Warnings: PG 13 stuff about torture, but nothing graphic.

Bruce stuffs the last of his books into his duffle bag, rearranging his sparse collection of property to accommodate the thick tome. He glances over at the man standing just barely in his SHIELD assigned room. "So am I breaking the news to him or is Miss Romanoff?"

Agent Coulson sends him a bland look that translates to nothing and hands him his toothbrush. "Romanoff. We thought it better, seeing as she was the first, positive authority figure to him."

Bruce nods in agreement. "Good idea."

"Not jealous?"

Bruce pauses at that. Most of the time, Agent Coulson is a blank slate that could easily pass for a wall, he's that good at being bland, but then there are those rare times, like now, where he lets loose some bit of sarcasm that makes Bruce reevaluate everything he thinks about the man. It's probably a ploy to make sure he's off balance. Never really sure what angle Agent Coulson is aiming for. Bruce can't even tell if he feared the Hulk, his act was so good.

He sneaks another glance over at Agent Coulson. "No. Makes sense. I'm just the doctor. I make him do things he'd probably rather not. She gives him food and compliments. Good cop, bad cop style."

Agent Coulson hands him his toothbrush. "He's not afraid of you anymore than he is of her. Now, if it was Doctor Morgan we were discussing…well, then I'd agree with you."

Hulk growls at the name and Bruce echoes it. "That man should be moved to a different base. He's not ready for this."

"Agreed. He's already been moved."

"And you're not afraid he'll go to the press? Go to HYDRA?"

Agent Coulson doesn't even blink at the knowledge that Bruce knows about HYRDA. But the man does give a creepy half smile. "He won't be talking."

And that…does nothing to assure Bruce. Rather it makes him nervous. Just what did SHIELD do to make their former doctor silent? Bruce's rather impressive imagination comes up with a few gruesome scenarios involving water, hitting, and dark basements in Antarctica. He suppresses a shiver. It doesn't take much to imagine that he'll end up in one of those situations one day. He's the Hulk after all. SHIELD is just waiting for him to outlive his usefulness. Then it'll be off to the labs for him.

Bruce zips his bag shut, slings it over his shoulder, and pretends that Agent Coulson's news makes him happy. "Good to know. Loki doesn't need that extra worry right now."

And the alien doesn't. The poor man has enough trouble.

"Hi, there," Bruce says, as he puts some hot broth the table. "My name's Bruce."

Loki blinks at him and looks like he'd really, really love to curl into himself. But that won't happen. Miss Romanoff said enough for Bruce to know that Loki's been trained not to defend himself. It makes Bruce angry, that someone would degrade a man so that he can't even think for himself. Doctor Morgan glances over from his station and snorts. Bruce ignores him for now.

"I'm a friend of Natasha," he says. He needs to establish a connection with Loki and Miss Romanoff seems like the best bet. Loki's already showed many signs of trusting her the most. Aligning himself with her will only help him with Loki.

Loki's face smooths a little. "Natasha."

"Yes." Bruce steps a bit closer, about to explain the whole broth thing, but a rancid smell assails his nose. He stops and sniffs the air. Ugh! He frowns. What is that?

He leans closer to Loki and realizes the smell is coming off of him. He takes a big whiff and gages. Urine. Loki's wet himself. It doesn't surprise him, sadly, that Loki isn't bothered by the acidy liquid, but what does surprise Bruce is that no one has taken care of it yet. By the smell alone Bruce can tell it's been a while since Loki did it.

Why? Bruce looks over at Doctor Morgan. "Why's he smell like he wet himself?"

The reaction this garners is abrupt and shocking. Doctor Morgan leaps to his feet with a curse. "Not again."

Loki cringes at the annoyed groan.

Bruce himself frowns. "Doctor Morgan…?"

The other doctor lifts Loki's blanket up and peeks under. He sighs and gently pulls Loki's blankets off. The bedding surrounding Loki's lower half is soaked. The smell is ten times worse now that the blanket isn't covering it at all. Loki's hospital pants are wet as well. Doctor Morgan looks exhausted. "I told him to use the bathroom next time."

"What?"

"This makes the fourth time he's done this." Doctor Morgan sighs again. "You'd think the man would get a clue. How hard is it to go six feet?"

Bruce sweeps his eyes over the mess and the shivering form of Loki. The man's silently crying now. "You told him?"

"Of course I did."

"What did you tell him?"

Doctor Morgan jerks back. "I'm sorry?"

"What were the exact words you used to tell Loki to use the bathroom?"

"Ummm…" Doctor Morgan's eyes go vacant as he searches his memories. After a second they clear. "I told him to just use the bathroom. That it was inconvenient to for us to have to change the bedding every time he needed to pee."

"Did you show him the bathroom?"

"Yes?"

"Actually take him there?"

"No…should I have?"

Bruce doesn't like Doctor Morgan, but the man isn't cruel. Just naive. The SHIELD doctor is new and probably never had a situation outside of a textbook case. This is a whole new area for the man. Bruce keeps that in mind, even if this all seems so obvious to him. He pinches the ridge of his nose and calmly tells Hulk to back off. "Yes. Yes, you should have visually shown him."

"But –"

"Doctor," Bruce interrupts. "Let's say you have a two year old son and you're trying to potty train him. Do you just point to the bathroom and say "use it"? No, of course you don't. Why? Because your son has never seen a toilet, let alone a bathroom before. You have to show him the toilet and how to use it, probably multiple times, before he understands."

"But –"

"You got the file on Loki. You know what Miss Romanoff has diagnosed." Bruce straightens and points to the door. "Get out."

"What? But I didn't mean –"

"Doctor Morgan, please leave the room. I will handle this." Bruce allows just a teeny bit of Hulk's anger to show. It's mean, but it'll also get results fast.

Doctor Morgan pales and flees the room. Hulk snorts in amusement. Bruce reigns him in, thanking him for the assistance, and walks over to the door, peering out into the hallway. He spies an agent a few feet away. "Can you please go get Miss Romanoff for me?"

The agent nods and Bruce goes back inside the room. He leaves the door open. No need for Loki to think he's being locked in for some kind of punishment. Not that Loki would try to escape if Bruce did decide to hit him. But it's the thought that counts, right?

Bruce strides over to Loki's bedside. The poor man is shaking something fierce and a couple of whines are getting out. Loki's terrified. He knows he did wrong, but he doesn't know why or how to fix it. Bruce sits down in the chair beside the bed and tries to appear as unintimidating as possible. "Lok –"

He trails off. Miss Romanoff had said that Loki's been trained to hate his name. That it's somehow a bad thing to acknowledge it. But then what does Bruce call him? He's not doing 'runt'. He can't just call him 'you'. Bruce rifles through all the books and movies he's ever known and finally comes up with an alternative. He hopes Miss Romanoff agrees, because he's never really been in this territory before, so it's all guesswork.

"Is it all right if I give you a name?" Bruce asks Loki. "I don't much like Runt."

Loki stares at him. And stares. And keeps staring. "Yes."

Well, that was…awkward. Bruce forges on. "Right. Okay. How's Loptr sound?"

He really hopes this Master guy hadn't forbidden all of Loki's pseudo names. That'd make it ten times harder. But Loki only sniffles and nods. Bruce smiles. "Good. I'm glad."

Loki frowns at that, but doesn't say anything.

Bruce fiddles with the hem of his shirt and hopes Miss Romanoff hurries up. His prayers are answered as the woman herself strides through the open doorway.

"Banner?" she says, glancing once at the wet mess around and under Loki.

"Loptr seems to have had an accident." Bruce pushes off his knees and stands. "Doctor Morgan…was unprepared for this and didn't explain the rules quite right. I was hoping you might rectify it?"

His words feel stiff, but then Bruce's never sure just how to approach Miss Romanoff. She manipulative. Sneaky. Two faced. She's also met the Hulk in one of the worst ways possible and thus fears him. Bruce has no idea how to fix that. Or if he can.

Miss Romanoff nods briskly. "I understand."

"I think I should stay and help," he ventures to say. She raises a perfectly manicured eyebrow and he hurries to explain. "You can't be here twenty-four, seven."

And that's all he needs to say. Her lips quirk into a smirk. "Good idea."

She glides over and looks down at Loki. "Hey…Loptr. Looks like you had an accident."

Loki cringes and starts crying again. "Sorry…sorry…"

Miss Romanoff shakes her head. "No, it's my fault. I didn't explain things well enough."

If possible, Loki looks even more terrified. He shuffles to the edge of the bed. "My fault."

Miss Romanoff's eyes turn sad for a brief moment before she hardens herself. "No. Not your fault at all. Mine."

Loki whines and Bruce suddenly realizes that he's worried about what his Master will do to her for this perceived mistake. Nothing good, he knows that. But Miss Romanoff takes it all in stride. "Loptr, I can handle it. Right now what we need to do is make sure this doesn't happen again. Okay?"

Loki's still crying, but he nods anyway. "Okay."

Miss Romanoff smiles, but even Bruce can tell it's a bit forced. She doesn't like being placed in this role any more than he does. She rallies herself well though. "Good. Now, can you get up?"

Loki struggles to get off the bed, but Miss Romanoff places a hand on his shoulder and he freezes instantly. The alien trembles and looks at her in fear. "Bad thing?"

She leans down so that they're both at equal heights. "Loptr, I need you to listen, okay?"

He licks his lips and whispers, "Okay."

"Good." She gives him another forced smile. "Now, I know you're hurt, so you need to take this slowly. I don't want you making your wounds worse. Okay?"

Loki frowns – probably confused as to why they'd even care about him that much – but nods again. Miss Romanoff takes him arm and helps him get onto his feet. Loki wobbles a little at first, but stays upright. Miss Romanoff pats him on the shoulder. "Good job."

It's sad how just those two words make Loki preen and stop crying. Bruce swallows and tells Hulk that no, coming out would not help the situation. Loki needs quiet and calm, two things Hulk isn't. Hulk grumbles, but doesn't force the subject, trusting in Bruce for right now. Bruce thanks him for that and Hulk just snorts.

Miss Romanoff gently guides Loki to the small restroom in the corner of the room. "Now, this is called a restroom or bathroom. If you ever need to relieve yourself…Loptr, do you know what that means? To relieve yourself?"

It never occurred to Bruce that Loki might not know that. It makes sense though. It also makes him and Hulk angrier.

Loki bits his lower lip and nods.

"Good," Miss Romanoff says. "Now, if you ever need to relieve yourself you are to use this room. See that big bowl like thing over there? The one all the way in the back? That's called a toilet. You sit on it and relieve yourself. Okay?"

Loki takes a hesitant step forward and peeks into the toilet. Miss Romanoff leads him closer.

"Once you're done you just push on this little nob." She pushes on the flusher and the water roars down the pipe. Loki finches at the abrupt sound, but Miss Romanoff just pats his shoulder. "It's okay. That's just to make sure that the room doesn't stink up. It's just taking the water down a pipe and out to the sewer."

Loki's breath is still a bit fast, but he doesn't seem as if he's going to try and jump out of his skin anymore.

"Okay, last two things," Miss Romanoff says. "Once you're done, you wipes yourself with the toilet paper." She shows him that and then moves on. "This is a sink and that small bottle over there is filled soap. You just push down on the pump and put a little bit of the soap in your hands, turn on the faucet, and wash your hands. That makes sure you don't get any germs on you."

Miss Romanoff demonstrates by washing her hands. "Make sense?"

Loki agrees quickly.

"Good. Now tell me what you're supposed to do if you need to relieve yourself?"

Loki takes a breath. "Go to this room, sit down, flush, use toilet paper, and wash hands."

"Make sure you pull your pants down when you're going and up when you're done."

"Pants up and down."

"Use the toilet paper before you flush. Otherwise it'll stink up the room."

Loki nods.

Miss Romanoff smiles. "Good job, Loptr. Very good. I think that deserves a reward, don't you, Banner?"

"Of course," Bruce agrees, even though this role makes him sick to his stomach. "How does a bowl of broth sound to you?"

"Perfect."

It took a few more times and mistakes for Loki to get the hang of using the bathroom. Each one was a battle in and of itself. Crying – from Loki – stiff smiles and encouragements – from Miss Romanoff or himself – and apologies – from Loki, again. But they've got it down now. Bruce makes a mental note to show Loki all the bathrooms in the tower…well, not all of them, maybe. There's too many. But he'd be sure to have Miss Romanoff and himself show Loki the one in his room and in the dining area. Oh, and the TV room too. Just in case.

Agent Coulson follows Bruce out into the hallway. "The planes prepped and ready to go. Just waiting on Loki."

And me. Bruce hikes his bag higher up his shoulder. "Miss Romanoff taking him there?"

"Yes." Agent Coulson grimaces. "It's been…interesting."

"I can imagine," Bruce says. "New environments are never a good thing with prisoners of war."

Agent Coulson dips his head in agreement. "Indeed. But he'll be better off at Stark Towers."

"Tony said you'd be house there too."

Agent Coulson gives him a small smile. "Miss Potts asked for my aid in wrangling you all in. Well, mostly Clint and Tony. You, she's not so worried about."

Bruce smirks. He can see that. Tony goes to the beat of a different drum. Heck, a different orchestra. But with all of the Avengers in one place, Pepper's going to need all the help she can get. Bruce too, now that he thinks about it. Having Agent Coulson there to watch over Agent Barton and Miss Romanoff, plus Tony, will be much appreciated. "I'm sure, she's happy for it."

"She is," Agent Coulson says.

And that's the last thing they both say to each other as they enter into the carrier's hanger. Bruce just hopes no one will want to do any small talk on the ride over. He's not that comfortable with these agents yet and Loki's going to be a jumble of nerves just waiting to explode.

I hope Pepper knows what she's agreeing to, Bruce thinks as he steps up the plane's ramp.

I know what you're thinking, I am too. Le gasp! She updated within ONE day of her last posting. Don't worry, I checked the sky and it's not falling. Nor are pigs flying either. Phew, I know. *grins* My muse was being extra kind to me and let me write this for you all. It's the chapter for this coming week (where I'll be out of contact because of my friend's wedding).

I hope I did Bruce all right and that flashback was good enough. I tried super hard on them both. I also tried to make sure that Doctor Morgan wasn't a Gary Stu baddie. Sure, he should've thought of the toilet thingy and been more patient with Loki, but he's not a cruel person. Just a bit scatterbrained. Which is not a good thing in SHEILD.

Please, review and tell me what you think.