Steve stopped outside the building where some civilians had said that they had seen the Avengers go into. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Tony, Bruce?" Steve shouted. "Anyone here?"

Steve heard banging coming from one of the floors below him and he walked further into the room. When he had nearly made it to the middle, he heard a loud screech of metal on metal, and then the floor disappeared from underneath him.

Steve awoke a few seconds later to a throbbing pain in his side. He opened his eyes quickly and glanced around the room, what he saw made him stop. All along the floor, hammered into the concrete were long wooden sticks, sharpened at the top into a spike, and it was on one of these that Steve saw that he had landed, the sharp spike going straight through his side. He moaned loudly as he slowly began to pull himself up. He still had his friends to find.

"You really do not know when to give up, do you Captain?" said a slightly accented voice from above him.

Steve stopped his efforts as he tried to place the voice.

"Has it been so long that you have forgotten me, my dear Captain?" taunted the voice as it moved closer to Steve. "I heard that you crashed my beautiful ship into the ocean, entombing yourself in there as well. Oh well, they do say that a Captain must go down with the ship." Laughed the voice.

Steve glared angrily at the figure as it stopped in the doorway. Even though the light was behind him, making it impossible for Steve to see his face, he knew who it was. He would never forget him.

"Schmidt." Said Steve angrily.

"The one and only." Answered Schmidt as he stepped into the room.

"How did you survive?" asked Steve.

"The cube merely transported me to another dimension, and there I have waited for a chance to have my revenge, and then the God opened the portal and I slipped through. Imagine my surprise when I saw how the world had changed, that nearly seventy years had gone by." Said Schmidt as he walked forward. He grabbed Steve and pulled him up off the spike, Steve let out a scream.

Schmidt punched him, sending Steve crashing back into the spikes, breaking them in half, before he plummeted into the wall. His vision went black as his head cracked painfully against the wall.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance, Captain." Said Schmidt as he watched Steve get slowly to his feet.

"Yeah I'm getting that feeling." Said Steve, ignoring the blood that was running down his face.

Schmidt grabbed a broken spike and ran at Steve with a cry. Steve managed to dodge out of the way. He picked up his own spike.

"I would have been a God amongst men." Schmidt said as he swung his weapon like a club towards Steve's head.

"You would have enslaved the world." Steve said as he ducked.

"I was meant to rule, and I will rule again, after I have destroyed you." Schmidt said as he finally managed to hit him.

Steve's reaction times were getting slower as the wounds on his head and side started to drain his strength. He couldn't move out of the way quickly enough, as he saw Schmidt's weapon coming towards him, hitting him on the head. He fell backwards into the wall, and he gave a grunt of surprise when he felt another spike pierce his side pinning him to the wall.

Steve felt himself falling in and out of consciousness as the pain began to take over. Because Schmidt had been given the super solider serum as well, his punches were just as deadly and painful as Steve's. His head snapped to the side as Schmidt punched him repeatedly.

"That is for destroying my plans all those years ago." He spat.

"Boy, you can really hold onto a grudge." Steve said as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Schmidt punched him again before he calmly bent down and picked up a spike that had broken into tiny pieces off the floor.

"You were alone in 1945 when I beat you and you are alone now. Goodbye Captain America." Schmidt said as he raised the spike.

Just as he was about to plunge the spike into his chest, it was shot from his hand by a mini rocket.

"Who said he's alone." Said an angry voice that sounded like Tony.

Steve turned his head and saw all his teammates standing there, looking murderous.

"Step away from our Captain." Boomed Thor as the Hulk let out an almighty roar.

"Ah, the so called Avengers. I have heard so much about you." Schmidt answered smugly. "Outcasts that play at being heroes, how easily you will make it for me to conquer you."

"Whoa dude, you need some serious plastic surgery." Hawkeye said as he peered around Tony so that he could get a better look.

"How dare you!" Schmidt said angrily, as he took a step towards Steve.

"Don't even think about it Red Skull." Tony warned. "I will kill you."

"You can't kill me." Shouted Schmidt as he plunged the spike into Steve's chest.

All Steve could see through the pain was a loud boom and then Schmidt hurdling backwards.

"Get medical down here." Shouted a voice as it moved towards him, and then he was staring into worried brown eyes.

"Howard?" said Steve groggily.

"Come on now Spangles, awesomeness like this didn't exist in the 40's." quipped the man. "It's Tony remember?"

Steve continued to stare at the Howard look alike.

"Where's Schmidt?" Steve asked.

"Dead." Replied Tony.

"Good" said Steve as he felt the darkness creep up on him, and the not Howard shout, "I need medical."

AAAA

Steve awoke to the smell of antiseptic and beeping. Keeping his eyes closed he tried to make his sluggish brain remember why he was here. All of a sudden everything came back to him, and he sat suddenly up in the bed.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down Steve, you're okay. Careful, or you'll pull open your stitches and Bruce will kill me." Said a voice to his side as he was gently pushed back on to the bed.

"Tony?" asked Steve as he looked up at him.

"Hey at least you remember me now, you were calling me Howard before." Said Tony as he sat back down slowly in his seat, as if unsure whether Steve was going to try and bolt again.

"Are you sure Schmidt is dead?" Steve asked anxiously.

"Yep, I did the honours myself." Said Tony with a dark look on his face.

"We thought he was dead before." Steve replied.

"Nope, he's definitely dead, as a dodo, a doornail." Tony answered happily.

After the silence had stretched for a few minutes, Tony cleared his throat, "You know, there's one thing that has been bugging me, how did he get you out of the Tower?"

Steve looked guiltily down at his hands, "He must have hacked my phone and he told me that all of you were in trouble." He said quietly.

"Oh, Steve. Next time ask JARVIS he knows where I am at all times. Although Schmidt probably would have gotten to you eventually. So next time that someone from you past turns up, we will take them on as a team, you don't have to protect us, we can protect ourselves. You are not alone anymore, you belong with us." Tony said.

As Steve drifted off to sleep, he felt that he had finally found his home.

AN Well that's it, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed.

AN 2- Thanks to Emri for beta reading this story.