"So...Tony has a niece?" Bruce said awkwardly once everyone finally settled down again after realizing that Loki and Ichigo were both gone. Happy had nearly ran off after the two- but Pepper forbad him to. So he'd slowly sat back down again and started to anxiously bounce his leg while Rhodey made sure that Friday would keep an eye on them while they continued their talk. Sort of. "Like an honest to god biological niece? Why didn't he ever mention her to any of us? I mean, where did she even come from?"

It was difficult to ignore the slight hurt, anger, and disbelief in the Banner's tone. No matter how they might want to try. After all, he and Tony were close. Supposedly anyways- if he'd had a family of any kind- he would have mentioned it to the man.

Or at least that was what Bruce was thinking.

"Aye, why did friend Tony never mention the girl to us? Is it because she is still young and defenseless?" Thor asked.

Both Pepper and Rhodey exchanged a look for a moment before he then looked back at the two men and slowly said, "Well, to be totally honest here. She's actually his daughter-" The looks that crossed both men's faces were half shocked and half dismayed as he went on to say, "And even we didn't know about her until just before the Ultron incident. Up until then Tony had sort of...hidden her the only way that he could think of."

"S-She's Tony's daughter? Seriously?" Bruce stammered out a little.

"Yeah."

"B-But- uh..."

"How?" Thor suddenly asked.

Pepper decided to chime in by saying, "Well, when a man and a woman like each other-"

"No, no, no. I know very well what happens between a man and a woman. What I meant was-" Thor fell quiet for a moment as he searched his mind for the right words to aptly describe what he was thinking, but came up oddly blank.

"Where's her mother?" That had Thor looking at Bruce so fast it was a wonder that he didn't give himself whiplash. "We haven't met her yet. I mean, she is here right?" Bruce asked. "Do we need to be worried that she might go hysterical or something if she meets us or Loki?"

"Uh, no. Misaki isn't here." Rhodey said slowly.

"Don't tell me that she just dumped the girl here expecting Tony to take care of her." Bruce snarled, obviously thinking the worst of the woman even without meeting her.

"No, no, no- it's really nothing like that, I promise." Rhodey said quickly. "She didn't abandon Ichigo here. She died when Ichigo was just a little kid." He explained. "She was raised by her step dad who knew about Tony. And finally decided to tell her everything since Tony's missing and she's his heir."

"Oh." Was all that Bruce managed to say, looking just a little bit sad before asking, "So she was adopted? I can't imagine Tony actually put her up for adoption."

"He didn't. Not in the traditional sense." Pepper said softly. "Misaki and Isshin both kept in touch with Tony over the years. Informing him of all kinds of things that he was missing out on. And that continued even after Misaki died. So when Tony went missing... Isshin felt that it was finally time to sit her down and tell her everything. He sent her here, because Tony left instructions to do so in the case something happened to him because she's his only living kin. His only known heir."

"And unless he comes back alive at some point- she is literally set to inherit everything that he owns." Rhodey chimed in before then tacking on, "Which isn't terrible or anything. The kid seems to be more...capable than we initially imagined her to be."

"Oh?" Thor was the one to ask this time. Prompting them to tell the two about her a little bit more.

Which both included and at the same time not- her former military career. They made sure to mention vague incidents that they'd read about in Ichigo's medical and phycological files so that the two would be prepared for various behaviors and such.

However the mention of those incidents seemed to upset the two. Especially since she'd been basically much younger than sixteen during the time of the incidents and had literally been tortured by some assholes.

Naturally, Bruce wanted to let the other guy out to stomp some asses into the ground. He couldn't help it any. If there was one thing he absolutely loathed seeing, hearing, speaking about- it was any form of child abuse. And yes- Ichigo had been gravely abused from the sound of things.

Thor must have been thinking pretty much the same thing. He shot him a look- not any old look either- but one that Bruce was becoming familiar with as his I-will-smite-those-fuckers-and-laugh-while-they-burn look. Loki had a similar expression when he reached his limit.

So seeing that look right now wasn't all that surprising to Bruce.

He did return the sentiment wholeheartedly though.

Loki was trying to be quiet but seemed to be failing at it miserably since Ichigo kept twitching and cracking an eye open to look for him.

The girl had gone to bed soon after their arrival at her room, exactly as she had said she would. However she had also dug out some stuff for him to read, showed him how to work the TV remote, and a few other things. Including managing to find him some satin pants and a clean shirt to change into if he wanted to try taking a bath at some point.

He appreciated the kind gestures. Truly he did.

He just wasn't sure what to think of them.

And then there was the fact that she told him that if he got tired at any point, then he could take her bed. She'd sleep on the couch.

Loki was a lot of things- a jerk, a prince, a killer, and warrior- but he would never be so unchivalrous as to take a bed from a girl. Especially a child.

An injured child. He reminded himself with a slight frown as he tried to focus on paying attention to the movie that she'd put on the TV for him before laying down.

That was another thing that bothered him. After he had refused to take her bed from her, she had decided to drag the mattress- which seemed to be at least three times her size and body weight- into the living room and had made herself comfortable a few feet away from the couch. Which was where she was currently resting, with all of her feline friends.

And it vexed him to no end that she would do such a thing.

He couldn't imagine a child- a injured one no less- deciding that it would be good for her to not only drag a heavy object into her living room, but also try to sleep on it when it would probably hurt her even more. Honestly, did the girl not comprehend what she was doing to her injuries? To her spine?

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He had to do something. And he did. He wasn't all that sure it was the greatest thing to do- after all, he didn't ask for permission or anything. But well, he wasn't all that sure who to ask for permission here anyways. And it wasn't as if he'd done anything terrible.

The mattress had looked hard. So he used his magic to soften it so that it would feel as soft as a cloud. He also moved the mattress and the girl and her felines all to the bedroom. Miraculously without waking or startling any of them. After which, he flopped himself back down on the couch and finally managed to actually enjoy the movie he'd been watching until he dozed off.