A/N: Cross? Sounds like a petulant teenager half the time. What the fuck.

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Title: Cosmic Composite

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: Tony/Pepper, Natasha/Steve, Miranda/Marie

Genre: Family/Adventure

Warnings: AU, !spoilers for Winter Soldier onward, spoilers for Agents of SHIELD!

Summary: With the entry of metahumans into the public sphere, the fight for basic human rights has begun, and there's more than one interested party. This is the world that the exorcists are reborn into, as the newest members of the Marvel Universe and the next generation. And things are about to get much more complicated. (Eventual canon divergence. Also includes Agents of SHIELD.)

Disclaimer: I only wish I owned D. Gray-man, and the Avengers are but a dream that is not my own.


Lavi: 5 years old

Kanda: 5 years old

Lenalee: 4 years old

Allen: 3 years old


April 2016


"Alright, what am I working with?" Cross asked, bored already and a little exasperated.

He was leaning on the table in the meeting room, elbow on the surface and head tilted onto his hand, one hand resting casually in front of him. The red bracelets of his crystal-type Innocence stood out only slightly from the rest of his outfit.

Opposite Cross, Coulson sat with that placid look on his face, and a tablet on the table in front of him. Maria was seated at his right side, and Tony was a few seats away to his left, to prove that he didn't dance to Coulson's tune, Cross assumed. He could get behind that sort of petty gesture, since it was exactly the sort of thing he himself was fond of. Talbot was a few seats to Cross' right, scowling with deep disapproval.

Apparently, it was standard protocol for newly discovered exorcists to get interrogated to within an inch of their lives, and given that he was currently the only known exorcist over the age of twenty, he'd probably get hit a bit harder than the others, given that he was unlikely to break down into tears.

Too bad for them Cross wasn't overly fond of giving out information.

"I was hoping you could tell us," Coulson said mildly, making no move to relay anything Cross' way. "We like to reconfirm the story as often as possible, you understand. It prevents… misunderstandings."

Of course, it was no surprise that the head of an organization like SHIELD would be an expert on getting information out of unwilling subjects.

Cross thought he heard Talbot make a low noise of agreement and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, fine," Cross said dismissively. He pushed off the table, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair, considering what they'd likely been told already, and what he was willing to give up himself. Which was to say, almost nothing. "As an exorcist, I worked for the Black Order, an organization formed in 17-something to combat creatures called akuma."

Coulson was nodding along, and Maria's gaze was intent. Tony was pretending not to be paying attention, and Talbot's brow was furrowed. It didn't look like that, so far, had been news to him, which meant he'd been partially briefed already. Good. Cross didn't really want to know how he'd have reacted to getting all this dumped on him at once.

Cross hadn't really wanted him to know at all. Talbot wasn't really a supernatural-forces, plot-decades-in-the-making sort of guy, Cross had known that almost from the start. The guy was just too straightforward.

"Akuma come in four levels, each one order of magnitude more powerful than the last. Anyone with an Innocence could take out a level one, but you can count on needing at least one general to take out a level four. You follow?"

"I follow," Coulson said mildly, pretending that Tony wasn't behind him logging in whatever information Cross had involuntarily added to the database.

Keeping him from looking at their database had been a good data gathering strategy. Cross would approve if it hadn't been directed against him.

"General," Talbot interrupted, studying Cross intently, brow furrowed. "The Order had a standard chain of command?"

Cross nearly smirked, taking private amusement from the fact that he'd matched the man's title, if in a very different way. Still, he opted to clarify this much.

"Nothing like it," he denied, shaking his head dismissively. "There were only two ranks of exorcist: standard issue and general. Once you reach a certain power level, they slap the title of 'general' on you and you're allowed to take on apprentices and shit, since they're reasonably sure you won't die before you finish training them."

Talbot wrinkled his nose, clearly displaying his opinion of that, and Cross smirked. Yeah, that's what I thought, old man.

"Most generals had been with the Order for at least ten, maybe twenty years," Cross tacked on. "Compared to a regular exorcist, who might survive for maybe five or six." Talbot's fist was clenching. Cross moved on.

"Lenalee mentioned that some of the generals might be able to stand up to the Hulk," Coulson commented, voice and expression both carefully neutral.

What had that girl been thinking? Hadn't she learned anything from the CROW?

"Yeah, well, let's hope we'll never find out."

Coulson studied him for a few moments more, and then glanced down at his wrists. "I notice you've activated your Innocence," he said instead. "We've gotten a minor demonstration from both Miranda and Noise, but one from someone of a higher power level would be… appreciated."

Yeah, Cross was sure it would.

Even so, he smirked. "Judgement," he agreed. "Probably safe to use indoors."

"I was given to understand that certain circumstances allowed activation?" Coulson pressed.

"During the Battle of New York," Cross admitted with a nod.

Talbot looked over sharply. Cross rolled his eyes. Yeah, old man, there was a reason I went elsewhere during that attack – like, say, anywhere you weren't.

Tony looked up sharply, brown eyes suddenly very, very interested.

"One of the whale monsters," the genius mentioned idly, gaze sharp, "was found dead. None of the Avengers could remember killing one in that specific location. We found it very odd, since those things were pretty memorable. We assumed it dropped when the rest of the Chitauri did."

"What makes you think it didn't?" Cross challenged, without actually denying anything. Which was a pretty big concession from him.

God, but it had been good to get Judgement back.

He considered the pros and cons for a moment – he really didn't want to surrender any data to SHIELD, but if he was completely honest, the mystery of the Innocence would bother him for the rest of his life if he didn't figure anything out.

"A test or two might be tolerable," he allowed at last, and rolled his eyes at the manic grin that flashed across Tony's face. Before the man could get any ideas, he moved on, changing the subject entirely. "The main problem with akuma wasn't their power – a level one could kill a man in one shot with a virus delivered through its bullets, and level twos each had a random-ass ability of their own-" Best not to get into the abilities of level threes and fours, else they'd start wondering about the people who could combat those sorts of creatures. "-but the fact that they could disguise themselves as humans."

Coulson inclined his head slightly, while Maria and Talbot stiffened and Tony's head jerked up. "Lenalee mentioned as much."

Cross smirked lightly. "Figures," he agreed. "It was a perfect disguise, and I never met anyone except my apprentice who could tell them apart."

"Why could he?" Maria asked, leaning forward slightly, gaze unwavering.

Well, Allen had never exactly been secretive about this. Unlike most things.

Perhaps only because it was so useful.

"The scar on his face?" Cross prompted, and it was clear that he had everyone's attention at that – even Talbot's, which made him deeply suspicious. (Decades later, it was still a force of will to keep himself from reaching up to touch his face.) "It's a curse mark." They didn't need to know how he got it, but- "It lets him see akuma souls."

"These curses," Tony commented, posture casual in a way that didn't fool Cross for a second, "they don't seem very detrimental."

Cross raised one eyebrow skeptically. "You know about more than just my stupid apprentice's?"

"Yuu's," Maria clarified. Cross still found it funny that Kanda had changed his mind about the whole name thing.

"They didn't tell you much about them, then," Cross commented dryly. And that meant they might eventually run around thinking that Kanda had infinite healing ability, which would serve no one well. "My idiot apprentice threw up and then fainted the first time he saw an akuma soul, so they probably aren't real pretty." God knows the nightmares hadn't been. "Kanda- Sorry, Yuu-" He was very proud of himself for not snickering. "His curse is ultimately what killed him. Not the CROW." Well. In a manner of speaking.

That seemed to strike them speechless for a moment. Good. That meant they probably wouldn't ask for any form of clarification.

Time to move on, before they regained their senses.

"The akuma were creations of the Millennium Earl, who was head of the Clan of Noah, which consisted of fourteen metahumans, each one with a unique ability capable of at least matching the power of a general." Or several generals, depending on circumstances, preparation, matchup-

No need to mention any personal ties that may or may not have existed between any of the exorcists and any of the Noah. Certainly, no need to mention Neah or Mana, or their connections to either Cross or his unfortunate apprentice.

No need to air dirty laundry.

"Each of the Noah were killed by an exorcist, or sometimes two, over the course of about three years," Cross continued, a little more serious now. "Mostly in grudge matches, believe it or not."

"A war for the world, and you still can't escape grudge matches," Tony commented, trying for humor and failing miserably. Cross smirked anyway.

"Who really fights for the world, anyway?" he asked rhetorically.

"And did you kill any of them?" Talbot asked, gaze searching and intent. Cross raised an eyebrow, but answered anyway, without hesitation.

"Fiidora." Best not to mention Allen's role in that fight. "He planted a mole in the Order; nearly killed both Lavi and the stupid Han kid, too."

He heard Tony inhale sharply and didn't look over. Coulson nodded, the corner of his mouth turned down and shoulders visibly tense.

"Can you give us a list of the names of the Noah?" Coulson asked.

Cross waved his hand dismissively. "Easy. You haven't gotten that from any of them already?"

"It wasn't a priority," Maria explained without so much as a flinch.

"Sure." Probably they'd placed the priority on keeping the kids from breaking down. Probably wise. "Listen, then." He waited for Tony to be over his miniature panic attack and listening again. "There was the Millennium Earl, obviously. Then there was Toraido, then Tyki Mikk and Sheryl Kamelot – those two were brothers – and Wisely Kamelot – Sheryl adopted both him and Road. Fiidora, obviously. Maashima. Skinn Boric. Road Kamelot – like I said, Sheryl adopted her, too. Jasdevi – that one could split into two, Jasdero and Debitto. Weird guy. Lulubell, Maitora, and then the last one was Neah."

Ugh. Cross hated giving out this much information at once, and he hated remembering. Ugh, ugh. Since when did he monologue?

Necessity could be a bitch sometimes.

"Could you provide a list of which Noah was killed by which exorcist?" Coulson asked, keeping his voice low.

Cross couldn't stop himself from snorting. The only alternative, really, was flinching violently, which he refused to do. "The kids were full-blown exorcists, you realize that, right?" he asked doubtfully. "Allen was fifteen when this all started going down. Do you really want to know which of them has killed and why?" Answers being all of them, and for deeply personal reasons, respectively.

Coulson paused. "Perhaps it's best done in private," he admitted after a long moment. He glanced at a rather still Tony. "On paper."

Cross rolled his eyes. "I can work with that," he told the ceiling.

"I'll ask about their abilities then, too," Coulson added, visibly recovering.

Ugh.

"Central," Tony prompted, looking the most obviously interested he had thus far. So did Coulson, for that matter.

Cross supposed that was fair, given the general bastardy nature of Central.

"Bunch of assholes," he said dismissively. No one backed down. Cross scowled. And from Talbot's face – he hadn't quite been filled in on this part yet. "Central worked directly under the Vatican, and had control over most of the Order's affairs if they chose to exert it. Mostly they only did this to poke their noses where they didn't belong." Like with the Artificial Apostles experiments, and with Allen, and, for that matter, Lenalee. "They didn't have any exorcists under their direct control, but they had the CROW, a group of highly trained fighters loyal only to Central." Yup, Talbot definitely didn't know. Well, Cross wasn't going to be the one to tell him-

"And these were the people who Central sent to assassinate the exorcists?" Maria prompted, mouth a thin line.

Wonderful.

"Yup," Cross confirmed. "They'd gotten to at least nine of the other exorcists before I decided I wasn't about to let them get to me." Nine, including his idiot, idiot apprentice.

Talbot's head jerked up. "You didn't," he said, voice stern, as if he could actually do something about it.

What the fuck was this guy's problem?

Cross rolled his eyes, ignored the old man, and said to Coulson, "That all you wanted to know?"

"You filled in a few of the cracks, thank you," Coulson agreed mildly, and Cross scowled.

Yeah, if Coulson had just shown him the damn file, he wouldn't have even given them that much. Damn nosy government agencies and their stupid interrogation techniques. When he got out of here, he was going to do nothing but lie for a year.

Talbot's eyes were still burrowing into the side of his head. Cross really didn't want to deal with that. Not at all.

Luckily, he had an apprentice to bother, and failing that, his apprentice's friends were also open for interrogation.


Coulson let his senior agents commission the most amusing things sometimes. Case in point: a set of toddler-sized gymnastics equipment.

Of course, he knew why they needed it.

Melinda had passed the idea for tumbling lessons onto Natasha, who agreed almost instantly, and they'd decided to conduct sessions for the four children together, Natasha serving as the mandatory Avengers standby as well as an 'instructor'. Bucky would pitch in when he was around, which was probably going to be more often than anticipated, given that he'd been taken off HYDRA missions.

Currently, it was just the two of them, Allen, and Lenalee together, with Lavi doing something with his father in the library and Yuu hovering suspiciously around Cross, whom he apparently didn't trust.

Allen, on the balance beam, was wearing an almost comical expression of concentration, grey eyes fixed intently on the beam in front of him, tongue sticking out of his mouth slightly, and holding tightly onto Natasha's hand. Very slowly, he placed one foot in front of the other, walking along it with Natasha's help.

Off to the side, Melinda was crouching beside Lenalee, attempting to guide her through a forward roll.

Noticing that Natasha's attention had drifted, Allen glanced over to Lenalee and smiled.

"Len'lee woul' have liked twapeze mo' den acwobatics," he commented offhandedly.

"Trapeze?" Natasha mused aloud, tugging slightly to get his attention back onto his own task as he nearly slipped. If her hand tightened slightly at the mention of Allen's circus time, he didn't seem to notice. "I can see it."

Allen looked up and grinned at her, slipped, yelped, and clung to her hand. When he'd regained his balance, he grinned sheepishly. Natasha chuckled.

"What did you do?" she asked him, and turned him around fluidly as they reached the end of the beam. He laughed at the unnecessary twirl, making her smile at him, and then answered,

"Clown!"

Of course. Why not?

"Did you enjoy it?" she prompted. He nodded, smile turning fond. She laughed and shook her head. "You're going to become silly like your father. It will be unbearable."

"Good ting," he assured her, and she nearly had to lunge to catch him when he turned and deliberately slipped off the beam.

"I guess you're done with that, then," she said wryly, and he smiled at her cheerfully.

"Mm-hm!" he agreed, and tugged her toward Lenalee.

As they approached, Melinda looked up and nodded in acknowledgement, and Lenalee finished her forward roll, noticed them, and waved, smiling.

"Time for a break," Melinda decided, shifting slightly to a more comfortable position. Natasha nodded in agreement.

"This is fun," Lenalee offered, smiling brightly. "Thank you!"

Melinda's lips quirked up slightly in a smile. "You're welcome. Is it having the effect you'd hoped for?"

Lenalee looked down – at her legs, Natasha noted – and frowned, shrugging.

"Don't know," she admitted. "It hasn' been tha' long."

"My balance bettew," Allen offered. "I don' fall much 'nymowe."

Lenalee considered, and then smiled at him and nodded.

"Don't forget that your progress shouldn't be anything like Lavi or Yuu's," Natasha advised, sitting down by Allen. "You won't have the same capabilities for quite some time."

Lenalee wrinkled her nose at that, and to Natasha's amusement, Allen copied the motion a second later.

"No one has Yuu's 'bilities," Lenalee dismissed, shaking her head.

"I spaw wih Yuu," Allen said, almost petulantly.

"An' you enjoy it. You sick." But Lenalee was smiling anyway. "You'll hafta wait. Too little."

Allen pouted.

Natasha caught Melinda giving Lenalee a brief glance and then Allen a long, considering look, but turned her attention to Allen instead.

"So you liked to spar with Yuu," she mused aloud, half-smiling as Allen scooted up against her and looked up to smile. She ran her hand absently down his side and asked, "Any particular reason for that?"

Allen considered, and then shrugged. "Good pawtnew," he offered hesitantly.

"He means they both insane," Lenalee clarified with a soft giggle. Allen stuck his tongue out at Lenalee, and Lenalee stuck hers out right back. Natasha stifled a laugh, glanced up, and found Melinda hiding a smile, shaking her head. "They make a good team, too."

"Who'd wowk well wih dat jewk?" Allen muttered under his breath, definitely petulant this time, but his eyes were sparkling and he was barely keeping himself from smiling.

"Don't talk about your friend that way," Natasha chided, smile probably taking all the sting out of her words, and Allen pouted again.

Lenalee laughed, hopped up, and pulled Allen to his feet in a full-body motion that very nearly had both of them tumbling over.

"You want tha' back, don' you?" she asked him, and he smiled. "Then let's go!"

Natasha chuckled and rose to her feet. "I guess breaktime's over," she commented to Melinda, who had made the same movement at almost the same time.

She glanced up to see Melinda giving her a long look the likes of which she'd seen her give Allen only moments before, and then Melinda allowed herself a small smile and a nod.

"Perhaps something more like strengthening exercises this time," she suggested, and both Lenalee and Allen made interested noises. "Strengthening exercises it is."


"What's the Witch doing with Allen?" Cross asked Lavi suspiciously. Lavi shrugged.

"You can try and find out if you want to. They won't tell me anything about it."

"Hmph." Cross glowered suspiciously after them for a moment, and then snorted and shook his head. "Eh, I don't care enough."

Lenalee giggled quietly, and levered herself up to sit (kneel) on the couch beside him. "Sure you don'," she murmured.

"Don't be a brat," Cross snapped halfheartedly.

"I can assure you that Wanda will not bring Allen to harm," Vision offered, smiling slightly in obvious amusement. "They have been doing this almost since his arrival."

Cross made a doubtful sound, and then shook his head roughly. "Whatever. That isn't what I wanted to talk to you kids about." He glanced down, studied them – Lenalee kneeling on one side and now Lavi folded up on the other, head tilted curiously and arms around his knees – and then continued, with a slight growl in his voice, "I don't suppose either of you know what happened to Allen?"

Both their smiles vanished. Off to the side, Vision's had as well.

"Marlisa," Lavi offered in a one-word explanation, clear, uncharacteristic venom in his voice. Cross cocked an eyebrow, unimpressed with his brevity.

"Marlisa was Allen's birth mother," Vision explained, solemn now. "She was unkind to him."

"Bruises," Lavi muttered under his breath with a scowl.

"So the brat has shit luck with guardians in general," was what Cross said aloud, but his gaze had turned stormy, jaw tightening so he was almost grinding his teeth. He'd have to find out more, but- elsewhere. Not from the kids, probably, who were known to understate every problem ever, sometimes for each other as well as themselves. But-

Bruises, huh?

Yeah, someone was gonna pay for that.

"Hey, Bookman Junior, how's the record going?" Apropos of nothing, usually the best way to make them forget about what they were just talking about. Lavi looked visibly surprised to be addressed as such, which was amusing. And he actually sat back to think about it for a bit, which was almost as much so.

"I finished backtracking all the differences," Lavi told him cautiously, eying Cross as one might a feral animal. (Endless amusement, this kid. Not quite as good as Allen, but close.) "And most of the Avengers' backgrounds. I'm finishing that and then I gotta catch up to now." And then, inevitably, "Why do you care?"

"Hey, do I really gotta have a reason for everything?" Cross asked, more amused than offended. "Maybe I'm just interested in history, or whatever."

"No way," Lavi and Lenalee said immediately, at the same time.

"I'm hurt," Cross smirked, and did not surrender any actual information; he'd done enough of that for a lifetime.

"I understand Lavi spends less time in the library than he used to," Vision offered, looking at Cross with a thoughtful look that Cross wanted no part of. "So his progress has of course slowed, but he is with friends now, so all is well."

"What he said," Lavi agreed, bobbing his head. "Record's mostly just for me, anyway."

"Silly," Lenalee murmured, shaking her head slightly, and Lavi grinned at her.

He'd heard about Lenalee's situation, too, but he wasn't going to talk about that now. Damn kids were suspicious enough of him already.

They were hilarious to watch as tiny kids, though. It'd be a shame when they grew up.

At least he was sure they would grow up this time.


Allen craned his head up to frown concernedly at Steve, who seemed… tense.

Cross, it seemed, was going to be staying for a longer period of time than originally intended, for reasons no one had thought to inform Allen of.

Cross had also taken to hanging around Allen for what, to Allen, was a surprising portion of the time. Steve had been reacting to that by spending just as much. Allen was guessing that Steve didn't trust Cross around him.

Fair enough. Cross was a very untrustworthy person.

Now Allen was seated between them while something uninteresting played on the television, which none of them were paying any particular attention to. Steve's hand was curled protectively around Allen's left, and Allen himself was dozing lightly against Steve.

Cross was pretending to watch the television, but Allen knew he wasn't. He didn't glance over at them, nothing so obvious as that – but he was angled toward them, a little bit, and his arms were crossed. He was tense.

Allen wondered what his stupid master was up to this time.

Finally, Steve sighed and, hand still around Allen's, looked over at Cross.

"Natasha told me what you did for Allen," he said cautiously. Allen, no longer dozing, stayed quiet nonetheless. "I- Thank you."

Cross looked at Steve and smirked. "No big deal," he said casually, without moving. "It's easy enough if you know how he works, it's just no one around here does." His smirk widened. "For shame. Almost would think no one was trying."

Steve did not smile. "Well, we all have our slow days," he said, voice cool.

"Some more than others," Cross agreed, and then, "Brat, I know you're not sleeping."

Allen opened his eyes and scowled at Cross. "Stupid intewfewing Mastew," he mumbled, pushing himself up.

"Eavesdropping brat," Cross countered, looking entirely too amused.

"Manip'lative jewk!"

"Are you trying to draw me into an insult contest, idiot apprentice? You won't win. I'm not your stupid friend with the sword."

"His name is Yuu, stupid Master."

"Allen," Steve said sternly, lips twitching with an unfriendly sort of amusement. "You shouldn't call people names."

Allen looked up at him, shrugged, and then scowled at Cross, who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Stupid brat."

Steve's smile disappeared. "And you shouldn't call him stupid," he added, voice a little harder. "He's just a child."

Cross waved his hand dismissively. "He knows I don't mean it, don't you, idiot apprentice?"

Allen rolled his eyes, wondering what his master was playing at this time. Steve was growing tenser by the moment, but why, why?

"Jewk," Allen repeated, sounding more amused than he'd meant to.

"God knows I called him it enough while I was training him," Cross added, jabbing Allen lightly in the side. Allen squirmed away and scowled at him, and hey, Steve would let Allen use him as an escape route, excellent. From Steve's other side, Allen stuck his tongue out at Cross, and Cross rolled his eyes. "Brat."

"You shouldn't call a child names," Steve said sternly, voice tight. Allen frowned up at him again, concerned. Cross was messing with Steve, that was certain, but Allen still couldn't quite figure out how. "Allen is perfect just the way he is."

Steve was silly.

"By whose standards?" Cross snorted, tossing his head lightly.

"Mine and my wife's," Steve half-snapped. Allen's fingers tightened anxiously over where his right hand rested on Steve's leg, before he could stop them, and Steve took a deep breath. When he spoke again, most of the obvious anger had left his voice. "I'd appreciate it if you worked with us on this, instead of against us."

"Yeah, yeah."

Allen had just missed a lot, and he didn't like it.

Well, if it kept happening, he'd pester Cross until he fessed up. That usually worked eventually.


*grin* Whoops. Okay, so a few things before you go - first, apologies for the info dump of mostly things both you and SHIELD already know, although I hope you bore with me and read it anyway, since it had character stuff and new stuff both in there. Then tumbling lessons, some characters I've been neglecting, and... Yeah, Steve and Cross were never going to get along. *snort* Seeing as Cross is basically Tony, but with all of his bad points exaggerated and his good points buried much, much deeper. Thanks for reading, and please review!