I'm going camping this weekend and wanted to update before we left. I'll update again as soon as I can. Enjoy!

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Nathan and Natasha hid back to back under the catwalk. They looked up through the bars as Clint and Claire walked swiftly along above them.

With a silent agreement, the two stepped up onto the catwalk and silently fell in step behind their chosen targets.

Quite suddenly the two turned around, and Nathan was treated to his worst fear in color- Claire's eyes were a bright blue, brighter than Stephanie's. She attacked mercilessly, using a very similar bow to Clint. He dodged her fired arrow and silently used the structure of the catwalk to his advantage, at the same time Natasha did.

Nathan concentrated firmly on locking away his emotions for Claire and instead working on kicking the Tesseract out of her mind. He readied himself for the final blow and slammed Claire's head into the side railing.

She gasped and closed her eyes. Slowly, she sat up. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Clint doing the same thing Claire was doing.

Claire stared at him, and he steeled himself for what he was about to do.

At the exact same moment, Natasha and Nathan slammed Clint and Claire's heads into the catwalk.

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Lena, to her credit, didn't scream as they fell.

Thor grabbed her arm and tucked her close to him as they tumbled around the small cabin. She cried out softly as her arm was crushed at an awkward angle, and she shut her eyes tightly, not knowing what would happen.

Thor roared like a lion, summoned Mjolnir, and pointed it at the already weak pane of glass. Seconds before they hit the ground, he launched off the glass and Mjolnir broke through.

The cage crashed into a small bit of rock on the coast with an enormous explosion. Thor released Mjolnir and tumbled end over end, almost crushing Lena with his tight grip.

They finally rolled to a stop, and Thor quickly stood up and helped Lena to her feet. She dusted herself off and quickly asked the demi-god, "Are you ok?"

"I am fine, Lady Lena. Are you quite alright?" he asked.

She smiled bitterly. "I've just been betrayed by my stepsister. I'm as alright as I can be."

Thor gently patted her shoulder. "I understand what you are going through, child."

She nodded and looked around. "Where's Mjolnir?"

"Ah... over there," he said, pointing off to his right- her left.

Lena frowned and looked in that direction. "Can I-" she began to ask, but was cut off by Mjolnir flying through the air and landing in Thor's hand.

"Do you wish to try and wield it?" he asked.

Lena nodded hesitantly. "I don't know if it'll work," she said softly, with a brief frown.

"You can only try," Thor said, and stretched the hammer out to Lena.

She hesitantly took it, though he didn't release his grip. She made sure that if it fell, it wouldn't crush either of their feet or her hands, and then nodded. "Ready."

Thor released his grip and stepped back.

Lena stared at the hammer in her hands. It was as light as a feather to her, and she smiled proudly at being deemed worth to carry such a mighty weapon.

"Well? Are you going to try to summon lightning?" Thor asked.

Lena looked at him, set her chin and nodded determinedly. She released her left hand from the handle and slowly lifted the hammer to the sky.

Slowly, dark clouds gathered. They were much more gray than black, and it took much longer for them to gather, but never the less, lightning cracked across the sky and ended up striking her head.

Thor applauded as she lowered the hammer and held it out to him. He sighed and gestured for her to hold it for a while. She nodded, and left him to his contemplation.

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Stephanie leaned her head against Steve's shoulder and sighed. He gently patted her head as they sat against the wall.

Tasha patted Tony on the back as she passed him. He nodded in return and walked over to give Steve and Stephanie a hand up. He instead lifted Stephanie to her feet before standing himself.

Nathan met up with them. Stephanie gave him a brief side hug and asked, "Claire?" He only nodded in response, and she smiled in relief.

"Coulson's down," Fury said suddenly through their comm links.

Stephanie froze. "No," she breathed.

Steve's hand on her shoulder tightened as the radio chatter increased, only to drop off to nothing as Fury said, "The medics are here. They've called it."

She closed her eyes silently and Steve wrapped an arm around her uncomfortably in a side hug. She returned the favor and cried softly into his shirt.

They slowly moved to the main conference room and sat down. Stephanie sat in Bruce's vacated chair, between Steve and Tony. Tasha sat to Tony's left, and the rest of the chairs were vacant.

Fury pulled out the Captain America trading cards and threw them onto the table. "We found these in Coulson's pocket. Guess he never did get them signed."

Stephanie hesitantly reached out and picked one up. She touched the blood with a trembling finger and sniffed it quietly, before frowning and examining the cards a bit longer.

"Yes, Phase Two was using the Tesseract to create weapons of mass destruction. I never put all my chips on that number, however, and planned something... different."

He paused, and Stephanie waited for the inevitable speech.

"There was an idea- Stark knows this- to bring together a group of remarkable people so when we needed them, they could fight the battles we never could."

Stephanie lip-synced the words silently, keeping her head down and focused on the cards. Tasha leaned forwards and smiled briefly at her.

"Phil Coulson died believing in heroes," he said firmly. "I still believe in heroes."

There was silence, before Tony stood up swiftly and left the room. Tasha sprinted after him and fell in beside him as he left.

"Well... it's an old-fashioned notion," Fury said dryly.

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Claire was fighting.

The blueness in her eyes was slowly draining. Key word- slowly. Clint was fighting the same way she was.

She could hear someone beside her. The person sat down and smoothed her hair out of her forehead. Her memory went into overdrive, trying desperately to remember.

Nathan...

She shattered the Tesseract's control in one fell swoop and started crying. Nathan quickly reached out and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her softly as he whispered meaningless words in her ear. With one hand, he released her restraints, and she wrapped both arms around him tightly.

"Shh, shh, it's ok, you're safe now," Nathan murmured into her ear. She sobbed softly and he tightened his grip, kissing the top of her head. "You're safe, right here."

He closed his own eyes and sighed deeply as he held his girlfriend tightly, ignoring the stares of the newly-freed Clint and Natasha.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered.

"I was- so scared!" she cried. "It was like there was another person who ripped me out of my mind and got in instead..."

"It's alright now. You're here. Guess who else is here?" he asked softly.

"Who?"

"Steph's here. And Tasha, and me as well."

"Really?" She hiccuped a bit, then asked, "But what about Brenda, and Lori and Lena?"

"Ah..." he bit his lip.

"Oh no-!" She started crying again.

"Hey, hey, hey, they're alright, ok? Don't even blame yourself."

She nodded into his shirt.

"Just rest, ok? Close your eyes and rest."

Claire nodded silently and leaned into him.

He listened silently to the voices of the two master assassins.

"Do you know what it's like to be unmade?"

"You know I do."

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Stephanie followed Steve to the area where Loki's cage had been. He walked in and to the edge, sighing briefly as she leaned next to him, copying his pose perfectly.

"Did he... have anyone?" Steve asked hesitantly.

"I think there was a... cellist, from Portland," Stark said. Tasha was next to him, perched on the steel rail.

Steve sighed. "He shouldn't have had to die."

"No, the b****** shouldn't have gone after Loki with only an experimental weapon," Tony said angrily.

"Hey, don't speak ill of the dead," Stephanie said.

He didn't even glance at her.

Tasha looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. Stephanie nodded.

"And Loki- Loki's a full tilt diva. And this is opening night. He wants- an audience, he wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument to the sky with his name plastered all over the side of it-" Tony came to a screeching halt.

Stephanie raised an eyebrow.

"Sonofab****," he muttered, and gestured for Tasha to follow him.

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Stephanie tapped on the glass, and Claire and Nathan jerked their heads up to stare at her. She pointed to the door, seconds before Clint stood up and moved into the restroom to wash his hands.

The door opened and Steve poked his head in. "Hey," he said as he saw Natasha. "We found out where the Tesseract is. Stark Tower. Can you fly a quinjet?"

"No but-" Clint came out of the restroom, wiping his hands on a towel as she pointed at him.

"I can."

"I can as well," Claire said with a brief sniffle as she rose and Stephanie walked forwards to embrace her.

"Not in this state, you aren't," Stephanie said calmly as she hugged Claire.

"Got a suit?" Steve asked Clint and Claire.

"Yeah," Clint said.

"Then suit up."