Marvel At What Could've Happened

Chapter 5

Loki flew through the books. He had nothing else to do. When he finished them both, he started over. Steve didn't return for almost two days.

"Did you enjoy them?" Steve asked. Loki was surprised to see his visitor.

"Yes, but I'm tired of them now. Keep in mind it's all I had to do, I'm on my third read-through," Loki retorted, annoyed. Steve sighed.

"You're impossible to please," he said. "Look, I can bring you a few more. Or find something else to bring you."

"I don't mind the books," Loki said. "I just need more of them."

"Noted. Alright, give me like an hour."

When Steve returned, he had almost ten books stacked in his arms. Loki looked at them wide eyed.

"I find it hard to believe that Stark keeps a private library in this facility," Loki said.

"He doesn't. But Bruce practically does, in his room. I asked him if I could borrow some." Loki looked impressed. "Have at them. I'll take the other two back." Steve set the stack on Loki's desk, and Loki got up and started looking through them.

"This looks good," he said, pulling out a science fiction novel. "Thank you, Rogers."

***************

Steve walked into the lab where Tony and Bruce were working.

"Thanks for those books, Bruce. I can't wait to start reading them," he said. Bruce looked up.

"Oh- oh yeah, no problem," he shrugged. Tony glanced between thee other two.

"Banner, you lent him books?" he asked. Bruce nodded, mostly focused on his work.

"Rogers, what are you going to do with Banner's books? Not really your style." His eyes grew wide. "You're still taking books to Loki, aren't you." Bruce's head snapped up.

"What?"

"Steve's been taking books down for Loki to read," Tony said accusingly.

"Tony, the guy's bored out of his mind; this isn't confinement, it's torture. He really likes the books; he's been nice to me ever since I starting taking him stuff."

"I mean, it's probably a good thing, Tony," Bruce said quietly. "Steve's probably right, we haven't seem him but Steve has."

"I can't believe you're taking his side," Tony said angrily.

"Tony, listen. He's here for protection, everyone else's and his own. He did some awful stuff, but he's not just here for punishment, he's in danger too. You heard what Thor told us. The least we can do is take him something to do, he's still being punished but he's also in hiding. Do you get that?" Steve said.

"You're insane if you believe that, Rogers," Tony said, before storming out of the lab. Bruce looked at Steve.

"You're right, but so is Tony. Don't get too friendly, Steve. Help him out but don't get attached. He's got a side to him that none of want to see."

"You think I don't know that? It's fine, Bruce," Steve said. Bruce looked unconvinced, but he nodded and turned back to his computer screens.

***************

A few hours later, Bruce and Tony were back in the lab, looking over some of the data left over from the tesseract. A monitor off to Bruce's right beeped loudly, and they both turned to look. Bruce went to check it.

"Weird," he said. "There was an atmospheric disturbance about a thousand miles north of us," he said. "Not a large one. Just a little blip." Tony looked worried.

"Keep an eye on it," he said. "Probably NASA or something. They've got junk leaving and coming back all the time and one got off course."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Bruce muttered as he set up some more scans to track it. "Still want to keep an eye on it though, this doesn't happen very often. I'll put in a call tomorrow, ask if they had anything coming down up there.

"Good idea," Tony replied. "You never know.

"The last thing we need is more aliens or something," Bruce groaned. "Hopefully you're right."

"I usually am."

"Really, Tony?"

"What, are you commenting on me not always being right, or on my startling narcissism?"

"Both," Bruce said.

"I can accept that. But really, let's find out what it is. Could be nothing. Probably nothing. But we're the people who need to know if it's not."

***************

That night a few hours after dinner, Bruce called Tony back into the lab.

"My scans just picked up another blip in the atmosphere a couple thousand miles west of here in Montana. Just this side of the Rockies. Pretty rural area, look." He pointed at the world map on his screen and zoomed in on the second blip, in southwestern Montana.

"Crazy," Tony said. "Keep an eye on it, I guess. Not much to do unless we see some weird news or find out what's causing it. Think we should put a call in to NASA?"

"Think we should? It'd probably be a good idea."

"Yeah... I think we shouldn't worry about it unless we have to. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it's NASA."

"Tony, we just had an alien come to Earth through a portal and he's in our basement. I'm not ruling crazy stuff out too quickly anymore."

"Okay, yeah, you're right. Crazy stuff isn't so crazy these days. Watch for more of them, but don't stress too much, doctor. It's not so good for your health." He gave Bruce a slight smirk.

"Fine, Tony," Bruce sighed.

"Good. Stop working for the night. I can get some herbal tea delivered to yourroom. Pick you up a face mask too, ifyou want," Tony said over his shoulder as Bruce watched him leave the lab.

***************

A/N:  Sorry about the wait, guys!  It's been too long.  Here's the next chapter.  Get ready- I'm planning something big soon that I'm building up to!  I think it will open up some interesting opportunities for character growth and better relationships.  Really excited for what's in store.  Thanks for reading!