Chapter 10
The scroll exchanged hands. It was passed to Tony, who took it delicately by the top and bottom, holding it open. He held his arms to the side towards me, so that I could see too. On the dry, old-looking parchment were paintings drawn in purple lines. In another language, a messy-looking scrawl was spread upon the paper in red. Under the script were drawings; one looked like a stick-figure with a hunting spear in its hand. Beside the hunting stick-man was an even larger stick-man. Or, stick-monster. It was drawn in green, some thicker, taller lines describing it. Red was strung across the lower part of its head, supposedly a mouth. Tiny black smudges served as eyes and hair and a pair of pants. Tony's eyes were wide as he peered over the top of the scroll.
"Hu-I mean…him? Is that all?" the philanthropist's eyes flickered from the chief to the scroll and back. They traced the berry juice on the paper.
The Indian nodded. "Yes," he replied, "This is the only thing we ask. Will you do it?"
Tony and I looked at each other. I pursed my lips I thought. Tony crossed his eyes annoyingly, knowing that it bothered me. He smirked then.
"We'll do it." Tony said definitively.
My eyes narrowed but I didn't say anything. I should've.
"Oh, thank you." said the chief. "My people and I cannot express our gratitude properly."
Tony's eyes wrinkled at the corners, his smile was so broad. "Just help us get off your land, and all will be paid for."
The chief dipped his head. "I accept."
Moments later, we were shaking hands and walking out of the hut. The group awaited us outside, faces painted with anxiety. They watched us come out apprehensively, hoping for good news. I wasn't smiling. Tony was.
"You may stay in the next hut," said the chief, "It is for honored guests. I hope you enjoy your stay." With that, he ducked back inside.
Grateful for the hospitality, we all headed to the hut he'd mentioned. The monkey on Thor's shoulder tittered and climbed all over the Asgardian, seemingly excited. He curiously stuck his finger up Thor's nose, earning instant disapproval. Thor jumped and began to hop around from foot to foot. He threw his arms and waved them. People, confused yet awe-stricken, began to copy. They created a dance and drummers began to play. It was slightly interesting. Loki began to laugh hysterically.
"You buffoon! Or should I say: baboon?" Loki jeered.
Thor wasn't having as much fun. He tossed his head left to right, until Baldur finally unstuck his fingers. Thor wiped his arm across his nose and blew out air. He then proceeded to scold the monkey for his wrongdoings. Baldur made little chattering noises in response, sounding like he was chuckling a little. All around us, people continued to dance. Thor seemed to have inspired the native people. We took this moment of distraction to get into the hut before anything else happened.
Inside, we found enough blankets for eight people and assorted decorations, including weaved baskets. Baldur the Monkey climbed inside of one, tittering animatedly as he did so. Thor quickly sought revenge on the small primate in turn for his embarrassment by covering the entrance of the basket with a large rock. When the monkey realized this, he squealed and crawled up the inside, scratching at the rock with his small fingernails.
"Eek! Eek!" Baldur squawked.
"This is what thou receive for mortifying me, creature," Thor replied.
"So, what's going on, guys?" asked Pepper, her gaze constant on Tony's face.
After a short time living with the other Avengers in the Tower, I learned a lot about my teammates. One fact: Pepper could decipher any secret Tony had by exchanging facial expressions. Tony would grimace, and Pepper would know something was wrong. Not only that, but she could predict what was wrong. Now, as she stared at him, she was picking the lock to Tony's answer.
"Well, apparently the Big Green Rage Monster's been getting around and freakin' some people out," answered Tony, as if it were normal procedure. "Funny, huh?"
"The people here must not have ever heard of the Hulk…" Natasha remarked thoughtfully. "They're so disconnected from the world."
"Hmph, lucky." Clint said bitterly, cradling his broken arm.
Natasha rolled her eyes.
"We need to get the Hulk back and under control. If not, these people might overreact and try to destroy him themselves." I added.
"Ah, yes, just like the people of Asgard did with my beloved Bartholomeow…" Loki said with a wistful sigh.
He looked distant and sullen. We all turned and looked at him.
"Barf-o-what?" Tony raised a brow and scrunched his nose, confused.
"Bartholomeow," Loki corrected him, sounding rather persnickety. "was my pet cat. He was a beautiful orange tabby kitten. He would always follow me around when I studied my magic and read spells and potion recipes with me. Then, one day, I decided to try mutations. I lost control of the spell, and it hit Bartholomeow…"
"Cut to the chase, please?" Tony interjected, looking bored.
"I was getting to that," Loki growled at him, "Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…" Tony rolled his eyes. "Bartholomeow became mutated beyond imagination. I was relieved that he wasn't dead, of course, but he was…different. He became part bildgesnipe, part tiger, part dragon, and part unicorn."
Thor shivered. "Poor feline was never the same again..."
Tony cringed. "And this is why we don't mess with magic."
Loki nodded, looking even more depressed. "They banished him to the dark woods…"
"Good riddance." stated Thor.
Loki glared. "He was my only friend!"
I sensed turmoil between the brothers. Quickly, I intervened, fearing the worst thing that could happen when Asgardians fought: redecoration of a fifty-mile radius. I stepped in between the quarrelers and pushed them apart.
"This is not the time to be fighting!" I scolded. "We need to divise a plan to catch the Hulk without hurting him!"
"Without the tech, I might add," Tony said. "If I had my lab, I'd be able to create a Green-Machine-proof net or something. But here, all we've got is sticks and leaves."
"I thought you were resourceful," Natasha tossed the statement at Tony.
He let it bounce off of him and threw it back. "It's hard to be resourceful without any resources."
"It's hard to be smart without a brain," Loki quipped.
"I'll remember that when Greenie's chasing you." Tony told him, seemingly calm.
Loki shut his mouth, but still had a mischievous glint in his eyes. Oh boy….
One monkey-release, squabble, and berry hunt later, we were sitting outside the hut, enjoying the waning hours of the warm evening. The sun dived behind the tree line, hiding shyly. Warm colors streaked across the sky; hues of yellow, orange, red, and purple blatantly painted so. The clouds looked like wisps of smoke, all puffy and lazy and slow. We sat underneath them, dining on berries we'd picked ourselves, along with a little cooked meat provided by our new allies. The reason for the berries was Tony's own pickiness.
"I wanna have some variety after all of that thinking." he'd said, making it sound like a royal decree.
"Mmmm…maybe we can find some yummy blackberries!" Clint had chided.
"You two can go; we'll stay here and socialize." Natasha told them. "It's better to know who you're partnered with."
"Pfft, suit yourselves. We aren't sharing." Tony turned. "C'mon, Clint."
"Okay, Little Red Hen." Clint had followed him happily.
Now, we sat in a circle, enjoying the dinner. Thor's monkey, Baldur, picked through the god's food. Finding nothing of interest to him, he withdrew over Thor's shoulder and to Loki. Loki showed no restraint in expressing his disdain for the animal; he rolled his shoulder, tossing the monkey off. Baldur persisted though, proceeding to crawl up onto Loki's head and picking through his hair. The monkey pulled something out of Loki's hair, ate it, and resumed searching for more.
"Ewwwwww!" shouted Pepper, disgusted.
"Gross," said Natasha.
"GET OFF OF ME, WORTHLESS MORTAL CREATURE!" Loki grabbed the monkey by the tail, causing the primate to squeal in pain. He tossed it away, into some bushes.
"BALDUR!" Thor bellowed, racing after the critter.
Everyone gave a dirty look to Loki, who returned a sour look.
"He's just as worthless as the one he's named after," Loki snarled.
Thor walked out of the woods, his face disapproving. He held a whimpering little monkey in his hands; it actually looked like Baldur was crying. His eyes shone brightly as if wet and his tail was curled tightly around Thor's left arm in a "protect me" sort of gesture. Baldur gripped Thor's shirt-like armor and gave him the most pitiful puppy-dog eyes I've ever seen. Loki wasn't fazed. He wore a bored expression.
"You are evil, brother." Thor glowered harshly.
Loki smirked, "I know."
"Monkey-throwing aside," I said, trying to bring the team back, "after we eat, we should probably get some shut eye. We've got a long day of Hulk-hunting ahead of us tomorrow."
Everyone nodded, munching on their food. None of us really looked forward to the expedition, mostly because the Hulk was a rather deterring subject. He was big, green, and kind of mean. And although Bruce had had a pretty good handle on his "other half", we all had our doubts. We'd never voiced them to Dr. Banner before, though, because, if we were correct in our theories, he could become the Hulk and destroy us. I cringed at the thought.
I felt sorry for Bruce, though. Being part man-part monster didn't sound very fun. He told us once that he was always angry. It was sort of hard to tell; he always seemed so passive. Now, I realized that it was more like passive-aggressive; he would be nice about things until later, then Hulk-out and vent his anger out while fighting. It was a pretty good system, if you had to get rid of bottled up emotions. I looked to the forest, listening to the sounds out yonder. Where was the Hulk? I shrugged it off. With any luck, we'd find out tomorrow.
Or would that be a misfortune?
I was awoken from my thoughts when I overheard Clint raise his voice, "Hey! That's mine!"
Tony was holding out a handful of scarlet berries that Clint had rightfully picked. Barton was reaching for them, but Tony kept them just out of his reach. The philanthropist smirked as he plopped all of them into his mouth and munched them into juice. When he was done, he licked his mustache and said in Hawkeye's glum-looking face.
"Those were great. Thanks for picking them for me, buddy!"
"Those were mine…" Clint pouted, crossing his arms and looking at the fire.
Sundown soon came, and we busied ourselves with making beds with piles of oversized leaves. It was an itchy experience, but certainly not too bad. Everyone curled up on their own leaf-piles assorted around the room. Tony and Pepper shared one, more than happy with each other's company. Clint and Natasha had their piles next to one another's, and they talked in hushed voices about weaponry and how they would have to report this back to Fury at SHIELD later. Of course, it was partially Fury's fault.
Loki slept in one corner and Thor slept in another, keeping as far away from each other as possible. Thor stared up at the stick ceiling, his hair splayed out on the floor, with Baldur curled up contently on his chest. Loki was on his side, wound tightly into a ball. He faced the wall, avoiding looking at any of us. He would.
I slept at about the center, towards the back of the hut. The moonlight drifted in as the nighttime hours passed, illuminating the earth in pale blue light. I closed my eyes, trying to think up strategies for tomorrow. My stomach turned slightly when I found myself unsuccessful. It annoyed me to no end.
There was a loud snarling-like noise coming from the corner of the hut. My heart sped up and blood pounded in my ears as I sat up and looked around. Soon, I realized that the sound was coming from the massive lungs of Thor, who sounded like an angry bear. He was snoring.
The monkey on his chest stood up, his expression frustrated. He plugged his ears and stared down at the prince of Asgard with much disdain. After a short few moments of decisive planning and gazing, the monkey put his tiny hand on Thor's chin, pushing his jaw back together. The sound was muffled and sounded less like a tiger going through a trash compacter. Baldur still wasn't satisfied with his friend, I suppose; he got down on all fours and padded past me, across the hut, and to Loki. Loki was asleep…or so I thought…
Baldur tapped Loki's shoulder. With a short, un-decodable mumble of grouchiness, the green-clad mischief maker turned over. He glanced around the hut for any eyes. (I squinted mine to make them seem shut.) When the Asgardian was sure of his stealth he scooped the monkey up with an arm and pulled him closer, snuggling with the pet.
I did my best to hold in a laugh. Loki had a soft spot; he was just pretending to hate Baldur.
I thought about that, and let the warm feeling and the rhythmic sound of the others' breathing lull me to sleep. Hulk-hunting was going to be a full day's job, I could feel it.
Those who guessed the Hulk is the menace: YOU ARE CORRECT! CONGRATULATIONS! You are mind readers!
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