The Hulk stood over her with rage in his eyes. She was ready for this. She had no doubt she could take him down. The Hulk started to reach for her. She rolled away into a standing position and prepared to lunge at the monster. She ran at him and at the same time, the Hulk ran to her while roaring at the top of his voice. Deciding on not striking him in that moment since he was faster and had more momentum, she slid between his legs, gaining speed when she slid through her pile of blood that had pooled on the floor from her arm when she had 'tripped'. She hadn't meant to cut herself that deep. The Hulk spun around and when he saw the blood again, it angered him greatly. With the wall to her back, she debated on what to do next. She barely had time to think when the Hulk leaped at her again, slinging a rack of weights out of his way as he did so. They smashed into the wall inches from her head, but left her unfazed.
Right when the beast reached her, she lunged forward and ran up his front, flipping onto his back and grabbing his large neck in one of her deadly chokeholds. Expecting to hear him gasping for breath, she instead heard a deep growl as he struggled, falling into things. It hadn't fazed him. Punches and kicks obviously wouldn't work. He simply reached up with his massive hand and flung her off of his back like she was a pestering fly. She hit the wall again, knocking the breath from her lungs. While trying to get her breath back, the Hulk smashed through everything in his path, demolishing it without spending any energy. She hadn't quite gotten her breath back when the Hulk reached her. He grabbed her by the neck, desperately wanting to crush her windpipe. He was holding back. Either that or Bruce was. Natalia tried to look afraid just in case. As the breath drained from her lungs, she remembered the knife in her boot. With one hand trying to pry his off of her neck, she used the other to reach down and grab the hilt. With lightning fast speed, she drew the knife over the beasts arm in an attempt to make him let go; it didn't work. Not even a scratch. That's when she started to feel afraid and over her head. That had to be why in the videos she held back, she was saving her strength to run and stay out of his grasp. He couldn't be hurt. He roared again in her face in anger and threw her again. This time, she landed upon the gun rack, and she quickly grabbed one while sucking the sweet oxygen back into her body. She unloaded the clip into the monster, hitting every pressure point visible to her with the bullets and again, they had no effect.
At this point, she had started feeling dizzy. The blood loss as well as her oxygen deprived body made her want to pass out, but she had to hang on and keep trying. She was now fighting for her life. She watched in horror as the Hulk grabbed her by her ankle, and started to drag her around. She summoned up some of her energy and leaned forward, trying to cut his Achilles tendon with the knife. He just had to have a weak spot. But he didn't, and the Hulk dropped her and then kicked her into another wall. She was starting to lose her grip on the world. Her cut arm had ripped open even more somewhere in the fight and was bleeding heavily. Just as the Hulk was about to finish her off, she saw the door to the training room slide open and her fellow teammates pour in.
Steve and Clint were in the kitchen as Steve was making lunch. Thor just walked in with Darcy and Jane following. "What smells so good my friends?" he had asked. Clint rolled his eyes. Thor was always hungry. "Cap is making Spaghetti, one of his famous recipes," he replied.
They seated themselves around the counter and watched Steve work. Steve was an amazing cook. Tony then walked in, drawn from his lab by the smells of the marinara sauce. "Hmmmm smells like heaven in here," he exclaimed as he took as seat on the other side of Clint. Steve then turned around and saw a multitude of faces watching him. He laughed to himself, glad he could help out. Darcy then noticed something in the oven and jumped up to investigate. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was cookies. "Cookies!" she yelled as she sat on the floor to watch them bake. As they chatted, Darcy felt the floor rumble. "Did you guys feel that?" she asked the gang. Looking at her questionly, they all said "no." She then layed on the floor and everyone looked at her like she was crazy. The floor rumbled again, and she jumped up in surprise. "There it is again! Either we are having an earthquake, or something weird is going on." Tony looked at her in concern and said, "Darcy, when was the last time you slept? You've been pretty sick." She was hurt no one believed her. "Okay people, on the floor, now!" she yelled. Not willing to face the wrath of a very pissed off Darcy, they all got on the floor. It was actually quite funny and Tony was giggling to himself. They all pressed their ears to the floor. After a few moments of nothing happening, Clint popped up exclaiming that this was ridiculous. Then out of nowhere, they felt the floor rumble and also heard a deafening roar resonate through the building. Clint even heard it. "Guys," he said, "where is Bruce?"
Tony then popped up with the rest of them. "Umm, well, Loki kind of pissed him off and I made him go to the training room to cool off. Also, where is Natasha?" The group looked to each other in fear knowing that she spent most of her time in there. They then took off together. Thor stopped Darcy and Jane, making them go to the lab where it was safest. They agreed and then took off in the opposite direction. Upon arriving to the training room, they heard a lot of commotion inside. They opened the door, not knowing what to expect. As the door slid open, they saw all of the destruction and blood as well as Natasha laying on the floor against the wall on the opposite side of the room, obviously hurt and frozen in fear. They then saw that the Hulk suddenly roared and leaped in the air towards her with his fists raised. They knew Nat would not make it through the impact, even though she was wielding a knife in front of her. They yelled in unison for the Hulk to stop. "Bruce nooooo!"
Natalia had summoned up just enough energy to prepare to roll away when she saw the beast leap through the air. She then saw that her teammates had finally gotten there and she froze. They yelled for the Hulk to stop when he was in midair, ready to kill her. She saw the ripple of human skin pass through him. He was changing back to Bruce, brought back by the worry and horror in the voices of his friends. Natasha saw this, knowing that no one else would and smiled to herself. She knew that it would be Bruce to land on her, not the Hulk, so she wielded her knife, ready for it to plunge into the flesh of Bruce Banner. That would be one down. Just before impact, it was Bruce again. The knife slid through his chest like butter, and then he collapsed on top of her. With satisfaction, she allowed herself to be taken into the darkness of unconsciousness.
To their horror, the Hulk turned back into Bruce right before he landed on Natasha. He had never changed that fast before. They stood there in shock, but were quickly brought of it when they saw that neither of their friends was moving, and that a puddle of blood was growing. It was then that they remembered the knife. They ran over to them and pulled Bruce off of Natasha. They then saw the knife protruding from Bruce's chest, and a large gash on Natasha's arm. Her arm would explain all of the blood, and she looked pretty beat up. What made Bruce Hulk out? They didn't have time to investigate as Steve discovered that they were both still breathing.
"He's still breathing!" Steve yelled.
Coming out of his shock, Tony yelled "Call an ambulance! He needs help now! Don't touch the knife; we don't know if it's saving him right now or not. Grab Natasha and bring her to my lab. I don't want them together right now until we find out what happened to make Bruce Hulk out."
Clint called the ambulance and they were there in minutes. While Thor and Steve waited with Bruce for them to arrive, Clint grabbed Natasha and Tony put pressure on her bleeding arm. They brought her down to the lab and set her on the all familiar surgical table. Jane and Darcy ran over to them while Loki was asking what happened. Clint was the one who replied while Tony cleaned and started to stich up Natasha's arm. "Bruce hulked out and attacked Natasha. We don't know why. We will watch the video when Steve and Thor get back. He changed back just seconds before he killed her, but she had a knife to protect herself, and Bruce landed on it. He's hurt pretty bad. The group tended to her and when they were finished, Steve and Thor arrived to the lab. "How is he?" asked Jane. Steve looked at her sadly but replied with "He's hurt pretty bad. They said it was a good call to keep the knife in. They wouldn't tell me if he would be okay though. They didn't even answer me when I asked. He may not make it guys." The group looked worried. Loki's face was a mask, but he offered some advice. "Don't tell Natasha. We don't know what she would do if she found out that Bruce may die because of her."
Natalia was looking at herself in the mirror one morning. She was poking her stomach and was upset that she had gained weight. She was pissed that Ivan restricted her workout and training sessions. How the hell was she supposed to stay fit?! She knew she was being punished. Punishments were nothing new to her, but this one made her angrier. She would rather the torture rather than them not allowing her to do anything. She sighed and spun away from the mirror. The spinning made her extremely dizzy and she barely made it to the bathroom to throw up. She felt better after she did. She then prepared herself for another boring day. It had been a few months since she was restricted from training and going on missions, and not doing anything was taking its toll on her. Ever since she could remember, she worked out and trained every single day of her life. This difference was making her feel weird, and weak. She was always mad and kept taking her anger out on Loki when they met. Nothing could stop her from sneaking out. She layed in bed for the rest of the day and then snuck out as soon as she saw the sky glow. She took off though the compound and through the hole in the fence. She took off through the freezing woods until she made it to the cave. Loki was there, with a fire made. Natalia had come to respect the fire but never sat too close or stared at it. She hated fire. Loki offered her his seat and he sat next to her. Natalia vented her frustrations to him and he listened. He enjoyed her company. After a few hours of just talking, she got up to leave. She got dizzy again when she spun around and Loki caught her around her middle. He looked at her in surprise as his hand lingered on her for a few moment too many. She pulled from his embrace and asked, "what?" He was shocked at something. He was stupid for not considering it before. "Natalia? Are you..."
She woke up to voices.
"I hurt Bruce?" They all looked down in shock at Natasha who had just awoken. Of course Natalia was faking her sorrow. She made tears come to her eyes. She was also remembering her flashback or whatever it was. The team just looked at her with concern on their faces. "Nat, what happened in there?" Darcy asked her. She looked at her 'friend' with concern etched across her features. She tried to respond and make it seem as if it was Bruce's fault. "I...I don't..." She started tearing up to make it more dramatic. She had forgotten that Loki was there but he piped up with, "pull up the video, she doesn't want to talk about obviously." Natalia looked at him thankfully and turned to look back at her teammates.
This action sent Loki thinking. Not once in the past few years had Natasha ever looked at him with thankfulness. She hated his guts for all he knew. Maybe since she had started remembering him when she was trapped in her memories brought some of that emotion back? He didn't know. He had tried to kill her and her entire team as well as the world not too long ago. This stuck him as odd. He then watched as Tony had JARVIS pull up the video footage of the training room.
The team watched as Bruce was beating on the punching bag, murmuring to himself angrily. They then saw as Natasha entered, dressed in her workout clothes, obviously there to train. When she approached Banner, they heard the audio of her trying to calm down the frustrated scientist. He then yelled at her, causing her to flinch and retreat a step back. The team chalked it up to a combination of being scared of him transforming, and her jumpiness from experiencing Red Room again. When he stepped towards her to apologize, she stepped back again, still afraid of him. They watched as she tripped over the bench behind her as saw blood flow from her arm, she had been cut. They didn't watch in as much detail as Loki though, and he saw how she had purposely pushed a knife hilt under her back and run her arm along it. He was then pushed back to his earlier suspicions. It really did look like an accident though. The team then watched as Bruce jumped over the bench, and they admitted that this would scare them too if a man who could turn into the Hulk jumped over them. Then to their horror, they saw how Natasha screamed for him not to touch her as he suddenly gripped her arm. Then he lost control. They watched the fight and pitied her as she attempted to cut him with her knife and shoot him. They had to admit though that her reflexes were lightning fast, and she was a quick thinker. She was definably on top of her game, but she was not match for the Hulk, no one was. At the end, they saw how Natasha had impaled her friend, and the look of horror cross her face right before the passed out. Loki though, saw the glitter in her eye. Something was not right here.
Over the next few days, Natalia had healed but Bruce was in a coma. They were still unsure if he were to live or not. Loki also convinced the Avengers to let him out of his cell. Someone from the team had to always be with him though as he roamed the building and hung out with the team. He risked the ridicule from everyone as he tried to talk to Natasha. As the team was on a mission one day, he saw his chance. Jane and Darcy were with him and he had on a cuff that would electrocute him if he tried anything, and Darcy had the button. They were all in the living room watching a movie on the strange picture box when Natasha came in. He really just wanted to chat.
"Hello Natasha," he said to her as she sat down. She smiled at him and offered a hello back. "How are you feeling? Do you remember me from your memory trip?" He watched as her face fell.
How could he know that she was having flashbacks and remembering things through the brainwash? She had no idea but decided to be truthful since he knew anyways. It couldn't hurt since it was just Jane and Darcy there.
"Yes I remember you jackass. Haha I miss our meeting in the cave." This intrigued Jane and Darcy. They hadn't watched the footage but had heard a lot about what had happened.
"Ooooooh, so you two were love birds hmmm?" Darcy teased. Natalia laughed at her and threw a pillow at her. She caught it and continued to smirk. They talked for about an hour about various things from the past and since Loki was there to see where she left off in her memories, he took it further and asked questions only the real Natalia would know. She was answering them with ease and he was smirking to himself at finding out. He could use this to his advantage along to the road to break away from the watchful eyes of the team, with her by his side. He wasn't sure about how much she knew, so he asked a dangerous question to see if his spell to make her forget was still intact. "Do you remember that one time in 1953, when you saw all of that blood in the snow?" He looked at her not knowing what to expect. Instead of being shocked, she looked confused.
1953? Wait, what year is this? It was supposed to be 1953 now? How could I not have looked at dates when watching the videos? No wonder all the scenery and technology was weird. Am I in the future? All of these thoughts and many more ran across her mind. Am I really having flashbacks? Did those things really happen? What the hell is going on? She tried to play it off by asking, "Haha exactly how long was I in that coma? Did the year change or something?"
Thinking that she was joking, Darcy responded with, "Nope! Still boring ole 2014! So, what happed in 1953?"
The color drained from Natalia's face and she got up to race to her room. She had JARVIS bring up video footage and she checked the dates this time. She was indeed in the future. But somehow she knew that since she made the connection that Steve was as old as she was. How could she make that connection? She tried pulling up information in the Red Room but saw that there wasn't any, just big fat red letters across the screen that said Red Room wiped out by agent Natasha Romanoff. What the hell? She was so confused. How could it not exist! She tried to dive further but she couldn't get past the firewalls. It was almost as if she had set them, and then forgotten how to get through them. So Red Room doesn't exist anymore? How did I get here? Am I still supposed to take down the Avengers? She had to guess yes. Maybe parts of the Red Room were still out there and she was a part of it. That had to be it. She still kept her original plan of taking down the famous Avengers. She was starting to have a panic attack. She fell to the floor and was thrust into an array of flashbacks.
She flashed back to the Battle of New York. She relived the events of the Chitauri invasion brought about by Loki and watched as she drove the scepter into the machine, partially saving them all. Why was Loki evil?
She flashed back to Budapest. She was on a mission with Clint and things started to get heated between them. She was feeling emotions she had never felt before
She flashed back to various events of what looked like her saving an organization called SHIELD from a group called HYDRA, and James was there as well. He was the bad guy. Why wasn't she fighting with her partner? Was it part of the plan?
She flashed back to moments with each of the Avengers, with feelings of love and trust mixed in there. Her, filling pop tarts with toothpaste with Clint to drive Thor mad, and him actually like it. Her, with Tony, playing pranks on him and then helping him work on some machine. Her, with Steve kissing on an escalator while they ran for their lives from HYDRA. Her, with all of them hanging out. The feelings she felt, she actually...welcomed it.
She the flashbacked to moments with James, taking down armed men during a raiding mission, and laughing as she snapped necks. Her, with James training. Her, with Ivan being tortured again. Her, destroying the electrocution machine that takes her memories, and killing Dr. Andrei.
She came out of it and laid on the floor for several more minutes before going to the shower to think. She was still loyal to Red Room. This was all a test. It had to be. Maybe it was the cuff she was wearing that was making her see and feel like this, but like always, she couldn't get it off of her wrist. While in the shower, she spaced out again, to 1953.
She flashed back to her and Loki in the cave, worry and concern splashed across his face as she was doubled over in immense pain. She saw herself look to the back of the cave where all of her stuff was. Why was all of her stuff there? Had she finally ran away from Red Room? She saw herself, lying in the snow, with her own blood everywhere. How could all of that come from her? It couldn't have been anyone else's since she was the only one there, and then Loki was there after she saw a bright light, with fury and fear in his eyes. He lifted her bloodstained body from the ground and ran with her through the forest as she heard gunfire erupt behind them. They ran and ran, she felt like it was from the compound. Their bodies came to a halt and when she looked up, she saw Ivan standing before them, malice dripping from his lips. "Where is it!" he demanded.
She came out of it crying. Why was she crying? What she didn't know was that Loki was slowly bringing her out of her mind block. He had to do it carefully, in order for her mind to not be damaged. He needed her strong and to trust him. He owed her that.
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