Title: a taste of lightning

Fandom: Highlander/Avengers/Thor

Disclaimer: not my characters

Warnings: AU for Avengers movieverse; primordial!Methos

Pairings: none stated

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 740

Point of view: third

Prompt: Highlander / Avengers, Methos + Nick Fury, Fury warns the Avengers against messing with this one seemingly innocuous person

"But Boss," Barton argues, swinging around to step right in Nick's way, "if he's Thor's brother, then he's that guy who sent the robot!"

"Yes," Nick says, striding forward. Barton jumps out of the way, and then keeps beside him.

Widow waits at the door. "Ash is here," she says. "He would like to speak to you."

Nick nods, glaring at Barton until he quiets. "Stay," he orders.

Barton glares but subsides.

.

"Ash?" Clint asks Natasha. "Thor's brother's dad?"

Natasha ignores him, so Clint calls Bruce.

"We really shouldn't go snooping," Bruce says, following him down the hall, keeping watching as Clint peers into doors. "Ash seemed… well."

Clint ducks back when he sees Fury and Thor's brother's dad in the middle of a veryheated argument.

Ash is smirking. Not even goddamned Doomsmirks at Fury. His eyes flick at Clint and his smirk widens, getting toothier. Clint shudders.

.

"What's happenin'?" Tony bellows, sauntering down the hall. Clint shushes him and Bruce winces. "Okay, sorry," Tony says quieter. "What's happening?"

"You remember Thor's brother's dad?" Clint whispers, peeking back around the door. Tony leans in, too, balancing himself on Clint's shoulder. Clint tries to shrug him off, but Tony perseveres and Clint finally just lets him lean.

"Thor's brother's dad?" Tony repeats. "The scary guy with the sword?"

"He just barged in earlier, so Fury's meeting with him," Clint tells him.

"He just barged in?" Tony repeats again, flabbergasted. "And Fury's not arresting him?"

Tony studies the guy, what little he can see.

He's smirking.

.

"You got some balls, brother, coming here," Nikolas laughs.

Methos shrugs. "I'm sure the Thunderer spun a fine tale," he says, "so I decided to let you know the truth."

Nikolas nods. "Thor told me that his brother had been kidnapped and brainwashed by some bloodthirsty villain. Not in so many words, of course."

Methos barks a sharp laugh. "I found him, Niko, and I'm keeping him. He's mine. I'll not give him up 'til he wants to leave, and honestly – I don't see that ever happening."

"So, Old Man, what do you want?" Nikolas asks, getting down to business. "You're not a villain this lifetime, and if you've got that boy in hand, neither is he. Why are you here?"

Methos smiles. He knows what the smile looks like – he wore it as Death, and he wore it long before then, before humanity's ancestor crawled out of the sludge.

Nikolas shudders. "I'm here to warn you, boy," Methos says. "Whatever Van and I get up to, it's our business. At the moment, he's happy to explore this world, and I shall indulge him. And if any your children take offense to that -" He shrugs.

"I understand," Nikolas says after a moment. "And if the Asgardians take offense to you and Loki palling around on Earth?"

Methos' smile sharpens as he bares his teeth. "Then they'll be my problem, won't they, Niko?"

Nikolas shudders again. Methos smirks at the children peering around the door – they stood with Odin's trueborn son, and they think Van to be some sort of supervillain in the making.

He wonders if Thor dared ask his father about the Oldest. Odin would've lied if he did, and the lie was probably wonderful. Odin the Fool. Methos chuckles, focusing back on dear Nikolas. "You're a good lad, you know," he murmurs in the first tongue Niko ever spoke.

"I was once yours," Nikolas responds. "Wasn't I?"

Methos studies him for a moment, running his eyes up and down Niko's body. He hasn't aged, of course. His eye is still gone, and he continuously refuses to let Methos return it. "Yes," Methos says softly. "You were mine once. But not like this, Nikolas. Leave my boy alone. I'm teaching him things you never knew, things you could never do. And it is because of our past that you get this warning. Others won't."

Nikolas nods. "Understood, Old Man. Now get your ass outta here."

With one last smirk towards Niko's little gang, Methos leans in to give Nikolas a quick kiss and then he leaves in a blaze of lightning, Niko's shouts in his ears.

.

"What'd he say?" Van asks.

Da smiles at him. "Nothing unexpected. Come, let's watch a movie. Have you seen Surf's Upyet? You'd like it."

Van gives him a look, similar to the one he used to give Thor, but he lets Da distract him.