I Want To Lay You Down In A Bed Of Roses, For Tonight I Sleep On A Bed of Nails

"So," Clint leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "Why do they always put you and Steve together?"

"It's the military thing," Kitty shrugged as she wiped down Valhalla before putting it in its sheath. "We work well together."

Kitty felt like she had been hit by a truck. Scratch that, a Final Destination truck. Although her eyes were closed, she could tell she was somewhere dark, somewhere that smelled like lavender mixed with bleach. Her nose wrinkled slightly, causing sparks of pain to ripple through her face. A painful moan slipped from her busted lip and she heard someone chuckle softly. In the background, she heard a familiar guitar riff and after listening intently, she recognized it as the Guns N' Roses song 'You Could Be Mine'. Weird. That definitely wasn't a song on Bruce's iPod. And now that she was thinking about it, this didn't really seem like the med bay. She was on a soft bed rather than the hard surgery table that Bruce would have put her on. Odd.

There was a tugging sensation on her stomach and Kitty groaned. It felt as if someone was repeatedly stabbing her with tiny needles. She tried to get up, only for a large hand to gently push her back down.

"No, no, don't move darlin'."

Kitty fought to raise her arms, but he still wouldn't let her up.

"Now, cher, I gotta finish stitchin' these up, but I can't do that if you're fightin' me."

"Mmmmkay." Kitty felt herself drift back off just as the song changed over to "Glory of Love" by Peter Cetera.

Pepper walked into the Tower's lobby and went straight to her desk to start the day. The sun was just starting to shine through the windows, lighting up the lobby with an orange hue. She put her purse under her desk and fished her phone out of her blazer.

"Have a gr8 day work bby, luv u"

Pepper smiled at Happy's text before she set her phone down and opened up her agenda for the day:

9AM: A tour she would have to supervise

1PM: Lunch with some investors for her foundation

3PM: Tony asked her to-

Her pen stopped when she heard a pitiful moaning sound in the corner of the room. Pepper looked over to see a figure, clad in black and covered in blood, sprawled out on the floor. In her outstretched hand was a bright red dahlia with a pack of matches tied to the stem. A white piece of paper was taped to her corset with the words, "I fixed her the best I could."

"JARVIS!" Pepper rushed over to Kitty, who was still borderline unconscious. "JARVIS, get Tony and Bruce down here, now!"

"Yes, Mrs. Potts."

"Kitty," Pepper gently touched her shoulder to try to wake her up. "Kitty, can you hear me?"

"Mmm…"

Pepper looked over her shoulder to see Bruce running out of the hallway. "I can't tell how bad she's hurt."

Bruce kneeled down and pressed his fingers to Kitty's neck.

"I'mstillalive," Kitty breathed. "Asshole."

Pepper smiled and asked, "Do you think you can move?"

Kitty's eyes were still closed when she complained, "He just said I can't."

"Who said?" Bruce asked as he started checking over her body. There were several deep cuts and lacerations on her chest, stomach, and knuckles, all expertly sewn up and bandaged. He checked her pulse and frowned; She'll definitely need blood soon. Very soon.

"The man." Kitty smiled and opened her eyes to see Bruce and Pepper looking at her with concern. "The man that saved me."

Tony came running out of the elevator, his face worried and anxious. "Where'd you find her?" He demanded as he knelt down by Kitty, who had passed out again.

"She was just laying here." Pepper held up the note that was taped to Kitty. "With this and a flower."

Bruce and Tony looked at each other and both said, "LeRoux."

"That man that blew her up?"

"Uh huh."

Pepper watched Tony carefully scoop Kitty up in his arms, bridal style.

"You got her?" Bruce asked. He didn't really trust Tony to not drop her, but he definitely wasn't going to say that.

"I'm fine," Tony huffed, readjusting his grip so her head was more supported. "Let's get her to the med bay."

"Have you eaten?" Bruce asked as they gathered in the elevator.

"Yeah, I ate." Tony lied as the elevator took them up. He stepped out and carried Kitty into the medical quarters. Pepper retrieved a gown and both men turned around as she stripped the unconscious Kitty of her suit.

"She needs blood and if you're lying, I can't get it from you." Bruce said pointedly.

"No, I've been working in the lab." Tony admitted. "I'll grab something as soon as we get her vitals. I'll have to call Steve, too, he and Deadpool have been out all night looking for her."

"Okay, she's got the gown on." Pepper called the men over and they started hooking her up to the machines.

"How's Rogers?" Bruce asked distractedly. "Even though she'll be fine after we give her some blood, I doubt he'll take it well."

"Hasn't slept, of course, and everytime I call him, he says that he's still looking."

Pepper asked, "Do you want me to call him?"

"No, I'll do it. But she'll be okay?" Tony worried.

"She'll only need a little bit of blood, but since she's borderline anemic, it'll be faster to give her yours than waiting for her to-"

"Go eat, got it." Tony rubbed his forehead and took out his phone.

"Something with sugar!" Bruce called after Tony.

He stepped out into the elevator and dialed Steve. "We found her."

"Is she-"

"She's okay." Tony said quickly. He walked into the kitchen and hunted down a container of peanut butter and some bread. "She was at Tower." He hastily spread the peanut butter on the bread and folded it in half.

"But we checked-"

"Someone fixed her up and left her on the doorstep." Tony took a bite of the sandwich. "Banner's looking her over, but she'll be up and arguing with us in no time."

"What do you mean, someone fixed her up?"

Tony paused. "I'll tell you when you get back. You'll probably have to bring Deadpool back here, too." He hung up and finished the sandwich, then poured himself a cup of apple juice and drank it before returning to the med bay. He had hoped Kitty would be awake by then, but she was still unconscious. "Did you give her something?" He nodded to her.

Bruce shook his head. "Low dose pain medication, but nothing to keep her asleep."

"Is it safe for me to go back out front?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah." Tony sat down and flopped his arm on the arm of the chair as Bruce prepared for the donation. "Steve and Deadpool should be in soon, send them up here."

She had turned around when Tony called out, "Put the Tower on level two lockdown, please."

Pepper nodded and walked away.

"JARVIS, pull up the security footage from last night on screen five." Tony tried to keep his attention off the tube in his arm. "Keep it to between 9PM and 8AM, first floor reception only."

"Yes, Mr. Stark." One of the screens in the med bay flickered on. The screen was split between the street in front of the Tower and a wide shot of the reception desk.

Bruce slid the needle out of Tony's vein and pressed a cotton ball to his arm before taping it down. He carefully took the blood over to Kitty and started doing his doctorate-certified duties.

"Okay, JARVIS, you can speed it up just a little bit...There!" Tony said triumphantly. "Now, back it up just a few seconds."

A figure (whose face was covered entirely) randomly appeared in the Tower, holding Kitty's seemingly lifeless body. He set her down, note and flower in place, and disappeared as swiftly as he arrived. The entire ordeal lasted two frames.

"Definitely LeRoux." Tony confirmed with a sigh.

"LeRoux?" A voice asked from the doorway. Steve and Deadpool walked in, both tired and unimpressed.

"He left a note saying he fixed her as well as he could. He actually did a decent job." Bruce couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice. "All I've got to do is put some more blood and plasma in her."

"Is he the fucking one that did this?" Deadpool ground his teeth together and he ripped his mask off his scarred face.

"No," Steve shook his head. "LeRoux wasn't anywhere near us. The man came up behind her and stabbed her through her armor. I turned when I heard her cry and she disappeared instantly. The man that stabbed her had the knife in his head."

Deadpool nodded in a way that said, "Not bad."

"This was the footage from this morning, around 6AM." Tony started the footage.

"That's how it looked when she disappeared." Steve confirmed. "Why would he do this?"

"Maybe its the Joker-Batman theory." Bruce received a bunch of confused and puzzled looks. "Hard to be a bad guy if there's no good guys to fight."