Steve

The warehouse the villain had chosen was very stereo-typical. Tony would have been horrified by the cliché. Steve was escorted to a dimly lit room. Bruce was hanging by his arms against the wall. His eyes were glowing green in the darkness. There was no Bruce, only Hulk.

"Welcome Captain America!"

Steve moved to the center of the room. He slid his backpack from his shoulder and let it land on the floor. It made a loud, metallic thunk.

"You're not dealing with Captain America. You're dealing with Steve Rogers."

The villain paused at the response but continued. "It matters not what you call yourself-"

"It does matter," Steve interrupted. "It matters a great deal. However, since you have Bruce here, I presume you are more interested my blood than my name."

The villain was unsure how to react. He expected the Captain to either fight or offer himself and have his teammates go free. "Yes, you presume correctly. I will use the serum to-"

Steve drew a gun with a silencer on it and shot the villain in the knee. The man went down screaming. Hulk grunted at the screaming. Steve walked towards the villain.

"The serum's purpose was to make the perfect soldier. A soldier fights for his country, and his beliefs. But first he fights for his unit, his team. My first loyalty will always be to them. And then, what is that common adage that people are constantly saying today? War changes people? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Soldiers aren't adjusting to civilian life after being on the war field?"

Steve shot the man in his other knee. The man howled in pain.

"It wasn't a selfless act, going down with the plane. There was no point in living, not after Bucky died. Bucky belonged to me and I failed him. I liked Peggy and Howard, but they weren't Bucky. Then a miracle happened. I woke up in this strange time. Then I found five other people to call my own. Mine. They belong to me. And you took them. That will be the last mistake you ever make."

"You're the good guy! You don't do things like this!" The villain protested, all his sophistication vanishing.

"I don't enjoy killing people, as a rule. I won't even enjoy killing you, or making you suffer. And you will suffer."

Steve used his foot to yank the man's arm away from his body and shot the man's elbow. He did the same to the other arm and both his knees. Then he took out a blow torch to cauterize the wounds, to prevent him from bleeding to death. The man screamed and screamed. When he passed out after Steve had finished both his arms Steve woke him up. Hulk watched all of this, grumbling softly.

Steve stood when he was finished. "Now, you are going to wait here while I take care of everyone else here."

He walked over to where Bruce's body was hanging. He wasn't wearing a shirt. Other than the bruises on his wrists he seemed okay. Just drugged.

"You okay Hulk?"

Hulk growled. "Star Man."

Steve ran his hands through Bruce's hair to assure himself that his team member was okay. He looked for a weak point in the chains and broke them. He caught Bruce before he fell to the ground. Stave arranged him so he was leaning against the wall, as comfortable as he could make it. "I'm sorry about the manacles. I'll get them off as soon as I can. I'll be right back. I have to take care of the rest of this group and find the team."

"Team," Hulk grumbled.

"I'll get them" Steve promised.

He left the room. Taking down the rest of the people in the warehouse was easy. They weren't expecting anything. Sloppy. He took them all out with a clean bullet to the brain. Finding the rest of his team was easy.

"Steve!" Tony was the first to notice him. "I have never been so glad to see you." He made a face. "And I will mostly likely never say that again, so don't get used to it."

Steve smiled slightly. "Of course not." He looked around the room. "Is everyone okay?"

Tony was next to Thor, the god's movement sluggish. Tony was trying to help him stand. Natasha and Clint were curled around each other right next to the pair.

"We're fine," Tony answered. "Just some minor injuries, scrapes, bruises. They've been surprising gentle. Whatever they gave Thor is wearing off. He should be okay to move in a few minutes. They took Bruce somewhere."

"I know where he is," Steve assured the genius. "He's okay. I'll go get him. By the time I get back, Thor should be ready to move, right?"

"Yeah," Tony answered.

Before he left he went to each of his teammate, to make sure they were okay. That Clint and Natasha hadn't spoken worried him. He'd care for them properly when they got back to the tower. Or maybe he'd insist they go to Malibu.

"I'll be back," he promised.

Steve made sure there wouldn't be any visible bodies on the path he planned on leading his team out on. Once that was done he went back to get Bruce.

He knelt by the man on the floor. His eyes were glazed and he was pale from and sweating from pain. Steve smacked his cheek to make sure he was wake. He drew a knife and slit his throat, not deep enough to kill him right away. Steve wanted him to live for a little while yet, let him feel the horror of choking on his own blood. He cleaned the blood from his hands before he went to his teammate.

"Hey, Hulk? You okay?"

"Smash," Hulk mumbled.

"Yeah, I did," Steve said as he wrapped Bruce's arm around his shoulder helping him walk. "Let's keep that between us, okay?"

"Star Man."

Steve took that as agreement.

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I adore this chapter. A lot. Its just so not Steve that I love it.

I'll be up-dating every week or two, and mostly have the fic done, there's just two more Avengers I have to get through.

If anyone knows of any fics along a dark/violent vein like this one, would you mind sharing? I love dark fics like this, and it can be difficult to find them.

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the Avengers franchise.

7/28/2013

NOTE: I posted the wrong chapter before, and this is the edited one, with less exposition and more violence.

8/11/2013