Avengers: Liberation

Chapter 18- The Man Safe From Danger

I sped up those stairs as fast as physically possible, tears trailed across my cheeks as I hurried to find Bruce. Natasha Romanoff knew where I was all these years and never once told Bruce, never once thought to contact me; all she did was suspect me of being the enemy. I leaped up to see Bruce staring at me with his large brown doe like eyes. As soon as he saw me the worry that was already there intensified. I walked towards him as Natasha and Clint joined us, Bruce looked from me to the two agents behind me with confusion in his eyes as my expression became one of scorn and hate, and theirs became one of guilt.

“What’s happened?” I looked over my shoulder with disgust obvious disgust in my snarl. I pointed to Natasha Romanoff, and looked back at Bruce with tear filled eyes.

“All these years, you wondered where I was?! What had happened to me, and she knew!” I screamed as Natasha’s gaze was fixed on the floor, weighed down by her guilt. Bruce looked at me then to Natasha.

“Tell me that’s not true Natasha.” She looked up at Bruce but soon looked away; she couldn’t even look at him in the eye. She cleared her throat and finally made eye contact with Bruce.

“I’m sorry Bruce, I knew where Liberty was. But I knew if I told you, you would come looking for her, and we couldn’t risk our operation.” Bruce gave a sarcastic laugh as tears began to slowly steam from his eyes.

“Your joking aren’t you?” Bruce shook his head as his eyes narrowed at the Black Widow filled with rage.

“What operation was this Black Widow?!” he shouted causing both Clint and Natasha to flinch. Natasha sighed and looked up at Bruce; I could begin to see flecks of green piece of calm brown, and his hand curl into fists. I grasped his hand gently and continued to look up into his tear filled eyes. Soon the green flecks receded into the depth of brown, as I stood there with his hand in mine.

“After S.H.I.E.L.D was exposed as a cover for Hydra, nobody could be trusted especially those who were able to vanish as well as Liberty. I believed she had something to hide, at this time I found out that Hydra had a track on her in japan, so I followed that track. By the time I was able to find her, the Japanese Hydra compound had been breached and Liberty was nowhere to be found, at this time I believed that she worked for Hydra, rather than being one of those kidnapped and experimented on.” Suddenly Bruce’s calm and controlled demeanor broke. He lunged forward, and wrapped a hand around Natasha’s throat. I watched as his skin and body changed in size and colour, as the hulk began to take control.

“How could you?! After saving us all, you repay her by turning her into the enemy?!” his voice was strained and filled with anger. I had to stop this now, even though I had Natasha for what she had made me out to be, I didn’t want Bruce to have her blood on his hands

I felt myself enter each of their minds simultaneously; I concentrated solely on them and watched as reality crumbled. This place was in a way no place and nowhere, it was what I named the ether, a place between my mind and reality. The person they were here reflected who they really were. Bruce was soul Bruce Banner, Natasha was Black widow and Clint was Hawkeye, each of them had expected who they were in reality as well as here.

On the other hand was me, I stood there in my asgardien gold and silver armor, so similar to Loki’s the same blacksmith could have made it, but the only reason I was dressed like him here was because my soul both reflected me and Loki.

“Where are we?” Bruce tentatively asked, as he looked around him to see the night sky like world that was the ether surrounding him, expect this was not the sky that earth saw at night, it was filled with nebulas never witnessed by the human eye, and star systems yet to be discovered.