Oh My Labyrinth!

Oh What a mess you've made

Chapter Two:

                                                                         Oh, what a mess you've made

Pain. That was the first thing that registered with Steve. The second was something akin to being waterlogged. Groaning as he opened his eyes, his neck stiff and his body aching, he began looking around his current environment. An action that wound up being anything but helpful as all he could see was complete darkness.

Struggling to his feet, a wave of dizziness and nausea flew through him. He breathed in hard, but slow breaths as he tried to control the sudden urge to puke. Reaching up, he felt a sticky substance coat his fingers when he touched his forehead, but whether that was worm-goo or blood, he couldn't be sure. Though if he had to wager a guess, it was probably a mixture of both.

Ignoring the unknown substance, he tapped his ear com in hopes to reach his friends.

"Captain America to Avengers, come in. Can anyone read me? I repeat, this is Captain America to Avengers, can anyone read me?"

Silence was his only answer. With a sigh, he began prepping himself to move, taking a deep stabilizing breath before determining which direction he might want to start in; not that it really mattered as he had no clue which way was the right one, or if there even was a right way.

Wading through what he assumed to be water, though honestly he tried hard not to think too deeply about any other possibilities, he began trying to find anything that might be in his current location that might explain what had occurred. It wasn't until he nearly fell face down in the water, his foot tripping over something in his path that he realized a groan had come from right below him.

"Anyone there?" he yelled, unsure as to how far below the groan might have come from.

"Cap?" came the weak voice.

Steve froze.

"Stark?" he called out, concern coating his voice.

'If Iron Man was down here, then something must have gone seriously wrong,' he thought to himself in a panic, though he kept his voice steady as he called out to the man again when he had received no response back.

"What's your status Iron Man?" he yelled in the direction of the voice.

"Well..." came the hesitant reply, "I might call this a...sticky situation."

A weak chuckle followed the reply and it took Steve a moment to realize the chuckle hadn't come from Stark.

"Who else is down here?" he demanded.

"Easy Rogers, I'm not the threat" came the snarky reply, but it was strained.

"Clint?" he asked just to confirm.

"No, Nancy Drew" came the reply, before a deep sigh came with it, "Yes, it's me and Stark, that was weak bro."

"Like I need you to tell me that", came the snip, but Steve was concerned at how quiet and muffled the voice was.

"Look, I would be glad to play this game with you guys another day, but right now I can't see anything and I can't contact the others, so I need to know the facts. What are your current statuses?"

"Not as good as I wish it was" Clint said after a moment, "I'm pinned beneath a tree trunk, or at least my leg is. I also don't know what the heck I am sitting in, but its freezing me out. I am pretty sure if I could actually see something, I would see my breath."

"I feel you there", agreed the Captain who had to admit, the water was icy against his calves, but after all the time he had spent frozen beneath the ocean, cold rarely bothered him on a physical level, aside from a slight chill. "Any other problems Clint?"