This is set after Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor

This is set after the Avengers, Iron Man 3, but most likely before Captain America.

...

The Beginning of Something Strange

To say that Tony Stark was furious would be an understatement. The resent he felt towards S.H.I.E.L.D at the moment was unlike any other. They had abandoned him, leaving him to face killer, exploding, fire monsters on his own. They had left his girlfriend, Pepper, and the President of the United States for the dead, and they hadn't even bothered to help with the massive clean up efforts. Then, two weeks later, they'd asked him to go with Agent Barton on a mission in Britain. They hadn't even given him enough time to rebuild his Malibu home! He would have rejected the file (possibly by incinerating the files, then tossing it like confetti around Director Fury) but Pepper had stepped in, told him to be the bigger man, and kicked him out of the tower until the job was done.

The four-hour flight from New York to London would have been great, (peaceful, quiet, and full of margaritas) except for the fact he stuck on the small quinjet complete with two pilots, Cupid (aka Clint Barton) and Agent Angry Face (His nose was scrunched in a way that always made him look like he was going on a murdering rampage). Supposedly this "Level 6" Agent, whose name Tony hadn't bothered to learn, was the one that had gathered the information that was in the file, that Tony also hadn't bothered to read. Honestly, for how huge of a threat they were making this to be, there was a meager amount of information.

Then again, Tony was pretty sure that SHIELD's motto was 'Eliminate threats before they become threats' with a nice smiley face at the end.

Clint was beside him, clicking away on his Stark Phone, the tip of his tongue sticking out of his mouth. He had spent the first ten minutes polishing his bow, complaining about the mess in his room (which was his own fault, why he was complaining to Tony was beyond him) before getting bored. Tony was eighty-five percent sure he was playing Plants vs Zombies.

The lead agent stepped in front of the two Avengers, a holopad in his hands. He glared down at Clint, an impatient foot tapping.

"Agent Barton" the Agent said, agitation in his voice.

Without looking up, Clint replied, "Can I help you Agent Steel?"

"You can, for once in your life, grown up and take a mission seriously?"

Rolling his eyes, Clint tossed his phone to the side, "Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, and it sure wasn't me!" A cocky smirk slid onto his face as Agent Steel's hands turned into fists.

"Pay attention now, if you wouldn't mind," The Agent continued before the Archer could interrupt, "The man, or so we think, is-"

This time Tony rolled his eyes with Hawkeye, "Seriously?" Tony asked in disbelief, "This... This thing is a 'serious threat' and you don't even know if its human? Fantastic work on your part! And just to let you know, I don't want you getting the wrong idea, that was sarcasm."

"Technically, we could be going after the devil, being that, you know... Well actually you don't!" Clint said, laughing at his own joke.

"Did you two even read the file?" Agent Steele snapped, his face red with rage. When neither of them responded, he threw his hands into the air in frustration, and stormed to the front of the quinjet, muttering something the two 'incompetent Avengers' in front of him.

With a massive sigh, Tony grabbed his Stark Pad from his bag and opened up the file. There were four pages, and about forty-five grainy photo's, all of them obviously taken by traffic or security cameras.

The files were all stamped with U.N.I.T's name. The first page in the file had all the official works on it. The date, where it was written, how many days after the event. The bottom was signed by a Martha Jones and a Mickey Smith. Page two was the scanned copy of Martha's hand written report.

'Despite what the rumors say, The Doctor is not dead. Over two hundred eyewitness reports prove this to be true. While in Brazil Mickey Jones, and myself came across a woman that went by the name River. She refused to tell us her last name, but told us much more valuable information. River showed us proof that The Doctor was indeed not dead, even after the lack of appearances over the last few years. None of that information is discloseable. She also warned us of a threat making its way to U.N.I.T. When we tried to contact U.N.I.T, there was only silence. Torchwood fared no better. We are on our way back to U.N.I.T headquarters now. I fear the worst for U.N.I.T. I am writing this to be sure that, if U.N.I.T has indeed fallen, that The Doctor is found. He is your only hope, no matter who finds this. Trust The Doctor.'

A shiver went up Tony's spine. The report was obviously written in a hurry. Some words were almost indecipherable. The edges of the paper were burnt in some places, and something that looked a lot like blood stained the paper in some places.

Everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D had heard about their British counterparts fall. No one knew what happened. One day there was U.N.I.T, the next, nothing. From what S.H.I.E.L.D could tell, there had been no survivors from the attack. The headquarters had been burned to the ground, most of the paper files had been destroyed, and the electronic files weren't that much better off. They salvaged what they could, but there hadn't been much. S.H.I.E.L.D had been on a high alert ever since

"Torchwood," Clint pondered out loud, "I don't think I've ever heard of that. Who do you think this Doctor is?"

"I have no idea, Cupid. He seemed to have gained a lot of trust from Martha though." Tony replied. It was silent after that; both men had returned to their files.

The third page was again a scanned copy of a report, but this one was written by Mickey Smith. It was quite a bit messier and definitely in a rougher condition.

'I am going to skip the formalities and get right to it. I am probably going to die today. Some of the best Agents in U.N.I.T refuse to pick up their phones. What chance does someone with so little experience have against, well, whatever took out U.N.I.T. Whoever finds this be it the British Government, or S.H.I.E.L.D, call Jack Harkness. Even if Torchwood went down with U.N.I.T, he probably found a way to survive. His number is (029)-564-6796. If he doesn't answer right away, he is probably being the ass he usually is. Trust The Doctor, that is very important. If the world is coming to an end, he is probably right around the corner. You won't find him, unless he wants to be found, so don't even bother. Good luck and stop whatever happened to me from destroying the rest of the world."

The fourth and final page was by far the most interesting being that it was an email to the big man himself, Fury.

'Director Fury;

I am Kate Stewart, head of the Scientific division in U.N.I.T, and we have made a terrible enemy. We have managed to anger a man that goes by The Doctor. I am the only one left at the base. Sergeant Munro gave me clear instructions to send this message to you.

People say that The Doctor is kind, and caring, but he's not. He is manipulative, and will play you. We thought that he was trusted, we thought that he would keep us safe. We were wrong. He is able to kill without mercy. Find him and eliminate him before it's too late for you too.

I don't have much time left. The Doctor is smart. He will outwit you if you let him. Kill him on sight. Do not hesitate or you'll be the dead one."

Tony blinked several times, trying to comprehend what he had just read. The last page was completely opposite from the other two. Martha and Mickey had trusted the man with their lives, yet he had murdered hundreds at U.N.I.T. He seemed like a full on traitor.

"Are you children finished reading yet?' Agent Steele asked sarcastically, walking back from the cockpit into the cabin.

Clint, looking as conflicted as Tony felt, asked several questions in quick succession, "What is Torchwood? Who is this Jack Harkness? Who is this Doctor dude? Is our mission The Doctor? Why did so many people trust The Doctor if he was so...so cruel?"

Sighing, Agent Steele began to answer Clint's questions, "Torchwood was an organization created in 1879 by Queen Victoria. Its primary goals were to defend Earth against supernatural and extraterrestrial beings. It-"

"Wait, are you saying the Queen of England came across an alien that got her so paranoid that she created a club to fight them off?" Tony laughed, failing to maintain composure.

"It was a werewolf actually," Agent Steele replied, shutting Tony up, "Jack Harkness, from what we could find, was the head of Torchwood in Cardiff. What made him so special in Agent Smith's report is unknown. When we tried calling the number in Mickey's report, we got sent to voicemail. The Doctor is our unknown variable. We could find nothing about this things heritage. All that matters is that he is a monster that needs to be brought in or killed. I am aiming for the later. We believe that The Doctor manipulated the people at U.N.I.T and Torchwood into thinking that they were his friends, by reasons we will discuss later. He created a trusting relationship with the organizations, and as soon as it was necessary, he got rid of them. Now-"

"You forg-" Tony tried to interrupt.

"I realize that I didn't answer one of the questions, I was getting to it! Now, we have spent the last two months trying to track down The Doctor himself. All attempts have lead to dead ends and missing agents. Luckily though, we found a similarity in the photos." The agent explained.

Within two seconds, the two Avengers had whipped out their Stark Pads and were searching through the pictures.

Tony scanned through the pictures, trying to find something similar. In a few photos, there was a bright blue box, but it was unlikely they would be going after an object. Other photos had pictures of different men. One had a long scarf and curly hair, while another had a pinstripe suit on, and spiky brown hair. Nothing seemed to match between photos, unless...

"We are going after one of The Doctor's girls!" Stark exclaimed, nearly leaping out of his seat. When a slight nod was sent from Agent no-fun, Tony turned to Clint and muttered ,"Suck it," under his breath.

With a twitching eye, Agent Steele began to explain again, "There are two things I would like to point out. One, The Doctor seems to change faces quite often. S.H.I.E.L.D believes that the title is passed down from person to person. The box goes with whoever has the title. The second thing I would like to point out is the female company. Originally, I was going to send you after Rory and Amy Pond, photo numbers twenty-five to forty. They have been seen the most with The Doctor, but they went missing a year ago. Haven't been able to find them since. Our next best option was Rose Tyler, her mother Jackie Tyler, and Mickey Smith, photos eight through sixteen. Yes, the same Mickey. Sadly though, the Tyler's went off the map years ago, and Mickey went MIA after the U.N.I.T incident. It is lucky we did manage to track down one of his 'friends', Clara Oswald. She is your mission. I want answers from her, and if you can't get answers, I want you to get her back to S.H.I.E.L.D, no matter what. I also want her alive, being that she may be our only chance of finding him. So, no matter what, DO NOT MESS THIS UP!" With those final words, the head agent made his way back to the cockpit.

It was silent between the Avengers for a moment, both of them processing what had been said.

"Something's off about this mission," Clint said slowly, "There are too many things contradicting each other, the details are mushy."

Scratching his head, Tony responded, "Well Hawkeye, what do you want to do? Back out? No matter how much you try you'll always be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. You'll always be as loyal to Fury as I am to Pepper. That means no matter how much we hate this, we won't quit."

Tony's speech seemed to have struck a nerve in Clint. Instead of responding in his normal sarcastic attitude, he pulled out his phone and proceeded to ignore Tony.

In that moment, Tony took the opportunity to get a good look at the resident archer. It wasn't like him to question Fury. That was his job.

Clint had been living at the Avengers Tower almost as long as Bruce. At first he had come only at night, and was gone by morning. By time the rest of the Avengers moved in, Clint had found a permanent home at the tower.

Tony had assumed that Clint was quiet, and Natasha like. He was dead wrong. Clint was loud, sarcastic, and easy to get along with. Everyone seemed to like him. How his attitude was still so still so positive after what happened with Loki was beyond most of the Avengers. Natasha was the only one who seemed worried about Hawkeyes sanity.

"None of you knew him before Loki took him over," Natasha had told both Tony and Steve one night, "He used to be respected, healthy, and most of all happy. He's lost a lot of respect at S.H.I.E.L.D. People blame him for the deaths on the helicarrier, and judge him for struggling through the physiological exams. What I'm asking of you guys is to keep an eye on him while I'm gone. Make sure he finds something to do until he can go back to regular missions, ok? I would rather have him fake his way through this than go back there."

Tony had doubted he was suppose to hear the last part. It had scared him. He knew Clint had joined S.H.I.E.L.D after some serious convincing, but he didn't know the whole story. There seemed to be no electronic files of Clint's past. Tony was seriously worried about where 'there' was.

Tony had to also worry about Clint faking his way through. Even with all of the archers training, he did slip up. At times, Clint would be sitting there, eyes unfocused; glassy.

It was the exact look Clint had as they flew to England. He was gently rubbing his hand against his shoulder, as if nursing a wound. He had bags under his eyes, and it looked like he had lost even more weight.

Looking at the mess beside him, Tony couldn't help but think; Is Clint ready for this?