A/N~ Soon the woman behind the curtain will be revealed but first she's going to discover what happens when two bodies try to occupy the same space at the same time. Something's got to give. Please read, enjoy and review. ~A

No Vacancy

When he woke up, he didn't open his eyes. Instead going for the once over of his body for injuries, the one in his side was obvious. The arm more subtle but still painful. Various bumps and bruises and a heavy, very heavy weight on his legs. There was also a much lighter weight sitting beside him on the bed.

Alright so the obvious first he was injured, he was in a bed so obviously not held by the dark or light fae. Dark fae wouldn't care enough to treat his wounds if he were injured and light fae probably wouldn't provide a bed for dark fae scum like him. Then he remembered what had happened and sat up in bed to the protest of his side and arm.

The Mesmer found himself in his own bed in the Carpe Diem. The Spirit Tiger was laying across his feet. His two ladies were sleeping in the bed beside him. Kenzi sat on the edge of the bed beside him, her grey eyes concerned but exhausted.

"You look worse than I feel, love." Vex said smartly, surprised that neither of his lovers woke at the sound of his voice. They were both usually light sleepers.

Kenzi gave him a wan smile, "Doubt it, though I wouldn't complain if I didn't have to do magic for a while…like until the Coronation. Yeah that would be good." she added more to herself.

Then she looked back at Vex and said, "So Lauren said the Boster was driving under the influence…of some woman in a hood or something. Care to enlighten."

Vex shrugged and quickly realized what a bad idea that was as he hissed and Kenzi gave him a light smack to the head as she said, "For a centuries old mind whammier, you use your brain surprisingly little.". She pulled the sheets and pajamas aside and after a quick exam of the dressing there, replaced them.

Vex explained, "I knew that Lauren was in trouble, our bond you see, and so Bo and I went to go get her back. Got her out and then started to leave and there was Bo at the entrance to the light fae dungeon with some woman in a hood."

Vex' description of events is interrupted by Dyson entering the room balancing a steaming pot of tea and several delicate china cups on a tray. Vex teases the wolf, "Well, aren't we the domesticated animal?"

The detective merely smiled charmingly at the wounded dark fae, "I wouldn't talk if I were you. The tea set and Dragon's Blood Tea were in your kitchen along with the raspberry vinaigrette and shitake mushrooms."

Kenzi smirks slightly at the byplay between the two make fae before she encourages the Mesmer to finish telling them what happened. As he recites the events he lets the tea warm his bones. Once again he becomes aware that nether of his ladies have awoken. Lauren in particular has a weakness for fine tea.

Before he can ask Kenzi reassures him, "Encouraged them to have a deep, restful sleep." she adds, "Thank you by the way for unraveling the geas the hoochie in the hood put on Bo. You did most of the hard work before you even got back to the Den."

"The Den…yeah, and how did I get back here and into me p.j.'s then?" Vex asked while batting his eyes at Kenzi. Kenzi smiled back at the Mesmer as her beau sat down next to the dark fae and said, "Well, the tiger was already carrying Bo, Kenzi carried Lauren and I carried you. I must say your collection of pajamas was a surprise. The lack of matching underwear wasn't."

The dark faes mouth opened and closed for a moment before snapping closed with a decidedly disgruntled expression. With a grumble the Mesmer said, "Dirty dog, now I'll have to get a whole new night time wardrobe."

With a little snort Kenzi asked Vex, "Do you think the new player might just be Morrigan?"

"Nah luv," he said seriously, "Not her style. She wouldn't hide behind a hood."

"Great another player in the game," Kenzi said, a little testily. Aggravation and exhaustion evident in her tone, "Wonder what this one's angle is?"

XXXXXXXXX

Trick made his way carefully down the stairs to his apartment. Balancing the tray he was carrying. He had prepared Hale and Val a tray with fruit, cheese, eggs and some of the dark bread that Hale enjoyed. He managed to get down the stairs without bobbling a thing, he smiled crediting his bartending skills mentally for the balancing act.

Hale was coming from the bathroom, where he had obviously shaved and cleaned up a bit. He was wearing some of the fresh clothing that his sister had brought with her. Val was just finishing pulling another chair to the table she had dragged closer to the chaise lounge so that her brother could sit and eat comfortably.

The Siren was obviously feeling much stronger. He had confided in his sister that it was their father who had been involved in "putting the whammy on him" as Kenzi explained it. Val had thrown a fit, quite literally. Whenever some of Tricks artifacts looked to be in danger though the Elder Wolf had called the young fae down. She had grabbed the other woman by the ear no less and dragged her up the stairs to the empty pub.

Kenzi had not raised her voice but she had spoken to the willful fae woman for several minutes vehemently. When Val had walked back down the stair she had looked properly chastened, had apologized repeatedly for her bad behavior. She then proceeded to clean up the mess she had made and thanked Trick for sheltering her brother and herself.

The fae siblings were about halfway through their breakfast when a loud commotion was heard coming from upstairs. Chairs and tables being scraped across the floor violently, screams from the patrons, glass and crockery smashing to the floor.

The pub owner told the younger fae to stay put and went upstairs swiftly. Trick was just in time to see three fae come out of the kitchen, shoving Eric in front of them. Trick saw several rather large fae and underfae coming from the kitchen and the front entrance of the pub.

The one shoving Eric threw the younger fae across the dining room into one of the overturned tables. Fleur who had been standing frozen next to the fireplace ran to her fallen friends side.

When the large fae marched toward the pair on the floor. Fluer saw him coming and still holding Eric's hand she stood to face the fae with a look of fury on her face..

A heavy branch suddenly grew out of a knot in the rafter above him and smacked him across the face with a resounding thwack. The fae flew back off his feet and into the bar behind him. The bar and all of the wood around the pub started to grew little sapper roots, which quickly grew into thicker roots. The fae and underfae thugs were held in place so that the customers were able to escape from the pub.

Trick rushed forward and helped Fleur get Eric off of the floor and down the stairs. He hollered at Hale and Val, "Get up and out the back door. Now!" The four younger fae help each other out the exit.

He closes and seals the door behind them. Then walks back up the stairs

to his pub. He was only halfway up the staircase when he ran into Sturgis Santiago coming down the stairs into Trick's apartment.

"I believe we are overdue for a chat Blood King," said the fae aristocrat with an oily smile. "Besides I have someone you may want to meet." he said and held out his arm as a feminine figure in a hooded cloak came down the stairs and took his arm.

XXXXXXXXX

Thor is glowing, literally glowing. The Asgardian while weak for an Asgardian was improving by leaps and bounds. Tony watched in wonder as the healing wounds on his front and back actually glinted in the lamplight of the early evening.

The inventor moved to the end table and picked up the small bottle of beads. Shaking it slightly to make the spheres rattle around in the bottle, before saying, "You know we really should study these things to see what's in them," he said. The look he got in his eye when he was about to create something ridiculous or spectacular in his eye."

The bottle was suddenly snatched from his hands by Bruce, with a resounding, "No!"

"Why the hell not?" the bearded man demanded petulantly of his friend.

"For one thing Annie said they were made specifically for Thor. Not humans. You do remember he's Asgardian right? Not human." The doctor said as he put the bottle on the side table. Then turned to face his friend with his arms crossed and a decided scowl on his face as he continued, Who knows what damage it might cause a human. Kidney or liver damage, mutation, cancer, death, we have no way of knowing, Tony."

"You just described the side effects of most of the drugs on the market today Bruce." Stark sniped, "What's the difference?"

"The difference is Tony," Steve said from where he was sitting calmly in the corner. "you're kind of being a hypocrite here. You do realize that right? You say SHIELD shouldn't have secrets, but you don't want to share Stark Tech?

We are trusting Annie to heal our friend and now you wanna steal her medicine?"

Tony waved away the Captain's comments and says dismissively, "That's totally different."

"No its not Stark," the super soldier said, rising from the chair as his irritation with the billionaire grew. "How is it any different from HYDRA or SHIELD stealing the cube technology, something they didn't understand in the first place, and weaponizing it?"

"I wouldn't weaponize it?" the inventor said hotly.

"No but you don't mind stealing it. Is that it Tony?" Bruce asked a slight hint of green in his eyes.

Clint meanwhile has headed to the pub to pick up some food for everyone including Thor. The archer had noted that the blind alley the pub was situated in would be perfect for target practice while waiting for their order. There wasn't really any other place in town they had found he would feel secure practicing in. He was grateful that Thor was beginning to get his appetite back, it showed the Asgardian was recovering from the spiders poison.

An old fashioned limousine parked near the kitchen entrance looked completely out of place and totally suspicious. The fact that a large group of panicked looking people came out of the alley before he got there didn't calm those suspicions at all.

Then a tall black man he didn't recognize came out of the kitchen entrance with a hooded woman to get into the back of the limo. Followed closely by several brutish looking men, two of whom were carrying the pub owner, a man the Avengers had learned was called Mr. Trick.

His instincts as a long time agent for SHIELD kicked in and Clint pulled

out his bow and quiver set it for a tracker arrow. He managed to plant the tracker in the bumper of the car just as it pulled away from the curb. Pulling out his cell phone he called Bruce and told him what he had seen as he follows the car.

Hawkeye manages to climb a building and traveling across the rooftops is able to keep up with the car fairly easily. He is only slightly surprised to hear the rumble of thunder from the clear evening sky.

The people in the car however were very surprised when the car was surrounded by a man in a metal suit, a star spangled soldier, a man dressed like a Viking, the Incredible Hulk and finally a man with a bow and arrows.

When the Incredible Hulk moved up to the car, slammed his fingers into the roof and peeled the limo open like a sardine, there was a scream from inside the fancy car. The Big Guy reached into the car and gently extracted Mr. Trick through the roof.

The black man opened the door on the other side of the vehicle and threw himself out onto the pavement and crab crawled away. Clint had the sneaking suspicion that the man was where the unmanly shriek had come from. The other Avengers were taking care of the other passengers.

Clint opened the back door to the limo on the passenger side. The woman in the hood reached out and grabbed his arm. He felt a flash of heat go up his arm. Only to be met by the cold that ad resided under his heart since the Battle for New York.

The woman leaned forward and said, "You will attack your friends and allow me to escape, my dear. You will not stop attacking until you are dead or they are, my dear." She said as she leaned forward to whisper to him while pulling herself out of the car using his arm for balance.

He placed his hand over the hand on his arm and lowered his head and whispered, "Sorry lady, this space has already been occupied." The woman looked up into his glowing blue gray eyes and flinched.