A/n: Drop me a review please and thanks! Thanks for reading, special shoutouts to RFK22 and AnaLuizaMatos0
Natasha groans against the soft exhaling fall of his chest underneath half of her frame. She's warm and safe, even if the noise around them rattled her from a dreamless sleep. She scrambled from Banner's frame, turning in the asphalt below. She groans with her head thrown backward.
Bruce's eyes flicker open to reveal a greener tinge. Natasha's open wider over the sight, groaning in pain. Ever the empath he forced himself to an elbow to brush her shoulder;
"Are you okay?"
She nods with her eyes closed, reaching for his hand over her shoulder. She confirms;
"I'm okay."
Feeling him next to her is all she needs to force herself to open her eyes and take in the familiar space. Natasha inhales.
It's a SHIELD aircraft, confirmed by Fury's voice as he offers a 'Welcome back.'
Natasha forces herself to her elbows on the cot. Still adjusting to the light, she squints. A groaning Banner beside her enduring his own turmoil.
Romanoff tilts her head with her waves hair a frizzy mess as she engages their observers;
"What's happening."
Nick shares a smirk, "Nothing. We've apprehended the villains. You two wouldn't part from each other so we airlifted you together."
Natasha shares a closed mouthed smile with her focus lowered. Morbid as it may be, perhaps they would adhere to her wishes of being buried next to the physicist. She turns to see a half naked battered Bruce. With an exhausted groan he mumbles; "Can I get a shirt...please."
Natasha bites her lip, restraining a remark on her end;
"How are the kids?"
Fury shakes his head, "Not good. We are most worried about Miss Proctor-"
Bruce snaps his head upward, forcing himself to an elbow, "What's wrong with Riley..."
Natasha shares a sympathetic glance over his immediate parental response. She knows Bruce treats each of those kids as if they're his own.
The color drains from his cheeks, catching a sweatshirt an abruptly entering Tony Stark throws in his direction;
"Your daughter is struggling too-"
Fury rolls his eyes, "Not as bad-"
Tony cuts him off, "Izabella can't move her hands. She's in surgery now. Thought you'd wanna know."
Bruce catches his top and quickly covers his torso after forcing himself upright, "Lucy?"
Fury understands, "She took a hit to her calf. Nothing major."
"Where's Jen."
Tony scoffs, "Oh you think I didn't check on Miss America? She's fabulous-"
"Great,' Bruce clutches the fragile torn fabric at his waist, 'I could use some pants...? Please...?"
Stark chuckles, "I got you buddy."
"Something for a headache?"
"On it!"
Natasha leaps from their cot and presses forward, "I'll meet you at Izabella's station."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fury nods over the Black Widow's plan, her own shoulder of the uniform ripped at the seam. Her cheeks are still covered in debris, her now bare exposing a tinge of dried blood from a day old scar.
Making her way toward Garrett she offers him a smile gentle pat on his good shoulder. He's seated outside Riley's room, guarding the door like a responsible older brother.
"How is she?," Natasha asks with a solemn tone.
He shakes his head, "Not good. Nurse says she lost her vision."
Romanoff grits her teeth and presses into the room through the swinging door. She stands quietly beside Darcy and a few other children who look over the girl as the medic documents the progress. Natasha holds her elbow, making her presence known to the girl who currently has her eyes bandaged up;
"Hey Riley."
The teen recognizes the voice, quiet in her reply;
"Hi Nat."
"What happened?"
Riley scoffs, in better spirits then most young teen would be;
"Last thing I saw was sparks so not even sure I can recall an image. Lot of screaming."
Natasha is full of empathy and anger, "I am so sorry."
Riley shrugs despite her own disappointment, "Hero stuff."
The red head reaches firmly for Darcy's elbow;
"Can we talk? Alone..."
Lewis widens her eyes fearfully and agrees with a shaky hand. Natasha talks through her teeth, pressing her palms together in restraint;
"Okay! Who gave permission for letting the Center metas on the field?!"
Darcy stutters, "Uh..."
Maria steps up, "I did."
Natasha refocuses on her new target. Hill keeps her firm stance;
"I went to retrieve information pertaining to the black hole. Lucy and Izabella pulled up and insisted on rendering aid."
Romanoff drops her hands at her sides, "Izabella is 13 years old. Riley is 12 and probably blind for life because of a decision her friends made that you, as an adult couldn't control?"
Maria tilts her head, "They have a right to make their own choices. What were you doing at 12?"
Natasha forces a laugh over the familiarity in Maria's remark, "While I see your point, someone once reminded me that these kids are not the same. And while they have ambition and drive, I think you let some of them out too soon."
Maria lifts her shoulder, "In my defense, Izabella was the only meta I wanted to take. Lucy rallied the rest of them, at which point I am then outnumbered 26-"
"27."
"To one."
Natasha rolls her eyes and presses forward to find Izabella's room;
"You're still the adult,' she glares at Darcy, 'You both should've been smarter about this."
"Talk to Fury he gave the final authorization."
Darcy glances downward, brushing her foot against the floor, "Make sure you tell Bruce THAT first, leave my name out of it-"
Natasha laughs with raised eyebrows;
"Forget Bruce, the only reason I'm not going to murder you is because you didn't lose any of them. This would be a dark day for you otherwise."
She abruptly ends the conversation with an intention of seeing Izabella next. Natasha pushes through the door to find her Vrach has beaten her to the room. Bruce waits with his lenses on, carefully examining the girl's hands for himself. Tony Stark stands behind the physicist, focusing on the assassin as she enters. Natasha keeps her voice low so as not to disturb their young resting friend;
"How bad is it?"
Bruce looks over the frame of his lenses and whispers back, "Her tendons are damaged. She's gonna need surgery if she wants to ensure mobility."
Natasha sits on the stool near the door, leaning forward so that her elbows are over her knees;
"Has anyone contacted her aunt?"
Tony nods, "Yeah, me. Obviously she isn't in the best of moods."
"Of course not."
Bruce refocuses in his wife, turning slightly to view her better;
"Why don't you go change and rest for a bit...Tony and I can make rounds."
Natasha rolls her eyes, "This is my fault. I gave Titania a lighter sentence and it came back to bite me. Jen was right."
"Tasha-"
She nods with a forced grin, "I already saw Riley. I'm going to check on Tommy next, I'll see you in a bit."
Bruce exhales heavily as she leaves, eyebrows raised from stressing over the current situation. The engineer brushes his friend's shoulder as they activate 'husband mode.' Stark swaps out with Banner, mumbling repeatedly for Bruce to follow after Natasha;
"Go, go, go, I'll stay with Izzy."
Their quiet and yet tense rustling causes the teen's eyes to crack open. Stark shares a friendly smile;
"Hey kiddo!"
She groans, looking for her friend;
"Vrach Banner?"
Tony leans forward, "Nope. Vrach just left to check on Natasha. How you doin?"
She spots her exposed hand and quickly turns away. Keeping her jaw tight she answers abruptly, "I'm okay."
"Nice use of contractions."
"Did you win?"
He smiles as she turns to face him once again, "Yeah, we won. Thanks to some super awesome warping."
She forces a smile.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Tasha-"
"I need a minute," she hesitantly glances over her shoulder.
Natasha pauses in her steps as he continues to follow. With her eyes closed she consents, her arms swaying as she turns to face him with her head tilted. The waves in her hair bounce as she crosses her arms with a now lowered focus. There is no point in avoiding him. Banner takes his stance, waiting in loaned attire from Stark;
"Look, you're obviously blaming yourself for the kids-"
"No duh."
She sarcastically widens her eyes with a grin, keeping her voice low to avoid suspicion from the other agents.
He exhales, "That's not. On. You."
"Isn't it?"
"No, because you did the right thing."
She sharpens her tone, "Riley is going to be blind the rest of her life. If Izabella can pick up a pencil going forward, she'll be lucky and you're standing here to tell me none of this is on me...Thanks to Olga I could have killed someone-"
"You don't control someone else's actions-"
"If you're close enough to it you have the option to stop it-"
Bruce grits his teeth. She's about to cross a very fragile line. He glares. Natasha lowers her focus;
"Tommy needs a check in."
"Tasha-"
"You don't get it."
He reaches to tug his curls, losing patience;
"Oh my god. Stop. Walking away. Please."
"Stop me."
"Natasha-I know you're hurting for those kids-"
"I feel nothing right now-"
"That's a lie."
"Suddenly you can tell..."
"Oh you think I can't."
"It doesn't matter. We tried to do a good thing and it backfired. I'm done."
"Natasha, you're reactive because you're hurting-"
"Stop diagnosing me,' she rolls her eyes, 'I need to go."
"Natasha-"
"Go away Bruce!"
He grits his teeth with volume raising, "Turn away from me one more time Natasha Romanoff and I will!"
She keeps her head down as a passing Darcy Lewis gives the couple an awkward glance. The Banners retract toward the wall. Bruce crosses his arms, leaning his shoulder up against it. Natasha nervously pulls her cheeks inward. She whispers;
"I'm sorry. Everything is going wrong. It's not your fault."
Bruce focuses on her expression, his tone an equal whisper, "I'm sorry too. I don't feel in control-not an excuse."
She looks toward the wall, lump in her throat. He just waits, present if she decides to speak. Natasha contorts her mouth;
"I um...everything backfires when I try to do the right thing. I feel stuck. I'm angry for the kids, especially Riley. I just wish I could go back-"
"You can't blame yourself. You did the right thing with Crusher at the time. You wanted to see the good in somebody."
She sighs, "Maybe it was a hallucination-I just want to fix it."
He nods. She glances up toward a surprisingly green tinted stare. Swallowing hard she bites her cheek, searching for ideas to not so subtly calm the doctor;
"We should check in on the rest of them."
"After I make you're okay. You're my focus right now."
She smirks nervously with a forced laugh, "Did you go to medical?"
He lifts his head toward her ripped shoulder hem, glaring over the dried blood;
"You didn't."
Natasha investigates for herself, "I wasn't the one who got stabbed in the back and kept going."
He doesn't recall, "I'm fine."
"Really? Your eyes say otherwise..."
"Tony didn't say anything-"
"Yeah well, Tony's not your wife. The green keeps going in and out...it's subtle."
"I told you; I'm not 100% feeling in control right now. It's like he keeps pumping breaks while I'm trying to drive."
"...Stress?"
"No duh. I don't want to be locked up but I will if it's bad, I don't want to make things worse. Is it bad? You're acting like it's bad...You did that smirk thing. Is it obvious?"
"It's pretty damn obvious to me."
"You just said it was subtle."
"Then why did you ask. No one is going to notice unless they've been staring at you all day everyday,' she pauses with a tentative focus, 'You sound like you, your eyes are just changing rapidly."
He shuts them quickly, hiding from her view as he tries to breathe and rub at his eyelids. She reaches for his hand upon his eyes reopening to their same flicker, "Walk with me?"
He accepts her hand, "Hey."
She squashes all emotion as he talk to her, "I love you. The kids love you...We'll, figure this out. Just don't shut me out."
She nods half-heartedly, waiting for him to follow as they head toward Tommy's room.
. . . . . . . . . . .
"You could've killed someone!"
"But I didn't!" Lucy retorts as she pulls away from her own medic.
Jennifer paces one her green form, holding her head while John waits in the corner with his arms crossed;
"You made a rash decision and put ALL of their lives at risk!"
"My god! Mom-!"
Jennifer points, "Look at your knee right now! If you got shot any higher in the leg you could kiss your dancing career goodbye. I can't even say you thought about yourself! Say something John!"
Her husband shrugs, "You were reckless Lucy..."
Jennifer glares, "That's it?! That's all you're gonna say to her?!"
John defends himself, "What do you want me to do?! She screwed up! We all screw up-"
"That's not the point John,' she pivots waving the medic aside, 'Do you mind? You're in the way!"
The agent moves quickly from the room, leaving the Jameson's to argue alone.
"I'm really trying to be calm-"
John scoffs, "You're losing your shit Jenny."
Lucy rolls her eyes, "How 'bout you human up and then I'll listen."
"Lucy..." John scolds.
Jennifer slams her hands into the cot her daughter is sitting on;
"You don't understand the seriousness of the situation! Do you?! You're irresponsible, your actions hurt your friends, with dire consequences they are going to have to live with. You hurt Izabella enough to the point where she can't use her hands!"
"She ran off with John and got us both captured-!"
"You broke the rules! Natasha told all of you to stay on one side of the street!"
Lucy raises her voice to match her mother's, "I got us out of it! I freed us from the basement!"
"Yeah, Darcy told me! Then you wander the city, almost get Izabella shot in a subway?! You're not invincible!"
"You just don't want me to fight!"
"I want you to be frickin smart Lucy! I want you to think about other people around you before you act!"
"You don't! You just blow up and go green! You can't even talk about teammates because you don't have any! You just make rash decisions thinking you're saving the city but you just make it worse!"
John hides his head as Jen looks to him for help, "Oof, Luce..."
She nods with her teeth clenched;
"You're grounded. You're coming back with us to Cali. And you're not leaving the house until you can start thinking before you speak."
The teen's eyes go yellow as she frantically makes her way to the door with tears in her eyes.
Jennifer restrains then urge to keep the girl in the room. Snapping upon the feel of John's hand over hers;
"What!"
"She's a kid Jenny."
"Oh stop taking her side."
"I'm not taking a side."
"She's almost 16! She needs to be smarter. And mouthing off at me is the worst think she can possibly do when she got those kids into this mess."
He stutters, "It was also Maria-"
"I know! But! Lucy-"
"So you're angrier with a teenager-"
"She's my responsibility."
"You need to go easier on her. You act like Lucy is the bad guy here when she just wants to be like you."
Jennifer crosses her arms, "She can start by controlling her temper."
He nods, hesitant to respond, "...Mmkay."
"Fine! Fiiiinnneee. You can talk to her! I need to go slap a SHIELD agent by the name of Maria Hill and then I'm gonna murder Romanoff."
"Jenny..."
"Oh shut up John! It's me!"
"Yeah! And you're point is...?"
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lucy knocks tentatively on half opened door labeled 'Izabella'. She hesitantly opens it upon hearing Stark's acknowledgment through both husband Izabella's laughter. Lucy enters with her head low, lingering at the edge of the cot when she's met with their focus;
"Hi."
Tony urges her to come closer, pointing to a free chair;
"Join us Lulu. Izzy and I were just talking about- what was it again?"
Izabella chuckles, "Hypothermetia hypothermic hypo-"
Lucy rolls her eyes, "Wow. Hypothermia? Why?"
Tony points, letting the girl speak;
"I may have solution."
Stark nods with a laugh, "Meet the new employee for Stark industries. Be sure to submit your resume at 18."
Lucy's eyes fall on her bandaged hands, reddened topped fingers peering through the open crack. She brushes the blue bangs from her forehead;
"I guess being a surgeon is out."
Tony shrugs, "We don't know that."
Izabella tilts her head, seeing the frustration in her friend's eyes. She swallows her own, "It okay Lucy."
Clint knocks on the opened door with a young friend in front of him;
"Mind if we crash the party?"
Izabella smiles widely, "Riley!"
The blonde waves, relying on Barton to lead her by the shoulder;
"Hi. I'd say you look awful but I can't see."
Tony stands, offering his own seat to the young girl. Barton crouches o elbow Lucy and motions for her to lift her chin up. The girl complies though secretly tired of being 'picked on' for the day.
The engineer reopens a discussion with his girl-genius, "Maybe we need to discuss a new pair of glasses for vision injuries next."
Garrett's entrance is met by a handshake between him and Clint;
"Thanks for telling Brody and I about the party."
Izabella scoffs, "It not a party."
"I'm in here, it's a party,' he rolls his eyes as Steve enters, 'Now it's a nursing home. Go home Rogers. Nobody wants you."
Izabella shares a smile with the captain who reciprocates with a nod;
"How are you feeling Miss Izabella?"
Riley keeps her head forward, "I'm going blind but thanks for asking."
Lucy can't hold back her smirk over Riley's overall positive attitude and the small team around her.
Clint laughs over the same, "Joking already."
She shrugs, "I cried already. Not gonna cry anymore."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .