Disclaimer: I do not own either the Avengers or Ranger's Apprentice.

A/N The gigantic paragraph where Will is speaking is a bit of a spoiler. Be warned.

Dimensional Portals are Annoying

Chapter 4 Talking…Talking…1..2..3..And Dinner

Once they got inside the corridors, the Avengers quickly noticed their new companions' skill in stealth. When the people behind them (everyone except for Tony who's leading) looked at them directly, they seemed to almost shimmer out of sight. The way most of the Avengers were tracking them were by their horses, who followed sedately behind. Only Natasha and Clint were able to see through the illusion seemingly cast by their mottled cloaks. After all, they have been trained in stealth also.

Steve cursed as they seemingly disappeared from sight for what seemed like the hundredth time. The way the Rangers were naturally moving through the shadows had a befuddling effect.

Clint and Natasha, hearing this, chuckled slightly. Will, sensing the reason for their mirth and
Steve's cursing, also laughed quietly.

Bruce just sighed and smiled a bit, while Thor and Tony, who hadn't noticed what happened, looked at the three confused.

Meanwhile, Halt stood staring and then glaring at Will, Clint, Natasha, and Steve. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes and he was wearing a grim expression when he said, quite calmly, "Would you like to share with the class, Chocho-san?"

Will grinned and replied, "Not really, Halto-san."

The others watched their exchange with interest. At the part where Halt said 'Chocho-san', a few of them burst out laughing, holding their sides as they tried not to fall over sniggering. When Halt sent them a glare after Will answered him, they only laughed harder, until they were on the ground laughing (Tony and Clint were on the ground that is).

Thor was the only one who looked confused; apparently all the others knew enough Japanese to recognize the word 'butterfly'.

"Thor," Tony choked out still laughing, "Chocho means butterfly in Japanese." He then turned to Will, "Please tell us where you managed to pick up that particular nickname."

Will turned thoughtful. "Well… a few months ago we came back from Nihon-Ja. You see… we came there to find our missing friend Horace or Kurokuma, as they called him there, and bring him back to Araluen with us. We had heard from my old ward-mate George, who's a scholar, that Horace had joined in the effort to protect the emperor and help rethrone him. The emperor was betrayed by some of the Senshi. Luckily for us, Princess Cassandra, or Evanlyn, as we like to call her, picked us up in Toscan from our diplomatic mission there with Gundar, the skirl or captain, of a Skandian ship. We arrived in time to help organize the Kikori to fight. In the end, we won, and most of us had nicknames, except for Halt, who was introduced by Horace to Shigeru as Halto. Then we left, and Halt got seasick, again," he smirked at this part, "The end."

All of them were staring at Will now, except for Halt, who was glaring saxe knives at him.

Trying to distract Halt, Abelard snorted.

Did you use a Skandian helmet again?

Halt turned quickly to his horse and murmured, "Shut up."

The Avengers had to wonder at this odd behavior.

His ire diverted, Halt asked grimly, "Are we going to stand around here for a century?" Once they began moving, he added, "I thought not. So, what's for dinner?"

The group hesitated before Tony replied, "We're not exactly sure… we usually wing it. We'll order takeout unless someone would like to volunteer to make dinner."

When nobody piped up, he continued, "So, what kind of food do you want to eat; Chinese, Japanese, hot dogs, hamburgers, or etc.?"

At Halt's and Will's blank looks, he decided for himself. "Well, Chinese it is. Would you like anything to drink with that?"

This, at least, elicited a response from them. "Coffee," they cried out in unison.

"With honey please." Will added.

"Oooooookkkkk…" Tony responded, "You do know that coffee stunts your growth kid, right? No wonder you two are so short."

Tony taunting the two of them was a mistake. Now he was once again on the end of a receiving glare. This one included speech, "His name is Will." Clearly, Halt was very protective about his young companion.

By this time they were at the stables. Instead of handing off their horses, Will and Halt went in with them to stable them. The Avengers watched curiously from afar.

Both horses looked at their friends.

We want apples!

Halt sighed and said to Will, "Go ahead and feed Tug an apple. They deserve it by now."

Once they received their apples, the two horses neighed in delight. Apples were truly a delicacy to them.

While Abelard and Tug were eating, Halt and Will took care of getting them settled. The two horses were seemingly having a conversation once they finished eating.

Nice place. Tug nickered.

Abelard snorted. Not nearly as impressive as a castle though…

Tug raised an eyebrow. It depends. This type of building is very unusual in our world.

But very common in this one probably. Abelard neighed.

Halt and Will looked at each other, "Were they just discussing the tower?" Will asked.

Halt was about to reply when the two horses nodded. "That's just creepy." He said instead as he raised an eyebrow.

"Now that you mention it, Blaze and Tug once acted very similar to Gilan and me." Will chirped in.

Off to one side, Tony and Clint were whispering. They nodded, and it seemed they had some crazy plan in mind. Suddenly, they shot off like arrows into the stables, Tony into Tug's stall and Clint into Abelard's.

For some reason, they jumped on the horses. Unfortunately for them, as soon as they got settled, the horses bucked them off, into the two conveniently placed piles of hay at the back of the stalls.

Will laughed, "That never gets old!"

Suddenly, a voice piped up, "Are you okay sir?"

Halt and Will were surprised. To just hear a voice coming out of nowhere like that… it was obvious that they were startled. At their expressions, and their turning around to find the owner of the voice, Tony laughed.

"That's just JARVIS," he explained, "Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. He's an AI, or artificial intelligence. He runs the house."

Will and Halt shared a look. This new world was very different than their own.

"It's nice to meet you sir…" Will trailed off, looking awkward.

"Yes, very nice to meet you indeed." Halt added, raising an eyebrow.

"Now, just one more person to introduce…" Tony said. "Oh! There she is." Tony added as a red-head walked into the room. "Halt, Will, meet my lovely assistant Pepper Potts."

Pepper was wearing business like clothes and had a down to business attitude. However, she also was a nice person.

She greeted them warmly, "So you two are the ones I've been hearing so much about from JARVIS. It's nice to make your acquaintance."

After she greeted them, she shook their hands.

"I'll lead you to your rooms now, so grab your stuff and we'll get going," she declared.

After picking up their saddle bags, the two rangers followed her to their rooms. They were on the floor that was closest to the stables and yet had bedrooms. They were situated right next to each other. Halt's door was on the left and Will's on the right.

"Well, you should get unpacked. Go ahead and take a shower and meet us for dinner in an hour," Pepper finished.

Once she left, they went into their rooms and did as they were told. Since they were a bit unfamiliar with the showers, JARVIS told them how they worked. All in all, they were ready for dinner and seated five minutes early.

Everyone else except for Thor, Tony, and Pepper were already there. Clint and Natasha sat together with Bruce and Steve opposite them. Thankfully there were two empty chairs at one side of them. Will and Halt took these. The three remaining chairs sufficed to sit Tony, Pepper, and Thor when they arrived. Tony and Pepper sat together and Thor sat next to Steve and Tony.

Once everyone was seated, the doorbell rang. Steve stood up to get it. A minute later he came back with Chinese food. There was orange chicken, chow mein, rice (steamed and white), soy sauce, and fortune cookies.

After everyone served themselves, they all stood up and found something to drink. Noticeably, Will and Halt both got coffee. They also brought the coffee pot back with them, as if they were going to need it soon.

They really did. They were each on their second coffee while they only had half their food eaten. Thor had all his food eaten and was going for more. Everyone else was not done yet.

While they ate, they conversed.

"So," Bruce started, "What does a Ranger do?"

"Rangers," Halt answered, "Are basically the law keepers of Araluen."

Clint started to pay attention, "What kinds of weapons do you use?"

"We use the longbow, a saxe knife, a throwing knife, and some strikers. Our cloak is one of our biggest advantages because it helps us stay undetected," Will replied as he started to take out the aforementioned items to show them. "I've also seen Halt and Gilan use the sword," he mentioned.

Natasha reached out to inspect the knives while Clint inspected the bow. The others just looked on.

Natasha quickly mentioned that they were indeed great knives. She demonstrated by throwing them both at the bull's-eye in the room (they had one installed for Natasha and Clint for if they got angry and had to take out their anger). Both of them hit in the center.

Clint meanwhile asked for an arrow and fired. It was right on target, between the two knives.

Neither of them were practiced with strikers, so they asked if Will or Halt could demonstrate them later.

The next topic of conversation was why Halt had a slight accent. He told them he was originally from Hibernia.

Dinner was soon finished and they all went to bed.

A/N Reviews for suggestions & critiques please. Unfortunately my beta will be busy for a while. If anyone would like to volunteer in the meantime, I'd appreciate it.