Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 178

It's Tony, Natasha, Rhodey, and Wanda who agree to sign the Accords.

Clint goes with them. It's a show of solidarity, but he won't be signing it. He won't need to. He already announced his retirement that morning.

Bruce doesn't go with them. He sends Secretary Ross a strongly worded email that essentially tells him to fuck all the way off and that he will not be signing the Accords because he has no plans to ever let the Hulk out again, and that he certainly would not entrust the responsibility of dictating where the Hulk should go and what he should do to a handful of politicians. A little unnecessary, perhaps, but not all too different from Clint's decision. He's retired, too.

Steve, Sam, and Pietro, are the only three who abstain entirely. They are not retired, and they are not signing the Accords.

So Tony, Natasha, Clint, Rhodey, and Wanda all go to Vienna to meet with the United Nations.

Steve and Sam head to London for Peggy's funeral.

And that leaves Bruce, Pietro, and Loki alone in the compound.

Bruce doesn't know what to expect. Some sort of dramatics, at the very least – from the kid or the thousand-year-old god, he couldn't possibly guess, but someone has to be planning to be dramatic about this.

What he definitely doesn't expect is to see neither one of them all day. He keeps an eye out. He tries to stay in the common rooms or the kitchen most of the day in hope that their paths will cross. Anything is better than stewing in his own anger – not strong enough to bring out the other guy, but certainly strong enough to put him in an awful mood.

(And, on that note, did it have to be Ross that gave them this ultimatum? He wouldn't have agreed regardless of who presented it, but maybe he would have been more open-minded. At the very least, maybe he would have been able to speak his mind without the constant fear that the other guy was creeping his way up.)

Eventually, Bruce just decides to seek Loki out himself. He'll look for Pietro later, but right now, he wants to see his godly friend.

A glance out the window shows that he's not out in the yard, and FRIDAY confirms that he's not on the rooftop, so Bruce takes a little field trip to Loki's room – something he really doesn't do enough of these days.

He knocks on the door. "Hey, Loki."

"Yes?" comes his prompt reply.

"Can I come in?"

The door opens itself, which is perhaps the most inviting answer he could possibly receive. Bruce takes a few steps into Loki's room, looking over it briefly to refamiliarize himself with it, before his gaze finally lands on Loki. He's curled up on his side in bed, his body largely hidden beneath his green bedsheet, though Bruce can just barely make out the top of a teddy bear in his arms peeking out from the covers.

Bruce cocks his head to the side. "Are you okay?"

"Mm," Loki hums, which is hardly a convincing answer. "Yourself? You seemed less than pleased with this situation."

Bruce huffs a humorless laugh. "Oh, trust me, I'm not happy about it," he says. "Honestly, I think everyone should have just thrown in the towel and called it a day, but..." He shrugs. "They're free to do what they want, I guess. I just hope it all works out."

"I still find it unfair that they believe they can police your actions," Loki says. He pauses. "Or, I suppose, I still find it unfair that they believe they should. You and your friends have saved many more lives than you've taken."

Bruce sighs and leans against the doorframe, folding his arms across his chest. "After Ultron, I guess I can't blame them."

"But you learned your lesson," Loki says.