Been a while friends! Sorry about that, the upcoming chapters are harder to write.
It had taken a while for Hawkeye and Laura to impress upon the children that they needed to avoid the scepter. Originally they weren't going to say anything about it because telling the children not to touch it would only increase the chances. But Nathaniel had noticed it and immediately became curious. The barrier around it was rather unique from other Asgardian defenses. It allowed beings protecting the scepter to pass through, but would prevent any others. As such, Nathaniel and Cooper were not qualified to be enemies so they could access it at any point if not kept under close watch.
After Odin left, Loki and Thor had gone over to the scepter together. The God of Mischief spoke to the fact that the walls around it would help to suppress its eminating power. But he also added another layer of magical protection on it after Thor had pressed him. The eldest brother wasn't sure what magic Loki had done, but even he could sense a shift in the energy from the scepter afterwards. He knew how much trust all of them were placing in Loki. He hoped he wasn't making their situation worse. Thor was still slightly worried the that his trust was misplaced.
And even though their luck seemed to be on a losing streak, the theft of the scepter hadn't been broadcasted the world. Partly because the SHIELD base was rather under the radar and no news reporters were called in. When Hawkeye and Black Widow had gone to check on the other side, they'd found several dead guards. Fortunately, there weren't too many people at the base that night, but by what they saw, anyone else who had been there would have been dead as well. Even though SHIELD employed some of the best agents in the world, they couldn't be trained to fight enemies that appeared out of thin air.
They hadn't received any contact from Fury after the incident with Red Skull, but after the disappearance of the scepter, they were most definitely on their toes waiting.
"What are you guys going to do?" Laura asked, pulling up the covers on their bed and tucking them neatly. She looked up at Hawkeye, who was standing near their bathroom door, eyes distant as if he were focused on something else. He glanced at her, processing her question after a moment of thought.
"I'm not sure." he said with a sigh "Even with the scepter here, it's no guarantee that these attacks will stop happening. Thor's father up in Asgard wants us just to wait, but I don't really see how we can. Or they can, I should say, because it's not like we can do anything about it from here."
Laura looked back at him, eyebrows creased. Hawkeye had brought home a lot of concerning thoughts before so she could accept them fairly well now, despite what she felt.
"And, I'll be honest." Hawkeye continued "Having that thing around makes me paranoid." he walked over to the window and looked out at the shimmering walls around the scepter.
"And it should." Laura replied "There's a very good reason for that, Clint."
"The thing that makes me most nervous is to think that while I was under his control I could have said something about you and the kids." Hawkeye said without looking at her.
Laura paused, looking up at the ceiling while thinking.
"Well, if he had control of your mind, wouldn't he have already known?" she asked. At least, that is what she had always thought.
Hawkeye glanced over, eyebrows furrowed. His eyes flicked to the ground.
"I never thought about it that way. I suppose possible. Yeah, I'd say you're right." he let out a deep breath.
Laura smiled slightly even though she still had an underlying look of concern "Don't start worrying about it now. If anything was going to happen, it would have happened then."
"Maybe he just didn't get around to it." Hawkeye muttered.
"Somehow I sort of doubt it." Laura replied, rubbing his shoulder. Her husband shook his head slightly, eyes a bit uncomfortable as if he didn't want her having those unvigilant thoughts.
"The attack at the SHIELD compound only shows how unprepared Earth would be if a full scale battle happened. Hell, look at what happened to New York when we knew it was going to happen." he said, changing the subject.
"Clint, they couldn't have prepared for what happened yesterday and only a few people knew what was going to happen in New York. I'm not saying we could stop an attack over the whole planet, but I'm pretty sure we could give any aliens a run for their money."
Hawkeye shrugged and opened his mouth to agree with her when he noticed something outside the window. He leaned in to take a closer look and Laura joined him after a moment.
A big black SUV with tinted windows was driving up the dirt road to the house, leaving a cloud of dust behind them.
"Is that Fury?" Laura asked.
"I hope so." Hawkeye replied, backing up from the window "But it could be one of the few others who are aware of this place." he started walking towards the door "We need to hide the scepter quick."
He hurried down the stairs and Laura followed him closely. Surprisingly, only Tony, Thor and Banner were inside. Black Widow and Captain America were approaching the car which had parked several yards away from the horse. Loki was on the porch, reading his book as per usual.
Hawkeye looked at the guys, baffled by their calmness. The scepter, usually visible from the window, was gone.
"Where is it?" he asked. His voice was closer to a sharp whisper.
"Out of sight for a moment." Tony replied casually. He held out an arm to usher Hawkeye to the front door "It's not Fury so you should probably be first one to greet them. Make it seem less suspicious."
"How do you know it's not Fury?" Hawkeye asked.
"I like to stalk people." Tony replied "Or, Jarvis does."
"I'm not sure it should be called stalking, sir." the robotic voice replied from one of the electronic devices in the room.
Hawkeye walked out of the house and down the steps to where a lone man was getting out of the car. He was one of the directors of SHIELD, a member of the World Security Council, and one of the very few people who knew about Hawkeye's family.
Captain America stopped and waited for the man to approach them. He was tall, broad shouldered, with completely white hair.
"Councilman Malick." Black Widow said, with a small nod and smile. She turned to walk with him as he continued to the house.
"Agent Romanoff." he returned the greeting evenly "There seems to be quite the gathering here."
"Yeah, well, we like to catch up with each other once in a while." Black Widow responded smoothly.
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"Director Fury is otherwise occupied right now, so I thought I would come out here myself." Malick said, looking at the group of Avengers "We seem to have a little bit of a problem here and I'm going to ask right off. What the hell is going on?"
"Going on?" Tony asked "You'll have to elaborate sir, I'm afraid my partners can be a bit slow." he set his phone down "And actually, before any of us answers that question, who are you? I mean obviously Agent Barton and Romanoff know you, but the rest of us seem to be at a disadvantage."
Captain America raised his eyebrows expectedly. Thor and the other warriors stood together closest to the kitchen, arms all folded in the same fashion. Loki hadn't come inside, but no one was particularly concerned with him. Malick didn't seem to have recognized him and obviously Fury hadn't passed on the information.
"I am Gideon Malick, Mr. Stark." the man replied "I work with SHIELD and on the World Security Council to keep people like you in check."
"Oh good, then you know all about us and how we saved the world." Tony said plaintively.
"You know, I've only heard of you, Stark, but right now you are living right up to your reputation." Malick said, without cracking any smile.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Tony said "Workplace hazard."
"All of you should know I was never on board with the whole Avengers Initiative." Malick said "Fury decided to run it by himself. It was never authorized. We let him get away with it because the Avengers seemed to have done us a favor in New York."
"Thanks, I appreciate it." Tony replied.
"However, I'm not so sure that this is what I call a favor right now." the man went on, clicking a button on his flat screened phone. A voice recorder immediately started playing.
"And the Avengers appeared to have been the ones behind this heinous attack on downtown New York City. This isn't far from the Avengers tower they are famous for defending about a year ago." the clip cut and switched to another reporter "They appear to be fighting a man that is a suspect in the earlier terrorist attack that day. Unfortunately, that man has not been seen since their fight with the Avengers so it's unclear whether or not the Avengers are actually the ones to blame for the first attack-"
Malick stopped the recording and tucked the phone into his jacket pocket.
"That doesn't seem like the reason Fury wanted the Avengers Initiative." he said.
"You think we'd be involved with a terrorist attack?" Black Widow asked, contemplative eyes on the ground.
"You tell me Agent Romanoff." Malick replied, looking at her "It might be best if you tell me what it's all about."
"The terrorist had another bomb he was going to set off." Hawkeye said "We had to stop him before he got to where he was heading."
"Last I checked, the Avengers aren't called in for terrorist attacks." Malick replied "We have other people for that."
"This terrorist was a bit above their pay grade." Tony replied.
"Alright. And say you're not behind this." Malick said "The staff. The one we recovered from New York City after the Chitari attack."
"Scepter." Tony said under his breath.
"I think we know what it is." Hawkeye said aloud, looking at the SHIELD director with a tilted head.
"It's missing." Malick said "Would you happen to know anything about that?"
"Missing?" Hawkeye asked "As in stolen?"
"The compound was attacked." Malick said "And funnily enough none of the cameras seem to have any record of it."
"So you're telling me the scepter that almost cost me and my friends their lives is in the hands of someone other than SHIELD?" Tony asked "Again?"
"I think you already knew that." Malick responded "And your feigned innocence is coming off a bit too strong."
"I've never feigned too much in my life." Tony said.
"We didn't have anything to do with that." Captain America said.
"Then why are you all here?" Malick asked finally.
There should have been silence, but Tony wasn't going to provide it.
"Well one can celebrate with his friends after saving a city, can't he?"
"How did you catch wind of this so called terrorist?" Malick asked, practically ignoring the answer to his question.
"It's called a television." Tony said, waving his hand at his board.
The Councilman narrowed his eyes briefly.
"I don't believe that."
"Well, it is." Tony said, gesturing at it again.
Malick stared silently at all of them for a few moments.
"It might best if all of you stick to your job, if that's what you can call it, and leave the other things up to us. We're sending out teams to find the scepter. If they find it here-"
"Last time I checked, this place didn't exist." Hawkeye replied.
"Well, that can be overturned if you were suddenly deemed a criminal." Malick replied "I suggest you all keep in line or this place and it's occupants might be otherwise compromised."
He turned around and walked towards the door. Loki watched him from the porch as he headed towards his black car.
Hawkeye and the others all slowly came out onto the porch, faces sober as they also peered after him.
Loki took a few steps forward until he was standing beside Hawkeye, regarding the councilman with contemplative eyes.
"Are you going to let him get away with that?" he asked.
"What?" Hawkeye asked, glancing at him.
"Threatening them." Loki replied, keeping his eyes ahead.
Hawkeye let out a bitter guffaw "There's not much I can do about it."
"Cannot, should not, or will not?" Loki asked, giving him a dubious look.
Hawkeye opened his mouth and then paused for a second.
"All of the above." he replied.
"Hm." Loki looked back at the field as the car began to drive off. He placed a piece of paper neatly back into his book, closed it, and set it on the railing "Well I can."
Hawkeye blinked in surprise as the God of Mischief walked down the steps from the porch.
"Loki." Thor pushed past Banner to follow him.
"You don't mind if I overstep my bounds for a moment do you?" Loki asked, looking at him with a small challenge in his eyes. He began walking again. Thor went after him, eyes wide.
"If you kill anyone, father will-"
"Nothing so morbid." Loki interjected, watching the car driving away intently. It started down the lightly paved dirt trail, the dust clouding around it until it was no longer visible.
Loki slowly began running, gradually picking up speed. Thor watched, hand gripping his hammer tightly. Loki began to actually gain on the car. He took longer and longer strides until he leaped into the air. If he were a mortal, he would have landed maybe a few feet away, but instead he landed on the top of the moving SUV like a cat. He was crouched down, keeping his balance perfectly, despite the moving car.
Hawkeye was just staring at the scene, not making a comment.
"Well. And to think we believed we could ever keep him contained." Tony said. Captain America scowled and walked down the steps.
Loki held out a hand and then pulled it towards his body. The SUV slowly came to a stop and then began to drive in reverse.
Malick, inside, had both hands gripping the steering wheel, foot pressing down hard repeatedly on the gas pedal, eyes intensely confused.
Loki manipulated the car to go to the left and it swerved, coming a bit close to the side of the hill when it skidded to a halt. Then it was going forward again, wheels digging into the dirt to propel itself forward. Loki turned it right sharply so the back tires skidded around in a circle.
Hawkeye let a small smile appear and Tony looked over at him, face amused. Thor's face didn't share their humor, but he was also watching it happen without interference.
The SUV's engine revved as it began to rotate in a circle, sending dirt flying around it. It came to a jerky stop and then drove forward quickly. Through it all, Loki was on the top, leaning one way or the other as he moved the car. Then with a final hard stop, he let the car go and jumped off. It continued forward until it hit the rock cliff. Thor's mouth opened nervously, but the impact was only enough to dent the front of the airbag wouldn't have even gone off.
Loki walked back towards the house, obviously in no hurry, but his head was up just a bit higher than before.
Once the car was stopped for several moments, Malick opened his door and got out, his forehead a sweaty mess. He looked back towards the house. Loki held up a hand and he faded from view for moment.
The incident had happened far enough away that the Councilman couldn't see the people around the house clearly enough. He looked back at the SUV for a moment before turning to the vehicle. He walked around to the front to survey the damage and then he crouched down to look under it.
"There'll be hell to pay for that." Captain America said.
"Not if he didn't see him." Hawkeye replied.
After a bit of inspecting the car, Malick slowly got back in. Under normal circumstances, if he hadn't just threatened the people he visited, he would have gone back. But right now, he restarted the car and continued driving away, increasing his speed just a tad.
Loki reappeared a few yards away, walking towards Thor. His older brother stared at him, face disapproving. The God of Mischief looked back around to watch the SUV leave just as he reached Thor, face subtly amused.
"You can't do stuff like that." Thor growled.
"Really?" Loki asked, his voice suggesting he was prepared for a lecture he wouldn't listen to.
"You could get in serious trouble for that." Thor went in sharply.
"Well, I'm not planning on telling Odin, are you?" Loki asked, glancing at him.
"I wouldn't be too sure." Thor replied in annoyance.
Loki glanced down at the ground with a quick smile "That's alright. I was never the tattletale brother anyway."
Thor opened his mouth in offense as Loki, still staring after the SUV, suppressed a small laugh and turned around to walk to the house. He waved a hand and then the scepter slowly came back into view.
"They're vehicles have cameras." Captain America said.
"I think if you ask them, they'll find that I was never there." Loki said as he passed him.
Tony's eyebrows went up and he took a few steps over to Hawkeye.
"Looks like you've made a friend." he said, leaning over to him.
Hawkeye shook his head and glanced back at the house "I don't think it's me." then he took a deep breath and shook his head. He gestured at the scepter "They suspect it was us."
"But they don't have any proof." Captain America replied "Don't give it up too soon."
"He just came to see if he could scare it out of us." Black Widow said "And maybe warn us to be careful."
"He straight up threatened us." Tony replied "SHIELD is starting to get a little bit controlling."
"They don't want us doing anything stupid." Black Widow said "Which I think we already have. He came on hard to see how much we knew."
"Yeah." Hawkeye said, scratching his head "I mean, what we're doing is good and all, but I don't really think we want to start a war with the World Security Council."
Thor let out a deep breath, eyes in a rather conflicted scowl. As far as his brother, the event was encouraging, but he knew from experience that Loki was very good at hiding what he really felt. However, like Hawkeye said, the last thing they needed was the rest of Midgard turning against them.
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