Hawkeye aimed at Claire, this arrowhead a taser. He didn’t like it, but the longer she was in the fight, the longer she had to get seriously hurt. But Claire somehow noticed him, and moments before the arrow hit her, a portal opened in front of her, the shaft vanishing.

She’s fast, Clint thought, rolling by reflex in case that staff could do anything else. But the girl stayed still, looking up at him with wide eyes, holding the staff in a guard position as her boyfriend ran to aid the rock creature against Steve.

Sorry kid, but I don’t think your boyfriend is in Cap’s league.

“Hang on, Clint,” Tony said. “Jarvis, confirm repulsor settings,”

“Five percent, Mr. Stark.”

Clint winced. The kid was going to have bruises tomorrow.

Then Tony landed, hands outthrust. “Last warning, put the stick down now.”

Claire raised her staff, and Tony cocked his head. “Sorry about this.” He fired his repulsors, right into the portal she had created.

And out of a portal right behind Tony, striking him in the back.

Repulsors turned down to not harm a teen-aged girl barely moved Tony, but then Claire jumped back into a third portal, vanishing.

“So, she’s playing with portals. Smart kid. Jarvis, put up any portal egress points,” Tony said.

“Yes, sir.”

And then Clint heard a roar, as a very large creature, covered in moss and glowing lines, charged into the fray, followed by a four-armed, six-eyed being.

Where the hell are all these things coming from? He’d thought that they had some kind of bolt-hole under the bridge, but it was looking like they’d drastically underestimated what was going on.

“Get away from Master Jim, Fiends!” the four-armed critter yelled and chucked a glowing stone at Natasha and Clint, as Toby raised up his hammer.

Clint dove to the side, and let another net go, this one catching Toby in the chest and wrapping him helplessly. Natasha moved fast, shielding herself behind a car before the rock exploded with the force of a grenade.

No shrapnel, though.

“Aaarrrggghhh!” Toby shouted, and the big critter swerved without pausing, scooping the immobilized teen up before it vanished down an alley—an alley that was wider after its passage.

Get the kid out of the combat zone so he can get him free. They’ve got combat experience. A bedroom community in California, and they have combat experience. What the hell have these kids been doing?

Steve Rodgers caught the sword on his shield, then swept his legs out to knock the teen down before spinning around and blocking a blow from the creature that had first attacked him.

“Draal! Get Claire and Toby out of here!”

“I’ll not abandon you to the Order, Trollhunter!”

Order, what Order? They weren’t fighting like strangers. Jim was back up and coming at him from his left while the creature moved in from his right, the two acting like they’d fought together.

But this wasn’t a trap. Jim was acting desperate, not like he’d planned any of this. They all were, as if they feared what might happen if they lost.

Dammit. If only this Draal hadn’t charged in, I might have been able to talk them down.

“Get ready to duck, Cap,” Tony’s voice. “I’ll handle the big guy.”

“Try not to kill it. I don’t think we have the whole story.”

“Well, that’s not exactly unusual for us. Go.”

Steve spun aside as Tony paused for a moment, then twin repulsor bolts blasted Draal across the street and into a second-hand furniture store.

“DRAAL!” Jim screamed. Moments later, he threw a pair of glaives at Tony. Tony dodged one and blasted the other away with a repulsor bolt, before Steve forced Jim back on the defensive. The kid’s blows were getting less controlled, wilder, as he tried to see what had happened to Draal.

“Cap?”

“Help Natasha and Clint find Claire. We let her get too far away. I doubt we can find her again.” And we need to find out if that staff has any relation to the Tesseract.

In the alley, Aaarrrggghhh ripped the net from Toby. Toby hissed in pain as some of the strands cut into him, blood staining his shirt. “C’mon, Wingman,” Toby said. “We gotta get back and help Jim and Claire.”

“Why fighting?”

“I dunno! Maybe they’re not really the Avengers, or maybe someone cast a spell on them, but we can’t let them catch us!” Toby flourished his war hammer the glowing head trailing heat and light. “So let’s go—”

There was a bolt of lighting that blinded him for a moment, flashing from the end of the alley. Moment’s later, a tall, powerful man stood, hammer twirling in his hand.

“A troll,” he said in a wondering voice. “I haven’t seen one of your kind…” then his voice hardened. “And bearing Gunmar’s tattoos. I had thought you had all vanished from this earth. Step aside from the child!”

“We’re so dead,” Toby said, trying, but failing to keep the squeak from his voice. He hefted his hammer. “We are so dead,” he repeated.

“Get away from the troll,” Thor said. “You know not what they are capable of.”

“Arrrggghhh’s my Wingman!” Toby said. “We’re friends! He lives in my house?”

“And how many people has he eaten!” Thor said, “You are being deceived!”

“No I’m—” And before Toby could finish, Thor threw his hammer, knocking Arrrggghhh away from the boy.

“You hurt him!” Toby screamed in fury and charged Thor, bringing his hammer up—And Thor dodged it, letting it hit the ground. Toby shrank the hammer, pulling away before Thor could grab it, then once again normal sized, swung it at Thor…

KLANG!

“Oooowwwww…” Toby moaned, his hands feeling like they were about to fall off from the transmitted shock. His hammer had struck Thor’s…

And hadn’t moved. At all.

“Now, if you will—”

“NO HURT WINGMAN!” Arrrggghhh roared, hitting Thor, low and dirty. The Asgardian was pushed back, but regained his footing and smashed Arrrggghhh to the ground with one blow. He raised his hammer, lightning flashing in the sky.

“Why?” Thor asked. “So you can devour him?!”

“Not hurt Toby, Never hurt Toby!” Arrrggghhh roared, hauling back to punch Thor.

“Then surrender! Surrender yourself to justice and I, Thor of Asgard, Odinson, swear that no harm shall come to the boy!”

Arrrggghhh stopped. “Promise. Even from other trolls?”

“I can give no greater oath.”

Arrrgggghhhh paused, stared at Thor, then let go, bowing his head. “Strike fast.”

“W-no!” Toby said, running in front of Arrrggghhhh. “He’s not going to hurt you! He’ll have to go through me, first!”

“Indeed I will not,” Thor said. “No servant of Gunmar’s would ever pretend to surrender in order to protect a human. Not that you need all that much protecting. From your size, hammer, and valiant defense, you remind me of a friend of mine, Volstagg.” He glanced towards the street where the sound of fighting continued. “Well, let’s attempt to convince the others. I expect there is a great tale here, but we’d best not make it a tragedy.”