A/N: Hello! This is my first attempt at an Avengers fanfiction so please be nice. I made this one shot specifically for Halloween and I meant to post it then, but I didn't get to so better late than never right? Anyways, I will eventually post the main story for this. I just want to see how many people would be interested in it. Anyways I hope you all enjoy and I'm sorry if anyone is OOC. Any constructive criticism is very much appreciated! Also at the end there will be a short explanation for some of the characters in here.
A little girl bounced on her feet by the elevator door in anticipation, a bucket with a witch flying on a broom decorating the front of it. On the girl's head was an orange hat with a pumpkin stem coming out of the top. Her feet were hidden in orange shoes that curled upwards at the end and her drees was orange with a smiling pumpkin face on the front. The dress had no sleeved and ended at her knees, showing her purple spider web tights. Most parents would be taking pictures and cooing over the six year old in her costume with her light brown hair curled and excitement sparkling in her grey eyes, but her guardian wasn't like that. He was worrying about her getting cold, kidnapped, or poisoned.
James Buchannan "Bucky" Barnes would not enjoy this night. Not when so many things could happen. As he pulled on his jacket and his gloves to hide his metal arm, he made a mental note for Stark to check for anything life threatening in the candy before Constance ate them. She wouldn't die on his watch, he had promised to keep her safe. This holiday made it only slightly harder than usual.
"Come on! We have to get candy!" The girl urged him to go faster.
"Be patient for just a few more seconds. Do you have Nakama and Freddy with you?" Bucky grabbed a smaller coat for her and looked around for the teddy bear and puppet.
"Right here, Mr. Barnes," A golden teddy bear with a black bowtie around his neck and the same height as Constance, a form Constance had named his "cute form", came out of the kitchen holding a puppet in his paws. "And I got two more buckets." From his arm hung two bucket, one with a werewolf howling at the moon and the other had ghosts.
Bucky raised an eyebrow, "Why do we need two more?"
"Cause Freddy and Nakama want candy too," Constance told him before the teddy bear could speak.
"You know you can't have them both walking around at the same time. If you do, you'll pass out again," Bucky reminded the girl the small girl sternly.
"I know," she rolled her eyes. "I'll let Freddy get candy first and then Nakama."
"And who is going to carry the extra bucket around?"
Constance giggled, "You are, silly."
He let out a sigh, "Right."
Freddy offered as much of an apologetic smile as a teddy bear could as he handed Bucky the extra bucket and Nakama.
"Jarvis, could you tell the others we're going trick or treating?" Bucky asked the AI.
"Certainly, Mr. Barnes"
"Thanks." Bucky walked over and the elevator doors opened for them.
"Your welcome, Mr. Barnes. I assume you would like to go down to the lobby?"
"Yes please!" Constance squealed excitedly.
The door closed and the elevator went down. Constance wouldn't stop moving and Bucky closed his eyes. He would be chasing a hyper little girl all night. However a soft look was in his eyes as he opened them to see the girl's large smile. It would be worth it, he decided. After all, this would be her first Halloween with people who cared about her instead of hiding behind a building with only her stuffed animals to call family. It was her first Halloween with somebody she considered a father.
Finally, the elevator stopped and they steeped out when the door opened. Or, Freddy and Bucky stepped out while Constance practically ran out and over to the lobby doors. Freddy ran after her to make sure she wouldn't leave without them. The receptionist smiled and nodded in farewell as they passed by.
"Happy Halloween, Mr. Barnes, Ms. Constance, Mr. Freddy. And sir said to remind you to be back in time for the party."
"Tel him we will be. Happy Halloween, Jarvis." Freddy followed the other two out the door after saying goodbye to the AI.
Bucky held onto one of Constance's hands, hoping that nothing bad would happen tonight.
=======================================Line Break=====================================
"I can't believe they didn't ask if we wanted to go with," Tony looked over at the other Avengers who were sitting on the couch.
"He probably just wants to spend more time with Constance." Bruce pointed out.
"Plus, it won't be very fun for her if people keep stopping us to ask for autographs or pictures." Natasha added.
"It's Halloween! They won't know it's us. Everyone'll just think we dressed up." Tony informed them.
"So, let's go follow them."
"That would be fun." Clint admitted, digging into his popcorn bowl.
Steve narrowed his eyes that them, "We are not going to follow them." Tony smirked. "Stark."
"You can't say you aren't curious to see how this night will go."
"That doesn't mean you should follow them," Bruce joined in.
Natasha got up and left the room without the others knowing. She knew how this argument would end.
"Well, what if something happens? Hydra is still after them." Clint reminded Steve.
"He's right. They are still being hunted." Tony agreed quickly.
"Bucky can take care of himself." Steve countered.
"True, but he has Constance with him."
Steve paused. Tony's smirk grew as he came up with the words that could lead to his victory in the argument.
"Come on, you know you want to."
Thor, who had been watching the argument, now spoke up in confusion, "What is this Halloween you mentioned, Man of Iron?"
"If you're all done arguing, let's go." Natasha came back into the room before Tony could explain Halloween, already dressed in a costume.
Steve sighed while tony grinned victoriously. Now, to find the perfect costume for everybody else.
=================================Line Break===========================================
Bucky felt his eye twitch, all too aware of the eyes watching them. He had known they were there since they showed up a few minutes ago. They weren't exactly inconspicuous either. Tony was just wearing a gray suit with a red and gold tie. Thor was wearing his armor and Natasha was a nurse. Bruce was wearing a lab coat while Clint seemed to be a lumberjack. Steve was…dressed up as Al Capone. He wondered who had come up with this idea before deciding Stark had done this. So far he had been able to ignore them, but sooner or later he would confront them.
"Look! I got a lot of candy!" Constance came running up to him, showing her bucket that was only filled a third of the way.
"I see that, Con. Do you want to keep going?" he noticed the goosebumps on her arms. "Are you getting cold? I brought your jacket."
She shook her head, "I'm okay! We have to keep going until my bucket is filled and Freddy's and Nakama's buckets have more candy!"
"Alright then."
Freddy moved up beside Bucky as Constance went up to another house, "Why are they following us?"
Bucky shrugged, "I can only guess that Stark has something to do with it. Not sure why they all went with it though."
Freddy nodded then hurried to catch up with Constance. The girl was very impatient and continuously urged them to hurry up. As soon as Bucky got close enough, she grabbed his hand and tried to drag him along faster, but started to pout when he deliberately slowed his steps. He only grinned at her pout.
"We gotta hurry," she whined. "Before they run out of candy!"
"Okay, okay I'm hurrying."
They walked down the street, Constance completely oblivious of their stalkers while Bucky was all too aware of them. Freddy just ignored them, too intent on keeping Constance in sight. Although, that didn't mean he wasn't coming up with a way to scare them. He may be the most mature of Constance's stuffed animals, but he did secretly love pranks. Constance ran up to another house when Freddy motioned for Bucky to listen to him.
"We should tell Constance to let Nakama trick-or-treat now. My bucket is filled enough and he can send our friends on a wild goose chase while we continue on." He snickered.
"Can he do that without being in his attack form?" Bucky questioned, willing to go along with the idea.
"Yes. We could do this as well." He whispered the rest of his plan and an evil grin formed on Bucky's face.
Oh, this would be a fun Halloween.
Constance came running back to them with a large grin that Freddy was almost sure would be there permanently by the end of the night. "Watcha whispering about?" she wondered.
"Well, Constance, I was just thinking that my bucket has enough candy so we should let Nakama trick-or-treat. After all, he hasn't gotten any yet." Freddy reminded her, keeping a straight face.
"True. Okay." She nodded in agreement and Freddy changed back into a stuffed toy.
Nakama was placed on the ground and soon he changed into a child-sized version of himself. He had been listening when Freddy and Bucky were talking and was very happy to help carry out the plan.
"Con, would you like to go to the other side of the city? We haven't been over there yet. "Bucky suggested.
"But that would mean more walking because when we're done we would have to walk all the way back."
"Or, I could use the shadows to transport us there." Nakama offered. "It wouldn't take much of your energy and you do have a bucket filled with candy."
Constance looked at them thoughtfully, "Okay, I guess we can."
=================================Line Break===========================================
"Where did they go?!" Tony stared at where their targets had previously been standing.
All they knew was one moment they had been directly behind the three and in the next moment they were gone.
"My guess, Bucky had Nakama take them somewhere else." Clint pointed to where they had disappeared. "See? They were standing right on a shadow. He must have gotten tired of us following him."
"How did he know we were here? We were being sneaky." Tony complained.
"No, we weren't. Besides he's an assassin. Of course he knew we were following them." Natasha told him bluntly.
So, now what? Are we going back to the tower?" Bruce sounded hopeful.
"Nope. They have given us a challenge." Tony smirked.
"A challenge? Well then we must accept." Thor boomed. "Tell me though, Tony, how have they challenged us?"
"It's like hide-and-seek. They think we can't find and catch up to them. But we can and will." Tony pulled out his Stark Phone. "Jarvis, can you track them?"
"Of course, sir." Jarvis' voice came from the phone before a map and two dots pooped up on the screen.
"They're on the other side of town." Clint observed.
"Let us be off. If we are to win, we must catch up to them." Thor looked over at the others with an excited gleam in his eyes.
"Or, we could go back to the tower." Steve interjected.
"That's no fun." Tony whined.
"And following them is?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.
Tony nodded, "Yep. You guys can't tell me you don't want to take them up on their challenge."
This was met with blank stares, except for Thor who looked expectedly at him. The genius rolled his eyes.
"Fine. Bruce, you can go back. The rest of you, onwards!" he turned to start walking. "That means yo too, spangles."
The captain still wasn't sure why he followed instead of going back with Bruce.
==============================Line Break==============================================
Surprised faces greeted Bruce as he stepped out of the elevator. No one had expected the other to show up. Bucky and Constance stared at Bruce while he stared back. In their hands was a sticky spiderweb with a fake leg attached to it and fake blood on the bottom of it. The staring lasted for a few more seconds before Constance started giggling and Bucky's lip quirked up in a half smile.
"Well, you caught us. Though, at least that saves us the trouble of sneaking you away from the others." Bucky continued trying to stick the spiderweb on the wall.
"I'm guessing you're having Nakama distract them?" Bruce noticed the puppet wasn't there.
"Yep!" Constance stated happily, trying to untangle her hands from the sticky decoration. "We're doing a trick."
"A trick?" Bruce looked questioningly at Bucky.
Bucky shrugged, "We decided to get back at them for stalking us. We were going to tell you, hoever, so that you wouldn't go green on us."
"I see. Do you want any help?"
Bucky smiled approvingly, "That would be appreciated."
=========================And Another Line Break…I should use less of these==================
Eventually they caught on. It took them longer than Tony would like to admit but they finally figured it out in the end. Or, well, Natasha and Clint figured it out. Clint had seen Nakama, and only Nakama, disappear with the buckets that had Bucky's and Constance's Stark Phones inside them. After he told the others, they had realized they were being led on a wild goose chase. Now, they were headed back to the tower, except for Thor who had gone to visit Jane and convince her to go to Tony's Halloween party which started in two hours. A party they hadn't even started decorating for. Only close friends had been invited, Steve's idea. Tony had argued that the more people the better, but was shot down when they reminded him of the innocent, underage, little girl who wanted to attend.
None of them knew of the danger until the elevator door opened and the lights went out. They stood in silence for a moment, listening for any movement in the room ahead of them, before cautiously stepping out of the elevator.
"Jarvis? Jarvis, turn on the lights." There was no response. "Jarvis, are you there?" Tony cursed. "He must have been disabled."
"Is Bruce still here?" Steve moved carefully around the darkened room.
"Don't know. Nothing is working."
"I'll take a look around, see if I can find Bruce or any intruders." There was a small sound as Clint took off a vent covering and left the room.
Nothing happened as they warily moved around the room, prepared to fend off attackers. Then, they heard a spine-chilling shriek that seemed to come from all around them. Natasha now had a gun out, Steve tensed, and Tony whirled around, trying to find anything in the darkened room.
"What happened?" Clint asked, popping his head out of a vent near Tony, who nearly had a heart attack. "What was that?"
"We're not sure. Did you find anyone?" Steve wanted to know.
"Nope. As far as I can tell it's just us in…" he voice trailed off.
"Clint?" Natasha questioned.
"I think something's got my ankle." His voice was calm despite his words.
A growl reverberated through the room and they lunged towards Clint to try and help him out of the vent, but they could hear him be dragged back faster than they could move. There were several loud bangs in the vents before everything went silent again, to their dismay.
"Clint?" Natasha called.
No answer. Steve clenched his fists, thinking about what they could do. Natasha had a gun, but he and Tony didn't have his shield or the Iron Man suit. He could still fight though. There hasn't been any sight of their enemies. This plan must have been well thought out and required the Avengers to not see them. They had the advantage of surprise.
"All right, Stark, Natasha, we need to stick together. Tony, is there any way to get Jarvis back online?"
"Yeah, but…what did my hand just touch?" He moved his hand away from the wall only to realize whatever he had touched was stuck to his hand. "What is this?"
"Stark?"
"My hand is stuck." He flailed his hand to try and get it off, but it just got him even more tangled.
"Tony, we don't have time to…"Natasha's voice stopped abruptly.
"Natasha?" Tony struggled to see in the dark. "Hey, you still there?"
"She's gone." A slightly warped voice boomed around them with a maniacal laugh. "She decided to join us."
"Who are you?" Steve demanded to know.
"Nobody." The giggle raised the hair on the back of their necks. "I'm an echo of nobody."
"That's not weird at all." Tony muttered.
"What did you do to the others?" The captain searched the darkness for the owner of the voice.
"Nothing. We're just playing hide-and-seek tag. They lost."
"What happens if we lose?" Steve asked.
"Secret."
Neither liked the sound of that. It would have been better to know what their enemy had planned for them. Tony jumped when red eyes appeared in front of them and Steve reacted by throwing a punch that was caught. The hand holding his fist held on harder as Captain America tried to pull away and lashed out with his other fist only for that to be caught too. Tony tugged at the thing sticking to his hand as Steve fought, cursing when his other hand got stuck as well.
"Oh, come on!" he complained, freezing when he realized someone or something was behind him.
It jumped on his back and he let out a panicked shout as arms wrapped around his neck, "Got you, Uncle Tony!"
He stopped struggling immediately at the familiar voice, "Constance?"
"Yep" she popped the 'p'. "We really got you guys, huh?"
The lights turned on to reveal Constance, Freddy, who had been fighting Steve, and a now laughing Bucky with Bruce right behind him. Steve stepped back with a raised eyebrow when Freddy released him.
"Really?" Tony glared at the sticky spiderweb that had captured his hand. "Not funny guys."
"It was pretty funny" Bucky disagreed.
"Bruce, how could you betray me? We're science bros! And what happened to Jarvis?" Tony finally got his hands free.
"They asked Jarvis if he could help and I offered." Bruce shrugged.
"Jarvis?"
"Sorry, sir." He certainly didn't sound sorry.
Constance laughed, "It was fun and we got all the decorations up."
"That certainly saves time." Natasha came striding into the room with Clint.
"And where were you two? Were you in on this?" Tony accused.
"No. They locked us in separate rooms." Clint told him, amused.
Steve shook his head with a grin and even Natasha looked vaguely amused by the whole thing, "I'm guessing this was for earlier."
Bucky nodded, "You didn't need to follow us."
"Yeah! If you wanted to come with you could have asked!" Constance jumped off Tony's back.
Steve nodded, "And we will remember that next year." He looked pointedly at Tony.
Tony rolled his eyes, "Fine."
"By the way, I told Constance you would get her more candy." Bucky added as he sat down on the couch next to the now toy version of Freddy.
Tony sighed, "Alright, trouble maker, what candy do you want?"
Constance squealed in delight at the thought of all the candy she would ask for.
A/N: Well I hope you guys enjoyed this! So Constance is able to make her toys come to life, but only certain ones. I'll explain more when I start to write the main story. Nakama looks like the Puppet from Five Nights At Freddy's, but he doesn't have white stripes on his arms and legs and the purple streaks are black instead. I'll explain more about each of her toys in the main story as well but their attack forms are basically scarier versions of them and taller. Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!