Full Potential

Natasha's POV:

When the battle began, Barnes was the first to be attacked.

He got hit by multiple repulsors, but T'Challa reacted fast and brought him to town to get treatment.

The only problem was that Stark didn't want to let him go so easily and sent part of his Iron Legion after him.

This started a full-fledged war against Wakanda.

The moment Steve saw Bucky hurt, he started to attack Stark too and this dragged me into the fight against a guy in overpowered armor.

I miss the times when we beat up some random Hydra guys. My arsenal was not really made to face someone like Iron Man.

As a result, I ended up as a distraction for Stark in the battle.

Till Bruce and Clint appeared out of nowhere and tried to help us.

But this led Stark to use a more powerful armor to defeat us, so we were back to square one.

Our only chance now is to destroy his Arc Reactor.

We attacked him together and Bruce even sacrificed his body to give us a chance to win.

It was hurtful to watch a guy who always tried to avoid fights give everything to protect us.

But it was still not enough. We were simply powerless against him.

Stark deflected all of our attacks.

Following that, he flew up and then fell, crushing Bruce under him.

"No! Bruce!" I scream while running towards him, but Stark stands up and aims his repulsor at me.

"Surrender, or I can't guarantee you'll survive this."

Surrender? And what happens then? Being slaves or prisoners for life?

We can't let that happen!

My heart sank when I looked behind him.

Bruce lay in a small crater that was created by the massive armor that crushed him.

His body looked completely crushed...

Seeing him like that, I could feel emotions bubbling up that I had forgotten I had.

My eyes burned suddenly and tears started to flow out of my eyes, when I touched my face.

I hadn't shed tears for nearly twenty years, but I also had no one for twenty years to care about...

My knee became weak, but then Steve stepped in front of me.

"Natasha! Go to Clint and fall back. I will hold him off.

Tell T'Challa we will need every man here to deal with Stark, or this battle will be lost."

While still dealing with tears, I say, "But Bruce, we need to do something.".

"His sacrifice would be futile if we all died here and now!"

Steve says as he blocks Stark's repulsors with his shield.

"Nat! We need to go now." said Clint and grabbed my hand to pull me away.

I looked at my boyfriend one last time and we started to run.

There were broken robot parts everywhere on the battlefield, as well as people lying motionless on the ground.

While T'Challa could be seen leaping from robot to robot and destroying them with his claws.

He saw us running towards his men and then came towards us.

"Fall back and regroup!" T'Challa screamed and soldiers ran forward, creating blue shields to deflect the robots.

We ran past the soldiers and met T'Challa.

"What happened on your front? Where is Captain America and who is this guy?"

"I'm Clint and Steve is still fighting Stark, but it's hopeless. We need reinforcements there!"

T'Challa shook his head when he heard this.

"That could be difficult. There are too many robots to concentrate our forces on one person."

Suddenly the robots stopped attacking the blue shields and began to regroup as well.

Stark then appeared in his giant armor and began to float in front of the army.

He had Steve in one hand, bloodied and breathing heavily and Bruce's body in the other... this bastard.

Clint held me back from rushing forward.

Then Stark spoke.

"Whoever the leader of this hillbilly country is, give back Barnes and retreat and no more people of you will be hurt."

"You dare to speak like that about Wakanda?" said T'Challa while getting into his battle pose and showing his claws.

"Ah! Catman, you are the leader then? Why do you protect them?

Your people die while fighting an army I can rebuild at any time.

So tell me, can you also rebuild your people?"

This made T'Challa stay quiet.

"Simply hand them over and no one else will be harmed." Stark said while dropping the two bodies in front of him.

Suddenly, he grabs his helmet and says, "How can this be?! What is he doing here? Vision the Iron Legion is on the way. Use everything you have to stop them."

He? When Stark is panicking like that, does that mean Vision met David?

Maybe we still have a chance if he appears here out of nowhere like he always does.

Even when he is our enemy, he may do it for the people of Wakanda.

Stark collected himself and said.

"And what do you say, leader? Did you make up your mind?"

T'Challa turns off his helmet and says, "Yes, I have something to say.

Wakanda would never betray its allies and we would never surrender!"

Then he shouted "WAKANDA FOREVER!!!" and began to rush forward with his army.

"Then live with the consequences! Attack!"

The Iron Legion and Stark started to power up their repulsors.

If so many repulsors strike the army, even their shields will not be sufficient to save them and us.

Clint then stepped in front of me to protect me. He knew it was hopeless, but he wanted to give me a small chance to live.

I place a hand on his shoulder and simply shake my head, basically telling him that it's OK.

And then the repulsors fire.

---

I closed my eyes and my life started to run before my eyes.

My 'parents' betrayal, Yelena, the Red Room, the medical operation on me... Clint, Shield and then the Avengers and Bruce.

Why did I not spend more time with people who cared about me? Why did I have to throw my life away for this world that doesn't even care about me?

Fortunately, I had some people who cared about me in the end.

"ROOOAAAAARRRR!!!!!"

But then, my self-pity moment was interrupted by a powerful scream.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the Hulk or something that looked like the Hulk standing where Bruce was lying before.

He was huge and a green aura surrounded him.

When I looked up, I saw that he had even pierced the clouds with it.

He looked back at me and smiled. A dangerous green glow emanated from his eyes.

The Iron Legion and Stark tried to shoot him, but his aura neutralized the blasts.

T'Challa saw this and stopped his army immediately.

I ran to him and said, "He is an ally. Don't attack him!"

"It was not really my plan to attack him. No one is allowed to come near him!"

Suddenly, the whole aura and energy around Bruce transforms into something like a green ball in front of him.

With a clap, he bursts the ball and the energy shoots like a shockwave toward the Iron Legion and Stark.

The next moment thousands of robots were blown apart and metal parts began to rain down.

We could only stand there with our mouths wide open and watch the scene.

"Visible Gamma Rays...? What the hell... did you become?" Stark asked while breathing heavily.

He was the only survivor of the attack. His armor was almost completely destroyed and even his skin was visible in some places.

"Me? I finally became myself." said Bruce in a deep voice.

"Give up, Tony! It's over." he added after examining the condition Stark was in.

Stark, however, landed only on the ground and caught his breath before answering.

"If you think you have won, then think about it again.

Now Ross will hunt you to the end of the days without me to protect you.

So come back to Shield and I promise you that you and Natasha will be safe."

But Bruce walks towards him and replays.

"We may be safe, but we won't be free and I can't live like this anymore."

Bruce then hits him and sends Stark crashing to the ground, shattering the Iron Mask in the process.

This battle is over…

"This is for everything you did to us and the people here."

Then Bruce turns around and walks towards me, while transforming into his human form.

Even in his human form, he became much more muscular and taller than before.

When he reached me, he smiled and then suddenly collapsed in front of me.

"Bruce!" upon catching him, I realized he was just tired and fell asleep because of it.

So I sit down and place his head on my lap to let him rest a bit.

"You did well." I say while holding his hand.

Clint sat down next to me and tried to calm himself down, after all this.

While T'Challa switched back into his prince mode and started giving orders to everyone around him.

"Treat the wounded and bring every medical personnel here!"

He then grabs Steve and carries him to a medic and then looks at Stark, who was lying not far away.

"Imprison him and then he will have to answer for what he did here." said T'Challa to some soldiers and they started walking towards Stark.

"That will not be necessary."

Suddenly a woman with glowing red hands and eyes landed in front of Stark.

"He needs to pay now for what he did to your and my people or he will escape his responsibility." she said to T'Challa.

Red energy started to leak out of her and I could suddenly feel her pain.

What did Tony do to her? Her emotions nearly paralyzed me.

Everyone must have felt the same because no one stopped or said anything to her.

"Is that really what you want?"

Another person arrives on the destroyed battlefield.

He walks slowly and pretty relaxed towards the woman not even looking at any of us.

David so he was really here the whole time... they seem to know each other?

The woman looks at him and then nods.

"Then do it."