A/N~ Hey Everyone! I Know, Long Time No See… Well, Not Really See, More Along The Lines Of Long Time No Read… Anyway I Digress. Sorry It Took So Long, I've Got A 1000 Word Essay Do Like Every Week In My AJ(Administration) Classes & Now I've Got 1,500 Word Tests… TWO OF THEM! Ugh, I Love Writing, But I Like Writing Fiction! Not Fact. Oh Well, I Chose This Path, I'll Walk It, Whether It's A Steep Climb Or A Flat Path. ;P
ANYWAY! I Hope You Like This Chapter, I Worked Pretty Hard On It, Because I'm Getting To The Time Skip Soon. Maybe After Next Chapter I'll Start Getting Into Tony's Powers Being All Screwy.
Warning~ Battle Scenes, Awesome Battle Scenes If I Do Say So Myself. & I Honestly Can't Remember If There's Any Cussing Or Stuff Like That. But Considering Tony & Logan Are In This, I'm Going To Err On The Side Of Caution & Say Yeah, Bad Language. XP
Disclaimer~ Not Mine, Nothing Is Mine. & I'm Sad Because Of It… Anyway ENJOY! XD
Ch.26
Finishing Battles & Congregating
~6,039~
Azazel attacked Hawkeye, who, along with Cyclops, began shooting volleys of both arrow and laser blast at the red mutant, though he easily transported away to dodge them. He tried to keep them confused by methodically transporting to different spots around them.
Quill began shooting his spikes at Black Widow, who was about to dodge but Jean stepped in front of her with her hand held out, using her telekinesis to stop the spikes and send them back to their original sender. He dodged and threw more spikes at the women. Shadowcat grabbed them both and the spikes flew though them.
Azazel started teleporting away from the group, and Hawkeye instantly followed after him, he was leading him farther and farther away from back up, they were already three blocks away from the others when he noticed that one of the mutants, Cyclops, was staying with them. Hawkeye stopped when he lost sight of the red mutant, turning around in a 360º circle to try and spot him, but to no avail. They were now five blocks from the others.
"He's gone." Cyclops said, keeping his hand on the dial on his visor, just in case. "He does that, he likes to play with his enemies, tries to freak them out by appearing and disappearing."
"Well, that's just wonderful." Hawkeye said sarcastically. "Just what we need."
"But we've beaten him before. We just need a plan." Cyclops said.
Hawkeye turned to evaluate the mutant, he didn't trust him, not just because Tony said they were trustworthy, they needed to prove it; a gesture of good faith if you would.
"What's your power again?" Hawkeye asked.
"I shoot lasers out of my eyes." Cyclops answered. "I can't really control it by myself, but with this device," he tapped the visor, "I can."
"Right, so how have you beaten this guy befo-" Hawkeye started but was stopped as he heard the sound of whooshing air and then a second later was tackled to the ground by Cyclops.
He was about to fight back and possibly kill the mutant, but then he heard something loud, a crash from where he was standing just a second before. He looked over Cyclops' shoulder to see a mailbox had landed where he had been standing. It now had a crushed bottom and mail was scattered around it, indicating it had fallen from a great height. It took him a second to realize what had just happened, Cyclops, Scott, had just saved him, he inwardly laughed; talk about a gesture of good faith.
Scott got up and offered his hand to Hawkeye, who took it and stood up. They heard the sound of whooshing air again and jumped out of the way, only for news paper machine to crash where they once stood. To looked up to see a puff of black smoke about thirty feet up. They looked back at each other and nodded, both thinking the same thing.
They waited, watching the air above each other, Scott had his hand on his visor and Hawkeye had an arrow notched, and the string pulled back, ready to let it fly at in a fraction of a second. They waited patiently for any sign of the red mutant.
At the five minute mark Hawkeye was starting to lose his patience, but just before he was going to put his arrow down, he spotted a puff of black smoke on one of the roofs just behind Cyclops. He quickly took aim and released the arrow, and in less than a second, it was casting an electric net around the mutant, shocking him with so much electricity that he fell unconscious instantly.
"Well, that's done." Hawkeye said, closing his bow and heading for the building to retrieve the mutant.
They had been away from the team for at least ten minutes now, surprisingly, time flies when you're running five blocks and trying to keep track of a teleporting mutant at the same time. They grabbed the mutant, and tied him up. Scott had heard some of the others had finished their battles; Wolverine and Rogue with Captain America, and Storm with Thor, then Kurt was almost done with Hulk, he was sure that was a sight to see, and now them. That only left Jean and Kitty with the Black Widow and Tony and Bobby. He was sure Jean and Kitty would be fine, but he was slightly worried about Tony and Bobby; they had never fought against Callisto before, of course they knew of her; she was high ranks in the Brotherhood, but they didn't know her powers, they could be anything. Bobby was pretty even with Pyro, but he was confident in the young man to beat his old friend.
Scott pushed his worry to the side, it took both him and Hawkeye to carry the unconscience Azazel, and it took them nearly five minutes to get him back to the street.
Hawkeye still wasn't sure if he was going to trust these X-Men people, he knew very little about mutants, there had been one in the circus he'd lived with when he was a teen, but he never got to know him very well before he left. He didn't seem like a bad guy, but he also didn't seem like a particularly good guy. And Tony trusted them that was one point, but he'd have to see what Natasha said, she had more experience with mutants than he did. But he'd trust this Scott Cyclops guy until he regrouped with the others.
They were all the way on 12th street, almost 13th, so they both focused on carrying the passed out mutant and started headed toward 7th to meet up with the others.
Closer to 7th street, over on 4th street Black Widow was dodging and leaping out of the way of spike from every direction. Jean and Kitty were on the other side of the street, having been separated by their opponent, Quill. It would be an easy takedown, if only she could get a shot out, this Quill guy never let up. The only reprieve she got was when Jean used her powers to throw something at the mutant or he tried to attack them, though with his ability to shoot spike from every part of his body, he could attack both of them at the same time.
Black Widow was starting to get annoyed with this ass hole. She looked around the hotdog cart she was currently hiding behind and had to quickly dodge back to avoid a spike to the face. She needed to get to the other two, she needed a plan. She ripped the door off the hotdog cart and used it to cover her body as she ran half way across the street and hid behind a car. She was about to go the rest of the way when Kitty suddenly fell though the car door to sit next to her. She had to control her self so she didn't jump and accidentally shoot the girl, though she doubted it'd hit her with her abilities.
"Hey, saw you run over here. Jean's pinned and she can't stop all those quills with her Telekinesis." Kitty said quickly. "You got a plan? Jean's open to anything."
Black Widow thought for a second before the ol' light bulb lit up. She turned to the teen.
"You're powers allow you to make other's intangible right? You did it to me and Jean earlier." She asked, thinking she might just be able to get a good shot in.
"Yeah, I'd go up and attack him myself, but I'd have to turn off my powers to hit him." Kitty said, sounding angry with herself.
"But if I shoot him while you make me intangible, will my bullet stay intangible even after being fired?" Black Widow asked, hoping it wouldn't.
Kitty looked up at her in awe for a second before answering, it was obvious she hadn't thought of that.
"I don't think so." Kitty said thoughtfully. "We don't practice with guns, so I don't know. But we can sure try."
"Right, hold onto my leg and I'll stand up and shoot." Black Widow said, checking her gun. "I'll stay up so don't stop until I say so."
"Gotcha." Kitty said, grabbing the Widow's ankle and making her intangible. "There, you're good to go."
Checking to make sure, she put her hand threw the door and smirked, she liked this. Normally she wasn't one to trust someone she had only just met to this degree, but she was comforted by a few facts: 1) This wasn't her first dealings with mutants; she'd both fought on the side of mutants and against them in the past, in fact, some mutants had even saver her life a few times. 2) Stark had said he trusted them. Now it didn't seem like much, and she barely trusted Starks judgment most of the time, but she knew he didn't give trust out willy nilly. He didn't trust many people, she could probably count all the people she knew he trusted on one hand... well now that she'd met these X-Men, maybe both hands. The point was, if he trusted them, then they were very trust worthy and they wouldn't do anything to hurt him. So that was a very big point to them in her favor. She'd trust them for now, but she'd also keep an eye open for betrayal.
So she allowed the teen to used her power on her, not that she could tell, she didn't feel any different, though when she tried to touch the car door, it felt like she was putting her hand in a freezer, bone chilling cold, she couldn't imagine that on her whole body.
She nodded to Kitty that she was about to stand and when she did, she was instantly assaulted with spikes, and she had to urge herself not to dodge them. She felt the quills fly threw her and she quickly brought up her gun and took aim. She fired off several bullets, one for each knee, and each shoulder, hoping he'd pass out from pain if it worked.
It was like slow motion as she watched the bullets zoom out of the barrel and straight towards the mutant. They struck their mark, causing devastating damage to the joints she had aimed for, and he fell like a sack of potatoes of the empire state building. He didn't get back up. She waited for a few seconds, just enough time for the man to make a move to get back up, but he didn't: he was down for the count.
Black Widow motioned for Kitty to stand. Kitty let go of Black Widow's ankle and stood.
"Grab my shoulder, and use your powers, we're going to check to see if he's still conscious." Black Widow ordered, and the teen nodded and complied.
Together they walked though the car, she shivered at the cold feeling that washed though her.
"You'll get used to it if you do it enough." Kitty commented, feeling the shiver, and Widow just nodded.
They walked up to the mutant and Black Widow looked at him, making sure he was unconscious before he had Kitty let go. She kicked the man once and he didn't even groan. Jean walked up and looked down at the man, narrowing her eyes before sighing in relief.
"He out cold." Jean said. "Nothing's going on inside his head."
"Sweet, lets head to where the others are." Kitty said leaning over the unconscious man. "How are we going to make sure he doesn't get away?"
"I've got that covered." Black Widow said, pulling out some wire and zip ties from her belt. "The others will probably be heading towards 7th street after their done, we have a small group of mutants tied up in a closet in one of the buildings there."
Kitty burst out laughing and Jean smiled in amusement while Black Widow just smirked evilly. They tied the man up and Jean used her Telekinesis to float the man as they walked. Black Widow used this time to enquire about the X-Men and Jean and Kitty asked about SHIELD.
"So, I've never heard of the X-Men before today, I'd ask if you were a new group, but Kitty here said you had been fighting the Brotherhood a long time," Black Widow said. "So, why haven't I heard of you guys before?"
"Well, we have a friend who's kept us off the Governments radar. I'm not sure if he'd feel comfortable with us telling you who he is, but he's a very influential person." Jean said, slightly uncomfortable with what she was saying.
"It's Tony right?" Black Widow said easily figuring it out. "Not that hard to figure out. Tony hate the government and he's very influential. His company is Mutant friendly, and I'm not sure of his personal feelings towards them, but considering he trusts all of you, I'd put money that he like you guys."
"Oh yeah, he likes us, we're all friends." Kitty said, knowing she had to watch what she said so she didn't accidentally spill his secret.
"So how did you all meet?" Black Widow asked curiously, she couldn't think of any time where he'd have met them, or they'd saved his life.
"It was a long time ago, back when I was pretty young." Jean said.
"You look young now, you can't be any older than 30." Black Widow said, causing Jean to blush.
"Actually, I'm a few years older than Tony." Jean said, not wanting to give an actual number.
"Impressive." Black Widow said, truly impressed.
"So what's SHIELD like?" Kitty asked bluntly. "What's their views on mutants?"
"Kitty!" Jean said, exasperated.
"Honestly?" Black Widow asked and Kitty nodded. "Some of the scientists in the SHIELD medical labs would love to dissect you, both literally and figuratively speaking. Though none of them are morally sound enough to actually try to kill you. It's more of a need to understand. They'd love to do an autopsy on a dead mutant, or take blood samples and analyze it."
"But as a whole, does SHIELD hate mutants?" Kitty asked, and Jean stepped closer to hear her answer.
"As a whole, I don't believe SHIELD's against mutants." Black Widow answered. "In fact, the SHIELD director, Nick Fury, would probably love to have mutants on his side, because to him, if he doesn't control you then you're a potential enemy. Personally, I don't have any grudge against mutants, I've worked with a few, they've come in handy. I would suggest talking to Director Fury before it becomes an issue."
"I see. Maybe we can come to some sort of agreement." Jean said, thinking deeply. "Hold on a sec, I've got to contact a few people."
Black Widow waited for Jean to pull out a cell phone or touch the com in her ear, but she did neither. The confusion must have shown though her mask, because Kitty began to explain.
"She's talking to them telepathically, our professor is a telepath, and all of us know how to talk to them in our minds." Kitty explained, and Black Widow nodded.
They were quiet the rest of the way to 7th street.
On 7th street, Iron Man floated twenty feet above the ground, using JARVIS and his HUD to locate everyone and tap into their coms to make sure no one was hurt. They were fairing extremely well for the team ups that had been made. Bobby was fighting with Pyro on the ground, he remembered when they had been friends, but then jealousy over a girl had broken them up, it was sad; him and Rhodey had never had that problem.
He was also using his HUD to track his enemy: Callisto. He could tell she was like Quicksilver, very fast, though much faster than the teen. Easily twice as fast, possibly even three times as fast. It was almost difficult to keep track of her. She was running down 7th street, back up 8th street, and back over to 7th, trying to confuse him, but it was only making her predictable. It was obvious that she wasn't used to fighting, she was probably a good leader, but not a good fighter. It didn't seem like she had any other powers, but he couldn't be sure, he'd have to play it safe.
The next time she came around to head down 7th street, he followed her a few blocks, causing her to switch her route, she took him directly in the path of Pyro and Iceman. Tony linked into Bobby's Com and began to tell him a hastily made, but no doubt perfect plan.
"Yo, Bobby, can you take a break from Hot Head and freeze the street for the entire block?" Tony asked, knowing the teen could do it, but it'd take a minute. "Callisto is heading your way, I'll take on Pyro for you."
"Yeah, sure." Iceman replied. "Give me a minute."
"Got it, coming in to take care of your heat problem." Tony said, flying in and spearing Pyro and flying away with him.
Tony landed a few blocks away, on the same street as Hulk and Kurt. He wondered how they were doing. Pyro started tossing fireballs at him, though they didn't hurt or do any damage to the suit, the heat chipped away at the paint, and that irritated Tony, so he dodged them for the most part. He flew over to Hulk and Kurt, surprised to find Kurt sitting on Hulk's shoulder. He was happy they were getting along. Bruce was his favorite Avenger, they were also science bros, though they had yet to have and science fun, and Kurt and him were good friends, they shared the same sense of dark humor and they both loved pranks.
He flew over, dodging fireballs as he did, he couldn't help going and teasing his furry blue friend.
"Hey Big Guy! Welcome to the party!" Tony called out as he hovered in the air above them for a second. "Made friends with the Furry Elf I see. Have fun!"
With that, Tony flew back towards Pyro, dodging more fireballs as he did. He heard Hulk grunt 'Elf' and though his com he could hear Kurt complaining good naturedly, and he laughed, knowing that he was going to get an ear full for that later, but he didn't mind, Bruce and Hulk needed more friends.
He saw Pyro was getting frustrated as he kept dodging fireballs, but this was getting boring. He flew around, landing behind Pyro and blasting him with his gauntlets, set to low power, he didn't want to seriously hurt the kind, just knock him out. It did the trick. Pyro flew back and landed on the ground in a heap. He picked up the unconscious teen and flew him back to 7th street. Where Bobby had just finished freezing the street and dumped Pyro beside him.
"Make him a pair of ice cuffs would you? Cover both of his hands too will ya?" Tony asked.
"Sure." Bobby replied and began working on his unconscious ex-friend.
Tony flew over to the end of the ice, waiting for Callisto to come running down the street. He made sure none of the Avengers were near, luckily all of them were off fighting their own battles on different streets and nowhere near able to see him fighting. When he did see her come running, nearly 5 blocks away, he stood at the end of the ice strip, just a foot from the ice, arms spread wide, like he was waiting to give someone a big hug. Bobby looked over at him before returning to his ice work. Callisto was now two blocks away, she saw Iron Man standing straight in her pathway, still as a stone, and sped up, not even noticing the ice on the road.
Only when she reached the ice and started to lose traction did she notice, and by then it was to late for her to stop. She slipped and skidded, out of control on the ice, trying to stop herself from heading straight towards the man in the metal suit. Tony braced himself for her, he opened his arms and grabbed her as she crashed into him. He could have used his Telekinesis to grab her, but then he ran the risk of her telling everyone he was a mutant, and he'd rather not have to deal with that. So when he grabbed her, he used his Electrokinesis, under the guise of his suit, to electrocute her into unconsciousness.
She fell limp in his arms, wavering between consciousness and unconsciousness. She was about to pass out, but not before her other power kicked in: not only was she a speed demon like Quicksilver, but she could also sense the power of people. She'd sensed Magneto; he was a level three, she's sensed Professor Xavier; he was also a level three. She'd even sensed a level five once in her life, but never, and she means never, had she sensed someone as powerful as the man holding her right then. He had to have been the strongest mutant in the world. She would bow before his power, so would the Brotherhood, the only thing she had to wonder was, why was he hiding it?
She knew who Iron Man was, Tony Stark was a very famous person, even in the mutant community, or should she say, especially the mutant community. His company had been the first to allow mutant rights, they even enforced it. They had fired dozens of people because they were unfair or rude towards mutants, whether they employed said mutants or not. It had caused other competing companies to do the same, causing a breakthrough in the mutant community that warmed even some of the cold hearts of the Brotherhood mutants. Herself included.
She wondered why he kept his powers a secret, no one knew of his powers, and in the seconds before she lost consciousness, she wondered if the humans would be scared of his massive power.
Bobby looked over when he heard the impact, only to see Iron Man sliding back a few feet. He didn't panic, he knew what Iron Man could do and take, a woman running at 120 miles an hour straight into him was something he could easily take. He watched for a second, curious as to what he was going to do with her. His eyes widened when sparks started to fly, he didn't think the suit had taken any damage, then he remembered Tony's powers, Electrokinesis. He realized what was happening and that the woman was going to be down for the count when Tony was done with her. He looked away, not caring to watch until she passed out, he was nearly done with the ice cuffs.
Iron Man came over and dropped the unconscious woman next to Pyro. Bobby finished the ice cuffs just as Iron Man pulled out several long zip ties, though Bobby thought, knowing Tony, they weren't just zip ties, they were probably made of some special material much stronger than plastic.
Tony wrapped the zip ties around Callisto's wrists, ankles, and knees, making sure she wouldn't be able to run away if she were to wake up. Once he was done, he exited his Iron Man Suit and sat on a bus bench not far from them. Knowing their captives weren't going anywhere, Bobby sat next to him.
"So what now?" Bobby asked.
"We wait." Tony shrugged, looking at the beautiful clear sky above them. "The others will be coming here soon, I think we're the first done, everyone else will be done soon."
"How can you be sure?" Bobby asked, obviously forgetting who he was talking too.
"I heard them though the coms." Tony said as if he was talking to a slow child, and suddenly his face broke into a smirk. "Wanna bet on who's going to get here first?"
Bobby smirked back, knowing how Tony loved to make bets on things, he liked to prove he knew more than everyone, though he also just like the sport of it, since he hated being bored.
"Sure." Bobby agreed. "I think Logan and Rogue will finish first."
"Naw, they're with Cap, he wont let Rogue fight, thinking she's too young, or that he needs to protect her. I think Thor and Ororo will finish first, since they're both so similar... Plus, they're fighting Riptide, even if that goth girl has crazy powers, they'll finish them off easily then fly over."
"Damn, your probably right, I didn't think about that." Bobby said, "Can I change my guess?"
"Of course you can't!" Tony laughed and shook his head. "What's the bargain?"
"How about if I win, me and some of the others get to come visit you at the Tower?" Bobby offered. "The Avengers obviously know you know up now, so it't not like you can hide it."
Tony nodded in acceptance. "And if I win, you have to make an Iron Man Ice Sculpture for me the next time I come over."
"Deal." Bobby said, and they sat back to wait for the others to turn up.
As it turns out, it was only a ten minute wait before someone arrived. They felt the wind pick up a lot and then heard a loud crash from a few yards away. Thor had landed leaving a large dent in the concrete, almost like when Iron Man lands, just without taking a knee, and Storm was slowly lowering herself to the ground using the wind. Thor had two bodies thrown over his shoulders, the two defeated mutants.
"Hail comrades!" Thor bellowed, tossing the two unconscious mutants in the small pile of people they were collecting. "We are the first to vanquish our foes I see."
"Second technically, we beat these guys a good ten minutes ago." Bobby said, almost in awe at the size of the god. "But second isn't too bad."
Thor laughed loudly, walking over to them, Storm following behind with an amused smirk.
"So, where are the other Brotherhood Mutants?" Storm asked.
"Well, the first group we beat are in there." Tony said, pointing behind him to the building where they had shoved the mutants into a closet. "They were easier to beat than a cold. I practically beat them all myself."
"I must agree." Thor said. "They were most easy to defeat."
"I see." Storm said, nodding. "The Brotherhood does have a lot of weak mutants on their side. It's a wonder that Magneto doesn't try this more often."
"Thank Thor he doesn't." Tony said.
"No need to thank me Friend Tony." Thor said, looking confused. "I did nothing to prevent this Magneto from sending troops to attack."
"That's not what I mean." Tony said, trying not to laugh. "Just... never mind."
Just then they heard footsteps in the rubble and turned to see Black Widow, Jean and Kitty come around a corner, the unconscious Quill floating behind them. Storm was about to greet them but then she noticed that Jean had her hand to her head and turned to Kitty for an explanation.
"She's calling the professor." Kitty said as an explanation.
"Why? Has someone gotten hurt?" Ororo asked worriedly.
"No, nothing like that. We had a chat with Black Widow here about SHIELD's view on mutants." Kitty said, and she noticed that Tony tensed slightly. "Apparently they don't hate mutants per se, but they love the idea of studying us."
"Our director would probably prefer to have you on our side than fight against you." Natasha said. "Mrs. Grey is talking some people, I suggested a meeting with our director."
"You think that's smart Widow?" Tony asked, standing up and walking over to them. "You sure Fury wont try to capture them as soon as he learns of them?"
"I don't think he'd do that. Like I said, he'd prefer to have them on his side." Natasha said. "Besides, they obviously have your backing, and I have nothing against them, so far, I see no reason he would attack them."
Tony narrowed his eyes, trying to see if she was lying, seeing nothing, though he probably wouldn't be able to tell anyway, he nodded.
"Fine. But I still don't-" Tony began, but was cut off by the loud call of his Captain.
"HEY!" Steve yelled, waving one arm in the air, the other wrapped around the unconscious Avalanche.
Steve was followed by Wolverine, who was carrying Sabertooth's body, and Rogue. They walked over to the slowly growing group and Steve and Wolverine dropped their baggage in the also growing pile. They were only missing four people now: two from the Avengers and two from the X-Men, and they cold hear Hulk roaring from a few streets away, how he got all the way over there was a question no one dared to ask.
"What's with Jean?" Rogue asked Kitty as she noticed Jean standing a little bit off to the side from everyone else.
"She's contacting the Professor." Kitty said. "She's asking if he wants to meet with the director of SHIELD."
"What? I thought SHIELD was against us." Wolverine said, confused and on edge as he glanced at Natasha as though she'd attack any second.
"I don't think SHIELD's against mutants." Steve said confused, sure he didn't know a lot about SHIELD as an organization, but he knew Fury pretty well. "I'd think Fury would want mutants on his side rather then fight against them."
"Apparently Natasha thinks the same." Tony said, pointing to the woman before looking to Wolverine. "So no need to worry Logan."
"But I thought you didn't trust SHIELD in this aspect." Ororo whispered to Tony from her spot next to him, though Steve and Logan could easily hear her with their super human abilities.
"I still don't, but there's no other choice, SHIELD will definitely know about you guys now that you've shown yourselves." Tony whispered back, trying to keep his voice low so the other Avengers wouldn't hear. "It'd be in our mission reports and so would your names and powers. SHIELD would look into you, and even if I kept doing what I used to, Fury would reason that someone was hacking them and since I'm the only one able, he'd pick me for it definitely."
"What do you mean 'what you've been doing?' What have you been doing Tony?" Steve asked, taking off his cowl. "Have you been hacking SHIELD again?"
"I wouldn't say again." Tony said, cursing himself as he had somehow forgotten about Steve's super hearing. "Technically I've never stopped hacking SHIELD."
"Tony." Steve sighed, knowing he couldn't really do anything to stop the man.
"You got anything to say?" Tony asked, turning to Natasha?
She remained silent, only raising an eyebrow. Jean joined them then, dropping Quill into the pile.
"What'd the Professor say?" Tony asked.
"He thinks it's a great idea to finally get the introductions over with." Jean said. "He wants a meeting with Fury, but at a place where neither group has an advantage."
"A common ground." Steve said, knowing instantly what she was talking about. "We could do it out in the open. Central Park is still closed off."
"No, SHIELD could easily set up snipers and teams to surround it." Tony said instantly. "We'll have it at my tower. Fury only: no other SHIELD agents, not even Hill."
"What is it with you and your tower?" Clint said though Natasha's com, obviously having listened in on the conversation.
"Shit it Bird Brain." Tony said, and gave Natasha a look.
"He's SHIELD, and I never turned my com off." She shrugged, though it didn't really seem like she cared all that much. "Clint, what's your ETA?"
"We'll be there in a bout a minute, geez this guy's heavy." Clint groaned into the com. "And what's with all this ice on the road?"
"Sorry about that." Bobby said, scratching the back of his neck. "It was Tony's idea."
"Well, that makes sense." Scott said with scoff. "And he calls me dramatic."
"Shut it one eye." Tony snapped back, though everyone could easily tell there was no real bite in it.
Natasha was silently watching the interaction between Tony and the X-Men as they devolved into calling each other names. She realized very quickly that they were important to the man. He joked with them like one would brothers and sister, not that she would know first hand what that was like, but she'd been on enough mission around family to know. She realized that's what these people were to him; a family.
She wondered how they had met, there was nothing about them in Tony file, neither as a consultant or as Iron Man. Obviously Tony didn't want anyone to know. But why? For a moment she entertained the thought that Tony was secretly a mutant, but quickly dispelled that thought, there was no way; she would have noticed in her time at SI or while they fighting. Perhaps they had met before Afghanistan, and Tony knew how to keep a secret, especially when the secret was people who hid and tried to lay low. Tony could keep anything from anyone, even SHIELD. She was brought out of her thoughts as Jean Grey addressed her.
"So do you think you could contact your director and set up a meeting at Tony's tower?" Jean asked.
"Yes, though it might have to wait." She smirked a little as she turned to Tony. "Fury's still running all the footage and scans SHIELD's got on that scepter and Loki trying to prove you wrong."
"He can try." Tony smirked.
"What does that mean?" Logan asked, causing Tony's smirk to grow.
"You'll see when you get to the tower." Tony said, and apparently they had come to that conclusion while Natasha was thinking. "We've got a guest there right now. I think you'll get a kick out of it... Hey, there's Clint and Scott." Tony pointed at the approaching duo.
The group looked where Tony was pointing and they could see the two about a block away, carrying the red mutant in a net.
"FINALLY!" Clint yelled as he and Scott dropped the mutant into the pile and collapsed to the ground. "I can't feel my legs."
Natasha tapped Kitty on the shoulder and whispered into her ear. A large mischievous smile over took her face and she nodded, her eyes gleaming as she moved her foot on top of Natasha's. Clint got up and made his way over to Natasha.
"Tasha, carry me back to the jet!" Clint whined as he draped his arms over her so she carried most of his weight... or he tried at least.
As Clint draped his arms over her, instead of her taking his weight, he fell right though her, and with a very unmanly yelp, face planted on the ground. Everyone stared for a second before realizing what had just happened and began laughing their asses off: even Steve was chuckling. Tony was practically rolling on the ground he was laughing so much and Thor's laugh was shaking windows.
Natasha stared down at him with such an evil and amused smirk, that it could have given Loki a run for his money.
"That Clint, that is for Argentina last year." Natasha said, crossing her arms as Kitty stepped away.
"Oh come on!" Clint whined from his spot, still lying face down before he pushed himself up in his elbows. "It was an accident! I even apologized!"
Natasha raised an eyebrow, smirk disappearing, and said nothing.
"I didn't mean to catch your hair on fire!" Clint tried desperately.
"So that's what happened to your hair?" Tony asked. "I thought you just chopped it."
Natasha glared at the genius, causing him to laugh, but stop talking about it. Tony decided to change the topic back to what they were talking about before.
"Right, so, anyway, you go make that call to Fury, also, have him send a few vans to pick up the baddies." Tony said, walking over to his Iron Man suit.
"Where are you going?" Scott asked curiously.
"Haven't you guys noticed?" Tony asked as the suit formed around him, the face plate stayed up for a second longer. "Hulk's roars have calmed down, I'm going to go get Bruce a pair of pants."
Tony flew over a few blocks to the Quinjet and grabbed the spare pair of pants that were kept there at all times for Bruce, before flying back over to where JARVIS indicated the now de-Hulked Bruce and Kurt were.
E/N~ So What'd You Think? Did You Like It? Please Tell Me What You Think In A Review! Also I Put Up Another Poll, This One's About Loki & Tony's Relationship, Because I Just Realized How This Could Turn Out, & I just Want To See What You Guys Wanted To See. Please Check It Out, & If You Have Any Questions About It, Please Just PM Me. Even If It's About Why I Changed My Mind. Remember: There Are No Stupid Questions. Lol I Sound Like My Teacher. ;P