Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Marvel merchandise.
Hello there! I know it's been sometime since I've posted ANYTHING on here. Sorry to all those who are waiting to hear more about 'How She Died', and I promise to get back to it as soon as possible. Just so you all know, there may be some spoilers about Infinity War in this. And this is not a story about what I think will happen in Avengers 4. This story also has nothing to do with my previous Avenger tales. Hope you all like it, and let me know what you think. Thanks. ;)
Chapter One: Meetings
"Using me as bait." The soft, sour muttering sounded through the dense undergrowth of the forest. Only the slightest cracking of twigs followed the footsteps of the man shrouded in darkness by the leaves overhead.
Raising his hand to pull aside a branch, the man saw a clearing in front of him. In the middle of the clearing was a brown-haired man sitting on a large boulder, still muttering quietly to himself, "If Hulk wasn't sulking, he'd be the one sitting here as bait, and I'd be the one up there waiting watching the clearing."
Frowning slightly in confusion, the man stepped into the clearing and called, "Banner?"
The brown-haired man turned around and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw mud-smeared Iron Man armour. Standing up, the man turned around to face him, calling back, "Tony! What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Stark replied, stepping further into the clearing, making Banner hold up his hands and cry, "No, wait! Tony it's a tra-"
Stark gave a yell of shock as he was hoisted into the air. Looking up, he saw that a rope was wrapped around his ankle, leaving him hanging upside-down. Stark gave a groan of annoyance and looked back down at Banner, who was biting his lip slightly. Shaking his head, he turned back to the rope and raised his hand towards it.
But before he could shot, a sparkle of silver flew past and cut through his binding, making Stark fall to the ground with an echoing thump. A low rumble of laughter came closer as Stark got to his feet, and turning around he saw a tall, large muscled man walking towards the clearing, his face split into two with a huge grin.
"Friend Stark! I am glad to see you're alive." The big man stepped over to Stark, briefly shaking his hand before walking over to the large axe that lay on the ground and picking it up. Stark pulled back his helmet, saying as he did so, "Thor. How- how are you? Man, I haven't seen you for three years."
Thor gave a small chuckle and turned back to Stark, replying, "Yes, it has been sometime, my friend. But now is not the time to exchange tales. Now, is the time to collect food."
He then sprinted back into the darkness of the woods, while Banner sighed and sat back down on the boulder. Stark looked from one to the other, before quickly following after the big man, calling, "Wait, what's going on? What happened on Earth? Where are the others?"
Stark very soon lost sight to where Thor had disappeared, leaving him to look around while throwing up his hands. The soft sound of twigs cracking came to his ears, making his pull his helmet back up while looking over his shoulder while a voice spoke softly, "Don't move, and I won't blow your iron butt to kingdom kong."
Raising his hand, Stark turned to face the source of the voice and felt his mouth drop in surprise as he saw a raccoon dressed in leather and pointing a huge gun at him. Letting his hand fall, Stark muttered quietly, "A raccoon?"
"Shut up and get movin'." The small creature waved the gun to his right and waited as Stark gave a small scoff, turning around again to continue moving along the way he was walking in before.
A soft whir, then the sound of the gun going off, following by a small ding against his armour sounded, making Stark pause and slowly turned back to face the raccoon, who hissed, "I'm not going to tell you again. Move."
Rolling his eyes slightly, Stark raised a hand and said, "Look, little guy… I don't hurt you. So do yourself a favour- stay out of my way."
"Look pal," Stark raised his eyebrows slightly as the raccoon replied while barring his teeth, "I haven't eaten in the last week, and we don't need you ruining our trap. So, I'm only going to warn you once- follow me and stay out of our way, or I'll eat you."
He again waved his gun to the right, but before anything more could be said or done, there was a loud squealing that made the two turn back to the clearing. Both running full steam, the two crashed into the clearing and saw Banner looking up at a pig-like creature that was hanging from a rope above them.
Moving to stand next to Banner and pulling his helmet back, Stark waited as Thor came back into the clearing, a wide smile on his face again while the raccoon climbed up the tree and started to cut the rope.
"You see, Banner?" Thor asked, slapping his friend's back while staring up at the pig, adding, "I told you everything would work."
Banner's eyes widen as he backed away, replying shrilly, "Are you crazy, Thor?! It was that close from making me it's dinner!"
He raised his hand, his two fingertips nearly touching each other to demonstrate how close it was. Stark looked back up at the pig, and watched as the raccoon cut through the last of the rope, letting the pig drop to the ground with a loud squeal. Thor then stepped forward and dug his axe into the creature's side, it's squeals dying immediately.
Thor tuned back to the two men, his smile still in place as he called over, "Friend Stark, won't you join us? You look like you could use some rest."
Glancing over at the pig, Stark turned back to Thor, replying, "My colleague and I would be happy to join you. But I'm not eating… that."
"Colleague?" Banner turned to him, frowning slightly. Stark gave a small nod and told him, "I've been travelling with this blue, robot chick for the last year. We have a common goal in mind: to find Thanos, make him undo what he did and then kill him. She's back at our ship."
Banner gave a small nod while Thor patted Stark's back, telling him warmly, "We'll gladly welcome any friend of yours. We will wait here for your return."
Stark gave a short nod and pulled up his helmet, turning around to face the direction he had first come from.
