"I'm worst at what I do best, and for this gift, I feel blessed. Our little group has always been and always will until the end. Hello, hello, hello, how low? With the lights out, it's less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us. I feel stupid and contagious. Here we are now, entertain us."
Smells Like Teen Spirit, covered by Malia J
Natasha drove while Clint was in the back shooting off arrows at every HYDRA agent he could see. Tony was flanking the two in his suit just as Natasha kicked one of the agents in the face. A HYDRA truck pulled up right next to them with their guns aimed at Natasha and Clint, giving Thor the perfect time to throw the men off of it. Melody was on top of one of the lookouts, just finishing her job of knocking out all the guys before jumping down, landing perfectly in the Humvee Thor had cleared for her.
She got in the driver's seat before nodding to Thor, letting him know she was all set. Sure, Thor was adjusting to life on earth, but he hadn't mastered driving yet. He could keep the wheel steady and that was all Melody could trust him with.
He flew out of the truck, Steve passing by him while he knocked out a few agents. Steve ended up throwing his shield into one of the trucks at a perfect angle so it would explode. That left the Hulk picking it up and throwing it at a few HYDRA agents off to the side, thinking that they could avoid the Hulk.
Melody and Natasha were driving side by side before getting to the barricade, angling them just right before jumping out right into the battlefield. And for a split second, they were all side by side, ready to kick some HYDRA ass.
Tony flew to the building he believed HYDRA was located in when he quickly realized there was a force field around it. "Shit!"
"Language!" Melody stopped what she was doing after she hear that. Did Steve really just try to censor Tony Stark? Clint did the same as her, the two giving each other a little look before getting back to fighting. "Jarvis, what's the view from upstairs?"
"The central building is protected by some kind of…energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond anything of a HYDRA base we've taken."
"Tony," Melody called on the ear piece. "I'm joining you."
Clint turned to look at her wide eyed at that suggestion. "You sure? Can you do that yet?"
Melody looked up at the sky with a deep breath. "Well, today's the perfect day to try."
"It's all in the calves." Thor suggested on the intercom.
Melody looked to where he was fighting a few yards away from them. "Thank you, Thor."
Melody took another deep breath before squatting and pushing off the ground, sending her into the air as Clint and Natasha took a break from fighting to watch her, and then look down at the dent she had made in the snow. They both began to think back on the fact that no one knew she was a super solider for most of her life, but she had practically mastered all the powers that came with it. Even Captain America couldn't do that.
"Loki's scepter must be here," When Thor spoke, they brought their attention back to what was in front of them and continued with the fight. "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it." Thor threw his hammer at one of the men who was trying to go after him, but it easily found its way back into Thor's fist. "At long last."
Natasha threw a missile in one of the trucks and then hurried out before it could blow. Once she was finally far enough away from the truck so she wouldn't be in the blast radius, she turned back to her ear piece. "'At long last' is lasting a little long, boys." Natasha then noticed a man trying to creep up on her so she turned around and shot him point blank like it was no big deal.
"Yeah," Clint scoffed, ducking behind a tree again to avoid a bullet. "I think we lost the element of surprise."
Melody finally landed, but she was still off from the building, she ended up landing right in front of it. "Damn it!" She cursed loudly.
"What, Barnes?" Clint asked while continuing to shoot off arrows, one right after the other. "Didn't quite make it?"
"No." Melody spoke while kicking a stone close by.
"That's all right, kiddo." Tony spoke like her mistake wasn't a huge deal, but Melody rolled her eyes, knowing he was just saying that because he was her father and he had to. "You just have to map it out better next time. Maybe work on an equation to assure you land in the right spot."
Melody shrugged, knowing it wasn't a bad idea before going the rest of the way on foot. "Wait a second," Tony spoke in remembrance, surprised that he had to be the first one to bring this up. "No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said, 'language'?"
Steve was still on his motorcycle, dodging bullets. "I know." As he continued he knew he was going to get into a head on collision with one of the HYDRA trucks, so he made a rash decision. He stood up on his motorcycle and then flipped it forward while he flipped off of it, letting it land right on the front of the truck. He looked at his handy work with a smile before going back to what Tony had told him. "It just slipped out."
Inside the HYDRA base, they were scrambling to figure out how to keep the Avengers from completely steamrolling them. They decided to match their strengths and send out people who had special powers just like the Avengers. The Maximoff twins.
There were men outside the base that were shooting at Tony as Melody was still running to get close. "Sir," Jarvis informed. "The city is taking fire."
"Well," Melody spoke as she ran. "We know Strucker's not gonna worry about civilian casualties."
"Mel's right." Tony spoke before going back to Jarvis. "Send in the Iron Legion." Melody had to fight rolling her eyes, knowing Jarvis would tell on her in a heartbeat. She liked the idea of the Iron Legion, but she thought the way it was executed could have gone way better.
Clint felt a shift in the ground that time after he shot off an arrow. He pressed his back against a tree, trying to see if he could feel it again. Being partially deaf gave him those advantages. When he didn't feel anything, he moved from behind the tree to shoot off another arrow, but it didn't hit. It was almost like the arrow was caught midair. That's when Clint felt another shift.
He hurried out from behind the tree with his bow ready, and was immediately knocked off his feet. His back hit the snow hard, and he used his elbows to push himself up to see a man with hair so light it was almost white, and he was wearing a track suit. Now, Clint knew he hit the ground hard, but he didn't think he hit that hard. "You didn't see that coming?" The man asked in a thick Russian accent. Then, in a flash, he ran off. Clint couldn't even pull his bow on him in time. He was so distracted trying to figure out where the man went that he didn't notice a gun trained right for him until he had a hole in his side, sending him down the hill he was standing on.
"Clint!" Natasha yelled before hurrying after him. Steve froze what he was doing, giving Pietro the time to knock down the Captain America. "Clint's hit!"
Melody stopped walking right when she had made it to the steps of the facility, panicked at what she had just heard. "Clint?" She questioned. "What happened?" No one answered her, and all the worst-case scenarios were running through her head. "I'm turning back."
"No." Clint grunted, finally having enough strength to talk. "Melody, keep going. It's not that bad."
His voice was so gruff and weak like he was in a lot of pain, and that worried her even more. Especially with what she was speculating. "It doesn't sound like that."
"Well," he scoffed. "You have a tendency to blow things out of proportions."
Melody rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn't help a smile growing. "Just try to not do anything else stupid while I'm gone."
"No promises."
Melody rolled her eyes again before biting her lip. "I love you."
Clint smiled a little bit. Sure, his wound was bad, but the way she was talking to him made his pain hurt less. "I love you too."
Melody took another deep sigh before deciding to continue up the stairs just as Tony was fighting off the men at the top. Once Melody got to the top, Tony had shot the top of the building where the shield was being controlled. Melody looked to him with a little smile. "Nice shot, Dad."
"Yeah, well," Tony spoke with a shrug, trying to act like it was no big deal. "Your old man has some pretty great tricks."
Melody rolled her eyes before walking past him. "Moment ruined."
Tony scoffed as she moved to the first opening inside she could find. "You're the one who can't jump right."
"Clint's hit pretty bad, guys." Natasha reported making Melody swallow a lump in her throat. "We're gonna need an evac."
"I can get Barton to the jet." Thor reported as Tony slowed down along with Melody. He knew that right now, she was freaking out from the inside, but she wasn't going to let her outside show it. "The sooner we're gone, the better."
"Melody, you and Stark secure the scepter."
"Copy that." Steve told him which struck both Tony and Melody as odd.
"Find the scepter." Thor assured to them through the intercom before flying off.
"And for gosh sake," Tony exclaimed as both he and Melody picked up their pace. "Watch your language!"
Melody had to laugh at that even if she was one to be neutral between the two. She had to admit, that was funny. Steve was going to get a lot of teasing from that, and he dug himself into that own hole. "That's not going away any time soon."
When both Tony and Melody found the communications room, Melody was first to barge in, guns blazing as she slid across the slick floor. Tony was right after her, busting in through the windows, letting them all take their shots at Tony while Melody ducked behind a desk, finding herself unscathed and able to get a few of the HYDRA agents in the process. "Guys," Tony sighed out at them. "Stop. We have to talk this through." He let them continue, but it was only a matter of seconds before the guns came out of his suit and they were all on the floor. Melody stood up from behind the desk, looking at all of them, impressed the new guns took them all out that quick. "Good talk."
"No, it wasn't." One of the men grumbled out while holding onto his knee.
They both hurried in, Melody taking out the one guy that was still working on the computer. Tony then stepped out of the suit and turned it on sensory mode. Melody walked in front of him with her gun out, making Tony sigh. "Why do I always feel like the one being protected when we do these things together?"
Melody rolled her eyes at him before glancing back. "Look, Tony, I love you, but let's face it, I'm more equipped without the suit than you are."
Tony stopped walking to look at her, but she continued creeping forward. "That's one of the rudest things that's ever come from your mouth."
Melody put her gun up in the back holster when she detected no one else was in the area before plugging in one of her Stark flash drives in the computer and accessing all the data. "Okay, Jarvis, you know, I want it all."
As both Melody and Jarvis worked their magic like a team, Tony was looking around. "I know they're hiding more than files."
Melody turned to look at him while her fingers still danced around the keys before slowly stopping and backing away, letting Jarvis take up on all the work. "J," she called out. "Give us an IR scan of the room."
"The wall to your left." Both Tony and Melody turned their heads at the same time before making their way towards it. "I'm reading steel grade enforcement and an air current."
"Please be a secret door." Tony pleaded over and over again while Melody rolled her eyes, knowing he wanted this more than anything. When he finally lightly pushed on the wall, he heard a click of it opening. "Yay!"
Melody moved past him after that, taking each step with caution as Tony stuck behind her. When they got full sight of what was inside, they were both speechless, and taken back to a more stressful time. It was the alien ships the Chitauri landed in New York. The ones that chased them through the street and left them broken for months. "Guys, I've got Strucker." Steve came through the radio, but it was like background noise to both Tony and Melody.
"Yeah," Tony sighed out. "We got something bigger."
As they took survey of the place, Melody noticed off to the side was the purple Iron Man suit. The one Tony had made just for her two years ago. She thought she had lost it in the big fight. What the hell was it doing here? Come to think of it, as they looked around, there were scraps from all of the Avengers. Little stuff. Only stuff they would recognize. "What. The. Hell?" Melody continued to look around, guessing that's what happened when SHIELD doubled as HYDRA, but still it was creepy to look at. It was like a museum or shrine of stuff they didn't know was missing.
"Thor," Melody turned at the sound of her uncle's voice and moved to join him when she realized what he was going for. Loki's scepter. "I got eyes on the prize."
Right when Melody joined him, she felt...weird. Almost like someone else was there in her brain, getting into the deep parts she had stored away. She felt like her breathing was even being controlled. When she turned around to see if anyone else was there with them, she was back on the farm with Clint. Lila and Cooper were running around, but something was different. They were covered in bright red crimson.
Melody couldn't even open her mouth to scream. It was like she was just frozen there. She couldn't move her body. Right now, she was just a bystander to her own life. She looked down, and noticed the crimson was coming from the shed a few feet from where she stood. Every part of her was screaming, telling her not to go in. She wouldn't like what she found. She wasn't in control here.
She slowly moved her arm to the opening of the shed, trying with all of her might to gain control again, but the effort was useless. When she opened the door, inside was her team. Thor. Bruce. Natasha. Tony. Steve. Clint. There were a few extras in there too. Pepper. Rhodey. Sam. Her mother. And when she looked down at her hands, she was the one who was covered in their blood. Melody let out ragged gasps, wanting to scream again. She then felt a cold hand on her shoulder. When she looked at it, she saw it was metal. Bucky. She and Bucky did this, and there was no turning back. There was no correcting it. And when she looked back to Clint, she noticed his arm was outstretched for her and his mouth was wide open in what looked to be a plea. She had become the monster her family had destined for her to become.
Melody shuddered back into reality. There was still that feeling though. Someone was right behind her. She turned around to look, but still no one was there. Tony had done the same thing. They both then locked eyes, the same terrified look on their faces. Everything about their face showed their want to share what the hell had just happened with each other, but they were on a mission. They both turned back to the scepter, knowing they could talk about it later. If they even knew what it was they would be talking about.
With a quick movement, Tony shoved his hand out, part of the Iron Man suit grabbing onto his flesh in an instant. Melody was still just frozen, seeing it all replay in her mind again. What if she really was a danger to Clint? His kids? Their little family. Tony was obviously bothered by what he saw, but where Melody was frozen, Tony was determined. He walked forward, grabbing the scepter in his own hands before looking to it with a sense of wonderment. Melody took in a deep gulp. For some reason this didn't feel like the end, but was it ever that simple?
Tony was flying as Melody was standing over Clint, gripping onto his hand. Clint knew something was wrong. Something was wrong from the moment she set foot on the ship, but he knew better than to be direct about it. She would come to him when she was ready. Natasha was co-piloting while Thor and Steve walked around the bed Clint was on, trying to help, but to Melody, they were just getting in the way. Bruce's headphones were blaring, continuing to distract her. She gave a deep breath of annoyance before continuing to work on stopping his bleeding.
Natasha could pick up the tension from the back, so she took a break to check on everything. She walked by Clint's bed, offering him a small smile before eventually moving to Bruce. He took his headphones off, but that just made his music seem even louder to Melody, making her pick up her head again. If Nat thought she was helping with the music situation, she wasn't.
"Hey, the lullaby worked better than ever." Natasha offered him a small smile, but Bruce just continued his somber stare.
"Just wasn't expecting a code green." It was almost a whisper, making Natasha wanting to try harder.
"If you hadn't been there, there would've been double the casualties." She looked back at Melody who was working tirelessly on Clint.
She then noticed Clint was trying to tell her how to do her job. Never a good option. She ended up smacking his hand away, making Natasha smile. "I don't care how smart you think you are, Clinton Francis Barton, but this is my expertise."
"Francis?" Tony questioned while turning around slightly to look to the back.
Clint shrugged while looking up at her with an irritated smile. "Thanks, babe."
Natasha let out a low chuckle before looking back to Bruce, offering him another small smile. "My best friend would've been a treasured memory. And I would have had to take care of Melody, and that would have been infuriating for both of us."
Bruce offered her a little smile, not wanting to come off as rude, but this just wasn't helping like she thought it was. "You know, sometimes exactly what I want to hear isn't exactly what I want to hear."
Natasha's flirty smile almost disappeared while she tried to make eye contact with Bruce again. "How long before you trust me?"
Bruce studied her whole face, wanting her to know more than anything that none of this was her fault. "It's not you I don't trust. "
Natasha gave him one last once over before looking down. "Thor, report on the Hulk."
"The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims." Everyone turned to look at Thor, knowing his social skills weren't the best, but even he had to know that what he just said was the worst possible thing he could have said in that moment. Bruce put his hands on his head, reflecting over the people he had probably killed in his state. "But not the screams of the dead," Thor spoke again, quickly trying to correct himself. "Of course." Bruce nodded even if he knew that was a complete lie. "No, no, wounded screams. Mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and gout."
"Thor," Melody whispered, catching his attention. She was just shaking her head at him.
"Dude," Clint muttered, trying to sit up. "Just stop." He then doubled over in pain again, Melody pushing him back down, knowing what he needed right now more than anything was rest until they could get him to a real doctor.
"Hey, Banner, Dr. Cho is on her way in from Seoul." Melody took a deep sigh of relief. If anyone could fix Clint, it was her. "Is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"
"Yeah, she knows her way around." He said it quickly, obviously still bothered by what Thor had said.
"Thanks." Tony told him quickly before going back to the controls on the jet.
Melody moved towards Tony wiping her hands with a spare rag from the blood. "Tell her to prep everything. Barton's gonna need the full treatment."
"Don't I feel special." Clint joked. Melody rolled her eyes. He still didn't have a sense of humor while bleeding out.
"Jarvis, take the wheel." Tony spoke quickly before standing up to look at Melody. Jarvis quickly gave Tony a report as he moved towards Melody, his hands up, prepared to go to her shoulders in comfort mode. "Are you good?"
"I'm fine." Melody spoke through a tight smile. Somehow, she knew he wasn't talking about Clint. And somehow, Tony knew she was lying. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her to Steve and Thor who were standing off to the side of the ship while Natasha moved to take Melody's place with Clint.
The four of them stood around Loki's scepter, simply looking at it. No one said anything mostly because it still didn't feel real. They finally had it after everything. "Feels good, yeah?" Tony asked while breaking the silence. "I mean, you've been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed. Not that I haven't enjoyed our little raiding parties, but..."
"No, but this..." Thor spoke, his eyes downcast. Melody took a gulp. Sure she hated Loki, but she knew Thor loved Loki. And after everything that happened these past two years, she felt sympathy for what he was going through. "This brings it to a close." He turned to both Tony and Melody, giving them both a sincere smile.
"As soon as we find out what else this has been used for." Melody then turned to look at Steve, taking a deep breath, wondering how he was holding together. Especially while being on a break from looking for Bucky. The thought of his name brought her back to her dream, and a shudder ran down her spine. "I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"
"And what the hell else do those human enhancements have up their sleeves?" Melody looked to each of them before chewing on her thumb nail in thought. "A fast guy and a girl who makes red energy come out of her hands? I don't know about you, but those don't sound like pleasant things we'll encounter in the future."
"We'll give it the once over before it goes back to Asgard." Tony assured while looking to his adopted daughter before looking back to Thor. "Is that cool with you?"
Melody turned to look at Thor as well, her eyes pleading to just get her hands on it. Thor had soft spots for everyone in the team, but Melody's was even softer than the rest of them. She was like a little sister to him, and he would do anything to make her happy. He gave her a small smile and then a nod, making her lean into him a bit. He was the big brother she never had. "Just a few days till the farewell party." Tony continued, not wanting anyone to forget what he had planned for them all. "You're staying, right?"
"Yes, yes, of course." He looked back to the scepter, placing one of his hands on it while giving a proud smile. "A victory should be honored with revels."
"Yeah, who doesn't love revels?" Tony spoke absent mindedly. Just like Melody, he was thinking of his experience in the HYDRA lair. He needed them all to be at the party. That would be the only thing that would calm his racing mind. "Captain?"
"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and HYDRA." Steve muttered. When he looked back to the other three, he noticed they were all waiting for an answer, irritation on their faces by him not giving a straight answer like he always does. He got a little smile on his face before decided to finally answer them clearly. "So, yes, revels."
So, here's the next installment! I hope you all enjoy, and I'll try to update regularly for you all! Remember to review!
