PART ONE

"Do you think we should wait? See if she comes?" Bruce Banner asked quietly to the room. He sat on a plush recliner with his arms and legs wrapped around a throw pillow. Glancing around at everyone, his eyebrows drew together slightly.

"With the reports on the news we've been seeing?" Natasha asked, glancing up from her phone to look across the room at Bruce. Her legs were swung over the side of a couch, her back up against Clint's shoulder. "Do we have time to wait?" She waited for a moment before looking back down to her phone, thumbing through countless articles.

"Tash is right," Steve said quietly before sighing. He sat on a kitchen chair pulled into the room, hunched forward with his forehead resting in his hands. "If things are as bad as they seem, we need ot get started. We have the rest of us here, that should be enough-"

"But this is exactly the sort of thing that Janie would be working on," Amelia interrupted gently from where she sat, on one of the arms of Bruce's chair, picking at her nails nervously before bringing her arms around herself as though she were cold. "This was her forté."

"Well, how do we know she isn't already working on it, then? In some lab somewhere?" Clint asked almost bitterly, his leg opposite of Natasha bouncing up and down on the floor quietly.

"While it's possible," Loki agreed, hands clasped in his lap as he sat cross legged on the floor next to Steve's chair. "We have no way of knowing for sure. However, she may still be better off with our resources." Clint scoffed and leaned forwards, putting his elbows on his knees and causing Natasha to sit upright, swinging her legs over and off the arm of the couch to sit normally.

"What resources do we have that others don't?"

The room fell silent for a few long moments save the crickets outside the cabin's windows.

"You're joking… Right?" Thor asked him finally, an eyebrow cocked from where he leaned against the wall by the front door, his arms crossed as he looked at Clint.

"Look," Clint scowled around the room. "All I'm saying is that for all we know, she still hates all of us. Lord knows it took the possible end of the world to get us back in one room." Pausing, he leaned back again and rested his arms up on the back of the couch. "Stark, what do you think? You're being too quiet."

Tony turned away slightly from where he had been watching out the window for Jane to show up and looked around the room.

"What?"

"Do you think we should really wait for her?" Clint asked, his eyebrows raised. Tony crossed his arms and glanced at the closed door, staying quiet for a long time.

"Tony?" Natasha pressed gently.

"I'd… Love to wait for her, but…" Tony sighed and shook his head and looked at the room. "I think we have to move forward assuming she won't be joining us."

No one moved, as though trying to will Jane appear somehow in front of them.

"Alright," Steve stood and stretched as he looked at everyone. "Come on, there's no point in waiting around."

Slowly, the group got to their feet and filed out of the room to the hallway at the back of the cabin. The lights were off but still visible in the dimness were three doors: one to a bedroom, one to a bathroom, and the third stood open to stairs leading down to the basement. Making their way downstairs, the old wooden stairs creaked underneath their feet, breaking the heavy silence between everyone. At the bottom of the stairs stood a heavy, metal door. Trying the knob, Bruce looked back up the stairs at everyone.

"Dooooo we have a key?" he smiled slightly, his hand on the knob still.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Everyone froze, looking at each other silently. Still at the top of the stairs, Steve, hesitantly poked his head back through the doorway into the main room of the cabin. It was impossible to see whoever had just knocked through the window by the door without being exposed himself, and there were no smaller windows or a peephole in the door to look through either. Glancing back at the group on the stairs, Steve felt a small breath of relief when Amelia stepped up the few stairs and joined him in the doorway, just in case. Looking at each other for a brief moment, Amelia nodded to the front door and the pair silently creeped their way towards it.

While the team was hopeful that Jane had shown up after all, they weren't stupid. They knew that it could be anybody at the door. Everyone in the cabin had shown up separately - save a few exceptions - and there was no telling who had begun to notice their arrivals.

Cautiously taking the door handle in one hand, Steve flexed the fingers of his other hand, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Even if they were someone with ill-intent and meant them harm, the entire Avengers team was very nearly assembled under one roof, and whoever it was behind that door would have a hell of a time. Hesitantly, Steve turned the handle and opened the door quickly in attempts to shock the person on the other side.

There was a soft gasp and Steve was through the door in an instant, leaving it swinging and almost shutting before Amelia caught it and bound her way through. Stopping short, her breath caught in her throat as she looked at Steve, laughing and swinging Jane Beck around in an embrace, forgetting his own strength for a moment. A soft smile played on her lips as Jane laughed with Steve, struggling to escape his grip.

"I can't believe you came," Steve remarked breathlessly as he set her back down on her feet.

"I can't either," Jane admitted almost sheepishly, tucking her hair back behind her ear.

"We're glad you're here, Jane," Amelia said softly, hearing a 'no way' from Clint across the room behind her. After a moment, Thor came rushing out, nearly knocking both Amelia and Steve over to get to Jane. Thor wrapped her in a tight hug and Jane hesitated before smiling slightly and returning the embrace. Bruce appeared in the doorway next, standing beside Amelia as a smile crept across his lips. The smile quickly faltered as he glanced at the landscape surrounding the cabin. There was a small field around the building encircled by a dense forest. Normally the area would feel calming, comforting. The crickets chirped and the birds began to quiet, settling into their nests as the sun set- but these weren't normal times, and the growing darkness caused an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Guys," he cleared his throat softly, eyes on the darkening sky. "We should probably get inside." At the tone of his voice, Thor, Steve and Jane all glanced at Bruce before following his eyes to the sky, the sun setting beyond the line of trees.

"That's probably a good idea," Jane noted, stepping away from the boys. She picked up the backpack that had fallen, forgotten on the ground and slung it over her shoulder as she walked into the cabin. Bruce turned as she passed to walk with her, shoving his hands in the pockets of the jacket he was wearing.

"It's really good to see you, Jane."

"It's… It's good to see you too," she smiled softly at Bruce after a moment, as though wanting to keep her distance from everyone still.

"We were just heading downstairs," he told her as the rest of the group came back inside, shutting and locking the door behind themselves.

"Were you guys waiting for me?" She asked, her eyebrows raised at him, the hint of a smile on her lips.

"Wellllll," he drew out, glancing at the ceiling. "I wouldn't say waiting… But sort of, yes. I'd more-so call it 'hoping', though."

"Ah," Jane smirked slightly, readjusting the bag over her shoulder. "I see."

In attempts to save himself the awkward reintroduction to his ex-wife, Tony had already gone downstairs, unlocking the door and leaving it sit open. He had a small screen projection on one wall of a long room. In the center of the room was a table with enough chairs to sit the entire team. Lining one wall were various monitors, keyboards, sets of buttons and switches. Occasionally small lights would flash, seemingly at random as the rest of the team slowly filed into the room and took their seats, still sitting in the same order they always had all those years ago. Tony at one end, Bruce sat to his right. Next to him sat Steve, Natasha and Clint. Thor sat at the opposite end with Amelia and Loki right of him. Lastly sat Jane between Tony and Loki, sitting uncomfortably in her seat and fidgeting with the bag she sat in her lap. There was a long silence as everyone got settled around the table, Tony shutting the large metal door behind them and securing it - just in case.

"Soo… We have all been keeping up with the news, right?" Natasha asked, looking at everyone around the table.

"It isn't exactly easy to get the news from another realm," Amelia readjusted in her seat, bringing one knee up and hugging it to her chest. "Loki and I may be a little behind."

"I had sort of explained the gist of things to them, but…" Thor offered, shrugging. He hadn't been sure if he should explain everything to them right away in fears that they may not come. He tried framing things as a pleasant visit as Thor had been on Earth for the last few years, and only explained a little bit more of what had been happening on Earth after Amelia and Loki had already arrived.

"Forgive us if we aren't 'up to speed'," Loki made a circular motion with one hand and gave a small glare to Thor as he sat back in his seat.

"Well," Bruce hesitated. Standing up, he walked over to where the projection screen was shining, picking a small clicker up off of a shelf nearby. Clicking it once, the screen projected dozens of different news articles and titles behind him. "There have been a bunch of reports worldwide of some sort of… Disease. Some sort of virus. We aren't exactly sure how it spreads, but, um…" Bruce's voice faltered as he span the button in his fingers nervously.

"It's killing people," Tony offered his help, standing and walking next to Bruce. "And fast."

"That's… Usually what diseases and viruses do," Amelia raised an eyebrow and glanced at Loki before looking back to Tony and Bruce.

"It isn't just killing them, though," Tony continued before being interrupted.

"What do you mean 'just killing them'?" Amelia shook her head, eyebrows furrowing as she adjusted her arms around her leg, pulling it closer still to her chest.

"Well, they're sort of coming back to life," Bruce explained, making a face.

"Kind of," Tony countered, looking at Bruce.

"I meaaaaan…."

"They're zombies, basically," Tony pressed his lips together and looked back at Amelia, suddenly wondering if Amelia would even be familiar with what zombies were. After a moment, he remembered that in their slideshow, they had included a page of examples, just in case. Looking back at Bruce, he motioned for him to hit the button to go to the next slide.

"Oh! Right," Bruce opened his hand again and looked at the button before pressing it quickly, glancing behind them at the screen to make sure it was the right slide. Gesturing at the screen, he nodded once. "Zombies." Amelia's face paled as her entire body stiffened.

"This all just seems like something out of a movie," Steve shook his head and crossed his arms as he sat back in his chair. "A work of fiction, not reality."

"See, that's what we thought, too!" Bruce hopped slightly, pointing at Steve before clicking his button again and pointing at the screen instead. "But!"

"Not only does the data not lie," Tony interjected as he gestured with one hand to different points on the projection. The page now showed different charts across the globe with steeply rising unexplained death totals. "But-"

"I've seen them," Jane added softly, her mouth open slightly as she watched the screen.

"-You've seen them," Tony repeated as though he were finishing his own sentence before doubling back. "You've- what? You've seen them?"

"No way," Clint shook his head before tilting it back and looking at the ceiling, his arms crossed almost in defiance. "You're not seriously buying this shit, are you?"

"I have," Jane said more firmly, glaring at Clint. "I didn't realize it at first. It was on my way here, actually. I flew into Syracuse and rented a car to get up here. I wasn't sure if it was just my eyes playing tricks on me after the long flight and 3 hour drive up North or if it was some kids dressed up or… What. But it was back by… Probably around Canton?"

"Why did you take that way? Isn't that so much longer?" Natasha gave Jane a look and went to look up the directions.

"Yeah, sounded like there was a huge accident or something on 3 so I had to take the long way."

"I wonder if the 'accident' was zombie related," Clint raised an eyebrow, his arms still crossed.

"Oh, so now you're on board with this whole 'zombie' thing?" Steve scoffed softly at Clint who immediately sat forward in his chair to glare at Steve.

"No," he spat defensively. "I was being facetious."

"That's… Almost the right use of that word," Natasha gave Clint a look as she set her phone back down.

"Anyways," Tony interrupted, holding back an eye roll. "We uh. Well, we figured that with…" he trailed off, taking a side glance at Bruce.

"We figured that with the combined scientific knowledge of Tony, Jane and I," Bruce's eyes drifted upwards towards the ceiling as he rocked back and forth between the balls and heels of his feet as he spoke. "We can probably figure out how to stop this thing. Maybe how to even reverse it. But obviously, we'd need some sort of-"

"Protection," Thor interrupted, leaning forwards in his chair as he rested his elbows on the table in front of him. "For the three of our own and as many humans as we can save."

There was a long silence as everyone digested the information put forth so far. Amelia's fingers gripped her leg tightly, her jaw slowly clenching. Her eyes flicked between each person as they had spoken, mind racing.

"So," Natasha finally spoke. "How exactly would we even think about starting? Where would we go?" Her tone was mildly skeptical, but at the same time almost hopeful.

"Rio!" Tony stood up straight and glanced at Bruce before turning his attention back to the group around the table. Bruce flicked through a few slides quickly until they came to a world map. Each country had dozens - if not hundreds - of small red dots scattered throughout them, the largest congregation of these dots centering around one area of Brazil. "When this first started, data showed that the highest concentration of cases was in this area of Brazil." Gesturing with one hand to Rio, his eyes glanced over the rest of the map. "We aren't 100% sure that's where 'patient zero' is - err, the first person who was infected - but that's where the highest number of cases are, so whoever it is, or was, is most likely there."

"Are we going to try and save the people turned into these 'zombies' or are we basically treating them as a 'lost cause'?" Steve asked quietly as his eyes traced the dots covering the map.

"I guess we can see if we can create some sort of vaccine to prevent any further infection from spreading," Jane chewed the edge of her lip, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. "We can give it to anyone who's still 'alive' and those who already succumbed to the virus would… Likely have to be executed. Unless someone has a different idea, I'm just spitballing here." She shrugged her shoulders slightly and leaned forwards, looking at everyone's faces.

"I mean, it makes sense. But… Don't you think it would be safer to come up with this vaccine in a safer place than the literal epicenter of where this all started?" Steve countered.

"I'm sure we can take whoever or whatever comes our way," Clint looked between Jane and Steve. "Being Earth's 'greatest defenders' at one point and all."

"We wouldn't necessarily have to kill the infected," Bruce interjected quickly, giving a small smile that vanished almost as soon as it came. "We could maybe try and… Well, round them all up and study them to see if we-"

"Realistically, we're probably going to have to kill them," Tony sighed softly. "It's spread quickly through the entire planet and has already infected a lot of people. And a lot are going to die if we don't do something about it. Quickly. I don't know if we really have the time to try and study the infected to save them." There was another, sobering silence. Loki's hand found its way to Amelia's hand that wasn't death-gripping her leg causing her to flinch slightly as he gave it a small squeeze. Giving her a curious look, she returned with an exacerbated one and shrugged a shoulder but remained silent, looking back at the projection.

"People always talked about what they'd do during a 'zombie apocalypse'," Natasha mused almost sadly, staring at the table in front of them. "All the different committees and governments… Plans and manpower. Yet we're the ones who have to step up, aren't we?"

"Better us than no one, Natasha," Thor's voice was soft and Natasha sighed.

"I know, it's just… Frustrating."

"Whatever we have to do, we'll get it done," Jane stated firmly, sitting up straight in her chair as though wanting to get to work that very second. "Bruce, Tony, take a breath. We have work to do. Everything will be okay- we are strong, and we will all get through this and be safe."

"Always the voice of encouragement," Steve chuckled softly as he smiled at Jane.

"So!" Clint dropped his hands on his thighs and stood up. "When do we leave?"

"I signaled for our old jet to meet us at the runway a mile down the road a little bit ago," Tony dug in his pocket to pull out his phone and lit the screen up. "It should be here any minute."

"Good, then everything is-" Bruce began but was cut off by a loud mechanical whirring from somewhere above them. The noise grew louder until it was suddenly replaced by the sound of a large explosion nearby, as though an electrical transformer had blown. Almost instantly, the power in the cabin went out, leaving them in complete darkness underground. The sound of the electricity shutting off left them in silence as everyone held their breath, listening. After another few moments, another, fainter explosion was heard and the ground around them rumbled as though something very large had struck it nearby.

"-In order…" Bruce finished after a long silence. Inhaling slowly, his voice raised an octave or two. "Did.. Did we just lose power?"