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Bruce takes this statement in completely the wrong way, unable to help but flinch just slightly. He takes a slow breath before he answers. "He has caused the death of many innocent people, Loki. Anyone who gets in his way is under threat if they do the wrong thing."

It's more than he can remember telling anyone other than Betty.

"Just curious. I have seen multiple Hulks -- multiple you Hulks, I mean, let us ignore the others -- and they all are a little different." Because it is so easy to dismiss the fact he just admitted that his universe has more than one Hulk. "The one from my home universe kills, but only on purpose, as far as I can deduce. Causes plenty of property damage and likes to make people pee themselves, yes, but mostly he wishes to be left alone."

Loki will there be any conversation you won't manage to shock Bruce. He blinks slowly at Loki, leaning forward. "Multiple me Hulks. Exactly how are these... other... Hulks," Betty's name for the brute still hangs foreign on his tongue, "different?"

Probably not for some time. "Well, I already told you about the one from my world. There are some that are truly cruel. Some that are separate from your body. Some that have taken over your consciousness all together. Some are good, some are bad. That is the nature of having multiple universes: every potential is at some point fulfilled."

Some that are separate from my body? Bruce shudders at most of what Loki says, rubbing a hand over his face. Suddenly, he just holds up a hand. "I think, right now, that's all I can handle on that front. ...But it gives me a lot to think about." More than a lot.

He lets out a breath, looking up as the thunder splits the sky again. "...your other self was afraid of thunder." As Tony had informed him after everything had gone down and Loki back in Asgard.

Loki looks surprised at the words. "He is?" He looks out the window at the stormy skies, trying to delve into the memories of his first self, the one with all the anger and pain. Yet his own feelings seem to have made those old emotions fade, making them murky and hard to recall.

"... I might have been once. I cannot remember."

I would be afraid of it if my brother was after me like that, Bruce thinks, but he keeps that very much to himself. "Maybe it's for the best," he chooses to say instead.

He leans back a little, looking upward as he thinks. "I spoke at length to Sherlock about what he knows of this place, and it's only getting worse. He knows something about the ritual this place started with, but he's sure that the ritual has changed, now."

"Probably." He does not want to become that creature he was before again, and to remember what had made him so would likely be the first steps on the road to making the same mistakes. Luckily, Bruce's next words are more than enough to get his mind off of that fact.

"Truly? Tell me about it."

"From what Sherlock has learned, originally, there were supposed to be five people sacrificed. We're not sure of the other four, but the last was supposed to be 'the Virgin'. Is there anything you might know about a ritual like that? We know that this had been or is or whatever a cult that is somehow trying to appease or worship a god, something like that."

It all sounds so ridiculous when spoken aloud, making Bruce rub his brow. Hopefully, to Loki, this makes some sort of real sense.

"Virgin sacrifice? Really? And they were doing so well at being creative." Loki rolls his eyes, but he is considering the situation seriously in his head. "In any case, it sounds like it could be a Fear God they are so interested in getting the favor of." It would explain the nature of this place's attacks on them, as they seemed to aim not for mass death but for panic.

Bruce holds up a finger. "Like I said, the ritual has changed. They're having people slaughtered left and right, if you haven't noticed. It doesn't seem very much like a ritual at all anymore." He rubs his temple lightly, thinking.

A Fear god. Not the kind of thing anyone wants to hear, really. "Why would anyone want that kind of favor?"

"Rituals only work as much as the person doing the ritual thinks they do. That is the trick. If they decide that killing people left and right is a ritual, then it is, if they have the power to put behind it." Which was one of the things that made magic so hard to learn -- and so dangerous when someone got a hold of it.

"Fear is a very powerful thing. With fear, you can control people, things, rule countries, worlds. Why would someone aching for power not want to cause fear?"

"Then why aren't they?" Bruce gestures, then stops. His mind works quickly and what it comes up with makes him frown. "Is this isn't our world, who's to say they aren't? Maybe outside of this place, they're using the power of this ritual to control everything."

He sighs softly. "I need to talk to these people who were once technicians. They know more things that are actually true, or so I damn well hope."

"It is quite possible. We know that North America has been cut off from the rest of the world, so that might be the area they are using the power to keep under control." Loki needed to speak to the shipwrecked woman again and dig for more information.

Bruce lets out a very slow breath again and gestures. "And after all of this, we could be wrong. All of these theories could be wrong. Is there any way to test if any of this is true? If this is some sort of ritual?" Unfortunately, he has no experience in the magical.

It means he has to trust Loki a great deal in this one area, something he would have never have expected.

"I can look into it. It would take some studying, though. Everyone's magic is different; after all, all it is is a lie, if a very big one." Loki considers how he would test it, if he were to try. It would not be easy.

"If there's any way you can safely look into this, Loki, I think it will help to start us down the right path as to the reason why we're all here versus a great deal of theories we are struggling to get more answers for." Bruce's smile isn't one of happiness, but more out of spite for this whole situation.

"I will never figure anything out if I am safe. But I will see what I can do." He flashes Bruce a sharp grin. He likes a challenge.

Bruce hesitates, then laughs a little. "Don't get killed, promise?" He actually puts out his hand. "Promise me that, Loki. And if you know me that well from your universe, you'll know how big a deal this is. I don't want you killed because of your own ego."

He stands up, hand still out, a brow lifted.

"There is no need to fret like that, Bruce." It is still odd to call him Bruce and not 'Dr. Banner,' but he is slowly getting more use out of the name. "I am very hard to kill. And even if I did die, well, it would not be the first time nor likely the last."

But he stands as well, taking Bruce's hand. "I will, however, do my best."

Edited 2014-02-11 02:06 (UTC)

"That's all I ask for." Bruce shakes Loki's hand firmly before he heads for the door. He does call over to Villie though. "Silly beast. How could your breathren be so fierce and you are afraid of thunder?"

He gives a tight smile to Loki before he heads back out to get to work.

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