Hey! So, several of you have asked (including my roommate) for a visual representation of the creature, so I've finally gone and done one! It can be found here: thehobbitdoctor . deviantart art/Time-s-Up-559479732 (you just have to delete the spaces around the .'s)
Also, this will be the third to last chapter! Thank you all so much again for sticking with me this long! :) -E
"They're drawings- and writings about the creature," Steve said quietly. "They're about the creature."
"This makes so much sense!" Clint exclaimed, reading and rereading the pages he held in his hands, torn from the wall. "Well, it doesn't make any sense what-so-ever, but this makes so much sense!"
"It can alter reality," Tasha nodded, taking one of the pages from Clint and handing him a new one from her small stack. "It's not going to make much sense."
"Do we have a name for it yet?" Steve asked, glancing at the now-shut door before leafing through the pages in his hands. "So we can stop calling it 'the creature'?"
"Not yet."
"It says here that it can only be killed by fire," Tasha's eyebrows came together. "How are we supposed to manage that with nothing on us?"
"Oooh!" Clint quickly walked over to the other two, ignoring Tasha, holding one paper up. "Okay, here it talks about how it can 'copy' a human's skin and wear it- that's disgusting- and basically walk around pretending to be them. Steve! That explains how you were suddenly on the stairs and then you were peeling off but still alive!" Steve slowly looked from the paper to Clint, looking both disgusted and horrified.
"...What?" Blinking, it dawned on Clint that he had no idea the creature had used Steve to try and trick them.
"Oh! Oh that's right! You were- Okay. So when me 'n Tony 'n Bruce 'n Thor were coming down from Tasha's apartment, I bumped into 'you' on the stairs, but it turned out to actually be the creature- that explains the stairs from hell, too!"
"Clint. Focus," Tasha told him slowly.
"Sorry! Okay, so we bumped into you, but it was the creature, and then the creature ran off and your skin was like. Peeling off onto the floor in a massive pile of blood and hair and it was disgusting. I never really thought about how that worked after we found out you were alive still…" Eyebrows furrowing slightly, Clint read the paper again, thinking.
("So, ask for a snack, a drink… A couple of Tylenol or whatever you… Would take for your head in your shiny cloud palace… We may be here for a while yet," Leaning over a little towards Bruce, Tony whispered. "Told you they'd never find him.")
"And 'stairs from hell'?" Steve asked, his eyebrows raised at Clint.
"Mhmm. No matter which way you went, up or down, you'd always end up exactly where you started on the god damned second floor."
"That's annoying," Tasha observed, a small smirk crossing her lips. "How many times did you use the stairs before realizing it wasn't going to work?"
"Um, like, twice," Clint said defensively.
("Try closer to 10," Tony snorted.)
"Once up and once down."
"Mmmmmmhm."
("I don't know," Bruce grinned slightly. "I'd say it was closer to 15 or 20.")
"Anyways," Clint said slightly louder. "We should get moving. We still haven't found Thor."
("They were looking for me?" Thor wondered aloud.
"Oh, yeah," Bruce nodded, glancing over at him. "They followed you up to this floor that they're on and you disappeared."
"And ever since then they've been trying to find you," Tony added.
"Going through different apartments…"
"Which, if these apartments are accurate to real life, some of your neighbors have some serious explaining to do."
"Like there was this one! There was no furniture anywhere. All the lights were red," Bruce told him, his eyebrows raised as he took a sip of his coffee.
"There was another where the entire bathroom floor was covered in blood."
"This one's got the creepy room with all the drawings. And in the main room-"
"It's covered in mirrors! Like what's with that?!"
"Maybe they're as obsessed with themselves as you are, Tony," Bruce winked, taking another drink to hide his grin.)
"I found a name!" Steve looked between the two of them.
("Shhhh!" Thor hushed them and turned back to the screens, very interested in the creature's identity.)
"You're still looking at those papers?" Clint glanced back at Steve as they made their way through the rest of the apartment, Clint in front, Tasha in back and Steve between them.
"Well it's payed off, hasn't it? Now we know: it's called a…" Eyebrows furrowing, Steve attempted to sound the word out. "Vih… Vee...doon…"
"Oh, hand it over," Tasha snatched the page from Steve's hands and read easily. "Vidunder."
"I wonder what it means?" Clint glanced behind his shoulder for a moment to look at the others.
("Really," Thor stared forwards at the screens. "'Vidunder.' You must be joking."
"Why?" Bruce looked over at him, confused.
"What's it mean?" Sighing heavily, Thor glanced up at the ceiling before looking at the pair.
"It means… 'Monster.'"
"...Seriously.")
"Not sure," Tasha shrugged.
"Well, whatever it means, we know what to call it now," Steve took the paper back from Tasha. "And Thor isn't in this apartment either: we should move on to the next one."
"Agreed," Clint nodded.
("Hey! Fury!" Tony called out, glancing behind all the pods at a one-way window that stretched out across most of the back wall. "Was this you? Naming the fucking thing 'monster'?"
"The man who went through and developed the final design did," Fury's voice sounded over a loudspeaker into the room. "He thought it would be funny."
"Oh, yes," Thor agreed sarcastically. "Hilarious."
"Awwwe, look at you!" Tony grinned. "You can be sarcastic!" Thor slowly looked over at Tony, one eyebrow cocked.
"I have spent thousands of years with Loki and you think I haven't mastered the art of sarcasm?"
"...Good point.")
They walked into the next apartment cautiously and looked around.
"This... Is really creepy," Clint said slowly. Looking around the entrance of the apartment, everything looked… Normal. As though there very well could be a small family asleep in the other room.
"Maybe we should… Stay quiet? Just in case?" Tasha shrugged, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she looked from the room to the boys.
"Maybe… We should still make it quick and get out of here, though."
"Agreed."
"Here, I'll check the closet over here," Steve pointed slightly and glanced around the room again.
"I've got the hallway," Tasha hurried out of the room and Clint looked around at the different doorways.
"Uhhhh I'veeee gottttt… That room?" Walking over, Clint left the room as Steve opened the door to the closet. Almost immediately as the door opened, several large hands lunged forwards at Steve, their sharp boned fingers going straight through his body. Before he so much as had the chance to scream out, he was yanked roughly into the closet, the door slamming shut behind him.
"Is he awake yet?"
"Does he look awake?"
"Tony-"
"No? Then I don't think he's awake."
"He's awake," Steve informed them groggily, slowly sitting up, rubbing his eyes gently with his fingers. Bruce gave Tony a satisfied smirk and turned his attention to Steve, hopping off the pod and walking over.
"How're you feeling?"
"What is this? What's going on?" Steve wasted no time as he opened his eyes and looked around the room.
"We've been in a computer simulation for the past 15 hours or so," Tony told him, glancing back at the one-way window. "Fury's 'great' idea to get us to work as a team in the face of death."
"Like we don't face that all the time?" Steve raised an eyebrow as he followed Tony's gaze.
"That's what I said!" Bruce offered, walking back to Tony's pod and sitting back down.
"Now we get to wait and watch as the other two finish the simulation," Thor told him, laying back down with his arms crossed behind his head, his feet propped up on the end of his pod.
"You don't seem too interested," Steve looked over at Thor before looking at the screens. "So there was a screen for each of us?"
"And they go out once that person 'dies'," Bruce nodded.
"Ahh," Steve nodded slowly, his eyebrows furrowing. "Now, how the hell did Fury get us into these pods?"
"He has declined to share that information," Thor said, his annoyance clear in his tone. The four remained in silence for a few moments before Steve's head whipped back to look at Thor.
"Wait, when did you die?!" Blinking a few times, Thor turned his head to look at him.
"20 minutes ago, I believe?" His eyes flicked towards Bruce and Tony for confirmation.
"That sounds about right," Tony agreed and Bruce nodded.
"Something like that."
"And we were still… They're still…"
"Waste of time, now," Tony watched the screens as Clint and Tasha made their ways back to the entrance of the apartment.
"Steve?" Clint said as soon as he reached the entrance. Looking around, his eyebrows slowly came together. "Steve!"
"What's going on?" Tasha said quickly as she made her way to Clint. "Where is he?"
"Wasn't he just checking the closet?" Rushing over to the closet and opening the door, Clint looked inside. Moving aside some coats and stooping down to look under them and around the floor, he stood up straight and closed the door. "It's only coats and shoes."
"Maybe he went to look at a different room?" Tasha wondered out loud.
"There were only two ways to go- the way you went and the way I went."
"He probably went to a different apartment, then."
("Did not," Steve said defensively. "We were sticking together.")
"Why would he? We said we were sticking together this time," Clint said, getting more and more annoyed at the whole situation.
("See?"
"Yeah, we probably should have done that the whole time," Bruce side-eyed Tony. "You know, like we said we were going to."
"Alright, Mister Grumpy-Pants, what's done is done…")
"I don't know, Clint," Tasha glared at him. "But instead of arguing, we should be leaving and looking for him, don't you think?" Spinning on her heel, she went to the door and opened it, looking both ways down the hall before leaving the apartment. Grumbling after her, Clint followed, shutting the door quietly behind him as they made their way down the hall to the next apartment.
"Great," he muttered under his breath. "Now we've got two people missing." Reaching the next door, it only took Tasha a few seconds to get the lock open. Opening the door slowly, she looked inside cautiously. After a few seconds, she opened the door wider and walked inside, looking around the room.
"Another empty one," she observed as Clint followed her inside and closed the door.
"Good," Clint said quickly as he made his way through the main room. "Less to get distracted by." Going to the opposite end of the apartment, Tasha sighed softly, knowing that both Thor and Steve were probably already dead.
"We're wasting our time," she whispered to herself, wanting to just get Clint and get out of the building while they still could. Of course she cared about the others and wished they could find them, but it was seeming more and more impossible.
Walking into a dark room, Clint almost immediately stumbled forwards and landed face-first onto a bed.
"Wh- Alright." Shaking his head, he knelt down on the mattress, his hand landing on something hard and metal. Blinking a few times, he squinted more, trying to make out what it was. Picking it up slowly and cautiously, his fingers instantly recognized that it was a gun that he now held in his hands. A grin slowly spread across his face as he scooted backwards off the bed and stood up. Quickly 'scanning' the dark room (and not being able to see anything at all), Clint jogged out of the room, ecstatic there was now a weapon to kill the Vidunder with, not remembering that it could only be killed with fire.
"Hey, Tash-" Stopping dead, Clint saw the Vidunder standing between him and Natasha, her back to them both as she opened the door to a closet.
"Yeah?" She asked as she closed the closet door again, suddenly suspicious as to why he cut himself off. Turning around, she jumped back as she saw the Vidunder, her back hitting the door behind her. Looking between the two of them, the Vidunder grinned. Eyes flicking quickly between the Vidunder and Clint, Tasha shouted at Clint. "Where did y- nevermind, shoot it!"
"You think that you can kill me?" The creature seemed to purr at the two of them. "I would love to see you try…"
After a few seconds, Clint seemed to regain control of his body.
"I'll do more than try!" Clint shouted, aiming the gun.
("Bad idea," Steve crossed his arms, still irritated, his eyebrows raised.
"But he never misses!"
"With a bow and arrow," Steve pointed out.)
The second the gun fired, the Vidunder vanished out of sight.
("Welp.")
The bullet hitting her directly in the middle of the forehead, Tasha slid against the door to the ground, her eyes staring forwards. Breath catching in his throat, Clint stared wide-eyed as her body fell. The gun dropping from his hand, he took off running.
"TASHA!"
Groaning softly, Natasha sat up, rubbing her forehead. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked around the room to see Tony, Bruce, Thor, Steve and Fury all watching her silently. Taking a step forwards, a clipboard in his hand, Fury spoke.
"Romanoff," he began, but was cut off.
"What is this? Where are we? What's going on?" Tasha's eyes narrowed as she looked between everyone, eventually watching Fury closely.
"If I could go on uninterrupted," he gave her a look and crossed his arms over his chest. "You've spent the last couple hours in a simulation testing your ability to work- without any weapons or powers- as a team in the face of certain death."
"A simulation?" She repeated, swinging her legs over the side of her pod, fingers digging into the edge. "You mean to tell me that you somehow got us all into these things and-"
"There was no harm done!" Tony piped in, glancing between Tasha and Fury.
"Maybe a tiny bit of psychological damage, but-" Bruce tried but was cut short.
"Quiet," she ordered and the boys immediately fell silent. Sliding off of the pod, she walked up to Fury, pointing directly into his face. "You never- ever do this to me again. Am I understood, Nick?" Her voice was deadly and quiet as she glared at the man in front of her. Watching her, Fury remained silent, turning and walking out of the room after a few moments. Looking over at the others, Natasha remained silent, her arms crossed.
"If you-" Tony started, but was cut off by a scream coming from the last lit monitor.
"NATASHA!"
Reviews:
Maxisme: LOVE IT! And how Thor went was surprising. Did not expect that. At all. And I love how he knew he wasn't in Valhalla 'cause Tony (and Bruce) where there XD
Oh, yes. I wanted to keep Thor's... Unexpected. Well, all of them, really. But the way he went, I mean.
sk0412: I'm predicting there will be another plot twist after they all died? :D
I dunnooooooooo guess you'll just have to reaaad iiiiiit~
8839: oh god this it good. i really enjoy the characterization of clint - even in a situation like this he's still breaking out the humorous side! awww i did not see that coming with hor! that last line is so sad, because... because it just is! they were never going to find him. but not for the reason we thought :( i cant wait for the next update now! keep it up :D
I seriously always always love when people say I have good characterization ahhhh. And when people appreciate the humor bc seriously there were some really funny moments I thought in a few chapters and no one even cared. Very disappointed.
shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod: Tony and Bruce's reactions were great. I was slightly surprised at how quickly Thor died, but it wil surprise the team nonetheless. Great chapter and looking forward to he next one!
Okay I mean in acidic/super hot water though it really doesn't take long to die- especially because he isn't... Him, he's... Like a normal human? So he's less... Durable? I don't even know how to describe that.
AvengerOfFiction: pretty short, but you should really should see my face when I read these, It is always in the weirdest poses. I really can't wait until I see who is going to last the longest... man... I hope it's hawkeye. for... reasons. I just really enjoy see people being alone and scared.. and I am just realizing that if I wasn't a fangirl then I would probably be a serial killer... ONE MORE REASON TO KEEP READING!
"pretty short" I've had ones much, much shorter than that one was. And I suppose you've now gotten your wish?
ilikehats2: My god your review was long and beautiful but long (seriously though that's not me going "don't write long reviews" i just really don't want to type it all i apologize) And yeah yeah like Thor is prince of asgard like hE DOESN'T DIE. But wait! He does! Ahhh I love that this is your favorite oneeee! And the drawings/writingssss... Were explained. A little. The drawings are basically all of different... Parts of the creature, like his face, hands, torso, etc...
Fandomsareuniversal: AAAAAAHHHHHH! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOUR STORY DOES TO ME?! YOU NEED TO POST FAR MORE OFTEN! (seriously, it's like crack, I'm just itching for my next fix.)
I love you.