"Don't hurt them," Bruce ground out, glancing around the room. How often did people come in to check on babies in a nursery? Bruce had no idea how all this worked, having had no experience with children.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Loki gasped, putting his hand to his chest in mock horror. "What kind of being do you think I am?"

"I don't think you really want me to answer that," Bruce snapped, thinking back to all the destruction that was caused by him. Life would never be the same for anyone. Knowing what was out there now, that kind of knowledge changed people.

"But I do. That's the whole reason I've brought you here," Loki purred, gliding along the rows of babies. "To talk."

"Really? I have to listen to some drawn out villain's monologue until you get it out of your system and decide to try to kill me?"

"Ooh, not the mild mannered scientist you like to present yourself as, are you? I was waiting for that fire, but figured I'd have to work a bit to bring it to the forefront," Loki beamed, leaning forward in delight. "This pleases me beyond measure."

"After the day I've had, I can admit I'm a little more on edge than usual," Bruce spat, clenching his jaw when his raised voice caused a soft sound to come from one of the infants. He froze, eyeing the door fearfully. If someone came into the room, there was no telling what Loki would do. After a few more seconds of nothing happening, Bruce let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding.

"You seem a little nervous," Loki pointed out, grinning slyly at Bruce's glare.

"I don't want anyone to get hurt. I'm not a monster, like you," Bruce muttered, glancing away at his choice of words. The big green beast that simmered just under the surface would disagree with that statement.

"Are we not alike?" Loki asked in confusion, tilting his head to the side.

"You killed people!" Bruce hissed, pointing an accusing finger in his direction.

"And you haven't?"

"No, never on purpose!" Bruce ground out, balling his fists as he tried to hold onto his rapidly dwindling tether of control. He would never hurt an innocent person on purpose, but he wasn't stupid enough to think he hadn't caused some harm as Hulk. All it took was a punched out bit of stone falling in the wrong spot to do unspeakable damage, but it was nothing like what Loki had done.

"Does that make them any less dead?" Loki wondered, scratching at his chin in contemplation. Bruce closed his eyes in defeat, knowing he didn't have a good argument against that. "I didn't want to kill anyone either. That was never my intention."

"Right," Bruce scoffed, shaking his head at the hypocrisy of this man. As if he was a helpless bystander in all the chaos he'd caused.

"I wanted to rule. If everyone bent to my will, none of this destruction would've been necessary," Loki sighed, adopting a world-weary look on his face. "You humans think you crave freedom, even above living. If only you could understand that your most basic instinct cries out for leadership and guidance."

"You're wrong."

"How am I wrong? You elect your peers to rule over you, but look around. There is still pain, strife, war. Fighting against each other just because one happens to live on a different rock across the water from you. You need someone above you to bring peace to this horrid place. Someone smarter. Someone better. Me," Loki finished with a flourish, standing to his full height and grinning maniacally. Bruce reared back, discomforted by the declarations he was hearing.

"You're forgetting the most important part of being a leader."

"And what's that?"

"Care. The health and happiness of the people you lead has to matter to you. Fear only gets you so far, but respect is what makes the true difference," Bruce pointed out.

"Well, that's where you come in," Loki said with a shrug.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bruce snapped. Loki smiled, stepping closer to him.

"You're going to lead with me."

"Why would Loki take Bruce?" Tony mumbled, staring at his computer screen as his whole system rebooted. He hoped this would finally fix Jarvis, since the more time it took to get back online, the longer it would be before they could find Bruce. "And why didn't he kill Steve?"

"Excuse me?" Steve asked, looking offended.

"I didn't mean it like that, I'm being serious," Tony brushed off, standing up to face the group. "Think about it for a second. He could've killed you and taken off with Bruce and we'd have no idea it was him. I mean, we would've figured it out eventually, but binding you with magic was a dead giveaway that it was his doing."

"Unless he wanted us to know," Clint sighed, looking over at Natasha.

"It's got to be a trap," Natasha nodded.

"But again, why take Bruce? Payback for what the Hulk did?"

"I don't think it's that simple. My brother does enjoy vengeance and revenge, but I'm not sure that's what this is," Thor said, running a hand through his hair. "He had the chance to escape and instead of taking it, he does this."

"Did Fake Bruce say anything out of the ordinary? If we can figure out why Loki took Bruce, maybe it'll give us an idea of where he's taken him," Tony asked Steve, hoping Loki's cockiness gave something away.

"No, he just asked for my help and asked me to follow him. I didn't ask for details," Steve replied, staring down at the floor with a frown as he recounted his interaction.

"Well, why not? Who just blindly agrees to helping someone without finding out what they even need?" Tony shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.

"I know you're worried about Bruce. I am too," Steve said quietly, taking the wind out of his sails. He didn't want to feel worried, he wanted to stay mad. Anger was easier to deal with.

"We won. We're supposed to be celebrating saving the world right now, not this," Tony mumbled, slumping under the weight of the world.

"We'll get him back," Steve said confidently, setting a hand on his shoulder.

"Maybe I can be of assistance?"

"Jarvis! What happened?" Tony shouted, feeling the relief of having his trusty computer by his side again.

"I'm not exactly sure, but all of my systems are fully online at the moment," Jarvis replied.

"We can figure that out later. Can you show us what happened to Bruce?" Tony commanded, grabbing his laptop and staring at the screen. A video popped up of Steve and Bruce riding the elevator up to the floor and Steve stepping off. Bruce snuck behind Steve and seemingly punched him in the back of the head, knocking him out with one blow. Steve rubbed the back of his head from where he was watching next to him, looking confused.

"A knock to the head like that had to leave a mark. How fast do you heal?" Clint asked, squinting at the monitor as Bruce dragged an unconscious Steve to the bedroom they were standing in.

"Not that fast," Steve mumbled, grinding his teeth as he witnessed himself getting tied up and muzzled.

"Where did he go after this?" Natasha asked, watching as Bruce got back on the elevator and the video cut off.

"I apologize, but that's all the footage I have," Jarvis said.

"But that's impossible. He had to get off the elevator somewhere. And where was the real Bruce during all that?" Clint asked, crossing his arms in frustration.

"Obviously Loki didn't want us to see that, but he let us see this. Why?" Tony muttered, replaying the video. There was no evidence that this was Loki, which was probably the point. But why? Of course they would know that this was Loki, so why keep up the charade when there were no witnesses around?

"I don't think we should spend time trying to figure out the inner workings of Loki's brain," Steve said, walking back over to the closet. He toed around a bit, grabbing his shield from where it was hidden under a pile of clothes. Having that back seemed to make him more determined and he strode back into the room, looking ready for a fight. "How many exits are there in this building?"

"Basically ground floor and the roof," Tony answered, rubbing at his temples.

"Going back to the ground level would be too risky with all the people down there," Natasha pointed out, looking around the room.

"I guess we're going to the roof."