This story has been a long time idea in progress that I've had an outline for but only just now put into words. Keep in mind that while this chapter doesn't have any Mature content that there is an M rating on this story for later chapters. That being said I hope you enjoy my newest feature.
The Art of Persuasion:
Persuasion; noun
'the act of influencing people to do or believe something'
It wasn't that Natasha disliked Bruce Banner, she actually found him remarkably intelligent and rather amusing in a dorky and slightly oblivious sense, though she wasn't one to show or give voice to that opinion. That also wasn't to say that she liked him either because the simple fact was: she didn't. She held him in the same regard that she held almost everybody that she had met in her life, with no real care one way or the other and that was the way she preferred it. Her opinion on his inner beast was something else entirely; he was useful in the sense that he could tear through anything and everything in his path but that path could very well include his teammates, something of which she was reminded of in this very moment. The small backwater town in Siberia was abandoned after a HYDRA facility nearby went up in flames and smoke, and while Tony's plan had been to test his new Hulk Buster armor, that plan went up in smoke with the lab. It turned out Veronica just wasn't ready for the first field test when she had a 'Failure to launch', as Tony had so pleasantly informed them.
She kept her distance, watching as the green beast sent Steve careening through the air like he was merely swatting a fly. Steve would be fine, although she imagined that super serum or no, that probably hurt like hell. She slowly and methodically crept her way around behind them all and thus far not even the other Avengers seemed to have noticed her movements. Tony was the next to get tossed aside like a rag doll, Iron Man suit clanking across rocks and dirt on the ground and then The Hulk was turning on Clint.
This was a terrible time for Thor to be off planet because he was the heavy hitter that they needed to beat The Big Guy senseless until he ran out of fight. This was why she, and even Bruce, tried to disagree with the idea of letting The Hulk enter the fray. There was just no talking Tony Stark out of anything potentially harmful and deadly though because the man just seemed to thrive on carnage, chaos and disaster, and he was one of the few people she had a unique distaste before the team assembled because of that very fact.
Fortunately Clint wasn't foolish enough to think that he could go head to head with The Hulk and he kept a distance as Natasha silently and flawlessly got closer to Bruce's beast without him catching sight or scent of her and though that might change if the wind shifted direction, for now she was safe. Every step, every breath...even every thought she held in her head was meticulous, at least that's what Clint always told her and she supposed it was fairly accurate. It wasn't that she was fearless; everyone in their right mind feared The Hulk. She was merely someone who knew how to hide that fear and right now she had it buried as far down as she could manage.
She wasn't stalking the beast with any weapons in hand, though she hardly needed an actual weapon; Natasha knew she was a weapon all on her own. Moments like these were exactly what Red Room and the KGB had created her for; well...perhaps not this exact moment. She was sure they never accounted for Hulks. Still, her body was a weapon, her touch was a weapon and even her mind was a weapon. There wasn't a stone that her creators left unturned when they made her into the deadly killer that she was.
There wasn't much time to think on that any longer though because The Hulk let out a battle cry and made a motion to lunge towards Clint. She wasn't ready, not yet, but that wasn't something she could allow to happen.
"Hey, Big Guy!" Natasha called out quickly. She had needed him at somewhat of a distance and looking right at her if this was going to work like she hoped. Last time she hadn't had enough distance to fully effect him on the Helicarrier when he had nearly turned her into a smear on the wall, though she had managed to give him pause enough for Thor to take him off her hands. Now he whirled around in an instant, snarling at her before his large feet trampled the ground beneath him to take him barreling in her direction rather than Clint's. She took a deep and calming breath, keeping her eyes on him and holding her hand out, palm towards him.
The ground shook with each step he took. She had the uncanny ability to disarm anyone just by looking at them long enough and it wasn't exactly the only ability she had hidden in her arsenal. The thing was, she wasn't sure how well it was going to work on the giant green rage monster that was rearing ever closer. The calmness she attempted to continue to exude was beginning to diminish and it seemed he was no less intent on smashing her. Holding her ground was something she nearly wanted to squirm at. Fortunately she didn't need to start squirming because he came to a sudden stop, bare green feet skidding across the dirt and kicking up dust all around them.
By the time that the dust all settled and Natasha could see through the sheet of dirt, she found The Hulk standing just in front of her, staring at her hand with his snarling and enraged face. "Sun's getting real low," she told him, noting the orangish-red hues of the sky around them. She watched as he huffed out a large and gruff breath before he looked up at the sky. The reality was that she just needed to get him to hear her voice, hear the calm, and so she took words that made sense at that exact moment, words that he would be able to understand the meaning behind while hearing the calm tone of her voice.
Finally he looked back down at her with bitter uncertainty.
The silence of the rest of the team was deafening and though she could hear Steve and Tony moving quietly closer to them, they were at least making attempts not to startle the Big Guy now that she had his attention without having been pulverized for having it. She would never dare take her eyes off of the giant and angry brown eyes of The Hulk, she knew better than that. To look anywhere else right now would be the end of everything and their stare down lasted several long and painstakingly fearful minutes. Finally his hand raised up until his palm hovered just in front of her own. She was actually a little impressed with the fact this was working, but it was also draining and daunting on her, and this wasn't even the hard part; the hard part was coming up next.
Natasha moved her hand under his, still leaving that thin veil of air between his giant hand and her own small one as she waited for the calm to further encourage him. Finally he flipped his own hand over, palm up into her awaiting hand and there it was...the moment of truth.
The power of persuasion was her true specialty but given that she hadn't charged her powers in years she knew this was going to do a number on her. She released the tiniest of breaths before she slowly moved her hand from beneath his hand and to his arm, watching his eyes follow her fingertips as they trailed a slow and delicate path downwards. The warmth that flowed from her fingertips left a glow the same color as the sunset on his arm and his eyes shifted to look into her own.
It was only when the warmth of her fingertips finally met his that he suddenly jerked back and away from her. Given that she felt dizzy and drained, she feared for just a moment that she had failed. He released a snarl and a groan as he continued to backstep away from her before his hands went to either side of his head.
Natasha saw Clint move towards her within seconds, placing a steadying hand on her arm when she swayed in place almost imperceptibly. "Nat...did you just do what I think you did?" he whispered and she could feel him studying her intently. She looked into his grayish-blue eyes with her own, and using his eyes as a mirror, she watched as the vibrantly verdant shade of her eyes faded to their normal green.
"Yes..." she answered him with sigh, taking a few shaky breaths to get herself back to normal.
"You never should have done that...what if he remembers?" Clint questioned with clear worry etching his voice. The team didn't know her secret. The truth was that only him and Fury held the knowledge of what she was capable of. "How are you going to explain this to the others?" he asked next.
She gave the barest semblance of a shrug, "If he remembers then I'll tell him the truth, as for Stark and Rogers, there's nothing to say. It was dumb luck."
Clint graced her with a sardonic expression at her words, "Yeah, I'm sure that answer is going to go over real well." He released a worried little sigh and she saw the weary look he was giving her, "How much did that take out of you?"
"I could use a nap..."
"What the hell just happened?" Tony questioned as he arrived beside them, "how did beauty here tame the beast without so much as budging?"
"Dumb luck," Clint offered up with a shrug.
Tony was quirking an eyebrow up beneath his mask, though she couldn't actually see it, she knew he was doing it. He raised the mask up and sure enough there was his raised eyebrow staring back at herself and Clint, "Yeah, sure, and I'm wearing Captain America patterned panties."
She kept her expression neutral and the retort came from her lips in an equally deadpan manner, "And here I thought I was the only one."
The corner of the billionaire's mouth turned upward into a smirk in an instant as he shook his head. "For that witty comeback I'm going to let you keep your little secret to yourselves—for now," he informed them before he tapped metal fingers to his shell of a head, "I just want you to know that I know—that little lullaby you pulled off there wasn't normal."
Natasha watched as Tony headed over to where Bruce Banner was currently writhing around half-naked on the ground, only a shredded pair of dirty brown pants keeping his dignity from being lost to the rest of the team. She released a sigh and ran her fingertips through her hair.
"That looks incredibly painful and uncomfortable for the good Doctor there," Clint mumbled out.
Steve's voice rang out behind them, "Well, I know a thing or two about how much your body rapidly changing hurts...and it's not pleasant."
She watched the warning look that Clint gave her and she gave him a look of her own that told him to keep Steve occupied.
Slowly she took steps towards Tony and Bruce and the billionaire had a not-so-comforting hand on the scientist's writhing form. It was Bruce's pained voice that rang clear in her ears, "Please tell me that I didn't just kill her..."
"You didn't," Tony assured him.
Natasha crouched down on the opposite side of Bruce so that he could see her, her expression still the flawless air of indifference. "I'm perfectly fine," she assured him, placing a hand on his forearm, "and so are you." She could see Tony's eyes narrow as he watched her, then she saw his eyes widen in surprise. She could see that verdant shade return to her eyes through Bruce's eyes and that same sunset glow formed over Bruce's arm, "You can relax, Doctor. Everyone is fine, you're fine." He was staring back at her, their eyes locked onto one another, and slowly but surely he stopped writhing in pain. "There you go, just go to sleep," she told him next, "sleep will help."
The scientist's eyes fluttered shut like they weighed a ton and she lowered her hand from Bruce's arm to the ground to steady herself when she wavered in her crouching position. Tony's words made her remember to take a deep breath, "Holy shit, Romanoff." The pain behind her eyes was throbbing and she took yet another breath and blinked her eyes a few times before she got to her feet. If Tony noticed how unsteady she was then he was being nice enough not to mention it. "You might want to hold off turning around if you want those fancy eyes of yours to stay hidden," he warned her. She shook her head at that and blinked her eyes a few more times when the billionaire gave a little head nod, "All back to their normal intense glory."
"Not asking any questions?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow up at him inquisitively.
"Not yet," Tony told her with a little shrug. "Whatever the hell you've got going on, at least it's useful," he told her, "but the middle of Siberia isn't really the place to be playing twenty questions so I'll wait until we get back to the Tower."
Natasha supposed that was fair enough, "Duly noted." Tony might be a Grade-A ass but at least he knew the right and wrong time for a conversation. She supposed she could take him off of her shit list and add him to the 'I don't give a crap one way or the other' list with most of the rest of the world. "And I might give you an answer or two," she decided, "since you're being uncharacteristically calm and nice about this."
"Well, how sweet of you," Tony replied with a roll of his eyes before hauling Bruce over his shoulder, "and if you look at his barely covered bottom, I'll tell."
He almost succeeded in making her laugh but she held it in as she gave him a sardonic little retort without actually changing her expression, "I'll do my best to try and contain myself."
Tony bit out a laugh, "Yeah, because you're absolutely terrible at that."
That actually did make her smirk a little as she followed behind him, though she certainly wasn't looking forward to playing the question and answers game that would follow upon their return. She supposed she could give some detail without explaining the full extent of her 'enhancements'.
They met up with Steve and Clint at the quinjet and immediately the supersoldier asked his question, "So...anybody want to explain how all that worked?"
"Dumb luck," Tony answered without batting an eye, "guess even a giant green rage monster likes the way Romanoff looks too much to muck up her face."
"Hilarious..." Steve muttered.
Natasha watched Steve and Tony go inside the quinjet and then Clint's voice rang out beside her, "Guess Stark isn't such a douche."
She tilted her head to the side a little in acknowledgment, "I've noticed."
"You feel okay?" Clint asked her.
"The nap idea still sounds nice," she admitted with a shrug.
She could see Clint's frown out of the corner of her eye, "You never should have done that, Nat, either time."
Natasha gave another shrug in response, "It was necessary."
"The first time with The Hulk maybe, and I definitely appreciate the save, but not the second time with Banner," he reminded her, "that was just reckless."
She decided to deny that, "And here I just thought it was good manners."
"This isn't funny, Nat."
She ignored him as she stepped onto the quinjet and took her seat. She crossed her arms over her chest, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. The nap definitely needed to happen.
"Nat."
Natasha blinked her eyes open in a bit of a haze, glancing around as everything slowly came into focus. The pressure on her shoulder brought her back into complete awareness and she blinked several more times before she looked at Clint.
"Hey, you good?"
"I feel like I have a bad case of cotton mouth, did I smoke something I don't remember lighting up?" she quipped.
It was enough to make her partner roll his eyes and chuckle, "No but you did just sleep for the entire ten hour trip back without so much as unfolding your arms or twitching."
No wonder she needed felt a desperate need to use the bathroom, "Guess that explains why I have to pee so badly."
"Too much information, Nat," Clint told her with another roll of his eyes.
She gave him a playful pat on the cheek, "Aren't you just thrilled I decided to like you all those years ago?"
Now he grinned, "Wouldn't have it any other way."
Clint was the rare person she actually let herself be less closed off in front of. It was something she knew he appreciated and something he also never took for granted. Truthfully, she would have lost herself years ago without him. While she made the occasional unexpected joke to one of the others, Clint was the only one she was really herself with, though she was less withheld with Steve after HYDRA's reintroduction into the world two months back. The man saved her life and that wasn't something she took with a grain of salt. Most people would have left her for dead in that bunker and gotten themselves out, and she couldn't blame them if they did. While she would now, she wasn't sure she would have done the same if their situations had been reversed back in New Jersey and she owed the supersoldier a debt just like she did Clint. She took Clint's hand when he offered it and let him help her up, another show of trust for him that she held with no one else, and then she took a good look around. "Where's everyone else?" she dared to ask.
"Stark and Rogers took Banner to the lab. Pretty sure Stark just wants to keep an eye on him though, it's sort of the first time anybody's gone and uh...persuaded The Hulk to stop smashing. Think he wants to make sure Banner's okay," Clint answered her. Then he opened up the little mini fridge on the quinjet. "Think fast," and the bottle of water was thrown to her.
Natasha snatched it from the air with a tiny shake of her head and a smile, "My reflexes are just fine, thank you very much."
"Just checking."
She twisted off the top as she followed Clint off the quinjet and sipped at the water. He seemed keen to leave well enough alone at least until they were in the elevator. He hit the button for his floor, then hers and then she hit the button for the lab.
"What are you doing?" came the immediate question.
"I owe two geniuses a few answers."
He gave her a rather absurd look as the elevator doors opened to her floor, then closed, "You don't owe them anything. Stark put on a metal suit and chose to be who he is, Steve let scientists inject him with a serum to turn him into a supersoldier, Banner irradiated himself in a lab experiment gone wrong. You didn't choose to be what you are."
She gave a tiny shrug in response, "I may not have done it to myself but I did choose what I did with my particular...abilities. None of them chose to use what they have to kill. You're trying to protect to me and I get it, I do, but it's not like Banner said, 'Hey, today I'm going to blow myself up with gamma rays and become an indestructible green wrecking ball.' He didn't exactly choose this either and I can help him contain it at least a little bit."
"You can't keep it up forever," he reminded her as the door to his floor opened, "it takes too much from you when you don't charge your abilities up."
"I'm aware of that."
"Nat..."
Natasha shook her head as she held the door open for him, "This is the first good thing that I can do, Clint, so I'm going to do it. I'm only going to tell them just enough, not everything."
Clint shook his head just a little, "I still don't like it..."
"It'll be fine, I'll be fine, and you need to go home for a little while," she pointed out.
"Just be careful while I'm gone. You're playing with fire, Nat."
She smirked a little as he stepped off the elevator to pack his things for home. "Story of my life," she murmured as the doors closed between them.
Natasha took a deep breath as the elevator continued to rise and she put her mask of indifference back in place before she reached the lab, well, the main lab out of the twelve floors filled with labs. Tony was nothing if not dedicated to science and tinkering, she'd give him that if she gave him nothing else. She stepped into the lab with that breezy air of neutrality, arms casually swinging at her side, and she edged herself into a sitting position on the corner of a desk as Tony and Bruce talked among themselves without noticing her presence. More amusing was that Jarvis seemingly decided not to announce her presence to the two geniuses, apparently the AI wanted to see them squirm when they noticed her and she enjoyed that Jarvis had a remarkable sense of humor sometimes.
"Did I miss something...how did she do that?" came Bruce's question. He was rubbing at his eyes with exhaustion still clear on his features, especially if his sagging shoulders were any indication.
"Which part?" Tony questioned.
"The part where she made him me again, then made me fall asleep."
Natasha bit back the smirk that tried to emerge as she interrupted them, "Well in my defense, Doctor, I did tell you once that I could persuade you." Tony turned around with a dumbfounded little expression, almost as though he couldn't fathom how she got into his lab, which was particularly idiotic given she was a known spy and assassin. Bruce on the other hand actually jumped a little with surprise at the sudden intrusion and she merely crossed one leg over the other while sipping from her water bottle. She twisted the cap back on it and tilted her head to the side slightly, giving them a wry smile, "I can be very persuasive."
Tony gave her a uniquely perturbed look that didn't usually cross his face before he voiced his thoughts aloud, "Believe me, we noticed."
"How did you do that?" came Bruce's question, "that was...the strangest feeling."
Natasha shrugged slightly, "I'm a bit of a science experiment myself, Doctor. Turns out I'm not exactly what nature intended."
"Because that answers everything," came Tony's comment accompanied by a roll of his eyes, "how about we do this without the ridiculously unclear meaning, preferably before I put an eye patch on you and call you Lady Fury."
She barely contained the roll of her own eyes before twisting the cap back off her water and sipping almost daintily at it again just to perturb the billionaire further, and then she arched an eyebrow up just slightly before giving a more candid response, "I was experimented on by the KGB a long time ago and those experiments gave me certain abilities. I can persuade just about anyone into doing what I need them to do."
Bruce's brow was ruffled at that, "That sounds less like persuasion and a lot more like compulsion."
"I suppose to some it may," she admitted as she took another sip of the water, "but there's a fine line between getting someone to think on my level and forcing them to do it. I can't force it, the person I use it on has to be of an open mind."
"Not to call you a liar, though you are technically a liar by your own job description, but Bruce's jolly green giant doesn't really strike me as the 'open minded' type," Tony piped up. She could see Bruce sigh at the comment but he gestured to Tony with a wave of his hand, clearly showing he held the same thoughts, likely about both herself and his other half.
Natasha wasn't the least bit offended or wounded by the comment about her and she answered again without bothering to use her usual runabout of the topic, "Well he isn't but Doctor Banner is. It stood to reason that if your verdant little split personality is lurking when you're out to play, you're very likely lurking when he's out to smash."
Bruce's brow ruffled in an instant at her explanation, "You staked an awful lot on faith, Agent Romanoff."
"Well as we just learned, persuasion is often more effective than brute force," she stated, the air of indifference still radiating off of her. Before either of them could respond to that she hopped off the desk with grace and ease and moved closer as she spoke, "Look, I don't share what I can do lightly and I certainly don't use it lightly. It's not exactly a part of me that I embrace given what it was so clearly intended to be used for."
There was no doubt in her mind that Tony had read her file, though she remained unsure of whether Bruce had ever bothered and given that Tony gave a small sideways nod of acknowledgment towards her words, she at least knew she was right about the billionaire. His response was less than expected, "Right, well...alright." She actually quirked an eyebrow up at Tony's slightly respectful acceptance of her answer, but of course he ruined it within thirty seconds, "What other super powers did they give you?"
"Tony, leave her alone," Bruce finally interrupted, "she saved all of your collective asses in Siberia, so if she wants to tell us then she will and if not—well then it's not really any of our business."
"I make everything my business, have you learned nothing living here for the last two years?" Tony questioned with an over-exaggerated sigh, "but fine. I'll accept your very loose answer of all this for now, Romanoff, but you better not go persuading me to walk around in my underwear for your own personal pleasure."
Bruce saved her from making the retort herself, "I hardly think that would require her particular skill set and honestly you'd probably enjoy it a lot more than she would."
Natasha barely held back the laugh that threatened to escape. She didn't spend enough time with Bruce to realize he could actually be funny but she was at least mildly pleased to realize he wasn't a complete stick-in-the-mud, though she supposed anyone who spent enough time with Tony Stark could hardly be one.
"Sir, Miss Potts is requesting your presence in the bedroom."
"Lady and not-so-Gentlegiant, I clearly have better things to do," Tony informed them with a grin.
"Actually, sir, Miss Potts is leaving in five minutes and wished to at least say good-bye before she was away for several days."
Natasha actually chuckled at that and she could see amusement in Bruce's eyes when Tony cleared his throat and stated, "So I have very quick things to do, toodles!"
And he was gone. She arched an eyebrow up as the man pulled an instant Houdini with the fastest beeline to an elevator she had ever seen in the history of beelines. "I didn't know that man could move that fast in a tailored suit rather than a metal one," she deadpanned.
Bruce's laugh was small but genuine at her comment. Slowly his amusement turned to one of appreciation and she watched and waited for what she knew was coming. And then he said it, "I really am grateful for what you did...both times."
She gave the barest shake of her head in the most impassive of ways, like it was of no real importance, and she gave a simple reply, "Not a problem."
"You act like it was the most insignificant thing in the world but it wasn't..."
"No offense, Banner but I didn't do what I did for you," Natasha informed him with complete candor, "I did that so that my best friend wouldn't become a blood spatter on the ground."
She could see him mull that over before he asked his question, "And the second time?"
"Common courtesy, you were in pain," she stated matter-of-factly.
She could see Bruce's brow wrinkle again at her words and he looked almost frustrated before he spoke again, "Is using your...power of persuasion—is that the reason you slept the entire trip back?" Natasha actually found herself caught off guard by the question and her small pause was enough for him to put it together. "It is. So using it drains you?" he asked next.
Natasha supposed she might as well answer with a certain level of honesty, "Yes, though in my defense the Big Guy wasn't exactly the easiest persuasion I've ever done."
"So...you persuade with touch?" Bruce questioned next.
She figured it was the scientist in him that couldn't help but ask so many questions and she gave a nod to answer that.
"I...felt it. It was um—it was warm, I guess is the right word. Or comforting..." he admitted.
That actually surprised her just a little but she didn't typically stick around and ask people how her 'touch' made them feel, though she doubted everyone held it in that same esteem, "I suppose that feeling might depend on my intentions during the persuasion but given that you're the first person to give a verbal opinion, I'll just have to take your word for it."
"Well...thanks all the same," Bruce offered up with a small smile. And then he asked the question that she knew had to be coming, "But...you didn't touch the Other Guy when he, you know, decided not to swat you like a fly. Why did he stop?"
Natasha went with honesty again, "The same reason he hesitated to smear the wall with me on the Helicarrier. If I maintain eye contact long enough I can exude a certain...calm. It disarms people, makes me seem nonthreatening."
He actually looked impressed, "That's actually pretty amazing, you know that, right?"
"Let me guess, this is the part where you tell me it's a 'gift', right?" Natasha questioned with a bit of snark to her voice, "because it's not."
Bruce released a small sigh at her comment but he didn't attempt to make her believe otherwise. "Look, I don't know a whole lot about you Natasha, just whatever people say and frankly I don't tend to believe idle gossip. You did say you started...young, so I'm guessing that wasn't exactly a choice you made—"
"I don't care if you want to sit around and make assumptions about my past and you can feel free to do it with Stark or when I'm not around," Natasha informed him indifferently, "but just don't try to play me as the victim in whatever tragic little back story that your mind has concocted."
He looked like he wanted to disagree which made her wonder just how much he really knew about her past, but he seemed to think better of it as he pursed his lips closed. Bruce released a sigh and ran his fingertips through his hair. "You are okay, aren't you?" he asked.
The question threw her off and Natasha narrowed her eyes at him as she studied him. She was trying to decipher some hidden motive behind him asking until she remembered he actually was a decent human being and decent human beings made sure other people were okay. "I'm fine," she answered before making her way towards the door to the lab. That didn't work out well for her and the entire room spun for just a second, long enough that her footwork faltered and she grasped the edge of the desk.
"Natasha..."
"I'm fine," she insisted again, "I just need to sleep."
Bruce's worried eyes were locked onto her back and she could feel it. His words came through before she could fully escape, "You just slept for ten hours..."
"Look, I don't pretend to understand what you go through as the Other Guy so don't presume to think you understand what my power does to me," Natasha warned him. "I'll do what I need to help you after fights but we don't need to be friends and I don't need you to worry about me," she told him as she moved towards the door again.
"I don't think it's a good idea—"
Natasha chuckled, stopping just inside the doorway and not looking back. "I wasn't asking for your permission, Doctor," she informed him politely before she left the lab completely.
See you guys in the next chapter for some Bruce insight.
