Hello, back again.

Still don't own Avenger.

I hope you like this chapter. :) Please review.

Updated

Chapter 2:

Danger in the playground

Pepper had left soon after she had come up from the lab, and it was clear that Toni had pissed her off as she had stormed out of the Tower without a word. Steve had come up from lab a few minutes later and headed directly to the couch in front of the fire pit. He didn't say much, a clear sign that Toni had pissed him off too which was hard to do.

"So Stark isn't coming up?" Natasha asked as she left the well-stocked bar.

Steve stared in the non-lit fire. "No, I do not think she will." He was thinking about something, and after a few seconds of silence, he spoke again. "I really don't understand her. How can she be so careless?"

Clint walked into the room. "It's who she." He eyed Natasha, as she walked to the chair beside the couch and sat down. She had a drink in her hand. "She isn't use to having so many people, who would care if she died, looking out for her." He crossed to the bar to get himself a drink.

Natasha glanced toward Clint. "Did you to get into another fight with her, Rogers?"

"Yes," Steve answered.

"You know, it's never a good thing, when Mother and Father are fighting," Clint teased, crossing to the window. The view was amazing and Clint could understand why Toni built the tower here. "It does a team no good. Maybe, you two should just make up already. Or not, angry sex is the best kind of sex there is."

Steve turned suddenly, almost falling off the couch. "Wait….What?" Natasha laughed, which was rare. "Is he inferring that Stark and I are…?" he asked, turning to Natasha. Clint started laughing, seeing Steve's face was blood red. "We haven't done anything. We're just friends…" He paused and looked around, trying to locate a good spot to stare. "There's nothing going on between us…"

Natasha and Clint laughed louder. "I like how worked up he's getting," Clint crossed to his teammates. "Are you sure, Captain?"

"There's no fonduing between us!" He hid his cherry face.

"Fonduing? Is that what the kids are calling it?" Clint grinned. "Fonduing? Natasha, want to fondue?"

Natasha stopped laughing and turned her attention back to Steve. "Barton just meant you and Stark are leaders of this group, and it's not a good thing when you two fight."

"Oh," Steve muttered. "Why didn't you just say that?" His face slowly returned to its normal color.

"It-" Loud music started to play. "-is what I said," Clint finished, turning to the door. "What the hell? Is she going to have ear drums after tonight?"

Natasha took a deep breath. "What did you say to her to upset her this much?" She narrowed her eyes at Steve.

Steve turned to her and returned her glare. "What makes you say that?

She brought her hand to her face in disbelieve. "I don't know. By the way you entered the room and the loud music coming from the lab? She doesn't play this shit loud unless she's upset."

The Captain stood up and walked to the bar. Though it was impossible for him to get drunk, he would try. It was after he poured himself a glass of whiskey that he answered her. "Why is this mine fault? I didn't do anything to her. It isn't my fault that no one can talk to her."

Clint glared. "You just like to bring up shit that she doesn't want to talk about, so yea, I blame you." He moved toward the door. The music was louder in the hall way.

Steve slammed the glass down, breaking it. "I'm not sorry that I want to mourn a friend. I have every right to do so, but I am sorry that I'd upset her. I thought she would want to talk about it." He looked for a trashcan so he could clean up his mess.

"You know she didn't. You have heard what Pepper said," Clint stated, leaning against the door.

After finding a trashcan, he started to pick up the glass, careful not to cut himself. "I know. That's why I went down to the lab."

Natasha picked up a book. "You're an idiot. You scared her away earlier, when she had come out to eat, which is something that she needs, and now you have her locked in her lab." She stared at a few pages before putting it back down.

"We don't really know if she overheard us earlier," Steve countered as he reached for a towel to wipe the liquid. The expensive Whiskery, as Toni wouldn't buy anything cheap, smelled strong.

Clint and Natasha both turned to him and were glaring. "I think he doubts our assassin skills, Nat."

"Yea, I don't know how I feel about that," she admitted, eyeing him. Her hand played with the handle to her gun, which was still holstered. She hadn't disarmed, which was rare if she did, because she was hardly without a weapon.

"Maybe, we should show him," Clint grinned. He didn't reach for his weapons, but he was equipped.

"Yes, I agree."

Steve looked between them with scared look him his eyes. "Are you two serious? I'm not going to fight teammates over something stupid."

"You were-" Clint started to say.

He stopped as Pepper had entered the room looking for something. "Have you seen my phone?" she asked looking around to the three avengers. "I need it. I'm waiting for an important phone call."

Happy to change the subject, Steve spoke up first, "Weren't you going home? Can't you just use your home phone?"

"Half way home, I noticed I forgot my cell phone. I need my cell phone. The house phone won't do for business call I am waiting for. Have you seen it anywhere?" Pepper bit her lip, as she glanced around the room. Sighing, she walked to the bar where Steve was standing. "Did you break a glass?" she asked as she noticed the wet counter and small pieces of glass. He nodded. "Just be careful, I don't need anyone to get cut."

"I will, ma'am," he watched her.

"Ah, there it is," she stated. Pepper, who seemed to be in a much better mood than when she left, smiled as she picked up the phone and placed it in her purse. She looked around the room, noticing the tension. "Is there something wrong?"

"The idiot got into a fight with Toni after you left," Clint answered.

Steve sighed. "I wish you would stop calling me that."

"Well if the shoe fits wear it." The three avengers were glaring at each other.

"I swear I'm not a baby sitter, and I refuse to be one," Pepper stated as she walked to the door. "The Avengers are children."

Natasha stood up. "Not all." She did not want to be included in that.

"Hey, wait." Pepper turned back to Steve. "How did you get into a fight with her? She's in her lab and she isn't coming out." She stared him down like no one else could do. "And that would explain the music." She rubbed her ears.

Setting the trash back on the ground, Steve took a deep breath. "I got her to come out…but-"

"You got her to come out?" Pepper asked shocked.

"But it didn't last. I pissed her off and she stormed back in." He rubbed the back of his head, because he knew he had made it worse. "I put my own foot in my month."

"He's an idiot when it comes to women. No wonder he can't get laid," Clint pointed out. "Dumbass."

Steve took a step forward as Clint insulted him again. "You remind me of a bully," he stated, irritated. Clint took a step forward, staring down Steve. "You know you can't take me in a real fight so you have to throw insults."

"If anyone sounds like a bully, it's you," Clint responded, as both Steve and he closed the distance between them.

Pepper was annoyed. "How can you people be a team?" she asked, moving out of the way. Something was going to happen and she wanted nothing to do with it. One, it would be deadly, and two, they weren't her responsibility; Toni was.

Natasha noticed the increase tension and jumped between them. "Guys calm down. You-"

The music stopped, but it didn't remain silent. An earsplitting alarm sounded through the whole tower. Blinking yellow lights, which came out of nowhere, lit up the whole room.

"What the fuck is that?" Clint asked as he covered his ears, and he wasn't the only one.

Pepper was panicking as she knew what this alarm meant. "JARVIS! What happen? Is Toni okay?" she yelled as loud as she could. If she didn't, there was no way he would have heard her.

"What's this?" Natasha hissed. She held her hands firmly against her ears. "Is there an intruder?"

"JARVIS, turn this shit off!" Clint ordered. "If there was an intruder, I think the sound would've killed him. What kind of home alarm is this?"

"It is against protocol. It cannot be turned off," the AI responded.

"Then just turn it down, so we can think," Steve responded.

"Very well," JARVIS responded. The yellow lights were still flashing annoyingly, but the earsplitting alarms had died down, almost to a murmur.

Steve, who hands had left his ears, turned to Pepper, but she wasn't there. She had bolted out of the room, heading toward the lab. "Wait! What's going on? Is Toni in trouble?" He chased after Pepper, and he wasn't alone. Clint and Natasha had followed, knowing something had to be wrong.

*O*O*

Pepper, who was the slowest of the four, was the first to arrive as the other had allowed her to. They weren't going to fight her mothering instinct, and she was the only one who truly understood what was going on. "Shit," she cursed as the lab doors came into view. The painted glass doors had been replaced.

Steve stared at where the glass doors were supposed to be. "Wait, what is this?" From floor to ceiling, metal doors blocked the lab entrance. In big block bright yellow lettering, the word caution was plastered against the huge metal doors.

Clint knocked against the door, noting how strong it was. "This does not look good."

Natasha stood back. "I remember Stark telling me about this. She told me that if the lab closed itself off like this, it wouldn't be good." She took a deep breath. "She said, while laughing, she would most likely be dead or worse." There was a grim expression on her face.

Pepper stared at Natasha before slamming her fists on the door. "JARVIS, let us in!" Before she could hit the cold metal again, Steve stopped her. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, ignoring the stinging in her hand. "Let us in!" she ordered, pulling her hand away from Steve.

"I cannot allow that, Miss. Potts," the AI stated. No one could get use to the disembodied voice as it came out of nowhere.

"Why not?" Steve asked. "Stark could be hurt!"

"The lab is under lockdown and no one is allowed in until a full scan is completed," JARVIS stated. "That is the protocol that Miss Stark had written."

Clint glared at the ceiling, not knowing where to glare. It was annoying not having anything physical to yell at, when he was pissed, and he was pissed. "What the hell happened?"

"The Device that Miss Stark had been working on was suddenly activated and everything within a 10 foot range has disappeared," it stated.

If she wasn't frightened before, she was now; Pepper's expression was pure fear. "Let us in! I need to see Toni."

In anger, Steve slammed his fist into the metal shield, denting it. "Toni could be hurt! Open these doors right now." He slammed his fist again in the same spot, but the metal did not break.

"Captain Rogers," JARVIS started, "there would be no point as she is not located in the lab, and it is impossible for me to go against Miss. Stark's protocol."

Natasha took a step forward. "What do you mean she's not in there?"

"She was the ten foot range."

Clint flexed his fist. "What does that mean? Where is she?"

"I do not know of Miss Stark's location. She is not in the tower," JARVIS answered. "I also do not have any record of her leaving the tower as well."

"How can that be? She was in lab before the Device went off and now she's not?" Pepper asked. "Can you tell us anything? Is she alive?" Her voice was shakily.

"When can we be let into the lab?" Natasha asked, eyeing Pepper. She was a trained assassin and she didn't like the what if's game. She needed facts.

"In 3 minutes and 53 seconds."

*O*O*

The metal doors squeaked as they retracted slowly, revealing the painted doors. Pepper, the first one to make it to the door, tried to pull it open, but they would not open. "JARVIS, unlock the lab now."

"Yes, Miss Potts," he stated. The key pad on the glass doors blinked and the door flew open.

The four walked in and each one of their hearts stopped at the sight of the lab. There in the middle of the lab, where Toni's desk was supposed to be, was a big hole in the floor in a perfect circle. Nothing else in the lab was disturbed, and it wasn't for the big hole in the ground, no one would ever know something was wrong.

Steve was the first to move. "Is the floor steady?" he asked, unsure of his steps. "The floor is not going to cave in, is it?"

"If it was unsafe, you would have not been let in, Captain," the AI stated.

The Captain nodded and inched closer. Lowering to his knees, he studied the hole, which had no sharp edges; everything had a smooth cut. "What are the chances that she's alive?" he asked, his voice was shakily. He could see the room below.

Pepper was shocked by his question. "She has to be alive." She looked around; there were no signs of blood. "There would be signs if she's dead."

Natasha put her hand on Pepper's shoulder. "Anything is possible, right JARVIS."

Clint's eyes wandered around the hole. It was very interesting, because JARVIS was correct. Everything just vanished, and that was strange. There were no displaced tiles, broken pipes or anything. It was a clean cut. There were no evidence that anything besides a hole was ever there. "Is there anything you can use to track Toni?" Clint asked.

Pepper looked up. "She turned her cell on. I saw her do it. You can track her by that!"

The AI didn't respond at first. "I cannot track Miss Stark's phone."

"Why can't you?" Steve asked. He had no idea of how to do that, but he knew it can be done.

"In order to track a phone, it needs to be on or be intact," Clint responded. "And let me guess, Toni's phone is either broken or not on."

"Yes."

"Crap," Natasha cursed.

Until Next time.