Ok, But why an Eyeball? (Fma:b Avengers Crossover)

Chapter 4: it's not a concussion, I swear

The avengers had long since exited the med lab, following Edward during his rant. After about 5 minutes of the increasingly aggressive rant, Tony had gathered the avengers (in a quiet corner where the golden menace wouldn't hear) to come up with a plan for calming him down and getting him to talk.

Much like one would approach a feral animal, pizza had been offered at arms length by Thor, and thankfully, if had worked. The blond couldn't properly rant with his mouth full, and the avengers were now sitting in the living space of the tower, watching the teen eat an impressive amount of food.

With the boy eating, Tony and the others had done the talking. Tony had a strong suspicion that the boy was from another world (Not asgard though, Thor had been very clear about that) and they had decided to give him a basic rundown of who they were, in hopes it would prompt the boy to say more about himself. So far? All the child had done was make fun of them and seem surprised at the existence of aliens (which Tony found very strange seeing as this child was VERY clearly not from earth.)

"So lemme get this straight." Ed said, staring at the group in front of him incredulously. "You guys are a team of...vigilantes"

"Superheroes."

"Sure, whatever. Team of superheroes, and you guys protect your planet from..."

"Aliens, Inhumans, Mutants, warlords, psychopaths, murderers, evil robots...I missing anything?" Tony counted off on his hands, glancing around at the group for confirmation.

"We've had our fair share of large monster attacks." Natasha reminded him.

"Ah, right. Forgot those. They still haven't repaired that statue on 72nd have they?"

"Oh Truth." Ed groaned, head in his hands.

"You keep saying that." Cap addressed Ed, "What does it mean?"

"Oh he's just a bastard. I like blaming him for the shit that happens to me." Edward replied with a wave of his hand. Tony snorted violently.

"...right." Steve said awkwardly, even more confused.

Tony took over the conversation, "Ok kid, we've told you about us. I think after falling out of a sky portal in central, you owe us some explanation too."

Edward immediately tensed up, a clear look on his face that said 'I don't have to tell you shit', but then he seemed to change his mind, adjusting his face to a guarded, but less openly hostile expression.

"Have any of you...ever heard of a guy named Thanos?"

The Avengers tensed, expressions becoming guarded. "Thanos." Tony said, eyes narrowing. "Yeah, sure. I've heard of him. Why?"

Ed didn't miss the tone of suspicion in his voice. So, these people had run into his target before. From the sound of it, it hadn't been a pleasant meeting either.

This was a delicate situation. Damn it, he should have payed attention to Mustang's dumb rants about subtlety. They were annoying as heck, but Mustang knew what he was talking about.

Now was a critical moment. His actions were clearly going to determine whether these people trusted him or not, and seeing as they seemed to be in charge of keeping this place safe, they were his best chance at locating Lord Whatever and taking him down. Ed didn't want to lose that chance if he could help it.

The only problem was, If he wanted to convince them he was trying to take down King-of-screwing-up-spacetime, he would need a reason, and he didn't have any great backstory ideas other than the truth of the matter, which he wasn't sure he wanted to tell these people about.

But he didn't have a lot of options and they were getting progressively reserved-aggressive and suspicious as the seconds ticked by.

After approximately 7 seconds, Ed settled for, "I'm going to take him down."

After all, despite Mustangs endless lectures, subtlety had, unfortunately, never been the Fullmetal Alchemist's style.

"You're..." Tony said, pausing and squinting at Ed, "Bruce are you sure he didn't hit his head or anything?"

"...well-"

"HEY! I do NOT have a concussion! I'm serious!"

"I thought you were Edward? More points towards the concussion, just saying Bruce-"

Ed hopped off the couch, bristling, "LOOK. If you guys can point me in the guy's direction, IT'D BE GREAT. HOWEVER, I do NOT need your help! I can go find him all on my own and you're not going to stop me!"

Tony, unfazed by the yelling, squinted at Edward, "You don't even know who Thanos is, do you kid? If you did, you'd know we can't just 'point you in his direction', because the guy regularly plays in the cosmic sandbox, which is a little difficult to just walk into."

"A target name but no info." Natasha said, eyes hardening, "Who sent you to take him out, kid?"

Natasha's tone was serious and calm. It wasn't a threat. It definitely wasn't a threat.

It felt like a threat.

"No one!" Ed protested, but Natasha's expression showed that she could tell he was lying.

"If no one sent you to take him out, why are you worried about taking him down?" Ton questioned sarcastically, "Better yet, how do you know he exists? Most humans don't, and even less of those would send a kid after him."

"I'm not a kid!"

Tony quirked an eyebrow. "Friday, carbon date please."

"Approximately 15 years and 289 days." Friday returned coolly while Ed gaped at the ceiling.

"See?" Tony said, throwing his hands in the air, "Kid."

He was saved from Edward's incoming rant by Steve, who interrupted with, "This is all well and good, and maybe the kid does have a concussion, but we still don't know why, or how he came through the portal."

"I....erm..." he said eloquently.

The avengers were saved from Ed's exceptional conversation skills by flashing lights and screaming alarms. The Avengers jumped to their feet and Ed fell off the couch in surprise.

"Sir." Friday informed, voice calm despite the chaos, "The Red skull's cabal has attacked Manhattan, and are advancing on Avengers tower."

Tony's mask slid into place. "Avengers assemble!" he ordered, while Ed cursed in the background.