M. EMMMMMMM. Bottom half not fit for public perusal.

After Natasha and Clint ascertained that Matt really was who he said he was, Fury let him out of interrogation and gave him a room. However, the good Director didn't give him a chance to settle in, calling a meeting the second we'd all gone back to work.

"I want to talk about Thor's suggestion that we go to Asgard." He said, cutting straight to the point. Everyone was here, even Jane and Darcy and the Vanirians, which showed just how seriously he was taking this 'suggestion'.

"I'm still not convinced we need to," Steve spoke up immediately.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Come on Cap, I know you're an old fashioned guy and everything, but it's perfectly safe! Stop being a little girl." Pepper gave him a slap and he shrugged dramatically. "What? You're not worried are you?"

"I assume I have no reason to be. Someone has to stay on Earth and run the company. But I know your massive self-preservation complex wouldn't allow you to go if it wasn't safe." Pepper returned smartly.

"How well you know me," Stark grinned and covered her hand with his.

"I still think it would be best if we went to my father," Thor chipped in. "He will know more about these beings and what is so important that they would risk battling with the Elders. These are powerful beings."

"I agree." Fury nodded. "Freya, Ullr, Kvasir? How close to completion are the repairs on the Midgard?"

"Very near completion," Kvasir answered, his light eyes flicking to Erick. "Dr Selvig has been immensely helpful."

"We have about a week, maybe less." Erik surmised.

"Excellent. That gives us enough time to complete all the necessary paperwork, and make sure all personal loose ends are tied up. Pack your bags and update your insurance, people. We're going to space."

0oOo0

I was in my office, emailing my superiors in Israel when there was a knock on my door. I turned down Norah Jones and called, "Come in."

Bruce opened the door and slid into the room, giving me a smile. "Hi."

"Hi," I replied. "D'you have all your… what is the expression? Ducks in a bunch?"

"Row," he corrected. "And I don't have many ducks to line up. No one keeps tabs on me besides S.H.I.E.L.D, so I just put some research on the servers for safe keeping. Done."

"Really? No doting Mum?" I teased.

"Hah, no."

"No wife?" I asked.

"Didn't you read my file?"

"Not all of it," I answered, sitting up straight. "I prefer to have my information first hand. And since you weren't provided with my file, it seemed unfair."

"Right," He looked at me strangely, as though he couldn't understand me. "What about you? Emailing friends and coworkers?"
"They're one in the same, I'm afraid," I sighed, smiling a little. "I'm just writing my superior officer to tell him they'll need to loan me out for a little longer. They won't be happy, but no one will make a fuss."

"And that's it? No plants to water or anything?"

I laughed quietly. "I don't have time for plants, or friends. I have some friends, I suppose, but none who haven't killed people either for money or fun. It tends to put a damper on personal relationships."

"And you? Have you killed someone?" He was staring at me, his gaze flicking around from my eyes to my mouth, as if trying to map my discomfort. I felt his curiosity from our earlier conversation, and decided the Incredible Hulk could handle part of my story.

"I've killed many 'someone's." I replied quietly. "It's been my job my whole life."

"Does that really happen?" He asked me dubiously. "The first time I met Natasha, she said she'd started her career as a child. I wasn't sure how much of that was true."

"All of it, from what I know. But unlike Natasha, who had no one and was trained as an assassin, I was bought from my parents when my abilities became known."

"Bought." He looked a little green, but not in the Hulk-way.

"That's what my file says. They had a lot of children, and it was the early eighties in rural France—times were hard and they took a less conventional route to solve their problems. I probably would have done the same thing."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Even after you've seen what I do? You know I may not always like it, but I have no compunctions about making the hard decision. I was raised not to show compassion, and in the interrogation room I'm very good at hiding it."

"Yes you are." He said it quietly, his eyes leaving me to stare at my desktop.

"I'm sorry if that disturbs you."

"That you no longer take shame in your job? I suppose eventually everyone assimilates."

"Exactly. Who I am normally is not who I pretend to be in an interrogation. It's all a show, put on for the suspect's benefit. I appear as a dominatrix, or a Stepford Wife, or a caring ear. I change personalities and methods by changing my shoes. I was taught by the very best."

"Obviously." We were quiet for a moment before Bruce asked, "What happened to you after you were…sold."

"I was taken to Bologne," I replied. "I don't remember it, but I read my own file. There was a secret base of an organisation called DGSE there, do you know it?"

"No."

"They are the Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure. A sort of… French secret service. They taught me to hone my gifts, to concentrate on a single individual. They taught me everything I know about becoming someone else. I proved a very talented pupil, and soon I was sold to the Israeli government as part of an ally negotiation."

"How old were you?" he was beginning to look angry, and I regretted trying to tell him this story.

"I'm not sure… maybe twelve?"

Before Bruce could make a reply, another knock sounded and Tony poked his head through the door.

"Hey…" he said, drawing out the word. "Am I interrupting something? Please tell me I'm interrupting something."

"What do you want, Tony?" I asked.

"Thor and I are going to celebrate his impending return to Asgard with a joint and a large box of gummy bears—"

"Worry not, Lady Catharine," Thor said, pushing his head into the gap in the door above Tony's. "Son of Howard assures me that they are only bear shaped food, not actual bears."

Tony rolled his eyes. "You wanna come?"

"Where on earth did you get marijuana around here?" I asked in surprise.

"You can get anything as long as you know where to look. Or, if you have an AI butler who knows where to look."

"JARVIS, you were in on this?" I asked with a laugh.

There was a long-suffering sigh, and JARVIS replied, "Mr Stark has programmed me not to refuse him, merely to present an alternative argument."

"I see. Well, I was never one to pass up a party. Bruce?" I asked, looking back over at him. With an open mouth, I watched as he struggled in his chair, trying to keep calm. "Bruce!" I demanded, standing up. He looked at me and I watched his eyes flash from brown to green and back again. "Connasse. Tony, we—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Bruce tore out of my office and ran full stop down the hall. Stark, Thor and I were on his heels.

"Fight your demons, my friend," Thor advised, pulling Bruce back so Stark could rush ahead and open the cage aboard the Midgard. Tony hit the controls with perfect precision, opening the reinforced glass door for his friend. Bruce didn't even hesitate, rushing inside and falling to the ground breathing heavily.

"Don't worry buddy," Stark said casually. "We saved all your documents, you've got nothing to worry about."

The laugh Bruce let out was shaky and in a considerably lower pitch than his normal tone of voice. Once Tony had ensured the cage was closed, I approached it, finally sitting on the floor with one hand resting on the glass.

"Bruce, you don't have to be afraid to let him out," I whispered, knowing the other guy's sensitive hearing would pick up my voice. "You're safe in there, you can't hurt us, and more importantly you can't hurt yourself-"

"HURT MYSELF?" He screamed in the big guy's voice, throwing himself against the glass and making the entire room shake. "He's going to hurt YOU!"

"Not me, Bruce," I reasoned. "He might hurt others, but not me."

"How do you know…" he gasped as his skin was infused with green and his body grew to three times its usual size. His clothes were torn to shreds and I tried not to look at other things that were growing as well. Once the transformation was complete and the Hulk was banging about quite happily in his new prison, I turned to Thor.

"Thank you," I smiled, not bothering to get up. "He will be like this for a while—why don't you go back to Jane? You two have a lot of lost time to make up for." The demigod's eyes softened and he nodded, leaving the room swinging his hammer. "Tony," I instructed, raising a brow at the billionaire. "You are a rich man with a lot of people to do your bidding—have one of them get Bruce some clothes for when he comes back to himself."

"Yes ma'am," he saluted me. "What will you do?"

I looked back into the cage, watching Bruce for a moment as he banged his massive fists against every surface, looking for a way out. "I'll stay with him. I don't want him to wake up alone."

The Hulk stuck around for the better part of an hour. Tony went himself to get Bruce some clothes, then dropped them off, leaving with a wave.

As he shrunk down and fell unconscious, Fury walked in and stood beside me. "He should be awake soon."

"Yes," I replied.

"What brought it on this time?"

"Me." I could only make myself whisper.

"I beg your pardon?" Fury looked beyond displeased, and I forced myself to meet his gaze and straighten my posture.

"I told him a bit about my past. It isn't a happy story, as you well know."

"Indeed. You will fix this, Miss Krueger, you will talk to Dr Banner and apologise for upsetting him. You will refrain from talking to him personally again."

"Pardon?" I stood up smoothly, turning to face him. "I will speak to whomever I choose about whatever I choose whenever I choose. I am not under your command, Director, I am here to help you and I can leave whenever I choose."

"If you say so, Miss Krueger," he smirked. "You may leave, but I can have every airport gate and bus terminal on the East Coast closed with a phone call."

With a great groan, Bruce came back to the land of the living. Shooting Fury a murderous look, I opened the cage and approached the very naked Bruce with his folded clothes.

"Here," I said softly, laying them down next to his prone form and turning away, trying to give him some privacy.

He left the cage eyes cast down, not even turning his head to look at me. Fury stared at me with his single judging eye until I turned with a grumble and exited after Bruce. He was out of the ship and on his way to his room by the time I caught him. The man could move quickly when he didn't want company.

"Bruce," I called, jogging to catch up to him.

"Not now, Catharine." He growled, increasing his pace.

"Yes now," I replied, catching him up and turning him with a hand on his elbow. "You're not going to scare me away, Bruce. Not with him and not with this mood you've got yourself into."

"Then you're a fool!" He hissed.

"No, I'm a mutant. I can take anything you can throw at me."

"Oh, can you?" His voice rose and he pushed me against the wall, his hands on either side of my waist.

"Yes," I shot back, my face close to his. His eyes flashed green and I felt his all-consuming anger, then one of his hands was in my hair and he roughly pulled my mouth to his. After an angry, hot, open mouthed kiss, Bruce grabbed me by the waist and hauled me into his room.

Bruce shoved me against the wall just inside the door to his room and nearly pounced, closing the distance between us before I could even blink. I was sure I would have at least one bruise from his force, but to be honest his show of dominance turned me on. Apparently the sexual tension and innuendo heaped upon us by Stark was frustrating him as well as the other guy, because I could see the rage in his eyes as he breathed heavily, his face inches from mine. His control was slipping. Sure I could distract him, I closed the distance and kissed him fiercely, hoping a bit of old fashioned wanton behaviour would be enough to keep Bruce in the present.

"We can't…" he panted against my mouth, leaving a trail with the very tip of his tongue to my neck. "I should—"

"Don't worry," I breathed, tilting my head to capture his lips again. I was pressed very intimately against him, and I could tell that while his mind was urging him to push away, his body was most definitely telling him to stay. "I'm not worried, I trust you…"

"I don't trust me," he replied harshly, still kissing behind my ear and down my neck.

"I don't care about the other guy—he poses no threat to me—he knows I'd be able to mimic his power should anything happen. We can do this, Bruce. You can relax." My hands, which had been on his shoulders, slid up a little higher and worked at the ever-present knot in his neck. "I want you. BOTH of you."

With an animalistic growl, Bruce pushed me against the wall harder, adrenaline or the Hulk helping him hoist me higher so I could wrap my legs around his waist. Thanking all the gods that weren't on this base that I wore a dress today, I moaned as his hand snaked up the outside of my thigh then dove in, literally making shreds of my panties. I'd never been so aroused by the violence of the act before, the passion—my few other lovers had been very…sweet. I had no experience with this rawness, but I was more than willing to learn on the job.

As we groaned and arched against each other, I pulled half of the buttons off Bruce's shirt in my eagerness to get it off. Once it lay on the floor I dug in with my nails, surely leaving tracks. He didn't seem to mind, as he bit below my collarbone, not hard enough to break the actual bone, but drawing a small amount of blood. I was too caught up in the rush of the moment to give it much thought.

"Please," I begged. I'd never done that before. Nor could I ever remember being this loud. "Now, please…please…"

Ripping the buttons down the front of my dress in turn, I was soon assaulted as Bruce made himself familiar with my breasts, his scruff scratching the soft skin. I pushed my chest forward, encouraging him. He kissed and licked my nipple through my bra, before that item had to go too. He didn't have to rip this one, as it opened from the front. Soon it joined the rest of my clothes on the floor.

The blood was pounding in my ears but below that I could hear Bruce's moans as he practically tore his belt off and toed out of shoes, socks, boxers and trousers, never putting me down. Once we were pressed skin to skin, I began to understand his madness- it was intoxicating. I ran my fingers through his hair and tugged at it, pulling his mouth to mine, then pulling his hands up my legs to rest on my bottom. I could have sworn I heard the Hulk grunt in appreciation before Bruce thrust into me with a single stroke, filling me to the hilt. I screamed in satisfaction. Somehow our bodies managed to get even closer as a result.

When he began to thrust in and out, I revised my thought about bruises; I'd definitely have them, but I couldn't care about anything as long as he didn't stop. My hips and bottom, still held by him, were pounding against the wall in time with his strokes, and I hit my head when I threw it back, overwhelmed.

"Faster," I begged, pulling him in so he was barely moving in and out now, but more up and down as he held me a bit higher than his body. "Bruce, harder, please… oh GOD,"

"Catharine," he growled, his own fingers tightening on my skin, enough to hurt in the good way. "Just a little longer…"

"Keep going," I pleaded, my hands holding my body up against his shoulders. With a great shudder and a very loud groan of my name, I felt him come inside me as I lost control with a breathy scream. Once we'd both calmed somewhat, Bruce turned us both and flopped me onto the bed with a bounce, following me down to lay half on top of me. I laughed quietly, one hand on his cheek, the other still unable to move following my toe-curling orgasm. "Wow." I told him, delighting in his flush.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

I raised a disbelieving brow. "Who cares?"