POV Phil Coulson
I look over the wreckage, and I can already tell this was going to be a long day.
"What's the situation?" Hawkeye asks.
"At approximately 1300 hours GMT, an unidentified object was picked up by a russian spy satellite. The object was then recorded heading straight for Earth. It crashlanded here in Lesotho approximately two weeks ago," I reply.
"Two weeks? Why did it take so long for us to respond?" Hawkeye asks.
"Our presence in Lesotho is very minimal, and the locals chose to take over the site and hide it from us. It was only two days ago that we learned of this site. What you're seeing now is what remains of that object," I reply.
"This is it?" Hawkeye asks.
"That's why you're here. We want you to use those eyes of yours to track down some pieces we believe the locals may have taken. The Director wants every piece catalogued and then sent off for testing," I reply.
Hawkeye pulls out his bow and some arrows.
"Want me to capture those who stole the items?" Hawkeye asks while checking his bow.
"If possible, yes. However, bodies are fine too," I reply.
"Got it, anything else?" Hawkeye asks.
"No, that was all," I reply.
Hawkeye nods and starts his investigation. I, meanwhile, have to start the far less interesting part. Paperwork.
POV Shift Tony Stark
I turn the crank and slowly align the laser to hit the chamber, thus creating the element I had been working on making for the past two weeks. It would have been faster if I hadn't had to deal with selling off much of the company and laying off a bunch of incompetent fools. I also sold a good portion of my personal collections to help fund my works. Building the Mark IV wasn't cheap, though I was still doing more than okay for funds. Well, okay, maybe I was desperately waiting for that money from clean energy production. But with this new element, that won't be a problem.
"Congratulations, sir, you have created a new element," Jarvis says.
I take the small triangle over to the modified Arc Reactor.
"Sir, the reactor has accepted the modified core. I will begin running diagnostics," Jarvis adds.
"Whew," I say as I sit down and stare at what I made.
I get a goofy grin and start laughing.
"Jarvis, call Rio," I say after I finish laughing.
"I'm sorry, sir, but it seems I cannot connect to his phone," Jarvis reports.
"What? Try again," I reply.
"I've tried numerous times, sir. But it seems the signal doesn't connect to any device," Jarvis reports.
"Call Selene," I order.
"What do you need?" Selene answers.
"Where's Rio?" I ask.
"At home, I would assume, I don't know, I'm his friend, not his mother," Selene complains.
"I can't reach his phone. Did he say he was going somewhere phones don't work?" I ask.
"What? Give me a moment," Selene says.
I wait for a few minutes, then she comes back.
"This is weird. I tried to contact him, but didn't get a response. Rio's pretty good at responding promptly when I try to contact him. Let me check with another friend of his, she might know something," Selene says before ending the call.
"Jarvis, start a search for Rio Pines. I want to know when he was last spotted," I order.
"Yes, sir, beginning search now," Jarvis responds.
I wait for anything, but the results are not good.
"The last recording I could find of Rio was dated 11 days ago at a stoplight near his home. He drove past the stoplight, and no other recordings remain," Jarvis reports.
"Keep looking, and start making a pattern analysis of Rio's movements. I want to know if going this long without contact is normal," I order.
After ordering the search, I got a call back from Selene.
"I just got off the phone with his other friend, but she hasn't seen him or talked to him in over two weeks. She said she can reach out to Shield to locate him if we need her to," Selene reports.
"Don't bother, anything they can get I can get, but better. Thanks for checking. Do you know if friends are allowed on his property?" I ask.
"I... I'm not sure. Rio never said anything against that, but I do know the Lady of the Everfree is not known to be kind to trespassers," Selene reports.
"I thought as much," I say while considering my options.
"I can take the first flight to New York, if we go together, maybe we might find something," Selene offers.
"Sure, I'll pick you up from the airport," I reply before hanging up the phone.
I take a quick flight to New York and wait for Selene to arrive. When she does, she has someone with her.
"Wow, two beauties instead of one. I must be dreaming," I reply with a smirk.
"You must be Mr Stark, Rio told me about you," says the unknown lady.
"Only good things, I hope," I say with a smirk.
"Sure, the names Lara Croft," says Lara a bit sarcastically.
"Nice to meet you, now I believe we have a friend to check on," I reply.
"We'd better get going then. But before we go, we should pick up an offering for the Lady of the Woods," Selene suggests.
"You're the paranormal expert here, so I'll defer to your judgment," I reply.
We stop at a store, pick up some seemingly random things and then start driving north of the city.
The Mystery Shack 4 Miles
"Mystery Shack, huh? What's that?" I ask while pulling out my phone.
"Rio told me about it. Something his Grand Uncle opened and operated. Some sort of mix between a tourist trap and a ranger station," Lara says.
I was tempted to check it out, but I would save that for later. We turn down a dirt driveway, but before we get far, Selene stops the car.
"Why are we stopping here?" I ask.
"Be quiet and watch," Selene says harshly.
It was enough for me to shut up, as I sometimes forget she was a Vampire and a really strong one at that, according to Rio. She leaves the car, takes the items we bought and starts drawing a circle in the dirt.
"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, we come to seek the aid of one of your children. Please take these offerings so we may pass in peace," Selene says while kneeling on the ground.
Elk Call followed by cracking wood
Gulp
I swallow nervously and go to reach for the gauntlets of the Mark IV that I brought with me, but I am stopped by Lara.
"Don't," Lara warns.
As the sounds get closer, I start to see a silhouette of a massive creature. Eventually, it gets close enough for me to see it completely, and I admit I nearly sh*t myself. I felt an instinctual kind of fear, like I was facing an ancient behemoth. The creature was a woman, made of twigs, leaves, vines, and crystals. She had black eyes with glowing green pupils. She didn't walk so much as drift along the ground. She had arms made of wood with long, spindly fingers at the end of each arm.
[Image Here]
"Friends of Rio, I presume?" says the massive lady.
"Yes, my lady. We have come because we couldn't reach Rio. I am Selene, a Vampire Elder," Selene introduces herself.
"I am Lara Croft," Lara says.
"I-I'm Tony Stark, m-ma'am," I say nervously.
"Hmm, I am Gaia Everfree, ruler of the Everfree Forest and all that dwells within its borders. You seek Rio; unfortunately, you are too late. He is no longer in this world," Gaia says.
My eyes widen.
"W-What? What do you mean? Is he dead?" I ask.
"No, he is simply not in this world anymore. I do not know where he has gone, but I know someone has taken him," Gaia says ponderously.
"Lady Gaia, do you know who has done so?" Selene asks.
"No, all I know is they weren't evil. Their call for help was... Sincere? Or perhaps desperate?" Gaia responds.
"Call? Was Rio summoned?" I ask with surprise.
"Hmm, yes. That seems to match what happened to Rio," Gaia responds, somewhat uncertain.
"Could we be permitted to investigate?" Selene asks.
"I cannot allow you to do so. If you do, you will only be killed," Gaia says with a shake of her head.
"Killed by what?" Lara asks.
"Why the guardians that Rio had placed in his Manor. The golems are quite problematic. Only those permitted may come near his manor," Gaia says as if she were remembering something.
"I see, thank you for your assistance, Lady Gaia," Selene says while bowing.
"It is no trouble. All three of you are welcome in my forest anytime. But I must be going now. It's about time for my usual nap," Gaia says while moving away from us.
Once she leaves, I feel a massive pressure lift off of me.
"That was scary," I admit while wiping the sweat from my face.
"Indeed, it was. Now, however, we have an issue. How do we find Rio?" Lara replies.
"I... I might have a way," Selene says reluctantly.
"What is it?" I ask.
"We'll have to ask a demon," Selene says cautiously.
"I'm sorry, what?" I ask as I swear I hear her say something ridiculous.
"How will we do that? Last I checked, Hell and the other dimensions were erased by Rio's wish, right?" Lara asks.
"You're right. But there are demons on Earth. I know of one that lives in Monstropolis. Assuming he didn't die in the recent crusade, we should be able to talk with him," Selene replies with some certainty.
"I'll say it again. I'm sorry, what?" I repeat myself.
"Explain it to him while I go make contact," Selene says while cleaning up the ritual she made and then running so fast I couldn't even track her.
Several Hours Later...
"Wow, Rio wasn't kidding when he said the world was complicated," I say while trying to wrap my head around the crazy stuff Lara had just said.
"Yes, very complicated, and likely to get more complicated if what he said is true," Lara says.
"More complicated than literal Satan and the multiverse?" I ask with legitimate worry.
"Hard to say. Rio once told me that the future is not a river to carry us; it is the ocean in which we drown if we are not prepared. The universe changes, and we must change with it," Lara says.
"Huh, yeah, I guess that makes sense. But... Ugh. I'm gonna have to ramp up my creation speed if I want to be ready for anything near Gaia's power," I say with a tired sigh.
"Good luck with that. I don't need any of that super high-level stuff. I'll be fine with what I do now," Lara says while pouring a drink.
"How did you meet Rio?" I ask while getting a glass of water.
"He approached me looking to sell some ancient artifacts from Alexander the Great's Empire. We also worked together to prevent the Illuminati from obtaining an artifact that allowed one to control time, or at least travel through it freely," Lara says calmly.
"WHAT!?" I say with wide eyes.
Lara just smirks at me.
"I'm gonna sit Rio down and have a long talk with him when he gets back. He's had so many adventures without me! And if you ever want a smart and handsome partner, just give me a call," I reply somewhat arrogantly.
"Why would I call you to get Rio as my partner?" Lara asks with a fake clueless look.
"Ouch, what does he have that I don't?" I ask and suddenly regret asking that.
"He's more handsome, richer, more polite, has magic, can store items in his spatial storage, he's easy on the eyes, doesn't drink, is very professional, has knowledge of the future, he's really nice to look at, and he's smarter," Lara lists off.
"You mentioned his looks three times! He's not that much better looking than me!" I say, but even I had to admit that was a bald-faced lie.
"Really?" Lara asks while giving me a disbelieving look.
"Okay, fine, he's better looking, but I refuse to believe he's smarter! Sure, he's smart, but smarter, ridiculous," I defend.
"Sure, he might not be as smart in technology or robotics, but he is more knowledgeable overall. He knows a lot of things about a lot of different topics. Something that is often very useful in Tomb Raiding," Lara responds.
I was going to argue with that, but admittedly, I didn't know anything about archaeology or Tomb Raiding, so I couldn't refute her statement.
"You didn't have to name so many things," I weakly defend.
"Can't let your ego get too big," Lara responds with a smile.
'Damn it, Rio! Why are all your friends so witty!'
I look at Lara.
'And HOT!'