Tony sat in the hotel room drinking again while Bruce was taking a shower. Nothing about that day sat right with him, nothing went as planned.

"Loki you bastard, show yourself." Tony said slightly drunk again. Suddenly Loki materialized in the empty chair next to Tony, drink in hand. "Or should I say, Luke, head of sales."

"I believe I should be congratulated for my promotion Stark." Loki said as he took a sip of his drink. "And I believe a thank you is in order for retrieving your friend."

"No, I don't think so. I told you that I didn't want you to go near him. What did you do, you dick?"

Loki looked at Tony and rolled his eyes. "I told you to not to call me when you are intoxicated." He put a hand to Tony's head and painfully forced Tony through his buzz and subsequent hangover in a matter of seconds. Tony let out an agonizing groan and fell back in his chair blinking the pain away and trying to focus his now sober mind. Loki smiled triumphantly at his work. "Now to answer your question, I merely gave you something simple to play with; a team building exercise. I had my employees possess some werewolves. It would have been a simple hunt; they were weak to just about everything. I did not expect him to lose control so quickly. You should have him work on that. Though that other side of him made nice work of my creation. It was very interesting."

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. "Quick question: can you be any more of a dick?"

Loki smirked. "Keep flirting with me and you'll have to take me out to dinner."

"Don't be an asshole. I don't know what your game is, but don't screw with him anymore. Ever. Again."

"You are making me jealous, Stark, caring about him like that. I'm just trying to stave off boredom. You are only alive because I have plans for you. It would be wise to remember that. I am only trying to help the poor man gain control of himself. He'll be worthless to the both of us if he cannot manage something as simple as that."

"He wouldn't have to try to gain control if it weren't for you in the first place!"

"He would be dead if not for me. And you would be in Hell."

"He told me that he'd rather be dead than kill anyone." Tony straightened up and walked over to Loki's seat, glaring down at him. "You can drag me to Hell one day but you better watch your back because you can make damn sure that I'll be coming for you. You caused the accident to happen in the first place anyway."

"Ooo, I'm shaking, Stark. I helped here and there to keep that man alive from an accident I may or may not have caused. Was it my fault that his friends sold their souls in college to be doctors? I was there when it happened; he wanted to live at any cost. Humans are never satisfied with their lot."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have Bruce come out here and introduce you to him as the guy who ruined his life? I'm sure he'll take it well."

"As much as I would love to knock heads, I doubt you have told him that his predicament is partly your fault. He was made for the both of us, after all. Have you told him you have sold your soul?"

Tony grimaced. "No, because that has nothing to do with him. This is about him, not me."

Loki paused and shook his head. "It's all connected, Tony-dear. Perhaps fate was at work? Perhaps he was destined for this, as you were destined to sell your soul to me."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Tony shouted as the water in the other room came to a stop.

"The will of Heaven is not for mortals to know, Stark." Loki took one last sip before setting his glass down. "Try to get him to control himself. It is for everyone's best interests."

"Especially yours, pretty-boy."

"Do you really think I'm pretty, Stark?" Loki smirked, batting his eyes. Before Tony could retaliate Loki was gone.

Bruce cracked open the door and peeked out. "Was someone here?"

"No," Tony stammered. "Just me. I was making sure that my offices know who you are so we won't run into that problem again."

"Oh...sorry. I thought I heard a familiar voice. Sorry you had to get upset," Bruce said as he fully opened the door and walked out, sitting in a chair by the desk.

"So do you remember what happened at the lab? How did you get hurt more than the knife? Was it the monsters? Cause if they bit you, you might be a werewolf now."

Bruce paled at Tony's words and flicked his head down to his arm, only to see the injury had completely healed. "I... I think it was just a scratch thankfully, but I can't tell anymore. The mark is gone," he said as he showed Tony his arm.

"Awe, well you're probably immune anyway."

"With the way my luck is going, I'd doubt that." Bruce said. He turned back in his seat when he noticed a blue glow peeking through Tony's shirt for an instant. He squinted his eyes and turned again. "I'm definitely not seeing things. I could never see it before, but I guess it was because you had a darker shirt on, but what is that?" he asked, motioning towards Tony's chest. "If you don't mind me asking," he added quickly.

"Nothing." Tony said quickly putting his hand over his chest. "Just..."

"I'm sorry! That was rude. You don't have to tell me anything. I'm really sorry."

"No, no... This is important." Tony sighed heavily and took off his shirt, revealing the glowing blue circle on his chest. "It's ... my soul."

"Your... your soul. How did that... what happened?"

"I was in an accident, well it was more of an assassination. I was kidnapped and tortured, and eventually, killed. I sold my soul to a demon in order to come back to life. I figured, hey, I'm Tony Stark. I have the best lawyers money can buy; I can get out of this. But I could not convince my lawyers that I had sold my soul or that even Loki was real, and well...then my time ran out. It's been ten years, and it should have been time to collect. But the demon took an interest in me. He said that as long as I entertained him and promised to be useful, he would keep me alive."

"I... I remember reading about that time you were kidnapped but I never knew... I'm so sorry." The two sat in silence for a few moments. "How do you know how much longer you have? Is demon hunting what you do to entertain him?"

"Ah," Tony ran his hands across his face. "He could literally drag me to Hell any second he gets bored of me. I try to hunt to keep him entertained, and he sends some things my way to help spice things up. Like today...Like...you."

Bruce stared at him for a few moments of uncomfortable silence. "I-I'm sorry, what was that?"

"You're... situation...Might be partly my fault..."

"I... explain?"

"The demon, well, as he told me, was collecting some souls from your lab the day of the accident. Apparently, your co-workers cheated and wished their way through college. When his Hell-hound showed up, it caused the accident. When he saw you, he decided to mess with you. He figured, why not, you would have died anyway. So...he made you more receptive to the radiation so that it wouldn't kill you. And this was the result. He then worked things so that I would find you so that we could entertain him." Tony put his head in one of his hands. "Shit man, I'm sorry Bruce... This is all my fault..."

Bruce looked down at his hands in his lap. "So, you've spoken to him some time after I met you?" His voice was eerily quiet.

Tony hesitated. "...You know that guy who picked you up? That was him. His real name is Loki."

"...Can you make him... come here?"

"He shows up when he wants but I can try." Tony cleared his throat and adjusted in his chair. "Loki."

After a few minutes of waiting in silence Tony closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "Loki, dear. Someone wants to speak to you, you bastard!"

They sat in silence for a bit longer before Tony sighed in resignation. "Well that usually works."

"...that cowardly son of a bitch," Bruce cursed through his teeth and clenched his fists. "He... he did this to us. He's taking you to Hell and he's made me into a monster," he seethed and looked directly in his eyes. "I'm going to find him."

"No need, darling, I'm right here." Loki's smooth voice answered as he brushed his hand across the side of Bruce's face. Bruce turned around to see Loki standing just behind him. "Sorry I took so long, Tony-dear, I was waiting to see if you two would kiss to try to make me jealous."

Bruce flew out of his seat and stared the demon down. "Who do you think you are, ruining peoples' lives?!"

"I'm a demon, what did you expect?" Loki said through a laugh.

Bruce's glare deepened as his eyes glowed green.

Tony stood up and walked between the two, holding out his arms. "Wait; let's just stop for a second."

"No need to be so protective, Tony." Loki waved his hand and Bruce slammed down back into his chair. He struggled to get up but he was unable to move. "I can handle myself. Now, you wished to speak to me?"

Bruce stopped straining and glared tensely at the demon. "Stop everything you're doing. Turn me back to normal, give Tony his soul back, and stop harming anyone else that you've come into contact with, now."

Loki paused and looked around the room questioningly. "...Or, what? Why in all of Hell should I obey you? You can do nothing to me you pathetic moral fool!" Loki sneered as he slapped Bruce hard in the mouth. "I am a demon! I can do whatever I want! You cannot kill me, you cannot harm me. The worst you can do, you sniveling ape, is destroy my vessel, and I oh so adore this body. You are in no position to make demands."

Bruce tried to bring his breathing back to normal. "There's always a way. You're going to regret doing this to me."

"If I had a penny for every time I heard that I would have more money than Stark." Loki walked over to Tony, who was just standing idly by his chair the whole time. "You see, Stark here has learned how to deal with power," Loki slapped Tony, but Tony only moved his head from the force, he did not move to retaliate. "Haven't you, dear?" Loki pushed Tony to the ground and laughed a bit. "Stark, here is aware when he cannot win. Look at him. At my mercy and he knows it!" Loki continued his display with a swift kick to Tony's stomach.

Tony held back a grimace, keeping his face as blank as he could. He looked up from where he fell on the ground just as Bruce let out a snarl and tried to push himself out of his chair.

"As much fun as this meeting has been, I must be off." Loki smiled patting Bruce on the cheek. "But before I go, a quick word of advice: Try to control the monster. It will make things so much more interesting."

Bruce jerked his head out of Loki's hand and then rammed into him with it. Loki didn't even flinch from the impact. Instead, he just let out a soft chuckle and rustled Bruce's hair. "Why should I listen to anything you say?!" he yelled up at him.

"Because, what other choice do you have?" And with that Loki had vanished. Bruce nearly catapulted out of the chair as he finally managed to stand up. He started pacing within a few feet of his chair, rubbing his face and evening his breathing.

"Well that was fun." Tony said getting up from the floor.

Bruce stopped after a minute more and leaned against the wall with a sigh, slumping his shoulders. "Yeah, he's the life of the party," he said breathlessly and then looked over at Tony. "What do we do now?"

"Entertain him" Tony said, rubbing his stomach. "Do what he says until we find out how to kill him. Nothing else we can do."

"So, we have to just sit here and keep looking behind our backs until he throws more 'entertainment' at us?" Bruce asked, an edge to his voice.

"Well it's not so bad. The guy is a natural at making it all seem like it is your idea. It's honestly hard to know when he's working sometimes." Tony grabbed another drink and took a large gulp. "He can be helpful too. As long as you make it for the game he does not mind helping you cheat here and there."

"I don't think so. I'm not playing his game. That guy's head is a bag of cats. Besides, how is he going to let you run around and find ways to kill him? That's suicide for you."

After a few moments of silence, Bruce let out a sigh and pushed himself off of the wall. "We're going to have to separate. I'll find a way to kill him while you distract him."

"Yeah, that won't work." Tony sighed, refilling his drink. "He'll bring us back together again. Trust me. I've been trying to get away from him and his games for years. You want to know how I'm able to call him without a summoning spell? Because he's listening to me. He's probably keeping an eye on you too now after our little chat."

Bruce licked his lip and walked towards the desk behind Tony. "So, you're saying that we can either: A) stay together in this room and wait for him to drag you to Hell, or B) stay together, go find a way to kill him, and then have him drag you to Hell for trying to kill him."

"Oh, he probably won't kill me for trying to kill him. The masochistic bastard would probably get a kick out of us trying."

"It's... it's still too risky," Bruce said as he got up from his chair and started towards the door. "I'll go on ahead. You just... be careful."

"Bruce wait." Tony turned the drink around in his hand before continuing. "Before you go. Take the bag by the door. There are keys to the car downstairs and a credit card. There are a bunch a weapons and whatever you should need in the trunk. It's not much, but it's my standard hunter starter kit. I hope you can accept it as the start of an apology. It's my fault you got into this mess..."

Bruce stopped at the door and let out a sigh as he turned around to look at him, a soft smile on his lips. "None of this is your fault, Tony. You didn't ask for all of this to happen." He picked up the bag by the door and gave him one last look. "I'm going to turn off the trackers on here so you aren't able to find me... and won't be forced to find me. I'll call you when this is all over."

"Alright. Don't hesitate to call if you need anything, Spanky." Tony smiled but Bruce could tell that Tony was a bit broken hearted.

"Tony... listen," he dropped the bag back on the floor and walked over to the other. "You know that we can't stay together for this. Nothing will get done. Actually, the only thing that will get done is whatever he wants; you dying, me killing, and others getting hurt or stuck in our predicaments. I don't know any other way to do this. I'm sorry."

"I know, I know. It's just that... Be careful okay. The last time I tried to get away... people got hurt. Just be careful."

Bruce frowned and leaned against the desk to look Tony in the eyes. "Wait... what do you mean, 'people got hurt'?"

"My...former assistant, Pepper, well, her name is Virginia Potts, but I called her Pepper," Tony said with a sad smile. "Five year ago I started to get scared. It really sunk in that Loki was going to take my soul. So I tried to get him off my tail. Then Loki sent one of his Hell-hounds to get me or ruff me up or something, and I managed to kill it, and man that took some work but it was awesome." Tony laughed sadly. "But then Loki retaliated. He kidnapped Pepper and told me I had three hours to find her. I managed to find her in time, but she was a bloody mess. She was in surgery for nine hours just trying to get her stable. She's still in a hospital in New York in a coma, likely from all of the shock." Tony drummed the glass a little. "I belong to Loki now." Tony said in a sing-song way as he took a long drink. "I stay useful to him and he keeps me immortal, otherwise he'll send me to Hell."

Bruce's face contorted from sadness to fear. "Jesus Christ," he muttered as he flopped down into a chair. "I'm... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should have thought about something like that happening I just…" he swiped his hand over his eyes and let his face lean into it. "Shit. What are we...what can we do? Is there even anything we can do?"

"Try to survive. I've been looking into how to kill a demon, and there are ways, but mostly I would need rare magical weapons that I can't get a hold of. He's powerful, but he loves the game more than anything. He'll keep you alive if he finds it funny. I remember one time I was impaled right here, right through the chest, when hunting Jinn. Loki resurrected me just to see the Jinn flip out in confusion when I got up like a zombie. Granted his face was priceless, but it hurt like hell."

Bruce pulled the tablet out of his pocket and put it on the table. "Show me everything you know so far. We'll leave in the morning."

"Leave? Where do you want to go?"

"To find the weapons!"

"Slow your roll, Brucey-boy. I only know of two weapons that can kill demons and they are in use right now." Tony took another sip. "We can't go borrowing them either."

"I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing."

"Yeah, and I'm not going to take away weapons from hunters who are trying to stop the apocalypse. So we need to first look for another weapon."

"Wait... the apocalypse. The apocalypse? I saw that in your notes but I didn't thi-," he shook his head.

"Yeah, the hunter world is full of fun stuff." Tony sighed.

Bruce sighed. "No. Forget it. Let's just focus on the task at hand. How can we find these kinds of weapons?"

"Right now, we'll just have to see if anything comes up. Network with other hunters, pour over the Lore. Something will come up. But it's a slow process."

"Where do we start?"

"We don't. It'll have to come to us. Most things do in this business."

Bruce just stared at Tony. "Right. Just sit here and do nothing. Of course." He got up and walked over to one of the two beds in the room. "I'm going to sleep then. I haven't slept in... I don't even know." He flipped onto the bed and turned away.