A/N: In this chapter, Thor is off doing godly, thunder related things, and . . . I think he's the only one missing- besides Colton. Who is Not Dead, somewhere(trying to find time to watch AoS online, since I have no cable, but have so far failed) Also, we finally get some much needed Kurama POV! Yay! Show me you love me by reviewing!
Chapter Three: A Thief and A Hunt
The next day the shop was closed.
"Has he ever not been open before?" Tony asked, eyeing the 'Sorry We're Closed' sign suspiciously.
"No, I've been coming every day for almost three weeks, and he's never been closed."
"Hmm, well, I could-"
"No"
"What, I didn't-"
"We are not stalking him."
"I wasn't, I was just going to get Jarvis to do a little digging."
"Same thing. He's probably doing that favor for that 'Koenma' person ."
"Hmm, well-"
But before Tony could come up with another plan of action, their phones interrupted. Simultaneously.
"Well that can't be good." Tony muttered as they both pulled out their cells. "'Waiting for you at the tower. -Fury,' what about yours?"
"Same."
"Ugh. Why do they need us?" Tony griped as the two left the tea shop at a steady pace.
"Because you have a shiny red and gold suit, and I can turn into a 'giant green rage monster' as you like to put it."
"Doctor, I do believe I'm a bad influence on you. You weren't half as sarcastic now as when I met you."
"Well, after being stuck in third world countries, running from the authorities for years, I kind of lost my sense of humor."
"Well, nice to know I've helped restore you to your former glory."
Bruce snorted.
"I don't think I was quite this sarcastic before I met you."
They arrived back at the tower to meet the sight of Pepper lugging around way to many papers.
"They're waiting for you Tony." She called as they headed toward the elevator.
"Why did you let them in? They're probably into my emergency alcohol supply!"
"It's six thirty in the morning Tony, nobody drinks at six in the morning."
"It's five o'clock somewhere."
"Tony, that's not funny anymore."
The elevator doors closed.
'They' were indeed waiting- not just Nick Fury either. There was also Agent Romanov, Agent Barton, Agent Hill, and the Captain.
"Ah, old Saint Nick, throwing a party without me I see."
"Stark. Banner. Where were you?" Fury barked out, completely ignoring Tony's attempts at humor.
"Oh, just out for a spot oh' tea my good fellow." He answered with a grin.
"Sir, now that everyone is here, could you tell us what you've called us all for?" Steve interrupted, obviously trying to keep Tony's witty remarks to a minimum.
"Right." There was a pause. "Last night, someone broke into SHEILD headquarters."
Bruce gaped, Tony looked amused, the Captain looked surprised, and the Agents looked stoic.
"Again?" Tony said "You know, after last time, you'd think you would have gotten better security systems."
Nick Fury grimaced.
"We did. Which is why we called you all together to catch him. He's very skilled; we didn't find out until about an hour ago."
Tony whistled.
"So, what did he take?" Bruce finally asked. His curiosity overpowering his usual habit of keeping quiet when in large groups.
"Well . ." There was another pause, in which Fury gave them an almost sheepish look. Needless to say, the expression did not fit well on his face.
"We're not entirely sure."
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"You don't even know what he stole? What, lost you're inventory list?"
Agent Hill stepped forward. Apparently she had been waiting for this moment to speak.
"We do know what object was stolen, we're just not sure what it is or what it does."
She held out a small metal object in he palm and thumbed a button. An image appeared of a long thin green . . . thing, with a bulbous object of the same color attached to the end.
"It's hollow, and has multiple holes, so we at first thought it was an instrument of some kind, but-"
"Hold up, you are sending the Avengers after some guy who stole a misshapen whistle?!"
"Stark. We found this in the possession of a very dangerous man. We believe he was using it to somehow control others into submission. Several men were killed in stopping him and retrieving this object. Do us all a favor and take this seriously for once."
That quieted the group, allowing Agent Hill to continue.
"The only thing that we were able to find out about this object while it was in our possession, was that it had a peculiar energy signature. After it was first stolen, there was some other energy blocking it, but we managed to pick it up after it stopped moving."
"It was stolen by this man." She pressed the button again, and another image appeared. It was of a tall man, dressed in all black, with a sort of cape over his shoulders. He had long silver hair and was wearing a sort of bandana over the top of his head.
"How'd you get a picture if you didn't know about it till this morning?"
"Shift change is at five. He had knocked out every single person at the facility, but some of the security cameras were still operating."
There were several surprised intakes of breath.
"Wow." Was all Tony managed.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kurama sighed as he began pulling off his black disguise. Really, it was rather annoying having to wear all this in his Yoko form. He would have preferred to change before he delivered the makai flute to Koenma, but he had felt it wise to get rid of the instrument as soon as possible. SHIELD was notorious for catching on quickly, and he was sure they were feeling motivated to catch him as soon as they found the mess their base was in come day.
He ran fingers through thick silver hair, careful to avoid seeds, and let his body shift back to his currently more comfortable form and sighed in relief. He was getting better at holding his Yoko form, but it still took a lot of energy to maintain. He glanced at a clock on the wall in his room and sighed. Nine in the morning already. Delivering the flute and meeting with Koenma had taken much longer than it should have- although no longer than expected. Paper work was a given, and while Yuusuke could get out of it since it was not a good idea to sit him down alone in an office with pen and paper and expect to get legitimate answers, Kurama was actually trusted in that area. Unfortunately.
He glanced at the folded back shoji screen near the wall, and the portal it was supposed to conceal. He unfolded it, so it was once more concealing all, and then unrolled his futon.
The portal was why he was here. Generally portals only opened when someone actually pulled one open, but this one was stuck- it wouldn't close. Apparently after all the destruction of New York with aliens and Avengers clashing, the extensive damage had made the space here weaker, and torn open the portal. After about twenty people accidentally walked through- and almost as many complaints from the Makai border patrol- Koenma had decided to put a man on the job.
So of course, Kurama got pulled into the job. Koenma had promised it wouldn't be long- after a few months the area should naturally strengthen and then the portal would close back by itself. And here he was, guarding the portal. Running a tea shop had been his own idea. It wasn't that difficult, since he could grow the leaves for teas on demand, and he needed some sort of income while he was living here.
Kurama lay on the futon, and was about to close his eyes to get some sleep after his very busy night, when he felt four strong auras approaching.
He sighed. It seemed he wouldn't be able to get any sleep after all.
A/N: Remember the Makai Flute that was used in the saint beasts arc? Well, somehow SHIELD got their grubby little hands on it. Yeah, not good. Warning, I didn't really edit this- I'm no longer on vacation, so it was either edit, or do my homework. Hope you enjoy!
