The gun is unwavering. Shanta stares down the barrel into her aunt's cold eyes. "I started this young." Natasha's voice is cold, deadly. The attack must have triggered...something. "I started like you, and now you're going to hurt, Baby Banner." She clicks the safety off the gun and steps closer to Shanta. There are faint sirens in the distance and for a split second her eyes cloud. Then it's gone. "Aunt Tasha, what're you- Daddy!" Bruce appears in Shanta's peripheral vision and she screams for him to run.
"Natasha, no!" Bruce yells.
Fury crackles over the comm. "Romanoff, put the gun down."
Clint chimes in. "I-Itsy Bitsy-? Tasha, what if this were Peter? Huh? Would you still be holding a gun to his head?!"
"Nat, put the gun down."
"Aunt Tasha, it's just me- I'm not- you're one of my heroes, I don't understand-"
"Natasha, please don't hurt my little girl..."
The voices swirl in Natasha's head, distorting, echoing, and she shakes her head sharply. "Bruce, she manipulates emotions- you sure you actually care, or is that her doing?" Shanta starts to speak, "Aunt Natasha, I would never-" when a stinging slap to Natasha's face jolts her, and she finds herself staring into Tony's furious eyes. "Tony, get out the damn way."
"Not until you put the fucking gun down. You don't ever accuse a kid of manipulating anyone. Ever, Natasha, she's not you!" She lands a cruel backhand on his cheek and Steve drags him out of the way as he reels. The gun fires once, point blank range, and Shanta falls with a small *oh*. Bruce yelps as if he's the injured one, running to catch her. "Oh God, Shanta, baby. Talk to me." An ambulance pulls up, and he ignores her, rocking his daughter in his arms and sobbing incoherently. "Da...ddy...I-I finally..." She trails off with a shallow gasp of pain. "Finally? Baby?"
"I- I l-live up...to...the Re-rebecca...in my... name."
"I'm sorry, Miss Potts. Miss Banner didn't make it..."