Steve is the first one to find Lucy hiding in the lab, underneath the table. Tear stains are soaking through the collar of her hoodie.
Rogers doesn't entirely know what to say, so he chooses to sit and mirror her position.
Lucy brushes her sleeve over her eye with a breathless sniffle;
"I deserve whatever you decide to do to me,' she whispers, 'I didn't mean to hurt her! I didn't want anyone to get hurt."
Steve looks at her, his face unreadable, "That's more than some people can say."
She peers out from underneath her long blue side bangs, "Is Riley going to be okay?"
Steve takes an inhale, "I don't know. I haven't heard from Agent Barton. Do you know what happened? What made you...what's the word."
"Freak out? Maybe I'm just a freak. My genes are all freaks but they're awesome freaks. I'm just. Me."
"Well…"
"You don't know me! And I could freak out again so just go!"
Steve shakes his head, "Well if you do, you can't hurt me. I have my shield in the hallway-."
"I'm a monster! I screwed up," she manages in between sobs.
Rogers lowers his head, trying to think up something to say, "You know, you might have a little more in common with my teammate than you realize."
"What," she sniffles, confused and frustrated.
Steve looks back up with a kind grin, "Dr. Banner is one of the most brilliant minds on earth. An 'awesome freak' to use your words, right?"
She waits for him to continue;
"Dr. Banner spent years on the run after he hurt someone. He called himself a monster because of an accident. Does that change your opinion of him?"
"No."
"Why not."
"Because, he's a hero. He's an Avenger."
"He wouldn't be a hero if he kept running and living in the past. He trained, he worked hard to understand himself and he moved on. With his help, we won the battle of New York. And Hulk was considered a hero. One mistake doesn't define you. I could share a ton of stories, honestly."
Lucy swallows hard, thinking of her Uncle with a newfound respect. Being big and green never seems like a risk when Jen is 90% of the time. Jennifer is an overall representation of hope who can do and has done no wrong in Lucy's eyes. Then again, maybe her mom has a similar tale of struggle to share.
Still overwhelmed, she lets her head fall against the Captain's shoulder, which makes him panic.
Steve lets her cry for a while until he can reach for a box of tissues, "Um...here."
Lucy takes the box, pulling out an excessive amount of tissues and blowing loud enough for Steve to jump.
"Are you okay now? Should we call your mother?"
"No! Please! I'm the ultimate disappointment already! I have no powers- well, except for hurting people. So my abilities are that I'm a murderer. I can't go home like this! I can't go home until I know Riley is okay! Please! You're a trainer, so train me! Help me! Like you guys helped Uncle Bruce!"
"Lucy,' he shares a gentle smile, 'I wish I could but I don't understand it. I can only promise you that when your uncle gets back, he is going to figure it out."
"I can't wait for them to get back- I could hurt somebody else! Please!"
"I don't think you will."
"I could!"
Steve takes a breath, "What if you talk with Mrs. Stark? Maybe Pepper would have some insight? I mean she's close to Dr. Banner and Agent Romanoff…"
They're interrupted by an incoming call from Clint Steve answers immediately. His face drops, turning away from Lucy and plugs an ear;
"That's not good."
Lucy shuts her eyes and throws her head back against the wall before shaking her head and more tears slip from her eyes.
Elizabeth's home is quaint, put together and elegantly decorated. A huge saltwater fish tank currently houses three blue angelfish, Corydoras and a handicapped Rainbow fish, of course, they are all rescued...somehow. Even the cat is a rescue; apparently even in a perfect world, humans still have the urge to give up their pets.
She's a fluffy, gorgeous, bright eyed, party colored Ragdoll that Natasha can't resist hissing at.
Bruce, on the other hand, seems to have some sort of recognition for the cat. There's an automatic connection and Romanoff does not want to know.
Ross' home is large enough to house all of them as long as Tony takes the couch. And judging by his interest in the tech provided in the living room, he's content to do so.
For Izabella, it is the furthest she's been away from home and her aunt. It is beginning to affect the tween so she chooses to keep close to Bruce and Natasha- even more so than usual. Daisy, the cat, seems to put her out of her shell little by little, making her sit on the ground to start a swatting game with her.
The redhead notices Elizabeth lifts the mic of her small device, having it take notes for her on some numeral code and a reminder to check a formula.
Bruce waits until she's off the phone to offer another 'thank you.'
She waves her hand;
"Are you kidding? That Russian project opened up so many doors for me. As long as, well, your greener side stays under control while you're here this time, I'm completely fine with having you stay."
It's a half joke that Bruce laughs over but Hulk clearly finds to be beyond offensive to the both of them. It's as if he kicks his shell of a body, a green tinge showing up behind Banner's neck and runs down his spine. Bruce feels it and squirms in frustration with his pestering alter-ego.
Natasha wants to stand but sinks slowly into the kitchen chair behind her instead. Her legs are tired and she's dizzy, exhaling slowly with a pounding headache. Bruce crouches and gently holds her arm with one hand whispering and brushing her cheek with the other;
"Go rest Natasha."
"'Mm fine."
She lays her head on the table in an attempt to stop the throbbing in her skull, she turns her head slowly, cheek against the table and wide green eyes looking back up at him.
His eyebrows lower, brushing the side of her face.
Elizabeth pulls out the chair across from the couple, "Based on previous blood tests, how does the one I just took on Natasha compare? Is it the same result?"
"Yeah," he doesn't look away from Natasha who has her eyes shut so tightly.
Elizabeth licks her lip and touches her device after giving them a moment, "There are some substances I'm picking up that aren't necessarily normal? Is there anything else I should know about?"
Bruce continues to run his hand up and down Natasha's back and it puts Romanoff at ease when he sits beside her.
"…There's a serum in her DNA that is supposed to- flush toxins and heal her. Somehow, the radiation is shutting that down. Um," he pauses to rub his own cheek and shift, swallowing away any emotion.
The biologist points with a whisper, her kind eyes addressing Natasha, "Does she want a pillow? She can nap in the room, it's all ready."
Bruce checks on his wife who is now asleep, head pillowed on her arms, over the table. He laughs lightly, keeping his voice above a whisper,
"You know, I'm worried she might kill me if I try to move her."
The woman across from him huffs a closed mouth laugh and goes on with her questions.
Riley is alone in her room after days of begging Clint and Laura for space and to be taken back to the center.
Touching her cheek, she can feel the stitches. They're between her nose and cheekbones on bone sides. Her lip has a stitch as well, feeling for the threads in her skin.
Bruce once told her that she possesses a small amount of enhanced healing properties that would help her recover quickly. She's waiting.
Laura says her face looks much better every day and that ice will reduce the swelling.
Yet, not even Garrett telling her that she's pretty is making Riley feel any better. Clint's constant apologizing and need to hover as if it's somehow his fault only bothers her more.
She tugs at her hair...she feels like a mess as she lays in her bed.
Riley keeps reliving that moment over and over again and the last thing she sees before her world goes black- before all color disappears, before her friends vanish- are those gold tinged eyes coming at her with nothing but aggression.
If only she could see the damage herself.
Her eyes are open, they feel open. She's cried more than she ever has but the tears escape from nothing. There's no squinting, blurred vision or hindered senses. There is just nothingness. Spots of color on black...
Riley feels around her room for the window, feeling for the warmth in a bout of frustration. Her hand misses the window lock and lay on the glass.
Taking an inhale, she screams at the top of her voice and turns to punch something, anything. It's her headboard.
Her knuckles hurt, her eyes hurt, and she's nauseas. Admitting she's blind and admitting that she needs help, feels worse than Lucy's punches.
Elizabeth is pacing around her lab, same as Bruce, exploring a few potential theories. Izabella is enjoying their intellectual conversations and their awesome bad science puns, offering one of her own that merits a high five from both of them.
Natasha is sitting at the table, rolling her ankle with a crack and a twist in her jaw as she toys lazily with a pocket knife in her lap.
She is smart enough to understand some of the jargon, and to understand her mood swings are stemming from the effect the radiation is having on her mind. Still, she won't hesitate to make Elizabeth squirm when given the chance.
"I just one more vial of blood," Elizabeth steps closer.
Natasha swings her knife and tosses it into a nearby wall. The biologist jumps and clutches her chest;
"Oh my."
Izabella checks in with Bruce who stammers, "Everything's fine and no one got hurt. Should we check how the prototypes are working?"
Izabella looks up at Elizabeth next with reassurance, "She do this all the time."
Elizabeth checks over her shoulder twice with fear in her eyes, baffled that Bruce and Izabella can carry on as per usual.
"Don't mess up," Natasha snickers when Elizath sterilizes her needle and comes closer.
The brunette removes her 'weapon' just as quickly, "I'm trying not to."
Taking a breath, she lines it up one more time.
Natasha can't help herself, "If you keep it lined up there you'll miss the vein."
Elizabeth lowers the needle, frowning, "Let's just have Bruce do it. Do you mind Bruce?"
Banner exhales with his tongue on his cheek, vials in hand when he glares at Natasha, "No. Not at all."
Natasha is a difficult patient but this is extreme. He crouches and gives her a mumble. She bats her lashes;
"I'm behaving."
His lips are firm, shaking his head 'no' in disapproval.
The couple don't need to communicate in order for there to be a silent exchange of thought- they've been married long enough for Bruce to make disappointment clear and for Natasha to convey her own frustration.
He's tired, sighing when she stands up from the table in a huff and jumps when she 'accidentally' knocks over his tea.
"Oh no," Elizabeth looks over her shoulder and hands Banner a towel.
Natasha lifts a shoulder, "Oops. Should I go find another towel?"
"They're in the cabinet outside- I'll show you."
The physicist takes Elizabeth's towel and starts to pick up the tea spillage half on him. He glares as the two women leave and Tony enters with a gawk over a knife in the wall and tea on his friend;
"What happened?"
Izabella is chewing her pierce of gum as quietly as possible, playing with the advanced tablet Elizabeth has gifted to her.
Bruce holds his glare, hiding the towel over his nose and mouth to inhale the lavender and calm his heart rate;
"Nothing."
"This is painful to watch, bro. I thought I'd be amused but there's a tension thick enough to cut a knife into. Your cheek is green."
"Hulk can't settle."
"Why not- never mind..I understand," he sips his own drink and leans up against the wall.
Bruce shakes his head, "Hulk trusts Betty- I mean- Elizabeth, almost as much as Natasha does."
"'Betty' huh?' Tony spots the mixup, 'It's not like everything is all fine with you and Ross there. I see you two clashing and we've only been here a week. It wasn't all rainbows was it? With you two; The real Betty. Maybe the hulk has divorce memories."
Bruce sighs and plops in the chair behind him, towel falling over his knee.
"I'm not talking about that," he grimaces with subtle rage.
Izabella's eyes widen as she snaps her gum, ready for all the gossip.
Tony huffs and takes his own seat, "You can't blame Natasha. You went all psycho mode when she disappeared on the Alexei mission-."
"I'm not talking about that either," Bruce repeats himself with a tense expression.
"Cool. So. Science? Can we talk about that? Or this cool robot I found that the lady downstairs said I could keep. I'm going to paint it for Anna. She'll flip when she sees what daddy found for her!"
Riley lifts her head after a week of quietly sulking, Laura's beside her when she enters the common space in the morning, leading the young girl with slow steps.
The kids are all quiet upon seeing their friend enter. She hates the attention and even though she can't see their reactions, she can sense every emotion.
Riley takes a seat with a thought for Natasha, curious if this is how she's felt for the past few months.
Her hair falls over her face when she manages a quip;
"Just because I can't see you, doesn't mean I can't feel you. So, Brock? Take your empathy and shove it. And Violet?"
Violet steps forward, "Yeah?"
Riley takes a moment to breathe, "I missed you, too."
Violet squeals happily and wraps her arms around her friend and squeezes her tight.
The other children follow suit, hovering around the now blind girl who has missed the support of her closest friends.
Lucy rejects her lunch with a push, grabs her personal bow from the chair next to her, and storms off the room and to the courtyard to take her temper out on the targets.
She doesn't sing, she doesn't talk…
Pepper spots the action and follows behind with a bit of distance between them.
Maybe it's from all of the late night hulk conversations between Tony and herself, or just that Steve called her in a frantic panic the other day, but Pepper is happy to help where she can. While the specifics of her hulk knowledge might not be as extensive as Tony, she can contribute enough in the interim and perhaps more importantly, knows exactly how to take down a hulk in an emergency. Pepper has picked up a few more gentler tricks from Natasha that would avoid a shield being throat at the head of the teenager.
She watches when Lucy's phone goes off with the ringtone she's heard before. It's an incoming call from Jennifer that the girl immediately declines.
Lucy takes her aim and exhales, firing an arrow straight through a target. She lowers her bow and checks it next, fingertips gliding over the carving of her name and the amount of heart Clint put into the spontaneous gift weeks ago.
"Hey honey," Peppers calls gently, settling on the bench beside her lit by the stray courtyard lights that have switched on in the dark, "Are you still hiding?"
"Yeah," Lucy pulls on her bangs and aims her bow with another arrow.
Pepper crosses her knee, "Your mother called."
"Did you answer?!" Lucy panics and finds Pepper's eyes.
The woman's head tilts, "I said that, you needed space to do some deep soul searching-."
Lucy scoffs, "I don't have a soul. Maybe I am an emotional green monster, just without the green. Not like my mom or Uncle Bruce."
"You are so kind and so much fun to be around. You make us laugh-."
"Everyone laughs at me, Mrs. Stark. And they all think I'm too stupid to notice but I do."
Pepper smiles, remaining soft and gentle, "Why don't you come back with Anna and I to the tower tonight? I think it would be good to get out of here for a night and recharge. I trust you at the tower with us." Get out of here for a night and recharge. And your Uncle's apartment is completely hulk-proof."
Lucy thinks for a moment, her hand hugging her shoulder. She bites at her lip;
"I don't- want to hurt you or Anna. I haven't had another blow up here."
"…think about it? My door is open to you. Whether that's tonight or tomorrow night…There's no need to be alone."
"I'll think about it."
"Can I give you a hug?"
A hug is exactly what Lucy wants, while fiercely missing her mother and wishing she could go back in time to fix Riley. No harm would come to her kind hearted friend who doesn't deserve to struggle.
"We have an idea," Elizabeth announces as she touches Banner's shoulder and looks over the crew around the table, "There is so much potential in his blood to make a cure! We just have to find the right balance so as not to create another one of his green friends, with the right components and stability we will be able to cure you!"
"She's a genius," Bruce comments, eager to test their hypothesis while Natasha stares at them from the sofa.
Elizabeth ignores and continues, "The problem is, we also need to know that this fraction of a fraction won't clash with the serum already in her- your, veins, right?"
Tony is still waiting for the moment of brilliance, overall unimpressed with the immediate conversation, "And? Spit it out, come on."
"Well,' Bruce starts and hands the floor back to her,'...you can share the idea, Elizabeth."
"You have someone who contains Banner's exact blood type, as well as a tinted Black Widow serum. We have a diluted sample of the gamma and can use that to develop a cure,' she smiles and addresses Izabella, 'You're the cure. It's in your blood."
"Me?" Izabella points to herself, confused.
The biologist pulls up a chair, "I can analyze Bruce and extract his blood to manipulate it into a sustainable compound but you already have what we need. Your body has already regulated it and can heal itself by finding a balance. It regenerates. If we can, with your permission, take samples and make the right modifications so that Natasha's body doesn't fight it, I think we can move much quicker than if I have to start from scratch with Bruce's."
Izabella nods, "I do it! Of course I do it."
"I knew we could count on you," Bruce wraps his arms around Izabella's shoulders to give her a hug.
"Always."
She chuckles and hugs his arms in reply. He separates so he can move on and hug Natasha next.
Natasha settles with his arm around her and a kiss to her cheek. She's grinning over their makeshift family, reaching to take Izabella's hand and squeeze it while Tony whines about not getting enough hugs from either of them.
Elizabeth stands aside and starts to outline her plan on the nearby whiteboard.
For the first time in days, Natasha listens and gives the woman some attention. When Elizabeth's finished, Romanoff does her usual affirmative nod, watching Izabella jump up as if she's ready to get started.
It's almost like pulling teeth but Natasha is truly proud of herself when she finally says 'Thank you' to the cellular biologist.
Elizabeth is quick to wipe the shock from her face, the two sharing a glance and half an understanding;
"You're welcome."