"Lilly."

Silence.

"Lilly, wake up!" Peter's voice echoed in my mind, and I thought I was dreaming for a second. Everything was so peaceful...so serene. Calmness had finally taken over my mind and relieved me of the burden worry had cast upon me. I felt like a child again, sleeping the night away without a care in the world. No responsibilities, no chores, no stress.

Then Life slapped me in the back of the head. Or, well, Peter pinched my arm. Close enough, right?

I winced and scowled at him, "What?" My neck cracked loudly as I lifted it from the cushion of the seat, making me feel a bit better. My body had tensed up again out of habit and I shut my eyes once more.

"What are you doing in my room?" He asked as he sat up in bed. He stretched his arms out and yawned accordingly. Peter's brown hair was still as messy as it was before I passed out and his tired brown eyes looked at me in confusion.

I realized I needed to respond. It was too early for this... "I couldn't sleep," I groaned in irritation and rubbed my eyes. Sleeping in a chair never felt so good before.

"Well, you did a great job at not sleeping," he joked with a playful smirk.

"Shut up."

Peter chuckled. He loved playing around and acting childish. It seemed almost like a backup mechanism to cope with all of his stress. "So you slept in here?"

I nodded. "I was just making sure you were okay." My eyes opened to find him staring right back at me.

His eyebrows scrunched together and he tilted his head out of habit. "Lilly, of course I'm okay. Is there something bothering you?" I didn't answer him and propped my head up on my hand. Peter scooted towards the edge of the bed in front of me and rested his elbows on his knees. He asked again, "What's wrong?"

I watched him for a second before speaking, "I'm just worried I'm going to lose you. You mean a lot to me, Peter. A lot..."

He glimpsed down at the ground and shook his head. His gaze shifted back up to me, but I quickly looked away. "Lilly, you aren't going to lose me. You're stuck with me for life. I'm not going to give up on you."

"Okay..." I trailed off.

"Look at me." I complied and he set one hand on my knee as he continued, "With my luck, I'd lose you before you lose me."

If this was a way to comfort me, it wasn't going to work. I could just come back to life...but I wasn't going to argue about this. Somehow...what he said was true. "I am pretty reckless. You're probably right."

"Give me a smile." He waited patiently and I wouldn't do it. "Give me a smile, Lilly." Peter reached for my sides and tickled me. He began laughing softly in pure amusement.

I didn't laugh at first until he kept on tickling me, then I let it out. I laughed loudly and screeched, "Stop! Okay, stop!" I slid out of my chair and crumpled to the floor, but the suffering didn't end there. He didn't stop and when I swatted his hands away, he aimed for the sides of my neck. I cringed and laughed hysterically, trying to retaliate by kicking him away. The more I laughed, the more Peter did the same. Soon, I managed to push him and he landed on the ground next to me.

Peter lay there for a second, staring up at the ceiling as if it were the sky filled with stars. Our laughing died down shortly after. He looked at me and snickered, "It's been a while since you've laughed like that."

I exhaled. My stomach hurt from laughing and I was sure my face was beat red. I clutched my stomach and coughed for a second. "Yeah, same with you." I caught my breath before continuing, "Thank you for being my best friend, Peter."

"Aw, I'm your best friend?" He questioned in a sweet voice. I pushed his face in the other direction, making him laugh again. He added, "Thanks for being there for me."

Clint walked into the room and went to say something before he found us on the floor. He raised an eyebrow, but quickly dismissed the confusion. He pointed towards the hall, worry clear in his voice, "You guys need to see this."

Peter and I nearly raced each other into the living room where the television was located. The rest of the group was already huddled around it, watching the news in pure dissatisfaction.

Loki and Ira.

They were killing off high-ranking politicians in government, one by one. Forty dead, many others wounded. The short video clips from surveillance videos showed him in possession of the scepter. He must have gotten it back after attacking the government. Loki looked the same from the last time I saw him: smug smile, cold, blue eyes, and jittery. The woman on the broadcast uttered words about the police identifying Ira and associating her with us. The last clash we had with the agents had been caught on tape and select footage was given to the news broadcast stations. They were assuming Ira and the Avengers were working together, so now the Avengers were too big of a threat to ignore anymore. This was an act of terrorism and treason against our country.

I put my head in my hands. Steve walked over to me and rubbed my back with his hand, drawing small circles in a soothing motion. And I thought things couldn't get any worse than Ira betraying us.

"Sir, Loki is located in Alexandria, Virginia," Jarvis spoke up from Tony's cell phone.

Tony seemed a little surprised. We hadn't heard Jarvis speak in a couple of days, much less randomly from Tony's phone. He responded, "Thanks, buddy. We'll take it from here." He put the phone in his pocket and glanced at all of us, whose eyes were still glued to the television.

I lifted my head and huffed, "So, what now?"

"We have to prove we're not working with them," Steve replied. His hand started drawing swirls on my back.

"How? How could we possibly do that?" Bruce piped up. He ran his hands through his curly hair in a stressful motion and sighed. "They suspect we're working together. If we cause more chaos by trying to help, they might see it differently than we do."

Clint shook his head at one of the possibilities. "And if we try talking to them, they're just going to imprison us again."

"I...I don't know..." Steve furrowed his brow and paused. The situation just became more complicated, if that were even possible. He bit the inside of his cheek and thought for a moment. For the first time, Steve wasn't quick on his feet. All the possibilities added up, but not in our favor. There had to be some way...

"Great...just what we need. More things to worry about," Clint said and sat down in one of the chairs. He dragged his hands down his face and took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee.

"This is rather odd..." Jarvis mumbled through the phone. Tony took his phone out and set it on the table. J spoke again, "There are massive readings of heat coming from one of the buildings in Alexandria...Seems to be enough bomb power to level a whole city block..."

"Add one more thing to your worry list, Barton," Peter grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest.

Natasha ripped her eyes from the television and walked towards the middle of the group. She gave us all a pointed look and ordered, "We're going to Alexandria, now."

"With what? How? It's going to take days to smuggle ourselves back into the U.S. again," Tony pointed out. He finished off his breakfast and set his napkin on the plate in frustration.

I blinked a few times before realizing something. "They keep some spare jets here in case we need them...Thank you X-Men for always being so prepared. The last jet blew up because of Deadpool, so keeping extra on hand seemed like the smart thing to do." I stood up and led the group to the very back end of the hall. I opened the door and turned the lights on, revealing three spare jets capable of holding ten people each. They were smaller than the regular Avengers quinjet, but it was enough to get us there. "The builders had the help of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman to make the jets become invisible to the eye when needed. It's a modification that seems to work for us, similar to the ones used on the helicarriers in S.H.I.E.L.D.."

"And you kept this from us, why?" Tony raised an eyebrow, but quickly smirked. "I really have to talk with some of the tech guys at your school. I'd love to have an inside connection with Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman. I tried calling, but her idiot of a brother won't tell them to return my calls."

I laughed and nodded. "Johnny can be a handful sometimes. I'll see what I can do, but first, we have matters to attend to. Meet me here when you've gathered your stuff and we'll leave."

Steve and Bruce stayed behind and found a small apartment to make our base in Alexandria. Bruce didn't want to go into combat just yet and Steve wanted to plan our next move. Tony input Jarvis' system into the jet, giving him full control. I gave J coordinates back to the safe house, so he could put it back safely and ready for the next time someone needed it. Having the jet came in handy, however, we had nowhere to put it in the city.

"Jarvis, where are the bombs located?" Tony questioned in a rush. He pulled the car we had borrowed into the back parking lot of the building. He stepped out and jumped into his suit, while the rest of us piled out of the car.

We didn't have our regular getups for fighting, so all we had were regular clothes on. Natasha straightened out her slick black clothes. Clint demanded he wore purple clothing and passed it off as, 'he looked great in that color'. Peter wanted to stick with his original blue, black, and red. I had chosen a dark blue shirt and black pants that were easy to move in. We looked like normal...Actually no. If anyone were to see us on the street, they would know it was us. We were pretty obvious.

Jarvis calculated how many bombs there were and found his signal somewhat jammed. The government must have finally realized Stark's satellite was still in use. "I think there are bombs on the top floor and in the basement, sir."

"Thanks Jay." Tony fully suited up and it powered up, lighting up the eyes and the core in the middle. He pointed towards the front of the building, "I'll sweep the outside to make sure the bombers aren't here anymore. Then, I'll keep away whomever tries to come inside. I get the fun job."

All of us rolled our eyes and nodded. Natasha's face hardened in determination. "Peter and I will take the basement. You two take the top floor." Her eyes looked lovingly at Clint and then glanced passed me. She drew her pistols and made her way inside with Peter following close behind.

Barton pushed the button on a small nun chuck-looking stick and it unfolded into a bow. He grabbed an arrow from the hidden quiver under his jacket. I told him it would look ridiculous and fake, but he just had to prove me wrong. It actually blended in quite well. He walked inside and went up the stairwell quickly, but carefully.

I watched his six and kept close behind him. When we reached the tenth story, we looked around for potential places the bombs would be. The building seemed to be an office space for a tech company. Desks in cubicles were everywhere, adorned with computers on top. Papers were strewn about and chairs thrown around. The bombers must have had the workers evacuate the place before setting up shop.

"It's all clear out here," Tony reported in through the earpiece. "How's it looking in there?"

"Clear. No bodies. It's as messy as your lab, Stark," Clint remarked with a small smirk. He glanced back at me playfully and got a smile from me in return. Barton was always so nice. Once you got to know him, that is.

Tony scoffed. "Su-" He fell silent for a second and yelling could be heard on his end. "Hey! Don't shoot! We're here to take the bombs out! We can't protect the city with you shooting at us."

"Tony? What's going on out there?" Peter asked.

"Police are here and the news reporters are having a field day. Hurry up and get your asses out of there. I'll keep them busy," Tony concluded and stopped talking. Comms went quiet from then on out.

I located the bombs underneath one of the desks and pointed it out to Barton. He nodded and inspected it gently. When he deemed it safe, he took the top off and peered inside. Seven different colored wires stared back at him, and he groaned. I raised an eyebrow and whispered, "Can you disarm it?"

"Yeah, I can. Do you doubt my skills?" I rolled my eyes in reply and he chuckled, "Make sure there aren't any other bombs here. If there are, I can walk you through it." He focused on the wires and went to work.

I checked underneath all the desks, some twice over, and found another bomb in the cabinet in the corner. "Got another one." I knelt down and did exactly what I watched Clint do while inspecting it.

"Open it," he ordered. "The first line you have to cut is yellow."

"Yellow...got it," I replied and cut it with one of my sharp claws. I trusted Clint with my life, so the nervousness hadn't surfaced yet. I pushed my black hair over my other shoulder so I could get a better look at the bomb.

"Then black."

Check.

"Green." I went to cut the green before he started yelling in my ear, "No! Not green! The red wire."

Maybe I shouldn't have trusted him so much.

"Purple is last. That should do it," he sighed in relief. He leaned back and put a hand to his ear to adjust the earpiece. "Nat, what's your status?"

Her voice scratched over the microphone, "Dismantled three bombs down here. They're remote controlled, so the bombers aren't far. We're heading outside now."

"But, if they aren't far, then they were waiting for us," I started off and my eyes widened. "This was a-"

Boom.

The whole building shook like an earthquake just hit. Glass from the windows shattered and spewed all around as if it were smoke emerging from a hot geyser. There must have been bombs in the middle of the building that Jarvis couldn't detect. In that case, we couldn't get out of the building in time. If I used my portals, we could end up right where the bombs are going off or falling out of the sky. I don't know which is worse.

"Trap..." I finished my statement in defeat.

"I have sights on Peter and Natasha," Tony yelled through the earpiece.

Crash.

Another bomb went off, creating a chain reaction of chaos. "Take them and go!" I screamed into the mic and motioned Clint to hide under the metal desk. We were in the worst spot. The room had no windows and the closest, fastest exit was too far. We would get crushed in a heartbeat. The walls started crumbling fast and things began to sink through from the floor above. Dust rained from the ceiling and all the loud noises made my ears ring.

Clint threw his earpiece aside, slid under the desk, and made sure all his limbs were safe. I pushed myself against him as much as I could, getting my torso barely underneath. He quickly wrapped his arm around my stomach to hold me in place while I put my hands on the underside of the desk. I used my powers to keep the metal in the desk together, along with an effort to hold the metal in the flooring together. Fire, heat, dust, ash, it all gathered around us as the bombs continued to explode. Clint's grip tightened, his breathing becoming more staggered by the second. His heart rate jumped up and I knew fear was coursing through him. I screamed out in pain as the power strained my muscles and brain. It took seemed like too much to handle, but I had to do it. Barton's life was on the line, and I wasn't going to let him down.

The building collapsed, bringing us along with it.