I Will Always Find My Way Home

Chapter 13: Avengers Assemble

Rhodes and Pepper stood there for a minute as Tony tried to calm down some. All of the other Avengers were either off-world or on other missions. Thor and Vision, who was the one to defeat Ultron, were on Asgard because Vision wanted to learn more about Asgardian culture and Thor needed to deal with Loki again because he had tried to overthrow Odin again. Natasha and Clint were on a mission together somewhere no one knew about, and Steve was across the country working on defusing a situation that involved riots between the police and civilians. Bruce was at some lab in India working on a new vaccine. Somehow, they would have to get in contact with the rest of the team.

Tony directed F.R.I.D.A.Y. to send a distress call to all of the Avengers. He had no idea if it could reach Thor and Vision on Asgard. Responses could take a while to come in from those that are currently on Earth. The first to respond only minutes after the distress call was sent was Steve Rogers.

"Tony. I received your distress call. Things have calmed down significantly where I am, so I am free for whatever warrants a distress call to the team. I cannot talk much right now, but I should be able to be at the tower by tomorrow. It will take me a little while unless you send a jet." Steve responded.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., send a jet to Rogers's location. We need the team together as soon as possible, Rogers. The situation has potential to be extremely dangerous, and Tony's not in his right mind to deal with this on his own right now." Rhodes ordered.

"Okay, I'll wait for the jet at the airport hangar. I'll be there soon. Nat and Clint have not responded yet, but their current mission is classified so I have no idea if they will even get the distress call, I do not even know where they are at, but no matter what, I will be there to help." Steve replied and ended the call.

Tony sat silently and panicked internally. Rhodes and Pepper knew that he was struggling to keep his cool, but with the current situation, there was nothing that they could do to take that panic away. Tony wished that he had never asked to update the watch.

It would be a few hours before Natasha and Clint responded to the distress signal. They had just finished up with their mission and were in debriefing when they received the signal. They quickly made their way to the tower. F.R.I.D.A.Y. let them up and Steve was already there in the conference room. His face was grim and pale. Tony was across from him, and it looked like he was ready to break down completely while Rhodes and Pepper were flanking him with equally worried and serious faces. Nat and Clint took their places at the table and geared up for what would be a serious mission. Bruce is the only one on-world that has not yet responded. Natasha kept a stony, yet worried appearance while Clint did not bother to hide his worry for the two Avengers that appeared to be extremely upset.

Natasha began "Tony, we got your distress signal. We came as soon as we could. Steve looks like he already knows what is going on, so go ahead and tell us."

"No. Not yet. We need to wait for Bruce. I do not know the whole situation yet, but from what Tony told me so far, this situation could get so much worse than it already is. All I know so far is that it has something to do with HYDRA." Steve replied before Tony could say anything.

Shortly after that brief conversation Tony's personal cell phone rang. He glanced at it and put it on speaker phone when he realized that it was Bruce calling.

"Tony, I received the distress signal. Is this something that I need to fly back to the States for?" Bruce questioned.

"I don't know yet Bruce. The rest of the team that is currently on-world is here and now that you have called in I'll start briefing you all on the situation." Tony responded while Bruce listened.