A/N: Hello hello everyone! Sorry for the long wait! Hopefully the next one will be quicker. Special thanks to CarnivorousOak for their help! As always, thanks for your support! Please read, review, and enjoy!

Jane had never been in a helicopter before. Spaceship? Oh yeah. But a helicopter- chartered by Tony Stark- was a whole new terrifying experience. She spotted the quaint, if somewhat large, farmhouse through the window and they started to bank towards it. A moment later, they landed on the lawn, about twenty meters from the house. Jane thanked the pilot as the blades wound to a stop and started gathering her equipment.

The door to the copter slid open revealing the Black Widow and someone she didn't recognize.

"Jane Foster?" the redhead asked.

"That's me. Natasha, right?"

The woman smiled.

"Right. This is Laura, Clint's- Hawkeye's- wife."

"Nice to meet you," Jane said, shaking her hand. "I'm sorry about what happened. I'll do whatever I can to help."

"Thank you. And thanks for coming on such short notice," Laura replied, stepping back as Jane hopped out of the copter.

"Hey, when the Avengers call, you show up." She glanced into the back of the helicopter and cringed. "Could you guys help me unload my equipment? I can get it set up from there, but… there's a lot."

"Sure," Natasha chuckled.

Between the three of them it was easy enough to carry all of the stuff to the back porch. From there, she could see where the ship had landed and the blownback grass from where it took off. Whatever hint of a smile that had been on Laura's face was now long gone.

"Let me go introduce you to the others."

The three of them walked inside and Jane had to admit, she was not prepared for the controlled chaos that was Tony Stark. He stood in the center of the kitchen, near the counter where a tablet sat, projecting holograms surrounding the engineer in a complete cylinder. He appeared to be on the phone with someone too, even as he flicked between different screens, turning this way then that way, pulling up another at the same time dismissing three. Doctor Banner sat at the kitchen table on his laptop, a cup of tea in his hand, a good distance away from all the chaos. He glanced up as they came in.

"Tony!" he called. Tony glanced up and placed a finger to his ear.

"Please hold. What?" he asked Bruce. Bruce nodded to the others. Tony whirled around.

"Ah! Doctor Foster." He parted the screens and stepped forward, hand outstretched. "Nice to finally meet you. Loved your paper on the Einstein-Rosen Bridge."

"Oh! Um, thank you. I'm a big fan of your tech."

"Who isn't? And over here we have Doctor Bruce Banner, but I'm sure you've heard of him." Bruce stood up and came over to shake her hand.

"Pleasure to meet you."

"You too. Your research is fascinating." He gave her a small smile.

"So," Tony said, clapping his hands together. "As Cap and Point Break briefed you on, we've got an alien abduction on our hands. How can you help?"

"Well," she began, pulling out a notebook. "I used these antennas from the Malekith incident to set up a perimeter- a barrier really- to contain the effects of the planetary alignment. But I think I can repurpose them, with of my storm tracker gear, to track the ship… sort of." She set the open notebook on the counter next to the tablet where Tony peered over it eagerly. "I figure that ship's gotta have some sort of signature that's not from this world. If we could identify it, then it's only a small leap to tracking it, and, with my computer, we can probably get a pretty solid location for it."

"Not bad Foster," Tony muttered. "Not bad. Need an extra pair of hands?"

"Ones that actually have a degree in mechanical engineering? Yes please. I can cobble stuff together pretty well, but-"

"I can make it go a lot quicker. Let's go."

Natasha grabbed the back of Tony's shirt before he could make it out the door.

"Before you go "science" or whatever, what have you found?"

"Oh right." He pulled his screens back up. "I've been working to narrow down our current suspects. I've got a list of Barton's enemies," he said, pulling up a stack of screens about three inches thick. "And then cut it down to ones with access to government agencies, terrorist cells, and aliens." Half the stack disappeared. "This is where I would start." Natasha nodded.

"Right. Give me your earpiece and I'll finish that call too."

"Oh yeah." He passed it off to her. "Have fun."

Natasha sighed as the two scientists left, poring over the notebook as they went.

"You take half, I take half?" she offered.

"Sure," Laura agreed. Flipping halfheartedly through the screens, Natasha returned to the call. The others could hear some angry muttering from the other side.

"I'm sorry Mr. President. But you know how Mr. Stark can be."

:::::

"Welcome back friends," Thor greeted. "Were you successful?"

"I probably made my first intergalactic enemy," Clint admitted. "But I got what we needed."

"Do we know our next destination?" Thor asked as the others trooped onto the ship. Clint took his spot in the copilot's seat as the others filed in.

"I got a possible lead. What did you guys find?"

Steve nodded at Wanda to go first.

"I overheard some- a group of… people talking. There's a… large slave market where they sell younger children, it sounded like. It might be a good place to look," she said. Clint's jaw tightened and he nodded.

"Cap?"

"I talked to the bartender," he said as he sat down. "He said Yondu was heading to a bazaar. Said he had some cargo and was planning on picking up some more before he got there. I wouldn't be surprised if he was talking about…." He trailed off, enough said.

"Did you get coordinates?"

"Yeah." He rattled them off to Thor who punched them in and, with a nod from Clint, got the ship in motion.

"What about you?" Steve asked. "Did you find out anything?"

"Yeah," Clint said. "There's this mercenary named Starlord that might be worth checking out. He has a contact on Xandar, Nova Prime."

Thor looked at him, a bit surprised and a bit suspicious.

"Xandar is the seat of the government for this quadrant. And Nova Prime, if I recall correctly, is one of the higher ups, so to speak."

"Is that good or bad?" Wanda asked.

"I do not know."

"Thor, how do you set up a com line on this thing? We might as well try."

:::::

Loki sighed on his throne. Being king was a lot more boring than he'd expected. Then Barton had shown up, a welcome distraction to simply ruling the kingdom. He'd reestablished some connections with old allies, creatures that knew the best places to look and the right people to ask. In fact, one of them should be getting here soon…

"My lord, there's someone here to see you," a guard announced, marching through the door. "They're requesting to meet with you in private."

"Send him to my quarters. I'll be there shortly," he replied, standing and striding regally from the room. He arrived at his room and let the illusion drop a moment before there was a knock at the door. He opened it with a wave of his hand and the visitor walked in.

Loki had to suppress a sneer at the ostentatiously dressed man before him wearing a bright blue suit and a purple cape accompanied by a smug grin.

"Loki! Long time no see!"

"Monark," Loki grinned, finding it hard not to grimace.

"Glad to see you're not dead. So, you have a job for me?"

"Yes. An… ally of mine, his children were kidnapped and taken to who knows where. I want you to find them-"

"Easy."

"And keep them safe until I, or my ally, can come pick them up. Do you understand?"

"Of course."

"Good. I will hold you to that."

"Just give me the information- and my pay," he said with a grin. "And I'll be on my way."

"Of course," Loki said, turning into Odin again. "Right this way."

A/N: Oh right, this guy. Name is Monark Starstalker and he's an intergalactic bounty hunter in the Marvel Universe, so he should do nicely. Thanks for reading!