"I do it!," Izabella jumps excitedly over her punch, immediately regretting having hit Banner. She covers her mouth as her smile changes to a frown, reaching to help up her friend, " Mne zhal' !"

Svetlana offers a thumbs up from the porch, dressed in her heavy winter wool as she watches the twosome wrestle in the snow. She waves them off and moves back inside with a call in Russian for them to come in soon to 'avoid frostbite.'

Bruce is laughing over Izabella's reaction, proud of her ability to somehow inexplicably knock him off his feet. He reaches to accept her hand, focusing on the interaction with an intent focus. She chuckles until the typical green encircles their touch, an elongated buzzing between their fingertips as she moves to 'help' pull him upright.

The girl scrambles with wide eyes as she pulls back abruptly, startled by the encounter.

Bruce tightens his jaw, equally curious over the brief event. He's intrigued while she looks into her palm with fear.

"Does that happen a lot?"

She shakes her head, eyes wide, "No. Only you."

"Only with me?" Bruce nods, wishing he had the space to test a few theories. He reaches a gentle open palm in her direction, "May I?"

Izabella watches intently. She trembles as their fingers collide with a light green spark.

The scientist holds their palms together, watching steady circles cover over their hands. Her jaw drops. He's in awe, unsure of what to call the phenomenon. Izabella's eyes tear with just a drop of blood slipping from her nose.

He studies Izabella's reaction, "Are you okay?"

She flexes her fingers, wrist under her nose and craves an explanation, "What was...what happen?"

"I have no idea."

"But you smart."

"That, doesn't mean I know everything. Your eyes got all- green. So you saw that? Felt it too?"

She nods.

He rubs at his bristled cheek, overdue for a shave, "You need to tell me everything from your perspective. What was going through your mind? What emotions were you feeling-sorry, back up; so you're okay?"

Izabella nods, unsure but curious enough, "I see colors...no. Like, stars."

He scratches his head, unsure if using English will be the best way to form a true hypothesis with the child. He crouches to her level, potentially expecting too much from Izabella;

"Okay! Here's how we're gonna do this; I want you to write."

"Write?"

"Yeah, write in Russian, Czech, whatever you want. Every detail of everything you just saw. Like...the same way you do it for science projects at school...Does that make sense? I want to help you, but I need details. Yeah?"

"I have superpower?"

"Maybe?"

The look on Izabella's face seems to express discontent.

He hums, wanting to offer a hand and some comfort though that seems to be the last thing he should do, "It's okay."

"I good? Or I am bad."

"Yeah...You're a good kid."

She nods cautiously, "You, help me?"

Banner's eyes soften, sensing optimism in her stare, "I'll help you figure it out. And you don't have to be afraid. It's just, one, big, complicated math problem."

Izabella accepts what he says without question, looking up cautiously, "We tell Natasha?"

He smirks, anxious to get the redhead's input whenever he sees her next, "Yeah. We'll tell Natasha."

A crash occurs to the left, a mug smashing into a million pieces while Svetlana stares vacantly over her niece, the physicist, and the green energy sparking when they shake hands. Svetlana mumbles a swear over what she's just witnessed.

Bruce sighs and stands slowly with a whisper, "After we show your 'tetya .'…Hi Svetlana. Do you have a minute?"

Izabella's firm expression breaks with a soft laugh and she lifts her palm, studying every line.

"Natalia."

Romanoff rolls her eyes with her eyes fixated on the window. She's watching the trees rustle just outside her room.

"We're back to 'Natalia'?"

Alexei refuses to answer, as stubborn as she is when he stands beside her with his arms crossed;

"You are talking back to me?"

"What do you expect?" She drops her hands and tilts her head, "You refuse to give me any sort of explanation. All you've done since I got here is hurt me."

"Natasha."

She jumps when he holds a solid grip on her arm, "Please don't touch me."

Natasha almost slips with a slap across his cheek in disbelief over his entitlement.

"Let me speak," his eyes stare at her forehead then her lips.

She inhales and asks as calmly as she can, "Let me go."

"Please," he cringes as if it's painful for the word to slip out.

Natasha's stomach churns uncomfortably, dismissing her idea to throw a punch.

"Do you love me," he loosens his grip.

She holds her forehead and deflects, "Alexei…it's me. I don't…-You've never grabbed me before."

He stares emotionless.

She tries to search for his eyes, for some sort of remnant of the man she used to know.

Perhaps it has been too long. Perhaps circumstances have changed them both as there is little left of the man she remembers.

With a swallow she tucks her head, "I don't know what happened to you after the accident, I don't understand why you are so cold to me. I'm trying to find you and all I see is this shell-."

"Then try harder."

"You won't talk to me, truly, talk to me."

"You are untrustworthy."

Natasha snaps, her eyes wide, "Then why am I here?! If you won't open up and meet me in the middle then why bring me here?"

"You asked to come home."

"You agreed! I'm listening, I'm taking your tests, I'm staying away from the girls. What more do I need to do before you let your walls down?! Everything you say lately has sounded rehearsed and calculated."

She sighs to herself, recalling his lack of intellect as of late. He's Ivan's goon who seemingly needs to be puppetted rather than being his own person. He doesn't seem to understand, a little slower to process and comprehend.

An unexplained gash on the side of his practically shaved head causes Natasha to recall her own amnesia, wondering if he's been through the same.

"Alexei," Natasha reaches up gently, only to have her wrist grabbed and thrown back down.

She grinds her teeth in frustration, "If you keep getting rough with me I'm going to get rough back."

His hand moves to grip and rotate her smaller frame to look at him;

"I care!"

Natasha settles into his hold like a rag doll in an attempt to protect her bones from breaking. The intensity in his stare is almost enough to merit her kneeing his torso until Ivan calls for Alexei.

The redhead blinks with a gawk. She huffs. So Alexei can throw her around and her so-called father acts as if it's completely acceptable.

The spy dips into her room and slams the door shut behind her. Natasha's fingers subconsciously move to toy with her ring, heart sinking over her naked finger. Her eyes close as she lays her head against the back of the door, trying to recall a familiar cologne for comfort's sake and to keep herself from screaming.

She misses the softness of Banner's messy curls and his gentle touch. The kisses he always ask for, the hugs he will never steal without her permission.

She misses her dog, the way he lays on her lap as if he were a weighted blanket whenever she is secretly stressing.

Laughter might not be a normal response to abuse but she's laughing, shaking, when she sees the damn chair with its Red Room styled upholstery in the corner of her room. A tear betrays her as it slips down her cheek.

Natasha needs Alexei to slip up. Hell, she will make them slip up because one more day without progress and she might go completely insane.

'It sounds like static,' Tony sounds so unimpressed with Bruce Banner's description of Izabella's mysterious green energy.

"It's not static. I know what I felt," Bruce paces the bedroom of the shack, volume raising.

'Sounds like you don't. I was calling out your connection; Are you using my Stark phone?'

"Izabella's energy is alive, somehow."

'It's the force!'

"I'm not explaining it right. It's some sort of energy that Izabella is harnessing. It's almost like...radiation."

Tony sighs on his end, 'Well you're the physicist here. Unless we plan on cutting her hands open for science-.'

"No one is cutting her open," Bruce snaps protectively.

'It was a joke, take a chill pill. You need a lab. Run some tests.'

"So you agree this is weird?"

'The fact that Natasha is living with her ex and you're stuck with Thing 1 and Thing 2? How's Izabella's aunt?'

"Izabella's fingertips are almost radiated."

He laughs lightly, 'Where's the nearest SHIELD lab?"

"I'm not putting her on SHIELD's radar."

'I used to have a Russian scientist contact until I slept with her-.'

"-I really don't need the details."

Tony laughs, 'You're paranoid. You think Izabella is some sort of meta child.'

"Yeah."

'I think it would be awesome.'

Bruce shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose, "No, it wouldn't. It would be incredibly dangerous seeing as Nat and I are so close to her. I need a favor."

'You're finally asking me for something,' Tony cheers.

"Can you get me those medical files from when she was at the hospital in New York?"

'You've clearly been paranoid about her for years. In your black box above the bookshelf labeled 'don't touch Tony'?'

"Labeled miscellaneous," Bruce mumbles unimpressed.

'I'm on it. Do me a favor and let Thor know his angry girlfriend dropped by. She's pissed so I sent her your way.'

"Oh good,' Bruce resumes his pacing, 'we need more drama over here."

Clint knocks and yells outside the nearby door, "Can you hurry up? I need to make a call."

Bruce lowers the mouthpiece, "Can we only have one phone call at a time now?!"

Barton answers back, "I want privacy to call my girlfriend. So hang up or get out and give me the room."

"Sorry, all yours," Bruce is barely out before the door hits him upon exiting, a bannister preventing a fall down the wooden staircase.

Thor eyes him from the sofa with a large beer in hand, waving with the other.

The physicist gives Thor a wave and grin, rotating to wrap up his conversation with Stark.

Natasha finds herself lingering outside the kitchen, overhearing a spat between the butler and Olga. Something about the girls not getting enough laundry done.

Romanoff rolls her eyes and steps inside, casually refilling her water glass, "I'll do it."

Olga glares, "No."

Natasha folds an arm across her chest and sips with her back up against the counter.

The older woman steps forward with a finger raised, "No more meddle!"

The redhead points, still choosing English just because she can, "Why are you cooking so much?"

Olga waves her hand and starts mumbling. Her counterpart answers;

"For Master Ivan's guests."

"So he's throwing a party,' Natasha nods, 'That's news to me."

Now the woman wants the older man to locate the 'immature Riley'.

Natasha laughs because of course she's immature, she's still a child.

"I'll find Riley," The spy offers with some ulterior motives.

Sure. She'll find Riley. And question her about the suspicious help and the upcoming party.

She heads down the long hall. Whispers from Alexei's office cause her to stop in her tracks and linger outside the door cracked open just a centimeter to hear them bicker in Russian;

" I told her to stay away from the girls ."

" It's Natalia! She does what we tell her not to do ," Ivan answers Alexei.

"If she understood the predicament, she would join us on this mission."

"Miss Natasha!" Violet calls excitedly.

Natasha scrambles to scoop the girl and cover her mouth, looking upward toward the hide in the ceiling vents.

"Woah," Violet whispers when they settle, marveling over her friend's leaping and stealth mode, "You are cool."

From the vent, Natasha looks down. Ivan is standing right outside the door and scanning the halls. It isn't until he looks up Natasha pulls back, lifting a finger to remind Violet to stay quiet.

Ivan pivots to address Alexei;

"Inform Natasha of the gala,' he looks back up at the vent, 'tell her to wear something nice."

After a brief blowup in the kitchen a few days prior, Izabella's kind hearted aunt has begun accepting the fact that her niece may have extraordinary abilities. Even if she doesn't like it, she trusts Banner enough to have them keep training and to get her some sort of answer.

Bruce is over at her home again, Thor and Clint tagging along at Svetlana's urging. And the boys are eager to give Izabella an American Christmas.

Even if Thor's purchased sweater (using Bruce's cash) is way too big for the girl, she loves it;

" Spasibo ."

"You are quite welcome," Thor grins proudly from the sofa.

Clint shoves a box into her hands, "Open mine next."

Izabella looks at her aunt for advice on how to respond, her cat walking over to sniff at the two black hair ties in the girl's hand.

"Well?" Clint leans with his elbows on his knees, "What do you think? They're for little girls, you put 'em in your hair."

"Thank you," Izabella secures one to her wrist and the other in a messy ponytail.

Svetlana calls her over to help.

"I,' Bruce shifts awkwardly, 'your books were back ordered. They'll be here for your Christmas. Sorry, I don't have anything else."

Izabella smiles, "You here. That present for me."

Her remark makes him tuck his chin with a blush and a smile, not accustomed to being looked up to or revered in the way that Izabella does. He can do no wrong in her eyes. He is the genius who can solve her most complicated problems whether it's a medical emergency in New York or algebra. And when Bruce looks at her, he sees what he always wanted and couldn't have; a daughter.

Izabella looks up with a sudden realization, "You will come for Russia Christmas? Natasha?"

He grumbles a bit and rubs at the back of neck nervously, despising all things Christmas due to past trauma;

"Maybe."

Svetlana brushes her niece's hair with her fingers, "What do this mean? Her powers?"

"We don't have to, talk about this now."

"What powers?" Clint glares suspiciously, "I thought you were working on self defense-."

"We are,' Bruce deflects, 'that's…what she's talking about."

Clint scoffs, "Okay, well let me see something. Give the doc a good kick, kid. Let me see you swing."

Izabella glares, deeply offended, "No! I not hurt Vrach. "

"She calls him Vrach ,' Clint points and laughs with Thor, 'That's..amazing. How does that make you feel, witch doctor?"

Bruce frowns.

Thor's chuckle is interrupted when he checks the window behind the sofa, alert to headlights shining through, "Oh no…"

Clint moves to look in the direction of Thor's eye line, "What?!"

The blonde pushes his friend before he can get a look for himself;

"Let's go-."

"What? What's going on?!"

"Move! I shaunt answer any questions!"

Barton panics and stands at the door to address the deadbolt. The tension has Svetlana in a panic, gripping Izabella's shoulder to lead her into the basement if need be.

Thor mumbles;

"She's found me!"

"Who found you?!" Bruce snaps, needing immediate answers as he clenched his fist at Clint's side.

"I dare not ask how but she has found me-!"

"Who!"

"Stand back from the door."

Clint checks his pockets for a blade, "Can't you call your hammer or something?! Do we have a hulk?!"

Thor raises a hand, "There is no need for violence, we simply must hide. She is quite terrifying."

"Is that… Jane?" Bruce asks, checking the window.

Barton drops his army knife onto the table and moves to answer the door, "Oh my god man, it's just your girlfriend?!"

"Shape shifters! They're quite real-!" Thor scrambles one last time in an attempt to dissuade Svetlana from opening the door.

Jane Foster narrows her focus as the door opens, pinning the demigod with her eyes;

"Thor Odinson!"