Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or any of its characters/settings

Author's Note: So I know that I should really be focusing on getting my previously posted work back on here, but I figured that the stories on my computer that are already finished weren't going anywhere anytime soon, so I might as well start this one while the idea was still fresh in my mind. This story takes place sometime between CA:TWS and AoU. So, hope you enjoy!

The call came in at 2:34 am.

Normally the time wouldn't matter.

Normally the little details would fall through the cracks.

But this time it wasn't normal.

This time it did matter.

It's incredible really, all of the little details that make up one's day and yet you don't really take them all in until something bad happens. Something really bad.

It started with the call.

It ended in the hospital.

"Has anyone got a visual on the Cap?"

Static. Empty air. His heart beat pounded in his ears.

"Steve?"

"Steve!"

But let's back up and start from the beginning.

1:30 am

It was a morning like any other.

Nat and Clint were in their rooms, sleeping, or at least attempting to get some shut eye.

Thor was on the roof, star-gazing.

Banner was knocked out in front of the tv on the couch, a bucket of popcorn balancing precariously in his lap as the light flickered over his lax features.

Stark was holed up in one of his labs, in the process of remodeling one of his suites into yet a better make and model that he'd been working on for quite some time now.

And Steve, Steve was in the basement.

He sent a right hook into the bag, quickly followed by a kick.

Punch, punch, kick, jab with elbow, punch.

A cycle. Over and over.

Sweat dripping slowly down his brow. His muscles starting to shake with exertion.

Eventually he stopped, placing a hand on the bag to steady it and wiping his forehead with his other hand.

He grabbed his water bottle and decided to make his rounds through the Tower.

He didn't do this every night, but most nights. It helped calm him down and ground him before he went to bed.

He started at the top, joining Thor on the roof and listening to a couple of the warrior's grand stories as he sipped water. He liked Thor, enjoyed the Asgardian's strange sense of humor and always felt a tad bit better when he wasn't the only person who didn't completely understand this century.

He walked back down the stairs and placed his now empty water bottle in the kitchen before walking into the living room and shutting the television off. He smiled at the sight of Banner draped across the cushions and decided to leave the popcorn, not wanting to wake him on accident. He respected Banner, the man was usually fairly quiet but he was incredibly smart and gentle. He was usually Steve's go-to guy whenever he needed help with technology and wasn't in the mood to deal with Stark.

Next he peered quietly into Nat's and Barton's rooms, a quick glance to judge if they were sleeping or if they needed company. Tonight both were deep asleep. The two SHIELD assassins had pretty much kept to themselves at first, but once they had opened up to the team they had become the final pieces to their obscure little family.

Last but not least Steve wandered down into Tony's labs. Tony...Steve shook his head. The man got on his nerves, and yet they had a strange friendship in spite of that. Or perhaps, because of that. Each of them had opposing strengths that somehow evened out in the long run.

Not to mention that Steve and Tony were the team's notorious insomniacs. As a result, most of their actual talking usually occurred within the late night, or early morning hours.

The bright lights were almost blinding compared to the dark upstairs, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust.

Tony barely glanced up from whatever he was tinkering with on his desk when he heard the door open.

"Finish the rounds?" his tone was light, as if having to ground yourself into a time period each night was something everyone had to do. He couldn't find it within himself to tease the super-soldier after the man had explained to him the story behind his strange routine.

Steve shrugged, "Everyone's okay upstairs. How are you?"

Tony shrugged, "Fine."

"The shoulder better?"

Tony stretched his arm in a big circular motion, "Good as new."

Steve nodded, that was good news. During their last mission a couple of weeks ago, Tony had dislocated his shoulder and torn some muscle in his back along with it. It had been a long recovery and he'd only recently gotten cleared. For someone who was as active as Tony, sitting out on the sidelines for two weeks had been a real challenge.

"Been on any SHIELD missions recently?" Tony asked, keeping the conversation flowing as he scooted his chair over and started clicking away on his computer.

Steve shook his head, "No, been pretty quiet actually."'

"Anything on your uh…" Tony waved his hand, "Friend?"

"Bucky," Steve reminded him, he sighed "And no, pretty quiet there to."

"Well, he's bound to show up somewhere. Who knows, maybe he'll drag the Loch Ness out of the river next. Or you know, kill someone, or.."

Steve shot Tony a glare that clearly stated his teasing wasn't appreciated. Tony tended to get that look a lot from Steve.

2:00 am

By two Thor had retreated to his room. Nat, Barton, and Banner were still where they had been previously. Tony was talking to Pepper on the phone on the balcony. Steve was in his room, drawing in his sketchbook.

Everything was quiet.

Everyone waiting for the sun to come up and the day to officially begin.

Steve was just going over his drawing, the flower vase on his nightstand that someone had given to him as a gift, one last time. Carefully darkening the shadows and adding extra details.

Then the call came in.

"Captain Rogers, Mister Fury is on the line."

Steve's head shot up, knowing that there was only one reason for Fury to call at that hour, "Wake the Avengers."

3:00 am

"We have another mad scientist Cap? Or is it Hydra? Oh, what about-" Tony asked as he piloted the quinjet over the dark New York skyline.

"It's a gang under the name of the Revolutionaries." Steve informed the team, some of which still seemed half-asleep.

"What's their angle?" Natasha asked, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

"Start a revolution."

"How original," Clint muttered, checking the tips of his arrows.

"They don't approve of America not putting the Avengers in prison, so they plan on taking us out themselves."

"So we're flying right to them?"

"So they're destroying as many towns as they can in order to get to us." Tony supplied, before explaining, "What? I read the headlines."

"Where is our destination?" Thor questioned.

"Smallville, Nebraska."

3:45 AM

They lost an hour somewhere along the way to the small town. The sun still had yet to come out, the stars twinkling above. It would have been a beautiful scene overlooking the city had the far side of it not been on fire.

"Cap," Tony called.

Steve joined him at the head of the plane and cursed softly under his breath, "Okay," He hooked his cowl on and Tony watched as Steve transformed into Captain America.

It had taken a long time for him to actually distinguish between the two, and looking back he wondered how Steve Rogers could ever be considered the same person as Captain America.

Steve Rogers was strong yes, and noble. A natural leader who knew how to play to people's strengths. Captain America was all those things, but he made the tough calls. Captain America took a hit and moved on, Steve Rogers needed time to heal.

He could remember the first time Steve had gotten hurt, really hurt from a mission-

"Shit Spangles," Tony gasped as he flipped his helmet open.

Steve laid on the ground, sickeningly pale and surrounded by a pool of red. Tony's gut lurched as he took in all the blood and tried to calculate just how much blood loss would be too much for the super soldier.

Steve just groaned and rested his head on the ground.

"Okay, uh, Thor we're gonna need some evac here, and tell Banner to get his medical supplies ready in the jet, uh..." Tony searched frantically for some form of first aid kit. They were in the freakin' downtown, there had to be something somewhere, right? His eyes landed on a jagged piece of debris that had dried blood on it and eyed the hole in Steve's gut, "Dude did you yank that thing out?" he asked incredulously.

Steve shrugged and coughed, uncharacteristically out of it. His body started shaking despite the weather being in the high seventies.

"You're supposed to leave it in and let the professionals dig it out you, moron," he scolded, slipping his arms out of the suit's arms and squirming his way out of his t-shirt, he opened the suite entirely and yanked his shirt off over his head. He balled the fabric up and pressed it against the wound,"Okay Spangles, you're gonna be alright. You hear me? Thor's on his way and Banner'll fix you right up -

"We're going to have to split up," Steve decided as Tony gently placed the quinjet on the ground, a safe distance from the town.

"Can I be the first to say that that's a horrible idea? Divide and conquer, remember?" Tony interjected, shaking his head to rid himself of that awful memory.

Steve sighed, clearly stating that he agreed, but that they didn't have much choice in the matter.

"Those Revolutionaries won't stop until they burn the town down to the ground. Tony, Nat, and Thor, you guys'll be in charge of heading them off and stopping them. We don't know how many of them there are or whether or not they're armed, so be careful. Barton, you and I will be in charge of fire and rescue, try and lead the civilians out of the city if you can. Banner, be ready for the call, we might need some medical help." Steve glanced at everyone, trying to find something encouraging to say.

Luckily Tony opened the back of the plane, and fired up his thrusters, one step ahead of everyone else as usual, "Let's do this!"

4:00AM

The fight with the so-called Revolutionaries was nothing spectacular. Tony and Thor easily held them off, which enabled Natasha to go help with the evacuation. Even when they had managed to rope the gang up fires were still raging throughout the city and had started to spread to the more populated areas.

"Okay Cap, we're all good to go here," Tony stated into his intercom.

The comm was uncharacteristically quiet. He shared a glance with Thor, knowing that the silence could mean anything. He had to remind himself that jumping to conclusions wouldn't help anybody.

"Hey Capsicle, we got the yahoos rounded up," he said, hoping that the annoying nickname would spur Steve to respond.

There was another gap of unnerving silence to his announcement.

'I swear if he freakin' knocked out his intercom again,' Tony thought rolling his eyes.

One of the Revolutionaries started laughing hysterically as they continued to wait for a response.

Thor moved quicker than Tony could. The man was being held in the air by his collar before he knew the Asgardian had even moved.

"What have you done?" Thor growled.

Tony's heartbeat started to quicken as the man just smiled.

"Has anyone got a visual on Cap?" Tony asked.

The silence seemed deafening.

He lurched into the night sky and zoomed over the city, yes Steve was sometimes a righteous pain in his ass, but he was Steve, how the heck could they be the Avengers without their leader? Without their friend?

"Steve?" he yelled, he could see Nat leading a rather large group of people out of the city.

Barton had stopped helping with the evac and was searching on the ground for their missing Captain, aiming for the last location he'd seen Steve.

Tony watched in slow motion as Barton tried to run into a burning apartment building. With a crack like the earth was opening up, the building's roof caved in, one by one each floor came crashing down onto the next. Barton was thrown backwards as the building collapsed entirely, but not before Tony caught sight of a speck of a red, white, and blue uniform inside.

His heart beat thundered in his ears.

"Steve!"

*So, any good? Worth continuing? Sorry if it's a bit choppy, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless and please review if you have the time! Thanks for reading! :)*