"You're insane! You know that, right? Absolutely batshit insane." Bruce paced the lab, running his hands though his hair over and over and glancing periodically at Tony with an incredulous look on his face. "Batshit, bugfuck, over the moon insane. What on earth made you think this was a good idea?"

Tony had to hide a smile. The doc rarely swore, and it was made all the funnier by the fact that he was trying to stay calm and quiet, so the rant was more of a "don't wake the children" type whisper than a full out tirade. "Do you have a better plan?"

Bruce stopped pacing and placed his hands on the table, straight armed, head hanging. Without looking up he mumbled, "Anything but purposely calling the Other Guy. We don't know what he'd do. Throw Loki into the mix and we could have a catastrophe on our hands." He took a slow, deep breath. "Why'd you bring him here anyway? What possessed you to bring Loki here. Why not to Fury? Why not to Thor? Anywhere but here? And wanting to bait him? You're as crazy as an outhouse rat."

Tony turned the screen he'd been fiddling with. Bruce circled the table and slid onto a work stool to watch. It was an edited video of the last few days. "It's so cold!" His voice was hushed as he picked up instantly what Tony had failed to notice at first. "He maintained that temperature?" Tony nodded. Fixated on the movie Bruce leaned forward murmuring. He saw the duplicate Loki, saw it vanish as Loki woke in terror. "What happened?" Barely audible when Loki emerged from the bathroom looking worse than when he'd entered.

"Near as I can tell, whatever happened after he 'died' was ..." He shrugged, unsure of what to say. "He's been tortured. Burns, what looks like whip marks, knife wounds..." He trailed off again as he saw Bruce tremble. "Don't think about it. Don't let it rile you up. You're right. We don't need to bring out the Hulk." He watched, on edge until Bruce settled down with several slow, deep breaths.

"I'm sorry Bruce." The doc nodded, but didn't speak. Tony moved on. "Anyway. He doesn't seem to recall anything. Didn't recognize me even!" Bruce laughed, a soft huff, at Tony's indignant narcissism. "I thought, since you - Hulk rather - kicked his ass quite handily that maybe we could smoke out whether he is bullshitting us about this memory thing. You know, show him someone he despises and piss him off to the point he slips up?"

Bruce chuckled. "I can see how you came to that... But why me? You could put Clint or Thor in the room with him. Or, hell, probably just hand him to S.H.I.E.L.D. and piss him off. You just want to see me lose it." He smiled slightly as Tony gave another shrug, a "you caught me" look plain on his face.

ooooooooo

Loki glanced up from the book he'd been reading when he heard footsteps. He'd been bored sitting alone in his room for so long. It had been almost two days since he'd woken and Tony had agreed that it must be a bit mind numbing and gave him free rein through the living room and kitchen area. Loki tired easily, though he really did seem to be getting better faster than normal. After all the supplemental drink and a few sandwiches - all Tony seemed capable of making on his own - he had lost the skeletal, haunted look, though he was far from hale and hearty. He closed the book, leaving a scrap of paper as a bookmark.

"Good morning." Tony smiled, as did the rumpled looking man standing slightly behind and to his side. Tony's smile was wide, open and bright. The other man had a more of a shy quirk to his lips and didn't look fully at Loki. "This is Bruce. You two have met before. He actually kicked your ass the last time. Smashed you into the floor - I had to have a new floor put in to get your imprint out." Tony had a playful tone, but the other man - Bruce - had snapped his attention to Tony and was looking between Loki and Tony as if he expected something disastrous.

Shrugging, Loki toyed with the book in his lap. Bruce was shorter than Tony by a bit, and bookish looking. He had unkempt curly hair and glasses, and a weariness to his stance that Loki could sympathize with. But being able to beat him? He hardly looked it - maybe Tony was making a joke. Loki smirked to himself. "If you say so. Do you plan on letting him do it again? I am feeling better, though hardly to full strength... And it would be a shame to put a dent in this floor."

Bruce stepped forward, nudging Tony as he passed, until he was standing in front of the chair Loki was lounging on. He crouched and Loki had a momentary vision of the time Tony had done the same thing. "You really... You don't remember?" He took off his glasses and stared into Loki's face. "Truly. Don't remember?" As he spoke Loki saw threads of green shift through his brown eyes.

Loki shifted uncomfortably. "How'd you do that?" Bruce blinked and his eyes were back to warm chocolate again. Loki stared still, until Bruce stood and turned to Tony.

"I don't think he's faking it Tony. He really doesn't remember." He shifted to face Loki again and held out his hand. "Hi Loki. Nice to officially meet you. I'm Bruce Banner."

Shaking the offered hand Loki raised an eyebrow. "Hello. I suppose I'm Loki. That's what he said my name is anyway." He nodded his head towards Tony, who was still standing there, arms folded across his chest and watching the scene. "Do you know how to make anything besides sandwiches? Tony can't cook to save his life and I'm sick of this chocolate shake supplement stuff."

Bruce laughed, startling Loki and Tony. He got the feeling it wasn't a common occurrence for his new acquaintance. Tony chuckled too.

"He's got your number, Stark. Yeah, I cook. What do you want?" His eyes glittered with humor and Loki smiled back.

"Anything that's not peanut butter. Meat would be good." He couldn't think of anything specific.

"It'll depend on what he's got in the place, but I'm sure I could manage something. If nothing else there's always shwarma..."

The other two shared a look that said Bruce wasn't speaking gibberish, but Loki just looked blank. With a sheepish glance Bruce stammered an apology and went off to the kitchen.

Loki turned to Tony. "Your friend seems a little... Off." He couldn't settle on a word, and he didn't want to offend.

"Yeah, well, he can be a bit of a monster at times. The rest of the time he's just a shy marshmallow. He makes a hell of a meal though. You doing alright Bambi?"

He'd done a bit of research on the small tablet Tony had lent him. He knew Bambi was a deer.. Though why Tony kept referring to him as such was still a mystery. The ... what was it called... internet ... was an intriguing thing. Something he was fairly sure hadn't been a part of his life before. The small device had yielded tons of information, though nothing wholly useful as such. Tony was waiting for an answer. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I feel up to getting some new clothes today if that's ok by you." He motioned to the sweats and t-shirt "I kinda want something a little more..." He waved his hand back and forth in a waffling motion.

"Hey, that's a classic rock shirt man. But yeah. We can go after lunch. Have Bruce let me know when it's ready. I'm going to the lab."

"I will." He picked his book up as Tony left the room, shifting to keep the bright sunlight out of his eyes, and went back to reading.

oooooooo

"Odd and the Frost Giants... Out of all the books to pick, he picks that one? A subconscious effort to remind himself of who and what he is?" Tony muttered, making a few modifications to the surveillance in Loki's room. He had adjusted the camera so it showed only the door to the room - it felt wrong to watch the former god sleeping now that he was obviously no longer on death's doorstep. He also added audio capabilities, set for Jarvis to alert him if Loki said certain key words.

He just hoped Loki didn't remember suddenly that they hated one another and blast the hell out of him. Bruce had taken Loki out for clothes after lunch, taking one of Tony's credit cards with them. Tony hated shopping for anything that wasn't shiny, electronic, or motorized. When the other two had left he'd turned on the stereo system and started adjusting a few things around the penthouse, finally able to relax and be off of high alert. He sang along, badly and off key, and waited for the notice that the guys were back.