Author: Black Dragon on the Rocks/animealam

Rating: T

Pairing: None so far, mentions of one sided Steve/Peggy

Summary: The Universe stared at the boy for what seemed an eternity to him, only to change into a decrepit, dirty alley, and that was the last thing Steve saw before loosing consciousness. The small frail boy banished in a flash of blue flames. Be warned VERY AU Young Time Travelling genius tech savvy Steve.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, I'm just borrowing them. I'm using a good number of the movie dialogs, even if I added bits and pieces so some of them. So if something looks familiar they are obviously not mine, and belong to their respective owners.

Warnings: NOT SLASH, AU, Completely totally AU, Time Travel, Younger Steve, Violence, Adoption, Smart Steve, Technopaths, Technopath Tony, Technopath Steve, Canon Character Deaths, Minor Character Deaths, OOC-ness, there are quite a lot of movie dialogs which I decided not to change but I did add my own twists and turns to make them a bit more interesting.

Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Thor, Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Sarah Rogers, mentions of Bucky, mentions of Peggy Carter, mentions of Howard Stark, mentions of Colonel Phillips, mentions of the Howling Commandos, Jarvis, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey

Timeline: Pre Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers, Post Avengers

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who is reading, the ones who have favorited, and are following the story. The same to those at AO3 who left Kudos, Bookmarked, and/or commented. I have plans to go all the way to Iron Man 3 with the story, and depending how things work I could probably go all the way to the Winter Soldier (I don't know why, but writing Bucky is not easy for me, I've tried in a few other of the fics I haven't posted yet, but I can't seem to get him right), and some of Age of Ultron.

Hmm... Steve/Wanda... Might work as they'd be close in age... But I'm getting ahead of time, these two plots are way into the future, and only posibilities I might explore.

What I'm definitely NOT going to go through is Civil War, comic or movie. I'm in denial, period. That does not exist in the world I'm writing about. I saw one trailer, and I'm definitely not watching the other, I fear it might kill the muses. It has happened before with my Harry Potter stories.

WARNING:The last part of the chapter deals with a rather disturbing subject. Kraft and Co. Get what's coming to them. I tried not to be too descriptive, and make it as light as possible, but I'm not sure if I managed convey what happened without it getting gory. I was in a rather vindictive mood when I wrote it, though. Anyway, there's a warning before that part starts so you can skip it if you like. Just know they did pay dearly. Also if I was too vague, or not clear enough, I would appreciate some feedback.

Total size without notes: 6,298

Keys:

"Speaking aloud."

'Thoughts'

'Name: /Mental interfacing between technopaths and/or tech\'


Arguments abound

Tony had just received a message from his lawyers confirming Mrs Rogers had signed the documents with her consent to allow him to adopt her son. Alan Rutherford, who was his main lawyer when it came to paternity lawsuits, and Steve's mother had actually met at the Brooklyn Family court so he could present the documents without delay.

Rutherford and Meyers, who was his partner at the law firm, had several contacts who owed them a few favors, and they would speed the process as much as possible. Rutherford had also proved to be one of his people with initiative, and had convinced Mrs Rogers to also make a Will.

Powerful people were after her son, and it was better to be prepared for any eventuality. Tony did not think, at least he really hoped it would not, come to that. But Rutherford was right, better be prepared. For his part, Meyers was ensuring none of the procedures would be leaked to the press, which was perfect. Steve did not need the notoriety of being Tony Stark's adoptive son.

Tony knew he should have probably told Steve about his plans to adopt him. But knowing how dangerous the situation could get for the kid, Tony decided it was better to ask for the boy's forgiveness than ask for his permission. There was simply no way he was leaving SHIELD any chance to gain control over Steve.

The pirate might not have ominous intentions towards the kid, but several of his scientists certainly did. Tony knew it was not just Kraft who was obsessed with getting Super Soldiers, and that was just within SHIELD; who knew how many would be after him of those in the military, or contracted to them? Never mind their many enemies.

Tony also knew he should have warned Pepper about it. They were together, and he was doing his best for their relationship to work, but time was of essence; and at the moment SHIELD was distracted with the search for the Tesseract. It was the best time to act behind their backs.

As to Steve's adoption, Tony was not sure if Pepper would approve of him becoming the parent of a teenager, albeit a brilliant one, and who was most likely more mature than he was. Specially when in the past he had been avoiding fatherhood like the plague. But it was not like Steve was a little kid and needed him to act like a father.

Back in the forties, Steve had lived on his own since he was twelve. He could take care of himself. In fact he did a better job at raising himself than Tony could ever hope to do. Besides, he was sure Steve would most likely end in his mother's care, at least for a while. He would be turning seventeen that year after all.

Tony's plan was to basically take care of their financial support, their living conditions, and Steve's protection; whether it was legal, or it required a more violent response. Tony would also ensure Steve's brilliant mind was not wasted.

He would provide Steve with as many opportunities to further his studies as he desired. Besides, if the kid was specialized in Artificial intelligence, there was nothing better than to work with the most advanced AI in the world. Tony was sure Steve was going to love JARVIS once he introduced them.

With Steve's protection on the works, Tony's mind was free to concentrate on other things. Like making sure the programs working on locating the Tesseract were running smoothly. The H.O.M.E.R Cluster was making a huge difference.

They had nothing more to do for the time being except for waiting, and plotting murder. Who would have thought mild mannered doctor Bruce Banner was so creative and vindictive? He certainly did not look it, but he had been travelling all over the world for years, and had learned a few things from each culture he encountered.

Not long after they began their plotting, JARVIS monitoring of the helicarrier's mainframe yielded some good news. Coulson, along with Natashalie, and a STRIKE team had detained Kraft, Wilkins, and Frampton. The three who raped Steve. Plus all of those working under Kraft on board.

According to the report, the trio had been trying to find a way to get a hold of the Super Soldier while on board of the helicarrier with no one the wiser. That only made his and Bruce's blood boil. How dare those motherfuckers even think about it? The Hulk almost came out to smash them into a pulp, and it was a miracle Bruce managed to keep him under control.

The report on the system stated they had resisted detention, and it was necessary to use excessive, although regretfully not lethal, force. Tony had been unable to hide the sadistic grin at those news, and Bruce had joined him.

A peek at the surveillance feeds let Tony know Frampton and Wilkins thought they knew better, and had truly not resisted. Which clearly had been worth nothing because Romanoff had no mercy on them. The one named Frampton had broken down after the first couple of kicks and punches.

Wilkins on the other part was a sadistic pervert, who taunted her and Agent by describing just how Captain America had cried and begged not to be touched, and what a good fuck he had been. Tony had never imagined Agent's expression could be anything but bland, or the fact Natashalie could actually be anything but expressionless. But murderous was too mild to describe the way both had looked at those words.

Tony knew then Wilkins had just signed his death warrant for taunting them. Agent was a rabid Captain America fanboy, he was not letting anyone speak about his hero that way. He had punched Wilkins only once, then when the man mocked him, Agent simply told Romanoff she could do as she pleased with the scum. Wilkins did not need his balls to live after all.

Romanoff actually smiled, a sadistic kind of smile which let Wilkins know he was fucked. It was only then when the asshole realized he was in very, very deep shit, and those two agents were not playing by the book, with Fury's blessing to booth.

For his part Agent went after Kraft himself, who did resist once he realized Fury was making good on whatever the one eyed spy had threatened him with before he laid a hand on Rogers. Tony was dumfounded to see just what Coulson was capable of, he really did not expect it from the mild mannered man.

Agent proved why he had reached so high in SHIELD's ladder. He simply took off his jacket, tie, vest, and rolled up his shirt sleeves. Then proceeded to give the mad scientist a lesson in well applied Martial Arts, which to his surprise Kraft actually knew. But the doctor was no match for Agent, and Tony witnessed the Agent teach Kraft a lesson in a hundred and one ways to turn a man's family jewels into mince meat.

He was creative, Tony had to give him that. But on the other side of the lab Romanoff was making Wilkins cry like a baby, and sing like a soprano. She was the most creative of the two, and way, way too terrifying.

Tony made a mental note to NEVER, EVER, EVER make that particular woman angry... Never ever. But specially, he must not let her and Pepper talk. If they ever joined forces... He shuddered in something akin to terror at the thought.

Knowing those animals had been detained did not ease Bruce's anger by much. So Tony let him see the surveillance videos of it to appease him, and hopefully the Hulk as well. Bruce did calm a bit, loosing the green tinge to his skin and eyes. The Hulk was mildly appeased by the thorough smashing those three received.

After they finished with the videos and the report, Tony and Bruce were planning on locating the mess hall and grabbing something to eat. Plotting murder was hungry work, while the spies had done a good job, neither he, nor Bruce believed it was enough. Even if he did not look it, Steve was a sixteen year old boy, and he should have never been put through what they did to him.

Once they ate something, the two of them planned on finding out wherever Steve got himself into. He should have been back a while ago, but he had not returned. The beasts who hurt Steve were finally locked up, and would be unable to hurt him again. Still, Tony could not help but worry, and from the looks of it, Bruce was starting to worry as well.

When Tony pinged the kid's mind, he had only gotten an angry growl in return. Steve was not angry at him, that much Tony could tell. But the fact the kid was practically vibrating with it just left him concerned. Unfortunately their plans were disrupted when Fury chose that moment to irrupt into the lab, sounding not at all pleased.

"What are you doing, Mr Stark?" Nick demanded as he entered the lab. A glance showed him Rogers was not there, and he should be.

"Ahh... Kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony said nonchalantly at the same time he fiddled with a monitor, mentally locating the information he needed, and having it displayed there.

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract," he stated, "not torturing my agents with stupid music. Stop it this instant," Nick demanded.

"We are, looking for the Cube that is," Bruce interjected unable to hide his grin, "the model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now." Fury did spare him a glare, since it was clear he knew about the music. "When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"Yeah, then you get your Cube back. No muss, no fuss," Tony added. "By the way I'm innocent," he raised both hands and gave Fury his most innocent look, not that it was all that convincing. He probably should work on it. "I have nothing to do with... music you say?"

"Stark, you have been playing earworms to my agents for hours! This stops now!" He was pissed. No, he was murderous. "And where the fuck is Rogers? He was supposed to be here."

A few minutes earlier he had been in the control room to check what the two geniuses, and one shockingly smart Captain were doing. He now had The never Ending Song playing ceaselessly in his mind when he needed all his concentration on the crisis at hand. If he could get away with shooting Stark—even if it was on the little toe—he would without thinking twice.

"Steve was hungry," Bruce responded. "He went in search of the mess hall, where we planned to go as well before you arrived."

"Hey, don't blame that on me. I really did nothing." Fury actually growled at him, and Tony wondered just what song was torturing him at the moment. Then with fake curiosity, he enquired, "What is Phase two?"

Steve was the one who answered coming in at Tony's question and dropping a rather large gun on a work table. He was not pleased his suspicions had been confirmed. There had been a lot of different types of weapons in that particular cargo hold, most of them his creations.

"Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the Cube, my designs, and notes to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me."

Tony: /No problem, we had our suspicions, and it's clear you did as well. It seems SHIELD has many more secrets than we thought; and you designed that one?\ He was rather impressed, as a former weapons designer he could appreciate the lines of that gun, and had they had time he would have liked to engage in a discussion as to what were its specs.

Steve: /Yeah, they were only ever intended to fight against HYDRA. Hill lied to my face. They got all my notes and the schematics for everything I designed while I was working for the SSR. To make matters worse they have a whole lot of my weapons on board, plus a few HYDRA ones.\

Tony: /If they have them, why didn't they know it was you who created them?\ He was puzzled.

Steve: /I don't know, but I'm not happy. Will you release the surveillance control? At this point I don't mind shocking Fury if you want me to take the heat from you. I started it after all, and it's my playlist.\

Tony: /Nah, let's leave it for the moment, I'm more interested in the weapons. I wonder how he's going to explain them.\

Steve: /I've been asking myself the same. By they way, can you recommend a good patent lawyer? I did patent all my designs for 150 years.\

Tony did not respond, he just mentally cackled—rather evilly—which clearly meant he was going to give hell to SHIELD. The exchange between them had lasted less than a minute, and Steve was astounded to realize just how much faster their brains shared information compared to simply speaking. He would have to ask Tony later about it.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract, and we truly did not know you were the one who wrote those notes on the weapons—"

"Those notebooks had my initials all over them!" Steve interrupted in a tone that clearly said how stupid are you and your people? "In fact, I'm certain my full name is in there as well. How many people do you think there were working for the SSR with the initials SGR? Let me tell you, only one, me."

"—look, I ignore why you weren't credited for them, but now we know you will get due recognition for your work," he said placatingly at the same time he wondered why no one connected the initials to the name when they unearthed those notes after the Puente Antiguo incident. Because it was then when Phase two began. "This does not mean that we're the ones making..."

Just what he needed, another major clusterfuck with Rogers, and SHIELD was going to make an enemy out of Captain America. Nick was not sure it would be in their best interest to end in worse terms than they already were. It was painfully clear they no longer had any chance at earning the young man's trust.

"I'm sorry Nick, what were you lying?" Tony enquired showing them a screen with the schematics of one of the weapons SHIELD had been working on.

"I was wrong Director, the world hasn't changed a bit," Steve said sounding disappointed, although not surprised, because even as a modern kid he had known it. "Those weapons were only to be used against HYDRA, as a last resort. They are no more. There is nothing that justifies producing them now," Steve told him with barely controlled anger.

"Did you know about this?" Bruce demanded of agent Romanoff and the Asgardian, when they entered the lab.

"You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" While it was phrased like a suggestion, Natasha's tone implied it was more like an order.

"I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed," he told her ironically. It was them who thought it a good idea to bring him into a flying fortress.

"Loki is manipulating you," she tried to reason.

"And you've been doing what, exactly?" The gall of that woman.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," she retorted.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy." He snapped at her, then went to one of the monitors. It displayed the schematics for a missile. A quick glance at Tony let him know it was the older technopath who put it there. "I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to make weapons of mass destruction."

"That's not mine, and neither is it HYDRA's" Steve said looking at the thing more than a bit horrified. He had connected with the terminal, and read the missile's specks.

Steve did not like the kind of damage such a missile would do. It seemed SHIELD's engineers had been either getting creative, or they were relatively decent at copying and adapting tech. For his part, Steve had chosen not to design any missiles because the risk of civilian casualties was too high for his liking. He could not compromise over the protection of innocent lives.

"I never designed any missiles, the risk of civilian casualties is way to high with those involved."

"We created them Because of him," Fury said pointing at Thor. Perhaps that would ease the Captain's anger, once he realized the danger otherworldy visitors represented.

"Me?" Thor asked rather confused at being dragged into the argument.

He had simply come to Midgard to protect it from Loki and his allies. So it was extremely disconcerting to suddenly find himself accused of being the cause for the SHIELD to start making weapons using the Tesseract.

"Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet," Nick began explaining, "who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned than not only are we not alone, but we're hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." He doubted anything they sent against The Destroyer would have been of any use. But Rogers weapons? They would have made a difference.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor stated. Asgard, as a whole, had no true interest in Midgard. It was actually only him who did, after being exiled on the realm and meeting his friends.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" Nick chose not to remind them of the other Asgardian on the ship, who clearly wanted something with Earth. To rule it. "And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve decided to point out. He did not like what he was hearing.

Fury's words did provide an explanation as to the extensive surveillance he had been subjected to. He was clearly not considered a normal human, and had proven to be difficult to control. They considered him a threat.

Steve was truly glad he chose to be cautious, and not visit his mother. SHIELD must not find out either his age, the fact he was a technopath, or his time travel. It would only give them more things to be wary of.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the Realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war," Thor saw fit to inform them. The Tesseract was simply too powerful, and a very coveted item. It was why the All-father had it hidden on Midgard when the Midgardians were not able to use it.

"A higher form?" Nick snapped. That was rich. "You forced our hand. We had to come up with..."

"A nuclear deterrent," Tony interrupted, "because that always calms everything right down." His tone was heavily laden with sarcasm.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark," Nick demanded.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark..." Steve trailed off.

He had been about to rant at Tony about making weapons, which would make him a hypocrite since he had done the same. In fact, one of his weapons was on the table. Something was definitely wrong, and whatever it was, was making them angry, and willing to be at each other's throats at the slightest provocation. His eyes then settled on the scepter. It was glowing much brighter.

Steve: /Something's wrong, Tony. The jewel on the scepter is beginning to glow.\ He said tightening his mental shields, and trying for a shielded connection with the older technopath's mind.

Steve had never done it with another human, but he did know how to establish one such connection with tech. He just hoped he did it right. Although, the moment his shields were up, the anger went down exponentially.

Steve: /Shield as tight as you can,\ he added. /It seems to work... At least for us.\

Tony: /I can see that,\ he responded doing as the kid suggested, and immediately noticed the difference. He turned to look at the glowing gem on the scepter. /We can protect ourselves from the scepter's influence, but the others don't have the ability to create mental shields. If we don't do anything we're going to have a fight on our hands. Any suggestions kid?\

Steve: /Plastic?\ he sent a bit hesitant, not sure what else they could do to protect themselves from the Gem's influence.

Tony: /It's worth a try,\ he agreed as he tried to find another solution and not coming up with anything else. /It worked with the little one. I think there's a roll of bubble wrap by the last table.\

"Captain?" Nick turned to look at the soldier puzzled.

Rogers had simply trailed off when he seemed about to start ranting at Stark. Then he abruptly went to the back of the lab. To his surprise the Cap tossed a roll of, of all things, bubble wrap to Stark. The genius then tossed it to Banner who had a look of understanding on his face, and proceeded to wrap the scepter's jewel tightly with it.

As soon as Banner had a few layers encasing the jewel Nick began to relax. The anger, while there, was not unmanageable. He no longer felt the need to start an argument, or to verbally eviscerate anyone. Well, he still wanted to shoot Stark, but that was actually normal. He could also see the tension on the others diminish noticeably.

"Can any of you assholes explain why part of the fucking scepter is now covered in bubble wrap, and why we were about to go at each other like cats and dogs?" He directed a glare at each of the three men involved, and one to the Asgardian when he appeared to be about to ask something. Probably what cats and dogs were.

"I hold no animosity towards Tony," Steve began. The use of Stark's first name shocked Fury, "and I am not one to usually go off on a rant without reason. I designed weapons—even before I joined the Army—so why would I go off at Tony for the same thing. It just wasn't right... It wasn't... me."

"And why would that lead you to toss bubble wrap to Stark?" Nick asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"When I trailed off I noticed the scepter's jewel was glowing, which it had not done previously. I thought, well... plastic is chemically inert..." Steve began explaining with a shrug.

"It's also an insulator," Tony went on. "I noticed the glow when Steve stared at it, and I was angry at him and Bruce for no reason. So the logical answer was that thing," and he pointed to the scepter, "had to be manipulating us."

"We had discussed earlier the fact HYDRA used plastic as the material to contain the energy they obtained from the Tesseract, and which was used to power their weapons. So I just put two and two together when I saw the glowing jewel and the bubble wrap Tony tossed at me," Bruce added with a shrug. He had started to loose control on the Hulk, and that would have been disastrous.

"And you just happened to know plastic would work, Rogers?" Nick asked suspiciously.

"No, I was not sure it would. That jewel is a lot larger than anything I worked with before. But as Bruce just mentioned, the HYDRA weapons' power source container," he signalled the gun on the table, "was made of plastic. I documented this, and your people clearly knew about it since they followed my schematics to the letter as well, and it worked, or else there would have been modifications to the design."

"I would say normally simple plastic is a useless protection against gamma rays. It doesn't have the necessary density," Bruce mused thoughtfully. He scanned the scepter. "The readings prove it, there are no deviations from previous ones; but the plastic IS blocking something. We are no longer at each other's throats."

"That has to be the 'magic'," Tony used his fingers to quote the word. "It's clearly an energy we have not detected yet. We need to do more tests, and identify this energy."

"I agree, this bears more research," Steve told them. He did not think he had enough knowledge about gamma radiation to add to that discussion though. "But let's remain focused. Why does Loki want us fighting each other? It's clear he can manipulate that thing when he isn't even in the room, he could have done it much earlier. So why now?"

"Because we're not the team you want us to be, Director," Bruce told Fury. "We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb... or would have been if we hadn't blocked the scepter's influence."

"You need to step away," Fury told the scientist. Loki was trying to unleash the Hulk, so the least they needed was Banner getting angry.

"No he doesn't," both Steve and Tony said at the same time. Fury turned to look at them with his only eyebrow raised. Steve nodded at Tony signalling for him to speak first.

"Bruce has a tight leash on his temper, enough that he can allow himself to let off some steam." After watching those surveillance videos of Kraft, and keeping the Hulk at bay, Tony knew a little argument was not going to result in the Hulk making an appearance.

"Listen, Stark," Nick began since he was not inclined to believe the billionaire.

"I agree with Tony, the Hulk isn't making an appearance because of an argument," Steve interrupted. "You're loosing focus though. Why is the scepter affecting us now? What does Loki gain from it? That is what you should be concentrating on, not on Bruce's well controlled temper."

"Divide and conquer, plain and simple," Tony deducted. He, Bruce, and Steve got along well enough, but the other two members and Fury himself had not factored in the equation.

"Son of a bitch! He's preparing to make a move," Nick deducted.

At that moment they got a positive alert. The algorithm had located the Tesseract. Bruce immediately went to check the console, and see where it actually was. The readings he was seeing were definitely NOT good, and did not bode well for them. It was somewhere in the vicinity of New York City, and moving.

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

"I could get there faster," Tony offered.

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard. No human is a match for it," Thor boomed. He had to take the Cube back to Asgard where it would be safe.

"You're not going alone," Steve said stopping Tony from leaving the room.

"Are you going to stop me?"

"No. We don't know what we're facing, or how many men Loki has. He has two men under his control with enough contacts to raise a well equipped mercenary army in little time Tony. Backup might well be a necessity," he told the older man, concern in his voice.

Steve: /This time we need a better plan than just attack, Tony. We can't risk being at odds with each other, or Loki wins and we loose the Tesseract as well as the Earth,\ he told the other man reasonably.

Tony: /Just so you know, kid, I so hate when someone other than me is right./ He sent him a mental pout, and turned to look at Bruce.

"Oh my God," Bruce exclaimed, so both Steve and Tony linked to the tracker and knew things were going south in a hand basket.

There were two locations, one approaching New York City, probably the Tesseract since it emitted the stronger signal. The other was very faint, but it was practically on top of the helicarrier.

"Sound the alarm now! We're about to be under attack," both Steve and Tony warned.

Then it happened, a huge explosion rocked the whole ship. Fire burst up from the lab's floor before it collapsed. Everyone was sent flying, with Bruce and Natasha falling out of the window. With an effort Steve and Tony managed to get on their feet unsteadily. There were alarms blaring and a lot of smoke.

"Put on the suit," Steve told Tony as they scrambled out of the lab. He then needed to get to his shield, and get his hands on a gun and ammo.

"Yeah," Tony agreed as he stumbled through the door followed by the kid.


"Hill!" Nick demanded a report as he tried to regain his balance, and clear his ears from the ringing.

"External detonation!" she informed him. Then began a status report. "Number three engine is down. We've been hit. Can they get it running?" she asked the technicians.

"Fire in engine three!" someone reported.

"Talk to me," Maria demanded as she made her way to the technician.

"Turbine looks mostly intact," one of the operators informed her. "But it's impossible to get out there to make repairs while we're in the air."

"If we lose one more engine, we won't be," Maria said concerned. "Somebody's got to get outside and patch that engine" She reported to Fury.

"Stark, you copy that?" Nick asked the man. He was probably the only one who could do something about the damaged engine. Not just because he could fly in that suit of his, but he was a mechanic as well.

"I'm on it," Tony responded.

"Coulson, initiate defensive lockdown in the detention section," Nick instructed. They needed to keep Loki contained, as this was clearly a rescue attemp. "Then get to the armory." Barton, but specially Phelps, knew about the Phase Two weapons. Loki's people must not gain access to them. "Romanoff?"

Natasha was unharmed, if a bit banged up. Her only real problem was that one of her ankles was trapped under some debris from the explosion. That was not what was making her nervous though, what was, were the angry growls and noises coming from Banner.

"We're okay," she reported to Fury, then she turned to the doctor. "We're okay right?" she asked Banner. Who actually did not look okay at all. "Doctor?" Natasha asked but got no response except some angry sounding groans and deep breathing. "Bruce?" she tried again with no result. "You got to fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're going to be Okay. Listen to me." Two crew members came running to them.

"Are you hurt?" the one in the lead asked. Natasha signalled for them to get away, and thankfully they heeded her warning. But their presence only made things worse with the doctor.

"We're going to be okay. All right?" She kept trying to calm him, to stall an appearance from the Hulk. "I swear on my life, I will get you out of this. You will walk away and never ever..."

"Your life?" Bruce growled with more than a hint of the Hulk in his voice.

Bruce had kept him under control for way too long, and Hulk wanted out. There were people to smash, the Hulk reminded him. Those puny humans who hurt the little Cap. They had to pay, they had to be smashed so they would never hurt the little one again.

But Bruce was resisting, saying it was not time yet for the Hulk to come out. Hulk did know just what to do to make Bruce angrier, to make him want to smash as much as Hulk did. Revisiting the memory of Kraft laughing at the little Cap's pleas and tears was enough. With a fierce, furious growl, Bruce let go and Hulk finally came out.

"Bruce," Natasha said when Banner gave her an apologetic look before he lost complete control.


Smash is not enough

Hulk roared as he moved following the red headed human female, destroying anything and everything in his path. The fact he had somewhere to go, and something to do, did not mean he could not do some smashing on the way. Smashing was good.

She was not his prey, she was just in his path. He was angry like he had seldom been before, and would have simply smashed the female out of his way, but Bruce did not want her destroyed, and since for once they agreed on smashing something, Hulk would listen to Bruce.

The Hulk extended his arm, and managed to grab the red and black... Spider. Bruce thought of her as one, and so Hulk chose to do the same. She struggled and screamed, but he was not interested in hurting her, even if the noise was annoying. Still, he was rather careful not to squish the human like spider, and Hulk simply put her aside atop some stairs, out of his way.

"Hulk no smash Spider, if spider is out of Hulk's way," he told her and then turned to go in search of those he and Bruce wanted to smash.


Natasha's knees gave out under her, and she just folded on the floor, hugging herself and trembling. She was trained to kill, and was probably SHIELD's most deadly agent, but even with all her training she had been no match for the Hulk.

She had thought her life was over the moment he grabbed her, and yet, he let her go. Natasha had never heard of that happening before. Hulk was even somewhat gentle, or what passed for gentle with him, and left her unharmed, if terribly shaken.

He did warn her not to get in his way, and Natasha was very much inclined to heed the warning. So she could only stare at the path of destruction he left in his wake as she tried to regain her composure.


Finding those who hurt the little Cap was not hard, Bruce knew where, so he simply went that way. Those bad men were locked in rooms, past a strange room Bruce knew as a place of healing. There was a tall metal table stuck to the floor, and Hulk stopped to observe it a bit contemplative.

Hulk was very, very angry, and Bruce was furious. Bruce wanted those bad men who hurt the little Cap to suffer, and Hulk... Hulk liked the idea very, very much. Normally Hulk would just smash those who made him angry, but for the first time ever smashing was not enough.

Hulk understood what the men did to the little Cap on an instinctive level, just as he knew it was wrong. Hulk did not need Bruce to tell him that. But he did not know what to do to make them suffer and pay for hurting a little one so bad, even if the little Cap did not look so little. Then Bruce thought the punishment should fit the crime and Hulk grinned as he looked at the table. He would even get to do some smashing.

- Warning Starts here - Warning - Warning Starts here -

The Hulk was not the only one who heard the terrified, then agonizing screams of those who hurt little Cap. There had been others, many others trapped behind the flimsy metal doors and walls. Hulk had roared and growled at them, and he was satisfied they screamed in terror because they were unable to escape.

Those puny humans worked for the one who hurt little Cap, but had not hurt him themselves. Hulk would let them live, but he did give them a message to remember. Hurt the little Cap, and what he would do to the three others, he would do to them. No one hurt who Hulk protected, they could try, but they would not live.

Hulk had... Gone for the agents first, smacked them a bit, then took them to the room with the table. They had fought wildly, cried, and screamed but their strength was nothing compared to Hulk's. The noises they made only making those others in the tiny metal rooms join in terror filled screams, and hysterical crying.

The doctor went last because Hulk wanted him to see Hulk's handy work. He wanted him to see the two others were not yet dead, they were still in terrible pain, but would be soon dead. This cowardly man fought, screamed, pleaded, and cried, but Hulk felt no pity.

This man had had no pity for the little Cap. This man had laughed at the little one's pleas, and so Hulk laughed at his. He simply stuck the man to the now topless table leg, just like he did with the other two, but he did it much slower. Hulk made sure the evil doctor suffered greatly for hurting the little Cap.

Once he was through with the punishment, and the others in the little rooms were heaps of terrified, crying messes, Hulk left the detention blocks. He had not seen the actually terrified Asgardian in the cell made for him, or he would have gone there to smash him too.


The crew sent to the detention block after the attack was over, had ended either throwing up or dry heaving. Their three main prisoners after Loki, were impaled on the operating rooms table's legs. The wounds were lethal but they had clearly not died right away. They had suffered a lot before they died of blood loss.