Caught In The Widow's Web

Ch 8

Stark, Steve and I are blown into the entry way and we scramble to our feet.

"Put on the suit." I huff at Stark.

"Yep." He replies quickly as Steve helps him to his feet and we run out of the lab.

We split up as we hear that there is engine problems. Stark flys out as Steve and I run towards the engine room.

"You were right, they'd warn us if things got bad." I tell Steve.

"Not the time, J.D." He says as we get to the room.

"Stark! Stark, we're here." Steve says through his ear piece.

"Good. Let's see what we got." Stark says.

"I need you guys to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position." He tells us.

Steve jumps and swings over to the control panel and opens it up.

"What's it look like in there?" Stark asks.

"It seems to run on some form of electricity." Steve says and I slightly roll my eyes at my best friend.

"Well, you're not wrong." I sigh as I make my way over.

"Kay, the relays are in tact." Stark then says.

Steve pushes the engine control panel back in.

"What's our next move?" Steve asks.

"Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't be able to engage without a jump." Stark says.

"I'm going to have to get in there and push." He adds.

"Well if that gets up to speed, you'll get shredded." I speak up.

"Then stay in the control unit and reverse polarity long enough to disengage maguey and that should-

"Speak English!" I cut him off.

"See that red lever?" He asks and I look to the side.

"It'll slow down the rotors long enough for me to to get out." He explains.

"Stand by it, wait for my word." He then tells me and I make my way over to the lever.

Suddenly Cap and I are ambushed by gunmen. We fight them off but I hear a yell.

"Steve!" I turn to see him fall off the edge and see him hanging by a wire.

"Sarge hit the lever!" I hear Stark say in my ear piece.

I look where Steve is hanging and don't think twice as I make my way over to him.

"I need a minute here!" I respond.

"Lever! Now!" Stark commands.

"Steve give me your hand!" I tell him as I extend my arm out.

He reaches out and misses the first time but then manages to grab on as I haul him back in. When he's in I quickly go over to the lever pulling it down, my heart beating out of my chest.

We then start getting shot at by another gun man but Stark quickly comes and shoots him.

"Agent Coulson is down." We hear Fury say over our ear pieces.

We look at each other as we listen quietly.

~

Conference Room

Steve, Stark, Fury, are gathered around a table as Hill stands off to the side. Fury pulls out a hand full of cards.

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket. Guess he never did get you to sign them." Fury scatters them on the table, some spots of blood on them.

"We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor. I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Think I had that coming." He says as he begins to make his way over to us.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number, though, because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, called the Avengers Initiative as you know as it was in your debriefing package and Stark knew as well." He confesses as he reaches for a chair between Steve and Stark.

"The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes." He explains.

Tony stands up and walks out.

"Well it's an old fashioned notion." He says over his shoulder.

~

Steve and I walk into the room they had Loki in to see Stark.

"Was he married?" Steve asks referring to Coulson.

"No. There was uh, cellist, I think." He says turning to us slightly.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." Steve tells him.

"He was an idiot." He scoffed.

Steve and Tony walk towards each other as I lean against a wall.

"Why? For believing?" Steve raises an eyebrow.

"For taking on Loki alone!" He exclaims.

"He was doing his job." Steve says.

"He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have-

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony." Steve cuts him off softly.

"Right. How did that work for him?" He retorts.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asks making me look up.

"We are not soldiers! I'm not marching to Fury's fife!" Tony exclaims.

"Neither am I. He's got the same blood in his hands that Loki does, but right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, we can put together a list-

"He made it personal." Stark cuts off as he looks down at a dent in the wall.

"That's not the point." Steve shakes his head.

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?" Stark questions.

"To tear us apart." Steve says.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great but, he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." Stark says.

"Right. We caught his act in Stuttgart." Steve nods.

"Yeah. That was just a preview, this is, this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full tail diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his plastered... son of a bitch!" Tony exclaims as he leaves the room.

I push myself off the wall and Steve looks over to me.

"Suit up." I say leaving the room and he follows.