A/N: I blame theloneyotakugirl for the idea, and shinyadoll and DJ Sparkles for pointing out that Thorin would look amazing in spandex (and then spending countless hours discussing superpowers with me). This is entirely their fault.

Due to popular demand I'll be updating three times a week now: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Chapters will alternate between furthering the plot and background drabbles about the members of the Company and the origins of the powers.

Warnings: It's a superhero story. There's violence (and burn injuries). I'll try to add warnings for anything else as we go.

...

...

"Yes, I've got you scheduled for Monday afternoon at 4:30. Thank you for choosing G-Tech. Yes, ma'am. We'll see you then." Bilbo Baggins dropped the phone back onto the cradle and bit back a sigh. It was already half past one and he hadn't had anything to eat besides the few carrot sticks he managed to sneak between calls. Being an executive assistant at G-Tech had its perks- a good benefits package, decent pay, being linked to a cutting edge corporation... but constantly having to work through his lunch breaks was starting to wear on his nerves (not to mention his waistline).

Bilbo faked a large yawn and leaned back in his chair, peering around the wall of his cubical. The hallway was blissfully clear. Smirking to himself, Bilbo grabbed his lunch sack and that mornings edition of The Daily Portents. Creeping down the hall, he ducked into an empty conference room and settled into a chair by the window. The view from the door was blocked by an oversized fern, so no one would notice him if they happened to glance in.

Congratulating himself on a clean escape, Bilbo took a large bite of his ham sandwich and looked down at the newspaper. Balrog taken down by the Company and S.M.A.U.G. read the headline by Ori Rill. Bilbo had to hand it to the reporter, he always made the Supers sound like real people, not the larger-than-life figures the other papers painted. Even though superpowers had been manifesting for almost two generations, they were still novel enough to make the headlines most days. Less than 1% of the population had any sort of unique skills and only a handful of those were powerful enough to be Supers. The Supers were everything a comic book reading child could have dreamed of- brave, and powerful, and wearing a lovely amount of spandex... Bilbo shook his head to derail that particular train of thought. There were people in the world who still thought Supers were unnatural, but Bilbo thought they were wonderful. Like most newspapers The Daily Portents seldom had photographs of the Supers in action, however Ori Rill seemed to be a daft hand at drawing. The sketch that accompanied the article showed Oakenshield, leader of the Company, in all his spandex-clad glory. It was a wonder anyone ever read the articles when the images were so distracting.

Finishing his sandwich, Bilbo skimmed through the rest of the news article. Once again the Supers had saved the day with the help of S.M.A.U.G., the cybernetic robot. Bilbo smiled fondly, the article was a good plug for G-Tech. It was nice to know that something he did helped the Supers. Granted, his part in the running and creation of S.M.A.U.G. was strictly secretarial, but still.

G-Tech was the nations largest cyber-technology firm and a subsidiary of the Gundabad Corporation out of Germany. Their work in robotics was second to none. The 'Super Monitoring Artificial Utility Guide', or S.M.A.U.G. as it was known, was the result of nearly twenty years of research- an AI robot the size of a school bus, whose purpose was to help the Supers track, apprehend, and fight villains. S.M.A.U.G. was efficient and breathtaking- whoever had the idea the shape the robot like a red dragon had been brilliant. Bilbo had been lucky enough to see S.M.A.U.G. in action once- the sun glinting off its metal wings as it soared above the rooftops. It had used its fire breath to incapacitate Azog and Oakenshield's Company had finished him off.

As amazing as S.M.A.U.G. had been, Bilbo had found himself watching Oakenshield more. The man could shift parts of his body into new materials- at that moment he had been pummeling Azog with a fist made of diamond. Sighing, Bilbo shook his head again and pushed his honey curls back from his face. He was far too old to have a crush on a Super. Folding the newspaper closed, he reached into his lunch sack for a cookie, only to freeze as the door to the conference room opened.

"This better be important, Misty. I was in a meeting." The voice belonged to Steven Angmar, CEO of G-Tech.

"This is life threatening! Code red!" replied lead programer Misty North in a hushed voice. They walked further into the conference room. A few more steps and they would see Bilbo behind the fern plant.

Just as he would have been noticed, Bilbo Baggins disappeared.

"What's going on?" asked John Wilderland, Chairman of the Board of Directors. "Why is this meeting so secretive?"

Misty frowned and motioned to the heavyset man beside her. "Barry and I installed an upgrade to S.M.A.U.G. last night. It was a simple firmware upgrade to help the AI make more decisions on it's own..."

"I remember signing off on that upgrade," Steven said. "Was there a problem with the upload?"

Barry Humphries tugged nervously at his prominent chin. "You could say that."

The upgrade did everything is was supposed to do," Misty said flatly. "But someone changed out the end of the code to bypass the fail-safe."

"What does that mean?"

"Our fail-safes are gone," Barry replied. "The AI is programed to follow all directives from us. We've tried to call it back so we can fix the problem, but it's not responding."

Misty took a deep breath. "S.M.A.U.G. has gone rogue."

"How did this happen?" Steven growled.

"I have no idea!" She fumed, throwing up her hands in frustration. "When we checked the code yesterday afternoon, it was prime for upload. None of our key loggers showed anyone accessing the system between last check and the upload. But somehow, someone got in and changed the data!"

"Shit," Steven cursed. "How bad is it?"

"Potentially devastating. S.M.A.U.G.'s AI is revolutionary. Without a fail-safes we have no idea what it's capable of. It could develop consciousness."

"Are you saying we may have created a sentient robot dragon?" John exclaimed with obvious worry. "Fuck! How am I supposed to explain this to the shareholders?"

"You don't," Steven replied evenly. "Not a word of this leaves this conference room."

"People might be in danger!"

"But they might not be. S.M.A.U.G. hasn't done anything out of the ordinary yet. What's the likeliest outcome?"

"S.M.A.U.G.'s prime directive is to protect human life at all costs. Even if it became self-aware, it should still adhere to that code," said Misty after a moment's thought.

Barry agreed, "S.M.A.U.G. shouldn't bother the humans at all. However, it was created to track superpowered villains..."

John's eyes widened in realization. "It might go after the Supers?"

"That's a very real possibility," Misty admitted. "We should warn them."

"No," Steven said firmly. "No one breathes a word of this to anyone. Agreed?"

The others voiced their agreement and after a few more minutes of hasty discussion they left the conference room.

Bilbo reappeared, his whole body trembling with fear and exertion. Sneaking into the now-deserted hallway, he hurried to his cubical to grab his jacket and then rushed for the door. Once on the sidewalk he made a quick mobile call to human resources, claiming to be sick. With a heavy sigh he set his shoulders and began walking east. In the distance Erebor Tower rose above the other skyscrapers on the city skyline.

He had to warn the Supers.

…

In person, Erebor Tower was massive and intimidating. Bilbo stared up at the side of the building, floor upon floor of mirrored glass windows staring back at him. The whole scope of what was happening frightened him, and he felt himself start to vanish as he usually did when afraid. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, Bilbo rang the bell.

The door opened automatically and Bilbo stepped in without thinking. Looking around in confusion he did the only thing he could think of, which was to follow the lit hallway to where it ended at an elevator. Once inside, the elevator shut on its own accord and Bilbo watched the numbers on the display go up, up, up. At floor 27 the elevator stopped and the door opened. Stepping out, Bilbo found himself in a large open room, furnished with comfortable couches and an abnormally large wooden dining table. A bank of computer monitors covered one wall, while another had floor to ceiling windows that provided a view of the entire city.

Standing in the middle of the room was the leader of the Company- Oakenshield himself. He was clad in a blue spandex bodysuit that hugged every muscle and left very little to the imagination, as well a fur cape that looked impossibly soft. His dark hair was long and streaked with the barest hint of gray, and he wore a neatly trimmed beard over his strong jawline.

"Who are you?"

Bilbo blinked and realized he had been staring. "Er, sorry. I'm Bilbo Baggins."

"Thorin Durin, at your service," Oakenshield- Thorin!- responded. "Is there any particular reason you're interrupting our meal?"

Scanning the room Bilbo realized there were four other people sitting on the couches, with open boxes of pizza on the table between them. A bald man with a dark beard glared at him. He was built like a brick house and covered in tattoos. Another bore a family resemblance to the first, but was a bit older and wearing brown robes. A middle aged brunet woman with a smudge of grease on her cheek offered him a kind smile. The last man was younger, in his late twenties, and wearing a hoodie and thick knitted gloves. "Er, sorry. I didn't mean to... Or rather, I didn't know..."

"Spit it out, lad," the tattooed man growled. He wore thick leather boots over his brown jumpsuit and a criss-crossed bandolier that showed off his heavily sculpted muscles.

"Sorry!" Bilbo pulled himself together. "I work for G-Tech. I'm an executive assistant for the firm. It seems like there might be a problem..."

Thorin raised a brow sharply. "I talked to someone from G-Tech this morning. They didn't mention any sort of problem. S.M.A.U.G. had a routine upgrade done, but it's back in the air doing patrols already."

"Yes, well, that's the problem now, isn't it?" Bilbo fretted his hands together. "The upgrade was tampered with and S.M.A.U.G. no longer has any fail-safes."

"G-Tech didn't say anything about that..."

"They wouldn't. They don't want word to get out about it- bad press and all. No one is supposed to know."

"But you know," Thorin looked skeptical. "If it's a huge secret how does a secretary know about it?"

"I'm an executive assistant, not a secretary!" Bilbo snapped. "And I just do."

Thorin rolled his eyes. "Excuse me, mister executive assistant, but I still see no reason to believe your claim. We get false calls all the time from people seeking attention."

"This isn't a false call! I was just trying to have a quiet minute to myself and I ended up somewhere I shouldn't have been!" He ran his hands through his already disheveled curls. "I can turn invisible, all right?! When the CEO came in I panicked and disappeared. I heard the whole conversation!"

"You can turn invisible." Thorin blinked, clearly not expecting that response.

Bilbo let out a despondent sigh and promptly sat down on the floor. "Nobody is supposed to know that."

The brunet woman stood up and walked over to Bilbo. She wore a blue jumpsuit decorated with a circuit board design and an impressive looking utility belt. "We won't tell anyone, dear. Most everyone around here has powers, so we won't judge. I'm Dís, by the way."

Bilbo looked up at her and managed a weak smile. "I'm really very sorry. This had been a dreadfully unexpected day."

"I'm sure it has." Dís smiled and offered him a hand up. "Why don't you come have a bite to eat and tell us what you overheard."

Nodding, Bilbo accepted the help to his feet and soon found himself sitting in an armchair with a mug of chamomile tea and a slice of pepperoni pizza.

"Now then," Dís said softly. "Introductions, then on to business. You've already met my lovely brother, Thorin, our commander and chief. Please excuse his majesty's rude manners. I'm sure you've seen him and his shifting powers on the news."

As if on cue Thorin flexed his right arm and the skin rippled, flesh giving way to a limb of solid steel. He dropped his fist to the table with a heavy thud before shifting it back to normal with a slight smirk.

"The walking tattoo shop is Dwalin Fundin, our resident bad-ass. You'd be hard-pressed to kill him."

Dwalin growled low in his throat and clenched his hands into tight fists. Metal bars ripped through the skin, forming knuckle-dusters which banded across the back of his hands. The torn flesh immediately began to knit itself back together, leaving the weapons, but no trace of scars.

"Next to Dwalin is his brother Balin, all-around gentleman and our earth-bender."

Balin regarded his teacup regretfully before setting it down on the table. Raising one hand he muttered a spell under his breath and a large stone paperweight sailed across the room. It hovered in the air for a moment before breaking apart into a dozen pieces and reforming into the shape of a bear.

"And the little one there is Ori Rill."

Ori smiled shyly over the spine of the sketchbook he was scribbling in.

"Ori Rill, the reporter from The Daily Portents?" Bilbo asked curiously.

"That's me," Ori replied, clearly pleased to be recognized.

Bilbo grinned. "No wonder your articles are always the best- you actually know the Supers."

"The papers are going to write about Supers. It's too novel a story not to." Ori toyed with the engraved silver pen he was holding . "At least with my writing them, the stories they're printing are mostly true."

"And yer gettin' to use that journalism degree ya worked so hard on." Dwalin added, half to himself.

Ori blushed fiercely. "Both of my brothers are members of the Company. If I'm going to be hanging around here anyway, I might as well be of some use."

"You're not part of the Company yourself?" Bilbo questioned, hoping he wasn't being rude.

"Oh. No." Ori picked absently at his gloves. "I don't have any powers."

"Mittens here is our unofficial mascot," Dís teased, nudging Ori with her shoulder.

The boy frowned. "I get cold easily..."

Thorin interrupted the conversation. "The introductions are done. Let's hear everything you know about S.M.A.U.G. and its alleged rogue status."

So, Bilbo recounted the conversation from the conference room, trying to fill in ever detail he could remember. When he was finished he looked around the room expectantly.

"What do you think, Dís?" Thorin asked, looking over at his sister.

"If the fail-safes were breached, we could have a real problem on our hands." She frowned, clearly concerned. "The central computer for S.M.A.U.G. is a positronic brain. It basically gives the robot a form of consciousness. That's the whole reason the AU can make basic decisions on its own. It's made from platinum and iridium, which is temperature resistant. It's a very interesting design, especially when you factor in the volatile memory..."

"You're getting off topic!" Thorin snapped.

"Oh? Sorry." Dís shrugged and grinned at Bilbo. "Tech is sort of my thing."

"If by sort of you mean she's a bloody genius at it," Thorin muttered. "She makes all of our gadgets and handles the computer system."

"Yup," Dís smirked. "I'm the brain, he's the beauty."

Bilbo clamped his mouth shut to keep from agreeing out loud.

"At any rate, if S.M.A.U.G. goes off the reservation and decides to try to kill us, we'll be hard pressed to stop it. The robot was designed to combat powered villains- it doesn't feel pain and there isn't a lot that can damage it."

"Anything can be damaged if you punch it hard enough," Dwalin snorted, earning a fist-bump from Thorin.

Dís looked skeptical. "I hope for all our sakes that Bilbo's information is wrong."

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Dís tilted her head as if listening to something and then touched the small ax-shaped badge on her chest. "Roger that, Green Team. Bring it in."

Thorin quirked a brow. "Anything to report?"

"Green Team saw nothing out of the ordinary tonight. They'll be back in a few minutes. Red Team is still out doing their patrols."

"You have different teams?" Bilbo asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. "I thought all the Supers here were part of the Company..."

"We are, lad," Balin replied with a kind smile. "But there are fourteen members of the Company. Fifteen if you count Ori. It makes more sense for us to split up to cover more ground."

"And we get more downtime," Dwalin added, stuffing the last bit of pizza crust into his mouth.

Ori rolled his eyes at the larger man, then turned to Bilbo. "The Company consists of three teams- this lot is Blue Team, you'll be meeting Green Team any minute, and then there's Red Team. Everyone is sort of divided up by whose powers or skills work best together. Each team has a fighter and some sort of long range attack. The other members are filled in depending on what the situation calls for. If they're gearing up for a big fight, sometimes two teams will combine, or members will shift from one team to the other."

Bilbo nodded thoughtfully. "That makes quite a lot of sense, actually."

Before the conversation could continue a bell sounded and the elevator doors opened to reveal five men, who were busy chatting companionably amongst themselves.

"Oh, pizza! Awesome!" The youngest man grinned, dropping a bow and quiver on to a table near the elevator, and tugging off his brown leather jacket. "That was the most boring patrol ever. I'm starved!"

"Mind your manners, son," Dís lectured good-naturedly. "We have a guest." Green Team stopped what they were doing and regarded Bilbo curiously.

Nervous under all the scrutiny, he felt himself starting to vanish and had to focus to remain visible. "Yes, er, Bilbo Baggins. Good afternoon."

Thorin's eyes narrowed slightly. "Bilbo appears to go invisible when he's frightened, so play nice."

"Good afternoon! I'm Bofur," said one of the Supers, a man wearing an aviator hat and boasting a rather impressive set of wings. "Obviously, my power is my charmin' personality an' wit."

"Not likely, birdbrain," scoffed a heavily pierced man with an orange mohawk. "He flies. And molts all over the damn sofa. I'm Nori by the way."

An older man wearing a pale blue cape nodded in Bilbo's general direction. "Oin. Healer."

"I'm Kíli!" the archer said brightly, plopping himself down on the couch next to Bilbo. "NP archer extraordinaire!"

"NP?" Bilbo tilted his head curiously. "I don't believe I'm familiar with that term."

"Non-powered hero," supplied the final Super, a young man with blond dreadlocks, carrying enough weaponry to look like a porcupine. "My little brother here is a highly skilled archer. I'm Fíli, polymath."

"Polymath?" he watched the young man add weapon after weapon to the stack on the table.

"Yup. I've got a crazy skill set when it comes to combat perception. I can see any fighting style and mimic it."

"Well, that's certainly useful," Bilbo said after a moment. "I didn't realize there was such a thing as non-powered heroes..."

"There aren't a lot of us," Kíli said, grabbing a slice of pizza and talking around the mouthful. "In the Company it's just me and Nori. And maybe mom."

Bilbo looked over at Dís. "Maybe? You mean you don't know if you're a Super?"

"Nope." She grinned. "Either it's a power or I'm just a genius. It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"It does if S.M.A.U.G. tries to kill you."

The room went instantly silent.

"Why would S.M.A.U.G. try to kill mom?" Fíli questioned softly, breaking the silence.

Thorin heaved a heavy sigh. "The reason Mr. Baggins is here is because he overheard some troublesome news at G-Tech. S.M.A.U.G. may have gone rogue."

"What are we gonna do?" Kíli asked, staring down at his pizza as if it held the answer.

"For now, we're going to monitor S.M.A.U.G. and watch our backs. Otherwise it's business as usual."

The Company returned to their pizza, as if the threat to their lives wasn't worth worrying over. Perhaps it wasn't. After all, they put their lives on the line every day.

"So," Bilbo hedged, feeling awkward in the silence. "How does a NP hero keep from getting seriously injured in a fight?"

"We try not to get noticed," Nori answered, reaching over to nick a peperoni from Bofur's pizza.

"Kíli is an archer, what exactly are your skills then?"

Nori waggled an eyebrow, but didn't respond.

"He's a bloody thief is what he is," Bofur explained, swatting the others hand as he went for another peperoni.

"A thief?" Bilbo regarded the bright orange mohawk doubtingly. "Aren't thieves supposed to look inconspicuous?"

Nori laughed and motioned to his spandex wearing teammates. "I run with this lot. I am inconspicuous."

"Fair enough," Bilbo chuckled. "So, you sneak around and try not to get hurt while the others do their heroics?"

"Pretty much. Also, we usually have Oin with us, just in case Kíli rushes out and does something stupid."

"You mean when Kíli rushes out and does something stupid," Fíli interjected with a smirk. "Because we all know Kíli attracts trouble."

"I do not!" The archer pouted, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy dog. "I don't get in any more trouble than you do!"

"But I've got powers that help keep me alive. When it comes to surviving a fight, I'm superior."

"Yeah, a superior jerk-off!" Kíli snorted. "I don't need powers to be amazing, Fee."

"An amazing pain in my ass!" Fíli reached over and tugged at his brother's dark hair, earning himself an elbow to the ribs in return.

"Boys!" Thorin growled, sounding more amused than truly irritated. "You two need to stop bickering or I'll put you on different teams."

The threat seemed to work, as Fíli and Kíli immediately calmed down and scooted marginally closer together.

"Do you have any siblings, Mr. Boggins?" Fíli asked, grinning as his own brother picked the green olives off a slice of pizza and popped them into his mouth.

"It's Baggins. Just Bilbo is fine, if you would." He shook his head. "And no, I was an only child."

"That's too bad. It's all family here." Bofur tugged on the ear flaps of his hat and offered a dimpled smile. "We've all got sibs, except for Bifur- he's a cousin, but that's close enough."

"Yeah, and half the Company is related to Thorin one way or another." Nori added, propping his boots up on the coffee table.

"Speaking of family..." Dís tipped her head and listened intently. "Roger that Red Team. Engage at will. We'll monitor the situation from here."

"Action?" Thorin asked, already moving towards the bank of computer monitors on the far wall.

"The Gollum is attempting to put a warhead in the water supply." Dís sighed heavily. "Again."

"Didn't you just arrest him yesterday?" Bilbo asked, remembering the newspaper article he'd been reading.

"Yup!" Kíli shrugged, nonplussed. "We put them away, they get out. It's a vicious circle."

The wall of monitors flashed to life, pulling up a series of live-feeds taken from security cameras. On the screen The Gollum paced back and forth along the edge of an aqueduct, muttering to himself. A large mass of explosives was strapped to the dam holding back the water supply. The numbers on the bomb were counting down slowly towards zero.

"You've got eight and a half minutes, Red Team," Dís said into her com link. "Plenty of time."

"They'll have it done in five," Kíli whispered loudly.

"I say six," Fíli replied. They shook hands as if agreeing to a longstanding bet.

"You'll get to see the rest of the Company in action," Ori said, moving to stand between Bilbo and Dwalin at the monitors. "The one in the mulberry jumpsuit is my oldest brother, Dori. He's the strongest Super there is."

Bilbo watched as the man in question easily lifted a car above his head and tossed it at The Gollum. "Impressive."

"The one with the extra arms is Gloin." Ori pointed a gloved finger at the screen, indicating a musclebound redhead with four arms. "He's an amblypygid. Got bit by a radioactive spider in Mirkwood Labs and sprouted a second set of arms."

"Don't ever arm wrestle him," Nori warned. "He's got a crazy pincer grip with those things!"

"The blond is his wife, Loni." Kíli added, waggling his brows in a lewd manner. "She's got super boobs, I mean brain powers."

"Kíli!" Dís shot her youngest son a disproving glare. She looked over at Bilbo and shrugged helplessly. "Excuse him, he's still a teenager."

"It's quite all right. We've all been there, I suppose."

"What Kíli meant to say is that Loni is telepathic. It really comes in handy." Bofur reached around Nori to point at the screen. "The one with the wild hair an' the mask is my cousin Bifur. He's got a sonic scream that's gone a little haywire."

"If by haywire you mean every time he opens his mouth he blasts holes in the walls," Nori muttered, earning a surprisingly dark glare from Bofur. "Sorry, but it's true. Ever since Balrog smashed his head in, he ain't in control of his damn powers."

Bofur sighed and briefly pressed his forehead against Nori's shoulder. "Yer right. That's why Loni is so important. If she's close enough t' use her powers, she can hear what Bifur is thinking an' inform the rest of the team. It's the only way he can talk during a fight. Around here he writes stuff down or uses the bastardized form of sign language we've worked out."

"Can't you make some sort of device to control his powers?" Bilbo wondered out loud.

"I'm working on it, but the tech isn't there yet," Dís said with a frown. "Eventually we'll figure it out. I won't give up on him. For now the mask he wears keeps his jaw shut unless he'd actively trying to use his powers. That way he doesn't accidentally blast anyone while he's sleeping..."

On the screen Bifur directed an attack at The Gollum, sonic waves emanating from behind his mask. The Gollum fell backwards into the aqueduct and was flushed away downstream.

"Looks like Bombur isn't going to see any action tonight," Ori said, gesturing towards a heavyset ginger man on the monitor. "Once he gets moving there is no force on earth strong enough to stop him."

"His fan club ain't gonna like that," Dwalin smirked.

"Excuse me. Did you say fan club?" Bilbo asked with an incredulous look.

"Oh yeah. He's got girls lining up for miles just to have a turn with him."

"Seriously?" Bilbo looked around, trying to determine if he were missing the punchline of an inside joke.

"Totally serious," Fíli laughed. "They call themselves Team Bombur. They're on tumblr. It's a whole big thing."

"Well, that's... unexpected." Bilbo shook his head. "Good for him, I suppose."

"He enjoys himself." Bofur shrugged and glanced downward. "It's kind of difficult t' have an actual relationship when yeh live the way we do..."

"Unless you date another Super or something," Ori added softly, peering sideways at Dwalin.

Bilbo cleared his throat to break the awkwardness of the conversation. "So, Gloin and Loni are married... And the rest of you are single?" He hazarded a glance at Thorin.

"Yup." Kíli looked up at the monitors. "They've got a son named Gimli. He's, what, thirteen now? You'll meet him eventually."

"Meet him?" Bilbo frowned. "Why would I meet him? I'm not planning on staying around here... I just came to bring you the information..."

"But you've got powers! You can be part of the Company... You can't leave!" Kíli all but pouted.

"I'm not a hero! I'm just a normal guy with a quirky ability. And I don't look good in spandex!"

The conversation was interrupted by a bright flash on the screen. Most of the security cameras went out, leaving the monitors undulating black and white static.

Dís was on her com in an instant. "Red Team? What's going on out there? We've lost visuals!" The room was silent save for the white noise from the monitors. "Red Team? Thank god!" As Dís listened to the report her face grew more and more worried. "Roger that, Red Team. Get out of there. Retreat!"

"What happened?" Thorin grabbed his sister's arm and spun her to face him. "Are they okay?"

"There were injuries, I don't know how bad." Dís looked up, her eyes heavy. "Thorin, they were attacked. It was S.M.A.U.G.!"

…

...

A/N: Well, there's our set-up. What do you guys think of the premise? Kudos and comments are some of my very favorite things in the world (second only to Tolkien).

Follow me on tumblr, username PirateColey. Everything for this story will be tagged #ItCoH.

Rough age breakdown for the sake of this story.

Kili- 18

Fili- 21

Ori- 28

Bombur- 30

Nori, Bofur- 33

Dís, Bilbo- 35

Thorin, Dwalin, Gloin, Loni, Bifur- late 30s

Dori- 38

Oin & Balin- 40s