"Agatha has begun to release sparks from her fingers!" Thor yells mid entry into one of his monthly Asgardian meetings.
The council seem unimpressed, gnawing on their breakfast over the wide table and waiting for their fearless leader to take a seat.
The demigod clears his throat and settles, lifting his 'earthly' sunglasses and drums the table, once again not receiving a reaction, "What is the official business of the realm that is to be discussed?"
Thor half listens to stories of a dried up stream out west, civilian fights breaking out in the south.
He looks over his shoulder, "Brunnhilde! I would appreciate an Asgardian Meade, if you would be so kind."
"Have you heard a word?," a council member prods.
"I've heard of problems. Problems. Many problems. Brunnhilde?!"
Valkyrie leans forward in answer with her hair blowing lightly in the breeze, "You may fetch the drink yourself…your majesty."
"Ah! It shall be one of those days."
"We face an issue in the northern woodland," a man explains on the far end of the table.
Thor exhales with his eyes on the table, "An invasion of the furry kind. Agatha does love the stubborn yellow tailed fox. What did you call them again?"
"Micro menaces," Brunnhilde sits back.
"Micro, menace. M and M. Have you tried M&M's? They're quite good. The green ones are my personal favorite-."
"They all taste the same."
Thor groans over her sarcasm, "What else of the woods?"
The man fumbles over his words, aggressively spewing each one, "There have been sightings of a great creature, terrorizing the lives of our unsuspecting civilians with the ability to camouflage against the green of the trees."
Thor laughs, "At least it is not Agmundr. For a moment I suspected my son would be the cause of this…drama. I am pleased to know this hearing has nothing to do with my offspring."
"Actually, Thor if I may," a woman starts softly, "It is about your son. Perhaps we should discuss this away from the council?"
"I could use that drink. Someone. Anyone," he takes a breath, "Do speak freely, Lady Sif."
"Agmundr insists on visiting the prisons."
Thor's expression goes blank, pale as his smile disappears, "Station more warriors at the gate. And transfer my brother to the furthest holding cell. Notify me, should Agmundr continue to disregard my wishes. I must see Heimdall. Lady Sif? Are you available to supervise my offspring-."
"Your little demons will need to find someone else."
Valkyrie smiles to herself, brushing her hand against the table as she addresses her peers, "Perhaps we should send your children into the northern forest. Our creature would never be found again, frightened for its life by the two terrors you call offspring."
Thor glares, shaking his head and pointedly says, "No."
"Word is the Midgaurdians have been on high alert," another member eyes Thor.
"I know not of it. Surely I have the time to, address the woods before embarking to Earth?"
"Surely. We should take priority, if I may be so bold, your majesty."
"Antonia Vivian, stop! You need to stay away from her!"
Tony Stark panics as he chases his daughter down a quiet and tense hallway. His foot kicks in the door to the lab before redirecting Antonia in another direction.
"Why?" The girl asks with wide eyes.
Tony gently brushes her small cheek, "Because I said so, baby girl. Go find mommy. Stay out of the lab, okay?"
"You'll cut that out right now," Pepper storms up from the other direction, haunting in the dim light due to a lack of power in the tower.
Tony sighs, "Pep, stop."
"You need to stop treating that poor girl like she's some dangerous laboratory experiment. I've had enough."
"Pepper, please."
"You keep the girls apart when Antonia just wants to play and Izabella could use a friend."
Stark is visibly grinding his teeth, a hand on the laboratory door handle.
Steve rounds the corner next, suited up with a small device in his hand;
"Stark? We're ready when you are."
Tony mumbles, "I've got to go."
"This has been going on for months! Tony, all of this searching has to stop. You're going to hurt Izabella if you keep this up! She's a child! Anthony Edward Stark!" Pepper scoops Antonia into her arms and follows him into the lab.
Izabella looks up from behind red eyes and tear stained cheeks. Her hair is pinned back in a tight braid thanks to Jennifer Walters who sits with the girl behind the large screens.
Her husband freezes, softening his tone, "Pepper I have to."
"What you have to do is worry about your family,' Pepper pivots to scold Clint next, 'Why aren't you home with Nathan, Garrett, and Laura?"
Barton adjusts his cuff, "Because Nat is missing. I'm not going home without her."
"I get it!" Pepper snaps with tears in her own eyes, "But at some point you need to move on and realize that...Your family is here and she needs you. Time will go on with or without you. Our time. Here. You're missing out on this, Tony. You have already been through this once, you have lived through a similar scenario as a child, think about it, think about how it affected you. Please...just-I love you, and I can wait for you, I don't know if Anna will."
Tony freezes and his eyes shift to his daughter, who sits in Pepper's arms and looks at him.
Pepper isn't wrong- he's gone every other week, for days on end. When he isn't gone he's home working with Izabella and Jennifer trying to track down Natasha and Bruce. Pepper's words seem to affect him. And both Walters and Barton whose thoughts are on their own families.
Tony shifts a bit in his stance and moves closer to Pepper, "Two more trips. That's it...two more worlds. Two more tries to bring the rest of our team home, if it doesn't work, I won't stop trying but I will be here. For you and for her."
Izabella swallows a hard gulp, the pressure on her is unmatched and she feels like fainting. She takes her stance, distant from the others emotionally and physically. Her eyes shut tight as she holds her crystal and the two new stones she's added to it, a familiar emerald and ruby. The scars on her palms are still pink, bandages and wraps still on her hands.
Pepper nods and takes a breath over Tony's promise, "Two more worlds. And you come home."
Jen lingers by the screen. Stark has it set for two buttons that are needed to press to help Izabella control her powers. Walters does as she's told upon receiving a signal, evaporating Izabella, Tony, Clint and Steve.
Walters checks her device with sad eyes, a bare left hand over her cheeks as she reads an incoming apology text from her daughter.
Pepper calls gently, "Can I get you a coffee?"
Jennifer looks up, brushing a tear from under her eye, "No thank you hon, I'm fine."
"How is John?"
She shrugs, playing off her swallow for a cough, "He'll be fine, he heals fast."
Pepper contorts her mouth sympathetically, "And Lucy?"
Jennifer huffs and tucks her chin, "I think we can finalize the divorce outside of court and when it comes to full custody, that shouldn't be an issue. So-."
"No I mean…how is she feeling?"
After the brawl, after Lucy's yellow eyed, red zoned snapping for a second time this time with her father as the target. Leaving John feeling guilty for fighting back and injured over the confrontation. His focus is on their daughter and if separating keeps him from hurting her he'll do it. And Jennifer's lone concern is for her daughter, determined to protect Lucy from anything and everything.
Pepper doesn't need to finish her question. Jennifer nods with a sniffle and reaches to switch on another screen;
"She'll be fine. She's as resilient as I am, and living here in New York with me will be the change we need."
"If you ever, need anything-."
"It shouldn't take me long to get my practice up. I already have a few clients. I think Maria Hill needs more help than I do with the whole HYDRA situation…it looks like Riley thwarted another attack on their home."
Pepper nods and kisses a sleepy Antonia's cheek, "Just. Don't be too stubborn to ask for help."
Jennifer smiles and swipes up on her screen to redirect her attention to Violet Perez on the video screen. She feels responsible for the children, checking in on them in Natasha's absence;
"Hi sweetheart."
Suddenly all of those hunting trips with Clint and Laura have amounted to something for Natasha Romanoff. In what was once a bizarre tundra, turned out to be a beautiful forest within a six month time jump.
Natasha bites at the inside of her cheek and ducks down behind her cover, a rock, to check her ammo.
"Shit," she whispers under her breath.
It's her last magazine and she's down more bullets than expected.
Stepping out from her position, with her longer wavy hair tied up in a messy ponytail, she bravely checks her kill.
It's a large bird of sorts and Bruce is going to skin her alive when he finds out she's hunting. Especially when they already have plenty of food back at their makeshift shack.
He's used to life on the run and his quick adaption to new deserted places is nearly unsettling to her. He's set up everything quickly. Even so, surviving without wine and going vegan isn't Natasha's preference.
Bruce has been raging out since their arrival, and his hulking out doesn't exactly help them on the whole 'blending in' and making friends.
Apparently, rumors have circulated and they're feared by people they haven't even met yet, people who live miles out in the presumed closest city, which is why they don't even bother attempting an approach anymore.
It's better this way. There are talks of a green terrifying creature lurking and it won't exactly help their case if Bruce accidentally Hulks out in the middle of the city market. The language overheard during walks is mostly indescribable and there's little in the way of technology and advancements.
Right now Natasha wants meat, some sort of sustenance that's not a fish with eight tails, glowing berries, or any more of that sour leafy mushroom soup that Bruce 'swears' by. She is fully aware of the fact that he hates it more than she does.
The animal she's caught is the most normal thing she has seen yet...resembling a Turkey in some ways.
She knows Alex will be her best friend after this. Her once white cami has been quickly covered with dirt, groaning at the realization. Almost as if fate is persistently getting a kick out of toying with her, her hair tie snaps, red waves dropping over her shoulder and in her face.
Natasha huffs an exhale to blow her bangs out of her face, lifts her sack with the bird inside and starts to head back on their marked trail.
She whistles once she's close enough to their makeshift home, shielding her eyes from the sun to look up at a shirtless Bruce patching up the side of it.
Romanoff can admire a good view when she sees one, shifting into her hip, exposing most of one leg from her high-slit do-it-yourself skirt. She's hoping he'll notice;
"A little tan looks good on you."
His curls are a mess from time spent outside, panting over the handiwork.
"We'll see how long it lasts."
Natasha shrugs. She's not about to complain about the Hulk being in protection mode. Even if it means the shack gets destroyed in the process.
He looks down toward the redhead, up a makeshift ladder, "Where did you run off to?"
Natasha adjusts the bag slung over her shoulder, "I took a walk."
"And rolled around in the dirt?" He smiles at her scoff and shakes his head with a playful tone, "You're not dragging mud into the house, I just cleaned it."
"I'll go bathe in the river if you join me," she offers with a coy smile. She sets her bag near their bonfire debris from the night prior, "Do you need a hand up there?"
"Nope, thanks anyways."
He's more agile than she once thought, eager to watch him jump down from his tree. Clearly years on the run means you make do.
She's learning more about him, and he about her without the distractions of work and technological noise. Surprisingly, being stuck in the middle of nowhere is starting to feel more like the honeymoon they always wanted and never got. Even if it's an odd adventure, with a few more dangers and Hulk appearances.
Natasha smiles and touches his cheek when he stands beside her. He reaches an arm around her waist and nods towards their home, "What do you think?"
She reaches to unwrap his hand from her, tracing every line and callous.
He contorts his mouth, "I'm sorry."
Natasha lays her forehead against his, "Why."
"I never wanted this for you."
"Peace? Space? Freedom?"
He scoffs, "Unpredictability. A house made of...whatever that is. Hiding."
Natasha looks into his eyes when their noses brush, "I kind of like it."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Bruce pecks her nose, refocusing on the shack, "It's a little lopsided, by about, 3 degrees."
The right side of her lip curls up as she points to the roof, "Did you fix the leak?"
"Nah, I left the hole. It's fun when it starts pouring rain in the middle of the night and we wake up soaked."
Alex barks from around the back, charging at full speed to leap up into Natasha's arms. He's loving his life, spending the days chasing rodents, bugs and birds.
Bruce reaches for his last good shirt left out on the grass. It has a few holes and it's a bit discolored, but it works.
He shrugs it on and crouches to meet Alex and Natasha. The large puppy has found a stick, his tail swinging back and forth. Bruce takes the stick and moves to throw it, not before Alex can lick directly over his face and accidentally over the mouth. Banner cringes with a hack and a spit.
Natasha starts laughing;
"Oh my god, Alex. Right in the mouth?! Get your own man, this one is taken."
Bruce is laughing through the cringe, throwing the dog's 'toy', "What were you saying about a bath? I need to rinse my mouth…we don't have bleach, do we?"
"Don't even joke about putting bleach in your mouth or I'll kill you myself."
He's over analyzing the statement. This man needs a new creature to study, some new activity rather than nitpicking degrees in the house or statements from the redhead.
She rolls her eyes, "Whatever you're thinking? Don't say it."
He takes her hand, kisses her cheek and leads them down the familiar path. Natasha whistles to call over Alex, the three of them making their way toward the nearby river.