Things got interesting after that. Once again repairs had to be made, a few more areas of SHIELD had to be redesigned to be Hulk friendly after yet another section was broken by his barreling through to get to the fighting. There were a few wounded, no dead and nothing really serious. General Ross was worse for wear, his age was showing in how badly the blow effected him but he would heal. He was released from the hospital that day. Maria Hill secretly kept Betty up to date about it as best she could, they'd met after the Hulk fiasco in New York a few years back and even if she didn't want to speak with or even see her father, she still worried about him.

They found themselves in Fury's office the next day, all of them crowded in rather uncomfortably. Tony, despite being the last to arrive, managed to be lounging in the only other chair in the room, feet resting on Fury's desk.

Fury's lips were pressed together and his nostrils were flared as he watched them all, "I just want to make it clear, if there are any problems with Loki after this-"

"You'll take away our allowance and ground us, got it," Tony interrupted, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know exactly what happened yesterday, but you can't deny how suspicious it is that Loki escapes just a few hours after I get warned that he may," Fury pointed out.

"Sir, we had no way of knowing that was going to happen when it did," Steve insisted. Behind him, Bruce shrunk into himself a bit more where he was standing in the back of the room.

"Well," Fury muttered, "I suppose it's some comfort to know that the good doctor is not, actually, able to lie to my face." Steve jerked his head around to look at the scientist at that point, who refused to meet his gaze. Fury ignored that and raised his voice, "I don't suppose you want to add anything to this discussion, Doctor Banner?"

Tony took his feet off the desk and sat up straighter, "If you really think that any of us are able to control Loki-"

"I think that you had some information and hid it from me," Fury replied.

"Yes, because you've never done anything like that to us," Bruce spat, folding his arms and shaking his head. Tony raised his eyebrows at Fury and leaned back in the chair while the rest of the room shifted uncomfortably.

Fury stood up and motioned towards the door, "I would like to speak with Doctor Banner privately."

"I'll bet you would," Tony scoffed.

Thor stood up and took a step towards the desk, "If you wish to threaten our teammate, you shall have to face all of us first."

Fury glanced around the room. Steve had his jaw set, although he was biting his lip. Natasha and Clint glanced at each other, Clint gave her a half-smile and Natasha raised an eyebrow and nodded. Bruce looked as overwhelmed as Fury felt, although for fairly different reasons. He shook his head and sat back down.

"Well then, I suppose there isn't much choice- Doctor Banner, could you at least do me the favor of approaching the desk?" He glared at Tony, "Perhaps Mr. Stark will be willing to give up his seat and we can talk properly."

Tony raised an eyebrow at Fury before looking to Bruce, who had made his way to the desk by then. Bruce just placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled softly, "I'm fine to stand, don't worry." He then looked to Fury expectantly, his hand not leaving Tony's shoulder.

"Do I have anything to worry about from you? And please be upfront with me," he motioned around the room, "There is clearly nothing I can do to you without facing severe backlash."

Bruce took a moment to answer, trying to ignore the feeling of all attention on him, "You know the answer- I ran away, and I didn't start plotting anyone's demise. I helped people. If I was going to plot world domination, I would have by now." He placed his hands on the desk and leaned down so his face was inches away from Fury, and lowered his voice, "Hulk likes his teammates and wants to make sure they're safe, if that's your concern, but let me make one thing very clear- you are not part of the team, so don't give us a reason to think we need to protect them from you."

"I suppose that's the best I can ask for," Fury said, pushing the chair back and standing up as Bruce straightened himself, "You're all dismissed, and I ask that you lay low until I get this sorted out." Tony smirked and Fury chuckled, "Stark- 'laying low' for you involves being as showy as possible. People will be more shocked if you don't." Tony just narrowed his eyes before strutting out of the room, exaggeratedly nonchalant.

No one really bothered looking for Loki, because there was no point in looking for Loki. Instead, after meeting with Fury, they made their way to a private room in a nearby pub because Thor insisted on fine ale and mead. There were a few dry remarks about needing to be drunk right now. Steve stuck with water, insisting he couldn't get drunk and didn't care for the taste, and Bruce got them to boil hot water so he could make himself tea. Somehow it wasn't a surprise that he carried teabags on him.

"When did you decide about Loki escaping?" Steve asked sharply after everyone had sat down at the table with drinks, Thor had a keg of ale on a stool behind him.

"When they built that damn cage," Bruce suggested conversationally, casually stirring the water as the tea steeped. It wasn't generally done, stirring tea while it steeped, but it gave him something to do with his hands.

Natasha narrowed her eyes, "You're joking."

Bruce shrugged, "Yes and no- I hate that the thing existed, seeing someone in it didn't help. But escaping wasn't my idea. They put a dangerous person in a cage that couldn't hold him, they're lucky he stayed as long as he did."

"You should have included me in the plan," Thor growled, "He is my brother."

Tony leaned back in the seat, "He doesn't seem too keen to think of you that way."

"He still cares about him, though, even if they don't see eye to eye, you can't just stop caring about your little brother," Clint pointed out quietly, avoiding anyone's gaze. Natasha's hand disappeared under the table to squeeze his knee gently.

Thor nodded gravely, "Exactly."

"It was a last minute development, you had meetings all day- we tried texting you," Tony said loftily, waving a hand before taking an overly long drink.

Bruce looked down at his cup, "We did try," he offered in a small voice, "It was Loki's decision, he asked JARVIS about the functions of the cage and..." he took a sip of tea, "He didn't really want to stay in there any longer."

"He only agreed to stay and stage the break out because it would cause you so much grief, Thor," Tony added. Thor nodded and sat back in his seat, arms crossed.

"I still don't like it," Natasha pointed out with a frown. Various responses of agreement crossed the table. "We shouldn't have been kept in the dark, not on something this important."

Steve nodded, "We're a team, we need to be included in things like this- all of us."

"Won't happen again," Bruce muttered.

"That does not matter now," Thor insisted, sitting up and smiling at the table, he raised his tankard, "We have battled well and no lives were lost. Crisis has been averted, we should be celebrating!" There was a stunned silence for a moment. Steve was the first to recover and smiled brightly, raising his glass slightly and looking around hopefully. Tony followed with a lopsided grin. Natasha paused before raising hers, nudging Clint with her elbow until he followed suit. They all turned to glance at Bruce who gave the most half-hearted attempt at raising his tea cup. The group clinked their glasses (and cup and tankard) together. The drinking session took a notable turn towards the pleasant after that.

"This is a very serious question," Tony was pacing in one of the many lounges of Stark Tower, "How exactly can two of the- and I'm being literal here, no exaggeration- most intelligent men in the entire world not have considered making sure we could get in contact with Loki after all of this?"

After the impromptu drinking session had wound down and everyone had gone their separate ways, Thor had asked Tony & Bruce how they intended to get in contact with his brother now, wishing to speak with Loki himself. It was at that point that they realized they hadn't had any sort of plan in place for after. Tony spent the entire drive home muttering about it while Thor occasionally gave suggestions and concerns and Bruce stared out the window, silent aside from the occasional 'yeah', 'uh huh', 'right' needed to ensure Tony felt he wasn't being ignored.

"I am also finding it even harder to believe that you have nothing to say about this." Apparently it had stopped working and Tony had noticed that Bruce's attention wasn't on him.

Bruce sighed at that and shook his head, "He'd always found me. I guess I didn't realize that I could have a way to find him."

Tony frowned and crossed his arms, "Well that's just incredibly comforting."

"I had not considered it, either," Thor reminded him, "I had always known where to find my brother when we were growing up. And I must confess that part of me had hoped he would realize it was best to come stay with me."

"I realize that you three are best buddies and there aren't many options that aren't better than letting Ross get his claws in him, but I still don't trust the guy and would really like to know what you two are planning to do if he does decide to go on a rampage," Tony put out there. Thor stiffened and set his jaw, but didn't say anything.

Bruce shrugged, "The same thing that happens if I do." Tony opened his mouth to object, point out how the two are completely different situations, but Thor started speaking first.

"Or, indeed, if I do," Thor added quietly. Two sets of eyes turned to him, and he sighed. "I never did tell you why I was sent to Midgard in the first place. I was exiled, I had gone to another world and wiped out dozens- maybe hundreds- in a manner of minutes, nearly starting a war. I was a bloodthirsty and battle hungry brute, and had almost been crowned king." He leaned back in his chair and shook his head, "I have been given a second chance here, which I will be eternally grateful for. My brother deserves that same chance."

Tony stared at him for a moment and clenched his fists. He nodded gruffly, "I suppose everyone in this room, maybe everyone on the team, has gotten a second chance, so I'll just have to give him the benefit of the doubt."

Thor smiled wearily at him, "Thank you." He stood up and glanced out the window, sunset was creeping over the skyline, "I must leave now." He looked at Bruce, "Please tell me if you hear from my brother."

After everyone- Tony, Bruce, and JARVIS- agreed to do so, the demigod took his leave, leaving Tony and Bruce alone. The silence that fell was tense and Tony poured himself another drink to distract himself from it.

"So, what will you do if you never see or hear from Loki again?" Tony asked casually, "Awful lot of trouble to rescue the damsel just to not get the girl, well, god in this case."

Bruce chuckled at the image of Loki as a princess locked in the tower, and shook his head, "I didn't go to any trouble. He could leave whenever he wanted, I just asked him to work with our schedule."

"You really won't care if he just ditches you completely?" He raised an eyebrow at that.

Something in Bruce's stomach squirmed at the thought, but he just shrugged, "It might be nice to see him again, but I didn't do it for that." He stood up and rubbed his neck uncomfortably, "I'm still not used to the thought of you letting me live here..."

Tony paused and then smirked, "Well, you better get used to it because I expect to finally get you into my lab tomorrow- and don't plan on letting you leave until we're putting that brain to real use."

Bruce smiled sheepishly and nodded, "I'll be there. Right now... I think I want to call it an early night."

There was a pause, for a moment Tony's face fell but the expression was immediately replaced. He grinned and waved him away, "Of course, it's been a long day. Just ask JARVIS if you need anything."

It was hard to admit to himself that disappointment crept into him when he got to the room Tony was letting him use to find it completely empty. There really was no reason to expect Loki to be there, but when he switched the lights on he realized that he actually had.

The next day he did get to see Tony's labs, which he'd seen before but never for very long, and found out that Tony had actually started setting up a budget so that Bruce could work on anything he found people had needed while making house calls in Kolkata. Tony insisted it was entirely for PR, and Bruce was grateful to have a way to deal with the guilt for the people he'd left behind.

Then Tony showed him some new designs he was working on for the suit, including something he was having a hard time figuring out, and the rest of the day ended up disappearing in a blur of science.

The next few days went the same, and they very quickly fell back into the routine they'd established at SHIELD, only a bit more comfortably. Tony seemed to take the opportunity to start recruiting more of the Avengers to be his housemate, as their next movie night was held there for the first time.

About a week or so later, most of the team was back to normal. Thor would still get lost in thoughts from time to time, pleadingly ask Bruce if he'd seen Loki, but also seemed in better spirits with every day without any incidents that could be linked to his brother. They got called in to fight some enemy, nothing terribly exciting. Some kid with powers who fancied themself a supervillain, something that was getting more common. They managed to capture him unharmed, and Hulk wasn't actually needed this time although Bruce could feel him dangerously close- waiting for the first sign his team might need him. Bruce stayed on the sidelines and ended up overhearing when Fury made a call to a 'Professor X' about collecting the kid. Bruce made a mental note to ask JARVIS about that.

For once, it meant that Bruce got to see what happened after everything was over. Rather than being rushed away by paranoid medics with geiger counters, he got to help them with the civilian injuries. Clint and Natasha left quickly to SHIELD, something about debriefing, and Thor left as well. Tony stayed and entertained the news agencies, and Steve talked with Fury. A jet that none of the team recognized showed up for the kid, and a few people none of them had met before stepped out. Steve looked shell-shocked when he saw one of them, a man in a ridiculous orange and black outfit. Tony suggested it was because he finally got to meet someone with an outfit as ridiculous as his.

Tony & Bruce got back to Stark Tower and worked on minor repairs until Tony inisted that they call it a night. It turned out that Tony's habit of making sure Bruce took care of himself was continuing as well, and Bruce didn't mind it. Especially because it gave him an excuse to make sure Tony was doing the same.

He got back to the room and picked up his tablet- a commercially bought one because the see-through things Tony kept making were unnerving for general web browsing. A few minutes later a knock sounded on his door and he almost dropped the tablet. No one knocked on his door. Tony barged in, Pepper had JARVIS ask him to meet her somewhere, and none of the other Avengers visited him in his room. Of course, if it were anyone dangerous- JARVIS would have already told him.

He placed the tablet down gently and crossed over to the door, opening it with some hesitation. Loki was standing in the doorway, again dressed in mortal clothes. He had two mugs in his hand, and was holding one out with a smirk.

"I made tea."