I do not own any of the characters present. They belong to Marvel. This was written purely for fun. Also, there are several references to the 2011 film "Thor" and the 2008 film "The Incredible Hulk" in here.


"Loki's magic is powerful, but even he cannot reach across realms to cast spells," Thor said, his eyes still glued on the iPad. "You must be mistaken, Metal Man."

The Avengers had gathered outside of the room holding the Hulk not long after Tony had calmed the big guy down again. Tony, still mildly shocked by the revelation both the Hulk and Bruce himself had informed him of, had ordered them to come down to the containment cell and to bring an iPad with access to the security feed. As soon as the big guy had started talking in the playback, the small group had collectively held their breath and just watched. When Tony paused the feed, he looked directly at each of them in turn while he told them that Loki had somehow taken control of Bruce's mind.

"He only knows two gods," Tony pressed, glancing up at the demigod. "One: you're clearly not 'puny,' and two: you're also clearly not doing this to Bruce, which leaves only Loki as the culprit." At Thor's silence and unbelieving look, Tony sighed. "Look, can you at least check? This is Bruce who is at stake here. If Loki's not behind whatever is going on, we'll have one less suspect. I'd go myself, but considering how well my suit did in space last time…" Another breath escaped from him. "Please, can you just look?"

Thor remained silent for a moment before he tightened his hold on his hammer. "Very well," he said in a resigned sigh. "It is impossible for my brother to perform magic from the prison he is presently in, but this…" His eyes returned to the image on the screen. "…this speaks of dark magic, and does not bode well." He looked down at the man in the iron suit. "I will return soon."

"Thanks buddy," Tony said, clapping him on the shoulder.

The team watched as the God of Thunder left them, heading toward the deck. Once the demigod was out of earshot, Clint let out a string of curses and started pacing. Natasha watched him, a small spark of sadness appearing in her eyes, and she placed her hand on his shoulder to get him to stand still. Tony peeked back into the room to check on the Hulk, who was had his hands on the sides of his head and was growling.

Steve finally lowered the iPad and looked at his teammates. "Tony, are you absolutely sure it's Loki doing this? Thor said he—"

"I don't care what Thor said," the iron-clad man interrupted as his eyes shot to the captain. "That was Bruce I talked to in there, and he said it was the puny god. And the Hulk knows that they're both in his head."

"But how could he reach across space?" Steve insisted. He looked confused by the concept, but even he knew that it was a considerable distance from here to wherever it was Thor and Loki hailed from. "Is he really that powerful?"

"Yes," Clint replied readily, giving the soldier a heated stare. "And maybe the rest of Asgard will start to realize that and properly lock him up, preferably in a prison that actually performs its functions competently."

"He's certainly taken a liking to Dr. Banner," Steve mused. "First the invasion, and now this? Why?"

"The Hulk," Natasha answered. "He was hell-bent on having the Hulk take us down last time. Maybe he wants the same thing now."

"Then why wouldn't he take over the Hulk's mind?" Clint asked. "Why take over Bruce's?"

"I bet he still thinks the big guy is mindless," Tony muttered angrily. "If he took over Bruce, locked him away in his own head, then the Hulk would have free reign over wherever he was." A sinking feeling overtook him and he looked up, realization dawning. "…and with the Hulk out destroying everything in reality, he could destroy Bruce from within."

The silence that followed was nearly deafening; the only things that kept it from being completely noiseless were the engines and the growling coming from the next room. Each of the team members remained quiet for a long time, lost in their own racing thoughts.

Clint broke the hush with a breathed curse. "Loki isn't just going to throw his hands up and surrender when Thor comes investigating," he grumbled as he started pacing again. He came to a stop in front of the open doorway and gazed into the room where the Hulk was currently caged.

Tony looked away from the archer and to the other two team members. "He's right; Loki isn't just going to roll over. I'm going to keep the big guy calm, but…just be ready. After my conversation with Bruce, the Hulk came back roaring. I'm guessing that Loki found out that Bruce had somehow made contact with us and punished him for it, given how violent the big guy became after that. I'll try to keep him calm, but just be ready for anything—"

"I'm not going to sit around and wait," Clint growled suddenly, turning enraged eyes on the engineer. He drew an irritated breath and ran a hand over his face in frustration. "I'm going to get a room set up for Bruce in medical. There's a machine up there that they used on me last time to see if there were still traces of Loki in my head; I'll get that ready. Keep me posted; I'll come back down if I'm needed." Before anyone had a chance to comment on his decision, the archer turned on the heel of his boot and stormed off.

Steve slowly looked over at Natasha, who was staring after her partner with a knowing look in her eyes. "I guess that leaves us to explain what's going on to Fury and the rest of SHIELD," he said, not sounding particularly up to the task. Once the assassin gave a single nod, the super soldier turned to the man in the iron suit. "Keep us updated. If he looks like he's going to break out, we'll come straight back." He placed a hand briefly on Tony's shoulder. "Good luck."

Tony watched as the last two of his comrades walked off, leaving him alone in the hallway. He drew a breath and returned to the room.

The giant green man within the holding tank glanced over toward the entrance of the room when Tony pulled the door shut behind him. Tony tried to put on a casual grin, but he couldn't quite pull the expression off. He approached the cage and laid a hand against the glass. "We have Thor returning home to confront the puny god, Big Green. It should be over soon." Seriousness crept onto his face and into his voice. "But you're going to have to do me a favor, Big Guy. You have to stay as calm as you can. Can you do that for me?"

The Hulk's eyes narrowed on the iron-clad man as if to ask 'why?'

"Well, I'm sure you don't want to smash anyone right now, am I right?" Tony asked.

"Hulk want to smash puny god," the giant green man rumbled in response, sounding like there was nothing else he would rather be doing at the moment.

A small smirk appeared on the engineer's face. "Don't we all? Thing is, Big Green, he's not here. I'm sure you don't want to smash anyone on the helicarrier, is what I was getting at. Now, and I hate to tell you this, I think things are gonna get a little worse before the puny god leaves you and Bruce alone, and I'm not so sure how well this cell will hold against another round with your rage. If you stay calm, we'll be able to help you and Bruce faster. Can you do that for me? Can you try to keep calm?"

The green goliath continued to stare at the man beyond the glass, but he finally let out a subdued exhale. "Hulk try."

Tony smiled and patted the glass. "I'll be with you the whole time," he said as the Hulk began pacing restlessly again.


Thousands of sounds crashed against his ears, warring for acknowledgement in his head. Even with his eyes slammed shut, he could still see the flashing colors of light from the memories that were flying around him, illuminating the darkened atmosphere with their ambient light through his eyelids.

Bruce was vaguely aware that Loki was commenting on everything he was seeing, but the cascade of noises assaulting him left the demigod's voice lost in the clamor. His head was pounding aggressively as his mind rapidly tried to match the sounds with the images that corresponded to each memory. The result was flashes of each memory in his mind's eye before it would quickly shift to the next sound his mind could accurately identify. Flashes of his mother lying in a pool of blood, her eyes staring unseeingly up at him as his father screamed at him for not protecting her. A whisper of his name conjured the image of Betty. A harsh yell of 'monster' brought memories of General Ross, inside the hospital room after that initial incident with the other guy as he stood over the hospital bed, staring down at the unconscious Betty. Gunfire. Roars. Army vehicles. Fires. Destruction. Screams. Death.

All his fault.

This needed to stop. Trembling hands clutched at the sides of his head, his shaky fingers running through his greying locks. He couldn't do this. It was too much, too much for his already unstable mind to handle. He felt his body curling further into himself, as if making himself smaller in this hostile environment would have less of an effect on him.

Who was he fooling?

A wavering breath in, a shaky exhale out. Breathe; just breathe. Focus on breathing; ignore everything else—

Muffled screams instantly conjured a hazy vision of scientists, staring up at him with terror written clear as day across their features. Betty's wide, horrified eyes on him. Green hands and sparks flying as he destroyed the laboratory machinery that had somehow malfunctioned. Shattering glass. Blood on her face. Her eyes closed, as if in death.

His stomach instantly roiled and he cringed deeper into the pathetic ball he was curled into. His throat was too tight to swallow the lump that seemed to have lodged itself there and breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. How was he to focus on breathing when each next inhale seemed forced and actually painful to take? He couldn't do this.

There was only one other time he had ever felt this wound up, only one other time he had found himself at the end of his rope.

Suddenly, there was silence. Bruce kept his eyes shut as nothing but the sound of his own strained and shaky breathing filled the abrupt hush. Even Loki had fallen silent.

The bone-chilling metallic click of a pistol's hammer being cocked into place echoed through the air.

Bruce's eyes flew open and in a spasm of movement, he found himself staring at the crystal-clear memory of the night sky, somewhere deep in the woods. Away from people. Away from noise. Away from life itself. Stars shone brightly in the bits of sky he could see through the canopy of trees above him, twinkling carelessly for the entire world to see. There was a crackle, and the memory shifted to where he could see the dying embers of what remained of a small campfire glowing red.

In the red lighting lay the pistol in his hand, fully cocked and ready to use.

A frightening calm engulfed Bruce, just as it had on that night as he laid under the stars with the gun in his hand. The doctor turned his focus away from the memory and he looked slowly over at the demigod. Loki was watching the scene play out with rapt attention. This was not in his file, Bruce mused to himself. No one had known he had done this until his confession in the heat of the moment on the helicarrier two months ago.

His eyes slipped shut. He didn't need to watch; this memory was unwavering, something he'd remember for the rest of his days. He could still feel the weight of the weapon in his hands, the pressure of the trigger against his fingertip, the overwhelming sense of tranquility, the only tranquil moment he had known in years.

The taste of cold metal in his mouth.

He didn't flinch when a single shot exploded through the air. The lighting against his eyelids went black as the memory suddenly ended. He heard the demigod draw a surprised breath, which caught the physicist slightly off-guard; he would have found that fascinating if he had the capability to care at that point, but he was far too focused on the other half of that memory, on what followed the darkness.

The soreness of his body, the brightness of sunlight against his naked form lying prone in the wilderness, the day greeting him with warm tendrils of light as if he had woken up solely to see the sun, the dawn of a new day.

The taste of gunpowder in his mouth.

The feeling of the other guy lurking in the back of his mind, the rage, the green haze, all still there.

The realization that no matter what he did, he would never escape from him, not with a cure, not in death. Nothing. There was nothing he could do.

The sobs that had shaken him to his core at that realization, his cries of despair contrasting starkly against the gentle sounds of nature of a morning in the forest.

A sound of movement brought him back to the present and he slowly opened his eyes to stare lethargically at the phantom ground. He could see Loki in his peripheral vision, but he didn't look up.

"You attempted to end your life," the demigod said quietly into the darkness.

"Yes," Bruce replied in a tight voice without lifting his eyes. A bitter laugh escaped from him. "And I couldn't even do that right."

Loki chuckled softly to himself and began to approach the man crouched on the floor. "You are too stubborn to die," he mused.

Bruce turned his head just slightly to look at the demigod from the corner of his eye. "No, the other guy is too stubborn to die."

"And where, do you suppose, does the mindless creature get it from?" Loki questioned with a smirk. "Why else would you contact the monster?"

Before the physicist could remark that they were backtracking, something clicked in his head. He turned a little to look more directly at the demigod, who was still approaching him, with slightly narrowed eyes. "Is that what all of this is?" he asked. "Are you planning to kill me?"

The smirk on the demigod's face became a wicked grin. "Originally, I had planned to leave you in a permanently comatose state, to get you out of the way for my vengeance. However—" He paused in his movements to stare down at the doctor, his eyes taking a dark turn. "—because you have contacted the rest of your team, death seems like the only logical option."

Bruce returned the demigod's stare for a long moment. "I really doubt your logic," he said at last. "If you kill me here, would that kill the other guy too?"

"Will that really matter," Loki asked, his grin widening, "in the grand scheme of things? One of two things shall happen. One: I kill you here, and the monster dies in reality, or two: I kill you here, and set the monster free in reality. I, personally, am fine with either outcome."

The apathy on the doctor's face began to crack. There was no telling what the Hulk was capable of as a single-minded being, but Bruce was certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Hulk would take down the helicarrier and claim hundreds of lives before the army and SHIELD could even make him break a sweat.

"…then what's keeping you?" the physicist asked quietly. "You could have killed me this entire time. You have your magic; what's keeping you?"

A laugh escaped from the demigod and he gave the doctor a belittling eye. "You mortals seem to think magic is limitless. No, magic has gotten me this far. All that is left is a more…hands-on approach to killing you."

A sense of foreboding overcame Bruce and he tensed. "Meaning?" he risked asking.

He let out a sharp yell when a kick landed against his shoulder, sending him sprawling against the floor several feet away from the demigod. Pain shot through his arm and he drew a hissing breath in, his free hand darting to the throbbing shoulder. He looked up at demigod in time to see a frightening smirk twist his lips.

"Meaning, beast, that I get to physically beat you until your mind can no longer stand the torment," Loki replied in, Bruce shuddered to hear, a gleeful voice.


Tony was doing his absolute best to keep the Hulk as calm as possible, but the longer the Asgardian was gone, the more he began to worry. Not for Thor, however; for Bruce. Loki surely wasn't going to relinquish his hold on his lab partner's mind without a fight. What that meant for the Hulk, he was anticipating, was one hell of a headache.

And if the brief bouts of violence from the Hulk in the past few hours meant that Loki had done something particularly bad to Bruce, he could only imagine what the big guy would do when Loki felt his spell was being threatened.

At present, the green being within the glass cage was pacing again, but he seemed much more antsy. His green eyes would dart to Tony at random intervals, as if to just make sure he was still there, but his eyes overall remained ever on the move. The only sounds to be heard above the constant hum of the helicarrier was that of his thundering footsteps and his heavy breathing, every now and then punctuated by a growl of pain.

The snarls of pain also seemed to be happening much more frequently than before, but the Hulk had been valiant in his attempts to keep himself from rampaging around the cage. If the big guy's behavior had any correlation to whatever was happening with Bruce, then whatever was happening in the Hulk's head was not good. It didn't take a genius like Tony to see that.

Another sharp snarl snapped the iron-clad man from his musings. "You're alright, Big Green," Tony said coolly, drawing the Hulk's focus away from something he couldn't smash. "You're doing great. Just keep it cool."

A low growl escaped from the giant green man as the Hulk gave Tony a helplessly antagonized look and started to move restlessly about the cell again.

Tony's eyes followed the big guy in his movements for a moment before he too started to pace. Mr. God of Thunder needed to hurry up, before things got worse. Word had spread after Steve and Natasha had told Fury what they thought was going on, and if SHIELD had been uneasy before, the tension on the helicarrier now was so thick it was smothering. Having Bruce transform unexpectedly was one thing; to have him also possibly under Loki's control was something else, but to have the goddamned Hulk under Loki's control was completely different. As soon as the agents had heard the name of the demigod, memories from before the invasion had instantly come flooding back and tensions rose. What they didn't seem to understand, as Steve and Natasha had tried to explain, was that it wasn't the green goliath that Thor's deranged brother was after, but Bruce himself. That didn't seem to register to any of the SHIELD agents.

Nevertheless, Steve was able to talk the agents down before they did something drastic that really would have set the Hulk off. So long as the big guy stayed calm and didn't escape from his cage, hell wouldn't break loose on the helicarrier.

Tony found himself looking back at the big guy again when another abrupt hiss of pain sounded over their footsteps. Thor needed to hurry up before something really bad happened.


Heimdall was waiting when Thor landed on the rainbow bridge connecting Asgard to Midgard, having finally been recently reconstructed. "You are welcomed, my prince," Heimdall's strong voice sounded. He did not sound the least bit surprised by the crown prince's return, but then again, his constant vigilance over the bridge between the two realms had probably left him with a fairly good idea as to why Thor had returned.

Thor would have stayed to chat with the sentry, but he had a mission to complete. "Good Heimdall, I must ask a favor of you," he began as he stepped toward the sentry. "Please watch over Midgard for the appearance of one Doctor Bruce Banner. He is currently lost to his rage and in the form of what the Midgardians call 'The Hulk.' Please, keep watch for Doctor Banner."

"Of course, my prince," Heimdall replied with a courteous nod of his head.

Thor returned the gesture and was off, heading straight toward where the prisons were. He was deeply concerned for the doctor, but he did not truly believe his brother was the one responsible. The prisons in Asgard blocked magic, and while Loki had always been a most powerful magician, even his powers could not break through the barriers. The Metal Man must have been mistaken in his concern for their friend.


Loki paused in his barrage of attacks and came to a standstill, his eyes lifting slightly. Bruce remained where he was lying on the ground, his own orbs lifting to the demigod as he attempted to catch his breath. His eyes fell upon the small daggar in the demigod's hand, noticing the crimson on the blade.

A grin appeared on Loki's face before he glanced back down at the doctor. "It would appear that my dear brother has arrived in Asgard. That gives you two very big problems, beast."

"Just two?" the physicist managed to whisper between strangled breaths. He could feel blood trickling down his face from the slice across his cheekbone.

"Oh yes," Loki replied with an overdramatic nod and a widening grin. "You see, this spell I have placed on you is most painful to remove by force, and no one uses brute force quite like my dear brother."

"And the other?" Bruce asked in spite of himself.

Loki's smirk filled with malice. "I do not plan to leave here without a fight. This will be most agonizing for you, Doctor Banner."

Bruce's eyes slipped shut again. "…what makes you think Thor went back to Asgard to break the spell?" he asked quietly.

"My brother is a self-righteous Asgardian, beast," Loki said in distaste. "Why would he squander the opportunity to rescue one of his own teammates?" The soft chuckle that snaked past his lips sent a shiver down the doctor's spine. "That is, he can try."


"Tony, what's wrong?" Steve's voice suddenly sounded as soon as Tony had his helmet reattached to the rest of his suit. "What's happening?"

"Thor needs to move his Asgardian ass, that's what's wrong," the iron-clad man growled into the radio, focusing on the schematics JARVIS was drawing up on the newest cracks in the glass.

Things were getting worse. The first roar had shaken the helicarrier into a foreboding silence. Tony had managed to get the Hulk to calm down enough before his giant green fists started flying. The big guy was trying, trying so hard to stay as calm as an enormous green rage monster could, but calm was really more of a Bruce quality; the Hulk didn't do calm very well.

The second time had resulted in a solid punch against (thankfully) the metal interspersed through the glass, which left a sizeable dent. As soon as he had calmed down enough to be conscious of his actions again, the big guy looked vaguely surprised and pretty pissed off when he found the new dent in the wall. He had let out an infuriated snarl and started pacing around his cage again, his hands on the sides of his head and growls becoming nearly constant.

It was on the third roar, with a well-placed blow against the glass, that Tony had decided to don his helmet to have JARVIS keep damage control.

It was getting harder and harder to keep the big guy calm. The three roars had taken place in the span maybe twenty minutes, but the last two had occurred within seven minutes of each other. Things were getting worse, and Tony could only do so much to keep the big guy from completely freaking out.

As JARVIS continued to zoom in on the newest fractures to the glass, Tony's eyes returned to the Hulk. Even the big guy looked a little unsettled by how hard it was becoming to control himself.

"The cell is still holding," Tony reported to Steve, glancing at the highlight cracks displayed on the screens before his eyes, "but I'm not sure for how much longer. Things are getting worse. He's trying to keep a hold on himself, but it's getting harder."

"Do you need us down there?" Steve asked, sounding both distressed and reluctant. Tony instantly understood the captain's plight. He wanted to be down there just in case things went south, but to have the team assemble would only show the rest of SHIELD that the situation was not under control and play further into their fears.

"No," the engineer replied. "No, we're okay for now. No need to get everyone else all worked up. We're okay. I'll let you know if you need to come down."

"Tony…"

"I will," Tony reiterated with force. "If things start to get out of hand, you'll be the first to know—"

He paused abruptly when another roar shook the room. Tony shot to the cage. "Hulk, buddy, you're okay!" he yelled. He kept his eyes locked on the brilliant green irises that shot to his, even if they were hidden behind his faceplate. "You're okay! Deep breaths!"

"Tony?" Steve's voice crackled in his ear, sounding almost frantic with concern.

Tony didn't reply, didn't look away from the big guy until he was certain that the Hulk wasn't going to smash his giant fists against the walls of the cell again. He let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding when a distempered snarl escaped from the big guy.

"We're okay," Tony finally answered the super soldier. "Things are gonna get loud, but until things start to get dangerous, we're okay."

A nearly silent curse escaped from him after he ended the call from the captain. The demigod needed to hurry.


"Just a little further, my prince," the Gatekeeper said as he led Thor and a few of the other guards down into the lower levels of the prison.

Thor kept his silence and his eyes straight ahead. They walked past a number of occupied cells, but anyone not of Asgard would not have been able to tell. The archway to each of these occupied prisons had a magical barrier that only allowed for a very narrow glimpse into the actual prison. Thor knew that beyond the barrier was the cold dead world the inmates were sentenced to, and he had no desire to see that world which his brother had been sent to.

Once they reached their destination, Thor's eyes fell upon the form of his brother. Unlike all the other prisons, Loki was pacing the area immediately before the barrier that cut him off from Asgard. "Brother," Thor breathed.

Loki paused in his movements the moment his green eyes locked on the Thor. There was a dark glint in his eye and a cold smile on his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Thor approached the barrier cautiously, taking in his brother's appearance. He did not look any worse for wear, save for the shadows in his eyes. He felt horribly that he had been unable to come and visit his brother properly, and that the reason for his being here now was for such ill purposes. There had been many things to be done in Midgard that, aside from bringing Loki back here to face Asgardian justice, Thor hadn't had a chance since then to properly return for an extended period.

Before Thor could say anything, Loki's smile twisted into a toothy grin. "What brings you here?" he asked. "Has Midgard lost its charm?"

"I wish I were here under better circumstances, brother," Thor replied. "You are looking well…"

Loki gave the blond man a patronizing smile. "And what circumstances would those be?"

"Are they treating you fairly?" Thor questioned, his eyes still roving over the body on the other side of the magical barrier.

"What difference would that make to you?" Loki snapped.

Their eyes met, one pair hurt and the other quietly seething. "It makes a world of difference to me, brother," Thor answered with heartfelt honesty.

An embittered laugh escaped from the God of Mischief. "Oh, I'm sure of it," Loki replied sarcastically. "It was you who imprisoned me, was it not?"

Thor subtly stood a little straighter, his defenses suddenly up. "Had you not committed the crimes you did in Midgard, brother, you would not be imprisoned. Asgardian justice saw it fit for you to remain here for the time being," he said, gesturing around the room. "Why did you even commit your crimes, brother? You are better than that."

Loki grinned. "Do you believe I could have done better? Was I aiming too low?"

"What I mean, brother, is that there is good in you," Thor responded.

The prisoner uncrossed his arms and studied his fingernails for a moment, a bored look on his face. "I see," he said in an uncaring tone. "What were these circumstances you spoke of earlier?"

Thor stared at his brother and swallowed his irritation for the moment. "You have not been performing magic while imprisoned, have you?" he asked.

Loki's eyes returned to Thor's and he gave him a hard look. "How could I?" he replied coolly. He gestured toward the barrier that separated the two brothers. "I cannot do anything with this in place."

The God of Thunder glanced back at the Gatekeeper and the guards, who had been standing back to allow the brothers their reunion. "Does he speak true?"

"What, do you not believe me?" Loki asked with a chuckle. "Ah, the trust we once shared…"

"He speaks true, my prince," the Gatekeeper answered.

Thor returned his eyes to the being on the other side of the barrier. "We could rebuild that trust again, brother," he said, "but this darkness within you keeps our efforts at bay. Please, brother, find the good within you again."


Bruce's battered form hit the ground of the phantom floor again, eliciting a yelp of pain. His hand shot to his upper arm, where one of Loki's blades had sliced deep through fabric and flesh. His eyes went to Loki, who had come to a pause.

A laugh escaped from the demigod and he grinned. "He is truly pitiful," Loki mused aloud. "He continues to believe these delusions that I can be changed for good." He glanced down at the doctor. "It is a shame that he has to see me like that, imprisoned by his own hand."

"You must be so proud," Bruce said quietly as he returned to his knees. He felt a small flicker of the green haze in the back of his mind, but it was quickly stifled as Loki regained his hold on his emotions.

"My brother wishes so hard to find good in me," Loki said, sounding thoroughly amused at the notion.

"Because he cares deeply for you, Loki," the doctor replied. His eyes lifted to the demigod standing not three feet away, whose eyes were lifted as if he was concentrating on the outside world. "Why can't you see that?"

"Oh, I see it," the demigod muttered, his eyes flicking down to the physicist momentarily before lifting again. "It is a hopeless sentiment from a disgustingly sentimental being."

Bruce stared up at the God of Mischief. "Do you really believe that? Thor still believes there is good in you. He wants nothing more than for you to see that."

"I see it," Loki repeated fiercely, glaring down at the doctor.

The physicist felt his brow furrow slightly in frustrated confusion. "Do you enjoy hurting him like this?" he asked before he could catch himself. "You are part of his family!"

"You mean my adoptive family?" Loki shot back.

"Regardless of whether you were adopted into it or not, you have family!" Bruce pressed heatedly. "Do you honestly think you need to have a biological connection with them to feel their love, to feel like you can be part of what they have been offering you since the very beginning? You've been accepted; isn't that enough? They put your past behind them. They love you, regardless of what you have done. You are part of that family."

A silence filled the dark environment for a long moment before the demigod let out a sickening noise of false delight. "How cute," he said, sounding positively revolted. "You truly think your team has accepted you, the monster?" A laugh escaped from him. "How sweet. The beast believes he has a family. Tell me, what is my brother to you? An uncle?" he asked, now sounding truly amused.

Bruce felt himself smile as he locked eyes with the demigod. "A brother," he replied honestly.

As he watched fury quickly overwhelm the demigod's features, the doctor felt a surge of energy return to him as Loki's hold over his mind wavered. Bruce's eyes widened slightly when Loki began to turn his rage on him, lunging forward to attack. Half aware of what he was doing, the physicist felt his right arm shoot forward to take hold of the demigod's elbow, his thumb pressing fiercely into the joint. Moving swiftly with the surprised demigod's momentum, Bruce shot to his feet, turning his body with Loki's to effectively throw him to the ground where he had been crouched only a second ago in a move he had learned years ago from an Aikido master in Rio de Janeiro.

Loki hit the ground with a startled grunt of pain as Bruce took a few very rapid paces backward, his wide eyes trained downward on the demigod. A mild flash of green that lit up the darkness made the doctor look up for a moment.


"Loki, brother," Thor implored again, watching the dark haired prisoner pace slowly back and forth in his cell. "Why must you reject your own brother like this? Do you know how painful it is to see you like this?" The God of Thunder felt himself deflate minutely when his brother only offered a toothy grin. "Loki, please—"

Thor came to an immediate stop when Loki gasped in pain. "Brother—?" he called, reaching out helplessly toward the barrier—

Loki flickered, fading in and out of focus. His suddenly slightly transparent hand went to his translucent chest, a look of deep surprise on his face. "Odin's beard," the illusion swore softly, "how could the beast have hurt me?"

The Asgardian stared at the illusion of his brother for a long moment, shock, dismay, and disappointment warring for purchase inside. These prisons were meant to block magic, and yet Loki had been able to create an illusion of himself. A quick scan of the rest of the cell showed no sign of the real visage of his brother.

As the illusion of his brother glanced back at him with an expression that he realized he had been caught, Thor found his hand closing around Mjölnir and his free hand clenching into a fist. The Metal Man had been right. Loki's magic really was that powerful. "What have you done to Doctor Banner, Loki?" he growled through clenched teeth.

When the illusion disappeared, Thor's enraged eyes shot to the guards. "Open this prison, Gatekeeper," he commanded fiercely.

The Gatekeeper, still looking shocked that their prisoner was able to perform magic, quickly complied. "He is still somewhere within the prison, my prince," he said. "He cannot have passed through the barrier."

"Very well," Thor said as he stepped into the prison, his hammer at the ready. "Close the barrier. I shall be back shortly. I must deal with my brother alone."

"Yes, my prince," the Gatekeeper replied as he did as was commanded.


The second Bruce's eyes left Loki, he felt a massive blow strike between his shoulder blades, sending him through the illusion of God of Mischief on the ground to fall against the hard phantom floor. The doctor flipped himself over onto his back, staring up at demigod glaring down murderously at him. He was about to stand back up, but that brief burst of energy disappeared as what felt like an icy hand ripped away whatever energy the doctor had left in his battered and wearied form. Bruce cringed, his eyes shutting briefly, but the feeling didn't disappear. When his exhausted brown eyes opened again, he found several furious green eyes glaring at him, more appearing as each illusion came into being.

"I will make you regret the day you came into existence, you damned monster," one of the Loki's snarled in a low vicious voice.

Before he could do anything more than draw a breath, a terrible pain exploded through his body. A shriek ripped from his throat. He was hardly aware that his body was contorting and writhing in agony; he was hardly aware that he was screaming. There was only pain, the worst pain he had ever felt in his life, worse than the Hulk erupting from his unwilling body on the very worst of days. Agonizing pain, reaching deep into him to fill his senses with nothing but fierce pain. He was dying. There was no way his body could handle this much torture— Another violent howl tore through his throat as the pain worsened. He couldn't do this. Loki was going to kill him. He couldn't do this. He couldn't fight this. There was no way. He couldn't do this.


The air in the room was suddenly laden with terrible guttural roars of unadulterated rage and the pounding of fists hitting any surface within the suddenly rampaging Hulk's reach. Tony could hear the pain he was in beneath the anger in each bellow, and it tore him up that he couldn't do anything to help. He felt his own anger boiling within him at the demigod responsible for putting his friend through this sort of torture. The anger turned into rage when he tried to imagine what Bruce was going through.

The screens inside his helmet were going crazy with grids and schematics, working fervently in an attempt to keep up with the Hulk's fury. "Sir," JARVIS's voice sounded in his ear, "that crack to your left currently has the greatest threat of rupture."

"On it," Tony murmured to himself as he immediately shot away from the largest crack in the glass. He beat his fist against the glass to capture the furious green man's attention. "C'mon, Big Green!" he shouted, not even sure if the Hulk could comprehend his words in the frenzied state he was in.

As the Hulk lunged at the glass where Iron Man stood, Tony's eyes quickly scanned the charts JARVIS had put on the screen. "JARVIS, open the Avengers communication line," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I think it's safe to say Loki's behind this," was the first thing out of Clint's mouth once the line was opened.

"Thor will take care of Loki," came Steve in his Captain America voice, sounding every bit of the soldier he was. "Tony, how are the walls looking?"

"Not too good," Tony had to shout into the radio to be heard over the enraged roars from the Hulk. He jumped to a different portion of the cage, ensuring the big guy was following him away from the giant crack in the glass he had just made. "It'll hold if Thor is quick."

"We're coming down," Steve declared. "Just in case," he added when Tony started to protest. "We'll be nearby. I'm going to call an evac for the surrounding area—"

"That's not your call, Cap."

Tony froze at the sound of Nick Fury's voice suddenly interceding into the private line, but he quickly recovered. "Fury, I think some of your agents still have nightmares about the last time they encountered the Hulk on this ship," he said quickly into the communicator. "I'm sure they don't wanna run into him again."

"They won't."

The line was silent for a long moment. It wasn't so much the bluntness from Fury's response, but the combination of steel determination and quiet resignation in the man's voice.

Tony found his voice first. "Fury, don't you dare—"

"I won't have him wrecking this helicarrier again," Fury said. He wasn't going to be swayed.

"He's not going to!" Tony protested hastily, almost desperately. "He's not gonna get out of this cage! I'll make sure he won't! Don't you dare drop this cell. Don't you dare."

As Tony quickly diverted the Hulk's attention to a different portion of the cell, a part with more metal than glass, the line was dead quiet.

"The second he breaks that glass, I'm launching that cell," Fury conceded in a pinched voice, as if he was making this choice against his better judgment. "Is that understood, Avengers?"

Very reluctantly, one-by-one Steve, Natasha, and Clint affirmed the decision.

"Stark?" Fury asked over the line.

Tony was silent for another long moment, his eyes locked on the giant alter-ego of his friend howling with rage and torment.

"Stark."

Drawing a fortifying breath, he kept the argument from his tongue and allowed his metal hands to close into fists. "Understood," he finally replied unwillingly.

As soon as the line went dead, Tony's eyes hardened behind his faceplate. "JARVIS, ready to work overtime?"

"Always, sir," the AI replied as the screen lit up with new purpose.


With the barrier closed behind him, Thor stepped into the vast prison. His blue eyes quickly scanned his surroundings for any sign of his brother. The Asgardian prison was something like exile to a barren world made of rock and dirt. The prisoners were meant to have nothing but silence, loneliness, and nothingness as friends for however long their sentence lasted. The sky was a collection of smoke and dust, a dull greyish blue that dampened all spirits and sucked the mirth out of any proper Asgardian.

"LOKI!" he bellowed into the air, his powerful voice echoing through the environment.

"I was wondering when you would pay me a visit, brother," came a vicious response.

Thor turned swiftly toward the source of the reply, raising his hammer. He found Loki seated rigidly upon the ground nearby a small tower of boulders. Slender hands, which were resting palm-up on his knees, were clouded in an ominous green mist. As his green eyes rose to meet Thor's, his expression holding nothing but hostility, the cloud surrounding his hands pulsed. "What brings you to my humble abode—?"

"What have you done?" Thor asked aggressively, directly approaching his brother. "What are you doing to Doctor Banner?"

A sick grin appeared on Loki's face. "At present, I am torturing him most fiercely," he replied without a single hint of remorse. As an expression of alarm appeared on the blond Asgardian's face, Loki continued to stare up at him. "Why is it that your first visit to me must be about business?"

"Release your hold over him, brother," Thor ordered, "or so help me, I will do it myself."

"Oh, please do," Loki goaded with a widening grin. His eyes traveled downward to his hands. The mist brightened as his fingers went rigid, turning almost white before it settled back into a lighter green than before. "I'm sure the beast could do with your brute force right about now."

Thor felt his anger beginning to overwhelm him. "Loki, end this madness," he growled as he started to raise his hammer.

Loki was on his feet like lightning, a deathly serious look on his face and poised to attack. The green clouds surrounding his hands transferred to his left while his right came forward, ready to strike. "End this spell, and you shall end the life of the beast," he disclosed in a low, haunting voice as he turned his body to where his left hand was placed furthest away from the man with the hammer. "I am not at all certain that you could live with that, but could the rest of your team? The guilt would sit forever on your shoulders, Odinson. Could you live with yourself, knowing that the beast's death came at your hands?"

A long, tense moment passed between the estranged brothers before Thor reluctantly began to lower his hammer back to his side. "Loki," he beseeched, "do not do this. This is magic of the darkest kind that you meddle with; end this now before it consumes you, before you are lost in this shade that has tampered with your reason. Please, brother, I implore you. Let Doctor Banner go. End this now."

Loki's eyes narrowed. "Has the monster made a mess of things in Midgard? Is that what has brought you here? You could care less if I give myself up to this darkness that beckons me; all of this is for the mindless creature, to save your feeble mortals from his wrath."

"You are wrong, brother," Thor was quick to reply, sounding deeply hurt. "I was the first to protect your name when suspicions arose. I did not believe you could be so cruel; I still do not wish to believe it. You are my brother, Loki," he said, gesturing helplessly at the familiar figure before him that he could hardly recognize anymore, "and nothing will ever change that. I came here to prove your innocence to the Metal Man, to show him that someone else has placed this odious spell over Doctor Banner. I did not come here expecting to find you doing the very thing which you were accused of."

His hand fell forlornly to his side and he took a small, staggering step back. "I still believe that you are capable of good, brother. Prove there is still good within you: let Doctor Banner go."

Loki stared at the flaxen haired Asgardian, his stance having relaxed a little as Thor had spoken. The cloud surrounding his left hand had deepened into a more natural green hue and was no longer pulsing. From the expression on his face, he looked like he wanted to believe every word from Thor.

The vulnerability slowly melted away and was replaced with a look of hard bitterness. "How can you possibly still think there is good in me? Open your eyes, Thor." His brow furrowed over his troubled eyes and he slowly shook his head. "You are just as deluded as the mortals you associate with. What will it take for you to realize that you and I are not alike? You are blinded by your emotions! See what is right in front of you! I am about to kill one of your teammates, and you still cannot seem to fathom that there is not a single ray of good in the gloom that is my soul! See what the rest of the world sees! Recognize what is right in front of you!"


When Bruce finally began to regain his senses, he found himself curled into a trembling ball. He drew what felt like his first breath in days, gasping desperately and trying frantically to regulate his rapid breathing. He was lying on his side, he realized belatedly, as he opened his eyes and took in the blurred image of Loki, standing sideways on his plane of vision. He slammed his eyes shut again as a series of tremors shot through his horribly aching body.

"He did come to rescue you…" Loki's quiet voice slowly registered in the doctor's sluggish brain. "He still thinks there is good in me…"

Bruce couldn't think of a reply. Just making sense of the demigod's words was exhausting enough. His eyes slowly fluttered open again and he gazed at the God of Mischief.

Loki was turned away from the shaking man, though his back was not turned completely. His gaze was fixed on something in the distance, probably something in reality.

Bruce stared at him for a moment longer before he began to carefully uncurl himself. His entire body screamed in protest and he let out a small gasp of pain, but the demigod didn't seem to notice. He had no idea where he was getting the energy from, but he somehow managed to get himself onto his hands and knees. Beads of sweat glistened his forehead and his body continued to quake, but despite everything, he did not collapse.

And Loki didn't notice.

Slowly, the cogs in his head began moving. It seemed like Loki could only focus on one of the two planes, reality or this murky place, at one time. He must have been having a conversation with Thor in Asgard at the moment, since he wasn't torturing or watching the doctor now.

Bruce painstakingly lifted his head, his neck protesting against the effort, to look more properly at the demigod. Sure enough, Loki hadn't noticed he had moved.

He had no idea what he was doing. Working out that bit was exhausting. He wanted nothing more than to lose consciousness. A voice in the back of his head was even wishing for death. Another tremor ran through him at that thought as his mind returned to his suicide attempt.

Quickly closing his eyes, he forced his mind away from that train of thought. He couldn't handle watching that memory again—

The doctor's brow furrowed slightly. The atmosphere hadn't exploded with the sounds from his memories of the gun in his hand, the bullet on the ground… He carefully looked back up at Loki. He must have been really distracted with Thor, if he hadn't detected that his spell was no longer working properly.

His mind came to a quick stop and a chill ran through him. What if Loki was fighting Thor right now? What if he was making his comrade, his friend, hurt? He couldn't stand the thought of it. Anger bubbled into being within him, giving him the energy to rise shakily and unsteadily onto his feet.

It was the worry that propelled him forward. What if the rest of the team were out there too, fighting Loki? What if they were dying? His chest filled with a new ache that had nothing to do with Loki's magic. He had to help them, he declared to himself.

Loki drew a startled breath when he felt a body collapse into him. Quaking hands grabbed hold of the lapels of his overcoat in an iron grip. Green eyes darted to the side to meet with brown ones, looking exhausted beyond measure and feverish with pain. The doctor didn't look like he was all there.

"Don't hurt him," Bruce managed to say as his legs gave out.

Loki was too surprised to see the doctor actually able to move to do anything more than stare. When Bruce fell back to the ground, he dragged the demigod down with him.

As the two hit the floor, a bright green light exploded through the room. Loki let out a sharp yelp of pain, but quickly regained control of himself as he turned to glare at the shaking man beside him. "The spell has been broken," the demigod said; his voice sounded like it was coming from the end of a very long tunnel. He knew his words hadn't been heard, however. He felt a grin tug at his lips and laughter bubbled up his throat.

The man's screams were like music to his ears.


As soon as a distracted look crossed Loki's face and he paused mid-sentence, Thor threw his hand at his brother. Mjölnir flew forward and crashed into Loki's chest, sending him through the boulders behind him.

As rock and dust began raining from the sky, Thor sprinted along the cloud toward where Loki was going to land upon impact. Thor raced forward, calling his hammer back to him as he ran. Before he saw his brother, he heard him. Despair mixed into his anger as a heaviness made itself known in the pit of his stomach; Loki sounded mad as he giggled to himself amongst the wreckage.

With brisk efficiency, Thor created a gust to clear the cloud of dust obscuring his deluded brother. He found Loki still in the crater, laughing to himself as if he alone understood the punch line to some sick cosmic joke. The sight nauseated the Asgardian prince.

Thor clambered up the debris and pulled Loki out of the rubble forcefully. Loki, hanging loosely from Thor's grip, grinned at him for a long moment before he continued to giggle. "The spell has been broken. Congratulations," he managed to say.

"And what of Doctor Banner?" Thor asked. When an answer did not seem forthcoming from the laughing prisoner, Thor let out a growl of aggravation. He started to drag his brother from the rocks and stormed toward the barrier back to Asgard.

Loki managed to regain some control over himself and he looked over his shoulder up at Thor. He made absolutely no effort to remove himself from the blond man's grasp or to put up a fight. "The chances of the beast being alive are most slim," he disclosed remorselessly. "He was in poor health before you broke the spell; his mind cannot have survived the trauma you have caused. He is stubborn, but mortal, and all mortals have their limits." He paused to let out a low chuckle, his face splitting into a grin again. "Tell me, brother, do you still think there is good in me? Can you open your eyes now and tell me what you see?"

Thor slammed the God of Mischief to the ground just outside the barrier. He placed Mjölnir on Loki's chest and knelt down next to him. "My eyes are open," he began softly. "I see that you are lost and alone, brother, that you are being swallowed by these ill feelings. Now see what is before you, brother. See that it is you who is blinded by your hatred and rage. See that your brother will not give up on you, no matter how foul the deeds you perform."

As he rose to his feet to turn to the barrier, a sigh escaped from Thor. "Know that I am sorry, brother, that I cannot stay with you right now, though my heart aches to," he said quietly. "I do not want to leave your side, but I must attend to my brethren in Midgard, to the victim of your hatred." He paused to turn his eyes down on his brother, filled with a strange combination of sorrow, disappointment, fear, and anger. "You had best wish that you did not kill Doctor Banner, Loki. You are my brother, but if he is dead, you will know my wrath."


Agonizing pain exploded against his senses, battering his already aching and weakened body. Bolts of fiery torture pulsed through his veins into every crevice of his being. What felt like claws made of shattered glass tore at him beneath his skin, trying to break free. Every sensation he had felt since his abrupt abduction came thundering back and hit him like a tidal wave. Every blow he had endured from the demigod suddenly crashed against him, feeling tenfold worse this time than the first. Every memory came back in startling clarity, which in turn triggered every emotion that had been elicited by said memory. Everything came rushing back over him, throwing itself atop the excruciating agony that had him screaming and writhing and arching against the floor.

He had no idea how much longer he could last, how much more of this he could stand. Not that he was really thinking about it—his mind was far too focused on all of the sensory input rushing through synapses. He couldn't focus on anything, except 'I can't do this.'

Even with his eyes slammed tightly shut, he knew the darkness was rushing over him, finally pulling him toward oblivion.

And yet, over the cacophony of sounds that mercilessly assaulted his ears, a distant roaring began to be heard. Even as the pull of whatever was calling him wrapped itself around him, the roars grew louder and louder.

As the darkness finally overwhelmed him, the last thing he heard was a particularly aggressive roar echo into the ether.


A/N: I really hate cliffhangers.

I also really didn't mean for this chapter to be this long, but once I started, I couldn't stop. This is the longest chapter of anything I've ever written. Good golly. The next chapter (which may be the final chapter) will most certainly not be this long.

Thank you again for all of the lovely reviews, favorites, and story alerts! You guys are the best!

Thank you so much for reading, and as always, feedback is always welcome.