In all honesty this is really just a filler chapter to allow most of the others to meet Endymion. Believe me, writing it just dragged on and on. I seem to have a hard time grasping the characterization of everyone.

Enjoy.


Tony Stark yawned as he made his way out of bed to the common room. Until he got his morning coffee, he was going to be a zombie.

He froze mid-step when he arrived in the aforementioned room.

There was someone already here.

The person was a man he did not recognize. It could not have been an intruder otherwise Jarvis would have gone on a red alert. Unless the AI had been disabled by someone but that prospect was unlikely.

Did not mean it was imposable.

The man was sitting on the floor with his back to a wall. His legs were crossed and his hands rested on his knees. A long and black, leathery coat covered most of his body.

Why this guy felt the need to sleep while wearing a coat was beyond him. Then again, why he was sleeping on the floor was equally beyond him.

Taking a step closer, Tony saw that the man seemed to still be in a deep sleep despite what had to be an uncomfortable sleeping position.

Something else then came to Tony's attention. The man was not moving at all in the slightest.

As in not breathing.

Groaning very softly, Tony tried to figure out what to do. If some intruder died in his tower he was going to have to figure out something to do with the body. Just his luck he would be the first to discover it.

Perhaps SHIELD handled body disposal. He could even get an Avengers discount if he was lucky.

By now Tony had dropped down to one knee in front of the dead man to get a better look at him. It was certainly someone he did not recognize or remember.

Something in particular caught his eye though. There were odd markings all over his neck and throat. They looked like they were tattoos of some sort. Leaning in close, Tony saw that they were not tattoos, they were scars. No two were alike and, if the pattern continued as Tony thought it did, they continued on beneath his coat and whatever that was over his chest.

Wait... was that combat armor?

Now Tony was less than a foot away from the intruder. He saw that beneath the coat the man definitely wore some form of armor. It almost resembled Kevlar but it did not match anything known to Tony. In fact it almost looked as if some guy had taken a suit of armor out of a science fiction novel then mashed it with another suit of armor from a fantasy book to create something completely new.

Once Tony got rid of the body he would love to check this stuff out. It would be useless for his suit but little red, Katniss, and cap would definitely be able to make good use of it.

"Take a picture." Tony had just started to reach foreword to touch the armor when the voice startled him. "It'll last longer."

Tony had both nearly jumped out of his skin and may have let out a rather unmanly scream when the 'dead' man spoke. The billionaire had thrown himself back on his rear before he realized he was moving.

The very much alive man was still sitting in the exact same position except now his head was up instead of limp. A single open eye was regarding Tony with a tinge of amusement.

"Jesus..." Tony grumbled under his breath. So much for scavenging new armor for capsicle and the others.

"Stark? I thought I heard someone yelling."

"Yeah, I didn't know we had any little girls in the tower." Clint's voice quickly followed the first.

Speaking of capsicles. Seemed like birdbrain and Steve had both heard him. That was just great.

With what little dignity remained, Tony rose to his feet to greet the two new arrivals. Steve was still in his night clothes while Clint was in his SHIELD suit, he must have just now got back to the tower.

Both men had just happened to be close enough to hear him yelling. That was just his luck.

"Don't you two have better things to be doing than sneaking up on people?" Stark glared at the two men, trying to deflect attention away from him.

"I just got here, no sneaking, and nice try Stark but we still got you." Clint responded with a chuckle.

Tony was already batting for zero today apparently.

"My apologies, I should introduce myself." The voice pulled Tony's attention back to the 'intruder'. "My name is Endymion. Fury sent word ahead of my arrival."

Endymion? That name seemed familiar to Tony. It dawned on him after a few moments, a memory from the night before.


Tony grumbled as he rolled over in bed. His sleep was being interrupted by the phone on his bedside table ringing. The billionaire sat up partially and let out a large yawn as he reached for the device.

"Tony Stark." Tony muttered sleepily into the receiver.

"Stark, it's Fury."

Tony let out a groan as he heard the voice. What the man could possibly need, Tony did not know or even want to know. He was surely tempted to just hang up on him.

"What is it?"

"I'm sending someone over with Captain Rogers. He'll be staying at the tower for a few days. Just giving you a heads up, Steve is already on his way with him."

"Yeah, yeah alright." Tony said just before he hung up the phone and flopped back down to the bed to resume his sleep.


So Fury had said something about it. Well it was Fury's fault he did not remember. The SHIELD director should have known better than to call him in the middle of the night while he was sleeping.

"So Endymion huh? Who are you supposed to be?" Clint for the first time regarded Endymion with his assessing gaze.

It was actually Steve who answered. "This is the guy that bailed me and Natasha out on our mission the other night. He's the only reason the team not only had no casualties, but also the reason Natasha is alive."

That seemed to make Clint do a one eighty turn.

"Well then you have my thanks." Clint held a hand out to the man, whom took it and shook it without hesitation. Natasha was practically Clint's best friend, Tony figured if Clint was not in front of him and Steve then he might have even given him a hug or something.

Endymion gave a nod of the head. "It was no trouble, I happened to arrive at just the right time. You must be Agent Barton right?"

"Yeah, call me Clint. What are you doing here anyway?"

Tony was wondering that himself. Fury had not told him anything, just that he would be staying for a while.

"I am here to assist The Avengers, but I will only be here for a few days. Only as long as it takes then I shall move on." Endymion spoke as he looked over at Tony. "Thank you for allowing me to remain here for the duration of my stay."

Tony was not the one allowing squat in reality. It was Fury who said to put him up for a bit. This guy did save Natasha's life though, and maybe Steve's as well. That made him more than welcome to stay in the tower for a while in his book.

At that moment a few things caught Tony's attention. The first thing was the cool looking silver of the man's eyes. As far as he knew, such a thing did not exist without contact lenses. Since he was standing so close, Tony could see he had none in his eyes. This meant the silver color was all natural. Another thing was the man's speech. He did not speak like someone from the twenty-first century. It reminded him a bit of Steve and his upbringing in the past. Except Steve constantly spoke the same way, this guy did not. He went back and forth in how he talked but the most common was the older fashioned way of talking.

The eyes, coupled with the way he spoke, and the markings on his neck painted an odd picture. Tony rather doubted this man was from earth. Maybe he was even an Asgardian like Thor.

Speaking of Thor, the Asgardian prince was Steve's backup during the previous nights mission so he would have met Endymion already. Steve and Clint were in the room with him right now. Then there was Natasha who was still at SHIELD medical. The only Avenger left was Bruce.

Speaking of giant green rage monsters too, at the exact moment Bruce came strolling into the room but froze mid-step.

"Um... I've missed something haven't I?" Bruce looked each of them until his eyes settled on Endymion.

"Not at all Doctor Banner, this is our new temporary roommate. Endymion." Clint was the one who answered before anyone else got the chance.

By now, Bruce was standing beside the rest of them. "Ah, well nice to meet you. Bruce Banner." The doctor held a hand out for a handshake just as Clint had done.

"Pleasure to meet you Doctor Banner." Endymion gave a tiny smile as he shook the offered hand.

"I must admit, are you meant to be another Avenger?" Bruce asked curiously.

Tony had not thought of that until Bruce voiced it. The man was obviously not a normal person, it also made the temporary stay make more sense.

Endymion simple let out a quiet laugh. "No, I will not be here very long. A few days at the most. I imagine Fury would be wishing I would stay but no such luck."

So it would seem the Avengers would remain a six man team for now.

"Well hate to break introductions short but if I don't get some coffee soon I am going to have to start blowing stuff up." Tony clapped his hands together as he made for the kitchen island.


As I said, filler chapter. It is about to get interesting in the next chapter.

Next chapter: "Six on one: The Avengers vs. The Traveler".