AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This Chapter is from the Avengers' point of view. This one was tricky, because there were so many darn characters! I might have to have some of them go on a mission or something. We have a little cameo appearance in this chappie dedicated to Pilyarquitect. enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: :P

The Avengers watched as Clint handed Merlin the little black velvet sack. They were once again gathered in the Avengers Lounge. The lounge seemed to be where most of their important meetings happened.

It was late, nearing midnight. Tony watched curiously as Merlin picked at the strings on the pouch. Steve frowned at the innocuous little pouch. "You said that that crystal in there is from a magic cave, and it will show you visions?" Steve asked, doubt tinging his voice.

Merlin nodded, somewhat stiffly, it seemed to Tony. Tony wondered why. "Yes," Merlin said, his voice flat. "I should be able to see whatever keeps making me feel like I want to puke up dirty oil."

Dirty oil, Tony thought. That's why. Tony knew what dirty oil tasted like. It didn't taste good.

Merlin slid a large, fist-sized chunk of hazy white crystal into his palm. The sight of it made Tony shiver. Something in the air felt strange. Maybe the compound's air conditioner unit was busted. Tony would check on that later, but right now, his attention was on Merlin, who was staring in the depths of the white rock in his hand.

There was silence for a long minute. Tony stared at Merlin hard. The man did absolutely nothing but stare into his shiny rock. Tony couldn't even tell if Merlin was blinking or not.

Tony clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, bored and annoyed by the silence. Natasha glared at Tony as if he had just kicked Clint. "Okay, okay," Tony muttered huffily. "I'll stop."

Tony pouted for 7.6 seconds, then he was bored again. But he didn't want Natasha to kill him. Several minutes passed. Tony glared in Natasha's general direction. He couldn't decide what to do. Circumstances decided for him.

There was a gasp and a strangled moan. Tony glanced up.

Merlin, who had been completely silent staring at his rock, was hyperventilating, chest heaving, mouth gaping. Merlin eyes were still glued to the white stone clutched in his long, pale fingers. Merlin's entire body seized, and he collapsed to the floor, rigid as a board, still staring at the crystal.

There was an instant uproar. Steve and Bruce instantly burst into action. Natasha whipped out a phone, and stabbed a number into it. She ran out of the room, phone to her ear. Clint followed. Vision was trying to comfort Wanda, who was staring at Merlin looking like she wanted to puke. Tony just sat in horrified shock.

Sam rushed to where Steve and Bruce were next to Merlin on their knees, laying Merlin on his side in case he threw up. Bruce was checking Merlin's pulse. "Get that thing out of his hands!" Bruce barked.

Bruce's shout sent Tony into action. Tony leaped to his feet and reached for the white crystal, ready to wrest it out of Merlin's shaking fingers. An instant before Tony touched the stone, a sharp cry stopped him. "Wait!"

It was Wanda. She appeared to have recovered. She knelt next to Merlin as well, who was convulsing in a seizure. "The stone has magical powers," Wanda said, reaching for the crystal. "I'll do it. It might be dangerous to others."

Wanda's fingers brushed the stone. Time seemed to stand still for a split second. Then Wanda shrieked, an ear-splitting noise that shattered three windows, and collapsed onto the floor, eyes closed, semi-conscious, nonsense words spilling from her lips.

"Don't touch the rock!" Bruce cried. "If Wanda can't touch it, none of us should."

"Figured that out!" Tony snapped, checking Wanda's pulse. It was rapid, but strong. "So what do we do?"

Merlin's struggles were losing strength. His eyes closed, though he still clasped his crystal like a lifeline. Soon he was completely still, except for his uneven breathing. Hitching, choked gasps escaped his lips.

The door reopened, slamming into the wall with a bang. Natasha and Clint ran in, followed by a woman, perhaps in her late twenties, with wavy, honey-colored hair in a white coat. The woman was carrying a large bag that Tony suspected was full of medical equipment.

The woman hurried forward. "What happened to him?" she asked. The woman had a crisp British accent. She knelt next to Merlin. Without waiting for an answer, the woman pressed two fingers to Merlin's throat, checking his pulse. "Someone check over her." The woman jerked her head towards the now silent Wanda. "And give me a report."

Tony rubbed his face, wiping away a thin sheen of sweat. "FRIDAY, vitals check on Wanda, please."

"Heartrate and breathing slightly elevated, Boss," FRIDAY said. "Slight fever. Temperature is 99.9 degrees. Other body functions normal. In fact, Miss Maximoff appears to be recovering now."

True to FRIDAY's word, Wanda's eyes popped open, looking dazed and disoriented. "My fingers are tingling," she murmured, flexing said fingers. Clint helped Wanda sit up and Natasha helped her sip from a water bottle.

Wanda waved them away. "I'm all right," she said shakily. "How is Merlin?"

The doctor didn't blink an eye at the news that her patient's name was Merlin. "He is currently unconscious." She examined the crystal. "What is this?" she asked.

"A seeing crystal, apparently," Steve said, sitting back on his heels. "I think it gave Merlin a seizure."

"Why haven't you taken it away from him?" the doctor asked.

"That's what knocked Wanda unconscious," Bruce said, sighing heavily. "We need to get that crystal out of his hands."

"Gloves?" the doctor questioned, shaking her hair out of her face.

Bruce shook his head. "Probably shouldn't risk it, but if Merlin gets any worse, we'll try it. He seems stable right now."

The doctor nodded. "Get a pillow," she ordered Tony. She glanced around at the Avengers. "Nice to see you all by the way. My name is Simmons. Jemma Simmons. I'm a huge fan of your work, Dr. Banner."

"Good to meet you too, Miss Simmons," Bruce said, lifting Merlin's head so Simmons could slide the pillow under.

Merlin's face contorted at the movement. He moaned. His eyelids twitched. Underneath, his irises were shining a brilliant gold. But the gold was polluted with growing flecks of black.

Merlin gasped and choked, eyes closing again, concealing his glowing irises.

"Get that thing out of his hands!" Simmons cried. Before anyone could think about touching Merlin, he arched his back and a blast of energy exploded from him, flinging everyone backward.

Simmons, Bruce, Sam and Steve hit the floor. The lights on the ceiling exploded in a flash of sparks. Darkness engulfed the group. They felt another wave of power, and there was the sound of glass breaking and thunder booming. There was a flash of multi-colored light, but not from Merlin. The light had come from outside.

Tony carefully stepped over shards of broken glass as the emergency lights flicked on. The lights cast an eerie blue-white glow on the entire scene.

Tony peered out into the dark night. It was well past midnight by now, and the sky was black. No stars. But Tony could just make out a smoldering circle of grass several hundred feet away. He could see someone striding across the lawn.

"FRIDAY," Tony said nervously. "Who's that?"

"It appears that Thor has arrived, Boss."

Tony breathed a sigh of relief. "Excellent. Maybe he knows something about magic rocks."

Thor, red cloak and blond hair waving, hammer in hand, stepped through the empty window frame, glass snapping under his feet. "Good evening, friends," he said, with a large smile. "I have come to assist you. Heimdall said something about a problem with magic."

"Yeah," Tony said. "Over there." Tony waved a hand vaguely toward Merlin, who was drawing in long, wheezing breaths. "That rock he's holding. It sent him into shock or something."

"Excellent!" Thor crowed. "This problem is very easy to fix." Thor strode to where Merlin was lying and reached for the crystal in his fist.

"Wait!" everyone shouted, alarm coloring their voices.

But Thor didn't wait. He ripped the crystal from Merlin's grasp. Sparks snapped around Thor's fingers. He grimaced, and wrapped the crystal in the edge of his cape. Merlin's breathing immediately eased and his tense muscles relaxed. Merlin was still pale as a ghost, but his pulse had evened out, as Simmons discovered when she examined him.

Simmons sighed and sat back on her heels. "He seems to be all right now," she said. "But I'd like to examine him properly, then stay and observe him, preferably until he wakes, and if not until then, at least overnight. We were only supposed to stay here for a few hours, but I'm sure Coulson will be fine with it."

The Avengers had learned of Agent Phil Coulson's survival nearly a year ago. A few of the Avengers had even encountered Coulson's team of agents once or twice.

Bruce was checking Wanda for signs of shock, Vision hovering (not literally) over them. "She's fine," Bruce pronounced. "Just a bit of a fever. But with a good night's rest and lots of fluids, she'll be fine by tomorrow."

Wanda nodded, dark hair swaying. She glanced at Merlin's limp form. "When I touched the crystal… I saw a glimpse of… something. Something… dark.. I thought it was a person, but now, I'm not so sure." Awe and worry tinged her voice. "He is even stronger than I gave him credit for if he can see anything worthwhile in that stone."

Steve nodded tiredly. "Let's hope he learned what he wanted. I don't want to see that rock ever again."

Wanda rubbed her hands together, tiny sparks of red energy lighting up her skin. "I'm going to bed," she muttered. "I'm exhausted. If Merlin is awake by morning, tell me. I want to speak with him."

Wanda left the room. Clint picked bits of glass out of Natasha's red hair. Natasha spotted the little velvet pouch on the floor and picked it up. She handed it to Thor. "Put that stupid rock in there."

Thor smiled at Natasha as he carefully slipped the crystal into the pouch. "Greetings, Lady Natasha. I have not seen you since we destroyed Ultron. What has kept you so busy?"

Natasha shrugged. "I don't know," she smirked. "I shouldn't have let it happen. It's been too long since we just hung out."

Thor tossed the velvet pouch to Tony, who caught it in surprise. Tony grimaced and tugged the pouch's strings to close it. He stuffed the stone into his pocket. He'd have to put it somewhere safe until Mr. Magic Merlin could deal with it.

Thor embraced Natasha, dragging in Clint as well. Clint scowled good-naturedly at Thor, who seemed oblivious. "Dr. Banner," Thor called, inclining his head toward the man. "Captain Rogers, Tony. And who are you?" Thor glanced curiously at Simmons. "And who is this man, who had such power as to be able to properly use a Seeing Stone?"

"I'm Simmons, Jemma Simmons," Simmons said, blushing profusely. (Unfortunately, for her, Thor already had a girlfriend.)

"That guy says that he's Merlin," Tony said, plopping onto a couch. He swigged from a bottle of Sparkling Cider he had retrieved from the fridge. "He was using the magic shiny rock to look for evil people."

Thor frowned. "Merlin? I have never heard of this mortal. He must have extraordinary power. Otherwise, he would not have been able to survive such prolonged contact with the stone. Some Asgardians would be able to use this stone, but many of those few would never even consider touching such a thing."

"You can meet Merlin tomorrow," Steve said, gathering the unconscious man into his arms. "Right now, we're going to take him into the infirmary. Miss Simmons, Dr. Banner, would you like to come?"

Simmons nodded, grabbing her bag and hurrying after Steve as he disappeared with Merlin. "I need to talk with Coulson," she said. Bruce followed them close behind. Thor waved cheerily to Vision and Sam. "Hello, my friends."

"Good evening, Thor."

"'Sup?"

Thor glanced around at the mess. "Would any of you care to explain what happened?" he asked. "How did you come by this… Merlin?"

Tony sighed. "Well, we basically tried to kidnap him," Tony said, explaining everything that had happened over the past few days. (Natasha, Clint and Sam seemed to find great joy in interrupting Tony, and correcting him when he messed up a detail. Vision seemed to find it amusing as well.)

When he was finished, Tony leaned back and closed his eyes. "I wish that this was my house so that I could tell you all to shut up and go to your rooms."

There was a beat of silence. "Wait…" Clint mused pursing his lips, trying to suppress a smirk. "I thought that you did that anyway. I thought that you thought that was your job."

Everyone burst out laughing, and even Tony rolled his eyes and smiled. It took nearly five minutes for everyone to calm down.

Thor wiped his eyes and sighed. "Yes, it is excellent to see you all again," he said. "Now, to the most important thing." Thor gazed seriously at Tony. "Are there any Pop-Tarts, in this fortress?"

Tony rolled his eyes.