Steve was expecting the call, but at five thirty in the morning, it was particularly unwelcome.

"Intel says HYDRA's going make their move today. AIM is involved too…whatever it is they're doing, it's big and you're not gonna like it," Fury said without preamble. "Check in at the Helicarrier at oh-six hundred. Assemble the Avengers. Don't let Stark be late." The director ended the call abruptly and Steve set his phone down, rolling over in bed.

"Steve?" Tina's voice was muffled with sleep and she reached for him, almost unconsciously, like a baby reaches for their mother when scared.

"I'm shipping out, honey," he explained, ruffling her hair a little. "Shouldn't be too long of a mission," he hoped aloud.

Tina's bright emerald eyes opened full of worry.

"Oh," she murmured, fear coloring her tone.

She pulled herself as close to Steve as her burgeoning baby bump would allow. Tina shut her eyes tight. No matter how many times he left, Tina always worried that each mission would be his last. He was one of the more vulnerable Avengers. Less so than Black Widow and Hawkeye, but more so than Iron Man and Thor, and infinitely more vulnerable than the Hulk. She'd seen him in combat once before, and it wasn't exactly a memory she cherished, but she tried to remember just how lethal he could be, how quickly and intelligently he fought. It helped more than remembering his own shield biting into his shoulder, the massive scratch he'd gotten on the side of his face once, the million bruises, the broken bones. Steve's hand rubbed her sixteen-week pregnant belly while the other untangled her hair. They lay still for a while, just breathing together. After a long minute, he exhaled a soft sigh and Tina realized that time was up. She couldn't help the tension in her limbs. Steve softly touched his lips to hers.

"I'll be home soon, I promise," he whispered.

"In time to take me out to dinner on Friday?"

"Yes, ma'am. It's a date," he winked. "See ya soon, champ. And you, too, doll," he addressed their unborn children with one kiss each.

"Doll?" Tina commented, "Yesterday it was 'pal'."

Steve gave a low chuckle that rumbled in his chest, making one of the babies kick in response.

"I haven't made up my mind yet."

Within minutes he was gone and the bed suddenly seemed way bigger than it should be. The room was too quiet and the darkness, usually comforting, felt oppressive. Tina felt a sense of foreboding as she always did, but reminded herself to be a little more like Pepper. Tough it out. Get yourself together. You're fine. He'll come home. He always does. Tina put her hand over the right side of her belly, where one of the kids, probably "doll", Tina thought with a chuckle, had decided to start kicking up a storm. At least I have a bit of him with me this time.

…

Steve was not a fan of the locale. The abandoned city HYDRA and AIM had camped out in was dirty, freezing cold, plus age and neglect had made it treacherous enough to walk through, let alone fight in. And as an awesome bonus, all of the Avengers were unfamiliar with the territory. Oh. And it was snowing. Joy.

The Captain bashed the last AIM agent in sight with the flat of his shield, more to get him out of the way than anything else. He needed a vantage point. Or someone who had one.

"Hawkeye, what's going on?" he barked into his comm. link, as he began climbing the outside of a gutted skyscraper for a better view.

"Iron Man's got the West edge of the city locked up. Thor's got the southern front pretty well, but they're still hiding in those tanks up here on the East side. I can't get at em."

"Widow?" Captain asked, his warm breath fogging in the frigid air.

"Headed over to get them out of their little hidey-holes," she responded promptly.

"I just finished off the cowards who deserted to the North," Cap added, "I'll meet you over there, but don't attack yet. I've seen those tanks in action before. We need the Big Guy."

"I got eyes on him," Tony said, "He's having a lot of fun with those plasma grenades. I think they're tickling him."

"Get him over here. He's got tanks to beat up," Steve instructed.

"Cap," Tony sighed, "He never listens to me. You gotta get him."

Steve rolled his eyes and leaped down from the building, landing with a roll. He ran towards the rounds of roaring and smashing until he found the Hulk.

"HEY!" Steve shouted. It took a lot to get the Other Guy's attention, but Steve's voice was carrying and loud enough to make the beast pause in his HYDRA smackdown for a moment. "Hulk, are you having fun?" The rage monster grinned toothily in response, becoming surprisingly cute as he did so, enough to make Steve chuckle. "I know where some tanks are! Remember tanks? They make big booms. But you're really good at smashing 'em up. Wanna smash up some tanks?"

Hulk like smash tickle balls. Tickle balls fun. Hulk throw tickle ball! Go boom! Little people go boom, too. Tickle, tickle! See Cap. Hulk like Cap. Cap good. But Hulk no want stop play with tickle balls. Hulk like tickle balls! Cap have tanks? Hulk like tanks. Tank go crunch crunch boom when Hulk smash. Mmm. Tank fun. Tank big fun. Hulk go with Cap. Cap big good…but he little person. But, he little person who have tank, so that good.

Steve ran through the gathering snow quickly, but not quite at full speed as he led the Hulk towards the approaching HYRDA tanks.

"Got the big guy. Don't get in his way," he said.

"I'm going for the underbelly of the tanks," Natasha said quietly.

Steve stopped behind another gutted building while the Hulk stormed into the open, eagerly looking for the promised tanks. The Captain watched a figure clad in all black slip from the shadows around the river toward the tank, silent as the spider she took her name from.

"I'm done up here," Tony said.

"I as well, Captain," Thor added.

"Assemble," Steve said, the ghost of a smile in his voice as he said his team's favorite command.

No sooner than he spoke did enemy soldiers begin springing out of the surrounding buildings like a sudden plague of insects. They wove out from behind the semicircle of tanks toward the buildings, wielding plasma guns and other weapons powered by the Tesseract. Steve held his shield out of the blasted-out window as a signal to his team.

"Get 'em fellas," he commanded grimly.

He threw his shield at an enemy and rolled into the street, catching it as he stood.

"Cap, backup," Natasha's voice was suddenly in Steve's ear, colored with urgency and a bit of panic.

"Coming, Nat," Clint responded instantly.

Steve dove further into the fray, using his shield as a battering ram. When the Black Widow called for backup, things were going really, really bad. Using a tank as a springboard, Steve jumped over an entire group of HYDRA soldiers toward his teammate. No time to fight. Gotta get them later. Natasha was weaving around the tank nearest the frozen river, fighting as efficiently as ten agents, but even so, she couldn't hold off the waves of AIM soldiers forever. Clint was fighting his way over to her, beating men back with his bow. The Captain ducked as Thor's hammer blasted through a group of enemies, quickly followed by the god himself. Steve turned to direct Iron Man to one of the still-functional tanks, but he was interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream of pure agony through the comm. link. He gasped involuntarily, wincing in sympathy. That scream could only come out of one person. It was a woman's voice.

"TASH!" Clint screamed, sprinting all-out to reach her side.

"What happened?" Steve said, shoulder slamming a soldier and kicking another about the head with a roundhouse kick. "Report, right now!"

"She's holding her arm, there's, shit, oh shit, there's blood everywhere," Tony replied nervously, "Oh god, she's laying down. She's not getting up. Damn, Clint's pissed, he's killing people like they're flies. He's a maniac and she's still all-"

"Enough, Stark," Steve responded tensely, "Call in a med team ASAP. Get Thor and help him keep the skies clear for them."

Steve climbed up another tank, anxious for the view of what was happening. The wind bit at his exposed skin like icy teeth. Clint was fighting like a madman to keep away those trying to take advantage of Natasha's prone form. Steve whistled and directed the Hulk towards a large cluster of soldiers hoping it would distract the other group.

"Leave the tanks," he instructed his largest teammate.

The Hulk obediently dove on the group, but they scattered quickly. The Captain scowled, realizing that this tactic wasn't going to work. Steve launched himself off the tank, sprinting towards his friends. He bludgeoned someone foolish enough to attempt stopping him and spun around another enemy agent.

The Captain straightened up, and for a moment, time seemed to slow. The glint of the missile launcher caught his eye as the HYDRA agent primed it, pointing it right at the assassin couple.

"No!"

Steve threw his whole body weight into throwing the vibranium disc, aiming it straight at Clint, hoping against hope for the strength to throw it far enough.

…

Thor felt cowardly, keeping the skies clear, staying out of the battle. Keep the sky clear. Let the med helicopter come in. Stay in the air, he repeated the Captain's orders with disgust. Logically, he knew that the best way to help Natasha was not to fight those who injured her. He knew, rationally, that what she needed was a doctor to help fix her wounds. But in his heart he wanted nothing more than to allow fools who dared hurt the Lady Natasha taste Mjolnir's metal. Thor hated this battle. The cold was enough to remind him of Jotunheim. He resentfully blasted another enemy plane out of the air with lightning, when the flash of a red, white and blue disc near the ground caught his eye. Steve threw the shield with all his might at the Archer and Lady Natasha, and Thor gasped. Does he mean to kill them?! As the shield got within arm's reach of the pair, something collided with it, creating a massive explosion. The thunder god stiffened in shock, dropping a few feet in altitude. His eyes never left the spot where Clint and Natasha were, hidden under smoke. For a breathless moment, that was all he could see, the dark black smoke of a bomb. Then, the cloud began to settle and Thor at last saw the couple huddled together, scared, but untouched by the missile. Steve's shield was stuck into the skeletal remains of what had once been a building. He blocked them with it, Thor realized, but he just gave up his only protection. From the corner of his vision, Thor saw a blue blast from a tank, and the shock wave that followed. His eyes widened, but before he could do anything, he was launched backwards, struggling to get back into the air again.

Tony saw the tank fire just a moment before he was assailed with the shock wave. The Iron Man suit was knocked a few feet out of the air onto the ground. As he was blasted backwards, he saw another flash of blue across his vision that was too dark to be a weapon blast. Although Tony's fall was partially cushioned, it still hurt, and it took him a minute to get back up.

"Everyone okay?" he asked.

"Yes," Thor responded, breathing a bit heavy, "The Hulk is still smashing things, so I assume he is also well."

"Fine, but Nat's bleeding a lot. Where's that med team?" Clint said tensely.

Tony listened for Captain's usual quip. He was greeted instead with radio static.

"Cap?"

Nothing.

"Cap! Steve, are you okay?"

Tony heard nothing but the buzz of a silent channel. He launched the suit up.

"Cap's down. I'm going to look for him."

Thor growled and landed, standing in front of the Hulk. Although the green beast didn't like him, he had to try to command it the way Steve would have.

"Hulk!" he bellowed.

The rage monster glared at him, raising a fist against his least favorite teammate.

"That," he said quickly, pointing at a tank, "hurt Cap."

The Hulk roared in fury, dislike of the Asgardian completely forgotten. He jumped, shaking the ground as he did, and began beating the offending machine into rubble. Thor smiled, glad that the beast had decided to help fight for Steve. The skies can take care of themselves for now. I have a Captain to avenge.

"Steve! Steve!" Tony called through the suit, searching for a dash of blue uniform on the dirty white and gray ground. "JARVIS, look for him." The AI began searching for Steve's tracker through the interference of the Tesseract-powered weapons. Tony flew like a rocket, scanning through buildings and piles of rubble. His eyes found a hole in the ice of the river and he inhaled sharply. Please no, please no.

"Sir," the AI chimed, as if responding to his thoughts, "he's in the river."

Tony internally cursed and dove underwater. The beams of his arc reactor searched through the water, murky with blood, for a long moment, until at last they found the limp, red, white and blue clad body of the Captain. Tony grabbed him and yanked him out of the water placing him on the bank.

"J, diagnostics," he said impatiently, as his suit switched over to the medical interface. Where the steady blips of his heartbeat should have been, there was a drawn out beep. Tony put his hands on Steve's chest, firing up the repulsors to shock him. "Clear," he murmured to himself, zapping Steve. The beep continued, uninterrupted by a heartbeat. "Dammit, Steve," he growled, "Goddamn you." He charged the repulsors and shocked Steve again, but this time he was rewarded with a gasp from Steve, and a heartbeat, albeit an unsteady and feeble one, but a heartbeat nonetheless. The Captain remained totally limp, save for the weak fluttering of his chest as he struggled to breathe. Ice crystals began to form on his wet uniform. Tony stared at Steve's face. Wake up. Get up, Spangles. Tell me what to do! The soldier's lips were blue and his skin pale, even against the white snow. Tony started noticing something…there was red staining the dirty gray snow. What? No! He inhaled sharply and broke his gaze to inspect the rest of Steve's body. He was bleeding – from everywhere, it seemed. Blood seeped from countless rips and tears in his uniform, but the biggest wound was the yawning, fist-sized hole just above his hip. The exit wound was gurgling blood at an alarming rate. How did I not see that before? The Hulk ambled over, confused as he usually was when the fight ended. He caught sight of Steve and roared in fury. AIM soldiers began firing above the trio, and medical helicopter started to fly higher to get out of range. The rage monster growled, and then, incredibly gently, he lifted Steve up to the helicopter's door, depositing him inside with surprising tenderness. The med team swarmed around Steve and Tony started panicking.

"He's gotta be okay!" he shouted as the door started closing, as if his insistence would change anything. "He has to be! We need him!"

Thor put his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"He-he…he's so strong. He will be fine…he must be," the prince said, a tear spilling from his eye.

The team loaded Natasha into the second helicopter, leaving the remaining team members to get onto the Helicarrier. Tony sat in silent shock. The genius was in shutdown mode, and for once had nothing to say. He'd just watched the Black Widow scream and pass out, then he watched his Captain go down, maybe forever. He sat alone on the bench. Natasha's seat was empty, as was Clint's, who was with her. Steve's seat was deserted and Bruce was still recovering from being the Other Guy. Thor stood at the end of the bay.

"Tina," Thor said into the phone, "Go to the headquarters of SHIELD, right now. The Captain is injured."

Tony could hear Tina's voice float across the silent hall.

"Is he going to be okay? Or is this that thing where someone has to call me if he gets a tiny scratch because I'm his emergency contact? God, Thor. Please, please. Is he going to make it?" her voice broke and she sounded like she was about to sob.

Thor looked at the ground, the picture of dejection.

"I don't know."

Oh noes! What if Steve doesn't make it? Has he fought his last fight? Will he get to meet his kids? Did my readers cry?

This took FOREVER to write. Action kills me...let me know if it reads okay.

Reviews, please!