Disclaimer: Can you imagine owning Chris or Chris or Jeremy? They'd probably hate me because I'd whump them a lot. Well, Hemsworth might not, I don't beat him up that much. Evans and Renner would definitely though. So, no, I don't own The Avengers.

A/N: No reviews for chapter 6? Here's C7, regardless. Enjoy.


Chapter 7

Tony and Thor were walking around rocks and bricks looking for their Captain when JARVIS' voice came over Stark's comm. "Sir, I am detecting a major weakness in the buildings structure. You have approximately 6 and a half minutes before the place caves in."

"Galaxy crystals," Tony said under his breath which received an odd look from his Asgardian friend. "Pepper said I need to cut back on my cussing. Its a long story,"

"I am sure she is doing what she believes is best for you, friend Stark." Thor said.

"JARVIS, what part of the building is the weakest?" Tony asked the AI. "My indicators show the wall directly to your right, two pillars on either side. They absorbed most of the explosion, but not enough to bring it down at once. So-"

"So, who ever planted the bomb, didn't want to kill us right off the bat. But why not?"

"I am sorry to interrupt your train of though, but I believe I have spotted our Captain." Thor said out of the blue. And there, not twenty feet away, lay the form of Steve Rogers partly buried underneath some rocks. The men made their way over quickly, and Tony got down on his knees and felt for a pulse. "Its weak, but there. Scan for injuries, JARVIS."

The AI did and a report popped up on Tony's screen. A large cut ran across the Captain's chest just missing the white star, as if someone flew by him with a sharp object. It had already begun to heal, but he was still unconscious and hadn't responded to any of Tony's calls. His breathing was a bit shallow, but a least he was alive.

"Sir, 2 minutes." JARVIS said. Tony took that as his cue and started to pick the leader of the Avenger when his ribs protested the movement. Sighing, he asked Thor if he could fly them out. The foreigner obligated and made an exit, with the Man of Iron close on his heels.

In the background they heard the building crumble to the ground in ruins, thankful that they were able to get out in one piece.

Not even a block away stood a woman on a tall roof tops ledge. She knew she only had one shot to get things just right, but she couldn't afford to attack too soon. She got what she came for, and in return she would get what she needed to infiltrate the Avengers Tower.

She jumped off the edge just as a black flame overtook her body and proceeded to fly towards her next location.

-AV-

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. It had white walls and an all too clean floor surrounding his bed. He saw a bandage wrapped around his chest and reached a hand up and felt on around his head as well. A noise caught his attention in the front of the room and he saw a nurse enter with a glass of water and a white t-shirt.

"Good evening, Captain Rogers." the nurse greeted. "How are you feeling?" Haven't I been through this before? "Where am I?"

"Your in a recovery room in New York," This can't be good. "In the Avengers Tower?" Steve released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He really was about to lose it for a minute there. "How long was I out for?"

"Just a few hours. Its now mid-afternoon."

Steve began to get out of the bed, stopping momentarily to catch his breath. The nurse, Lucy as her name tag said, helped him stand to his feet. "You took a beating, but your wounds are healing nicely. Take it easy at first." She handed over the glass of cool liquid and shirt afterwards, receiving a thanks.

"You know that was something I've never been able to do well?"

Lucy laughed. "Do as I say, or you'll have to stay in bed where I can keep an eye on you,"

"I'll take it easy," he said with a toothy grin. "Where are the others?"

"Agent Roman was eating lunch in room 321, where Agent Barton is being taken care of. And Mr. Stark was with the Asgardian and Dr. Banner in his lab."

Steve Rogers thanked Lucy and left the room in search for his team.

Down the hall a few doors sat Natasha Romanoff who absentmindedly picked at her salad. She wasn't that hungry and even if she wanted to eat, she couldn't quite grab the fork the right way as her right wrist was in a brace. The doctors said she was lucky to have only suffered a small fracture, and with a week or two, she'd be as good as new.

Clint on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

The archer cracked three ribs when he landed after being thrown from the roof and received a mild concussion along with a bruised throat. But that's not what worried the team of SHIELD doctors.

The burn mark on his chest seemed to be of the 3rd degree, but it was unlike any other burn they've treated before. The skin was dark and the veins around it burst with a bright white color. They had since covered it with gauze, wrapping it around his torso and over his left shoulder multiple times.

They said they would need to run more tests, to find out what they were really dealing with. So for now, Agent Barton lay in waiting.

Natasha was attempting to eat her food with her left hand when Steve appeared in the doorway.

"Good to see you on your feet, Captain." she said once she saw him standing there. "Feeling better?"

"Much, thank you." Steve walked over to the bed side of his teammate. "How's he doing?"

"Not sure. The doctors don't know what their up against, so Banner is going to help them out." she said. "Once he recovers from his concussion."

Steve just stood there, arms folded across his chest. "Did they fill you in?" the agent asked after a minute of silence. "Not yet, I'm about to meet with Fury here in a few minutes." He looked at a clock on the wall and said as he went towards the door, "I better get going. Keep me updated." and then he was gone, leaving Agent Romanoff where she began.

After a few minutes of fighting with her fork and salad, Natasha stood up to throw it in the trash. When she got back, a pair of blue eyes were staring at her. She smiled and greeted her teammate. "Hey there Sleeping Beauty." Clint groaned and was about to saw something, when Nat stopped him short. She reached towards the nightstand and retrieved a white board and black marker. "Doctors said no talking,"

Clint wrote on the board and when he was done writing, he turned it around for Agent Romanoff to read. "How bad is it?"

"You cracked three ribs and have a concussion. The bruise on you throat is pretty deep, so they want you to rest your voice."

"And..?"

"And what?" Natasha was trying her best to not have to tell Clint the rest of the news, but was failing terribly. Being a top agent for SHIELD, meant that she could hide anything from anyone when the time presented itself. Not from her partner. Not Clint.

"'Tasha whats wrong?" even though it was written down, Natasha could tell that she wasn't getting out of this one. The anxiousness in his 'voice' was too much. So she proceeded to tell the archer all that the doctors told her.

-AV-

Tony and Thor sat in Doctor Banner's lab, listening intently to what the man was saying as he went over a section of history of gamma radiation and the Tesseract on a white board. Not that Thor completely understood, he did his best to make himself available. Tony was writing down on a notepad when Bruce turned around.

"..so, if this works, we'll be able to find out what was used in that warehouse on that woman."

"We'll know what it is, but that doesn't help us much." Tony said looking up from his pad. "We still don't have a trace on her, nor are we any closer to finding out."

Banner sighed. "Maybe we are going about this search the wrong way." a voice spoke up. Thor stood to his feet and began to pace around the room. "Let's say, that this woman, was infected with this energy. Instead of looking for her, why not get her to come to us?"

"And how do we do that?" Tony asked. "Put out an ad in the New York Times saying 'If there's a young woman out there experiencing unexplainable symptoms, please come to the Avenger Tower. We might be able to help you not die or destroy the plant.'"

"Tony,"

"I'm serious, Banner." Stark said placing his pad down on a table. "We have nothing to go on for finding this woman. As far as I'm concerned, she doesn't want to be found."

"Perhaps Tony Stark is correct," Thor boomed. "Maybe this woman doesn't want to receive help from anyone."

"Its not a matter if she wants our help; its if she needs it." Bruce said coldly. The others didn't see to understand as he did. This unknown energy has the potential to be very dangerous. If it somehow got into the wrongs hands, the world would be, yet again, at stake. They weren't dealing with beings from another universe, but a woman who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Suddenly an alarm sounded and red lights began to flash throughout the Tower. The three men ran to the command center, where they found the Captain and Director hovering around a large computer. Natasha joined them a second after. Clint hadn't been cleared for action, but he slowly walked into the room with the others, a nurse right by his side.

Fury pulled up a video on the big screen for the group to see.

Fires were burning and trees were crashing to the ground. The lake surrounding moved with the howling wind as a figure walked about, seemingly controlling its motions. The camera panned closer and the heroes gasped as it showed the face and played it back to them.

Loki stood close to the waters edge, one arm held high. He called out to the group, knowing that he had their attention.

"I believe we have some unfinished business" Loki smirked. "And if my being here isn't enough to bring you all out, maybe this will." He stepped to the side and Director Fury moved the camera down to ground level.

There, bound hand and foot with a rag tied around her mouth, lay the woman they hand been looking for. She wasn't moving, but appeared to be alive. The relief was short lived amongst the Avengers when Loki said, "I'd hurry if I were you. I don't believe she has very long."

And then the screen went blank.

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- Ace