The minute Natasha hit the ground she could feel the air change. It was almost as if it was charged with electricity. She removed her parachute and tried to hear Bruce, she heard someone moving around. She silently moved to the other side of what looked like a large abandoned building and kicked her unknown attackers feet from under them. She registered after he was already on the ground that it was Bruce.
For the first minute Bruce was slightly confused. Then he could feel Hulk pushing against the sides of his skull. This couldn't have been part of the plan. That would have been a very stupid move and not even Fury was that stupid. There were here to rescue Clint not trap him. He could feel his heart beat speeding up, he felt too warm and the anger was building. "What the hell? Was that part of the plan?" He took a step towards her.
Natasha could see that the brown of his eyes was now bright green. She held her hands, palms out in front of her, trying to get Bruce to realize that she was not a threat. That kick really had been on reflex and nothing else, years of being an assassin made every noise a sudden suspicion and a reason to protect herself. The mission was all about Clint and had nothing to do with Bruce or Hulk. She knew that she had to get Bruce to realize this before her transformed completely, she knew although the Hulk could be useful on making an exit, or making small work out of anyone or anything that the military sent their way, if he hulked out now that would most definitely tip Clint's captor's off. That was the last thing that she wanted.
Bruce was trying to remain calm. He was trying to employ the rational part of his brain, the one that reminded him that Natasha was his friend and she had sworn that nothing bad was going to happen. He took a deep breath, held it and tried to remember what had gotten him so angry in the first place. He didn't know.
Almost as if she could sense that he was fighting with himself, she took a step forward. "Bruce, try to calm down." She closed her eyes briefly to tried to ignore the sudden migraine that she was getting, if she was a betting woman she would have bet that it had something to do with how strange the air around them felt. She heard and felt the growl that seemed o come from deep in the other man's chest. Ever since she had first witnessed Bruce transform into the Hulk on the hellicarrier during their first mission as The Avengers she always had trouble trying to put two and two together, she always seemed to forget that somewhere deep inside Bruce was a rage and anger so forceful that it had manifested itself as The Hulk. "Bruce, please. Nothing bad is going to happen, I promised that before. We are going to go in, get Hawkeye and go home. Everyone goes home."
He turned to face her and when he did his eyes were bright green and she could see the green slowly start to tint his skin and she knew that, just like in the helicarrier she had said the wrong thing. She mentally kicked herself, for one reason or another despite the fact that that is supposed to be comforting, the only thing that it ends up doing is pissing him off even more. Bruce was looking right at her, he was growling from low in his chest and the noise is getting louder and louder. "Stop lying to me! I know what you want. You wanted the other guy, you got him."
She knew what was about to happen as Banner yells and suddenly it's the Hulk there instead. He's pissed and he's running towards the compound, she lost him within seconds and swears in Russian. She tried to activate her comm. Link but it was dead. She was guessing that whatever made the air smell funny, was probably electrical. She was on her own. She started running the way that the Hulk had taken off; she just prayed that she wasn't too late.
Clint wasn't sure how he had managed it but he had actually fallen asleep. If he had to guess he would have said that it was due to the fact that his captors had seemingly gotten bored with him when he had pretended to pass out and that the static in his ears was
somewhat of a comfort. He was surprised to find that he had been moved; he was now hanging by his wrists and arms, suspended from the ceiling. The rope was tight around his wrists and some of it wrapped around his arms, he had to grip it in his hands to make sure that it didn't cut into him too much, seeing as he had nothing to stand on.
He had been trying to figure out how in the hell he was going to get out of the mess that he was in when he felt the vibrations, they seem to becoming from everywhere at once. The only thing that he could think of that would have made vibrations like that was The Hulk. He was certain that SHIELD would have sent someone to get him out but he was more than certain that the last person that they would send would be The Hulk, he wasn't exactly people friendly.
The door to the room that he was in all but flew off the hinges and went smashing into the wall on the opposite side of the room. As Clint stared at the odd angle that it stuck into the wall he knew that his first assumption had been right, Fury had sent The Hulk and if he was smart he would have also sent someone else…someone that would be able control the Big Guy (not that anyone ever could).
Meanwhile in the hallway Natasha took advantage of The Hulk working smash detail to start searching the rooms. She knew that she should have stayed to try and to make sure that Hulk didn't kill anyone but at that point, they had captured Barton, and had probably been torturing him (if their past experiences had anything to say about it) so as far as she figured they would get what they got. She followed the path that the door had taken and was both angered and relieved by what she saw.
She was relieved that she had found Barton and he looked to still be alive. She knew by the way the muscles on his biceps stood out, from the strain of him having to hold up his own weight, that she had to get him down as quickly and as quietly as she could.
As she stepped closer, she realized that whoever had kidnapped him had taken out his hearing aids and at some point they had placed thick pieces of tape over his eyes (the tape hadn't even begun to curl at the edges so she knew that this was a fairly new addition) and he had a thick piece of duct tape over his mouth. They had effectively cut off all of his forms of communication. She quickly noted all the cuts and bruises that marred his skin and the dark patches on his shirt and pants where blood had soaked through and clotted, causing the material to stick to his skin. She was pretty sure that he wouldn't be able to stay conscious for much longer if the way that he was shaking had anything to do with it. She knew, as she heard The Hulk's roar that they were running out of time. She took her knife and quickly sliced the rope just above his hands, she was cautious but he made no move to fight with her. She winced, as he made no move to fight with her or even stop himself as he landed in a heap on the concrete floor, with a dull thud.
She quickly untied the rope from around his wrists and peeled the tape off his eyes as he used his own hands to remove the tape from his mouth and spit out the wad of cloth they had shoved in his mouth. She jumped slightly as she heard another roar from Hulk and she could feel him thundering his way towards them. She just hoped that she would calm him down enough to get him to realize that they weren't a threat.
Hulk smashed through the sidewall, causing debris to fall everywhere. He roared, inches from Clint's face and pounded on his chest. Clint took a step forward, gently brushing the side of Hulk's massive arm. He looked into the creatures green eyes and smiled. He made gestures with his hands as he spoke, "I'm okay buddy. Let's get out of here."
Natasha knew that he was speaking slowly and a notch too quiet because he couldn't hear himself. She was about to take a step forward so that she could help Clint (who was still unsteady on his feet) when she stopped as Hulk glared at her. Hulk put down his hand and Clint carefully sat down in his palm. Natasha raised an eyebrow.
Hulk smiled at her. She knew that it was meant as a friendly gesture but it was one of the most terrifying things that she had seen in a while. "Hulk's." Without another word Hulk turned around and started the way that he came. Natasha ignored the piles of dead soldiers as they made their way out.