A/N: Hey, guys! I am so sorry for the long wait! I wrote two drafts for this chapter, but discarded both of them and decided to start over. And I would have had this up sooner, but a lot of things in my life got in my way. My summer hasn't been the best so to be honest writing this was like therapy to me. Just so you know, there are two quinjets. Quinjet A holds Team Alpha, and Quinjet B holds Team Delta. Also, I can't believe I haven't said this until now (actually I can), but Lewis' faceclaim is Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
Cloudoffeathers: Thanks for your detailed review! I also love those pairings:) Don't worry, I don't think you're spamming.
AJtheQueen: No problem! I love Casey. He's a cool character, and don't worry, you'll get some more Spidey and Casey friendship.
Enjoy!
Casey's POV: Carter, Rose, Peter, Lewis, Sam, and myself were seated on the floor of the quinjet, cards in hand. We had been playing various card games to pass the time and relieve tensions. Now, we were on Go Fish.
"Got any twos, Casey?" Sam asked as she pushed her raven black hair out of her eyes.
My eyes scanned my cards. "Nope, go fish."
She picked a card from the pile in the middle of the circle. "Why is it every time I ask you for something you don't have it?"
I shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess."
It was Carter's turn next. "Lewis, do you have any fives?"
"Damn it!"
Peter smiled. "I guess that means yes."
Lewis sent his fives Carter's way using his telekinesis. Very reluctantly, might I add.
"Hey, watch your language back there," Hawkeye called out from his position in the pilot's seat. Cap. and Black Widow were seated behind us.
Cap. groaned. "That's never going to go away, is it?"
"Nope!" Hawkeye happily replied.
I had no idea what they were talking about. Figuring maybe Peter knew, I nudged him while he was looking at his cards. "Hey, Peter."
"What's up?"
"Do you have any idea what they are talking about with that language thing"?
He grinned. "Yeah. Mr. Stark told me about it."
"What language thing?" Rose asked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Peter, are you telling the story?" Hawkeye asked.
"Yeah."
"Oh, I need to hear this," he replied. Cap. and Black Widow walked over to hear Peter's rendition of the story. Apparently, the Avengers had been at a Hydra Castle. Tony had flown into a force field around the castle, and had uttered, "Shit!" Cap. had responded with "Language!" And claimed it just slipped out. It had been a running gag with the Avengers ever since. We all laughed when the story was over. Especially Lewis. His laugh was interesting. It was low, breathy chuckles and then several huge gasps of air, repeated several times. Kinda sounded like he was having an asthma attack, but I didn't mind. Laughter was good for us right now. Cap. and Black Widow didn't laugh, but they just smiled at our antics. In a way, we were a lot like their team. We played Go Fish for a few more minutes until Hawkeye said we were a few minutes away from our destination. We all stood up, stretched, and got ready.
Carter's POV: I noticed Lewis clenching, and unclenching his fists. I knew he did that when he was either bored or anxious. I knew which one it was. I gently tugged on his arm, and pointed to the corner of the quinjet, hoping he would get the message. He went to the corner, and I followed. "Are you okay, Lewis?"
"I-It's nothing," he lied.
I crossed my arms across my chest. "Spill, Lewis," I commanded. I was like a mother figure to the people on the team, so of course I demanded to know what was wrong. He sighed, and continued to clench, and unclench his fists. "Is it the night terrors?" I asked, whispering so nobody could hear. He nodded. Lewis had night terrors a lot of nights, and never slept very well. He has caffeine every morning, and at least attempts to hide the fact that he doesn't sleep very well. Back when we trained with S.H.I.E.L.D, he had his own room due to his fear of sleeping in a room with other people. Everyone else shared rooms. When I heard him screaming, or crying I would race to his room, and comfort him.
"It was earlier today, before we left. In it, Aria was dead when we got to her. I got her blood on my hands when I touched her, and you guys were getting killed one by one too, and-" He paused, and took a deep breath. I stepped closer, and put a hand on his shoulder, and patiently waited for him to continue. "And-in another one, Loki forced me to watch as he killed her, and for some reason I couldn't move. She was screaming...and I couldn't do anything." At this point, he let the tears fall, and I hugged him, and comforted him. His tears turned to sobs, and that made everyone look our way with curiosity. I mouthed the words 'I got this', to them. I ran my fingers through his hair, and let him calm down. "Lewis, she's not dead. Maria is watching her vitals, and will tell us if anything changes. It will be okay."
"You don't know that," he replied.
"You're right, I don't. But, I'm trying to believe that it will. We have to, for Aria's sake. You think you can do that?" I asked.
"I'll try."
I gently pulled away from the hug. "Good. We're in this together. We're going to get her back." He nodded. I knew how much she meant to him. I saw it in his eyes. He loved her, he had to. Whether he admitted it or not. And I was willing to bet that she loved him back. I know how he is about that sort of thing. He's oblivious to people liking him like that. Sure, we had only known each other for a few days, but it was enough.
Aria's POV: A super soldier-guard came up to Loki. "We have company," he said.
Loki grinned. "Excellent. Now, stay still."
I arched an eyebrow at him. "Do you think I have a choice?" Green magic came out of his fingertips, and enveloped me. I started feeling dizzy, and when I opened my eyes, I was standing in a room. It kinda looked like a hospital room due to everything being the color of white. When I tried to open the door, it wouldn't budge. It appeared to be locked. That son of a…
Amber's POV: As the quinjet landed, I took out two of my knives. This was going to be fun. Well, at least it was my idea of fun. I've never really experienced anything normal kids call fun, being trained by SHIELD since I was little. Knives weren't my only weapon, but I wasn't about to tell anybody. As we got off the quinjet, I saw soldiers running our way, guns in hands.
"So much for the element of surprise," I commented. Iron Man flew up in the air, and started shooting them with his repulsors. The Falcon soon joined him, shooting the soldiers. Thor was on the ground, Mjolnir in hand, taking out soldier after soldier while Rachel and I fought the soldiers on the ground with knives. Wanda and Vision were fighting side-by-side. My eyes caught a glimpse of Captain America's shield, and saw the others a few feet away, charging into the warehouse. Rachel pushed me out of the way, and knocked the soldier to the ground. Looking for an explanation, I looked at her in confusion.
"I saw seconds before that he was going to stab you in the heart." Oh, right. I forgot that she can see into the future. I let myself get distracted by the others. I can't afford to slip up like that again.
After a few minutes passed of more fighting, Rachel asked me to cover her so she could look into the future. I agreed, and while she meditated on the ground, I protected her. After about a minute, I heard her gasp.
"What is it?"
"This isn't good," she replied.
Great just great.
I was supposed to be fighting or at the very least, trying to capture these soldiers, but screw orders. Like some other people on my team were doing, I was going after that sick bastard instead.
Rose's POV: Team Alpha managed to sneak into the warehouse, what with most of the guards being distracted by Team Delta.
We split up and had been searching the rooms for a few minutes, and before we could enter the next room, Maria's voice came over our earpieces.
"Guys, we have a problem."
"What is it?" Cap. asked.
"Her vitals. They've stopped."
"What do you mean by stopped?" Lewis asked worriedly.
"They are just frozen in place. I've been trying to reboot the system to see if it's a glitch, but no luck. You'll have to find her to see what's happening."
If I had to guess, I'd say Loki had something to do with this.
Suddenly, I came to a room that we hadn't searched before.
I opened the door slowly, and peered inside.
"Guys, I found her."
After that, Peter's voice came through. "Um, I found Loki. Well, more like he found me…"
A/N: Did I just doom my own OC?(Aria). Maybe, maybe not… Did I just give another cliffhanger? Yup. Are you readers mad at me for that? Probably. Will I post the next chapter soon? You betcha. Am I almost done with the story? Yes.
P.S: I feel like I made Loki a little OOC. I mean, I didn't really give him a motivation for trying to take over the world again, or whatever. Plus I believe that he was being controlled in the first Avengers movie, so he didn't really want to do what he was doing anyway...So I apologize for that.
