The Pet Avengers are trapped inside the belly of the sea monster and they have to get out. Ms Lion the little dog suggests an idea of escape by using the fire method from remembering Pinocchio movie but Niels turns it down by pointing out the obvious as Lockjaw is right there. However, Lockjaw the Inhuman dog is too tired from teleporting several times and he needs to rest. As Redwing the hawk and Niels the cat insist that they must get out of the sea monster's belly, Lockjaw gives another try of teleportation.
The Pet Avengers were teleported to the dry land except that they are in front of the White House. Though the final Infinity Gem is located somewhere at the White House, the Pet Avengers have to figure out what to do without being spotted by the security guards while Lockjaw is napping. After sneaking into the White House through the box, the rest of the Pet Avengers had no choice but to push the sleeping Lockjaw around the corridor and up the stairs much to Zabu's chagrin. While they are moving Lockjaw, they spot the final Infinity Gem on the collar of Obama's dog, Bo.
Summary: Redwing comes back to life with an upgraded AI and has opinions. Especially on Bucky.
A Quiet Morning (ao3) - iam93percentstardust
bucky/tony
G, 751
Summary: Natasha figures it out on a Saturday. She hasn't known up to this point what brought Bucky and Tony together but she figures it out on a quiet morning
As Subtle As Cognitive Recalibration (ao3) - petroltogo
T, 8k
Summary: “Your sole job as Director of SHIELD is to keep track of global threats and you’ve narrowed down the whereabouts of the mad god with mind-control Jedi tricks to the planet Earth,” Tony summarizes flatly. “What’s the plan? We wait till he blows up another super secret facility whose mysteriously undocumented existence doesn’t make me suspicious at all?”
“Germany!” Rogers blurts out, interrupting Tony’s epic stare-down with Fury.
In which the surviving Post-Endgame Avengers find themselves back in 2012, trying to stop Loki from invading the Earth. Without tipping their not-in-the-know team members off. Things go— sideways.
At Home With Captain America (ao3) - WhiteRoseCottage
sam/bucky
G, 7k
Summary: “What can you tell me about how you got to know the Winter Soldier?”
Wilson chuckles. “The first time I met Buck—Sergeant Barnes—he ripped the steering wheel out of the car I was driving on the freeway. He got on the roof, punched through the windshield, pulled the steering wheel off. Just like that.” He mimes with his hands as he describes it.
This doesn’t sound like an auspicious beginning to me, but Wilson is laughing.
Avengers Ameliorated (ao3) - whitchry9
T, 25k
Summary: a·mel·io·rate (verb)- to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improve
Miranda thought she was done with dealing with ridiculous patients after Sherlock Holmes died. But apparently word of her medical prowess has spread, even across the ocean. And when Fury shows up in her flat one night, basically telling her that she is going to New York to be the go-to medical person for The Avengers, she figures they can't be too much worse, right?
Hint- she's wrong.
Captain America Finds His Fella (ao3) - PR Zed (przed)
steve/bucky
T, 5k
Summary: When she reached her eighties, Audrey though she was done with change. She thought things would continue as they always had.
Instead, Steve and his friends have brought her more change than she'd gone through in the twenty years before. She gets used to one routine, and then a new one crops up.
Or what happens when an elderly USO showgirl helps her super hero friend and his boyfriend.
darken your door (ao3) - chaosy
steve/bucky
G, 6k
Summary: A series of visitors to the door of Rebecca Barnes, over the years.
home for wayward (genius) youths (ao3) - ikarakie
G, 1k
Summary: there is a kid on tony's couch. it is not peter, and rhodey is having a breakdown.
How do you solve a problem like Maria? (ao3) - orphan_account
steve/bucky
G, 26k
Summary: Maria knows that the Winter Soldier was a ghost story, and nothing more.
Papa Hawk's Collectibles (ao3) - anarchycox
clint/phil
G, 27k
Summary: Tommy likes the memorabilia shop that opened a few months ago and he really likes the grumpy owners who love to bicker with each other. Clint and Phil are such dorks. He just wonders how they have such cool Avengers collectibles in amid the baseballs and jerseys.
Summary: Clint's new neighbours are a friendly bunch, and enjoy having him and Phil over for drinks on occasion. But pretty soon they notice that Clint often comes home with bruises, and start to worry.
Sauced (ao3) - ABeckoningCat
G, 742
Summary: Clint encounters three drunk girls in a hotel elevator.
The Practical Application of the Lives of Saints (ao3) - Sassaphrass
G, 1k
Summary: James Barnes and Steve Rogers have just started going to the local Catholic school.
One of the nuns watches in amusement as their friendship forms.
The Public Perception Game (ao3) - Amerna
background darcy/steve
T, 2k
Summary: Bucky Barnes' return from the dead and the Winter Soldier revelation could have quickly unraveled into a PR disaster for the Avengers. But thankfully they have Darcy Lewis on their team to play press and public like a fiddle.
The Scoop (ao3) - hollimichele
G, 5k
Summary: The week after I moved to New York City, aliens invaded. Which is pretty much typical.
Hii, thank you for the ask <3 here's a little ridiculous story for "Hide"
"What are you doing?" Sam's voice comes from behind him. startling him into shoving the items he has played out on the table into his jacket.
"Nothing!" Bucky almost yells, his voice sounding too high-pitched to not raise any suspicion, damn it!
"Who were you talking to?" Sam asks, coming up behind Bucky and cornering him against the table, trying to peer over his shoulder to see who Bucky was talking to.
"No one, I wasn't talking to anyone" He says, sweating bullets as Sam keeps pressing closer to his back
"You were, I swear I heard you say "what a good boy" to someone" Sam says. He grips Bucky by the shoulders and forcibly turns him around, raising a suspicious eyebrow as he faces him.
Bucky crosses his arms over his chest as fast as he can, maybe too fast because now Sam is eyeing his chest suspiciously
"Bucky" Sam drawls "What are you hiding?"
"I'm not hiding anything, God, Sam, leave me alone" he huffs. Sam's eyebrows go even higher, he looks ridiculous.
"That's not a way to talk to your loving boyfriend" Sam says and Bucky feels a little guilty, he looks down at his feet and then back up at Sam, who's watching him like a hawk.
To amend that Bucky gives him a kiss, sweet and chaste. Sam hums against his lips, trying to prolong the kiss and as much as Bucky wants to get away from Sam's prying he doesn't stand a chance against this. So he leans into Sam, letting him take the lead and for a second forgets that he's hiding something under his jacket.
"I knew it" Sam says sweetly when he leans back. Bucky blinks at him a few times, then looks down. Of course! Of course, Sam would use Bucky's distraction and open the zipper of his jacket! "You love him!" Sam says, his eyes shining brightly, Bucky opens his mouth to protest but Sam interrupts him "Don't even try to deny it, you called him a good boy! You love him." Sam says, petting Redwing's "beak" peeking out from under Bucky's jacket.
Bucky knows if he lets this go any further he will never live this down, but Sam's grin is so big he doesn't have the heart to deny it. It's okay, whatever, this is better than Sam knowing that there's a ring shoved even deeper into his jacket that Bucky was training redwing to carry.
it’s not fair that you get to live where there’s seagulls AND prairie chickens like i had to get my own birds just to see birds around
There's also crows and swallows and grackle and ravens and rock doves and eagles and hawks and geese and herons and ducks and Redwing blackbirds and like birds are the main wildlife feature here
I love my home. I love when it rains and the steam rises out of the dips and valleys between the hills like smoke. I love the humidity that wraps me up in a warm blanket (yes really, I do). I love the little daisies along the walking path. And the great big ancient sycamore by the creek. And all of the other native trees who I have been learning to identify like the buckeye and the black locust with it's pretty white flowers (they're edible, too). I saw a great blue heron yesterday and today a box turtle. And nesting redwing black birds and red tail hawks and once I even saw a migrating oriole. Things aren't perfect here, and it's maybe not always the safest place to be as a queer person. But I love you kentucky. And conservatives will never take that away from me.
As the scientist is working to wake Lockjaw up, the huge battle rages on in Hell when the All-New Pet Avengers hold off Blackheart's demon army while Throg fights Blackheart to a stand-still. Bats the ghost hound helps D-Dog to fight the demons by possessing one of the demon soldiers to beat them away. Chewie the Flerken Cat uses her tentacles to throw off the demon soldiers away from Redwing the hawk. However, things get dire when the animals are getting overwhelmed and Throg is pinned down until the awakened Lockjaw charges in to the rescue. Lockjaw teleports Blackheart to Attilan throneroom where King Black Bolt is angry with the demon lord for threatening his dog. Lockjaw returns to Hell where Throg, Redwing and the scientist are waiting. Then, Chewie and Bats made it to the room and none of the demons had made it through the portal. Unfortunately, it came with a huge cost. D-Dog did not make it, she sacrificed herself by staying behind to hold the demons off and allow her animal friends to escape.
Re-reading Barbara Gordon's appearance in Hawk and Dove, I've concluded Hank may not have originally been Monarch, but was always intended to be Extant. Hank's being called by someone claiming to be Don from beyond the grave, and Hank says he'll do anytjing to bring his brother back. There are also hints in Team Titans: The name Lord Chaos is a huge one, as is how Redwing and Prester Jon mirror Robin and Oracle. Hank would feel the need to create a Dick pastiche just to prove he's better.
Tbh, I've never put a ton of thought into either the Monarch or the Extant stuff, since it was all so fucking messy even by DC-in-the-90s standards, and it always felt more like DC just desperately looking for a way to keep Hank relevant after they killed off Don (since they were conceived as a duo, the Hawk AND Dove concept...rather than DC ever previously having done much to make their characters stand on their own, outside of that concept).
Course, unlike with a lot of the rest of DC's more convoluted plots, I just flat out was never invested enough in Hank's character to do the mental gymnastics it takes to try and unpack everything they did with him back then. Like, attempting to make sense of the constant 'everything you thought you knew about Hank Hall was wrong and THIS is the truth, at least until the next time we pull this shtick and do this all over again' twists to his character.....that was practically a full time job.
(Cut to twelve year old me, who was like I know I'm not getting paid for this, and I've got a strong enough grasp on capitalism by now to know that means I can quit at any time and that time is now.)
Like, they really did look at Hank Hall and go "this man is a wall and by god, we are committed to staying right here and throwing as much spaghetti as it takes until we come up with a random twist on his character that STICKS and magically makes readers actually give a damn about him!"
Arrested development voice over: They did not, in fact, manage to come up with a twist that stuck and magically made readers actually give a damn about him. But in the end, they still all went home eventually anyway, and that’s the story of how nobody ever ended up actually giving a damn about the character who was Hank Hall. And also Extant. And also Monarch. Maybe. Probably. Look, it was something like that, we’re pretty sure.
Anyway, the point of all this - in as much as I ever have a point which let's be real, mmmmm what would that be like, even - is that you, dear anon, might have managed to succeed where DC could not, a full twenty five years later: coming up with an angle on all that which actually entertains me enough to make it worth wading into all the Monarch/Extant bullshit.
Because if there's one thing I DO believe to be true of Hank Hall, no matter what time travel and Order/Chaos fuckery is afoot with his character....
Its that a Hank who went full supervillain?
Would absolutely be petty and obsessive enough to create an evil doppelganger of Nightwing just so he can a) get his jollies playing puppet master with the life and mind of someone who genuinely at times believed himself to BE Dick Grayson, b) make the real Dick Grayson look bad via the actions of his puppet Deathwing, the ultimate smear campaign, and c) throw him in the real Dick Grayson's face while saying 'look at him, he's you but faster' and gloating about how he made a better Dick Grayson than the real Dick Grayson.
Literally everyone else: Ummm, DID you though?
Evil Hank: No, I totally did. Look at my creation, Deathwing. He's totally a better Nightwing than the real Nightwing who I have definitely not been resentfully comparing myself to and falling short of for pretty much as long as I've known him. Hah! Ah hahaha! Ha hah! I did it! I finally beat Dick Grayson! This is me winning!
Literally everyone else: I mean, this is definitely something. We'll give you that.
Dick: Why does this sort of shit keep happening to me? I would like to know please. Like what am I doing, what am I putting out there that makes people so obsessed with beating me at the game of life without even first notifying me that we are actually in some sort of weird competition. I am a simple man who just wants simple things like to save the world and maybe hear his dad tell him he's proud of him, doesn't even have to be in that order. Like is there somewhere I can get a T-shirt that says "Weird thought but maybe I don't actually give a shit about beating you and being better than you and your insecurities are a you problem"?
Boone: I am feeling super attacked right now and I'm not even in this post.
Cat is a redwing. Kaner doesn’t have a team. My captain hasn’t said either way. Corey Perry is a hawk 🤬 yes we have bedard but it no longer feels like my team
(Yes once we start playing again I will be back on board but I’m mourning the lost of 1988 at the moment )
Just realized how much Pied Piper and Prester Jon look alike. Has Hawk met Pied Piper? Like when he was creating his cue that it's ten minutes to Zero Hour (with Killowat bringing them all back so he can brainwash them), why did he have Pied Piper in mind? Like, I get that Redwing and Prester Jon are Robin and Oracle, but why? (Yeah, my masochism has reached a fevered pitch as I read early 90s Titans.)
I'm sorry i don't know who Prester Jon is and my searches are giving me a marvel character that doesn't look like him and this guy:
Let the crows go by hawking their caw and caw.
They have been swimming in midnights of coal mines somewhere.
Let ’em hawk their caw and caw.
Let the woodpecker drum and drum on a hickory stump.
He has been swimming in red and blue pools somewhere hundreds of years
And the blue has gone to his wings and the red has gone to his head.
Let his red head drum and drum.
Let the dark pools hold the birds in a looking-glass.
And if the pool wishes, let it shiver to the blur of many wings, old swimmers from old places.
Let the redwing streak a line of vermillion on the green wood lines.
And the mist along the river fix its purple in lines of a woman’s shawl on lazy shoulders.