A/N – As of this chapter, Heroes Assemble! is moving to an update schedule of every second week. The 'off' weeks will be used for posting the sequel to Muggle-Raised Champion, the first chapter of which will be posted next Thursday. For any who missed the Heroes Assemble! companion story that was posted last week, it's a single chapter stand-alone entitled Ghost of Bengalla.

ooo00ooo

Alex stared down at the thick, gold chain on his wrist. Ordinarily, it wasn't something that he'd wear but what it represented ...

Pushing himself to his feet, he looked across at where Nico and Karolina were curled up on a couch together, talking quietly to each other and then in the opposite direction where Gert and Chase were currently locked at the lips.

Yes, he nodded, now was the perfect time.

"I'm going to head to New York; see if I can pick up any news about the 'rents," he said casually.

"Why?" Nico asked, her head up and twisted to face him. "Bobbi promised that if they heard anything, that we'd be the first to hear."

"Yeah, man, not a smart idea," Chase added. "Your folks hired Jessica to find us; there's no telling who else they might have paid."

"I still can't believe that they tracked us to New York in the first place," Gert stated. "I was so sure that we'd covered our tracks so that they couldn't find us."

"Maybe they just got lucky?" Alex shrugged.

"Who got lucky?" Molly asked as she came into the room via the stairs.

"The parents," Gert replied. "With how they managed to track us to New York."

"You sure your dad didn't invent some kind of tracking device and plant it on us, Chase?" Molly asked.

"Nope, we're clean. I checked. Twice. And Stark checked us over as well," Chase replied.

"And we know that Old Lace doesn't have a tracker implanted in her either," Gert added.

"As I said, they must have just got lucky," Alex said, reinforcing his idea once again. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."

He'd never done this by himself before, although after the two times that he'd been through a portkey ride, he at least knew what to expect. Holding up his arm, he stared at the chain.

"Curried Apples," he stated firmly and instantly felt that nauseating jerk like a hook had just grabbed him behind his navel and yanked. Hard.

His world spun into a whirl of multicolour that seemed to last an eternity before he was deposited, spinning like a top into the lounge of Avengers Tower. The ground rushed up hard and he landed hard on his hands and knees, panting, his eyes closed as he fought with his stomach. Thankfully, this time, he actually won that battle.

"Hey, kid, something you need?"

Alex looked up to see Tony Stark standing behind a bar, his wife seated on a stool on the opposite side of it and both of them looking at him.

"Ah, no thanks, Mister Stark, I'm good," Alex replied as he scrambled to his feet.

"It's Tony, remember?" Stark replied.

"Right. Tony. Sorry," Alex nodded. "I'm, ah, just heading out into the city. You know, to stretch my legs a bit."

"Yeah, the Island's good but a bit lacking, isn't it?" Tony nodded.

"Just be careful," Misses Stark insisted.

"I will, Ma'am," Alex smiled.

Once the elevator doors had closed on him and he was on his way down, he sighed. He hadn't been able to get away by himself for a while and he'd been getting antsy.

The hustle and bustle of the city hit him like a wall as soon as he walked outside the Tower. There were people everywhere rushing past on the sidewalk, many with phones to their ears. Cars were backed up each way, moving in fits and jerks as the lights allowed. Picking a direction at random, Alex moved into the flow of people. He had no concerns about finding his way back – really, who in New York wouldn't know where Avengers Tower was?

He walked for about a quarter of an hour, taking random turns every so often. Of course, he 'window shopped', often using the reflections and the unexpected turns to check that he didn't have a tail. As far as he could tell, he was clean. Still ...

A sign across the street caught his attention and he quickly made his way across, dodging traffic as he did. Ducking into the store, he looked around before finding a duplicate sign against the back wall, an arrow pointing down a narrow hallway.

Weaving his way past tables and chairs and shaking his head at the girl behind the counter in response to her question of whether she could help him, Alex ducked into the hallway. His eyes lit up at the object at the far end. A public payphone. It looked ancient but it was also exactly what he needed.

Fishing out a handful of coins, he lifted the handset, deposited a bunch of the coins in the slot and punched in the number that he'd memorised. It was well-known that his parent's phone could be bugged – be it by the feds, local cops not in his dad's pocket, or now, even by the Avengers trying to find the dirt to put them away. That's why his dad had bought a burn phone. Untraceable and one that Alex could use to phone home to without anyone being the wiser.

His foot tapped and he glanced back behind him as he waited for his father to pick up.

"Hello? Alex?"

"Dad," he sighed in relief.

"It's been a while since I've heard from you. Are you alright?" his dad asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good."

"Where are you?"

"Still in New York," Alex replied. "Sort of."

"Sort of?" his dad asked. "What does that mean?"

"A P.I. by the name of Jessica Jones found us. She said that you hired her?"

"We did," his dad replied. "We don't have many of the police in our pay out there; thought it was the easiest way to get you lot back to L.A."

"Well, it backfired," Alex stated. "Jones got the Avengers involved."

"The Avengers? What the hell for?"

"Seems she caught sight of Nico using the staff and Chase using the fistigons," Alex replied. "So, she called in backup."

"Where are you now? Are you with the Avengers?" his dad demanded.

"Yeah. They took us to this island of theirs," Alex replied.

He coughed, then, at the unexpected feeling of his throat constricting slightly. Giving it a rub, he frowned. Perhaps he'd grab a drink before he left the café.

"There's minimal guards on the island. If you can get there by boat, I think it'd be easy to do a snatch and grab," Alex continued.

"Not a bad plan," his dad allowed. "'Cause, that assumes that we know where this island is."

"That's the thing," Alex said before stopping to cough again. "I don't know exactly where it is but I can make a good guess. You should be able to find us on a map after that."

"Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Judging by the sun times, it's four hours ahead of New York," Alex stated, rubbing his throat that now felt incredibly constricted. On top of that, his tongue had begun to tingle. "The climate's fairly temperate."

"How big's the island?" his dad asked.

Alex opened his mouth to reply, when suddenly, that horrid jerking behind his navel ripped him away.

He landed hard, spinning into a wall and cried in pain as he felt his nose smash into it. His glasses flew from his head as he bounced backwards to land on his butt.

"What the hell?' he asked the vacant room.

The hiss of air had him spinning around. The room was small, only about two metres square. There was a door in one wall, but it had no handle. Small holes located just below the ceiling and just above the floor on every wall had some type of gas pouring from them, filling the room with a white fog.

Instantly, Alex covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve and tried to breathe as shallowly as possible. But with no way out, it was impossible. Barely half a minute later, his head felt woozy and he was having trouble standing. And then his vision blacked.

Alex was unconscious before he even hit the floor.

ooo00ooo

Harry stood with his arms folded against his chest and a fierce, disapproving expression on his face.

"Harry? What is this place?" Steve asked as he, Tony, Bobbi and Daisy entered the room.

He turned to them and waved at the wall in front of him.

"One of the Runaway kids tried to tell someone how to find the Island," he stated.

The wall that they all turned towards was quite unique due to its magic. It wasn't solid, nor was it glass. Instead, it appeared to have a frosty transparency, not unlike a shower screen that was in the first stages of beginning to mist over. While it was still possible to see in and to see the figure lying on the floor, the image wasn't completely clear.

"Is that Alex?" Daisy asked.

"Yes," Harry nodded.

"As the Capsicle asked, what is this place?" Tony asked again.

"It's a room that I hoped would never be used," Harry sighed, running a hand across the back of his neck. "Actually, this area was never supposed to be used. It's a ... a detention area, for want of a better description."

"We have our own prison?" Bobbi frowned.

"It's designed specifically for anyone who attempts to betray us and Paradis Noir," Harry replied. "The portkeys that I've given everyone? You remember that I told you that they have some additional enchantments on them? Well, if a person attempts to reveal the whereabouts of the Island – even if that is simply by trying to describe its general location – then those enchantments activate and, eventually – after some mild warnings, which it is hoped that the person in question will desist – will portkey that person into one of these cells."

Now that he mentioned it, the others turned their heads to see the two other doors further down the corridor.

"Why's he unconscious?" Daisy asked.

"The cells are rigged so that they'll pump in some 'knock-out' gas when they detect a human presence," Harry explained.

"So, the kid was trying to tell someone about the Island," Steve frowned. "Any idea who? Or if it was intentional?"

"Not yet," Harry replied. "If it was accidental, then we can decide what to do with him. If it wasn't accidental ..."

"Then that opens up a myriad of other questions," Bobbi finished.

"I'm guessing that we're going to wake him up and ask him," Daisy said. "How will we know if he lies to us?"

"He won't lie," Harry replied grimly.

"What about the other kids?" Bobbi asked. "Let's say for the sake of argument that he was deliberately trying to tell someone else; do we tell them?"

"I think we'd better have them here when we question Alex," Daisy stated. "They won't believe us, otherwise."

"I agree," Steve nodded. "Daisy, Bobbi?"

With a nod, the two left but Harry barely noticed. Instead, he was opening the door to the cell. A simple wave of his hand cleaned the air. Two flicks of his wand produced a pair of chairs that faced each other. A swish and flick had the still unconscious Alex levitated into the chair that faced the wall/corridor so that those on the other side of the wall could see him and an extra wave of his hand had the boy securely tied to the chair.

It wasn't long later that the sound of multiple people coming down the stairs could be heard.

"Alex!" Nico yelled, rushing at the window/wall before whirling angrily at the adults. "What've you done? Why's he tied up like that?"

"And why's he unconscious?" Molly added, equally angry, evidenced by the golden glow around her iris' which only happened when her amazing strength was evident and ready to be used.

"That's because of something that Alex did," Harry replied from the open doorway. "At this point, we're not sure if it was intentional or not and that is what we're here to find out. And why we asked you here, so that you can hear what he has to say for himself."

"What'd he do?" Chase asked and Harry was sure that he was only barely restraining himself from attempting to force his way into the room.

"He tried to tell someone where the Island is," Daisy stated.

"When he did," Harry continued, "the enchantments on the special portkeys that I gave him – and everyone else, including you and the rest of the Avengers – activated to prevent him from being able to do so. He was transported here and knocked out until he could be questioned to find out what was going on."

"So, you're going to give him a fair 'trial'?" Nico asked.

"We're going to question him," Harry corrected. "Until we know his reasons and motivations, we have no intention of simply declaring him 'guilty'."

"Good!" Gert replied.

"You'll be able to watch and hear from out here," Harry said and, after making eye contact with both Daisy and Bobbi, entered the room with Steve and Tony and closed the door behind him.

"How are we going to do this?" Tony asked.

In response, Harry held up a small crystal vial.

"I'm going to give him three drops of this potion and then we're going to ask him some questions. Just be mindful that, while whatever Alex replies with will be the truth, he will only answer the question as asked," Harry said.

"Understood," Steve nodded.

Tipping Alex's head back, Harry opened his mouth and let three drops of veritaserum fall onto his tongue. After he was sure that the potion had had enough time to begin working, Harry enervated the teen.

"State your full name," Harry began the questioning.

"Alexander Geoffrey Wilder," a dull-sounding Alex replied.

"Did you leave Paradis Noir and go to New York City today?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

"Was it your intention to meet anyone there?"

"No."

"Did you attempt to tell anyone how to find Paradis Noir?" Harry asked.

"Yes."

"Was this a deliberate attempt or was it accidental?"

"Deliberate."

Harry exchanged grim looks with both Steve and Tony. At his nod, Steve stepped forward to continue the questioning.

"What is the name of the person you attempted to tell the location of Paradis Noir to?" Steve asked.

"Geoffrey Wilder."

"Your father?" Tony blurted.

"Yes."

"Did you see him in New York?" Steve asked.

"No."

"Did you phone him?"

"Yes."

"I thought that Maria had S.H.I.E.L.D. tap the phones of all the parents?" Harry asked.

"They did," Steve replied grimly. "Alex, do you know how the phone conversation between you and your father was not detected by any others?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"My father bought a pre-paid phone and gave me the phone number for it."

"That'd do it," Tony nodded.

"Okay. Alex. Why did you attempt to tell your father the location of Paradis Noir?" Steve asked.

"So that he could find us and take the others back to Pride," Alex replied.

Harry glanced at the wall that he knew the other Runaways were standing on the other side of. Even though he couldn't see them, he knew that they could see and hear everything that was being said inside the room and he imagined that they would not like what they'd just heard.

"Why do you want your friends to be recaptured by the Pride?" Steve asked.

"Because they are a danger to Pride," Alex replied.

"Who are you loyal to: your friends or Pride?" Tony asked.

"Pride."

"What? You know that we were all wondering that," Tony shrugged.

"Have you always been loyal to Pride?" Steve asked.

"Yes."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"I understand what Pride's ultimate goal is and believe in it."

The three men in the room shared a confused look and it was Steve who asked the next logical question.

"What is Pride's ultimate goal?"

"To extract the alien ship that is buried beneath Los Angeles. Then, using the technology that it contains, Pride will firstly subjugate the city, then the world and finally the solar system to begin a Great Earth Star Empire."

"Wow! Ambitious much?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"What is your role in this plan?" Steve asked.

"To ensure that they children of the Pride members do not interfere."

"When did you learn of this plan and become loyal to Pride?" Harry asked.

"A year ago," Alex replied.

"How did you learn of this?" Harry asked.

"I saw the Pride leaders kill a boy to help heal our leader, Jonah. I was seen and my parents explained the plan. After debating the merits of it with them, I agreed."

"What was your mission in regards to your friends?" Steve asked.

"My mission was to act as though I did not know if the others ever found out so that I could spy on them and so that they could be kept in check."

Harry decided that they'd finally heard enough. A flick of his hand had a jet of red light spit out to impact Alex's chest. Instantly, the boy lost consciousness and his head lolled forward. A second spell silenced the room so that the others outside wouldn't be able to hear them.

"What are we going to do with him?" Steve asked after Harry had nodded to him.

"I think we're going to have to give him to S.H.I.E.L.D.," Tony replied. "He's clearly guilty and we can't trust the police not to send him back to L.A. where his parents will simply get him out thanks to the corrupt cops there."

"He's underaged," Steve frowned.

Harry shrugged. "I've seen others no older than him kill and I wouldn't be surprised if he's capable of that as well. Coulson has facilities where he'll be kept under wraps and out of the way until we deal with Pride. He can be charged properly then."

"I don't like it, but it might be the best way," Steve allowed. "I definitely don't want to have to start taking prisoners ourselves – that way only leads to validating everything that the Accords accused us of being."

"Agreed," Tony and Harry said.

With that decided, Harry used his magic to open the door for the three of them.

Outside, they found that the rest of the Runaways weren't faring very well. A massive dent in one wall indicated that Molly had taken out her anger on it. Karolina was sitting on the floor, her knees up against her chest, arms wrapped around them and tears were streaming down her face. Chase was pacing backwards and forwards, glaring at Alex through the wall. Gert was slumped back, her head shaking as though unable or more likely, unwilling to believe what she'd just heard. And Nico was standing there, her fists balled, waiting for them.

"Let me in," she stated, the fury clear in her voice. "I'm gonna kill the little traitorous bastard!"

"No," Steve replied firmly. "Alex is guilty, we all heard that, and he will be punished. But not by us."

"Then who?" Chase growled.

"The authorities," Steve replied.

Nico laughed. "As if we trust them to do the right thing."

"They will," Steve stated. "Believe me, we'll make sure of it. For now, he'll be placed into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody until Pride has been taken care of. After that, he'll be tried properly and then sentenced accordingly."

"And what about Pride? What about our parents?" Molly demanded.

"From what I heard in there, it sounds to me as though it's time for the Avengers to become involved in that situation," Steve replied.

"And us?" Nico asked. "We want to help."

The adults in the room shared looks.

"I think that it's time that we began your training," Bobbi stated.

"Do we get to join Avengers Academy?" Nico asked.

"Maybe," Steve allowed. "For now, you need to learn how not to be