Artemis Fowl, Avengers 1. Chapter 1 Natasha Romanoff

Artemis Fowl was cleaning out his lab. It was a disaster in there and he knew it needed to be done sooner or later. He had just hoped it could have been later, but when Angeline Fowl caught one glimpse of it she ordered him in there and locked the door. The boy genius could have easily gotten out, but he decided against it simply because he adored his mother.

As he sorted through piles and piles of paper with flawed equations, working equations, and other projects, he heard a car door slam. Glancing out the window he saw a woman with red hair climb out of a black SUV in the drive. She looked vexed. A thousand possibilities were swamping Artemis' brain. Who was she? By the looks of her jacket she was a government agent. She had some sort of insignia on her sleeve that he couldn't quite make out from this distance. She moved her hand to the her ear to listen to someone saying something and then walked out of view. Artemis sighed and went back to work cleaning his lab. It wasn't that he was not curious - in fact he was burning with curiosity - but he knew that if she was there for any important matter he would be alerted. In the mean time… those files were a mess.

In a few minutes Juliet opened the lab door. "Some one here to see you Artemis."

The young man stood up, accidently bumping a pile of papers and scattering them on the floor. He sighed and elected to ignore them for the time being. He left the lab with Juliet leading him to a sitting room. Inside Mr. and Mrs. Fowl sat on one sofa and the red haired woman sat on another, Butler was standing in the corner giving the newcomer a suspicious look.

"Arty," Mrs. Fowl smiled, "This is Agent Romanoff of… what did you say your organization was called again?"

"SHIELD, which stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcment, and Logistics Division - it's a agency dedicated to keeping the world safe. You may have heard, we had a hand in taking care of incident in New York." Agent Romanoff smiled politely.

Artemis had, of course, heard of this and known of SHIELD before the time of the attack, but he decided it would be best not to let on that he knew so much. "Oh yes, I believe I read something about it online. A pleasure to meet you." He offered his hand and a small smile.

Romanoff shook his hand and he sat down in a chair, apart from the rest. He wondered what this had to do with him and came to a thousand possible conclusions. He supposed he would have to wait for her to give out a little more information.

"Agent Romanoff was just telling us that they'd heard about some of your projects, Artemis," Mrs. Fowl gave him a warning look while still appearing hospitable to the guest, "Seems she and her agency are interested in buying into some of them."

Artemis straightened his tie. "Oh? Which projects would those be? I have so many."

"Could we perhaps talk about this, just you and me?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not. Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of my family," He looked pointedly at his father, "Fowls don't keep secrets from each other, after all."

The agent sat up straighter and seemed to gain a more hostile appearance. "Let me be frank: SHIELD has quite a bit of dirt on the Fowl name, enough to bring you in, should we so desire."

Mr. Fowl cocked an eyebrow. "It is no secret that the Fowls have been involved in some… unsavory business, but that is all in the past. I am a legitimate businessman, my son is a scientist, we no longer partake in such enterprises."

"So you wouldn't mind if I sent some agents to search your property?" She quickly bit back, "Or perhaps look into little Arty's bank account? Or maybe you'd like to talk about a Mr. Jon Spiro?"

The three Fowls and two Butlers all exchanged distasteful looks. Artemis Jr. gave a short chuckle at the name.

"And what do you know of our dealings with Mr. Spiro?" He asked, hoping to know exactly how much this woman knew about him and his encounter with the American businessman.

"I know he and you had a business meeting in London. I know he stole some sort of supercomputer from you and that he nearly killed Mr. Butler. I also know that, with the help of some unidentified associates, you both retrieved the computer and set Spiro up to be caught," She looked him in the eye and scowled, "What I don't know is what happened to the computer or how you managed to break into the Spiro Needle. Care to enlighten me?"

"No, I don't particularly care to, thank you. Perhaps you would care to tell me what this is really about?" He made a steeple with his fingers and leaned forward a little, "A busy agent such as yourself probably doesn't want to waste any more time than she should."

"Alright, here's the deal. SHIELD caught wind of what that computer can do. They have picked Spiro's former employee's brains, but none of them know how it works." Romanoff told the family.

"Of course not. They couldn't begin to know how to use it or recognize its full potential. They never cracked the eternity code that protected it." Artemis snorted.

"If some of the top scientists in the world couldn't figure this little cube out, we want to know how a teenager built it," She gave them a bright smile, "The director of SHIELD would like to invite young Artemis to our base and have him talk with some of our guys."

"I suppose I will be expected to bring the C Cube?"

"The computer? Well yes, that is what the director was hoping…"

"I'm afraid I no longer have access to it." He answered shortly. When the mindwipe had occurred the LEP had taken the C Cube with them and Artemis was yet to discover what they had done with it.

"Really? How's that? Didn't you create it?"

"Indeed, but I… gave it away."

"You gave away a piece of technology that is fifty years ahead of all other tech? And you expect me to believe that?" The redhead laughed.

"My associates, who helped retrieve it, decided that it would be in the best interest of everyone if they were in sole possession of it. I gave them the plans, the cube, and all information regarding it. There is no way that I could bring along the C Cube to your base."

She looked at him dubiously. "Your file says you have a near photographic memory. Couldn't you just remember what was on the plans and remake it?"

"Even if I wanted to I could not. I would require certain equipment that is nearly impossible to obtain," He shook his head when she looked ready to object, "I know that SHIELD is rather good at getting such items, but these are most definitely not available to even the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcment, and Logistics Division."

"Fine, I'll take your word for it, kid. What do you say of the offer to come visit our base?"

Artemis looked to his parents, who seemed slightly overwhelmed. He looked to his faithful bodyguard, who seemed a little on edge. Finally, he glanced at the communicator ring on his finger. What would his fairy friends have to say about this? He knew that he wouldn't be doing anything that directly affected them, but it still felt wrong to even discuss the C Cube with anyone.

"What exactly would this visit entail?"

"A trip through our labs, a chat with the director and a few other higher-ups, and if you're lucky, lunch." She smiled, genuinely this time.

Artemis thought it through briefly. He didn't know exactly what he would be "chatting" about with the director of SHIELD, or what they would ask him, but he felt confident that he could visit SHIELD and still keep the People a secret. He nodded his head. "Alright, as long as my parents agree."

Angeline smiled. "If you'd like to go Artemis, I'm fine with it."

"As long as Butler goes too." Mr. Fowl agreed.

Agent Romanoff shook their hands. "Excellent. How soon can you be ready to go?"

"In just a moment, please excuse me." Artemis stood and exited the room to go and pack his bags. The red haired agent watched him go with a smug expression on her face. Fury would sing her praises after this.


	2. Chapter 2 Tony Stark

Generally, Tony Stark hated going to the SHIELD base in New York. It was a boring place with dull people. However, they had some of the coolest toys to play with (many provided by Stark Industries), and one of his own tools had mysteriously gone missing after he used it to accidentally ruin Pepper's favorite shoes.

The billionaire was in one of the labs and fiddling with an incredibly slow computer. He had planned on using this computer to find out where the tool he needed was, but since it wasn't behaving properly, and he couldn't resist a challenge, he had sat down to fix it. As he was sitting there he heard the voice of Natasha Romanoff, slowly approaching. His eyes widened and he ducked behind a desk.

Tony wasn't normally afraid of the Black Widow, but he suddenly remembered that she had ordered him not to be anywhere near the labs today and then enforced that order with a threat. So, the man cowered behind the desk, peeking over the top nervously.

"This is one of our many labs," Romanoff said in a rather cheery tone, "Later you can come back in here and play with some of the tech, how's that sound?"

"Agent, if I'd wanted to 'play' with some of the world's most advanced tech, I would have stayed at home in my own laboratory. With my own technology I've already outdated half of this… stuff." Another voice, laced with an Irish accent, criticised.

Tony, who had designed most of that "stuff", suddenly felt offended. He looked over the desk as stealthily as possible and saw a teenage boy with dark hair and an expensive looking suit chatting with Black Widow. Behind the boy was a man of astounding proportions. He was so huge he made Thor look normal sized.

"Alright fine," Romanoff snorted, "But the schedule says we have to hang out here for at least ten minutes," She rolled her eyes and then froze, glancing in Tony's direction, "Stark!"

Tony quickly slipped beneath the desk, hoping that she had meant some other Stark. Footsteps grew closer and soon the billionaire was face to face with the Black Widow. She narrowed her eyes at him and grabbed his arm, hauling him out from underneath the desk.

"Why hello," Tony smiled, dusting himself off, "I dropped a pen and it rolled under there, but I'm pretty sure that there is a portal to Asgard under that desk because, my pen is gone. You might want to get a guy to look into that…"

"Shut up, Tony," Romanoff barked, "I'm sorry, Artemis, he was not supposed to be on the tour. I'll just get rid of him." She jerked him toward the door.

"Tony?" The boy asked, "As in Tony Stark?"

"The one and only!" Tony called over his shoulder as he was shoved to the lab door.

"Agent, wait!" The boy commanded, "I've always wanted to meet Mr. Stark, perhaps a chat with him would keep us in the lab for the scheduled ten minutes."

The agent scowled. There was a good reason she had ordered Stark out of the labs for that day. The world was simply not ready for a Fowl-Stark collaboration. Fury would _not_ approve… but it might keep them on schedule.

"Okay, you can chit-chat for ten minutes, but then we have to be on our way." Suddenly, it seemed like the tour would never end.

Tony grinned and offered his hand to the kid. "Hi there, tike, I'm Tony Stark, but you may refer to me as 'Your Excellency' or 'Oh Esteemed One'. What do they call you around the playground?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Artemis Fowl the second, but you may refer to me as 'He of Superior Intellect'."

"That's cute, Arty," Tony laughed. He turned to the colossus in the room and raised his eyebrow, "And what do I call your buddy the gorilla over here?"

"Butler." Butler grunted.

"Tough luck, Gorilla Man," The other man consoled, "So Arty, what brings you to SHIELD?"

"Oh, some dull business about this, that, and the other thing," Artemis shrugged. He caught a glimpse of the glowing circle beneath Tony's T-shirt, "Is that the Arc Reactor?"

"Somebody has done his research! Teacher, give this boy a gold star!" Stark announced, looking expectantly at Black Widow.

"I don't have any gold stars, Tony." She quipped.

"Fine. To answer your question, Young Arty, yes. This is the Arc Reactor."

"What a disappointment."

"Uh, I think the correct words are: 'Wow, Mr. Stark, I am in awe of your incredible tech'."

"First off, I rarely use the slang term 'wow'. Secondly, I am really not all that impressed," Artemis noted. Before Tony could respond the boy took out his phone and started typing something, ignoring the man before him.

"Oh? And what have you done that outshines this fine piece of technology?"

"Hmm?" Artemis looked up from his phone, "Ah, well, I'm afraid such information of confidential. However, I'm sure you'll enjoy this app that I've just downloaded for you that rather demonstrates my point."

"App? But you were playing with your phone, not mine."

"And yet the application is still downloaded to your own phone."

Tony took out his phone and, much to his surprise, found that there was a new app. He hit it and then the whole screen went black. His phone had just died.

"What was that?!"

"Oh that?" Artemis glanced at his own phone, "Just a simple virus."

"But that's impossible, my phone is too highly protected for some kid to hack into it and give it a virus. Impossible."

"I specialize in the impossible, Mr. Stark," Artemis glanced at his watch, "I'm sorry to get us ahead of schedule, Agent Romanoff, but I do believe we're done here."

Tony watched the trio leave with an expression of disdain on his face. That kid had taken out his phone like it had been easy! Clearly, Artemis Fowl the second was at the SHIELD base for more than "this, that, and the other thing". Tony Stark wanted to find out who exactly this kid was and why SHIELD was interested in him. But first he needed to fix his phone.

**A/N: Hiya! I'm so glad that you've read this far! Thank you ****Random Bespectacled Otaku for your review! It made my day. Sorry about the commas. Commas and I... we don't get along. Anyway, glad you're liking it, I hope you enjoyed this chapter too! :)**


	3. Chapter 3 Clint Barton

Clint Barton was in the firing range, doing what he did best. Needless to say, the targets were crowded with bullseyes. He nocked another arrow, aimed, fired, and bullseye. These motions were repeated over and over again as the agent started thinking. He was no longer concentrating on the targets before him, but thinking of horrible things. His mind was crowded with images of the Tesseract, norse myths, and alien invasions. No matter how hard he tried to forget the images always returned. Not only these images, but the faces of people who'd be around before he'd been mind controlled and whose funerals he attended afterward.

His firing grew faster and faster and soon the target had become so riddled with holes and there was nothing left to hit. Clint sighed and went to retrieve the arrows he had shot. As he pulled them out of the wooden cut out he heard a door bang open. His dear friend, Natasha Romanoff entered the firing range with a teenage boy and jumbo-sized man following close behind.

"This is one of our many training areas," Natasha said, forcing a smile, "And this is my, uh, coworker, Agent Barton."

Clint rose from his crouch with a fist full of arrows and nodded. "Who are you guys?"

"Clint, this is Artemis Fowl the second and his bodyguard, Mr. Butler. Artemis is here as a guest because of some of the projects he's made in the past," Natasha gave him a look that made him quickly decide not to ask any other questions about the kid.

"Alright, nice to meet you both," He squatted and began tugging the arrows out of the target again, "I hope you enjoy your tour."

"I see you are quite the marksman," The teenager commented, "Do you always shoot with a compound bow?"

Clint dropped the arrow he was tugging at and looked up at the kid. "No, I have other bows, I just prefer to use this one during my free time."

"Ah yes, a good choice. If the right angle is acquired then…"

"Yes, yes, you're very smart. Let's leave Clint to his practicing." Natasha cut in, not wanting to hear her eighteenth Fowl lecture that day.

"Quite." Artemis grumbled.

"Do you ever shoot, kid?" Clint asked as they turned to leave.

"Me? No, certainly not. However, Butler has been known to fire a few arrows occasionally." Artemis chuckled.

The big man cracked his knuckles and picked up Clint's bow. "May I?"

"Be my guest!" Hawkeye stepped out of the way and gestured to an open target.

The bow looked tiny in Butler's hands, but he still made nocking the arrow look natural and firing a graceful art. The arrow made a solid _thunk_ as it buried itself deep within the target. Clint's eyes widened. That man must have been strong to make the arrow get lodged so deep in the target.

"Nice shot! Almost on the bullseye!" The agent grinned, patting the big man's arm, "You're stance is a little off though, your body shouldn't be parallel with the target, trying turning to your left."

"Thank you for the tip, but we should be getting back to our tour." Butler grunted.

"Again, it was nice meeting both of you." Clint nodded at them.

Natasha smiled at her partner and then led the gentlemen out of the firing range. Clint watched them go wondering why SHIELD had brought in a little kid and what that kid had done to get noticed by SHIELD. He shrugged and went back to work, figuring Fury probably had some great plan to either make the world a safer place or the Avengers a more dangerous team.

**A/N: Sorry, I know it's really short, but I'm really not a huge Hawkeye fan and I want to include one chapter for every Avenger. Thanks so much for all of the reviews. To answer a question I'd been asked, I'm thinking this story takes place someplace between TTP (book 6) and TAC (book 7). Thanks for asking. :) **

**I'm thinking next Artemis is going to meet Bruce Banner or Thor, you guys tell me which you'd rather see next. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4 Bruce Banner

Artemis was quite enjoying his little tour around the SHIELD base. He was greatly amused by the three "Avengers" he had met and wondered if he would meet the other three. Doubtful considering one of them seemed to reside in an entirely separate universe and showed no intention of returning anytime soon and the other two were not very likely to make an appearance on the exact day of the young Fowl's tour.

As Agent Romanoff led the way through yet another "highly advanced" laboratory (Artemis had outdated most of this technology ages ago), the boy heard a crash, a swear, a thump, and another swear. The noises were followed shortly by the appearance of a man of average build with dark curly hair. When the man spotted Romanoff, Artemis, and Butler he coughed awkwardly.

"Sorry, I didn't realise anyone was in here." He said quietly.

"What were you doing, Banner?" Romanoff asked, hands on hips.

"Oh, uh, I just dropped a beaker. Then I tried to get it from under that chair and I bumped my head going back up," He smiled slightly, "I, uh, I got the beaker though."

Artemis' eyes widened as he came to realise who this was. He immediately stepped over to the man and offered his hand to shake.

"I assume you are Dr. Bruce Banner, known for your studies in gamma radiation." The teenager noted, with the closest thing to awe he could muster.

The doctor shook his hand and nodded. "Yes, that's me…" Artemis didn't say anything for a moment, captivated in being in this genius' presence, "And you are…?"

"Oh, I beg your pardon," Artemis said, slightly shocking Butler. Artemis never begged anyone's pardon. "I am Artemis Fowl the second."

"Nice to meet you, kid. I think I've heard your name around a bit. Remind me, what is it that you do?"

Once again, Artemis surprised Butler with his answer. "Oh, just a few trivial projects," Artemis had never referred to his projects as anything less that great, "Might I ask what you are doing at the SHIELD base, Dr. Banner?"

Bruce looked amused. "First of all, I wouldn't call your projects 'trivial'. I heard you were the one responsible for that reusable energy design listed in Invention Magazine last month. Second, I'm at SHIELD running a few tests on a possible super soldier serum that was recovered from a warehouse in New Jersey."

Artemis picked up a beaker filled with glowing blue liquid and wafted the scent of it toward his nose. He swirled the mixture around and stared at it - transfixed. "What is your conclusion?"

"I found it gives the subject Captain America-like qualities for an hour and then wears off. Doesn't matter how large the dose or what kind of subject it's used on. Always one hour on the dot." Bruce answered, touching a holographic screen nearby and playing some footage of a lab rat running and jumping higher than any rat had a right to. After a moment the doctor fast forwarded to the one hour mark and the rat suddenly shrank a little in size and scurried off at normal speeds.

"Fascinating," Artemis muttered, reaching for a stirring utensil, "I wonder if…"

Romanoff cleared her throat before the boy could get the utensil. "Artemis, I'd really prefer if you didn't start taking over Dr. Banner's _highly classified_ experiment."

Bruce blushed slightly and didn't look her in the eye. Artemis put down the beaker and straightened his tie. He cleared his own throat and clapped his hands together awkwardly. "Right. Apologies Agent Romanoff, I just got a bit excited, I suppose."

"So, what are you doing here, Artemis?" Bruce asked taking off his glasses and cleaning them on the hem of his shirt, "You're kind of young for a SHIELD agent, aren't you?"

Artemis laughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. "Actually, I'm not entirely sure yet, Dr. Banner. Currently I'm receiving a tour of this fine base."

"Huh, well let me know when you find out. I'd love to talk with you sometime." Bruce shook the boy's hand again and smiled.

Artemis nodded excitedly. "Marvelous. It would be an honor."

"Come on Arty, we're getting behind schedule." Romanoff sighed. Both she and Artemis left the lab, but Butler stayed behind for a moment.

"Aren't you the man who has… certain anger issues?" The manservant looked the doctor directly in the eye.

Bruce wove his fingers together nervously. "Yeah, if you're putting it nicely."

"I see." Butler made a mental note to keep this man calm at all times and then proceeded to follow his charge out of the room.

* * *

Tony Stark snuck into the lab where he knew Bruce was working and looked around. He spotted his fellow scientist and went over to him. Bruce nodded slightly at his friend and continued to examine a blue liquid.

"So, that Fowl kid came in here too I heard. Did he seem a little off to you?"

"Off how, Stark?" Bruce asked, not really paying attention.

"I don't know… evil, perhaps?"

"No, why?"

"Hmm. Just a thought. Do you have any idea who he is, anyway? I asked JARVIS, but apparently the kid managed to put a virus in him too, which is really pissing me off."

"Artemis? His family is Irish and pretty wealthy. I heard rumor they used to be part of a mob ring, but that's quieted down recently. Artemis is brilliant from what I've heard. Kind of like a younger version of you."

Tony put a hand to his Arc Reactor in mock offense. "That's hurtful, Bruce. I am sixty percent sure I'm not that creepy."

Bruce only chuckled and went back to work. Tony huffed impatiently and walked out of the lab, wondering if he could find anything on Fowl in the SHIELD database. Probably. They had records of _everyone_. He'd just borrow one of their computers for a while and then he should be able to put together a basic background for this kid. Artemis Fowl's secrets wouldn't be secret for long - at least not with Tony Stark around.

**A/N: Wow! So many reviews and follows! Thanks so much you guys! It means a lot to me to know you actually want to read this. I hope I'm keeping everybody in character and that it isn't too boring. I'm so sorry for the slow update, but things have been busy. Anyway, I probably won't update for a while longer after this, but I plan on finishing it eventually. :) Thanks again for your lovely reviews!**


	5. Chapter 5 Nick Fury

**A/N: Hey! Long time no see, right? I'm sorry for keeping y'all waiting for so long, especially after all of your kind reviews! Finally I got a little inspiration (an time) to write this chapter. I know I should have done Cap or Thor next, but this chapter happened and I like it. Before anyone asks, this story will NOT be continuing into AoU. It doesn't really have much of a plot and I don't want to have to find a way to wind it into all of that craziness. Great movie, but I'm not doing it. Okay, so on with the chapter! Enjoy!**

Nick Fury knew many things about many people. He had secrets even the government didn't know about. He was the director of SHIELD and he was one of the best spies the world had ever seen.

The one eyed man knew a lot, but that meant he also knew that he didn't know everything. For example, this Fowl kid was just reeking of secrets - not just that his family had been in crime, or that he had dealings with Jon Spiro, there was something else that he was hiding. Something big. Fury intended to take that kid and rip every secret from him. No one kept information from Nick Fury, especially not snot-nosed kids.

* * *

Artemis watched as Agent Romanoff opened a door to a meeting room of some sort. Inside a man wearing lots of leather and an eyepatch scowled. The teenage genius' mind whirred, coming up with possibilities as to who this person was. His brain finally settled on Nicholas Fury, the director of SHIELD. Artemis had read classified government reports about this man and knew he was in for an interesting conversation.

"You must be Arty." Nick Fury stood up and offered his hand.

Artemis shook the hand and smiled and the super spy. "A pleasure to meet you, Nick."

Fury turned to Butler and raised an eyebrow. "A Butler, haven't seen one of you around since I was a field agent. I read the reports that the Fowls had their own secret stash, but I figured it was just a myth. I guess I was wrong."

Butler offered his gigantic hand and the two men shook hands. "Director Fury, nice to meet you."

Fury smiled a little. "You know, your uncle and I worked a mission together once. I was sorry to hear about what happened on the _Fowl Star_."

Butler nodded grimly and Artemis impatiently took a seat in one of the chairs.

"So, would you care to tell me why I'm here?"

"Kids these days are so impatient," Fury commented.

"When you have as many important things to do as I do then you won't want to waste time. I assume I've been called to SHIELD for some kind of deal, correct? Tell you about the C Cube and then I get some sort of place in your organization? Is that it?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of you tell us about your computer and we don't arrest you and your father for the long list of illegal enterprises you've partaken in in the past years." Fury snapped.

Butler stiffened, but Artemis merely smiled and drummed his fingers against the table. After a moment he nodded. "What would you like to know?"

Fury crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. "Just so you know this conversation is being recorded."

"I'm glad to hear it." Artemis smiled again. If it was being recorded then perhaps they would be confident in their technology and forget to pay close attention. As for the recording… it could either be stolen or destroyed, both options were simple.

"I don't like kids," Fury noted, "They're too cocky. However, I'm willing to put up with a brat like you to obtain this information; try not to get on my bad side, okay Arty?"

"I wouldn't want that," Artemis steepled his fingers and smirked, "Let us, as it is said, 'get this show on the road', shall we?"

"Why did you arrange a business meeting with Jon Spiro?"

"To do business."

"What were you selling him? Popcorn for your boy scout troop?"

"I was selling him time." Artemis replied simply.

"Time to do what?"

"I offered him a year to prepare his investments to be transferred to Fowl Industries."

"There is no Fowl Industries." Fury said as that information was fed into his ear through a small radio.

Artemis sighed heavily. "No, there is not. However, at the time of my dealings with Spiro there were plans…"

"And what would Fowl Industries sell?"

"Supercomputers."

"Like the C Cube?"

"Not exactly like the C Cube, no, distilled versions. It wouldn't do anyone any good to have that much power. Selling a key to all of the secrets you can think of is something only a lunatic or a rebel leader would do. As I am neither of those things I figured I would keep the best design for myself."

Fury laughed. "And you think anyone is going to want a little kid to have access to all of that information? What made you think you'd be allowed to keep it?"

"Who would take it from me?" Artemis countered.

"SHIELD, for starters, and several other groups that may or may not be in existence any more… Hydra for example," He cocked an eyebrow, "Were you really prepared to deal with that?"

"I'm sure I was back then. Now, I would have to recalculate and refigure before I'd be ready to defend against such organizations."

"But you think you could be ready?"

Artemis chuckled. "It depends on how desperately you would want what I had. This is all hypothetical, considering I no longer have the C Cube."

"You could build another one."

"I already told Agent Romanoff that I lack proper…"

"But you _could_ build another one if you had the right material."

"Certainly."

Butler grew nervous. He thought Artemis had learned his lesson from the last "adventure" they'd had involving the C Cube. They shouldn't be talking about something so closely linked to the People, it would only lead to trouble.

"Artemis," Butler said warningly.

"Of course I _won't_ build another one. I _could_ but I will not," Artemis continued, "Are we done here?"

"Oh not nearly," Fury laughed, "You are going to tell me everything about that computer and then you are going to draw me some blueprints for it. You aren't leaving this building until you do, understood?"

Artemis' eyes narrowed. He already knew that SHIELD wanted a C Cube, but he hadn't realised that they were willing to detain him to get one. They could always find him again so there was no use in escaping. He would have to give them fake blueprints. False enough that they wouldn't recreate the effects of the C Cube, but real enough that they would still do something should they try to build it. False enough to keep the LEP hidden, but real enough to fool Tony Stark, who would no doubt be examining it.

"You realise if SHIELD were ever compromised by another organization then that group would have access to every secret in history, correct? Are you sure you want a device that would make that possible in existence?"

"I'm not sure, but I want to be the one who gets to decide if there is such a device, not some brat from the land of leprechauns." Fury stood up.

"You are digging your own grave, Director, but who am I to stop you?" Artemis sighed, standing as well, "I shall begin immediately."

"Good. Oh, and to make sure you don't try to pull one over on us I'm going to have you monitored by our own tech guy," Fury sighed, "Bring in Stark."

Tony Stark was dragged through the door by two agents he smiled sheepishly. "Whatever they told that I did, I didn't do."

"I have no doubt that I will want to kill you later, but right now I need you to babysit." fury gestured to Artemis.

"Mr. Stark, we meet again."

"Hey there Arty," Tony grunted. He turned to Fury, "I object to babysitting the vampire kid. Can't you have Banner do it? Arty and him are obviously best buddies."

"Banner is busy. Now shut your rich mouth and help the kid make his blueprints."

"Supervise," Artemis corrected, "He will not be helping with the blueprints in the least."

Fury rubbed his forehead. "Someone remind me why we thought it would be a good idea to put these two in the same room?" The director pointed angrily at the door and with a groan Tony Stark led Artemis off to a lab to write up the blueprints for the C Cube.


	6. Chapter 6 Myths

Foaly the centaur was having a decent enough day. His work hadn't been too demanding, Commander Kelp was gone for the week, he had a bag full of carrots, and Holly Short was visiting during her break. He hadn't seen the elf in sometime and was sure that she would have some interesting field stories to tell him. Holly did not disappoint.

"And so this dwarf thought that if he was quick enough he could get away, but didn't realize he was above a metal floor. So he dives down to start digging - not even looking where he's going - and breaks four teeth off. He didn't put up much of a fight after that."

Foaly snorted as he flicked through Mud Man government files. "What would our dear friend Mulch say?"

"Eh, who knows? Mulch can go either way when it comes to his 'brethren'. He'd either be appalled at this dwarf's stupidity or pat him on the back for trying to run in the first place." Holly chuckled and snatched a carrot from the technical consultant.

Foaly was about to respond with a funny story of his own (his nephew, Mayne, had mixed up some wires on a computer and caused quite a ruckus) when his eye caught sight of a file from the SHIELD database.

The People had always had the most trouble hiding from SHIELD, of all the Mud Man organizations. The agents were quick to figure things out and didn't put down supernatural possibilities as quickly as FBI, CIA, M16, SSR or any of the others. They'd been the ones to extinguish that whole New York situation - though LEP had been ready to jump into action if things got out of control. SHIELD knew more than they should and if any group of humans was going to find out about the fairy race it would be them and the fairies wouldn't know they'd been discovered until it was too late.

Whenever a SHIELD file was flagged it was Foaly's job to look into it personally and discern whether or not the situation was urgent. So far the biggest thing SHIELD had found was that Stonehenge was not man-made, but they assumed some of those cocky Asgardians had built the thing.

"Foaly, what is it?" Holly asked, seeing the color drain from the centaur's face.

He turned to her in his custom chair and sighed. "Looks like someone is looking into the C Cube."

"What? Who? Why?"

"SHIELD is trying to get Artemis to recreate it for them. They know that there was more to the Spiro thing than he's letting on and they know someone else was involved."

"So are they trying to find us out?" Holly snapped, "Details Foaly, stop being cryptic."

"From what I can gather the only thing they've asked Artemis to do is draw up the blueprints, but I'm sure they'll have questions about us soon - though of course they won't know it's us, I'm too clever to let that happen, they'll think it's a group of Mud Men that helped him."

"Artemis would never tell them about us. He should be fine."

"I don't know Holly, SHIELD may offer him a deal…" Foaly trailed off meaningfully.

"Well I _do_ know; Artemis has helped us too many times for him to tell them because of a deal. He's smarter than that."

"I do not doubt him," Foaly snorted, "But there is such a thing as blackmail."

"You think they'd use his criminal past to make him talk?"

"SHIELD is good, they found evidence that links him to Spiro, they've got things about his father, and they even found something about that time when he stole that painting… even can't find anything on _that_ and I wouldn't know a thing about it if Artemis hadn't told me."

"So we need to help him get out of there?"

"That wouldn't do much good, they know where he lives."

"What _should_ we do?"

"Keep him from talking. If he spills the metaphorical beans then there is no telling what those Mud Men would do. Not a one of them is trustworthy."

o*o*o*o

"Do you always dress like you're going to a funeral? Is the heterochromia genetic or did one of your headlights pop and you had to get a surgical transplant? Don't you ever go out into the sunlight? You look like a corpse." Stark babbled and Artemis barely refrained from jabbing his stylus into the billionaire's eyes, or "headlights" as they were apparently referred to here.

"Are you always so vexatious or are you behaving especially so just for me?" The teenager muttered, sketching out false blueprints on a tablet.

"Nah, I'm usually more annoying than this," Stark poked the boy in the arm, "May I just say that you are the scrawniest little guy I've ever met?"

"You may say it, for I fear that even Butler could not stopper the faucet you call a mouth, but that does not necessarily make it true."

"Getting defensive now, aren't we?"

"You know, if you were to be quiet the blueprints might be done faster."

Stark sat on the table and swung his legs beneath him like a child. "But then you'd be done faster, Arty, and then you'd leave, and the only person I'd have left to bother would be Banner."

"And we couldn't have that now could we?" Artemis closed his eyes and meditated for a moment, ignoring whatever babble spewed from Tony Stark's mouth. When he opened his eyes he got back to work on creating the faux blueprint.

An hour or so later he heard the lab door bang open and a large blond man with a long red cape burst in. He was holding a hammer, Norse in appearance, and a smile spread from one ear to the other. Butler was instantly on edge at the sight of the hammer wielding man and Artemis rolled his eyes.

"And you would be Thor, I presume?" The teenager sighed.

"Man of Iron! I have heard that there is the possibility of uncovering a group of fair-" Thor bellowed, but Stark quickly clamped a hand over the god's mouth and smiled apologetically.

"Hey there, Point Break! You're right, we have uncovered a group of fair, uh, fairly priced poptarts! That's exciting news, isn't it? Why don't you go out into the hallway and not talk about _anything, _okay? There's a good Asgardian!" Iron Man shoved his fellow Avenger out the door and Artemis raised a brow. He and Butler exchanged glances and then nodded. The bodyguard quickly excused himself and ducked into the hallway with Thor.

Stark shifted nervously. "So, uh, how's that blueprint coming along?"

"Nearly finished," Artemis laid the stylus down and met the other genius' eyes, "I've heard a great deal about the Asgardians. They say that they are the basis for our own Norse myths. It's interesting how many myths seem to be springing to life nowadays, don't you think?"

"Well, I guess…" Stark regarded the young man cautiously, "But mainly just the norse gods and aliens, right?" He smirked, "So far we haven't seen any evidence of Bigfoot or the Lochness Monster."

"Yes, but just because there is not currently evidence doesn't mean something is not there - perhaps it is just beyond our capabilities to find the evidence needed to prove the existence of such myths. After all, if Thor had not made first contact we may never have known about the Asgardians." Artemis worded his response carefully and got back to work on the blueprints. Truth be told, he knew that there was indeed a Bigfoot - a troll that lived in North America, who happened to have larger feet than most - as well as a Lochness Monster (though Foaly had yet to inform him what kind of fairy it was).

"True, true," Stark seemed to produce a bag of pretzels from nowhere and began munching, "But I'm fairly certain that if there were more legends walking around SHIELD would know about them. They can figure out quite a bit about supernaturals on their own and now that they have some of Thor's knowledge too, they probably know about every creature on and _in_ this planet."

"In? That's an interesting choice of words." Artemis accused calmly, inwardly forming a few thousand plots to keep the People safe.

The superhero shrugged. "I didn't say I knew everything, but I don't see why SHIELD wouldn't have some dirt on what's in the dirt," He winked, "You know, besides moles and stuff."

"Your theory makes sense," Artemis admitted, "But we have done scans of our planet. The Earth's base is rock and magma."

"Sounds toasty," Stark held out the pretzels and Artemis took one, "Who is to say that we don't have another whole race living down there and they've found a way to regulate temperatures? No one said they had less advanced tech than we do."

Artemis was quick to answer. "But then our scans would have picked up life forms, would they have not? While not having evidence to prove existence is one thing, having proof of nonexistence is completely another."

"You know…" Stark started, but was cut off when Artemis rose and shoved the tablet into his hands, fake C Cube design complete.

"Feel free to test all components to your heart's -sorry, _Arc Reactor's_ desire. You will find nothing is amiss. If you don't mind, I think I will finish my business with Director Fury and then return home. America is far too mundane for my taste."

The teenage exited the lab and rushed to find Butler. SHIELD knew far too much for their own good and it was crucial they not use him to find out anything else. The problem was, they had "dirt", so to speak, on his family and he feared they would use it. The People's secrets may not be secret for much longer and it could be his fault.

**A/N: I know it has been ****_forever_**** since I last updated, and I'm really sorry about that. School just got started and things have been nutso with Physics and Algebra and all that nasty math stuff. Bleh. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again, but hopefully it will be soon. Thanks for reading! And thank you so much to everyone who has left a review!**


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Artemis Fowl, Avengers, Adventure