The Ultimate Fix-It Fic

9| This Team

Natasha leaned down and gave Bruce a small brush on the lips with her own as she watched the situation with Steve and Tony start to go south. "I'll be right back," she promised her scientist.

Bruce smiled at her.

Nat strode over to Tony and Steve in the glass office. "Hi, boys. How're we doing?" she asked.

"Discussing Pepper," Tony mumbled.

Natasha looked at Steve, exasperated.

"I didn't know," he replied. "Tony, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It was nobody's fault." Tony rubbed his face. "Look, Steve, I don't wanna see you gone. We need you, Cap. So far, nothing's happened that can't be undone, if you sign. We can make the last 24 hours legit. We can track down the murderer with you on the legal side and we can find your Bucky and clear his name. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Steve frowned, but he corrected himself after a glare from Natasha. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but there would have to be safeguards," he said.

"Sure. Once we put out the PR fire, those documents can be amended. I'd file a motion to have you and Wanda reinstated." Tony brushed a thumb over a fountain pen.

"Wanda?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "What about Wanda?"

Natasha sat down. "Wanda is at home, currently. She's with Vision, Pietro, Peter, Michelle, those kids. She's fine."

Steve nodded cautiously, and did a doubletake as he spotted Bruce. "Is Banner back?" he asked.

Nat smiled.

Tony broke out into a tired grin.

Bruce noticed them, and Natasha gestured for him to join them. "Tasha," he greeted her softly. He looked to the two men in the room. "Steve. Tones."

"Bruce," Tony said. "How was prison?"

"Not... horrible, actually." Bruce chuckled. "Sure beats this drama." He wrapped an affectionate arm around Nat's waist and she leaned in. "Though I miss the kids."

There was a comfortable silence.

"Steve? You gonna sign?" Tony prompted.

The captain sighed and read over the document. He picked up the pen, fingered the cap of it, fidgeting. Steve put the pen to paper, and after a second of hesitation, he scribbled his name onto a little black line that said 'Capt. Steven Rogers'.

Tony stood up and clapped Steve on the back. "Thank you." He left.

Steve sank onto his chair. "I don't know if what I did was right, Natasha," he said quietly.

Nat gripped Bruce's hand. "I know the feeling. I had it when I signed." She looked to her scientist, who nodded.

"I felt the same. And to be honest," Bruce chuckled, "you know I'm not overly fond of the government. But I wanted to see the team again. And it wasn't too bad of a price to pay. Plus, the Hulk is being pardoned and was granted this pass where the government can't touch, so I'm happy. Besides," he added, after Natasha nudging him discreetly, "staying together is more important. At least, more than how we achieve that."

Steve nodded slowly. "So what about you two, then?" he asked them. "Back to the compound to train the kids after the mess is fixed?"

Natasha glanced at Bruce, who was looking at her. "I don't know about him, but, uh, I was planning on taking a vacation. Disassembling the Avengers. Making something new on top of that." She saw Bruce's smile.

"I'll go where you go," he said, eyes gazing into her soul.

Natasha smiled. "Sounds good to me."

-

"Steve." Natasha caught up to the man a week after those past events.

Steve paused. "Natasha." He regarded her with a guarded curiosity. "Is everything okay?"

Nat nodded. She sighed. "Do you... want to visit Barnes?" she asked grudgingly. "I was... in the wrong when I kept you from seeing him."

She had never seen a man's face light up so much.

Two hours later, she had rounded up Peter, Michelle, and Bruce as well. Natasha flew the Quinjet all the way to a small nation in Africa who had just lost her king.

"Miss Romanoff," Prince T'Challa greeted her and her team as they arrived at the palace. "It's a pleasure to see you again. I assume you're here to see Barnes?"

Nat smiled. "That's our main reason, yes."

T'Challa gestured behind him to a girl about sixteen or seventeen. "Then you should follow my sister, Shuri. She's in charge of anything concerning science." He grinned at the girl.

Peter popped up next to Natasha. "Wait, Shuri? Like, Shuri Sh–"

"You're Peter?" The girl was grinning. "Hi. Yes."

Peter looked speechless, and Natasha stifled a laugh.

Michelle came up behind the boy and nodded to Shuri. "Your Highness."

Shuri glanced at her brother. "I'm taking them," she said.

"Yes, that was the plan," T'Challa chuckled.

The group followed Shuri into the palace's science labs.

Peter and Michelle stared at everything. Even Bruce looked around, drinking in the equipment.

Shuri stopped at a door. "Barnes is just through here," she said. She opened the door to a room that had just one thing: a cryo-freeze chamber.

But it was empty.

"Where is he?" Steve asked.

Shuri motioned for the man to relax. "He is probably in the room adjacent." She knocked on a door hidden beside the chamber.

The door opened and a tall man with a metal arm appeared. His face lit up when he saw— "Steve!"

"Buck!" Steve grinned like an idiot and ran to hug his friend.

Natasha hung back with Bruce, watching the two friends be reunited. She felt his hand slowly creep into hers and she held it tightly.

"Tasha," her scientist said quietly.

Nat glanced at him, offering him a small smile. "Yeah?"

"I love you," he said simply.

Natasha looked at him, at the two friends, and back. "Very out of context, Bruce," she smiled. "But I love you too."

Peter ran up to them with Michelle trailing behind him with a slight air of amusement. "Can we stay?" Peter asked, eyes bright. "They have a thing printer!"

Nat laughed. "A what?"

"A 3D-printer that prints organic materials," Michelle explained. "I'm pretty sure you can make a burger with it."

Shuri walked over. "You can make much more than a burger. You can make a cake, too."

Peter turned back to Natasha, eyes wide.

She chuckled. "Sure. I'll tell you guys when it's time to leave. But you are not—" Nat looked at them sternly— "staying overnight. Clear?"

The two teenagers nodded and Shuri brought them back to the lab.

Natasha sighed and linked arms with Bruce. "How do you think this is going to work?" She asked him. "This... team."

Bruce brushed his fingers over her hand on his arm. "I don't know. But we'll figure it out."

"Together?"

"Together. I'm never leaving you again."