I tried to ignore the side eye I was getting from one of the security guards in the tower lobby, but I had been told to head to the east elevator and head right up. But with the way the guard was eyeing me I expected he would try to stop me. I didn't let the breath I was holding until I pushed the button at the designated elevator without having been challenged.

As the doors shut a lilting voice spoke, "Good morning, Ms. Baker. I have informed Mr. Stark that you are on the way up."

I looked up to the ceiling and said, "Um…thanks?"

"I've been asked to see if there is a specific kind of refreshment that you prefer?" The voice said.

"No, I'll be good. I don't imagine I'll be here for very long," I answered the ceiling once again.

"Very well."

The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. My nose twitched as I stepped out, the intermingling and nearly overwhelming smell of alphas flooding my senses. Fighting the sudden dizziness was affecting my strength, I took several shallow breaths.

After a moment, I smoothed my fingers across my skirt and then called out, "Hello?"

"In here." Came the response.

Sighing a little, I moved forward focusing in on the large open living space spread out in front of me. One side of the room seemed to be devoted to the kitchen and eating areas. The other side was a living room kind of space. There was a hallway on the far side of the room.

Tony was leaning against a bar counter, a holographic projection floating in front of him. The image disappeared before I could identify what it was and he smirked, "Good, you're here. We can get the tour started then."

"Tour? Mr. Stark, I thought I was here because you said you needed help planning a party?"

"Yes, yes. In a bit," he waved that away with his hand before gesturing around the room, "This is the common floor. Hallway down that way has the pack room and bathrooms. Anyone can use the pack room at any time. The kitchen has a lot of automation and it's often a free-for-all for meals unless we are ordering in as a group."

"I don't…" I began but he cut me off.

"Come on, this way."

Instead of putting my foot down like I intended to as Tony moved away from me, I found myself drawn to follow along with him. As we stood waiting he said, "There are several floors throughout the tower that belong exclusively to the pack. The very top two floors include the pack individual bedrooms and the common floor. The only people allowed in these two floors are the pack and a handful of trusted people, like Pepper."

He stepped in, with me following meekly along as he continued to talk, "Friday, who you've already met, helps run the place. She makes sure that things are stocked for example."

When the doors opened, Tony said, "This floor includes things like the media room and is usually where more personal entertaining happens. The kinds of parties that aren't about rubbing elbows with the right people and that kind of thing. There is a more formal entertainment floor in the South building, that's where the serious parties and things happen."

The next floor the doors opened to show seemed to be a floor that looked like a combination of labs and workspaces, "This floor is those of us who require lab space. Bruce, Peter, and myself are the most frequent users of the space. When Scott is around he also will use it."

Tony led me into the space, pausing in a doorway and saying, "Jolly Green, want you to meet someone."

Dr. Bruce Banner looked up from where he was bent over a microscope. He was wearing a lab coat and he had a pair of glasses perched on his nose. He blinked several times like he was trying to process the disruption before his eyes settled on me. His scent was curious, he clearly smelt like a beta but there were odd undercurrent notes of something else. Something more alpha-like. It was confusing and some of that must have shown on my face.

"It's The Hulk," Bruce said quietly.

"Excuse me?" I said.

"You're scenting The Hulk. He's an alpha. You're an omega."

I felt my skin heat. I wasn't used to being called out for my designation so quickly, "Technically speaking, yes. I am an omega."

His head tilted a little, "Technically?"

I had no idea why I said it, as I almost never told people the truth about me anymore, at least not on first meeting. I could sense the curiosity from both Bruce and Tony. Before I could back away from the boggy ground, I tugged aside the collar of my shirt, exposing the broken circle mark under my collarbone.

Bruce's eyebrows nearly disappeared up his forehead, "You've been marked as DCI?"

My finger let go of my shirt and I nodded. I smelled the slightly burned smell of anger that rolled off Tony in a wave and I felt an answering pull to comfort rising up in me. I was turning towards him, acting on instincts I shouldn't have when a sudden crash brought me back to myself.

"What is that smell? It's amazing…oh!" A young man with an unruly mop of curly brown hair had tripped into the room. I noticed the way his nostrils flared as he took an extremely deep breath.

"You smell amazing, omega." His smile was a little lopsided, hazel eyes almost dreamy. His scent, green apples and cinnamon, had spikes of extreme happiness winding through it.

"I…," My brain started to shut down as he moved closer to me, the low happy purr that rolled out of him making it impossible for me to even remember anything but the want to continue to make the alpha happy.

"Whoa, kid, pull it back." Tony's voice sounded a little bit like a bad connection at first until the purring sound shut off and I shook my head as I started to come back to myself.

What the hell was happening to me?

"This is Peter." Tony said, his scent starting to dissipate the overwhelming scent that Peter had thrown off. Grounding me again. Clearing my throat, trying to figure out what was going on, I tried to be polite. But the most I seemed to be able to do was smile and mumble, "Nice to meet you."

Tony's hand was on my lower back as he escorted me back to the elevator, talking again, "The next floor is our training floor."

The doors opened and 'training floor' definitely seemed like an appropriate description of the space. I had been expecting a fancy gym, and while there was plenty of traditional gym equipment the space also held things like a rock climbing wall and several areas that seemed to be set up for sparring. There were three people currently using the space. Two of them were in the middle of a sparring session and the third seemed to be using some form of red power as she manipulated several weights in front of her.

"That's Natasha and Clint over there, and Wanda with the woo-woo. Let's leave them to it for now."

We ended up back on the common floor, though I wasn't quite sure how I got there. I was still trying to shake off whatever had happened in the labs with Peter. Tony was speaking and I struggled to focus on what he was saying. Then the smell of three additional alphas hit me.

"New girlfriend Tony?" Sam asked as he, Steve and Bucky spied the woman standing in the kitchen with him. She was an unassuming kind of pretty, almost delicate, and not the usual type that Tony went for.

"Har har. Bird brain, Capsicle, Cyborg, this is Lizzie, Pepper's assistant. For now anyway. She's an omega." Tony said with a gesture towards her.

"It's Ellie, not Lizzie," She said as she looked between the three men.

"What's wrong with her?" Steve asked as he studied her face, taking in the slightly dazed look on her face as she swayed a little on her feet

Tony glanced at her and winced a little, "We ran into Peter in the lab and he got a little… enthusiastic …when he caught her scent. Threw off a bunch of pheromones and the purr. You know how it is, he's still working on controlling it."

Steve sighed a little, "Right, well, why is she here in the first place, certainly you didn't…"

Tony rolled his eyes and said, "I do know how to control myself from time to time."

Steve noticed the way the omega shook her head like she was coming back to herself more fully and she nearly glared at Tony, "Look, I appreciate the tour and all that, but I really need to get going now, Pepper is going to be done with her meeting soon and I need to go and do my job."

Tony turned to her and nodded, walking with her to the elevator and saying, "How about you come back tonight and we can get down to business?"

"Oh, I don't know…"

Steve listened as Tony completely ignored the protests and told her he would see her at 6. When he came back, Steve shook his head, "Why did you have Pepper's assistant here and why is she coming back?"

"Because Cap, I'm pretty sure she's gonna be the pack omega."

I should be going home not back up to the pack floor but instead I was standing in front of the east elevator again. The morning had been extremely weird and I was telling myself that the reason I was returning was to figure out why. Figure out why I had been affected in a way that it was impossible for me to be affected.

The doors opened, and I stepped in, fingers twisting the strap of my bag tight as the car shot 92 floors up. The moment I stepped out, the tension in the space rolled over me. Walking forward, my eyes took in the group currently ranged in the middle of the space and the heated conversation that seemed to be taking place.

"You can't just bring someone like that into the pack without consulting anyone…" Steve was saying as I approached.

Only one of the group seemed to take any notice of me at first, his gray-blue eyes lighting up with interest as they settled on me. He was further apart from most of the group talking, leaning against the back of a couch with his ankles and arms crossed. It took me a minute to pull the name from my brain. Clint.

"It's a moot point now," his eyes were still on me but he was clearly speaking to the others. Several of the others looked at him and he nodded in my direction.

When everyone focused on me, I had to fight off the instinct to just collapse under their scrutiny. Swallowing thickly, I moved closer, my nose working to filter out everyone's scent as they flowed over me. The longer I stood here the more I picked up on the tension between Steve and Tony in particular.

"Um. Hi." I caught the smirk that crossed Clint's face as he continued to watch me.

"Ellie, welcome back," Steve greeted politely, even though I could tell he wasn't exactly happy about me being there.

Friday announced the food delivery had arrived and Tony perked up, "Great. Perfect timing. Send them up."

Ten minutes later, I had shuffled to the side as I watched the elevator doors close behind the two security guards who had brought up the bags of takeout food. While everyone else had moved towards the food, Clint had moved over to me. It surprised me to realize that his wood, lemongrass, and sage smell was all alpha. Knowing what I knew about him, I always figured he was a delta by designation.

"So, you're Tony's omega?" He said with a half smile.

I felt my face heat, "I'm not…no…it's not."

"Relax, I know it's not that right now. I just mean, he's the one that brought you to us."

I was confused. Brought to them? "I'm sorry?"

He just smiled that half smile again and nodded towards the group that had congregated around the food, "You better get something to eat, between the super soldiers and if Thor shows up, there might not be anything left."

With that he moved away. I realized that there was something going on here that I really didn't understand yet. Wanda handed me a plate when I was near enough with a bright smile on her face as she said, "Welcome."

Thirty minutes later, I sat on a couch, wedged between Steve and Sam as the conversation flowed around me. I felt incredibly out of place with these people and knew I should really be leaving. However, my body didn't seem to want to listen to the common sense my brain was saying I should be doing.

"Why didn't you eat anything?"

I jolted in surprise at the voice in my ear, looking up into light blue eyes as Steve leaned towards me. My eyes flicked over his face as I opened my mouth to answer him. Instead, I ended up asking, "Why are you stressed out?"

His eyebrows shot up and he said, "How do you know I'm stressed?"

My shoulder lifted and I said, "I can…smell it. Sense it. Whatever you want to call it."

His head titled as he examined me and despite the fact that this was Steve Rogers and a relative stranger to me, I reached out and laid my hand on his arm. There was an overwhelming instinct to soothe his stress away, and I couldn't even try to ignore it. I moved closer to his side even as I dropped my eyes from his.

Before I could process how it happened, I found myself sitting in Steve's lap, my head tucked against his chest. There was a purring, and it took me a minute to realize that it was coming from me. That I was releasing the kind of purr that omegas can produce to help relax an alpha. Something I'd never done before. And what was more, the acrid tints to Steve's scent was fading away as I did.

As I rested against his chest, even as a part of my brain told me this couldn't be happening because I wasn't that kind of omega, I felt as Steve sighed a little. Then he said, "Tony, I think you were right and she's it."

"Of course I was right. How often am I wrong?"

Several of the others started to point out the times that Tony had been wrong but I was still processing the meaning behind what Steve had said. I sat up, looking at Steve and asking, "What was Tony right about?"

It was Tony who answered, "Sweetie, that you're perfect for our pack omega."

I felt my mouth drop open as my head whipped around to him, "No. That's not. I can't. That's not possible. I'm not the right kind of omega for that."

"And why do you say that?"

When I shifted to get up, I felt the slight rumble of annoyance that came out of Steve but I ignored it the best I could and stood up so that I could turn around and face him. Gesturing wildly I said, "Because, I don't have the necessary….abilities to act as a real omega to a single alpha let alone a pack full of them. I'm a DCI omega."

Steve glanced at Tony and asked, "DCI?"

It was Bruce who answered, "It stands for 'Defective, Corrupted, Incorrigible'. An omega was labeled as such if certain tests showed they wouldn't react to the average alpha. It comes from a rather outdated way of thinking considering the last several decades of omega research. I didn't know there were still groups that actually went so far as to still mark omegas with it."

"Basically, these types of people think the only value an omega has is in submission and breeding." Tony put in.

Steve looked back at me and asked, "You were tested?"

I nodded even as my chest tightened with the memories, images flickering behind my eyes of what I had endured. I heard several low growls throughout the room as apparently I put distress pheromones. Swaying a little in response to the growls of the alphas in the room I took another deep breath.

Standing there, trying to get a handle on what was occurring when two new alpha scents slammed into me; one ozone and rainstorms and the other mint and crisp winter air. A voice boomed out, filling the space as if it was a tiny closet, "I hope there is still food left."

My eyes snapped up to focus on the two who had just walked off the elevator Loki and Thor. The former paused when his eyes landed on me, brow arching as my scent likely reached him. Moments later it hit Thor and his gaze narrowed in on me and he was striding forward towards me.

I froze as he approached, my body locking up as this giant of an alpha reached me. His ozone and rainstorm scent enveloped me as he stared fondly down at me, a wide grin plastered on his face. It was like everyone else in the room completely disappeared in that moment.

One of his large hands cupped my face as he purred out, "Hello, little omega."

Steve caught the way Ellie's face went white as Thor stared down at her and he moved forward at the same moment that her eyes rolled back and her knees gave out, catching her easily before she hit the floor. Thor's face crumpled with confusion as he watched Steve move to lay her down on one of the couches and Bruce move to kneel by her.

"Good job, brother, you broke her," Loki's snide comment rolled over the room.

"I don't understand." Thor said.

"What happened Bruce?" Steve asked as he watched the scientist run his fingers across her skin before picking up her wrist to check her pulse.

"Omega drop," Bruce said quietly as he set her wrist on her waist.

"You actually did break her you oaf," Loki said to Thor.

Clint spoke up as Steve sent Loki a glare, "Isn't that really dangerous?"

Bruce sighed as he stood, "It can be, especially when it occurs suddenly and without a tether but there isn't much we can do about that."

Wanda moved closer, "Maybe I can help?"

"You think you can bring her out?" Steve asked, his arms crossing as he studied Ellie.

"No. But perhaps I can tether her to someone. It would eliminate a little bit of the danger." Wanda said.

Tony immediately spoke up, "I could do it."

Steve nearly rolled his eyes, "Tony, this is basically your fault so that's not happening."

"She needs to be somewhere comfortable," Bruce said, disrupting the stare down between Tony and Steve.

"The pack room?" Sam suggested but Bruce was already shaking his head.

"No, I think it would be best if she didn't wake up surrounded by all the scents of the pack."

"Or it could be a good thing?" Tony suggested but again Bruce shook his head.

"One of the guest rooms would probably be best," Bruce said.

Steve moved forward to pick her up as Tony said, "Or you could just take her to her room."

Stopping and turning back to the man Steve lifted an eyebrow, "You already gave her a room?"

His hands spread, "My tower Capsicle."

Taking a centering breath, Steve said, "We're gonna be talking about this later Tony. Right now I've gotta take care of her."

Tony's eyes rolled as Steve turned back to Ellie and scooped her up. Wanda trailed after them as the others in the room shared a look before heading their own separate ways.