Chapter 9- Now What?

Avengers-

"Motherf…"

"Language!" said half the Avengers in reflex.

Nick Fury was less than amused. "Where the hell is my Assistant Director?" He demanded, his fingers twitching as he suppressed the urge to draw his weapon.

"Sleeping, probably," J'onn answered. "I stole her credentials when she was laying down to take a rest."

Fury grit his teeth, remembering when he had sent Maria to take a break. "You've been impersonating Hill all day?"

"I also turned off her alarm," the green man admitted without shame. Someone snorted in amusement, but it wasn't clear who. Could have been Clint, but it was probably Flash.

Unable to abide not being the center of attention, Stark came over to join them. "So, that's everyone!" He held out his hand and flashed a charming smile. "Tony Stark. We have to talk, I need to know how you fooled the super spy all day. That is impressive."

"Martian Manhunter but you can call me J'onn," the alien said, accepting the handshake politely.

Following Stark, the rest of the Justice League came over to welcome their teammate. Batman simply nodded, while John Stewart shook his hand. Superman turned his handshake into a backslapping hug before giving way for Hawkgirl and Diana to hug him next. Flash ran over to smack him on the back before returning to the couch to keep playing. His onscreen car didn't even have a chance to run off the road. Then it was time to introduce the rest of the Avengers, which Tony gleefully took control over, relishing the way that the rest of the room seemed to ignore a Director Fury who was really living up to his name.

"Sir?" Natasha said softly, coming to stand next to her "boss" to watch the chaos.

"This did not encourage me to trust them," Fury admitted.

Natasha shrugged. "I'm impressed at his acting ability. Only his reactions to his teammates had me suspecting something. I think the relief of seeing them threw him off."

"You're not helping, Agent Romanoff."

"If I had his abilities I would have done the same when I joined SHIELD," she said with a small smile. "I can't blame him for it, and he did step forward willingly." Fury glared at her but didn't comment which was as good as admitting she was right.

"So, what is our next move now that we've found your team?" Captain America's voice broke through the hubbub to take control.

"We start looking into how we got here and start trying to get home," Superman said with confidence.

Batman spoke up, "We'll go over the data Stark collected on our arrivals and Thor said he'd reach out to Asgard. Do you have other magic users or dimensional travels we can consult with?"

Natasha nodded. "Dr. Strange would be a good start."

Tony groaned. "He's such a prick, do we have too?"

"There are those guys upstate at the school for the 'gifted'," Clint added from the couch. His hands were full with the controller, but you could hear the finger quotes in his voice.

Tony groaned louder, "Arrrg, Xavier is even worse."

"Dr. Richards has some experience in the field as well," Fury mused.

Tony threw his hands up in the air. "Nope, nope, nope, not doing it. I'm going to figure this out on my own before you assemble the Illuminati or whatever they're called." He stormed out, still waving his hands and ranting.

"Should we go after him?" Superman asked.

"No, just giving him some incentive to fix this," Director Fury said, allowing a small smile to slip out. "We've pricked his pride. I bet he has an answer before we have to call anyone." He turned to Cap and Natasha. "Teasing Stark aside, I'd like to keep the details of this situation, need to know, if possible."

"I agree," Batman offered.

Superman shot an amused glance at his friend, but didn't comment.

Fury glared around the room. "If you don't have anything else, I better go back and debrief my assistant director on what she's been doing all day."

J'onn, who had been catching up with Hawkgirl and Green Lantern, turned his attention back to the main group. "Thank you for the hospitality, Director Fury. I will say it was better than my previous experiences with military installations."

Flash leaned over to whisper to Clint, "First time he came to Earth the military captured him and Superman and Batman had to rescue him. Another time I think was when he was tortured by Nazis."

"Low bar, good to know," Clint whispered back. "Ha! Gotcha," the archer cheered when he sent Flash spinning off the track.

"We'll keep you in the loop, Director," Steve promised.

Pulling his dignity around him like his leather coat, Director Fury took his leave.

Batman watched the man disappear before turning to his teammate. "Did you learn anything useful while you were in SHIELD?"

J'onn shook his head. "They don't know anything more than you do. They were focused more on who we are and what we can do than where we came from or how."

"Too bad. I had hoped an organization that big would be more of a help," Batman said gruffly.

Superman clapped his friend on the shoulder with just enough strength to stagger him a little bit. He grinned innocently when Batman glared at him. "Don't worry so much. We'll be fine. With the Avengers' help we'll be back before you know it."

Over on the couch, Flash cheered and Hulk pushed his way onto the couch to take his turn against the speedster. Batman sighed. "We better."