"Get off me." White Tiger tried to swat away a SHIELD paramedic who was trying to bind her shoulder.
"Your shoulder was dislocated. We need to wrap it and you need to take it easy!"
Growling low in her throat, she slammed her good fist into a wall. "I don't need to take it easy! I need to get out there and find Danny. He's out there somewhere!" She screamed and pointed towards the mountains which surrounded the city.
"Tiger," Nick Fury's voice spun her around. He shook his head at her. "Spiderman and Power man are okay, but your shoulder is still injured and Nova has a pretty bad concussion. You all need rest. Shield is out there searching for Danny, they'll find him."
"He's one of us." Nova's voice made Fury jump.
"Nova! You should be resting."
"I'm fine Fury." Nova was still in costume and was holding his helmet under his arm. "Danny's one of our own. We need to be out there looking for him."
"Sam's right." Spiderman and Luke walked up to join the group and Spiderman continued, "Fury, we need to do this. Don't try to stop us."
Inspecting what was left of the team carefully, Fury nodded. "Alright, since I know if I give you a direct order to not go, you will just ignore me, I will let you all go."
"Where haven't they checked yet?" Luke blubbered, tears running down his cheeks from under his tinted glasses.
"We are scouring all the mountains. Except that one." Furry pointed to one of the five mountains, this one had a large storm swirling around its peak that never seemed to disperse. "That is the mountain the city is named for, Mount Steepridge. The natives say it is the heart of this area and won't go up there. I have my suspicions about that place, but it's dangerous. People who go up there return confused, often with amnesia, and usually their clothes and hair will be singed or burnt off."
"We'll go." Spiderman crossed his arms.
"Are you sure?"
This time Luke answered, scrubbing tears out of his eyes. "If Danny's up there, he is in no shape to fight off whatever demon haunts that mountain. Yes, we will go."
Nova dropped his helmet over his head and shot off towards the mountain, quickly followed by the rest of the team. None heard Fury mutter. "I doubt it's a demon."
Snow fell like bird down around them as the team split up, scouring the area. Pine trees waved their boughs in the gentle wind while a birch tree creaked ominously and a fox stared out from under a bush. If one were to look closely enough, they might realize that there WAS no wind. That the fox was far too large to be natural. And that eyes were peering out from a hole in the birch tree.
Running (or in Nova's case: flying) through the deceptively peaceful forest, the team searched for their friend who was nowhere to be found. As soon as they began calling his name, a bird's high-pitched warble rang from a tree and the call was picked up and carried through the forest, echoing through trees and under rocks. Over the tumbling waterfall and down into the mountain's valleys.
Padding carefully, a white wolf sat on his haunches and waited until the skinny boy in the blue and red costume noticed him.
"Wolf," Spiderman squeaked, staring into the animal's curious blue eyes. Standing up quietly, the wolf waved his plumed tail back and forth carelessly and walked a couple paces in one direction before glancing over his shoulder at the boy.
"Are you trying to show me something?" Spiderman asked, perplexed.
Turning back around, the wolf headed off with Spiderman following. Some may find it foolish that he would follow a wild animal for no apparent reason, but so many weird things had happened in the past couple years that Spiderman no longer found anything too strange to be possible. He had met a wizard named Doctor Strange. Nothing was impossible in his mind anymore.
A couple minutes later, the wolf sat down and howled once before racing off in the other direction. Hopping up into a tree, Spiderman stared down with horror at the object the wolf had led him too. Gulping, Spiderman choked down tears and yelled as loud as he could. "Power Man, Nova, White Tiger, you had better get over here… Like, right now."