52

You try asking Bruce over the comms if he needs a hand with anything, but he doesn’t answer, so you decide the wisest course of action is to return to the extraction point unless you hear anything different.

When you get there, you find yourself walking in on two things: first off, Bruce is already there, along with most of the prisoner contingent, and two, there’s currently a massive argument going on between the other members of your team about going back into the tower for Tony.

You fiddle behind your ear with your comm unit, clicking over to the open channel so that Coulson can hear everything. Behind you, quietly, Bruce chimes in on the debate for the first time.

“We can’t leave him behind.”

You’ve found that Bruce is rarely, if ever, wrong when he actually speaks up with a decision. So you back him up pretty much automatically. “It doesn’t matter what anyone else does,” you say, “but I’m going back.”

Bruce’s approving look is worth it; so is the clap you get on the back from Thor, and Natasha looks uncertain, but eventually settles on a smile.