“When do you have to go?” I asked her.

“I haven’t been told when, but I was told my 1st mission back would be this.” She replied slightly upset that her holiday might be ending soon.

“Well, it hasn’t ended yet has it?” I asked her to which she shook her head.

“Then we will enjoy whatever is left of it,” I told her with a smile as I went forward to pick her up and take her back to the sofa, where we slept once more in each other’s embrace.

Waking up the next day both of us sat down to watch TV after breakfast. “When are you going back to the restaurant?” Nat asked me.

“I don’t want to go leaving you alone.” I placed my chin on top of her head. ‘I want to enjoy every moment with you. Screw the restaurant.’ I told her and myself in my head.

“How about I come with you?” I looked at her.

“You will see I am a quick learner, especially with cooking.” She boasted with pride.

“Hahaha, that you are my cute spy,” I remembered the time how we made pizza. ‘God am I thankful for rooted potato and learning cooking.’

“What are you thinking?” Nat pulled my arms around her.

“Remember your first cooking lesson from me.” I grinned seeing a slight shade of pink on her face.

“Yeah.” She leaned her head back on me.

“So, when do we go?” Her hands moved up and grabbed the back of my head and pulled me closer.

“Tomorrow?” Nat nodded.

“I have to call and inform Jeff. Is that okay?” I moved my hands from her waist.

“No, call him later.” She grabbed my hands and pulled them back together around her.

“Alright.” We watched TV together until lunch.

“Okay time for lunch.” I got up much to her frustration.

“What do you want today?” I asked as I grabbed my phone out.

“Soup,” She replied to my question as I looked through my contact list.

“Get everything ready while I call Jeff.” Nat nodded as she went towards the kitchen.

I called Bruce. “Hey Jeff, I am back,” I told him which earned a reply from him.

“Finally! I was starting to get bored here in the lab. When do we start?” He asked me.

“I am coming to the restaurant tomorrow. Where are you?” I asked him.

“Home, I guess I will see you there.”

“Yeah. We also have a new staff.” I could imagine the confusion on his face.

“Staff?”

“Yeah, I have decided to take an apprentice. You will see when we come in tomorrow.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow then.” He said as he hung up.

The day passed by without anything special happening. Although this was the MCU world most days were calm and quiet unless one went towards where all the action took place.

The next day Natalia, Bruce, and I soon met up in the restaurant.

“It’s good to see you guys again.” He seemed excited.

“You too Jeff.” Nat smiled at him as we went into the restaurant with dust all over the place.

“Where the hell were you for the past few months?” He asked me with his ‘Jeff’ mask still on.

“Holiday,” I told him which earned a confused look from him as we began cleaning the place up.

“Where is that apprentice of yours?” Bruce asked as we finished cleaning and setting everything up.

“Behind you.” I pointed towards Nat who was coming in with the supplies we bought from the store.

He looked at me blankly. “I swear if you 2 start making out in the back or something instead of cooking I will go ape shit on you.”

“Hahaha!” I laughed while Nat’s face turned red.

“What the hell do you think we are? Horny rabbits?” Nat asked him slightly pissed off.

“Something like that. I mean who the hell goes on a months-long holiday. What about your job?” Bruce asked her without any fear of her anger.

“I had some unused holiday.” Nat lied calmly.

Bruce looked interested by that. “You got any vacancy? My current boss hardly gives me any holiday.”

I laughed imagining him working for Shield while Nat looked awkward. “You were practically on holiday as well for the past few months.” Nat pointed out.

“Unpaid holiday. I don’t get any money by sitting like a duck.” He retorted as we got all the machines starting up.

We began preparing the ingredients.

“Anyway, let’s start,” I told them.

Bruce nodded as he turned the open sign back on.

“Come on apprentice.” I took Natalia to the kitchen where she assisted me while I taught her how to cook.

“How the heck do you measure 2.3 grams of salt exactly?” Nat asked me looking confused by all my recipe.

“Do you expect me to measure out the salt every time I want to sprinkle it on the steak?” I shook my head.

“Well not really. It’s just an approximation. If you don’t…” She seemed stupefied by how accurate and precise I was with the ingredients.

“You try it.” I guided her.

“I thought you guys closed down?” Our customers were more than happy to see us back in service once more.

The day went on until dinner.

I froze just as people came in for dinner. This was because I realised the way to remove HE serum was barely progressing.

‘Why though?’ I wondered. ‘The cure took much longer than the actual serum, wow. Guess the Extremis must have caused the Hulk serum to become part of my genes permanently somehow and was figuring a way to remove it.'

Time passed by.

A wanted order became updated about ‘Jack of all trades' on the Shield records along with all national government agencies and intelligence. The Shield database report categorised me in their index, citing I might either be enhanced like Bruce or might use techs like Tony.

‘Looks like Phil didn’t get a clear shot of me in action against the Ironmonger.’ In any case, the world was on a renewed hunt to find me, including Hydra. Unknown to them was the fact that I was right under their nose. By the time they realised it, it would be too late.

I could care no longer to play with them. I did it in the beginning because I was bored, but now I was too busy with my life and Nat. So, I just hid every trace from them, while not bothering to poke with them any longer.

A general description of me was given but unfortunately looking for a 1.75m tall Asian person with a mole under the left eye was going to not lead them to Jack of all trades.

It was now May 12th, 2010.

As Natasha and I worked in the kitchen at the restaurant suddenly, she received a call.

After a while, she looked at me with a sad face. “Fury called me to go start the undercover at Starks.” My heart skipped a beat.

I kissed her head sadly. “Good luck and stay safe,” I told her to which she nodded and left the building.

“Where is Natalie going?” Bruce asked me seeing Nat leave.

“Her job.” Bruce nodded as we got back to serving customers.

I couldn’t concentrate the whole day and let rooted potato take over. ‘It’s now or never. This has gone on for too long.’ I told myself.

‘Maybe we could just go on like this. I could kill Jack of all trades off and just be with her.’ A part of me reasoned but I didn’t listen to it. It was time I revealed to her everything.

We served customers like normal till closing time.

I stopped Bruce before he went up to rest. “We are leaving here,” I told him to which he looked at me in shock.

“What do you mean leaving?” He asked me.

“Agents are going to come after me within a few days and therefore Jeff aka you,” I told him to see the look of shock on his face.

“What about Natalie?” He asked me.

To which I just smiled and went upstairs. “Hey, where are you going? Answer me! What about Natalie?” He came after me, but I just remained silent.

“Answer me! She is my friend and your girlfriend. Are you going to just put her in the danger you created?” He asked me to which I shook my head.

“No. She will be fine trust me. She is protected.” I told him.

He sighed hearing that. “Then what about your relationship?” He asked.

I sighed and looked up as my eyes became misty. “I don’t know. She might hate me when she finds out, but I have no other choice. This is the best path for us. I have kept everything from her for so long.” I told him as I laid back on the bed with my arms over my eyes.

I could have avoided what was going to happen, but I won’t.

I have been selfish for far too long. ‘I had promised myself and her 1 more year and now my time is up.’

I love her way too much to the point I find it unbearable to hide my secrets from her. After all, she has done to be completely honest about her past. So, it is only fair I reveal part of my secrets to her and with that the identity of Dave aka ‘The Jack of All Trades’.

Bruce sighed and went to pack up. Within a few minutes, we were ready to leave.

“You sure about this?” Bruce asked from behind me as we walked down the stairs with our belongings.

“I will tell her everything once the situation has calmed down.” *Whizz* I turned around hearing an unusual sound.

“David...” Bruce looked at me in terror while I went forward to catch him. However, it was too late as he fell, and the orange fiery portal closed before I could jump after him.

“What the fuck!?” I looked around confused as my enhanced brain computed so rapidly to make sense of the situation.

A few seconds later a small ring of spark appeared above me from which the mask he wore was thrown through with a note.

[Come see me before you meet Bruce again.] That was all the note said. ‘It seems she wants something from me.’ To make matters worse she knew that I know about them somehow, as seen from how the note was not signed off or anything, even though I have not interfered with their societies at all.

“You better give me a good reason when I come for an answer,” I said to the person on the other side of the still open small portal before it closed. I was patient with them only because they saved Nat’s life.

This changed my plans slightly.

My plan was to relocate Bruce to a safe place after which I would inform Nat. Then according to Nat's reaction, I would have moved my pieces along. Now with the Masters of the Mystic Arts interfering in my life, I had to play this game safe before I understood what they were trying to do.

I went back to my home which provided an abode for Bruce and me for the past few years. I didn’t bother destroying anything other than the results of whatever Bruce has been researching on. My research and experiment were always stored in my head so that was safe.

“Thank you, Mr Rat.” I took the cage outside and opened it setting the lab rat who had assisted me so much free.

“Kwiik, kwiik…” It squeaked as it ran off to its freedom.

It was sad to see him go, but this is life. Sometimes you have to let go to get some things.

I went back in to get all the documents of ownership of the house and the restaurant.

I went to see a lawyer as the morning sun rose up on everyone.

I came out after a while from the lawyer’s office, with tears building in my eyes slowly.

“I love you and will love you. There will be no one else other than you.” I said as I looked up in the sky before leaving for Natasha’s house.

‘Just a few more days.’ There was no more Bruce for me to worry about.

*Ping* I looked at my phone to see the tracking software had located Bruce running from the military as Hulk. I sighed as I saw this. 'Just a while longer Bruce.' For whatever reason, the sorcerers took him from me, they would have a valid reason. They were known to not interfere with the physical realm, but now this was twice I had caught them not protecting the world from the mystical things but interfering with my life.

Natasha over the next few days occasionally came back to the house while the events of Iron man 2 happened as per normal.

“Why aren’t you going back to the restaurant?” Nat asked me as she sat in my embrace while we watched a movie, with a duvet over us.

“Jeff needed to go see and be with his mother for a few days,” I lied to her.

“How is working with Tony going?” I asked her.

“Terrible but bearable.” She replied with annoyance as I mentioned his name.

“Did he recognise you?” I asked her to which she shook.

“No, Shield created an entirely different identity for me, as they knew he had a history with you. It would trigger bells for him if he found you had something to do with me.” I nodded as I kissed her.

“Remember to stay calm. Don’t sabotage your mission for me, okay?” She nodded as she looked at me.

“Are you okay?” Nat stroked my face.

“Just worried for you.” I smiled and hugged her. ‘I want to stay with you, Nat. Please don’t get too angry for too long with me.’

Few days passed before I received a call.

“Hello?” I asked but received no reply other than the loud music of a party in the background.