FINDING HOME

SUMMARY – Renee Dwyer was Tony Stark's half-sister. When Renee is murdered in her home in Jacksonville, Tony knows something isn't right. He is distraught and needs answers. When his digging unearths several more related deaths and a niece he never knew existed, how will he react? Can Bella overcome the horrors of her past and make a new life with the only family she has left?

MARVEL'S AVENGERS X TWILIGHT CROSSOVER…

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER – All Avenger's characters belong to Marvel Comics, and all Twilight Saga characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. I own nothing, and no copyright infringement is intended.

CHAPTER 7

Jared and Kim made their way into Sam's house, both of them fiddling with nervous energy. No one had called for a full pack meeting in almost two years, and Sam hadn't said what was going on when he called, only that it was important and that everyone needed to be there, imprints included.

Looking around the small kitchen where everyone was gathering, Jared was overcome with a wave of grief. How many times had they gathered like this over the years, especially in the early days? But so many of the usual faces were no longer with them. Billy. Harry. Sue. Jake. Leah. Seth. Charlie. Bella...

Sam and Emily were in the kitchen, talking in hushed tones, and it was clear to him that his alpha was on edge about something.

Quil sat at the table, with a seven-year-old Claire in his lap, Embry beside him making small talk in an attempt to cover his own nerves. Standing behind them, Embry's imprint, and Bella's old school friend, Angela was talking animatedly with little Claire, trying to keep the girl entertained while they all waited.

Collin and Brady were both seated across the table from them, silent and distant, clearly not pleased with being there.

And looking across the room, Jared noticed Joy Atera, Quil's mother, seated on the bottom step of the staircase, watching her son. She was all that was left of the elders.

With Billy's death, Jake's disappearance, and the refusal of Rachel or Rebecca to return to the reservation, the Black line was gone completely.

Sam had taken up the mantle of Chief when it was clear Jake would never return to take his rightful place as alpha, and since no one knew if Joshua Uley was alive or dead, he was also technically the elder for his family line.

Harry and Sue had held the tribal elder position for the Clearwater family, and their death, followed by the presumed deaths of their only children, had left their line destroyed as well. Paul Lahote was technically a cousin to both the Black and Clearwater lines, which is why he phased in the first place, so Sam asked him to take a place on the tribal council as well.

Quil's father was lost at sea when he was very young, so for years, the Atera family was represented by his grandfather and the tribe's shaman, Old Quil, but he had passed away nearly two years ago now, and Joy had taken his place on the council.

It saddened him greatly to think that that quiet woman in the corner, only 39 years old, was the head of the tribal council, and the eldest advisor of the pack and the tribe. How had things gone so horribly wrong?

"What's going on Sam?" he finally asked as his alpha returned from the kitchen, his mate at his side. Everyone quieted and looked to their chief for answers.

"Paul called me a few hours ago," he explained, "He was on his way home from our construction site in Seattle. I don't have any specifics yet, and we will all have to wait for him to get here to find out exactly what is going on… But he said he had news on Bella Swan."

And just like that the whole room erupted in a flurry of frantic questions. Was she alright? Did he know where she was? Were Jake and the others with her? Was she coming home? What happened to Victoria? Had the Cullens made an appearance?

Sam just waited silently for them to stop, holding up his hand in front of him, a clear indication for them to shut the hell up so he could speak. "All Paul said was that he had news about Bells. I don't know what the news is, where he got it, or if it is going to be something we want to hear. All I know is that if Bella is involved, each and every one of us would want to hear what he has to say, so here we are. Paul should be here any minute, and then everyone can ask him all of your questions."

And of course, that was the moment Paul decided to stroll through the front door. Everyone turned to him expectantly and he got right to it, "I don't know where she is. I don't even know for sure if she or the others are alive."

"What do you know?" Sam asked, "What happened?"

"I was stopping for gas on my way out of Seattle at Greg's place," he explained, knowing Sam and Jared would both know where he meant as they all stopped their frequently on their way in and out of the city for work, "And I overheard two guys talking to Greg. They were agents with some government group called SHIELD, and don't ask me what the hell it is because I have no idea, but they were asking after Bella. Apparently after she left here she started going by the name Charlotte Connolly, or Charlie for short," and the significance of that wasn't lost on any of them.

"And somehow she landed herself on their radar," he continued before anyone could comment, "One of them was definitely military, but the other one was still built like an ox. They left in a black SUV with government tags, and headed toward Forks."

"What the hell does the government want with Bells?" Kim demanded.

"I don't know," Paul sounded just as worried for their long-lost sister, "But soldier-boy made it clear that he thought she was in danger, and that SHIELD wanted to find her and protect her. He promised Greg they would try to keep her safe, but I have no idea if this is about Victoria, or if Bells has gotten herself into some new brand of trouble, or if these guys even could protect her if they found her."

"So what do we do?" Collin asked, speaking up for the first time.

"If these guys are really looking for Bells, they'll eventually end up poking around here on the res," Brady continued, "So do we help them or try to keep them off her tail?"

"For now," Sam answered, his voice contemplative and his brow pulled tightly together as he thought about it for a moment, "For now, we watch and we wait. I want a wolf tailing their every step from now on. If this SHIELD really has the resources to find and protect Bella, I'm inclined to help them, but if they don't know what they're getting themselves involved in, and it does turn out to be about Victoria and her followers, we can't risk leading innocent humans into what would no doubt be a slaughter."

Jared needed to point out the one blaring problem this could present, "You do realize that if the government has become involved in vampire affairs, and these guys do somehow have the ability to combat them, they may also know about us, or could find out if they start digging around in our legends. Especially if one of them realizes they are being watched by a giant wolf. How do we deal with it if one of them discovers the secret?"

He couldn't help but imagine his wolf trapped in a cage in some government lab while SHIELD tried to learn all the secrets of what made him the perfect vampire-killing machine. He shuddered at the mere thought of it.

"Outsiders have been exposed to the pack on occasion before," Joy reminded them, and they all knew she was primarily talking about Charlie and Bella, and no one wanted to be the one to remind her that Charlie was now dead and Bella had been living on the run for years.

"We will cross that bridge if we come to it, but if they prove themselves capable, it may be useful to have an ally outside of the tribe that can help deal with vampire threats," Sam said finally.

"Not to mention they seem to be the only ones with any leads on finding Bells," Emily added, "It may be worth the risk of exposure if it means finding her and keeping her safe."

And on that point there could be no argument. Bella Swan was family to each and every one of them there, and if these mystery agents could help bring her home, they would all end up helping SHIELD eventually in any way they could.