Chapter Four:

Oh, you really shouldn't have

Natasha, Bruce, and Thor sat simmering as they stared Fury down. Since the time they had told him about Iron Man, Captain America, and Hawkeye vanishing with the worms, the man had yet to do anything to try and really find them. In fact, he seemed rather fine with just waiting around. Hill on the other hand was still trying to plan out shooting a laser cannon into the ground to try and open the hole back up. While Natasha wasn't a fan of this particular plan, she was somewhat more appeased by the show of trying to help than doing absolutely nothing.

"You can stop glaring daggers at me Romanoff", Fury finally replied as he glimpsed her from the corner of his eye, "We are talking about the leader, vice leader, and master assassin of the Avengers. I doubt something like a worm would kill them anytime soon."

Natasha relented that point to him as she turned away, still unhappy but somewhat more contented that he had least told her why they were waiting. He believed in her comrades. Perhaps, it was more faith than she was willing to give them, but then again, maybe she just believed too much in their abilities. Stark, while being a genius, had a nasty way of bringing trouble. Steve, though the leader of their ragtag bunch of Avengers, was from the past and sometimes had a close-minded view of things. Then of course there was Clint. His hot temper and reckless nature, though just as bad as Tony's, needn't be spoken about, as it was obvious to anyone what type of trouble he could bring about.

"Sir, I still think a laser cannon would do it", argued Hill from where she stood, "I have calibrated trajectories and I think…"

"I think you should just wait", Stated the Director with a frown, "I already told you Hill, we aren't doing that yet."

"But…"

"Look", he interrupted, "we will give them exactly three more hours. Should, in those three hours they fail to either send a message or escape from underground, then and only then, will we try your plan. Until those three hours are up, I don't want to hear another word about it. Understand?"

Hill frowned, but saluted. "Yes Director Fury, sir."

Fury nodded and turned back to the avengers who were still staring at him with something akin to appreciation, trepidation, and irritation.

"We will continue trying to contact them", he stated, "should however someone else try that isn't one of my agents, well…best luck too them."

With those words, the director turned and walked away. The three avengers stared after him with surprise before turning to one another.

"You think he just…" started Bruce.

"Yeah, he gave us an out to try and find them on our own. Let's not waste this opportunity."

Thor and Bruce grinned.

"Shall we, friend Hulk?" asked Thor as he began swinging his hammer.

Bruce chuckled as removed his glasses and handed them over to Natasha. It took merely a moment for him to grow and color green. Luckily for them, he was always angry and didn't need anything to provoke his transformation.

"Let's smash some worms", he roared and the three raced out of the tent to begin their own search and rescue attempt.

From where Fury stood watching, he just smiled grimly and wished them success as he himself had been ordered by his superiors to do nothing that might allow an opening for the worms to return. They may have ordered him not to do anything, but he wasn't about to order the same command.

"Good luck, Avengers", he whispered as he turned back to his own agents and continued his silent vigil.

AVNGRS

Stark tripped for the hundredth time in the past fifteen minutes. Still, it didn't bother him as much as it would have if he hadn't finally, finally neared the end of the dead carcass.

"How much energy do I have, Jarvis?"

"28% sir."

"And if I give part of that to a repulsor cannon?"

"23% will remain sir."

"Good, let's do it then. Give me 5% for one repulsor cannon. Hopefully, this should be enough to blast through the tail end."

Stark slid his hand along the worms skin as he pushed, trying to find the weakest part in the tail. When his hand came across something squishy and not near as rock hard as the rest had been, he targeted the area with Jarvis' help. Lifting his hand, he took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing", he whispers out and fires.

AVNGRS

Steve had been sitting next to Clint, reminiscing about Peggy, his past beloved when an explosion rattled the ground shifting the water and nearly causing both him and Clint to suffer a heart attack.

"Stark that was you right?" Steve called into his com.

"…"

Silence greeted him and he glanced in the direction of Clint who was shakily trying to get his own Com turned on with numb fingers.

"S-Stark?" he bit out, "Come in?!"

"…"

No reply.

Steve huffed in irritation.

"I am going to go see if I can't find out what just happened. Will you be alright staying here by yourself?"

If Clint could have given one, he would have glared at Steve for his overprotectiveness.

"Just go Steve. It's not like I can come with you. Though I would if I could."

"Alright. I'll be back. Call me on the com if you need me."

"Will do" agreed Clint as Steve started through the dark towards the direction the noise had come from.

Steve didn't know what happened to Tony, but he was a little concerned considering the lack of response from the usually chatty man. It worried him.

"Stark?!" he hollered through the dark, "Can you hear me?"

Nothing was heard but the splash of water beneath his feet.

"Stark?!"

"C-p….can….me?" came a static filled sound in his com.

"Stark?" he asked clicking it again, "You there?"

"Cap, thank God. I didn't think I could read you" came the relieved tone as the static cleared.

"The explosion was you, right?"

"Yeah about that… it worked, but…"

"But?"

"Well, I may have underestimated the length in which these worms might go too…ensure their survival."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning when I blasted through, it may have attracted the attention of some live ones."

Steve stopped walking, complete silence around him.

"How many?" he whispered.

"Oh…Jarvis counts around maybe, ten? Give or take. They are all babies. When I opened fire, they came running or slithering here, as fast as they could."

"I'm not far away from your position. Do you need assistance?"

"Why Cap, you shouldn't have", he joked.

The sound of a gun firing had Steve running through the dark. He knew that may not have been a good idea, but the sound triggered something in him, making him desperate to make sure his teammate was safe. Perhaps it was the thought that he had already lost so much and he couldn't handle losing something else…someone else…anytime soon. Even someone as annoying and bullheaded as Anthony Edward Stark.

"Tony!" he shouted as he burst through the darkness to where a faint light blinked in and out, lighting the area around it enough for him to make out the swiveling bodies of the baby worms as they turned towards his shout.

Before the Captain even realized what was going on, a worm shot at him, its teeth barred and ready to take a chunk of the super soldier. Luckily one armored tin man had noticed and dove, knocking him out of the way before the worm could lay into him.

"Stark", he bit out, not at all happy for the tackle.

Steve hadn't realize what nearly happened, but Tony did and it was to his utter horror that he hadn't been quite as fast as he had intended to be. "C-Cap…" he whimpered out.

Steve paled when he felt his hand come away sticky from Stark's suit.

"Tell me this is…worm goo" he whispered.

Tony just chuckled dryly as he peered down at the man he still laid on top of, the light from his arc reactor allowing the two to see one another and the red coloring on Steve's hand.

"I wish Capsicle" he groaned as he rolled over, landing in the icy water as Steve knelt over him. Stark looked around and his eyes grew wide. "Whatever you do Cap, don't move."

"Why?" Steve whispered back, not moving an inch.

"They can't see us. They react to movement and sound", Tony whispered again as he winced, barely shifting so that he wasn't lying right on his injury.

Steve sighed.

"I can tell our day just got a ton better"

Tony laughed, but he did so quietly, his voice weak and his face pale as he peered around the room again while Jarvis ranted about the new injury and sufficient amount of bleeding. He ignored it all of course as he glanced down at the Captain who looked around silently, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he tried to formulate a plan. He could only smile.

"I told you, you really shouldn't have, Steve", he whispered before he closed his eyes and began to speak to Jarvis alone. "Fire up the boosters. Deploy one on my mark."

"But Sir, that will bring your reactor to only 19%."

"Just do it Jarvis" Tony grunted as he pulled off his boots; nearly the only pieces of armor not destroyed, "And…now!"

Tony threw the boot down the tunnel as Jarvis turned on the boosters. The boot took off down the tunnel on its own and the worms surrounding them, hearing the noise and sensing the movement, took off after it.

Steve and Tony didn't move for a bit until finally, they were sure the worms had completed vacated the area.

"Quick thinking Stark", complimented Steve with a smile.

Tony smiled back as he winced again, standing with the Captain's help. Steve noticed the wince and frowned as he looked him over. The man looked absolutely horrid.

"Ready?" Tony asked as he shivered, his bare feet adapting to the water they were now exposed too.

"Y-Yeah", said Steve surprised Stark wasn't complaining about his injuries and the cold temperature of the water on his feet.

"Then let's go. Last thing I want is to become a Starksicle" he said with a laugh and started past the Captain who just shook his head in amusement, but he was anything but happy as he began to take note of the way the other man limped ahead of him. Something was seriously wrong and for some odd reason, Stark wasn't saying anything about it.

"Cap, you coming or what?" Tony asked seeing the other man not moving several feet behind him.

Breaking out of his thoughts, he nodded in answer before realizing Iron Man probably couldn't see the movement.

"Yeah, sorry", he mumbled.

Tony just shrugged, before thy continued on in the direction Clint was waiting for them.