Tony was more than relieved to see an unscathed Bruce talking with Agent Hill and Director Fury. Bruce looked up when he saw Tony and smiled, interrupting his conversation to greet him. "Glad to see you're okay, Tony."

"Glad to have you back," Tony replied, returning the smile. "I'm assuming Eyepatch and Agent Hill have already told you everything that's going on."

Agent Hill rolled her eyes.

"That's Director Eyepatch to you, Mr. Stark," Fury said. Tony chuckled. "And your assumption is correct. What I need to talk to you two about is this weapon you said they were planning on creating."

"Yeah, they said something about an all-new weapon that was meant to do mass damage. They said they needed Bruce and me in order to build it, but they weren't sure how to capture Bruce and make him work without facing the Hulk."

"Smart choice," Bruce muttered.

"Do you know anything else about it?" Fury inquired.

"No. That's all they told me."

"But I'm assuming if they required my assistance, it may have something to do with gamma radiation, or something along those lines," Bruce thought aloud. "By the way, is it cold in here to anyone else?"

Tony shrugged. "I'm kinda hot."

"Anyway, back to the weapon," Fury started.

His words were cut off as the other Avengers headed towards them. Natasha and Steve were in front, both looking sweaty and tired (probably from beating the crap out of punching bags for the past half hour), with Clint following behind them. They all spread out when they entered the room.

"Dr. Banner," Natasha nodded at him as she unwrapped boxing tape off her hands. She was dressed in shorts and a tank top, and she was still breathing a little heavily from her intense workout. "Nice to see you." She reached up and pushed a piece of hair back that was plastered to her face.

"What did we miss?" Steve asked, dabbing his face with a towel.

"We were just discussing this new weapon that Exitium claimed they were building," Agent Hill informed him.

Fury spoke up again. "We had some SHIELD agents search the caves they had been working in, but they didn't leave many useful hints behind."

"Right," Tony said. "My guess is that they've relocated to work on the weapon, and then when it's ready they'll come out of hiding to unleash its power or whatever. Who knows how long it's going to take them to build it... They probably won't be ready to make an offensive move against us anytime soon."

"That's at least a little reassuring," Clint said. "It will give us some time."

"Exactly, but who cares? All we're doing is waiting around anyway," Tony said dryly. "We could use our time wisely and just end Exitium while we can."

"Waiting is the only thing we can do right now," Steve countered. "You're not starting this up again, are you?

"Starting what up again? I'm being realistic. What we're doing is giving them time. We need to find Exitium now and put an end to them before they are able to do any damage."

"I agree with Tony," Bruce said, shrinking back a few steps when Steve turned his glare to him.

"We don't even know where they are."

"Then look for them!"

"We're doing that right now," Fury said. "But even when we do find them we need a thought-out course of action before we –"

"So we find them and then do nothing," Tony clarified. "Great idea."

"Stark, maybe you like to do things recklessly and thoughtlessly, but we can't afford to make any mistakes," Natasha scolded.

"You guys aren't seeing – AH!"

A huge blast knocked them all off their feet, and suddenly there was a large hole in the side of the Helicarrier.

"Oh my god!"

An earsplitting alarm sounded, and red lights flashed throughout the room.

"What was that about them not making an offensive move?" Steve yelled at Tony over the sound the alarm and the wind and rain rushing by.

Tony stood and took a running step towards the left corridor to suit up, but then a jolt sent him flying towards the hole in the wall. The wind was pulling at him, trying to suck him right out of the Helicarrier, and Tony grabbed onto the broken wall of the airship to keep from plummeting to the ground. But his grip was not good enough.

"Tony!"

Just as Tony's fingers slipped, he felt a strong hand grab onto his. Bruce was leaning out of the hole, straining to pull Tony back into the Helicarrier. But the ship's sharp decline and a tilt made Bruce pitch forward, and his grasp on Tony's hand was jarred.

"No!"

Tony let out a scream as he fell unboundedly through the stormy sky.