First of all, thanks for all the birthday wishes guys! That made me feel all fuzzy inside. I had a great birthday actually. I woke up to find the kitchen decked out in Avengers party decorations and the gift bag sitting on the table. My mom had me open it right away and I found this huge Captain America action figure that talks. Needless to say it was awesome and the rest of my presents were Avengers, Harry Potter and Hunger Games related.

So anyway, here we are now. I will be posting another chapter later today because of the short length of this one. And also, I don't want you guys to kill me.

miller330: Oh, I think you'll like this chapter...

Nagrom Renin: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hopefully you like this chapter.

Itsgoose2u: I knooooow Cap is so fustrating. Hopefully this chapter will make you happy :)

Arrows the Wolf: Yay! I'm glad you love it.

Silentflier: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like Gwen. I'm always so worried about OCs and stuff. I've noticed some spelling errrors as well and I'm sitting here and face-palming myself because of them.

BANEHiwatari: Thank you! That's cool you're a sophomore too. However, I take the ACTs (basically the same thing, right?) and my school is like college this and college that so I'm totally freaking out. But thank you for your very nice review :)

KiyUzumaki: Thank you!

AngelVamp6688: Wee! It is the best birthday gift haha. Have fun!

firemage23: That's always good to hear, haha! I'm glad you like it.

garnet86: Thank you! I'm glad you're asking yourself questions.

Lily of the Sun: He's on the aircraft. I didn't really see a reason for him to go into the tower :)

Kittyjs123: I know, so many Loki feels haha (my dad said yesterday that no one likes Loki because he's evil. He obviously hasn't been on the internet lately)

Chapter Twenty-One

Thor was becoming irritated. Why was it that Loki had to keep doing things like this? Why couldn't he just come home? But then again, that was the problem. Loki no longer had a home. And Thor hated that.

So, as the god searched for the tesseract and his adoptive brother, he wondered what Loki was truly up to. If he wasn't going to destroy the tower, what was the point of placing explosives inside of it? What was his plan.

But Thor did not have an answer to any of his questions. Loki was hurting. That's all he could think about. And apparently to all the other Avengers, that wasn't a legitmate reason to do any of this. Not that Thor was trying to make up an excuse or anything. He just wanted them to understand that Loki wasn't in his right mind.

Thor tightened his grip on Mjolnir as he continued his search. He hoped that Gwen could find Loki. She seemed to have at least a bit of sympathy for him. Maybe she could talk him into giving up all of the chaos he created.

But then again, he could only hope.

The elevator ride felt like ages to Gwen. There was tension in the air around her and Steve as she realized he was upset with her. She assumed it was only because he cared about her and didn't want her to get hurt, but she still felt slightly guilty for making him feel that way.

The elevator finally opened and Steve stepped out first and held her back as if to make sure there was nothing there. After he deemed it safe, Gwen stepped forward and felt goosebumps rise on her skin. It wasn't that it was cold or something seemed off. Instead, she felt some sort of energy.

"It's here," she said.

Steve turned around. "What is?"

"The tesseract," she answered after a moment of silence.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Guys, the tesseract is in the penthouse," said Steve so that others could hear him through their earpieces.

There was no response.

"Anyone?" asked Steve.

"Loki must've cut our communications," suggested Gwen.

Steve groaned. "Figures."

Gwen let her legs take her to the kitchen. She wasn't sure why she went there, but she felt like she should. For a moment, she wondered if that's where the tesseract was. She walked up to a specific cabinet and opened it.

Inside was the cube.

"I found it," she said quietly, shocked at how she simply knew where it was.

"What?" asked Steve.

"I found it!" she repeated, taking out the cube.

"Be careful!"

Steve rushed over to her and took the tesseract in his hands. He looked slighly disgusted by it as the tesseract had caused so much trouble for him, all the way back to World War II.

"We should take this back to the others," he suggested, walking towards the elevator.

"You go, I'll stay here," said Gwen.

Steve turned around and shook his head. "No, you're coming with me."

"Steve, you really need to listen-"

"No, Gwen, you're not staying here! Loki's obviously nearby and I'm not letting you out of my sight!"

"Why?" she asked, feeling slightly irritated. "I'm capable of defending myself."

"Please, Gwen. I don't want you up here alone."

"Steve, I need you to trust me."

Gwen had never sounded so confident in her life. She stood her ground as Steve slowly approached her.

"I do trust you," he said. "But I don't trust Loki."

"I know. No one does. But you need to trust me."

"Gwen..."

"Listen to me Steve Rogers! Remember when I told you about the doctors experimenting on me? I told you that I trusted you. And then right before you were about to leave, you said that you trusted me, too. I need you to trust me right now. I'll never need you to trust me more for the rest of our lives. I need to stay here. I need to find Loki. I'm the only one that can stop him."

"And what makes you think that?"

"I just know. And I told you, I have a plan."

Steve looked deep in thought for a moment before sighing in defeat. Gwen felt triumphant at his expression which told her that she won and she was going to get to stay.

"Fine," he said, slowly. "I trust you. I don't want you to be up here, but I trust you."

"Thank you."

He stood there awkwardly for a moment, as if unsure of what to do. Then he slowly turned around to begin heading back to the elevator.

Gwen watched as Steve took a step away from her. She wasn't sure what made her do what she did next. It was almost like something in her snapped. Gwen reached out and grabbed into his arm the best she could because of his muscles and turned him around. Once he was facing her, she shifted her weight to the tips of her toes as she reached up and placed her lips upon his.

The kiss wasn't like how some people kissed in movies, specifically the ones based on Nicholas Sparks books, but was instead more gentle and light. There was a split second in which Gwen could tell Steve was surprised, but he quickly kissed her back as though he had been waiting for a chance to do this.

Gwen was the one to pull away, to her surprise, and Steve stared at her, wide-eyed. He composed himself and cleared his throat before moving again.

"Be careful," he said with a small boyish smile.

Gwen smiled back as she watched him back up, not breaking eye contact with her. If only she had done this sooner and not when it was possible she wouldn't make it out of the tower alive.

Out of nowhere, a ticking noise started from above them and Gwen looked up just in time to see a small bomb appear out of nowhere that was attached to the ceiling. She stood in shock and fear as the time on the bomb went down to zero.

"Gwen!"

Suddenly, Gwen felt herself falling back and sliding on the floor just as the bomb went off. She only had just enough time to look back at where she had just stood to see the ceiling fall and crumble down on top of Steve.