Chapter Seven: A Promise

As Spike/Iron Man rolled off Lou/War Machine, the group was caught halfway between themselves and their costume alter-egos. Ed/Mister Miracle blew out a breath as he let Clark/Blue Beetle down and looked around at his teammates. "Okay, let's get out of here," he declared firmly. "We can talk later."

"Copy that," Wordy/Captain America agreed, hefting his shield. "We might want to stick to our superhero names for now, though."

"Works for me," Sam/Thor rumbled, "I think I'm stuck more on the Thor side anyway." He spun Mjolnir without thinking, frowning as he added, "Something…is wrong…this place feels different."

"I feel it too," Lance/Booster Gold remarked, pushing himself to the fore, ignoring Greg/Max's attempt to haul him back. "It's like this maze is some kind of construct and it's coming apart."

"Coming apart at the seams," Alanna/Clint whispered, fingering her bow and wishing she could think of a spell to get them away safely.

"Then we need to get out of here," Jules/Black Widow concluded. "Anyone have any idea where the exit is?"

Skeets dropped down from his lofty position. "I believe I do," he reported. "There is a high concentration of energy similar to the recently closed portal in this location to the southeast."

"Skeets, take the lead," Booster ordered, bringing both gauntlets up, his eyes narrowing under his goggles.

"But sir!" Skeets cried, realizing immediately that Booster intended to take the rearguard.

"Don't you 'but sir', me, Skeets. I've got a force field, I'll be fine."

Mjolnir spun faster as Thor stepped up next to him. "Nor will you be alone," he rumbled, before wincing. "Ugh. At least I figured out the hammer thing."

Skeets led the way, moving as fast as the Avengers and Leaguers could keep up, determined to get them out before the problem he was detecting arrived.

"Sir," JARVIS announced, "I am detecting a high volume of lava headed in our direction. It will reach us in ten seconds."

Spike bit back a string of swear words. "Lava, guys! It's gonna beat us to the portal!"

"No, it's not," Booster countered from behind. "It's coming up on our rear and I got it!" An instant later, Booster raised his force field, the lava sizzling as it struck the barrier. Booster grimaced in concentration, adding his magic to the barrier and trying to force the lava back, just to buy a few seconds more for the team.

Thor let out a shout, bringing Mjolnir down in a slam that shook the maze. A storm rose around them, lashing out at the lava and forcing it back and away from the heroes that scrambled for their last remaining exit.

Skeets spun around as he reached the portal. "This will lead out," he cried. "If nothing else, it will get us away from this place before it completely collapses."

"Stark, Rhodes, secure the other side," Cap ordered crisply, right before he cringed. "Um…sorry, Sarge."

"Worry about that later, Wordy," Greg chided, nodding to the bomb tech and the less lethal specialist. They vanished through the portal. "Go; I'm waiting for Sam and Lance."

"You got it, Sarge," Wordy acknowledged, hauling Black Widow and Blue Beetle through before they could argue. Ed followed right on their heels, tossing his Sergeant a quick salute.

"Now you, sweetheart," Greg murmured to his niece. "I'll be along with your brother soon."

Alanna shook her head as she nocked an arrow. "Trust me, Uncle Greg; I've got this."

A howl brought the pair around and Clint let her arrow fly…right into the Chitauri's eye. Her hand flew back, pulling another arrow and nocking it in a blur; she loosed, smirking as the small EMP arrow hit the Manhunter. Glancing back, she saw Booster and Thor fighting backwards, holding the lava off as they moved towards the portal.

"Skeets, with us," she ordered, grabbing Coulson by the arm. The little 'bot bobbed once and followed the pair through the portal. On the other side, Alanna dragged her uncle away from the twisting, whirling blue portal in midair. "Come on, brother mine," she whispered, looking back at the portal.

The portal whirled and flexed, going wider, shrinking down, then abruptly a whine came from it. Just as it winked out, Thor and Booster were thrown backwards out of it, both of them completely out of control as they flew. War Machine darted skyward, catching Booster, while Miracle's aero-discs gave a whine of their own as he surged up and sideways to snatch Thor.

Around them, the hall was still filled with statues, but already magic was flowing over them, murmuring and leaving living flesh in its wake. Even so, there were no witnesses to see a furious Loki howl indignation as he dropped into the largest of the clear areas, sending a bolt of magic at Blue Beetle; as the boy dropped, Ed roared and launched himself at the angry wizard, landing an uppercut before Loki's magic flared outwards, throwing Miracle backwards. Cap pushed off the ground, flying over several dancing statues to grab his best friend out of midair as Black Widow and Hawkeye kept Loki busy with their guns and arrows, respectively.

Thor let out a bellow of his own; the two snipers halted fire as the Odinson came down on Loki, Mjolnir flashing and slamming down on Loki's magical barrier. A boom echoed through the hall, then Loki smirked and gestured with his wand; Thor was hurled backwards and had to be caught by Iron Man. War Machine jetted past the pair and opened fire himself on the smug wizard, followed by Booster, who ducked under Loki's return spellfire and landed hits with his Booster Shots; Loki staggered under the twin assault, a snarl on his face.

"You think to best me, you little Mudblood?" he demanded.

Lance howled with laughter as he ducked and wove around Loki's spells. "Oh, wow, that's rich…and original…really, seriously, don't you bigots ever come up with anything new? So, tell me, oh 'exalted' one, you a pureblood or a jumped-up half-blood?"

Another snarl greeted Lance's sneered question. "You dare question one of your betters, Mudblood?"

"Hmmmm…I'm gonna call that jumped-up half-blood," Lance decided, swooping under another spell. "So, little half-blood, here's a little tip for ya," he smirked wider, twisting under a new furious wave of spells. "When calling someone a Muggleborn, you really ought to verify that they are, in fact, a Muggleborn."

"Hold still, you pathetic little Mudblood!" Loki shrieked.

"Another original statement from our friend here!" Booster jeered, ducking under the next volley and laughing at the furious Loki. "Hey, Skeets, you gettin' all this?"

"Certainly, sir," Skeets acknowledged, zipping around three statues that were getting quite close to reanimating. "I have also located three civilians who are being held in an upper room of this building."

"Interesting," Booster mused, deliberately coming to a halt and flicking on his force field. Below him, Loki was almost literally frothing at the mouth as all his spells were absorbed by the force field around the golden hero. "Hey, Lok-ster? You wouldn't happen to know anything about these civilians Skeets found, would you?"

"It is no concern of yours, Mudblood!" Loki raged.

"Huh, I'll mark one that down as 'absolutely, I know all about them,' " Lance decided, pretending to pull out a notepad and write on it. Almost casually, he glanced over and down at Loki. "Oh, and by the way, that's pureblood to you, half-blood."

"You dare claim to be pureblood, you insolent little Mudblood?" Loki railed.

An instant later, he froze as a gun barrel touched the back of his neck. "Drop the wand," a cold, angry voice ordered. Swallowing hard, Loki obeyed; he was slammed into the ground a second later and his arms were yanked behind his back, steel cuffs locking in place around his wrists. He thrashed as the cuffs activated, the runes engraved on them blocking his magic.

"You dare cut off my magic, Muggle?" he protested.

A snort from the Muggle. "You can thank the Auror Division for the cuffs, 'Loki'. And mio nipote would be Lance Calvin, Heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Calvin, so shut up about mio nipotes being 'Mudbloods'." Loki reeled as the boy dropped down and the Muggle on top of him remarked, "I take it 'Muggleborn' is far preferable to tech-borns than 'Mudblood'?"

"Yep," the youth confirmed. "If Dad had ever caught me or 'Lanna using that word, he'd have grounded us for the next century." Loki snarled and struggled again, but the Muggle held him down easily as the boy turned towards hovering thing at his elbow. "Skeets, can you show us where the civilians are?"

"Certainly, sir," the flying Muggle thing replied.

"Wordy, Spike, go with Skeets," the Muggle on top of Loki ordered. "Lance, you're staying here." The Muggle shifted, hauling Loki up off the ground. "Lou, keep our friend here under control."

"Copy that, Boss," the Muggle in the black and steel suit replied, clomping over and taking Loki from the half-bald Muggle.

"Jules, Sam, I think I'd like a word with His Honor once he gets unpetrified," the Muggle continued as he strode away from Loki, not even glancing back. "Eddie, how's Clark?"

Ed forced his hands to stay unclenched; Sophie was going to kill him for letting Clark get hurt, even if Loki had attacked too quickly for him to react. "He's okay, Boss," he reported, keeping his eyes on his son. Alanna, on Clark's left side, had already managed to pull off that family magic gig to heal the injuries Clark had taken from Loki's magical blast, but Clark was still unconscious.

Clark groaned and his father tucked the teen further under his chin, pulling off the Blue Beetle mask and running a hand through Clark's hair. "Easy there, buddy," Ed murmured, "I got you; you're going to be okay."

"Dad? What happened?"

Ed bit his lip, not sure how to answer. "What do you remember, Clark?"

Clark put one hand up to his head, thinking a second. "Um, I remember getting a cup of punch and fending off a girl from my class who wanted to dance."

The team leader blinked; that had been right before the two spells activated. "Okay, son. I guess we'll have to check you for a concussion, but it's a long story and most of it's classified."

The dark-haired teen frowned at that. "You mean, something did happen, but you can't tell me because I can't remember?"

"Something like that," Ed admitted. "Sorry, sport."

Clark frowned deeper; he didn't like it, not one bit, but at least his father hadn't lied to him or anything like that…he'd been upfront that something had happened, just not with the details. Before he could press his father, Sam and Jules appeared with the Mayor, who looked like he was wringing his hands and sweating buckets. "Sergeant Parker," he squeaked out as Parker closed in on him, his face angry and set, eyes flashing.

"Did you know?" Parker demanded, his voice low and furious. "Did you know what was going to happen?"

The Mayor shook his head frantically. "He showed up three weeks ago and demanded I invite all of you tonight. If any of you weren't here, he'd…"

When the man trailed off, Parker leaned in, his expression turning even angrier. Clark swallowed hard at the look on his father's boss's face. Around him, his father's arms were tight and Clark knew his Dad was just as angry as Parker. "If any of us weren't here, he'd what, Mr. Mayor?" When the Mayor didn't respond, Parker growled. "Clark was injured by this man, mio nipotes were targeted by this man, your entire party was attacked by this man, both last year and this year, and my team walked into tonight blind. Now, let's try this again. If any of us weren't here, he'd what, sir?"

The Mayor licked his lips, but still didn't reply. Instead, a voice rose from behind all of them. "I'm figuring 'Loki' would have done something to His Honor's wife and kids, Sarge," Wordy announced, coming into view with three people trailing him and Spike bringing up the rear.

"Daddy!" the little girl cried, throwing herself at the Mayor, followed closely by another little girl. The Mayor knelt, sweeping both children into his arms and beginning to cry.

Clark's jaw dropped as the Mayor stood up, his two daughters in his arms, and the Mayor's wife hurried past Sergeant Parker to hug her husband and daughters. Parker's face had gone from angry to pale, horrified, and stunned. To Wordy, Parker murmured, "What did they see?"

Wordy looked grim and foreboding in his Captain America costume. "Everything," he replied simply. "We asked them to keep it quiet; even showed the little girls our other badges to back it up." He sighed heavily. "I think the kids helped with getting them to agree…" At Parker's arched brow, he smiled wanly. "They saw everything, Sarge."

Clark blinked at that, wondering what, exactly, the Mayor's family had seen as Parker moved out of earshot to confer with the rest of Team One. Without thinking, Clark turned to look at Alanna, still crouched next to him and his Dad. He didn't say anything to her, but he wondered…what was she hiding, what secret did she and her brother have? It was nothing bad, he was sure of that, but what was it?

"Okay, buddy, you ready to get up?" his Dad asked softly. "It's okay if you aren't; that was quite a hit you took and your mother's going to kill me for it."

Clark snickered at that. "Not your fault, Dad," he pointed out.

"Yeah, well, Mom's not going to see it that way, sport."

"I'll tell her that, then," Clark promised, tilting his head back. A spark of something ran through him. "After all, can't let Booster get into trouble without me along for the ride."

Team One let out sighs of relief when they reached the quiet and safety of the Wordsworth homestead. Shelley and the girls were spending the night at the Lanes, as the two families had planned, even before the Mayor's disastrous party invites. Masks and helmets were removed; those who'd been wearing them enjoying the end to the evening's mess. Tomorrow would undoubtedly bring more questions than the adults could answer, but for tonight, peace finally reigned.

Before the rest of the costumes could be removed, Skeets drifted up from his hiding spot behind Booster's shoulder and the hero grinned, flashing his trademark thumbs up at the other heroes. Blue Beetle rolled his eyes and thumped Booster's shoulder, earning chuckles from his fellow Avenger Leaguers. Captain America sighed at the interplay, but was pleased nonetheless with how well the motley crew had meshed. Hawkeye smirked at her brother, eyes dancing while Black Widow's amusement shone only in her eyes. Iron Man and War Machine traded thumps of their own, identical wicked grins on their faces, and the observing Maxwell Coulson rolled his eyes, wondering all over again how he'd ended up managing this group.

It was only a moment and it faded away just as quickly as it had come, but it held a hint of what could come, what lay in store for the future. As the costumes were removed and Team One reclaimed normalcy, the Skeets model and Captain America's mask ended up side-by-side. A flash of light ran over Skeets' visor and the mask's eyeholes glowed an instant before the light faded.

Was that the point of all this? A statement?

A promise.

~ Fin