Hello lovelies! Long time, no write. I AM SOOOOORRY! But I haven't gotten many reviews, and that's what KEEPS ME GOING. So please review, you fantastic readers, you!

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tony asked leaning over Jo. He was making sure all of the medical screens she was hooked up to were working. They were in a plain white room only with Jo in a chair and the screens in the middle of it.

Jo nodded. "I have to know what happened to my mom," She said looking up to him with sad eyes. "But are the restraints necessary?" She pulled against the steel shackles connected to the floor that were around her ankles and wrists.

"Yes," Fury said from a window in the front of the room. "We do not know how you will react to the memories. And don't get too hopeful that the memory will be about your mother. It could be about anything." Fury and the rest of the team stood in the small room connected to the one Jo was in.

A object, similar to a helmet, sat on Jo's head connecting to her through all sorts of wires and suction cup type things. There were straps around her arms monitoring her heartbeat. Tony set a hand on her shoulder, "Good luck, kid." He removed his hand and walked out of the room through a thick, bolted door.

She wriggled uncomfortably against the shackles and looked up anxiously at the window. As Tony entered, Fury spoke over the intercom, "Are you ready?" Jo paused before nodding. She felt the machine start up and sensed the energy pulsing through the room. This is it, Jo thought, relaxing her muscles. No turning back.

Bruce wrung his hands in a horrible state of nervousness. "Are you sure this is safe, Director?" He had never seen anything like this technology. There was a large screen in the room they were in that was supposed to project the images in her thoughts onto it. He was very sceptical and worried about the girl strapped to a chair and hooked up like a lab rat.

"It was made by one of the smartest men I have ever known. I have faith that this will work," Fury said flipping some switches and watching the girl intently. Everyone watched as she tensed up and her expression went blank. They turned to the screen as images began to pop up.

Jo was ten. Her hair was in a tangled mess and tears streamed down her face. Sobs wracked her body as her mother held her close.

"Shhh. Baby, it's okay. Everything will be okay," Her long, elegant fingers smoothed back her hair. The men had come again, but now both of them knew it was over. They sat in the women's bathroom of a closed gas station. The men had come prepared this time, with back up and machine guns.

The small girl screamed as they banged on the door. "COME OUT!" The two continued to hold on to each other in fear. More sobs forced themselves out of Jo's mouth as the broke down the door. She screeched in protest as one of them yanked her back by the hair and grabbed her mother by the underarms.

He held Jo back, struggling slightly as she fought her hardest trying to get back to her mother. She sobbed violently, collapsing against the man and pounding her small fists into his chest. Jo clawed at his face and kicked his knees. He reached behind his back and pulled out a small taser.

Seeing it, Jo flopped around and tried to run to her mother. Her legs buckled out from beneath her as he shoved the taser against her thigh and sent thousands of volts of electricity through her skin. She felt her vision blur as she fell to her knees.

Jo ignored and looked up at her mother, blinking rapidly. She was horrified to see them brutally torturing her. Blood spurted from her cut wrists and began to puddle beneath her. Jo screamed out. One of them held a taser against her neck and laughed as she spasmed.

The savagely ripped off her blouse. She smacked at them and ripped her nails across one of their faces. He jerked back, angrily. He motioned to one of the others and they handed him a vile of bubbling, green liquid.

"Baby! Close your eyes!" She screeched. But Jo couldn't. She watched in terror as the man poured the liquid over her face. It sizzled and smoked as it distorted her face. Jo's eyes widened as her mom's smooth, pale skin pinched and puckered.

"MOM!" Jo tried to get up, but the man pushed her back down. "No! PLEASE!" They held a gun up to her head and waited for the liquid to stop sizzling. Jo immediately recognized the gun. It had tiny, exploding bullets. When they entered the body, they explode and shatter whatever it comes in contact with.

Her mom knew this too. "I love you baby! I love you! Close your eyes, my darling! CLOSE THEM!" But Jo didn't. She watched as the man pulled the trigger. The bullet entered her head and, after a moment, bursted. Blood splattered the walls. The men. Jo. It was everywhere. Jo's sobbing stopped as she looked at the body of her mother fall to the floor with a thump.

She slowly got up as the man pulled her to her feet. Jo's heart suddenly seemed as if it had stopped beating. A cold, numbness washed over her. Her vision blotted with black spots, and she collapsed into a lump on the floor.

The Avengers stared at the screens with horrified expressions. Bruce looked at the girl in the next room. She looked panicked and pulled against the shackles. The floor cracked as she struggled, shaking uncontrollably. "Let her out!" He shouted at Fury, as the rest turned to look at Jo. Tony ran to the door as Fury pushed a button to release the restraints. Jo fell to the ground in a shaky mess. Falling to his knees, Tony grabbed his daughter by the shoulders as her body convulsed. He reached for the garbage can and brought it over to them. Jo gripped the sides, throwing up the contents of her stomach.

Tony observed as his daughter typed away mercilessly at her computer. He was worried, and felt he had rightful reason. It had been three days since the little 'incident', yet she worked through the trauma and spent hours upon hours searching for Woodrath. He understood her obsession, of course. He was searching relentlessly too. But this routine wasn't healthy, and Tony wouldn't just sit by and watch his daughter go down this road.

She drank coffee by the gallons and stayed up until the sky first showed signs of day. Even then, Jo would only sleep for a while before waking up again to continue this tedious routine. Tony had the room next to hers and knew that the little time she did take to sleep, was restless. She was quickly regaining fragmented memories, she had told him. They came in bits and pieces in her dreams. The only good thing happening was that Jo was slowly beginning to lose the blank, vacant look in her eyes that had come about the other day.

Aside for the dangerous lack of sleep, something was also going on between Bruce and Jo. They didn't talk, or even look at eachother. Their relationship had gone from heated kisses to unbearable tension. And Tony hated it. Something was going on and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

But just as he was about to open his mouth, Jo shouted, "I found something!" She quickly pulled up a map and scanned over it. Bruce ran out to get Fury and the others as Tony bent over Jo's shoulder.

"Wait... That can't be..." She mumbled.

"What?" Tony asked impatiently.

Jo jumped and looked around anxiously. "It says they're here!"

"Wha-"

BOOM!

"Seriously!" Tony cried as dust and debris filled the air, "Can we not get a day off?"