"Barns, I'm not here to hurt you." –MarvelGeeeek, "Hail Storm"

"And why should we believe that, Agent Romanoff?" said the pig barn. "Everyone knows how you Avengers feel about buildings; you can't even see one of us without thinking how much his casual demolition would enhance your next big final showdown with Ultron or whoever."

"City buildings, sure," said Natasha with a puckish smile. "But you must know I wouldn't dream of letting a well-made barn get wantonly smashed in battle. Clint would never forgive me."

There was a moment's silence as the barns considered this. "Then why are you here?" said the big cattle barn at length.

"Because," said Natasha, "unless we're much mistaken, the reason why all you barns have wills and intellects is because someone buried the Soul Stone somewhere on this property. If you take my advice, you'll let me find it and dig it up my way; I guarantee you, it'll be a lot more respectful than Thanos's."

"I see," said the cattle barn slowly. "Yes, all right, then. Just try not to do too much damage to the blueberry field; the farmer's wife is very proud of her jams."

"Then I'll try to keep her out of one," Natasha replied, and shouldered her spade. "See you later, barns. If a man shows up wearing a scarlet cloak and making weird hand gestures, tell him I'm out in the back forty, plowing for soul."

"Cautiously, he stepped across the room toward the alter[;] no booby-traps appeared." – r .gii55447*, "Guardians of the Galaxy Gets Canceled"

"Hey, how about this?" he said brightly. "No poison gas, no caving-in ceiling, none of the little surprises that a guy who really thought he was a paranoid Taluhnian emperor would rig in his private hideout. Who said that Kree MPD ray would affect our boy Groot, anyway?"

"I did," said Rocket. "And you know something else? I still do. And you know another something else? I'm right."

"Oh, pish-posh," said Star-Lord, and reached out a hand toward the giant tree-being. "Come on, big guy, let's get you home. You remember us, right? Your old buddies, Peter and Drax and…"

A ten-pound wooden fist shot out, and sent him sprawling unconscious to the floor. He hit the ground with an almost inaudible dull thud – almost inaudible, that is, over the suddenly screaming siren, the roaring wall of fire that shot up between him and the alter, and the latter's enraged bellowing, "I am Bleaf!"

Rocket rolled his eyes, shouldered his weapon, and turned a long-suffering glance to the other Guardians. "Okay, kiddies," he said, "if you learn nothing else today: never trust a man's judgment who says 'pish-posh'."

"Don't get him wrong, seeing the world was great, really, but the sight of the concrete jungle can never seem to get old to the old Queen's born superhero." –HandAssassinSpider-Man, "A Man of the Web and a Woman of Iron"

"You always did like this place, didn't you?" said Queen Ramonda with a smile, as her young personal champion wandered nostalgically about the centuries-old concrete trees.

Peter blushed. "Well, I'm not saying it's the first place in Birnin-Zana I'd take a tour group," he said. "Can you imagine? 'Constructed in 1370 at the whim of an eccentric chief of the Gorilla Tribe, this magnificent replica of the western jungles has been called one of the finest examples of Ninth-Dynasty…'" The effort of keeping a straight face was too much for him, and it was some minutes before he was able to go on. "But, yeah, I guess I'll always be a little partial to it. So many memories, you know: all those hours spent running up the trunks, chasing T'Challa through the branches, just generally honing my powers so I could go serve Your Majesty in the world outside… it's pretty sweet, you know?"

"I do," said Ramonda. "Your mother, Bast rest her soul, felt the same way. I shall always thank the gods that the Dora Milaje found her as an infant and brought her to me – and I thank them, also, that you were born with her powers, and could continue her work as my agent when she passed from this life."

"Oh, me too, ma'am," said Peter. "Imagine if I'd had to wait to be bitten by a radioactive spider when I was 15, or something; what kind of a life would that have been?"

"She watched as Natasha tiled her head and looked at her for a second before nodding slowly." –Red Batons, "Master of Lies and Deception"

"Yes, that should do," said Natasha. "If I didn't already know, I don't think I'd ever guess that you weren't a mosaic sculpture of La Muerte Roja. Just try not to blink while anyone's looking, and you should blend right into the Collector's little statuary garden, don't you agree?"

Seeing herself in the full-body mirror, Wanda did indeed agree; she didn't dare nod or speak for fear of upsetting the tiling, but Natasha saw the sparkle in her eyes, and smiled. "Okay, then," she said, and opened the dressing-room door. "Thor?" she called. "We've got a little parcel here that needs shipping out; what time does the Mjöllnirpost leave for Knowhere?"

*Properly without a space before the period, but the site software won't let me transcribe that.