Greetings! Greetings! I have returned! This fic was written on a request by Shiranai Astune.

(Well... actually she/he gave me this really super cool story idea that revolved around some of these incredible OC's she/he made and I felt I wasn't able to do it so we agreed that I would write something a little different instead. Still, if you're looking for a super cool OC story to write, go ask him/her!)

Anyways... it was supposed to be Torunn/Francis fic, and I did try. However, as I am not a romance fan and this plot bunny stole me, it turned out more action based than loveydovey based... I hope you like it anyways, Shiranai!

PLEASE NOTE! The ages of this fic are a bit messed up. I've made Pym a bit younger, at least.

So yeah... Enjoy!

...

Ash was falling from the sky. Small little of specks of grey, coating everyone's lungs and getting into their eyes and noses and mouths and hair. The sky was an ominous grey, dark thunder clouds rolling across the horizon and chasing the wind. Smoke swirled all around them, and the occasional cry of pain echoed throughout the demolished rubble that had once been a building.

All around them, people were starting to get onto their feet, soft mutterings starting to muddle the gloomy atmosphere, replacing the ringing in his ears.

Francis, carefully plucking around the demolished debris and helping a rambling elderly woman to safety even as he kept a keen eye out for other citizens, wished that explosions would be easier to clean up. That they were less violent and less loud and that people would stop being stupid enough to set them off.

It had been a peace conference.

All the Avengers had been hesitant to go- the idea of being crammed into ill-fitting suits and forced to sit on their best behavior for hours on end as they chatted meaninglessly to old harrumphing adults (who didn't believe in their capability to do anything) not sounding pleasant at all- but Tony had offered some remarks about the public needing to recognize that there were heroes now... and they had reluctantly agreed.

It was almost worth it, seeing Pym's slightly terrified and highly disgruntled look as Tony showed him the absolute garish outfit he was supposed to be wearing.

Unfortunately, before the big day all the outfits mysteriously disappeared, vanished from sight as if by magic.

Francis had no idea where they could be. Not one. In fact he was rather…. Disappointed when his own horribly ugly, inflexible, unmoving material vanished without a trace…..

Really, it was a shame…..

Depressing.

He was SO disappointed….

(He really needed to work on his innocent look, because Pym had given him a hug as soon as they were out of the line of sight of the grown ups the day the clothes magically disappeared.)

(...Not that he was related to that incident in any shape, way, or form.)

They had ended up going to the event in their own usual dress, which Francis was incredibly relieved about. Tony and James had sat together, arguing fiercely about the topic for over ten minutes. The conversation had ended when the new Captain America had stated that the public should be able to recognize them in their costumes, because that was how they would most likely see them all the time.

The elder man had reluctantly agreed.

They had flown across the ocean, and then Tony had somehow managed to get them a ride- some sort of old fashioned car- and Francis had found himself gripping the seat handles with clenched fists at the unfamiliar and unsettling motion of being in an enclosed, rolling space.

Flying ships were one thing, cars were quite another.

Judging by the other's panicked, confused, and slightly green faces, he wasn't alone with his judgements.

When they arrived at the old, towering skyscraper- in London, of all places- they had stepped out of the car only to be met with a series of brilliantly flashing lights and screaming voices. Francis had converted to Hawkeye in seconds- his mind filled with the sounds of gunfire and the idea of a surprise attack- and his hand halfway to his bow before Tony set a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Reporters," the man had muttered.

Francis had blinked, glanced around more closely at the scene, seeing the hundreds of unfamiliar faces staring back at him and the clicks and flashes of hundreds of unfamiliar cameras being directed directly at him. The screams were not ones of terror of challenge, but questions.

Aware of himself once more, he took a deep breath, suppressed a blush at his little mix up, and straightened his shoulders. He then walked down the red carpet- which was slightly tattered and faded from old age- refusing to look to either side and staying focused on safety, the large ornate, if not slightly chipped, door in front of him.

His reaction was far better than some of the others, though, which was something to be proud at.

Azari had lept into a defensive stance, tattoos starting to spark up before he realized that, no, there was no enemy, and managed to calm himself down.

Torunn had actually managed to draw her sword and was halfway through her first swing before James had managed to block the attack and swiftly push her towards the door.

Well, no one could really push Torunn. She was too strong and amazing and beauti- she was too strong. Godly blood and all that. Then again… Francis wasn't so sure that James didn't have a bit of super soldier serum after all; he was certainly strong enough….

Either way, James got Torunn pass the press and into the door, the red-head's only reaction being a sudden tensing of every muscle in his body. (Lucky.)

Pym's reaction had probably been the worst of all. He had physically yelped and jumped into the air. Francis was ninety percent sure that the kid would have changed form and hid in James' hair had Tony not managed to grab his hand and pull him slightly behind him. Pym had gripped Tony's hand in a vice grip the entire way up the carpet.

(Hiding in James' hair was a strange habit that the raven haired kid did whenever particularly startled or upset. Francis had asked one time about it; James had simply shrugged and said that it was just one of those Pym things. Francis was prone to agree with him.)

All in all, walking up the few measly meters of carpet had not been the best of experiences.

Tony had sighed at the slightly shaking teens- and one ten year old- who were flashing him seriously disgruntled looks. They had been warned, of course, that the reporters were restless. They had been told that there would be flashing lights and loud sounds. It didn't make the experience any less unsettling.

After several deep breaths and the painting of forced smiles, they entered the main hall of the building. The receptionist, upon seeing them, hastily opened up the elevator for them, giving them a card so that they could access the top floor.

The whole way up, some of the worst, most boring music that Francis had ever heard played tonelessly in the background, which was really saying something considering he had sat through several music nights with the Rebels….

Where it just so happened the only singer and musician was deaf, and was sadly as untalented as a potato.

By the time they got to the top, Francis was just about ready to tear his own hair out. He managed to refrain, sharing long suffering looks with Torunn and the others even as Tony quietly reminded them to be on their best behaviour.

The elevator opened.

They were greeted by dozens of older men and women, every single one of them looking like they had never battled once in their entire lives. They were all dressed heavily in bulky, rich clothing that could have been used to provide warmth for entire families, and their hair was plastered into place the same way their overly polite smiles were. They wore finery, all over their necks and arms, and Francis felt a rising anger in his stomach as he thought of all the people those silly rings and necklaces and chains could have fed.

The adults had greeted them, thanked them for their hard work and efforts, and offered them many different awards for their services. Francis would have felt proud about it if not for the fact that each and every word was just this side of condescending and mocking, as if they were little babies.

They all sat down, then, at a large round table that curved upwards. He couldn't help but feel even angrier when he realized that the adults had placed them at the bottom of the table, as if the Avengers were somehow below them.

And then the questions- the mocking, hinting at uselessness questions- started.

His teeth began to grind together, and he had to physically stop himself from idly reaching out and start polishing his bow; usually the threat of a weapon made people less annoying. He was sure that any word that came out of his mouth would escape as a sarcastic drawl, so he kept it closed in a thin line. More than once he had to reach out and grab Torunn's hand and give it a quick squeeze, the murderous expression on her face warning him that she was a hair away from attacking.

Something told him that any word that came out of her mouth would come out in a scream.

Azari looked highly frustrated, repeatedly opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to say something scathing but didn't actually want to be rude. Pym simply looked confused, as if trying to process why on earth the older people would be mocking them. Sitting slightly higher up- and looking rather angry about it- was Tony, too far away to help.

Which left James- hot-headed, emotion driven James- to answer the questions.

Despite everyone's doubts, the teen was actually very, very good at it.

"So… Avengers? What have you been doing so far?"

"We've been cleaning up Ultron City, Sir, as well as occasionally the rest of the world. Over a thousand people get relocated every day and we're tearing down the rogue robots and rebuilding buildings so that they can be habitable for humans."

"There are still robots? Even after a month?"

"Ultron City, just in case you didn't know, Sir, was Ultron's main base. There were tens of thousands of robots. And there are, if you didn't notice, only six of us, and as the National War Office- you and your members, Sir- haven't deigned to come in and help save people's liv-"

"You keep referring to New York as Ultron City. Is that because you think that Ultron had a justification in ruling it?"

"It's Ultron City until we can get rid of every last sign of Ultron, Mam. Then it can be New York again, which would happen a lot faster if you would just send in some troops-"

The head officer spoke up after several minutes of intense back and forth, the adults harshly questioning every little motive and action the Avengers had ever done and James repeatedly rebuffing them and subtly hinting that they should take action. The man, potbelly and all, had the gall to look James in the eyes and tell them all that their status as children meant they was useless to the effort.

"Well… children. We thank you deeply for your… help, even though it was highly unnecessary. We do have the military for these sort of things... The grown ups shall be taking care of the rest. You may return to your normal lives. Goodbye; everything will be taken care of the adults from now on…. we know about these sort of things."

Francis was this far away from shooting the man- somewhere nonfatal... probably- when James stood up.

And James, head held high and eyes flaring with his I'm-about-to-make-a-speech-that'll-be-super-important-so-you-better-listen-up look, started to speak.

"With all due respect, Sir, it wasn't the military who took down Ultron. It wasn't your War Office at all that did anything in ending this war. It's not you who go out everyday and save everyone they can. It's us. It's the Avengers. You don't have everything sorted. You don't know the first thing about saving anyone, much less outside of your little safe houses you only left because we managed to stop the fighting. The Avengers save people. We save people. We bring hope and we help, which is far more than can be said about any of you. And until everyone's safe, we're going to continue doing so, with your authority or not."

The man, face growing redder and redder, kept trying to interrupt, and Francis kept getting a satisfied feeling every time James steamrolled over him. For the other members of the council, their expressions ranged from guilty to anger.

It was then the building exploded.

There was a loud boom from below, and the entire thing started to shake. James's face morphed from righteousness to concentration. Orders already spewing from his mouth even as he started to activate his shield and the adults who could supposedly handle everything screamed in terror.

"Pym! Get out! You need to support the building for as long as you can!"

The kid, face blanched from shock, nodded determinedly. He started running towards the window, but was thrown to the side as another BOOM! shook the building.

Francis had yelled, managing to shoot an arrow towards the ceiling support above the window just before the floor started slanting to the right. Holding tight, he took a running leap and managed to grab Pym as he started sliding down. With a great heave, he lifted the younger boy up and continued the swing, heading straight to the large, glass window.

"READY!?" he had yelled over the sound of screaming and the ominous grating of metal on metal.

Pym had nodded, and so Francis threw him out the window.

What else were honorary brothers for?

There was a sharp shattering sound, and small shards of glass splattered everywhere.

There was the sound of screaming and the smell of smoke starting to invade his nose. Small cuts had appeared all over his arms, but he paid it no mind. His attention was focused on finding James; body tense in preparation to follow instructions.

It had been a hard transition, going from leader to follower, but Francis had managed.

Even so, He couldn't stop his eyes as they swooped around the room, searching for anyone of his group that could be in trouble.

Azari was hanging on to Torunn's wrist as she floated in the air while James had managed to find himself a lovely ledge to hang onto. Tony had called forth his armour, and was already swooping down to grab citizens and bring them to safety.

BOOM!

The building shuddered, everything that wasn't solidly connected to the floor sliding towards the back of the room, including several adults- Francis would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious- who wiggled and squirmed like a turtle stuck on it's back.

There was a solid crunching sound and the room suddenly stopped tilting, slightly jerking back towards its original position; Pym had grabbed hold of the building and was keeping it upright, having grown into his larger form.

Based on the kid's grunts of exertion and the loud yelling to, "HURRY UP ALREADY!" Hawkeye doubted he would be able to keep it up for long.

James burst into action.

"We need to get everyone out, now! Azari and I will get the lower levels, Francis get the middle levels, and Torunn and Tony, you need to get the higher levels. Ready!? Let's go!"

They moved out, dashing throughout the flaming building and grabbing every civilian they saw. Every minute, another explosion would shake the building, and Francis knew that if the bombs kept up, there wouldn't be any building for the straining ten year old to hold at all.

His earpiece had cackled in his ear, startling him slightly as he made his way through one of the corridors, uniform pushed up against his nose; he had heard crying.

"H-keye. Need to get out … bombs wired… can't de...vate them. Big explosion… two minutes…"

He pressed a finger to his ear.

"James? You alright? You keep cutting out!"

Static.

Francis picked up his pace, dashing through the burning halls as wooden doors crumbled to pieces around him. The crying was getting louder.

Two minutes. He had two minutes.

The building suddenly jerked, and Hawkeye was thrown roughly into a wall- bruising his entire side a lovely shade of purple for days and producing a large bump on his temple- before the building once more came to a stop. Pym's harassed, worried voice filtered in his ringing ears, apologizing and saying an explosion had gone off right under his fingers and that he wasn't sure he could hold on for too much longer.

Hawkeye stood up and set off into a run, ignoring the flames flickering around him.

One minute left.

He arrived at the door, kicking it down after realizing it was locked. Inside was a young girl, maybe four or five, staring up at him with wide, wide green eyes even as tears streamed down her face.

Forty- Eight seconds.

The girl was hiding between a series of fallen shelves, crouched down in the middle of the rubble and far out of the reach of Francis' larger frame, unless he wanted to get burned.

Softly, he crouched down and took off his bow, both to appear as less of a threat and to better meet the girl's eyes. He coughed, blinked the smoke out of his eyes.

"Hi, there. What's your name?"

The girl's lip quivered.

"L-Lacey…"

Thirty-Five seconds.

Francis put on his best smile.

"Hey, Lacey, you think you can crawl out of there?"

The girl might have answered, but just then a loud boom filled the room and Francis stumbled as the entire world shifted and shook for a few moments, dimly recognizing Torunn's desperate cries in his ears, demanding that he leave the building right now. Lacey screamed, curled into a tighter ball and whimpered, as if hiding her eyes could hide her from the nightmare surrounding her.

They were running out of time.

Fifteen seconds.

There wasn't anything for it. Francis cursed and shoved aside the burning wood- hissing at the fiery heat- and scooped up the girl, who screamed once more.

Ten seconds.

He dashed to the window, realizing that his bow was nowhere to be found, lost to the falling rubble and crowding smoke.

Nine.

"Hey guys? I'm on the twentieth floor, south side…. I might need some backup."

Eight.

He curled around the girl and ducked low, turning slightly to the side.

Seven.

He made contact with the glass, shattering it in a series of sparkling splinters.

Six.

He was free falling, the air rushing against his skin. He pressed his cheek against the girl's soft black hair, clenching his eyes tight, maneuvering himself in the air so that he would land first, on his back; it wasn't much, but it could possibly be enough to save Lacey.

Five.

Abruptly, his fall was jerked to a halt by a rough pull on his arm pits, and he started rushing through the air horizontal to the ground. He looked up, unable to help the smile that blossomed on his face the sight of Torunn, her face set in a determined expression as they flew at break neck speeds.

Four.

Lacey was screaming, and Francis wanted to reassure her, wanted to tell her that they were safe now, that everything was going to be okay, but he didn't think he could yell over the roaring wind.

Three.

But they were going to be fine. Everything was going to turn out just fine.

Two.

He hoped.

One.

There was a moment of silence in Francis' mind as he held his breath, and then the building exploded in a cacophony of fire. The resounding boom left his ears ringing and his vision fuzzy. Rubble went flying through the air, raining down on the world below as smoke heaved itself through the sky, clouding the world with a thick smog.

The shock wave sent Torunn careening in thin air, and they crashed heavily into an abandoned building. Francis made sure to curl around Lacey to protect her, even though his entire body protested at the movement... it protested especially as he slid several feet when Torunn accidentally let go of him upon impact.

Francis flopped on his back, placing a reassuring arm around the young girl who was curled on his stomach. She didn't seem hurt, there was that, at least… He tilted his head slightly, locating Torunn, who was lying down on her back opposite of him, breathing heavily.

She spotted him looking at her and managed a smile.

She looked beautiful…. dirt, ash, rubble and all… she looked beautiful.

"You okay?"

Her face was a tad concerned, probably because he was smiling dopily at her and that was highly unusual behavior, but he answered anyways. His voice sounded more like a dying frog than human, probably because of all the ash, but he would take a croaky voice over being dead.

"As well as I can be… surviving massive explosions and all that. You?"

"I am fine."

She laughed, sounding rather exhausted, and pulled herself up. She then reached down and grabbed Francis, helping him to his own feet. She brushed back the wisps of hair that had escaped her braid and pressed a quick peck on his cheek, which most definitely did not make him blush, and then placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon, soldier, we have some heroing to do."

And Francis, unable to stop the stupid grin bubbling on his face, shifted Lacey- who had stopped crying and was looking up at the two of them with wide, amazed eyes- a bit in his arms, and nodded.

"Let's go."

That had been several hours ago.

They had managed to save most of the citizens, although the building was beyond repair and the actual casualty list had yet to be determined. Francis' heart hurt at the thought of all the people who had died because he wasn't fast enough, wasn't strong enough.

The explosions had been set to sabotage the Avengers; the bombs were supposed to have gone off all at once, but they had not been wired correctly and instead went off in the weird stagnated way that they did.

The criminals had failed in their objective, though; no Avenger was killed.

Torunn and Tony had escaped with the least amount of injuries. Torunn only receiving a few small cuts and a slightly twisted ankle from where she had had to wrench it out a fallen beam. Tony had had his left arm heavily bruised from falling debris, although most of his time had been spent ferrying people to the safety zone far away from the building.

Azari had a large concussion and minor burns all over his arms, as well as severe smoke inhalation. He was currently in one of the med centers, breathing through an oxygen mask.

Pym had severe burns all over his hands and arms, and dozens of bloody gashes all over his front where large pieces of rubble and huge slabs of concrete had pierced his skin due to his close proximity to the building when it finally blew, which he had been stubbornly holding up till the last possible moment. The kid was so bandaged he looked more of a mummy than actually human, but his cheer was still up, and so Francis was sure he would make a full recovery.

James was unconscious, a severe blow to the head leaving him with a bad concussion. Luckily, Tony had managed to get him out of the burning building before the final explosion, his suit able to track the red head's broken transmitter. The medic had said he would make a full recovery, but every one of the Avengers felt worry for their leader.

Francis himself had gotten away with a minor concussion, severely bruised sides, and burns on his hands. He had insisted he should help out with the clean up efforts anyways, and Torunn had been quick to volunteer as well.

Tony had stayed behind at their assistance; he was to be their eyes, and the moment either Azari or James woke up they were to be called.

As Francis made his slow way through the debris, occasionally helping the elderly woman over a particularly large piece of rubble, he couldn't help but feel beyond exhausted and more than a little angry.

Ultron was dead. The world was supposed to be at peace. He and his family were never supposed to have to go through any sort of life-threatening danger ever again.

(So much for that.)

But as he spotted Torunn flying overhead, carrying a very disgruntled council member by the back of his shirt, he still waved.

And when Torunn waved back, offering her own wave a smile, Francis felt the anger leave him. They were alive. They were okay.

Everything was going to be just fine.

...

Soooo? What do ya think? Any questions/comments/advice/requests? Anything you have to say I would love to hear! :3

Super HUGE THANK YOU to any reviewers/favoriters/followers! (Especially you guests who I can't respond to; YOU'RE FABULOUS!) Even if you don't give one... thank you for reading! :D

Until next time! Hope you all enjoyed!

-The Mashpotatoe Queen

PS: Everything that happened here is completely due to my mind taking me strange places. I have no idea if a War Council even exists in the Next Avenger universe... I haven't even had a chance to read the comics yet... :(

Double PS: YOU'RE AWESOME! I LOVE YOU!