Pure relief envelopes him before he realizes that even though Bruce is back, that doesn't mean the team is fixed. Tony knows that Bruce is angry and bitter and sad, and that Betty Ross was an idea Bruce clung to for years after they parted.
He rushes up anyways, because he won't abandon Bruce, not now.
Steve is already up there, twisting his hands like he doesn't know what to do with them. Bruce stands awkwardly in the wide, sky lit entrance hall with a large, grey duffel slung over his shoulder.
"Hey-o, Brucey," Tony says, maybe a bit more guardedly than usual.
"Hey," Bruce replies. His voice cracks a little and he coughs. "Hey," he tries again.
"Bruce," Steve says, looking lost. "Where were you?"
Bruce shifts uncomfortably on his feet. Tony waits. "I went back to Culver," he says finally. Something in his gaze resolves and he speaks the next words in a firm voice, looking first at Steve and then Tony straight in the eye. "Don't look at me like that. You know I had to. You would have done the same."
"I would have left a note," Tony points out. "Or called. Not left Jarvis to explain that you suddenly vanished."
Bruce winces. "I'll admit that wasn't one of my finer moments," he says, regret bleeding into the corners of his voice. "But look," he says hurriedly, pulling the bag off over his shoulder and kneeling down next to it on the floor, "While I was there I found something. It's, well, mildly disturbing, yeah, but..."
Bruce unzips the duffel with haste, fingers fumbling slightly. He digs around inside the bag before pulling out an old shirt that's been bundled up into a ball.
"You said you found a Captain America figurine, the same prototype toy you gave Steve," Bruce says, looking up at Tony. God, he knows what's coming next and feels sick.
Bruce unwraps the faded maroon shirt and holds up the prototype Hulk doll with the screwed up face. Tony remembers the message he wrote and if he squints he can see his messy writing on one miniature bicep—
Except there is no screwed up face, because the head's been blown clean off.
"Looks like Amora was very symbolic," Steve says with a pinched look on his face.
"Amora?" Bruce and Tony ask at the same time.
Steve looks surprised. "Yeah, Amora," he says. "I thought we decided—"
"No, Loki decided that she was the bomber," Tony snaps, Loki's snide remarks from a few moments ago stinging slightly in his memory. "Just because she had the Tesseract doesn't mean that she actually attacked all of the locations. Remember the parasite?"
Bruce looks increasingly confused. "I have a feeling I'm missing something here," he says bemusedly. "Who's Amora?"
Steve turns back to him, slightly startled.
"Right," he says. "Sorry." Steve proceeds to fill Bruce in on the whole clusterfuck with Amora and the parasite while Tony waits impatiently, his thoughts wandering to the shackled god in his house. Tony can't be relying on Loki to give him information, not when he can't trust him.
Bruce's expression darkens as Steve explains further. When Steve finally reaches the end of his summary, Bruce runs a hand over his tired face, pushing up his glasses to scrub at his eyes. "So you're saying that this woman had the Tesseract and that she's probably the bomber, but that she had the parasite so she may not actually be our culprit?" He asks incredulously.
Loki chooses that moment to stride in regally, his long leather duster billowing around his feet and a knowing expression in his eyes. "Oh, no, Dr. Banner. I can tell you for certain that she is indeed your bomber," he says.
Bruce's face tightens. "Loki," he says guardedly.
Loki grins, a smile that's all teeth and no joy. "Yes. Me," he says, and bows as grandly as he can with his hands shackled in front of him. He lifts his head and smirks. "At your service."
A muscle twitches in Bruce's jaw and his eyes look faintly green, but he looks away without comment.
"So!" Loki says, mock cheerfully, snapping his fingers. "Let us get—what is that saying?–down to business. Amora the Enchantress is, despite your skepticism, your bomber."
"How do you know?" Steve asks skeptically.
Loki opens his fist, and lying on his palm is a coiled gold chain with a vial of green, swirling liquid hanging as a charm from it. Tony closes his eyes, marveling at his own stupidity, because he recognizes that necklace. Saw it hanging from Amora's throat that night—was it only a few hours ago?—and remembers Loki investigating her neck, her jaw, her mouth. And he saw him do something with his hands when he stood up…
"You did not find anything on your metal suit's figurine," he says, looking at Tony. "I am fairly certain that you will find nothing on the one of the green monster, either. However…" Loki pauses, smirking, and Tony can tell that he's so very, very smug about making them wait for answers. "If you did, it would lead you to this possession of hers."
"And what, it led you?" Steve says, folding his arms.
"Oh yes," Loki says, not hiding his sharp smile. "The Captain's toy that you found turned out to be quite useful," he says, looking at Tony.
"How the hell did you use that?" Tony asks.
Loki waves his hand in a dismissing gesture. "A simple tracking spell. It should have been child's play, yet…. something was interfering. I wonder what—or who—that was?" he says slyly.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Tony growls. It's disconcerting, the way Loki throws a theatrical performance for Bruce and Steve, complete with snarky humor and disarming smiles, when only a few hours before with Tony he was snarling.
Loki stares at him for a long moment before his eyes slide back to Steve and Bruce. "No, indeed," he murmurs under his breath, in a voice so low that Tony can barely hear it. Steve catches the message clearly, though, and throws a sharp glance up at Tony. Right. Super-soldier hearing.
Raising his voice, Loki adds, "I was tracking Amora's touch from the souvenirs you found. However, I believe that the Tesseract muddled my magic. I could not discern who placed the figures before seeing her body in person."
Steve still looks unimpressed. "I'm not understanding how this helps us."
"Well, you wouldn't, Captain," Loki says condescendingly. "However, I would expect better of you two," he says, motioning to Bruce and Tony, a strange bitterness creeping into his voice. "The brains of the operation… or so I am told."
Tony shakes his head slightly, a small, sardonic smile on his lips. "Sorry. You lost me."
"Why," Loki says with a quiet laugh and a razor grin, "You all have quite a mess on your hands, do you not?
"You see, Amora was the bomber, but she was not the culprit. Chitauri brain parasites can be forcibly implanted, as I believe was the case with you, Anthony, and Amora. So you were both forced into seeing and doing something, by the same rare and deadly method. What a coincidence. Could it even be by the same person? Oh, my goodness. I do hope that's not the case." Loki grins. "And while the parasites are extremely intelligent, they couldn't plan something as complex as this without a master."
Steve narrows his eyes at Loki, both in reaction of his condescending tone and the content of his words. Tony doesn't know how Steve manages to stay so calm, because he knows for a fact that his stomach is roiling.
"I didn't know Chitauri parasites could have masters," Steve says in a hard voice. He turns to Bruce. "It seems as though he's introducing new information all the time, doesn't it?"
Bruce nods, his eyes never leaving Loki. "Quite," he says calmly.
Loki's smile flickers for a split second before he regains composure of himself. "Not new," he says, steel lining underneath his words. "Consider the fact that you may just be ignorant. Even you, Captain Rogers, in all your years you would be a mere infant to the Aesir." He shifts, the metal of his handcuffs clinking. "As for the Chitauri, they operate on a hive mind. They are mindless thugs, hired mercenaries only following their masters' orders. The parasite is intelligent enough that, if a higher-thinking organism desired, it could establish contact through the hive mind. Rather like training an animal."
"So you're saying that the guy orchestrating the bombings is a Chitauri?" Tony asks dubiously.
Loki stares at him thoughtfully. "Would it be so strange if it was?"
"Yes," Tony growls. "We blew them up. With a nuclear missile. I put it in there myself."
Loki rolls his eyes. "Oh, please. Spare me from the flaw of human arrogance. What you destroyed was merely a sector, nothing more. The Chitauri are mercenaries, and they have spread gradually across the cosmos. The ones that attacked Midgard were under employment. While that sector was destroyed, many still remain."
He looks away, past Bruce's shoulder and down the hall. "Yet even so, the answer to your question is no. The culprit does not have to be a Chitauri. Anyone capable of telepathic thought should be able to make contact with a parasite if they are powerful enough.
"Now," Loki murmurs, and there's something far off and distant in his gaze, as if he's not quite there with them in the wide entrance hall. "If you must excuse me. I have some… pressing matters to attend to."
"Hey, wait—" Tony says, but Loki is gone. He didn't teleport; he was just… fast. Tony drops down his arm, which he hadn't known he'd outstretched, and turns back to Steve and Bruce.
"What kind of 'pressing matters' could he possibly have when he's handcuffed in enemy headquarters?" Steve asks.
"I don't know, but I don't like it," Tony mutters. "Jarvis, what's Loki doing right now?"
"Mr. Laufeyson is currently on the roof, sir. He does not appear to be doing much of anything at the moment," Jarvis replies smoothly.
Tony tilts his head. "Huh," he says. He flicks his gaze back to Steve. "I don't trust him. At all. I'm willing to let this," he makes a wide, vague gesture with his hands, "happen for now only because he's given us so much information and Thor would probably murder me otherwise, but one finger on any of my systems and I want him locked up and sent back to SHIELD."
"Agreed," Steve says instantly, nodding. "Don't allow Ms. Potts or Dr. Foster in HQ right now, either."
"I'll message them," Tony says, already making plans of what he's going to do. "Also, guys?"
"Hmm?" Bruce says, busy with something in his duffel.
"Don't forget to check on him once in a while in person," Tony says lowly. "Scans from SHIELD, security tapes… they don't really work on him. I wouldn't put it past him to disable you or something, Jarv," he says uneasily. "No offense."
"None taken, sir."
After his little spiel, Bruce and Steve look…well, concerned would be an understatement. They both know how much Tony takes pride in his tech and especially Jarvis. For him to admit that Loki might get the better of Jarvis is discouraging, to say the least.
"Right," Steve says. "I'll get Thor to keep an eye on him, too."
"He can't trust Loki that much if he put those manacles on him," Bruce says, re-slinging the duffel bag on his shoulder.
"They're Asgardian in make," Tony says, and smirks to cover up his anxiousness. "Maybe that's what they do with all the naughty little boys."
Tony kinda expects to get smote after that comment, but after an intake of breath from Steve and an anticipatory silence, nothing happens.
"Yeah, that may not have been the best timing," Tony says under his breath. "Come on, Bruce, dump your stuff and get down to the workshop. I have something you should look at."
