Space, the final frontier. Wasn't that the line from a cheesy old sci-fi series? Before the events of the Battle of New York, Bruce often watched old, campy sci-fi shows to pass the time. They provided a ridiculous (and scientifically impractical) form of escapism. The idea that a couple of brave explorers could go to the depths of space and meet all forms of life.
The idea that these explorers could continuously outwit and outlast these clearly advanced races, learn some life lessons, and put a neat bow on the adventure in the span of fifty minutes was laughable, but part of what drew him to the series in the first place.
Since New York, however, he had struggled to find the same escape in the old school science fiction he once enjoyed. Suddenly the aliens he used to laugh at threw him into memories of the Chitauri pouring out of the gaping hole in the sky.
The team bonding and dynamics on the shows served to further remind him of the clear growing divide in the team. He and Tony had stood for research and constant advancement while Thor believed in old traditions. Steve Rogers believed in truth, honor, and the American way almost to a fault (the fault being it drove Tony up the wall). Natasha, on the other hand, he wasn't sure what she stood for. Perhaps the secrecy of her beliefs had also contributed to the fissure on the team during their war with Ultron.
Bruce's mind found itself back in familiar territory as he thought back to the assassin with ruby hair. She had been a constant in his life with the Avengers ever since she recruited him. Though their relationship had started with him scaring her with the hulk several times, they had slowly come to respect each other and even become something akin to friends.
During the missions to extinguish the remaining fragments of Hydra, Bruce had had several Code Greens to save the rest of the team in dire situations. Hulking out was never an issue, it was the reigning it in part at the end. That's where the Russian spy and his relationship found surprising ground.
In one of the first missions that required his non-scientific assistance, Bruce had been helplessly trapped in the mind of the Hulk after the Hydra base had been uprooted. Natasha was the first one to boldly approach the beast and speak directly to it: The Hulk, not Bruce. After a rather monosyllabic conversation, the Hulk relinquished control back to Bruce. After several more of these Code Green missions, no one but Natasha bothered attempting to calm the Hulk down. It seemed he only responded to her, no one else was able to sing the same lullaby or have the same level of conversations without causing the Hulk to rage again.
The connection Natasha struck with the Hulk naturally carried over to Bruce. He was immensely appreciative of her freeing him from his helpless backseat position when the Hulk was in control. After one particularly rough mission, the assassin had dragged him out from his bunk in Stark Tower and to her favorite hole in the wall Chinese food joint, so he would "Stop with the moping scientist act".
After that, going for post mission and sometimes no-reason-at-all meals became the norm when she was around the Tower. Their silences were comfortable, and their conversations were diverse: he spoke of scientific advancements and she questioned how those advancements could be used.
Bruce wasn't quite sure when their friendly relationship had moved to a flirtatious faze. He had noticed her quirking her eyebrow and smirking at him more when he told jokes (which honestly weren't all that funny) but he chalked it up to imagining things. It was when she spoke to him at the bar at Tony's party and Steve had convinced him she was flirting that he realized he wasn't imagining any of it.
When she suggested they run away together after he panicked about the world seeing the true Hulk, he rebuffed her. He had insisted that there was no possible future with him for her. He had stopped her advances cold in his panic. Now, he would give anything to go back to that moment and accept her offer.
In fact, he would do anything to go back to the moment that the Hulk flew away from the battle in Sokovia in the quinjet. He wished he could find a way to regain control and turn the aircraft around and back to the future he had been stupid enough to turn down.
Instead, Bruce sat in an alien ex-dictator's sex ship, with the entire surviving population of Asgard (including the murderous psychopath he had helped to defeat in New York), with two years of his memories lost to his monstrous alter-ego, and no idea how far from Earth they actually were.
Losing two years of time to be the gladiator champion to the Grandmaster on Sakaar was really helping him put his relationship issues into perspective.
"Exactly how far from Earth are we?" Bruce anxiously asked, scratching the back of his neck, pushing his rambling thoughts about the past out of his head.
"Several galaxies away." Loki smugly responded, relishing the shorter man's discomfort.
"Worry not, Banner. Once I figure out where the nearest jump point is, we can get back to your planet and off this blasted ship." Thor muttered as he scowled at the manual in front of him, glancing up to the ship's complex controls.
"Uh, Thor, what is that?" Bruce asked, pointing to the gargantuan ship that had all but appeared out of thin air in front of theirs.
"Nothing good." Loki responded with a brief flash of fear in his eyes.
Oh, shit. Bruce thought to himself. It looked like it would be even longer before he would be back on his home planet and back with his friends and colleagues. Though, if he was being honest, only one friend really came to mind.