Chapter 6-

Welcome back everyone. :)

Shall we jump right in?

Corridor 005

Unknown Location

As soon as Leo hit the floor, Donovan charged forwards, ignoring the shouts from behind him. Much to his surprise, he heard Wren's quick footsteps to his right and wind to his left signaled that Fia had joined in as well.

Donovan raised his fist, fire immediately lighting it as he leaped into the air, fist pulled back and loaded. He landed basically on top of Iron Man, fist cracking across the metal helmet and just barely causing a reaction. The fire-bender used his free hand to grab Stark's neck, clinging for his life and sending a burst of flames at the helmet. Iron Man spiraled, trying to shake Donovan and slamming into walls in the process.

"Woah, kid. You smell like alcohol. You been drinking? That's my thing," commented Iron Man as he whizzed around.

Fia appeared as a blur as they spun and the spinning came to an abrupt stop when Fia grabbed Iron Man's leg, cat claws slicing into the repulsor boot. So she's more than just wings and scales?! Donovan momentarily realized before turning his attention back to the battle. Fia only proved his point when her feet flattened out slightly, resembling a frog, making it easier for her to cling on.

Wren altered gravity and Iron Man was forced to go full power to keep himself off the ground. Sarah was there suddenly, freezing cold water blasting Stark's back. Donovan covered his face, dropping from his perch and landing in a roll to avoid the water. Seeing that the fight was contained, he quickly jogged over to his brother, who was still pulling at the netting.

The electric blue wires seemed to be tightening and they pressed fine lines into Leo's skin, buzzing with every small movement or breath. Donovan kneeled near his brother. Leo had his eyes closed tightly and his ankle was bent awkwardly in the net, the constricting wire only forcing it further in exactly the wrong direction.

The older Sterling reached forwards.

"No!" Leo snapped angrily, one eye opened. "Don't touch it, otherwise we'll both be toast. Just—" He paused as a particularly severe burst of electricity enveloped the net. "Just finish this up quick."

Don opened his mouth with a reply, but the clank of metal was the only warning he had that Stark had landed and his turn-around was just a second to slow. Donovan felt a metal hand grab his neck from behind and he was lifted from the floor, metallic red fingers tightening their grip around his throat.

"Alright, Fireball, let's get this over with."

Fia had been thrown from Stark's leg, and into the wall. Wren was clutching her ribs on the floor. Sarah's arm was burned with repulsor ray. Lycan and Kriselle were fighting off guards to Don's left, Romeo having awakened and firing electricity into the battle. Scarlett was throwing hexes as fast as she could behind the Iron Man, trying to clear a path through the soldiers to help Don.

Donovan cursed, spots blurring his vision as he let out a rage-filled shout and planted a kick in Stark's stomach. He gasped a couple times, giving all he had and throwing punches wherever there was an opening. Iron Man's free hand was up in a second, gripping the fist that Donovan was using to attack.

The last thing he felt before everything went dark was a burning pain in his wrist.

~AVENGERS~
Corridor 005

Unknown Location

Scarlett waved her hand in a wide crescent, a red hex appearing and shooting forwards. She was exhausted and running low on energy. Kriselle, who was disintegrating weapons off to Scarlett's left, seemed to notice and offered her wrist.

"No," Scarlett disagreed immediately. "Just, um, just get me a soldier or something."

"Are you sure?" Kriselle frowned. "They aren't very good on energy."

Scarlett watched as Fia was thrown across the hall and Iron Man landed, heading for Donovan.

"Hurry!" Scarlett urged, firing a hex at another soldier.

Kriselle disintegrated a man's helmet and punched him across the face, dragging him over quickly.

Scarlett grabbed the man's face. Her heartbeat accelerated and she felt the hair on her arms stand on edge as energy transferred up through her body. Donovan was nearly unconscious. Without thinking, Scarlett fired a burst of energy at the two, aiming for Iron Man.

The energy lit up Iron Man like a Christmas light and Donovan fell to the ground, unconscious. Stark followed in suit, collapsing onto his knees with one fist on the ground to hold himself up, smoke coming from his suit.

Scarlett gaped. She couldn't believe she'd just fried a superhero. What did that make her? Oh god. She thought immediately. Does this mean I'm a villain?

Her thoughts were cut short when Iron Man stood and peered over his shoulder.

Scarlett's eyes widened as sparks flew from Tony Stark's face. His helmet was sizzling and blood crept out from the edges, not much but a considerable amount. A crack ran through the front of the helmet, a bit missing and revealing an eye and part of Stark's nose.

However, Tony's face flickered back and forth between his own and…someone…someone else's.

Scarlett narrowed her eyes and the imposter seemed to realize what was happening.

"I—Please—!" shouted 'Stark', static cutting in and out. He attempted to take off only to have the repulsor boot spark and sizzle, sending him to the ground.

Romeo was on him in a second, frying the Arc Reactor with a hand. The imposter shouted again, trying helplessly to lift his heavy metal limbs. "Pl—ait—I—!"

"Who the hell are you?!" demanded the French man, using his foot to pin down one of the imposter's arms.

Scarlett joined him, pinning the other arm, hands raised defensively. "Speak." She barked angrily.

The witch glanced over her shoulder and watched Kriselle help Lycan up. Fia was working on awakening Donovan and Wren was limping over with Sarah.

The imposter narrowed his eyes. "Rem—met—Please!"

Scarlett released a burst of energy and the imposter growled in pain. "You ready to talk yet?"

"I—n't—se!" static overcame the voice and suddenly the imposter was convulsing in a way that sent Scarlett and Romeo backwards onto their asses. The imposter's foot repulsor seemed to go off randomly, sending sparks everywhere. The scariest part was how the imposter was clawing at the helmet, more smoke rising with every second.

"The helmet!" Sarah was the first to snap out of it. "Get the damn helmet off! It's hurting him!"

"He tried to kill us!" snapped Lycan angrily, one hand pressed firmly to his head.

"We tried to kill him!" corrected Sarah authoritatively. "Now do what I say and remove the helmet!"

Donovan limped forwards, obvious hand-shaped bruises on his neck. He coughed, the most thorough anger Scarlett had ever seen locked in his steel grey eyes. He sunk his fingers into the crack in the metal like it was nothing, callused hands disappearing into the top of the helmet. He ripped in either direction and the helmet came off with a loud shriek of metal. The suit opened up on some sort of bail-maneuver and revealed the full body of the imposter.

Scarlett felt the energy dissipate from her fingertips, jaw falling slack as her eyes laid upon the imposter in the suit.

A slim boy no older than 17, with olivey skin and a mess of short black hair with forest green highlights was revealed. He was more feminine than not, and brought his hands frantically up to his face and peeled a mask from his face. Tony Stark disappeared immediately, unveiling hazel grey eyes and a slim jawline. Blood trailed from cuts and burns scattered across his face.

The boy was up in seconds.

"We have to leave," he urged, voice almost innocent and light hearted.

"What? Woah there, Speed Racer, you've got some explaining to do," Scarlett snapped immediately.

The boy's eyes widened. "I can't! We don't have the time, okay?! The safety alarms were tripped when the helmet was removed! He's going to come for us, so we have to run, okay?! Now let's—"

He didn't get to finish.

Scarlett couldn't comprehend as her bones lit with fire.

~AVENGERS~

Corridor 005

Unknown Location

Romeo was getting sick of blowing up.

He blinked, coughing dust from his lungs and wincing as he lifted himself to his elbows, pieces of wreckage digging into his elbows. The hallway was shredded, seemingly blown out into a bubble-like shape, the walls caving in and the floor sunk downwards, the ceiling up. Romeo didn't know how they weren't all dead.

But there they all were, sprawled out around him on the ground. Some were unconscious, some weren't. Either way, they all seemed relatively unharmed, their only injuries from the fight previous.

He got to his feet slowly, looking around.

The angry fire guy was all the way down the hall, having been blasted against the opposite wall of Romeo, a large cut in his head leaking onto the floor across his face.

Defensive water girl was a few feet away from Fire Guy, hair splayed out and covering her face, unconscious.

Disintegration girl and Wings Girl were nearly on top of each other, both trapped beneath Mystery Boy (AKA Iron Man Imposter).

Lying next to the suit that had caused the explosion was Magic Girl, and Wolf Boy, both were dazed but conscious. Gravity Girl was helping Wolf Boy up to his feet, the three seemed decently unharmed.

Speed Kid had awakened apparently minutes ago and was seemingly biting through the net he was incased in, electricity buzzing and sizzling in his mouth from the contact.

Romeo saw his opportunity to help and quickly jogged over to Speed Kid.

He'd only gotten his powers a day ago. He didn't know how to use them. And, yet, he knew exactly what to do.

The first step he took was to grab Speed Kid by the hair and force him to stop biting at the net, as many angry curses as it earned him. Romeo ignored them, grabbing the net without giving himself time to think about it. He began untangling where it had wrapped tightly. Just as he expected, the electricity was a mere tingle on his fingers, just like when he used his powers.

Speed Kid stared in silence, eyes flicking over to who Romeo could only assume was some closely related person, also known as Fire Guy.

The net came untangled and the kid was gone, at Fire Guy's side in an instant. Shouts of "Donovan! Wake the hell up!" accompanied him.

Romeo stood, startling when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Gravity Girl, one eyebrow lifted.

"Do you hear that?"

Romeo furrowed his brows, looking off to the side and focusing on listening.

Footsteps filled the air. Loud ones, at that.

"Soldiers are coming," the girl continued. "We have to leave."

Romeo's eyebrows shot upwards. "What—? But—"

"I know," The girl nodded. "But if we all get taken then none of us are going to make it. We need to regroup and we can't hold all of these people. It would be one person per each of us and we need to defend ourselves. Not to mention we'd have to get them out from under the wreckage. We have a ride outside but we need to leave. Now."

Romeo saw the desperation in the girl's eyes. She didn't want to do this. She had to. She knew Romeo wasn't going to make a decision, and seeing as they were the oldest, it had to be her. She wasn't wrong. It was better the five of them (plus whoever the 'ride' was) against whoever they were dealing with, than everyone being taken and possibly…well. He was attempting optimism.

"O—Okay," nodded Romeo, swallowing thickly. "You're right. What do you need?"

The girl nodded. "My name is Wren." He noted that mentally. She spoke quickly and to-the-point. "That's Leo." She pointed The man on the ground? His older brother Donovan. He's not going to leave Donovan, okay? They've been through hell. Thing is, he's awake and Donovan is not. Also Donovan is about two times my weight. Donovan is strong. He can handle himself. We just need to get Leo out of here. Sarah is the girl to their left."

Romeo focused on everyone Wren pointed out, comprehending things as fast as he could.

"She's one tough chick. Also trapped. Kriselle might not look like much but she's strong. She'll take care of herself. Fia is just a kid and—" Wren cut herself off, cursing. "I wish we could grab her but we can't. We move her and we could do more damage than good. So we aren't going to. Sarah and Don will protect her." She almost sounded like she was trying to convince herself. "I have no idea who Iron Man Jr is but he's obviously not here by choice. That said, he's just as trapped as they are, and if anything he'll provide an insight for them. You got all that?" Wren looked back at him.

Romeo nodded quickly.

"Good. The kid that went all wolf? He means a lot to me. He hit his head and he's pretty out of it. I'm going to help him." Wren said sternly. Romeo nodded in agreement. "The girl is Scarlett. She's awake. She'll cover us. You grab Leo. I'll grab Lycan. We'll move. Scarlett will cover us. Clear?"

Romeo nodded for the billionth time, heart racing as the first soldier rounded the corner.

"Go!" Wren shouted as the soldier opened fire, some sort of stun beam hitting the wall beside Romeo's head. It was strangely comforting to know the ammunition wasn't fatal.

The Frenchman raced forwards. He reached Leo within minutes and locked his arms under Leo's, not giving the boy any time to react as he hoisted him to his feet and slung him over his shoulder.

"Let me go!" Leo roared as soon as Romeo began running. A line of curses sprung from the boy's mouth and Romeo bit his lip. "Drop me! Now! Donovan! Stop it!" Leo was thrashing with all of his might, fists pounding on Romeo's back and legs narrowly missing Romeo's nose. "I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna fucking kill you!" the yells turned into straight up screaming and shouting in anger.

Everything was a swirl of action.

Leo continued to threaten Romeo with death. Romeo felt fear arise in his chest as the speed of Leo's thrashing rose with every second. The electric net that had contained Leo earlier flashed through Romeo's mind. Before he gave himself time to think, Romeo allowed electricity to flee his body in every direction. Leo let out a shriek of pain that chilled Romeo to his bones before going limp in Romeo's arms.

The Frenchmen let out an exhausted breath, having been running this entire time in a direction that may not have been the exit but was away from the enemy.

A glance to his left and Romeo spotted Wren sprinting full speed, Lycan over her shoulders. She was a lot stronger than she looked. Scarlett was firing off blasts in every direction, turning faster than Romeo thought possible.

Before he knew it the metal of the hallways disappeared and suddenly they were pushing through doors. Rain hit his face. Mud made running tricky.

Just as according to Wren's really choppy, kinda rushed plan that she'd explained, a girl sat in the front seat of the pickup truck. She must've arrive during the battle. A boy sat in the passenger and both seemed stunned when the doors flew open and the teens raced out.

The backseat door was opened in seconds and Romeo gently—well, that's a lie—set Leo in the backseat before entering himself. Wren practically threw Lycan in the bed of the truck, leaping in after him. Scarlett dove into the bed after them, landing rough but quickly sitting up and firing at guards.

"Drive!" Romeo shouted, slamming his door shut.

"What happened?!"

"Is he okay?!"

"Where is everyone?!"

"We can't leave!"

"Drive!" Romeo felt anger rush from his tone and the girl in the front slammed the gas, releasing a cry of anguish as she did so. The boy in the front was shouting, but Romeo didn't comprehend it.

His lungs burned, his legs were on fire, his shoulder was bruised, he was muddy and dirty and filthy and every other word he could think of. He looked out the window and saw soldiers disappear into the distance.

Then everything went black.

~AVENGERS~

Unknown Location

A thousand thoughts race through Carrie's head.

The first and foremost was : where the hell was the rest of the group?

Were they okay? Injured? Dead? Maybe they were escaping on foot. Unlikely. Hiding out inside the facility? Not likely either.

The second was that she needed Lane to stop panicking, because he wasn't buckled in, and if he kept stressing out Carrie, they were definitely going to get in an accident. The boy was clutching the dashboard with white knuckles. Sweat lined his forehead already and it'd been minutes since Romeo had entered the car with Leo.

"What the hell happened?!" he was screaming to everyone and no one at the same time.

"I don't know!" Carrie shouted back frantically, both hands on the wheel and foot still slamming the gas.

"Oh my God, where the hell is Don?! And Sarah!? Kriselle?! Fia?! Someone explain!" Lane was full out screaming now, at the top of his lungs. "Leonel! Wake up, damn it!" The window was suddenly being rolled down and before Carrie could stop it, Lane was half out of the car, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Wren! Explain! Now! Where the hell is everyone!? I want some freakin' answers! I—!"

"No one is going to explain!" Carrie snapped loudly, reaching over and yanking him in by the shirt. "Now buckle your damn seat belt and be quiet!" she growled.

Lane's entire persona seemed to change. He ignored her orders completely, leaving his seatbelt off as she rolled up his window. He was suddenly a sobbing mess. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. What if they're dead? What if they were killed—and—and—oh my god what if Don is dead and the last thing I said to him was that he was stupid and he should just tell you guys his life story?! And why was that my place anyways?! Oh my god, Carrie, what are we gonna do?! We can't take them! They didn't take them! So how can we?! Oh my—"

"God! Yea, I know!" Carrie shouted suddenly, feeling panic rising. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. We're—um—we're gonna get back and we're gonna hide the car. We're gonna lay low and we're gonna clear things up. Okay?"

Lane was breathing quickly but naturally and nodded. "Yea…yea…okay.." Lane relaxed back into his seat, still tense, and gazed out his window with a look of shock on his face.

Carrie glanced at her mirrors and pulled off of the dirt road and onto a pavement one. They wouldn't be able to tail them, because pavement doesn't leave tire tracks. That said, she quickly spun the tires on the road to burn off any remaining dirt.

They arrived quickly at the warehouse and Carrie turned sharply to Lane as soon as the car stopped.

"Go inside. Figure out what happened. Make sure everyone is okay. I'm going to go hide the truck."

~AVENGERS~

The Living Room

Don and Leo's Apartment

Lycan watched Lane's slim fingers as they bandaged up a cut on his head.

Neither of them had spoken since Wren had explained everything that had happened. Lane seemed relieved that everyone was alive, but Lycan couldn't help but be concerned that it wouldn't stay that way. They were on a clock. A clock with no hands and no numbers. A clock made of adamantium.

No one had actually spoken except Wren, now that Lycan was thinking about it.

Scarlett was sitting on the island in the kitchen, staring at the floor. Wren was across from her, water bottle in hand. She leaned against the opposite counter, taking small sips every now and then. Romeo had walked in and managed to stay awake for the explanation of what happened, but quickly curled up on the sofa and fell asleep. Wren was nice enough to grab a knit blanket from the closet and put it over him. Leo had been carried into his room and although Lycan had heard him moving around earlier, it was just to close the door. Carrie had just gotten back.

Lane stood up shakily, breaking Lycan from his thoughts. He nearly toppled over again, but held up a hand when Lycan tried to help.

"Be careful," Lycan said just above a whisper, throat sore.

Lane nodded half-heartedly and stumbled over to the stares, walking up and into his room. The door closed a minute later and Lycan sniffed, wiped his nose with his sleeve and then stood.

"What…um….what exactly do we…Where do we go from here…?" he asked it quietly, but his voice carried throughout the entire building.

Scarlett blinked at the floor.

Wren sipped her water.

Lycan sat back down and hugged his knees to his chest. He couldn't help but think of Fia. He'd known her a day and she was already like a little sister.

Reluctantly, the werewolf let himself fall asleep.

~AVENGERS~

Don and Leo's Apartment

Lane entered the living room, a blanket around his shoulders.

Lycan must've fallen asleep, because Wren had just woken Lycan and Lane could hear them discussing their next move in his bedroom. Romeo shifted in his sleep, adjusting the blanket over his shoulders. Scarlett looked over at Lane from her place reading on the kitchen floor. Carrie had joined her, her own book in hand. Lane looked over at Leo's door curiously. He hadn't been out since they got home.

A few steps later and he was opening the door. Scarlett glanced up again warily, but Lane ignored her, entering Leo's room in silence.

It was dark, the only light coming from a couple firefly lights at a dim setting. Lycan felt uneasiness settle into his stomach quickly, but he couldn't help his natural worry for Leonel. The boy's worry quickly turned to concern and he furrowed his brows in confusion at the huddled form of Leo on the bed.

"Leonel?" Lane asked quietly, taking a hesitant step forwards. "Are you awake?"

Two steps later and he was peering over Leo's huddled form.

Lane frowned when his eyes met the spilled bottles of pills all over the bed, scattered among the piles of fur blankets.

No. No way. Not Leo. His thoughts quickly ran rapid, but the 16 year old managed to gain some composure when Leo's chest rose and sunk with breaths. Leo's mother had warned him about pills…Leo was just using them for his health, right? And pills were okay when they were used correctly? The boy was lost and his entire body didn't seem to know how to react to the thoughts, instead just shoving them away.

"Leo?" Lane prodded the slightly older boy with his hand.

Leo shifted and then rolled over.

Lane tried not to cringe at how red Leo's eyes were. Had they always been like that? No, they haven't. Muttered a bitter voice in his head.

"Are you okay?" He asked instinctively. Lane's entire form twitched in fear when Leo started giggling. The giggles turned to chuckling and soon Leo was cackling loudly, eyes watering.

"Am I…okay?" He repeated.

Lane tried to remain still when Leo turned and looked in the opposite direction, gazing back in the direction of the window.

"Did he just ask me if I'm…okay?" Leo demanded loudly but in a dazed manor, still grinning like a madman.

"Um…" Lane frowned.

"I know, right…?" Leo muttered, sounding like he just woke up. "Who does he think he is…?" Leo drawled almost threateningly. The boy continued to banter with his invisible friend, laughing occasionally.

Lane's hands clenched into fists tightly and then unclenched nervously. He cautiously reached forwards, and Leo didn't even seem to see his hands as he picked up the orange container that had fallen over on the bed. He scooped up a handful of tiny white pills and slipped them into the bottle after unscrewing the cap. A few more. A few more. A—

"What are you doing…?" Leo asked quietly, sounding almost hurt.

"I…I…um…" Lane froze, unsure of what to say. "I'm going to take these…and—"

"Take them…?" Leo repeated like an echo, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "No…I…I need those."

"It's okay, Leonel…" the last of the pills were in the container. "I'm just gonna—"

"No!" Lane shouted angrily. He was on his feet in seconds, and yet Lycan felt like it was slower than usual. He took a fearful step back, bottle clutched in grasp.

"Calm down!" commanded Lane instinctively. He felt his worries rise as Leo clutched his own head with both hands, tears brimming his eyes.

"I…I don't…" Leo sat back down and covered his face with his hands. Lycan felt pity rise.

"Are you—" the boy cut himself off. "I mean, what's wrong?"

Leo shrugged, a smile reappearing on his face. It reminded Lane of a kid that was trying to smile to impress a girl. "Leave me alone."

"But—"

Lane ducked with a yelp when Leo snatched a shoe from the ground and chucked it at Lane's head with deadly accuracy. "Get out." He ordered, sounding tired. The shoe hit the door and Leo laid back on his bed, muttering things to himself.

Lane didn't try to speak, simply turning around. His blood went cold when a cold hand locked onto his wrist.

"Wait, don't leave, please?" Leo asked quietly.

"I—" Lane didn't know how to respond. "But you said—"

"You should stay with me and…and…we can watch the birds together, okay?" Leo asked. He gestured to the room and Lane frowned. This felt wrong.

"Birds?" the boy inquired unsurely.

"You see them…" Leo's gaze saddened, and he looked at Lane almost desperately. "…right?"

Lane couldn't help it.

He sighed, pity creeping up into his throat.

His friend was not okay.

"Yea…Leo. I see them."

Ooh, man, *winces* that was actually very tough to write. But it is longer than usual, so I hope that appeases you guys. :)

Someone new! SO MANY HAVE BEEN CAPTURED! And by who?! Is Lane going to spill the beans?! Is Scarlett?! Is everyone going to be OKAY?! AGH! Find out in the next episode. ;)

I'm gonna keep this short, because I want to hear your guys theories and such in the comments, so please drop one. ;)

-AG