"I told him he has to complete the training program first. He probably doesn't need it, but I spent hours programming it!"
Bruce smiled as he walked hand in hand with Tony through Central Park. He was hardly listening as Tony complained about his new protégé; he was more focused on how cute Tony looked when he got excited. Bruce knew Tony was proud of Peter, even if he didn't always show it.
Two years after the Avengers broke up, the team consisted of only Bruce, Tony, Rhodey, and maybe Vision. Luckily, there hadn't been any Avengers-level threats recently, so their dwindling roster hadn't caused any problems.
Since they didn't have much use of the compound anymore, Bruce and Tony had moved back to Stark Tower so Tony could have easier access to his Stark Industries projects. Bruce kept himself busy, too; he finally had time to focus on his gamma radiation research.
Bruce was too busy gazing at Tony to notice what was in front of them, but suddenly Tony stopped talking mid-sentence and gasped. Bruce whipped his head around to see a glowing, orange ring that had formed in the middle of the park. Out of the ring stepped a man in a long, red cape, who looked to Bruce like a Harry Potter cosplayer with a goatee.
"Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, come with me, please."
Tony had been in shock at the man's sudden appearance but unfroze to rebuff his command.
"And who are you?"
The man bristled at the question as if it were entirely beside the point.
"Dr. Stephen Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts. There is a grave threat upon us, and we need your assistance."
Tony raised his eyebrows at the doctor and his outlandish outfit.
"Excuse me, 'Mystic Arts?' Is that some kind of cult thing?"
Bruce cut in before Strange could snark back.
"What do you mean, threat?"
On cue, another man stepped through the portal. This one had short blond hair and was missing his left eye, but Bruce would recognize him anywhere.
"Thor!"
Thor was as muscular as ever, but he was far from the god they had last seen three years ago. He was shaking like he had just seen a ghost and had scratches all along his face, protruding from underneath his eyepatch.
"My friends, I am afraid we do not have time for a reunion."
Bruce tried to ask Thor how he was, but the words wouldn't come out; they had all given up hope that Thor would ever return to Earth. After a few moments of watching Bruce and Tony gape at Thor, Dr. Strange sighed impatiently and gestured towards the other side of the portal.
Thor sat on a bench in Dr. Strange's sanctum and rubbed his remaining eye before eventually looking up at Bruce and Tony.
"Thanos…is the most powerful being I have ever encountered. He murdered half my people with the power stone and stole the space stone from me. I only escaped certain death because Heimdall used the last of the Bifrost energy to send me here. I – I can only imagine what became of him."
Thor began to choke up, and Dr. Strange's associate, Wong, took over for him by conjuring up a hologram of six multi-colored stones.
"There are six infinity stones: power, space, mind, time, reality, and soul. If Thanos gets all of them, he will be able to wipe out half of all life in the universe with a snap of his fingers."
Thor nodded solemnly and kept his head in his hands as he spoke.
"Vision has the mind stone, so Thanos will be coming for him. Where is he?"
Bruce and Tony looked at each other, leaving only the sound of Thor's labored breathing. Neither of them knew how to respond, but eventually, Tony told him the truth.
"We don't know."
Thor looked crestfallen, and Strange rolled his eyes.
"Oh, great, so Thanos already has two stones and you've lost another one."
Bruce's heart sank; they had tried to prevent Vision from leaving, but he was so unhappy without Wanda that they couldn't keep him from her. But if this meant Vision was in danger, and they couldn't warn him…
Tony broke off Bruce's ruminating when he snapped at Strange.
"It's not 'lost,' Vision will protect it. And seeing as you're wearing one as a necklace, I wouldn't be judging us."
He pointed to the green stone in a locket around Strange's neck, but Strange scoffed and puffed out his chest.
"The safest place for the Eye of Agamotto is on my person."
Tony and Strange glared at each other for a moment, but then a loud crash and a whirling of wind coming through the sanctum windows made them all jump.
Bruce followed Tony as he raced out onto the street and looked up to see a giant donut-shaped spaceship hovering just above the New York skyscrapers. Bruce gaped at it as a blue beam shot down to the street, depositing two creatures.
Thor came up beside Bruce, his expression changing from sorrow to rage as he glared at the aliens.
"Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, they were with Thanos when he destroyed my people."
Thor made his way towards the two proxies, but he looked wholly unprepared for battle, and Bruce called anxiously after him.
"Where's your hammer?"
"I do not need it."
Thor jumped towards the sky and summoned a lightning bolt with his bare hands, directing it towards Maw and Obsidian. However, before he could obliterate them, Maw flicked his wrist and redirected the bolt back towards Thor.
Thor collapsed in a heap on the ground, and Bruce stared in horror; he had never seen Thor defeated so easily. When Bruce looked back at Tony, he saw him, Strange, and Wong battling Obsidian, but even three to one, they could hardly hold their own.
There was only one thing Bruce could think to do, so he closed his eyes and tried to force the feelings he had been suppressing for three years. But when he opened his eyes, he was still himself. He tried to concentrate, to make himself angry, but he couldn't force the Hulk out.
Bruce felt his blood run cold as he realized he was entirely unprotected in the middle of an alien invasion, and he felt even worse when Maw shot Tony out of the sky, causing him to fall on the pavement in front of Bruce.
"Tony, are you alright?"
Tony groaned and opened his helmet, looking up at Bruce. He had apparently just noticed that Bruce had followed him outside and scrambled to his feet. Tony grabbed Bruce by the shoulders and looked around for one of the sorcerers.
"Wong, get him out of here."
"What? No!"
Bruce tried to resist – they were getting trampled, and if he just had a few more seconds, he could – but Wong pushed him back into a portal, and he landed on his back in Central Park. Usually, with a fall like that, the Hulk would already have burst out, but Bruce felt nothing.
People were screaming as they ran through the park, trying to get away from the spaceship, but Bruce ran back towards it. Before he could get far, another portal opened, and Thor, Wong, and Obsidian fell through. Obsidian ran towards Bruce, and he stumbled backward, but Wong opened a portal, and the giant alien disappeared.
Bruce panted as he laid on the ground, trying to catch his breath. When he looked up again, Thanos' ship was retreating away from Earth. As Bruce watched the ship disappear, his breath began to steady, but then his phone rang in his pocket. It was Tony.
"Where are you?"
"I, uh, I'm on the spaceship. With the kid and the wizard."
All the color drained from Bruce's face, and he felt like he was going to be sick. He didn't even think to wonder how Peter could have gotten there.
"Oh god, Tony."
"Don't worry, I'll be okay. I just need to find Thanos and end this once and for all."
Bruce grabbed his hair and paced around the park; he couldn't believe Tony would actually think that was a good idea.
"How?! He already defeated the entire population of Asgard!"
Bruce heard Tony's voice shake on the other end of the line.
"Ever since New York, I've known something like this would happen. I'm prepared for it."
He tried to tell himself Tony would come out of this unscathed like he always did, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this time, with this villain, it was different.
"You should have let me come with you."
"Maybe I should have, but I couldn't."
Bruce felt numb; he didn't want to leave Tony, but he could hear the phone connection begin to break up as the ship left Earth's atmosphere.
"I'll see you soon. I love you."
"I love you too, Bruce. See you soon."
Bruce stayed on the line until it was dead. When he turned around, Thor was struggling to stand, and the scars around his missing eye had opened back up.
"Are you okay?"
Thor sighed and wiped his face, which only served to smear the blood around.
"As okay as is possible under the circumstances."
With the immediate threat over, Bruce and Thor found themselves wandering around the park. It struck Bruce as morbidly funny that in the past, the two of them were the keys to the Avengers' victories, whereas now they were both useless. After a few moments, Thor spoke again.
"Dr. Banner, why did you not unleash the Hulk? Were you unable?"
Bruce honestly didn't know what had happened; he had spent so long suppressing the Hulk but believed he could still appear at the slightest provocation. However, when Bruce needed him most, he wasn't there.
"I, I tried, but it's been years. Maybe I can't anymore."
Thor nodded and seemingly tried to comfort Bruce by patting him on the back, but he almost knocked him over.
"After I lost Mjolnir, I discovered that I do not need it to channel my powers, that they come from within me."
Bruce guessed that was supposed to relate to his predicament, but the Hulk already did come from within him, and he was his only power.
Then, Bruce heard Thor sniffle and saw he had tears in his eyes; he had never seen Thor so vulnerable. Thor tried to explain when he saw Bruce's concerned look.
"My brother…he is dead. I miss him."
Bruce was confused; he tried to remember how many brothers Thor had.
"Loki? I thought – didn't he die years ago?"
"Well, yes, but no, not really. Thanos killed him because he refused to give up the space stone."
Bruce padded Thor on the arm; he couldn't truthfully say he would mourn Loki after everything he had put him through, but he was still Thor's brother. And from what Thor had said, it seemed that Loki had sacrificed himself in the end.
"I'm sorry."
"Thank you."
Thor dried his tears, but when he looked back up, his eyes widened, and Bruce followed his gaze to something falling towards them out of the sky. As it got closer, Bruce could see it was a spaceship, and for a moment, he was afraid it was Maw and Obsidian returning to finish them off. But the ship wasn't slowing down as it sped towards Earth, and before Bruce could react, it crashed only yards from where Bruce and Thor were standing.
The shock waves from the impact sent Bruce flying back, but Thor ran at full speed towards the crash site. When Bruce stood up and got a good look at the ship, he saw it was brightly colored and much smaller than Thanos' had been.
As Thor approached the door of the ship, two people, or beings at least, exited. One was a woman with long dark hair wearing clothes similar in style to Thor, and the other was a creature unlike anything Bruce had seen before. It had a face and limbs, but it seemed to be made up entirely of rocks. Thor grabbed the woman in the bear hug, which she returned less enthusiastically.
"Valkyrie, Korg, you escaped!"
After Thor released Valkyrie, he tried to look behind her into the ship, and his gleeful expression began to soften.
"But where is Heimdall?"
Valkyrie shook her head.
"Thanos killed him for sending you away. He died a warrior's death."
Bruce knew Thor had been expecting that, but he still seemed distraught by the confirmation. Thor took a deep breath and forced a smile back on his face.
"I am glad the rest of you are okay."
Thor gestured to the ship where other Asgardians were beginning to exit, but Valkyrie stared at Bruce, who had mostly hidden himself from view by standing behind Thor.
"Who is that?"
Bruce was caught off guard, but he tried to collect himself.
"Uh, Bruce Banner. I'm a friend of Thor's."
The sentient rock creature smiled pleasantly at Bruce.
"Nice to meet you, my name's Korg."
Bruce had hardly gotten over the surprise of conversing with a pile of rocks when Thor addressed him.
"Dr. Banner, Asgard has been destroyed by Surtur and there is nowhere for my people to return to. Before Thanos attacked, we were coming to Midgard in hopes that we could seek refuge."
Bruce resisted the urge to ask Thor a million questions about what he had just said.
"How many people do you have?"
Thor looked like he was about to go to the ship and start counting, but Valkyrie responded dryly.
"Well, the population was about 5,000, so now it is 2,500.
Bruce nodded; it was a surprisingly small population for an entire planet, but there were still many people to house.
"They can stay at Stark Tower for now, but it's not big enough for a permanent solution."
Not knowing what else to do, Bruce led the group out of the park towards Midtown. The city was still at a halt due to the alien invasion, so the 2,500-person parade traveled the streets relatively easily. Thor walked in front of his people next to Bruce, and Bruce nearly had to job to keep up with him.
"Is there any land on which we can rebuild our civilization?"
"You can apply for refugee status. I'm sure you'll qualify seeing as your entire planet was destroyed."
Thor smiled at Bruce; he looked substantially better than he had just a few minutes ago.
"Thank you, Dr. Banner. We are very grateful."
When Bruce and the Asgardians got back to the tower, Bruce called out to Friday.
"Can you order 2,500 sleeping bags, please?"
Bruce quickly thought through the logistics; there were 93 floors in the tower, but most of them were Stark Industries' labs and office spaces. However, there were still the vacant floors Tony had designed for the Avengers and all their common areas and training rooms. That should be enough room to fit all the Asgardian refugees.
Bruce gave Thor and Valkyrie a floor plan so they could assign their people rooms while he took the elevator up to the penthouse. He hadn't come back to the tower just to get the Asgardians settled.
When Bruce got to his and Tony's room, he opened the lower draw of a bedside table that hadn't been opened in years. He reached back and felt around until he had what he was looking for.
A few days after Steve and Tony had fought at the airport, Steve sent Tony a letter and a flip phone. Tony had thrown away the letter without reading it but kept the phone. When Bruce pulled it out, he turned it over in his hand a few times. The memories of watching Howard and Maria Stark being murdered and Tony crying on his shoulder came rushing back to him. It had been too long for Bruce to still feel the same intensity of anger at Steve, but he still hadn't forgiven him for not being honest with Tony.
Taking a deep breath, Bruce opened the phone and called the only number listed in the contacts. The most important thing now was finding Vision.
Steve answered on the first ring.
"Tony?"
"It's Bruce. Have you seen the news?"
Steve seemed slightly caught off guard as if he expected this to be a social call.
"Um, no, what is it?"
"Aliens, again. He's called Thanos and he's going to be coming for Vision's stone."
"Is Tony okay?"
Bruce tried to focus on the task at hand, but he couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.
"He got abducted by aliens so no, probably not. Do you know where Vision is?"
"I – yes, we can find him. Can you remove the stone?"
Bruce sighed; he had considered this, but logically it wasn't feasible.
"The cradle was destroyed. We could rebuild it, but we don't have enough time."
Steve paused for a moment, and it sounded like he was covering the receiver while he talked to someone else.
"I know somewhere we can take him."
Bruce didn't have time to question him, so he just nodded before remembering Steve couldn't see him.
"Okay."
Bruce thought Steve had hung up, but then he spoke again.
"It's good to talk to you again, Bruce."
"Good luck."
Bruce sat with Thor on a sofa in the lobby of Stark Tower, watching Valkyrie direct a group of Asgardians towards the elevator. Despite being King, Thor didn't exactly seem to be in charge.
After a while of sitting in silence with only his thoughts, Bruce had to speak.
"If I had been able to turn into the Hulk, maybe I could have stopped them."
Thor leaned back onto the sofa and looked at Bruce.
"Possibly, but it would not have stopped Thanos. He is…unbeatable."
After a depressing silence, Thor walked back to pessimism to offer Bruce reassurance.
"I am sure Stark will be alright."
Bruce had been telling himself that all day, but it was futile to try to calm his anxiety at this point.
Thor decided to change the subject.
"Where is Rogers?"
Bruce didn't want to try to explain, but he supposed it couldn't make him feel any worse.
"There was a…disagreement. He's operating outside the law now, but he's going to find Vision."
Thankfully, Thor only nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
A few hours later, all of the remaining Asgardians had settled into vacant rooms in Stark Tower, and Bruce and Thor were the only ones left in the lobby. Helping Thor deal with his crisis had distracted Bruce from thinking about Tony, but with that taken care of, his mind drifted back to thoughts of him lost in space with no way home.
Just as Bruce was beginning to spiral into his anxiety, a portal opened in the middle of the lobby, and Wong stepped through. Bruce's heart skipped a beat at the sight; he didn't think he would ever be able to get used to magic being real.
Bruce could see a field and trees in the distance behind Wong.
"What's going on?"
Bruce hesitantly got off the sofa, but Thor was already rushing towards the elevators to call the other Asgardian warriors. Wong gestured for Bruce to step through the portal.
"You'll see."
When Bruce stepped out into the field, he looked behind them and saw a giant army standing at attention, led by King T'Challa. Some of the warriors were riding rhinos, and others were holding what looked like nano-shields. In the background was a towering city, which was a sharp contrast to the vast fields ahead. In the forest beyond the fields, a large army of dog-like creatures was gnawing viciously at the force field protecting the city.
"Hello, Bruce. Think you can help us out?"
Bruce turned and found himself face to face with Natasha. Steve, Sam, and Bucky were standing beside her, and Bruce could vaguely see Thor and Valkyrie leading a group of Asgardians in the background.
Bruce nodded in answer to Natasha, but he doubted himself. The underlying anger he had always used to activate the Hulk wasn't inside him anymore; in fact, he hadn't felt it in years.
Looking out across the fields, he could the dogs beginning to break through the force field, and next to him, King T'Challa was debating with his generals about facing the enemy head-on.
Bruce began breathing heavily, unable to stop the anxiety from overcoming him. If Thanos was sending an army for Vision, that meant he hadn't yet taken the time stone from Tony and Dr. Strange, but if he got the mind stone, he would surely be able to. They needed the Hulk, now more than ever.
Bruce snapped his eyes shut and focused all his brainpower on the creature he knew still existed in there somewhere.
Please, please help me. I know I haven't let you out in a while, and I'm sorry for that. But this is important, and I can't do it myself. I need you. Metal Man needs you.
Suddenly, Bruce began to feel the Hulk stir with anticipation inside him. The Hulk's conscious became louder and louder until he was fighting with Bruce's mind to exert control. With a sigh of relief, Bruce let him; he had never been happier for the Hulk to take over.
Tony gripped his side and felt the blood pouring out of the stab wound Thanos had left. The others were lying defeated on the ground of the foreign planet, tending to their own injuries. They had been so close to stopping Thanos, but then Strange had stupidly given him the time stone, and he was gone.
Tony didn't know what to do; he had never experienced such absolute defeat before. He wanted to rally the others and go after Thanos, but the ship they had arrived on was destroyed, and besides, they had no idea where he had gone.
For a moment, Tony thought that Strange, who had apparently seen the future, could tell them what to do. But when Tony looked over to where Strange had been sitting, he was gone.
Then, he heard a groan and whipped his head around just in time to see Quill turn to dust. Tony gasped; the two weirdos Quill had brought with him were also disappearing before his eyes.
"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."
Tony turned to Peter, who was shaking on the ground. He shook his head vigorously, willing himself not to believe what he was seeing. This couldn't be happening; he couldn't let this happen.
"Kid, Kid?"
But Peter, who had been using all his power to hold off the inevitable, was slowly during to dust in his arms. As Tony stared at the spot where Peter had just been, the blue robotic woman stood over him.
"He did it."
She had said it with such resignation, but Tony refused to accept it.
"We need to get them back!"
Tony was almost frantic, and he looked pleadingly into her eyes, but she just shook her head.
"It can't be reversed."
"Well, we can't stay here."
Tony tried to stand, but the sharp pain in his side made him double over. The woman held his arm to steady him.
"You are injured."
"I'm fine, I just –"
Tony tried to walk, but then everything became blurry, and he lost consciousness.
When Tony woke up, he was lying on a table in a spaceship, and his wound had been sown up. Tony looked at the woman, who was standing over the engine.
"Thanks."
She looked at him blankly.
"The engine is broken."
Tony pushed himself off the table and walked over to take a look. Finally, something he could deal with.
"Do you have a tool kit in here?"
He looked around the ship, but the woman pulled off her robotic hand to reveal a set of tools. Tony stared at it for a moment before gently pulling out a screwdriver.
"That works."
Tony had managed to get them off the planet by repairing the engine, but it was only a temporary fix. They were running out of fuel, food, and water, and no one had answered the distress call the woman, Nebula, had sent out. 23 days in space had taken such a toll on Tony's body that he could barely keep himself awake for more than a few hours at a time.
"We're not making it out of here, are we?"
Nebula sat down on the floor of the ship next to him. She was not much of a conversationalist, but it was difficult not to get close to someone when you spent every hour of the day with them.
"I do not care. My entire life goal has been to kill my father. Now that is impossible."
"That's been my goal for years, too. Except I didn't even know he existed."
Tony paused for a moment; the malnutrition had not only weakened him physically but mentally as well. His mind would fog up, and he found it difficult to focus.
"All my life, I just wanted to protect the people I cared about. And now, now half of them –"
Tony left his sentence unfinished, unable to bring himself to think about the people he had left on Earth. Thanos must have come for the mind stone after taking the time stone from them. Vision, who Tony was responsible for bringing to life, had undoubtedly died a painful death.
As Tony let his mind ruminate, a bright glow began to take over his sight. It got brighter and brighter until Tony had to squint and bring his weakened arm up to shield his eyes. Nebula stood and walked towards the window, staring at the figure in front of them. Tony only had one thought before drifting off to sleep; he was going home.
Tony awoke with a jolt as the ship hit the ground. He thought he had imagined the tall, blonde woman who had come to their rescue, but when he looked out the window again, he saw the outline of the Avengers compound.
Nebula helped him up and walked him off the ship. Tony wanted to hug Earth and never let go, but more than that, he wanted to see Bruce.
He could see a group of people rushing towards him, and Pepper was the first to hug him. It was dark, but he could make out Steve, Natasha, and Thor among the people who had come to greet him.
Natasha put her hand on Tony's arm, and although the feelings from their last meeting had vanished, she was still wearing an expression he couldn't read. The others were looking at him worryingly, which was expected after he had just returned from being lost in space for three weeks, but Tony couldn't help but feel it was something more.
He looked out into the group, squinting to see in the dark.
"Where's Bruce?"
No one answered him and they wouldn't meet his eyes. Despite Tony's weakened state, his heart rate sped up as he felt Natasha squeeze his arm tighter.
"Natasha, where's Bruce?"
But even as he looked into her eyes, imploring her to give him an answer, he already knew.
"I'm sorry, Tony. He's gone."