![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithIt's after sunset where I am, so Merry Christmas Eve, people. :D
This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk,""kintsukuroi," "Little and Broken, but Still Good," "Byzantine Perplexities," "Up the Water Spout," "The Life of the Dead," "If They Could Just Stay Little," "Anahata," "When the Wheels Come Off," "Against His Own Shield," "Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Building Towers," "Coming in from the Cold: Sunday: Shaking Foundations," "Coming in from the Cold: Monday: Memorial Day," "Coming in from the Cold: Tuesday: Facing Fears," "Coming in from the Cold: Wednesday: Coping Techniques," "Coming in from the Cold: Thursday: Digging for Answers," "What Little Boys Are Made Of," "Rotten Fruit," "Trying to Find Prui," "Life in Quicktime," "Keep the Homefires Burning," "Their Old Familiar Carols Play," "Fluffy," "A Leg Up," and "Wabbit Season."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Betty Ross, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Drug Dealing, Canon-Typical Violence, Dexterity Impairment, Missions, Missions Gone Wrong, Bugs & Insects, Major Character Injury, Injury Recovery, Itching, Hurt/Comfort, Sleepiness.
Summary: A mission to shut down drugrunners in Brazil goes wrong. The Avengers fare pretty well against the drugrunners, but less well against the swarms of insects guarding the compound.
Notes: Food, Bathing/Washing, No Sex, Intimacy, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Herbalism, Massage, Friendship, Team as Family, Avengers Family, #coulsonlives.
A note on feedback: While it's not necessary to comment on every post I make, remember that I don't know who reads/likes things if nobody says anything. Particularly on long stories, I've discovered that I get antsy if there's nothing but crickets chirping for several posts. So it helps to give me feedback at least once, even if it's just "I like this" or "This one doesn't grab me." First and last episodes are ideal if you rarely feel inspired to comment in the middle.
I also have a list of favorite photogenic scenes from the whole series for fanartists to consider, partly compiled from audience requests.
"Coming in from the Cold: Friday: Bug Hunt" Part 1 of 4
Friday morning brought a deluge of urgent SHIELD messages and phone calls about the drug scene in Brazil. Someone had been brewing things a lot more dangerous than the usual, possibly incorporating alien or otherwise exceptional inspiration. Coulson stood at his desk, answering them as fast as he could and wishing he could get away to breakfast. "Don't make me come down there," he grumbled to the hapless field agent. "You would not enjoy it." Then he hung up.
The service door chimed. "Your breakfast has arrived," JARVIS announced.
"I didn't order breakfast," Coulson said.
"I know," said JARVIS. "I did. It became apparent that you would not get away in reasonable time for the morning meal. Merely pick up your tray from the cart and you may continue working."
Coulson went to the service door and retrieved his breakfast. The tray held a cup of coffee and another of orange juice, along with a carton of food. The latter opened to reveal three egg-and-cheese roll-ups, two sausage ones, and a sweet roll-up stuffed with strawberries and cream cheese. Coulson managed to eat with one hand while fielding messages with the other, and didn't bite anyone's head off.
The next chime at the door alerted Coulson that his package had arrived. It looked like a giant board, because it was. He tucked it under his arm and headed for the floor that Steve and Bucky shared.
"Hey, Phil," said Steve. "We missed you at breakfast. JARVIS said you were busy."
"Yes, I had to take care of SHIELD business," said Phil. "Look sharp; we may need to assemble today. Meanwhile, where's Bucky?"
"Here," said Bucky as he came into the room, still wrestling with the buttons on his shirt. Steve went over to him and reached his left arm around Bucky's chest to help fasten the buttons. It was hard for Bucky to manage them with his prosthetic hand.
"I brought you a present," Phil said, holding out the package.
"Great," Bucky said as he took it. Peeling off the paper only took a few moments, and then he admired the sleek wood with its smooth brown stain. "A giant ruler?"
"Aww, yeah," Steve said with a grin. "Remember, Bucky, we used to have something like this at the orphanage, to measure the kids?"
Bucky's face lit up. "So I don't have to use the lab, I can just stand against this," he said. "Thank you!" He looked around, searching for a place to put it.
"Hang it on the end of the open shelves between the kitchen and living room," Steve suggested. "Then it's out of the way, but easy to access. It's such a pretty piece, it'd be a shame to hide it in a bedroom."
"That's a good idea," Bucky said. "Let me just grab some tools and we can hang this right now."
They were in the process of fitting the giant ruler to the end of the bookcase when the alarm went off and JARVIS said, "Avengers assemble!"
"Nuts," Bucky said as Steve let down the board and propped it against the shelves. "You guys go, I'll put this stuff away for now."
Captain America grabbed his shield and ran.
Agent Coulson followed at a slower jog, checking the details on his Starkphone. Apparently the planned drug bust was going severely wrong, as the contraband gave the drugrunners enhanced abilities and also they had -- somehow -- deployed swarms of biting insects to defend the perimeter.
"I'll have to sit this one out," Bruce said to Tony as they gathered. "Hulk doesn't mix well with swarms of annoying insects."
"Yeah, I get that," Tony said. "We'll miss you, though. Gonna give Agent a hand with our six?"
"Dr. Banner and Dr. Ross are welcome to provide backup," said Coulson. "We can always use more science consultants and handlers. How's your grasp of biochemistry and entomology?"
"Good enough to get by in Brazil," Dr. Banner muttered.
The mission was, to put it bluntly, a mess. As Agent Coulson reviewed the intelligence reports, he realized that the Avengers should have been called a lot sooner. Now the drugrunners were alert, armed, and enhanced with chemicals that would have made even AIM jealous. Not to mention swarms of biting, stinging insects that had already put one field agent in the infirmary with anaphylactic shock and made the others miserable with welts.
Even with the quinjet it took longer than he liked for them to get there. Dr. Banner and Dr. Ross spent the time analyzing all the information that JARVIS could get for them, which was rather more than SHIELD had provided. Agent Coulson chose not to remark on this, and simply took advantage of it.
The first hit on the compound went better than he expected. Iron Man blasted through the roof of the building most likely to be the main lab, intent on taking control of it. Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye took on the footsoldiers. They did fine until the skirmish got into the surrounding jungle. From there it really went to hell.
Black Widow had the least trouble, easily adapting to the new form of cover. Captain America did all right, as he could work both at short and at long range, although he couldn't throw his shield as he preferred. Hawkeye was severely hindered by the dense foliage -- he couldn't get a decent line of sight on anything. The drugrunners, meanwhile, knew every inch of the jungle around their compound and used that knowledge to great effect. They kept trying to separate the team and staged multiple ambushes.
JARVIS and Agent Coulson coordinated as best they could. They managed to prevent any seriously life-threatening situations. However, the drugrunners eventually succeeded in splitting up the team. One of them even got Captain America down and tried to hack off his leg with a machete before Hawkeye looped around and skewered him. By then the damage was done.
* * *
Notes:
Enjoy recipes for Easy Breakfast Roll-Ups, Breakfast Egg Rolls, and Strawberry Cheese Roll-Ups.
This is Bucky's height ruler. See it in different situations.
[To be continued in Part 2 ...]
This story belongs to the series Love Is For Children which includes "Love Is for Children," "Hairpins," "Blended," "Am I Not," "Eggshells," "Dolls and Guys,""Saudades," "Querencia," "Turnabout Is Fair Play," "Touching Moments," "Splash," "Coming Around," "Birthday Girl," "No Winter Lasts Forever," "Hide and Seek," "Kernel Error," "Happy Hour," "Green Eggs and Hulk,""kintsukuroi," "Little and Broken, but Still Good," "Byzantine Perplexities," "Up the Water Spout," "The Life of the Dead," "If They Could Just Stay Little," "Anahata," "When the Wheels Come Off," "Against His Own Shield," "Coming in from the Cold: Saturday: Building Towers," "Coming in from the Cold: Sunday: Shaking Foundations," "Coming in from the Cold: Monday: Memorial Day," "Coming in from the Cold: Tuesday: Facing Fears," "Coming in from the Cold: Wednesday: Coping Techniques," "Coming in from the Cold: Thursday: Digging for Answers," "What Little Boys Are Made Of," "Rotten Fruit," "Trying to Find Prui," "Life in Quicktime," "Keep the Homefires Burning," "Their Old Familiar Carols Play," "Fluffy," "A Leg Up," and "Wabbit Season."
Fandom: The Avengers
Characters: Phil Coulson, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Betty Ross, JARVIS.
Medium: Fiction
Warnings: Drug Dealing, Canon-Typical Violence, Dexterity Impairment, Missions, Missions Gone Wrong, Bugs & Insects, Major Character Injury, Injury Recovery, Itching, Hurt/Comfort, Sleepiness.
Summary: A mission to shut down drugrunners in Brazil goes wrong. The Avengers fare pretty well against the drugrunners, but less well against the swarms of insects guarding the compound.
Notes: Food, Bathing/Washing, No Sex, Intimacy, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Herbalism, Massage, Friendship, Team as Family, Avengers Family, #coulsonlives.
A note on feedback: While it's not necessary to comment on every post I make, remember that I don't know who reads/likes things if nobody says anything. Particularly on long stories, I've discovered that I get antsy if there's nothing but crickets chirping for several posts. So it helps to give me feedback at least once, even if it's just "I like this" or "This one doesn't grab me." First and last episodes are ideal if you rarely feel inspired to comment in the middle.
I also have a list of favorite photogenic scenes from the whole series for fanartists to consider, partly compiled from audience requests.
"Coming in from the Cold: Friday: Bug Hunt" Part 1 of 4
Friday morning brought a deluge of urgent SHIELD messages and phone calls about the drug scene in Brazil. Someone had been brewing things a lot more dangerous than the usual, possibly incorporating alien or otherwise exceptional inspiration. Coulson stood at his desk, answering them as fast as he could and wishing he could get away to breakfast. "Don't make me come down there," he grumbled to the hapless field agent. "You would not enjoy it." Then he hung up.
The service door chimed. "Your breakfast has arrived," JARVIS announced.
"I didn't order breakfast," Coulson said.
"I know," said JARVIS. "I did. It became apparent that you would not get away in reasonable time for the morning meal. Merely pick up your tray from the cart and you may continue working."
Coulson went to the service door and retrieved his breakfast. The tray held a cup of coffee and another of orange juice, along with a carton of food. The latter opened to reveal three egg-and-cheese roll-ups, two sausage ones, and a sweet roll-up stuffed with strawberries and cream cheese. Coulson managed to eat with one hand while fielding messages with the other, and didn't bite anyone's head off.
The next chime at the door alerted Coulson that his package had arrived. It looked like a giant board, because it was. He tucked it under his arm and headed for the floor that Steve and Bucky shared.
"Hey, Phil," said Steve. "We missed you at breakfast. JARVIS said you were busy."
"Yes, I had to take care of SHIELD business," said Phil. "Look sharp; we may need to assemble today. Meanwhile, where's Bucky?"
"Here," said Bucky as he came into the room, still wrestling with the buttons on his shirt. Steve went over to him and reached his left arm around Bucky's chest to help fasten the buttons. It was hard for Bucky to manage them with his prosthetic hand.
"I brought you a present," Phil said, holding out the package.
"Great," Bucky said as he took it. Peeling off the paper only took a few moments, and then he admired the sleek wood with its smooth brown stain. "A giant ruler?"
"Aww, yeah," Steve said with a grin. "Remember, Bucky, we used to have something like this at the orphanage, to measure the kids?"
Bucky's face lit up. "So I don't have to use the lab, I can just stand against this," he said. "Thank you!" He looked around, searching for a place to put it.
"Hang it on the end of the open shelves between the kitchen and living room," Steve suggested. "Then it's out of the way, but easy to access. It's such a pretty piece, it'd be a shame to hide it in a bedroom."
"That's a good idea," Bucky said. "Let me just grab some tools and we can hang this right now."
They were in the process of fitting the giant ruler to the end of the bookcase when the alarm went off and JARVIS said, "Avengers assemble!"
"Nuts," Bucky said as Steve let down the board and propped it against the shelves. "You guys go, I'll put this stuff away for now."
Captain America grabbed his shield and ran.
Agent Coulson followed at a slower jog, checking the details on his Starkphone. Apparently the planned drug bust was going severely wrong, as the contraband gave the drugrunners enhanced abilities and also they had -- somehow -- deployed swarms of biting insects to defend the perimeter.
"I'll have to sit this one out," Bruce said to Tony as they gathered. "Hulk doesn't mix well with swarms of annoying insects."
"Yeah, I get that," Tony said. "We'll miss you, though. Gonna give Agent a hand with our six?"
"Dr. Banner and Dr. Ross are welcome to provide backup," said Coulson. "We can always use more science consultants and handlers. How's your grasp of biochemistry and entomology?"
"Good enough to get by in Brazil," Dr. Banner muttered.
The mission was, to put it bluntly, a mess. As Agent Coulson reviewed the intelligence reports, he realized that the Avengers should have been called a lot sooner. Now the drugrunners were alert, armed, and enhanced with chemicals that would have made even AIM jealous. Not to mention swarms of biting, stinging insects that had already put one field agent in the infirmary with anaphylactic shock and made the others miserable with welts.
Even with the quinjet it took longer than he liked for them to get there. Dr. Banner and Dr. Ross spent the time analyzing all the information that JARVIS could get for them, which was rather more than SHIELD had provided. Agent Coulson chose not to remark on this, and simply took advantage of it.
The first hit on the compound went better than he expected. Iron Man blasted through the roof of the building most likely to be the main lab, intent on taking control of it. Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye took on the footsoldiers. They did fine until the skirmish got into the surrounding jungle. From there it really went to hell.
Black Widow had the least trouble, easily adapting to the new form of cover. Captain America did all right, as he could work both at short and at long range, although he couldn't throw his shield as he preferred. Hawkeye was severely hindered by the dense foliage -- he couldn't get a decent line of sight on anything. The drugrunners, meanwhile, knew every inch of the jungle around their compound and used that knowledge to great effect. They kept trying to separate the team and staged multiple ambushes.
JARVIS and Agent Coulson coordinated as best they could. They managed to prevent any seriously life-threatening situations. However, the drugrunners eventually succeeded in splitting up the team. One of them even got Captain America down and tried to hack off his leg with a machete before Hawkeye looped around and skewered him. By then the damage was done.
* * *
Notes:
Enjoy recipes for Easy Breakfast Roll-Ups, Breakfast Egg Rolls, and Strawberry Cheese Roll-Ups.
This is Bucky's height ruler. See it in different situations.
[To be continued in Part 2 ...]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 12:05 am (UTC)I like this as headcanon instead of MCU smashing up each other. :-p
Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-25 12:09 am (UTC)I couldn't resist. :D
>> I like this as headcanon instead of MCU smashing up each other. :-p <<
Yeah, the uglier MCU gets, the more fans I get saying that. I was particularly appalled to see Bruce literally beating Hulk on camera in Infinity War. >_< Do Not Watch.
Re: Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-25 12:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 12:14 am (UTC)and why couldn't Hulk deal with the bugs the way he does with helicopters.. one Hulk sized hand-clap and the shock-wave knocks them out of the sky? [that, and how the dickens does any bug on this planet penetrate the not-so-jolly green giant's hide?!]
Mind you..I'm more wincing at the level of genetic contamination of one of Natures more important ecosystems this represents. Because you can bet those bugs were NOT normal ones. Would falling back and napalming the whole area to burn it out before it spreads be considered overkill?
I kinda hope Bruce points this out... or at least have them do something to limit the damage. [the drug runners count as biological contaminants, and should be treated the same.]
Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 01:36 am (UTC)Steve will be fine, eventually.
>> and why couldn't Hulk deal with the bugs the way he does with helicopters.. one Hulk sized hand-clap and the shock-wave knocks them out of the sky? <<
I don't think it occurred to him. The instinct is to swat them.
>> [that, and how the dickens does any bug on this planet penetrate the not-so-jolly green giant's hide?!] <<
They couldn't, but how relaxed would you be with bees crawling all over your face? And Hulk isn't a calm guy.
>> Mind you..I'm more wincing at the level of genetic contamination of one of Natures more important ecosystems this represents. Because you can bet those bugs were NOT normal ones. Would falling back and napalming the whole area to burn it out before it spreads be considered overkill?<<
Napalm would probably be overkill. Mass quantities of insecticide would be advisable though.
>> I kinda hope Bruce points this out... or at least have them do something to limit the damage.<<
I'm sure someone will figure it out.
>> [the drug runners count as biological contaminants, and should be treated the same.] <<
Heh, yeah.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 01:46 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 01:49 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 01:53 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 01:47 am (UTC)Oh Dark Gods No! and thousand times no! Insecticides in mass quantities would be way way WAYYYY worse than even the biological contaminants. Most are horribly unspecific to species, and anything that would kill enhanced genetically engineered bugs would kill everything... and regardless of what anyone says, even the best just do not break down in the eco-system fast enough.. so not only would you have super-bugs intermingling with the natural ecosystem and out competing or just plain killing the natural bugs [because what the heck do you thing the bugs use those stingers for normally?!] But then you dump a shit ton of toxins onto the rain-forest, which runs the risk of killing everything BUT the super-bugs...
Nope, killing it with fire is way more area specific. You burn out a square mile, maybe four at most.. and the bugs are dead. The forest will grow back with a little help. Hulk can help toting in a whole load of first-stage colonizer saplings to get it re-started, and play Johnny Appleseed.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 01:50 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 01:59 am (UTC)Unless Tony can whip up some micro-bot hunter-killers specifically targeting the nasty super-bugs in short order, it'll have to be quick and dirty before they spread.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 02:12 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 02:17 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 02:24 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 02:29 am (UTC)OTOH, this isn't T-america... so I wouldn't lay odds on the bad-guys being competent. OTOH, if this was T-America, even the bad guys wouldn't release gene-engineered super-bugs into the rain forest.
"Geeze, whatta are you, crazy? Let those nasty critters loose here?! I mean, we're bad guys, yeah.. but we're not irresponsible!"
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 02:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 12:58 am (UTC)A LIFC fic!!! Holiday gift better than snow on New Year's!
This is so so so awesome, thank you!
Um...why does Bucky need a ruler? Was it mentioned before?
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 01:12 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2018-12-25 01:38 am (UTC)The idea was mentioned earlier, but most recently in "Thursday: Digging for Answers."
Thoughts
Date: 2018-12-25 01:39 am (UTC)A LIFC fic!!! Holiday gift better than snow on New Year's!
This is so so so awesome, thank you!<<
Aw, shucks. :D
>> Um...why does Bucky need a ruler? Was it mentioned before? <<
The idea was mentioned earlier, but most recently in "Thursday: Digging for Answers."
(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 01:28 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-25 01:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 01:51 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-25 02:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 02:44 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-25 04:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 03:18 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2018-12-25 04:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 04:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 06:18 am (UTC)Eeeeeeeeeeee!
Date: 2018-12-25 07:42 am (UTC)Yikes! A machete to the leg? Poor Steve. Hopefully the team can clean this mess up quick and get home. If Bucky doesn't get to hurt the machete guy, I'm sure Hulk would smash him. He'd deserve it too.
Re: Eeeeeeeeeeee!
Date: 2018-12-25 09:33 am (UTC)It's easier to get new poems that way than to continue the stories, which are a lot bigger.
>> Yikes! A machete to the leg? Poor Steve. <<
You haven't seen the worst of it yet, either.
>>Hopefully the team can clean this mess up quick and get home.<<
Reasonably quick.
>> If Bucky doesn't get to hurt the machete guy, I'm sure Hulk would smash him. He'd deserve it too.<<
The fate of Machete Man is mentioned later.
Yay!
Date: 2018-12-25 02:56 pm (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2018-12-25 08:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2018-12-25 10:31 pm (UTC)Please, anything but insecticide. The selective resistance problem has been mentioned, + it'd hang around in the environment and might spread. I wonder whether blanketing the area with something that cuts off the oxygen would work - I expect those things need to breathe, the plants and some microbes would recover I think, and the superbugs have probably killed everything else anyway.
Coming in From the Cold: Thursday
Date: 2019-01-12 07:11 am (UTC)--Jessica
Re: Coming in From the Cold: Thursday
Date: 2019-02-06 03:37 am (UTC)