Hammer moved his hand from my shoulder to the back of my neck, squeezing hard enough to hurt. I gasped in pain and Hammer slung me to the floor, my head colliding painfully against the concrete. I blacked out for a second and when I came to, Hammer was above me, a terrible sneer on his face. "What have you done?"

Time to bluff. "I uploaded a virus onto your system. It'll all be down by tomorrow. Hammer Industries is toast."

He sent a kick to my ribs. "Why would you do that?" Each work was punctuated with a kick and when I felt something snap, someone screamed. It took me a minute to realize that it had been me. I curled one arm around my middle, trying to stop the pain that radiated from there and Hammer roughly brought his foot down on my other wrist. There was a second snap and I screamed again.

Hammer grabbed a fistful of my hair and brought my face close to his. "SHUT UP! Screaming won't make it better!"

Hammer hauled me to my feet and I sobbed when the pain in my midsection tripled in intensity. Stomping on Hammer's instep, I made a mad dash for the door, running up the stairs the door led to. Several flights of stairs later, I was on the roof of the building. When the door opened again, I ducked behind several crates, the wind blowing my long blonde hair this way and that.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are. I know you're up here, Alice. I know you didn't go downstairs. Come on, I won't hurt you." I almost laughed at that. Did he think I was stupid? "Seriously, kid, this is getting old."

Looking around, I spotted a pile of bricks. Limping over to them, I grabbed one with my good arm and chucked it at Hammer before hiding behind the crates again. There was an "oof" and a groan before Hammer came charging towards me. "What the hell is wrong with you? You threw a brick at me!"

I managed to avoid Hammer's fist the first time, but the second time, he caught me in the ribs. Again. That was getting old real fast. Hammer had wrapped his hands around my throat and was slowly squeezing the life out of. I choked and clawed at his hand in a vain attempt to get him off of me, but it was no use. "Just when I thought I was about to pass out, Hammer's hands were off me and there was air in my lungs again.

I looked over to see Tony beating the pulp out of Hammer. If I hadn't almost died at the hands of the man, I might have felt sorry for him, being on the receiving end of Tony's wrath. I smiled as Tony hit Hammer in the face with an iron hand once more. "Don't touch my little girl!" Each word ended with a punch and I was having a hard time standing up. I thought on my relationship with Tony. He was the closest thing I've ever had to a father, and I liked to think that I'd grown on him in a similar way.

I swayed slightly and then Tony was there, catching me before I could fall. He wrapped his arms around me. "Whoa, slow down, it's okay, I've got you. I'm right here."

The gravity of what had happened to me caught on and I sobbed pitifully into Tony's metal chest. "Shhh, I'm right here, he can't hurt you."

As I drifted into unconsciousness, a word passed through my lips that I long since used. I closed my eyes and leaned into Tony. "Daddy." Then everything went black.

A/N: So, any thoughts on this chapter? Review and let me know. I'm sorry for the late update, I'm not even going to bother with an excuse since we all know I don't have one. The rest of the Avengers will turn up in the next couple chapters so stick around!