Taking a deep breath, Rhodes pressed a button on his bracelet. He held his arms out wide, making a t-formation on his body. The first piece of his machine came in sight within seconds, whizzing through the air. It landed on his upper shin with quite a force, knocking him backwards.

Sam's metallic winds spread out wide. They glistened in the moonlight. He pulled his goggles down over his face and inhaled deeply. He exhaled slowly, waiting for the inevitable.

"We let them take us, but we don't do it without a fight! First one to get captured loses!" Steve shouted. "Do some damage. Whenever and wherever we wake up, the first goal is to find each other."

Suddenly, a large SUV emerged from the trees to the east and skidded to a halt. Out piled a dozen of muscular figures, stereotypically males, just like the restaurant incident.

Miles was the first to jump into action as the men began to charge towards the Avengers. He caused it to rain once more, concentrating the droplets on the man. The tiny beads of water fell down like piercing arrows, feeling like sharp daggers on the men's skin. The young man clapped once. A shockwave of water flew through the air as the rainwater was drawn together. It slammed into the men, sending them tumbling backwards.

"Nice." Wanda smiled at Miles.

Two more vehicles emerged from the west, each containing several henchmen. They had definitely come prepared with force. Although, they hadn't brought guns with them. The group obviously didn't intend to kill. Quite a few men began to charge towards Sam.

"Time to try out something new." The dark-skinned man devilishly grinned. He began to twirl on the spot, picking up speed as the wings extended. Sam span around and around, faster and faster as he went on. The men ran towards him, trying to reach him, but they were simply thrown back to their spot.

At this point, the last piece of the War Machine – the face mask – found it's way onto Rhodes' face. The man extended his arm, ready to fire. He hesitated, having forgotten that they did actually want to be captured. The man retracted his arms and decide to fistfight. He landed his first punch straight across the jaw of one of the attackers. As the metal collided with the bone, it made a cracking sound and the man fell to the floor. Rhodes definitely wasn't going to be the loser that got caught first.

It was Wanda's time to shine. She began to curl inwards, crouching down and bringing her arms towards her. After a few seconds, the brunette jumped up and out. A wave of red energy sprung out from her chest, knocking everyone in her immediate vicinity down. Wanda grinned from ear to ear.

Natasha was already at work. She pivoted on one foot and raised the other leg, spinning round and smashing the heel of her boot into the vigilante's foreheads. Another group of men seemed to be cornering her so she grabbed one by the shoulders and propelled herself downwards, sliding underneath his legs and away from the group. No way was she going to be the first one caught.

Lastly, Steve started to fight. He threw several punches, landing in different places on the men's bodies – their chests, stomachs, jaws and more. The blond man kicked one of the men in the groin. He cringed as he carried the action out, knowing how sore that would be. The man toppled backwards and fell to the floor. Steve rolled his eyes. That was a bit of an overreaction. They had only been fighting for ten minutes and he had already taken down a dozen men. He chuckled to himself. He'd would have to tone it down to be captured.

Across the yard, Rhodes was struggling with a group of men. They had all sprinted towards him at once. Of course, his natural instinct was to raise the suit's guns, but he couldn't do that. Two men worked together to rugby tackle him to the floor. Another man grabbed the chin of the suit and ripped it back. The light that was penetrating the suit made Rhodes squint. Eventually, his eyes focused to see the man holding a vial of green liquid. The same liquid that they had used on Miles. He knew that it wasn't harmful but it still made him worry. The man pierced the skin on Rhodes' cheek with a needle and injected the liquid into his blood. Before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, the last thing he heard was the sound of Wanda shouting: "Loser!"

Wanda wasn't struggling at all. She had created a force-field that surrounded herself and protect her from any danger. The droplets of rain fizzed as they hit the red energy. As much as the men smashed their fists on the outside, they wouldn't be able to get in. However, Wanda was tired. She was panting heavily. Using her powers with what little energy she had was extremely draining. She decided that she would be the next to go. Besides, Wanda wouldn't be the loser anyway. With a deep breath, she lowered her hands and let the shield disintegrate away. The men didn't hesitate to run towards her. One of them stabbed the needle into her neck and injected the fluid into her body. Wanda immediately collapsed onto the floor.

Less than a minute later, Natasha was also unconscious. She felt like she had been fighting for hours. Men felt like they were just coming and coming… A never-ending stream of enemies… She was Black Widow. She wasn't invincible. Although, Natasha saw giving up as a loss of dignity. In any other situation, the redhead would've taken down every single one of them. But it was all too much… A wave of relief fell through her body when the needle piercing her skin. At least she would be able to get some sleep before having to fight again.

"Natasha!" Sam called as he saw the other woman fall. The dark-skinned man dived towards her but was tripped over by one of the other men's legs. He stumbled forwards and face-planted the floor. The position allowed easy access to the skin on the back of Sam's neck. Within seconds, the fluid was flowing throughout his veins and he too was sent into a coma-like state.

Steve and Miles were the only ones left. As he fought, the older man sent a look over to Miles. The teenager had a few beads of sweat on his forehead and a determined look on his face. He didn't look as though he was going to give up like the others. But maybe, if he saw Steve get taken, he would let them inject him.

The blond man eventually lessened the strength of his blows, allowing the enemies to get closer. A particularly muscular goon tackled Steve to the floor and held the man's hands behind his back. Hastily, the attackers injected the fluid into a vein on his wrist.

Miles was continuing to fight the men. He rose his hands and gathered the raindrops together, creating one large ball of malleable liquid. After sending the liquid crashing into two of the men, the pair stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. The teenager looked to the right for a second, long enough to see that Steve had been knocked out. He gulped. Miles was very scared – absolutely terrified. But he had to do it. At his will, the rain abruptly stopped. One man leaped forwards and grabbed Miles, turning him around and wrapping his arms around the teenager. Miles watched as the needle neared him, eventually piercing the skin on his neck.

Everything went dark. The factory grounds went hauntingly quiet. No birds chirped. The trees didn't make noise in the wind. The pitter-patter of rain disappeared. The Avengers were down.

"Ma'am," One of the goons spoke into his headset. "We have the Avengers."

On the other end of the phone, Lilith Winters devilishly smiled. She stood in the middle of a science laboratory, wearing a lab coat and having her hair tied back into a tight ponytail. The woman strutted over to a microscope and peered down into the lens. Beneath the equipment was a single strand of hair that had been trapped between two glass slides. The equipment must've been modified as Dr. Winters could see the double helix in the DNA of the hair. The helix looked strange… Part of it was translucent and looked like it was moving.

Lilith moved away from the equipment and walked over to the door. It had a big wheel that had to be turned for the door to open. She loudly cleared her throat and one of the scientists ran over to open the door for her. The woman also threw the lab coat off her shoulders, revealing a black cat-suit underneath. One of the other lab technicians instantly ran over and grabbed the coat, cowering in fear.

As the door flew open, Dr. Winters stepped out of the room. In fact, she stepped out onto the deck of a huge naval ship. The woman giggled to herself, a determined look on her face. She reached up and pulled the hairband from her hair. She shook her hair and let her black hair fall straight downwards. Lilith looked out at the sea.

A Hispanic man approached her from one side. It was Albert Cortez – the trackers that Fury had previously mentioned to the Avengers. The man was balding and had little brown hair on the side of his head. He wore a plain navy suit. "Excuse me, Miss Winters." He tried to get her attention, his voice faltering. The woman rose an eyebrow, motioning for him to speak. "We still have time to change the base's location. I d-don't think that bringing the boy here is the best idea."

"Albert, dear." Lilith smiled. "You've brought the Avengers to me. You've served your purpose." In one swift movement, she grabbed from a pistol from her belt and shot a bullet through Albert's foot. He instantly screamed and hopped onto his one healthy foot. For the first time, Dr. Winters turned her head to look at him in the eye. "Don't ever tell me that my ideas aren't the best."

The man limped away, leaving Lilith to herself. She stood at the edge of the ship, waiting. After ten minutes, three helicopters came into view. The woman smiled and bit her lip. "Let the fun commence."

An unknown amount of time later, Steve awoke in a strange location. His head spun as he tried to focus his eyes. Eventually, the blur faded and he could see the strange room. Metal walls, metal floor, metal ceiling. There was a single door which too was metal. The blond man had been tied upright against a board, fabric straps around both his ankles and wrists. They were no match for him. He pushed against the restraints and they soon snapped open.

Steve stumbled forwards, one hand on his head. Whatever they had injected into his body was not agreeing with him. Once the man regained his strength, he noticed that there was a small television in one corner of the room. As if on que, the picture on the screen lit up.

In the pre-recorded message, Dr. Lilith Winters stood in the ship's science lab. "If you're hearing this, it means that you are no use to us." She revealed. Steve frowned. Deep down, he knew that this woman was Dr. Winters but he had always imagine Winters as male. "And what do we do of people that we no longer need? We discard of them."

All of a suddenly, water started to pour in the room from a pipe over Steve's head. It struck his hair at first, flattening the blond locks and making him jump. Where was Miles when you needed him? The thought made the man's heart skip a beat. Where even was Miles?!

As the room started filling up with water, Steve hastily searched for an exit. Within seconds, the water was already above his ankles. The room was filling up fast. He launched himself at the door in an attempt to break it open. There was a loud smash and a throbbing pain through Steve's arm, but it didn't move. He tried again and again, each time damaging his arm even more.

The water was soon up to Steve's neck. He took one last deep breath and threw himself underwater. With one huge kick, he finally managed to pry the door open. However, a huge wave of water came in from outside and filled up the remaining space in the room. The hero swam out of the room and did his best to keep his eyes open, swimming upwards. A short while later, his lungs began to scream for air. Finally, he reached the surface of the sea. Steve deeply inhaled and wiped his eyes before examining the ship. It was breath-taking and looked huge in the final moments of sunrise… How on earth was he going to find the others?

By that time, Natasha had woken up. She struggled against her restraints, not as strong as Steve. The pre-recorded message flickered on before she had even found a way to move. She stopped fidgeting to watch, achieving her first glimpse of Dr. Winters.

"If you're hearing this, it means that you are no use to us." The message began. Natasha scoffed loudly. "And what do we do of people that we no longer need? We discar-" It cut off before Winters could even finish her sentence. One of the wires that provided the television with electricity had come loose and fallen to the floor. As the room began to fill with water, sparks of electricity hovered across the surface.

Natasha had to act quickly. She had seconds before she would be electrocuted to death. With adrenaline rushing through her veins, the woman kicked out with her left foot. The restraint snapped and, a few seconds later, she was free. Natasha hopped across onto a wooden crate. This gave her a few more seconds of precious time. It would take longer for the electrified water to reach the top of the crate.

The woman's jade eyes scanned the ceiling of the room. There was a grate not far away from her that lead into a ventilation system which provided the room with air. Natasha rose to her feet, balancing on the edge of the crate. The water level was almost at her feet.

Her fingers stretched out, only just reaching the rim of grate. The woman flicked it out of place and it slipped through the whole, into the water. Without hesitation, Natasha leaped forwards and grabbed onto the edge of the ventilation shaft. She slipped… but quickly regained her grip, feet being only a few centimetres away from the water.

Crawling through the tight space, Natasha had no plan. Only one thing was certain: She had to find the others.

Rhodes was the next to wake up and was presented with exactly the same scenario as Steve. There was the pre-recorded message, the rising water level and fear or drowning. But Rhodes wasn't as worried as the blond man had been. Foolishly, the goons that Dr. Winters had hired to capture them didn't think to take Rhodes' special bracelet away from him. The dark-skinned man pressed a button on the metal, calling his suit. Within seconds, the first piece of War Machine smashed through the metal door. It attached itself to Rhodes' hamstring.

Outside, something caught Steve's eye. A piece of metal flew directly towards him. The man swam out of the way and the piece dived into the water before entering the ship. There was only one thing that it could be – Rhodes' suit.

A minute passed before War Machine suddenly burst out of the water. He flew directly upwards before performing three somersaults in the air.

"Show off!" Steve shouted as he smirked. "Can I get a little help, please?"

The man held his hand up in the air. War Machine dived downwards, pulling up just before hitting the water. The metal hand collided with Steve's as he was pulled out the water. The pair whizzed through the air together before both landing safely on the boat, next to a building that spanned the whole length of the ship.

The surrounding guards turned away from their conversations and faced the duo. At least a dozen men approached them and several more aimed sniper guns at them from afar. The pair of Avengers definitely couldn't take all of them down. They needed the whole team.

"Someone help me!" Sam shouted. He had faced the same problem as the other three Avengers but found no way to escape. He didn't have super-strength to break through the solid metal door. He didn't have a suit that he could recall and use to bust his way out. Without his wings, Sam was just a badass man with combat training. "Anyone?" He called out again.

Above, Natasha stopped crawling along. She paused and tilted her head, hearing the man's cries. As soon as she realised who it was, the woman set off again. The redhead crawled as fast as she could and tried to navigate through the series of ventilation shafts.

A few seconds later, as the water met Sam's chest and he began to float, a grate fell down from the ceiling. He looked upwards and immediately recognised his companion. Natasha reached down and offered him a hand. Gratefully, he held onto her, allowing him to be rescued from the rising pool of water.

"Where are others?" Sam asked as they shuffled onward.

"I've got no I-" The redhead suddenly stopped talking.

"What?!" The man exclaimed.

"Shh!" She sharply hushed, holding one finger off. Bouncing around the ventilation shafts, the sound of gunfire could be heard. Without a single word between them, the pair shuffled as fast as they could, attempting to locate the source of the noise.

As soon as the men started to fire, Steve dived to the side, behind a crate of weapons. If he had his shield, he would run out and take them all down. But god knows where the shield was! The last time he had it was in the car, on the way to the factory.

War Machine span around in a circle with his arms held outstretched, firing rapidly. The man chose to focus on rounds per minute over accuracy. The armed guards closed in on Rhodes, fighting through the bullets. They must've been wearing bulletproof vests – no-one could've survived otherwise. One of the men jumped onto Rhodes' back and attempted to tackle him to the floor. The suited-up man grabbed the man on his back and flipped him over. With a blood-curdling crack, the man landed on the floor in front of him.

"Rhodes!" Steve shouted. He stood across from the other man, holding the door to the building open. They both dived through the door but not before Steve grabbed a semi-auto machine gun.

Rhodes, still standing tall, offered Steve his hand and helped him up. The two observed their surroundings. They stood in the middle of a large room – theatre-sized. There was a stage at the front of the room and rows of chairs in front of it. It looked a briefing room; a place where military men and women would go to collect their medals.

Within seconds, the guards flooded the room. Men and women of all colours and sizes were aiming their guns in the pair's direction. Although, they didn't fire. The duo were confused. They had both just been told that they were 'useless' and were going to be 'discarded.'

"I'm not really impressed." An unfamiliar voice came from behind the duo. They both turned on the spot to reveal Dr. Winters standing on the stage. She was surrounded by henchmen.

A portion of Rhodes' suit moved away and his face could be seen. "So, we finally meet. Bit of a let-down, really. I expected you look a bit more… villainous." Following his statement, Lilith cackled.

"Tell us where the other Avengers are." Steve demanded.

The black-haired woman smiled. "Wanda and Miles are helping us with a little project. As for ginger and darkie number two, they're probably dead by now."

"Oh, bitch, you didn't not just say that." Rhodes cursed, closing his suit back up. He held up his arm and aimed the guns. The henchmen all flinched and stepped closer.

"Let them have it." Lilith ordered. All of a sudden, two grates from the ceiling collapsed. The henchmen were taken by surprise and had no time to fire.

Natasha flew down from the ceiling, flipping in mid-air. Before she touched the ground, the woman kicked two of the goons in the head. She wasted no time and begun to fight. The redhead deflected a punch that was thrown her way and slammed her knee into another man's stomach. The pistol flew out from the man's hand and she caught it. Natasha shot the gun four times, straight through the chests of four separate attackers.

Meanwhile, Sam was on the other side of the room. He had jumped from the air vents and landed on the stage. Lilith shrieked like a girl. He smirked. Although, the assailants surrounded the woman and their employer was soon out of sight. One of the more muscular men charged at Sam. The dark-skinned man jumped to the side and kicked the man's bottom. The attacker slammed into one of the walls with such a force that he knocked himself unconscious.

Rhodes had time to concentrate. He focused the guns on the legs and chests of the men. That was what he always did. He never wanted to kill – only force the men to retreat from the fight and leave them to be dealt with the police. War Machine fired rapidly. The hero took down several dozen villains within the minute.

"Where'd she go?" Steve swivelled on the spot, referring to Dr. Winters. He caught a glimpse of the woman being escorted out of a door at the back of the stage. The superhero jumped over the first few rows of chairs before deciding to just run through them. Crashing through was definitely quicker than jumping over or running around. Steve reached the door just as it was shutting.

"Where the hell are Wanda and Miles?!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, smashing a fist on the door. It was made of reinforced metal. There was no way that he'd be able to smash through.

Across the room, Natasha was disposing of the last of the attackers. The redhead ran over to one of the walls, jumped up and it span around in the air. She brought her foot round and slammed it against the temples of two of the assailants. An Asian woman was the only one left. She narrowed her eyes at Natasha. Suddenly, the woman grabbed her side and fell to the floor. Steve appeared from behind, holding a recently-fired gun. He had an angry look on his face. The two other men ran over.

"What are we gonna do?" Sam asked the group.

Steve was stumped. "Well, what do we know so far?"

"They sound like they're running tests on Wanda and Miles." Rhodes suggested, removing his facemask. "It makes sense, doesn't it? They're the only ones with powers that are… I don't know. In their DNA, I suppose."

"What about you, Steve?" Sam continued. "Why aren't they testing on you?"

"They must've done their research." Steve guessed. "There's no way to replicate what happened to me."

"Help me."

All of a sudden, the groups' face turned to confused expressions. They all looked around the room. Who had said that? It certainly wasn't any of them.

"Help me."

There it was. The voice had spoken again. It was cleared that time. It was recognisable – Miles. The sensation was extremely strange. His voice wasn't coming from inside the room. Instead, it was coming from inside their heads.

"Follow your gut." Miles whispered to the four. "Find us."

Elsewhere on the ship, Wanda and Miles lay on surgery-like tables. They were both strapped down with fabric restraints but had each managed to free one hand. They were both hooked up to machines that were just out of sight, through wired headbands that had been placed onto them while unconscious. On one wall, there was a one-way mirror. Wanda could feel the people watching them.

Using their freed limb, the special pair held hands between the tables. They had luckily been positioned so that the observers couldn't see this gesture. Wanda was using her telekinesis power to communicate with the other Avengers through Miles. The teenager's eyes had rolled into the back of his head as he spoke directly into the minds of his friends.

"Find us." Miles whispered. "Find us."