Lesser Gods

The doors closed with a bit of finality to them — as Raeyn had promised, she would not visit the Captain… not for some time, anyways. She did not wish for him to lose his sanity down there. She sighed, resting her hands on her belly once more and leaning against the side of the elevator before pressing the ‘pause’ button on the elevator.

“JARVIS?” she asked tiredly. “Bruce Banner?”

JARVIS was silent for a moment. “R17.”

A brow rose slowly as she pressed the very last button on the wall. When the doors opened and Raeyn emerged, she found that there was not a single guard and the room did not have a containment like Thor’s and Rogers’. Instead, it was as if the floor was the prison cell, because right in front of her sat Bruce Banner, looking up at her from the medical table he was bent over. Oddly, he seemed more surprised once he realized who she was than there being someone else in his residence at all. And, to top it all off, Raeyn surely looked more surprised at the residence than Banner did to her appearance.

She took a small step forward before noticing a yellow tape line at her feet. Cautiously, she stepped outside of it, half expecting there to be an invisible wall of energy to electrocute her when she passed through it. However, nothing of the sort happened and she took a few more cautious steps.

“I used to have a cage like the others,” Banner clarified as he carefully took his gloves off and unbuttoned the lab coat. “But I told Loki about what would happen if the Other Guy made an appearance and convinced him to change tactics. I’m assuming that is the reason of your confusion, unless you’re just lost.”

Raeyn shook her head slowly, but her confusion did not fade. “Are you wondering why I don’t seem as crazy as the others then? Why my voice isn’t as hoarse? Your husband comes down here to speak with me rather frequently.” Banner turned to glance at the confused girl. “I am assuming that you are Raeyn, right? Call me Bruce.”

He stuck out a hand to Raeyn and she realized how close they were standing to one another. With wide, shocked eyes she placed her hand in his and tried not to jump at the surprise of actually being in contact with this captive. “Congrats on the news, by the way.”

This took Raeyn out of her state and she smiled broadly at him. “Thank you, Bruce.”

“Loki never mentioned that you would be coming down here.”

“He doesn’t know that I’ve been erm — wandering around the Tower so much.”

Bruce nodded, his lips parted in understanding. “Well, I won’t be the one to tell him.”

Raeyn nodded. “Thank you. So you and Loki speak often?”

Bruce shrugged as he turned to tuck everything he had been working with away. “About once a week. In the beginning it was a lot less often, since he would only come down to watch me. I think he was just waiting for the Other Guy to break loose.”

Raeyn nodded, remembering the brief footage she had seen of the Hulk while she hid out in the university’s library with her peers.

“So… are you not prisoner here?” she asked uncertainly, seeing as there was no cell that she could see. He actually seemed to be the most comfortable out of all the living Avengers.

Bruce laughed dryly. “No, trust me, I am. You see that yellow box by the elevator? If I step in it, half the Chitauri will be here in seconds, and the elevator will be disabled. If I still somehow get into the elevator, it’s set to explode as soon as the doors shut. All the air ducts, even though they’re too small for a cat much less myself, are set up the same way.”

Raeyn’s jaw dropped. That sounded… unusually violent. Bruce chuckled, finally turning away from his work once more to face Raeyn. “It’s better than what would have happened with the energy wall I had previously. Think if the Other Guy got out — he’d break through that without a second though, not be able to die, but not being able to break free from the pain either. I don’t know about the infrastructure of tower, but he could probably damage it severely given that much time.”

Raeyn visibly swallowed, suddenly quite intimidated and unable to utter another word.

Bruce sat on the couch, motioning for her to sit next to him. “You know, whenever Loki spoke about you, I imagined you to be quite different. More assertive — like him.”

Raeyn looked up slowly. Why would Loki spend time speaking to a man whom he thought beneath him? “What does he say about me?”

He smiled softly. “At first it was that he had no idea why you stuck around. Then he… grew angrier. Frustrated, maybe. He said that you were foolish to the point of constantly putting yourself in danger. He said you had no idea what was good for you. Though he wouldn’t have admitted it, I figured he cared about you in some way. Then he disappeared for quite some time, said that there were some complications, but he was planning on asking you to marry him that night. The poor guy was horribly nervous.”

Her face turned a light shade of pink as he spoke.

“So you said that you have seen the others? Thor and Steve?”

Raeyn nodded. “I found Thor a month or so ago — I had no idea that either of you could be here until he asked me what happened to all of you. They are doing well, I suppose. The best they could be doing in their isolation. I keep Thor as much company as possible, because I know how much he hates to be alone."

"But not Steve?" Bruce asked a little defensively.

Raeyn shook her head. "I just spoke with him this morning, but he wanted nothing to do with me. I talked to him about nothing of too much importance, and told him he could ask me to leave if he wished, and he did so."

Bruce shook his head. "Steve is just too proud and loyal. He thinks it would be a betrayal to be friendly with you, because he sees you as--"

"The enemy. Yes, he told me so."

Bruce smiled sadly. "Don't take it to heart. You should talk to him anyway. Honestly, he's probably the best man out of all of us -- including the Romanov woman, for that matter. He'll come around."

Raeyn shrugged. "Thor was worried about you guys."

Bruce lifted a brow delicately. "I never spoke to the man much. But he did claim to have us 'under his protection.' So maybe he feels like he failed.... He's not the only one."

She nodded sadly. "Do you know the time? I didn't think to check before I came down here, but I need to leave soon so Loki doesn't realize I've been gone."

Bruce nodded behind the couch where they were sitting and they both turned; five twenty. Raeyn's eyes shot open a little more and rose quickly. "I need to be going. Would you like me to come back?"

Bruce was already standing as well, sliding his gloves on once more so he could get back to work on whatever he had been doing before. "Sure, if you have time. I don't want you to get caught either, because I doubt that would be very pretty."

Raeyn shook her head, some of her gold curls falling out of their clip and bouncing around her face. "I won't get caught, but I'll be back. Until then!"

"Bye, Raeyn."