t e n / the one where tony calls steve tinker bell

When Cara and the twins caught up with the others, it was in Tony's workroom, down a couple floors from the living room where they were all used to having these types of meetings. But, as there was a new terrorist group on the loose, and searching for one of Steve's closest friends, they moved to a more secure place.

This room also happened to have the ability to set up large holographic screens, running several different news stations at a time, or pull up articles from all over the world in milliseconds. All thanks to J.A.R.V.I.S.'s programming, of course.

"Hey," Steve's voice met Cara's ears as they entered, and he rushed up to her, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. He didn't kiss her, didn't hug her, or do anything to display his affections. All she could see was the deep concern in his eyes, but it wasn't for her. And she didn't mind; she knew it was for Bucky, his best friend.

"Hi," she forced a small smile, showing him reassurance as she squeezed his hand in return. "How's everything turning out?"

He shook his head. "There's nothing. We talked about everything we know about Skull, and analyzed it about a million different ways. We know almost nothing, so it doesn't make a difference. They're way ahead of us on this, we don't even know how to contact Bucky, or learn about his whereabouts." His chin almost hit his chest in defeat. "Unless you or the twins have anything useful, we're running blind."

Cara turned to Wanda and Pietro, who were standing off to the side of the group, and back to Steve. "I don't know, I'm new at this, but if you want to ask the twins, I think you should talk to them. I mean, they know you, they trust you. Right?"

Steve nodded slightly. "Yeah, I guess." He leaned into Cara's touch on his hand, and whispered, "I just want to get Bucky back. He went through hell when he shouldn't have, and I wasn't able to stop it. I didn't follow him when he..." He trailed off, brought a hand to his lips, and choked back a sob. "I just want everything to be normal. For everyone to be safe, and happy."

Cara's heart wrenched. It felt as if someone were using it as a stress ball. "I know you do," she comforted softly, everyone in the room completely forgotten. She reached up with her other hand and touched his cheek softly. "I may not know who Bucky is, but I know that if anyone close to you is in any kind of danger, you'll go to any lengths to make sure they're safe." She smiled at him, rubbing the pads of her thumbs against his scruffy jaw. "This is no different. Bucky needs you, he needs us. We'll find him, I promise."

It hurt to see him so doubtful, so broken, but it hurt a little less to see him lift his chin defiantly, a determined set to his jaw. "You're right," he said. Leaning down a little, he pressed a featherlight kiss to her forehead, and turned to face the rest of the Avengers, and their tag-a-longs(Scott).

Tony, seated in a wheeled office chair, beckoned them over to stand by him. "J.A.R.V.I.S. may have just found something."

On the large screens were countless articles and video clips that overlapped each other, coming and going too fast to be comprehensible. Each time Cara blinked, she bet she'd missed about ten new things.

But Tony seemed to be keeping up. "Okay, stop."

The flashing stopped, and the words were easier to read:

Fire in local apartment building kills 50

Explosion at annual community farmer's market leaves over 130 injured

Sightings of masked figures at night raise suspicion and terror

Families and authorities begin to worry about terrorism as car crash causes mass destruction

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as everyone took in the article and newspaper headlines.

"Terrorism?" Cara whispered, though everyone heard her.

"What does this have to do with Skull, though?" Bruce asked, crossing his arms. "They're all just random attacks."

"Random? I beg to differ," Tony objected, "J.A.R.V.I.S., show us the map of all these attacks and the related ones laid out."

Following his orders, a map of North America soon covered the screen, and red dots of all different sizes and intensities littered spots of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

But most of them were along the west coast of the States, and began to move inland, growing more frequent, and the dots not only became bigger, but a deeper shade of red, representing more deaths.

Cara noticed that the attacks began to fall into a close-to-straight line, edging closer and closer to New York.

Light red dots surrounded the area around the state, trapping it.

It was like a dark cloud had been sent to hover over the group. No one moved for a full minute after that, until Cara said, "so...the next one's for us, isn't it?"

Nat shook her head. "Not the next one, the last one. And I'll bet you I can guess where exactly it'll be."

"Here. They'll attack the tower." Cara felt sick to her stomach, like she wanted to throw up, but couldn't.

Another bout of silence filled the air, no one able to say anything about what they had just learned. There was going to be an attack on Avengers tower, and would not only bring harm to them, but to the people all around it, everyone living in at least a ten-mile radius, if Nat was right, and it would be the last, biggest attack.

"They know about our--my connection to Bucky," Steve concluded, the words dropping heavily from his tongue. "And now they're coming after us because of it." He sounded ashamed of himself. "It's because of me."

"It's not pity time yet, Tinker Bell," Tony held up a hand, good-heartedly dismissing Steve's despair. "We can figure this out. They don't know who they're coming to deal with. This Skull is about to get a real beating for messing with us, you hear me? We'll knock 'em down."

Cara smiled. It wasn't often Tony was like this, offering sentiments to one of the other people in the house. He was usually just full of himself and sarcastic, inappropriate jokes. But in that moment, Cara's perspective on the billionaire changed. The respect she already had for him grew from a mutual thing, to a strong, stable longing to prove his words to be right.

She lifted her head, about to speak, but then her eyes caught onto something--or, the lack of something, more like. "Um, has anyone seen Peter?" She asked.

Aunt May had left shortly after they'd left to find Sam and Scott, so she couldn't ask her. When she saw the blank looks on everyone's faces, her hopes slipped.

"We need to find him," she said, "he's probably trying to prove himself worthy." She sighed heavily. "You guys were too rude to him. Yeah, he's been a bit of a pain, but he just wants to fit in. He finally found people like him, people that are superheroes, and now he feels as if he needs to impress you for you to finally see him."

Cara began to hurry out of the room, calling Peter's name. With everyone behind her, they branched out at the top of the stairs, looking for the lanky teenage boy in the red and blue Spiderman suit.

It didn't take her long to find him; she'd gone immediately to the roof on a hunch.

And there, hanging off of the top of the Avengers tower, was the unconscious body of Peter Parker, hanging in a white web, obviously from him. But he hadn't meant it. That much was clear.

Someone had been there.

Because, as she made her way to face his front, she inhaled sharply.

There, on his chest, was a red human skull, paint dripping into the still-wet words that had been hastily drawn below it.

We're coming.

[okay this was really intense tbh and sad Steve makes me sad, and just thought I'd let you know that Ellie Goulding's new song, still falling for you is my shIT]