Bruce looked up from his examination of the wing of the quinjet when Thor suddenly turned and walked away and Tony stiffened beside him, with a sharp intake of breath. He turned around to see what had his friends concerned and felt his stomach drop at the sight of Natasha Romanoff marching toward them.
Bruce knew from the sudden tension in Tony's shoulders that the man was only seeing the SHIELD agent and not the Avenger in the way Natasha was holding herself. Under his breath he said, warningly, "Tony..."
"What time is the extraction?"
"Uh, extraction? What, you're having dental surgery?" Tony asked brightly.
Natasha shot him a look then turned with a look of attention to Bruce. Swallowing, Bruce ducked his head, saying, "Um, we haven't quite asked for an extraction yet."
"SHIELD hasn't been notified?" Natasha threw a look of disbelief at the two men, then pulling a phone from her pocket strode away across the parking lot.
Tony made to go after her. "We don't need the goon squads, Romanoff."
Bruce grabbed Tony's hand, preventing him from following after the woman.
Watching from the quinjet's ramp, Steve called Thor over and with a quick word, sent the Asgardian back into the plane, Steve joined the two men in watching the agent's stiff posture as she walked off. Tony muttered, "We don't need SHIELD sticking their noses in."
Shaking his head at his friend's display of distaste, Bruce turned to Steve. "Is she okay?" He asked quietly.
"I don't think so, but it's hard to tell." Steve shrugged. "She wanted to shoot Ivory."
"You should have let her," Tony said flatly.
Steve's jaw tightened, showing his annoyance, but when he spoke it was mildly. "So, what's the verdict on the plane? Can we fix it?"
"Sure, if we had a machine shop," Tony said, then spun around looking at their surroundings. "Oop. No machine shop. I guess we're out of luck."
Bruce stepped in. "Okay, we're grounded. At least until Natasha gets us an extraction. It could be worse. At least we're not stuck in the wilderness."
"It could be worse? How much worse could it be for Barton?"
Having gotten to know Tony over the past month, Bruce could hear the pain behind the aggression. "Sorry. I misspoke."
Steve shook his head. "Listen, we're going to have to work this out, but not here, not now. Until we reach New York, we're still on the clock."
"Just another soldier to you, right?" Tony moved right up into Steve's face. "First Coulson, now Barton, it's all the same to you, isn't it?"
"Tony!" Bruce exclaimed, moving to get between the two men. He grabbed Tony and pulled him back. For a moment, he thought Steve would follow, but the man remained frozen on the spot.
Steve sighed, shaking his head. "I know you don't see me as much more than a glorified soldier, but I'm just as human as you. This hurts. It hurts a lot. Given time, I think Clint and I could have become good friends. But right now, we need to get Ivory some place where he can't hurt people, and we need to get home ourselves. You guys have made me your leader, so I'm going to lead whether you like it or not, whether it hurts or not."
Bruce looked at Steve with new eyes. He realized that he had indeed thought of Steve as only a soldier. A damn good one, but a soldier nonetheless. His own experiences with the military had colored his perception, and he felt ashamed that he hadn't really seen the man behind the façade.
Tony was obviously seeing Steve differently too, because he backed down and nodded. "Sorry, man."
"No more so than I." Steve looked again at the wing. "So we're dependent on SHIELD to get us home."
"I'm not going home. I'm staying here until I find him."
Both Steve and Bruce stared at Tony. Tony didn't look at either man. He headed back to the jet. "I'm going out looking now."
"Tony, wait. We need a plan." Steve went after him, a tone of resignation in his voice.
Not interested in round two, Bruce stayed where he was, surreptitiously watching Natasha on her phone. Even from the back, she really was a beautiful woman, but if she had done a third of the things he'd heard whispered about her, she was as deadly as the spider she was named for. Right now, her posture was rigid, as if she needed to hold herself in.
Bruce wondered about her relationship with Barton. When they were together, they seemed to be able to communicate without words, one twitching an eyelid and the other suddenly smiling. He had no idea if they were lovers or not. Clint was an enigma, and Natasha was a chameleon.
He did know they had been partners for some time, so Barton's death had to have some sort of impact. Bruce just had no idea how much. He watched as she finished her call and turned back toward him. Seeing him there, she came over to him. "Extraction is at 23:45."
Bruce frowned, "Um."
Natasha just stared, apparently not inclined to help him out. He gave up on his absent-minded scientist approach and sighed. "Okay. How are you holding up?"
A slight frown marred her complexion before disappearing. "Dr. Banner, I appreciate your… solicitude, but it is totally unnecessary. I am holding up just fine."
"You just lost your partner."
"Yes."
"That doesn't bother you?"
"I… regret Agent Barton's death. But in my line of work, one can not get attached. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
She walked away, as Bruce shook his head. Steve had mentioned working it out. He hoped she would attend, and be able to release some of the grief that was so obviously building. If she didn't Bruce feared her hold on sanity would be lost.
