Chapter 4- Hawkeye Saves a Puppy
A/N:Finally, some action. This chapter is a little longer but so worth it. This is my favorite chapter so far and I barely had to edit from my original version because I put so much love into it in the first place. I hope you like it as much as I do.
Avengers-
The tension during the flight to Greece felt different than before, less mistrustful and full of anticipation. Of course Batman retreated to his seat in the corner to brood and work on the borrowed tablet. Tony tried to ask about who Diana was, and specifically who she was to the gloomy vigilante. Batman fended him off with a glare that Hawkeye jokingly called "a bat-glare" which made Superman snort from the other end of the plane where he was talking to Captain America. After being on the receiving end of one of those glares, the archer retreated snickering, to the cockpit to keep Natasha company.
Batman sighed, happy to finally be free of interruptions, when a frozen pea bounced off his forehead. He jerked upright, trying to track the trajectory of the unusual projectile. Another one hit one of his cowl's ears, and this time he could tell it came from the cockpit where he could hear Hawkeye laughing.
Tony wished he dared fling peas at Batman himself. Though if he was honest, the man's silence, while annoying, wasn't as bad as Superman. The alien was like Captain America without the military discipline, and it rankled. Superman was polite and attentive without giving any information, at least any that was useful. Every time someone asked a question, the man would look at his teammate before answering, like they were conspiring, but Tony couldn't see any signals passing between them. What was Superman looking for? And why was he smirking?
"Who is Diana?" Tony finally asked directly, halfway across the Atlantic. He stared at Superman, daring the hero to put him off.
"Back home she's known as Wonder Woman," Superman answered, smiling openly. He crossed his arms and seemed to fill up the room as much or more than Captain America or Thor. It made Tony feel kinda small outside his armor. Which only pissed him off more.
"Okay," Tony drawled sarcastically. He looked over at Steve for back up but the super soldier was asleep in his seat. The man could fall asleep at the drop of a hat anywhere. He said it was a habit he picked up in the War. Tony turned back to Superman, who was watching him earnestly. "That tells us her name, but nothing about her. I'm sure you're more complicated than the 'S' on your chest."
Superman laughed good-heartedly. "Very true," he agreed, but didn't elaborate.
"Arrrgg," Tony groaned, throwing up his hands in frustration. "Fine, keep your secrets. I'll just be over here figuring out the secrets of the universe or something. Sam, come keep me company."
"Um, okay," Sam stammered. He had been perched off to the side, doing his own research quietly. He hurried to where Tony had started scribbling equations on a holographic table. In seconds, they were both oblivious to anything outside their little bubble.
Thor laughed and walked over to slap Superman on the back. "Well done, friend," he intoned mightily. "You held your own against Stark's curiosity. There was a time when he followed me around to determine the science behind Asgardian magic. It became quite irksome."
"He's not so bad," Superman said as he returned the slap on the back, which made Thor stumble a bit and smile broadly with anticipation. "Back home, I'm friends with several reporters. Their questions are usually more personal and harder to dodge."
Batman spoke up for the first time since they took off. "He's right," the dark knight said dryly. "That Clark Kent from Metropolis is one of the nosyiest reporters I've ever met."
Superman's eyes got wide as he stared at Batman incredulously. "Did you just… was that a… no way. Flash will not believe me when I tell him you said that." He laughed and grinned at Thor, inviting the Asgardian to share the joke, even if he didn't know what it was. Being the life of the party that he was, Thor happily joined in with an answering roar of laughter. Batman returned to ignoring the others on the jet.
"We're approaching Greece," Black Widow said over the intercom. "We'll be landing outside the metro area of Athens."
Captain America jerked awake. "What's the damage?" He went over to a screen to find out what he could. Clint helpfully sent the news broadcast that he was monitoring over for Steve.
"Locals seem to have it in hand," Clint spoke up. "Biggest issue is an apartment building off its foundation."
"That is where we will find Wonder Woman," Batman said, coming to stand next to the Captain.
"Then that's where we go," Cap said. "Tony, do you want to head out before us?"
"Sure, just let me put on my party suit," Tony said, already heading to the back where he had stashed the Iron Man armor. "Thor, do you want to be my escort?"
Thor laughed and hefted his hammer. "It will be my pleasure," he said with a grin. "I am looking forward to meeting another hero of this other realm."
"I'll come too," Superman said, "I can make introductions and be of help with the rescue efforts."
"Can you keep up, Supey?" Tony asked as the final sections of his armor clicked into place.
"Oh, I can hold my own," Superman said with a grin.
"Don't break the sound barrier," Batman said, looking at Superman like a naughty child. "The local structures might not handle it."
"Yes, mom," Tony snarked. "Is he always such a party-pooper?"
"He's right, Ironman. Be careful, and see where you can help. Try not being a showboat," Captain America ordered. He was finishing his preparations too, which mostly consisted of tightening straps to make sure his shield was in place.
Ironman saluted before hitting the switch for the door and leaping out. Thor was right behind him and with a shake of his head, Superman followed.
"Um, it might be a little late to ask this, but can he fly?" Sam asked. "Or was he expecting someone to catch him?"
"He can fly," Batman answered dryly. "I wouldn't worry about it. He is practically invulnerable."
"Oh, well, okay then," Sam mumbled and went back to putting his own suit on.
"What about you?" Steve asked. "Any powers we should know about?"
"I'm human," Batman said. "I've had extensive training but I don't have any powers or enhancements."
"Sounds like Hawkeye and Black Widow." Batman glared, challenging the soldier, but Steve just smiled. "So, I won't underestimate you."
"See that you don't," Batman acknowledged, mollified for now. Steve counted it as a victory.
After leaving the quinjet, Ironman immediately homed in on the damaged building. It was hard to miss. The building had shifted off its foundation, leaving a gaping hole into the basement, keeping rescue workers from entering the building. The residents, unable to reach the lower levels due to the damage, had congregated on the roof and were crying for help.
"Thor, you and Superman start evacuating the people who made it to the roof, I'm going to talk with whoever is in charge," he directed while he ran scans on the structure, looking for heat signatures. "I'll try to see how many people are inside."
Superman didn't bother to wait for orders. He was already ferrying people to the ground, but after a couple trips he stopped to join Stark, who was talking to a fire chief.
"Ironman," he said, nodding politely to the chief but focused on the hero. "I have x-ray and infrared vision. I can tell you there are six people trapped in the upper floors.
"You're just full of surprises, aren't you," Ironman said. "Don't suppose you can see a way to reach them?"
"No, but if we don't hurry, the floors are going to collapse on each other. The support beams for every floor are starting to buckle."
"Ironman," Captain America said over the coms. "We're here. Tell us what we need to do."
"We have six people trapped on the upper floors. The building is falling apart so we need to hurry and get everyone out and away from the building," Ironman reported.
Batman's rough voice came over the line and started issuing orders. "Ironman, find a way to get to the trapped people. Superman, get Black Widow and Hawkeye into the building to start leading the people out. Captain America, start directing people out of the area. Falcon and Thor need to keep bringing people down. Hulk, do you think you can buy them time?"
Hulk grunted into the comms and went to put his back to the building, slowing its slide off the foundation.
"Good," Batman continued. "I'll coordinate with the authorities on the ground."
"Who made you the boss?" Ironman asked, even as he moved to follow directions.
"Do you have a better plan?" Batman asked sharply.
Tony could almost feel the glare through the comms. "Not at the moment, but I'll let you know," he snarked back.
Following Batman's directions, Superman lifted Black Widow to an open window. "There are two people down the hall to your left. I think their door is blocked from the outside."
Widow saluted and glided inside without a word. Superman could hear Ironman giving her directions through the comms. Without wasting time, Superman flew down to pick up Hawkeye.
The archer stowed his collapsible bow behind his back and grinned. "Where to, Superman?"
Superman flashed the other man a smile as he snagged him under the arms. "Second floor from the top. It looks like a family of four trapped in an inner room by falling debris. Do you think you can handle it or should I come in with you?"
"I won't know for sure until I'm inside, but I think I got this. You help with the evac and I'll give you a shout if I need it," Hawkeye said as Superman reached the desired window. "Is the stairway clear to the roof?"
Superman scanned the floor again. "Yes, but hurry. The supports won't last much longer." He detailed the route they would have to follow to get to safety.
"Gotcha," Hawkeye said with a wave and he ducked through the window and was gone.
The archer found himself in a little girl's room, painted pink with dolls scattered over the floor. He quickly picked his way through and reached the far door. Beyond the door was a short hallway. Only one door led deeper into the building so he took it. Open living space and kitchen. Hawkeye exited the apartment and rushed to the neighboring one. Here he could hear children crying and he followed the sound. A large bookcase had fallen in front of the door, blocking the family inside. Clint had to strain to lift it, but soon the doorway was open.
"Come with me," Clint said to the family, a husband a wife with two girls, about 15 and 7. He made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "Akolouthiste."
The family didn't stop to question the stranger's bad accent. The father picked up the youngest girl and they followed Hawkeye through to the stairway leading to the roof. They were about to start climbing when the little girl started screaming something. The mother tried to shush her but she was hysterical.
"What's wrong?" Hawkeye asked desperately.
The man rambled in Greek, but Hawkeye's grasp of the language just wasn't up to the task. Finally the man said, "Koutavi, koutavi, puppy."
Hawkeye groaned. "Go," he said, pushing them up. Then he gestured at himself and back the way they came. "I get puppy, you go!" When the father nodded understanding, Hawkeye turned and ran back inside.
He reached the apartment and started looking. In his ear, Ironman was yelling. "Hawkeye, what the hell are you doing?! Get out of there before the whole thing collapses."
"Can't do that, Ironman," Hawkeye snapped back. "I need to find the girl's puppy. Any help?"
"I don't see a dog or any other animals in there," Superman said. "We're lifting the last people off the roof. Get out of there."
Hawkeye was cursing to himself when Batman came over the line. "Check the bathroom, Hawkeye, they might have a lead lined bathtub or something. Superman can't see through lead."
"Roger that," Hawkeye said and sprinted into the bathroom. Inside, in an old fashioned tub, a small puppy was cowering, his tail firmly between his legs. "Found it! Heading up now."
However, he was out of time. As he stepped out of the bathroom, puppy firmly under one arm, he felt the building shift. "Futz," he cursed and ran to the closest window. It was blocked by part of the ceiling which had caved in. He grabbed an explosive arrow out of his quiver and threw it as hard as he could before ducking back into the hall. The arrow cleared the way to the window but left a huge hole in the floor. Considering his options (he didn't have many) Hawkeye took as much of a running start as he could and flung himself over the gaping hole. With his free arm he grabbed a pipe that had sagged through the ceiling and used it to swing out the window. In a burst of glass he flew out into the open air. He clutched the puppy and prayed. "Could use some air support right about now!" he shouted as he started to plummet to the ground. He could hear his teammates shouting at him.
As Hawkeye jumped out the window of the crumbling building, all of the flying members of the team were busy. With the roof crumbling beneath their feet, the last of the civilians had to grab onto which ever hero was closest and all four heroes were full to capacity. Black Widow and Captain America raced to where Hawkeye was falling, fully aware they could do nothing, but unable to stop themselves. They all watched Hawkeye fall with foreboding, sure they were about to watch their friend die.
Out of blue, a woman flew out of the sky and snatched Hawkeye out of the air. She was beautiful in very classical way. She had long dark hair, held back by a golden tiara. She had armor on that was rather revealing and fit her like a glove. She wore silver gauntlets on her wrists and a golden rope coiled at her hip. She looked like a goddess, especially to the man who she had just saved. She smiled down at him as he still clutched the tiny puppy and tried to remember how to breathe. "Be still, little man. I have you."
When he caught his breathe again, Hawkeye beamed at her. "Thanks for that. Hey, you must be Wonder Woman. We were looking for you."
"For me?" she asked, puzzled. She paused in her descent to the ground to consider the man she was holding bridal style. "Why?"
"Long story," Hawkeye shrugged as best he could. "If you could put me down by the angry red-head and the guy with the shield, they can explain everything."
Wonder Woman nodded and swooped down fast enough to make Hawkeye's stomach drop, though she landed softly and gently put him on his feet. A moment later, Superman landed with the two little girls Hawkeye had rescued in his arms while their parents clung to his neck and back with all their might. The little girl squealed and ran to Hawkeye. She stopped right in front of him and bounced on her toes, her eyes glued to the little dog in the archer's arms.
"I think this is yours," the purple clad hero said, kneeling down. He held the puppy out and the little girl squealed as she grabbed him. She held the puppy tight and scolded him soundly in adorable sounding Greek.
"Peace, little sister," Wonder Woman said, smiling at the girl. "I think he learned his lesson." When the girl looked up, confused, the Amazon repeated her words in Greek. The girl nodded solemnly and took off to show her parents that her puppy was okay.
Meanwhile, Black Widow had stolen up behind Hawkeye. Once the little girl's attention was diverted, the Russian ex-assassin smacked Hawkeye's head hard enough to knock him on his butt. "What was that?" she scolded, dangerously. "You risked your life for a puppy? You could have died, you…" Her tirade broken down into a stream of angry sounding Russian that had everyone, including Wonder Woman and Superman (who had just joined the party) backing up.
Hawkeye held up his hands in defense. "I didn't have a choice, Nat. I couldn't just leave that little guy." He got to his feet and dusted himself off. "Besides, everything worked out okay, right?"
Widow threw up her hands and let out a groan of frustration. Before she could say anything, Ironman interrupted. "Not that this whole thing isn't heartwarming, did you all forget about the crumbling building behind you? It's starting to lean a little more than I'm comfortable with. Hulk has been holding it up the best he can, but we're losing integrity, people."
"We hear you, Ironman," Cap answered, waving the others silent. "What do we do?"
"Well, unless any of our new friends can lift a building, we need to get people out of its way," Ironman ordered. He was hovering in front of the building, desperately trying to come up with a better plan, but short of Hulk and Thor pulverizing it before it could fall into any of the neighboring buildings; he was out of ideas. None of his calculations were giving him the results he needed.
Superman looked up, assessing the building. He turned to Wonder Woman. "Think you're up for it?" he asked. She nodded grimly. "Ironman, where are the main supports? Wonder Woman and I can stop it."
"What?" Ironman asked, incredulous. "That's impossible."
"Trust him, Ironman," Batman ordered as he joined the group on the ground. "Tell them where to push and they'll put it back. Thor can help Hulk keep the base steady."
"If you say so, Batman," Ironman said, disbelief coloring his words but he followed through.
After showing them the strongest structural locations; Ironman joined the two League members in pushing the whole building back upright. They didn't stop there either because with Thor and Hulk directing the base of the building, they managed to push it back onto the foundation. The whole structure was still dangerously unstable, but it wouldn't collapse on its own anymore, allowing the local authorities the time to deal with it safely.
After the Herculean task, all of the heroes met back at the quinjet. Ironman's armor was almost out of juice but the others didn't even look winded. Hawkeye was a little dusty, but that was it. Stark was seriously annoyed, but he tried to be an adult and not show it. He was only moderately successful.
"Well done, team," Stark said, flipping up his visor. "Good team up."
"We worked pretty well together," Superman agreed. He turned to Wonder Woman, who had been standing off to the side, her hands on her hips. "Everyone, let me introduce Wonder Woman."
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Captain America said, stepping forward. He had stowed his shield behind his back and pushed his mask back. He held out a hand for her to shake.
She eyed the soldier's hand for a moment before taking it in a surprisingly strong grip. "The pleasure it mine, though I must confess, I don't know who you are or where we are." She looked to Superman and Batman, expecting them to bring her up to speed.
Batman stepped forward, neatly cutting in front of Stark before he could open his mouth. "We were transported to an alternate dimension. These are the Avengers, this world's version of the League. They have agreed to help us find the others and send us back."
Wonder Woman smiled brightly and turned to meet the Avengers for real.
Black Widow stepped forward, bumping her shoulder against Hawkeye to do so. She held out her hand to the Amazon. "It'll be nice to have another woman around to keep these boys under control. Thank you for catching our village idiot."
Wonder Woman smiled wryly, but she shook Natasha's hand anyway. "It was my pleasure."
Widow smiled and hip checked Hawkeye again. He rolled his eyes at the former spy but was all smiles when he held out his hand for Wonder Woman. "Yeah, thanks for saving me from becoming a pancake."
Not one to be left out, Thor come forward to take Wonder Woman's hand. He bent down and kissed it regally, which looked amazingly natural since they both had an unworldly royal manner. "I am Thor Odinson, of Asgard," he introduced himself loudly.
Hulk snorted at the knightly behavior. He didn't see what the big deal was. She was just another hero.
Wonder Woman turned to the green behemoth. "It's an honor to meet you," she said with complete honesty. "I am looking forward to learning what I can about this version of Man's world." She held out her hand without a trace of fear.
Hulk took her hand, which was dwarfed by his giant green fingers and shook it gently. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just find the rest of you people," he grunted and he turned abruptly to get in the jet.
"Pay him no heed," Thor said. "Hulk is not well versed in the manners of this realm."
"He is honest," Wonder Woman said. "That is a rare thing in Man's world. I appreciate it."
"Honesty is a rare thing," Tony said, stepping forward to regain the spot light. He reached out to take Wonder Woman's hand, intending to kiss it like Thor had. "I believe that you may be rarer still," he continued.
Before Tony could touch the pretty hero, Batman abruptly stepped between them, moving to follow Hulk. Ironman had to actually step back to prevent a collision and he didn't notice the gentle smile that flashed across Wonder Woman's lips.
"We should hurry," the dark knight said gruffly. "We still have to find the rest of the Justice League. Stark, I need access to your satellites."
Distracted, Ironman followed Batman on the jet. "How do you know I have satellites?" he asked as he disappeared inside.
"Um, I'm Sam, well, the Falcon, but you can call me Sam," Falcon stammered when Wonder Woman turned to him.
"Nice to meet you, Sam," Diana said with a smile, relaxing a little at his innocent reaction. "This is all very strange, like the first time I left the Island."
"I have shared your plight," Thor boomed. "Do not despair, the Avengers are mighty and we will help however we can."
Superman stepped forward and put his hand on his teammates shoulder. "We should join the others. After you, princess."
The rest of the heroes boarded the jet and then turned to Batman, expecting him to know where to go next. An almost imperceptible twitch of his lips proved them right. "Egypt," is all he said.
Tony Stark waved his hand dismissively. "Fine, but this time I'm getting Kushari since I'm giving up on the gyros." He strolled off to charge his armor, leaving the rest of them to get ready to take off. Hawkeye and Black Widow retreated to the cockpit again. Batman returned to his corner to brood and surprisingly Diana followed him, sitting close but not touching. Batman acknowledged her presence by moving the tablet so she could read it better. Thor and Hulk took their seats, teasing each other about how much of the building they had held up. They shoved each with increasing strength until Thor bumped into Falcon and they called a temporary truce, until they had a better battle ground to continue the "discussion". Falcon picked himself off the floor and after dusting himself off, followed Tony to help with his suit, leaving just Captain America and Superman standing in the middle of the cargo bay.
"I think we're fitting in nicely," Superman said with a grin.
"Superman," Captain America said as he pulled his shield off his back and took a seat across from Wonder Woman. She looked up from whatever Batman was doing on his tablet to smile at him. "I think you're right."