"Wake up."
Clint startled awake, his movement limited by the large straps across his chest and waist. He struggled against his restraint, stilling when he realized several things in quick succession.
He was sitting in a jeep, and his restraint was a seat belt.
There was a young girl with bright red hair sitting next to him.
Said young girl was most definitely Natasha if the murderous look in her eye was anything to go by.
And she was at least a foot taller than he was.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Watch your language, Agent Barton." Their driver, a woman in a pink polo shirt, frowned at him through the rear-view mirror. "There's no need to be rude."
"Of course. You've kidnapped us and turned us into children, but excuse my shitty language!" Clint spat, futilely trying to unbuckle himself. "What in the goddamn hell is going on, please!"
Natasha smirked, somehow managing to look even more dangerous.
The woman's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to offer you and Agent Romanoff information I didn't offer the others. Don't make me change my mind."
Clint jerked against the stupid seat belt again, this time on principle, and huffed before falling still.
"You've been given a part. Play it." She kept her eyes fixed on the road. "You won't like what happens if you stray too far from the story."
"I love cryptic advice, don't you, Clint?" Natasha's foot moved toward the back of the woman's seat, but was stopped by some kind of invisible barrier. Her fingers moved to her own seat belt release button and couldn't budge it.
"Why are you doing this?"
"To keep you busy and give us time to get away." The driver's hands tensed on the wheel, and for the first time, Clint saw that she was nervous.
Clint and Natasha shared a look.
"Who are you working with?" Natasha's question was sharp and demanding, a stark contrast to her young face. "How many people are there?"
"No one. It's just me."
"You didn't say 'me', you said 'us'. Who are you working with? Give us their names."
With a nervous twitch, the driver's hands clenched again, and the jeep jostled off the road before she corrected the car. "There's nobody else."
"Liar."
"Please, tell us something. We're not the bad guys," Clint wheedled, soft and sympathetic where Natasha was hard. "You've turned us into preteens, we can't escape, and I can barely see out the window. All things considered, this situation has me feeling pretty anxious. We just want to understand so we can help."
The driver was quiet. She tried to keep her eyes fixed firmly on the road, but every now and then they would dart toward the mirror and flick away.
Natasha threw an arm over Clint's tiny shoulders, giving him a brief pointed look.
Clint sighed and took his cue. Just as their driver glanced in the mirror again, he gave a pathetic sniff and rubbed at his eyes.
"My sister. She's not evil. She's just sick. She doesn't realize what she's doing."
Bingo.
"She hurt people. She tried to destroy the city," Natasha said bluntly. but without the sharp tone.
"But she didn't kill anyone! She doesn't understand what she's doing. When she's on her meds, she knows not to use her powers, but she stopped taking them. I can help her get better, and this won't happen again."
"What if it does, though?" Clint leaned forward as much as he could, all big blue eyes and an earnest puppy-dog expression. "My brother Barney's done things like her. And I thought I could convince him to do the right thing, but I couldn't. People got hurt. I can tell you don't want people to get hurt, right?"
The woman's eyes darted to the mirror and she nodded.
"You can't watch her all the time. That's too much pressure."
"She'll resent you," Natasha added. "You'll lose her one way or the other."
"If I let you go, you'll lock her up. They won't let me see her."
"We'll get her the help she needs. Think of it more like rehabilitation. If you run away and this happens again, it'll be so much worse for her. And you'll be labelled an accomplice. You can't help her if you're in trouble with her," Clint said.
There was a second where Clint thought they had her convinced.
Then the driver's hands tightened on the wheel and she shook her head.
"No. We'll disappear and it'll all be fine." She gave them a guilty look in the mirror and turned the jeep onto a dirt road. "Nobody has to get hurt. If you play along, you'll all make it out of here okay. You'll never see us again."
Natasha removed her arm and Clint sighed.
"And we're kids because?"
"You're less of a threat this way." The jeep stopped. "The others will be too busy worrying about you to look for a way out. This should slow you all down."
"That's a bold assumption to make."
Their driver shivered like some kind of mirage, and then she was smiling back at them, all signs of distress gone. Her voice was peppy as she said, "Alright kids, we're here! You must be so excited to be some of the first people to see the park. Your grandpa can't wait to show you around!"
She stepped out of the jeep and went to open Clint's door, giving him a concerned look when he didn't move. "What's wrong, sweetie? Do you need a hand with your seat belt?"
Natasha snickered, catching onto the game quicker than Clint, and she unlatched both of their belts. She gave Clint a shove forward and followed after him. "No Ma'am, he's just overstimulated."
The woman walked them up to a large building, opened the door, and gestured for them to walk inside. The second they rounded the corner and a Scottish accent shouted 'kids!', Clint knew where they were.
Or more specifically, who they were.
The large dinosaur skeletons taking up much of the lobby caught his attention first. His eyes traveled upward behind them toward the red banner reading 'When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth'. A thrill of excitement ran through him.
"Is that any way to greet your grandpa?" Clint gaped as John Hammond walked down the stairs toward them. The old man smiled, his arms open wide. "Natasha! Clint! Come give your grandpa a hug!"
"Nat, we're in Jurassic Park!" Clint's eyes were shining, and he gave her a toothy grin. "We're going to see dinosaurs!"
"Focus, Clint. We've got to find a way out of here."
She nudged Clint to get him walking, and Clint swore she shoved him when they got within touching distance of Hammond so he would get sucked into the man's hug first.
"I missed you both so much," Hammond said. "How was your helicopter ride?"
"It was so much fun!" Natasha lied. She gave Hammond a big smile and somehow managed to pull Clint back to her side. "We loved it! Didn't we, Clint?"
Not to be judgemental, but Clint thought she was being a little heavy-handed with the protectiveness.
He nodded along anyway.
As Hammond stepped aside, Clint and Natasha found themselves face to face with the other Avengers. Clint would have laughed at their new appearances if he hadn't already realized that his and Natasha's were so much worse.
"Let me introduce you to our guests! This is Dr. Stark and Mr. Gennaro. Dr. Banner is a paleobotanist. and Clint, you should recognize Dr. Rogers from your book!" Hammond squeezed Clint's shoulder affectionately and turned to Steve. "I dare say Clint may be your biggest fan, Dr. Rogers. He talks about your book all the time and wants to be just like you when he grows up."
Tony looked like Christmas had come early. He had a large grin on his face, and his shoulders shook with the strain of suppressing his laughter. Steve, on the other hand, had turned an impressive shade of red.
"Don't be shy, go ahead and introduce yourselves! Mr. Gennaro, why don't you come with me to check on the cars?"
As Hammond and Gennaro moved away, Tony cracked. He let out a laugh and knelt down in front of Clint and Natasha. "I thought you two would end up as a couple of Velociraptors, but this is so much better. You two as children is hilariously adorable." Tony pointed to Clint's ears. "Love the dinosaur hearing aids, Pipsqueak. I can see why you were allowed to keep them."
"Watch it, Tony. I still remember how to-"
Clint would have to speculate exactly what Natasha said as he had pulled out his hearing aids to look at them. Although, he would guess by Tony's face and the way his smile dropped that she had threatened him with something truly awful. His attention was drawn to the hearing aids. Purple like his own, but decorated with little dinosaur stickers. The left hearing aid had a blue Stegosaurus tube trinket while the right had a green T-Rex.
When he was a deaf kid the first time around, he would have loved hearing aids like this.
He put them back in as Natasha explained what they'd learned.
"It's a bluff. People don't tell you not to look for loopholes if there aren't any," Tony said. "They're buying time."
"Maybe." Steve looked pensive. "We don't have a lot of time to test your theory, Tony. Our best option may just be to get through this as quickly as possible and pick up their trail."
"I don't know the movie," Bruce said nervously. "How am I supposed to play along when I don't know what I'm supposed to do?"
"The cars are ready to go," Hammond interrupted, appearing near the door. "Come on, kids. Doctors, I daresay you won't want to miss the tour."
"If we can change the story, then we should be able to skip the tour," Clint said to Steve. "If not, you prepare Bruce and Tony for what happens, and I'll tell Natasha."
"Good idea." Steve led the way down the stairs. They exited the building and joined Hammond, Steve giving the sky a pointed look before saying, "Excuse me, Mr. Hammond, but did I hear that a storm is headed our way? Wouldn't it be better to postpone the tour until tomorrow? I can't imagine the dinosaurs will be all that active if it's raining."
"Nonsense, Dr. Rogers, there's nothing to worry about. You'll be done with the tour and back in bed well before the storm hits."
"I have to agree with Steve here, John. It seems reckless to go on the tour if there's a bad storm coming," Tony argued. "What if the cars break down?"
"Impossible. They are top of the line. We spared no expense." Hammond sighed. "I suppose we can arrange for you to take a tour tomorrow, but I won't deny my grandchildren the treat of going on the tour today. Mr. Gennaro, would you accompany my grandchildren in the park?"
The argument on Clint's lips that he would rather go when the others went died the second Hammond placed a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't speak or muster up the energy to move away or break out of Hammond's grip as Clint was ushered toward the car. His body was obeying commands he hadn't given it.
On Hammond's other side, Natasha seemed to be in a similar situation based on the stiff, stormy look on her face.
It was all Clint could do to give Steve a desperate look, asking him to do something. He could only imagine what would happen to them with Gennaro as their sole escort.
"You're probably right," Steve said. He stepped toward the other car and gestured for Tony and Bruce to follow. "We're overreacting. We'll join the tour and save you the trouble of having to reschedule ours."
"Excellent!" Hammond clapped his hands together and led them towards the cars. "Get in, get in. It's all state of the art. Fully electric cars, non-polluting of course, with interactive touch screens. Not to mention, it's all narrated by Richard Kiley. We spared no expense."
Clint regained control of his body, a shiver racing down his spine. He felt nauseous. The last time he had lost control of himself like that was when Loki had brainwashed him. Clint numbly followed Natasha into one of the cars, carefully avoiding looking at his reflection.
"Clint, tell me what happens next," Natasha whispered urgently.
Clint pushed his thoughts aside and focused on Natasha. "You'd know if you had watched the movie with me one of the twenty times I asked."
Natasha glowered. "I'll watch it with you when we get out of this."
"Deal." Clint moved to sit right next to Natasha, leaning in conspiratorially. "The first thing to know is that we don't actually see any dinosaurs on the tour. We've got to follow Steve when he goes AWOL, and that's when the real adventure begins."
Bruce was starting to panic.
Being trapped inside of a movie with no clear way out was bad. Listening to Steve tell him that Bruce was going to be running from highly intelligent dinosaurs for the next two days was significantly worse. But the part that absolutely terrified him was that the familiar, unnerving grumble from the Hulk was glaringly absent.
Which likely meant the Big Guy wasn't going to be making an appearance if anything went off script and the dinosaurs decided he was food. And if there was ever a time where Bruce would actually appreciate being a large angry monster, it was when he was going into a situation where there were larger, hangry monsters.
"Bruce, are you paying attention? Steve jumped out of the car. We have to follow him."
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, Tony, I lost focus for a minute."
Tony gave him a shrewd look and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Stick to the plan, Bruce. We all make it out of here alive."
Tony hopped out of the car and Bruce followed behind him. Clint and Natasha were quick to catch up. They walked through the tall grass toward a jeep in the distance, and it was only when they got closer that Bruce realized why it was sitting in the middle of the field.
Bruce stopped short, staring at the sedated Triceratops.
She was breathing deeply, rib cage rising and falling in a slow, heavy rhythm. Her eyelids drooped, her mouth hung slightly open, and every now and then she would lethargically move one of her legs which were as thick as his entire body.
Bruce vaguely heard the veterinarian say it was okay to touch the Triceratops before Steve reached out. Steve ran a hand over the rough skin of her crest with a mesmerized look on his face. He quickly gestured for the others to come closer.
Clint was the first to respond, darting around them to stop just short of the Triceratops. He reached out slowly and pet her head, wearing the largest smile Bruce had ever seen from Clint.
As Bruce moved to get a better look at the dinosaur, Steve turned to him and smiled. "Triceratops were always my favorite when I was a kid," Steve said. "And I thought the fossils were impressive. She's beautiful."
"What's wrong with her?" Bruce asked.
"Imbalance, disorientation, labored breathing," the veterinarian answered. "It seems to happen about every six weeks or so."
"Strange." Bruce's eyes moved from the vesicles on her tongue to her dilated pupils. "Some kind of toxicity?"
"There's West Indian Lilac growing in their fields, but the Trikes don't seem to eat them."
"Are you sure about that?" Bruce muttered.
"You could always check their droppings." Tony smirked and gestured behind him to a large pile of feces. "That is one big pile of shit if you ask me. You might find something enlightening in it."
"I'm not that kind of doctor, Tony."
Thunder cracked in the distance, the wind picking up around them. Bruce saw Gennaro jump at the loud noise and look anxiously back toward the cars.
"Doctors, if you please, I have to insist that we get moving," Gennaro said.
Bruce swallowed convulsively, staring at the Triceratops. This was his cue to separate from the group, but getting the words out was harder than he anticipated.
Tony caught Bruce's eye and nodded. "It's better than the T-Rex."
He wasn't wrong, Bruce thought.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay with Doctor Harding and finish up with the Triceratops," Bruce said. "I can meet you guys back at the visitor's center."
"You sure?" Steve asked.
Not at all.
"Yeah," Bruce said, wringing his hands together before he gestured toward their cars. "Go ahead. I'll catch up later."
Gennaro ushered Clint and Natasha away, and Steve followed close behind.
Tony gave Bruce one final pat on the shoulder, and then he too was gone.
Bruce was on his own.