Siblings In Everything But Blood

Chapter 18: In Which Bruce Feels Like He's In A Spy Movie

Guess who's back!! Back again.... with another chapter! This is a bit fillery, but pay close attention, because there are some important details in here!!! Have fun! - Spathi.

Bruce's P.O.V.

Natasha was pissed.

That actually have been the understatement of the century. She was literally radiating rage; the ground was starting to crack under her feet, and the air was heating up. Her eyes were starting to glow a toxic green, and her fists were clenched so hard, blood was starting to run from her hands. On top of all of that, she was flickering. Every couple of seconds, red light would burst from her form while she herself dissolved partially. And then, she would stabilize.

Bruce was understandably freaked out. He wasn't sure that even his alter ego could compete with her rage. He knew that there were five stages of grief, and it seemed like she'd skipped straight over the first stage (denial) and proceeded to stage two (anger).

As he stood there watching her, it occured to him that she kind of looked like someone about to explode from Extremis. So, he did the most impulsive thing he could have possibly done in that situation: he ran and tackled her off of the bridge.

They landed in the water with a flaboom!, bubbles streaking upwards as they descended. Natasha turned to glare at him, and then, she screamed in fury.

They were underwater, so to him, there was just a slightly high-pitched sound while she looked as if she were trying to inhale the ocean, but a second later, something responded to her wrath.

Rippling dark red energy intermixed with shadowy trails of smeared black expanded outwards from her body, vaporizing the water around her. Bruce found himself lying on the bed of the river, with skin and hair dry but burnt, clothes in tatters, and mouth open in shock. Natasha was hovering about a hundred feet away. Then, the water crashed back inwards again, and Bruce was spun around as if he was a tube in a centrifuge chamber suspended in space. However, he was more focused on the fact that Natasha had literally made a couple of tons of water evaporate to the point that there wasn't even a trace of it left.

"If I didn't have the Other Guy, and if I wasn't fireproof, I would have been a pile of ash. As it was, I'm glad I shoved her into the water." he thought as he regained his bearings. He swam over to Natasha, who still looked furious. She was still emanating heat, to the point that she had a layer of air around her and bubbles were constantly rising to the surface.

"Wow. She can breathe underwater by means of creating her own air bubble." he thought. It was at this point that he realized he himself couldn't breathe.

Natasha finally noticed him, and grabbed him by the wrist. Bruce gulped slightly as her glowing green eyes focused on him. She then brought out a coin. Bruce was confused for about half a second before he found himself feeling like he was being sucked through a tunnel and spat out.

Somehow no longer dripping wet, he looked around, finding himself standing in Katerina's house. Natasha was slumped on the floor next to him, her eyes glowing less. She looked miserable as she fidgeted with a small statue of a scorpion with a trident engraved on its back. She slipped it into her pocket before he could take a closer look.

"If I'd just realized sooner..." she mumbled, and Bruce knew they were on stage three: imagining a different scenario that would have ended better, also known for some reason as bargaining. He knew stage four was depression, and stage five was acceptance. But knowing Natasha, she'd never accept it, not while Peter could still be alive. He knew he'd probably do the same thing. But he didn't know how Natasha handled being depressed, so he braced himself for anything.