I do not own any of the MARVEL characters or places, I simply write about them.
Special thanks to my dedicated beta, squirrellnut! My very own personal thesaurus.
Chapter One: Natasha
An explosion rocked the aircraft as it swung down over New York city, and the assembled Avengers inside clung onto hand straps, swaying with the careening ship and steeling themselves for battle. Clenching his fists, Bruce bowed his head and gritted his teeth while Natasha grimly checked her guns. Tony flipped his visor down and started to say something, but his words were immediately lost in the sound of yet another explosion. The ship pitched to one side and started losing altitude rapidly as smoke billowed from its cursed harshly from the pilot's seat as alarms blared and red lights flashed at him. Yelling over the din, his voice was strained and, although he denied it stoutly later, slightly panicked.
"They hit an engine! It's gonna blow any second!" Making a quick decision, Clint whacked on the autopilot, grabbed his bow, and scrambled out of his seat to join the others already bailing out of the craft. Thor jumped out of the hatch first, followed closely by Steve, then Tony and Clint. The ship rocked and dipped to the side again, throwing both Bruce and Natasha away from the exit hatch. Alarms and lights screaming around him, Bruce finally lost it, roaring as his skin flushed green and his shirt ripped into tatters. Showing uncharacteristic thoughtfulness the Hulk grabbed Natasha before jumping out after the others, just as their aircraft exploded into a thousand pieces behind him. Tucking the red haired assassin to his chest, he curled in on himself, preparing for contact with the rapidly approaching ground. Smashing through the concrete roof of an office building, the last thing Hulk remembered was something inside his animalistic heart feeling fiercely protective of the person clutched closely to himself.
Fighting the fogginess that blanketed his mind, Bruce found himself slowly waking to the sound of distant explosions. Groaning, he placed a hand to his head in a futile attempt to abate the usual post-Hulk headache. Sitting up, he thanked God that his pants were still in fairly good shape and glanced about in an attempt to get his bearings, a vague feeling of having forgotten something very important nagging at his consciousness. He practically kicked himself when his addled brain finally remembered what had happened, and the scientist sprang to his feet, searching his surroundings and calling his teammate by name.
"Natasha! Where are you? Can you-" his sentence was cut off as a splash of red against slate grey caught his eye to the left, and scrambling over the rubble the scientist stumbled towards the woman lying motionless on the broken pavement. Turning her onto her back, Bruce breathed a sigh of relief at the steady rise and fall of her chest, but a worried look creased his brow at the sight of blood flowing sluggishly from a gash on his friend's forehead.
"Hey, Natasha. Hey, can you hear me?" Tapping the assassin's face gently, he checked for her pulse and was reassured by a steady throb. Thinking quickly, Bruce ripped a strip of cloth from his already decimated clothing and brushed off some dirt before pressing the material gently to the bleeding wound on the woman's head. Natasha groaned under his ministrations and her eyelids started to flutter.
"Wha-" She frowned at the sound of her gravelly voice while Bruce's concerned face slid in and out of focus.
"Hey. How you feeling?" Smiling wanly, he helped the woman sit up, noting her dilated pupils that indicated a possible concussion and so kept a cautionary hand braced on her upper back in case she fell. Natasha cleared her dry throat painfully and let out a rueful laugh that was more of a wheeze than anything else, and accepted Bruce's offer to help her up.
"Like Mjölnir hit me on the head," came the answer. Rising to her full height, Natasha's vision swam as all the blood rushed from her head and she clutched Bruce's arm tightly in order to keep her balance. Her head was pounding, and it took a little while to get her concerned teammate's face back into focus again. He was saying something but it all sounded fuzzy to her and she scrunched up her face in confusion. Her eyes felt heavy all of a sudden, and as they slipped closed she would've fallen heavily to the ground again if Bruce hadn't caught her.
"-tasha-"
"-ook at me."
"Natasha!"
The note of panic in her friend's voice snapped Natasha out of her drowsy state. Bruce never raised his voice like that. Something was wrong, and she suddenly grew frustrated at her muzzy mind that wouldn't give her any answers. Mumbling softly, she shook her head in an attempt to clear it.
"I-I'm alright."
Forcing her eyes open, her mind slowly registered the fact that Bruce was practically carrying her, and she blushed slightly, attempting to support her own weight on still-shaky legs before realizing that he was nearly carrying her for a reason.
"Whoa, whoa! Careful." Her knees buckled beneath her again, and this time Bruce took the liberty of lifting her up in his arms even as Natasha blushed furiously in embarrassment.
"B-Bruce, put me down. I'm fine."
"Haha, actually, you're not." He carried her carefully over the mounds of rubble before finally setting her on her feet when she declared that she would kill him in his sleep if he didn't do so instantly.
"Alright, alright," he conceded, but still kept a close eye on her, an ever-ready hand constantly hovering behind her back. The assassin wordlessly placed a shaking hand on Bruce's forearm, tightening it into an all-out death grip whenever the waves of nausea swelled up in the pit of her stomach. The solitary duo continued to pick their slow way out of the demolished building, and soon stumbled upon the rest of the Avengers, who immediately ran up to them.
"Bruce! Natasha! Are you guys alright? What happened?" Steve, ever the worrisome leader, jogged up to the pair and carefully scanned them for injuries, open concern in his eyes. Natasha cleared her throat and lessened the pressure on Bruce's arm, placing the indifferent mask of a S.H.I.E.L.D agent on her face, hiding the pain and vulnerability that had been plain just moments before. Clint strolled up, Bruce's spare glasses dangling carelessly from his fingers, but the keen anxiety in his eyes belied his apparent indifference. Natasha smirked at the expense of her worried partner, and walked slowly over to him, whispering an affectionate "Moron" into his ear before sharing a small smile with Bruce, who winked almost imperceptibly at her.
There you go! This is only chapter one, and I plan to do the rest of the Avengers, (excluding Thor- he's so hard to write) and possibly Pepper. Hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know your thoughts in a review!
