`````````````````````````````````````````````Author's Notes```````````````````````````````````````
Alright, so I was going work on my other stories, but when I left my flash drive at work, I figured that this was the muses way of telling me that I should focus more on this. Lol
**I do want to give a grateful shout out to my beta xXHeart-plus-YukiXx. Thank you for all your wonderful support and guidance in how to make this story better.
You all might wish to thank her as well, because of her the amount of grammar and spelling errors have decreased. XP
Well anyway, its time to see what happens next. BTW this is kind of just a goofy Chapter before we get into all the real action.
Chapter 10: Two times the trouble
Steve couldn't put into words the intense worry he was feeling at this precise moment. Inside the docking bay high above the ground were long thin beams of steel, each beam could not have been any thicker than a foot wide. Their intended purpose: to ensure the stability of the ship. Their current purpose: the playground of youthful god.
Every time Jack hopped from one small beam to another -roughly twenty feet away -the Cap had a mini heart attack. Now Steve knew that Jack was a supposed god and all, but he looked so young that it didn't that he was centuries old, Steve couldn't help but see him as a kid. Finally Steve couldn't take it anymore, "Alright I know you can fly and all, but would you please come down from there?" he called worriedly.
Landing on another beam in a crouched Jack paused, "What, feeling a little queasy?" He teased.
Steve gave Jack a flat look, "You could say that."
Putting a hand on the beam Jack shifted his body until he was sitting. Hiding the sly smirk on his face he waited patiently. Then, just as it looked like Steve was relaxing, he leaned back. Yelping, he flailed his arms as though he was falling. From down on the ground the Captain's breathe hitched.
Just before he fell, Jack tightened his leg mussels and threw his weight into the drop. This action had him hanging upside down in a comical fashion, rather than falling to his untimely death.
Jack's merry laughter echoed through out the hanger as the poor solider slumped against a near by wall and clenched the fabric above his heart. With his shoulders dropped in defeat. "I don't think my nerves can handle this." He muttered.
"Are you serious?" Jack called as he let his legs loosen so he could fall. Flipping effortlessly as he fell through the air his feet tapped down onto the ground barely making a sound. It was a rather graceful move, if Jack said so himself, but Steve had refused to look up and witness it.
"You are a battle hardened warrior-You have done and seen some of the craziest things out there, and yet your nerves can't handle a little acrobatics?" Jack asked incredulously.
"Well of course it sounds bad when you say it like that." Steve retorted sulkily.
"Uh…excuse me sir?" A meek voice called from a near by plane. Steve straightened and quirked an eyebrow, glancing around to see who the agent was addressing. It took but a moment for him to realize that the smaller man was talking to him.
"Yes?" he finally replied to the young mans relief.
Looking around the room nervously the agent lifted his hand and beckoned the Captain to come closer. Confused, Steve also looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary; well excluding Jack.
Pushing off the wall he approached the man, "What is it?" he asked with authority.
Now it was clear that the agent knew the protocol involving how to address his superiors, just as the agent knew that Steve didn't ask that they follow protocol when he was off duty. However, it was clear that whatever the man wanted to say conflicted with his training.
"Sir." He said softly.
While Steve waited patiently for the man to continue; Jack had grown curious and quietly padded over. Peering from behind the super soldier's back he eyed the fidgety man. It was clear that the man could not see him so he decided to speak out, "Kind of jumpy isn't he?"
Steve heard Jack's comment but failed to notice that the agent had not, "You're right."
With wide eyes the young agent gave a worried look over the Captain. "Sir, are you feeling alright?"
Steve eyebrows scrunched together confusedly, "I'm fine, but are you alright?"
"Yes. I-I am" the agent stuttered, still looking worried.
"Then why did you call me over?" Steve asked as he tried to figure out what the youngest agent wanted.
"Well you've been acting really strange; the other men are growing concerned for you." When Steve just stared blankly at the man, he hastened to elaborate. "Well its just that, you just walked in here an hour ago and started yelling at the roof."
"Oh," Steve said as realization dawned in his eyes, I" was talking to Jokul." he gestured to the smirking god at his side.
As the man's eyes glanced around the area, another realization wormed its way into the Captains mind. "You can't see him…can you." He deadpanned.
"Sorry sir, who is he?" was the tentative response.
"Didn't we already cover the whole, not everyone can see me thing?" Jack questioned bluntly.
Steve didn't know what to do, so in his flustered state he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Excuse me while I go crawl back into my iceberg." Steve blurted. Quickly turning away he walked off as fast as possible.
Upon seeing the dumbfounded look on the agent's face as he stared at the Avenger's retreating back, Jack raised a fist and bit on his knuckles to stifle his snickering. "Steve you should see this guys face right now! It's hilarious!"
Ignoring the comment, Steve reached the door just as Thor was walking in. "Ah, there you are." Thor boomed cheerily.
With a straight face, Rogers stared at the excessively happy Asguardian. "And just where have you been?"
More than pleased to elaborate, Thor began to spin his tale to the less than interested Captain. "Friend Steve! I have discovered the dinning hall! You would not believe the variety of food and drink they have prepared for us."
"I can imagine." Rogers said quickly and made to leave, when his arm was gripped by the overenthusiastic man.
"My friend, where are you going?" Thor asked with wide, confused eyes.
"It's your turn." He said and pointed over to Jack. Thor looked at the god mischievously float around a young oblivious Midguardian. Not giving it a second thought Thor released the man and jogged over to the two individuals.
Steve watched as the poor agent backed away slowly, his confusion and nervousness ever increasing as the Thunder god started a conversation with thin air!
Shaking his head at the sight, Rogers prepared to leave the room when his eye caught a glimpse of Stark crouched behind a group of metal containers.
'Why is that man always up to something?' He mentally grumbled. Looking at the door one last time he sighed loudly and trudged reluctantly towards the man.
"Stark." He stated.
"Hmm?" Stark hummed absently.
"What are you doing?" Steve wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he asked anyway.
"Honestly, why must you think I am always up to something?" Stark whined as he leaned back on his hunches to pout at Steve.
Quirking an eyebrow, Rogers folded his arms across his chest. "Who said anything about you being up to something?"
Stark glanced at his watch and then looked back up at Steve, "Don't act thick, we both know that's was what you were implying."
Looking out to the room, Tony he could see the two 'gods' standing directly across from them. When Tony looked down again at his watch Steve couldn't help but frown. "I would really appreciate it if you don't start any trouble Stark."
With a challenging look on his face, Tony lifted his chin in a superior fashion. With eyebrows slightly raised and eyes half lidded he gave his head a jerky shake, "And I would appreciate it if you loosened up."
Steve frowned, "That's really hard to do when I see you constantly trying to disturb our team mates."
"Then don't look." Stark said simply.
Steve snorted, "Not going to happen." He said firmly.
"Well that sounds like a personal problem." Turning around from the annoyed Captain he looked at his watch again and frowned, his leg bounced in irritation.
Steve looked bemusedly at Stark's twitching and dread began to pull in his gut, "What is it?"
"That's strange…it should have worked by now." Stark muttered to himself, ignoring Steve completely.
Steve tensed as the feeling of dread increased, "Tony what did you-"
Before he could finish a small explosion resounded in the bay followed by gasps of shock and shouting as people scrambled to figure out what was going on. Snapping their heads up at the sound, both Stark and Rogers leaned out from behind the casings in time for to witness two more explosions go off.
What they saw had Steve gaping and Tony throwing his arms in triumph.
There, in the middle of the bay, had to be the strangest sight they had ever seen. Thor and Jack stood in the middle of the bay, neither one of them moving. Thor's jaw had dropped open in surprise and his eyes were practically popping out of his head. An unusual and strange substance had erupted from a near by canister. Its contents covered only part of his chest plate and right arm, but the same could not be said for Jack. From head to toe the thick grey goop dripped off him in globs. Feathers and what looked to be confetti stuck to him in random patches.
Whether anyone could see him before was irrelevant now, for a blob shaped person now stood hunched over by Thor. Honestly, Jack looked like some kind of giant, mutated bird.
It was eerily silent in the room, nobody moved, nobody so much as twitched. As the mayhem settled, the only thing to be heard was the now blaring alarm in the distance.
Then, as quickly as the silence had fallen, it was broken. People tripped over each other to avoid the intense gaze of the strange beast as it pivoted, seemingly looking for something. Jack froze in mid spin as he spotted two very familiar forms gaping from behind a huge stack of metal cubes. Somehow, an intense glare managed to pierce through the thick substance covering his face as the frost spirit glowered at the smirking form of Tony Stark and the baffled Steve Rogers.
Steve instinctively scooted away and pointed at Tony, self preservation demanding he do so immediately.
But Jack knew who the culprit was even without Steve's help. "You are SO going to pay for this Stark!"
Raising his foot with great effort he began to advance on Tony. Each step made a gross sloshing slopping sound as his foot hit the floor.
Stark would have gloated if he hadn't caught the disapproving frown being directed at him by Thor. The burly man had chosen to brush off what little bit of gunk that had gotten on him rather than trying to stop his fellow angry god. It was one thing to start one fight, but something else entirely to pick two.
"Yes well, I believe my work is done here." Tony stated as he started to retreat.
Seeing Tony turn to leave Jack used every once of strength he had to detach himself from the floor and hover in the air. Upon hearing the sticky foot steps cease, Tony chanced a glance behind him just in time to see the boy zooming his way.
Just before Jack could collide with him, Stark hit the deck hard. With all the extra weight from the goop, Jack couldn't stop fast enough and slammed into the wall. Not waiting for the boy to compose himself, Tony jumped to his feet and quickly ran from the room.
Much to Thor and Steve's surprise-neither was quite sure what to do in this situation-Jack simply peeled himself off the wall and jumped back into the air, determinedly flying after his elusive target.
"I do not understand." Thor stated.
Rogers who was looking about the destruction with mild annoyance hummed as a response.
"Why does Tony wish to invoke Jokul's wrath?" Thor continued when it was clear that Steve had nothing to say.
Shrugging, Rogers turned to the door that the two troublemakers had left through, "I don't think we'll ever understand what goes on inside that mans head" Steve sighed tiredly. "Come on; let's go stop them before they can cause anymore damage."
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Rushing down the hallway Natasha and Clint lead a small group of agents towards the area of interest. Fury had called them to investigate what had caused the sudden explosion and subsequent uproar. Though they were pretty sure of what had caused it, one did not take chances when there were enemies on the loose. Especially enemies they knew little about.
Taking another corner the two heard a commotion coming from a near by room. Two master assassins nodded to one another and proceeded to break the group into two; Clint took two men with him and back tracked down the previous hallway and looped around. After a brief moment of their absence the group re-entered the area from the opposite side. Now able to approach the door from two different angles they drew their weapons.
One quick nod from Clint and Natasha activated the doors sensor. At Clint's signa;, the other agents remained in the hall; their guns poised at the entrance in case the unknown threat got past. Weapon raised Clint swung into the room and covered the left. Natasha followed quickly after and covered the right.
By the time they entered what looked to be a food supply closet, what ever was making the noise had ceased. Glancing about the room, it was Clint who locked on to the anomaly in the far left corner. Clint signaled to Natasha and the deadly redhead narrowed her sharp green eyes at the unidentified mass.
When it was clear that the thing wasn't going to move, Natasha felt safe enough to inquire quietly, "What is that?"
Sadly, Clint really couldn't say he knew. "Are those feathers?"
Not having expected a response the two assassins tensed when the mass said. "If I had to guess I would say it's probably gravy and chicken feathers."
"Jokul?" Clint asked with surprise and lowered his bow. "What in the world happened to you?"
Though they couldn't see it, they could feel the smirk coming from behind the gravy mask. "Why don't you ask him?"
With that being said, what looked to be his arm pointed in the direction of yet another odd looking shape plastered to the opposite wall. Both agents stared dumbfounded at the mass for a long moment; neither knew what they were supposed to be looking at when suddenly an agitated sigh erupted from it.
Clint and Natasha shared an amused look before holstering their weapons and relaxing their stances. Clint went to the door and dismissed the agents while Natasha walked closer to the second mass, a smirk pulling at her lips.
"Tony, Tony Tony." Natasha tsked.
The odd mass seemed to try it's best to blend into the wall.
Natasha rolled her eyes at the man's antics. "I know it's you; I can see the Iron Man band around your wrist." She stated.
Sure enough the only part of the body uncovered was the right hand and wrist of one Tony Stark. Sudden;y the tan hand seemed to do it's best to point at the other gooey mess in the room, a muffled voice accompanied the motion, "This is far from over Frostbite."
"Stark, your encased in…what is this exactly?" she turned to Jack who seemed to shrug before holding up two empty canisters. "Flour? Huh."
"It looks to me like you lost this fight." Clint chuckled as he returned from dismissing the agents. Walking up to the wall, he started to contemplate the best way of removing the man without actually having to messy himself.
"Should we really help them? We could just leave them here for Fury to find." Natasha joked.
"Though that does sound hilarious, I would rather not be placed on cleaning duty when Fury finds them and it's all dried up."
"He's right you know." Stark interrupted. "This stuff is terribly difficult to get off when it solidifies."
"No one asked you for your comments Stark." Natasha said flatly.
Jack snickered earning him a sharp look from the redhead, "That goes double for you."
"But I didn't say anything." Jack defended indignantly.
Sighing and cursing their luck, the two special agents walked up to the wall and placed a foot on either side of Stark. Grabbing what could either be a shoulder or a kneecap, they tugged on him sharply, ignoring the muddled complaints until he came loose and fell to the floor in and undignified lump.
"Why is this stuff so thick and dry already?" Natasha muttered as she shook her hand roughly to rid it of the offending goop.
Impressed, Jack tried to whistle but found it to be rather difficult in his current condition; instead it came out more of a sputter.
"You know what, I don't even care anymore. Get yourselves cleaned off and changed out of those dirty clothes." The thought of having that mess all over the ship made her shutter.
Jack paused in his attempt to wipe off the gunk. "But I don't have a change of clothes."
Natasha paused her departure, "Don't worry; I am sure there is a spare S.H.I.E.L.D. suit around here somewhere that will fit you."
"New clothes; what an excellent idea, I shall acquire your proper attire immediately!" Thor's voice suddenly exclaimed form the door way.
Jack looked to the door and pouted when he saw Thor's cheery face. "But I like the clothes I have."
"Nonsense! We shall find you proper garments that befit your status!" the Thunder God then, for the umpteenth time that day, vanished from the doorway and around the corner.
Steve quickly peeked inside now that it was clear of the large mans large stature. One look at Tony put a smile on his lips. "Hey, you don't look half bad like that. If you ever think about changing the design of your suit, this should really be an option."
"JARVIS?"
"Yes sir?" the intercoms above them clicked on the kind voice of JARVIS was heard.
"Make a note, never ask the Capsicle for fashion advice."
"Very good sir; shall I prepare the bath for you as well?"
"Yes, please." Stark replied. Straightening as best he could, Stark trotted out of the room talking to Jarvis as if he was not, in cast, covered in drying flour.
Steve shook his head at the eccentric man before turning to Jack. "Come on; I'll show you where the baths are.
"No need. Water and I don't really mesh well." He stated absently. Picking up his arm he started freezing off segments of feathered gravy. Clint smirked when Natasha looked at him, her eye twitching with every segment that hit the floor.
"Well we are going to head back and report to Fury." Natasha was out of the room and around the corner before her partner could finish his sentence.
"Hey Barton?" Steve asked quietly as the man strode by.
"Yeah?" the archer stopped at the super soldier's side and tilted his head to show he was listening.
"In your report- do you think you can down play the kids involvement in all this?"
Clint locked eyes with the Captain, searching the baby blue eyes. Apparently finding what he was looking for, the archer closed his eyes with a smirk and gently punched the man's shoulder. "Sure thing Captain."
With an appreciative nod Steve looked back to the kid and sighed. "Well, let's see what we can do about getting you clean."
Author's Notes
HAHAHAAA! Oh my stomach! *wipes away tear* I am sorry; I started laughing while writing that part, and I just couldn't stop.
Hee-hee, if you all can think of some great pranks to add to this war let me know. I have the distinct feeling that this isn't going to be over any time soon. After all, neither one of them is the type to surrender so easily.
Well like I said, this was just a light hearted chapter before we go into the thick of it all.
Anyway to those who have reviewed, followed, and favorite THANKS! :]
I will post the next chapter sometime this week. (Friday the latest) Until next we meet!
~Skye out