"Good grief and here I thought aliens were all we had to deal with today." The Captain that remained next to him groaned before looking to Bruce for answers.
"It never ends with just aliens." Bruce remarked taking note that Stark was dreaming. It looked like he was left on clean up duty.
Rogers gave a small smile his way at the perceived joke and sighed, "How do you want to play this?"
Bruce said, "I believe I will give the Tesseract to Thor. It will be through Loki that this Mad Titan will find out what he seeks is on another world than Earth's allowing us time to bolster some defenses."
Nodding his assent Rogers rubbed his neck, "I'm not sure how I feel about putting another world in the hot spot but I doubt things will be hunky dory if we just give all the stones away or keep them. On one hand having more of the things this guy wants is asking for trouble, while on the other we don't have a lot to protect ourselves with. I reckon we're a little behind compared to other worlds like Thor's."
Bruce prompted Jarvis to show the feed from the security cameras on the nearest TV for the Captain's benefit. So far the older Stark and his party had gotten SHIELD disguises and were making their way to their target.
They would have to make their move as soon as the chaos was sown.
"I know SHIELD will want to monopolize these power sources even without knowing all this but I'm still iffy about leaving it solely to SHIELD for protection, after all thanks to them Loki was able to reach Earth in the first place." Rogers added tugging on the straps of the shield on his arm.
"That is why I won't be letting SHIELD know we will keep the staff. It is unknown if the Titan is aware that the artifact he sent with Loki was something he was searching for but if both SHIELD and Loki are under the assumption an outside party took it, that would be for the best."
The Captain took a moment to take this in and took some time going over it in his head before nodding again. He didn't seem uncomfortable with anything Bruce said so far, a good sign.
Initially Bruce was debating if it was worth having Rogers in on his plans as he seemed a man of the government. It wouldn't be a far assumption that he would have trust in an organization like SHIELD, believing it would have the world's best interest at heart. But Bruce saw the Captain as a man of decent observation skills. Bruce took a gamble that his trust with Ironman was higher than his trust in SHIELD. It looked like he won.
"Guess I better mosey on over and play my part."
"Stall for now, until I can hide the staff and then rendezvous with me for back up with Thor."
"Got it."
Rogers walked to the door but stopped just short of leaving, turning around with a troubled look.
"There was one more thing, my double said something strange."
Bruce cocked his head to let him know he was listening.
The man fiddled with his shield once more, "Something impossible. But-" He faced away, "Was it only possible for him?"
Bruce didn't see why he beating around the bush when they were on a timer but figured it was important, at least to the Captain.
"Are you alluding to the fact they were from another timeline? The only way to be sure is to find out for yourself in this one. In any case Stark and I will aid you to the best of our abilities."
The other man straightened, "Right." He opened the door, "Thank you." With that he was gone leaving Bruce to send a disgruntled wave of annoyance at Stark who was supposed to be around to help with decisions that played a large part in his world's safety but supposed just this one time he'd allow it.
If he had any grievances with Bruce's actions he'd have only himself to blame.
Bruce made his way closer to Thor and a room with better security. "Jarvis once this is done I'd like you to-"
A polite if smug voice responded, "Forgive me Sir Bruce, but I must say, due to the damage of Loki most of our security feed became miraculously corrupted, in fact it is being corrupted as we speak. A mystery truly."
Lips twitching, Bruce couldn't help but find the AI charming. Stark really did have a knack for creating the best things.
Once the items of interest were taken, there would be a small margin of time allotted before he'd have to make his appearance else there would be suspicion.
So he watched keenly as before a crowd the travelers disappeared, with a motion he was looking at cameras tagging Hawkeye who was rushing out of his room fresh out of the shower, Banner who was pacing back and forth in his room, Black Widow who tensed but didn't leave her post watching Loki alongside Thor. Most of Stark's staff were still in the Den, while Foster and her assistant were in their room resting. While Bruce considered his back up plans he got a notice that someone was arriving. It seemed he wouldn't have to implement them.
Stark chose that moment to awaken with a grumble but paused when he noticed their guest.
Oh. Damn you weren't done.
It was the Captain who returned and upon his arrival it was apparent his side did not come out unscathed. He looked as if he carried the weight of the world and could no longer hold it. His eyes stopped at Bruce before jittering to the side.
His voice was hoarse.
"Where's Rogers?"
"Keeping SHIELD at bay."
Bruce gave Stark a quick update as almost reluctantly Rogers opened a suitcase and placed two cubes on the table carefully. Bruce checked and both stones gave off the same energy as they did before, each giving off light in their own colors. They were slightly smaller than what the Tesseract used to be so at least the blue stone's new casing wasn't too different. It would pass at a glance.
The hell, how can we even be sure these are the same ones? It's not like we know what these super rocks even do.
They feel the same.
Bruce admitted, it was an energy hard to replicate but for now they could assume they weren't given fakes. Stark tutted good naturedly.
Of course you can feel the magic stones' vibes.
"They're different from how they were."
If they were going to give 'em back without this timelines knowledge how were they going to do that if they couldn't even use the same packaging?
It is possible they did it this way due to our awareness of them and our agreement. Or they were unable to regain or retain their former forms.
I dunno sounds lazy to me.
"I swear to you they are the same. They can be handled like this but I wouldn't suggest keeping any in close contact for long. As for how they look, you'll manage. You always do." Rogers murmured.
"Just don't-" he eyed the yellow cube and flickered his eyes back to Bruce pursing his lips, "Just don't trust SHIELD." He pressed something on his wrist and disappeared.
Something about the yellow stone had that Captain on edge, there were also other things Bruce read from the man but they weren't important to the matter at hand so he went over to the wall where one of the secret compartments existed.
It folded open revealing miscellaneous weapons, first aid kits and other things of possible interest in an emergency. It was lined with lead among other fail safes and would be a good placeholder for now.
Twitching when he felt an entity encroach on his mind.
Bruce sneered at it.
"Enough."
And placed it inside before going over to the remaining cube, the blue one. It was quiet when he picked it up though he felt a sharp pulse of energy, causing him to wince from a sudden headache. If this was how they felt while dormant he could understand how they could be hunted for their power.
Hey, you ok? I know it's been a long day.
Yes.
Are you sure cuz it seemed like you were talking to an inanimate object.
I gave it a warning.
Was it trying to get control of you or something?!
Stark asked, worry oozing from his mental voice, making Bruce frown. He considered the question.
No. If I had to give it an intent it was curiosity.
Like that's so much better. These oh so powerful pebbles have feelings. Great just great. Hurry up and give it to Thor before they start talking.
Bruce looked over the live feed of the Captain running around with some agents, Hawkeye had joined him. He needed SHIELD to know he had the Tesseract if only for the moment, otherwise their hunt for nonexistent enemies would be all the more fervent. While they would still hunt down faceless foes for the staff it would be less of a threat as no one was sure if people outside of Loki could use it. He'd have to make use of Loki to assuage some worries.
Oi, you know something that's been bugging me for a while?
Glowing cube in an armored hand Bruce walked to his destination. Banner was making his way to where Thor was, with his current pace it wasn't a problem, however with what he had planned Banner would likely quicken along his route. Jarvis had already tried to dissuade him but Banner was adamant he find out what was happening first hand. Now, should he allow the Doctor's approach or try to evade him?
Isn't it a little unfair you call our literal enemy and his brother by their first names but not me?
The non sequitur pulled Bruce out of his thoughts, amusement briefly passing through,
What am I meant to call them then? Surely you don't want me to say The God of Thunder or God of Chaos every time I speak of them.
Tch.
With Stark's inane mutterings Bruce held up a hand a sent a beam through a wall.
Whoa what the fuck?
I have to show I put in some effort for this to be retrieved.
So you're going to blow up my beautiful Tower!? It's barely standing as is.
I didn't hit anything that can't be replaced.
Why must you hurt me this way?
Bruce lit up the repulsor for another round.
.
.
Only two chaps left~
