This is what happens if you mix Avengers and marching band. If you don't want to read me rant, skip to the not bold part. :)
I've been compromised. My friends, who live rather far away, found out about my double life as writer, and I thought, "What better way to show them how much I miss them than give them a story?"
Now, these friends of mine, we're all band geeks. Like totally. And, since Marching Band season is coming up, when I asked them what would they like me to write about, they said "Band Camp." Now, any marching band student knows what band camp is, and what it means. For those who don't know, it's like coming back to school and seeing all of your friends after the long summer break, except these people are more than friends. They're family. All bands are family.
However, in this particular story, I just want to show the Avengers at their best, causing destruction among the band. Note to everyone, the things that occur in this story have been things that my friends and I have always wanted to do in our old band, but just never actually did.
Anyway, enough of my rant. For most of you, this will hopefully be an amusing story about marching band and Avengers, but to R + K, this is me telling you two how much I miss you. Enjoy!
"No way, Fury. We're not doing it."
"It's not an option, Romanoff."
"Oh come on sir! It was just a little accident."
"A whole building was blown up, Barton, so excuse me if I don't listen to your damn 'accident' claims!"
Clint rolled his eyes at the Director, while his partner Natasha was literally boring holes into their leader's face. Bruce sat, bored, in the back corner, with Thor right beside him, not fully understanding the situation. Steve sat up front near Fury, wearing a look of deep shame on his face. Tony watched the assassins with slight interest, then decided that it was time to step in.
"Okay, yes, a building might have gotten blown up, and some people might have been injured, but we still took down that weapons organization. You should be thanking us Nick, not sending us to camp for a day. Anyway, what's so terrible about watching over a rookie camp for a day? That can't be so bad."
Natasha and Clint both slowly turned and looked Stark over, wearing faces as if he was slowly going insane. Natasha shook her head in an unbelieving way, then looked down at the file that Fury had just thrust at her. Her faced paled as she looked at their newest assignment, and she cast a scared look at her partner before she handed the file over to him. Clint read the top line, and immediately blanched.
Tony trained his eyes back on them, then before either Clint or Natasha could react, he grabbed the file from Clint's hands, and read what their mission was.
"Seriously? This is the best you've got Nick? A day with the marching band rookies? Guess we're not getting punished after all guys," Tony said, scoffing at the file. Thor looked slightly relieved, but Bruce and Steve were watching Natasha and Clint, who looked terrified beyond belief.
"BAND TEN HUT!"
"SHIELD!"
"Alright, water break. If you're not out here on your dot in ten, you're doing a lap!"
The rather tense looking band director started down the band tower, making his way to the Avengers, who were waiting at the base, taking in the scene.
They were in an arena of some sort, an hour from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s actual base. The lines on the field were football lines, but there were strange marks every few steps across each line. The agents who were out on the field looked exhausted, though it was only eight. They were all wearing shorts and t-shirts, and the women had their hair pulled up out of their face. When the director told them to go get some water, most of the members slugged off the field, moving slower than a snail, while others promptly fell onto the grass and refused to move another inch.
It was hot and humid outside, seventy-eight, feels like eighty-seven, and Tony was already dying. They had told him to wear clothes to fit the weather, but did he listen? Nope. Tony was wearing a longsleeve black shirt with black sweatpants and what looked like very uncomfortable running shoes. He hadn't even brought any water. Secretly, Natasha and Clint made bets, not on if he would pass out, but when.
As the band director finally reached the strange group, Nick Fury walked up and shook hands with him.
"I really appreciate you doing this for me, Kevin. I'm sorry we had to do this, but they've got to be punished somehow. Last time I sent them to the training facility; we're still cleaning up that mess, but I thought that here they couldn't hurt as much. Besides, it's only for a day," added Fury, seeing the tense look on the director's face.
"Oh, well, it's no problem. It is only the second day of camp, so things shouldn't be too bad. We're going to be doing basics all morning, maybe learn a few sets, then after lunch we'll take out the instruments and go into sectionals, and finally pull it all back together and play through everything together."
Fury nodded, then turned so that he could introduce the band director to the Avengers.
"Mr. Joyce, allow me to introduce you to Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man, Bruce Banner a.k.a. Hulk, Thor Odinson; self explanatory, Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America, and Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, otherwise known as Black Widow and Hawkeye. Vexatious toddlers, this is Kevin Joyce, your band director for the day."
"Pleased to meet you," Mr. Joyce said as he shook hands with each of the Avengers. "This is going to be fun. Hopefully you all can teach some of these kids about staying in shape; they're vegetables," he chatted, shaking his head as a few rookies started fighting over the shade of the band tower. "But apparently they have enough energy to keep on bickering- HEY! HOLLAND! SMITH! PUT THE WATER JUG DOWN RIGHT NOW!"
Mr. Joyce rushed over to prevent the fight between the two agents, leaving the Avengers with Fury. Clint rounded on their director.
"Please, sir, I'll pay for the renovations of that building myself. I'm sorry, I'm showing remorse! Just please, please don't make me do this!" Clint pleaded.
"I'll help him sir! I will! We can pay for it together, if you take us both back to base right now," said Natasha, stepping up to her partner's side. Fury rolled his eyes.
"You should have thought about this before you blew up that building! Now shut your mouths, and suck it up, because this is where you're staying for the day. If I hear that you ditched, you'll be spending the rest of the week here, with extra security around you at all times, you understand?"
Clint's mouth gaped hopelessly, while Natasha sighed and nodded, acting as if she was signing away her life. Tony snorted at the two, and rolled his eyes. Even Steve thought the two were overreacting a little bit. Fury shook his head, waved at Mr. Joyce, then walked away.
"I'll see you at six!" he called, before hopping into his car, and driving out of the arena.
The moment he was out of eyesight, Natasha and Clint turned to each other and immediately began discussing topics of survival. Thor looked around, and watched with interest as a few people carrying big drums strapped to their backs walked by, laughing, and joking even though it was such terrible weather. Steve examined the field in front of him, wondering what they were getting themselves in to, while Bruce fanned Tony to keep him from passing out. The band director eventually returned to them.
"Sorry about that, it's those darn rookies. They don't know anything about this place yet. Next week is going to be a big shock for them when they older band comes in."
"Wait," said Clint, something dawning in his expression. "This is just your rookie band?"
"Yep. We've got a pretty good size this year, by the looks of it. Of course, we haven't rooted out the weak ones yet, but even still. We should be alright before fall comes around. Okay! Now, to band stuff. I'm going to put you all at the front, because I know that you'll catch on faster than the rookies. We've already done basic stretches and warm ups, so when they come back, we're going to take a lap around the field, and then continue on to basics. I'm going to assign each of you a section to look after, just to make sure nothing goes terribly wrong. So, tell me an instrument you can play, or have always wanted to play, and I'll assign you to that section, okay?"
Mr. Joyce looked expectantly at Clint and Natasha, silently pleading for them to cooperate, but Steve actually stepped up first.
"Uh, I used to play the trumpet when I was in the military," volunteered Steve. "I guess that I would like to be paired with that section."
"Excellent! Okay, what about everyone else?"
"I'll do low brass. Trombones and tubas are awesome," exclaimed Tony, stepping forward with a nasty grin. Natasha rolled her eyes; he was beyond immature.
"Rogers with trumpets, Stark with low brass," counted off Mr. Joyce.
"I'll take flute."
Everyone turned and looked, first at Natasha, and then at Bruce.
"What?" exclaimed Natasha.
"I thought you'd pick flute, not Bruce," mumbled Tony. Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Actually Tony, I learned how to play flute on one of my expeditions through Europe, and it's actually pretty soothing," shrugged Bruce.
"Whatever. I'll do battery," Clint said, rubbing his eyes as the sun reared it's ugly head.
"I'll take clarinet," growled Natasha as Tony made a comment to Bruce she couldn't hear.
"What was that, Stark?"
"Nothing, Widow dear!" Tony chirped in a sing-song voice. Natasha narrowed her eyes, let out a sly grin, then turned to Bruce.
"What'd he say?"
"He said that you still picked the second girliest instrument in the band."
"Bruce! What the- OWW!" Tony doubled over in pain, while giving Bruce the evil eye.
"What was that for?"
"Hey. You implied that flutes were girly. I defend my flutists at all costs," explained Bruce, not even batting an eye. Tony swore, and shook his head, trying to clear the pain building in his shin from where Natasha's foot had made contact.
"And you, Thor?" asked Mr. Joyce, ignoring Tony.
Thor furrowed his brows, and suddenly pointed out at the people carrying drums.
"That, whatever they are carrying, indeed looks fun to play!" boomed Thor. Clint leaned over and patted Thor on the shoulder.
"Sorry dude. I've already called the big drums, but I think I know something you might like. Joyce, put God of Thunder down for saxophones."
Mr. Joyce nodded, and then reached in his pocket for his whistle.
"Let's run a lap, then we'll get you placed, okay?" Mr. Joyce paused, then blew harshly into his whistle. It emitted a shrill sound, and suddenly all the recruits came running, and were back on their dots before Mr. Joyce had to take another breath.
"Alright recruits! Take a lap! You too Avengers. You need to get warmed up! You're in marching band!"
Natasha grumbled as she and Clint immediately took off running, falling into the middle of the recruits, but easily making their way to the front of the running pack. Steve blinked, then followed suit, running just as fast, and soon was out even before Natasha and Clint. Thor just took off running, finding himself in the middle of some very chatty girls, who giggled as Thor ran around them. Tony began to moan, but Bruce kicked him in the same shin Natasha had just kicked him in, then grabbed the neck of his longsleeve shirt and pulled Tony onto the field to run a lap.