AN: And let's just keep moving. Here's what's been happening from Steve's perspective. Read on!

(Steve POV)

Once they had finally managed to get Bruce to calm down, thankfully with minimal damage to the med floor (turns out the doctor had a lot more control than he gave himself credit for), Steve made a beeline to his floor where he figured Charlotte had finally crashed. She had been rightfully spooked in the hallway and he hoped that she was all right. She had seemed well enough to run, so maybe she was feeling better now than when he had carried her out of that decrepit building they'd found her in. Just remembering her body limp in his arms made his breath hitch. Shaking the thought, he determined that the first order of business would be putting her to bed and making sure she was comfortable. If she happened to be more comfortable sleeping in his arms where he could constantly reassure himself that she was alright, even better.

The doors to the apartment opened and he walked in, dropping his shield and jacket next to the kitchen counter.

"Charlotte!" he called. No response. He listened closely for movement, but nothing came. Thinking that she was asleep he went to the bedroom but found his bed neatly made and the room empty. He searched the apartment, calling her name, only to come up with nothing. Panic began to bubble underneath his skin. Thoughts of her being taken again, right from underneath his nose, made his breathing quicken.

"JARVIS? Where's Charlotte?" he asked.

"Miss Samuels is no longer inside of the tower," came the AI's too curt reply.

"What? Where did she go?"

"Unfortunately Captain, my security protocols prohibit me from informing you of Miss Samuels location. All I can offer is that she left the tower of her own volition." What? What the hell was he talking about?

"When did she leave?"

"About an hour ago Captain. A driver on staff was available to transport her to her destination." JARVIS answered. Steve huffed in frustration. She had probably gone to her apartment. It made sense to get out of the building, especially for someone who had never seen the Hulk before. Grabbing his jacket he hopped onto his motorcycle and drove to her apartment, dead set on making sure she was okay.

He parked in front of her building, and using the hidden key she had shown him a few days earlier, opened the door and climbed the three flights of stairs two at a time. Once at the top he knocked to make sure he didn't surprise her and began to unlock the door, only to see that it was already unlocked. Most of the lights were off, a single one glowing in her bedroom. She must have gone to sleep, he thought with relief, but as he stepped inside, a young blonde woman walked out, carrying Charlotte's cat. Steve flicked on the living room light and made her jump and stifle a short scream. With the light on he recognized her as Charlotte's friend, the same one who had interrupted them the night he met Charlotte. She looked over at him in shock and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good God, you scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry," he offered shyly.

"It's fine, just, Jesus. Wear a bell or something," she finished, placing Penelope into a cat carrier and locking it up.

"Where's Charlotte? Where are you taking Penelope?"

"You mean the demon cat? My apartment. Charlotte, I have no idea. She just told me to take care of Penny. Your guess is as good as mine."

"What do you mean? You spoke to her?" She narrowed her eyes at him, pausing in her movements.

"About 30 minutes ago. She just told me she was leaving for a while and to take care of Penny. She also told me that this wasn't your fault. Which I find very hard to believe. She hasn't up and disappeared in over 3 years and then calls me in a panic from God-knows-where and I'm supposed to believe that it has nothing to do with the superhero she started dating two weeks ago? Please." She picked up the cat carrier and walked over to the door, holding it open, waiting for him to leave.

"She hasn't disappeared in over 3 years? What are you talking about? Has she done this before?" he asked. Steph heaved a sigh and paused, obviously choosing her words carefully.

"She used to do this all the time. She gets upset about something and then disappears for a few weeks. When it's really bad, maybe a few months. She's been doing this since she was 16. It's just something she has to do. She always comes back, though I haven't heard her this upset in a long time." Steph's brow furrowed in worry. "I really hope that she's alright. Did something happen between you two?" He sighed and wondered how much he could safely tell her.

"It's complicated, but she was okay. And then she was just gone. I'm worried about her. Please, if you have any idea of where she went-"

"I'm sorry, but I don't. She was particularly sneaky this time." Steph noticed how worried Steve looked, and her heart softened a bit in sympathy.

"This is kind of just a part of loving her. She's always done this. But she always comes back and despite all of the evidence to the otherwise, she can take care of herself. Don't worry too much, okay?" She touched his arm softly and motioned him out of the apartment before locking up. He turned back at the top of the stairs.

"So you're taking Penelope?"

"Unfortunately. Damn cat hates me, but Charlotte loves it and I couldn't let it just stay alone for however long she'll be gone."

"I can take her. She likes me, and it'll be something of Charlotte that I can have until she comes back." Steph looked at him, considering. Poor guy looked heartbroken and lost. Penelope meowed quietly, obviously pleased at the idea.

"Sure, why not?" She handed over the carrier and Steve managed a small smile that didn't totally meet his eyes.

"Thank you." He turned and started to make his way down the stairs before turning abruptly.

"And I will call you if I hear anything," Steph cut him off before he could ask. He nodded shortly and continued on his way. Steph sighed heavily at the top of stairs.

"Oh, Charlie. What the hell are you doing?"

Heading back to the Tower was a difficult and stressful drive. Steve strapped Penny's cat box in as well as he could, but he still had a few scary moments. Once back in the tower he set her cage down and opened it, realizing too late that he didn't have a litter box or toys, or even food for that matter. He kicked himself for making such a short-sighted decision, though what else was new?

"JARVIS? Could you find a pet store nearby? Order some basics for a cat and have them delivered."

"Of course Captain, straightaway." Steve nodded and looked down to find Penny weaving her way around his legs, purring softly. Bending, he picked her up, her warm body a small comfort.

"Captain, Professor Banner, Agents Romanov and Barton are requesting entrance."

"Let them in," answered Steve, standing and putting his phone down on the couch. What was Banner doing here so soon? He was typically out for at least 24 hours after the Hulk made an appearance. The elevator doors opened and Bruce, Natasha, and Clint walked in.

"Thought you'd be in bed, Dr. Banner. Are you feeling alright?" he asked. The slightly shaken doctor nodded, pulled the blanket he had wrapped around his shoulders tighter and walked in.

"I'm fine. Just came to apologize to Charlotte. Is she here?" he asked. Steve ducked his head, fresh hurt and worry opening up in the center of his chest.

"No, she's not here. She, uh, left." detecting the odd tone in Steve's voice, Natasha took a few steps forward.

"What do you mean, left?" she asked.

"She's gone. She grabbed stuff from her apartment, told her best friend she was leaving and disappeared," he answered shortly, arms crossed.

"What?" Bruce sat in one of the dining table chairs with a thump, shock, and guilt written all over his face.

"Apparently she does this. When Charlotte gets spooked or scared she runs. Her best friend said she always comes back," he ended, a bleak note of hope in his voice. Natasha nodded in understanding.

"I had a feeling something like this would happen." she admitted, motioning for Steve to sit.

"What?"

"When you asked me for advice, I may have run a background check and done a little digging."

"Without telling me?" Steve asked. Clint rolled his eyes and stepped forward.

"Of course. She didn't want you to know everything about a girl you just met. We're all aware of your low tolerance for dishonesty Cap. You'd have scared her off." Steve grimaced and sighed, taking a seat at the table. He knew that Clint was right.

"What'd you find?"

"Not much. Even using S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network, very little came up. Her friend is right, she's done this before, but she's gotten better about it in recent years. Her final set of foster parents said it was a result of a lifetime of running."

"Final set of foster parents? She never told me she was adopted."

"That's true. From what little I could find, she's never actually been adopted. She just sort of appeared in the system at 13. No parents, no memory, she was found on the side of the road in Oklahoma nearly dead. After she recovered she bounced from foster home to foster home until she went to college at 16." Steve shook his head in disbelief.

"What? I've never heard about any of this."

"I'm not surprised that she would want to keep this private. It's what I would do. You've only been together for two weeks. I wouldn't want to spring an unhappy past on you this early."

"Did she know what she could do? Was she hiding that too?" he asked Bruce directly.

"Not as far as I could tell. She seemed genuinely terrified about what was happening. She didn't have any control either. I've seen that look too many times, and there's no way she was faking it."

"What happened? Was she what set you off downstairs?" Nat asked.

"Yeah. She looks like an enhanced, though I've never seen anything like it before. It's like she has an electrical current running through her body like she's her own superconductor. She was pretty unstable when she remembered what happened in the bunker. Her panic set it off and it just got worse as she tried to control it." he shook his head slowly. "Looking back, I'm an idiot. She was panicking and she told me not to touch her but I did anyway. She shocked me on accident and it set me off."

"It happened the same way in the bunker. It's how we escaped. I was down and she was upset, screaming, crying and then everything went silent. She shocked the guards. But she didn't look or sound like herself. Her eyes turned blue and blank. It was terrifying. She wasn't her anymore."

"It was terrifying for you? Imagine how scared she must be?" Clint interjected. "I know what it's like to not have control over yourself, over your actions. It was more than a little unsettling for me, it must have been terrifying for a civilian." Worry overwhelmed any other emotion in his mind. Steve was angry she hadn't told him about her past, but he was more worried about her well-being. She was somewhere, alone and afraid, with nowhere to go for help.

"I've got to find her." he stood up abruptly, walking back over to his shield, grabbing the bag behind it and rushing into the bedroom to grab a change of clothes. "She's probably terrified, alone, maybe hurt. Nat, could you see if we could get security footage from outside of the tower when she left?" the agent crossed her arms and sighed.

"I could, but I'm not going to."

"What? Why not?"

"She left, Steve. She obviously doesn't want to be found. She's scared, but she had the presence of mind to remove herself. Leave her be."

"I agree with Nat on this one. When things have changed this quickly, when you can't control what's happening, there's nothing more terrifying than the idea of hurting someone you love again." Bruce added. "She'll come back when she's ready." Steve looked at the two, his eyes traveling back and forth between them incredulously.

"Just leave her alone out there and hope for the best? That's what you're telling me? And you? You agree with them?" he asked Clint. Clint sighed and nodded.

"She needs to get her head on straight. Give her some time to do that. In the meantime, I think I might know someone who could help her out. Someone we can trust. At least then we can know she's safe, right?" Steve's jaw clenched and unclenched, working through his options. There was nothing more he wanted than to just find her and bring her home, but he knew that they were right. Showing up now would only spook her. She'd need to figure this out on her own.

"Fine. Just please, keep me in the loop. Let me know when she's safe."

"I will," Clint walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder. "She'll come back Steve, you'll see."