Tap! Thud! Tap! Thud! Tap! Thud!
The ball got caught before it could make it back to Clint's hands.
"Wha-" Clint frowned and looked at the culprit "Steeveee" he whined
"Can you not do that?" Steve frowned, flipping over the file
"but I'm booored!"
Steve rolled his eyes. He really hated dealing with a bored Clint. That was why this was always Nat's headache. by the way, where is Natasha when you genuinely need her?
"Don't you have anything to do?"
"Like what?!" Clint plopped on the couch
"Like testing new Stark toys" Steve said, annoyed
"I've tested them all. Starks made nothing new" Clint almost pouted
"Clint?"
"yeah?"
"shut up"
"but I'm bored!"
Steve frowned deeply and looked at Clint
"alright, Capsicle" Clint pouted and crossed his arms
Steve mentally sighed and went back to the file
The appreciated silence only lasted for 3 minutes and 43 seconds before
Whoosh! Tap! Whoosh! Tap! Whoosh! Tap!
more annoyed than before, Steve looked at Clint who was now throwing the miniaturized arrows at a wall painted target like darts.
"Clint" Steve growled, increasingly irritated by every second. but before he could start the scolding, the elevator opened ad Nat walked over, phone stuck to her ear
"...Gucci?...it's too much...i think Prada or Versace suits you better..." Nat lightly laughed "sure...yeah. got it...cool. okay...bye"
"Who were you talking to?" Clint asked
"Rose" Nat answered, sitting next to Steve, scrolling down her phone
"And you girls were talking about Fashion houses because?" Clint raised a brow
Nat looked at him "Rose and Mia are at Milan Fashion week. She asked me if i wanted a new dress or something"
"She attends fashion shows?" Steve asked
"when she's bored" Nat shrugged
"I'm bored too!"
Nat rolled her eyes
"You whine one more time, i'm gonna take all your arrows and bows and not give them back to you" Nat said in a very calm tone but it had the effect required on Clint
"Who made you in charge?" Clint demanded
"Mia" Nat shrugged
All of a sudden the whole floor shook, causing Clint-who was standing on top of the couch- to fall down on the floor
"What was that?" Nat demanded
"a big-ass earthquake!" Clint replied
"Tower is earthquake resistant" Steve replied "It's something else"
then there was a blast, filling the whole room with dust and smoke, causing them all to cough
"We are under attack" Clint took out his bow, lodging an arrow
the dust started settling and to their horror, they were not under attack, but worse. Hulk and Thor were fighting.
"what the fuck?" Nat muttered, eyeing the two, who were too involved in their fight even to notice the big gaping hole they had made in the wall
"Hulk! Thor! Break it you two!" Steve ordered and then ducked suddenly when Mjolnir was thrown his way and then went back into Thor's hand
"What's happening?" Steve looked at the other two. the assassins just shrugged in return.
"Oh my god!"
the trio looked at Tony who had just appeared on the floor, hands on knees and wheezing
"What's going Tony?" Steve demanded
"About that, Cap" Tony grunted, stretching his back and looking at the two brutes fighting
"I shall prove my worth!" Thor yelled before punching Hulk in the face
"God no worthy" Hulk growled back before dodging and hitting Thor
"Stark" Natasha frowned
"right. So, Bruce and i were in the lab, finding a way to let Hulk more tamable. Bruce hulked and we were working when Thor came in to ask about Rose but when he saw Hulk, he reminded Hulk of the one time he beat him at the carrier. Hulk got angry. and they started arguing an-"
"and it led to this" Steve finished for him with a frown directed towards the two men who were now destroying their communal.
"got a way to stop them, genius?" Natasha asked
"Uh..yes" Tony pulled out a small vial and handed it to Clint
"What's this?" Clint asked, taking the small vial
"Concentrated Calming Draught."
"alright" Clint took one of his special arrows and adjusted the Draught in it. He took an aim and fired. the arrow embedded into Hulk's arm, which made the 8ft gamma beast yelp. suddenly Hulk faced towards them with a snarl
"Wasn't this supposed to work?" Clint asked, taking a step back
"It was" Tony replied
Hulk threw Thor across the communal and turned towards them. He pulled out the arrow and slowly headed for them, snarling
"Any plan? guys?" Clint asked
"Run?" Natasha provided
Hulk growled and took another menacing step before he stopped. his growl lessened, his features cooled a little and slowly the green started fading away to be replaced by normal human tint
By the time Bruce reappeared, he was on all his fours and panting
"Bruce?" Tony asked
"a second here" came Bruce's strained voice
the four sighed in relief. Tony walked to him and helped him up. Thankfully Bruce was still clothed. Rose had charmed most of his wardrobe in case he ever went big and green.
"You alright there Banner?" Clint asked
"A little sore. That's all"
"Good. 'Cause you're gonna need your strength to rebuild the communal" Nat frowned crossing her arms
"What?" Bruce turned around and froze. Some good part of the communal was destroyed thanks to him and Thor. wait, Thor?
"Where's Thor?" he asked
"Over there" Steve looked over the other side of the communal floor, where Thor had crashed into the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, destroying the whole thing in his wake.
they all walked to the Norse god, who had just sat up, holding his head and groaning lightly
"You okay there, buddy?" Tony asked
"I'm well, Stark" he nodded and looked at them then at Bruce and a weird expression took up on him. Almost like a pout.
"i see Banner has returned"
"Yes" Bruce frowned and crossed his arms, wincing a little "And I'm sorry but your playmate is not coming out for a while"
"Why?"
"Because the destruction the two of you caused" Steve said looking around
"I thought we were under attack" Clint scoffed
Steve helped Thor up, who looked around the destroyed communal
"We should repair it before Rose and Lady Hermione return" Thor suggested
"We?" Natasha asked
"Aye" Thor nodded
"'We' are not doing anything" Natasha pointed at herself, Steve and Clint "you three on the other hand, get to work. Now"
"Relax" Tony waved her off "Rose and Mia aren't to return for another two days. We have plenty time"
"And you know that, how?" Clint asked
"They're in Milan, Merida. It's one of the few times a year when Rose likes to spend. Besides, she'll be heading London for a presentation."
Nat raised a brow "I'm surprised you know where Rose is"
Tony frowned "She's my daughter. Of course i know where she's"
"Alright" Steve interrupted "Enough. You three," he looked at the culprits "try to mend the communal."
"Okay" Bruce nodded
Clint shrugged
"So much for boredom" he muttered ad turned to leave when something came under his foot. He looked at it, bent down and picked it up. the book was pretty old. the cover was hard and faded. the pages were made on thick paper and they were yellow with foxing on he edges. the only indicator that the book had recently been used were the colorful stick-up notes on various pages. He flipped it open and went through the pages. It was written in a language he didn't know. And that was how he figured that the book might belong to Rose. Finally he found a single page where the entire text had it's translation written in English between the lines. Especially a certain line which read-'good substitute for S. Potion'
"What do you have here?"
He hummed to Nat's question and read the English part
"Some old book" he replied
He sensed Nat reading the content over his shoulder
"Maybe you should put it back."
"You know what this is?" Clint asked
"It's Rose's. You should put it back, Clint"
"so it's magical"
"Clint..."
"what?"
"Put it back"
Clint frowned and turned to look at Nat "It's just a book. There's nothing wrong with it"
"It's a book on magic." Nat said
"I'm mundane"
Nat sighed mentally. he was right about that. mundanes wouldn't be able to use magic even if they tried.
"What's got the love birds arguing?" Tony asked
Nat moved to look at him and it was Then Tony noticed the book in Clint's hands
"It's just a book" Clint replied "by the way, what's ' '?"
"Strengthening Potion" Tony replied. Rose may not have it with her, but he had read about that certain potion from Rose's text books.
"Cool" Clint grinned and looked at what he expected to be the spell and started reading it
"Maybe you shouldn't do it" Steve interjected
"Relax, Steve. I'm mundane. I cannot use magic. I'm just trying to read" he shrugged and went on to read. Once he finished, nothing happened. He pulled out an arrow and started twirling in his fingers.
"See. I told you, nothing would happen" Clint grinned, closed the book and kept it on the table. none of them noticed the glowing book until it was too late.
"Red of purple?" Rose asked, holding two dresses
"Neither" Mia answered
"She's right" Ginny came and sat next to Mia. It had become a tradition of sorts for the three of them. Every year, they'd collect at certain events to regroup and catchup. Milan Fashion Week was one of them.
"Your hair's purple-ish and red...not really" Ginny pressed her lips in a thin line "Try...black"
"I've got six dresses in black. if I didn't know better, I'd say I'm going goth" Rose complained and looked at the dress in Ginny's arm "I'm in love blue one you picked"
"Oh hell no" Ginny pulled the dresses closer to herself "i found this. pick your own, Potter"
Rose pouted "But seriously, i need some more dresses which are not black, grey or white"
"um..." Mia looked around the fashion house and then pulled a copper brown dress "Try this"
Rose took the dress and entered the trial room. She put on the dress and looked in the mirror. It was made of satin so it felt soft on her body. The dress had a asymmetrical hemline, so came from her mid thigh on the left to the knee on the right leg. the neckline was also asymmetrical and at various points, the cloth was pinned together. the dress hugged her body and highlighted her best parts. Best part, it didn't clash with her gradient hair
"Rosie!" Ginny called
Rose came out, showing the dress.
"Looks perfect" Mia grinned "try this"
Rose held the dress in the arms "Damn, Mia. What's with you and perfect choices today?"
"Gin chose this" Mia smiled
Rose grinned at her sister and rushed into the trial room.
The dusty pink sleeveless chiffon dress was beautiful. it had a Grecian look with a silver belt around the waist and a thigh slit. the neckline was pretty deep, showing her breast curve from top but not too much.
"So?" she asked, stepping out and looking at the two
"approved" Ginny beamed "first i thought that the pinks might clash, but it actually looks good on you"
"suits you, Rose" Mia smiled
"Lemme change back and then i'm buying these two"
ten minutes later found the three girls at the checkout
"Sure you don't want to exchange your blue dress for the pink one?" Rose looked at Ginny
"bugger off" Ginny replied, flipping her hair. She had cut off her long mane to shoulder length to help her during the matches.
Mia laughed as Rose pouted. she really loved the blue dress Ginny had brought.
"You are coming to the ministry ball, right"
"Do i have to?" Rose pouted, putting her stuff for billing
"It is in your honor" Ginny shrugged
rose handed her card to the cashier, paying for herself. she had no issue covering the other two, but Mia and Ginny had refused her help
"She'll come" Mia chuckled, collecting her bags
Rose frowned and looked at her best friend.
"You always do, Rosie" Ginny laughed
"Yeah, whatever" Rose shrugged, picking her own bags
"alright. i should get going" Ginny turned, placing the three bags in one hand to check her phone before putting it back
"Say hi to Lorraine for us" Mia said
"and remind her of Nimbus"
"What?" Ginny frowned
"She'll understand" Rose smiled
"alright" Ginny shrugged and left
"Ready to head London?" Mia asked
"Cant we just..you know forget about the presentation and head to the beach or something. I'd love some tan"
"And have Pepper come after your head? Rose i love you, but not even that much to protect you from Pepper's wrath. It's just a simple presentation."
"But it's soooo boring"
"I know you play games during these" Mia said "Don't try to deny it. I've seen you play games in your phone during the presentations"
"right. But can we go to some great dinner after the presentation?"
"great dinner?" Mia chuckled
"Yeah. greatest dinner."
"And where is that served?"
"You know. Burrow" rose grinned "It's been a while since I've had Molly's hand cooked meal. I'm highly craving some"
"That is a good idea" Mia smiled
"Gre-" Rose stopped when her phone rang, which made her frown "Who'd be calling me right now?"
"Pepper, maybe. I don't know. were you expecting someone?"
"Hmm-mm" she shook her head and pulled the phone. the caller id said JARVIS
"JARVIS?" Mia frowned
"Something's not right" Rose muttered, a sinking feeling starting to form in her gut
"Yeah JARVIS?" she answered, keeping the phone on speaker
"Miss, I'm afraid something is wrong with the Avengers. I've been detecting six heartbeats but something about them in different from before. I've been unable to run scans on the team. i expect magic to be at play, messing with my protocols"
Rose and Mia shared a look. She had upgraded JARVIS to work around stable magical environments. He technically shouldn't have any issues with the scans.
"We'll be there in a few, JARVIS" Mia said
"Alright, Ms. Granger"
rose hung up "I've got a bad feeling about it"
"Me too" Mia nodded
"What the FUCK?!"
the two witches were gaping at the place that once was their communal floor. a certain wall had a big hole, bricks and plaster hanging loosely. the TV was shattered, so was their sitting area. the bookshelf was broken and books were everywhere. Even some good part of the false ceiling was destroyed. How could they have damaged the ceiling?!
"Let's find others" Mia suggested
and they quickly found the team, just not the way they had left them, which only made Rose swear in welsh
Tony came to consciousness with a pounding headache. One of the worst he ever had. He tried using his body. for now it seemed in one piece. slowly he could some subtle noises which made him curious. Tony knew something was wrong somewhere but he couldn't put his finger on it. He slowly opened his eyes trying to minimize the blur in his vision
"Take it easy"
he recognized that voice.
Once stable, he looked around. the room was white and pristine. and there was only one room like that
"What the hell happened?" he asked, wincing slightly as he tried to sit
"I was hoping you could explain"
Tony looked at the speaker, to find Rose (as expected) but with frown and confusion (not expected). Also, she looked bigger than himself. When did his daughter get a second puberty?
"Are you okay?" he asked
"I should be the one asking you that. What happened? communal's destroyed. An-"
"That's not my fault!" Tony defended, only to notice something peculiar "Rose?"
"Yeah?"
"Why is my voice squeakier?"
Rose sighed and picked something his bedside and gave it to him. it was a mirror.
"Take look for yourself"
Tony raised the mirror and almost had a heart attack. Staring back him was a young boy, not a 40-something man.
Whatever Rose was expecting from Tony, screaming in panic was not one of them. she sighed. they had a long day ahead of them
the whole team had woken up within an hour after Tony's mini heart attack and they all different reactions of being turned into children. Unlike Tony, Steve was pretty calm. Thor was cursing magic. Bruce was confused. Clint thought it was amazing and cool. Natasha was passive aggressive.
Once they had all woken up, Mia and Rose shrunk down some of their clothes for them, gave them something to eat before making them all sit at the sitting area on Mia's floor. the Avengers didn't really look anything like their older versions.
Tony had his her a bit longer and messier. he looked a lot less haunted from his demons and more in a smart kind of cute. Next to him, Bruce was adorable with curly dark hair and frameless glasses on his nose. Clint, smallest of the gang was pugdy. his face had a lot of baby-fat but of course, he looked cute, very cute, maybe cutest of them all. Thor had his signature long blonde hair, his casual attire and Mjolnir next to him. Natasha was more on the older side. Her red hair was past her shoulders and wavy and her curves were on their earliest stage but she still looked every bit of scary assassin she was. or at least she tried to look that way. Steve was also a bit older than the others. his stature was more on the lean side than muscle but he didn't look different. his blonde hair, now a shade lighter, was styled in the same way and he looked around the room like the trained soldier he was
Okay, so maybe they did look a lot like their older versions.
"so how about you start explaining what the heck happened" Rose demanded
and at once, they all started. not only did it not make anything clear but was adding to the witches' headaches. and Rose was first to snap
"shut it!" Rose frowned, quieting them all "In case you didn't get the memo, neither Mia nor I speak chorus. one at a time."
"Steve" Mia calmly began "what happened?"
Steve started telling everything. Then Natasha took over.
In the end, Rose smacked her forehead loudly and ran her hand through her hair
"First and foremost. ' S. Potion' stands for Shrinking potion, not Strengthening potion"
"And something tells me it doesn't shrink the size" Bruce added
"We've never really tested it on humans" Mia said "But our old potions teacher used to say that with this potion, you can turn a full-grown cat into a mewling kitten. His words"
Rose snorted and every head turned to Clint
"How was i to know?" Clint demanded, throwing his hands up. His voice was very childlike. Had the girls' not known what had happened, Clint actually behaved like a baby.
"Since when could you read Gaelic?" Mia asked
"I don't. the book had notes in English"
"You translated it?" Mia looked at Rose
"It was when i was learning Gaelic. you should have put it back, Clint"
"But i don't get it" Tony spoke up "Katniss is mundane. How did he do the spell?"
"There's one possibility" Mia said
"They are rare, Mia"
"Yeah, but not extinct. he could be one of them, you know"
"One of what?" Clint asked
"Can you trace your family? surnames, any particular place...anything?" Rose asked
"Uh...my mom's maiden name was Daniels. I don't know much." Clint shrugged
"Alice was last of the Stewards." Rose sighed
"Boot brothers?" Mia asked
"I think Chadwick may have."
"Uh.." Clint began "I remember my dad once saying that my some great-great-something-grandfather was named Chadwick Boot."
he noticed the widened eyes of the witches
"Why? is it important?"
"Yes!" Rose nodded "Are you sure?"
Clint nodded
"Should i go ahead?" Mia asked, pulling out her wand
"What are you gonna do?" Clint asked
"Just want to check something" she replied and muttering an incantation, waved her wand over Clint. As a result, Clint glowed a dark blue aura
"Huh, I wasn't expecting this" Rose snorted
"Are you gonna share with class?" Nat asked with a frown, which did not hold as much power as it did before. She looked a bit...adorable
"Right" Rose nodded "Chadwick Boot was a well known American wizard. His mother was the founder of Ilvermorny Institute of Magic."
"I come from a family of wizards?" Clint perked up
"kind of" Rose replied
"A squib then?" Tony asked
"Squid?" Clint raised a brow
"Squib" Mia said. "Mundane kid born to magical parents. But no. He's more of a hedgewizard"
"What's that?" Steve asked
"Hedgewizard if a level above squib but below a standard wizard." Rose looked at Clint "Means you are not entirely mundane, but don't have enough magic to wield wand or cast spells. Just a small pint-size amount of magic"
"So that was how he was able to cast that spell" Bruce concluded
"Hmm-mm" Rose nodded "Most spells require a decent of magic to be cast"
"But few of the spells require just a teensie bit. This was one of them. You pint-size amount of magic was able to cast the spell" Mia continued
"How long before the spell wears out?" Thor asked and everyone turned to look at Rose
"That, I'm not sure of. I never really finished the book."
"So we are stuck like this?" Clint asked
"I think you deserve it" Natasha said and smacked Clint
"Hey, no violence, kids" Rose separated the two and went back to her seat, thinking hard when she felt seven eyes on her
"What?" she asked
"Did you just call us kids?" Nat asked
Rose blinked when she realized her slipup
"You are kids" she shrugged in response, sighed burying her face in her hands. she exhaled again and ran the hands over her face
"JARVIS, are the scans ready?" Mia had
It had taken them quite a while to clear the magical descripencies so JARVIS could function properly again
"Yes, Ms. Granger" JARVIS replied "My scans detect Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff to be 10 years of age. Dr. Banner is 9 years old, Mr. Stark is 7 years old, Agent Barton is 4 years old and Mr. Odinson being 150 years old"
Rose blinked and shared a shocked look with Mia
"How is Thor a 105 years old?" Tony asked "He looks...7-ish"
Thor looked at Tony with a frown "I'll have you informed, Stark, that I'm well over a 1000 years old"
"You have your answer, Tony" Mia shrugged
"Okay" Rose exhaled, running her hands over her face again "Okay. Okay. I seriously need to find a cure to this whole...situation. Fury can't know. Public can't know."
"What's wrong with Fury?" Clint asked
"What do you think Fury'll do if he finds out that the Avengers have turned into kids? He'll probably stick you guys in some lab" Mia replied
"Uh..Rose" Bruce began
"yeah?"
"Your phone's ringing"
Rose looked next to her where her phone was vibrating in silent mode. She picked it up and paled. Oh she was gonna die today.
"Who's it?" Mia asked, noticing her friend's change in behavior
"She's gonna murder me" Rose muttered
"You better pick that call then"
Rose pressed her lips in a thin and answered the call, placing it on her ear
"Where. The. Hell. Are. You?"
Rose winced. Yup, Pepper was gonna murder her
"At the tower" Rose replied meekly
"At the to-..Rose you were supposed to be here at the presentation 20 minutes ago!"
"I know!" Rose replied "But i can't"
"What does that mean?"
Before she could reply, Pepper resumed
"Don't pull a Tony on me right now, Rose. I told you before. This is a $60million business deal that we need in our pockets. How could you bail at me?"
"Pepper, something happened. Something's wrong"
"...Are you okay? Is Tony okay? Mia? the team?"
"Mia and I are fine. Team's fine too, kinda. Look, I can't really be there today. I'll explain when you'll get back"
"Rose..." Pepper sighed at the other end
"Maybe you should go" Mia offered "I'll see what i can find and keep an eye on the mini-avengers. you go and sign that deal off"
Rose looked at Mia, hesitant and lips pressed
"Go. I'll be fine"
"'Kay" Rose nodded "Pep, I'll be there in 2 minutes." she hung up and got up and stretched.
"I'll be back asap" she said and left
Once Rose was out, Mia turned to the Avengers.
"Okay. right now, you all need rest since it's around 4AM. go to your rooms and try to grab some shut eye. I'll start looking for some cure in the morning. and until you guys are tuned back to normal, there are gonna be a few rules." Mia declared and frowned when she saw Tony, Clint, Thor and Natasha ready to protest "Not a word. You are not even teenagers physically, so don't try to act like adults. First rule, no weapons. Don't you dare, Clint. This is all your fault"
Clint huffed, very cutely for a four year old, and crossed his tiny arms, looking away
"second, there's going to be a curfew for bed time. third, no alcohol whatsoever." here she pointed a glare towards Tony,
"Why are you looking me?" Tony asked
Mia exhaled and then looked at everyone else "You will not leave the tower without me or Rose. or Pepper, after she returns. fifth, no entry to the labs or training facilities." she shot a pointed look at every kid who seemed to not agree with the rules, but were smart enough to not vocally challenge her.
"That's it, for now. if Rose or I comeup with a few more, then they'll be added. JARVIS, you listed all the rules?"
"Of course, Ms. Granger"
"since when does JARVIS listen to you?" Tony asked
"Ever since you got yourself de-aged. Rose gave me override codes" Mia replied "Now, everyone to bed. Now!"
the six de-aged Avengers stood up at once and started heading for their rooms
Mia sighed hard and ran her hands through her hair. Handling Avengers was one thing. but handling kid-avengers was gonna be worse. She better start finding a cure or a counter-spell.
Exam's finally over. Semester's over. I'm free! for now, at least
So, this is gonna be a two-part. Could be three-part too. I've had this idea for a while and now I'm running it
I really wanted to post it yesterday, but got busy with my birthday celebrations. I finally turned 19 yesterday! Yay!
The second part would be there by Sunday. so, stay tuned to read.
Another thing, I need a beta. I sent some requests but no response. if anyone's volunteering, pls PM me. I really really need a beta.
Thank you. Read and Review. Like lots and lots of reviews (^_^)
Ciao