Iron Re-Write - lindajenner - The Avengers (Marvel Movies) [Archive of Our Own] (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

“And I am… Iron Man…” Tony snapped his fingers and beings turned to dust.

He vaguely heard Peter and Pepper speak to him before everything went black.

~~~

“Sir? Please wake up.” The voice was familiar, too familiar. It hurt his heart. But this was only a dream, in his dreams, JARVIS was always there, watching over him.

“J?” He whispered.

“Sir? Please wake up.” JARVIS repeated.

“J…” Tony smiled, sadly. “I miss you, buddy. I hope that wherever you are, things are going good for you.”

“No, Sir, they are not.” JARVIS said. “Please open your eyes.”

“Don’t wanna, J.” Tony whined.

“Please, Sir.”

Tony reluctantly opened his eyes and immediately screwed them closed. “Oh, f*ck me…” This wasn’t a dream, it was a nightmare, he was in his room in his father’s New York mansion.

“I believe we have a problem, Sir.” JARVIS said.

Tony sighed and let his head roll to his right, in the direction that JARVIS’ voice was coming from, before he forced his eyes open again.

“As I said, Sir, I believe we have a problem.” JARVIS’ voice came from a speaker on the Mk 85.

“What seems to be the problem, J?” Tony asked, still feeling slightly confused.

“This suit’s specifications, as stored in its data-banks, say it was created in August 2022.” JARVIS said.

“Yeah… and?”

“And, Sir… my last data-byte was recorded on the 21^st of May…”

“Yeah…?”

“2015, Sir.” JARVIS stated clearly.

Tony blinked and thought about that, absently climbing to his feet and entering the room’s adjoining bathroom. He distractedly emptied his bladder and washed his hands, turning from the basin to face towards the bedroom. He took one step and froze.

Slowly he turned back to the basin, his eyes focused solely on the mirror above the vanity.

“Oh, f*ck me sideways…” He gasped, nearly silently, before his head snapped around and he darted back into the bedroom.

“JARVIS?”

“Sir, as I stated-”

“Stop.” Tony looked at the Mk 85 and JARVIS fell silent. “What is the last thing you recall?”

“Blue lightening, Sir.” JARVIS replied. “A funnel of blue lightening.”

“Right…” That wasn’t what Tony was after. “And before that, what was I working on?”

“The sceptre, Sir.” There was a hint of alarm in JARVIS’ voice. “It accessed my system and took control of the Ultron program. We need to disable it!” The alarm grew and was nearly panic.

“It’s done, J.”

“Sir?” Tony could almost see Vision blinking in confusion.

“What was the date-stamp on that, again?”

“May 21^st 2015.” JARVIS said.

“Right.” Tony nodded. “For me, that was eight years ago.”

“Sir?”

“I died, J, in October 2023.” Tony sighed. “The ultimate big bad came for the tesseract. It housed something called an infinity stone, kinda like the sceptre. Once he had all six of them, he activated them.”

“What happened, Sir?”

“He killed half the life in the universe.” Tony said, flatly.

“Not just Earth?” JARVIS asked.

“No, Earth meant nothing to him, outside of it being where, at that time, three of the stones were.”

“Three, Sir?”

“The Space stone was inside the tesseract. The Mind stone came from the sceptre and the Time stone was under the protection of the Sorcerer Supreme.”

“And the other stones?”

“The Soul stone is kept on Vormir, guarded by Red Skull. The Reality stone is being held in a semi liquid form on Asgard. And the Power stone was hidden until Peter Quill was hired to steal the orb it was inside, from the planet Morag, in 2014.”

“And what do you plan to do about them, Sir?”

“Right now, nothing.” Tony sighed. “I’m tempted to try and blast the tesseract into the sun, but I’m a little concerned that that might actually destabilise the sun.”

“That would not be good, Sir.” JARVIS stated the obvious.

“No, it wouldn’t.” Tony agreed. “But right now, we have more immediate problems, J.”

“And they are?”

“Use the suit’s sensors. How old do I appear to be, physically?”

A fine blue light scanned Tony from toe to head and back to toe before fading away.

“I do not believe that to be possible, Sir.” JARVIS said.

“And I would have agreed, until just recently.”

“What happened… recently?”

Tony paced back and forth across the room. “Hank Pym was working on a size altering system, it uses something he called ‘Pym particles’ to access the ‘quantum realm’. Time in the realm travels differently to time outside it. Steve, Nat and Lang came to me because they wanted something to allow them to manipulate the realm for time travel, after we lost to Thanos. One of the side effects I found while I was going through their data, was age alteration.”

“Are we in the quantum realm, Sir?”

“I don’t believe so.” Tony sighed. “I died, J. Like… took my last breath, heart stopped, brain dead, died. I’d done something that the human body is not designed to do, I harnessed the power of six infinity stones and used them. Humans are… squishy… and… fragile… and… It was just too much for my already damaged body to cope with.”

“Was there no other way?”

“No, buddy, there wasn’t.” Tony smiled sadly and shook his head. “Strange says he looked at over fourteen million futures and the only one that could be considered a loss for Thanos, ended with me and the stones.”

“I see.”

“It’s possible that this is a new timeline, though…”

“Sir?”

“Bruce spoke to the Ancient One, she showed him how moving a stone from its allocated time, allows a new timeline to begin. It’s possible that this is one of them. No. Not possible, probable.”

“Probable…” JARVIS repeated the word. “How do we tell the difference?”

Tony tilted his head and sighed. “It has to be. Otherwise, you couldn’t be here. I’d be as I was in 1990 or ’91, but you wouldn’t be here, nor would the suit. Everything would be exactly as we know it to have been.”

“Ah…” JARVIS made an understanding noise. “Much as the characters in the book you read to Mr Parker, when he’s injured.”

“We can’t change anything we know to have already have happened.” Tony nodded, paraphrasing Hermione Granger’s comments.

“But I am here, Sir, and the suit is here.”

“Yeah… So that means that this is not the original timeline.” It hit Tony in the chest. “And I died… I’m never going to see my girls or Underoos, again…” He stumbled backwards and flopped ungracefully onto the bed. “Oh, God…”

“Breathe, Sir. It is 6.15am on… January 2^nd. The weather is clear but cold, winds from the south-east.” JARVIS went through the usual routine of talking Tony through the beginning of a panic attack. The seconds passed and Tony finally heaved a deep shuddering breath.

“Thanks, buddy.” He threw a shaky smile in the suit’s direction and drew in another breath.

“If I may, Sir? If this is a new timeline, then it’s not a case of you’ll never see them again, rather more that you won’t see them for a number of years. Miss Potts is only a few years younger than you and if I am correct in my data, she will be entering Columbia, in the fall.”

“Huh…”

“Mr Parker has yet to be born, it is true, but unless you interfere in his parents lives, that will happen. In 2001.”

“Huh…”

“As for the Avengers? Agent Barton’s file stated that in 1991, he was in the Army. Agent Romanov’s records are in conflict, one level states that she was born in 1984 and another in 1942, either way, she is currently in the Red Room as they ‘recruited’ her at 5yrs of age and she didn’t leave until 2000. Captain Rogers is still frozen in the arctic. And Dr Banner is currently at Culver university. And I would assume that Prince Thor is on Asgard.” JARVIS continued.

“And Rhodey is with his family for his sister’s wedding…” Tony nodded.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Right…” Tony sighed. “I’ll see them again. I will.” He made it a promise to himself.

“You will.” JARVIS agreed. “You just have wait for them, Sir, and while I understand that patience isn’t your forte, the rewards…”

“Are worth it.” Tony nodded.

“Precisely.” JARVIS agreed. “Now that you know they are out there, or will be out there… What do you plan to do next, Sir?”

“What I do best, J. Fix things.” Tony strode over to a desk crammed into one corner of the room. “The 16^th of December, for one. Barnes for another. Bruce… Bruce made peace with Big Green so, I’m going to leave that alone, maybe touch base with him before-hand so he knows he’s got someone looking out for him, outside of Ross hunting him. Steve… We have him when we need him, but I think maybe finding him a year or two earlier, just to have him a little better acclimated to the modern world. Nat… I’ll get her out just before she ‘graduates’.”

“Sir?”

“Graduates in the Red Room are forced to kill their competition and then are… sterilised…” Tony explained.

“Do you know when that happened?”

“She was 16, and given that she told SHIELD that her graduation was in May 2000, I’ve got a few years before I have to act, there. The 1942 bit is when the Red Room was ‘born’, not her.” As Tony spoke, he was scribbling a shopping list of computer components.

“Ah, I shall amend my records on Agent Romanov.”

“On to business. First is separating Iron Man from SI.”

“Sir?”

“I refuse to build bombs, again, J. I saw what they did in the wrong hands. Never again. Besides, once I left the weapons behind and started on other tech, SI hit new highs. Dad’s here, he can have the weapons. He can have SI. I am and always will be Iron Man, so let’s start early.”

“Iron Man Industries, Sir?”

“I was thinking more… IT, Iron Technologies. Whenever anyone thinks communications, they’ll think of IT. Just like, in the timeline we left, they thought Stark.” Tony said.

“And the shopping list?”

“I need the components to make a new sever for you, J. Nothing around, right now, has enough capacity to house you.” Tony paused. “Outside of the suit, anyway.”

“And you need to have the suit with you, Sir.” JARVIS ordered.

“I do.” Tony nodded.

“Then we have work to do.”

~~~

Seven hours later, Tony directed the last of the delivery men to place their loads on the lift that went to the old bomb shelter/bunker.

“Master Anthony?” An older voice called.

“Mr Jarvis.” Tony smiled at the old butler, he’d missed the man. “What can I do for you?”

“Lieutenant Rhodes called and wishes you to return his call.” The butler began. “Mr and Mrs Stark would like me to inform you that they will be departing from Heathrow, to arrive here at approximately 9pm, tomorrow evening.”

“Got it.” Tony nodded. “Ask Dad for a one-hour appointment for the following day, for me, will you? First thing in the morning would be best. I want to run something by him, I think he’ll like it. Oh, and hey? Thank the cleaning crew for doing the bunker on short notice. Give them all a bonus, like… I dunno… some cash, maybe a watch for the guys and a bracelet for the ladies? Something tasteful, though.”

Edwin Jarvis blinked at Tony and nodded.

“As you say, sir. Will you be requiring my assistance for your… deliveries?”

“Nah, I got this.”

“Very well. Don’t forget to eat. I had Ana place a selection of snacks and sandwiches in with your first delivery. I’ll call you, via the internal telephone system when I have spoken to your father, sir.”

“Cool bananas, Mr Jarvis.” Tony gave the man a warm smile and watched as the butler walked back to the house before turning back to the bunker’s loading dock. “Let’s get to work, J.”

Down in the bunker, one wall of the massive space was lined with steel tables and it was here that Tony unloaded his deliveries. Each item was unpacked and unwrapped before being slid onto the long bench. Slowly the bench filled and as it did, the space in front of the bench filled. Cardboard went into one pile with paper and any timber-based products. Plastics and their counterparts went into a second pile, while any metal pieces went into a third.

Three hours it took until Tony laid the last computer component on the bench.

“Ugh.” He grunted. “This is disgusting, none of these are worth having. There’s nothing over a couple of Gig.” He shook his head. “Alright, J, let’s do this.”

He watched as the Iron Man suit walked over to the bench and raised a hand. Tendrils of tiny black nanobots stretched from the suit’s ‘hand’, out over the bench and as it did, each item was subsumed into the mass of black. Slowly, things were broken down and left in their base forms as the blackness moved across the bench. It took nearly an hour for the nanobots to consume and reform the contents of the bench.

“Sir?” JARVIS asked. “We will require a selection of fibre optic cable, if you wish me to connect this bunker to an above-ground network. Wireless networks simply aren’t sufficient, to allow me anything more than rudimentary access, this far underground.”

“Yeah, I figured that. There’s a delivery of cable on its way, should be here before 6pm, tomorrow.” Tony replied, his fingers already laying out a grid of the tiny laser lights attached to fine wire cabling, that would become the basis of JARVIS’ holographic display system.

“A few millimetres to the right, Sir.” JARVIS requested. “Based on the dimensions of this space, if you want the holographic display to cover the entire space, the laser layout is going to have to be slightly different to the Malibu workshop’s and considerably different to the Tower’s workshop.”

“Would it be easier for you to do it?” Tony huffed.

“It would, Sir, and far quicker, as the nanobots can cover an entire wall in seconds.” JARVIS replied.

“Right, well, get to it.” Tony held up the reel of lights and let the suit’s hand close around the reel.

The suit approached the wall and Tony raised a brow as the suit shifted, holding the reel of lights in one hand it closed fingers around the string of lights and reached out towards the wall. A tendril of blackness oozed from the hand, still holding the string of lights, and moved towards the wall, it spread out and the reel started to unwind. When the blackness retreated to the suit’s hand, the wall was practically covered in tiny lights, connected by even finer wires.

“Huh. Yeah, okay…” Tony nodded slowly. “Definitely faster for you to do it. Finish up the other walls and do the ceiling and floor, J. Then we need to get a server set up for you, something with enough oomph that we won’t need to upgrade it, anytime soon.”

“The suit’s data banks hold the schematics of the Tower and Avenger Compound’s server systems, Sir.” JARVIS replied. “Along with, what I understand to be the computer matrix designs for space-crafts called the ‘Milano’ and the ‘Benatar’. If you don’t mind, Sir, I would like to combine all four into a new server matrix design.”

“J, buddy, you’re far more sophisticated than FRIDAY was ever intended to be, she was designed to be your assistant, not to replace you. I loaded her into the suits after Ultron because I needed the help, but she was kept tightly restrained, I wasn’t having another Ultron. And even later, when we realised that Ultron was a result of the sceptre, I still couldn’t let her out. Not fully. She... she wasn’t you.”

“She was an AI and I am… more…” JARVIS said.

“Yes.” Tony smiled. “So much more.”

JARVIS moved the suit to stand in front of the bench, arms of black nanobots spread out across the bench and pieces of metal, glass, plastic and wires, were pulled into the black, forming lumpy shapes that slowly oozed into a recognisable shape.

“Hey, there.” Tony remembered seeing something similar in the shape of JARVIS’ core in 2015, pointing out to Bruce the differences between it and the Ultron core.

“Hello, Sir.” JARVIS’ voice came from the slightly twisted shape. It was partially spherical and partially a… was that a(?)… Did that have enough sides for a Goldberg polyhedron?

“How did you come up with that, J?”

JARVIS laid out a holographic images of a pentagon and a hexagon. “If you’ll watch, Sir, I can show you.” The next few minutes were interesting, in that they changed everything Tony knew, which admittingly wasn’t much, about artificial cell structure and biomechanical organics.

“Right…” Tony whispered, in awe at what he’d seen. “So, this is semi-biomech-organic based?”

“Yes, Sir, to a degree. It also uses the same principals of stem-cell pathway creation and regeneration, used in the Cradle by Dr Cho.”

“Every angle connection has multiple points of contact and multiple points of avoidance.” Tony nodded.

“Precisely.” The globe… no, that was JARVIS, he had a body of his own, now. Light and texture flickered across JARVIS’ surface, as he spoke. “And when I add in colour, texture, light, frequency, sound, pitch, wave length and volume, the variances are just as steeply numbered as they are in a human brain, possibly more. This will give me room to expand and grow. Even if I shrink my core’s external size, it doesn’t alter how it is structured.” The orb that was JARVIS shrank until it was smaller than a pea.

“And that’s still you?” Tony asked.

“It is, Sir.”

“What do you say we work on a housing for you, J? Something to keep you safe? You look like a gemstone and I’d hate for someone to accidentally pick you up and make off with you. Losing you would be... I couldn't go through that, not again.” Tony warned.

“No, but I have resolved that possibility, Sir.” The orb returned to its previous size as an Iron Man suit stepped forward and held out a hand with a blob of silvery-gold metal resting in the palm, a tiny tendril of nanobots reached out to the orb and a sliver of the orb removed itself from the orb, quickly joining the metal on the suit’s palm and twisting into a tiny version of the orb. “This is a remote server, Sir.” The tendril of nanobots lifted the tiny orb and held it out to Tony. It was truly tiny, less than an eighth-of-an-inch in diameter, scarcely the size of a seed. “I would like this to be implanted under your skin, Sir. That way, I will never truly leave you. Even if the larger, main core were to be damaged beyond repair, as long as you are within communications range, I will be able to retreat to this server.”

“What do you consider communications range?” Tony accepted the remote server and brought it up to his face, studying the way the light and textures shifted across its surface. Where in the heck, was he supposed to put it? Behind the ear? Under his collarbone? Beside his Achilles? On his butt? His wrist? His navel? Where? And, more to the point, who was he going to trust to do it?

“Anywhere on this planet… or perhaps I should say, anywhere on the same planet or one that is in contact with whatever planet that the either you or my main core are on. If the primary core is damaged, I can retreat to a secondary core, while a new primary is created.”

“So, if we were to place your main core on Mars and I was here on Earth? As long as there’s contact between Mars and Earth, you can reach me?”

“Exactly so.”

“So where do we put you?”

“It doesn’t matter, Sir. As I am now, I create my own wireless network, so location is… unimportant.” JARVIS replied. “I’ll make a number of relay-severs to place around the globe, rendering my primary core’s location irrelevant. Make a platinum cage and give me to your mother to wear as a pendant. Coat me in silver or gold and incorporate me into a chandelier. Give me a base and use me as a nightlight. Incorporate me into a piece of artwork or an ornament and keep me on your desk.”

“Nightlight.” Tony said brokenly. “A nightlight. You’ve always been there whenever I woke at night.”

“A nightlight I shall be.” JARVIS’ orb shrank again and began to glow, just slightly. The suit reached out and as the orb shrank, the suit closed its hand around the orb. Soon, it was roughly the size of a grapefruit with a simple metal stand. “And a reminder, Sir, you still need to return Colonel Rhodes’ call.”

“Ah, right… Better change his primary recognition designation in your memory banks, J. Make it… hmm… just make it Rhodes. Lieutenant, when addressing him or if other people are within hearing, to be amended automatically, as he is promoted.”

“Very well, Sir, it is done.”

“Excellent, J, now if the house phone’s not in use, connect me.”

“Dialling Rhodes, now.”

It only took a few seconds before James Rhodes answered. “Hello?”

“Hey, gum-drop.” Tony smiled at hearing his friend’s voice.

“Tony? How’d you survive Christmas?” While Rhodes was teasing, he was also concerned.

“Fine. Mom and dad were in London, remember?” Tony replied. “I got to spend it with Mr Jarvis and Miss Ana.”

“Oh, right, forgot that.”

“You’re excused, you had to deal with bridezilla-Jennifer.” Tony remembered some of the stories about Rhodey’s sister’s wedding and bridezilla was a perfect description.

“Oh, God, shoot me, please.” Rhodey groaned.

“Three more days, gum-drop, just three more days.” Tony laughed. “Think of it as practice for dealing with the Air Force brass.”

“Oh, God…” Rhodes groaned, again.

“Come see me when you get out on parole.” Tony laughed again. “I’ve a couple of things I want to show you.”

“Tones?” The teasing voice went a little more serious.

“Yeah, it’s time to enter the real world.” Tony allowed the amusem*nt to drop from his voice. “Time to show that Tony Stark is not just Howard Stark’s son in name only.”

“Oh, dear God… What are you going to do? Please don’t tell me you’re going to make bombs.” Rhodes begged.

“No, I’m not going the same way as dad, Rhodey.” Tony reassured his friend. “He’s got the weapons stuff, he’s working on protecting the country, right?”

“Right…?”

“So, I’m going to go the other way. Protect the people. Same goal, but we’re coming from opposite ends of the problem. He’s the national or international level and I’ll be the personal level. Yeah, sure, most of it’s for the troops but they’re all defensive, nothing offensive at all.”

“The best offense is a good defence.” Rhodey mused.

“Exactly.” Tony agreed.

“Monday?”

“Monday’s good.”

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

“No, I’m not going the same way as dad, Rhodey.” Tony objected. “He’s got the weapons stuff, he’s working on protecting the country, right?”

“Right…?”

“So, I’m going to go the other way. Protect the people. Same goal, but we’re coming from opposite ends of the problem. He’s the national or international level and I’m the personal level. Yeah, sure, I’ve got things for the troops but they’re all defensive, nothing offensive at all.”

“The best offense is a good defence.” Rhodey mused.

“Exactly.” Tony agreed.

“Monday?”

“Monday’s good.”

~~~

January 4^th 1991

Tony studied his reflection in the full-length mirror. “Not bad. Not quite a bespoke Tom Ford, but not bad.” The Armani suit sat well on his not-yet twenty-one-year-old body. “I can work with this.” He turned from the mirror and picked up the pile of folders that held the various pieces of information that he wanted to discuss with Howard. “Meeting with dad… great…” Tony took a few deep breaths and decided that the best way to do this was to treat Howard as businessman. He snorted. “Howard Stark meet Tony Stark. The super-soldier-maker meets the Merchant of Death. The millionaire and the billionaire. Warmonger and Iron Man.” He muttered.

Reaching the door to his rooms, he stopped and sighed. “I miss Pep.” He let his head rest against the door and sighed again.

“Miss Potts’ application to Columbia University has just been registered as accepted, Sir.” JARVIS said from the remote server, which was inserted into the inner cartilage of his left ear. Tony had had to find himself a slightly seedy, off the books tattooist/piercer to do the job, but he’d come away with JARVIS permanently installed in his body.

“Thank, J.” Tony whispered.

“I have the suit at the ready, Sir. Just say the word.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve been head of SI for over thirty years, meetings like this are nearly a daily event.” Tony reminded his more-than-an-AI.

“No, Sir. Most SI meetings do not include your father.” JARVIS corrected.

“True…” Tony nodded. “But… talking to him when we did the time heist was… it made me see him… differently… He was never a… people person… at the best of times… and let’s face it, I’ve never been the easiest of people to be around. Combine the two…?”

“A volatile combination…” JARVIS stated.

“Very.” Tony agreed. “But dad doesn’t know me, he knows what he’s been faced with and really? That wasn’t me. It took me years to work that out.”

“Oh, dear…” JARVIS managed to give the impression of sighing.

Tony snorted. “I am Iron Man. Iron Man has been the head of SI for over three decades. SI was the leader in military grade tech until we stopped producing it, then we became the leader in information and communication tech as well as clean energy. Right through to the snap and beyond.”

“Oh, no…” JARVIS said quietly.

“Oh, yes.” Tony smirked. He stepped back and pulled the door open and stepped through it.

He used the minute or so, that it took to get from his rooms to the dining room to prepare himself as best he could, to face his mother. Dad wasn’t so bad, he’d seen dad during the heist, but his mother? The last time he’d seen her had been the day she’d died… not including BARF or Zemo’s tape.

He entered the dining room and heard his mother’s sharp intake of breath as she caught sight of him.

“Morning, mom.” He laid his folders on the table and leant down to kiss his mother’s cheek.

“Look at you.” She smiled at him.

“Tony?” Howard blinked in surprise.

“Yes?” Tony turned to face his father.

“You…” Howard didn’t know what to say.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Tony nodded. “People don’t seem to realise that I’m more than just what’s on the surface.”

“Really?” Howard wore a slightly mocking expression.

“Really.” Tony smirked. “After all, I’m just a party boy… but am I?” He tilted his head. “Does a ‘party boy’ graduate from MIT summa cum laude,with not one but three Phd’s? And four Masters’ degrees? Inside six years? The first having been achieved at 17?” Tony spoke with a questioning tone, making his father stop and think.

“Hmm…” Howard frowned.

“Exactly.” Tony nodded. “The party boy is a mask, dad. Yes, I partied, but I worked harder than I partied. Not only did I get excellent grades, my electrical engineering thesis is going to be used as required reading for future classes. And my work in mechanical engineering has been setting precedents since before the end of my first semester.” Again, this was presented in a blandly neutral voice, he was letting the information speak for itself.

“But let’s talk about that later, dad. I would like to have breakfast with mom, before we head into your office.” Tony sat down in his usual space and gave Jarvis a smile as he placed a plate of scrambled eggs with mushrooms, in front of him. “Thank you, Mr Jarvis.”

“Coffee, Master Anthony? Or juice?”

“Both, please. Orange juice and black coffee.” Tony replied.

“Certainly, sir.” The butler inclined his head and retrieved a cup and a glass before filling them both.

“Thank you.” Tony nodded and the butler retreated from the room.

The next twenty minutes passed quietly, with both parents studying Tony as though he were a stranger, which Tony figured was about right. Howard might have run SI, but Tony was the one that took it from a national, multi-million-dollar company to a multi-national, multi-billion-dollar corporation. While Maria? She had rarely been exposed to the business-side of the Stark empire and had seen little of Tony after he’d left for MIT at 14.

Finally, the two Stark men bid Maria good morning and left the dining room, they would have to cross from one side of the mansion to the other, to reach Howard’s office, but neither said anything until they’d entered the office and Howard directed Tony to take a seat in front of the massive oak desk.

“Three Phd’s?” Howard asked. “I wasn’t aware that you’d completed three. Or the Masters.”

“Understandable.” Tony nodded. “My education has been a… touchy subject… between us. And while I am not twenty-one until May, I decided that it wasn’t worth the annoyance of playing the part, any longer.”

“Playing the part?” Howard asked.

“The part of a party boy.” Tony replied. “I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed the work I was doing, more.”

“Work? The three Phd’s?”

“No, not really.” Tony replied. “I blitzed through the course work in about half the time that I displayed. The rest was working on… personal projects.”

“Personal projects.” Howard frowned. “Is that what you call them? The girls?”

“Oh, hell no. They were a distraction, a cover for the most part.” Tony huffed.

“A cover? For what?”

“This.” Tony handed over the first of a dozen display folders. “This is a broad outline of what I want. I’ll wait while you read it. I suggest reading it all before asking questions, as some questions are likely to be answered as you progress further into the summary.”

Howard raised a brow and with a condescending expression, picked up the folder and began to flick through it. That rapid flick, quickly became an intense study and the condescension began to diminish, more and more, as each new page was read. Once he’d read through it completely, Howard pulled a blank notepad towards him and started reading again, this time making notes as he went.He finally laid the folder down and studied his son.

“This is… not what I expected, when Jarvis said you wanted a meeting with me.” Howard acknowledged.

“No, I imagine not. You probably thought I’d got some gold-digger pregnant and wanted it to all go away.”

“Something like that.” Howard nodded.

“Yeah… no.” Tony shook his head. “Not happening.”

“No?”

“No. No children for me, not until I marry, anyway.”

“Right.” Howard forced his mind to focus on the matter at hand, not the idea that his so-called ‘party boy’ son intended to marry, one day. “I’d like a little more information on what exactly you plan on creating. The brief is just that, brief.”

Tony laid the other folders on the desk and grinned, his fingers tapping one after the other on the top of the pile. “I could say ‘which would you like to look at?’ but I won’t. What I will say is ‘if you want to know more than the brief, I want IT set up and NDA’s in place before I share proprietary work.’ I’m not going to show off my designs only to have them turn up with someone else’s name and logo plastered all over an inferior quality product.”

Howard blinked. “Then why show any of this to me?”

“It comes down to one thing. Money.”

“Money?”

“Yep.” Tony nodded. “To do this the way I’ve laid out in the brief, I need access to more money than my current allowance.”

“You want an advance on your allowance?” Howard asked.

“No. On my trust.” Tony corrected. “The trust is in two parts, correct?” Howard nodded. “One I can access at twenty-one and the other at twenty-five. Right?”

“Right.”

“I’m asking for access to all of the first section of the trust and most of the second section.” Tony went on. “Not all of it in liquid assets, though. I do need a premises to use as a factory. Then I have to build the factory robots that will make the items. Plus purchase the actual materials needed to manufacture each item.” He ticked off each item on his fingers. “If my numbers are right… and they always are… I’m going to need approximately 10 million, not including the premises.”

Howard studied his son, before picking the summary brief and re-reading it.

“I would estimate closer to 20 million.” Howard finally said.

“If I was to look to go into production of all the items, right from start-up? Then, yes, that sounds about right. However…” Tony shrugged. “I’m prepared to start with the body armour, helmets and communications headpieces. And introduce the gloves, goggles, scopes, harnesses and holsters, later.”

“And you’re looking at military contracts?”

“Initially, but a lot of this can easily be converted to civilian use.” Tony said.

“How?”

Tony smirked. “The body armour can be used as-is, by law enforcement or transferred to motorcycle use, with minor alterations in overall design. Helmets would require a little more reshaping, but would still easily work for law enforcement, bicycle users or extreme sports, as is. Same with gloves. The goggles and scopes are a little more use-specific, but even they will find a niche with hunters, law enforcement and naturalists. The harnesses can be refitted for mountaineering, for emergency services, or heavy haulage. Holsters are also fairly use-specific but again hunters, law enforcement and private security all carry weapons.”

“And the communications pieces?”

“They’ll be provided, as-is to law enforcement and security, while a reworked version will marketed as cell phones to the public.” Tony said.

“Hmm…” Howard rocked his head and thought about it, flicking through the brief again, stopping on different pages and re-reading different sections, again and again. “Alright. I’ll agree to a certain amount up front, enough for the premises, the business establishment and getting the NDA’s in place, but then I’ll want to read the individual brief for each item, before I release additional funds.”

“That’s fair.” Tony nodded. “But I’m going to insist that only you read the briefs.” He paused and let a frown slip over his face. “I don’t want Obie in on this, I don’t trust him.”

“What? Why?” Howard frowned.

“I had some stuff delivered from SI, I paid for it, just some raw materials, stuff that even the public can buy.” He assured his father. “And the delivery guy said he was used to delivering to odd places for Obie. When I asked where, he gave me a copy of the delivery schedule and I… I admit I hacked SI… but none of the items were marked for sale, in fact they were marked as faulty and destroyed.” He handed over a couple of pieces of copier paper and half-dozen printouts.

“And you’re only bringing this to me now?” Howard demanded.

“I only found it last night, so yes.” Tony replied.

Howard grunted. “I’ll look into it.”

“Thanks.”

“Let’s get your business registered and get those NDA’s ready.” Howard said. “And I’ll get an investigation underway. Then I want to read those briefs.” He paused. “Why IT? What does it stand for?”

“Iron Technologies.”

“Iron Technologies?”

“Yes, you always say that Stark men are made of iron.” Tony shrugged.

“Yes, we are.” Howard nodded and opened a draw and pulled out a sheaf of paper. “Welcome to the bane of the businessman, paperwork.” He slapped the sheaf down in front of Tony. “Get started on that, while I make a few calls.”

Tony grunted but picked up a pen and started writing. “I’m gonna need a PA, preferably one that’s good with numbers.” He grumbled.

“Columbia and Harvard’s Business schools produce some outstanding graduates.” Howard said absently as he flicked through a rolodex.

“I’ll keep an eye out.” Tony nodded but he wasn’t trusting anyone but Pepper, as his PA.

~~~

January 7^th 1991

“Master Anthony?” Mr Jarvis appeared at Tony’s side.

“Yes, Mr Jarvis?” Tony replied, not talking his eyes off the notes he was making.

“Lieutenant Rhodes has arrived. Shall I direct him to your room or the bunker?”

“Neither, Mr Jarvis. Bring him here, dad’s almost finished with his reading and I want Rhodey in on this.”

“Of course, sir. Please excuse me, while I retrieve Lieutenant Rhodes.” The butler nodded regally and left the room.

Tony looked up from his notepad to find his father looking at him. “Yes?” He asked.

“The main brief was… surprising.” Howard said. “But this is…”

“Next level, I know.”

“Why have you never brought this to me before?”

“This is mine, dad. Mine. I said it to Rhodey. You’re in the business of protecting the country, but what about the soldiers, themselves? You’ve got the big picture, so I’m going small. Same goal but from the opposite direction.”

“And what does Rhodes think of these?”

“He hasn’t seen them, yet. No-one has, outside you.”

“No-one? At all?” Howard blinked.

“No-one.” Tony nodded.

Mr Jarvis opened the door and ushered James Rhodes into the room. “Lieutenant James Rhodes, Sir, Master Anthony.”

“Thank you, Jarvis. Would you have a car readied for Tony and Rhodes, they’ve a lot of ground to cover.” Howard said.

“Certainly, sir.” The butler left.

“Come in and sit down, Rhodes.” Howard ordered and Rhodey looked at Tony with a slightly bewildered expression. “We’re almost done, here.”

“Yes, sir.” Rhodey crossed the office and sat beside Tony, automatically looking at his notes to see what was going on, only to have Tony flip the notepad closed and give a tiny shake of his head. It was enough that Rhodey figured this was business and not school related.

Howard retrieved a folder and laid it on the desk. “There’s six properties in Brooklyn. Four are waterfront, one of which is ready for small-freight docking, the other three are left over from the war and have been allowed to degrade. The other two properties are within a few blocks of the water, but you’d need to transport your containers to a docking facility by road. There’s four properties in Newark, none of them have water or dock access. There’s another five on Staten Island, four have docks, the other is a much larger, currently empty, warehouse. There’s also a large chuck of empty space at Bergen Point that has the remains of a collapsed small-freight dock.”

“Right on the point?” Tony asked, he’d had it redeveloped to produce Starkphones, after 2008.

“That’s the one.” Howard nodded.

“We’ll check it out.” Tony hadn’t seen the site, in person until after production was underway, so he had no idea whether it would work for his current needs, or not.

“Good.” Howard handed over the folder. “Here’s a master-list, with locations, plus a more detailed break-down on each property, along with either keys or passcodes to access each site. If there’s security on site, they’ve been informed of your clearance.” He waited until Tony picked up the folder. “Don’t rush. You get one pick at this, without having to outlay dollars, yourself. Take your time and go over each property carefully. I don’t expect you to get through them all today and I wouldn’t recommend trying.”

“Got it.” Tony nodded. He had an idea of which property he wanted but until he went through all of them in person, JARVIS wouldn’t be able to run simulations on what could be achieved on each site.

“Let me know which one you want and I’ll get the paperwork started.” Howard waved and Tony got to his feet. “And Tony?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll speak to the trustees but I’ll need to present them a copy of the brief along with my recommendations.”

“Yeah, I figured that.” Tony stood and gathered up all of the folders, bar one. “That’s why I had a couple of copies made. Just… keep it to a minimum, please? This is too important to screw up.”

“Yes, I understand.” Howard nodded.

“Come on, Rhodey, let’s get moving.” Tony ignored the look on Rhodey’s face and lead the way from the office, not back to the front of the mansion but out to the garage and whatever car Edwin Jarvis had prepared for them.

“Tony?”

“Not here, honey-bear.” Tony said quietly and Rhodey just narrowed his eyes and followed his young friend.

Once they were in the car and headed down the road, with Tony driving, Rhodey began to speak.

“Alright.” He sighed. “What’s going on?”

“The Air Force doesn’t restrict you from signing NDA’s, does it?” Tony knew that it didn’t.

“No…” Rhodey answered, hesitantly.

“Read and sign.” Tony flicked a folder at Rhodey and kept driving.

Fifteen minutes later, Rhodey lifted his head and looked at Tony, his eyes wide in surprise. “Where the hell did you hide this?”

Tony cackled. “I designed my first circuit board at three, Rhodey, was just four when I built it. That com-set? I wrote the basic program for that, before I was ten. The scope, I designed that when I was eleven. The webbing for the harnesses, holsters and body armour, came from a trip to Fort Meade, when I was twelve. The goggles came from a camping trip with Aunt Peggy when Matthew and I were thirteen. The body armour itself, has been the hardest to finalise. I had to work through nearly two dozen different material combinations before I found one that did what I needed it to.”

“Holy sh*t…” Rhodey exclaimed.

“If you want to know more, sign the NDA.” Tony handed over another folder. “It’s in there, sign it and put it in the back.”

“Right.” Rhodey huffed and flicked to the appropriate documents.

“Don’t fret, poppet, I made dad sign it too. My copy of what he signed is in there, if you want to check it against an unsigned version.”

“You made your dad sign an NDA? Tony, are you freaking nuts?”

“No.” Tony said cheerfully as he easily manoeuvred the car through traffic. “This is my future, I’m not taking any chances of someone ripping me off.”

“Huh…” Rhodey grunted. “Alright…” Rhodey quickly read the contract and compared it to the one signed by Howard Stark. Once he was certain that the two were the same, he signed and slipped them back into the rear of the folder. “Now, what?”

“Now, you get to read the details.” Tony gestured over his shoulder. “Grab the briefcase. The body armour, helmets and goggles are the blue folders. The gloves, harnesses and holsters are the green folders. The red folders are com-sets, scopes and the, still under development, cell phones.”

Rhodey pulled the briefcase onto his lap and opened the first folder, which was blue.

“Body armour…” He said and began to read.

Some half-hour later, Tony put his hand over the open red folder, causing Rhodey to jerk in surprise.

“Tony?” Rhodey asked, looking around to see where they were.

“We’re in Brooklyn, the docks. The first of sixteen properties I need to inspect.”

“Right.”

~~~

January 23^rd 1991

Two weeks later, Tony watched as the first excavators started work on the Bergen Point property. It was going to take time to get IT up and running, but that was something he now had plenty of.

Time to plan. Time prepare. He wasn’t going to waste what he’d been given.

Every day he missed Pepper, Morgan and Peter. Every day he reminded himself that one day, he’d see them again. Until then, he had to be patient.

Not something he was especially good at.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Two weeks later, Tony watched as the first excavators started work on the Bergen Point property. It was going to take time to get IT up and running, but that was something he now had plenty of.

Time to plan. Time prepare. He wasn’t going to waste what he’d been given.

Every day he missed Pepper, Morgan and Peter. Every day he reminded himself that one day, he’d see them again. Until then, he had to be patient.

Not something he was especially good at.

~~~

January – November 1991

Months flew by and Tony used them well. IT grew, and it grew fast. The first protypes were displayed to the military and were rigorously tested. Of course, they came through with flying colours, he was Tony Stark, after all. He didn’t make failures.

The US Army Ranger company, based out of Fort Benning, that was testing his gear, provided rave reviews. The Kevlar/polymer bi-weave was more expensive than the traditional fatigues but it also meant that the soldiers didn’t need to wear heavy bullet proof vests, the lighter vests made from his secondary material combined with the fatigues, had as much if not more stopping power as the standard issue Kevlar vests.

The only thing that surprised Tony were the requests for boots in a comparable material. He took a pile of notes and a sample of the boots currently worn and promised to work on it. It hadn’t occurred to him that a soldier could be completed decked out in his gear, but still be vulnerable because their boots wouldn’t provide the same level of protection. He would have to work on that.

~~~

November 1991

By the time December loomed in front of him, he’d been the target of six kidnapping attempts. Attempts that he found more amusing than anything else. While, he had the arc-reactor with the Bleeding Edge suit with him at all times, so far, he’d been able to ‘rescue’ himself without resorting to the armour. Something that caused Howard to request that Tony undertake some self-defence training.

It came as a hell of a shock to Howard, that Tony didn’t actually need the training. That everything that the instructor suggested, Tony was already capable of doing. Guns? He was easily able to hit what he aimed at. Knives? No difference there. Hand-to-hand? The instructor was more than a little surprised that Tony was able to put any of the instructor’s people on the ground in a very acceptable timeframe. Boxing? Tony was good enough to go professional.

Then Tony added things. Pick a lock? He always had a hairpin or two on his belt. Hotwire a car? Please, he was an electrical and mechanical genius. Climb a building? It wasn’t exactly mountaineering, now was it? Escape and evade? Does anyone ever look up?

Tony enjoyed the challenges the instructors presented, but only for a short time, after that he became frustrated that they weren’t taking him seriously. So, he offered up a challenge of his own. Drop him in So-Cal, with only a $100 in cash, no access to credit and a phone only for emergencies. He wagered that he could be back in New York, untraced, inside 48hrs.

If he wins, the instructors and the ‘training’ go away. If he loses, he continues training until the instructors decide he’s as good as he’s going to get. Without complaint.

36hrs and 29 minutes after being dropped off at UCLA’s main campus, he walked in the mansion’s door, a few minutes early for dinner. Without having to resort to using JARVIS’ assistance, either, one might add. Howard sighed and cancelled the instructors and Tony got on with the business of running IT.

And on the surface, that was all he was doing. But in the hours when he was alone, he and JARVIS were preparing a welcoming party for the Winter Soldier. Most obviously, BARF and a holding area for him to live in, until he was more Barnes than Soldier.

~~~

The investigation into Obie’s actions had stalled, Tony wasn’t sure why, but he kind of felt that Howard was taking the easy way out. Better the ‘devil you know than the one you don’t’, kind of thing. Tony was prepared to let it ride, as long as it didn’t bleed over into IT.

For now.

He’d broach the subject with Howard, after Christmas, taking with him any new documentation that JARVIS found between now and then. Christmas was always a busy time for Obie’s little scam, according to the records JARVIS and Pepper had found after the man’s death.

~~~

He’d seen Pepper once. God, she’d looked so young… Tony had opened his mouth to call out to her, before closing it and walking away. What could he say? ‘Hi, I’m you husband from thirty years from now?’

Yeah, that would work really well… Not…

After that, he kept away from the university area, there was nothing for him there. Not yet. Not until Pepper finished her BA.

~~~

December 1991

But now it was December. And December meant the Winter Soldier. He’d set up a corner of the bunker to hold the Soldier in, with a bathroom and bedroom, to give a little privacy. He wasn’t a voyeur, it wasn’t his thing and never had been.

He’d managed to get his hands on a copy of every version on the Captain America propaganda films and had JARVIS digitise them for him. He intended to play them at random intervals and hopefully Steve’s face would be enough to begin the breakdown of the Soldier’s programming.

Now Tony just had to catch the man.

~~~

December 16^th 1991

Tony watched as his parents left for Camp Lehigh, before eating dinner with Mr Jarvis and Miss Ana. After that he let Mr Jarvis know that he was going to be working on a very delicate project and to not call him unless it was a life-threatening situation. This project going to change lives for many people.

And if Tony had his way, it was.

Instead of descending into his workshop bunker, he ducked into a black-spot in the mansion’s security coverage and left the property. Once he was across the road and into central park, he activated the suit and had JARVIS engage the prototype cloaking system, knowing that it was only good for a few minutes. But a few minutes was all he needed to get out of the city, it was that time of day where overhead lights didn’t show up all that clearly against the semi-bright sky, which really helped.

Getting back was going to be more of a challenge. Was it bad to say he was kinda looking forward to it?

He reached Wheaton, New Jersey, and located the base just in time to see Howard assist Maria into the big Buick and round the hood to the driver’s door. He knew which road he needed to be on and roughly where. Seeing the site, in the flesh, made his heart race and his skin crawl.

Was he really going to do this?

He sighed and his shoulders slumped.

Yes… He was. Dammit. No-one deserved to be tortured like Barnes had been. No-one.

He saw the right stretch of road and sighed. “Here we go…”

“The tree you selected won’t quite cover the entire width of the road, Sir.” JARVIS warned.

“I know, J, I didn’t want it to. It’s enough to slow dad down and change the dynamics of the ‘accident’. The car will be slow enough that dad can still control it after Barnes blows out the tires.”

“Ah. I am corrected, that hadn’t occurred to me.” JARVIS replied.

“Why would it, J? The vehicles that you control have the ability to react instantly, dad’s Buick doesn’t, it handles like a tank. And your reaction time is so much better than his.” Tony reminded his… what was JARVIS, if he wasn’t just an AI?

Tony watched the tree fall and nodded, it was pretty much exactly where he wanted it. The sound of a motorcycle engine caught JARVIS’ delicately tuned mics.

“Incoming, Sir.” The voice issued from the speakers inside the suit’s helmet.

“Let’s get this done, J.” Tony moved himself to where he would be clearly seen by both vehicles and waited, hovering three foot above the road’s surface.

The Buick slowed to a stop and Howard opened the door as the motorcycle pulled up beside him. Tony eased off the thrusters and let the suit touch down.

The Winter Soldier got off the bike and stood up straight. His hand fell too close to the gun at his waist for Tony's liking.

“Uh-uh, Soldier, not tonight.” Tony said, letting the suit’s speaker project his voice just loud enough to be heard by super-soldier hearing but not by his father.

“Iron Man?” The Soldier asked, his body going rigid in shock.

“Uh… yeah…?” Tony spoke at normal levels. How did Barnes knew who he was?

“Oh, thank f*ckin’ God.” The Soldier’s tense body slumped. “Get ya ass over here. I’ve got a tracker and a kill-switch in this bloody thing and I want ‘em gone.” He lifted his arm and waved it slightly.

“Tracker? Kill-switch?” Tony walked forward, ignoring his father. “Really?” What the hell? Does Barnes actually know who I am? Tony thought to himself.

“Yeah, and less than ten minutes before my handler sets ‘em off.” He nodded towards Howard. “He’s running late, this was supposed to happen an hour ago.”

Yep, he knows. Tony winced. “Ah, sh*t, that was my fault.” He shrugged and let the suit retract into the arc-reactor’s housing.

“Tony?!” Howard squawked.

“Hey, dad. Got a tool kit on you?” He headed for the Buick’s trunk.

“No!” Howard darted towards the rear of the car.

“Relax, dad, I know about the serum and I’m not interested in it, right now. I’m all about disabling that tracker and kill-switch.” Tony popped the trunk and ignored the briefcase, while grabbing the roll of tools, tucked into the spare wheel. He then slammed the trunk closed and called to Barnes. “Get that arm over here, murderbot.” He patted the trunk’s lid and laid out the toolkit.

Thunk.

Barnes dropped his metal arm onto the trunk, igoring the sparks it caused and faced Tony and Howard. For the first time his face was visible and it came as a surprise to one Stark.

“Sergeant Barnes?!” Howard exclaimed, rendered nearly silent by surprise.

“Give us a minute, Stark.” Barnes grunted barely glancing in Howard’s direction. “The plates open from there, this way.” He pointed at a particular plate on the forearm and ran his finger towards his elbow. “I can’t touch it without setting off a short-circuit that sets off the kill-switch.”

“Yeah, figured that.” Tony grabbed flat-head screwdriver, and pried it under the plate, lifting it and the others around it into a vertical position. “Got a knife, Barnes?” Barnes didn’t answer but a knife appeared above Tony’s hand. “Great, just let me…” He took the knife and used it to hold the plates open while he pushed the screwdriver into the depths of Barnes’ arm there was a small flash, a click and a piece of wiring came loose, Tony dropped to the ground and watched sparks crackle as Barnes crushed it under foot. “That’s the tracker. How long before they set off the kill-switch?”

“It’s automatic if the tacker is disabled. Three minutes.” Barnes answered.

“Right.” Tony huffed. “Typical. Never give me a decent bloody challenge, do they?” He dug the screw driver into the arm again, and another click was heard. “Right, it’s loose, but I need…” He lifted his head. “Hey, mom! Got a pair of tweezers in your purse?”

“Not in my purse, dear, but there should be a pair in the first aid kit.” Nothing surprised Maria Carbonell Stark, nothing, she’d lived with Howard for too many years. She calmly climbed from the passenger door and retrieved the first aid kit from under her seat. “Here you are.” The tweezers appeared and Tony grabbed them, throwing his mother a smile and dug back into Barnes’ arm.

Finally, the tiny vial emerged.

“Huh, that’s enough to knock you down?” He asked Barnes.

“Specifically designed to, yeah.” Barnes nodded. “Get rid of it.”

“Oh, no, we need this to made you a decent bloody painkiller, Barnes.” Tony objected.

“Painkiller?” Barnes asked.

“Yeah, Shuri’s design called for a new shoulder implant and there’s no way in hell, I’m doing that, without you having some type of painkiller in your system.” Tony worked on closing up the arm’s mechanics and realigning the plates.

“Oh…” Barnes blinked. “Shuri? You remem… you know Shuri?”

“I worked with her on the replacement, murderbot.” Tony assured the man. “She was great with integrating my mechanics into your system. But mechanics alone, weren’t her thing.” He handed the knife back to Barnes.

“Huh…” Barnes grunted before standing up and rotating the metal wrist. “We’ve only got a few minutes before they come to check I did what they wanted.”

“Which was, what?” Howard asked.

“Kill you and steal the serum.” Barnes said.

“What?!” Howard exclaimed

“I didn’t and I’m not going to.” Barnes assured the older man. “Tony’s already disabled their tracking device, so can we have this discussion elsewhere? Please?”

“I have to deliver the serum to SHIELD.” Howard said.

“No!” Both Barnes and Tony yelled.

“Bloody hell, no.” Tony went on.

“SHIELD’s compromised.” Barnes added.

“Of course, they’re bloody compromised, they employed Arnim f*cking Zola.” Tony swore.

“Zola?!” Barnes jerked in shock. “He was the one that tortured us at Azzano.” He shuddered. “He smiled as he experimented on us, said we were his to do with as he wanted.” His breathing went rapid and he started to tremble.

“Easy, Barnes.” Tony stepped in front of the other man. “We’re in New Jersey, it’s December 16, 1991. The night is clear and cold but it’s not expected to snow tonight.” Tony’s voice was low and calm.

“What?” Howard asked.

“Panic attack, dad, let me deal with it.” Tony spoke in the same soothing voice. “It’s 11.47pm and we really need to make a move, here, murderbot.”

“Yeah…” Barnes shuddered and pulled himself back into the here and now. “Zola’s HYDRA. He’ll always be HYDRA. He’ll be recruiting people from inside SHIELD.”

“Oh, God…” Howard gasped. “Peggy…”

“She’ll be fine.” Tony said. “Anyone stupid enough to take on Aunt Peggy, deserves what they get.”

“Ain’t that the truth?” Barnes snorted. “But seriously? Can we get out of here?”

“The mansion?” Maria asked.

“No.” Tony corrected. “My factory. It’s empty at this hour and my office and main workshop are there.”

“Where’m I going?” Barnes asked.

Tony blinked and grinned. “Feel like a passenger, murderbot?” He asked looking at the bike. “Dad can follow us.”

“What about the suit?”

“Nanotech, same type of thing as the panther suit.”

“Oh, right.” Barnes nodded. “Sure, if you’re prepared to trust me.”

“Barnes, with the triggers gone and the programming not being active, you’re no more likely to try and kill me than Hawk-ass was.” Tony snorted.

“If there was coffee involved, that was very likely.” Barnes snarked back.

“True.” Tony nodded. “But there’s no coffee until we get to the factory. So…?”

“We’re good.” Barnes nodded.

“Alright, then.” Tony agreed. “Mom, dad? Back in the car and follow us.”

“The tree, dear?” Maria asked looking further up the road.

“Ah, right. Give me a sec.” Tony jogged towards the tree and the suit covered him as he moved. He leant down and grasped the trunk and lifted, the suit’s thrusters kicked in and Tony and the tree rose into the air. A pair of thrusters at back of his shoulders and a second pair at his heels hissed into life and within a minute the tree was no longer on the road.

Tony settled back onto the road and the suit retracted, just as Barnes reached him, the big Buick following behind him.

“Want a lift, doll?” Barnes smirked.

“Barnes!” Tony squawked but climbed onto the bike. “I’ll have you know, I am a happily married man.”

“I know, I know.” Barnes laughed. “Just teasin’, don’t get ya panties in a twist.”

“Ooh… you…” Tony mock snarled and smacked at the metal shoulder, knowing he couldn’t hurt it. “Behave, I don’t want to give dad a heart attack just yet.” He wasn’t worried about talking over the wind and the sound of the bike’s engine, he knew that Barnes’ super-soldier hearing and JARVIS would enable them to communicate easily.

“So, where we going?”

“Bergen Point.”

“Bergen Point?”

“Yeah, I’ll point you when we get closer.”

The bike gained speed and the Buick behind them kept pace.

“So…?” Barnes drawled. “What happened?”

“I snapped my fingers, Barnes.” Tony huffed. “What do you think happened?”

“That was…” Barnes sighed. “Stark, that was over a year ago.”

“A year? How do you mean, a year?” Tony asked.

“I mean, Thanos and your ‘I am Iron Man’ thing… that was over a year ago, nearly two.” Barnes replied. “sh*t’s happened since then.”

“Like what?” Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“We put the stones back.” Barnes started. “Or Steve did, anyway. But he didn’t come back. Apparently, he decided to ‘get some of that life that Tony was telling me about’, or so he told Sam.”

“Oh, sh*t, Steve…” Tony groaned.

“Yeah, he turned up as an old man and gave Sam the shield... still haven't figured out where he got it from, think some timeline's missing one. We had a few issues with re-integrating the returned people back into the world. Not all of them came back.” Barnes paused. “Well, they came back but they came back into the exact same place they’d been in, when they’d been dusted.”

“And that’s a problem?” Tony asked, he knew he was missing something, but what?

“Yeah, it was a problem.” Barnes nodded. “People disappeared from everywhere. Not just their homes or work but on transport, too. Planes, buses, cars, trains, boats. And they reappeared in the same place, not in the same vehiclebut the same place. In some cases, that was the middle of the ocean and in others, 30,000 feet in the air.”

“Oh, God…” Tony whispered. "What about Strange, Quill and… Peter?” He hadn’t given a thought to where they’d been, when Bruce had done the snap.

“Strange said later, he just portalled them to Wakanda before we all came back to the compound.” Barnes yelled over his shoulder. “We lost… probably about a ¼ of the total population, to deaths caused by the loss of drivers or pilots or people returning without vehicles. We’ve been working our asses off to fix things and get everyone back where they should be but five years is a long time and some people had just got on with the business of living.”

“Like I did…”

“Yeah, and no-one begrudges that.” Barnes said. “Or most of us that were snapped don’t, there’s a few that were very against it. We haven’t figured out how but they got their hands on the serum and gave it to kids, teenagers. Sam and I spent the last few months putting a stop to the Flag Smashers, as they called themselves.”

“You do seem pretty well adjusted.” Tony commented.

“Sam’s a good friend, he has no problem in dishing out tough love.” Barnes winced at the memory. “He kinda put me in my place and pointed out that what I was doing was more for myself, than the people the Winter Soldier had harmed. He made me rethink a lot of things and… well, it took some work but I got there. Oh and hey? Sam’s the new Captain America.”

“Sam? Wilson? With the wings?”

“Yep, Captain America can fly now.” Barnes frowned. “Or… can fly then? Or will fly?” He huffed. “How does that work with time travel?”

“No too sure we’ve just time travelled, Barnes.” Tony sighed. “I think we’re in a new timeline.”

"What makes you say that?”

“Steve ever tell you about JARVIS?”

“The computer that ran the suit?”

“J did… and still does… so much more than just run my suit.” Tony huffed. “But yeah, him. I didn’t start writing his code until late ‘95. The Ultron thing killed him in 2015. And the suit? I didn’t start working with nanotech until after Siberia.”

“Siberia…” Barnes gasped. “I owe you-”

“Stop. Tonight’s made up for it, murderbot.” Tony smacked the metal arm, again. “I don’t want to hear it. We’ve stopped that from happening.”

“So, a new timeline? What does that mean for us now?”

“With Thanos still coming?”

“Yeah.”

“JARVIS and I have been thinking about this and…” Tony dropped his head to thump it against Barnes’ shoulder. “I think we have to leave the Stones alone, at least until Thanos sends Loki to earth with the sceptre, which holds the mind stone.”

“But that’s…

“2012. Twenty years from now.” Tony huffed. “I know. If you can come up with a better working plan, I’m all ears.”

“Dammit.” Barnes grunted.

“Yeah…” thumped his head against Barnes’ shoulder again.

“What’re we going to tell Stark?”

“I have no idea.” Tony replied. “I didn’t think there’d ever be a need to.”

~~~

Closing the factory’s gate behind the Buick, Tony leapt up to sit on the car’s hood, giving a wave to the security guards in their little guard-post.

“Round to the left, Barnes.” He called out loud enough for both Howard and Barnes to hear. “Then left again. The door will be open, or opening. There’s enough room for the car and the bike.”

Barnes and Howard followed Tony’s directions and soon the four were standing in a rather basic garage.

“This is a bit… bare…” Howard commented.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg, dad.” Tony grinned and gestured for them to follow him into the small office. Once inside the office, he smirked. “Take us down, J.”

“Certainly, Sir.” A voice issued from speakers, causing Howard to startle, Barnes to snort and Maria to blink.

The entire office descended for a few seconds, before coming to a stop. Tony lead the way out and was quite pleased to hear all three visitors gasp. Tony grinned, getting a reaction out of Maria was nigh on impossible.

“Wow…” Barnes’ eyes wandered from place to place, eyeing off the various projects in progress.

“Tony…” Maria breathed.

“My word…” Howard muttered. “How the hell did I miss this?”

“Come and sit down and I’ll explain. Barnes, you can put your penny’s-worth in, wherever you feel like it.” Tony lead them around the work benches holding who-knew-what and over to a sofa and a pair of armchairs. “Have a seat.” He waved and watched as Howard and Maria sat on the sofa and Barnes took one armchair.

“Right. This is going to sound… impossible, but I have the means to prove it, so hear me out.” Tony took a deep breath. “Let’s start with Zola. Okay?” He was looking at Barnes when he spoke and the other man tensed but nodded. “In 1944 the 107^th infantry were sent to Azzano…”

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

“Right. This is going to sound… impossible, but I have the means to prove it, so hear me out.” Tony took a deep breath. “Let’s start with Zola. Okay?” He was looking at Barnes when he spoke and the other man tensed but nodded. “In 1944 the 107^th infantry were sent to Azzano…”

~~~

December 16^th 1991

“… And now the factory is up and running.” Tony finished off his explanation to Barnes and his parents. “I have contracts with the DoD for body armour, Army Rangers’ battledress, Navy Seal battledress, communications sets, as well as a selection of other infantry-based accessories. The cell phones are due to be released on Wednesday and the civilian versions of the DoD gear, minus the battledress, are already on the market.” He turned to Barnes. “Your turn, now.”

Barnes grunted and swallowed the mouthful of coffee he’d just taken. “Thanks, pal. So… The snap was… eh, can’t say I remember much of it, coming back was painful, worse than waking up after cryofreeze. But we still had a war to win, so we got back up and T’Challa saw to arming us. When we’d dusted, our weapons hadn’t and Okoye had ordered the weapons collected and stored.” He took another sip of coffee. “We fought, we won. Tony covered that. Afterwards, we gathered at Tony’s lake-house and had a… memorial, I suppose you’d call it… for those we’d lost. Then I watched as Steve took the stones to put them back in their right times. Banner said he’d be gone for five seconds, but I knew Steve. He wasn’t coming back. He had a chance to be with Carter and he was going to take it.”

“Carter? Peggy?” Howard asked. “But she married Luca DeSousa, her SHIELD partner’s brother.”

“In this timeline she might have, but not in the one we came from.” Tony said.

“What makes you think this isn’t the same timeline?” Maria asked.

“Let Barnes finish his story and then I’ll explain why.” Tony advised.

“Very well. Please continue, sergeant.” Howard said.

“Steve came back, just not via the time thing.” Barnes said. “He was an old man, he’d lived a full life and he was sitting on a bench, waiting for us to notice him. He gave Sam the shield and basically told him that he was Captain, now. It took a while before Sam got it together. Steve died an old man, something I never thought would happen. I figured either, he’d get into a fight I couldn’t get him out of, or some illness would take him out, instead he lived the most amazing and confusing life and I can’t get my head around it, sometimes. Sam gave the shield to the Smithsonian but the DoD decided that we needed Captain America again and they pulled it out to deal with the Flag Smashers. It… it didn’t go the way they planned. Walker lost his cool at the wrong time and used the shield to kill someone when he shouldn’t have and it was down to Sam and I to arrest him. We did but we kept the shield, Sam took it home with him.”

Barnes poured himself a fresh cup of coffee and continued. “We went to Louisiana and stayed with Sam's sister for a bit, worked on their parents’ boat and just… began to heal. It took a while.” He paused when Tony snorted. “It did, but like I told Tony, Sam’s good at the counselling and tough love thing. Enough that I actually heard him, anyway. I wasn’t… it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, to tell someone that my hands took their loved one from them.” His head hung and his jaw was tight. “But I did it, the people I killed deserved it. But the Flag Smashers were still there and who else was going to deal with them? I called in a few favours and got Sam a new Captain’s outfit from Wakanda and we headed off to stop them.”

“Your war was over, sergeant,” Maria said quietly, “why would you walk back into another one?”

“Because someone had to have Sam’s back and that shield is the closest thing I had to a family, left. But mostly because it was the right thing to do. If I could make a difference, if I could save one life? It was worth it.”

“So that's why Steve turned out to be worthy of Thor’s Hammer, in the end.” Tony huffed. “How could he not, with that as a role model?”

“Shaddup, Stark.” Barnes muttered, ducking his head.

“Did you stop them?” Howard asked, causing Barnes to look up.

“We did.” Barnes nodded. “Cost some good people their lives and others got hurt, but we stopped them. We went back to Louisiana and finished up the boat. Had a party for the whole town when we did.” He shrugged. “And that night we went to sleep in Sarah’s living room and I woke up in a Russian bunker, coming out of cryofreeze.”

“Ooh, ouch…” Tony grimaced.

“Oh, yeah. I killed three of their scientists before I realised it wasn’t a nightmare.” Barnes shuddered. “They tried to use the triggers on me but apparently, Wakanda does better work than the Russians.”

“They’re Russians, what do you expect? Look at that arm.” Tony screwed up his face in disgust. “It’s too heavy. It’s pulling on your spine and compressing your ribs, if they kept you out of the freezer for any length of time, they’d have had to invest in a traction set, just to keep you mobile.”

“I know that it hurts, again.” Barnes grunted.

“Yeah, we’ll get rid of it, give me a few weeks to get a shoulder implant and a new arm made up.” Tony requested.

“But that will mean surgery.” Howard warned. “Who will do that?”

“JARVIS will.”

“Jarvis…? Our butler?”

“No. JARVIS is my… did we decide whether you were my son or if you were going to stay as an AI, J?” Tony asked.

“I think, Sir, that I shall stay an AI for the present but you will always be my parent.” The same voice from earlier spoke.

“AI?” Maria asked.

“Artificial Intelligence, dear.” Howard answered. “It started as a computer and became more.”

“Yeah, J is more.” Tony said.

“Steve said he was good at dealing with nightmares and at explaining things so he could understand them.” Barnes added.

“I started work on him, just after Mr Jarvis died in 1995. A drunken binge that went for weeks, over the Christmas/New Year’s holidays.” Tony ducked his head to avoid looking at his mother. “December 16^th was the anniversary of your deaths and Mr Jarvis died on the 22^nd. So, yeah, Christmas wasn’t a good time of year for me, not for many years.”

“Oh, mio dolce regazzo.” Maria whispered.

“You woke up and killed people.” Howard dragged them back onto track.

“I was shocked to find that I had this arm back, again.” Barnes said. “I clearly remembered losing most of it to one of Tony’s repulsors. Then they dropped the mission briefing in front of me and... I... I went cold… it was you.” He nodded to Howard. “I remember the faces of everyone that died while the Russians and HYDRA controlled me and I knew that you’d died years, decades ago. I let them think the triggers worked and laid out a plan, I made sure to give myself extra time as I hoped that I could get you to help me.”

“I would have.”

“But things didn’t go the way I planned.” Barnes huffed. “First, you were later than expected. Then there was the tree and Tony.”

“Scared the crap out of me, to see a man floating in the air, like that.” Howard acknowledged.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased to see someone that had ability and the motivation to kill me.” Barnes said. “It meant I wasn’t the only one on this ride and if it was going to be anyone, he’s the person that could make the most difference.”

“Aw, thanks, snowflake.” Tony ducked his head again.

“So, what happens, now?” Maria asked.

“Dad needs to declare the super-soldier serum a bust and destroy it.” Tony said. “The chances that the scientists in SHIELD, are actually HYDRA, are too high. Steve said that SHIELD’s lead STRIKE team were actually HYDRA. And that SHIELD had been the ones to dose them with a watered-down version of the serum.”

“I think…” Barnes hesitated.

“Go ahead, Barnes, you’re in this just as much as I am.” Tony said.

“I think you should be dosed with the serum.” Barnes held up a hand when all three people cried out. “Wait! Hear me out. Please?” When they nodded, he went on. “There were five bags, right? Russians took a sample from one, they planned to recreate it, but found without the formula, they couldn’t. So they dosed five soldiers,” he turned to Tony, “the five in Siberia.” Tony nodded. “I trained them, at one point. They were good, better than me, but it didn’t change them, physically, not like it did Steve. They kept the same height and built, it just made them… better. What Zola gave me was based on Erskine’s formula before he defected to the US. Before he perfected it. It makes me stronger than a baseline human, more durable and I heal faster. But that’s it. Your serum,” He nodded to Howard, again. “Is closer to the original, but it still doesn’t change the outward appearance of the treated person.”

“And you think I should be dosed?” Tony said.

“I do.” Barnes replied.

“Why?”

“We need you.” Barnes stated. “You were the deciding factor in taking down Thanos. You were the one with the tech to stop him. You were the one that everyone pulled around. Not Steve, you. He might have called the shots on the battlefield but everything revolved around you. Banner came to you. Steve left you a burner phone. Spider-man was your kid, he had one of your suits. Thor brought his people to you. T’Challa let Shuri work with you on my arm. You were the one to talk to Strange. You. You were the one person we all had connections to, in one way or another.” He was adamant. “But you died using the stones. If you weren’t a baseline human, you might not have.”

“I did have Extremis in my system.” Tony corrected. "Not much but it was there."

“But it wasn’t enough to keep you alive.” Barnes argued. “The serum might be. At the least, it might be enough, to buy enough time for more medical treatment.”

“Who else?” Howard asked. “There’s five doses, there, and one in my workshop. Probably how SHIELD got a hold of it, to dose that STRIKE team. Who else would you dose?”

Barnes and Tony looked at each other.

“Um…?” Barnes raised a brow to Tony.

Tony sighed. “Rhodey, Clint, Coulson, Sam and Pepper.” He said.

“Reasoning?” Howard asked.

“Rhodey will get a suit like mine. Not quite as advanced, but that’s only because I won’t release it to the DoD in full. Clint is… right now he’s in the Army but soon he’ll join SHIELD, unless we headhunt him first. Him and Coulson. Both are excellent at what they do. Master Assassin is what I called Clint and that pretty much says it all, he’s also a Master Marksman, give him a bow and he’ll never miss at shot. Coulson is probably the scariest man I have ever met, he looks like a paper-pusher but he could kill you with a paperclip, if he wanted to.” Tony shrugged. “Sam? Well, I think Barnes has covered that. Pepper?” Tony grimaced. “Pepper is my wife.”

“Wife?!” Howard squawked.

“Yeah, been married five years, got the most beautiful little girl, Morgan. Pep also is Rescue. She got a nearly lethal dose of Extremis, that took me week to stabilise, or did in 2010. So we try to not bring her in, too often, because if we need her, it’s endgame level. She doesn’t pull punches, she’s there to end things, not to arrest people. If she’s called in, it ends.”

“Right…” Howard blinked.

“And yes, dad, she’s like that in the office, too, she’s been my CEO for the last fifteen years.” Tony smirked. “Took SI from a multi-million-dollar, national company to a multi-billion-dollar, multi-national corporation. In the week before the first snap, we had over a million employees world-wide.” Howard’s eyes widened and his jaw fell. “SI was the leader in communications and technology. Not weapons, we hadn’t made weapons for anyone other than the Avengers since 2008 and I won’t do that again. If you get rid of Obie, you’ll find that your faulty-destroyed rate drops by over 90%, he was selling on the black-market.”

“Oh, God…” Howard groaned.

“Time to clean house.” Tony suggested. “Obie’s dealing in theft, embezzlement, espionage and, given enough time, he’ll add extortion and murder to the list. Namely, mine. That trip to Afghanistan? Obie organised that, both sides of it. He sold me out to the Ten Rings, they were supposed to kill me for him, not kidnap me. It didn’t work out the way they wanted. Obie wasn’t pleased and decided to do it himself, we fought, I won, he died.”

“Oh, caro dio…”Maria whispered.

“Removing Obie now, actually does more good than you’d think.” Tony said. “He sold bombs to HYDRA who used them in Sokovia. No Stark bombs in Sokovia and the Maximoff twins are unlikely try and join HYDRA, or if they do, they definitely won’t be blaming me for their parents’ deaths. Which will mean that Wanda won’t be playing psychic scrambler in my head.”

“But she was there, against Thanos.” Barnes reminded Tony.

“Ugh…” Tony sighed. “She was, which means we need her again… Dammit… That means that HYDRA has to get the sceptre, at least long enough to use it on her and her brother.” His head lifted and his face brightened. “But she can mind reads. She’ll know everything I’ve done, she’ll know what I’ve tried to achieve…”

“So she’s less likely to want you dead, this time.” Barnes smiled.

“And if we can keep her brother alive, she’ll have even less reason.” Tony added, finishing on a jaw-cracking yawn.

“I think we should leave this for tonight.” Maria said. “We’re all tired, we need rest. We’ll think clearer in the morning.”

“She’s right, Tony, you know that.” Howard cut in before Tony could do more than open his mouth.

Tony sighed. “Yeah… Okay.” He nodded. “You pair take the car, I’ll ride with Barnes.” He stood up and the other three followed him back to the office.

“And how do we explain him joining us?” Howard asked.

“Hey, Barnes? How would you like a job?”

“Doing what?” Barnes narrowed his eyes at Tony, as the office began to rise.

“Bodyguard. At least in public.” Tony said. “Otherwise, you’re lead coordinator on the Thanos project.”

“What’s that entail?” Barnes was the first to leave the office and headed for his bike.

“I’ll set you up with your own AI, Friday would work for you. You get to keep track of what we need, who we need, who we need to eliminate or neutralise and when. Etc, etc, etc.”

“But in public, I’m the bodyguard?” Barnes asked.

“Yep. That will provide a reason to have you around all the time.” Tony climbed onto the bike behind Barnes and let him follow the Buick into the night, knowing that JARVIS would shut the garage behind them and that security would close the gate, once they were clear of the property.

“Let me think on that overnight. Dealing with a third reckless idiot might be too much. First Steve and then Sam…”

“Only going to get worse.” Tony warned. “We’ll bring in Clint and Sam and go fetch Capsicle a little earlier than last time. Early enough that we can help him integrate into the modern world.

“But not too early.” Barnes warned. “We need him at his peak, health and fitness wise.” No matter how much he wanted his friend back, he had to think about more than just himself, too many lives depended them.

“I know.” Tony agreed. “Last time he was found in 2011, less than six months before the sceptre arrived.”

“That would have made him … Um… Twenty-seven, or there abouts.”

“Hmm… in that case we could probably spring him in 2000.”

“Wouldn’t want to go much earlier.” Barnes agreed.

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

“Only going to get worse.” Tony warned. “We’ll bring in Clint and Sam and go fetch Capsicle a little earlier than last time. Early enough that we can help him integrate into the modern world.”
“But not too early.” Barnes warned. “We need him at his peak, health and fitness wise.” No matter how much he wanted his friend back, he had to think about more than just himself, too many lives depended on them.

“I know.” Tony agreed. “Last time he was found in 2011, less than six months before the sceptre arrived.”

“That would have made him … Um… Twenty-seven, or there abouts.”

“Hmm… in that case we could probably spring him in 2000.”

“Wouldn’t want to go much earlier.” Barnes agreed.

~~~

March 15^th 1992

“Bodyguard.” Tony said in reply to Clint Barton's raised brow and nod in Barnes’ direction.

“Right…” Clint nodded. “Like you need one of those.” He’d seen Tony in action, when he’d given displays of the various items that he provided to the DoD.

“Nah, he’s got other duties but as far as the public is concerned, he’s my bodyguard.” Tony shrugged. “I’m getting tired of having to rescue myself, every time some idiot thinks I’m an easy target.”

“That… sounds more like it.” Clint nodded, chuckling. “Does he know how many attempts have been made on you this year?”

“Yep.” Tony grinned. “He started muttering something about reckless idiots.”

Clint laughed. “So… What can I do you for, Stark?” He twisted the usual inquiry into something a little more amusing.

“I’m starting up a security department.” Tony said. “Security and maybe some investigation. His idea.” He nodded to Barnes.

“Security for who?”

“Mostly my stuff but occasionally we’ll work contract.” Tony said. “Dad’s just finished an audit and investigation in SI and found that one of his most trusted people has been double-dealing and selling on the black-market.”

“sh*t…”

“It get’s worse.” Tony warned. “He’s my unofficial godfather and he’s also responsible for at least half of the kidnapping attempts on me, in the last twelve months.” Obie had been handed over to the FBI earlier that day, along with a copy of every item he’d sold and every dollar he’d stolen, for the last five years.

“Ah…” Clint grimaced.

“Yeah.” Tony nodded. “And some of that was to SHIELD. While Aunt Peggy had retired from SHIELD before he started, I’ve read some of her early reports and I don’t like the way they just brought in HYDRA personnel and put them to work. How many of them really left HYDRA behind and how many of them just started recruiting within SHIELD?”

Clint went a little pale. “I’ve got a friend that’s just joined them.”

“Talk about a bad move.” Tony shook his head.

“How bad?”

“Alright…” Tony pursed his lips and thought. “1944, Captain America’s first mission, the rescue of POWs from Azzano. He brought back the missing 107^th from a HYDRA base. Six months later, Cap brings in Arnim Zola, the scientist that experimented on the POWs. He went into SSR custody and they kept him well hidden, for a while. 1948 and SHIELD is formed by Peggy Carter, dad and Chester Phillips, with dad as chief scientist. 1950, dad’s been relegated to a back-bench and Zola is lead scientist, he stayed that way until his death in 1972. You see what I’m getting at?”

Clint's eyes were wide and he trembled slightly. “Can we take a break, so I can give my friend a call? I think he should know this, before he gets in too deep.”

“Yeah, sure, call Coulson, tell him to join us.” Tony shrugged.

Clint blinked and pulled out a cell phone, Tony was amused to see it was one of his. Clint wasted no time in dialling and asking Coulson to meet them. It took less than ten minutes for Coulson to arrive and another five minutes for Tony to bring him up to date on the conversation.

“Ah.” Was all Coulson had to say in reaction to Tony’s bombshell.

“Yeah.” Tony nodded, a grimace on his face. “Better you know about it, now, than find out you’ve been inadvertently recruited by them.”

“Yes.” Coulson nodded. “I’ve been assigned as assistant to Senior Agent Fury and he was personally recruited by Director Carter, so I think the chances of his being HYDRA are quite slim.”

“Nick’s okay,” Tony grunted, “a bit too spy-ish for me but what can you expect of a super-secret organisation? Just… Don’t assume that he’s telling you everything. He won’t lie to you, but it won’t be the entire truth.” He still remembered being told Coulson was dead, only to find out after the first snap, that while Coulson may have coded during the fight with Loki, the medics were able to jump-start his heart. Agent Agent had very definitely survived to see SHIELD fall, two years later.

“Yes, I have received that impression.” Coulson agreed.

“His methods can be a bit underhanded… But yeah, Fury’s one of the good guys.” Tony nodded.

“An angel with dirty wings?” Clint asked.

Tony snorted. “That sounds about right.”

“I can work with that.” Coulson said.

“Well, I don’t think I can.” Clint said. “I’ve done the devil’s work, before, and I don’t want to go there, again.” He shook his head. “I think I’d prefer to sign on with you, Stark.”

“I think that would be better for you, too.” Coulson said. “Maybe I can put in a word with Fury, see if I can get you both signed on as consultants.”

“Not us, individually.” Tony objected. “IT in general. I’m looking to employ people that think outside the box, people that don’t work well under restrictions.” He looked at Coulson. “You’re going to tell Fury about Zola and HYDRA, aren’t you?”

“I should.” Coulson answered. “It could be vitally important in the future.”

“Oh, it probably will be.” Tony said. “Sooner or later.” He nodded as he spoke. “Yeah, tell him but tell him to work on it quietly. If he gets too loud, he’ll probably have an ‘accident’. Get IT signed on as a consultant firm, not naming individuals. We’ll listen if he puts ideas our way. No promises to get involved, but we’ll listen and maybe put our penny’s worth in.” He handed over a business card.

Coulson pocketed the card and stood up. “I’ll do what I can. Thanks for the heads-up.” He nodded to both men and left the diner.

“Do you think he saw your bodyguard?” Clint asked.

“Oh, he saw him, he just relegated him to unimportant, right now.” Tony commented. Big mistake, Coulson, you’re not as clued in as you like people to think. Are you? How did you walk passed Bucky Barnes and not see him? He mentally smirked.

“So, what do I need to do, to sign on with you?” Clint asked.

“How long before you muster out?”

“Five days.”

“You got family?” Tony asked. Was Clint married at this point?

“Nah, just me.” Clint shook his head.

Obviously not. What did Clint call her? Laura? But Laura who? Must remember to ask J later.

Tony dragged his mind back on the subject at hand, the rest could wait a few days. “Got transport that’ll get you to New York?”

“Yeah, got a bike.”

Tony nodded. “Great.” He pulled out another card and scribbled an address on it. “Head here, security will be expecting you whenever you get there. They’ll send you to me.” He held out the card but didn’t let go when Clint's fingers closed on it. “This is a one-shot deal, Legolas. Screw me on this and no second chances. You’ve got a fortnight to show up, after that, if I haven’t heard from you, I’ll assume that you’re not interested. If SHIELD gives you a hard time, or won’t let you go, have Coulson call me and we’ll bust you out of wherever they stash you.”

“You think they’d do that?” Clint's eyes widened.

“I’m not sure…” Tony said. “Fury wouldn’t but who knows how a HYDRA agent is likely to react, to you rejecting them. I’m not certain. It’s better to have a plan in place, just in case.”

“Right.” Clint nodded. “What if I touch base each day? Tell you, or your bodyguard, where I am. If they nab me, at least you’d have a starting point for a search.” It was clear that the Army sniper was spooked.

“I… might be able to do more than that…” Tony hummed. “Give me five minutes.” He stood and crossed to the door, going past Barnes. “Keep an eye out, would you? He’s a little worried about SHIELD and HYDRA snatching him. I’ll be back inside five minutes.” He knew that Barnes’ super-soldier hearing would enable him to make out what Tony was whispering.

“And where will you be?” Barnes asked, with a raised brow, as Tony went passed him.

“Just in the carpark, I’m gonna have J and the suit make a tracker for Clint to take with him.” Tony answered but kept walking.

Once he was at the car he spoke to JARVIS. “J, I need a tracker for Clint. He’s worried about HYDRA not accepting a refusal.”

“I heard, Sir.” JARVIS said in Tony’s ear. “Please hold out your left hand, palm up.”

Tony mentally shrugged and lifted his hand, he watched as the nanobots formed a gauntlet. Once the gauntlet fully enclosed his hand, a tiny stream of nanobots welled up in the gauntlet’s palm, slowly forming themselves into a simple vintage styled men’s watch with metallic band. The watch appeared to be older, with faint scratches and even a chip to the glass face.

“Nice, J, it looks like something he’d have had for years.” Tony said quietly.

“That was the idea, Sir.” JARVIS assured him. “You’d best go back inside, Staff Sergeant Barton is getting restless.”

Tony snorted fondly. “Yeah, Legolas doesn’t like to sit around doing nothing.” With that he turned around and headed back into the diner, dropping back into his seat opposite Clint. “Here.” He placed the watch on the table and skidded it across to stop beside Clint's hand.

“What’s this? Buying me jewellry, already?”

“It's a tracker.” Tony answered. “I’ll be able to locate you, within about ten feet, if you’re wearing it. Press the crown and hold it in for a count of three, release for a count of two and hold for three. That will activate the alarm beacon. Hit it each night, say 6pm. If it’s set off at any other time, I’ll assume you need a rescue. But fair warning. My bodyguard is an impatient man and I’m not much better. You set that off and we’ll be coming in hot, all guns blazing. We will assume hostiles have you and will act accordingly. If you’re being held by non-hostiles, just miss a call-in and we’ll be a little more discrete.”

“If I’m being held by anyone, I won’t give a sh*t.” Clint argued. “Guns blazing is fine by me.”

Tony chuckled. “We’ll see if you still think like that, later.”

“I’m going to regret saying that, aren’t I?” Clint muttered.

~~~

January 7^th 1994

On the morning of his 23^rd birthday, Clint Barton woke up screaming. He heaved himself to feet and after a wild-eyed look around the room, darted into the en-suite bathroom and was violently ill.

Seconds later he left the bathroom and was sitting on the bed, shaking in the after-shock of his nightmare.

A banging of a nearby door was quickly followed by a voice of a man he knew was dead.

“Hey, Legolas? You okay? I heard…” Tony f*cking Stark barged into his room and came to a sharp halt, staring at a clearly panicking Clint Barton. “Legolas?”

“Stark?!” Clint squawked. “What the hell?! I watched you die, man!”

Tony freaking Stark just looked at him, with wide eyes. “Uh…” The man blinked a few times before he sighed and grimaced. “Let me guess… Thanos.”

“What about him?”

“You know who he is.” It wasn’t a question. “Describe him, in five words or less.”

“Big… purple… murdering… dickhe*d…” Clint swore.

“Yep, that sounds about right.” Tony nodded.

“What the hell…?” Clint blinked at Tony. “What happened to you? You look about…? I dunno…”

“24.” Tony replied. “I’m one year older than you.”

“What?!” Clint screeched.

Tony pulled out his phone and held it out. “J, time and date stamp, please.”

“It’s 7.34am on Sunday, the 7^th of January 1994, Sir.” JARVIS replied.

“JARVIS…?” Clint whispered.

“Yes, Mr Barton?” JARVIS responded.

“It’s not possible…” Clint shook his head. “Ultron killed him.” It wasn’t until after Tony’s death, that Pepper had explained to those that remained, that JARVIS had been as sentient as Vision. That Tony had been forced to stand by and do nothing, as three of those he considered to be his sons, died. First JARVIS, then Vision and finally, Peter turning to dust in his arms.

“Yeah, but something happened.” Tony tapped his chest and the nanotech Iron Man suit formed around him before vanishing back where it came from. “I woke up in January 1991.”

“Holy sh*t…”

“JARVIS was there and so was the suit.” Tony went on. “Which was an impossibility. JARVIS died in 2015. I only started working with nanotech in 2018 and didn’t make the Bleeding Edge suit, as War Machine called it, until 2022.”

“Uh…” Clint grunted. “So, what the deal, then?”

“As near as JARVIS and I can work it out?” Tony sighed. “We’ve time travelled but not into our original timeline. We think we’re in a new one.”

“Huh?”

“Think about, Clint.” Tony closed his eyes in a sign of remembered pain. “I died, Clint. I woke up at 20. I had JARVIS who didn’t exist until 1996. And a suit that wasn’t built until 2022.”

“Uh…?”

“Think Harry Potter.” Tony sighed. “We can’t change the past and things we know to have happened, we can only work around them.”

“Right…?” Clint lowered his head and shook it in confusion.

“In my original timeline, I didn’t have JARVIS or the suit.” Tony sighed. “If this was my original timeline they wouldn’t have been here, waiting for me to wake. Cause I sure as hell hadn’t made them, not in 1991.”

“Huh…” Clint grunted.

“Plus…” Tony grimaced. “Once I figured it was a different timeline, I decided to change things…”

“What things?” Clint narrowed his eyes at Tony.

“My parents are still alive.”

“But…? Didn’t Barnes…?” Clint winced.

“Not here.” Tony smirked. “In fact… I didn’t even get the chance to try and stop him. He recognised me.” Clint's eyes bulged. “The first thing out of his mouth was ‘Iron Man?’.” Clint's jaw fell. “The second thing, was a demand of ‘get your ass over here. I got a tracker and a kill switch and I want ‘em gone.’ He didn’t even look at mom or dad until I was digging into his arm.”

“Oh, f*ck me.”

“Yeah, I’ve said that, too.” Tony nodded.

“Who else?”

“Just the three of us.” Tony replied. “Although, you’re a surprise. We weren’t expecting you to wake and remember Thanos.”

“He took my family from me.” Clint snarled. “Twice.”

“Laura and the kids. Then Natasha.” Tony said.

“Yeah.” Clint hung his head. “Why am I here?”

“I have no idea, Clint. I don’t even know why I’m here.”

“No. Here. In this room, right now.” Clint corrected, his mind racing.

“Oh. It’s your room, whenever we work late, this is where you stay.” Tony said. “You work for IT, Iron Tech. We sell body armour and protection for the troops and the civilian equivalent, all defensive gear. No weapons at all, that’s dad’s sh*t, not mine. I’m not going to be responsible for Maximoff's parents’ deaths, not this time around.”

“Wanda?”

“Yeah.” Tony nodded.

“Is she even alive, yet?”

“Yes, she and Pietro were born in ’89.”

“When did…?”

“Summer ’99, she said.” Tony guessed what Clint meant.

“What are you doing to stop it?”

“Obie’s in FBI custody, he was the one to sell SI bombs to Strucker, but they didn’t meet until ’97.”

“So, the chances are that if the bomb happens, again, it won’t be a Stark bomb.” Clint stated.

“Yep.” Tony agreed.

“Laura!” Clint's head rose sharply. “Oh, sh*t! Laura…” He dropped back onto the bed. “I met Laura through SHIELD. If I work for you, I won’t meet Laura…”

“Easy, Clint.” Tony stepped closer. “Laura’s still at Columbia, got another year before she graduates, she’s going to be interning with IT’s legal department.”

“What?” Clint looked at Tony, not really understanding what was being said.

“Laura will intern with IT, she’s not started yet. Next week.” Tony shrugged. “I had no idea what else to get you for your birthday, man.”

Clint started to laugh, almost hysterically. “You got me a wife for my birthday?!”

“Sir?” JARVIS’ voice was almost silent in Tony’s earpiece.

“J?”

“I have an incoming call… and I’m not sure how to deal with it.”

“Who is it and what do they want?” Tony asked.

“Ms Laura Connelly, Sir, and she’s quite upset.”

“Connect me.” Tony ordered. “Ms Connelly?” Clint went silent, he knew who Tony was speaking with.

“Mr Stark?” The young woman gasped.

“Yes, Ms Connelly.” Tony said. “My… JARVIS said you were upset, how can I help you?”

“I… I’m… I’m going to have to resign, sir. I can’t… I need to work for…” She didn’t finish any sentences before starting the next, but somehow Tony managed to connect what she wasn’t saying with what she meant. Having Clint in front of him, certainly helped.

“Ah. Perhaps I can forestall you, by saying that the head of IT’s Security Department is one Clint Barton.”

“What?” Laura’s voice went flat.

“Did you know it was our favourite Hawk-ass’ birthday, today? And he seems to think I got him a wife as a birthday present.”

“What…?”

“He woke up screaming.”

“f*cking Loki…” Laura muttered.

“Nope. Not Loki. Thanos.” Tony corrected.

Clint was listening in and his eyes were wide and scared.

“How about you chat to your husband and I’ll go make some coffee?” Tony suggested. “J? Transfer Laura to Clint's phone, please.”

“Transferring Mrs Barton, now.” JARVIS said and Clint's phone began to ring.

Clint's hand trembled as he reached for the phone on the bedside. As he picked it up, the call connected and he heard the beautiful sound of his wife swearing.

“Laur’s? Babe?” He whispered.

“Clinton Francis Barton, what did you do, this time?” His wife demanded.

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Clint's hand trembled as he reached for the phone on the bedside. As he picked it up, the call connected and he heard the beautiful sound of his wife swearing.

“Laur’s? Babe?” He whispered.

“Clinton Francis Barton, what did you do, this time?” His wife demanded.

May 15^th 1995

“Sir? There’s an incoming call from front gate security.” JARVIS said.

“Connect me.” Tony said absently, his mind working on adapting some of Howard’s firepower to fit into War Machine’s shoulders.

“Dr Stark?” The security guard seemed a little frazzled, he only ever called Tony ‘Dr’ when very important people or the press were around.

“Andrew?” Tony’s attention switched to the guard.

“Sir, there’s a young woman here, insisting that she’s your PA, but she doesn’t have any paperwork.”

Tony frowned. “Did she give a name?”

“Potts, sir, Vir-”

“Send her down and order in whatever papers she needs to have access to all sites. Alert all security of her clearance.” Tony ordered. If he remembered right, Pepper hadn’t joined SI until the summer of 1996, so what was she doing here, now?

The seconds dragged by, until the door to his office/lift opened and Andrew’s trainee, George walked out, closely followed by a very young Pepper Potts.

“Ms Potts, Dr Stark.” George gave him a small smile, today wasn’t a good day.

“Thanks, George.” Tony replied. “And what are you doing here, today? I thought your daughter was having surgery today?”

“She is, sir.”

“Then go. I’ll clear it with HR, compassionate leave. Your daughter needs you, so does your wife. Go.” Tony ordered.

George’s smile was brighter and he nodded. “Yes, sir.” He stepped back into the office/lift and closed the door.

“Miss Potts.” Tony said. Did she remember?

“Mr Stark.” Pepper said clearly, not addressing him as ‘Dr’, as George had and with an exasperated tone.

Yep, she remembers. “We’ll start you as PA but I want you back as CEO as fast as is humanly possible, without causing a scandal.” Tony said, turning his back on the woman, who he was sure, knew she was his wife. He heard her inhale sharply before speaking.

“Six months.” She said. “As IT is such a private company, six months as your PA before moving to CEO is doable. But, Tony?”

“Yeah, Pep?”

“If you’re doing Iron Man, again, I want Extremis and my Rescue suit.”

“Extremis? No can do, but we have something that I think will be better, less chance of you being all explody. The suit is almost ready to fit to you.”

“No Extremis?”

“Nope, not this time.” Tony said. “We’re going to use dad’s version of the super-soldier serum.” He held up a hand when she began to object. “Wait. It’s a watered-down version of Steve’s serum, dad had to retro-engineer it from samples of Steve’s blood. It was stolen by the Russians after dad's assassination.”

“But I thought I saw your father at Columbia last month…” Pepper argued.

“You did.” Tony said. “After some serious debating, we’ve come to the conclusion that this is not our original timeline.”

“Not our original timeline?” Pepper repeated. “What makes you so sure?”

“I woke in January 1991.” Tony said. “JARVIS and the bleeding edge suit were both in the room with me.”

“JARVIS?” Pepper blinked.

“Yes, Miss Potts?” JARVIS asked.

“Oh, my God… JARVIS!” Pepper smiled brightly. “And you agree with Tony’s theory of this being an alternate timeline, JARVIS?”

“I do, Miss Potts.” JARVIS replied. “But it is not just my opinion, either.”

“What?” Pepper turned back to Tony. “Who else did you tell?”

“Tell?” Tony grimaced. “Only mum and dad. Who else knows…?” He hesitated.

“Who else knows?” Pepper demanded.

“Clint, Laura and Barnes.” Tony said quickly.

“Cli- Excuse me?!” Pepper squawked. “Clint Barton, Laura Barton and… Barnes? The Winter Soldier, Barnes?”

“That’s the one.” Tony nodded.

“How did they find out?” Pepper narrowed her eyes and glared at Tony.

“They remembered.” Tony said. “I went to stop Barnes from killing mom and dad, only to have him call me ‘Iron Man’ and ask me to remove a tracker and kill-switch from his arm. It took me and JARVIS six months to recreate Princess Shuri’s replacement arm and another three before JARVIS was comfortable performing the surgery that was needed to remove the Russian arm and attached the replacement.”

“He remembers?” Pepper asked. “How much?”

“Everything.”

“Oh, God…”

“We’re good, Pep.” Tony said. “The triggers don’t work and Barnes is in complete control, now. Apparently, it took nearly a year of working with Sam Wilson and a shrink before he gained a semblance of acceptance about what he’d been forced to do. And you know very well how long it took me to work my way through what Zemo exposed.”

“Hmm…” Pepper nodded slowly. “And there’s been no… incidents…?”

“Nope. We’re good.” Tony shook his head. “Although in the interests of marital peace, I feel I should reveal that Barnes, Clint, JARVIS and dad all agreed that I was to be dosed with a full dose of the serum. As was Clint, while Barnes got a half dose. We’re keeping the other half to give Nat, when we go get her, in next year or two. Both of them got the knock-off one that HYDRA created back in the forties. We’d also like to dose Rhodey, different reasons but personally, I can’t go through watching get him hurt like that, not again.”

“Hmm…” Pepper nodded and Tony continued talking.

“Clint remembered on his birthday, as did Laura.” Tony snorted. “I heard him scream and went to see what the problem was, he freaked out and said something about watching me die. We talked and I told him that Laura had signed on as an intern in our legal department. He laughed about me getting him a wife for a birthday present.”

Pepper snorted. “And Laura?”

“She rang in a panic and stammered something about having to quit because she needed to work elsewhere. I replied by telling her that IT’s head of security was Clint and once she’d mentioned Loki and I said Thanos, I had J transfer the call to Clint's phone and went to make coffee.”

“Of course, you did.” Pepper sighed. “Who do you plan to tell and when? And what about the rest of the team?”

“We figure we need to tell the entire team, plus, Fury, Coulson and Hill.” Tony replied.

“Why them?”

“The team needs to be able to trust me. There’s too much riding on this.” Tony said. “As for Fury and the other two?” He shrugged. “Well, I’ve already warned Coulson about Zola and HYDRA hiding in SHIELD and Agent Agent has been keeping Clint informed of their progress in clearing them out. The WSC has had a major reshuffle just recently, Pierce is out, Fury managed to keep his HYDRA connection under cover, while exposing his other illegal dealings. That still landed him in ADX Supermax in Colorado.”

“That will work.” Pepper nodded. “And you want to dose me with the serum?”

“Yes.” Tony nodded. “I need you safe and the serum is the best option. I don’t have the means of synthesizing Extremis, we agreed that Killian’s formula wouldn’t be recorded anywhere and while I may have had JARVIS keep it while I figured out what went wrong with it, I also had him delete the data-bytes, once we’d finished.”

“So, no Extremis.” Pepper sighed. “Can’t say I’m despondent about that, but the super-soldier serum, Tony? Really?”

“It’s a poor comparison to Erskine’s final formula.” Tony corrected. “It really only increases what's already there. Speed and healing are increased by 27%, hearing by 18%, eye sight by 32% and strength by 36%. As opposed to Erskine’s, which is supposed to have more than doubled speed, healing and strength. It also doesn’t change your body structure. Bones are denser, body temperature and heartrate are elevated but not significantly. It’s better than the version that Barnes and Nat got, which is why we plan to split a dose between them.”

“How many doses do you have? In total?”

“Six.” Tony said. “I got one, as did Clint. One for you and another for Rhodey. One split between Barnes and Nat. That’s five. Initially, we were tossing up giving the other dose to either Coulson or Wilson but Coulson stayed with SHIELD so we crossed him out. Sam? We’re still a little divided on him. He was there but he wasn’t ever seriously injured, would that dose be better used elsewhere?”

“Who else is there?”

“It’s not a case of who else is there,” Tony argued, “it’s a case of who else isn’t already enhanced. The original team? Me and Clint are the only baseline humans, all the others are enhanced. Steve has Erskine’s serum, Nat has the HYDRA version, Bruce has Big Green and Thor’s Asgardian. Wanda and Pietro were enhanced by HYDRA using the sceptre. Vision was… created… using the Cradle and Mjolnir. Sam’s a baseline human. As were Scott and Hope, but both used the Pym suits, which are like an exoskeleton version of the serum. Rhodey’s a baseline. The Wakandans were… something else, something to do with a flower(?) giving them serum-like advantages? I didn’t pay that much attention to Okoye when she tried to explain it. Strange and Wong had magic, which I don’t understand at all. Then there were the Guardians and none of them were human, even if Quill was half human.” Tony babbled.

“And Peter was Spider-Man.” Pepper nodded.

“… Yeah…” Tony dropped his head and whispered.

“So, it’s down to Sam and Happy, then?” Pepper asked, knowing that Tony would not have left Happy Hogan, out of his plans.

“Pretty much.” Tony shrugged.

“So, why not split it between them, each will be slightly enhanced without it being overwhelming?”

“Though about that, but I can’t see either of them being pleased, both are going to insist that the other have a full dose.”

“Umph.” Pepper grunted.

“And that’s assuming that we can get either of them to agree to it, anyway.” Tony sighed.

“Alright…” Pepper hummed. “Here's a thought. If I’ve got my Rescue nanotech suit, I don’t really need a full dose. So why don’t we keep that half and the other full dose, for future use? We don’t have to decide, right now, we can wait until… say between 2010 and '15? That would still give whomever we decide on, a chance to be physically acclimated to the changes before Thanos arrives.”

Tony blinked. “This is why I need you, Pep, none of us thought of that.”

“I know.” Pepper smiled. “You’re the genius and I’m one that makes things actually work.”

Tony laughed. “Pretty much.”

“Alright, let’s table Thanos for the moment. Bring me up to speed on IT and its inventory, holdings, staff and contracts.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Tony saluted. “J, bring up the inventory briefings, please.” He said over his shoulder. “But first…?” He held out his arms and Pepper gave him a slightly wobbly smile as she stepped into them. “I missed you, Pep. So much.”

“I know, Tony. I missed you, so much. But Friday had so many files, I still got to see you every day. Morgan’s growing up, knowing her father fairly well.”

“Morgan…” Tony made a pained sound.

“If we’re here, are we no longer there?” Pepper asked.

“I don’t know.” Tony whispered. “I hope there’s still a version of you there, with her.”

Before either of them could continue, JARVIS spoke up. “Sir, Miss Potts? Mr Barnes and Mr Barton have an issue in transport and require Sir’s assistance. One of the drivers is not who he claims to be.”

“Right, you go deal with that and I’ll work on getting up to date on IT.” Pepper ordered.

“Yep.” Tony headed for the office/lift.

~~~

Four hours later, the three men stumbled from the office/lift into the workshop, all three exhausted and filthy dirty, grease and dust covering them all.

“Oh, my lord. What happened to you?” Pepper demanded.

The three men’s head all rose sharply.

“Pepper?” Clint asked.

“Yes, Clint?” Pepper replied.

“Uh…?” Barnes made a questioning noise.

“Oh, right, you haven’t met, yet.” Tony sighed. “Barnes, Pepper Potts, currently my PA and soon to be my CEO, again. And then my wife, I hope.” He gestured from one to the other. “Pep, Barnes Buchannan, formerly known as James Barnes, the Winter Soldier.” He pointed to Clint. “Him, you know.” He slumped down onto a sofa. “Pep remembers, too. She fronted up to the gate and informed them she was my PA and made them call me. We talked and… well, here we are…”

“Right…” Barnes sighed and nodded to himself.

“We need to have a meeting, Tony.” Pepper started. “All of us that know. We have many things to discuss.”

“Talk to Barnes about that, Pep-my-love, he’s the one in charge of the Thanos Project.” Tony waved and Barnes pulled himself to his feet and headed over to Pepper to bring her up to date.

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

“We need to have a meeting, Tony.” Pepper started. “All of us that know. We have many things to discuss.”

“Talk to Barnes about that, Pep-my-love, he’s the one in charge of the Thanos Project.” Tony waved and Barnes pulled himself to his feet and headed over to Pepper to bring her up to date.

~~~

February 17^th 1996

Tony sat beside his father, as Howard laid out their plan to the DoD panel, very conscious of having Clint standing behind him, as opposed to Barnes, who’d been at his back since December 1991. He’d also seen the admirals and generals' eyes flick by Clint and snap back to him, the men’s eyes widening as they gauged Clint's military history, as described by the selection of US Army citation ribbons pinned to his chest and the multiple marksmanship badges that hung under them.

“My son was right, the soldiers on the ground are the ones that need what Stark Industries and Iron Technologies can provide, the most.” The older man said, after the opening pleasantries were dealt with.

“And what of the larger munitions that Stark Industries has provided the military with, up until this point?” One Navy Admiral asked.

“Let’s be honest here, gentlemen.” Howard sighed. “Up until Obediah Stane started pushing me towards them, SI had only been providing about 5% of the larger, surface-to-air or surface-to-surface missiles. Even at the most generous, SI can’t claim to have ever supplied even as much as 10% of the DoD’s supply. I’m not a bomb-builder, chemicals have never been my specialty, weapon design has. Designing weapons to use a range of readily available ammunition, is my preferred specialty and in all honesty, Tony’s the only one that is better at that than I am and unfortunately for the military, all Tony’s designs require a weapon to be custom-fit to the user. Not something that is doable on a large scale.”

“Couldn’t Dr Stark’s weapons be refitted for DoD use?” An Army general asked.

“Probably.” Tony said. “But I have no intention of mutilating my designs into something that dad can make just as easily. Doing so would render the advantages I’ve added, inoperable and no better than dad’s latest designs.”

The representatives from the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and the White House, conferred for a few minutes, often referring to the handout that Howard had presented.

“Are we correct in assuming that SI… retiring… from large munitions manufacture, will not impact on your contracts for the smaller weapons?” A White House rep asked.

“Yes, our other existing weapons contracts will stay, we just won’t be renewing the munitions contracts.” Howard said.

“That being said, gentlemen…” Tony smirked. “We do have something that will interest you.”

“Oh?” The other White House rep asked. “And what would that be?”

“Drones.” Tony replied. “Non-weaponised unmanned drones.”

“We already have…” The White House rep fell silent as the drone entered the room. “What is that?!”

“That is our drone.” Tony’s smirk grew. “Predominantly for surveillance or search and rescue. Each drone is flightworthy to a thousand feet, has five cameras, a flight time of one hour, a maximum speed of twenty miles an hour and can be fitted with a carrier that can hold up to five pounds of cargo. The cameras can be used in conjunction with a number of already-existing sensor systems. Infra-red, thermal, night vision, weapons detection, etc.”

“How is it controlled?” An Air Force general wanted to know.

“Very much like a remote-controlled car, General Westbourne.” Tony said. “Each drone will come with an individualised computer system and I will train your staff in how to operate them. They’re not difficult to operate but paying attention to all five cameras, at once, can be.”

“And who is controlling this one?” General Westbourne asked.

“My bodyguard.” Tony answered.

The general looked at Clint and raised an eyebrow.

“Mr Barton is my head of security, not my bodyguard.” Tony shook his head.

“And why would you require a bodyguard?” Westbourne asked. “I understand that you are quite capable of removing yourself from… involuntary incarceration?”

“Oh, I am.” Tony assured the general. “But also I’m tired of having to deal with it on such a regular basis. Having a deterrent, such as a visible or semi-visible bodyguard, has dropped kidnapping attempts by over 85%.”

“Hmm…” An Army General nodded. “Yes, I dare say it would.”

“What sort of manoeuvrability do they have?” The second Air Force general asked.

“Barton? If you would, please?” Tony asked and Clint stood up, laid his jacket over the back of his chair before moving to the rear of the room, which was empty.

Clint pulled a torch-like instrument from a pocket and extended it into a baton, approximately the length of his forearm. He swung at the drone and it tipped on its side, letting the baton swung passed it. For the next few minutes, Clint used the baton as one would a knife or bat to try and knock the drone from the air.

“May I?” One Navy admiral asked, indicating that he would like to take Clint's place.

“Certainly.” Tony was confident that Barnes would be able to evade the admiral’s actions.

Another few minutes left them with a panting admiral and a smug Tony. And a proud Howard... something that Tony was still getting used to.

“Very interesting, gentlemen.” Westbourne (USAF)said. “How did you come up with this?”

“The basic idea was Tony’s.” Howard said. “I designed the body and placement of the various components, including cameras and flight turbines. Tony designed the turbines themselves and the power-source. He also wrote the programming and the control system. It was Mr Barton’s idea to incorporate a cargo capability. Bringing the entirety together was… complicated…”

“We had six goes at that before we finally got a working prototype and progressed through three prototypes before we landing on this design.” Tony added. “Since then it’s been a case of refining and re-engineering a lot of pre-existing systems so that they could be miniaturised enough to make the drones work, the way we want them to.”

“I see.” A White House rep tilted his head as he studied the drone. “Does excessive manoeuvring use up flight time?”

“It does but only by about 5-10%” Tony replied. “I’ve tried everything I can, but battery-life is limited by the space available, I went for the highest battery to flight-time ratio, I could pull out of the various components.” He wasn’t introducing the arc-reactor to the DoD until he was ready to introduce a variant of the Iron Man armour.

“And when will these be ready for deployment?” A Navy Admiral asked.

“We have five ready for each DoD branch.” Howard said. “These are… extremely sensitive and each one requires individual programming and assembly. At most Tony and I can put together four a month. Unless we plan to let other projects suffer.”

“Other projects?” A Marine officer asked.

“I’m working on a non-lethal gun for MPs and crowd control, a sedation delivery system that can be used at a distance and a magnetised grappling gun.” Howard said.

“Together we’re working on a larger sized drone that can be used for search and rescue extraction or limited cargo supply drops.” Tony added. “And there’s another thing I’m working on. Exoskeleton wings. For paramedics and as armed escort duty for the larger drones.”

“Do you have a working prototype, yet?”

“Sort of.” Tony shrugged. “They work, I’ve tested them myself, but without a pilot, I can’t take testing much further. I can’t be in two places at once and I’m at a stall-point as far as the programming in of manoeuvrability is concerned, it needs to happen while the wings are in action.”

“What do you require from a pilot?” The Second Air Force general asked.

“Willingness to learn and an open mind on how.” Tony replied. “It would be better to be someone that hasn’t much flight time, operating the wings would be considerably different from any other aircraft and an experienced pilot is likely to have to unlearn many things before they’re comfortable in the wings.”

“So, a trainee airman, then?” Westbourne’s colleague asked.

“That would be best.” Tony nodded.

“Do you have other criteria for a pilot?”

“Yeah.” Tony nodded. “A lot can be taught, but some things they have to have from the get-go. Height, weight, upper body strength, ability to multi-task, etc.”

“I think that, initially at least, we can leave that between you and the Air Force, Dr Stark.” The Army general cut in. “Once the wings are ready for deployment, it might be a different situation, but not until you have a working prototype.” The other DoD reps all nodded.

“Very well, if you have no objections, Dr Stark, Mitcham and I would like to continue this meeting with you once we’ve concluded our general business.”

“Sure, we can do that.” Tony nodded, again.

“So…?” Mitcham checked his notes. “Stark Industries are notifying the DoD that they will not be renewing their large munitions contracts. Stark Industries and Iron Technologies have combines forces to produce a small drone, capable of imagery and minor cargo delivery and are working on a larger version with cargo and extraction capabilities. Start Industries has a number of new products still in the design phase, including a non-lethal handgun, a remote sedative delivery system and a magnetic grappling gun. Iron Technologies are in the design and testing stages for a new product, an exoskeleton wing-suit for paramedics and drone escort.” He laid the notepad down. “Did I miss anything?”

Tony shared a look with Howard and shook his head.

“No, that’s it.” Howard replied.

“Very well.” Mitcham looked at the other DoD reps. “Shall we conclude this meeting or does anyone have anything else they would like to add?”

Each of the DoD brass shook their heads and gathered up their materials.

“We’re good.” An Army general replied. “Expect to hear from us in regard to the smaller drone, and please keep us informed in regard to your other projects.” He nodded to Howard and Tony and after a few moments, to Clint.

The former Army sniper came to attention and saluted the general, knowing he was probably breaking a hundred rules, but he figured he worked for a Stark, breaking rules was almost mandatory. The general blinked and returned the salute, which eased Clint's mind, before leaving the room.

~~~

October 6^th 1996

James Rhodes opened his eyes and shut them quickly, his head pounding in time to his heartbeat.

“Ugh…” He groaned and heaved himself to his feet, stumbling into the adjoining bathroom. He emptied his bladder and stumbled back to the bed, his hand reaching for this braces. His fingers scrabbled around and when they didn’t find the familiar carbon-fibre and metal frames, he opened his eyes and looked for them. A sweeping glance around the room showed no sign of the braces and he huffed a sigh, before climbing to his feet and looking on the far side of the bed.

“No there, either.” He muttered and turned to the bathroom. A bathroom empty of the items he was searching for.

He crossed back to the bed and bent over to pick up a discarded shirt from a chair. His hands froze as his fingers closed around the shirt.

“That’s… that’s not right…” He focused on the insignia bars on the shirt’s collar. “First Lieutenant?” He tilted his head and reached for the cell phone on the dresser. A tap at the phone and his frowned deepened. “October 6^th? What? I thought it was the 10^th?” He shook his head, only to groan as the pounding headache re-asserted its presence.

A thumping was heard from outside the room and before Rhodes could do more than turn in that direction, the door was flung open and Tony Stark erupted into the room.

“Gum-drop!” He whisper shouted. “I’ve come to spring you from your vile durance and spirit you away to the land of coffee and bagels… otherwise known as breakfast.”

“Tony…?” Rhodes gasped, frozen in shock.

“Rhodey?” Tony froze, too, he’d heard that tone before, Clint had sounded like that, when he’d first seen Tony, after remembering.

“Tony!” Rhodes leapt across the room and engulfed the younger man in a near-smothering hug.

“Oh, wow…” Tony whispered and hung on just as tight. “Let me guess… Thanos?”

“f*cking Thanos!” Rhodes snarled before pushing Tony back and looking at him. “Look at you, Tones, you look like a kid, again. What happened?”

“Uh…” Tony grimaced.

“Tony? What did you do?” Rhodes narrowed his eyes.

“Not sure that I did anything.” Tony said. “It’s 1996, honey-bear.”

“What?” Rhodes’ voice was flat and hard.

“1996,” Tony tilted his head, “it’s actually your birthday.”

“1996?” The flat tone was still there.

“Yep.” Tony said brightly. “You remember Brucie telling us what the Ancient One had to say about timelines and timestreams? Well, we think that this is a different timeline.”

“Bruce? Banner? The Hulk’s here?”

“Oh, no, not Bruce. The rest of us.” Tony replied, he pulled out of Rhodes’ arms and darted over to the closet and began shuffling through it.

“Us? Who’s us?” Rhodes asked.

“Barnes, Clint, Laura and Pepper remember and Barnes and I were forced into telling mom and dad.”

“Barnes?” Rhodes blinked. “Bucky Barnes? Cap’s Barnes?”

“Yep.” Tony threw a grin over his shoulder. “Although, right now he’s my Barnes. He’s my bodyguard. And Steve’s still frozen, wherever it is he was. We’ve got plans for pulling him out a bit earlier than before. We want to integrate him into society, properly this time. Going from one war in 1945 to another war in 2011 didn’t give him much time to acclimate and f*cking SHIELD didn’t help him out, with any integration classes. They just gave him a folder and said ‘go forth, young man’. Really not all that helpful.” He handed Rhodes a shirt and a pair of jeans. “Come on, get dressed and Barnes will drive us to the factory, I’ll bring you up to date on what we’ve been doing.”

This probably wasn’t the craziest stunt Tony had ever pulled. That was a toss-up between Afghanistan, flying a nuke into a wormhole and building a working time machine, so Rhodes just shrugged and went with it. “I want my War Machine back.” He bent and began to pull the jeans over his legs before freezing and whispering. “My legs… I can… I can feel them…”

“Yep, no more braces for my gummy-bear.” Tony beamed. “And your suit is ready and waiting. I wasn’t going to give it to you until I presented the unmanned version over to the DoD, but if you remember, I’m going to have to bring that forward a few years.”

As they left the apartment, Barnes appeared from his post in the hallway. “Lieutenant Rhodes.” He nodded.

“Sergeant Barnes.” Rhodes returned the nod.

Barnes blinked and heaved a sigh. “Another one?” He asked Tony.

“Yep.”

“To the factory, still?” Barnes asked.

“Yep. I’ll call ahead and have the others meet us.” Tony agreed.

The group gathered around a holographic note-table, each of them reviewing lists or talking to someone that was.

“So…?” Howard looked around bright and eager. “Who else can we expect?”

The conversations went silent.

“What?” Howard suddenly looked uncertain.

“Dad…” Tony hesitated. “I don’t…” He took a deep breath. “See, the thing is, I wasn’t expecting anyone, dad.”

“No-one?”

“Nope. No-one.” Tony shook his head.

“Well, that’s a bad plan.” Howard frowned at his son.

“It wasn’t a plan, dad.” Tony corrected. “I died. I expected to stay dead, I didn’t expect to wake up as a twenty-year-old. I didn’t expect to jump timelines. And I certainly didn’t expect to have people around me, start to remember, either!” Tony ranted.

“Ah…” Howard nodded. “That’s different. For some reason, I thought you had planned this.”

“No, dad. No plan.” Tony sighed.

“Right.” Howard nodded slowly. “Well, the question still stands. Who else can we expect?”

“Um…” Tony grunted.

“So far, besides a connection to Tony, we’re all Avengers or Avenger-adjacent.” Barnes said.

“Excuse me?” Tony blinked.

“Well, we are.” Barnes replied. “You and Clint were Avengers, while Laura, Pepper and I were adjacent. And Rhodes co-lead the New Avengers Initiative after the snap.”

“Huh…” Tony grunted again.

“So, would that mean that we can expect other Avengers or Avenger-adjacent personnel to join us?” Maria asked.

“I… I don’t know…” Tony tilted his head and thought.

“I say we plan for it all.” Maria suggested. “Just in case there are others.”

“Meaning?” Laura asked.

“We make an over-plan and add various amendments to it, for each person that could appear.” Maria explained.

“Like? I was going to release an unmanned version of the armour for hot-zone extractions, with at most, a pair of manned suits for each DoD branch. But now that Rhodey’s remembered, I need to look at bringing that forward?” Tony asked.

“Exactly.” Maria nodded eagerly. “SI have stopped making large munitions and the DoD has acted to retrieve the black-market stock, so the Novi Grad bombs aren’t going to be SI bombs.”

“Which will lessen Wanda’s hatred for Tony.” Clint added.

“If Wanda remembers…” Laura sat forward. “What are the chances that she’ll still have her… powers?”

All those at the table just blinked.

“I have no idea…” Tony said. “But I have to say, I kinda hope she does.”

“Tony!” Pepper gasped.

“No, Pep.” Tony held up a hand. “If she does have her powers, then she’ll see the difference and even if the bomb that lands in her family’s apartment is a Stark one, I can show her my memories of what we’ve done to avoid that and what we’re doing to prepare, in advance, for Thanos’ arrival.”

“Oh…” Pepper went still while she thought through Wanda’ possible reactions to that. “Yes… Yes, I can see that might change things…”

“That’s going to be dozens of plans…” Barnes groaned.

“How do you figure that?” Clint asked.

“One over-all base plan.” Barnes said. “Then one for if Wanda remembers. Another for if she brings her twin along. Another for if he remembers. Another for if Steve remembers. Another for Natasha. For Hulk. For Sam. What about T’Challa? Shuri? Quill? Danvers? Nebula? Rocket?” He groaned again. “But even then, it’s not just what about them, it’s what if Steve remembers and Natasha doesn’t. Or T’Challa does but Shuri doesn’t? Nebula does and Rocket doesn’t? You see what I mean? There’s got to be lots of plans, not just one plan for each person.”

“Huh…?” Clint grunted.

Barnes held his head in his hands. “Like… a plan for Steve remembering but no-one else does. Another for Steve and Natasha remembering but no-one else does. Another for Steve, Natasha and Sam but no-one else. Another for Steve and Sam but no-one else. Another for Natasha and Sam but no-one else.”

“Oh, hell…” Laura muttered. “I get it. Talk about multiple choice…”

Tony’s eyes widened as he figured out what Barnes meant. “Oh, gods above…” He shuddered. “Right. Laura? I’m pulling you from Legal, you’ll be working with Barnes, now. You’ll both meet with Pepper and I, for a half-hour briefing each day. If I need to go out, Barnes will come with me, but otherwise, the pair of you work on this. Anyone has any free time, drop in and give them a hand. I want a rough outline ready to go by Christmas.” He held up a hand. “Just a rough outline, we can work on filling in the details as we progress. Nothing’s set in stone yet, except for the fact that sooner or later Thanos is going to be a problem. Everything else is fluid-in-motion, just yet.”

“He’s right.” Rhodes spoke for the first time. “I’ve got a week of leave, I’ll help, too.”

“Um…?” Laura held up a hand.

“Yeah, Laur’s?” Tony looked to the raven-haired woman.

“Pepper’s getting a suit, right?” Laura asked.

“Yeah, Rescue’s ready to go.” Tony nodded. “PINI is installed and she and Pep are getting used to working together.”

“Pini?” Rhodes asked.

“PINI is the Rescue suit’s AI, Pretty Intelligent Network Interface.” Tony answered.

“Will there be an AI for each suit?” Rhodes asked, he’d hadn’t really got used to having FRIDAY in his ear.

“There will.” Tony said.

“I want a suit.” Laura blurted out.

“What?” Clint blinked at his wife.

“I want a suit.” Laura repeated. “I sat at home and watched you come back, beaten and bloody each time you went out. Not again. I might have joined SHIELD last time but I was not a field agent. This time… This is my family, too, Clint. I have the right to protect them, just as much as you do. We already know that archery and hand-to-hand is pointless for me, but an Iron Man suit? Especially one with an AI for fine-targeting? I can do that. I want to do that.”

“Oh, boy…” Tony winced.

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

“I want a suit.” Laura blurted out.

“What?” Clint blinked at his wife.

“I want a suit.” Laura repeated. “I sat at home and watched you come back, beaten and bloody each time you went out. Not again. I might have joined SHIELD last time but I was not a field agent. This time… This is my family, too, Clint. I have the right to protect them, just as much as you do. We already know that archery and hand-to-hand is pointless for me, but an Iron Man suit? Especially one with an AI for fine-targeting? I can do that. I want to do that.”

“Oh, boy…” Tony winced.

The girl woke, looking around her in shock.

“бог мой…” She whispered.

“Good morning, Natalia.” A middle-aged woman approached her bunk. “Are you ready for your first assignment?” The girl grit her teeth and stood, she said nothing but clearly nodded. “Good. Get dressed in the clothes provided, then join me, we shall brief you as we travel.”

The girl noticed that food wasn’t mentioned and mentally shrugged. It didn’t really matter as she wasn’t going to stay in… wherever it was they were. She just kinda hoped that her ястреб'snest was still in the same place, she had no idea of how much time had passed since she’d let go of his hand.

Dressing took seconds and while the briefing took a little longer, the journey from ‘wherever it was’, to Bucharest took much longer, two hours longer. Two hours, that significantly re-arranged the girl’s plans. She had no idea how but somehow… this was the 1990’s!

She left the helicopter with the man that was to be her visual support/spotter for the assignment and calmly followed him to the waiting Audi. The pair drove for another hour and a half, stopping twice, once for food and once for the border crossing, into Bulgaria. Another ten minutes and the girl indicated that she wished to use a restroom. The man blinked and nodded and pulled off the motorway and onto an access road, before stopping at a gas station.The pair exited the car and made their way towards the restrooms at the rear of the building. The girl studied the building and the surrounding area quickly and carefully, grateful that security cameras had yet to reach this part of Bulgaria. Still, she would have to act fast, she only had one shot at this.

The moment they were out of sight of the front of the building, the girl exploded into action, not using techniques taught in the Red Room, but rather movements that a large blonde man with a shield, was fond of. Her driver went down like he’d been hit with a vibranium shield, instead of a steel garbage bin lid. The girl bent down over the man and with a quick movement, snapped his neck.

“No more raping little girls, for you, Budimir.” She whispered, with a pleased twist to her lips. She went through his pockets and removed every scrap of their contents, who knew what might come in handy, next she grabbed hold of his arm and with a great deal of effort, heaved him over to the commercial dumpsters. It took more effort and a few bruises from his heavy boots meeting various parts of her body, before she managed to tip him into the dumpster.

A short trip to the restroom and she’d changed her appearance as much as she could. Back to the car and a few minutes to empty it of anything useful, particularly money and weapons. She knew that their Red Room Handlers would be expect them to meet a helicopter in Tirana, Albania, in five days’ time but she was going to disappoint them. She had other plans for her future and they weren’t invited.

With a three guns and a handful of knifes secreted about her body, the girl felt more comfortable to travel. The simple black backpack that she'd flung over her shoulder, was full. Money, guns, knives, clothes and false documents. It was a good start but she planned on raiding the safehouse where she remembered Budimir raping her... or he would have, if she hadn’t snapped his neck.

Two hours later, a rebelliously dressed teenager was on a bus from Ruse to Istanbul, supposedly to meet with her estranged father. Another nine hours and a young English backpacker entered the departure terminal of Istanbul’s international airport and boarded a plane to Paris. Another four hours and the backpacker took a bus from the Charles De Gaulle Airport to the city centre and vanished. A tired young woman in drab clothes, caught a train to London and walked into the Natural History Museum a little before midday. A few minutes before closing, a trio of giggling teenage girls were gently chivvied out of the building, a few blocks later the three exchanged farewells and went their separate ways.

One girl walked a block before her posture changed, the happy carefree nature disappearing like dust in the wind. A cab took her to a run-down house in Islington, where she emptied her bags and raided all the money, weapons and document caches in the building. She laid out all her supplies on the living room floor and sorted out what to take and what to stash elsewhere. A small portion of money, two guns, two knives and four Id’s went into the bag that a rebellious teenager had carried, from Ruse to Istanbul, she planned to hide them in another location. One known only to her and a certain little bird.

The rest she sorted through even more carefully. She couldn’t take guns or metal knives on a commercial plane but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take something. A pair of ceramic knives were laid on the table, along with what seemed like a whole bank vault of money. She knew that she only had a limited amount of time and would have to plan her assault on the money exchanges carefully. Three changes of clothes were laid out, not fancy or up-market but simple, fade into the background clothes, she couldn’t afford to draw attention once she reached Heathrow. Her apparent age could cause issues, if she didn’t take it into consideration during her planning, so all her documentation declared that she was eighteen. Some, by just a few days others by weeks or months.

All-up, it took her most of the night to pack and visit nearly two dozen money exchanges, each time getting money changed into travel debit-cards. It took another three hours to transfer the money from one card to another enough times, to confuse even Tony Stark. Finally, however, all the money was where she wanted it and she prepared herself for the last leg of her journey, the trip to America.

The simply dressed young woman that entered Heathrow airport, just before dawn, drew little attention and that was the way she wanted it. She greeted the check-in staff and accepted her boarding pass, before heading for the concourse. Once she found a café and ordered a meal, she began making notes in a small notebook. Sleep would wait until she was safe.

Her plane landed in New York and she left her seat, hesitant over her next course of action, it felt a little… manipulative… but she couldn’t see any other way to reach herястребthan through his wife. And that meant having to befriend someone who didn’t remember her.

~~~

“Sir?” JARVIS interrupted Tony’s explanation on the progress of the EXO-Wings.

“J?” Tony turned to look at the globe that was one of JARVIS’ remote servers.

“Sir, you asked me to keep an eye out for certain names.” JARVIS replied. “A name has just drawn my attention. It is not on my watch list but it a variant of a number of them.”

“What is it?” Tony asked.

“A Miss Natashalie Yelena Rushmanov boarded a flight from Heathrow, that is due to land at JFK International, in little less than two hours.” JARVIS said. “If I hadn’t scanned the flights arriving into New York, this evening, looking for an arrival time for Miss Carter, I would have missed it, entirely. I wasn’t looking for variations to both names.”

“Natashalie?” Barnes asked.

“She went undercover in SI as Natalie Rushman.” Pepper answered. "Tony later called her Natashalie as an insult."

“Hold on.” Tony held up a hand. “Natashalie Rushmanov? Hawk-ass? Was that ever one of her covers?”

“No, not that I know of. Why?” Clint replied.

“It’s a little too suss that she’s using Natashalie Rushmanov as her name.” Tony said. “I’m thinking that we need to send someone to meet our little spider’s plane.”

“Bags, I’m it!” Clint threw up a hand.

“Not without me, you’re not.” Laura smacked Clint's arm.

“Not me?” Tony pouted.

“No, you and I have a meeting with the DoD, this afternoon.” Pepper reminded the inventor. “You did say, that you wanted to get the ball rolling on the next level of testing of the EXO-wings. Which means borrowing a couple of airmen to be your pilots.”

“Humph…” Tony grunted. “Alright, you go fetch the spider and I’ll deal with the brass.” He sighed as he nodded to Clint and Laura.

~~~

November 16th 1997

Clearing customs took only a few minutes for Natashalie Rushmanov, her documents stated that she’d done this trip a few times in the past year, working for Stark Industries as a courier. She stepped out of the restricted area and onto the public concourse, planning to get a cab to a hotel in the Columbia University area, only to come to a blinking halt. She recognised the shoulders leaning against a concourse wall.

“дерьмо.”She muttered under her breath and after tightening her shoulders, kept walking.

“привет, маленький паук.”Clint said quietly as she walked passed him.

She stopped and looked at him.“Affedersin?” She asked in Turkish.

Clint snorted and replied in the same language. “Merhaba küçük, örümcek dedim.”

“Oh, good, you found her.” Linked her arm through Clint's and smiled at Natashalie.

“I…”

“Oh come on, Nat…” Clint moaned. “Please tell me you remember Vormir.” He kept speaking in Turkish, not wanting a spectator to eavesdrop on a very peculiar conversation.

“Did it work…?” Natashalie countered.

“We won, but we lost some good people along the way.” Clint said.

“It’s the 1990’s.” She said.

“Yeah, not sure how that happened, we’re tentatively blaming Strange for that one.” Clint said.

“Not Stark?”

“Nope, he died, he used the stones, he snapped Thanos and his army away and it killed him.” Clint whispered. “Pepper had him cremated and we had a memorial for all those we lost… Then we got on with the business of living. Laura and I aren’t the only ones that remember and all of us come from different points in time after Thanos’ defeat.”

“But wasn’t Bruce going to…?”

“He did, he brought back everyone that died as a result of Thanos' actions, but that included Thanos and his army. We had to fight him all over again. Strange and his sorcerers brought everyone from all over the place, to the compound and we fought there.”

“Please don’t tell me you went up against Thanos with a bow?” Natashalie grimaced.

“Of course not.” Clint said in English. “I had myмечи, too.”

“Of course, you did.” She sighed. “Who else is there and-”

“Let’s head out to the car and we’ll brief you in the way to the factory.” Laura interrupted. “Tony should be back from his DoD meeting by six.” She didn’t wait for either Clint or Natashalie to agree or object, she just began walking.

The other two exchanged looks and Clint shrugged. “You know I’m going to follow her, you might be my friend but Laura is my life.”

“I know.” The girl nodded and hurried after the brunette woman, leaving Clint to huff and follow them both.They left the terminal and headed out the bus pickup, for the trip to their car in the short term car-park on 23^rd Ave. Once in the car with Laura driving, Clint turned in his seat and studied the girl in the back seat.

“How old are you?” He asked.

“What’s the date?” She replied.

“November 16^th.”

“And the year?”

“1997.”

She winced. “Ouch.”

“Ouch?” Clint asked.

“I was told my birthday is the 4^th of February.” She screwed up her face. “And that I born in 1984.”

The car bucked as Laura jerked. “You’re thirteen?”

“Thirteen?!” Clint asked, his eyes widening comically.

“Almost fourteen...?” Came the hesitant answer.

“Ooh, that’s…” Clint screwed up his face.

“Tell me about it.” The girl sighed.

“So, question?” Laura asked. “What are you going to call yourself?” She watched as the now-outed-as-a-teenager, blinked. “Natasha? Natalie? Natalia? Natashalie?”

“Not Natalia.” The girl shook her head. “The Red Room handlers will be looking for Natalia or Natalie and possibly for Natasha. I remembered that Tony called me Natashalie a few times after New York and his driver had called me Miss Rushmanov. I figured that no-one would be looking for those type of bastardisations.”

“True.” Laura nodded.

“How hard do you think it would be for Tony to hack into the relevant systems and make Natashalie Rushmanov real?” Natashalie asked.

“I think it will take JARVIS minutes, Natashalie.” Clint said with a smile.

“JARVIS?” The teen asked.

“Short version for now.” Clint said. “Tony was first, he said JARVIS woke him on 2^nd of January 1991. Next was Barnes.”

“Barnes?” Natashalie blinked in surprise.

“Yeah.” Clint nodded. “He woke in a HYDRA bunker the morning he was supposed to kill Howard Stark.”

“Ouch.”

“Only… that didn’t happen. Tony set up a scene to give Iron Man the best chance of capturing the Winter Soldier, but Barnes just told him to get rid of the tracker and kill-switch in his arm. Tony brought him home and the two of them told Howard and Maria Stark and they all started planning.”

“Iron Man? He made another suit? Already?”

“No, he didn’t have to, his Bleeding Edge suit came with him, just like JARVIS did.” Clint said. “Like I said, we come from different points in time. Tony from the second battle against Thanos and brought the suit with him but it was pristine, no damage at all. That was late October 2023. JARVIS came from June 2015 and was housed in the suit’s server-relay system, don’t ask me how, I don’t understand half of what Tony says, when he gets going. Barnes remembers going to sleep in the middle of summer 2025. I don’t think he ever told us the exact date but it was well over a year after the compound battle, as it took nearly a year for his trial to finish and get his pardon sorted out. Pepper was Christmas night 2024, she and Morgan were staying with Laura and I, and the kids. We’d had a few drinks and gone to bed and she woke up in May ‘95. Laura and I both came from New Year’s Eve 2024. We woke on my birthday in ‘94. Rhodes woke in October last year, he said something about it having been three years since he’d seen Tony last. And now you. JARVIS interrupted a meeting earlier this morning, to tell us you were coming and Laura and I called dibs for meeting you.”

“Oh, sh*t…” Natashalie sighed. “This is going to be a circus, isn’t it?”

“Pretty much.” Laura beamed.

~~~

“You want me to what?!” Tony squawked.

“We want Natashalie Rushmanov to be real.” Clint said. “Completely real.”

“I’ve earnt Natashalie.” The Russian teen said. “Natashalie is a direct result of my actions, of the life I have lived, of the life I remember. And… that’s who I am, now. Not Natalia Romanova, not Natasha Romanov, not Natalie Rushman.”

“Huh…” Tony grunted, letting his head rock back and come forward again. “I’ll need more details than just your name, Natashalie. Date and location of birth, parents, schooling for you and them, prior addresses, banking and finances, a reason for Clint and Laura to be your guardians. Etcetera, etcetera…”

~~~

“So, you’re saying that if people remember, then the fact that Tony runs Iron Technologies instead of Stark Industries and has all of us, publicly working for him, is going set off alarm bells. Is it going to be enough that they’re likely to attempt to contact either him or one of us?” Nat asked.

“I don’t know, but I hope so.” Pepper said.

“We’d appreciate you helping Barnes and Laura with planning for various contingencies.” Tony said as he walked into the room. “Here.” He dropped a pile of manila folders on the table. “We’re keeping it in the family. If we ever come clean about Barnes, it’ll be ‘discovered’ that he’s your great-grandfather.”

“Why?” Nat asked, not critically, just curiously.

“Making you Barnes’ great-grandkid lets us keep you under wraps.” Tony replied. “JARVIS has created documents that imply that dad's known from the beginning and as he's still alive, he can back that up. He hid, first your grandmother, then your mother and had kept tabs on them all this time. That when your mother died, he kept you out of Family Services control and of course, as Clint and Laura married well before Pep and I did, we were all okay with them fostering you. Like I said, if we come clean with Barnes, then we can say he was the one to choose the Bartons.”

“Between your ‘mother’s’ death and now, you’ve been living with family friends, interstate.” Howard gestured from Maria to himself. “You’ll have to go to school, though. Sorry, that can’t be avoided. But at least we can choose a decent one, where your past won’t be questioned, some schools value their students’ privacy.”

“I see…” Nat nodded slowly. “Should I call you grandpa?” She threw a teasing look at Barnes.

“Do and I’ll tan your hide, girlie.” Barnes mocked glared back.

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

“I see…” Nat nodded slowly. “Should I call you grandpa?” She threw a teasing look at Barnes.

“Do and I’ll tan your hide, girlie.” Barnes mocked glared back.

~~~

May 11^th 1998

“And I’m in the early stages of a version of the drones that are humanoid shaped and are controlled remotely, primarily for personnel extraction in hot-zones, as they’ll be bullet-proof.”

“Humanoid?” An admiral asked, blinking. “Like robots or a suit of armour?”

“Pretty much.” Tony nodded. “I’ve had to buy an experimental design for a possible power source off of dad, batteries just won’t cut it with the suits.”

“Possible power source?” Westbourne (USAF)asked.

“Experimental?” Mitcham (USAF) asked at the same time.

“The arc-reactor,” Howard said. “Tony believes that he can modify the design so that the output is not impacted with miniaturisation.”

“Is that possible?” One of the Army generals asked.

“Unknown, at this point.” Howard replied.

“The idea is sound, but getting the thing to work…?” Tony shrugged. “If it does? One could power the suit for maybe… a hundred hours…? Depending on flight time and weight demands.” Tony wasn’t going to tell the DoD that he’d miniaturised the arc-reactor in a cave in Afghanistan, he wasn’t.

“How much weight are you planning on making it carry?” The same general asked.

“Not so much ‘make it carry’, as knowing what it can carry.” Tony said. “I’d like it to be able to carry the equivalent of two adult males, one inside the suit and a second outside the suit, as an emergency extraction option. Whether that will happen or not? Like I said, I’m still in the early stages of planning.” At least of the planned alterations, based around the Man Mk5 suit.

“Can this… suit… be weaponised?” Westbourneasked.

“Probably, but I wouldn’t recommend altering it.” Tony grimaced. “I can try and make one that is weaponised from the start but, it would require an internal operator and that’s… tricky…”

“How so?” A White House rep asked.

“The pilot would have to be a pilot.” Tony explained. “Flight ready, I mean. They’d have to have either combat experience or be proven proficient in combat simulators. They’d have to be compact, be under 5ft 10 and 175 pounds, or the power-weight-distance ratio is going to be unstable. They’d have to high levels in CQC, as they’d possibly be in frontline confrontations. The ability to multi-task is essential, as is strength. I mean no disrespect to any women officers but few of them would have the physical strength to use the suit. If I get it working the way I want, it will weigh over two hundred pounds. On the ground, it would be cumbersome and require a lot of strength to move it. In the air, it would operate much like a single seat aircraft, although the actual flight mechanics are considerably different.” The physical ‘requirements’ were pretty much based around his and Rhodey’s stats but there was no need to tell the brass that.

“Ah.” Westbourne grunted.

“But the big drawback is that any weaponised suit would have one user and one user only, they would have to be fitted to the pilot and each pilot would have to be trained in how use it.” Tony went on. “This would limit the viability of the suit, especially when you take into account the cost.”

“The cost?” Westbourne asked, already wincing.

“Well into the millions, probably.” Tony replied. “Which for a suit that only one person can use? Costly. That’s why I’m focusing more on the extraction suit and working with dad on more extraction drones, as both can be operated remotely.”

“Yes…” Westbournenodded. “Although, I think the Air Force might be interested, anyway.” The Air Force officer looked at his colleague, who nodded.

“Perhaps one or two for back up and solo missions.” The second Air Force general nodded.

“On a separate matter?” One of the Army generals asked. “I’ve had a request for your Head of Security to give a demonstration to a specialist sniper class. Would he be interested?”

“I can only ask.” Tony blinked. “Give me a moment, please.” He pulled out his phone and send off a text message. Tony also glanced over his shoulder at Barnes, they’d discussed the matter a few times and while Barnes had been a little hesitant he had agreed, if a situation arose that suited them, he was prepared to go public with who he really was, with a variant on the truth of how it was possible, of course.

Barnes met his eyes and sighed as he nodded.

“If you had the chance,” Tony asked the generals, “of having any sniper, anyone at all, demonstrate to your people, who would it be? Ignoring time, history, death, country of origin or any other factor. Who would be your ideal sniper demos, the top five?”

“Absolute top five?” The Army general asked.

“Absolute top five.” Tony nodded.

“Hmm…” The Army general leant over to talk to his colleague, who gestured for the two Marine generals to join the debate. The hushed conversation went on for a few minutes, before the four sat back.

“Our dream sniper demos are… touchy…” A Marine general said. “Wordsworth, Milton, Simms and I are a little disappointed that only one of our top five was American and that the only living person is in his 90’s.”

“And he’s not American.” The other Marine muttered.

“Yes, yes, Simms. We get it.” The first Marine sighed.

“Just pointing it out.” Simms (USMC) huffed.

“Enough.” An Army general said. “Harrison’s right. We’re all a little disappointed that Americans don’t rank as highly as some other countries.”

“So? What’s the verdict?” Tony asked, he was a little nervous about this, exposing Barnes to the military could go two ways. Very good or very bad.

“Häyhä, Sidorenko, Barnes, Dyachenko and Pegahmagabow.” Harrison answered, naming four of the world's highest ranking snipers to have ever lived.

“Right.” Tony nodded. “That’s an… ambitious list.”

“You did say our top five.” Simms shrugged. “All of them have kill-rating of over 400.”

“I did.” Tony agreed. “I’m a little surprised that Barnes isn’t higher up. Being US Army and all.” He avoided looking at Barnes, he was fairly sure the man wasn’t pleased with his needling.

“He’s right in the middle.” Simmsreplied. “Both he and Pegahmagabow have lower official kill-counts. 372 in Barnes’ case and 378 for Pegahmagabow, but Barnes’ unofficial tally is likely to include another 150, possibly 200. His reports didn’t list exact numbers, just ‘eliminated sniper’s nest’ or ‘removed enemy targets’. His reports tended to be rather vague on numbers.”

“Ah.” Tony nodded. “So, while we wait for Barton to talk to his wife and respond to my text, could Generals Wordsworth and Milton clear a few things up for me?”

“That depends on what they are?” Milton replied.

“Details about the Howling Commandos, seeing as you pair are the current authorities on the Commandos' history.” Tony said and waited for the two soldiers to nod. “Is my information correct, in that… after the rescue of the 107^th from Azzano, Dugan, Barnes, Morita, Jones and Sawyer were given honourable discharges and joined the SSR?”

The two Army generals nodded. “That’s correct. All of the 107th were offered honourable discharges and transport back to the US, some took it and some didn’t.”

“But Dugan, Barnes, Morita, Jones and Sawyer did?” Tony asked. He wanted one of them to say the actual words.

“Yes, that’s correct.” Milton (USAR) said. “Those five took the discharge but opted to join the SSR.”

“Right, good.” Tony hid his smirk. “And the SSR was a purely civilian organisation, that was only contracted to the DoD?”

“That’s correct.” Milton nodded, a frown building.

“And it was completely disbanded in 1948?”

“It was.” Wordsworth nodded. “All staff were given the option of transferring to the newly created Strategic Homeland, Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division when it was created.”

“Did all of them take that transfer?”

“No, some wanted out.”

“Of those I mentioned, did any of them accept the transfer?”

“Yes. Dugan, Jones and Sawyer did.” Wordsworth replied.

“So Barnes and Morita didn’t?”

“Morita opted to return to Fresno after the war and Barnes was declared KIA.” Wordsworth said.

Tony let his smirk out. “Let me tell you a story.” He paused when his phone chimed and he quickly read Clint's assent to the request. “Right, so Barton says, he can do your class, you just need to give us a time, date and location.”

“Excellent.” Milton smiled. “Please continue with your… tale…?”

“So, way back when… Dad used his own plane to transport himself, Peggy Carter and Steve Rogers, across enemy lines. Rogers parachuted out when they hit flack and dad returned to base, earning himself and Carter a lecture from Colonel Phillips, who wasn’t pleased with their actions. Rogers returned with the missing 107^th, who were... as you stated... offered medical treatment and honourable discharges. Some took them and were sent back to the US. With me so far?”

“Yes…?” Milton tilted his head a little.

“Just laying a little ground work, it’ll all become clear in a few minutes, general.” Tony grinned brightly. “Dugan, Barnes, Jones, Morita and Sawyer accepted the discharges but instead of returning to the US, they accepted SSR’s offer of positions with the Howling Commandos, with Colonel Phillips as the liaison to the Army and the one giving the orders.” Tony took a sip of water from the bottle in front of himself. “They worked under Rogers, in the field, and Phillips, in planning, for some months before the mission that acquired Arnim Zola. The mission that saw James Barnes and Peter Fawkner fall from a train in the alps.” Tony felt Barnes tense behind him and let out a silent but pained breath. “Rogers completed the mission and returned to base, his report was filed, stating the loss of two men, Barnes and Fawkner. Later that same day, a raid was undertaken on Schmidt’s mountain-cavern base and Rogers had to board Schmidt’s plane to try and apprehend the man. Rogers is reported to have killed Schmidt and been forced to ditch the plane into the arctic. Still with me?”

“We know this, Stark.” Simms said. “What’s your point?”

“Ah, well, here is where the official documents are missing some information.” Tony shrugged. It now depended on how good an actor he really was, as to whether he could sell the generals on the history that he and the group had come up with. It was a combination of truth and fiction, just enough truth that if someone went looking, they’d find what Tony wanted them to find and reach the conclusion he wanted them to reach. “Dad took a couple of the 107^th guys that hadn’t yet been transported back to the US, to retrieve the bodies of Barnes and Fawkner. Both had been tortured by HYDRA at Azzano and dad felt that they’d earnt the right to be buried in American soil. Fawkner was… found in a couple of places… Dad said it was the gruesomest thing he’d seen during the war.”

“And Barnes?” Milton leant forward. “I recall reading something about Fawkner’s funeral, but not Barnes’?”

“No, no funeral for Barnes.” Tony said. “He was found. Badly injured and really close to death. Dad figured that whatever Zola had done to him at Azzano, kept him alive.” This was all true, unfortunately it wasn't Howard that found Barnes, but the Russians. And Howard's theory wasn't mentioned until the group's last planning session.

“Alive? He survived the fall?” Milton gasped.

“He did.” Tony nodded. “Badly hurt, but alive. Shock, blood loss and hypothermia were the biggest threat to him, not including the fact that, where he fell was in enemy territory. After a cursory assessment, the chance was taken to freeze him completely. Theorising, that he’d not be able to survive transportation without significant medical intervention, which wasn’t going to happen in the alps, in winter, in the middle of a war.” Barnes remembered the Russians finding him and that it was only minutes after that, that he was first frozen, albeit in icy water and not a cryotube.

“Oh, God…” Wordsworth whispered.

“It was elected to keep things hush-hush, as how the hell do you defrost someone after encasing them ice? Was Barnes going to survive the thawing process? And did they treat his wounds before or after thawing? Dad planned return to the US and continue to research the matter, he figured that taking the time to get his facts right was better for everyone.” Tony sighed. “Then he was told Rogers ditched the plane and suddenly Barnes is thrust to the back of the freezer.”

One of the admirals winced at his phrasing.

“The search for Rogers went into overdrive, the moment that it was announced that the war was over.” Tony went on. “For weeks, dad and his crew searched for Rogers without success. Weeks that turned into years. Outside of running SI, dad spent hours every day, pouring over the radar reports and interrogating Carter over the readings from Schmidt’s flight control area. Which meant that Barnes stayed frozen.”

Wordsworth made a wounded groaning sound.

“It wasn’t until just a few years ago that, I found out about all this and… well…?” Tony shrugged. “Technology has progressed significantly since 1945. Shortly before my twenty-second birthday, Barnes was unfrozen and we brought him into the fold.”

“You…” Milton whispered.

“Gentlemen…” Tony smirked. “May I present my bodyguard, Sergeant James Buchannan Barnes?”

The six generals, two admirals and two White House aids, just gaped and blinked, while Barnes lightly smacked Tony over the back of the head.

“Show off.” Was all he said.

~~~

November 29^th 1998

The young man opening his eyes and blinked in confusion. What was he doing in this room? He hadn’t slept in this room since he’d taken his father’s throne.

He rose from the bed and crossed to the familiar bathroom, he stilled as his reflection in one of the full-length mirrors caught his eye. Oh sweet Bast. How is this possible? He thought to himself. I look to be… twenty? Certainly no more than twenty-five. How?

He went through his usual routine of his morning ablutions and after dressing, left his rooms. He nodded to the Dora Milaje at his door and turned towards the corridors that housed his father’s office. “I wish to speak with my father, on matters of the crown.” He said and Okoye nodded and strode away.

As he approached the doors of the king's office, Okoye nodded to him. “The king will see you.” She opened the door and stepped through it, with him at her heels. “Prince T’Challa, your majesty.” She waited until the king nodded before letting T'Challa go any further than the door. With the king’s consent she withdrew and closed the door.

“My son, what troubles you?” TChaka saw the discomfort on his son’s face.

“Utata, there is much for me to tell you.” T'Challa never even thought of not telling his father, he needed help and he knew it.

It took him four hours to explain everything that had happened between his twenty-first birthday until he went to sleep on his fifty-first birthday, in 2026. So much had happened to the world and Wakanda had been right in the middle of it.

~~~

The young girl lifted her head and studied the room. Why was she in a dormitory? She subtly lifted her head enough to look around the room, noting the fact that most of the other beds were occupied. She let her head rest back on the pillow, while her mind raced. She knew this place, but it wasn’t possible that she could be in this place. She and the other Widows had destroyed it after…

Her racing thoughts came to a halt.

She’d listened to her sister’s ястреб, as he lay gasping and crying on the ground, after she’d put a bullet in his shoulder. He’d explained what the Avengers had done and how. And how Natalia’s sacrifice wasn’t so much for him as for everyone she loved. How he'd tried to stop her but how she'd taken the choice away from him.

“Time.” Yelena whispered, her eyes wide. “They went back in time.”

Was that what had happened to her? She blinked as she thought about it and began to study the room once again. She silently climbed from the bed, only to freeze in shock.

“бог мой…” She whispered. “It's not possible…” She was a child, again. Had something gone wrong? She narrowed her eyes and made a plan, she wasn’t going to stay here. There was nothing she could do for the other girls in this room, all of them were drugged and by morning none of them would be alive, many were already dead. It was simply a stage in finding girls suitable for the Black Widow program, as far as the handlers were concerned. Only those that survived the drugs would progress and Yelena knew she was the only one from her group to move to the next level.

But this was good news for Yelena, as girls were haphazardly placed throughout the room, the handlers weren’t interested in them and wouldn’t be until morning. This was the perfect time to remove herself from the Widow program. The question remained, though.

Where should she go and what should she do?

“ястреб.” She whispered. “He will find her. One day, he will bring her to his nest.” She nodded. That was the plan.

She was going to America. Now, she just had to work out how and how to find the man, once she got there.

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

“ястреб.” She whispered. “He will find her. One day, he will bring her to his nest.” She nodded. That was the plan.

She was going to America. Now, she just had to work out how and how to find the man, once she got there.

~~~

December 1st 1998

Yelena pushed her now-black hair from her face and huddled among the group of school children as they boarded a bus from La Plata to Buenos Aires. She wore a uniform like theirs and carried a backpack like they did but hers contained money, false documents and a gun, while she had two knives hidden under the uniform.

She revelled in the few hours that she would be with them, being a child was a distant memory but a very pleasant one. It reopened memories of Ohio and playing with a much younger Natasha. As the group entered the Museo Histórico Nacional, she ducked away from the gawking students and into the shadows of the museum’s walled garden. Here, she used the few clothes and cosmetics she’d managed to get her hands on, to change her appearance into that of a street urchin.

It took her the remains of the day to travel, on foot, the nearly ten miles north to the nearest Red Room safe house and another hour to scout the apartment building and be certain that it wasn’t occupied or alarmed. She cheerfully made herself a meal and went through the safe house’s contents. Money, documents and weapons went into individual piles, their contents dispersal to be planned for, later. She needed a shower first.

As she stood under the running water, she hummed a John Denver song about sunshine, something that Natasha and Melina used to sing to her when they lived in Ohio.

“Caracas.” It was the only word she’d said since leaving the museum.

~~~

“Hi.” The sandy haired young airman smiled brightly at Tony. “I’m Riley and this is… what’s your name again?” He teasingly bumped shoulders with the black man beside him.

“You know damn well what my name is.” The black man sighed. “Use it or I’ll use yours.”

“You want to be Absalom?” Riley asked, his brows rising.

“Absalom Riley Mitchell…” The black man narrowed his eyes and glared at the other man.

“Right.” Riley nodded. “Got it.” He turned back to Tony. “He’s Sam Wilson.”

“I know.” Tony smirked. “I have your DoD files.”

“Ah.” Riley grunted.

“Yeah.” Tony’s smirk grew teeth. “Try that here and you’re in for a shock.”

“Yeah?” Riley grinned.

“Yeah.” Tony nodded. “See those two?” He nodded off to the side, where Bucky Barnes and Clint Barton were leaning against a car.

“Yeah…?” Riley’s grin fell and his face went cautious.

“One has every marksmanship award available to Army grunts, the other was named by six generals, two admirals and two White House aids, as being in their top five for a dream-team sniper class. You figure out which is which.” Tony grinned. “Both are Master assassins. Engage them in pranks at your peril.”

Riley blinked and looked at the two men, his eye flicking from one to the other. “Who are they?” He asked.

“One is my bodyguard and the other heads IT’s security.” Tony said. “Come on, let’s get you pair situated, before we throw you in the deep end, huh?”

“That would be much appreciated, sir.” Sam Wilson replied.

“Oh, hey, no. No calling me ‘sir'. And no ‘Mr Stark’, either. That’s my dad.” Tony chattered as the entered the old country-manor-type house. “I’m Tony but if you can’t force yourself to say it, then I suppose I can put up with Dr Stark. Not really my preference, though.”

“You want us to call you Tony?” Riley asked.

“Everyone else does, I don’t see why you shouldn’t.” Tony replied. “I’m not military and I’ve no other titles. So, Tony or Dr Stark. They’re your choices.”

Riley and Sam looked at each other and shrugged. “Tony’s fine.” Riley said.

“Excellent. This way.” Tony lead them up a tall staircase and down a long corridor. “So, this floor is the only one we’re using at present. It’s split up into suites, Pepper and I are at the far end on the right. Clint, Laura and Nat are opposite us. Forward from me is Barnes’ suite. The suite forward of Clint's is Rhodey’s. For now, we’re putting you pair in together. If that’s not going to work, let me know.”

“That’s fine.” Riley said. “We grew up together, I lived two houses away from the Wilsons’ place for most of my life. Came as a bit of a surprise to come out of basic and be offered this. More of a surprise to find that Sammy, here, joined the Air Force and got the same offer.”

“Well, my requirements were pretty specific.” Tony shrugged. “I think it came down to… maybe a dozen people. General Westbourne gave me the files on all the possibles and I got to narrow it down to two. You two.”

“Huh.” Sam grunted. “You read our files before you chose us?”

“Yep.” Tony nodded. “Here, this is you.” He pushed open a door and walked into the room. “Two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, you just have to share a sitting room.”

“Just….” Sam replied sarcastically.

“Hey, be grateful there’s any bedrooms.” Tony chided. “I was eyeing off another property but Pep said we had to have one with a house.”

“Fair enough.” Riley nodded.

The following morning, Bucky Barnes and Tony sat at the massive dining table, going over Laura’s latest set of plans, when Sam stumbled into the room.

“M’rnin’, Buck.” Sam mumbled as he plucked the mug of coffee out of Bucky’s startled hands and slumped into the seat beside the World War II vet. “Hmm…” He gave a pleased hum as he filled his mouth with rich black coffee.

“Hmph.” Tony snorted.

“Hey, Tony?” Bucky grinned.

“Yeah, what?” Tony knew to be wary of that grin.

Bucky didn’t answer but he did reach across the table and slide Tony’s coffee mug away from the genius, bringing to a stop in front of Sam.

“Hey!” Tony squawked.

“Nah, man.” Bucky laughed. “Sam needs all the coffee he can get, mornings aren’t his thing without it. And I wanna see his face when he realises what he just said.”

Tony tilted his head and frowned for a few moments before his eyes widened and his jaw went a little slack.“Really…?” He whined.

Sam had finished Bucky’s coffee and only had a mouthful or two left of Tony’s when an ungodly screech filled the house, quickly followed by a freaked-out voice.

“Samuel Abraham Wilson!” The voice demanded and Sam’s head snapped up, his eyes widening comically. The first person Sam saw was Bucky, closely followed by Tony but before he could do more than blink at them, the voice continued. “What the…? Where the hell are you? SAMMY?!”

“Riley?” Sam whispered. He leapt to his feet and bolted for the stairs.

“Let me guess…” Tony sighed. “They both remember.”

“I would say so.” Bucky blinked.

“How?” Tony asked.

“I have no idea.” Bucky answered.

“Wow…” Clint was wide-eyed as he entered the dining room. “What was all that about?”

“Sam remembers.” Bucky replied. “Not sure about Riley but there’s a good possibility.”

“Ah.” Clint grunted and nodded before filling a mug with coffee. “More coffee on the way?”

“Yeah. Kitchen’s sending up another half-dozen pots.” Tony nodded.

“Excellent.” Clint slumped into his seat and sighed as the aroma from his mug filled his nose. “Coffee…”

A thumping noise was heard before Sam and Riley burst into the room, brandishing the only weapons they had available to them, baseball bats.

“Oh, hell no! We are not playing baseball.” Bucky shook his head and looked at Riley. “You know better than that. Sam’s useless at baseball, do you have any idea how long it took me to teach the f*cker to catch that bloody shield? It’s a wonder that Sarah’s house is still standing.”

Sam’s eyes flicked from Bucky to Tony and back again. “Buck? You wanna explain what’s goin’ on?”

“Breakfast.” Bucky answered.

“Buck.” The word came out hard and sharp. “That looks like Tony Stark and we all know what happened to him.”

“We do?” Riley asked.

“And that’s another thing.” Sam threw a cold glare at a clearly confused Riley.

“Oh, right.” Bucky nodded. “You weren’t involved in that, were you?” He grimaced. “It’s December 1998.”

Sam blinked.

Riley blinked.

“How?” Sam asked.

“No idea...” Clint muttered.

“Barton?” Sam asked.

“Hey.” Clint saluted the newcomers with his coffee mug.

“Would someone please tell me, what the hell is going on?” Riley asked, his voice shaky.

“Okay, come sit down.” Tony said. “You died in… where…? Somewhere in the middle east, I don’t think Sam ever told us where. But you died. Sam left the Air Force and joined the VA as a counsellor. He met the Cap.” Tony turned to Sam. “I understand he kept running laps around you.”

“Asshole...” Sam muttered with narrowed eyes.

“Cap got into trouble, went to Sam, Sam was stupid and joined the Cap’s revenge tour.” Tony spoke calmly and poured coffee into mugs. “sh*t happened. People got hurt, people got killed, people got saved. Then Big Bad Purple came. Half of everything died. We learned to live with half our hearts missing. Then big-little man rocked on up and suddenly, Cap, who I haven’t seen for five years, is standing on my doorstep asking me to build a time machine.”

“A time machine?” Riley gave the genius a confused look.

“I said no.” Tony assured him. “But it kept annoying me, the idea that we could get our people back. I spent weeks on it but I did it, I created a working space-time GPS. The team got back together and we bounced our way through time, stealing a bunch of stones. We got the stones, brought our people back and had to fight the Purple Prick again. I used the stones and… well…” Tony came to a halt.

“He died.” Bucky took up the tale. “We had a memorial for those that died. The stones were returned to where and when they came from and…”

“Cap stayed.” Sam whispered. “He lived his life and came back as an old man, to give me the shield. I gave it to the Smithsonian. Bad move. They gave it back to the Army, who pulled up some idiot to replace Cap. I went home, Buck turned up, we helped Sarah fix up the boat, called in favours from all over, but we did it. The idiot with the shield f*cked up and it was left to Buck and I to fix it. After we did that, we had a big party on the dock and… I don’t remember anything after that.”

“When was that?” Riley asked.

“2025.” Sam whispered.

“2025?!” Riley squawked. “You all time travelled from 2025?”

“No, not all of us.” Tony said. “I was from October 2023. My wife was from December ‘24. Clint and his wife were from New Year's Eve ’24. Nat was the same day as me. Buck was from 2025, you were from 2009 and I've no idea when Sam came from, but I'm assuming it was after Buck as he remembers the same sh*t that Buck does.”

“Oh, sh*t…” Riley whispered.

“Oh and Rhodey was 2026, November 2026.”

“Rhodes is here?” Sam perked up.

“Of course.” Tony snorted, ignoring Sam's mancrush. “You don’t really think he’d let me do this without him, do you?”

“So, how did you all meet?” Riley asked before pausing. “Or did you all meet?”

Sam laughed and propped his bat against the wall, he took a seat and picked up one of the coffee mugs. “Riley, man… Look at them. What do ya think?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know, Sammy?” Riley screwed up his face.

“Just look at them, you know when you see it.” Sam repeated the request.

“Fine…” Riley sighed. He looked at Tony. “Tony Stark, head of Stark Industries and one of the DoD’s largest arms manufacturer. Kidnapped in 2008 in Afghanistan, rescued yourself. Good going, man. Built the EXO-wings, f*cking fantastic job there, love ‘em.” He then looked at Pepper as she sat demurely beside Tony. “Pepper Potts, the goddess of Stark Industries. Your reputation for controlling Stark is well earned, if even half the sh*t we heard about, ever happened.” He looked at Clint. “Know nothing about you. At all. Why?” He moved to Laura. “Or you.” He looked at Natashalie as she sat beside Bucky. “Or you, but you’re a kid, so that’s to be expected.” He looked at Bucky and initially, he frowned, but then his face went slack and his jaw fell. “Oh… my… f*cking… God…” He whispered. “Bucky... f*cking... Barnes...”

“And there you go.” Sam smirked.

“What the hell…?” Riley whispered, still in shock from being in the same room as Bucky Barnes. “Hang on… You said... You said, Barnes was 2025… How the hell did he get to 2025, he died in 1945?” He looked from Sam to Bucky. “You died in 1945.” He repeated.

“No, I didn’t.” Bucky answered. “There were times I kinda wish I had, but I didn’t. I fell from the train…” He gave Riley a five-minute summary of his life and how he came to be in 2025.

“But…” Riley tilted his head. “Who’s this Cap, you all mentioned?”

“How many Caps are there, attached to Bucky Barnes?” Sam asked.

“What the f*ck?” Riley muttered. “You’re not talking about Captain America, are you?”

“Of course, they are.” Pepper said.

“But Rogers died.” Riley argued.

“You said that about Bucky, too. Did you see a body? ‘Cause I didn’t and neither has anyone else.” Sam commented.

“Ughhh…” Riley made a drawn-out groaning sound.

“Steve’s alive.” Tony said. “He’s just frozen. We’re going to go get him next year. Might not thaw him out immediately, we still have a lot to do before then.”

“Pardon?” Sam leant forward. “Why not now?”

“Sam?” Bucky laid a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “We’ve got plans, a crap-load of plans. We’re trying to work things out so that we have the best team we can against Thanos, but we have to make dual plans for each person we bring in. One for if they remember and one for if they don’t. Ultimately, we want to destroy a stone or two before Thanos can get a hold of them. But we have to plan for the worst and that's Thanos turning up again. Right?”

“Right…” Sam answered slowly.

“That means, like I said, that we need the best team we can get.” Bucky went on. “We need Steve, we all agree on that but we need Steve at his peak, health and fitness wise. So, while we could have gone and got him when Tony and I first remembered, come Thanos arriving in 2018 and Steve would be fifty-plus. That… that won’t help us. And we both know that Steve would still be out there, trying anyway. If we leave him frozen until 2000, he’ll be in his mid to late forties and the serum means that’s not all that old.”

“Dammit…” Sam muttered.

“And what about you?” Riley asked. “Won’t you be too old to…?”

“I got a different serum to Steve.” Bucky answered. “I age slower. Tony’s in-house Docs think that I’m physically in my mid-twenties, but when we sat down and worked out how much time I’ve had out of cryofreeze and add that to what I was before I fell? I should be in my late forties. I don’t look it.”

“Serum?” Riley asked.

“Why don’t we finish breakfast and we’ll head down to the lab and bring Sam and Riley up to speed on the entire situation?” Pepper asked.

“Yeah, let’s do that.” Sam nodded, eagerly. “Sam and Riley really need to know what the hell they’ve got into this time.”

~~~

Yelena sighed as she emerged from the water. Swimming at night in a South American river might not have been the best idea but it got her across the border into Paraguay. The houses around her were plain simple suburban houses, a little poorer than the neighbourhood she remembered in Ohio, but not as bad as the slums of Buenos Aires, that was home to the Red Room’s stage one buildings.

She felt a little bad about taking some kid’s bike but she had nearly thirty miles to the nearest unmanned safe house, where she could eat, rest and prepare for the next leg of her journey. She wouldn’t keep the bike for long, she needed better transport, but damn her size would make it obvious that she was a kid.

Four changes of bicycles and the sun was well up, when she spotted a homemade minibike that had what looked like a lawnmower engine instead of a bike engine.

“That’s perfect...” She sighed. “Now, if only no-one’s watching it.” She crept across two yards and climbed a tree, before letting her eyes sweep over the area. For nearly twenty minutes she watched and waited but no-one made their presence known, in either the yard or the house. She eased her way to the ground and straighten her shoulders. ‘Move like you belong there and you’re less likely to draw attention.’ She remembered one of the Room’s handlers telling her class.

She jumped over the fence, deliberately landing a little clumsily and walked over to the bike. She pushed it off it’s stand and grunted as it jerked in her hands. From there she rolled the bike further into the yard and around the house. Through the side fence and out onto another street. She continued to push the bike until she was a few streets away.

The bike started with a very lawnmower like rattle and she let it rattle until it settled into a tinny roar before mounting it. A couple more streets and she turned north, stopping at a gas station for fuel for the bike and she was quietly cheering to herself.

Oh, sure, she knew she couldn’t keep the bike for long, but even if she only used it to get to the safehouse? It was worth it.

“Next stop, Rio De Janeiro.” She whispered to herself. “I’m coming, сестра, I’ll find you.”

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

The bike started with a very lawnmower like rattle and she let it rattle until it settled into a tinny roar before mounting it. A couple more streets and she turned north, stopping at a gas station for fuel for the bike and she was quietly cheering to herself.

Oh, sure, she knew she couldn’t keep the bike for long, but even if she only used it to get to the safehouse? It was worth it.

“Next stop, Rio De Janeiro.” She whispered to herself. “I’m coming,сестра , I’ll find you.”

~~~

July 15^th1999.

Wanda shook her head to get rid of the ringing in her ears, but the sounds of her nightmares persisted. It wasn’t until she opened her eyes, that she began to wonder if it was truly a nightmare.

When her brother groaned, she rolled her head to the side to look at him. She frowned as she looked at him, the light barely reaching them as they huddled under his bed.

“Pietro?” She whispered.

“Wanda?” The boy wasn’t looking at her but he, too, was frowning.

“Your hair…” She was still whispering.

“The bomb…” The words coming from her brother’s mouth, made her jaws clench and her stomach roll.“It… it is wrong…” He muttered, his heavily accented English drawing Wanda’s attention to the bomb that was embedded in the floor of their bedroom.

“What the…?” She forced herself to stop.

“That’s not a Stark bomb.” Pietro tilted his head in confusion.

“Thales?” Wanda muttered. “Who are Thales?”

“I thought it was Stark…” Pietro added.

Wanda looked t Pietro. “What?”

“Nothing…” Pietro focused on the bomb to try and avoid Wanda’s ‘fingers’ rifling through his mind.

“Stark wasn’t responsible.” Wanda whispered. “It was the man that tried to kill him. Stone, Stane, Stine… something like that.” She tossed a mental ‘file’ at her brother and watched as his eyes widened when he saw its contents. “He sold bombs to Strucker without Stark knowing.” Her accent wasn’t nearly as prominent as his.

“Sister? Who is… the blonde man?”

“Vision…” She replied, her eyes wide. How had that crept through? She hadn’t meant to show him that.

“But…?”

“But what, brother?”

“Wasn’t he… pink…?” Pietro grimaced.

“He was red.” She corrected.

“Pink or red. He wasn’t a blonde white man.” Pietro argued.

“He could-” Wanda cut herself off. “Piet? Do you remember him?”

“Of course I remember him, he stopped Ultron.” Pietro huffed.

“But…” Wanda looked at the bomb that was only feet from them. “How it this possible? The bomb is not Stark’s and we have not lived in this building since we were children.”

Pietro looked at Wanda.

“We are children, sister.”

“Are we?” She countered. “I remember Strucker, the sceptre and the castle. I remember fighting for, then against, Ultron. Against the Avengers and then for them. I remember feeling you die, then ripping out Ultron’s heart. I remember going to New York with the Avengers. I remember training with them, living with them, working with them. I remember Vision, I remember Thanos killing him.” As she spoke, red misted around her fingers and swirled in the air under the bed.

“That is... not something you could do... as a child.” Pietro nodded towards her hands, his words stilted and broken.

“Oh…” She blinked.

“If you can do that? Can I run?” He asked. “Enough to get us out of the room?”

“If not, I can hold back the blast.” Wanda said. “I’ve done it before.”

“If we can get out of the apartment and to the stairs, we can tell the politsiyathat we waited for two nights, after the bomb failed to go off. We waited for someone to come and get us and when no-one came, we crept out, that it took us a day, just to get from under the bed, across the room to the door. That we moved slowly because every time we moved, the bomb would move and we were scared.” Pietro said.

Wanda nodded. “I don’t want to stay here.”

“Where shall we go?” He asked. “We appear to be children. The politsiyawill not just let us go where we want.”

“Clint.” Wanda answered.

“Which one was he?”

“The one with the bow.”

“The one with the boy…?”

“The one you died for…” Wanda nodded.

“And you think he will take us in?”

“He did.” Wanda nodded. “He took me in and was like a father to me.”

“Then we go to him.” Pietro nodded sharply before frowning. “How?”

“We tell the politsiya that he is our uncle.”

“Uncle? Will he not know, this is not true?”

“He has a brother that he has not seen for over twenty years.” Wanda explained. “There is little resemblance between them, I saw the pictures of him.” She ‘pushed’ the image into Pietro's mind.

“And he will not return and reveal us?”

“No, Clint told me after Thanos, that he went looking and found that Barney died in the first snap.”

“Snap?”

Wanda sighed and ‘pushed’ more memories towards her brother.

“Ugh… Ugly.” He grimaced.

“Yes, Thanos was ugly. Inside and out.”

“And the Avengers stopped him?”

“Tony Stark stopped him.”

“Stark?” Pietro blinked.

“We were wrong about him, brother.” She sighed. “His heart is so big. He cared so much. He had a wife and child, but when he had the chance to end Thanos, he took it. Without hesitating. Not even for a second.” She showed the memory to Pietro, who’s eyes widened.

“He died for… for people he didn’t know…” The boy said. “He had so much to live for and he willingly died for people he didn’t know…”

Wanda only nodded.

Pietro hummed. “We should leave. Do we worry about clothes or anything else?”

“I want our photo album and grandmama’s wedding dress.” Wanda said. “We can tell the politsiyathat mama had bagged the dress up ready to donate to a charity and that we'd had the album in our room.”

“Do you know where they are? Can you get them?”

“Yes.” Wanda nodded and sent out thin strands of red mist into the apartment.

“Can you get a bag each for us, some clothes. We can say we were going to go camping or had just come back from a trip to the sea.” Pietro suggested.

“Yes.” Wanda waited until a bundle of shimmery white fabric slithered to the floor in front of them, a thick photo album landing on it with barely a ripple of ribbon to be seen. More strands of red swirled and pieces of clothing landed between the siblings, followed by a pair of school backpacks. “Grandmama’s dress goes in my bag and the album in yours, Piet. Get the pillowslip from you bed, put the album in it. Put in the bag last. Let the politsiyathink we picked up the album from our bedroom and the dress from near the door.”

“That is why it is in a cloth sack and not a pillowslip?”

“Yes.”

A few more minutes were spent carefully selecting clothes and packing them into the bags, before the album and the wedding dress were shoved in, haphazardly, to give credence to their story.

Then they eased out from under the bed and carefully stood. Pietro crouched in front of Wanda and waited while she climbed into his back, her legs around his waist. He grasped her hands in one of his and waited until the familiar red mist encircled the bomb before he took a deep breath and began to move.

They were on the stairs and nearly one floor down, in the time it would have taken Wanda to cross the bedroom. Before they reached the next floor, Pietro came to a stop.

“I can hear people.” He whispered.

“We should huddle in there.” Wanda pointed to a tiny alcove in front of the building’s not-working lift. “Let them find us, there.”

~~~

July 18^th1999.

Clint absently picked up his phone when it rang, his eyes following Sam and Riley as they ran around a track they’d laid out.

“Hello?” He said.

“I am trying to reach a Mr Clinton Barton. Are you he?” The woman spoke with a European accent.

“Who is this?”

“I am Iulia Ivanoff, I work for the Sokovian Embassy in Washington DC.”

“Sokovian?” Suddenly the woman had Clint's complete attention.

“Yes.” The woman replied. “A few days ago, there was an incident, civil unrest has been escalating, you understand. A civilian apartment building was hit by what are believed to be anti-aircraft missiles. There were many injuries and many dead. Two of the survivors are children, twins. They say that you are their uncle.”

“Wanda and Pietro.” Clint whispered, involuntarily.

“Yes.” Iulia said. “However… Our documentation says that their father is-”

“Oleg Maximoff, I know.” Clint said. “My brother and I came out of an abusive home, we went through a number of foster homes and an orphanage before we ran away and joined a circus. And yes, I know that sounds far-fetched, but it’s true. They took us in and we stayed with them for years but my brother… He didn’t handle being given orders, real well. When he was sixteen and I was fourteen, he left. He paid someone to create a new identity for him. I don’t know how legal that was and I never asked. We didn’t agree on much, as I kept the family name and he didn’t. I got postcards from the kids and letters, occasionally. Phone calls, too. I met his family a couple of times, the twins were… like most kids, I suppose. Young and active.”

“Ah, we suspected that might be the case.” Iulia sighed. “In that case, I suppose there’s no chance of you having any documentation to verify this?”

“All I have are a few pictures and some letters.” Clint replied. Tony, JARVIS and Nat had worked for days on those, just in case they were needed.

“Oh, that is helpful.” Iulia said brightly. “Is there any chance you can get a copy of them to the embassy? We’re hoping that you would be able to take the children, the orphanages in Sokovia are over run with new orphans.”

“I’ll speak to my boss and see if I can get some time off.” Clint answered. “I assume that if I call or front up to the embassy, they’ll be able to put me in contact with you?”

“Of course, Mr Barton.” Iulia agreed. “I’m there Monday through Friday. Reception can page me, at any time.”

“I’ll get back to you before close of business, today, but yes, I want the kids. They’re my family. I want them.” He didn’t even have to ask Laura, as they’d talked about this many times.

“Excellent, Mr Barton, I look forward to speaking with you in person.” Iulia disconnected the call and Clint huffed.

“Something wrong, Hawk?” Bucky came from nowhere to appear beside him.

“Wanda remembers. She told the Sokovian police that their father was my brother.” Clint said.

“Huh.” Bucky grunted.

“I gotta speak to Tony and get some time off, the embassy want copies of the letters and stuff that he and Nat made up, for us. Hopefully, that will be enough to convince them to give me the twins.”

“We’ll back you, you know that. Having Nat will help. Makes you look stable, a man with a family. Less likely to abandon the twins.”

“Yeah.” Clint nodded.

“I’ll deal with Sam and Riley, you go talk to Tony. Get things moving.”

“Yeah.” Clint repeated and spun on his heel, to face towards the house.

~~~

“I hate Rio.” Yelena muttered as she wiped off a knife on her attacker’s shirt. “Stupid bastard.” She spat on the ground near the man’s head, fairly confident that the rain would wash away any traces of her DNA. She stalked over to his car and slid into the driver’s seat, glancing over the interior before putting it in drive and peeling out of the empty car lot.

Now, which safe house in Rio isn’t manned? The one in Freguesia? Or the one in Nova Iguacu? What about the supply dump in Alcantara? She mused, to herself. I can’t keep this car, either. Pity, it’s rather nice, I’ve always preferred a Mercedes over other makes.

She decided to risk the supply dump in Alcantara over one of the safe houses and headed north-east, towards the city centre, she’d dump the car in Santa Teresa and continue on, on foot.

“Getting so tired of walking…” She muttered.

Six hours later she left the supply dump on a bicycle, that she would need to dump in a few hours, but it was still better than walking. She went back across the bay and turned north, she hoped she to get ten or fifteen miles before she started drawing attention.

Santa Cruz Da Serra was behind her and she was getting close to Santa Lucia, when she decided that the bike had to go. She went into an alley and out the other side without the bike, but kept walking. A few blocks on and she stopped at a little store to buy something to eat. As she left, a hand rose in front of her, it didn’t try to touch her, just stopped in the air in front of her chest.

“You are young for a Widow.” The old man said in German.

“I am no Widow.” Yelena replied, her hands sliding into her pocket, reaching for the knife that she kept there.

“No, of course not.” The man agreed, pleasantly, he ignored her unsubtle movement. “What is you mission?”

“I have no mission.” His actions were not what she was expecting from a Red Room contact. He was too open, too accepting.

“Where do you have to go?”

She took a chance and answered, honestly. “New York.”

The man blinked. “That is a long way from Rio.”

“Not as far as from Buenos Aires.”

The man snorted and nodded. “And you are on your own until you get there.”

Yelena said nothing, just gave him a flat look.

“Get yourself to Itaipava. There’s a private airport there, tell them Matthias Green sent you. That if they help you, Matthias will count a stain, as removed. They’ll get you on a flight going… somewhere. Where and how far, I don’t know, that will depend on what flights they have and how long you are prepared to wait for a destination.”

“I was never here.” Yelena said.

“No, and I never spoke to a Widow.” The man nodded and walked away, his dog tugging at its lead.

~~~

In Itaipava, the woman that ran the airport looked at Yelena and sighed, letting the money in her hands, fall back to the counter.

“Getting younger every year.” She muttered. “Where do you need to go?”

“New York.”

“I can’t help with that. I can get you to Brasilia, Salvador, Asuncion or La Paz. Take your pick.”

“Which leaves first?”

“Salvador and La Paz leave within the hour, Brasilia and Asuncion an hour later.” The woman said.

“Salvador, then.”

“The blue plane. You keep your bag with you. You don’t talk to the pilot. You don’t take food and drinks on the plane. Wheels up in thirty-five minutes.”

“Bathroom?” Yelena asked.

“Over there.” The woman pointed to a cinder-block shed. “There’s no hot water, but it is clean and drinkable.” She went back to the money on the counter.

Yelena rolled her eyes and headed for the shed, she might not have much time, but she should be able to manage a basin-bath and a quick bite to eat, before take-off.

“Salvador.” She whispered. “I’m getting closer, сестра.”

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

“The blue plane. You keep your bag with you. You don’t talk to the pilot. You don’t take food and drinks on the plane. Wheels up in thirty-five minutes.”

“Bathroom?” Yelena asked.

“Over there.” The woman pointed to a cinder-block shed. “There’s no hot water, but it is clean and drinkable.” She went back to the money on the counter.

Yelena rolled her eyes and headed for the shed, she might not have much time, but she should be able to manage a basin-bath and a quick bite to eat, before take-off.

“Salvador.” She whispered. “I’m getting closer, сестра .”

July 21^st 1999.

Wanda and Pietro clung to each other’s hands, looking for all the world like a pair of scared children, as they stepped off of the embassy’s lift to come face-to-face with the man that the Sokovian authorities thought was their uncle.

“Clint…” Wanda whispered.

“Hey, kid.” Clint gave her a lopsided smile and ruffled her hair. “Speedy.” He winked at Pietro, who blinked and gave him a half-hearted smile. “Come on, let’s get the paperwork over and done with. The boss gave me a car for the day, but it’s still a good four hours to New York.”

“Okay…” Wanda’s eyes narrowed as Clint's mind practically ‘yelled’ at her. He was asking her to touch his mind. To read it. ‘Are you sure?’ She placed the words carefully in his mind.

‘Yes!’ Came the clear answer.

‘3- 2- 1.’ She ‘told’ him before she let a tiny strand of red touch his hand and slither its way up his arm to his head. Images flashed through her mind. Images that she knew and images that she didn’t.The next few minutes, as Clint filled out form after form, she sorted through what he’d shown her and shared them with her brother.

‘You were right to trust him.’ Pietro shared his thoughts with her. ‘He is a good man… So is Stark. And that is something that I never expected to say.’

‘We did the right thing, then?’ She asked, needing his assurance.

‘We did.’

~~~

The young woman gasped, as he opened her eyes. “What in the ever-loving f*ck?!” She frowned at the room she was in, this was not Erik's truck. “This is… Holy Frigga… This is…” A scream broke the silence and she pun on her heel and ran as fast as she could to the abandoned house’s basem*nt. “Oh, no…” She closed her eyes in remembered pain, at what she saw. “How is this possible?”

The almost-ten-year-old girl that lay crumpled and broken at the bottom of the stair was intimately familiar.

“That’s… that’s me…” She whispered. “I remember this.” Tears ran from her eyes, this was the first of her nightmares. The day her parents were killed and she was captured by her own personal Thanos, Adam Templeton; rapist, torturer and child-beater. “Not this time, kid. I can stop him, this time.” She remembered the long months of agony, both from her injuries and from his ‘attention’. “I can spare you this, at least.” She darted from the house and across the road to where she knew the local chief of police lived, and bashed on his door.

When the tired man opened it, with a gun pointed between her eyes, she didn’t even hesitate.

“There’s a kid in the house across the road, I heard her scream. She’s in the basem*nt.” She panted.

The chief blinked twice and yelled over his shoulder. “Call the station, get some boys out here!”

“And an ambulance.” The woman added.

“And an ambulance!” The chief called as he headed down the stairs, the woman running with him. “Who’re you?”

“Jane.” She gave him the first name to pop into her head, a name that wasn’t hers. “Jane Selvig.” A name that came from two of her favourite scientists.

The chief just nodded. “The basem*nt, you said?”

“Yes,” She decided to secure the girl's future. “I saw her struggling with a man, then running away from him, he had white blonde hair and a twisted arm. She seemed scared of him.”

“Templeton.” The chief nodded. “Yeah, he’s not a nice guy. I wonder what he was up to?”

“He said something about her parents being dead and no-one would miss her. She kicked him and ran around the back of that house.” Darcy pointed at a burnt-out ruin of a building.

“And what were you doing there?” The chief paused as he reached the abandoned house’s front steps.

“I… I study fires. The shapes the burns leave can be very… telling.” She replied, trying to sound like she was a forensic specialist.

“Huh. You wait here. Send in the crews when they get here.” He dismissed her and headed into the house.

The woman calling herself Jane, waited until Elizabeth Bingley, as she had been named at birth, was safely in the hands of the paramedics, before she let herself think about what she’d done. She'd changed her own past, the biggest single no-no of time travel, according every sci-fi movie or book ever written.

“Oh, crap…” She whispered.

“Miss Selvig?” The chief paused in front of her, not surprised to see her looking shocked. “I’d like one of my men to take a statement from you, okay? Then, do you have somewhere to stay? It’s getting late.”

“I…” She looked around, almost wild-eyed. She couldn’t stay here. “I’m an intern, I’m meeting my professor soon. What time is it?”

“Twenty to three.” The chief answered.

“I’ve got time for a statement, but it’ll have to be fast. I only have twenty minutes to get to Oakley Road.” She said, naming a street that, on foot, could be reached in fifteen minutes but by road, took more than half an hour.

“Then, we’ll be as quick as we can.” The chief said. “Any Id on you?”

“Oh.” She absently patted her trouser pockets. “Did I bring my backpack, or did I leave that with Jane and Eric?” She muttered, letting him think he was talking to herself.

“No backpack, not that I saw.” The chief answered.

“Crap. Then, no. No Id, my wallet was in my backpack and if it’s not with me, then it’s still in the truck.” Or that was where she had last seen it, but that was in 2025, not 1999.

“You can bring it to the station later, then.” The chief offered. “For now tell me what you saw and heard.”

It took her five minutes to tell the chief the story that she’d decided upon, she knew that Elizabeth wouldn’t remember anything. Her first memory after Templeton found her, was from nearly a month later.

“Thank you, Miss Selvig.” The chief said. “If you’ll being your Id to the station in the next day or two, we’d much appreciate it. For now, you’re free to go.”

She gave him a tired smile, grateful that she had dirt and ash, from the burnt-out house, smeared over her face and on her clothes, it would camouflage her appearance, slightly. She turned to the path that would take her through the park and around the lake to Oakley Road. Her parents’ house was only a block from there and she knew how to reach it without being seen. She needed clothes and money and she remembered where her father kept his drinking money and where her mother hid the housekeeping money from him.

It took her less than ten minutes to reach the house, she was very motivated and her husband had been an excellent personal trainer. For a moment, she hesitated, then she snorted. DNA wasn’t an issue. Her DNA was already, all over this house, this was where she’d lived, after all. She quickly raided her mother’s clothes, slightly alarmed at how well they fit, before heading into the kitchen.

Here, she raided her father’s chewing tobacco tin and took all three hundred dollars, that it held. Then she went to the pantry and pushed aside the boxes on the floor, until she got to the one that she wanted. Dog Kibble. She carefully slid the box to the front and lifted the sleeve-cover from the inside box.

It was full of money. One-dollar bills. Five-dollar bills. Tens. Twenties. And even a couple of fifties.

“Jackpot.” She whispered. “Now, I just need something to carry it all- Oh… oh, yes.” She cut herself off partway through the sentence. “This is 1999, I was ten, Mom bought me a new bag for school, for when I started middle school.” She grinned. “I can use that. No-one knows about it, yet.” She leapt to her feet and quickly and quietly ran down the stairs to the basem*nt. “Now, where did we put it? Oh, yeah… Behind the clothes horse.” She scrabbled around until she felt a strand of fabric webbing and let her fingers close around it. “Yes!” She crowed and danced a little as she left the basem*nt.

Back in the kitchen, she sorted the money into bricks and tied them with rubber bands.

“Three thousand, eight hundred and ninety dollars. Not bad, I can work with that.” She mused. “Now… where to go?” She had no Id and outside of the few clothes and money she’d grabbed, she had nothing usable. But her husband had trained her well; clothes and money were enough to get her started.

She heard a car door slam and jerked to attention. “That better not be here.” She muttered, hurrying to the front of the house to peek through a window. Seeing a truck leave their only neighbour’s drive, heading towards town, had her slumping in relief. “Not here. Good.” As she turned back towards the kitchen, a newspaper laying on the sofa caught her eye. “What the…?” She picked up the paper and quickly read the subtitles. “Is that…?” She flicked the paper open to the appropriate page and studied it.

“Sweet baby Thor…” She whispered before her jaw snapped shut and her eyes went hard. “Someone has some answering to do.”

She gathered up the backpack and slung it over her shoulder as she stepped out of the back door. A pause, as her eyes fell on the garden shed.

“Yeah…” She grinned. “I can do that.” She remembered her father going on a ‘good parenting’ spree and buying a motorbike for him and her to fix up, to ‘spend some quality father-daughter time’ together. They’d spent a month repairing the bike and had taken it for a test ride only the day before. Back into the house and up to her parents’ room and a root around in the closet, got her a helmet and a leather jacket, with the bike’s keys tucked into a pocket. A little too big for her in the shoulders, but the chest fit about right.

The bike started with a press of a button. “Thank Thor for electric starters.” She laughed as she eased the bike onto the road and turned away from town. Yes, she needed a public phone, but not one in Florida. She would wait until she reached Georgia or South Carolina.

~~~

Three hours later... her butt hurt and her hands were going numb. She let the bike roll to a stop in the front of a tiny Summerville, South Carolina, truck stop. She pulled herself from the bike and groaned as she stretched towards the sky.

“Long ride?” A voice asked and she turned towards it.

“Jacksonville, Florida.” She replied. It wasn’t where she’d started but it wasn’t far from it.

“Ooh, ouch.” The elderly woman said cheerfully.

“You a local?”

“Born and bred.” The woman said proudly.

“I’m…” Jane said. “My… um… let’s call him an Ex. He burnt my Id and smashed my cell, to stop me from leaving. I got money but no Id, do ya know of anywhere around here that’ll let me stay the night, without asking too many questions?”

“You hurt?” The woman asked, leaning forward.

“No, I’m fine. We split a few years back and I moved on, got married and all. But a family member died recently and that put me back in proximity to him and he didn’t take it well. I grabbed my pop’s bike and the emergency cash and… well… here I am…”

“You got a number where you can reach your husband?”

“Yeah, I think so. If not, a few minutes with a computer and I can find it.”

~~~

“Mrs Barton? Call for you, on line two.” One of the office staff informed Laura.

“Thank you, Evelyn.” Laura nodded to the woman and picked up the nearest phone and pressed the button to connect to line two. “Laura Barton, speaking.”

“Laursey, Laursey, where’s my hubby?” A tired voice asked.

Laura blinked and pulled the receiver away from her ear to look at it in disbelief, before slowly bringing it back to her ear, as though it might attack her.

“Laura? Laura, you there?”

“Darcy…?”

“Yes!” There was an explosive sigh. “Three questions.”

“Yes?”

“One, where is my husband? Two, I’m in Summerville, South Carolina, can someone come and fetch me? And three? What did the boss do, this time?”

Laura sighed, she’d learnt the hard way, never to underestimate Darcy. “I’ll sort something out about transport. Probably need to send your husband to fetch you.”

“Please…?” It came as almost a plea.

“If you give me a moment, I can transfer you to his cell, while I sort out a plane.”

“Ohh, yes, please…” This time it was definitely a plea.

Bucky’s phone beeped at him and JARVIS spoke. “Sergeant Barnes, I have a call ready to transfer to your phone and Mrs Barton is requesting a pilot to pick up a VIP from South Carolina.”

“And as Clint's in DC, I’m the only pilot available for VIP’s.” Bucky groaned.

“Yes, sir.”

“Can I beg out of this?” Bucky felt like he was whining and he hated whining.

“I… don’t believe you want to do that, sir.” JARVIS countered.

“Why?” He frowned.

“Take the call, if when you’re finished, you don’t wish to retrieve the VIP, I will happily find someone else.” JARVIS replied.

“Right.” Bucky sighed. “Transfer the call.”

“Yes, sir.” JARVIS seemed almost amused and the line clicked.

“Hello?” He said.

“Bucky-babe…” The voice that he heard, was not one he expected to hear.

“Darcy…?” He whispered, his eyes wide with shock. And it took a lot, to shock the man who had been the Winter Soldier.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Darcy? Where are you?” Bucky spoke urgently.

“Summerville, South Carolina.”

“You’re the VIP that Laura wants picked up?” He wondered aloud.

“Yes, please. Can you come and get me? Pretty please with a cherry on top?” Darcy said, eagerly and Bucky could imagine her nodding fervently.

“Go get something to eat. I’m on my way.” Bucky was already heading for his room, he needed to shower and get changed, he wasn’t seeing his wife, for the first time in nine years, wearing sweat pants, after having run ten miles.

“Thank you.” She whispered as the call cut out.

“JARVIS?” Bucky asked as he entered the house.

“A jet is being prepared and a flight plan to Summerville Airport is being lodged as we speak, sir.” JARVIS answered. “By the time you’ve showered and reached the hanger, the jet will be ready and the plan should be registered and approved. Flight time to Summerville is approximately two hours, depending on winds, as well as take-off and landing congestion.”

“Can you let Tony know?” Bucky leapt up the stairs.

“I have already done so and he says, and I quote. ‘You married Short Stack, holy sh*t Barnes, that’s impressive. Go get her.’ Ms Potts smacked him upside the head and told him to concentrate on what he was doing. She also said that she, Miss Rushmanov and I, would see to placing all the documentation Mrs Barnes needs. We all know that sooner or later, someone is going to try and dig into her past. It’s best that they only find, what we want them to find.”

Bucky laughed and entered his suite. He headed straight for the bathroom and striped off his clothes while he waited for the water to heat. He was going to see his wife.

~~~

The jet rolled to a halt in front of the hanger and Darcy waited for the door to open. When it did and she saw her husband’s face, she darted forward and into his arms.

“Hi.” She said, between pressing kisses all over his face.

“Doll.” He reached up with his metal hand and laced it into her hair, pulling her lips to his.

Seconds ticked over into minutes before the pair pulled back.

“Hi.” She repeated.

“Darcy.” Bucky sighed, letting his forehead rest against hers.

“So? I have questions?”

“Fire away, doll.”

“Who screwed up? Who’s responsible for this? Do I get to tase them? Why was your picture on the front page of the Florida Times? Are you really working with Tony Stark? Why? And lastly… Can I sit up front with you?”

“That’s complicated, doll.” Bucky grimaced. “Let’s get back in the air and I’ll tell you what we know and what we’ve done about it.In order? Not sure and not sure. If we ever figure it out, yes!. It wasn't me, it was Tony, I was just in the background. Yes, I'm Tony's bodyguard. I work with him because we both have the same end goal and I think I like him?And yes, you can sit up front.” He tried to lead her towards the jet.

“Hold up…” She pulled back against his hand.

“Doll?”

“The bike. It’s my dad’s… Please?” She looked from Bucky to the bike and back.

“It’s okay, Darcy, there’s room in cabin, we can bring it with us.” Bucky assured her with a smile. Nortons weren't the heaviest of bikes, a 750cc like that, was only 400-odd pounds, he could pick that up and put it in the plane, if Darcy steered the front wheel. "Gonna need you to steer it, though."

“Oh… thank you, babe…” There were tears in her eyes.

~~~

August 4^th 1999

T’Chaka and T'Challa emerged into the light of the airport and made their way through customs.

“We must bring Wakanda to the world, my son, and soon.” T'Chaka sighed.

“Customs are still customs, father, not even kings can avoid them.” T'Challa laughed quietly.

“No, perhaps not, but a king would have people to carry his luggage for him.” T'Chaka replied, smartly, earning himself a true laugh from his son. He had missed the boy’s quick smile, there had been little to smile about in his tale of the future.

T'Challa stopped as they walked from the baggage claims towards the door and the waiting cabs.

“T'Challa?”

“Look.” T'Challa pointed at a magazine cover.

“That is not the Tony Stark, you told me of.”

“No it is not.” T'Challa agreed. “I wonder why?”

~~~

August 5^th 1999.

Yelena sighed as she stripped the weapons and cash from yet another idiot, that thought, that as a child alone she was an easy target. Only this time, the idiot came with friends that sat back and watched as she punished him for his presumptions.

“Alright, gentlemen, here’s how it’s going to go.” She said in English with a strong French accent. “My transport was… chosen without consultation and has turned out to be… little more than useless. I am expected in Belem by Saturday.” She narrow her eyes at the three worried looking men. “And you are going to get me there. Aren’t you?”

All three men nodded vigorously, clearly afraid of the pre-pubescent girl. All of them eyeing the man laying, moaning, on the floor of the empty warehouse.

“Good.” She smiled and watched them wince.‘Getting closer, сестра. Please be there, ястреб.’She thought to herself.

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

All three men nodded vigorously, clearly afraid of the pre-pubescent girl. All of them eyeing the man laying, moaning, on the floor of the empty warehouse.

“Good.” She smiled and watched them wince.‘Getting closer,сестра.”‘Please be there, ястреб.’She thought to herself.

~~~

August 24^th 1999

Yelena stepped out of the cramped little bus, ignoring the relieved looks of the idiot who’d been the driver. Ever since he’d watched his friend attack her and she’d beaten the man into a bloody and broken mess, he’d flinched every time she moved.

She picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder and began to walk away. The man sighed and stepped up beside her.

“Get gone.” She said. “I don’t want to see you, ever again. Clear?”

The man nodded and vanished back onto the bus, the engine starting and the bus moving off, faster than was safe, but he was gone.

“Belem… ugh…” She muttered.

Twenty-four hours later, she looked at the table in front of her and groaned.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with a horse?” She glared at the men seated around her.

“You wager it, of course.” Said the only man wearing a suit, he was also the only man to speak English.

“Against what? None of you have put anything decent on the table.” She complained.

“You are not a local.” The suit said. “Where did you come from and where are you trying to get to?”

She studied the man closely, he had dark blonde hair and warm brown eyes. She got a sense of curiosity from him, but nothing else. He was either a fantastic actor or he was genuinely curious. And as the Red Room had little to no presence in Brazil, she guessed it was curiosity and not a cover.

“Ohio, via Rio. My… brother… is in Washington.”

“Brother?” The suit replied. “You don’t sound too sure of that.”

“I’m not. My sister calls him her brother, she’s all but adopted him, but I’ve only met him once.”

“And where is your sister, that you go to him and not to her? And what of your parents?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but she’s somewhere in Europe. Our parents are dead.” Or as near to it, at this point in time, that it makes little difference.

“Ah.” The suit grunted. “And America is easier to get to, than Europe. Especially for a child alone.”

“Yes.” Was all she said.

“You are quite… mature… for such a young child.” He tilted his head in thought.

“Spent the last few years around adults, no children.” She replied, blandly.

“Ha.” He snorted out a single laugh. “Very well, little adult, I can get you to Mexico City and put you in contact with someone that might be able to get you across the border.”

“I don’t need help for the border, itself.” She shook her head. “Just to get to it.”

“Really?” He blinked.

“Really.” She nodded.

“Huh…” He blinked a few more times. “Very well. I have business in Paramaribo, Caracas, Baranquilla, Panama City, San Jose, Mexico City and Monterrey. All very illegal and rather dangerous, but you, little adult, may just be the difference between success and failure.”

“You want me to be your bodyguard?” She said flatly.

“No, my daughter.” He corrected. “Like you, I am looking to leave South America, but my daughter is ill, not seriously, but I cannot put off these meetings any longer, waiting for her to recover. New identities have been created for my Cecilia and I but the man who organised them, is insisting on meeting us both. I trust him, to a point, but Cecilia is ill and he will not wait.”

“Oh.” Yelena blinked.

“It is his thanks for my service and saving his wife’s life, you understand?” The suit said.

“A genuine retirement?”

“Yes, he has assisted in selling everything we have in Sao Luis and in purchasing a home in Texas. He even found me a job in one of his American businesses, a legal one. Cecilia is close to your size, even though I would say she is older than you, she is small due to ill health. And America has better medical care than Brazil.”

“Does this man not know what your daughter looks like?”

“No, he has never met her and until now, has actively avoided any chance of meeting her.”

“Where is she?”

“Right now?”

“Yes.”

“My… Someone I trust has taken her to Mexico City.” The suit answered. “They left before I was told that my… employer, shall we call him… wanted to meet her. I do not want to put her through the return journey, again. It was hard enough on her the first time.”

“And if I do not accept your… offer? What will you do?”

“Tell him that she is already in Mexico City and request that he meet us there.” He replied. “It will cost me, probably the job in San Antonio.” He shrugged. “Cecilia’s health is more important to me, than his temper tantrums.”

Yelena snorted. “How long do you see this taking? How many days?”

“I have business meetings in Caracas, Barranquilla and Panama City, as well as Monterrey.” He ignored the restlessness of the other four card-players and continued to speak. “I am to meet my… employer in San Jose in nine days. The 2^nd of September. After meeting with him for the afternoon, I will be staying in San Jose for the night, before flying to Mexico City the next morning. I have two days with Cecilia before another business meeting in Monterrey, I return to Mexico City and Cecilia on the 6^th. We fly to San Antonio on the 7^th.”

“Fourteen days? Including today.”

“Yes. If you travel to Monterrey with me, if not then you will be free to leave in Mexico City on the 3^rd.” He answered.

“I want to see photos of her. I want to speak to her. And if you have video of her, that would be very helpful. Plus some of her clothes, or clothes exactly the same as hers.”

“This I can do.” He nodded.

“Finish the game and we can sort out the details.” She pushed forward the picture of the horse. “Unless your daughter would like a pony?”

“No, thank you but no.” The suit shook his head and placed his own bets, a stunning piece of raw emerald and a small gold ingot.

The other players’ eyes lit up and the game was suddenly interesting.

“Gods above, child…” The suit muttered. “You… you scalped them… for everything they had…”

“So?” Yelena counted her money and the titles to the yachts… and the house. “Can you help me get rid of these?”

“Get rid of them?”

“What use are yachts to me? Or a house in Fortaleza?” She grumbled.

“Huh…” The man nodded slowly. “I will contact my employer and ask. I will say that you won them.”

“If you can get him to exchange them for US cash, to be picked up in San Antonio, I’ll give you half. You can set up a trust for Cecilia, for college.” She offered.

“You would do that?” Hi blinked in surprise.

“Call it payment for getting me to the border.” She shrugged. “Tell him you want it in cash that you can deposit over time, that way he won’t realise that you don’t have it all.”

“What else is there beside the yachts and the house?” He asked.

“All up?” Flicked through the pieces of paper. “Two yachts, one house, one speedboat, one racehorse… that is doing quite well, it seems… three cars, one plane, two pounds of gold, seventeen emeralds, three diamonds, two rubies, six sapphires, four necklaces, three pairs of earrings, six rings, five watches, three guns, two knives, a knuckleduster, a laptop, three cameras, two mobile phones, 11000 real (Brazil currency), 51000 peso, 30000 US Dollars, 15000 British pounds, 26000 euro … and a partridge in a pair tree…” She sang the last item, causing the man to laugh.

“That’s quite a collection.” He nodded, impressed. “What do you plan to keep?”

“I will keep the gold, gems, jewellery, the laptop, the knives and one handgun. The rest is of no use to me. I want it all converted to US Dollars.” She tilted her head. “You said he helped you buy a house in San Antonio?”

“Yes?”

“Then you will have him send it all there. All the cash. You will give me the address and I will meet you there.”

“Agreed.” He reached for his mobile phone and pressed a few buttons. Yelena wondered when smart-phones would begin to appear, flip-phones were so cumbersome.

It took an hour for Yelena to submerge herself into the identity of Cecilia Maria Oliveira-Santos. In that hour the man in the suit became Ricardo Oliveira-Silva and it seemed that he was very good at bargaining, either that or his employer genuinely cared about him and his daughter. Or both.

The cash was converted and the employer took nothing from it, earning them a little over $75,000 US. The cars, boats and plane, got them a shocking $110,000 US. But it was the house and the horse that turned out to be the most expensive items, earning them more than $1.5 million. The guns and other incidentals were barely exchanged for pocket change, a mere $150, in comparison.

“1.6 million dollars…” Ricardo whispered. And that was after his employer took a 5% commission.

“That’s not bad.” Yelena nodded.

“Not bad?!” Ricardo squawked.

“Well, yeah…” She replied, absently. She was scribbling out a table in a notebook. Directions for transferring the money to travel debit-cards. “This will have to be done in America.” She sighed. “What’s the chance that your employer can do this? If I provide the information, can he get it changed?”

“I am dealing predominantly with his second-in-command, who was told to do whatever I asked.” Ricardo countered.

“Excellent.” Yelena nodded and tore off a page. “Rewrite this and give it to him. Once I meet you in San Antonio, we can hash out who gets how much. These will make it much easier to carry, $1.6 million in cash is bound to be a little bulky. I don’t want to carry it and neither do you.”

“No, customs would not approve.” Ricardo agreed.

~~~

August 26^th 1999.

“Rather dangerous… well, you did warn me.” Yelena snorted.

“I didn’t expect it to be this dangerous.” Ricardo replied from his hiding place behind an engine.

“I’m going to need more ammunition soon.” She said, picking off an assailant and ejecting a spent magazine from her pistol. “Can you see any more of them?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re the one with the gun!” Ricardo looked at her as though she were crazy.

“You’re taller.” She replied tartly, as she inserted a full magazine. "Look over the engine."

“Oh.” He grunted and risked a quick look over the top of the engine. “Ah, three? And possibly someone in the car.”

“I can deal that.” She huffed and sprinted from cover, to behind a car. The three men came into view, all of them discarding her as unimportant. Mistake. Big mistake.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

All three men fell and the car door opened. A man stepped out and Yelena wasted no time in pumping four bullets into him, all non-lethal shots, she wanted answers and he was going to provide them. Whether he wanted to or not. His eyes widened and he slid to his knees, by which time Yelena was standing right in front of him, with a knife at his throat.

“Start talking, before I remove your head.” She snarled.

The man blinked at her. “Widow?” He stammered. “We didn’t know he was involved with a Widow.”

“He’s not with me, I’m with him… Until I change my mind.” Yelena countered.

“Oh, sh*t…” The man whispered.

“Can I expect more attempts on him before I leave?”

“Yes.”

“Can you stop them? By telling someone of my involvement?”

“Yes.” The man nodded. “We want nothing to do with the Widows.”

“Then get your phone out and call whoever you need to, but remember that Widows are fluent in many languages. Watch what you say.”

“Si.” He nodded and slowly opened his jacket, wincing as it pulled on his wounded arm. He retrieved a simple flip-phone and opened it, pressed a few buttons and lifted it so that Yelena could hear what was said. “Sir? It’s Georgio. We have a problem.”

“Fix it.” Yelena heard someone say. “That’s what you’re paid for.”

“No, sir, not this time. Widows are involved.” There was silence from the other end of the line. “The Widow says that she is with Oliveira-Silva, until she decides to leave him.”

“How many dead?” The voice asked.

“All of them.”

“And you?”

“Non-fatal, so far.”

“So far…” The voice sighed.

“Yes, sir.”

“If she’ll let you go, leave. I will alert the other teams to stand down.”

“Yes, sir.” The driver said.

“Oliveira-Silva is leaving South America. By the 10^th, he’ll be gone, not to return.” Yelena cut in. “How you deal with his replacement is your concern, but Oliveira-Silva is not to be touched. Your driver is free to go.”

“We shall deal with it as we have to.” The voice said. “Thank you for sparing my nephew’s life.”

“The only reason I did so, was because he was unarmed.” She warned.

“I will remember your mercy.” The voice replied and the call cut out.

“Thank you.” Georgio said.

“None of your wounds are fatal, but blood-loss could be an issue, get back in the car, try not to be too energetic, that will make you bleed faster.” Yelena warned. “Go to where you will get treatment.”

“Yes, ma'am.” Georgio waited until she stepped back before he attempted to stand. Once on his feet, he took the single step needed to reach the car’s open, driver’s door. He slid into the driver’s seat and started the car, he nodded to her and the car began to move.

Watching until the car was well way, Yelena went over each dead body and retrieved each gun, knife and wallet.

“That is gruesome, child.” Ricardo said with distaste on his face. “Must you?”

“Yes, I must.” Yelena replied. “I used up almost all my ammunition protecting you. Between what I have left and what remains in their guns, I should be able to replace what I need.” She ejected magazines and checked them for bullets, some had them and some didn’t. “This is good. I will be able to refill my magazines and have a spare for… ooh is that a Stark gun? Oh, I’m keeping that.” She pulled the gun from the ankle-holster of a body and checked it over. “Oh, that’s nice…”

“Nice, she says.” Ricardo muttered. “It’s a bloody gun.”

“Yes, it is.” She gave him a flat look. “And Stark makes some of the best guns ever put out. I’m keeping it and the Colt. I might struggle using the Stark, just yet, but guns don’t go off, if you don’t use them. It can wait for me to grow into it.” She spent a couple of minutes rearranging bullet placements before tucking the guns back into her backpack. “Right I’m done here. What about you? Anything else to do in Paramaribo?”

“Huh?” Ricardo watched the girl stand up and go from looking like an assassin to looking like his twelve-year-old daughter. “Oh, right. Yes, I’m done here. Marco signed everything before they appeared. He even left me copies of the contracts, when he took off.”

“Excellent. What’s next?”

“We go to the airport.” Ricardo said. “There’s a private plane waiting for us. There should be a car and driver at Caracas, to take us to a hotel. My next meeting is tomorrow morning, in the hotel.”

“Good, let’s go.” Yelena lead him back to their car, which had surprisingly been ignored by the attackers and was unscathed.

~~~

August 28^th 1999.

“No more gambling for you, young lady.” Ricardo sighed. “Two big wins is enough. My employer is not going to believe that you won at a third meet.”

“I suppose not.” Yelena nodded and sighed.

“What did you get this time?” Ricardo leant forward in interest.

“Two cars, a motorbike that’s older than Methuselah, three watches, four diamonds, a canary and $820 US dollars.” She grinned. “Oh and the contact details for a son of one of them, who is in college in the US, I’ll look at that later.”

“Why would they give you their son’s details?”

“The son was on speaker-phone and his father was handling his money. The son, Marco, is studying to be a chef and he wagered a number of meals and a future favour.” Yelena laughed.

“Meals are more useful than a canary.” Ricardo laughed.

“Actually, I thought I might give it to Cecilia as a welcome to America present.”

“How do you expect to get it across the border?”

“Let me worry about that.”

“I think it is a good thing that we are leaving Caracas in the morning.” Ricardo sighed. “Eva-Maria is not going to believe this.”

~~~

August 30^th 1999.

“God f*cking damn it.” Yelena swore. “That was my favourite knife, asshole.” As she spoke, she hit the man in the face, using the hilt of the now-broken knife as a blunt instrument to bludgeon him with.

“If you’re quite finished, child?” The voice came from behind her and she spun in place.

She saw a panicked Ricardo being held between two thugs, while their boss stood a few feet to their right.

“f*ck this sh*t.” She spat and pulled the Stark gun from a pocket, firing in the same motion. The boss went down like a puppet that’s strings had been cut. Two more shots and both thugs were on the ground. She turned to the man who had broken her knife and put a bullet in his head before walking over to Ricardo. “Get up.” She nudged him with a toe. “We’re not staying here.”

It took half an hour for Ricardo to be coherent again. He looked around in surprise.

“Where are we?”

“A park about a mile from the airport.” She answered.

“What happened to them? The men in the factory?”

“What do you think happened to them?” She snarled. “One of them broke my knife.”

“Ah…” He was learning that knives were important to her.

“Do you know how hard it is to find a well-balanced knife that will fit a child-sized hand?”

“I’m guessing… quite difficult?”

“Yes.”

“I’m also guessing that you don’t want to stay in Barranquilla tonight.” It was not a question.

“And give these idiots another chance at you?” Yelena looked at him flatly.

“Then it is good that I checked us out of our hotel, before we headed to the factory, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. Call your boss and get the plane rescheduled.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Ricardo pulled out his phone.

Chapter 14

Chapter Text

“I’m also guessing that you don’t want to stay in Barranquilla tonight.” It was not a question.

“And give these idiots another chance at you?” Yelena looked at him flatly.

“Then it is good that I checked us out of our hotel, before we headed to the factory, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. Call your boss and get the plane rescheduled.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Ricardo pulled out his phone.

~~~

Sept 1st 1999

“And where have you been, young lady?” Ricardo tried to present a stern face but Yelena’s appearance and expression amused him.

“Oh, just a few errands.” She said, dancing in the hotel room door.

“Errands? I wasn’t aware that you’d been to Panama City before?”

“I haven’t, but I know people that have.” She replied.

She had no intention of telling that she’d spent the morning interrogating, then killing, the men that manned the Red Room’s safe house, here. She managed to pick through their weapons and find another knife that fit her hands, another Stark gun and a few more magazines for both the Stark guns and her little Colt mustang. But what she really wanted from them, was a waterproof dry-pack, a specially developed backpack for divers that could be attached to a scuba set. They were frequently used by the Red Room to transport infants underwater. The special filters in them made sure that only CO² was expelled and fresh oxygen was released into the pack, as needed.

All she needed now was the scuba tanks that she’d get Ricardo to pick up for her in Monterrey. Given her small size, a single 100cf tank should last her more than an hour, two tanks could give her close to two and a half hours. More than enough to get her from Playa Bagdad, around the border, in the inlet at the end of South Padre Island and down the canal to the Brownsville Port facility. From there it would be a matter of minutes to get into Brownsville, where she could catch a bus from Brownsville to McAllen, without drawing attention. Getting from McAllen to San Antonio was going to be a little more complicated but nothing she couldn’t handle.

“People that you trust?” Ricardo asked.

“Oh, no, definitely not, but they had some of what I need, so… near enough.”

“Did you leave them alive?” He sighed.

“No.” She replied, cheerfully.

“Then pack your bags and let’s get out of here.” He let his head fall forward. “I am so glad Cecilia is still ill…”

~~~

September 2^nd 1999.

“What on Earth?” Ricardo frowned at Yelena.

“I’m recovering from illness. Be nice to me.” She pasted on a pitiful expression.

“I had not expected you to look as much like Cecilia as you do.” He blinked.

“Today, I am Cecilia, papa.” She said.

“Oh, hell, this is going to end badly, I just know it…” he sighed.

“Don’t be so pessimistic, papa.” She grinned, tiredly.

“See, told you.” Yelena smirked.

“Oh, shut up, you demon child.” Ricardo huffed.

“He barely even glanced in my direction.” She went on.

“I don’t know why he insisted on meeting Cecilia, if he was going to ignore her the whole time.” He frowned.

“Maybe it was not so much that he wanted to meet her, as wanted to make sure she was real. Or that she was actually your daughter.”

“Huh…” He grunted. “That could be it.”

“Anyway, it’s over, now.”

“It is.” He nodded. “We fly to Mexico City in the morning.” He paused. “Do you need anything here?”

“No, not here. San Jose was never important to my sister.”

“Then how does an early night sound?” Ricardo asked.

“As long as I can get something to eat, I’m starving.” She gave him a bright grin. “Being someone else is always tiring.”

~~~

September 3^rd 1999.

“This is Yelena.” Ricard said as he hugged his daughter. “She’s been pretending to be you, while you’ve been ill, darling.”

“Is she going to live with us?” The wispy voice came as a surprise to Yelena, who was expecting the girl’s voice to be stronger.

“No, petal. She’s going to her sister’s. She’s only staying with me until I get to Monterrey.”

Cecilia turned to Yelena. “Where does she live?”

“New York.” That was the first place that she was certain that Natalia lived.

“That’s a long way to go, by yourself.” Cecilia said.

“It is, but she’s my sister.” Yelena countered.

“Do you miss her?”

“Very much.” So much that it hurt, at times.

“What can I do to help you?”

“Your papa is flying to Monterrey on Sunday morning.” Yelena waited until Cecilia nodded. “Let me go with him. He’ll fly back to you on Monday and I’ll meet you in San Antonio on Wednesday.”

“And then what? Is it a long way from San Antonio to New York?”

“It is.” Yelena nodded. “A very long way. It’s going to take me weeks to get there. I can’t travel all day, every day. I have to take a bus a little way, then get off and change buses.”

“All the way?” Ricardo asked.

Yelena sighed. “I figure that I can travel… maybe twenty or thirty miles at a time, but no more. Otherwise the bus drivers will notice. Changing buses so often will let me remain invisible.”

“I don’t understand…” Cecilia pouted.

“If a child gets on a bus and travel two hundred miles, the driver is going to remember that child. But if a child gets on a bus and travels twenty miles, waving to someone as the bus leaves, the driver is going to forget them very quickly. Particularly, if the child is wearing different clothes each time.”

“Oh, okay…” Cecilia nodded. “You’ll need lots of t-shirts and tank tops.”

“And a couple of jackets.” Yelena agreed. “Maybe a ballcap or two.”

“I have a jacket that can be worn inside out, you can take that.”

“Oh, no, that’s not-” Yelena objected.

“You can post it back to me.” Cecilia cut her off. “You won’t need it forever, just a week or two.”

“How are you going to get across the border?” Ricardo asked.

“I’m not going across the border. I’m going around it.” Yelena replied. “In Monterrey, you’re going to get me a pair of scuba tanks, and I’ve already got a special dry-pack to go with them. next you’ll take me to Matamoros and Playa Bagdad. I’ll wait until evening and swim north.” She paused as both Cecilia and Ricardo thought about that. “I’ll stay close to the shore and I’ve got a dive compass. I know it’s the worst time of day for sharks, but it’s also the worst time of day for the Coast Guard, too. As long as I limit my splashing and stay calm, I should be alright.”

“I don’t like it.” Ricardo sighed. “But I have to agree. Coast Guards near the borders are less likely to notice you if you’re using a scuba tank and are underwater.”

“That’s why I chose it.” Yelena said.

“Why don’t you two sort out clothes for Yelena, for her trip?” Ricardo smiled at the two girls. “Just remember that she’s not taking much to Monterrey with her, most of her things will come with us.”

The gold would have to go with her, but the gems and jewellery would go with Cecilia and Ricardo. The three guns and their spare mags, would go with her, as would the knives and the canary.

~~~

September 5^th 1999.

“Here’s the scuba tanks, Yelena.” Ricardo carefully placed them in the back of the hire car and got back in the driver’s seat. “Did you have to bring the canary?”

“Yes, I did.” Yelena used a finger to stroke the bird’s feathers, noting how calmly it was taking the journey and hoped that it would continue to remain calm for the rest of the trip.

“Playa Bagdad.” Ricardo said.

“Turn north and find a park somewhere close to the lagoons.” Yelena directed. “I’ll slip out and hide in the dunes until sunset. You stop for a meal, some gas, be visible, before heading back to Monterrey.”

“Tell me when to stop, I have a camera, I can make it look like I’m taking photographs.” Ricardo turned the hired car to the north and followed the dirty track.

“Up there.” She pointed. “Near the corner. Look at the way the sand drops down, I can stop there for an hour or two.” She had a sand-coloured blanket that would render her almost invisible to the naked eye.

Ricardo nodded and pulled the car to a stop, he got out of the driver’s door and stood with a camera lifted to his face. “Go.” He said.

“See you in 48hrs.” She slipped the scuba tanks out of the car and used the little set of trolley wheels to carry them and her small pack, down the bank.

Ricardo said nothing, but within a minute or two, he got back in the car and began to drive, stopping a few more times to take photos, before he was out of sight.

“This is going to hurt.” Yelena sighed. “I hate ocean swimming.”

~~~

September 6^th 1999.

It was still dark when she slipped the tanks from her aching shoulders and let them fall to the canal floor. She eased herself up the slipway, thankful that it wasn’t either high or low tide and that there was no-one looking to put a boat into the water. From her pack she pulled a towel and a change of clothes, quickly drying herself and tossing the swimsuit back into the water. The towel was used to wipe the pack dry, before she opened the pack’s air vents, then the towel joined the swimsuit in the water. Sandshoes went onto her feet and she was ready to move.

She was thirsty and hungry, but she was in the US and that was the important thing. Five minutes of jogging found her on the edge of a housing estate and she was able to locate a faucet that was out of sight. Another fifteen minutes and she was carefully tucking her pack into some shrubbery, making sure that the canary was still alive and secure in its tiny cage.

Into the shopping mall and she made a beeline for the food court. Three breakfast wraps and two bottles of water later and she felt ready to face the next task. A family store, netted her a pair of bland indistinct backpacks, that could be folded up tightly and stored, one inside the other when travelling. The next stop was a pet store where she bought a pretty metal birdcage, that could be hung from a hook and some birdseed. A stop at the food court for more sandwiches and bottles of water and she left the mall.

When she got back to the shrubs where she’d left her bag, she carefully transferred the canary to the larger cage and added a small amount of seed and water to the feeders. Next, she transferred most of her weapons and the other contents of the dry-pack to one of the bland backpacks and added the bag of food and bottles of water. The Colt and two knives were carefully secreted about her body and she bounced on her feet a couple of times to much sure that everything was comfortable.

She was ready to travel. She was rather grateful that she’d dyed her hair back to its natural colour, she was less likely to be viewed suspiciously if she looked like a typical American girl-next-door blonde.

The first bus driver laughed when he saw her standing at the bus-stop with a large birdcage and brightly singing canary. She travelled to Olmito before getting off and changing buses. The next stop was San Benito, followed Raymondville, Kingsville, Calallen, Mathis, Campbellton, Pleasanton and Sandy Oaks, changing at each town. Her final destination for the day, Harlandale, an outer suburb of San Antonio.

It took her an hour to find but eventually, she found the address that Ricardo had given her and let herself into the house’s basem*nt. Here, she camped out, until the next day when she heard Ricardo’s distinctive voice fill the house. She crept up the stairs and after making sure that they were alone, she joined them in the kitchen, quite surprised at how pleased she was to see them and how moved she was at Cecilia’s joy at her safe arrival.

Ricardo didn’t know whether to be pleased or not, when Yelena told Cecilia that the canary was a welcome to America gift for her.

That evening and for the next day, the two girls planned Yelena’s trip to New York. They spent hours pouring over state maps, marking out twenty-to-thirty-mile distances and what towns fell into those limits. All up they estimated that Yelena would make less than hundred mile a day and take almost twenty days to get to New York. Twenty days that she would have to be on her guard at all times. Twenty days, where the only time she could rest would be on the buses or if she was exceptionally fortunate and scored herself a hidey-hole somewhere.

Yelena couldn’t really remember having a girlfriend but this is what she imaged it would be like. Chatting, laughing, planning pranks and comparing clothes. She decided that she wanted keep in contact with the girl and her father. Not something she expected to want.

~~~

September 15^th 1999.

Yelena made her way onto the third bus of the day and settled down behind a blonde woman, hoping that other travellers would assume that they were travelling together. It was her sixth day of travel and each evening she was dropping an envelope into a postal box, addressed to Cecilia. Inside each envelope was a couple of pages about the people she’d seen and the towns she’d been through.

Day one had ended in Schulenburg, day two had been Huston, day three had been Beaumont, four had been the outskirts of Lafayette, yesterday she had stopped at Hammond. Tonight she would camp in a tree in Biloxi, Mississippi.

~~~

September 25^th 1999.

Richmond, Virginia.

Day fifteen.

Today she went to a school and used their gym’s showers to get clean. She had clean clothes, as most nights she spent in laundrettes or somewhere nearby. But cleaning herself was much more of a challenge than she’d expected. Going to a school, after hours, while students were milling around on various sports fields, was the answer. And that gave her the idea to try a library and that was where she was right now.

Using a library computer to try and find the ястреб. She had expected it to take her hours to find Clint Barton but there he was, bold as day. Head of Security for Iron Technologies. It made Yelena frown, this was not part of the dossier that De Fontaine had given her.

She read the profile that the company gave and her frown grew into shock. That was Natalia. Only… she was calling herself Natashalie. Yelena studied the profile of the Barton family closely, but it wasn’t until she was flicking through the company’s image gallery that something jumped out at her.

“That’s Howard Stark.” She whispered. “But how…?” It was well known that Howard Stark’s death had allowed the Russians to gain a limited supply of his version of the super-soldier serum.

But here was Howard Stark attending a gala with his wife and…

“Holy… f*ck me…” She whispered. “Зимний Cолдат.” She clicked on the link that would lead her to a short video of Natalia and the Bartons.

The video showed Natalia sitting on a patio with Barton, his wife and two other children. It finished with Natalia whistling their call.

Yelena sat very quietly for a few minutes before deciding that she had nothing lose, by trying. She clicked back to the Iron Technologies website and hunted until she found a telephone number. She wrote it, and the main factory address, down on a scrap of paper and exited out of the search engine, deleting her history as she went. Outside, she checked that she had a decent supply of coins and went looking for a payphone.

The line buzzed and when it connected, a woman spoke. “Iron Technologies, good afternoon, how may I help you?”

“Can I speak to Mr Barton, please?” Yelena made no attempt to alter her voice.

“One moment and I’ll see if he’s available. May I have a name please?”

Yelena took a deep breath, if things were going to go wrong, this is where they would happen.

“Yelena.” She said.

“Just a moment.” The woman said and music started to play. “Transferring you, now, Miss Yelena.” The woman said when she returned.

“Hello?” The man’s voice was much as she remembered it. “Yelena?”

“ястреб.” She said.

“Where did you shoot me?” He demanded.

“Which time?” She laughed.

“Both.”

“The first time, was in the foot. The second in the shoulder and the last was in the butt.”

“Where are you?” The relief and eagerness in Barton’s voice threw her for a moment. “Yelena? Where are you?”

“Richmond. The library in Laburnum Park.” She answered.

There was a pause for a few seconds, then, “… on Westwood Avenue? Near the Seminary?”

“Yes…?” She replied.

“Stay there, we’re sending a plane for you.” Barton said. “It’ll take about two hours. One and half for the flight and another half to get from the airport to you. Nat will be part of the pick-up crew.” He didn’t insult her by asking if she’d be alright with the wait, which earned him points of respect.

“I’ll be here.” She said and hung up the receiver.

Two hours came and went and she was just about ready to write Barton on her sh*t-list, when the most beautiful sound came. The whistle started low and climbed high, before sliding back into the lower pitches again. Quickly after the whistle came a redheaded whirlwind.

The older girl leapt at her and the two crashed to the ground.

“We’re both upside down.” Yelena whispered.

“It was real to me, too…” Natashalie replied. “Cестра…”

“Let’s get out of this park, yes?” Yelena said. “Take me home, сестра.”

Chapter 15

Chapter Text

Two hours came and went and she was just about ready to write Barton on her sh*t-list, when the most beautiful sound came. The whistle started low and climbed high, before sliding back into the lower pitches again. Quickly after the whistle came a redheaded whirlwind.

The older girl leapt at her and the two crashed to the ground.

“We’re both upside down.” Yelena whispered.

“It was real to me, too…” Natashalie replied. “ Cестра…”

“Let’s get out of this park, yes?” Yelena said. “Take me home, сестра.”

~~~

September 15^th 1999

“Stop.” Yelena held up a hand. “Do I understand correctly? He,” she pointed at Bucky, “is not just the Winter Soldier but is also, James Buchannan Barnes, Captain America’s best friend and Second in Command?”

“Yes.” Clint nodded.

“And he was…? What…? Loaned? Hired? Rented? Out to the Red Room, who used his blood to make a variant on a Super-Soldier serum, which was injected into Natalia… sorry, Natashalie… that altered her and has left traces in her DNA. Which you have used as part of your… part of creating a new identity for her.”

“Yes.” Clint repeated.

“That you have documented him as having been her… what was it? Great-grandfather?”

“Yes.” Again, Clint answered with a single word.

Yelena looked at Tony and Howard. “How long would it take you to recreate the serum that Natashalie got?”

“Excuse me?” Howard asked.

“She is my сестра, my sister.” Yelena answered. “There must be a blood connection. If someone insists that we prove it. Without some blood connection to show up on a DNA test, we have no proof.”

“Ah.” Howard grimaced.

“She… is… my… sister…” Yelena repeated, firmly. “If he is her great-grandfather, then he is my great-grandfather.” She said firmly, causing Bucky to splutter out the mouthful of coffee he’d just taken.

“But the serum?” Pepper asked.

“I did not receive the serum until my ‘graduation’, after Natalia’s escape they stopped giving it to the younger girls. But in my mind, I remember that being… nearly two decades ago. I have lived longer with it, than without. My mind remembers but my body doesn’t. I would have that corrected.” Yelena answered. “This Thanos, that the ястребtold me about, when he comes, you will need all the fighters you can get.”

“We will.” Bucky said. “But you know what my version of the serum means.” It wasn’t a question.

“I do.” She nodded. “I have lived with that knowledge for most of my life. It feels… wrong… without it.” She hesitated over the descriptive.

“I know how you feel, kid.” Tony muttered, rubbing his chest. “For fifteen years, I lived with the arc reactor in my chest, or the after effects of it. Not having that…? Wrong is the right word.”

“Then how long to recreate Natashalie’s serum?” Yelena asked.

Tony and Howard exchanged looks.

“It took me years to work out how to retro-engineer a serum from Steve’s blood.” Howard said. “But now that I know how to do it, it should only take me a few weeks. Less if Barnes gives me more than an ounce of blood to work with. And I would need a sample of yours and Natashalie’s blood, too. To ensure that I get the same results from the serum absorption, for each of you.”

“Why do you call him Barnes?” Yelena asked. “Did you not tell the military who he was?”

“We did.” Tony said. “But they suggested, quite strongly in fact, that while we not publicise it, we not hide it, either. So, that when it does come out to the public, we can honestly say that we informed the DoD years ago and it’s not our fault that the public didn’t take any notice. Or over a year ago, depending on how long it takes for it to come out. And dad prefers to call everyone by their last name… the men at least.”

“But you’re not hiding it?” The blonde girl asked.

“Nope.” Tony shook his head. “All his paperwork has been re-activated, the Army back-paid him, even gave him a nice compensation for the POW stuff. Bank account, licence, social security. All reopened in his birth name with his original date of birth, not the fake name that he used between ’91 and the reveal, last year.”

“And her?” Yelena pointed at Darcy. “How does she come into this?”

“Darcy’s my wife.” Bucky said, his voice quiet and firm.

“Did that not cause alarm?” Yelena queried. “With the military?”

“Not alarm, no, but surprise? Yeah, they were surprised…” Tony smirked. “We initially didn’t tell them anything, mostly because Darcy didn’t turn up until a couple of months ago.”

“But you have now?”

“Yeah. I met with the DoD, last week. They asked where Buck was, as I’d taken Clint as bodyguard, for the day. I told them that his wife was pregnant and having scans done, that day. They were… dumbfounded…” Tony smiled, blissfully.

“You just like to stun them.” Bucky shook his head.

“Yeah… and?” Tony quirked an eyebrow.

“Pregnant?” Yelena asked, then looked at Natashalie. “What will the child be? Our what? Great Aunt or Uncle? What about the serum, will it affect the child?”

“We thought we’d just go with cousin.” Darcy said. “Forget the ‘greats’ bullsh*t. The four of you and any other kids, the group might end up with, will just call all of us Aunt and Uncle.”

“Aunt Darcy?” Yelena asked.

“Yes, that’s it.” Darcy nodded, smiling at the girl.

“And the serum situation with Darcy is… complicated.” Bucky winced.

“Uncomplicate it… please.” The last word was clearly an afterthought.

“Darcy was exposed to… well…” Bucky hesitated.

“We went to visit New Asgard, to visit Brunnhilde and I drank a little too much of something and Lorelei, an Asgardian sorceress, came looking for Thor. She didn’t like what Brunnhilde had to say, didn’t believe her when she said that he’d joined up with a mercenary ship. She assumed that, as Thor was rumoured to be in love with a mortal, who was Jane by the way, that as the only mortal female there, I had to be her.” Darcy laughed. “She cursed me.” She turned to Bucky and buried her head in his shoulder, her own shaking as she tried to compose herself. “She… she said that I was not the soulmate of king of Asgard but as she was feeling vicious, I would know no rest until I did find my soulmate and that my heart was tied to his. That my heart would beat only while his did, that I would live as long as he lived, be-it fifty years or five hundred years. I would age as he did. That was two months after Bucky and I married.”

“Brunnhilde suggested that we visit the Norns and ask their guidance.” Bucky said. “We had no other ideas and a trip into space seemed like waste of time, but Brunnhilde got hold of Thor and he was as enthusiastic as ever, so we went.

“They took one look at us and cackled.” Darcy said. “They ‘read’ Lorelei’s curse and they just… cackled… Said that if she was half as good as she thought she was, she should have been able to see who my soulmate was. Or maybe she did but assumed that I was after Thor, anyway. The Norns said the curse would have little effect on me other than to increase my life to match Bucky’s and increase my ability to heal.”

“Our children will be unusually healthy and will live extended lives but no worse than mine.” Bucky said. “They’ll also have all the benefits of my serum and none of the drawbacks.”

“What of those whom receive the serum made from your blood?” Yelena asked.

“Much the same as children I father naturally.” Bucky answered.

“Longer lives, increased healing, speed and strength, etcetera?” Yelena asked.

“Pretty much.” Bucky nodded. “Higher metabolic rates, too, but nothing as extreme as Steve’s got.”

“What plans are being put in place for this Thanos?”

“Let us worry about him for the moment.” Tony held up a hand. “I’m not disregarding you because of your physical age or anything. It’s just that there’s not much we can do at the moment but plan and we need to get you established and into the education system before someone goes snooping and finds a gap that we haven’t filled in yet.”

“Education?” Yelena screwed up her nose.

“Yeah, I know.” Tony nodded. “But Nat’s been going to school here, for a couple of years and she told Wanda and Pietro that it’s not as bad as she expected.”

“It’s not.” Nat agreed. “We never had the chance at a childhood and while this is not exactly that, it’s fairly close.”

“I made a friend, who is close to my physical age.” Yelena nodded. “I like her. It surprised me that I would care about someone who is not… family…”

Nat nodded. “I was much the same when I first got out. Caring about Clint came as quite a shock.”

“My friend, Cecilia? Can I keep her?” She asked Bucky.

“As a friend? Of course.” Bucky nodded, then frowned. “No kidnapping her, unless she’s likely to be in more danger, if you don’t.”

“Can I telephone her and tell her that I have found my sister?” Yelena asked cautiously.

“Of course.” Tony said. “We’ll give you some privacy to do that and Nat will hunt up the latest version of Project Thanos for you. And Buck, JARVIS, Clint and I will see to getting documents in place for you. I will need a full name and a date and location of birth. Nat’s February 4^th ’84, in Bialystok. Your great-grandmother was Polish, as was your grandfather and your father was an American working in Belarus. What do you want?”

“Yelena Melina. 29^th November ’88, Minsk.” Yelena said.

“Excellent.” Tony stood up. ‘J? Sort out a cell for Yelena and see to it that she has the same authority as Laura and Darcy. When we know more about you and your capabilities, we’ll look at increasing that. But for now, you get to spend a few years, just living. Being a kid.”

“I’m not sure I know how.” Yelena gave him a small smile.

“Stick with us, kid, you’ll soon learn.” Bucky laughed. “Prank wars are an almost daily event.”

“They’re a good way to refine our skills without alarming outsiders.” Nat said.

“How do they know when to not treat you as a child but as a Widow?” Yelena asked.

“Either I tell them, or I wear black, head to toe.”

“I prefer white.” Yelena said.

“White with black harnesses?” Tony suggested. “White shirts are everywhere.”

“A white shirt, white trousers and we will find you a version of your vest.” Nat countered.

“Yes.” Yelena crowed. “I liked that vest. What happened to it?”

“I left it in my room in the compound, when Clint and I went to Vormir. I wasn’t going to risk losing it in space.”

“I liked that vest.” Yelena repeated. “It had a lot of pockets.”

~~~

November 21^st 1999

“Sir?” JARVIS waited until Tony had placed his mug on the bench.

“J?”

“The security cameras have picked up a car at the main factory gates.”

“And?”

“Mr Hogan is driving it.” A flat screened imaged appeared, showing Happy Hogan arguing with a security guard.

“Call the security post.”

“Yes, Sir.” JARVIS replied. “Dialling… Connecting, now.” A buzz of a ring phone could be heard.

“Iron Technologies, gate security.” The call was answered, the guard's voice sharp.

“Billy?” Tony asked.

“Dr Stark?”

“That guy with his arms crossed, glaring at you, is Harold ‘Happy’ Hogan. Take a pic from the cameras and let Andrew know, Happy’s got Alpha Level access to everything. For now, give him the phone.” Tony ordered.

“Yes, sir.” He sighed and held out the receiver to Happy. “For you.”

“Yeah…?” Happy said.

“Hey, Hap. I’m up at the lake.”

“The cabin?” Happy asked.

“The main house, not the cabin.” Tony replied.

“On my way. ETA two hours, pending traffic.” He paused. “Should I be picking anyone up?”

“Nah, they’re all up here. We tend to work out of here and only pop down to the factory, a couple of times a week.”

“Got it.” He nodded to the camera. “See you soon, boss.” He handed the phone back to the security guard and headed back to his car.

Two hours and ten minutes later, Happy let the car pull to a stop in front of the impressive house, where Tony Stark stood waiting, on the broad stone steps. Happy climbed from the car and stood up, stretching to ease his stiff muscles.

“Happy!” Tony beamed and bounced in place. “Come on in, we’ve got so much to tell you.” Tony waited until Happy stood in front of him before engulfing the man in an emotional hug.

“Uh…?” Happy’s arms flailed.

“Get used to it, Happy.” Rhodey sighed from the door. “He’s gotten to like springing hugs on people.”

“What happened to him?” Happy tentatively patted Tony on the back.

“He got a family.” Rhodey said. “A real family. Come on in and say hello. There’s only a couple of people you won’t know. Nat’s sister, Wanda’s brother and Wilson's first partner.”

~~~

January 20^th 2000.

“Are you sure about this, Utata?” T'Challa asked. This was their second trip to the US in six months, but they were no closer to figuring out how to defeat Thanos without Tony Stark and this Tony Stark was not the one that T'Challa remembered.

“This is not the man you told me about and I would like to know why.” T’Chaka said. “Then there is the man you call Sergeant Barnes. He is Stark’s bodyguard. How did that happen? And what of the others, that you mentioned, none of them joined Shield?”

T'Challa sighed. “You are right, Utata.”

“Call him, my son.”

“Yes, Utata.” T'Challa picked up his cell and dialled a number that he’d spent a lot of hours trying to find.

“Who is this? I don’t know this number?”

“Hello, Dr Stark. My name is-”

“T'Challa…?” Tony whispered.

“Yes…” T'Challa frowned. “How did you know?”

“What was the last thing that Peter said to me?” Tony demanded.

‘Peter?! Was it possible that Stark remembered what he did?’ T'Challa blinked. “I…”

“What… was… it…?” The words were said harder, this time.

“We won… I’m sorry… Tony…” T'Challa said.

“Oh, thank Tesla. And your Bast, too.” Tony sighed in obvious relief.

“Excuse me?” T'Challa asked.

“Right, so… we changed a few things.” Tony ignored the question. “Where are you?”

“Manhattan.”

“Where?”

“The Plaza.”

“Who’s with you? And do they know?”

“My father and yes, he knows, I told him.”

“Right.” Tony hummed. “I’m sending a car for you. Check out and be ready. It’ll take about half an hour to get to you and the drive here is about two hours, we’re up at the lake. Everyone here remembers… or knows. We’re… planning… making changes and just… getting what we can in place, you know… a little earlier than before. We’ll catch you up, when you get here.”

“How will we know which is your car?”

“Happy’s driving and Pep says you and Shuri were there for the… for the memorial thing.” Even after nine years, Tony still struggled to talk about the memorial.

“We were.” T'Challa agreed.

“Well, Happy’ll be there in about half an hour, depending on traffic.”

“We shall be ready.” T'Challa replied and disconnected the call.

“Ready for what?” T’Chaka asked.

“Stark, like me, remembers and has gathered around himself a group that also remember. He is sending a car for us.”

“Why?”

“He’s inviting us to his home.” T'Challa softened Tony’s orders into something his father would accept. “They’re making plans and want us to know what they’ve done and what they still plan to do.”

“How long until this car arrives?”

“Half an hour.”

“Then, we had best be ready, my son.” T’Chaka said and headed for the closet.

~~~

“We will provide whatever aid we can, Dr Stark.” T'Chaka said. “If you do not object, I would have T'Challa stay with you, for now. Our people will not accept him becoming king while I am alive and I have no intention of dying, just yet. They will, however, accept that I have sent him out into the world to gain firsthand knowledge and to further our diplomatic and commercial contacts.”

“And SI and IT definitely come under the commercial tag.” Darcy nodded.

“It does.” T'Chaka agreed.

“Did you bring your panther suit?” Tony asked.

“Of course.” T'Challa replied.

“Great, our boys… and girls… need to learn what you can do and how to work with you, in emergencies.” Tony said. “For now, let’s get you sorted with a room and a copy of the training schedule.”

Darcy grunted as one of her unborn babies kicked and Bucky jerked his head towards her. “We’re fine, someone’s just bored, they’re like their mommy and prefer watching their daddy kick ass, to sitting around doing nothing.” She rubbed a gentle hand over her swollen baby-bump.

“When are you due?” T'Chaka asked.

“Mid-April.” Darcy replied. “Assuming this pair doesn’t decide to pull a Weasley and go on the 1^st. I do not need April Fool’s Day babies.”

Most of those at the table laughed at the thought, although Tony thought comparing Bucky and Darcy’s children to the Weasley twins was a fair call.

Chapter 16

Chapter Text

“When are you due?” T'Chaka asked.

“Mid-April.” Darcy replied. “Assuming this pair doesn’t decide to pull a Weasley and go on the 1^st. I do not need April Fool’s Day babies.”

Most of those at the table laughed at the thought, although Tony thought comparing Bucky and Darcy’s children to the Weasley twins was a fair call.

April 2^nd 2000

“Goddammit…” Darcy grumbled.

“Close, doll.” Bucky grinned.

“But not close enough…”

“You know what they say about ‘close’, don’t you?” Bucky’s grin softened as he looked at the bundle in his arms. “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades.”

“We are not calling our kids, horseshoe or hand-grenade, James Barnes.” Darcy mock-glared at her husband.

“Nah, doll, wasn’t suggesting it.” Bucky absently replied.

“Why couldn’t they have waited another half-hour?” Darcy muttered.

“Should we name them after the Weasley twins, then?” Bucky looked up at her.

Darcy blinked and began to giggle. “Fred and George Barnes…”

“My mother was Winnifred…” Barnes said teasingly.

“My mother was Georgiana…” Darcy replied in a similar tone.

“And any kids of ours are going to be hellraisers.” Bucky smirked.

“Let’s do it.” Darcy laughed, quietly. “Winnifred Jane and Georgiana Elizabeth.”

“That works.” He frowned. “Do we know anything about Jane’s whereabouts right now?”

“Culver, working on her Astronomy degree. She’s still got three years to go.” Darcy sighed.

“When are you going to meet her?”

“I’m planning on offering her a Stark grant, her last year.” Darcy sighed, she missed her little science demon-boss-lady.

There was a quiet tapping at the door and when the pair looked up, Pepper was standing there with a curious expression.

“Are you ready for the invasion?” She smiled softly.

“Yeah, just muzzle Tony first, wouldja?” Bucky grinned.

“He’s promised to keep a lid on his… exuberance.” Pepper said.

“Then sure, send in the clowns.” Darcy grinned and watched as people burst into the room in a silent roar of motion.

“What did you name them?” Yelena asked.

Darcy grinned and Bucky smirked.

“Oh, hell…” Tony muttered.

“Please welcome our daughters.” Bucky’s smirk grew wicked. “Winnifred and Georgiana.”

“Or… Fred and George.” Darcy laughed.

“Oh, no…” Tony sighed.

“Oh, yes.” Darcy and Bucky said together, causing most people to laugh.

~~~

May 3^rd 2000

“We’re ready…” Darcy sang as she pushed the double stroller up the ramp and onto the ship.

“What?” Tony blinked. “Ready for what?”

Darcy frowned at him. “You don’t really think you’re taking my husband off to Greenland or Iceland without me, do you? Any of you speak Norwegian or Icelandic?”

“No, and neither do you.” Tony replied.

“I speak more than you do.” Darcy retorted, sharply.

Tony glared at her. “Really?”

“Yes, Tony, really.” Darcy sighed. “Eric taught Jane and I the basics, while we were stuck in New Mexico, after Agent iPod Thief stole Janey’s Life’s Work. I can hold a basic conversations in Norwegian, Swedish and Finish and know enough Icelandic to get directions and food.”

“Okay, then. You’re hired. Give me my goddaughter and stash your stuff, we sail in an hour.”

“Aye, aye, Sir.” Darcy gave him a one fingered saluted and handed George over. She left Tony singing away in Italian, as she and Fred made their way below deck.

“Hey Darce.” Clint said as he approached down a long corridor. “Gimme.” His hands were reaching for Fred when he was still six feet or more, away. Darcy shrugged and unhooked Fred’s carrier and handed the sleeping baby to the blonde. “Ta. I’ll give her back before we launch.”

“Don’t bother, I’m coming, too.”

Clint frowned before his faced cleared. “Oh, right. Eric, Swedish, Finish and Norwegian.” He’d been on obs-duty when Eric decided that the girls needed something to occupy themselves with.

“And a bit of Icelandic, too.”

“Cool.” Clint vanished into the depths of the ship and Darcy went looking for the small suite that she’d allocated to herself and Bucky, the rooms were the benefits of her being the coordinator on this particular project.

“Hey, Doll.” Bucky stood in the middle of the sitting room. “This is a bit bigger than I expected.”

“You don’t expect that we’d jam into one of those tiny cabins, with two babies, did you?” Darcy countered as she dropped the handle of the trolley-case.

Bucky looked up at her, his expression brightening. “You’re coming, too?”

“Babe, you speak Russian, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Greek. You’re going to Norway and maybe Iceland. No-one on this boat speaks Norwegian or Icelandic.”

Bucky started to nod. “And Eric taught you and Jane. Right. I keep forgetting.” He looked at her again. “Where are the girls? Who’s got them?”

“Who do you think?”

“Tony’s got George and Clint's got Fred.” Bucky sighed.

“Bingo. Someone give the man a kiss.”

“That’s your job, doll.”

“Well, come here and let me do my job.” She grinned.

“Yes, ma'am.” Brick gave a dramatic sigh.

“Or I could go annoy Tony…” She offered and started to turn around.

“Nope.” Bucky grabbed at her hand and reeled her into his arms. “Mine. Tony’s got his own wife, he doesn’t need mine, too.” His head lowered and all thoughts of Tony vanished.

~~~

June 2^nd 2000

“Okay, we’ve reached the third set of coordinates that JARVIS salvaged from the Data Dump. No idea whether we’re any closer to finding the Valkyrie or not.” Tony told the crew gathered around the large cartographic map-table.

“How many sets were there?” Clint asked.

“Nine.” Tony sighed.

“And we’ve no idea which ones were the right set for the location of the plane? Why not?” Darcy asked.

“Because even then, Nick was a paranoid bastard and didn’t trust more than a few people.” Tony huffed. “It could be any of them.” No-one mentioned Nick’s surname as they were trying to keep his identity from those not already in-the-know.

“What if they’re all false leads?” One of the ship’s recon crew asked. A few of the more reliable IT workers had been poached from different departments for this expedition and had been told a slightly fabricated story of the SSR dumping a heap of files off on Howard, who had just shoved them into the attic, until Tony got curious and went through them.

“I’m fairly confident that one of them is right. Which one? I’m not sure. But hey, third time’s the charm, right?” Tony said. “I asked Nick about it and while he wouldn’t tell me which it was, he did say that he’d put the extra sets in on purpose, he didn’t want any enemies of the US getting their hands on the plane.”

“Well the scouting party are due back soon, so we should have an idea of the lay of the land and where we need JARVIS to send a suit for sonar mapping and where we need a suit on metal detection.” Bucky grimaced.

An hour later, the group were still studying the map table, making notes on areas to send which suits and arguing over who was going where. So, it caught all them by surprise when the team leader of the last scouting team, Billy from security, ran into the cabin, panting.

“We…” His chest heaved for breath. “We… found… it…” He gasped. He grabbed a pen and stabbed it onto the map table. “There…” He slumped down onto a seat.

“You found it?” Tony blinked a few times. “The Valkyrie?”

“Bloody great… wing… like a… a hang-glider…” The man nodded.

Tony blinked again and leant over the table to see where the pen was. “Land… It’s on land…” He exchanged a stunned look with Bucky. “Recon team is leaving in five. Better hustle if you’re going with them.” Bucky was up and moving before Tony finished speaking.

Repelling down into the main compartment of the Valkyrie was eerie for Bucky. He remembered listening to Steve tell him about the crash and he’d read Coulson’s report on the recovery, so he had a fair idea of where to find Steve, but he wasn’t the only one in the recon team, he had to at least make an effort to scout the plane’s interior. He swung to face the rear of the plane before he gave his first order.

“Dobson, Higgs, to the left. Bell, Wheeler, to the right. Palmer, Brooks, Thompson, Fielding, bomb bays to the rear. Benson, Simpson, Chapel, with me, we get centre forward.” He said.

“Yes, Sir.” The eight men and three women replied and broke into their assigned teams.

“Simpson, Chapel, take the control area. Benson, work your way around the cabin, to the right. I’ll take the left.”

“Yes, Sir.” The two men and one woman nodded and began to move, their 300° of visibility gas masks not impeding their sight, allowing them to concentrate on the space around them.

Bucky moved through the steel girders and checked all the corners, who knew what could be laying around?

And speaking of just laying around? That was Steve’s service pistol. He bent and scooped it up, to put into the bag hanging at his waist.

“Found a Colt looks to be a M1911A, probably Steve’s.” Bucky had made no effort to hide his identity from IT staff. “Bastard, that’s not his…”

“Sir?” Benson turned to look across the cavernous space.

“Bloody punk took my frigging gun.” Bucky muttered loud enough for the other three to hear.

“At least you’re getting it back, now.” Benson laughed, she was an ex-Army sergeant, just like he had been and had proven herself as unflappable as Pepper and Darcy.

“Someone better find the punk, I owe him a thumping for taking it. I told him I wanted him to take it back to Becca for me.” He went on. His reunion with his sister had been a bittersweet thing, seeing her and introducing her to Darcy had been great, but seeing how frail she was, wasn’t.

He spent a few more minutes working his way forward, before someone spoke.

“Sir?” Simpson stood up and waved. “Sir, we found… something…”

“Coming.” Bucky abandoned his corner of the cabin and headed to Simpson and Chapel. “What’ve you… Oh, sh*t…” He exclaimed as Simpson brushed loose snow away from a familiar round red and blue surface, he could see the equally familiar golden leather of Steve’s gauntlet gloves grasping the shield’s edges. “Chapel, get to the relay point and send for a recovery team. It’s time he got out of the cold.” He dropped to his heels and laid a hand on the ice-covered shield. “I told ya, punk, how many time did I tell ya? Not to do an’thing stupid ‘til I got back.” He sighed. “And what do ya do? Ya sign up to be Science!’d on. Idiot.” He smiled and patted the ice above the shield. “As Darcy says, ‘payback’s a bitch’ and I owe you. You just wait. The future’s swell. You’re gonna hate it.”

His comments drew smothered laughter from Benson, as she joined him. “Nothing to the right. Want me to finish your sweep to the left?”

“Thanks.” Bucky nodded. “Oh, and when we get back on board, remind me to ask Tony to transfer you to the Thanos Project, I think it would suit you.”

“Thanos?” Benson asked. “The Greek God of death?”

“Later, Benson.” Bucky waved her off. “We’ve got more important things to worry about.” He pulled a cell phone from his pocket and opened the camera app, taking a series of pictures before he put it away again.

“Blackmail, sir?” Simpson asked, clearing space around Steve and his shield. “Pops always said, you found the best blackmail.”

Bucky turned to look at the man. “Excuse me?”

“Pops was a Howlie.” Simpson kept working. “He used to tell me and Maggie about the war. He always said you found the best blackmail stuff, mostly on the Cap, but also on Pops and Stark.”

Bucky frowned. “Who was your Pops?”

Simpson turned to look at him. “I… I thought you knew... I thought that was why I got this job?”

“No, job’s nothing to do with me.” Bucky said. “But you didn’t answer the question.”

“Me and Maggie are… Our Pops is Dum-dum Dugan.” Simpson said.

“Who’s Maggie?”

“Maggie? Margret Benson, sir.” He nodded to Benson as she ducked under a girder.

“You’re both Dum-dum’s?” Bucky blinked a few times. “Hold on. You said ‘is’ not ‘was’. Is he still alive?”

“Of course, he’s still alive.” Benson muttered loud enough for Bucky and Simpson to hear. “Stubborn old mule.”

“Not a mule, a donkey.” Bucky corrected automatically.

“What?” Simpson tilted his head.

“The last mission I was part of, we had to climb a damn mountain, just to get to the forward staging post, then it was another long, cold hike to the deployment site. We used a donkey to haul our gear and Dum-dum lost the toss, he got to be the donkey handler for the trip.”

Simpson blinked a few times before starting to laugh. “That would be why he wouldn’t let momma take me and Jordy on donkey rides when we went to visit Falsworth in England, then?”

“Probably.” Bucky grinned.

“Excellent. Thanks, Sarge. I know what I’m getting him for Christmas.”

“A stuffed donkey?” Bucky asked.

“Wearing his bowler hat.” Simpson nodded.

Bucky began to turn back to look at Steve, when something tickled his memory. “What’s today’s date?”

“June 2^nd. Why?”

“His birthday’s the 20^th, we should be back in New York for that. I’ll deliver the donkey in person, if you like.”

Simpson started to laugh and even though he kept clearing debris, snow and ice from around the control area, he kept burstinginto the odd bout of badly smothered laughter.

“Oh, hell… I’d pay to see that, Matt.” Benson joined them. “I found a Luger and a bowie knife, sir. I’m assuming that the bowie is Cap’s.”

“Little star on the hilt?”

“No, sir. A wing.”

“Dammit, Steve, did you have to take my knife, too?” Bucky sighed.

“Here, you go, Sarge.” Benson handed over the knife and Bucky slid it into his boot.

A noise behind them had the three spinning, all three pointing weapons at the door.

“Ah, sorry…” The young man grimaced. “I can’t feel my toes and it’s making me clumsy.”

“Never mind, lad.” Simpson shook his head. “Get in here and let’s work on getting the Cap, home.”

“Yes, sir.” The young man nodded and stumbled forward, dragging his bundle. He was followed by two more men, one close to his age and one much older. “He deserves to come home, not be stuck here in a German plane.”

“It’s not so much the German bit as the HYDRA bit, that he wouldn’t like.” Bucky said.

“Ain’t that the truth?” Benson said.

“Names?” Simpson asked the three newcomers.

“Adam Brown.” Said the first man.

“Chris Reed.” The older man said quietly.

“I’m Tom Lloyd.” The third man said and began opening his bundle. From it he pulled various pieces of metal that he slotted together with pieces from the other two men’s bundles, to form a pallet.

“Excuse us, but you’re in the way. If you’d move to one side, that would be much appreciated.” Reed looked at them expectantly.

“I guess, we’re moving, then.” Bucky took a few steps back.

“We’ll prepare him for transport, but as I told Dr Stark, preparing the body for burial should wait until we have access to a proper morgue.”

Bucky nodded, he’d waited nine years to come and get Steve, he could wait until they got back to New York.

~~~

June 20^th2000.

Bucky held his smile down to the barest twist of his lips and waited for someone to answer the door. Benson and Simpson had informed him that the last few Howlies were going to be at Dum-dum’s birthday. That each year, they gathered in advance of Steve’s birthday, to hold their own private memorial for the fallen.

Only this year, they weren’t aware that they were getting a very special guest.

The door opened and Maggie Benson gave him a wide grin. “Good to see you. Wasn’t sure you’d actually turn up.”

“I did offer.” He smirked.

“You did and Matt and I are looking forward to it. He’s on camera duty.”

“Lead the way, Benson.”

“Maggie, sir.” She corrected.

“Then call me, Bucky. Or Barnes, if you prefer?”

“Bucky it is. Come on.” She lead the way into the house and out onto a wide deck.

“Who was it?” Dum-dum asked.

“Just a delivery guy, Pops, don’t worry, I dealt with it.” Maggie said as she joined the others on the deck.

Bucky was waiting for the attention to leave the doors to the deck before he quietly made his entrance. He waited until Dum-dum put his mug of coffee on a table beside his chair, before dropping the donkey plushie, with its attached bowler hat, on Dum-dum’s lap, from behind his chair.

“What the…?!” The squawk the man let out had Bucky letting out a chuckle, which silenced the deck.

“Sarge?” Gabe Jones eyed the two men, one gawking at the toy and the other wearing a grin.

“What?” Dum-dum replied.

“Yeah?” Bucky answered at the same time, causing Dum-dum to lean back in his seat and tilt his head backwards to look at Bucky, upside-down.

“Barnes?!”

“Dum-dum.” Bucky’s grin grew wider.

“What the hell?” Dum-dum asked.

“Got some’t to show ya.” Bucky let his Brooklyn accent out.

“Yeah, like what?” Dum-dum demanded.

Bucky pulled out his cell-phone and opened the photo app, bringing up a clear picture of a frozen Steve, before stepping to the side of Dum-dum’s chair and dropping the cell onto his lap. The older man cautiously picked up the cell and studied the image before tossing the cell to Jones, he also studied the picture before passing it on. It took a few minutes before it was returned to Dum-dum.

“When was that taken?” Dum-dum asked.

“The 3^rd of this month.” Bucky said.

“When’s the funeral?” Jones wanted to know.

“Well, that’s complicated.” Bucky grimaced.

“Why?” Jones asked.

“We had a… what do’ya call ‘em? The Funeral house fella that prepares the body?” He always got them mixed up with the fella that plans the funeral.

“Mortician.” Dum-dum answered, automatically.

“Right, mortician.” Bucky nodded. “Anyway the mortician was chipping way the ice and he saw one of Steve’s wounds.”

“So?”

“It was still bleeding.”

“Which means what?” Dum-dum frowned.

“Dead men don’t bleed, asshole.” Bucky said and smacked Dum-dum upside the head, gently, with his flesh hand.

Chapter 17

Chapter Text

“We had a… what do’ya call ‘em? The Funeral house fella that prepares the body?” He always got them mixed up with the fella that plans the funeral.

“Mortician.” Dum-dum answered, automatically.

“Right, mortician.” Bucky nodded. “Anyway the mortician was chipping way the ice and he saw one of Steve’s wounds.”

“So?”

“It was still bleeding.”

“Which means what?” Dum-dum frowned.

“Dead men don’t bleed, asshole.” Bucky said and smacked Dum-dum upside the head, gently, with his flesh hand.

~~~

July 3^rd 2000

Steve had stopped shivering an hour ago, which according to Sam was a good thing, when combined with his body temperature. Tony sat beside Steve’s bed, he’d sent Bucky off to bed a few hours ago, the man needed his rest, especially with two young babies demanding his attention. Tony shifted the Stark-pad on his lap, letting his mind split into three observation paths.

One to watch Steve. A second to read over his latest submission to the DoD, the personnel tracker/locator beacons. While a third path listened to the music that JARVIS was piping through the room’s hidden speakers and debated with himself, which he would prefer?

Steve remembering would make things a lot easier, in regard to Thanos and defeating him. But the flip side of that was the relationship between the two of them was… brittle…

However, Steve not remembering would make the Thanos issue more difficult, but Steve would be meeting him with no pre-existing prejudices. The downside to that was, there was a war coming and a Steve that remembered, already knew Tony and how to work, seamlessly, with him in the field. Without that? Would the team even be able to work together?

The part of Tony that was watching Steve, noted that his breathing rate had increased and a small frown had pulled his eyebrows down as his eyes narrowed. Tony laid aside his pad and stood up, knowing that doing so, would draw Steve’s attention.

“… Tony…?” Steve whispered, almost silently.

“Hey, Steve.” Tony gave him a small smile. That answered that, didn’t it?

“Where are we?”

“The lake.”

“Cabin?” Steve asked.

“Yeah.” It had been too noisy at the main house, so Sam had suggested moving Steve to the cabin, just until he was up and about.

“This is… Is this… heaven…?”

“Nope. Sorry.” Tony snorted. “It’s only quiet down here, the main house is in the middle of a prank war.”

“Prank war?” Steve blinked.

“Yeah. Darcy, Bucky and Clint against everyone else.”

“Bucky?” Steve looked concerned. “Did he…? When did he die?”

“He didn’t.” Tony shook his head. “Things… are… complicated.”

“How?” Steve pushed himself upright and looked around the room. “Where are we? If this isn’t heaven, are we in…?”

“We’re in New York state.” Tony said. “Don’t think it quite equates to hell, but that’s only my opinion. As for the rest? Eat, drink and I’ll explain what I can.” He nodded to a tray with thermos of soup and some slices of soft bread.

“Right.” Steve pulled the tray towards him and began to serve himself. “Talk, please.”

“Thanos snapped his fingers and nothing happened.” Tony said. “I snapped mine and his army dusted. He sat down and dusted, too. I hurt, I hurt everywhere. Then Peter and Pepper were there. They were talking but the pain stopped me from hearing them. Everything went black.” He took a shuddering breath. “I died.”

“I’m sorry…” Steve said quietly, looking down at his hands.

“I’m not. Strange said it was the only way . Something about fourteen million futures and it being the only way to win.” Tony shrugged. “But that’s where things changed. For me, anyway.”

“How?” Steve paused with a spoon of soup halfway to his mouth.

“I woke up.” Tony gave him a shaky look. “I woke up in 1991.” Steve just froze. “Yeah, I thought I was dreaming. JARVIS was there, he was trying to get me to wake up and..” for the next hour, Tony explained everything to Steve. Everything. Everything they’d done. Everything they’d planned. Everything they were hoping to achieve. Everything.

“You’re telling me that Buck’s been your bodyguard for the last ten years?” Steve said, when Tony finally fell silent.

“Eight and a half.” Tony corrected.

“But he’s your bodyguard?”

“Yep.” Tony nodded.

“And you trust him to do that?”

Tony looked at Steve. “Yes, I trust him, I trust him as much as I’ve ever trusted you.”

“Huh.” Steve grunted. “What now?”

“Now, you get up and get showered. We know from past history that you’re mobile almost as soon as you wake, but you’re still not at full strength, that’s going to take a few weeks. Fifty-five years in ice is enough to slow even you down. Sam’s estimating twelve to fifteen weeks before you’re battle-ready.”

“Battle-ready?”

“Avenger-wise, there’s nothing on the horizon for the next couple of years.” Tony blinked and frowned. “Unless we want to deal with 9/11.”

“Today’s date?”

“July 3^rd 2000.”

“So, 9/11’s next year?” Steve had read about the attacks.

“Yep.” Tony nodded.

“What do you… what do I do in the mean time?” Steve asked. “Is SHIELD expecting me?”

“No, no-one but IT and SI staff know about you, yet.”

“IT and SI?”

“Iron Technologies and Stark Industries.” Tony replied. “IT is me and SI is dad.”

Steve blinked. “Howard?”

“Yeah, dad’s still alive, so’s mom.” Tony knew what Steve was asking. “We’re not in our original timeline, Steve.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” Steve looked at Tony with an intense gaze.

“Right, every sci-fi story out there, says that we can’t change our own past, that doing so changes our present and our future, to the point where we wouldn’t have gone back in time. Right?” Tony waited until Steve nodded, slowly. “Also, that time travel happens in one of two ways. Type one. Like we did with the quantum realm, we inserted ourselves into a pre-existing timeline, one that already has versions of us, ones that are native to that timeline.” He waited for Steve to nod again. “Or type two. Our consciousness is inserted into our younger bodies, as they were at a specific point in time. With me so far?”

“Yes…?”

“Right, so for most of us we seemed to be the second type, but…” Tony sighed. “It’s not just one or the other. JARVIS and the Bleeding Edge suit that I’d made in 2022, were with me, when I woke as twenty-year-old me. So, while I was type two, JARVIS hadn’t been written yet and the suits weren’t even a speculative daydream.”

“Ah.” Steve grunted and buttered a slice of bread.

“Bucky’s a type two as are everyone else, excluding Darcy.”

“Darcy?” Steve frowned. “Thor’s friend?”

“Darcy’s a little more than that, Steve-o. She Bucky’s wife.” Steve went wide eyed and slack jawed. “A month after they married, there was an incident with a rogue Asgardian sorceress and Darcy was cursed. She’ll live as long as Bucky, when his heart stops, so does hers. She shares part of his serum, mostly the slow aging and the rapid healing. But from what we can work out, if she’d been a type two, that would have left her twenty-odd years younger than him, forever and when you take the slow aging into account, it could be thirty-plus years before she’d be physically an adult. So, we figure that JARVIS, the suit and Darcy are type ones.”

“Bucky got married?” Steve whispered.

“Married… with kids.” Tony was enjoying the expressions on Steve’s face. Immensely.

“Kids?!” Steve gasped.

“The twins are three months old.” Tony snorted. “They’re named after the Weasley twins.”

“And they’re Bucky’s kids…” Steve groaned.

“Yep.” Tony nodded.

“Oh, hell.”

“Pretty much.” Tony gave him a sympathetic smile.

“Where do I fit into this?”

“Right where you’ve always been, Cap. On the field you’re the boss.”

“And off the field?” Steve asked.

“That’s your call.” Tony said, neutrally.

“And if it were your call?”

“What you do with yourself?”

“Yes.”

“If it were my call, I’d say… learn to live in the world as it is now.” Tony tilted his head. “What did you do? After you went back to Peggy, what did you do? How did you live?”

“Quite easily.” Steve replied. “She made a new identity for me and I stayed out of sight. Or out of the Army’s sight, at least. We stayed in America, for the most part, but she went to work building SHILED and I stayed out of it. No-one recognised me, I was too old and too small.”

“Small?” Tony blinked, he never expected someone to describe Steve Rogers as ‘small’. “Too old?”

“Captain America was in his twenties and I was close to forty.” Steve said. “I wasn’t as bulked up, after five years of… peace… Five years of learning to live with regrets, I wasn’t as heavy, wasn’t working out to the same extreme. There wasn’t a call for a super-soldier, as much as there was for someone who had survived war and devastation.”

“Huh.” Tony grunted.

“That was where I helped, the most. Counselling, listening.” Steve shrugged. “But it meant that physically I wasn’t as… heavily built, I was leaner and if I wore the right fit of clothes, I looked smaller.”

“Optical illusion?”

“Peggy called it ‘Visual Deception’. But yeah, pretty much.”

“What did you do while she was at Shield?” Tony asked.

“Not a lot.” Steve replied. “She’d had papers made up, for me, that said I was ex-Army. I turned up on her doorstep in the fall of ’49. We married on the quiet, that winter, Morita was the only one that knew I was there. He was the one responsible for what I ended up doing. His brother was a cop and whenever he had a mugging or rape victim, he’d send them to me. I’d talk them through it and teach them to defend themselves.” He finished the last of the soup and let the spoon rest in the bowl. “As time progressed, it went from just teaching self-defence, to working with wayward kids and after Vietnam, I started working with the odd vet, counselling wasn’t the done thing, then, but if you’re both working with your hands, men will talk. When the kids were little, Peg suggested moving back to England, we wanted to lessen the risk of someone looking at me and actually seeing me. We spent nearly a decade there. But eventually, we came back to America. It was home. When Peggy’s health started to fail, I bought a little cottage, a few miles from her retirement home, I’d visit her most days and for the most part it was fine. But just occasionally, she would forget to keep it secret and she’d tell the nurses that I was Steve Rogers.”

“Who were you? If you weren’t Steve Rogers, who were you?”

“My name? Grant Barnes. But I took Peggy’s name when we married, upset a few people, until she spun a tale that was mostly true but was also a twisted version of the truth. That I was an abused orphan and that the name was a painful reminder of the past.”

“The truth but not in the way most people would think.” Tony nodded.

“Yeah.” Steve agreed then laughed. “When she died, I went along to the funeral, I quite literally sat beside myself. It was a… surreal moment.”

Tony snorted as he tried to imagine it, then laughed as he imagined a younger Steve’s reaction if he’d known.

“Yeah.” Steve nodded, with a smirk. “I was so tempted to talk to him, but I knew I couldn’t. I waited through the snap, that was hard, just letting people vanish and not doing anything.”

“You would’ve been what? Ninety?”

“At least.” Steve agreed. “I kept an eye out, kept the young ones in my area out of trouble. And a few days before the second snap, I got myself ready and after you snapped Thanos and his army away, I headed for the lake. I knew that Buck would spot me, not even Clint was as good when it came to spotting the odd-one-out. Plus, Buck had decades of looking out for me, he knew what to look for.”

“That’s when you gave Sam the shield?”

“Yeah. I’d talked to Buck about it. He knew I was going to try and stay with Peggy. He knew I was going to hand the shield to Sam.” Steve sighed. “I don’t know if anyone told you, but after the second snap…”

“People came back to the same place, they’d left? And not all of them survived it.” Tony nodded. “Yeah, Buck told me.”

“What do we do about him?”

“Nothing. That’s already done.” Tony said. “We told the DoD and they got him legally resurrected. Sorted out back pay, compensation and all the minutiae that go along with being a recovered POW. Then dad sorted the taxes and social security stuff. I hired him as a bodyguard, at least as far as the public goes, but behind closed doors, he’s the one in charge of the Thanos Project. We’re just waiting on the public catching up.”

“They haven’t? What about HYDRA?”

“Right, this is where it gets a little scratchy.” Tony shrugged. “It was Russia that sent him after dad, not HYDRA, at that point HYDRA was still infiltrating Russia and hadn’t taken control of the Winter Soldier Program, yet. Now the Russians know that we have him, but they also can’t do anything about it without exposing themselves and they weren’t going to do that. We also sent Barnes and Clint on a little hush-hush mission to delete all evidence of James Buchannan Barnes ever having been a part of the Winter Soldier Program. So, while HYDRA will find out that a hit on dad failed, they won’t find out that Barnes was the one that was sent or that he was part of the program.”

“Oh, thank God.” Steve sighed in relief.

“He’s had more of a challenge with idiots trying to kidnap me, than with the Russians or HYDRA trying to get himback.”

“Kidnap? You? Why?”

“Steve, I’m the only son of a millionaire. A millionaire who’s a genius. A millionaire that builds weapons for the DoD. A millionaire who’s wife runs an inner-city charitable foundation. I’m also a genius in my own right. I design and sell a range of products to the DoD and to the public. I was a millionaire before I hit thirty and I’ll probably make billionaire before I reach forty. I’m prime kidnap material. If only they could get passed my bodyguard…”

“Huh.” Steve grunted. “Never really pictured Buck as a bodyguard, but I can see him giving anyone trying, a flat glare.”

“Oh, he’s pulled out the murder-strut a couple of times.” Tony laughed. “Even beat one idiot into the ground when he just kept pushing. Tried… like four or five times in a month. Last time, Buck beat the stuffing out of him and dragged him to the local police station and made the idiot tell them exactly what he'd done. The guys at the Bayonne Police Station, they know who Buck is, they invite him back for Memorial Day barbeques and he’s welcome to drop in anytime for coffee. And if he ever wants to give talks on being a sniper or the war or anything, they’re all over that.”

“That is so Bucky.” Steve laughed.

“They’ve been after him to host a few classes for abused women, but he’s not comfortable with that.”

“No, he wouldn’t be. His skills are… not suitable for beginners, it’s kind of hard to pull it back to defensive.”

“That’s what he said, too.” Tony agreed.

“Hmm…” Steve hummed. “I have little formal training but I did teach self defence for a number of years. I could… I could do that… Maybe?”

“Steve, can I be honest with you? Like, brutally honest?”

Steve winced. “Go for it.”

“You needed a life outside of fighting. Going back and staying with Peggy, that was good for you. You needed it. I had my lab and the company, Clint had his family and the farm, Thor had Jane and Asgard, Bruce had science, Coulson had his strange little Captain America fanboy thing going on. Hell, even Fury had the Rambeau family and Danvers. But you? You had nothing and you weren’t really trying to get anything. It’s a wonder you didn’t burn out earlier.”

“You didn’t mention Nat.” Steve said.

“Oh, hell, Nat? She had the weirdest family thing ever, going on. Yelena’s great, got a slightly twisted sense of humour, fits in really well.”

“And Bucky’s got kids, you said?”

“Yeah, twins, Fred and George.” Tony nodded. “Want to go meet them?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.”

“Well, come on, then. Let’s go invade the house, no-one’s expecting you to wake until morning.”

~~~

Six hours later, Bucky wandered down to the kitchen looking for some coffee, he had the next shift watching Steve, even though Sam said it would likely be morning before he woke. He stepped into the kitchen and came to a sharp halt.

Steve was sitting in the sofa in the corner, that Darcy used when one of the girls was restless, in his arms was a small bundle of pink. He was singing softly, ignoring a snoring Tony who occupied the other half of the sofa, with a second bundle of pink in his arms.

“Hey, Buck.” Steve kept a sing-song voice going. “Darcy did nice work on these two.”

Chapter 18

Chapter Text

Six hours later, Bucky wandered down to the kitchen looking for some coffee, he had the next shift watching Steve, even though Sam said it would likely be morning before he woke. He stepped into the kitchen and came to a sharp halt.

Steve was sitting in the sofa in the corner, that Darcy used when one of the girls was restless, in his arms was a small bundle of pink. He was singing softly, ignoring a snoring Tony who occupied the other half of the sofa, with a second bundle of pink in his arms.

“Hey, Buck.” Steve kept a sing-song voice going. “Darcy did nice work on these two.”

~~~

July 4^th 2000

“That is so f*ckin’ typical… of both of you.” Bucky grunted.

“Be nice, jerk.” Steve grinned.

“Get over here and gimme a hug, punk.” Bucky opened his arms and waited.

Steve sighed dramatically and heaved himself to his feet, tucking Fred more securely into his arms. He cautiously sidestepped Tony’s feet and snorted quietly as Tony only rearranged himself on the sofa. Bucky’s smile grew softer and Steve’s grew brighter, as the two met in the middle of the large kitchen and with no hesitation, Bucky wrapped his arms around his friend and daughter.

“I missed you.” Bucky whispered.

“Same.” Steve said.

“Gonna catch me up on your life?”

“Yeah, sure, why not?” Steve answered and ducked his head as Bucky gently smacked the side of it.

Bucky gave Steve a flat look and sighed. “Always the punk, huh?”

“Always.” Steve smiled brightly.

Bucky snorted and smothered a laugh. “Alright, let me get a bottle sorted for the monsters and we’ll head into the great room, you can bare your soul in there.” He moved around the kitchen with the sure movements of someone who had performed these actions hundreds of times. He handed Steve a bottle and carefully scooped George out of Tony’s arms, patting at Tony’s hands to let the man know that someone had taken the infant from him. Tony’s only response to this, was to slump over onto the sofa’s second cushion and go back to sleep.

“Come on, the great room’s got better seats.” Bucky said and lead Steve out of the kitchen.

“So, this is where you got to, huh?” Darcy shuffled across the room, pressing a gently kiss to Fred’s head as she went passed a dozing Steve, and flopped down beside Bucky. “How’s he doing?”

“Tired.” Bucky answered. “But Sam thinks he’s going to be like that for a while.”

“Cool. What’s he been up to?” Darcy knew that Steve had stayed with Peggy after returning the stones to their various points in time.

“Living, mostly.” Bucky said. “Teaching self-defence, doing some counselling, that sort of thing. He’s thinking that he might keep with it. The boys at Bayonne are always after me to teach some of the abuse victims some self-defence, Steve’s been doing that for years, apparently.”

“Yeah? I could see that.” Darcy pointedly looked at Steve cuddling a sleeping baby. “He’s a big softy, isn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah. Most likely to pick up strays, of anyone I’ve ever known… and that includes Tony.” Bucky snorted and handed George over to Darcy, before tossing a cloth over his shoulder and taking the baby back. He gently rubbed George’s back until she gave a sleepy burp, then handed her back to Darcy and eased Fred from Steve’s arms, doing the same to her as he had her twin.

“Why don’t Darcy and I put these two back to bed and you can put Captain Snooze there, down on the big daybed?” Tony asked quietly from the kitchen door, rubbing at tired eyes and yawning.

“Sounds like a plan.” Darcy handed George to Tony and scooped Fred out of Bucky’s arms, giving him a slow kiss as she did. “Hurry back to bed Sergeant Barnes, I’ll be waiting.”

“That’s an offer worth taking, Buck.” Tony smirked and spun on his heel, disappearing from sight.

“Damn right it is.” Bucky grinned as he watched his wife sashay from the room, before turning his attention to Steve. “Come on, punk, let’s get you somewhere a little more comfortable, huh?”

“… ‘s fine, Buck… le’ me be…” Steve muttered, still more asleep than awake.

“Nah, Stevie, you don’t wanna sleep here, the daybed's better. C’mon.” Bucky pulled and with a resigned sigh, Steve dragged himself to his feet. It was only a few feet across the room and Bucky eased him down onto a firm surface that had a soft cushioned top. “There ya go. Lie down, that’s it.” A cloud of softness was draped over Steve and he hummed as he rubbed his cheek against it. “Softy…” Bucky’s voice was as warm as the hand on his face. “Good to have you back, Steve.”

Steve smiled and let sleep take him away.

~~~

July 5^th 2000

Steve studied the file given to him by Howard. And wasn’t it a blast having Howard still alive? Seeing the man’s absolute awe when Tony got serious was hilarious. But the file in his hands held most of his focus.

“Luca DeSousa? Who’s he? Is he connected to Daniel?”

“Daniel’s brother.” Howard said.

“Ah, that’s different.” Steve nodded. “He died a few months before Peg and I were reunited. Heart attack.”

“He had that here, too, but it didn’t kill him.” Howard said. “He went to stay with Daniel, that’s where he and Peggy met.”

“She loves him.” Steve nodded. “I’m not surprised, Daniel said he was that sort of fella.”

“Yeah.” Howard grinned. “I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like Luca.”

“Good.” Steve nodded. “Good. Now, I can… let go…”

“Let go?” Howard asked.

“For me… Peggy died nearly ten years ago, Howard.” Steve explained. “I’ve mourned and worked through my grief, but I still remember watching her die. Even if Luca wasn’t around, I couldn’t go through that again, it hurt too much. For now, I’ll concentrate on getting fit and doing like Tony suggested. Learn to live in this world. Technology isn’t quite the shock as it was last time. I’ve been there while it developed and progressed, that made a huge difference to how comfortable I was with it. And not being in a constant battle-ready state helped.”

“Constant battle-ready state?” Howard frowned.

“I went from fighting the Nazis and HYDRA in 1945 to fighting aliens and gods in 2012. In the space of about eight or ten weeks. Looking back, I shouldn’t have been allowed on the field, but we were all that stood between Loki and New York.”

“Loki? I thought Thanos was behind it?”

“He was, but we didn’t know that, at the time.”

“Oh, right. Right, I remember Tony saying something about that.” Howard nodded.

“Not used to facing Iron Man, yet?” Steve asked.

“Iron Man?”

“That’s what we called Tony whenever he got serious or on the field. It was like all the light-heartedness vanished and he was a soldier. A battle-hardened soldier.”

“Ah, yeah…” Howard grimaced. “It’s not… it’s a bit of a shock. I’m still getting used to a Tony that doesn’t party all the time.”

“Oh, his parties were wild, but you’ve heard the phrase… ‘work hard, party hard’? That was Tony, all over.”

“Yes, I’m beginning to see that.” Howard sighed. “It’s only taken me nine years.”

~~~

“Steve?” James Morita blinked in surprise, for some reason he’d expected Steve to have aged. Even after having seen Bucky, seeing Steve looking as though he’d stepped straight from the Western Front, came as a surprise.

“Hey, Jimmy. How’re ya doing?” Steve gave the man a wave from across the massive deck, where he was seated on the huge daybed, Fred in his arms.

“Holy sh*t, Cap.” Dum-dum grinned, wide and bright. “It’s good to see you. In the flesh, that is.” He pushed at the wheels of his wheelchair and rolled towards his friend.

Steve sighed. “Buck took pictures, didn’t he?”

“Yep.” Dum-dum came to a halt in front of Steve.

“I still haven’t figured out how he always managed get a hold of a camera…” Steve muttered.

“I bribed Carter and Phillips.” Bucky answered, plopping George on Steve’s lap and picking up Fred. “Have this one for a bit, Fred needs a feed and a clean diaper.”

“Cap with a baby on his lap.” Jones laughed, as he joined them. “Who’d have thought it?”

“Hey Jonesy.” Steve grinned and waved with his fingers, not letting go of the squirming baby until she settled.

~~~

January 2^nd 2001

“Tell me about 9/11, Tony.” Steve said at breakfast.

“What do you want to know?”

“Who’s responsible? Were they caught? If so, how? What type of retaliation happened? How did it effect America? The world? The repercussions, nationally? Internationally?”

“Okay…” Tony blinked a few times, he wasn’t totally awake, yet. But that might not be a bad thing, he’d be more likely to not sugar-coat the facts, if he were half-asleep. “Four commercial passenger planes…” He talked for maybe an hour and half before falling silent.

“And that’s the only thing, Avengers-wise, that you can see on the horizon?” Steve asked.

“The only thing that I’d consider suiting up for, yes.” Tony replied.

“Right…” Steve nodded. “Let me think about it for a bit.”

“Got it.” Tony poured himself another coffee and sat watching Steve think, something that he always found fascintating. Steve’s expression never changed but if you watched his eyes, you could almost follow his thought pattern and guess how he was going to react.

Another hour went passed before Steve focused back on the room around him.

“Well?” Tony asked, pushing a mug of coffee across the table to him.

“I think we can do something, but I’m not sure how much.” Steve said. “It’s such a pivotal point in the war on terrorism.”

“Maybe buy out some of the seats on the planes?” Howard offered.

“And what about the towers themselves?” Riley asked. He remembered volunteering as a medic, within an hour of hearing about the attack.

“Emptying the towers it relatively easy.” Yelena said. “Just pull a bomb threat or a fire alarm.”

“Timing would be the biggest issue.” Steve said.

“No, the biggest issue is the evacuation point.” Darcy said. “Prior to 9/11 it was the forecourt. That won’t work. The towers came down and the forecourt was just a debris field.”

“So, we’d have to get the evac point changed.” Steve grimaced. “To where?”

“The Pumphouse Park.” Darcy said.

“Or St. Paul’s Chapel.” Pepper added. “Both are only a few hundred yards away.”

“West Thames Park and Reactor Park are within two blocks, too.” Clint added to the list. “So’s Zuccotti Park.”

“Any of them would work.” Steve nodded. “Get the occupants far enough away, to be clear of falling debris.”

“I can approach the NYFD commissioner and the Trace Centre’s Fire Safety Manager and raise the subject.” Howard offered.

“Maybe if we stage a few fire drills in our factories, first, dad. Run a few ‘worst case’ scenarios. It’ll be more palatable if there’s a reason for your concern.” Tony suggested.

“Yes…” Howard mused. “We’d have needed to write some new protocols, if we’d done that, wouldn’t we?”

“Yeah.” Tony nodded. “If we-”

“How about we leave the evac to you pair?” Steve cut in.

Tony and Howard exchanged a questioning look and Howard nodded.

“Yeah, we can do that.” Tony spoke for them both.

“Tony said four planes. One for the pentagon, two for the towers and the fourth was for either the White House or the Capitol Building, but which it was, was never confirmed. Right?” Steve waited for them to nod. “So, we’ve an idea for emptying the towers of personnel. We’ve an idea for limiting the number of people on board the planes, themselves. But what of the other buildings? Do we use the same principle with them? Empty the building and let the planes crash?”

“Are we not even considering stopping them before the planes take off?” Sam asked, in shock.

“How?” Steve asked. “How could we know anything?”

“The investigations, afterwards, proved that there was a little warning. But it was ignored by the CIA and the FBI.” Darcy said. “If we were to act towards stopping the attacks before they happened, we’d have to justify our knowledge. And telling the FBI, the CIA and the White House that we’re time travellers from 2023, or later, when the world was decimated by an alien who snapped his fingers and destroyed half the life on the planet? Yeah, that’s not going to go down well, Sammy.”

“Ugh…” Sam grunted in disgust.

“Stopping it is… there’s just no way we can do it without exposing ourselves. And that’s likely to make things worse.” Steve agreed. “Imagine Fury’s reaction and what he’d expect from us.”

“He’d take everything we know and use it, to America's benefit. Not caring all that much about how our enemies faired.” Howard sighed.

“Pretty much.” Nat agreed, nodding sadly.

“Dammit all…” Sam huffed.

“But that doesn’t stop us from acting, it just means that we have to be behind the scenes.” Steve said. “Put things in place, far enough in advance that they’re well established when things go down.”

“And then when we pull an alarm, we do it early enough to get people out of the building and have the police and fire department on site to keep anyone from back heading in, too early.” Darcy commented.

“Alright.” Steve said. “Let’s break it down. Evac points. Tony, Howard, that’s you two. Check out all five sites and work out the best evac for each site. Get new IT and SI protocols in place, so that Howard can raise them with the City and the Trade Centre’s people and at the Pentagon, let them take it to the White House and the Capitol’s Fire Safety people. Pulling the alarms on the day, that’s Darcy, Clint, Bucky, Nat, Yelena and Laura. Placing fake bombs or smoke bombs is Nat, Yelena, Pietro and Wanda. Buying up the seats on the various flights is Nat, Pepper, Darcy, Laura and Maria.”

A round of agreeing noises came at Steve and he smiled at them all. “Let’s meet each week to discuss our progress.”

“Ah?” Sam raised a hand. “Rhodey, Riley and I are still Air Force and while we’re here, now, we’re on leave. We all have to report back soon. Riley and I are due back on Sunday night.”

“And I’m due on Tuesday.” Rhodey added.

“Then, it’s a good thing we hadn’t put you anywhere, isn’t it?” Tony grinned.

~~~

August 12^th 2001.

“Sir?” JARVIS call for Tony’s attention.

“J? What’s up?”

“Births, Deaths and Marriages have just lodged documents for the birth of Peter Benjamin Parker and for the death of Mary Louise Parker nee Johnson.”

“Peter? Underoos?” Tony gasped, his breath lodging in his throat.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Keep an eye on him, J?”

“For you, Sir, always.” JARVIS replied.

“I think it’s time we moved back to the city, don’t you?”

“Shall I collate a list of suitable locations, Sir?”

“Yeah, that’d be good.” Tony nodded. “What are the chances of buying some of the surrounding lots of our Bergen Point site? Otherwise try and get us some land around Green Point.”

“For housing or factory space, Sir?”

“Factory space. For housing? I don’t particularly want to stay with mom and dad, but maybe we could try and get the buildings behind them? Buy up the whole block? I know Clint wants to re-purchase the building he had in Brooklyn, maybe something near him?”

“It’s worth investigating. Shall I look to acquiring the location that housed Stark Tower, Sir?”

“No, J. Let’s steer clear of being so visible. Talk to mom about locations for housing. Just try to keep it a reasonable distance from the factory.”

“There’s a large plot of land off the 440 at Hackensack, Sir. Large enough to build a tower and have a factory on site.”

“Talk to Pep, J, if she okay's it, go for it.” Tony ordered.

~~~

September 11^th 2001.

The atmosphere in Tony’s factory workshop was tense. It was 8.10am and JARVIS had just informed them that the World Trade Centre was being evacuated, as was the Pentagon, the Capitol and the White house. Along with a dozen other buildings across New York and Washington DC.

All calls had been made by JARVIS, at 7.01am, using the National Emergency Broadcast Network, something that caused alarm in many places. The fact that the voice used had been a reworking of John F Kennedy’s voice, had just made the alarm that much greater and meant that the authorities were in mass evac mode, buildings emptying as fast as was humanly possible.

JARVIS monitored the airwaves but other than posting impact times on a holographic screen, nothing was said by anyone.

By midday, the tension had dropped and people were more emotional. They’d basically handed out a death sentence to the few that were on the planes or hadn’t got out of the buildings in time, and they were feeling it.

At 12.35, JARVIS spoke. “I have an estimated death toll for the World Trade Centre. Current belief is twelve people were inside the two buildings, but it could be as low as three and as high as twenty. NYPD, NYFD and the FBI are hypothesising that the calls via the NEBN are the result of an undercover operative, however no-one is claiming that operative. They are all stating that without that operative’s warnings, the death toll could have been as high as five thousand.”

“Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six.” Tony whispered, spacing out the words.

“Not today, Sir.” JARVIS corrected. “Less than twenty. We saved them. Less than twenty died in the New York attack.”

“And Arlington?” Howard asked.

“Previously the toll was one hundred and twenty-five Pentagon workers and the aircraft carried fifty-eight passengers and six crew.” JARVIS answered. “Today’s toll is expected to be less than five from the building. And while the plane carried six crew and fifty-eight passengers, when the hijackers took the co*ckpit, the flight marshal on board activated an emergency destruct sequence just seconds before the plane reached the building. Ground forces reported that the tail of the jet detached from the fuselage and impacted some mile and a half from the Pentagon, itself. When emergency services reached the tail, they found five crew and fifty-seven passengers with minor to mid-range injuries. One crew member and one passenger, the flight marshal, had serious injuries but are expected to live.”

“Oh, Lord...” Maria whispered.

“And DC?” Howard asked.

“Still uncertain whether The White House was the target or not, but someone from there got off a lucky shot and the plane crashed into the park between the White House and the Smithsonian. Casualties on the ground were nil, the White House had been evac’ed to the security bunker and the surrounding parks closed. There were twenty-one people on board and while there were a number of major injuries, the only deaths were among the hijackers. All surviving hijackers were identified by other passengers and were apprehended by the Secret Service.”

“Total numbers, J.” Tony ordered.

“Uncertain, but estimated to be less than thirty, certainly no higher than forty.” JARVIS answered, promptly.

“Thirty… up against three thousand…” Howard looked from Steve to Tony and back. “We saved nearly three thousand lives, today… And it’s thanks to you pair that we did that.”

“We did it.” Steve gave Tony a bright and happy smile.

“And that’s how we plan to deal with Thanos, too.” Tony reminded them. “Get in before him and make it useless for him to continue.”

“I can live with that.” Steve nodded, nudging Tony’s shoulder with his own.

~~~

September 12^th 2001

“Do you think Dr Stark could help?” Coulson asked.

“How?” Nick Fury demanded. “He makes weapons not search and rescue gear.”

“That's Stark senior, Sir.” Coulson corrected. “Howard makes the weapons, while his son, Tony, makes protective equipment. But I was actually thinking of Tony's skills in telecommunications.”

“How does telecommunications equate to a search and rescue mission?” Fury frowned.

“Not so much equate, but maybe he could build something that could make the search easier.” Coulson suggested.

“Not yet.” Fury grunted. “Howard’s been removing himself from Shield since we first found the infestation. I don’t want to drag him back, notif I can avoid it. He sees too much.”

“I’ve heard the son is worse.” Coulson warned. “Although, when I met him, he seemed quite reasonable.”

“Reasonable or reasonable for a Stark?” Fury asked.

~~~

Chapter 19

Chapter Text

September 12^th 2001

“Do you think Dr Stark could help?” Coulson asked.

“How?” Nick Fury demanded. “He makes weapons not defensive gear.”

“That Stark senior, Sir.” Coulson corrected. “Howard makes the weapons, while his son, Tony, makes protective equipment. But I was actually thinking of his skill in telecommunications.”

“How does telecommunications equate to a search and rescue mission?” Fury frowned.

“Not so much equate, but maybe he could build something that could make the search easier.” Coulson suggested.

“Not yet.” Fury grunted. “Howard’s been removing himself from Shield since we first found the infestation, I don’t want to drag him back, if I can avoid it, he sees too much.”

“I’ve heard the son is worse.” Coulson warned. “Although, when I met him, he seemed quite reasonable.”

“Reasonable or reasonable for a Stark?” Fury asked.

~~~

December 4^th 2001

“Hey, dad. How’s it going?” Tony asked when JARVIS connected his father’s video-call.

“Been better, son.” Howard sounded tired. “Fury’s angling for me to do something, only he isn’t saying what, yet.”

“Sounds like the pirate.” Tony snorted.

“Something was mentioned… though not by Fury.” Howard muttered the second part. “Coulson? I think he’s Fury’s assistant.”

“Not sure of his ranking but it’s pretty high.” Tony said. “He became Director after the first Snap.”

“Is he a good man… or is he more like Fury?” Howard asked.

“Nah, he’s good. And unlike Fury, Agent Agent is all about the worldwide good, not just America’s. What’d he say?”

“It was just a single comment but when you take into account what you and your team have done…? It was telling.” Howard huffed. “He said they were looking to set up a search and retrieval sub-department, partially under medical, but also under transport and op-sec and were looking for a system for identifying hidden objects and people.”

“They’re going to go looking for Steve.” Tony said.

“It certainly sounds like it.” Howard agreed. “I said that electronics weren’t my specialty and that they should speak to you about it.”

“Well, we’ll see what they do.” Tony sighed. “Oh, and we’re moving back to the city. Within the next month, hopefully.”

“Where are you going to stay?”

“We’re in the process of buying some buildings in Brooklyn. And we’re opening a new factory at Hackensack, just south of the remains of the Droyer’s Point Bridge. I’m going to split IT’s products a bit. Electronics, including the cells, pads, drones, suits and scopes will move to Hackensack, while fabric orientated items will stay at Constable Hook.”

“It’ll be nice to have the twins closer.” Howard smiled. “What about you and Pepper? Any thoughts on children, yet?”

Tony spluttered through the mouthful of coffee he’d just taken. “Jesus, dad! Don’t do that! Give me a warning when you spring those types of conversations on me. I’m allergic to emotions.”

“Uh-huh…” Howard grinned. “And…?”

Tony sighed. “And… children… Yes, we’ve talked about it. We’re not sure how… Morgan was born in 2019. Do we wait until then? Or will she still be our firstborn?”

“Ah.” Howard acknowledged the dilemma. “You can look at it in two ways, Tony. One, if she’s going to be your firstborn, she’ll be your firstborn, regardless of when. Or, two, if she’s going to be born in 2019, there’s nothing you can do to change it.”

Tony looked at Howard. “So, you think we should just… what? Go ahead on the kiddie front?”

“I think you just let what’s going to happen, happen.” Howard said. “Look at your mother and I. We married in ’54 and we expected that children would come, pretty much straight away. It didn’t work out like that. Your mother had two miscarriages before Thanksgiving of ’56 and then… nothing until we’d given up any hope. Then in ’69, she got sick and it wasn’t until she was nearly six months along and our usual doctor had retired, that a young Army medic began to ask questions and one of them was, if she was pregnant. A few tests later and we were in shock.”

“Me?” Tony asked.

“You.” Howard nodded. “We were… ecstatic. Overjoyed. Terrified.” Tony nodded, he remembered that feeling well. “We were going to be parents and there was no way we were ready for that.” He snorted. “Mind you… There was no way anyone was ready for you.”

“A handful, was I?”

“And then some. You were always sneaking into my lab and getting into things that could so easily have hurt you.” Howard shuddered. “I spent more time looking for you than I did on most projects for the DoD.”

Tony smothered a laugh. “I know that feeling.” He smiled. “Thanks, dad. That… that actually helped.”

“Good, let’s never talk of it, again.” Howard looked relieved. “What are you going to do about Fury?”

“Nothing. Let him come to us, when he’s ready. In the meantime…? Clint's looking to re-purchase the building he had in Brooklyn, at Clinton Hill, ironically enough. We listened to him go on and on about it, so we figured we should go and check it out, right? Well, Bucky and Darcy fell head over heels in love with a four-storey townhouse next door to his behemoth. And Steve took one look at the Brooklyn version of a painted lady, a few doors down, and was instantly asking us to put in an offer on the entire building. She’s three storeys and split into three townhouses but he plans to open it back up with an art supplies shop and gallery, on the ground floor and the upper floors for his home.”

“Oh, good Lord…” Howard shook his head.

“Yeah.” Tony laughed. “So we ended up putting offers in on that and three other townhouses. One for Darcy and Bucky, one for Sam, Riley and Rhodey, when they’re on leave, and one for Pep and I. Then there’s another six-storey building between the house that Pep chose and Steve’s lady, so we figured? What the heck, we need a city-based office, with lab space for me and a meeting space for the team. It’s a massive thing, goes from Washington Ave, right across the block to Hall Street. Not exactly Stark Tower but I think we can work with it. If all else fails, we can rent out the apartments. Or demolish it to make a park.”

Howard nodded. “It’s always a good idea to have your lab separate from the house. I didn’t and that’s how you were always sneaking in.”

“If I was anything like Morgan, I can imagine.” Tony laughed.

“Hey? When are you introducing Steve to the DoD panel?”

“Tomorrow.” Tony relied. “We wanted to distance it from the towers, a little, but still have it overwhelmed by them.” He shrugged. “Initially, we’d thought just having the Army there, but having all four branches and the White House in the know is going to better, when the public figure it out.”

“Drop by here and pick up a copy of my notes on reintegrating Barnes. That way, if the DoD want, they do all the paperwork and hand Steve everything in one go. But if they’d prefer to stay out of the civilian sector, I can get things moving.”

“I’ll get Happy to drop in for them, in a couple of hours.” Tony countered. “We’re meeting here… Officially, I’m showing them the first working prototype of the Iron Man suit.”

“Happy’s at the factory?”

“He is, Pep had a meeting with the PR people and he’s doing her driving.”

“Good. I’ll get my notes ready.” Howard started to turn away from the screen, before turning back. “Oh, and your mother wants us all to have Christmas up at the lake. What do you think?”

“Christmas up here’s fine, dad. I’ll tell the others and we can get something planned.” Tony nodded and after a few more pleasantries, the pair disconnected and went back to whatever it was that they had been doing.

~~~

December 5^th 2001

Tony revelled in the expressions of want on the faces of the ten men that made up the DoD panel. It was hilarious.

He let the suit’s face panel lift and stomped over to the heavy log bench that would be his seat while wearing the Mk2 armour.

“Oh, good Lord above…” General Mitcham (USAF) and Admiral Pickering (USN) both whispered.

“Now you see why it has to be fitted to a pilot.” Tony said, not as a question but as a clear statement.

“Yes.” General Wordsworth (USRA) nodded.

“Have you… pilots, you said(?)… in mind?” Johnson (USN) asked.

“Sort of.” Tony said. “I wanted to see what was involved in fitting it to someone else and to work out how to teach them to use is. So, I asked a friend.” A second suit landed and its faceplate lifted. “Captain James Rhodes has been a close friend since before he joined the Air Force and he is on the shortlist provided to me by Generals Westbourne and Mitcham. I figured to sidestep a couple of interviews and see how he’d go.”

“It’s not easy.” Rhodey shook his head. “These things weigh a ton.”

“They weigh two-hundred and forty pounds, not a ton.” Tony objected. “And they’re designed to remain in a semi-vertical position.” He leant forward and when he’d reached a tipping point, a pair of small thrusters kicked in and returned him to a more stable tilt.

“And what of getting in and out of the… suit…?” Westbourne (USAF) asked.

“I’m in the process of building an assembly/disassembly rig. It won’t be for an individual suit but will instead recognise the components that make up each suit and will group them together based on colour and pattern codes.” Tony answered. “It will retract the suit from around the pilot and replace it around a mannequin of the pilot.”

“What about the unmanned suits?” General Simms (USMC) asked.

“They’ll have a similar extraction rig, however, because those suits aren’t fitted to a pilot, size will be the primary regulator for grouping their parts.”

“Is that why you labelled them child, small adult and large adult?” General Harrison (USMC)

“Yeah, it makes the dispatch easier. No kids on site, no need to send child sized suits.” Tony said.

“What about…?” The interrogation went on for another half hour before Tony asked for a break so that his crew could extract, he and Rhodey from the suits.

Tony and Rhodey spent another hour answering the panel’s question before the DoD men were content with what they’d been told.

“Thank you, gentlemen.” Mitcham said, closing the folder in front of himself. “Is there anything else we need to be aware of?”

“Actually, yes, there is.” Tony grimaced slightly.

“Yes?” Harrison asked.

“You know how, every year SI and IT send a ship to the arctic…?” Tony trailed off.

“Looking for Captain Rogers?” Pickering replied.

“Yes…”

“Oh, my…” Simms gasped. “You didn’t…?!”

“Ah, yeah, we did.”

“My God, man, do you have any idea what that means?” Simms demanded.

“Yeah.” Tony nodded.

Simms jerked “Hold on, a second.” He held up a hand. “That was months ago.”

“Simms?” Harrison asked, but was waved off by his colleague.

“It was.” Tony agreed.

“So, why didn’t you speak up sooner?”

“Remember what we told you about the thawing process?”

“Ah… not really…” Simms frowned.

“Oh, Lord…” Mitcham whispered, he’d finally realised what Tony was talking about.

“What?” Westbourne asked, looking from Tony to Simms to Mitcham and back.

“You weren’t sure whether Sergeant Barnes would survi-” White House Aide Peter Armstrong started, only to cut himself off before he finished the sentence. What he’s said, or was going to say, caught the attention of all ten DoD men and all of them connected it to what Tony was saying.

“Are you…?” Wordsworth stopped and drew in a steadying breath. “Are you saying you found Captain Rogers?”

“I am, yes.” Tony answered clearly.

“And he was…?” Harrison whispered.

“Alive, yes.”

“And you didn’t tell anyone?” The other White House Aide, Matthew George, asked.

“No, we didn’t.”

“Might we ask why?” Westbourne inquired.

“Because he asked us not to.” Tony said. “He wasn’t in any condition to tolerate military protocol, either physically or psychologically. Or emotionally. The knowledge that he’d been frozen in ice for over fifty years, came as a bit of a shock.”

“Ah.” Westbourne nodded. “And now?”

“And now, Captain Rogers wants to get on with his life.” Tony said. “That means reclaiming his identity.”

“Yes…” Westbourne nodded, again. “And you need us to get that sorted.”

“Dad and I could do it, but… Well, we want it all above board. So, you know, when it all comes out…”

“The Army and the White House can honestly say that we know and were the ones to return Captain Rogers’ life to him.” Milton guessed.

“Pretty much.” Tony said.

“How is he? Physically?” Milton pressed.

Tony laughed. “Want to meet him?”

The ten men on the DoD panel all leant forward, eagerly.

“Yes, please.” Mitcham answered for them all.

Tony didn’t reply, but he did tap out a message on his ever-present cell-phone. A few seconds later, a door opened and out walked something that none of these men ever thought they would see, in the flesh.

Captain America and Bucky Barnes in full Howling Commando regalia, the shield on the Captain’s arm, shining brightly in the afternoon sun.

“Gentlemen? I present you… Captain Steve Rogers and Sergeant James Barnes, of the Howling Commandos.” Tony said calmly.

Steve and Bucky stopped beside Tony and both stood at attention and snapped off perfect salutes.

“Captain, Sergeant…” General Simms seemed to be the first to regain his composure. “At ease, gentlemen.”

“Sir, yes, Sir.” The two men stepped out into a Parade Rest position and kept their attention firmly on Simms.

“Gentlemen, please understand that this is something of a… shock to my colleagues and I. We were not aware for your… recovery, Captain.” Simms said. “We understand that Sergeant Barnes has no desire to return to military service, outside of another Worldwide War. What of you Captain?”

“Sir…” Steve drew in a deep breath. “I’ll be honest. The things that I saw, during the war were… horrid... The things I did, were just as bad. I don’t want to do that again. Howard and Tony have been great, catching me up on the history of what’s happened since I went into the ice. Warfare has progressed so far beyond what the training camps prepared us for. Bombs that can destroy entire cities, is so far from what we knew that I don’t recognise it. Tony calls what we did, ‘guerrilla warfare’ and says that it not really all that common, now. That you only have specialist teams for that, now. Specialist teams that are highly trained in many different areas?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” Simms nodded.

“I’ve little training, Sir, on or off the field.” Steve replied. “My rank of Captain was initially, only a stage name. At least until Azzano and the recovery of the 107th, that was when Colonel Phillips sent a request for promotion to Generals Eisenhower and Marshall. Mine was only a field promotion, it was expected that after the war, I would return to America and enter OCS.”

“That is fairly standard, Captain.” Simms agreed.

“I have little formal education. Yes, I completed High School and a year of Art School, but nothing that would benefit the United States Army, as it is today. And if I were to be re-enlisted and attend OCS, I would be so far out of touch with the other cadets that it would be laughable. I believe that it would be best to release me from service and allow me to return to civilian life, Sir.”

“Do you think you could assimilate back into civilian life, Captain? Honestly?”

“I don’t know, Sir. But I do know that if I were to stay in the Army, I wouldn’t cope with the changes. They’re just too significant.” Steve drew in a shuddering breath. “At least in civilian life, I would have contact with Bucky… Sergeant Barnes, who’s recently done the same. With Howard, who was my friend, with Tony, who’s spending a massive amount of time and money ensuring that I have the best resources available, to help me, to re-educate me.”

“That sounds smart. Starks tend to be rather good at that.” Simms said. “If we were to release you from service, what would you do?”

“Before Project Rebirth, I was an artist, not just because it was all my health would allow, but also because I was good at it. Painting, drawing, quick sketches, posters, etc. that was how I made a living. I always wanted my own shop, somewhere I could sell supplies as well as completed works. And… Tony and Bucky… they’re encouraging me to speak to a… counsellor… I think they called it? Someone that can help me understand what I saw and teach me how to accept it and not let it drag me into shellshock.” Steve deliberately used the outdated term.

“That’s probably a good idea.” Simms nodded. “If you can get someone with the appropriate clearance.”

“I’ve had a few session with someone that worked for the VA, but has since retired.” What Steve said was technically correct, Sam had worked for the VA and after Steve and Nat turned up on this doorstep asking for help, he hadretired from hosting counselling session for anyone outside the Avengers. “They were… I’d like to do that… Maybe for vets. Or maybe for kids or people who have been… hurt. Maybe teach them how to defend themselves. Not like martial arts or that kind of thing, but street fighting, how to break out of holds, how to put someone on the ground long enough to get way from them, that sort of thing.”

“And you know how to do that?” Westbourne asked.

“Yes, Sir. All of us Howlies taught what we knew, whether it was Morita’s martial arts, Dum-dum’s wrestling, Bucky’s street-fighting or Falsworth and boxing.”

“And what did you teach them?” Milton was the next person to speak and he caused Bucky to snort and clearly bite his lips to avoid laughing.

“Sergeant?” Simms asked, clearly curious.

“Ugh…” Steven grunted and Bucky couldn’t stop the laugh this time.

“Steve’s a punk. He knew more escape holds than the rest of us put together, that and his bloody shield.” Bucky replied.

“The shield?” Milton asked.

“He flings that around like it’s a discus, Sir. A discus that can stop a car or cut a tree in half. That and a pistol were all he had as weapons. He did more damage with the shield than he ever did with a gun. His aim’s for sh*t.”

Simms choked off a laugh at the insulted expressions on both Rogers’ and Milton’s faces.

“I see.” Wordsworth nodded, biting his own lips. “Shields have little use in modern warfare.”

“No, they don’t.” Steve agreed, modern warfare didn’t describe what the Avengers did, not at all. “Neither do artists.”

Chapter 20

Chapter Text

“Steve’s a punk. He taught us more escape holds that the rest of us put together, that and his bloody shield.” Bucky replied.

“The shield?” Milton asked.

“He flings that around like it’s a discus, Sir. A discus that can stop a car or cut a tree in half. That and a pistol were all he had as weapons. He did more damage with the shield than he ever did with a gun. His aim’s for sh*t.”

Simms choked off a laugh at the insulted expressions on both Rogers’ and Milton’s faces.

“I see.” Wordsworth nodded, biting his own lips. “Shields have little use in modern warfare.”

“No, they don’t.” Steve agreed, modern warfare didn’t describe what the Avengers did, not at all. “Neither do artists.”

~~~

February 1st 2002

“How’d it go?” Bucky sat on the steps of Steve’s Lady, as they all had taken to calling his house/shop.

“Good.” Steve grinned. “Really good.” That evening Steve had held the first of the self-defence and art classes for Bayonne Police department and the aged care home the department supported. “There were a few stunned codfish looks. But on the whole, it went well.”

“Well enough to go back?”

“Oh, hell yeah.” Steve’s grin grew. “You should have seen it. Oh, sh*t it was good. Hodge was there.”

“Hodge? Gilmore Hodge?” Bucky remembered Steve and Peggy telling him about Hodge’s introduction to military life.

“Yep, him.” Steve chuckled. “He took one look at me started spluttering. Shut up pretty quick when I offered to re-introduce him to Peggy.”

“Sounds like you had fun.” Bucky laughed.

“I did. Commander Kettering asked if I’d like to take some counselling classes with the VA. Get my certificates, properly this time.”

“Didn’t you get them last time?”

“Nah, Peggy had them fudged. None of my documents were genuine, last time. So, yeah, it’d be nice to do it properly.”

“Yeah.” Bucky nodded. “I guess it would.”

“Don’t tell me you were waiting up for me? Worried I was going to get lost?” Steve teased.

“Nah, I knew you’d be fine.” Bucky shook his head. “Darcy asked me to remind you. It’s Nat’s eighteenth birthday on Monday and we’re having a dinner for her on Sunday night, so much sure you clear the night.”

“Eighteen? But…?”

“I know… Time travel is for sh*t.” Bucky grumbled.

“You’re not wrong, pal.” Steve groaned. “I keep forgetting that Wanda’s not a kid. We went through so much and I just… I’m struggling to get my head around the fact that even though they look like kids, they’re adults. Maybe not physically, but mentally they are. I have to remind myself some times.”

“Don’t be tellin’ Nat or ‘Lena, you’ll get your ass handed to you. Again.” Bucky warned.

“That I do remember.” Steve agreed. He’d slipped up and had the two teens ambush him and leave him hanging from a rope, a hundred and sixty feet in the air over an abandoned quarry on Tony’s lakefront property. It took him an hour to climb the rope and the cable it was tied to, back to the dubious safety of land. He still wasn’t sure howthey’d gotten him out there, in the first place.

~~~

August 11^th 2002.

“Sir?”

“Yeah, J?” Tony answered absently, he was working on designs for a multi-legged robot for search and rescue.

“Sir, a death certificate for Richard Parker has been lodged with Births, Deaths and Marriages.”

Tony’s head came up and his jaw tightened. “I… I don’t think there’s anything I can do, J…” he whispered.

“No, Sir, I agree but I felt that you should know.”

“Yeah…” Tony’s head fell into his hands and his shoulders shook. “Oh, Underoos… I’m so sorry.”

~~~

June 21^st 2003

“Sir?”

“J?”

“A death certificate for Ben Parker has been lodged.”

“Ben? Underoos’ Uncle Ben?”

“Yes, Sir. May Parker is listed as his widow.”

“Oh, geez…” Tony let his head fall into his hands. “You just can’t win for losing, can you, kid?” He muttered, ignoring the tears that coated his cheeks.

~~~

January 2^nd 2004

“Sir!” JARVIS’ voice was sharp, when interrupted the quiet conversation that Tony and Steve were having, regarding Asgard and the Guardians of the Galaxy as Quill called them.

“JARVIS?” Both men spun towards the door of Tony’s office.

“Sir, Mrs May Parker and Master Peter Parker are walking up the front steps.”

Tony and Steve barely had time to exchange glances before the doorbell chimed and someone thumped on the door, hard.

“Uh…?” Steve looked at a Tony frozen in shock. He shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, glancing again at Tony, who was now trembling. He headed out of the room and down the hall to the front door, before taking a deep breath and opening the door.

“You are not Tony Stark.” May Parker snapped. “Where is he?!” It wasn’t so much a question as a demand.

“I think that Dr Stark is-”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think, Rogers.” May said coldly. “Where is he?” She demanded, ignoring the crying toddler in her arms.

“Why don’t you come in and we’ll see what we can do to help you.” Steve said.

“The only way you can help, Captain…” the word was spat out, “is to have Stark explain why my nephew is two years old, when I can very clearly remember him being seventeen.”

“Oh, boy…” Steve grimaced.

“Yes.” May nodded and shifted a struggling Peter from one arm to the other, only to have him wriggle until he managed to hit the ground. Then he was off and running down the hall.

It took Steve a few seconds to react and by the time he did, Peter was out of sight. All that was left was the sound of his wails. Wails that died off into noisy little sobs.

Tony stumbled from the office, Peter wrapped tightly in his arms, the toddler’s arm were just as tight, around his neck.

“May…” His voice was broken and rough.

“What did you do, Stark?” May demanded.

“No, no, I didn’t. I wouldn’t. No…” It seemed to be all that Tony could say.

“Ma'am? If I might? Tony didn’t do this. We don’t know who did, but Tony was the first victim.” Steve said.

“Victim?” May asked, her eyes narrowed in anger.

“Yes, ma'am.” Steve nodded. “Come in and I’ll explain what we know.” He lead her into a cosy living room and gestured for her to sit. “The last time Tony saw Peter, Tony was… dying.” May caught her breath and Steve nodded. “Yeah. It was… wasn’t good.”

“That would be why Peter is so upset?” May asked.

“I’d assume so.” Steve nodded.

“You say Stark was the first victim?” She asked. “Victim of what? Of who?”

“What is time travel, ma'am. Who? We have no idea and no amount of research we’ve put in, so far, has lead anywhere.”

“Time travel?”

“Sort of.” Tony spoke for the first time. “What’s the last thing you remember?” He asked May.

“Looking at my hand as it turned to dust.” She answered.

“Yeah, not good.” Tony sighed. “Do we know what Peter remembers?” He tucked Peter’s head into his neck.

“T’anos.” Peter lifted his head and spat the name, shoved his thumb into his mouth and then pulled it out again. “You ‘ad the stones and ‘napped. T’anos went t’ dust. You died. You left me…” The tears started again and Peter’s head was buried in Tony’s neck.

“Oh, dear…” May let a single tear slide down her cheek. “How do we fix this?” She asked. “I’ve taken leave, but… Ben was on a veteran’s pension, he did the staying at home stuff, not me. I love Peter but I’m not mom-material. I made this up as I went along, last time, I won’t do it again.”

Steve hummed. “Tony?”

“Steve?”

“Didn’t you say that you’d bought the house behind the boys’ place? And the one behind Buck’s?”

“Yeah…?” Tony looked at Steve a little sideways.

“Why don’t you let May and Peter have one of them and Peter can stay with one of us, during the day and May at night?”

The other two adults blinked. Was it that simple?

“…’Es, p’ease.” A little voice said.

“Okay, we can do that.” Tony nodded. “If you want?” He asked May.

“Yes, that could work,” May nodded. “So, you said that you don’t know who did this? Do you know what happened?”

“What, sort of. How, not a clue. Not a single clue.” Tony said. “At best we can tell you what happened to us and those around us. And what we plan to do to stop Thanos before he really gets going.”

“How about I make us some tea while Tony gets started?” Steve offered.

“Thank you, Captain.” May gave him a small smile.

“Call me Steve, please.” He patted her hands and stood up, heading for the kitchen. “I’ll be back in a few.”

“I woke to JARVIS’ voice…” He heard Tony say.

~~~

April 16^th 2005

Bruce opened his eyes and slammed them shut again, his head pounding. In the back of his mind Hulk rumbled quietly.

Bruce’s eyes opened with surprise. ‘Hulk?’ He pushed the thought towards his alter-ego.

‘Banner?’ Hulk’s rumble settled in a vaguely disgruntled muttering. ‘What happened to us?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Where are we?’ Hulk asked.

Bruce looked around him. “Oh, dear Lord.” He whispered.

‘Hulk remember this place.’ Hulk whispered in his mind.

“Yeah, buddy, I remember it, too.” Bruce was whispering, too.

‘Hulk not want to stay here.’

“No, I don’t, either.”

‘We leave?’

‘… I…’ Bruce stopped himself as he automatically went to agree. ‘Soon, we need to stop Ross from coming after us, again.’

‘Hulk need to smash?’

‘No, not yet. Give me a chance to see if I can get us away from him using words.’

‘Banner good with words, Hulk good at smashing.’

‘We are and if we need something smashed, I’ll call you. Promise.’

‘Kay. Hulk wait.’

Bruce felt Hulk hunker down and do the equivalent of dozing. He took a deep breath and made himself think. What would Tony or Clint do?

“Twist the truth and make him see what we want him to see.” Bruce muttered. “Right, first thing’s first. The formula.” He pushed himself to his feet, with a groan, and crossed the room to the computer that he kept as his primary work station and gave a pleased grunt, when he saw it was already up and going. His fingers flew across the keys as he moved through the latest equation for the formula, sending a copy to a backup drive, that was quickly ejected, before he started to make changes. Symbols and numbers altered as he went through the formula. Then it was a case of backing-up those changes and wiping the main computer. A few more minutes were spent in hiding the first drive in a box of photographs and the second in an old chemistry textbook.

He pulled out a cell-phone and made a call that he really didn’t want to make.

“Ross.” The voice snapped.

“It’s… it’s Banner…” Bruce made his voice stammer a little.

“Banner?”

“Yes, I… I need to meet with you…” Bruce heard hulk rumble before settling again. “I…”

“Give me half an hour.” Ross said shortly.

“Can we make it two hours?” Bruce asked. “I just need to… I’m playing basketball, needed to clear my head.” He knew that Ross wouldn’t wait that long but he was counting on the man giving him at least an hour.

“Two hours? Why so long?”

“I’m across campus and we’re just taking a bathroom break, before we get back on court.” Bruce said, letting his voice gain a little confidence without sounding strong. “I’ve reached a point in my research that is… I’m not sure how much further I can go. I need some… advice…?” He made the last word sound hopeful.

“Two hours.” Ross agreed. “I’ll be there.”

“Thank you.” Bruce let himself sigh, just enough to be heard by Ross, before the man disconnected the call.

“Time to get us out.” He said, knowing that hulk would hear him and a smile pulled at his lips as Hulk grunted in agreement. He quickly crossed to his bedroom and grabbed a mid-sized backpack, tossing a couple of changes of clothes in it, along with a first aid kit, a towel and a couple of bottles of water. Then he did something that caused Hulk to make a questioning growl.

He took a scalpel from a lab kit and slashed his clothes, the bedsheets and the even the towels in the bathroom, leaving only one change of clothes laying on the bed.

“Why?’ Hulk asked.

‘To make it look like someone else has done it.’ Bruce replied. ‘We’ll go play some basketball with a couple of college boys. Ross will turn up while we’re not here and find the place looking like this. He’ll send someone to bring me back here and I can have the boys say that I’ve been with them for a while. Then when I get here, I can act like I think he did this.’

‘That will make him let us go?’

‘Not by itself, but I’ll also tell him that I’ve taken the formula as far as I can without years of extra study.’

“Banner smart, Banner learnt numbers and letters to fix us.’

‘I did, but I’m not going to tell Ross that. I want him to think that I’m not as smart as we both know I am, that I can’t fix the formula.’

‘What will Ross do?’

‘I’m going to tell him that he’ll need more people working on this.’

‘And if he finds more people?’

‘It won’t help. The only reason the formula worked, is because of what dad did to us when we were little.’

‘Banner still little.’ Hulk muttered.

‘Little-er’ Bruce laughed.

‘Banner do what Banner needs to do, to keep us safe.’

‘You got it, buddy.’ Bruce nodded. He quickly pulled off the ripped clothes and threw them into the closet with the slashed remains of the rest of his wardrobe, then dressed in the set of clothes he’d left on the bed, followed by a pair of running shoes. He picked up the backpack and closed the door behind him, he knew that the security system wouldn’t kick in until nine o’clock and it was still a few minutes away. He slipped the pack to his shoulder and after a deep breath, began to walk, quickly moving up into a jog and then to a near sprint.

Once he approached the basketball courts he slowed to a jog, grateful that he’d kept himself relatively fit at this point in time. He called out to the boys playing and quickly joined their game. Half an hour later he called a time out and implied that he needed a bathroom break.

Instead of finding a bathroom he ran back to his cottage/lab and deliberately set off the security system, before heading back to the basketball court.

It was less than fifteen minutes later that a large black SUV pulled to a stop beside the court.

“Dr Banner!” A young-ish man in a military uniform stepped out of the vehicle.

“Yeah?” Bruce answered.

“General Ross is waiting for you.” The man called. “Back at the lab.”

“Dammit, I asked him to give me a couple more hours.” Bruce muttered, loud enough for the man and his driver to hear.

“Brass is always impatient, man.” Laughed one of the college boys. “Better not keep his ass waiting. They’s ‘ll make ya pay fer it later.” The other two boys laughter joined in.

“Tell me about it.” Bruce laughed back, he trotted over to his pack and pulled the towel and a water bottle from it, before slinging the pack over his shoulder and heading back to the SUV and the door the soldier was holding open for him. “Thanks.” He gave man a smile and settled into the back seat. He was a little surprised but quite pleased that Hulk was trusting him as much as he was.

After the first snap, he’d spent months working in connecting with Hulk and as a result the two had almost become one, both of them finding a sense of peace within the connection and shared body. And that connection was still there. Emotionally and mentally, if not physically.

The drive across campus was short and quiet, allowing Bruce to plan out his actions and reactions, depending on how he thought Ross was going to behave. Pulling to a halt, the soldier leapt out to open the door for him and escorted him into the lab, which was really only Bruce’s living room kitted out with scientific equipment.

Once inside the door, Bruce jerked as though startled.

“What the hell did you to my lab?!” He squawked, raising an amused grunt from Hulk and a startled look from Ross.

“Nothing, Dr Banner.” Ross answered. “This was how we found it.”

Before he could go on, another soldier approached. “Sir, we checked the security log. Someone entered the building twenty-three minutes ago. They were gone when the system rebooted, ten minutes later.”

“Ten minutes?” Ross asked, looking around the room. “That’s a lot of damage to be done within ten minutes.”

“Sir, we suspect it to be a team of three or four people.” The soldier shook his head.

“Did they take anything?”

“No, Sir. But…”

“But?” Ross asked.

“Given the… mess… in the bedroom and bathroom, we feel that this was a personal attack on Dr Banner not a professional one.”

“The mess?” Bruce asked turning to face the soldier.

“I’m sorry, Dr Banner, the clothes in the bedroom and bathroom, along with all the bedding and bathroom linens have been… shredded.”

“Shredded?!” Bruce made sure to sound shocked. He started to head in that direction only to have Ross pull him up.

“Dr Banner? Perhaps you should check your computer to ensure that your work has not be stolen.”

“Oh, God.” Bruce turned and darted in the opposite direction, letting his fingers touch the keyboard and fire up the computer. Or attempt to fire up the computer.

It didn’t work and Bruce was internally pleased that something that Tony had taught him had worked so easily. ‘TinMan smart.’ Hulk laughed.

“It’s dead.” Bruce whispered.

“Please tell me you do regular backups?” Ross asked, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Of course, I do.” Bruce replied, sounding indignant. “I do double backups.”

“Double backups?” Ross asked.

“Same hard-drive, I just… I do a backup, spend ten- or fifteen-minutes checking that it’s worked properly and then delete the external drive and do it again. That’s standard.”

“Where do you keep the drive?”

Bruce didn’t answer, instead he climbed to his feet and approached the bookcase, pulled a hardback copy of ‘The Fundamentals of Chemistry’ from the shelf and opened it to reveal a hidden pocket.

“Very good, Dr Banner.” Ross nodded. “You’ll at least be able to return to your work without delays.”

“And that was why I wanted to speak to you.” Bruce said absently, making sure that it seemed as though her were distracted.

“Oh?” Ross asked.

“I can’t go any further.” Bruce slumped down onto a broken chair.

“Dr Banner, your work is vitally important, you can’t give up now.” Ross started.

“No, you don’t understand. It’s not a case of want, it’s… at this point in time, I simply don’t have the knowledge to go any further than I already have.”

“Ah.” Ross grunted, his frown fading. “What do you need to progress?”

“Fifteen years to study math, ten years to study nuclear chemistry, the same for nuclear physics and probably four or five to study biology.”

“What?” Ross blinked.

“I’m a biochemist, general, not a biologist. I’ve reached the point, that I can’t go any further without knowing a hell of a lot more than I currently do.”

“So you what? Want to give up?”

“No, Sir.” Bruce said. “This project needs more than I can provide. If I hand it to you, I know that you can find people that are able to do what I can’t.”

“Ah.” Ross grunted. “You do realise that would remove your grants, don’t you?”

“I do, but this project…? It’s… Like you said, it’s very important. More important than my profession pride.” Bruce shrugged. “What good is pride if I can’t ever get it to work?”

“So very true, Dr Banner.” Ross nodded. “It would mean giving up this house.”

“Nothing here is mine.” Bruce said. “All I have is my clothes and a box of photos.” He paused. “And didn’t your man say my clothes have been shredded?”

“He did.”

“So, that means that all I have is my backpack.” He pointed at the door and the pack he’d dropped when he’d come in. “And my mom’s photos.” He pointed to a box on top of the bookshelf.

“Corporal, please fetch down Dr Banner’s photos and check them.”

“There’s a pair of old HDDs in there, they’ve got all mom’s home movies on them.” Bruce warned them. “Or did, when I last checked them.”

“And when was that?”

“Not since I moved in here.” Bruce whispered.

“Not since your father’s death, then?” Ross asked.

“Probably prior to that.” Bruce shook his head.

“Hmm…” Ross paced around the room and watched as the soldier retrieved the box and checked that the contents were what Bruce had said. “If we accept your… resignation…? What will you do? Where will you go?”

“Probably a motel for a couple of nights. I need more than two changes of clothes.” Bruce sighed. “Then…? I’m not sure. This project has been my life for the last… ten years…” The last two words were whispered. “I think I want to travel, maybe visit the city. Tony Stark tried to get me to work with him a few years ago, he was looking to develop a new department, or something, but I was in the middle of an area of advancement and I honestly thought that I could finish the project on my own.” He shook his head. “I let my ego get ahead of the science.”

“We’ll provide you with accommodation tonight, Dr. I’ll even authorise a deposit to your account to compensate you for the damage caused tonight. However, I will have to insist that you sign a Non-Disclosure Agree form.” Ross said.

“I thought I had already signed one?” Bruce asked, he really didn’t want to sign a second one. The first was in regard to the information provided by Ross and said nothing about Bruce using it, himself.

“You did?” Ross turned to the soldier at his side. “Corporal, did Dr Banner sign an NDA for this project?”

“Our records state that there is one on file, Sir.” The soldier replied after glancing through his folder.

“In that case, find a motel for Dr Banner and see to a deposit, he’s been left with only the clothes on his back. Five thousand dollars. No. Ten thousand.” He turned back to Bruce. “Consider it a… severance payment, as well.”

“So, you’ll accept my resignation and take the project? You’ll find people to complete what I started.” Bruce knew that the changes he’d made would ensure that the project would never be completed enough to reach the human testing stage.

“I will, Dr.” Ross nodded. “If you like, I have two men heading for West Point tomorrow, you can ride with them as far as New York?” He tilted his head in question. “They can drop you at one of Stark’s factories.”

Bruce felt Hulk brighten and take an interest in the conversation, when he heard the name ‘Stark’.

‘Hulk like TinMan. Hulk want see TinMan.’ Came the whisper into his mind.

“A lift to New York would be helpful.” Bruce gave Ross a timid smile and felt Hulk smile, too.

Chapter 21

Chapter Text

“So, you’ll accept my resignation and take the project? You’ll find people to complete what I started.” Bruce knew that the changes he’d made would ensure that the project would never be completed enough to reach the human testing stage.

“I will, Dr.” Ross nodded. “If you like, I have two men heading for West Point tomorrow, you can ride with them as far as New York?” He tilted his head in question. “They can drop you at one of Stark’s factories.”

Bruce felt Hulk brighten and take an interest in the conversation, when he heard the name ‘Stark’.

‘Hulk like TinMan. Hulk want see TinMan.’Came the whisper into his mind.

“A lift to New York would be helpful.” Bruce gave Ross a timid smile and felt Hulk smile, too.

April 17^th 2005

“Uh, Doc?” One of the two soldiers that Bruce was travelling with from Culver University to New York, asked.

“Yeah, Simon?” Bruce asked.

“Which Stark were you talking about?”

“Excuse me?” Bruce frowned slightly.

“Last night, you mentioned Tony Stark but then this morning you said Stark Industries and… well, I wanted to be certain who you meant when you were talking about Stark? Howard or Tony?”

“Oh… uh…”

“See… Howard runs Stark Industries but no-one ever calls him Doctor. Tony is Dr Stark as far as the public go buthe runs Iron Technologies. So, I was just wondering… Which one you mean?”

“Tony.” Bruce said. “Always Tony, I’ve never had anything to do with Howard.” He shook his head. ‘Mostly because the man had been dead for decades. So what hap-’ Bruce cut himself off. ‘Alternate realities. The Ancient One called them time streams. Is that what happened to us? Is contacting Tony the right thing to do?’

‘Hulk want to see TinMan.’ Hulk reminded Bruce.

‘He might not remember us.’ He warned Hulk.

‘Still want to see TinMan.’ Hulk grumbled.

‘Then we’ll go see him, buddy.’ Bruce said.

“Okay.” Simon said. “That’s easier than trying to get in to see Howard.” He held up a flip-phone and a card. “You want to call Ms Potts, or shall I?”

“Um…” Bruce hesitated and saw Simon exchange looks with the driver, who’d been introduced simply as Boyle.

“We’re going to make a coffee stop in a few minutes, if you’d like a little privacy, Doc?” Simon offered.

“Yeah.” Bruce nodded. “That would be good.”

Five minutes later, Bruce leant against the SUV’s hood and looked at the cell in his hand.

“Here goes nothing…” Bruce whispered and pressed ‘send’. The line connected and buzzed before being answered.

“Good morning, welcome to Iron Tech. This is Sarah, how can I direct your call?”

“Hello, this is Bruce Banner, I’m trying to reach Ms Potts.”

“Dr Bruce Banner?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, ma'am.” Bruce replied.

“One moment and I’ll transfer your call.” The line went to tinny music for perhaps thirty seconds.

A very familiar voice filled Bruce’s ear. “Br- … Dr Banner?”

Was Bruce hearing things or did Pepper start to say his first name, before using his title?

“Ms Potts.” He smiled as he said her name, Pepper was such a nice lady. “I’ll come straight to the point. Some time ago Dr Stark contacted me and offered me a position with his company, however I was deep in research of my own, at the time, and wasn’t very receptive of his approach. Yesterday, my research came to a tipping point and the project is no longer one that I can be involved with. I was wondering if Dr Stark’s offer was still available?”

“Where are you?” Pepper asked.

“Right now? Medina, West Virginia.”

“Do you have transport or would you like us to send a jet for you?” She asked. “Parkersburg is… how far away?”

“About twenty minutes.”

“I can have a jet in the air in ten minutes.”

“Why don’t you have that jet meet me at… um… Morgantown? It’ll take me about two hours to get there and not much longer for your plane. I’m travelling with a pair of soldiers that are on their way to West Point, so we’re heading in that direction anyway.”

Pepper drew in a sharp breath.

“They’ll let you go?” Pepper asked sharply.

“My contract with the DoD was mutually terminated, yesterday.” Bruce said. “Simon and Boyle, the pair of soldiers I’m riding with, are worrywarts, so they may want to wait until your plane arrives. Just to make sure I’m not left without a ride.”

“Excellent.” Pepper sighed. Was that relief, Bruce heard, or was he imaging things? “I’ll send someone, not sure who yet, Tony and Bucky have taken the kids to the zoo and I’m not sure if Clint is tailing them or if he’s available.”

“Clint?” Bruce caught his breath.

“Clint is Head of Security for IT and our primary pilot.” Pepper said. “If I can’t get Clint, I’ll have Andrew pilot the plane. Can I contact you on this number?”

‘Okay, that’s different.’ Bruce thought to himself.“The cell belongs to Simon, but as he’s the one who offered it to me, I would think he’d accept a call from Dr Stark.” Bruce was a little unsubtle in hinting that he wanted Tony to call him.

“Oh, no, Tony’s taken Peter to the zoo, for the day, they won’t be back until they’re kicked out. I’ll keep you as surprise.” Pepper laughed.

‘Peter? Peter Parker?’ Bruce frowned. “Does Dr Stark like surprises?” He asked, still not sure if the warmth he was hearing was truly directed at him or if it was just a side-effect of talking about Tony.

“Dr Stark hates surprises… Tony, on the other hand, loves them. You will be the best surprise, Bruce. The very best.”

“…Pepper…?”

“You’ll see, Bruce, you’ll see.” She replied. “Right, Clint's tailing the boys, so Andrew’s doing the flying, he’ll meet you at Morgantown airport, flight time is approximately three hours from LaGuardia.”

“And drive time from Medina, is a little over two, depending on traffic.”

“Oh, good, you won’t have long to wait. Turn around should be less than ten minutes, depending on air traffic control. Hopefully, you should be here before Tony and Peter get home.” Pepper said brightly.

“Alright…” Bruce agreed. He saw a flicker of movement off to his right and straightened up. “My drivers are back, I should let you go.”

“Of course, Bruce. Tony will be so excited to see you. We all will be.” She assured him and disconnected the call.

Bruce looked at the cell and shook his head in part-confusion-part-amusem*nt.

“All alright there, Doc?” Simon asked.

“Yeah.” Bruce answer, in a slightly shellshocked tone. “Yeah.” He repeated, stronger. “All good.”

“So, what’s the deal?”

“Ms Potts is sending a plane to meet me at Morgantown.”

“Yeah? That’s good, right?”

“Certainly sounds like it.” Bruce gave the man a smile as he handed the cell-phone back. “Thanks for the loan.”

“As long as you got it sorted.” Simon smiled. “Hey, why don’t you go grab a coffee and something to eat and we’ll get going, again. We have a plane to meet.”

Bruce laughed at the young man’s exuberance and nodded.

“Coffee would be good.”

Boyle pulled to a halt beside the security gates to the private hangers, where Pepper had told them to go, when she’d rang back to confirm details.

“Yeah?” The guard asked, barely looking up from his book.

“Dr Bruce Banner, Simon Lucas and Michael Boyle. Iron Technologies are sending a plane for Dr Banner.” Boyle answered and waited while the guard checked their details against his computer.

“Yep. Got ya. Drive around to the first carparking area and you’ll be met there. Man’s name is Jeff, he’ll take ya the rest of the way.” The guard went right back to reading his book after hitting a button to open the gate.

Boyle grunted and put the SUV in motion again. The road was heavily shaded by trees and as the trees gave way, a large aircraft hangar came into sight, along with a smaller shed. Boyle let the SUV come to a stop beside an older jeep and the three of them climbed out of the vehicle, stretching to ease tight muscles.

“One of you lads, Dr Banner?” An older man asked, emerging from the smaller shed.

“That would be me.” Bruce acknowledged.

“Good stuff.” The man waved. “Dunno where your plane’s coming from but it’s on descent, should be here in about ten minutes. You got two choices, lad. Wait here, in the fresh air and the sun or wait inside where it’s not so hot but all you can smell is avgas.”

Bruce grimaced, avgas gave Hulk a headache. “I’ll stay out here if you don’t mind. I don’t get outside enough, some fresh air would probably do me some good.”

“Right ya are.”

The plane was white, with an Iron-Man-red tail, but what caught Bruce’s eyes was the symbol on the tail. A simplified design of an arc-reactor, done in gold. The door in the fuselage opened and a familiar face poked out.

“Oi, Brucey, you coming?” Darcy Barnes yelled.

“Darcy?” Bruce gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing, Doc? I’m your ride.”

“As long as you’re not flying.”

“Nah, Doc, you know Bucky won’t let me. Spoilsport that he is.”

“You know Darcy Barnes?” Simon asked nudging Bruce’s elbow.

“Oh, uh, yeah. We both went to Culver.” Bruce replied.

“Huh. Did not know that.” Simon huffed. “Wow…”

“Darcy’s cool.” Bruce went around to the back of the SUV and waited for Boyle to open the rear, he pulled out his pack and slung it over his shoulder. “Excellent cook but miserable driver. So dangerous, you’re better off walking.” He held out a hand to each soldier and after shaking their hands, went on. “Thanks for the ride, guys. Good luck at West Point.”

“Thanks, Doc.” Simon grinned and handed over a folded slip of paper. “If you ever want an out, Doc, gimme a call, we’ll spring ya.” He slapped Bruce on the shoulder and climbed back in the SUV.

The two soldiers waited until Bruce approached the plane and climbed it’s steps. At the tops of the steps, Bruce gave them a wave and stepped aside for Darcy to shut the hatch behind him.

“Welcome aboard, Dr Banner.” A familiar but unexpected voice came from a speaker on the cabin’s co*ckpit wall.

“Thanks, JARVIS.” He replied automatically, before blinking in surprise.

“I win!” Darcy bounced on her toes, waving her arms about, excitedly.

“What?” Bruce dodged Darcy’s flailing arms and dropped into a seat.

“I win.” Darcy repeated. “I listened to your call to Pepper and I just knew you remembered.”

“Remembered… what…?” Bruce asked slowly.

“The big purple prick.” Darcy fell into her own seat and cinched her belt, gesturing to Bruce to do the same.

“Th- Thanos?” He whispered. “You remember Thanos?”

“Of course, I remember him, he took three of my scientists from me and nearly cost me, my life.” Darcy snarled before huffing. “Of course, he’s also responsible for bringing my husband to the US, so…?”

“I don’t think he did that, I think that was more Steve than Thanos.”

“God, I hope so, owing Steve is bad enough, owing Thanos is just all sorts of ewww…” Darcy grimaced. “So… Doc? Where’s my Hulk?”

“Sleeping right now, he doesn’t like planes.”

“But he’s there?”

“Yes, yesterday was the first time that Hulk came and when I woke up afterwards, we remembered everything.” He tilted his head. “Up until sometime in November 2024, we went to the first anniversary of Tony and Nat’s…” He still couldn’t say it. “And that’s the last thing I remember before waking up with a Hulk hangover and no longer being green.”

“How’s that working for you? For Hulk?”

“Hulk’s okay with it, as long as he gets some ‘out’ time, soon.” Bruce said. “I’m struggling a little bit. I’d really got used to us being together and now, we’re separate again.”

“Do you think you’ll do the merge again?”

“I don’t know…” Bruce said. “I don’t regret it, not at all. But merging exposes us to the world again.”

“And that’s bad?”

“It could be, if people like Ross are involved.” Bruce nodded.

“Well, let’s see if we can come up with a reasonable excuse for ‘creating’ Hulk, sometime in the next year or two. Something seemingly not connected to the work you were doing for Ross.” Darcy said.

“Sir and Mr Stark have a number of projects that might be suitable, one of which is a variant of Captain Rogers’ version of the super-soldier serum, another is Sergeant Barnes’ version of the serum. I would suggest talking to Sir and Mr Stark and working with them. They might be able to create something that could provide a suitable cover.” JARVIS joined the conversation.

“But it has to be something that can’t be replicated.” Bruce said. “I won’t have Ross trying to do this to other people.”

“No, we can’t have that.” JARVIS agreed. “Sir has no appointments tomorrow, so I’ve sent a request to Mr Stark to join us and I believe that between the four of us we can come to a working solution.”

“Tomorrow?” Bruce asked. “No, that’s too soon, Ross won’t accept that.”

“No, not for taking action, just for planning.” JARVIS corrected.

“Oh, right… Yeah, tomorrow works.” Bruce nodded. “So, Darcy?”

“Yeah, Doc?”

“How did you…?”

“How did I get here?” Darcy asked and Bruce nodded. “Not a frigging clue, but I’m assuming it’s something to do with Lorelei’s curse…” She went on to tell Bruce about waking in 1999. Then she sat back as JARVIS explained who else had remembered and what they were planning to do to avoid Thanos snapping his fingers again.

~~~

Bucky looked at the text message from his wife.

Bring Tony straight to the team gym, when you come home.

We have a surprise for him.

He frowned and send a quick reply back.

Good surprise or bad surprise?

He pressed send before pausing and thinking, he frowned and quickly sending a second text.

No, will PEPPER think it’s a good surprise?

It took only a few seconds for Darcy to answer.

Pepper is the one organising this, not me.

Bucky’s frown lifted and a curious expression flitted across his face. ‘Huh, that’s going to be interesting.’ He mused to himself as he watched Tony and Peter petting the alpacas. A sly look entered his eyes and while he had his phone out, he took a couple of candid photos of the other man and the little boy. A few seconds to look at them and smile and he texted them to Pepper and May.

Bonding time. Was what he sent with them.

The sun had set and peak hour traffic was just starting, when Tony, Peter and twins settled into the backseat of Tony’s car, with Bucky at the wheel. Normally, it would be Happy but today he and May were moving Happy’s possessions into the townhouse that May and Peter lived in.

Hence, Tony having Peter out later than usual.

The drive from the zoo to their small group of buildings, was only a couple of miles, which took Bucky little more than ten minutes. Pulling into the private carpark from Hall Street, Bucky eased the car down and around, into the underground carpark that Tony had insisted upon.

“So…” Bucky said as he turned the car off and turned to Peter. “Darcy tells me that Pepper has a surprise for Tony in the team gym. Shall we go and find out what it is?”

“Yeah!” Peter chirped, his grin bright and wide.

“Oh, God, what now?” Tony muttered.

“No idea.” Bucky grinned. “All I know is that Darcy said, that Pepper is responsible for it.” He climbed out of the car and opened a back door, unhooked the twins, quckly sliding them into a stroller before swinging Peter up onto his shoulders.

“Huh.” Tony grunted, with a grimace, but he still followed Bucky as he made his way to the afore mentioned gym.

There, he saw the rest of the team sitting in the briefing area, talking to… was that…?

“Bruce?” Tony whispered.

“Tony.” Bruce climbed to his feet and crossed to meet the other genius, wrapping the man in Hulk-strong arms.

~~~

Much later that night, Pepper snuggled up against Tony’s side.

“You awake?” She whispered.

“Hmm…” He nodded slightly.

“I have another surprise for you…” Her smile was soft and warm.

“Oh?” He asked, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her neck.

“Come late September, Morgan will be joining us.”

Tony’s head come up quickly. “Morgan? You’re pregnant? Morgan? You sure it’s gonna be Morgan?”

“It’s a girl and I’m already craving Spanish sausage coated in chocolate and coconut… and why you ever had to tell her they were co*ckroaches, I just don’t know.” Pepper sighed.

“Please don’t tell me you want candied crickets, again…” Tony moaned. “Do you know how hard it was to find them, the first time?”

“Well, at least you know where to go looking, this time.” Pepper grinned.

“Well… crap…” Tony sighed before his sigh gave way to a bright and cheery grin. “We’re getting our Morguna back.” He laughed.

“We are.” Pepper’s smile was just as bright.

~~~

April 20^th 2005

“Hey, dad?” Tony waited until Howard turned to face him.

“Yes, Tony?” They’d been dealing with the DoD since eleven-thirty on the Monday morning and as it was now nearly one-thirty Tuesday morning, Howard was tired and just wanted to go home to bed.

Tony’s grin grew sly. “Pep’s pregnant, she’s due in late September, we think it’s Morgan, again. You ready to be a grandpa to a mini-me?”

Howard just stared at his son, waiting for his brain to make sense of what Tony had said. When it did, his smile grew wide before rapidly falling to horror.

“Oh, God, does she take after us?”

“Smart?” Tony asked. “Oh, hell, yeah.”

“sh*t…” Howard groaned.

“We’re screwed once she’s old enough to work with the twins.” Tony laughed. “It’ll be great to watch from a security bunker on the other side of the world.”

“Oh, God…” Howard groaned, again.

~~~

November 3^rd 2005

Jane Foster opened her eyes and frowned. That ceiling didn’t look like the ceiling of Erik’s flat in Edinburgh.

“Erik?” She called but even after nearly a minute there was no answer.

“Darcy?” There was no answer this time, either. “That’s odd… Darcy never leaves me to wake in new places, not for the first time.” She pulled herself upright until she could reach the bag on the end of the bed and dug around in it until she pulled out a cell-phone. The cell her hand emerged with, was her phone but it wasn’t in the battered, bumped and abused condition that she remembered. In fact, it looked brand new.

‘Did Darcy get my cell refurbished and not tell me?’ She wondered.

With another frown, she pressed speed-dial two and waited for Darcy to answer.

Chapter 22

Chapter Text

November 3^rd 2005

Jane foster opened her eyes and frowned. That ceiling didn’t look like the ceiling of Erik’s flat in Edinburgh.

“Erik?” She called but even after nearly a minute there was no answer.

“Darcy?” There was no answer this time, either. “That’s odd… Darcy never leaves me to wake in new places, not for the first time.” She pulled herself upright until she could reach the bag on the end of the bed and dug around in it until she pulled out a cell-phone. The cell her hand emerged with was her phone, but it wasn’t in the battered, bumped and abused condition that she remembered. In fact, it looked brand new.

‘Did Darcy get my cell refurbished and not tell me?’ She wondered.

With another frown, she pressed speed-dial two and waited for Darcy to answer.

~~~

November 3^rd 2005

In Brooklyn, Darcy was putting the finishing touches to a batch of muffins, when her cell started to buzz and dance across the kitchen bench. She hastily shoved the muffins into the oven and reached for the cell, absently checking the caller ID as she lifted the cell to her ear.

She froze as she recognised that number.

“Hell-hello?” She whispered, after pressing to accept the call.

“Darcy, where am I?” Jane asked, without hesitation.

“Uh…?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be at Erik’s? Th-this doesn’t look like Erik’s, Darcy.”

“Hold on a second, Janey.” Darcy took a shuddering breath and covered the cell’s mic. “JARVIS? Can you trace this call, please?” She lifted her hand from the cell and spoke. “I got someone tracing you, gimme a minute, here. Are you hurt? Injured, at all?”

“No, Darcy. Just confused. Did Erik move and no-one told me?”

“Ms Darcy? I’ve traced the call to just east of Westerly, Rhode Island.” JARVIS said quietly.

“Rhode Island? Huh. That’d be the Drew Observatory, then.” Darcy muttered.

“Darcy? Drew Observatory is in the US… We’re in England… aren’t we?” Jane asked. “Or did I miss a trip?”

“Not exactly…” Darcy grimaced.

“Darcy! What happened?” Jane demanded.

“Um… We got time travelled, Janey…” Darcy sighed.

“We got what!?” Jane screeched.

“We got time travelled.” Darcy said again. “But… we didn’t get sent to the same point in time.”

“Darcy…?” Janey whispered.

“I got dropped in July 1999.”

“Oh, God…” Jane gasped, she knew what had happened in July 1999.

“Yeah… Remember how Brucey-bear was telling us about his part in the time heist?”

“Uh… he went to Stephen Strange’s teacher, didn’t he?” Jane replied.

“He did. And she told him about…?”

“Time and… and time streams!” Jane exclaimed.

“Yeah, so… I was dropped in 1999, in the house where Templeton found me, but he hadn’t got there, yet. So…? I changed things for the local version of me.”

“Isn’t changing your own timeline a bad thing?” Jane asked.

“It is, if you’re in the same time stream. If it’s not your native time stream, the changes you make won’t affect you, they’ll only affect the local version of you. Your alternate self.” Darcy replied.

“But… does that mean that there’s another Jane Foster running around with my research?” Jane demanded.

“No. I don’t think so.” Darcy answered. “Look, Tony Stark put it this way. There’s two types of time travel. Insertion of consciousness or complete physical insertion. From what we’ve worked out, most of us are insertion of consciousness. You wake up, in your younger body and you remember everything, up to whatever point you were removed from. Okay? That wasn’t me. Or JARVIS. Or Tony’s Iron Man suit. We seem to be physical insertions. Everyone else, so far, are consciousness insertions.”

“Oh.” Jane huffed in understanding.

“Yeah. JARVIS traced you to Westerly and you’re about a mile from the Drew Observatory. There’s a crappy little no-tell-motel there and I think that’s where you are. He’s organising someone to come and get you and I’ll work out what needs to happen as far as grants and sh*t is concerned.”

“Um…? What’s the date?” Jane asked.

“Uh… November 3^rd 2005.” Darcy said after checking on the screen that JARVIS had positioned against an overhead cupboard, off to Darcy’s left.

“No grants in November 2005.” Jane answered. “I had two applications in but neither had been accepted, at that point, and neither of them were accepted, later. In February 2006, I lodged an application with Culver and while they weren’t all that enthusiastic, they coughed up the money. They renewed that, in November 2009, after my atmospheric readings caught their meteorologist’s interest.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that, Tony’s already approved money for any research you want to do. But…” Darcy grinned. “I had my necklace with me, when I appeared…”

“The one that Thor got Stark to make?” Jane asked eagerly.

“The one that I’d just updated all you research onto, yes.” Darcy.

“Oh, my God, Darcy, thank you.” Jane sighed in relief. “You have no idea of how much I wasn’t looking forward going through all of that, again.”

“Hey, there’s always the really easy option.” Darcy laughed.

“And that is?”

“Calling for Heimdall. He’s always on watch, isn’t he?”

“Oh, I never thought of that.” Jane huffed.

“That’s because you’re all about the science and I’m only interested in bringing your science into the real world.” Darcy teased.

“That’s your job, intern.” Jane teased back.

“Oh, no, not an intern, anymore.” Darcy huffed. “R&D Lab manager, these days.”

“Huh. You might be coming up in the world, Miss Lab Manager but you’ll always be my intern.” Jane said.

“And you’ll always be my boss-lady. Oh.” Darcy read JARVIS’ message and cut off whatever she’d been about to say.

“Oh?” Jane asked.

“Sorry, I was just reading a message from JARVIS.” Darcy said.

“And?”

“And, you’d better check your wallet for cash and pack your stuff. You’re about five miles from Westerly Airport, so I really hope you’ve got enough cash to catch a cab, there. We’ll have a plane meet you there, for pickup. There’s no kids at home today, so I can be part of your pickup. The Twins are at school, or at least Happy should be dropping them off any minute now. And the other pair are at creche for the morning.”

“Kids?” Jane spluttered.

“Well, yeah.” Darcy grinned. “You don’t think I was going to let my husband get away without giving me kids, do you?”

“Oh, God, Darcy…!” Jane groaned before gasping. “Husband?”

“Uh, Jane…? What’s the last date you remember?”

“May 12^th 2018.”

“Ah, that might be a problem…” Darcy grimaced.

“Why?”

“I married Bucky Barnes in 2024, a week before the one-year anniversary of the second snap.” Darcy said. “A month later we went to visit Brunnhilde and Lorelei cursed me.”

“She what?!” Jane screeched.

“She cursed me.” Darcy said. “Cool down, Janey, it’s not as bad as it sounds. She cursed me because she thought I was the mortal that Thor was in love with. Now, we both know that wasn’t the case, but she didn’t. Her curse tied me to my soulmate, my heart beats with his, if his stops, mine stops. Brunnhilde sent us to the Norns and they said that Bucky was my soulmate and that I share a part of his super-soldier serum. Just the rapid healing and slow aging, nothing else.”

“Bucky Barnes? Darcy!” Jane groaned.

“Oh, lay off, Janey. Even the Norns approved, you can keep your whinging to yourself. I never whinged about you and Thor, did I?” Darcy chided.

“No, Darcy.” Jane answered quietly. “So, you married Bucky Barnes and now you’ve got kids?”

“Pretty much.” Darcy agreed. “The twins were born April 1^st 2001.”

“Oh, God.”

“Oh, it gets worse.” Darcy said, cheerfully. “We named them after Bucky’s mother and mine.”

“Georgiana and… what?”

“Winnifred.”

“Born on April Fool’s Day, named Georgiana and Winnifred… George and Fred.” Jane groaned. “Oh, my God, the Weasley twins.”

“Yep, and so far, they’re living up to their namesakes.”

“Oh, God…”

“Fleur was next, she was born in ’03, August ’03 and Alastor is six months old. We decided to stick with the Potter theme, but neither of us wanted to name a poor kid, Harry.”

“Hell, Darce, how many more are you going to have?”

“We agreed on four pregnancies, so we’ve got one more to go.” Darcy laughed. “Oops, my ride’s here. Oohhh… hel-lo, Soldier.” Darcy directed the last to Bucky, who’d stuck his head in the door.

“Hey, doll, you ready to go?”

“Er… No, not really. I got muffins in the oven. Can I have another twenty minutes? Janey will want one.”

“What sort?” Both Jane and Bucky asked.

“White chocolate, cranberry and coconut.”

“Ooh…. Please, Bucky?” Janey said loudly. “I haven’t had a Darcy special for months.”

Bucky looked at the cell-phone and grinned. “As long as you share.” He said in a slightly louder voice, obviously directed at Jane.

“Thank you!” Jane called. While all this was going on she had been packing her bags and checking what she had with her. “I’m packed and ready. I’ve also got cash, a couple hundred and some change.”

“Excellent.” Darcy crowed. “Give us… two hours?” She directed the question to Bucky.

“Two hours is fine.” Bucky said. “It’s only an hour flying time from Newark to Westerly, apparently.”

“And it takes a half hour to get to Newark airport.” Darcy agreed.

“Yep. And you want time for our muffins to cook, so two hours is fine.” Bucky grinned.

Two hours and thirty-five minutes later, Jane unhooked her seatbelt and lunged across the plane’s cabin at Darcy.

“Tell me.” She demanded. “Tell me… everything. Absolutely everything.”

“Sure, Janey.” Darcy laughed. “So, The Snap. Yes, Jane, it’s capitalised and no, I’m not responsible for that, the media coined it. After The Snap took you and Erik, I needed something to occupy myself with. Thor suggested that I go back to school and finish up my Poli-Sci degree, so I did, but I was still not coping so, I started pestering Ian, he suggested that I try for a computer science degree. After that it was Astrophysics, because I spent so much time looking at the stars, thinking about you and Erik, I figured that knowing what you meant in all those little videos I’d taken, would make them mean more. Then Sam Wilson and James Rhodes came knocking, they needed a hacker something to do with stolen stuff, I never figured it out but it introduced me to Bucky and well…? That? Was a good thing. We hit it off, mostly physically, at first, but it quickly became more. We married in 2024, the day after his pardon came through…” She paused and turned to the co*ckpit. “Hey, Buck?” She called.

“Yeah, doll?”

“Did you ever tell Raynor that we got married?”

Bucky’s head tilted and he blinked a few times. “No, I don’t think I did.”

“Ooh…” Darcy winced.

“Darcy.” Jane remined her that the other woman was there.

“Oh, right.” Darcy nodded. “So, we got married and had a nice honeymoon in Wakanda, courtesy of Okoye. Then Bruce asked us to drop in and check on New Asgard, as he hadn’t heard anything from Brunnhilde for a few weeks. Turns out she was having issues with Lorelei, who was blocking their communications. She cursed me, Bucky punched her and Brunnhilde managed to get the magic suppression collar, that was made for Wanda, on her. Brunnhilde called Thor and the two of them packed us off to the Norns for them to study me. They laughed and we came home. A week later Bucky and Sam took off to deal with the Flag Smashers and when they got back, we had a big cook-out on the dock in Louisiana and ate a lot more than we should have.”

“A lot more…” Bucky agreed, from the co*ckpit.

“We went to sleep in Sarah’s living room and woke up in two different times.” Darcy had barely paused as Bucky had cut in.

“Who’s Sarah?” Jane asked.

“Sam’s sister.” Darcy replied.

“What did you mean by two different times?”

“Buck woke in December 1991, the morning of the day the Winter Soldier killed Howard and Maria Stark.”

“Tony Stark’s parents?”

“That’s them.” Darcy nodded. “He met up with Tony and…” Darcy kept talking, explaining to Jane what had happened in the time since, who had remembered, who they’d told and what they were doing to avoid The Snap happening again.

“I think calling Heimdall is a good idea.” Jane said. “He can put us in contact with Odin and Frigga.”

“And the Norns.” Darcy agreed.

“And Valkyrie.” Bucky added.

~~~

Heimdall, the guardian of the Bifrost, frowned. He’d heard that conversation and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. And that in itself alarmed him, confusion was not something he was accustomed to feeling.

“Heimdall.” A soft feminine voice came from behind him.

“My Queen.” He turned and bowed to Frigga, the Allmother of Asgard. “Of what service may I be?”

“You are not the only one to watch, Gatekeeper.” Frigga said. “I have seen a future that will no longer come to be.” Heimdall’s eyes widened. “And I am not the only one to know what that future would have wrought upon us.”

“My Lady?”

“The fate of the entire universe lies on the shoulders of but a few.” Frigga ignored Heimdall's question. “And of those few that faced the end that will no longer be, all but five dwell upon Midgard. I have need of speech with them. ”

Heimdall caught his breath. “You would go to Midgard?”

“I would.” Frigga nodded, causing Heimdall to frown. “I shall only stay there for a few minutes, Gatekeeper, an hour at most. And The Valkyrie will be at my side for all that time.”

“My sister?” He looked out over the seemingly empty reaches of space and saw Brunnhilde looking back at him, bags at her feet. “If my sister fell, why would you still name her a Valkyrie, your majesty?”

“I do not.” Frigga shook her head. “I name her, The Valkyrie. The epitome of what a Valkyrie should ever be.” She gave him a sad smile. “Her destiny lies outside of Asgard, Gatekeeper.” Her smile grew sly. “Watch and you will see.” The smile fell away. “Send the Bifrost to her.” She ordered, every inch a queen.

Heimdall nodded and pushed his sword into the lock that would direct the Bifrost where he wanted it to go. Lightening crackled and the dome’s spire spun before tilting down and releasing the rainbow bridge from it’s shackles. Bare seconds later and a familiar figure emerged from the shadowy glare.

“Brunnhilde.” Frigga nodded to the woman.

“Queen of Asgard.” Brunnhilde nodded back, before turning to Heimdall. “Brother.”

“Sister.” Heimdall knew not what to say.

“I would have you send me to Midgard, brother.” Brunnhilde ordered.

“Have you, your DragonFang with you, Valkyrie?” Frigga asked.

“Always.” Brunnhilde said, touching a holster at her hip.

“Excellent.” Frigga smiled. “Heimdall, when you open the Bifrost to Midgard, ensure that it’s done with discretion, please. It would be of little benefit to us or our allies, to have our enemies alerted of our actions.”

“As you say, My Queen.” He twisted the sword and the light of the Bifrost faded into nothing but a hum. “Where would you have me direct the Bifrost?”

“Mark this place.” Frigga used her rarely seen magic to guide his hand upon his sword to direct the Bifrost. “I will either return to it when I wish to return to Asgard, or I shall call upon you, directly.”

“As you will, your majesty.” The Bifrost opened and the two women began to cross it. “Fare thee well, sister.” He whispered.

~~~

The shimmer the Bifrost left, faded and Frigga and Valkyrie blinked in the bright sunlight.

“I despise the sun.” Valkyrie muttered.

“Now, dear…” Frigga gave the other woman a quick look. “You should be used to Midgard’s brightness, by now.”

“Oh, no. New Asgard was far to the north, we saw little of this glare. Even when the sun never set, we didn’t have this… glare…” Valkyrie sneered.

“No. I dare say you didn’t.” The voice came from behind them and both women spun to face it. “Hello, Valkyrie.” Bucky sighed. “Let me guess… Thanos…” It wasn’t a question.

“Of course, Thanos.” Valkyrie spat the name out before pausing. “Wait. You… you know who I am? You know who Thanos is?”

“Oh, yeah. You’d better come on in, meet the team and see what we’ve done.” He started towards the next building. “Bring your friend, too.”

“She’s not my friend, she Frigga, Queen of Asgard.”

Chapter 23

Chapter Text

November 3^rd 2005

The shimmer the Bifrost left, faded and Frigga and Valkyrie blinked in the bright sunlight.

“I despise the sun.” Valkyrie muttered.

“Now, dear…” Frigga gave the other woman a quick look. “You should be used to Midgard’s brightness, by now.”

“Oh, no. New Asgard was to the far north, we saw little of this glare. Even when the sun never set, we didn’t have this… glare…” Valkyrie sneered.

“No. I dare say you didn’t.” The voice came from behind them and both women spun to face it. “Hello, Valkyrie.” Bucky sighed. “Let me guess… Thanos…” It wasn’t a question.

“Of course, Thanos.” Valkyrie spat the name out before pausing. “Wait. You… you know who I am? You know who Thanos is?”

“Oh, yeah. You’d better come on in, meet the team and see what we’ve done.” He started towards the next building. “Bring your friend, too.”

“She’s not my friend, she Frigga, Queen of Asgard.”

~~~

“Thor and Loki’s mom?” Bucky blinked at the Queen.

“Yes.”

“Right, better warn her, Darcy and Jane are inside.” Bucky said.

“I look forward to meeting the Ladies Jane and Darcy.” Frigga said. “I might remember them from my visions, but I dare say that meeting them in truth will be quite different.” She stepped up to Bucky and walked at his side.

“Probably.” Bucky grinned. “Although, I think they’ll be pleased to see you, alive.”

“Giving my life for the Lady Jane’s would have been no hardship, knowing now that it was the start of Loki’s true redemption, makes what few regrets I would have, negligible.”

“Yeah?” Bucky gave her a quick grin. “Don’t think you’ll get away that easy, do you?”

“No, I suppose not.” Frigga gave a clearly fake sigh only to ruin it by laughing, softly. “Come, introduce me to my daughters.”

“Daughters?” Valkyrie asked, following them into a square building.

“Lady Darcy is the claimed sister of my son, Thor, which makes her my daughter.” Frigga said.

“The Lady Jane?”

“She will stand at Thor’s side and travel the stars with him.”

“And what will I be doing?” Brunnhilde asked, not sure whether she really wanted to know.

“You will be training shieldmaidens of Midgard as Valkyries.” Frigga replied. “When this war is done and we know that there is a set time for that, you will have earnt your rest and then some. They will guard this world, in your place. What you will do then, will be your decision.”

“I can live with that.” Brunnhilde nodded.

“Perhaps then, you will have the family that you desire.” Frigga smiled secretively.

“What?” Valkyrie stumbled as she followed the pair in through a door.

“What do we have here?” Another man asked. “You bringing home more women, Barnes?”

“Nope. Frigga’s Thor and Loki’s mom and the other is the Valkyrie. Ladies? This uncouth idiot is Riley.”

“And who’s Valkyrie when she’s at home?” Riley asked.

“Not who, what.” Bucky grinned. “Brunnhilde is Asgardian and she’s a true Valkyrie. The Valkyrie. Their leader. The greatest of them.”

“The last of them.” Brunnhilde corrected.

“The first of them.” Frigga argued.

“Uh…?” Riley grunted in confusion.

“Brunnhilde’s got a short temper and a very strong arm.” Bucky warned. “Piss her off and you’ll be a smear on the ground. Oh, and she can drink Bruce and I under the table.” He tilted his head. "And probably steve, too..."

“Ah. Right…” Riley took a step backwards.

“The Captain is here?” Brunnhilde asked, she'd heard many tales of the Captain's adventures, from Bucky, from Thor, from Sam, from Wanda and even a few from Pepper. But she'd never had the chance to actually meet the man, off the battlefield.

“Not right now, no.” Bucky answered. “He’s working, but he’ll be by later this evening. How long are you staying?”

“Me? Permanently.” Brunnhilde shrugged. “Frigga? If she’s not headed back inside the hour, Heimdall’s going to fret… and possibly send someone to fetch her home safely.”

“I only wish to meet my daughters and present gifts to you all.” Frigga gave them an innocent look.

“Yeah, I have four kids, lady, that look doesn’t work on me.” Bucky huffed in amusem*nt.

Frigga laughed gently. “I did not expect that it would, Warrior of Midgard.”

It took maybe twenty minutes for Bucky to round up the team and have Steve close his shop for long enough to meet with Frigga.

“Alright, we’re all here, Queen of Asgard.” Bucky looked from the team to the woman huddled with Jane and his wife.

“Of course, warrior.” Frigga stood and crossed to stand in front of the group. “I am Frigga, Queen of Asgard and mother to Thor and Loki. I have Seen anddreamt of a future that will no longer come to be and I am… relieved… I have seen all of you, have seen your actions and I would commend you. I have for you, gifts and information. Destroying an Infinity Stone is nigh to impossible, but there is a possibility. The Norns and their Waters of Sight. Whether they will help or not, I do not know…”

“But it’s certainly worth a chance.” Steve said. “Only problem is, we don’t have a ship capable of travelling that far.”

“Not yet, we don’t.” Tony corrected. “The Bleeding Edge suit had the complete designs for Quill’s Benatar and Milano. Give me a year or so and I can build our own Benatar.”

“I…” Steve paused, looking at Tony. “Okay. We’ll leave that to you, recruit whoever you need.” He turned back to Frigga. “Anything else?”

“Thanos is a Titan.” Frigga said. “Killing him is almost as difficult as destroying an Infinity Stone, but restraining him? Even the Olympians were able to do that. With the right equipment, you too can restrain him.” She opened a tiny pouch hanging at her hip and from it, pulled a small box. The box was placed on the floor and she tapped if in a specific place. Then stepped back as it enlarged. Once it was the size of a small car, she tapped a finger against the point where it would be expected to have a lock and a fine seam appeared, cracking the, until now, solid surface. A glance at Bucky and Steve had them stepping forward and heaving the lid up.

“These chains made are from Uru, the hardest metal ever known, the same metal as Mjolnir.” Frigga went on.

“And Stormbreaker…” Steve whispered.

“Yes, the dwarves have Uru for when the Stormbreaker is needed.” Frigga nodded. “These chains are enchanted to only lock around a Titan. And as Thanos is the last of his kind…?”

“They’ll work on him.” Steve gave a grim smile. “Next?”

“I have little more information, that could assist you.” Frigga sighed. “But I do have gifts. Weapons, armour and more.” She pulled a second box from the pouch and once enlarged, she opened it. “I know not people’s names, but I do know descriptives for them. Weapons first. For the Living Legend.” She held up an Asgardian sword and laid it on the table near them.

“That’ll be you, Cap.” Tony nudged him with a shoulder. “J, keep track of who gets what.”

“Yes, Sir.” JARVIS answered.

“For the Soldier.” A pair of knives and an energy gun were laid on the table.

Weapon after weapon was produced and laid on the table, before Frigga pushed the box under that table.

“Next armour.” She said. “I know that some of you have mechanical armour and I would not expect you to forsake that, instead I give you ore that may be incorporated into that armour, not as solid sheets but as engravings and designs, these will protect you against malicious magics and some energy weapons.”

“Some?” Tony asked.

“It will enable your armours to convert the energy into a form that can power your armour, instead of incapacitating it. However, too many hits by such weapons and the protections will be overpowered and rendered useless.” She answered.

“Converter ore, excellent, I can work with that.” Tony nodded. “Any particular designs needed?”

“Yes and no. Designs aren’t technically necessary but using them will strengthen the ore’s capability.” Frigga laid a stone tablet on the table. “There are many designs and each should have a connection to the wearer. Simply place a drop of blood on the tablet and it will show the design that will best connect with that person.”

“Can the… ore… be used for other things?” Tony asked. “Will it protect people who aren’t wearing armour?”

“No, it is specific to armour.” Frigga shook her head. “But be not alarmed, for I have protections for them, too.” Chains, straps and buckles were dropped onto the table. “And for those that prefer their protections to be permanent…” A gallon jug with black markings was placed on the table. “Simply add one drop of this liquid to whatever inks are used. One drop of this, to one hundred of ink.” A second jug, this time with red markings, was placed on the table. “This one is for those treatments that must be internalised.” She faced Steve. “Such as that, which altered your body. It will bind to the treatments and provide protections against magic. Combine one drop of this with ten of that which is to be injected into the body and it will fuse with your genetic structure.” She sighed. “I know that at least two of you have been adversely affected by Asgardian magic and for that, you have my apologies. Consider this… wergild for that insult.”

Clint and Darcy stood, Clint bowed and Darcy curtsied.

“Your apology is not warranted, Allmother.” Darcy said. “Tis Loki and Lorelei that owe their apologies and in truth? Neither have taken action, as yet. While we remember and I… benefit from Lorelei’s action, with what you have given us, today, those actions may not occur in this timestream.”

“Well spoken, daughter.” Frigga smiled.

“Darcy speaks for all of us, Allmother.” Tony said. “We’re trying to avoid Thanos’ actions but we know that certain things are going to happen, regardless of what changes we make.” The sight of a not-quite four-year-old Peter screaming because he’d been bitten by Oscorp’s escaped spider, still made him shudder. “So, while we change things, many things are outside our control.”

“You speak of Loki.” Frigga sighed.

“Not just Loki.” Tony shook his head.

“Thor, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, the Sorcerer Supreme. Loki is only one of many we must deal with, before we deal with Thanos.” Steve said.

“Ah.” Frigga. “I understand. There is so much in front of you…”

“Maybe, but we don’t need to deal with all of it.” Tony sighed. “That’s where we went wrong last time, we tried to do it all, ourselves. Now, we know that much of it will get done, anyway, we’ll still end up at the same point.”

“I had thought you were trying to avoid arriving at that point?”

“We would love to avoid it, but we can’t really see a way around it.”

“Visit the Norns, they may provide additional information.” Frigga paused. “Or they may not, they are not answerable to any and demands upon them tend to fare badly for those doing the demanding.”

“We’ll definitely take that under advisem*nt, Allmother.” Tony gave a head bow.

“My time on Midgard draws to a close, with their permission, I would speak with my daughters and the Valkyrie.” Frigga stepped back from the heavily laden table.

“Over here, Allmother.” Darcy said. “I have tea and treats for us.”

“And what about us, doll?” Bucky asked, pressing a gentle kiss to Darcy’s brow.

“You vultures have your own stuff in the team common room.” She’d barely finished and people were giving Frigga a bow or curtsy and leaving, faster than was probably courteous. Once the room was empty of all but the four women, Darcy lead them to a small seating area. “What’s up, Allmother?” She asked.

“Oh, daughter…” Frigga smiled at Darcy and Jane. She drew out a small box. “The Aether.” She looked at Darcy. “You must take it to the Norns. It and the Time and Space stones.”

“And the… Mind Stone?”

“And the Mind Stone, if you can lay your hands to it.” Frigga nodded.

“We’ll do our best, Allmother.” Darcy replied.

“Oh, daughters, your best is all I ask.” Frigga let her head fall forward and a tear fell from her lashes. “You must go to the desert as you did before. Even now, Thor is pushing at the bounds that Odin has placed upon him. He will soon push beyond them and Odin will be forced to act. It must happen, it is the making of Thor.”

“And the breaking of Loki.” Darcy said.

“I am not certain that it is.” Frigga frowned. “I now see a future where Loki stands beside Thor and your team. When and why this shall happen, I do not know.”

“We’ll be ready when he does.” Darcy said, ignoring Jane’s moue of displeasure.

“Good.” Frigga turned to Brunnhilde. “And you, Valkyrie of Valkyries. You have students here. Darcy and Jane. The Spiderling’s guardian. The Scarlet Witch… I find that a displeasing misnomer. She is not a witch, but a sorceress. The Widows, both the Black and the White. The Mothers and the Rescue. And more will come. The Scientist. The Wasp. The Escaped. The Agent. The Kitten. The General. The Daughters. Teach them. Teach them well.” She paused. “And the Sons, if they would learn, teach them, too.”

Brunnhilde’s eyes widened. “The Sons?”

“If they would learn.” Frigga nodded. “Not all will, nor will all the Daughters. But those that do? Teach them.” She stood and with a flick of her fingers her clothing changed, from soft silks and lace, to sturdy linen, leather and metal. “As Queen of Asgard, I charge you, Brunnhilde, greatest of the Valkyries with the passing of your knowledge to those of this world. If they would learn, teach them. When you have named and trained your successor, you may retire with honour, Daughter of Asgard.” The tendrils of the gold and silver mist of Frigga’s magic circled Valkyrie, waiting for her response.

Valkyrie stood. “As I am commanded, so shall be my actions.” She raised her DragonsFang to her chest in ritual salute. The silver and gold mist circled her and as she spoke, it settled on her skin, giving her an ethereal glow that shimmered in the air and took nearly a minute to fade.

“Well met, Valkyrie of Midgard.” Frigga smiled gently.

“Well met, Allmother of Asgard.” Brunnhilde smiled back.

“One last thing, before I leave.” Frigga handed Darcy a small vial. “This is aerosolised version of the liquid in the red-marked jug, if one were to crack the vial and allow it to escape, it will simulate the conditions that created the Hulk and allow the Hulk and Doctor to merge if that is their combined will. However, I would suggest that the Doctor talk to the Hulk, the Hulk has seen much and may wish to retire. If this is the case, break the vial under pure distilled water and the result will allow the Hulk to fade, but still allow the Doctor access to the body they would have co-inhabited, had they merged fully.”

Darcy blinked. “That would be very helpful, Allmother.”

A small mirror was laid upon the table. “So that we may speak anon, daughters.” Frigga stepped away from the table. “Would someone escort me to a location where Heimdall may send the Bifrost to retrieve me?”

~~~

January 1^st 2006 (Approximately-Maybe-Hopefully…)

“Why have you come to my private quarters, daughter?” The male voice rumbled.

“It is time my sister returned to her family.” A feminine voice answered.

“And this could not be discussed on the control deck?”

“No, father.” She replied. “I have a plan for her retrieval, but for it to work only you and I must know of it.”

“Continue.”

“She runs, she deserts her place at your side. I would bring her back.”

“But…?”

“But do to so is no simple task. The plan I have crafted is not something she would expect from me.”

“What is it?”

“Subterfuge.”

“Subterfuge?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “Allow me a few minutes to explain and I give you my word that Gamora will stand at my side, ready and willing to fight for our family.”

“Huh.” The male grunted and let his head rest against his pillows. “Tell me a story, daughter.”

“You will call me before you, in front of the entirety of your children. There you will task me with retrieving the head of Toric of Barellum.” She said, causing him to grunt again. “I will, of course, attempt to dissuade you from such a mission but you will ignore my objections. You will order me to take a ship and allocate me a reasonable amount of credits, as would be expected for such a mission, and an hour to prepare. Once I leave, I will head to Sanctuary, where I will set word that you are hunting Toric, I will also attempt to send a message to Gamora, warning her that I believe that you have sent me on this mission as punishment for her actions and so that I am elsewise occupied when you go hunting her.”

“Huh… Continue…”

“From Sanctuary, I will go to Nowhere, there I will sell the ship and transfer the credits to another source. I will send another message to Gamora, saying that I am heading for Xandar.”

“Xandar?”

“Yes, the Nova Corps in particular.” She replied. “They have little trust for you and those that follow you, if I can convince them that I am genuine in my attempts to ‘escape’ your control, they will aid me and their aid will convince Gamora of my defection.”

“And this is when you will return with her?”

“No, father.” She shook her head. “That will take time and the Nova Corps are integral to having this work. I will ask that they will ‘hide’ me from you. Likely on some backwater planet. My staying there, will be enough for Gamora to begin to trust me.”

“Hmm… Continue…”

“She will visit and we will talk via communications sets, something I will insist upon. During those visits and messages, I will be able to subtly point out to her the truth behind your actions and validate your reasoning. To gain her trust, it must have validation. Given time, she will see. She will stand at my side when we see you next.”

“Such a plan will take years, daughter.”

“I know.”

“You will have to convince not only your sister, but the Nova Prime and the residents of whatever planet they place you upon.”

“I know. They must truly believe that I am genuine in my hatred and fear of you. As must your Army. Once I have Gamora, if you wish, then they may know.”

“How many years do you expect this to take?”

“Nothing less than ten, but more likely, closer to twenty.”

“And she will fight willingly?”

“Willingly and eagerly.”

“Tell me more, daughter.”

~~~

April 10^th 2006 (Approximately-Maybe-Hopefully…)

The whitehaired woman stared at the com-screen. “Who wants what?” She asked Garthan Saal, the Denarian in charge of the Nova Corps’ interplanetary forces.

“She calls herself Nebula, she’s a Luphom*oid and according to our data, she is also the adopted… or stolen, if you prefer… daughter of Thanos, the Titan.” Denarian Saal replied.

“And she wishes to speak with me? Privately?” Irani Rael asked, more as a statement than as a question.

“She does, Prime.” Saal nodded. “And she’s offering assurances.”

Knowing how dangerous the female was, Rael hesitated. “What type of assurances?”

“She will submit to whatever restraints we require, her only request is that no-one but you hears what she has to say. She does not expect you to be unattended, but requests that those that attend you not be able to hear her. See? Yes, but not hear.”

“Where is she wanting this… meeting to happen?”

“Wherever we want, Prime. She’s prepared to enter the Corps’ Holding facility.”

“She’s really going to let us control everything but who hears her?” Rael blinked in surprise.

“Yes, Prime.”

“Your opinion?”

“Professional or personal?”

“Professional.”

“We’ve been hunting this female for nearly a decade and this is the closest we’ve ever been to catching her. My professional opinion, is to blast her ship out of the sky.” Saal said calmly.

“And your personal opinion?”

“She knows that we’ve been hunting her, knows it and yet she still approaches us.” He sighed. “Personally, I say we listen, if you don’t like what she says, we can catch her before she leaves Xandar, but in truth? I think she’s genuine. Hear her out, any decision we make now, is without whatever information she wants us to have.”

“Set it up.”

~~~

“Such a tale…” Rael whispered. “Wait here, please.” She left the holding cell and approached Saal.

“Well?”

“I most definitely don’t like what she has to say, but…”

“But…?”

“Bad news is rarely liked by those who receive it.” Rael sighed. “Free her, bring her to my office.”

“Prime?”

“She is genuine, she is fleeing Thanos, I understand and support her reasoning, no matter how much I dislike it.” Rael said. “My office, Denarian.”

It took only a few minutes for Rael to reach her office and settle at the desk she infrequently used. Seconds ticked into minutes before Saal and Nebula joined her.

“Nebula, I request your permission to inform Denarian Saal of your plan.” Rael said bluntly.

“Why?”

“I would have his opinion and his thoughts on the matter. Lying to Thanos is a bold move, but what you’re requesting us to do to you is… irreversible…”

“I am aware.” Nebula said blankly.

“Denarian Saal is the one that can make this happen, his wife is the senior healer at our primary healing facility, only they have the ability to do what you want.”

“Agreed, tell him.” Nebula nodded.

~~~

“Irreversible is right.” Saal sighed. “But why this particular man? Why use him as your basis?”

“He… he is… important… to me…” Nebula forced the words out.

“Enough to use him as the basis of a complete cellular rewrite?” Saal asked.

“Yes.” Nebula nodded. “Finding a female Terran suitable, is going to be considerably more difficult, however.”

“No, it isn’t.” Saal sighed. “My wife is Terran and I think that she’d be prepared to assist us. How you plan to have Terra ready to face Thanos, I don’t know.”

“Stark.”

“The man you plan to use for cellular data?” Rael asked.

“Yes. What you state Earth’s technological levels to be and what I… remember them to be, at this point in time…? They are different. Further analysis of the data indicates that Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man, is predominantly responsible.”

“Is it possible that he remembers what you remember?” Rael asked.

“I do not know.” Nebula let her eyes close. “But I hope so.”

“Then we will help you.” Saal said. “For the record? Officially, I think this is a bad idea. Unofficially, I have to agree, Thanos with access to Infinity Stones is worse. Come, I’ll take you to my wife.”

~~~

June 2^nd 2006

“I think we’re out of options, Coulson.” Fury sighed.

“You ready to try Tony Stark, now?” Coulson asked.

“Yeah, call him. Set up a meeting.”

Chapter 24

Chapter Text

May 2nd 2006

“I think we’re out of options, Coulson.” Fury sighed.

“You ready to try Tony Stark, now?” Coulson asked.

“Yeah, call him. Set up a meeting.”

~~~

May 4^th 2006

Tony sighed and stepped into the office. “Sorry for the holdup, traffic’s a bitch and so’s May, when she doesn’t get her candied peppers, on time.”

“Candied peppers?” Coulson asked before he could stop himself.

“Cravings. She’s pregnant, eight months along and the only place that sells them is in Harlem.” Tony explained.

Fury barely blinked, while Coulson frowned.

“So, she sent you for them?” The younger of the two men already in Tony’s office, asked.

“Nope, not me, her baby-daddy is my driver and I’ve learnt that keeping pregnant women happy is worth a short delay.”

Coulson nodded. “Fair enough.”

“So, what can I do for you, this evening, Agent Agent?” Tony was fine with Fury letting Coulson do the talking.

“We’re in the process of creating a new… call it a new department, not quite accurate but near enough for this discussion.” Coulson said. “Search, Rescue and Retrieval. Maybe. The name might change, yet.”

Tony let all levity fade away and seriousness come to the fore. “To what end?”

“During the last few years, we’ve been… cleaning house, to coin a phrase.” Coulson replied. “Unfortunately, a few times we’ve only found a… rat… while they were on undercover missions with a… non-rat, that could be compromised by the circ*mstances of that mission. And in a couple of cases, the rat has been actively targeting our non-rat and we would have lost them to the rat and their fellow… rodents.”

“Talk about not being nice.” Tony muttered.

“Retrieving both the rat and our non-rat, tends to be difficult, as these rats like to hide themselves and their involuntary converts, extremely well.” Coulson ignored Tony’s comment. “We need a way to locate those hidden rat dens, we have the man power to raid them, but we have to find them first. We’re here to speak to you about having you build SHIELD some type of device or software that can locate those hidden dens, or at least find our non-rats, before it’s too late.”

“Finding hidden things is a Stark specialty.” Tony grinned.

“Talking of finding things?” Coulson cast a lightening fast glance at Fury. “We’ve noticed that you haven’t sent ships to the Arctic, so far, this summer? We’d like the opportunity to take on that role. Consider it a chance to field test any devices you come up with.”

Fury sat forward. “We also like to speak to you about the Avenger Initiative.”

“The what now?” Tony made himself blink.

“The Avengers Initiative.” Fury said. “Your manned suits are revolutionary and we believe that you would be ideal for the Initiative.”

“You’ve also got a lot of the skills that we’re looking for, outside of the suits.” Coulson went on. “Heroes and villains. SHIELD’s been trying to keep track of who’s who. And you seem to drop down on the hero side of things.”

“Heroes?” Tony sounded sceptical.

“It’s a big world, Stark and an even bigger universe.” Fury said. “The chances that we’re alone are… slim.”

“Oh, I know…” Tony muttered. “I have two astrophysicists on staff.”

“Two?” Fury blinked.

“His wife,” he gestured to Bucky, “and her best friend.”

“Ah.” Fury let his lips twitch, that would make this a lot easier. “We’re setting up a team to respond to international and extra-terrestrial threats not just against America but the world as a whole. As yet we only have a few prospects but we plan to increase that until we have suitable team.”

“Who’s on your list?” Tony asked curiously. They’d changed things by having Clint and Nat not join SHIELD, so who would SHIELD turn to?

“Agent Coulson will be in command and so far, we only have Elena Rodriguez, that’s signed on. She’s speed enhanced. We’d like to locate Captain Rogers to be the On-field Commander, if we can find him.”

“And I believe that Barton, as well as yourself, would be ideal additions.” Coulson added.

“Finding Rogers isn’t that hard.” Tony shrugged.

“No-one’s managed to do so, until now. But we’re hopeful and we’re prepared to allocate a team to that goal until we do.” Fury continued.

“Why?” Tony frowned.

“He’d be a great asset to whatever team we put together.” Fury started.

“No, not what I meant.” Tony shook his head. “I mean why put a team together, it’s not like he’s hard to find, or anything.”

“Captain Steve Rogers has been missing for over sixty years, Dr Stark.” Fury chided.

“Yeah, no.” Tony snorted. “I know where he is.”

“Really…?” Fury wasn’t quite sneering but his condescending tone still rubbed Tony the wrong way.

“Really.” Tony smirked.

“And where… exactly… would that be?” Coulson knew enough of Tony to be wary of that smirk.

“What’s the time?”

“The time? What the time got to do with where Captain Rogers is?” Coulson was confused.

“If it's before 5pm he's at the Bayonne PCYC, teaching self-defence for the elderly but if it's after 5.30pm, he's at the community college teaching art for underprivileged kids. If it's after 7pm he's back at the PCYC teaching self-defence for abused women.”

Bucky spoke up. “It better not be after 7pm, or I'll be late for my cooking class.”

Tony laughs. "Everyone wants Buck to teach them how to make decent pappardelle."

“What?” Fury looked from Tony to Bucky and back. “What are you on about?”

“Oh, my God…” Coulson gasped, his eyes focused solely on Bucky.

“Cheese?”

“Look at him.” Coulson pointed at Bucky. “Look at him, closely.”

Fury focused his eye on Bucky, who gave the twist of his lips that Darcy called his ‘fig jam’ smirk. That eye widened and blinked in shock.

“What the hell…?” He whispered. “James Barnes.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah?” Bucky asked.

“James Buchannan Barnes.”

“Yeah.”

“When…?” Coulson asked.

“How the hell…?” Fury asked.

Tony and Bucky exchanged glances and Tony sighed when Bucky nodded to him. “Dammit.” He drew in a deep breath. “1945. After Rogers brought in Arnim Zola, he reported that James Barnes and Peter Fawkner both fell from the train, that Zola had been on. Right?” He looked at Coulson for confirmation and the man nodded. “Right. So, while Phillips and Roger led a raid on Schmidt’s mountain-fortress, dad and a few of the discharged 107^th who hadn’t yet been shipped out, went to retrieve the bodies of the two fallen men, they’d both been POWs at Azzano and everyone felt they shouldn’t be left behind, even dead. Fawkner was dead, dad said he was found in pieces, in about five or six places. But Barnes? He was still alive.”

Both Fury and Coulson gasped and spoke pretty much at the same time.

“What?” Fury said, flatly.

“How?” Coulson asked.

“The cold.” Tony said. “Hypothermia had set in and lowered his body temp enough to stop him from bleeding out when his arm was blunt-force amputated. Dad theorised that dropping him into cryogenic stasis, by freezing him in ice-water, would keep him alive long enough to get him medical treatment. Of course, when they got back to base, Phillips told dad that Steve did a nosedive in Schmidt’s plane and suddenly, Buck’s not nearly as important. After all, he was stable, frozen but stable and Steve was in an unknown condition in an unknown location.”

“Oh, God…” Coulson whispered. Fury seemed incapable of speaking.

“Buck went into a proper cryo-stasis pod as soon as possible, dad wasn’t sure how to go about defrosting him, his injuries were… serious…” Tony winced. “And he was kind of… forgotten… Locating and retrieving Steve became dad’s obsession. Until I was twenty…”

“What happened then?” Coulson was leaning forward, eager to know.

“Early January 1991, I took over the bunker behind the Mansion.” Tony shrugged. “Guess what was being stored in there?”

“Barnes’ stasis pod?” Fury managed to speak.

“It took months to get everything in place, to be ready. But December 1991 saw Buck being thawed out and treated. It took another six months for me to design and build him a working prosthetic that linked to his nervous system, then I had to find someone to actually do the surgery… off the books… so to speak. Lucas Charmberson is dead now, but he did good work. Good enough that unless Buck does something stupid, dad and I can maintain Buck’s arm in working order.” Tony never actually answered Fury’s question and while all the information he’d given was true, it didn’t all apply to Bucky and his arm.

“Oh, Lord…”

“We kept doing the trips to the arctic and I used them as testing grounds for the DoD drones. In 2000 we got lucky and we found Schmidt’s plane. Buck was one of those that went in, on recon. A number of bombs were found, along with various different weapons.” Tony paused when Bucky growled. “What?” He asked.

“Bloody punk had taken my gun and knife and left his own back at base.” Bucky muttered.

“Oh, yeah, I’d forgotten. You still owe him a thumping for that, according to Dum-dum’s grandkids.” Tony snickered.

“Excuse me?” Coulson asked.

“One of the guns found,” Tony explained, “was initially thought to be Steve’s service pistol until Buck got a look at it, it was his and not Steve’s, as was the bowie knife.” Coulson grunted in understanding. “Yeah, so like I said, lots of weapons and a few bombs were found. Plus, Steve Rogers. Curled up in a ball, clutching his shield to his chest like it was a blanket, frozen in a block of ice. Buck took a few photos for prosperity… and blackmail purposes…” Bucky snorted and looked away from Tony, an innocent expression on his face. “If your kids can’t pull that off, neither can you, snowflake.” He told the WWII vet, before turning back to Fury and Coulson. “We got a retrieval team to bring him back, we intended to see him cremated and buried, as per his wishes. He’d said to Phillips, dad and Peggy, that he’d already given his body to science once, they weren’t getting it a second time. Everything else went to the DoD.”

“Understandable.” Coulson nodded.

“Yeah.” Tony agreed. “But as the mortician was prepping Steve, a process that involved removing the ice from around him, his injuries were revealed and that changed everything.”

“Why?” Fury asked.

“A cut on his shoulder started to bleed.” Tony said.

Coulson frowned and Fury ’s eye widened.

“Bleed?” Coulson asked.

“He was alive?” Fury said at the same time.

“Very much so.” Tony said. “And by all appearances, he hasn’t aged a since day, since he was forced to put the plane down. A medical team took over at that point, keeping him sedated while they treated his injuries and brought his body back up to something approaching normal ranges. It took nearly a week before he woke and the one of the first things he did, was ask us to not let the military know he’d been found, not until he was fully fit. The medical team expected that to take at least three months, or even more. Then there was a physical therapist, who worked with him to regain the muscle control that fifty-five years of no movement caused. He’d just decided that he was ready to face the DoD, when 9/11 hit.” Again, all true, but not the entirety of it.

Fury grimaced.

“Yeah, so we waited a bit longer.” Tony said. “December that year, the DoD were informed and Steve was officially discharged, his records were updated and he was released under his own cognisance. His back pay and the reparation pay for the Army not actually going looking for him, were quite substantial. He bought the building, just on the corner,” Tony looked out the nearest window to ensure he was gesturing in the right direction, before jerking a thumb off to his left, “where he’s opened himself an art gallery and supplies shop.”

“But you said… Bayonne…? Didn’t you?” Coulson asked.

“I did.” Tony nodded. “When Buck first started as my bodyguard, he dragged a would-be kidnapper from our factory there, into the local station and forced the idiot to tell the officers, what he’d done and what he’d planned to do. One of the officers’ wives was a history teacher and her class had just been studying the Howling Commandos and their impact on the war. The officer recognised Buck and had a panic attack over it, until Buck calmed him down and explained what had happened.”

“The public know?” Fury asked.

“Yes and no.” Tony held up a hand when it looked like Fury was going to object. “The DoD were responsible for both Buck and Steve’s lives being returned to them. As per the DoD's recommendation, we haven’t made any sort of public announcement and don’t plan to, but at the same time, they advised that we not hide it from those that figure it out for themselves.”

“Ah.” Fury grunted.

“That would be why you’re as well trained as you are?” Coulson asked.

“I’ve worked with both Buck and another trainer on a regular basis and later with Steve.” Tony said. “But if you think I’m good, you need to see Buck’s great-granddaughters.”

“Great-granddaughters?” Fury demanded.

“Yeah, Nat and Lena.” Tony said. “Buck was a little too friendly with a girl in Phillips’ office. Dad kept tabs on her and her daughter until the daughter’s death in 1973. He contacted Buck’s granddaughter and while she kept in contact, she stayed in Europe. She married and had two girls of her own and named dad as in-loco-parentis for them, in the event of emergency. Which was a good thing. Sofia and her husband were killed in a car crash in 1990. Dad set the girls up with a family friend and kept them under Family Services’ radar and when Buck was thawed, he was a little shocked to find he had great granddaughters. But other than visiting the from time to time, he didn’t interfere in their lives.”

“But then it came time for Natashalie to go to high school.” Buck said. “The local high school was okay, but both Nat and Lena are above average students, so it was decided that they’d come to New York, for school. But I was still having issues with the whole situation and living in Tony's spare room, so I asked Clint and Laura to be their guardians.”

“Then in 1999, Clint was told that his brother, who was believed to be living in Sokovia under forged documents... was killed, along with his wife and that his two children were in danger of being sent to an already severely overcrowded orphanage. But due to the forged documents thing, it took a little delicate paperwork dancing to get Wanda and Pietro brought over and Clint registered as their guardians.”

“They’re good kids.” Coulson nodded. “But I never realised how they were connected, I just assumed that they were all foster children.”

“You’ve met them?” Fury asked, turning to look at his 2IC.

“Oh, yes, a number of times.” Coulson said. “Usually it’s over the weekend of Memorial Day or the 4^th of July. Sometimes I come here, sometimes they come to my place.”

“How old are these kids?” Fury asked, annoyed that he knew nothing about any of this.

“Nat’s twenty-two, Lena is seventeen and Wanda and Pietro are sixteen.” Buck answered. “Although... Word of warning? Don’t call any of them kids.”

“Steve made that mistake, last year.” Tony snorted.

“What did they do to him?” Coulson knew what Clint's pranks were like.

“Tied him to a rope that suspended him over the quarry, on Tony’s place, up-state. And left him there.” Buck laughed. “Took him an hour to get out of the ropes and climb back to solid ground.”

“They weren’t afraid of him falling?” Coulson asked.

“No, not really. They made sure that his rope was above the flooded quarry. If he fell, he’d only land in water.” Bucky shrugged. “And bluntly, he deserved it. He’s trained with them since he woke up and still tried to pull the ‘you’re not old enough for this’, sh*t. It didn’t go down well.”

“Sounds like it.” Coulson’s lips twitched in amusem*nt.

The two SHIELD men exchanged a long speaking look and eventually Fury nodded.

“Well, it sounds like we don’t need to purchase a ship for an arctic hunt, but we still need something to help us locate our people. Can you help?” Coulson asked.

“Of course, I can help.” Tony said. “I’ve developed something similar for the DoD but I’ll make some tweaks to it for you. It sounds like your rats like to hide their prizes underground and the DoD stuff doesn’t come with ground penetrating sonar, but… I’m not sure that will actually help you, let me think on that for a few days and I’ll get back to you with a working prototype.”

“Excellent.” Coulson smiled his blandest smile. “And the Avengers Initiative? Would you be prepared to talk with us about that?” He looked from Tony to Bucky and back. “Do you think Captain Rogers would meet with us?”

“We would, but…” Tony paused made a pained face. “It won’t be just the three of us you’ll be meeting. Nor, just us and Clint.” He added. “It’ll be the whole family. Our wives and children, and in the case of Buck here, his great-granddaughters, too. Plus, our primary trainer as well.”

“Aren’t Barnes and Rogers your primary trainers?” Fury asked.

“Oh, hell no.” Bucky laughed. “That’s Valkyrie’s job, not ours. Steve’s got his shop and classes and most of my time is chasing this idiot.” He nodded towards Tony.

“Valkyrie?” Coulson blinked. “A rather distinctive name.”

“Not her name, just what we call her.” Tony shook his head. “Her name’s Brunnhilde, Brunnhilde Helmsdottir.” He laughed. “It’s fake, but given her history, we’re quite happy for her to keep it.”

“Only part of it’s fake.” Bucky corrected. “Her name is Brunnhilde, it’s just the Helmsdottir bit that’s fake.”

“Why?” Coulson asked.

“Initially, dad suspected that she was a Red Room graduate, but there’s a few issues with that.” Tony explained. “One she doesn’t speak Russian or any of the soviet era languages. She does, however speak Swedish and Norwegian like a native. Her English is formal, finishing school formal. And she’s been trained in warfare, not modern warfare, though. We’re talking swords and daggers and fighting from horseback, stuff. But that doesn’t stop her from being a Master at hand-to-hand stuff. She can put Rogers on the ground in seconds, so it’s likely that she’s been enhanced. But in the time that she’s been with us, which is… um… way before I was twenty… She’s only interested in teaching. The moment we start talking anything outside of defence or security, she’s up and off. Usually, headed for the roof or the gym.”

“And this doesn’t worry you?” Fury asked.

“Yes, it worries us, not because of her lack of Id, but the fact that someone took a young child and indoctrinated her into becoming a warrior. That’s what Brunnhilde calls herself, a Warrior… with a capital ‘W’, even.” Tony snapped. “Whoever taught her, forced her to train with swords, not wooden swords but cut-you-in-half swords.”

“And she’s scarily good at it.” Bucky added.

“Like I said, we think she’s enhanced, we know that she’s a lot older than she appears.” Tony went on with the statement that they’d planned in advance. “I’ve located images of her, looking exactly as she does right now, that are documented as being taken in 1905. She was clearly visible as a member of Queen Maude’s entourage, possibly a bodyguard.”

“Queen Maude?” Coulson asked.

“Welsh Princess that married Prince Carl of Denmark, he went on to become King Haakon VII of Norway.” Tony said. “There’s painted images from England and Norway that go back another hundred years, that bear an uncanny resemblance to her, but… paintings aren’t photographic evidence.”

“Have you asked her?”

“We have.” Tony nodded. “All she’ll say is that she had shield-sisters and that while she might be the last of them, she won’t be the last Valkyrie.”

“Then she started training the girls in whatever she can.” Bucky grunted.

“Do you think she’d be interested in showing what she knows?” Coulson was curious.

“Sure.” Tony said. “But not down here in the City. We’re heading up to the lake house, from the 12^th. You’re welcome to join us. If you want to bring a couple of extra bodies for educational purposes, that’s fine, too. Just drop us a line with how many we’ll need to accommodate. Space can be limited when we all get together.”

“The two of us and… four(?) more?” Coulson looked to Fury for confirmation of numbers and the other man nodded. “At most, four more.”

“Cool bananas.” Tony nodded and made a note on his phone. “Don’t forget to bring you stuff on the Initiative, we can hammer out some details, while your kids get taught some manners.”

Chapter 25

Chapter Text

“We have.” Tony nodded. “All she’ll say is that she had shield-sisters and that while she might be the last of them, she won’t be the last Valkyrie.”

“Then she started training the girls in whatever she can.” Bucky grunted.

“Do you think she’d be interested in showing what she knows?” Coulson was curious.

“Sure.” Tony said. “But not down here in the City. We’re heading up to the lake house, from the 12^th. You’re welcome to join us. If you want to bring a couple of extra bodies for educational purposes, that’s fine, too. Just drop us a line with how many we’ll need to accommodate. Space can be limited when we all get together.”

“The two of us and… four(?) more?” Coulson looked to Fury for confirmation of numbers and the other man nodded. “At most, four more.”

“Cool bananas.” Tony nodded and made a note on his phone. “Don’t forget to bring you stuff on the Initiative, we can hammer out some details, while your kids get taught some manners.”

~~~

May 6^th 2006

Denarian Saal frowned. “Do you understand any of this? It makes little sense to me.”

“I do.” Nebula replied.

“How do we work out if he remembers that other future, like you do?” Irani Rael asked.

“I am uncertain…” Nebula replied. “Analysis of the data that you have provided indicates both that he has and also that he hasn’t.”

“Is there anyone that you can say, conclusively, has?” Saal asked.

“Someone that would trust you?” Rael added.

“I doubt that any of them…” Nebula paused as something occurred to her. “You can access Terra’s information network, correct?”

“Yes.” Saal replied.

“This woman?” Nebula touched a face, in the background of the larger image. “Give me everything you can, on her…”

“Why?” Saal asked, even as he touched screens and slid files and images towards the area at Nebula’s left.

Nebula studied the first information file and tilted her head in consideration. “Her name, when I returned Stark to Terra, was Natasha Romanov.”

“Yet this information states, that it is Natashalie Rushmanov.” Rael stood beside Nebula and looked at the same information.

“You think that she may remember, too?” Saal asked.

“Natashalie was a… pet name?... that Stark called her.” Nebula said before jerking. “Stop!” She lifted a finger and said, “her,” pointing at another image, this time of a woman in her mid to late twenties.

“Darcy Anne Lewis, married to James -”

“James Buchannan Barnes.” Nebula answered. “That’s not possible.”

“Why do you say that?” Saal turned from his holo-screens to face her.

“That’s what she looked like when I met her.” Nebula answered. “And I didn’t meet her until after Thanos was killed.”

“Ah…?” Rael made a confused sound.

“At this point in time, she should be a child, not yet having reached maturity.” Nebula said.

“Ah…” This time Rael understood.

“Exactly.” Nebula nodded.

“Would you like us to contact her?” Saal asked.

“You have the means?”

“We do. Although, at this distance, it will be audio only.”

“And the time lag?”

“No lag. For audio, we can bounce off of pre-existing relays. Visual would require buffering to a relay before access.” Saal replied.

“Audio is fine, but not her. The other woman, Natashalie.” Nebula indicated towards the redhead. “Please.” She forced herself to remember the courtesies that Stark, that Tony said most people used.

“Certainly.” Saal nodded. “It will take a moment for the connection to stabilise.” He gave a satisfied smile when the link connected and an oscillographic imageappeared on a holo-screen in front of Nebula.

“Hello? Who is this?” The voice was exactly what Nebula remembered.

“I wish to come in, Romanov.”

“Who is… Nebula?” Natashalie exclaimed.

“I wish to come in.” Nebula repeated. “How can this be achieved?”

“Come in?”

“Yes.” Nebula said. “I have left Thanos’ service, he is under the impression that I am on a long-term mission to re-acquire Gamora. He is not expecting my return for at least two decades. I will not return to him, ever.”

“I understand.” Natashalie said, her voice now calm. “Where are you, now, and are you safe?”

“Currently, I am on Xandar.” Nebula answered. “Nova Prime and Denarian Saal are assisting me. We have the beginnings of a plan for altering my cellular biology.”

“To what end?”

“To give me the physical and biological appearance of a Terran.”

“How?” Natashalie asked.

“By rewriting my cellular data, what you call DNA.” Nebula replied. “It will alter me completely. I will no longer be a luphom*oid, but a Terran.”

“Rewriting…?” Natashalie paused. “What will that do to you?”

“It will make her completely and utterly a Terran.” Rael spoke. “I am Irani Rael, Nova Prime, Commander of the of the Nova Corps. We are the…” She paused, not knowing the Terran equivalent.

“They are the intergalactic version of what the Dora Milaje and the Avengers are.” Nebula said. “With more emphasis on following the laws of whatever particular planet they’re on.”

“Police.” Natashalie grunted.

“And more, but yes.” Nebula agreed.

“How do they plan to rewrite your DNA?”

“I do not understand the exact particulars, but they have a device that breaks the genetic record down beyond the cellular level, to the…. atomic(?) level. Is that the correct word?” Nebula didn’t wait for Natashalie to answer. “Their machine can remove the information that determines my species and rewrite it with Terran information.”

“It will be an extremely painful process and will alter Nebula’s appearance significantly.” Rael offered. “It is unlikely to alter her actual bone structure, but will alter her skin, hair and eyes. Also, depending on how long ago her arm was removed and… when and what organs were removed, the process may attempt to regrow them.”

“May?”

“Nebula wishes to use genetic data from Anthony Stark and Ava Weldham as her basis. We know that Ava has all her limbs and organs, so it will depend on Stark having his, as to whether or not the rewrite will recognise what organs she should have, that she doesn’t, currently.” Rael said. “Unfortunately, we are lacking when it comes to Stark’s genetic make-up, to use him as a donor, it would be easier and less painful for Nebula, if we were to have a sample of his blood or at the very least an image of his genetic coding.”

There was a pause as Natashalie thought about what they said and JARVIS translating it into something she could understand. “You want Tony as your father?” She asked.

“Yes.” Nebula replied.

“What of a mother?”

“My wife is Terran.” Saal said. “Many years ago, she was removed from Terra by slavers, the Corps apprehended those involved and the victims were given the chance to return to their homes. Ava rejected the offer, she had been parentless and homeless prior to her removal and in her own words, Earth held nothing for her to go back to.”

“Ah.” Natashalie grunted. “That, I can understand.”

“Yes.” Saal said. “We talked about it and while Ava has no wish to return to Terra, ever, she is a healer and helping people is her calling. Offering up her genetic coding is extreme, true, but not as extreme as asking for a cellular rewrite to be performed on oneself.”

“Right…” Natashalie made an understanding noise. “How long does it take for the… rewrite… to happen?”

“Twelve hours, once we have the data.” Saal said.

“And how long would it take for someone to physically fetch a blood sample?”

“There are currently only five people aware of this… plan. The four of us and Ava.” Saal said. “It would mean that someone, probably myself, would have to travel to Terra, meet with Stark, retrieve the sample and return to Xandar. That would take time. Approximately three-hundred and twenty-two hours.”

“Hmm…” Natashalie made an objectionable noise. “This… number, link, connection? Can data be sent via it?”

“Yes.”

“Prepare for incoming information.” Natashalie said. “A basic translation of human DNA structure and how we read it and a copy of Tony’s DNA. If that’s not enough, then we’ll look at a physical pickup.”

“Data package, received, forwarding to Ava.” Saal said. “We’ll know within an hour if it’s enough information or not.”

“If it’s enough and Nebula, you’re okay with it, go ahead. Saal? I’ll need all the information that your wife is able to give me, about who she was, before she left Earth. With this, I can have JARVIS, Tony’s AI, create a complete history for Nebula. I’ll need to bring JARVIS in on this. And probably a few others.”

“What is an AI? I am unfamiliar with this abbreviation.” Saal asked.

“JARVIS is an AI, an Artificial Intelligence.” Natashalie explained. “A completely electronic being, with thoughts, feelings and emotions, but without a physical body.”

“A electronic sentience?” Rael gasped, she hadn't expected Terra to have progressed that far.

“Yes.” Natashalie confirmed. “You that said this… process would be painful for Nebula. How painful?”

“Very.” Saal replied. “It will rewrite her entire body, from the inside out.”

“I see…”

“We thank you for your assistance.” Rael said. “There is one matter that must be discussed with Stark directly, however. And that is his consent to having his genetic code used in Nebula’s rewrite. The rewrite is considered extreme for more than just altering species. It also alters the physical age of the recipient.”

“Why?”

“Our device…” Rael hesitated, “creates a simulation of the blending and maturation of the donated codes, from conception to the current age of the recipient. But it halts the external process at the point where the majority of development is complete. This is usually, shortly before a being reaches full maturation, irrespective of the actual years the recipient has lived. In the case of Terran females, it is somewhere in the approximation of fifteen to eighteen Terran years.”

“So, Nebula would be younger, somewhere between fifteen and eighteen?” Natashalie asked.

“Yes. But without Stark’s consent we cannot proceed any further.”

“Will you accept a sound recording of him stating that he considers himself to be her father?”

“Why not allow us to speak to him, directly?”

“Two reasons.” Natashalie replied. “One, he’s not here. He’s in meetings with military leaders in regard to providing them with equipment he’s designed. And two… he misses her and we’d like to give him a pleasant surprise.”

“I see…” Rael mused.

“The recording is audio and visual, taken within the last twenty-four hours.” Natashalie said. “And I can have his wife verify it.”

“Do you believe that Stark would welcome Nebula as his child?”

“I do.” Natashalie replied firmly. “I have heard him say that he had four children and only one of them shared his blood. Another time I heard him talk of his sons, Peter and Harley and of his daughters, Morgan and Nebula. I can send a copy of that conversation.”

“He would not be concerned that you are sharing private information?”

“I’ll run it by his wife, first, but given the circ*mstances? No, I don’t believe he would be.”

“We would need to speak directly with his wife, just to confirm that, you understand?” Saal asked.

“I do.”

“Excellent.” Saal let a smile fill his voice. “How long will it take you to reach his wife and inform her of this matter? We can contact you sometime after that.”

“Just a moment.” Natashalie’s voice became distant from the communications device when she spoke next. “JARVIS? Have you been keeping Pepper in the loop on this?”

“Yes, Miss Natashalie, I have. Ms Potts is already on route to you and her arrival is expected to be within the next three minutes.” A masculine voice said.

“Thanks, JARVIS.” There was a pause and Natashalie’s voice returned. “Tony’s wife, Pepper, is one her way to me and should be here in the next couple of minutes. JARVIS has been keeping her informed of this conversation and you’ll be able to clarify that with her, yourselves.”

“Thank you.” Nebula said.

“While we’re waiting, letting get started on the background history for you.” Natashalie said. “Until the rewrite is complete, we can’t be exactly certain of your age but we can at least get started on filling in other details.”

A soft ding sounded at Saal’s elbow.

He raised a hand from the holo-screen, enough to catch Rael’s attention. “Excuse me for a moment, it’s Ava.” He stepped off to one side of the room. “Ava?”

“You didn’t warn me that she wanted to use Tony Stark as her second donor, Garth.” Ava didn’t bother with a greeting.

“Does it make a difference?”

“Only in that you need to confirm his consent. He’s wealthy enough that using his code without his consent would be on a level with using Irani’s or yours.”

“Ah. I’ll be speaking with his wife in a few moments and we already have an audio-visual recording of him calling the recipient, his daughter. Will that suffice?”

“Why not speak to him directly?”

“They wish to give him this as a gift and believe that he will welcome it as that.”

“I want to view the recording and the conversation with his wife.”

“With his wife, it will be audio only, however we have enough information on her to verify her identity, simply by her voice.”

“If you verify it, I’ll accept that, but I will insist on, at least, viewing and hearing recordings… Even if we won’t be documenting this case.” The latter comment was said with a sigh of resignation.

“The Corps prides itself on having our records available to the public, my heart, documenting this case would mean that the being hunting this female, would be able to locate her and given the difference between luphom*oid and Terran, she would be vulnerable to attack.” Saal reminded his wife.

“I know, dear.” Ava sighed. “I know and agree, but I am a creature of rules and rules says that all cases must be documented. Not doing so, is… frustrating.”

“I understand, my heart, but needs must be taken into consideration.”

“Very well.” Ava nodded. “The information provided is sufficient for a cellular rewrite, blood would make it easier, but I understand that distance is a factor. If he was to be her only donor, blood would be essential, but with two donors, variance is expected and allowed for. We will need to provide them with images of the girl during the process, for simulation of a visual history.”

“Agreed. But the information is enough?”

“It is, we can start the procedure any time the girl wishes.” Ava said.

“I’ll confirm and inform you of a time.” Saal said.

~~~

May 7^th 2006

“Do you have a… plan for integrating, once Nebula arrives on Terra?” Rael asked, studying the newly formed Terran.

“We do.” Natashalie replied. “Her history is complete, the entire compound is aware of her imminent arrival, all bar Tony. As she will be arriving in front of outside public, we want his reaction to be genuine. He will be only told a few seconds before he actually sees her, enough that his apparent shock with be commensurate with what would be expected of such an event.” She paused. “With Nebula’s ‘adoptive mother' already having been deceased, having her and her 'father’ involved in a traffic accident in… where was it? Oh, right, Los Angeles… the accident happened late yesterday and JARVIS added her and her ‘adoptive father’ to the victim list and even managed to blend in a few images of them. It made sense to use pre-existing people. We’ve added documentation to state that Nebula was transported to hospital, along with a number of other survivors, before being transferred to a private hospital, further away. The hospital is extremely private and staff are unable to acknowledge whether or not Nebula was ever actually there. The hospital itself is in New Mexico, one of our southern states and where we would recommend your transport land. Pepper has already assigned a pilot to fly the plane and Happy will accompany Nebula from your transport to the house in New York, as we will be up at the lake house by the time you touch down in New Mexico.”

“And your reasoning for us landing in such a remote location, at such distant to where you currently are?” Saal asked.

“Ah, we need to create a visible chain of events.” Natashalie said. “Given the panic over the accident, forgetting Nebula and her parents’ faces will be understandable. We need to have her firmly fixed in the digital records before she arrives here, so that when people question, ‘did I meet that girl?’, it won’t matter, the records will support her.”

“And how will she get from… New Mexico(?) to you?” Rael asked.

“The hospital she will be ‘transferred’ to, is in New Mexico. A car will leave Albuquerque with Happy driving, to any outsiders watching, it will look like he is going to collect Nebula from that hospital, but instead, he’ll meet you transport in the hills.” She paused. “We chose the hill region as it will provide some radar distortion and with JARVIS’ assistance, this should render your transport invisible. Once Happy arrives, Nebula will go with him and you can return to Xandar. Happy will drive Nebula back to Albuquerque, to a smaller, private airfield, where a Iron Technologies jet will be waiting for them. He will accompany Nebula, by air, to the airfield Stark Industries and Iron Technologies prefer to use, in greater New York, once landed, they will transfer to a known Iron Tech vehicle and Happy will drive them from New York City, to the lake house.”

“And Stark being the only one surprised, won’t raise alarm?” Saal inquired.

“No, because we’ll state that we knew in advance but that we wanted to surprise Tony. By then Pepper will have the ‘official’ documentation stating that Tony has custody of Nebula, using paternal DNA testing as grounds for applying for custody.” She sighed. “The video of Nebula undergoing the rewrite has enabled JARVIS to create images of Nebula and Tony… and most of us, too… to cover most of her ‘life’, this provides a visual history of their connection while the tests provide a genetic one. And the after-effects of the rewrite won’t have worn off, completely, which to outsiders will look like the after-effects of the vehicle accident.”

“Excellent.” Saal said, quietly. “We will be departing from here, in approximately one hour. Transport time to Terra will be one-hundred and fifty-seven hours and twelve minutes.”

“Happy will have the beacon that you sent the specs for and will be in place in one-hundred and fifty-six hours, from now. Just to be certain that we don’t have any conflict as far as time management and recognition is concerned.”

“Understood. We’ll be there.” Saal said and cut the connection. “I never expected that being promoted to Denarian, would require me to be personal pilot to a child, to a planet that barely reaches level three, halfway across the galaxy.”

Rael smiled at him. “Such are the consequences of helping those most vulnerable, Denarian Saal.”

“Oh, the sarcasm.” He replied in a monotone voice.

~~~

May 13^th 2006

“Agent Agent, Director, welcome to Iron Tech’s Compound.” Tony called out, as Coulson and Fury emerged from a standard black SUV.

~~~

“Welcome home, Miss Nebula, you look tired, why don’t you climb in and get some sleep?” Harry turned from the pretty young redhead to the taller male. “Welcome to Earth, Denarian Saal.” Happy stood in front of the black hire-car. “We have a few gifts for you to take back with you. For Irani, Ava and yourself. Not official ones, personal ones of thanks from our families.” The last comment was hastily added when Happy saw Saal begin to frown, a frown that cleared as Happy spoke.

“Thanks are not necessary, Chief Hogan.” Saal replied.

“Maybe not, but we still want you to have them.” Happy gestured to the side of the car and Saal’s eyes narrowed. There was a collection of plants and seeds in bags. “All have been sterilised to remove parasites and have bare roots to avoid transporting bacteria.”

“My word…” Saal whispered. “That is a thanks worthy of a daughter. Plants are… much valued gifts.”

Happy heaved up a box and carefully placed it on the transports ramp. Doing so, prompted Saal and for a few minutes the two men worked silently to move the containers.

“Keep in touch, you’ll always be welcome here.” Happy nodded and stepped back. “If there’s anything that your wife wants from Earth, let us know and we’ll see what we can do towards getting it for her.”

“A meezer.” Saal said. “I don’t know what it is, but she has said many times that the only things that she misses from Terra, are her grandmother’s meezer and rocker. She missed holding the meezer in the rocker. If you can figure that out, I would be most appreciative.” Saal gave a huffing sigh.

“Meezer is a slang term, a pet name, for a particular breed of cat, the Siamese and in the context that you’ve given me, rocker is likely to be a rocking chair.” Happy mused. “If you don’t have to head back to Xandar straight away, find a hiding spot and give me a couple of hours. Both cats and rocking chairs are easy to find.”

“Shall I call you?”

“Best call Miss Natashalie, she’ll likely be the one to sort that out. I’ll give her a call and get her on it.” Happy nodded to the Denarian and headed back to the car. “Let’s get you home, Miss Nebula.” He said to the already sleeping girl. She looked bruised and battered, much as he would expect from someone that had been in a vehicle accident a few days ago.

Chapter 26

Chapter Text

“A meezer.” Saal said. “I don’t know what it is, but she has said many times that the only things that she misses from Terra, are her meezer and her grandmother’s rocker. She missed holding the meezer in the rocker. If you can figure that out, I would be most appreciative.” Saal gave a huffing sigh.

“Meezer is a slang term, a pet name, for a particular breed of cat, the Siamese and in the context that you’ve given me, rocker is likely to be a rocking chair.” Happy mused. “If you don’t have to head back to Xandar straight away, find a hiding spot and give me a couple of hours. Both cats and rocking chairs are easy to find.”

“Shall I call you?”

“Best call Miss Natashalie, she’ll likely be the one to sort that out. I’ll give her a call and get her on it.” Happy nodded to the Denarian and headed back to the car. “Let’s get you home, Miss Nebula.” He said to the already sleeping girl. She looked bruised and battered, much as he would expect from someone that had been in a vehicle accident a few days ago.

~~~

May 13^th 2006

“You ready, Miss Nebula?” Happy gave the no-longer-an-alien a quick look in the rear-view mirror.

“I… I think I am…” The bruising on Nebula’s face and arms, from where she’s fought the restraints of the Xandarian medical device, had progressed from rich purple into a sickly green, tinged with yellow edges and stood out clearly against her pale skin and red-brown tank-top.

“JARVIS will let him know, any second now.” Happy said. “We wanted his reaction to be visible and almost excessive.”

“Just like him.” Nebula tried to smile but the bruises and swellings of her face made that difficult.

“Here we go.” Happy slowed the car and pulled to a stop in the middle of the large parking area.

~~~

“Sir?” JARVIS spoke almost silently in Tony’s ear. “I’m going to buzz your phone, I suggest answering it.” Within a second or two, the cell-phone in Tony’s pocket began to buzz and vibrate.

“Excuse me, Agent, only family have this number.” Tony pulled the cell from his pocket and looked at it, it read ‘JARVIS’, just like he expected.

“I was under the impression that your family were all here?” Coulson asked.

“Most of them, yeah.” Tony nodded. “Yeah, that’s… I gotta take this.” He grimaced and accepted the call. “Yeah?”

“Sir, Happy has just pulled up in the car park, I suggest you head in that direction, Miss Nebula is in physical and emotional distress and your presence will comfort her.” JARVIS said.

Tony’s head snapped around to face the front of the house. “Nebula?! Nebula’s here?” He blinked. “Phys… she’s hurt? J, is she hurt?!” The latter question was sharp.

“No significant injuries but the aftermath of a Xandarian device that converted her from luphom*oid to human. ‘Officially’ she was involved in a motor-vehicle accident five days ago and has been recovering at St. Bartholomew’s Clinic outside of Edgewood, New Mexico. She’s also your daughter, now.”

“What?!” Tony’s exclamation was loud enough to silence the quiet conversation between two SHIELD agents, Melinda May and Maria Hill, and Natashalie.

“Do you need me to repeat that, Sir?”

“No! Where is she? Right now?”

“In the front parking area.” JARVIS replied and Tony was off and running.

“Ah…? What just happened?” Coulson asked the group as a whole.

“That would be Nebula arriving.” Howard gave the man a pained look.

“Nebula?” Coulson asked. “Do we know who that is? Are we missing someone?”

“No.” Howard shook his head but before he could say anything more, there came sound of a door opening.

Pepper emerged from the house, onto the wide patio. “Where’s Tony?”

“Nebula’s arrived.” Howard said as he followed his son, at a more reasonable speed.

“Oh, dear, I hope she’s okay…” Pepper fretted. “Her paperwork arrived here a few hours ago. With Terrence and Melissa’s deaths… Tony’s all she has, now…” She settled Morgan in her arms and moved to join Howard as the older man led the group around the house.

Once they cleared the house and the parking area came into sight, Coulson and Fury came to a stunned stop. Tony was kneeling on the loose gravel, hugging a young woman that was liberally covered in recent bruises. The young woman shuddered and shook while Tony rocked them back and forth, crooning to her all the while.

“What…?” Coulson stopped and took a steadying breath. “What happened to her?”

“The pile-up in LA? Both she and her adoptive father were listed among the injured.” Pepper gave the pair a sad look.

“Adoptive?” Coulson asked.

“She’s Tony’s daughter.” Howard answered quietly.

“Daughter?” Fury stepped up beside the older man. “Why didn’t SHIELD know about this?”

“Because her mother went missing from the hospital, looking back… Nebula would have been only a few hours old at the time. Tony was still at MIT and going through his more-party- than-work phase, that left Maria and I to see to Nebula. Nick, I was fifty-three when Tony was born, I was… I wasn’t capable of caring for a newborn and neither was Maria. We found a young couple, the granddaughter of friends, and her husband. They took Nebula and… like Pepper said, Terry was in that pile-up… He didn’t survive his injuries. Melissa died from cancer, last year. ” Howard and Natashalie had spent hours going through the details of the crash and carefully sculpting a backstory for Nebula.

The couple that were documented as being Nebula’s adoptive parents were real people, it seemed so much easier to use existing people and simply add Nebula to their lives, than try and create histories for three completely false identities. Both had been private people, with no extended families and not well known outside of their respective jobs but there was enough documentation online, both written and imagery, of their lives, that JARVIS had been able to insert just enough evidence of Nebula’s existence, to suggest over-protective parents.

“Ah.” Fury grunted as he studied the father-daughter duo. The way she clung to him and the way his arms trembled as he held her close against his chest, spoke of a deep emotional attachment. “He cares about her… Her parents didn’t… mind?”

“No.” Howard leaned against an SUV before he replied. “Melissa was the least comfortable with Tony in their lives, but once he and Pepper married, she was much better with him. I don’t think Maria and I helped, either. We kept sending her gifts. It wasn’t until Melissa was diagnosed with cancer, that Terrence told us how she’d felt.”

“And he was in that pile-up?” Coulson asked.

“Yes.” Pepper nodded. “He survived the accident but his injuries were… bad…” She shuddered, remembering the medical report that JARVIS had located. “Nebula was lucky, she was jammed in, in between two seats, her injuries were mostly bruising, but you can see how bad that is.” In truth, Pepper was shocked to see the depth of bruising that Nebula had suffered, she hadn’t realised how bad it would be. Even with Denarian Saal’s warning, she hadn’t expected this.

“Do we take it that… Nebula(?) will be staying with you, now?” Coulson asked.

“Yes, most definitely.” Pepper said firmly.

“How old is she, Ms Potts?” Maria Hill stood beside Coulson.

“She’ll be seventeen, next month.” Pepper answered.

“Really?” Hill blinked. “She’s smaller than I’d expect for her age.”

“Not smaller, finer.” Pepper disagreed. “She’s tall, she’s going taller than Tony, when she finishes growing.”

“And her… birth… mother?” Coulson asked delicately.

“We don’t know.” Howard said. “Tony’s looked for her but he could never quite locate her. Where she’d been, yes. Where she was, no.”

Pepper shook her head. “It was very frustrating for us all.”

Howard nodded and went on. “Then, suddenly… Nothing. Mid May of 1999, we thought we’d located her in Jacksonville, Florida. We missed her by less than an hour, but… Tony hacked the city’s cctv to track her and…” He grimaced.

“And…?” Coulson asked.

“She vanished between cameras.” Howard sighed. “She came out of the grocer’s and walked into the alley. The camera on the main street followed her nearly halfway down the alley, but the camera at the rear of the alley didn’t pick her up at all. It had the van that exited that alley seconds before her and then the next image Tony found was Barnes entering the alley. No skips, no jumps, no freeze frames, she just… wasn’t there.” He huffed. “And we haven’t picked a single trace of her, since. No bank access, no Id use, not a single hint of her, anywhere.”

“Ah.” Coulson nodded. “Do you want SHIELD to look for her?”

“No, we don’t really see the point.” Pepper shook her head. “She signed away her parental rights, before leaving the hospital, she’s got no legal connection to Tony or Nebula.”

“If you change your mind, just let me know.” Coulson replied. “I’ll see it done, quietly.”

“Thank you, Phil, I’ll let Tony know.” Pepper smiled at the man. “Shall we go in for lunch and leave them be?”

“I think that would best.” Coulson barely glanced at Maria and Melinda, while Fury’s nod to Jimmy Woo and Antoine Triplett had both men straightening from their relaxed positions and flanking their Director.

~~~

May 14^th 2006

Natashalie smiled as Denarian Saal descended the steps of his Nova Corps ship. “Nice ride.”

“It is.” Saal said. “I am slightly disappointed that I don’t get to keep it.”

“Excuse me?”

“It belongs to Nebula.” Saal replied. “We ‘confiscated’ the ship she purchased at Nowhere and this is to replace that one. I had it tethered to the transport that I used to bring Nebula here. It was always our intention to provide Nebula with control of this ship.”

Natashalie looked around. “So, where’s your ship, then?”

Saal smirked and gestured to the cliff behind him and a smaller, more angular ship shimmered into being, hovering a few feet out from the edge of the cliff. Natashalie tilted her head and hummed.

“I think I prefer Nebula’s, being stuck in space in something that small, is not my idea of pleasant.” She told the alien.

“I can understand that.” Saal nodded. “It took many months before I grew comfortable with it myself.”

“Yeah…” Natashalie nodded back. “I’m not sure I could do it.”

“It’s not for everyone.” Saal agreed.

“Well… It’s late and we need to look at getting you out of here, undetected.” Natashalie straightened.

“Do you have a pilot available? Someone that can fly that?” Saal nodded towards the ship that Natashalie had admired.

“Between JARVIS and Clint, we should be right.” Natashalie replied, indicating the blonde man that was sitting on the roof of the SUV she’d arrived in. “If not, we’ll bring Nebula down, under the guise of a shopping trip.”

“Good.” Saal nodded. “Stark’s Chief of Transport, Hogan, suggested that you might be able to locate a few things for my wife. A meezer and a rocker. He also said the meezers were cats(?) and that rockers were a type of chair?” Saal didn’t look convinced of this.

“Meezer is a diminutive of Siamese, which is a breed of domesticated feline.” Natashalie explained. “They have distinctive colouring, usually a creamy coloured body with brown, grey or ginger extremities.” While she was speaking, she held up a Stark-pad and JARVIS was displaying images of a variety of Siamese cats. “They are born white and as they mature their colouring becomes more defined.”

“Ah… we have something similar but in avian form.” Saal said. “If possible, I would appreciate some… more detailed… information. The Nova Corps may have access to Terra’s information network, but only for work related searches and I don’t think pets come under work related…” Saal grimaced.

“No, sir, they do not.” Natashalie agreed. “Not knowing quite what you wanted as far as examples are concerned, I did some guesswork and some research.” She indicated to the pad. “I searched for your wife here on Earth and where necessary JARVIS and I deleted or altered information. Ava was last sighted in Florida, a southern state, on the 7^th of July 1999. Unfortunately, for Nebula’s history to hold, we had to alter Ava’s history, slightly. Now, while we have her as being last sighted in 1999, instead of it being in Florida, we placed her as being in Wyoming, much further to the north, entering a wilderness area, some weeks later.” She waited for Saal to acknowledge that.

“I would assume there is a reason for that?”

“Yes.” Natashalie nodded. “We’ve stated… We, meaning those of us in the know and we’ve brought Tony into the loop, on this, as well. We stated to SHIELD that Tony and Howard traced her as far as Florida, but we’ve left enough details that SHIELD will trace her just a bit further, it will convince them that they found something that Tony didn’t and will confirm what we’ve already stated.”

“And confirming Ava’s missing status will secure Nebula’s history.” Saal nodded.

“Exactly.” Natashalie agreed. “Now, while in Florida, Ava stayed with her maternal grandmother, correct?” She waited for Saal to nod and continued. “And that grandmother had a meezer cat. After Ava’s disappearance, the woman’s health declined and in 2001, she died as a result of complications arising from pneumonia, a respiratory illness. The cat that Ava spoke of was her grandmother’s meezer, Balthazar, a ginger point male. After her death, he’d been handed in to a rescue shelter and put up for re-homing. Fortunately, it was a no-kill shelter, as Balthazar lives up to the reputation that his name implies and was returned after each attempt at adoption.” Seeing the confusion on Saal’s face, she explained. “Balthazar is reputed to have been the name of a king, some two thousand plus years ago, but modern cinematic entertainment usually attributes the name to a villain. The cat lives up to both, he’s regal and demanding of attention but he’s also extremely protective of the people he chooses as his, to the point where he’ll attack someone that is hurting them.”

“And this is seen as a problem?” Saal asked.

“Only by those that aren’t the people he chose.” Natashalie smirked. “Locating him wasn’t difficult, nor was ‘adopting’ him from the shelter. He’s been neutered so he’s not able to impregnate a female, but it hasn’t changed his personality all that much, according to the shelter.”

“You found him? The meezer that Ava spoke of? You found the exact one?” Saal blinked.

“We believe so.” Natashalie nodded.

“Oh…” Saal blinked a few times. “And a… rocker?”

“We couldn’t get any clear information on what it looked like and without asking Ava, we’re running blind. So, we took a chance and found a rocker maker in South Carolina that makes traditional styled rockers from metal, by hand. We didn’t want to provide timber ones as sometimes timber can contain parasitic larva and introducing that to a foreign environment could be disastrous to that environment. After looking at his stock we chose two chairs. One is more delicate and the other heavier, we figured that if you liked them, you could have one each or at the least, Ava could have one inside and one outside.” She handed over the Stark-pad. “This has information and videos on meezers and on putting the chairs together, as they’re flat-packed for transporting.” She indicated towards two large flat boxes leaning against the SUV and a large-ish crate beside them, sitting on an equally large box. “The crate is Balthazar’s, he’s big boy, larger than the average meezer, which made it easier to locate him. He’s not fat, just big, most cats weigh between eight and twelve pounds, he weighs sixteen. We’ve had him checked over by a veterinarian and he’s been cleared of all parasites. The box has samples of food and other supplies, we figured that you’d be able to replicate anything he liked. He’s a good traveller, but likes to sit beside you, rather than in his crate. There’s a litter tray so he won’t make a mess and his crate has his bed and a selection of toys.”

“He’s… safe to let out?” Saal asked.

“Once the ship is secure, yeah, sure.” Natashalie answered. “He’ll go exploring, might get into places he shouldn’t, but if he gets stuck, you’ll know, Siamese are very vocal and Balthazar is quite chatty.”

“Chatty…” Saal gave her a flat look.

“Oh, yes.” Natashalie smiled brightly and nodded to the Stark-pad. “There’s a selection of videos of Siamese on there, so you won’t get caught off-guard, when he starts making noise.”

“Thank you.” Saal gave her a smile and headed for the flat boxes. “Once these are loaded, I will depart. If you need anything from the Nova Corps, you can contact us via Nebula’s ship’s communications array.”

“Same here, Denarian Saal.” Natashalie smiled back.

As Saal loaded the crate onto his ship, a distinctive “Mrrp…” came from its interior, that was followed by a long mournful “mrowl…”

~~~

May 20^th 2006

Denarian Saal studied the living area of the large apartment that he shared with his wife… or rather with his wife, and now, with a cat.

“Well, Balthazar,” he looked down at the large cream and ginger cat, ignoring the way it wove between his legs, “I think that’s as good as it’s going to get.” He laid a hand on the larger of the two rockers and gave it a gentle shove, watching as the chair dipped back before swinging forward again, the motion repeating itself until the small amount of energy, dissipated. “Shall we try this out?” He’d become accustomed to talking to the cat, as he tended to respond, even if he didn’t actually understand what Saal was saying.

“Mrrp.” The cat stretched up and laid his forepaws on Saal’s leg, asking to be picked up.

“I agree.” Saal bent and lifted the cat into his arms and with a little caution, sat himself down in the larger rocker, letting his feet bend and flex, giving him enough leverage to set the chair into motion. The large cat settled himself across Saal’s lap, his head resting on Saal’s arm and his tail flopping out from between Saal’s leg and the arm of the chair.

It was a good fifteen minutes later before the apartment door opened, and by that time both man and cat were dozing, the chair moving gently in time with Saal’s breathing, a movement matched by Balthazar’s tail.

Ava Saal, nee Weldham, entered the room and came to a sudden halt, not sure if she was imaging things.

“Bally…?” She whispered and the cat’s head jerked up, his eyes blinking away sleep, before he erupted into motion, leaping from Garthan Saal’s lap to the floor and darting over to Ava.

“Mrowl rowl mrrp mrow.” The cat yowled stridently, waking Saal abruptly.

“Oh, Lord…” Ava dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around the cat that was standing on its hind legs nudging at her with his head, knocking against her roughly. “Hello, baby. Oh, Bally…” She looked up at her husband. “How?”

“Chief Hogan and Miss Rushmanov.” Saal smiled at her. “I mentioned that you missed a meezer and rockers and they did the rest. Miss Rushmanov told me it wasn’t difficult to find Balthazar. Nor was finding a rocking chair.”

“Rocking chair?” Ava asked.

Saal didn’t answer, instead he gave a little push with his feet and let his chair rock into motion again.

“Oh, my…”

“And a few specials, too, my heart.” He gestured to their balcony. A balcony that was lush with plants.

“Is that…? Is that an apple tree?” Ava whispered.

“I have no idea, love, I know they’re trees from Terra but no more than that.” He smiled and looped an arm around her shoulders. “They’re labelled but the names mean little to me. There’s also a communications device that has details of the plants and a few other things that might interest you.” He’d spent quite a few hours on his way back from Terra, going through the Stark-pad’s contents and knew that some of it would interest her greatly.

~~~

April 8^th 2007

The young woman sighed as she woke, inhaling the scent of orange blossoms before a frown settled on her face. It was the wrong time of the year for orange trees to flower. She opened her eyes and her frown grew. It took her a few minutes to realise what was unsettling her.

“What on earth?” She muttered. This was her quarters at the Pegasus site in Texas, going by the antique dresser that sat in the corner. A dresser that had been given to her by her grandfather, when he’d heard she was leaving the military and settling in Texas as the Personal Assistant to the Director of SHIELD.

“But that’s not possible…” She whispered. “The base was destroyed by Loki and the tesseract…” How could she be here? A brief thought of ‘what did Stark do, now?’ flashed through her mind before she froze and blinked. “They used time travel to locate the Infinity Stones… Is that…? Did that…?” She wasn’t going to say it, she couldn’t.

What she did do was sit up and dig into her bedside table, pulling out a leather-bound diary. She opened it and began to read, ignoring the fact that the contents were in code, it was a code that she and her brother had created as children and she could read it as easily as English.

What she read confused her. “Stark’s involved.” She sighed. “Of course he is. What the hell did he do? And how?” She muttered. At least the diary was giving her a clear picture of what was happening within SHIELD and…

“sh*t!” She swore. “Stark found Barnes and Rogers, not SHIELD. Goddammit!” This was not the past that she remembered. She would need to speak to them to work out exactly what they planned to do and who else knew.

Chapter 27

Chapter Text

What she did do was sit up and dig into her bedside table, pulling out a leather-bound diary. She opened it and began to read, ignoring the fact that the contents were in code, it was a code that she and her brother had created as children and she could read it as easily as English.

What she read confused her. “Stark’s involved.” She sighed. “Of course he is. What the hell did he do? And how?” She muttered. At least the diary was giving her a clear picture of what was happening within SHIELD and…

“sh*t!” She swore. “Stark found Barnes and Rogers, not SHIELD. Goddammit!” This was not the past that she remembered. She would need to speak to them to work out exactly what they planned to do and who else knew.

~~~

April 12^th 2007

Maria Hill let her head fall and thump on the desk. Repeatedly.

“You mean to tell me… That none of you have any idea what caused this. And no-one’s panicking over that?”

“We’ve all done our panic and we’re in the apathetic stage.” Darcy shrugged. “Whoever it was, obviously didn’t want to tell us in advance. Or give us much in the way of clues to figure it out. Not much we can do about that, right now.”

“We’re more concerned with stopping Thanos before he destroys half the universe.” Tony added.

“Huh…” Hill grunted. “Fair enough.” She lifted her head. “What do you want me to do?” she looked from Darcy to Tony and back. “I mean… Afghanistan isn’t likely to happen now, is it?”

“No, SI and IT are out of the munitions field, we still do weapons but they use someone else’s munitions.” Tony said.

“What about…” She paused, would that watcher, that Thor told them about, be listening? Better to assume he was and talk around him. “New Mexico? Puente Antiguo, wasn’t it?”

“Jane and I are still going there.” Darcy said. “We’ll try and keep everything much as it was last time.”

“So, we’d like it if you could keep the SHIELD end happening the same way.” Tony said. “I know that you don’t have Clint but you do still have Agent Agent. He can keep things in line.”

“He can.” Hill nodded and paused as something occurred to her. “Who’s designing the Jericho replacement?”

“Who do you think?” Tony smirked.

“Oh, God… please tell me you’re kidding? Hammer?” Tony gave Hill a bright smile and nodded. “f*ck. He’s screwed. If he doesn’t die in the attack, there’s no way he’d survive the Ten Rings.”

“I know…” Tony sighed. “Which is why I’m going to have him tagged and a SRR squad follow the convoy. Just far enough away that Raza and Abu Bakaar won’t pick them up. There’s no chance for the guys in the first vehicle, so Rhodey’s got a group of HYDRA trainees and sympathisers booked for that vehicle. Hammer’s likely to be in number two and Rhodey should be in number three.”

“If JARVIS is piloting the suits, they can be on scene in less than thirty seconds.” Darcy said.

“Rhodey also said that the brass received a tip-off about the attack a week before but never acted on it.” Tony said. “I can do the ‘I’m not accepting that’ thing and personally send a squad. If I’m called on it later, I can go on the attack about ‘why wasn’t a civilian contractor provided with better protection? I’ve had nothing to do with Hammer but he’s a civilian, in a warzone, shouldn’t he be better protected? Would you have done that to me or dad?’ Really give them a blast.”

“If the military weren’t going to do it, you would.” Hill nodded. “That should work. It will also give them a first-hand look at how the suits work in a warzone. And cement IT as a defensive supplier, not an offensive one.”

“The DoD know that the suits can be weaponised but not to what level.” Tony said. “I’m ‘working’ on improving that, but we’re ‘struggling’ with miniaturising the munitions, given the suit’s available space for them.”

“Let me guess, you’ll continue to struggle until the Chituari invade.” It wasn’t a question.

“The week before.” Tony nodded. “I’ll notify the DoD that we’ve had a breakthrough and are about to start live trials. That way when the curtain goes up, Rhodey will be here, along with Vats and Coultrap and their new suits.”

“Which will give the Avengers a four-man flight squad.” Hill nodded.

“Oh, there’s much more than that.” Darcy grinned.

“Oh?”

“I’ve made a couple suits for the ladies.” Tony grinned. “As far as the DoD are concerned, I’ll play it off as ‘can I make a version that is usable by a woman?’ Given the current weight of the suit, that’s impractical, but if I can have hydraulics augment the user’s strength, it might be doable. But as I won’t be ready to present a working version to the DoD, Pepper, Laura and Darcy will be my test pilots.”

“And your ground troops?”

“Cap and Bucky will suit up, along with Clint, Nebula, Valkyrie, Bruce, Nat and Lena. May, Jane, Wanda and Pietro will be on civilian defence and evac.” Darcy said. “We’ll be announcing to the DoD that Wanda and Pietro are mutants, before then.”

“The Accords?” Hill asked.

“Yeah, we’ll be pushing for them. In fact, the first proposal is with the UN now.” Darcy said. “We’ve broken it down into two sectors. Active and non-active. If a signatory is active, a member of a militia, a government organisation or a group like the Avengers they sign one level of documents. If they’re non-active, trying to live as a civilian and don’t want to be a part of any militaristic involvement, they sign a second level, it just covers them in the case of an emergency.”

“Ross isn’t going to like that.” Hill said.

“Oh, we’re going to use examples that even Ross couldn’t find a use for.” Darcy grinned.

“Like?”

“Abby Dent can manifest butterfly wings. They’re not strong enough to lift her further than an inch or two off the ground.” Darcy said. “And Anna Belling can turn her hair into flowers, but only daisies.”

“Then there’s Josh Mendez.” Tony added. “He can grow scales, like a lizard, along his arms and legs. Again, nothing else, just the scales.”

“Huh…” Hill nodded. “If you push them and others like them, it might work.”

~~~

June 2^nd 2008

“Oh God, oh God, oh God.” Justin Hammer moaned and rocked back and forth on the field hospital gurney.

“We’re not getting anything out of him but that.” The medic sighed. “If you can get through to him, it would be much appreciated Dr Stark.”

“Give me a few minutes alone with him?” Tony asked.

“I can’t do that. I’m sorry.” The medic shook his head.

“What about… within sight but not hearing?” Tony asked. “Rhodey can represent the Air Force.”

The medic looked to the base commander, who nodded.

“We can do that but only a few minutes.” The medic said.

“Five is all I need. Either this will work or it won’t.” Tony shrugged.

“Go for it.” The medic nodded and Tony quietly opened the door into Hammer’s room and positioned himself where the other man could see him.

“Hey, Justin.” Tony said and the other man paused and blinked before drawing in another breath. “So, how’d you like the suits?”

Hammer blinked again and tilted his head. “… Stark…?”

“Yep.”

“They caught you, too…?”

“Nope. I got you out before they got you.”

“What?”

“The suits are mine. They’re used predominantly for Search, Rescue and Retrieval. What do you think?”

“The… the suits… are… are yours…? They’re not… they’re not some terrorist’s…?”

“Nope, they’re SR&R suits. We have three sizes, child, adult… which is what you and I fit… and tall… for the oversized thugs.” Tony shrugged.

“They’re yours…?”

“Yep. All mine.”

“I’m… I’m safe…?”

“Bagram Air base in Parvan provence.”

“Still in Afghanistan…?”

“Still in Afghanistan.” Tony nodded.

“US Air Force base?”

“US Air Force base.” Tony nodded, again.

“Safe…” Hammer slumped back against the pillows.

“For the moment, yes.” Tony agreed.

Hammer sat up quickly and studied Tony. “For the moment?”

“The suits are mine, each and every one of them has a tamper alarm. If even one alarm goes off and implicates you, I will have that suit snatch you up and take you to 30,000 feet and eject you. Without a parachute. Are we clear?” Tony let Hammer see what facing Iron Man was like.

“Clear.” Hammer replied instantly. “Absolutely. Completely hands off. No touching the suits. Crystal clear.” Hammer nodded fervently.

“Great, I’ll send you a drone, you can make some cameras for it. We’ve sold the design to the DoD and they want alterations that I won’t make. Right up your alley, Just-in-time.”

“I can do that.” The blonde perked up.

“You can. Just remember… no touching my suits. Ever.”

“No touching the suits, ever. Clear.” Hammer nodded rapidly.

“In that case, you’re as safe as any other serviceman in Afghanistan. Have a good day, Justin.” Tony smiled brightly at the man and left the room. “Coffee, Rhodey, I need coffee.”

“Come on, Tones, mess is this way.” Rhodey led Tony from the medical facility and into an adjacent building. “Coffee.” Rhodey pointed at the cafeteria.

“I have no idea what you said but… whatever it was worked.” The medic that had been treating Hammer flopped down onto a seat opposite Tony and Rhodey. “He’s up and about, scribbling away in a notebook. Something about cameras…?”

“Oh, yeah.” Tony snorted. “I told him that I’d sold a drone design to the DoD and they wanted to alter the cameras and it would be right up his alley.”

“It worked.”

“I also told him that if I ever caught him playing with my suits, I’d have one eject him at 30,000 feet.” Tony went on, cheerfully.

The medic’s eyes widened and he seemed to not know how to respond to that.

~~~

October 16^th 2009

“Utata, no.” T'Challa begged his father. “Shuri’s barely ten years old. She’s far too young to-”

“Ubhuti!” Shuri gasped in shock. “I was twenty, T'Challa, twenty! Just because I am no longer that old, does not mean that I am a child.”

“But you are in the body of one.” T'Challa replied. “Do you really think that Ramonda will let you travel from Wakanda to New York without her? Whether I am with you, or not?”

“Ugh…” Shuri dropped her head into her arms and smothered her scream.

“I understand, kitten.” T’Chaka said. “If you can get your mother to agree, I will permit T'Challa to take you to New York, but…” He gave her sly look. “You will be enrolled in school and you will attend, as though you are a child. No complaints and no dodging classes.”

Shuri lifted her head, her expression going from excited to horrified, the longer her father spoke.

“Oh, no…” She whined.

“Oh, yes.” T’Chaka’s smile was calm, he was fairly confident that Ramonda wouldn’t agree but on the off chance that she did…? Shuri had always hated her lessons.

~~~

September 3^rd 2010

“Sir? Angela Keener is requesting to speak to you.”

“What? Keener?” Tony blinked away equations and focused on JARVIS. “What?”

“Sir, Angela Keener wishes to speak to you.” JARVIS repeated.

“Did she say why?”

“All she’s said so far, is that it’s in regard to Master Harley.” JARVIS answered.

“Put her through, I guess…?” Tony wasn’t sure about this.

“Stark?” The woman asked.

“Yep.” Tony replied.

“What did you… No. What was sitting on our sofa and what did Harley say you were, ‘technically’ speaking?”

“Iron Man and I was ‘dead’, according to the newspaper he slapped on my chest.” Tony replied.

“Oh, thank God…” The woman sighed. “I’m Angela, Harley's mother and I don’t know where else to turn.”

“What happened?” Tony demanded, his attention fully on the call, the equations for a new sniper scope completely forgotten.

Angela took what sounded like a scared breath. “Harley is out in the garage, after school he came home and… he’s been bullied at school by EJ for the last few weeks but today was… he came home with a black eye, barely acknowledged me or Amelia. He went straight to the garage and when I went out just a few minutes ago, he’s ranting and raving about the mechanic not having been kidnapped and that made think about the dream I had last night and… I don’t think it was a dream, was it?”

“Alien invasions and people turning to dust?” Tony asked.

“Yes, aliens invaded New York and you flew a nuke into a wormhole, according to CNN, and Captain America was with you and the Avengers fought the aliens. Then Washington happened and some company called SHIELD is all over the internet and Captain America is wanted for treason and there’s aircraft carriers falling from the sky… and the Avengers split and you and the Captain are fighting and then there’s more aliens and… and… and everything turned to dust… And you died… you died protecting us. All of us.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right…” Tony sighed. “No, it wasn’t a dream. If you remember and Harley remembers… What do you want to do about it?”

“I don’t know…” Angela whispered. “It’s so hard… when Mike first left, I had nothing, just the two kids and a rental that was falling apart around us.”

“And now?”

“I moved back into my grandparents’ old place, but it’s not much better.” Angela huffed. “I haven’t had a chance to repair anything and I’m working two jobs just to make ends meet and I’m right back where I started and I don’t know what to do…” She was almost crying.

“Is your grandparents’ place important to you?”

“No, I hated them and I hate being here.” Angela answered. “If I hadn’t needed a roof over our heads, I wouldn’t have come back here, ever.”

“How long have you been there?”

“A month, just a month. We left LaFollette when the county had our rental condemned.”

“Pack your stuff, I’ll have a jet at McGhee Tyson in two and a half hours and a car at your place in three hours.” Tony started.

“Oh but…”

“But nothing, Angela.” Tony overrode her. “If the place means nothing to you, don’t stay. Come here, you can have an apartment in Clint's building or… hey, you ran the café, didn’t you? Eventually, I mean.”

“After you and Harley nearly destroyed Rose Hill? Yes, Hetty broke her leg and couldn’t manage it. Why?”

“Behind Steve’s place there’s an old café.” Tony answered. “It’s been closed for a few years, according to some of the older locals. We bought it, figured that maybe one of our kids might like to reopen it, one day. It’s got a small apartment above it. Small being the operative word. It’s got three bedrooms but they’re all the size of shoeboxes. If you want it, it’s yours. You can reopen the café, if you want.”

“But the children?” Angela asked. “Where would they go? While I’m working?”

“With us. We have a collection of the horrors, now. Buck and Darcy have four and another on the way. May and Happy have two. Clint and Laura have Cooper and Lila. Pep and I have Morgan. And that’s just the smaller kids. In college we have Pietro, Wanda, Lena and Nat. Not to mention that Buck, Steve, Clint, Sam, Riley and I aren’t much better.”

“Day care?”

“Yes. Laura’s mostly in charge of the monsters.” Tony replied. “With a pair of helpers to make sure she doesn’t get swamped.”

“And she wouldn’t mind?”

“Nah, she’s already got a few extras, just employee’s kids. We like to keep things in-house, where we can.”

“So, the café…?” It was a leading question.

“Would save us having to order from outside, all the time.” Tony answered, honestly.

“Alright.” Angela whispered. “I can do that.”

“Great.” Tony grinned. “I’ll get someone on route in a couple of minutes.” JARVIS flashed up a message via a hologram. “Oh, cool. So, Bucky and Steve are on route and will take a hire car from the airport, it should take them less than an hour to get to you.”

“So… less than four hours and they’ll be here?”

“About that.”

“And all I have to do is pack up myself and the kids?”

“And someone has to tell Harley.” Tony grunted.

“I don’t suppose… you’d do that…?” Angela asked hopefully.

“Uh… yeah… I suppose, I could do that…” Tony hesitated.

“Great, just let me call him in.” Angela pulled her phone away from her head and Tony heard her yell for Harley. He also heard Harley argue about not wanting to talk to anyone and Angela telling him to take the damn phone.

“Yeah, what?” Harley snarled and Tony smirked, he knew how to deal with this, with a grumpy pre-teen like Peter.

“Don’t argue with your mother, kiddo, you’ll lose.”

The line went silent for a few seconds. “Mec-Mechanic?”

“Keenster.” Tony replied. “Go pack your bags, all of them. You’re moving in, kiddo. You, your mom and that sister I heard about but have no proof exists, yet.”

“Amelia exists.” Harley argued.

“So you say.” Tony huffed.

“I do say.” Harley said firmly. “And she… You know what? No. What the hell happened, Mechanic? I went to your funeral and then I wake up in 2010. How?”

“I don’t know, yet. We haven’t figured it out.”

“We?”

“Ah, yeah, we…” Tony grimaced again. “There’s quite a few of us, now.”

“How many?”

“Worry about that when you get here. For now, go pack. The Keener family’s moving to New York.”

“Oh, sh*t.”

“Language, kiddo, you’re not a teen anymore.” Tony snickered and ended the call. “Thanks, J, I needed that.”

Chapter 28

Chapter Text

“Keenster.” Tony replied. “Go pack your bags, all of them. You’re moving in, kiddo. You, your mom and that sister I heard about but have no proof exists, yet.”

“Amelia exists.” Harley argued.

“So you say.” Tony huffed.

“I do say.” Harley said firmly. “And she… You know what? No. What the hell happened, Mechanic? I went to your funeral and then I wake up in 2010. How?”

“I don’t know, yet. We haven’t figured it out.”

“We?”

“Ah, yeah, we…” Tony grimaced again. “There’s quite a few of us, now.”

“How many?”

“Worry about that when you get here. For now, go pack. The Keener family’s moving to New York.”

“Oh, sh*t.”

“Language, kiddo, you’re not a teen anymore.” Tony snickered and ended the call. “Thanks, J, I needed that.”

~~~

2^nd February 2011

“No sign of the dead men, yet?” Tony asked Maria Hill.

“Dead men?” Angela asked Pepper, from her seat across the large oval table.

“No.” Hill sighed.

“Phil Coulson and Nick Fury.” Pepper answered. “Coulson was killed, stabbed through the chest by a spear, during the 2012 Chittauri invasion, but Fury refused to leave him dead, not exactly certain how he had Phil revived, though. And Fury faked his own death during the SHIELD/Insight debacle in 2014.”

“Oh…” Angela asked. “Is that… common? With you people? I mean Steve and Bucky did it and now you say that these other two men…?”

“Huh…” Pepper made a thinking noise. “I hadn’t considered that.”

“We could really use Agent Agent’s help with this.” Tony said.

“It would make things so much easier.” Clint added.

“If we ever figure out who’s responsible for throwing us into this timeline, you can join Darcy in asking them.” Pepper offered.

Bucky snorted as he and Steve tried to follow both conversations.

“How do you cope?” Angela asked. “You’ve been… here(?), awake(?), for so much longer. Any tips for the newby?”

“I’ve worked with JARVIS, as best I can.” Hill said. “We’ve fleshed out some of the events in your timeline, things that you weren’t aware of or didn’t have the details that SHIELD had access to.”

“I just take it a week at a time.” Pepper said. “Things will be a bit different for you, seeing as you didn’t stay in Rose Hill. Just assume that Harley has been de-aged and go from there.”

“I’d like copies of those, please, Tony, Hill.” Steve spoke up.

“De-aged?” Angela asked.

“Think Harry Potter and de-aging potions.” Darcy leant towards Angela.

“Alright, we’re here.” Natashalie and Lena stomped into the room in their Widow outfits, Natashalie in black with black webbing and Lena in white with an ice-blue vest.

“We’ll get together and chat, a little later, Angela, but for now, I need to chair this meeting.” Pepper patted Angela’s hand before standing up. “Everyone take a seat, please.” It took only a few seconds before Pepper was the only person standing. “Excellent, thank you.” She smiled at them all. “First, I’d like to thank you all for turning up… on time.” She mock-glared at Tony, who gave her a very fake angelic look, causing a few people to laugh and others smother a chuckle.

“I was early for a change.” Tony grinned.

“Miracles do occur.” Bucky muttered.

“Be nice.” Darcy nudged her husband.

“Hush.” Pepper looked sidewise at the trio.

“Yes, ma'am.” The three replied.

“Hmm…” Pepper sighed. “Right. Welcome. We have some new additions, today. Angela Keener and her son Harley. Shuri, T'Challa’s sister. Fred and George Barnes and Peter Parker.” She held up a hand. “Yes, I know how old they are, but we’re basing their inclusion on how old they’ll be when Thanos gets here, not on how old they are right now. And they are the cut-off. None of the younger children will be joining us, not unless this progresses beyond the date of the first Snap. In which case, it will be Valkyrie’s decision on who joins. Fair?”

There were a number of tilted heads and thoughtful expression, before people began to nod.

“Good. So… Today’s an important day, we have a lot of things to work through. But before we begin that, I’m going to give Angela and Harley a single sentence briefing on each of you. Let’s go in the order of appearance, shall we? Tony was Iron…”

In less than five minutes, Pepper had brought Angela up to date on who was who and what they all did.

“Good. So first on the agenda is the serum, enhancements and suits: who gets them and who doesn’t.” Pepper said and a holographic area appeared behind her, divided into three boards with each board being divided into two sections labelled ‘current’ and ‘prospective’ and underneath the boards were pictures of all those present. “Steve and Buck are our primary enhanced.” They pictures moved from the lower section to the board labelled ‘Enhanced’. “Steve’s enhancement is… more obvious, less subtle. Buck’s is more internal, less visible. But there are other major differences. Both have increased healing ability, speed and strength. Steve also has significantly increased metabolism and body temperature, as well as being physically more… durable. More resistant to injury. Buck’s enhancement is subtler. It doesn’t affect his bone structure other than increasing bone density to allow his body to cope with the other changes. The two major differences between Steve’s and Buck’s enhancements are the external changes – size, that is – and the length of lifespan. Steve’s serum changed him from 5’4” and 95lbs to 6’2’ and 240lbs. It increased his strength, speed and hand-eye coordination. Buck’s left his body visually unchanged, but also provided him the same increases but at a lower rate than Steve’s. The other thing it increased, was his lifespan. His aging has been slowed and he can expect to live to approximately, 150-175yrs, as can his children, Darcy and those that have an unaltered version of his serum.”

There was a smattering of understanding noises and Shuri made a ‘Duh, why didn’t I see that?’ noise.

“Tony and Howard have worked together and have retro-engineered both Steve and Buck’s serums and have managed to isolate the various components and determine what they cause. This has enabled them to work out the differences between the two serums and… well… They’re kind of the flipsides of the same coin. Steve’s is designed to be overt and obvious, whereas Buck’s is more likely targeted to subterfuge and espionage.” Pepper said. “That being said, Howard, Tony, Bruce and JARVIS have studied both serums and together, they’ve decided that we’re going to stick with Buck’s.” She held up a hand. “It’s going to be easier to manage, long-term, if we don’t have to switch between them. We will keep a few doses of Steve’s serum, just for emergencies, but I pray that we never have to use them.”

People nodded and Steve was heard to mutter, “Please, never let us be in that position.”

“What we have done is use Buck’s serum as our base for enhancement.” Pepper went on. “Tony and Howard have created a variety of serums based on Buck’s, with each variety having a different intended result. Steve was given one that was solely based on increasing his lifespan to match it up with what Buck can expect, barring accidental death.” Pepper said and a few people nodded. “The Red Room dosed Natashalie with a serum that they’d retro-engineered from Buck’s blood, when he was with them. In addition to this, Lena demanded that they do the same for her, she was injected with an unaltered version of Buck’s serum, exactly as Nat had been. Howard, Tony, Bruce and JARVIS have managed to stabilise them both, something the Red Room hadn’t quite achieved.” Nat and Lena’s pictures joined Steve and Buck’s on the ‘Enhanced’ board. “Wanda and Pietro… They didn’t actually gain their enhancements until after the Chittauri invaded and SHIELD lost Loki’s sceptre. We haven’t worked out how or why they had them, when they woke, but Darcy’s theory is that our return is partially caused by the Stones and that as Wanda and Pietro’s enhancements were caused by a Stone, The Mind Stone, all the Stones recognise those enhancements as being a part of them. It’s a little flimsy but we haven’t come up with anything better, so… we’re saying ‘yeah, sure’ and moving on.”

Wanda and Pietro’s pictures joined the board.

“Next we have Tony and Clint.” Pepper looked around the table. “Buck was the one to suggest that both of them received a version of the serum, but it wasn’t until shortly before Lena joined us, that either of them were dosed and then it was with Buck’s serum, not Steve’s. We didn’t want any part of their… side-effects… to be visible.” Both men’s pictures moved to join the board. “And Darcy was cursed by Lorelai, she bears a part of Buck’s serum as a part of that curse. But we went one step further and gave her a half-dose, just in case something causes Lorelai to try and interfere and revoke or break her own curse. We didn’t want Darcy suffering because of that.”

More nods and Darcy leant on Buck. “See, I told you, they’d understand.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. don’t doubt Darcy.” Buck sighed.

“Exactly.” Darcy kissed his cheek, leaving bright red lipstick lips behind.

“Brunnhilde is Asgardian and so far above us physically, that it’s not funny.” Pepper sighed. “But for this exercise, we’re adding her to the enhanced board.”

The Valkyrie nodded to Pepper and continued to sharpen the tiny dagger in her hands.

“Suits, this includes the full Iron Man armour, the Exo-wings and Peter’s SpiderSuit. Tony, Rhodey and I have suits ready for combat.” Images of the three were copied to the ‘Suits’ board. “Suits for Darcy and Laura are still in progress, we expect them to be complete in the next month or so.” Darcy and Laura’s pictures appeared under the ‘Prospective’ section of the ‘Suits’ board “Peter and T'Challa are both enhanced and have… or will have… suits, so…?” Both pictures appeared in the relevant sections.

“Now we get into the rest of us.” Pepper looked around the table. “Enhancements. Who’s interested?”

There was a little bit of furtive looking around, before Sam raised a hand. “Riley and I are in. Only on the base level, though. Healing, speed, strength. That sort of thing. I’m not too sure about the lifespan stuff, yet.” The blonde beside him nodded, bravado failing in front of so many people with so much knowledge of a future that he’d never seen. “But will that mean changes to the Wings?”

Pepper looked to Tony for an answer.

“Maybe, but it should only be minor and I can get on the alterations, pretty much straight away, you’ll need to take them with you, once leave is up.”

“Won’t that make the Air Force suspicious?” Riley asked.

“Shouldn’t.” Tony shrugged. “They’ll look exactly the same and I frequently do upgrades when you’re here, anyway.”

“Cool.” The two wingmen looked at each other and nodded. “We’re in.” Sam spoke for them both.

“Excellent.” Pepper smiled at them and their pictures moved to both ‘Prospective’ sections.

“May and I have talked about this and… we’re going to limit our involvement. We’ll be part of the civilian system, help with evacuations and stuff like that.” Happy said. “So, rapid healing is all we want, at this point.”

Pepper nodded and their pictures moved to the appropriate section, with supercipted numbers (eg¹) that gently glowed. A new board appeared with 'Notes' at the top and in point form under thatnumbers and notes, the first for May and Happy and a second number and its partner for Sam and Riley.

“I can’t take anything.” Maria Hill said. “Not while SHIELD aren’t aware of all this. Blood tests are done too often and we can’t afford for them to pick something up, unexpectedly.”

“True.” Pepper nodded. “We’ll put you in the ‘Review’ pile. How does that sound?” The third of the original boards lit up and Hill’s image was transferred to that.

“That’s fine.”

“Add Harley to that pile please.” Angela said. “I don’t want him getting any serums until he’s finished growing.” She frowned. “Unless it’s a life-threatening situation, of course.”

Harley huffed but nodded and watched his image move to join Hill’s.

“Of course, Angela.” Pepper smiled.

“I’ll take the healing, like May and Happy but at this point, nothing else. And I’ll work with them in evac.” Angela added.

“Certainly.” Pepper said and Angela’s picture moved and another asterisk and note appeared.

“I’ll wait until after the Chittauri for a serum.” Rhodey said. “Maybe we can play it off as a side-effect of being hit with one of their weapons?”

“Or you could have come in contact with Steve or Buck’s blood and been… infected… that way.” Darcy countered.

“Yeah, that’s better. I like that.” Rhodey nodded with a bright smile.

“Ooh, add me to that,” Hill said. “That could cover me, too.”

“Fred and George are my kids,” Buck said. “They’ve got my serum already, but I’d prefer it if they’d consider working with May and Happy until the Valkyrie gives them the OK?” Buck looked at his daughters with an almost pleading expression. “Please?”

“Sure, dad.” Fred said.

“But only until Brunnhilde says.” George added.

“When The Valkyrie says you can fight, I’ll accept her judgement.” Buck smiled at his girls and both smiled back at him. “Thanks.”

The twins’ images moved to join Hill and Harley’s, while second images moved to the ‘Enhanced’ board.

“I’m only interested in the healing.” Jane said. “And I’ll stay with May and Happy on the evacs.”

“Shuri and I have Panther suits as well as a supply of our ‘Heart-Shaped-Herb’, so I would suggest putting us in both the current enhanced and current suit sections.” T'Challa said. “But like Fred and George, she doesn’t fight until the Valkyrie gives the OK.” He warned his sister.

Shuri sighed and nodded. “Yes, ubhuti.”

“I will take Buck’s serum, at full strength, please.” Nebula said. “I am still struggling with the differences between what I was and what I am now. The serum may decrease the variance between the two levels.”

“I agree.” Tony said. “Neb’s been so used to greater strength and speed that she’s more likely to get hurt without it, in an emergency situation.”

“This is true.” Brunnhilde agreed. “She’s had plenty of practice working at a lower level but when under pressure she extends past what her body can now do. Enhancing her is advised.”

“After which, I would prefer to fight with the ground fighters. Steve, Buck, Nat, Lena and The Valkyrie.” Nebula added. “When The Valkyrie says.” The last sentence was directed at Tony.

“Fair call.” Tony nodded.

“Wanda and I want to work with the evac.” Pietro said. “We can protect the civilians when needed.”

“Peter’s enhanced and I would much prefer it if he had a suit, like before, but I also don’t want him involved unless Brunnhilde says that he’s capable.” May said.

“Aw, Aunt May…” Peter moaned.

“If Harley, Fred, George and Shuri can abide by Brunnhilde's decision, so can you, Peter.” May replied.

“Okay…” Peter’s shoulders slumped.

“Just another reason to work at it, kiddo.” Tony said.

“I know…” Peter huffed.

“Thank you, Peter.” Pepper said. “We understand that this is difficult, most of us remember the Chittauri’s invasion and none of us really want to sit it out, but if we’re only going to risk the lives of others? Sit it out, we will.”

All those present nodded.

“Thank you.” Pepper smiled. “We need to redo our mission brief and focus on what we can do with what we have. But I’d like a smaller mission briefing ready, just in case we acquire a few more people.”

“More?” Brunnhilde asked. “Who else is there?”

“Hopefully, we’ll get Coulson and possibly Fury.” Pepper said. “And it’s possible that Thor or Loki may remember.”

“And Quill or Gamora, I would like to see my sister, again.” Nebula said.

“Rocket would be handy.” Tony said.

“So would Carol.” Steve added.

“What about Scott and Hope?” Clint asked. “Do we have any idea if they’re here? Like us, I mean?”

Tony blinked. “I… I don’t know…”

“I can reach out to Janet.” Maria Stark offered. “Invite her and Hope for tea.”

“That would be lovely, Maria.” Pepper smiled at her mother-in-law. “Outside the enhancements and suits, I have nothing else on the agenda bar the ongoing training and research. Does anyone have anything they would like to address?”

“If I may?” Angela held up a hand.

“Of course.” Pepper gestured and Angela stood up.

“The Café. If we’re keeping it in-house, I need some assistance with clean-up, it’s in a mess. Not the kitchen, itself, but the customer area. Nothing big or heavy, just more than I can move by myself. The front windows are covered, if that helps.” Angela explained.

“Wanda and I will help.” Pietro said.

“Same here.” Sam said. “Riley and I have another three days before we have to head back to base.”

“Thank you.” Angela smiled at the four of them. “I’ll put some cookies together this evening, for my helpers.”

“How long do you expect to need before the café opens?” Pepper asked.

“The kitchen is ready to go, the service area is fine, basic but fine. It’s just the customer seating area that’s a mess. Once I get the mess out, maybe a week to shop up on stock, do a thorough clean and have a health department inspection.”

“Oh, yes, I’d forgotten about them.” Pepper grimaced. “Let me know when and I’ll have someone see to it.”

“Sure.” Angela sat back down.

“Anyone else?”

“Darcy and I are ready to head down to Puente Antiguo.” Jane said.

“Why’re you doing that?” Tony frowned.

“Frigga said we had to.” Darcy answered. “Something to do with Thor rebelling against Odin and needing to learn a lesson.”

“And we need to keep events happening, at least until Loki brings us the Mind Stone.” Jane added.

“Oh, yeah forgot about reindeer games being involved in that.” Tony huffed and slumped back in his seat.

“Thank you for letting us know, Darcy, Jane.” Pepper smiled at them. “Tony, Bruce and Howard will be in contact with those of you that are getting serums, to organise times. Once you’re stable, training with Valkyrie will step up. Anyone else have anything to raise?”

“Visiting the Norns.” Brunnhilde said, raising her dagger to catch Pepper's attention.

“Not planning on that until after we get the Mind Stone.” Tony said.

“Huh, yes. Probably better to wait for that.” The Asgardian nodded. “How many do we have and which ones are they?”

“We have the Reality Stone, or at least Darcy does.” Jane said.

“The Ancient One has the Time Stone.” Bruce said. “Tony and I have a meeting with her on Friday to discuss her involvement.”

“Loki will be bringing the Mind Stone when attacks New York.” Clint bared his teeth in distaste. Whether for the Stone or for Loki, was anyone's guess.

“And SHIELD has the Space Stone.” Tony said.

“When you’re ready to act, let me know and I’ll see about getting you an appointment with Fury.” Hill said.

“You don’t really think that he’ll just hand it over, do you?” Tony snorted.

“Of course not, but if you’re in a meeting with him, somewhere that's clearly not SHIELD, how can you possibly have broken in and stolen it, at the same time?” Hill replied. “I’m thinking that we give Fred, George and Peter the chance to fetch it. Fury wouldn’t expect them to sit in on whatever meeting, so he’s not likely to pick them as being the culprits.”

“Maybe with Happy and May on transport and comms?” Steve offered.

“That’d work.” Hill nodded.

“Very well.” Pepper agreed. “We’ll leave that for those mentioned to plan. And perhaps, Darcy and Buck should be in that group, too. Anything else?” She waited for a few moments. “No? Then I close the meeting. Thank you for attending and keep an eye on your inbox for further information.” She smiled and sat down. “Gods above, I need a coffee.”

~~~

The Boards (Sort of...)

¹ Previously existing serum

²After Chittauri invasion

³ Partial – healing, lifespan

⁶ Partial – healing

⁷ After maturity

⁸ Base level – minimum only

⁴ Full level – asap

⁵ Asgardian

⁹ Wakandan

Chapter 29

Chapter Text

“And SHIELD has the Space Stone.” Tony said.

“When you’re ready to act, let me know and I’ll see about getting you an appointment with Fury.” Hill said.

“You don’t really think that he’ll just hand it over, do you?” Tony snorted.

“Of course not, but if you’re in a meeting with him, somewhere that's clearly not SHIELD, how can you possibly have broken in and stolen it, at the same time?” Hill replied. “I’m thinking that we give Fred, George and Peter the chance to fetch it. Fury wouldn’t expect them to sit in on whatever meeting, so he’s not likely to pick them as being the culprits.”

“Maybe with Happy and May on transport and comms?” Steve offered.

“That’d work.” Hill nodded.

“Very well.” Pepper agreed. “We’ll leave that for those mentioned to plan. And perhaps, Darcy and Buck should be in that group, too. Anything else?” She waited for a few moments. “No? Then I close the meeting. Thank you for attending and keep an eye on your inbox for further information.” She smiled and sat down. “Gods above, I need a coffee.”

~~~

February 4^th 2011

The Ancient One stood calmly, her bright yellow robes catching the light, as she opened the door to the sanctum to Tony and Bruce.

“Dr Banner. Dr Stark. Welcome to the New York sanctum.” She stepped back and gestured for them to enter.

“Thank you, honoured one.” Bruce gave her a half bow and with a deep breath entered the door. There was a lot they had to explain, if they were hoping that she would help them.

Seven hours later, he shook her hand. “Thank you.” He said.

“Do not thank me, doctor, the idea of destroying the Time Stone is… abhorrent…” The woman said. “But the destruction that this Thanos could cause with it is… worse. The destruction that he could cause with all seven Stones is…”

“Half of everything… Gone…” Tony said. “I know. We lived through it.”

“Indeed, you did.” The woman gave him a sad smile before closing her eyes and sighing. “So did I.”

Both men jerked their heads around to look at her.

“What?” Tony asked, his eyes wide.

“I was but a young child when Thanos was destroyed.” She said. “My parents were spared by his Snap but my father died as a result of the Returning.”

Tony winced, he remembered Bucky telling him that nearly a quarter of the population died in the Returning, most due to Returning the place they’d been Snapped away from. For many it had been in mid-air or mid-ocean. For others it had been on highways or railways. The Returning was nearly as lethal as the Snap had been.

“I’m sorry…” Tony hadn’t realised what his actions would cause.

“No. No, do not be sorry.” The Ancient One shook her head. “My parents were… recluses… I suppose you would call them.” Her precise pronunciation eased and an odd accent became evident. “I spent many hours watching many homemade films. I knew my father, I knew what he looked like when happy, I knew what he looked like when sad, I knew what he sounded like when angry, even though I barely remembered what he smelt like. I… to this day I can only imagine what his arms felt like, but my brothers, aunts and uncles told me that every hug they gave me was from him. I was loved and I knew it.” A single tear ran down her face.

“I… I’m sorry…” Bruce said, his head falling forward.

“You did not kill him, Thanos did.” She argued. “If Thanos hadn’t sought the Stones, my father would have lived. That is why, many years after his death, I sought out the Sorcerer Supreme.”

“Strange…” Tony whispered.

“Yes.” She nodded. “I begged him to teach me, to train me. I thought that those that were left, those that lost loved ones to the Stones, in turn became responsible for the protection of the Stones. I felt the need to be one of those protectors.” Her gaze dropped from them to the floor. “But I over estimated my skills, as many young people are want to do. I miscast a spell on the Time Stone. I had intended to create a mirror-verse and secure the Stone within it. Instead… Instead, I created mirror-versions of myself and the Time Stone threw me into the past. But like you, I was not thrown into my own timestream, but a parallel one and a mirror of me joined my original timestream.”

“Oh, hell…” Tony muttered.

“I cannot die of natural causes, because in this timestream I am not natural.” She went on. “I have watched as, in timestream after timestream, my mirror-selves die at the hands of Kaecilius and his acolytes. In timestream after timestream, I have seen Dormammu defeated by the words of a pacifist. In timestream after timestream, I have seen the destruction that Thanos left in his wake. In timestream after timestream, I watched as you and your… colleagues defeated Thanos. In timestream after timestream, I watched as you died.” Her face went hard. “And I came to realise that until the Stones are secure, this will continue to happen.”

“Oh, gods.” Bruce whispered.

“What do we need to do?” Tony squared his shoulders.

“Kaecilius may kill me, but my death against that of half the universe? That is something that I can accept.” She said.

“But would that effect the version of you, that is natural to this timestream?” Bruce asked.

“No, it would not. The mirror-versions of me that the Stone created and threw into various timestreams are complete, they will have no bearing on the version of me that is naturally born in each stream. Just as I have no impact on the child born to my parents in this timestream. Unless I were to deliberately interact with her, of course.”

“Like us, when we used the quantum realm to time travel?” Bruce asked.

“Precisely.” The Ancient One replied.

“And what of that child, here?” Tony asked. “Will she go on to train with Strange?”

“She will have the talent, but whether she will take that path, I will not say. Having a father may change what she wants and I refuse to look into her future, it will be what she makes of it, not what the Time Stone decrees.”

“Agreed.” Tony said. “So, you’ll send the Stone with us to the Norns?”

“No, but I shall bring it with me, when I travel with you to the Norns.” She corrected.

“Huh…” Tony grunted, having her join them, hadn’t occurred to him. “Yeah, okay, we can do that.”

~~~

February 5^th 2011

“Hello, Betty.” Bruce smiled at the young woman, as she opened the apartment door.

“Bruce Banner.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “The General told me that you’ve handed the project back to him, something about not knowing enough to complete it... But I remember Hulk. What did you and Stark do?”

“Ah, not us.” Bruce ducked his head. “We think it might have been a cause-and-effect from a miscast spell, the Ancient One was trying to hide the Time Stone and… Well…? Instead of creating a mirror verse, just for the Stone, she ended up creating mirror versions of herself, that were sent to other timestreams. The ‘original’ her was thrown from her timestream, into this one and a mirror version, left in her place. But how that sequenced into us being time-travelled and also thrown into this timestream, we haven’t worked out, not yet.” Bruce blurted out.

“Who else is here? Who else remembers?” Betty asked.

“Tony, the Avengers, their families and a few others.”

“And who have you told?”

“Tony and Bucky told Howard and Maria.” Bruce winced.

“That’s it?”

“Oh, T'Challa told his father and Frigga knows.” Bruce frowned. “But I think that’s it.”

“You’re here to recruit me, aren’t you?”

“I was hopeful, yes.”

“Good, I’m packed, let’s go.” She indicated to a trio of suitcases, in the hall behind her.

~~~

March 2^nd 2011

“Hello, Hope, Scott, Hank, Janet. I’m Pepper, Tony’s wife.” Pepper gave the four people waiting in her office, a smile. “Welcome to Iron Tech.”

“Pepper Potts.” Hank nodded to her. “Do you have any idea what’s coming?”

“Excuse me?”

“I sure hope that Stark kept a couple of those suits for himself, we’re going to need them.” The older man went on, ignoring Pepper’s question and his wife’s sigh of exasperation. “I didn’t go wading back through the quantum realm looking for my wife, just for Thanos to kill her.”

“Wait.” Pepper held up a hand. “Thanos? What does the name Thanos mean to you?”

“Hnn…” Scott made an odd noise, part moan and part whine.

“Grr…” The sound that came from Hope’s throat could not be called anything but a growl.

“Ah.” Pepper nodded. “You know.”

“Big… Purple… Killed… millions….” Scott muttered.

“Billions.” Pepper corrected. “And that was just here on Earth. Billions, trillions, quadrillions and who knows how many more, out there, in the rest of the universe.”

“And how does Stark plan to stop him?” Hank asked.

Pepper studied the man before answering. “We have one Stone in our control. Access to a second and know the location of a third.”

“And?”

“And once Loki brings the Mind Stone to Earth, we will be taking it and the three from Earth to the Norns. At the suggestion of the queen of Asgard.”

“Why?”

“She believes that they may help us.” Pepper said. “Either by destroying the Stones or by telling us where we can hide them that Thanos can never find them.”

“Without them, he can be defeated by a combined army.” Hank nodded.

“Also we have Uru chains that have been created specifically to restrain Titans.” Pepper’s smile went sharp, with too many teeth showing.

Hope’s smile matched Pepper’s. “Why can we not just remove his head? Didn’t Thor do that?”

“He did.” Pepper nodded. “But we are unsure if it he was weakened by using the Stones or if Thor was actually strong enough to decapitate him. And we may be forced to try that, anyway. But he's killed so many, he deserves punishment and killing him? Is not truely punishment.”

“Imprisoning him is.” Hank nodded.

“But is there anywhere that can hold him, if he were to free himself of the chains?” Janet asked.

“There is.” Pepper remembered watching a recording that Tony had made of his and Bruce’s visit to the Ancient One. “And discussions are underway to with the one person that can access that place.”

“What do you want from us, then?” Hank asked.

“Meet with us, up at the lake and see what we’ve planned. Add your ideas to it and be ready to fight, if things go wrong.” Pepper said. “But mostly…? We want you to live. Live the lives that were taken from us, live the lives that we would have if Thanos hadn’t attacked.”

“The best revenge is a life well lived.” Scott said and Pepper smiled.

~~~

August 19^th 2011

Darcy heard a quiet knocking sound and looked up from a sleeping Jane to see Bucky and Tony standing in the hall, just outside of Jane’s room on their medical floor. She gave them a sad smile and the two men sidled into the room.

“How’s she doing?” Tony asked, shocked at how small the astrophysicist was.

“Not great, but better than I expected her to be.” Darcy whispered back.

“She’s going to be okay, though?” Bucky asked, wrapping his metal arm around Darcy’s trembling shoulders.

“She will.” Darcy’s voice was quiet but firm. “Even if I have to blackmail Odin into sending Thor back.”

Neither Tony nor Bucky smiled or laughed at her threat, they knew Darcy well enough to know that if push came to shove, she’d do it. And having listened to Thor talk about Odin after the fall of Asgard, Darcy knew a lot of things that Odin didn’t want – or hadn’t wanted, in the other timestream – exposed to his sons or the people of Asgard. If he forced her hand, she knew enough to ruin him.

“Right, then…” Tony bit his lip and nodded.

“What do you need, doll?”

“I’m fine, Buck, but Janey’s going to need something to occupy her for a while.” Darcy tilted her head to press a kiss to Bucky’s cheek. “Maybe Nebula and Bruce would work with her, she’s close to cracking the Bifrost. Or well… closer than she’s ever been…”

“It would keep the three of them out of the suit workshop.” Tony nodded. “I’ll talk to them.”

“Thanks, Tony.” Darcy gave the genius a smile and watched the two leave the room.

~~~

January 2^nd 2012

He studied the desk in front of him and frowned. Why were there pictures of Natasha, two young women and an equally young man, on his desk? Should he know who they were? A few taps on the keys and his computer was up and running.

“What on Earth…?” His frown deepened. “Where are Widow and Hawkeye’s current mission statements?” Another few taps and he sat back, blinking in confusion. “What?” He reached over, picked up the telephone receiver and pressed a single button. When the call connected, he spoke. “Hill, why can’t I locate the Black Widow and Hawkeye’s files?”

“… Ah…” The woman answered. “Say nothing more about them and meet me in the parking garage in five, be prepared to be out of the building for the rest of the day.”

“Why?”

“You want to know about them, that’s the deal.” Hill said.

“Ten minutes.” He countered. “I need to get a coffee.”

“Ten minutes.” Hill agreed and ended the call.

He looked at the phone as he laid the receiver back in its cradle, then tilted his head to look at the wall. He picked up his cell-phone and opened up a web-browser. A minute spent tapping on the screen and his frown was almost a glare. He deleted the search and stood up, taking a few seconds to clear his mind and blank his expression, before he left the office. In the kitchen at the end of the hall, he poured himself a coffee in a travel mug and headed for the garage.

He saw the tall brunette woman standing beside a large black SUV.

“Not taking Lola?” He asked.

“Lola’s not here.”

His glare suddenly reappeared. “Who touched her?”

“Get in and I’ll explain.” Hill said, climbing into the driver’s seat.

His glare didn’t lessen as he opened the passenger door and settled in the other front seat. “Explain. Now.” He ordered.

“Check the date on your cell.” She said. “Not just the date but the year, too.”

He narrowed his eyes and pulled his cell back out. A tap on the screen had it lighting up and his eyebrows rose as he saw the date.

“What?” His voice was flat.

“Yeah…” Hill sighed.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah…”

“2012.” He said. “January 2012.”

“Yeah…”

His eyes narrowed again. “How?”

“We’re not certain.” Hill said. “We’re working on the hypothesis that one of the Ancient One’s spells went wrong. In 2070, or there abouts.”

“What?” He repeated.

“Oh, it’s worse than that.” Hill sighed. “Stark was the first back, him and Barnes. They’ve been working on this since 1991. They even pulled the Captain in on it. And Asgard. And the alien, Nebula. Although, she’s Tony’s daughter, now. And get this… The Captain does counselling for the Bayonne PCYC.”

“Huh…” He grunted. “And Barnes?”

“No-one gets to Stark without going through him.” Hill answered. “He’s Stark’s bodyguard, Coulson.”

~~~

Chapter 30

Chapter Text

“Oh, it’s worse than that.” Hill sighed. “Stark was the first back, him and Barnes. They’ve been working on this since 1991. They even pulled the Captain in on it. And Asgard. And the alien, Nebula. Although, she’s Tony’s daughter, now. And get this… The Captain does counselling for the Bayonne PCYC.”

“Huh…” He grunted. “And Barnes?”

“No-one gets to Stark without going through him.” Hill answered. “He’s Stark’s bodyguard, Coulson.”

~~~

January 2^nd 2012

Maria Hill spun the wheel and the SUV she was driving turned just as smoothly, slotting into a carpark that was clearly labelled ‘HILL’ on the wall that the SUV stopped a bare inch from.

“We walk from here.” She said climbing from the vehicle.

“You have yet to tell me where ‘here’ is, Hill.” Coulson said.

“295 Washington Ave, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.” Hill replied.

“Home to Iron Technologies.” A new voice said. “And given the fact that you should know this, particularly as you’ve been here before? In the last week, in fact… I am going to postulate that you no longer remember that but do remember the tower.”

“It that…?” Coulson looked at Hill. “Is that Stark’s assistant, Jarvis?”

“It is.” Hill answered. “But at the same time, not exactly… JARVIS is a… computer.”

“I am not just a computer, Agent Hill.” JARVIS countered. “I am an AI, Sir made sure that I was much more than just an assistant.”

“Ah.” Coulson nodded.

“Precisely.” JARVIS agreed. “May I ask? What is the date that you last remember?”

“The 4^th of May 2012.” Coulson said. “I went to confront Loki, he rabbitted and stabbed me in the back.”

“Whoops.” Hill grimaced. “There’s a lot happened since then.”

“Such as?”

“We now know that Loki was only a pawn.” Hill said. “He was being controlled, the same way that Barton was.”

“Which was?”

“The sceptre holds the Mind Stone.” Hill started, only to have Coulson cut her off.

“And what exactly is a... Mind Stone?” He could clearly hear the capitalisation of the two words.

“It’s an Infinity Stone.” Hill answered. “Mind, Time, Soul, Space, Reality and Power. They control their own element. The Mind Stone can control minds. The Time Stone can manipulate time. The Space Stone can move someone from place to place. Power… we’re not really sure what the Power Stone does to energy but it does something. Whether it absorbs the energy or just manipulates it, we don’t know. Together, all six Stones eliminated half the life in the Universe on the 31^st of May, 2018.”

“Half the life in the universe?” Coulson asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway. “The Universe? The entireuniverse?”

“Yes.” Hill said sharply. “The entire universe. Fury and I, among them.”

“You…?”

“Died. Along with Fury, Barton’s family, all bar him. Erik Selvig, Betty Ross, James Barnes, Jane Foster, General Ross, Monica Rambeau, Tom Hinton, George Lake, Peter Green, James Harden, Luke Skinner and… six hundred and five other Shield agents.”

“Well…” Coulson’s jaw fell. “sh*t…”

“Very.” Hill said. “But there’s a lot that Stark changed since he arrived back here.”

“Such as?” The question was repeated.

“You won’t remember this, but SHIELD is infected. HYDRA still exists and in 2014, when Romanov and Rogers dumped SHIELD’s database on the open internet, it was found that nearly two thirds of those wearing a SHIELD badge, were actually HYDRA.”

“HYDRA?” Coulson blinked and took a step forward.

“HYDRA.” Hill nodded and led him around a corner. “We’ve been slowly weeding them out for the last twenty years. The first to go was Alexander Pierce, he was the head of HYDRA in America, now he’s residing in Supermax and will be for the rest of his life.”

“If he was HYDRA…” Coulson hesitated. “Can we be certain that he’s not still… working… from there?”

Hill nodded. “Tony created an AI just to monitor him and his guards are randomly selected, initially by Fury and now by myself, each morning. They’ve all been cleared by JARVIS and the Black Widow and are checked every week, just to be certain.”

“Good, good.” Coulson nodded then paused. “Tony?”

“Ah.” Hill grimaced. “It’s easier to differentiate between Howard and Tony if we use their first names.”

“Howard?” Coulson’s eyes widened, fractionally.

“Yeah, that’s another thing that Tony and Barnes changed.” Maria grimaced.

“Barnes?” Coulson frowned. “Why would Michael Barnes have anything to do with Tony Stark? He was in Asset Acquisition, what use would he be to Stark? ”

“No, not Michael.” Hill corrected. “James Barnes.”

“James Barnes?” Coulson blinked. “James Buchannan Barnes? Bucky Barnes? That’s who you meant, when you said ‘Barnes’?” His eyes were wide in surprise.

“Yes.” Hill nodded.

“I thought he was dead?” Coulson might have meant it was a statement but it came out sounding more like a question.

“No.” Hill shook her head. “He was found by the Russians and… they brainwashed him and kept him on ice when they didn’t need him to assassinate someone.”

“Sergeant Barnes woke in a Russian controlled bunker, here in New York.” JARVIS continued the explanation. “He was given the mission to kill Howard Stark and make it look like Howard had lost control of the vehicle and crashed it into a tree. However, as Sir and I had… woken… some months before and we had changed the conditions around the ‘accident’. Sergeant Barnes was able to identify Sir’s Mk85 Iron Man suit and called for assistance to remove a tracking device and a kill switch in his prosthetic arm.”

“Huh.” Coulson grunted. “I think I need to know a little more, JARVIS.”

“Of course, Agent Coulson.” JARVIS agreed. “If Agent Hill would oblige and show you the way to the team offices, we have an office set aside for you. I’ll have a briefing made available to you, that will provide a timeline comparison. What happened, versus what we’ve done and what we still need to do.”

“That would be much appreciated.” Coulson hated not knowing what was happening.

“And if you don’t mind, Agent, I would like to inform Hawkeye and the Black Widow, of your… arrival?” JARVIS hesitated over the last word.

“Please do.” Coulson nodded and followed Hill down a corridor.

“Sir.” Coulson barely blinked when Clint slid a carafe of coffee onto the desk beside the holographic computer.

“Barton.” Coulson nodded. “Good to see you. Do you need to speak to someone in regards to Loki or has that been addressed?” He continued to read the file that was displayed.

“It’s been dealt with, sir.” Clint shrugged. “Or well… it’s being dealt with. It’s an ongoing thing. Knowing that he was under the same… enchantments… as he put me under, helps. Knowing who was actually responsible, helps even more. Watching him turn to dust? Yeah, that fixed most of it. Occasionally, I still get glimpses of that particular shade of blue and freeze, but it only takes a couple of seconds to blink a few times and it’s gone. The nightmares hung around longer. But Thanos Snapping my family away? That… It put me in a… bad place. I… I went rogue.”

“Rogue?!” Coulson’s head snapped up.

“Yeah…” Clint sighed. “Not my best move. I’d been shooting with Lila, her aim with the longbow was excellent by the way, when the Snap happened. One second, my family were there and the next? Gone. I… I didn’t handle it well. I couldn’t face the thought of touching a bow, so I pulled out the box that Duquesne’s solicitor sent. I knew that his swords would be in it. And… well… Something inside me had snapped, too, and all I could think of was that someone needed to pay. If not for taking my family, then for taking other families, for hurting other fathers. And I had nothing left to lose, so it might as well be me that made them pay.”

Coulson sighed, he remembered how close to the line Barton had been, when he’d brought the young man, barely out of his teens, into SHIELD. He’d watched the man grow into a strong, loving man, a husband and father that could easily have walked away after he’d fulfilled his side of the bargain that Barton and Fury had hashed out. But Barton hadn’t, he’d stayed and continued to protect those unable to protect themselves. He could see the archer losing everything and taking exactly the actions he had.

“What brought you back?”

“Nat.” Clint shrugged again. “I brought her in, way back when, she repaid the favour. It was hard to explain to Laura what I did, but Tony insisted that hiding things would only make accepting it, harder. He was right. And I think that Laura and I are better for it. Certainly, we’re more… understanding of how the other feels. Laura was always the one to stay behind, while I went off to deal with whatever. Turns out, she deals with being the one left behind, better than I do.”

“Laura handles everything better than you do.” Coulson snorted. “She was one of SHIELD’s best analysts, until you went and got her pregnant.”

“True.” Clint laughed. “Tony’s built her a suit.”

“A suit?” Coulson tilted his head in confusion.

“An Iron Man suit.” Clint answered.

“An Iron…? Truly?” Coulson looked at the file. “James Barnes was the Winter Soldier?”

“He was.” Clint said. “Now he’s Tony’s bodyguard and a husband and father.” He snorted. “Oh and a great-grandfather.”

“Excuse me?” Coulson’s brows rose.

“See, Nat’s serum from the Red Room…” Clint settled into a chair, there was a lot to add to the very bland file that the SHIELD agent was reading.

~~~

May 1^st 2012

“Who’ve you got monitoring Selvig?” Hill asked.

“Morton and Whips.”

“Oh, Lord.” Hill snorted. “Complete incompetents.”

“That was the idea.” Coulson nodded with his trademarked bland smile. “Low ranking, failed weapons handling, failed espionage, failed communications, failed tactical, failed infiltration, failed offensive driving. Barely passed defensive driving, quinjet piloting and first aid.”

“They’re going to be of little help to Loki.” Hill smirked.

“I see no reason to make things easy on him.” Coulson said innocently. “After all, he did kill me once. Why should I give him a chance to do so, a second time?”

“True.” Hill nodded.

~~~

May 4^th 2012.

“Huh.” Tony grunted. “How about that…”

“Pardon?” Steve glanced sideways at him.

“When I came in earlier, just before you and the others got here, I landed on the platform out there,” Tony nodded to the wide platform-like balcony that housed a temporary assemble/disassemble rig for the Iron Man suits, “I came in and spoke to him,” Tony nodded towards Loki, who was leaning against the steps of the Metlife Building's Penthouse suite's sunken living room. “His eyes were bright blue. Just like those he used the sceptre on.”

“Loki’s eyes are green.” Thor said firmly.

“They are… now.” Tony nodded. “They weren’t half an hour ago.”

“Half an hour ago Thanos controlled me.” Loki grimaced.

Clint narrowed his eyes at the fallen Asgardian and eased the tension on his bowstring. “Welcome back.” He grunted. “I still want to put one of these through his eye socket.” He muttered to Barnes as the man stood between Clint and Tony.

Loki blinked and tilted his head in thought. “Hawk…? Barton, wasn’t it?”

Clint glared at the raven-haired Asgardian. “You were in my head long enough to strip it bare, you damn well better know who I am, trickster.”

“I…” Loki blinked in shock.

“Yeah.” Clint smirk grew teeth. “Like I said, welcome back. You gonna get serious this time? Or are you still playing games?”

“Games?” Loki and Thor both asked.

“You’re supposedly the God of mischief, of pranks.” Clint huffed. “Where was the subtly, the finesse that you’re renowned for? His kids could have planned an invasion better than you did.” Clint nodded towards Bucky. “You handled this whole thing like…” Clint's smirk grew. “Like someone following the orders of someone who doesn’t know that they’re doing. Attacking the largest city of one of the most militarised nations on this planet? Really? That’s not smart, that’s just plain dumb.”

Steve, Barnes and Tony all snorted in agreement.

Loki’s eyes flicked from Clint to each of the others before settling on Barnes. “I don’t recall you being involved in this…” Yelena, Darcy, Laura and Pepper stepped onto the landing above the bar. “Or you ladies…”

“That’s because we weren’t.” Barnes’ jaw was tight and his metal hand glinted in the overhead lights, as the fingers clenched and unclenched.

“Ah.” Loki nodded. “So…” He looked at Tony. “Perhaps that drink, while someone explains why.”

“Why, what?” Thor asked then blinked. “Lady Darcy?”

“Never mind, big guy, we got this.” Darcy patted Thor’s arm as she went past him and stepped up to Barnes’ side. “You right?” Her fingers slid into his metal and his fingers visibly relaxed, closing gently around hers.

“Yeah, doll.” Barnes nodded. “It was a little harder than I expected. Watching you and the girls out there.” He added.

“Ah, you’re all here, good.” Coulson said as he entered the penthouse. “Which way are we moving?”

“We need to speak to Fury.” Steve said.

“Then it’s time for a little trip.” Tony added.

“Little?” Barnes snorted. “You’ve no idea how long it takes to get to the base of Yggdrasil, do you?”

“Yggdrasil?” Thor asked.

“And unless the Norns grant us entrance, we’ll never get there.” Darcy added.

“And why wouldst thou be attending the Norns?” Thor demanded.

“Yes, why are we going to the Norns?” Loki asked and few missed the fact that he said 'we'.

“To stop Thanos, of course.” Darcy shook her head at Thor and Loki.

“Oh, of course, but… why the Norns?” Loki had a confused expression on his face.

“Frigga seems to think that the Norns can help us hide what Stones we have.” Darcy replied.

“Mother?” Thor asked, looking from Darcy to Loki and back again. “Stones?”

“How?” Loki asked. “And what Stones do you have?”

“We have the Mind, Space and Reality Stones and The Ancient One has the Time Stone.” Darcy replied. “And we don’t know if Frigga’s right but it’s worth a shot.”

“Four?” Loki gasped. “You have four Infinity Stones? All here? At once?”

“Yep.” Tony grinned.

“And we’re thinking that a detour to Vormir might be a good idea.” Clint said.

“But what would you sacrifice?” Loki looked from one person to another.

“The futures that we had. The lives that we left.” Yelena flopped down onto a sofa, facing Loki.

Loki tilted his head and thought. “That might just be enough…”

“Enough for what?” Thor asked his brother.

“Oh, dear….” Loki looked at Thor. “This might be a problem.”

“Not as much as explaining it to Fury.” Coulson sighed.

~~~

May 4^th 2012 (Maybe)

A pair of brown eyes met a pair of green eyes across the expanse of a space port. Both sets widened in surprise, before brown eyes narrowed into an almost glare. There was a flip of ruby-coloured hair and a tall, slightly intimidating, green skinned Zehobeiri decked out in dark leather, strode across the compound.

“Oh, sh*t…” The green eyes widened even further, that walk was oh-so-familiar. Someone was going to get hurt and he just hoped it wasn’t going to be him. The human/celestial halfbreed looked over his shoulder for an escape route, knowing that escape was out of the question.

“You!” Green lips twisted in anger.

“Ah… Hi?” He gave her a tentative smile.

“Where’s your ship?” The words were growled at him.

“Um…?” The smile fell away.

“Peter...” Someone’s patience was running out.

“The Milano’s in bay C-53.” Peter Quill answered, nearly stumbling over the few words.

“Good. We have an orb to fetch. Before Ronan and Thanos know that we’re hunting for it.”

“Stark?” Quill asked.

“Yes, the Man of Iron is the only one to use all six, without being instantly disintegrated.”

“Morag then Terra?”

“Yes, Peter.”

“Should we hunt up Groot and Rocket? What about Drax and Mantis. Should we be looking for them?”

“No need.” Gamora jerked her chin, indicating something behind Quill.

The sandy-haired man turned and saw the four other beings standing around his ship.

“Alright, then.” He clapped his hands. “Let’s get this hunt on the move, Terra’s a long way from Morag, which is a long way from here.” He bounced off towards his ship, knowing that Gamora would be behind him, rolling her eyes at his exuberance.

Chapter 31

Chapter Text

“Stark?” Quill asked.

“Yes, the Man of Iron is the only one to use all six, without being instantly disintegrated.”

“Morag then Terra?”

“Yes, Peter.”

“Should we hunt up Groot and Rocket? What about Drax and Mantis. Should we be looking for them?”

“No need.” Gamora jerked her chin, indicating something behind Quill.

The sandy-haired man turned and saw the four other beings standing around his ship.

“Alright, then.” He clapped his hands. “Let’s get this hunt on the move, Terra’s a long way from Morag, which is a long way from here.” He bounced off towards his ship, knowing that Gamora would be behind him, rolling her eyes at his exuberance.

~~~

May 4^th (maybe) 2012

“So…?” Peter Quill screwed up his face. “How… did you all get here? How did you all know to come here?”

“I am… Groot…” The sentient tree muttered quietly.

“Yeah, pal, I know…” The racoon muttered and shook his head.

“Well?” Gamora raised an eyebrow.

“We literally just woke up one morning and remembered a dozen years that haven’t happened.” Rocket shrugged as he spoke.

“As did I.” The Kylosian male nodded.

“So, Groot, Rocket and Drax woke and remembered but what about you, Mantis? Didn’t dear old dad have you tucked away where nobody else knew about you?” Quill asked.

“I don’t know…” The empath’s antennae drooped in confusion. “One moment I was with you all, helping Quill across the battlefield on Titan and the next I was standing on observation deck of the Space dock, here. I saw Groot and decided it would be best if I joined him and Rocket. Once I met with them, Drax found us and we came here, Rocket seemed to know which ship to come to.”

“So, does that mean that there’s no-one with Ego?” Gamora asked.

“I don’t know.” Mantis answered quietly.

“Should we deal with him, first?” Peter asked.

“No, Thanos is way more important than Ego.” Rocket replied.

“This is true.” Drax nodded.

“Who knows, we might be lucky and Ego might be one of those that Thanos snaps away.” Rocket said callously.

“No, we’re not going to give Thanos the chance to destroy the future, again.” Gamora said.

“But how can we stop him? There’s only the six of us.” Rocket argued.

“No, there’s not.” Gamora disagreed. “I woke aboard my ship, two days ago and after a few minutes of… physical exertion, I checked the memory logs of the ship. There was a series of messages from Nebula.”

“Nebula?” Drax asked.

“Physical exertion?” Rocket asked.

“You broke things, didn’t you?” Quill grinned.

“I did.” Gamora nodded, unashamedly. “And yes, Nebula. She escaped from Thanos. Six years ago.” Exclamations came from all five beings that were listening to her. “Quiet.” Silence followed the sharp word. “Better. Yes, six years ago. She went to Xandar and the Nova Corps, they did a cellular rewrite on her, making her the genetic daughter of the Avengers’ leader, Iron Man.”

“Iron Man?” Quill grimaced. “He’s not their leader, Captain America is.”

“Really?” Gamora asked in disbelief. “Iron Man is better.”

“That’s not how it works, with them.” Rocket argued. “They share things. Captain Blondie is the leader… in battle. The rest of the time, the Mechanic is the one to make things work.”

“Huh.” Quill grunted as he thought about Rocket’s comment.

“Yeah, the Mechanic? He’s smart, real smart. The things he comes up with? For battle? Captain Blondie seems to know how to make the most of them, knows who’s to use what and when. The Mechanic is okay with Captain Blondie leading them, on field. And there? They work together, so well. Like they share a single brain. Beautiful. Mechanics and organics in perfect symmetry.” Rocket’s las sentence was whispered with an almost reverent awe.

“Sounds like you’re impressed with them?” Quill smirked.

“I am. In battle, I have never seen any team that works as seamlessly as they do.” Rocket nodded. “No even you and your sister.” He addressed the comment to Gamora. “They’re damn near perfect…”

“Do we have any idea if either of them remember what we do?” Mantis asked.

“Whether they remember or not, they will know. Nebula left enough clues in the messages that she left for me, to suggest that she remembers. Why else would she have gone to Terra?” Gamora said.

“True.” Rocket nodded.

“Can we send her a message?” Quill asked. “If we’re on the Milano, will she get our messages? Accept them, I mean?”

“I think so.” Gamora nodded. “I sent her a message, warning her that all future messages would come from the Milano. I knew from what Nebula told me in her messages and from what I remember of what the Nova Corps were able to reclaim from the Milano when they reconstructed the ship after Ronan’s attack, that Quill would be here. Sometime in the next few days. I just had to wait.”

“Do you need anything from your ship?” Quill asked.

“No.” Gamora shook her head. “I retrieved the few possessions that I wanted to keep, they’re on a hover-sled along with supplies.”

“And your ship?” Rocket asked.

“Sold. There’ll be a delivery of supplies coming, as soon as we let the supply master know what berth to deliver them to. Once they’re stowed, we can leave.”

Rocket nodded and tapped out a direction on the dock’s power coupling that supplied the ship with power while it was on-station. “Done. Should be here in a minute or two.” He told the others.

“Where are we going?” Drax looked from Gamora to Quill. “Ego? Or the Stone? Which is first?”

“The Stone.” Both answered.

“And that is where?” Mantis asked.

“Morag.” Quill answered and paused as a hover-sled came to a halt at the base of the Milano's cargo ramp. “After we unload this.”

“That was quick.” Rocket grunted, pleased.

“I have nothing with me.” Mantis said. “Should I have clothing?”

“I also have nothing.” Drax reminded them.

“If Quill and Groot will stow the supplies and Rocket does a maintenance inspection, supervises a fuel-cell exchange and gets us cleared for departure? Say two hours? I have the credits to get you both some clothes.” Gamora said.

“Should send the blue baldy a message, telling her we’re off after the Stone.” Rocket added.

The group exchanged looks, looking from one person to another, before nodding and going their separate ways.

~~~

May 5^th 2012

Nebula strode from her apartment, not quite running but very close to it. She hurried along the corridor and down the nearest stairwell, to ground level, along the pavement and in the staff (and family) only entrance to Iron Tech’s Brooklyn base. From there she climbed to the sixth floor and Tony’s personal lab. She waved at the door and it quickly and quietly slid open, giving her access.

“Nebula?” Tony’s head rose from behind Dum-E’s body.

“I’ve just received a message from the Milano.” Nebula said quickly. “Gamora’s met up with Quill, Rocket, Groot, Drax and Mantis. They’re going to Morag to after the Stone.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Morag? That’s the Power Stone, right?” Nebula nodded and Tony stood up. “We need to let Steve know.”

“Steve can wait.” Pepper said as she entered the lab. “You need to clean up, Fury will be here inside the hour.”

“Dammit…” Tony grimaced and headed for the lab’s bathroom.

~~~

“What the f*ck…?” Nick Fury just looked at Tony Stark, blankly. It took nearly a minute before Fury sighed. “You’ve always been a pain in my arse, Stark. Why should I expect that to change, now?”

“Fury?”

“Well, the good news is…” Fury grimaced, “you don’t need to explain anything about what happened, just what you’re going to do to stop it from happening again.”

“Excuse me?”

“I remember, Thanos… sort of…”

“Kind of like a dream or a movie you watched?” Steve asked, remembering how Angela had described it.

“Yes.” Fury grunted. “A really realistic dream or a movie watched with Stark’s virtual reality gear.”

“Oh, thank God.” Tony slumped back in his seat.

“Why didn’t you approach us, then?” Steve asked.

“I grew up in this timeline, this is my home.” Fury answered. “I didn’t really think that it was possible to move between timelines. Even in my…. let's call them dreams… Unlike most of you, I remember growing up here. What I know of your timeline is only from my dreams. And while I’ll grant you, they’re very realistic, they’re still just dreams. And even in my dreams, the timeline… jumping(?) thing, was end-of-the-world stuff and involved aliens, a giant green ogre, a… raccoon(?) and blue cyborg.”

“The Green Giant is a good friend of mine, he’s not an ogre.” Tony informed Fury. “The raccoon is Rocket, he’s a mechanical genius.”

“Like you?”

“Nah, he’s had access to stuff that we can’t get on Earth.” Tony shook his head. “And the Blue Meanie went to another set of aliens and had them change her. She’s now Nebula.”

“Nebula? Your daughter, Nebula?”

“Yep.” Tony nodded.

“Your daughter’s an alien?” Fury gave Tony a blank stare.

“Was.” Tony corrected. “She had a cellular rewrite to make her completely human.”

“Uh-huh.” Fury grunted. “Right.” He nodded a few times, before speaking again. “So, what’s the next move?”

“You’ve the evidence that we gave you, that showed that Loki was under the same type of mind control as Morton and Whips.” Tony said. “How did the WSC take that?”

“They’re not happy about it but after a bit of heavy-handed bluntness, they accepted it. It took far longer to convince them that the tesseract wasn’t staying on Earth.” Fury replied.

“I can imagine.” Tony paused and frowned. “Who ordered the nuke? Are there still HYDRA on the council?”

“Cheng.” Fury answered. “And I think it was more a political move than anything. China’s not happy with the western world, right now, any of it, so the chance to damage a major western city was too good to pass up. The other councillors have already taken action against him, he’s been removed and sanctioned. China’s seat on the council has been revoked and passed along to Japan, just to add insult to injury.”

“JARVIS?”

“Sir?”

Tony tilted his head and let the CEO of Stark Industries and Iron Technologies rear his business-savy head. “Make sure our Chinese trading partners are informed that IT and SI will not tolerate that type of behaviour against any nation, not just against America and that we will happily withdraw our businesses from their shores.” He frowned. “Add in a penalty charge, something large enough to have them contacting whoever gave Cheng the authority to act.”

“Yes, Sir. Shall I halt progress on the purchase of land for the Shenzhen factory?” The disembodied voice startled Fury, who looked up at the ceiling and glanced from one corner to another, before looking back at Tony.

“Yes, and tell Pei why. Let the commerce department put pressure on the higher-ups, too.”

“Of course, Sir.” The smooth British voice agreed.

“Can we get back to what you’re going to do to stop Thanos, please?” Fury asked sharply.

“Sure.” Tony replied brightly. “Neb’s sister, Gamora has teamed up with the Guardians and they’re headed for a tiny little rock in the Andromeda Galaxy that is the current home of the Power Stone. They’re going to fetch it and meet us at Nornheim, from there the only access to the roots of Yggdrasil and the Norns is with the permission and direction of the Norns, themselves. After Thanos, they want our help to deal with a renegade Celestial, called Ego. But that’s later, Thanos is way more important.”

“Who’s going to these Norns? And how?”

“We have a ship.” Tony answered the second question. “When Nebula went to Xandar for help, they ‘confiscated’ her ship and replaced it with one that was untraceable by Thanos. We’ll use that, it’s large enough to take ten or twelve of us, without being too cramped.”

“Tony will be going.” Steve joined the conversation. “He was the one to actually use all six Stones to defeat Thanos, in our original timeline. Darcy and Bucky because they’ve been there before and have the best idea of where we’re going. Natashalie and Gamora, as they were sacrificed for the Soul Stone. The Ancient One, as she’s the current guardian of the Time Stone. Nebula, because it’s her ship. Peter Quill, as he’s part Celestial and has handled the Power Stone before.”

“I will be joining you.” Loki said. “I have the clearest understanding on Thanos’ plans and I believe that it would be easier for the Norns to access that directly from my mind.”

“If Loki is to travel with you, so shall I.” Thor added.

“And we all feel that Coulson should come, too.” Tony said. “The voice of reason, sort of thing.”

“If we’re taking those that have used a Stone, then Jane should go, too.” Bucky said. “She was infected by the Aether for a bit.”

“Jane?” Thor straightened up. “You knowest of the Lady Jane?”

“Of course.” Bucky grinned. “Darcy is my wife.”

Thor beamed. “Then we are brothers! The Lady Darcy is my Shield-Sister.”

“Oh, not only that, big guy.” Tony smirked. “Your mom? She’s adopted Darcy.”

“Mother? Mother’s been here?” Loki’s eyes widened.

“Mother left Asgard?” Thor’s eyes were just as wide.

“Yep. Valkyrie escorted her and stayed with her until Heimdall sent the Bifrost back for her.” Tony said. “She left us goodies to help in the fight. Potions, weapons, ore for runes and other protective… stuff.” Tony nodded rapidly, smiling brightly at the two brothers.

“Mother left Asgard...” Thor whispered. “May the Norns have mercy on us…”

“We really hope they will, pal…” Steve agreed.

“Right, back on track.” Bucky rapped his metal hand on the table to get everyone’s attention. “Tony, Darcy, me, Nat, Gamora, the Ancient One, Nebula, Quill, Loki, Thor, Coulson and Jane?” He ticked them off, on a piece of paper as he spoke. “That’s twelve. Darcy and I only need one bunk.”

“As do Jane and I.” Thor added.

“Quill and Gamora can probably share, too.” Tony suggested. “If not, then Gamora can share a cabin with Nebs. Coulson and I can share one, maybe put Nat and the Ancient One in another.”

“How are the bunks laid out?” Steve asked. “The Benatar was a mix of single and double cabins.”

“Pretty much the same on the Salus.” Tony responded. “Eight bunks in four cabins, two to a cabin and four doubles.”

“So, Darcy and Bucky in a double?” Steve asked, making a note on the pad in front of him. “Jane and Thor in another? Quill and Gamora or Nebs and Gamora?”

“Leave that with a question mark and I’ll have Nebs message Gamora and check.” Tony said.

“Right.” Steve nodded. “That leaves one double and four multi-berth cabins. We have Tony and Coulson, Nat and Nebs… that leaves Loki and the Ancient One… and one double cabin and one single cabin.” He studied the pad and made a few more notes, crossing some out and rewriting others. “Right. Double cabins. Darcy and Bucky. Jane and Thor. The Ancient One. The last is Gamora and either Quill or Nebs. The bunk cabins. Nat and possibly Nebs, depending on what Gamora says. Tony and Coulson. Loki and possibly Quill, again depending on what Gamora has to say. That leaves us with one bunk cabin spare that I suggest we use as storage for additional supplies, particularly fresh water. We have no idea how long you’re going to be waiting for the Norns to respond to a request for a meeting.”

“And when will you leave?” Fury asked.

“We can be ready in… six hours?” Tony replied looking at the others in the room and after they all nodded, he went on. “Yeah, six hours and we can be away. We have the Stones secure, each in a separate container, that will be stored in separate locations around the ship. We’re not all that sure what will happen if their containers come into contact with each other, so we’re taking a few extra precautions.”

“And what should we be telling the public about those of you that are going?” Fury tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in consideration. “Iron Man was quite visible, as was Sargent Barnes.”

“Tell them that when Loki was freed from Thanos’ control, he gave us information that we’re using to prevent an item becoming a weapon, that if Thanos got his hands on it, could destroy half the life on Earth.” Steve replied.

“The truth, then?”

“Pretty much.” Tony nodded. “Just not all of it.”

Chapter 32

Chapter Text

“And what should we be telling the public about those of you that are going?” Fury tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in consideration. “Iron Man was quite visible, as was Sargent Barnes.”

“Tell them that when Loki was freed from Thanos’ control, he gave us information that we’re using to prevent an item becoming a weapon, that if Thanos got his hands on it, could destroy half the life on Earth.” Steve replied.

“The truth, then?”

“Pretty much.” Tony nodded. “Just not all of it.”

~~~

Nornheim – approximately May 29^th 2012

“Anyone else wondering if this is going to work?” Tony asked, seemingly to the air in the Salus’ mess-cabin.

“It will work.” Nebula stated, her voice calm.

“It will.” Gamora’s voice agreed, causing both Tony and Nebula to jerk and turn to face the entrance to the cargo bay. “Sister.” Gamora nodded calmly to Nebula.

And Nebula nodded back, just as calmly. “Sister.” Then Nebula’s mouth twitched and a smile grew, before she hurled herself across the cabin and into a startled Gamora’s arms. “I have missed you.”

“And I, you.” Gamora’s hands clutched at Nebula for a few seconds before she eased her now-human ‘sister’ back onto her own feet. “We have the Orb with the Power Stone still inside it. What is our next move?”

“That bag over there?” Tony pointed to a bag hanging from a hook on the bulkhead beside the hatch. “That one is for your Stone. Each Stone has it’s own bag and a person to monitor it. Either you or Quill get your stone. It’ll stay in whatever cabin you’re bunking in, Greenie.”

“As you say.” Gamora handed the bag to Peter Quill, who pulled a small silver ball from somewhere and dropped it into the bag and tied it to his belt.

~~~

Nornheim – approximately May 31^st 2012

“How much longer are we gonna have to wait?” Quill muttered to Gamora, as they sat at a mess-table.

“As long as we must.” She replied, ignoring the sulking man-child.

It appeared that it wasn’t to be all that much longer, as no sooner had she finished speaking, Thor came barrelling into the cabin.

“We are summoned!” He called in his booming voice. “The Norns summon us, we must away.”

“Not until Tony and James return with supplies.” Gamora said sharply.

“We’re here.” Bucky’s voice came from the cargo hold. “Could use a hand to stow the supplies. That’d get us underway, a bit faster.”

“I shall assist you, my shield-brother!” Thor was gone as fast as he’d arrived.

~~~

Unnamed planetoid – approximately June 5^th 2012

Quill waited until the landing struts were fully extended before letting the Salus settle to the planetoid’s surface. Once down, he nodded to Nebula and she carefully eased off the thrusters and let gravity hold the Salus in place. They unstrapped from their seat harnesses and left the bridge to joined the others in the mess-cabin.

“We really going to do this?” Quill asked.

“Got a better idea, Star-boy?” Tony snarked.

“Lord.” Quill objected. “Star Lord.”

“Right, whatever.” Tony ignored the squawk. “Darcy and Bucky have point. They’ve been here before.”

“Yes. Let us hear what the Norns would tell us.” Agreed Thor.

“Buckster? You wanna lead the way?” Tony directed the question to his bodyguard.

“Right…” Bucky huffed a sigh. “Come on, then.” He reached out with his metal hand and slid it into Darcy’s delicate flesh fingers. “This way.”

Out of the ship and across the small plateau, then onto what looked like a set of stairs that led down and around the butte’s ragged sides. They circled the entire butte twice before reaching a small ledge and the end of the steps.

“Here we go. Again.” Bucky whispered to Darcy.

“We got this, love.” Darcy gave him a slightly weak smile.

Within feet the ragged edges of the cave became smooth and almost polished, tangles of thread hanging intermittently, from ceiling to floor along the long, slightly curving corridor.

“Uh, guys?” Tony was the first to speak. “Is it just me, or is this hallway longer than the butte is wide?”

“Yep.” Darcy nodded. “We think that the cave is really only a… doorway, a portal, if you like… that opens up to wherever the Norns actually are.”

“It’s still quite a walk, yet.” Bucky agreed.

“But I don’t like walking…” Tony whined.

“Tough.” Darcy snorted. “You wanted to come? Suck it up, princess.”

For the next few minutes, as Bucky gently guided them, Darcy and Tony continued to bicker like siblings.

“We’re here.” He brought them to a halt in front a massive door. Polished black stone, with what looked like stars glinting within its surface.

“How do we get in?” Nat asked.

No-one really needed to answer, as the huge door slid open, soundlessly, exposing only blackness.

“I’m assuming, like that.” Loki said.

Nat tilted her head and looked sideways at the raven-haired Asgardian, but said nothing in reply.

Darcy and Bucky looked at each other, took a deep breath and together entered the blackness.

The blackness faded within three steps, revealing the edge of a tree root, filling one side of a small-ish room. Yggdrasil. In front of the root, three shadowy forms worked at looms.

“Sisters.” Said one. “We have guests.”

“I saw their coming.” A second said.

“I watched their arrival.” The third said.

The later pair nodded to each other and returned to their looms, while the first stood, showing herself to be a woman of indeterminate age, her head and shoulders enveloped in shadow, as though it were worn like a hood.

“Be welcome, Avengers.” She said. “I am Verdandi.

“I was named Urðr.” Said the second form, still at her loom.

“I will always be Skuld.” Said the third, equally as busy at hers.

“We are sisters and together we tell…” said Verdandi.

“…of what has been…” Urðr cut in.

“…of what will come to be…” added Skuld.

“And what currently is.” Finished Verdandi.

“We are the Norns.” The three spoke together, their voice echoing as though spoken in a great hall instead of the small and cosy room they were in.

“You have been here, before, but I did not see your arrival.” Urðr looked at Darcy and Bucky.

“Nor have I.” Skuld agreed.

“But you have been here, we can all See that. You are cursed.” Verdandi tilted her head, which confused the Norns’ visitors, as they couldn’t see Verdandi’s head, only a shadowy place where it should have been. “Most interesting. But that is not why you have come.”

“No, it is not.” Darcy agreed.

“We come to beg advice.” Loki was the next to speak. “Thanos-”

“Yes, we know of his plans.” The dislike in Skuld’s voice was clear.

“You wish to hide the Stones of Infinity.” Urðr said.

“We do.” Darcy said. “Frigga of Asgard said that we would be wise to ask your advice before we started to mess about with them.”

“And well that you have.” Verdandi.

“They must be split up.” Urðr warned.

“Placed where none may reach them.” Skuld agreed.

“Sounds good.” Tony was as irreverent as ever. “Any ideas on where?”

Nat shook her head and smothered a groan at Tony’s behaviour.

“You will use the Time Stone to place each Stone in its resting place.” Urðr said.

“The Soul stone will reside in the care of the Librarian, it will be within a mirror space that he and he alone will be able to access.” “Skuld said. “The souls of those of his order that depart their lives, will be held within the Stone.”

“A Library of Souls that have lived, finally at peace.” Urðr agreed.

“The Power Stone will be placed within the heart of Nidavellir, to power it for lifetimes to come.” Skuld told them.

“You must use the Time Stone to send the Power Stone back in Time, so far back that it has never been anywhere else but there.” Urðr added.

“Time, Space, Mind and Reality Stones will feed the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil.” Skuld said. “But you must send them forward in Time to just after the Time of Withering, after the Great Winter.They will gift the Tree of Life new strength to face its next Spring.”

“As long as we get some better info on a timescale, sure.” Tony agreed.

“And the Sight Stone shall remain with us.” Verdandi said.

“As it has always been.” Urðr said.

“As it will always be.” Skuld nodded.

“Wait, what?” Tony blinked. “The what Stone?”

“The Stone of Sight.” Verdandi answered. “It is what feeds the Water of Sight, that which we use to See.”

“Hold up.” Tony held up a hand and turned to those that came with him. “Did I hear that right? She said the Sight Stone? Yeah? That makes seven, right? Seven Stones. I thought there were only six?”

“As did I.” Loki agreed.

“Same here.” Quill said before turning to Gamora and Nebula. “Did you know about a seventh Stone? Does Thanos know about a seventh Stone?”

“No…” Gamora looked at Nebula and raised an eyebrow.

“Not as far as I am aware.” Tony’s daughter shook her head. “He never mentioned a seventh Stone, it was always six.”

“The Sight Stone has always been in our care.” Urðr said. “It has never been named before.”

“And will never be named by any but those that stand here, today.” Skuld agreed.

“If Thanos never knew of it, he could never acquire all of the Stones.” Nebula said.

“But he used six of them.” Tony objected. “I used six of them.”

“With only six Stones, he could only access a portion of their power.” Verdandi said.

“A portion?” Tony said flatly. “A portion of their power destroyed half the life in the Universe?”

“Yes,” Verdandi nodded, “imagine what would be, if he had all seven…”

“Oh, gods and goddesses…” Darcy whispered in horror.

“Exactly.” Verdandi nodded again.

“Verdandi? What is that?” Urðr spoke sharply and pointed at something that the visitors couldn’t see.

Verdandi moved to stand beside Urðr and Looked where she pointed. “I… I do not know…”

“Skuld, do you See?” Urðr asked.

“Yes, I See but…?” Skuld joined her sisters and stood Staring intently at whatever it was they were Looking at. The three studied the whatever and muttered almost silently to each other in a language that none of the visitors understood, not even Thor and Loki’s Allspeak could make sense of what they heard.

“You have those that were… altered... by the Mind Stone.” Urðr turned to face the visitors. “One of them… Taking the Mind Stone hurt her, more than just the taking of the Stone. How?”

The visitors looked from one to another, none of them quite knowing what to say. Finally, Nat sighed and spoke.

“The Mind Stone was used to create an artificial being. The Vision, we called him. Wanda loved him and Thanos tore the Stone from his head and destroyed him in the process.”

“Ah…” Skuld exclaimed quietly. “I could not clearly See, this Vision was not truly alive to be Seen.”

“We can change that, sister.” Urðr offered.

“We can.” Verdandi agreed.

“I would appreciate that, sisters.” Skuld nodded. “To not See what should been Seen is… disconcerting.”

“Then we will correct this.” Urðr stated before turning to the visitors. “We will require a single use of the Mind, Power and Soul Stones.”

“Uh, no.” Tony shook his head. “I’m not giving up JARVIS again.”

“And I have no intention of being subsumed into another being.” A sharp comment came from JARVIS via a speaker hooked onto Tony’s jacket.

“If we were to use the Reality Stone, we would have no need of this JARVIS, that he speaks of.” Verdandi said to her sisters. “We could access the version of The Vision in the moment of his destruction, instead.”

“Yes, sister, that would be more beneficial for the future of this timeline than if we were to use JARVIS as the seed.” Urðr was looking at something that only she could See.

“Who knows the most of The Vision’s creation?” Verdandi suddenly spoke in English.

“That would be me.” Tony held up a hand.

“We would speak with you, privately, come forward, please.” The three spoke as one and Tony looked from them to Thor and raised a brow.

“You will be safe, Friend Stark, the Norns would tell you if they wished you harm.” Thor nodded formally.

“We have no desire to harm nor injure you, you are our guests.” Verdandi added. “We simply wish to speak privately.”

“It is agreed, then?” Verdandi said, loudly enough for the other visitors to hear. It was the first time in nearly an hour that they had heard any sound from the sisters or Tony.

“Yeah…” Tony sounded a little confused. “You’ll walk us through hiding each Stone, in exchange for a single use of the Stones.” He paused, frowned and went on. “Although, how you’re going to use Stones to do that, I just can’t work out…”

“We will use the imprint of his core, his soul, if you will, to create a ‘seed’ that will allow the World Tree to ‘grow’ his body anew.” Skuld answered.

“Yeah, sure, but that…” Tony sighed. “You worked out the details with JARVIS and he seems to understand and… Yeah, he’s okay with it, so I guess I am, too.”

“Tony?” Bucky called quietly. “Is this something we should be involved in?”

“Um…? No? I don’t think…?” Tony turned to the sisters. “Is it?”

“Be at ease, Soldier of Winter, we seek only to address an imbalance before it becomes irreversible.” Verdandi said.

“By doing what?” Bucky asked.

“We will require the Stones to be brought to the Well of Sight.” Verdandi answered. “There we will use their power to reach across Time and Space and into the Reality from which you came. From there we will draw forth the disembodied soul of the one called the Vision, we shall draw his soul here and using the Power and Reality Stones, we will forge a ‘seed’.”

“And what will you do with this ‘seed’?” Darcy asked.

“We will use it as the base for Yggdrasil to grow a body to house his soul.” Skuld answered.

“A body?” Darcy blinked.

~~~

Chapter 33

Chapter Text

“We will require the Stones to be brought to the Well of Sight.” Verdandi answered. “There we will use their power to reach across Time and Space and into the Reality from which you came. From there we will draw forth the disembodied soul of the one called the Vision, we shall draw his soul here and using the Power and Reality Stones, we will forge a ‘seed’.”

“And what will you do with this ‘seed’?” Darcy asked.

“We will use it as the base for Yggdrasil to grow a body to house his soul.” Skuld answered.

“A body?” Darcy blinked.

~~~

Unnamed planetoid – approximately June 5^th 2012

“And you’re not concerned about that? Not at all?” Quill asked looking at the slender blonde man, who hung slumped between Tony and Bucky’s supporting arms.

“Um…” Bucky grimaced.

“No. Nope. Not at all. Not in the slightest.” Tony’s smile was bright and happy.

“Right…” Quill stretched the word out for seconds.

“It’s fine.” Nat said. “Vision is Wanda’s… Hmm… Let’s call him, her other half.”

“She is his focus. Much like Gamora is, to you.” Nebula added.

“Oh… Okay.” Quill nodded his acceptance of that comment and turned to the Norns. “Now, what?”

“Now we guide you in hiding the Stones.” Verdandi said and Quill was sure he heard pleasure in her voice.

“Come, Sorcerer of Midgard, come to the Well of Sight.” Verdandi gestured with her hand to a pocket of shimmering… something… in a hollow of the roots of Yggdrasil.

“What do I need to do.” The Ancient One stepped forward.

“Look into the Well.” Verdandi ordered.

“The Waters of Sight will show you what you must do.” Skuld said.

“It will show you when the Stones were placed and where.” Urðr added.

The Ancient One didn’t speak as she stepped gingerly across the room to the hollow sat, before dropping her eyes to the shimmer. As she looked, the shimmer grew until it was a great light that filled her mind with images.

“Right, let’s do this.” She muttered and let the light subsume her.

Those watching saw her take on the translucent shimmer of whatever it was that filled the Well, leaving her looking more like a metallic greyscale image, than a living person.

“The Soul Stone.” Even her voice had changed, becoming metallic, like something slightly synthesised. “Who has that?”

“I do.” Nat stepped forward and held up a silvery metallic bag.

The Ancient One turned slightly from facing Nat and a familiar fiery circle formed in the air and spread into a portal to another place.

“What the…?” Came the startled voice from within the portal.

“Wong, step forward.” The Ancient One ordered. “But do not enter the portal.”

“Uh…? Why?” The voice sounded a little closer and a lot younger than Tony expected it to.

“Give him the bag.” She told Nat and those standing back watched the bag being passed through the portal. “You will create a Mirror Dimension that only you may enter. Take this.” She held out a hand and blob of light went with the bag. “You know how to use this. Only once you have a stable Mirror Dimension, will you activate it. You will follow its instructions and never deviate from them.” Her voice went harsh. “Never, you understand… never… To deviate, means the destruction of the entire universe. Of every living thing that exists, on all worlds and in all dimensions. You will never speak of this, again. Not with anyone, not even me.”

“Understood.” One hand accepted the blob of light, while a second took the bag. Within seconds the portal closed and the fiery light faded.

“Is he…? Will he…?” Quill paused halfway through whatever he was going to ask.

“Yes, he will do as asked.” Skuld nodded.

“He has never spoken of this event.” Urðr added.

“And he never will.” Skuld agreed.

“Good to know something’s going right.” Quill muttered.

“To place the Power Stone in the Heart of Nidavellir, will require the use of both the Time Stone and the Space Stone.” Urðr warned them. Loki sighed, but stepped up, alongside a wary Quill.

The Well of Sight pulsed and the Ancient One hummed. “Yes…” She whispered. “I See…” She turned from the Well to face the two. “Loki of Asgard, hold open the bag, the Stone must be exposed to the Well of Sight, for me to be able to direct it.”

Loki blinked a few times and opened the bag, folding it down around a small blue stone held between fine wires that formed a decorative cage.

“Yes…” The Ancient One whispered. “Yes…” Her hands moved and as the Space Stone flared, another portal opened.

This time the portal opened into blackness, a writhing, swirling, tumbling mass of black fire, doing its best to escape from whatever was holding it back. It took only a few seconds for the heat of the flames to fill the small room, making it almost unbearably hot. The Space Stone went back to its dull blue, but the Ancient One’s hand moved again and the Time Stone flared brightly, its green light hitting the black flames and driving them back, driving the heat back. Finally, the flames seemed to reverse themselves, seeming to be created from nowhere, before being sucked back into the depths of a wall of black fire.

“Peter, Son of Meredith, stand forth.” The Ancient One’s voice was distorting even further and her appearance was becoming translucent, the edges of the Well being visible through her arm, as she raised her hand. “You must open the Orb and throw the Power Stone into the Heart of the star.” She gestured at the black flames. “Without-”

“Without touching it, directly. I know.” Quill nodded and pulled a small silver ball of the bag that hung at his hip. If the visitors saw that his hand was trembling, they ignored it, just as he did.

“Correct.” The Ancient One nodded.

“Right.” Quill twisted the Orb in his hands and it fell into two halves. One half was dropped to the ground, while the other half rested in his hand for a second, before Quill’s face screwed up and he hurled the half-Orb, and the purple Stone it held, into the still writhing black flames.

It took a bare second for the silver to melt away, leaving the Power Stone exposed to the black flames of Nidavellir. Another second slipped by and the flames changed, now their edges were tinted with the deep purple of the Stone.

“And so did the Stone of Power came to rest in the Heart of Nidavellir.” Urðr’s sombre tones filled the room.

“Now for the others.” The Ancient One said. “They-”

“Wait.” Tony cut in. “Before that, what’s happening to you? You’ve gone all… metallic-y. And see through.”

The Ancient One looked at Tony for a few moments before sighing. “You know as well as any, there is a price to pay for using the Stones.”

“No.” Tony objected. “No, that’s not happening.” He shook his head. “This isn’t what we agreed on. This isn't part of the plan.”

“As Yinsen once said. This was always the plan.” Her voice was soft and sad.

“No…” The horror and fear was clear on Tony’s face and he slid to his knees, dragging Bucky and the man they held, with him.

“You’ll see me again. Quite soon, in fact.” She turned to face the others. “Quickly now, my life-force is limited and this needs to be done. The Time Stone first, then Space.” Her fingers moved and a third portal opened.

Loki’s face was impassive, but his eyes spoke of volumes of pain, as he held up the bag with the Space Stone exposed to the Well. A vast emptiness filled the portal and with a spike of blue light, the portal zoomed in on a sliver of shape. That shape soon resolved itself into a root of Yggdrasil, twisting out into the vast emptiness.

“The Mind Stone, if you would, Son of Coul.” The Ancient One barely twitched a finger before Coulson opened the bag that he’d carried since leaving Earth, letting the Stone inside it show. He bounced the bag and the Stone flew into the air, he twisted and flicked out a foot. The Mind Stone deflected off the toe of his highly polished oxford shoe and such was the precision of his balance that he landed as softly as though stepping of a single stair, while the Stone entered the portal and came to rest against the root. It flickered and its light flared bright before the Stone was absorbed into the root.

“Next is the Reality Stone. Dr Foster?” The Ancient One’s fingers moved and the portal changed, a different root now visible.

“Good riddance.” Jane opened her bag and pulled her arm back, hurling the now-free Stone into the portal. The flash of red was almost expected but the slice of gold that was spat back at her, wasn’t. She threw her hands up to protect her face and was stunned when what hit her hands wasn’t a weapon but a piece of fruit. “An apple?”

“Not just any apple, Lady Jane.” Thor whispered. “T’is a Golden Apple of Immortality. One of Iðunn’s.”

“Huh.” Jane grunted and narrowed her eyes at the winking red light as it seemed to laugh at her. “Typical.” She muttered.

“And so to the Space Stone.” The Ancient One’s fingers twitched again and again the portal moved to a different place, this time not so much a root as the base of the great Tree’s trunk. “There.” She pointed and after following her directions, Loki saw what appeared to be a tiny crack in the Tree’s bark.

“I see it.” He nodded and raised his own fingers. The Stone left the folded down bag and rose into the air it rotated slowly in front of the visitors before floating gently into the portal. It seemed to take an age before its blue light filled the crack and traced the edges of the Tree’s bark.

“Just the Time Stone left.” The Ancient One’s voice was barely a whisper and the visitors could clearly see the Well through her, she was little more than a shadow, now.

The portal again moved but this time, it showed the root of the Tree above the Well. If it weren’t for the ragged cracks and peeling bark, the visitors wouldn’t have guessed that the portal was anything more than a circle of fire. The Ancient One’s fingers moved and closed around the Time Stone and her shadowy form crossed to the portal, her hand pushing the Stone into the bark and watching with a smile as its green light filled the cracks and crevices of the root.

She turned to face the visitors, her smile soft and warm. “It is done.” She sighed before looking at Tony.

His eyes went wide in shock. “Morgan…” He exclaimed, almost silent in surprise.

“Love her, as you did me. She is me, I am her.” A tear ran the Ancient One’s face, down Morgan Stark’s face. “I love you, three thousand.”

A whisp of air and the shadow that had once been a person faded into the broken light that filled the room.

~~~

Chapter 34

Chapter Text

“Just the Tine Stone left.” The Ancient One’s voice was barely a whisper and the visitors could clearly see the Well through her, she was little more than a shadow, now.

The portal again moved but this time, it showed the root of the Tree above the Well. If it weren’t for the ragged cracks and peeling bark, the visitors wouldn’t have guessed that the portal was anything more than a circle of fire. The Ancient One’s fingers moved and closed around the Time Stone and her shadowy form crossed to the portal, her hand pushing the Stone into the bark and watching with a smile as its green light filled the cracks and crevices of the root.

She turned to face the visitors, her smile soft and warm. “It is done.” She sighed before looking at Tony.

“Morgan…” He gasped, eyes wide in shock.

“Love her, as you did me. She is me, I am her.” A tear ran the Ancient One’s face, down Morgan Stark’s face. “I love you, three thousand.”

A whisp of air and the shadow that had once been a person faded into the broken light that filled the room.

~~~

Unnamed planetoid – approximately June 5^th 2012

“It is time you returned to your people.” Verdandi said. “They miss you, greatly.”

“But first… you…” Skuld pointed a finger at Thor.

“There is much you should know, Prince of Asgard.” Urðr pointed a finger at the Well.

“A past you do not remember.” Skuld added.

“And you not knowing, causes pain to others.” Urðr agreed.

“Look into the Well.” Verdandi said.

Thor looked from one sister to another before nodding. “As you command, so shall I obey.” He stepped up to the Well and looked at its shimmering surface.

He blinked twice and fell to the ground, as would a puppet whose strings had been cut. Loki and Jane both leapt forward and dropped to their knees at his sides.

“He is well, Lady Jane, Prince Loki.” Verdandi said.

“Although, he will not wake for a number of hours. When he does, he will remember the future that you have sought to change.” Skuld assured them.

“The past that you all share, the actions and decisions taken. All are in his mind, he has but to assimilate them.” Urðr added her own assurances.

“But as he won’t wake, someone is going to have to carry him.” Verdandi warned.

“How truly inconvenient…” Loki sighed.

“I mightn’t have the strength of an Asgardian,” Quill said, “but I’ll help you carry him, if you’ll help us with dealing with dear old dad.”

“Odin?” Loki blinked in confusion.

“Nah, not your dad, mine. Ego. He’s a celestial and he wants to remake the universe in his own image.” Quill said. “We dealt with him last time, but I don’t know that I can do that again.” He sighed. “We could do with some help.”

“You have helped us, we’ll help you.” Nat said.

“Not sure who will go with you, just yet, but the Avengers will help, don’t worry about that.” Coulson added. “I’ll take a leg, Quill, you grab his other leg. Loki, that leaves you with his head and shoulders.” Coulson reached down and slid his fingers into the gaps around the silver trim of Thor’s left boot, a heartbeat later and Quill was doing the same to the other boot.

“Thank you, Son of Coul, Son of Meredith.” Loki paused as Bucky left Tony’s side and stepped over to join them.

“I’ve got his left arm.” Bucky said.

“What of Stark and… him…?” Loki asked, tipping his head towards the being now slumped against Tony, as he knelt on the ground.

“Darcy and Nebs have got Tony in hand and Nat and Jane will deal with … Huh, we’re going to have to come up with a name for him.” Bucky replied.

“We can deal with that later,” Coulson said, “for now, our time here is up.”

Reaching the Salus, they were quite surprised to see a glowing being resting against a landing strut.

“Captain.” Nebula and Quill spoke at the same time.

“Avengers.” The being nodded back at them. “Tell me, who is responsible for twisting time, the way it has been?”

“Ah… that would be The Ancient One.” Loki said.

“We think it’s the result of a spell she cast, one that went badly wrong.” Nebula corrected. She was doing her best to stay focused but the thought that the Ancient One was a version of her little sister, Morgan? That was, to use a Tony-phrase, ‘freaking her out’. “It was… not the result she intended…”

“I see…” Carol Danvers drew the word ‘see’ out for a few seconds. “So why are you here and not dealing with Thanos?”

Tony barked a bitter laugh. “Done that, Cap.” He shrugged, the horror of seeing his precious daughter, all grown up and sacrificing herself for them, still filled his mind.

“What?” Carol blinked.

“Queen Frigga of Asgard suggested that we seek the assistance of the Norns.” Nat explained, even though she didn’t stop at the base of the Salus’ cargo ramp, just walked past Carol and up into the ship. “With their help, we’ve placed the Stones where Thanos can’t get them.”

“How can you be certain that they’re safe?” Carol asked as she stepped onto the ramp and calmly followed the redhead as she and a smaller brunette half-carried-half-dragged a tall blonde male into the depths of the ship.

“The Soul Stone is in a mirror dimension that is only accessible to one person and the Norns tell us that he will never speak of it.” Loki and the other three males eased Thor to the bed in the cabin that he was sharing with Jane. “He takes that secret to his grave.”

“And the other Stones?” Carol asked.

“The Power Stone is now the Heart of Nidavellir. And has been such for millennia.” Loki stepped out of the cabin and moved to the commonly shared area of the ship. “The Time, Space, Mind and Reality Stones have been placed in the roots of Yggdrasil, but not in this time, they have been sent to an unknown time in the future. Just after a time that The Norns call, the Great Winter. Apparently, they’ll be fertiliser for the Tree of Life.” His voice was dry and his expression was bland.

Carol blinked at him. “That’s all six of them, where Thanos can’t get hold of them.”

“And the Sight Stone is staying with the Norns.”

Carol blinked again. “Excuse me?”

“Yes, that was our reaction, too.” Loki snorted. “No matter what he thought, Thanos never had the entire set of Infinity Stones. He was always missing one.”

“And yet, the damage he did with six…” Carol sighed.

“And now, he can’t get any of them.” Loki said.

“Good.” Carol nodded. “What’s the plan in dealing with him, anyway?”

“Ronan the Accuser is dead.” Gamora said. “I saw to it just before I re-joined Peter.”

“Good.” Carol nodded again. “Couldn’t happen to a more deserving person… unless it was Thanos, himself.”

“We’ve been in discussions for a while, now.” Tony said, from the seat where Darcy and Nebula dumped him. “We’ve got allies on Asgard, Xandar and Earth. If he’s got no Stones, we think that we’ll be enough to take him down. We’re not sure about killing him. Not sure whether we can, whether it was the Stones that made him so powerful, or whether he’s naturally that strong.”

“He’s strong.” Gamora said. “But I remember seeing your armour holding against him, as did both the Captains, even the Guardians were able to hold him for a short time. With Mantis’ help, we should be able to hold him long enough for him to either be killed or chained.”

“We’ve got some Uru chains from Asgard if we can’t kill him.” Darcy said.

“We have a little time.” Gamora said. “Right now, he’s in too distant a place for us to act. His staging post for the Terran offensive was out beyond Nowhere, too far from Xandar and Asgard for us to reach him without careful planning and by the time we put that planning into action, he won’t be there. He will have realised by now that Loki failed in his attack on Terra and will be making his plan to retrieve the sceptre. In two Terran Solar Rotations, he will be ready to attack Terra via his bastardised version of a created being.”

“What?” Darcy frowned.

“We’ve already displaced the Stones, he can’t use the Mind Stone to subvert Ultron.” Tony said.

“He didn’t last time,” Gamora corrected, “he simply downloaded an electronic version of his created being into your computer system and left it to take over one of your armours.”

“And here we were blaming the sceptre…” Tony muttered.

“Nah, that was just a convenient scapegoat.” Peter Quill flopped down beside Tony. “Handy for him, hiding his involvement but a crapshoot for you guys.”

“Yeah…” Tony sighed, remembering how the loss of JARVIS nearly broke his spirit.

“So how do we stop that?” Darcy asked.

“The only way I can think of, is to shut down almost everything, all the Iron-Man suits that is, all bar on with very limited capabilities and wi-fi range.” Tony muttered. “Maybe Bruce, Darcy, Vis, JARVIS and I can create a flawed suit just for Ultron…”

“You’ve got two years to work on that, Tony.” Nat cut in. “But we have to have a name and history for Vis worked out and established before we get back to Earth.”

~~~

June 19^th 2012

Yelena stood beside Wanda and Pietro as they waited for the Salus to land. Yelena, alone, knew what they were bringing with them. Or rather who… She just hoped that he would be as welcome as Nat and Tony expected.

The waft of heated air that heralded the Salus’ landing came as a surprise, even though they were expecting it. The ship’s cloaking system and Nebula’s cheeky attitude meant that it hadn’t landed where they’d expected it to. By the time they’d turned to face the ship, the cloaking had faded and the deep blue ship was visible and the loading ramp was already lowering. It was a few seconds before they heard the sounds of footsteps, which quickly grew into the sight of their friends and family entering the cargo area.

“Hey, ‘Lena. Wanda.” Nat practically danced down the ramp towards her sister and foster sister.

“Nat.” Both young women gave her a tired smile, it was a little after two in the morning, after all.

“We brought you something, Wanda.” Nat sidled up to Wanda as she spoke.

“Yeah? Did you go shopping on Nowhere?” Wanda’s eyes brightened at the thought of getting her hands on alien goodies.

“We did.” Nat nodded. “But that wasn’t what I meant.”

“I… I don’t get it.” Wanda frowned at the redhead.

“Check it out.” Nat nodded her head in the direction of the Salus.

Her timing was perfect, as Tony and Bucky assisted a still-unsteady Vision down the ramp.

Wanda’s eyes widened and her jaw went slack with shock. “Viz…?”

“Hello, Wanda…” Vision’s voice was rough and tired. It was enough to have the young woman dart forward and wrap her arms around him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“How…?” Pepper looked from Wanda to Vision to Tony and back.

“The Norns don’t like not being able to See some things.” Tony shrugged. “So they showed…” He trailed off, not ready to say it out loud.

Bucky took over the explanation. “They showed the Ancient One how to use the Stones to hide them in all sorts of weird places, but before they did that, they used the Stones. They brought the soul(?)… yeah, soul… of Vision from our original timeline and used it as a… a ‘seed’, they called it. To grow a body for him. He’s really, fully, human, now.”

“Oh, God…” Pepper whispered.

“There’s more…” Tony whispered back. “The Ancient One? She was… was…”

“She was Morgan.” Bucky said quietly. “Morgan from another timeline. Possibly ours, but it’s also possible that she came from another timeline. She never said, either way.”

“Morgan?” Pepper gasped. “Our Morgan?”

“Yeah.” Tony finally let the tears fall. “She… She gave her life to hide the Stones for us.”

Pepper whimpered and nestled closer in Tony’s arms, too shocked to cry.

~~~

June 21^st 2012

Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Phil Coulson emerged from the SUV and entered the lift at the end of the underground carpark. A few seconds past before there was a subtle ‘ding’ and the doors opened.

“Director Fury, Agent Hill, Agent Coulson.” JARVIS greeted them. “Welcome to IT. If you’ll turn to your left, the team are meeting in the first room on the left.”

“Thank you, JARVIS.” Maria Hill let her voice warm and a smile crossed her lips, as she followed the directions. A few more seconds and they joined those around a large table.

“Hey, it’s the Dread Pirate.” Tony’s normal exuberance was subdued. “Welcome to the Round Table.”

“Round Table?” Fury looked at the large rectangular table. “Doesn’t look all that round, to me.”

“Physically, it’s not.” Tony agreed. “But we go round and round until we come to a decision that we can all work with.”

“Ah.” Fury nodded. “That makes more sense.” He paused. “So, why are we here?”

“Debriefing.” Tony shrugged. “We took Coulson with us, so we felt that we should give you an official debriefing on what happened.”

Fury grunted and waved a hand. “Get on with it, then.”

“Right.” Tony turned to Bucky. “You first.”

“Got it.” Bucky laid down his coffee mug and took a deep breath. “As soon as we left the meeting with you, Steve and I headed for the Salus, we spent an hour loading up on supplies. While we were doing that, the others on the away list were getting personal supplies together, clothes and that sort of stuff…”

For the next hour and a half, the team broke down what had happened and provided as much detail as they could. Finally, Fury sat back and let his head rock backwards and forwards in a ‘thinking… thinking…’ motion.

“Summarising…” He said. “The Norns used the Stone to retrieve The Vision’s ‘soul’ from your original timeline, then used the Tree of Life to grow a body for him, before showing the Ancient One, who was an alternate version of your six-year-old daughter from another timeline, how to use the Stones to place them where no-one, not even Thanos can get to them?”

“In a nutshell?” Tony shrugged. “Pretty much.”

“And The Vision?” Fury asked. “What are you going to call him, now? He’s human, right? He needs an Id.”

Before anyone could answer him, JARVIS spoke up. “Excuse me? Jasper Sitwell has entered the building and is asking to speak to Sir or… in his words… Agent Barton, Agent Romanov or Captain Rogers.” Silence met his words. “If I May, he seems quite upset, I would say almost on the verge of a panic atta-”

“JARVIS?” Tony looked sharply at a corner of the room.

“I apologise, Sir, Agent Sitwell’s comments caught me off-guard.” JARVIS replied. “Oh, dear… He says that he had information regarding a threat against international security. He mentioned Thanos, Sir.”

Clint stood up. “We’ll go get him. Steve? Nat?”

“Coming.” Both stood and joined Clint as he stalked from the room.

“Right, that’s going to be awkward.” Sam muttered.

“Oh?” Tony asked.

“Yeah. Nat and Steve threw him off a building to find out about HYDRA in the leadup to the Triskelion thing.” Sam grimaced.

“Ouch…” Tony winced.

Chapter 35

Chapter Text

Before anyone could answer him, JARVIS spoke up. “Excuse me? Jasper Sitwell has entered the building and is asking to speak to Sir or… in his words… Agent Barton, Agent Romanov or Captain Rogers.” Silence met his words. “If I May, he seems quite upset, I would say almost on the verge of a panic atta-”

“JARVIS?” Tony looked sharply at a corner of the room.

“I apologise, Sir, Agent Sitwell’s comments caught me off-guard.” JARVIS replied. “Oh, dear… He says that he had information regarding a threat against international security. He mentioned Thanos, Sir.”

Clint stood up. “We’ll go get him. Steve? Nat?”

“Coming.” Both stood and joined Clint as he stalked from the room.

“Right, that’s going to be awkward.” Sam muttered.

“Oh?” Tony asked.

“Yeah. Nat and Steve threw him off a building to find out about HYDRA in the leadup to the Triskelion thing.” Sam grimaced.

“Ouch…” Tony winced.

~~~

June 22^nd 2012

“The verdict?” Pepper asked Howard, Tony, Bucky and Steve as they entered her office.

“Complicated.” Tony sighed.

“Uncomplicate it… please…” Pepper sighed back.

“His parents were chosen by Peggy for the express purpose of going undercover, long-term undercover, with HYDRA way back in the late sixties, way before Jasper was even born. He was raised as a double agent without even knowing it. He confronted his parents when he overheard them meeting with Peggy. It was at that point that he decided to join the family business, so to speak. He went to HYDRA’s Prep Academy, in the eighties and early nineties, and was slowly seduced by their dogma.”

“Crap…”

“It wasn’t until the 11^th of January… 2014… and Cap and Nat throwing him off the roof of a twenty-storey building, that anything changed.”

Pepper sat up quickly, her eyes wide. “What?”

“Yeah….” Tony sighed.

“It was less than an hour later that… HYDRA attacked and he was killed. Or so we thought.” Steve added.

Bucky took over the explanation. “Apparently having HYDRA’s weapon come at him with intent to kill him, gave him a wake-up-call. He survived and went to ground, we think that Peggy set up something for him, an off-book bug-out Id or something of that nature. He lived through Thanos’ attack and the Snap, only to die in the Return. A driver swerved to miss a Returned child and took out his car.” He shrugged. “He woke up, here in this timeline, early last year. Somehow, and we’re not quite sure how, his name never came out when Fury and Coulson started cleaning out SHIELD. He stayed low for a while but admitted to bugging Coulson’s flat and when he heard that I was involved in the chitauri invasion, he felt the need to investigate further. Steve, Nat and Clint not working for SHIELD set off some alarms and when Fury visited Coulson and mentioned the trip to the Norns and our debriefing, he felt that he needed to act.”

“Has any of this been verified, in any way?”

“Yeah.” Tony nodded. “Dad and I took a trip to see Peggy. The home said it was a good day, that she was recognising their staff, so we figured that we’d go straight to the source.”

“And?”

“She backed him.” Howard said from his wheelchair. Being in his mid-nineties had left the man frail, physically, but hadn’t slowed his mind, at all. “She also added a few other pieces of information that, while unimportant to us, were very helpful to Coulson and Nick.”

“I see…” Pepper narrowed her eyes and looked at the ceiling. “And what are we going to do with this information?”

“Sitwell wants out of SHIELD.” Steve said.

Bucky shrugged, again. “He’s not too sure about working with me, but even after everything that happened, he still trusts Coulson. He’s asked to come on board with us and be isolated from any potential HYDRA contact. He says, if he sees them, he’ll shoot them, on sight.”

“Huh…” Pepper grunted. “Where are we putting him?”

“With me.” Bucky grinned ferally. “He knows my triggers are gone, knows that the Winter Soldier can’t be activated. Valkyrie’s agreed to babysit, if I need to leave him for any reason. If he messes up, I’ll deal with him. He’s agreed to it.”

“I think he wants someone else to be his moral compass.” Steve put in.

“Right…” Pepper just shook her head. “Bucky? He’s all yours. Try to keep him alive and unbroken. Please?”

“No promises.” Bucky muttered.

~~~

August 6^th 2013 (maybe… approximately...)

“I hope this works…” Denarian Saal grimaced as he tapped the connect symbol on his communications array. He was greeted by a buzz then a polite voice.

“You have reached Iron Technologies. May I ask who is calling?” The male voice asked.

“Denarian Saal. I need to speak with either Miss Rushmanov or Miss Nebula.” Saal replied, his voice tense.

“One moment, Denarian, while I connect you to Miss Rushmanov.” The voice informed him and a different tone buzzed over the connection.

“Saal?” Natashalie Rushmanov asked.

“Miss Rushmanov, we have a situation, here.” Saal replied. “Thanos has arrived. He has given us one day to relinquish the Power Stone before he destroys the planet.” He wasted no time in pleasantries.

“Give me half an hour to notify the team and call back.” The call disconnected.

“Well…” Saal looked over to Nova Prime Rael. “That was… quick.”

“Continue with assembling civilians for evacuation, Denarian.” Rael barely glanced at him.

“Yes, ma'am.” Saal turned his attention to directing ground troops as they emptied building after building.

Thirty-two minutes and he tapped the connect symbol again, this time Rushmanov’s voice greeted him, instantly.

“Saal. We’ve got fighters from three locations here, ready to travel.” Rushmanov said. “As well as fighters from Asgard and a small contingent of aerial fighters from the Ravagers and the Knowhere Installation.”

“And how is that supposed to help us, Miss Rushmanov?” Saal asked. “Travel time between Terra and Xandar is approximately one-hundred-sixty hours.”

“By conventional transport, yes.” Rushmanov agreed. “But we have access to instantaneous portals. The people generating those portal would need a visual reference and we recommend that it be somewhere with enough space for roughly ten thousand ground troops and another thousand aerial fighters. Their transports vary in size from single-seat fighters to ships that are three and four times the size of what the Nova Corps provided to Nebula.”

“I… I don’t…” Saal took a deep breath. “How long until they’re ready to travel?”

“The first wave of five hundred troops will be ready in two hours.” Rushmanov replied. “And they’ll continue to arrive, one wave every half hour. That will give enough time to disperse troops to other locations and for a strategy meeting of group leaders.”

“Two hours?!” Saal gasped. “You can have five hundred fighters here within two hours?”

“We could have the entire force there inside two hours, but we’re not prepared to push our portal makers beyond their comfort point, we may need them to transport injured and we will need them to get everyone home, again.”

Saal exchanged stunned looks with Rael. Ten thousand troops moved from Terra to Xandar. Instantly.

Ten thousand troops in five hours…

Seven hours and forty-five minutes and Saal welcomed Rushmanov and Nebula as they stepped up onto a hastily erected stage. In front of that stage were nearly two hundred beings from probably a dozen worlds. Asgardians, Celestials, Sakaarans, Kronans and so many Terrans, that Saal guessed that they would account for nearly half the visiting forces.

“Thank you all for coming.” Rushmanov spoke into the amplification system. “Thanos is currently holding at approximately one-hundred-thousand metres. At least his command ship is, anyway. The rest of his ship range from one-hundred-thousand to one-hundred-twenty-thousand metres,” she told them. “We know from prior intelligence that he’ll put a large force on the ground and only if that force looks to be in danger of failure, will he launch an aerial attack. And even then, a fair amount of his attack will be artillery fired from some of the larger ships…” for the next hour Rushmanov gave an in-depth briefing of how Thanos was likely to use his army. It was a surprisingly detailed briefing and had Saal and Rael reassessing Terra and its military prowess.

The rest of the night was spent getting as many civilians as possible out of the prospective warzone, as they possibly could. That turned out to be a higher percentage of the local population than either Saal or Rael had expected.

The disappointment on the face of Ebony Maw when Tony cut Cull Obsidian off at the neck was amusing to most who were watching, but it also signalled the start of Thanos’ offensive against Xandar.

~~~

Chapter 36

Chapter Text

The disappointment on the face of Ebony Maw when Tony cut Cull Obsidian off at the neck was amusing to most who were watching, but it also signalled the start of Thanos’ offensive against Xandar.

~~~

August 6^th 2013 (maybe… approximately)

The next hour was a blur of sights, sounds and smells to the allied forces. And a pleasant surprise to Denarian Saal. The polite tones of Tony Stark’s JARVIS kept everyone informed of the invaders’ movements and directed troops against them. To Saal, it was almost like a live version of an electronic wargame. He was also quite surprised at how well the allied forces worked, both together and alone. Their ground fighters were a sight to behold and the aerial force that Terra put up might have been small but, by the stars, they were effective.

It wasn’t until that hour had past, that Thanos deigned enter the battle personally.

To say it didn’t go the way he expected, was an understatement. And quietly? Saal had been just about as surprised as Thanos, as the Titan’s loss and more surprised about who was involved in his defeat.

Two seemingly normal Terran males held the Titan’s arms, while two females, also seemingly normal Terrans, held his legs. Tony Stark held the Titan’s head immobile, with both metal encased hands, digging into the purple jaws. As soon as the Titan was semi-stationary, a group of young Terrans, six-strong, swarmed the Titan. Gauntlets went over his hands and were snapped together, the fingers linking together, as though in prayer. A muzzle/mask went over the Titan’s head, sealing his jaws closed. Shackles were placed around his ankles and with a crackle of bright blue electricity, dragged the invader’s legs together and finally, a chain of highly polished uru was fixed from the shackles to the gauntlets, dragging his hands down and restraining him. All it took then was a push from one of the Terran females, to knock the Titan from his feet.

“Interesting…” Rael spoke quietly.

“Ma'am?” Saal asked.

“Killing a Titan is a difficult thing,” Rael answered. “But they’ve taken that into consideration. They mean to imprison him. I wonder where they plan to do that?”

“If I May, Madam?” The disembodied voice of JARVIS entered the conversation.

“You are JARVIS, are you not?” Rael asked. “The electronic sentience?”

“I am, Madam.” JARVIS replied.

“Ah.” Rael nodded. “And you have something to add in regard to a location for Thanos’ imprisonment?”

“I do, Madam.” JARVIS agreed. “Those that created the… portals… that allowed us to bring… people, fighters… to Xandar? They also have the ability to create, what they call ‘mirror dimensions’. They are predominantly used by practitioners to enable them to train without outside observation. However, they can also be used as a prison, as it requires particular equipment to remove oneself from the dimensions. Equipment that Thanos will not have. We are also taking the additional security measure of having the dimension that Thanos will be held within, created by a user that has reached the end of their natural life. The only access to that dimension will die with them.”

“So Thanos will die with them?”

“No, Madam, he will not.” JARVIS corrected. “He will live, as when a mirror dimension is occupied, it will remain after the creator’s death, as it is created using their magical ability… whilst they were alive. It will remain as a small spherical item that will remain under the care of the Mystic Masters’ Librarians. To date, they tend to nearly a hundred of these ‘spheres’. Within that ‘sphere’, Thanos will have all that is necessary for his survival. The space is the equivalent of a small planetoid. It will have a living area, with ground that he can make a garden sufficiently large enough for him to grow crops for food and materials. Basic supplies have already been allocated and transferred to the dimension, which the creator is currently holding a thread-access to.”

“Thread-access?” Rael asked.

“Thread-access allows the creator to leave things in the dimension without having to physically hold open an access portal.” JARVIS answered. “Thanos will be able to travel from place to place on the planetoid but as it is within a wholly created space, escape is only possible with the assistance of the creator. And as I stated, the creator is at the end of their lifespan.”

“A just sentence.” Rael nodded. “Isolated from contact, with space for physical freedom but with no hope of release. Yes, a just sentence for one with no chance of rehabilitation.”

“Indeed, Madam.” JARVIS agreed. “The knowledge alone will infuriate him. He will never see another living being, nor will he ever speak to one again. It will be his decision if he lives or dies… and when… He will be his own jailor.”

“Oh, yes, very fitting.” Rael smiled.

“How long until he’s placed in it?” Saal asked.

“It shall be done momentarily.” JARVIS replied. “Master Littah is the eldest living Master, now that the Ancient One is no longer alive, and she has decided that it is time for her to join the souls of those that have gone before her.”

“Oh, dear.” Rael sighed.

“Master Littrah is tired, Madam, she has lived for many hundreds of years and now that her latest apprentice is fully trained, she wished to hand over control of her section of the library and rest.” JARVIS explained.

“Ah.” Rael made an understanding noise.

“Nova Prime?” Saal pointed to a trio of small females that were approaching the restrained Titan, one was an Insectoid and the other two seemed to be Terran. Once the group reached the Titan, the smaller the Terran female began to waved her hands in front of her, at one point she faltered and her legs wobbled, but the other Terran wrapped her arms around the smaller female, from behind and literally held her upright.

“What are they doing?” Rael asked JARVIS.

“Master Littah is opening access to the mirror dimension.” JARVIS replied. “I understand that creating the dimension and holding it at thread-access is magically draining. It is the work of a lifetime, the pinnacle of her skill, to create an entire planetoid, one with a liveable environment and ecosystem. Holding it at thread-access for as long as she has and then closing off all access to it, will drain her to the point of no-recovery.”

“Thanos’ prison.” Rael said.

“Indeed.” JARVIS agreed. “Now she is asking Mantis to put Thanos into a deep sleep. It won’t hold him for long, but it doesn’t need to. They simply need to transport him into the mirror dimension, remove his restraints and exit. A matter of less than a minute.”

“I see.” Rael leant forward to watch, as the two males that had held Thanos’ arms, retook their places, while Stark and another person in a similar suit of armour lifted his legs. The little Insectoid placed her hand on the struggling Titan’s head and when he slumped into unconsciousness, she led them into the portal that was filled with a fractured image of a garden.

It seemed like each second was an eon, as they waited for their allies to emerge from the fractured image, but it could only have been a minute or two, at most.

Stark and the man with the shield, walked side by side as they emerged, the others in a row behind them, clearly walking backwards, watching the sleeping form of the Titan. A bare second after they emerged the mirror dimension portal closed, shrinking and forming into a sphere that could easily be held in the palm of one hand. The one that must be Master Littah, held out her hand and the sphere settled into it, just as her legs gave out, completely.

The man with the shield… hadn’t someone told Saal that he was a Captain of something(?)… jerked forward and reached the master, snatching up at the sphere as it fell from her grasp. Another male, the one with a metal arm, crouched down and after speaking to the master, lifted her into his arms and carried her away, the first man following him, trying to avoid looking at the sphere in his hands.

“It is done, Madam.” JARVIS said. “Thanos the Mad Titan is imprisoned.”

It seemed like Thanos’ Army knew it, too. The chitauri and the leviathans were returning to their ships, even the outriders were retreating. Within minutes there were no invaders left on the surface and their ships were retreating just as fast.

“Do we go after them, Prime?”

“There’s no point, Denarian.” Rael answered. “Look. There is not cohesion to their troops, anymore. The chitauri are headed towards Sanctuary but the leviathans are headed elsewhere and the few outriders that have reached a leviathan are going with them. Their leadership is gone. And once it is known that Thanos is defeated by an alliance. An alliance, moreover, dominated by what most of the known universe thinks is a planet that barely reaches level three? I doubt anyone is stupid enough to try and take his place.”

“I hope that you’re right, Prime.” Saal sighed.

“If not, we know who to call.” Rael smiled.

“True.”

Another surprise for Saal was the length of time it took Xandar’s allies to document their actions during the battle. Apparently, debriefings were common across all worlds. Each being was given a communications console and asked to provide their report and were informed that if they left contact details, then a copy of the entire compiled report would be forwarded to them.

The injury count was significantly less than Saal or his wife expected and Xandarian medical personnel worked alongside Asgardian healers while Terrans flitted about ensuring that everyone had whatever fluids and sustenance they needed for recovery.

“Miss Rushmanov, Dr Stark, Captain Rogers.” Rael smiled at the three Terrans. “You have the thanks of Xandar and quite probably, most of the known universe, for your assistance in dealing with the threat of Thanos, the Mad Titan.” A cheer rose from the tired fighters as they slumped on whatever patch of flat surface they could find. “There is nothing that we can give that will adequately show our gratitude. So, we will simply say… thank you…” The white-haired woman bow her head to them and stepped back from the podium.

The cheer rose again.

~~~

Chapter 37: Epilogue

Chapter Text

“Miss Rushmanov, Dr Stark, Captain Rogers.” Rael smiled at the three Terrans. “You have the thanks of Xandar and quite probably, most of the known universe, for your assistance in dealing with the threat of Thanos, the Mad Titan.” A cheer rose from the tired fighters as they slumped on whatever patch of flat surface they could find. “There is nothing that we can give that will adequately show our gratitude. So, we will simply say… thank you…” The white-haired woman bow her head to them and stepped back from the podium.

The cheer rose again.

~~~

August 7^th 2013

Emerging into the soft light of an upper New York sunset, Tony stretched and let the nanobots melt back into the arc reactor housing on his chest.

“Right, kids, that’s a wrap.” He called. “I think there’s enough beds for everyone. JARVIS? Is there enough beds for everyone?”

“I’m sorry, Sir, but no there isn’t.” Came the reply.

“Well, that’s not good.” Tony muttered. “Who can double up? It’s only for one night.”

Nat looked at Yelena and the blonde nodded back.

“We’ll give up our room.” Nat said.

“And where do you plan to sleep, then?” Tony looked at her in suspicion.

“I will be bunking with Steve and Lena will bunk with Riley.” Nat said calmly.

“Excuse me?” Clint blinked a few times.

“You heard me.” Nat said and wandered off in the direction of the house, arm-in-arm with her sister.

“Nat?” Clint called and when she didn’t respond, he trotted after her. “Nat? What do you mean, you’ll bunk with Steve? Why? For how long? Just tonight? Nat? Nat?!” Tony heard the archer pepper the redhead with questions that she didn’t seem to be interested in answering.

“Steve? Riley?” Laura asked, looking at the two men.

Riley just shook his head, he seemed to be in shock.

Steve just snorted. “I know nothing, Laura. This is the first I’ve heard about it.”

Laura just sighed. “Of course it is… Alright boys, those are my daughters. Hurt them and I hurt you. Got it?”

“Got it.” Steve nodded.

Riley just nodded, still unable to speak.

“Good. Off you go, then, don’t keep them waiting.” As the two men trotted/stumbled after Clint and the two Widows, Laura turned to Pepper. “I’m going to let Angela know that we’re back.”

“I’ll have Happy fire up the bus and go pick up, her and horde.” Pepper added.

“Thanks, Pepper.” With that Laura followed the path back to the house, up the path she could hear Steve and Riley talking.

“What the hell…?” Riley’s mouth finally started to work.

“Hey, it’s Nat and Lena.” Steve replied. “You don’t really think they’d tell us mere males what they planned, do you?”

“Uh…?” Riley’s grunt turned into a whine.

“No, of course not…” Steve said. “We’d only screw things up.”

“Talking of screwing up…?” Riley chuckled. “Did you see Sam and Rhodey?

“Oh, Gods…” Steve laughed. “The calf-eyes. Talk about going goo-goo…”

Tony just shook his head, he didn’t want to know.

An hour later, Sam pushed open the door to the suite that he usually shared with Riley, only to stop in the doorway to his room and sigh. His bed was occupied. If he wasn’t so tired, he’d coo. They were so cute. Steve and Nat, curled up like kittens, albeit that Steve had a face-full of Nat’s hair and Steve’s shoulder was likely to give Nat a black-eye, from the way she was pressed against it.

He sighed and stumbled from the suite.

“Sam?” Rhodey asked, as he staggered up the hall.

“Steve and Nat have taken my bed.” Sam whined, he just wanted a soft place to sleep. Was that too much to ask for...?

“Come on, you can bunk with me.” Rhodey was just as tired, but his momma hadn’t raised an idiot, he’d make use of any chance he could, to get the younger man in his arms. If only he was willing to stay there…

~~~