"I will," Gemma promised. Hanging up the phone, she bit her lip. She had one more appointment for the day before she could close up, and she had to get through it, but afterwards she knew she was going to settle in and wait for Kenzie.

A few days later, Kenzie still hadn't shown up or contacted anyone. She'd gone into deep hiding, in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the country. And she wasn't planning on coming out anytime soon.

Steve was splitting his time between Bucky and Gemma. Gemma needed the company, but so did Bucky. Bucky especially was having a hard time with Kenzie's disappearance.

Gemma was worried about Kenzie as well, and ended up closing down the shop for a few days to try to track her down. She wasn't successful, however, it was making her even more anxious.

She was on her way out for coffee around the fifth day or so when something caught her from behind. She was unconscious before she knew what was going on.

The sorcerer who had grabbed Gemma took her back to the empty warehouse he was using, setting her in the center of the circle. He'd done this ritual a dozen or so times before, after all. He had no worries that anything would change.

Gemma stirred as she was set in the center of the circle.

"Where am I...?" she murmured, trying to sit up. Her head felt muddied, and she couldn't quite think straight.

"Somewhere quiet and secluded," the sorcerer said. "Just relax. You won't feel a thing." He barely even glanced at her as he finished setting up his spell.

"Wh-what's going on?" Gemma asked as she struggled to get to her feet. She could feel the magic surging in the circle, and that scared her. It was a lot of magic moving around.

"Nothing you need to worry about," the sorcerer said. "Just relax." He pricked his finger, allowing a few drops of his blood to fall on the edge of the spell to activate it. The magic swirling around was normal to him, even though it was dark and malicious.

Gemma was about the opposite of relaxed. Panicking, she tried to call up a shield spell, but something about the circle was interfering and the spell kept fizzling out.

"Please," she said, "please stop, don't do this."

"Begging won't get you anywhere," the sorcerer told her. "You won't feel any pain." The spell swirled to life, angry red and bruise purple, forming a vortex around Gemma.

"No, please, don't!" Gemma begged. The dark magic snapped at her, leaving numb spots wherever it touched her. Nausea roiled inside her, as if the greasy-feeling spell was making her physically ill.

Suddenly, something inside her seemed to snap, and the dark magic stopped biting at her. Instead, it seemed to absorb into her everywhere it touched.

The sorcerer stopped and looked shocked when something happened. Something caused the spell to backfire, and the vortex changed direction, suddenly snapping at him instead. He barely had time to scream before the magic started absorbing all of his. By the time the vortex cleared, the sorcerer was nothing but a dry husk on the floor. All of his magic was gone to Gemma.

Gemma felt the magic draining into her, building up bigger and hotter as it did. Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore and screamed.

Clint, meanwhile, knew something was wrong. He didn't know what, but he knew something was. The same was he could feel that Kenzie was and had been distressed for a while, he knew that something was happening with someone else in the bonded group.

"Nat, I need your opinion."

Natasha looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. Something was obviously bothering him, and it had to be bad if he was speaking up about it.

"I can feel someone," Clint said, tapping the side of his head. "Through the bond. Don't know who, but someone's really upset."

"I see," Natasha said. She was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Who else is there in the bond who isn't already here in the tower?"

"Only other person is Gemma," Clint said with a shrug. "Don't talk to her much, so I don't know where she's at."

"It must be her, then," Natasha pointed out. "If it isn't James or Tony, at least."

"Don't think so." Clint shrugged. "So, should I find her? See what's going on?"

"If you feel like something bad is happening, then it might not be a bad idea," Natasha replied. "We both know that such things tend not to be coincidence."

Clint made a face but nodded. "Alright, I'll go tell Steve to check in with her. Faster than tracking her down myself, he already texts her several times a day."

Natasha couldn't help but quirk a smile at that.

"I've noticed, too," she said. "He's falling for her."

"Yes he is," Clint said with a grin. "But he's not doing anything about it, which is about what I expected from him."

"Indeed," Natasha said, quirking a small smile. "In any case, have him check in on Gemma, just to make sure it isn't serious."