Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers or Marvel or any of the related rights.
...
Flying was fun—it was the landing thing that sucked.
Clint thudded to the ground with an oof as the lever he'd pushed—apparently some kind of emergency ejector thingymawhosit—sent him careening out of control into the air. He realized through the haze of terror and excitement that someone had grabbed him by the ankle to keep him from crashing into the wall, and that someone was lying in a heap next to him, having absorbed most of the blow.
"Bruce?" Clint whispered when he saw a flash of green.
The green Bruce monster seemed to be dazed as he looked over at Clint, but a strange sort of smile spread across his face as the two locked eyes.
"Stupid Cupid," the monster said as he shook his head to try to regain his sense.
Clint stared at the green guy. "Huh?"
The green guy pointed at Clint accusingly. "Cupid always in trouble."
Clint frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "I so do not call myself Cupid when I grow up. That's a stupid name."
The green guy looked like he wanted to argue, but then some explosions reminded them both that the big blonde guy with the cape was definitely still fighting Loki, and some lightning (seriously, there was lightning inside now—Clint's day was just getting weirder and weirder) had torn the ship apart.
The green Bruce grabbed Clint and wrapped his arms around him, shielding Clint from the blast.
Everything felt warm, and it felt like the air was trying to work its way out of Clint's lungs, but then the explosion stopped, and slowly, carefully, the green arms unclenched from around Clint.
"Thanks, Big Guy," Clint said, though as he turned around to get a better look at Bruce, he realized that Bruce wasn't so big anymore. He was shrinking down to normal little kid size, and the smaller he got, the less he seemed to recognize who Clint was.
And then there was a little kid in front of Clint. A little kid who looked like he was about to cry as he looked around and realized he was definitely not in the same place as where he had fallen asleep for naptime.
"Whoa," Clint said, wracking his brain and trying to think of what he was supposed to do in this kind of situation. What would Barney do?
"Umm," Clint tried, glancing up to see that Cape Guy and Loki had moved a little further down the hangar. "Hey, Bruce. You were …. Uh. You were sleepwalking?"
Bruce's lower lip jutted out—and yep, those were definitely tears.
"No, no, no, no waterworks," Clint said even as Bruce threw back his head and wailed, the corners of his face turning green again.
Cape Guy paused at the sound of Bruce crying, even as Clint saw him hit Loki across the room. The blond looked from Loki to Bruce before he sighed a heavy shrug and rushed over, scooping Bruce up with one really muscle-y arm in one hand and bouncing him around as he looked down at Clint.
"Hail, my friend," Cape Guy said in a loud, booming voice. "Are you well?"
Clint looked up at this huge guy and wasn't sure just what to do with what he was seeing. This guy was big and tall and muscle-y and didn't talk like anyone Clint had ever met. (Though what did Clint know? He was only four, and he hadn't really seen all that many people outside of television.) And he had a cape and a hammer that seemed to sparkle with electricity, and he'd been fighting Loki with it, so that meant he had to be a superhero.
And he called Clint friend.
"Phil said," Clint said carefully, struggling to choose the right words. He paused, then tried again. "You're with Phil?"
"Yes, the Son of Coul and I know each other well," Cape Guy said. He threw a worried glance over his shoulder to where Loki had been, but the slippery green guy seemed to have disappeared.
Clint followed Cape Guy's gaze and grinned. "You sure showed him. Guess he didn't think he could win against you," he said. He tried not to sound star-struck, but it was hard, because this guy was cool.
Clint definitely wanted a cape like that when he grew up.
For some reason, though, the big blond just looked sad. "I fear my brother will only return again—and next time, with an even more cunning plan. We have not yet recovered all of our allies, after all."
Bruce, who had surprisingly calmed down because he was distracted trying to figure out how the blond's cape attached at the shoulders, paused and looked up at Cape Guy in sudden alarm. "Brother?" he repeated.
Cape Guy frowned and looked down at the ground. "Though Loki is my kin, he has caused much terror to rain down upon your world. For that, I must seek your forgiveness."
"That sucks," Clint said, a little louder than he meant to. Both Cape Guy and Bruce turned to look at him, and he flushed. "I mean," he said haltingly, "if my brother turned out to be a bad guy, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have the guts to do anything about it."
Something changed in Cape Guy's expression. "I was not aware that you had a brother," he said, almost kindly.
Clint felt his chest tighten, and he really hoped no one could see that, yes, those were tears in his eyes.
Cape Guy knelt down beside Clint and set the hammer down next to him. "My friend," he said quietly, meeting Clint's eyes, "we must get you out of here. You are in danger."
Clint frowned and looked back at the place Loki had once been. "Yeah, but I'm not the only one in danger, am I?" he asked, thinking of Nat and her coloring books and Steve and his stupid plans.
Thor laughed—a deep, rich laugh that sounded like the kind the farmer that lived on the edge of town where Clint was from used to give. "I can see that you have long been the hero I know you to be," he said. "But you need not worry. Phil Coulson and I will find our remaining friends."
A new voice interrupted them. It was soft and sweet, but Clint recognized it and knew that it was actually venomous.
"And how," the Enchantress said, laughing quietly as she spoke, "do you intend to find them all, my love?"
…
Steve's arms were starting to hurt.
He was honestly surprised that he had lasted that long. He had never been so long without a coughing fit or without Bucky around to support him. It almost felt like his body wasn't his own, like someone had done something to make him stronger. Though, he supposed, if Clint had been right about the whole superhero thing, maybe that was just part of the job description.
He finally reached the bottom of the ladder and sighed with relief when his feet touched the ground. He'd lost his footing a few times, and his arms still screamed with the effort it had taken to right himself.
"Are you still there?" he called out into the darkness of the . . . what was this place, anyway? It seemed like some kind of fancy fire escape, only it didn't seem to be leading Steve outside.
There was silence for some time before, at last, the reassuring voice came: "Yes, Captain Rogers."
Steve sighed in relief. He really wasn't sure who the voice belonged to, but he felt like he could trust it. It hadn't led him into trouble just yet, though it would sometimes disappear at horribly inconvenient times and leave Steve lost and wondering through twisting and winding corridors that had been marked up with various "C+N" doodles. (Some of the doodles had "N+C" written on them, with the "C+N" scratched out.)
It was a maze, and Steve was just glad he was small so that he could fit. If he'd been grown up, he probably would still fit, too, but it would have been harder, and Steve didn't really like tight spaces. Harder to breathe, and that was hard enough as it was.
The voice Steve had been following seemed to stutter, like a radio transmission messed up by static. "Hello?" he called out again, walking forward.
As soon as his feet hit the tile floor in front of him, the room lit up like Christmas, and Steve could hardly believe his eyes.
...
A/N: I feel like I should be sorry for two cliffhangers in one chapter, but I'm really not :P