Chapter 7
Fatigued, I slowly opened my eyes and yawned. The sun glared into my face, yelling at me to wake up. I felt stiff as I sat up. I peered around the small camp circle, instinctively scanning each person from a distance. I didn't notice anyone missing, yawned again, and threw myself back down into the sand. I then rolled over and dozed. There wasn't anything I could do at the moment, so I just did what the rest of the team was doing. After a short while, I heard a piercing yell.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGH!"
I snapped to attention, my eyes wide open in shock. I took a quick glance around the camp. Everyone but Thor and Tony were sitting up and looking around. Clint, I noticed now, was not among the group. Natasha practically jumped off the ground as she sprinted away, seemingly on a mission. She disappeared into the woods, trees and other oversized plants covering her path. Quickly, I got to my feet and chased after her, hearing footsteps behind me as the others pursued as well. My heart raced as well as the thoughts in my mind. We came to a clearing, Natasha bent over Clint protectively. Barton's face was contorted in pain, sweat pouring off him. All around, the undergrowth and some trees were trampled and torn apart. Fruits were splattered everywhere, including coconuts and mangos.
"What happened here?" I heard myself demand.
"Monster," Clint panted, "Big monster."
The archer held his left arm in agony. Natasha fretted over it and he clenched his teeth in discomfort. Clint pulled away.
Natasha huffed, "If you don't let me look at it, it's not getting any better!"
"Then I guess it'll be like this forever!" Barton shot back grouchily.
"What did the monster look like?" I cut in, trying to break the tension between teammates.
Clint shook his head. "Don't know. I couldn't see 'im. I was up that tree," he pointed to a coconut tree with his right arm, "trying to scope out the island. You know, get used to the territory. Outta no where there was this roar and the tree shook and I fell." He looked around the clearing and gave a pitiful laugh. "Must've been some creature to have done this. Almost as powerful as Green Bean."
All eyes turned to Bruce, who stood shyly at the back of the bunch. Dr. Banner's clothes were torn miserably and fruit stains covered his shirt. He looked a little shocked at us, accusing him of hurting one of the team. Green flecks dotted his brown irises, threatening a Hulk episode. Pepper and Loki took a wary step back from the volatile PhD holder.
"What?" Bruce asked, placing his spectacles on the bridge of his nose.
"Hey, Brucie, have you had any…Hulk-ish feelings lately?" Clint interrogated.
Dr. Banner's eyes went wide. "You think I…? That's absurd!"
"It is a little bit of a stretch." I agreed, trying to reason the others out of arguing. "I mean, the doctor had good control over the Hulk in the last battle."
This time, everyone stared at me like a traitor. I rotated to meet all the eyes that bored into me like a drill, twisting my stomach into knots. I took a deep breath, ready to make a leadership-filled speech when Thor came barreling through the woods with Tony riding on his broad shoulders.
"Yee-haw!" exclaimed Tony. "Woah, Odinson!"
Thor halted on command, getting his hair pulled like reigns on a horse. The mighty thunder god kneeled so that the shorter man could get off of his back. Tony's sandals crunched leaves as he landed and Stark smiled.
"We heard the scream. Did somebody finally kill Loki?" Tony teased, earning a morning scowl from the mischief maker.
"Delayed reaction…" muttered Natasha bitterly.
Tony looked around the clearing and gave a whistle. "It looks like the Hulk's been through here. Or at least a herd of giant angry elephants…"
Dr. Banner slumped and looked like he was trying to sink into the ground. His brown eyes flitted from one place to another, as if he were searching for a place to escape. Thor clapped him forcefully on the back, causing the doctor to gasp in surprise.
"Do not worry, green angry one!" Thor bellowed reassuringly, "We have faith that you shan't trample us all in our sleep!"
Bruce looked nauseated, like he was almost afraid of Thor. Which was understandable; the prince of Asgard was rather buff. Dr. Banner looked through the crowd, acting similar to a caged animal. Thor stepped away to Loki and whispered something to his half-brother. Loki's eyes widened as he stared at Bruce fearfully and took an even bigger step away from the doctor. I couldn't believe this. My team was falling apart.
"Guys!" I commanded their attention with a loud voice and a flail of my arms. "Stop acting so crazy…"
I saw smiles and snickering on everyone's faces as they stared past me. I turned around and Tony was making faces and silly hand motions as I spoke. I glared at him.
"Do you mind?" I growled.
"Not at all. Do you?" he retorted.
I rolled my eyes and grumbled. I walked right into that one.
"Okay, listen: if we can't pull ourselves together, we can't survive. We have to keep our heads on right." I told them. They all nodded. I sighed in relief and instructed them on who was doing what. "We need our hunting party to go out today. We'll also need to go find some more timber."
"Clint can't go," Natasha said, "I have a feeling his arm isn't going to let him use a bow anytime soon."
Barton nodded in painful agreement. I took another look at his broken appendage. I was pretty sure arms didn't bend like that.
"Hey! A chicken with a broken wing!" Tony taunted. Clint glowered at him. "Relax, I'm just kidding."
"For your information, I fell out of a tree. I'm less afraid than you." Clint snapped.
Tony threw his hands up defensively and made an innocent face.
"I shall go on the hunt!" Thor volunteered cheerfully. "My brother and I used to hunt in Asgard for wild boar for dinner! I always beat Loki, though."
"That was because while I perfectly aimed my arrow, you smashed the boar's head with your infuriating hammer!" argued Loki. "It was unfair!"
"No, you are just a sore loser!" Thor chortled.
Loki snarled and wiggled his fingers, enchanting Thor and shape-shifting him into a frog. The amphibian croaked in surprise, standing on Mjolnir and gripping the handle tightly in his little green frog fingers. His yellow eyes bulged a bit more than a normal frog's would as he looked around the group of people.
"Not laughing now, are you?" Loki sneered.
"Change me back!" Thor the frog demanded in a ribbit.
Loki stuck his tongue out childishly. "Fine."
The god of mischief then snapped his fingers, turning Thor into a mouse. The blonde rodent squealed.
"In which of the nine realms am I a mouse?!" Thor squeaked.
"Oh, I am sorry; I meant to turn you into a rat." Loki retorted.
With a vengeful gleam in his charcoal-looking eyes, Thor climbed the sleeve of his brother's long coat and bit him on the ear. Loki yowled out in pain and stood up, shaking the mouse off. The mischievous god then shape-shifted in a plume of green smoke. He shrank down into a massive cat. He had turned himself into a Black Panther, green eyes shining and fur bristling in anger. The feline let out a furious roar.
Thor the mouse fled with a shrill whine. Loki the jaguar followed in hot pursuit. In the blink of an eye, the battle's tables turned as the little rodent climbed halfway up a tree. As Loki stood up on his hind paws to chomp the little fellow, Thor let out a fighting squeal and dropped onto the jaguar's nose. Thor crawled onto Loki's head and held on to what fur he could.
The rest of us watched in intrigued astonishment as the mouse and jaguar duked it out. The tiny Thor crawled into Loki's ear and the big cat had to stop and scratch. Thor fell out and onto the ground, dazed and confused, but shot right back onto his feet with a determined glare.
"Have at thee!" shrieked the mouse.
"ENOUGH!" Loki roared. Suddenly the two were changed back into men, sitting on the ground, staring at each other. Thor stood, grabbed Mjolnir, and played with the hammer in his hands. "Honestly, you are more infuriating as a rodent than as a man." Loki snarled a-matter-of-factly.
Thor ignored the snarky comment and ran his fingers across the smooth surface of Mjolnir. He looked up at Natasha and grinned in his friendly way.
"May we proceed to the hunt, Lady Romanov?" he asked.
With a glance at everyone else, Natasha nodded. And with that, the two walked away, deeper into the woods.
"Okay, now that that's settled," I began after a brief pause, "We're going to have to work on shelter."
I could see by the blank looks I got that I had my work cut out for me. I divided everyone into teams again. Tony and Pepper were to help find timber, and Clint was supposed to go see Bruce about the arm injury. Tony, Pepper and I walked around near camp and found plenty of twigs and fallen tree limbs to suffice. If Tony didn't flirt with Pepper every two minutes, he probably wouldn't have as many bruises on his face from where she battered him with a stick and we probably would have gotten done faster. We still ended up getting done with the stick hunting before noon, when the sun was about mid-way through its leap through the sky.
Tony dropped down onto the ground with a sigh and scattered the wood he'd had all over the campsite. He groaned and complained about sore limbs. Clint ran over to us with a panicked look on his face. I tried to keep calm as I questioned him on what happened.
"The…doc…ain't in…" he gasped.
"Bruce is missing?" Pepper interpreted.
Clint nodded and cradled his injured arm in his good hand. As I sat there wondering what to do, Barton took a note from his pocket and handed it over. It was a crumpled, green leaf, flimsy and easily destroyed in my palm. Through the many ripples, I made out the doctor's traditional chicken scratch.
"'Dear friends and Loki,'" I read aloud, "'I don't feel that me sticking around is going to be very safe. So, to keep from hurting anyone, I'm going to a remote area in the forest.'"
His signature made it official at the bottom of the note. I stared at the tiny cursive letters, slightly wondering how he fit all of that on this small leaflet. It took me a moment to realize the hurtful truth: my team was slowly deteriorating.
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