"Damn." Linda breathed as she fell in step bedside Iron Man and Captain America. "He looks… human."
"He's not." Natasha said cooly. "Go and see if you can find Dr. Banner - we need to know what this thing is and Bruce's the best we've got."
Steve scowled at her as he and Tony surrendered the limp man between them to medics. "That thing is a he, Natasha."
"He," Natasha hissed, anger flashing in her eyes just a moment, "Ordered nearly two hundred men eaten alive by rats."
"Look at his injuries, Nat." Tony stepped out of his suit and sent it away to the lab on autopilot. "If someone did that to me, I'd kill them too."
"You'd have them eaten alive by rats?" Natasha raised an eyebrow. "I've seen many terrible things - half of which I'd created. But that was a new level of crazy. The rats started with their faces, Tony. Their faces."
"What makes you say that?" Steve asked. "How would the rats even reach their faces before the rest of them?"
"I don't know." Natasha said. "But that is what happened. Seriously, have you never seen dead bodies before?"
"I for one try not to get up close a personal with zombies." Tony said. "Speaking of that, we should probably follow pied piper there up to medical."
"What do zombies have to do with Murut?" Steve frowned.
Natasha, in turn, snapped her fingers. "Pied piper! That's it!"
Tony blinked. "What? You appreciate my nicknaming abilities for once?"
"Idiot." Natasha rolled her eyes. "Neither of you heard what he said, did you? When Steve first started talking to him?"
The men blinked at her.
Natasha sighed. "He said; 'seventeen years and you happen to show up today' - tell me I'm not the only one who sees him as barely twenty?"
Steve nodded. "You think Murut is from this… legend."
"Thor and his relatives spawned a whole religion." Natasha said. "It shouldn't be too hard of an alien from elsewhere to show up and become one of our fairy tales."
"Great." Tony sighed. "Next we'll be meeting Little Red Riding Hood."
"I wouldn't put anything past it anymore." Steve said.
"Right." Tony said. "Let's not jynx it."
"Guys…" Natasha shook her head, and her eyes rested on the flute Steve was still holding. "We should probably get after Murut - if he wakes up and his flute's not nearby…"
"Then he can't do shit." Tony said. "How else would Hydra have contained him seventeen years? They kept that cursed thing out of his reach."
"He's alien, Tony." Steve reminded. "I doubt playing the flute is the only special ability he has."
"What?" Tony puffed. "Is he an evil witch in disguise then? A dragon in human skin?"
"As you said," Natasha grumbled. "Don't… 'jynx' it or whatever."
"You don't believe in that crap."
"No," Natasha said. "But I believe in peace and quiet for one goddamned elevator ride."
"Sorry."
"No you're not."
"True."