Aug 03, 2022 – Flowers of Life: Daffodil (FR-13)
Author: mmooch
**Part of 2022 FaD challenge** Chapter Summary: Buffy’s team senses something wrong with the situation.
Crossover: She-Hulk; Avengers
Rating: FR-13
Word count: 834
Challenge: for the livejournal 2022 August Fic-a-Day Challenge
Timeline: first Avengers movie timeline for MCU and post-series for BtVS.
A/N: There will be a lot of mental conversations in this chapter (and possible future ones) while the Council’s team remains hidden from the Avengers and SHIELD. Daffodil means uncertainty, always accurate when dealing with Loki.
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. MCU characters belong to Marvel, Disney et al. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
SHIELD aircraft carrier, middle of the ocean
When the jet carrying Bruce and Jennifer – and unbeknownst to SHIELD, Buffy’s team – landed on the carrier, the crew tried to tell them to wait on the flight deck. However, Bruce cut them off, “I’d rather get started on tracking the radiation right away. The sooner I help your bosses find the tesseract, the sooner I can get back to my life.”
The crew still hesitated until Jennifer added, “Now, unless you want me to consider this delay as an attempt to keep Bruce in your custody longer…making it unlawful detainment.” That got them talking on their headsets for a guide to take the pair to the lab.
Buffy smiled and thought to Jennifer, “You’re so badass! I would have loved to have you around in high school to deal with Snyder for us.”
Once Bruce was set up in the lab, working on the program to find the tesseract’s radiation, Buffy and Wes started walking around the carrier, making mental notes of the things that might be of interest to the Council, but so far, it wasn’t much.
That changed when they felt the ship shuddering and quickly moved to a room with a view. It was very shocking that the giant vessel was capable of flight as well.
“If we didn’t have the Coven to transport us in case of emergency, I’d want one of these,” Wes opined.
“Not sure I would. I shudder to think how the geek squad would react to something like this,” Buffy retorted. “Just like I’d hate to see their reaction when they find out Captain America’s here and walking around.”
Wes looked in the direction of Buffy’s gaze and saw a man who looked vaguely familiar, but since he was British, Captain America wasn’t a big of a deal to him. “How can you be sure that’s him?”
“Because he was the template that Walsh was trying to turn Riley and the other guys from the Initiative into. They practically had shrines built to him there,” she informed her ex-Watcher.
“You don’t think he’s worthy of their adoration?” Wes asked, sensing she wasn’t as big of a fan of the WWII hero.
Buffy shrugged and answered, “I just think they need to remember he’s more than just the legend. If the Council made me turned me into a comic book hero and generations of Slayers grew up hearing about me, do you think they’d have an accurate picture of me, or would I become larger than life…a standard that nobody could possibly live up to? Worse yet, what if I start to believe in the hype? What if he does? It could be the first step to becoming the monster you’re supposed to defend against.”
Several hours later…
When Loki was captured and brought back to the carrier, Wes suddenly became very nervous and ‘called’ in to Willow at the Coven and Giles at the Council, “We have a big problem here. SHIELD thinks they have Loki contained in a cage meant to hold the Hulk, but there’s magic all over the place. I’m worried it might only be an illusion.”
“Why would he allow himself to be arrested? What could he want from the carrier?” Willow wondered over the link.
Bruce looked up from his work and thought, “Me. Or maybe to have all of the world’s heroes in one place to make it easier to take them out. This carrier can become invisible to radar, so the only way to know for sure where it is…”
“Is to be on it,” Willow finished the idea. “Get ready for an emergency transport in case he tries to do something to force the Hulk into attacking anyone.”
“Ms. Walters, why don’t you ask to meet the team who brought him in so we can have eyes on them as well?” Giles requested.
“I’ll go with her,” Buffy offered, knowing it was more important to have Wes closer to Bruce at the moment.
When Jennifer mentioned that Loki seemed insane, Thor warned her that they were brothers, and she would do well to watch how she spoke of him. Natasha mentioned that he killed eighty people in two days.
“He’s adopted,” Thor answered with a hint of embarrassment.
“Do you think he’s embarrassed that he killed so many people or so few?” Buffy asked Jennifer.
“So few?”
“He’s clearly a warrior type and a supposed god; maybe he thinks Loki should have killed more people in that amount of time,” Buffy hypothesized. “I’ve known vamps and demons who get pissy if you underestimate their body count. Hell, Riley thought the dozen or so kills/captures he had under his belt was a big deal. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I killed that many vampires before I even moved to Sunnydale.”
“Good point,” Jennifer allowed.
Then Tony Stark arrived.
A/N: Today was hell at work and almost managed to kill Musie’s voice.