I do not own any of the characters present. They belong to Marvel. This was written purely for fun.
The demigod's footsteps seemed to echo off of imaginary walls and sent a dull ache into his brain each time the heel of his boot hit the phantom ground. Loki's feet came into view and steadily kept moving as he passed by the man lying on the ground. "So tell me," Loki began in a pleasant tone.
Bruce lifted a shaky arm and pushed himself into a seated position. He raised his other hand to his head, through his greying hair, and scrunched his eyes tightly shut. "What did you do to me?" he asked in a low semi-hoarse voice.
He heard Loki pause in his movements and the rustle of his overcoat, signifying that he turned and was probably staring at him. In the moment of quiet, Bruce could easily picture a smirk spreading on the demigod's face. He opened his eyes, but didn't turn to look at the figure standing on the edge of his vision.
"How many people have you killed?"
Bruce's eyes immediately shot to the demigod. Loki smiled and stared down at him with unfriendly eyes. "What?" he breathed.
"How many people have lost their lives at your hands, Doctor Banner?" Loki asked again as he watched the man rise unsteadily onto his feet. "Surely you know."
The doctor's heart continued to pound in his chest, but his breathing was slowly returning to normal. Bruce tore his eyes away from the God of Mischief and glanced down toward where his right hand had nervously gone to his left elbow. "I…I-I don't know," he answered truthfully. "The memories from the other guy are always hazy…just flashes, or sounds…"
Bruce nearly jumped out of his skin when the sound of rapid gunfire erupted through the air, accompanied with visions of flames and what looked to be the spinning barrel of some military-grade weapon appearing from the nothingness. Above the explosions of gunfire came a furious roar, the same kind that would howl in his head on a particularly bad day. His hands shot upward toward his chest in a defensive motion, but he remained glued to the spot, watching in horror as the memory faded just as suddenly as it had appeared.
As he continued to stare into the returned darkness, Loki looked completely unfazed as he turned to glance at the doctor. He smirked at the sight of the shaken man.
The silence was positively deafening in the wake of the memory. It was shattered when Loki drew a long breath in through his nose. "Well," he said primly, "would you not say that someone died at your hands during that incident?"
It took a moment for his words to sink in, but when they did, Bruce's widened eyes fell upon the demigod. "Where are we?" he asked in a voice just above a whisper, low and terrified.
Loki smiled at him, a full toothy grin, as he clasped his arms behind his back. "Come, come, Doctor Banner. It is said that you are a brilliant beast." His eyes darkened. "You know where we are," he said with careful articulation.
Bruce most certainly knew where he was. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew what he saw. He spent so much time up here that there was no question about it. What frightened him was the fact that the God of Mischief was here with him.
He was trapped in his mind with a demigod.
It was all but impossible to pay attention to Fury. Even knowing that the Hulk was contained and wouldn't be causing any damage to the helicarrier, his tumultuous roars still rang through the air. Despite having fought alongside the rage monster for the past couple of months, each of the team members tensed slightly at each of the furious yells. They had never heard him sound this angry before.
Fury had to raise his voice to capture the small group's attention after a particularly furious roar. Tony lounged back in his chair carelessly, attempting to keep the smirk that threatened to appear off his face. He had stopped listening to the mission details a long time ago and was now simply staring straight at Director Fury, trying not to look too smug when the one-eyed man would let out a small exasperated puff of air after a loud roar would shake the room from their focus on the mission.
Tony outright grinned when Fury's radio crackled to life. "Sir, we've got a problem," came the voice of a very worried agent.
When Fury glared over at Stark, Tony glanced away and did nothing to hide the smirk on his face. The director snatched the radio off of his belt. "He can't get out of that cell, agent," Fury growled into the transmitter.
"He's bre—" Another roar sounded, both over the radio and through the helicarrier, only the roar over the radio was accompanied with the sound of cracking glass. "He's going to break the glass at this rate, sir!" the agent called over the clamor. "The glass is already starting to crack!"
Fury clenched his jaw for a moment before his eye shot to Stark in what could only be described as a death glare.
Tony matched his glare with an expression of self-satisfaction, a grin plastered to his face. He cocked an eyebrow as if in challenge.
The two remained in a heated staring contest for a moment longer before Fury suddenly lifted himself from his chair. "We'll finish this later," he practically spat to the group at large before he began to speak with his agents again.
Tony let out a whoop and arose from his seat, turning swiftly on his heel and moving toward the door.
"Where are you going now?" Steve called after Tony.
Stark didn't even break his stride. "To go calm him down," he replied. He grinned over his shoulder. "He likes me best, remember?"
"He likes Iron Man best, remember?" Steve shot back as he began to follow him.
"So I'll go slip into something a little more comfortable," Tony answered as he turned fully around to shoot Steve a suggestive grin and a roguish wink.
Tony let out a sharp laugh at Steve's disgusted expression and continued to make his way to where his suit was, leaving the super soldier in his wake. As much as he would have loved to stay around and toy with the Cap's outdated thoughts of society and culture, he had a job to do. He quickened his pace as another roar shook the air.
Loki smirked when he noticed the tremor running through the doctor's hands and the increasing rise and fall of his chest. "Have you figured it out?" he asked innocently.
Bruce's eyes shot back to the demigod. "Where is he?" he inquired. He directly approached Loki, looking half mad with panic. "Where is the Hulk?"
"Ah, you really are brilliant!" Loki exclaimed with a laugh. "Most would be only worried for themselves—"
"Where is he?" Bruce yelled, his hands flying to grab at the demigod's lapels.
Loki glared down into the doctor's enraged brown eyes for the briefest of seconds before his hand lashed out and landed against the man's chest.
Bruce immediately flew back from the force of the blow, feeling like had just been kicked in the chest. He landed hard against the floor of darkness with a grunt of pain. His hands shot to where Loki's hand had collided with his chest as he tried to catch his breath.
"You had best keep your hands to yourself, beast," came Loki's voice in a vicious snarl.
Once he could manage, Bruce propped himself up onto an elbow. He cringed and looked to the demigod, who was still glaring down wrathfully at him. "Where is the Hulk?" he asked again between breaths.
As he slowly lifted himself back onto his feet, a hand still pressed to his chest, Loki drew a calming breath and allowed himself to relax. He smirked at the doctor. "Persistent, I will give you that. Again, you already have your answer."
He almost let out a bark of laughter when he saw the man pale slightly, looking horrified. "Ooh," he sighed in faux-sympathy, "are you soon to have even more blood on your hands?"
"Did they get me to the holding cell before I transformed?" Bruce asked frantically.
Even before Loki could speak, visions of a conference appeared from the gloom. Loki actually let out a laugh this time. "It would seem I chose a perfect moment to cast this spell! That floating fortress could really stand another rampage from the beast."
Bruce stared at the memory for a moment longer, his panicked eyes darting from one face to the next, before he willed himself to clear his mind. The image slowly vanished back into the darkness. He had to keep his head completely cleared to keep Loki from viewing any more of his memories.
He focused on something he did not have a memory of. Brown eyes flew to the demigod. "Did I transform there?" he asked.
Loki turned to the doctor as a giddy grin appeared on his face, one that sent a wave of nausea through Bruce's body. "This team of yours…surely they do not fear the mindless beast."
Before he could even stop himself from thinking, visions of Natasha, pinned under debris from the explosion on the helicarrier two months ago, terrified and trapped, appeared from the darkness. With a sound that was part aggravation and part dismay, Bruce slammed his eyes shut and his hands shot to the sides of his head. He tried desperately to clear his mind.
An "hmm" sounded from the demigod after a moment of silence. "She certainly seemed frightened." Bruce's eyes opened and darted to Loki, who was watching him with an expression of amusement. The demigod smirked. "Will her life, too, end at your hands?"
The sound of rocket thrusters was the only warning for several agents to jump aside and press themselves to the wall as Iron Man shot by. Tony Stark rocketed through the halls of the helicarrier, speedily making his way toward where the Hulk was currently caged and raging to escape. An order from Fury over the communication system in his suit had told him to get to the holding cell as fast as possible. He had grinned.
"Hot stuff, coming through," his semi-robotic voice sounded to any agents who were a little slower on jumping out of the way to avoid a full-on collision with the flying metal suit.
As Tony got closer to his destination, he started to hear the agents' calls over the furious roars of the Hulk. He pulled up outside the door and hovered for a single moment before cutting off his thrusters. He landed with a metallic thud and waved aside the anxious agents standing next to the closed doorway. "Alright, I'm here," he said into his comm.
"You better not have scorched the place, Stark," Fury's irritated voice crackled in his ear.
Tony grinned as he opened up the door. "You told me to get here yesterday. I haven't quite gotten the hang of time travel yet, but when I do, I'll be sure to let you…" he trailed off and paused in the doorway.
The room was a cacophony of noise. Over the thunderous bellows of the rage monster and the clangs of his fists hitting metal and glass, SHIELD agents were calling to one another and shouting into their radios. They stood scattered around the area, hands on their guns and their fearful eyes locked on the circular cage in the center of the room. The cage itself had certainly seen better days; the Hulk's rampage had managed to leave a good portion of the windows covered in cracks.
When the Hulk noticed the man in the iron suit standing in the doorway, he let out another guttural roar. Several of the agents whirled around to look at Iron Man, suddenly ignoring the massive green man as he continued his attempts to free himself from his cage.
It was enough to snap Tony from his daze. He stepped fully into the room. "Alright, guys, scram," he said with his casual ease over the noise, though his eyes remained on the green man within the holding cell. "I got this."
The agents didn't move.
Tony sighed and allowed his shoulders to slump, which surely made the robotic suit look dejected to the agents. "Fury," he said into his communicator, "call your men down. Get them out of here."
"They are not—"
"Protip, Director," Tony interrupted, "men with guns make the big guy anxious and very, very angry. He's not going to calm down with a bunch of your shouting agents standing around, threatening to open fire on him. Now get them out of here."
The line was silent for a lingering moment. Tony turned to look at the agents as Fury's voice came over the communicator. "Return to your duties," the director ordered. The agents looked deeply confused, but knew better than to argue logic with the man in charge. They instead turned and cast glances at the iron-clad man standing amongst them, as if questioning his sanity. Tony grinned behind his mask as he gestured to the open door with a sweeping arm.
Once the agents began to file out of the room, Tony returned his attention to the glass. "JARVIS, find the weakest points in the windows," he murmured as the screen before his eyes quickly lit up. Grids and schematics quickly formed, zooming in and highlighting the cracks that had the highest probability to break with a few more well-placed punches.
He approached the cage, moving away from the cracks with the greatest threat of rupture. "It's okay, Big Guy, they're leaving," he called over the sound of massive green fists hitting one of the metal walls.
The Hulk paused for a moment to turn his bright green eyes on the iron-clad man standing just beyond the barrier. An earth-shattering roar erupted from his mouth as he launched himself at the glass.
Tony resisted the urge to take a step back from the window. Thor had been right; the Hulk was completely blinded by his rage at the moment. Over the course of the past two months, the Hulk had begun to recognize most of the other members of the Avengers, or at least knew who not to smash. He had even grown to like some of the other members, if it could be believed. In those instances, however, Bruce had willingly transformed into the enormous green being now locked up and completely mad with fury. This transformation had come out of nowhere. He saw nothing of Dr. Banner in the Hulk right now; there was not any recognition of any kind.
Getting the big guy to calm down would be harder than he had thought. Then again, he always loved a good challenge.
So he stood his ground, simply watching as the massive green being fought tooth and nail against the glass to tear him apart. He tried not to be too hurt by that.
"You don't like these guys, huh?" he shouted to be heard over the rampage. He turned and looked at the SHIELD agents, who were filing out slowly and casting wary glances at the Hulk. Tony made a shoo-ing motion with his hands. "Off with you!" he called almost pleasantly, "and be a dear and pull the door closed behind you." He returned his focus to the Hulk. "I don't like them much either."
The giant green man inside the cage withdrew from the glass in front of Tony, his arms hanging heavily by his sides, and his bright green eyes turned to glare at the agents still in the room. A violent roar sent the rest of the uniformed men quickly out of the room and the door closed with a little more force than necessary. The room was suddenly filled with only the sound of the Hulk's heavy breathing.
Tony grinned behind his mask and clapped his metal hands together. "Alone at last," he said, sounding pleased.
The Hulk let out a vicious snarl and began to stalk around the cell, looking for a way to escape, no doubt.
"I'm sorry, Big Guy," Tony began carefully. The Hulk paused in his pacing and glared over at him. "I can't let you out." When an aggravated growl escaped from the green being, Tony put his hands up helplessly. "Sorry, Big Green; orders from above."
The Hulk gave him an expression of mild skepticism.
Tony almost laughed aloud. Now this was more like the guy he'd been working alongside for the past few months. The Hulk recognized him, which meant the rage was ebbing. "I know, I know; I'm not much for following orders, but these come from way up high. Gotta be good for now."
The Hulk let out an irritated snort and continued to storm around the cell.
Tony watched him for a lingering moment, paying very little attention to the measures JARVIS continued to make on the cracks in the glass. He listened to the big guy's thunderous footsteps and his heavy breathing, almost amazed at how quiet it had become once the agents had left.
His mind went back to the meeting, to when Bruce had suddenly curled in on himself to fight the impending transformation. Before he was even aware that he was speaking, a question popped out of his mouth. "Do you know what pissed Bruce off, Big Guy?"
The sound of Tony's voice made the Hulk pause in his movements again. He merely glanced over at the iron-clad man and let out a huff of air.
Tony felt his shoulders slump. Well, he could always ask Bruce when he was himself again. He watched as the Hulk began to pace again—
A sharp growl escaped from the caged being and a grimace of pain crossed his face as he brought a hand up to the side of his head. His hand remained there for a moment longer before he let it fall to his side. He gave Tony a look of frustration before he started to stalk about the cell again.
Tony stared at the big guy carefully, puzzled at what he just witnessed. He wasn't sure what to make of it, to be honest.
He shook his head and allowed the faceplate of his helmet to lift. The Hulk's eyes darted over to him at the sudden movement, but he kept silent. Tony leaned back against the railing behind him. The big guy seemed fairly calm, if a little anxious, at the moment, but at least he had stopped roaring and attempting to break free from the holding tank. Tony just needed to keep him calm, and they'd have Bruce back in no time.
It was only a matter of time.
Bruce remained where he stood, silently trying to keep his mind cleared. He tried not to think about how the God of Mischief was slowly circling him, studying him with bemused eyes. The doctor kept his own eyes cast downward, resolved not to meet the demigod's gaze. He hated being studied like this; he hated feeling like a specimen under a microscope, being picked apart by the eyes of anyone who looked at him and knew the other guy lingered just beneath the surface.
That wasn't exactly the case at the moment, though. The Hulk was off in reality, somewhere on the helicarrier, no doubt tearing it and anyone he came across to shreds. He had seen the damage the Hulk had done to the—
With a quick exhale, Bruce closed his eyes and cleared his mind, willing away the images of the damage the helicarrier had sustained thanks to the other guy.
"Do you really not know how many people you have slaughtered since your accident?" Loki asked, suddenly breaking the silence.
"One is one too many—" Bruce's eyes shot opened and darted to the demigod, who had stopped his movements. It was all but impossible to stop himself from thinking about that fateful day in the lab that had changed his life forever. Thankfully, the images did not materialize from the gloom. "How do you know about that?" he asked quietly.
Loki smirked.
A feeling of dread slowly washed over him. He let out a breath in a long exhale and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Barton…" he groaned.
"Oh, the many things he was willing to tell me once he knew peace," Loki disclosed wistfully. "Your petty organization should really take a care in who they allow access to certain information."
Bruce cursed in his head and fought the urge to start pacing. This was bad. This was really bad. While there had been a lull in the lab one day, very shortly after the invasion, Tony Stark had shown him the information SHIELD had gathered on him. Bruce didn't have the heart to read it, and told Tony as much; he knew there would be information of the accident and any incident with the other guy carefully documented by General Ross in his attempts to track down the beast for capture. No…no, he hadn't wanted to read any of it.
But that didn't mean the rest of the team, nay, maybe even the rest of SHIELD, knew every bit of information in his file. Barton must have read his file before he had been compromised by Loki, just days before the invasion.
And Loki now knew everything in that file.
Bruce breathed a curse.
Loki's eyes had never left the man during his musings. A grin appeared on his face when he heard the doctor breathe a word under his breath. He didn't catch the word, but he caught the dismay and dread in the man's voice. He hadn't expected the beast to latch on to what was going on so quickly, but this would only make their time together all the more enjoyable. The doctor would struggle to keep his thoughts cleared.
It was just a barrier Loki would need to breach, and he was very much looking forward to it. It would not be difficult in the slightest, given how agitated he was at present.
"So, the accident…" Loki began pleasantly. Bruce glanced warily over at him. "…did you ever find out what you did wrong?"
He outright grinned at the expression of defeat his words painted on the doctor's face. This would truly be a most pleasurable experience.
It had been a little over an hour since Tony had first stepped into the room and the agents had been dismissed. Once the big guy had stopped beating the glass for an extended amount of time, Tony found a chair and dragged it over to the window, away from the largest of the cracks in the glass. He had removed his helmet and just started talking, about anything and nothing, to keep the silence at bay. The Hulk was still pacing around, but every now and then he would cast a glance over and grunt whenever Tony would pose a question, rhetorical or otherwise.
He would also draw a sharp breath and a look of pain would cross his face at random intervals. Tony would pause in his narrative to watch the Hulk carefully whenever this happened. These events would last for only a few seconds before the big guy would growl quietly and return to his pacing with new fervor.
After maybe the seventh time this happened, Tony had made a call over the communication line.
At the sound of an opening door a few minutes later, Tony glanced over his shoulder toward the entryway to the room. The Hulk looked over as well and a low snarl escaped from his massive green body.
"Take it easy, Green Bean," Tony said easily as he hoisted himself up to his feet, "it's just Steve. You know Steve," he explained patiently with a casual grin.
The Hulk just let out a snort and continued to glare at the super soldier standing in the doorway.
"You called?" Steve asked cautiously from the doorway, glancing at the giant green man in the holding tank. He did not fully enter the room.
"Indeed I did, only fifteen minutes ago," Tony replied as he stepped toward the captain. He glanced over his shoulder at the Hulk. "I'll be right back, Big Guy. Don't go anywhere."
The remark was answered with a roar as they stepped out into the hall.
"I don't think you should be teasing him, Stark," Steve said warningly.
"Oh psh," Tony scoffed with a grin. He stuck his head back into the room. "Hulk, babe, you know I love ya', right?"
Steve tensed when another roar sounded.
"And you love me, right?"
This roar sounded remarkably good-natured.
As Captain Rogers glanced at the doorway in startled confusion, Tony laughed and pulled the door shut. He turned to Steve and his face immediately went neutral. "Ours is a beautiful romance, Steve, the very finest." He paused to glance away as he brought a hand up to stroke his chin in mock-contemplation. "How ever shall I break the news to Pepper?"
"Did you really call me up here to listen to you flirt with the Hulk?" Steve asked as he rubbed his temple.
"Now there is a sentence I never thought I'd hear," Tony replied with a smirk.
Steve looked the man in the iron suit dead in the eye. "Did you call me for a reason, Stark?"
Tony immediately grew serious. "Yes. Something's wrong."
Steve waited for an explanation. When none was forthcoming, he quirked an eyebrow. "Something's…wrong?" he repeated. "Care to elaborate?"
"Yes," Tony replied as he glanced toward the door. "He has been fairly calm for the better part of an hour, but no sign of Bruce."
"That was not calm, Tony," Steve said flatly with a helpless gesture toward the closed door.
"Before you came in," Stark pressed impatiently. "It's gotten to the point where he's bored, Steve. He's just pacing around the cell. He should have changed back by now."
Steve studied the dark-haired man before him for a lingering moment, allowing his words to tumble around in his head. The roars had indeed died down a while ago, save for when anyone other than Tony was with him. "Why do you suppose he hasn't?" he asked.
Tony shrugged his mechanical arms. "Your guess is as good as mine, Cap."
The super soldier remained quiet for a moment, simply thinking as his eyes moved back to the threshold. "Anything else I should know?" he asked when Tony started to reach for the doorknob.
Tony paused with his hand on the knob to the door. His brow furrowed in thought. "Yes," he said after a moment. His eyes met with Steve's. "I think he has a headache."
Steve watched the iron-clad man return to the room, not knowing at all what to do with that last tidbit of information given to him.
A/N: Firstly, thank you so much for all of the lovely reviews, favorites, and alerts! This turned out to be a LOT longer than I had anticipated. Enjoy the long chapter, for I'm not sure when the next update will be. I'm heading out of town for the week. I will still be working on this, but whether I'll get a chance to type it up and post it is up in the air.
Thank you so much for reading! Feedback is always welcome.
