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“It’s too risky. We could end up provoking Banner and the agent we send would have absolutely no way to stop him. If we wait until the tranquiliser is finished --”
“By that point Banner could already be gone.” Nick Fury cuts in. “We can’t risk losing the most powerful threat known to this earth, especially not with the army looking. If we’ve managed to get a trace, odds are that Thaddeus Ross won’t be far behind. If he gets his hands on Banner it will be much worse than just losing him. I guarantee.” The last word is said with exaggerated severeness.
Alexander Pierce nods, looking grim. “Banner won’t come in. He may not have been causing problems for us now but he’s no friend. Our only chance may be to take him down.”
Maria Hill frowns. “Surely we could try to reason with him? He was a respected man of science, before --”
“That kind of power would create an unbalance with whoever has him, including us! No. I’m sorry, but what we’re talking about is a weapon. It needs to be neutralised,” Pierce insists.
“Sir,” Maria says, expression firmly insistent that he allows her to finish her point. “With all due respect, even if we did decide to… ‘neutralise’ him, there are no weapons - or agents - at our disposal that would be able to stand against the Hulk.”
“There is one,” Fury speaks up, breaking out of his thoughts. While he does agree that Banner is a threat, he’s not as eager to follow Alexander’s lead. But it’d be difficult to speak against him, especially if the council were to get involved. Then he’d have no choice. But there is a middle ground. He leans forward on the table, lacing his hands together. The other two lean forwards a little with him, curious to hear his proposal, which he enunciates clearly with gravitas.
“Thor.”
…
Thor flips through the tablet with his thumb, reading all the information on his target once more.
Target #6205, Banner. 49 years of age. Highly dangerous.
Now that last part; that was the part that made Thor take the assignment. The offer had been unexpected - he’s not one who enjoys manipulating others (which is, sadly, a part of the job description when you’re undercover), but the situation -- once explained -- made sense. Banner was not your average terrorist threat or rogue assassin. According to Sitwell, he was more monster than man. And, from the footage of the Hulk’s past rampages, he seemed to be powerful enough to level a building.
Much like Thor was capable of, actually. Which solved the power issue that all of SHIELDs other agents had been struggling with. If things got out of hand, Thor was their best bet, capable of taking Banner down the old-fashioned way. For now his instructions are to find a way to do it more cleanly than that. In a way that is least likely to bring down the small city his target has been hiding in.
“Are you ready?” Agent Hill stands across from him, smiling as if asking if he was getting ready to go for a pleasant walk in the park or nip outside for a coffee. She holds out a duffel bag with all that he needs inside it and together they walk to the car that will drop him off not too far from the city's edge.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never had to do something like this before.”
“You’ll be fine. Whatever happens, you have permission from Secretary Pierce to handle it by any means necessary.”
“It’s not that. Of course I can do that .” He tries to sound sure of himself but… well he’s not the brash young prince who would pick a fight with almost anyone anymore. “It’s the other stuff,” he continues and waves his hand vaguely. “What do I do if I have to talk to him?”
“Be yourself,” is the shocking reply.
This is a covert operation. What kind of advice is that?
“As far as you can at least.” Hill clarifies, most likely noting the surprise on his face. He’ll have to work on keeping his expressions neutral while he’s tailing Banner, he thinks, grimacing that the thought. By nature, Thor is expressive and open. If it weren’t for the nature of their target, he doubts he would have been picked for this job. Maria continues, “You still have to stay Donald Blake but… you have this natural air of honesty.” She opens up the door for him and he straps himself into his seat. “I think Banner will fall for that.” With that, the car pulls slowly into motion and she she shuts the heavy door, waving at him one last time through the blacked-out window as he goes.
Thor faces the front and frowns, the statement settling in his mind. Wondering if there’s a device in this car that she can hear him through, he mutters out his last reply. “I thought I was supposed to be taking him down, not befriending him?”
It would seem not.
He’s alone now.
…
Even with only a 36 hour delay between his target’s sighting and Thor’s arrival, it seems that SHIELD’s intel is much too dated for this mission. Banner is long gone. Thor spends four days walking the streets of the small city, searching fruitlessly. Eventually his plan deteriorates from covertly locating and shadowing his target to just hoping that he’ll somehow stumble across Banner on dumb luck. Preferably while he’s in the middle of listing off his weaknesses, so that Thor can report them back to Fury and Pierce and be done with this whole distasteful mess of a mission.
As it turns out, Banner is not listing off his weaknesses when Thor bumps into him.
It’s not a big collision. Just a slight bump to the shoulder as they pass by. It just happens to be enough to knock the strap of Banner’s bag from his shoulder. Containers and papers - all of which had all been precariously stuffed on top of the already bulging bag - topple out. With lightning quick reflexes, Banner catches most of the containers before they can hit the ground, holding them to his chest and shoving them back in the bag as he straightens up.
“Sorry!” Thor apologises on instinct, not quite clocking who he’s talking to. Banner does the same, although his is softer and more rushed.
By the time Banner has hurried away around the corner, Thor has stopped in his tracks. He’s not sure if it’s the fact that he’d pretty much given up hope by now or if it’s because he didn’t expect Banner to sound so humble and polite. Either way, something stops him in his tracks for a second, before he finally comes to the realisation that he just missed his target.
Spinning around, he strides as quickly and casually as possible in the direction he’d seen Banner disappear.
A dead end faces him.
Frustrated, Thor grips a hand into his hair, eyes roaming around the alley he’s facing, searching desperately for anything he missed that could give him a clue as to where his target went.
There.
It’s one of the smaller, rounder containers that Thor had spied in Banner’s arms. Some kind of salve, as far as Thor can tell. He heads back in the direction he came in, keeping his eyes peeled for something he can use to find where Banner went. Finally, he happens upon what looks like a run-down apothecary. Perfect.
As luck would have it, the owner has no issues with identifying Banner to Thor. He even writes down the directions to the village he’s been staying at.
So that’s where Thor goes, immediately, no even returning to his safehouse to grab his supplies, despite the distance between the village and the city. Now that he’s seen Banner, he’s determined not to let him slip away. Who knows, he could be in the process of making an escape already. There is no time to waste.
However, not restocking may have turned out to be a mistake; the village is small and more run-down than he’d anticipated. No stores from which he could replenish his supplies to be seen. Just a couple of closed stalls and deteriorating house, all crammed together in a disorganised maze.
And then there’s the sickness. Thor can practically smell it, rolling over every house, every alley. No one here is free from it. No one is unaffected.
Why would Banner hide here?
Speaking of Banner, said target has just appeared in front of him, coming out of one of the houses in the distance. His bag seems somewhat less packed than in their previous encounter.
At this point Thor really hadn’t expected to get so far in the mission. He’s unsure of how to approach. So he begins to trail Banner, from a distance. Weaving between alleys and sticking close to the walls to draw as little attention to himself as possible. At one point Banner stops his steady march and knocks on the door of one of the houses, entering a moment later. Thor waits outside, unwilling to get too close, even now. Besides, being caught peeping through the window would be very unprofessional.
It takes perhaps twenty minutes for Banner to come back out, once again with a lighter bag than before. There are six more houses for Thor to shadow him to, until he finally comes back out with no weight to his bag at all. It would seem that he’s done his rounds of… whatever he was doing (Thor has his suspicions, as far-fetched as they are when put into the context of the wanted monster he’d read about).
Perhaps Banner was heading home now. A perfect opportunity for Thor to finally get a solid location on him. However, as he follows Banner, the twists and turns begin to confuse him. Whereas before Banner had been walking with control in his stride, his movements now become erratic, sharply turning corners as if… well, as if he’s trying to throw Thor off.
He’s been spotted then. Shit.
A heavy, frustrated sigh escapes Thor. Banner had known all along. No doubt his home is many miles in the other direction to which Thor has just been led.
This thought is still crossing Thor’s mind as he turns the next corner, almost colliding into a waiting Banner.
Banner’s hands are in his pockets, looking deceptively casual. “Alright,” he says, without waiting for Thor to collect himself. “How about you tell me who you are and why you’re following me.”
“I…” He has to play this carefully. Rule number one of dealing with this target: don’t provoke him. “I --” He fumbles his own hands awkwardly by his sides, unsure of how to stand. Should he be intimidating? Unassuming?
Suddenly, his awkward fumbling brushes his hand across his pocket and an idea sparks in his mind. “I… bumped into you earlier. You dropped this.” From within it he pulls out the last container from Banner’s bag. “You ran off before I had the chance to return it to you.”
“Yeah?” Banner sounds intrigued, but not convinced. “How’d you know where I was? The city is miles from here.”
“There’s a stamp on here with the name of your supplier. I asked him.”
“Oh.”
There’s a pause. Thor thinks he can practically hear the cogs whirring in Banner’s genius mind, turning over whether or not he believes his story.
Finally, Banner’s shoulders uncurl and he instantly becomes less defensive and a little more friendly. It seems Thor’s excuse has worked. A small, wry smile grows on Banner’s face. “He really is the worst gossip.” He pauses, tilting his head in thought. “This is pretty far for you to come just to return that…”
Thor shrugs, trying to remain calm even as his heart thuds heavily in his ribcage. “I had nothing better to do. Might as well use today to help out a worthy cause. That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it?” He turns the questioning on Banner. “Helping people?”
Besides cover, this really has nothing to do with the mission. Thor should really be staying on focus, manipulating his questioning to gather more for more useful information. But there’s something about the information he’d been given on Banner that still doesn’t sit right with him and this is the only line of questioning he can think of to get to the bottom of it.
“Yes. Or, at least, I try.” Bruce smiles, a slightly bitter-sweet gesture. He changes the subject with a small sigh. “Well. Since you came all this way... I’m guessing you need a place to stay?” He gestures with a tilt of his head to the door behind him.
Huh. So this is where he lives. And he’d knowingly led Thor to it. Bold move.
“You don’t have to, --”
“It’s the least I can do,” Banner insists. “This --” he holds up the salve -- “ is really going to help someone here.” His focus turns to the pot in his fingers, turning it over as he studies it, perhaps for any signs of tampering or damage. Then he pockets it, before holding out a hand to Thor. “I’m Bruce Roberts.” A name little too close to the truth, Thor thinks. But then maybe that’s the point. After all, Thor himself finds it easier when his lies are based on facts.
He takes Banner’s hand.
Donald Blake . That’s what he’s supposed to say. Banner has given his alias and now it was Thor’s turn. And yet…
There’s something drawing him, a compulsion so obviously stupid that it will almost certainly give him away but -
“I’m Thor,” he answers honestly.
There’s a moment where he waits with bated breath. The incident in New Mexico had mostly been covered up with SHIELD, yes, but they had not contained every rumour. Thor has to wonder how far the story of his first battle on Earth has spread.
“Come on in, Thor.”
Banner’s eyes are warm and calm when he speaks again, barely twitching at the name as he opens the door and gestures for Thor to step inside.