A/N: My apologies for how long this took. I was hoping to get it out earlier but couldn't get the flow right. I've gone through and edited and re-uploaded the previous chapters, although there weren't any changes to the content; it was just fixing up typos and grammar issues.

New York State, June 2020

A blast of energy hit Padma's chest, ramming her backwards into the brick wall. Hot pain shot through her back, and she let out a low groan as she dropped to the ground. An answering roar sounded as the Hulk charged forward, rushing at the witch who had shot her.

Pressing her wand to her back, Padma cast a quick healing charm, numbing the ache. It wasn't much, but it would suffice until they returned to the Quinjet and she was able to take a better look at it.

She staggered to her feet. Her mind groggy from weariness, she took a moment to collect herself before running back into the fray, firing off spells at one of the remaining insurgents.

"Ravenclaw, I'm going in," Peter said, his voice coming in loud through her earpiece.

"Roger that, Spiderman," she muttered, immediately switching to shielding spells.

The next instant, Peter swooped down from a nearby rooftop, yanking the wand from her opponent's hand with a sharp, well-practiced twist. Once the webslinger was clear, Padma took advantage of the wizard's surprise to step forward and shout, "Stupefy!"

The wizard fell.

Gripping her wand tightly, Padma turned, scanning the battlefield for her next opponent. It took her fight-addled brain a few moments to realise that everyone else had already finished fighting. As she blinked blearily, Steve and Vision were starting to round up the unconscious witches and wizards, while Wanda was repairing the damage to the surrounding buildings.

"Is it just me, or are they getting tougher?" Sam asked as he stumbled up beside her.

"It's not just you."

After the wizarding world went public, several small rebel groups had emerged, violently protesting the decision. Their number included wizards and Muggles alike, both sides citing safety concerns and using the actions of the other as justification for their hatred.

Padma didn't understand what they were trying to achieve. The necessity of the decision aside, the bell that had sounded the death knell for the Statute of Secrecy was the kind that could never be un-rung. The Muggle world had been fooled into believing that all witches and wizards had died once; it wouldn't fall for that ploy again.

All the insurgents were doing was bringing about the conflict they claimed to be trying to avoid.

Fortunately, the protests were becoming rarer as they apprehended those involved; unfortunately, the remaining insurgents were becoming more aggressive and desperate in their attempts.

"Do you have any Pepper-Up left?" she asked. They'd all taken some in with them, but she'd given hers to an injured bystander after Apparating them outside of the city limits.

He pulled a vial from his pocket — or TARDIS, as the team had taken to calling the pockets she'd cast Undetectable Extension Charms on — and offered it to her.

"Thanks." She took it and downed it in one gulp. She grimaced as a shiver ran through hers, but she instantly felt energy surge within her.

When she met Sam's gaze again, he was shaking his head. "Witches and wizards have magic at their disposal, yet your medicine still tastes like garbage. If anything, it's worse than ours."

Padma raised an eyebrow. "That's only because you have to take it in liquid form. Bruce has been talking about making them into tablets, but he's still working on the logistics."

Off to her right, Natasha was walking through the rubble, even as the pieces started to glow red before rising around her and fitting themselves back together again. "Tony? The threat's been neutralised… No, we're all fine." She frowned, then asked, "Are you still at the compound?"

There was a familiar huff of laughter from behind Padma. "I can't imagine him being anywhere else."

Turning, Padma found Bruce standing a few metres away, now back in human form and wearing the spare clothes they'd left in the Quinjet.

"Eventually, he's going to have to stop going to the compound whenever we go on a mission," she pointed out.

"This is Tony we're talking about," Sam said wryly.

Bruce tilted his head. "I'm not sure he knows the meaning of the words 'have to'."

"That's true." Padma did think Tony would step back further when the rest of his original teammates joined him in semi-retirement, but she held her tongue. There was a chance they would only stop fighting when they died, so the team didn't talk about after much.

"Where's Felicia?" Sam asked suddenly, surveying the battlefield. His gaze sharpened, and Padma followed it to see the woman in question sitting alone, staring at the ground. "I'll go check on her. Fighting wizards is as weird as all get-out the first time; it would only make it harder to know everyone else is already used to it."

Shooting them a quick grin, he said, "Don't miss me too much," and left.

"I didn't even think about that," Padma admitted.

Felicia had had a short but successful career in crime before undergoing a change of heart and joining the Avengers; on top of that, she'd had training before joining them in the field. But Padma should have known there was a difference between seeing a teammate cast magic in controlled environments and dodging spells as they flew every which way in a battle.

"None of us did, apart from Sam." Bruce put a warm hand on Padma's arm before glancing over at Natasha, who was still talking to Tony. "Can we talk somewhere private?"

Her curiosity spiked. Over the past two years, Bruce and Natasha had reached the point that they were no longer awkward around one another, but they never discussed anything deep. For him to want privacy from the rest of the team, it had to be something to do with the Hulk. "Of course."

They walked until they were far enough away that nobody could hear them before sitting down on a recently re-formed bench.

"The therapy is having an effect," Bruce said. "This time, when the other guy came out, he didn't force me out. He had control, but I was conscious, too, and he could hear me."

She stared at him, her eyes wide. When she'd recommended that he visit a psychologist, she'd hoped that the Hulk's personality would merge back into Bruce's, but she hadn't been expecting this much progress, let alone this quickly. "That's brilliant! It must have been a relief to see everything as it happened rather than having to wonder about it when you came to."

There was a sense of wonder in his voice when he replied, "It really is. He listened to me — sometimes, at least — and feeling his emotions… He was angry, but it was a defensive anger, not an aggressive one. He just wanted to be safe."

"Isn't survival the most basic of human instincts?" Padma asked.

When Bruce didn't reply, looking too lost in his thoughts for words, she rested a hand on his knee. "He's not a monster."

"Maybe he isn't," Bruce said finally.

"Okay, we're done here." Steve's voice rang out across the clearing. "Everybody ready to clear out?"

-x-

The flight back to the Avengers compound was quick. Before long, the Quinjet had touched down, and the group was stepping off the aircraft and making its way through the technomagical security system Tony had engineered.

Mere steps inside, they were ambushed by the man himself, who was holding his infant daughter in his arms as she tugged at his ear.

"Dada."

"Yes, that's my ear," he said indulgently, patting her back. "It looks funny, doesn't it? Now, why don't you go and tug on Uncle Bruce's ear instead?"

He kissed the one-year-old's head before handing her to Bruce, who raised an eyebrow at him.

Tony shrugged. "Pepper said I can't take Eloise into the lab. I've been waiting all morning for someone to get back to babysit."

He played the role of beleaguered genius well, but it was belied by his bright eyes and the warm smile he gave the girl as she settled into Bruce's arms. After all, the moment he'd laid eyes on her, he had decided to step back from being Iron Man, determined that she wouldn't grow up with an absentee father like he had.

"Besides," he added with a sly wink at Padma, "the practice will be good for you." Already starting to walk backwards out of the room, he turned to the youngest Avenger. "Peter, want to join me?"

The pair left, Peter shooting an apologetic look at Bruce and Padma before disappearing from sight.

"Does Tony know something we don't?" Steve asked, glancing down at Padma's stomach. "I thought you didn't want kids."

"We don't," Padma said.

"Probably," Bruce said at the same time. "But not about this. He's been at it for weeks now. Tony didn't want kids at first, and he loves being a father, so he's convinced we'll change our minds too."

Felicity frowned. Ever since she'd talked with Sam, she'd looked more composed, but she was still a little pale. "He shouldn't leave his daughter with you without checking first."

"It's fine. He knows I like spending time with her… he's just being obnoxious about it."

"I'll say." Padma shook her head in fond exasperation and reached out to put her index finger into Eloise's tiny hand, which closed around her. "Hopefully, you'll take after your mum. Your dad's great, but I don't think the world can handle another Tony."

Eloise giggled, and Padma didn't know whether she should take the noise as a sign of agreement or a warning.

She didn't care.

Over the past two years, they'd made a few breakthroughs in their research. In addition to Tony's progress with fusing technology and magic, Bruce and Padma had made some strides in their quest to compare Muggle and wizard biology. For the most part, they were focusing on quantifying and finding explanations for differences that Padma already knew — such as the differences in sturdiness and life expectancy.

As time progressed, their hope was to make their research actionable, looking at the implications for Muggle health care and magical theory.

Of course, it had been a steep learning curve for her.

When Padma had arrived in New York, she'd confessed to not knowing much about science. At first, Bruce and Tony had insisted she was being modest, but it hadn't taken long for them to realise that, if anything, she was understating it. After all, while she'd tried teaching herself the subject while working as an Unspeakable, it was such a broad field that she hadn't gotten far.

Fortunately, the other Avengers more than made up for her lack of knowledge in that area. During her time with them, Padma had picked up enough to be comfortable in the lab, even if she usually felt lost when the other Avengers really got into it.

Between that, moving overseas, starting a relationship with Bruce, and adjusting to the team's style of fighting, she'd had a lot on her plate.

But it was all worth it.

She'd found a job she loved and, more importantly, she'd found a second family.

"We should get to the debriefing," Vision said, starting in the direction of the conference complex.

Felicity followed the android. "As long as we get lunch afterwards."

Padma met Bruce's gaze as they made their way to the conference rooms, Eloise still tugging on Bruce's ear.

There had been a lot of changes over the past two years, and if the insurgents they'd faced that morning were anything to go by, the kickback was far from over. But here, seeing Muggles, enhanced Muggles, witches, and androids coming together with shared purposes — the pursuit of knowledge, protection of humankind, and advancement of technology — it was clear that the issues were mere growing pains.

She was eager to see what the world would become by the time they were done.