Delta
He was not afraid of flying. Being suspended thousands of miles in the air in what was more or less a steel cage with a hundred or so innocent bystanders, however, did make him a little nervous. And by little he meant he couldn’t sit still in his seat by the window where he could see the plane being fueled. Delta was painted in big blue letters across the side. Tony probably would have insisted on him using the private jet he’d bought for the Avengers, but he didn’t know Bruce was leaving. Besides, Tony wouldn’t have let him leave anyway, so the point was moot.
But that was the thing. Bruce couldn’t stay. Sure, Tony had no problem with the other guy, even went so far as to provoke him. But the others…well, they were still wary. And poor Natasha couldn’t even look him in the eye yet without flinching. She probably thought he didn’t notice, but he had. Which left him with no choice but this, a plane ticket for the middle of nowhere Africa. Hopefully the others could relax more when he was gone and he wouldn’t have the military breathing down his neck.
At the thought, Bruce’s hand tightened around the letter he’d gotten about a week ago from Ross. Apparently they were still after him, even after all this time. SHEILD had been running interference so far but there was only so much they could do. It would be better for everyone when he disappeared.
“And where, exactly, do you think you’re going?”
Bruce jumped in his seat at the accented voice. Spinning around he found Natasha in her signature tight black suit with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him. In his periphery he could see people milling about, gawping at her.
“I…I don’t…” he stuttered, unsure how to answer. What was she doing here anyway?
“What? You thought Tony wouldn’t be able to track you?” she gave a rather unladylike snort. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he injected all of us with those trackers they put in dogs.”
Bruce fought a smile, fidgeting in his seat. He didn’t know how to respond to all that. He didn’t even know why she would come after him, or how she suddenly had no problem being around him alone. Well, mostly alone. Surely she had backup hidden somewhere around here. Probably Clint in a vent or something.
She sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly as she came to sit next to him. Right next to him. Barely an inch was between them. After all her avoidance the past couple weeks, she had willingly sat down beside him with no buffer between them whatsoever.
“I’m sorry,” she began after a moment, taking him by surprise. The Russian assassin never apologized. “I’ve been acting rather foolish, haven’t I?”
Bruce’s brow furrowed, “I don’t think so. What are you talking about Natasha?”
She was interrupted by a voice overhead, calling all passengers for his flight. He didn’t move, waiting to see what Natasha wanted to say.
“The way I’ve been behaving around you. How we’ve all been acting…It wasn’t fair to you. You’ve given us no reason not to trust you or your control over…the other guy.”
He snorted, “Doesn’t matter. I don’t blame you all for being cautious.”
“There’s cautious then there’s paranoid, Bruce. Trust me, I know.”
He shook his head slowly, eyes traveling over the dwindling crowd boarding the plane. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate Natasha coming to apologize, or the sentiment behind it – clearly all of the Avengers felt bad for their behavior – but there were other, more important reasons for him to leave.
Decided, he took a deep breath as he stood, “Thank you, Natasha. I appreciate the apology, but it doesn’t matter. I have to go.”
She followed him to her feet, frowning, “Why? Tony – all of us – we’re your friends. Why are you running, Bruce?”
“It’s not you guys. It’s…” he shook his head, inching closer to the gate.
“The other guy?” she guessed. “It’s fine, Bruce. We can handle it.”
“No. It’s not that.”
She blinked at him for a second before her hand shot out and snatched the letter still clutched in his fist away from him. His protests died on his lips at her furious expression.
“How long has this been going on?” she hissed.
Unsure why she was angry, but not wanting it directed at him, he quickly answered, “I’m not sure. Mostly SHEILD’s been taking care of it. But there’s not a whole lot they’ll be able to do if Ross decides to…”
Muttering in what was clearly angry Russian Natasha shook her head and grabbed his arm, pulling him along, away from the Delta Airlines plane that was now preparing to take off.
“That bastard isn’t going to do anything, Bruce. He’ll be lucky if he can walk after I’m done with him.
Bruce’s eyes widened with understanding. Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe he didn’t have to go hide to make sure everyone he cared about was safe. Going by Natasha’s expression and the calm sort of amusement coming from the other guy, Bruce probably wouldn’t ever have to worry about that again.