A/N- Just watched The Avengers again— what a great movie! Thought it'd be fun to take these characters for a spin. This story is set during the second movie, but other than the villain tease at the end of the first, is based on my own plotting and predictions. And if you're a fan of my Batman story, I finally had some time this weekend to work on fun stuff, and managed to plot out the rest of that story too. More to come from "Pieces" soon! Just thought I should show some love to the Marvel universe as well…I don't play favorites. :) Hope you enjoy!
Such Lost Creatures
Chapter One
Happy Birthday, Mr. Stark
"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. Are we boring you?"
Tony looked up from his phone. "No. Sorry. Well, actually, yes, if I'm being completely honest, this meeting is running a little long and frankly seems like much ado about nothing, Fury, but I'm sorry. Phone going away. Listening cap on." Tony slid his phone back into his pants pocket, mumbling to himself. "Multibillion dollar empire to run, but no phones allowed during class."
Steve snorted with laughter. "You weren't checking on work. You're never checking on work. You were just texting your girl."
"How do you know about texting?" Tony countered, not wanting to admit that he had actually been checking to see if Pepper had texted him. He hadn't heard anything from her all day, which was very unusual. Especially since today was his birthday. He was torn between conflicting emotions of hurt if she had just forgotten or worried because forgetting anything wasn't very Pepper-like. But neither hurt nor worry felt very Tony-Stark-like, so he settled on something much more comfortable—mocking Steve Rogers. "Isn't that a little after your time?"
"Have you ever tasted humble pie before, Stark?" Steve pulled out a brand new iPhone 5S, placing it triumphantly on the table. "I'm guessing no."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Okay, Captain. Turn it on, take a dirty picture of yourself, and send it to Fury. Right now. Then I'll believe you know how to use your new toy."
"Can we focus, please?" Nick Fury interrupted. "Both of you, put your damn phones up!"
Tony snickered, but reluctantly turned back towards their team leader, Steve lovingly sliding his phone into its new little case before leaning over to Bruce next to him and muttering, "This thing can take pictures?"
"Thank you. And we didn't just call you here because of the sudden spike in gamma radiation. While monitoring the spike, S.H.I.E.L.D. received a communication from an unknown, possibly extraterrestrial source. We think it may have been inadvertently intercepted instead of sent directly to us."
"What makes you say that?" Clint asked as Bruce polished his glasses on his shirt before replacing them to study the reports on the radiation spike that had just appeared on all of their screens.
"The message itself was…highly unusual. We've done our best to translate it, and the only interface that produced anything remotely intelligible was created from the Asgard language." Nick leaned over his own computer, playing the translation for the team.
It was a deep, presumably male, mostly garbled voice that only spoke five words—
"For the Mistress of Death."
There was laughter recorded afterwards, a high feminine laugh that started off soft and sweet until it grew in volume and power, eventually so maniacal and high-pitched it was like nails scraping against bone. After the transmission played, the room fell into a long silence.
The silence continued until Tony laughed out loud, holding up his hands in mock alarm. "Uh-oh. Gotta watch out for those evil villain heavy metal cover bands. Mistress of Death. And I thought Loki was over the top."
"We can't afford to take something like this lightly." Steve glared at Tony.
"What does Thor have to say about this? Is the Tessarect still secure?" Clint looked up at Fury.
"That's actually another reason we called you all here. Any communication with Thor will require some major battery power. And we figured…why not start with the beacon of self sustaining clean energy?" Nick Fury's lips curved up into a smile.
"Hey, that's trademarked." Tony looked up with mild alarm.
"He means Stark Tower, genius." Steve rolled his eyes.
"Well, you'll have to clear this with Pepper." Tony said contrarily.
"We already have, Mr. Stark." Nick nodded his head towards the door.
"What? She didn't say anything to—" Tony stopped, suddenly realizing that the rest of the team was now looking behind him, very pleased with themselves. He turned around, his mouth literally falling open in surprise. Pepper was standing in the doorway to their meeting room, on board the S.H.I.E.L.D. battleship plane, wearing a dark green business suit, her long blonde hair pulled back in a tight low bun.
"Hey, babe, what are you doing here?" Tony beamed with happy surprise, getting to his feet and crossing to Pepper to kiss her hello. But she turned her face at the last minute so he could only kiss her cheek.
"Happy birthday, Mr. Stark." Pepper pulled back, speaking in her very-serious-business voice.
Tony laughed, mimicking her monotone voice and moving his arms like a machine. "Thank you, robot girlfriend."
She smiled tightly, speaking under her breath to Tony as she passed: "I'm not your girlfriend here; I'm your boss."
Tony raised his eyebrows, his arm going around her waist. "Meow. This game sounds fun."
Pepper ignored him, disentangling herself and walking towards Nick Fury with her hand outstretched. "Director Fury. Thank you so much for having me."
"Of course, Miss Potts. Have you met the rest of the team?"
"I've heard such good things about all of you." Pepper nodded her head to each as she looked around the table. "Dr. Banner. Agent Barton. Captain Rogers."
Bruce and Clint smiled and nodded back at her, Steve rising from his chair with a respectful "Ma'am." He didn't sit back down until Pepper was seated, Tony sitting beside her, resting his hand on her leg as he looked her up and down. "You look great." He looked around at the rest of the team. "Doesn't she look great? Kids, clear out. Mommy and daddy need some alone time."
"Tony, please." Pepper hissed, her cheeks flushing pink as she pushed his hand away, clearing her throat and taking out a folder from her briefcase with the Stark Enterprises logo printed on the front. "We would be happy to allow access to our Arc Reactor to assist S.H.I.E.L.D. in any way that we can. Stark Enterprises will allow full access to our technology as long as Mr. Stark or I are present to oversee the process."
"Of course." Fury took the folder she handed him, looking over the templates she'd provided of the Arc Reactor. "In fact, we'd love if you would stay for the weekend to oversee our communication with Asgard."
"That should be fine."
"You're staying?" Tony perked up immediately. "Happy birthday to me. Fury, are the walls to our rooms sound-proofed? If not, sorry, Steve." He leaned over to Pepper. "The good Captain bunks right next to me. Well, us, now. But he's a pretty heavy sleeper, so we should be fine."
Pepper gave Tony a withering glare before turning to face the rest of the group. "I'm so sorry about this." She rubbed her forehead, looking about as flustered as a blushing Captain Rogers.
"It's okay, Miss Potts. We're used to him." Bruce said with a magnanimous smile.
Tony held up his hands, looking around the table with confusion. "What'd I say?"
There was an awkward silence until Director Fury took charge again. "So, why don't we let everyone get settled in tonight, and we'll reconvene tomorrow morning once we've all had a good night's sleep? 0800. Dr. Banner. Stark. Miss Potts. You'll get to work on contacting Thor. Steve— we need you to do some reconnaissance on the transmission. We've plotted out the best coordinates we could find for its point of origin once it crossed into our atmosphere. You'll lead the team to go check it out."
"Yes, sir."
"And Agent Barton, we'll be sending you out on one of our birds to extract Agent Romanoff. She's completing a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. in—"
"Moscow, I know." Clint cut him off. "We…we've stayed in touch. She won't be happy about us pulling her out. This mission's important to her."
"The Avengers Initiative takes precedence. That's my call, Agent Barton. Not yours, or Agent Romanoff's." Nick said, a trace of sharpness in his voice.
Clint looked like he was forcing himself to swallow a surly retort as he remained silent for a moment, before giving a curt nod and simply saying—"Yes, sir."
The uncomfortable feeling in the room grew worse.
"You're all dismissed." Nick told them. "Except Agent Barton. You stay behind. I need a word."
Tony and Pepper walked out of the room together, already talking in rapid-fire, hushed voices, Steve walking out with his hands in his pockets, Dr. Banner still studying the radiation report on his handheld tablet, making a beeline for the laboratory.
Clint remained in his seat at the end of the long table, looking down at his hands for a moment before speaking. "I'm sorry, Director. I didn't mean any disrespect. Just…Tash—uh, Agent Romanoff's work against Petrovitch…she won't just walk away from it."
"I'm not asking her to walk away forever. But bringing down that old Russian bastard isn't something that can be completed with one mission. She's done some good work. Now we need her here. I'm trusting you, Agent Barton. We need the whole team for this one. Convince her to come home."
"She is home." Barton pointed out, a profound sadness in his voice.
Fury sighed. "Well, then, convince her to leave it. You've done that before, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir." Barton took his leave, playing good soldier, but the Director could practically feel the anger and resentment radiating off of him. Fury had denied Barton's request to be part of the team going to Russia, and he knew that both Barton and Romanoff were still sore about it. He'd needed Barton for something else, something he could barely remember now but at the time had taken higher priority, but the decision had changed the dynamic of the Avengers. He'd thought throwing Barton the bone of heading up her extraction might improve things, but it had only made them worse. And bringing Miss Potts along had been meant to put Tony in better spirits about leaving his work behind, but that had seemed to backfire as well.
Director Fury took his seat at the head of the table, letting out a long, weary breath.
How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?
He'd admitted Loki was right once before, and now, he wasn't sure what they were facing but…here it was. That tightening of the chest. That same desperation. He needed them. The world needed them. And all he could do now was hope that he hadn't been wrong to believe in them again.
"So what exactly did I do wrong?" Tony sighed, leaning against the door of his sleeping quarters on the plane as Pepper sat down on the edge of the bed, taking down her bun and shaking out her hair.
She looked up at him for a moment, her blue eyes glassy with tears. "Do you honestly think any of the people in that room think you respect me at all now? You just confirmed exactly what everyone says about me behind my back."
"What's that?"
"That screwing my boss is the only reason I've made it to where I have." Her voice sounded hoarse and raspy with suppressed tears.
"Pepper. Anyone who says that is an idiot. Of course I respect you. I made you the CEO of my entire company. Way before you... screwed me, to borrow your term." Tony crossed the room to sit beside her and take her hand in his. She hardly ever got emotional, and definitely not about his usual shenanigans. "I'm sorry, okay? I really was just joking around. I'm so happy to see you. So happy you're here."
She let out a long breath, wiping off her cheeks. "I know. I know. I'm sorry too. I…I haven't been feeling very well."
He gently rubbed the back of her neck with his hand. "What's wrong?"
"Just…just some kind of bug, I think. And I don't know, I just can't help thinking…"
"What is it?" he asked quietly, almost tenderly, speaking to her in the way that she knew no one else in the world would believe he was even capable of.
She tucked her hair behind her ears, staring determinedly at the floor. "The last time you left for a mission with S.H.I.E.L.D., I didn't see you for months…until you showed up on the news with a nuclear missile strapped to your back."
"But everything was fine—"
"Everything was not fine!" Her voice broke, long-buried feelings finally coming to the surface. They had been so happy to be reunited after the attack on New York, that they'd never really talked much about what had actually happened that day. "I thought you were dead, Tony! And that you'd died without…without…I mean, I wasn't even a thought…you didn't even hesitate…"
"I was the only one who could have done it! I thought you'd be proud of me."
Her eyes softened slightly as she finally looked at him closely. "I was so proud. Of you. Not of me. When I realized what you were going to do, I…I was so selfish, Tony. I didn't care about New York. I didn't care about all the people you were saving. I just wanted you to come home."
"I did come home." Tony smiled, leaning forward and kissing her, starting to talk before they even fully pulled back from the kiss. "And I tried to call you. When I realized there was no other way out."
"You did?"
"Of course. You can ask Jarvis."
Pepper finally gave him a real smile. "I don't need to ask Jarvis. I believe you."
"Why did you never tell me you felt this way about what happened before?"
"I don't know. I guess I wanted you to think of me like someone who could fit in with all your heroic Wonder Friends." She laughed softly, brushing his hair back off his forehead with her hand. "
"You are one of us. But I wouldn't exactly describe you as just one of my Wonder Friends." Tony smiled, his hand tangling in her hair as he kissed her again, and finally she really kissed him back, her hand on his cheek and then sliding to the back of his neck, gripping tighter as he deepened the kiss, and she made a soft sound of pleasure in response. They broke apart a long while later, Tony on his back in the bed with Pepper on top of him, Tony looking up at her with a mischievous smile. "So are you my girlfriend in here? Is that allowed? I mean, I'll call you boss too if that does it for you—like that one time on your desk in D.C.—was it just me, or did that definitely land a spot in our top five?"
"Yes, I can be your girlfriend in here. As long as your walls are sound-proofed." Pepper raised an eyebrow, lightly tugging on his hair as punishment for saying something so stupid during the Avengers meeting.
"You know, I never did a get a definitive answer on that."
Pepper shook her head, starting to unbutton his shirt and mumbling her next words against his mouth— "So do you want your birthday present?"
Tony nodded happily, humming the Happy Birthday song until she successfully shut him up.
A/N- More to come soon! In Chapter Two, Clint tracks down Natasha, Pepper reveals a huge secret, Thor returns with tragic news, and The Mistress of Death rears her beautiful (bony) head…