A little bit of a darker chapter, but it's all for the plot. I really need to stop doing that sort of thing to my favorite characters.

Andrew Forson, dressed in his signature yellow hazmat suit, stepped into the main lobby just as Neptune began dragging Sam Wilson and the black-haired girl into a corner, tying them up. Here they split into two teams, automatic weapons at the ready.

Forson knew tonight would be tough on his mercenaries. He'd lost Henri, aka Pharaoh, in the attempted assassination of Steve Rogers earlier this day. In addition, Trojan had suffered a concussion. Normally he'd be out with such injuries, but Forson had insisted that he come along, because he'd need all the help he could get with his Plan B.

The Avengers facility was several thousand acres, and therefore impossible to search in full with just eight men. But Forson knew that there were three buildings worth combing: the main offices (where they were currently at), the hangar bay where all the jets and vehicles were stored, and the living quarters. Aztec, Basilisk, Griffon, Nero, and Trojan departed off the tactical train on the catwalk that led to the hangar bay. They would secure it and the living quarters, while Forson, Neptune, and Charon searched the main offices.

Natasha Romanoff was spotted near one of the Quinjets, closing the door to it and using a flashlight to find her way back. Nero popped another gas grenade, and in seconds the entire floor was doused in tear gas. Natasha attempted to run for the nearest door to avoid the gas, but she tripped and fell coughing.

After making sure Romanoff was secured and unable to get away, the men moved into the living quarters and searched the rooms one by one. Helen Cho, James Rhodes, Erik Selvig, and half a dozen others were quickly captured and brought to the hangar bay. They didn't encounter the Vision, but had a few toys to experiment on him in case he did pop up.

Forson, Neptune, and Charon were moving right along the darkened hallway leading to Nick Fury's office when they ran into a lone security guard. The guard immediately recognized the threat and managed to fire off a few rounds before Neptune gunned him down. Knowing they probably alerted their targets, the three men sprinted down the rest of the hall.

"What the hell was that?" said Ghost as he, Maria Hill, and Nick Fury were struggling to find their way in the darkened office, attempting to turn on some emergency lighting.

Maria pulled out her Glock and tossed it to Ghost. "Gunfire." Without warning, Fury pulled out his own gun as well. Maria headed out the back door to the outside, to go to the armory for more weapons, while Ghost and Fury stayed behind to hold off the attackers.

The door from the hallway was knocked down, and after just a few shots a grenade was thrown into the office. It was another gas grenade, and it effectively sent both of them reeling, trying to control their stomachs over what the gas did.

Forson turned over Fury while Neptune and Charon handcuffed Ghost. "Do you know who I am, Fury?"

"Yea," said Fury sarcastically, coughing up blood. "I know you're one son of a bitch."

"You don't know anything. Tie him up with the rest."

Steve woke up to find Wanda nested right on top of him. He could have sworn he'd given her a blanket for warmth. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get warm. You generate a lot of body heat."

Though he could sort of see the logic behind that, he suspected a ulterior motive. "You know, if you wanted to nap on me, you could have just asked."

"You were sleeping. Wanted to let you rest."

"I wanted you to rest, doll. Did you not see the blanket I gave you?"

And so they cuddled, while she said some and some about the blanket being too thin. It didn't take Sherlock to know why she was with him in the bed.

She felt a lot safer around him. She could hold her own, but Steve had proved to be able to keep the Wanda Maximoff reactor from having a nuclear meltdown.

Steve wrapped his arm around her as she tucked herself in tightly, giving her a light kiss on the forehead. Her response was to curl herself up in a ball of sorts, allowing Steve's body to encompass more of her.

Steve hated to think about what Natasha would have said if she was here. Romanoff would have gone off about how she'd finally made Captain America fall in love or something. Steve didn't necessarily want to admit that Wanda had grown on him, but the fact she was right here, feeling safer here than most places, said a lot about the slowly growing bond they'd created.

Then Wanda straightened herself and said, "You know, we have the room to ourselves."

"What are you implying?" asked Steve, not entirely sure of what she wanted now.

"Well, if you're okay with it, perhaps we could-"

Steve's phone rang the default iPhone ringtone loudly. It was an unknown number. "Hello?"

"Ah, Steven Grant Rogers." The voice on the other end sounded falsely delighted to be talking to him. "How good it is to be finally talking to you."

"What do you want?" Steve immediately jumped out of bed and stood up. He had a bad feeling that this person wasn't a prank caller.

"Call me Andrew Forson. I've got a friend next to me that wants to talk to you." Steve heard muffled voices and some sort of panic. A moment later, the screaming voice of Darcy Lewis came on the phone: "Steve, you've got to get us out of here!"

"Calm down Darcy. What happened?"

"T-they cut off the electricity and gassed the place. Got most of us tied up. Who the hell are these men-"

Before Darcy could continue, the phone seemed to be forcibly taken from her hands. Steve could only wait in horror as he heard Darcy whine and someone in French accent snap at her to shut up. Then "Andrew's" voice was back. "I hope you know the gravity of your situation, Mr. Rogers."

"What the hell do you want?" Steve asked angrily. Wanda chose to simply be silent and listen in on the growing situation.

"Let's see. Right now my men have fifteen of your people hostage, including a world famous astrophysicist and the former director of SHIELD. All of these people have lives and families beyond these ways, but I'm sure you know that already." Forson's voice seemed to spit venom, as if he would have executed them all if it weren't for something else nagging him.

"You still haven't answered the question."

"I'm getting to that. I believe you had an incident on the interstate, if I recall correctly."

"You son of a bitch," growled Steve. "You sent those men to kill me!"

"Yes I did. But you were a secondary objective. The Maximoff girl is of far more interest to me."

"What do you want with her?" Steve asked with grave tone of voice. Wanda's eyes dilated; she knew she was now an object of discussion.

"She needs to pay for what she's done. Plenty of people died in her little assassination of Strucker. You'll never hear it in the news, of course, but people not named Strucker died. Twenty of his guards and dozens more around where he was being held. Those men and women were husbands, fathers, mothers, and wives."

Steve took a few seconds to generate his response. "That was Ultron, not her. Ultron used her and her brother as pawns."

"Maybe so, but actual people died during that little farce. People like my cousin. And if you ask my men, they probably know someone as well. And then there's that whole publicity stunt you did with that poor country of Sokovia."

"You're misinterpreting the entire situation, you monster."

"Keep talking like that, and one of your friends is going to take a bullet over here. I'm going to draw straws for which one."

As much as Steve wanted to get his hands around this Forson's neck, he knew that acting irrationally would not be good for anyone involved. "If I give Wanda to you, do I get any guarantee that you let my friends go?"

"Dunno, but it wouldn't hurt to try, fella. You got two hours to comply." The line went dead. Steve threw the phone on the bed in disgust.

Wanda was silent yet again. She knew that Forson's grudge lay mostly with her. However, she wasn't exactly prepared to sacrifice herself for a group of people she'd known for a few weeks at best. "What are you going to do, Captain?"

Steve was also silent. The weight of the gravity of the terrible situation was heavy on his shoulders. "No way are we letting you go to him."

"But what about your friends?"

"I'm not letting them die either. I'll think of something."

Forson had Neptune, Griffon, and Trojan stand and guard the hostages, while Nero, Aztec, and Basilisk took up perimeter watch. The police were inevitably going to be on scene, so the three outposts were given headsets to communicate with the others. Meanwhile, Charon began hacking into every vehicle in the hangar. They'd need them for the getaway once the computer files on site were scrubbed of evidence related to Forson's associates at AIM (or what was left of it anyhow).

Aztec's voice chirped over the headsets: "Neptune, this is Aztec. I see Maria Hill. She's trying to get in what appears to be the armory."

"All right," replied Neptune. "Don't let her in. If she has a key, let her unlock the door and then ambush her. Do you need someone else to cover for you?"

"We're talking about a woman, boss-"

"Don't get arrogant. Now go get her and bring her over here. Neptune out."

Aztec wait until Maria Hill fumbled with the keys and unlocked the door. Silently, he crept up behind her with his silenced F-2000 assault rifle. He pressed the silencer to her head and said in English, "Don't move."

Sorry, I like to leave people with cliffhangers. Don't hate me for it and please review!