aaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA **flips table**
The horse's hide was lathered with sweat, though it kept up its steady trot, hooves clicking on loose stones and shifting dirt. The marks left behind would leave a painfully clear trail for anyone to follow, even the simplistic mind of the Bokoblin could figure out where he had gone, even if he had managed to take a stealth potion.
Just one night. That was all he needed, just one night to rest and recover and then he could easily enough deal with whatever Hyrule had chosen to throw at him next. The last week had been brutal, enemy after enemy attacking him.
Not to mention the time he had run into a Stone Talus while sneaking away from a Stalker Guardian, and had been woefully underprepared to deal with either. It was only pure fortune and maybe interference from Farore that made the Guardian focus on the Stone Talus instead, as a bigger threat.
Really though, between fabled Hero of Legend, risen from the ashes of his defeat 100 years ago, and a walking rock, one certainly sounded more threatening than the other. (Though, he probably was registered as a simple Hylian to the mechanical monster, instead of the hero who failed in his duties and died)
Then again, his ribs still complained from the Moblin that had deemed it appropriate to stomp on his side as a wake up call, and had promptly gotten a sword to the face in response.
Link tugged gently on the reins, slowing Epona to a halt near a cliffside. It was a good spot to rest, he had run Epona hard enough that the Bokoblins wouldn't catch up until the next morning at the very least, and the cliff was perfect for Paragliding away if his injuries were not healed. For some reason they never touched his horse and the stables had ways of retrieving them in moments.
It was as he was about to strike his flint to light a fire, perhaps foolish as it would send up smoke to pinpoint his location but desperately needed to fend off the chill as he slept that a warm glow caught his eye.
Not the glow of a campfire, or of a stables evening lights, but the vibrant orange of a shrine.
Unbidden, a memory of Zelda crops up. She's striding towards the shrine with purpose, a Sheikah Slate in hand and a slight smile turning her mouth. "You won't tell my father, will you? I know he has forbidden me from my research, but I truly feel this shrine has something important to it." She spared a glance at Link, before refocusing on the Sheikah Slate, musing the name of the shrine out loud. "Vaijar Lejos."
Before he knew it, the Slate was pressed to the pedestal in front of the shrine, a gentle blue decorating the shrine along with the orange. He cast a longing look back to the bundle of unlit firewood, and Epona's patient figure, before stepping onto the elevator that would take him to the depth of the shrine.
He had a hero's duty to fulfil. (One he had failed once, never again)
As the elevator descended, the briefest of sensations washed over the Hylian Hero, not unlike when he warped, and then he stepped into the interior of the shrine.
Which wasn't a shrine at all.
The area was whiter than any shrine (if he could call it that) he had seen before, lacking in the usual geometric shapes, glowing posts or etching in the walls, no lava or water, and no evident puzzles.
It was more of a mess. Unrecognizable pieces of metal were strewn around, on top of metal tables and soft leather chairs. There were arrowheads he had never seen clumped together, soft looking black gloves with an electric blue glow set nearby. A shield of unfamiliar design sat, the reds, blues, and whites of the metal gleaming. What looked like the head of an unknown creature was set near those things, a scrape over its face and set between the dark eyes.
"Hero. My name is Vaijar Lejos. This is my shrine. Help them."
Then sound returned to his ears, and movement to the world around him.
Which was accentuated by a harsh metallic clang behind him.
He spun, his hands already reaching for his sword and shield, the cool metal reassuring to his confused state of mind.
Wild blue eyes met with startled brown, a growing pool of a spilt dark liquid catching the Hylian warriors attention for an instant before he snapped it back to the possible threat. The other man wasn't Hylian, something made clear by his rounded ears.
Link tensed further as the other man moved, even if he was only drawing a hand down his face with a weary sigh.
Tony really hadn't asked for this. His week had been bad enough already, what with the invasion of space centipedes on Monday, some idiot with a half baked plan of world domination almost blowing up a bank (that Tony had been inside at the time) on Wednesday, and Steve 'holier-than-thou' Rogers requesting full equipment upgrades for the whole team.
Except Thor. The big guy wouldn't let him near his hammer, which was fair enough. Tony wasn't planning to let anyone else to work on his armour, so he could see where he was coming from.
Bruce insisted he didn't need anything either, but Tony still wanted to work on those stretchy pants so his Science-Bro didn't have to continually wake up naked in strange places. (Not that Tony had personal experience with that. Not at all.)
To put the cherry on the metaphorical cake of Bad News, complete with capital letters, Hammer had managed to escape from prison.
So that was all well and good, Tony already had Jarvis tracking the criminal and was working on his broken coffee machine (no Thor, using lightening will not make the coffee any stronger please stop breaking my mugs on the floor), when the elf looking teen sort of... materialized.
He seemed to hold weightless in the air for a moment, before dropping to his feet and casting his gaze around the workshop, taking in the equipment layer out on Tony's desks and chairs. Behind the Avenger, Dum-E knocked something over. (All things considered, likely a fire extinguisher.)
Naturally, that noise drew the teens attention, and Tony tensed as the boy drew a sword and shield off his back. He held them comfortably, clearly familiar with how to use both. Crap.
Tonys latest Iron Man armour was still covered in scrapes and one of the repulsors was missing, due to extenuating circumstances including but not limited to a unaccounted for space-centipede. Double crap.
It was then that Tony's eyes caught the growing puddle of coffee on the floor. Of course. Dum-E had just knocked over the last cup of the stuff in the house.
He couldn't help the weary sigh that dragged itself out of him, and instinctively he rubbed a hand over his eyes in exasperation.
Not that he let his guard down. (He had done that one too many times in the past, it was time to stop making those mistakes.)
Thankfully, the kid didn't seem to inclined to attack. Not yet, anyway. Looking again, his pose was more curious than threatening, his eyes sharp with bafflement and ferocity in equal measure.
"Hey there Pointy, why don't you put that blade down and we have a nice talk?"
The only response he received was a curious tilting of the head. Great, he probably didn't speak English.
Tony repeated himself several times, from Spanish to Chinese to his barely passable Russian.
Still, nothing.
Desperate measures, meet Tony Stark.
"Jarvis, initiate protocol D.E.A.F." It was a fancy name, not one that meant much and was more of a pun in and of itself, but it worked. A pair of shimmering blue hands burst into existence before Tony, who took half a step back as the teen reacted just as he expected.
The sword was moved into a more offensive position, the shield tugged close, covering his torso perfectly. He lowered himself, almost squatting but not quite low enough, a good position for rolling away from any attacks.
Tony repeated himself one last time, trusting in his programming that the hands would translate for him.
They moved at a slower rate, the programming dictating that a slow rate was necessary in a situation such as this, where it was completely unknown whether one member of the party knew the language or not. They continued to move for a good minute after Tony finished. He wasn't sure, but they might have repeated, he was more focused on the teens face.
The boy had titled his head, a glimmer of recognition in those sharp blue eyes, and on what may have been the second run, understanding.
It was just as well that sign language seemed to be universal. Speaking of, Thor was due back from Asgard any time now, Tony had to admit his curiosity towards what All-Speak would make of this.
If it made anything at all, the boy, to know sign language, must either be deaf or mute or some combination of the two. Mute was far more likely, considering how he had responded to Dum-E knocking over the last mug of coffee.
The boy didn't respond in sign language, but his actions spoke louder. He straightened out of his stance, the sword and shield sliding smoothly onto his back, though his hands never seemed to stray far from the comfort of the hilt, even with them down at his sides.
"Great. Care to take a seat?" The hands repeated this as well, though remarkably faster.
Tony didn't even bother to watch the process, instead shifting some less important technology off a couple of chairs, taking the swerving one for himself.
It was with a startling lack of noise that the teen moved to join him, though he didn't take the proffered seat. The jangling of the weapons on his back seemed oddly muted, like he had jammed cloth of some kind between the metals, but earlier when he had drawn them there had been no sign of such a thing.
Perhaps it was something to do with the metal, if it was then Tony would have to ask for a sample. An armour made out of sound-resistant metal would be amazing for stealth.
Then again, there was the chance the metal was softer, and more susceptible to breakage...
He was Iron Man, he could probably find a work around.
Probably.
Alright, here's the scoop. I've been exploring Team Tony blogs on Tumblr and that's gotten me into a real avenger-y mood, and then I decided I wanted to play Breath of the Wild, and while I was doing that I was like "oh man, if only I had something that had both of these in it..." cue flashbacks to this mangled mess. I want to apologize to everyone, largely because I put so little forethought into both the first and second writings of this, plus look and how bad the characterizations are aargh
I also want to thank those of you who have stuck around with me, and are for some reason, still reading this. Like wow you guys thanks! Honestly! Aaaa!
OH AND LOOK HOW MUCH BETTER THIS IS WRITTEN. HO W DID I WRITE ALL THIS AND HAVE BE ACTUALLY GOOD QUALITY AAAAAAA
Anyway I'm a little sleep deprived so forgive the general nonsense of this message ~ShadeShadow