The Chase

The sun was starting to set over a few mountains as the team was starting to make camp for the night. They had settled in a decent looking spot and started to unpack. Appa gave a low groan while Aang handed down a couple of sleeping bags to Sokka. Toph and Jiba took a few steps away from Appa and even though they were blind, they liked the spot as she said, "Hey, you guys picked a really great campsite." The blind Earthbenders flexed their toes against the white grass. "The grass is really soft here."
"That's not grass." Sokka said as he turned to them. Glancing to the bison he said, "Appa's just shedding."
"What?! Gross!" Lucy and Katara complained as they cringed in disgust and raised their legs.
"It's not gross. It's just a part of spring." Aang said.
"Aye. You know, rebirth, flowers blooming, and Appa gets a new coat." Happy added. Grace gave a "what is wrong with you" look to Happy.
"Ah, yes. The beauty of spring. How lovely." Gray muttered. Suddenly Appa let loose a mighty sneeze and it sent a lot of fur flying. The fur from the sneeze fell to the ground and even more fell when Appa started shaking himself.
"Appa!" Lucy yelled.
"Stop it! Ugh!" Katara cringed even more and gagged.
"It's not that bad Katara." Sokka said as the fur stopped falling.
"And a great beard." Aang added when he joined the others on the ground. They heard Thor's voice say from the other side of Appa, "I'm sorry, but there's only one great beard and that would be from Asgard."
Everyone looked to see the Prince of Asgard walk around the bison to present a long white beard made of bison hair. Mostly everyone was awestruck by the sight. Aang then said, "Wow, that's some major craftsmanship there, Thor."
"Thank you, friend Aang." Thor said as he gently rubbed the fake beard. He looked up as he respectfully said, "I crafted it to look like my father, Odin's beard."
Most of the guys started breaking out with laughter from the silliness. Katara brushed some of the fur off of her sleeve and said, "Me and Nat are just glad that we finally have another girl in the group, because you boys can be disgusting."
"Hey!" Some of the older men said in offence while looking to each other. Toph came walking between Aang and Sokka while asking, "Excuse me, do any of you have a razor," She lifted both her arms and shocked the group with what was under them, "because I got some hairy pits."
Just about everyone broke out into more laughter from the joking around. The hair under his nose made Aang suddenly sneeze. The power from the sneeze knocked Aang into one of Appa's legs while blowing off Sokka, Thor and Toph's fur art. The young Airbender fell to the ground with a large, spikey looking clump of fur on his back. He lifted his head and they all started laughing again. Even Katara giggled a little from the sight.
It was a little later that evening just when the light of the sun started to fade into night. The group were just finishing up making camp. Sokka, Thor and Steve brought back some firewood, Bruce, Natasha and Clint went through their food supplies, Aang used his airbending to help set up the tent with a single gust of wind and Katara was using her waterbending to help out. The young Waterbender happened to look over to the other side of the spot and saw Toph laying on her back with a piece of grass swaying in her mouth. Feeling that Toph could be helping out, Katara got up and walked over to the young Earthbender. When she stood in front of her, Katara said, "So, Toph, usually, when we set up the camp, we try to divide up the work."
"Even though it doesn't always work out." Sokka shouted as he walked with Steve and Thor. Bruce and Clint cast a glance to each other before looking to Nat. But the spy just shook her head as if to say don't ask. Toph, feeling fine where she was, just shrugged and said, "Hey, don't worry about me. I'm good to go."
"Well, actually, what I'm trying to say is, uh…" Katara said, trying to better explain what she meant by gesturing to a stream, "some of us might go and fetch some water," Then she gestured over to the others as they prepared the camp, "while someone else might help to set up the fire pit or put up the tent."
A chittering Momo came flapping by with something in his back feet. Katara held out her hands and he dropped a few nuts. Katara looked to the flying lemur with a smile when she said, "Even Mom does his fair share around here."
"Katara, I'm just fine." Toph said and removed the piece of grass from her mouth. She flicked it away as she said, "I can carry my own weight. I don't need a fire." She patted the bag next to her, "I've already collected my own food, and look…"
She sat up and flexed her arms out to make to slabs of earth appear out of the ground. The shaking startled Katara a little but she was able to calm herself. Toph gestured to the earth made shelter by saying, "My tent's all set up."
"Well, that's great for you and all, but we still need to finish-" Katara said to try and get Toph to help. But the young Earthbender cut her off by arguing, "I don't understand- what's the problem here?"
Both girls gave each other frustrated looks, even though one couldn't see but tell, before Toph used her earthbending to slide into her tent. Katara just sighed and turned to walk away, "Never mind."
Clint, who had heard the whole thing, got up and walked over to the Waterbender as she came back over. Placing a hand on her shoulder, Clint said, "Go easy on her. She's just trying to prove herself out here."
"I guess you do have a point." Katara agreed as she tried to see where Toph was coming from. Looking Clint in the eye she said, "I'll try apologizing later."
"At a girl." Clint said and patted Katara on the back.
…
A little while later, the guys were helping Aang to unload the saddle from Appa's back. Aang stood on Appa's head while Sokka, Steve, Thor, Bruce and Clint all stood on the ground. Sokka motioned for Aang to bring it down. With a step forward and a movement of his arms, Aang was able to lift the saddle off of a snoring Appa's back with a strong wind of airbending. He started to move it towards the five on the ground, but when he let the wind die, the saddle ended up falling on Sokka. The Water Tribe teen cried out when it fell on him and Aang shouted, "Sorry!"
"Come on!" Steve said as he, Aang and the others moved to help Sokka up.
Katara and Natasha had been watching scene before the latter looked in a certain direction. She lightly nudged Katara and it made the young Waterbender look to her. Natasha gestured with her head and suggested, "Maybe it's time to try to talk to Toph?"
Katara looked over to Toph and thought about earlier and knew that it was best to try and make an effort. Katara set the pot of water in her hands and smiled, "Yeah, I think it is."
Katara walked over to Toph while Natasha watched from her spot. Katara saw that Toph was eating one of her rations and said, "Hey, Toph, I wanted to apologize for earlier." She rubbed the back of her head as she thought about it, "I think we're all just a little bit tired and getting on each other's nerves."
"Yeah," Toph said after swallowing her bite, "you do seem pretty tired."
Her words caught Katara off guard and even Natasha had heard what she said. Katara's mood soured a little and she said, "I meant all of us."
"Well, good night." Toph said and threw the remainder of her meal away. Then without another word, Toph crawled into her earth tent and laid down on her front. Katara shrugged, "Good night."
Katara cast one more glance at the sleeping Toph before walking back to the others. Katara walked up to Nat and quietly said, "Can you believe that?"
"Somewhat yes, actually." Natasha said as they walked to the others. Clint happened to notice them coming up and asked, "So, how'd it go?"
"She went and tried." Natasha shrugged. But then with a shake of her head, "But it didn't turn out like she thought."
"Well, she'll come around." Clint said when he looked to the tent and back at the two. Nat then said, "Let's just try and get some rest. Maybe things will be better in the morning."
Katara just nodded and followed after the two to finish up.
…
Much later that evening, the entire group was sleeping under the stars. But over with Toph's earth tent, the young girl was sleeping soundly. That is, until she could sense the vibrations of something coming towards them and awoke with a gasp. Moving to where she could sat on her hands and knees, Toph felt the ground and kept an ear out. Though it was far away, she could definitely sense it coming up fast. Quickly getting out of her earth tent, Toph shouted, "Wake up, you guys! There's something coming towards us!"
Her shouting caused everyone to wake up and look to the young girl. They saw her running to them and rose to their feet. Aang sat up on Appa's leg and asked, "What is it, Toph?"
"What do you sense?" Thor asked as he, Steve and Clint all started to look around. Toph kneeled to the ground and felt the earth again. Her friends started to gather around her as she could feel it coming. She found it a little weird when she said, "It feels kind of like an avalanche." But with a shake of her head, "But it's not an avalanche."
"Your powers of perception are truly frightening." Sokka sluggishly commented. Clint shook his head, "No, if Toph senses something wrong, we should take her word for it."
"Should we leave, or meet this head on?" Katara asked, wondering what they should do. Bruce shook his head, "And yet we have no idea what we're going to be facing."
"Could it be that?" Thor asked and pointed in a certain direction. Everyone who could looked in the direction to see a faraway column of smoke heading in their direction. Thor then placed his hand against his ear and said, "And if you listen, you can hear something in the distance."
Everyone became quiet and did hear an odd sound coming from the direction of the smoke column. Aang then said, "I think we should get out of here. Better to be safe than sorry."
"Then we'd better hurry." Steve said before they moved to get their camp site up.
When everything was accounted for and placed back onto Appa, Aang flicked the reins while Thor Mjolnir forward and flew that way to lighten the load a little. When they were above the trees, they noticed the smoke column getting closer and could see something approaching. They were all curious about it as Katara asked, "What is that thing?"
"Even from here," Bruce said as he looked at the coming object, "It looks to be pretty big and fast."
Far behind them, the column of smoke came from a large metal tank charged across the plains to the forest.
…
The moon was starting to be covered by clouds as Appa growled as he flew through the air. It had been a few hours since they had left their camp to get away from whatever was coming at them. Just about everyone yawned from how tired they were. Aang fought to keep his eyes open as he flew while everyone in the saddle tried to stay awake as well.
They soon came over another forest and Aang steered Appa to land. When the bison landed in a decent looking spot, Thor landed next to the bison. But before anything was said and done, Toph leapt out of the saddle and jumped to the ground as she cried with joy, "Ah, land, sweet land."
"You like the dirt a little too much, Toph." Clint cracked as he jumped from the saddle and helped Natasha and Katara down. Toph laughed a little before rising to her feet again. With a big smile she said, "See you guys in the morning."
"Actually, can you help us unload, please?" Katara asked right as Toph started walking. Even the Avengers happened to notice how quick Toph was willing to settle down. Toph turned and asked, "Really? You need my help to unload Sokka's funky smelling sleeping bag?"
Sokka happened to take said sleeping bag from Aang and took a few sniffs. It was indeed funky smelling as it caused the teen to groan in disgust. Both Thor and Steve recoiled a little when they could smell a faint trace. Sokka fell to the ground with a blush as Katara started walking over, "Well, yeah, it would be nice if you did. That and with everything else.
"You're a part of our team now and…" Katara started to remind. But Toph had a slight attitude when she pointed at Katara and argued, "Look, I didn't ask any of you to unload my stuff."
"Toph, come on." Clint said as he came over to help alleviate the tensions. But Toph seemed a bit stubborn when she said, "Clint, I'm carrying my own weight, remember."
"That isn't the point!" Katara angrily said with her hands on her hips as she could feel her frustrations with the Earthbender starting to rise. Marching up to the younger girl she said, "Ever since you and Clint joined our group, mostly it's been you that's been selfish and unhelpful."
"What?!" Toph questioned as she turned and felt the accusation outrageous. Pointing a finger right in Katara's face she said, "Look here, Sugar Queen, I gave up everything I had to keep my friendship with Clint together and to teach Aang earthbending." Katara, not liking the finger in her face, was about to say something when Toph turned her head to her and said, "So don't you dare talk to me about being selfish."
Then with another movement of her arms while sitting down, Toph and Jiba created another tent made of earth. Katara glared down at the girl and questioned, "Sugar Queen?!"
She flinched when a triangular door of earth sprung up. She found it outrageous when she questioned, "Di-Did you just slam the door right in my face?
"How can you two be so infuriating?" Katara angrily questioned as she pounded on the door or kicked the sides of the tent. From back by Appa, everyone had watched the whole scene. And while one or two found it a little amusing, the others were worried when Aang asked, "Should we go and do something?"
"You can if you want to." Bruce tiredly said, knowing that it was better not to get involved. Sokka looked to his friend and said, "Hey, I'm just enjoying the show."
"Here. Just in case." Steve said and handed Aang his shield. Aang took it, and knew what Steve was implying. With a deep breath, he and Lucy walked over to the angered Katara as she was pounding on the stone door, "Okay, okay."
Katara stopped as she tensely glanced back to him with a glare. 
"Both?" Katara asked as if she weren't the one needing to calm down. She turned around and shouted with a crazed look in her tired eyes, "I'm completely calm!"
"Sure you are." Ray muttered, observing the scene. "Go wait with the others. I'll handle those two."
Lucy led Katara and Erza away while Ray headed towards the earth tent and banged on it.
"Toph, Jiba get out here and help set up camp!"
"We already told those two that-" 
"That wasn't a request, it was a order." 
"Yeah well, you can take that order and shove up your-" Jiba's curse was cut short.
"Jiba!" Toph reprimanded her brother. "It sounds like he's the group's leader. We can't challenge his orders."