MARIA

"Play it again." Coulson demanded. Maria sighed and pressed the replay button with her thumb.

"Director Coulson,

You don't know half of what's going on here, so I suggest you tread carefully, carefully.

Killing Agent Glass was a bad move on your part. I hope that after the events your friends will soon face you'll realize there's no way for you to stop us. You see, you can't just chop off HYDRA's head. When you killed Garret you only cut off an arm. Now, I know your little secrets, you can't hide them from me. I also know where all your little friends live. Avengers tower isn't hard to miss. So if you feel like you want to break the rules again I would just think about that little tidbit. I know where your friends live. Remember that, Director."

"That's it, sir." Maria said. Steve frowned.

"They're threatening us again. It's a bold move after what happened to Glass."

"That wasn't us." Coulson snapped.

"I know it wasn't, but they think it was. It sounds like he or she is worried about it, like he took it as a warning of his own."

"Well, now he or she is threatening the tower." Coulson said. "What do you suggest we do?"

"I..." Steve paused, then shook his head. "We've got to evacuate the tower."

"How? Joy just gave birth, and we've got four other children in there. How are we going to evacuate?" Maria asked. "And where will we go?"

"I know just the place. There's a bomb shelter outside the city from World War II. SHIELD renovated it and cleaned it up recently and turned it into a safe house. This was after HYDRA revealed itself. They have no idea it exists. There are rooms with beds, and a kitchen, and supplies all there. You'll all be safe there."

"How are we going to get there without them finding out?" Maria asked.

"Move everyone one family at a time, okay? We'll make it look like they're going somewhere else." Coulson said.

"HYDRA has eyes everywhere. How are we going to lose them if they're following us?"

"Do you mean this bomb shelter, sir?" Maria pulled up blueprints on the screen in front of them."

"Yes."

"Well... there's good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

"Bad news." Steve said.

"The only safe way to get there without being seen is through the sewers."

"You have got to be kidding me." Steve groaned. "What's the good news?"

"We wouldn't have to walk through shit because they have walk ways all the way through. It was an original escape route. New York had it all planned if the Nazis happened to show up."

"Okay. Okay. So I'm guessing that this is how my weekend is going to be: I get to escort everyone from the tower, through New York sewers, and into a safe house?" Steve asked.

"Sounds about right." Coulson nodded. "We can't risk losing anyone."

"Fine. I'll do it." Steve said.

"Thank you, Captain." Coulson said.

"For a price." Steve grinned over at Maria, but he received a glare in return.

"If you bring our relationship into this I'll kick your ass."

"I'll leave you two to work whatever the heck you're talking about out. I've got work to do." Coulson exited the room quickly. The moment he did Maria looked up eagerly.

"What sort of price are we talking about here?"

"I don't know." Steve pulled Maria up from her chair and into his embrace. "I was thinking kind of like this..." He leaned forward and pushed his mouth up to hers, kissing her gently. Maria wrapped her arms around his neck, and gently ran her fingers through his hair. She traced her hand down his back, searching for something.

"How do you get this suit off of you?" She breathed, then began kissing his cheek, working her way down his neck.

"I-"

"Don't make me rip it off."

"Maria."

"Steve, shut up." Maria kissed his lips again, this time searching the front of the suit for some sort of zipper.

"Maria, the payment might be getting a little too generous." Steve sounded nervous. Maria pulled away.

"Don't you...? Don't you want me?"

"Are you kidding? Yes." Steve gasped. "More than anything."

"Then take me."

"You do realize we're in a room full of cameras, and also I can't? You know it's not... we're not...married."

"Oh my god. I am so glad those stupid cameras don't have audio recorders." Maria's could feel her cheeks flaming hot. Then she added, "We're not married? Sometimes I don't know if I love your gallantry or hate it."

"Hey!" Steve grabbed her arm. "I love you. And that's far better than me wanting you. Remember that." Maria smiled.

"Just to be clear it's both, right?" Steve looked over at her, swallowed, and then said quickly,

"Yes. Yes, it's both."

"I love you too, Steve."

"Alright. I guess I'm going to go tell everyone about the sewers." Steve sighed.

"Less exciting than hanging out with me, huh?"

"Very much so. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Sure you don't want me to come too? We could make a stop at my apartment..." Maria raised an eyebrow.

"No. It's alright, I don't really... Temptation is a distraction. We have to get everyone out before it's too late."

"Alright. I'll see you soon."

"Yes." Steve dashed off, his cheeks a flaming red. Only moments after he left Director Coulson joined Maria again.

"So... I just thought I'd tell you that the cameras do have the ability to record audio."

"They what now?!" Maria gasped.

"Skye installed them last week."

"Excuse me?!"

"I'm I'm pretty sure Anders in security was having a hell of a fun time watching your... porn."

"Great! Well guess what. Fucking Anders is in a shit-load of trouble." Maria jumped off her seat and raced out the door screaming, "If he uploads that feed to YouTube I will fucking KILL him!"


TONY

The house was on fire! He ran towards it, gasping. Pepper and Aspen were in there! He broke through the glass door in the back, tumbling through the smoke and calling their names. He had to find them! He had to find them before it was too late! He somehow found his way through the hall to Aspen's room.

"PEPPER! ASPEN!" He screamed, coughing on smoke. When he entered his daughter's room he saw Pepper, lying motionless on the floor. He was too late again. Too late to save her.

"Tony..." Her voice was so weak, so broken. Oh my god! She's alive!

"Pepper?!" Tony fell to his knees by her side, pulling her into his arms. "Pepper, don't worry, I'll get you out! I'll get you and Aspen out of here!"

"No, Tony... It's too late for me, and you need to accept that... please... for our baby..."

"But! You can't die! Have you seen what's happened. All these horrible things... they never would have happened if you were alive!"

"Tony!" Pepper gripped his hand tightly. "I am alive! In you! In your heart." She gently pressed her hand to his chest.

"No! I can't live without you."

"I know you can. You can over come. You're made of Iron, you just have to remember. You need to remember who you are, and what makes you who you are, for the sake of our daughter, for the sake of our friends, for the sake of the world."

"I can't."

"I know you can! I know you can be that hero that you've just bottled up inside you, because, Tony, you're made of iron, you're stronger than anyone I know. You can get through this."

"Pepper!"

"Please... take care of Aspen."

"Pepper! No!" Tony sobbed as Pepper breathed her last. Then the flames were gone, Pepper was gone. All that remained was him, and standing before him was Ironman. He stared at it, it's eyes bright. The iron was so familiar, red and gold, beautiful in the blank whiteness of the room he stood in. The words from long ago came back to him. Who are you?

"I am Ironman."


THOR

"So! Our suspect is Johnny Clayton. Ex-cop, and apparently the force thought he was dead, until he showed up in SHIELD. Well guess what, Johnny Clayton is HYDRA."

"Well, if that's not a blaring alarm I wouldn't know one." Juliette sighed. "Where do we find this Clayton guy?"

"Actually, he has no residence anywhere near here. He has a house in LA."

"But Tony disappeared here. He could not have made it all the way to LA in one night. He must have some sort of hide out here in the land of Florida."

"Okay, here's the cool part. We were able to look into Clayton's records and apparently he owns a warehouse only a couple of miles from the Center." Thor grinned.

"Nice work, Barton."

"Thanks."

"Lets go check out this warehouse." Juliette smiled.


STEVE

"This is preposterous." Loki groaned, shielding his wife and new born daughter from the fumes of the New York sewers.

"I'm sorry, would you prefer to die?" Jane snapped. She held Niel close to her chest, her twins walking closely behind her. Tasha groaned from somewhere behind Steve.

"I'm going to vomit."

"Hey, Steve, where's Maria?" Joy asked.

"She's working with Bruce on the vigilante issue."

"Sounds like fun." Natasha sighed, "I wish I wasn't handicapped."

"Being pregnant is not being handicapped." Jane snapped.

"Well it feels like it. I want to beat on some HYDRA assholes."

"When are you due, Tasha?" Steve asked, trying to make her shut her complaining pie hole.

"May seventh."

"Well, that's not too far away!" Jane said, "And then maybe you can stop complaining."

"I think that I can't wait for May seventh."

"Umm... you do know that they don't always exactly come on the due date, right?" Joy asked.

"Well, this one is."

"How much farther until we're there?" Loki asked.

"Just a little bit more. There should be a door somewhere along this side of the... ummm..." Steve gestured over to the sewage.

"Should?!" Jane screamed. Then Niel began to wail.

"Okay! This is just really getting ridiculous." Loki sighed. "This is exactly why I didn't want to stay! Daring escapes, assassins, sneaking around, and all this-"

"Loki! I'm fine!" Joy whispered.

"Hey! I found the door!" There was a scraping of stone and metal, and then a passage way appeared before them.

"Thank goodness." Tasha groaned.

"Alright, hopefully this takes us where we want to go..."

"That's less than encouraging." Jane sighed.

"Lets go." Steve led the way down the tunnel towards a tall ladder, leading out a hatch.

"You have got to be kidding me. There is no way I'll be able to climb a ladder in this present state." Tasha glared.

"Would you prefer to stay down here?"

"Climbing it is."


TONY

"Mr. Stark! Wake up!"

"Fitz?"

"You were having a nightmare!"

"Hey. It's alright, I'm fine. That bitch let you back in here?"

"Yeah. I told her I needed to rest." Fitz shrugged. "It's better than working on that..." He frowned. "That... that... thing."

"Yeah. The machine that steals DNA gene codes. What do you think of it?"

"I think that it's a horrible invention." Fitz sighed. There was a moment of silence. Tony looked over to where the little girl was shivering in a corner. You deserve a better life than this hell hole.

"Fitz..." Tony trailed off, trying to remember the exact words in his dream. I know you can be the hero that you've hidden away inside. "You know how you said that I'm always Ironman?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I have an idea."

"What?" Fitz asked, looking up at Tony in awe.

"Give me your watch."

"Huh? My watch? Simmons gave this to me."

"This is important. It's a life or death situation, obviously." Tony said. "This may get us out of here." Tony said.

Fitz looked up at his eager expression, confused. "Did you hit your head?" He asked.

"Just give me the watch." Tony demanded. Fitz unstrapped the electric watch and handed it to Tony.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get us out of here."

"How?"

"When I made the first version of the homing device bracelets for the suits I made them out of watches."

"Watches?!" Fitz looked up at Tony with a grin.

"Yes, and I just might be able to replicate it with this watch. You might have just saved our lives."


JULIETTE

Look at you. She thought, pressing her hands to where her unborn child hid. Growing so fast. Soon, she knew, she would not be able to hide her pregnancy from the others. She had wanted to be able to tell everyone with Bruce by her side, but it was looking more and more like she was stuck with Thor and Clint every day.

What am I going to call you? She thought, frowning. What am I going to name you?

Clint and Natasha had flipped through baby books for a couple months. She wasn't sure if they'd even actually decided on a name, but she knew she and Bruce could decide on a name. Her phone burst forth with her ring tone. Expecting Bruce, she picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Juliette?" There was silence as Juliette let her brain remember the voice she hadn't heard in a whole year.

"Mom."

"Oh Juliette! It's been so long! I've tried so hard to contact you, and I know you've been busy, but I was hoping... I was praying you'd pick up... Today is your father's... I mean... after all." Juliette froze. Her mother was right. Her father...

"Mom." Juliette choked on her tears, remembering and thinking about how selfish she was for thinking only about herself and how pitiful her life was because she was pregnant and couldn't tell people the way she wanted to. She was alive!

"Oh honey, it's alright! Your father would be so proud of you!"

"I'm sorry, mom, I should have called you. It's just... I graduated from the academy, and I've been so busy! I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, dear, I know you're very busy. I'm fine. Your father passed away a year ago, I'm healing, you're healing, and your brother's healing. I was calling actually to tell you about Oliver."

"What about him?" Juliette whispered.

"You met Jenny at the funeral, right?"

"Oliver's girlfriend? Yeah."

"Well they're getting married in December. Oliver just proposed to her last week."

"Mom! That's great news! She seemed very nice."

"She is, Jules, I wish you could've gotten to know her." Juliette felt guilt fill her heart.

"I'm sorry I left, mom."

"Honey, you're just following your father's path. He was a good SHIELD agent, and you are too. That's who you are and what you believe in. I trust you. I know you wouldn't hide anything from me if you were in trouble or hurting." Juliette's stomach churned.

"Yeah..."

"Anyways, darling, I really just can't believe we're talking now. What's going on in New York? How are things?"

"Well, actually-"

"Agent Oath!" Clint stood in the doorway, "We've got a lead."

"Just one second. I'm in Florida now, mom. I've been following a missing person case."

"Oh! How exciting."

"Yes, well, I've got to go we just got a lead. I'm sorry that I can't talk very long."

"It's just so nice to hear your voice, Jules, that I don't care."

"Tell Oliver congratulations for me."

"I will."

"Love you."

"I love you too, darling!"

"Bye!"