Yay, the Avengers! Ooh, I'm gonna have some fun.


Bruce blinked as the little girl that had told him to help her father went through a small room and out an open window. It took him a few moments before he sighed and gave a small smile, "Always get paid up front, Banner."

A small creak alerted him of another presence, making him turn around and blink at the woman. Her hair was red and cropped short, a wrap along her elbows.

"You know, for a man who is supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle," she said easily, even politely.

Bruce's heart seemed to sail into his stomach as he looked her over, moving to drop his bag by a beam, "Avoiding stress isn't the secret."

"Then what is it? Yoga?" she asked good-naturedly.

"You took me to the edge of the city," he noticed, playing with his hands – what Hermione had always noticed and called it a nervous habit – and walking towards the window, "Smart. I, uh, assume the whole place is surrounded?" He pretended to look out and check for armed guards, but really he took off his wedding ring and slipped it into his pocket.

"Just you and me," she said, tossing her wrap into a seat and standing a little bit straighter.

"And your actress buddy?" he asked, pointing towards the window the child had just climbed out of, "Is she a spy too? They start that young?"

"I did," she shrugged casually.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Natasha Romanoff," she stated simply, her eyes darting over his appearance as he stood in one place for a moment.

He nodded a little and played with his hands some more, opening his mouth after a moment to speak, "Are you here to kill me, Miss Romanoff? Because that's not going to work out. For everyone."

"No, no," she assured, "Of course not. I'm here on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D," he repeated, wondering why that seemed familiar. He turned back to her, "How'd they find me?"

"We never lost you, Doctor, we've kept our distance. Even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent."

Did she know? Did they know? About Hermione and Natalie, deep in the woods, assumingly under radar and safe, waiting for him to come home soon?

He took a moment or two to ask, "Why?"

"Nick Fury seems to trust you," she said, which surprised him greatly. "But now we need you to come in."

He stepped a little closer to the door, "What if I say 'no'?"

"I'll persuade you," she said.

Hermione might not like her, the Hulk noted dully, making Bruce try not to grin and agree with the big green guy. Whether this woman meant to persuade him violently or in some other way, Hermione would definitely not like any of it. Nope, if it was the other way, he'd like to be 'persuaded' by his wife, thank you very much. Just because you don't see a ring, lady, doesn't mean it's up for grabs.

"And what if the…'Other Guy' says 'no'?" he asked. Hulk say 'no' yet?Ssht!

"You've been more than a year without an incident, I don't think you want to break that streak," she replied easily. Maybe they didn't know about Hermione and Natalie.

"I don't every time get what I want," he said, moving a hanging basket, thinking back to when he'd wanted a nice, normal family, without having to worry about getting angry and becoming a green rage monster, without worrying about his offspring having the same genetics. He felt sorry for when he was younger, actually, unaware of what all would happen to him. Eh, he couldn't complain. He wouldn't consider being married to a witch any type of 'normal,' and he'd wanted to marry Hermione since they'd started getting serious, before and after the 'witch' thing. Perhaps it was a good thing if he didn't get what he thought he wanted. Turns out what he really wanted was waiting for him to see it as thus.

"Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe," she said, pulling out a phone and looking seriously at it.

Bruce laughed, "Oh those I actively try to avoid."

"This," she showed him her phone, a blue cube that he instantly recognized was on the screen, "Is the Tesseract. It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."

He grabbed his glasses and checked over the picture, "What does Fury want me to do, swallow it?"

"He wants you to find it," she said, "It's been taken. It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do."

Bruce stared at her, "So Fury isn't after a monster?"

"That's he's told me," she nodded.

"So he tells you everything?" he asked, somewhat dully.

"Talk to Fury, he needs you on this," she decided.

"He needs me in a cage?" he asked.

"No one's gonna put you in a cage - " she started.

"Stop lying to me!" he demanded, slamming his hands on the table. A gun was immediately aimed at his face and he blinked before shrinking back from the table, grinning a little bit. A few silent moments ticked by, Natasha suddenly feeling like the fool as he grinned a little bit wider. "I'm sorry. That was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way where you don't use that and the… 'Other Guy' doesn't make a mess. Okay?"

She was silent for a few more moments before moving her hand to her ear, "Stand down. We're good here."

He arched an eyebrow as she looked ashamedly back at him, "Just you and me, hmm?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "I saw it as unnecessary and uncalled for but – "

"Uh-huh," he brushed it aside, "Tell me, would I be the only one working on this project?"

"No – Anthony Stark is going to be called, as well as another former professor."

"That's very descriptive, thank you, Natasha," he snorted.

She gave a slight frown, "Her name is Hermione Granger." He seemed to freeze and stare at her a little bit harder, "She taught medieval studies, but is adept in any field you put her in. So I've heard."

He got his tongue to move again after a moment, "Even in the battlefield?"

She bit the inside of her cheek, wondering where he was going with this, "Yes. And if she finds herself in the want of doing so, then she has the option."

"Which of your agents has been assigned to 'call her in'?" he questioned.

"Me," she stated, "Right after I get a definite answer from you."

"C'mon," he said, reaching into his bag to grab a keychain, "I'll help you kill two birds with one stone."


Any good? Well, there's the Avengers, as promised. You can imagine it as the movie or not.

You know, I actually got a review a while back on the first chapter that chewed me out for not including the Avengers and how I lied because I listed it under Bruce B./the Hulk and they hadn't seen any of the Hulk and I just kind of…it was on the first chapter, they didn't even read – no, nope, I'm done. I'm moving on.