Thank you guys so much for all of the amazing feedback! The majority of you wanted a bit of everything, which I did try to do, which is why the chapter skips around a lot and is longer.

Now, a tiny bit of bad news. I have finals next week and won't be able to work on this at all. The next chapter will most likely be updated on June 13 or 14. So sorry, but I have to study and sleep and all that :P Thanks for your patience!

Still don't own the Avengers. Such a bummer.


Clint figured he had to have dozed off at some point, because he opened his eyes when he felt a light tapping sensation on his shoulder. Light poured in and he blinked against it, eliciting a groan which rattled his broken ribs.

"We need to get moving," Steve said quietly. It was almost apologetic. He knew that Clint shouldn't be moving, but there wasn't any other choice.

"You should know better than to wake up an old man from his nap," Clint muttered out. Or at least that's what he intended to. What ended up coming out was a garbled mix of half speech, half coughing. Clint placed his head back against the wall, trying to calm his shaking lungs.

"No talking for you then, old man." Clint managed a half smile. Steve got the gist of it.

He cast his eyes over Steve's form. His knee was slightly less purple, but he still winced whenever it moved. Steve's eyes appeared to be a little unfocused as well and he blinked them often, as if trying to stay awake. Clint glared at Steve like a dad chastising their child. He could tell that Steve knows exactly what he means.

In usual captain fashion, he brushed it off. "Had to keep watch. I'll get some sleep once we get help." He turned his head to the side to avoid another one of Clint's glares. "Okay, up and at em." Steve muttered mostly to himself. He braced his leg against the ground and inched his way up the wall, whispering a few half curses as he did so.

Eventually, he stood up, but his face was red and beads of sweat formed on it. Clint had seen Steve in a number of bad situations. He was used to Steve looking tired, bloodied, and brushing off injuries. What he wasn't used to was the look of helpless detachment that he saw in Steve's eyes. It was as if the whole world was resting solely on his shoulders. Clint hated it.

Steve reached down to pick up Clint's gun, securing it in the waistband of his own jeans. He then placed a hand within Clint's reach. "You can do this," he said, trying to be encouraging. Doubt still seeped into his voice. Steve had never been a good liar.

Clint tried anyways. Because Steve was standing, with everything he'd been through, and Clint owed him at least that. So he grabbed Steve's hand and hauled himself up, holding his breath and nearly pulling Steve down as he did.

Immediately his ribs began to crack and grind, sending pain flares all throughout his body. Every single muscle seemed to spasm from being released of their cramped state. It quite literally felt as if someone had reached inside his chest, gotten ahold of his ribs and lungs and started crushing them together. Clint braced a hand against the wall, doubling over. A cough rose in his chest, to which he held his breath against. After a few seconds, it died down and he got in half a wheezing breath.

"Ready to go?" Steve asked. The redness in his face had dissipated into a tone of ashy white.

Clint took a few more moments before leaning away from the wall. He shuffled his feet a few times and walked a few steps. While his heart hammered in his chest, sending blood throughout his broken body, it was bearable. Uncomfortable, horrific, excruciatingly painful, yes. But if Steve could do it, so could he.

"There we go." Clint heard Steve a few paces behind him and turned around. The captain smiled as much as he could, pleased by Clint's meager achievement.

"No marathons anytime soon. Nat would actually kill you," he mentioned, catching up to Clint. "Need any help?"

Clint shook his head immediately, knowing that leaning on Steve wouldn't help his situation any. And Steve didn't need any more weight to carry as was.

"Okay," Steve shrugged. "Just let me know if you're about to pass out or anything and we'll take a breather." He cocked his head up to the sky, listening to the sirens. "They can't be more than a half mile out."

Clint tried listening as well, but with only less than half his hearing, he went by what Steve said. Side by side, they began the slow trek down to the street to what they hoped—prayed would be help.


Tony sat in the pilot's chair of the Quinjet, doing systems checks and putting in the routes. "How long until liftoff, J?" Tony asked, clapping his hands together.

"Approximately three minutes," came JARVIS' reply. Tony nodded and exited the seat, walking outside and down the ramp to pick up a few more boxes. He had loaded up the Quinjet with medical supplies, food, and other necessities that could be distributed while they looked for their comrades.

"Found the big guy," Bruce announced, walking into the hangar with Thor in tow.

"Aren't you the big guy?" Tony asked with a slight smirk. Bruce tilted his head in annoyance before giving Tony a small smile. "Glad to see no red cape, by the way. Normal looks good on you," he pointed to Thor, who was dressed in casual civilian clothes like Tony and Bruce.

"Ah, yes. I figured that I would leave Mjolnir on board the jet as to not draw unwanted attention. I can retrieve it if needed," Thor replied, spinning the hammer in his hand.

"Okay. Changes of clothes for Cap, Red, and Legolas. Supplies, food, medical, yadayadayada," Tony muttered, making a mental list in his head. "All here, ready to go."

They all walked on board and sat down inside the jet once the ramp had closed. "Fury's gonna be pissed," Bruce said quietly.

"He's always pissed!" Tony called back from the cockpit. It was so weird for him to be sitting up there; Clint was their normal pilot. With JARVIS, however, it was nothing that Tony couldn't handle. "Start her up, J."

The engine hummed to lift and gradually the Quinjet made its way forward. The doors at the end of the ramp opened, giving way to a blue sky.

"If anyone asks why we're there, it's just to help. The Avengers are known for helping people, so no one will be the wiser. Still, don't make a scene," Tony said as they neared the end of the ramp. He pushed the thrusters forward and the jet shot outwards.

"Incoming transmission from Director Fury," JARVIS announced.

"Stark! What in the hell are you doing? Turn that jet around!" came Fury's angry voice over the loudspeaker.

"Sorry, you're breaking up there," Tony replied nonchalantly. "We'll see you back home, Nick." Before Fury could respond, Tony shut off the communications and sighed.

"Travel time is about eight to ten hours, depending on weather. Who's ready for a trip to the Philippines?" he asked to the back of the jet.

"I just wish it were under different circumstances," Thor muttered.

Tony shrugged his shoulders and finished punching in the location information. "Yeah, me too buddy, me too. Let's bring our guys home."


The downside of being in a second-rate hospital in the aftermath of a tsunami was definitely the anesthetic. There was far too little of it and what the doctors did have was a lower concentration. Being trained as an assassin for so long, Natasha had built up a slight wall against some drugs.

All of these factors led down to one outcome: Natasha could hear everything. Every so often, there would be pricks of pain, but she wasn't able to wince or move. She was trapped inside of her own body, completely and utterly helpless.

The good news was that she half came to after the pipe had already been removed. She listened to the garbled voices of doctors and nurses trying frantically to save her life. The skin on her abdomen pricked, a sensation that she knew to be stitches.

"Another scar to add to the list," she mentally grumbled to herself.

A loud popping sound shook Natasha away from her thoughts, immediately sending a wave of nausea through her.

"Immobilize it, we don't have the casting materials available here," the head doctor said. It took Natasha a minute or so to make out what they had said, since she seemed to be hearing under a few layers of water. She could hear something shifting below her and being unrolled. Most likely it was a wrap for her ankle. Hopefully when she woke up it would be pointing the correct way.

"How are those stitches coming?"

"Not too well," one of the assistants muttered.

"Crap," was the only thing going through Natasha's mind.

"The bar didn't pierce anything vital, but the holes on both sides large. It doesn't want to stay together. I'll keep trying, but she's gonna have a hell of a time walking for a little while."

"You do that," the doctor replied. Natasha heard their heavy footsteps over by her head. By the way the doctor sounded, she could make out that it was a he, and by how he moved, he wasn't a small guy. "How's the head looking?"

"She's going to have a nasty concussion when she wakes up," another nurse chimed in.

"Hole through my stomach, busted ankle, and a concussion, what else is wrong?" Worry began worming its way through Natasha. She could hear the heart monitor steadily increasing.

"Other lacerations have been sealed," a nurse from down by her foot announced.

"Good. I can take it from here. Go see if anyone else needs help and if we have other transfusion bags," the doctor ordered.

"But sir, she's still critical-"

"Go. Surgery's almost done, we need the room open. We don't need three nurses and a doctor for this right now. I can finish the stitches."

The nurses didn't need much more convincing as all three of them rushed out of the room. The feeling of worry grew and grew inside of her. The doctor moved around to her back, where the pinch of stitches started going again. Natasha had begun to relax in the slightest when the doctor started talking.

"I'm actually surprised that you're not completely awake yet," he said.

If Natasha had been awake, she would have cocked her head in confusion. How the hell did the doctor know that she could hear him? She tried moving her limbs, but was still completely immobile.

"Heart monitors never lie." The doctor snipped the scissors open and closed, cutting off the rest of the string. Something in his voice screamed for Natasha to run. She was completely and utterly helpless. Trapped inside her own mind, but still bearing witness to the events that would unfold. What he said next chilled Natasha to her very core.

"Now, Ms. Romanoff, let's help you feel better." The scissors opened and closed again and Natasha put all of her will into screaming. No sound, or movement came out. The sound of scissors flooded her ears until it was all she could hear.


I keep leaving Natasha at cliffhangers, hehe whoops. On a side note, so many reviews, oh my gosh! You guys probably thought this chapter was much longer, but a lot of review replies ;) QUESTION: Do you like these review replies? Or would you rather me send everyone PMs and leave review replies for the guests? ALSO: Keep going with all three places or do you want me to focus on just one or two next time? (Natasha, or Tony/Thor/Bruce, or Steve/Clint)? Thanks!

ilikehats2: There is no specific reason why Tony didn't say the other two, but I made him. Now you see why ;) For the languages, apparently English and Filipino are the two most common languages spoken there, so I'm just making it so that everyone speaks English. It's much easier. Tony will definitely get attention. Hope you enjoyed your prom and thanks for reviewing!

Agentofshield27, Junipa Ivanova, Guest(2), JWolf28: Thanks! Hoped you all liked everything being put together and the switching and such!

Perhaps Glee: Thanks for your comment on Fury ;) I definitely tried to mix it up, hopefully it worked!

Qweb: In a few hours, help is coming. Plenty of wounded friends this chapter. Thanks!

saphie1990: Awh, thanks! Sorry I didn't do Steve's POV, I did his last time so I wanted to switch it up a little.

toshirolovehim: I kept most of it on the other three this time. Plenty of Clint ;)

Banemmanan: Thank you! Not sure if this chapter helps your concerns or worsens them...

Baibe: I totally agree with your stance on HYDRA Cap. Do not agree with it, and hopefully something will change it in the coming months. Hope you liked everyone!

Wendyna108: I got this chapter posted on time, which is good for me ;) And it is a bit longer. You'll have to wait until summer though for me to write a whole lot longer chapters, so sorry about that.

Jesuslovesmaria: You definitely made a good point!

AcizeJ- HaruZuchIa: There will definitely be a lot of emotion when they meet up again. I liked writing the characters as having good connections with each other, so that's part of the reason.

Th3RedPyro: Hopefully I did the alternating alright. There will definitely be more with Tony, Bruce, and Thor, but not as much as with Nat, Clint, and Steve.

JamesRogers1122: I agree with Tony also ;) Hope you liked it!

Scotia: That is definitely a good maybe scenario. We will see what happens with all of this ;)

CottonCandy: Half of the team is okay and coming to help, and half of the team is practically half dead. Hard call to make.

I-Write-Upon-My-Whims: I completely agree with your HYDRA Cap opinions. It's mostly for press and shock value.

Black Velcro: Hope you liked the Hawkeye whump!