AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: pizzazz is fun to say. It has four z's.

"Take him down!"

Captain America's shout sent Merlin into action. His secret was blown. He was going to use magic as much as he wanted in this fight. It was the only way that he had even a small chance of escaping.

It had been hundreds of years since Merlin had actually had to resort to verbal incantations to direct his magic.

Merlin shoved his hand toward Black Widow and Hawkeye, blasting them through a window. Merlin had shattered the Maximoff girl's power so quickly that she had collapsed into a daze, lying limp on the floor.

There was a high-pitched whine, and a flash of blueish-gold light. Merlin whirled, throwing up a magical shield, blocking Iron Man's replusor blast a millisecond before it slammed into his face. Merlin sent a blast of concussive magic from his palm, sending Iron Man and Falcon crashing into the table, books and broken wood flying everywhere.

Merlin heard a metallic shing a split second before something slammed into his magical force field. Merlin's shield shattered and Captain America's red and blue one slammed into Merlin's ribs. Merlin crumpled, gasping, clutching his side. Cap picked his shield off the floor and positioned it on his back.

Cap crouched down and carefully pulled Merlin into a sitting position, cuffing his hands behind his back. "Sorry, son," he was saying. "You forced us into it."

Merlin was hardly listening. Pain pulsed through his stinging, aching ribs. In the back of his head, Merlin wondered why his magic hadn't stopped Captain America's shield. It definitely should have. Merlin foggily noticed Iron Man climbing to his feet, gears and joints whirring. Stark offered Wilson a hand.

"What the crap was that?" Stark's robotic voice asked. "He threw pretty much all of us, with just a wave of his hand?"

Captain Rogers shrugged, standing. "I have no idea," he said. "But we need to get Mr. Emmy into a special containment cell. He must have powers similar to Wanda's. Are Barton and Romanoff all right?"

"That sucked," Wilson said, rubbing his bruising back. He glanced at the panting, sweating Merlin. "You are one weird dude."

Stark peeked out the window. "Clint and Nat are both unconscious, but they aren't bleeding and they're both breathing. We'll pick'em up on the way out. I'll take Marc to the Quin-Jet and stick him in the temporary containment unit. Cap, you get Wanda, and Bird-Boy, try to get Robin Hood and Tasha up and about."

Sam nodded. "Will do." He headed out the door to look after Clint and Natasha. Steve carefully picked up the comatose Wanda, carrying her outside.

Tony frowned at Marc Emmy on the floor before him. Finally, he reached down, carefully grabbing Emmy's arm. "Come on, Emmy," Tony said sympathetically. "We'll patch you up back on the Quin-Jet."

The words sliced through the pain clogging Merlin's thoughts, bringing a surprising clarity. Merlin swayed on his feet, leaning his uninjured side on the cold metal of the Iron Man suit. He limped out the door with Iron Man, waiting for his chance.

Outside, the sunshine blasted into Merlin's aching head. Merlin groaned, and covertly glanced around. The Falcon was carrying a protesting, mostly-conscious Black Widow into a large, black… space jet. Clint Barton was still lying unconscious on the dead grass, and there was no sign of Captain America and the witch.

Merlin suddenly went limp against Tony, who started in surprise. "FRIDAY, check Emmy's vital signs."

"Heart rate and breathing are slightly elevated, Boss," the AI's voice said. "Temperature is 99.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Two ribs broken, two ribs cracked. He also seems to be radiating an unusual energy signature. I'll get back to you on that as soon as I can."

"Sounds good," Tony said, leaning down to scoop the unconscious man into his arms. He was just about to lift Emmy into his arms when the guy's eyes popped open, and… started glowing!

A blaze of gold flashing across the dark blue irises was all Tony saw before a blast of electricity shorted out the half the circuits in his suit. The weight of the half-dead suit pushed Tony to his hands and knees. "Critical system failures detected, Boss," FRIDAY's voice said.

"Yeah, yeah, I figured that out," Tony snapped.

Tony could see Marc Emmy climbing painfully to his feet, and flexing his arms like his was trying to break through his steel handcuffs. No way, Tony thought. But lo and behold, there was a burst of light and Emmy's hands came free. Emmy turned and bolted down the street, one arm clasped tight to his side. He disappeared around a corner.

Merlin ran for all he was worth, great hitching breaths tearing at his throat. He dodged behind a house, streaking toward one of his hidey-holes. He stepped around a stray cat, sending the animal tearing up a tree.

Merlin's feet slapped on the pavement as he ran across a street, onto a dirt road. There was a cabin at the end of this road, and maybe a half a mile beyond the cabin, a hideout was hidden in a little hill, inaccessible to anyone without magic.

Ignoring the burning pain each step sent to his side, Merlin cast a spell to hide his footprints and continued on through the trees.

Tony stepped out of his damaged suit, leaving it to fold into a suit case. Haha. Suit case. Tony thought that one had been pretty funny. It wasn't as funny in the moment, Tony discovered.

Sprinting into the Quin-Jet, Tony nearly ran headlong into Rogers. "What's the matter?" Steve asked. "Where's Emmy?"

"He blasted my suit and escaped!" Tony complained. "We need to get him. He broke his cuffs and ran."

Steve frowned. "I'll go after him," he said. "Natasha is awake, and she's fine. We already checked for a concussion. Wanda is still down. Falcon is checking on Clint. Romanoff can help me track Emmy down."

Tony nodded. "I brought an extra suit, cuz' I'm just awesome like that," he said. "I'll get it on, and come find you guys. I'll bring the vibranium cuffs."

"Good," Steve said. Natasha joined him as he strode out of the Quin-Jet. Her hair was ruffled, and bits of dead grass were stuck to her back, but otherwise she was fine. She drew her pistol. "Let's go," she said. Steve and Natasha took off down the road.

"This is pretty hopeless without Stark and his tracking tech," Natasha said over the sound of their pounding feet. They slowed at an intersection. "I'm guessing this way," Steve said, heading toward the right. He could see a forest peeking through the gaps in the houses. "If we can't find him, Stark can do a flyover."

Natasha nodded, following close behind Steve. She pointed to a dirt road. "Down there," she said. The two Avengers stalked down the dirt road, leaving faint footprints in their wake. A cottage loomed through the trees, small but clean.

Steve motioned for Natasha to go around the back. Steve jumped onto the small porch and knocked firmly on the door. When he didn't get an answer, he kicked open the door.

Steve slowly walked inside, checking each room for Emmy. There wasn't a sign that anyone had been here in months. A thin layer of dust coated everything, even the wood floors. Natasha met Steve in the middle, having already searched the other rooms.

"No one here," Natasha said quietly, pistol cocked and at the ready. "But that doesn't mean much. This place is too obvious a hideout. Let's check the woods out back." Steve nodded, following Natasha out the door.

A little way into the woods, Natasha pointed to a broken branch. "There," she said. "He went this way."

"How do you know that it's him and not just an animal?" Steve asked, eyes steadily searching the woods.

Natasha pointed to a thread of red fabric on a branch just past. "He was wearing a red bandana," she explained.

Steve nodded. "Come on then," he said. "We can't be too far behind. I got him pretty good with my shield." Cap grimaced. "Maybe too good. I think I broke a couple of his ribs."

"Ouch."

They stalked farther into the dark trees, following a nearly invisible trail… which disappeared into nothing within half a mile. "Did we miss it?" Steve asked.

Natasha shook her head. "The trail just ends. Right at that rock." She pointed to a large, flat stone, which sat next to a small hillock.

"Secret tunnels?"

"Go ahead and check, but if he moved that rock, there would be some disturbances in the dirt and leaves. Footprints, most likely. He's been very good so far. This dirt is soft. He should have been leaving footprints all over the place."

Steve slid his fingers under the flat edge of the stone and heaved. Nothing except some worms and a few bugs. Steve let the rock fall. It hit the ground with a dry thump.

Natasha looked up when she heard the tell-tale sounds of Stark's Iron Man repulsors. Tony carefully dropped through the trees, landing with a heavy thud. "What are you two doing just standing here? Is there a Cap-and-Tasha thing going on? Do you guys like each other?"

"I'm gonna kill you, Stark," Natasha said, rolling her eyes. Steve just blushed. "Denial is the first sign of love!" sang Tony.

Natasha rolled her eyes again. "Can you scan this area for heat signatures?" she asked. "The trail we were following just disappeared."

"Sure," Tony nodded, chuckling. "FRIDAY, you're up."

"Of course, Boss," FRIDAY said. "I'm scanning now."

There was a moment of silence while the AI did its work. "There seems to be an unusual amount of radiation from that mound," the AI said. "In fact, the radiation signatures match those from the lake, and the signatures that surrounded Mr. Marc Emmy."

Silence for a beat. "These signatures came from Marc Emmy?" Tony asked. "They came from him? As in, he made them happen."

"That's right, Boss."

"Dang. This guy is weird."

Steve shook his head. "So does that mean that Marc Emmy is hiding in that pile of dirt?"

Tony shrugged. FRIDAY answered for him. "There seems to be a rather large heat signature concealed in there, but there is a possibility that it's only a badger or a fox. I can't tell. Something seems to be blocking or confusing my sensors."

Tony glanced at Cap and Natasha. "Should I blow it up?"

"Sure," Natasha said. "But keep it low-key. We don't want to blow up Emmy."

"Don't worry," Tony scoffed. "I have special bombs. Directed explosions. They blow things whichever way I want them. The blast will be more of a danger to us than Emmy. So I would suggest taking cover behind a tree or something."

Tony busied himself setting up his explosive toys while Steve and Natasha took cover. When he was finished, Tony hid behind his own tree. He didn't want to mess up his suit's paint job. "Ready or not, here we come!" Tony called, setting off the bombs.

There was an explosion of dirt and stones, covering everything with a layer of mud. Tony peeked around his tree. There was a glowing sphere of opaque light embedded into the ground.

"That's weird," Tony said. "But I'm gonna guess that Emmy is in there. Stay covered," he told Steve and Natasha. "I'm going to try blasting his shield."

Tony charged his palm repulsor to its max. There was a high-pitched whine. The repulsor beam slammed into the glowing force field… and bounced off, hitting a tree and frying a hole in its trunk. A few leaves fizzled and sparked, withering from the heat of the blaze.

"Well," Tony said. "That failed epically. Anyone got any ideas?"

Steve thought for a second. He remembered how his shield had broken through Emmy's force field back at the cottage. He stood, moving carefully toward the glowing sphere. He lifted his shield above his head and slammed it against the force field.

There was a sound like a gong ringing, but no visible damage appeared on the shield. Steve tried again, slamming his shield down as hard as he could. This time, there was a sound like breaking crystal, and a glowing crack marred the force field's surface. Steve hit again, and again, and again. After seven more tries, the shield exploded in a flash of light.

When the light dissipated, the three Avengers saw Marc Emmy, standing (actually, closer to swaying) with his hands outstretched. He looked like he was about to faint, his face and lips pale. His eyes flashed gold, there was a loud boom, and Steve, Natasha and Tony were all blasted backward.

It took them several minutes to recover their breath. Tony stood first, having been mostly protected by his suit. Steve and Natasha clambered to their feet several seconds later.

They stared at the limp body on the ground, lying inside a muddy crater, little zings of light flashing across Marc Emmy's skin. He was unconscious, with a bleeding bullet hole through the meaty part of his shoulder, just underneath his left collarbone. There was also a thin trickle of blood coming from his nose.

"Good," Natasha breathed. "I got him. I thought that he escaped. Let's take him back to the jet and get him into a vibranium containment unit."

A bit of explanation here; yes, Merlin is very powerful. Alone, he could probably take on each of the Avengers. But as a team, the Avengers are pretty darn powerful. And maybe Merlin was having a bad day. I don't know. But it needed to happen. There is a reason to my rhyme.

Thanks for reading!

-Indigene Syke