One More In the Party (November 2001)

Bruce was working on the force field system with Shuri though she and T'Challa had a conference call and Bruce was working alone in the Lab. It was very complicated and also needed to be very small in scope so it could be portable and easily concealed. The whole thing was a tall order but Shuri had taken them into a direction that could actually work and so he was dedicating himself to that end.

Bruce was wearing gray dress slacks and an off white button down shirt with his sleeves rolled up. He had black and sable hair well kept and he had actually shaven this morning and even put on after shave. He was a soft spoken man though he was not the smoothest talker when it came to women. Women seemed to fluster him to a degree, especially women he liked. Natalya was such a woman. A dark haired, Russian beauty that spoke several languages without an accent and could put a bullet inside of a quarter reliably within 25 yards. She had been given the super soldier serum as a child and then raised and trained to be the SSBs premiere agent and secret weapon. She both awed and scared him a little and he was very attracted to her. No matter how hard he tried to hide that fact, she wasn't a free woman, naturally just about everyone knew.

Natalya had come a long way since being captured by SHIELD. She had gained the trust of the team she was now apart of and now felt that she had a true family, if not slightly dysfunctional. In many ways she identified with Bruce Banner. He was a man that felt he was a monster, but she knew that he was a great man with a good heart. She hated what she was going to ask him to do, but she knew that they couldn't do this without him.

"How's the force field system coming along?"

Bruce held a pair of welding goggles up to his face as he welded an electrical fitting into one of the bases of the force field. He paused for a moment when he saw Natalya come over and he finished the fitting then leaned down to look at it. It looked good so he set down the torch and the goggles and wiped his hands on a towel as he came over to her.

"Well...we're making progress. I think it will work, it'll be just a question of can we get him in it and when we do, how to keep him in it," He said. "How...are you doing...Natalya?" he asked and he hadn't noticed that his voice nearly caressed her name. There was a bit of color in his cheeks as well form just being this close to her. He managed to keep his wits about him, though just barely.

Having been trained as a super spy, Natalya was well versed in reading body language. She heard the way Bruce said her name and saw the color bloom in his cheeks as he neared her. She saw his pupils dilate and he began to nervously fidget. She knew then that Bruce's feelings for her went beyond friendship. She was certainly flattered by his attentions, but she was in love with Logan...though sometimes when he drove her crazy she wondered why. 

"Well, I'm glad to hear that it's coming along. So, I'm actually here to talk to you about something. The battle simulations haven't been going well. We've consistently failed at getting Loki into the force field containment. We just don't have enough muscle to take him on. What I'm about to ask you is not a small thing and I would never ask you unless we didn't think there was any other way...but I think we need The Hulk."

Bruce Banner wasn't an idiot. He knew that Natalya coming to talk to him was a ploy to get him into the fight. The problem is, what happened while he was in the fight. More people hurt because of the unbridled strength and destruction left by the Hulk. There was no getting around that. He knew that innocent SHIELD agents would be hurt or killed from that unleashed aggression. He tossed the towel onto the workbench then leaned back against it and folded his arms across his chest. As if a bar to her and also to keep his hands from fidgeting.

He nodded. "I've talked to Tony about that. That's why we're doing this work. To get the emitters small enough to work even with a degree of error during placement. In seconds the field could be up and running. In about the same time it would take for the Hulk to bring the roof down on everyone's heads," he said. He tried to look at her and he did for a few moments but when he did, his insides just wanted to turn to jello. God she was beautiful, he thought.

"I'm just not prepared to put everyone in that kind of peril Natalya," Bruce said calmly. But it was an uneasy calm. Being this close to her...alone, made his thoughts go to places he'd just rather not go right then.

Natalya understood Bruce's hesitation. It would be the same as someone asking her to use the "helmet" again to become the heartless killer she had once been in order to save the world. She looked over at Bruce and her eyes met his for a moment. "Bruce, I understand why you don't want to do this...believe me...I do. But this is our last shot. If it doesn't work this time...if we don't get Loki then that's it. The game will be over. He'll come after us first and kill us before taking over the world. The Hulk doesn't scare me...but that thought...that thought does."

Bruce's brow furled at what she said. 'The Hulk doesn't scare me'. He heard what else she said but Natalya had never been face to face with a creature that can pound your bones into pulp. Tony had and he had created a suit system to try and trap the Hulk. Bruce thought that even that would just not work. But Tony built it anyway. Or he had. It was destroyed now.

"Natalya, you say that because you haven't been nearby when he comes out," Bruce said. "I hurt alot of people in Moscow. Just because a few idiots thought they could kill me. I'm hunted because of what I didn't mean to happen Natalya. I could hurt or kill you...and not even realize it until after," Bruce said.

Natalya slowly walked closer to Bruce and looked at him. "I don't have to see The Hulk to know that you aren't a monster Bruce," her words were sincere and gentle. "And I know you wouldn't hurt me." She became quiet a moment before speaking again. "What if you just remained close by in case it turns out that we can't do this without you?"

Bruce shifted as he thought about that. But also because Natalya was closer to him than she had been. He rubbed the back of his head with his right hand to disperse the nervous energy that was building up in him. Her scent was intoxicating. He couldn't stop his body from reacting to the woman and he hoped she didn't notice.

"I don't know Natalya...I'm still not convinced that what we're doing won't work," Bruce said. "Neither is Shuri," he added.

Natalya blinked as she looked at him. "Well I am...because I have to be. If this doesn't work then that's it. We don't get another shot after this. Either we put everything we have into making this work and we believe that it will or it won't. I'm not ready to give up yet. I'm not ready to let this bastard win so if I have to die fighting him then at least I will know that I died fighting for this world...instead of fighting against it." She reached out and took his hand into her own and looked into his eyes. "Please...we need you."

Bruce could not take his eyes off of hers. Her dark eyes had a determined, almost desperate look to them. He shifted forward slightly and he sensed her shift back. She knew she was in love with Logan and Logan was in love with her but she was so close right then. He didn't know why he felt such a kinship with Natalya but his stomach was doing somersaults and she had only taken his hand.

"I'll...I'll go but you won't need me. I won't put the team further in danger by engaging Loki," Bruce said. "If I did anything...to you...to anyone of us, I'd never forgive myself Natalya," Bruce said softly.

Natalya reached up and gently touched the side of his face. She lightly caressed his skin with her thumb. "Perhaps you're right, but I will feel better knowing that you are there. You're a good man Bruce, with one of the kindest hearts I've ever known. I'm honored to have you in my life."

She slowly lowered her hand and then stepped away from him. She turned and walked out of the lab.

Tony called a final planning meeting. It was in the living area so he could use the projector screen. It showed the SHIELD base as it was today 'after' Veronica'. There was still some damage, removing that many tons of material from an underground base took time.

"Loki likely knows by now what we did to the satellites. He will try to use the stealth ones, there are 6 from what we've been able to discern from the frequency that Isabella retrieved, good work honey," He said with a pause and a smile to regard her. "We know this because he would have come after us already if he didn't have these backups. He thinks we are unaware of them. All of SHIELD likely does. Once I send the destruct signal though, they will all self-destruct. We won't want to do this until the last moment. Loki needs to believe he can knock out the entire eastern seaboard or he'll stop trying and just come after us," Tony said.

"So, the plan. Team A which is myself, Isabella, Kate and Bruce in teh jet on standby, will punch through their defenses. I've converted the after burner backpacks to hold bunker buster missiles. They'll punch through the walls and ceiling above the basement and expose the elevators. Team B will be Frank, Steve, Logan, Natalya and T'Challa. You'll all Halo down from the jet into the hole we just made. Try to descend past the SHIELD agents. Engaging them will only slow you down. Loki is likely down there along with SHIELD's best agents and Erik. Your job will be to attach this electromagnetic shunt Shuri designed to the outside of the containment system for the Tesseract. Now here is where things get interesting. One of the force field generators will be at the base of the containment, near the shunt. The other 2 will need to be placed within 7 meters of the first one. The force field can only be 20 foot in diameter max. My thought was that Loki would place himself close to the Tesseract which is where we want him. he will need to be sufficiently distracted to get the shunt placed. After that we just need to keep him there long enough for Steve and T'Challa to place the remaining 2 field resonators," Tony said.

"Only?" Frank said with a chuckle.

Isabella listened to Tony's plan. It seemed straightforward enough, but she knew that there was nothing straightforward about any of this. There were about a million and one things that could go wrong. They would all need to be on their toes and not allow themselves to get distracted. She was worried about what might happen, but she pushed that worry aside. She needed to be confident for the rest of the team. Natalya had done well in getting Bruce to at least come along in the jet. She hoped that they wouldn't need The Hulk, but at least he would be nearby if they did. She desperately wished that Stephen Strange and/or Thor were going to be there with them, but they would do the best they could with the team they had, which was pretty strong. 

Ava was concerned for Frank. She wished she could be going along to help, but she couldn't now that she was pregnant. She felt rather helpless. "Is there anything that Shuri and I can do here in the Tower to help?"

"Shuri will be monitoring us so she'll be busy. I'm certain she could use another pair of eyes. They'll be a monitor for each of us," Tony said. Frank looked at her just then. And he knew he had made a mistake by not marrying her before. He had let his hate of Rawlins consume him. He had love right there in front of him. A rebirth of his family in her and he didn't even see it.

Tony looked around the room. "Are there any more questions? If not, get suited up," Tony said. Frank went right over to Ava and took her into his arms. "I didn't even think about cakes. I like cake. We should have something special made for the wedding," he said in hopes it might distract her. "Then there is where we'll put the nursery. All kinds of things to figure out yet," He said as he kissed her. He smiled down at her and put his hands on her hips.

Ava was upset that Frank was going into this battle. The cards were stacked against them and this was going to be more dangerous than any fight they had ever participated in before. She tried to be strong as Frank walked over to her. She didn't want to cry in front of him. However, her hormones were going crazy because of her pregnancy. She knew Frank was trying to distract her and she nodded a little. She then looked up into his eyes and reached up and placed a hand on his cheek.

"I am so proud of you Frank. You've come so far. You had better come back to me."

"I'll come back to you both," Frank said as his hands moved to her belly. He smiled one last time and then kissed her passionately before they parted ways. Everyone else was suiting up and getting ready. Logan checked that Natalya's LBE harness was tight and secure. Tony had made her a body suit with light, armored plates that protected a good deal of her body. She had her weapon configuration set up so she could extend her pistol into a rifle and swap out magazines easily. she had several other gadgets and gizmos. Too many for Logan to even remember. Everything was to help her survive in a prolonged fight like this one was going to be. He checked the pockets of her LBE last. One of them had half of a chocolate bar in it. He furled his brow in confusion as she looked down to what he half pulled out of the pouch before he put it back in and snapped it close. Logan had no need for such trappings but they all wore dark suits. And he knew Natalya liked him to fuss over her so he did. Or it just might be she liked his hands on her...or maybe a little of both? She was ready.

Steve checked the placement of the Force field resonators for the 5th time. He saw Kate putting dark makeup around her eyes. "What, you need to look good for a fight?" he asked in obvious amusement. "Like I need any more distraction with you in those tight pants of yours," He said as he looked at her butt as she looked into the mirror. She had a similar suit like Natalya's, also packed with gadgets.

Natalya enjoyed having Logan fuss over her. The feel of his hands on her body was nice too. She let him check her LBE harness and she double checked her weapons. They were loaded and ready to go. She saw him pull out the half of a chocolate bar she had in one of the pockets. “What?” she asked innocently with a little smile as he put it back. Once he told her that she was good to go, she took his face into her hands and kissed him lovingly. She pulled back and smiled at him. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Kate looked over at Steve and smiled a little at what he said. “It’s to help keep any glare out of my eyes.” She saw him check the Force Field resonator again and she walked over and gently placed her hands on top of his to stop him. “They’re fine Steve. This is going to work.”

Steve would never give up even if he had doubts. Everyone knew that. Giving up, wasn't his way. "I know but I will miss being beside you," Steve said. He didn't stop her when Kate put her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. She breathed her warm breath into his mouth and put her body up against his to remind him what he had to look forward to after.

Tony and Isabella were all suited up. Tony looked at Isabella who was doing her last minute checks on her software. "You know. Sometimes, I think the suit fits better on you," he said. It was clear what he meant. Isabella had been a leader while he was laid up. She had done very well, especially dealing with the stress of everything. "I'm proud of you Isabella. I don't think I've ever told you that. But I am," Tony said.

Isabella was glad to have Tony back. Frank had been a good stand-in for him, but Tony was her partner and they worked well together. Isabella was running through her software systems to be sure that everything was good to go. She heard what Tony said and she looked over at him. Hearing him say that he was proud of her meant more to her than she would ever have been able to tell him. 

"I love you Tony. Now, let's go get this bastard."