A/N: Thanks again to all my reviewers! I really love writing this story, so I'm glad you enjoy reading it. This chapter was changed slightly prior to the posting, so hopefully it goes well with everything, but I felt what I added was important to the rest of the newly plotted ideas.

Chapter Four:

Screams of agony filled the noisy air only three feet from where Steve stood. "Clint!" He shouted into his ear piece. "OVER HERE!" He yelled as he waved over medics and firemen. "They're here!" He began to dig right above where he'd heard the noise and even now he could see the rubble beginning to shift, as if something was getting bigger. "Clint, Hulk! Tony!"

Natasha had heard it as well, on the other side of the same pile and began to pull everything away in a panic. Fear welled within her when she clearly made out Clint's scream, there were three though, three separate screams of agony. Fear couldn't subside that those had been the final screams of all three men as the rubble collapsed in on them.

"We have returned, Captain," Thor spoke as he, and his four friends. "Have you found the Ironman?"

"We heard a yell and nothing else a few seconds ago, under here. Can we get a crane over here?" he turned to one of the fireman, who nodded.

"Let us begin to uncover our friends," Thor suggested as they joined the digging.

o0o

Banner had thought he prepared himself for the lifting, but nothing could've prepared him for that, fire shot through his entire body as he let out a cry of pure agony as his muscles and bones separated in his arm. Tears coursed unnoticed down his rapidly greening face. He wasn't even aware of what was happening anymore as he began to shift. It was too early, he knew that Clint needed to be protecting Tony, but Hulk had his own defenses and he clearly decided he needed to take over.

Clint felt his bones rub together fire alight in his lungs and leg. He felt something in his chest shift and let out a pained scream as he felt all the air leave his lungs. He felt his hands slip, whether recoiling in pain or from sweat he was unsure as he dropped the girder, hoping like hell that Bruce was helping Tony, because the stars began to dance before Clint's vision went completely black and he collapsed to the ground.

Tony felt the girder lifted up and despite the pain tearing through his body he pushed himself away as quick as he could crying out at the pain it caused. He pulled himself free in a matter of seconds, though it felt like hours. He felt his consciousness beginning to slip away when he heard and saw Clint landing unconscious beside him. He heard a growl and looked up to see Banner rapidly changing. Tony sobbed in pain as he rolled slightly and grabbed Clint, covering both their heads.

He wasn't sure if he was going to die or they'd manage to get out of this alive, all he knew was if Banner was changing right now it wasn't because he'd wanted to. Hulk must've kicked in to try and take over.

He heard the moaning and a crying noise and he looked up at the Hulk who had sat down and was clutching his bleeding leg. "Hulk?" Tony tried to call, he couldn't move, it hurt too much and he was beginning to feel dizzy and lightheaded.

"Tony?" The Hulk asked in confusion.

"Hey big guy," Tony murmured, he could feel the darkness encroaching. "Listen buddy, we're in trouble, can you protect me and Bird boy here?"

"Hulk owie."

Tony nodded, "I know buddy, and we're going to help, I promise, please help us?"

"What Hulk do?"

"They're going to move and shift things above you, if they call your name make noise, but keep me and Clint protected, okay?"

"Hurt?"

"Yeah, big hurt," Tony replied, "Keep us safe."

Hulk nodded, "Safe."

Above them, Steve was watching as a crane lifted and moved debris, it wasn't long before they spotted a green head just below the surface of everything. "Hulk!" He shouted, suddenly terrified that the furious creature had crushed or killed his team members.

A green head moved until the green eyes studied Steve. "Owie," he cried.

"They're under here!" Steve shouted as he leaned down and gave Hulk a pat on the head, "We're going to get you out, just hold on big guy."

"My friends and I can lift him out, Captain, as long as you and the female warrior can get the others."

Steve nodded, "We can. But they're injured, remember what Bruce said, they all have injuries, however we do this, we've got to be extremely cautious. We don't want to cause more damage."

It took forty agonizing minutes to uncover their friends the rest of the way, forty minutes before pain and exhaustion over came the Hulk and he collapsed near his friends, and shrank back down to Banner size.

For a moment, it was all anyone could do to stare at the trio, in horror at what they'd obviously survived, assuming they were still alive. Tony, perhaps the worst it seemed as he lay in a pool of his own blood, ashen skin turning blue and unmoving. Steve stepped forward on shaky legs and dropped down beside him. He glanced back at his friends before he hesitantly pressed his fingers to his neck.

Nothing. "No," he shook his head in denial, Natasha raced over and checked Clint, once ensuring his heart was still beating, she pointed to him, "Take care of Clint," she moved over to Tony and began chest compressions while the gods all watched anxiously. The medics rushed in with a stretcher, taking over where Natasha had begun.

"Clear!" one yelled as they put the defibrillator against his chest. Tony's body surged slightly. Natasha felt for a pulse again, while another medic dealt with his side wound.

"Nothing," she murmured.

"Clear!" they called again before shocking him a second time. This time the medic reached forward, "I've got a pulse, it's weak and thread, let's get him moved."

When Clint came to, there was a lot more fresh air than he last recalled, he glanced around, and they were still in their cavern of sorts, but nearly everything above and around them had been cleared. "Clint?" The voice sounded like a song he'd been desperate to hear all his life as he looked up and met her hazel green eyes. "Clint, can you hear me?"

He let out something between a sob and a whimper as he reached out to stroke her cheek. She tried to ignore how cold his hands were, how cold his body was a whole. He was struggling to breath, it barely looked like his lungs were moving and blood flecks covered his lips and chin. "Hey," she whimpered, forcing back the onslaught of tears threatening to attack her. "You're safe now, we're here, and help is on the way. We'll get you patched up and back on top of buildings in now time."

He seemed to register what she said, though he didn't make any move to reply, he glanced around, as if looking for the Hulk or Tony, he saw neither.

"They've been moved, there's a stretcher coming for you now, just hold on, okay?"

He finally seemed to nod. She looked as the medics came to get him onto the stretcher now as well, she pressed her forehead to his. "You listen to me, Agent Barton, this isn't about ledgers anymore. I need you here, with me. So you better damn well hold on."

He saw the terror in her eyes, the fear of being alone again. With all the strength he had left he gripped her hand. He kept a grip on it even once they had him up and moving as she hurried along beside them. With the whole team, plus four extra gods in the helicopter, they lifted off the ground. "How's Tony?" Natasha asked as Steve sat between the two other men.

"Not good," Steve conceded as much as it pained him. He'd been hard on the younger man, perhaps if only because it was clear to him someone needed to be, but the better he got to know Tony the more he realized the man didn't need judgment, he needed compassion.

"Br…uce?" Clint grinds out through clenched teeth as the helicopter makes a somewhat jerk y take off.

"He's here, Barton, and he's alive," Steve assured, now wasn't a good time to mention the 'for now' that his minded added on the end of that.

"They are alive," Thor repeated in a much smaller and quiet voice than they were accustomed to. The three healthy teammates looked at one another before Natasha spoke.

"But the battles only just begun," Steve murmured.

The flight to the Helicarrier was one of the most agonizing things Natasha had ever sat through. She wasn't dumb enough to think that all three of these men would survive. She was even more aware that if one followed there was a very good possibility another could follow as well.

She wasn't sure when they'd become the terrible trio, but it hadn't taken long. Tony and Bruce had developed a friendship unlike anything she'd ever seen almost immediately. Tony had been prodding Bruce, literally and figuratively, to get him to come out of his self-inflicted isolation the entire time they'd been friends. But then that was Tony, he was loud and obnoxious and once he was attached to a friend, he was attached for life. She had to hand it to Tony, she'd never thought bringing the Hulk into the Avengers was a wise decision, but Tony had proven them all wrong, he'd determinedly made Bruce and by extension Hulk more human.

They'd been Tony and Bruce for at least a little while until Clint decided to join their group. Where Bruce had been the calming factor in their friendship, Clint was all devil. She smiled slightly at that thought, but he was. Clint wasn't all that different than Tony, he had his own level of genius, they all did otherwise they wouldn't be here, but while Clint was anything but self centered, he was just as insane. Like Tony, he enjoyed his fair share of pranks, they'd wrought havoc on the tower shortly after the two became friends.

Natasha didn't mind their friendship, if anything it grounded both men in something much deeper than before, and it benefited everyone. Tony gave Clint tips on dating, and Clint gave Tony hints on being a little more human at times.

She didn't know what it was, but she was thankful they were friends, they were the very definition of friendship, they each bettered the other. She smiled at the thought of her own friend. Ever since returning back to the Stark tower she and Pepper had been getting closer and closer. Natasha enjoyed having a female friend, it made her feel a little less spy at times and a little more normal and she certainly appreciated the value Pepper brought to her life.

She'd found Pepper sitting on the toilet lid looking down at the stick, tears on her cheeks, "How many more times, are you going to take it, Pepper?" Natasha asked as Pepper threw the stick away.

"Sorry," she smiled sadly. "It's not like it's the right time anyway, right? It'd be stupid to think Anthony Stark would want kids, much less with me," she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Pepper, he does want children with you, in fact I'd think he'd be more excited about having one with you than anyone else. Come on, you should talk to him, then you can find out the truth."

"No," Pepper whispered as she wiped her face with a towel. "I don't want him to know I thought I was pregnant, and I don't want to talk to him."

"But you aren't sweetie, so it's safe to discuss."

"No," Pepper stated again, firmer this time.

She hadn't pushed the issue from there, Pepper had taken four pregnancy tests in the span of a month because she hadn't had a period yet, but each one came back negative. Natasha was more worried than curious at this point, though Pepper's situation had certainly prompted a discussion with Clint. To her surprise Clint had always wanted children, and she'd been the one who hadn't. She supposed that made sense, why tie herself down, whereas Clint had always wanted a family. She tried to imagine their children, with her face and his brains, or with his smile and laugh with her brains. The child would be beautiful, that much she knew.

She looked back down at the man who was unconscious on the bed next to her, he looked so young and small when he was hurt or exhausted. "Hang in there, Clint," she murmured. "All of you," she looked at the other two men.

TBC