Avengers ⁶

Halloween at Stark Tower is boring. That's what Tony declared when he bought a Victorian mansion in the Pennsylvania wilderness simply because it had an "atmospheric background" and the state's name sounded similar to Transylvania.

"How many people died here, you say?" Sam asked, taking in the surroundings—no set dressing with cobwebs and skeletons, just restored 19th-century interiors.

"About five hundred over two centuries," Natasha chuckled, examining the expensive snacks shaped like eyes, fingers, and spiders. "And the last corpse was last year. A realtor fell down the stairs and broke his neck."

Sam whistled, and Peter, standing next to him, nervously scratched the back of his head, torn between a bad feeling (although his spider sense was silent) and delight:

• I hope it doesn't end like in "Thirteen Ghosts."

"Judging by Strange, it's very possible," Bucky chuckled darkly, taking a sip of beer, "I saw him on the way to the attic, muttering something about 'Stark's IQ miscalculations.'"

"He's always grumbling about Stark's IQ," Natasha said, "and the feeling is mutual. But I'd be on the alert—if our sorcerer senses anything, the party won't be so languid."

"Oh, stop whining!" the hero of the occasion rolled his eyes as he approached. "The house is clean, there are sensors all around. This is just a Victorian ruin with history, not the Overlock Hotel."

• And how much did you save on this story, Tony?

"For once, I got it for next to nothing; the repairs cost more—it's not even sporting," Tony snorted, sipping whiskey from a skull-shaped crystal glass. "But hey! At least it's atmospheric. This isn't some dreary nightclub set with bats—this is exclusive."

"It tastes of decay," Loki, who had been brought to the party by Thor and was currently roasting a boar in the courtyard "in honor of the feast of the spirits" under the supervision of Happy and Rhodey, added with a predatory grin, "I like it."

“We’ve come to the point where the Fawn approves of me,” Tony snorted.

“I don’t approve, I just like how nervous those of you with half a brain get.”