Okay guys, so I don't know how much I'll be posting this week. I've got a lot going on with the end of school and all, but I'll try my best. Besides, we're almost to the end!

DarkRulerKida: I KNOW Haha

Arrows the Wolf: I hope you didn't smash your head on the keyboard haha. Sometimes I love having the power to make people feel this way.

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Steve!"

Gwen had never heard such worry and fear in her voice before as she called out to the soldier. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted over the rubble that covered him and should very well be covering her instead.

She pushed as much rubble out of the way as she could which ended up revealing Steve and the upper half of his body.

"Steve, wake up!" she demanded desperately. Even though she was no doctor, she could remember leaning how to find a pulse from health class while in middle school and put two fingers in the proper spot on his neck. Gwen could feel his pulse, though it was slower than it should be and also rather faint. She wasn't sure how a bunch of rubble could do this to a super soldier, but then she noticed a nasty gash on his side which was bleeding very badly. Gwen quickly began moving the rubble covering the lower half of his body. It was like a rush of adrenaline that gave her some sort of newfound strength.

Gwen felt herself panicking, now hoping Steve wouldn't wake up as the gash looked very painful. She had no idea what to do. The elevator was blocked with rubble from the explosion, communications were out and JARVIS was nearly destroyed. She was stuck and if she didn't get help fast, Steve would most likely die from bleeding out. But she knew there was nothing she could do.

That's when she spotted it, sitting on the floor. A device with a big red button.

"Tony, you genius son of a bitch," she muttered under her breath, not caring that she didn't usually swear. Feeling hope at last, Gwen crawled over and pressed the button. She looked out the windows at the night sky and saw the face of Iron Man illuminate it. And it seemed that Tony had been working on some improvements as she could clearly hear "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC playing loudly outside.

But the Gwen remembered that no one knew where Tony was when they left. She felt her hope shatter and prayed that someone would realize what it was and come to help. It wasn't long before the windows shattered before her and Iron Man came flying down and landed in front of her.

"I knew that would be useful one day," said Tony. He looked around. "What happened here?"

"We got Loki'd," answered Gwen, getting up off the ground. "Listen, Steve's hurt badly. You need to get him out of here and to medical attention."

Tony looked around in confusion, his eyes landing on Steve. Gwen quickly searched the ground until she found the tesseract, still glowing blue. She picked it up and gave it to Tony.

"Take this with you," she ordered.

"But what about you?"

"Leave me here. I know what I'm doing."

Tony shook his head. "Gwendolyn..."

"Just do it, Tony!"

After one more moment of hesitation, Tony approached the unconscious Steve and carefully threw him over his shoulder while still holding the tesseract. Tony looked back at Gwen and nodded. She nodded back just as he took off with Steve towards the ground.

"I must say," said a voice behind Gwen after Tony was out of sight, "that was impressive."

She turned around to see none other than Loki standing there, coming out of what seemed to be invisibility.

Gwen didn't say anything as he smirked at her. She wasn't caught by surprise this time. She was prepared. She wasn't going to fall under his control again.

This time she would win.

Tony landed at the aircraft and set Steve down on a parked taxi nearby.

"He's hurt," said Tony as Bruce came out and looked at Steve's injuries. "Where are the others?"

"Here," came Natasha's voice. She walked up to them with Clint behind her. "We heard another explosion and weren't sure where in the building it was so we came outside."

"Is that the tesseract?" asked Bruce, looking at the cube in Tony's hand.

"Yeah," answered Tony. "Gwendolyn found it up there."

"Damn," said Clint, looking at Steve's injuries. "What happened to Rogers?"

"I found him and Gwendolyn in the penthouse, along with the tesseract. That's where the explosion was."

"Then where's Gwendolyn?" asked Bruce.

"She told me to leave her there."

"And so you left her?" asked Clint.

"I trust her," said Tony. "We have to give her a chance."

"But she's alone!"

"I know. But we can't keep hiding her forever, can we?"

There was silence as they all thought about Gwen and how she probably wasn't going to get out of the tower alive. Tony hoped that she really did know what she was doing. But, seeing as the last time Tony was alone with Loki in the penthouse, Tony got thrown out the window. He sure hoped that Gwen didn't have to go through that as well, seeing as she didn't have an Iron Man suit to save her. And so Tony watched the top of the tower carefully, not wanting to miss any second of what he could see. If Gwen was thrown out, at least he could fly up and catch her. But until something happened, no one could do anything.

It was all up to Gwen.

Out of nowhere, Thor flew down and landed beside them all.

"The tesseract," he stated, looking at Tony.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we can see what it is Sherlock."

"Give it to me."

"Why should I?" Tony clutched the cube to his chest possessively.

"I have an idea."

"Mind sharing it?"

"Please, Metal Man," pleaded Thor. "I need to stop my brother."

"That's kinda what we're doing here."

"I know how to stop him. But I need the tesseract."

"Just give it to him, Tony," said Bruce, looking up from Steve's unconscious body.

Tony sighed. "Fine, take it."

He tossed the cube over to Thor, who nodded.

"He better not be on Loki's side, now," muttered Tony, staring at the god.

"Guys, look up there," said Natasha.

They all looked up to the top of Stark Tower to see some sort of cloud forming. It looked as though it were a tornado, but with weird lightning strikes coming from it. But they weren't exactly lightning. It was almost like flashes of powerful energy.

"What the hell is she doing up there?" asked Clint as they all watched in amazement.

And that's when Thor shot up into the sky, his hammer forward and the tesseract in his hand.