"In the Field"

Skye was in big trouble. Her escape had been cut off by the spreading fire – thanks so much, Victor von Doom – and she couldn't exactly climb down. Her comm. unit was playing up thanks to interference, and she could only send out her feelings of extreme panic to wherever Jemma was supposed to be. Feelings of concern were returned, and she heaved a huge sigh of relief that someone knew she was in trouble.

"C'mon, Fitz, fix the damn reception," she said through gritted teeth.

Below, Jemma Simmons was racing down the street, ignoring the fighting going on around her, to search for her soulmate. One of three, and she had yet to meet the other two. Now was hardly the time to be thinking about that when she had to find Skye and help her. Until all four soulmates were fully bonded, they could only sense one another's emotions, especially in times of great stress. If Skye couldn't even rescue herself with her powers, let alone her ingenuity, then the situation must have truly been dire.

There was a roar nearby, and she stood quite still as the Hulk bounded into sight. She heard cries above and looked up. Finally! She waved to Skye, who was gesturing towards the Hulk.

Did she honestly think Jemma was going to…? She sighed. If it was the only way, she'd do it. For Skye.

"Excuse me!" she called, walking over to the Hulk. He threw away a Doombot, smashing it to pieces against a wall, and looked down at her. "Could you please help my friend? She's trapped up there and can't get down." He turned towards her and lowered his head. Figuring that he couldn't hear at that distance, she said, "My friend is up there." She pointed. "Could you please fetch her down for me? I would be terribly grateful."

He blinked, then leapt up the side of the building, his huge hands digging into the concrete walls. She heard Skye's scream as he reached out and grabbed her. Then he jumped back down with a landing that shook the ground. He placed Skye beside Jemma, and the girls embraced. Skye looked up at him.

"Thanks so much for saving me," she said.

He grunted, and then went to attack more Doombots. Jemma pulled Skye along, out of the line of fire, and back to where they were supposed to be waiting.

"You got the Hulk to get me down?" Skye said as soon as they could hear each other. "The Hulk, Jemma?"

"You asked me to!"

"No I didn't!"

"Well, you certainly pointed at him."

"I was trying to show you he was there so you'd run for cover!"

"He's a little hard to miss, Skye."

Skye huffed out a frustrated breath. "Okay, I'll give you that." She pecked Jemma on the lips. "Thanks for the help. Now get back to Fitz, and I'll jump into the fray. And get the comms online!"

Jemma hurried back to Fitz, and was nearly knocked over by the Human Torch.

"How did you tame the beast?" he asked, jerking his head back towards the Hulk. Jemma blinked twice, shocked, before she replied.

"I'm not going to say that it was beauty, nor will I say that I tamed any beast," she said.

"…What'd you just say?"

"Get back to your job, and let me get back to mine," she said, starting to hurry away. "And find me after everything has calmed down!"

"Uh… yeah! Okay!" Shaking his head, Johnny flew off, and chased the girl who'd been rescued by the Hulk. He knew he should be concentrating on fighting, and he was turning on the flambé for every Doombot he came across. But he was damn curious now, and turned off the flame to fight back-to-back with the girl.

"Are we allowed to murder dictators?" she asked. Johnny grinned when he realised why he'd seen the two kissing.

"I'll answer that if you tell me her secret," he said.

"…What the hell?" She kicked one Doombot with particular viciousness, and then shot at another heading their way. She turned and stared at Johnny. He lit a flame on the tip of his right index finger, then blew the fire into the jaws of another rabid robot. Victor seriously had a lot to answer for.

"Hi," he said. "I met your girl. Do you know who our other soulmate is?"

"No," she said. "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna 'flame on'?"

"I can do both."

Bruce was used to waking among rubble. However, this time he had a pretty woman running to his side with a first aid kit. That wasn't so bad.

"Dr. Banner, thank goodness you're alright," she said in an English accent. "I don't know whether you remember, but you saved my soulmate Skye? I know I thanked you at the time, but in case you've forgotten, I thought I'd say it again."

"Not a problem, always happy to help," he said, sitting up. Her jaw dropped, and he raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Those… my soulmate words… oh my." She unbuttoned her vest and lifted her shirt. "Is this yours?"

He looked closely, and then nodded. "I know, my writing's bad, but then I am a doctor."

"So am I," she said, and she smiled kindly. "Let me look after you?"

"I'm starting to remember some of it," he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he shut his eyes. "The other girl, your friend. You both said my words."

"Where are mine?"

"On my back."

"Jemma, how's it going?" the other girl – Skye, was it? – ran up to them. She skidded to a halt. "He's not dressed yet?"

"No, not yet, but I will be soon," he said. Her eyes grew wide.

"It's him!" Jemma said. It seemed to be her name.

"You're Skye and Jemma, right?" he said.

"Jemma Simmons."

"And I'm Skye… no last name."

"Huh." He studied Jemma. "I've heard of you."

"I'm a huge fan of yours, Dr. Banner. I've read every one of your articles and dissertations, and I would love to discuss some theories—"

"Okay, cool your jets there," Skye said, putting her hand on Jemma's head. "We don't wanna overwhelm the doc, here."

"Do you know who our fourth is?" he asked.

"We only just found out ourselves," Jemma said, beginning to clean some of his cuts.

Johnny Storm landed nearby, and strode up to them.

"Hey, English Rose," he said. "You told me to find you afterwards?" He looked at Bruce and grinned, tilting his head. "Now Elphaba's de-greenified, it's about time to introduce myself."

"Because I've never heard that one before," Bruce said, holding out his hand. Clearly stunned, Johnny shook it. "Gave me a hell of a shock the first time Tony called me that."

"You… you said you didn't know," Johnny told Skye. She shrugged.

"I didn't, until about two minutes ago," she said.

"This is really quite fascinating," Jemma said. "Dr. Banner—"

"Bruce, please."

She blushed. It was charming. "Bruce, who brings you clothes after a battle?"

"Whoever grabs the bag first. Looks like it's Natasha."

"Is your room at Stark Tower big enough for all of us to get acquainted?" Johnny asked.

"Uh, are we ready for that?" Skye said.

"No," Bruce said firmly.

"I meant to talk, without anyone hearing us."

"JARVIS won't report anything unless I ask him to. I have my own floor, so I guess that's definitely big enough."

"I'd better tell Coulson," Skye said.

"Use your phone," Jemma said. "Doom tampered with the transmissions."

"Typical," Johnny muttered as Skye spoke quickly.

"Show's over," Natasha said, climbing over broken concrete to reach them while Skye ended the call. "The audience can leave now."

"I prefer the peanut gallery," Johnny and Skye said together. Then they looked at each other and grinned.

"Oh Lord, at least we don't have to worry about them being occupied while we get lost in science," Jemma said, brushing dust out of Bruce's hair.

"They're my soulmates, Natasha," Bruce explained. She relaxed.

"Good," she said. "You're not entertainment."

"I wouldn't mind watching him do anything," Jemma said, touching his abdomen. Then she met his eyes and scooted back. "I'm so sorry! I got a bit… distracted."

"You should see him doing yoga," Natasha said, handing Bruce a pair of pants. Tony had finally designed stretchy underwear, but it was great to cover up some more. Jemma's eyes glazed over at the prospect, giving Bruce time to finish covering up. He chuckled, breaking her out of her reverie.

"If we ever get any science done," he said.

"Of course! I appreciated your mind long before I ever saw a picture of you," she said indignantly.

"Not me," Skye said, her eyes raking over his body. "I can't understand all that bio-chem-whatever. I'm a hacker."

"A computer scientist," Jemma said.

"This is all very interesting, but we should be getting to the debriefing," Natasha said. "Is Coulson conducting it?"

"Yeah," Skye said. "May will be here soon to collect us."

"We're definitely getting to know each other as soon as it's over," Johnny said. "I'd better get back to my team, but I'll drop by the tower as soon as we're done with our report for your boss."

"Looking forward to it," Bruce said. When Johnny met his eyes, he winked. The Human Torch's smile widened.

"See ya later, then," he said. "Flame on!"

As he flew off, all three soulmates cocked their heads to watch the slender body perform various aerial tricks.

"Do you think he says 'Flame on' during sex?" Skye said.

"Only one way to find out," Jemma said.

"Ask him?" Bruce suggested, amused.

"Fine then. Only one fun way to find out."

Because I've been dithering over the possibility of setting all four of them up together, and got sick of just sitting on the idea. People have agreed with the concept of Jemma and Bruce meeting in the field – hence the title – so I went with it for this story.

Please review! Another quickly written chapter, but that's because I got on a roll.