A/N: I am SO CLOSE. I want to reach ten thousand views (for all my stories put together) this month, which requires about three hundred more views today. Please?

Title: Fear of Infinity

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Drama/Adventure

Warnings: None

Summary: When Loki mentions two more Infinity Stones, aside from the Tesseract, that fell to Earth thousands of years before, the Avengers are thrown into a centuries-old war between Dark Matter and Innocence - also known as the stones of Mind and Soul.

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man, and the Avengers are but a dream that is not my own.

Two days, a train ride, and an explanation later, Natasha looked up at the castle on the towering cliff above them, then turned and gave Nyne a flat look.

She chuckled. "Oh, don't worry, we don't have to climb it." Then, lower and amused, "Someone ought to have told Walker that." Back to Natasha, she continued, "There's an elevator over there." She indicated an area off to the side, and Natasha nodded, making a mental note of its location before following the general to it and taking it up.

Once they were inside, Nyne called over a man in a tan cloak and said carelessly, "Someone needs to initiate this woman, make sure it happens."

And she left. Just like that, not even glancing back.

The man gave Natasha a hopelessly confused look, which she replied to with an expectant one. The man sighed, resigned. "I guess I'll initiate you, then." Under his breath, "It's not like I don't have anything else to do."

"Initiate?" Natasha asked, gaze intent, hyperaware of her surroundings.

The man waved his hand a little, vague and airy, as though to explain. "Show you around, tell you what to expect and who to avoid. It's something that needs to be done with new finders or else they die. Er, die faster."

She frowned. "There are people you should avoid around here?"

The man shivered. "Oh, yeah. The exorcists, for one."

"Why?" Natasha hadn't needed to be so unsubtle in her prodding for information in a while.

"They're crazy," the man said emphatically, waving his hands emphatically, beginning to take her along the hallway. "Like, really crazy. But they're also the only ones who can fight akuma. That's why we're here, to support them." He paused. "Uh, how much did General Nyne tell you?"

"Not much," Natasha admitted, looking at him. "She explained about akuma and Innocence, as well as what the Order is currently trying to do."

"Right. Well, finders – that's us in the tan cloaks – are mostly here to support the exorcists, who do the actual fighting." He grimaced. "As to what to expect? Death. Swift, painful death."

Well. That wasn't too different from normal, really. "Just like that?" she asked, morbidly curious. In her experience, people who were convinced they were going to die didn't continue their line of work unless it was for a very good reason, and even then, they remained foolishly optimistic. She saw it in SHIELD all the time.

"Yeah. There's a reason exorcists are the only ones who fight – only their Innocence can actually affect akuma, and anything else that gets in their way dies and dies fast. That's usually us. You get one chance; one shot and you're dead."

Natasha was not becoming fond of this mission.

There were fourteen exorcists, six of which had a general-level Innocence, of which one (General Cross Marian, drunken and irresponsible, but a fighter few could match) had spent quite some time pretending to be dead and another (Allen Walker, Cross Marian's apprentice, with a smile almost as false as Natasha's and a general-level Innocence without the corresponding rank) contained one of the enemy, with whom they'd made temporary peace. Because apparently that happened here.

Every night for two weeks, Natasha had reported her findings to Fury, including the various missions she'd been on already. However, this time was the night that she had something of true worth, rather than a report of death and destruction that SHIELD received no other word of.

"They're going to attack Japan," she said, straight to the point, the moment she activated the comm. unit.

She could practically hear Fury's blink, followed by a dangerous-sounding growl. "Romanoff. Explain."

She had to admit that there was a good reason for Fury's confusion. Japan had been lost for over fifty years – no one went in, and no one came out. There were no communications of any sort, either. It was completely cut off - didn't even show anything on satellite, like something was blocking it.

"Apparently, Japan was lost to the akuma fifty years ago," she explained, leaning back to watch the door warily. "It's become a center for the akuma forces and the Noah, with a population that's ninety percent akuma. Edo, by their word, is now the Noahs' home base, or at least houses it. In a month, they're going to attack."

"Fine." She could practically hear Fury mulling it over, thinking hard, and fought not to chuckle. She knew how Fury hated making split second decisions, but recently he hadn't had much choice. She didn't envy him in the slightest; she may have to go in and get the information, but Fury? Fury had to act on it. She'd take the missions any day… well, except maybe this one. "Romanoff."

"Yes?"

"Go find the damn Head – Komui, you said. You're representing SHIELD, Romanoff, make it good." His voice was grim, but decisive. "We're going to offer an alliance."

Natasha's eyes narrowed and she nodded, once. "Understood."

If ever the Avengers were needed for anything… well, she knew as well as he did that their lives were forfeit compared to Earth's population. Always had been.

Being Natasha, it didn't take her very long to locate the chief's office, and soon, she was standing in front of his sleeping body, eying him doubtfully.

Finally, she stepped forward and shook his shoulder, hard.

"Chief," she said crisply.

Komui snored. Natasha twitched.

"Chief!" she repeated, louder.

Snore.

The door clicked open and as she looked over her shoulder, a thinly veiled murderous expression on her face, a man holding a towering stack of paperwork stepped in, balancing it easily.

"Chief!" he said loudly. Peeking out from behind his burden, he caught sight of her expression and sighed, looking exasperated. "Oh. He's asleep, isn't he?"

She nodded. Once. Shortly.

"Chief!" the man bellowed, slamming his papers on Komui's desk as Natasha took a few steps back. No response. The man sighed, looking close to rolling his eyes, then leaned in close to Komui and whispered conspiratorially, "I hear Lenalee's getting married."

Natasha did not understand. It was a feeling that thus far seemed to be a growing trend around this place.

She understood less when Komui sat up straight, eyes wide and horrified. "Lenalee, why?"

The man spared a few moments to calm Komui, with repeated assurances that 'Lenalee' wasn't actually getting married, and then glanced at Natasha with a weary look.

"Look, I have to get back to work. Can you make sure this idiot actually signs these?"

"Reever, you slave driver," Komui whimpered, staring at the large stack of paperwork.

Natasha nodded curtly.

Reever sighed in relief and then left, door shutting behind him. Natasha, with as much dignity as she could muster, redirected her attention to Komui.

"Chief Komui," she said coolly, striding forward and reaching into her pocket. She pulled out an identification badge and held it out. "I'm Agent Romanoff; I'm here on behalf of SHIELD. We'd like to make you an offer."

30 Days to Invasion

Do you know how hard it is to edit while talking to someone? Really freaking hard. Especially when they're trying to teach you something. (By this, I mean my friend was explaining the backstory, and proceeding story, of the Portal games to me while I was editing. I think that Portal's logic is crap, by the way. Its video game shows.) Please review!

Edited 3/26/2015