Tony Stark sighed heavily as he reluctantly put down what he was working on and went towards where his suit was kept. Cap had just issued a message to all of them telling them to suit up and meet outside Stark Tower, of course not giving any details away.
"At least there is some benefit from letting everyone stay here. Well, that and being able to enjoy Clint's cooking." Tony muttered to himself as he stepped into the Mark VII armour before flying down to the bottom of the tower, where Clint, Natasha and Steve were already standing. Thor had decided to not stay on Earth, and was keeping watch over Loki in Asgard for the time being.
"So Cap, I assume Fury told you what the plan is, as you two are BFFs and all that." Steve simply sighed, too used to Tony's attitude to let it annoy him now.
"I only have a basic idea of what we're doing, and I would prefer to wait until Dr Banner is here with us."
"Speak of the giant green monster" Tony said as Bruce walked out, looking as shy and cautious as always.
"Are you sure that you need the other guy for this? There aren't many situations that he is useful in that don't involve masses of fighting" Bruce said, looking at the ground.
"Don't worry Dr Banner, we don't need the hulk for this, we need you" Steve said encouragingly. "Now that we are all here, I can say what the plan is. It is very important that we carry this out properly"
"Ok Captain dramatic, what is it then?" Tony asked, rolling his eyes.
"It actually relates to you Stark" Steve said "Apparently some shady underground organisation has been attempting to recreate the Iron Man armour and has set up an experiment that might succeed. We have to go and destroy the experiment for good."
"Why do I have a feeling there is more to this than Fury is saying?" Clint asked
"Look, we have to trust SHIELD. Questioning them has never led to anything good before." Steve replied firmly. "Now, Iron Man, here are the co ordinates, everyone else we are taking the jet to the lab where this experiment is occurring. Rendezvous and get instructions there, let's go!" Immediately, Tony took off into the air, getting JARVIS to keep tabs on the other member of the team in case they ran into any trouble. "Remind me to make some sort of Avengers emergency pager later JARVIS"
"Of course sir." JARVIS replied with a slightly approving tone. Whose brilliant idea was it to give him a personality?
Tony deliberately took his time getting to the location, not wanting to wait around for the others if he got there early. When he did arrive, he only had to wait a few minutes until Steve, Clint and Natasha jumped out of the still airborne jet and approached him. Bruce waited till it was lowered to the ground before leaving of course.
Steve was straight to business. "Ok, so Iron Man, you bust in and go straight for the experiment before it can be turned against us. Hawkeye, Black Widow and I will take care of the guards. We aren't expecting too much resistance as this is a lab, so there should only be a few people. Banner, stay here to avoid any… incedents and once the experiment is retrieved, you work with Iron Man to destroy it. Simple job guys, move out!" Tony quickly went to the sealed doors and blasted them open.
"You could have hacked it Iron Man!" Steve hissed.
"You know that going in quietly is not my style Cap" tony replied easily and quickly raced off.
"Jarvis, get me a layout of this place." A map was quickly conjured up, and he began searching around for the experiment, slightly curious about what he'd find and whether anyone else had gotten his designs correct.
Meanwhile, the others had quickly dispatched the two guards that were stationed outside the main area, which turned out to be a simple job as they were new to the job and also quite startled by the flash of red and gold that flew by them.
"Iron man, guards are down. What's your status?" Steve asked through his headset.
"Found the area, Cap. But something is not right"
"In what way?" Steve asked, motioning to the others to follow him to the area where Tony was currently.
"Well, they have a table with straps on it for holding someone down. Isn't that a bit odd for you?" Tony inquired "and, there seems to be a cell room of some sor- holy shit!"
"What is it? Are you alright?" Steve ran into the room with the others close behind. They saw Tony with his faceplate up, staring into the cell and what they saw shocked them.
Inside the cell, there appeared to be a teenage girl. She was in a school uniform that included a shirt that must have been white at some point, but was now caked in blood and dirt so only patches of white were visible now as well as a navy blue skirt. She was curled up on her side, with short brown hair only covering part of her face.
"Please tell me this isn't the experiment." Natasha whispered. Finally, the girl seemed to notice them and squinted up at them.
"Please, no more tests. Please. They hurt." The girl whimpered as she raised her hands up in a feeble attempt to stop them.
"Dear God no…" Steve whispered as they saw her hands. There, facing them, were replicas of the Iron Man repulsor beams imbedded in her hands.
"What have they done to her?" Clint asked angrily.
"I don't know, but we will find out." Tony said grimly.