Chapter Four: Solitary Man

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Steve Rogers

I roll my shoulders, cracking my neck from side to side, trying to ease some of the tension in my muscles, but it's no use. The ache only deepens, spreading from my shoulders down to my lower back, a persistent, tightening strain as if gravity itself is pressing down on me.

Shifting my hips and finding a new spot against the black stone wall I am sitting against does nothing either.

"Think we could ask for some memory foam pillows?"

My lips curve, glancing over to my left where Banner sits, looking as stiff and uncomfortable as I feel.

"Seriously, I am getting too old for this," Bruce winces, pressing his hands against his lower back with a quiet groan.

"I'm older than you are," I remind him.

He snorts. "Yeah, Cap, I don't think being perfectly preserved at the prime of your life counts."

I look at him then, really look at him. The lines on his face have deepened in the years he's been missing, more grey peppering his hair. Bruce looks weary, and more than just physically.

The kind of weary a soldier gets when they've seen too much, when they've been tossed into battle one too many times, each fight chipping off a small piece and leaving a scar in its place.

Banner's eyes meet mine, his expression shifting. "What's with the look, Steve? I feel like you're either about to confess to a vicious murder I missed while I was gone, or we're about to have a heart to heart about all our issues. Which is it?"

I raise a brow. "What if I tell you it's both?"

"Then I owe Tony two hundred dollars."

At my perplexed look, he adds, "He always said your dark side would rival Natasha's whenever it decided to make an appearance. I bet against him."

I let out a quiet chuckle, shaking my head. "No murder confession."

"A heart to heart then."

"Can't it just be a conversation?"

"When you're imprisoned on an alien ship heading deep into the cosmos towards certain death, it's never just a conversation."

"Fair point."

"What's on your mind, Cap?"

"I heard about your debrief with Nat and Tony," I shift again, moving away from a curve of the stone wall digging into my spine. "With what's happened the past couple years."

"Ah."

"It sounded…"

"Insane? Like an acid trip gone wrong? Like all that radiation finally cracked my brain open and spilled out all the crazy stored inside?" he asks with a wry smile.

"Something like that."

"Yeah, don't I know it," Bruce scrubs at his eyes. "But it happened. All of it."

"And Thor?"

The last I'd seen of the god of thunder had been his spectacular imprint on Stark's lawn in front of the compound.

"I don't know," his frown turns grim, his eyes troubled. "Like I told Tony, the last thing I remember was our ship being attacked, and the next thing I know I'm in a crater in Kentucky with the world's worst migraine and no idea of how I got there."

"Attacked by what?" I ask, brows furrowing together.

"That's the thing, Cap, I can't remember for the life of me," Banner presses his fingers hard into his temples, his eyes scrunching shut. "I've been trying. But it's a big ball of nothing followed by a hulk-sized headache."

The soft murmuring conversation to my right stops.

"If we weren't locked in these cells, I could help," Wanda says quietly.

Bruce stiffens, his eyes locking on her. "No offense, but you aren't someone I want poking around in my head again."

"Bruce," I mutter, but Wanda's face is calm, unsurprised.

"I'm truly sorry for what I did to you. But that was a long time ago, and things have changed. I have changed. And I've earned the trust of the Avengers," she tells him.

"You haven't earned mine," Bruce replies. "Not yet."

"That is hardly fair," interjects Vision. "Even before you fled in the quinjet, Wanda fought alongside you against Ultron and more than adequately proved herself trustworthy."

"I trust her to fight next to me," Banner's gaze shifts from Vision back to Wanda. "But what you did...manipulating me so that I-"

His jaw tightens. "That's not the kind of thing I can just put aside so I can let you go strolling through my mind like it's Disneyland. I've gotten past it, really, I have, but my brain is off limits, ok kid?"

Wanda nods. "I understand. The offer still stands, if you change your mind."

I look over at Bucky, who has remained silent throughout the exchange. He's leaning against the far wall of his cell, his body relaxed but his eyes carefully watching the unconscious teenager in the cell beside him.

I've seen that look on his face before, a long time ago, in what feels like a different world. That look he would give me when he thought I wasn't paying attention, when he worried about what would happen if he wasn't there to protect me from the bullies. The protective, big brother look, back when I was the little one.

Bucky's gaze suddenly becomes sharper, alert, and I look towards Peter's cell to see the kid pushing himself up with a woozy exhale of breath, his eyes blinking tiredly. Yawning, he looks around blearily and says, "What did I miss?"

"A whole lot of nothing," Banner answers, his eyes looking Peter over.

The kid frowns, eyebrows knitting together as he rolls his right shoulder, his left hand coming up to press against the bandages.

"How's your shoulder?" I ask.

"Uh, better," he replies with surprise, looking up at me. "Like, a lot better. I usually heal fast, but not this fast."

"It must have something to do with the composition of your bandages," Vision peers at him, his eyes narrowing on Peter's shoulder. "The organic fibers are actively working to suture the wound shut using a combination of your cells and the living tissue present in the bands."

Peter's eyes widen, looking from the android to the greyish fabric across his shoulder. "Wait, this stuff is alive?"

"Very much so. That is to say, it isn't cognizant or capable of any kind of consciousness, but the threads comprising the bandages are in fact living cells. Perhaps made in part from our captor's skin, considering the durability, thickness, and healing factors they-"

"Vis," Wanda interrupts.

Vision stops, looking at her questioningly as she just shakes her head.

Peter looks like he's going to be sick as he pokes at the edges of the bandages with obvious disgust.

"I'd leave those on, kid," Bruce advises.

"But it's-their skin," he exclaims, horrified.

"And it's healing you. Just... try not to think about it."

Peter shoots him a look. "Would you be able to not think about it?"

Banner's lips quirk up. "Kid, I-"

"Wait."

Vision's tone has us all whipping our heads in his direction. He's on his feet, eyes trained on the ceiling of his cell, his posture rigid.

I follow suit, my muscles going stiff and heart beginning to pound with anticipated readiness. "What is it?"

"Something has opened."

"Opened?"

"The metal has shifted on a near microscopic level in all of our cells," Vision doesn't look away from the ceiling. "They are releasing a gas."

The others shoot to their feet.

"A gas? What kind of gas?" demands Bruce.

"Like the exterminating kind?" Peter's voice shoots up in pitch.

"It is difficult to say," Vision answers. "I am unable to recognize many of the foreign compounds and elements within it. But if I had to guess, it seems like it carries an incapacitating agent."

"Wanda, can you-" but the question halts in my throat as I turn to her.

Her eyelids are drooping heavily, and she leans against the front wall of her cell, her fingers twisting as red light flickers around her. Whatever's in the gas is working quickly, already muddling her senses enough to where she can't focus on her power.

"I'm...trying," Wanda says, frowning as her telekinetic energy wavers feebly.

"What do we do? Cap, what do we do?" Peter's panicked expression and widening eyes make my drive come into sharp, clear focus. He suddenly starts to hold his breath, his cheeks bulging slightly as he refuses to breathe.

"Stay calm," I order, my authority ringing in the tenor of my voice even as exhaustion settles over me like a heavy blanket.

"When you wake up," I make sure to say when, not if, "evaluate your surroundings. Fight back or run if you can."

Bruce slides to the floor as Bucky braces his hands against the glass to remain standing. I'm starting to sway, and Wanda's head is tipping forward, Peter's eyes getting even rounder as he looks from her to me to Bucky, still holding his breath.

"They want us alive," I remind them as I place a hand on the glass barrier to support myself, my own eyes drooping. "For whatever reason. We'll be ok. It'll...it'll be ok."

I don't know that. Can't know that. But I say it anyways.

Wanda and Bruce hit the floor, eyes rolling back, Bucky sinks to his knees, and even Vision is on all fours, fighting to remain conscious.

"Escape...if you can," my brow creases with the effort of keeping my eyes open as I let myself slide to the floor.

Peter's form is blurring, the cell around me tilting and swaying, lulling me into the darkness, and I hear his forced gasp as he runs out of air.

"I'll find you, kid," I hear Bucky murmur, his words slurring together. "If...they separate...I'll find…"

There's a muffled thump, and I know Bucky has lost the fight to stay awake. I am nearly gone, my eyes seeing black now instead of red, and I can hear Peter's frightened tirade of "shitshitshitshitshit" begin to trail off as he, too, succumbs to unconsciousness.

My fingers jerk against the floor, the muscles spasming in an attempt to jolt me back awake, but the gas released into my cell is too potent, too heavy, and it drags me down, down...down...do….

Birds are screeching, an echoing, distant sound, layered with the fluttering buzzing of insects, the repetitive amphibious croak of something nearby, and the trickling sound of running water.

My brow furrows at the foreign noises, at the hot, humid air pressing down against my sweat covered skin, and my fingers curl into something damp and spongy.

The heaviness dragging down my eyelids and limbs vanish in an abrupt rush, my body jerking awake as if I'd been slapped across the face. My blood rushes through my veins as my heart begins to pound, all my muscles tensing at once.

I open my eyes.

Light filters through a thick canopy high above me, creating a pattern of shadowy splotches intermingling with star shaped bursts of light, dots of pollen and flickering insects illuminated as they pass through the golden beams.

I bolt upright, my head rushing and throbbing slightly at the abrupt change of position as my hands brace my body against the mossy ground.

I'm in a jungle.

I blow out a long breath as I turn my gaze around me, searching the wide trunked trees, the densely layered plant life stretching out in every direction. It looks remarkably similar to the jungles of Earth, a fact I note with relief, and the air I breathe, though uncomfortably damp and weighty and smelling like soil and mildew, is filled with plenty of oxygen.

Eyes still scanning the area around me, I push myself up to my feet, the toe of my boot brushing against something hard and metal. I look down, going stiff with surprise at the sight of my shield resting against the moss covered ground, half hidden beneath the wide fronds of a fern.

My gaze narrows on it suspiciously, and as I crouch carefully beside it, I search for any sign of a snare or line, but find none. Tentatively, I pick it up, and when nothing happens, I straighten, snapping the shield onto the holster on my back.

There's no sign of the others, and I push away the stab of concern I feel at the revelation.

I'm alone.

Alone in what I know has to be an alien jungle, no matter how remarkably similar it looks to my planet. And if I'm here, if I'm alive, then the others have to be too.

Frowning, I turn in a circle, scanning the trees above, but I see no damaged branches, no torn parachute clinging to the canopy, no visible sign of how I got to the drop point.

What are these aliens playing at?

Why leave me here? Why give me back my greatest weapon? Are the others on their own as well? Are they armed? Or did a different fate befall them, one far more terrible than waking up isolated in a foreign landscape?

Stop. I cut off that line of thought, the dark images flooding my mind evaporating at my mental command. I can't afford to wander down that path, not with my team's lives on the line. I have to work under the assumption that they found themselves in similar positions to mine, and the best course of action is to search for high ground, to look for any sign of them so that we can regroup.

I have no idea what the aliens want from us, why they'd take us from our cells to drop us here, but like Wanda said, they made their hostile intentions fairly clear on Earth and on their ship. Whatever they want is bad news, and I have a team of people, including an inexperienced teenager, who need to be found.

If anything happens to that kid, Stark will forgive me. Somehow I feel like the debacle of keeping the truth of what happened to his parents from Tony will pale in comparison to what he will do if Peter doesn't make it back.

And the guilt would probably kill me.

I steel myself. I didn't go through saving the kid twice just to let him die on my watch. It's not going to happen. No one is dying on this planet, not if I can help it. I'm going to find the others, and I'm going to get them home.

Searching through the bushes, I find the source of the running water I've been hearing since I regained consciousness. A stream is barely visible beneath the thick layer of short palms and plants, but my eyes follow its winding path through the trees.

I follow it, moving upstream where I know I will find higher ground and a larger water source.

My body remains tense, my gaze alert as I search the jungle around me, listening and looking for any sign of our alien captors or a wandering Avenger. I'll stay as silent as I can, travel as quickly and efficiently as I am able until I find something; a trail, a track, a sign that my friends are still alive.

The air is filled with sounds of life, but no familiar voice or footsteps beyond my own. I take that as a good sign, that the others are smart enough not to yell out for help and draw attention to themselves.

Stay quiet, move fast, remain alert, I tell myself, sending the order out into my mind as if the others can hear me, too.

I'll find you.

Peter Parker

"HELLOOOO?!"

My cupped hands drop from my masked mouth, and I wince at the raw ache in my throat from shouting too many times.

Clearly no one is going to answer.

I am on my own. On my own and in a freaking alien jungle. Which I can totally handle and not freak out about, because I'm an Avenger, and I'm Spiderman, and I got this.

Yep. Totally got this.

Not freaking out.

I tap the side of my mask, which I'd put on immediately after waking up, grateful the aliens had let me keep it. "Karen? You there?"

No response. Not that I was really expecting one. The AI had been absent since I regained consciousness aboard the alien ship. Other than no Karen, though, it looks like my suit's capabilities are surprisingly still intact.

Alright, list of positives:

1. I still have my suit, and it works. Mostly.

2. I'm in a jungle, and not strapped to a table being injected with an alien parasite

3. I'm still alive (that maybe should have been number one)

4. The aliens that took me are nowhere to be seen.

5. My shoulder doesn't hurt hardly at all anymore.

Ok, good. Lots of positives.

I startle at a loud screech nearby, nearly shooting out of my skin as I lunge for cover behind a wide trunked tree. After a moment of waiting, my heart hammering in my chest, I relax. Just a bird or animal or something.

List of negatives:

1. I'm on an alien planet, ALONE.

2. No Karen, no way to contact Earth or the rest of the Avengers.

3. Still have no idea what the aliens want or why they dumped me here.

4. For all I know, everything on this planet wants to kill me.

5. It is hot as shit, and my suit is already sticking to my sweat plastered skin.

6. I don't know if my teammates are dead, still aboard the ship, or here in the jungle (Again, maybe that should have been number one. Geez, Peter, priorities).

Staying calm. I am staying calm.

I really, really hope the aliens didn't just maroon me on the nearest planet because they deemed me the weakest and sickliest of the bunch. God, I can just picture it, them tossing me in a jungle like nah, this one's lame, and zooming off into space with the rest of the Avengers still locked in their cells. Me, all alone on this planet, with no way to get home.

I shudder. Nope. That tangent has got to stop. I wasn't the only one gassed into unconsciousness, so it stands to reason that everybody else is somewhere here with me.

But why did the aliens go through all the trouble to attack and kidnap us only to drop us off in a jungle? Doesn't add up.

"Ok, Parker, get a grip," I shake out my arms, doing a little jog in place to loosen up my tensed muscles. "Remember what Cap said. Evaluate your surroundings. Fight back or run like hell."

Well, I'm in a very Earth-like jungle.

And there's nothing really to fight back at the moment, or run away from. So….now what?

An idea hits me. I tap the side of the spider emblem on my chest, and with a soft whir of noise, it detaches itself to hover in front of my face. "Droney! Man, am I glad to see you right now."

It waits for instructions, little fans whirring.

"Oh. Right," I rub the back of my masked head. "Um...ok, how about you head up above the canopy and look around for me? See if you can see any of the Avengers or the aliens, or...something useful I guess."

It zooms off towards the top of the trees, a beam of light catching it and reflecting off its metal surface before it vanishes up into the branches.

As I wait for it to return, I glance around me. I'm in a clearing, the soil damp and squishy beneath my feet, the huge roots of the nearby trees weaving in and out of it in an expanse of ankle twisting tendrils. The plants are surprisingly similar to Earth's plants, though I've never been in a jungle before. Hey, I've seen Planet Earth and its sequel on Netflix, so I have a good idea of what tropical habitats are supposed to look like.

It's kind of...comforting, I guess. Like if I wanted to, I could easily pretend that I am on a mission back home and not on an alien planet by myself.

A faint metallic whir reaches my ears, and then Droney is descending through the branches of the trees, hovering in front of me for a brief moment before returning to its dock on my chest.

"Alright, buddy, what do you got for me?" I murmur as it uploads the images and scans it had recorded, the stats and recordings appearing in a small window on my lens display. "Ok. We got jungle, jungle, jungle, and hey, look at that, more jungle. How big is this place?"

The thick green blanket of trees seem to stretch toward every horizon, and Droney's scans picked up no electronic signals, no sign of intelligent life. The thermal scans are a bust too, with the planet's hot temperatures, dense humidity, and amount of wildlife. Even the trees are putting off a significant temperature.

I sigh. Great. So much for that. Well, at least there is currently no sign of the aliens who'd kidnapped me. That is something.

Pressing my middle and index fingers into the palm of my right hand, I fire off a web to one of the tall, wide branches of a nearby tree. The line retracts, my body flying up as it does, and I swing forward to crouch on the wooden ledge, the leaves shaking at the impact of my body landing on the branch.

A blinking alert has me looking down.

Oh shit.

Shit.

My suit contains a limited amount of web fluid that can be stored in the small, cylindrical containers. I'm already at sixty percent capacity, having used the other forty during the fight in Manhattan. And once I'm out of web fluid, I am out. No swinging home or by the school or by Mr. Stark's tower to pick up some more.

I let out a shaky breath, taking a moment to calm my breathing, to drive away the cresting wave of panic that would very much like to crash down on me.

It's fine.

Sixty percent? That's more than half. I'm good.

What better environment for me to need to conserve my web fluid than a jungle? Plenty of branches and trees to leap across, and hey, there are always vines to swing from like I'm a more vibrantly dressed Tarzan.

Pushing off the branch with both my hands and feet, I leap nimbly up to seize a much higher branch, using my momentum to swing my body forward into the air until my feet hit the branch of a neighboring tree.

Piece of cake.

Actually, this is easier than swinging through Queens. It's like a personalized jungle gym. I keep my momentum going, swinging and leaping and jumping and landing and running across the huge branches in a rush of smooth, acrobatic moves.

"Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of-oof!"

My foot hits a limb covered in slippery green moss, and in a stomach lurching movement, my leg drops out from under me, and I tip forward, another branch slamming into my gut. It knocks the wind out of me, and then I am falling.

"Crap!"

Several twigs and thin branches slap into me as I fall, my hands scrabbling to grab something, anything, and then there! My palm sticks to a wide bough, halting my descent in a harsh snap that has the tendons in my injured shoulder straining.

Panting, I pull myself up and take a moment to lean against the trunk of the tree.

"This sucks."

A/n: Welcome to the jungle. :)

Definitely one of my favorite chapters I've written for this!

Special thanks, as always to my beta and fiffer, PippinStrange, the reason this series exists, my constant source of support and inspiration! Go read Where They Go, RIGHT NOW if you are still hurting from Infinity War (WHO ISNT?!)

This would be a great moment to tell you guys that an amazing song that inspires a heavy amount of this story is Welcome to the Jungle by Tommee Profit featuring Fleurie. Look it up, you will not regret it. Completely sets the tone for the rest of the fic.

So the plot thickens! Our heroes are no longer on an alien ship, but a planet, isolated, with no idea what their fates could be or why the aliens would do such a thing. Also you got a snippet of the ending to Thor: Ragnarok. Bruce remembers being attacked on Thor's ship, then waking up in a crater on earth. What happened there is a big part of the plot, a mystery that will slowly unfold. So to those of you with questions, I have no answers for you yet. ;)

Those of you who worried about Bucky switching back to the Winter Soldier mind control, fear not! During the events of SIlent Night, the Wakandan scientists found a way to remove his brainwashing, so he's all clear!

And yes, expect lots more Wanda POVs to come! I adore writing her and super appreciate everyone's comments on how I wrote her the last chapter! She is one of my favorites, and as a sometimes moody young woman with a twin brother, I can very much identify with her. ;)

Review Replies!

Web-HeadSuperFan: THANK YOU! :D

gandalf537: Thank you oh so much! I absolutely ADORE Wanda, and I am psyched to keep writing her. Shuri was so so fun to write for too! I am so glad you are enjoying it so far!

sparklydog9: Ooooh lots of good guesses! You'll know soon! ;)

faithandfamily1st: Thank you! I feel like I've been improving as well, so I'm glad you think so!

StarStepper: Why thank you! :D

cargumentluv: Ahhhh thanks so much! :D Playing with all the characters has been so fun. As to your last question...I cannot say. ;)

Guest: Eeeeh thank you! Shuri and Tony are so fun. Hope you enjoyed the update!

Heroes21: Dude, me TOO. It wasn't something I planned on when I first started writing Paint it Black, but something that evolved within it and I can't wait to keep it growing!

Evelris: Thanks so much! :)

GinaBoo: Hullo again! Welcome back to the review squad! So happy to see you. :) And I'm so glad you are enjoying it so far!

PippinStrange: :D Eeeee thanks fiffer!

Guest: You'll have to wait and see.

Nathissica: Ahhh the Infinity War bruises are a real thing. Ouch, man. This is definitely healing for me to write. XD and I can't wait for more Wanda and Vision!

NyxieDust: Omg thank you! Still crazy to me that I have fans!

LoonyLovegood1981: Thank you so much! Glad you like the previews! I'll keep them coming!

edenabigail: Wow, thanks so much!

JeyFeather1234: Lol thank you! I very much enjoyed Shuri giving Tony a hard time too. ;)

Shoyzz: Not sure if I will do Peter's POV on that part, perhaps as a flashback or bonus chapter later. But THANK YOU! :D Your reviews are always a delight

Vivienne: THank you very much! Glad I can keep you guys on your toes!

Snowflake: Thanks! :)

SummerMistedDragon: :D

Thanks as always to my amazing review squad! I love hearing from you guys and will try to update soon! Leave a comment below!

Coming up:

Chapter Five: Down in the Valley

A reunification deep within the jungle, a rescue mission underway, PTSD, a serious conversation about ice cream (wait, what?), a trap is sprung, and a horrifying realization.

Curious? ;)