The Ultimate Fix-It Fic

1| Arson to the Fire Suppression System *

"Natasha!"

Nat jerked her head up from nodding off in the corner of the training room. She saw Wanda, who had said her name, in the gas chamber, fingers contorted as she funnelled the gas into the small air vent on the opposite wall.

"See?" Peter called, hanging from the ceiling. "I told you she did it!" He was grinning so infectiously that Natasha couldn't help but muster a smile in return.

The past few months had been toiling, searching online and on foot for a lawyer to take Bruce's case. No one wanted to do it, because one, it was the government, and second of all, the Avengers weren't in a very pretty picture as of late.

Tony had bought an apartment building right as he smashed into the penthouse suite, where he injured some builders and one would've fallen to his death if Sam hadn't swooped in.

Nat sighed.

It's been seven and a half months since Bruce was arrested, and it was almost Easter. The two had planned on having a dinner with Tony, Pepper, Peter, the Bartons... but now, of course, it was just her.

But Natasha was fine. She kept busy. She had been training with Wanda, Pietro, Vision, and Peter to hone in their capabilities, and in the night, she was researching on law. Some nights, she wouldn't sleep until 2 AM, but it was fine. She usually woke at 7 thirty, so she had at least five hours of shut-eye down, plenty enough for the minimal physical activity she did nowadays.

A pair of fingers snapped themselves in front of her eyes and Nat blinked.

The training room had floor-to-ceiling windows that let in the sunlight during the day, but now it was all dark outside.

Clint was standing in front of her, trying not to smirk. "You need to get more sleep."

Natasha got up groggily. "I'm fine. What time is it?" she asked FRIDAY.

"Six pm," the AI replied. "You fell asleep at three-forty. Wanda, Peter, and Pietro left at four and are now in the kitchen singing karaoke."

Nat groaned. "And Vision?"

"He is currently trying to stop them from committing arson on the fire suppression system."

She shook her head. Natasha supposed they were singing to 'Set Fire to the Rain' by Adele again, probably disturbing every bird that came across the upstate compound.

Clint flicked the back of her neck as she reached up to tie her hair back.

Nat had grown it out since September, and it was quite a bit over shoulder-length now, a light auburn that either came down in uniform curls on good days or frizzes on bad ones.

She turned to glare at Clint, who grinned at her mischievously. "Don't be an ass," she warned.

Clint held his hands up like 'I'm innocent'.

Natasha scoffed and headed towards the communal kitchen, where she watched Vision and Wanda finish a duet to a love song as she lingered in the doorway.

Peter had spotted her first. "Miss Romanoff!" he called her over. "We made cookies!" He pointed to the counter, where a fresh wave of chocolate chip wafted out.

Natasha bit into a cookie as she watched Wanda and Vision start dancing around the counter as the girl chased him around the counter and the boy run away like he can't just stay in the middle of the counter, singing 'American Pie' and dramatically acting the lyrics out breathlessly.

Peter and Pietro were sitting on the couch, Peter upside-down and grinning. Pietro was asleep.

Nat saw Clint grab whip cream out of the fridge and spray it on both of the Sokovian boy's hands, and tickled his nose.

Pietro smacked himself in the face with whipped cream and continued to sleep.

Clint looked disappointed as he returned to the fridge.

Natasha watched Wanda and Vision for another minute or two because getting a text from FRIDAY, who could text now due to one time she announced a message from Pepper to Tony in front of everyone.

FRIDAY: We have a man at the gate. States name as Matthew Murdock.

Nat headed to the conference room, where she drew up the security cameras and saw a man in a suit and a cane. She sighed. "Let him into the guest area."

"Of course, Miss Romanoff."

A few minutes later, she found herself face-to-face with Matt Murdock, a lawyer who was apparently blind.

"Well, mind telling me what you're doing here, Mr. Murdock?" Natasha asked lightly. "I don't recall seeing your name on the arrival list."

The lawyer ducked his head. "Ah, yes. Sorry. I forgot to schedule an appointment."

Nat arched an eyebrow. "And yet you came anyway," she deadpanned.

Matt half-grimaced, half-smiled. "I heard you needed a lawyer? For the Bruce Banner case? If you haven't had the position filled by someone already–"

"Who's this, Natasha?" Wanda walked in, halting at the sight of Matt, who waved in her direction.

Nat stifled a smile. "This is Matt. He's our lawyer."

"Oh. Okay." Wanda spared a glance at Matt before going back to the kitchen to sing 'Vienna'.

Natasha glanced back at Murdock. "So, you're hired. When can you start?"

-

Along the way of researching for Bruce's case, semi-unwillingly, Nat had dialled up Dr. Elizabeth Ross, who was more than happy to help.

"My dad, he..." the scientist had told Natasha over the phone. "He can be a bit much."

Nat had scoffed.

"An ass, I guess you could say."

Betty Ross became a friend after that.

Now, the scientist and Natasha, along with the freshly hired Matt, were in the conference room, a single thin file in the centre of it.

"Ten and a half years and this is all they have on Bruce and the Hulk?" Natasha asked, half in disbelief.

Betty shrugged. "I didn't cooperate. It's safe to say they don't have much." She crossed over to the other side of the table. "After Harlem, I did all my research on Bruce on a seperate computer, different network. I had, what, two drops of his blood left to analyze, when my lab got broken into." She tapped the file and looked up at Natasha. "That's the only reason they have this much, other than his resume and the list of offences."

"So, what exactly did Dr. Banner do, then?" Matt interrupted.

Nat shared a glance with Betty. "Turned into the Hulk, destroyed a million or two in infrastructure, injured a bunch of people and then he left."

"Plus destruction of property from 2010," Betty added helpfully. "And third degrees for two other scientists and a military officer. And an Idaho state trooper. Also possibly some Canadian hunters but I'm not sure. And assault charges. Those are from... 2005."

Natasha shook her head and smiled at Bruce's headshot, where he looked like he hadn't slept for days even though Tony asked him to look 'refreshed' for his 'new start photograph'. Then she frowned. "Didn't the Avengers Initiative pardon him of his past charges?"

"I believe it was temporary," Matt offered. "And it would lease up when he retired. Which I assume he did."

Nat groaned internally. "Well, that's a problem."

"Yes," Betty looked lost in thought. "Though he was cleared from his petty offences when I asked Dad to back when we were dating..."

"Bruce had petty offences?" Natasha asked, curious.

The scientist nodded, smiling. "Shoplifting. Just the one time. And breaking and entering back to when we were at Harvard, to access one of the labs after hours."

Nat scoffed. "What kind of petty offences are those?" She rolled her eyes.

Betty's eyes lit up. "I know! That's how I got my dad to clear him. Easy argument"