Loki's Pain

Chapter Seventeen- "I Have Concerns..."

The next day saw Ash waking up to find Loki still asleep next to him, and he took a moment to appreciate the peaceful expression on Loki's face before carefully sliding out of bed. He then hurried into the bathroom to clean himself up before leaving to track down Banner.

Despite everything that he had been thru lately, and still physically recovering from his wounds, he had woken that morning to a feeling of overwhelming energy surging thru him. It concerned him greatly, making him worry that he might burn himself out if he wasn't careful, especially considering what had happened the night before.

He found Banner in his lab bent over a display and muttering to himself about something, his tone clearly irritated. Packed and half-packed boxes were scattered around the room.

"Banner?" Ash inquired softly, hesitant to interrupt him. Banner's head lifted instantly and turned to look at the intruder with a cross expression, but as soon as he saw who it was the anger melted away into a pleasantly surprised expression blended with lingering guilt. "I've told you more than once to call me Bruce, Ash." He replied after a moment, attempting to tease, but it fell a tad flat, "What can I help you with?"

"B.....Bruce, I have some concerns...." Ash began slowly, hesitating as he used Banner's first name.

"What concerns?" He asked, taking the que from Ash and his more serious tone, schooling his own to match. He pushed away from the device display he had been looking at and focused his full attention on Ash, growing even more worried when Ash hesitated before responding.

"You saw what I did last night, right? The energy?" Ash started, looking off to the side as he thought carefully about what he wanted to say. "Yes. Nearly everyone did, since we were there. I assumed that it was an extension of your ability to teleport... I gather now that it isn't?" Banner asked curiously, since Ash looked so conflicted.

"No. It's not. It's something else. It was triggered while I was captured...they did something to me. It made me stronger, even my teleportation can go farther and is more precise than before.... But...." Ash spoke slowly, but stopped before finishing, not wanting to say the last despite knowing he would have to anyway.

"But?" Banner urged gently.

"But that second ability is tied to my emotions. If my emotions grow out of control...."Ash explained slowly, only for Banner to finish for him, "Then so does that energy.... Yeah, I can see why you might be concerned."

He sat silently for a moment, clearly wracking his brain for a solution but not being able to off the top of his head. "Do you think it might be this second ability that Thanos was interested in? If he went out of his way to capture you only to experiment and trigger a new ability.... He must not have been interested in the first one, right? But he would have had to know you had the potential to develop the second one....?" Banner began to ramble only for Tony to walk in behind them.

"Second what?" Tony asked, clearly still half asleep as he walked staggeringly towards the coffee pot in the corner, his bath robe swaying dangerously close to knocking over several delicate glass instruments in his path.

"Second ability." Banner stated simply, watching Tony carefully for his response. Because of this he noticed the split-second of tense shoulders and the momentary pause in his walk towards caffeinated bliss. "Ash gained a second one while he was captured by Thanos. That was what zapped your ass last night after we ticked him off....and it was because we pissed him off. It is tied into his emotional state." Banner continued, knowing he needed as much info as possible before he over-reacted, "He is concerned about being able to control it and wondered if we would be able to help him." The last statement he made as he looked back at Ash to confirm if he had interpreted Ash's intent correctly. A small nod from the young man reassured him he'd been right.