Fandom Red and Blue (Marvel RP)

Tony landed in front of the hotel, where Friday had last located Pepper's phone. A cloud of dust went up around him and blurred his sight for a moment. Pedestrians stopped in the middle of their steps to see what the Iron Man was up to. Some people filmed with their smartphones, some just took pictures. Tony stormed into the hallway, while his helmet opened and revealed his pale and scared face.
"Where is she?!", he shouted, banging his hand onto the reception counter.
The receptionist, a young college student, who needed the money to pay his loans, jumped back and stumbled over his words.
"I, Uhm, who... I....?", he stuttered and reached for the panic button under the table, "What.... Sir...?"
Tony's hands were trembling, his heart beating way too fast in his chest.
"Pepper! Where is she?!", Tony shouted at the man, "The room!"
The young man reached for a keycard and gave it to Mr Stark, his hands shivering in terror.
Tony ran upstairs, not even thinking of flying up outside. He was too consumed by the worst case scenarios running through his head. Pepper, dead, shot, strangled... cold. A message for him to be more careful the next time. Happy beaten up and maybe dead too. Pepper and the child, lost forever.
Tony didn't need the key card to open the door of the hotel room. He just aimed his repulsor at the door and pulverized it.
"Pepper!!" But the living room and the bedroom were empty. No tracks, no signs of intrusion. Their suitcases and clothes were still there, but Happy and Pepper were missing. There was a little blood on the white carpet next to the couch, but apart from that the penthouse suite was empty. No message, no tracks, no anything... And no Pepper.
"Friday, scan the room!", he shouted, but the AI couldn't.
"The suit isn't compatible with this function yet...", she apologized and left Tony desperate.

Meanwhile, the other two and a half Avengers had taken Tony's car back to the Avengers Facility, where they arrived tired and still a little shaky from the explosion they had experienced. Clint entered the building and immediately felt like time had been turned back a year. The memories hit him hard, as a contrast to ehat it was now. It had been a really big thing after New York. They had been a great team and they had known that. They had trusted in each other like a family. He had trusted those people to the extent of introducing them to Laura and his kids. And now, what had happened to the vision of making this world a better place together? Why did the government have to destroy that? If they all had stood as one, against that stupid contract, maybe they had managed to convince them. But the way the team had split almost immediately just had been one more proof of how instable they had been from the beginning.
He had believed in this bunch of idiots. He had never lost that belief, that hope that they would get themselves together and fight for a bigger good. Well, the 'bigger good' seemed to be a fight between team government and team Barnes. It was stupid, reckless even. But well, if they hadn't, they wouldn't have. That was the old song no one wanted to hear. Still, what was done, was done. There was no going back.
"Welcome to the castle", he introduced Peter to the facility, "We've got any kind of luxury you can imagine. Sauna, Whirlpools, Massage beds, a medical center - though empty at the moment-, a lab, a gym and a huge gaming hall. Though I don't know if those things still work... they've been abandoned for quite a while."
He shrugged.
"I guess you can have one of the apartments in the back, we have some empty ones left. Tasha is the receptionist here."
He pinched the spy's side softly and smiled.
"Where do we put him?", he asked her.

J was walking up and down the room, impatiently awaiting his delivery. His green hair was slit back and he was wearing his best suit. He had to be in his best position to impress the beautiful Pepper Potts. He had so many plans for her... So what was taking so long?!
He shouldn't have trusted Harley. She just was the type to mess everything up. She got caught up in something, forgot details, had stupid additional ideas... He rolled his eyes. She was a nice pet, but an annoying one. She always messed his carpet when he didn't look. Still, somehow he had grown accustomed to her and sometimes caught himself thinking about her, even wanting to be close to her. But those feelings were irrational and dumb, so he pushed them aside. He couldn't think like that, especially when she was around.
But if she did this right- And that wasna big if- he would reward her tonight. Maybe it was about time to have some sexual intercourse again. And after that, she would be even more compliant than before. Lovesick little woman... She was so easy to manipulate.
Then the door opened and the two of them walked in. Next to each other, Harley holding the annoying God's hand. And a flash if anger went through him. She was his, and only his. If he would try to manipulate her, J would teach him a lesson. Never mess with the Joker.
A second later he saw Potts and... Her bodyguard? Was that some kind of add on or a new piece of work.
"What is he doing here?", J asked, rolling his eyes.
"That's my new toy", Harley started, "You get one, I get one. I wanna try something."
She winked at him and licked her lips. Somehow that made J dizzy and he just nodded annoyedly.
"Fine, keep him...", he sighed and went over to Loki to take his little present from him.
"Hello Virginia... Not a very fitting name, considering the fact that there's a baby in your tummy, huh?", he purred and put a hand on her belly.
"Is she drugged?", he asked the man next to her, because the woman wasn't fighting them at all.
J examined her pupils and frowned. Her eyes were glowing... green...?
"What did you do to her?", he asked, anger raising in him. This was his plan and he did not allow any deviation from it, not even changing a detail. With anger in his eyes he stared at the man with the green cape, waiting for an answer.

The Iron Man knelt on the floor of the hotel room and rocked back and forward. He had lost her, it was too late. He had no idea where to start looking, he had no idea what to do. There was... nothing. Nothing he could do. His head hurt as hell and he felt like he had to throw up.
"Sir, you should probably get some rest...", Friday tried to calm him, "Why don't we fly back to the Avengers facility?"
Stark shook his head, but got up and walked around the room again. He inspected the blood on the carpet and looked around more closely now, his head pounding. It was night by now and Tony turned the lights on. But now he was really starting to feel miserable. Then he saw the gun, that was still lying under the sofa. And there was Happy's phone... Tony bent down, to pick it up, but when the blood started flowing into his head, everything turned black and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Clint sighed and looked at Natasha. School. How could he have forgotten about that? That guy was a teenager after all. And Natasha was right. He was safer at home than he was with them. Especially after the explosion, they had made very clear what they wanted. And since Peter wasn't an Avenger yet, he was safe. As long as they didn't know...
"Well, we'll just keep that room for you", he smiled and switched into the parent mode almost immediately. He looked at Peter the way he looked at Cooper when he told him the truth.
"You can leave your stuff here, if you ever need a place to go. And we'll add you to the safety protocol, so you can come here any time", Clint added, reassuring him that he would be part of the team soon, "But for now, someone's trying to blow us up. Us, not you. I don't want you or your aunt to get in trouble because of us. Once you're in, they're gonna hunt you too. And I don't think you want that, do you?"
He felt bad trying to convince the boy that it was his fault if something happened to his family, but it was the only way to protect him. And in a way, it was true.
"We've all got no family. No one we could endanger. That's why we can do what we do. You have someone else to protect, Peter. Go home, just for the night. Please."
He just hoped that Peter would get what he meant. That was everything he could do, after all.
"Have you tried calling him?", Clint asked Natash, who apparently was worried about Tony. Sure, the genius wasn't the one to take off like that and run from a mission... But maybe that was exactly like him. Maybe there was a bigger problem with Pepper and that's why he had left.
"I'll call him afterwards", Clint promised, "But first, I'll drive Spiderman here home. What do you say?"

Alicia stared at her phone and really worried by now. Why was that stupid guy not texting back?
Her pen was almost out, so she took a blue one and started to draw again, mostly to distract herself from the fear that something could have happened. While she drew, she was deep in her thoughts, wondering where that nerd was right now. Maybe he was home, but his phone was broken. Or he had lost it somewhere on the way there. But still she had a bad feeling about this... About this all.
The picture, which formed on the piece of paper, was a strange thing. It showed the back of a head with short hair, which seemed to be looking up at a blue ceiling with a fascinated look. Everything around was glowing blue- ish and was made of glass.
She added some text underneath the picture: "And this is where you guys live...?"

Natasha looked at Clint before she went away to a computer. It wouldn't take her long to breach through Stark's firewall and open various files.
"Friday?", she asked unsure if Stark's new AI would actually listen to her. It had been a few odd weeks after all.
"Miss Romanoff, how can I help you?", the calm female voice greeted the spy calm
The redhead thought for a moment. It felt like a make it or break it moment. Was this about whether or not she still wanted to be an Avenger? Natasha guessed it was but did it really matter? Stark had been some sort of friend of her and in a way they had been like siblings even after she tricked him with Natalie Rushman. It had taken a bit for him to trust her again but they had gotten along until reasonably. She shook those thoughts off and went back to business. "Where's Miss Potts? I know he went to look for her.", she told her and Friday seemed to hesitate for a moment before giving the redhead the information she needed "Miss Potts has gone missing. Mister Stark went to look for her after a hijacked call."
Natasha's eyes went wide and she muttered Russian curse words under her breath. So that had been the ruse. Not the stupid bomb, the redhead could kick her own butt right now.
"Where's Stark, now?", she wanted to know and Friday gave her the address of the hotel. For whatever reason the AI seemed worried for Tony.

Peter knew that look. It was the one that his aunt always gave him before telling him bad news but she didn't want it him to be mad about it. He groaned as Clint tried to make it up by offering him to leave his stuff here. What did that matter anyway? He was gonna be kicked out anyways. It's the same old. No-one thought he was good enough to be a superhero - let alone an Avenger. But he would prove them wrong. He threw his broken phone on the counter of the lobby of this place. "No thank you.", he said bitter to the offer of keeping his things here. What was the sense behind it anyway? Peter didn't have much things so there was no need to store them in a place he wouldn't be invited again.
At the mention of his aunt, he shot Clint a dark glance. He had kept his identity a secret. Even his best friends didn't know about him being Spiderman. Most of his school thought he was too much a wimp for it anyway. So why would anyone bother to attack him? Yet that was the moment, he once again packed his backpack over his shoulder.
"It's better than taking the bus.", Parker answered unnerved and walked back out again. If they treated him like a child, he would start looking for clues on his own. He had tried to include Stark and the Avengers but apparently no-one thought he could actually do that.

It was about 3 am when Tony woke up, lying on his back, on a white carpet. He turned his head with a groan, thinking that he was home. But what the hell was he doing in the living room...? Next thing he noticed, he was wearing his suit. Now that was unusual. Had he been drunk or anything and passed out? But he didn't feel hung over. It was more like a foggy state of mind, which came from sleeping too long. Slowly, he pushed himself up, trying to make out the reason why he had woken up. It was bright in the room, but it wasn't the daylight- bright that usually flooded the mansion when Friday let it in. It was more the ray of a single flashlight, being directed at his face.
"Honey...?", he sighed and raised his hand to cover his eyes, which he hadn't opened yet. He was sure that as soon as he opened them and showed her he was okay, he would get Pepper's full anger and that was never good. So he would go on playing hurt animal for a while, for whatever reason he was here and not in bed with her.
Also, when he raised his arm, the suit stayed on the floor... Had she opened it? But Pepper didn't know how to do it... Or did she? Maybe she had found out somehow. Anyways, what was going on...?
Not talking always intensified the drama and it helped him to get away without a slap on the face- at least usually. So he just lay there, breathing heavily, trying to be poor poor Tony.

May was sitting on the couch, waiting for Peter to send a text. It was way too late, he must have been really busy. Maybe that all wasn't bad for him, he desperately needed some social contacts. The boy only sat in his room the whole afternoon, and hell knew what he was doing. She knew that it wasn't Peter's fault, that the other kids were taunting him and that no one understood him. But maybe he would find people there. People who he could hang out with, maybe he would even make some new friends...
suddenly she heard a car stop in front of her house, and she almost immediately knew that something was wrong. She rushed toward the door and opened it, just to see Peter get out of a car, that drove off immediately. She opened the door wider and raised and eyebrow.
"What happened? Did they throw you out...?", she asked, quite confused.

Licia had taken a decision. She couldn't stand it any longer. She got up quietly and put on her short jeans. She couldn't stop thinking about how Peter could be hurt or worse. Quietly she opened her bedroom door and sneaked to get her shoes from the hallway. When she was back, she put them on and checked her appearance in the mirror. She looked pretty, even a little sexy. The tight shirt made her look even more muscular than she was from kickboxing since she was 6. With a slight smile she bound her hair together and opened the window. There was only one way out when her Dad was home, and that was through her bedroom window. She climbed down the ladder she had put there for emergencies and then disappeared into the dark, her phone in her pocket. If he didn't answer, she had to check if he was still alive.

She had stepped inside the hotel room and instantly spotted the billionaire in his suit. Almost in shock she had noticed the blood on the carpet. Yet she first looked into each possible hideout before checking Stark's medicals.
Natasha kneeled in front of the billionaire and was relieved that Friday had agreed to open the suit. She used a makeshift flashlight to check for Stark's pupils and next was his pulse. Slowly but surely he seemed to wake up after she had given him a slap.
"Almost.", she said after he had called her honey. He seemed beaten up almost nauseous but it wasn't anything he wouldn't overcome though. "Try again. What's my name?", she said bossy and almost made the question sound like an order. "Come on, Stark, open your eyes.", she encouraged gentler.

Peter hadn't even taken a step towards the door as his aunt came rushing out. He held his backpack in his hand and quietly entered the home. He didn't seem well in fact the teenager seemed exhausted and drained. He had spent the whole car ride to convince Mister Barton to allow him to stay. But it had fallen on deaf ears. Well, little did he knew Clint was almost deaf but that wasn't the point. They had thrown him out after Stark promising him that he could...would help! Just like Berlin all over again. Pretending to have an internship at Stark Industries so he seemed to be a little cool and it would allow him to help people as Spiderman.
"I'm just going to bed, May. Sorry for keeping you up," he replied almost ashamed as he passed his aunt without answering her questions and he kicked the door close falling on the bed. "They didn't think I was matching their work after all...", he mumbled against his pillow unsure if May even heard him.

Wanda walked out of her house as her brother was once again busy with eating. She felt where Barnes was and for once he seemed alone. So she strolled casually over to him and cleared her throat to make herself known without being attacked. She seriously wouldn't blame him as the two didn't seem to get along anytime soon. "Mister Barnes? I would..I can help you with your memories, if you let me.", she stated and walked closer to him.

It wasn't Pepper, it was Natasha. He opened his eyes almost immediately and tried to sit up, but couldn't. His head was still way too dizzy and he couldn't see clearly.
"Ou my head...", he grumbled and massaged his temples.
What had happened? He had absolutely no idea why Romanoff was here and how he had gotten here, nor did he get where Pepper was. But this situation was very, very odd. But where was Pepper?!
He sat up slowly, his vision blurring.
"Oh god. Where's Pepper...?", he asked, blinking a few times. But when he realized where he was, it all came back at once. He jumped up and tumbled, nearly fell down again. Somehow he managed to stand, however, and his mind was racing. He needed to find Pepper. He forced himself to walk up to the sofa and sat down.
"I need to scan this room for tracks... I need the other suit... but it's in Malibu and the other one doesn't work properly. I need to find Pepper...", he explained, clearly not able to stand straight at this point. Moreover, it was in the middle of the night, so maybe... but he needed to find her! There was no tomorrow. And who knew? Maybe the kidnapper would toryher and kill the baby...

Clint drove back to the facility as fast as possible. He entered the building, but almost immediately noticed it was empty. But Natasha wouldn't leave without giving him a hint where she was going. Clint checked the kitchen table first, but there was no note. Then he looked at the computer. She was still signed in and there was a link to Stark's firewall.
"Oh come on...", Clint sighed. He was tired, he wanted to go to bed. It was... how late? 2 am? 3? Too late to be up anyways. So he decided to let it be for now. If they needed help, he would be there, but for now... Just a few hours of sleep. Well, that was what he thought as he lay down on his bed and fell asleep immediately.

Licy climbed over the fence in front of the house, where Peter lived and sneaked to the back, where his room had a window. She threw a stone at the glass and waited for an answer. But there wasn't any sign that her friend was still alive. In fact, the room looked pretty empty. She went to the front to ring. She didn't really have an explanation for this, but she needed to see him. She needed to check if he was okay!
Peter's aunt opened with a sleepy face and looked at her like she was crazy. It was way too early for visitors!
"Who are you...?", she asked Alicia suspiciously.
"I'm Alicia. I'm... a friend of Peter. He isn't answering his phone. I just thought... I wanna know if he's okay..."

May sighed. She knew exactly what was going on here. This girl was Peter's girlfriend and probably just wanted to see him. But who was she to stand in their way?
"He just got home from that camp, so... If he isn't already sleeping, come in. His room is back there."

Alicia sneaked inside the room, but it was empty. She was about to tell his aunt, but that was probably a bad idea. So she just looked around the room a bit, then lay down on the bed, took a piece of paper and a pen. She started to doodle.
First picture: A room, a girl lay on the bed and had a pen in her hand, doodling. It was dark outside, some part of the curtain was visible and the window open.
Second picture: A boy who looked up through an open window. "Where have you been?", the girl on the bed asked.
Third picture: She took his mask off and looked at him. Her eyes shining. "No matter, you're here."
Fourth picture: He had a wound on his forehead, she looked at it. "What is that?"
"Just a scratch."
With a sigh, Alicia got up and opened the window. Now the setting was right. So where was the superhero?

Bucky looked at Wanda for a very long time. He didn't know what to say. Controlling his thoughts had never really worked out...
"I don't know", he mumbled, "What's the price?"
Help never came without a price. Except maybe from friends... And she wasn't his friend. At least it didn't seem like.
"Why would you help me anyways?", he asked, his glance gliding to the floor. He wasn't exactly the man to easily feel connected to. So why would anyone want to help himget out of the situation he was in?

Tony sipped on his bottle of water and nodded slowly. He was feeling miserable. Pepper was in danger and he couldn't do anything but sit and wait.
"Okay... I'm sorry I forgot you're a spy...", he murmured and smiled a little. It was good to know that at least someone was on his side. And even though Natasha had helped Steve in that fight, maybe she had just tried to survive this. Maybe he had been on the losing side and he just hadn't known...
"Shall I take the time? Friday usually takes three minutes to have a fully functional image", he grinned and reached for his phone, but...
"Where's my phone...?"
It was probably still back at the exploded shop. Dammit, now he had to build a new one. Not that it would have bothered him though. A new series of Starkphones was overdue anyways. And the functions he could install...
But now Pepper was more important. And he was really grateful for Natasha helping him. Though he would never admit that, he was really happy she was here.
"But you still can't find fingerprints and analyze the DNA of the blood...", he added, worried again.
What if it was Pepper's blood? And where the hell was Happy?!

When someone actually appeared in the window- someone with an actual mask, no Spiderman- Alicia wasn't able to move for a second. Was it possible that this all was...? Was this Peter? For a moment, she just stared, couldn't quite grasp what had happened. Was she dreaming? Was this all some odd fantasy thing, like the school psychologist had said when she had claimed to know that her mother would die?
She slowly rolled the piece of paper and put it behind her back. This was really odd. But she needed to try this. Dammit, she needed to know...
"Where have you been...?", she whispered and took his mask into her hands. Slowly she peeled it off his skin, afraid of what she would see. But it was... Actually him. It was Peter.
"Whatever, you're here", she said, a little more confident. She looked at him for a long long time, waiting for him to say anything. But he didn't. Or was he about to...?
Then she saw the scratch on his forehead. He was hurt. He was really hurt. Worried, she inspected it more closely.
"What's that?", she asked, making her comic disappear under his mattress. She would throw that creepy thing away afterwards.

"I can't do that...", James said, quietly, "I can't make you see that..."
He shook his head.
"It'll destroy you. It's better inside my head, believe me."
He didn't want anyone else to have to experience what he had to see. He didn't want his memoies to be open to anyone else but him. And she was still a girl, how could she understand what he had been through? The torture at the factory, the fall, the metal arm, his missions, the pain... and Natalia. It wasn't meant for anyone than him.

She shot him a dark gaze as he told her he had forgotten that she was a spy. Who forgot something like that? Apparently the genius did but still it felt weird. No-one really forgot that she actually was a spy. It came as second nature and that's why people didn't trust her. She knew how to get secrets and how to keep them from others. She looked closer at the blood on the floor and pressed some fingers against it.
"It's dry... Whoever was hit by something...", she began than nudged Tony's feet away. There were small splinter of wood and she frowned. "Someone was hit with wood. That's unusual... Baseball bat, cane or...a baton. I would bet 100 bucks it was a baseball bat. No-one has wooden batons anymore and the cane wouldn't have caused such an impact.", she spoke more to herself than to Tony.
Natasha looked around and frowned. The most unusual part about this was that everything seemed to be intact. No signs for fighting except for the blood but maybe that had been just a high of endorphins caused by something else: Overkill or so to speak.
"It's not enough blood on the ground. So most likely that person still lives, Tony.", her voice was gentler than usually almost like she was trying to comfort him in a way she knew. Natasha never was one for hugs or any sort of comfort. You just pushed through this and went on. That's how life went after all. "The last time I saw your phone was in Clint's hand. So perhaps it's with him.", she replied casually.
She walked into the next room and saw the broken lamp. So there had been at least two person but apparently two people but whoever had thrown the lamb obviously wasn't trained and even weak. Pepper. A smirk played on her lips. Natasha really needed to show her how to defend herself. There was no blood and any sign of a fight. So, Stark's fiancée seemed fine. That was when she lifted the pillows and blankets. A phone - a Stark Industry phone... She frowned and tried to unlock it but Stark's stupid grin simply smiled at her from the screen.
The redhead sat down next to him and dropped the phone in Tony's lap. "Pepper is fine. So I'm pretty certain this is Hogan's blood. And if I were you I would unlock the Pott's phone. If she was smart enough to hide it, she was smart enough to record something.", she told him and nodded at the phone. Of course she could've hijacked it but it seemed smarter to involve Stark at this point
Natasha leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes. She was tired and simply wanted to sleep. But she needed to push herself. "I'm pretty sure that there was no real fight happening in here, Tony. The blood on the carpet but no damaged stuff or furniture in this room shows that the person was knocked out cold with a wooden stick...I'd say a baseball bat. The other room was Pepper's bedroom, I think. There's only a broken lamb so I'd say she tried to defend herself but something made her stop and...leave with them.", she concluded knowing Stark didn't want to here the last part.

"It's just a scratch" Peter replied and climbed into his room and quickly tried to take off his suit so he was standing in his boxer shorts in front of her. He tried to kick the suit away so he might simply see like a weirdo for wearing the Spiderman mask. "I umm...What are you doing here?", he asked and looked towards his closed door unsure how Licia even got inside. Had his aunt let her in? Had she broken into his room? That would explain the opened window.

Wanda sat down on a barn and thought about what to say.
"My brother and I...We joined Hydra because of Stark. One of his weapons destroyed our home and killed our parents. But we were buried alive under all the debris - next to us one of Stark's missiles. We didn't dare moving in case it actually would detonate, you know. We grew up on the streets as orphans afterwards because the orphanages wanted to separate us... Once we...we joined Hydra they did tests on us. They said we were special because of our connection and...and we developed these powers. We fought alongside Hydra until the Avengers attacked our base. Both my brother and me escaped Hydra before they had taken down the whole base.", she explained unsure why she was telling him that in the first place "But we joined this robot into fighting Stark. All we wanted was our revenge for him killing our parents you know. It ate us up and...and we were full of hate. Nothing worth saving but...but they became my family after Pietro died and once again was used to do tests on him. I guess it's okay if you have done bad things in your life, James. What counts is that you try to erase them."
She nodded more to herself and rose to her feet. "The offer still stands if you ever feel the need to clear your head. Oh and about Romanoff. I can tell you like her and she likes you, too. I can feel it."

Most likely alive... That didn't sound too bad. So Happy and Pepper weren't dead, at least. Still, what had happened to Pepper when Kilian had kidnapped her, hadn't been pleasant at all. The extremis drug had left Tony sleepless for nights, but he had managed to find a cure. Part of him wished he hadn't, though. That part wished that Pepper was still immortal and strong. Stronger than that kidnapper. But she wasn't and he knew that too well. And even though Natasha tried to calm him, he felt fear and panic raising inside him. He didn't want to make it too obvious, though. He wasn That weak... and it wouldn't help anyone if he panicked now. He needed to breathe, for Pepper's sake. He had managed that before. Just breathing and trying to think about something else.
With a sigh he swiped the screen and the Starkphone was unlocked.
"Show me the last activity", he demanded and put the phone down on the table in front of him. A recording popped up on the screen and as he played it, his face got white as the wall.
"Loki...."

"Just a scratch...", she mumbled, just the same time as he did. Okay, that was really odd, but the worst thing about it was that she actually knew who he was. That she had- somehow- known all along. That he was...
"You're Spiderman", she stated and looked at his body with big eyes. He was so muscular! And just the way his body looked in that light was... stunning.
"You're... sexy Spiderman...", she added and lay down on the bed again.
"Before you can ask, May let me in. She's really nice and so on. You're lucky to have her. But you didn't answer my question: Where have you been?"
One day she should tell him about what she had seen, but not now.

J had her ready to be tortured. It was about 5 in the morning, so about time to get started. She was so helpless in that chair... Almost comically helpless. He chuckled.
"Bad bad timing, I know...", he said and sneaked around the woman like a fox, "You're pregnant, you just got back together and, oh! Are you getting married?"
What a beautiful ring on her finger. Perfect timing!!! He would rule this city and the Avengers would be the ones who had done this. He would save the people from their false beliefs and greed, show them his point of view.
"Virginia, wake up... time to face the truth..."
He had done his homework. Newspapers were useful, but having a hacker to hijack all her data was more useful. She had an older sister, she liked olives, she was scared of rats and she hated it when something didn't go as planned. Those were all wonderful things to make her see how easily people could go crazy... and the start would be a simple one: Compliance.
"Virginia, wake uuuup...", he smiled, close to her face. His scars were ugly and he knew that. He was scary. And that's what he wanted to be. Hell, he loved it when people ran away instead of pushing him around. With a careful and shivering gesture, he placed a kiss on her cheek.
A shiver went down his spine and he felt a need to... do something, take a knife and... but he didn't. Instead, he kicked her leg. Why didn't she wake up already?!

Bucky nodded and inside his head there was a thought that didn't let him go anymore. She liked him. She was still the same... Maybe, deep inside. A moment he just sat there, watching Wander leave.
But there was a scene that played over and over again. Natalia kissed him, then stabbed a knife in his back. She had a gun aimed at him and pulled the trigger, she told the mistress that she had tricked him to make him more compliant.
"Wanda...", he murmured and got up from his sitting position, "Can you help me with those...?"
He opened his mimd to her and frackles and a bath of emotions came pouring over her. But he could control what she saw and what she didn't. He had practice in that and he wouldn't let her inside his head. He just wanted her opinion.
"Show me the real ones..."

"It is tomorrow", Tony stated and tried to stand up again. This time it worked better, but it was far from being able to walk straight. He still had the phone in his hand and heard the voice of Loki. How they negotiated and the lamp broke. Then there was a wimper, Loki's calm words and another voice. A woman... She wanted to take him with her, Him.., was that Happy? Maybe. Probably. So Happy was with them as well.
"I can't... sit here and wait...", he continued, after the recording had ended, "I can't just wait. What if something happens to her? Or the child? Or both of them? She's pregnant, Nat! Pregnant! What if she loses the child because of me?"
Tony's eyes looked wet, but he could keep the tears inside at least.
"I should've brought her home, made sure she was safe. That was their plan all along, wasn't it?!"
Tony really didn't intend to be loud or even shout at his teammate. He didn't intend to destroy any furniture. But his voice was way too loud for a normal conversation, he kicked the table so hard, the leg fell off and then he stumbled over a pillow and nearly fell.
"Pepper's somewhere out there, with Loki. Loki! And you're telling me to wait?!"

Alica slowly got up from the bed, her heart beating like crazy. She hadn't done this before, only in her dreams. Her Dad was overprotective and she was a freak. That's why she had never kissed a boy...
Peter's expression got sad, had she said something wrong? May... Maybe she was the cockblock. He put on some clothes and she let him. She didn't know what to do with a half naked guy anyway. Still, she took Peter's hand and pulled him closer, so his body touched hers. She hugged him tightly, wishing that she could take the sadness from him. Whatever he felt, it must have been overwhelming. He looked so desperate...
"I just needed to check if you're okay...", she whispered into his ear and gently kissed his cheek, "You didn't answer, and the explo..."
Oh no, she had said too much. She closed her mouth and quickly thought of a better ending for this sentence.
"The exploding burglary rate lately... I just thought you were in trouble."
She didn't want to let go off his body anymore. So she just kept hugging him.
"And ai won't tell anyone you're Spiderman. Promise."
For her, the topic was closed with that sentence. He had a secret identity and she wouldn't tell anyone. That was all he needed to know.
"But now tell me about that job you snatched."

J had taken the woman's beautiful hair and cut off a little piece. Just a little, to make her feel worse and helpless. Ugly, yes, she should be ugly. But this wasn't a regular torture, at least not for him. He hadn't felt that excited in a long time. And she was pretty, she really was.
"You're a cute little girl, but you know? I did some research. Your soon to be husband has some secrets... Things he never told you about...", he started. First, the trust had to be broken. Then she would be instable and he would be able to get to her and turn her inside out. It was easy, he had done it many many times.
"He cheated on you. He did ever since... I have some evidence. Here..."
He showed her photos of Iron Man and other girls. It was good photoshop, so nearly indistinguishable from the originals.
"I allowed myself to watch him a bit. He also seems to like naked girls on his phone. Could it be that he just doesn't think you're enough to satisfy him? Maybe he doesn't want someone as perfectionistic and controlling as you? Maybe that's why he's been flirting with all those people..."
Well, to be fair, the tinder account he showed her now was real. But it wasn't actually Stark who had set it up. It was some weirdo, who wanted to attract innocent girls.
"Tell me... Is that the man you wanna marry...?"

"I just want to know how I can keep them apart", he said, all his muscles flexed. His body was waiting for the pain that came with the feeling of being invaded. He felt blood drip down his hand. Probably from his fists being clenched too hard. Everything flickered, he could hardly keep memories and reality apart. His whole body was fighting his decision to let her in, but he got himself together and pushed through somehow. His breath went faster and faster and cold sweat broke. But he didn't move. If he allowed his body to make just the tenth of a movement, he knew he would hurt her. It was a reflex, not a willful act. So he just stood still, trying to focus.
"Make them disappear somehow... But don't delete them. They're important..."
He was still trying to make sense of what they had implanted him. He wanted to know what they had tried to hide from him. And he wanted to take that secret down. It wasn't over yet.

Clint jumped up and cursed. How long had he been out? Days? Weeks? Centuries? It felt like the latter. He shook his dizzy head, to make it a little clearer. It was slowly dawning, so it definitely wasn't night anymore. He yawned a huge yawn and sat up. In his best times, he had spent nights without an hour of sleep. But well, he didn't seem to be used to it anymore. So why had he woken up...? Right. His phone, it had made a noise... With a sigh he picked the device up and checked the screen. It was jus a reminder that Cooper should study for his test.
I shouldn't be here, he thought and was about to lock the phone again. But what was that? He had a message from Natasha. Oh dammit, was everything okay?! She had been out looking for Stark and... What if something had happened and he had been out. He checked the time. One hour ago... That was halfway acceptable. While he read the text, he got up slowly and stretched his body. The vest he was wearing made a noiseful crack and he decided to better take it off before he destroyed it. It had always been tight, but now it was too tight. He needed to work out again. Potts kidnapped... Great. They definitely needed a whole team now. And maybe Clint even had an idea how to do that...
He took his private phone out of the hidden pocket, where he was wearing it and dialed Laura's number. While he waited for her to pick up, he looked around. The sun was now shining inside his room, waking him up a little.
Why was he so tired anyways?! It had been 2 when he had gone to bed. So he had slept... 4 hours? He hadn't even noticed his text tone when he had received the message. It was 6 in the morning! Maybe he really needed to retire.

Natasha was mean, but Tony knew that she was right. He wasn't of any use if he panicked now. He wasn't of any use at all, actually. His head hurt as hell and every time he blinked it felt like he was losing his balance. His condition was getting better, but it was far from being good. He felt like he had been binge drinking the last few hours. On the other hand, he had never had trouble using the suit after doing exactly that. So why wouldn't she let him leave?
"Even half functional, my brain is smarter than most normal people's brains!", he argued, a little shocked by the fact that she threatened locking him up in that closet. Mostly because he knew that she would make her threat reality if he didn't do what she wanted him to.
Finally Tony gave up and disappeared inside the bedroom. He lay down and closed his eyes, determined not to fall asleep, but... His brain had another opinion about this. It shut down the moment that Stark's head touched the pillow and left Tony falling into the deepest sleep he had had since the birth of Iron Man.

"Yeah you're the perfect secret identity", she said and lay down next to him, her hand casually touching his arm, "You're a loner, an outcast. You can be weird and stuff, because you're anyway. At least to other people. You're that guy with the camera, the scared baby. But you know what? That's cool. You're different. I like you for who you are. But if you only act like that so people don't see you the way you are..."
She shrugged and tried not to sound hurt. That attempt failed terribly, however.
"I wouldn't wanna like a boy who pretends to be something else", she said and crossed her legs, "I just hope you don't lie to me."
Alicia lay there, quietly, waiting for his reaction. He couldn't deny it anymore. She knew for sure now. Her pictures hadn't failed her until now. Never. She didn't know why, but they had always been scarily accurate if it was about people she loved. Especially when they had found her mother dead...
She had drawn that crime scene the night before. And she had drawn the killer. Just that no one had listened to her...

J listened for a while. He let her talk at first, talk her fear off. She was so naive... But then she started insulting him and he couldn't shake it off anymore. He didn't know why, but today he was fighting for control. Today was a bad day... Well, he should have taken his pills, probably. They would have kept it together, but he didn't want to! This was the ultimate rush, the kick he needed to function properly. And he loved the way the hormones rushed through his body! Dammit!
"People... better take me seriously...", he hissed at her, "Otherwise they end up like you... oh such a pretty face..."
He opened the scissors and slowly placed them on one side of her cheek. He was so close to... SO close to cutting it open, making her see, feel like that. He hadn't done that before. It was his signature, not anyone else's. But she maybe even deserved it... Then he looked down on her and had a better idea. He grinned.
"They say that mother instinct is the most powerful instinct of all", he explained, moving the scissors from her face to her tummy, "How far along are we? 3 months?"
He inspected her a little closer.
"Your baby is starting to look like a baby now. What if we try and play darts? I always was a good clown..."
He pulled out a big dagger and cleaned it with his jacket.
"Don't move... I won't hurt you... too bad."
He shrugged and licked his scars again. His pulse was too high for him to think clearly. But the rush, the rush was incredible. The way her face changed, the way she tried to free herself. Almost like a good comedy show. But he took the dagger, looked the woman straight in the eye and...
"Harley, go away", he hissed and pushed the girl aside. She had taken the knife from him.
"Puddin, don't... She's..."
"I SAID. OUT OF THE WAY!", J shouted and pushed the young psychiatrist to the floor. Without many words, he pushed the chair ober so Pepper was lying on her back. His face was even more ugly now, ruled by hate and anger and he started kicking the redhead really hard. His first kick landed directly on Pepper's womb and made him laugh. As he continued punching and kicking her, he started to laugh.
"Pregnant ", he panted, still laughing like he had completely lost his mind, "Well, you were! Whenever you think of that unborn baby, you'll think of me! And of how to behave toward people who are stronger than you, Virginia."
With one final kick on her arm, which made a cracking noise, and one with the heel of his shoe, which hit exactly the right place and pressed the unborn child downwards and made Pepper's womb give in. He looked at her with disgust in his eyes, then spit into her face.
"If you go on being so impolite, your legs are next", he stated and left to wash the blood off his hands.

Harley had rolled herself into a sobbing ball of misery, when J had started punching the woman. She knew how it was to be victim of one of his breakouts. He only was like that when he was off his medication, which meant that he had found out about her latest trick to make him take the pills. But the worst was the laughter, as she instinctively held her own tummy, as if it was her he was beating.
Pregnant! Ha! You're not pregnant!
She could still feel the pain, physically as well as emotionally. Even after her boyfriend had left, she stayed there on the floor, crying.
That was when the schizophrenic magician knelt down next to her and said something...
"He killed it...", that was all she got out of her mouth, "She's bleeding, he killed it..."

"Hey, are you stressed?", Clint smirked and could see it all in front of him. Laura running around the house, only wearing one sock because she always did when she woke up. The kids being so slow, it almost freaked her out and then Nate. His beautiful baby boy... What was he doing here?
"Laura, I... I'm sorry I left....", he whispered, "I love you all. But I have a really important message for the rest of the team..."
He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to Pepper, or Natasha, or Tony, or any of his friends and teammates. He knew that they could only. And ONLY do this as a team. As the Avengers. And there was no way around this, no matter how hard they all tried to deny it. It was time for the bigger good now. The good things that actually saved lives instead of destroying them.
"I need you to tell Steve and the others that we need them. Loki's back. And he's got Pepper."

Sending help, Clint texted back at 6:17.
It was exactly the time when Tony opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his head. He felt way better than when he had gone to sleep. His head still hurt a little, but he didn't feel dizzy anymore. With a sigh he got up and realized that the sun had risen alreay. It was day now, so he could definitely look for Pepper. But first, he needed to pee. He got up and was actually surprised how well he could walk without feeling dazed or falling.
"Nat? Are you awake...?", he asked, before he opened the bedroom door. He didn't want to walk into her changing or something. She didn't answer, so... What was he supposed to do? He decided to just walk inside the living room. Carefully, he opened the door and entered. For a moment he stopped. He had never seen the agent sleep before. She almost looked... peaceful. Like a regular person, who was terribly tired. Somehow he felt the urge to touch her shoulder and wake her. But he knew that was a bad idea... If he wanted to keep all his limbs. So he decided to put on his suit and fly back home, where he exchanged the emergency model for one that actually worked properly. He needed better armor and all of his functions, if they were fighting Loki. He still didn't know how to track them, though... Bruce had done something with electromagnetic radiation from Loki's scepter, but that was out of his specialized area. Maybe Jarvis- alias Vision- could remember. Maybe he could even track him down...
But where was this half human AI? He didn't even have a phone on him, so how the he'll should he be able to reach him?
On his way back, Tony also picked up Natasha's fighting suit and her bag of weapons. He knew where she hid them, because he had once accidentally stumbled over it while trying to find his AC/DC shirt. He still was pretty sure that Natasha had snatched it.
This time, Tony entered the hotel room through the window, which he had left open before leaving. He landed in the middle of the living room and put Doughnuts and coffee on the table.
"Natasha!", he demanded with a heavy played Russian accent, "Time to wake up and fight!"
He dropped the weapon bag onto the floor with a loud noise. If that didn't wake her, he had no idea what would.

"The Avengers? So that was your part time job?", she whispered and leaned against the hand on her cheek, "And they said what? You're not good enough? Ohhhh just wait until I'm done with them...."
She chuckled and then turned over, so her face was over his, just an inch apart.
"How can they refuse to take Spiderman in? You're a fudgin superhero!", Licy complained, "Oh wait, I forgot, you're not Spiderman", she stated and really wanted to... She just didn't know how to... But she gave herself a push and placed a shy kiss on his lips. It felt good, but she wasn't sure if she had done it right...?
After they had talked about him not being Spiderman but still wanting to join a team of superheroes, Alicia fell asleep in Peter's arm. She was so happy to finally have that guy, she didn't even waste a thought on her father, who would probably ground her for years if she wasn't back before he woke...

"I haven't done this in years...", Harley whined, but still got up from her position. She brushed the dirt off her clothes and opened the two pony tails, which held her hair together. Instead, she put it back into one. She dried the tears on her cheeks and took a deep breath. She couldn't change his love for J, but she could save that woman's life. She looked at Loki and then at the door, making sure her Puddin' wouldn't come back any time soon.
It was almost like her whole body language changed, as she dropped the baseball bat and approached Pepper carefully. Meds school was ages ago and that had been the only time when she had had to deal with physical problems. Still, maybe she could do something.
"So everything inside her is intact?", she asked Loki. Even her voice had changed. She sounded so... different, professional. She even pulled out glasses and put them on. For a moment, she was back at Arkham, in front of a beaten up patient, trying to remember what she had learned about pregnancy.
"Hey... I'm Dr Quinzel...", she said softly, untying Pepper's arms and legs, "You're gonna be okay. I just need you to breathe, okay? Focus on your breathing. We're gonna get you off that chair, first. Careful..."
She took Pepper's healthy arm and slowly pulled her backwards, so she was lying on the floor.
"I know this is hard, but try to relax. Don't try to move, and most importantly, don't flex your abdomen. Just breathe in and out, okay? In... and out."
She carefully placed her hands on Pepper's tummy and tried to make out any swelling. But it was too early for that. She didn't want to let Loki come closer, as he had been the one to abduct the woman and bring her here. She was almost sure his presence would trigger a panic attack. And that was really the last thing they needed now.
"Okay, you're doing great...", she smiled lightly, "Now I need you to close your eyes. Just keep breathing, okay? I'm right here..."
She needed Loki to fix it. She couldn't operate, she wasn't a surgeon. She would probably just make it worse. And he was a magician, right? He could do that... He could save the baby.
"I'm right there next to you. Trust me. Maybe we can save the baby..."
The exact same words that her sister had said when she had brought her to hospital. But it had been too late... Instead of medical care she had received a one way ticket to Arkham.
As soon as the woman's eyes were closed, she waved Loki to come over.
"You can save it? Can't you? Heal the baby and keep the bruises from swelling, so it won't be squeezed....", she asked, very very quietly, hoping Pepper wouldn't hear it.

Cooper had noticed his mother's disappearance into the bedroom. He didn't even have to check. He knew that she was crying. There was something wrong with Dad. How come they had left alone anyways? Why hadn't they left together? As always? Captain Rogers, Wanda, Vision, Mr Stark, Auntie Nat and his Dad. What was up with them anyways? Why were they fighting all the time? Didn't they want to be a team anymore?
He knew that from his softball team at school. They had fought, too. Over games, mistakes, because someone had said something wrong... But there had always been their coach, who had kept them together. Maybe they needed a coach now...
All he knew for sure was that something had happened. Something terrible. And it was so bad that his Mom had started crying. He had to do something.
So he went to look for Steve. The guy was a little scary, but he was Captain America. And a captain knew how to keep a team together, didn't he? Maybe Cooper needed to be the coach now and make them a team again. Because you could fight next to each other, or you could fight as a team... That was what the coach always said.
"Captain Rogers?!", he called. Then he finally found him. He was at the barn, sleeping. With a deep breath, he got closer and shook the huge man's shoulder.
"Captain Rogers, I need your help... please... I think my Dad is hurt..."

Pietro sat inside the guest room and looked out the window. He had woken up about an hour ago, but hadn't found his sister yet. Wherever she was hiding, she wanted to be alone. Suddenly, there was a guy floating through the wall, looking around and then he left again. That plastic male was really starting to annoy him. Especially because he was after his sister. Wanda deserved better than a thing without a heart. Was he a robot now of did he have organs? Like, real organs? And did he have a penis? Was he even a man?
"Hey, you, plastic man", he called out, "Stay away from my sister!"
Wanda deserved a real man, one made of flesh and blood. She wouldn't be happy with a plastic thing. But where was Wanda anyway? And why was the little Barton running into the barn in his pyjamas? Curious, he sped down the stairs, passed the bedroom and... was there someone crying? He checked through the keyhole. Oh, there was something wrong. Really wrong. He ran downstairs and reached the barn door before the boy did. He quickly sneaked in and hid behind a bale. So he heard everything Cooper said. Clint, hurt. He needed their help. Where the hell was Wanda?! Barnes wasn't there as well. Barnes wasn't in the barn. He chuckled. English was a strange language.
He sped around the farm and finally turned up right behind Wanda.
"Clint is hurt, he needs our help", he explained, not even bothering that his sister was talking to someone at the moment.

"Yeah, I guess I'm better...", Tony grinned and threw her black widow suit at her.
"And I got your stuff", Tony shrugged and gestured invitingly, "Feel free to choose."
He sat down on the couch, next to Natasha's legs and started to unpack the doughnuts.
"Figured you like your caffeine pure?", he stated and pushed a cup of coffee to her side of the table, "Bon appetite."
He poured his coffee down like it was a shot of liquor and took a huge bite of his doughnut. He didn't even bother taking the suit off. He had just opened his helmet and while he was eating, he turned on the TV.
"... where Miss Pepper Potts hasn't turned up yet. We are asking ourselves what happened to her. Has she forgotten about it?", Christine Everheart explained with her pretty blonde hair perfectly styled and her shirt... oh dammit, that blouse was really revealing. But this was about Pepper, so he even managed to focus on the content of her words. The press conference!
"I'll be back in a shot", Tony said and flew off through the window. This was something he really hated, but he had to this for the company. And for Pepper. Natasha could see him landing in front of the cameras through the TV.
Immediately, the crowd of journalists went wild. Why was he there and not Pepper? What had happened to her? They weren't together anymore, so why did Tony take her place all of sudden? The Iron Man waved and waited for the flashlights to subside.
"Hey, fans and friends", he smiled, but his smile disappeared as Christine approached him and flashed her sugar sweet smile.
"Tony...", she smirked, looking down on his body.
"Christine", he replied and gave her the same intimidating smile, "Good to see you again."
He looked at the crowd again and tried his best to smile a careless smile.
"Pepper got stuck up in something. So she won't be coming today. Sorry, you gotta give your questions to me", he shrugged and let the journalists ask. He had no idea what this congress was even about, but he managed to wrap them around his fingers. He always did. In the end, everyone wanted more on Pepper, why she wasn't showing up. But Tony just took off and disappeared. He had said what he had to to keep them thinking.
A few minutes later, he landed next to Natasha and buried his head in the palms of his hands. He needed to find Pepper before it was too late. And he needed Peter to help him find Loki. Maybe the boy had an idea on how to solve the problem. But for that he had to reach him somehow. As far as he knew, his phone was broken. Tony had gotten himself a new one already, but what was about Peter? How was he supposed to reach him? With a sigh he took Pepper's phone from the table and put it into his pocket. Then he took off to catch Peter before he could reach school. But he was too late. So he figured another plan to make the Spiderman reachable.
He landed in front of the building and sneaked inside. He left his suit outside and hid his face with a huge baseball cap. It only took a few nice words to the cleaning lady for her to show him Peter's locker and open it for him. He put the phone inside and closed it again. Then he left without further words.

Alicia just smiled and kissed him, this time not shy at all.
"For what?", she smiled and wrapped her arms around him, keeping him from getting up, "That was comfortable..."
Finally, she rolled over, though and let go off him. She needed to show up at school at least. If she hadn't come home that night, she would at least have to be at school if she didn't want her Dad to call the police.
"You're the most sexy nerd I know", she grinned and stroked his sixpack.
Then it got odd. May knocked at his door and asked if Alicia was still there and even through the door her smile was audible. Licy blushed and kissed Peter again. She just couldn't stop. It felt too good...
"Peter? Breakfast is ready", May reminded him and knocked again.
Licy took her sketchbook and looked down on herself.
"Do I look okay?", she asked, seriously worried what Peter's aunt would say.
The breakfast went by friendly and chatty, but a little awkwardly. Licia didn't know what to say, so she kept talking nonsense about school, part time jobs and single fathers. When they went off to school, Alicia was happy, though.
"Wanna hang out after school?", she asked Peter before they parted for their classes.

Harley had forgotten about J for a moment. She had forgotten about her fall and how she had dropped all her principles to be with that one man who had managed to challenge her, both mentally and emotionally. She was her old self again. The confident young woman who knew exactly what she wanted: Success. She had been good at what she had been doing. She had been close to becoming vice head of the ward. And then he had happened. He had been an interesting patient, that was out of question. But she had crossed a line everyone had warned her about. She had let him talk to her about her life. And she had let him in, accepted him as a friend, and more later. She had given everything up... For what? To be tortured, beaten up, shoved around and nearly killed? All she had wanted was his affection.
When Loki asked her if he had done this before, she stared at the floor. She didn't answer, but her face said everything there was to say. Tears rolled down her cheeks, as she helped Pepper to get up.
"Slowly... Try to move carefully...", she said and softly helped the other woman to stand straight, "We're gonna get you a bed..."
Really slowly, she lead Potts toward an air matress she had used for sleeping the last night. She helped her lie down and then... turned around, just to look into J's eyes.
"Puddin'.... I..."

The slap on Harley's temple was so forceful, it swept the woman off her feet. He wasn't in the mood to negotiate now, neither was he in the mood to hear her apologies to why she hadn't let her be. Now he was really angry and that why he pulled Potts up on her hair and pulled her back to the chair again. He tied her up again and squeezed her broken arm, until she screamed.
"You don't comply, I will kill your baby again", he stated and then a bittersweet smile spread on his lips, "But now about the fun part..."
He pulled the chair after him, locking Pepper up in a room without windows and closed the door. It was too dark for her to recognize anything, but she could hear voices whispering all around her."
"You're not alone, we're watching you... Smile... We're watching you...", they whispered and didn't shut up anymore. Some also laughed at her and told her over and over again.

Cooper nodded and turned around, then ran back to the main building.
"She's crying. There must be something wrong. What if he died?", Cooper asked, while he lead the way for Captain Rogers. The moment they reached the house, the school bus drove by. Cooper didn't even notice, he was too busy trying to find his mother.
"Mom!", he called through the house at the top of his voice, "Mom, what happened to Dad?!"

Bucky nodded slowly and tried to get used to all the new memories that were in his head. They were happy memories, all about a young and sassy Natalia, who he had been crazy about. And she had liked him too... That was progress, wasn't it? Maybe he could at least win her friendship back... That would be more than enough for him. He looked at Wanda with wet eyes and smiled.
"Thank you...", he mumbled and opened his clenched fists, only to see the blood on the floor next to him. His hand was bleeding. He quickly licked the blood off and then wiped it on his shirt. It was only a scratch, not worth mentioning.
But something the young man said caught his attention. Clint was hurt...?
"He called his wife", the gray haired man confirmed Bucky's theory, looking at Wanda with a dark glance, "She cried. That doesn't seem good..."

Clyde Ambers wasn't usually the type for long night's sleep. He usually went to bed at 4 and got up at 9, which seemed to be the perfect night and day rythm for him. His best friend, who was a doctor, always told him that five hours of sleep a night weren't enough. Clyde had never listened to him, but right now... Well, he was grateful that he had gone to bed earlier last night. He had woken up at seven, way too early for his taste, so he had turned on the TV and... TADA! He had had a new story to investigate. Tony Stark's ex- girlfriend was gone. Without waiting any longer, he called one of his friends at the hotel where Pepper usually stayed. And that guy confirmed his first instincts: Someone had snatched the woman. There was no real proof yet, just a few broken things and the fact that she hadn't been in her room when he had served dinner and Stark had turned up a few hours after that to look for her. An abduction...? They would see...

Clint sat in his room, his hands trembling. He didn't know how to get himself to get up and leave. He knew he would meet Loki again. And he didn't like the idea of seeing the reason for his nightmares again, not at all. But this wasn't about him now, it was about Tony and Pepper. About the unborn child, about a soon to be family. He wouldn't let his team down, after all. And they would be around, every second of his fight. They were in this together and as much as they tried to deny it, they had a special connection. NewYork, Ultron, all their missions. It had made them stronger, bound them together. And at least for Clint, they had never stopped being a team. He just hoped they stopped fighting as soon as they had an aim they could fight for together.
"Oh come on, Barton. Get yourself together", he mumbled to himself, "You can do that..."
He got up and put on his vest, got hos bow ready and checked for arrows in his quiver. Enough to take Loki down... He took a deep breath, then he drove off with a motorcycle, toward the hotel that Potts had been at. He also texted Steve the location, hoping the Captain would come to help. It was about a friend after all.
After a few minutes, the archer entered the hotel room and looked at Natasha, who was searching her armor bag.
"Hey", he greeted her, leaning against the doorway, "What happened?"
He went to sit down on the couch, watching her take the weapons she needed. Guns, daggers, a few mini bombs... Clint looked around. The room was halfway normal, except for the lack of a door and the blood on the carpet.
"Where's Tony?", he asked casually. Inside he was shaking, because he knew what Natasha wanted him to do. Let her lead him back to his memories of Loki and the mind control... He didn't want that, but it was necessary.

Tony dropped onto the sofa at the old and abandoned Avengers Tower. It had been his residence once, now it was just a cold and empty building, where everything reminded him of Pepper. Every piece of furniture, every picture on the wall... that had all been Pepper's idea.
And he had loved this tower, but after New York... he couldn't sleep in here anymore. There was Loki everywhere. In his dreams, his thoughts, around here... But maybe this was the best place to try and find him. He snapped his fingers and tried to wake up the electrical devices and sensors around him.
"Friday, honey. Be a good girl and try to take over here", he demanded, "Come on, wake up, kids. We got work to do!"
Slowly but surely, the cameras and sensors around him were rebooted and started flashing and glowing.
"Good girl", he smiled and poured himself a glass of old scotch, that had been left here for several reasons, one of them being Pepper's aversion against Tony's drinking habits. But he needed that now. He needed to relax to think clearly.
"We're looking for a God...", Tony continued talking to his computer system, "So what does a God make...?"
"According to the Bible, God made you...", Friday tried to be productive.
"Yeah, and I'm God 'cause I made you", Tony snapped, not really happy with her answer, "Think harder, Fri..."
By Fri he actually meant his own brain. He didn't know where to start. He had nothing. No tracks, no directions.... No nothing.
The brainstorming went on and Tony poured one drink after another. When he was too drunk to walk straight, he had one of the best mind flashes he had had in forever... Well, it felt like to him.
"You know what? I'm gonna take a walk. Walks are always good for thinking...", he mumbled and ignored Friday's responsible arguments to why he shouldn't go outside now. Soon, he stumbled along the streets, no idea where he was actually going. It was noon by now and the crowds of kids just started pouring all over the streets, because for some school was out and the others had lunch break. Almost disoriented, Tony stumbled along the fence of the highschool, looking for... what exactly? Memories? Consolation? Or maybe just Peter...?
Anyways, when he saw the boy, he waved at him. Luckily, no one but Peter recognized the man with the huge baseball cap and the sunglasses.

Bucky smiled at Wanda again and then slowly moved his head. It felt light, almost like someone had taken half of the content out of it and put it back together again. Everything was clearer now, brighter.
He wasn't used to this happiness flooding his body, but it was there and it was overwhelming. Still, Clint was in danger. Where was Steve when the world needed him?

The speedster just looked at his sister and she knew that he thought like she did. Clint needed help, they would help. No matter what, they would help. He had saved his life before, he would do it a second time. He didn't want those kids growing up without a father. Though they had a wonderful mother, he knew that now.
A small part of him saw himself in Cooper. A brave young boy, trying to protect his family. Just that the young Barton had more than just a sister to protect. And no matter the price, Pietro would help him do that. They had talked last night, when everyone had been asleep. They had exchanged thoughts and experiences about being a brother and about fathers who weren't there. Pietro had really developed brotherly feelings for that little version of Clint. And he would help him get his father back.
"So what are we waiting for?", he asked Wanda impatiently, "Where do we have to go?"
"I'm with you", the soldier stated and he looked at him challenging, tilting his head a little.
"You?"
"Yeah. I'm tired of sitting around. Maybe a mission is what I need", the man explained and looked at Wanda, his eyes nearly glowing with anticipation.
Pietro just looked at Wanda, a big question in his eyes: Do we want that guy with us?

It was a sunny day in Asgard. One of the thousands there had been. Thor was sitting in one of the gardens, thinking about the world and its misery. But mostly, he was thinking about his own misery. How he had lost the girl he loved to thunderstorms. How she had refused to stay with him because she loved Midgard and her work too much to give it all up for a world like Asgard. What was wrong with Asgard? It was his home, his kingdom... And she was supposed to be his queen, by his side...
He sighed, as a woman slowly approached him. It was one of the warriors, a young and pretty girl with long brunette hair, which was braided back into a long tail.
"What is it...?", he asked and looked up.

"You're not his babysitter, you're his friend, Tasha. Maybe you should have checked he doesn't..."
Well, that wasn't like Natasha at all. She wanted people to take care of themselves. She had been trained not to expect any help from others, so she wasn't used to helping them either.
But she was right. The less people in the room, the better. Mostly because he didn't know how his subconscious would react to Natasha trying to get the information out of it.
Hawkeye wrapped an arm around her and grabbed a doughnut.
"If someone could see us like that...", he murmured and gently stroked her shoulder. He didn't want to do this, but it was necessary. And if someone should do it, it would be Natasha.
"Okay, let's get to it, won't we?", Clint sighed and sat up straight, "Lead the way, Dr Romanoff."
He had done this kind of cognitive interview a few times before, but he hated hated to admit that this particular time, he was almost scared to go back. He knew what New York had done to him and to Laura, indirectly. He had had nightmares for months after.

"Is that your creepy uncle or something?", Licy asked, when she saw the guy at the fence. He looked like a complete mess, drunk and probably even high. She knew that kind of people, her family was full of them.
Still, something about the guy over there seemed off. She had that irrational feeling that she knew him... from somewhere. Well, Peter seemed to know him. And as he walked closer and talked to that guy, a bad feeling waved through her like an electric shock. But the danger wasn't that man, it was what Peter had gotten himself into. Suddenly she felt the strong desire to draw. She sat down at one of the tables around the school area and put her sketchbook down in front of her.
A dark room, a woman. She was screaming. First it was only lines, but the shades made her face visible. She looked desperate. There were voices all around her, coming out of nowhere. In the front, there was the back of a head... Peter's head. Why was he always there in her comics? Couldn't he keep himself out of this?!
Alicia frowned and looked at Peter communicating with that stranger. Her boyfriend Peter. She smiled and waited for him to come back.

Tony leaned against the fence, looking Peter straight in the eyes. He knew he was drunk, but what the hell?! It numbed the pain. Pepper wasn't there to tell him to stop, so...
He swallowed the tears and faked a smile.
"Hey, what are you doing here?!", he asked the boy. Actually, he had hell of a tolerance for alcohol. If there weren't that feeling that everything was moving, like a ship on the ocean, no one would have noticed that he was drunk. Oh and the smell, the smell of course. He could smell it himself, the whisky, that always reminded him of his Dad....
something he just couldn't shake off....
"I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine!", he answered to Peter and faked a smile to prove it, "Why didn't you stay. Thought I offered you a job."
He had an idea why he had left, though. The others were stupidly serious about everything...
"Did they annoy you to death?", he continued asking, "I understand that..."
He hadn't been drinking in quite some time now... Pepper had been there to save him. But now... She was probably dead, the baby too. He was alone again... he just...
He turned away from Peter, suddenly ashamed of himself.
"Just like Dad....", he murmured, "Not any better than him..."
He was about to throw up, but he swallowed and stumbled away, shame burning in his face. Just like Howard Stark.

Okay, Wanda was right. They needed any help they could get. And if Clint was in trouble, every helping hand was valuable. But she could have said it in a nicer way... And just as he wanted to hit her, Steve approached them. He looked desperate... Well, he had talked to Clint's wife, after all.
"I know", Pietro answered, though he hadn't known before the Captain had said it. But...
"Wait, why would we help Stark?", he asked and looked at his sister, "Clint helped us. He's our friend. But Stark? He was the reason why we were on the wrong side. Who knows? We could be heroes now, if he hadn't done that to us. He deserves whatever happens to him. He killed people."
He felt Wanda squeeze his hand tighter, but he wasn't done yet.
"Why would we go risk our lives for someone who nearly killed us?!"
He looked at Barnes, then back at the Cap. Bucky, that name was absolutely ridiculous. Who would call his friend Bucky?
Bucket Barnes..., he chuckled over the thought. But he was still against helping the enemy.

James raised an eyebrow. Who was in trouble now? No one seemed to know for sure, but this sounded even worse than the version of Barton being hurt. But it sounded like a mission, so ge wouldn't go ask too many questions. One thing was interesting, though...
"Who is Loki?", he asked, frowning while he tried to remember if Steve had mentioned anyone or anything called Loki lately. Maybe he had, but Bucky couldn't remember it. He wanted to know what they were out for, at least.

The girl told Thor that his brother was gone. He was off to Midgard, probably, to find those who had harmed him... The Avengers. Thor's warrior friends. They were in danger. With that thought, the hod of thunder got up and grabbed Mjolnir. In the blink of an eye he was back at Midgard. He landed somewhere in the desert, where no one would see him. He didn't want to scare people, after all. What Jane might have been doing that moment...? He just wondered if she was still there, waiting for him. He had been waiting, so he figured he should try and call her. But for that he needed either a phone or a dollar. When he walked the few miles to the next bus station, he realized that he didn't have any money on him. Alright, then he had to travel his way. Mjolnir brought him right to the Avengers facility, where he changed from the ruler if Asgard to a regular midgardian. He even tied his hair together.
Still, when he looked around, there seemed to be something wrong. Everything was so quiet. And where were all their things? Where were Tony's socks, Clint's shirts, Natasha's weapons...? They had always been all over the place when he had visited. But now... everything seemed to be gone. The facility almost looked... abandoned.
"Computer voice...?", he asked, unsure of what her name had been again, "Tell me where the Avengers are."
"There are no Avengers anymore", Friday answered truthfully. Just that Thor misunderstood that. Loki must have killed them all...
With a determined look, he ran out and down the street. He could feel the presence of his brother's magic. It was almost like a good dog smelt the track of a wounded animal. He followed that trace and walked into the hotel room, Mjolnir in a bag on his shoulder. Preparing for the worst, he walked through the scattered room door.

"It's.. dusty, smells like metal...", Clint answered, trying to make it all float over him. Like a flood of accid, the feeling of being unable to move covered his mind and drowned him. He reached for a pillow and squeezed it.
"He touches my chest, I don't know what he's doing and... We're changing location, I can't see where we're going..."
The memory was blurry, as if he had been drunk. That feeling of a net around his mind was the only thing he remembered very clearly. The god was inside his head...
"He talks to me, about truth, about you and me.... and Laura. I tell him about her. And that we're friends... I tell him everything..."
Clint's hands started to shiver, he clenched his fists to keep them steady, reminding himself that this was necessary. It was necessary to save two lives.
"I can't move... I try to... He's so close... I could easily kill him... But I won't. I can't..."
That was the worst thing about mind control. Knowing what you should do and not being able to.

When Peter came back, Alicia was in some kind of trance. She stared at the drawing she had just finished, wondering if this meant something... Maybe. She count still hear the screaming of that woman inside her head... It was like an echo of a real situation, not like a dream. Like she was totally sure that this was real. She didn't even hear her boyfriend when he turned up behind her and looked at the drawing. He said something, but for a moment, all she could hear was No, my babies... Don't hurt my babies...
"Mhm...", she murmured, not sure what Peter had asked her. The echo of that voice was slowly fading, so she could focus again. She looked at him and quickly closed her book. But he had seen the woman in the dark room. He had seen the speech bubbles telling her she was being watched and laughing at her. And he had seen the back of Spiderman's mask, which filled a fourth of the page. He would probably think she was crazy, too.

"No, you don't have to... I can do that alone...", Tony reassured.
Come on, Dad, let's go home, please...
"You really don't have to... Go back to school..."
How many times had he gone through this? How many times had his Dad done this to him? And what for? Another company meeting he dragged his son to? Another senseless discussion about how bad his grades were? They hadn't been bad, they had been a cry for help...
Until the boy had realized that he could get away from his father by having good grades. That had been the moment when everyone had seen the young Stark's true potential. And Tony had gone far. Until... well. He had been forced to take over the company he had never wanted. He had had the dream to be an inventor, build robots, change the world...
But had he had a choice?
"I'm going home on my own...", he explained to himself and walked away, toward the Avengers facility. Maybe there was someone who would help him.

"Fine", Pietro snapped and looked around the small part of the team that had impressed him so much back in Sokovia. He really hated to admit it, but hell, Wanda was right... They had caused a lot of trouble. Hand hadn't they worked together before? Hadn't they saved lives together?
"Civilians in our way!"
Pietro smirked, as he remembered the fun they had had. Maybe this was the right path, after all. They had killed people. And Wanda... She seemed to be sure. So sure that she would leave him behind?
"You're not going without me. What if something explodes? I need to get you out. You need me."
He was the only guy who was fast enough to check the situation without being spotted. Of course they needed him! And he wouldn't let her go out there alone with the plastic man. Who knew what that scary guy was up to.

Bucky just nodded at Steve and smiled.
"Aliens...", he smirked and put his hair back, so he could properly look at his friend, "That sounds... well. Let's get moving."
Now that a little bit of the fake memories was gone, he felt more confident inside his own mind. He even started to believe in his thoughts again. Maybe they actually lead him somewhere.
"So how do we ge there?", he asked, talking about New York. Did they have a car he didn't know about? Or would they take a taxi again, be abducted and then transferred to see friends of Steve?
The expectation of a fight made the soldier's fingers itch. He had been out of business long enough. It was time for him to make up for what he had done to this world. And saving it was a beginning, wasn't it? Fighting next to Steve, just as in old times, that made him anticipating. He just needed a gun and Steve his shield. It was time for them to rise again.

J laughed at the man, as he raised him up and nearly strangled him. He wasn't scared of death. It was more a bad timing now, but who cared?
"You need me...", he whispered, as loud as he could, "You need me for your plan..."
It was a strange rush, being touched like that. He knew that kind of treatment from the guards at Arkham, but they had usually stopped when he had acted like it turned him on. He wasn't sure about this fellow, though. Maybe he liked that kind of sexual game? He seemed to be obsessed with power, so...
Shaking that thought off, he focused on staying awake. If he passed out, he wasn't able to keep their torture patient where she belonged.
"Harley, darling....", his lips formed soundlessly and he looked at her with a begging glance. Good thing she was like a little dog. She took Loki's arm and shook it.
"Don't, let go!!! Don't kill him... please..."
She even started to cry. The perfect show for this mislead gentleman.
"Please, don't kill him....", she cried, tears streaming down her face. Oh how this woman was obsessed with him. He had definitely done a good job.