The Ultimate Fix-It Fic

18| Cadenza

Natasha watched a video of the little Nathaniel Barton, giggling with 'NPB' stitched across his onesie. "Fat." She turned off her phone.

She saw Fury coming from the doorway, and he stopped to talk to her.

"One of our tech boys flagged this, splashed down in the Banda Sea." Fury said. "Could be the Quinjet, but with Stark's stealth tech, we still can't track the damn thing."

"Right." Natasha squashed the little flare of hope that had appeared when Fury said the first word.

"Probably jumped out and swam to Fiji. He'll send a postcard."

Natasha smiled to herself. "'Wish you were here'." She looked up at Fury. "You sent me to recruit him, way back when. Did you know, then, what was going to happen?"

"You never know," he replied. "You hope for the best and make do with what you get. I got a great team."

"Nothing lasts forever," Nat retorted.

"Trouble, Miss Romanoff." She noticed she wasn't 'agent' anymore. Maybe this was his way of firing her. "No matter who wins or loses, trouble still comes around."

Fury nodded at her as he left.

A little later, Steve came in and took her to the training room, where Vision, Wanda, Pietro, and Sam were waiting.

It was a good session, but Nat was distracted.

It wasn't until Thor came up to her did she give anyone her full attention. "What did you find, Thor?" she asked quietly.

"Well, after you asked me to find the Quinjet, I followed it." Thor said.

"Fury said they flagged something in the Banda." Nat supplied.

Thor shook his head. "Natasha, the Quinjet went to space."

Natasha fought to keep the colour in her cheeks. "Space?" she whispered.

"Yes." The demigod gripped Mjolnir's handle. "Space travel is quite hard with mortal engineering. There is a chance that Banner could be, ah... Well, I'm returning to Asgard soon, so after I sort out affairs, I will start up the search again." He offered her the hammer. "Would you like to hold Mjolnir again?"

Natasha glanced at the hammer, stomach turning at the thought of Bruce in space, all imploded. "I'm good. Thanks for everything, Thor."

"It's nothing, Romanoff. I will find our friend Banner."

"I hope so."

-

It's been what, two, three months since that encounter with Thor.

Natasha had been helping Tony with selling the Tower as they move upstate. She too, was going to the empty land where the new compound was, so she had to return to her ruined room to grab whatever she needed.

Up until then, she was living at the compound, and she hadn't gone back to her room since it got exploded by Ultron.

Natasha walked into the room, watching her step as she navigated around the space. She saw something glinting at her from an open drawer, so she pulled out the glinting object and it was the necklace. The one Bruce gave to her oh so long ago. The note was still in the box, but she didn't worry about it. She stared long and hard at the delicate golden chain before clasping it around her neck.

A month after Ultron, Tony seemed to get over the whole thing. He also accidentally mentioned a secret project while they had one of their drinking sessions.