Even though there were so many humans, there were plenty of back ways and alleyways that were nearly completely empty. The Chitauri soldier had hopped train after train, making it all the way from Virginia to New York City. Finally, he was here, just blocks from the Avengers, one of the Chitauri's most hated enemies. Not many other species knew that they even existed. The ones that did weren't around anymore. He curled his lip up, which felt odd considering that he now took the form of a human. However much he wanted to revert back to his normal self, he needed this appearance in order to deceive the Avengers. His leader, the Other, entrusted him with this mission and he would not fail him, even if he answered to someone more powerful than he.

His plan for infiltration was simple: walk in and play the part of Tanner Brown – escaped prisoner – to a 'T'. Say he was the held prisoner by the Chitauri because they wanted his building. He managed to escape, but not after he managed to catch a glimpse of the famous Tony Stark. He traveled to the Stark/Avengers Tower in New York City to inform them of this. Perfect.

The Chitauri soldier moved until he could see the tower, standing proudly up in the air. With a smirk, he could still see where some of the damage hadn't been repaired just yet. He moved a little closer and saw the front door surrounded by SHIELD agents. Not seeming to be guarding the place, just hanging around and talking, the soldier figured the best way to talk to the Avengers was to talk to the SHIELD agents first, get them to take him to them. No one would suspect him and his prisoner story.

At the last minute, he decided to give himself a little limp, to add to the sympathy and draw attention away from him. Since he was a Chitauri warrior, he could take anything. Drawing out the small knife that he had stored in his boot, he cut his leg, making sure it wasn't too bad, then grabbed some dirt and smeared it in the wound to make it appear older looking and not as fresh. Acting for all he was worth – because if he didn't convince them, his leader would kill him – he scrambled out from the alley he had been hiding in and cried out, "Help me! Please, help me!"

As predicted, the SHIELD agents whirled around, hands on guns, and spotted him. The people in the street either moved around him like a river parting around a rock, or screamed. A few ran away – those really amused him. But he kept up the act and staggered forward before falling down. As the agents ran forward to help him, he briefly thought about how easy it would be to take his knife and shove it down their throats. It would only take a second – no. He swallowed down his bloodlust. He had a job to do and damn it, he was going to do it right. When the agents made it to his side – they were hindered by the absolute hordes of people in their way, he gasped out, "I-I know w-where Tony Stark is – I-I saw him!" Then, using pure mind-power, he made himself pass out.

He supposed it wasn't long until he woke up, because people were bustling about rapidly and a human was standing over him in a white coat. The man was about to say something when another human - a woman wearing a uniform that he identified with SHIELD barged in, took the man to a corner of the room and they conversed rapidly, quietly. Then the man and the others left, leaving him alone with the woman.

She stared at him, not revealing anything with her blue eyes. Not exactly sure how to respond to a female, the soldier in disguise looked anywhere but her. So he missed Agent Hill's eyes narrow in suspicion. Without a word, the agent stalked silently out of the room, leaving the injured soldier on the hospital bed. He only had to wait a few moments, because soon, the majority of the Avengers walked in.

Captain America spoke up first, "What's your name?"

"Tanner Brown, sir. I was the owner of an underground area when t-these c-creatures came and t-took the place over. I was held captive for - I don't even know how long - but I-I saw Iron Man. Tony Stark - h-he was there!" The Chitauri soldier began to shake, as if what Tanner Brown had been through was too much for him. But the way the god, Thor, and the archer, Hawkeye, stared at him made him nervous. He had acted to the best of his ability and he knew he was convincing, so why were they looking at him like that.

"Do you remember where you were, Mr. Brown?" The Black Widow asked him, feigning concern. Not that he could tell - he was just a soldier in the Chitauri ranks.

"Yes. We were still at my underground property. I can show you where it is."

The Hulk's alter ego, Bruce Banner, raised an eyebrow at him, "Sir, you are injured. You're in no condition to go anywhere. Just give us the location."

The warrior swallowed. He had been planning on accompanying them back to the compound, to see his leader and his master utterly pulverize the Avengers into the ground and wipe their smudges on rocks. It was a fitting end to the group that had taken the Tesseract away from them. But if not, then that was also fine. He had no doubt as to his leaders prowess and if he was more useful at the Tower, then he wouldn't complain or argue. But as he nodded, an idea came to mind.

The Tesseract.

If it was somewhere in the Avenger's Tower, and they left to attempt to rescue their friend, then he could look around for it when they left. It was very hard for him to keep the grin off of his face.

"Where were you being held, sir?"

After he gave them the coordinates, they left him alone on a hospital bed. Waiting a few minutes, the soldier slid out of the bed and crept toward the door. He was in no way a spy nor trained in any kind of stealth, but he was sure he could outwit the humans enough to retrieve the Tesseract. As he made his way toward the door, it slammed shut on its own and steel shutters closed down the windows.

A robotic voice sounded but he couldn't tell where it came from, "I believe you are an imposter, sir. Am I correct with this assumption?"

"N-No! I'm Tanner Brown - "

"My instruments tell me that Tanner Brown has been dead for over a week. My bio-scan is nearly complete, but if you were to tell me who you really are, it could save you the agony that my final extraction details."

When he didn't say a word, a robotic arm lashed out from the wall and injected him with something. To his absolute horror, he felt his form beginning to melt off of him, revealing his true body. Knowing he couldn't do anything about it, he simply let it happen and when all the pieces of Tanner Brown were gone, he laughed. "This does not impede our plans. The location I gave you was true - I was not lying. Your comrade Tony Stark is there. However, I would hurry if I were you. My leader hates him with a burning passion and might not be able to hold himself back from killing him long enough for you to be able to rescue him."

There was a long pause before the voice spoke again, "I shall return soon and when I receive the information I require, I will kill you."

"JARVIS. JARVIS? JARVIS!"

There was a long pause, "Here, sir."

Steve scowled, "Where were you?"

Another pause, "Sorry, sir. What is it that you need?"

Trying not to mutter in annoyance, the super-soldier said, "I need you to look up the coordinates that Brown - "

"Sir, I have received word that Mr. Brown has revealed himself to be a Chitauri. However, I detected no lies when he gave us the coordinates. Would you like me to check that, sir?"

"Wha - yes, do that. Now."

While JARVIS was looking that up, the rest of the Avengers were in the conference room. Some - Bruce, Natasha, and Loki - were sitting down while others - Thor, Steve, and Director Fury - were standing and pacing. Clint was on the ceiling, hanging onto a light fixture. All of them froze in place - Clint nearly fell - when they heard that Tanner Brown was a Chitauri. They wanted to ask JARVIS how he knew, but remembering what he did to Afzal's men, they remained silent and trusted his - or is it 'its'? - judgment.

"Alright," Natasha placed her elbows on the table and seemed to be in deep thought. "Let's think this through."

Clint interrupted, "Why?"

"Because we're a team, idiot," she scowled up at him from his place on the ceiling. "And that's what teams do. I think. Alright, the Chitauri have Tony, so we have two viable theories about Afzal: One, he never existed and it was just the Chitauri all along or two, there really was an Afzal who wanted Tony, but the Chitauri took him from Afzal. Either way, he's out of the picture.

"So the next thing is how to get Tony back."

"Sir," JARVIS chimed in, "the coordinates show part of a forest that is owned by Tanner Brown, whom I know to be dead. Chitauri can be seen entering and exiting."

"What about Tony, can you detect him at all?" Bruce interrupted, stating what everyone was thinking.

Even though it was an AI, it sounded mournful, "No, he's undetectable."

One of the things that Tony prided himself on was being a lady's man. He could make a Victoria's Secret model swoon when he got near. So when he opened his bleary eyes and saw an attractive woman standing over him, leaning over him with her shirt a little too open to be considered completely appropriate, he grinned and tried to win her over with his smooth words and charming personality.

Only, he couldn't talk. His lips weren't responding. This was strange, but a man like Tony Stark wasn't about to give up in the face of a beautiful woman. He tried to move his hand - which it did, albeit shakily - and touch her arm. He did, but his hand was bandaged and he couldn't even move his fingers. The lady, seeing that he was awake, only smiled at him and spoke loudly, very clearly, "Mister Stark, you're at a hospital. You were severely injured, but most of your injuries are healing splendidly. Our hospital is currently attempting to reach Stark Industries. Please don't attempt to talk, the morphine will hinder your finer muscle movement, which includes your mouth. In a few minutes, you will be able talk, so save your questions for then." After a final glance at his monitor, she left, presumably to return.

It took a few moments for his morphine-muddled mind to grasp what the nurse said, but when it did, the memories can rushing back. The Chitauri, the torture, the falling - twice. He remember it all and tried to piece together what that meant. He was in a normal hospital in an unknown city - the nurse hadn't thought to tell him that part - without his teammates or JARVIS. That was enough to put him on edge without the added stress of the Other lurking around somewhere with an army of Chitauri. For now, Tony merely focused on working his finer muscles back to life.

True to her word, the nurse returned with another woman, this one wearing the traditional white coat of a doctor. She smiled at him and stated, "Mr. Stark, I am Dr. Malcolm, the one who has been taking care of you and head doctor of this hospital. You were found a week ago, gravely injured. It appeared you had fallen from a building or something up high. You sustained lacerations and punctuations severe enough to be called stab wounds. However, you are making excellent progress recovering from these injuries. As Nurse Ashley explained briefly, we are attempting to contact Stark Industries, but they keep stiff-arming us, believing that we're lying or something of the sort. Within a few days, you'll be recovered enough to be transported to the hospital of your choice. Did I miss anything?"

"Just two," Tony shuffled a bit, uncomfortable at being so weak In front of these very attractive women. "What city am I in? And you forgot to give me your numbers." All that was needed was a saucy wink towards the nurse and she was a puddle of goo on the ground.

The doctor blushed, stammering, "Y-you're in Goochland, Virginia, Mr. Stark."

"Please. Call me Tony." Another wink and the nurse nearly passed out.

Dr. Malcolm shook off his charm and adopted her professionalism again, "Mr. Stark, if you would be so kind as to call your business and let them know we are not, in fact, joking when we say we saved your life. When you feel up to it, of course."

"Of course. How about now?"

Obviously still flustered by his earlier flirting, the doctor said, "Have at it. There's a phone on your bedside table." As soon as she left, Nurse Ashley did as well, but not without blowing a kiss toward the downed playboy.

It took him a few times to grasp the phone and punch in Pepper's number, but he could hardely contain his excitement. He really couldn't take care of himself without her, he realized.

Yes, I'm alive.

I'm so sorry this took so long to get out here, but a little bit ago I was contacted by someone and they told me they liked my work and wanted me to write an RPG for them! So, yes, I neglected this piece in favor of getting paid five bucks per story and, yes, I am very sorry.

I admit that I will probably update this sparingly since I'm really busy now (I'm trying to get one of my books published, too). However, I will not abandon it, I promise. So, add this story to your Alerts so you can get it when I write another chapter :)

~Dogtooth