Still Holding On

Chapter 60

"You want the phone on speaker for this, too?" Steve asks.

Loki nods. Fury was... not the easiest person to deal with, to say the least. It was not a fun phone call, but it would have been far worse if he only heard Steve's frustration. Fury agreed, fortunately, which is what matters. Hopefully, this part of the morning will go just as well, if not better.

"Alright." Steve hits the call button.

And it rings.

And rings.

And rings.

And rings some more.

Until finally...

"This is Dr. Bruce Banner."

He sounds like a friendly enough man, Loki decides, based on his voice and nothing else. It's far too early to make that judgment, but he'd like to think he's right.

"Hey, Banner; it's Steve Rogers," Steve says. "I'm here with a, um..." He glances at Loki awkwardly. "A new friend of mine? And we were wondering if you could help him."

"Uh, yeah, sure, I'll try," Bruce says – further proof he's a friendly person. He agreed to help before knowing what he was agreeing to. "What's going on?"

"That's... a loaded question," Steve says. "I'm going to ask you to hear me out before you make any judgment calls."

"Yeah, of course," Bruce says, and now he just sounds concerned. "Why? What's going on?"

Steve presses his lips into a firm line, taking a moment before he says, "Loki never went back to Asgard."

"No," Bruce says immediately.

"Banner–"

"No!" he insists. "After what he did? After what the other guy did because of him? I'm not doing that again."

Steve sighs. "I asked you to hear me out."

"I don't have to hear you out to know that this is a bad idea," Bruce says.

"We're not looking for the Hulk."

"That's what they said last time, and look where that got us."

Steve runs a hand down his face, exasperated. "Loki and I got room service in a five-star hotel in the middle of New York last night."

"What?"

"Did that pique your interest?"

It's silent on the other end, just long enough for Loki to think he's gone, before Bruce says, "Okay. I'll hear you out."

"Thank you."

Steve starts explaining the situation. He misses quite a bit of information, but then, he probably doesn't know all of it. He explains that Loki was living with Tony for the last couple months, and that he doesn't remember anything from the attack on the city. It has something to do with the scepter, he explains, and that SHIELD does have access to it, should they need it. He explains that Loki is now in SHIELD custody, though not as a threat, and, of course, he asks the important question: would Bruce consider trying to help recover his memories?

Again, they're met with silence on the other end. Loki glances at Steve warily, and Steve shakes his head in response, wordlessly telling him not to worry yet. It's far easier unsaid than done.

"How do you know he's not just pretending not to remember?" Bruce asks finally.

"He's not," Steve says. "Trust me. He doesn't remember."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," Steve says.

Bruce sighs. "How do we know that getting his memories back isn't going to bring back the evil Loki?"