I blinked, "That's why Fury sent me to watch you. He wanted to keep us paired up…in case…"

My eyes and mind drifted off as Clint came to mind. He was alone. I pulled my phone out and started a message to Clint. Tony stood straighter, "In case of what?"

Marcy: NOT SAFE. ABORT. SHIELD COMPROMISED.

That was all I could type before the sirens blared loudly overhead. Tony punched a few clear buttons on a wall of glass. Security footage showed agents in black coming through the back doors of the tower. I pressed send on my phone and shoved it in my back pocket. "The Quinjet?"

"Banner has it."

"Awesome," I said flatly.

"Jarvis stall them!" Tony's fingers were flying quickly around the glass wall. I worked on my own section of the glass going over the monitors that were set up in the tower. He had a camera everywhere. That's one thing I did like about Tony. He was a major conspiracy theorist with security issues. I watched the screen trying to count the men as they were spreading throughout the building, "Four…five….six….seven….maybe twenty-five. I may have counted a few extra."

"Oh…that all?" He scoffed as he held out his hand waiting on his suit. I pulled my hair into a tight ponytail before moving tables to turn over. We were out in the open technically so these heavy, thick metal tables would prove best for cover fire. One thing I could guarantee- it was going to be a mess.

Papers, beakers, and electronics scattered to the ground in shards and pieces. Tony let out a few choice curses as he watched his experiments shatter. I gave a shrug and sheepish smile, "Don't mind, do you?"

"Sir- the entire suit is not ready for battle. We are still in prototype phase with the weaponry."

The look was annoyed but he shook his head none the less, "You'll be helping clean those up. Jarvis, what part is?"

"Right…assuming we are alive when this is all over." I heard shouts coming from behind the door and then complete silence before the gunfire was heard in the stairwell. "Guns?"

"Top drawer. Cabinet on your left."

"The right glove and also, both fitted boots, sir."

Tony sighed heavily, "I'll take it. Give me what you got. Let's show 'em the ABC's."

I shoved a clip in my back pocket and pulled a casing into the chamber. My knife was already in my boot. I never left home without it. I gripped the gun tight with one hand. Tony was a sight hiding behind the concrete wall with one glove and two metal boots on. "ABC's?"

"My defense soldiers. Still in prototype mode. Probably won't last long."

The gunfire seemed to pick up dramatically then. The door to the stairwell blew off and bullets ruptured through the room. The invisible glass walls shattered and instantly tiny sharp flecks showered us. Tony was shooting pulses from his gloved hand. I leaned around the table and fired a couple of shots. I slid an extra gun over to Tony and he looked at me questioningly, "Use both hands you doof."

"I think I liked it better when you were the shy Marcy."

I fired a few shots before I threw a fireball at them, "Yea…well I liked it better when everyone wasn't trying to kill me every other week."

"At least it's every other week," he mumbled faintly. I shoved the gun into the back of my jeans and hurled another fireball at them. Coiling my hands together as the next fireball grew bigger, I assessed the area. We had plenty of cover but space was small. Fighting in tight places was not ideal especially when your opponent come equipped with MP5's. I shoved the fireball out in front of me about two foot and it exploded into thousands of golf ball sized fireballs. I threw my hands up above me and back toward my head. The thousands of fireballs glowed a beautiful cerulean blue, the light in the workspace was brilliant as they quickly dispatched themselves into the assault behind us.

I turned to see Stark leaping over the table he was using for cover and begin hand to hand. 'Idiot.' He didn't have any of his armor and still he felt invincible. I stood up suddenly knowing I'd have to cover him in a flash. An MP5 weapon disbursed hundreds of rounds per minute. Surely he was aware of this given his background with weaponry. I hurled two fireballs out for a distraction as I ran toward the door that was producing these armored men little by a lot. Dropping on to my knees I slid about four feet, my knees slicing through the shells and blood that was coating the slick concrete flooring. Ripping out my gun, I fired two quick shots into the 'guards' by the door. I had fleeting thought that Natasha would be proud. My mind ridiculed me at that moment for losing focus.

Shifting my attention back to Tony, who was working on three men in black fatigues that were about ten feet away, he was holding his own extremely well considering his lack of uniform. I leaned around the shattered door frame only to be met with a round of gunfire and a white hot searing pain in my shoulder, "Shit."

I jerked away and quickly threw a fireball into the stairwell- thinking heavily on it…it exploded like a bomb. "Marcy!"

I shot a glance in Tony's direction just in time to see a large brute of a man closing in fast with a Rambo looking knife in his hand. His brown eyes looked murderous and I didn't doubt their intent. I threw a flash fireball into his face before I deflected the knife that came just centimeters from my face. The man's arm hit the wall where I very sadly tried to hold it. His punch found itself planted firmly on the right side of my face then stars erupted from my vision. 'Bastard.' His 'roid rage was a bit much for me to over power. But that didn't matter…size had nothing to do with a fight. I thrust the heel of my palm up into his nose, he cried out just as I threw the heel of my right palm against his left ear, hard. He stumbled slightly still trying to use the King Kong of a knife. 'Really?' He slashed out and it caught my shoulder in a deep slice. Crying out in a rage, I caught his arm and gave a slight twist as I brought the elbow down over my shoulder. He screamed and the knife clattered to the ground. My arms were on fire from my wounds, but I gritted my teeth hard as I forced my elbow up behind me into the man's chin. He fell back to wall. Another man come toward me, gun in hand. 'Oh no. This was it.'

The man's eyes widened along with the sound of a pulse from Tony's palm. I sighed in relief as the man fell down on his knees and then flat onto his face with a distinct crunch. My breath that was caught in my throat as relief flooded my chest. The footsteps, however, that echoed up the stairwell plunged me back into reality. I bent over to grab the knife. Tony sent a pulse down the stairwell and retreated to the wall in front of me. He gave me a once over, "Damn."

"That bad?" I breathed heavily. It sure felt bad. Tingles trickled up and down my right arm and my left, ugh, the gash where the blade had sliced through me burned painfully. My eyes flickered down to the man who was getting to his feet…slowly. I swallowed dryly. Tony sent another pulse down and he chuckled.

"That good actually. Reminding me of a feisty red head I know."

The man had his sights set on an abandoned MP5. I stepped hard on the man's elbow he was dragging, not surprised to see it was rendered useless. He cried out in pain- couldn't say I was sorry for that pain honestly. I shook my head realizing the comment Tony had just made, "Please don't compare me to Nat."

Pulling up on the man's thick blonde hair I whispered, "Thanks for ruining my new jacket asshole."

"Bitc…" his words died out in a gurgle. I turned to see Tony giving me an eye of disapproval. Too much? No one questioned Natasha's methods, but when it came to me it was as if I had grown two heads, bat like devil wings, and a forked tail.

I settled beside him on the wall and tossed the knife away from us. I wasn't worried about the man getting up now. He smirked a bit and then it fell, "I was actually going to say Pepper."

"What?"

"I'll explain later. Can you throw another firebomb down there?" I nodded rubbing my hands on my jeans before I conjoined my hands making a large ball. I could do one better than that. I could make two of them inside each other. I had been practicing this new defense for a while now, the kicker, the ball was only the size of a basketball thought. Plus another pesky issue…it left me very weak afterwards. Tony shot two more pulses and laid down heavy gunfire at the men who were trying to resume with their mission. "Jarvis, how many more?"

"Thirteen, sir."

Holy shiznit…we actually and surprisingly had killed a lot of them. Swallowing, I ground out, "Shoot a pulse down there and then get out of my way quickly. We will need to take cover after a throw it."

He gave a nod of affirmation, "Say when."

The ball was as a big as a beach ball now. With my vision blurring slightly I made the ball bigger. The ball inside of itself was twisting the opposite direction. I need to focus my direction of the blast or I'd kill us all. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tony take a double glance at me. Wisps of hair were blowing out of my ponytail. I gave a terse nod, "Go."

Just like I told him- Tony shot a pulse down the stairwell and quickly pivoted around me and the vast indigo fireball, my hands shook as I tried to contain the energy. I shoved it down to the bottom of the stairs. My knees collapsed as Tony pulled me away from the door. It hadn't exploded yet- I could hold the control with my mind…not for long though. It was just long enough for Tony to position us behind the metal table.

"When…?" He asked quickly.

BOOM

The room shook, wind forced its way out of the stairwell and blew out the outer windows of the tower. Chunks of concrete, papers, wiring, beakers, and various debris rained down upon us. Tony brought his body over mine and tried hard to cover our heads with his one robotic hand. Alarms started to sound and Tony grunted heavily as he pushed himself to his feet. I watched him turn in a complete 180 as he surveyed the damage. "Holy 'fuck' me…"

I stood on two shaky legs, I could feel it, my world starting to slip away. I tried to speak Tony's name- I needed to get his attention. I was about to be on the floor, passed out, unaware of everything. I hoped the threat was over. "T-T-Tony…"

He turned, his face etched in worry- he blurred and then he was gone.

I was mostly positive that the best dreams I had were when I was in a 'coma' due to work related events. I was standing on a sunny beach, beautiful turquoise colored water, waves lapping at my feet and I was free. Relaxed and carefree…

The wind felt luscious against my skin like a cool blanket on a hot day, the air smelled lightly of lilies and coconut butter. It was everything that a vacation should be. There wasn't a world to save or a war to fight. No cuts, bruises or scrapes…just perfection in itself.

Warm arms wrapped around me and I sighed into them. A day old beard brushing against my neck making me moan. Lips found the sensitive patch of skin behind my ear before they move to the lobe to suck gently. Large rough hands left trails across my stomach just barely missing the bottom of my breasts. Pushing back into him I could feel the bulge pressing hard against my backside. I leaned further back giving an extra nudge. He gave a throaty growl, "Marcy."

My eyes flashed open. White walls. I was surrounded by white walls and a constant beeping save for the elevated heart rate. I groaned as I moved my right arm trying to assess the damage. It hurt like hell. I glanced around the room- it wasn't a hospital room like I had expected…I was still in Avenger Tower. I sighed back into the bed.

"Marcy?"

Shifting my eyes over to Banner, I let a smile grace my lips, "Hey…is everything ok?"

"I should be asking you that. You've been out for almost a day." He looked worried then. I sat up quickly and let out a hiss. My whole body pulsed with hot pain. I was starting to rethink this firebomb weapon of mine.

"I need…I need to go. Steve…he's- he's in trouble." I started to swing my legs over the bed and he stopped me.

"You can't help him. He's…he's actually in a hospital in DC."

"What?!"

Tony walked in at that moment, "Thank god. I thought I was going to have to explain to everyone how you went out with a bang."

A wry smile sat proudly on his lips. I snorted, "Laugh all you want. I saved you."

"Sure ya did Hot Sauce," he cackled as he stepped forward with a tablet that looked to be the size of a thirteen inch tv. He sighed heavily, "Cap's in a hospital in DC. Seems that he found his old buddy Bucky."

My eyes grew, "Bucky…" The scene played out from the news feed, a tall man deck in black with a metal arm was fighting Steve in a very elaborate hand to hand combat. The footage went to large aircraft carriers crashing into the Potomac River. "Oh my god…"

My breath caught in my throat. Tony drew in a breath, "He's okay. Really bad shape when he was brought in, but he's doing well."

"I need to go see him."

"He's still not awake just yet. There's no rush Marcy…he's going to be physically fine," Bruce said assuredly.

I ran a shaking hand through my hair, "What about the others? Nat? Clint? Have you seen Thor?"

"This happened fairly fast…Thor wasn't alerted in time. Nat- she was with him. She's okay though, she's fine." Bruce seemed relieved at his own announcement. "As for Clint…we-we haven't heard from him."

I looked down and felt tears spring to my eyes, swallowing hard I cleared my throat, "I'm good. Just get me my bag from my room- I'll change and I'll be on the next flight to DC."

Bruce shot Tony a sideways glance. Tony nodded, his face looking ashen. I'm sure he wasn't having an easy time with his PTSD. We fought our asses off and destroyed half of his lab not too long ago, "I'll have someone fly you."

Bruce sighed heavily, "Keep your head down. Lots of people are looking to crucify whoever is attached to the whole SHIELD dishevelment."

"I'll be on my best stealthy behavior."

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything- except original characters that I have created.

Also, no betas were used in the typing of this chapter…