(Tony Stark's Point of View)
A knock on the door echoed through the room, "Tony? Tony are you up? We're leaving in an hour and we need to prepare," it was Steve. I heard him but I couldn't move, "Tony?"
"I heard you," I called back half-heartedly. The door creaked open slightly. Steve stepped in and stood by the door. I didn't look at him, just continued to stare at the ceiling like I had for hours. I lay on my back, completely motionless.
"Tony, I can't imagine how horrible this is for you," I felt a tightness in my throat and I swallowed hard.
"Please, can we not talk about it. Not right now Rogers," I sighed, closing my eyes.
"Yeah, no problem," he said. I opened my eyes. He stepped closer to me, holding out his hand to me. I took it and pulled me up from the bed. My muscles were sore and ached but I ignored it. He clapped me on the shoulder before we turned to walk out of the room. The rest of the team was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"They already started on down," Steve said. He turned and led the way down. I wasn't sure where we were going, but at some point, I am sure we dipped underground.
"Glad you could join us," Clint called out when we finally went through the last door.
"Well if we weren't seven miles and 60 turns underground we'd have been early," Steve called back. I ignored both of them and walked toward where the computers were in the back. My suit and Peter's were back here as requested by T'Challa and Shuri to get the Coms synced together.
"These suits are really impressive," Shuri said, appearing next to me. I glanced down at her.
"Thanks," I said, but I couldn't help but resent it right now. This was had made her so vulnerable in the first place.
"But, I could offer some updates to it-"
"Shuri!" T'Challa barked. She jumped and looked over, "Hayi ngoku!" he hissed.
"Sorry," she hung her head. I could almost feel the elbow Lucy would dig into me right now.
"When we come back, I'd love to hear your updates. I'm sure Peter would too," I offered quietly. She looked up and smiled.
"It's a plan then, Mr. Stark," she said and popped off. I took a deep breath before reaching for my suit. In my hands, the suit folded in on itself and put itself away in my cuffs on my wrists and ankles. I took Peter's suit and turned to search for him. He was sitting in a corner, wringing his hands together, anxiety clear on his face. I let out a heavy sigh before starting toward him.
"Here, you're gonna need this kid," I said, offering his suit out to him. He seemed to snap out of his trance and look up at me.
"Thanks, Mr. Stark," he said quietly and took it from me. He held it in his hands, just staring down at it, "Mr. Stark, " he said finally.
"Yeah," I replied, already knowing what he was thinking.
"We're gonna find her alright, aren't we?" he asked. I swallowed hard and took a breath.
"I really hope so," I said honestly. I know that wasn't the answer, he wanted but I couldn't lie to him. That would be worse, "Suit up underoos. You're an Avenger today," I said, mock knighting him with my hand on his shoulders. He stood and walked passed me to put his suit on. When I turned around, I was suffocated by the weight of everything. I sat down on the bench and watched everyone. Steve and Natasha were talking to T'Challa and Okeye, all of them dressed for the fight. Clint, Sam, and Rhodey were talking with Shuri by the screens. Thor was off somewhere, I couldn't see him. Suddenly the bench jerked and I looked over. Bucky sat next to me, more Winter Soldier than Avenger.
"Can I help you?" I asked, slightly annoyed. He glanced over at me, arms crossed.
"Nothing, I saw you sulking up this corner and decided to come ruin your pity party," he shrugged. Anger flared up in my chest.
"Excuse me?" I said, unsure what he could possibly mean. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye.
"You heard me. I even said it in English for you," he said. I narrowed my eyes at him, turning to look at him completely.
"What the hell is your problem Barnes," I demanded. He turned his head to look at me completely. He leaned in closer to me, obviously asking me to hit him.
"LIsten Stark, I understand this has got to be devastating to you, of that I have no doubt. But you conveniently forgot that you do not have the monopoly on pain here. You are not the only one anxious or terrified or heartbroken. You have every right to feel all of those things and more, I'm not saying that. But you do not have the right to seclude yourself in this tortured silence, suffering lonesome thing you've been doing. You forgot others know her too. You are not the only one who loves her," he said. Before I could respond, he stood and walked off. I sat, shocked. I'd been to busy being selfish to really give any thought to how anyone else was feeling. Upon looking around the room, I saw more nervous hand-wringing and tired eyes and worry lines. Form the corner, Peter appeared; his eyes a violent red. Bucky was right, as much as I hated to admit it. I pushed myself off the bench and over to Peter. He looked up at me and quickly rubbed his face. He started to stutter something but I didn't hear it. I pulled him by the shoulders into me. He hesitated a moment before he wrapped his arms around me, a shuttering sob muffled by my chest.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Stark! I tried to protect her! I-I couldn't do any-anything at all! It's all-all my-my faul-" he cut himself off with another sob. I held him tighter. I closed my eyes tight against the guilt. How could I have let him feel this and build this in his head?
"No Peter, it's absolutely not your fault in any way. You tried your best and you're lucky they didn't kill you. I know Lucy doesn't blame you. And I don't either," I said back, more forcefully than intended to keep him from breaking down with him. His fists balled in my shirt and his entire body was shaking.
"I can't lose her too," he muttered, "not another one because of me." I felt my chest completely constrict and my blood ran cold. I didn't know what to say to him to make him feel better.
"We will find her Peter. Don't worry," I assured him. He nodded into my shirt but said nothing. "Come on kid, let's get on the jet," I said, pulled back from him. He wiped his face with his sleeve and nodded. He stared at the ground, sniffling as we walked toward the rest of the team that was making their way toward the boarding walkway. We were a slow-moving mass toward the jet that had begun warming up. I hesitated to let Peter pass, squeezing his shoulder as he went by. I glanced back. Shuri stood back in the far doorway and waved her hand frantic in goodbye. I held mine up once before turning away. I stepped up into the jet, the hatch closing behind me.
"Are we all here?" T'Challa asked. Okeye was seated at the front of the jet, legs crossed and hands held out in front of her, ready to take off.
"Yes," Steve confirmed. I felt a shudder go through the jet as it lifted off. I sat on one of the free seats next to Rhodey. Peter was sitting on the ground in front of me, Natasha and Clint bookending him. Steve, Sam, and Bucky sat across from me, Thor sitting on the ground next to them. T'Challa came to stand at the head of the circle. The compass around my neck hummed but I ignored it. I reached forward to place my hand on Peter's shoulder. No one spoke for a long time as Okeye steered the jet out of the underground hanger.
When we escaped into the outside world, which was still sleepy in darkness. The lights of the city began to disappear as we turned away.
"How will we find your brother?" T'Challa asked, looking at Thor. Thor shifted carefully.
"Well, that will be the tricky part. Loki can make himself look like anyone and can even get their memories if he can touch your skin," Thor said.
"But he'll probably be the one attacking us," Steve commented.
"You'll need to watch out for the green stone. You can't touch it with your skin," Natasha said.
"Why not?" T'Challa asked.
"It will kill you," Thor said. There was a hush for a moment.
"Gloves will suffice," Nat spoke again, feeling the tension.
"So, what does this Doctor of your look like?" T'Challa asked.
"Uh," before I could say anything, Shuri's voice spoke up.
"I could show you an image of her. I looked her up and found one on the internet from the City University," she said.
"Yenze," T'Challa said. An image of Lucy popped up in the middle of the jet. She was smiling and as beautiful as ever. I'd never seen her so young. I wanted to look away from the jarring pain but I couldn't. I squeezed Peter's shoulder slightly. T'Challa nodded.
"Shuri, have you don't any scans of the base yet?" he asked.
"I have, and it does not look good," Lucy's image was changed to a photo of the layout of a building. Inside this intricate hallways were massive amounts of moving red dots.
"How many is that?" Bucky asked.
"Each red dot is two soldiers on the ground that I could pick up," Shuri said.
"So that's-"
"164," Clint finished, cutting Rhodey off.
"164!" T'Challa exclaimed, looking over at Thor.
"He's dramatic," he said back apologetically.
"Well that's not the only thing the scan found in the floorplan of the base," Shuri said, her voice apprehensive.
"What else could there be?" Sam asked. Away from the red dot, blue dots appeared on the perimeters of the layout.
"They appear to be something, uh, not really human," she said.
"Intoni?" T'Challa said.
"I'll just show you," Shuri said. The map disappeared and a grainy image appeared in its place. It was a huge, greyish-blue thing sulking around a corner, a purple glow in its hand. A small gasp whispered around the jet.
"You know this creature?" T'Challa asked.
"It's a Chituri. We've fought them before with Loki," Steve said.
"Yeah, it looks like there's at least 50 of them," Shuri said.
"You had to ask," Steve groaned, looking over at Sam. Sam looked sick. "If there's Chituri, who knows what else there could be down there that doesn't scan. We'll need to watch our back Chituri are mean as hell and unfeeling. It won't think twice to kill you," Steve said. I felt my heart falter but I ignored it. Now was not a time to start to panic. That wouldn't help anybody-certainly not Lucy.
Suddenly the compass began to burn against my skin. I hissed as I dug it out of my collar to get it away from my skin.
"What is it Stark?" Steve asked. I looked down at the compass confused. It looked like the Runes on it had changed and now the arrow was bouncing back and forth between East and West as if it couldn't make up its mind.
"I-I don't know," I said. I held the compass out to Thor as he neared me. He took a look at it.
"The coordinates have changed," he said finally.
"What!" everyone called out at once. Now everyone was on the edge of their seat.
"Where are they now?" Natasha asked. Thor squinted slightly to read them.
"Fem grader otteogfyrre minutte nord, seksogtyve grader ti minutte øst," he read.
"5 ° 48' North, 26° 10' East," Bucky translated.
"That's not good," T'Challa said. We all looked at him.
"Why now?" I asked, apprehensive.
"That means their going deeper into the mountains," he said.