Bruce Banner had only two thoughts on his mind as he stared at the screen in front; Loki's sceptre and Parker Miller. 

He wished he could stop thinking about the latter but it ironically stopped him from doing anything productive.

He thought of her and the only thing he could concentrate on was how she used to look when she peered around her computer screen to look at him. It was a sight he used to enjoy on a daily basis. But now it just made him feel like he was ten feet underwater.

His guilty conscious weighed him down and almost physical pain from time to time. It would be triggered by small unrelated incidents like when Tony offered blueberries Bruce suddenly became overwhelmed with the reality that he left Parker.

At least that is how it felt to him, in reality he could blame SHIELD for badly faking his disappearance from Calcutta.

"Hello, Earth to Bruce?" Tony snapped his fingers and Bruce blinked a couple of times to focus his attention.

"Huh? Yeah, spectre right." Bruce said whatever random words he could string together. He was lucky that he didn't tell Stark he loved him because that's all he was saying to Parker in his head.

"Something's wrong. I can tell - don't ask me how, it's a gift - but I can tell. Luckily for you I am the most experienced man in the room when it comes to love."

"There's only us two in this room."

"Minor detail," He threw a blueberry in the air and caught it in his mouth. Bruce frowned as he pictured Parker doing the same action, "Now tell Uncle Tony."

"Uncle Tony?"

"Horoscopes were a big business a couple of years back." He smirked and Bruce shook his head, he appreciated the distraction but Tony was the last person he wanted to tell about Parker, "Now who is she?"

"Excuse me?" Bruce had never spoken to someone so direct.

"The girl. The one that you can't stop thinking about. Her." Tony lost the smile on his face as Bruce ran his fingers over his hair.

He was not getting relationship advice from a billionaire playboy about a relationship that he couldn't even describe. Even if there was a chance that went out the window the second he left without a single message.

The idea of how Parker would be feeling at that very minute was constantly on Bruce's mind. From it the irrational conclusion he drew up is that she probably is living her life as if nothing had ever happened.

Bruce didn't even begin to comprehend the amount that he meant to Parker and thought she would be able to carry on without him, was one of the reasons he was able to sleep at night.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bruce lied, trying to busy himself with flicking one of the numerous screens.

"You're a terrible liar Banner."

"Good job I don't do it often then." Bruce looked at him over his glasses and Tony noticed the deep wrinkles forming due to stress. Bruce tried to ignore them when he looked in the mirror as they were the complete opposite of what he wanted. He wanted to be more youthful for Ms Miller, not like the science professor that taught her at college.

"Does she know? About you know..." Tony didn't even need to mention the other guys name. The Hulk had become the elephant in the room since he had arrived. Despite the 'homeliness' of the craft - Nick Fury's words - Bruce did see himself as a captive.

"What do you think?" Bruce responded. His tone said it all, he would never tell her about the other guy. Never.

"You got to." Tony was the voice of reason that Bruce didn't want to listen to.

"How do you think she would react? Think it would be all fine, 'Oh by the way, when I'm angry I turn into a huge green monster that cannot be controlled and would probably kill you'. Great plan Stark."

"Maybe she'll find it sexy. I mean you never know what girls are into nowadays..."

Dr Banner thought about this for a moment but then was disgusted in himself for even contemplating it. In his eyes - despite her absolutely vulgar language - Parker wasn't like that. The thought that she could be cool with it worried him more than any other alternative, "Trust me, it isn't sexy."

"Whatever you say," Tony threw another blueberry into his mouth, "You told her where you are?"

That was the first thing on Bruce's mind when he got on the aircraft, to let her know where he is. But all communication was banned from him, he had even tried to manipulate the tech in his lab to connect with his confiscated phone but SHIELD thwarted that attempt before it was really started. Bruce shook his head.

"Seriously? No wonder she left that phone call." With a shrug of his shoulders Tony began to walk out of the lab, knowing he had Bruce playing into the palm of his hand.

"What?" It took a second for the shock to allow him to speak, Tony had spoken to Parker? How on earth - then it hit him - the emergency number.

Bruce thanked the slightly younger him for thinking a bit into the future. Then the realisation fully dawned on him. Parker had been to his house, she had seen it all and SHIELD knew about her.

Bruce didn't move but his head rushed with millions of thoughts, it was enough to make him angry but he fought the green threatening to rise in him. He tried to maintain his breathing, he couldn't Hulk out. He couldn't.

Tony had reached the doorway now as Black Widow made an appearance. Tony didn't turn to look at Bruce before offering some of his famous last minute advice, "She's just your type Bruce and I don't mean the assassin here."

Natasha crossed her arms as Tony left with a wink in her direction. Bruce had to find some support for himself so he stood with his elbows on a bench and his head in his hands, what did this all mean?

"You know stress can add ten years." Natasha commented trying to make a light hearted joke. Bruce didn't take it well. He had become conscious of his age, especially when it came in relation to Parker.

"Don't remind me please."

"Don't frown." Natasha walked into the room and leaned against the chairs of the meeting table.

"I'm not frowning." Bruce looked up at her, his fingers laced together under his chin.

"Close enough."

"Did you do anything to her?" Bruce didn't even want to think about what Natasha could do to Parker.

"Parker?"

"No, the Queen of England - OF COURSE I MEAN PARKER!" 

The sudden spark of anger prompted the Russian to turn off her safety and point the gun at him in two seconds flat. She wouldn't have hesitated if she saw the slightest hint of green on his skin. She wouldn't like it but Natasha never thought twice about neutralising a threat.

Bruce slammed his fists against the table and the vibrations of the glass snapped him back to reality. He unclenched his hands and backed away with the look of utter shock on his face.

He turned away from the gun still aimed at his head and tried to restore his normal pulse by breathing in and out as deep as his angered state could do.

"Dr Banner?" Natasha asked him trying to figure out if the Hulk was going to make an appearance.

"No no no no." Bruce could only stutter as he crawled into himself, curling up into a ball in the middle of the floor. He wouldn't hulk out. Not again. He wouldn't.

He sat there for a second and focused on one conversation that has stopped the other guy in the past.

"What makes me angry? I'll tell you what makes me fucking angry; when the whole parking lot empty. Every single space is free and then some idiot decides to park right next to you." Parker confessed as Bruce laughed, "This is not a laughing matter Bruce. The. Space. Right. Next. To. You. Oh I could go all Jekyll and Hyde on their ass. And then don't even get me started on drivers older than seventy."

"Sounds like you have road rage Parker." Bruce couldn't help smile at the redness coming to her cheeks just thinking about it. He wished his problems could be as trivial as that.

"It's more than road rage, it's a burning fury for anything that goes less than ten miles per hour."

"Remind me to never get you a pet tortoise."

After he had relived the memory of his previous bliss a couple of times his anger began to dissipate. He was able to unclench his fists slowly but the anger was replaced with a tidal wave of sadness, if Parker saw him now he wouldn't know how to go on.

"You okay?" Natasha's voice cut the silence.

"It wouldn't have worked." Bruce stated.

"Come again?" Natasha had put the gun away but she still stayed at a cautionary distance.

"The bullet, it wouldn't stop him." Bruce raised himself from the floor, ready to begin his usual routine of pretending the incident never happened.

"Maybe he wasn't the target." She replied coldly.

"Then don't let me stop you." Bruce answered honestly.

This took Natasha by surprise and for a second the assassin softened. She saw a man who was more broken then she was. A man who was always on the brink of losing it.

"What about the Queen of England?" Natasha walked over to one of the computers.

Bruce tightened his fist but maintained his composure. He didn't want any more fingernail marks on his palm, that was something that Parker always hated seeing.

"Tell me what happened," Bruce made eye contact with the woman. She must be only just older than Parker, "Please Natasha."

Bruce admired her looks like one does a painting. Noticing how well crafted the brushstrokes are and how the colours chosen compliment the harsh but striking contours of her face. It only occurred to Bruce then that he had never seen Parker in the same way, he observed Parker like you do a sunset. Memorising every beautiful shade in your head because you know that every second you look you lose more of your breath.

"Who said you could call me Natasha?" She didn't answer the question as she flicked the screen on and began to type at a speed Dr Banner didn't know was possible.

"Who told you to call me Dr Banner?"

"It's your name."

"Natasha is yours."

"Not with SHIELD, I'm not Natasha here and you're not Bruce. It's Black Widow and Hulk's alter ego. And this girl," Natasha pulled up an audio file before pausing and standing up to stare at Bruce, "She is a liability."

Natasha pressed play and left the room. Bruce watched her go as the speakers crackled into life, he was engrossed in the false reality the Black Widow had weaved him into. The sound of Parker Miller's brought him back to his world.

Bruce felt small tears prick his eyes as he listened to the conversation Parker had with a SHIELD agent. An agent that was hear to help him couldn't even help the women he loved the most.

By the end of the phone call Bruce Banner was a mess. His hair was a mess as he combed through it too much in frustration, his eyes were puffy and the veins on his arm were visible constantly.

Then he felt angry. A rage more deep and painful than he had felt before. He wasn't afraid of the other guy in that moment, he was prepared to destroy Nick Fury and anything precious to him. Bruce wanted to make Fury feel the pain he had put him through.

But all Bruce did was pick up the phone. The intercom system weaved through the whole aircraft and Bruce spoke to his commander in chief with the venom of a spider dripped from his every word.