So sorry for the looooooooong wait. I'm trying to make up for it with a longer chapter. I'll be giving my excuses in the Author's Note after the chapter, but before that, enjoy the actual thing you're here for.
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME (MILD) SPOILERS FOR The Age of Ultron BECAUSE IT REFERENCES SOME PLOT DEVELOPMENTS FROM THAT FILM!
8. Divide and Conquer
It was getting dark, and the blades of grass whispered when they clashed in the nightly wind. The comfortable darkness that was like a blanket was broken only by a couple of lit up squares that made up the downstairs windows of one farmhouse reasonably far away from everything. The upstairs windows were dark, though, because two thirds of the occupants in the house were already asleep, with invisible, golden dreamsand keeping their dreams pleasant. Downstairs, one Laura Barton was reading a book, her parental instincts keeping her ears open for possible noises that didn't belong there even though the night was peaceful.
There were a couple of things that Laura Barton had in common with centuries old protectors of childhood, even though she herself didn't know about it, or even about the protectors themselves. First of all, she was a guardian, just like most parents and a lot of other people were, in their own ways. Laura Barton knew without the slightest doubt that she would do anything to protect children, and her own children especially. The other thing that she and the Guardians had in common was that very few people in the world actually knew about her existence. Her husband had made sure of that when he had signed up to work for S.H.I.E.L.D.
It had been for their protection, Laura knew, and she had accepted it. She could have protested and outright forbidden Clint to go, but then she wouldn't have been a very supportive person. She was doing what she wanted, taking care of their clandestine farm and family, and Clint had to have the right to do what he wanted. And he was doing so much good. If helping him with that meant hiding herself and their children from most of the world, then so be it. They were happy here, in the farmhouse Clint didn't ever seem to want to stop renovating whenever he was around, with the few but good friends the children had, and with the occasional visit from Natasha, whom the children adored. It was a good life, really.
A chill went through her spine, and she put her book down. The outside was still calm, but the darkness seemed a lot less protective all of a sudden. Laura stood up, wrapping the woollen shawl on her shoulders tighter around her and pulled the curtains closed. It was too dark to keep them opened anyway. She turned when she heard the patter of bare feet on wooden floors. Wide, warm eyes and long brown hair peeked from the stairwell.
"Lila?" Laura said, "What is it? Can't sleep?"
Lila shook her head.
"Bad dreams," she said quietly, "An' Cooper keeps whimpering in his sleep too."
Laura frowned. Usually, the kids slept so soundly, unless they knew Clint would have an especially dangerous mission ahead. And so far things had been relatively fine. Sure, the news about Tony Stark had been worrying, but Clint had assured them everything was under control. Laura went to her daughter and brushed some stray hair from her forehead.
"How about I come sit by the bed until you fall asleep?" she asked.
Lila nodded vigorously.
"Yeah. That'd work. I think the monster would go away too, then."
"What monster?"
Lila looked at her very seriously.
"The one under the bed. I think it might be the Boogeyman."
That was odd. Lila had never been worried about monsters under the bed. Or Cooper for that matter. It was possible that Cooper had scared her sister into thinking that, but he usually didn't sink to those sort of pranks. Laura squeezed Lila's shoulder, hoping to comfort her that way.
"Come on. Let's go back upstairs."
The last man to enter the Baron's temporary headquarters was probably not unusual in a world inhabited by godlike aliens, super spies and green, radioactive rage monsters, but he was certainly not ordinary either. He too was green, and radioactive, but the difference between him and the Hulk was that he was green all the time. It was a small price to pay for still keeping control of his mind, unlike what the Hulk did according to his research.
His name was Chen Lu, although nowadays those few who knew him usually referred to him as the Radioactive Man. Chen Lu had been China's answer to the growing fear of superhumans wreaking havoc in the United States of America. The news of a mysterious God of Thunder had been what had pushed everyone over the edge and made – at least according to Chen Lu's belief – almost every country make plans for some kind of invasion. What had happened in Europe and New York had just confirmed it all.
Even before things had reached such a critical point, Chen Lu had been doing his very dedicated research. As a nuclear physicist, he had become increasingly interested in the effects of radiation on the human body and how with the right methods the mostly harmful effects could be harnessed to make something great. Something stronger. Superhuman, even. With Thor's attack, his research had finally been financed enough for him to come to a breakthrough. That breakthrough was himself. If only others could see it that way. His powers were difficult to control, even with precautions and practise, and once the immediate threat of an invasion had been dealt with by the group called the Avengers, Chen Lu's success had been quietly dismissed in favour of something "more efficient", as the financers put it. Only now, too long a time later, someone had finally seen his value.
Working with a permanently hooded, German Baron was not what Chen Lu had had in mind when he had thought of dosing himself with hazardous amounts of radiation for the benefit of his people, but it would do for now. At least it had meant he could stop hiding. And the man was focused on eliminating a threat he could agree should be eliminated before it did more damage than it already had. So all in all, it wasn't a terrible way to come out of his forced retirement.
The Baron's company he had mixed feelings about, however. The woman and her bodyguard were from the mythical place of the gods, just like the previous threat had been. But they had assured they were here with different intentions. One of the others, the assassin named Taskmaster had already been captured, and the newest addition… well, he made Chen Lu just plain uncomfortable. At first he hadn't even realised the dark man was there, until the fair had woman pointed him out.
The newcomer was the Boogeyman. Chen Lu remembered being scared of the dark as a child. There had been eyes in the dark, and he'd been afraid they belonged to someone who would take him away from his family because he wasn't good enough for them. This man reminded him of those dreadful nights. The eyes had been yellow, just like the man's. Had he still been a child, the man would have made him turn around and head right back home. But those days were long past. Now Chen Lu knew he was stronger. Stronger than anyone, most likely, according to his research and extensive testing. The dark man didn't seem very strong, at the moment. Sickly and weak, actually. Chen Lu shifted on the seat he'd been given and adjusted his radiation harness that kept most of his radiation at bay. Then he focused again on the conversation between the Baron and the others. He had been just on time for the meeting where they started what the Baron called "the final steps". Chen Lu sincerely hoped the final steps would mean some action.
"We have crippled Stark's main base of operations, and the man himself has gone to hiding," the woman, named Amora, said, "It is a good time to strike."
"Just because we destroyed one tower doesn't mean Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. can't use the thousands of other headquarters and resources they have," the Baron argued, "You were supposed to kill Stark, not frighten him to slip underground."
"But if we strike now, there will hardly be time for him to come back. Even now he has probably informed the more capable members of their little group about this."
"You are trusting us to be able to breach their defences now when we have only dented them," the Baron scoffed.
"And you are putting too much faith in your new toy," said Amora, her arms crossed, "Can you even be sure it works the way you want?"
The Baron slapped his hands against the table.
"It will work! I just need to make the final adjustments and it is ready for the field. In the meantime, we need to neutralise the strongest threats just in case."
"The green man, and Thor," said Amora's bodyguard, "Is our new green man here for the Hulk?"
He looked at Chen Lu, clearly unimpressed. Chen Lu bristled silently. He'd show him.
"He is here for him, yes," the Baron said, "But also for other field work. Do you think his radiation works on these Guardians as well?"
Ah, yes. The Guardians. The mythical group Amora and the Boogeyman had talked about. Chen Lu hadn't had time for childish fantasies when he had been little, but now it seemed these western legends were something of a reality, if only in forms the stories didn't quite get right. Chen Lu flexed his fingers, felt his skin tingling with power. It mattered little what got in his way.
"I can face them," he said with confidence.
There was an amused glint in the Boogeyman's eyes. Chen Lu didn't particularly like it.
"We'll see," the Boogeyman drawled, "And once you get this weapon of yours ready, no one should be a threat to you, am I right?"
The Baron nodded stiffly.
"The only difficulty then will be making sure I will not be disarmed. That is why the opposition needs to be thinned."
"Ah, yes… of course," the Boogeyman said, "But before that, how were you going to 'handle' Thor and the Hulk? I assume Amora here will be taking care of the Thunder God?"
Amora nodded fiercely.
"Yes. That has been my only condition for working with this group. Thor is mine."
"And the Hulk shall be captured and brought to our base," the Baron said, "With the help of the Radioactive Man, I've prepared a special cell for him. Until my gun is ready, we don't know if there is anything that can actually kill him. Thanks to the intelligence provided by the Taskmaster, we know how to find him."
"And the Taskmaster?" the Boogeyman asked, "Are we just going to leave him to his cell?"
"Why do you care?" Amora asked coldly.
"I don't. I was just wondering if anyone else does."
The Baron slapped the table again.
"Focus! The Enchantress shall take on Thor, and the Radioactive Man and some of my volunteer militia will get the Hulk. Meanwhile, we need something to run interference. Herr Black, since you seem so amused by all this, why don't you make a suggestion?"
The Baron watched the Boogeyman, and even though Chen Lu couldn't see the Baron's face, he could guess he was being challenging. The Boogeyman crossed his arms.
"Actually, I do have an idea. We need to get their core group even more divided. Scatter their focus. There are a couple of simple ways to do that."
He grinned. His teeth were like those of a shark.
"I think there is one way to get some of those so called super agents and the Guardians out of our way for a while. In fact, I'm already making preparations."
The Baron nodded slowly.
"Divide and conquer, you mean?"
The Boogeyman's grin became even wider.
"Exactly."
Clint Barton's cell phone rang. It wasn't any of his usual cell phones, but one that had the most secure line S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources could buy. Clint smiled discreetly, and worried at the same time. He slipped to a more private place to answer. There weren't many people around in the HQ Clint was currently in, but he needed a room he could make sure was completely de-bugged and had no way of anyone listening in. Only once he got there he pressed the green button.
"Hey, honey," he said.
"Hi. Is everything alright there?"
Clint frowned at the worry in his wife's voice. It just confirmed his suspicions that everything was not okay. Laura knew how risky it was to call when he was away working, so she didn't call unless it was important.
"You heard about New York?" he said, "We're fine. We're trying to make sure everyone stays that way too. Don't worry."
"You know I have to, at least a little."
A soft smile made its way to Clint's face.
"Yeah. I know. How are the kids?"
There was a hesitant silence at the other end. A bad feeling started to crawl along Clint's spine.
"That's why I called. Both have been complaining about nightmares. Some of them were about you being hurt. They miss you, I think. And last night, Lila claimed to have seen a monster in her room. It's… odd. Usually she's too brave for that kind of thing."
The bad feeling was getting more and more prominent. Nightmares were understandable. Not welcome, but understandable. Monsters in children's rooms, on the other hand…
"So she thinks she saw the Boogeyman?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
"Well, yes. I don't know what got her so upset."
Only years of training kept Clint's breathing from quickening.
"Are they alright?"
"Oh, they're fine. Just… I don't know. Scared. You told me to call if anything comes up. I just figured you should know. It's just strange. I can't explain it. I… I probably shouldn't have called because of it."
"No, don't worry. I needed to know."
"You'll come back here as soon as the worst is over, right?"
"Of course, I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Don't get too worried about this. I know you have more important things there to worry about."
Clint sighed.
"You know that nothing is more important to me than you guys."
"I know. But you know what I mean."
"Yeah. I'll see you soon."
"Good. Love you."
"You too."
Clint listened to the beeping of the ended call for a while, his mind racing. It could just be nothing. Lila was a creative girl. But she had never been worried about monsters under the bed. The Guardians had told them that the Boogeyman would need time to get his strength back, so he shouldn't be on the move so soon after getting beaten. Memories of the power the Boogeyman had wielded during their last fight flashed into Clint's head. Even if he was still weak, he would still be dangerous. And it was possible he was now sneaking close to his family.
Clint had to make sure they were safe. He thought about his options. They had just had a brief tactical meeting, resulting in Natasha going to pick up Banner to prepare for the worst. Stark had called from Santa's workshop – or at least he claimed to call from there and Clint had no reason to doubt it. There was no way Stark would say something like that with that level of seriousness if it wasn't true. Clint had been told to brief Thor and Steve once they arrived, but that task was easily delegated. Really, before they were all gathered there and had a better idea of who they were dealing with, no one would miss him.
Clint picked up another phone and called Stark. If the Boogeyman was really on the move, Stark was right now his best link to the experts in dealing with it.
It had been a while since the Northern Lights had been needed for a full-on Guardian meeting. Nicholas St. North tapped his fingers against his Nice tattoo while he waited, seriously hoping that the others would get to the North Pole fast. It wasn't exactly an emergency, but he had a feeling it was getting dangerously close to one.
Next to him, Jack Frost paced restlessly, occasionally swinging his staff to freeze a passing elf, something which North automatically chastised the boy about, even though his heart wasn't in it. The tiny troublemakers needed a break every once in a while. Or more like North needed a break from them every once in a while. It was really far too close to Christmas for this kind of thing. North sighed and stroked his white beard. His moment of restless pondering ended only when a disgruntled Easter Bunny and a slightly hyperactive Tooth Fairy stumbled inside almost at the same time, followed only minutes later by the always serene Sandy.
"Finally!" North said, "Is time for meeting! Now, hurry. Toy production is in critical state so we have to make it quick."
"Ya always say that," Bunny grumbled, "What about my eggs? What's this all about anyway?"
"I tell you when we start. Jack! We are all here. Come on."
Jack stopped what he was doing, which was throwing snowballs at the rather accurate ice sculpture of a beat-up Pitch that he had conjured up at some point, and followed eagerly. North could also hear the tap of Mr. Stark's shoes and knew the man would also be there. It was an odd feeling. The Guardians hadn't had an actual mortal in their meeting in centuries at least. Well, desperate times call for odd measures.
"North? What's going on?" Tooth asked as soon as they were in the Globe Room, where the globe displaying all believing children stood deceptively reassuring with its twinkling lights, "My fairies have reported some shady activity in some parts of America. Is Pitch on the move again? Or-?"
"Not to our knowledge," North said and raised his hand to calm the others down, "We are here because the Asgardians we were worried about have made their move. One of them attacked Mr. Stark while Jack was there. He managed to drive him off, but…"
"Wait, what?" Bunny asked, "How long ago was that? Why didn't ya call us, Frostbite?"
Jack crossed his arms.
"I had things under control. I can fight just fine without kangaroo backup."
Bunny raised his paw as if to take the bait, but then suddenly whirled around and pointed at Stark.
"An' him! What's he doing here? This place's supposed to be off limits to them!"
It was Stark's turn to raise his hands defensively.
"Whoa there, killer rabbit! I have permission to be here."
"He grabbed me when I was going through a portal," Jack said.
"But he is welcome to stay for now," North said, trying to restore some semblance of order. Why did their meetings always go like this? Shouldn't centuries of teamwork have made their team seamless? No, of course not. North knew that. They were too different and had too strong personalities. And centuries of friendship just couldn't possibly go on for so long without any collisions.
Out of the corner of his eyes, North saw how Sandy waved his hands, shushing the others. It didn't do much, because now everyone was wildly questioning Mr. Stark and Jack, and… North looked at Sandy with a tired expression. Sandy looked back meaningfully in a way that clearly said "I know, right?" North took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. The booming clap was enough to shut everyone up.
"The point of this meeting," he said with his best leader voice, "is to make sure we are doing something before this… this whole thing gets more out of hand. I…"
A cell phone rang. Everyone's heads turned towards Stark, who rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Sorry," he took his phone out of his pocked, "Talk."
"Now," North went on, "As I was saying-"
"Hey, Guardians?" Stark said, "Barton wants to know if that Boogeyman is on the move."
North sighed. Tooth zipped over to Stark.
"My fairies reported some activity that could be him," she said quickly, "But he should be very weak now, so most he can do is… well, eat children's dreams and replace them with nightmares so that the fear will make him stronger. It's… not good, but we're not even sure if it even was him."
"Did you catch that?" Stark said to the phone, "Uh-huh. Don't we have other concerns besides tall, dark and creepy? You know, like the people who blew up one of my best towers? I really liked that tower."
Stark was frowning when the call ended. North was tapping his foot.
"Weird. Barton usually doesn't call me. Oh, well. So, you were saying?"
North opened his mouth, but couldn't even get a word in before he was interrupted again. This time by Tooth:
"Wait! The location of the activity… Mr. Barton's concern…" she looked at Sandy, who started forming images so quickly only someone with Tooth-levels of hyperactivity could read it. She nodded wildly.
"Sandy? Tooth?" Bunny said, "What are ya talkin' about?"
Tooth nodded one last time before turning to Bunny.
"Bunny, you remember…" she whispered into Bunny's ear, and Bunny's eyes widened as well.
"Ya think it's a trap?" he asked, "Then Pitch could really be there."
Tooth crossed her arms.
"Considering someone's been targeting the Avengers, it could be… and yes, then he would be…"
"Um, guys?" Jack said, "We're a little lost here. And I think North's getting really mad because everyone keeps interrupting him."
"Oh, right. Sorry," Tooth blushed a bit, "Just… theories. Go on, North."
"Thank you, Tooth," North said pointedly, "Now, are we going to make plans or what?"
Clint cursed under his breath. It was all too unsure, and Fury would have his head – or at least give him a stern reprimand – if he just left on his own to chase ghosts. Fury would be especially angry if Clint diverted someone else with him for it. But the bad feeling just didn't stop. It kept him on his toes even as he waited for Thor and Steve to arrive. It made him construct unnerving scenarios in his head about what could happen to his kids if it really was the Boogeyman at the farm.
Then there was the fact that if it really was the Boogeyman, the whole thing was probably a trap. Right now, when they seemed to be under small but damaging attacks from all kinds of fronts, there was no way monsters would just happen to pass by his secret home. Clint knew the Boogeyman had to know it was his. The Boogeyman knew everyone's fears. Surely it would take no effort to find the people Clint was afraid of losing.
Laura's unidentifiable number was calling again. Clint answered it without missing a beat.
"Hey?" he said, expecting to hear Laura's voice. Instead, the shaky whisper of his daughter made his heart stop:
"D-dad? I… I took mom's phone. Sorry. But… there are monsters here."
Clint was already running.
"What kind of monsters?"
"Bad. Dark," Lila's voice wavered with tears, "Mom doesn't believe me, even though she says she does. But Cooper sees them too. I'm… I'm scared."
Clint rounded a corner into his room, glad no one was around to hear him talk. He grabbed some extra arrows and slipped them into his quiver with one hand.
"Don't worry, sweetie. I'll be there. Just be brave."
He didn't want to hang up on Lila, but he had to so he could actually help them. His amazing little girl sobbed a couple of times, but then said goodbyes and promised to try not to be afraid. Then the call ended. Clint left a brief, vague message to Fury and then exited their headquarters. So the Boogeyman really thought he could get to his kids. The son of a bitch was going to find out how wrong he was. As long as Clint didn't rush in headfirst. He knew he would need help. There were only a couple of people he could ask when it came to this.
Bruce Banner drummed his fingers against a table, glancing at his phone periodically. He hadn't heard from Tony after the explosions that had shaken New York's centre and left Stark's tower devastated. He was worried, but what could he really do about it now except wait for a call? He had no idea where Tony had disappeared to – and he had asked around – and just going out blindly would get him nowhere. Still, he felt incredibly stupid for the fact that the only thing he had managed to think to do was to take a table at the shawarma place he and Tony had started frequenting in, sit down, and wait.
A part of him knew that if it really was serious, someone would find him eventually. And if it wasn't, Tony would figure out a way out of it. He always seemed to, the persistent, clever bastard. Bruce's eyes strayed to the window and he saw a glimpse of red hair outside. His eyes narrowed slightly, not entirely out of discomfort. Out of all the agents and superheroes, the Black Widow was one of the most welcome sight in his eyes. Natasha stepped into the shawarma joint, looking deceptively normal in a denim jacket and sensible boots. She found Bruce immediately and sat down at his table.
Bruce's mouth twitched in an attempt of a smile. He remembered a time long ago when Natasha Romanoff had found him far away from anywhere. He had hidden well, but there she had stood, and told him he was needed. He hadn't wanted to come with her, then. He hadn't wanted to return from hiding when Fury had called about the Guardians. And he had a feeling he didn't want to have much to do with what was going to happen now either.
"Are you here to pick me up, again?" he asked, "Is that a part of your job description?"
Natasha's smile was much more genuine than his.
"Unfortunately, yes. You're needed at work."
Bruce sighed.
"Is Tony okay?"
Natasha nodded.
"As far as we know. He called from an… interesting place," she looked around in the half empty joint, "Maybe we should discuss this in a better place."
They stepped outside and before Bruce could protest, Natasha had seated herself behind the wheel of a car that was just as deceptively ordinary as her clothing. Bruce had no choice but to follow her.
"So far things have been just messy, but nothing catastrophic," Natasha said when she joined the traffic and was almost immediately caught in the inevitable traffic jam, "But now… with Stark attacked and Asgardians showing up, it's getting intense. To top it all off, the Guardians contacted us just a moment ago."
"What?" Bruce breathed, "Then it really is serious, isn't it?"
"Yes. Or it's going to be. Fury wants all the Avengers at the ready. We can't do much until we have full confirmation on what we're exactly dealing with, but we're getting close to that as well."
Bruce's hands clenched into fists. He was quiet for a long while. A while that was enough for so many unpleasant images to flash through his head.
"So right now, you could still handle it?" he finally said, "Without me?"
Natasha only glanced at him.
"We need you to be ready."
"Well, I'm not."
There was a flash of regret and worry in Natasha's eyes, but she masked it quickly with what Bruce could guess was years of training.
"I know you don't like it, but there's a good chance we will need you."
Bruce looked out of the window. Natasha had somehow manoeuvred the car through the traffic jam in an impressive time and was now inching her way out of the city centre. He wrung his hands, trying to find the right words, the right thoughts about the situation. He did want to help his friends, and save people if needed. But he also didn't want to go back out of control.
"You have to understand, Natasha," he said at length, trying to keep his voice even, "These last couple of times when the… the Other Guy has been needed… they've been so intense that I'd almost forgotten how… difficult it is to stop when the fight really starts. These last couple of times, something has managed to calm me down, but I just… I don't want to take that risk."
Natasha nodded slowly.
"But you have been able to stop. It should be fine."
"It took an alien invasion or that whole Boogeyman mess to tire the Other Guy out even a little bit," Bruce said, "And that one time the Sandman was there to calm me down. But you remember what happened at the Helicarrier, with Loki, with me getting… a-angry. I almost killed you all. Especially you. I don't want that happening again."
The faint memory of the Hulk striking Natasha made Bruce cringe. Out of all the people in the world, Natasha was one of the last he ever wanted to hurt. She had found him. She knew what he was, but she could still talk to him without fear. Bruce knew that even the people at S.H.I.E.L.D., even some of the Avengers were wary of him. As they should be. But Natasha seemed to just naturally push it away whenever there was no real danger of him becoming the Hulk. It was odd, but the good kind of odd.
"We can figure something out," Natasha said quietly. She was looking at Bruce for a long moment, before she had to return her eyes on the road, "Something that will work without much of a chance for failure."
"Like what?" Bruce asked bitterly, "Sedatives? They only really work on me, not him."
"I was thinking more like a trigger phrase. Or meditation… or calming music. Something that helps instead of forces you to calm down. Hell, maybe the Sandman could give us some help with that."
"I… I don't know," Bruce sighed, "If something like that would work, it would be… amazing. But before that… I don't know. Just… get me back to my apartment, please."
"Sorry, no. You have to come with me. Fury's orders."
Bruce's hands were fists again.
"I'm not going to run away. Just… I need to get my things."
And to clear my head.
His head was buzzing with worry. He wasn't sure how long he could keep up the calm.
Natasha's phone rang. She redirected it into her headphone.
"What? Wait… Clint? Why are you-? Oh, shit! …Got it. I'll be there."
She swerved the car sharply. Bruce steadied himself with a hand on the window.
"What is it?"
"Good news, you got your wish," Natasha's voice was a bit strained, "Barton needs assistance right now. I need to make some calls."
Bruce could only nod. Something really bad was definitely going on. He needed to get his head back in the game.
While Bruce was reaching some semblance of a meditative state with his worries, somewhere farther away, at the Bartons' farm, Laura Barton dropped a kettle she was using to make dinner with when she heard her children screaming.
Tony Stark watched as the bunch of myths gathered in the same room with him debated and occasionally argued about meddling with mortal business, and he had to admit he was getting very impatient. For a group of immortals with supposedly legendary powers they sure were ineffectual. Even amidst all the crap that was going on in the world, they seemed more concerned with Christmas gifts and chocolate than with… well, anything that actually mattered.
Tony kept his arms folded, trying his best to keep his cool. But the last few days hadn't been the best for him, and he had no idea what was going on with the rest of the Avengers. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to just pretend he cared about how focusing on finding a couple of stray Asgardians would affect toy production in Santa's workshop. To top it all off, now that the initial shock of seeing Santa's workshop and finding out that Santa was a tech junkie had worn off, Tony started to realise that his overt enchantment over the place had to have something to do with the weird powers the Guardians had. Being around Santa probably made people easily think everything was awesome, just like being around Jack made people cheerful. It was… creepy. Tony didn't like being manipulated.
"So we split up, obviously," the Easter Bunny was saying, "Frostbite or Sandy can go ask Mother Nature, 'cause we know she's still watching the Asgardians."
"It should be Sandy," Jack said, "Emmy doesn't like me much."
"Yeah, there's a surprise," Bunnymund said sarcastically, "And if North wants to stay here, he can keep watch on the globe. Frostbite can go talk to Thor, then?"
"Sure. That's fine."
"So all you're going to do is… talk?" Tony asked, and a colourful set of heads turned to look at him.
"Uh, yeah?" said Jack, "Or do you want us to blindly attack something? Like you seem to like doing?"
"We are gathered here to plan before we leap," Santa pointed out.
"Yeah, plan for what? I thought you'd actually be working with S.H.I.E.L.D. for this. That's why you wanted me to call Fury, right?"
"We are working for the same thing," said the Tooth Fairy, "The safety of the people."
Tony tried to stay calm, but now that he'd finally let some frustration go, it all seemed to just pour out at once.
"What? By wondering if it's so bad if little Timmy doesn't get a fire truck for Christmas? I mean, you have all this power, and you use it for crap like that and shut yourselves into this admittedly awesome winter retreat! Especially now when we need your help! I can't say I'm that crazy getting in contact with Fury all the time either, but right now, we're both deep in this."
He took a deep breath, and forced himself to stop before things got too out of hand. Jack raised an eyebrow.
"Well, someone's being grumpy. Want me to fix that?"
"Don't try to force your happy pills on me!" Tony said icily, "Now either get to actually working or at least help me get back so I can do something to fix this!"
"By driving your car at the problem?" said Jack.
Tony sighed.
"I have suits hidden away."
It wasn't nice to be the only one who was properly concerned about the situation. It made Tony feel like a stupid, paranoid jackass, but he had to ignore that now because he knew he was right to be paranoid. Out of the corner of his eye, Tony saw golden movement. The Sandman was trying to get their attention again. The Tooth Fairy was the second to notice it.
"What is it, Sandy?"
The Sandman pointed at Tony, and Tony could see a check mark over the little guy's head.
"What? You're actually on my side?"
The Sandman nodded. Then his unholy mix of charades and Pictionary got too quick for Tony to understand. The Guardians seemed to be following it alright, however. Santa Claus sighed into his beard.
"Yes… Sandy is right. We have to form watch groups until we know what is going on."
Well, that at least sounded like something. Tony was about to give some kind of noise of approval, but it was drowned out by his ringtone. Again. Tony lifted the phone to his ear.
"What?"
"You're still with the Guardians, right?"
It was Barton again. Tony frowned.
"Why is it-"
"I know you're there. Put the Easter Bunny on the phone."
Tony almost chuckled. Almost.
"You're not talking at a public place, right?"
He looked at Bunnymund.
"It's for you, killer rabbit."
Bunnymund pointed at himself with confusion, but hopped over to Tony and took the phone. The sight that followed was comical. The phone had certainly not been designed to be user friendly for giant anthropomorphic rabbits. Bunnymund asked a few questions, but mostly just nodded. After a while Bunnymund tossed the phone to Tony and looked grimly at the others.
"Hawkeye just said he's got confirmation on Pitch. He's on the move."
"What?" the Tooth Fairy gasped, "So we were right!"
"Probably," the Easter Bunny admitted.
"Wait, right about what?" Tony wanted to know, "What's going on?"
Bunnymund wasn't listening.
"I'll go. Hawkeye said he needed help."
The Sandman pointed to himself. Santa Claus nodded.
"Good. You two go. Pitch shouldn't be too strong for you yet. But if you need help, some of Tooth's fairies can get us there in no time."
The Tooth Fairy was nodding vigorously.
"But it has to be some kind of a trick," she said, "Remember that. It's too coincidental otherwise."
"Wait, what about us?" asked Jack, "I can help you guys with Pitch."
"No," said Santa, "Stark is right. We need to at least share what we know with the Shield people. The rest of us go there, and keep Stark safe on the way."
"I'm not that helpless, you know," Tony protested, hating how the situation was again so out of his control and how he had no idea what was going on.
"What, you don't want to ride in Santa's sleigh?" Jack said, "It's awesome! Not awesome like flying with the wind, but different kind of awesome that's pretty much just as awesome."
Tony opened his mouth to protest, but then sighed in defeat.
"Okay. Fine. Let's go."
The sleigh ride did sound pretty sweet, actually.
Clint Barton leaned to a wall at a spot where there were no passers-by or windows someone could look through and see him. He realised he was tapping his fingers in sloppy Morse code and stopped. It was a good thing that Natasha had been close enough when Clint called her. Otherwise waiting for the Easter Bunny would have been even more of a torture than it already was. Natasha parked her car on a free spot and then rushed out, only stopping to lock the doors behind her.
"Do you have a ride?" she asked immediately after making sure they weren't being watched or eavesdropped on, "What's the situation now?"
"No word from them," Clint said vaguely, knowing Nat understood, "It's worrying, but we'll get there quickly once our ride shows up."
"So we do have one. Good."
"Yeah, there's just the thing that… well, you'll see."
Clint knew he probably should have asked Fury to arrange him to the farm instead, but he had assured the director that he would be fine. He knew the Guardians would be the faster way there. And right now, every second counted. Calling childhood icons they had a tenuous alliance with wasn't his first choice, but it was the smartest one, so he had to go with that. Nat was frowning at him.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"I called some back-up. Non-official back-up."
Natasha raised a brow.
"You mean-?"
"G'day, mate," said an Australian accent that was impossible to miss.
Natasha spun around to look at the seven-foot-tall grey rabbit that had appeared to their small concrete clearing as if out of nowhere. Next to him hovered a plump, golden man, who was waving happily. Nat stepped closer to the newcomers, the slight tension under the soles of her feet dissipating again.
"Okay," she said lightly, "so you do mean exactly what I thought you meant."
Bunnymund looked at Clint questioningly, and the whole situation became surreal very quickly. Clint had to remind himself that after being brainwashed by a Norse god and then fighting aliens, asking help from a children's holiday mascot against the forces of darkness without properly telling his boss was… well, not the only weird thing that had ever happened to him.
"Well, I'm glad you actually showed up," he said.
Bunnymund tapped his foot at the ground and a hole opened up there instantly. Concrete dust fell into it, disappearing into darkness that probably came all the way from the centre of the Earth.
"'Course we did," Bunnymund said, "Pitch might be on the move. Ankle biters in danger. It's exactly our job. Hop in."
Bunnymund was clearly not keen on wasting any time. Clint was happy about that. He tossed a glance at Nat, who seemed just as prepared to jump into the unknown as he was. He knew how much Nat loved the kids. She was like their aunt. An awesome enough aunt to rush to help with guns blazing in times like this. Times that Clint had hoped would never come.
He jumped.
The trip was short, yet, well, trippy. First they were falling, then they were probably falling upwards, and that went against everything physics-related and the more scientifically oriented members of their team would flip a table if they knew about it. And then they would probably put the table back up so they could study the science of upwards falling tunnels. Clint mostly just cared that it was over fast, and that the tunnel had deposited them right near his front door. Clint rolled on the ground in the familiar hay and regained his footing fast, already scanning for potential threats before he was on his feet.
He didn't have to scan for long. The cosy, large and old farmhouse he most of the time considered his unfinished project seemed physically unharmed, but the surroundings, the walls, and even the sky around it was dotted with black. Clint cursed quietly.
"Aw, bloody hell," said Bunnymund, "He shouldn't be this strong yet."
The Sandman mimed something that Clint could interpret being along the lines: He isn't as strong as he looks. Yet. Clint shot one of the shadows from the sky before it could get any closer.
"Then we'll make sure he doesn't get any stronger."
His mission was clear. He would have to get to the house and guarantee that nothing touched his family. He started running. He sensed the two legends and his best friend following him. The shadowy little bastards wouldn't stand a chance.
Bruce looked around in the small rented apartment that was as close to home as he could get at the moment. There wasn't much in the way of anything that made a home cosy, but it did the job. Bruce gave a long, calming sigh. Natasha had dropped him off at his place and then disappeared somewhere in a hurry. She had promised to get back fast or at least send someone. Bruce knew something urgent was up, but Natasha hadn't told him what it was. Maybe it had something to do with whatever was happening with S.H.I.E.L.D., or then it didn't and it was Natasha and Barton's problem. Those two were best friends, and best friends had their secrets.
When Bruce had said he needed to get his things, he hadn't lied. There wasn't much of them, sure, and wherever he was going would probably provide him with what he was missing, but he still went to his bedroom and quickly packed a set of spare clothing and some of his research with him. Both would be of use to him. Especially the clothes. Becoming the Hulk always put a new dent in his clothing budget.
Once his things were packed, Bruce leaned against a wall and tried to finally get his thoughts sorted out. Last time it had been easier to just jump back into action. Fury's phone call about the Guardians back then had been too intriguing and too urgent. But this time it was just singular attacks that weren't anything S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't handle on its own. There really had to be something bigger brewing. Otherwise they wouldn't risk calling him.
"Fine," he whispered to himself, "I got this."
Someone rang his doorbell. It couldn't be Natasha. She had left twenty minutes ago, and Bruce doubted that whatever she needed to take care of would take that little time. It could still be someone from S.H.I.E.L.D. Bruce's nerves were wound up and every one of his senses were on high alert as he grabbed the door handle, and he didn't even know why. He cracked the door open slightly.
A nauseating feeling assaulted him almost immediately, and he saw a green face in front of him. For one confusing and terrifying moment he thought he was looking in a mirror and had transformed without even noticing, but then he realised the difference in both stature and facial features of the green man at his door. The nauseating feeling seemed to spread from the man itself, and Bruce recognised what it was. Radiation.
"-the hell?" he managed to say before something sharp nicked him in the arm. Then another sting alerted him to the men standing behind the green, radioactive man. There was no time for transformation, not even time to get over his surprise to actually get angry. Bruce yanked a needle free from his arm and knew he'd been drugged with something that was apparently very fast acting. More needles struck him, and his legs gave out from under him. The green man grabbed his arm and hoisted him off his feet, and Bruce's sedated mind struggled with staying awake and remembering a nightmare that had been a bit similar to what was happening now. In the dream, instead of Asian features the green man had been Bruce himself and it had ended with him being eaten in a horrific display of symbolism his subconscious had decided to cook up.
Bruce could only hope this wasn't quite like that dream. His arm twitched uselessly as a last effort to escape, but the radioactive man's hold of him held fast.
He passed out.
Author's Note: Whoohoo I saw actual Northern lights a couple of nights ago! I haven't seen them in ages.
And now to something actually relevant: Yes! I finally did it! I managed to get my thoughts sorted out about this chapter! I'm again sorry that this took so freakin' long to get out. But, uh… sinusitis! No, way. I've been mostly healthy lately (and I'm really glad about that), so I can't play that card anymore. What kept this chapter on hold for so long was really the fact that I wanted to watch Age of Ultron before getting too far into this fic because I wanted to tie this into the film somehow or at least not contradict it too much. And I'd heard about Clint's secret family and figured hey! There's some place for Pitch to cause some mayhem! I only got to watching it a while ago and after that I started writing as much as I could without letting the quality to suffer.
This chapter is kind of a "get people in places for actually exiting things to happen later" -chapter, but those need to be done in order to keep this at least somewhat logical. It involves a lot of EXCITING TALKING IN THE PHONE ACTION, at least! If you like people talking to each other at long distances, then this is the chapter for you!
I wish I could say my updates will be fast after such a long hiatus, but it's likely that I'm not getting a new chapter out before December. My November's writing energy will be reserved for NaNoWriMo again. And I have school work. And I have to be writing a script for our university theatre's play. So, busy busy. But the rest of this story has been shaping up pretty well and I mostly much know what I'll do with it now so at least there's that. Also, I have quite a sizeable chunk of the next chapter written already so it hopefully won't at least take as much time as this one to come out (unless I decide to move that scene for later…). Let's all hope so. I sure do.
I'm so glad you guys have been sticking with me. You rock! Thanks for the feedback and more is always welcome.
REVIEW RESPONSE TIME:
Mala: I'm toying with the idea of making a connection with Jack's book backstory and the film backstory (also, glxblt I SO WANT THAT BOOK! The illustrations are amazing and gah! I'm fangirling Joyce's art style so much!). I have an idea that I'm not sure I can implement in this but I might. I'm just not sure yet if I can fit it in without it just being really pointless. It definitely isn't in conflict with the Jokul Frosti -thing, though, for reasons I'm probably also going to explain more at some point in-story as well. But the short part of that is: Jack in my fics is only connected to Asgard for the simple reason that he has occasionally visited it, so his origins as a normal human kid are still very much there for this fic.
Crossover Junkie: Thanks! I love writing Jack and Tony's interactions a lot so we'll get to see more of it for sure. It's always easy and just so natural to write. Maybe because snark and playful insults are how I communicate with my own friends in real life a lot.
