Summary: As Tony Stark flew towards the Chitauri portal he had only one person on his mind: his son, Blaine Anderson. Blaine was Tony's best kept secret. That is until the aftermath of the Battle of New York causes the Avengers to lie low in Lima. But what Tony didn't know was that he wasn't the only one whose life was going to change. AKA the time that the gleeks met the Avengers and made a crazy weird family in the process.

Pairings: Established Clintasha and Pepperony. Hinted Puckleberry, Blam and Skyeward relationships. Pucktana, Puckleberry, Brittana, Pezberry friendships. And as always, Blamman bromance with The Science Bros and their plus one (Clint).

Warnings: Language, I guess, because I have a potty mouth damn it. Also a strong possibility for crackish behaviors, Sam being a fan girl and Kurt bashing. Spoilers for The Avengers, all of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and up to season four of Glee.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except typos! Those are definitely all mine. This is set at the end of the season three of Glee and the end of The Avengers.

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Here is another chapter in honor of my getting to see Avengers: Age of Ultron tomorrow night! Woohoo! I've been dying for this movie to come out and now here it is. So before I get sucked into the inevitable feels/plotbunny sparkfest that movie is bound to be, I'm updating at least one of my stories. Huzzah! Fair warning, I do know about Inhumans and I'm reasonably sure that nothing like what I wrote in this chapter would actually happen in the comic book. That being said, it happened lol. So suspend your disbelief and any knowledge you may have on that. Also shout out to Loki Firefox for providing… inspiration for the newest arc of this story. You wanted more Blaine… remember to be careful what you ask for. Muahaha *cough cough* Yeah evil laughing is not for me. Hope you all enjoy!


Castle of Glass

Blaine would like to point out that everything started to change the day that Puck brought his roommate back to the Tower to the meet the family so to speak. He knew that this little meeting was mostly Sam's idea as it was becoming increasingly more obvious that they needed someone to look after Puck when he was living on campus. Santana somehow managed to avoid any issues transitioning into SHIELD whereas Puck was the total opposite and way too determined to follow in Clint's footsteps than any of them felt comfortable with. So it made sense to form a relationship with Donnie so they had another set of eyes watching him. It did make sense and Blaine really was all about it until the day they actually met him. Blaine would like the record to show that he didn't have a problem with Donnie before that day. He seemed pleasant enough the few times they interacted during their Skype sessions with Puck. Puck seemed to genuinely like him and Santana didn't hate him. That was enough for Blaine. He was determined to make friends with the quiet, formerly homeschooled teen that somehow managed to worm his way into his friends' lives.

He seriously was all about the Make Donnie Our Best Friend Forever plan... until the moment Steve stepped off the elevator with Puck, Santana and Donnie in tow. Blaine didn't know what it was about that instant that marked Donnie as a sudden threat to him but he knew it happened in that split second between the elevator opening and Clint jumping down from the rafters to mock Puck for even thinking about quitting. Looking back on that moment, Blaine realized that he knew in that moment that everything was going to change… and that it was going to change without him.

He was only confirmed in that belief as the evening wore on and Donnie emerged from his quiet shell. Blaine could only watch with a growing sense of unease as a friendly rivalry blossomed between Sam and Donnie over a game of Uno. Blaine watched as Santana teased their new friend with the same flirty edge she used on Sam and Puck. He watched as Puck needled his roommate with the same reassuring and warm smiles he used on Blaine and Sam. And through it all, Brittany was watching them all with that secret smile. The smile that promised something big was on the horizon. Blaine officially felt out of his depth that night.

Over the next few months, Blaine could only continue to watch as his friends grew closer and closer to this… outsider. Except when he was around the other three, Donnie seemed less the outsider and more like he belonged. Blaine, on the other hand, felt like an alien amongst them. He knew that overall, the five of them came together as friends rather quickly. But it seemed almost turtle paced compared to how comfortable they all were with one another by the conclusion of that first weekend. Five months later, they were this unshakable clique and Blaine was still on the fringes.

Blaine was familiar with being jealous. Growing up, he was jealous of Cooper and the attention he commanded from their parents and stepfather. But he was also familiar with the futility of sharing those feelings. It never got him very far with his mother. And Tony was never big on the heart to heart talks. So Blaine fell back on the old Stark family coping methods. No, not alcohol! Sadly, not out a lack of desire however. Mostly because Pepper went on a cleaning binge and destroyed most of the contents of Tony's alcohol cabinet. She threatened to withhold sex for a year if he even thought about trying to refill it (and Blaine would really like to never hear anything about his father and sex again in life. Because gross). So yeah, there was little to no alcohol in the Tower these days. That was fine because Blaine was having a much more enjoyable time in his father's lab. Or rather his lab.

Tony claimed that he was so tired of trying to work around Blaine who was "doing the science wrong aka like Bruce" that eventually he gave up. He set Blaine up with one of the unused labs in the Tower where he could science to his heart's content. And that he did. Blaine enjoyed working with seemingly unlimited resources with no fear of consequence for blowing things up that being in the Tower provided. Actually, his dad seemed more disappointed if something didn't blow up at least once a week. It was completely different and more liberating than the home lab setup he had back in Ohio. Here he could do whatever he wanted, when he wanted. Every so often, he would team up with Brittany and work on some project she pulled out of her head. He wished that he had known Brittany earlier in his life. It would've been fun to have someone like Brittany to bounce concepts off of. Especially since the older woman was damned creative when it came to her designs. Blaine finally understood why his father valued his friendship with Bruce so much. Having someone to geek out with was amazing.

Having Brittany around in general (even when contact was mostly through Skype with occasional weekend breaks) was amazing because it helped. It helped that he knew that he had at least one of his friends still on his side. So he did science with Brittany while his other friends grew further and further away from him. Even Sam was spending more and more time outside of the Tower these days. He could only assume at SHIELD. He was losing his friends and there was nothing that he could (or would) do about it.

The day the tension came to a boiling point started off like any normal Tuesday. He and Sam went to school, dealt with the usual rich kid crap and then came back home. Sam went… somewhere while Blaine retreated to his lab as usual. He was content to stay there for the rest of the night when JARVIS alerted him that his mother and stepfather were in the building. His day, understandably, went downhill from there. Apparently, she was there because his father was no longer paying child support checks. Or rather Pepper was no longer paying her child support checks. The fact that his mother was trying to collect checks when she no longer had any kind of custody of him said a lot about her parenting skills. It said a lot about her marriage when Pepper let it slip that Annette was still seeing Tony after she married Stanley. Blaine noticed Clint and Sam sneaking out after that last bit of information. No doubt they were trying to escape the inevitable meltdown and Blaine didn't blame them for that. He would've run away too if he thought he had a chance of actually escaping. So no, Blaine did not blame them for that.

What he did blame Sam for was the fact that he knew the blonde was headed straight to the Academy. He knew that Sam was most likely going to spend the night to give this a chance to blow over. That Blaine blamed Sam for. He was angry and hurting, and not just by the fact that his mother very obviously didn't see him as anything other than a possession, but also by his friends' continuous rejection of him. But today was the last straw. Today he was officially done with all of them. From here on out, he wasn't going to jump the minute they came back to the Tower. He wasn't going to Skype anymore. He was done. If they wanted to replace him with Donnie, the least he could do was having some dignity and not chase after them.

That's why he didn't react when an alarm blared through the Tower. Apparently Puck and Donnie were injured by some kind of exploding ice machine on campus. Initially panic grabbed him as he tried to process or even imagine what that could possibly mean. But he forced it back. This was how he ended up in the same vicious cycle. The vicious cycle that led to him being alone in his lab surrounded by a dozen half completed experiments. Nope, he was not going to run down to the Infirmary. He was going to sit here and work on the engine he and Brittany had created blueprints for. He was about halfway through the designs when the doors to his lab opened with a hiss. He looked up surprised to see a thoroughly wrecked looking Santana and Sam along with some new girl entering his private space. Great, they picked up another one.

"How did you get in here?" he asked in lieu of a greeting.

"Pepper has an override code for all the lab doors in the Tower because for a bunch of geniuses, you are all shockingly oblivious to your own needs," Santana answered, plopping down at the workbench. "By the way, Blaine Stark this is Skye. Just Skye. She's the hacker that's on Phil's team that's obsessed with your dad. She's also distantly related to us."

At this Blaine looked up from his work with an arched eyebrow. Skye was still lingering in the background, too uncomfortable to sit down. But Sam and Santana were poking around like they belonged there. Like there wasn't some huge gap between them all that was mostly created by their distance. He resisted the urge to give into the familiarity of the actions. He wasn't going to do this. He was just going to ignore them until they eventually got bored and left…. What did she mean that Skye was distantly related to them?

"Turns out that Puck, San, Skye, Donnie and I all have DNA from some badass, militaristic race called the Kree," Sam answered his silent question, running a hand over his face. He looked exhausted. Santana didn't look much better. Blaine fought the concern. "Why couldn't it be someone cool like the Asgardians? Like why couldn't Thor be our actual uncle instead of the people that apparently visited planets with the intent purpose of creating a master race of warriors?"

Blaine wanted to reply to that. He really, really did. Because alien DNA? That was both terrifying and awesome! He had so many questions. But shared alien DNA did not excuse them from basically ignoring him for the past five months. And beside he made a promise to himself that he was not going to get involved in their stuff anymore. So instead of responding, he merely looked down at the engine once again.

"That's all you have to say?" Santana's voice cut through the silence that settled on the lab. "Seriously, Blaine?"

"What else do you want me to say, Santana?" he asked, calmly.

"Maybe ask us how Puck is doing? You do remember Puck, right? He's about this tall, used to sport a Mohawk and oh, he died about three hours ago."

"He died?!" Blaine yelled forgetting his promise to himself. "But JARVIS said he was in the Infirmary."

"His heart stopped for what we can estimate was anywhere from five or ten minutes," Sam responded. "Bruce was still running tests to see what the extent the damage was when they let the whole alien thing slip out. Needless to say, it's turned into yet another discussion about us but not with us."

Blaine was way too familiar with those but still. He couldn't give into them. That didn't stop him from pulling up the information from the Infirmary. Puck was apparently tasered with a modified Taser that was the equivalent of several of Thor's lightning strikes. Donnie absorbed the brunt of the effects from the ice machine (that he created, a nasty part of Blaine's mind reminded him) and was slowly defrosting. Neither of them should've lived through that. But Puck not only lived, he was already awake and giving Bruce hell while trying to run tests.

"Well, I'm glad he's okay," Blaine finally said.

"Okay, seriously, Blaine? What the hell is your problem?" Santana snapped. "You've had a stick the size of Europe shoved up your ass for the past few months. I was all for confronting you about it but the others were convinced you would come to us when you felt like it. But you didn't and now here we are. So what the hell is your damage?"

"My damage?! You're actually asking me that?"

"Uh, I'm just going to go back downstairs," Skye announced awkwardly.

"No, you should stay," Blaine countered. "You're part of their team now. I'm the one that doesn't belong. Except this is kind of my lab. So I guess in this case, you're the outsiders."

"Blaine? What are you talking about?" Sam asked, quietly.

"I'm talking about since the minute you guys bought Donnie around, you've been all over him. You have ignored me for the past five months! Now you expect me to just forget all that and act like everything is fine."

"No, we expect you to remember that this friendship thing is a two way street," Santana countered. "You've been pulling away from us just as much as you think we've been pulling away from you. Every time we try to call or visit, you're holed away in here and JARVIS tells us that we're not allowed to interrupt you and after a while we tried to respect that maybe you wanted some space. So if you want to be pissed off about us hanging out with Donnie, that's valid. But don't act like we just abandoned you. You left us too!"

"Wait, what?" Blaine asked, both in anger and genuine confusion. They really tried to visit him? When was this? "You tried to see me? To talk to me?"

"Whatever," Santana shook her head. "I'm going downstairs. I only came up here because Puck was awake and wondering where you were. The answer is where you always are lately. Here, holed up in your lab, not giving a damn. Thanks for nothing, Blaine! Because I actually feel worse than I did before I stupidly came down here!"

Blaine chewed on his lip as Santana stormed out of the lab. Skye looked between the open door and the only other people in the room. She opened her mouth to say something before closing it just as quick and leaving in Santana's wake. This left just Sam and Blaine. Sam, who wasn't looking at him. Sam, who he could tell was hurting. But so was Blaine.

"Remember the day that you asked me to move in with you guys?" Sam finally spoke breaking the tension in the room. "I told you that you what you did for me was above and beyond what a friend would do. I was more than just grateful. You gave me a home. You gave me a family. How could you ever think that I would replace you?"

Blaine sighed quietly. "I hardly ever see any of you anymore."

"Because we figured you were jealous of Donnie," Sam admitted. "San and Puck wanted to talk to you right away and clear it all up. But I told them that you trusted us and you would talk to us when you were ready. Because you were smart enough to know that none of us would ever want to replace you. That we couldn't replace you even if we wanted because you're family. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe I was wrong."

Sam slipped out the room after that and Blaine couldn't find it in him to call him back. Because clearly there was something he was missing here. He was so sure that he was right before. Though it was pretty obvious that he wasn't seeing the whole picture. But he was so sure that he was right. He had to be. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He didn't just screw this up. He did not. They were the ones that messed up. They were the ones that screwed up. Weren't they?

"Damn it!" he yelled before throwing his screwdriver across the room. It narrowly missed Tony's head as he entered the lab. Blaine glared at his father. "What did they tell you to come up here and talk to me?"

"Nope," Tony replied, calmly. "Santana and Sam are on the training floor. Clint took one look at them both and banned them from the Infirmary. He let Skye in and told those two to go out work out their anger. Puck doesn't need any more stress. The kid may be some kind of alien/super soldier hybrid but he still needs a functioning heart to live. I think. Maybe. Bruce is reasonably sure that he needs his heart in working condition. So basically that means no stress on him or his fragile human shaped heart for the next few weeks."

"Isn't SHIELD just a fancy code name for stress?"

"Yes, that's why he'll be staying here for the next few weeks," Tony answered, sitting on the stool next to Blaine's. "So you want to tell me what's going on so we can squash it before you end up giving your friend another heart attack?" he paused. "Unless you don't want to squash it. Kid, I know that I opened the Tower to them and I am kinda fond of them, but if you give me the word, they're gone."

The corners of Blaine's mouth twitched. He didn't doubt his father would do it if he asked. But he also knew that they wouldn't be going very far. Tony was more than kinda fond of Blaine's friends. Honestly, despite everything, Blaine felt the same.

"No, Dad. I don't want to kick them out."

"I didn't think you did," Tony chimed in, nudging his son on the shoulder.

"Did they really try to see me during the past few months?"

"Several times," Tony confirmed. "But you told JARVIS you didn't want to be disturbed. You know for an AI that I created, he's disturbingly loyal to you. You didn't want them in and they didn't get in." Blaine sighed. Tony placed a hand on his shoulder. "Talk to me, kid."

"It's so stupid, now that I actually think about it. I was just jealous of Donnie. Like I actually believed that they were replacing me with Donnie for the stupidest reason too."

"Because of what Brittany said to you on the roof before we left Lima?" Blaine nodded. Tony snorted. "You're right. That is stupid."

"Thanks, Dad."

"No, hear me out. I know that you think that there is something more to Brittany's cryptic weirdness and like I told Clint this afternoon, you're probably right. Well, actually now we know that she was definitely right. But I also know that whatever is supposed to be happening with those three is definitely not happening without you. You all have been connected at the hip since you left Lima. That's not going to change, Blaine. Friends like those don't just fade away."

"They're aliens," Blaine pointed out. "They share common ancestors. It actually makes sense now that they're so close. They're essentially cousins."

"Yeah, they are freakishly close to each other but they're also very loyal. They're not going to turn their back on you, kid. I know you don't have the best track record with friends or with family but those kids? Those kids are in it for the long haul."

"Why would they even want me?" Blaine mumbled. "I mean we've seen what Santana and Puck can do. I'm sure given a chance, Sammy and the others could do that as well. I'm a regular person. I'm only human, Dad. Nothing special about me."

Tony fiddled with the edge of Blaine's blueprints before exhaling slowly. "Wanna do me a favor? List the members of the Avengers."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it. I'm trying to see if you can remember seeing as how none of us have seen you for more than a few hours in like five months."

Blaine rolled his eyes but did as his father asked. "Thor, Black Widow, the Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye and of course, Iron Man."

"Right, and of those people how many of them are genetically enhanced?"

Blaine let out a sigh. "Black Widow and Captain America. And I guess the Hulk."

"Okay. What about Thor?"

"He's an alien."

"Right again, fruit of my amazing loins. There's hope for you yet. Now one more question. What would you consider Clint, Bruce and myself?"

"I just said that Uncle Bruce is genetically enhanced."

"Yeah, no, you actually said the Hulk. I'm reasonably sure that Bruce Banner is not the threat when you first compare him and the Hulk. Of course we all know better but yeah, to the average person, the Hulk is the dangerous one. Clint is just a normal guy with really awesome eyesight who can do complicated physics equations in his head but not a drop of any genetic tampering or alien in his DNA. And me? I'm just a guy with a suit." Blaine blinked as he realized he walked right into that one. "Everything that is special about me, Bruce and Clint comes from our brains. And you, Blaine Stark, are building a nuclear fission engine from scratch based off designs that Brittany drew on the back of a napkin. I think that makes you kind of special too."

Blaine dragged the blueprints over and frowned as he realized it was a napkin. A Hello Kitty napkin. There were so many questions. So very many questions but he let it slide in favor of fixing the huge mess he created out of nothing.

"So you're saying that I should suit up and join the little team they're building?"

"God no," Tony blurted. "The last thing in the world I would ever tell you to do is put a suit on and be a superhero. This life is hard, Blaine. I don't wish it on anyone. But at the same time I know that you will suit up one day and I'm semi okay with that. And even if you don't, I know you belong with those guys. Whatever team they're putting together consciously or not, you're a part of it. You have been since Lima, Ohio."

"Maybe not," Blaine sulked. "I kind of screwed everything up. They're right. I should've just told them how I was feeling. But I acted like an ass and pulled away from them too. They're never going to forgive me."

"They will once you talk to them. It's a mutual thing, Blaine. They should've talked to you too. They shouldn't have let you linger in silence. That was my bad too. Because I saw something was wrong but I let it go because I thought you would know better. I keep forgetting that you're still a kid."

"I'm almost eighteen."

"You're still my kid."

"Valid point," Blaine conceded. "So how do I talk to them? I don't even know how I'm supposed to begin broaching that topic. I was acting completely ridiculously. I should've just talked to them about how I feel. And now it might be too late."

Tony pursed his lips. "I'm not really sure how you should start that conversation. Although if I were you, I would be more concerned with how you're going to finish it."

"What do you…? Oh, my god, has JARVIS been transmitting this conversation to the whole Tower?!"

"Not the whole Tower. Just the gym where Santana and Sammy are. Well, where they were. Pretty sure they're probably halfway here."

Halfway was a definite underestimate. No sooner had those words left his father's mouth were Santana and Sam storming back into the lab wearing twin expressions of disappointment. Blaine bit his lip and sat up straight.

"Guys, I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You're sorry?!" Santana repeated incredulously. "You dumbass… we're sorry! I thought that there was something odd about you and Donnie but I never thought you were so stupid that you would think that Donnie could ever replace you. We like Donnie but he's not you. You're Blaine. You're the reason we live in a fancy ass tower and have friends and a family that cares about us. You're more a part of us than our weird alien cousin connection."

"You know it's lucky you're hot because honestly sometimes you're kind of dumb," Sam chimed in. Blaine rolled his eyes but felt his lips curling slightly.

"We're okay?"

"Yeah, stupid," Santana smiled. "As long as you promise to remember that we're not just friends. We're family. And that means you're not getting replaced. No one is ditching you for Skye or for Donnie. We're kind of attached to you."

Blaine nodded his head slowly. "I've been such a jerk to Donnie."

"It's cool. Donnie was homeschooled and literally had no friends growing up. He doesn't even understand how this whole friendship thing works honestly. Hell, he thought Seth was his friend and that guy was a dick that was only using him to build an ice death ray. So yeah, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"That's really disturbing and sad, San. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome," she chirped. "Now, as I was saying earlier. Puck is awake and wondering where you are. You want to come down and see him before he has another heart attack moment?"

"About that…. You guys said he was dead for ten minutes. How exactly did you bring him back from the dead?"

"We used the portable defibrillator. The latest mad science project out of Stark Industries. That thing might be small but it really comes in handy. You did well."

Blaine felt the corners of his mouth lifting. It was his design and sort of his idea to build the defibrillators that could fit in a standard SHIELD field kit. He heard Natasha complaining about Clint and his seemingly never-ending ability to find ways to almost die in the field. She told him once that she didn't know when their official first kiss was as a couple due to all the times she had to give him CPR in the field. Clint was understandably less than pleased by her proclamation. Blaine remembered coming up with the plans and then the actual first prototype later that week. He also remembered that they ended up using it on Clint pretty much that same day. They really needed to work on Clint's self-preservation. Because he honestly didn't seem to have any. At all.

"So are you all done fighting now? Because I have to say it was only amusing for the first few weeks and then after that it was just depressing and sad."

"Yeah, we're done," Santana grinned, looping an arm around Blaine's shoulders. He leaned into her loose embrace with a grin of his own. She started to say something when a thought seemingly occurred to her. "Wait, you weren't seriously going to kick us out, were you, Uncle Tony?"

"Nah, I was actually going move you guys down a level temporarily," Tony answered honestly, earning a mock glare from Blaine. "What, kid? You and I both know that you don't want these guys to leave. Saying things while angry was your mother's thing. Try not to follow in her footsteps."

Blaine narrowed his eyes. "Speaking of mom, where is she?"

"The Plaza Hotel. I really hope she doesn't think we're paying for that either," Tony shrugged. "She's apparently sticking around town for a bit. But you do not need to feel pressured to see her if you don't want. She has already been warned quite clearly that no means hell no when it comes to you."

Blaine smiled softly. "Pepper or Natasha?"

"Actually both," Tony answered. "You got a lot of people looking after you, kiddo. You have a lot of people that care."

"Yeah," Blaine said looking at the grinning Santana and Sam. "I know."

"Great, then I don't feel bad about telling you that I have to go to Malibu tomorrow."

"Wait, what about mom?"

Tony winced. "Yeah, that was an unexpected wrinkle in the plan. I did not see that one coming. Hey, don't give me that look. Think about what I have to suffer through. Pepper wants me to meet with this think tank guru guy from some stupid company named Advanced Idea Mechanics. I was bringing Bruce with me but then Puck wanted to go and die and the other one got frozen. Now Bruce is staying here and I'm going to be bored and alone."

"My heart bleeds for you, father. Really. Because I still have to deal with MOM!"

"I know you'll do well," Tony said, rising to his feet and ruffling Blaine's hair. "Don't forget, you got your uncles here. They're more than willing to kick ass for you. And you also have your own version of the super friends over here with even more aliens than before."

"I thought Uncle Bruce told you not to tease us about the whole alien thing," Sam chided.

"Oh, Sammy. It's like you don't even know me sometimes!" Tony said before planting a kiss on Sam's forehead and sauntering out the lab. Before he was completely gone, Blaine called out to him. "Yeah?"

"Be careful, Dad. Try and stay out of trouble."

Tony scoffed. "I'm meeting with a bunch of nerds that want to use my brain for their brain cult. I'm looking at a couple of days of getting a little quality time in with sand and sun while you people slosh around in snow and slush. I'll be back in a few days."

Blaine nodded and forced a smile. He didn't know why he was suddenly gripped with fear. His father leaving for a business trip was not a big deal. It was all part of the deal when you had businesses on both coasts. While Pepper was the CEO and the actively involved responsible leader of the company, Tony's input was occasionally required. So really, this was not a big deal. Tony would be back in a few days. There was nothing to worry about.


Something was wrong with Puck. Santana was well aware of the fact that something being wrong with Puck was pretty much standard operating procedure at this point but that didn't change the fact that something was wrong with him. And that something was pissing her off. Because she didn't know what to do about it. Ever since his return from the dead a few days before, he was a little… off. Well, actually more than a little. He spaced out frequently. It was hard for him to focus on anything for extended periods of time. He constantly had headaches and complained about things being too loud. He occasionally saw things. And that right there, that was another huge red flag for her.

She was willing to write off the whole purple eyes, burning wings and Skye quaking comments but the fact that he sometimes looked at Bruce as though he could see the Hulk and occasionally at his own great grandfather like he saw the 90 pound sickly man he was before the serum made her worry. Bruce assured them all that any brain damage he experienced from basically dying should be healed within the week. But if anything, Puck seemed to be getting worse as the week wore on. There were very few people in the Tower that he could look at without seeing something else. So far Clint, Tony and Pepper before they left, Cooper, Jane and Darcy were the only ones. He was even having a hard time looking at Blaine. Another red flag.

Something had to give because it was obvious that he wasn't dealing well with any of the things that were happening to him. The whole point of him being off from training was so that that he could relax. Yet, none of that was happening. So with that in mind, she set off to find her best friend. She knew she wouldn't find him in the Infirmary, a fact Bruce would be none too pleased about when he found out. She bypassed all the usual thinking spots he favored and instead walked into her room. There huddled up on her window seat was the subject of her constant concern. She climbed up and sat beside him.

"Bruce is going to murder you this time," she said, finally breaking the quiet between them. "I just managed to talk him down from strapping you in last time. And here you are, escaping again. You truly are following Clint's footsteps, huh?"

Puck snorted softly. "I know. I just… I had to leave."

"Talk to me," she ordered gently. He let out a shaky breath before shifting so that he was leaning into her side. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders, letting her fingers brush through his hair. "Now I know you're not okay. You never let me do this anymore. You haven't let me do this since you got out of juvie. I always have to wait until you're sick or unconscious. And god, that sounded way less creepy when I said it in my head." He snorted, settling further into the embrace.

"I stopped letting you because you were always trying to braid the Mohawk back then. Don't think I don't know that you still want to braid my hair. I keep telling you I didn't grow it out for you to play with," he mumbled against her neck. She laughed quietly.

"It's not my fault. I miss the 'hawk but I have to admit you would look adorable with cornrows. It would totally help you look even more vaguely ethnic."

"You're still evil."

"Yet you still love me."

"Always," Puck replied seriously.

"Same for me," she admitted, resting her head against his. Her fingers now brushing against his arms. "Now talk to me, Noah. Tell me what's happening."

He took a deep breath and slowly pulled away from her. She watched as he reluctantly drew his gaze upwards to meet her gaze. They were in the fifth grade when they met for the first time. She's seen those eyes pretty much every day since that moment. So she thought she knew them. But in the moment when their eyes met, she didn't recognize him at all. The hazel orbs with their flecks of green, brown and gold seemed to shift to a chilling blankness she had never seen before. But only for just a brief moment. It was as if he was seeing more than just her. But the moment was over before she could begin to process what she had seen. Suddenly his normal expressively colored eyes were back and he was looking away from her again.

"What did you see?"

"It wasn't just your eyes this time. All of you was surrounded by purple," he answered quietly. "It was in your hands. You hair. Everything around you was purple. And I saw you floating and watching as a city burned with purple."

Santana leaned back. "Oh," she murmured. "Well, I actually don't have a comeback for that one. I mean what am I supposed to say there?"

"I don't know. You think I know what's going on with me?" he snapped, looking up again. The shift happened once again and he quickly looked away. "Bruce said that my body chemistry completely changed after… you know. He said that it's slowly going back to normal but I'm starting to think that…"

"Think what?"

"I'm starting to think that this is how I'm supposed to be," he replied. "That when my body finishes healing I'm going to go back to how I used to be. And that's not right. That's not who I really am."

"And you think that seeing things and living in fear of looking your friends and family in the face is how you're supposed to be?" she asked, not mocking but just confused. "I don't know what the hell this whole alien DNA thing means if it even means anything. You heard Thor. The Kree might've come here but they didn't think any of their experiments were a success. True, we got alien genes but I think that's all there is to it. We're all long past the age of puberty. I don't think we're going to suddenly change after all these years."

"Not yet," he muttered. "But it will happen."

Santana chewed on her lip. Her mind drifted back to that night on the roof of Breadstix where Brittany said she was waiting for them for so long. Brittany knew, or at least had an idea, that something wasn't quite human about them. She had known it for a while. Thor admitted that he could sense their otherworldliness as well. Santana knew that it was more than just a little likely that there were some more changes in store for them. But she also knew something even more important. She smiled softly as she tilted Puck's chin up, forcing him to meet her eyes.

"Hey, look at me," she said when he slammed his eyes shut. "I know what you've been seeing is scary as hell. But I promise you that it's going to be okay. You know me, Noah. You've seen me before. You've seen me every way possible. So hold onto that. Because that's the real me. Not whatever you're seeing. And even if it is the real me that I could become one day, that's not who I am now."

She waited with baited breath for him to open his eyes again. Finally she saw them slowly flutter open. The shift happened again but he swallowed and kept looking at her. She felt his relief even before she saw the smile on his lips. He put his hand on her cheek and smiled brighter than he had in days. She stared into his eyes and knew that he was seeing her. Not purple Santana who let cities burn but just her.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey," she returned his smile with one of her own. She leaned forward so that her head rested against his. "It's going to be tough but you can do that with everyone. You know us. You can see past what your mind is telling you. And if you can't, just look at me until its better."

He sighed softly. "That might make us more than a little codependent."

"Dude, we so bypassed that the moment I felt you die." He winced. "Sorry. Probably kind of a sensitive subject, huh?"

"No, that wasn't for me… I'm sorry, you know? That you had to feel that too. It wasn't… it wasn't pleasant. I'm sorry you had to feel that too."

"You're seriously apologizing because I felt the residual pain of you being electrocuted and dying?" she asked, shaking her head with a fond smile. "You're special."

"I have my fair share of issues," he admitted with a huff of laughter. Santana took his hands in her and squeezed lightly.

"We're going to change, Puck. You know it and I know it. But for right now, let's just be who we are and worry about the potential alien DNA related issues later. Can we try that?"

"I think we can."

"Awesome!" Santana grinned, pulling away. "Now we have been talking long enough for the others to have finished setting up the makings of an awesome movie night by your bed that you should actually be in right now."

"But bed is boring," Puck whined even as he let her pull him to his feet.

"Yes, but bed helps you heal faster so you can stop seeing all your friends and family as anything other than what they appear to be at the moment. Speaking of that, what do you see when you look at Blaine?"

Puck's brow furrowed. "It's different. I see the potential for something but it's not like what I see what you guys. Like there's something there and it's just waiting to wake up."

Santana frowned. "That doesn't sound good."

"I don't know," he shrugged helplessly. "This could all mean something or nothing. I really don't know, San. But I just know that it scares the hell out of me."

She exhaled and forced a smile on her face again. She didn't even need to look into his eyes to know that they shifted and he probably saw right through that. The sooner his brain fixed whatever bit of his alien crap that was peeking through the better. Because this wasn't working for her. He already saw through the vast majority of her issues on a good day. This never being able to get anything past him wasn't going to work. He definitely needed to fix that.

"It's not like I can help this," he griped. His eyes widened. "You didn't say that out loud. I heard you but you definitely didn't say that out loud. That's the fourth time that's happened."

"Nope!" she yelped. "We're not doing this! Bruce said your brain was fixing itself. That's our story and we're sticking to it. You cannot tell what a person really looks like or will look like just by looking at them. You cannot read minds. None of this is happening. What is happening is you getting your ass back downstairs where we're going to watch Disney movies and snuggle with the rest of our idiot family and the strays we keep collecting until the world makes sense again."

"We're part alien, San. That's going to take a whole lot of Disney and snuggles."

"We're starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and working our way through every single animated movie up to Tangled. Also Fitzsimmons and Skye are here. So we got a lot of people to snuggle with. I think we're good."

Puck twisted his lips. "Yeah, that might actually work."


Steve ran a hand through his hair as he tried to process what Bruce was telling them. It wasn't so much the science part. Contrary to Tony's belief, Steve really was adjusting to the 21st century and all of the technology and science attached to it. That was in a large part due to his grandchildren. They were a huge help. No, the part he was struggling with was how this could be happening to one of said grandchildren.

"Once more from the top?" Bruce suggested, patience and understanding evident in his tone. Steve nodded solemnly. Bruce cleared his throat and pulled up the slide. There were three separate readings on there. "On the top are the results of the physical Noah had a few weeks ago. They're comparable to every reading we've taken since we met him in May." He moved his finger down to the drastically different looking picture. "This is Noah's readings after he was revived. As you can see everything has changed. It's almost as if his entire genetic signature has been altered albeit temporarily."

"You think this has something to do with the whole alien thing?" Clint asked, looking both at a pensive Thor and Bruce.

"I do. I examined the Taser that Seth used on him. That thing was packing electricity comparable to Thor's own lightning when he's having a very bad day. The Other Guy has been on the receiving end of those bolts a few times and it's been enough to sting him. It should've killed Noah. And I don't mean temporarily stop his heart. Every artery in his heart should've exploded. Not to mention, Santana said that he left to get Donnie at least twenty minutes before they got to the room. That means he was dead anywhere from five to ten minutes. He should've been brain dead at the very least. There shouldn't have been anything to revive."

"But he wasn't brain dead and his heart was fine," Natasha pointed out. She tilted her head to the side. "You think that when he died, it wasn't so much him that came back but the alien part."

"I believe that his body was so badly damaged that not even the super soldier blood could save him and his previously dormant DNA started to activate. It's healing him. And as he heals, it's starting to recede. His readings are stabilizing and returning to his normal post electrocution baseline."

"That's a good thing, right? I mean we want him to be normal again. Right?" Cooper inquired, looking worriedly between everyone in the room. "It is a good thing, right?"

"It is," Bruce assured him. "It's just that with the dormant DNA surfacing there were some… side effects."

"That's what we're calling them?" Darcy muttered. "He's seeing things when he looks at people. Things that no one else sees. And I'm pretty sure he's hearing thoughts. Because he's definitely been responding to things that no one else is hearing."

"I'm aware," Bruce sighed. "Best I can tell, when he sees things it's not that he's hallucinating. It's almost like his eyes see through illusions. A slip in reality, if you will. Noah is able to see The Other Guy when I'm like this and he can also see me when the Hulk is out. He also sees Steve Rogers before he became Captain America. I can only imagine it's the same with his hearing. I don't think he's reading minds so much as hearing things on a different level than what the average person can hear."

Steve chewed on his lip anxiously before sitting up straight. "So then we have to believe that what he's been seeing when he looks at Sam, Santana, Skye and Donnie is an indication of what they would be going through should their DNA become active."

"So Santana is going to be purple and Sam's going to have wings that are occasionally on fire. Heh, Sammy really will be a Fire Bird," Clint snickered to himself from his perch in the corner. Despite the gravity of the situation, Steve found himself smiling as well. Which judging from the smug tilt to the archer's lips, that was most likely his intention. Clint might be act like a brat about 40% of the day but he was an amazing friend for the rest.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Steve finally asks.

"We're not going to do anything about it," Bruce shook his head. "It's dormant for the most part besides this one fluke incident. I don't think any of them will be too eager to piss Thor off enough to zap them. Not that you would do it, of course." Thor tipped his head in Bruce's direction. "So aside from that, they're still the same kids they were before we knew anything about aliens. And we're going to let them stay that way for as long as possible."

Steve wanted to protest but Clint was fiddling with one of the computers in the lab they were having their secret meeting in. It took a minute but the archer found what he was looking for. It was security camera footage of the Infirmary… which now strongly resembled a lounge. Puck was back in his bed with Santana on one side and Blaine on the other. Sam was sprawled out in an armchair beside the bed with his legs propped up on Blaine's lap. Skye and Donnie were sharing a beanbag chair that Steve was certain didn't exist in the Tower prior to this moment. Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons were squashed together on another mysteriously procured beanbag chair. And Brittany was present via Skype in the background. They were watching some Disney movie that went back as far as he did. The scene made him smile faintly.

"Yeah, we do nothing," he agreed. "We just keep any eye on them like we always do. Hopefully we'll see whatever could make them change permanently before it happens."

Darcy rose to her feet, clapping her hands together in the process. "Well, now that the boring adult stuff is done. I'm going to down there before they switch to Bambi. Noah always cries when Bambi's mom dies. His tears amuse me."

Steve snorted in faint amusement at his great granddaughter's antics even as she flounced out the room with a snickering Cooper in tow. He should probably stop her from torturing her cousin but he didn't. Because Darcy's sisterly and affectionate teasing was the return to normalcy that they were all longing for. This latest twist in their lives took a lot of out of all of them. Steve knew that they were definitely all looking forward to a little downtime to recover.

"Agents Romanoff and Barton, you have a call from Agent Coulson," JARVIS announced just as their meeting was winding down. Clint and Natasha exchanged looks.

"Can you patch it through to my room?" Clint asked.

"Agent Coulson has requested that as many Avengers be present with as few of the 'kids' as possible."

Steve felt a pit in his stomach. This was sounding less and less like it was going to end well for them. He glanced around the room. Five out of the six Avengers were assembled. He was going to go out on a limb and assume that something was going on with Tony. Figures, they let him out of their sight for three days and chaos ensues.

"Phil, what's happening?" Clint asked once his mentor's face was present on the screen. Ordinarily their unofficial handler was pleasant during calls but today his expression was grim. That definitely wasn't helping the pit in his stomach.

"Turn on the news. Any station."

It was worse than he could've ever imagined. They had all heard rumblings about the Mandarin but were assured that this was not an issue for the Avengers or even SHIELD. Steve had his feelings on that but he respected that they were being told to keep their distance. So far, it hadn't impacted any of the team outside of a lingering sense of guilt that a terrorist was allowed to act without repercussions. But apparently that changed last night. Last night Happy Hogan was injured in a bombing connected to the Mandarin. In typical Tony fashion, he hadn't informed any of them and was instead off on a vengeance quest.

"Did he seriously just give away the address to his Malibu mansion on live news and basically dare a terrorist to come get him?" Bruce asked, dryly.

"Tony is an idiot," Natasha muttered. "Let me guess, SHIELD is sitting this one out too?"

"Hardly," Phil snorted. "Suit up, you and Natasha are to get Stark and Pepper out of there before the Mandarin shows up. No going off script, Clint. This is a simple extraction. You'll be meeting with your backup in about ten minutes."

"Backup? Who exactly is this backup?" Clint asked suspiciously. Phil glanced down at his desk. Clint groaned. "Come on, Phil! Not Ward! What did I ever do to you to deserve this?!"

"If it helps you feel any better, he had the exact same reaction when I told him that you were coming along on this mission. You have nine minutes now." Clint rose to his feet muttering under his breath the entire way. Natasha trailed after him not even bothering to hide her amusement. Steve was beyond happy that he didn't have to deal with Clint and his ongoing rivalry with Grant Ward. Although that did beg the question of…

"So what exactly are the rest of us supposed to be doing?"

"You, Captain Rogers, Dr. Banner and Thor, have the hardest job of all."

"What's that?"

"Dealing with them," Phil pointed to something just behind the three men before disconnecting the call. Steve whirled around not at all surprised to find an anxious looking Blaine, worried Sam, pale faced Puck and completely and totally over it all Santana standing in the doorway of the lab watching them expectantly.

On second thought, Steve really wished he was with Clint and Natasha now.


Grant Ward was a few days shy of his eighteenth birthday when John Garrett showed up at the juvenile detention center he was being held in until it was time for him to transfer to a maximum security facility. At the time, he was willing to accept any and everything the man offered if it would get him out of jail. Although the weeks and months he experienced following his discharge made him question his commitment to that any and everything resolve. He was loyal to Garrett. The man saved him from becoming just another number in the system. He would always be grateful. But sometimes he… struggled with the nature of their relationship. He struggled with the commitment that Garrett required and expected of him. He struggled the most in the moments when he looked at Phil Coulson and his own teenage felon, Clint Barton.

Clint was recruited into SHIELD almost a year after Ward. Given the connection between their respective handlers and the barely a year age difference between them, many thought that they would click and be friends. That couldn't be further from the truth. Clint was an immature brat at best and a total weirdo on his worst days. But despite that, there was still something about him that drew people in. People tended to overlook the red flags that told you not to invest in him emotionally. A few people actually made it past those walls. Ward… was not one of them. Not that he wanted to be. He disliked Barton practically from the moment he met the archer. And it had nothing to do with the fact that he still looked like an underfed, abused puppy despite having lived with Phil and his mother hen act for a solid week. It had everything to do with the fact that he lived with Phil for a week. He moved into his own apartment shortly after that but two years later, he was living with Phil again. Hell to the best of Ward's knowledge, Clint only moved out when he thought Phil died.

Ward was mature enough to recognize when he was jealous. He understood that on a fundamental level he was jealous of the relationship between Coulson and Barton. They were close. They was an open familial affection between the pair. It wasn't odd to find that Coulson sneaked care packages to Clint while they were on missions. Actually, Ward was pretty certain that it became a game to see how long it would take Phil to get some random gift to the archer in some impossible location. And while he verbally scorned the close bond between handler and asset, Ward was able to privately admit that he wished Garrett would be more like Coulson sometimes. He wished that he would be more of a person to his handler and less of a… weapon or tool to be aimed and fired. Phil respected Clint. He listened to his opinion. The proof of that was Natasha's entire career within SHIELD. It was Clint that defied orders and begged to have the assassin brought in. At the time, it was viewed as a huge debacle but time proved that having Natasha on the side of SHIELD was one of the better decisions of the agency. And it was all because of mouthy, bratty Clint Barton.

He really despised that guy sometimes. Mostly in times when the runt managed to show him up. Or in times when he proved that despite the fact that he lacked a formal education and his longest job experience prior to joining SHIELD was as a teenage carnie with a criminal record, Clint Barton was one of the most intelligent people Ward ever met. And Ward had the… experience of meeting Reed Richards so he knew about smart people. Another thing that Ward hated was that no matter how weird Clint was, he was still better able to connect to people. People like the frantic, and more than a little pissed off son of one Tony Stark.

"Kid, believe me, I get it," Clint said, running a hand over his face. Ward noticed that his fingers lingered on one spot in particular before he glanced back at the screen. "I'm going to keep him safe, I promise. I will bring his stupid ass back there and you can feel free to kick it as much as you want. Hell, pretty sure that all of us will help you."

"I'm definitely helping him!" Lopez, one of the new SHIELD (and probably the Avengers) recruits, and apparently close friend of Blaine Stark, chimed in the background. Blaine turned to look over his shoulder at his friend before looking back at his "uncle" staring at him from his own screen on the Quinjet currently flying to Malibu. "It's bad enough that we have to keep you and your protégé over here under 24/7 watch. Now we need to add Uncle Tony to that list?"

"Hey," Clint gave a token protest.

"It's true," Natasha called back. "Don't be mad because she speaks the truth."

"Word," Lopez agreed with a toothy smile. And then her laser like gaze was focused on Ward who really thought he was out of view of their camera. Clearly he was wrong. "And you, Agent McDouchebag, I'm trusting you to bring our family back safe. And because I know you're emotionally stunted, that family thing does include you."

"Me?" Ward asked, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice. He had a reputation to uphold after all. "What do I have to do with your little 'family' thing?"

"You are dating Skye, aren't you? She's pretty much Clint's sister at this point," Blaine added to the unfolding madness, smiling almost against his will. There were snorts of laughter he recognized as Puckerman, Gill and the blonde teen that Puck claimed was one of his seemingly endless best friends.

Ward rolled his eyes while Clint looked contemplative. Contemplative was not an expression that anyone wanted to see on Clint's face. The archer was downright deadly when he was simply following his instincts and impulses. He was a force to be reckoned with when he actively thought about something. Thankfully shortly after Blaine's comment, Clint disconnected the call. It was for the best really as the gathered teens were still too busy laughing at Ward to be of any use.

"How are they?" Natasha asked.

"Okay for now," Clint reported, rubbing idle circles on the bridge of his nose.

For a brief second, Ward could see the weariness on the slightly younger agent. While he was ignorant of the exact details of what happened, Ward knew that there was a majorly heavy conversation between the director, Coulson and Clint just a few days ago. It apparently took its toll on the archer because Phil was in even more overprotective mode than usual. Then add in the fact that his protégé was killed and then subsequently revived and Iron Man decided to declare war on the Mandarin… yeah, Ward could tell that Clint was not having a good week.

Ward frowned taking in the fine lines that formed on the corner of Clint's eyes. It seems that a bad week was the least of his problems at the moment. Ward reached into the travel bag he stashed on the plane and pulled out a small, orange pill bottle. He throw the bottle at Clint knowing that the other man would catch it even before it hit.

"What's this?" Clint asked, turning the bottle over in his hands.

"Your migraine medicine… what's it look like?"

"Why do you…."

"Coulson gave it to me. He said you were probably too dumb to remember to pack it yourself." The sheepish flush spreading across Clint's face proved that to be true. Ward really didn't get how the man managed to survive on his own for so long before SHIELD came along. Oh wait, he was in juvie too. Never mind.

"How'd you know I was getting a headache?" Clint asked around a mouthful of water. He took a huge gulp and swallowed the water and presumably the pills as well. He leaned back in his seat, resting his head against the cushioned surface.

"You're seriously asking me that? I've only known you since we were teenagers. You used to get them really bad before the Infirmary got you on the right meds. I learned to pay attention to you. You didn't know when to stop then either."

Clint nodded, wincing slightly with the motion. He sank further into the seat, closing his eyes, clearly waiting for the meds to kick in. "The price I pay for awesome eyesight."

"And I just thought that the migraines were your brain's way of reminding you that it exists and you should use it every now and then."

One slate blue eye opened slowly and Ward was surprised to see Clint's lips twist into a smile. Ward was even more surprised when he found himself smiling as well. The archer shook his head as gently as possible.

"Do you remember the five minutes when we didn't hate each other?" Clint asked quietly. "When I first joined SHIELD and I didn't start running my mouth."

"Yeah," Ward sighed. "I remember."

And he did remember. The hatred for Clint didn't start right away. There literally was a five minute period of time when they first saw each other that they connected. Seventeen year old Clint with his small frame, wounded puppy look and super thick emotional defenses reminded Ward so much of his younger brother, Thomas. The one that he…. Yeah, Thomas. Needless to say that it only took a matter of minutes for that resemblance to turn to bitterness. To be fair, he later learned that Clint apparently saw his own older brother in Ward. So there was an animosity on both ends that kept their rivalry burning for years. Still there were these... moments. Moments when they weren't trying to insult or kill each other.

"Grant?"

Ward was startled out of his thoughts at the use of his first name. It had been so long since they stopped using real names with one another… at least out loud. He glanced over the younger man who was still reclining in the chair with his eyes closed. The pain seemed to be subsiding. That was just as well because Ward had no idea how to even begin dealing with Tony Stark. He was just here in case the Mandarin attacked before they managed to get the man out of the house.

"Yeah, Barton?"

Clint cracked one eye open again. "Understand I'm only saying this because the painkillers are working… but you're not a terrible human being. And I actually semi like you."

Ward snorted. "That was almost romantic. Thanks."

"I'm serious," Clint protested. "Something is coming. I can feel it. And I just… I feel like there is going to be a line drawn in the sand at some point. I want you to think about what side you're going to be on when that line is drawn. Pick your loyalty."

Ward felt his blood run cold. Did the archer know about him and Garrett? Is it possible that he knew about who, or rather what, was really running SHIELD these days?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ward lied effortlessly.

"Okay," Clint shrugged with one shoulder. "Just remember that we're family for a lot more reasons than you wanting to sex up Skye. We survived growing up around Nick Fury. That is a hell of a bonding experience right there."

Ward laughed despite himself. Clint had a point. There were several times when they were first starting out that he thought the director was going to kill them both. While Nick was definitely more tolerant of Clint and his idiosyncrasies, he still got annoyed with them both usually leading to more moments between the pair.

"If you boys are finished with your girl talk," Natasha called out from the front. "We're here. So get your heads in the game."

"Yes, snookum!" Clint cooed, ducking when one of Natasha's many daggers went sailing towards his face. The fact that she accomplished that while also landing the plane was one of the many reasons Ward was never going to mess with the Black Widow.

Ward rose to his feet, keeping an idle eye on Clint. If there were any traces of his previous migraine, it wasn't showing. He was at a loss for whether that was a good thing or not. Clint had a notoriously high pain tolerance. And Coulson wouldn't hesitate to murder Ward if he found out that he allowed the archer to push past his limits. So yeah, this assignment might have been about Tony Stark but he was going to keep a watch on Clint as well. No way he was dealing with Coulson, the overprotective Mother Hen or his partner in quasi parenting, Melinda "I'm thinking of fifty ways to kill you' May. Nope. Definitely not dealing with that.

Once they exited the jet and approached the mansion, Ward found that it wasn't just Coulson, May and Natasha that were overprotective when it came to their resident archer. Natasha had just lowered her hand following a series of obnoxious knocks when Tony Stark himself flung the door open with an annoyed scowl that turned into a look of sad resignation when he saw who was standing on his doorstep.

"Any chance that you guys could just get in your plane and leave?"

"What do you think?" Clint snapped, his voice icy yet controlled. Oh, yeah, he was mad. And it was directed to someone who wasn't Ward. Cool.

"Who's this?" Natasha asked, her eyes focused on a brunette standing beside Pepper in the spacious foyer area. "You basically taunt a terrorist and think that's the right time for company?"

"No," Stark replied, closing his eyes in exasperation. "This is Maya. She's an old friend. She's also very much leaving. Oh, you could give her a ride back to the Tower along with Pepper."

"I am not leaving you!" Pepper yelled.

"You must have lost what was left of your mind if you think we're leaving here without you," Natasha echoed.

"You're an idiot," Clint grunted.

Stark ran a hand through his hair, before glancing up at the ceiling. "Why are you even here?"

"Because we have orders to extract you and Pepper as soon as possible," Natasha replied with the feigned calm that only a master assassin could muster. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow gracefully. "What the hell were you thinking? You're taunting the Mandarin? The Mandarin?! Last time I checked, he was a terrorist. A terrorist that even SHIELD has backed off on. And yet you went running your mouth like you always do and basically challenged him to a fight!"

"I don't work for SHIELD," Stark retorted sharply.

"No, but you work with the Avengers! If you were so gung-ho on getting back at the people who hurt Happy, you should've called us!" Clint seethed from where he was leaning up against the staircase railing.

"I know," Tony answered, still looking anywhere but at Clint. "But I thought I could handle this on my own. I didn't want to get anyone else involved. I didn't want anyone else getting hurt."

"Hey, Iron Ass, I've been doing this since I was seventeen. Nat has been doing this since even younger. And even Ward has been around the block a few times. Don't patronize me by acting like you were protecting me. I can take care of myself."

There were several well timed coughs around the room. Seemed that even Pepper was amused by that statement to pause in her previously single minded task of taking out Tony Stark with just her mind. Clint rolled his eyes. Stark held his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Look, Clint, I don't think you're incapable of caring for yourself. Hell, I'm one of the few people that actually saw you fighting during the Invasion. I know what you're capable of. I know you can more than handle yourself against anything. But that doesn't mean that I still don't want to protect you or any of the others. You look after Puck and the other kids, right?"

"Of course."

"And they're capable of handling themselves, right?"

"Yes," Clint muttered through gritted teeth. Ward hid a smile. Clint really was an overgrown man-child sometimes. Explains why he and Stark got along so well. "Okay, I get it. But my point still stands, you're an idiot."

"Never said I wasn't," Stark shot back with a smirk. "So am I forgiven?"

"Only if you help Pepper and I finish packing up your crap," Natasha answered for her partner. Stark opened his mouth but Clint's hand covered it. Natasha smiled in his direction. "We know that you didn't want to involve us but we're here now. We'll help you do whatever it is you're trying to do. We all like Happy too. None of us want to let the person responsible for this get away. But we're going to stop him as a team."

"Fine," he sighed, though they all saw a smile forming. "Let's get out of here. I can fill you in on what I've found so far on the way home."

Clint clapped his hands. "Okay, you heard the man. Ward, you're with the ladies."

Ward raised an eyebrow. "Why am I with the ladies? No offense, ladies."

"None taken," Pepper and Natasha chorused.

"I'm going to help Tony pack up the stuff in the lab he keeps downstairs. If you think his workshop at the Tower is insane, the one he has downstairs is even more bananas. Besides it's been ages since I've seen Dummy."

"Barton, stay away from Dummy. The last time you saw him, he picked up all sorts of bad habits. Now instead of spraying the fire extinguisher, he just throws it! He's become even more ineffective than before!"

Clint's cackle was the last he heard of him as the archer disappeared down the stairs with an annoyed Tony trailing him. Ward looked to Pepper in confusion.

"Who exactly is Dummy?"

"One of Tony's robots," she replied, rolling her eyes. She then turned to Natasha. "Thank you for coming. I don't know if I would've gotten him out of here in time without you."

Natasha didn't reply. Her eyes, like Maya, were locked on the television screen that was playing in the background. The news was on and there was live footage of the mansion where they were standing. Live footage of about a dozen or so aircrafts headed in their direction.

"Clint, they're here!" Natasha yelled, sounding more frazzled than Ward had ever heard her before. Tony and Clint raced up the stairs and were about to cross over to them when the first missile struck the mansion. From there it was a cacophony of sound, heat and chaos.

Ward struggled to keep an eye on both his fellow agents as well as their targeted assets but it was chaos as there was repeated fire on the mansion. One of them really should've stayed with the plane. Oh, well hindsight was a bitch. So was the ridiculously large piece of the stairwell that was pinning Ward to the ground. He saw Natasha ushering Maya towards the door. He tried to call out to her but another strike shook the foundation of the house sending both women crashing to the ground only inches away from freedom. He struggled against the beam that was pinning him down but it wouldn't budge. Until it suddenly did. He was never so grateful to see an armored suit in his life.

"Thanks, Stark."

"Actually," a decidedly non-Stark voice answered. The faceplate lifted to reveal the smiling face of Pepper Potts. She sobered quickly seeing Natasha struggling to get to her feet. "Can you walk?" Ward nodded but was still grateful for the hand she held out to him. He rose to his feet shakily. His legs were bruised pretty badly but not bad enough that he couldn't move.

"Stark and Barton?"

Pepper bit her lip as her gaze flickered to the staircase. Ward stumbled over there determined to yank the two idiots out. He was dimly aware of Pepper moving towards the still struggling Natasha and Maya. Satisfied that at least they would get out, Ward fought through the flames to get to the last place he saw Clint and Tony. He winced as a piece of flaming debris struck him on the face but he continued to trudge his way to the ruins of the staircase.

Stark was nowhere in sight but he did see Clint holding onto what remained of the stairs with one hand. His other hand dangled limply by his side. Ward slid across the floor to lie in front of the younger man. He offered his hand which Clint finally was able to take. But the archer's hands were slick with what Ward could only assume was blood. His grip slipped. Clint managed to look up and meet Ward's panicked gaze.

"Hold on," Ward ordered. "Don't you dare let go."

"Don't really have a say in this," Clint pointed out. "'sides, don't really want to face Blaine when I tell him that I let his dad die."

Stark was dead? Ward managed to clamp down on his emotions fast enough that he didn't waver in his already tenuous hold on the blonde.

"It's going to be okay. We're going to get you out of here."

All around debris continued to fall. He didn't know whether they were still shooting at them or not. But he knew, just as he was sure Clint knew, that only one of them was going to walk away from this. But that didn't stop him from trying his best. Phil Coulson was a truly terrifying man when you hurt those he cared about. He was extra terrifying when it came to blonde archers and brunette hackers. No way in hell Ward was going to back to Phil without Clint. He was going to try his damnedest to pull Clint back up or die trying... He really needed to stop jinxing himself.

"Grant, look out!" Clint yelled. Ward saw the beam falling a second too late. He let out a hoarse cry of pain as one of the ceiling beams fell across his shoulders. His pain tolerance was nowhere near Clint's level. He winced at the pain and felt as Clint's grip grew even looser. Ward's eyes widened as the hold he had on the other man dissolved with another well-timed strike against the building.

"Clint!" he yelled as the man fell into what remained of the basement. Ward coughed as the smoke started to get to him. He tried to push himself to his feet but his back and legs were aching with every step he took. His vision dimmed with each painful shift of his legs to the front door. He could hear the roaring fire but then there was another sound. It was fainter but it was still somewhat familiar. As his legs gave out underneath him, he thought he caught a glimpse of what looked like a shooting star leaving the basement. He had only a second to think that was completely ridiculous before everything went dark.


A complete and utter disaster. It was a simple extraction. It wasn't even a hard one. They were just picking up Tony for heaven's sake. There was nothing difficult about this. And yet, Tony and Clint were dead. Her partner was gone. Natasha wiped a hand over her face, ignoring the paramedics disapproving comments as her hand brushed against her hairline stitches. She could care less about her concussion. Her partner was dead. Clint was dead. She took a deep shuddering breath and pushed away from the well-meaning EMT to head to where Ward was still being tended to. They had barely managed to get him out of the building before it collapsed completely. Tony's Malibu mansion was gone and so was the man who owned it.

Seeing that Ward was more or less okay for the moment (he was arguing, he had to be okay), Natasha turned her attention to Pepper. Maya, the woman Tony claimed was an old friend, was standing close by her side. Pepper seemed oblivious to her presence. She was staring at her home with tears in her eyes. Natasha was new to this whole having friends' thing but even she couldn't stand to see the normally pleasant woman looking so broken.

"We were fighting," she said as Natasha approached. "My last conversation with him was a fight. I didn't even tell him that I loved him. I didn't say… I should've told him. Why didn't I say it? What am… what am I supposed to tell Blaine and Cooper?!"

"Pepper," Natasha sighed, moving closer to pull the other woman into an embrace. She didn't know how long they stood there until she felt Pepper tense in her arms. "Pepper?"

Pepper held up a finger as she listened to something that no one else seemed to hear. It was then that Natasha noticed that Pepper still had the communicator from the suit Tony gave her in her ear. Natasha watched as several emotions flit across Pepper's previously pale and drawn face. The most pressing was relief and utter joy.

"They're alive!" she exclaimed before lowering her voice. "That was Tony. He called to say that he managed to get in one of his suits and saved himself and Clint at the last minute." Natasha closed her eyes in relief. She sent a silent prayer to the guardian spirit of fools and idiots before focusing on what Natasha was telling her. "They're stranded for the time being but Tony doesn't want us to come after them. He thinks it would be best if the world keeps thinking they're dead."

Natasha sighed. She wished she could argue with that. But clearly someone went through a lot of effort to take Tony out. It would probably be best if they let that person think that they had succeeded. At least until Tony handled whatever he was planning. At least he had Clint with him. She paused. Clint and Tony out on their own with no access to the rest of the Avengers or SHIELD. Oh, they were both dead and just didn't realize it. She ran a hand through her hair.

"Let's get back to the Tower. I'm sure the news has been broadcasting about Tony's death. Let's give Blaine the good news that his dad isn't dead. Again."

Pepper snorted. "He is starting to make this a habit."

Natasha glanced at the still silent Maya. She didn't know anything about the woman but something seemed off about her. The way she wouldn't leave Pepper's side. The fact that she was even there that night in the first place. No, there was definitely something about the woman that didn't sit right. And Natasha was not about to let her go off on her own until she figured it out.

"Ms. Hansen, you're free to come with us. We can protect you back at the Avengers Tower. We wouldn't want the Mandarin to strike while you were alone."

"Yeah, right," Maya answered as if in a daze. "I have to call my boyfriend. He probably thinks I'm dead."

Natasha chewed on her lip. That feeling of not right was bubbling. She was about to say something when she heard a loud commotion behind her. She cursed herself for forgetting about Ward. The man was almost as medic phobic as Clint. He was definitely as violently medic phobic as Clint and these poor EMTs were not prepared for an angry, hurting SHIELD specialist. Natasha sighed, turning only slightly towards Maya.

"Make it quick and then meet us on the plane."

With that said, she was speeding towards Ward who was desperately trying to fight off the paramedics so that he could get to Clint. The connection between those two was so weird but in moments like this it made her smile. Because despite the fact that Ward could be a cold, aloof, almost crazy bastard most of the time, it was moments like this that reminded Natasha that there was a man underneath all of that. That he was still redeemable.

"Grant," she crooned, coming to stand in front of him. His hazy eyes met hers. Oh, they gave him the good stuff. "Hey, it's okay. Clint is okay. He's not in there."

"I have to… Coulson is going… murder me."

Natasha laughed despite herself. "Yeah, it's okay. I'll talk to him. But Coulson is going to be really pissed if you end up hurting yourself trying to save someone who's already safe."

"Clint is really okay?"

"More or less," Natasha shrugged. "He's alive." Ward nodded before his eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped forward into her arms.

"Miss, we need to get him to a hospital."

"Yeah, we do," she agreed. "But I'm taking him."

"Miss, I can't let you…."

The EMT trailed off as Natasha pulled her last remaining weapon out of her back pocket. She held the unconscious Ward close with one arm while the other was steadily focused on the idiot who was trying to tell her what she could and couldn't do with her teammate.

"I don't think you quite understood me," Natasha said, calmly. "I'm taking my friend here back to the Avengers Tower and I'm going to get him medical attention there. You're not prepared to deal with a man with his skills and his aversion to doctors. So back off and Tony Stark is the only person that dies tonight."

The man looked like he wanted to protest but the no doubt intimidating visual of Natasha with a newly arrived Pepper flanking her caused second thoughts on that subject. He gave a growl before backing away with his partner. Natasha shifted Ward into Pepper's suit covered arms. She gave the older woman a grateful smile.

"You're getting pretty good at this," she commented.

"Maybe I should make this a permanent thing," Pepper mused as she and Natasha walked towards the plane where Maya was already waiting, seemingly done with her phone call. "I don't know if I trust her."

"Good," Natasha answered. She schooled her features into a more playful expression as they approached the other woman. She didn't know what Maya's agenda was but the woman clearly had one. No, for now she was going to play this as casual as possible. "Seriously, Pepper. Maybe we should give you a spot on the team. You could be Iron Lass."

"I'm thinking I like Rescue better."

Natasha wrinkled her nose. "Nah that would never catch on."


Maya watched as the other two women bickered playfully. A part of her wished she could joke with them but she had to stay on target. She thought it was all over the minute the mansion collapsed. That is until Pepper received the call that probably saved all of their lives. Tony was alive. He was alive but still apparently investigating the Mandarin. That was fine. Because that would lead him right back to where she and her employer wanted him. Initially she was thinking that Pepper would be her leverage if Tony didn't want to help them. But her employer gave her an even better incentive. She didn't know how to feel about it. She was already having difficulty with the concept of kidnapping a grown woman to use as hostage against her boyfriend. She was really struggling with the idea of kidnapping a teenage to use against his father.

Still Tony Stark was the best chance they had at controlling Extremis and if that meant they had to go through his son, well then so be it.


*No Wards, Clints, or Tonys were hurt during the making of this chapter. Actually, um, that's a lie. A lot of them were hurt but they're better-ish now! So, a lot of changes coming up in the next few chapters. But who's changing? Well, that's anyone's guess. I mean I know but I'm hoping that you guys will guess. LOL. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. There was more Blaine and I know it needs even more but trust me, he's a big part of this arc. And once the dust settles and they're all back together again, I'm sending the kids off for some rest and relaxation and perhaps a visit with Puck's favorite diva.

Alright enough blathering. Hope you enjoyed. Until next time!