A Twist Of Marvel || Infinity War

45. Nice Guy

The camera was still rolling, but the Hulk was no longer in frame. Instead, Naomi Swanson stared at Bruce Banner through her screen, too shocked to say anything, or even put down the phone. Bruce himself was even more stunned, finding himself seated in a giant, semi-destroyed concrete room with a strange woman filming him. He was pretty used to being half-naked by this point however, so that wasn't too high on his priority list. For a moment, he stared into the camera, and idly wondered what the woman had captured with it.

"Bruce.." She breathed, and finally ended the recording. Fumbling, Naomi shoved the phone into her armor's empty thigh sheath, and gently took a few steps toward him.

"Uh, who are you?" He croaked out, his voice rusted from not being used for a long time. Bruce gathered up the Hulk's shorts around him, and eased himself into a standing position.

"Um, my name is Naomi Swanson, i'm, uh," she hesitated, sensing that launching into the whole 'movie dimension' bit wasn't the best option at the moment. "Im with Thor." She decided. Bruce eased visibly, though he still clutched the shorts around him tightly, and his eyes were wary.

"Is he here?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah he is." Naomi nodded, shifting her weight from foot to foot. In all her meetings with superheroes, this had to be the most uncomfortable. The man just woke up half naked with her filming him, who knew what he could be thinking.

"Can I see him?" Bruce asked. Clearly, he was thinking about Thor.

"Oh, of course! Yeah, I'll take you to him." She grinned, and motioned for the scientist to follow her. "We'll get you some proper clothes too." Bruce nodded bashfully, and followed her out the door.

The two strolled down the hallway, palpable tension in the air. Bruce walked at least a foot away from Naomi, and kept sneaking confused glances at her. "Where are we?" He asked tentatively.

"Um, Sakaar. You're not on Earth anymore, Dr. Banner." She said. Naomi shrugged apologetically, shifting to face him, and walking backwards in the process. She could only pray that she wouldn't run into anything in front of an Avenger. Bruce's eyes widened, and his gaze darted about the hallway he now knew to be alien architecture. Unfortunately it was a pretty boring hallway, and an anti-climactic introduction to another planet. "Earth is fine, though." Naomi added. "For now, anyway." His head whipped toward her, and that confused stare landed on her.

"What does that mean?"

"I'll explain later, best to get you settled in here first." Naomi toyed with her fingers, switching back around to face forward to avoid a staring contest between them. Unfortunately, this led to silence as they rounded the next corner, something Naomi normally appreciated, but couldn't stand in that moment. "Big fan of your work, by the way." She blurted, grimacing when she realized what a terrible impression she was probably making. Perhaps she couldn't be friends with all the Avengers, even if she desperately wanted to.

"Oh, uh, I guess you met the Hulk." Bruce spoke up behind her, his tone tired. Eyes widening when she realized her mistake, Naomi turned around again to correct herself.

"No, well, yes I've met the Hulk, but I meant you." She explained, watching his perpetually confused expression. "I'm a fan of your work."

To Naomi's elation, her compliment earned herself a half-hearted smile from the man. She knew how important the distinction between Banner and the Hulk was, especially to the two men. "Thanks." Bruce said. Naomi took note of how calm he was, or at least, that he wasn't freaking out. "So you have met Hulk?" He clarified.

"Yeah, Hulk's a nice guy." Naomi smiled. Not to her surprise, Banner stopped in his tracks, and reverted back to his confused puppy expression. No doubt he had never heard anyone use the words 'Hulk' and 'nice' in the same sentence before. Naomi stopped as well, and her own smile dropped as she rushed to assuage his confusion before he began to get stressed out. "He's matured a lot lately- trust me- and he even recorded a message for you!" Bruce simply stared at her with a gaping mouth as she held out her phone to him, revolutionary footage of the Hulk within it.

"Um." He managed to get out. "What?" His expression read that he wasn't processing everything she had told him, and Naomi figured that if he watched the video now, he would probably just faint or something. Sighing, she dropped her hand to her side, and returned the phone to its sheath. Her training armor was surprisingly useful for carrying things, since she hadn't bothered to grab any knives or weapons. The gun from Tony was still in her bag, and Naomi felt confident enough to leave the knife work to Loki.

"Sorry. We can go over it later, for now, let's just get to Thor, okay?" Naomi said, softening her tone unconsciously. She was well aware that she was speaking to a man many years her senior, who also happened to have seven PhD's, and could turn into a giant green rage monster. But Bruce was clearly in distress, and even though he had no idea who she was, she was the online to comfort him at the moment. If he noticed her vaguely motherly tone, Bruce didn't mention it, and simply nodded. As they resumed their walk, now side by side, but still with a noticeable gap between them, Naomi found the tension somewhat lessened.

"Is anyone else here?" Bruce asked, glancing over.

"No, none of the Avengers." They rounded the final corner, and the Hulk's door came into sight. "Thor is just through there. But, there is someone you should know about..." Naomi trailed off, knowing that mention of Loki would undo her work to calm Banner down. Unfortunately, they were already at the door, and in traditional Marvel timing, Naomi was unable to finish her sentence before Bruce swung it open, and was immediately greeted with the sight of the exact wrong person.

"Hello Bruce."