The Ultimate Fix-It Fic

19| Ms. Greene

After settling down on the couch with a few drinks, Natasha confronted Bruce about him being missing.

"It's..." the scientist hesitated. "It's a long story."

Nat crossed her arms. "You canned me into thinking you were in space, possibly dead, for three and a half months. I have time," she said cooly.

Bruce sighed. "Well, I woke up in space. I didn't know how I got there, but I was. I sent out an emergency signal at some point, but nobody answered, so I took a last ditch effort and sent out an SOS out to–" he gestured up vaguely– "outer- outer space?– and then this team of alien people came and gave me food and directed me back here. Took over the course of a month."

His eyes lit up as he described his new friends. "One was a regular guy named Quill. I'm pretty sure he's that Peter Quill kid that went missing a long time ago. And then there was this big, kinda bluish-grayish bald guy with red tattoos over his body named Drax. He's very literal, kind of like Thor.

"And there was this talking raccoon named Rocket, and this tree named Groot, and these two aliens who were sisters, but one was green and one was blue. The green one was named Gamora and the other one was named Nebula and they said their dad was this Titan guy that kinda sucked. And there was this other alien named Mantis and she had little antennas and she could tell what you're feeling by touching you.

"They were kind of weird but they were also nice to me, and they helped me adapt the Quinjet and fly back. And that's how I got back onto Earth, and then I accidentally sank into the Banda and I Hulked out and swam to Darwin– you know, Australia? Yeah, and I called Tony from there, and Happy flew out to get me, dropped me off on an island where Tony was, and I spent the past few months there, making sure everything was perfect. I flew in just now, what, two hours ago?"

He gazed intently into her eyes.

"I missed you," Bruce whispered.

Natasha scrunched up her nose at him, though she could tell that he thought it made her cute. She sighed. "Bruce, you could've told me– at the very least– that you were alive. And here."

His small smile didn't waver. "You would've tried to find me." It wasn't a question. They both knew it was a fact.

"I don't like that you're right," Nat huffed.

Her phone rang, startling the both of them.

It was a woman named May Parker, one of the other tenants in the building.

Natasha answered the call. "May? What happened?"

"Did you hear about Mr. Cadenza?" the woman asked. "Sorry, it's just– I know it's late– Peter just came back from walking his friend Ned to the gate, and he said there were policemen at the shop. He asked one of the guys there and they said Mr. Cadenza was shot. I'm just talking to the others in the building to see if they know what happened, but since you aren't always here–"

"It's fine, May. Thanks for considering me." Natasha said. "I was there, um, in the shop. Mr. Cadenza got shot in the shoulder by some robbers that were there. I took care of them, but he needed to go to the hospital so I called 911. He's fine."

Bruce nodded along, and Nat knew he knew what was going on, since, if he was here two hours ago, he would've seen the robbers make off and the ambulances arrive.

She could hear the woman sigh in relief. "That's good. Good. Thank you. Uh, have a good night, then, Natalia."

"Good night." Natasha heard the line disconnect. She completely forgot she had the lease under another one of her false identities. Natalia... what? Nat got up and checked her mail. Natalia Greene. She laughed to herself.