Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or the Avengers or any of the related rights.
...
Steve wasn't entirely sure that he had the words to explain what he was seeing—and considering all the weird things that had happened to him so far that day, that was definitely saying something.
He was pretty sure those were robot arms, moving around. And there was some kind of machinery. And he was also pretty sure that the robot arms noticed him when he came in.
"Um. Hi." He waved nervously at the nearest robot arm, which seemed to be wearing a dunce cap, and the arm sort of wiggled its end at him.
"Now, Captain Rogers," said the voice, finally returning to him again. Steve still hadn't met the actual person behind the voice, but he figured once they got out of the building, maybe they'd get introduced. "If you will proceed to the back of the room, you will see that there is a hidden door behind the workbench."
Steve climbed over lots of tools that looked like they probably shouldn't have been lying around the way they were before he got to the door the voice was talking about. He wouldn't have noticed it before, not with his eyesight. But everything in the future was either lots brighter and more colorful or else whatever had happened to make him able to fight and hold onto stuff without falling had also made him able to see better.
Maybe in the future they had a cure for colorblindness? That might explain it.
Anyway, he could see that the wall on one side was a little bit darker than the wall on the other, and so he pushed hard against the darker wall.
It squeaked, like it maybe wanted to move, but it was still trying to make up its mind.
Steve took a deep breath and tried again, this time throwing all his weight against it. It sort of budged.
One of the robot arms seemed to take note of his predicament. The one with the dunce cap. It was making some kind of motion at the other robots.
Great. Now he had an audience.
Steve sighed and threw his weight against the wall once more. It budged a little more. He tried again. And again.
His shoulder really hurt, but he knew the other kids upstairs were counting on him to find a way out of there, and this door might just be what they needed.
He tried throwing his other shoulder into the wall, just to shake things up and also because he was pretty sure he might break something if he kept up at the pace he was going before.
He had opened the secret door only wide enough for him to stick his hand through when he heard gears grinding behind him, and on the next push, he saw that there were robotic arms to help him.
He grinned. "Atta boy," he said to the nearest arm as he threw his weight again.
…..
"We are in so much trouble," the tiny Barton said beside him.
Thor looked down at the boy. He could have been no older than five Midgardian years old, at the most. And yet there he stood, his chin thrust forward, his eyes taking in the coming confrontation with Amora.
Truly, he was a warrior born.
Thor gently set Banner down beside Barton. "I leave him in your protection," he said without directly addressing either of them. He knew from the looks they gave each other that each had sworn in their hearts to be the one doing the protecting.
"Amora," Thor said, striding forward so that the children were concealed behind his cape, "I have not known you to be a lackey to Loki's schemes."
That taunt certainly seemed to work. A fire burned behind the enchantress's eyes as she sniffed and turned her nose up at him. But, as always, she recovered herself and drew her shoulders higher. "I am no lackey," she said with all the conviction he had remembered her to have. "Loki's schemes have … worked to my advantage." She showed all her teeth with her next smile. "This time, at least."
"I am certain he would say the same thing of you, were I to ask him," Thor said.
Amora bared her teeth again, this time in a growl. She tossed her hair as she said. "It matters not." Regaining her cold exterior, she said, "You really should not have interfered, my love."
Behind him, Thor heard Banner whisper something too quietly to hear, but Barton replied with a loud, not-at-all-whispered, "Must have been one bad breakup."
When Amora turned her attention to the tiny Barton, Thor was angered to see the spark of fury in her gaze. Barton might have been a thorn in her side, but there was no cause for such fury against one so small and young.
Barton seemed to realize that Amora's eyes were on him, for he shrank back the slightest bit, though when he did, he thrust his chin out at her to show that he was not quite as scared as he appeared.
Thor felt his heart soften. Midgardians never failed to amaze him, and even in one so young, it was clear to Thor just what kind of bravery lay in his comrades.
But he turned his attention quickly back to Amora when he heard her call out, "Executioner! I need you!"
Thor frowned and braced himself, his hammer raised, as the lumbering giant heeded the call, bursting through a door nearby.
Thor met his enemy's axe with his hammer, positioning himself between the sparks that rained down from the two weapons as they met and the children standing close by.
"Book it, Greenie!" he heard Barton say behind him.
With the children out of danger, Thor could more easily focus on the battle before him. Amora's executioner was certainly a worthy opponent, though of course Thor had felled the giant in battle many times before. Surely Amora would not rest her plans entirely on the victory of her loyal minion.
No, something else was at work here.
He frowned, searching for the answer that would not come. He missed Jane now, missed her sharp intellect. Had she been nearby, she would have seen to the root of what he could not.
He heard a shout behind him even as Amora's executioner parried his hammer with his axe and then used his weight to shift Thor back several steps. Thor could not turn his attention from the battle to see what had happened, but he heard Barton shout in fear.
Thor gritted his teeth. He did not want to risk using his lightning when the children were so close by, so he threw his hammer with all his might, letting the momentum of his throw push the executioner back far enough away that Thor could throw a glance over his shoulder.
Barton was standing over an unconscious Banner, tiny fists raised against a grinning Loki. Banner seemed to be sleeping soundly—there was no evidence of his having been injured, and Thor suspected that Loki had done something to sedate Banner before he became the Hulk.
Thor opened his mouth to call out a warning to Barton, but he had been distracted for far too long, and for his troubles, he was rewarded with a heavy body blow that sent him reeling. He felt his back hit the wall and go through it and felt the rubble of the drywall fall across his shoulders and hair.
He scrambled to his feet and swung Mjolnir upward as the executioner stepped through the hole made by Thor's own body, and Thor's opponent went flying into the ceiling.
Bits of ceiling rained down on them both as Thor barely dodged a blow from the axe, but now that they were in a different room from the children, Thor felt confident that he could call down his lightning.
"You have made a grave mistake, my friend," Thor said, and he felt the grin split his face even as he felt the air around him crackle with electricity.
...
A/N: Sorry this one was such a long time coming, y'all. Thor's internal voice is REALLY hard to pin down, but I still wanted to give it a go.