Hey everyone! I know it's been a few weeks, but I wasn't getting better like we were hoping so it's been a lot of doctor's appointments and hospital visits for the past few weeks, which kind of drains your soul and energy. But good news, I'm finally responding well to all the treatments and medication, so hopefully I'll only need to go to the doctor for the next few month for check ups and then I'll be done with my medicine and hopefully won't get sick like I did before. For those of you guys that have been asking, I was diagnosed with ITP, which is just a fancy way of saying that the white blood cells in my body started to attack my platelets about a year ago (I kept going to the doctor for various odd symptoms that couldn't be placed) and then at the beginning of June, I guess I was down to 3,000 platelets, which means that I could have bumped my head and then bled into my brain in died, or if I got hit in the stomach, I could have bled internally and died. ANYWHOOOOOO, after a few weeks of still being in the danger zone I am finally at an almost normal level, 143,000 platelets but I guess it's likely I will never have a normal count once I get off of the medication I've been on for a month. So now that I'm doing better, I hope to pick up on the writing and hopefully it's full speed ahead to get this story (at least this part of the story) finished within the next 2 months. My goal is 40,000 words for this one and then hopefully a concluding story.
"I think she's getting worse," Natasha exclaimed as she pressed her palm to the glass that separated her from the younger woman.
"You're not wrong," Bruce replied as he looked up from the computer monitor on the other side of the room to look through the glass and to the patient arching off the table, red streaks pulsating from her entire body before she collapsed back down onto the bed. "I think the other guy can feel the vibrations. It's having a startling effect on me I hadn't anticipated."
Natasha turned from her spot to look at Bruce for the first time in what felt like days, only to notice that Bruce was right, there was some sort of reaction happening to him. Was it actually from Wanda's powers? His skin looked tinged green and he seemed taller... Larger.
"Do you need to leave?"
Bruce cleared his throat, her gaze colliding with his causing his heart to stop beating before pounding painfully in his chest. "Uh, no. No. I'm fine, just a little tired." He sat back in his seat, pulling off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose before getting back into position, hands back to the keyboard and typing frantically.
"I have noticed that Wanda's brain waves pulse in time with the power that exudes from her skin, which isn't saying anything more really than what we suspected was done to her was something on a neurological level. I can keep giving her sedatives to try and keep whatever is happening to her from spreading any further, but she's very strong. I don't think sedatives are going to be any kind of temporary solution beyond what we're seeing now. And even with the dosage I have been giving her, the fluctuations of power only seem to be increasing. I'm worried that giving her anything stronger is only going to hurt her. And aside from the sedative keeping her down, I don't think it's making anything less painful for her."
"So you're saying Wanda is trapped and in pain and we can't do anything for her." Natasha's voice came out sharply like a whip before she was running her hands through her hair and pacing back and forth across the room, rubbing the ache that seemed to be ever spreading through her shoulders.
"Uh, do you- do you, is your back alright?"
"Just a knot I can't get rid of." She stopped walking and faced back to the window, seemingly ending the conversation.
Bruce cleared his throat again. "Do you want me to take a look? I mean, I'm no chiropractor, but I can give it a shot."
Natasha dropped her hands to her sides, her spine stiffening slightly. Bruce was sure she would refuse him or simply not answer, so he kept his eyes trained on the computer monitor in front of him, acting as if he was doing some groundbreaking work and was only wanting to help her as a courtesy. Not that he was interested in his hands running over her body. Not at all.
He felt his hand flex involuntarily and looked down, noticing the green was even more prominent then before at the thought of his hands on Natasha. He could have sworn that his hand was even slightly a little larger than it had been a few seconds before their conversation started... Perhaps the other guy wasn't reacting to Wanda's power progression as Bruce had earlier assumed.
Maybe the other guy had been missing Tasha as much as he had.
"That would be great, actually. It's been making sleeping difficult."
Bruce startled out of his thoughts, his mouth going dry and his mouth dangling slightly open before he shot up from his seat at record speed, motioning for his red haired beauty to take his chair.
Natasha approached at a sultry pace, making his mouth both feel like cotton was inside of it and that he was going to begin drooling over a juicy steak at any moment, liquid pouring out of his mouth and down his chin like some sort of cartoon coyote. Instead, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and waited patiently behind the wheeled chair until Natasha sat down, grabbing the thick layers of her hair and moving them over one shoulder, her black tank top exposing her shoulders to both his gaze and touch.
For a moment Bruce just stared at her, captivated by the creaminess of her skin and altogether heartbroken when he noticed that bones which shouldn't have been exposed were. He took a deep, calming breath and set his larger hands gently on her shoulders, her skin cool to his touch. Immediately he began kneading in between her shoulder blades with his thumbs while his palms pressed down into the muscles of her shoulders.
Natasha let out a moan as one of his thumbs connected with the knot and he began to slowly and firmly work out the kink. The low sound had Bruce clearing his throat and adjusting his footing to alleviate the growing erection pressing against his zipper. Why was he even wearing pants with a zipper anyway? Just because he hadn't had an instant in months didn't mean he couldn't Hulk out at any moment, especially since the center of any of his emotional turmoil had walked back into his life only a few short days ago. Stupid Banner.
"Is everything alright," Natasha inquired after his hands had stopped their kneading due to his concentration issues.
"Yep," he answered back quickly and began massaging her shoulders again, trying in vain to remain methodical and logical about the entire thing. She was in pain and he wanted to ease that burden however way he could. This wasn't for him, it was for her and he needed to remind himself of that.
"That feels amazing," Natasha moaned out and Bruce swore he was one more sweet sound from turning into the other guy. He tried to calm himself, to focus on his breathing, not on the way her skin felt under his fingers. How soft and supple her skin was. How creamy it appeared, even under fluorescent lighting.
Meanwhile, Natasha arched her back slightly as his fingers found yet another knot she hadn't been aware of, rubbing the stubborn muscle until she could practically feel it uncoiling inside of her body. She moaned again, momentarily forgetting all of her troubles and worries, only focusing on the sensations Bruce was giving her, intentionally or not. Granted, her moaning was intentional. How far could she push the man, the monster? Did she want to know?
Natasha could hear his heavy breathing as his stomach pressed into her due to the low back of the chair she occupied. She smiled to herself, glad she wasn't the only one affected by the hands on her body. She felt the muscles in her stomach clenching, her thighs bunching together to alleviate some of the other aches in her body brought forth by his hands.
She knew it was dangerous, tempting such a person to his limits just to see what would happen. Especially as that person was Bruce Banner.
After a few more agonizing (and glorious) minutes with his hands on her, Natasha reached back and rested her bruised hands on his own, stilling his movements before standing from his seat and going back over to the glass, peering through to make sure nothing else had happened in the few moments she hadn't kept vigil.
Not that Natasha could do anything for Wanda if something had gone wrong. She was a master assassin, not a wizard. Not the Vision. She couldn't help Wanda now, just like she couldn't help her before.
She was so entranced with her thoughts she didn't realize Bruce had come up to her until his reflection was right behind her. Startled, she turned into him, looking into his deep brown eyes in confusion.
"What is it?" Bruce turned her further to him, his hand resting gently on her elbow. He looked concerned, which only confused her more.
"Tasha. I... I, uh, I just." She raised a brow at his stuttering. "Oh hell." And with that Bruce leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. Natasha stood there for a moment or two, eyes wide at the contact before her eyes finally slid shut. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Natasha fell into him as their lips warred with one another. There wasn't anything soft or gentle in their kiss. It was full of regret, broken promises and packed with so much intensity Natasha would have sworn it sucked the air out of her lungs.
It was full of desperation and hope and if Natasha needed to cling to anything in that moment, it was the hope that it represented. Bruce wrapped his hands around her waist, taking a few awkward steps back until his back hit the wall when she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, fitting herself neatly against him, his erection pressing into her center.
Natasha broke the kiss first, panting heavily as their eyes locked and she saw all of her need reflected in his eyes. Staring down at him, he looked even more green than he had before and she slowly untangled herself from his body, sliding slowly down his length until her feet found their way back to the ground.
"I shouldn't have done that," Bruce exclaimed.
"What did you just say?" Natasha glared at him, barely believing the words had just left his mouth. "What the hell does that mean?"
Bruce's eyes widened as she took a threatening step towards him. "No, no! I didn't mean like that. What I meant was-" And in that instant the glass separating them from Wanda shattered into tiny pieces, blowing back into the room and covering them both with cuts as the shards slammed into them. Natasha and Bruce fell to the floor, Natasha crouched gracefully in preparation for attack while Bruce was laying in a ball on his side, covering his face with his hands.
Natasha looked up into the room that had once held her injured friend, horrified to see Wanda floating in the air above them, her eyes open and blazing crimson fire as she stared down at them, her arms spread wide at her sides and holding a sharp shard in the air, twirling gracefully within the red streams coming from her fingers.
"Wanda, what are you doing?" Natasha asked her calmly, hoping that her friend was somewhere within the figure before them.
"You tried to keep me caged. Like an animal. I am no one's pet. I am all powerful." Her voice thickened, intensified and came out more demonic as she spoke. "I am the beginning and I will be the end. Of everything."
And with that, what was once Wanda flung her hand forward, the shard flying through the air and slamming into Natasha's chest an instant before the assassin collapsed to the ground in a slowly growing pool of blood.
As she gasped out in pain, she felt more than heard the Hulk's deafening roar pierce the air and reverberating throughout the entire room. The last thought she had was that the two people she loved in the room were about to murder each other and there she was, lying uselessly in a pool of her own blood.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
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Much love,
Mo