A/N: OK, so we're getting there slowly... but I figured you'd appreciate updates more often rather than one huge update in who-knows-how-long from now! :)

Tony side-eyed the massage-table-style operating-table contraption that he and Bruce had rigged together. Loki perched on the end of it, tying his hair back and pinning it tightly so that it wouldn't get in the way.

Tony would forgive him the man-bun on this occasion. Surgery gives you a pass on that kind of thing.

The table-bed-thing was stable, and also adaptable to what they needed. It had a ring at the headpiece for Loki to put his face through, while giving Bruce access to the back of his neck and head.

Tony would've preferred it if they could just have a standard bed. He didn't know why this was bothering him so much… maybe it was just the whole clinical thing reminded him of his own time in medical facilities, with his heart, and after Manhattan...

Loki tugged at Tony's surgical sleeve, pulling him out of his staring at the operating table-bed-thing. He met green eyes with his own.

"It's OK," Loki told him, "I only have to put my head down for the removal of the chip. Before and after, I can sit up and talk, just like this, or lie down, as if it's a normal bed."

Loki gave him a weak smile and Tony felt like trash. Wasn't it him who was supposed to be comforting Loki?

Tony gave his own weak smile in return, "It'll be fine," he said. And OK, maybe it was for his benefit as much as Loki's, but that didn't mean that it wasn't good for Loki to hear it.

Pentagrams littered the floor – as well as some other symbols and shit that Tony was gonna have to ask Loki (and maybe Strange,) about later. There were some pretty funky herbs being burned in a censer… Tony was all for getting high on the good stuff, but hoped it would leave the three musketeers – Bruce, Strange, and Xavier – clear-headed enough to do their goddamned jobs.

"Ummm… Brucie?"

"The herbs won't make any difference to us, Tony, except maybe to keep us calm," Bruce (who was not the mind-reader in the room, but was doing a pretty good impression as far as Tony was concerned,) told him, not looking up from where he was preparing some pretty high-grade painkillers for Loki, "and you don't exactly want us freaking out in here. Me especially..."

Loki winced.

"Ex-nay on the Hulk-talk, Banner!" Tony hissed.

"Oops, sorry Loki," Bruce told him, looking up and giving him his best 'I'm a doctor, trust me,' smile, "There's zero chance of the other guy turning up, I promise."

Loki closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and nodded, "It's fine," he assured them, "I think, though, that I am perhaps more on edge than I thought."

"Perfectly normal," Charles answered from his position tucked by the side of Loki's bed-table-thing, "and nothing to be ashamed of. It's also exceptionally helpful for us to know how you're doing. At the risk of my sounding too teacher-y, well done, my boy."

Loki's smile was almost shy (if Loki had been capable of shyness… which, Tony was pretty sure he wasn't,) but still extremely happy. Oh yeah, Tony made a good call when he put his lover-boy in touch with Charlie 'I will take in any outcast and treat them like my own' Xavier.

Strange began chanting some abracadabra stuff in the corner and making pretty geometric shapes with his hands in mid-air. Which might be his version of fucking with them, for all Tony knew, but Loki was glancing over there every now and then and didn't seem to think anything was odd – so Tony guessed he'd have to trust that the mystical stuff was being handled properly.

(It's not like not knowing was pissing him the hell off or anything. Tony was cool as a cucumber, baby. Not bothered at all. Nope. Totally not bothered by the lack of info and control…)

Bruce turned to Loki, "Alright," he sighed, a syringe in his hand, "I'm ninety per cent sure this won't knock you out... I'm only fifty per cent sure it'll keep you calm and give you pain relief."

He crouched down so that he was eye-to-eye with his patient on the bed, "Loki," he said, his tone lowered to the 'I'm a doctor, and you will fucking listen to me dammit' voice, "you have to tell us if the pain relief isn't effective enough, or if you start freaking out. If we do something that hurts you, tell us. If you feel something you think you're not supposed to, tell us. In fact, if you just wanna tell us you're fine, that's important too. We need the feedback on this, OK? We're flying blind as it is."

Loki nodded, "Understood. I'm well aware of my own powers Dr Banner. I would not wish anyone to get hurt simply because I was too stubborn to report on my condition."

"Hey," Tony interrupted, "of course we don't want anyone else getting hurt Lokes, but I think Brucie was mainly worried about you."

Bruce nodded, "You're my patient, Loki, and my friend. Your safety is my responsibility and I need to know if things are going differently than we thought, OK?"

"Understood, Dr. Banner."

"Good. Now give me your arm, and let's get things started."