Bruce blinked his eyes open slowly, trying to figure out where he was. He felt like he did after a Hulk shift, but he couldn't remember changing. The last thing he remembered was walking around in Stark Tower, then nothing. Wait, not nothing. Steve was there. Or had it been someone else?
Bruce brought his hands up to his face, needing to make sure his eyes were actually open. The space around him was dark and silent. Too dark and silent to be natural. By this point, his vision should've adjusted at least a little bit, but there was absolutely nothing. This wasn't right.
"Dr. Banner, is that you? Are you alright?"
"Steve?" Bruce asked, feeling around on the floor in front of him for anything that could help. He felt completely vulnerable right now and that wasn't something he was used to anymore.
"What's going on?"
"I'm not sure, but we'll figure it out," Bruce muttered, turning his head to try to discern where the other voice was coming from.
"Well, this isn't even fun anymore," the voice said, slowly morphing from the kid from Brooklyn to something else entirely. "Downright pathetic actually."
"Loki," Bruce hissed, feeling a little twinge of Hulk starting to wake up inside his body. He wasn't the one you wanted to kidnap.
"The one and only," Loki confirmed, conjuring an unearthly glow from his fingertips. It was a relief to actually be able to see something and focus on it, even if it was only the face of the last person he wanted to see. Loki was standing a few yards in front of him, well within Hulk striking range. This might not be that hard to get out of.
"You shouldn't have done this," Bruce said, carefully moving his feet under him and standing up.
"While I'd never want to tell you what you can and can't do, I should probably turn on all the lights. Just so we're all aware where we stand," Loki said casually, waving his hands out to bring the room to life.
Bruce had been expecting a multitude of possibilities. Maybe he'd be standing over a bottomless pit? Or on the lip of a volcano? Even all the rest of the Avengers tied up and hanging over a pool of sharks crossed his mind. Definitely not this.
"They are quite darling, aren't they? So delicate and innocent. I'd hate to see what would happen to them if your green alter ego made an appearance," Loki commented lightly, reaching a hand out to run his finger down a pink cheek. Bruce knew he was well and truly stuck. He sighed, looking around at all of the bassinets that were surrounding them. Loki had put him in the one place he knew Bruce would have to keep his cool in. They were in a nursery.
"Help me get him out," Natasha demanded, waving Thor forward.
"Wait! Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tony asked, stopping Thor from entering the closet.
"What are you talking about?" Natasha asked.
"I know there was some tension between the two of you, but that doesn't mean you should leave him like that," Clint muttered.
"You said it yourself that we couldn't be too careful. What if this is just another trick? How do we know this is really Steve?" Tony questioned, running a critical eye over the man on the floor. Natasha had a silent conversation with Clint before she stood back up and left the closet.
"How do we find out for sure?" Natasha wondered, tipping her head back to look up at Thor.
"My brother is very tricky, but also prone to gloating. If this really is him, he won't be able to help himself if we challenge him directly," Thor said gravely, pointing Mjolnir in his direction.
"Why don't we just ask him a question only Steve would know?" Clint suggested. Tony pondered the idea, trying to think of something only Steve would know. If this was Loki, would he magically have all of Steve's memories?
"This is too risky. Maybe we should just leave him here while we look for Bruce? Then he can come up with something," Tony proposed, looking around the group for support.
"We can't just leave him like this. If this really is Steve, something bad must've happened if he's unconscious. What if he dies while we try to decide if he's worth saving?" Natasha argued.
"It doesn't matter who this is!" Thor boomed, stomping forward and ripping the muzzle off of Steve's face. Steve didn't react, staying as unconscious as ever. Thor threw him over his shoulder and deposited him on the bed, stepping back to survey the man in better lighting. It sure did look like Steve, down to the dirt and grime from battle. But Loki probably did have an eye for detail.
"How do we wake him up?" Clint asked.
"We could use the method I used on you," Natasha offered.
"Head trauma shouldn't always be your go to way of handling things," Clint snorted, rubbing at his skull.
"It's usually efficient."
"While I typically enjoy time wasting banter, I feel like now is not the time!" Tony snapped, running a hand through his hair. He was tempted to call in Shield and wash his hands of the whole thing.
"I agree," Thor said, stepping forward and hitting Steve's cheek with a loud smack. Even Tony had to wince in sympathy. It got the job done though and Steve's eyes sprang open as he was jolted back into the land of the living.
"Son of a gun!" Steve gasped, shaking his head from side to side to get his bearings. That sounded like something a corny Captain America would say. "What's going on?"
"Why don't you tell us, Steve? Or should I say, Loki?" Tony challenged, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Loki? Did he escape? Why am I tied up? And why can't I break them?" Steve asked, straining against his bonds.
"They are secured with Asgardian magic. A Midgardian does not possess the power to escape them," Thor explained.
"So, you put magic handcuffs on Loki, even though he literally does magic?" Clint questioned, throwing his hands up in exasperation.
"We were low on options," Thor growled.
"I still don't understand why I'm tied up."
"That sounds like something Loki would say!" Tony huffed.
"Enough!" Natasha shouted, drawing all the eyes in the room to her. Even Steve stopped his wiggling. "This isn't getting us any closer to figuring this out or finding Bruce."
"Bruce!" Steve gasped, his eyes going a bit wide at the mention of his name.
"What about Bruce?" Tony asked.
"I was talking to Dr. Banner earlier. He asked me for help with something, but that's the last thing I remember," Steve muttered, scrunching his face in concentration. "What do you mean by find him? Where is he?"
"If we knew the answer to that, we wouldn't have to find him, would we?" Tony snapped. He was becoming more and more convinced that this was really Steve Rogers, because only he had the ability to annoy him so easily.
"Then why are you here worrying about me? Go find him!"
"You're not really in a position to be calling the shots. And we're trying to figure out if you're really you!" Tony shot back.
"Leave me here then. Finding Bruce is more important."
"I mean, I don't know Steve all that well, but that sounds like something he would say," Clint commented.
"And Loki would insist on putting his own well-being first," Thor added.
"Thor, untie him," Natasha directed.
"Are we sure?" Tony grunted, reluctant to let the man go before he was sure Jarvis had gotten a picture. You never knew when something like that would come in handy.
"It's a chance we need to take. We're gonna need all hands on deck to find Bruce and apprehend Loki," Natasha declared, motioning for Thor to do the job. Tony couldn't see what all went into unlocking space cuffs, but it didn't take long before Steve was standing and shaking out his newly freed limbs.
"So, what do you remember? The last I knew you were heading back to your apartment," Tony said, going back over to his closet to look for the computer he'd been searching for earlier.
"Well, that's not exactly true. I was going back out to assist in the cleanup," Steve replied, rubbing at the back of his head.
"Now I'm sure you're you," Tony scoffed, grinning in triumph when he found what he was looking for. He sat the computer on the bed and booted it up, eager to figure out what was going on with Jarvis.
"I was about to leave when Bruce stopped me. He said he needed my help with something and told me to follow him up here. The last thing I remember was stepping off the elevator and then a blinding pain in my head. I've never felt anything like it before," Steve explained, sighing in frustration. Natasha pulled his head down so she could inspect it, running her fingers through his hair to check for wounds.
"I don't feel anything. Must've been magic," Natasha murmured, relinquishing Steve's head when she was finished.
"I miss the days where the strangest thing I had to deal with was myself," Steve sighed, walking over to stand behind Tony. "What are you doing?"
"Something is interfering with Jarvis and I'm trying to fix it. It might give us a better idea of what happened and where Bruce is," Tony muttered, slamming his hands on the keys in anger. "I hate magic. I hate space. I hate anything that isn't from Earth. NASA can go screw itself too."
"Well, that's not very fair. You shouldn't let one bad experience sour your opinion on everyone," Clint said, putting a supportive hand on Thor's shoulder. "Believe me, if anyone has the right to hold a grudge, it's me."
"You can't call dibs on a grudge," Tony argued, rolling his eyes.
"How about we debate the inner workings of your pettiness after we get Bruce back?" Natasha suggested, glaring at both of them.
"I'm working on it. Jarvis is our best bet to point us in the right direction," Tony said, scanning through the different readings on the screen. "Besides, Bruce is probably the worst person Loki could've taken. We've already seen that the Hulk is capable of handling Loki. All Bruce has to do is let him out."
"Loki has to realize that though. He must have some sort of plan," Steve said, resting his hands on his hips. Tony hated to admit that Steve was probably right. There had to be more going on than Loki taking one of them at random just to mess with them or secure his freedom. He just hoped they could find Bruce before it was too late.