tyler_gone | Still Soaring Through the Air... (Reply)

Ross's men were everywhere. Bruce was faintly aware of Betty, somewhere, begging her father for something-- his freedom, no doubt. The loud chopping noises the helicopter made, the lights, the voices.

It all seemed dimmed. Muted. His mind was a mess, focused on just the one thing, like it had been for three years now, and everything else blurred at the edges. Except now, it came with something else, something like defeat that tasted a lot like he imagined relief would, something very, very quiet.

They led him into the helicopter. He searched for his seat.

Tyler	Tyler stared back. He was back to himself, but still not exactly in the best of moods. And wow, the guy looked like him. That would be weird if he hadn't seen it in Fandom far too often. "Do I have something on my face?"
Dr. Bruce Banner	About five separate alarm bells began to ring in Bruce's mind as the reality of the situation set in. The soldier behind him shoved him down into his seat, and he went without any protest at all. Sterns. The blood. Ross. A man with his face. His eyes flashed with panic. That man was too old; it couldn't be. It shouldn't be. "Did Sterns clone me?" he bit out, desperately.
Tyler	"Who?" Tyler asked. "Look, I'm not you. I'm not your clone or your brother or your identical cousin like Patty Duke. I look like you. And that is enough to get me kidnapped and threatened with dissection, so I hope whatever the hell you did was worth it."
Bruce	Bruce had to breathe. He might have been 'cured', but there was no saying how long it'd hold, if it'd hold at all, and this would be a very, very bad place to change. Tyler's attitude passed by him like a leaf in the wind. He settled into his breathing pattern. "Please," he said, "Are you absolutely sure you're not any kind of clone? It's important."
Tyler	"What, you want me to recite my family tree?" Tyler asked. "I'm seriously not a clone. Hell, I'm not even from this world. My name's" -- and for some reason, he couldn't give his assumed name here -- "Moore. I'm from Delaware."
Bruce	The back of Bruce's head hit the metal of the plane with a soft, controlled little noise. "Good," he said, still watching his breathing carefully. "I'm sorry about all this, Moore." He was utterly sincere, defeated, relieved-- take your pick of emotion. It felt a lot like he'd wound up standing in the eye of a storm. "Bruce Banner," he offered, eyes flicking down to look at him again.
The Terrorist	"Call me Tyler," Tyler said. "I've heard your name. Wanna tell me what this is about?" It was weird, the more he looked at Banner -- they really were identical.
The Hulk	"I used to do research for General Ross," he said. The man had been dragged all the way here in his name-- Bruce felt that warranted something, at least. "They kept us in the dark. I was involved in an experiment..." He took another breath, and finally he hit the calm threshold he knew was safe. "Let's just say there are parts of my personality I can't control, and the general wants to be the one controlling them."
Tyler	There was a long, long, long pause as Tyler assimilated this. Then he started, peculiarly, to laugh. "I think that goes with the looks."
Banner	That did nothing for Bruce's hard-won Zen. He tilted his head forward again so he could fire off a look at Tyler that spelled pure alarm. It was bad enough that there was one of him around.
Durden	Tyler took pity on him, though, really, what he had to say wasn't exactly comforting. "Do you know what dissociative identity disorder is?"
Bruce	"It's one of the conditions I've researched to find a way to deal with this thing," Bruce replied, forcing his wariness down as far as it could go. Calm, and alert, and sedate, and focused. "But I'm a little too much for a therapist to handle." No matter what Samson might have said.
Tyler	"I got diagnosed with it when I was in high school," Tyler admitted, looking somewhere in the vague distance. "Therapy never did that much, but I'm okay these days." Mostly; he was pretty sure he'd blacked out while he was talking to the general, but that guy deserved it. "Is the part you can't control an asshole?"
Bruce	"It's a little worse than that," he said, laconically, his shoulders slumping to a quiet stillness. "If I get excited in any way... it's very, very bad." Understatement of the century, maybe, but Bruce was good at those.
Tyler	"Mine led a terrorist organization and tried to take down a city, and then my school," Tyler said, because apparently this was something to brag about now. "How much worse is yours?" He had an idea it had to be worse. Wouldn't be worth the army's time, otherwise.
Bruce	That wasn't exactly going to put an end to the sheer wariness Bruce felt about this particular scenario. A city? "I hope you won't find out," he said. And that was as much as he wanted to say about the beast; didn't, really, want to say anything at all about it.
Tyler	It really wasn't a comforting scenario, and the fact Banner wouldn't answer a question didn't make Tyler feel any better. He gave half a nod to signal he had heard and wouldn't further pursue this line of questioning, rocking back against the wall as he closed his eyes. "I hope you don't meet mine, either, then."
Dr. Betty Ross	When Betty finished her 'discussion' with her father, she got onto the helicopter, full of righteous indignation at all the people on board, but Bruce and... Bruce. "What--?"
Tyler	"Tyler," Tyler said with a tiny motion that would have been a wave if his hands hadn't been shackled. He helpfully added, "Not a clone. Please don't dissect me."
Betty	"How--?" She was stuck on the one word thing at the moment right now. It was just a bit much to see a man who looked almost exactly like Bruce also on the helicopter. "What did Sterns do?"
Bruce	"Betty." He looked up, twisting one hand within his cuffs to signal that yes, it was okay, "He's not Stern's work, as far as I can tell."
Tyler	"I'm nobody's work," Tyler protested. "I was minding my own business and some goons in uniforms grabbed me. I'm not the one evading the government." He glanced back at Banner. "Can she get me out?"
Bruce	Bruce didn't respond directly; instead, he searched for Betty's eyes with his, for that understanding he knew that was there, because she was Betty. "Your father..." he started, but didn't finish the question. Maybe because he already knew what the answer was.
Betty	Betty shook her head, going to sit across from them both. "It's uncanny..."
Tyler	Tyler's eyes were sharp as he tried to figure out these connections. Her father what? "The island where I live, where Tony Stark lives," he explained, "it's ... they say it's a dimensional nexus. People look like each other there, sometimes. Kind of not-related twins from completely different worlds." "It'll give you a headache if you think about it too hard." Especially with the odd other kind of doubling he and Banner shared; that, he thought, probably did come with the looks, some bad gene or bad luck.
Bruce	"Phenomena like that are rarely as random as they seem," Bruce replied. He reached forward with his cuffed hands, reaching for Betty's hands, needing some semblance of a touch now that she was right there. "There might be something more going on."
Tyler	"Tony Stark?" Betty's focus turned from Bruce to the other man for a moment. The scientist in her begged to know more about this nexus. But there were other things to focus on. And the last time curiosity got the best of her and Bruce...
General Ross	The general took that moment to enter the helicopter, looking from one man to the other and pointedly avoiding his daughter's face. "Take off. Blonsky is taking care of the rest on the ground," He called up to the pilots.
Bruce	The General's entrance was enough to make Bruce fall silent. But he bent over, pressed his lips to the back of Betty's hands, and let himself feel grateful, just because she was there.