Green Beret | MCU (On Hold)

💣 CHAPTER 34 💣

The Avengers were on the Quinjet heading out of Sokovia and back home with the treasure they were hunting for months on end, the sceptre. They could finally rest, and worry less about HYDRA causing mass destructing with one piece of weaponry.

Troy, still lying on the medical gurney he was placed on by Thor and still groaning from time to time from the pain that coursed through the side of his body, wasn't going to lie and say she didn't have her worries about the sceptre. To humans, people on Earth, they didn't know what it was, except possibly seeing it on TV from the Battle of New York they had no clue what type of power it holds. Hell, the Avengers don't know the full power of what it can do, Thor may not know too. It was an unknown object to them. That's exactly what worries Troy, the fear of not knowing, the fear of the unexplained.

The Quinjet was filled with mixed emotions, pain, exhaustion, relief, joy. Troy was the one experiencing pain, gripping Natasha's hand tightly as another rack of pain coursed through his body as they experienced slight turbulence, even though Bruce had stopped the bleeding and dosed him up with pain medication that would allow him to experience a little less pain on the ride home.

"You keep squeezing my hand like that, you're gonna break it." Natasha tried to joke with a soft smirk on her face that she only seemed to reserve for him and maybe Clint from time to time.

Troy let out a soft, painful chuckle, sensing Natasha trying to lighten the mood and distract him from the pain, "You always say pain makes you stronger, deal with it."

"You get mean when you're in pain." Natasha chuckled.

"Pain makes me meaner, just like pain makes you stronger."

"Too right."

"Can you tell Bruce to turn down his opera music? It's awful." Troy asked as he glanced back at Bruce who had his headphones on though you could hear the high pitched squeals throughout the whole of the jet.

"Yeah. I was going to go and talk to him anyway." Natasha stood from where she was seated next to Troy and took her hand out of his grip, kissing his forehead softly before leaving to talk to the scientist, Troy listening to the conversation. He knew Natasha and Banner had a bond. Not like him and her or Clint and her but they had something and he was okay with that. Natasha calmed Bruce down. Bruce may like Natasha more romantically, he wasn't sure but he wouldn't care because at the end of the day, Natasha is with him and he trusts her.

"Hey, the lullaby worked better than ever," Natasha said to the scientist kindly.

"Just wasn't expecting the Code Green." Everyone knew that Banner hated how much pain and destruction the Hulk causes when he is unleashed, whether that would be willingly or not and everyone knows that Banner never likes to unleash the beast. He had to live with himself and his alter-ego, and the amount of guilt that he must have for all of what the Hulk has done because of his experiment on himself must be excruciating. Troy felt guilt and still does to the day but Banner has stacks more of it, because of a part of him he can't always get a handle on.

"If you hadn't been there, there would've been double the casualties. My boyfriend would've been a treasured memory." They both turned their heads towards Troy, who scrunched his eyebrows in denial.

"I wouldn't be dead. I would be very close to death but not dead. I can survive anything." Troy mumbles to himself with a small pout, thinking about whether he would die without the help of Hulk and his smashing. He's like to think he wouldn't.

Banner chuckled dryly at Natasha's small attempt to cheer him up as she did with Troy moments ago, "You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear."