The Nine Tailed Foxx

Chapter 7

((A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. Just waiting on one muse to step back and let others have some time.

A wonderful thanks to my friend Lady Moonhawke, who is also my co-writer, co-conspirator, Idea tester, plot hole finder, monkey wrench thrower, and ghost editor.))

Package Delivery

Mid January, Four days since the HYDRA Base raid….

"Sir, my scans are complete. I have detected Life signs within this steamer trunk," FRIDAY said, highlighting one of several large steamer trunks that had been delivered just over an hour previously by NATO agents. "Vitals are low but holding steady Dr. Banner," the AI added. A holo of the trunk appeared above it with a detailed view of just how the body was positioned on its side within the trunk along with the vitals.

Bruce eyed the vitals for a few moments. "How long?" He didn't need to elaborate.

A readout of the time stamped data appeared next to the vitals. "Records indicate that NATO was in possession of the items from the time they were handed over by the Latverian Ambassador at the UN this morning at 9:04 am, until they were delivered to Stark Tower one hour nine minutes ago."

"Uh, FRIDAY, sweetheart that was almost eight hours ago," Tony pointed out as he started scanning the trunk for any possible traps or tricks. "Why are you just now informing us?"

"You requested thorough scans Sir." The AIs tone sounded slightly exasperated and harried. "There was no indication of importance amongst the items. Besides, until 3 minutes 27 seconds ago, I was unable to scan the interior of the unit."

"Stand back," Steve ordered as he stepped closer to the steamer trunk. His eyes shifted, taking in the hasp and lock as well as the hinges on the opposite side. He shifted his shield onto his arm, fingers curling around the leather strap as he gauged the angle. A single, downward punch was all that was needed to shear the hasp and lock clean off the trunk.

"What? Wait! Wait No don't…Aaah!" Tony threw both hands into the air as he turned around and walked several paces away before turning back. "Why… you know what? Never mind. Just forget it." He indicated the the trunk. "I call 'not it!' for opening it," he said, crossing and uncrossing his arms over his chest before he picked up something off the countertop and started fiddling with it. His eyes went back to the holo-display, the corner of his mouth lifting up in a smirk.

Bruce looked at Tony, head tilted to the side slightly as if he was about to ask a question before his eyes went to the display. A look of understanding as he stepped away from the trunks, joining Tony at the lab's counter. "Should I prep anything?" he asked quietly as he leaned towards the other man. He was handed a data pad with the relevant information already highlighted for him. "Oh… that will make things… interesting," he murmured to himself as he continued to read through the information on it.

"What?" Steve asked as he settled his shield back onto his back. One hand was on top of the trunk lid, ready to flip it open.

"Nothing Capsicle. I'd just wait a minute or so before you open pandora's box," Tony said, still smirking. "But, you know, if you really want to open it right this moment then by all means, go ahead," he gestured before turning around and picking up the blender, pouring himself a glass of dark green liquid before turning back around to watch.

Both Nat and Clint caught onto what was going on within seconds of Tony speaking up the first time. An entire conversation passed between the assassins with only a few twitches and a couple of looks. The archer made an 'all yours' gesture before moving to side of the trunk where the person's feet were located. Nat took the head position.

"Is everyone finished?" Steve asked in exasperation. "Yes? Goo-" He didn't get to finish due to a booted foot coming out in a mule kick as the lid popped up. In the scheme of things, the kick lacked power but was made up for by pinpoint accuracy as the heel of the boot made contact with his face. He jerked back, moving in tandem with the foot thus minimizing any damage that may have occurred.

Clint let out a bark of laughter while Tony raised his glass in a cheer. Bruce glanced up from the pad for a second then went back to reading. It wasn't often that someone got the drop on Captain America, even less often when it forced him to fall backwards on his ass.

"Thanks Tony for the warning," he said sarcastically as he reached up to gingerly touch his nose. No blood, nothing was broken, just felt like someone flicked the tip of his nose. Really hard. If anything took any damage, he'd have to say it was his image. Getting back to his feet, he put his hands on his hips and frowned at the trunk.

"You're welcome hunny buns," Tony replied with a salute of his glass.

Nat just shook her head and motioned to Clint. "All right boys…." She nodded to Clint then to Steve. "Ready?" she asked as she placed one hand on the lid, the other on the trunk's side handle.

Clint nodded, still grinning as he placed his hands on the lid and handle. 'Three… two….' he mouthed "One!" He heaved along with Nat, dumping the contents of the steamer trunk across the floor.

"Oh come on guys!" Steve groused as he lept over the body that came tumbling his way. He winced at the screech of cloth covered metal sliding across the reinforced glass and metal alloy. "Was that really necessary?" he asked as he turned to follow the body as it came to a stop. Tilting his head to the side, he studied the figure.

Leather and cloth spread across the floor, long lean legs curled, ready to lash out at anything too close, was partially tangled in the material. The upper body was hidden, but the gleaming metal cuffs could be seen. Fingers wiggled and grasp, flexing to keep circulation going. Muffled voice that was obviously spitting curses.

"Really?" Steve asked, turning to look at the four behind him. "Great," he muttered turning back around, bringing a hand up to rub his forehead. "Great…" He looked at the situation from several angles before decided to tackle it head on. "Hey, easy there…."

"Oh hey, Spangles. You remember our dinner date at that charming little place the other night?" Tony asked in an off hand manner as he plucked the data pad out of Bruce's hands.

"Now is not the time Tony."

Tony grinned, flicking through the information. "Au contraire mon capitan. But hey, whatever floats your boat there oh man with the plan."

Steve stepped closer to the person on the floor. Watching for the tells. One more step forward and… there! He snapped his hand out, grabbing the foot that lashed out. "Calm down, I don't want to hurt you," he said. "I said.." he caught the other foot with ease at the ankle and squeezing. "Calm… Down…." he ordered in that 'Captain America' voice.

The muffled curses changed to an equally muffled yelp of pain.

"Hey Brucie, remind you of anything?" Tony pointed to Steve with a grin. "I think he tried that on the big guy. Didn't work so well then either."

Bruce set the data pad down then pulled off his glasses to clean them. "Are these files up to date? FRIDAY's readings and the information here don't seem to match completely."

Nat pushed off from the counter she was leaning against and uncrossing her arms. "Well it has been nine years or so since he was in SHIELD custody and I don't trust the data HYDRA gathered. Ease up Steve. Don't break his ankle. That's my job." She watched as the person stilled at her approach. She motioned with her hands for Steve to hand over. With a couple of twists, she had the person's legs bent and twisted, applying pressure to the knee and ankle joints. "Now, you were told to calm down. Are you going to calm down or do I need to dislocate your knee?" she asked conversationally. "Steve, grab his shoulders, Clint remove the restraints."

Steve nodded, moving around to the person's head. Kneeling down it took him a moment to locate the person's shoulders then he pressed down, pinning them to the floor.

"Yeah, yeah," Clint said as he fished an ID card out of a pocket. "You know, you could have chosen something a little more convenient to wear. I get the leather. Leather affords decent protection for most minor altercations. But why so much? Something a little snugger to the body with less excess would have worked nicely you know..." he groused as it took him a couple of minutes to unfold enough of the material out of the way to access the cuff controls. "Well I guess it's good against the weather...sort of...Hey Tony, look this number up for me. #SC77359. Confirm who was it assigned to."

"Legolas, I'm not your secretary. You look it up."

Clint rolled his eyes "What? Come on, you can use this as an excuse to hack the government again." He pressed his index finger against the biometric pad. "Besides I'm kind of busy here."

"Don't encourage him Barton!"

"Oh like I really need an excuse," Tony quipped back. "Well hello there my little friend." He made a grab and toss motion, sending the data to the holo display which still floated in the middle of the room. "Is that good enough or do you want me to find his porn videos too?"

"How many does he have?" Nat asked in an offhanded manner, eliciting an annoyed sounding groan from the person and a laugh from Clint.

"Looks like a trilogy. Fantasy fairytales, some light bondage and oh dear god, that is just…." Tony tilted his head to the side then to the other side. "Wow.. didn't think that could be done...Kind of hot to be honest…" He tossed a wink at Nat over Steve's shoulder.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Some things were just not worth waking up for. That is one of them."

A soft click and the cuffs disengaged.

"Grab that arm and I'll take this one," Clint said after looking at the displayed info. "Damn kid, you need to relax," he muttered as he noted the tautness of the arm he held, even through the thick material. "How hard do you think it would be just to cut this damned thing off him?" he asked, whether in jest or not was hard to tell.

An indignant yelp followed with a few moments of thrashing.

Nat reached around slapping the person hard on the ass. "Don't be such a big baby about the coat Johnny." She released one of his legs, ignoring the weak kicks as she slid her hand up the calf of the leg she still held. She frowned ever so slightly at how taut the muscles were and how they kept twitching. Pressing down with the nail of one finger, she held it there until she felt the muscles go lax. Working her way up to the back of his thighs, kneading tense muscles until they became pliant. She repeated the same process with the other leg.

As Nat worked on Johnny's legs, Clint worked on his arms. Taking the wrist of Johnny's left arm, he used a simple immobilization hold then started working the coat down his arm and off. Steve was doing the same with the other arm. In the meantime, Bruce was going over the medical info contained within the data files.

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Bruce asked as he set the data pad to the side, removing his glasses to clean them on his shirt.

"I'd love to know why our not so friendly neighborhood would be world conqueror wanted him. I mean look at him," Tony gestured to the file still on display to Johnny. "He's a little fish with what amounts to a petty criminal record in an ocean of sharks. There's nothing there." Rating high on his list of dislikes was not knowing something. He would search, dig, research and hunt down everything there was to know about something. And Johnny represented an unknown in so many ways.

"The reason Dr. Doom wanted him was to tie up manpower and resources. Both ours and the government's. With the blessing of the U.N. it seems," Pepper Potts said cooly from the lab doorway as she held up a thick black folder. The faint glow of Extremis in her hand showed just how angry she was at the moment. She had little regard for people who screwed with her family, blood related or not, and the Avengers were her family.

The news was not well received. Especially by Steve, who had been forced once before, to play bodyguard to Doom during a UN visit that turned out to be another one of Doom's attempts to gaining the upper hand against the Avengers in order to steal Tony's tech.

Steve Rogers, contrary to popular belief, did indeed have a temper, could curse worse than a sailor and was by no means innocent. "Just what the hell is going on. Tell me," he demanded as he stood, hauling Johnny to his feet and ignoring both Natasha and Clint. He had the younger man by the upper arms, facing him. Letting his temper get the better of him he squeezed as he pulled him in close so they were almost nose to nose. "Tell. Me. Where is Bucky?!"

Instead of trying to shove the much stronger, super soldier away, Johnny lunged forward, smashing their lips together in a searing kiss. He added to the confusion by groping the man. A good twenty seconds passed before he felt himself being shoved back hard enough he was slammed into a counter and sent careening backwards over the top of it. Glass shattered around him as he came to a forceful stop against the wall. Metal, plastics and glass shards bounced and rolled and skittered across the floor. His secondary gift, the one that let him track movement around him, flared out of control. It felt like he was in the middle of the Bonneville Salt flats, under the glare of the noon day sun during a 9.5 magnitude earthquake. A white hot explosion that shook and bounced and reverberated through his skull. He curled in on himself, arms going up and around his head as he tried to muffle the scream of pain behind clenched teeth.

Steve's anger morphed into shocked surprise as lips locked with his own. That surprised doubled when he felt a hand fondle him through his uniform. The shock held him immobile for nearly half a minute before his hindbrain kicked in. The shock exploded into a blinding rage as he shoved Johnny away from him at full strength. He stepped forward to go after the other man when a superheated ball of plasm slammed into him from the side, diverting his attention. The part of his uniform that was hit burned away showing skin that was already turning red and blistering.

When everything went down, Clint dodged out of the way to avoid becoming a casualty of the confrontation. A glance in Nat's direction showed that she had also taken action to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. She had grabbed Bruce and hauled him out of the way.

"So help me Steven Grant Rogers, you take one more step towards that boy and I will NOT hold back!" Pepper said, the hand that wasn't holding the folder, out stretched and glowing a bright orangish red. "Just because he is mixed up in all of this, doesn't mean he's your enemy."

"Pepper?" Steve blinked and shook his head to clear the fog of his fury away. "What the fuck?"

"Language!" Tony quipped from his spot well out of the line of fire. "FRIDAY, damage report. Send it to my phone sweetheart. Brucie, you want to check on our wayward Romeo?"

"Yeah…" Bruce nodded, "yeah, sure." He grabbed the first aid kit and hurried around the end of the counter.

Nat followed close behind. The soft whine as her Widow Bites charged up could be heard along with the sparking of damaged electronics and a soft keening of pain from where Johnny sat curled. "Wait," she said, placing a hand on Bruce's arm. "Something's wrong…"

"Well of course there's something wrong with him."

"No, something else. Something I can't put my finger on. Let me and Clint get him down to one of the holding cells first."

"But…"

Nat lifted an eyebrow.

"Alright," Bruce relented. "It will give me more time to gather everything."

Nat smiled then gave him a peck on the cheek before calling Clint over to give her a hand.

Back on the other side of the counter Tony, Pepper, Steve were having their little chat.

Tony had fished out one of the ice packs he kept in the mini fridge and tossed it to Steve. "Now, mind telling Papa Tony and Mama Pepper just what upset little Stevie enough to throw a tantrum? Was he just not your type sweetums? I'm sure we can find you someone more to your liking."

"Tony," Pepper said in warning as she set the folder down on a clear counter then crossed her arms.

"What? What? It's the truth. He saw something he didn't like and threw a tantrum, along with that guy into a wall." The billionaire gestured first to Steve, then to Johnny who was being assisted out of the room by Clint and Nat, before he turned back to Pepper.

Steve tossed the now ruined uniform top onto a chair, hissing as he put the ice pack against the blistered skin of his side. Enhanced healing or not, it still hurt. "What happened? That's what I want to know. Last thing I remember clearly was holding him down for Natasha. After that, it was when you hit me Pepper."

"I...I don't honestly know. FRIDAY?"

"Yes sir?"

"Bring up all security footage starting from when you informed me the scan was complete. Include all scans and overlay them," Tony ordered as he flicked, grabbed, tossed and spun the holo displays until they were arranged to his satisfaction. With one arm across his chest, the other hand tapping his chin in thought.

Pepper moved to join Tony, her eyes moving from image to image. What use to take time and multiple viewings, now only took seconds to process. She shot a side glance at Steve, "Really Steve, did you have to shear the hasp off the trunk?" There was a teasing note in her voice. She turned back to continue watching. "Wait. There… what's that?" she asked pointing out a brighter energy pattern where Steve's hand had come into contact with Johnny's shoulder.

"Focus on that point, full details. Reduce playback to one half," Tony ordered.

The trio could now see what looked like an energy flare rippling down, presumably, Johnny's chest as well as up to skim across his forehead before vanishing into his hairline.

"Can you determine what that was?"

"No sir, not at this time. Perhaps when Ms. Maximoff and Vision return from their current mission, they can analyze it for you."

"Open a come line," Steve ordered. As soon as he heard the click of the open line he continued. "Widow, Hawkeye. Do not initiate or allow skin to skin contact with the…"

"Our Guest," Pepper cut in.

"With our guest. Do you copy?"

"We hear you loud and clear Captain," Clint replied. "No skin to skin contact with the guest."

"Found something?" Nat asked.

"Possibly. We're going to have to wait till Vision and Wanda return for confirmation though."

"And how long will that be?" Bruce asked, having opened his own comm.

"Minimum two weeks if we're lucky."

Tony snorted as he walked around the holo image, examining it from all angles. "Somehow I don't think we're on the welcomed guest list for Lady Luck," he muttered. "I can't imagine why…"

Pepper rolled her eyes at Tony. "Yes, I wonder that myself…"