[Months Later]

Castle was pleased that he was finally putting his vacation house to good use. He had convinced Beckett, and his other friends at the precinct to come stay with him at his large house outside of New York City. His mother and Alexis had also come along and the house was quite full, but Castle didn't mind. He figured everyone could use a break after the last couple of months they had had.

Briefly, Castle's thoughts turned to his brother and he wondered where Clint was. He sighed and tried not to think about his brother, who had disappeared months earlier.

"Whatcha making?" Beckett's voice broke through his thoughts as she padded into the kitchen.

"Breakfast." Castle replied with a smile, happy to bring his mind back to the present. He continued to stir the pancake mixture as Beckett poured herself a cup of coffee.

The detective had just taken a seat at the counter to watch Castle work when there was a muffled cry from the other room followed by the sound of pounding feet. Castle and Beckett exchanged confused looks.

Ryan came running into the kitchen his eyes wide with panic, "Turn on the TV! Turn on the TV!" He yelped, skidding to a stop by Beckett.

Castle frowned, not understanding what was going on, but he set down the pancake mixture and started to look for the remote control that operated the large TV that hung in the kitchen.

The noise Ryan had made brought Esposito, Landy, Alexis and Martha all to the kitchen. Most of them were still in their pajamas, but they all shared similar looks of confusion.

They gathered around the counter as Ryan snapped at Castle, "Hurry!"

Castle gave the detective an irritated look as he finally found the remote hiding under a stack of old newspapers and clicked the TV on.

The large TV glowed to life and everyone turned to see what Ryan was trying to show them.

A news reporter was in the middle of her sentence when the TV flickered and turned on, "―have yet to be told exactly what attacked New York City yesterday, but we have been assured that they will not be coming back."

Everyone's face blanched at the thought of their home attacked and Beckett gave Castle a glare.

"What?" He complained, "How is this my fault! I didn't attack New York!"

"You insisted that we all turn our phones off yesterday so that we 'wouldn't be distracted by the great outdoors.'" Before Castle could do much more than give her a wounded looked, they were shushed by the others.

The reporter continued, "However, we do know that many people are claiming that New York City was saved by a group of people that are being called the Avengers. We have reason to believe that Tony Stark's Iron Man is part of this group." There was a shaky clip of Iron Man's red and gold suit flying across the screen in the midst of explosions and dark objects.

"People have sent in images and videos of the so-called heroes…Be aware that some images are disturbing," The news reporter said.

This time the grainy clip that was shown was of two blonde haired men fighting side by side. The one with the longer hair was wearing some sort of armor and wielding a hammer, while the other man was wearing a blue suit and carrying a shield. Both were fighting off tall, dark objects that faintly resembled people, but were most definitely not human.

Castle was sure that he had seen the man in the blue suit before, but those thoughts were chased out of his mind as another figure came onto the screen. It was a red-haired woman firing two guns, her face stoic.

The camera swiveled to her right just in time to see another man come sliding across the street, a bow clasped in his hands. He sprang to his feet, sending an arrow flying from his bow.

There was a strangled gasp from Castle, which was echoed by everyone else in the room; they knew who those two people were. The clips were cut and the news reporter came back on screen.

She continued, "We have not been able to interview to any of these people, not even Tony Stark." She added with a wry smile, "However, our very own Matt Young was able to catch up to a few of these so called Avengers early today."

The screen changed and now showed a handsome man, who appeared to be chasing after the two people that Castle knew to be Agent Carter and his brother, Clint.

"Do you have anything to say to the people of New York after destroying half the city?" The reporter called, holding his microphone out in front of him.

Clint came to an abrupt stop and turned around to face the camera, his eyes narrowing. His red haired friend sighed and came to stand next to him, crossing her arms over her black suit.

Castle couldn't help but notice the exhaustion that clouded Clint's face and the small cut at the edge of his hairline or how his eyes seemed to have a haunted look about them.

"Yeah, actually," Clint said and despite his appearance his was voice strong as he jabbed a finger at Matt Young, "If it wasn't for us you and the whole city would be gone. Not to mention the rest of the world. So you can take your microphone and shove it―," The clip was hurriedly ended and then the news cut to commercial.

There was complete silence in the kitchen, all of them exchanging incredulous glances with each other.

Castle let out a strangled cry and sputtered out, "I knew it! Clint is a spy!"

A/N: Now we're done for real.

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