UPDATE: Upon taking some constructive criticism into consideration, I have updated the fanfic, so some of the plot has been altered. I hope it creates a better story. Thank you for all the feedback, and enjoy :)
Chapter 8 - The Tesseract
Natasha Romanoff caught Pepper Potts sitting quietly in Tony's workshop, holding one of his helmets delicately. She brushed the face plate with her thumb, hoping Tony had left some kind of message in it. One of the last missed calls she got was from him just before he disappeared. She felt ashamed. Happy sat in the room with her with his head bowed. He felt as if he failed Tony as well. The super spy noticed her face stained with dried tears. Natasha walked over to console her.
"First Tony … now Steve …" she muttered to herself. Pepper barely even noticed Natasha's hand on her shoulder.
"I know it looks bad … but it's a good sign … we may have a lead," whispered Romanoff her in raspy feminine voice, remembering Cap's last message. Pepper forcefully shut her eyes, feeling useless and hopeless. She didn't understand why any of this was happening. They won, but at what cost. Meanwhile, Banner and Erik Selvig where analyzing the Tesseract upstairs. It glowed off and on while Loki's scepter sat shelved on a nearby wall. Thor had not yet returned from Asgard. Hawkeye watched the scientists from afar, arms crossed.
"What's wrong with it?" he dared ask. Selvig sighed.
"It's misbehaving … " he said reluctantly.
"Misbehaving?" said Clint glancing upon the glowing blue box, "Is that a joke?" he asked.
"No … not at all," said Selvig.
"The Tesseract is an energy source … if we turn it off, it turns itself back on," Banner added.
"Isn't that what we dealt with last time with Loki? What's different this time?" asked Clint.
"It's not different … it's almost the same except … " started Selvig.
"Except…?" Clint insisted. Banner pushed up his glasses to rub his eyes.
"The Tesseract is a portal, but it's also like a two way street," he began to explain returning his glasses to his face.
"What does that mean?" asked Hawkeye.
"It means that last time … it was Loki who open the portal for the Chitauri soldiers and vice versa … only this time, we don't know who is communicating with the Tesseract now," said Selvig. Clint did not like the sound of that.
"We'll know more information when Thor returns," said Bruce to reassure him. Hawkeye was not so certain. Suddenly, the heard a sound of rockets, and fire, and flight from outside. The door to Tony's landing pad opened and a silver metal man stepped through it. Clint's heart nearly skipped a beat, but it was Colonel James Rhodes who stepped out of the War Machine.
"Hey! I saw what happened on the news! Where's Tony?" he asked in a panicky voice. The Tesseract gave an ominous bluish glow to the room. He looked to each person. No one could look him in the eye.
"He's … he's not …" he began.
"He's not dead if that's what you're asking," said Selvig, "Or that's what we think … Thor has taken Loki in for more questioning" he added quietly which was still not reassuring. Rhodey noticed two other people missing among them.
"And Romanoff?" he asked.
"Natasha is downstairs with Pepper," Clint confirmed calmly.
"And Steve?" he asked finally. Cap would not be absent for something this important. Bruce and Selvig exchanged unhappy looks while Clint kept his head down. No one wanted to give him a solid answer.
"Where's Steve?" he asked again.