"Greetings, Ms. Romanov." JARVIS voice filled the quinjet.

"JARVIS?" Natasha asked. She sat in the pilot's seat and didn't mind when all eyes turned on her.

"Since you are piloting the jet for today, I feel like it is of great importance that I inform you of your destination." JARVIS stated, keeping his tone polite and even.

"How do you know the location?" Steve asked. He didn't even bother wondering how JARVIS had made it aboard a SHIELD quinjet – Tony had probably done it ages ago to spite Fury.

"Master Stark managed to free himself from his bindings and access the streaming lap top. He broadcast his location. I'm setting the co-ordinates now." And sure enough, the ping aboard the ship noted them of a settled destination.

"So Tony's free?" Clint asked, not looking relaxed at all. Steve and Thor were the only ones who looked relieved at JARVIS' news; everyone else didn't so quickly succumb to hope.

"Alas, no," JARVIS said, sounding almost regretful. Steve and Thor sagged visibly in their seats before doubling their determination to free Tony. "Master Stark was caught in the process and was knocked unconscious by the vicious barbarian. Er, I meant, V."

At times, the group wondered if JARVIS was truly a computer program and not a British genius locked up in a computer room in Tony's house. This was one of those times.

"Alright, troop. Let's get going, Tony needs our help asap." Steve commanded, naturally taking up the leadership position. He turned to Natasha and asked, "How long until we reach him?"

"Approximately one hour… if we follow air regulations. But, being a SHIELD aircraft, I think they'll make an exception." Natasha took a moment to make a better estimate. "45 minutes, tops."

"Good." Steve nodded. 'Just wait, Tony. Be safe until we get there…'


Tony slowly returned to consciousness, the world seeming determined to escape his grasp. 'What happened…?' He asked himself. It took him a while to recall his capture and when he did, he groaned. But it was muffled by a gag around his mouth. A linen cloth was stuffed into his mouth and Tony fought the urge to gag. He felt dizzy and dirty, days of caked blood and sweat were practically seeping into his pores. 'One thousand showers… No, not enough. Two thousand. I need to take two thousand showers when I get home.' He fought the urge but natural pessimism made him think, 'If I get home…'

"Morning, Stark. I hope you don't mind the drop in hospitality." V sniggered. The guy had long past gotten on the iron man's nerves. His voice was shrill and smug, as if calling for several punches to the owner's face. "After your last little venture, I thought to take some more precautions."

V wasn't kidding. Tony was sprawled stomach first on the floor, every breath cracking his already screwed up ribs. 'At least they won't set incorrectly,' Tony thought, trying to numb the pain using his mind. Other than the gag around his mouth, his arms were duct taped behind his back, and his legs were bound together. Tony cringed as he pictured the expensive Armani material covered in tape residue. Then he remembered it was already stained in blood. 'Well, there goes a thousand dollars. Oh well.' He sighed dejectedly. There was nothing more he could do; he was resigned to his fate. If the Avengers came to save him, great, if not, Tony would rather a bullet through his head than deal with the situation for any longer.

"You look uncomfortable down there." V knelt beside Tony, patting the top of his head. "You should squirm more. It'd make things more fun." V cackled and Tony fought the urge to lash out. Tony wasn't going to give the bastard what he wanted. V frowned at the lack of reaction. "Fine, be that way." He looked up, as if he heard a noise. Tony didn't hear anything, but the pounding headache made everything difficult. "Did you hear that, Tony? I think your friends have arrived."


"You have arrived." JARVIS informed the Avengers. They had reached an abandoned building far from urban California and just short of the Nevada desert. There were a few other buildings in the area – skeletal factories abandoned in the failed industrial lot.

"Wow," Clint whistled through his teeth, "This place looks like shit."

"Agreed." Natasha nodded. She was uncomfortable. The last time she'd been in an abandoned lot, she had been ambushed.

Everyone else seemed to have the same idea on their mind, holding their weapons at the ready. Clint notched an arrow, Steve raised his shield, Thor gripped his hammer, and Bruce was halfway to being the big green jellybean. Natasha checked her guns and found them fully loaded. She mentally counted every knife, poisoned dart, spray, and mini-pistol hidden on her person and came to the satisfyingly full count of 24. Along with the two pistols in her hand, she held 26 weapons, all ready to use. Not to mention her years of hand-to-hand combat training. She was ready.

As they all expected, bullets were shot their way. Steve raised his shield, Clint and Natasha ducked down, Thor whirled his hammer and summoned the bullets away from him, and Bruce – all Hulk'd up and ready to go – jumped between the Avengers and the guns. The Hulk ran towards the bullets' source, finding a handful of shooters hiding within an abandoned building. Each of his footsteps kicked up a cloud of dust and dirt. Hulk sent his fists crashing down upon his enemies, letting out a ferocious roar.

With the distant shooters taken care of by Hulk, the remaining heroes found themselves surrounded by more henchmen.

Natasha was the first to act, taking down two men with a headshot each. Clint sent an arrow through a near man's knee, and then sent him sprawling by smacking the bow against his head. Thor weaved his hammer through a group of five men, hitting each one along the way. Steve took care of business in his classic manner, blocking with the shield then punching his opponent in the jaw.

All in all, it took the group of 6 less than 10 minutes to incapacitate roughly 50 men.

Hulk rejoined the group in a trot, carrying a terrified henchman like a rag doll in his hand. "He tell us where Tony is." Hulk said, thrusting the man at the group. "Tell." Hulk threatened and squeezed his grip.

"A-Alright, guy! Just calm down!" The man looked terrified. Anyone in his position would be. "You're friend's in the south building just over there." The man nodded at the building with his head. "Got it? He's in the basement. P-Please, just let me go."

Steve nodded at Hulk, and the Hulk dropped the man to the ground. "Stay." Hulk commanded and the man just nodded – curling himself into a ball.

"Let's go save Tony!" Steve jogged toward the building, and was closely followed by Natasha, Clint, Thor, and Hulk.

It was time for them to get their friend back.


A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I just wanted to give you guys an update before the final showdown between V and the Avengers.

Also, somebody in the comments asked why the noose didn't snap Tony's neck. It's because he was leaning forward, so he was resting on his throat rather than his spine. Also, he wasn't off the ground, so most of his weight was still distributed to the floor. It was more of a chokehold than a hanging.

Remember, leave those reviews, it means the world to me :D

If you're lucky, I might update again today, and I'll definitely have the final showdown by tomorrow.

Finally, I need to ask whether you guys want an epilogue for this… Do you?

Thanks, lotsa love,

- Elide