A/N - To the guest who wanted the Avengers to meet Dan in his human form: I think that's a great idea, and it's bound to happen eventually. It just won't be soon. We're only on the second day of the week Danny's spending in New York! A lot will happen over that short week, and then we've got to deal with what's going down in Amity Park. There are big things in the works, guys.
There is a panic attack in this chapter. Warning you guys ahead of time, so you can skim through that part if you need to. It will be marked by asterisks (*).
As always, I hope you like the new chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Nine
A Mishap And Lunch
Danny's ectoblaster had gone over very well with Tony, even though it was lacking its power supply, and therefore non-functional. The genius had admitted that the overall design was very good, and could easily be adapted to other energy sources. It was lightweight, and didn't have much of a recoil, the teen had explained. He knew that would change depending on the energy type and power output, but it was a nice advantage ectoplasm-based weapons had.
Bruce had gone back to his lab around an hour after they had started, claiming he had better things to do than stand around and watch two geniuses fool around with weapons and other tech. Tony chuckled at the blush Danny had gotten from the comment when the teen realized that Bruce had called him a genius.
Steve had hung around until he finished a sketch of the two of them working. It was a good drawing, and the super soldier almost wanted to show it to them. Almost. Even he got bored, though, and left to go run around New York again. He and Bruce both knew that Tony could stay holed up in his workshop for days, as mentioned before. Steve just hoped the man would have a little restraint in favor of their younger friend.
For Danny, the time the two engineers spent in Tony's workshop was nothing short of heaven. There were no ghost attacks to interrupt, and he got in four consecutive hours of building before his stomach reminded him it was lunch time.
Tony had been a huge help. When Danny couldn't explain what he did to build the ectoblaster, the genius took it apart, examined it, and reassembled it exactly the same way, explaining as he put it back together. Occasionally, he's suggest an improvement here, a little change there, and the finished product looked like it would work much better than what Danny had originally built, and only with small improvements.
When the duo left the workshop for a lunch break, they were still talking excitedly about all of the things they would like to build, or had built in the past. Tony even explained a little bit about his Iron Man suit, which led to a slightly darker topic.
"So, the power source you use for the suit is the arc reactor in your chest?" Danny asked curiously, glancing over at the glow he could see through Tony's Black Sabbath shirt.
The man nodded solemnly. "Yeah. It's bittersweet, really. Without this little baby, the shards of shrapnel in my chest would finish what they started and reach my heart. It's great that I managed to survive, but there will always be that chance that the arc reactor malfunctions and I die..." he replied, trailing off.
Danny grimaced. "Sounds horrible. But you're right, at least you managed to survive. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" he commented, laughing nervously at the end. "What doesn't kill me all the way, anyway," he thought.
Tony nodded. "Hey, you want to grab Bruce and go out for lunch? I haven't been to my favorite Italian restaurant in a while," he asked, smoothly changing the subject when Danny's stomach growled again.
The teen chuckled. "Sure. I haven't had Italian in a while, either."
"Great! I'll grab Bruce," he said, jogging over to the elevator. "Just hang out here, and I'll come get you when I find him. He's probably in his lab again. It's a good thing that he agreed to come live here, or that floor would barely ever be used."
Danny snorted, and flopped down on the couch. It had been a good day, so far.
A few minutes later, there was a loud bang and someone dropped through a vent in the ceiling. Danny was startled, and leapt up into a defensive stance, fist raised protectively, facing the potential threat.
The man sprang up from the crouch he landed in and froze, wide-eyed, staring at Danny. He glanced around, and realized that the living room was otherwise empty, and muttered a curse. He held up his hands in a calming gesture, and looked around again.
"JARVIS? Is-is he supposed to be here?" he asked aloud, sounding really uncomfortable.
Somewhere in the back of Danny's mind, he was slowly realizing that this man wasn't really a threat, and was probably another Avenger, but the teen's adrenaline rush hadn't worn off yet, and the man in front of him was carrying a weapon, probably several. That didn't make him any less of a threat to Danny's instincts, and so he did not drop his guard.
The A.I. promptly replied to the man's question. "Yes, Agent Barton. He is a friend of Mr. Stark's, and was told to wait in the common living room until Mr. Stark returned with Dr. Banner. He is, indeed, supposed to be here," JARVIS replied, snarking a bit with the last comment.
Barton sighed, and addressed Danny. "Okay, kid. I'm not gonna hurt you, alright? My name is Clint, what's yours?" He slowly put down his hands, hoping that the teen would relax a bit because JARVIS listened to him.
Danny didn't even register that fact. When he heard the word 'agent' in front of the man's last name, his mind went into panic mode. He had never met an agent he liked, not yet, and all of the agents he had met were trying to capture him, or bully his parents.
Then, the elevator dinged, and Danny dropped into a crouch, prepared to bolt. He wasn't fully aware of his actions at this point, instincts fully taking over. He noticed the agent look at the elevator with relief, and mentally prepared himself to dash down a hallway, hide long enough to change into ghost form, and escape to the skies.
"Danny!" he heard Tony exclaim. "What the hell, Legolas?!"
Tony stormed up to Clint, right past the still crouching, defensive teen. Bruce hurried over to the defensive teen and gently rubbed his back, trying to calm his down. He watched Tony gear up to yell at the sharpshooter, and sighed. Nothing could ever be simple, could it?
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Clint exclaimed, stepping back. "I didn't do anything to the kid! I think I just startled him a little, and when I tried to calm him down, he just got more defensive! I swear, I didn't do anything!"
Tony narrowed his eyes in a glare. "Then why is he like that? How did you startle him?"
"I don't know! I just dropped in from the vents, like I normally do," he explained quickly, and then froze again. Some strange person randomly appearing from the ceiling could be considered frightening. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh." The genius continued to glare, and gestured to the bow on his back and the knife on his thigh. "And did you even consider the fact that you have two weapons in plain sight? I don't know why Danny was so scared, but it might be because of that."
Bruce growled, "Stop shouting, neither of you are helping the situation." He got the tense teenager to relax against the couch, and waited for his breathing to slow down. Finally, when he deemed the boy calm enough, he asked, "Are you okay, Danny?"
Slowly, he nodded, eyes clearing a bit. Danny shook his head a little to clear it, and beat away the fuzziness always left after a panic attack brought on by his instincts. He reorganized his thoughts, took deep, calming breaths, and smiled slightly at Bruce.
"Thanks. I was... yeah." He didn't really want to explain, but he would if they asked.
Tony finally stopped glaring at Clint, and wandered over to where Danny and Bruce were sitting. "You okay, squirt? You scared Bruce, I think," he asked, hiding his own worry. Danny just grinned up at him, and shrugged.
"Nothing like a good panic attack to get the blood pumping, huh?" he joked.
The genius snorted. "Yeah, sure. Ready for lunch then?"
Bruce looked over at Clint, and saw the guilty expression on his face. "Danny, would it be alright it Clint joined us?" he asked cautiously. He watched as the teen tensed, then forcibly relaxed and gave a small shrug.
"I don't mind," the teen replied casually.
The sharpshooter's expression turned to surprise, and then back to guilt. "It's fine, I don't want to intrude," he tried to decline.
Bruce shook his head. "We were planning on introducing Danny to the whole team, anyway." He hung back to talk to the blond man as Tony and Danny made their way to the elevator, and smiled. "I know you didn't mean to do that. He'll probably warm up to you like he did to me. He just doesn't like to be startled."
Clint nodded. "Yeah. Do you think Tony will let me get close enough to apologize to the kid? I was a massive idiot. How could I forget that weapons generally scare people? Jeez."
Bruce chuckled. "Hopefully. He does seem really attached, though."
They heard a shout of excitement, and strolled into the elevator in time to hear, "You're gonna let me pick the car we go in? Awesome!" Danny was cheerful and happy once again.
Later, once they got to the restaurant, Tony decided to ask Danny what brought on the panic attack. They were sitting next to each other, so the genius took the opportunity that presented itself when Clint and Bruce were ordering to ask.
"So," Tony muttered, "what brought it on?"
Danny tensed a little, and replied, "Just being startled."
Tony shook his head. "I know that's a lie, or you would've had a panic attack this morning when I startled you. You don't have to tell me if you really don't want to, but maybe I can help. I've had my fair share after what happened to me in Afghanistan."
Letting out a sigh, the teen grimaced. "I'm not afraid of a lot of things. The constant ghost attacks in my town kinda desensitized me, but after certain events... well, I'm kinda afraid of agents. At first, I really was just startled. But then your A.I. called him Agent Barton, and I freaked out. Badly."
Tony nodded slowly. "So, what happened? That is, if you want to tell me. You don't have to if you don't want to, that's fine, I'm just kind of curious what a relatively normal person could be afraid of agents for. I mean, you don't have a criminal record or anything, so..."
"There's a branch of the government dedicated to hunting ghosts. They've bullied and threatened my parents and me before, they don't care about collateral damage, and I'm not just talking about destruction of property. I've taken a few hits from their ectoguns, before."
Tony's expression melted into dark anger. He may not have really been the hero type, but he did care whether or not innocent people got hurt. Maybe he'd have to hack a few systems, and threaten SHIELD into forcefully disbanding the ghost-hunting branch Danny told him about. He could understand developing an extreme fear of agents, in this case.
"Got it," he acknowledged. Then, he said, "Thanks for telling me that. I know it must be hard to talk about."
Danny just nodded, face passive. "Yeah. Thanks for listening."
When their meals arrived, the four of them fell into a comfortable silence only broken by the scrape of silverware on plates.
On the way back to the car, Clint asked Danny for a moment of his time. They slowed down and built up a little distance between themselves and the other two for privacy. Danny was nervous about being alone with the agent, but he hid it well.
Clint spoke first. He coughed, and explained, "I didn't mean to startle you, and I certainly didn't mean to cause a panic attack. I wasn't thinking, and forgot that the weapons I had were probably scaring you." He looked down at his hands, and sighed. "I'm sorry."
The teen sighed, too. "It wasn't the weapons, really. I mean, yeah, they're kind of threatening, but I live in a house where my parents answer the door with huge guns pointed in your face. It was..." he trailed off, throat tight. He couldn't say it out loud, not to the person he was irrationally scared of. It was embarrassing, and he didn't want to make Clint feel bad.
"It was... what?" the archer asked curiously.
Danny shrugged. "Ask Tony. I can't... I can't say it." He blushed a little, and ground his teeth. Ancients, he wasn't fourteen anymore! He should be able to talk about it clearly! Why was he having so much trouble?
The archer's eyes filled with understanding. "Hey, it's okay," he pressed. "There are just some things we find hard to talk about. Everyone has at least one, don't worry about it. And really, I'm sorry for scaring you earlier."
Danny nodded, still looking at the ground as they continued on towards the car. Clint slid in the back seat next to Bruce, leaving shotgun open for the teen, since he seemed to know Tony the best. With any luck, Tony would be willing to tell him what the problem was, and he could fix it before he scared the poor kid again.
The drive back was just as relaxed and comfortable as their meal had been, and the billionaire chatted with Danny about what they could build next all the way back to the tower.
