~We're not dead yet! We couldn't abandon our favorite story now could we! Thank you to all of you who have been following this despite the very uneven and long breaks between chapters. You guys are awesome! Since this fic is a comedy and the Avengers are children expect a lot of ooc. Especially when Clint gets near birds. You have been warned! Enjoy!

(^J^)

Lunch went relatively smoothly, or as smoothly as they can go with little children Avengers. There was almost another food fight incident but Pepper stopped it very quickly with sharp glares all around the table. Bruce's stress level was somewhat declining now, since no catastrophes had occurred. As the children were finishing up their lunches they again discussed what animals they were going to visit next.

"BIRDS!" yelled Clint at the top of his lungs

"Yes, yes, we will see the birds." Agreed Bruce

"No! I wish to view the large felines again!" cried Loki

"But we already-" began Rhodey

"I don't care! I must see them again!"

"Fine." Rhodey sighed, knowing that this was a battle he would lose

"Thor and I will go to!" said Tony quickly

"Verily!"

Bruce eyed them suspiciously but figured that Rhodey would be able to keep them in line.

"Alright so it looks like it will be the same groups again. One for the bird cage and the other the big cats, again."

"Woot!" cried Tony as he jumped up from his chair

They all split up into their respective groups and began walking over to their exhibits. As soon as they entered the bird cage Clint let out a scream of happiness and ran over to the nearest tree.

"Clint! Don't you dare climb that tree!" yelled Bruce

"I'm climbing the tree!"

Clint jumped up and managed to catch the lowest hanging branch and easily swung himself up. He then proceeded to climb up several more feet to get within arm's length of the nearest bird.

"CACAW MOTHER-"

"Clint Barton don't you DARE!" yelled Bruce, hands on his hips like a judgmental mother

Clint hung his head in guilt.

"Get down here now before they kick us out of the zoo!"

"But Brucie!"

"NOW!"

Sighing in sadness, Clint regretfully began to make his decent. Suddenly Bruce's phone began to ring. He opened it quickly as soon as he saw Rhodey's number on the screen.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked quickly

"The kids are in the snow leopard enclosure! They jumped in the enclosure! Get here now! Hurry! CODE RED! CODE RED! OH MY GOD LOKI NO!"

The phone went silent as Rhodey hung up. Bruce just stood there, hand still holding the phone up to his ear.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" yelled Bruce as he took off

Pepper sighed as she watched him race away. She knew something was going to happen, god forbid they could have just one normal day. Bruce stormed over to the big cats enclosure, his skin flickering green. Not now he thought as he spotted Rhodey panicking as he tried to reach through the bars of one of the enclosures and zoo security trying to pull him back.

"Bruce!" Rhodey breathed in relief as he saw the scientist approaching

"Where. Are. They." Bruce ground out

Rhodey nervously pointed down in the enclosure where Loki and Tony were chasing one snow leopard, and Thor had pinned another to the ground and was trying to drag it with him out of the enclosure.

"Are you responsible for these . . . kids?" asked one of the security people

"Yes." Bruce said shortly

"We sent a security detail down to retrieve them." He replied

"No need." Snapped Bruce as he turned completely green and jumped down into the cage.

"Just let him take care of it. Oh, and clear the people away." Advised Rhodey

The guard did not need to be told twice. Meanwhile in the pit, all three children froze as the giant green rage monster landed in front of them.

"You broke promise!" roared Hulk

"Hulkie! Baby! Nice to see you!" said Tony nervously as he snapped his fingers towards him

"GET OVER HERE BEFORE HULK SMASH!"

"Of course! Coming! No smash please." Cried Loki as he ran forward, Tony hot on his heels.

"Since we have already obtained one beast, might we not take it with us?" asked Thor nervously

"NO! MOVE BUTT!" the Hulk roared at Thor

"I am moving my butt." Thor said hastily, releasing the leopard

Hulk grabbed them with both his hands and tossed them none to gently out of the enclosure and onto the ground. Rhodey glared down at them as they picked themselves up and dusted themselves off.

"Platypus! Hey!" said Tony

"Don't you say another damn word Tony!" Rhodey warned

"Don't yell at him! It was my idea!" snapped Loki

"Oh you're all in trouble! Don't worry." Said Rhodey with a glare, "All three of you are going to feel my wrath. And Bruce's after he stops hulking out. And then Pepper's. So look forward to that."

All three winced, and then jumped as the Hulk landed next to them.

"Start walking." He rumbled

"I'll call Pepper and tell her to meet us at the car." Said Rhodey

Meanwhile at the birdcage.

"Bad news guys. Tony, Loki, and Thor ruined the zoo for us. The golden trio are being kicked out for trying to steal snow leopards so now we're all going home."

"WHAT?!" yelled Clint, who had been trying to pet a bird that was taking a bath in the pond.

"Really?" asked Natasha\

"They just can't behave for one day." Steve sighed in exasperation

"Come on guys, the sooner we get back the sooner we can yell at them." Said Natasha

"Good idea." Said Pepper as she began to usher them away from the birds.

Clint gave a forlorn look over his shoulder at them, let out one soft cacaw of goodbye, and then followed the other out. As they approached the entrance they spotted the other group of children with an angry Rhodey and a now human Bruce.

"Go meet with the others okay? I forgot something." Said Pepper

The three nodded dutifully and walked over to the group who was getting lectured by Bruce.

"You promised! All of you promised! What did I say at the very beginning of the outing?"

"Well, technically you said not to free the animals. You said nothing about liberating them, or chasing them. Or in my idiot brother's case body slamming them to the ground."

"You know damn well what I was making you promise! You chose to break it on purpose. You are all grounded for life!"

"Forever?" asked Tony with a sad face

"Yes! Or until you are all adults again. But even then! You will suffer." He said with a glare

All three gulped.

"Okay! We're all here! Let's get moving." Said Pepper as she jogged up with two plastic bags in hand

"What are those Pep?" Tony asked

"You'll find out when we reach the tower." She said mysteriously

"But I want to know now!" Tony whined

"Consider it your punishment. I would add a more severe one but I think Bruce's grounding for life is a little hard to beat. Just get ready for some passive aggressive venting when you're an adult again."

"Oh no." Tony moaned

Loki patted his back awkwardly.

"There, there." He said

"You never comfort me in such ways brother." Thor said sadly

"Why should I? You never comforted me!" snapped Loki

"Okay, okay. Take the quarrel to the backseat." Sighed Bruce

They all piled in and Rhodey drove them back to the tower in silence. As they entered the main floor JARVIS asked "Hello master Bruce, how was the zoo?"

"Tony, Thor, and Loki are grounded for life." Said Bruce

"Noted sir."

"Should have gotten them all leashes." Bruce muttered

"I barely got to see the birds!" Clint whined, "We just got to the cage, I managed to pet like, three! And I was going to pet another, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The Idiot Brigade just had to ruin everything! I hate you!"

"Friend Barton!" cried Thor, "I am very sorry that my actions have caused you such pain. Please forgive me! I will gladly accept my punishment." He hung his head at the end of his speech.

"Fine, but it doesn't make it that much better." Muttered Clint

"Maybe this will." Said Pepper as she pulled out a plushie of a red tailed hawk

"BIRD!" screamed Clint as he ran forward to grab the stuffed animal

"Don't worry I got one for all of you."

They all rushed forward eagerly. Natasha was handed a large black widow, which she cuddled happily. Tony was handed a bright red fox, to which he sang "What does the fox say?"

"Shut up!" everyone yelled

Thor was handed a stuffed lion, which he happily declared his new battle steed. Loki immediately snatched the snow leopard and ran over to the corner and clutched it, glaring at anyone who came near in case they got any ideas about trying to take it away. Steve was handed a bald eagle.

"Oh." He said as he stared at it, "Thank you very much Pepper."

She could tell that he was disappointed though he was still polite and tried to hide it. Which is why she smiled even more widely as she said "I'm just teasing Steve. Here you go."

She handed him a north American wolf which Steve happily grabbed as he dropped the eagle. His smile took up almost his whole face.

"Thank you Pepper!" he cried

All the children ran to the living room and began playing with their new stuffed animals.

"Well the day has been salvaged somewhat. Thanks Pepper." Said Bruce

"Thank Tony, he's the one that paid for all of it." Said Pepper with a smirk

All three adults laughed while the children ran around with their new toys.

~And there you go! Hope you enjoyed it! We will definitely get another chapter out, though I don't know when. It's up to you to guess what will happen next! In the mean time please review and follow! Ciao!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more Baby Avengers!