Steve and Tony raced down the corridors, taking note of all the destruction they were passing. There were limp bodies all over the place, but thankfully none of them were familiar. There was still a chance that Celia was okay.

They had come across a few doors that were secured with a keypad, but none of them had been what they were looking for. It wasn't hard for Tony to get through them, but it was time he didn't want to waste. They were just coming up to another one when they heard the sound of a gunshot on the other side.

"Hurry!" Steve commanded, moving into position so his shield was ready for when the door opened.

"I got it, I got it," Tony muttered. Steve sent up a quick prayer that he wouldn't find Celia on the other side of the door with a bullet hole in her. That was something he never wanted to see again, even if she would heal from it. And if he was just feet away while it happened, he was going to be sick.

The door finally slid open and Steve stormed in, shield up and prepared to fight. But what he saw wasn't at all what he'd been expecting. It wasn't the tragedy he'd been dreading, but something completely different.

"Celia?" Steve murmured, staring at her in shock as she stood a few feet in front of a dead man. He had a hole in the center of his forehead and Celia was still holding the gun. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened, even though they were in the presence of one. But none of that really mattered at the moment. What did matter was that he'd found her.

"Steve? What- how?" Celia mumbled, looking at him in confusion.

"Tony found you. I- what happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Steve choked out, looking her over. Her clothes were blood-stained and ripped, but he couldn't tell if they were from old wounds or not.

"I'm fine," Celia replied blankly.

"Celia."

"We got her. How are things on your end?" Tony asked the others through the comms.

"I think Hulk is winding down. Widow is doing her thing with him," Clint replied. Tony gave Clint directions to meet them, but Steve's focus never left Celia.

"Hey, you can put the gun down now," Steve said, nodding his head at the weapon that was still in Celia's hand. She looked down at it as if she hadn't realized she was still holding it, before flicking on the safety and setting it on the table next to her. He took a hesitant step toward her, but she took one back, shaking her head a little.

"Don't. I just- don't," Celia whispered, running a hand through her hair. She grimaced when she felt how tangled it had become. Celia had told him once that if she didn't finger comb out her curls when they got wet that they would become unruly. He wished they were back in the tower talking about things as innocuous as that.

"What do you need from me right now?" Steve asked, willing to do whatever he could to help. If she needed space, he would give it to her, no matter how much it killed him.

"Tony. I need Tony."

"Tony?" Steve had to admit that stung a little.

"Bruce."

"Bruce is fine. He's the Hulk right now, but Clint and Natasha are with him."

"No, I mean…" Celia trailed off, closing her eyes in frustration. She set her hands on the edge of the table next to her, leaning her weight on her arms. Steve moved forward, blocking her view of the dead man on the floor. He didn't know if that was what was making her so out of sorts. That might be easier, instead of it being a multitude of things he didn't even know about. Something bad had happened during those long hours she and Bruce were trapped here.

"Hey, look at me. I've got you," Steve murmured, echoing the words Celia had said to him the night of his birthday as she held him in his bed. It felt like so long ago that they'd had their talk about supporting each other through everything, but he was going to live up to that promise now. Celia's eyes drifted up to meet his and he tried to smile at her encouragingly. "Hey."

"Steve."

"It's gonna be okay." Celia made a little noise in her throat that sounded like she didn't quite believe it. "We're going to be okay."

"These computers. They need to be wiped," Celia muttered, rapping her knuckles against the desk.

"We can worry about that later," Steve replied, moving his hand to cover hers before she jerked it away.

"Stop stop stop," Celia breathed out, shaking her head. "They have stuff on here about Bruce. If someone else gets their hands on it, we're right back here again. I can't deal with anything else until I know that's taken care of. Please."

"I guess that's my cue," Tony said, stepping up from where he'd been standing to the side. He tapped on a few keys, bringing up a screen that had a bunch of letters and symbols on it. Steve didn't know what he was looking at, but that was never his forte. He wasn't going to worry about what Tony obviously could take care of on his own.

"What do they know about Bruce?" Steve asked, hoping that Celia would talk to him about that, if she wasn't willing to talk about how she was doing. He could understand keeping up a strong front while still in the field.

"They had a drug that could control the Hulk. I don't know exactly what they were planning on using him for, but it wouldn't have been anything good."

"How did you find all this out?"

"He told me," Celia muttered, gesturing down to the dead man.

"We're coming in!" Natasha called out just before she walked into the room. She raised her eyebrows at the body on the floor. "I didn't think I'd need to say 'don't shoot,' but I'm glad I announced our arrival."

"How did it go out there?" Steve asked, watching as Clint and a subdued Bruce walked into the room as well.

"Almost everyone out there looks pretty much like that guy does," Clint replied, gesturing to the dead man.

"Bruce, are you okay?" Bruce was standing away from everyone against the wall. He looked just as standoffish as Celia did. But they'd been through a lot, so that wasn't too surprising.

"He's not really talking," Clint answered for him.

"Sounds familiar," Tony mumbled, tapping a few more keys. "Everything is secure."

"What's secure?" Natasha asked.

"It's a whole thing," Tony waved off.

"Well, has anyone called this in yet?"

"We've been a bit busy. And Fury likes you best."

"Fury is gonna love being kept in the dark about all this," Clint chuckled.

"There are going to be lots of questions. And paperwork. And it's going to take hours," Natasha added. Steve didn't like the sound of that, but there was really no avoiding it. They couldn't leave this place like nothing happened.

"Celia, are you up for answering some questions?" Steve asked. She was still leaning against the table and facing away from everyone.

"There isn't much to tell. Nothing happened," Celia shrugged.

"Really? Because you look like you got put through a woodchipper," Clint remarked. Natasha elbowed him in the ribs, giving him an exasperated look.

"No woodchippers involved," Celia sighed.

"It was me," Bruce whispered. Everyone else's heads whipped around to face Bruce, but Steve kept watching Celia. She stiffened at his words and he knew Bruce was telling the truth.

"No, it wasn't," Celia denied, shaking her head slowly.

"What happened?" Steve asked evenly.

"I didn't know what I was doing. I- I'm sorry," Bruce replied.

"Ah. Hulk smashed," Tony said knowingly.

"It's not funny!" Bruce snapped, causing a few of them to step back. Who knew how closely the Hulk was simmering under the surface? And if he'd been drugged recently, that could still be affecting him. "Celia, I almost killed you."

"Believe me, it takes more than that," Celia muttered.

"What does that mean?" Steve asked.

"It means I'm still here, aren't I? So it's fine. It doesn't matter."

"Group therapy should probably wait until we get home. I just sent an alert to Shield and they'll be here within the hour," Tony said, kicking out one of the desk chairs and sitting down in it.

"Really?" Natasha scoffed.

"I've been up all night looking for these two and I'm ready to crawl into bed and crash for about 12 hours," Tony yawned.

"What day is it?" Celia asked, running a hand down her face.

"It's early afternoon. You were taken yesterday afternoon," Steve replied. It didn't seem like it had only been a day.

"Feels like longer. Or shorter. I don't know," Celia mumbled.

"Did you get any sleep?"

"I got a few winks here and there."

"As in…" Steve trailed off, not actually wanting to say the words. Had she been forced to heal from something? If Bruce's words were to be believed, she had at least once. Was that where all the blood had come from?

The team stood around in silence as they waited for the Shield agents to show up. Clint and Natasha went outside to lead them inside and check on the living prisoners they had tied up and locked away. Bruce was still standing away from everyone, but his eyes would flick towards Celia every so often.

Steve wasn't angry with him for whatever the Hulk had done. Bruce had very little control over the monster in the best of circumstances, but this was anything but. And it seemed like Bruce was doing a good enough job beating himself up over it that he didn't need them piling on as well. But Steve really hoped that this wouldn't ruin the nice place the team had settled into recently. Celia and Bruce had become pretty good friends over the weeks and he didn't want that to change because of something that happened to them.

"Incoming," Natasha announced, tossing a jacket in Celia's direction. Steve recognized it as one of the extra sets of clothes they had on the quinjet in case their uniforms got destroyed on a mission. Celia shrugged it on, nodding her thanks to Natasha.

A slew of serious looking Shield agents followed Clint in a few seconds later and they immediately started barking out questions and commands. Tony took the lead, spinning a story about these people being involved in the mission they were on the day before and the team finding out and shutting them down. He didn't mention the abduction or the drugs, which Steve wasn't going to argue against. The less people knew about that, the better. And he was still wary of Shield when it came to sensitive information. The thought of Agent Miller was always going to make Steve's jaw clench.

He kept close to Celia, making sure none of the agents gave her a hard time. Steve wasn't sure how far gossip spread around Shield, but he didn't want prior dealings to color how they treated Celia. Some agents already tried to give the team crap sometimes since the Avengers usually got all the glory. Steve didn't care about that stuff and only wanted to get the job done. They could keep the accolades.

"We need you all to report back to the New York office ASAP. Director Fury is going to want a full debrief," one of the agents informed them.

"Well, next week is probably going to be as soon as possible, so let Nicholas know for us," Tony smirked, walking over and throwing an iron covered arm around Bruce's shoulders. "We've got to be going now. I have a show on tonight that I can't miss and my TiVo is full."

"But-"

"TTFN!" Tony called over his shoulder as he walked out of the room. Celia followed and the others did too. This was one of the times Steve could appreciate Tony being over the top and steamrolling people. He led them out of the building, waving off any other agents who tried to stop them. They didn't slow down until their jet finally came into view.

"Should we stop off somewhere before we head home? What kind of food is Minnesota known for?" Clint wondered.

"I thought we were still in Canada," Celia muttered, jamming her hands into her pockets.

"You can eat when we get home. There is perfectly good food in the fridge," Natasha sighed, opening the back hatch of the jet. Steve ignored the ensuing banter as everyone climbed into the quinjet. He made sure he was the last one on, wanting to make sure everyone was safe and secure. Too little, too late for that.

Celia strapped herself into one of the seats furthest away from everyone, keeping her head down. Steve wanted nothing more than to rush over and pull her into his arms like he had that first day on the bathroom floor, but he knew that had to wait. He wouldn't have appreciated it if she pushed him to open up in front of everyone, so he wasn't going to do that to her. Steve sat down as close as he thought he could get away with and settled in for the flight. Once they were home, they would figure everything out. Everything was going to be just fine.