Natasha
Natasha lets the door close audibly behind her, watching her normally unflappable partner tense before he turns to look at her.
"I told Bruce to meet us in here when he has the chance."
"Good. That's...good."
Steve sighs heavily, crossing over from the bathroom to stand at the tall, floor to ceiling window. Natasha watches him for a moment before she moves slowly to stand beside him.
There is a moment before Steve seems to remember something.
"How is...everything with him, by the way?"
"I don't think it's a subject either of us deem necessary to discuss right now."
Natasha is prepared for that question, prepared for Steve's concern and interest. But her attachment to Bruce Banner, her feelings upon seeing him again, alive and well after all this time...in the face of this disaster, seem small.
Her feelings felt small.
"I wouldn't assume he feels the same way about that," is all Steve says.
"What's the last you've heard from Thor?"
Changing the subject seems best.
"Rocket checked in, said he couldn't locate Lang but that Thor was headed to New York for Pepper, Happy, and a few other names Banner and I gave him."
"Fury?"
"Plus someone named Wong. Did you get a hold of Clint?"
"Not yet."
The silence between them isn't uncomfortable, but it is resigned. This is their new reality, one of total chaos and uncertainty, rather than the semi-panicked urgency they'd been running on for the last two years. Natasha knows she hasn't processed any of it yet, just like she knows Steve is probably processing it too much.
That is why she feels like they need to check in.
There is a quiet knock on the door.
It's why she feels that 'they' includes Bruce.
"Come on in, Banner."
Steve turns to the door as it slides open and Dr. Bruce Banner shuffles inside the room, looking between the pair with the same timid energy he's always had. It makes Natasha somehow nostalgic and confused at the same time.
She wants desperately to ask him everything. Where he's been. Why he hadn't come back. But this still isn't the time.
"Everything going all right?"
"As well as can be expected. This place is crazy and that Shuri...wow. She is incredible."
They all know that now. That very young, genius girl who is now the heir apparent of this kingdom is holding herself together better than anyone should expect of her.
"So, uhm..." Bruce trails off as he crosses deeper into the room, still looking nervous.
"We thought maybe we all ought to debrief. A little."
"Debrief?"
Bruce is still such an ordinary person, if the incredulous tone is anything to go by. Natasha doesn't know how that's possible after all this time, but then this life feels bred into her.
"We don't need to go into too many details," Steve assures him, adopting that Captain America tone that Natasha thinks he doesn't even notice anymore. It's all instinct with him, some place he retreats to when it’s easier. He gestures for Bruce to sit in a chair, which he does, while Steve paces over to the edge of what looks like some kind of straw ottoman. "And we should focus -- for now -- on our current situation. You said Tony and this Doctor Strange went into space?"
"Yeah. Strange had one of the Infinity Stones around his neck. I think...I think that Spider-guy was probably with them, too."
Natasha's attention is on Steve for the moment because he brought up Tony Stark and it's so obvious to her what he's feeling.
This whole conversation is going to be a lot harder to manage than she thought.
"Spider-man. He’s pretty young. Tony recruited him a couple years ago, but that's all we really know. You said Strange is a...wizard?"
Natasha feels with sudden certainty that this is wrong. That this stilted, business-like conversation is wrong, that this dancing around the enormous elephants in the room is ridiculous. Bruce Banner has been missing for years. Thor hasn't checked in during all that time either. She and Steve have been on the run, haven’t seen or spoken to half the team. She couldn't find Clint anywhere and Tony Stark has gone missing en route to stop the evil alien who's defeated them.
This is wrong. She knows it.
"Hang on a second," she interrupts finally, turning from Steve to Bruce. "This isn't going to work like this. We need to talk, not...debrief."