Hey! Long time no see...hehe. Well, I have this chapter ready for y'all and another one almost done, just need to edit it. Enjoy!

SHOUT OUTS!:

WeAreNumberOne

Same! As I was writing that I was looking back at my plush Toothless and wishing he'd start flying around 3
We'll have to wait and see ;}
There's only one more part proper for the IM3 arc before we move on. This was supposed to be the last chapter but it grew to be over 1k words and needed to be cut in half.
I have bits and pieces planned, I don't think I have anything completely planned out but I do have the skeleton of most things ironed out.

CHSHiccstrid

Thanks :) I was really trying to make sure they could all still shine as I'd like to brink Harley back at some point and not write him off as a barely there side character. Well, you get your wish, here's more!

ALPHA02FURY97

Thanks a ton for helping with the story!

Journal 2, Entry 47: "Iron Man 3 Part 6"

Tony, Hiccup and Harley crowded around the softly glowing suit, the computer hooked up to it brightening and dimming as JARVIS spoke. "Welcome back, sir. I am pleased to announce that my systems have mostly turkey."

Hiccup and Tony shared odd looks, Harley letting out a little laugh while looking at Tony. The mechanic blinked before bending over the laptop, pulling up the AI's program. "You, uh, wanna repeat that, JARVIS?"

"Of course, sir. I said, I am pleased to announce that my systems have mostly rebooted. Hakon, it is a delight to see ornaments."

A growling sigh escaped Tony as he scanned through the coding. "I do not have time to deal with this right now."

"Oh, dear." JARVIS said and had he been human, he would have sounded world weary. "There seems to be something wrong with my language program. It appears intermittent, however, as I seem to be able to go for a stretch, then at the end of a sentence I say the wrong cranberry."

Hiccup peeked over his shoulder, frowning at the code. "We can take him to Zephyr."

Tony whirled around, poking a finger into his godfather's chest. "No one's touching my baby. I'll get this taken care of."

Hiccup shot Harley a tired smile that had the boy hiding his own, Toothless yawning loudly before flopping over and curling into a ball—keeping a half-lidded eye on his Rider. After several minutes, Tony finally ran a tired hand up his face and down his hair. "Alright, that should fix it."

He blew out a heavy breath and leaned against the table tiredly, hazily watching the programing screen then glancing down at the file on Chad Davis. Hiccup's brows furrowed and gripped Tony's shoulder. "Kiddo…come to the Archipelago and get some rest. We're looking for Killian too and after you get some sleep, we can start again. Besides, we should get out of here before AIM sends more agents or, Norns forbid, the Soldiers after us."

Tony nodded tiredly. Tired physically from the harrowing last forty-eight hours, tired mentally with the near loss of his friend and everything that came with being abducted by Hydra agents, just…tired. He paused next to his suit and the mess it was in, patting a leg. "Hey, Harley."

Harley perked up, quickly stepping nearer. "Yeah?"

"Look after the suit and keep an eye on its systems, will ya?"

Harley's eyes gleamed but Hiccup put a hand on his godson's shoulder. "We can take it to the Archipelago."

Tony shook his head. "I left the other suit there, remember?"

Hiccup chuckled. Tony had, indeed, already left a suit there—so that he could try integrating Archipelagon magical-science into the suit. That continues to be a rather entertaining project for everyone involved. "And this one?"

Tony smiled at the half-completed suit that has seen far too much abuse. "A backup, in case I need another over here. And knowing me and how these things tend to play out…Besides, we've got most of the physical damage fixed. J can keep working on its programming while we're in the Archipelago, right J?"

"Affirmative, sir. So long as the internet remains secure."

"I can do that!" Harley cried, ever eager to help.

Tony eyed him, making sure he understood the gravity of his job. "Then guard him with your life—don't be leaving the door open and rusting him before he's good and old. I'll probably still end up needing him, got it?"

Harley nodded firmly, face stuck between beaming and trying to stay serious. "Got it."

"Ready?" Hiccup asked, gesturing for Toothless to come closer. The dragon stretched and lazily padded closer, butting his head into Hiccup's stomach.

Tony breathed wearily, then glanced at his borrowed watch before looking at the suit. "Yeah, I guess." He turned to Harley, gaze firm. "I mean it, kid—look after my suit."

Harley flashed a double thumbs-up. "I will. I'll even sleep in the garage!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes fondly. "Just make sure you bring a warm blanket. You aren't Jötunn." Harley's brows pinched and started to question but Hiccup clarified. "Frost Giant."

"Oh! Yeah, will do…wish I could see the Archipelago—and more dragons!" Harley crossed his arms with a pout, side eyeing Hiccup.

Tony snorted and ruffled his hair. "Nice try, kid. It's gonna take a lot more than that to get clearance."

Harley huffed, arms falling. "Well, it was worth a shot."

Hiccup grinned, taking Tony's arm and Toothless' saddle. "It was, kid. Have JARVIS call us if things go wrong or odd things start happening around town."

Harley looked out the window, a bit of fright lighting his eyes. "You mean like more glowy people?"

Hiccup nodded, Tony adding, "Yeah, and ice-magic weirdos like uncle H."

Harley bobbed his head quickly. "Will do."

"Bye!" Tony cried right as a green flash whisked the trio away.

Harley gasped and waved his arms through the empty air before turning to the laptop. "They disappeared! What was—how'd they do that?! Are they in the Archipelago?"

JARVIS chuckled at his enthusiasm. "They are indeed in the Archipelago. Now, I suggest rest. I shall keep the suit's sensors running for disturbances nearby—however, I fear they will not reach far beyond your property. They are, unfortunately, very basic in this suit."

Harley grinned and grabbed a wool blanket from a nearby bench. "Cool. Night then."

"It is rather good morning, young Harley."

Harley laughed softly from the couch, but it drifted into a yawn, pulling the blanket over his head as thin sunrays peeking through the frosted window.

*O*

A nondescript van pulled into the destroyed downtown. Five people exited the van, parked a little way from the main street and clean-up crews. The men lugging chunks of concrete off the street barely noted their arrival as they slipped through town like shadows. Further down the street, people clustered around an interesting structure in the middle of the road, drawing the attention of the five and hovering at the groups' edge.

"Man, I don't even know if jackhammers will break through this stuff." A bearded man said, scratching said beard in thought as he stared at the icy structure.

A darker skinned man shook his head, arms crossed with a scowl. "James already broke a pick—barely nicked the ice."

A brunette pulled his jacket closer, thinking a wind was seeping through the fabric, not noticing the deathly pale man standing not a foot behind him. "Is that stuff even ice? Never seen ice like that before…how'd it form?"

The bearded man glanced at the ice, then at the destroyed water tower. "Well, there's a rumor of a demon floating around."

The darker skinned man raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "A demon, really?"

The bearded man shrugged. "Just what they say. Carlson said it fought right in front of his truck—formed that thing when a glowing man grabbed his arm."

Two others scoffed but the five newcomers left with silent looks—they had to track them down, and fast. The brunette of the group pulled a small machine from his pocket, slowly sweeping it around the area.

The only woman frowned and leaned slightly closer to her leader. "Any heat signatures?"

He frowned and shook his head. "No. But there is a glaring lack of heat that way." He pointed further into the damage, behind the tree lot.

They moved as their leader guided, carefully stepping around mangled pieces of metal before finally stopping at an icy chrysalis. The Scandinavian scowled and squatted by the familiar ice, rapping a finger against it. "Is he alive in there?"

The leader frowned, glaring at the machine before pocketing it. "I can't tell with the ice…but their abilities are nothing like ours." He turned to their bald companion. "Can you free him?"

The man set his eyes while rolling his shoulders. "I've never tried on ice other than my own—I will try."

The Scandinavian moved aside so the bald man could take his place, hands laying on the ice. He screwed his eyes shut, focusing. It was much more difficult regressing the ice than creating it—and this ice was unfamiliar.

The others remained dead silent and kept constant vigilance, but no one came. After a time, the breathing of the bald man grew labored but as his companions looked on, they could see the ice regressing. Slowly, ever so slowly. Finally, the man's face and shoulders were visible and free of the ice covering them, his head a mess though still intact.

Their black comrade bent down to feel for a pulse while the bald man continued removing the ice. After a minute, he shook his head and stepped away—face grim but uncaring as to the man's unfortunate condition. Kneeling next to the body, the Scandinavian hovered a hand above the Extremis' chest, releasing a small blast at his heart.

As the magical wave hit the body, his veins glowed faintly, pulsed dimly a few times before becoming brighter—his body becoming magma again as the damage fixed itself. The bald man pulled away from the ice, eyes wide in surprise—his entire lower half was missing. Steam rose up from the thin layer of ice he'd yet to melt, quickly shattering that, before regrowth began forming his missing half.

The woman frowned, lips pursed. "Why'd you do that? Our mission isn't protection detail." Her lips curled in remembrance of the times it had been.

The Scandinavian huffed at her ire. "Hydra will want to know how far Extremis goes—they will ask. You may desire their punishments, but I do not."

Her face was neutral for a moment before rolling her eyes at him. No one wanted to be doled out punishment. Punishment meant days with no rest with the Unfeeling Soldier.

The leader glared at her, watching the man moan as he rebuilt himself. "Besides, we require answers. Answers only he can give."

She humphed and crossed her arms. The blond man side eyed sympathetically, though he didn't show the emotion—that was a weakness that was not allowed, not if it wasn't a part of the mission. He disliked working with AIM as well, most notably those walking with Extremis in their veins. It made his own blood crawl for reasons he couldn't piece together—and that most of all infuriated him.

The Extremis man finally gasped and sat up sharply. He glanced around, taking in their presence before growling at the otherwise empty lot. "I assume Hyse is long gone?"

"Most likely." The black man growled.

The Extremis man silently snarled before an unholy light caught in his eye. "There was a boy with them—couldn't be older than ten."

The brunette leader nodded and strode away, his team following him—leaving the Extremis man vexed at their dismissal. They regrouped at the van, waiting for the bald man on the laptop to finish his search. Extremis sat, pushed to the back, and glowing faintly. He fought off a shiver as one Soldier looked back to check on him—despite regenerating, he couldn't seem to fight off the infernal chill.

"Got it." The bald man said flatly. "The boy's name is Harley Keener—lives on the outskirts of the town."

*O*

"Young sir." The laptop screen flashed to life again as JARVIS spoke.

Harley groaned from under the blanket, having just gotten to sleep.

"Young sir. Harley!"

Harley jerked up, bleary eyes wide. "Wha—I'm not late for school…it's Christmas break."

"A vehicle has just parked on your property with multiple people exiting that I am unable to identify. I recommend hiding."

Harley scrambled off the couch; multiple questions on the tip of his tongue, but the memory of earlier that morning hung heavily in his mind. The laptop winking off as he silently dashed over to a cupboard and opened the lower doors—sliding inside and carefully closing them again.

And not a moment too soon, as in the next instance, the door flew open with a loud bang as it swung hard on its hinges and hit the wall. A parade of feet stormed the shed and Harley didn't dare to even breathe, hands covering mouth and nose.

After giving the garage a cursory check, the group gathered by the dismantled suit, the woman looking down her nose at it. "Do we take it back?"

The Scandinavian scoffed. "In that many pieces? Why do you think they left it?"

She nodded while the brunette leader looked around the room with a permanent scowl. "With Stark in contact with Hyse again, they've likely retreated to the Archipelago."

The black man grunted, kicking a bent piece of metal across the garage—Harley winced and nearly gasped as it hit his cupboard. "It's a good thing he secured insurance then."

The others all hummed before filing back out, the van's engine revving then growing distant. Harley didn't risk coming out of his hiding place until JARVIS' screen flickered back to life and called out, "It is safe to come out. They have left the premise."

Harley crawled out and peeked out the window from behind the couch. "Are they really gone?"

"Most likely. I have alerted Sir, however, he is not responding and likely asleep. I suggest the same for you."

Harley rounded the couch and pulled the blanket close to him again, staring at the window warily. "I-I'll try…"

"Very good, sleep well."

Harley curled up on the couch but couldn't stop staring at the window, and when his eyes eventually did close, it was a very restless slumber.

Tony awoke to a nice, soft bed and his many injuries mostly healed. Archipelagon healers are a miracle to the Realms. He finally sat up, rubbing his eyes before throwing on the warm Archipelagon clothes. Pulling the hood up and pinching it closed so only his eyes showed, Tony braced himself and opened the door.

"Gah!" No amount of bracing himself would ever prepare him for Archipelagon winters—they made New York's look tame. Shivering as a breeze slipped between the jacket and up his back, he trudged through the snow to the Research Center, shaking off the snow and making his way to the room housing his suit.

"Oh, good—you're here."

Tony blinked then smiled at Nuffink, but it dropped at his grim expression. "Uh…?"

Hiccup handed him a steaming cup of coffee. "JARVIS called in shortly after we got back. The Soldiers came by Harley's place."

Tony nearly dropped the cup, rushing over to the computer with JARVIS on it. "Is the kid okay?"

"Well…I've gone through, like, two or three bowls of candy already. Do you still mind me eating it?" Harley asked calmly.

Tony would deny, for many years, the feelings of outright relief in his chest. "Can you still see straight?"

"That means you're fine." Tony dismissed.

"Tony." Hiccup glared at him. "Harley, get something better to eat."

Tony grinned at his godfather before staring at the screen. "How's the suit? Did they do anything to it?"

"No, Sir." JARVIS pulled up the suit's progress to emphasize his point. "After confirming your absence and deciding the suit in far too many pieces to function, they left."

Tony sighed before frowning. "How'd they not find you, squirt?"

"I'm really good at hide and seek."

Tony nodded with a sigh. "Good, uh, then just keep keeping an eye on the suit. And now…" He turned to his uncle and cousin.

"Now we figure out how far Killian's connection to Hydra goes." Hiccup smiled reassuringly.

Tony frowned thoughtfully, dragging a long drink from the cup. "I was thinking, with the Mandarin, that it was just used as a cover for whatever experiment when it went wrong…but that was before the Winter Soldiers kidnapped me."

Hiccup hummed and pulled up their findings on AIM and Killian. Several clips of the Mandarin played lowly, some from several years ago to the latest one, hours old. "These all had been pretty typical terrorist threats."

Tony nodded, pointing to the ones within the last month. "He changed his MO here—started calling the president out specifically and far more personally than he had before…even though he hadn't really done anything different."

Nuffink leaned in close, eyes narrowed, scanning the scenes for any clues the Berserkers might've missed. "They're gunning for the president, and considering Hydra's involvement, likely already have a backup ready for when they take him out."

Tony looked over his shoulder at him, brows pinched. "There's a line of who gets the presidency in cases like that…How far down are they going to take people out before they hit whichever one is theirs?"

Nuffink shared a look with him before shaking his head with a shrug. "As far as they need. But I wouldn't suspect whoever it is, is too far down—that'd raise too much suspicion."

"Chief?"

"Yeah?" Hiccup turned, the other two watching as the Archipelagon crossed the room.

The man stopped, glancing at the screens, expression caught between worry and scowling. "We've returned from scouting Tennessee…and we couldn't find the body."

Tony tilted his head incredulously. "So he just, got up and walked away? Uncle H, you buried him in ice! Even I couldn't get out of that ice." He grumbled, remembering Loki trapping him in it.

Hiccup looked at the man expectantly until he continued. "We found the patch, but it had been thawed."

Hiccup's brows furrowed in concern. "Both Tony and Toothless shot him in the head…and he still managed to melt the ice?"

The man pursed his lips, thinking of what he saw. "I—don't believe so. It appeared to have receded, not melted."

Hiccup's shoulders fell with a soft curse. Tony turned his attention to him, putting a cautious hand on his shoulder. "What is it?"

"They used my blood, and they used it in high concentrations if they created a Soldier who could recede Jötunn ice." Hiccup seethed.

Tony paled at the thought. They were already bad enough without throwing in Jötunnar abilities on top of their other ones. "So…how do we take out your own kind?"

Hiccup paced the room, mumbling nonsense, before stopping dead and turning on his heel—pointing to his godson. "We need to make some modifications to your suit."

Hours they poured over the suit, Tony almost giggling as they refitted the Iron Man suit. Hiccup was less enthusiastic as he carefully carved runes and picked apart machinery, but no less determined. Tony leaned back after securing the last armor plate, staring at his augmented armor, longing to test it out. "Well, anything else?"

Hiccup's lip thinned. "Pray to the Norns." He turned to his son. "Now we get ourselves ready-"

Astrid burst into the room, hair windblown from her rush, Stormfly squawking just outside the door. "Hiccup! Tony?"

"Astrid?" He ran over to her, grabbing a hand. "What's wrong?"

She pulled him over to the computer. "Someone managed to hack into one of our transmissions…They want to talk to you and Tony."

Zephyr walked in behind her mother, taking the seat of another computer out of sight, demeanor livid enough to frighten off a Death Gripper. She pulled up codes and linked into the waiting call, already tearing down the meager firewalls they instilled to find out how they hijacked her system.

Hiccup's eyes hardened. No one should know Tony was here except…"Killian." He growled.

"What does that sleazebag want?" Tony glowered.

The quartet moved over to the computer, JARVIS minimizing his screen as Hiccup pulled up the feed. Killian appeared with a broad smile despite the glares of Tony, Hiccup, Astrid and Nuffink. "Hakon Hyse! I'd a feeling Tony ran off with you."

Hiccup squared his shoulders, looking every bit the chief he never truly ceased being. "Killian, what do you want?"

Killian slightly tilted his head with a coy smirk. "Straight to the point with you, huh? Well, alright then. I want Tony, which, in reality, would lead me to demanding you as well."

Hiccup arched an eyebrow. "Is that your demand or Hydra's?"

Killian perked up. "Ah, figured it out that fast? Suppose it would be a difficult secret to keep since Stark escaped them—impressive feat, by the way."

Tony snorted. "Not the first time."

Killian nodded with a hum. "Yes, they mentioned that. Bit of a blot on their record, you two are."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, shifting in front of the screen more. "You wouldn't have called us unless you had a way to draw us out. Stop playing these games—you're terrible at it."

Killian now scowled at the Archipelagon man. "I see. Alright then." He turned, unobscuring the background.

Tony lunged at the screen, crying, "Pepper!"

"Tony!?" Pepper stared at the screen in horror, trying to conceal her own panic.

Killian smirked once again and reached down to grab a softly glowing vial. "You and Hyse will surrender yourselves to me by midnight tonight or, well, we'll see how Pepper takes to Extremis. I assume you know how it works; you no doubt have snooped into everything by now." Killian lightly growled in annoyance. "At the very least, you've admired its handiwork when it goes awry."

"Don't you dare touch her you-" Tony bared his teeth.

Killian clicked his tongue, filling the screen again and glanced at someone out of sight, nodding. "You no doubt have already tracked out coordinates. Tonight, no earlier, and come alone. We'll know when you arrive." He fit the vial into a needle, hovering it above Pepper as the feed cut.

Tony whirled around to Zephyr. "Where are they?"

She typed away before swiping the screen, zooming in on a map of a harbor. "This oil tanker…there's a lot of activity going on around it too."

"Sir." JARVIS cut in. "You have a call from Rhodey."

"That's not all." Zephyr pulled up a news feed of Air Force One.

Tony accepted the call from his friend, speaking before Rhodey could as he stared at the feed in disbelief. "Platypus, please tell me you have a good reason for kidnapping the president."

"It's not me!" Rhodey defended in a harsh whisper. "And glad to know you thought to call me and let me know you actually were alive."

Tony winced. "Sorry, I was a bit distracted…how'd you know, anyway?"

"Pepper called." He said simply before dropping his voice even lower. "Tony, the terrorist cell was a setup, and they stole my suit! I escaped but—they're still looking for me."

Tony peered over Zephyr's shoulders at the tracker; Rhodey was at the mansion he'd been taken to. "Alright, hang tight. I'll be there in a few."

"Just hurry! These guys can literally breathe fire!"

Hiccup and Tony shared a look—that was a new one. "Will do."

Hiccup flicked his hand, pulling an Ygg-Hop from his magical pocket and set the coordinates. "Here, use this. It'll take you there. Then push this button and it'll bring you back to the Archipelago…Just, don't let go of Rhodey and mind the path."

Tony grinned at the idea of using Archipelagon tech, but nodded solemnly. "Yeah, that path is wickedly narrow."

Hiccup snorted as if it was an understatement. "And we don't have time to go on an inter-Realm manhunt for you before tonight."

"Thanks." Tony grinned before suiting up and activating the Ygg-Hop; in a flash, he was gone.

Hiccup turned to his family. "Gather some volunteers—there's still people on that plane who can't get out. And seeing as Hydra has its hand in this…"

They nodded, summoning armors as they ran out. Hiccup stopped just outside the doors and roared into the grey sky. He didn't have to wait long before the black form dropped out of the grey and hugged his head. "We gotta rescue some people, bud."

Toothless crooned then shook his head, earflaps folded back, ready for a flight. They took off for the New York branch then teleported to the rapidly descending plane. Toothless spun over its top, eyes narrowed as he took in the detested flying contraption, shooting a small blast at its side.

Hiccup pat his head gratefully and jumped through the hole. He observed the mussed cabin but ignored it for the door people were banging on. That was until Toothless shrieked and he ducked, just missing a brightly glowing, swinging fist. Righting himself with hands raised for a fight, he paused, glare shifting into surprise. "How are you alive?"

The bald man he fought before merely smirked. "We've discovered the power of the gods."

Hiccup's eyes hardened and shifted forms, creating a blade of ice while dodging another throw and swiping out with the blade, tearing a gash into his thigh. The man screamed as the unnatural cold crawled up his leg a few inches. Eyes blazing brightly as Extremis worked its way through his systems and with a growing hatred, he lifted a detonator. "You better go fish."

An explosion tore through the plane and the people behind the door fell quiet compared to the wind rushing through the cabin. A secondary explosion followed, jarring the plane as an engine blew. Hiccup growled and decked the man, sending him across the cabin to the far wall by the destroyed presidential office. Rushing to the hole in the plane, he yelled, "Toothless, help the others catch them!"

Toothless snorted, firing a plasma blast through the hole, above Hiccup's head, to the man just standing back up before reluctantly veering off to catch a screaming woman. She ceased her shrieks as his claws wrapped around her arms, but could not stop the new tremors of terror as the mythological beast of Hel held her.

Toothless almost mimicked his rider and rolled his eyes as she shook in his grasp, but dove—prompting another shriek from the woman. He caught a man on his back, then nearly gagged as the man latched on like a Grimora to his neck.

Flashes of every color lit the sky as other Archipelagons arrived, swooping around the people and grabbing them from the air before carrying them to the nearest shore. Toothless quickly dumped the woman in his claws and had to shake the man on his back off before taking back to the skies—the air shirking as the last Night Fury tore it apart to catch up to his Rider before he could attempt something stupid…again.

The Extremis enhanced grunted as the blast impacted, then wheezed as he landed on the broken desk. He rolled off and grinned at the sight of the discarded gun, snatching it and firing at Hiccup as he entered the hallway that led to the pilot's cabin. Infuriatingly, the only thing the bullets did was glance off the midnight armor, catching his attention.

Hiccup growled and sent a magical blast at the man, knocking him off his feet, but was quick to reorient. He deflected a punch, grateful that his armor shielded against the intense heat, and summoned his Jötunn again. The man snarled as ice crept around his armor and onto his glowing hand, hissing at the contact.

They traded a few more blows before Hiccup knocked him back several steps and formed an ice dagger, driving it through the man's chest and growing the ice until it speared out his back. The man grunted, eyes wide in shock as the Extremis pulsed through his veins before fading with his heartbeat, and fell limp.

Hiccup huffed, slightly out of breath. "Finally."

Toothless crooned from the hall and Hiccup nodded, hurrying past his friend with a grateful brush of their bond before running up the stairs and throwing open the pilot's door. "Come on, we can get you out safely!"

The two men shared unsure glances before letting go of the failing controls and followed their strange rescuer out, stopping dead at the sight of Toothless. They didn't move until Hiccup shoved them onto the dragon's back, blowing another hole in the side and were airborne. Leaving the plane behind as it continued to nosedive, only to explode midair.

Hiccup sighed with a backward glance before calling Tony.

*O*

Tony rubbed Rhodey's back as JARVIS answered Hiccup's call. "How's it going, Kiddo?"

Tony smiled at his huffing friend, now standing straight and glaring daggers at the Ygg-Hop then shivered violently as a bitter Archipelagon wind blew across his exposed arms. "Got the Platypus out—the place was practically deserted."

A bridge tender ran over and threw their coat around the outsider, leading him away from the branch to the village. Tony followed as Hiccup grunted, whirling around as the bridge sight flashed brightly and a dozen dragons and riders came through.

"That's not surprising, you compromised their base by escaping." Hiccup slipped off Toothless, rubbing his snout gratefully. Toothless stuck his nose against his Rider's neck then took off into the sky with a roar.

Nuffink snorted, jumping off Dart who tackled her brother almost before Zephyr dismounted. "I'm surprised they took the Colonel there at all. I've had them blow up bases just from seeing me…let alone escaping."

Hiccup hummed, already contacting the Berserkers to check the mansion out. "Likely because this is Killian's, and not a full on Hydra, operation."

Tony shrugged, then smiled as another wind whipped by his face, kept at bay blessedly warm by his suit. "Alright, so what's the game plan now?"

Loki desperately fought the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, the Quinjet jostling against the wind, and Jör huffed in annoyance—growling at the invisible force. Members of the STRIKE team huddled together or pressed against the unyielding wall at the grumbling 'polar bear'.

Steve smiled softly at Jör's shuffling to find a better spot after his had been disturbed; leaning against the headrest. "He's doing great—I was afraid he was going to be worse than Tor."

Loki snorted. "No one is worse than Torbjörg."

He rested his head again, thinking of Tor in a plane…they were lucky it was a Dýrsvell that flew with them on these missions and not a normal, sky faring dragon. Being held aloft by the loud human machine was not as unnerving to the sea dragon as it was to the others, disquieted as he was from the lack of lapping waves against his scales. Loki couldn't help but shake his head with a cruel smile at their expense, had these men not been Hydra, he might've pitied them.

"Landing zone coming up in five minutes!" The pilot shouted back.

Loki peaked out the window and scowled at the bright, sandy desert. Best make this mission a swift one. The STRIKE members checked their guns and equipment in the meantime, Jör stretching and yawning—only to growl at the sandy sight. Loki ran a hand over his head with a smirk. "You could have stayed behind. Certainly would have made the Director happy."

Jör growled, narrowing his eyes at his Commander. Loki sighed with a dramatic flair of his hands. "Well, it was your choice. I do not need to be watched like a small child, and certainly not while on this forgotten corner of the universe."

Jör's eyes narrowed further.

Steve laughed quietly behind a gloved hand, he never knew a polar bear could look so consternated. However, Tor's dragon nature should have prepared him for this. The jet jarred as it landed and sunk into the sand. Steve glanced over the group as they ran a last check before lowering the ramp. "Alright, let's take them out quick and quiet. Fury wants some alive for questioning—we need to know how far these Ten Rings have spread."

They nodded and the ramp dropped.

I hope you enjoyed, if you did, I'd LOVE to hear about it!

Lately, most of the reviews I've been getting have been for art commission requests and after so many times it can start to be a downer when you think someone is going to say something about your story, whether they liked it or have a helpful critique, but it's just spam. On that note, if you're an author here on FF, and if you are receiving these requests in forms of story reviews, could you start spamming the FF Help Desk? It's one thing to receive these requests in PMs but it's another to receive them in the form of a story comment that you then cannot get rid of and I've seen so many of them in story comment boxes that have no other reviews, only a dozen art commission requests. Hopefully if enough users start reporting this nuisance, they'll figure out a way to get rid of them—or at least let us remove those "comments".

Anyway...have a great week and I'll hopefully have the next chapter up soon—finally finishing the Iron Man arc! XD