Clint didn’t know whose dumb idea it was to drag the Avengers out of the tower for a weekend. Though he could take an educated guess and say it was definitely captain tall, blonde and handsome. Spending weekends outdoors seemed like the kind of thing he would want to do. It wasn’t that Clint disliked spending time outside in the wilderness, in fact he was very used to it, what with the countless missions he’d had to spend in a tent while tracking a target. That being said, he was really starting to dislike it as the mosquitos gathered around them. The fire wasn’t really coming along either, as the only wood they had found so far had been too moist to really catch fire.
“I could have brought a grill, you know” Tony complained loudly, not for the first time. Steve rolled his eyes.
“Tony, the whole point of this is to learn how to survive in the wild. We need to rely on our natural skills, not high-tech suits and lasers”
“Spend three months in captivity before building your way out, then we can talk about natural skills” Tony grumbled into the beginnings of a tent. He and Bruce had been working together to make the giant tipi-like tent stand on its own. Apparently, it was a lot harder than it looked.
“Hawkeye, how’s food coming along?” Steve asked, ignoring Tony’s comment. Clint sighed dramatically, standing up to go check on the traps further into the forest. The sounds of the camp grew fainter the further away he stepped into the dark woods. Despite their little clearing being fully lit, the same couldn’t be said for the endless sea of trees Clint ventured into.
It didn’t take long before he located the first trap, finding it empty. With a sigh, he moved onto the next one, empty as well. Clint was starting to feel annoyed, cursing the inhabitants of the forest. How difficult did it have to be to just walk into a trap? Oh well, third time’s the charm, right?
It seemed his luck had finally turned around. Furthest away from the camp, he located the third trap, and in it was a large rabbit.
“Score” Clint said, picking the dead animal up. Then it was back to camp and hope that Cap had gotten the logs on fire, less this animal died for nothing. So, with nothing further to do, the archer began the long walk back the path he came from. As much as he disliked this “teambuilding exercise”, he couldn’t complain about getting closer to nature. There was something calming about walking in the shadows of trees towering over him, something unique in smelling the plants around him, it was-
Clint came to an abrupt halt, having walked straight into a tree which seemed to appear out of nowhere. He cursed, nearly dropping his prey as he brought a hand up to his nose. It didn’t feel broken, luckily.
“what the hell?” He asked no one in particular, glaring at the tree in front of him, only to have his eyes widen when the tree moved, fur brushing slightly in the small breeze. Surprised, he stumbled back from what he now saw was a giant fucking paw! Slowly, his gaze followed the bunt of forest-coloured muscle, up to the top of the trees, where he could see the rest of a body which was undoubtfully a giant fucking wolf! A giant, sharp-looking snout poked down from above the treetops, blood red eyes staring down at him. A long, blue tongue stuck out from the giant maw, showing hints of snow white razor teeth. The whole thing was so incredibly camouflaged, Clint was sure he wouldn’t have seen it if he hadn’t walked right into it. Its fur was a strange mix of dark brown, endless black and forest green which almost looked like moss.
A low, deep growl which made the air around him vibrate, snapped Clint out of his thoughts. The giant maw was now a lot closer, so close that Clint could feel the drag of air as the giant creature sniffed.
“Fuck that!” He said to himself, body suddenly working in override as his legs seemed to grow minds of their own. Clint ran, faster than he ever had, through the forest. He felt as though he was about to collapse, unable to look behind him in fear that the giant monster was chasing after him.
Finally, he could see the beginnings of the clearing where the other Avengers were gathered. In panic, he shouted at the others, not really knowing what he was saying.
“Clint, are you okay? What is it?” Steve asked, approaching him. Clint heaved for breath, about to answer when the ground began to shake. Heavy footsteps could be heard trampling closer.
“Giant dog!” he shouted, pointing into the words where they could see the trees splitting and bending as something giant made its way towards them. It was mere seconds before the monster broke out through the forest wall, coming to a halt right in front of them. Jesus, the thing was taller than the trees, towering over the little humans like they were mice. The giant maw came down, tongue sticking out as it sniffed the air. Slimy saliva poured from it’s mouth in long, disgusting threads.
“Jesus Christ!” Cap shouted, grabbing his shield. However, before he could do anything, a loud voice called out from behind them.
“Fenny!” At the sound of Tony’s voice, the wolf perked, looking up from the other avengers to stare at the inventor. Instantly, its tail began to wag, slamming trees over as it went. “What are you doing here?”
The giant wolf cocked its head, letting out a small whine. Everyone were staring at Tony as though he had grown a second head. There was absolutely no way!
“Oh don’t give me that. Come down here now” Tony said in a stern voice. The giant monster hung its head slightly, before green enveloped it, almost blinding. Seconds later, they were staring at a much smaller, although still giant, wolf. Instead of being the size of a mountain, it was now the size of a horse. Tony rushed over to it, standing before it with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Fen, how many times have mommy and I told you that you’re not allowed to wonder off?” He said in a stern voice. The giant looked down, finding the ground a lot more interesting than meeting Tony’s eyes. “Look at me when I’m talking to you”
It looked up, red eyes meeting deep brown. Tony’s hard shell seemed to fade instantly, his shoulder sagging in defeat. “Does mommy know you’re here?”
The animal shook its head, looking back at the ground again in apparent shame. Clint, Bruce and Steve looked on in shock, as Tony shook his head as well, sighing.
“You know how scared he gets when you wonder off like that? The forest is no place for a puppy all by himself”
“Puppy!?” Clint couldn’t help the word escaping him. The thing looked like it could still swallow them all whole, and Tony was calling it a puppy?!
“Tony, you know this…?” thing was left unsaid, as Cap stared at the creature in disbelief.
“Of course I know him! He’s my son”
“Son?!” The three avengers gaped. “You mean you have more than just… a serpent?” Clint added.
It had been nearly a month since they were introduced to Tony’s… ahem… son. The Malibu incident still too fresh for any of them to properly understand. Of course, they had tried to talk to the inventor about it, but he didn’t seem at all interested in discussing his family business. So in the end, they had settled on just accepting it, as there wasn’t really anything else they could do.
“Well duh! Fenny here is Jory’s older brother. And a terrible role model. Honestly, what am I to do with you? You’re more of a trouble maker than Slep!” the wolf whined again, bringing a small smile to Tony’s lips as he reached out, ruffling its head. “I’m not mad at you, Fen. I know you can handle yourself, but you still shouldn’t wonder off like that without at least telling us. What if something had happened to you, hmm? I would never be able to forgive myself”
The dog whined, pushing its muzzle into Tony’s chest.
“Tony… how many children do you have?” Bruce asked, quickly followed by Clint’s: “And why are they animals?”
Tony scoffed. “Six” He chose to deliberately not answer Clint.
“Come on, Fen. I’m calling mommy. No doubt he’s worried” The wolf’s eyes widened suddenly, and it pushed off of Tony, shrinking away. “Fen, no. You wander off to find daddy without telling mommy, you face the consequences”
Tony fished his phone out of his pocket, dialling a number before placing the phone to his ear. Mere seconds passed before someone picked up.
“Hello, love of my life” Tony said smoothly into the phone, keeping a close eye on his son. The avengers exchanged confused glances with one another as a voice replied, too thin and far away to hear. Although judging by Tony’s and Fen’s reaction, whoever was on the other side didn’t seem very happy.
“Calm down, love. He’s right here. No worries” A small pause, before “you want to talk to him? Alright, just a second”
Fen was desperately shaking his head, blood red eyes looking up at Tony pleadingly. Tony looked honestly sympathetic as he motioned with the phone. With a last whine in defeat, green light enveloped the wolf, transforming it into a young boy, no older than eleven. He had wild, curly brown hair, much like Tony, as well as brown eyes, speckled with green. Unlike Jory, Fen looked a lot more like his dad. The avengers were honestly surprised by the resemblance. When Tony had told them Jory was his son, the only logical option had been some sort of weird adoption. And yet Fen looked just too much like the inventor to be anything but related. Which just didn’t fit well with anything they knew about their teammate at all.
Reluctantly, the young now-boy took the phone from Tony, placing it close to his ear. With a careful voice, he spoke: “Hey, mommy”
A voice exploded from the phone, seemingly yelling at Fen to the point where he kept the phone away at arm’s length. Tony was quick to snatch it from him, trying to calm the other person down. Fen wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist, looking up with hope that his father would resolve it.
“Calm down, darling. He’s fine. I have him right here and I’m bringing him back home at once. No worries. Fenny just wanted to check up on his pop and make sure everything was okay. You know how much I hate camping without my kids” He laughed nervously, petting the boy’s hair. After a few more shouts and an angry grumble from the phone, Tony was finally able to hang up on them. He sighed, rubbing his face.
“Jesus Christ. Your mom will be the death of me, I swear” He said to Fen, scratching his beard.
“Tony” Steve said. “What is going on here?”
“Sorry guys. Looks like I’m gonna have to cut this camping trip short. You guys just go on without me, no worries” Tony replied. “Mommy gets cranky when the kids leave the house without notification. I’ll see you guys later”
“Tony, wait!” Steve tried, but the inventor had already started down the path they had taken to get here, hand clamped securely around Fen’s. The avengers watched as the two disappeared into the cover of the woods.
“What the actual fuck?” Clint mumbled, getting a hum in agreement from the two other avengers.
Meanwhile, on his way back from the camp, Tony was grinning down at his son, who mirrored the expression with sharp teeth.
“Great work, Fenris! You’re a life saviour” He said, relieved. “I wouldn’t last a day out here! What say you we go get ourselves a nice hot meal before we go home, hmm?”