If Not for You

The next time she woke up she was strapped onto a medical table screaming in pain whilst her body felt like it was enveloped in flames. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as one of the medics injected a tranquilizer into her IV. Slipping back into darkness Billie’s body jerked one last time. What seemed like only a couple hours of unconsciousness was in reality weeks. Her eyes flicked open and the pain had subsided significantly since the last she woke. There were still restraints on her wrists and legs but she slipped out of them somehow without any issue. With one hand free she reached over to the right to unbuckle the others. Billie removed the IV from her right arm as well as anything else keeping her attached to a machine.

No one seemed to be around and she cautiously moved out of the high tech room. She failed to gain her equilibrium right away and she leant against the walls as she carefully attempted to find her way out of the foreign place. Her senses were now very acute with an addition of a new one. Billie could feel the change in the slightest temperature and enabled her to sense a group of people standing in the next area. Senses that perked caused her turn in direction towards something familiar. It lead her to a research area where she saw the snake that had bitten her.

Billie found herself kneeling in front of the glass aquarium staring that the creature she was sure had killed her. The markings of the snake were boa esq but the color too bright to be considered as such. It was venomous, she knew that much by its somewhat docile nature and the pain she felt when it bit her. Then she remembered where she had seen the snake before. It was very brief the time she handled it and took a small amount of venom for Dr. Sharma’s research. She had been told it was supposedly in relation to the notorious viper snake that had been found in the depths of central America. This strangely marked six foot long snake raised its head and mimicked Billie’s movements. Placing her hand on the glass the snake pressed itself to the enclosure where her hand rested. It didn’t retreat merely rested against the glass not attacking just resting. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she stared at the caged creature. Closing her eyes she pressed her forehead on the cold glass without making a sound.

Soon it was discovered that Billie was no longer in her room and many spread out in search of her. The man who had rescued her that day stood at the entrance of the research laboratory wearing normal civilian attire. He saw the interaction the newly awakened brunette was having with the deadly snake. When he had first seen her she was covered in blood and beaten to a pulp, now that she had been healed with time, he could see what she was truly like. Billie turned her attention to the man, she took in his appearance and looked at him with great emotion that welled up in her being.

“Who are you?” Billie says softly.

“Steve Rogers,” he replies.

“I‘m Billie, Billie Kinski.”

“It‘s nice to meet you,” Steve replies holding out his hand to her. Billie shook his hand briefly before turning her attention back to the snake.

“I should be dead, this snake had come into Dr. Sharma‘s lab weeks before his death, I was told it is in the same family as the viper but Dr. Sharma soon realized otherwise and sent it away. It‘s venom was far too deadly to be used in his research.”

“Oh good Capsicle found her,” a man spoke appearing at Steve’s side. Billie turned her gaze towards the new man in the area. She recognized him almost immediately and it helped her conclude she was in safe hands.

“Tony Stark,” Billie responds.

“Hello,” Tony greets with a smile. “See you‘re feeling better.”

“Seems that way.”

“Dr. Sharma only had praises for you when I last met him,” he adds.

“You don‘t have to be nice, I know Dr. Sharma didn‘t really give praises to anyone.”

“He didn‘t have to, he said you were good at handling the snakes, you were his go to gal,” Tony states. “We never officially met, I believe you were out when I came into his laboratory.”

“Yes I remember. You managed to piss off all of my snakes by tapping on their aquariums. I had to work with irritable snakes for the next couple of days, thank you for that,” Billie responds.

“What‘s a pretty lady like you dealing with poisonous snakes anyways?”

“For one the proper term is venomous, secondly I‘m poor college student, we take jobs where we can get them or did you not look at my file stating that I‘m a business major,” she counters in a rather airy manner.

“Who said I read your file?” he counters with a smirk.

“You wouldn‘t keep a complete stranger in your building without knowing them on paper.”

“Right you are Miss Kinski. By the way how did you get out of the restraints?”

“Small hands,” Billie says as she raised her right hand and wiggled her fingers.

“Certainly an upside to having small hands,” Tony says with a smile.

“The downside being I can‘t flip anyone off without it looking like an angry five year old. But yes the upside could be the ability to get out of handcuffs or any other kind of restraints.”

“Question, what super secret did they get out of you?”

“Judging by the state I was in do you really think I told them anything of value?” Billie states pointedly before standing up to look at them. “I handle snakes I don‘t do the whole science thing. I know not to ask questions and stick my nose in someone else‘s business. And by the way am I even still in California?”

“Actually you‘re in Stark Tower, New York,” Tony answers.

“You‘re joking, how long have I been out?”

“Few weeks Ma‘am,” Steve responds.

“That means I missed rent, this is horrible, I haven‘t called my mother, I didn‘t go to any of my shifts for my other job,” she rants as she began to hyperventilate.

“I‘ve taken care of the rent and your mother thinks you‘re out of town for a job interview in New York, you‘re friend Katie helped us out with that one,” Tony says.

“Aw you wrangled Katie into this, she‘s way too nice to be brought into this.”

“Relax everything is taken care of, have you been to New York City before? You seem like a New York kind of girl,” he continues with a charming smile.

“Actually I haven‘t but I should be back in California,” Billie counters looking a little uncomfortable. “It‘s really nice of you to take care of me and save me but I really don‘t need to know what goes on here. I‘m really good at staying under the radar.”

“Look ma’am as you‘ve already noticed you‘re a little different after the bite,” Steve says looking at her.

“I willingly chose to be handling extremely dangerous snakes on a daily basis, don‘t you think I was a little different to begin with?”

“Suppose you‘re right, not many young women do what you do but the snake that bit you has high amounts of gamma radiation in its venom,” a man with glasses states entering the laboratory. Billie looked at the man with a defeated expression.

“I get it, you lot are being nice because now I have some sort of cancer,” she mutters.

“Not cancer, just um modifications. Your body somehow accepted the venom.”

“You know normally when one is directly injected with radiation they die or get cancer.”

“Yeah I know what you mean,” he admits with a bitter laugh.

“So you‘ve been bitten by a radioactive snake?” Billie inquires giving him a small teasing smile.

“Close, a bomb actually,” the man replies unable to suppress a smile. He then held out his hand towards her to introduce himself. “Dr. Bruce Banner.”

“Billie Kinski, it‘s lovely to meet you Dr. Banner,” she says shaking his hand.

“Likewise, it‘s good to see you in less pain. Are you feeling alright?”

“I think I‘m fine, stressed out but fine.”

“I haven‘t been able to do much testing on the venom in its raw state just merely from your blood,” Bruce admits looking at the snake.

“I can do that, I mean I‘ve done it before,” Billie says.

“You‘ve seen this kind of snake before?”

“I think it is key to why I was taken in the first place. Dr. Sharma received this snake for his research but sent it back stating it wasn‘t the right fit for what he was attempting to achieve. I think this gal is the reason he was killed.”

“So it’s a female then,” he comments.

“Yes, she is,” Billie answers softly then looked to Bruce. “Do you think she was exposed to high amount of radiation in her environment and possibly those causing that radiation found out someone sent out that snake to Dr. Sharma‘s laboratory? I mean they seemed to think I had something on them when they tortured me for information. It would make sense that Dr. Sharma made a call stating the dangers in that area.”

“You really are good with theories Scully,” Tony comments comically.

“Since it is more based in belief than I‘d feel more comfortable if you called me Mulder, Scully was more into scientific fact rather than theories,” she states.

“Touché,” he chuckles lightly.

“I could get a sample for you to analyze now, she seems rather docile currently but I‘d rather I just have Dr. Banner in here while doing so because it‘s just better to have less people around,” Billie spoke.

“Um okay, we can do that,” Bruce says thrown off by her willingness to gather a sample. The two men looked between the pair a little dubious but headed out of the laboratory regardless. Left in the lab was Billie and Bruce Banner who felt bad for the young woman who was now forever changed by a tragic event. He could see she was trying to remain level-headed about everything that had happened and it reminded him of himself when he first realized the green monster that lived within him waiting to be released at any given moment.