A/N. And I'm back :) So okay, you guys aren't the type to complain about cliff hangers (too much). Good to know :D You guys are awesome btw, readers AND reviewers alike. Have you guys seen the new LEGO MARVEL video game trailer? There's this one part where Steve says, "I'm going to spangle you until you see stars" and I cracked up. Go check it out. It looks cool to me :D Anyway, enjoy the next chapter!

CHAPTER XXI

Pepper and Tony were freaking out. No one was answering their comms. The show was about to start. They were nowhere to be seen and hadn't told them where they'd gone. Tony eventually convinced Pepper that he would look for them while she watched the rest of the show and dropped her off in the balcony before making his way to the bathroom.

He waited until he was sure there was no one anywhere except in the theatre and then poked his head out. He looked right and left. No one. He slipped out and began exploring. He knew the direction in which Clint and Natasha had gone when they first arrived two hours before. He would start there.

He didn't bother worrying about the surveillance cameras. He knew the master assassins had taken care of those last night. He walked as quietly as he could down a long white hallway, passing several doors. He pressed his ear to each one and heard talking from behind all of them. He couldn't open the door for risk of being scene. At the end of the corridor, after turning several corners, Tony caught sight of a door that was ajar.

He peeked inside. It was a mess. There were dead bodies all over the place and a giant table flipped over in the middle. There was a pile of office chairs with a dead body mangled inside against the wall. There was even a man with a painting around his neck. Tony nudged the door open wider silently and stepped inside. This was definitely the place. The table had multiple bullets lodged inside it and so did the walls and the floor and many of the bodies, none of which he recognized.

He swallowed the bile in his throat and loosened his tie. How had no one heard the gunshots? Well, it had been rather loud in the grand hall… maybe the room was sound proof? But if the door was ajar…

He shook away the thoughts for later and walked around the table. He gasped. Clint and Natasha lay crumpled on the ground. He had so many bullet holes in his chest that he looked like Swiss cheese and she had blood flowing from somewhere near her collarbone.

Tony fell to his knees. "NO!" He checked Natasha's pulse. Still alive. He breathed a sigh of relief before doing the same to Clint. Also alive. He felt an immediate sense of the lightening of weight from his shoulders. He ripped apart Clint's jacket and button-down. The damn archer was wearing a bullet vest. But with so many pellets in his chest, no wonder the guy had passed out.

The billionaire gently peeled the Kevlar from his friend and Clint hissed and grabbed Tony's wrist, twisting it at an odd angle and threatening to break it.

"OW! HEY! Hey, it's just me! Stop it!"

Clint blinked a few times. "Tony?"

"Yeah, it's me."

He blinked some more. "Oh." Another few seconds later he let go. He looked down. "Oh," he repeated. "Continue."

Tony nodded and slowly removed the vest, revealing an almost completely black and blue chest. Clint wheezed and closed his tuxedo jacket before rolling over to Natasha. He ripped off the shirt he wore underneath (literally) and began wrapping it around her arm and back in ways Tony couldn't even comprehend.

"Bullet wound close to the collar bone," the assassin explained, "lost a lot of blood. We need to get her to a medic. She needs to go to SHIELD."

"Clint."

"Hm?"

"Where are Steve and Tania?" Clint froze, his fingers hovering over his love's injury. He closed his hands into fists and clenched his teeth.

"They took them."

"Who?"

Clint turned his head to look Tony dead in the eye. "HYDRA."

After picking up Pepper, Clint called SHIELD requesting a quinjet to base immediately and the four of them made their way to the roof with the archer carrying his unconscious partner. She was pale and limp and no one except Strike Team Delta (Clint and Natasha) had ever seen her like this. It was scarier than when she was angry.

A few agonizing minutes later, the wind picked up and the jet they knew was cloaked in invisibility hovered above them. They sent down a rope which Pepper climbed first, then Tony, and then Clint just grabbed it while holding Natasha so that they could pull them both in.
Another agonizing several minutes later, they reached the helicarrier and dropped off Natasha in the med bay while contacting the other Avengers. Bruce and Thor promise to arrive as soon as possible seeing as the others weren't allowed on (and weren't supposed to even know about) the helicarrier.

While Clint opted to stay in the med bay with Natasha, the CEO couple requested to see Director Fury right away. It took some convincing and a very angry fit thrown by –surprisingly- Pepper. She was scary when she was angry. The agent ran off to find the Director while Iron Man and Rescue made their way to the meeting room that looked out over the rest of the agents on computers.

They paced and fidgeted and waited and finally, Fury showed up. "This better be good, Stark," was his greeting.

"This is anything but good." Before the Director could response, Tony cut in and continued. "HYDRA has been resurrected."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive. Clint heard it with his own ears."

"And where is Agent Barton?"

"In the med bay with his partner who almost bled out from one of those HYDRA soldiers."

"… go on."

Less than an hour later, Bruce and Thor arrived and Clint had dragged himself away from the hospital section of the helicarrier while Natasha was in surgery to help tell the story.

They decided to start from the very beginning: the assassination attempt in Philadelphia. Pepper was the one to tell the story. After that, it was Tony who took over for the investigation in Europe and then Clint for the attack on the Statue of Liberty. Bruce then took his turn with the events in the Tower like the bullets against the window before it turned to Pepper when they reached the night they wanted to check out the theatre (that same night).

Clint took over yet again to start on the snooping. "Nat and I did a quick sweep of the place last night – habit – and took out all the security cameras. Today, while the show went on, she and I snuck around looking for anything suspicious. We came across a room full of men dressed in black. They weren't talking loudly enough to hear. We decided to join the conversation.

"Yes, I know, risky, but it's not an actual mission. There were no rules. Anyway, turns out they all spoke German and refused to speak any other language. Since Natasha doesn't know German, I did all of the talking. I asked them if they had a grudge against the Avengers. They asked me why I want to know. I told them that we had a grudge against Captain America. After a little bit of convincing, they believed us and said that if we were telling the truth and sought them out to join up with them, that they knew there would be more people with us. They were adamant about this until they basically forced me out to find the others they quote unquote 'knew' we had with us. I couldn't bring Tony and Pepper because they weren't in disguises so my only options were Steve and Tania, and since one couldn't stay without the other, I had to bring them both.

"I took them back to the room and asked if they were happy now. They said yes. The only information I managed to get out of them was that they were HYDRA and that they had this HUGE grudge against Steve and that's why they've been trying to kill Tania. Before I could interrogate them further, something happened and I think one of the men recognized Tania in her disguise and pulled a gun on her. Steve, of course, attacked the man without thought and then an all-out brawl started.

"It would be a waste tell you all the details but it was nineteen against four. Normally this wouldn't be a problem for Nat and I, however it wasn't just us. Steve got shot which distracted Tania enough for the men to subdue her which, I dare say it, distracted us enough for them to shoot us."

Tony took over from there, telling his side of the story of how he found them and brought them back here. Fury listened intently and nodded every now and again while Bruce, Thor, Pepper, and Tony all looked horrified at what had happened when none of them had been present.

"If you were shot, why aren't you in the med bay, Agent Barton?"

"Kevlar."

"And Agent Romanoff just conveniently forgot?"

Clint rolled her eyes. Natasha didn't forget things like that. "It's a lot more complicated for women, Director. I can easily wear a Kevlar vest under a jacket but girls wear dresses to these kinds of things. That doesn't leave much room for bulky Kevlar. Plus, if you haven't noticed, she hardly ever wears Kevlar on regular missions, let alone a non-regulated one."

"Where was she shot?"

"The shoulder. Just beneath the collar bone."

"Hm."

"Well, what are we going to do?!" Tony piped up. "We can't just sit here while those HYDRA bastards have Tania and Steve!"

"Do you know where they went?" Fury raised an eyebrow.

"No-"

"Do you have any idea where they might be?"

"No-"

"Do you even know if they're alive?"

"I-"

"Didn't think so."

"They're alive!" He slammed his fist on the table and stood up. "Damn it! If HYDRA wanted them killed, they'd have left them there. But no. They want revenge. Death isn't good enough for them."

"Torture…" Bruce breathed, suddenly extremely pale. He excused himself from the room as his complexion began to turn a slight shade of green. Agent Hill followed him discreetly to keep an eye on him.

All of the remaining Avengers turned silent and Tony sat back down with his head in his hands. Pepper rubbed his back soothingly and rested her head on his shoulder, slow tears streaming down her face.

"I suggest you all sleep here for the night," Fury spoke, hands clasped behind his back as usual, "it will be easier to conduct a search that way."

"So…" Pepper dragged out, not quite understanding the meaning behind his words.

"As of right now, SHIELD has a vendetta against HYDRA. I am making this a regulated mission for all available members of the Avengers Initiative."

Tony's head shot up from his hands. "Jarvis!" He fumbled in his pockets for his cell phone. "Jarvis, run the facial recognition software on Tania and Steve and find them. Give me their last known location."

"I need a picture, Sir."

"You know what they looks like Jarvis, don't give me that bullshit!"

"I am sorry, but I do need a photo."

"I have some," Pepper butted in. She reached into her silver clutch for her phone. "We took this pictures last night." She scrolled through the many photos of her, Tania, and Betty having an awesome girls' night and held it in front of Tony's camera on his phone to scan. She then scrolled some more and found a picture of Steve that she took when he had stayed over for dinner for the very first time.

"Scanning… complete. Running software now. Estimated time: five point four hours."

"Damn," Tony cursed. The stupid thing took so damn long! Well, it did have to look through ever single camera on the entire planet not to mention hack into all the satellites in the sky. He supposed it made sense but he was not a patient man.

"Ms. Potts," Fury addressed, "I'm sorry, but SHIELD protocol states that any one person not a member of SHIELD cannot stay overnight."

"I understand."

"I'll have Agent Hill personally escort you back to the Tower in the quinjet."

"Thank you Director."

She stood up just as Bruce and Maria re-entered. "Did you hear that Agent Hill?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You are all dismissed."

Everyone reluctantly stood and went their separate ways, finding rooms to stay in somewhere on the helicarrier or in Pepper's case, going home. Fury turned and braced his hands on the railing, looking out over his many agents hard at work as well as the starry night sky through the gigantic window in front of him.

He would have to go to the Council about this. He was not particularly excited about that. Re-discovering HYDRA was a big deal. It was a deadly organization in the weapons division of one of the worst times the world has ever seen: World War Two. And they have a purpose and presumably no leader. This could lead to utter chaos.

He pushed off of the railing and turned, his black leather coat trailing behind him as he walked forward. He made his way through several hallways and around many corners and past multiple security features and doors before he arrived in a room that was pitch black.

He walked along the seemingly floating runway until he reached the circle at the end. When he stood on the SHIELD insignia embedded into the floor, twelve screens lit up around him, revealing the silhouettes of the council.

"What is it, Director Fury?" the one farthest to the left asked. Although all of the council members remained anonymous, Fury had given them all 'nicknames' in his head to keep track of who was who. This guy was Bored.

"There has been a recent discovery. One, I think, that would interest you greatly."

"Well, what is it?" Impatient asked.

"HYDRA has come back from the dead."

There was silence in the room as the council members took in this new information. "How do you know this?" A woman to the far right asked. Her 'name' was Curiousity.

"A few of my agents went on a non-regulated mission. Two of them were captured." They didn't need to know that Tania wasn't an agent. 'Them' actually referred to the Avengers. Again, the council didn't need to know that.

"Who?" Blunt demanded to know.

Fury sighed. Twisting the truth was okay. Lying to the council was unacceptable. "Captain Steve Rogers was among the captured."

There were several murmurs of disbelief and shock after his statement that died down after a few seconds. "And the other?"

Fury hesitated. "Her name is Tania Banks. She does not work for SHIELD, but I have been trying to get her to join for months."

"Isn't that the Captain's girlfriend?" Curiousity wondered.

Fury just barely restrained himself from grinding his teeth. These people knew too much for his liking. "Yes." His answer was curt.

"Do you know where they were taken?" Impatient inquired.

"Not yet."

"You need to find their base of operations and neutralize it," ordered Commander.

"That will most likely be where Captain Rogers and Miss Banks are being held," he pointed out, not liking where this was going.

"They are unfortunate liabilities but if we can bring down HYDRA once and for all, it will have been worth it," Blunt agreed.

"Captain America is the best leader I've seen in years and is the only one experienced in fighting HYDRA. He is the Captain of the Avengers Initiative, you can't just blow him up like it's no big deal."

"He is only one man, Director. One man in exchange for many."

"I don't care. He's one very important man that SHIELD and the world cannot afford to lose. Not to mention that Miss Banks has the potential to be a very effective agent in the future."

"Director Fury," started Commander, "if we don't bomb that HYDRA base as soon as possible, several innocent people could die."

"So we're willing to sacrifice the world's symbol for hope to do it?"

"The world still has the other Avengers."

"I have a feeling there won't be an 'Avengers' if you kill Captain Rogers. They will disband and they won't be a real team anymore."

"They will fight when we need them to. Isn't that what you told us, Director?"

Fury lowered his eyebrows and looked at all of the screens sternly. "This is a mistake."

"I agree with him," a woman whom Fury had nicknamed Phoenix piped up.

"The council must discuss," the Commander declared.

Without warning, all the screens muted themselves so that Fury couldn't hear. He grumbled impatiently while he waited for them to come to a decision. His hands were clenched into fists behind his back.

Fifteen minutes later (he'd been counting), the sound returned. "Director Fury, the council has come to a decision." Commander folded his hands over his desk and leaned forward.

"And what decision would that be?"

"You have twelve hours after discovering the location of the HYDRA base before the order is to be given that it be eliminated; casualties or not."

Fury closed his eyes in disappointment. "Yes, Sir."

"Dismissed."

All the screens turned to black, leaving Fury in the darkness.