Issue #2: Day 2

Natasha

Sitting, Watching, Assessing, that's what she was doing the entire time they where on the quin jet, She was watching for any sings of another outburst, the only problem she had was not knowing what the tranquilizer given to her by Fury would do to him.

"Can I ask you something" she broke the awkward silence that had formed between them, "You can, though me answering is a completely different story.

"What would happen if I shot you with a tranquilizer" She felt being blunt would be the best course of action for this situation, Bruce seemed to contemplate the question figuring out the optimal way to say what it was he wanted to say.

"Tranquilizers don't work on me, so you would anger the other guy, and no one wants that" Looked like banner felt being blunt was for the best as well.

Natasha stared at her hands for what seemed like hours after he answered, making a fist to stop them from shaking, Having no backup made the fear she had for the Hulk rise to an ungodly height, Nothing had ever gotten to her like this beforehand her hands shaking where proof of that, Turning to her bag she removed several files on the rest of The team.

"These are the people who will collect the Tessaract once you've found it" Extending the files to Bruce she calmed herself and was relieved to see her hands no longer shaking, Grabbing them Banner flicked through then at full speed, Natasha noted that His eyes where moving but if he was reading then maybe he had another ability she wasn't aware of.

"Once the Tessaract is found I'm free to leave correct" Natasha nodded, Bruce closed the last of the files and placed them next to him "Will stark be helping me with locating the Tessaract's whereabouts" Natasha didn't know the answer to that question but knew that Coulsen was bringing him in.

"I would assume so, most of the equipment we have is based on stark industry technology from the forty's, Obviously its been heavily updated since then" Bruce nodded yet said nothing, returning to the files he picked up the one belonging to Steve Rogers.

"I spent some time in the arctic, though I cant imagine spending 70 years frozen in ice, to one day just wake up and realize the world is entirely different, Do you know how he is faring" Banner asked while holding the Captains photograph to her.

"I have yet to meet him, from what fury's told me he is still adjusting, Why?"

Banner closed the file and looked at her, "Cause maybe the only way to stop the other guy would be to freeze him under thousands of feet of ice and leave him there"

Bruce

It had been an hour since Bruce entered what was called a quin jet and there was still two hours left in the journey, being in such a confined space for that long wasn't good for anyone, Unbuckling his seat belt, He sat on the ground and closed his eyes to the world,

Taking a deep breath he focused on the things that calmed him the most, The taste of peaches filled his mouth and the smell of Lilly's flooded his nasal cavity, The world around him seemed to transform into a large open dessert, No plants, animals or people to be seen it was the perfect place to do what it is he wanted to do, in his mind he was always the other guy, He would unleash everything he had on the world around him.

every time he became the other guy was like releasing a highly pressurized valve allowing him to finally relax, he needed to become the Other guy now and then and this was his way of doing it, Feeling all of his anger being released into this one moment was what he thought heaven would feel like. he had been meditating for at least an hour when Natasha pulled him out of his peace,

"Would you like anything to eat doctor"

Bruce stood up and turned to her.

"No, I'm fine thank you" he answered, In all honesty he was hungry but he needed to wait an hour after he took the potion before eating anything, Opening his bag he removed a vile filled with yellow liquid and downed the contents, The sweet taste of peaches filling his pallet, he watched as Natasha followed the hand with the vile he was holding into the tin he had taken with him.

"Whats that" She asked her eyebrows scrunched together in confusions, Bruce didn't wish to answer her unless it was absolutely necessary, "Its nothing" Bruce returned to his seat and waited for the potion to take effect, a few moments later a small surge of energy burst through his system, His pupils dilating fully causing light to flood his eyes.

"Lets just say that its something very necessary" Natasha looked at the bag once again "you know doctor if you've found a cure..." Bruce cut her off by raising his hand.

"Trust me, if I had found a cure I wouldn't be hiding, that's not what it is, just please leave it alone"

Natasha

Natasha nodded so she wouldn't anger him in any way, There was no doubt in her mind that she would steal one of those veils later for the lab technicians to study later, checking her watch she noted that there was only a couple of minutes left until they landed on the hellicarrier.

Natasha was nervous about having Banner on the hellicarrier but she knew it was necessary as there was probably no safer place in the world then on that ship at the moment.

The Quin jet landed with a soft thud and Both her and banner made their way on to deck, The look on his face was one of apprehension, it looked like even he knew this wouldn't be the best idea.

"I have to report in with fury, You stay here and wait for the captain"

Natasha turned and left Banner on deck as she made her way onto the main bridge, Fury was talking with Hill when she entered.

"No problems I suspect" Fury asked turning towards her, Natasha felt like punching him in the face for making her go get Banner and then asking that question.

"No sir everything went according to plan, we should have no problems as long as we stick to our end of the bargain"

"Good, Go out to the deck and bring in cap and banner where ready for lift off"

Natasha turned to retrieve the boys, this was going to be one hell of a ride.

Bruce

Bruce stood in wonder as he watched the waves over the edge of the Naval ship, the sound of Natasha's voice behind him broke him from his tranquility, He waited as Natasha brought over the man he recognized as Steve Rogers, weaving his way through people Bruce made his way to the Captain meeting him halfway.

"Doctor Banner" Rogers spoke first extending his hand for a shake

"Oh yeah hi, They told me you'd be coming" he shook Captain Rogers hand

"Word is you can find the cube" Bruce looked at Steve with an annoyed expression "Is that the only word on me" he asked knowing full well it wasn't.

"The only word I care about" Bruce relaxed feeling that the Captain was telling the truth, looking around at the military vehicles and personal Bruce raised his hand and pointed around.

"This must be strange for you, all of this" Rogers simply smiled and began to walk forward "Actually this is all kind of familiar" He responded nostalgia in his voice.

"Gentlemen you may want to step inside in a minute, its going to get a little hard to breath" Natasha ended what she was saying with a smirk, Bruce was nervous about that, every time she smirked it led to something bad happening, Like him being on this ship.

A PA system sounded and began to tell everyone to clear the deck, All around them people ran inside, And the sound of mechanical wiring turning on reverberated around them.

"Is this a submarine" Steve asked making his way closer to the ledge, Fear rose in the pit of Bruce's stomach.

"Really, they want me in a submerged pressurized metal container" Bruce replied also making his way to the edge.

Finally at the edge, both Banner and Rogers looked over, Sprays of water splashing their faces, The image of a giant propeller rising up from beneath the water made that slight fear in Bruce's stomach turn to complete terror.

"No, No this is much worse" he spoke to the propellers as though they might apologize for putting him in this situation.

Natasha

Being invisible to the world gave Natasha a freedom she seldom had, Knowing that the only people that could see her where the people she trusted the most was comforting, the only two people that she wasn't sure about however where Captain Rogers and Doctor Banner, She watched as The captain handed Fury some money, Fury then walked over and shook Banners hand.

Kneeling down next to a computer she flicked the screen to see what the update was on Barton and Selvig "Where still not going to find them in time" She spoke mostly to Fury and Coulson but it was banner that answered.

"You have to narrow your field, how many spectrometers do you have access to" he asked while removing his jacket.

"How many are there" Fury crossed his arms in what Natasha knew was a way for him to look like he knew what Banner was actually talking about.

"Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays, I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition at least we could rule out a couple of places" Fury simply nodded, Natasha knew full well he was as lost as she was.

"Do you have somewhere for me to work" Banner asked and She knew what fury was going to say almost on instinct she stood and waited for him to say her name,

"Agent Romanoff "There it is "Could you show doctor banner to his laboratory please" He asked even though she was already walking towards him, Not waiting for banner to follow she walked past him and said "Your Going to Love it Doc, its got all the toys".

She waited as he scanned the room to see if it was to his liking.

"So this is what constitutes All the toys huh" He asked looking at her for an answer, All she could do was looked confused.

"Is the lab not to you liking" Bruce walked over to the first touch screen computer and turned it on "No its fine I was just expecting a hula Hoop is all" Natasha was once again lost.

"If it helps you get your work done i can arrange for one to be brought to you", Bruce smiled and looked down at his feet almost child like.

"I guess humor isn't you strong suit, huh" Natasha was lucky for all of the training that she had, otherwise her face would have been bright red.

"Not when something as serious as the tesseract being stolen has happened" She immediately felt guilty with how harsh she sounded and to be honest she didn't mean for it to come out that way, the look of guilt on his face almost made her want to apologize, Almost.

"No, I guess it isn't" Natasha was about to leave when Bruce called her back "Miss Romanoff, i wanted to apologize"

"There is no need, i get that you wanted to lighten the mood its just..." "No, no, no that's not it" he cut her off mid sentence.

"I wanted to apologize for the way I acted in Calcutta, to be completely honest if you had started with the fact that i have the potential to stop a global catastrophe form happening, I probably would have come, no questions asked"

Natasha contemplated what to say next "I'm sorry i pointed a gun at you head, i guess where even" Natasha left Bruce, feeling slightly more at ease then when they first arrived on the Helli carrier.

Bruce

The sun was starting to set when Bruce felt as though he had accomplished all he could for the day, The screens in front of him where almost becoming blurs as the rigor of attempting to locate such a small gamma signature began to take its toll, The clock read 7:30 but it really felt like midnight, Sitting Bruce poured himself a large glass of water, condensation on the glass slowly moved downward forming a pool on the table.

A knock echoed from the door of the lab and in walked Agent Hill, Bruce noted several files in her hand and became some what aggravated that his night wasn't over.

"Doctor, Agent Fury wished for me to give you these files, because of confidentiality we where not able to give them to you on the Quin jet" She spoke while handing over a handful of new folders.

Opening the first one something struck Bruce immediately "It says here that the tesseract has a constant measurement of energy that peaks at 360 thousand kilojoules, which in turn makes the tesseract self sustaining, How is that possible, How can something be a self sustaining power source" He looked at Agent hill for an answer.

"Sir, I just hand you the documents what they tell you I have no clue" Bruce wasn't really expecting anything less, The next file he opened however was different "What made Barton change" He held up the file that contained all the relevant information on Clint Barton.

Hill looked to the ground, A melancholy expression on her face "I don't know but if you continue reading the file, then you would know that I would stop at nothing to get him back" Agent hill turned around and left Bruce searching the through the files, Barton's File contained all current and previous relations, Under Current was Wife: Maria Hill.

Natasha

She was nervous, Loki was currently in Germany and so was Barton according to all of the Intel she had received, she pondered what she would do if she faced him, They where currently Twenty minutes from Munich when her Caller rang.

Picking up she waited for the person on the other end of the receiver to talk, the sound of paper crumpling echoed through her ears "Natasha are you there"She recognized the Voice as belonging to Doctor Banner.

"You've obviously never used our telecoms system before have you Doc, The red light above where you speak indicates Ive answered", The sound of more paper rustling came through.

"Oh there it is, Sorry about that um why did I..., Oh right Barton I know how to fix him"

"Hold on"

Natasha motioned for the co pilot to take the wheel, Standing up she made her way to the back of the jet for privacy, She noticed a concern look on Captain rogers face but ignored it, Sitting in the back she pulled up a screen cutting herself off from the world around her.

"Does Hill Know" She asked concern in her voice.

"Of course she does, But what has Barton I am pretty certain isn't actually mind control persey, i think its actually an electrical current that is changing the molecular structure of Barton's cerebral cortex" Natasha was lost.

"OK, whatever you where going to inform me on how to stop it, Well what do i do"

"Hit him really hard in the head" Natasha was annoyed.

"What that's it, how exactly will that cause him to return to being The Clint we know"

"Its actually really simple, A hard enough hit to the head will most likely cause the brain to disconnect from all electrical impulses for a split second thus, Disconnecting the electrical surge that is going to his mind at the moment" Bruce finished and hope had returned to Natasha for getting back Barton and Selvig.

"So what I just punch him and Boom, he's back"

"Ha, no its no that simple, You have to hit him in a specific point on the back of his head, I just sent you a picture" Natasha's phone beeped in alert of a text message, opening the image she saw a very elementary level drawing of the back of someones head but knew what he was getting at.

"If humors not my strong point doctor,then drawing is yours"

"Yeah, yeah My drawing skills aside, Do you get where you need to hit him and Selvig" Natasha replied "Yes" then allowed Bruce to hang up.

Removing the screen she returned to her seat just in time for them to reach where Loki was, If Barton was there she now knew exactly what she needed to do.