Tony crouched behind a short wall as several children ran past, hollering nonsensically and waving their guns in the air.

"Where the hell did Steve go?" he muttered to himself, risking a peek over the low wall and glancing around for any sign of the tall blonde. They had been separated during the last battle with a particularly vicious group of children, and now Tony was alone, hunched defensively in a corner. It would be nothing short of suicide to risk journeying alone in this place.

Tony's phone began buzzing insistently in his pocket. He pulled it out, glancing at the screen, which was announcing that he had a "Call from Steve."

Wait – he had a call from Steve?

From Steve?

Tony answered the call promptly.

"Steve?!"

"Tony?" Steve's voice sounded rather muffled, as though he wasn't sure how to hold the phone correctly.

"Steve, did you just call me? By yourself?"

"Yes," Steve replied, sounding rather awestruck at himself. "Tony, I did it! I actually did it!"

"Steve, I can't even begin to tell you how proud of you I am right now, but we need to find each other. It's dangerous to be alone in here."

"I'm downstairs in the far corner to the left of the entrance – Where are you?"

"Not far – Stay there, I'll find you."

"You got it."

Tony hung up, smiling and shaking his head as he sped up the narrow corridor, luckily devoid of children, and rounded a couple of tight corners before spotting Steve, who was positioned warily in the corner (presumably so he could see anyone sneaking up on him), looking very much like the soldier he was with his gun tucked under his shoulder, ready to shoot. He swiveled sharply as he spotted Tony out of the corner of his eye, before he recognised his friend and his face broke into a wide smile.

"Tony! I can't believe it, I actually did it…!"

Tony marched over and gave Steve a high five, also grinning broadly.

"Knew you had it in you, Cap. "

At that moment, a small group of five or six kids ran by, huddled closely together, not even noticing Tony or Steve as all of their vest vibrated and blinked red. A couple of them were shaking slightly, and one boy's eye was even twitching.

"What happened there?" Tony asked, before he and Steve looked at each other, both of them nodding in comprehension.

"Clint and Tasha," they said together, rolling their eyes and smiling grimly in understanding.

"Should have known," Tony laughed. "It's a shame, rea – AUGH!"

Tony had leapt backwards with a shout of surprise, nearly knocking Steve to the floor in his moment of terror. The cause of this outburst was in the form of a sheepishly grinning Peter, who had just dropped down from the ceiling directly in front of an unsuspecting Tony Stark.

"Jesus, Peter, you've got to stop doing that!" Tony cried, one hand over his arc reactor, trying to bring his breathing back to normal.

"Sorry," Peter muttered, looking at the ground to avoid catching Steve's eye. He didn't think Tony would appreciate it very much if they both burst into untamed giggles at his expense.

"Anyway, Peter, we were just about to discuss our battle strategy," Steve said. "I was thinking – "

But Peter cut him off with a raise of his hand, biting his lower lip hesitantly. Tony and Steve both regarded him with slightly confused expressions.

"There's been, well, a slight change in circumstances," Peter told them.

"Why? What's happened?" Tony asked urgently.

"It's Loki," Peter replied softly.

"Of course it is," Tony and Steve said together.

"What's he done this time?" Steve asked.

"I'm not sure yet…" Peter replied, "But something is definitely off. Don't you guys see it? Where have all the rest of the kids gone? Why is it so quiet?"

Steve and Tony went silent as they considered Peter's words. He was right – Where had all the devious children gone? And what could Loki possibly be plotting this time?

"Watch out!" Tony yelled suddenly as he glimpsed movement over Peter's shoulder. Clint and Natasha emerged from behind a wall. Tony began shooting wildly at them, clumsy shots which they effortlessly dodged.

"Wait," said Steve, setting a hand on Tony's arm. "Don't shoot…I don't think they're here to fight."

"Steve's right," Natasha said. She and Clint raised their arms as if in mock surrender. "We just want to talk."

"Something is wrong here," Clint continued, "And we think that – "

"Loki's behind it," Tony, Steve, and Peter all joined in on the final words.

"Yeah, I knew we never should have invited him," Tony remarked, shaking his head.

"Has anyone seen Thor or Bruce?" Steve asked them, looking slightly concerned.

"Well, no one's seen Bruce since we got here, but last we knew, Thor was going off to look for Loki to try to talk him out of whatever he was plotting," Natasha replied.

"How did he know Loki was plotting something?" Tony asked.

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"This is Loki we're talking about. He can't go more than about twenty minutes without plotting something fundamentally evil."

Suddenly, a high, cold laugh echoed down one of the corridors to the left.

"And there is our proof," Clint said grimly.