Get ready for some more build up. In this chapter there will be a lot of  much needed information that will be picked up on again further in the story. I also have a big surprise for my readers that I'm excited to add in the future.

Bruce paced back and forth in the room as Natasha was still unconscious. The words she told him were still cluttered in his mind, causing him to break down a little on the inside. She was glowing! Like one of those infinity gems. Then he paused. "Infinity gem..." he thought to himself. His through was soon interrupted by Sam walking in. "Hey." He nods at Bruce, "how is she? Did she eat?"

Bruce quickly snapped out of his train of thought then looks at Sam, "Yeah, just a bit. She just... got all freaked out and, passed out." He explains bluntly, keeping the glowing part of the story to himself.

"Was she glowing?" Sam asks bluntly. Bruce looks at Sam in shock, how on earth did he know?!

"I... yeah." Bruce nods, "has this happen before? The glowing and shaking?"

Sam nods, "that's what she did when we first found her. She couldn't get anything out. She was just took weak."

Bruce thinks about this to himself, as hums a little. "But how in the world..." he mutters, "Where is the glowing from then?"

Sam shrugs, "we have no clue. We thought about calling that wizard guy and seeing if he could figure this thing out. We just wanted to wait it out a little until you were here."

"Maybe we should call him then." Bruce responds as he pulls out his phone. "Do you have his number? I don't think I do." He looks through his contacts. Sam looks through his own and shakes his head. Eventually Bruce found some unknown number, everything else was labeled. It did look familiar to him, he decided to try that number. He presses the call button and puts his phone on speaker phone so Sam could hear the conversation as well, maybe even Natasha if she woke up here in the next few minutes. Bruce and Sam waited as his phone rang. Bruce prayed that Strange would answer even if he didn't know it was Bruce. Bruce must have gotten his number a few years ago but he just never programmed in his name. Soon the sound of the call being answered allowed Bruce to let out a sigh of relief. "Hey, is this Steven Strange?" He questions.

"Umm, Yes? Who is calling?" Strange demands through the speaker, curious as to who disturbed him while he was in the middle of his meditation.

"This is Bruce, Bruce Banner! I never got a chance to call you after I got your number. Sorry about that. Anyways, we need your help with something... It's about Natasha." Bruce explains as he looks over at Sam. Strange raises a brow at this. He himself knew what had happened to Natasha Romanoff, But to hear her being brought up again caused him to just wonder.

"What about her?" Strange questions. Bruce thinks of how to phrase it. It was a really, really weird situation, but Strange has probably seen weirder.

"Well, she's alive. And, she was glowing. And it's just, every weird. But hey, you're Dr. Strange. So, could you help?" Bruce speaks after a few seconds.

Strange raises a brow, taking a pause before replying, "alive? Glowing? How is this possible? You didn't use that time traveling thing did you?"

Bruce bit his lip, Sam decided to step in on this one, "we didn't use it, she did. She still had the suit when she arrived here. With the suit she was able to active the machine on her end. Wanda found found the machine was on, alerted the rest of us and before we all arrive Natasha arrived. She wasn't able to fully explain herself due to how weak she was."

Strange thinks about this as well, this all sounded really odd. He did hear roomers about Natasha and Bruce's 'relationship'. "I'll need to see for myself. Do you mind if I come over?"

Bruce looks at Sam. Sam just shrugs, "the dude's got to do what a dude's got to do. He can come. The HQ is a bit of a mess but it's fine."

Strange heard this, "I'll be right over." He quickly hangs up before Bruce and Sam had a chance to say anything else. A few seconds later, a gold color portal opened up in front of the two men. Out stepped the wise Wizard himself, "now explain this to me again?" He looks a Bruce.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Strange looked at Natasha who continued to sleep. He moves to the bed to study her closely. She wasn't glowing right now, but he just had to make sure. "Was it just her hands that flowed, or eyes, or...?" He looks at Bruce and Sam.

"Her whole body." They both reply. Strange just nods and continues to study Natasha. Soon he started to do his thing, using a few spells to try to get a story from the unconscious woman. Maybe if Natasha was awake this would be way easier, but he wasn't looking to be strangled today. Strange was still able to pick up on something. "I found it." He alerts the two, continuing his work.

"What is it?" Bruce looks at Strange, paling in thought that something was wrong with Ex-assassin. Strange thought of how to phrase this, aware of Bruce's 'friend'. He didn't want to cause the friend to come out.

"She was right, she's not the same woman she was before she fell off that cliff. She's different, her soul so different." Strange explains, "I think it's better to show you then to tell." He creates another spell, a sight spell that will allow them to see what he found. Strange affects the two that he spell and all three of them are thrusted into a totally differently reality. It was vormir, and it instantly gave them all chills. They stood at the bottom of the cliff, able to observe the very top of the cliff and the faint light in the sky.

Bruce looks around, "what the?" He looks at Strange, "what are you trying to show?" Strange just points to the top of the cliff. Bruce looked up at it, before he could open his mouth the tree of them were teleported you to the top. They were now able to see the Red Skull and some other figure in the distance. Bruce's eyes widen, "can they see us?!"

Strange shakes his head, "no." He replies as he watches the two figures.

"That's the guy Steve was probably talking about that one time." Sam points to the Red Skull, "But who is that?" He points to the other figure.

"She looks... familiar..." Bruce studies the person, "but it's not Natasha."

"She looks like her." Strange adds, "I see to get closer." She steps over to the two, looking at the woman closely. Before he could get a long look the woman attacked the Red Skull.

Bruce gasped and quickly looked away, "dear god."

Sam just watches with wide eyes, "does Natasha have any relatives? In any sort?"

Bruce shakes his head, "I don't think so." The vision soon ended after Strange's spell warn out. "Wait no! Take us back!" He looks at Strange.

"We saw what we needed to see." Strange speaks bluntly.

"So, he gets murdered by some other red head?" Sam looks at Strange, "that's how Natasha is all messed up? I thought last things couldn't change the future like this."

Bruce shakes his head, "this who thing is hurting my head." He holds his head in his hands as he groans. "I could one murder cause this? Something would have taken his place in order to keep the future the way it is."

Sam's eyes just widen, "you are a genus." He looks at Bruce.

"What? Wait." Bruce comes to realization. He looks at Natasha, "somebody took his place..."

Strange thinks about this, "Natasha's story did originally end before this present. She had no future. Since the protector was then killed, she was available to take his place."

Bruce pales, "no, no... this is just nuts. What the hell?!" He looks at Natasha in fur confusion. "This can't be real, this has to be a dream... This is just my brain kicking me in the hurt for when I stopped believing..."

Strange looks at Bruce, "this has to be real. Some how it is."

Sam sighs, "you know, maybe I just need a nap. Maybe I'll understand this then." He mutters.

Strange looks at Sam, "earlier, didn't you say Steve knew who that protector was?"

Sam nods, "I did, he said he looked pretty familiar. I believe there was something more to it but I had a really long day..."

Strange nods, "may I speak with him then? Maybe he'll know more about this." He looks at Bruce, "could you stay here with her? I want to know what happens if and when she wakes up. Sam you can come with me to talk to Steve." He explains to the two men.

"Okay, I can work with that."  Sam replies then leads Strange over to Steve's dorm which he still stayed in at the HQ. He never really wanted to leave even though he was currently retired. It was his home and it had all of his family in once place. The team respected that and allowed him to stay.

When the two men finally left the room Bruce let out a sigh of relief, he finally had a much needed moment to process all of this. A lot was happening currently and he just needed things to slow down so he can process. He walks over to Natasha and looks her over as he returned to his chair right beside her. Bruce took her hand again and just held it. He looks at Natasha every so often to see if she was awake yet. He prayed that she would wake up in the next few seconds so they could talk, at the same time he wanted her to get all the rest she needed. He also wished that things were normal, that she was perfectly healthy. But he would have to wait for that.

Okay, sorry that if this is a lot. But it needed to be done 😂
I may come back and edit this. I will pick up key points from the information that they gathered as the story continues, so don't worry if you're confused on something. You'll know how they feel.

Any grammar or spelling mistakes please let me know!

Don't stay a silent reader ❤️