bruce banner, LIFELINE

the orders.

The procedure of receiving orders has to follow a distinct order in SHIELD. They passed down the pecking order, each person deciding whether it was worth their own paycheck to sort out until it finally reached the field agents.

However the somewhat complicated circumstances of Bruce Banner disposition meant the orders regarding Operation Emerald (for obvious reasons) were a bit ad-lib.

The orders to capture Bruce Banner in the first place where issued by Nick Fury himself. The director was also very specific when it came to the actual operation. It was to be done in the utmost secrecy with minimal violence and alarm to the citizens of Calcutta. This time he cared about the outside world more than the intended target.

All of this however went out of the window when the Black Widow was confronted with a large and powerful green monster as opposed to the fairly skinny scientist she had expected.

She had isolated the threat as well as she could in Calcutta but the incident soon turned to almost local folklore around India all because she failed to follow orders. Thankfully it was not picked up by the rest of the world until after the events still to come at New York City.

After that, Natasha's orders had been changed. She was ordered that whilst leaving with the scientist in his 'normal' state, to leave no first hand witnesses. Natasha would have usually followed through with orders but the only witness was a small girl.

"You're not going to kill her?" Bruce asked her as they stood side by side, Bruce with his hands bounded as a precaution and Natasha with her gun off the safety in her hand. The Black Widow didn't respond, "Are you?"

Natasha didn't answer, the little girl's lower lip was trembling and she was trying to share a look with the agent but she could only find the sorrowful eyes of Banner. Natasha was staring into space, analysing the situation. She could go with orders or she could go with her heart.

"Let's go." She told Bruce and she followed her heart.

Unfortunately her heart was the only part of her that didn't fully think through the side effects of actions. The little girl unwittingly put Parker Miller and her own breaking heart right into the spotlight of SHIELD. If that girl hadn't survived then maybe things would have been different. But to dwell on what-ifs and maybes was nobodies style.

This did not stop Natasha from voicing her views when she and Clint were given new orders following Operation Emerald.

"She's harmless Fury, Banner made it clear to me that he hasn't told anybody about the Hulk." She argued with Nick Fury alongside Clint Barton. They were told the meeting was to be kept off the books due to the nature of the orders he was going to give them.

"I don't care if she is a samurai warrior or a crazy cat lady. That won't change the fact that she is a threat that you need to neutralise."

"No." Natasha didn't hesitate answering with what she believed was right. She had only known Bruce for a very short period of time but the way he had talked about Parker when the Operation began had struck a chord with her. Natasha was not going to let SHIELD destroy the life of any more innocent civilians.

"Yes. Clint you're going to Calcutta and Natasha will monitor you from here."

"Fury I'm not sure about-" Clint trusted Natasha's judgement, if she was unsure then he knew there was reason to be.

"This isn't a discussion Barton, this is a meeting where you will get your orders and then as soon as you will leave to complete those orders to the best of your abilities. And I happen to know that you never miss Hawkeye," Nick Fury was not moving, Operation Emerald was down to him and the Avengers were his brain child. To hell if he was letting anything be compromised by a girl.

The two field agents shared a look that didn't allow any of their emotions to be read by Fury but allowed them to know exactly what the other was thinking. They had no other choice but to accept, they just knew that the mission was going to be done their own way.

"Threats must be neutralised, do you understand me?" Nick Fury knew there was every single chance of them going astray. So he had set up the necessary precautions if the pair deviated from their path.

They nodded and left the room without saying another word as Nick Fury shouted the crucial word back to them, "Neutralised."

--

The plan they had made was to drive Parker Miller out of harm's way, sending her back to America by her own free will. Then they could just hope that the situation with Loki escalated and SHIELD would see her as a waste of their man power. The plan would have worked if the following things hadn't happened.

If the two Indian men hadn't heard her scream then Clint could have completed the mission without injuries, a new personal best for them. And if Parker Miller wasn't hiding the fact that she was actually called Catherine and just so happened to be from New York City, which ironically was right on SHIELD's doorstep.

"Tell me again why I went along with this stupid plan?" Clint came into the aircraft room and slammed his bow and arrows down on the table in front of Natasha, "We just moved her from probably the safest place possible to the firing line."

"It wasn't a stupid plan." Natasha tried to reason with Clint but deep down even she had to admit that it had taken a turn for the worst.

"Well we can just blame her then can't we?" Clint was more annoyed at himself then anything, he had seen Parker and like Nat, he was sick of SHIELD. Sometimes he was sick of this whole Avengers thing before it had even properly started.

There was a momentary pause, enough for them to notice the stuffy air of the ship, "He hulked out today, just before you got back."

"Crap. Everything alright?"

"Everything but his pride. Plus there's nowhere to put him, Loki's in the holding cell designed for him,"

The silence returned. There was one thing all the Avengers knew about Bruce; despite being the one that could change into a monster, he was the most human out of all of them. 

"If Fury asks, you neutralised the threat." Nat told him and they both agreed for Parker's sake.