Ok, so, it's been a long while since I've updated this story. I want to start off by apologizing for the poor updating. I've been having some personal struggles. Plus, I had some difficult courses on top. Suffice it to say, I have not been in a good place, but there's no worries now as I'm updating! Yay! It's great! Now, I haven't gone through this to check for errors and such, so please feel free to tell me so I can make corrections if necessary. Questions if you are confused are also welcome and I will try to clarify things.
"Now, I know Tony may be close to figuring out how to track me since he likely figured out it wasn't a satellite signal I was using, so goodbye," Adrian canceled the call. He coughed as he focused and his vocal chords changed again, "All that's left is to wait, I guess. I wasn't sure if that would all work, but I'm glad I got to hear Steve's voice again. Anyways, let's get you back to your mother, you little cutie. I'm sure she got a nice nap in." He smiled when Arashi rumbled again.
"Enjoy your little stroll?" Bilbo piped up when Adrian stepped back into the small clearing.
"Yes. I think Arashi enjoyed himself as well," Adrian paused as he tried to think of how to say what he wanted to say. Eh, best to just get it out fast, "I also called Steve and gave him some warning of the future to come."
"Won't that bugger up the timeline or whatever nonsense? Not to say I'm averse to it, but I believe it'd be best to leave things until it's at a point needing the most change."
"I already thought of that. The warning wasn't meant to be clear and I didn't give direct timing… Beyond that, what I said may actually just cause them to do similar things as before, but earlier."
"And what of your bond with the Captain?"
Adrian paused as he thought about it, "I do believe he is already searching for me- er, well, us. When I was talking to him he tried to keep me talking on the phone. I know that that meant he likely had Tony trying to track me. Also, I could hear the noises of trees creaking and leaves rustling on his end. I assume he somehow spotted us as we entered Central Park. Still, I plan to just approach them after an hour or so wherever they are. I just wanted some rest first."
Junn stepped out from behind the screens and voiced her concern, "Won't that be dangerous?"
"No idea, but I can defend myself. You guys, however, will need to stay back until I can get them calmed down. They will be quite on guard for a good while though once I introduce you guys on top of my appearance. Still, promise me you guys won't interfere until I signal you guys to step forward. Even if this doesn't turn out like I expect it to."
There was a moment's pause as Junn and Bilbo shared a hesitant look before reluctantly nodding.
"Good."
"Find anything?"
The deadly ginger's walking paused when she heard Steve's question, "Not yet."
"Ok," Steve was sure not to say anything more since the assassin seemed put out that she couldn't find anything.
"I thought I heard someone humming somewhere in a dense thicket of trees and bushes, but when I got to where they were there weren't any tracks. I was able to follow a bit of a trail of broken stick tips, but there wasn't enough to follow for more than a few feet in any direction," Barton piped up.
"How is that possible? The small bit you found is proof someone was there, but how did they not leave anything substantial?" Bruce asked, rubbing his eyes underneath a pair of glasses.
"No idea."
"Did you find anything, Captain?"
"Not necessarily," this piqued their curiosity and he continued at their questioning looks, "I got a call on this cell phone the woman at that restaurant gave me. A man gave me what sounded like a warning. I wrote down what he said."
The paper was passed around and a few eyebrows rose in question of the strange message.
"Obviously this person either is trying to help us out of the good of their heart or they have ulterior motives. My guess is the latter," Natasha groused after analyzing the note.
"Do you think he's right about this 'agency'?" Bruce asked.
"I don't know, but I'll try to keep this 'warning' in mind for the future. I'm just confused about some of this so I'll have to think on it further," Steve said as he folded the piece of paper and slid it into his pocket.
"We'll need to locate Thor though, since the warning involved him as well. Last I saw him, he was searching from the sky," Barton spoke up.
Speak of the devil and he shall come. Thor landed in a crouch nearby with a heavy thud, "I was unable to locate anything of circumstance in my search. How fare you in the search?"
"Not really well, beyond the call Steve got on phone with a cryptic warning anyways."
"What is this warning you speak of?" he glanced down at the paper when it was handed to him, "What is the meaning of this? Lady Jane and such malekiths?"
"I was kind of hoping you'd have some idea," Steve answered.
"I shall see if more can be found out once I bring Loki back to Asgard to answer for his crimes."
"Good," Steve paused for a moment, "I guess we've been given some valuable information if any of it can be verified."
"I can easily have Jarvis watch over Pepper. If such a 'friend' or otherwise comes up, I can easily access their background, history, and anything else to see if they have a grudge to fill or some such psychopathic bullshit villains always seem to have. If there is, than we can easily conclude that the rest follows suit," Tony asserted before adding on in a slight ramble, "Moving on from that for the moment, I was thinking we could make Stark Tower HQ for our little vigilante group. I'll have to get some repairs done, what with there being a bit of damage, but I know there's still a lot of undamaged parts of the tower you guys could take up residence in."
"I could use a bit of a nap," Clint yawned.
"Alright, we'll head back to the tower, find some space suitable for everyone's needs, and figure out more from there."
With that everyone grabbed anything they had set down when they stopped and made their way back to the streets and Tony's tower.
Arashi was sitting on the ground by his mother with his eyes closed and head tilted back in a ray of sunshine, absorbing the warmth. After a couple minutes passed with him in the position, a small dragonfly suddenly landed on his nose. Arashi's eyes blinked open and looked at the dragonfly perching on his nose cross-eyed. It made his nose tickle. With a quick sneeze, the dragonfly took off while Junn looked around for the source of the sound.
"Junn, I have a question."
"Yes?"
"Why exactly is Arashi a dragon? I mean, is that what your original species looks like?"
"Actually Adrian, that's one of the special things about my kind. No two Mutata are born alike. Each baby has a preformed, 'Original Form' that they eventually change out of once their ability fully kicks in. Then they change to a new 'Chosen Form.' Usually, it's the form of their parents, but there was cases where children kept their Original Form or changed into something else. However, that was due to their way of changing being more uncommon or rare."
"Is there a specific time you expect it to happen?"
"Usually a couple weeks after hatching, but I have a feeling Arashi will be different."
Adrian glanced around the clearing, thinking, "I hadn't originally planned to go up to them so fast, you know. I was gonna develop a plan to create some sort of villain for them to face and defeat, leading to the discovery of a bunch of the information and all that nonsense, but then there'd be the problem of joining them and explanations galore. Also, I didn't think a long-term stay in this clearing would be a good idea, it may be almost impossible to find during the summer since the trees and foliage provide cover, but when autumn and winter hit this little safe-space will likely become laid bare to any searching eyes…"
Junn smiled, "I see. Plus, there'd also be strain in staying separate, but also so close to your bonded. I doubt fighting him would be an option."
"Well, them, yeah. I have two, Steve's my 'soulmate,' but there's also Tony who is my… let's go with 'soul friend' since I only have what seems a platonic bond possible with him."
"Okay, when do you intend for us to depart then?"
"Well, maybe in a few hours? I haven't fully figured out the exact time I want to find them… My plans kind of got all kerjiggled after my analysis of them. Do you have any ideas for how to approach them?"
"Maybe, but how about I make some drinks for us first before we start doing discussions of that sort?"
Before Adrian could say anything he was cut off by Bilbo's interjecting "God, yes! I haven't gotten to experience getting drunk yet as a human."
"I don't think that was the kind of drinks she was talking about."
"Humph. I'll just make one for myself."
"No, knowing you, you'd end up with terrible results."
"Fine! I won't drink… yet."
"Junn, just make some tea or something, please?"
"Sure."
With that they sat down cross legged in a circle on the ground and Junn started putting together a makeshift tea preparing station. Adrian smiled as Arashi crawled into his lap and promptly dozed off after a minute of petting.
"He seems to like you," Bilbo muttered, "Wouldn't stop wriggling and complaining when I tried to carry him."
"Well, I think he just has good taste," Adrian teased good-naturedly.
"Lucky for him, I don't disagree with his taste in companions."
Adrian smiled at Bilbo before accepting the slightly warm cup Junn presented to him. Junn sat down next to Adrian with two cups of tea and passed one to Bilbo. At her raised brow at Arashi's choice in snuggles Adrian simply shrugged.
"So, ideas for approaching the Avengers?" Adrian asked once everyone settled in.
Steve stared up at the massive skyscraper that was to be his new place of residence until further notice. Ironic, there was nothing left of the former 'Stark' originally plastered across the building except the 'A.' Tony will likely find it just right to keep as a symbol for the "Avengers Tower" or whatever he decides to re-name it.
"I was thinking of keeping the building like that- with the 'A' I mean. Perfectly represents it's residents. But what to name it? Obviously it can't be Stark Tower anymore…"
Steve sighed as his prediction came true and Stark started trying to discuss names with Clint and Dr. Banner who both flat out refused 'Avengers Tower' before Stark even finished proposing it as a name. It would have a name eventually of course, but Steve was unsure whether he'd still be there when that happened. The tension between him and Stark might be too much for the group and Steve would willingly leave to decrease infighting with him. Given Tony's new turn of ideas, however, Steve planned on giving it a fair try before giving in and leaving for his own place.
"Alright my fellow men-in-tights and ladies, all the living space I told you about is up near the Penthouse space, but that won't be available until repairs are made since that's mainly where Loki caused damage." Observing Banner shifting in discomfort from knowing the part he also played, Tony smirked and added, "Even if it was Hulk smashing him into the floor, it was still his face that broke my floor. Besides, I watched the footage. 'Puny god?"
"That was Hulk. Not me," Banner protested, his face slightly reddening from embarrassment.
"You should take more credit, that was fantastic," Tony exclaimed with a bigger smirk.
"If you two are done, I think it'd be prudent to head up to the living spaces to decide who goes where," Both men turned to Agent Romanoff when she interrupted and Tony slowly nodded.
"Alright, this way if you'll follow me, Lady Spider."
There we go! It's up and I have started Chapter 13. My goodness. Again, I apologize for the crappy job I've done with this fanfic in terms of updating, but sometimes life has to throw a bus load of misery to make one stronger, better, or healthier... eventually (at least I hope, I've kept my story from ending so far) Please, feel free to Favorite, Follow, or Review this story to give me input (I love seeing some of the messages I've gotten on this fic so far, although there are a couple rather... tactless ones) and so you get notified when I do update, which will hopefully be sooner than it was for this one.
Rock on my fellow peeps!