AN: Thanks xxTara for the reviews! They are keeping me inspired! So with your request, Chapter 7!

Once Stella was far enough away she placed her back up against a wall as she struggled to catch her breath and reign in her emotions.

She felt emotionally wrecked and physically sick from the encounter.

Closing her eyes she was lambasted with the image of Tony again bloodied, bruised and screaming in agony.

Suddenly she felt the contents of her stomach make their way to the surface and she turned and spewed them into the nearest trashcan.

When she was finished she felt a hand on her back causing her to jump and whirl around to see Thor standing there.

"Thor." She gasped, wiping at her mouth as he gave her an apologetic look.

"I apologize Lady Stella..." He began as she shook her head at him.

"No, no, it's fine, I was just startled…"

"Not for that. For Loki, I did not realize…" He began as she silenced him with a simple head shake.

"It's fine."

"Are you all right?" He asked concerned as she nodded.

"Yea, yes. Yes I'm fine, It just, took me by surprise."

"You are not the only one. That man in there…that is not the brother I grew up with. I do not even know him anymore." He whispered, shaking his head sadly as he thought of the younger sibling that he had played with.

"I'm sorry Thor." She began placing a gentle hand on his shoulder as he sighed.

"Loki is..." She trailed off as he nodded his understanding.

"Then our only hope right now is to locate the Tesseract. If we are able to locate it, that then we can end Loki's plan." He stated as she nodded her agreement and went to remove her hand.

"Lady Stella…" He began placing his hand on top of hers, before taking it in his gently.

"Thank you for Trying. It could not have been easy. Especially the pain Loki may have caused you." He stated sincerely as she smiled her thanks.

"I'm sure, if it was my brother in there, I would be doing everything in my power too." She spoke honestly as he gave her a sad smile.

"I know." He whispered before looking her in her eyes.

"You have the heart of an Asgaurdian Warrior Lady Stella. It will be an honor to battle beside you." He complimented as her eyes widened at the sentiment and the fact that he stated they were going to battle.

"Asgaurdian's were never see-ers right?" She thought to herself before smiling at Thor.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." She whispered as Thor smiled at the nervous expression on her face.

"But…thank you." She added with a slight blush knowing what compliment that was coming from him as he nodded, patting her hand gently before releasing it.

"Come, let us go back to the laboratory and find the Tesseract to put an end to Loki's schemes." Thor stated before they both turned to walk back to the lab.

As Stella walked into the room she noticed Steve was gone but Bruce and Tony were in there.

Tony looked up at her with a concerned expression and worried eyes.

"What?" She asked as he scowled, walking towards her.

"Ya know that the cell room is monitored right?" He asked as she put on a brave face and rolled her eyes.

"So?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Stella…did he show you something to make you react so…I mean about me?" Tony trailed off as Stella looked at his face before the bloodied, bruised face clouded her image and she blinked it away.

"Nothing. No. Let's just get back to work." She snapped looking away from Tony and over at Bruce who quickly looked away as if he hadn't been watching.

Just then the doors opened and in walked Fury with Natasha right behind him.

"Stark!" He snapped as Stella and Tony both turned to look at him, not sure who he was talking too.

"Girl Stark. Who the hell authorized you to go visit the prisoner?" He growled out as she froze.

"I did." Thor spoke up, not about to let Stella get yelled at for his actions.

"And who authorized you?" Fury asked as Thor narrowed his eyes.

"Authorization is not needed for a son of Odin." He stated as Steve came walking into the room when he heard all the commotion.

"Well we're not on Asguard are we? No we're on Earth, and on earth when a prisoner is locked up you better damn well believe you need authorization!" Fury snapped before turning to look at Stella.

"And you, what the hell were you thinking going in there alone?"

"In where alone?" Steve asked as Stella narrowed her eyes at Fury, not about to get scolded like some school-aged child.

"I was thinking that we should be trying every alternative to save the planet, if Thor thought maybe I could help you better well believe I'm going to. That's why I'm here isn't it? To help?" She retorted as Steve turned to look at her, confused and worried that Stella might have been in danger.

"You went to visit Loki alone?" He asked softly as Tony narrowed his eyes.

"What do you care what she does?" He asked, feeling a weird protective brother vibe hit him.

"Because I care about her safety." Steve stated as Stella blushed with a small smile and Tony rolled his eyes.

"And you're saying I don't."

"I don't think anyone said that Tony…" Stella began only to have Tony shoot her a "shut up" look.

"Why is it that every time we're all in the same room it feels like a volcano waiting to erupt?" Natasha asked looking over at Bruce nervously who shook his head.

"Because we are all a volcano waiting to erupt. This, group of, what, super freaks that the Director thinks can work together? Between the seven of us we got more baggage than we know what to do with." Bruce stated, forcing himself to calm down as he moved to get back to work and Steve and Tony stared each other down.

"I think you and I have some unfinished business Cap." Tony informed as Steve nodded his agreement, never one to back down.

"So put on your suit and let's finish it." He answered back, when suddenly the computer that had been scanning for the Tesseract beeped.

"We found it!" Stella exclaimed as Bruce rushed over to the computer, eyes widening by what was on screen.

"Oh my god." He whispered as everyone turned to look at him.

Suddenly an explosion was heard as the ship rocked sending everyone flying around the room and Bruce and Natasha tossed down out of the room to the floor below.

Steve and Tony both quickly scrambled to their feet to go see what had happened.

"Put on the suit." Steve said helping Tony out of the room.

"Yep." Tony agreed as they rushed down the hall but not before Steve glanced back to make sure Stella was okay.

Once Steve saw Thor quickly stand up to help Stella from the floor he followed Tony down the hall.

"Hill?" Fury asked into his earpiece, groaning as he sat up.

"Are you all right Lady Stella?" Thor asked as she nodded slightly shaken but nonetheless okay.

"I'm fine. What about Dr. Banner?" She asked as Thor moved to look out the window where Bruce and Natasha had fallen.

"Banner and Lady Natasha seem to have fallen to where I cannot see." Thor responded as Fury continued talking on his earpiece.

"Romanoff?" he shouted into it as he, Stella and Thor moved to leave the room and head to the bridge.

Chaos erupted as people ran by with guns and alarms blared all around them while everyone scrambled to try and figure out what was going on.

"Stark you copy that?" Fury asked into his earpiece as Stella felt her stomach clench at the thought of Tony doing something dangerous.

In that moment, she very much regretted her earlier words to him about being selfish and hoped he wouldn't do something stupid to try and prove her wrong.

"Thor, find Romanoff and Banner, make sure he's okay." Fury commanded as Thor nodded and headed off in a different direction while the two of them moved to the bridge.

"Talk to me." Fury commanded as they walked onto the bridge.

"Stark and Rogers are headed to Engine three, but the whole system is down right now." Agent Hill said as Fury nodded to let her know he'd heard her.

"Bring the carrier to a one-eight-zero south. Take us to the water." Fury commanded as one of the other agents spoke up.

"We're blind. Navigation recalibrated after the engine failure." He stated as Fury turned to look at him.

"Is the sun coming up?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then put us on the left. Get us over water. One more turbine goes down then we drop." He commanded before turning to look at Stella.

"Let's hope your brother can fix that engine, otherwise your skills might have to come in handy." He informed her, as her eyes widened and she felt like the breath had been sucked from her lungs.

"I-I don't think I have the skills for that." She whispered knowing there was no way she'd be able to do what he was thinking.

"Don't underestimate yourself Stark." He stated before turning his attention back to the action and Stella realized what she needed to do.

"I better make sure he can." She whispered to herself as she made her way to engine three.