Thanks to my beta, irite, for being awesome, as always.

Warnings: science, puns, Selvig/Tesseract/Truth, Bruce Banner's low self-esteem.


Bruce was quickly considering his life choices (What the hell should I do now?) when, out of nowhere, Agent Barton reappeared next to him.

"Better get to work, Dr. Banner," he advised. It didn't sound like a threat, but the fact remained that Barton was a. heavily armed and b. mind controlled. His very presence was a threat.

So Bruce nodded. "Sure. Uh, is there a deadline on this that I should know about?" He didn't want to put Loki's crazy world domination scheme behind schedule, after all. And he wanted a little bit of information on when this was supposed to go down. Every bit of information he could gather might be useful.

Barton just shrugged, though. "It'll be done on time."

Clearly, he didn't have a lot to say on the matter. Bruce sighed. Mining the mind-controlled guy for information didn't seem like it was going to be especially fruitful. Well, maybe he'd have more luck with Selvig, even if he was mind controlled, too. Getting a feel for their project would at least give him an idea what he was dealing with. Bruce was pretty smart, he could get a lot from context clues.

Bruce approached Selvig carefully, ignoring the other 'scientists' and maneuvering around the improvised glass walls. The man looked, if possible, worse than he had when they'd been in India. The dark circles under his eyes were pronounced in the dim lighting, and it was clear that it had been some time since he'd slept. Or bathed. Well, Bruce couldn't judge—he wasn't really the pinnacle of cleanliness right now, either. Still, given Selvig's strung-out appearance, Bruce thought caution was the best course of action.

"Dr. Selvig," he said, when he was about ten feet away.

"Dr. Banner!" Selvig returned enthusiastically, turning to Bruce, bright, blue eyes slightly unfocused. "It's so good to see you!"

Selvig, apparently, wasn't too put off by the circumstances of their meeting. And wasn't suffering for his lack of rest. Bruce decided to roll with it. Like he had a choice. "Er, how are you?"

"Wonderful!" Selvig answered.

Bruce had doubts about that—Selvig looked terrible—but he didn't voice them. Instead, he said, "That's great. And, uh, how's it going?" He gestured at the device Selvig had been building.

Now Selvig frowned. "Not as well as I had hoped. The Tesseract has told me so much, and yet," he waved a frustrated hand, "Not enough." He looked up at Bruce. "We need your help."

Bruce took a few steps closer to the device, peering at its components and trying to remember what he'd read in Foster's papers. So much of the science was still theoretical, though, that she hadn't actually proposed a design for a machine capable of opening an interdimensional portal. That sort of thing would have gone to the engineers, anyway, so the fact that Selvig had built this at all was...odd.

Also, Bruce didn't know what the 'Tesseract' was (aside from, probably, a cubic prism—that's what a 'tesseract' was) but it didn't sound like something he wanted to get mixed up with. But then, none of this did. So he asked, "The 'Tesseract'?"

Selvig nodded enthusiastically. "It's truth, Banner." He gestured to a nearby table, on which a glowing blue cube sat in a metal case, looking innocuous. "It's everything."

It looked more like a movie prop or something, but Bruce didn't say that. If this thing was 'telling' Selvig how to build something capable of opening an interdimensional portal, it was clearly powerful. Or Selvig was insane. Which was also possible. Still, he wasn't going to start slinging insults.

Bruce took a few steps closer to the table, narrowing his eyes against the bright blue glow. When he was within arm's reach, he stretched his hand out.

"It's emitting gamma radiation," Selvig spoke up behind him.

Bruce snatched his hand back to his side. It probably wouldn't hurt him, but he wasn't taking any risks. And gamma rays were something he didn't mess around with anymore. "What is this thing?"

"An energy source," Selvig answered simply. "Among many other things. It contains enough energy to open and sustain the portal that Loki needs, more energy than anything else on this planet could produce. But it's unstable."

Oh, that sounded fantastic. Sounded just like something Bruce wanted to be standing next to. He took a pointed step back. "Right." He turned to Selvig. "Why'd you drag me into this? What do you expect me to do here?"

He was trying to not sound bitter, or angry, but he was getting kind of annoyed. More annoyed than he already had been, about the whole being kidnapped and roped into Loki's Army thing. And now he was standing next to a massively powerful yet unstable object that was throwing off gamma rays.

His annoyance, Bruce thought, was justified.

"The Tesseract is emitting gamma radiation," Selvig repeated, in response to Bruce's question. "As long as it does so, it makes the cube easy to track. We're under a couple feet of concrete down here, so we're fine, but as soon as we go above ground, it'll be an issue."

Well, that was true enough. GPS satellites with x-ray detectors could track the gamma rays easily enough. Bruce nodded, encouraging Selvig to continue.

"Loki needs this to remain a secret until he's ready to act. So we need to shield it once we're up there."

Bruce snorted in disbelief. "Stick it in a lead box. A big one. Problem solved. What, the 'Tesseract' didn't tell you that?"

"Hell," he went on, "You're a physicist, you should know that on your own."

So much for not getting angry. Bruce took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Not only had he been kidnapped to do some kind of supervillain science, it was insultingly simple supervillain science. And now he was part of Loki's little task force, for what? For nothing. He didn't need to be here at all.

Selvig was unfazed by Bruce's little outburst. "Of course I thought of that." He sounded almost offended, but whether that was about the slight to his intelligence or the Tesseract, Bruce wasn't sure. "But it's not going to work."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Uh...why not?" Of course it would work, the laws of physics dictated that it would.

"The Tesseract didn't like it when I tried to contain her."

Now Bruce was really getting irritated. He wasn't in the habit of asking inanimate objects what they liked or didn't, or assigning them genders. And he wasn't accustomed to hearing world-renowned physicists act like non-living entities had opinions. So he frowned. "The Tesseract 'didn't like it.'" Despite his best efforts, his annoyance leaked into his voice.

But, as it turned out, it was irrelevant, because Selvig was mind-controlled or something and thus not the most observant.

"I tried," Selvig explained, indicating a large area of blackened, burned floor about twenty-five feet away. "It didn't take."

Huh. "And, um, what did Loki say about that?"

"He asked me to find someone who could help. I suggested you."

Apparently, an inanimate object expressing opinions was not something Loki found particularly unusual. But then, Loki had a magic spear and could mind control people. He probably didn't find much unusual.

Bruce didn't know how much help he'd be, in this new world he'd discovered where magic was apparently a thing and everyone seemed okay with that. But no one had asked his opinion, and he'd been kidnapped, and his very presence was threatening the lives of everyone within a few miles' radius, so he had to cooperate, even if he was awash in disbelief. He furrowed his eyebrows. "I see. And, uh, what do you propose I do? 'Cause this is kind of crazy." Without Loki breathing over his shoulder (and Barton and his gun safely across the room), Bruce felt free to be a little more forthright. Selvig might be mind controlled, but he wasn't wielding a spear or a gun.

"You know gamma radiation better than anyone. If there's a solution, you'll think of it."

Vague. Wonderful. He had nothing to go on, then. "Look, I'm a physicist, not an engineer. I might be able to come up with something, but it's not going to be pretty—"

Selvig gestured to a different table than the one on which the Tesseract was sitting. "You'll need more information. Everything we have is there."

Bruce sighed. He'd stated his own uselessness pretty plainly, and that hadn't fazed Selvig at all. Maybe they were expecting him to be useless. But then, why bring him in? Why take the trouble of bringing him all the way here?

Slowly, he approached the table Selvig had indicated, glancing quickly at the haphazard stack of files.

He sat down and started to read.

No one disturbed him while he worked, which Bruce appreciated. He didn't know if it was out of respect for his scientific process or because everyone in the area had been informed of his 'condition,' but either way, he was left alone, despite the constant flow of lab coats in and out of the area. Selvig tweaked his device, muttering to himself, and Bruce tried to think up a way to do what these people wanted him to do.

He started by examining the Tesseract. He was reluctant to get too close, since it (she?) was apparently temperamental, but there was a pair of tongs next to the case, and Bruce used those to prise the cube from its home and look at it more closely. It was a cube, glowing swirling blue, but it didn't look like anything much.

If it contained as much potential energy as Selvig seemed to think, it would probably have to be activated somehow.

But that wasn't Bruce's job. His job was to find a way to block the gamma rays it was emitting from detection. And apparently throwing it into a lead box wasn't an option. Because it 'didn't like' that.

There were other ways to block gamma rays, but if the lead box wasn't to the Tesseract's liking, probably none of those other things would be as well. So Bruce started thinking outside the box, as it were.

It occurred to him, after some time, that if GPS satellites could be used to track the Tesseract, then perhaps the secret wasn't to shield the Tesseract, but to disable the satellites. Of course, doing so was beyond his capabilities—beyond just about anyone's capabilities—but as far as solutions went, it was about all he had.

That figured out, he turned at least part of his attention to gathering information about his location and about what the other people around him were doing. The area around him was crowded, filled with people and large crates that contained, Bruce figured, weapons. It looked like they were in some kind of military storage area or something, which didn't bode well—what had happened to the people working here?

Bruce found that if he craned his neck, he could see around the nearby support pillars and catch glimpses of other people—armed, mostly blue-eyed—but he didn't want to draw attention to himself by looking around too much.

It had been about two hours since he started working when Barton approached.

Bruce looked up, but Barton didn't have anything to say. He just set a bottle of water and a couple of granola bars on the table before marching over to Selvig and holding up some kind of tablet computer. "This the stuff you need?"

Selvig glanced at the screen. "Yeah. Iridium. It's found in meteorites, makes antiprotons. Very hard to get ahold of."

Barton smirked. "Especially if SHIELD knows you need it."

"I didn't know I needed it," Selvig replied, eyebrows raised.

Bruce frowned. What on earth could they need antiprotons for? If Selvig didn't even understand what he was doing, that didn't bode well for the project.

He sighed and opened the water, taking a small sip and rubbing at his temple. This wasn't at all how he'd been planning to spend his day, and even though everything was fairly quiet at the moment, he couldn't ignore the fine, shining wire of stress that was running straight through him. He could pretend all the wanted that he was in his lab at Culver or someplace equally safe, but the fact remained he'd been abducted and pressed into working for a crazy guy going after world domination. With...antiprotons.

If that wasn't cause for stress, what was?

As if summoned by Bruce's thoughts, the 'crazy guy' in question appeared, swooping in from one of the many side passages in this underground hideout. He approached their work area slowly.

To Bruce's eyes, Loki looked...strained. But then, he was currently in the midst of taking over the world. A little stress seemed normal, in those circumstances.

Bruce snorted a small laugh to himself. Seemed like everyone was a little tense around here. Well, everyone who wasn't currently mind controlled, anyway.

Selvig dropped what he was doing and approached Loki, as did Barton (who'd been pacing the area for the last few hours; Bruce got the impression he was on Tesseract babysitting duty).

Since he hadn't been explicitly summoned, Bruce stayed where he was. He didn't want to draw Loki's attention to himself, which probably wouldn't bode well for anyone. Especially Bruce.

Selvig greeted Loki as if they were old friends, expression both reverent and somehow vacant. "The Tesseract is showing me so much. It's more than just knowledge, it's... truth."

Loki nodded. "I know." Bruce got the impression this wasn't the first time Loki had heard this. It wasn't the first time Bruce had, after all, and he had been here for considerably less time than Loki. To Barton, Loki asked, "What did it show you, Agent Barton?"

With remarkable energy (considering he looked just as terribly worn down as Selvig), Barton answered, "My next target."

That didn't sound good.

This was confirmed when Loki said, pleased, "Tell me what you need."

Purposefully, Barton grabbed a...bow? What the hell? out of a case perched on top of a stack of crates. "I'll need a distraction. And an eyeball."

Loki grinned. "Splendid. I am certain something can be arranged." He turned to Bruce. "And you? How goes your project?"

Bruce shrugged, uncomfortable under Loki's eyes. But then, because he apparently didn't know how to keep quiet, he blurted out, "Look, I'm not sure what you want me to do. If this thing," he gestured at the Tesseract, "Can't just be contained, then there's not much you can do to mask the radiation. Unless..." he hesitated, unwilling to divulge his idea to someone who was quite likely insane. But then, scrambling satellites was tricky business, and Loki probably couldn't do it. If he gave a solution, however improbable, it might buy him more time to gather information. Or to plan a way out of this.

"Yes?" Loki asked, patiently.

"Uh, well. The Tesseract can only be tracked via satellite. But if you scrambled the signal from the satellites, it might buy you some time."

Loki cocked his head to one side. "That can be done?"

"Sure," Bruce answered. "If you've got someone from NASA or something here, I don't know. In theory, yes."

Loki nodded. "Very well. Thank you, Dr. Banner." He turned and walked away. Before he left, though, he threw over his shoulder, "Barton, Banner, see that you are ready to depart in half an hour. We have an engagement to attend."

Then he was gone.

Leaving Bruce frowning in his wake. "What the hell was that?" Could Loki scramble the GPS satellites? Was he going to try?

Neither Selvig nor Barton answered. In fact, they both ignored him entirely. Barton placed his bow back in its case and started packing up some other gear. Selvig moved back to his device.

Ugh, mind controlled people. Terrible for getting information. If he was more confrontational, he might have demanded that one of them answer him, but that wasn't his style. No, he'd just have to keep watching. Waiting. Wondering. Worrying.

And now he had something new to worry about. Bruce had no idea where Loki was going in half an hour, and he had no desire to accompany him. But, given his current state of 'I have no idea what's going on' it didn't seem like he had much of a choice. If he tried to resist, Loki could just put him down for a nap and take him wherever, anyway. He gave a frustrated sigh. He was still clueless, still powerless, and still entirely at Loki's whim. And he'd just told the psycho how to go about avoiding having anyone track his dangerous, unstable, portal-opening power source.

Which meant that if anyone was tracking it, Bruce had just foiled their efforts. Didn't that make him an accomplice to Loki's plan?

Screw that. He wasn't Loki's accomplice. He'd just been doing what he had to do to avoid any trouble, at least until he knew what he was up against. He wasn't helping Loki because he wanted to, he just didn't really have a choice.

It wasn't like Loki had asked before kidnapping him and bringing him here. No, Loki had just knocked him out and carted him off, after vaguely hinting that...

Oh.

Suddenly, Bruce felt a little bit like he was going to throw up. Or a lot. In fact, bile was climbing up his throat at an alarming rate.

Because he'd just remember what Loki had said, just before he'd been knocked out. Bruce had said that he didn't think that Loki want to make him angry. To which Loki had replied...he'd said that he didn't want Bruce angry now. He'd also said something like...he'd find a better use for him than whatever Selvig needed. Because he was 'intrigued.'

And now Loki was planning on taking him to an 'engagement?'

Bruce could have kicked himself. How could he have forgotten that? He'd been a little distracted, sure, but forgetting that the megalomaniacal god-wannabe was apparently planning on throwing him at his enemies? That was kind of a big deal.

So not only had he helped Loki hide the Tesseract, he was going to, what? Bruce didn't even know what Loki might be planning. The guy was nuts. But he knew what Bruce was, and he'd indicated that he intended to use Bruce in some capacity and...that couldn't happen.

Maybe...maybe he could get out of here. Escape. Do it carefully, quietly, without letting the Other Guy out. He'd already helped Loki enough. He didn't need to stick around and wait for Loki to set him off. Bruce had no doubts that he could. Loki could blow up walls and mind control people (although not him, thank god) and put people to sleep with a word. Loki was unpredictable. Violent. Exactly the kind of person Bruce needed to avoid.

And maybe, if he got out of here, he could find the 'good guys' and tell them what he knew, about the portal and the army that Loki thought was going to come through it. Maybe stop this whole thing before it happened.

Planning quickly, Bruce headed towards the corridor that Loki had just disappeared down. It wasn't a good plan—terrible, actually—but his recent revelation put a new layer of urgency on this. He wasn't going to be Loki's puppet. He couldn't let that happen.

Bruce made it approximately two steps down the hall before someone grabbed his wrist, hard, and wrenched it.

This effectively stopped his movement, but it didn't do much for the anxiety that had been thrumming through him since Loki had blasted through that wall in India. In fact, it actually caused his heart rate to spike.

"You need to stay in this area, Dr. Banner," Barton said, his tone flat, but not at all hostile, as if twisting Bruce's hand nearly to the point of breaking was a friendly greeting.

Bruce found the contradiction a little hard to deal with. Also, the pain in his arm made communication a little tricky. Still, he managed, "Uh, okay. Sorry. Sorry. I was looking for a bathroom." He'd figured Barton would stop him, but he'd been desperate. The lie was the best he could do.

And apparently, it was enough for someone who was mind controlled. The pressure on his wrist was removed, and Barton was suddenly in front of Bruce, leading the way down the hall. "This way. It's a bit of a walk."

Rubbing his wrist, Bruce followed him down the hall. Barton's reaction to his wandering meant that Bruce was, at least in Loki's eyes, still a 'prisoner' and not an 'accomplice.' Probably, he was more like a 'weapon' than either a prisoner or accomplice.

Bruce wondered, if he ever found the 'good guys,' if they would be that discerning.


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