Natasha fumbled with something, then put two small devices on her hands. She gently yet swiftly nudged Banner out of the way. "For Pete's sakes, here!" She quickly pushed away the armor from Loki's chest and pressed both her hands to his chest. "Clear!"
With a sudden jolt, Loki gasped, his head flying up, mouth open as he tried to get a breath in. Thor let out a sigh and put a single, large hand under his brother's head.
"It's okay, you're okay," Thor said soothingly. The whole team saw this, wondering who he was saying it for: Loki or himself?
Loki growled in pain. "You say that, but I don't feel it." He groaned and sagged farther into his brother's grip.
"Alright, this is a problem," Bruce said, hands covered in blood from the wound in Loki's abdomen.
"What do you need?" Natasha asked.
"Well, I need a hospital, but right now, I'll settle for something better to stem the bleeding with."
The Captain glanced around. "There's a hardware store right over there. I'll see if they have any rags or something." He headed off.
With no other solution, Banner turned to Loki. "Okay, I need you to just stay calm. We can't have you going into shock, which would be bad. Take deep, relaxing breaths."
"Urg-yes, I'm not stupid, I'm aware that's what I need to do," the Jotun growled softly.
"Loki, please, do not be difficult," Thor said to his brother.
"Well, I don't always try. It just happens."
There was the sound of footsteps approaching and Steve came running back, a few items held in his hands. He stopped next to Bruce, handing him some rags.
"Here you go, but this is all they had," the super soldier informed the scientist.
"I think these'll work until the quinjet gets here," Banner said, gratefully taking the items. "Thanks Cap."
"No problem."
"Alright, let's stop this horrible bleeding, shall we?" The scientist looked back down at Loki once again and gave him a grim smile. The god of mischief groaned. Not wasting another moment, Bruce gently pressed down on the gaping wound in Loki's midsection, provoking a barely held back cry of pain. The grey color of the cloth was already being stained a deep red, soaking into the fabric.
Bruce grimaced and replaced the thoroughly soaked rag with a clean one. This happened twice before the bleeding even somewhat calmed down.
It was then that the sound of a jet roared from above the city. Hawkeye glanced upward.
"The quinjet's here!" Barton announced the obvious, his eyes narrowed at the sky. The rumble of the engines filled the air, and the large black vehicle descended upon the Avengers. It touched down with a cloud of dust and debris that sprayed from the engines. In a matter of moments, the back door dropped down. From the quinjet, Director Nick Fury strode out, his usual serious face on.
"I congratulate you on your success," the director said, a proud tone in his voice.
"No time for pleasantries, Fury. My brother requires a healer," Thor declared roughly as he pushed himself between Cap and Hawkeye.
Nick Fury glared and moved his head to see. The defeated Jotun was no longer struggling, just laying limply as Bruce tried to stop the flow of his blood.
"And who's to say I shouldn't just let that little punk die here?" Fury growled. His mind shot back to Coulson in the helicarrier and all the employees who'd died in the building collapse at the start of all this.
"I will not let my brother die." Thor focused on the director, fire in his eyes.
"Your brother is a criminal and a murderer! He nearly destroyed this whole planet out of petty jealousy."
"You do not know what happened," Thor snarled. He glared down at Fury. "I will not stand here idly while Loki is in pain and suffering. I shall do what I please."
"He killed hundreds of people. He's dangerous, and I won't have him onboard the helicarrier just for him to ambush us again."
"But he just saved us! He gave me his scepter so we could stop the Chitauri!"
"Loki's probably planning something!"
"You do not know my brother," Thor glowered.
The director fixed him with a furious glare, his one good eye burning into the Asgardian's.
With an angry huff, Fury swiveled around. "Fine. But he's your responsibility. I won't take the blame when we all die." He stomped off angrily. His long dark coat swayed behind him.
With a small, yet satisfactory grunt, Thor also turned away. He saw the looks on the other Avengers' faces and snorted.
"Do not look so surprised. We all know I would have won that argument-which I did," Thor said. He looked down at Loki, who had now fallen unconscious.
"Is he going to be okay?" Thor asked.
"Well, the bleeding has stopped-for now. I'm actually surprised about that," Bruce commented as he wiped the blood off his now red-stained hands. He caught Thor's un-approving glance and chuckled awkwardly. "I meant that in the best possible way."
"I am sure you did, doctor." He patted the scientist heartily on the back, startling the anxious man, before kneeling down next to Loki. "We must get him back to safety."
"Of course, then we can get him more, uh, cleaned up," Banner agreed nervously, still uncertain. He wrung his hands together, glancing about at the other Avengers who were watching. He mouthed 'what do I do?' to them, hoping for some backup.
Cap seemed to understand his distress and stepped forward. "Um, Thor, are you sure bringing Loki to the helicarrier is the safest thing to do?"
Thor whipped around, getting to his feet. "Are you saying you do not approve of me making sure my brother is safe?"
"Well, um, no, but he did cause a lot of damage-"
"He did it not of his own free will. I shall explain later, but right now, we must help him."
The remaining Avengers exchanged glances, shrugging nervously. Thor bent down and picked the unconscious Jotun up. Loki was completely limp as he was carried towards the quinjet. The other Avengers cautiously followed after.
The ride back to the helicarrier was silent. The only sounds were when Loki groaned and mumbled in pain, by which Thor then gently ran his hand over his brother's head, trying to calm him.
It seemed like forever, but they finally arrived at the helicarrier. Thor stood up immediately, then looked towards Doctor Banner.
"Ah, yes, uh, this way," Bruce muttered quickly, wringing his hands together anxiously. Thor followed, his boots thumping on the floor. The two (though more like the group, as the remaining Avengers were all following anyways, just to see what would happen) made their way up to the medical portion of the floating base. Bruce went down a separate hallway, taking them away from the main sections, and instead to a private room. It had a few more extraterrestrial features in it, perfect for treating the injured warriors . . . or in this case, villain.
"Just set him down there," Banner said, walking past the hospital bed that sat along one wall. Thor cautiously set Loki on the white bed and made sure his wound wasn't bleeding before watching Bruce.
The scientist had his glasses on (Thor had no idea where he'd pulled them from) and was setting up several machines. He took a portable, lightweight X-ray and wheeled it over to the side of the bed. A couple more pieces of machinery were transferred from various parts of the room.
"What are you going to do?" Steve asked from the doorway. Bruce glanced over.
"I'm going to get Loki an IV and then monitor his heart and get an X-ray. Something caused him to bleed like that, because I assume Thor didn't do that," Banner explained. He saw Thor nod in the side of his vision.
"Correct," the thunder god agreed.
"Can you tell us what happened while I'm doing this?" Bruce asked as he got the IV in.
"Well, Loki and I were on Stark Tower, and he agreed to close the portal. He went to the roof and then he collapsed. I closed the portal, and upon going back down to the ground, I realized he was bleeding quite heavily. I took him to you for examination as soon as I touched down."
Banner hummed in thought, pressing a stethoscope to Loki's chest. "And he didn't say anything?"
"No. Not about his injury."
"Too bad." Bruce put the stethoscope away and grabbed the X-ray. He adjusted the levels and everything before placing it over Loki. "We'll have to find out what's causing this . . ." He took several scans and then transferred them to the screen so they'd be visible.
"Does it show anything?" Thor asked, now standing around the prints.
"Just wait," Banner said simply.
"You know what I wanna know? Why, of all people, did Loki agree to stop what he started?" Clint questioned. He crossed his arms. The other Avengers seemed to agree with him, looking to Thor for answers.
"I . . . perhaps I should let Loki explain," Thor responded softly. His light blue eyes switched from his teammates to his brother laying unresponsive on the cot. "Or perhaps keep it to myself." He watched as Banner busied himself with sliding Loki's golden-and-green armor off his body. Thor knew pride was important to Loki, but he also knew Midgard healers could not use the same methods as Asgard. So it was probably necessary for Bruce to remove the remaining clothing separating him from getting to the injuries. Once his brother was unclothed from his waist up, the scientist prepared an IV.
"Alright, the X-rays are ready. Let's see what we can find," Bruce announced when he was finished. He brought the screen to him and inspected it. The other members of the team gathered around, curious. Banner glanced around, feeling crowded. "Uh, how about everyone else besides Thor takes their leave? We need some room, and there's not much space in here."
The team glanced around at each other. "Just keep us updated," Cap said after a moment. He gave Banner a concerned look and headed towards the door. Clint, Tony, and Natasha followed after, looking quite dissatisfied. Bruce caught Thor's eye and went back to work, examining the X-rays to find the source of the bleeding. After a few moments, Banner frowned. Thor watched his reaction carefully, hand up by his chin with that elbow resting in his other hand. He raised an eyebrow at the doctor.
"Did you find something?" Thor asked in a questioning, yet curious tone.
Banner narrowed his eyes briefly. "Yes, I did." He held up a finger, pointing it at a white shape located in the spot where Loki's injury was on the X-Ray. Thor blinked, tilting his head.
"What is that?"
"Don't exactly know, but whatever it is, that's got to be the thing causing the injury." Bruce turned to face the unconscious Jotun on the cot.
"Are you going to remove it?" Thor continued.
The scientist frowned in uncertainty. "If I can."
Seeing the pensive expression on Bruce's features, Thor quirked an eyebrow. "Does this bother you, Banner?"
"Uh . . . I'm not really the type of doctor that does this-"
"Then I shall do it myself." Thor shifted towards Loki. Bruce quickly grabbed onto Thor's arm, wincing. The thunder god frowned, looking down upon the smaller man.
"U-uh, no, don't. I can do it." Bruce let go of Thor's bicep. "Just let me prep him."
Thor nodded, falling silent. He watched as Banner moved around the room, gathering items and setting them on a tray.
"If you would wait outside . . . I'll do all I can, but there's no need for you to stay here and watch," Bruce said when he appeared to be done. He shifted his gaze towards Thor, not saying anything else. Thor hesitated, but then moved backwards slightly. He turned around and walked out the door. He let it shut behind him.
Tony swirled the coffee in his cup idly, an indecisive look on his face. He briefly glanced up at the number of other Avengers in the council room, but redirected his attention on the coffee.
"I don't know how to feel about this."
The team looked up at Steve. He met their gazes with wariness, a frown on his face. They waited a few moments for him to resume, but he didn't say anything more.
Tony leaned backed in his chair, propping his feet up on the smooth wooden table. "Well, I don't have a good feeling about this. Whatever's happening to Loki, it means trouble. There's no doubt about that," Stark said. He finished his statement by taking a casual drink of his coffee, still meeting the team's gazes.
Natasha arched an eyebrow. She was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. "I think we all know this doesn't look good. I wouldn't trust anything-and I'm not. So I say we be cautious."
"I agree. Loki could be up to something," Clint muttered.
"Loki is not up to anything."
The Avengers all directed their attention to the doorway opposite to Natasha. Thor stood quietly, blue gaze scanning their faces.
Tony swung his feet off the table, moving fluidly out of his chair-coffee cup still near his face. "I'm out. I think I'll go work on something."
Steve stood as well, but not to leave. He stuck an arm out and halted Stark in his tracks. "That's obviously a lie."
"You like to be where the gossip is, right Tony?" Romanoff asked, a smirk tugging at her lips.
"Not for a crazy murderer, who last time, nearly crashed this floating base," Tony retorted.
"You do not know what happened. Once I am sure Loki is well, I shall tell you all what occurred," Thor announced. "But I do not know how Loki will react. So I am going to wait." He walked forward, boots heavy on the floor. Thor took a seat in one of the chairs situated around the table.
"At least tell us one thing," Clint began, "why the fuck should we trust you or Loki?"
"Hey, hey," Steve interjected. He sent a stern glare at Hawkeye. As he began to speak again, Natasha went over to Clint and spoke quietly to him. Steve continued. "Thor is our teammate. We've got to trust our team."
Turning back to Cap-much to Natasha's displeasure-he retorted, "Loki isn't part of our team."
Steve hesitated slightly. "No, he isn't. But if Thor thinks this is . . . safe, then we ought to take his word for it."
Thor nodded gratefully. "Believe me, I do not enjoy keeping secrets from you. But my brother has finally decided to trust me again and I don't intend to shatter the one strand we've recovered." He pressed his fingertips together, leaning back in his chair.
"See, that's what I don't understand," Tony finally said, pointing an accusing finger at the Asgardian. "He tried to kill you. Like, twice. Maybe more that I haven't heard of. Why in the world would you two suddenly develop a "sibling bond" again?"
"I shall explain when the time comes."
Natasha, who had finished consoling Clint, faced the team. "Is Bruce working on Loki?"
"Yes." Thor nodded, glad the topic was gone.
"And?"
"There was something found inside of Loki. We know not what it is, but Dr. Banner thinks it is the cause of my brother's injury."
"Yep. Glad there's more mysteries," Tony grumbled. "I knew this spelled trouble." He ended by downing the rest of his coffee. Which may or may not have had alcohol in it.
God, I am so sorry. I had a really good idea for this story, and then right after I published it, there was this immediate loss of interest. But I got the second chapter done. Finally. Updates, I promise, will come more often. I've got a HECK load of stories I've got to do as well.