Back to the present

"Okay," Steve began as they walked down Hyperdrive Avenue, subconsciously heading back to the Forbidden Forest, "we need a plan of action."

He held up his index finger in warning before Tessa could say as much as a word.

"And then I mean an actual plan, not just shouting 'attack' at the top of your lungs."

Tessa rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

Hanna caught up with them, panting slightly.

"Right, I'm here. What's the plan?"

"We were just discussing that," Steve went on, " I think I should probably get my backpack from the secret hideout. I was thinking I could—"

"What time is it?" Cave asked suddenly.

Hanna turned her gaze to the sun, which was starting to sink behind the trees.

"About... 8:30?" she guessed, "in the evening, obviously."

"Wait..." Steve frowned, "it was morning when we entered Parker Mansion... were we unconscious for that long?"

Cave swore.

"Language!" Hanna interrupted, but Cave didn't even seem to notice.

"Look, I need to go," he said quickly, pressing the Spider Signal that he'd been holding into Bruno's hands.

"Where?" Lilian asked.

"Not important," Cave interrupted, "I'll meet you all here in a moment, okay?"

And with that Cave was off, leaving no more than a streak of blue behind.

Hanna groaned.

"And there he goes... you should almost just put a leash on him."

"How on earth did the Avengers keep a guy like that in check?" Bruno asked.

"They had his sister," Hanna knew.

"Fair enough," Bruno shrugged, glancing at Lilian.

"Well, as I was saying," Steve went on, "I want to get my backpack back from the secret hideout, and I was thinking I could take Lilian."

"Why Lilian?" Bruno enquired, "not that I mind, but..."

"I need you and Tessa elsewhere," Steve clarified, "you two are the best equipped to find out what happened to Joyce Hammer. I was thinking you could go over to the library, get your hands on a computer, and try to figure out where the next Iron Man armour piece could be."

Bruno nodded slowly.

"We rendezvous at the South entrance to the Forbidden Forest," Steve went on, "try to be there before 10PM."

"Makes sense," Tessa nodded, shifting her gaze to Bruno, "shall we be off, then? I'm not sure if the library closes at night, but..."

Bruno nodded, and they turned to go, while Steve and Lilian set off towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Whoa wait, what about Cave?" Hanna asked, "if he comes back now, he won't be able to find us!"

Steve spun back to face her, a smirk on his face.

"That's why you're going to stay here until he comes back."

"And do what exactly?" Hanna scowled, "sit and wait while you do all the fun stuff?"

Steve's grin became even wider.

"Exactly."

-

Bruno and Tessa walked into the library side by side. Tessa made a dash for the computers, reserving two next to each other while Bruno followed slightly slower.

"If you look up Joyce Hammer, I'll search Hammer Industries," Bruno suggested, and Tessa nodded, starting up the computers.

Bruno sat down, opened a browser, and typed in 'Hammer Industries'.

"I've found her on three social media platforms, four if you count her badly-done Harry Potter fan account," Tessa reported, "what exactly do we want to know? I'm guessing her uncle Thrain's wedding isn't relevant."

"Whoa wait, I've barely even started!" Bruno protested, "we need information on the Iron Man suit, just... I don't know, see if you can find anything."

Tessa nodded, eagerly scrolling downwards while Bruno clicked on the official Hammer Industries website.

"Ohhh look at this!" Tessa exclaimed, only to be shushed by the librarian.

"Oh, sorry," Tessa whispered, "Bruno, look here."

She pointed to her screen, which showed a picture of the Iron Man armour — the chest piece, to be precise.

"The caption says; so sorry 2 say goodbye 2 this 'lil treasure, but im afraid $100 000 000 is not an offer I can refuse. its been in the family for years, so sad 2 see it go. 😢."

Tessa snorted.

"An emoji? Who still uses emoji's? And then there's the comments, all stuff like 'that's a fake', 'it's true I was the missing arc reactor' and 'haha iron man is not real go die in a hole'."

"What?" Bruno frowned.

"I know right?" Tessa agreed, "some people are just jerks."

"No, no, I meant... missing arc reactor?"

Tessa squinted at the photo, and then nodded.

"They're right, the arc reactor is missing. Well, I guess we'll have to find that before this'll be of any use to us."

"Does it say who she sold it to?" Bruno asked.

Tessa shook her head, before scrolling a bit further.

"Ohhh, look!" she whispered gleefully, pointing to another post.

"What?" Bruno asked again.

"It says; 'i can't believe @theawsomr claimed my iron man armour before i could get any cash for it. talk about meanies.' Honestly lady, learn how to use capital letters."

Bruno rolled his eyes.

"Does it say where the AWSOMR took the segment of armour?"

Tessa shook her head.

"Nope... although... yes, they're keeping it in the old Hammer Industries HQ, which they also laid claim to after they went bankrupt. But all this is dated three years back, so you should probably do some more research."

Bruno nodded, searching through the Hammer Industries website on his own computer. It was old and partially unfinished, and hadn't been worked on in ages. So instead, he switched back to search and typed in; Hammer Industries AWSOMR.

The first result was a news report dated a week earlier.

Hammer HQ bites the dust

The Hammer Industries Headquarters exploded in fiery inferno yesterday, taking a few neighboring buildings and a segment of the Forbidden Forest with it. There were no casualties but there were six people majorly injured, and a segment of the forest has burnt down. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, but the director of the AWSOMR has stated that he had already planned on tearing the building down, and that this was only a minor inconvenience. The rubble will be cleared up as soon as possible, once the firefighters deem the area safe enough.

"Nothing about the Iron Man armour..." Bruno muttered, "What do you think Tessa?"

Tessa had started up something else, focusing on her screen while keyboard smashing.

"Um... Tess? What are you doing?"

"Making an encoded chatroom," Tessa answered casually.

"By... keyboard smashing?"

"Hey, it's a fine art!" Tessa retorted, "let's see you keyboard smashing your way out of the AWSOMR's reach."

"Sure, sure," Bruno held up his hands in surrender, "whatever you say."

Tessa pressed enter, and something that did look very much like a chatroom appeared.

Insert Username

Tessa paused, her fingers hovering above the keyboard for a few seconds before she started typing.

Gold_Titanium

She pressed enter again.

"What's your email address Bruno?" she asked, typing out a few more strings of code.

"Why?" Bruno asked, slightly suspicious.

"Lilian has your phone, so then I can send her a link with access to the chat."

"And you don't think the AWSOMR could just intercept— wait, Lilian took my phone? Again?"

Tessa grinned.

"Yeah, she did. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to communicate. Now email, please, I'll ensure that it's encoded properly."

Bruno sighed, and typed in his email. He watched as Tessa sent the invitation, and moments later someone by the name of Mr_Green joined the chat.

"That'll be Lilian," Bruno grumbled.

Tessa sent a message into the chat, and almost immediately Lilian sent something too. Bruno didn't bother to read it; he was trying to get Tessa's attention.

"Tessa... I think I found something."

Tessa finished her answer, clicked send and turned to Bruno.

"What?"

Bruno pointed to the article on-screen, and Tessa scanned through it.

"Well, there's a chance that the Iron Man armour is still there. Maybe the AWSOMR forgot about it!"

Bruno raised an eyebrow.

"You don't just 'forget' a piece of legendary Avenger equipment, Tessa. But I guess it's a worth a shot."

Tessa grinned.

"Well then, we should probably get directions to Hammer HQ and head back to the South Entrance, then. I'm sure the others can't wait to hear the news."

-

Steve and Lilian made their way through the forest relatively quietly, sneaking back to the secret cave where Steve had left his backpack.

It was already starting to become dark when they heard the sound of other people tramping through the forest.

Steve pulled Lilian back behind a bush, and they listened as the voices came closer.

"I'm just saying, it would be a lot easier to find these twins of yours if we actually knew what they looked like," one voice started.

Lilian shrank back at the word 'twins', bumping into Steve slightly.

"They look identical, Rudy," another voice, distinctly Sokovian, countered.

Lilian relaxed slightly; she and Bruno certainly weren't identical, so whoever was talking meant someone else.

"But what if they're not together!" the first voice protested, "then that's completely useless!"

"Yeah, but what kind of idiot splits up in the Forbidden Forest?" the Sokovian voice asked.

"Boys boys, calm down," another Sokovian voice soothed, "don't forget that we're in the Forbidden Forest too, and there's a reason that it's called forbidden."

At that point Steve stood up, dusting the leaves off his pants and gesturing for Lilian to follow suit. These people obviously weren't AWSOMR agents, and hiding behind bushes would only make whoever they were suspicious. But just to be sure, he hid his shield behind his legs.

Just as Lilian stood up straight, three people rounded the large bushes and came to halt when they saw Steve and Lilian.

"Um... hi," the young lady greeted, smiling semi-nervously, "have you by any chance seen my brothers? They're identical twins."

Steve shook his head.

"Sorry. The only twins I know are Lilian here and her brother Bruno."

"But if we do come across them we can tell them you're looking for 'm," Lilian smiled cheerfully, "what's your name?"

"Don't answer that," one of the young men whispered, the one with the Sokovian accent, "it's a trick so they can arrest you later."

"Stop being so suspicious Hugo," the young lady rolled her eyes, before turning back to Steve and Lilian, "just tell them their sister Winter is looking for them, they'll know."

"If this gets you caught I'm going to say I told you so," Hugo muttered, raised his eyes to the skies.

"Relax Hugo," the other young man advised, "they're just kids. Speaking of which...what brings you here? You do realize this is the Forbidden Forest, right?"

"Of course they do Rudy," Hugo pointed out, "you'd have to be next to blind to miss those signs."

"We um...  sort of knew," Steve lied hesitantly, "we just uhhh... lost something."

"His backpack," Lilian filled in, "we left it behind at the waterfall."

Hugo nodded to himself.

"Sounds believable enough. I'd ask why you were at the waterfall to begin with, but I'll leave your love lives out of it."

"What, do you think we're... that we..." Steve spluttered.

"It's none of your business," Lilian interrupted with a fierceness that made Rudy take a step backwards.

"Sure, sure," Hugo shrugged, shooting a glance at Winter and Rudy, "you wouldn't be the only ones in total denial."

Winter rolled her eyes with a groan, while Rudy protested a little.

"Anyway, we should get going before it becomes too dark," Steve put on a fake smile that almost made Lilian cringe.

"Yeah, we should get going too," Winter agreed, glaring at Rudy and Hugo.

"If we see your brothers we'll tell them you're looking for them," Lilian promised, and Winter smiled.

"Thanks. Good luck finding your backpack!"

The three of them turned around and walked off, and Steve picked up his shield. Lilian and Steve set off towards the waterfall, with Steve glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to ensure that the threesome wasn't backtracking to follow Lilian and himself.

"We really have to work on your lying skills," Lilian commented, "if we're going to be relying on you to talk us out of situations as our team leader, we need to be able to trust that you won't just talk us into more problems than we already have."

"Who says I'm the team leader?" Steve asked, squinting at the trees behind him, "put Tessa in charge, she can lie her way out of anything."

Lilian shook her head.

"You're the leader, Tessa is the semi-egoistic person who pretends to be the leader but leaves the planning to the responsible people."

"We never agreed to that," Steve protested, "I'm sure the others think differently."

Lilian raised her eyebrows, and took a phone out of her pocket.

"Where did you get that?" Steve frowned.

"It's Bruno's. I knew Tessa had a phone, and I figured yours was in your backpack, so I took it so we could keep in contact if necessary."

Lilian unlocked the phone with a quick swipe, and pressed on something.

It asked for a username, and she filled in Mr_Green.

Steve blinked.

"Wait, is that... did you make a group chat? Lilian, you do realize the AWSOMR could easily intercept something like that, right?"

Lilian shook her head with a grin.

"That's the thing. Tessa made this just a few minutes ago, at the library. We sorta agreed she'd make an encoded chat the AWSOMR wouldn't be able to access, just in case."

She swiftly typed out a message, and waited for Tessa's answer as they walked on to the waterfall.

The phone let out a soft ding and Lilian held up the phone triumphantly.

Avengers Junior groupchat

[Gold_Titanium has created this chat]

[Gold_Titanium is now online]

[Mr_Green is now online]

Gold_Titanium: Lilian & Cave you really need to get your own phones.

Mr_Green: Guys who is our leader btw?

Gold_Titanium: Carter-Rogers is the official leader, I'm the semi-egoistic badass that acts like a leader should while leaving all strategic planning to the ACTUAL leader.

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Okay, you totally set that up."

His eyes lit up when the river came into sight, and he sped up into a jog while Lilian stuffed the phone back into her pockets.

Steve slid in through the secret tunnel — through the water, leaving him completely soaked again. Lilian waited outside, seeing as there was no reason for her to freeze too.

Steve reappeared with his backpack on his back and his shield on his arm.

"Right," he stated, suddenly looking extremely patriotic, "let's head over to the South entrance."

-

A blue blur sped across the street, before coming to a halt under a lantern post.

"Hanna?" he called out uncertainly.

There was a grumble of annoyance from the nearest tree, and a few seconds later Hanna slid down the trunk, dropping to the floor.

"I've been waiting... FOR THIRTY MINUTES!" she hollered, and he cringed.

"Sorry, but it was important and—"

"Stop right there Cave. Just... shut your mouth."

Cave shut up instantly, and Hanna sighed.

"Was it that important?" she asked calmly.

He nodded.

"Fine," Hanna sighed again, "then let's just go find the others."

"Where... where are they?" Cave asked uncertainly.

"Searching up information about Joyce Hammer and fetching Steve's backpack. We said we'd meet up at the South Entrance to the Forbidden Forest, so that's where we'll go."

She looked him in the eye.

"And if you speed off again, Mr Road Runner, count yourself banished from the Reavengers."

"Yes Hanna."

"Oh come on, did I scare you that much? You could at least say something about my messed up excuse for a team name."

"Um... yeah... it's uh... cool."

Hanna raised an eyebrow.

"You know what, just don't say anything, you're freaking me out with your obedience. To the South entrance."

She glanced at her watch.

"We have about an hour to get there."

She mumbled something under her breath about superspeed, and then they set off.