment or vote or just read what I write, and it encourages me to continue and write to the best of my ability for you guys.

Furthermore, best of luck to all of you who, like me, have exams this week.

Finally, I'd like to say that I am going to be unable to publish until July the 13th, but then I'll be back and ready to write up because I'll have loads of free time because it will be summer!

Lots of love,
Helen