Chapter 25 – A Small Town

(Town Square - Smallville – Kansas – 2010 – Town Square)

It had been several months since Kal had moved into the Barton Household, and whilst he was treated mostly as a guest, he could tell that Clint and his wife Laura were keeping close tabs on him. He would catch one of them always watching in the distance as he walked around the farm and he was never alone when one or both of the children was nearby. However, Kal didn't really mind, when he needed space, the couple gave it to him and any cautiousness they did show Kal couldn't blame them for, he would likely do the same in their shoes.

He did notice nevertheless that they were becoming more comfortable around him and he with them, conversations were less forced, the children wanted to play with him more and he was gradually seeing their wariness reducing. However, he had yet to really leave the farm, Clint had only really made one demand of him and that was no use of his 'powers' as Clint called them, which Kal found strange but agreed to nonetheless. He had spent days practising to lift things as a mortal would do or else practice walking places instead of gliding over to them, which was a habit he found most difficult to break.

However, today was different there was apparently a Harvest Festival of some sort, or as the youngest Cooper had called it 'Corn Day', in the nearby town, which was apparently a family day out and Clint had agreed that Kal could come along. He wasn't sure if Clint genuinely wanted him there or if it was a sort of test to see how well he handled pretending to be normal or maybe it was that Clint wanted to spend time with his children and didn't feel leaving Kal on his own yet.

"Hot Dogs! Hot Dogs!" Kal turned his head, to see a food vendor trying to get people's attention, he was walking next to Clint with the two just behind Laura and the children who wanted to run off ahead.

"You eat canines on this Real- I mean in this country?" Kal asked in alarm, whilst correcting his speech pattern, trying his best to perfect the accent Clint spoke with that made his voice sound weird.

"What?" Clint turned his head, to see what Kal was talking about and understanding stuck him when he saw the hot dog stand. "Oh, no that's not real dog it's just the name of the food, do you want one?"

Kal's vision scanned the offered food and what he saw was not exactly inciting, to his mind it might have been better if the hot dog was actually comprised of a dog, rather than the assortment of strange meats that comprised the food currently. Putting on a fake smile as he did not wish to seem rude, Kal merely shook his head slightly and said "No thank you."

With that Kal's vision returned to scanning the surrounding area, the Smallville Harvest Festival or 'Corn Day' as it kept being referred to by the Barton children, both reminded Kal of his home but also reinforced how different he was from these people. Asgard also celebrated harvest Festivals, and many of the customs presents, Kal had experienced when he had been a young boy, farmers showing off their corps, comparting their livestock to see whose is bigger, parents buying their children food, feats of strength and skill on display along with games for both children and adults.

However, what was not present were the mead barrels, axe throwing, the duelling circles, or the stages to watch feats of magic performed for the children, which had been hallmarks of his childhood. There weren't even crowds of people gathered around to listen to a Flyting, the contest of exchanging insults between two parties, conducted in verse and rhythm to the amusement of all. No, from what Kal could see mortals or as he had to remind himself to call them, Human, festivals seemed pretty tame and boring compared to that of his homeworld.

"Dad can we please, please, please!" Kal's attention returned to the world around him and focused on Laura and the children who had stopped by a large, tented area where some sort of game was set up, with the two children having turned around to plead with their father to play.

Kal watched Clint glance at his wife who merely had a smile on her face and gave a gentle shrug of her shoulders indicating that she was not opposed to it, or maybe she knew that denial would be pointless in the face of such begging.

"Okay," Clint acquiesced to his children's demand before but added a condition to his consent "Only ONE game though and then we need to get lunch."

A small cry of agreement as the family along with Kal walked into the tent who was actually intrigued as he had never actually seen a Midgard game beyond the few he had played during his time in Lakstad. However, he doubted if Stone lifting and carrying was still the main source of entertainment at mortal events, as it had been a thousand years ago.

His suspicions were confirmed when he entered the tent and round what appeared to be a type of archery range, but instead of a target there was a series of stands with old fashioned metal Milk bottles stacked in pyramids on top of them, and in place of bows or arrows there were large softballs. As Kal looked around he saw that the aim of the game was some sort of skill challenge, as people started throwing balls at the bottles to knock them over.

"Do you want to have a go Uncle Clark?" Cooper asked his pretend uncle, holding out a ball for the much larger man to take.

Kal glanced at Clint for permission who although wary of letting Kal have a go due to his strength merely gave an encouraging nod, he was, in fact, eager to see what Kal could do if he tried to hold himself back.

Kal seeing he had permission gave the young man a friendly smile and offered the ball back for the moment. "I will, but why don't you and your sister have a go first show me how it is done."

Cooper beamed up at Kal and before Kal could blink the lad was already off running towards the line, evidently wanting to show his 'uncle' his skill whilst his sister stood next to her brother shouting encouragement at him every time he threw a ball. Kal was slightly glad of Coopers eagerness because it gave him time to really look at the game and allow him to judge exactly how much strength he actually needed.

"They both love this game. Coop loves baseball and Lila likes it because I always win her something." Barton explained to Kal who moved to stand next to his side.

Even if Kal had not seen Clint with his kids before then, it was clear by the look Clint was giving his children that they were the man's world. Kal had seen Clint when he was in the field, he was all focus and precision, he had also been alone with the man during their journey down and found Clint was a very friendly very intelligent man with a good sense of humour, however, with his kids Clint was just a father. Something Kal had very little experience with, Odin had been a father and fairly good one, but he was always something else as well, usually, a King, a Teacher, or something else time-consuming, so it was nice for Kal just to watch a man who could devote his full attention to his kids.

"Your turn Uncle Clark!" Cooper grinned at him holding up the last ball, Cooper had gotten close to the cans but was evidently still too young to reach the full distance with enough power to knock them down.

As he moved over, he heard Clint's voice whisper to him, "Careful there weighted down with sand inside making them difficult to knock over."

Kal surveyed his target and although he understood that Midgardians were far weaker than he was and Cooper seemed enthused with the game, Kal himself was struggling to see the point of the game, even with the weight the metal bottle required little power to be knocked over. He merely raised his hand and instead of throwing the ball, he flicked his hand forward, causing an audible snap sound as the ball suddenly flew through his hand and crashed into the metal bottles sending them tumbling to the floor.

"Jesus," The game's owner whispered out as the safety net buckled to stop Kal's casual throw, even now the ball was still spinning slightly as bent the netback before it finally lost momentum.

Cooper gave a yell a shout of jubilant and raised his hand up to Kal who unsure of what to do did the same only for the small boy to slap his hand with his own, in some strange Midgardian Custom. Kal however gave Cooper an encouraging smile and saw out of the corner of his eye that Lila too was smiling at his success.

"That some arm you got there," The game's owner came over to Kal and gave him his prize of a very large plush Dragon toy, which was very inaccurate to Kal's eyes and looked nothing like the noble creatures he knew. "You new in town?"

"I am new to this settlement, yes," Kal responded causing the owner's eyes to raise, which made Kal suspect that he needed to work on his modern Midgardian dialogue.

However, before the man could grow more suspicious of Kal he suddenly found Clint next to him, who had also wrapped Cooper in a fatherly hug placing his hands on his son's shoulders. "Yeah, Pete this is my brother Kal. He just got back from overseas, he is in the military." Clint explained hoping it would one move the focus off of Kal's strange vocabulary, and two give an explanation for Kal's evident musculature.

The now named Pete just raised his eyebrows in surprise as he looked between Clint and Kal or more actuality at Clint then up at Kal, however, if he held any doubt it didn't show on his face. "Your brother? Well, that explains the throw, you're the only other man I know Clint that can throw a ball anywhere close to that."

"Good genes I guess." Clint joked giving a small chuckle that Pete returned, and Kal did too to try although his was a little forced.

Pete grinned up at Kal giving the man a genuinely friendly smile before turning his attention to Cooper who by the smile on his face knew the man. "There must be something in the water at the Barton house, for both your dad and Uncle to be as tall as they are. Can't wait to see you play little league when the seasons back Coop, if your anything like your Pa or your uncle you're going to be a star."

As Kal, Pete and Clint fell into a conversation, Laura found a rare moment by herself, so she spent it looking at her husband as she stood outside the tent thinking about the future. Lila had come over to her, but her daughter was merely content to hold her hand and wait for the men to finish so they could have lunch.

However, Laura's rare moment of peace ended when she heard a familiar voice sound out from behind her. "LAURA is that you!"

Turning around she saw who it was, Eleanor Potter, but she insisted on being called Nell by everyone, however, to Laura and most of the other women in the area she was Nosy Nell, for her liking of gossip. Laura surpassed a sigh and placed a fake smile on her face, as she reminded herself that she needed to maintain her cover of being an ordinary wife and mother, she then turned around and gave Nell a wide smile.

"Nell, it's so good to see you again, when was the last time I saw you must have been the Easter play at the kid's school, right?" Laura asked, her implacable fake smile on her face as she grinned at Nell.

Nell gave her own smile as came over to Laura holding a small girl in one hand that Laura recognised as Nell's daughter Kimberly, and with the other hand gestured to several other women she had been talking to come over. "It must have been, your little Lila was so adorable in that costume of hers."

Laura's smile actually became real for a moment as she remembered Lila's costume however Lila herself went red with embarrassment remembering her school costume as a spring chicken. However, before Lila's embarrassment could overwhelm her, Laura gently moved Lila over towards Kimberly and the other girls that the other women that had come with Nell had brought, and Lila found herself amongst friends.

"So is your soldier husband around?" Nell asked with a seemingly innocent voice but with a sly subtle hint in her voice.

Laura suppressed a grimace at that, she knew what Nell was referring to, which was the fact that not only had Clint missed the school play, due to a situation in Central Africa needing his attention but that Clint to the eyes of the small town they lived in was never around. Clint's cover was that he was in the army and often had to go aboard for long periods of time, so most weren't suspicious even when he showed up with new scars, but it didn't stop Nell from gossiping about how often Laura was alone and the sometimes strange visitors she received, who mostly were Fury and Nat undercover.

However, Laura was saved from having to respond to Nell's question by her husband's sudden appearance by her side, wrapping one of his arms around her and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I think I've heard myself being referred to." Clint gave the gathered women a smile and played up his midwestern upbringing changing his accent slightly.

"Hi, Clint." Nell smiled at Clint whilst a shameless flirtatious smile spread across her face, despite Nell being married it didn't stop her from flirting with any attractive guy she came across even if they too were married.

Laura had to restrain herself from hitting Nell in the face but knew that if she broke the local gossips woman's nose and knocked her at the same time with a single punch it might blow her carefully created cover and life her. In truth Laura was not worried that Clint would ever actually cheat on her, he had plenty of opportunities and offers over the years due to the nature of his work and had never once strayed from her. What irked her most was that Nell pretended to be her friend, which Laura only begrudgingly pretended to as Nell was at times a good source of gossip but many knew that Nell had her eyes on Clint, as he was one of the few goods looking and muscular men in town.

"Hi, Nicole," Clint responded giving her a causal glance and smile as he looked at her, his deliberate mistake of her name brought a small smile to Laura's face and a frown to Nells. Although he was not around often Clint knew Nell well mostly due to her attempts to seduce him that had all come to nought, so one of his favourite pastimes when in town was too irate her.

"It's Nell, actually, Clint" Nell grimaced slightly as she felt a few of her 'friends' smirk at her expense around her.

"Oh, right sorry." Clint apologised with a seemingly genuine smile but everyone, but Laura missed the subtle playful glint in his eye that he directed solely at his wife.

Laura quickly took over to bring the conversation back to the group's children now that Nell had been put back into her box a little, with the group talking about how everyone was doing and what needed to be done before summer was over. However, their talk was slightly different today as Nell seemed more irritated than usual at Clint's shutdown of her flirting, the grimace had not left her face, and another one of their numbers was seemingly distracted by something behind Laura.

"Kristin. What are you looking at … oh my." Nell began to snap at the woman next to her before her own eyes widen and looked at the person, Kristin Kreuk, a woman of Asian descent and the only single mother of the group who ran the town's Mainstreet café, who had been staring at.

Turning her head to look in the same direction as the other two ladies, Laura's eyes went wide and she felt blood involuntary rush to her cheeks. Standing just inside the tented area with the baseball throwing game was Kal who was standing shirtless, showing off his very impressive torso, with his ripped shirt in one hand and an apologetic look on his face as he walked out with Cooper holding three oversized stuffed Dragons.

"Apologies, the shirt ripped along the seams as I threw the ball," Kal spoke directly to Clint in a matter a fact voice seemingly completely ignorant that being shirtless was not normal and the effect he was having on the women and some of the men present.

"Ka- Clark, you need to put your shirt on." Clint moved forward towards Kal gesturing at his torso whilst looking around to see that more than a few people, mostly women, had stopped to look at him.

"But it is ripped?" Kal asked confused, having grown up on Asgard when clothing was damaged and could not be repaired it was simply removed until new garments could be procured.

"I know but you need to put something on NOW," Clint stated with a look on his face as he gestured with his head subtly to the people staring at him. "Here take my jacket."

"Um, Laura who is that?" The whispered question came from Kristin who had moved next to Laura now that Clint had moved, Kristin's eyes never left Kal for a moment.

"Oh, that's Clark he is Clint's brother he's just got back from overseas, he's staying with us for a while" Laura whispered to Kristen as her senses returned to her, turning to look at the Asian single mother.

"Clint's brother hey," Laura heard Nell whisper to herself, the woman evidently hearing Laura's whispered statement to Kristin, the woman had ears sharp as a fox.

'Oh god help me,' Laura thought to herself as she looked at Nell who like Kristin and nearly every woman around was ogling Kal as he put his ripped shirt back on along with her husband's jacket.

(Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility - Mojave Desert – Nevada)

"Dr Selvig, welcome to the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, much like Shield this place doesn't officially exist." Fury's voice carried clear across the mostly empty hall, its only occupant an abundant of advanced looking machinery.

Dr Eric Selvig took a few moments to examine the area and some of the equipment, a lot of the machinery present was very impressive, more than impressive some of the devices Eric had believed were only theoretical. Then there were some pieces of machinery on display that Eric could only describe as alien, which only a month ago he would have dismissed as impossible but given all that had happened Eric was pretty certain that the devices, he was looking at were indeed extra-terrestrial in origin.

"What is all of this stuff?" Eric couldn't help but as he gestured to several of the more strange devices, one he suddenly noticed was hovering a few feet off the table it was on.

"Officially this doesn't exist, unofficially mostly classified" Fury turned to face Eric stopping in his tracks, to add weight to words. "Completely off the records, your friends in New Mexico are not the first strange visitors from another world that humanity has encountered, and some of them have left their stuff behind."

"So, what do you want me to do? I'm not exactly an expert on -" Selvig began to try and figure out why Fury was interested in him, he knew at least a dozen individuals who were more qualified to deal with items in this room than he was.

"Oh don't sell yourself, short Doctor," Fury interrupted Selvig and started walking again forcing the good doctor to follow him. "I've been hearing about the New Mexico situation, there are not many people that can claim to know a god personally. Your work has impressed a lot of people who are much smarter than I am."

"That was mostly accidental, and from what I understand Thor and the others are gone, so why should my relationship with them be a factor?" Selvig asked still confused at why he was here at all, however, Fury just stayed silent at his question and feeling like he was being tested Selvig decided to press on. "As to my work, I've had a lot to work with. The Foster theory, a gateway to another dimension... it's unprecedented. Isn't it?"

"Well not exactly." Fury gave a small smirk, that caused Selvig's eyes to widen slightly realising that Fury was being serious.

Fury turned to a console he was next to and typed in a series of codes before placing his hand on a scanner, all of which was followed by a hissing noise as a cylinder container rose out of a platform in the middle of the room to open up. Eric turned and saw that the dimly lit room was now entirely bathed in a subtle blue light that was coming off of a blue crystalline cube that was somehow suspended in the air. Eric's eyes couldn't stop looking at the strange object that seemed to pulsate slightly as he felt drawn to the cube, a feeling of power already filling him just at looking at the cube.

Seeing that Selvig was seemingly entranced by the cube which was not an uncommon reaction Fury decided to explain why he had brought the good doctor here. "This Dr Selvig is the Tesser-"

"The Tesseract." It was Selvig's turn to cut off Fury with his quiet whispered revelation that he knew what the strange cube was.

Fury was a man that was not often surprised the very nature of his job actually relied on him being the man who was never surprised. However, in this very rare moment, Fury couldn't help but keep his surprise off his face at Dr Selvig's revelation that he knew about one of the most classified objects in the history of the world. Fury's surprise however gave away to immediate suspicion as he narrowed his one remaining eye at Dr Selvig who was still staring in awe at the Tesseract. "How do you know about the Tesseract Doctor?"

"Oh, I'm Norwegian, my father use to tell me all the old stories and myths before bed. Thor, Loki, Kal, and Odin." Erik gave a sheepish grin as he revealed the origin of his apparent secret knowledge. "The Tesseract, the crowning jewel of Odin's Treasure Chamber was one of my favourites, it's even more beautiful than I imagined it."

Fury examined Selvig's face for a few moments until he decided that Selvig was likely telling truth and that his story was plausible, it just meant that they had to keep a closer eye on the good Doctor in case Fury was wrong. Fury turned his own vision towards the Tesseract, however, where Selvig viewed it with awe Fury always had a sinking feeling when he looked at it like he was staring at a live grenade with the pin hallway pulled out, just waiting for something to go wrong. However, despite his reservations, orders were orders, and given what had just happened in New Mexico, he was being pressed to deliver feasible means of defence as soon as possible.

"Yes, we think it's possibly the key to unlimited energy," Fury spoke softly as the Tesseract pulsated before them. "So would that be something you are interested in?"

"Unlimited energy, it couldn't hurt to take a look." Although Fury missed it Selvig felt a small pulse run up his spine for a moment and a hint of green flashed in his eyes, and when he spoke Selvig could swear that he could feel someone other than Fury standing next to him.

With his acceptance Fury handed over a large file to Selvig that contained their preliminary findings on their work so far, however before he was able to go further Fury saw Maria Hill enter through the main doors making a direct B-line towards them an annoyed look on her face. Seeing his second in command coming over to him, Fury indicated to the console next to him for Selvig to begin his work and headed over to meet Maria halfway.

"What is it? Stark? Banner? Or has Barton called in?" Fury asked Maria as he reached her guessing the three main things that would possibly cause Maria to interrupt his meeting.

"No Sir, he's outside or more accurately in the lobby" Maria gestured to the main doors that lead to the main entrance of the classified facility.

"Stark?" Fury asked his eyes narrowing, Romanoff should still be keeping tabs on him meaning that Tony shouldn't have just been able to show up unannounced at their classified facility.

"No sir, not Stark," Maria sighed a look of disgust appearing on her face as she spoke her next words. "It's the other one, Sir."

Fury resisted the urge to sigh out of the two geniuses and billionaires who made tech for Shield, Fury much preferred Stark over the man that had arrived unannounced. "Okay, stay with Selvig I'll deal with our uninvited guest."

Maria gave Fury a small nod then moved towards Doctor Selvig to introduce herself and see if the Doctor needed anything, whilst she did that Fury moved through the main doors and headed towards the entrance of the facility. It was a slight distance to the main entrance, and it required Fury to take several different elevators through staggered corridors, the facility was designed to be somewhat of a maze, easy to navigate once used to it but confusing if someone was just working off blueprints.

As the final elevator opened Fury was greeted by a slightly tense scene there was about four dozen of his own Shield Agents surrounding a smaller group of about a dozen men wearing suits who from what Fury could tell was a security team that seemed to be made from a mix of former special forces and intelligence officers. What made the situation tense was everything was armed, and everyone was pointing weapons at each other, it was like no one dared to breathe in case a stray breath would set off a gunfight that no one knew for sure who if anyone would survive.

"Director Fury, these men are trespassing. Deputy Director Hill ordered us to keep them here until you arrived. What are your orders?" The speaker was a senior Shield agent who hadn't taken his eyes off of the man in front of him, both men levelling their guns at each other's head.

"Stand down," Fury ordered as he moved forward seemingly unconcerned with the potential for a firefight breaking out as he moved through the crowd of his agents that parted to let him through.

"Sir?" The senior agent responded, wondering if he had misheard the order to stand down which was very against protocol.

"You heard me, son, stand down," Fury ordered again levelling a gaze at his agent which produced the desired effect immediately every single Shield agent lowered their weapon.

Having defused his side of the standoff, Fury gazed at what he assumed was the leader of the security team that had trespassed onto Shield's secret research facility, he was a man about a foot taller than Fury, with icy blue eyes, short black hair and his whole demeanour screamed ex-special forces and given the tattoo partially visible on his neck and his appearance Fury guessed Russian. The man had yet to lower his weapon and was just staring a cold icy glare at Fury whilst he levelled his weapon at the spy's master's head.

"That's enough Dimitri, you can stand down too." The voice came from behind the large black-haired man, who unlike Fury's men did not ask for clarification of his orders, instead immediately holstering his weapon.

"Mr Luthor." Fury stated the name, he knew that the voice belong to, an action that caused the large man in front of him to move to the side and reveal his employer, who was lounging on a sofa that had been placed in the lobby.

"You know you always say my name the same way, a slight bit of dread at the start, a little awe in the middle and just a hint of resignation on the finish," Luthor responded as he casually turned his head to face fury, one leg nonchalantly placed on the other and lounging way back on the sofa as if he owned the building.

Fury examined the man lounging before him, Alexander Joseph Luthor, or simply Lex Luthor as the media commonly referred to him was a man that Fury and most of Shield both respected and hated for a variety of reasons. Chief amongst them was Luthor's position as one of Shields's most reliable suppliers of hardware, before Stark Industries had left the weapons industry the agency had been able to play Stark and Luthor off each other. However, since Tony's moral shift a few years ago nearly all the weapons and majority of Shield tech came from Luthor, which is where the respect came from, the only issue was that Lex Luthor had none of Tony's charm.

The 'ever-respectable' Lex had once been a protégé of Tony's father Howard Stark, with Lex having been behind some of the great breakthroughs of the late '80s and early '90s but that relationship was a distant memory as Lex had spent a lifetime since trying to eclipse first the great Howard Stark and then Howard's son Tony, in terms of both wealth and fame. In truth, although Fury was loathed to admit it, he was pretty sure Lex was smarter than Tony however, Tony could at least be charming, personable, and as shown by recent events had a moral centre.

Lex, however, was none of those things, Fury remembered his good friend and World Security Council Secretary Alexander Pierce had once called Lex Luthor the mechanical man at a security briefing, all gears, clockwork and calculations. Where Tony had now looked at the world with a more moral view, Fury was sure that Lex didn't have a moral bone in his body, for Lex Luthor everything was merely a game or a puzzle to solve. Which had proven useful for Shield as Lex was one of if not the smartest person on the planet but it also made him dangerous as Lex didn't care about anything so was therefore willing to risk anything to prove he was right.

"You know Lex, this facility is classified I could have you arrested or just shot for even knowing about this place let alone being here." Fury addressed the lounging multi-billionaire who was still positioned as if he was sitting at a beach resort without a care in the world.

Lex's response was a small smirk and shrug of his shoulders at the implied threat, an action that irritated Fury. "You know I told Howard, that this Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S was a waste of time and money for the government, BUT then Howard was an idealist at heart." Lex's responded gesturing around at the facility they were sitting in casually as he recalled both his work with Howard Stark and his knowledge of the Project Howard had started.

"If I recall correctly from the files, Howard Stark specifically kept you away from this project, something about dangerous theories and wanting to do a test that had the potential to sink the Eastern Seaboard into the ocean." Fury corrected Lex's versions of events hoping to get a rise out of the man, remembering reading about how Howard had placed Lex on the Blacklist of people never to be allowed near the Project or to be told about the Tesseract.

However, Lex's response was again to merely shrug at Fury's statement as if either version of the story didn't matter to him and he felt no need to defend himself from the accusation that he was dangerous. Fury did notice though that Lex's eyes narrowed slightly and he also saw the multi-billionaire's smirk falter slightly but only for an instant, however despite that Lex made no verbal response to Fury's prodding.

After a few moments of silence Fury was growing tired of Lex's game and so decided to just cut straight to the heart of the matter. "So, Lex why are you here?"

"New Mexico." Lex's response was immediate, he leaned forward slightly so that he was no longer lounging on the Sofia but instead sitting up straight and staring straight into Fury's eyes, a cold hard calculating look on his face.

Fury for his part simply met Lex's unwavering glare and shrugged his shoulders at Lex's statement, before he responded in a slightly dismissive tone. "I hear it's lovely this time of year."

"Hmm, cute," Lex responded with a dry laugh as he buttoned up his shirt and stood up to be on eye level with Fury, his cold, calculating green eyes meeting Fury's equally analytical Brown ones. "I already know something occurred in New Mexico Shield related, Secretary Pierce gave me limited accesses to the files and samples from the scene, however, I want you to send me everything else Shield held back."

Fury merely raised his eyebrows at Lex's audacious demand before a triumphal smirk appeared on the Directors' face as he took pleasure in denying Lex something, merely turning away and heading back towards the elevator, addressing Lex whilst his back was turned to the man. "I don't work for you Lex, and although you know Secretary Pierce, I know him better and I can tell you with certainty that your request will be denied. So please don't let the door hit you on the way out."

Fury's powerful and commanding strides had resulted in him being in front of the elevator his hand about to push the open button when Lex responded. "What if I offer my services on your attempts to recreate the Super Soldier Serum."

That caused Fury to pause as he was caught off guard by Lex's sudden offer of help, Lex much like Tony never worked on any Shield project of his own volition, the two had the annoying habit of never taking requests instead just building things and then selling their inventions to Shield who eventually found a use for them. Never in all the years had Fury ever heard Lex Luthor once offer his services on any project, which meant Fury was in an entirely new position with Lex, one where for once Fury held the trump card as he had something Lex apparently very much wanted.

However, whilst Fury knew for certain that Lex Luthor was probably the one man alive that could get the fledging Shield project to recreate Project Rebirth and Erskine's Super Soldier Serum, he also knew who he was dealing with. Lex never gave up anything unless he had already calculated in that cold mechanical mind of his that he was going to get something better in return, which meant if Lex was willing to create Super Soldiers for Shield, there was something in finding in New Mexico that Lex saw as more valuable, and Fury had a sinking feeling he knew what Lex might have come across.

Taking Fury's silence and lack of moment as an indication that he was interested Lex pushed on, "I worked with Howard Stark for almost a decade before his death he recruited me straight out of High School, and if there was one thing that man was obsessed with it was that Serum. I guarantee if you provide me with what I want, you will have all the Super Soldiers you want by the end of the year."

However, Fury didn't respond to Lex verbally, he merely pressed the elevator's open button and stepped inside the small metal box once the doors fully opened, turning slowly and fixing Lex with a hard stare, that Lex returned with his own narrow gaze. Fury's eyes conveyed his message that he silently vowed Lex would never be given access to the New Mexico files whilst Lex was promising that this was far from over.

As the evaluator's doors finally closed, Fury's hand immediately went to his pocket and pulled out his phone, his fingers a blur as he pulled up a commonly used number. As he did so his mind raced with plans and contingencies for figuring out how much Lex knew and what exactly Lex had been given from New Mexico at Secretary Peirce's instruction.

As he brought the phone up to his ear he heard the audible click of his call being received. "Romanoff, how quickly can you get to Kansas, I need a second pair of eyes on something."

(Smallville – Kansas – 2010 - Smallville elementary school – Next Day)

Kal was slightly more confused, as he had learnt that the so-called 'Corn Day' involved more than just bad food, and strange games in the town square, it also apparently lasted more than a day which was equally confusing. The Harvest Festival that the children and more than a few of the adults referred to as 'Corn Day' also involved some sort of theatrical production, hosted at a place of learning, unlike anything Kal had ever seen. Kal had largely been taught either by tutors, his father or his mother whilst growing up and whilst he knew that was not the norm even on Asgard, he had visited Asgard's Hall of learning where all children of Asgard went to learn.

The Hall of learning Kal remembered was a great large place, with vast rooms and courtyards, to allow children to learn not just from books and teachers but from experience as well, he remembered one visit where he had seen a group of students handle a baby dragon to understand the creature. Learning on Asgard was about the experience as much as anything else, and all Asgardians understood the value and joy of knowledge, however from what he could see of Midgard he wasn't sure they valued knowledge the same way. This 'Elementary' School he was going into was more cramped than some prison cells he had seen on Asgard and a lot of the equipment seemed poorly maintained.

Whilst he was trying to adapt as fast as he could to his new situation and learn what he could about Midgard to help sell the story he was Clint's brother, for the time being, he was still not used to the many strange and almost barbaric practices he was seeing. The mortals of Midgard from what he could tell seemed to understand the result of their actions but still committed them anyway, they poisoned their water, air and food constantly but did nothing to actually fix the issues.

As Kal walked into the school main hall, he was carrying several large boxes stacked on one shoulder, as he had been asked to help move them into a hall by a Mrs Anna Rampling, who was Cooper's teacher and was currently eyeing him from her position near the makeshift stage. She had been overly friendly when he had met her the other day along with a woman called Nell and another named Kristin all of whom were apparently friends of Laura.

"Thank you, Clark, could you set them down by the far table, they are snacks and drinks for the parents for after the play." Mrs Ana Rampling smiled at him as he came over and batted her eyelashes slightly at him.

Which did not go unnoticed by Mr Rampling, Miss Rampling's husband who was standing near her, and earned an annoying cough from him that seemingly reminded Miss Rampling that her husband existed. "Why don't I give you a hand with those Clark, you must be getting tired."

Kal just looked at the man who was quite a few years older than his wife and was definitely not in a physical condition to be moving anything heavy around. However, before he could protest Mr Rampling had already moved to try and take one of the boxes Kal was carrying on his shoulder and surprisingly managed to actually take the top one off of Kal despite their height difference.

The result however was that Mr Rampling immediately regretted his action as an audible CLICK was heard coming from his back and the man was about to fall backwards if not for the timely intervention of both Kal grabbing his arm and Clint appearing behind the man. Clint managed to move Mr Rampling over towards one of the seats that had already been put out for the school play, with Clint taking the heavy box off the man once he was seated.

"Are you alright Jack?" Clint asked as lifted the heavy box off of the man whose eyes were just wide with pain and seemed to be gritting his teeth.

Before he could respond Kal spoke his gaze going up and down the man swiftly. "He appears to have strained a ligament in his lower back, near the L5 vertebra from incorrect posture whilst attempting to lift the box. I suggest he lay on his front with something cold pressed to his back for at least an hour"

Both the Ramplings just stared at Kal in confusion about how he could possibly know what was wrong with Jack in such precise detail. Anna Rampling opened her mouth to ask that exact question when Clint intervened again.

"My brother Clark is in the army, he's done some medical training and has seen his fair share of back injuries," Clint explained with a fixed smile to the Ramplings whilst he gave a subtle glare at Kal for providing such detail that risked his cover.

"Oh well, thank you, Clark," Anna Rampling seemed satisfied with the response and gave Kal a broad smile, whilst seemingly ignoring her husband. "I will be sure to get Jack here an ice pack as soon as possible, why don't you find after the show and give me some tips on treatment."

Anna again gave Kal a knowing look and teasing smile that he was starting to find a little unsettling especially as he knew she was married, and her husband was in front of him in pain. He was saved from responding by Clint who gave a loud cough as he cleared his throat and shifted his weight slightly with the heavy box he was now carrying in his hand.

"Clark we should get these over to the tables, and then help Cooper and Lila get ready for the play." Clint offered Kal an exit which he took gratefully with a quick nod. "Take it easy Jack, get some ice on your back and don't try lifting anything."

"Uhh ah" Was Jack Rampling's response as a grimaced pain appeared on his face and lifted up one hand shakily to give a thumbs up.

With that Kal and Clint made their exit from the awkward scene with Clint carrying one box in two hands and Kal the other two on his shoulders. As they approached the tables and set down the boxes Kal noticed that Clint's knuckles were white and he seemed slightly out of breath.

"Clint are you okay?" Kal asked in a slightly quiet voice to ensure they were not overheard by anyone else, in the hall.

"Jesus, these things are heavy." Clint let out a heavy breath as he straightened up and looked at Kal a slight sigh escaping his lips. "You need to be more careful Kal, your lucky it was only these three boxes because if there had been more and other people had tried to lift just one, they would know you're not human. AND watch out for Anna Rampling, she's not someone you want interested in you."

Kal looked down at the boxes that he had been carrying effortlessly and realised his mistake, he was so used to freely carrying things that he no longer took the time to assess what he was picking up or how much it weighed. Each of the three large boxes he had been carrying was loaded with what Kal was generously calling food with all the chemicals and additives they were loaded with. Each box had to weigh at least 100 pounds possibly more and looking at Clint who was probably the most physically capable male he had met since arriving on Midgard, it was clear that lifting such weights was still not an easy feat for mortals.

"Apologies my friend, I did not think, about how it would look" Kal turned to face Clint with genuine regret on his face as well as contemplation as he thought about what else he needed to adjust.

Clint gave Kal a small smile and sighed a little in relief glad Kal had recognised the issue. "Don't worry about it no harm done, but we are going to need to work on a few things when we get back to the farm."

Kal gave Clint a grateful nod and then moved with Clint back out of the hall to go and assist Clint's children with getting ready for the play they were going to perform. Which Kal was actually quite interested in he had fond memories of the Theatre trips his mother took him on with his brothers when they were little, and was curious to see what Midgardian entertainment looked like.

(Several Hours and One School play later)

Midgardian plays were ….. well interesting was the word Kal was going with.

It had begun sensibly enough with a dramatic retelling of the founding of the town by settlers and explorers, which Kal had been able to follow despite not knowing any of the wider contexts about the time period in which it was set. However, his understanding had lasted only about 10 minutes after which he was completely lost and had no earthly or even heavenly idea about what was going on.

Songs about farming and food had started, then the children appeared dressed as animals and food which Kal was confused by, as there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to the assortment of animals and food chosen. He had hoped that when it got to Cooper's and Lila's part it would make more sense or at least Clint and Laura could explain what part their children were playing however that was a false hope. As Cooper was playing some sort of Bird called a Turkey, and Lila had played the part of Corn, which was apparently very important.

"So Clark what did you think?" Laura asked as Clint moved off to collect the kids that were being congratulated along with the other children by Mrs Rampling for their performance.

"It was ….. interesting," Kal responded diplomatically, unsure how to put his confusion about the play into words.

Laura chuckled at Kal's response and smiled broadly at him. "It's okay if you don't understand what it was about, truth be told neither do me or Clint or any of the parents really, we just say well done when the kids ask us what we think."

Kal's response never came as he was cut off by the hammering of feet as Cooper and Lila rushed over to their mother both now free from the strange costumes they had been wearing and with a juice box in their hands.

"MOM, MOM WHAT DID YOU THINK?" Cooper's voice was loud and despite having just been in a school play he seemed to still have an abundance of energy.

Laura gave a knowing smile to both Clint and Clark before kneeling down to sort out her son's shirt, which was messy after taking off his costume. "You did so well honey, truly the best Turkey I've ever seen, right honey?"

"Oh, of course, you really knocked it out of the park champ!" Clint gave his son a broad smile and ruffle of his hair that caused Cooper's already massive smile to somehow get wider.

Kal felt a tug on his sleeve and looked down to see Lila looking up at him with a shy expression on her face. "Did you like the play?" Lila's voice was barely above a whisper as she looked up expectantly at Kal.

Kal saw Clint smile warmly at his daughter's adorable shyness and gave Kal a small nod indicating that it was a good sign. Kal knelt down so that he was more on the level with Lila and gave her his best smile, "You did really well, Lila, I very much enjoyed the performance."

Lila gave him a wide smile, then suddenly moved forward and wrapped her small tiny arms around him in a quick hug as a thank you before moving back and looking slightly embarrassed at her actions. He just gave her a warm smile as he stayed kneeling so that he could say "Thank you" whilst looking her straight in the eyes which caused Lila to smile even more.

Lila's face suddenly changed from one of shy embarrassment to curiosity as her vision left his eyes and moved down towards his neck which caused Kal to become slightly confused, as he looked down to see what had caught her eye.

"Wow, your necklace is so cool, could I have one?" Lila asked in slight awe as she watched as the small black pendant around her ' uncles' neck start hovering away from his body and turning to point in a direction.

Kal didn't respond to Lila's question nor even Clint's that didn't even reach Kal's ears as he stared down at the pendant that in the last five years he had had it had done nothing during his whole journey across most of the known space.

However, now it was pointing somewhere as he felt it also pulling on the necklace that bound it to his neck along with an almost instinctual feeling that he needed to go somewhere.