Author's Note: Oh boy. Was this my longest funk yet or what?

I'm gonna be honest here – I did not think that I will continue writing this story. I mean, it's been two years. Two years. But for whatever reason, starting university this fall brought back the urge to return for Jess and Emmett and the Avengers, and I couldn't just leave my favorite fic hanging like that. It's good to be back.

You better believe me when I say I've missed this, and I've really missed you guys. I hope you aren't too outraged with my behavior and I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Please please let me know what you think! Even if you think this sucks, and even if you don't have anything special to say, I wanna hear what you have to say, it means so much to me.

With love,
Dali

Jess's eyes pried themselves open to find gray.

Blackened silver.

There seemed to be no comprehending it at first. Her eyelids heavy and her head throbbing, it was impossible to make her thoughts stand out in a particular order, impossible to even remember to try. She started to groggily lift a hand to the back of her head to try feel out the spot where Dawn had –

Her heart skipped a beat inside her chest as all signs of lethargy left her while her consciousness fell finally into place, memories like domino pieces.

Dawn. The Sun. Loki's plan, in pieces at her feet. Being held then dragged then electrocuted in the head. Emmett.

Emmett, alive. She sucked in a breath.

How could he be?

"Jess?" asked a voice far too small.

She lunged to her feet – or tried to, only sitting up instead, too fast. Her head was spinning and for a few moments she could barely see in front of her, though that was likely more due to the way her thoughts raced scattered and her heart couldn't stop pounding and she had no idea where she was but right in front of her standing on the metallic floor was her baby brother, safe and whole and breathing, staring wide-eyed. She barely even had the time to mutter his name before he somehow leapt across the distance between them and enclosed himself deep in her unsteady arms. Jess didn't know that she could still hold onto someone or something so tightly.

Jess had no idea what she could possibly have wanted to say. She opened her mouth then closed it again with the discovery that she'd temporarily lost the ability to produce sound, although clearly there was nothing wrong with her tear ducts. Her arms were shaking, so she pressed them around Emmett closer still. A twisted kind of whimper escaped her, and Emmett burrowed into her body. If she hadn't been sitting down already, Jess's knees would long have buckled.

"You know," Jess managed to force out of her lips eventually, choked and distant, "last time I saw you, you were really bad at giving hugs."

It was true. She remembered him at ten, limbs too long just starting to grow, struggling to find the correct positions around her body, the embrace feeling too much like an attack, and Jess used to flinch from it. The memory of their mother mourning over their failed relationship came unbidden. How proud she would have been now.

Jess's throat constricted even more, physically painful, and she found that she was pressing kisses all against the side of her brother's face, his hair, which by all means should have made him squirm and whine and try to forcefully escape, but now he just let her. She brushed the hair out of his face (he needed to trim it), the wetness from under his eyes (resolutely brown like their mom's). "I've missed you," she heard herself say. "I thought you were dead." She held him out at arm's length, trying to get a good look at him. "Are you okay? Have they hurt you?" The questions were fired out of her mouth too quickly. Her eyes scanned over him with an urgency, checking for any marks other than the all-too-familiar, faded old burn scars, the ones they both shared. He wasn't answering – too busy trying to hold in a sob – so she gripped him by the shoulders. "Emmett, have they hurt you?"

He shook his head, wild hair flying. It really was too long – it reached past his ears and was sticking up in every possible direction. Jess didn't let go. "Really?" She hadn't noticed before, but he had changed somewhat since she'd last seen him. His face seemed somehow more grown-into, starting to hint at the adult he will someday be. Her head nearly started spinning again with the realization that Emmett will get to reach adulthood someday after all, that one day he was going to be older than she was now. The knowledge that he was not dead was still so fresh. She will need a private moment later to process it all properly, and probably to do plenty more crying, when they're finally done with this place. She wasn't going to think of it in terms of 'if'. "Emmett, if they've done anything at all that they shouldn't, you gotta tell me," she said sternly, or as sternly as she currently could. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it won't be anything you and I can't both imagine, right?"

"They didn't hurt me," insisted Emmett, "I swear. I mean, maybe Lee kind of smacked me a few times, but I don't think he was really serious about it. And they've been feeding me and everything. It's not so bad here." He hesitated. "Well, except being stuck."

Jess could almost feel her heart breaking, and tried not to think of the Avengers and the comforts of the Tower. She can always feel guilty later. She sighed and, wiping her tears, gave him another look-over. She supposed he really didn't look underfed or physically harmed which, all things considered, was the absolute best she could have hoped for. "Are you okay?" she asked, just to be safe.

He nodded. "The Sun is better than Dad," he said softly. "Sometimes they're even kinda nice. And… it's better now that you're here." His lip tugged gently upward at the edge.

Jess braved a small smile in return. "Well, just don't get too used to it, because we're not staying," she told him firmly.

Emmett shook his head miserably. "No, you don't understand. They have powers. They're like Dad, and we couldn't escape him, either, and there's four of them."

"Except I have powers now, too," she reminded him. "I've been learning to control them. Emmett, I barely started training and I can already do things Dad never even dreamed of. Look." She raised a hand, then lit a purple flame in it. Then, with a gentle twist of her fingers, the flame took solid form in the shape of a marble the size of a small apple, then a rough cube, then a blade. "See? It's not even just fire."

"Whoa." Emmett's already large eyes widened at the sight in appreciation. Then he snapped himself out of it. "There's still four of them. And they're really strong. Dawn – she's the Sun's leader – she can control electricity, and clearly she's good at it. Your new powers didn't really help against her at all."

"Hey, come on, she had the element of surprise," protested Jess. "It's not like I was expecting her to shoot me with her fingers. In the head. Now I'll know what I'm up against." Emmett looked dubious. "Anyway, what can the rest of them do? That Lee guy, what's his thing?"

"He's a magnet," explained Emmett. "He doesn't really control metal, it's not like in the movies or anything, but he can do stuff to it, move it around, weld it together, things like that."

She scoffed. "Come on, I'm sure I can beat that. It doesn't even sound very useful in a fight."

"It can be. But anyway, it has other uses. Like this room." For the first time, Jess remembered to pay attention to it. She looked around – the floors, walls and ceilings were all made out of metal, and there didn't seem to be any windows, or… "The Sun all call it the Iron Room," he elaborated. "They put me here sometimes as punishment, like a time out."

"I can't see any doors. Are they only accessible from the outside or something?"

"Not really," said Emmett warily. "There are no doors. It's not even actually a proper room, more like a hollow hunk of metal. The only way in or out of here is Lee."

Jess glanced around her, trying to silence the anxiety starting to leap up. "Jesus," she murmured. "Talk about claustrophobia." She looked at him sharply. "They stick you in here as punishment?"

"Only for a few hours." He shrugged. "Beats Dad's cells."

She sighed. "I guess. What about the other girl, the one with the really damaged hair, Katie? She didn't really seem evil, if a bit unhinged. Her power can't be too scary, right?"

Emmett just looked at her. "She makes knives appear out of thin air," he said pointedly. "And then throws them."

Jess stared at him blankly. "Right," she said eventually. "Because of course she does that. God. What about the last one, the older guy?"

"Mark?" Emmett shrugged. "He's strange. He doesn't really talk much, just kind of does whatever Dawn and the others say. I don't even know what his power is." There was an odd look in his eyes. "He's pretty scary, though. Not like Dawn. Just… quietly."

"Delightful," said Jess. "So, to get out of here, all we need to do is to fight through four powerful supervillains, that is, if we can figure out a way out of a big metal box."

"Basically." Emmett grimaced. "I told you it's not that simple."

Jess considered it, then shrugged. "Oh, well. I figured it's gonna be something like that."

Emmett frowned. "You don't look too worried for someone who's now eternally trapped as a captive of an evil group named after a star."

She smirked. "Yeah. I'm not awfully concerned."

Emmett looked at her. He blinked. He considered his next words carefully. Then:

"Did Dad make you insane?"

Jess rolled her eyes. "No. Didn't anyone tell you where I've been living since Dad got locked up?"

"Not really. I mean, they said something, but I'm pretty sure that was just Katie trying to be funny. I figured you went to a foster family or something. Isn't that what happened?"

Jess considered. "Well, it's not too far off."

Emmett groaned. "It's so annoying when you do that. Can't you ever just talk? Like, simply, so I can actually get what the hell you're talking about?"

She made a face. "Shut up, you've missed me like crazy."

Emmett shrugged. "Whatever."

She shoved him by the shoulder. God, even the arguing was so long overdue it made her chest ache. "Anyway, what do you know?"

"Honestly, pretty much nothing. I thought you were still with Dad until a few days ago when they told me they were going to get you, too." He bit his lip. "Dad's… in jail, right? Did the police get him? I mean, he's not still… around, is he?"

Jess shook her head firmly. "He's definitely not still around." She suppressed a shudder. "Definitely. He's in jail, alright, but it wasn't the police that got him. You're not gonna believe this – it was the Avengers."

Emmett nearly gaped at her. "You met the Avengers?"

She smiled softly. "I didn't just meet them. After they defeated Dad and found me, SHIELD – that's the organization they work for – wanted to keep me in custody to see if I had powers, too, so they can poke around me until they discover how they work. Apparently, they could do that because I didn't have anyone anymore, no family or guardian or anything, so the Avengers… well, they took me in. No, more than that. They adopted me."

"Seriously?" Emmett looked like he wasn't sure if he should believe her. "That's what Katie said, but I thought she was making it up for sure." He frowned suspiciously. "You aren't making it up, are you?"

"Kid, I don't think I could make something like that up."

"So you live with the Avengers? When did it all happen?"

"About six months ago." She pursed her lips together nervously. "Emmett, I- I'm so sorry." He looked up at her in confusion. "You were stuck here this whole time with these horrible strangers. I just wish I had known, I could have looked for you, you could have been right there with me this whole time if I'd just…" She hoped she wasn't about to cry in front of her little brother again.

Emmett hesitated before asking. "You really thought I was dead?"

Jess's mouth was dry. She nodded. "Dad said you were gone. He took you somewhere and came back alone and made me think he'd killed you, but all this time you were here, alive –"

"It's okay," Emmett cut her off. "You didn't know. And, really, I swear, it's been relatively not-so-bad here."

Jess sighed. "Thank you," she said, "but it's not okay. There's nothing remotely okay about this situation." She shook her head. "Fucking Dad."

He nodded solemnly in agreement. "Fucking Dad," he echoed. Then he gave a half-smile. "Was it fun finally being an only child again?"

Jess didn't smile back. Instead she shoved him again, less playfully than before. "Idiot. It was the most horrible thing that ever happened to me; and that's saying something. I don't want to think about how that felt ever again." She quickly changed the subject to spare Emmett the necessity of responding to that atrocity. "Anyway, as I was starting to say, by now the Avengers should know what's going on and where we are. They'll be here any minute now. You're not about to tell me that the Sun's too powerful for Earth's mightiest heroes, are you?" Finally, her lips curled with amusement.

Emmett grinned widely. "Never mind finally getting rescued and all that," he said, "this is so cool."

Jess laughed. "You're gonna love them, kid."

Emmett's smile faded like he'd just come up with an idea he didn't want to have. "Hey," he said, hesitantly, anxiously, "they'd let me live with them, too, right?"

"Of course they would," said Jess immediately, though in truth, she hadn't thought about that. She never considered the possibility that they wouldn't take Emmett, too. But she knew the Avengers too well to truly worry. They would do that for them. She won't even have to ask. "Emmett, they're so kind, and they've been so good to me. It won't even be up for debate."

Emmett bit down on a nail, an ancient habit he evidently still hadn't grown out of. "Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure. Come on, they've been my six adoptive parents for the past half a year, I know them well enough by now."

Emmett seemed less tense at her reassurances, but he still wasn't quite relaxed. "But what if they don't?"

"They will."

"But what if they don't?"

Jess sighed. Emmett always knew how to be persistent, particularly about the issues that bothered him, the things that truly made him anxious. She knew she had to answer, find a solution for the hypothetical situation, as unlikely as she knew it was. "Well, it's not going to happen, but if they don't, then, well…" She shrugged. "Then fuck 'em. The two of us will figure something out by ourselves." Emmett seemed unconvinced so she went on. "Seriously, I mean it," she insisted. "I love them like family; but I don't want them if it means I can't have you."

At that, Emmett dared braving a smile again. It appeared contagious – but only for a few brief moments. Because just then, a panel in one of the metal walls that hadn't been there before soundlessly slid outward. Startled, Jess sprang to her feet, this time successfully. She was distantly aware of Emmett doing the same. As the panel slid away, it revealed the darkly slanted figure of Dawn Deputy, a soft, self-satisfied smirk gracing her lips. Jess could see Lee behind her, lazily slouched.

Dawn stepped lightly into the room, an epitome of confidence and ease. She was dressed all in black – black leggings, black boots, black leather jacket, the kind of clothes Jess could never quite have managed to pull off. Her darkly colored hair clashed prettily with the paleness of her skin and eyes. Her posture was flawless.

Jess could have choked her to death without so much as a flinch. Just looking at her now, she was nearly shaking with fury. She was certain her eyes must have flashed purple.

"Oh, you're awake," said Dawn in satisfaction. A dark grin adorned her face. "Good. We have so much we need to talk about." She looked around the room, as though examining it. "I hope you're enjoying our hospitality?"

"You bet," said Jess icily. "All this kindness, I might just choke on it."

Dawn flashed a grimace that far too closely resembled a smirk. "Now, come on," she said. "Is that any way to be speaking to your new boss?"

Jess shook her head with a scoff. "Seriously, this still? Do you really think that breaking our deal and holding me prisoner in a creepy room is a good way to make me a motivated team member? A supervillain? That's a ridiculous plan."

Dawn's brows furrowed. Elegantly. Momentarily, she reminded Jess of the Black Widow, physically incapable of producing a graceless movement. Jess wished Natasha could be there instead. "You know," said Dawn thoughtfully, "I'm not sure if I would necessarily call us supervillains. I don't think we're so bad. I mean, we haven't robbed a bank ever, or killed anyone important. I don't know, what do you think, Lee?" She glanced back over her shoulder at him.

Lee scowled and rolled a narrow set of eyes. "I don't like to play with my food, Dawn."

Dawn tsked at him before turning back to Jess. "It's debatable," she concluded. "At least for now. With SHIELD and new heroes popping up every week we've had to lay low for a while now, but now that we've got you…" Her smile widened and somehow became even less pleasant as a result. "Well, soon we'll be able to really live up to the title."

"You're insane," hissed Jess, "or even worse, you're just stupid. You kept my brother hostage for almost a year while I thought he was dead, and now you're still keeping him. I was going to cooperate just fine if you'd kept your end of the deal, but now? I'm not lifting a fucking finger for you."

Dawn examined her wordlessly for a long moment. Then she sighed. "I hoped we could start on a higher note." Then she waved a lazy hand in a vague gesture. "Alright, Lee, you can have your fun."

And a few things happened very quickly, in the span of what Jess later decided must have been about two seconds.

First, Lee smiled. His smile was nowhere near as graceful as Dawn's. He was a handsome man and had bright, perfect teeth, and yet when he smiled the immediate connotation that popped in Jess's mind was an image of wolves, in a pack around a miserable human campfire, on the desperate verge of starvation. And then he threw up his arms.

Jess hadn't noticed before, but Lee was wearing simple metal cuffs around his wrists. Now she barely had time to register what was happening as they easily unbound themselves and flew across the room toward her and Emmett. Her own hands instinctively lifted in self-defense, she inadvertently only made it simpler for one of the cuffs – which has split in two midflight – to wrap in two halves each around her own wrists. She didn't even have time to yelp before she was pulled back – hard – and the cuffs collided harshly with the metal wall behind her, sinking into it, just enough to make her struggle to free herself absolutely futile. A quick glance over to Emmett showed that he was in a much similar position against the next wall over, tugging at his own cuffs uselessly.

Dawn was no longer smiling. She paced slowly, edging closer to Emmett. She was idly toying with the almost gentle gold and blue sparks erupting from her fingertips. "I don't suppose I can make many threats you haven't already imagined yourself," she said pensively. "I mean, the situation for you has been pretty self-explanatory so far. Really, this is classic leverage, hostage taking 101. I figure, though, that the visual demonstration can't hurt." She stopped in front of Emmett.

Jess clenched her jaw. It was harder than she'd expected to resist the urge to protest, to say something weak and useless along the lines of, "No, wait, stop, I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt my recently-returned-from-the-dead brother." But she was pretty sure she should currently keep her mouth firmly shut, maybe in case she gets the chance to call Dawn's bluff. She has yet to witness her do anything physically harmful, knocking her unconscious notwithstanding, which as a whole was rather immediate and didn't really hurt, much. It seemed like a shot in the dark to hope that the self-proclaimed leader of a group of pseudo-villains would have much qualms in regards to physically abusing a twelve-year-old, but Emmett's description of his time with the Sun had sounded rather PG.

Jess hoped he hadn't been lying, and simultaneously tried not to think about how she never really elaborated to anyone about the precise, least pleasant details of Lawrence's abuse.

She decided not to tempt her luck by saying something headstrong and foolish along the lines of, "You wouldn't."

"Anyway," said Dawn. "I guess the basic idea is labor force. We could really do with a fire bender if we want to establish the Sun brand, and if you don't do exactly what I tell you to do, or if you try to run or use your powers against any of us, well…" She gave Emmett a tight-lipped smile. "I was going to make do with long-distance threats, which could have been much less dramatic. I'm glad I decided to keep Emmett right here with us." In cue with her last word, Dawn let lightning loose.

Jess lost her feeble composure when Emmett cried out and thrashed against the cuffs. She could distantly process hearing her own shouts as she watched Emmett kicking with thin legs and pulling his wrists. He only growled and grit his teeth at the second shock, eyes squeezed shut against the burning. When he opened them again his body was slack, his weight pushed almost fully onto the cuffs, but the look he sent Jess contained bitter reassurance, a well-familiar look that said, I've had worse.

She believed him. At Lawrence's cruelest burns, he used to scream.

Apparently satisfied with her work, Dawn let Emmett slouch and approached Jess instead as she softly let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "This was a teaser," said Dawn as she came closer to her. "An example. A strip show. I hope you don't force me to show you the full version, but don't kid yourself thinking it would weigh my conscience." She was coming closer still, invading Jess's personal space. A cheap intimidation tactic, Jess tried to tell herself as her back was forced up against the wall, as Dawn's pretty face came inches of Jess's tired and ragged one, as her skin crawled and it was all she could do to suppress a violent shiver. "So let's make a few things crystal clear," said Dawn softly. The playfulness and sadistic amusement have faded from her voice and were replaced by heavy promise. "Fail to cooperate, and Emmett screams. Try to run or fight either of us, and Emmett screams. Call your darling Avengers for help, and Emmett screams until you both start to miss your father."

Jess forced herself to breathe, forced her voice to be levelled. "You don't scare me," she said through clenched teeth.

Dawn's expression turned to something akin of disappointment. "Liar," she said softly. She raised her hand and steered it toward Jess. Jess flinched, expecting pain and strained muscles, but Dawn only lay her hand against her chest. There was nothing electric in her touch. She crept closer to Jess to whisper in her ear. "I can hear your heartbeat," Dawn whispered, raising the hairs on the back of Jess's neck. "It's like wildfire." She pulled back to stare Jess down. "It's like me."

Jess squeezed her eyes shut to restrain their glow. She wished she could do something similar about the urge to kick Dawn in the chest. Dawn's proximity was making her claustrophobic, and her heart beat faster still, sending anxious pangs leaping through her, and Jess found herself just doing her best to remember to breathe until finally Dawn's hand left her body. When she opened her eyes, Dawn was turning her back.

So much for using my powers to become a courageous superhero, thought Jess. She glanced at Emmett, who seemed to be decidedly not looking at her. Lee raised his hands again, and the metal cuffs pulled free from the walls to release them and find their place back around his wrists.

"I suppose I'll let you two out of here soon," remarked Dawn without turning to look at either of them as she walked toward the opening where Lee stood waiting. "Don't look so grim, you'll bum the whole team out." She was about halfway through the room when there was the sudden sound of a crash, and a foreign object came flying unexpectedly at Lee's temple. It was so fast that Jess only caught the flash of red and blue, and Lee toppled to the floor unconscious.

The next thing Jess knew was Steve and Tony standing at the opening. Steve secured his shield in his fist, and Tony raised a charged gauntlet.

Dawn cursed under her breath.

"Whoa," Emmett breathed out.

"I'm only gonna say this once," said Tony, his voice coming through the suit's helmet sounding metallic and distant. "Stand down. No one else has to get hurt. It's over."

Dawn's lip curled viciously into a sneer. Her hands balled into fists at her sides, and golden sparks flickered through her fingers. "Oh, honey," she said, her voice laced with cold rigidity. "Nothing's over till I say so."

Behind her, Jess allowed her body to flood with warmth. She could feel her muscles growing slack as fire filled her veins, her mind clearing. Then she let her gaze roam over Dawn, taking in her poised stance, her black boots rooted in the ground, her brown hair spread over her perfectly arched back, and felt her body turning into stone.

She could feel herself fill up with rage.