Warning: we are now entering what I call the "Ragnarok Era" of this story. I thought it was high time Bruce had some fun, and with who else but Thor and Loki? Frankly, I kinda just went off the deep end here. But I had fun doing it and I have no regrets.

Bruce III: Sakaar

Bruce had only one week off after finishing spring semester before he left for Norway. He spent that time corresponding with Thor to get all his questions about his living situation answered and baking thank-you-for-hosting-me cookies with his mother. She was very insistent on that.

Bruce was excited, but he was also more anxious than he'd been in years. This was easily the most adventurous thing he'd ever done, and he had no idea what to expect. What if something went wrong? What if everyone at Sakaar only spoke Norwegian? Bruce had gotten a few books from the library and pointers from Thor to learn the basics over the past few months, but he was nowhere ready to communicate with people using only that foreign language. What if the professor immediately decided he didn't like Bruce and rejected his acceptance to the program halfway through, leaving Bruce to fly home early and ashamed?

He talked about all of these fears with his mom, with Jen, and even with Dr. Wilson, and they worked through them together. Of course, most were nothing but the endless spiraling of his anxious brain, but some were legitimate fears. By the time the day of his departure arrived, Bruce felt as ready as he ever would.

"Call me if you need to come home early, okay?" Mom instructed as they hugged goodbye at the airport.

"Okay, Mom." Bruce hoped it didn't come to that, and he'd do everything in his power to make sure of it. It was an eight-hour flight, so Bruce made sure to pack Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He read the entire thing and had time for a nap. Thor knew what time his flight was supposed to land, and Bruce informed him when he got on that everything was running on time, so they should be waiting for him. Bruce fetched his luggage and made his way to the main atrium. He heard Thor before he saw him.

"Yes!" he shouted, dashing towards Bruce with all the enthusiasm of a child chasing an ice cream truck with Valkyrie hot on his heels. He nearly bowled Bruce over with the force of his hug.

"Nice to see you too," Bruce choked out.

"I am glad you ar-rived safely, my friend," he said. Now that he wasn't racing toward him at breakneck speed, Bruce noticed the absence of his shock of blond hair. He looked so much older than the last time Bruce saw him in person, which would have been at Clint's funeral two years ago. His speech had also noticeably improved.

"Thanks, Thor. Love the haircut," he replied.

Thor rolled his eyes. "Mor made me. But my brother got to…keep his."

"Sorry."

Thor waved him off. "It's no big deal."

"Is he here? Your brother?"

"No. Just me and Far. And Val." The dog approached Bruce and gave him a cautionary sniff. Bruce greeted Thor's father and thanked him for opening his home to him.

"It's my pleasure," Mr. Odinson said warmly.

It was about an hour or so from the airport in Oslo to Thor's home in Tønsberg. Thor spent it interrogating Bruce about everything going on back in the city and at college. Bruce did his best to update him on the state of all their friends. He was particularly relieved to hear Steve was still on the mend. Evidently, being so far away during that crisis had been hard for him.

When they arrived, Bruce presented Thor's mom with the cookies—which had survived the flight surprisingly intact. Loki, now years older than the last time Bruce saw him at Gravesen, now put him even more on edge. Every time he looked at Bruce, he thought the kid was plotting some way to either humiliate, endanger, or murder him. Or maybe all of the above. Thor seemed to trust him, though, so Bruce tried his best to ignore the feeling. The brothers showed Bruce to his room, which apparently used to belong to their older sister before she moved out.

"Speaking of Hela," Loki began. "She's still insistent that I stole her necklace."

This was clearly an on-going debate, because Thor sighed with such exasperation that his whole body moved. "Will you just fess up?"

"It wasn't me!" Loki insisted. "And now she's leaning towards the theory that it was a team effort between the two of us."

"Why would I help you…steal our sister's neck-lace?"

"I don't know. Ask Hela."

"I don't want to. I want her to drop this stip…stupid ar-gu-ment."

"Me too, but I don't know how to shut her up. This argument has gone on long enough."

Thor pondered this for a few moments, then looked directly at Bruce. "Maybe you can help. Tell her it wasn't us."

Bruce took a step back and put his hands up. "I don't wanna fight your sister. That's a family issue."

"It's not a fight, perse," Loki said. "More of a…disagreement."

"I'm not getting involved."

"Fine," Thor relented. "Next time she bugs me about it, I'll say it wasn't us."

Bruce noticed Loki had a hand in his pocket throughout almost the entirety of the conversation. He'd bet money that there was a stolen necklace in there, but he said nothing. The brothers left him to unpack his things and settle in. Hela's room had been converted almost entirely into a guest room. The ceiling contained a circular mural depicting old Norse myths, some of which were disturbingly violent. Bruce reminded himself to sleep on his side so he wouldn't wake up to that.

The first new thing he learned about Norwegian culture was that dinner was an early evening occasion, around five o'clock, instead of an after-dark event like back home. Thor's mom was a wizard in the kitchen, though, and he looked forward to future meals. Valkyrie, for some inexplicable reason, instantly took a liking to Bruce and sat halfway between him and Thor during dinner. He tried to go to bed early that night, but with the time difference he didn't fall asleep until much too late for his liking. Still, he dragged himself out of bed the next day, took his meds, and prepared for his first day of study abroad.

Sakaar was unlike any institution Bruce had ever visited before. He had no idea how much of this was attributable to cultural difference between American and European universities, but he got the sense this place was an anomaly even among its peers. Directly above the entryway hung a sign with its motto, "Sakaar lives on the edge of the known and unknown." Bruce supposed that was supposed to reflect their status as pioneers in the field of science, but it sounded far more ominous than it should, as if anyone who set foot here risked never visiting the outside world ever again.

Bruce flashed his badge at the front desk and they pointed him towards a hallway without a word. He nodded and thanked the person before following their directions. Most research institutions maintained a certain…cleanliness about them, but not Sakaar. As Bruce walked down the hall, he had to be careful not to step on bits and bobs of discarded lab equipment, empty cans, and endless reams of papers. A microscope slide skittered across the floor and Bruce jumped. Quickly scanning his surroundings for more threats, he continued forward.

The room the front desk person had directed him too looked sort of like a lab, but the walls were a garish red and white pattern. A white-haired man in a shiny golden lab coat emerged from behind a bench and a wide grin broke onto his face. "Bruce Banner," he said boldly. He picked his way through the crowded lab and enthusiastically shook Bruce's hand. "It's an honor to meet you."

"You too, Doctor—"

"Here, you can call me Grandmaster."

In all their email correspondence, Bruce had just used his name, but he knew better than to contest his instructions. "It's an honor to meet you, Grandmaster," he said. "I've been looking forward to working with you for months now."

"The sentiment goes both ways. Welcome to Sakaar."

"It's quite the institution you've got here."

"Isn't it? I like to think it's one of a kind."

Bruce nodded.

Grandmaster clapped his hands together in a grand gesture and put an arm around Bruce's shoulder. He started showing him around the lab, explaining the various projects currently under his supervision. When they finished that first lab, Grandmaster took him around the entire facility. Bruce saw things he'd never seen before…and things he couldn't unsee. They barged into one room to find a woman holding a large, threaded pole with a yellow ball on one end. As they entered, she pulled the ball away from a pile of goo and immediately swore it was an analog body and not a real cadaver. Bruce didn't want to stare at the melted remains of either, and averted his eyes. Grandmaster congratulated her on perfecting the melt stick.

Bruce didn't want to know who funded research on creating a melt stick.

"So, what do you think?" Grandmaster asked when they finished the tour and returned to the first lab.

Bruce hesitated, unsure what to make of everything he'd just seen. "It's…certainly unique."

Grandmaster looked pleased with that description. "Indeed."

~0~

While day one was more of an introduction, they soon got into hard science. Bruce loved working with Grandmaster because he clearly knew what he was doing, but didn't take himself too seriously. If he'd been working with a stricter mentor, Bruce knew he would've worked himself senseless trying to impress them. But with Grandmaster it seemed no matter what he did or failed to do, he impressed him. Less than a week after he started work, Grandmaster started referring to him as his "champion."

He worked every weekday from eight to four at Sakaar, and then in the evenings returned home to the Odinsons. Loki was working with some sort of theater program over the summer, while Thor was looking, not at universities, but at obtaining certifications to teach things like surfing and skiing. The Odinson household was a busy one, to say the least.

Evenings and weekends, though, they spent together. Bruce got to know the Odinsons almost as well as he knew his own family. While Thor and Loki were often at odds with each other for some reason or other (said reason usually being Loki pranking him), nothing united them more than mutual disparaging of their sister. And Hela wasn't even here to defend herself. Loki referred to her as, "Off making enemies," which Bruce interpreted as probably a corporate job of some sort.

"What's the longest you two have gone without fighting?" Bruce asked semi-seriously when they argued over who had to set the table.

"Four days, seven hours, and twenty two minutes," Loki said without hesitation.

"That's…oddly specific."

Thor shoved his brother aside. "It's just for…show. He doesn't know it that well. But it was about four days."

"Mor keeps a chart in the kitchen," Loki explained. "The number of days without incident."

"It was rarely more than two," Thor said.

"That I believe."

Loki changed the subject and asked, "So, how's this Grandmaster fellow?"

"He's…eccentric," Bruce decided.

"In what way?"

"His lab coat is shimmery gold instead of white."

"Is he gay?"

"I don't know. Possibly. It hasn't exactly come up. We just talk about science."

Loki hummed. "Is that really all that conversation covers in the lab?"

"Yesterday he told me he woke up thinking about a public execution," Bruce said, remembering how he brought that up with no preamble or context whatsoever. He'd nearly dropped the tools he was holding, he was so taken aback by the comment. "They don't…do those here, do they?"

"I don't think so. If they did, I'd know about it."

"You would go to them," Thor grumbled.

"Maybe I would," Loki countered. Thor punched him for that remark. Bruce glanced over and found said "days without incident" sign and switched it back to zero.

As soon as I wrote the bit about the shimmering gold lab coat, I gave up all hope that this chapter would be realistic. But I was having too much fun with Grandmaster and Sakaar as a weird and possibly illegal science laboratory to quit by then.