Disclaimer: I don't own Hannibal King, Steve Rogers or any other Marvel characters mentioned in this non-profit Non-copyright infringement..-ing fic. And I don't own Motel 6.
Summary: The Avengers have to go up against some vampires; problem is they don't really know how. Blade is currently...somewhere so they have to settle for second best, Hannibal King.
A/N: This fic came from…I don't know where but I hope you enjoy.

Settling for Second Best

Chapter 2

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"So, are you guys down all the time?" The brunette sat in his assigned room for about five hours cleaning his guns and thinking. Yeah, not a lot of people knew it but Hannibal King is capable of thinking…sometimes anyway. He was thinking about why the Avengers contacted him. Just him, as appose to all the Nightstalkers, he knew Abigail would have been a big help to this whole thing if she wasn't in Russia. Blade…he knew where he was, up until two days ago until he dropped off the face of the fuckin' Earth. Well, with that all in his head he sought out the Captain for some Q and A, mostly because he was the only one besides the butler (who tried to make him eat some type of food he couldn't pronounce for lunch) and the hottie that showed him the conference room, plus, Hannibal liked him, he was good company. King found the Captain out of uniform, wearing jeans and a plain t-shirt sitting in the kitchen with a honey golden steaming mug between his hands. "Because that can be kind of a drag" he pointed out as he took a seat on the bar stool next to Steve, letting his socked toes hang just above the floor.

"No, we're just not sure how to deal with this threat"

"Threat? That's why I'm here though, right?"

"Yeah but-"

"They don't think I can handle these fucks. Huh"

"Watch your language son"

"Y'know, you can't start calling me 'son' if this relationship's going to work out." The brunette pointed out with a wink, clearly joking but when he noticed the blond was going to say something he spoke up. "Do they need proof or anything?"

"Proof. Like what?"

"Well for starters, I use to be one"

"A vampire?"

"Yeah, check it out" King got off the bar stool, standing next to Steve then lifted his shirt and tugged the waist line of his jeans down a bit to reveal a small tattoo.

"What is it?"

"A glyph…it's a…vampire thing" He explained slowly, obviously not wanting to elaborate on the subject and Steve didn't push him on it either. There was a small pause before the hunter made a face and spoke again, "It helped me pass the audition with Blade so it should work for them to" he finished thoughtfully and the blond laughed softly as he looked into his mug. Hannibal didn't think the mug was very funny. "What did I say?"

"Nothing, nothing. I've told them that I'm sure you'll do fine, they might take sometime to convince though"

"Great," he sighed and tapped the counter before speaking again "so we're going out tonight?"

"No, we need to organize and-"

"Fuc…screw that, the longer we wait the more of those fuu…suckers show up" There was no pun intended but he was in a small mess at the urgency and the sudden use for safety words.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to miss your nine o'clock," Steve stopped mid-sentence to take a drink "plus, it's only been two days since the first attack and nothing else, I'm sure we're okay for one night so we can get situated"

"Okay…but these…turds don't just take breaks they'll attack again, soon"

"If it makes you feel better, we run patrol throughout the city so if anything happens, we'll know"

"Really?"

"Yes, there are a lot of us out there" He pointed out as he nodded his head toward the living room where there was a large window that looked out onto the city.

"There's like seven of you…have you been outside lately? The city's huge."

"We're not the only superheroes in Ney York you know; there are a lot of us"

"Hardly seems fair" King mumbled to himself as he looked at the multipurpose watch on his wrist which read 5:36PM.

"Hardly fair, maybe, but this is our city and we want to protect it and when something like this comes up-"

"You don't have to monologue you know."

"Sorry" There was an awkward silence that hung in the air and Hannibal shifted a bit in his stool then scratched his messy hair. "Bathroom's down the hall" The blond directed with a pointed finger in the direction and King shook his head as if to snap out of a trance.

"Huh? Oh, I already went before coming to find you and lemme tell you it was-"

"You must be hungry" Steve intentionally cut him off, got up from his spot and walked around the kitchen before spotting a paper on the counter. He picked it up and looked it over, Hannibal figured it was a grocery list but he could be wrong. "Spaghetti's on the menu for tonight" He was wrong, it was a menu like a restaurant menu in someone's house…laminated. The brunette nodded when Steve gave him a questioning glance then started thinking that maybe Tony Stark was overcompensating for something.

"I was just about to have Jarvis start dinner" A voice came from behind him and King turned around, greeting her with a wink. Friendly of course because she clearly wasn't interested when he had hit on her while she was showing him to the conference room, she just ignored his advances with a kind professional smile. Weird.

"Hello Hannibal, was the room okay?" She inquired as she walked into the kitchen and pushed a button on the wall.

"Yeah, better than Motel 6, but red curtains?"

"Tony wanted red for some of the rooms, don't ask"

King laughed lightly before sitting right in his seat and drumming his fingers on the counter top. Okay, so as far as he knew: 1. He was here on a one time mission to handle a vampire threat 2. Tony had a hot PA that wasn't interested 3. The room was huge 4. The butler was cool 5. Steve was very cool 6. The room was big. Then there were a lot of things he wanted to know like: 1. What the fuck? 2. Why him? 3. Where was Blade? 4. What the fuck? 5. Did Stark have TV dinners? King sighed, looks like his Q and A helped less than he thought it would.

"You alright?" Steve placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Yeah, I'm just out of it…Jetlag" he answered as he looked up at the blond and was surprised to find concern. The fuck? He's only known the guy for less than a day and well it didn't bother him…Hannibal just wasn't expecting it.

"You didn't travel that far"

"Jetlag" He insisted. "Could you um…let me know when the food's done" When he got a nod Hannibal gave the hand on his shoulder a reassuring pat then slipped out from under it and padded off to his assigned room. He almost slipped because of the smooth floor against his socks but he caught himself before anything could happen. King gave a small groan when he heard the two in the kitchen laughing. "Ha, ha. Don't forget to wax the floors" he commented back sarcastically because even the floor was shiny.