Chapter three- Live while you can

Bruce POV

I recently got a letter from Betty. She had married that shrink guy, they had a 2 year old son and were expecting a baby girl. Tony had seen the letter and had surprisingly been nice about it. He hadn't told the others, but he had said one thing, "You need to move on buddy. It's time to let go." He was right. I knew that. Maybe that's why, when she kissed me, I kissed her back. Then again maybe it was because I cared about her. Loved her. Her wild brown hair. Her green eyes that saw everything. Her way of living like there was no tomorrow. Her crazy attitude towards death. That habit of curling her hair around her fingers. I loved her.

Macey POV

I woke up next morning and practically skipped downstairs to breakfast, which I figured I would have to make. But it turns out somebody had beat me to it. Natasha was making what I guessed were pancakes, but they were nothing like the kind you'd want to eat. They were black, lumpy and smelled liked dead badger (don't ask, when in Britain, don't check to see if any animals at the side of the road are alive, they won't be and they smell bad).

"Natasha are you trying to make pancakes?"

"Umm yeah….. these look nothing like the ones in the recipe book though…"

"Did you add sugar?"

"Of course."

"How much flour did you add?" She pointed at the recipe book and when I saw what she was copying from I sighed and stifled a laugh.

"What the heck are you cooking from Natasha? Cooking for Beginners? You do know this is a joke book right?"

"I….. I knew that…." I sighed, rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in fixing the dead badger pancakes.

By the time the others had woken up and come downstairs Natasha was flipping pancakes like a pro. Clint looked mildly impressed. Thor looked like a child at Christmas. Tony was completely blahzay about it and got a pancake flipped in his face for his comment of, "I'd be more impressed if you were doing that with explosives Ginger Ninja." He would have got worse had I not intervened.

Later on I taught Steve and Thor how to use the computer, had I not have used every ounce of my patience I would have screamed. Seriously how long can it take for them to grasp how to turn it on?!

"So this little button turns it on?" Steve said pointing to the on/off button.

"And off."

"It turns it off?" Thor looked more confused than ever. I sighed.

"Yes but it also turns it on." I had lost Thor but Steve was catching up.

"Ooohhhh. It turns it on when it's off but when it's on and you press it, it turns it off?" Finally Steve was getting it! It took Thor another hour to get it though.

Next I wandered down a couple of levels and found Clint practicing archery. He offered to show me how to shoot straight, so me being…well me, said yes. Another 3 hours later I had been successful in shooting 20 straight arrows and Clint said,

"You'll be a pro in no time." Not true but still a nice comment. Then, since it was 12 o'clock we decided to go check out what was for lunch. As we were heading upstairs we ran into Natasha. They (Tony, Bruce and Natasha) had just come back from a tip off about Loki's location.

"Hey you need to see this." She spoke in such a grim manner that I knew it was not a good thing she had to show Clint and….me?

"Me too?" I asked, trying to sound up beat. She looked me up and down for a second, as though she were trying to figure out if I could take what they had to show us. Then she nodded.

"Yeah, you'd better come too."

Opening the door into some kind of conference room we walked in on complete and utter silence, which I guessed was a first since eye patch man was looking sorta shocked.

"Natasha why is Macey here?"

"Because I figured since this concerns her she should be present, sir." He sighed in a defeated way.

"Fine. I'm Director Fury, Macey. And you might wanna sit down for this." I sat. And shuffled about in my seat uncomfortably. Then some footage appeared on a screen that I hadn't even seen. It was Loki. He was jabbering on about how the Avengers were gonna pay for all the things they'd ever done to him and I was just like, What has this got to with me? Then he smirked and said.

"Oh and tell your new little pet that she will pay dearly for her part in the Avengers last victory." And then screen went black. My first thought was, Why me? Seriously though, why me? Why is it always me who gets into these situations?

I had seen Bruce stiffen at the words 'new little pet' and I knew that the Clint and Tony had too because I saw them exchange glances. I knew that the moment Fury left they would pounce on him about it. Poor Bruce. Poor, sweet, totally gorgeous Bruce.

"I'm so sorry Macey. You're gonna have to stay here for a little while longer. But on the upside I can teach you to throw knives." I liked Natasha a lot for that. I had a feeling we'd get along great.

"Uh huh. And imma teach ya how to blackmail people," Tony caught Fury's glare and quickly changed his sentence, "I mean entertain yourself and others….." I figured I was definitely gonna get along with Tony.

"Guess I'll have to make the best of it." They looked surprised at my optimism. "I'll just have to make the best of the situation won't I? I have to live while I can, 'cause I don't exactly have long do I?" My words silenced them and I knew I was right. As we left the room I knew I was right about something else to. Clint, Tony and Bruce were still in the conference room. And I had a feeling they were ruthlessly questioning him for information.