Brother Avengers

Brother Avengers Chapter 9

In the second section, I listened to "Lament for Gandalf."

Enjoy!

VVV

"The world is changed.

I feel it in the water.

I feel it in the earth.

I smell it in the air.

..

Darkness crept back into the forests of the world.

Rumor grew of a shadow in the East

Whispers of a nameless fear..."

-Lord of the Rings

Steve sat back in his chair and shook his head.

"Nobody seems to remember that our attack plans are worthless if we don't know where those two are."

Logan took his cigar out of his mouth and set his elbows on the table.

"Yeah, well—all that techie tracking we did yesterday didn't seem to get us any closer to finding them."

Steve glanced around the small, otherwise-empty dining area—the few square tables, the industrial chairs, low ceiling and fluorescent lights—and fought back a sudden feeling of claustrophobia. He looked at Logan again, and folded his arms.

"What do the professor and Erik have to say about it?" he asked. "I saw you talking to Xavier last night before lights out."

"I wasn't talking about that," Logan muttered, puffing on his cigar again. Steve frowned.

"What were you talking about?"

"Magneto," Logan growled, shooting him a look. "I don't like him anywhere near here, listening to us—don't like him knowing where all of us are camped out. It's not a good idea."

Steve's frown deepened. He took a breath, then stopped himself, and glanced away. Then, he cast Logan a sideways glance and half smiled.

"You know," he commented. "You're the only guy I've ever met who smokes a cigar ten minutes after breakfast."

Logan chuckled and shook his head.

"Old habits."

"Yeah," Steve murmured, glancing at the tabletop.

"Speaking of old habits," Logan said, pushing his chair back and getting up noisily. "I'm gonna check the perimeter again, then talk to the Colonel about doing some actual reconnaissance. Want to come along?"

Steve shrugged.

"I'll catch up with you."

"'Kay," Logan said, slapping his shoulder. "Don't sit still too long, though. You'll go stir crazy."

"Halfway there already."

Logan chuckled as he strode out of the room, the scent of his cigar smoke trailing after him. Steve sighed, setting his jaw, letting his eyes unfocus as he gazed at the white tabletop.

It was true—they still didn't know where this Dr. Doom and Schmidt were hiding out. With all their advanced Stark-Industries equipment, tips from various spy networks, and state-of-the-art tracking devices, they couldn't pinpoint—or even guess at—a precise location for the two doctors' base. Xavier had talked about going back to his mutant school to utilize Cerebro again, which had caused an argument between Xavier and Logan and Magneto and Colonel Fury. Xavier wanted to go, and take Magneto with him. Logan protested against Magneto's presence in the school. Xavier argued that it was essential, and said he wanted Logan to stay behind in the SHIELD compound with the others, to be ready to strike once Xavier learned the exact location of their enemies. Of course, this proposal caused an uproar, until Colonel Fury said that if Xavier and Magneto went back to the school, he would accompany them, and be the one to verify their information.