California

Chapter 2

Once we took our showers and changed into scrubs, I pulled out my phone and dialed the number of the best scientist I know.

"Banner."

"Well hello to you too, Bruce."

"Charlie?"

"The one and only!"

"Why are you calling me?"

"Uh.... Sharon told me to. I'm guessing you have information about this whole outbreak thing."

"Steve said he tried to get up with you, but it kept going straight to voicemail."

I don't have any voicemails from him... That's strange.

"Yeah I was out camping with Syd. We had our phones turned off. Can you please tell me what's going on?"

I turned it on speaker phone as Bruce sighed heavily before answering. "This is no accident. This is a terrorist attack. All the major cities in the US have been hit with this virus. We're still trying to figure out how it was spread. But we've got to figure out how to stop it and cure it. The death toll is already in the thousands."

I looked at my friends faces, all full of concern. "Who's behind it?"

"This is why you need to talk to Steve. He knows more about that than I do. Where are you?"

"At my office with Bucky and the girls. Peter is on his way here too."

"Brooklyn still have that lab there?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'll call Tony and Clint. We're outside the Cordon so we'll just come there. Charlie. Call Steve now."

The phone clicked off. These bastards have a bad habit of just giving me orders then hanging up.

"Last I heard from Clint, he was going on a hunting trip before this mess happened. My calls and texts haven't gone through to him."

"Maybe Bruce doesn't know that? Or maybe he got back and has just been busy."

Ace shook her head. "That bastard better have a good explanation."

I smiled as the blonde walked to the other side of the room. Banging on the front door caused me to jump. I saw Bucky peer around the corner, his shoulders dropping.

"It's just the kid."

Brook rolled her eyes. "You know Peter is the same age as me right?"

Bucky smiled as he walked over to her and placed a kiss on her nose. "Yes but you're different."

"Hey guys!" The brunette walked in, slinging his arm around Sydney's shoulders and grinning widely as her cheeks turned bright red. "So where can I set up?"

BB motioned him over to her. "This computer is the fastest. Plus you won't be in the way."

Peter stuck his tongue out at her as he sat his bag down and pulled out his laptop, hooking it to the desktop in front of him. Within seconds he was typing furiously, going between both keyboards with fluid motions. Syd watched him intently for a bit before turning back to us.

"So do we have any food here?"

Ace laughed. "Do we ever?"

BB glanced up from her work. "Ya'll speak for yourselves. I always keep food around." She paused and straightened up in her chair. "Except like... ya know... now. Cause I haven't left the office in three days."

"Jesus B. You've been here that long? When exactly did all this start?" Ace and B exchanged glances before Ace responded to my question.

"B overheard talk of a virus on Tuesday. She called Tony and he did some digging. Found out about some cases popping up across the map. So Tony sent her the reports and she stayed here all night going through them. Then Wednesday night was when all hell broke loose."