Chapter Text
Christine had wanted to start her little interrogation as soon as she was inside, but she needed to get rid of those handcuffs first. She would still be able to freeze things like this, unfortunately her ability to control would be diminished.
“Stay where you are.” She told doctor Banner as she stepped back and smacked her arms against the door frame in an attempt to break the handcuffs. She hissed at the sharp pain from the blow but tried it again, knowing she would need to freeze the handcuffs to be able to remove them.
The temperature in the room dropped every time she hit the door frame.
Christine wished she could just drop her guard and allow the cold inside her to spread but she had to be careful. She didn't know how doctor Banner would react to being frozen, and wasn't willing to test it either.
Bruce watched her in surprise, unsure of what she was trying to do until he saw the strong handcuffs she wore. SHIELD quality, he noticed. So the frozen statues outside were agents. As much as he hated SHIELD, he hoped they would survive. He knew he wouldn't be able to help them himself, but he could at least try to distract Ice Queen long enough for SHIELD to send more agents to his house.
But for now, Ice Queen didn't need any distractions, as she was still trying to break the handcuffs. She suddenly looked up at him, her blue eyes brighter than ever, and then she disappeared behind a wall of ice.
Using the opportunity, Bruce grabbed the ridiculously modern phone Tony had given him. Not daring to call anyone because Ice Queen might hear him, he sent director Fury a short text.
Just when he had hit “send”, the wall of ice that separated his room from the hall shattered.
Christine hadn't planned on blocking the doorway but she was grateful, and a little surprised that she hadn't frozen more. Maybe it did help herself control when she actually wanted the ice to appear.
Now that the handcuffs were frozen, she could easily break them. That was one of the few benefits of this curse: she could break ice and frozen objects just as easily as she could break cardboard.
She stayed outside the room a little longer than necessary, thinking of the questions she had to ask and giving doctor Banner some time to calm down. She didn't know much about the heart, but she hoped the cold would calm down the doctor's heart rate. From what she had read while hacking the SHIELD files, the Hulk's appearances were somehow related to the doctor's heart rate.
She briefly considered knocking or at least giving some kind of warning before she smashed the door of ice that separated her from doctor Banner.
Christine put up her hood again, feeling too exposed without it.
“I'm sorry for that,” she said, gesturing at the frozen, broken door frame. “I couldn't think of another way to get rid of those stupid things.”
He just stared at her without saying anything. Christine decided to take that as an encouragement to keep talking.
“I'm here because I need your help. I...” That was where he cut her off.
“You just broke into my house, ruined my door frame, possibly killed three SHIELD agents and you expect me to help you?” He made it sound like a rhetorical question. Of course she would answer it anyway, even if it would annoy him. Especially because it would annoy him. Old habits die hard.
“Actually, yes,” she said with the merest hint of a smile. “You and me aren't all that different, doc. I'm also trying to avoid the people who want to use me for whatever stupid plan they came up with. People who'd like to lock me down in some lab to experiment on me. People like...” what was his name again? Oh, who cares. “General Whatshisname.” He cringed a little at the mention of the man who had been trying to hunt him down for years. Good.
“Trying to live a normal life. Trying to be who I was, who I am. Pretending to be normal, even though I never will be. Sounds familiar?” He opened his mouth to answer, but she wouldn't let him. Ranting, having boring monologues that was one of the few things she was actually good at.
She started walking towards his desk. “Hush, I wasn't finished.” She picked up a cup of now cold tea. “Trying to be a good person, to prove the world wrong. We're not monsters.”
Christine watched the cup in her hands, the liquid inside freezing because of her cold touch. “You've learned to control it. To avoid the things that attract the darker side of you.”
Without a warning she threw the cup at him. He jumped away just in time, the cup and its frozen contents shattering against the wall.
“See? Nothing, and that's the kind of self control I'm desperately looking for. Care to share your secret, doc?”
Bruce took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and as he was about to answer, a sudden distraction occurred. It was by something dark, swiftly moving away from the door. It happened so fast that he wasn't sure if it had actually been there at all.
Christine, noticing how his gaze shifted from her to the door, turned around, desperately hoping it wasn't another agent.
Nothing. Just ice, damaged wood and emptiness. Perhaps there had been nothing at all and doctor Banner was simply fooling her. She'd probably have done the same if she were him. But maybe it had been another agent, who was currently hiding, waiting for the right moment to strike. Another thing she totally would have done if she were in that position. Gosh, Crystal, you really are becoming boring, aren't you? Guess he was right after all. If only you'd...
No. She was so not going to think about that right now. No. Freaking. Way. Fine. You'd better check the hall though. Better safe than sorry, right?
Yeah. She probably should. Christine raised her right hand, its palm in doctor Banner's direction, a silent threat. She slowly headed for the hall, extending her left hand too, just in case there actually was someone hiding, waiting.
The hall was empty. Completely deserted. Great. Either Banner's just as paranoid as you are or he's messing with you. Predictable, easy to fool, shall I list the other reasons too? I could...
Once again, her thoughts were interrupted. Something hard, hitting her against her head.
Pain. Darkness.
Distant laughter. A soft, whispered I told you so, remember?
Then silence.
Perfect, complete silence.