SAFE HAVEN
Five to six minutes have passed since Iron Man took the sickly Captain America to the nearest hospital, and everyone in the stadium, or at least the Avengers and their fans, we're all nervous and scared for the Sentinel of Liberty after he collapsed. Finally, with the sound of what resembled that of jet engines flying into the building, the people's eyes soon lit up with hope when they saw Iron Man fly overhead and land on to the stage. It was here that the equally worried announcer greets the Shell-head. "Mr. Stark is the Captain all-"
Before the announcer could finish his question, Iron Man held up his hand to cut him off mid-sentence, and thus lifted his face-plate to show the angry face of Tony Stark, all so he can come close to the announcer and whisper this to his ear.
After a few seconds of listening, the announcer gave Tony a nod and thus turned his attention to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Stark has informed me that Captain America is now at Mount Sinai hospital receiving treatment from doctors that are tending to him as we speak. We will do our best to let you know if we receive any updates on his condition. However, we still have a tournament to get through, and due to these developments, we have no choice but to eliminate Captain America."
As the crowd let out a mixture of cheers and boos, Tony mentally lowered his faceplate, returning the tournament as Iron Man once more, and finally returned to his teammates, with a distraught Ms. Marvel being the first one to approach him. "Please tell me that Cap is in a hospital that doesn't have mind-controlled S.H.I.E.L.D. agents somewhere safe!"
"Well," said Iron Man in a relaxed tone. "Yes and no..."
"The Shellhead flashed back to when he first carried the unconscious Cap through the front doors of Mount Sinai Hospital. 'I need a medic! Now!" Iron Man yelled, getting the attention of medical staff, as well as the patients and visitors present. However, he is soon approached by two women in scrubs, which to the Golden Avenger's relief, were the disguised Sharon and Misty Knight, arriving in front of Iron Man with a wheeled stretcher.
Once they had Iron Man's attention, it is Sharon to be the one who addressed him. "We'll take it from here, Mr. Stark!" said 'Nurse Carter in a serious, but also gentle to give the armored hero reassurance.
After seeing these two faces that knew he knew could truly help Cap, Iron Man gave them both a nod and placed the ill Super Soldier on the stretcher and watched as both Sharon and Misty wheeled Cap away, silently hoping that Cap would hold on long enough for the proper care to save him..."
...a hope he still had in the Garden as he explained the situation to the rest of the teammates. "But, on the bright side, Cap's in good hands with Fury. But we're still going to need an antidote if we're going to save him," Iron Man soon turned his attention to Spidey. "One that your girlfriend said she could get for us."
"Whoa, whoa, she's not my girlfriend!" said a shocked Spidey, blushing wildly underneath his mask and took a few seconds to calm down. "But seriously, don't worry! Gwen has been known to pull through in crazy situations. I know she can help in saving Cap!"
Iron Man wanted to believe the Web-Head, but with the way things have been escalating, he wasn't so sure. Still, after letting out a sigh, Iron Man responded to Spidey's words with a nod. "I hope you're right, kid."
Before the rest of the Avengers could voice their opinions on the matter, the announcer gets back to work in addressing the crowd. "Well folks, folks, it's time to end the thirty-second finals with a bang! For up next, we have the Avengers' Invincible Iron Man taking on the Thunderbolts' high flying Mach IV!"
With his name called, Iron Man turned to walk to the teleportation pad, but not before looking over his shoulder to address his fellow Avengers one last time. "Don't wait up, guys. This won't take long."
The next to speak up is Thor, who seemed to be more riled up than usual after seeing Cap collapse and was eager to see more of the Thunderbolts receive a beating. "Go forth, Iron Man! Show these vile fiends that we, the Avengers, are not to be trifled with!"
"That's the plan, Thor," Iron Man told his godly teammate, feeling that that was the only thing that he's said all day that made sense. Afterward, he proceeded to the teleportation pad.
Meanwhile, over in the Thunderbolts' corner, Mach IV reveled in the chance to defeat Iron Man and gain the recognition he longed for while he was the Beetle. "All right," said the winged Thunderbolt as he charged his wrist-mounted gauntlets. "Time to shine."
The Iron Patriot, on the other hand, was not impressed by Mach IV's bravado. "You'll 'shine' if you can get the job done."
Mach IV looked over his shoulder and looked at the Patriot with a smirk. "Oh, I can," he told his armored superior, trying not to sound intimidated. "Just you watch." With that said, Mach IV went on his way to the teleportation pad, determined to show the world what he was capable of.
Once both armored combatants were on the pads, they soon vanished out of sight to engage in their fight and thus begin the final match of the thirty-second finals.
Meanwhile, back in Nick Fury's safe house, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., watched the screen with utter disgust. Not only did he witness the losses of his two best agents in Natasha and Quake, but like many people watching, saw Cap collapsing and knew that Osborn was behind it somehow.
But in his anger, the seasoned spy was about to receive a surprise when the small disc that rescued Gwen Stacy from earlier comes flying in. Moments later, it projects a small, thin beam on the floor and out came something tiny, roughly the size of an ant. Moments later, the object soon grew to human size and is revealed to be a shocked and confused Gwen Stacy. "What in the world?!" asked a befuddled Gwen, looking around at her strange new surroundings.
This, of course, led to Nick to step in and approached the confused Gwen. "Welcome, Ms. Stacy, he said calmly, getting the girl's attention.
"Where...where am I?" asked the still shocked Gwen.
"My private safe house," Nick replied with his usual calm and collected demeanor. "One in which S.H.I.E.L.D., and more importantly, Osborn, don't know about." Sensing that Gwen was still hysterical over what just happened, Nick soon changed his tone to a softer one as he approached her. "All you need to know is that you're safe now...and we're expecting another guest."
"Guest?" Gwen asked, then suddenly, she and Nick both heard the door open, causing them to turn in that direction and see that it was Sharon and Misty wheeling in the unconscious as well as sickly Cap, causing Gwen's eyes to grow wide with horror as she placed her hands over her mouth in shock. "Oh my god! What happened to him?"
Nick answered the girl while still looking at Cap with a somewhat saddened expression. "He somehow got poisoned during his match, no doubt the result of Osborn and his goons fighting dirty. To make matters worse, Cap has the same sickness of another person we're trying to help, and I've been told that you might be able to help us in saving them both, Ms. Stacy."
It was here that Gwen's shocked expression soon changed to that of a serious one, something that always occurred when she had a chance to help others in need. "How?"
Nick soon walked over to the large screen, then pressed a button on the keyboard, which changes the image on the screen from the tournament itself to the Oscorp computer mainframe asking for a password. "By giving us that password, Spider-Man said you had for us."
Mere moments after Nick said that the Vision's digitized head appeared on the bottom right corner of the screen. "Which will be quite useful."
The Vision's sudden appearance came as a shock to everyone present, including that of the usually reserved Nick Fury himself. "Vision?!" asked the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. "How the hell did you-?!"
"Iron Man sent me. He felt that I could be of some assistance in creating the cure for the Morlun Virus," Moment's later, the digitized form of the sythezoid turned his attention to the stunned Gwen. "But only if you enter the password, Ms. Stacy."
"O-Oh right, sure!" Gwen replied, shaking off the shock of seeing Vision's head, then walked over to the keyboard and typed in the password she acquired from Harry into the computer, and successfully gained access to the Oscorp database.
As for Nick, he stood there with his arms crossed, letting out a discourage sigh as he turned and looked at the unconscious Cap. "Well, looks like you're the leader of the team again, Stark," he thought to himself. "And for all our sakes, don't screw it up!"