A/N: SPOILER ALERT! THIS CHAPTER HAS A MINOR SPOILER FOR "IRON MAN 3". IF THAT BUGS YOU, STOP NOW AND GO SEE THE MOVIE ALREADY. :D

Light.

Light was the first sensation that Bruce Banner's mind noticed when he woke up. He squinted against the brightness, using his other senses to help him determine as much as he could about his surroundings. I'm warm and well-covered, but aside from my boxers, all the other fabric is loose...quiet beeping...ugh, nasty, antiseptic smell.

So I'm in a hospital bed.
But where?

Banner opened his eyes slowly, letting his vision adjust to the brightness. It was then that he heard a very familiar voice. "Hey there, Dr. Phil. Welcome back to the land of the living..."

"Stark." The billionaire had given him the unfortunate nickname after forcing Banner to sit through his absurdly over-detailed account of the incident with the Mandarin. "Where are we?" he asked with a groan.

"Still on the helicarrier," Stark replied with an uncharacteristic brevity.

Banner noticed immediately, and the curiosity forced him to full wakefulness quickly. "How long was I out?" the scientist asked, surprised.

"About six hours," replied Lanie.

Banner looked up to see the healer entering the room to check on him. It was then that Banner noticed who *wasn't* in the room. "Where's Kevin? Is he okay?"

Stark leaned back and let out a sigh, clearly frustrated. "He's fine, as far as I know," he replied.

The billionaire's response confused Banner. He turned to Lanie for a more specific answer. "What does he mean by that? *Is* Kevin okay?"

Lanie didn't answer, choosing instead to focus on Banner's pulse like it held the answers to the universe. So Stark spoke in her place. "Mr. Ryan woke up a few minutes after you guys first passed out. When you didn't wake up right away, he arranged to have you moved here...and then he disappeared."

Banner raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Disappeared? As in took off to somewhere else on the ship?"

"Nope," said Stark, shaking his head. "More like poof. Vanished into thin air."

Banner's eyes widened. "Where'd he go?"

"China, we think," said Stark. "Lassie's gotten a whiff on the North Star's location."

The odd reference snapped Lanie out of her examination trance. "Lassie?"

"After your husband was able to bring us Mjölnir," Banner explained to Lanie, "Stark here decided he didn't want to keep having to call the hammer by its real name. And since it's been leading us around like a bloodhound on the trail..." Lanie nodded, finally appreciating the reference. Banner then turned back to Stark. "So as soon as they knew where to find the North Star..."

"They took off after it," said Stark.

Banner quickly turned his attention to Lanie. "But then why are you still here? Shouldn't you have gone with the others?"

"I offered to stay behind," Lanie replied. "To make sure you were okay."

Banner swallowed hard, a nervous knot suddenly forming in the pit of his stomach. "And...am I okay?"

Lanie nodded, her expression quietly serene. "Physically, you're as close to normal as I think you ever get. How do you feel?"

Banner carefully considered his answer before responding to Lanie's question, surprising himself as he realized what the answer was. "Good, actually. *Really* good..."

Lanie's smiling response was interrupted by a beep from the helicarrier's intercom system. "Stark?" asked Director Fury. "You got a suit nearby?"

Stark snapped to attention, jumping up from his chair immediately. "What is it, Fury?"

"Suit up. We're getting reports of a massive explosion from the North Star's coordinates in China. You can get there faster than we can."

#

The shuttle couldn't seem to move fast enough for Steve, even though the vehicle was shaking under the strain of moving at its speed limits for an extended period of time. Natasha could practically feel the tension radiating off her fellow Avenger. "We're five minutes behind you, Stark," she announced, loud enough for the others on the plane to hear...and hoping that having a timetable would give Steve some comfort. "What are you seeing?"

In the air, Iron Man was decellerating high over the coordinates Stark had given them. "It's not good," he told Natasha. "It looks like the whole place is on fire. Jarvis, I need a scan of the area."

"I detect no signs of life, sir," replied Jarvis. "Temperatures in the area are over 2000 degrees centigrade. I strongly advise against landing anywhere near the site."

Those were the last words Steve could have possibly wanted to hear. He grabbed the radio out of Natasha's ear: the frantic worry in his voice obvious. "Are you *sure*, Stark?"

Stark understood the source of his friend's panic. "Jarvis, can you determine the source of the fire on the island?"

"I...I cannot, sir."

Stark shook his head in disbelief. "You *can't*? What d'you mean, you *can't*?"

"I detect no signs of land at the given coordinates, sir. Whatever caused the fire seems to have vaporized the island and left an oxyhydrogen reaction in its wake. That reaction is the source of the fire."

Stark's eyes flew open in shock. "You mean the *water* is on fire?!"

"I believe so," replied Jarvis.

Natasha heard Steve slump back onto the bench seat behind her. "We have fire suppressant onboard, Stark," Natasha announced into the radio as she quietly returned the earpiece to its regular position. "It should put the fire out so you can go down there and find what happened."

"Yeah," Stark replied absently, still in shock over what the computer had told him. "Thanks, Tasha."

Iron Man shot up in the air and hovered over the scene at cruising altitude, allowing the plane to get in underneath him and put out the fire. He then dove underneath the water, looking for any evidence of the cause of the disaster. Stark could only think of one possible source for the explosion. "Jarvis, scan the area for the North Star's energy signature. Is that...thing...nearby?"

Stark watched as his computer screen showed the progress of the powerful supercomputer as it scanned the area around him. He found he had to force himself to hold still in the water as the scan took a surprisingly long time. "What's going on, Jarvis?" Stark asked the computer with growing impatience.

Jarvis replied with a beep and a compass heading. "I'm detecting a faint reading of the energy signature 17.5 miles to your north-northeast."

Natasha watched as Iron Man shot up into the air in front of her window and took off toward the source of the energy signature. Only one thought was going through Black Widow's mind. "Stark, wait! It could be another trap!"

Stark's only thought was very different from Natasha's. All *he* could think about was the look on his friend Steve's face as he looked at Castle's daughter before they left New York. "It probably is," Stark told Natasha. "But I have to know what happened to them. Steve?"

Captain America's voice was heavy with guilt and grief. "I gotta know, Natasha. If he's willing to take the chance, then so am I."

Natasha sighed, the pain in her friend's voice making the decision for her. "Give us the new coordinates, Stark. We'll be right behind you."

"Roger that," said Stark.

Iron Man sped off in the signal's direction, surprised when all that came up before him was a small, deserted island. "The energy signature is on this island, Jarvis?"

"Affirmative, sir," the computer replied. "One point two miles away from your current location. I detect four people in the area."

Stark was almost stopped in his tracks by Jarvis' last statement. "Did you say *four* people?"

"Yes, sir," said Jarvis.

"Did you get that, Cap?" Stark asked the group in the shuttle.

Steve's voice was considerably brighter than when Stark had last heard it. "I heard, Stark," he replied as the shuttle's launch bay opened. "You think it might be them?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," Stark replied.

Sure enough, Steve and Stark touched down on the beach to find the four Guardians collapsed on the sand, coughing up water. Steve was by Castle's side as quickly as he could get to him. "Mr. Castle! Are you guys all right?"

Castle nodded as Steve helped him to sit up. "We're fine, we're fine," he said between coughs.

"What happened?" asked Stark. "Were you guys thrown clear of the explosion?"

A look of unspoken communication passed between the four Guardians. Should we tell him? Castle asked the group through the mind-link.

Beckett shrugged casually. He's your potential future son-in-law, she suggested, I'm surprised he doesn't know already.

It's not like it comes up in casual conversation, Esposito chimed in.

We know he can be trusted, Ryan agreed, wincing as he fought the mix of relief and leftover worry that were pouring off Steve in waves, and he'll keep it between us. I think he should know.

Castle caught a glimpse of the superhero out of the corner of his eye. The concern in the man's expression was obvious...and, if he was honest with himself, reminded him a lot of how Alexis might have reacted under similar circumstances. All right, he relented, let's tell him.

Steve was connected to the Guardians' mind-link. Castle shared his version of the memory that was floating through their minds. After the battle of Central Park, he explained to Steve, the Mayan creator god blessed us with the ability to, as he called it, 'pass from the mortal realm at the time and place of our choosing.' Guess none of us were ready to go just yet...

The shock of the idea knocked Steve out of the mind link. "You mean you guys are *immortal*, too?!" he exclaimed.

"So much for keeping that part between us..." Castle grumbled as Stark stared at him in amazement.

Ryan, for his part, simply carried on the conversation verbally. "We always suspected as much," he admitted with a shrug. "But the chance to test out the possibility just hadn't come up before."

"Until now?" asked Steve. The four Guardians nodded.

#

Banner twisted his head and swung his arm around his body, trying to get his tight muscles to warm up. Lanie chuckled as she watched the scientist go through the ritual...and the sound annoyed Banner to no end. "Okay, what?" he exclaimed.

Lanie suppressed the chuckle immediately, blushing as she remembered Ryan's last instructions to her: "And for God's sake, don't get him angry if I'm not around!" "Sorry," she replied to Banner's question. "But if the last set of your test results is any indication, then there's no point in you warming up. It's not going to make a damn bit of difference in your performance. Start with the bench press."

Banner slid under the machine and pushed the weights upward, grunting with the exertion on each upstroke. He was winded after a dozen reps, but by no means exhausted. "How much weight was that?" he asked.

"We'll get to that," Lanie replied cryptically, "when you're done. Next do a dozen squats." Banner did as he was directed. "A dozen dead lifts." Again, Banner did as he was directed. "Okay, now do a dozen frog jumps."

"With or without the weights?"

"With," replied Lanie, never looking up from her laptop.

Banner's eyes widened for the briefest of moments before he did as instructed. "Is that everything?"

"Not everything." Lanie approached Banner cautiously, with her hands strategically hidden behind her back. She took comfort in the knowledge of her husband's proximity on the helicarrier as it came through clearly in their bond. Lanie sent him a signal that basically boiled down to get over here, pronto! before using the weapon she had been concealing.

Banner screamed as the initial shock from the taser flowed through his system. "What the hell was that?!" he exclaimed.

Lanie frowned in mock disappointment. "Huh," she commented idly, "you're still able to talk. Guess I need to up the voltage."

Banner yelped as Lanie hit him with the next taser blast. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Have you lost your mind?"

Lanie responded with a casual shrug. "Wow," she mused, feigning surprise, "more voltage and you can still talk. Wonder what will happen if I max it out..."

Banner roared with fury as the taser struck him for the third time. He grabbed Lanie by the lapels of her lab coat and roared directly into her face. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?!'

Lanie smiled warmly as she carefully studied the expression on Banner's face and realized what *wasn't* there. "Absolutely."

"ABSOLUTELY?!" Banner fury seemed to be slowly consuming his ability to speak. So since he was unable to vent his anger with words, Banner wrapped his powerful hands around Lanie's neck and squeezed.

Lanie collapsed to the ground as the other Guardians arrived. Banner staggered back, reeling in shock as the impact of what he had just done hit him full force.

Esposito, to Banner's complete astonishment, didn't seem to have a problem with his wife's condition. In fact, he seemed far more concerned with reassuring *Banner* than he was with mourning his wife's death. "It's ok, Bruce," Esposito consoled the scientist. "You didn't do what you think you did."

Banner's eyes flew open in shock. "I didn't?!"

Esposito shook his head as his wife came to with a start, gasping for air. He turned to Lanie, smiling devilishly. "No way in hell you would have wanted to go out like *this*..."

Ryan, for his part, was sharing his partner's smile. "What part of don't piss him off until I get back didn't you understand?" he teased.

Banner, for his part, seemed to have replaced all of his anger with confusion. "Will someone *please* tell me what the hell is going on here?!" he begged in frustration.

Lanie cracked her neck, content to find out that her windpipe was no longer crushed. She quickly decided to explain her logic to Ryan by answering Banner's question. "Bruce...there was no way you could have killed me."

"But...but I did kill you," countered Banner, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"You did," agreed Lanie. "But there was no way I was actually going to *stay* dead. So I decided to use that to prove a point."

Banner was having great difficulty wrapping his head around what Lanie was trying to tell him. "What point was that?"

"You took one hell of a risk, chica," Esposito chimed in, playfully slapping his wife on the arm. "Good thing it paid off."

Ryan, as well, caught on to Lanie's point immediately. He turned to Banner to spell out the explanation. "Bruce...Lanie just got you mad enough to *kill* her."

"Yeah?"

Ryan made sure to stare Banner down so he could catch the scientist's expression. "What *didn't* happen here, Bruce?"

Banner fought his conflicting emotions just long enough to analyze his activities and behavior since he regained consciousness. His hand flew reflexively to his mouth in surprise, his stomach tightening like the final piece of the mental puzzle had actually hit him in the gut. The combination of hope, happiness and just plain *joy* that shot through his soul charged him up like someone had hooked him up to a battery. "Oh my God..." he exclaimed in wonder and amazement. "Is...is he gone for good?"

Ryan quickly connected with Banner's mind to check for the 'beast within'. "He's still there," Ryan replied. "And we can work on making sure you can call him when you need him. But for now...congratulations. I think you can finally say you have your life back."

#

A/N: Hmm...let's see...I've just killed off every major character on the show...and resurrected them...and 'fixed' one of my favorite superheroes.

Sometimes I really love this series. :-D

I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. But I can only be *sure* you're enjoying it if you leave me a comment...

Oh, and I have an idea for the next story, but it's a bit of a stretch even for *this* series. In the comments at the end of "Ascension", Serencie suggested a story set somewhere in the Guardians' extended future (100 or 1000 years into their timeline). I thought that was a really good idea, and I racked my brain to come up with an idea that might work. (Star Trek and Doctor Who crossovers were both on the table at one point.) But finally...the idea that most inspired me was doing the story from the POV of Alexis' 12 year-old granddaughter. Naturally, that would make her a completely original character, even though all of the major characters would show up in the story. The thing is...I need to have some idea whether or not you guys would be willing to read a story (even in this crazy AU) where the main character is a *young* original character. Let me know in the comments!