BAH! I HAVE NO EXCUSE! I FAIL AT THINGS! EVERYTHINGS!

Avengers: Astounded
Part 3: Elastic Heart
Chapter 25: We Are the Waiting

It was almost an hour later when they finally emerged from the elevator and joined the rest of the team. Natasha was on the couch, lounging across both Thor and Janet. She looked rather content while Janet looked even tinier than usually and Thor looked a bit uncertain. Clint was sitting on the other end of the large couch, his head back, and was snoring pretty loudly. Bruce was at the kitchen counter, brewing a pot of coffee.

Steve tried hard not to blush as they all turned to stare at them. He put on his serious face and nodded very matter-of-factly.

Tony immediately swept towards Bruce, practically floating. "I love you." He said, leaning against the man.

Steve smiled slightly. Tony could have just as easily been talking to the coffee pot than their friend. Actually, Steve was certain that was the case. The mechanic was totally declaring his undying love for the coffee pot.

Seeing them, Natasha leaned over and threw her phone at the sleeping Clint. It hit him in the side of the head, bounced off, and returned to her. Clint snapped awake and rubbed at his head. "What just happened?"

"Your head got in the way of my phone." Natasha answered fluidly.

"You threw… your phone… at me?" He asked slowly.

"Cap and Tony are back." Natasha said. "It was an effective way to wake you up."

Clint let out a groan. "I do not what to know what you two were doing for so long."

Janet leaned forward as far as she could around Natasha. "Oh I do!"

And it was broken. Just like that. Steve looked at the floor. The floor was good.

"Ohhhhh." Tony groaned out. "It involved tassels and scarves."

Steve's eyes shot to Tony and widened. He shook his head. "Shut up. It did not."

"That new stripper pole…" Tony started with a smile.

"Shut up!" Steve yelled.

Tony was smiling as he sipped his coffee. Clearly pleased with himself.

Steve shook his head. "Have the others arrived yet?"

"Yes." Natasha answered. "They're downstairs with Fury. I texted Sam already." She looked down at her phone. "They're on their way up."

Steve tilted his head. "Shouldn't we go down to one of the conference rooms?"

"Hell no." Tony leaned against the counter.

"I'm comfortable right here." Natasha said.

Thor didn't look quite so comfortable as he said, "We can make our reports adequately from here."

"Yes!" Tony held up his cup. "Yes we can."

Steve took a deep breath and nodded. He could understand that. Thor had been gone for four months, being put through whatever Loki or whoever did to him. The god looked more on edge than Steve had ever seen him. And Tony… well Tony was whining like he'd been gone four months. Steve stepped back and took a step towards Tony. He leaned against the counter beside him.

They didn't have to wait long before the elevator in the hall opened. Five people swept into the room and quickly found spots. Peter squeezed himself on the couch between Thor and the scowling Clint. Bucky sat on the floor in the corner and leaned against the wall. Sam, smiling widely at Tony, took a seat near him and Steve at the counter. Fury crossed the room and sat in the remaining chair, an overly soft armchair. Maria Hill moved to hover beside him. Once all situated, Bruce moved to stand near the window.

It was certainly the most people that had ever been in the oddly furnished kitchen slash lounge slash whatever Tony's intent was when he designed it. But everyone looked content. Well… Steve thought everyone looked content. So he pushed it from his mind and cleared his throat. "I want to thank everyone for joining us fort his… unconventional meeting. With the past few days we've had… or months really…" He added with a smile. "It's nice to use a home environment."

"Yes. We can get on with it." Fury said loudly, taking over.

Steve clamped his mouth shut and stepped back. He bit back a sigh and sat down beside Tony. Tony elbowed him. It's fine, he mouthed. If Fury wanted to run the meeting, that was fine. Mostly fine. Everyone kept telling him that he was still the Captain, this was still his team, he was still in charge. But whatever. So what if Fury obliviously thought he was…

Steve blinked and shook his head. Tony leaned forward a bit and rested his head against Steve's shoulder. Steve leaned into the touch and tuned back in to the meeting.

Thor was speaking now. "That's honestly it. I don't know what happened. I woke up and I came back. That's it. I didn't know I'd been gone so long."

"What about your... thingie?" Janet mimed swinging a hammer.

"I believe the difficult word you are looking for is hammer." Tony said.

"Yes!" Janet said with a smile. "What about your hammer?"

"Hammer is not a difficult word." Peter said.

Thor shook his head. "I do not know where it is."

Tony shook his head. "It went flying off the day Loki took me. Blew a hole right through the elevator shaft."

Thor glanced back at him and shook his head. "It might have left earth when I called it but it did not return to me. I fear someone may have intercepted it somehow."

Natasha frowned. "Loki?"

"Loki can't touch it. He's unworthy." Tony said in a mocking tone.

Fury turned his attention to Tony. "What about you Stark?"

Tony shook his head. "I don't have his hammer."

Fury rolled his eyes. "What happened to you?" He barked out.

Tony shrugged. "I know less than goldilocks here." He said. "Or maybe the same. Loki panicked, nabbed me from outside of the tower were I saw standing, gawking at the hole from the street. His mouth was flapping for a while, but I wasn't really listening. He kept telling me I was so awesome because I kept foiling his plans."

Thor snorted.

"Okay, not in those words exactly." Tony said with a shrug. "But that was the gist. He was mad he couldn't kill me. But he didn't actually try anything until the rescue team smashed through the windows. Just not Loki's style. Kidnap and kill in secret?" He shook his head. "He needs a big, flashy, flamboyant production." Tony absently picked at a piece of fuzz on Steve's sleeve. "So yeah. Pretty unproductive. Except we know Loki's behind Godzilla, alien frogs, Hulk mugging, fire breathing unicorns, purple gas cloud thing, and Jarvis' attack. So it is all connected. And alien so… I was right."

Fury rolled his eyes. "Right or not doesn't help us fight the Asgardian God of Mischief."

"No." Tony snapped. "But now we know what we're dealing with." He leaned back a bit from Steve and threw up his arms. "Come on. It's Loki." He shook his head. "He's getting nervous. He's flailing and he's panicking. We've backed him into a corner."

Steve nodded. "He'll make another mistake and we'll get him."

"Another mistake?" Peter asked. "What was his first one?"

"Touching Tony." Steve said. Tony smiled and buried his head against him.

"So it doesn't matter that he's hurt all of us." Clint snapped. "He touches your precious boyfriend and suddenly, that's bad." Clint let out a sharp laugh. "I see where we all rank."

Steve's eyes widened. "That's not what I meant."

"Shut up Clint." Tony snapped.

"I meant…" Steve stammered. "The panicking angle we've been talking about. Kidnapping… uh…"

"It's okay babe." Tony said, throwing his arms around Steve's neck and clinging against him. "We all know you like me best."

"No. No, no NO! No! Not true!" Steve was getting worked up. Tony clearly saw it. Tony tightened his grip around Steve's neck.

"Hey. It's okay." He whispered in his ear. "Calm down. Deep breath. Clint's just being an ass. No one thinks you don't care about them."

Steve took a deep breath and nodded and leaned into Tony's touch.

Fury effectively took over the meeting. He spouted off some statistics and rambled on about increased security. Which prompted a screaming match between him and Tony because how DARE Fury imply that Tony's security system wasn't awesome. Steve pulled him back down to his seat and Tony finally stopped screaming and flailing. After that, Steve zoned out a bit. He hadn't meant to, but Fury wasn't saying anything new. He was going on and on about what they already all knew. Steve wanted to plan, he wanted to talk to Thor, see if the God had any idea where his brother would be hiding. Or why he thought Loki grabbed Tony. He wanted to be doing something more than just boring everyone to death.

"Look..." Tony finally said, sounding thoroughly drained. "We're all exhausted and starving and some of us have been gone for a while. I have Jarvis scanning everything. TV, radio, even fucking Twitter. I've hacked into every Government satellite that they don't admit to owning and is very highly illegal. Loki steps out of wherever he's hiding, we will know."

Fury narrowed his eye at him and shook his head. "I will forget you said all that."

Tony nodded. "Appreciated."

Fury shook his head slowly. "Everyone say on alert. And close." He got to his feet and Hill followed suit.

Thor bolted from the room nearly the instant the meeting concluded. Natasha watched him and shook her head. Janet grabbed her hand. "He was held captive for four months, Nat. We probably make him nervous all together."

Natasha nodded slowly and looked away.

"Well… he better suck it up fast." Tony said. "Loki could attack anytime."

Banner was back at the coffee pot, pouring himself another cup. He turned around and chose that time to chime in for the first time. "Tony, he was gone a long time."

"Not really." Clint shook his head. "He's a god. He's like... a thousand years old or some shit."

Natasha leaned over and smacked him.

"Damnit, Tash. Fuck off." Clint got up and stormed out. As loud as he could.

"Clint. Wait up." Tony jumped up and glanced back at Steve. "We done here, right?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

Tony gave Steve a thumbs up and then turned to hurry after Clint. He snuck into the elevator behind him. "Hey."

Clint let out sigh and leaned against the wall. "Hey."

"So… is this it?" Tony asked as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall opposite of him. "Phil isn't the best boyfriend ever and you become a giant ass?"

"Guess so."

"Clint!"

Clint let out a sigh. "I'm not like… a romantic person. And I didn't really expect him to change for me. At least not in the beginning. But I just thought… you know… somewhere along the line, I thought he loved me." Clint took a deep breath and breathed it out. "He said it was his job. He had to do it. And I get that. But then… watching Steve these past three days… Tony… I don't think he stopped to breathe."

Tony smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah." Clint ground out.

"I didn't mean to steal the attention." Tony said quickly. "I really wanted to talk about you. But thanks."

Clint shrugged. "Whatever. Look. I'm fine, okay?"

"Are you really?"

Clint sighed and thumped his head against the wall with a thud. "Just let me be a giant ass for a while." He whined.

Tony sighed. "Cap's not going to like that answer."

"No offense to your boyfriend but I don't fucking care what he thinks."

"Well… he is the Captain."

Clint was silent a moment. "Fine. I care what Captain America thinks. I don't care what your boyfriend Steve thinks."

"Wait…" Tony said. "That makes no sense. They're the same person."

"Not really. See, Captain America doesn't put up with your bullshit. But somehow, you tricked Steve into dating you."

"Same person!"

"Nope."

Tony groaned and threw up his arms. "Whatever. Jarvis is Mark 138 flight ready?"

"Yes sir." The robotic voice answered. "It was finished yesterday. Dum-E worked on it non-stop while you were gone. He wanted it down when you returned."

"Good!" He turned back to Clint. "We're gonna go train on the roof. Go get your shit."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

If Steve was secretly hoping for things to settle down while they searched for a hostile, murderous, mischievous God, he was vastly disappointed. Tony spent all his time pouring over data with Clint and Jarvis, searching for any possible lead. Steve had his reservations about how much Clint was really helping. But he suspected it had more to do with Tony trying to secretly help their friend.

Thor was gone again. He disappeared for long periods of time, with little more than Jane's name muttered. Steve tried a few times to ask him about Loki but every time he evaded the question.

"Something bad happened to him." Natasha said softly. "He's not the same man anymore."

The four of them were up in Tony's workshop, sitting around the table. Him, Natasha, Steve, and Clint. Steve sighed and nodded. "Fluffy's hissed at him every time he walks in the same room."

Tony rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Dickhead is not a good judge of character. Plus... he's a cat."

Steve ignored him and turned to Natasha. "Do you think Loki has control of him?"

She glanced at Clint and then to the ground. "I don't know." She breathed out, sounding uncertain. "I just... feel like... it's not him."

"What do we do?" Clint asked.

Steve leaned forward on the table. "Nothing." He said softly. "We watch, we listen, we wait for some further evidence that something's really wrong. He's family. He deserves time to adjust if that's all he needs."

Tony nodded. "Yeah. Cap's right. But like... let's keep our eyes on him. All of us. Watch him closely." He paused for a moment. "With our eyes."

Clint flipped him off.

Tony smiled smugly and leaned back in his seat.

Steve fought smiling and instead cleared his throat. "Keep this between the four of us."

Tony nodded. "Sure."

"Yes." Natasha said.

"Fiiiiiine." Clint drug out. "Can I go back to wallowing now?"

"Yes." Tony said.

Clint got up and left. Natasha watched him for a moment with a sad expression and then rolled after him.

Steve let out a sigh and leaned against Tony's arm. "Do you really think Loki has control over him?"

Tony was silent for a moment, mulling it over. "Natasha's right." He finally said, all serious again. "Something's up. And his damn hammer's missing. And he doesn't fucking care. It'd be like... one of my suit's walking off!"

Steve smiled. "Tony, you have like 50."

Tony shook his head. "No I don't..." He frowned and looked away for a moment. "Do I? No... I'm sure I don't."

"I don't want to know how many you have." Steve said, shaking his head. He sat up and nodded. "But I get your point. I know it's just a tool. But my shield's a part of me."

Tony smiled and glanced at him sideways. "Plus you're pretty hot with it."

"Tony."

"Think you can hold it and slide down that stripper pole I ordered?"

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

They'd been watching a movie in Tony's workshop. With the bots and the cat. And had fallen asleep. Like a million times before. Nothing special. Until an alarm sounded, waking them up.

"Sir." Jarvis' voice said loudly. "Loki's been spotted in downtown Los Angeles."

"Open communication channels." Tony said as they both jumped up. Tony turned to his row of suits as Steve dashed for the door. "We have eyes on Loki." Tony said loudly.

Steve disappeared out the door as his voice came over the com. "Positions?"

"Sleeping." Bucky grumbled.

"Gym class." Came a whispered answer from Peter.

"Here." Bruce said as he stepped into the workshop. "I'll help Jarvis keep an eye on things."

Tony gave Bruce a thumbs up as he headed towards an open window and jumped out.

"Quinnjet 4 is already powered up, sir." Jarvis said.

"Yeah... that was me." Clint said over the line. "May have been about to steal one."

"Commandeer." Sam said. "Sounds cooler. We were going for ice cream."

"In the jet?" Steve asked.

"Hey!" Sam snapped. "We look cool!"

Tony shook his head as he dropped down into the hanger and slipped inside. "You two aren't allowed to hang out anymore."

"Jealous?" Sam said, smiling broadly as he slipped his wingpack on.

Tony popped off his faceplate and glared at the man. "Another word and I'll clip your wings."

Steve arrived a second later all suited up and strode towards the Quinnjet. "That leaves Nat, Jan, and Thor unaccounted for."

"Thor left last night." Natasha's voice answered. "Jan and I are disposed."

"Kinky." Tony said.

"A bit."

"Nat!"

They all filed into the jet. Natasha and Janet were last but finally, they were in the air.

"This is so awesome!" Peter whispered. "I'm on my way. Aunt May's gonna kill me for ditching again."

"We'll swing by and pick you up." Steve said. "We're locking in on your signal now."

Tony leaned over him, watching the screens. He pulled up the video of Loki.

Clint strapped himself in behind them and leaned back. "Is it weird that minus the sulky god, we were all home?"

"Not me." Peter's voice said..

"You don't live here." Clint said. "You don't count."

There was a pause before the kid's voice came back over the line. "Can I move in like Janet if I start dating one of you?"

"Interesting." Tony said. "Who?"

"Sam."

Tony straightened up. "Fast answer."

"Only answer." Peter answered. "Cap's taken. Banner taught at my school. Bucky's kinda scary. And Clint's... uh..."

"Clint?" Tony offered.

"Yes!" Peter answered. "Sam's really the only choice."

"Incoming, Spidey." Tony said as Steve slowed the jet.

"I see ya."

"Choice for what?" Sam asked as he stepped into the cockpit. He'd been in the back, playing with his wingpack. And not paying any attention.

Steve glanced back and shook his head. "Don't ask."

"Sam! Dude!" Peter shouted over the line. "Date me!"

Sam frowned and his mouth dropped open. "Uh..."

"So I can move in." The door dropped open and a strand of webbing shot in. Peter followed, pulling himself in a moment later. The hatch shut behind him and he pulled off his mask.

Clint turned slightly at the noise. "Why am I automatically disqualified?"

Peter turned towards him and shrugged. "You're just too Clint."

Clint frowned. "What the fuck's that mean?"

Peter smiled and pointed at him. "That."

"Fuck you!" Clint said, crossing his arms. "I'm awesome."

Natasha shook her head. "You don't even know what the kid looks like."

Peter laughed. "That's actually a good thing."

"Probably." Tony agreed.

Peter's mouth dropped open. "Hey!"

Tony shrugged. "You said it first."

"You agreed." Peter named.

"You sound cute." Clint said with a shrug.

Peter brightened up immediately. "Thanks!"

"He's twelve."

"Fifteen!"

"Hey!" Clint said, holding up his hands. "He's shacking up with Falcon, not me."

Sam sat down beside the silent, brooding Bucky. "Please stop involving me in whatever this is."

Tony crossed his arms and shrugged. "You wanted on the team. This is normal."

Sam glared at Tony for a moment. Then he leaned over to look around him. "Cap, I quit."

"Okay." Steve said easily. "We'll drop you off."

"Fantastic!" Sam turned to Bucky. "Buck! We can start our own team..."

"No." Bucky answered loudly and quickly.

Sam's mouth dropped open. "How ya gonna do a brother like that?"

"We aren't brothers."

Falcon faked being stabbed.

"Sir! Someone's…" Jarvis' voice cut out.

"Jarvis?" Tony spun around. "Jarvis!"

Steve pulled the jet up midflight, hovering. He turned and looked at Tony.

"Junior, get Jarvis." The phone hovered in front of him but didn't get an answer either. "It's a trap!" He shouted.

"What?" Cap gawked at him.

"It's a trap." Tony repeated, stepping forward. He bent over the control panel and typed in a few key strokes. Nothing. "I can't get Jarvis to answer. I think Loki lured us away to attack the tower." He couldn't get any lock on the tower.

Steve's eyes widened slowly.

"The tower?" Clint asked. "Why?"

Tony shrugged as he stood back up. "I don't know. Hit us where we live, destroy our home, get to Fury."

Steve frowned. "Fury's new people… I don't think many of them have been trained."

Tony nodded. "And Bruce is very anti-fighting right now."

"But we saw Loki on the news." Natasha said.

"We split up." Clint said. "We need to check both."

Steve nodded. "Widow. Go scout of the place Loki was reported being seen. Take Falcon, Wasp, And Spidy…"

"Oh… OH!" Peter said loudly, jumping up and down in front of him and waving his arms. "Can I go with you?" He pointed at Cap. "I never get to go with you."

"Fine." He turned to Bucky and the man nodded. "Hawk, Iron, and… Spidy… you're with me. We're heading back to the tower. You take the jet." Steve stood up and stepped back as Bucky sat at the controls. "Drop a bit and open the hatch."

"Yes!" Peter said loudly as the four of them suited back up and exited the jet.

Cap shook his head. "This is a serious situation, Spidy."

"Oh totally!" Peter said, holding up his arms and nodding. "Can I hold your shield?"

Cap shook his head again. "It's not a toy."

"Aw! Come on!"

"Serious!" Tony snapped.

"He's 12." Clint said. "What do you expect?"

"I'm not 12."

"If you want to hang with the big boys, shut up!" Tony said.

They hurried back towards the tower, fast as they could. As they got closer, Tony pulled ahead, flying above the buildings. He sped up the moment he saw their home. Something big was perched on the top. Very big. With horns and spikes and teeth. And giant claws that were ripping through the top couple of floors, it looked like. Top floor. His workshop was on the top floor. His bots were on the top floor. His cat was on the top floor. "Fluffy!" He yelled as he accelerated towards the building.