So another chapter! I hope you all like the way I'm meshing both of these worlds together!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or Avatar.
Nightfall found him making a torch out of some sticky thing from a tree while being surrounded by a pack of pan-hyenas, pyenas. He hurried through the process and frantically tried to light his torch from the matches he had had in his pocket. It caught finally and Tony whirled the torch in an arc to scare off the pyenas.
They shied away from the light and Tony continued to whirl the torch while running trying to avoid himself from being surrounded. The pyenas followed him laughing as they did so. He looked up to find that they were also running along the branches of trees. He jabbed at them with the fire while running but soon had to pull up short when three pyenas appeared in front of him. He spun again using the fire to keep them at bay. He kept spinning and jabbing but he was surrounded and he knew there was no way he as getting out of this without a fight. The pyenas circled him, snarling and then finally they attacked. He whacked one away with his torch, jabbed at another, lost the torch in the process and drew his knife. A pyena took him in the chest and threw him down. He sliced at it while he scrambled to get upright. He was soon thrown to the ground again however. He kicked out and got it to let go of his leg only to be knocked down again. Seriously this was starting to get embarrassing.
This final pyena wasn't giving up though. Tony struggled against it trying to keep it from eating him. The pyena struggled against Tony trying to eat him. Just when Tony thought the pyena would win, something whistled through the air and the pyena on top of him jerked and became limp. He threw it off got up, only to see a black arrow sticking out of the pyena's back.
He turned just in time to see a black clad man, a black clad human, jump out of the forest, with an arrow already knocked in his bow. He released the arrow, landed rolled and came up swinging his bow. He knocked away several of the pyenas but one took him in a tackle. They rolled down a short drop and the man came up in a crouch with a knife in his hand. He stabbed the pyena rapidly and then snatched up his fallen bow and swiped away several more of the pyenas. The pyenas had had enough. They fled from their black clad foe and went into the forest. Tony stood with his knife staring at the man.
The man turned, shaded his eyes from the fire and cursed. He muttered something, fire being the only thing Tony picked up and grabbed Tony's torch and threw it into the stream.
"Hey!" Tony protested. "That was mine!"
The man ignored him and went off towards one of the wounded pyenas. Tony went to retrieve his torch but before he reached it he suddenly realized he could see just fine. He looked up and around and couldn't help but breathe in sharply. The forest was alive, aglow in its own bioluminescent light. Of course! Tony almost slapped himself in the head. Bioluminescence. He should have expected at least a few of the trees to have it.
He abandoned the torch and went off to find the black clad man.
Clint Barton had been a part of Pandora for almost a year now. He knew what to do. He knew the ways, the rules, the culture, and he respected it, embraced it. So that was why he was here kneeling beside the creature he had shot. He took out his knife and ended its life quickly to end the suffering. Then he placed his hand on its body and said the customary Na'vi words over the body.
He was aware of the other man's presence just on his periphery. When he was done he opened his eyes and turned his head to find the other man stooping down and staring at him.
"Soo," the man said, "'Sup?"
Clint frowned at him. "If you want to get out go that way," he pointed and turned and walked off.
"Whoa! Hold up, Surly!" The man came after him. Clint prayed for patience.
"You're going the wrong way!" he snapped.
"I know that, I just wanted to say, well, I wanted to say thank you, you know, for saving my blue backside."
Clint stopped short. "Thank you?" he repeated.
"Yes. You know, what people say to express their gratitude. And it's my personal belief that a man should repay his debts…"
"This is your fault," Clint told him sharply.
"My fault!?" said the man, "They attacked me!"
"It is your fault. They didn't have to die if you weren't such an idiot!"
"Wow the concern for me is touching!" the man snarked back, "And all I did was try to survive. Is that being idiotic? Frankly I'd like to think not."
"Like a fricking baby," the man muttered.
"What that?"
"You're like a baby, stumbling around in the dark, yelling your head off. Shut up and leave me alone!" Clint snapped.
"And exactly what are you doing here alone?"
Clint just glared at him and trekked across the log bridge.
Tony stared after the black clad man and then decided it wasn't worth it. He turned to go the right way and then realized that he had no idea which was the right way. They had taken a lot of turns to get here and for once in his life Tony hadn't been memorizing where he'd been.
"Hey!" he said and stumbled after the man. "Which way is it back to the facility?"
The man sighed and stopped, hanging his head.
"I already told you," he gritted out.
"That was there, this is here. New direction required," Tony told him. He walked out onto the log bridge and almost fell. The black clad man grabbed his t-shirt and steadied him.
Once he was sure Tony wouldn't fall he let him go.
"It's…" he began but trailed off and turned to look at something.
It was a lot of little white, glowing, jelly fish-like things. Sky jellyfish. One of them reached near him and Tony swatted it away on instinct.
"Don't!" said the man sharply, snatching his wrist. Another one came and Tony used his other hand to swat at it again.
"Don't you idiot!" the man said. "They won't hurt you."
"What are they?"
"They're seeds from the sacred tree. The Na'vi say they have the purest of spirits."
"Andddd he's on drugs," Tony concluded. But he stopped trying to hit the seeds- Jellyfish seeds? - and let them rest on him.
More floated in from somewhere and landed on his arms, his chest, his head. The man let go of his arm and Tony just stood there for a moment.
The black clad man, sighed and said, "Great, just what we needed," and opened the top button in his jacket.
A white glow peaked out from inside it and then a little jellyfish seed floated out to rest on the man's shoulder.
"Welcome to the club," he muttered. The little seed floated to join the ones on Tony and then all of a sudden they floated off of him as if they were blown by a non-existent breeze.
All but one. A single little jellyfish seed remained behind and floated over to the black clad man and rested comfortably on his head.
Tony instantly tried to see if there was one on his head as well. The man rolled is eyes but said, "They're all gone."
"So how do you get to keep one?"Tony asked, "And what club am I in? I am very picky abut my membership."
"Special circumstances," the man drawled, "And it's the Eywa thinks you're special club. Don't let it get to your head."
"That's kind of a moot point with Stark," said Natasha.
Tony almost fell of the bridge again. The man steadied him and said, "Took your sweet time Romanov."
"Natashalie," Tony began only to cut short when he got a good look at her. Natasha Romanov was in a black cat suit, but that wasn't what had him staring. He finally understood why she had worn a knit cap over her hair. There was her usual riot of red hair but starting from her hair line and running back over her head were thin bioluminescence strips. She saw his look and reached back to show him the strips coming together to form the same kind of port he had at the end of his hair.
"Okay, I'm thinking some explanations are needed, starting with what happened to your hair and how do you know this guy? And shouldn't you be going blind right about now?"
"Save it Stark," said Natasha, "and follow me back to camp. And you didn't see either of us tonight."
"What?"Tony said but Natasha had already turned to leave He turned to see the man but he was already melting away into the shadows. Where did one find shadows in a bioluminescent forest?
He turned back to find Natasha waiting impatiently for him. He hurried after her.
Natasha led him all the way to the fence and then disappeared and left him to announce himself to the guards. After a while he was cleared to go in and was lead back to the hut when he staggered into bed and fell asleep.
He came back to himself with Grace flashing a light in his eyes.
"Stark!" she was saying, "Stark. Come on back kid. Come on."
He blinked, swallowed and stuttered.
"That's it," Grace coaxed. "Damn it Stark. You were in there for awhile. Take your time."
They helped him up and he coughed again.
"Wow," he said, "That was invigorating. How's that for a first day?"
"Pretty insane," Spellman told him. "How'd you find your way back?"
"I'm a genius," Tony told them, "You expected me not to?"
Behind them all he caught a glance of Natasha, her cat suit hidden under normal clothes. She gave him a cool look and then disappeared.
Dinner was full of laughs at his expense as Grace retold his escapade with the pan-panther. He shrugged and laughed and claimed that that level of awesomeness wasn't something that you could teach. But his mind was much more focused on someone else.
Romanov was smiling along with the others but Tony knew just how good an actor she was. He waited until most of the others had cleared out before rolling his chair over to her and smiling winningly.
"So Natashalie, I think you and I have things to talk about."
"Actually I have no idea what you're talking about. Now if you'll excuse me…"
"I won't, excuse you, that is. Now unless you want me shouting out in this room what happened tonight you're going to give me some explanation. If you don't want to say anything about your friend, fine, explain about me. Our mystery man said something about the 'Eywa thinks you're special club', that has to do with the jellyfish seeds, so maybe we can start there."
Natasha just stared at him. "There's nothing you need to know, Stark."
"So let's start with what I don't need to know," Tony shot back, "Because I have a feeling I'm going to need to know it."
Natasha gave him her frustrated face. "There's nothing to know Stark, so drop it."
"I think you know me better than that, having you know, spied on me for some time. So let's skip to the part where you stop being an idiot and start talking."
"Stark," Natasha looked angry and then strained, "Look, not tonight at least. Get some rest. Stop thinking about it. We can talk tomorrow."
"Who else is in it?" Tony asked her, freezing her in mid motion. She slid back into her chair gracefully.
"Who else is in what?"
"In our exclusive membership club?"
"Others," Natasha said shortly, "We'll talk later." She got up fluidly and left the mess hall.
Tony sighed and narrowed his eyes at her back but she was right, he was tired and he needed sleep.
I'd really love reviews on this!