A/N: Warning for canon pairing that a lot of people didn't like.
Fugitives Together
"Dr. Bruce! Dr. Bruce!" the boy panted. "Papa sent me. There's been an accident."
Before Bruce Banner could ask questions, Rico had turned and started sprinting toward the center of the village. "Hurry!" he shouted over his shoulder.
Bruce grabbed the backpack that served as his doctor's bag and ran after the youngster. He plunged between two huts and emerged into what amounted to the village square. Most of the village appeared to be there, but Bruce couldn't see anyone injured. His eyes went to Marco, the boy's father. "What …?"
"Really, Banner. How many times are you going to fall for the same trick?" said a familiar voice behind him.
Bruce spun to see a slender woman in khaki pants and open-necked shirt with a genuine pith helmet on her scarlet curls.
"Natasha?" Bruce breathed.
"Hey, sailor," she said coyly.
Bruce stood speechless, drinking in the sight of her, until smothered giggling brought him to his senses. The entire village was watching. Women and children were stifling laughter at his dumbfounded expression, but the men were watchful with bows, spears and rifles in hand.
"They're protecting you," Natasha said, when she saw Bruce's shoulders tense. "I think it's cute."
Cute because Bruce Banner had an inborn protector and cute because the Black Widow could take all the men if she chose — except she thought it was cute.
"She's a hunter," Marco said in Tagalog. "Is she hunting you?"
Bruce realized the men sensed Natasha's dangerous nature. Before he could reassure them, Natasha answered.
"Only as a woman stalks her man," she replied in hesitant but accurate Tagalog.
Bruce was stunned again by her flirtatious words.
Natasha looked atypically uncertain at Bruce's silence. "They said you didn't like surprises. I said you'd like this one. Don't make a liar out of me, big guy."
Bruce's heart beat faster, and not in a bad way. In fact, in his mind, he heard the Hulk snort in approval. A smile broke like daybreak across his face. He grabbed Natasha in a hug, swinging her off her feet and around in a circle. "Natasha!"
She chuckled. "Hi, Bruce."
They hugged fiercely. "I'm sorry," they said simultaneously in each other's ears. They laughed at their unison. "I thought you'd hate me," they said, again simultaneously, and laughed tearfully again.
The village women began to hustle the children away and cluck at the men to give the couple some privacy, but a few of the hunters hesitated.
"You will not hurt him?" Marco asked in English.
"Not on purpose," Natasha promised.
"Are you here to take him away?"
"No, I may even stay, if I am welcome."
"The Black Widow is a noted huntress. She would be welcome."
"Wait, you know who she is?" Bruce asked.
"Of course."
"And me?"
"Yes, Dr. Banner," Marco said patiently. "We have known since the beginning. We're not ignorant primitives," the man holding a spear said with dignity.
"And you let me stay?" Bruce was almost outraged.
Marco shrugged. "You have caused us no trouble."
"But the other guy could …"
Marco interrupted gently. "Doctor, we live in the shadow of Mount Pinatubo." He pointed at the volcano, which had a major eruption in 1991.
"If danger comes, we will act. Until then, we will live and take advantage of your skills and the fertile soil the volcano has given us."
Bruce was speechless. Natasha smiled at him. "We told you," she said.
"Your Tagalog is very good," Marco said diplomatically. It was only fair, Natasha knew. "Have you spent much time in the Philippines?" the hunter asked.
"No, but my friend Hawkeye had a mission here. He liked it here," she pointed at the bows. "And he comes back to Luzon regularly. They call him Kamangha-manghang mamamana."
"Kamangha-manghang mamamana is Hawkeye, the Avenger?" Marco was more amazed by that, than by Bruce being the Hulk. He shrugged in apology. "I have heard of the Amazing Archer since I was a boy. I would think he was a myth, but my uncle met him."
"I'll be sure to tell Clint he's a legend here. You'll make him feel old," Natasha said with amusement.
The guards faded away, finally leaving Bruce and Natasha alone. They went into Bruce's hut and sat side by side on a floor mat.
"Natasha, what happened to the Avengers. I've heard terrible rumors," Bruce said anxiously. "That the Avengers fought each other at an airport. That Cap is really a Hydra agent."
Natasha held up her hand. "The first is true. The second is ridiculous. Let me tell you what happened. Some of the newspapers call it the Avengers Civil War."
She explained about the Accords and Secretary Ross and the break up of the Avengers. "But everyone is alive," she reassured Bruce. "And I think we're beginning to heal. I wanted to warn you about everything."
"Is that why you came, to warn me?" Bruce asked.
"Partly." Natasha rested her head on his shoulder. "But I needed to heal, too. I needed to apologize. You offered me everything, and I pushed you away — literally. I'm sorry."
She would have explained more, but Bruce put his finger over her mouth.
"Shh, I understand," he said. "I'm glad you did it, Nat. I'm glad you brought out the Hulk when I was afraid. I have this nightmare…"
He and Natasha were running when a wild, terrible wind surged toward them, a superheated sandstorm throwing rocks, as well as sand. Bruce threw his body over Natasha. He transformed, but his impervious body couldn't protect the woman. The debris didn't touch her, but the fiery air sucked the life out of her instantly, then desiccated her body. When the devil wind died again, the Hulk was holding a dark, dry mummy.
With a whimper, Hulk staggered to his feet as his body worked to heal many burns and wounds. He lifted Natasha's dead body into his arms and started back toward what had been Sokovia. Around him was a wasteland, a scorched and broken desert turning cold as sand and dust floated in the air and blocked the sun. There was no sign of life, not an animal or bird or even an insect had survived the cataclysm.
As he walked, Hulk collected pieces of the Iron Man armor, with pieces of a body still inside. A gleam of silvery light caught his eye and he found Cap's shield, scoured of its paint. There was no sign of the first Avenger, except for two skeletal fingers wrapped around the shield strap.
With the remnants of his friends in his arms, Hulk sank down and wept.
"And then I wake up, with tears running down my face," Bruce finished. "And I'm so glad that you kept me from making that terrible mistake."
Natasha regarded him for a moment. "You're such a dork," she said fondly. It was not the response he expected to his horrifying nightmare.
"You weren't yourself," Natasha continued with a smirk. "So you probably don't remember the sequence of events. Let me tell you what probably would have happened, if I'd decided to run away with you..."
The castle was deserted. All Ultron's army had gone to the city to confront the Avengers. Natasha and Bruce easily found their way out. Natasha started to hotwire a car still sitting in the parking lot after the arrest of Strucker's people.
"We're stealing a car?" Bruce asked.
"I'm not walking to Tahiti, or wherever we're going," Natasha replied. "Besides, this is a Hydra car. I'm just liberating it."
Before Bruce could answer, an earthquake nearly threw them from their feet. Bruce threw himself on top of Natasha, knowing the Hulk would protect her from falling debris. But nothing fell near them and, gradually, the shaking died away. A cloud was blocking the sun. The two Avengers turned and saw it was the city blocking the light. Novograd rose slowly on pillars of fire.
"What's going on? Is Ultron stealing cities now?" Natasha asked.
Bruce's voice was hoarse. "No. He's going to drop it." It was bizarre. It was insane. But Bruce was as sure of it as he had even been. "Like the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. Total destruction, that's what Wanda Maximoff saw." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Natasha. I can't leave now. There are too many lives at stake." His skin was already taking on a green tint, but he held back, giving her a pleading look. She cupped his cheek with her hand.
"Then we'll go together and we'll fight together. As Steve likes to say, 'I'm with you 'til the end of the line.'"
"And then you change and we leap up to the city, just as we did the first time. Plenty of time to catch Stark's vulgar 'hide the zucchini' joke," she finished.
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did he really ..."
"Oh yes he did."
"I think you give me too much credit, thinking I would divine Ultron's plan immediately."
"For a genius, you can be pretty dumb, Banner,," Natasha said.
"I have a big green alter ego that would seem to confirm that opinion," Bruce agreed.
"Bruce, one look at Lila's butterfly picture and you put together Ultron's desire to 'evolve' with a butterfly's cocoon and Helen Cho's cradle. Nobody else had a clue," Natasha said earnestly. "I know that even if you didn't figure out the meteor scenario, you wouldn't have abandoned our friends on a flying rock."
"So, Code Green was my destiny," Bruce sighed.
"And the big guy saved billions," Natasha agreed. "And now, here, you are saving dozens, because you're good at saving people, Bruce."
"I like it here," Bruce said.
Natasha linked her arm with his. "I'm sure I'll like it here, too," she said with a promise in her voice that made Bruce smile. "I'm a fugitive. You're a fugitive. We can be fugitives together," Natasha suggested.
"That's the best offer I've heard all year," Bruce answered and kissed her.
A/N: A coworker who is from the Philippines translated Amazing Archer into Kamangha-manghang mamamana. I think I'll just call him Clint.
I wrote this story in February, February! Just after I wrote Pushing People Away. And then I had to wait until Nat finished helping Steve with Barnes.
