Nico turned to help Bruce only to see him roll off the floor they were on.

"Bruce?" Nico asked, "You okay?" He looked over, and saw Bruce writhing on the ground. Nico's eyes widened, but not in fear; in concern. Hulk would rip this place apart, something Bruce would never feel okay with....

Let's go back a bit. Where were we previously? Oh right...

A Few Minutes Earlier....

"Got it." Tony said, looking at a computer.

"Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all." Bruce joked, but you could see relief in his eyes.

"You located the Tesseract?" Nico asked.

"I could get there the fastest." Tony offered.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it." Thor stated, though more calm now.

"You're not going alone." Steve stated boldly.

"You're gonna stop me?" Tony asked.

"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve was back in the influence of the Scepter, and so was Tony.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." Tony teased.

"STOP IT!" Nico shouted and Tony turned to him.

"Or what?" Tony seethed, "You fight me, cause if you wanna go a few rounds, I'll fight you and Capsicle!"

"No." Nico said sternly, "If you swing at me, I stand where I am without using any powers. You guys are the closest things I have to friends. No offense Thor, but I only knew you in passing until recently; Loki's my real friend."

"Pfft." Bruce scoffed, "You're best friends with an insane man."

"Loki is not in control." Nico stated firmly, but not unkindly, "I am willing to stop him from killing as many as possible because I cannot let him live any more horrors than he already has."

"My best friend and partner is currently under his control," Natasha seethed.

"But, not unlike Hawkeye," Nico stated, still kind, "Loki is not in control himself, and that is why we will not kill either of them."

Natasha suddenly seemed to get it, and she stepped back, broken from the influence. Bruce also stepped back, realizing the truth behind his words.

"If it came down to our world or Loki," Fury snarled, "Which one would you choose?"

"Our world." Nico said, no doubt in his voice, "If Loki were to actually take over the world, he'd been horrified, so I won't let his mind be hurt more, and an entire planet fall." Nico's matter of fact voice caused Fury to realize his mistakes and step back.

"Tony," Nico said slowly, "Steve."

"Oh what now?" Tony sassed, "You're going to rant about how violence isn't the answer?"

"Um, no." Nico shrugged, "I'm going to ask you to hit me."

"What?" Natasha and Bruce asked. Nico ignored them.

Tony immediately stepped back, noting the control receding.

Steve took a swing, and Nico didn't even flinch. The super soldier practically whaled on Nico, before stepping back, and paling; he had just hit a child. He was so in fear of his inner monster he almost didn't notice how the scepter's control slipped off.

"I'm not as young as Iook." Nico told him, reading his expression, "I'm older than Thor in Asgardian years."

"That you are." Thor confirmed, "I was ten when you first came to Asgard, already immortal and.... How old were you?"

"After walking from Earth to Asgard?" Nico asked, earning surprised looks from everyone except Thor, Steve, Bruce, and Tony, "Um.... about 45 million. However, you must remember that when you walk, you walk through reversed time, and so it was only about 5 years on earth had passed by the time I returned.

"And the Bifrost energy would've put you in further time loops," Thor stated, "So... yeah, you're about 60 million years older than me."

There was a loud explosion, and everything went to Hades, or, as Loki had once put it, Hel.

The explosion, Nico realized, left only him standing, and had thrown everyone else to the sides... except himself. There was a creaking sound, and he, Black Widow, and Bruce fell through the floor, and landed on the ground below. Nico stood up, unharmed, and helped the Black Widow up.

"Go, help the others." Nico told her, and she nodded before running off. Nico turned to help Bruce only to see him roll off the floor they were on.

"Bruce?" Nico asked, "You okay?" He looked over, and saw Bruce writhing on the ground. Nico's eyes widened, but not in fear; in concern. Hulk would rip this place apart, something Bruce would never feel okay with.

"Hey, Bruce, Hulk," Nico said softly, "Whomever I'm talking to right now, can you please follow me? If this is Bruce, we can get out of the helicarrier, and get you to a safe place to Hulk out, and if this is Hulk, maybe Bruce would let you out more if you let me help you. I am not afraid, because I view both of you as my friend, or in Hulk's case, a possible future friend. I want you to be safe, and I want you both to feel okay with each other, but I can't do that without your help, okay?"

Nico saw Bruce stand up, but he was not Hulk or Bruce; he was in between. One eye blue, one eye green. His body and hair Banner's, and his skin green, he looked at Nico.

"What's happening?" Bruce asked.

"Hulk does not know." Hulk growled.

"You found an in between, I think," Nico smiled softly, and Hulk/Bruce turned to him.

"How?" Both voices came out at once.

"You both have the same goal, so you probably compromised." Nico looked at them with a smile, "You have found a way for both of you to coexist, and so your body has reacted to it by only transforming halfway."

"That... makes sense." Bruce smiled.

"Hulk can be good! Hulk happy!" Hulk smiled wider.

"You should do this more often." Nico grinned, "I like to see both of my friends getting along, and to see you both at the same time."

"I think I'd like that," Bruce smiled softly.

"Hulk would love that." Hulk smiled victoriously.

"We still need to get out of the Helicarrier." Nico frowned, "It might not stay in the air very long, and, no offense, but I don't know how the other agents will react to this without someone explaining it ahead of time."

"What should we do?" Bruce asked.

"Maybe, we can walk to the edge of the Helicarrier with Bruce, but then leave the Helicarrier with Hulk, and then be both the rest of the way?" Nico suggested. The two others smiled, and suddenly Bruce was just Bruce.

"Tell Hulk thank you." Nico smiled at Bruce.

"He can hear you." Bruce shrugged.

"Well then, thanks buddy." Nico smiled, and Bruce laughed. They walked into a room with Fury and the other Avengers.

"Hey, guys?" Nico said.

"Kinda busy, Nico!" Thor said, exasperated.

"Look, Bruce and I made a compromise with Hulk," Nico explained, "We need off the Helicarrier so the Hulk can be let out as soon as possible."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Fury sighed, "But you're already having a major debrief later, so I'll let it slide."

"There's a hole in the side of the Helicarrier." Natasha - she was giving Nico too concerned, motherly a look to call her Black Widow - took down a controlled SHIELD agent. "That way." She nodded her head towards the exit sign, and the three (including Hulk, Nico, and Bruce) left. They ran, and soon reached the area Natasha had told them about. Nico turned to Bruce, grabbing his hand as the suction began to pull them out, and then Nico nodded. Bruce let go of a pole he'd been holding, and turned into the hulk. The Hulk held Nico gently to his chest as they fell. Nico curled trustingly against the Hulk, and smiled.

"I knew you could do it, guys." Nico told both the Hulk and the man listening from the receeds of the green friend's mind. Hulk smiled, and they landed. Hulk set Nico down, and then the two - men in one transformed into their balanced form.

"Thanks." Bruce grinned happily, "Both of you." Hulk grinned in response, then realized they were in a building. He looked around, and Nico realized he probably had never been short enough to enter a building, much less been able to stay in one.

Nico smiled, and then looked around, immediately recognizing the area. Nico had shadow traveled to this building a few times on accident, but, fortunately, there was a nice security guard who saw it, and let Nico explain. The security guard, after being explained to that the myths were real, just laughed and sent Nico on his way. Apparently some weird stuff went on in the area all the time.

"Ah, Long Island." Nico smiled, "Now, to find Fred."

"Who's Fred?" Bruce asked.

"He's the really nice security guard who let me explain myself the last four time I accidentally landed myself here." Nico laughed.

"Nice to know I'm appreciated, did you fall from the sky this time?" A voice said behind them. They turned around to see a security guard holding a shirt.

"More like the top secret vehicle of a top secret agency that I can't tell you anything about, though I found out the Norse gods are real, and got sent back in time."

"Let me guess, the only reason you haven't been turning up in here is because you've been on Asgard?" The security laughed.

"Yes." Nico shrugged, "But I went back in time - oh and I'm immortal now."

"Does that make you a god?" Fred asked, tossing Hulk and Bruce a shirt.

"Honestly, I don't know." Nico said, surprised at the notion, "But I can tell you that the world might be in danger soon... you might wanna stay inside."

"You planning to save the world... again?" Fred asked, "And is this guy a demigod?"

"Nope." Nico chuckled, "He's got nothing to do with the gods; he's mortal, and yes, I know he's green. He's two people in one body, but one of them is a giant super strong green dude, and the other one's a small super nice doctor." Nico smiled at Hulk and Bruce, "Currently, though, he's in between the two forms, which is a good thing, because it means both can be present at the same time."

"Oh." Fred smiled, "Okay. I'll get you a motorcycle."

"Thanks." Nico smiled at the older man, who then turned to the other two.

"So, what's your name small guy?" Fred asked.

"Bruce Banner."

"And what's your name big guy?"

"HULK!" Hulk shouted happily.

Fred smiled, "Glad to meet you guys, I'm Frederick Jones, but you can call me Fred."

"Thank you for the shirt," Bruce smiled, shaking the man's hand before letting go "You're taking this pretty well."

"Ugh, Bruce, you had to bring that up. Now he's gonna tell you an embarrassing example." Nico groaned. Fred smirked.,

"This guy's brought weirder stuff and people round here." Fred laughed,"Last time he brought a girl who wanted to kill me, and a giant statue of Athena that went missing a few thousand years ago. He was glowing and covered in black while the girl was giving him magic healing lemon bars. The only reason she didn't kill me was that before passing out, Nico had muttered that I was a friend."

Bruce looked at Nico, who to his surprise laughed at Fred, "Sorry about that. I wish we could've stayed longer, but I was having to shadow travel the Athena statue from Greece to New York to stop a war between demigods so they could fight a war against an evil Primordial. I kinda won the war for them, then ran away. Then I was made immortal, forced to walk through time, and sold to Loki as a slave, but I became his friend. He currently possessed by an evil weapon/power source that can't be reversed."

"What happened to your half sister? She was nice, and she'd probably be looking for you by now." Fred looked at Nico. Nico bit his lip, looking close to tears.

"Hazel died in my arms during the war. The others died too." Nico said, and Fred's eyes widened. He hugged Nico, and Nico cried in his shoulder. Bruce and the Hulk soon joined in. Nico eventually stopped crying, and Fred noticed he was tired as they pulled away.

"Bruce and Hulk," Fred ordered, "We're getting food, and if you could change into Bruce fully, to prevent questions, it'd be appreciated." Hulk nodded, and Bruce became fully in control. Nico turned to go with them, but Fred stopped him, "You get some sleep."

"But..." Nico paused, and Bruce nodded to Nico. Fred went and came back with a blanket and pillow. Fred put the pillow on the ground.

"Lay down." Fred demanded. Nico sighed, and Bruce smiled in amusement as Nico laid down. Fred brought the blanket over Nico. Nico fell asleep almost immediately, and Fred bent down and ruffled his hair gently. Nico smiled in his sleep. Fred stood up, and turned to Bruce.

"Let's go, little guy." Fred said softly asnot to wake Nico. Bruce nodded, and they were off.