Disclaimer: Still don't own a thing.
The screen embedded in the desk flickered before turning black, hiding the image of the prisoner. Fury ran an exhausted hand over his face, growling under his breath. One problem at a time, he thought to himself, is that really too much to ask?
Apparently so, as from about 9:00 AM this morning, within hours of each other, his phone had been ringing off the hook, announcing that each and every one of his 'last resort' team had demanded his presence. Fury had decided after Thor had stormed into his office, interrupting Dr Banner's tirade, who himself had barged in on Natasha as she explained in furious tones how Agent Barton had been snatched from under her nose, that he could really use some kind of secretary to deal with the people side of things. For the time being Agent Hill had sat each of them down in another room, while Fury watched the interrogation of a man that Tony Stark and Steve Rogers had dropped in the centre of the Bridge, silencing the every growing cacophony of raised voices.
But there was nothing; no information, no leads, nothing that could be handed to the agitated heroes without earning one hell of a headache. If there was one thing Fury hated, it was being in the dark, and he was definitely in the dark on this one.
With one last sigh, Fury forced himself to return to the Bridge, where he was met by five pairs of hard, accusing eyes, glaring at him. For crying out loud! I didn't kidnap them!
The team was gathered around the round table, and had clearly been discussing in hushed tones what had happened, sharing their stories and trying to connect the dots. Tony was slouched in his chair, his feet crossed on the table, shooting glances at Steve, who was sat ever the soldier, deep in thought. Bruce had taken up residence next to Natasha, and the two of them were the epitomes of calm tinted discontent, leaning strained upon their elbows. Thor as usual took up one half of the table, his feet up, mirroring Stark, Mjolnir spinning on the table beneath his fingers. He made no effort to hide his anger, or his worry.
"Fury!" Tony was the first to speak as always, "What'd you get from the masked goon?"
"One great bag of nothing!" Fury snapped, taking up his position at the head of the table. A chorus of 'what's echoed around the room, with Bruce throwing himself backward in his seat, and Thor and Thor both shaking their heads. Only Steve remained frozen, absorbing the information.
"Director, I've been here a while, and I know we have ways to make them speak." Natasha said coldly, earning a sideways glance off of Tony.
"I would be glad to assist you in your interrogation, should you need to explore alternative methods." Thor added, lifting Mjolnir and spinning it lightly around his fingers, his expression darkening. Fury shook his head.
"Yes we have methods!" he gritted out, "But they only tend to work when the man's conscious."
There was a flutter of movement as every head turned to the ones on either side, looking for confirmation that they too had misunderstood.
"What do you mean conscious?" Bruce finally asked, beating Steve to the mark.
"I mean, every time anyone goes to talk to the guy, he holds his breath until he passes out!" Fury retorted; it was clever and he hated it, "as great as I like to think we are, we can't make a man's lungs work if he holds them still."
"Well that's just great!" Tony sniped, drowned out somewhat by Thor slamming his hammer onto the ground. Bruce dropped his head into his hands, Fury suspected more to calm himself than out of despair. Steve finally spoke up.
"What else have we got?" he asked, drawing the attention of those around him, "Do we have motive? Means? Who are they and what are they actually doing?"
"Whoever it is they're powerful and well trained." Natasha reported; Fury noted that apart from the initial storming into his office, she had been keeping her emotions schooled as sternly as possible, "All I heard was a scuffle, and there was barely a trace of them when they left. Considering it was Barton they took, that's impressive."
"And looking at the synced ninja gear I'd say they're part of some organisation." Tony added, earning a round of solemn nods.
"That's what I thought. Working out which one is the tricky part." Fury concluded, taking in the appearance of his Avengers once more. They all looked tired, as if they'd been spending every waking moment waiting for answers. Silence stretched between the group, broken moments later.
"If this is true then why take my Jane, why take Banner's lovely woman?" Thor inquired, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, continuing when he realised that everyone was now looking to him as if he suddenly held all the answers, "Surely it would be a better strategy to attempt to take Banner or myself; we are a far greater threat to any organisation."
Bruce's eyes widened, and he clasped his hands together.
"Maybe that's it: we're more of a threat." He muttered, hardly loud enough to hear; Tony waved his hand, encouraging Bruce to elaborate, "Think about it. Nobody could take the Other Guy, and Thor's too big to go down quietly, but take something we care about, and they can lure us right in. The same goes for Natasha, she may be little, but she packs a punch."
"Hold on!" Tony called, straightening out and raising his hands, remaining silent until all eyes were on him, "If these guys are taking out the weakest link, who did they think they were going to take out of Steve and I. We're both pretty awesome."
"You're pretty useless without your suit." Natasha commented with a smirk. Tony turned towards her, gesturing and leaning back into a mock battle stance.
"You wanna seejust how useless I am? Bring it on!"
"Everybody SIT DOWN!" Fury yelled, standing himself. Despite his glare, none of the Avengers seemed that quelled, and Tony was still throwing Natasha dirty looks, "That still doesn't tell us the point of this."
"Obviously they saw our moves in New York and decided they needed the heroes out of the way for whatever crazy-assed scheme they're brewing." Tony explained, raising his voice so that Thor knew not to say whatever he had opened his mouth to.
"They were British." Steve noted quietly. The others had almost forgotten he was there, as he had been deep in thought.
"What?" Fury demanded, folding his arms across his chest. Steve looked almost surprised that he had spoken at all, let alone that the others were waiting for a response.
"When we were fighting them in the Tower, I heard them speaking." He explained, looking between the team members, "They had British accents."
"So the British are coming! Great!" Tony replied sarcastically, wincing as Natasha's boot collided with his shin.
"Well that narrows it down," Bruce interrupted, his expression brightening, "British employees suggests British organisation."
"It also means I have to go talk to some politicians, get in touch with the British Secret Service, find out if anything weird has been going on over there." Fury reeled off, getting more frustrated as he carried on, "Marvellous! More paperwork!"
And the ball is rolling! More exciting stuff should happen now, the plot is on the move