Author's Notes: This isn't the original ending I envisioned. But then I had a very, very weird dream…

Please note that the plot of 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' begins at the end of this story. Should be a seamless transition from the fan fic into the movie.

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Together We're an Ocean
PenPatronus
Chapter 23
Some Other Beginning's End

Midnight had come and gone. No darkness on earth was deeper than Antarctica's—no starlight brighter. Thor and Cap stood counting icebergs on a pile of cargo crates from the bow of the ship. Whenever Mjolnir's lightning sunk one chunk of ice, two more took its place. There were too many—too much between them and McMurdo Station. The ship had only moved thirty meters in three hours…

Steve pivoted and looked at the bridge window. "We gotta get him there soon."

"We do, indeed." Thor raised his hammer to unleash lightning, then lowered it. "Perhaps a plan, D?"

"Plan B," Steve softly corrected. Blue eyes logged everything on deck: pails, tarps, binoculars, crumpled star charts, life rafts, chains, nets, harpoons, mops, flashlights, life vests, guns, knives, spent bullets, waterproof boots… "Thor, how much weight can you actually lift?"

Thor stuck his chest out. "More than The Hulk can."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Could you carry Stark and Barton? Could you carry all five of us?"

"Well…" Thor clenched his lower lip between both rows of teeth and rolled it between them. "It is not… Impossible."

"Then I have an idea. It's a lousy idea."

Thor's nostrils flared. He puffed out his cheeks. "Share it, Captain."

"Ever heard of that story about where babies come from? About the stork?"

The god raised one eyebrow, then the other. "Captain… Mortal children are conceived when—"

Steve held both hands up. "Stop right there." He gestured for Thor to follow him down to the deck. Once there, Steve rooted through several barrels until he found the biggest, sturdiest rope fishing net he could. "You're the stork, Thor. If we all fit in this net, could you and your hammer carry us to McMurdo?"

Thor took out a roll of thin iron chains. He looped it around the net, and then through his belt buckle. "Without dropping any of you into the water? Perhaps. But can Stark survive the trip? I won't be able to fly very high. Exposure to the cold air, spray off the water… Romanoff said it is a bad sign that he no longer shivers."

Steve fingered a blue tarp. He estimated how many life vests could fit in a reinforced net, and how many blankets on top of them. "We'll build a nest," he concluded. "We're alone out here. Who knows how long it'll be before we can get this boat moving again? We have to risk it. We have to."

Thor's nose crumpled. "Our arrival at the base will not look particularly… Dignified…"

Half an hour later, Steve left Thor standing beside the outstretched net and returned to the bridge. He found his teammates right where he left them: the nearly-naked Bruce shivering alone in one corner, Clint unconscious on the floor with his abdomen wrapped mummy-tight, and Natasha snuggled up with Stark under every blanket they could find. The blue tinge on Tony's lips had spread to his cheeks. His eyes widened when he saw Steve and he said, in a childlike voice, "Captain America?"

Nat raised her nose from Tony's neck. "He's disoriented. Losing it. Not enough blood is getting to his brain," she explained. "Doesn't remember what happened or where he is."

Tony frowned at her red hair. "Pepper, turn up the heat!" He coughed up another mouthful of saltwater and spat it on Clint's boots.

"He thinks the steering wheel is Obadiah Stane," Nat sighed.

"My dad," Tony mumbled. He blinked, then his eyes shut. "Where's my dad?"

Steve's throat was dry, empty, but he swallowed like it was full. "Can he move? Can he be moved?"

Natasha shook her head twice. "His muscles aren't working anymore. Temp is down to 92 Fahrenheit. Extremities are numb… Steve, we need to do something soon. Another blanket isn't going to cut it."

"I know. I know…" Steve exhaled sharply, then crouched onto his haunches and slid his open palms under Tony's body. "Plan B."

"Cozy," Banner decided when the teammates all dogpiled into the fishing net. The layers: metal chains, rope net, tarp, inflated life vests, Banner, Steve and Tony, and then Clint and Natasha. "If all your weight on me brings out The Other Guy, his weight will sink us quick."

Steve arranged the now unconscious Tony into a fetal position against his own body. Then he wrapped as much of himself around his friend as he could to not only keep him warm, but protected during the bumpy ride. "Thor, we're as ready as we're going to be," he called.

"Hold still, little babies," Thor said completely seriously.

"Fly high, big bird," Nat said completely un-seriously.

"Everybody hold on," said Steve.

"To what?" Bruce disappeared under the mound of life vests and body parts as Thor rose into the air.

The god carried his bundle of superheroes off the stranded ship, over the road of icebergs, past a curious colony of penguins, towards a bright red light on the horizon. He saw the giant letter "H" on top of a wide building on the edge of the continent and recognized it as the roof of a hospital. Three dozen personnel in neon orange snowsuits stood waiting on the roof when the Avengers arrived.

ONE WEEK LATER

Natasha was so excited that she passed the Avengers Tower elevator and darted straight up the stairs. Like a football player with a ball, she cradled a tablet computer tight against her middle. She didn't knock on the sickbay door, didn't open it slowly, didn't care that she startled Thor out of a deep nap and nearly caused the anxious Banner to transform. "News!" she announced, and handed Steve the tablet. She glanced at Tony sitting up in bed and her face briefly fell. "Good and bad news… Boss."

Tony shared a look with the man in the next bed. "Boss?" he mouthed. Clint shrugged in reply. The whole team looked beyond exhausted—overwhelmed by the events of recent months. They wore identical semicircles under their eyes like matching tattoos. And, also identically, they swarmed around Steve and the computer.

"And this is… What?" Rogers prompted.

Nat folded her arms and smiled. "Just finished analyzing all of the data from the cargo ship," she announced. "And guess what I found?"

"More Enhanced beings?" Tony guessed.

"More weapons?" guessed Clint.

Steve, in mourning, guessed, "My shield?"

"Yes!" Nat gasped. "I mean, no. Yes, the McMurdo team found it in a cargo shipment—don't worry, it's in the mail—but no, that's not what I came here to tell you."

Thor aimed Mjolnir at her like a gun. "Speak, Widow of Blackness."

Natasha hesitated. "Like the sound of that," she decided. Then she pointed at a blinking light in the middle of a world map on the computer. "Sokovia," she said. "We found Loki's scepter. It's in Sokovia!"

"No way," Clint breathed. His face, still pale from his recovery, flushed red with excitement. "We did it!"

"We did."

"We'll end it," Steve whispered. Thor raised his hammer and shook it, proudly.

"We could end it tomorrow if we wanted," Bruce realized.

"Tomorrow!" Thor roared.

Natasha pointed at Clint's bandaged body. "How about next week," she recommended.

Tony pointed at Natasha. "And I'll be the boss!" His grin was even bigger than Thor's. "Coulson loses the bet which means—lady and gentlemen—I'm going to be the director of SHIELD!"

The other Avengers, as one, groaned… And then smiled.

The End

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