"Where the hell do we need to go?" Tony complained, rubbing his hands over his face in annoyance. Clint pursed his lips as nearly everyone turned to look at him. "We've been wandering around here for like ever!"
"Look, I'm sorry. I know where Malekith arrives but it's after Jane Foster finds the Aether in a different place. But, I don't know the place," Clint defended as he had numerous times before. He was beginning to get a little aggravated with having to defend himself against the statement. If he had known the answer as to where to find the Aether, one would think that he'd just smartly lead everyone there. But he had no idea. It wasn't like any of the others asked this 'pointless' information the first time around. Tony pouted. "And it's not like I can ask her cause she doesn't know. Hell, she hardly knows any of us."
"Even if she did know us, Jane likely wouldn't be looking for the convergence thing anyway," Bucky pointed out. Another thing that had been mentioned before. Without the Battle of New York, nothing was going as predicted and much of the information they would have needed for events such as this wouldn't have been looked into. Clint mentally kept regretting to say to himself that maybe they should have allowed that first event to take place. Would have made a lot more of this easier... But would have also cause massive destruction and killed people. Then again, even more could be done now that they didn't know anything.
"We shouldn't focus on any of that right now. We're just gonna have to trust that Tony and mine calculations are able to narrow down where we need to go and worry about everything else later," Bruce added. Clint grimaced. It was a fluke that Jane had found the Aether's site in the first place. So the chance of them doing it once again right now was very limited. Especially without all the research Jane had done before hand.
"What happens if we miss it?" Steve wondered, looking down the corner of an alley as if he knew the Aether would be down there. Not that anyone blamed him. The Aether could be anywhere. Even a dumpster.
"The Convergence happens every five thousand years," Loki answered. The group stilled and looked to him. Loki arched an eyebrow at them. He had assumed they knew this. Especially Bucky, Clint and Bruce.
"So wait, if we don't go an get it, Thanos can't get it for Five Thousand years?" Tony questioned. Loki pursed his lips as he heard the undertone of what Tony meant. The genius was clearly already thinking that they should give up the search and all the Aether to stay hidden for that long. But, they couldn't. Not only had Loki tried that once but...
"Titans can live for thousands of years and Thanos is rather on the younger side of his race. While you all will die soon as true to your short lifespans, Thanos will survive. And then the universe would still be in peril," Loki all but hissed at the genius. Tony huffed.
"That's a future problem then. Not mine."
"Tony!" Steve, Bruce and Clint cried at the same time. The genius shrugged. Though it was rather true. If they couldn't find the Aether now, then there would be nothing they could do and it was doubtful that anyone would believe a warning from now that Thanos possibly could be coming in five thousand years (if the titan lived that long). Tony held his hands up in defense and tried to act like he hadn't meant what he said but it was clear that he had and was just trying to backtrack.
"Why don't we split up? Gives us more ground to cover," Bruce suggested. It was a sound plan. Greenwich was a large place and so far traveling together just wasn't seeming to cut it well. Especially as they weren't exactly sure when Jane found the Aether before the Convergence and how long it would be available.
"But, who would go with who? And into what type of grouping?" Phil countered.
"Well, we could split into pairs with only one group having a trio," Natasha purposed even as she slid closer to Clint. Steve pointedly moved a bit closer to Bucky.
"So, Tony and Bruce, Loki and Thor, Steve and-" Phil started, looking everyone over.
"Stevie and Clint," Bucky interrupted. Phil, Steve and Clint looked to him surprised. "No distractions. Coulson, I would like to travel with you. I think Natasha should be with Loki and Thor."
"Oh," Steve muttered, dejected and Bucky couldn't help but give him a look that basically dared Steve to argue. The Captain made a face at his old friend but accepted the defeat. Everyone made faces at that but agreed. It would be the best decision on how to run things.
"If we can't find it today, we'll meet at the diner by the jet for dinner," Phil told everyone once the groups were settled. The others nodded and off they went.
Steve and Clint soon found themselves in a rather derelict area, which was surprising considering how well maintained the rest of the city looked. Clint figured the place would be soon torn down in order to make room for something better. The duo walked about until they entered a rather open area and they paused. Before them they could see a cement truck laying on it's side, shipping containers laying on their doors and some stacked on each other in an impossible way. They traded looks.
"Guess we found it?" Steve stated with a small disbelieving laugh. Clint snorted and looked back.
"Either that or someone really strong." Steve gave the archer an unimpressed look that had Clint smirk. There was technically no arguing either option. Without more detail, they wouldn't know until it was too late. They continued on and headed into the nearest building past the odd scene. As they got in, they noted nothing strange. It looked like a simple abandoned warehouse. Albeit the oddness of some of the equipment left in strange ways.
"I don't think this is the place," Steve muttered in disappointment. Clint shrugged. With his history of abandoned warehouses containing much more than they should, he wouldn't discount anything.
"Don't think we'll be able to see anything," he informed just as they heard a smattering of echoing footsteps. Clint placed a hand on his gun, ready for anything. Steve held a hand out to stop him from doing anything rash. The archer frowned but relaxed his hand slightly to allow the Captain to take the lead.
"Hello?" Steve called out. For a moment there was nothing and Clint began to tense up again. Even Steve began to tense up but then they heard whispering of something as three children came out of hiding. Clint arched an eyebrow but removed his hand from his gun. No way would he shoot a kid unless they attacked first. Steve smiled at them, all tension leaving his body now that he knew they were the ones that had made the noise. "Hey."
"Are you the police?" the girl asked. Clint furrowed his brow. Did they look like the local police? He glanced to Steve, dressed in jeans and a blank dark blue shirt with a tight jacket on. Clint himself was dressed in his mission pants (filled with random supplies cause damn it he was not going to be caught unprepared again) and a tee shirt with the Hawkeye logo on it. A leather jacket covered it.
"No," Steve soothed. "We're... Uh..."
"Looking for something odd, like the containers outside," Clint continued, waving his hand toward the door. The kids traded looks before focusing on them again.
"We just found it," one of the boys said. Clint nearly sighed in relief. Okay. They had a shot here of finding the Aether.
"Just found what?" Steve questioned.
"It's easier to show you," the other boy whispered. Clint pursed his lips even as the kids turned and started walking off. If this was a trap then this would be the perfect set up. Abandoned place that looked like it could follow what they are looking for, random people that knew information to help and then them leading the duo further inside. Before he could say any of that though, Steve followed the kids. After a second and a deep grumbling sigh, Clint followed as well.
They headed deeper into the building. Sitting alone was a second cement truck looking innocent as could be even though it floated a small amount over the ground. Clint's mouth dropped just slightly even as one of the boys went up to it. Without looking back, the boy put two fingers on it and gently, as if picking up paper, lifted and tilted the truck to the side. Slowly it began to spin about in place.
"Whoa," Steve exhaled. Clint stepped forward, intent on checking it out. Even if the Aether wasn't around here, this was something really interesting and honestly cool.
"We found other things too," the girl added. Clint whipped around. Could they have actually found the Aether without knowing it?
"Show us?" The kids nodded and they took off for what Clint recognized as one of the taller buildings in the area. They walked up a few flights of stars, one of the kids rushed on ahead so that he was a few flights above the others. The other two were in front of Steve and Clint but not that far ahead. After a bit, they stopped and so did Steve and Clint. They looked up when the girl prompted to see the first boy hold out a glass bottle with some sort of liquid inside. Clint arched an eyebrow even as the boy dropped it. Steve lunged forward as if to catch it but thankfully missed and suddenly the bottle vanished. "What the-"
"Where did it go?" Steve cried, looking to the kids. The girl pointed up and the two Avengers looked up just as the bottle reappeared and fell down. They allowed the cycle to repeat a few times with increasing speed before the other boy caught it. "Does it work with other things?"
The kids nodded even as Steve spun and grabbed an empty can from the floor and tossed it out. It vanished like the bottle did but didn't reappear. Clint frowned. "What happened?"
"Sometimes they come back. Sometimes they don't," the girl admitted with a small shrug. Clint hummed, looking out into the area as the boy dropped the bottle again. It went around once when Clint felt something calling out to him. He didn't know what it was but something. For half a second Clint debated ignoring it. But, considering they were looking for something... He glanced to Steve. After a second, Steve looked back. He must have noticed something in the archer's face or body language as the Captain nodded.
"I'll go call the others. You can check it out," Steve said without the archer even asking. Clint nodded and headed off even as he heard the kids ask what Steve meant by others. He ended up walking past the kids again and onto an empty floor with giant openings to look down with no railings. One area showed that Steve, while on the phone with someone, was still playing 'toss the item to see if it returns.' Clint shook his head and turned to walk away as a random wind brushed over him. He jerked around, looking and trying to see where it was coming from. But like the portal or whatever from down below, he couldn't see a thing.
Walking around the floor, Clint tried to figure out where whatever was calling out to him was trying to lead him and even where the wind was coming from. As he went to pass by a hall, his hearing aids picked up a whistling noise at the end. He turned to look and just saw an empty hallway. "Yeah. Okay. Walk down the creepy ass hallway with creepy ass happenings around. Smart."
Though, his statements and fears didn't stop the archer from walking down. The wind picked up again, this time pulling toward the door. He frowned and stopped, not liking this. Maybe he should just head back to Steve so that they could wait for Loki. But the wind started to pick up. Surprised, Clint took a step back toward where he came from. He hardly placed his foot down when some sort of force pulled him forward toward the wall. There wasn't even really a second to scream or even really move his hands up to stop himself from crashing. Thankfully he didn't hit anything and instead passed through and didn't stop until he ended up in some kind of darkened cavern, nearly falling off into a giant hole. He swallowed and stepped back.
"Whoa," he whispered to himself before looking about. The place looked like a normal cave. If only with a larger hole than typical. And walls that were so sheer Clint doubted a professional rock climber would be able to handle climbing them. Otherwise, there didn't seem anything abnormal. Until he looked left.
There stood a giant tower of stone, split down the middle. Red color swirled around inside. There was no mistaking the power emanating from the area. And yet, Clint felt drawn to it. Even thought he was feeling a slight edge of paranoia, Clint found himself walking toward it. Not that he'd wouldn't have checked it out anyways cause he doubted he'd be able to go back through whatever portal sent him here right now. Curious though, he got close enough to look inside and see the dark reddish thing flowing around the area. He watched as it twisted and turned about as a memory came to him. 'The Aether. First, it's not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge sort of thing, so someone's gonna need to amend that.'
"Shit," Clint hissed attempting to back away even as the Reality Stone 'sludge' jumped out of the stone and into him. He cried out in anger and anguish, jerking away even as the thing followed until it completely vanished into his skin. Panicked and pissed, Clint started rubbing at his arms as if that could not only stop the Aether but also remove it. "Son of a bitch! No, get the fuck out!"
He took maybe five steps away from the obelisk before falling to his knees, weakness falling over him. Already he could tell the Reality Stone was pulling at his power and his power was fighting back. Muttering another curse, he fell down completely as his world turned red with the Reality Stone. He felt himself floating, the stone swirling around him as it started to bond with him. His magic made the entire process a little harder on the Stone but it didn't seem long before it started to work.
"No," he whispered as best as he could, trying to let the stone know that he didn't want it to take him over. But the stone didn't care as he felt it fully bond and then full consciousness slowly started to return. He groaned, looking about. Somehow he found himself back in the area with the cement truck, which was still floating in circles. "Son of a bitch."
"CLINT!" Bucky screamed. Clint turned to look at him as everyone rushed toward him. He half waved before laying back down. Bucky got to his knees and hovered over him. Somehow the Sergeant could tell that he shouldn't touch Clint as of yet. There was something different about the archer. "Are you okay?"
"I hate these stones," the archer muttered petulantly. Bucky arched an eyebrow. That didn't sound good. "Fucking stone is in me."
"You bonded with the Aether?" Loki cried, slightly horrified. When Jane had the Aether inside her, it wasn't a complete bond. It mostly sat in her, draining her life away as it tried to protect itself. Being bonded was different. Clint twisted slightly to look and see that everyone had joined them. For half a second Clint wondered how everyone had gotten here so quickly. He had only been gone for a few minute, right?
"You make it sound like it was my fucking choice," Clint stated, finally started to actually get up. He stumbled a bit but was able to hold himself before falling. Bucky's hands hovered over Clint, unsure exactly how to act with the archer now being a host to the stone. He didn't want the stone to split between two people. "Damn thing attacked me."
"Stones can't attack anyone," Bruce needlessly mentioned. Clint looked to him. After everything, that was the man's problem? Bruce changed into a gigantic green guy and yet he couldn't believe in a stone that could attack someone?
"They can if they're more liquid then stone and sentient." Bruce's eyes widened and Tony looked about ready to burst out of his skin. Clint winced knowing exactly what the genius wanted to do. He pointed to the billionaire. "No. We ain't examining me."
"We need to remove it from you," Loki pressed even as Tony took out his cell phone and started JARVIS on doing some sort of scan on Clint. Bruce leaned forward and watched the data come through. Clint snorted.
"No shit."
"How did you remove it from Jane before?" Phil questioned, worried for the archer. Everyone shifted a bit tense about the entire thing.
"Malekith was the one to remove it before," Loki stated. Clint winced. He had nearly forgotten that the Dark Elf was searching for the Aether like Thanos. Bucky turned and narrowed his eyes on the trickster.
"Yeah, and look how well that went. Greenwich was nearly destroyed." Loki shrugged. It was clear that outside of Malekith or even returning to Asgard, they wouldn't likely be able to get the Reality Stone out of Clint. Clint looked over to Bruce.
"Hey, what about the extractor thingy?" Clint inquired. Bruce sighed and pinched his nose.
"It wasn't meant to hold the Aether long term and Rocket was mostly the one to make it," Bruce argued, shrugging. This wasn't one of the first times that Clint or Bucky suggested something that Bruce helped build but the doctor couldn't actually make on his own. Tony perked up from his phone and scans.
"Rocket? Who the heck names their kid Rocket?" the genius chuckled. Clint and Bruce give the billionaire a dead panned look.
"He's a racoon," Bruce and Clint informed at the same time. Tony's mouth opened slightly at that before he shook his head and went back to the readings from Clint.
"We should head back to New York soon," Natasha suggested.
"And what of the battle that is to happen here?" Thor reminded. Everyone paused to think.
"We book a hotel near the sight and wait out the three days," Phil answered as he moved closer to Clint. The archer sighed deeply as he tried to remember everything Thor had said of the time Jane had with the Aether inside her. "Hopefully, we'll figure out how to remove the Aether in that time."
Before anyone could stop the agent, Phil went to gently pat Clint on the shoulder. But the Aether, somehow knowing that everyone wanted to remove it from it's host, defended itself. A wave of red exploded from Clint's body, tossing everyone aside. Clint fell to his knees surprised at the sudden drain on his system.
"What the hell was that?" Tony cried as everyone slowly got to their feet.
"The Aether was defending itself," Loki hissed, looking Clint over closely. Bucky stepped toward the archer.
"Clint, you okay?" the Sergeant wondered. Clint nodded, swaying a bit as his energy ebbed. Bucky stepped forward as if to catch the archer but paused before getting too close.
"Why would it think it needed to defend itself?" Steve added. Clint looked up.
"It must know we want to remove it."
So, for those unaware, this is a sequel to Avengers Redux and Changing Time which is a sequel series to the After/Clint is series. Not sure if I mentioned that in Changing Time, sorry. I might have rushed into this story a bit, so, yeah... My mind has been f-d up and so honestly, sadly, I almost didn't even post today...
Darius is good. Just got finished having a meeting with his teachers about putting him in full day Kindergarten with OT and Speech therapy. Hopefully things will work out fine there with him and all that. I'm looking forward to the full day of him in school. If we're all lucky, my mind will start working again and I'll be able to pump out of a bunch of different stories. I got about three series that I'm almost done with and once done I should be able to post all of them on both sites at the same time. I don't want to run into the same trap I have been with this series and it's prequel in which I was posting while writing, causing a bunch of mistakes...