Fire and Ice | Avengers/Steve Rogers

one.

"Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe." Natasha stated as she began scrolling through the phone she was holding.

"Well, those I actively try to avoid." He replies as he looks towards the wall, his fingers squeezing at the foundation he was leaning against.

Bruce was chuckling to himself in disbelief, avoiding eye contact with the beautiful red-head that stood before him.

Once she'd found the picture she was looking for she slid it over to the man stood before her, Bruce Banner. In hopes of getting him on board with the Avengers Initiative.

"This is the Tesseract." The picture on the phone showed a bright blue cube, pulsating light. "It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet."

The bright blue hue of the cube forced a sudden memory of a pair of ice-blue eyes to flash into the mind of Bruce, to which he quickly shook the thoughts away and focused on the woman and the matter at hand. Bruce walked closer, put his glasses on and leaned in closer to take a closer look at the photo.

Banner picks up the phone, eyebrows scrunched together as if contemplating. Natasha was hopeful.

"What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?" Banner asked sarcastically, though a hint of seriousness laced his voice. Natasha looked almost taken back, then serious.

Natasha leaned forward, crossing her arms on the table.

"Well, he wants you to find it. It's been taken. It emits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be." She finished as she leaned back into the chair, eyes still staring into the ones of Bruce.

Banner took his glasses off as he remembers the incident. And the twins. Once again, he pushed the thought out of his head as he stared back at the red-headed woman.

"So, Fury's not after the monster?" He questioned.

"Not that he's told me." She replied.

"And he tells you everything?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

"Talk to Fury, he needs you on this." She said, leaning forward, her hand sliding under the table where a gun was resting perfectly, ready.

"He needs me in a cage?" His arms were now folded, an idea in his head.

"No one's gonna put you in a-" she began before she was interrupted.

"STOP LYING TO ME!" He yelled as he slammed his closed fists onto the table that Natasha was sitting at.

At the sudden change in tone Natasha quickly grabs her gun, pointing it at him, but Bruce could now sense they were not alone, his suspicions proving to be right. Banner stood up straight, smiling.

"I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and the other guy doesn't make a mess? Okay? Natasha..." His voice trailing off as he looked at her, using a lot of hand gestures.

The tension in the air was thick as Natasha slowly put down her gun.

Her hand reached up to her ear.

"Stand down. We're good here." She muttered into her earpiece.

As soon as she said these words, Bruce could hear the shuffling of men outside, away from the shack. He gave Natasha a knowing look as she looked back at him.

"Just you and me?" Natasha felt slightly uncomfortable with being caught out as she fidgeted. Banner sighs. "I want you to know that Nick Fury keeps you on a need-to-know basis. I'm assuming you don't know about the other two. The two who were in the gamma explosion with me." Natasha furrowed her eyebrows at the unknown piece of information.