Taken

Chapter 9

"No." Steve thought, "No he can't go through all that, put us through all that and just die. No, it won't happen. Tony Stark will not die. Will he?" Out loud he asked, "Where is the helicarrier?"

"There's an open field barely a quarter of a mile from here." Fury responded, "I parked her there."

Steve nodded as he took off, the rest of his team on his heels. "Do you think he'll be okay?" He asked Bruce quietly as they were walking.

Bruce shrugged, "I don't know. I haven't seen what happened yet so I can't declare anything." Looking at the terrified face his friend was desperately trying to hide he added, "I think he'll be okay. He's a survivor, he has to be."

"Yeah." Steve whispered, "What about the rest of us?"

"What do you mean?" Clint said, jumping in on the conversation.

"Just that," Steve started, "I don't really see how we can go back to the team we were before this."

"Me either." Natasha said, joining in. "But... maybe it doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"And which part of this exactly isn't bad?" Steve snapped at her, "I'm sorry." He added quickly, "This just doesn't seem like something that we can get past that easily."

"I agree." Natasha said softly, "It's going to be a change, but change doesn't always have to be bad. We know all the things he's been hiding from us- now we've got a clean slate, we can start over."

"Start what over?" Steve asked, "We weren't really even a team before. What will we be now?"

"Closer." Bruce stated, "If we weren't really a team before- we diffidently are one now. We need to trust each other, and now we can."

Steve just shook his head, "That may work for you all, but all I can think about is how Tony was brought up like that in my name."

"Your name Steve." Natasha emphasized, "Not you. You didn't hurt him- Howard did. And he doesn't hate you for it."

Steve nodded slowly, "I just can't believe he doesn't hate me." He said slowly.

"Because he knows you." Clint said, "No one who knows you could hate you Cap." He threw an arm over the larger man's shoulders with a smile and they walked that way for a few minutes. "We're here." He stated, grin vanishing from his face as he thought of what they could be told as they entered the aircraft.

"Where's the medical bay?" Steve asked Natasha as they walked into the helicarrier.

"It's down this hallway and to the left." Natasha told them as she directed them through a large group of black clad figures. True to her words, as they walked through the double doors the setting drastically changed. The walls were white, and everything was lit brightly. It almost looked like a normal hospital with the hard plastic chairs in the corner and the disinfectant smell in the air.

Steve approached a man walking through the room carrying a clipboard. "Excuse me?" He asked, "Do you know anything about Tony Stark being brought in?"

The man nodded, "He was brought into the O.R about ten minutes ago. You can wait over there." He said, pointing to the cluster of chairs in the corner. "It'll probably be a while; he looked pretty damn messed up."

"Thank you." Steve responded, before walking back to the other Avengers. "Over here." He told them, herding them over to the hard chairs. "It might be a while."

After a few minutes of arguing over who would get coffee, Bruce left for beverages and the others settled down- each becoming lost in their own thoughts by the time Bruce returned with their drinks.