Beauty and The Beast ((Bruce Banner/Hulk love))

Chapter 11 (EDITED)

**Bruce's POV**

It had been a while since Aero had left the lab to go off with Natasha and Steve in hopes of getting Loki. It had been all I could do to keep myself busy, and by busy I basically paced the lab most of the time. Nick Fury had let me know a bit ago that they had captured Loki in Germany and should be on the way back. After what should have been an hour flight back to the helicarrier had long passed, I was pacing back and forth rubbing at my chin to try and help ease the anxiety I was feeling, though it wasn't actually helping. I forced myself to try and focus on the instruments in my lab, so that I would feel less anxious, it wasn't really working either. My thoughts kept jumping to Aero, as it crept closer to two hours since Fury told me they were on the way back. She had told me about her abilities while we were on the plane after she had come to get me from calcutta, but I couldn't help but to worry about her. I had just found a companion that didn't seem to walk on eggshells around me. My brain automatically gave me all of the worst options, a bad habit I had. I tried my hardest to push away the negative thoughts that were creeping in on me. I was standing next to one of the large machines in the lab, when something moving outside the window caught my eye. I was relieved to see Aero headed down the hallway, but frowned in confusion when she didn't even look in the direction of the lab door. Her face was cold, fixed on the destination in front of her, not a look I had seen on her before. Just a step or so behind her were heavily armed guards - about 10 of them- were leading a man with black slicked back hair down the hallway, I could easily guess that it was Loki. My eyes were stuck on the man for a moment as he turned his head to look at me as he passed by the windows of my lab. I reached up pulling my glasses from my face as we continued to keep eye contact. Loki's face twisted into a pleased smirk when he saw me, which filled me with something along the lines of dread. When he passed the window where we could no longer see each other, I reached up rubbing at my eyes. I didn't like the feeling that eye contact with him gave me. It made my stomach churn uneasily. A voice over the intercom in the lab made me jump.

"Dr. Banner, You are needed in the conference room." Natasha Romanoff's voice filled my office for a brief moment before it fell silent again. I glanced in the direction that Loki and Aero had gone, but shook off the feeling. I laid the paperwork I had been holding down on the table next to me. I would get it when I returned. I headed out of the lab in search of the conference room where I had been summoned. Once I had found my way to it, I saw that Natasha was occupying the room along with Steve Rogers and a tall blonde man with broad shoulders. I walked into the room and noticed them sitting around a small table. A hologram projection of the room that Loki had been taken to was pulled up. Just as I made my way to the other side of the table the doors behind me opened.

"Sorry, am I late?" Aero asked teasingly to Natasha who was frowning at her. It was obvious that Aero had gone to change out of her uniform again, the joke laid in the fact that she had super speed, but was the last to enter the room. She glanced over at me with a small smile on her lips. Aero settled down into the seat beside Natasha just as Fury finished explaining what was going to happen if Loki scratched the glass to the cage they had put him in.

"Its an impressive cage," Loki commented, stepping back away from the glass where Fury was. He glanced around the secure metal container. "But not built, I think for me." Loki said smugly. I crossed my arms over my chest tightly, it was clear that he was referencing me. Fury mentioned that it had been built for something stronger, confirming my suspensions, it had been meant for the Hulk, for me. "Oh, I've heard." He cooed turning his head to look at the camera in the cell, so he was looking directly through our screen. It felt like he could actually see me, which made me shift uncomfortably. "A mindless beast, making play that he's still a man." Loki commented dryly. I noticed Aero glance up from the screen at me. I could see the worry written in her eyes, but I could do nothing to fake like the comment hadn't bothered me. It had. "How desperate are you," I dropped my gaze away from them. "That you'd call on such lost creatures to defend you?" Loki was taking shots at the 'team' that fury had assembled to deal with this problem.

"How desperate am I?" Fury questioned in return. "You threatened my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace, and you kill because its fun." Fury continued to walk closer to the container. The tension in the room was thick as we listened to what Fury had to say. "You had made me very desperate," Fury said flatly. "You might not be glad that you did,"

"Oooh," Loki sighed out in return. "It burns you to have to come so close," He mocked. "To have the tesseract , to have power, unlimited power. And for what?" Loki held his head high, he was very obviously unaffected by being held in the cage. He was not scared or bothered in the slightest. "A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is." Loki's words were very clearly threatening in nature.

"Well, let me know if 'Real Power' wants a magazine or something." Fury mocked in return as he turned away from the cage and headed out of the room. The hologram ended with Loki looking out of the glass of the cage. Something didn't sit right with me.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" I commented dryly. 

A/N : Im sorry for the long wait everyone. Here are some chapters to help make up for it 
(Word Count : 1,099)