Bruce stood at Alex's door, it was 7 and he still felt tired from the events a few days previously. He looked down and saw that his outward appearance was fine. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but found himself unable to. He turned to his own mind to try and find the courage to knock, such a tiny gesture, and shuddered as he remembered the events of the previous night. He remembered the glee of Hulk as he reluctantly let Him take over, the gentle amusement that he couldn't help but feel as He toyed with the Chitauri warriors, doing the same number on them as He had once done on Loki at the floor of the original Stark Tower. He also remembered watching a fog creep slowly over the battlefield, too bogged down with enemy agents for anyone but Tony and maybe Thor to escape. He remembered as enemy Chitauri and his comrades fell one by one until the fog became too dense, and he felt himself fall, as both sides of him fell into unconsciousness. It wasn't until Tony roused him later, with a pair of trousers in hand that he realized he was himself again, 100% Bruce, with Him still slumbering. Though how long that would last he wasn't sure. Still, it was nice for him to have his head to himself instead of having Him whispering like a snake in the ear of his inner mind.
He walked back with Tony, just far enough behind a couple of warriors he couldn't make out precisely, but he could tell they were both severely injured. He hoped the palace had a good medical team, because while he and Tony came out unscathed, there were still many wounded in this battle.
Though the next day he spent in Asgard was mostly a blur, there were still parts that stood out vividly in his minds eye. He remembered walking through the streets and having the people look at the 'Man of Iron' and the 'Green Behemoth' walked through the streets together behind the 'Ghost Woman' and 'High Prince'. So it was Loki and Orthani they walked behind.
He remembered the cascading golden architecture of the Asgardian palace, which seemed to float atop a cloud. He remembered the golden buttresses and spiraling arches, how they took even the softest of whispers and amplified and distorted them beyond recognition, creating a unique music of words and sounds, those of palace animals and the clanks of weapons and armor. He also distinctly remembered as the Healers, the doctors of Asgard, looked him and Tony over and marveled how they came out of the fight without a scratch, and the looks of confusion as Tony took off his armor to reveal the man beneath, calm and collected in dark jeans, tennis shoes, and his usual dark Under armor type shirt; though they did seem more interested in examining his ARC reactor that powered his body and kept the deadly shrapnel away from his heart. For such advanced people, they still had nothing on the greatest advances of Stark Industries it seemed. Bruce also threw up a prayer, though he didn't really believe in anything, that Tony had decided to do that in the infirmary rather than on the battlefield as it drew the Asgardian attention away from him. He never was good at being in the spotlight.
He also remembered sitting in a common room with only himself, Tony and Thor. "So tell us about this 'Rainbow Bridge' they're rebuilding right now, and when will we be able to ride go karts on it. I've always wanted to recreate that Mario Kart track." Tony had said sitting closer to the fire so his face was cast in the orange glow of the flames.
"It is not a simple concept to grasp Tony, but I shall try to put it into terms that you can understand. To be truthful, most Asgardians have little to no concept of how it functions either. I would not if not for a conversation the Allfather made me have with Heimdall, the Bifrost's keeper. He would be more able to explain than I, but as he remains frozen I shall try.
"You see, the bridge is not a bridge like those that cross waters like in your world, it is more like a, what do you call it, a worm hole between the realms. It is like a more stable version of the Tesseract. Where the Tesseract draws upon it's own power to transport us, the Bifrost does not have as compact a power source. It draws it's energy from the globe, which you see them rebuilding, spinning at extremely high speeds. That opens up the channels for energy; however, the power is great so it has to be directed in set directions. This is where it gets the name 'Rainbow Bridge' for it passes on set paths, and the hole with which it sends you contains all colors, like that of a rainbow just as you see only the glowing blue an white colors as the colors of the Tesseract's energy. It also means, however, that it has much more power than the Tesseract, so while we can safely handle and contain the Tesseract's energies, we cannot do so with the Bifrost's. Once it sends us to our destination we must close the vortex or it will rain certain destruction upon the world it is set to travel to. That was how Jotunheim was almost destroyed, and how the Bifrost was destroyed.' He put a hand up to silence Tony, as he and I could see that he had many questions about who would do such a thing, "It is not my place to tell that tale, and I will not tell you whose it is. It is not an important matter except to demonstrate the powers of the Bifrost to you. Now go and rest, we will try to have you home when the Tesseract has been returned to us, for I remember that you have lives there, which you must return to. Make yourselves comfortable whilst you stay here; you are always welcome here in the House of Odin as long as you keep your noses out of business that isn't for your indulgences." He was looking at Tony as he added the last sentence.
Tony threw his hands up making his face look as innocent as it could, "Why are you looking at me? I have done nothing remotely close to sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. Though I do need to do some snooping if I'm to create a security system to keep his place alerted for another attack from "
All in all, it wasn't a bad day spent talking with the other Avengers and some of the friendlier Asgardians, but he was glad to be back to New Stark Tower now. Though it was much sooner than any of them expected.
Alex wasn't sure how long she was asleep before she awoke to Sadie barking like all hell was breaking loose around her. It took a few seconds to figure out that the cause of the disturbance was someone knocking on her door, of all things. Alex ran a hand through her hair and sighed before whistling sharply, "Sadie! Come in here and calm down, it's just a visitor!"
Alex watched as Sadie walked down with her head bowed and her tail drooping between her legs. She knew that voice meant she was in trouble, and she knew just how guilty and sorry to look to pull at Alex's heartstrings. Alex pointed to the dog bed in the corner of the bedroom, "Sit. I will deal with you in a few minutes." She went and sat down, her head resting on her paws and her tail tucked around her, still with the forlorn, pathetic look on her face. Alex sighed and went and scratched her behind the ear, "You're just too pathetic, aren't you? Be good and maybe I'll take you on a nice long run later on today. Tony owes me that much after I saved him and the others." Sadie looked up with a little hopeful look in her eyes, and thumped her tail slowly a couple of times, still looking pathetic to avoid getting in more trouble.
Alex walked toward the door, pausing briefly to straighten her wrinkled tank top and run a hand through her wrong, disheveled hair. She would love to be more presentable, but the situation was what it was. There was another knock; light on the door just as she arrived behind it, and she was more than a little shocked when she saw who was on the other side.
"So, you said dinner at 7, right? I got the message you left with J.A.R.V.I.S." Bruce said brightly, his hands still in his pockets. He was hoping Alex wouldn't remember that the dinner was actually for 2 nights prior. It was a bit crazy how much the state of affairs could change in a day and a half, but he was hoping as was Director Fury, that Alex's roll in the Avengers Initiative wouldn't be necessary just yet; however, after the uncertainty of the safety of Asgard and it's protector of Earth, it was clear that her talents may be needed sooner than anyone thought possible.
He watched as a look of shock crossed Alex's still slightly sleepy face, he had to guess that she had only recently awakened. "Wait, it's 7pm, as in, at night? So I've been asleep for at least 16 hours, if not longer?"
"It's been a while yes, our original date was for the day before yesterday. Sorry about the wait by the way. Tony told me you found out what happened, and even helped us out the other night, so thanks for that." Bruce's face was calm, his voice still soft and gentle.
He realized that Alex was still staring at him in shock after a few minutes, "I assumed that you knew it had been a couple of days?" He leaned a bit on the section of the wall that jutted out just past her front door since she had not come out or let him enter her quarters as of yet.
"No, I guess I really slept in." She said, looking down. He was just barely able to see her eyes widen as she took in her still rather unkempt appearance. "Um, would you mind postponing that dinner, just for an hour or so so I can clean myself up? I'm just a bit underdressed for a date."
"I don't see why not since I postponed the last two. I'll meet you here in an hour?"
He watched as she nodded, some of her hair falling out from behind her shoulder to frame her face "Sounds good to me. See you in an hour." She shut the door in his face, not unkindly and Bruce laughed a bit. She was a peculiar girl, and he liked that about her.
Alex found herself facing her closet a second time after a quick shower with a wrap covering her dried body and a towel keeping her hair up and out of the way while also drying it. She was facing the same dilemma as the last time she did this, the issue of what she needed to wear. She started flicking through hangars, immediately discarding clothes that were too formal, and too casual, and too businesslike, even rejecting the same dress that she originally wore the other night.
She went through several combinations of outfits, each more frustrating to her than the last, until she found an outfit, simple but still dressy enough to pass for a first date. She pulled on the deep brown leggings and the navy blue tunic; so similar in style to what she wore when she first sat to watch the footage of the Avenger's New York battle. She also put on her most worn pair of suede boots, in the same rich brown color of her leggings, and pulled her hair into a loose ponytail. She hesitated for a moment before opening a plain mahogany box, and rifling through the chopsticks in there until she found a pair, midnight blue with light flecks of silver that brought out her eyes and the lighter tones of her dirty blonde hair.
Alex then chanced a look at the clock and saw that she had only 15 minutes left until her hour was up. She spent about half the time brushing her teeth until she couldn't feel the two days worth of accumulated grit, and then applied her makeup with a light hand; just a basic foundation, concealer to hide her under eye circles, and the lightest bit of mascara.
She arrived just outside her door in time to see Bruce walking around the corner, clothed in a plain but well tailored pair of brown slacks and a deep blue shirt.
"Did you mean to match me?" He asked with a smile.
"Not at all, must've been subconscious." Alex answered honestly as she shut her door behind her and smiled. "So, where is this mystery date at? Did I dress well enough?"
Bruce smiled softly, "Nowhere too fancy, just a local bistro. Unlike Tony I'm a poor, humble man of science." 'Very poor indeed,' he heard, the voice still ever soft in the back of his mind, 'what with Stark's card in your pocket you're reduced to pennies. You could take her anywhere, and it's a shame that you won't.'
"Anywhere casual is fine with me, so long as it isn't IHOP. I'm not a big fan." Alex said, wrinkling her nose to show her distaste.
Bruce laughed, and for one rare moment He laughed with him. The simple statement seemed so normal compared to what they should be talking about with the potential of a multi-dimensional war; it was good to see that their priorities could still be somewhat normal. "We can definitely avoid IHOP, that's not a problem. I had more of a local place in mind." He let a soft half smile dance across his lips as he remembered the small bistro, tucked away in one of the safe corners of Manhattan Island, one of the peaceful neighborhoods that were so rare in the Big Apple.
Alex nodded, her smile coming out to answer Bruce's. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of this Tower."
Bruce nodded, and offered his arm, like an old fashioned gentleman, much to the amusement of Hulk, and Alex took it like a lady of old; her touch light on his forearm, a small comfort for him.
As they headed to the elevators Bruce asked one crucial question, "Would you prefer to walk or drive. The place we're going isn't close, but it's a beautiful night out, and traffic will be difficult to navigate."
Alex looked at the mirrored wall of the elevators for a moment before answering, "A walk sounds good to me."
Bruce nodded and reached to select the button for the main lobby. Thanks to the high speeds of the elevator, it was only seconds until they reached the main floor and exited the building and started on the winding New York City path to Bruce's Bistro.
Author's Note: So, I'm not dead, and you all probably deserve a longer chapter for putting up with me having such a chaotic updating schedule, but I do have a good reason. I went out of town for the weekend (no internet and a 5 year old bugging me enough to where I couldn't write) and working anywhere between 25-35 hours a week all kinda are starting to take their toll.
So, in order to create some semblance of order I'm making my update schedule once a week. Every Wednesday I will post a chapter, barring something major happening. The best way to see if that is the case is to check my writing twitter myliteralirony.
Also, I should probably mention that I only own Alex and Sadie. Everything else belongs to Stan Lee and all the other Marvel writers. And I promise that the date happens next chapter.
Reviews:
xxyangxx2006: Glad ot have you here, and thank you! I do my best to keep them in character, and I have a lovely proofreader/beta who makes sure I don't get too out of character with anyone.
TheMagentaColor: It wasn't soon, but it was cute and informative. So hopefully that will balance out.
The Red Dove: Thank you so much for the compliment. You're too kind to me. Also, I know that feeling, I was at camp with my family for a couple of hours and I added a nice lovely scar to the side of my foot within 15 minutes. Ah, the joys of camp.
Mystic Vampyre: Thank you so much, and I have to agree that Bruce doesn't get much love it feels like, but I'm not going anywhere with this, the updates are just slowing as life slowly starts eating my time (I work 10 hours for our state's Tax Free Weekend this Friday, and I'ma veraging high 50's to low 60's in terms of hours worked over a two week period). So yeah, this will survive.