Outside is a thunderstorm. It's night, somehow, too.

It's wet and dark with loud explosions of thunder and sudden flashes of lightning. The stairs end at a secret doorway that's pretending to be a tree, and that's smart because there are a lot of trees outside, a whole forest, except no one wants to leave the tree into the rain and the thunder and lightning.

"Come on!" shouts Andrew, "Before they explode everything!" He has to shout because the sky is so loud and he pushes and pulls and everyone is wet and it's too late to turn back so they all run.

"Where are we going?" Steve shouts, and Tony doesn't know how he can shout, because his own breath is so heavy in his lungs with all the wet and running that he couldn't have whispered, let alone shouted. Steve and Clint are holding Tony's hands, and Clint's other hand has Natalia's hand, and Andrew has Steve's other hand and big Bruce seems to like to use his hands when he runs so he doesn't hold anyone's hands. They slide in mud and trip over sticks and they have to turn this way and that because of the trees, and they all get tangled in wet green growing leafy places but everyone holds everyone up and no one falls.

Then Tony slips, because running in the dark and wet is hard, and he keeps coughing, except he can't cover his mouth like he's supposed to because his hands are full, and Steve tries to pull Tony up but Clint falls down too, and Natalia slips in the mud. Tony doesn't see what happens to Andrew, except when he moves to stand in front of them he has mud all up and down his clothes and in his hair. Tony wants to laugh at him but he can't stop coughing and gasping in air. His legs are very happy to stop running too, and he is very comfortable on the ground, except for the wet.

"Come on!" shouts Andrew, "We should…"

flash

BOOM!

Thunder claps in their ears and the world is full of light. They can clearly see the plants as they whip about in the wind, and they can see each other, and they can see that green Bruce is small Bruce again, and he is curled on the ground under a tree, asleep. And they can clearly see the clearing in front of them, devoid of trees but full of Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Then the lightning is finished lighting though the sky is still growling and there is darkness in front of them and maybe that wasn't real because dinosaurs aren't alive anymore.

"We should keep moving!" Andrew shouts in the silence, and he grabs Steve's hand again and is pulling towards the clearing. Andrew was facing the wrong way, before. He doesn't know there's a maybe dinosaur right ahead.

Tony still doesn't know if it there is really a dinosaur because dinosaurs are dead and that makes it very unlikely he was one. He still doesn't want to go into the clearing and he doesn't like how the darkness hides what they just saw as clear as day, and he doesn't like the loud thunder or the rain and he really, really wants to go home.

Steve maybe saw what Tony saw because he pulls away from Andrew and he goes to pick up small Bruce instead and he talks really quiet even though the storm is very loud and it makes him hard to hear.

"Follow me," Steve says, and Tony only knows for sure he said those words and not something else because he follows the words by running back away from the clearing. Clint has Tony's hand and Natalia's hand and they run in the darkness after Steve, and Steve wants them to go into a leafy place where maybe a giant dinosaur won't see them and want to eat them.

"Hey!" shouts Andrew, far too loud, "That's the wrong way!"

And then there is a noise a bit like thunder and a bit not coming from behind them, and there's a tremble in the ground and Tony stumbles and he doesn't know how his legs can still move when his body feels so numb but also electric and wide awake and he thinks there's something like a scream stuck in his throat and he thinks he's scared, but maybe also excited because there might be a real live dinosaur that he got to see and that is awesome.

The ground vibrates beneath their feet and Tony stumbles again and something large bursts between the tangled green right behind them and Tony feels his heart beating hard and fast in his chest, so hard it hurts like it's banging against his flashlight, and he thinks a dinosaur is going to eat them but it turns out it's Andrew who is following them after all and is no longer shouting about going the wrong way. Instead, he says something that makes a lot of sense, and he is careful not to shout, though his voice comes out all high pitched and squeaky.

"Tree," he gasps out, "Up a tree."

flash

Tony looks around as the night turns to day again and because he wants to see if the tyrannosaurus is there, or if maybe it was a trick and it never was, but they are all in the middle of a tangle of plants and he's too short to see over them and there are too many to see through them. Steve is taller and he's looking around too, and Bruce is somehow fast asleep still, and Andrew is the tallest and he points a finger in one direction. Tony thinks maybe he sees the tyrannosaurus and wonders if they have to run and he wonders if his heart can beat hard enough to knock his flashlight right out of it, and the world goes dark but he still sees something like white flashes in front of his eyes and his head feels fuzzy.

BOOM

It turns out Andrew wants them to go that way. He doesn't shout anymore but he suddenly reaches down and picks Tony up. Tony isn't expecting it and neither is anyone else. Clint doesn't let go of his hand, just grabs it even tighter and Andrew sort of huffs and pulls and they all end up in front of a large tangle of a tree. It goes up high, but it has a twisty knobby trunk like snakes winding about and Andrew puts Tony down on a bit that's almost like a seat, and in a high mousy voice Andrew says, "Climb!"

Clint finally has let go of Tony's hand, and it is a good climbing tree, except for the rain. That makes it harder, and it makes Tony think of spiders being washed out and he doesn't want to be washed out into a tyrannosaur's mouth, and his head is fuzzy and his limbs are fuzzy but he starts to climb anyway.

Natalia is lifted up after him, and then Clint. There's a sudden vibration that Tony can feel through his hands and Tony is higher now and he looks around but he just sees darkness and feels wet and he can't see where the dinosaur is. Tony climbs and Natalia climbs after him and when Tony pauses, she pokes at whatever bit of him is closest. Sometimes that's an ankle, and sometimes they've got to a bit where they have to go sideways instead of up so she pokes at his arm, or once, his ear. She doesn't say anything in English or in Russian.

The others are on the tree too; Tony can hear them. They are slower because they are dragging Bruce up too. It turns out it's a really good climbing tree, which is good, because otherwise they'd probably have to pass Tony up too, maybe even Natalia, but finding things to grab and stand on is easy. If it weren't raining, and if Tony weren't so tired, he probably could have been to the very tippy top in minutes.

Tony climbs and climbs and he is too tired and too wet and too fuzzy to think about being scared about how high they've gone. He's gotten so used to climbing that he doesn't realize that they've already climbed high enough, that they have reached a good place to stop, high in the crown where branches meet, until Steve is there, tugging him back.

Being pulled off the branch he's trying to climb is terrifying and for one long moment Tony thinks it's the tyrannosaurus and or it's the rain washing him out, or anyway that he's going to fall or be eaten and die.

He makes a sort of chirping noise that isn't quite a scream, and then he realizes that everyone is there, and they are settling into the tree in places where it won't let them fall, and they are way high up and they are safe. They didn't fall. The dinosaur didn't eat them. Not one of them. They are safe.

The fuzziness in his head is suddenly something more like a headache, and the lights are back in front of his eyes, and he sits where Steve has dragged him and he breathes and he breathes and he breathes.

They are free from kidnappers and they are free from dinosaurs. It's cold and it's wet and his entire body hurts, especially his chest where his heart bangs against his flashlight and his lungs feel squeezed too tight.

He thinks he's too cold and wet and scared and sore to sleep, but he maybe he isn't, because Tony blinks his eyes and somehow he's waking up.

The storm is over and the air is sticky and warm and Tony's white kidnapper clothes are still damp. There's light again and he can see Andrew resting against his branch across from them and he can smell damp wet growing things and there are zipping noises of tiny winged insects and there are calls that are loud and piercing that are maybe birds or maybe animals. He doesn't think they are tyrannosaurs because those go growl and roar, not eek, eep, awk!

Tony's tummy is hungry and his legs hurt and his arms hurt like someone hit them, except no one did. There's a noise when he breathes too, like a growl in his chest, and the flashlight in his chest feels very heavy this morning, even if his heart isn't hitting against it anymore.

Steve is behind him, and Clint is a bit too, and Natalia and Bruce are squished up next to him and he likes knowing they're all there and no one was eaten or kidnapped in the night. Andrew looks kind of lonely across from them.

It's cozy but it's sticky and hot too, and his stomach is more empty than it's ever been and his throat is scratchy and dry. So Tony pulls away and looks around and wonders what they are going to do next.

Steve is awake and looking around too, though he isn't pulling himself free of the others. Bruce and Natalia are sleeping. At least, they are until Clint suddenly shoves himself free of them. He jumps up and dances a little bit on his toes, and then he hobbles over towards the side of the tree.

"Don't look," he says, and Tony looks at him because he is confused, and then Clint is peeing over the side of the tree and Tony quickly looks away again.

Tony wonders if the tyrannosaurus is still down there, and he suddenly imagines it trying to look up at them in the tree and then Clint pees on it, and Tony starts to giggle.

Natalia starts to giggle too, and maybe she is thinking the same thing, and Clint whines at them.

"What do we do now?" Steve asks, after Clint is finished and says they can look again.

"We should go back," Andrew says. "I don't think they blew up the building, so maybe your guys won and we can meet up with them."

Tony doesn't know what he's talking about. And he doesn't want to go back. The yellow suit man might be waiting. Steve frowns and Natalia glares at Andrew because she doesn't like him so Tony doesn't think he likes him either, even if he is nice. Andrew has bad plans.

"We should build a tree house," Tony suggests, "Up here where the dinosaurs can't reach us. And we'll find fruit to eat, and hunt for fish. I think I can make something for that."

"Let's not move in here just yet," Steve answers, and Tony frowns because his idea was way better than Andrew's. "First, we need to find food and water. Then we should try to find someone who can help us."

"First, we should find out if that T Rex is still waiting to eat us," Clint says. Maybe Clint has good ideas. Tony doesn't want to climb down and be eaten. He doesn't want anyone else to be eaten either.

"Send the yellow man," Natalia says, in Russian, and Tony thinks she means Andrew.

"That's mean," Tony tells her, before he remembers that they don't like Andrew. Well, even so, he doesn't want a dinosaur to eat him.

"Listen," Andrew says, "I know more about what's going on than you do. You were found by the good guys. They're bound to still be here. If we can find them, then we're all rescued. You tell them how I helped you so they don't shoot me, and they'll have food and water and doctors and everything. They'll be back at the compound. We should go back."

"We aren't going back," Clint tells him, and Tony nods his head because going back is the worst plan ever and even the idea makes something press down on his chest. Andrew groans and leans his head back against his branch.

Now that it is daytime and not a storm and they aren't escaping, it's harder to believe that they were really chased by a tyrannosaurus rex. Dinosaurs died so very long ago that humans didn't even live yet. But Clint said there was a T Rex, and no one argued, so it was real. Then Tony's thoughts go in a new direction and it's a scary direction and he says it out loud so someone can tell him it isn't true.

"What if we travelled in time again?!" he said. "And this is the far away past before there are people and we'll be trapped here forever!"

Steve's eyes and Clint's eyes grow very big, and Natalia frowns, and Bruce does nothing because he's fallen back asleep.

"We didn't go back in time," says Andrew. "AIM can't do that. We just have a base where…er…dinosaurs still exist somehow. We're good at finding remote and secret locations. That, or someone took Jurassic Park as an instruction manual instead of the warning it clearly was and cloned some. I don't know. But we didn't go back in time. We need to go back, and find one of the Avengers or whoever all came to find you, and let them know you're here."

"We need to find water," Steve says again. "And food if we can. And we need to look around."

"We need help," Andrew says, and he's starting to sound a little bit like he did when they were running from the dinosaur, except more annoyed and less mousy. "Look at Tony. He needs a doctor, not to go running around a real live Jurassic Park while you try to play Boy Scout."

Tony frowns because he isn't sick; he isn't coughing and he doesn't have a runny nose and his tummy doesn't hurt and he doesn't feel hot. Except in the way that the sun is making him feel warm and stuffy. The others are looking at him too, and no one looks happy.

"I'm not sick," Tony tells them.

"And I'm not waiting around for raptors to find us," Andrew says, in a 'so there' sort of tone. Tony doesn't know what a 'raptor' is.

"What's a raptor?" asks Steve, and Andrew stares at them, then closes his eyes again, leaning his head back. He looks tired.

"Never mind," Andrew says, with his eyes still closed. "Just my imagination running away from me."

Steve looks at him, then looks at Tony, and he has an unhappy frown and his eyes stare away at nothing, maybe so he can see his thoughts inside his head.

"We'll have to split up," he says. "Clint and me will look for water. Natalia and Tony, you can guard Bruce while he's sleeping."

Tony frowns, because he wants to explore too, but he also wants sleeping Bruce to be safe.

"What about our prisoner?" asks Natalia. Clint crosses his eyes slightly, like he does when Natalia speaks too quickly and he has to rewind her words in his head to understand them. Natalia likes games with prisoners though, so maybe Clint is just thinking about what to do with Andrew. Tony thinks she means Andrew. He is sort of their friend but he was a kidnapper too.

"We can guard Bruce and Andrew," Tony says.

"What about Bruce and Andrew?" Andrew asks. He has opened his eyes again.

"Do you still have the gun?" Clint asks Natalia, and he speaks in English, maybe because it's easier or maybe because he wants Andrew to understand.

"Yes."

"Maybe he should come with us," says Steve. "A grown up could be useful."

"Dinosaur bait," says Natalia, and Tony only understands her this time because the word for 'dinosaur' is similar to the word in English.

"Let me have the gun, Nat," says Clint. "We'll take him with us and guard him, and if anything tries to eat us, we'll zap it."

Natalia hands him the gun.

"We'll be back soon," says Steve.

"This is a bad idea," says Andrew. "I promise, you will all be rescued if we just go back."

"Maybe, maybe not," says Steve. "We're still going to look around. Come on."

Andrew starts to climb after Steve. Andrew doesn't seem to like climbing. He makes a lot of squeaky noises and when Tony leans over to watch he can hear him saying, "Don't look down, don't look down, raptors aren't real, don't look down." Clint climbs after him. He goes a lot faster and he has to keep pausing whenever he catches up to Andrew. They are really far up in the tree and it's a very twisty, leafy sort of tree and after a bit Tony can't see them anymore.

All around them is dripping, and Tony is very thirsty. Natalia moves beneath a drip and opens her mouth and maybe that's a good idea. Tony has a better one. He looks around their tree until he finds a plant that is growing on the tree and it's a bit drippy but also a bit like a cup and he pours it towards his mouth and it's wet and good even if it's only two swallows.

"Like this, Natalia," he says. "We can find water in the plants."

"Stupid boys," says Natalia, "Running around." Tony drinks drippy water until his throat isn't so scratchy. Some frogs live in one of the plants he looks in. He leaves them be. The whole forest is drippy and there's water to go around. Tony hopes that the others come back soon, and he'll show them the water he found all on his own.

He hopes a dinosaur doesn't eat them. Not even Andrew.

Bruce sleeps and sleeps until Natalia comes with a leaf full of water and drips it on his face. Then he sits up with a loud shout that makes the noises around them go all quiet all at once. Tony had stopped noticing the noises until they aren't there.

Bruce sits up and looks around.

"Why are we in a tree?" he asks. He looks very confused.

"We climbed up here to escape the tyrannosaurus," Tony explains. "We wanted to get up high so it couldn't eat us."

Bruce stares at Tony, and blinks his eyes a lot. He still looks confused.

"Dinosaurs aren't real, Tony," Bruce says, and he comes over and puts his hand on Tony's forehead.

"I thought we time travelled again," says Tony. He lets Bruce feel his forehead for a moment, then ducks away. Bruce can be strange sometimes. "But Andrew said we didn't. We're just in a place that still has dinosaurs. I don't know. There was a tyrannosaurus. We all saw it."

Bruce looks at Natalia. She nods her head. Bruce looks around some more. Tony shows him how to find water, and he shows him the frogs because frogs are interesting and also he doesn't want Bruce to accidently drink them. They're tiny. Like bugs. They must eat super mini bugs.

"Where are the others?" Bruce asks next.

"Steve and Clint went with Andrew to find water," says Tony. Bruce blinks again. He looks at the plant he'd just drunken from. Then he looks at Tony again.

"They're also finding food and maybe a nice grown up who can take us home," says Tony. "Andrew wanted to go back to the kidnapper's building. But we think that's stupid. I think we should build a tree house. This would be an awesome tree for a tree house. And we'd be too high for dinosaurs and we could play like we're cavemen, except we'd be treemen. And treewoman. And I'll make something to catch fish and figure out fire to cook it."

"You can't have a fire in a tree, Tony," Bruce points out. Tony thinks about this. Perhaps Bruce is right. That's why it's so much fun to play with him; he can think of problems that Tony doesn't. And he has good ideas.

They talk about the best way to build a treehouse for a bit. Natalia wants to make traps in case dinosaurs or kidnappers come. She has the best ideas too. After a bit, Bruce has another question.

"Who is Andrew?"

"Our prisoner," says Natalia.

"He's the nice kidnapper who said he didn't want to be a kidnapper anymore so he shot his friends to help us. Don't you remember?"

Bruce doesn't remember.

Planning a treehouse is fun, but the others are gone for a really, really long time. A super long time. Tony's stomach is empty but it's also full of wriggly worries and maybe he does feel a little bit sick. He wants everyone to be together. He doesn't want a treehouse if it means he can't go home. He's a monster fighter, not a dinosaur fighter. He wants to go home.

Suddenly, Tony hears a noise. There's something in the tree below them. Natalia and Bruce hear it too, and they stop arguing over whether they need a moat or a dungeon and stand super quiet and still and they all listen.

There's a sort of grunting noise, and Tony thinks it's a grown up sort of noise. Someone is climbing the tree and it's a grown up, not a dinosaur. It's not Clint or Steve.

Natalia pulls out a knife. Tony doesn't know where it came from because none of their clothes have pockets and he doesn't think she could hold a knife in her shoes.

Tony goes down on his tummy and tries to see down to see who is climbing their tree. If it's a kidnapper, then they'll climb away from him. For a long moment, he can't see anything. Then, suddenly there's a head right below him, too close, and Tony jerks back.

It's Andrew.

Andrew is alone, and he has a scratch on his arm that's bright red and he has a bruise on his face and he has a twig tangled in his hair. Steve and Clint aren't following. Tony backs away, but Andrew isn't one of the bad guys so they don't run.

"What happened?" Tony asks as Andrew pulls himself the rest of the way into their nest. "Where's Clint and Steve?"

For a long moment, Andrew doesn't answer. He lies in the tree and he breathes hard. Natalia doesn't put away her knife. Bruce stares at Andrew and looks lost and confused. Tony looks back and forth between Andrew and his friends. He needs Andrew to answer. He needs him to tell them that Steve and Clint are okay.

"There were dinos," Andrew says at last. His voice sounds funny. Not mousy, but not normal. "We ran. We got split up. I came back…came back here. I don't know…I don't know what happened."

Then he sits up, and his face is a stern grown up face that's being serious and that means Tony has to listen and do what he's told or he will be in big trouble.

"We're going back. All four of us. We are going to get help."

Tony doesn't answer, and Natalia doesn't answer, not even in Russian, and Bruce doesn't answer. Steve told them to wait, and Steve is big and he is Tony's friend. But maybe a dinosaur is eating Steve right now, and Clint too. And Tony can't help them. He has to help them. He can't let them be eaten.

"I know you're scared," says Andrew. "I'm scared. But we have to go now."

"What if they come back?" asks Tony. "They won't know where we went."

Andrew stares at Tony, and Tony doesn't like that stare. Because Tony can tell that Andrew doesn't think they're coming back. Andrew is stupid.

"Let's go and get help," Andrew says again.

Tony looks at his friends. Natalia glares at Andrew and shakes her head. Bruce looks confused.

Tony can't sit up in a tree when Steve and Clint need them.

"Let's go," he says.

"You are still our prisoner," says Natalia. She speaks in English this time so Andrew can understand. Andrew laughs. It's a strange laugh, because he looks like he's about to cry. He doesn't sound happy at all.

Climbing down is easier and harder than climbing up. It isn't raining now and it isn't night, but it's still drippy and the tree is very high. Tony keeps looking around for dinosaurs the whole time, too. He thinks maybe a tyrannosaurus will be waiting at the bottom, or those raptor things that Andrew seems so scared of, but there's nothing.

Andrew leads the way. He says he knows exactly where to go.

Tony is scared for Steve and he's scared for Clint and he's scared of dinosaurs and kidnappers and not knowing what to do. His brain thinks about everything he's scared of and his heart is starting to feel heavy again, like it wants out of his chest, and it's hard to breathe and to walk, and he tries to see everything and everywhere at the same time so he can see if a dinosaur wants to eat them.

His eyes have never seen so well in his life. He sees the wet dripping plants, and he sees the muddy earth and he sees the twisty trees and he sees Bruce limping because he doesn't have proper shoes, and he sees Natalia with her knife and he sees…he sees something odd.

"Andrew," he says, "When did you get Clint's gun?"

And at almost the same moment, as if all the animals were wondering that too, it goes very, very quiet. Just like after Bruce's scream.