Echo
The cave was pitch black and seemingly endless, the only sound the rhythmic drip of water from somewhere deep inside and the steady breathing of the Avengers as they gathered near the mouth. Steve was eighty percent sure the missing children were being hidden somewhere down here. It was just a matter of finding them.
“Alright, Tony, you lead the way. You’ll be able to see the best,” Steve instructed while pulling out the small flashlight he and the others had brought along. Tony’s suit, however, had night vision (newly upgraded) so he was their best chance for finding those kids. Unfortunately. It wasn’t that Steve didn’t trust Tony, but the man could still be a bit childish at times and wasn’t the first choice to lead missions.
For example, Tony gave Steve a mock salute, sarcastically barking, “Yes, sir,” before zooming off faster than anyone could follow. Well, Thor could probably keep up, but the God was smart enough to not try to fly with limited vision.
Steve sighed and waved everyone forward, ignoring Clint’s snickers at Tony’s antics. They carefully picked their way over the rocky ground further into the cave, getting colder and colder as they went until it felt as though all the warmth had been sucked out of the air. They had to have gone over a mile on a basically downward path before Steve noticed they hadn’t had a sign of the children or Tony. A little worry began to niggle at the back of his mind.
Suddenly loud wailing calls began to echo throughout the cave (really it seemed more like a cavern at this point) bouncing off the walls and reverberating in Steve’s ears until he winced under the onslaught of noise. Even so, he could pick out at least three different voices, one quite familiar. He sighed, trying his hardest not to roll his eyes as he trudged forward.
Sure enough, as they rounded a final corner, his lone beam of light bouncing off the cavern walls, Steve found Tony, still garbed in his suit, kneeling next to three small children. Tony’s faceplate was off and he was showing the kids how to cup their hands around their mouths to make their voices echo.
At first, Steve was a little annoyed. They were sent out on a mission to rescue these children, not play silly games with them in a dark cave that could possibly hold some sort of danger, cave-ins brought on by loud noises being one of them. But then he really looked at Tony. The man’s brown eyes were carefully studying the kids as they played and his smile seemed overly cheerful. Steve would never admit that his heart melted, just a little, when it dawned on him. Tony wasn’t just playing games. He was distracting the kids, keeping them entertained so they wouldn’t be frightened while the others caught up.
“Great of you to join us, Capsicle,” Tony drawled, making the kids giggle.
Steve rolled his eyes at the nickname, causing the kids to snicker again, “This all of them.”
“Yep,” he popped the ‘p’ as he swung the eldest kid – maybe seven or eight years old – up onto his back as his faceplate came back down. The kid locked his hands around Tony’s neck and his legs around his waist, smiling widely. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I promised TJ here a ride.”
“TJ?” Natasha asked, coming up to pick up one of the smaller children. If there was one weakness the Black Widow had, it was children.
“Tony Junior,” Tony deadpanned before taking off back down the cave, the kid squealing in delight the whole way.