Title: Chaos and Canines
Challenge #87: Amnesty: Monsters
Fandom: The Avengers (MCU)
Rating: G
Length: 1826 words
Summary: A typical dinner is interrupted by danger and a dog.

Tony was trying his best not to start slamming his head against the table. The resulting concussion would mean he'd actually managed to accomplish something today and it would also provide a reason for the horrible headache that had been building for the past hour. Well, a valid reason. Because, try as he might, it was unlikely he could explain skipping out of his obligations for the rest of the day because an argument over pizza choices not only ate up all his spare time, but gave him a migraine as well.

Bruce was insisting on vegetarian toppings, which wouldn't be that big a deal, but broccoli, spinach and banana peppers on pizza was a combination no one else was willing to touch. Thor wanted a nine meat, also not the worst thing in the world, but Bruce claimed the smell of the anchovies made him nauseous. Natasha and Clint had so far spent forty-five minutes debating the pros and cons of different crusts and whether hand tossing truly made a difference in the flavor of the dough. Tony had tried to play peacemaker by offering to order a pie for everyone but the fridge was already stuffed with leftovers and Steve had made him promise to try to be less wasteful when it came to food the last time he'd caught them throwing out food and had told them to try to think of the kids starving in blah-blah-blah... To be truthful, Tony tuned out all of Cap's lectures pretty much as soon as they started, but he did remember this one involved attempting to stick with ordering sensible amounts from now on.

Speaking of Cap, Tony's phone chose that very moment to start playing the rated XXX version of "Star Spangled Man" (complete with gasps and moans) he'd tracked down and set as Steve's ringtone. "Stark's pizzeria! You ask nice and we'll give you a slice! Place your order today and..." The singsong joking died off the second the background noise coming through the receiver filtered through enough for Tony to engage his brain.

Gunfire.

A lot of gunfire.

He slammed his fist down on the table hard enough to rattle everything on it, the pizza argument immediately died and everyone's attention snapped to him. "Cap, what's going on? Where are you?" Tony yelled into the phone. At the same time he pulled out his Starkpad and began triangulating the location of Steve's cell. Worryingly, other than the gunfire, the only sounds coming through the phone was ragged breathing and, oddly enough, growling. There was a sudden loud boom and all the cacophony stopped as the line went dead.

"An explosion has just been reported at 131st Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenues, Sir," JARVIS announced just as Tony finished triangulating the location of Steve's phone to that very spot.

"Steve," Tony yelled into the phone even though he wasn't sure Steve could hear him. "We have your location and we're on our way. Do you hear me? Hold on, just hold on, we're on our way."

The entire team was on their feet, looking at him expectantly, but it was Natasha who spoke. "Stark?"

"I don't know." He tossed her the phone. "If he's conscious, he's not talking. You, Barnes and Bruce take the Quinjet. Thor and I will get their quicker under our own power. Okay?" A quick look around the room garnered grim faces and nods as, dinner orders forgotten, they rushed out, heading to the balcony and landing pad.

A few minutes later Thor and Tony were about to land in front of their destination, a partially collapsed warehouse, when two SUVs pulled away from the curb and began to speed away. "Thor!" Tony called into his comlink. "I'll scan the rubble for survivors. You stop them! They might have Cap, but even if they don't they're acting like they're guilty of something."

"With pleasure, Iron Man!" Thor took off after the vehicles.

"JARVIS, did you catch their plates?"

"Of course, Sir."

"Have the police but a BOLO out on them, put them on terror watch list and alert, I don't know, everyone."

"Yes, Sir."

Tony, having begun scanning the moment he landed, came across an anomaly in his readings then. He focused in, the heat signature was definitely large enough to be a human male of the Cap-sized variety, but the sensors were displaying oddly and in an unusual configuration. Was the debris causing a pingback or had the explosion caused a gas build up? It wasn't a fire, it didn't read right for that, but…

With so much detritus precariously placed Tony was still slowly clearing the way when the others appeared next to him. "Did you find him?" Nat asked, her tone hard in that way she got when she was trying to hide her emotions.

"Found something," he replied. The suit made it easy to move large sections of half collapsed wall out of the way quickly. "I don't think we'll need the Hulk's strength here, Bruce. Will you check on the first responders and make sure an ambulance is directed this way? Hawkeye, go with him. If anyone argues with about diverting help this way, shoot them."

"Tony." It was more of a sigh than a complaint and Bruce didn't say anything more before taking off down what was left of the alley in and heading off in the direction of Fifth Avenue with Clint at his heels.

Shifting a dumpster lid resulted in a new kind of explosion, one of the sound of barking and growling, although Tony still couldn't see anything.

"What's that?" Natasha pulled a gun out of... somewhere, as she asked.

"It means we're close. Hopefully." With a grunt he pulled a large chunk of concrete off the remaining part of the dumpster to clear away enough debris so it could be moved. "When I had Cap on the phone it sounded like there was a dog with him. With any luck," he said as he began as shift the dumpster up and away from where it was lying. "AGH!" He jumped back as a rangy, dirty, matted mess of a dog emerged snarling and snapping at his gauntleted hands.

"Bust'r," a creaking, cracking, familiar and wonderful sounding voice called from somewhere in the depths of darkness and rubble. The dog immediately stopped and backed back into the half collapsed section of wall the dumpster had been protecting.

"Cap?" Tony called as he and Natasha began carefully picking through the smaller bits, trying to open up the area to get a better look. "How you doing?" Thanks to the suit's enhancements, he was able to hear a raspy cough, but, worryingly, there was no other reply.

It was only a few moment's work to clear the debris enough to be able to unearth Steve. He was lying on his side in a large puddle of blood , one leg splayed out to the side at an unnatural angle and both arms curled over his head, protecting his face. The dog, standing over Steve's feet eyed them warily as Natasha reached out to touch him but Tony grabbed her arm. "Wait, don't move him. Let me finish the scan first to see how bad he's been hurt."

JARVIS brought up several displays and Tony read off the details into his comm as he interpreted what appeared. "Two bullet wounds. Both through and throughs with minor damage that's already healing, but he's lost a lot of blood. Suffering numerous abrasions. Compound fracture of the left tib-fib. Concussion. Subdermal hematoma.... blah blah blah. No injury to neck or spine, is the important thing. We can move him."

"Steve?" Natasha asked softly as she reached over to uncurl him gently. The dog bared its teeth and gave a low growl.

Natasha pulled her hand back just as Steve groaned, his eyes still closed, and said, "Buster, down." The dog instantly dropped its aggressive stance and sat down, although he didn't seem too happy about it. Steve, meanwhile, blinked blearily up at Tony and Natasha. "Y'found me."

"Like there was any doubt," Tony scoffed, going for a cocky, unaffected tone which he immediately dropped when Steve began pushing himself up. His voice went high and worried. "Wait, woah, what are you doing? You have a concussion! You're bleeding! And broken!"

When it didn't look like Steve was going to either respond or stop trying to sit up despite swaying slightly, Natasha reached out to steady him and asked, "Sitrep?"

"Thought I spotted Count Nefaria earlier. Was worried about Buster so I came back. Walked into the Maggia battling it out with someone. Didn't see who," Steve paused to take a deep breath before pulling his broken leg straight in front of him. "Reduce that for me, will you Tony?"

Glad his mask was hiding his expression, Tony grimace and shuddered. "EMTs are two minutes out, shouldn't you wait?"

Steve gave a half shrug before looking down and seeing the bullet holes and the blood staining his clothes. "Damn it. No wonder it hurts." Buster whined softly and he reached out and let the mangy mutt sniff his hand and then lick it. "It's all right, fella."

"He's certainly devoted to you," Natasha said as she offered her own hand for Buster to sniff.

"A few weeks ago I caught some kids kicking him but he ran off before I could see if he was okay so I came back to check on him and I've been bringing him food after my daily runs."

"Of course you do," Tony muttered, shaking his head. "Bruce and Clint are here with the ambulance. I assume you're going to want them to take you to medical in the Tower instead of a hospital or anything sensible like that?"

"Hospital? I don't need a hospital." Steve pouted in mock complaint before looking over at the dog, now happily ensconced in Natasha's lap. "Can we take Buster with us?"

"Can we take Buster with us?" Tony aped Steve's soft but hopeful tone."If he comes home with us he's not staying," Tony ordered firmly as Clint and Bruce ran up with the paramedics. "We can get a veterinarian for him. Maybe get him a bath and some food but he's not staying."

"Thank you, Ton-y!" Steve gasped and cried in pain when one of the paramedics touched his leg, Buster barked and growled softly, only quieting when Natasha began stroking his head.

"Who's this?" Bruce asked as he bent down to give Buster a scratch behind the left ear.

"No one. And he might be coming with us, but he's not staying."

"Of course not," Natasha cooed. Cooed

"He's not! I mean it!"

Bruce stood up and patted Tony on the shoulder as they watched Steve get loaded onto the gurney and carried toward the ambulance with Natasha and Clint walking behind and Buster following at their heels. "I know, buddy, I know."