Several hours later Bruce woke, feeling still somewhat sick but better. As if on cue, Tony walked in with a tray of soup, juice, and painkiller pills. He had kept his promise.
Bruce smiled weakly, his head still slightly pounding, "Tony, how did you know I was awake?"
Tony set the tray on a lap table in front of Bruce, "I had Jarvis monitor your brainwaves, and alert me when you were close to waking up.
Bruce had to admit he was, once again, impressed by Jarvis. He swallowed the pills and hungrily ate the soup.
Tony laughed, "Getting your appetite back, huh? That's good. See? All you needed was a few hours' rest."
Bruce blushed, a bit embarrassed. Once he was done with his drink and soup, Tony kindly took everything back to the kitchen. A few minutes passed, however, and he did not come back.
"Hm? I wonder what's taking him so long?" Bruce thought aloud.
Suddenly the tower's alarm started blaring. The painkillers had done a good job of numbing the pain, but that irritating klaxon brought his headache back again.
"Argh!" Bruce cried, gripping his head, "what the heck? That alarm… but that can only mean-!"
"An intruder? Yes, you mewling quim, now kneel before me if you want me to spare your pathetic mortal life!"
Bruce whipped towards the voice. There, in the doorway, was none other than Loki. As if this day couldn't get any worse.
"L-Loki?! What are you doing here?" Bruce tried to stay calm, but he was already not feeling well and naturally the presence of villain, especially a god, made him nervous.
"I got bored, so I thought I'd pop in, stir up a bit of havoc," Loki smirked, taking a bite of an apple he obviously stole from the kitchen. " Not bad, no where near is good as the golden apples of Idunn, though."
"Obviously," Bruce was lacking in patience.
Loki grabbed him by the collar and threw him across the room, "Quiet, Midgardian! You shall speak when I command you to!"
He wasn't thrown hard enough to break anything, but damn did it hurt. Bruce groaned, clambering to his feet. What should he do? Call for help? Obviously, he couldn't fight Loki on his own, unless… but, no, turning into the Hulk here would be too dangerous!
Loki laughed, amused by the human's fragility, "Ah, how pathetic. I forgot how weak you Midgardians are." Loki approached and knocked Bruce on his back, kicking him. Bruce cried out in pain.
"Careful," he grumbled, clutching his side, "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry."
"I remember, you fool. I don't care."
"Do you also remember how the Hulk beat the crap outta you?" Bruce growled, his eyes flashing green.
"Insolent-" Loki kicked Bruce again. Again, he grunted.
"Bruce?!" Tony had heard his friend cry out and came running. "Loki! So you're the intruder!"
Thor and the other Avengers came running in soon after.
"Loki!" Thor yelled, swinging his hammer at him.
"Ah, brother, how long has it been?" Loki dodged his attack and fled out the door.
"Come back here!" Thor roared, chasing after, followed shortly by all the other Avengers save for Tony.
Tony ran over to Bruce's side to check on him. Fortunately he wasn't too badly injured, but he still doubled over in pain.
"D-dammit! I let him get me riled up!" Bruce stuttered. "Tony, get out of here!"
A sickeningly familiar feeling came over Bruce, he could feel the transformation coming on. His heart raced faster and faster, his muscles ached in agony as they began to contort and change. His whole mind began to race as panic set in and he wanted to scream. As always, Bruce did his best to fight off the transformation, but it never seemed to work.
"No way, I'm staying here! Hang in there, buddy!"
"N-no!" Bruce's voice began to deepen, "leave!" He shoved Tony towards the door.
"I-I'll go get some tranquilizer, hang in there!" Tony dashed out the door.
Bruce relaxed a little, knowing his best friend would be safe. However, that was a mistake, as his relaxing only hastened the transformation. As long as he fought it, the transformation would take longer, and Bruce could somewhat hold back the Hulk. Even when he was fully transformed, his subconscious mind kept the Hulk somewhat restrained and, from the inside, fought for control. When Bruce relaxed and let the transformation happen, the whole process was a lot less painful and faster.
Still, he had to resist. Even if it hadn't worked up until this point, he couldn't just let the Hulk take over! Pain, burning, aching, searing pain ripped through his body. His muscles contracted and grew larger, his heart beat so fast it felt like it might burst out of his chest. His skin began to turn green, his hands and legs grew in size.
Bruce could feel his mind fading, sort of like when you drift off to sleep or get put under. He fought to keep his mind active, to keep himself in control, but the temptation to just give in and end the fruitless, torturous, struggle was great. Almost too great for him to bear.
Next he could feel his torso expanding; he could both hear and feel the fabric of his shirt tearing and ripping. A pounding headache, that was par for the course…
However, as valiantly as he fought and resisted, at one point the pain became too much for him to bear and the Hulk once again won their mental game of tug o' war. Bruce felt his consciousness fade, slip into darkness. Everything went black.
When he awoke again, Bruce was lying on the city street outside the Avengers Tower. His head hurt. His whole body hurt. Bruce stumbled to his feet and looked around.
"Please, please, tell me I didn't hurt anyone… please tell me I didn't kill anyone…"
Cars were smashed along with fire hydrants and the windows of several buildings, including the tower. His friends were nowhere in sight, but on the bright side, neither was Loki. In fact, nobody was around.
Bruce sighed, relieved. He collapsed to his knees, then the ground. Thank god, it seemed there were no victims. Bruce tried to get on his feet again, but his whole body trembled, partially from the exertion, and partially from the cold of being only in ripped purple pants. He was exhausted, which wasn't unusual after turning into the Hulk. As one can imagine, the whole process of transforming into that gargantuan creature and destroying so much combined with the Hulk's quick healing left the individual dead tired afterwards. His stomach growled, demanding food to replace the calories lost in the whole fiasco.
On the bright side, his sickness was gone. One of the few perks of hulking out was any illness or injury that he may have suffered as Bruce Banner was quickly cured by transforming into his alter ego.
"Bruce, there you are!" Tony cried, landing beside him in his Iron Man suit.
"T-Tony…? Please tell me I didn't hurt anyone…"
"Nobody besides Loki," Tony laughed, motioning to a bound and beaten Loki being led away in Asgardian handcuffs by Thor.
"Er, guess that's good…" Bruce yawned, suddenly desiring to sleep more.
"Come on, let's get you something to eat, and then back to bed!" Tony helped Bruce to his feet.
"What about the others?"
"They'll be fine, nothing but a few bumps and bruises. Nothing Jarvis can't fix!"
"And, you?" Bruce squinted, trying to get a better look at Tony. Without his glasses he had a hard time seeing.
Tony smirked and pushed something onto his face. His glasses! "I'm fine. Come on…"
Leaning on Tony for support, Bruce hobbled back to the tower.