See Chapter One for Disclaimer
If a Tree falls…
"The Winchesters and Cas should probably stick to the streets," Steve said confidently. "They know the area better than the rest of us."
"We'll go with them," Sherlock announced. "I've visited a time or two, I know where Madison is most likely to frequent." Steve nodded and turned to his team.
"Question," Clint asked quickly, interrupting Steve. "Why don't we just ask the outsider who's been acting quite guilty the last few seconds?" He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, and everyone slowly turned to face Theo.
"Listen," He said hurriedly. "I don't know any specifics."
"Well what do you know?" Tasha snapped.
"What happened Junior Year?" Wanda asked, head tilted. She moved forward slowly, eyes bright. "In Criminal Law?"
Theo flushed and started blustering, his hands waving about nervously. "You – reading minds is not fair!" He snapped.
Wanda grinned. "I didn't," she said smugly. "I overhead you and Maddie speaking on the back porch."
"News flash," Pietro said sourly. "My sister can only read the minds of those from THIS dimension."
"Oh." Theo sighed heavily in relief. "That's good to know."
"You know what else would be good to know?" Mycroft spoke up waspishly from the kitchen. "What exactly occurred during Criminal Law, junior year."
"You guys," Theo huffed. "You know Maddie. We were participating in a mock hostage situation. I was one of the hostage negotiaters. So was Maddie. We weren't getting through to the unsub. Maddie resorted to drastic measures."
"What, the unsub wouldn't answer the phone, so she walked right in?" Clint guessed, and Theo shrugged.
"Actually, yes. It worked too – zero casualties, she talked him down in less than ten minutes."
"Impressive." Tasha said impassively. "What does that have to do with right now?"
"I second that," Sherlock huffed, but then his eyes widened. "Unless…"
"She's going to try and talk Ultron down in person." Dean said flatly.
"Pretty much." Theo admitted.
"So now we have to work faster." Steve shook his head. "All right. Is everybody ready to go?" The room burst into a flurry of action, people rising and grabbing their weapons, the BAU snatching paper, Mycroft idly stepping out of the way and watching everyone move seriously.
The ringing of a phone caught everyone off guard.
"Is that?" Clint asked slowly.
"A home phone?" Pietro scoffed. "Who even has one of THOSE anymore?"
Dean made a face, and his eyes were uncontrollably drawn to Steve, and then to Theo.
They all wore the same expression.
"Home phones have exactly three uses," Steve said slowly, his fists clenching at his side. "They are for the older generations,"
"For the homeridden," Dean added.
"Or for ransom calls." Theo finished.
"I vote we don't answer it," John said seriously.
"Hello?" Clint's eyebrows furrowed as he listened to the voice on the other end. "Yes. Uh huh. Right. Fine. Got it." He hung up the phone as abruptly as he'd answered it, then shrugged.
"Telemarketer," He admitted, and Pietro groaned loudly.
"You scared me," He admitted. Clint shrugged and opened his mouth, but the phone rang again.
Tasha stopped Clint as his hand automatically reached out. She shook her head seriously, and Clint slumped and moved to flop on the couch. After a moment, Tasha picked up the receiver and held it to her ear.
"Hello?" She said. Her eyebrows furrowed immediately. "Who is this?" She snapped. "I don't," She started, but was interrupted by whoever was on the other line. She listened for a few moments. "I understand," she said slowly. "Done." She finished. She set the phone down gently, then speared the room with a serious look.
"Who is Crowley?" She asked.
Sam couldn't stop his reaction. He jerked as if he'd been electrocuted, whirling to face Dean. Cas did the same, but slightly less obnoxiously. Dean's head dropped and he slumped against the wall he stood in front of.
"One of yours, then?" Sherlock assumed, and Dean looked up with sigh.
"Yeah," He admitted. "He has Orie." It wasn't a question, but Tasha nodded anyway.
"Right." He said tightly. "What does he want?"
"Money," Tasha answered abruptly, and Dean laughed sharply. "No he doesn't," he said darkly. He strode down the hall and out of sight, and after a moment, Clint snorted.
"You!" He pointed dramatically. "With the hair!" Sam Winchester made a face. "Explain," Clint demanded.
"Crowley is an associate of one of ours," Sam admitted. "Not one of our more upstanding ones,"
"He's a demon," Cas interrupted harshly. "Who has proven to be useful on occasion, which is why he still lives."
"Why would an associate kidnap a child close to you?" Wanda asked.
Sam and Cas shared a look. "It might have to do with the fact that we haven't associated with him since-"
"Since Maddie." Steve confirmed with a sigh. "You know how to find this Crowley?"
"We'll find a way." Sam assured, and Cas nodded, face serious.
"Wanda, Nat, you help them," Steve ordered. "Theo – your team is really here to help?"
Theo nodded, then checked with his team. Hotch seemed expressionless for a moment, and Theo's eyes widened dramatically, his lower lip pushing out only slightly, and Hotch sighed heavily.
"How can we help?" Hotch addressed Steve, and he tilted his head.
"I'd like to split your team up a bit: the more level-headed ones we have, the more we're capable of."
Hotch nodded. "We'll follow your lead, Captain." He assured, and John nodded quickly.
"Us as well," John added.
Steve thought for a moment before straightening.
"Then I'd like you, Agent Hotchner, to take your analyst and Agent Morgan as well and take up the Police on their offer of office space: set up, make use of any and all information they have, scout for Orie and kick up a fuss about the missing suspect. Tony if you'd go with them, make sure their getting ALL the information they need?" Tony nodded and stood, and a quiet "hem hem" had Steve pausing to shoot Sherlocks older brother a look.
"I believe I'll assist them," He said, and Steve nodded.
"Agent Rossi," Steve turned and the older Italian man raised a finger.
"Actually," He said slowly, "I believe I'd like to help with this locating this Crowley fellow," He said meaningfully. "I think I could be of use to them."
Again, Steve didn't argue, just simply nodded. "Agents Reid and Jareau, if you could work with Scott and Pietro: We need to find Maddie and keep her as far away from Ultron as possible."
"You don't trust her to keep her cool?" Pietro asked, his arms crossing, and Steve huffed.
"It's not her I don't trust," He responded seriously. "Watson, I believe you're a familiar yet unthreatening face. Mind joining them?"
"Not at all," John responded quickly, and Sherlock huffed.
"I will be assisting with dealing with this Ultron character," Sherlock said haughtily, and Steve raised an eyebrow.
"Fine," He said shortly. "You're with me and Wilson. Agent Prentiss," Steve turned and inclined his head. "If you'll join us?" Prentiss nodded.
"Let's find out what this Crowley wants, locate Orie, retrieve him safely, find Ultron, keep Maddie away from him, and talk him down. Hotch, Nat, Watson? Update every hour on the hour – no exceptions. If I don't hear from you, I'm calling you back. Let's finish this – today. Go."
Steve nodded once and the group moved, splitting up as he'd ordered, speaking quickly and moving so that within minutes, the only individuals left standing in Maddie's house were Clint, Theo, Castiel, and Bucky.
"He didn't give me a job," Theo said sullenly, and Clint snorted.
"That was on purpose, idiot," He moved towards the table where Maddie's home phone sat. "It means we can do what we need to do, no judgements."
Theo's eyebrows furrowed, and he looked at Cas, who seemed just as confused.
But Bucky's eyes lit up and he hurried over, picking up the receiver and placing it by his ear.
Clint dialed a number, and after a few moments Bucky pressed a button and set the receiver down.
Ringing filled the room, and Theo and Cas joined the other two men around the table.
The ringing ended abruptly as a voice answered the phone.
Maddie.
"Sup nerds?" She greeted.
"What do you think you are doing?" Clint immediately snapped out, and Maddie sighed loudly for a long time.
"I'm meeting up with an online friend," She answered dryly, and Clint snorted.
"Is that safe?" Cas said lowly, and she laughed.
"It is neither safe nor sane, but I'm not one to care much about how I'm appearing to others, and my well-being is certainly not as important as my sons. What are you currently doing to ensure his safety?"
"We're not calling you back in," Bucky interrupted, "Clint's just being a worried old dad right now."
"Well tell him he sucks." Maddie said sulkily, and Theo snorted.
"Mads, how's the weather?" He asked urgently.
The other side of the phone was quiet, and then Maddie said "Blue skies and sunshine."
"Are you with Ultron?" Castiel asked.
"Duh." Maddie rolled her eyes. "I'm not at the salon having "Me Time", you know what I mean?"
"What are you doing with him?" Clint pressed.
"Call me Geppeto," Maddie said flippantly. "Listen, I gotta go, there are no cell phones past this point. Just find my kid, okay?"
And before any of them could respond, Maddie had hung up.
Clint huffed and started to pace the living room. Theo tilted his head.
"Geppeto?" Cas repeated unhelpfully, and Bucky opened his mouth to explain, but Theo raised a hand.
"No cell phones past this point," Theo said urgently. "Where would you see that sign?"
It only took a moment for Clint to catch up. "A hospital. Why is she there?"
Cas made a face. "Would you rather sit here and ponder all the potential reasons why Maddie does what she does, or would you prefer to locate the nearest hospital and offer our assistance?"
"What he said," Theo pointed, and Clint rolled his eyes.
"Fine," He grumbled. "Let's go then."
"Should we let the others know?" Bucky asked as they hurried out, and Theo and Cas just looked at Clint.
Clint furrowed his eyebrows. Then he laughed.
"Yeah – no. We're not doing that."
Next Chapter soon!
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~CLC~