Natasha hit the punching bag over and over and over. Not even Steve knew how long she had been there; she was there before the trainees arrived and stayed hours after. There were days like this and everyone in the new Avenger's compound came to recognize them and stayed out of her way at all costs. They were her "Bruce days" and instead of becoming fewer and farther between they were escalating at what was becoming a frightening progression.
Furry frowned down at the young woman attempting to destroy the sand bag in the room below his observation deck before turing to look expectantly at the man to his right. Captain America shoot his blond head and shoved his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans saying, "She opened up so much when he was here and now that he's gone... I asked her about it, but... Clint was even here the other day; he tried to get her to go stay with him and the family for a bit, but she kicked him a good one in the ribs so he moved out of the way of the bag."
"Well do something." Furry commanded his black cloak whipping out around him as he exited the room. Steve sighed, he needed to get Natasha back, but after had Clint failed it was becoming more and more clear that he needed Bruce. The Black Widow had no place on the new Avenger's team, the recruits weren't hardened veterans like the last initiative had been. They didn't have the dark outlook on life that old Avengers had and damn it if Steve didn't want to keep it that way.
"JARVIS, how long has she been at this?" Steve asked the empty room.
"Miss Romanoff entered the training room at three o' seven this morning and has not left. She has spent a total of twenty eight minutes drinking water and seventeen whipping sweat off her brow. The time is now eight fourty three in the evening." the British AI replied.
Steve shook his head, that was even worse than two days ago; this had to stop for good, but first he had to keep his teammate from killing herself. Steve took the stairs down to the training room with determination and pushed easily into the room. He strode purposefully up to the bag that she was assailing and stepped right in the line of her punch. Steve turned his face so that she hit him solidly on the jaw before flipping his head in the other direction to take her next blow. Natasha didn't stop her assault so Steve was forced to put his hands up to protect his face; he wasn't even sure she saw him. "Natasha." He said loudly trying to draw her into reality.
"My name is Natalia Romanova; I am the Black Widow; I am invincible." she chanted back at him as if she were in another world. Steve grabbed a fist in each hand forcing her by sheer power to stop punching, but she was stepping back and fighting him so hard that he had no choice but to flatten her to the ground under him. He held her still as she thrashed and fought him, but her eyes remained unfocused.
"JARVIS, get the recruits in here now!" Steve bellowed.
"Right away Sir." The AI responded.
Steve kept Natasha pinned to the ground as first Sam then Wanda came rushing in. Vision wasn't far behind and Rhodey came stumbling in dripping wet a few minutes later.
"Alright Trainees, your first official mission: Keep Natasha from hurting herself or anyone else until I get back. She doesn't seem to know who or where she is; she's back in the Red Room." Steve instructed levering himself off the thrashing woman.
"I can put her at peace for periods of time; make her think about something else." Wanda offered red wisps drifting off her hands as Natasha's face relaxed.
"What is wrong with her?" Vision asked Steve.
"She's turned full Black Widow again; we need to get our Natasha back."
At Vision's slightly confused look Rhodey said, "She's broken." and settled down next to her to wipe her drenched brow.
Steve looked down at her, her makeup was full and dark with bright red lips and smokey eyes that somehow managed not to run after so many hours of pushing herself beyond her limits. Her cheeks were red and flushed with more than just the heavy blush she wore and her brilliant green eyes look like she was staring down the apocalypse. Her hair was a full inch and a half too long and the callouses on her hands from fighting had turned to outright scars due to their continued abuse. Steve shook his head as his new teammates misguidedly tried to wright her. Wanda was pulling back her hair into a hairband as Rhodey continued to clean her up with her wash rag. Vision was propping her into a sitting position and Sam was inspecting her for injuries starting with her abused hands. The Black Widow didn't need someone to tie back her hair or check if she was hurt, but Steve would be damned if he let her become the Black Widow again.
"We'll take care of her." Wanda promised in her light Russian accent waving him on.
Steve nodded and turned for the glass doors.
"Where are you going?" Sam asked.
"To get Banner." Was his only response. They still weren't sure where Banner was exactly, but Steve was going to have to find out. Grabbing one of the Stark tablets Steve flagged down a free quinjet pilot and gestured that the young woman should follow as he marched onto the deck of one of the planes. She dutifully climbed in the cockpit knowing better then to make the Captain wait when he was in such a temper. Steve made his way into the cockpit only long enough to put in the coordinates for the nearest low density population land mass to the place where the ship was thought to have gone down before taking his seat in the back politely turing down the young pilot's offer for him to join her. Sighing Steve took out his Stark Tech phone and dialed the genius billionaire in question.
"Well if it isn't the Captain himself," Tony said picking up on the other line, "If I didn't know better I'd say..."
Steve cut him off, "Stark, how long would it take for you to find Banner?"
"That depends has he been a bad boy?" Tony asked teasingly.
"Stark." Steve warned with a slight growl.
"Easy there old man, don't pop a disk, I only meant that it would take me about six seconds to find the Hulk, but Bruce... I'm not sure I can." Tony admitted.
"Well now's the time to try." Steve insisted.
"Why is it a code green?" Tony asked his tone concerned.
"It's worse. Its a code Red." Steve said a little dry humor coloring his voice.
"Ha! Glad I'm not there to deal with that one; woman is scary. Anyway I'll see what I can do. Good luck with your code Red." Tony said.
"I don't need luck, I need Banner. It's the kids that need luck; they're babysitting the full blown Black Widow." Steve said humorlessly.
If Steve was capable of hearing Tony wince through the phone he would swear he had, "Right well I'll get right on that. Let you know what I find out." Steve hung up the phone and waited impatiently.
It was more than 4 hours later when Steve's phone rang again and they were nearing the coordinates that Steve had guessed. Steve answered the phone saying, "Tell me you have him."
"Well I'm not quite sure, but some satellites picked up someone looking a little worse for ware on a completely deserted island. It's too blurry to see, but worst case you become some castaway's night in shining armor. I'm sending the coordinates directly the the jet's main frame; your close."
"Thanks." Steve said and hung up the phone. He was about to tell the young pilot about the change of corse when she squeaked from the cockpit.
"Captain, ummm... autopilot force engaged and is taking us to new coordinates... I'm going to need the over ride code..."
"Leave it. Tony's taking us where we need to go." Steve insisted straightening his tight black t-shirt and making sure his shoes were properly tied. It was a pretty pathetic as far as a suit and weapons check went, but he hadn't even stopped for his shield much less his suit.
The jet landed on the edge of the sandy beach and Steve stepped out into the bright sunshine. He looked around and decided that heading into the tropical forest was his best bet, but he stopped short of the tree line as Bruce stepped out. His hair was long and unkept as was his beard and his pants were even worse for wear then the Hulk usually left them. One lens of the glasses he kept on him at all times was cracked and he was thinner then Steve had remembered.
"I'm not coming back." Bruce said simply his voice rough and gravely from lack of use, "I can't..."
"I'm not asking the Hulk to come back. We need you. She needs you." Steve said.
"Don't you see, I can't. I can't just leave him on this island and go back without him. I can't go back to the city, I'm too much of a risk to everyone. I can't do that anymore. I'm sorry." Bruce all but pleaded.
"Ya well you know better than any of us except maybe Furry and Barton that you're not the only dangerous one and right now you're a hell of a lot more stable than she is." Steve argued.
Bruce knew who "she" was, how could he not. He thought about her every day, the feel of her when she had kissed him, how she had said she adored him, how much calmer the Hulk was around her, but that didn't change anything. "We lost her Bruce... we lost Natasha." Steve admitted face downcast as he looked down at the sand.
Bruce's throat closed off and he choked out, "What do you mean lost?" his eyes wide with fear.
"Natasha's gone, all that's left is the Widow." Steve said and Banner flinched not missing the double meaning in his words. "She was ok at first, being strong, you know how she is... She's been helping me train the new Avengers and she was ok, then one day she lost it on Sam and Wanda had to pull her off. She went and beat up a punching bag for about three hours and didn't talk to anyone the rest of the night. We all figured she was just adjusting and she would get over it and it would get better, but it only got worse. Before long she would ignore the world and go beat up a bag at least once a week sometimes for seven or eight hours, so we brought Barton in when she wouldn't talk to me or Hill. She kicked the shit out of him, broke three of his ribs, and with the new baby and all we forced him to go home. She was still clinging onto some part of our Natasha though... until today." Steve explained walking up to where Bruce had sunk to his knees in the sand his hands covering his face.
Crouching down beside him Steve shoved the tablet under Bruce's nose showing him footage from the cameras in the training room. Her walking into the gym at 3am looking more like the Widow then either of them had seen her before, a montage of her punching the bag with time stamps ranging from 3am to 8pm and then a close up as Steve got in her way and she kept punching him like he was the bag. Bruce was gripping the tablet himself now his hands shaking as she said, "I am Natalia Romanova; I am the Black Widow; I am invincible." video Steve pinned her and then the new Avengers took over. Steve tapped on another tab and the live streaming video showed Falcon and Vision holding her in the air as she screamed and fought them. Wanda was pale and curled up on one of the mats taking a rest as Rhodey stood underneath ready to catch her should she get free of the two men.
"The Avengers may not need you any more Dr. Banner, but she does and the Avengers need her. I will not let her go on living the rest of her life as the Black Widow, it's not what Natasha would have wanted, and if you won't come and fix her then we aren't left with many choices are we?" Steve explained.
Bruce's eyes flashed green at the threat to Natasha's life, but the sound of her outraged screams tore through his mind like shrapnel and before he knew what he was doing he was nodding and allowing Steve to lead him to the quinjet.
When the jet landed in the hanger at the new Avenger's base Bruce looked around impressed. "No civilians for miles and everything in here is built like a nuclear bunker so it's not as fragile as our last hideout." Steve explained, "I'll take you to get cleaned up and sort your self out and I'll have the trainees bring Natasha to her room; I'll take you there once you're ready." and with that Steve left him. Now that he was here Bruce wanted nothing more than to be by Natasha's side and try to bring her back to reality, but Steve was right, he needed some cleaning up. He showered, soaping up twice, cut his hair, shaved, and replaced his clothing and glasses with the ones that had been left for him. He was slipping on his shoes when Steve nocked on the door.
"Come in." Bruce said tying his last lace.
"We got her moved, Wanda is with her now; she's been calming her down with her metal manipulation, but it doesn't last long once she's gone. Think you can handle her loosing her shit on you without going green?" Steve asked.
"I have to." Bruce said determinedly gesturing for Steve to lead the way.
They followed the hallways for bit before Steve hesitated before a door marked "N. Romanoff". Bruce pushed past him and opened the door to the scene that awaited him on the other side.
Natasha was laying neatly on the bed, more like she was about to go into a body bag then sleeping the way she was so stiffly arranged. Beside her sat a very pale sweating Scarlet Witch her eyes snapping open to look at Bruce as he opened the door.
Bruce walked over to the edge of the bed placing a hand on Wanda's shoulder and smiling down at her kindly, "Thank you for helping her. Go now, sleep, rest." He insisted helping her out of the chair she had positioned by the bed. Steve and Wanda left them as Bruce looked down at the woman before him with so many emotions even he would need to meditate on them for a week or more, but among them he was sure was fear, guilt, and compassion. Bruce sat on the edge of the bed and cautiously, as though he were afraid he was not allowed to touch, ran a hand over her hair. When nothing happened he repeated the action gazing down at her and waiting for her to awaken.
It was not long before her eyes snapped open and she seized his arm, but just moments before she spun to snap it she caught sight of him and froze. Bruce pried his arm out of her grasp and put his palms on either side of her face murmuring, "Natasha, can you hear me?"
She didn't move; she didn't speak, but for the first time in far too long she was actually seeing what was in front of her. Something inside her cracked, between seeing him, feeling his hands on her face, hearing his voice, hell even smelling his scent washed out though it was by the soap. She couldn't tell herself he wasn't real because even in her altered state of mind she knew he was. Exhaustion took over her and Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow collapsed back onto the bed, her head falling through Bruce's hands and her blood red lips parting slightly as her eyes rolled back into her head.