Sooo…That little cliffhanger got the response I wanted, I may have to do one of them every now and then to keep you all on your toes :) Oh I'm mean.

Tony's main priority was Pepper. He had to get her out of there; he knew he'd never forgive himself if her or the baby were harmed. He quickly grabbed her hand as she yelped in surprise; tears were pouring down her face from fear.

"Shh, Pepper it's me!" Flinging herself at him he gave her a quick gentle squeeze before pushing her over to Jane and Darcy, "Stay together, all of you. We'll be out soon, now go!" Tony spoke quickly as the women nodded, they were lost in the crowd within seconds.

Kicking into action, he ran to the stage and reached under, feeling around he felt the briefcase that contained a compacted version of his Iron Man suit; he couldn't take any chances anymore and had to have it with him. He suited up hastily as he saw Natasha pull out a gun from a holster on her thigh, her dress now sporting a rip up either side.

Seeing Bruce run in front of him he chased after him, "Bruce!" He turned around and spoke promptly, "Have you seen Penny? Did she get out yet? I can't find her Tony!" His eyes were no longer on the Iron Man suit; they had started to painfully scan the room again.

If Bruce hadn't found her yet then maybe she had already managed to get outside? She could already be with Pepper and Jane, but then he remembered the man she had danced with. There was something not quite right about him…

An ear splitting noise echoed around the room, whipping their heads around they searched for any signs that someone had been injured. "That sounded like a gun shot." Tony mused seriously, if they didn't sort this out fast, things would start getting even more out of hand than they already were.

Turning to a panic stricken Bruce, he spoke quickly. "I'll find the others and ask them if they've seen Penny, if they haven't then I'll get up high and try to find her. You stay down here and keep looking." Nodding Bruce began to jog off; Tony placed an Iron hand on his arm. "Stay calm, we'll find her."

Running over to the two S.H.I.E.L.D agents he spoke quickly, "If you see Penny, tell her to go outside and find Pepper and Jane. Tell her to stay with them, okay?" Not waiting for an answer, he relayed the message to Thor and Cap before shooting to the ceiling for a better look.

"Who the hell are we even fighting…" Scanning the room he searched for sight of Penny or her dress. Coming up empty, he searched for the guy that she had been dancing with, if he could find him then maybe he would know which way she went.

After a few minutes scanning, Tony found him limping towards the exit, swooping in, Tony landed in front of him and grabbed his collar roughly.

"Listen, pal!" Something metal clincked off of his armour and he stopped talking, looking down he saw a silver gun. The gunshot…Penny! Looking back up to his eyes, Tony was met with a smug expression.

Punching him firmly in the face he nodded, "That felt good…" He murmured as he grabbed his unconscious body by his shirt collar. He dragged him over and dumped him on the floor harshly in front of Natasha and Clint.

"What the hell are you-"

"Take him outside and section him from the crowd. He was carrying a gun," He flung it at Clint who caught it easily, "call Fury and tell him to send backup," Tony sighed as his heart began to thump wildly against his rib cage, "and a medic. I think-"

An unmistakeable outcry filled the room as the Avengers turned towards to face a now much bigger, much stronger, Dr Banner.

"Get everyone outside." Natasha heard the orders, but flashbacks from that day on the helicarrier came back full force and froze her to the spot. "Now!" Tony cried as he shot up to hover in front of an angered Hulk.

"Bruce, you need to calm down buddy. We need to find-"

Hulk swatted at the annoying tin man lazily, pulling tables up he looked under them for Penny's familiar form. "Bruce not here." Frowning, he began to push chairs over as his search became more frantic, where did she go?

"Hulk! We've got to go find Pe-"

"Hulk find Penny!" He snarled and began moving people aside gently as he picked up more tables, throwing them carelessly over his shoulder a pile began to form on the now empty floor.

"What? Where is she?" Tony heaved a sigh of relief before he quickly dodged a flying table. "Hey! Watch it!" Hulk turned to face Tony when he ran out of tables and he looked into his eyes; instead of being bright green like he had imagined, they still held a tiny hint of brown.

Hulk frowned slightly and growled threateningly as he remembered him hitting her, "Puny God."

Loki.

Penny's eyes fluttered open, groaning, her hand instinctively moved to her side. Feeling with her nimble fingers, she traced over the soft fabric of gauze as she tried to remember what had happened. Using all her energy she willed herself to remember who had taken her and where, but all she remembered was Loki , darkness and Bruce. Bruce. Tears formed in her eyes when she thought of how far away he must be.

She prayed that it had been the latter that had dressed her wound, but then if it had been, she thought that she would be on a comfier bed. Bracing herself for the pain, she propped herself up on an elbow to look around.

The room was small, it looked as though it had been painted grey in the past, but by the looks of it that was many years ago. Her bed was pushed against the wall and a glass of water sat on the floor next to her, reaching down she winced and grabbed the cool glass. Hastily gulping it down, she made to sit up. Letting her eyes flutter shut, her head rested against the wall.

"So you've finally awoke." Her eyes snapped open at the malicious voice, "I must apologise for my idiotic soldier who shot you, but I have no doubt that the Avengers have dealt with him." Her thoughts flashed to the man who asked her for a quick dance, training her eyes on Loki she narrowed her vision as fear set in her bones.

"Not in the talking mood I see?" He laughed dryly and stood tall in front of her. "Perhaps you'd like to talk to your precious beast instead?" Loki watched as her eyes grew just a tiny bit wider before narrowing again.

"I'll take that as a yes." He growled, and grabbed her roughly by the hair.

The Avengers and the three women had been taken aboard the newly repaired helicarrier; Pepper, Jane and Darcy had been shown their rooms and had been placed under high security. Thor and Tony had argued with Fury until he caved and agreed.

They sat around the table in silence, Steve couldn't believe how the night had gone so far. After S.H.I.E.L.D had arrived they managed to capture three men who were working with Loki, one of them was unconscious thanks to Tony. He could tell that Thor was glad that Jane hadn't been harmed, and he had made sure himself that Darcy was fine.

Glancing over at the two scientists he furrowed his brow in empathy; Tony had his hands folded neatly in front of him, his eyes quickly looked from his hands to focus on Steve. Steve gave a cut nod, and Tony returned to looking at his hands numbly.

Next to Tony sat Bruce, if Steve thought that the Doctor had looked bad when he changed back last time, then he looked ten times as worse now. Bruce's curly hair was sticking out carelessly in different directions and his palms rested on the table flatly. But what caused the tug Steve felt on his heart strings the most was his eyes.

Bruce stared unseeingly with his deep orbs as he replayed the scenes over and over again in his head. The way she danced with him, the way her lips felt against his, her laugh, and the way her eyes sparkled when he sang…..The way she fell lifelessly to the floor.

"Director," Everyone turned their head to the young man while Bruce paid him no mind. "We've got an incoming transmission."

"Well hello Avengers…" Snapping his head up Bruce clenched his fists as Loki's sneering face appeared on a screen.

Pushing his chair back he stood up, "Where's Penny?" He snarled and felt Tony place a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back in his seat.

Loki laughed intensely and gestured behind him as he stepped slightly to the side. Behind him sat a bloody Penny who had her arms and legs bound to the chair; her eye looked slightly swollen and bruised, and her mouth had a trail of blood leading down her chin. Her cheeks were flushed red along with the whites of her eyes from the tears. "Bruce!" She sobbed quickly, Loki quickly strode towards her and backhanded her to shut her up.

Clenching his jaw and fists Bruce began to put the calming techniques he had used over the years into use. He had mentally killed Loki four times in his head now, each death being slower and more painful than the last.

Laughing, Loki turned to face the camera again as he blocked their view of Penny. "It seems that I have something that you want, and I need. Say goodbye Avengers, to your pretty, pretty, Penny." Loki smirked as the screen faded to black.

Bruce let his head fall freely into his hands as he felt tears pickle at the edge of his eyes.

Turning around to face her he glanced her over, "Wh-what, what are you going to, to do-to me?" She managed to choke out between her sobs.

She ached all over and wanted nothing more than to just be back on the sofa at Stark Tower with her friends, just thinking about them made her head hurt and her eyes blur even more.

Loki untied her in silence and grabbed her forcefully by her wrist, leading her down the hallway he spoke quietly. "You will create the Extremis virus, if you refuse," Loki stopped and pushed her up against the wall, pressing his body against hers she began to sob harder. "If you refuse…" He looked at her lips, "then you will be punished." He spat at her vehemently.

Stepping away abruptly he threw her back into her room and stormed off. Penny crawled into a ball on her bed and pulled her pillow to her tightly as her tears began to silently roll down her cheeks once more. If she wanted to survive then she needed to figure out what they were doing with the Extremis formula, and fast.

"What do we do?" Thor asked in his booming voice, fury paced as his mind began to work into overtime. They needed to act quickly if they were to save her, she was far too valuable to lose.

Facing the table he breathed in deeply, "Gentlemen, it's time to act."

I know it's a little short, but I didn't want a huge ass chapter like the last one :P Please remember to review and leave me a little message, here's some virtual cookies for being so awesome ^^

-Readers Assemble!-