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Chapter Text

And there came a day unlike any other. When Earth's Mightiest Heroes were killed and new heroes had to rise.

Cody Christian as James "Jamie" Rogers, aka The Captain

Age: 15

The son of Captain America and Black Widow, Jamie is literally the younger version of his father.

Selfless, caring, tough, always looking out for the other person.

Even though his parents were killed in The Snap, he still stays strong for him and his twin sister, Nikki.

Tom Holland as Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man

Age: 16(2018), 25(2028)

The young webslinger from Queens, Peter is the only survivor, other than Nebula, that survived the Battle on Titan. Haunted by the sight of Tony dying in front of his eyes.

After The Snap, Peter lives at the Compound with Bruce, Betty, and the Twins.

Even though it hurts to live without Tony or May, Peter is still motivated my Tony telling him to be better. So he keeps on being the better person that he can be. By helping Bruce as an Avenger throughout the years and looking in on Tony's Family.

Sierra McCormick as Nicole "Nikki" Rogers, aka The Black Widow

Age: 15

Daughter of Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff and sister of James Rogers.

Emotional, fiery, lethal. Nikki has all of the qualities to take on the mantle of Black Widow. Agile as her mother, good with her hands and a gun. If she gets mad, Nikki is literally the living embodiment of the word dangerous. But she can also be kind and caring.

Having PTSD from watching a recording of her parents dying and then the Mad Titan, Nikki sometimes has panic attacks. But when the occasion arises, she will rise to be whatever she's needed to be.

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Nikki is an OC Character created by @thegraytigress in her Heart Of The Storm series. She is an amazing writer, my mentor and a good friend of mine. She did a great job bringing this character to life in her HoTS series and I only hope I can do her proud with this character's growth and her story.

Ty Simpkins as Harley Keener, aka Iron Lad

Age: 21

A smart inventor and close friend of Tony Stark from Tennessee, Harley Keener can make just about any gadget out of almost anything. Just like Tony could.

Harley, unfortunately, lost his mother and sister in The Snap and is left with his younger little sister. But now, he's motivated.

Saiorse Ronan as Torunn "Tori" Thorsdóttir

Age: 15

Daughter of Thor and Jane Foster. Born after the events of The Dark World. After finding out what happened to her parents, Tori goes into a depressive state that only gets worse throughout the years.

But when the time comes for her to help her friends, her warrior spirit (and love of pizza) motivates her to step in.

Author's Note/Disclaimer: I know that ORIGINALLY, Torunn's mother is Lady Sif in the comics. But since she and Thor had little to no chemistry and him and Jane did, I just decided to go for it. Plus, with her mother being mortal, it really sets the tone for what I'm gonna do wtih this character. So just know, I don't own this character, just the idea of her being Jane's daughter. I LOVE Natalie Portman.

Yvette Monreal as Ava Ayala, aka White Tiger

Age: 19

The fiery young feline heroine and protector of Brazil. Ava took on the mantle of White Tiger after her father who was killed in The Snap.

Not exactly a people person, Ava is a bit of a introvert but can be nice when the time is right. She does though share a connection with Peter in having seen those she loves die in front of her.

Having seen many people lose their families and loved ones in her life, Ava has dedicated herself to protect and defend the weak, making her the perfect candidate for being one of the Next Avengers.

Nadji Jeter as Azari "Z" T'Challa, aka Black Panther

Age: 16

The son of T'Challa and Nakia. A natural born warrior like his father, Azari is always up for taking down some baddie who deserves it. He loves freeing people and doing undercover missions to help others.

He is sad about what happened to his parents in The Snap, but he's glad that he still has Okoye and his Aunt Shuri. When his friends come to Wakanda for help, he'll do his best to make his parents proud and bring out the claws.

Author's Note/Disclaimer: Once again, I know Azari is the son of T'Challa and Nakia, but since Storm, nor the X-Men are in the MCU and I loved T'Challa and Nakia's relationship in Black Panther, I went ahead and made him their son. Personally, I like it. 😁🤷🏾♂️

Jace Norman as Francis "Frankie" Barton, aka Hawkeye

Age: 18

The son of Clint Barton and Bobbi Morse. As lethal as his parents, Frankie can work with a bow and arrow just like his father and disable opponents like his mother.

Born in 2010, he came into the picture in 2013 after Morse showed up at the Farmhouse and left him with Clint, thinking he'd be better off and out of danger. As he grew, Clint taught Frankie self defense, how to be a great spy, and of course, how to use a bow and arrow.

So now, when he's needed to help the new team with this mission, he will have to take on the mantle of his father and truly become Hawkeye.

Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, aka Hawkette

Age: 18

Frankie's best friend from their childhood when he first arrived at the Barton Farmhouse. Like him, Clint showed Kate techniques and skills to use in self defense and too protect others. And like her teacher, she's good with a bow and arrow too.

Having lost her own parents in The Snap and caring an awful lot about the Bartons, Kate has the motivation to help bring back all those lost in The Snap.

Sofia Wylie as Riri Williams, aka IronHeart

Age: 17

Riri is a very intelligent girl and a student of MIT. Using some stolen parts from campus, she designs a suit after the hero who inspired her and took on the name IronHeart.

After losing her father in The Snap, she lives with her mother and aunt in Massachusetts. She's young and inexperienced, but desperately yearns to help others.

So when Peter shows up asking for her help, she really wants to, but she's held back by her own troubles.

Emma Fuhrmann as Cassie Lang, aka Ant-Girl

Age: 18

The daughter of Scott Lang and his amazing successor, Cassie has grown into quite the young woman. Taking care of her little brother has truly given her the view on life that Scott has had since she was born: take care of those close to you.

But when Scott shows up out of nowhere after previously thought to be dead with a plan to reverse the effects of The Snap, Cassie will let nothing stop her from helping.

Thanks to suits that were made as presents for her and PJ until that reached the right age, they've become the next generation of Ant-Man and The Wasp.....make that Ant-Girl and The Waspling.

Jacob Tremblay as Henry "PJ" Pym Jr., aka Waspling

Age: 10

Son of Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, PJ was born in 2018 after the Chase for the Mobile Laboratory in San Francisco, but before The Snap.

Growing up and being raised by Cassie, PJ learned that unfortunately, people might be lost, even people close to you. But that you should always care for others. Even if you're going through something, help other people.

He's just as funny as his father and feisty as his mother. His favorite color is yellow and he loves being able to shrink and play with ants.

Author's Note: In the comics, "Pym" is the son of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. Obviously, the MCU took a different direction, so I'm just following the footsteps. So I don't own this character, just the happy thought of him being Scott and Hope's son.

Brandon Soo Hoo as Amadeus "Mad" Cho, aka Kid-Hulk

Age: 18

The new green fighting machine with the brains! Amadeus, Or Mad for short, is a very intelligent young man and is a big fan of Tue Avengers. He also has a pet coyote named Kerberos, or Kirby for short.

After an accident that made him the next Hulk, he did his best to help people since he had a good hold on it. Now that he's needed to help bring the Original Avengers back, he's all for it.

Yara Shahidi as V.I.V.I.A.N. "Viv" Vision

Age: 2

Viv is a synthezoid created by Bruce. Made from an AI Tony Stark made named: V.I.V.I.A.N. V.I.V.I.A.N. stands for Very Intelligent Viral Interacting Assistant/Nerd.

She can control her density, has super strength, and can fly as well. She also has the ability to change her appearance from a synthezoid to a human teenager.

Bruce is like a surrogate father to her. She helps him with his experiments and is happy to have a purpose.

Xolo Maridueña  as Sam Alexander, aka Nova

Age: 12(2018)/22(2028)

A young "space cop" with the power that is his namesake. Sam is an old student of Rocket who the Guardians trained some time after the Battle On Ego's Planet. Since then, Sam has tried to help rebuild Xandar from the ground up with the remaining survivors. He is also the best and the youngest officer in The Nova Corps.

He has a bit of a problem when it comes to leadership issues, but that slowly goes away as they get to know each other. But deep down, he has deep respect for both Peter and James. As well as their parents/mentors, and what they stand for.

Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel

Age: 18

Kamala is a geek and Captain Marvel's BIGGEST fan. Literally! She's a bit of a nerd and loves rom-coms.

After her family died in The Snap, Kamala moved in with her friend and her family. She's always been a people person and loves making new friends. So that makes her all the more happy when Peter and James ask her to help.

On that day, The Next Avengers were born!

Chapter Text

***Forest, Wakanda***

"What did you do?...WHAT DID YOU DO?!!!"

Thor backed away, shocked and speechless at the disaster that just happened.

On the left hand of his adversary was a gauntlet that held the Infinity Stones. Relics that had the power to wipe out the entire universe with just a snap of the fingers.

The Mad Titan, Thanos had just snapped his fingers.

Using the Asgardian's stunned state as a distraction, he opened a portal and disappeared into it.

Thor stood there. Alone, defeated, and feeling as if something bad was coming.

As he did, his friend and fellow Avenger, Steve ran up to him, holding his side. "Where'd he go?" He asked. He also looked around, thinking Thanos was trying to get the drop on them. But he didn't see him. "Thor! Where'd he go?"

But before he could answer... "Steve?"

The First Avenger looked and saw his friend, Bucky walking towards them. But something was wrong.

Bucky's hand was disappearing! Turning to dust! Soon, Bucky fell to the ground. But as he did, his entire body disintegrated. And all that was left was a pile of dust.

Steve walked over to it, knelt down and felt it. What was this?!

***In Another Part Of The Forest***

Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon was getting up when he felt light headed. Suddenly, his body disintegrated into dust and he disappeared.

A few feet away, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, aka War Machine called out, "Sam! Sam, where're you at?!"

As he continued his search, he noticed a small pile of ash on the ground. Nothing thinking much of it, he kept on looking for his friend.

A few trees away, General Okoye began picking herself up.

"Up, General!" Her king and friend, T'Challa exclaimed as he held out his had to help her. "Up! This is no place to die."

She scoffed and took his hand. But as he began to pull her up, his arm disintegrated as did his whole body.

Okoye's eye went wide. Her king just disintegrated into thin air!

"Kumkani?!" She gasped in her language.

What was going on?

Groot was leaning against a log, tired, and feeling weak.

"I Am Groot." He sighed.

Rocket walked up to him. Worry written on his face. And it only increased as he watched his treelike friend started to disintegrate.

"No. No, no! Groot! No..."

But it was too late. Groot was gone. Tears started to form in Rocket's eyes.

Not too far away, Wanda sat on the ground, holding Vision's dead form.

Suddenly, her body began to disintegrate. Soon, there was nothing but ash next to the body of Vision.

***Wakanda Battlefield***

All around her, people were turning into dust and blowing away in the wind.

Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow was shocked now, short of breath.

'I have to find Steve!' She said to herself as she ran for the forest.

When Natasha finally found Steve, he was on the ground next to Vision's body.

The sight was so gruesome, she covered her mouth and held her stomach.

"What the hell is this?" Bruce Banner, in the Hulkbuster Mk. 2 armor, asked.

He received no answer. But Steve did feel something. Nat felt it too.

"Oh god!" He said.

Suddenly, he and Nat felt lightheaded. It was happening to them too.

"Steve?" She said, looking at him with worry.

He stood and held her in a strong embrace which she returned. Then, the same thought came to their mind. The twins!

They both looked to Bruce, their faces a mix of worry, but also determination. But before they said anything, Nat began to dust and was soon gone.

Steve looked at the spot where his wife once stood that was now replaced by ashes. Kneeling down once again and feeling it, Steve felt the effects coming over him now.

Looking up to Bruce, he breathed heavily.

"Bruce," He tried, his breath slowly leaving him, "The twins....You...you have to get to them."

"But Steve, I-" He started, But was cut off by the sight of Steve disintegrating into thin air.

His eyes widened and he looked to Thor. "Thor, wha-"

But Thor was looking at his hand as it began to dust. As a warrior, an Avenger, Thor dropped to his knees and accepted his fate by looking at Bruce and saying his final words, "Take care of her, Bruce."

"Thor!"

And as those words left his mouth, Thor immediately dusted and blow away in the wind and his axe, Stormbreaker, fell to the ground.

At that moment, Bruce felt like his stomach was gone. But he wasn't dusting like the others. Why not him too? Why the others? They had kids! Wait, the kids!!

The Hulkbuster's helmet came back up and Bruce was about to fly towards the base when, "Bruce!" A voice called out behind him.

Looking behind him, he saw Okoye standing there with wide eyes and her chest heaving. "What is going on?" She screamed.

"I don't know," Bruce replied honestly, "But we gotta get back to the base and find the kids."

Okoye's eyes widened even more as a frightening thought fame to her. 'The prince!'

She ran to Bruce and jumped onto the suit on the side where the arm had torn off and held on.

"GO!" She exclaimed.

Bruce didn't waste any time as the boosters on the feet of the Hulkbuster came on and they flew out of the forest.

Chapter Text

***Titan***

Thunder filled the air as the heroes picked each other get back together.

Peter Parker gave Tony Stark a hand and helped him up to his feet. Around them, Peter Quill helped Mantis and Drax stood behind them tired, but still strong.

And a few feet away from both groups, Dr. Strange sat on a rock, catching his breath and tired as well.

Suddenly, a funny feeling filled the air. Mantis was the first to notice.

"Something is happening." She said, her voice full of worry. Then out of nowhere, she slowly disintegrated into dust and blew away.

Everyone's eyes went wide, looking at where she once stood. Drax's breathing began to speed up. Then suddenly, he began to disintegrate as well!

"Quill?!" He gasped before her was gone as well.

Shocked at this sight, Quill looked back to Tony.

"Steady, Quill." He instructed.

But Quill felt it happening to him too. "Aw man!" He sighed whisperingly. And within seconds, he was gone.

"Tony." The billionaire heard Strange call behind him. He turned to look at him with a horrified expression. "There was no other way."

After he said that, he let out a breath and disintegrated.

"Mr. Stark?!" Peter called behind him.

A cold chill hit Tony's spine when he heard him.

'Oh no. Please, no!' He said to himself as he turned to the kid. But he didn't expect to see Peter pointing at him.

Tony looked down to his hands and saw that one of them was beginning to dust. He looked back to Peter and saw the horror in his eyes.

Wasting no time, he walked up to Peter and hugged him.

"Please Mr. Stark." He cried as he held Tony tightly, "Please! I don't want you to go. Please don't go, please don't go!"

Tony, accepting his fate, just hugged Peter tightly. "It's alright, Pete... You're an Avenger now."

As those words were said, Tony dropped down to his knees before he finally disintegrated himself. Peter looked at the ash that was there and then looked at his own hands, wondering why he wasn't dusting himself.

"He did it." Nebula said in a surrendering tone. Peter looked back to her. Questions began to race through his mind as she said that.

'Why isn't it happening to me? Why'd it have to happen to Mr. Stark? Why did HE have to die?! What was Ms. Potts gonna say?!'

As Peter sat there with those thoughts, his tears came out without remorse. His cries filling the air. He formed his hands into fists and pounded the ground in anger. He'd lost.

Not just to Thanos, or the allies that he'd gained, but also the man who'd become like a father to him.

He sat there and let the wave of emotions roll over him with no choice but to accept the fact that he'd lost Tony.

Chapter Text

***Wakanda***

The Hulkbuster with Bruce inside and Okoye hanging on flew through the air.

As they flew further from the forest, another boggy shot up out of the forest and gained on them.

"Bruce!" It was Rhodey!

Bruce and Okoye looked to their right and saw their friend fly up alongside.

"Rhodey!"

"What the hell's going on?!" The War Machine asked.

Bruce let out a sigh of frustration and uncertainty. "I don't know. But we gotta find the kids."

Right away, Rhodey's HUD(Heads-Up-Display) immediately began doing a search as they neared the Mountain. It took a little bit of time, but he found something. "Ok, I've got a few signatures clumped together. It's the twins, Shuri and some more."

Okoye's breath hitches and her eyes went wide. "The princess! Is the Queen there as well?"

Rhodey's HUD didn't show any signs of her. "I got nothing."

"Oh Bast, no!" The General pleaded.

"Hey, calm down!" Bruce interjected. "We don't know what's happening or what's happened to who. Let's just find the twins, regroup and see who's still with us. We got this."

They made it to the base and touched down. Bruce opened up the armor and jumped out. Okoye held her spear firmly and Rhodey's helmet went down and they all headed into the base.

***Shuri's Lab***

Shuri, the Twins hid in her lab. And with them was another child. His name: Azari T'Challa. Son of T'Challa, and Shuri's nephew.

Shuri had on her Vibranium Gauntlets that were ready to fire at any threat.

As they hid, her Kimoyo Beads beeped and projection came up of Okoye entering the lab.

Still cautious, she wanted to check before the kids moved. "Stay here. Wait for my OK. Okay?"

The three kids nodded. She slowly began to step out, her heart racing faster with every step.

"Shuri!" she heard Okoye call out.

A wave of relief came over her as she walked out, looked up to the next level and saw, not only Okoye, but also Bruce and Rhodey in his War Machine Armor.

Okoye jumped down to the floor and hugged the princess, to which she hugged back.

Rhodey came down with a clank and his helmet went down as well while Bruce came down the ramp and stopped at his side.

"Where's Jamie and Nikki?!" He asked frantically.

Okoye and Shuri broke their hug and the princess turned at the Doctor before looking back to the place the children were hiding. "Kids, come on out!"

A curtain was pulled back and out poked the head of Little Jamie. Then Nikki and Azari came out as well.

"Uncle Bruce!" Jamie and Nikki ran towards their "uncle" and jumped into his arms.

"Guys!" Bruce exclaimed holding squeezing them tight. "Oh I'm so glad you two are OK!"

Rhodey watched and lightly smiled at the sight of the kids safe.

Okoye, meanwhile, sighed in relief once again as Azari ran to her and jumped into her arms.

"Okoye!" He cried hugging back. Azari saw Okoye as another Aunt and loved her as family.

"Oh my young prince!" She sobbed. "It's alright! It's alright now."

Even though they hadn't won, Okoye was just happy that nothing had happened to Azari.

"I knew you'd win!" Azari stated with excitement.

Shuri smiled at that before a horrifying thought came to her mind. "Wait a minute!" She gasped. All eyes were on her, curious as to what she was thinking.

Her eyes were wide and the look of someone who'd just seen a ghost in her face.

"Yintoni engalunganga?" Okoye asked her.

Shuri's breathing sped up as she looked at her. "Mother!" She whispered.

***Queen's Quarters***

Shuri busted through the doors with her Vibranium Gauntlets and immediately looked around. Rhodey and Okoye soon came after, weapons at the ready. And Bruce cautiously came in with his fists up. He wasn't sure what he was gonna do, but still wasn't gonna hide.

As they looked around, they noticed there was no sign of a struggle. But there were two Sonic Spears on the ground. Though the soldiers they belonged to weren't in the room.

All that was left was ashes on the floor.

"Shuri." Bruce called as he knelt down.

She turned around and looked to see the Smart Avenger kneeling down at the ash. He looked back up to her with a look of sorrow in his eyes. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

Shuri's heart began to race as she knelt down too and felt the ashes in her hand and began to cry profusely. "Nooo! Nooo, Mama!!"

Okoye clenched her teeth and planted her spear into the ground. This was a terrible day for Wakanda.

"Auntie Shuri?"

They all looked towards the doorway and saw Jamie, Nikki and Azari standing near the edge.

"What's wrong?" The young prince asked, coming closer to the group.

"Um, nothing." Shuri replied quickly, wiping her tears. "I just stubbed my toe. I'll be ok though."

"Oh, I hope it feels better."

Shuri nodded and hugged her nephew. "Thank you, little Z."

Azari smiles at her nickname for him as he hugged her back.

When they broke the hug, Azari looked around and didn't see his grandmother anywhere. "Where's grandma? And Baba too?" He asked asked.

"Yeah! And where's Mommy and Daddy?" Nikki also asked curiously.

At that moment, the heavy feeling returned to the hearts of the adults. They all looked at each other with faces of uncertainty. What were they gonna tell them? HOW were they gonna tell them?

"Uh, well ya see," Bruce tried. This wasn't easy for him. It's not easy for anyone to tell kids that their parents have died. "Your parents, they um...."

"They found the bad guy and went on a long trip.....they're uh.....they're gonna be gone for a while." Rhodey interjected.

Bruce, Okoye, and Shuri looked at him confusingly. And he just kept his solemn face.

"Well, I'm sure they'll find him and take him out!" Jamie said confidently. "Mommy too!"

Nikki agreed with that, flexing a fist. "Yeah!!"

"As will my father!" Azari added.

The grown ups and Shuri couldn't help but smile at this. These kids truly were their parents' children. For James, he was optimistic, brave, and always staying positive. Nikki was tough and showed no fear like her mother. And Azari has faith and  had absolutely no doubt in the Black Panther, father.

So young, yet so brave they were. And yet, they still didn't know the horrid truth that their parents were dead.

It was gonna be hard to break it to the kids, but what Rhodey said wasn't really a lie. Their parents had found the bad guy, and they did go after him. Only they died trying to stop him. So the part about them being 'gone for a while' was gonna be hard to explain.

***Landing Pad***

Bruce and Rhodey were prepped to go back New Avengers Facility and were saying their goodbyes.

"I'm sorry about everything." Rhodey said.

"As are we," Okoye replied empathetically.

"What will you do?" Shuri asked.

"Well," Rhodey began, "We gotta get a better understanding of what's going on. So....we're gonna head back to the Compound, and get more intel. We'll let you know when we have something. I uh, I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

The two Wakandans nodded in understanding.

"We'll be expecting it." Shuri stated.

This whole situation involved all of them. They'd all lost people in this fight. Teammates, friends, family. This wasn't gonna go unsettled.

Some of the Dora Milaje came towards them and stopped a few feet away. Two of them together were carrying something large that was covered by a sheet.

Okoye walked over and they handed her the covered object. She then nodded at them and walked back to the ramp of the Quinjet. "Our soldiers found this in the forest."

She handed it to the two Avengers and they took it with confused expressions. Bruce decided to check see what it was. Removing the sheet partially, he saw that it was Stormbreaker! Thor's axe that he fought with when he arrived.

Bruce remembered Thor setting it down in the forest as he accepted his fate. It brought a tear to his eye as he looked back to their Wakandan allies.

"Thank you." the smart Avenger said hoarsely. Other than that, he didn't know what else he could say.

Okoye let out a long sigh as well. "Find out what happened, and stop it. And if there is a way, reverse it."

Bruce and Rhodey looked at each other and nodded before looking back to Shuri and Okoye.

"And take care of those kids," she finished.

"You know we will," Rhodey replied confidently.

And with that, the two Avengers walked onto the Quinjet and ramp came up and closed. The engines turned on and the aircraft began to lift off the ground.

Inside, Rhodey was at the wheel and lifted them higher and soon, they were flying away. Bruce on the other hand was in the back, setting Thor's axe against the wall.

As he headed back towards the front, he passed the Twins who were strapped into their seats and holding hands. That brought a little comfort to him, seeing that. He just hoped it would stay that way.

But the way things were going, it didn't seem like that was gonna happen.

Chapter Text

“Ok, hold on. Don’t shoot." 

Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye walked behind three kids. His daughter, Lila. His long lost son, Francis Barton. Although, he preferred Frankie. And Lila's best friend, Kate Bishop.

They all had bow and arrows in their hands, already drawn. Aimed at a target on a tree about thirty-five feet from them.

"Ok, see your target?" He asked them all. They nodded. "Alright, now we're gonna focus on how you're gonna get there."

He continued walking around them and helped them adjust their footing, pulled their shoulders back.

"Alright, sure you can see?"

They all nodded. He came around to Lila and asked her. She replied "Yeah" since she could see it perfectly until a bit of her hair was held in front of her eye.

"How bout now?" He joked. Lila laughed and shook her head. Clint kept the hair over her eye and put one hand over one of Frankie's eyes. "Bout you, Frankie?"

"Very funny, Dad!" The young blond laughed. 

Then he jumped behind Kate and covered both her eyes. "Kate?"

Kate just laughed and put her hands down, separating the arrow from the bow. "Just halfway blind, Mr. Barton."

"OK, I'm just making sure you guys are able to see where you're shooting."

As they laughed, Clint's wife, Laura, called out to them, "Hey, you guys want Mayo, mustard, or both?"

The four of them had confused looks on their faces.

"Who puts Mayo on a hot dog?" Lila asked in a whisper.

"Sounds kinda gross," Frankie furthered.

"Eh, it's probably your brothers," Clint mumbled before responding to his wife, "Uh, four mustards please! Thanks, Mama!"

He turned back to the three and told them to ready their arrows. Their bows came up, their backs straight, and bows pulled back.

Clint looked at all of their stances and then to the target and back to them before he said "Now!"

The arrows were let go and all three of them hit the target on the dot! A proud laugh came from Clint as he high-fived the kids.

"Nice job, Hawkeye!" He said to Lila. "You too, Hawkeye Jr."

Frankie let out a groan when his dad said that. "Aw man! Why does she get to be Hawkeye and I'm Hawkeye Jr.?"

"Ever hear of giving a lady a compliment, Frankie?" Kate asked in a fancy tone.

"Oh brother."

Lila laughed and shook her head at the two. They were always like this ever since Frankie came. But it was obvious they were best friends.

"Alright you two," Clint intervened. "And besides Frankie, you're Jr. to me, not her. Plus, you're just like me, just younger." Frankie thought about it and bobbed his head in contentment. "And Kate, you're...uh..."

"Hawkette!" Kate stated cheerfully.

Clint let that name roll around in his head. 'Hawkette. Hmm, has a  nice ring to it.'

"Alright, Hawkette!" He said holding up a hand which she high-fived immediately. 

Laura called out to them that lunch was ready. So Clint replied, "Alright, we're comin'! We're hungry! Go 'head and get yer arrows, kids."

So all three kids went to go get their arrows. Lila grabbed hers first and then walked over to Clint. Meanwhile, Frankie and Kate picked on each other.

"You owe me a new arrow, Kate," The blond boy joked.

"Don't bet on it, Francis!" She retorted with a smirk.

They laughed as they both reached up and pulled their arrows out of the target.

"Alrighty, Dad!" Frankie started, "We're ready."

The two turned around to find that Clint wasn't there. Just a small bit of ash where the Archer once stood.

Frankie and Kate looked at each other in confusion and shrugged before turning back to their surroundings.

"Mr. Barton?" Kate called out. She looked around, completely confused.

"Dad?!" Frankie called as well. But Clint was nowhere to be found. "Hey, Lila! Have you seen-."

He turned back to his sister, but he couldn't see her either.

Frankie looked over to the picnic table, but the rest of his family was gone too. His heartbeat began to pick up. Panic filling his mind.

He knew his father was a spy, but he never had the whole family disappear before. Now, Frankie was genuinely worried.

He ran over to the table and whistled. "Nate!" He called out to his little brother. Looking under the table, he saw no one hiding under there. He resumed looking about the property. "Cooper! Mom!"

In the barn, Kate searched to see if she could find anyone hiding. 

"Lila? Mrs. Barton?!"

She looked behind a tractor, behind a wall, under a desk. She looked EVERYWHERE for a sign of someone, but to no avail. She was beginning to worry now too.

She ran back out to the field to Frankie but stopped when she saw the bow Lila had used earlier and Clint's ankle monitor on the ground and a patch of ash beneath them.

He breath hitched as she knelt down and picked them up. The worst came to mind as tears formed in her eyes.

"DAD!!!" She heard Frankie calling, still looking for them.

Kate slowly stood up and walked towards the picnic table which Frankie stood atop.

When she got there, she sat down as Frankie jumped off the table.

"I don't know where they are. It's almost li....what's wrong?" Frankie asked, noticing her tears coming down.

With a heavy heart, Kate looked into his eyes before reaching behind her and held up Clint's ankle monitor and Lila's bow.

When he saw them, he began to hyperventilate as he took them. He held them close and looked back to Kate who looked equally scared. Not knowing what else to do, she pulled him into a hug.

"I think something bad happened to them, Frankie." She wept into his shoulder.

As Frankie took in those words and looking at the items in his hands, the harsh reality began to set in. Overcome with emotions and what felt like part of him dying too, he filled the air with a loud "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Chapter Text

***New Avengers Facility***

The Quinjet flew over the Compound and slowly landed on the pad. The five inside grabbed their stuff and walked off and inside. They all headed for the common room except for Bruce.

"I gotta make a call." He said.

Rhodey and Rocket nodded and kept on with the Twins towards the common room.

Meanwhile, Bruce walked off and stopped in a hallway that had a glass wall looking outside. Immediately he took out his phone and punched in a number he hadn't typed in a very, very long time.

When he typed it in, he took in a deep breath before hitting the "Call" button.

"Please, please, please!" He whispered to himself as he brought the phone to his ear.

His heart raced as he heard the beeps come.

One.........

Two........

Three.......

Four........

Fi- "Hello?"

Bruce's heart stopped and his eyes widened when he the voice of his once girlfriend.

"Betty?" He called.

There was a silence before Betty answered back. "Bruce?"

A wave of relief came over Bruce. It felt so good to hear her voice. "Oh my god, Betty! I'm so glad you're alright."

"Bruce, is that...is that really you?"

"Yeah! Yeah, it-it's me." Bruce was hyperventilating. He was overjoyed that his ex was alive. "I'm so glad you're ok."

"Bruce, what's happening? Do you know what's going on?"

"It's a long story. I-I can't exactly explain over the phone."

"Well, where are you? I'll come to you!"

That made Bruce freeze. Did he hear right? Was Betty actually thinking about coming to where he was? Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him. Yeah, that had to be it. The love he still had for her was just messing with his mind. Still, he had to be sure. "Say that again."

"I said tell me where you are. I'm gonna come to you."

Nope. Not a mind game. "Betty, I don't know if that's such a good idea. Maybe you could-"

"Bruce, STOP!" She shouted.

He actually jumped when she said that. He could already see the look on her face. Obviously, that secret fiery side she had hadn't suppressed at all.

"Now something is happening, I wanna know what. And you know that if you don't tell me, I'll find You somehow. Plus, I'll feel safer being with you. So tell me where you are. Right now."

Bruce was rendered silent after that. She definitely still had that fiery side. Best not to test it. Or her.

"Ok." He replied, slightly hoarse. "I'll pin you the location. Oh and, you may wanna pack a few things. Wait, where are you?"

Betty, having calmed down from the sound of it replied, "I'm in DC, why?"

"Ok, you're not too far then. Good. Hang on."

He pulled the phone from his ear and sent her the location of the Facility. Then he put the phone back to his ear.

"Ok, I sent it to you. Just get here, and...Betty?"

"Yes?" He could hear the concern and care in her voice. It always warmed his heart when he heard that.

"Please be careful." It was more of a statement than a request. But he still said it with the same concern, the same care...the same love that she spoke with.

"I will."

After that, they both hung up. That wasn't as bad as Bruce imagined. Truthfully, he was worried that she'd dusted like a lot of others. But he was so glad that wasn't the case.

As Bruce put the phone in his pocket, the room started to shake. Alarm same to Bruce as he ran out of his room and into Rhodey, who was back in his War Machine armor, and Rocket who were running as well.

"What's going on?" Bruce asked.

"We got company!" Rocket replied.

They all headed out of the Facility and stopped in the courtyard. Looking up, there were five small ships, roughly the size of the Quinjet, landing. Seconds after they landed, the one closest had opened and a ramp came down.

Rhodey's helmet came up and Rocket had his hands on his blasters. After the past few days they've had with aliens and ships, they weren't gonna be too careful.

Then something stepped out from the ship and descended the ramp. More behind it. It made contact with the ground and walked over to the three. As they got closer, they saw that it was a woman, and a large rocky looking person that was holding what looked like a giant bug of some sort. And the others that were getting off the ship looked human too!

But when the two people were finally in front of them did Bruce finally recognize her. He stepped out from behind Rhodey and Rocket and walked up to them.

"Hey man! Long time, no see!" The rocky man replied, extending a fist for a fist-pump.

Bruce smiled at the sight of his rocky friend, pumping his fist to the Kronan. "Hey Korg. Miek."

The alien bug squeaked at the Doctor in happiness. Finally, Bruce looked toward the dark skinned woman.

"Hey, Big Guy." She said with a smirk.

Bruce chuckled when he heard her speak. It was a voice he missed. And that voice belonged to the fiery Asgardian warrior, Valkyrie.

"Hey Angry Girl."

Chapter Text

***Conference Room***

"So that's how that happened, huh?" Rhodey said, leaning back in his chair.

After bringing the Asgardian refugees inside the compound and having them situated in the living room, Valkyrie, Korg and Miek sat down with Bruce, Rhodey, and Rocket and explained to them what happened.

The destruction of Asgard, Thanos, the loss of half of their people, all of it.

Bruce was able to fill in a few points since he was there too. Well, kinda. He was the Hulk at that point, but he still remembered a few things.

"Yeah man." Korg replied with a nod before taking a bite of a pizza slice in his hands. "But hey, at least we made it away with our lives and a still good amount of Asgardians, right?"

His little buddy Miek nodded back to him. 

"Yup." Val added, "And you say Thor's.....He's gone too?"

Bruce and looked at Rhodey before lowering his head and nodding.

Val closed her eyes and shook her head. It'd happened again. She lost someone close to her RIGHT when she got involved. 

'Damn,' she thought to herself, taking another swig from a beer.

"So what're you guys gonna do?" Rhodey asked. 

Putting her beer down, Val wiped her mouth before replying. "Well, there's two things. Number one, I have to find this place Thor talked about that could be a new home for us here on Earth."

"What's the name?"

"Um.....I think he called it, uh....what was it Korg?"

"I think 'Toesburg' or something?"

It took a few seconds before Bruce realized what she meant. "You mean Tønsberg? Like in Norway?"

Val nodded and pointed at the Doctor in agreement. "That's it."

"And what's Number Two?" Rocket cut in.

Val looked at him and shook her head with a snort. "Still can't believe that rabbit talks."

That just made Rocket sigh and roll his eyes. But Rhodey and Bruce looked at each other confused.

"Uh right, number two is I have to get another one of these." She held up her half empty bottle before taking another swig.

"Well there's more in the fridge," Rhodey started, "Also, you guys are welcome to crash here as long as you need. We'll help you find your new home tomorrow."

"Thank you," Val replied. Taking her beer and grabbing another bottle, she went to the area where she and her people were staying the night.

"Well, night guys!" Korg said as he picked up Miek and the pizza box. "See yas tomorrow."

Miek squeaked to them as the two left, leaving the two Avengers and Rocket at the table.

"Ya know, any other time we'd have a girl Asgardian, a giant rock man, a mutant purple bug and a whole lotta Asgardians, I'd be shocked all together. But given what we've been through these past few days, not so much."

Bruce nodded in agreement while Rocket just shook his head.

They all went to bed that night. Tired, broken-hearted, and haunted by the reality that the people they loved were gone.

Chapter Text

***Common Room***

Four days later, Val and Rhodey were back to Norway to settle the matter of the Asgardians getting a home while Korg and Miek stayed behind with the refugees. They had been there, back and forth for the past few days dealing with any paperwork or inspections that may have been needed.

Bruce was in the common room looking at some holographic screens. On them were reports of what was happening in the world. People wondering what was happening to the people they were with, wondering where their families and friends are, and a lot of other panic.

At the table in the room were the Twins playing with a coloring book and trying to teach their new buddies Korg and Miek how to do it.

"So I can't go outside the lines?" He asked them.

"Nope! You have to stay inside of them." Nikki answered him, "Otherwise it'll be all crazy and messy."

Korg didn't entirely understand, but he did his best to stay within the lines with the little crayons. When he finished, he held it up to show the Twins how it looked.

They're looked at each other and back to the book. They nodded and Jamie gave him a thumbs up.

The Kronan smiled and showed his work to his little buddy, Miek. The little bug squeaked in agreement.

As the four of them continued coloring, Bruce watched from the console and lightly smiled at the sight of them having fun. But watching them have fun made him think of how hard it was gonna be when they had to be told the truth about their parents.

His thoughts were broken by something beeping on one of the screens. Looking at it and pulling it, he saw that there was a car pulling into the Compound. It was a fancy, expensive looking car.

Seeing it gave him a small glimmer of hope as he had a feeling he knew who it was.

"Korg, stay here with the kids." He said as he headed to the door and outside to the driveway.

The rocky figure was confused as to why Bruce just ran out, but he was sure going to carry out the request. He looked at the kids and they nodded back to him.

***Driveway***

Bruce stopped at the driveway and watched as the car neared.

It pulled up and stopped right in front of him. The door opened and out stepped the one and only Pepper Potts.

"Bruce."

"Hey, Pepper."

She wordlessly hugged him and he hugged back. It wasn't hard to think of how she felt, since Bruce was feeling the same thing. Confused. Scared. Unsure.

"Where is he, Bruce?" She asked as they broke apart. "Where's Tony?"

Bruce looked at her with a blank face. He wanted to answer, but he couldn't since didn't really know.

"I don't know. We're trying to find out who's all still with us, but we still don't know yet."

While the answer didn't make Pepper feel all the way good, it did give her a bit of hope. Since they didn't know for sure, there was a chance that Tony was still alive. And that's all she needed.

So she nodded.

Korg, still at the table with Jamie and Nikki, kept an eye on the doorway. Bruce had given him a job, and he was definitely going to make sure he these kids were safe.

"Hey Korg," Jamie called him.

"What's up, bud?" The Kronan replied, looking at the redheaded toddler.

"Thanks for looking after us."

Nikki nodded along and added, "And for being our friend! You too, Miek!"

The alien bug chirped in joy as the blonde twin petted him gently.

Korg smiled at the kids and their kind words to him and his friend. It really made him feel good.

"Thanks guys! You guys are cool too. And I'm gonna be your friend until I'm nothing but a pile of rocks...Well technically, I kinda already am one."

The twins began to laugh at that.

"A walking, talking pile of rocks."

And they laughed at that even more. They really loved this rocky guy. He was funny and just good company.

As they finally calmed down, they saw Bruce walk back in with Pepper right behind him.

"AUNTIE PEPPY!" They both exclaimed, jumping down from their seats and running towards her.

Overcome with emotion, Pepper knelt down and hugged the two as they ran into her arms. It was so good to know that these kids, these little BABIES were alright. It's one thing to lose someone, it'd be worse if it was a child. They were so precious to all of the Avengers and their companions.

Bruce smiled at the sight of the kids hugging Pepper. It gave him a temporary smile to know that they had a little more happiness as opposed to the terrible news of their parents. He still wasn't sure how he was going to tell them.

"Ya ok, bruv?" Korg asked as he walked up, carrying Miek with him.

Before Bruce could answer, Pepper looked up at hearing the unfamiliar voice and stepped back a little with the kids behind her.

"Whoa! Pep, it's ok!" Bruce said immediately, trying to calm her down. "He's a friend."

"Hey, how's it goin'? I'm Korg, and this is Miek. We're friends of Thor."

Pepper didn't really need much more surprising when it came to aliens. She just needed to know which ones were good and which were bad. This one didn't seem bad, even though he was dressed like a gladiator and made of rocks.

"And yes I'm made of rocks." He stated, almost as if he was reading her mind. "But don't let that worry ya. Unless you're a pair of scissors. Little 'rock, paper, scissor' joke for ya there."

Behind her, the twins laughed at that joke. Korg had told it to them the day after he and the others arrived, and it still made them laugh.

Seeing that made Pepper smile lightly too. 'Guess he's ok then.' She said to herself.

"Pepper. Nice to meet you, Korg."

The Kronan shook her hand and the alien bug under his arm waved at her and she almost screamed at the sight of it. But she remembered, friendly. "And you too, uh...Miek, was it?"

Miek nodded and she smiled back to him, letting out a breath as she did. This day was certainly something.

Chapter Text

***Courtyard***

Later on, night time came. Pepper had decided to stay until they knew the whereabouts of Tony.

It was nearing 10:30 and Bruce was now outside, looking up into the star filled sky. He wondered which one was the planet that Tony was on.

After a while, he let out a long, tired sigh. "Where are you, Tony?" He asked. "Where are you?"

His thoughts were broken by the sound of the front gate opening and a car entering. As it did, he saw that it was slowing down.

The car stopped midway down the path and was across the yard from Bruce. He couldn't exactly see who it was, but he could tell they were looking right at him.

A tingly feeling came to him as he heard the front door open and the person step out. From the looks of the hair, it was a woman. But when she turned, Brice felt his heart clench.

It was her. He saw her, and she saw him.

"Bruce." She whispered, though she felt he heard her.

"Betty." He whispered back.

They stared at each other across the yard, the feeling between them still strong.

She made the first move, closing her car door, walking around it and onto the grass toward him.

Bruce slowly began to walk forward, he was cared that he might be dreaming and that when he reached her, she'd be gone.

His heart began to race as he picked up the pace. "Betty?"

"Bruce?"

"Betty!"

"Bruce!"

The two now ran and closed the space in between them quicker. Soon colliding together in a hug, holding each other tight. Glad to be together again.

"I missed you!" She cried into his shoulder, tears making their way down her cheeks.

Bruce sniffled as he felt the waterworks beginning to work him too. "I missed you too."

They stayed in that position a little while longer before going to her car, parking it, grabbing her things and going inside.

***Common Room***

After putting her things in a room, and changing into something more comfortable, Bruce and Betty sat down on a couch and he explained the situation of what was going on, the fact that his team was lost, and the hardest part, the kids that were left without their parents.

"So their parent are gone?" She asked, really to reassure herself that she heard him right.

Bruce nodded silently.

"Have you told them yet?"

"No. I can't." Bruce shook his head in grief.

"Well Bruce, they're gonna find out sooner or later. You gonna have to tell them.

"Yeah, I know! I just.......I don't know how to break it to them."

Looking at Bruce holding his head in his hands, Betty could see that he holding more than just that. He was holding the weight of the kids, what happened to their parents, and the team on his shoulders.

She thought back to the time when they were on the run. He had a similar amount of weight on him then with trying to get rid of the Hulk. And she watched him throughout the years as he fought with the Avengers. She was happy to see that he was able to use it. It seemed like he was happy to have a place in the world.

But now, with one stroke, or snap rather, all of that was taken away and replaced with sorrow, loneliness and grief.

Then a thought came into her head. Just as she stood, or ran, with him back then, she was gonna stick with him now.

She put a hand on his shoulder and hugged him from behind. Kinda like how she did back in 2008 in the hotel room they shared.

"Thank you, Betty." He whispered through oncoming tears.

"You're welcome, Bruce." She replied by kissing his head.

They stayed in that position for a while. The comfort in that moment was so calming, stress relieving.

Bruce held her arms and took the feeling of being in them. He was so happy she was here. With him in his worst hour. She came all this way and now, they were together once again.

Chapter Text

***New Avengers Facility, Front Gate***

A small minivan approached the gate and stopped a few feet away from it.

The passenger side door opened and out walked a young woman in her mid 20's and then the driver-side door with a man in his 50's stepping out.

"Hello! Is anyone in there?!" The girl called out at the security camera.

***Kitchen***

Pepper and Betty were talking over a cup of coffee when a ping came in on the security cameras.

Betty got up from her seat and walked over to the screen.

"Someone's at the front gate." She said.

"Is it Tony?!" Pepper asked, anxiety slightly apparent in his voice.

"I don't think so, I don't see him. You expecting anyone?"

"Other than Tony, not really."

***Common Room***

Bruce came in with a short-sleeved gray shirt and black jeans. "What's going on?"

"Someone's at the front gate." Betty replied.

He came over and looked at the live feed and almost immediately recognized them.

"You know them?"

"That's Eric Selvig and Darcy Lewis!" Bruce exclaimed unbelievingly. He remembered the stories Thor would tell of Erik, Darcy, and Jane Foster. Now, they were here. "Let 'em in!"

So after the two finally came onto the premises, the Doctor and the Intern walked in and joined the group with James and Nikki on a couch with Korg and Miek next to them reading comic books.

"Dr. Selvig," Bruce greeted as he approached first and shook his fellow doctor's hand.

"Ah please, just Erik, Dr. Banner." He replied, looking like he'd seen a ghost, but still shook Bruce's hand back.

Understanding, Bruce nodded and returned the courtesy by saying, "Bruce. Good to see you again, sir. What's wrong?"

"We need to talk to Thor." Darcy jumped in and replied. "Where is he?"

"Uh...." Bruce looked to Pepper and Betty, unsure of what to say at the current moment.

Pepper may not have know either, but she did know that whatever was about to be said didn't need to be heard by younger ears.

Turning to the group on the crouches, she called out, "Korg, could you take the kids outside for a minute, please?"

The Kronan was slightly confused, but given the look that Pepper gave him, it must've been something they didn't need to know or hear. So he complied.

"Sure!" He replied, picking up Miek as he stood. "Come on guys, we can play catch with Miek! You'd be surprised how light he can be."

Erik and Darcy were shocked by the sight of Korg and Miek, but not entirely scared on account of what they've seen throughout the years.

"Was....was that guy made of rocks and was that a giant purple cockroach in his arm?" Darcy asked.

Bruce turned towards them and shrugged. "Yes, and....I think, I don't know to be honest."

Darcy nodded with a straight line lip expression. "Cool."

"Anyway, back to what you were saying. You said you needed Thor?"

"Yes, it's urgent." Erik stated. "Is he here?"

Bruce began to breath through his nose as he could not find the words to break it to the good doctor. A hand on his shoulder made him turn to see a comforting Betty right behind him.

Taking another deep breath, he finally answered. "He's....he's gone."

"Ok, well when's he coming back?" Darcy asked.

Bruce tried to say it, but it still hurt. But once again, that caring hand was on his shoulder.

"What he's trying to say is...Thor is dead. They're all dead."

Erik and Darcy's eyes widened and their breath hitched in their throats at hearing that. That was something that they never really expected to hear. It sure struck them with shock.

***Courtyard***

Korg and the Twins were playing catch with Miek, tossing him back and forth from each other. It was actually quite fun for them. Since the serum that was in their parents, Jamie and Nikki had a surprising amount of strength for kids their age. So not only were they able to catch Miek, but could also throw him pretty well too.

As they played on, Jamie happened to look back at the building and noticed a girl with blonde hair sitting by the doors of the entrance.

Looking closely, he noticed that she long blonde hair and wore a gray shirt and blue jeans. She couldn't be any older than him and Nikki.

She looked pretty though.

His thoughts were disturbed when he was knocked over by Miek. He didn't see when Korg tossed the alien bug to him.

"Oh crap!" Korg exclaimed, him and Nikki running to help him and Miek.

"Jamie, are you okay?" Nikki asked, worried about her brother.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that bro. I didn't mean to hit ya."

Jamie began to sit up and was helped up by the two and Miek comforting him as well. "It's okay, Korg. And yeah, I'm okay, Nikki."

The blonde hugged her brother, happy that he was alright. And he hugged back.

"What were you looking at?" She asked as the broke apart.

Jamie only answered by pointing to the girl sitting at the Compound.

The little girl sat on a bench by the doors as though she were waiting for someone. She had beautiful long golden hair that came down a little past her shoulders and a small band held together a few strands on the left side of her face.

She wore a red hoodie with Mjolnir in the middle of the chest, black jeans and gray tennis shoes.

On her neck was a necklace that held a charm in the shape of Mjolnir as well.

She watched her legs dangle on the edge of the bench as Jamie approached her. She began to sense his presence and looked to her right and saw this boy, who had to be about the same age as her, with red hair walked up to her.

She didn't say anything as he neared her. She just watched as he stopped a few feet away and cracked a smile.

"Hi!" He said first.

She was surprised that someone her age actually came up to her and talked to her. Most kids made fun of her. But this boy was being nice to her. This made her feel a new type of good. She couldn't help but smile back.

"H-Hi." She replied quietly.

Jamie smiled even more now that she seemed comfortable with him being there.

He walked a little closer and introduced himself. "My name's Jamie. What's yours?"

The smile on the girls face began to slowly go down. She really tell people her name, that way she wouldn't get made fun of. But she felt as though she could trust this boy. He seemed nice and not a jerk like some kids she'd may in the past.

"It's Torunn."

Jamie nodded at that. "Torunn. Wow. Nice name."

That brought the smile back to the blonde girl's face which made Jamie blush.

"My real name is James. But people call me Jamie. It's my nickname."

Torunn smiled at that. "I like the name Jaime."

That made the redhead boy blush harder. He likes this girl already. "What about you? Maybe.......can I maybe call you 'Tori'?"

Now it was her turn to blush. She looked down and smiled before looking back to Jamie. "That actually is my nickname."

The two smiled at that. They had already gotten to know a little about each other and liked what they knew already.

"So he's gone." Erik leaned against a table as his mind began to digest the notion that Thor, his friend, the man he'd grown to love like a son was dead.

Bruce came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." He said, sadness apparent in his voice. "I wish I could've done more."

Erik put his hand on Bruce's shoulder now and gave him a reassuring pat. "You did the best you could, Bruce. That's all you could do."

Bruce still hung his head low. He was happy to hear those words, but it's still stung that he was the only one of his fellow original six Avengers to survive.

"Well, this certainly places an even bigger problem as to why we're here." Erik states plainly.

"What do you mean?" Pepper asked.

Erik didn't answer so quickly. Instead, he looked at Darcy and motioned for her to go outside.

She knew what he meant. It was time to bring in the surprise.

***Outside***

Darcy walked out and came to the bench where she expected Tori to be sitting. But she wasn't there.

"Tori?" Darcy called out. But she wasn't there. She looked around the car, but she couldn't find her. Panic began to stir up in her.

She ran back inside with her heart racing.

"Erik! She's gone!"

Erik's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but panic was beginning to rise like hers. "What?"

"I went outside and looked where she was sitting, but she's not there or around the car anywhere!"

Erik begins for outside and Darcy follows. Bruce, Betty and Pepper go after them, curious as to who they were looking for.

Outside, they saw the two looking all around.

"Wait, who're you looking for?" Betty asked.

Darcy immediately answered. "A little girl with blonde hair! We brought her with us. She's not so good in new places, and we-."

She looked over into the courtyard and saw her, a sigh of relief leaving her mouth. She bent down and leaned on her knees before looking back up to see Tori playing with Korg, Miek, and Jamie and Nikki.

"Now, isn't that nice." Erik chuckles as he came up next to her.

Seeing the little girl actually playing and having a good time with other kids was amazing to them.

"Is that her?" Betty asked as her, Bruce and Pepper came up alongside them.

"Yep, that's her."

The five of them watched the lovely scene play out in front of them.

"Who is she?"

In the courtyard, Tori is still having fun with Jamie, Nikki and Korg and Miek.

On her neck, the Mjolnir charm on the necklace had an inscription on it.

It read:

'Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.'

There was a silence before Erik answered, and then Darcy did.

"Her name is Torunn." Erik started.

"She's Thor's daughter."

Now the other three's eyes went wide with shock, but Bruce's eyes were the widest of all.

They looked at astrophysicist and the intern and back to group out in the courtyard.

Chapter Text

***Quinjet***

"We're fifteen minutes out." Rhodey said, halfway looking back to Valkyrie who was buckled in a seat behind him and Rocket. "We'll be back soon."

Val nodded as she let out a sigh and closed her eyes. It had been an eventful past few days.

They were able to settle into a town where the Asgardian refugees would be able to live in peace. Granted, it wasn't Asgard, but at least they would be safe.

The only thing that would make it better was if Thor was with them to see it happen.

A tear to escaped her eye as she thought about her friend.

Thinking back to their narrow escape aboard the Statesman, she remembered telling him "Don't die," once again as she had on Asgard. But now, he was gone. Erased from existence by a simple snap.

Now, the role of of "Leader of Asgard" fell to her. Honestly, she didn't want it. But they were her people, and Thor was her friend. And because of that, she would look after them to the best of her ability.

As Thor said, "Asgard's not a place, it's a people."

And Val vowed that she would do everything in her power to make sure that people lived on.

The motion of the Quinjet slowing down brought her out of her thoughts to notice that they had arrived back at the Facility and Rhodey and Rocket were arguing about who the better pilot was as they landed.

She shook her head and smirked at the two. These Avengers are something.

After they landed and were heading out they saw Bruce walking to meet them at the bottom of the ramp.

"Hey man," Rhodey greeted his friend with a bro hug.

"Rhodey." Bruce replied. "Rocket."

"What's up, Smart Guy?" The "raccoon" retorted.

"Bruce." Val said to him.

"Valkyrie. Uh, there's something we have to talk to you about."

The warrior looked confused back to the Doctor. "Me? What's wrong?"

Bruce's face showed a mixture of nervousness and uncertainty. "It's about Thor."

Now it was Val's turn to be shocked and confused. "What is it?"

***Common Room***

Everyone sat or stood in silence.

Bruce, Erik, Darcy, Rhodey, Rocket, Pepper, Betty and Valkyrie.

They all stayed quiet as she, Rhodey and Rocket took in the news that was just told by Darcy and Erik. And what news it was!

Since it was really meant for her ears, Valkyrie was the one hit by it the most. She couldn't believe it. Thor. The Thor she knew, had a baby. Definitely didn't see that coming.

"Hold on, lemme get this straight!" Rhodey interjected. He was beyond confused. "Thor, OUR Thor, has a kid?!"

The Doctor and the Intern both nodded at that. They expected this reaction from him. Val tho? They thought she'd flip or something. But surprisingly, she was taking it well.

The warrior sat there and pondered her thoughts before feeling eyes on her. Looking up, she saw Rhodey and Rocket looking straighter her with a knowing look.

"What're you looking at me for?" She blurted, eyebrows scrunched and a little irritated.

Rhodey shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant look. "Well you're the only Asgardian girl here."

"And that you're the only Asgardian chick that was close and cool with Thor like that."

"Dude, no! No offense to Thor, but, not my cup of tea."

Not her cup of tea? Rhodey scrunched his eyebrows in confusion at that. "What does that mean?"

Val just replied by lifting an eyebrow with a deadpanned look directed at Rhodey.

It didn't take long though before it clicked in his mind what she meant. "Oh."

"Mhm."

"What?" Rocket jumped in. His head turned back and forth between them, confused and not understanding what she meant, "What's goin' on here?"

"I'll tell ya later." Rhodey whispered to him.

Rocket was still oblivious to what was going on, but he just shrugged it off and shook his head. Whatever it was, it had to be a "humie" thing.

"Yeah, no. She's not the mother," Darcy stated, jumping back into the conversation, "Jane is...or she was."

"And who's Jane?" Val asked them.

Darcy thought for a minute before pulling out her phone and looking through her pictures before she found one that was good enough. She walked over to the Asgardian warrior and showed it to her.

Val examined the picture carefully. This Jane was obviously a very beautiful person. She had a very intelligent look about her. And she had to be strong if she had managed to be with someone like Thor. But there was one more thing. She wasn't Asgardian.

"How?" Val asked, still confused.

Darcy looked back at Erik who had set his glasses on a nearby table and let out a sigh.

They thought back to that happy moment. When times were good and everyone was still alive. Jane, Darcy, and Erik.

The day that Torunn was born.

(FLASHBACK)

***Royal London Hospital - 2014***

Jane Foster laid in a hospital bed with her newborn baby girl in her arms.

She couldn't help but smile at the bundle of joy in her arms, as did her friends.

"Congratulations, Jane," Her father figure, Erik Selvig said patting her shoulder. "You really did it."

"Way to go, GIRL!!" Darcy added from behind her phone. She was recording this tender moment with a teary smile. "She looks just like you. But the blonde hair obviously belongs to her dad."

Jane noticed that too. She wasn't blonde, she was a brunette. Her daughter's face resembled hers to a degree, but it also showed a resemblance to her father as well.

'Oh Thor.' She said to herself.

She already knew, but kept it secret from him that Thor was this baby's father.

Even though he didn't know about her, her love for him made Jane still want to honor him.

"What're you gonna name her, Jane?" The doctor asked.

"Torrun."

"Torrun Foster."

It wasn't really a question so much as a statement. But it didn't seem right to Jane.

"No." She abruptly exclaimed.

They looked at her, slightly startled by her objection. This was her child. Wouldn't she want her to have her last name?

Taking a moment and maligning up her mind, she explained how it was going to be. "I'm going to honor her father and his culture, and she's gonna be named her after him."

Darcy and Erik looked at each other and then Darcy to her boyfriend, Ian Boothby. All three of them smiled at that idea. Thor had been a major part of their lives and to see that his daughter would be a part of it as well made them feel so happy to have a new addition to their "family".

"So what's the name gonna be?" Ian asked.

Jane thought for a moment, thinking back to her time on Asgard. She remembered everything. The architecture, the technology, and even the people. And how the names worked as well. The children would take the names of their fathers, like Thor's last name was. Him being Odin's son, it was his birthright to have the last name: Odinson.

And now the Jane held the daughter of Thor, she was going to continue that tradition.

"Her last name will be Thorsdóttir."

A look of confusion came to everyone else's face in the room. Erik, Darcy, Ian, and the doctor and the nurse all were confused at that.

"Kind of a mouthful, isn't it?" Darcy inquired, unsure of it. "Thor's Daughter?"

"No, Thorsdóttir. T-H-O-R-S-D-O-T-T-I-R. With an accent over 'O'."

The doctor looked at his nurse before they both shrugged and she wrote down the rest of the baby's name.

And as that baby laid in Jane's arms, she knew that her daughter was gonna do things that were as great as her father....Her father.

"Jane." Erik cooed. "...You should tell him, you know."

"Erik, I.....I don't know if I can. And even if I did, how would I do that? He could be back on Asgard or who knows where.

"His friends might."

The two looked at the Intern with a puzzled look at first.

"What do you mean?"

"His friends, The Avengers. They're close and all, so they would probably know how to call him." Darcy shrugged with a look that showed some positivity.

Erik nodded at Darcy's comment and looked back at Jane. It wasn't a bad idea. Plus, Thor deserved to know about his daughter.

"It's the right thing to do."

Deep down, Jane knew he were right. But then she thought back to the day that she and Thor broke up. It was her that said that they shouldn't be together because she knew that if Thor was with her, then he wouldn't be able to completely fulfill his duties as an Avenger, or as the Prince of Asgard.(A/N: This is based on the Thor 2 Deleted Scene in which Jane breaks up with Thor...even though she still loves him.)

She didn't want to hold him back then, and this, his daughter. THEIR daughter, would make that happen all the more so. And regardless of how much she still loved him and would love to be with him and raise their daughter together, she still didn't want to tear him away from his life.

She couldn't.

"No...I can't......" She whispered, shaking her head as tears began to come out.

"But, doesn't Thor deserve to know he has a daughter?" Ian asked, confused at her decision.

He wasn't alone in his confusion. Darcy and Erik didn't understand exactly how she thought it was a good idea to go and leave Thor out of the picture.

But Jane looked at Darcy's boyfriend with a look of surrender. He was right. She knew it too. Thor did deserve to know. And he would. He would. Just not right now.

So she nodded in response to his question. "He does. And he will. I'll tell him and......and whatever happens, I'm just gonna let it happen."

That made their faces go up with smiles.

"Just not right now."

And back down they went. Why did she change that around?

"One day. One day, I will tell him. But for now, I'll raise her. We'll be the only family she knows. Until the day comes where I have to tell Thor about her, we are gonna be the ones who she knows and trusts. And I will never let anything bad happen to her. Nothing."

This baffled her three friends, but there was no confusion when it came to the part about them taking care of Torunn. There was no 'if', 'ands', or 'buts' about it. They were going to help in any way they could. No matter what. They were a family.

And even though they didn't think it the best choice to keep this a secret from their Asgardian friend, they respected Jane's wishes.

As they watched the newborn baby is her mother's arms, they saw a new look on Jane's face. Not on top, but within. And it was that she would protect her daughter until her dying breath as Thor did when he was here.

But inside, Jane could already tell that, like her father, Torunn was meant for great things in her future. And though neither of them knew what is was, one thing was for sure, it was gonna be big.

(END OF FLASHBACK)

Val starred at the phone, observing the picture of Jane closely as she contemplated the story Darcy had just laid out. It was true, but still hard for the Asgardian warrior to swallow.

"So her mother is a Midgardian?" She finally spoke, looking up from the phone to either Erik or Darcy.

"Uh, yes. She..she was." Erik replied, understanding that term from hearing Thor for many years.

"Wow, that's new."

"What do you mean?" Darcy asked.

"An Asgardian and a human child is...something that's... never been heard of before. Really it was...it was thought to be impossible."

Selvig and Darcy looked at each other and then back to Val. "Impossible how?"

"Yeah, the similarities between our DNA aren't 100%, but they are enough to where there's a chance it could be possible."

Val nodded at that. "True, that's a given. But we were led to believe that if the power of the Asgardian didn't do it, the power of the child in the abdomen or the birthing would be too much for a human to handle. But you said that her mother did. That's amazing!"

The Doctor and the Intern understood how she felt. The whole ordeal was SOMETHING for them too.

"I must say, it shocked us too when she told us."

"Yeah, and even more when it was time for her to have the baby."

Wow. Just wow. This was incredible! It was a new species! A new breed of Asgardian and human, and the human mother had survived. That is until.....Thanos. She remembered what Erik and Darcy had just previously told her. Jane was now dead. Wiped out by the Snap. That's why they were here, looking for Thor. But he wasn't here either. The Snap has gotten him too.

Not only them, but unfortunately, Ian was caught in the Snap as well. And that hit Darcy in a bad way. Losing Jane, her best friend, was one thing. But losing her boyfriend, someone who didn't think she was weird for interests and someone who had the same interests as her? That broke her down. All she had now was Erik and Torunn. Thinking about him again brought tears to her eyes as she looked at a photo of hi on her phone.

'Oh Ian.....' she cried to herself. She wiped away a few tears and leaned against Erik who comforted her with a caring side hug.

Back with Val, worry began to stir in her as she realized what this meant. This child was an orphan! And her caretakers were all she had.

She couldn't let anything happen to her. To any of them! She had to protect them.

"Where is she?" She inquired, she wanted to meet this girl.

"She's watching a movie with the other kids." Bruce replied, finally speaking up.

"Would you like to meet her?" Erik added with a smile.

Val answered with a nod.

As they all made their way to the Theater room, Pepper froze and brought a hand to her stomach as she felt it rumble. Suddenly, a bad taste made its way to her mouth as she felt something threatening to come up.

Immediately, she headed for the bathroom.

Chapter Text

***Theater Room***

One of the best things about the Compound was the Theater Room. You talk about a home theater? This place was literally the size of a screening room!! Complete with a popcorn machine, a soft drink fountain, and a fridge.

And currently, they were watching Spy Kids and having a good time with it.

On screen, Juni had just tried to punch a wall really hard to show his strength. But it didn't work.

"You're not that strong, Juni!" Carmen said to him.

That made the kids belt out in laughter, Korg and Miek going crazy as well.

"That's so funny because he thought he could do it, but he's not a robot!" He stated before continuing his laugh.

They were so into it, they didn't notice the grown ups walk in.

"Hey guys." Bruce called them. They all look towards the doors and saw the grown ups standing with smiles on their faces. "You guys having fun?"

The kiddos couldn't help but laugh with a big "YES!" since they really were having a good time.

They didn't realize it, but this was the most fun they'd had without their parents around. But they'd have more fun telling them about it when they got back.

Torrun," Erik called the blonde toddler, "We uh, have someone here who'd like to meet you."

He motioned over to Valkyrie who looked at the little girl in amazement. She could see the resemblance between her and Thor. There was a lot of her in her eyes and the hair too, obviously. And them she saw the necklace with the Mjolnir charm and that brought Thor back to mind full picture.

Here stood his daughter. Ten feet in front of her. Spitting image of her father and her mother as well. But yet, both of them were gone. Her mother who'd been the woman of Thor's dreams, and Thor....her new best friend and fellow warrior and "Revenger". Their daughter stood here, waiting for her to introduce herself.

'Well, here goes nothing.' she said to herself.

She slowly walked forward a little so as not to alarm the girl. "Hi there." She smiled with a wave.

Tori, shy to meet and introduce herself to this new person, looked over to her "Auntie" and "Uncle" for help.

Erik gave her an encouraging nod while Darcy gave her a thumbs up and a wink. That helped take some of the pressure off.

"Hi." She finally replied, not too loud and not looking up at her fully.

But this made the warrior smile even more. It made her feel a bit more confident about this and moved her to make to try and take the next step.

"I'm..." she caught herself before she said "Brunnhilde" and decided to go with something easy to remember. "I'm Val. What's your name?"

"...Torunn.."

"Torunn? Wow, a warrior's name! I bet you're as brave as your father."

"You know my Daddy?"

"Very well. He's one of my good friends."

That made Tori's head slowly rise. The mere mention of her father had always caught her attention. All she knew was that he was a great hero and that he'd saved her mother countless times. But that one day, he went away to help save someone.

But now, this other new person knew him too. And that just made her day, hearing something about her father.

Tori's face began to light up, and right there. Right there, Val saw that this was what the girl needed. And she definitely wanted to tell her.

"Would you..maybe like me to maybe tell you about him?"

Tori gasped at the question. "YES.YES.YES!!! PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE!!!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down like Mexican Jumping Bean. She had never been so excited in her life. Jane, Erik and Darcy had told her stories about her father before. Now, she was gonna hear EVEN MORE stories about her father! WHAT A TREAT!!!

Val held out her hand and the blonde toddler took it and they walked hand in hand out of the room as she began to tell the tale of the "Lord Of Thunder Who Landed On Trash Planet".

Erik and Darcy smiled and the Intern wiped away a few years as the watched Tori laugh at the thing being told her by her father's friend.

This wasn't what they expected when they first arrived, but it still made them feel so glad to see their young ward smiling and not introverted.

Rhodey sniffled a little, as did Rocket. Being the tough guys they were, they did their best to play it off.

Bruce and Betty smiled at the scene too. Course, Bruce didn't know that Betty was thinking that that would've been them if he hadn't had that accident all those years ago. But that was the past, this was the present.

As for the Twins, Nikki was happy for her new best friend. But Jamie... for some strange reason, he began to have a funny feeling in his stomach at the sight of Tori smiling. It wasn't a bad funny feeling, but it kinda felt like butterflies.

He shook it off and thought it was because he was hungry.

"Ok, guys," Bruce started, getting the attention of the Twins and the two aliens in the room, "Who wants lunch?"

Jamie and Nikki cheered, all for it. Korg and Miek nodded, "ready for some grub" as he put it.

"Alright, to the kitchen!"

And the three, plus Miek being held by Korg, raced out of the room and headed for the kitchen.

As the five remaining adults and "raccoon" began to follow, Betty stopped and realized something.

"Wait a minute." she said to no one in particular.

They stopped and looked back to see a confused expression about her.

She turned around and noticed an absence that she was surprised she didn't notice earlier.

"What's up?" Darcy asked, confused herself as to what Betty was looking for.

"Where's Pepper?"

Chapter Text

***Bathroom***

[TOILET FLUSHES]

Pepper lifted her head up from the toilet and sat down next to it, catching her breath as she had just emptied her stomach of its load.

This had been happening for almost two weeks. But she didn't know what was making her feel queasy all the time. Was she sick or something?......or something.

A knock at the door brought her out of her thoughts.

"Pepper! Are you alright in there?"

'Betty!'

Pepper swiftly grabbed some toilet paper and wiped her mouth before flushing it. "Yeah, I'm...I'm okay."

She stood up and looked in the mirror to fix herself up before unlocking the door and opened it.

"Are you okay?" Betty asked, concern written all over her face.

Pepper did her best to play it off as she back up and sat down on the now closed toilet seat. "Yeah, I just...Ive been feeling like this for the past few week or so."

"A few weeks?" Betty echoes as she sat on the edge of the bathtub across from her friend. She began to think of the possibilities for Pepper's stomach problem. "Hmm...have you eaten anything bad or something that didn't agree with you?"

"Um...not that I know of."

"Could it maybe be a bug?"

Pepper thought about that, but tossed the thought away. "I don't think so."

Okay, no stomach bug, not food poisoning. What else could it be? Then one final thought came to Betty. She wasn't sure, but it seemed like the only other logical thought.

"Pep," she started cautiously, "You don't think you could be....ya know."

"What?"

Betty couldn't think of any other way to put it, so bluntness was the only way. "Pregnant."

Pepper's eye want wide at that before she burst into laughter.

"Oh no! HAHAHA!!! I'm sorry, but no. I couldn't be."

Of all things, that was preposterous. There was no way.

As the redhead laughed, Betty smiled but still kept a serious look on her face, still not letting go of the possibility of this theory.

"You sure about that?" Betty asked again, not entirely convinced.

As a scientist, it was her job to have theories and explore them. And this one seemed accurate. Pepper, on the other hand, didn't think so. But she was used to this kind of reaction.

"Yeah, I'm sure! I mean, me and Tony haven't been together since........"

Pepper's face began to slowly go down as she realized that Betty's theory might just be true. She thought hard, trying to remember the specific last time she and Tony were together and realized that.....

"Since just before he....oh my god."

"Just before what?"

.............

"Just before Tony went into space....Betty, I..."

Tears began to form in her eyes as she realized that not only might she be pregnant with her and Tony's baby, but Tony wasn't even here to know it! And she didn't know where he was or when he'd be back..........of if he was coming back.

"Oh my god, Betty. What am I going to do?"

She broke into tears but was pulled into a hug by her friend.

"It's okay, Pep. Shhh, don't worry. It's okay. It's not the worst thing in the world. It's beautiful."

"Yeah but....T-Tony's not h-here and...and I don't even know for sure." She cried.

Betty understood that. She remembered when the accident happened at Culver University and she woke up in the hospital. She didn't know where Bruce was or where he had gone. OR when he was coming back. But she remembered how whole she felt again when he did come back and she begged him not to go. The memories made her eyes water, but she couldn't hide that emotion. What she felt then, Pepper was feeling now. But she wasn't gonna let Pepper go through this alone.

"Would you like me to get you a pregnancy test?"

Pepper looked up at her friend, her cheeks stained by streaks of tears that had just rained out. She didn't ever really expect to asked that question, but she did appreciate having someone to help her.

"Could you, please?" She nodded.

Betty smiled at her answer, glad that she could help. "Sure."

She gave Pepper one more long, loving hug before she slowly let go and headed out.

"Oh and Betty?" Pepper called out efore she could leave.

Betty turned back. "Yeah?"

Pepper's eyes began to water just a little again as she smiled at her friend. "Thank you. For comforting me. I...I really appreciate it."

Betty smiled back at the redhead. "Anytime, girlfriend."

And then she continued out of the bathroom and out of Pepper's bedroom. Now alone, Pepper stood up and went to the sink to wash her face.

***Living Room***

Korg and Miek were enjoying some cold pizza while the Twins snacked on their third Lunchable.

Meanwhile, Bruce was eating a sandwich and examining information on a pad when he noticed Betty getting ready to leave. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"To the store." she replied, "I gotta get a pregnancy test."

Bruce almost choked on his lunch at that. "A what?!" He exclaimed.

Betty laughed as she immediately knew the reason for his reaction. "Don't worry, Bruce. It's not for me, it's for Pepper."

Hearing that made Bruce calm down, but then he came right back up again.

"Wait, Pepper?!"

"Yeah. There's a chance she might be pregnant and she just wants to be sure."

Bruce thought that through and nodded at that, understanding Pepper would want confirmation.

"Oh ok."

"You need me to get anything for you while I'm out?"

Bruce shook his head, "No, I'm ok. Just...please be careful out there."

The concern in his voice made her think back to when they were on the run almost ten years ago. She would always tell him to be careful and stay safe. He'd always say "I know" and would keep on. And now, he was telling her to be careful as she was going out. How the tables had turned.

"I will," she assured him before pulling him into a hug and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

That shocked him. He hadn't felt the spark of her lips in so long, he'd almost forgotten how it felt. But to feel that was so entrancing.

Betty smiled and giggled as she walked away, leaving the Doctor there in his dazed state.

When Bruce finally came back to reality, he realized Betty had already left. Out of curiosity and a little pride, he felt his cheek where she had kissed him and could feel the spot.

"Wow." He whispered to himself. "Not bad, Banner."

He cracked a smile and went back to his lunch and his pad.

An hour or so later, Betty had returned. Pepper was currently taking the test while she waited outside of the bathroom, thinking about what she had seen when she left.

The city was devastated. Even though it'd been almost a month since The Snap, there was still a lot of cars smashed into each other, people crying in the streets, and there was even a helicopter stuck from having crashed into a building.

And to think, all of this chaos and sorrow because of a snap. Thanks to six ancient powerful relics, one simple snap made all of this terribleness come about.

As she sat there thinking, she was just glad she was here at the Compound. Safe with friends and people she cared about and who cared about her.

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of a toilet flushing and the bathroom door partly opening. She stood and walked into the bathroom and saw Pepper sitting on the toilet which had the lid down.

The test lay on a folded paper towel on the sink, waiting for the results to come up.

Pepper sat with her head in her hands and her eyes red from crying. This whole thing was just one big tidal wave of emotions that were just coming down hard on her. And the fact that Tony was who knows where and not here did not help her nerves any either.

But she was comforted once again by her friend who was seated next to her on the edge of the tub, putting a loving hand on her shoulder. Pepper looked up to see Betty with tears beginning to form in her eyes as well.

It hurt her to see her friend in this position, but that wouldn't stop her from comforting her best she could. Even though empathy was eating at her heart too.

"Whatever happens," she began, "We're gonna get through this together. Okay?"

Pepper nodded and wiped her tears away before pulling Betty into a hug, to which she returned. Betty patted Pepper's back and lighty rocked her back and forth to soothe her.

"You know, I know you're a scientist. But you'd be one helluva shrink." Pepper said, laughing a bit.

That made Betty laugh as well. She was glad that Pepper was able to make a joke to ease the tension.

"Well, it's crossed my mind. But I'm happier with the field I'm in now. Besides, I might not have met Bruce or any of you guys if I had gone for that."

"True. But then you wouldn't be worried about you or your man getting shot at."

"Touché."

The two both laughed at that and broke apart to look at each other smile. It was a nice moment. Had this been any other setting without the world in its current condition, these two might've been in a coffee shop, hanging out and talking about their love life or something. But unfortunately, reality set in again as Betty remembered the test on the sink.

"Should be about ready by now." She said, motioning to the plastic stick.

Pepper let out a heavy nervous sigh as she turned and slowly reached for the test, but before pulling it to her to read it, uncertainty and fear set in again.

So in a swift motion, she handed it over to Betty. "Could you read it for me please, Betty? I..."

But Betty understood completely as she took it. "I gotcha."

She looked down at the test and examined it carefully. Seeing the result there, her eyes went wide. Pepper noticed this immediately and grew worried.

"Well?" She asked, almost impatiently, "What does it say."

".......................two lines."

"Two lines. So that means....What a minute." She reaches behind her and grabbed the little box the test came in and read what two lines meant.

When she saw it, she felt her heart drop. It couldn't be. But it was. "It's...........positive........"

The silence in the room grew as the two sat there, shocked at the results of the test.

It wasn't something she'd thought she'd ever say in this kind of situation, but Pepper finally gained enough voice enough to say the following. "I'm pregnant. With me and Tony's baby."

All Betty could do was nod and put her arm around the redhead. She held her as she cried and thought of what to do next. What was she gonna tell the others? HOW was she gonna tell the others? And how was she gonna do this without Tony?

As the two stayed in their current position, a voice came in on the intercom in her room.

"Hey Pep?" It was Rhodey.

Since Pepper could barely speak at the moment, Betty patted her back as she stood and answered the call for her.

"Hey Rhodey, it's Betty. Pepper's in the bathroom. What's up?"

"Oh ok. Well, when she gets out, can both of you meet us in the living room?"

"Uh yeah, sure."

"Alright, thanks."

The call ended and Betty walked back into the bathroom to see Pepper washing her face at the sink.

As she came up and dried her face, she looked at herself in the mirror and let out a breath. Finally composing herself, she turned and walked out to Betty and nodded.

She nodded back and the two walked out of the room together, Betty holding her with an arm around her shoulder for comfort.

They walked into the the common/living room and saw Bruce, Rhodey, Rocket, Erik, Darcy and Val standing there at a table with a holographic screen up and loading.

"What's up, guys?" Betty asked as they joined the group.

"We're getting a transmission." The colonel replied.

"Who's it from?"

"I don't know, but we're about to find out."

Suddenly, a video came up on the screen of a young teenage boy and began playing.

"Hey guys." They heard as they watched.

Everyone who watched it was confused as to who this was. But for Bruce, Pepper and Rhodey, they knew good and well. Though Bruce had never seen his face, he recognized the sound of the boy's voice.

"Oh my god." Pepper gasped, "It can't be."

"What, who is that?" Betty asked.

"It's the kid." Rhodey replied with unbelieving eyes.

The three of them watched in shock as the message from none other than Peter Parker played on.

As it did, emotions started going through them, mainly Pepper. For Rhodey and Bruce, it was hurt as they heard what Peter said in his message. Finally, it ended and left them all speechless.

Silence filled the room as none of them knew what to say. Peter had just sent them a message that held barely anything but sadness. Now what?

Suddenly, Rocket got an idea.

"Do you have the coordinates of where this came from?" He asked.

Rhodey looked and pointed. "Yeah, it's right here."

Rocket examined them and then, he got an idea and took out a small pad from one of his pouches. He turned it on and swiped a few times. What he was about to do, he never thought he would since he didn't think he'd be without a ship. But since Earth wasn't like other planets with scores of spaceships and aliens, desperate times called for desperate measures.

All eyes were on Rocket as he worked away on his gadget. Bruce looked at Rhodey who shrugged and shook his head.

"Uh, Rock, you wanna share with the group what you're doin'?" Rhodey asked him.

"Makin' a call," he grinned as he pressed a final button.

On the screen, it showed three dots as a signal to wait as the call went through. The last dot kept on beeping though as they waited, a starry blue background came up with a red star insignia in the middle.

Finally, a young Hispanic boy came onto the screen and smiled at the "raccoon".

"Hey Rocket!" He waved.

"How's it goin', kid?" He replied.

"Eh, getting better. We're steadily getting things somewhat back together here on Xandar. What about you?"

"That's what I'm callin' ya about. I need a favor."

Chapter Text

A ship floats along in the never-ending sea of space.

***Benatar***

Peter and Nebula sat at a table with him teaching her how to play paper football.

Peter held the ball with a finger with one hand, held his finger back with the other.

Flick.

The ball flew up and across the table when suddenly, Nebula jumped up from her seat and tried to grab it, but missed. The swift action made Peter flinch back a little.

"I missed!" Nebula growled to herself.

Peter, not wanting to make her any angrier, picked up the ball and explained it to her.

"Don't worry, it's alright! Actually, you don't have to do that. 'Cause you're just holding your position right here like this. See?"

Peter showed her how to hold her fingers together. She slowly calmed down and watched him as he demonstrated the action to her. Then she copied and held that position.

"Ok, we're gonna try again, alright?" Peter set the ball and readied himself. "Ready?"

Nebula nodded and eyed the paper ball.

Flick.

The ball flew towards Nebula. She resisted the urge of her reflexes to catch it and let it fall on the inside of her hands/goal.

"And that's all you gotta do to score a point. So that's one point for me." Peter stated. "Your turn."

So Nebula, having a somewhat general idea of what to do, took the ball, stood it up underneath her finger and focused her aim.

Flick.

The ball flew right over Peter's fingers, giving her a point. "Hey, nice job! That's was close, you're getting there!"

Hearing this made Nebula feel a sense of pride. She was getting better at this. And the good news was, when she did something wrong, Peter wasn't abusive. Not that that would've mattered much. He was small enough for her to disable and kill easily. But still, he treated her kindly and didn't even yell.

"I would like to try again." Nebula stated.

"You got it!" Peter agreed happily.

They played another round which included Peter scoring but then Nebula did. Then she scored again. And again! Each time, getting better at her game. A small smile as Peter congratulated her. He held out a fist for a fist-pump, but Nebula jumped back and held up her fists in defense.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's wrong?" Peter asked with his hands up and a little confused.

"You we're about to punch me!" Nebula hissed.

That confused Peter even more. But then he understood. "Oh no, it's not a punch. It's a fist-pump. It's something friends on Earth do. Like this, watch."

She watched as he showed her with the motion of making two fists and pumping them together. "See? No hurting. Now, you try."

Peter put out a fist again. Nebula looked at it, then to Peter and back to his fist. Her body began to ease up as slowly sat back down. Then she hesitantly mimicked the action and pumped her fist against his.

A smile came to Peters face. "Boom! Nice! Ok, let's go again."

Peter's Iron Spider helmet sat on the floor.

He reached down underneath it and turned it on. The one remaining lens lit up, scanned him and began to record.

"Captain's Long. Stardate...Unknown." He started, leaning back against a wall. He was already getting teary-eyed, "He-Hey, Avengers. Uh, and Ms. Potts too if you're watching this. Or whoever, really... Um...If you get this video...uh...well, you may not wanna post it or anything. 'Cause it could be a real tearjerker for anyone who's an Iron Man fan, heh. Or a Spider-Man fan too, I guess. Although, I'm pretty sure there's more Iron Man fans than Spider-Man fans since, ya know. Haha...yeah..."

It was normal for Peter to sometimes joke during times of stress or if he was under pressure. It helped a lot. Especially when he lost someone. But right now, it was harder than ever.

"I don't know if you're ever going to see this. I don't even know if... if you guys are still... Oh god, I hope so. Uh, today is day 21? Uh..no, 22. We lost...I...I failed. Mr. Stark, he's...he's gone. I'm so sorry. I tried, I really did. And we...I...I'm just so sorry..."

Peter took deep breaths as he wiped away the tears that began to come down.

Peter stood at a window looking out in space, starring out into the dark star filled void.

Though it was beautiful, it didn't make him feel good that he might die in it.

"Ya know, if it wasn't for the scary part of dying in space and losing Mr. Stark, I'd say I'm having a great time. My first time out in space. It'd be great. It's like all my Star Wars dreams come true. Heh...Um, anyway, we uh...we made some new friends when we were on Titan, but we lost them with Mr. Stark. Except for Nebula. She's the only one that survived other than me."

The two played more paper football and Nebula won again, getting better at her game. A small smile as Peter congratulated her. He held up a fist again and this time, Nebula knew how to react and pumped it back.

"Fun, right?" Peter asked.

Nebula settled back into her chair before replying, "That was fun."

A small smile picking at her lips, to which Peter did the same with a bigger one.

"She can be a little hard to understand sometimes. But after a while, you'd understand her just fine. You guys would love her. She'd make a great Avenger. She's only a little...sadistic."

"Anyway, uh...some fuel cells were cracked during our fight, but we found a way to reverse the ion charge to buy ourselves about...48 hours or so."

Peter and Nebula were working on the fuel cells. He was welding and working with something until Neubla handed him a part, he took and welded it into place.

"We're dead in the water now."

"Food's all gone, and...oxygen's gonna run out tomorrow. And that'll be it..."

Peter and Nebula sat with the last of the food packets. There was a little bit left, so Peter decided to give it to Nebula and handed it to her.

She was touched by the gesture. But she knew that him being young and human, he needed it more and pushed it back to him with care.

Now Peter was touched. He smiled at her and nodded in thanks and finished the last bit of it.

"And uh...if you... I should probably get some rest."

Back to Peter sitting down. He paused as he thought of his final words.

"Please know that... when I drift off, I will think about you guys. It was an honor meeting you and working with you all...and I wanna thank you. And just one last favor...Find my Aunt, May...and...please tell her I love her...and that I'm sorry."

Once he said that, Peter wiped away his tears and ended the recording. Leaning back against the wall, he let out some more tears.

As he did, he slowly put a jacket around him as a cover and laid down on the floor, his weakness beginning to take over. He wrapped his arms around himself as he set himself on his shoulder. It was semi-comfortable, but he was so tired that he didn't even mind it as he slipped into unconsciousness.

A few minutes later, he was out. Hungry, thirsty and just tired.

Nebula came up to the bridge and found him there. Hurting to see her young new friend laying on the cold metal ground, she knelt down and picked him with an arm over her shoulder. Slowly, she walked him over to one of the chairs that faced the frontal window.

Peter, not fully asleep yet, groaned and said "Thanks, Nebula." with an exhale of breath to his blue friend. A tear escaped her eyes as she heard that. No one had ever really said 'thank you' to her before.

She had become close to this young human, he had become a real friend. That made it hurt even more for her to watch him die like this.

"You're welcome...Peter," She whispered back to him. As a final gesture of care and sorrow, she lightly hugged him with one arm. She felt a light pat on her back from Peter who was growing weaker by the minute.

Nebula then stood up and patted Peter's shoulder before walking away.

As he sat there in the chair, halfway unconscious, Peter thought of Tony. The Avengers...his best friend, Ned...and May.

May raising him, comforting him at night when he had nightmares. Her many failed attempts at cooking. Meeting Ned for the first time and the two hitting it off immediately. Late nights spent watching Star Wars and considering which side was better to pick.

Meeting Tony Stark for the first time and being able to fight alongside him as Spider-Man.

All of these wonderful memories danced inside of his brain as he began to slip into unconsciousness.

Suddenly, Peter felt the sensation of a bright light on his eyelids. He squinted as he slowly opened his eyes.

When he did, he saw an almost blinding flashing blue light. Peter thought maybe he was dreaming and that the lack of oxygen was starting to get to him. Then slowly, the light began to dim.

It dimmed down more until Peter saw a person. His eyes widened at that. He was looking at what looked like a human in a shiny blue type of space suit with what looked like a grey vest on with three circles forming a kind of upside down triangle and a blackish-blue helmet on. And he had blue energy radiating from his hands and boots.

Peter didn't know what to do at all. He just sat there frozen, staring at the...he didn't even know what to call it. His first thought was alien, but it looked human. So...maybe humanoid?

He didn't have much time to think about it as the person nodded at Peter with a smile and gave him a thumbs up, before descending beneath the ship. Peter followed it with his eyes until he couldn't see it anymore.

Suddenly, the ship began to move. The humanoid/alien was moving the ship! From what Peter could tell by looking outside, the ship was turning. A couple seconds later, the ship stopped turning and pointed in a certain direction before going forward.

In any normal case, someone would freak out. But something told Peter that this wasn't the case. He had a feeling that whoever, or whatever that was out there, it was there to help.

Chapter Text

***Jamie and Nikki's Room***

10:30 PM. Bedtime. Something all kids hate...until they're asleep of course. It was a process, getting to sleep.

Well, right now, Jamie, Nikki, and Tori were in that process right now. As they did, the blonde felt the urge to talk about something.

"Jamie?" She whispered out to the redheaded boy.

"Yeah?" He replied almost instantly.

"Are you asleep?"

"No."

"Me neither. Just thinking."

"'Bout what?"

"My father."

"Uncle Thor?"

".....yeah. I really can't wait to meet him!"

"Excited?"

"Yes! Auntie Val told me so much about him and I just can't wait to meet him!" Even though it was dark, Jamie could tell she was smiling. And that made him smile.

"Yeah. I can't wait to see our Mommy and Daddy too. I miss them."

Now it was Tori's turn to smile for her friend. "Yes, I can't wait to meet them as well!"

"You'll love them! And they'll love you too."

A bigger smile came to Tori's face as she thought of meeting Jamie's parents. And the thought of them loving her only made it better. She definitely was looking forward to it, as it gave her a warm feeling inside.

Then her mind went back to her father. The thought of meeting him for the first time brought up questions to her mind. What would he think of her? Would he be happy and care for her, or would he disown her and leave?

That gave her a saddening chill as that sat in her mind. "J-Jamie?"

"Yeah?"

"What if he doesn't like me?"

"Uncle Thor wouldn't do that."

"But what if he does? What if......what if he hates me and leaves?"

Jamie then slid out of his bed and knelt down to Tori's sleeping bag and hugged her. She instantly hugged him back and felt a bit of relief, but the nagging doubt in the back of her mind still haunted her.

"Its gonna be alright, Tori. Your Dad's gonna love you. He won't leave you. And I'm definitely sure he'll like you."

"How do you know?"

"Because.........because I like you." The words slipped out. But Jamie meant them.

And just like that, Tori stopped her crying and caught her breath. "Y-you do?"

The redheaded boy nodded and was embraced by the girl happily. He was happy she couldn't see the red coming to his cheeks at that moment. The same went for her too.

Little did the two a of them know that those three small words would have a bigger meaning/impact on their future.

Up on the top bunk, Nikki smiled and rolled her eyes at her twin brother, trying hard not to laugh.

'What a sissy!' She thought to herself.

Hours later, the three kids were peacefully sleeping. Nikki slept soundly in her bunk, whereas Jamie had actually snuggled in the sleeping bag with Tori.

She was happy with it. It actually calmed her down more and brought her peace of mind enough to be in a peaceful slumber. And Jamie didn't mind a bit either. As long as Tori was smiling, the five year old redhead was happy.

Suddenly, a rumbling echoed into the room. Then the whole room started to shake, waking the three almost instantly.

Tori held onto Jamie and he held her too as he cried out, "HELP!! Help us!!"

Soon, the bedroom door burst open with Bruce and Betty standing there.

"Hey! Hey, guys, it's okay!" Bruce said, trying to calm them down.

"Uncle Bruce, what's going on?" Nikki cried.

"It's nothing bad, don't worry, sweetie. He hugged her and she hugged him back. He then put her down with Jamie and Tori, seeming a little frantic. "Betty, stay with them. I'll be back."

Betty nodded and held them all close to her, and they clung to her and to each other. "It's gonna be okay, guys. I promise." She cooed.

"What's happening?" Tori asked, worried about what was coming.

But Betty held them close and calmly answered with a smile. "More friends are coming."

***Courtyard***

Outside, Bruce, Rhodey, Erik, Darcy, Korg and Miek, Val, Rocket and Pepper all stood there and watched as a spaceship, the Benatar, was carried down by a bright figure.

Slowly, it brought the ship down for a landing, letting go as it did. The bright blue energy dispersed from the figure and took off it's helmet to reveal the same young Hispanic boy Rocket spoke to earlier.

He walked out from underneath the ship and over to the opening doors in the back. He was met with looks of surprise and thanks as he stood there as the stairs of the Benatar lowered.

"Attaboy, Sam." Rocket said with a proud smirk. "Ya did good."

"Well, I had a good teacher." The boy, Sam, replied with a shrug, nodding at the "raccoon".

Rocket smiled pridefully and seeing that made Sam pleased with himself. But that moment was broken when the sound of footsteps coming down the metal steps.

Everyone looked up to see a sweaty, tired, drowsy Peter Parker being helped by an equally tired, but still strong Nebula.

Pepper and Rhodey met them at the bottom of the stairs, immediately taking Peter into their arms. Pepper hugged him while the Colonel patted his shoulder. "Welcome back, kid."

Peter lightly smiled at him as Pepper broke the hug and held him with tears in her eyes.

"We...we couldn't stop him." He breathed, his lungs hungry for that good tasting oxygen.

Rhodey nodded as he and Pepper began to help the kid along. "......Neither could we." He replied.

They all began to walk back to the Compound. Erik and Darcy lagging behind as they were contemplating the large ship right behind them.

On the steps of it, Nebula sat. Tears forming in her eyes. She was soon joined though by Sam and Rocket. Both of whom were a bit teary-eyes themselves due to recent events.

Though they weren't entirely close, Rocket, without looking, reached over and held her hand. Surprisingly, she didn't flinch or move in the slightest. This was one of those moments Gamora had taught her about expressing emotions through showings. Be it crying, hugs, or even holding someone's hand.

Sam mimicked the action by putting a hand on Rocket's back, in which the "raccoon" put his other hand on the kid's knee.

And they all sat there for a time. Just to let it all set in. Grateful to have each other even though they had all lost so much.

Chapter Text

***Common Room, 10:00 AM***

The events that took place earlier that morning had everyone so awake that they couldn't go back to sleep.

Now, they all were present in the living room. With the exception of the kids, of course. They were told to stay in their room.

Peter sat at a table in a wheelchair, an IV bag hanging on a pole next to him.

On the holo-screens, profiles of people came up on a casualty report. People that were wiped out from the Snap...people that they knew.

Steve Rogers. Natasha Romanoff. Sam Wilson. Wong. Stephen Strange. Jane Foster.

Darcy and Erik put their heads down when they saw Jane's profile come up. This was a lot. More reports came up.

Clint Barton. Nick Fury. Maria Hill. Scott Lang. Eva Alexander. Kaelynn Alexander.

The last two made Sam's breath hitch in his throat. 'Mom...Kae...' he thought to himself.

A tear trickled down his cheek as he and the others watched the reports continue on the screen.

"World governments are in pieces, as you can imagine." Rhodey started, "But the parts that still work are trying to take a census. It looks like he did what he said he was going to do."

"Which was?" Darcy asked.

Bruce stepped in to answer this one. "Uh, Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all the living creatures on Earth."

"Not just on Earth." Sam interjected. Everyone looked at the young Hispanic boy, confused at what he meant. But Peter knew. "It happened all across the universe...everywhere."

Bruce's eyes widened at the sound of that. The whole thought of it all was just too over whelming.

"So does um...anyone know where he is...like right now?" Peter asked.

Rhodey shook his head and folded his arms. "Nope. Guy just opened up a portal and walked outta there."

Peter thought about that until he was pulled from them by movements his peripheral vision. Looking to his right, he saw in a small outside area, Valkyrie was pacing around. Shaking her head and hitting the wall as she did.

"Uh...is she ok?" He asked.

Almost as if she heard him, she looked back inside towards the group before she continued her pacing.

"Eh, she's pissed." Rocket answered for him. "She thinks she failed. Feels she could've done more, but there's a lotta that goin' around, ain't there?"

Peter's eyes went wide at the sight of Rocket. He looked just like a raccoon! Only he was apparently anthropomorphic and could talk.

"Ok, I'm gonna be honest. Up until now, I thought you were a life-sized plush Ewok."

Not knowing what kind of creature this kid was referring to, he didn't let it bother him. "Maybe I am." He shrugged nonchalantly.

Bruce cut in and continued on the earlier subject. "We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep Space scans, and satellites, and we got nothing."

"Look, Peter, you fought him." Rhodey stated. It was more of a question than a statement, but still.

The spider teen nodded with his head low. "Yeah...well, I punched and kicked him in the face a few times and then he grabbed me by the neck threw me into the ground, but yeah."

"Yeah, okay. Well is there anything else?" He pressed. "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?!"

"Rhodey," Pepper called, not wanting to aggravate Peter. Peter though, sat there beginning to seethe. It hurt him to think about the events that happened almost a month ago. Though for him, it was like it was the night before. And it burned a whole in his mind every time he thought of it.

"...No...No he didn't.." Peter replied with his head down. He was trying to keep a lid n himself best he could.

"Look, Pete," Rhodey began again. Already, Peter knew what was coming and it made him so enraged. "I'm gonna need you to focus."

And that's when he lost it.

"No, what YOU NEEDED was EACH OTHER!" He shouted back, bringing a fist down hard onto the table in front of him.

All eyes were wide and on Peter. His nostrils flared a he breathed heavily, his eyes now staring directly at Rhodey. Normally, he wouldn't yell at someone. Especially an adult. But just like back in 2017, when no one would listen to Peter, he just had to vent.

"You guys should've been together. Fighting Thanos together. Ya know, that's the one thing I never understood. When Mr. Stark found me and asked me to help? He didn't tell me much. All he said was that we had to stop Captain America. Which was CRAZY to me since you guys are a team. Oh, excuse me, SUPPOSED TO BE a team! You guys have saved the world a bunch of times, but just like that, you all split up and then fought each other."

The teen began to stand up from his chair, knocking things from the table as he did. The others in the room lightly winced at the sound of the items clanging against the floor.

"Peter, hold on." Pepper interjected, trying to calm him down. She could see that he was letting out a lot of pent up emotion, but he wasn't done yet.

"No, it's okay, Ms Potts. I'm good." He lightly patted her shoulder and got out of her hold and stood on his own, his rage giving him strength. "If you guys had just found a way to come to an agreement and work together like you should, Cap wouldn't have been on the run with his friends, and maybe, JUST MAYBE, we all could have won."

Rhodey took this as an opportunity to try and cut Peter down. "Kid, you have no idea what we were going through."

"Yeah, because you guys didn't TELL me!" Peter retorted. And that made Rhodey quiet down. He knew Peter was right, they didn't tell him.

You'd think Peter wouldn't go so far as to get angry and lash out at someone, but the events of the past month and some change were too much for him that he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"And ya know another thing that's funny," He started again as he tried to stand, his second wind coming in fast. "When we were in Berlin? You didn't-"

"Peter, sit back down. Please!" Pepper tried to reason with him, Bruce joining her in trying to pull him back to his chair. But there was no stopping him.

"When we were there, you doubted me. Not only that, you doubted Mr. Stark as well! He told me! He said you guys thought he was out of his mind for recruiting a 15 year old kid! Well guess what, Colonel? I AM that kid! A kid who can stop a bus with his BARE hands! A kid you doubted your best friend for! The kid that thought up how to take down that giant shrinking guy in Berlin. The kid that had to watch as Mr. Stark DIED IN HIS ARMS! And NOW, you need my help. Well in the words of the Jonas Brothers, 'Oh, how the tables have turned!'"

Rhodey swallowed a big gulp as he listened to the kid vent. He didn't know he knew all of this. But it was true. He remembered back in Berlin when he questioned Tony's judgment of bringing Peter in. Never thought it'd come back to bite him in the butt.

"Well I'm sorry, guys! But I've got nothing for you. NOTHING! OKAY?! Also, uh...buddy?" Peter pointed at Sam who was leaning against a wall with his arms folded. "What's your name?

"Sam." the space kid replied.

Peter nodded and thumbs upped the Hispanic kid. "Sam. Thanks, you're great, man. You're new blood. Welcome to the Avengers! We need all the help we can get. It could help next time."

"Okay, Pete, calm down." Bruce cut in again, holding Peter by the shoulders. "Calm down, it's alright."

Once again, Peter got free of Bruce's hold and looked at him. There were tears forming in his eyes. "No it's not, Doc. It's not, we-we lost. We lost...and I lost more than I ever had! Mr. Stark was like a FATHER to me and now he's GONE! That's the THIRD father I've lost! First my real dad, THEN my uncle, AND NOW MR. STARK!

Peter looked back to Rhodey and then was right in front of him. His eyes were wide and he was literally shaking. He was so into it that his voice went down to a venom-filled whisper.

"So no, Colonel. I don't have anything for you. No locations, no ideas. Nothing. Zero. Zip! ZILCH! NADA!"

There was a silence. The tension in the room so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

Finally, Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out Tony's Mk. Nanotech Arc Reactor and slapped it into Rhodey's hand.

He finally broke the silence with his next words. "This is all I got for you."

"That's Tony's-"

"Yeah, it is. And here's a tip. You find him. You find Thanos. You put your armor on...and you hide."

Once he said that, Peter began to feel dizzy and a little light headed. All that venting took it out of him. He stumbled before catching himself by leaning in the table behind him.

"Whoa! Peter, you alright?" Bruce asked, a hand on the teen's shoulder in an entirely different tone.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good, I'm..."

Peter didn't get to finish thanks to a lack of breath. And just like that, he fainted and was out like a light.

"Peter!" Pepper exclaimed, kneeling down to try and help the teen.

Bruce knelt down quickly and took Peter's pulse. He was alright, just out cold. Rhodey came around with the wheelchair and helped get Peter up into it.

As they wheeled him away, the others in the room let out a sigh that they didn't even realize they were holding in. The event that had just occurred in front of them was something that no kid should have to go through. Powers or no, it wasn't supposed to be like this.

And yet, they felt so helpless as they had the same kind of crushed emotions inside of them as well.

Crushed and in need of mending. And quick.

Chapter Text

Previously

Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out Tony's Mk. L(50) Nanotech Arc Reactor and slapped it into Rhodey's hand.

He finally broke the silence with his next words. "This is all I got for you."

"That's Tony's-"

"Yeah, it is. And here's a tip. You find him. You find Thanos. You put your armor on...and you hide."

Once he said that, Peter began to feel dizzy and a little light headed. All that venting took it out of him. He stumbled before catching himself by leaning in the table behind him.

"Whoa! Peter, you alright?" Bruce asked, a hand on the teen's shoulder in an entirely different tone.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good, I'm..."

Peter didn't get to finish thanks to a lack of breath. And just like that, he fainted and was out like a light.

"Peter!" Pepper exclaimed, kneeling down to try and help the teen.

Bruce knelt down quickly and took Peter's pulse. He was alright, just out cold. Rhodey came around with the wheelchair and helped get Peter up into it.

As they wheeled him away, the others in the room let out a sigh that they didn't even realize they were holding in. Little did they know that this whole time, they were being watched.

In the hallway leading into the room was little Nikki Rogers. She was out of her and her brother's room to get a snack, but she had heard yelling and decided to see what it was all about.

So she stealthily tiptoed down the hallway until she reached the door and peeked into the room. And she had heard the heated argument that had just occurred in the room, but she also saw the holoscreens. On them were profiles of people who came up missing. Two that came up confused her and made her breath hitch.

Captain Steven Grant Rogers
(Captain America)

[MISSING]

-

Natasha Alianovna Romanoff
(Black Widow)

[MISSING]

"Mama?.....Daddy?" She whispered to herself confusingly.

Tears began to form in Nikki's eyes as she saw them. Her heat began to race as well. Why were there images of her and Jamie's parents missing? Weren't they out trying to catch the bad guy? Because Uncle Bruce told them so. Unless........did Uncle Bruce lie to them?

She didn't know, but she wanted to be sure. Quietly as she came, she tiptoed away. Back to her room to get help.

***Jamie and Nikki's Room***

Jamie and Tori were on the floor drawing and coloring on their drawings. Jamie has the idea of them making some art for their parents for when they come back. Sort of a 'Welcome Home' gift. And for Torunn, it was a gift that carried her excitement and love for her father. And she hoped very much that he'd like it when she met him. It was cute too.

Jamie made a drawing of his father's shield and of his mother's logo...

And Tori made one of her father's hammer, Mjolnir with lightning around it.

They kept on with their project until they were joined by a very curious and confused Nikki.

"Hey Nikki!" They both greeted her.

"Hey..." she replied, not really looking at them.

Jamie, already knowing from the look on his twin sister's face could tell either something was up, or something was bothering her...or both. So he asked her. "What's wrong?"

Nikki didn't really respond at first. Mainly because she didn't know how to comprehend the situation fully, at least, not from a grown ups point of view. But from a kid's point of view, it seemed easier to both understand and explain.

"Hey, do you guys remember the movie we watched the other day?" She asked.

It didn't take long to get a response. "Spy Kids." Tori stated.

"Right. Well, ya know how Juni and Carmen's parents went on a mission and something happened to them?"

"Yeah. And Juni and Carmen has to go save them. Why?"

Nikki was starting to get a bigger idea of this situation as she thought about similarities between 'Spy Kids' and their current situation. The dots were connecting in her mind.

"I think something's happened to Mama and Daddy." She stated, unsure about the truth behind it.

Jamie and Tori looked at each other and had the same confused expression on their face. "What do you mean?" Jamie asked.

"I just overheard the adults talking and they were looking at these pictures of people that are missing. Mama and Daddy came up as missing too."

"What? But Uncle Bruce said that they went to go get the bad guy?"

"I know, but.......I think.......I think he lied to us..."

Lie? Uncle Bruce? Jamie didn't want to believe that. He just didn't want to. But then again, there was a part of him that thought it could be a possibility. Ever since they had returned home from Wakanda, they hadn't heard so much as a single "They're ok!" about their parents........what if......what if Nikki was right?

"But, why would he lie to you?" He asked.

"I don't know. But, we have to find out why."

"Do you know how to find pictures of your parents on the screens?" Tori asked.

Nikki shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. What do you think, Jamie?"

Jamie didn't want to assume anything. That his sister was wrong, OR that Uncle Bruce has lied to them. Right now, it was too soon to tell. They'd need more info. More proof.

"I think we need to find out the truth." He stated.

Nikki and Tori nodded at that. Even though Tori wasn't sure about the current status or whereabouts of her father, she still wanted to help he friends find out about theirs. And that was exactly what she was going to do.

"So what do we do?" She asked, her and Nikki looking to Jamie for his thoughts.

"We're gonna have to look for the proof, but we're gonna have to choose the right time. For now, we'll just act like we don't know anything. As if everything is like we were told, that our parents are out there, trying to catch the bad guy."

The two girls nodded in agreement.

"And when the moment is right, and the grownups are gone," Tori started.

"-We infiltrate and get the info we need." Nikki finished.

"Alright! Hands in, team!" Jamie said, holding his hands out.

Nikki and Tori put their hands in and they all linked before raising them into the air.

"ASSEMBLE!" Jamie proudly exclaimed.

The two girls had faces of confusion at that.

"Don't you mean 'BREAK!', Jamie?" Tori asked.

"Well, that's just something my Daddy would always say to his friends they were working, and I kinda wanted to use it."

A sense of pride flowed through Jamie as he said that, mentioning his father. And Nikki could see it too. Their Daddy in him. A leader. That was her brother.

The three of them were ready, their first mission together. Only thing was that it wasn't life or death.....well not really. But it was still a covert op. And they didn't have anyone else, it was just them. No backup, no extraction.

They'd carry out this mission to the best of their ability.........after a snack, a nap and a sign that the cost was clear.

Chapter Text

***Medical Room***

The room was quiet as the three individuals stood around the fourth.

Bruce injected an unconscious Peter with a sedative to help him sleep peacefully. Pepper stood on the opposite side of the bed, rubbing Peter's like a caring mother. Rhodey, on the other hand, stood back and watched.

As the three prepped to leave the spider-teen to rest, they were unaware of a pair of eyes watching them.

Jamie was hiding in the hall around a corner. He was out trying to find out anything that he could about his parents, since that was "the mission". But he was gonna do it by way of the kitchen to get a snack. But on the way, he noticed Bruce, Pepper and Rhodey in a room with another boy and his curiosity was peaked.

So he kept his distance and hid until he saw Bruce, Pepper, and Rhodey walk out of the room, pass the corner he was hiding behind and continue down the hall.

As they did, Jamie looked around the corner behind him but then walked over to the corner on the other side of the hall and listened as the three stopped and talked.

"I'm an idiot." Rhodey stated, rubbing his temples.

"No you're not, Rhodey." Pepper retorted. But Rhodey wasn't so easily convinced.

"You sure about that? I mean, everything he said was true. I've given that kid crap from the moment he walked in and now...it's come back to bite me in the a**."

"Rhodey, you thought what any other adult would think in that kind of a situation." Bruce added, trying to comfort his friend. "If it had been anyone else, they'd all think the same thing. They'd say 'What is this kid doing here?' It's just common sense."

Rhodey let out a sigh and shook his head. What Bruce said was probably true, and he knew that. But he still was conflicted with his thoughts.

"Maybe, Bruce. Maybe...but, he's right. He's not a normal kid. He can shoot webs, and climb up things, swing, and flip. And apparently, he can catch a bus with his bare hands! He's...he's a hero...and I didn't see it..."

Hearing that caught Jamie's curiously. He looked back behind him to the room they just came from and thought about the person inside. 'Sounds cool!' He said to himself.

"Just lemme know when he wakes up, okay?"

"I will," Bruce assured him.

Jamie watched as Rhodey departed from the two with his head down, a look of disappointment on his face.

Then he saw Pepper leave and then Bruce. No one else was there. He was all alone in the hallway.

Looking back to the patient room, he thought a bit about what he had just heard. Apparently, some extraordinary superhuman was in that room. The thought of another one here made him a little excited. This meant new friends! So he looked around to make sure they coast was clear and then began to walk towards the room.

He entered and saw the young boy sleeping in the bed, an IV bag connected to his arm.

Jamie walked around the bed and jumped up into a chair next to the boy's bed. He sat there and examined the sleeping boy. He noticed that he was a kid. A teenager! This was something Jamie never thought he'd see. A young superhero. Who, even though he was older then him, was much closer to his age than any of the other Avengers. This made him think.

'Could I maybe be a superhero too?' He said to himself.

Looking back at the boy, Jamie also noticed a few bruises on his arms, probably from being in a big fight recently. His closed eyes had light bags under them, a sign of lack of sleep. Possibly from fatigue.

His body seemed to be quite strong despite his unconscious state. Jamie figured that he must've been really tired to look like this and be out this cold.

So he sat there and watched the boy, and he waited for him to wake up.

He waited...and waited...and waited.

Dizzy. Slight headache. A bit drained. Thirsty. These and a few other words described Peter as he slowly began to regain consciousness.

As he opened his eyes, he saw that he wasn't in the common anymore. He must've passed out and been moved here.

He could hear the beep of a heart monitor, the feeling of an IV connected to his arm, the pain in his head that made him wait a bit before moving. The dry, chapped sensation within his mouth. In short, he wasn't too comfortable.

He began to look around the room, but was met by the presence of a young boy with red hair sitting in a chair next to his bed.

"Hi!" He said.

"Um, hi." Peter replied hoarsely. He waved with two fingers before letting them drop back down.

"Oh!" The boy hopped out of his seat, walked over to the counter and picked up a glass of water and brought it to Peter. To which the spider-teen gladly took it.

"Thank you!" He gasped as he stopped drinking to catch his breath.

"No problem." Jamie replied. "Whenever I wake up, I know I get thirsty. So I thought you might be thirst too when you wake up."

Peter happily gulped down the last swallow of the clear liquid and gave Jamie a look of appreciation. "Well, you were right about that. Uh, could I maybe have some more please?"

"Sure!" Jamie took the glass and walked back into the room's bathroom and began to refill the cup at the sink. Having successfully done so, he brought the glass back out to the still thirsty Peter.

"I'm Jamie." The young redhead stated with a smile as Peter took the glass and took in a swallow.

Taking a moment, he stopped and looked at the five-year-old with a weak smile. "I'm Peter."

"Nice to meet you, Peter."

"Nice to meet you too, Jamie." He took a few more gulps. "Ahhh! Thanks for the water. I really needed that."

"You're welcome!" Jamie took the glass and set it back on the counter and then he hopped back into his seat. Peter let out a sigh of contentment as he laid back onto his back.

A few quiet moments pass until Jamie feels the urge to ask Peter a certain question. "Are you a superhero?"

Peter opened his eyes wide and looked at Jamie with a confused, yet curious look. "Huh?"

"I heard Uncle Rhodey talking talking to Uncle Bruce and Auntie Peppy about a kid that could shoot webs and climb and-and swing and everything!"

Peter snickered at that. "Well, I don't know about 'everything', but the other stuff? Yeah, I can do all that."

"So you are?" Jamie's eye we're wider now and his excitement even higher.

"Pretty much, yeah. I'm..I'm Spider-Man."

"Whoa! That's so cool! And the name too!"

"Heh, thanks. Now I've got a question."

"Okay."

Before he asked, Peter thought of the nicest way he could put it with out seeming offensive. "Where're your parents? Are they, um....did they uh...did they get..." Without putting it into words, Peter used his hands to mimic the motion of something being blown away in the wind. "...in the Snap?"

Jamie didn't really understand what Peter meant. But he knew why his answer was.

"Oh, no." Jamie replied, a proud smile coming to his face. "My mommy and daddy are out there catching the bad guy!"

'Catching the bad guy?' Peter thought. What did he mean by that? Who were his parents? Wait, we're they part of the Avengers?

Peter's brow furrowed as he began to get more curious of the situation.

"Who're your parents?"

"Well, my Dad is Cap'ain Amewica. And my mom is the 'Bwack' Widow."

At that moment, Peter's eyes went wide with shock. "Wait, Captain America and Black Widow are your parents?!"

Jamie nodded with a smile. Peter on the other hand was stumped. He didn't even know Cap and Black Widow we're married.

"Wow, definitely didn't see that coming." He said, mainly to himself.

But wait, if they were Jamie's parents...why was he smiling? And what did he mean by 'they were out trying to catch the bad guy'? How could they catch Thanos if they were...if they were dead? Could it be possible that Jamie didn't know about what had happened to them?

And then it clicked in Peter's mind. Jamie didn't know. Though he should, Peter didn't want to be the one to tell him. To break this little boy's heart with the sad reality that his parents were gone. That wasn't Peter. He had just found a new friend within Jamie, and he didn't want to lose that.

So he decided to keep it under wraps and keep Jamie's smile up.

"So...son of Captain America and Black Widow, huh?" He said, trying to start conversation.

Jamie nodded again proudly. Peter nodded too as he tried to think of what next to say. Usually, trying to start a conversation with new people was easy for him. But this situation had entirely different circumstances. Still though, he tried.

"Do you uh...do you know how to use a shield like your dad?"

A small look of sadness came to Jamie's face as he thought about that. "Not really. I've seen my Daddy do it a few times, but I don't think I can."

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Jamie! It's not that hard. In fact, it's in your blood. So you should be able to do it just like your Dad did. DOES! Does. That's...what I meant to say. Does."

Jamie thought about that. Maybe Peter was right. Maybe he could do it! "Maybe. But I wouldn't know how to use it or even move like he does."

"How bout this, when I get better, which shouldn't take long, I'll show you a few moves."

Jamie's face lit up at the sound and thought of that. "Really?! You mean it?!" He asked, excitement apparent in his tone and facial expression.

Peter nodded in reply, a smile on his face now at the sight of the younger boy happy. "I promise."

Jamie then jumped up from his chair and hugged Peter as best as his little arms and hands could. And Peter returned the hug as well.

"Thank you, Peter." Jamie said with heart and love for his new friend.

But as he did, he made sure that Jamie wasn't looking up at him so that he couldn't see the look of worry on his face. Peter thought about how it would come out when Jamie learned the truth about his parents. He wasn't sure, but he knew it wouldn't be good. So for now, he assigned himself a certain task.

Look out for Jamie. And that's what he was going to do.

Little did he know though, that Jamie had made a promise to himself too to look after Peter. Even though he was smaller and not as strong, he would look out for his friend and make sure no one would mess with him. No one.

And he didn't realize it, but those thoughts and emotions made Jamie just like his father. A good man...or in this case, a good boy.

Chapter Text

***Peter's Room***

Peter woke from his heavy sleep thanks to the sunlight and his grumbling stomach.

"Hungry much?" a voice jokingly asked.

Peter looked over to the seat by his bed to see his rescuer from a few days ago, Sam, sitting there with a smirk.

"Uh, yeah." He replied, a bit surprised at his unexpected visitor.

Sam nodded at that before reaching under his seat and pulled a Burger King bag, reached in and tossed a burger over to Peter who caught it with ease.

"Figured you might be when you woke up," He stated as he began to eat one of the burgers himself.

"Thanks, thanks for that. Um..Sam right?"

"That's me. Sam Alexander."

"Yeah, sorry I almost didn't remember."

The Latino kid chuckled at that. "Not surprised. When I told you, you were kinda...blowing your lid."

Peter remembered that. And a tinge of guilt came with it. He let out a sigh as the memories came flashing back. "...yeah."

The two teens ate in silence for a minute before Peter's thoughts moved over to the kid who saved his life.

"So you've got powers too?" He asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yup."

"Are they natural or...?"

"Nope. It's all in the helmet." Sam tapped the side of his head to further his statement. "But it's a lot cooler than it seems."

"Sure looks it. I didn't see any breathing apparatus on it though. Your mouth is visible and it seems easy enough to slip on and off."

"It's uh, heh, it's a long story."

"I've got plenty of time." Peter shrugged his shoulders before taking another bite of his burger.

So Sam began to explain the complexities of the Nova Helmet to Peter. How it allowed him to breathe, how it had it's own artificial intelligence/log on every planet in the universe, and how it gave him the power of something called The Nova Force.

It was all intriguing, but Peter was curious as to where and how Sam got the Helmet. So much so that he asked him about it. Sam obliged and began to tell Peter the story of his father and that he had passed, how the Helmet originally worked for him and no one else, and that he left it for him before he did. He told him of how he met the Nova Corps on some planet called: Xandar. Then he met the Guardians and was trained by them and gained another family with them.

It all boggled Peter's mind. To the point where he couldn't help but feel emotional about it. Sam, was in essence, a space cop with superpowers! How cool was that?! But he also lost his father...Peter could definitely relate to that in more way than one.

It was at that moment that the spider teen felt a ping of hurt as he began to relay too Sam his life story. His parents leaving, losing his uncle, how he got his powers, became Spider-Man, became an Avenger, found a father within Tony...to right now.

Sam never really had a close friend before, but Peter was quickly becoming one. One that he could relate to, talk to, an actually be cool with. It was really overwhelming.

"I'm sorry, Peter." Sam said with a bit of hurt in his voice, "I'm sorry you had to go through all that.

"It's alright, man. At least we made it this far, right?" Peter held up a fist for a fist bump.

Sam smiled and huffed before bumping his fist with Peter's.

About an hour or so later, Peter had dozed off while Sam watched ESPN videos on YouTube on his phone. As he did, he began to think about his and Peter's past and how similar they were. And then he thought of how they had both lost people they cared about recently from The Snap.

Then the pain came back. It tore him to pieces.

He had to do something about it. So he stood up, pocketed his phone and walked out, careful not to wake Peter.

What he didn't know was that Peter's hairs stood up, waking him almost instantly.

***Kitchen***

The grownups, and Rocket were all sitting at a table when Sam walked in and stood there firmly.

"I'll be back." he stated before walking out.

Rocket caught it right away and jumped up from the table and chased after his human friend. He caught up to Sam in a hallway as he was heading out.

"Whoa, Sam!" Rocket called out. "Wait, where are ya goin'?"

"I just gotta do something. I'll be back soon. And I'll bring a Xorean elixir for Peter too..."

"But where are you going, kid?" Rhodey asked, confused at what he meant.

Sam stopped for a minute and took in a deep breath, let it out, and then answered. "To kill Thanos."

"Whoa!" Rocket exclaimed, jumping in from of the teen and holding his hands up. "Hold on. First off, you can't take on Thanos by yourself. Granted you got powers. Some really good ones too, but you can't handle him on your own. He will rip you a new one!"

Rhodey nodded in agreement with the "raccoon".

"Yeah, and no offense, cuz I've literally got my a** roasted for it the other day, but you're a kid. Killing someone...it's not something that you can just do. And at your age...it'll swallow you whole."

"Maybe. But something's gotta be done."

"Yeah, it does," Bruce nodded in agreement. "And we realize up there is more yours and Rocket's territory, but this is our fight too.

"You even know where he is?" Rhodey asked.

Sam shrugged his shoulders at that. "No. But, I know people who might.

"Don't bother." They all looked behind Sam to see Nebula there with the look of a heavy heart on her face. "I can tell you where Thanos is."

They all fell silent at that.

***Common Room***

Everyone had gathered in the common room. Rhodey, Bruce, Rocket, Sam, Valkyrie, Korg, Miek, and even Pepper, Erik, and Darcy were there. All of them had come to listen to what Nebula had to say.

From the look on her face, it seemed that what she had to say was not without a heavy heart or painful memory. But she took a deep breath, reminded herself that it was for good that she was doing this, and let it out.

"Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his great plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him. I'd ask 'where would we go once his plan was complete?'. His answer was always the same: 'To the Garden.'"

Rhodey scoffed and rolled his eyes at that. "Oh, that's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan."

"So where is he?" Bruce asked, still a bit confused.

On a table, Rocket stood on a table with a small remote in his hand. He pressed a button, activating a hologram of Earth.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it." The hologram showed a large, colorful energy surge that had gone over the whole planet and flashed off into space.

Everyone in the room knew what that energy surge was. And more importantly, they knew the results of it too...everyone in that room knew the results. And it wasn't easy to go over.

Then, Rocket pushed another button and continued.

"Until two days ago.." The hologram went from Earth, out of the Milky Way, past two galaxies until it stopped on another planet that had the same power surge go all the way around it and into space once again. "-on this planet."

"Thanos is there." Nebula stated, confidence in her voice.

There was a silence before the same realization came to everyone's mind.

"He used the stones again." Betty stated, examining the hologram closely.

Then another idea came up. But Bruce cut it off before anyone could speak it.

"Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in short-handed, you know."

"Look, he's still got the stones, so..." Rhodey started, trying to think of a reasonable view of why they needed to do this.

"So let's get 'em." Sam blurted suggestively, "Use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that, eh?" Korg asked.

"Yeah." A voice agreed. They all looked to see Peter standing there with a determined look on his face. "Just like that."

Sam looked over to Peter and the two shared a look and give each other a nod of understanding.

Rhodey and Bruce were shocked most of all. Peter seemed to be in much better condition that he was two days ago.

"Pete, you alright?" Rhodey asked.

"Never better, sir." The spider teen replied with proud smile, saluting the colonel.

Rhodey gave Peter a respectful nod at that. The kid had a lot of Tony in him. But he was also brave like Cap. He admired that and mentally slapped himself for not seeing it before.

There was a silence in the room as they processed all of this new information.

Pepper chimed in. "Look, even if there's a small chance that this can be undone, then it's gotta be done. Right?"

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce asked, still not entirely sure about this plan.

"'Cause before, you guys didn't have me." Sam stated with his arms crossed confidently.

"Hey, new kid?" Rhodey called the young space kid, "Everyone here is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?"

"Ya know, there are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have guys like you to protect them."

Even though it wasn't meant to be rude, that shut Rhodey up. It certainly was an eye opener though. Not only were they not alone in the galaxy, but there were also people that were protectors out there. And now, this involved all of them.

Valkyrie, who had been sitting at a table and eating crackers this whole time, stood up and walked over to Sam. He turned and looked at her as she stopped right in front of him. He was confused as to what she was doing, but he didn't seemed phased by her being so close to him. She held up her hand to where it was right at the side of Sam's head, and waited. Suddenly, Stormbreaker flew across the room, stopping in Val's hand which was inches from Sam. Yet, the young latino didn't even flinch. Instead, he smiled at the Asgardian Warrior with a raised eyebrow.

This kid had guts. That impressed her. "Hmm, I like this kid." She said with a smile before looking to the rest of the group.

Well, that settled it. They were really doing this. And hopefully, it would have a better turn out.

"Let's go get this space punk." Peter said, the same look of determination on his face.

Chapter Text

***Courtyard***

A Wakandan ship slowly descended before landing. Once it did, two people exited the vessel. Okoye and Little Azari.

Bruce and Rhodey came out to meet the two Wakandans.

"Gentlemen." The general said to them.

"Okoye." Bruce greeted, attempting to do the Wakandan salute. "How's that?"

He had crossed his wrists together, but not close to his chest. But he made a good effort

"Good. Very good." She commended him, doing it back to him in respect

"How's it going, kid?" Rhodey smiles at Little Azari.

"I'm good, sir!" The prince replied. "Are Jamie and Nikki here?"

"Yeah, they're inside playing." Bruce added.

The prince looked up to his guardian with an innocent face. "May I go?"

The general smiled and nodded and the boy swiftly ran into the Compound to find his friends.

Now that they were alone, the three grownups were able to speak on a more serious level.

"Thanks for coming." Bruce sympathetically thanked her, a light shrug at his shoulders. He knew this was hard for her. It was on all of them. But she was glad to.

"Of course. Anything for my king...and for my friends."

Bruce and Rhodey nodded, understanding what she meant and how she felt.

"Who's watching Wakanda?" Rhodey asked.

"The Princess. Now that T'Challa is.....the land needs their leader. She was next in line, but...she wasn't so eager to do so. She said it didn't feel right to take the mantle."

The two Avengers exchanged looks of hurt and pain at the sound of those words. It hurt to see allies beaten up like this.

They hadn't known the Wakandans yet r T'Challa very long, or very well. But they did know something. He was a good king, a good man, and a good friend. So the fact that there was a chance they could bring him back gave Okoye all the more hope.

"Well, come on," Rhodey said, "Wheels up in thirty."

——————————————————————————————————————————————

30 Minutes Later

——————————————————————————————————————————————

***Courtyard***

Two people walked out of the Compound and onto the lawn, towards the Benatar. Sam and Peter. They are in their suits, helmets off for both of them.

As they made it to the steps of the Benatar, they stopped. A slight feeling of uncertainty came to them, but only Sam spoke upon it.

"You sure about this, Pete?" He asked.

"Not really. But what've we got to lose?" The spider-teen replied with a shrug.

Sam was going to say "Our lives," but he knew that those were pretty much taken with the people they all lost in the Snap. So he decided to leave it at that and nodded at Peter before walking up and into the ship.

Peter stood there for a minute, eyes closed, breathing deeply. This was gonna be his second time in space, but that's not what bugged him. It was the fear of failure. Failure....they couldn't fail this mission. Otherwise-.

"Peter!" A little voice called him. Turning around, he saw Jamie, Nikki, Azari, and Torunn holding Valkyrie's hand, running up to them.

"Hey Jamie!" Peter replied, taking a knee down so he could be at eye level with them.

They got right up to him before Val let go of Torunn's hand, gave her a hug and walked onto the ship.

"Where are you going?"

Peter thought for a moment as to how he should put it to them. "We're uh...we're going....to..."

"Is it about our parents?" Nikki asked, hope in her voice and eyes.

Thinking about the details and the potentially outcome, Peter found it a little easy to tell them. "Yeah, kinda. We're gonna go bring them back."

The smiles that lit up their faces hit Peter's heart when he saw them. It was nice to see them smile. And if they were successful, then the kids would have an even bigger reason to smile.

It wasn't a lie, he just wasn't telling all that was included in the situation. But it wasn't a lie. They were planning on bringing everyone back. By way of going to another planet to retrieve some powerful space stones and use them to bring back everyone that was killed in the Snap. Probably not what the kids thought though.

"Be good for me, ok?" Peter asked, looking at the rest of them. "Look after them?"

Jamie looked to his three fellow youngsters and took Peter's words as an order/responsibility. And he would carry it out and make him proud.

"Yes sir!" He said, confidently.

The two smiled and shared a hug. Peter held Jamie tight as Tony had with him back on Titan. Now, he was in his shoes, and he would do his best to do better as Tony would have wanted.

"Alright, see ya, bud." Peter said, breaking the hug, ruffling Jamie's hair before he stood and began to walk up the steps onto the ship.

The four kids stood there, with Pepper, Betty, Erik and Darcy, and watched as the Benatar's engines came on and the ship lifted up off the ground. They waved to it as it ascended higher and higher until it was out of sight, only a cloudy smoke trial left as it made it's into space.

The grownups encouraged the kids to go inside, but they wanted to stay out a bit longer. So they allowed it and let them stay.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

***Space***

Just above the Earth, The Benatar floated smoothly. Inside, a serious question had to be asked.

"Okay," Rocket began, "Who here hasn't been to space?

Behind him and Nebula sat Peter, Sam, Rhodey, Korg, Miek, Bruce, Okoye, and Valkyrie.

"Why?" Rhodey wondered out loud.

Rocket didn't exactly reply. He just stated, "You better not throw up on my ship."

"Approaching jump!" Nebula stared as she began to count down, "In 3... 2... 1!"

Within the next second, the ship shot forward! Going as fast as...well, at what Peter determined to be warp speed. forward into a hexagonal shaped portal, and before going through another, having it arrive at their destination. The ship slowed down and began to ship hover in orbit of the planet.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Sam hovered outside of the ship, helmet on and engulfed in blue light from his powers.

"I'll head down for recon." He said before turning and flying down to the Planet below.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Back inside the Benatar, Peter sat in his chair thinking about Jamie and the kids back on Earth. And about what he'd have to tell them if....if......

A hand came to his shoulder. It was Valkyrie. She'd seen Peter deep in thought and decided to talk to him since the two had never really previously met. "You ok?" She asked him.

"I don't know," he simply replied with a shrug. Completely unsure of the future events of the next hour.

The Asgardian could see that the young hero was troubled, and rightly so. She knew exactly how he felt. They all did. But at least now, they had a chance.

"This is gonna work, Peter." She reassured him, patting his shoulder.

A long sigh was exhaled from Peter's nostrils as he thought about it. All he could do was hope. "I sure hope so....Cause I don't know what I'm going to do if it doesn't."

Val nodded at that, knowing the situation would be the same for her should it go that way. But whatever the situation, they were going to go through it together. Whatever the situation.

Not too long after that, Sam came back into view as he approached the Benatar.

"I got nothing." He said, "No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him."

Nebula spoke up as she heard those words. "That's enough."

This was it...this was the moment."

——————————————————————————————————————————————

***The Garden***

The planet was beautiful. Peaceful. It had mountains, waterfalls, fields, trees. It was a lush tropical fauna. And a certain part of the area had a field. Within that field, a scarecrow-like figure stood stiffly. It was clad in the armour of The Mad Titan.

A purple skinned being walked past the scarecrow slowly, limping as it did. It was him, it was Thanos.

On his hand and forearm, a burnt, battered Infinity Gauntlet. He used it to picked a piece of his crop from its stalk and tossed it into a sack before picking it up and continuing on. He guided himself back to his sanctuary. As he did, he winced with every step. His whole left side, burnt, blistered. Not exactly the strong tyrant he was three days ago.

Finally reaching his homestead, which was a quaint little shack, he slowly raised himself onto each of the three steps it took to get onto the porch and finally skidded his way in.

Inside, there was a little area where he had a somewhat of a small kitchen. There was also a small fire with a pot of a soup-like substance boiling in it.

Suddenly, a big beam of blue energy crashed through the roof and hits Thanos. He holds up his Gauntlet clad arm to try and protect himself. But as soon as he does it, a figure of blue flies through the roof, knocking Thanos down. It was Sam! He swiftly jumped up, power punched the purple tyrant and took his neck into a headlock. A rumbling came as the Hulkbuster armor burst up from the ground, and grabs Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet arm. Valkyrie then flew in, Stormbreaker in hand and sliced off the Infinity Gauntlet. From above, Rhodey in his War Machine armor dropped in and grabbed the Titan's green arm while Rocket covered them, aiming straight at Thanos.

Spider-Man walked up the steps and entered before his helmet came down, revealing a determined look on the young hero's face. Okoye, Korg and Miek walked in right behind him, staring murderously at Thanos. Rocket kneels down at the sliced off Infinity Gauntlet, and turned it over. But when he did, he and everyone else got the second biggest shock of their lives. In the compartments where the Stones once laid, there was nothing!

The "raccoon" stood and with a disbelieving face, looked at the other. "Oh no."

"Where are they?" Peter asked, staring madly at the immobilized Mad Titan.

Sam tightened the grip of his arm around Thanos' neck to make him comply. "Answer the question!" He growled. "While you still can!"

Finally, he spoke. "The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose...beyond temptation."

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce blurted, the Hulkbuster pushing him angrily to the ground behind him.

Thanos began to slowly pick himself back up, taking his time as he only had made me hand now. "You should be grateful." He stated before being punched by the HulkBuster.

"Where are the Stones?!" Okoye asked venomously.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!" Bruce retorted.

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me...But the work is done, and it always will be." He sat himself up a little straighter. "I am... inevitable."

There was a silence. All of them were stunned at this. This couldn't be happening!

"But, but," Korg tried to speak as he and Miek exchanged looks of confusion and disbelief. "..but that would mean-"

"No! No, we...we have to tear this place apart, he-he-he has to be lying." Rhodey said, slightly beginning to hyperventilate.

Nebula, however, knew otherwise. "My father is many things. A liar is not one of them."

"Ah, thank you, daughter." Nebula stiffened at hearing that. It didn't have the good feeling she thought it would years ago. Now it just made her feel uncomfortable to hear. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."

That's all he could say before a rage-filled Valkyrie raised Stormbreaker, and brought it down, decapitating the Mad Titan. His limp body fell to the floor. Nebula reaches up to her face and felt a few drops of blood that had landed on her cheek.

Everyone in the room had fell silent at the sight. They definitely didn't expect that. They were beyond shocked.

"What...what did you do?" Rocket asked, his breathe not fully there.

Valkyrie's angered face slowly began to unfurl, deep breaths taken as she calmed, fully aware of what she had just done.

"I went for the head." She said, recalling what Rhodey, Bruce and Rocket had said the late Thanos had told Thor on the day of the Snap.

She dropped the Axe and walked out of the shack, leaving everyone there speechless as to what had just happened...and what this meant.

Chapter Text

***New Avengers Facility***

Long. That's how it seemed. The walk out and from the ship into the Compound. But that was mainly because that, for them, time had slowed down. And that was because of the....the events that had happened within the past hour......Said events left a gaping hole in their hearts as terrible news had come with it.

The Infinity Stones, the instruments that had helped the Mad Titan, Thanos, or rather, the late Mad Titan eliminate half of life across the whole universe, were now gone. Destroyed. Meaning that the friend that they had lost...that everyone had lost...were gone...for good.

That was bad enough. Now, they had another task. And this one might be harder and more crushing than the last.

***Living Room***

They all sat in silence, mortified and unsure of what to do now. Pepper, Betty, Erik and Darcy had joined them in their moment of silence and sorrow.

Pepper's hormones were already out of flux due to her pregnancy, but this...the news that those lost in the Snap, including Tony...weren't coming back. Now, they all had to wonder what they were going do now that their second chance fell through.

Peter, sadly, knew one hard thing that he had to do. And he knew it would kill him.

"Where're the kids?" He asked.

Everyone's head came up at the sound of those words. The mere thought of it choked them.

"Uh, they're...having a nap." Darcy answered. "Why?"

Peter was about to say when Bruce, who had the same thought, cut in. "I think it's time we tell them."

Throughout the room, everyone's heart dropped when he said that. It was something that they knew would come, but they kept putting it off. And when this "chance" came up, they though it they wouldn't have to. But now...there was no other option.

It was time.

***Jamie and  Nikki's Room***

Peter, now out of his Iron Spider Suit and in a hoodie and some jeans, slowly opened the door to the Twins'

"Peter?"

"Hey buddy. Sleep well?"

The five-year-old yawned as he rubbed his eyes as he begin to fully awaken. "Mmhmm." 

"Good, good. That's-that's good...Hey uh, can you...come with me? There's something we wanna show you. Your sister and your friends too actually."

At first, Jamie didn't understand on account of him not being fully awake. But then his eyes shot open and an excited expression came to his face as he jumped up out of bed. "Is it about my parents?"

"Uh...well, yeah."

That was all Peter was able to get out before Jamie climbed up to the second bunk and shook his sister awake. "Nikki! Wake up!" 

His blonde sister groaned as she opened her eyes to her brother, unhappy from having her nap interrupted. "What, Jamie?!" 

"Mommy and Daddy are back!!"

That made the sleep in Nikki's eyes vanish quickly as she jumped up and followed him down their bunk ladder before jumping off and waking Azari while Jamie woke up Torunn.

"Come on, Z!" She exclaimed, shaking her Wakandan friend from his slumber. "Our parents are back!"

"Really?!" He gasped excitedly, jumping up from his sleeping bag.

"Let's go!" Jamie cheered, motioning for them to follow him. Soon the four kids were out of the room and running down the hall.

"Guys, wait!" Peter called after them. He didn't feel so goo since he didn't even have a chance to speak. They were already gone. "Oh boy, this is gonna be bad."

He scratched his head in grief as before taking off after them.

***Living Room***

The adults all still sat in silence and sorrow. But that was broken by the sounds of excited children running down the hall. 

"Mom! Dad!" They heard. Their hearts stopped at the sound of the kids nearing.

Within seconds, the four children stormed into the room and stopped. The excited looks on their faces were replaced with looks of confusion, whereas the adults were all speechless and wide eyed.

Korg nervously greeted the kids, "Uh...Hey guys," waving at them.

"Hey Korg!" Jamie waved back. He and the other four looked around the room, but seemed. "Where are they?"

"Who, sweetie?" Pepper asked, beyond confused.

"Our parents!" Torunn replied, like a child awaiting a present.

Pepper felt the air leave her lungs as her speechlessness came back. She looked over to Rhodey and Bruce, but the two looked back at her with no idea what to say.

Suddenly, Peter ran in. Panting as he skidded to a halt. He really misjudged the speed of these kids. "Guys!"

"Peter, what-" Rhodey began to ask, motioning to the quartet of kids in the room.

But the spider-teen shrugged his shoulder and shook his head, ashamed. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't get to tell them. They ran out before I could."

As they spoke, the kids still heard them and were confused as to what the grownups and Peter were referring to.

"Tell us what?" Azari asked, speaking up for him and his friends.

The silence in the room returned as the adults all looked at each other. They all did things to accommodate their shook nerves. Darcy took off her glasses and let out a big sigh, while Erik and Rhodey rubbed their faces and sighed loudly.

This couldn't be avoided any longer, and they knew it. 

"Have a seat, guys." Bruce said, motioning to a couch. "This is uh...there's something we have to tell you."

"What is it?" Torunn asked as they all sat down.

All four kids sat down on a couch and some of the adults sat with them to comfort them. Okoye held Azari with her arm around his shoulder and Darcy held Torunn in her lap.

It took a minute or two for them to form words as the adults tried to mentally prepare themselves to release this news.

"You see," Bruce began "...we haven't been completely honest with you kids about your parents."

"But, I thought you were going to get them?" Jamie inquired.  

"Uh, yeah. We-we-we did. But things didn't exactly go as we thought...you see, we went because there was a chance to get them back. And...um..........."

Rhodey began where Bruce trailed off. "Your parents were caught in something that happened all over the Earth...they uh....." Unfortunately, the colonel couldn't continue. He couldn't be the one to do it.

It was crazy too, because he was in the army. Telling people that their family members had died in battle, unfortunately, came with the occupation. But this...this was different. These were kids. Five-year-olds, and they had to be told the sad fate of their parents. But he couldn't do it...he couldn't.

"They're gone...." Peter finished for him, on the edge with tears.

"..to catch the bad guy, right?" Nikki added, testing her suspicions of the previous day.

"No, sweetie" Betty said, shaking her head slightly, tears threatening to fall. ".....I...........they're gone as in........they're not coming back."

Jamie scrunched his eyebrows as the realization began to slowly make sense in his mind. "They're gone?" he asked, unbelievingly.

He looked right at Peter, right in the eyes, searching for truth. But he received his answer when Peter nodded and a tear escapes his eye. Jamie's eyes mirrored his as tears began to pool in  them as it all sunk in. His parents were gone. They were really gone. He looked over to Nikki, who had already begun crying and was in Betty's arms, crying into her shoulder.

Torunn, on the other hand, shook her head, not wanting to accept this and began to breathe heavily. Then without a word, she jumped out of Darcy's lap and bolted outside.

Jamie saw this and jumped up, running after her, not too far behind.

"Torunn! Wait!" He called before he ran after her.

Darcy was about to follow them, but she was held back by Erik. He shook his head as a sign to let her go grieve. It didn't take long before she retreated into Erik's arms and cried herself. 

"Ingaba yinyani?" Azari asked, looking up to Okoye, his eyes pleading for it to not be true. "They're gone?"

Breaking her warrior façade, the general let her tears come out and slowly nodded in reply.

Azari's tears came as well as he fearfully asked the next words, ".......Mama too?"

Okoye couldn't bring herself to nod or form words, all she could do was gulp severely. The little prince needed no more conviction as he shut his eyes in anguish and hugged Okoye with all his might, and she too returned the hug as well.

***Courtyard***

The  young Asgardian girl ran out of the Compound and into the courtyard a ways before  she finally dropped to her knees and cut loose crying.

"No. No," She whimpered. She tried to restrain herself, but she just couldn't hold it.

 As her tears were threatening to come down. Thunder clapped as dark clouds began to fill the sky. It grew dark and the thunder still came.

"Torunn!" She heard James call out from behind her.

She kept her head down and was leaning over on her hands with them gripping the grass. Soon, she felt a hand on her back, knowing it was Jamie, kept her head down and shook it as she began to cry.

"Torunn?"

"Jamie, it can't be true." She said, looking up at her redheaded friend, "He can't be gone. I was supposed to meet him. Like Mommy said I would! It can't be true!"

Jamie sniffled as he heard her try to deny what they had just heard inside no more than two minutes ago. It was a hard, hurtful truth. But it was the truth nonetheless.

"I'm sorry, Torrun...but it is."

Torunn looked back down to the ground before bringing her hands up to her head and whispered to herself. "No! NO! Nononono. No...NOOOO!!!....Daddy...no. Please no.....It can't be true. It can't be! It CAN'T BE!!!"

And then, taking in a deep breath, Torunn let out huge scream that echoed throughout the darkening sky. As she did, lighting crackled and came down to the ground around them.

Jamie looked around in both fright and shock as the huge streams of glowing, jagged electricity made contact with the ground around them. On instinct, he jumped onto Torunn and protectively covered her.

"Jamie! Torunn!" Peter called out worriedly as he began to run out into the courtyard to them.

"Peter!" Bruce and Pepper called after him.

But the spider-teen only made it halfway before a bolt of lightning came down and hit the ground right in front of him, the impact force pushing him backwards onto his back.

As he landed, a sharp ringing made its way to his ear as the noise around him seemed to be muffled. He brought his hands to his ears and winced at the ringing. The feeling of being cradled came as he opened his eyes and saw a blurry view of two figures above him.

Suddenly, he began to hear muffled voices yelling. They were coming from the blurry figures. Then, the ringing began to die down. As did the blurriness of his vision. Next thing he knew, his vision and hearing came back in full effect.

"Pete, come on!" one of the people above him, which turned out to be Rhodey, exclaimed.

With the help of Bruce, who was right there with them, they helped Peter up to his feet before they all ran towards the building and the overhead covering where Pepper was waiting for them. Once they were at safety, they looked back over to the two kids as the screaming and the lightning stopped altogether and rain began to fall.

With Jamie and Torunn, the redheaded boy was now crying fully himself, now had her in a hug and she hugged him tightly. Tears came down hard from her eyes as she cried into his shoulder. As they did, the rain around them came down a bit herder, mirroring he tears.

Peter let his head down and fell to his knees and held his head in his hands, saddened at the sight of the two kids in the courtyard. Bruce and Rhodey were saddened by it as well. And like the kids and Peter, they let tears, which they had been holding back for a long time, flow fully from their sockets.

Back inside, the others were crying as well. Having watched the events outside, combined with the events of the past month, they all wept without shame, finally letting all of their pent up emotion go. And though it felt good to let it all out, it was still hurt, especially for the kids, to accept it. But sometimes, the truth hurts.

Chapter Text

The year is 2028, ten years since the Snap. The world isn't as bright, more gloomy now. And those that were kids then, are now grown up.

"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BE-"

The sound of alarm clock was turned off as the person laid there, trying to gain the strength to get up.

His eyes slowly began to open from sleep. Only opening halfway, they blinked a few times before they were rubbed by hands that eventually went into a head of thick red hair.

The boy groaned as he took in a deep breath before letting out a sigh. He reached over and turned on the lamp, immediately illuminating the dark bedroom.

It also shed some light on a picture that sat on the bedside table right next to the lamp.

In the picture was a family of four individuals. Two parents, a father and a mother, and two babies, a boy and a girl. The father was well built and had blondish-brown hair. The mother was a beautiful figure with long, curly red hair. Their children favored them, but in an opposite way. The son's hair was as red as his mother's and his eyes were blue like his father's, whereas the daughter had her father's blonde hair and blue eyes as well, but they had a light hint of green from the mother's.

The parents were none other than Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff, and in there arms were Jamie and Nikki.

"Hey Mom, Dad....miss you guys....." the boy said as he stood from his bed and walked into his bathroom.

He turned the light on and looked into the mirror at himself. A semi-tall, athletically toned, fit looking young man with a full head of luscious red hair.

That young man is Jamie Rogers.

***Kitchen***

Before Jamie stepped into the lounge room that connected to the kitchen, the faint sound of Shawn Mendes music echoed throughout the halls.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes as he knew exactly who was in there. "Nikki." He said to himself with a knowing smile.

He walked in to see a young girl, about his age, bobbing her head to 'Stitches' which was playing on her phone.

Once again, he shook his head at the sight of her. But what else could he do? That was his sister.

And just like him, Nikki had turned into quite the young lady. Even though she was only fifteen, she had grown up to a good 5' 2" height with beautiful with blonde hair with red ends. The blonde part was natural, from her father. But when she turned ten, Nikki wanted to have some significant similarity between her and her mother. So she dyed her ends a nice red, just like her mother.

He continued the rest of the way and went for the refrigerator. Nikki saw this in her peripheral vision and smiled as she reached for her phone and paused her song.

"Morning!" She greeted.

"Hey." Her brother replied, "Didn't think you'd be able to come down from your 'Shawn Mendes' high to notice I was here."

"Oh, shut up!"

"Weirdo." Jamie said as he retrieved a jug of orange juice and a box of donuts from the fridge.

"Maneken." (Dummy.) She retorted in Russian with a smirk.

Well, that won. The two siblings laughed at their squabble and continued their work to get breakfast.

Jamie opened the thin box and pulled out a donut, but not just any donut...

A red, white, and blue sprinkles donut. And not just any red, white, and blue sprinkles donut. The LAST red, white, and blue sprinkles donut of that dozen. And Jamie was going to enjoy every morsel.

But no sooner than he picked it up and brought it to his lips...

[THWIP]

...a long, white, sticky line stuck to the donut before yanking it from Jamie's hand, sending it flying across the room before being caught by a hand. A hand of the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man himself, Peter Parker.

"MmmMmm, that's good!" He said, taking a big bite of it. "Thanks Jamie!"

"Awww, come on, Pete! That was the last one!" Jamie threw his hands up in disbelief and displeasure.

"All is fair in love and war, buddy!"

Nikki laughed at that while Jamie shook his head and just picked up a regular glazed and took a bite of it. He was really looking forward to eating that donut, but he could always get another one.

With his mouth full of donut, Peter walked the rest of the way in and sat on a counter stool, joining the twins.

They were very close, these three. Especially Peter and Jamie. Now that they were older, Jamie was now 5' 8", the same height as Peter. Jamie really considered Peter his best friend, and Peter accepted that and returned the sentiment. They would have some fun times together, Be it movies or discussing powers and whatnot, they would have fun. 

"Is it time for you to go?" Nikki asked. 

"Yep." Peter replied, finishing his donut, "You guys wanna walk out with me?"

The twins nodded and followed their older friend out, but not before Jamie snagged one of Nikki's slices of toast.

"HEY!" she exclaimed.

"V lyubvi i na voyne vse khorosho, sestra." (All is fair in love and war, sister!) Jamie stated, taking a bite with a closed lip smile.

***Courtyard, Driveway***

Peter was going to visit Pepper Potts and her daughter, Morgan. Yes, daughter. Within the past ten years, Pepper had received one last gift from Tony...a baby. And Peter had been there the majority of the way with raising her. Now, she was seven years old, and loved Peter to death. He loved her too, she was his little sister, and he her big brother.

They had a lot of good times together. Movie nights, lightsaber duels, LEGO building sessions, and cosplay, just to name a few. It goes without saying that they were really close. Just like he was with Ned. 

So now, Peter was going to go and stay with them for a bit. It had been a while since he'd gone to visit and Morgan was dying to see him in person again. Sure, the video calls and virtual playdates were fun, but Morgan really missed him. So Pepper arranged it to where he could come and stay with them.

With everything he'd need packed and ready to go, Peter closed the trunk the car, which was actually his aunt May's old car. When the Snap happened, no one was there to claim it. But Peter found it and took possession of it. It was nice to have something other than pictures and home videos to remember her by. The memories that came with the car too were something.............Peter was happy to take care of it too.

Stepping in, he started the car and stood up out from the car to wish the Twins goodbye.

"How long are you gonna be gone for?" Jamie asked him, having gotten another donut a regular glazed, for himself.

"Just the weekend." He replied, "But don't worry. You guys'll be ok. Betty's here and Bruce is...around."

Bruce had been closed himself up in his lab for almost nineteen months, and no one but his young assistant, who was relieved of duty when Bruce had completed his experiment a month ago, had seen him since. He said that this past month was the to test it before he revealed it. But he was still, as Peter said, around.

Nikki nodded and sniffled lightly. "Well, we're gonna miss you, Peter."

"Aww, I'm gonna miss you too, Nikki." He pulled her into a hug, which she returned immediately.

They held the hug a little longer before breaking it up.

"Give Morgan a hug for us." Jamie added.

"Oh, I don't think there'll be any problem there."

Peter and Jamie both laughed at that before hugging each other. Nikki smiled at the sight of the two hugging. Sometimes, she would join in and turn it into a little group hug, but she also liked to watch the two have their brotherly moments.

Finally breaking the hug, Peter patted Jamie's shoulder and nodded to Nikki before getting into the car all the way.

As he began to pull off, the Twins watched as drove off, sticking his hand of out of the window and waving back at them. They waved back as he neared the gate and drove out.

They then headed back inside and finished breakfast before Jamie had to head for work and Nikki, her daily routine.

But as they continued on, that empty feeling that had been pitted deep within them throughout the years began to come out once again.

Chapter Text

 After breakfast, Jamie had left for work and Nikki was left alone.

Which wasn't so bad, except she didn't really like being alone. The mere thought of being alone caused a sharp feeling of emptiness in her heart and would take her breath away. But she tried not to think about the negative too much, it would soon do that on its own...and with a vengeance too.

She moved on and commenced with her studies. That lasted about two hours or so. And it was good because it took her mind off of being alone as she had focused on it. Bruce had always done a good job of laying out a good study session for Nikki to complete, which she always did.

Now that she was done, she took her books and her notepad and went to her and Jamie's room. Yes, even after all these years, the two twins still shared a room. They were still close, and it helped when Nikki would have her...attacks.

Anyway, one she got there, she set her books down and sat herself down at her vanity. Sitting all the way back and letting out a good long sigh, she let her smoking brain cells cool down as she began to relax.

As she relaxed, she immediately took note of the family picture lodged in between the vanity mirror and it's frame. The vanity had faded stickers all over it. Some of castles, tiaras, and other of Disney Princesses. The vanity was full of them while it itself was pink. Nikki liked pink, it was a secret favorite color of hers. That was one thing she kept quiet. A few people knew though, those closest to her like Jamie and Peter. Bruce and Betty knew too. But other than them, nobody knew. Nobody except..........except her parents.

Looking back to the family in the mirror, Nikki's heart began to race and she began to see flashes. Suddenly, her thoughts drifted into the past. When she was a toddler and her mother was always with her...

Nikki breathed deeply and and gulped hard as the memories of the past came back clearer than a window.

(Flashback)

TWELVE AND A HALF YEARS AGO

***Rogers Residence***

The wedding was great. Tony and Pepper finally tying the knot was a great occasion to witness, and the reception too was a real hoot and a half. But now, it was night and everyone was tired. Not as much as Jamie and Nikki though, who were currently knocked out.

Natasha was taking Nikki to her room and Steve doing the same with James.

It was remarkable the skills one picked up as a parent, and it was even more shocking how well some of her expertise as a spy translated into her life now. Again, soft, unobtrusive movements were key as she laid Nikki on her little bed. Efficiently she stripped the little girl of her sandals and her sundress before pulling a nightgown from her (overly well-stocked) armoire. Staring at Nikki's tiny body, she thought better of letting her sleep without a pull-up diaper on, so she grabbed one from the changing table and carefully worked her little panties down and the pull-up up. Then she put the nightgown on her. Somehow through all that, she stayed sleeping (thank God). She lifted Nikki against her so she could pull the covers back on her bed. After laying her back down, she tucked her in. She planted a soft kiss on Nikki's forehead, smoothing back the mussed blonde hair, before turning to go.

"Mama?"

Natasha didn't know if she wanted to cringe or smile. She'd hardly made it a couple of steps away from the bed. "What?" she answered.

Nikki was staring sleepily at her. "Is the party over?" she asked, rubbing at her eyes.

Natasha came back to her bedside, crouching beside it. "Yeah," she whispered. "It's over."

"Now what happens?"

She thought about that a moment before she figured out what to say. It wasn't too hard to come
up with something. Nikki's room was so pink and pretty, and there were princess dolls and princess things and princess books everywhere. That wasn't something Natasha much liked (or something in which she believed), but even she had to admit there was allure in fantasies and fairy tales. "Well, it's like in the stories. Uncle Tony and Aunt Pepper are married now. So they'll live happily ever after."

"Just like you and Daddy?"

It always took her aback, how perceptive and mature Nikki was. Natasha smiled softly. "Yeah."

She brushed her hair back a bit more before trailing her fingers lightly down her face. "Just like Daddy and me." Nikki smiled. Natasha kissed her again. "Spokoynoy nochi, Nika."

"Spokoynoy nochi, Mama," she replied. She was asleep before Natasha left the room.

(End Of Flashback)

Tears came down violently as Nikki sniffled and held that picture close to her heart. The same heart that felt as thought it was being stabbed. The same heart the felt like there was a big gaping hole in it.

Looking back at the picture, her eyes burned with more tears as she looked at her parents.

"Oh Mom..." she whimpered, ".....I miss you so much!"

She jammed her eyes shut and stifled a scream, doing her best not to. Every time she thought of her parents, even the good thoughts, that same feeling would come around. But what soon followed was more deadly.

It was coming. Nikki could feel it, closer and closer. And it was going to be bad. Before she knew it, her hands began to shake, then her heartbeat sped up. Immediately, she began to try and fight it with what she had learned.

Deep breaths. Deeeeep breathes. In through the nose, out through the nose. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

That's what Nikki always did when her attacks would come on. Sometimes it would work, but sometimes it didn't.

There was one other thing she could do though to ease her pain. Thinking it would help get her mind off of the pain and calm her down, she decided to go through with it.

The one thing that always seemed to soother her nerves and elevate them at the same time.

Training.

Nikki stood firmly at the end of the Compound's firing range in a sports bra and yoga pants with a black leg rig strapped to her thigh.

She held her gun, a Glock 17 aimed at a target that was at least twenty-five feet away. With her finger on the trigger, she took a few deep breaths. And then...

[BANG! BANG! BANG x2....BANG x7]

As she fired away at the target at the end of the range, she never blinked. Not for one second. With every shot, the more red tinted her vision.

Nikki then began walking down the range toward the target, never stopping as she did. Even when the clip was gone, she didn't stop. With the hand that was holding the handle of the Glock, she ejected the empty clip, reached down to the leg rig and pulled out another clip, popped it in, cocked it and continued firing.

She kept this up for another forty-five minutes, never breaking a sweat.

There was no doubt, she was her mother's daughter.

It started with simple stuff. Punches, jabs, and the occasional foot or knee.

This was how Nikki always began her training with the punching bag. The more she did it, however, the more intense her punches became.

Left. Left. Right. Left. Right. Right. Each punch harder than the last. And with every punch, another painful memory punched back in her mind.

That terrible footage. Her mother and father fading into ash. Her mother saying her name in Russian. Nika. Nika. Nika.

It echoed in her brain over and over until finally she screamed and gave one final good bash so hard that the bag's chain broke and the bag fell from the stand.

Nikki stood there, chest heaving and fists clinched hard. As she came down from her angered high, she began to feel the tears coming up.

***Bathroom***

The tears mixed in with the hot water from the shower.

It helped a bit as it hit Nikki's skin and gave her somewhat of a warm, relaxing feeling. Her hands were up against the wall, her breathing heavy as she still fought to keep this attack from taking over. But unfortunately, this one wasn't going to be beat.

Nikki's hand began to shake against the wall. Then her arms. As she felt her start to shake, she already knew what was coming.

As quickly as she could, she reached out of the shower and pressed a button on the wall before her legs gave out and she fell into the bathtub. Tears came profusely, once again mixing with the water that was still coming down on her from on high.

Nikki's breathing and heartbeat increased immensely as the horrid images of her nightmares came one after the other. Her mother's voice calling her, the sight of her parent's dead with the rest of the Avengers. This brought a painful feeling to Nikk's brain, her stomach and her heart. It became too much to try and hold that she let out a loud blood-curdling scream.

It filled the whole room and threatened to crack the steamy mirror on the other side of the curtain.

"NIKKI!" someone called to her.

The shower curtain was suddenly pulled back to show a concerned Betty who looked down and saw the poor girl.

"Nikki!" She exclaimed. She turned off the water, grabbed the towel from the counter and wrapped Nikki up in it before pulling her into a protective hug. "Shhhh. Shhshhshhshh. It's ok, it's ok. I've got you, Nikki. You're alright now."

Nikki had immediately returned the hug, leaning into Betty. Her tears gradually subsided as she began to calm down, but they were still coming. But she was just happy Betty was there and that she wasn't alone.

"Thank you, Betty." she sniffled.

"I'm here, sweetheart." Betty cooed, "...I'm here."

And Betty always had been there. Though she wasn't their real mother, she always consoled and loved the kids as her own. And she knew about stress and anxiety too. So it hurt her to see Nikki going through that, plus PTSD. But she was more than happy to help her with it.

Betty didn't move as she held her "niece" close. Nikki did the same as she cried into Betty's shoulder, holding onto her tight like a life preserver.

They stayed in their current position for who knows how long, the faint cries of Nikki being the only sound in the room.

***New York, Brooklyn Support Group***

If you've ever seen one of those ghost towns from old western movies, you'd swear that New York was one of them. If not the whole world.

Oh sure, there were people there, but they weren't nearly as lively as they used to be years ago.

Nowadays, a lot of people had become introverted. Not wanting to go out as much, if at all.

And some of them, if not a lot, needed therapy. And that's what Jamie's job was. Working as a mentor/volunteer at a support group. Sure it was part time, but it made him feel better. He helped people, just like his father. Well, maybe not just like his father, but it was something like it.

Right now, Jamie sat on a chair in a circle with a few other people. It had been almost an hour now, but no one really cared. Currently, this one man named Joe was talking about his date that he had just had the previous night, how it went, and that a second date was going to happen.

"That's great." Jamie said to Joe. "You did the hardest part. You took the jump, you didn't know where you were gonna come down."

Joe nodded and thanked Jamie for that. It's true, he was nervous. Nervous about moving on, as were they all.

"Ya know, those little brave baby steps we gotta take, it's not so easy to do it. But we have to take them. To try and become whole again, try and find purpose...a reason for living......it helps in the long run...."

"Has it worked for you?" A lady named Millie, shyly asked.

Jamie was taken aback by that question. He knew that the group would occasionally ask him questions, but he certainly didn't expect that one.

But he didn't brush it off. Instead, he thought about it. Giving it some good thought, he gave his best honest answer. "I don't know yet." He shrugged.

Millie nodded, shrinking back a little, fearing she may have stepped over a boundary. "Sorry."

"No, no! It's ok. I just, heh, I guess I never really thought about it much....."

"Can't burry your hurt or your emotions," another lady, Sandra, added, "Not forever anyway."

The whole group nodded at that, as did Jamie. He knew that was true. And he didn't like bottling up his emotions...but he didn't exactly like to them out either. Not often.

"Yeah.....I know.............When I, uh...........when I found out my parents were dead, that was the worse day of my life. For me and my sister, really.... It's taken it's toll on me, but she's caught the worst of it......Believe me when I tell you, it's hard to at first, but you gotta move on. Gotta to move on. Can't harp on it forever, even though you might like to.........and that's where we have to be strong. The world is in our hands. It's left to us guys, and we got to do something with it. Otherwise...Thanos should have killed all of us."

The others in the room nodded in silent agreement. They knew Jamie was right, they had to move on.....

"If you don't mind me saying," another one of them, a man in his late 40s named Ernest chirped, "You're a lot like you're father."

That made Jamie smile and shake his head. He was about to respectfully object, but before he could, Ernest cut him off.

"No, I mean it. Respectful, uplifting, kind,

"Rugged good looks," one of the ladies there added. Everyone else agreed with that too, laughing a bit.

Now that really made Jamie crack up. He knew he had some resemblance to his father, but hearing that part of it was something new.

"She's right," Joe said. "But most of all, you're a good man."

And that made Jamie freeze. 'A good man.' He'd heard that said about his father before, and he also remembered wanting to grow up to be like him. Not just a superhero, but a good man too. Maybe he had, but never noticed it. Maybe he needed someone else to point it out. Whatever that case was, he was happy...and humbled to hear that.

"Thank you.." he replied, a few tears coming up. "All of you....."

They all continued to sit there in silence until the next person spoke up.

***Common Room***

After her "shower", Nikki had gotten into some comfortable clothes and made a snack with Betty. For Betty, it was a fruit cocktail. Which she took to her room so she could rest afterwards. For Nikki, it was her favorite: Peanut Butter and banana sandwich.

She took that to the common room where she had to jump into an important weekly meeting.

"Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Sammy pinged." Rocket said, giving a mission report.

In front of the table where Nikki sat were four holographic projectors which broadcasted live bodies of the people on the other end of the calls.

Nebula and Rocket Raccoon, Okoye, a now grown up, twenty-two year old Sam Alexander, and Rhodey.

"It was an infectious garbage scowl." Nebula added to Rocket's previous statement.

"So, thanks for the hot tip."

Rocket and Nebula looked over to Sam with scowls that could match that of a hangry person.

But Sam simply shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you were closer."

"Yeah. And now we smell like garbage." Rocket retorted.

"You should like that though, Rock." Rhodey jumped in. "Cause I'm pretty sure I've seen you sneak into the dumpsters here at the Compound."

Nikki couldn't help but laugh at that, As did Okoye, but she tried to hold it back.

Seeing this just made Rocket shake his head in annoyance.

After the laughter died down, Nikki gathered herself and turned to Okoye and asked her about anomalies near them. "Uh, Okoye. You get a reading on those tremors?

"It was a mild subduction under the African plate." The Wakandan General replied.

"Alright. So are we handling it?

"Nikki, it's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it."

"Oh....right.....uh Sam, are we gonna see you here next week?"

"Yeah, I think so." The young Hispanic replied with a nod. "Everything's been pretty peaceful here so far, and I've got leave coming up. So I should see you guys in a few days or so."

"You gonna have a new haircut?" Rocket interjected jokingly.

Since he'd turned twenty-one, Sam had changed his hairstyle from long locks, into a short, faded side look.

It was different from what they were all used to at the time, but they got used to it, and Sam liked it. And Rocket just had to mess with the kid sometimes.

"No, but I can bring back some clippers so you can try it." Sam teased back.

But joke or no, Rocket wasn't with it. "Nah, nah, nah! I'm-I'm good."

After that, Nikki took the helm. With no more business to discuss, she went ahead and ended the meeting. "Alright. Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me."

They all nodded in agreement before saying their goodbyes and the projectors went off one by one. Soon they were all gone. Except for Rhodey who had stayed behind.

Only Nikki hadn't seen him. She has slumped back into a chair behind her and let out an exhausted sigh before looking up and noticing Rhodey was still there.

"Where are you?" She asked.

"Mexico." He immediately replied, "The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off."

"It's probably a rival gang."

"Except it isn't." Rhodey said knowingly.

Nikki took a breath as she knew who and what Rhodey was talking about. "...Frankie?"

"It's definitely him. What he's done here, what he's been doing for the last few years... I mean, the scene that he left... I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to find him."

There was just dead silence after that as Nikki processed the details Rhodey just gave. She knew that her friend, her "cousin", Francis "Frankie" Barton had gone missing not long after he was twelve. Ducking and dodging the law, crossing state after state.... until he turned fifteen, appearing in other countries and toppling criminal organizations. Picking them off one by one. Driven by rage, loss, and love, he had become a ronin.

But that didn't matter to Nikki. Or Jamie either. They missed Frankie and they wanted to bring him home.

Stifling some tears best she could, Nikki took a bite of her sandwich before asking, "Will you find out where he's going next?"

"Nikki..." he tried.

"-Please."

Rhodey looked at Nikki and still saw that small adorable toddler at Tony's wedding all those years ago. Had she asked for anything, he never would have said no to her back then....and he couldn't do it now with this situation. So reluctantly, he agreed. "Okay."

He nodded to her before finally, cutting off his call.

Once he was gone, Nikki closed her eyes and held back tears she could feel coming up once again. "Please, not again." She whispered to herself.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. In, out. In, out...................calm.

"Ya know, I'd tell you a joke to try and cheer you up," a familiar voice started. Nikki looked up and saw her brother, Jamie leaning against a wall with a bit of a smirk. "But uh...looks like you're already miserable."

Nikki snorted and rolled her eyes at that as he walked over to the table.

"You just get back?" She asked.

"Yep. Long day. Now, I'm just checking in on my little sister."

That earned Jamie a raised eyebrow and a smirk from Nikki. "I don't know about little, but clearly, your twin sister is fine."

Jamie snickered at that, nodding at it too. "Ya know, I saw a pod of whales today."

"Really?"

"Yeah, in the Hudson! Fewer ships, cleaner waters."

"Ya know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side like Dad would, them I'm about to beat you with a peanut butter and banana sandwich."

Jamie caught himself at that. "Sorry. It it's a force of habit." He plopped down into a seat opposite her on the other side and let out a sigh.

"Nah, you're good." Nikki reassures him. "Besides you can't help the fact that you're basically the younger version of him."

"Ha, thanks!"

"Don't let it go to your head."

"Where's Betty?"

"Taking a nap."

After the events earlier today, Nikki wasn't surprised that Betty needed a nap. After dealing with her and her messed up self, Nikki would want to rest her nerves too.

"You good?" Jamie asked her, pulling her from her thoughts.

Nikki came back to reality and nodded a bit quickly than normal. "Yeah, I'm fine."

But Jamie knew better than that, and he knew HER too.

"You know that's not what I mean."

Nikki sighed loudly as she gathered her thoughts. She knew exactly what Jamie meant, but she wanted to avoid it.....but she knew it couldn't be avoided forever.

"..........struggling." She finally answered.

"How bad was it?"

"..............really bad.....terrible. Betty helped me out and saved me again."

Jamie felt a sting from hearing that. Not from Betty being there for her. He loved Betty like an aunt, but he wished he could have been there for Nikki as well.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here."

"It's ok."

"No, it's not!" He fires back. "I'm your brother, Nikki! But what kind of brother am I if I can't be there for you when you have an attack?!"

"You've gotta stop."

"Stop what?"

"Carrying the world on your shoulders."

That made Jamie stop and think. And as he did, he realized she wasn't wrong. He did really try to help every person he could when given the chance and he didn't give up easily either. And it wasn't easy to do so......but that didn't make him stop.

"You're right.....I'm sorry."

"You're good.....it's all one big heavy load. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised we've made it this far..."

Once again, Jamie nodded at his sister's words. He was surprised too. If it wasn't for the endurance and hope inside of him, he might've given up a long time ago. And yet, he still had an anchor chained to his heart...him and Nikki both. And as she said, it was one big heavy load.

"You know, it's funny..." He trailed off, thoughts coming to him. "In my therapy sessions, what I say to try and help others. Get them going. I keep telling everybody they should move on and...grow. Some do.......but not us.

Nikki felt a mental poke to the stomach at that. She couldn't do that. "If I move on, who does this?" She shrugged.

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done."

"It's one of the few things that keeps me sane and helps me keep my mind off of........

"I know..." Jamie stated, reaching over and grabbing his sister's hand and holding it, "I know...."

"It keeps playing over and over in my head, like some kind of horror movie on repeat. In one day, we lost everything.......nothing left. And then we got this...this family. And you, you've always been good and moving. But for me, I was... I was made better because of it. It gave me something to smile about.... And even though... they're gone.......I'm still trying to be better."

Tears threatened to come out of Jamie's eyes as he listened to his sister vent. He knew exactly what she was going through because he went through it too. Just not as severely as her. But he was proud of her. Proud of how fat she'd come. And he knew their parents..........that they would be proud too.

"You been doing better every day, Nikki." He sincerely told her.

That made her smile a bit as she squeezed his hand in return. "Thanks Jamie."

"I think we both need to get a life." Jamie joked again, easing the hurt a little.

"You first, bro." Nikki retorted.

They both laughed at that. The sadness was beginning to ebb away within them as they continued comforting each other.

But that was interrupted by a holoscreen popping and showing a video feed.

"Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home?" A voice called out. "This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me."

"Is this an old message?!" Jamie asked as he stood from his chair, both confused and shocked.

Nikki stood up too, her face equally as shock, but more curious than anything. "It's the front gate!"

Chapter Text

"Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me."

"Is this an old message?!" Jamie asked as he stood from his chair, both confused and shocked.

Nikki stood up too, her face equally as shock, but more curious than anything. "It's the front gate!"

(Fade To Black)

Three Days Earlier

***San Francisco, U-STORE-It Self Storage***

You know how sometimes your garage gets too cluttered, loaded down with junk that you probably haven't used in years? It'd be time for a good cleanup. And if there's anything worth saving, either save it or put it in storage. Well, that was the exact opposite of hos things had gone when Thanos happened.

When half of Earth's people died, all of their possessions were left behind. And as the years moved on, they had to be disposed of or moved somewhere else. And the only place that could hold mass amount of personal items were the storage facilities.

However, in San Francisco, a particular was special out of all of them. Inside were multiple storage units that were labeled specifically for each person or family that the items belonged to.

Within one of these storage units which had the name "LANG" labeled on it, amongst all the junk from years ago was a van that sat behind the barrier. But it wasn't just the van that was special, it was also the contents within the van.

Now with any attic-like place with old items, there are bound to be some pests. Well one of the pests in this place were rats. One of them had found its way into the van and rummaged around within it. At one point, it crawled onto a silver panel that had buttons on it. One of them in particular was a start button for  machine, a machine within the van's back. That machine was a Quantum Tunnel made by Dr. Hank Pym. 

That rat had stepped on that button, starting up the tunnel, which lit up as it powered up.

The sounds of it were getting louder and the power from it was getting stronger. So strong, that something had shot out of the tunnel with so much force, that it busted the backdoors of the van open and landed on some nearby boxes. That something was Scott Lang, the Ant-Man.

He groaned as his helmet flipped back, allowing him to feel and breathe real air for what seemed like forever. A light spark from the mechanisms on his shoulder made him pat the area, hoping that fire wouldn't start. After he cooled it down, he began to sat up until he was leaning back on his arms. It was then that he finally began to realize his surroundings. Obviously, this wasn't where he thought it was.

"What the hell?" He whispered to himself.

He was getting a little worried now as he looks around and immediately became more worried and confused.

"Hope?" He called out. But he received no reply.

***Office***

A security guard is seated at his desk, reading a book to pass the time. As he was reading, he noticed something on the security monitor on his desk. He lowered the book and sat up straight because what he saw shocked him. On the monitor, he saw something, or SOMEONE in one of the storage units. It was Scott! Though there wasn't any sound from the monitor, it could be seen the Scott was shouting for help and holding up a cardboard sign with the word "HELP" written on it.

Scott, now in a change of casual clothes, walked along and pulled a wagon with a few of the belongings he could take with him from the facility at the time.

As he continued to walk, he slightly looked over his shoulder to see the guard still watching him. Knowing how awkward it was, Scott turned around and kept on walking.

Scott had walked pretty far to reach his current location. All that time of flowing weightlessly in the Quantum Realm made him glad to walk and get the feel of his legs again.

He had walked all the way back to his old neighborhood. But what he saw was...chilling. The streets were empty. Bags of garbage were everywhere, and every post in the neighborhood was LOADED with MISSING posters. Not only that, some of the houses looked abandoned. A few cars were wrecked, trees and foliage had overgrown their yards. It seemed...partly desolate.

Almost like a post apocalyptic movie where the majority of the population were and a few people left.

Multiple questions were running through Scott's mind right now. The main one being: What happened?

As Scott walked on, he was swiftly passed by a kid on a bike. Curious and confused, he called out to him.

"Kid! Hey kid!"

The kid stopped his bike and looked back to Scott with a face that was a mixture of torture, hurt, and pain. He looked as though he had been crying for days.

This just made Scott even more confused.

"What the hell happened here?" He asked.

But the kid stayed silent. He just held his pained stare at Scott for a few more seconds before wiping some dried tears away before jumping back on his bike and kept on. Scott was left there with a still confused look. But he wouldn't get answers just standing here, so he continued walking.

After some more walking, he came across a park that had a view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Only, it wasn't a park. There were mile long rows of headstones and quite a few people walking on well groomed cement walkways. To Scott, it kinda resembled a like a HUGE cemetery, only the headstones were massive. But he'd been in this area many times before, and he never saw this before. Curious, he went down to check it out.

As he got closer to them, he began to notice that on the large stones, there were hundreds of thousands of names in rows up and down them. And the people there didn't look happy.

Looking up at the top of one of the plaques, the words "THE VANISHED" were engraved. And they were at the rope of every one of them.

Scott's heartbeat sped up as it all began to sink in. This was a memorial! And apparently, it was for a vast multitude of people.

"No. Please. Please, please. No, no, no. No." He pleaded as he searched up and down the multiple columns of names. He passed through people and went around to another one and kept looking. "Excuse me, sorry. No, Cassie, no."

There was no sign of Cassie's name on it, so he went to another stone. On it was a section with the last name of L's. Immediately, Scott's eyes darted around as he searched it all over. Hoping a pleading that Cassie wasn't among them.

"Please, please, please, please... No, Cassie. Pl-"

But Scott was cut off by a shocking sight. He found the name he was looking for: Lang. But it wasn't Cassie's. On the stone was engraved: "Scott Lang".

HIS NAME!

"What?" He asked out loud, beyond confused.

The mere sight of his name on this wall took his breath away. Suddenly, something in him sparked up fear. And an even more fearful thought came to mind. If his name was on here, but Cassie's wasn't, then.........oh no!

Scott took off running across the memorial. He was scared and desperate to know.....to know if Cassie was still.....still.........alive. She had to be though, she just HAD TO BE!

He ran all the way back to his neighborhood to Maggie's house, never stopping his fast and determined speed. As soon as the house came into view, he speed up and ran up the driveway, and jumping onto the porch. Since he was desperate and didn't want to wait, he tried opening the door. But it was locked.

So he knocked. Not a regular knock, more like a BANG BANG BANG type of knock. Then he rang the doorbell, constantly. With those two combined, he also looked in to see if anyone was there.

Suddenly, through the dusty glass, he saw someone! It was a woman.

'Maggie?' Scott thought, hoping it was.

But it wasn't Maggie. This woman was shorter and looked younger. Teenager by the height of her. She walked towards the door but then she stopped mid-stride. She stated there for a minute, frozen in place at the sight of Scott. This confused him. What had made her stop to abruptly? Was it him?

But she started to walk again, this time slower as if cautious of something. Soon, she was right at the door, and her look of shock was replaced with a face of tearful joy. She opened the door and walked right up to Scott, holding his head in her hands and smiling happily.

Scott, at first confused, began to piece this together. This young teenage girl, who he didn't know but seemed to know him was completely happy at the sight of him. It came to him. Was it...was it really........?

"Cassie?" He said, still unsure.

She nodded lightly and smiled at hearing Scott say her name after so long. "Dad?" she replied, her breath hitching as she did. She was so happy to see him, she couldn't contain her joy.

The two don't exchange another word as Cassie pulled Scott into a big tight hug. He returned it without hesitation, but he was still in shock. He was hugging Cassie who was teenager. A TEENAGER!!! And the last time he saw her, she was just a little kid. Now, she was a young lady. He just couldn't believe it.

When they finally broke the hug, Scott looked at Cassie with amazement and smiled as tears began to form in his eyes. Cassie did the same. She was filled with joy and relief to have her father back with her here and now.

The silence between was awkward since they both wanted to say something, but they were both speechless. But Scott, who could never be speechless forever, said the first thing he could think of.

"You're so big!" He laughed with a shrug of the shoulders.

Cassie laughed at that and shrugged her shoulders too as she understood how he felt. She was about to reply when..

"Yo, Cassie! Who was it?" An all too familiar voice called out from inside of the house. Scott looked past Cassie as an older man walked into view to see who was at the door with Cassie, but who he saw he definitely didn't expect. "........Scotty?"

"Luis?" He replied with a smile.

"Omigod! GUYS, SCOTTY'S BACK!!!" He yelled back into the house before running up to Scott and pulling into a big hug like Cassie, lifting him up off the ground as he did. "SCOTTY!!!"

Scott couldn't help but hug his best friend back, he was truly glad to see him. "Argh, I missed you too, man!"

The two men held each other and Cassie stood there watching happily. But they hadn't noticed more from within in the house coming out as well.

"Scott?" Another voice said.

Scott and Luis broke their hug and looked back to the door to see Dave and Kurt standing there with equal surprised expressions.

"Guys!" Scott exclaimed.

The two came towards him with glee, glad to see their old friend again. Dave was first. "AYE SCOTT!"

"Hey Dave!"

"MAN, it's good to see you, bro!"

"You too, man. Kurt! Hey man!

"Welcome back, Scott. Long time, no see." The slick haired Russian greeted his friend with a smile and a hug.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess it has. But how long exactly? I mean, what the hell happened, an-and where's Maggie and Paxton?"

When they all heard him ask that, the happy reunion had taken a turn and was now heading down.

This immediately worried Scott as he began fearing for the worst. "What?"

"Um..." Cassie tried to say something, but couldn't get the words to come up.

"What?" Scott's eyebrows came together in confusion as he was weary of what the responses would be.

But before anyone could answer, "Cassie?"

All heads turned back to see a young boy, who couldn't be much older than a preteen, standing there in the doorway.

Scott's heart skipped a beat or so at the sight of the boy. 'Who is that?' He wondered.

Maybe a little friend of Cassie's? Or a kid that she was babysitting?

Cassie knelt down and opened her arms as a sign for the boy to come to her, which he did. Once he was, she embraced him. Then, she held him by the shoulders and looked him in the eye.

"PJ, do you remember the stories I've told you about your dad?" She asked, her voice cracking a little as tears began to form in her eyes.

The boy, whose name seemed to be PJ, nodded immediately, but still not fully understanding where this was going. And neither did Scott. Why was Cassie bringing up this kid's father right now, in front of him and the guys? He soon got his answer.

"Well, this is him." She said, nodding to Scott.

PJ looked up to Scott in surprise. This was his father. The one he never met, the one who he was told was a great man. A hero. A superhero. A father.

"Hi, Dad." He said nervously.

The wave of shock and emotion that hit Scott right there was something powerful. The last he saw PJ, he was a six month old baby. But now, here he was. A growing little boy. This was just......just wow.

"Hey PJ." He finally replied. "My god, look how big you've grown. How old are you now, like......nine?"

"Ten and a half."

'Ten and a half?!' Scott repeated to himself. How could this be? From the looks of things around the, it did seem like things had gone downhill badly. But it wasn't ten years. At least....not to him it wasn't.... This was a lot. A LOT!!! 

"Yo Scott, you good, bro?" Dave asked, pulling him from his thoughts. 

"Uh...uh, yeah. I just....I don't get it. What happened?"

"I think we should go inside, Dad." Cassie said, trying to keep her father calm.

"Yeah, man." Luis added as well.  "Let's go inside bro, I'll explain it to ya."

Though he was confused and really wanted answers, he agreed to go in with them and listen.

***Living Room***

"Ok Luis, lemme have it." Scott told his friend. "And remember, just the facts."

"Aw yeah. You got it, you got it. Ok, so ten years ago, I was going on a date with Ava."

[Flashback]

***Scott & Luis' House***

"Ya know, the ghost girl that could go through walls and stuff? Yeah, I figured she was kinda beautiful, ya know, so I figured I'd shoot the my shot."

Luis is sitting on the couch, his leg bopping up and down nervously as he calls someone. That someone was Ava Starr.

***Ava and Bill's Apartment***

"And surprisingly, she was like..."

Ava: "Of course I would, you handsome sexy beast of a man!"

"Whoa! Hold up!"

(Flashback Pause)

Dave had cut Luis off with a look that screamed, "What're you talking about, man?"

Luis looked at him confused and shrugged his shoulders. "What?"

"That not what happen." Kurt added simply with a light shake of the head.

Luis was about to retort, but paused when he noticed Cassie and PJ trying to stifle their laughter at the trio. His face drooped before looking back to Dave and shot back. "How would you guys know? You weren't there!"

"Oh, yes we was!" Dave retorted.

Kurt nodded at that and added, "You call us to come and be your wingmen."

That stopped Luis and made him think. A second or two later, it came back to him.

"Oh yeah! That's right! I forgot about that."

Dave rolled his eyes and took the reigns. "What she really said was..."

Back to Ava on the phone with Luis.

Ava: "Sure, I'd like to go out with you."

"And that's how that happened."

"Oh yeah, that's right." Luis nodded, remembering the true backstory. "Yeah, cuz then..."

***Scott & Luis' House***

"-I asked you guys if you could babysit the kids for me while I was out."

Dave and Kurt were there, standing and listening as Luis asked them if they could watch Cassie and PJ who were in the room as well; with Cassie playing on the floor with a toddler PJ.

"And y'all were like..."

Kurt: "Yeah, we got this."

Dave: "Go get 'em, bro!"

"Now that DID happen."

***Bathroom***

"So then, I had to get ready. Got all clean and freshened up, you know."

Luis is standing at the sink, looking in the mirror, admiring himself. Then he opened the vanity and pulled out a small bottle of cologne.

"I used some Aqua Velva, you know I don't use cheap brands cuz that's not how Daddy roll. Gotta smell good for my date!"

"Ok, stop! Hang on a sec!"

(Flashback Paused)

Scott had his hands up and his brain confused.

"What does any of this have to do with what happened?" He asked.

"I'm getting to that, bro!" Luis assured him.

"You remember how he is, Scott." Dave said as he leaned back in his chair, reminding him of their friend's tendency to ramble.

"Yeah, I do." Scott did remember what Luis was like. And strangely, he had missed it too.

"Like old car radio." Kurt added, "He no skip, just go with all of it."

That was so true, that was so Luis. Scott nodded in agreement to that while Cassie and PJ were still trying to hold back their laughter.

"Right. Please, continue."

"So I went and picked her up and went to Shake-Shack. Can't get better than Shake-Shack, man. They get it done!"

Luis and Ava are sitting at a table for two with their food and are talking. Smiles are exchanged and it's going really good.

"After a while, we were gettin' real close, ya know. By then some creepy sh** started happening. People were starting to disappear. Into thin air!"

As the two kept on talking, some commotion was happening over at the counter. It wasn't an unruly customer and the cashier going at it though. It was a scream of terror. They looked over to see someone screaming before that person began to slowly disintegrated into noting but dust.

"It was kinda like in the JUMANJI movies, when they were being transported into the game and looked all dusty? Except the people weren't being transported anywhere, they were just.....just vanishing."

Before long, more people were beginning to blow away into dust. And to they're shock, Ava began to dust too. Luis' eye were wide and his mouth wide open. That shock was pressed upon more when he saw more people beginning to disintegrate.

Slowly, he began to run. Just running out of the restaurant quick. But when he got outside, the scene outside was way worse than it was in the Shake-Shack.

"I ran outta there like hell and when I got outside, it was worse than it was in the restaurant. People were still dusting and cars were crashing, cuz some of them were in them but dusted and the cars went haywire! It was HELLA crazy out there, man."

***Scott & Luis' House***

Luis runs up the stair of the house and rushes in to see Dave and Kurt at the table playing cards and Cassie and PJ were on the couch, watching TV.

"I make it back to the crib, I bust in there and it's like,"

Dave: "Aye man! You're back early."

Kurt: "How'd it go?"

"And I'm like,"

Luis: "You guys don't know what's goin' on out there?!"

Dave and Kurt look at each other confused before turning back to Luis and shaking their heads.

"So then, I said,"

Luis: "Check the news! And Cassie, call your mom."

Luis tossed the little girl his phone, which she caught.

"Cuz I know you always said if you weren't around, call Maggie in case of an emergency. And this was DEFINITELY an emergency!"

Scott nodded again as he listened intently, following Luis with this story.

"So Cassie calls Maggie-"

"-and their talking, and were over there watching the news and it's saying that this is happening all over the world!"

The guys are standing at the TV, surrounding it, and the news report on there reads: 'RAPID VANISHINGS'. And showed footage of people disintegrating into thin air.

"And we were like,"

Dave: "Bro, what the hell?!"

"-and.."

Kurt: "This is SORCERY!!"

Dave and Kurt and wigging out, Kurt more than Dave, but all were still shocked.

"And like I said, Cassie was on the phone, talkin' to her mom, but then....."

Luis looked over his shoulder to his best friend's daughter and saw she was FaceTiming with her mom still.

"Then what?"

Cassie is holding the phone with Maggie on the screen, talking with her. Suddenly, Maggie's face begins to dust and soon she disintegrates onscreen as Cassie watches.

Cassie's eye go wide with horror as she watches her mom blow away. The phone's screen shows that Maggie's phone had been dropped and landed on its back with the camera showing the ceiling. Then, Paxton comes into view, looking down as he cries out for Maggie, investigating what just happened. Suddenly though, Paxton began to go next. And within seconds, he was gone.

Cassie, so overcome with shock, lost feeling in her hand and let the phone drop from it.

"Then what?!"

(End of Flashback)

The room was silent as Scott waited for an answer. Everyone's heads were either down or heavy with emotions from that day.

Finally, Scott received his answer. Looking to the seats on his left, Cassie was holding PJ close to her and he hugged her back as he knew what her next words would be.

"They vanished too." She said, on the verge of tears.

Scott's felt a lump grow in his throat as his heart and breathing hitched. He couldn't believe this. Apparently, his children and friends had endured a lot of pain and a great loss. And the worst part of it was that he wasn't even here for it. It hadn't been ten years for him. To him, he hadn't been gone even half a day. But that didn't justify the situation any, not for him. He began to feel the pain too, and it wasn't exactly pleasant.

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "To all of you. I'm so sorry."

Luis shook his head at that. "Nah, Scotty. You didn't know, man."

"It doesn't matter! I should've been there. Here! Ah, whatever! The point is, I wasn't there for you guys when you needed me. Frickin' story of my life."

Scott let out a sigh, leaned back and covered his face with his hands and let out another sigh through them. This wasn't a good day for him.....what could possibly make it better?

Suddenly, a feeling of a hand on his knee brought Scott out from retreating into himself. Lifting his hands and head up, he saw that is was PJ's hand on him, standing at his side.

The ten-and-a-half year old boy looked up at his father with tears eyes, sadness, but hope in them. And from that hope came his next words to his father. "You're here now, Dad..."

At that, Scott felt his heart begin to feel lifted up. Hearing his son say that to him, to reassure him that it was ok to be a little late....but that he was here.....that made him feel.........warm.

A smile and a small chuckle came to Scott's face as he slowly sat up in his seat. "Ha.....yeah, I guess I am, huh?"

PJ nodded at his father's words. A smile coming to him too at seeing Scott smile. "Yeah, you are. And I'm happy that you're finally here, Dad."

Another ping came to Scott's heart at hearing PJ call him "Dad". That warm feeling engulfed him now and turned his down mood into a better one. One so good that Scott smiled even wider at his son, and PJ returned it.

"Me too." They looked over to Cassie to see her standing up before stepping over and kneeling down next to them. "I'm happy you're here too, Daddy. It's really good that you are."

Tears were welling in her eyes as she said those heartfelt words. The same began to happen for Scott as he looked back and forth between his kids.

"Oh, Peanut."

The growing happiness inside him became so overwhelming that he didn't hesitate any longer to pull them both in for a hug. It took the two by surprise at first, but they soon returned it and hugged back with so much love for their dad.

Smiles came to Luis, Kurt, and Dave and the three onlookers saw their good friend share a tender moment with his kids. But as much fun as it was to watch this tearful scene, it was too much for them not to join in.

Following Luis, the three walked over and joined in on the Lang's triangle hug.

"Yay, group hug!" PJ exclaimed happily.

They all laughed at his excitement and tightened the hug. In the middle, Scott had on a genuine smile. Granted, it wasn't what he expected to come home to, and this wasn't the ideal reunion for a father to his kids/friends. But regardless of that, it was his family, and he was glad to have them. All of them.

Hours later, the sun had started to set and the sound of tummies growling called for dinner.

Unanimously, pizza was decided upon and they all enjoyed the delicious cheesy goodness of it all. After dinner, they had all sat in the living room for a movie. Said movie was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

When it got to the part of the Enterprise Crew arriving in San Francisco in the 1980s, conversation began to spark between the group.

"So they traveled back in time to bring back some whales to the future to stop a drone that can only talk to them?" Dave asked, making sure he wasn't missing anything so far.

PJ enthusiastically replied to him, "Yep! That's their mission."

"But how did they get from 2286, back to 1986 though? Cuz I didn't see no time machine."

"Didn't you see?" Kurt chimed in, "They use slingshot maneuver around the Sun. Using gravitational assist which make them go fast enough to shoot them back into past."

Dave let out a light sigh at that and shook his head. He didn't entirely understand what Kurt just explained, but whatever it was, it worked in the movie. "If you say so, man."

As they continued watching, the conversation and the plot of the movie made Scott think more about the present situation of the outside world. The similarities were uncanny. And the crazy thing was that it was based on real things. The gravitational assist from the Sun was true, and that had worked in real life too.

And it was almost similar to the......to the Quantum Realm. Suddenly, an idea came to him. It wasn't great, but it was possible...possibly. It was possibly possible, but it could work.

But then he realized something else; he couldn't do it alone. If he was going to try and act on this idea, he'd need help. And he knew just the people to go to. 

"I gotta go find the Avengers." He said out loud, standing up as he did.

His abrupt words and action made everyone look away from the movie towards him.

"What?" Cassie questioned, pausing the movie to give her full attention to this.

"I have to go find the Avengers." Scott repeated, more confident about what he had to do.

"Ah, they're gone, bro." Dave reluctantly told his friend, not too happy about bursting whatever bubble Scott had.

"When Snap happen ten years ago, Avengers vanish as well." Kurt added.

Scott's eyebrows furrowed at this. "What, you mean they got dusted too?"

They all nodded in reply.

"So they're ALL gone?"

Luis shrugged his shoulders as he answered his friend, "Well, The Hulk's still there. He's like the only one left though."

Ooh, ok. That put a slight.....all right, make the a big dent in Scott's plan, but didn't change a thing.

".........I'm still gonna go."

"What?" Cassie jumped up. "Dad, why?"

"Because...." Scott looked at the TV and was reminded of his idea. "Cause, there may be a way to reverse this.....and if there is, then I'm gonna need help."

Cassie didn't entirely understand what her father meant, but she saw hope and fire in his eyes. And that was enough for her to have confidence in him. But not enough to let him go at it alone. So throwing her fears aside, she stood from her spot on the couch and looked at Scott with a look of determination.

"Well then I'm going with you."

In Scott's mind, a red flag IMMEDIATELY went up. "No, Cassie. I'm gonna need you to stay here with Luis and the gu-"

"Dad, I haven't seen you in ten years. And I get it. You have to go ba Ant-Man and save the world again. But if you think I'm gonna let you go across the country by yourself after not having seen you in all this time, you've got another thing coming."

Scott was amazed at how stern and confident his daughter sounded right now. But then again, she always did give good motivational advice. Thinking back to 2018 when he was still on house arrest but had to be Ant-Man again. He was down and not sure if he should go back in. But then here came Little Cassie, comforting and wanting to help her father. And now here she was, ten years later, a young woman and still wanting to help.

He couldn't help but feel proud of her. But there was something else too. "What about PJ?"

"He can come too! It'll be a road trip. Just the three of us. What do ya say, PJ?"

The young Lang jumped up at his name. "I'm in! I am SO in!"

A proud smile came to Scott's face as he looked between his two kids.

"When did you become so grown up?" He said proudly, bringing a hand to her cheek.

Cassie shrugged a little. "Something I picked up from you."

Shaking his head and smiling proudly, Scott looked at his daughter, then his son, and then his friends. All of their eyes were on him and they all had trust in him too. And that gave him the push he needed.

"Alright, let's do it."

***Cassie and PJ's Room***

As the two kids packed their bags, a strange feeling came to Cassie. Almost like a calling of some sort. That calling made her look over to their closet. Immediately, she remembered what was there. What she had kept in the back of it.

With this situation, she figured this might be it.

"Hey PJ?" She called her little brother.

"Yeah?" He replied, looking over to her.

"Remember when I told you that one day it'd be time to use our presents that Grandpa Hank made for us?"

A smile came to PJ's face as he looked towards the closet as well and looked back to Cassie. "Yeah?"

She smiled as well before going over to the closet, opening it and pushing the hanging clothes aside to reveal the "presents" behind them. "I think it's time we start using them." She said confidently.

PJ walked over to stand next to his sister and looked at their "presents" excitedly.

His heart began to race as the glee built inside of him. "It's about damn time!" He agreed excitedly.

After packing a few things and loading them into Luis' van, the Langs boarded the vehicle and said their goodbyes to the three men.

"Bye Uncle Luis, Uncle Dave, Uncle Kurt!"

"Later, little Peej!" Dave waved back.

"Take good care, kid." Kurt said with a nod.

"Hey, you guys be careful out there Scotty."

"Thanks, Luis. I will." Scott replied gratefully. "You guys be safe too."

They all nodded at each other before the van was turned on. For old times sake, Scott jokingly honked the crazy horn as the car moved forward and they set out on their journey.

"ROAD TRIP!!!" PJ exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, buddy!" Scott said, honking the horn once again.

Cassie laughed at the horn and the joy that was coming from her father and brother. This was truly an amazing moment, and she was glad that she insisted on them coming along. And she also hoped that this trip would be filled with many more of these heartwarming moments.

A few minutes into the drive, Scott began to think about something. Something that may help with this plan of his. Once again, it was a long shot and this slight addition was an even BIGGER long shot.

But it was still a shot. So with his mind made up, he drove and made a small detour to Berkeley University.

The past three days had been filled with laughs, music and a few family selfies along the way to The Avengers Facility. It seemed that Cassie had gotten her wish of many more happy moments with her family.

Without a doubt, it was a time that they all had enjoyed very much, especially Scott. But Cassie was making sure that all of this time was great, and she was happy that she could be here with them.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Peanut?" Scott replied.

"Thanks for letting us come along."

"Well you didn't really give me much choice."

Cassie snickered at that, remembering how much she insisted on their coming along. Scott laughed at it too.

"But no, seriously, I'm glad you came along too......to be honest, I wasn't exactly ready to up and leave you guys so soon. But this, this was great. Your decision was a mature one, and I have to remember that I don't have a little girl for a daughter anymore....I have a young lady.....and I just can't get over that."

Cassie smiled at her dad as tears started to come up again. To hear him say that to her, about her.....it meant so much. So, so much.

"I love you, Daddy." She said.

"I love you too, Peanut." Scott replied with a smile.

"I love you too, Dad!" PJ added gleefully.

Scott laughed a little at his son's words and persona. Plus to hear him say that he "loves" him, that just drove it home for him.

"I love you too, PJ!"

This was another great moment for the three of them. And it was definitely gonna stick.

After a few more minutes of driving along the road they were on, a familiar white building came into view. Then, a large gate came into view as well.

"We're here, guys." Scott said as they neared the gate.

The van slowed down as they drove right up to the gate.

No one was around, but there was a camera on one of the columns.

"Be right back." Scott opened the door and took his jacket with him. Putting it on as he walked up towards the column, he noticed that there was a button on it.

He went ahead and pushed it and waited for something to happen. Seconds later, the camera up top began to move until it was on Scott and he noticed it. Someone must be in there and they could see him.

Immediately, he began to speak.

"Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me."

From inside the van, Cassie and PJ could see their father talking to the camera.

"Ant-Man? Ant-Man, I know you know that. I need to talk to you guys."

After a few more seconds, the gate unlocked and began to roll backwards for them to enter. Seeing this, Scott jumped back in the van and closed the door behind him.

"Here we go, kids," He said as they proceeded onto the premises.

Chapter Text

***Common Room***

After parking the van outside, the three Langs walked into the Compound and were lead to the common room, where they saw two young looking people. A red haired boy, and a blonde/red girl.

As soon as Scott saw them, he became a little stumped. He hadn't expected to see kids here.

"Uh, hi." He said mannerly, not knowing what to say right now.

Jamie nodded at him and his kids. "Mr. Lang. I'm Jamie Rogers, and this is my sister, Nikki."

Nikki kindly nodded and waved at the visitors as well. They, in response did the same.

"Oh! Nice to-meet you guys. Uh, I'm Scott, and these are my kids. Cassie and PJ."

"Hi." "Hey." The two young Langs said simultaneously, waving at the twins in front of them.

"It's nice to meet you all too." Nikki replied, taking the reigns of this convo. "What can we help you with?"

Immediately, Scott's reason for being here came back to mind. "Oh yeah, right. Um, ok before I answer that, I have a question..........who are you guys? I mean-we know WHO you are now, I guess. But what I mean is, are you guys like, friends of the Avengers or something?"

Jamie and Nikki shared a look of surprise before he decided to answer that question. "Uh, not really. We're more like family. Actually we are family."

"Captain America and Black Widow were our parents." Nikki bluntly added, furthering her brother's statement.

Scott's eyes went wide at that as his mind blew. Suddenly, it all clicked in his mind. Rogers. Captain America's real last name. He mentally slapped himself for not realizing that sooner.

"Wow......wow, that's uh.......I'm sorry, I'm still trying to process this."

"Wait, so if you're they're kids," Cassie cut in, shocked herself by this pice of information, "then that would mean that....you guys have been....."

Now, she was struggling to form words.

Jamie and Nikki could see that the Langs were too, so as twins would, the two jumped in and finished their sentence for them. "Orphans for the last ten years." "Yes...yes we have."

There it was. Cassie felt her heart pinch at hearing the two confirm her thoughts. These two had experienced the same thing she and her brother had for the past decade as well.

A feeling of empathy came to her as she realized it. It was a sad realization, but it was all too familiar for her NOT to see it. As she gathered her thoughts, PJ noticed that she was seeming distraught. "Cassie, are you ok?" He asked her.

"Uh yeah, PJ. I am." She replied, doing her best to compose herself.

Scott, on the other hand, had begun pacing back and forth like a nervous wreck, obviously with something heavy on his mind.

"Mr. Lang?" Jamie called out to him.

"Huh?" Scott replied, being pulled from his thoughts before realizing what was happening in reality. "Oh, it's ok man. You can call me Scott."

"Ok well, Scott. Um...are you okay?

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just....thinking about something. Have either of you ever studied Quantum Physics?"

Jamie shook his head at that. That hadn't really come up before within his science classes. He thought the same for his sister too. But surprisingly, she replied, "Only to make conversation."

That made Jamie turn his head in confusion. What did she mean by that? What conversation had come up to where she'd be talking about that? Nikki must've felt his stare because she looked over to him and saw his confusion.

"I'll tell you later." She mouthed to him.

That didn't help Jamie's being baffled, but he decidedly let it slide and focus on what Scott was saying.

"Alright." He started, "So... ten years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my..." He was stuck on what to say. It was something he hadn't thought about too much and something he didn't want to keep bringing up in front of PJ.

"She was my... She was supposed to pull me out. But then, Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."

'Stuck there?!' Nikki thought to herself. That was awful. It was something she could relate to, but what Scott was talking about was even worse. She had been in a mental prison for the past ten years, and she had help too. But what Scott had was complete solitude and loneliness. A tear began to form in her eye at the thought of that.

"I'm sorry, Scott." She empathized with him. "That must've been a very long ten years."

But Scott didn't seem all that distraught about it. And it was confirmed by his next words. "Yeah, but that's just it. It WASN'T. For me, it was ten HOURS."

Ten hours? What?! Jamie and Nikki both said that in their minds as they shared bewildered look with one another before looking back to Scott.

"How's that possible?" Jamie asked.

"You see, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. And-" Scott was midway into explaining his theory when a peanut butter sandwich on a nearby table caught his eye. "Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving."

He didn't wait for an answer as he already made a beeline for it and bit into it. Enjoying the silky, creamy, peanut butteriness of it. Nikki was going to say something about it being her sandwich, but she figured Scott needed it more than she did. Meanwhile, Cassie shook her head and laughed inwardly while PJ smiled and laughed without trying to stop it.

Jamie though, curious about what Scott was getting at earlier pulled him back to reality. "Scott, what are you talking about?"

Scott wipes his mouth and continued his explanation while still eating the sandwich. "Right. What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it." As he continued to explain, Jamie and Nikki began to think. This idea of Scott's was starting to have some light behind it. Maybe, just maybe. "What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos..."

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Jamie asked, kinda grasping the subject.

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a..." Scott tried to think of something better, possibly cooler to call it. But unfortunately, nothing came to mind. "Yeah, a time machine. I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way to... There's gotta be...no, it's-it's crazy. "

"Scott, I'm fifteen and I get e-mails from a space raccoon," Nikki interjected, calming Scott down. "So not much sounds crazy anymore."

Scott nodded, glad to be understood. "So uh, who do we talk to about this?"

There was a silence as the Twins thought about it.

"Peter could know something about it." Nikki spoke up.

Jamie looked at her and thought about it. She was right though, Peter might know something about quantum theory. He was good with that sort of stuff. "Yeah, maybe." Jamie nodded.

"Who's Peter?" Cassie asked, jumping in.

"He's a friend, he's like our older brother."

"Yeah, and he's Spider-Man."

"NIKKI!" Jamie exclaimed.

"What?" She retorted, as if she hadn't done anything wrong.

"You can't just tell a superhero's identity to people like that! There's safety to worry about."

Nikki raises an eyebrow before turning to Scott and asking him, "Scott, you superhero right?"

At first, he was unsure if he should get in the middle of this, but Scott couldn't pass up the chance of being referred to as a superhero. Standing a little taller and puffing chest out a little, he smiled and casually replied, "Yeah. I'm Ant-Man."

That placed a proud smirk on Nikki's face as she turned back to Jamie and raised her eyebrow up again. The redhead twin sighed, know he'd lost this round. "Alright, fine. But still, don't go around, just firing it off anymore. Okay?"

"Whatever you say, bro." She said, holding that smirk a while longer.

"So this friend of your, Peter, can help us?" Cassie asked, bringing the matter at hand back to light.

His focus back on track, Jamie nodded. "Yeah, he'd be the first I'd go to on this. This kind of stuff, it's not exactly my forte."

Scott understood that, he was barely understanding Quantum Physics himself. But that's why they needed help, and now they had it. "Alright, so let's go see him."

Jamie and Nikki nodded before grabbing their shoes and coats.

"FRIDAY, let Betty know we're going out please." Nikki requested.

"Yes ma'am." The AI responded.

This surprised Scott and the kids, they had just heard a voice within the room had speak. Their shocked looks soon turned into looks of wonder and amazement.

"So cool!" PJ exclaimed, stoked out of his mind.

Chapter Text

***Cabin***

The sounds of a few birds chirping, water in a nearby lake, the wind blowing against the grass. That's what the surroundings of the Stark Cabin were. Quaint and peaceful. Almost like something out of a fairytale.

And the occupants were happy about it too. One of them, Peter Parker, walked out of the cabin and took it all in. Even though he was from the city, he loved nature. And it was moments like these where he liked to stop and enjoy it.

After he did for a few seconds, he ascended the porch steps.

"Ok, lunchtime!" He exclaimed as he started on a small grassy path.

The path led to a little play area that had a tent, a blanket, and a picnic table.

"Young Padawan!" He called out as he sat on a small chair in front of the tent. "Morgan A. Stark, you want some lunch?"

A small hand pulled the curtains of the tent back and out walked a little girl with a repulsor blaster on her palm and a purple and silver Iron Man helmet on. "Define 'wunch', or be 'dithintegwated'."

Peter immediately put his hands up mimicking the girl, but also a bit defensively. "Whoa, whoa! Don't fire! Friendly! Friendly!"

"Hmm, 'vewy' well. You are 'cwear'."

The girl lowered her hand and a laugh could be hear from behind it. Peter put his hands down and let out a genuine sigh of relief, only making her laugh more.

"Did I 'thcare' you?"

"A little bit, yeah. I'm not gonna lie. Ya know, you shouldn't be wearing this, little sister. This is part of something special I was fixing up for your mom."

He reached over and carefully slid the helmet off, revealing the cute innocent little face of Morgan. She smiled and watched as he held it up.

"Where'd you find this anyway?" He asked curiously.

"'Gawage'."

"Oh yeah? Were you looking for it?"

Morgan shook her head and played with her hair. "No, I found it though."

"Found it, huh?"

Morgan nodded with a smile.

"You like the garage, don't you?" Peter asked.

"Yeah."

"Me too. It's a great place to tinker. Or just be sneaky like you."

Peter bopped Morgan's nose and she laughed.

"I 'wathn't' 'thneaky', I'm 'justh' that good."

"Yeah, you are."

Peter laughed and hugged her, and she hugged back. She loved Peter. He was her big brother, even though he wasn't blood. She didn't care, and neither did he. They were family.

"You hungry?" He asked as they broke the hug.

She nodded and smiled.

"Alright, come on." Peter stood up and they walked hand in hand toward the cabin. "And don't worry. As long as your mom didn't see it, it's okay. I wanna finish it first before I give it to her."

"'It'th' a 'thupwise'?" Morgan asked with her cute lisp.

"Yeah, pretty much. It's actually a gift that your um..........that your Dad was making for your mom."

"'Weawy'?"

"Yup. But um...I'll tell you more about it later."

He picked her up she held on to him as he carried her to the cabin.

As he did, he just couldn't help but think of Tony. And Morgan? Wow...She was just like her father. Drawn to the suit, and a natural with it even at the age of seven. The Stark brains/smarts were definitely in her, just like her father. Tony would've been proud.

A few tears threatened to come out, but Peter fought them away.

So the two just made it to the porch when Peter heard a car come to a stop behind them.

Turning around, they saw Jamie, Nikki, another familiar man and two kids getting out.

"Nikki! Jamie! " Morgan exclaimed as Peter let her down and she ran over to the teens.

The blonde twin knelt down and held out her arms for Morgan to run into. When she did, Nikki picked her up and twirled her around in a hug.

"Good to see you, Morgan!" She exclaimed. "I missed you."

"I 'mithed' you too!" The toddler replied.

As they hugged, behind them, Jamie waved to Peter and he waved back as he walked over.

"Hey Pete."

"Hey, man." He offered a bro hug which Jamie accepted. "What's-what's going on?"

"Well, we..." Jamie motioned to himself and then to Scott who was behind him. "We got something to talk to you about."

This confused Peter. What would they have to talk about that was so important to where Jamie couldn't give him a call? Whatever it was, it must be important for them to come all this way.

"Let's talk." He said as he motioned for them to come onto the porch and sit.

***Front Porch***

Scott has just finished explaining his life idea to Peter, who had mad some drinks for them all as the Ant-Man explained.

"Mmm! This is pretty good!" Scott said before taking another sip of his beverage he Peter had just poured.

"Yeah, it is." Cassie agreed. "What is it?"

Peter smiled at their reactions before describing his tasty creation. "It's a mixture of a strawberry milkshake with a scoop of chocolate, whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup. I call it the Darth Maul-ted."

"Like Star Wars?" They all asked.

"Uh..yeah. Yeah, exactly like Star Wars." That shocked Peter to hear them, but he smiled nonetheless with a bit of pride.

As they took another sip, Jamie jumped in and tried to focus back on the matter at hand.

"So Peter, do you think it's possible? I mean, after everything you've seen....do you think we could do it?"

"Right." He said, getting his mind focused again. "Uh, maybe....I-I don't really know. I'm don't really know much within this area, and that that I DO know is that the risks are very high. The biggest one being that you.....you don't come home."

"I did." Scott stated, thinking it might help the case.

"That's true. But technically, it's more like...you 'accidentally survived'. It's basically a billion to one cosmic fluke."

"So it's really THAT unstable." Cassie said. It came out as more of a question than a statement, but it was something that she was kind of already clear on. If it could keep her father stuck for ten years, then it HAD to be serious.

Peter nodded at her statement. "Yeah, it is. And if we were to pull off this.... this......actually, I just realized that I didn't ask, but does this plan have a name?"

Once again, Scott was stumped. He just realized he never thought up a name for his idea. Thinking of something on the fly, he stated, "...Time Heist."

"That's a pretty cool name." Peter commended Scott, a curious smile tugging at the corner of his lips which made Scott smile a little too. Unfortunately though, the seriousness came back to squash the short lived joy there. "But still, I-I don't know if we can."

"Pete, the stones are in the past. We could go back and get them-"

"-and snap our own fingers and bring everyone back," Nikki cut in, finishing her brother's sentence.

Peter nodded, but was still unsure about it all. "Yeah....yeah. But you don't think that we may accidentally screw it up worse than Thanos already did?"

"I don't believe we would." Jamie stated positively.

That made Peter release a small snicker. It was moments like this that made him remember who Jamie's father was. Captain America. The man who always tried to look on the bright side and look out for everyone while he did it. It was uncanny sometimes. "You sound just like your dad right now. He was really optimistic, all the time.." He said with a sad half smile.

Jamie let his head drop at that. Not because of what Peter said really, but because he didn't really have much control over his optimism. It just came naturally to him. Felt good too. And to her that it made him like his father made him want this more and more.

"Still though," Peter began again, fear more apparent in his voice. "There's too many risks. I mean, we could end up dying!"

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." Scott reasonably replied, taking a seat across from Peter. "You know, no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events -"

"Uh, Scott? Just so I'm clear, are you telling me that your time travel knowledge based on Back To The Future?"

"Uh.....no?"

"Oh ok. I mean, not that that's a problem. It IS the go-to time travel movie. Plus, a lot of my knowledge on it is from there too, so don't worry if it is."

Scott nodded and smiled at that, glad that this kid, or young adult rather, shared a good appreciation for popular culture. "Thanks. So, what do you say?"

Once again, fear set in on Peter. This time with flashback images of Tony dying in his arms came to him. This made him all the more hesitant in his answer.

"I don't know. I just.....I...........I don't know."

"Peter..." Nikki called, a light crack in her voice from held back tears, "We have to do this......we have to take a stand."

He looked up to her and listened to her as she said that. And deep down, he knew she was right.

"Yeah......yeah, I know. It's just.....the last time I took a stand, it..........it didn't end so well."

"How do I know it won't end the same way it did last time?"

"You don't." Cassie answered, cutting in. "But at least you'll have tried."

"Plus, one thing that'll make it not like last time, Pete, is that this time, we'll be doing it together." Jamie said, trying to reach his big brother figure.

"Look Peter, I get it." Scott pleaded, empathizing his new friend, "I do. You lost someone like a father to you. I understand what its like. And with Thanos, I lost someone very important to me too. We all did, a lot of people did. But now, we have a chance to bring them back. To bring EVERYONE back.....we HAVE to do this."

Peter thought about it and contemplated the thoughts. Pro: they somehow succeed and it all ends happy; Con:....they miss and they all die. Not exactly encouraging. And the mere thought of any of them dead made Peter feel even worse. But still......what if they could? What if?..............

"Peter," Nikki began, making him look up at her. "I know how hard it's been for you...and I know that you're haunted by those memories...but this, this is a second chance. For EVERYONE....And yeah, it's risky. But if there's even a small chance we can pull this off.......that we can undo all of this mess, we owe it to everyone who's not us to try."

Peter nodded at that, she was right. If there was a chance at bringing everyone who was lost back, a chance......a chance at seeing Tony again...regardless of how small it was...Peter was going to take it.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're right...... I'm in. I don't know exactly how to do it, but I'll uh...I'll get to work and see what I can do. It's not my best field, but.....I'll still try."

Jamie, Nikki, and the Langs nodded in relief. Relief that they'd have more help in this plan. It actually gave them hope. Hope that maybe, just maybe, they could do it.

Their silence was broken by the sound of a door to the house closing and little Morgan walking out and over to Peter.

"Mom 'thent' me out here to 'thave' you." She stated.

Peter smiled at her cuteness. "Aww. My hero!I'm saved." He said as picked her up and set her on his knee before hugging her. Then he turned back to his guests. "In the meantime though, we're gonna have to get more data on this. Maybe run a test or two to see how it'd work."

They all nodded before standing up and saying their goodbyes.

Scott held out his hand and Peter shook it with respect.

"Thank you, Peter." He thanked him gladly.

"No, thank you, Scott. This was your idea, and it's got some hope with it. So thank you."

Scott smiled at that before nodding and shaking Peter's hand once more before walking off the porch. Cassie and PJ waved at him with smiles before joining their father at the bottom of the steps.

Turning towards the Twins, Nikki came up to him and pulled him in for a hug. "Thanks, big bro." Peter couldn't help but smile at that as he returned the hug.

"You got it, sis." He replied.

When they finally broke the hug, Nikki kissed Peter's cheek before letting go and smiling as she walked away.

Jamie came next and hugged Peter as well, which Peter returned to his "little brother". When they pulled away, Jamie had on a slick smile. "I'm not kissin' ya." He snorted before walking away and laughing as he did.

Peter shook his hand as he watched them walk off the porch. As he did, he watched them and thought, 'That's my family.' with a smile

Yes, that was his family, and he was happy to have them. And it would seem the Langs would become new additions to that family.

He stayed smiling as he looked down to Morgan. "Hungry, Morg?"

"Yup!" She replied excitedly as she took his hand and the two headed inside.

"He's scared," Nikki stated as the walked up to the car.

"He's got reason to be." Jamie added, "But at least he's in. We can't do it without him."

"Yeah, but don't we still need someone who knows about Quantum Theory?" Cassie asked.

Jamie nodded at that. "Yeah, I wanna do it right.......we're gonna need a really big, smart brain."

"Bigger than his? Where are we gonna find that?!"

"Nikki?"

"Making the call." She said, already dialing the number and putting the phone to her ear. After a few seconds, she heard the line pick up. "Hey, Uncle Bruce? Hi, it's me, Nikki. Yea, it has. Yeah, uh, can we talk?"

Chapter Text

***Diner***

So after making a call, and a bit of driving, the Twins, Scott and the Lang kids made it to a diner where they met up with someone they knew very well.

"Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating here," the person said. "Here, have some eggs."

A huge green hand pushed a big bowl of scrambled eggs towards Scott. And that hand belonged to none other than the Green Giant himself, The Hulk.

But, this wasn't the normal Hulk. Hulk had a deep, DEEP voice, and accidentally broke things and didn't form full sentences.

And he DEFINITELY didn't wear clothes except for his pants. Or glasses!

But this wasn't JUST the Hulk. He had Bruce Banner's voice, his eyes, and more of his facial features. He almost looked...human! Minus the still height and the still largeness to him.

"This is so cool!" PJ whispered to Cassie from the booth next to them, while Cassie, who was sitting in a chair next to the Hulk....or Bruce, merely scrunched her face.

Cool wasn't exactly the word she'd use right now. Surprising, yes. Shocking, most definitely. But cool?.......Okay, maybe a little bit cool. It was the Hulk, after all. But it was a bit confusing too.

"I am so confused." Scott bluntly stated, speaking her exact thoughts.

"These are confusing times." Bruce replied with a snicker at the end.

"No, no. I mean, that's not what I meant." Scott tried to correct himself, but Bruce caught him.

"I know, I'm-I'm kidding!" He exclaimed, looking at himself, "It's crazy! I'm wearing shirts now!"

"Yeah but, how? Why?"

Bruce wipes his mouth and put his napkin, which was more like a giant paper towel, down before he began to explain. "Ten years ago, we got our a**es beat. Except it was worse for me because I lost three times. First Hulk lost, then Banner lost....and then we ALL lost.....we lost our friends."

"We don't blame you though, Uncle Bruce." Nikki stated.

"I did. After that, I felt really bad about it. Cause I felt like I could've done more. But I didn't. And then I had to take care of you guys."

Jamie and Nikki looked right at Bruce. They knew this story. Bruce had raised them, with Betty.  And they'd visit with Azari T'Challa as well on occasion, and they're still friends to this day. To say the same about Torunn was uncertain since they hadn't really talked in almost five years. But they still considered her a friend. 

"I didn't mind it." Bruce continued, "Not in the slightest....and it wasn't easy! Heh...but it was great."

This made Scott smile. He was happy that even though there was a great loss, there was some gain too. Jamie and Nikki, on the other hand, blushed in happiness. They were happy to have been raised by their Uncle Bruce. Even though he turned into a giant green Gamma monster.

"And we thank you for that, Uncle Bruce." Jamie replied.

"Anytime, bud. But like I said, it wasn't easy. But it gave me and Betty the chance that I didn't think we'd ever get. A family. Something I thought could never happen when you have gamma radiation in your blood stream.....For years, I'd been treating the Hulk like he was some sort of disease. Something to get rid of.....But then, I started looking at him as the cure."

Now, Scott, Jamie and Nikki were listening intently as to how Bruce got to his current state.

"Eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together! And now look at me, best of both worlds!"

As he explained, a group of kids came up to Bruce with the smiles of a fan club.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hulk?" One of them, a girl, called.

Bruce turned and looked at them with a smile. One you didn't see too often from the Hulk. But he still responded kindly. "Yes?"

"Can we take a picture with you?"

"One hundred percent, little person! Come on, step on up."

Bruce took the phone they already had out and held it out to Scott. "Would you mind?"

"Oh yeah!" Scott took the phone, pulled up the camera and got up against the window of the booth seat to get all four of them in a picture.

"Ok, say 'Green!'" Bruce told them.

"GREEEEEEEEEEEN!" They all said in harmony as they looked at the camera.

"Did you get it?" Bruce asked, still posing just in case.

"Yup," Scott replied as he came back down. "Hey, you guys wanna get one with me? I'm Ant-Man!"

There was an awkward silence between them as the kids didn't really want to. But at the same time Bruce encouraged them to so as not to hurt Scott's feelings.

"It's ok," Scott said, not wanting to push them before this got TOO awkward, "You're Hulk fans. I get it. You don't know Ant-Man, it's ok. NO ONE does."

But Bruce, being the good person he was, still tried to encourage the kids to take a picture with him. But Scott kept trying to let it go. And seeing one of the kids shake his head 'No' at taking a picture with him was MORE THAN A ENOUGH confirmation.

"Take the frickin' phone!" He exclaimed subtly.

So the kids took it, that moment done with, and they thanked Bruce for taking the picture with them.

Jamie took a sip from his water after that awkward moment before he tried to get back to the conversation. "Uncle Bruce.... Uncle Bruce!"

After pulling himself back together from doing a dab with the kids and reminding them to listen to their parents, he was back in the conversation. "Sorry, yeah!"

"Back to what you were saying, please?"

"Right. Uh, your whole time travel do over?....Not gonna lie, sounds like something out of a comic book. Or a 1980s sci-fi movie!" The Green Genius chuckled, "But looking at me, I got no room to talk. (sigh) Well guys, it's-it's outta my area of expertise."

Nikki shrugged at that. "Well you pulled this off. I remember when Aunt Betty said that that seemed almost impossible for you too."

Bruce smiled and nodded at that. "Well...if we did, we'd need someone who is smart in this area. Like 'has a degree' smart. Scott?"

Scott's head popped up at the mention of his name. "Yeah?"

"Now you know more about this Quantum Realm better than any of us at this table. That's one in. But, that's not enough. No offense."

"None taken."

"So do you know anyone else who could help us with this? Anyone at all?"

Scott thought really hard. And it wasn't easy since he didn't know many people who were great in this field of science. But after pondering the thought, he realized, there was someone!

"I think I've got it!" He stated.

"Who?" Jamie asked curiously.

"Well, to be honest, I don't know if he's still alive or not. But if he is, he may be the only one who could help us crack this."

"Who is it?!" Nikki exclaimed, getting slightly anxious.

Scott took a moment before answering, "Hank Pym's old S.H.I.E.L.D. partner. Bill Foster."

"I've heard of him." Bruce nodded, "His research on Quantum Phasing is really amazing. Where is he?"

"He teaches at Berkely in California. He wasn't there though. I stopped at his office and left a note, but we'll see what happens."

"Well, let's get to work." Nikki said, with a smirk.

"Alright, but we gotta wait for somebody first." Bruce stated before looking over to the counters behind them. "Hey, can I get a few to-go boxes please?"

"Who're we waiting for?" Cassie asked.

Just then, the bell at the entrance of the diner rang as the door opened, making everyone look towards it. Who they saw walking in was a teenage girl with beautiful dark skin looking around.

As soon as he saw her, Bruce immediately waved her over. "Viv, hey! Over here!"

She saw him and began walking over to the table.

As she did, the group all took notice of her attire. Aside from her lime green one-strapped backpack, she wore a maroon colored hoodie, blue jeans that hugged her legs, and a pair of Converses. But, her most outstanding feature was her hair. From her head to her shoulders were shiny streaks of black hair, but two streaks of colored hair in front. On the left was a light purple streak, and lime green on the right.

"Hey Dad!" She said with a smile.

"Dad?" they all repeated simultaneously, shocked and dumbfounded by what they just heard.

"Hey, honey!" Bruce replied as the girl pulled up a chair and sat next to him. He reached his large arm around and hugged her to him. "Glad you made it."

The girl, still smiling, leaned into the hug and returned it.

"Who's she?" PJ asked.

"Guys, this is Viv. Viv, this is-"

"Jamie and Nikki Rogers." She said, finishing Bruce's words. She reached out and shook Jamie and Nikki's hands. "Nice to finally meet you guys."

"Nice to meet you too." "Hi." The twins replied.

They shook her hand, but were a bit dumbfounded at how this girl knew their names instantly. Maybe Bruce told her?

"And this is Scott Lang and his kids, Cassie and PJ."

Viv nodded at Scott and his kids. "Mr. Lang. Guys."

Cassie and PJ waved and nodded at this mysterious girl.

"Oh, just Scott is fine." Scott kindly corrected Viv. After that, there was a moment of silence before Scott spoke the obvious question on all of their minds.

But Cassie beat him to the punch. "I'm sorry, did she call you 'Dad'?"

Bruce chuckled at that and began to explain. "Yeah, she did. Viv is my adoptive daughter."

That shocked them, mainly Jamie and Nikki.

"How're we just hearing about this?" Nikki asked curiously, "I mean, no offense, Viv, but this is a bit of a shock."

"Oh, I can imagine." Viv replied understandably. "But to be honest, this was a surprise for me as well. I wasn't expecting to meet you all today, it was last minute. So I apologize for any inconvenience or discomfort I may have caused."

Right away, Jamie could sense a little remorse in Viv's voice. Nikki could too, as did Scott and his kids. They didn't mean for her to feel like a nuisance or want her to feel uncomfortable herself. From what they could tell, Viv was a likable person. And if Bruce trusted her and considered her his daughter, that was enough for them.

Nikki leaned forward and put a hand on her arm. "We're glad to meet you too, Viv. And if Uncle Bruce calls you his daughter, then that makes you family."

"And for us, family is everything." Jamie added.

Any nervous feelings that Viv has went away at hearing those words. Her smile returned once again as she thanked them.

Deciding to take the reigns on it, Cassie spoke up next. "I really like your hair colors."

Viv smiled at her kind comment. "Thanks. Believe it or not, they're actually real."

They continued to converse for a while before Bruce's to-go boxes came and they packed up. When they were all ready to go, they headed out, ready to get to work.

Chapter Text

***Stark Cabin***

After lunch, the day pretty much flew by.

But when nighttime rolled around, Peter found himself in deep thought, as he washed the dishes. He thought about May. He thought about Ned..........and he thought about Tony. That's where his memory held still for a minute. The more he thought about the heroic billionaire, the more he missed him. He remembered the wave of shock that overtook him when he first met Tony. The glee he experienced when he was with them in Berlin....before the fighting began that is. But then, the heart-wrenching pain and sadness from watching Tony die in front of him came back as well.

It was only the faucet hose spraying him that pulled him from his thoughts. He immediately reacted by turning off the water and placing the hose back in it's spot. He noticed that he had partially drenched himself, the right side of his shirt to be more precise. Mentally slapping himself, he dried the plate in his hands before placing it in the dish rack on the counter next to the sink. As he set it down, his eyes drifted upward to a picture of Howard Stark on a small shelf that was in a corner. He gave it a good look and couldn't help but notice, again, just how much like his father Tony looked.

He hummed a tad, a half smile coming up. "Hey, Mr. Stark."

But after he said that, his eyes drifted to another picture behind the one of Tony's father. This one hit differently though.

That smile gone and a sigh let out through the nostrils, Peter hesitantly reaches up and pulled the photo down to get a better look at it. It was a picture of him and Tony with a Stark Industries Certificate that Peter had received on joining the "Stark Internship" way back in 2017.

As he looked on at the picture, tears began to well up and his heart started to hurt. And the more the hurt, the more Peter understood what Nikki meant when she said what this thing was. What this plan, this Time Heist meant. Not just to him, but to everyone on Earth. Heck, to everyone in the UNIVERSE!

Bringing his head up and staring ahead with a look of determination, he nodded to himself as he knew what had to be done.

A little later, Peter sat down and fired up his computer/holo-table in the living room, generating a holographic model for a potential time machine that could be compatible with quantum fluctuation.

"Ok uh, can we look at a mod inspiration, please? I wanna see if it checks out." He said to his AI, KAREN. He still used her and was really happy, it helped to have someone to talk to like her. "Uh.....recommend one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a Mobius strip, inverted, please."

"Processing..." She replied.

The hologram that was projected above the table showed the Mobius strip-shaped structure being formed with multiple fluctuating panels on it. Peter nodded at it before turning it around with his hands and worked on certain parts.

"I'm gonna need a....um......why do you call it?"

"Eigenvalue?"

"Right! That. And that, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. That'll take a second."

"Just a moment."

"And uh.......ya know, don't worry if it doesn't pan out. I'm just kinda..."

But the AI cut him off with her report. "Model rendered."

Within a few seconds, the results for the render came up, and what he saw left him speechless. The results show the chance of the model being as 99.987% successful. Peter's eyes went wide at the sight of it. This was it. It could work!!!! So overcome by shock and bewilderment, Peter fell backwards into his chair, completely blown away.

With so many neurons flaring in his brain, one word came to mind that helped him get out his shock."......sh**!"

"Sh**." Another voice repeated. Peter slightly flinched as he didn't expect anyone to hear him, let alone repeat him.

Turning around, he saw none other than Morgan sitting at the foot of the stairs, smiling and giggling at her "older brother".

Immediately, Peter brought a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet. "What are you doing out of bed, little miss?" He asked, not stopping the smile that automatically came.

"Sh**." She replied, repeating his previous line.

Once again, Peter tried to shush her. "No, no, no! You can't say that. I shouldn't even be saying it. Your mom's the only one that can use it. She coined it, it belongs to her."

He made that last part up, but he hoped it would be enough for Morgan not to use it again.

"Why you up?" She asked him.

"'Cause I-I got a big project I'm working on here."

"What 'ith' it?"

"Grownup sh**!" Peter exclaimed with a cocky smile, "What do you think?"

That made Morgan put on a scrunched up face that said 'What did you just say?!' It was still cute though. But it made Peter realize what he'd just said and done.

"No, I-I got something on my mind. I got something on my mind." He corrected himself.

"'Wath' it 'juith popths'?" Morgan asked with a teasing tone.

Peter saw right through her and could tell what she was getting at. And it just made him smile even more. "Uh, yeah. Sure was. Great minds think alike."

Standing up from his chair, he reached out his hand which Morgan took as she jumped down the last step of the stairs and they both walked towards the kitchen.

"By the way, are you familiar with the term 'extortion'?" Peter asked her, which she replied with another giggle.

***Morgan's Bedroom***

Thirty minutes later, the two were finishing was had been two juice pops each.

"All finished?" Peter asked her, a juice pop stick in the side of his mouth.

Morgan nodded with hers still on her mouth too. "Mhm."

Peter couldn't help but smile at that. She was just too cute and lovable. And she loved him too, that made him even happier to know her and be here for her.

"Me too. Here. " Reaching over, he wiped Morgan's face for any juice pop residue before taking her juice pop stick and stood up from the bed. "Alright, time to sleep."

"Nooooo!" She cried, "Tell me a 'thtory'!"

"A story?"

"'Pweathe'?"

Peter exhaled a laugh from his nostrils before sitting back down next to her bed. "How can I say 'No' to that face?"

He was really pushing it, but he couldn't say no to her even if he wanted to. Morgan smiled at that as she readied herself for the story.

"Heh, ok. Which one?"

"The one about the 'thix' 'heroeths'."

Peter froze for a minute. He knew what she meant by that. He'd told her that story a long time ago when she was a baby. But she wanted to hear it now and again.

A smile came to his face as he nodded. "Ok."

"Yay!" She clapped.

"Ready?"

She nodded. Peter let out a sigh as he began, wondering how to start.

"Ok..............Um.......ok. And there came one day unlike any other. When Earth's Mightiest Heroes came together against a common threat. The Soldier. The Knight. The God. The Monster. The Spy. And The Archer. On that day, the Avengers were born. And they fought to protect people from threats that they couldn't on their own.

"Did they 'thave' the world?"

Peter laughed and nodded at that. "Yep, they sure did. And it became a regular thing for them. And they all became close friends as they did. Even making new friends along the way. There was....The King...The Giant...and The Ghost, and many others!"

"Ooooohh!"

"Be it mischievous lords, alien invaders, or evil robots, the Avengers vanquished them all. Together, they were a team of unstoppable good."

Peter pauses momentarily as he saw the mesmerized expression on his "little sister's" face. She really liked it when he told her stories like this, he was always so expressive and vivid with them and she was always happy with the endings. And Peter looked it too, the storytelling was a big thing for him with Morgan. And this particular one was a personal favorite...but now, things were different now that she was older. So he decided to go a little further.

"But one day," he continued hesitantly, "...evil returned. A new evil called: Thanos."

Morgan had never heard this part of the story before.

"The Mad Titan, Thanos, wanted nothing less than dominion over the whole universe, but wanted half of it gone."

"Why?"

"Well..." Peter thought for a minute of how to explain to where she'd understand. "...Ok, you know how you don't like it when there's too much peanut butter or too much jelly on your sandwiches?"

Morgan nodded.

"Well, that's how it was for Thanos. He thought that there were too many in the universe and figured that the only way for balance was to ki-.....'off' half of it."

"That's mean!"

"Yeah it is, and it's how he wanted it too. But the Avengers stood in his way."

"Yeah!"

"Yeah. They fought their best to stop the Mad Titan, and they came so close to stopping him.....but unfortunately...........they weren't able to....."

"Did they die?"

Peter solemnly nodded.

"Yeah.......they did...but even after, the children of the Avengers lived on.....and as long as they do..............there's still hope."

Peter had said that last part mainly for himself. He needed hope, a lot of it. And now....he had it. He had trailed off and stopped talking. Morgan noticed this and saw that Peter had began tearing up, and that didn't sit so well with her. She didn't like to see her "big brother" sad or hurt, or anything like that. Cause then, that made her feel bad.

Moving the covers away, she got up from her bed and hugged Peter's neck, and Peter didn't hesitate to hug her back. "Ith's ok, Peter."

"Thanks, Morgan." He whispered back, more tears threatening to come forward.

After hugging it out a little more, they let up and broke their hug. Morgan smiled as she looked Peter right in the face and rubbed cheek. That made Peter smile, and he was happy that she was able to help him. Even with small gestures like that.

They shared a final smile before Morgan jumped back into bed. Peter followed suit as he tucked her in.

"Night, Morgan." He said with a smile.

"G'night, Peter." She replied.

"Love you tons."

"I love you three 'thouthsand'."

Peter was stunned by that. Morgan never ceased to surprise him, but this one took the cake. He couldn't help but smile at that as he stood up. "Three-thousand? Wow! That is a big number, I'm impressed."

Turning off the light and just about to close the door, Morgan called out to Peter once more, "Peter?"

A light sigh escaped him as he heard his name, but he still couldn't be upset or annoyed. Not in the slightest. "Yeah?" 

"Is that 'thtory' true, about the heroes?" she asked.

Peter thought on that for a bit. He never told her the story was true, but she was smart enough to figure things out on her own. Still though, he didn't want to scare her. "Well, what do you think?"

"I think it's real."

That made Peter nod, a small prideful smile with it too. He was really proud of her with how she took it and how strong she was. "Well, it is. And even though some of them are gone, it's good that those heroes gave people hope. It helps a lot."

There was a momentary silence before Morgan gave an honest, heartfelt statement.

"You're my hero, Peter."

Once again, the strings of Peter's heart were strummed when she said that and a blushy-faced smile came with it to boot. He looked down to try and hide it, but failed.  That's the effect Morgan had on him, she would leave him speechless and loved. And he loved that about her.

"And you're mine too, Morg." He replied, his voice voice cracking a little. They shared a brother and sister moment as they smiled at each other once again. "All right, now go to sleep or you'll turn to the Dark Side!"

Morgan giggled  as she watched Peter close her bedroom door and leave her to sleep, and she did. And when  she slept, she dreamt of the heroes, and Peter as a hero too.

***Living Room***

Pepper Potts was sitting on the couch and reading a magazine when's she hears Peter come down the stairs and joins her in the living room.

"I honestly can't get enough of her." He stated proudly as he sat on the couch with her, "She just said 'she loved me 3000!'"

Pepper scoffed/smiled at that statement. "Oh, did she now?"

"Yeah. But don't worry, I'm sure you're higher than me."

"Oh, I doubt that, Peter."

He cackled innocently before his gaze drifted back over to the holo-table where the hologram still floated and glowed. He still couldn't he'd cracked it, yet there it was. He didn't realize he'd been staring at it for quite a while until he heard a voice.

"Peter?" Pepper called him, pulling him from his thoughts.

He came back to reality once again, blinking rapidly a few times before looking back to her. "Yeah?"

"Are you ok?" Pepper asked, the concern of a mother apparent in her voice.

Peter let out a heavy sigh  before gathering his thoughts and telling Pepper. "I figured it out."

Unclear on what he meant, Pepper tried to ask, "And when you say 'it', just so I know, we're talking about -"

"Time travel." He expanded, making it more understandable for her. "I made out the model and it says it'll work."

Pepper was taken aback by that, almost speechless. "What? Wow... That's amazing, and... terrifying."

 "............yeah.......yeah, it is."

"You know, we got lucky to have made it this far."

Peter nodded at that. "Yeah, I know."

"A lot of people didn't."

"Also true. Wasn't able to save them."

"Doesn't seem like it's stopped you from still trying."

"For the past ten years......I've been haunted by these memories. They keep playing in my head, over and over. 

"Peter, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that once you have a moral obligation to something, nothing can stop you. You tend to see it as a responsibility. It's one of the things that Tony saw in you, why he liked you so much. Because you reminded him of him."

Peter snorted lightly at that as he listened to Pepper's words, her words about Tony. And that made Peter think about the Heist even more, and how important it was....and what it could mean to Pepper if it worked.

"I miss him..."

Pepper nodded in agreement, tears forming in her eyes the more she thought of her lover. "I know.........I miss him too, so..so much. But I think if her were here right now, he'd be proud of you. "

 "Yeah........but with this, I.....I'm torn. Part of me feels like I should just drop it at the bottom of the lake... go to bed."

Pepper, knowing better and caring for Peter, retorted kindly, "But would you be able to rest?"

She made a good point there. Peter would probably just be in bed, laying awake and staring at the ceiling for the whole night with it weighing on his mind. And that made him feel conflicted even more. "I don't know.......I just don't know."

Pepper closed her book before standing up and looking down to Peter once more. "Peter, whatever it is you choose, I know you'll make the right decision."

She walked past him and kissed the top of his head before going up to her room to bed.

As Peter sat there alone, he looked back over to the holo-table and look at the model once again. As he did, the thoughts and worries of what could happen came back. And he was afraid of them, but he was even more afraid of not trying now that he was this close to it.

Best case scenario: everyone lost would be back. Worst case...well, Peter decided not to let that hold him back anymore.  So, letting out a good long sigh, Peter nodded as he stood up and walked over to the table and starred at the hologram. The longer he stared, the more solid his decision had become.

Once again, he nodded as he said the following words. "Whatever it takes."

Chapter Text

***Avengers Compound, Hangar***

With any experiment, before the main event of it, you have to test it first and make sure that everything checks out and that all the life threatening kinks are worked out. Well, when you're working with Pym Particles and the Quantum Realm, it's even more dangerous. So that's why Scott, Bruce and the other were practicing and testing out their theories.

The group in the hangar included the Twins, Cassie and PJ, Viv, Bruce and Betty on standby for medical assistance. Within the past ten years, Betty had become a part time nurse next to her other profession. And that was good, cause there was a chance they could need that now.

"Okay, here we go!" Bruce said to everyone in the room. "Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the uhhh... the van thing."

Scott, clad in Hank Pym's Quantum Realm Exploration Suit, walked over to his van and opened the back doors of it to reveal the Quantum Tunnel built by Hank Pym years ago and it turned on as the doors opened.

"All right, breakers are set," "And emergency generators are on standby." Jamie and Nikki said as they walked back over to the group.

"Good. 'Cause if we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950's." Bruce motioned over to Scott and whispered the last part.

Scott's head immediately popped up at that. "Excuse me?"

"He's kidding!" Nikki assured Scott before looking to Bruce and shaking her head. "You can't say things like that!"

"That was j-j-just... a bad joke."

"Uh...You were kidding, right?" Cassie asked him in a worried tone.

Before answering, Bruce looked over at Scott to make sure he couldn't hear him. Fortunately, the Ant-Man was fiddling with his suit, so he wasn't paying attention.

"I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is." He whispered that before turning to Scott over by the van and gave him a thumbs up and big masking smile. "We're good! Get your helmet on."

Cassie looked at Nikki who's face matched the nervousness of her own, but they both turned in the direction of Scott and the van with smiles on their faces...nervous smiles...

"Ok, Scott. I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Makes sense?"

Scott nodded and threw a "no problem" hand to them. "Perfectly not confusing." He replied.

"Good luck, Scott." Jamie said to Scott with an encouraging nod. "You got this."

And in that moment, somehow, Scott saw a certain heroism in those words. It was that that made him see a lot of resemblance between Jamie and his father. And just like he did his father, Scott admired that. "You're right. I do, Captain America." he replied with a nod back.

Hearing that caught Jamie by surprise, but it still made him smile. Bruce pressed a button, activating the Tunnel and Scott shrunk and disappeared into it.

"On the count of three. 3... 2... 1!"

He pressed another button, and out came...well, it wasn't Scott...was it? Inside of the suit was a teenager. A teenager!

"Uh, guys?" He said to them, looking at himself with a confused expression. "This...this doesn't feel right."

Jamie, dumbfounded by this, was the first to speak up. "What is this?"

"What's going on?" Bruce asked out loud as he looked amongst his work station before working at figuring out what had just happened.

Viv curiously cocking her head to the side. "Who is that?"

"Uhh..hold on." Bruce said as he pushes a few more couple of buttons, trying to fix the problem, slightly panicking as he did.

Everyone was utterly shocked by this sight.

"I-Is that...is that Scott?" Betty asked, eyes wide, eyebrows scrunched and completely confused.

"Yes, it's Scott!" The teen retorted in a panicked tone.

Cassie was dumbfounded by this as well. "Dad?"

The boy swiftly turned and looked at her. "Yeah, it's Dad!"

As soon as he said that though, Bruce pushed the button again, sucking Teen Scott back into the Quantum Tunnel. Trying something different, Bruce hoped for the best as he pushed another button which brought Scott out of the Tunnel again, but this time...he was an old man!

"Ow! My back!" He groaned.

"What is THIS?!" Jamie exclaimed again.

"Oh my god! He's a geriatric." Viv stated.

"Can I get a little space here?" Bruce asked, moving over to get to another button-laden panel.

Jamie immediately obliged him and walked around him, but still confused at the "Scott" in front of them. "Yeah yeah. Can you bring him back?"

"I'm working on it!" Bruce presses more buttons and slapped the side of one button pad before pressing the ignition button, pulling Scott back into the Tunnel.

Moments later, he came out of the portal once again. When he did though, all eyes were in complete shock and disbelief. Scott had come out this time differently...much, MUCH different. Sure, he was young again, but that's the thing. He was TOO too young.

"It's a baby." Jamie said plainly, shrugging his shoulders while also trying to comprehend this.

"It's Scott." Bruce corrected.

"AS a BABY!" Nikki retorted, echoing her brother's words.

"He'll grow." He tried to reason. But Betty looked to Bruce with a stern look with a hint of disbelief. "BRUCE! Her tone made him and everyone's head turn at her call immediately and all were a bit frightened. "Bring Scott back!"

Bruce wasted no time as he worked frantically, sending Baby Scott back and punching buttons and keys on the panel. "When I say kill the power, kill the power!"

"Oh my god." Nikki worriedly groaned before running over to the generator and readying herself with her hand on the lever.

"Kill it!" He signaled as he pressed the button once more.

At the same time, Nikki pulled the lever down and everything, including the Tunnel, shut down. When it did, Scott, back in his normal adult form, was spewed out of the Tunnel again. Everyone held their breath and waited to see if he was alright.

"Somebody peed my pants," Scott stated nervously, freezing until he too was sure he was okay. "But I don't know if it was 'Old Me' or 'Baby Me'... Or just 'Me' Me."

He was fine.

"Oh, thank god!" Nikki exhaled, relieved, with her hand over her heart.

Cassie winced, laughed and shook her head at that. That was a little off putting, and quite disturbing to see your dad as an old man. And a baby...AND a teenager within the span of thirty seconds. Her brother and Viv however, had a different reaction to it.

"That was so COOL, Dad!" PJ exclaimed.

"It was quite interesting to watch." Viv added.

"I know, right!" Bruce cheered, happy with the results, before holding up his hands proudly. "TIME TRAVEL!"

Jamie looked back to Bruce with a wide eyed look of disbelief.

"What?" He asked, oblivious as to why Jamie has that look. But Jamie kept silent and just shook his head and walked out." Guys, come on! I see this as an ABSOLUTE win!"

PJ shared Bruce's excitement on the matter completely. "Do it again, Dad!"

"I'm gonna need a break first, Peej." Scott panted, slowly moving to take off his helmet.

"Are you alright, Scott?" Betty asked, checking him to see if anything was wrong.

"Oh yeah! I'm all good." He replied, his "confidence" coming up again.

"Are you sure, Daddy?" Cassie asked too, equally concerned about her father, but a laughing smile behind it.

Scott saw that smile and snorted before nodding. "Yeah. yeah, I'm good, Peanut."

Bruce, watching from his station, sighed with relief before looking down at the panels and noticed that some of them were a bit hot. "Guys, we're gonna have to wait a while before we test it again. The board's hot and I don't want it to blow and chance losing you somewhere, Scott."

Scott nodded at that and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright. Well, while we wait that, who's hungry?"

Cassie and PJ's hand shot up immediately and Betty nodded in agreement meant, as did Bruce who had just the thought on what the meal should be. "Taco Bell, anyone?"

"TACOS!" PJ cheered, hungry and hyped up.

Jamie and Nikki had walked outside towards the track/driveway and stood near the edge of it.

"Well, that was..." Jamie was at a loss for words.

"-Weird." Nikki helped him.

"Right..."

Nikki laughed and shook her head, while Jamie sighed before shaking his head. Trial and error were rally something crazy today. But, that's what happens when you're related to superheroes or have friends who're superheroes.

As they stood there, the distant sound of a car approaching made them look up to see a taxi coming onto the grounds.

"Who's that?"

"I don't know."

The taxi came down and around the path and came around one more corner before coming to a stop in front of them. The back door opened and out stepped a dark skinned middle-aged man with a thin grey beard. He pulled out a bag and his coat before paying the driver and sending him on his way.

As the taxi drove off, he looked towards the Twins and walked over.

"Can we help you, sir?" Jamie asked the man.

"Actually, I was hoping I could help you." He replied, readjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder before offering his hand. "Bill Foster. Berkeley University."

Jamie and Nikki, completely surprised looked at each other before back to their visitor.

"Wow! Dr. Foster, it's great to meet you." Nikki said, finally shaking the man's hand. "I'm Nikki and this is my brother, Jamie."

Jamie shook Foster's hand next. "Hi, nice to meet you sir. Thank you for coming."

"Well, it's nice to meet you two as well. And you actually have a mutual friend of ours to thank for that. A Scott Lang?"

"Yeah, we know Scott." Jamie added with a nod, "He told us you could help up us out with our idea."

Foster smiled modestly and humbly nodded. "Well, I'll definitely try my best. How much progress have you made thus far?"

Once again, Jamie and Nikki looked at each other before replying. First Nikki, then Jamie. "Well actually, we just had a test run inside and..." "-Things didn't exactly go so well."

"Hmmm. Let me guess, he turned into a baby?"

Jamie huffed a small laugh under his breath and nodded. "Amongst other things, yeah. He did."

"Mmmm, I see." Foster said as he brought a hand to his chin, contemplating this new information for a moment, "Common mistake, that's the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Scott through time, you must've accidentally pushed time through Scott. It's tricky. Dangerous."

Nikki and Jamie nodded at that explanation. "That actually makes sense."

"After what we just saw, I would say so!"

"Well, shall we?"

"Yeah, lemme show you inside." Nikki led the way as she motioned for the doctor to follow her inside.

"You guys go ahead," Jamie encouraged, staying in his spot, "I'm gonna stay out here for a little bit. But thanks again, Dr. Foster. We're really glad you're here."

Once again, Foster gave a humble smile at Jamie's words. It rally made him happy to hear that. "It's my pleasure, Jamie. And please, call me Bill."

The redheaded boy smiled in return to that and respectfully nodded back before they continued into the Compound.

As Nikki walked Bill inside, Jamie let a long sigh. It was mainly of stress, but also partly relief. And that relief was because of Dr. Foster. With him here and his expertise on Quantum Theory, maybe, just maybe, they had an even better chance at success.

Chapter Text

Previously

As Nikki walked Dr. Foster inside, Jamie let a long sigh. It was mainly of stress, but also partly relief. And that relief was because of Dr. Foster. With him here and his expertise on Quantum Theory, maybe, just maybe, they had an even better chance at success.

Jamie shook his head at it all, it was a lot to unbox, but that's life.

As he started back inside, the sound of another car coming onto the premises. He recognized it immediately and put on a half smile as he watched it come down the path until finally it came up and stopped right in front of him. The driver rolled the window down and looked up to the red head, revealing the driver to be Peter Parker.

"I'm back!" he stated in a fake deep voice and a grin.

Jamie chortled at hearing he friend say that, recognizing what it was from. "Terminator 3. Nice choice, good timing."

Peter opened the door and stepped out of the car to stand there with his friend. "Thanks. Thought about it on the way up the road. Oh! By the way, I was able to make this."

H held up his right hand which had what looked like a thin metallic clamp that went around Peter's whole hand. "A fully functioning Time-Space GPS."

Looking at it up close, Jamie looked at the device and wondered how it worked. "Looks cool."

"Yeah, now I just gotta figure how to navigate properly."

"Oh, well someone who knows just got here." Jamie said, referring to their new guest. "His name's Bill Foster, and he's an expert with this quantum stuff."

Peter's face lit up with some hope. "Really?"

"Yep. Nikki just took him inside, we're testing out the machine right now."

"Alright, good. Sounds like we got it."

Jamie bobbed his head at that with a shrug. "Yeah, we-we got something. Heh! I'm glad you're here though, Peter. I'm glad you decided to help, I know you weren't exactly in favor of it at first."

When he said that, Peter felt that pinch on the heart again as his fearful thoughts began to haunt him again. He nodded at Jamie's words in sad truth. "Yeah...yeah..."

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I just...I mean, I'm glad we've got a shot at getting these stones, but...things are different now. My priorities have changed, and...there's more to be afraid of. And if it works then...(shrugs)..bring back what we lost? Yes, would love that. Keep what I've got? HAVE to! There's no alternative to that...and, ya know, maybe not dying would be nice..."

Jamie nodded at those words, agreeing with his "big brother" completely. He wanted to do this as well, but he didn't want to lose anyone in the process. And surviving it all as the end result would be nice. Because then, they'd all be together and, hopefully, back with their loved one. All of them...yeah, that would be nice.

Holding out his hand, Jamie nodded once again with a sympathetic smile. "Sounds good to me."

Peter smiled at his "little brother" and his understanding of his feelings with this, and took Jamie's hand and shook it. That was before the two brought it in for a hug.

Holding that hug for a bit, Peter thought back to ten years ago. When they were going to find Thanos and get the Stones, he had hugged a five-year-old Jamie them, and he was doing the same now as they, yet again, were on the precipice of a similar mission. Ad Peter still had the same goal in mind: protect Jamie and Nikki. Whatever it takes.

Breaking the hug, the two smiled at each other once again before Peter remembered something and spoke up. "Hey, remember when you were five and you said you didn't have a shield, but I told that I'd show you some moves like your dad?"

As he asked that, he motioned for Jamie to follow him to the back of the car.

Jamie thought back for a minute before snorting and nodding at the question. "Yeah, that was the day we first met. Why?"

Peter didn't reply though. Instead, he smiled knowingly as he opened the trunk and looked back to Jamie once more before pulling out something big that was covered by a sheet. But he flipped the sheet over and revealed it to be the shield of Captain America.

Jamie's eyes went wide and he gasped when he saw it. He was literally breathless and speechless at the sight of the red, white and blue marvel that was his father's for many, many years. He'd heard many stories about how his father used it and had even seen pictures and videos of it. But now, here it was. Right in front of him.

Looking up to Peter and back down to the shield, Jamie wanted to take it, but wasn't so sure. He realized that once he did, he didn't just hold a piece of metal.

He would be holding his father's legacy. A symbol. A symbol that was a beacon of hope to people. This was meant for that great symbol, not him.

"Pete, I...I don't know." He stuttered, worry and doubt showing in his voice.

Peter, not seeing anything wrong, gave a little shrug. "Why not?"

"Well, for one thing...this was made for Captain America."

"Yeah, and?"

"I'm...I'm not Captain America."

It hurt to say that, but it was a sad truth. And Jamie knew it too.

Peter thought about that though, and Jamie made good point. But then, he got an idea and something good came to mind. "That's true. You're not Captain America. But you are the son of Captain America. So in a way, that makes you the next Captain. And...I'm sure he'd want you to have it."

A nervous smile came to Jamie when he heard that. He kept looking at the shield and contemplated whether or not to take it.

"Plus," Peter started again, "I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."

That made the two laugh a little as Peter held it out to Jamie. "C'mon Jamie. Take it." Peter whispered, urging his "little brother" to take his birthright. The redheaded teen looked at the Spider-Man before back down to the shield. Letting out one more nervous breath, he hesitantly took it.

A cold sensation came to his fingertips as he felt the shield before taking it. It was surprisingly light for its size. Smooth. Quite shiny too. He flipped it and put his left hand and arm through the straps and held it close.

A feeling of pride came over Jamie as held his father's shield. The mantle had now, in a way, passed down to him. It was his turn now.

As he admired and got the feel of it, Peter simply watched with a proud smile. It truly made him happy to see Jamie take his father's shield. This passing of the torch. He knew that Cap would be proud of his son, because he was proud of Jamie right now.

The redhead lifted his head to look back at him and just smiled. "Thank you, Peter."

Peter, still smiling, shook his head and shrugged. "Don't worry about it, you deserve it! You're the captain of this project."

"Hey, you're part of it too. I wouldn't be able to do this without you. You're like how Uncle Tony was to the team, the brains with the cool tech. Plus, Him and Dad lead the Avengers together and were the backbone along with Uncle Thor."

Peter snorted and smiled at that last statement. "Thanks Jamie. But, I'm no Iron Man."

"Well, you're good enough...Spider-Man."

Jamie came forward and hugged Peter again, and the spider-powered young adult hugged his friend back.

"Thank you, Peter."

"No problem... Captain. Captain of our team."

Jamie snickered and shook his head at that.

When they finally broke the hug, Peter reached back into the trunk of the van.

"We uh...are getting a whole team together, right?" He asked.

Jamie shrugged a little with a half nod. "We're working on that."

Peter nodded and pulled out his backpack and suitcase and closed the trunk. "Well, let's get to work!"

And the two leaders headed inside to continue with the mission.

Chapter Text

***Lab***

With the new arrival of Foster and Peter, the hope for this mission seemed just a little bit brighter. Jamie and Peter had gone back inside with the Spider-Man going his own way to the lab/Tony's workspace so he could upload his digital blueprints for the Quantum Time Machine.

He had set his stuff down and was now at the holo-table, which lit up as it turn on as Peter began surfing through some things.

"Welcome back, boss!" A familiar woman's voice spoke.

"Hey, FRIDAY. How's it going?" He replied, as he swiped along the screen.

"Going well. Though, I didn't expect you back so soon. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, some stuff just came up and hopefully, it's good."

"Well, I'm here for you if you need me."

"Thanks. Actually, I have a blueprint I need to upload."

"Transferring file now. It'll take a while for it to come up."

Peter nodded as he began to swipe the holoscreen, deciding to look through the Iron Spider suit layout as he felt he might need it during this mission.

"FRIDAY, can you open Mr. Stark's personal files please?"

The image of the screen flipped through a few codes before it stopped on a window loaded with files. "Done."

"Thank you."

Peter scrolled through the huge flock of files to find the one for his suit. There must've been at least over two hundred here alone.

'Ah, Mr. Stark. Wheels were always turning, weren't they?' He joked to himself.

Finally, after six long scrolls down, he had found the 'Iron Spider' file. As he reached to press it, something else caught his eye. A file alongside it labeled: 'Nxt Avngrs'.

"Huh?" He said out loud to himself. What was this?

He decided to explore it and tapped on it, opening the file.

Once it opened, a page full of profiles and video footage came up. Immediately, Peter's eyes went wide and his breathing got deeper.

"Peter, I'm detecting a rise in your heartbeat. Are you alright?"

"Uh.....uh yeah. Um.....could-could you call Jamie up here for me, please?"

"On it."

A separate small square appeared on the screen, a blue line running across it. Still at first, but moving as the voice of Jamie came through.

"Hey, Pete! What's up?"

"Hey Jamie, could you come up here right quick, please?"

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah. I just uh....there's something I think you need to see."

"Alright, I'm on my way."

About five-to-ten minutes later, Jamie walked in, slowing down from having ran the whole way over. He walked over to where Peter was sitting on a stool.

"Hey man, what's up?"

Peter nodded to the redhead before pointing to the file onscreen. "This."

"Whoa.....what is all this?" Jamie asked, pulling up a stool for himself and sat next to his friend.

"I was hoping you'd know."

Jamie shook his head before looking back to the screen.

"FRIDAY, what is this? He asked, confusion and interest mixed together in his voice.

"This is a special project Mr. Stark was working on. It's called the Next Avengers Initiative. A backup response team compiled of multiple gifted young people. Each candidate with a special ability and personality that gives them the potential to be an Avenger."

Peter was speechless at this. There were almost twenty something files here. And one of them caught Jamie's eye. "Hey Pete, look! It's you!"

Peter followed Jamie's finger and squinted his eyes before widening them as he saw his very own profile. Along with it was the video footage of him in his early days as Spider-Man, it was the video Tony had shown him back in 2016 when they first met. That threw him off a bit.

"Wait, I'm a part of this too?" he asked, thinking out loud.

"Indeed, Peter!" FRIDAY replied, "You were the first recruit for this team. Phase One. The Test Phase, if you will. Mr. Stark felt it necessary to start off with just one of you rather than a lot of you at once."

Peter snorted and nodded as he began to piece things together. "The Training Wheels Protocol."

"Precisely!"

That made Jamie crack up. He laughed at the name of his friend's first protocol. Peter looked at him and Jamie put his hands up as an apology, but still laughed.

"Man, looks like Uncle Tony was busy with these." He stated.

"Yeah, he always did like to try and be one step ahead."

"Guess you were part of that step, huh?"

"Indeed, he was, Jamie." FRIDAY cut in. "In fact, Peter, there's a message Mr. Stark left for you with this file."

That caught both of them, but more so Peter.

His eyebrows scrunched at that. "A message, for me?"

"Yes."

The AI didn't wait for a reply as she began to commence with playing it. The room grew dark as the lights dimmed and two small circles on the side frame of the holoscreen, which were actually projectors, lit up.

They flashed across the room and showed another holographic image. It was a stool. But suddenly someone stepped in and sat on it. It was the Iron Man himself, Tony Stark!

Peter's eyes widened and his breath hitched at the sight of his mentor/father figure. Jamie's expression showed awe as he too was surprised by it as well, having a handful of memories of his surrogate uncle. Their emotions began to flow as the image of Tony smiled and began to speak.

"Hey there, Underoos!" He started jokingly, casually waving as he was his norm, "How's it going?"

Peter smiled and teared up a little at the sound of Tony calling him by the nickname he'd made up for him way back in 2016. Jamie noticed this and smiled too. The two listened as the hologram continued.

"I know this may be a bit of a shock to you, but this is a little fail-safe message for you. So, if you're seeing this.....then unfortunately, it means I'm dead."

That painful feeling of reality came back to Peter and Jamie as they heard those words.

"I'm sorry...I know, it's not an easy thought to process. But that's a part of life.....but it's also part of the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end............ But, be that as it may, the world will always need heroes. And right now, it needs you. And so you don't get lonely, I made out a list of people to help you. Ya know, a little failsafe/super friend list.  And you can't use the excuse of homework either, cause that never stopped you before.

"Don't worry, you'll be all right. If you could handle the vulture guy all on your own, then I'm sure you can do this. You can, Peter. You can. Not everyone is gonna support you though. When me, Cap and the ol' gang were together, sometimes people didn't all like us. Some even tried to stop us. And they might look down on you even more so since you're a kid..... but don't let the keep you down. Show 'em what you got, kid. If you have to do it, go for it....whatever it takes.

"And don't worry , you're not gonna be empty handed. You've got all the stuff you need. All of our resources, the Facility, the tech...it's yours now. If you can be a 'friendly neighborhood Spider-Man', then saving the world is just a hop, skip and a boat ride away. So go do it, go save the world, Spider-Man.

"Oh, and one more thing.... I'm proud of you, kid."

The holo-message ended and left the room in silence. Tears flowed from Peter as he took in the touching words from it. Jamie was touched by it too.

"Looks like Uncle Tony had a lot of faith and high hopes for you, Pete."

"Yeah, I guess so." Peter replied, wiping off a few tears and sniffling a little, "I kinda knew about it a little, but I never knew how big."

Reaching over, he patted Peter on the back and gave him a side-hug , which he returned.

After they hugged it out, they turned their attention back to the holo-screen behind them.

As they looked at it, Peter sighed a big one. "This is a lot, Jamie."

The redhead nodded at that. It was a lot indeed. "Yeah, but at least he didn't leave you empty handed."

Peter chortled at that, as did Jamie.

As he examined all of the profiles, Jamie began to think. Tony had obviously done a lot of research to acquire all of this info on these people. He would've wanted them to used too if there was a need. And there kinda was now. Then, he got an idea.

"Hey Pete?"

Peter looked at the redheaded teen curiously. "What?"

"Why don't we do it?"

"Do what?"

"Recruit these guys. That way, we can expand our team."

A look of hesitancy came to Peter as he looked back to the green full of profiles. "Us?"

"Why not?"

Jamie waited for an answer, but all Peter could do was hold his shoulders up mid-shrug and stand there speechless.

"We're gonna need all the help we can get with this thing, Pete. And with more people, we could have a better chance of succeeding. There's strength in numbers."

Peter thought about it and realized that Jamie did have a point. They would need help, and a good-sized team could make things go smoother too. And it would give them a chance to test out one of Tony's ideas.

"Plus, you did ask me about us getting a whole team together. Well, this is it. This could be our team."

Peter nodded a little as he figured that if things went south, it couldn't be worse than things already had gone after the Snap......hopefully. Yeah, why not.

"So what do ya say?" Jamie asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

Looking to Jamie and up to the multiple profiles onscreen, Peter let out a sigh and nodded before looking back to Jamie and saying, "Alright. Let's do it, Captain."

And with that, they began examining the profiles and footage and began evaluating their future teammates for recruitment.

ONE HOUR LATER

***Courtyard***

Scott sat down on a bench  with his food and began to unwrap it. Two fully loaded hard-shell tacos, chips and a large soda.

He picked one of the tacos and was about to dig into it when a loud 'BOOM' sound passed through the air. It almost made his eardrums go numb. Looking up, he saw the source of the noise high up in the sky. It like a small ball of blue fire. Sounds weird, but that's what it looked like to Scott. And said ball of blue fire was getting closer too.

But before it got any closer, it came to an abrupt halt. Then it resumed it's descent much slower. And just before it was a hundred feet away from the ground, Scott heard "WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!" come from it before finally the blue energy disappeared completely and a person clad in shiny black armor came hurling towards the ground, landing in a one knee position and a fist to the ground. Put simply, he just watched someone do a superhero landing.

"WHOOO!" He heard the person say as they took off their helmet. "Touchdown!"

Now that the helmet was off, Scott could see that the person was a young adult. Possibly a teen. And he was sure happy.

"Nova: one, Benatar: nothing!" He cheered, looking up into the sky before walking towards the Compound by Scott. As he did, his armor seemed to disappear almost like a nanotech suit. It all went until he was in casual wear, a yellow shirt and jeans.

The whole thing slightly confused Scott, but didn't frighten him. When you've seen things like giant ants that are really regular sized but you're shrunken smaller than a pinhead, you don't exactly get scared by stuff so easily.

"Hey, how's it going?" The kid waved at him as he stepped up to him.

Scott lightly nodded at the approaching kid. "Good, good. Nice landing."

"Thanks," the kid nodded back with a smile before holding out his hand, "Sam Alexander."

"Scott Lang."

"Nice to meet ya."

"Nice to meet you too."

Their conversation was cut short when a gushing wind came and blew not only leaves and dirt, but also all of the ingredients in Scott's taco. Like a leaf blower right on it, it all flew out and knocked over his drink and his other taco. Through squinted eyes, Scott could see the source of this strong wind.

Descending above the courtyard was the Guardians' ship, The Benatar, landing near the same spot Sam had landed.

The engines of it turned off and the ramp door opened with steps. And descending those steps was none other than Rocket Raccoon and Nebula.

"Beat'cha!" Sam yelled over to them with a victorious smile.

"Yeah, yeah yeah!" The "raccoon" retorted with a smirk. He had stopped halfway down the steps whilst Nebula kept walking toward the Compound.

"Hey, humie!" Rocket called out, referring to Scott, "Where's Big Green and the Red Kid?"

"Uh, kitchen, I think." He stuttered, a little thrown off by the spacecraft before him. He casually waved to Nebula as she passed by. "That's awesome."

Though Nebula, being Nebula, was instantly irked by Scott. So much so that she had no shame with saying her message out loud.  "Rhodey, careful on re-entry. There's an idiot on the landing zone." She said into a communicator on her collar.

Moments later as she walks past him, Rhodey himself, clad in his War Machine armor landed right in front of him without warning and a loud "CLANG".

"Oh, God!" He exclaimed, gasping for air. This had caught Scott by surprise so much that out of shock, he jumped in his seat, grabbed his chest over his heart and dropped what remained of his taco shell.

"What's up, regular sized man?" He heard the iron-suited man say to him before walking into the facility.

Sam, who hadn't flinched in the slightest when Rhodey landed, laughed at his question and Scott's reaction before following Rhodey inside.

As they walked in, Viv and Bruce had walked out with some tacos of his own. When they came up to Scott, Bruce could see that his lunch had been blown all over the place and that he was without it.

Feeling sorry for his friend, Bruce took two tacos from his pack and handed them over to Scott with an encouraging nod and smile as well. Scott reluctantly, but gratefully, took them, nodding back to him in thanks as he did. Once he took them, Bruce and his daughter continued their way towards the ship.

As they went on, Peter and Jamie walked out of the compound.

"So we're heading to New Asgard." Jamie stated as they walked over to the Benatar.

"Torunn?"

"Yeah, what about you?"

"Me and Sam are heading to Rocinha."

"You mean..."

"Yeah."

"You read the reports, right?"

"Yeah, and I've seen the footage. Why?"

"Well, I'm just...ya know, surprised you're not scared. I mean, they're making her out to be some kind of monster."

"She's not a monster."

"You saying that because you believe it, or because you have a crush on her?" The young Captain asked teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows at his friend.

Peter scoffed and smiled. "Shut up, man."

"Hey, you're secret's safe with me, Pete!" Jamie laughed as he followed Bruce over to the Benatar.

And Peter walked back to hangar for the Quinjet, shaking his head at his younger friend, but a smile still on his face.

Sequel Poster

Chapter Text

***New Asgard***

Jamie, Bruce, Viv, and Rocket rode in the bed of a truck as it drove down a road. It approached a harbor and passed a sign that read 'New Asgard'.

As they rode on down the hill, Jamie's phone began to ring. "Hello?"

"Jamie, it's Nikki!" His sister replied on the other end.

"Hey, what do ya need?" He asked.

"Well, I was checking up on Uncle Clint's house and the surrounding area..."

"Uh-huh?"

"Well, based on public records and a few bills of the past six months, it looks like someone's been living there."

Jamie's eyebrows knit together at those words. "'Living there', who? Other than Frankie, Uncle Clint and his family are all gone.......right?"

"Supposedly. But, do you think that maybe...maybe-"

"-maybe Frankie came back home?"

".....yeah."

"How bout this, after we leave New Asgard, we'll stop by there and check it out? And if it turns out he's there...we'll try to bring him home."

"Would you, please?"

Jamie rolled his eyes and chortled at his sister's begging. "Sure."

"Thanks Jamie! Keep me updated!"

"I will."

"Alright, I'll talk you you later."

"Ok."

"OH! And tell Torunn I said 'hi'."

"Heh, I will."

"Alright, bye."

"Bye."

"What was that about?" Bruce asked.

"That's was Nikki, she gave some info. Apparently, someone's been living at Uncle Clint's for the last six months."

"So what?" Rocket interjected, "Someone else probably moved in. Not like it doesn't happen."

"He does have a point, Jamie." Viv chimed in too. "It's not uncommon for people to move into vacant houses. Especially if they're in the countryside."

Jamie nodded at that, which was mixed with the shaking of the bed of the truck. But that still didn't shake a funny feeling that something else was going on with his uncle's house. "Maybe.....but I wanna be sure. Can we stop by there after we leave here?"

Jamie looked to Bruce for an answer, but the large green Hulk just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "You already promised Nikki we would. And I'm not about to break a promise to her." He said proudly.

Jamie nodded and smiled back at him in thanks as they continued down the mountain road, towards a village and past a sign that read...

'WELCOME TO NEW ASGARD'.

***New Asgard Harbor***

They had finally reached the town and jumped off the truck, looking around as they did.

"Kind of a step down from a golden palace and magic hammers and whatnot," Rocket joked.

But Bruce, in an undertone, retorted back, "Hey, have a little compassion, pal. First they've lost Asgard, then half the people. They're probably just happy to have a home.

"You shouldn't have come!" A familiar person called out to them. Bruce immediately recognized who it belonged to.

"Hey Valkyrie!" He greeted his old friend, walking up to her with open arms. "Great to see ya, Angry Girl!"

But instead of smiling back and saying "Hi" to him, she just looked at him with a confused expression. "I think I liked you either of the other ways."

Bruce knowing exactly what she meant, shrugged and laughed at that and brushed it off. "You know Rocket."

The raccoon waved and nodded at her. "How ya doin'?"

"And this is Viv."

"Hi!" The dark skinned girl nodded with her usual smile and waved at the Asgardian.

Then Jamie stepped forward and smiled at his surrogate aunt. "Hey, Auntie Val."

"Jamie," she nodded back to him. "Look, I know why you guys are here....She won't see you."

"It's that bad, huh?" Bruce asked. Although it was more of a concerned statement than a question.

"We only see her about once a month when she comes down for...supplies." Val motioned to a pile of Blue Bell Ice Cream cartons and pizza boxes in a dumpster not too far behind her.

Bruce nodded as that confirmed it for him. "Yeah, it's that bad."

"We really need to talk to her....it's urgent." Jamie asked, still hopeful.

Val, not being able to say no to him and his face, finally sighed and gave in. "You can try. There's a chance she might speak to you."

***House***

They had to walk up a hill to the house where Torunn lived. It was pretty big. From the looks of it, it had at least two stories and the width of it was pretty good too. So not a castle, but still big.

It was a bit separated from the rest of the town. Not that they minded. From what Valkyrie had told them, the people of New Asgard didn't really want much to do with Torunn.

Walking up to the door, Rocket knocked on the door as the three waited. When it was answered, they were met by a familiar face: Darcy Lewis.

"Hey guys!" She exclaimed, opening the door all the way and walking out to greet them. "Oh my god, it's so good to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Darcy." Bruce said with a smile as she came in with a big hug. Pun unintended.

"Oh Bruce! You've changed a bit." She noticed his new in between form, but was quite impressed with it. "Lookin' good though. Hey there, Rocket."

"Hey, hows it goin?" The "raccoon" replied.

Turning her attention now to Jamie, Darcy saw that he had grown into quite the handsome young man. Just like his father. "Hey Jamie."

"Hey Darce." The redhead smiled as he hugged her, and her him.

When they broke the hug, they heard another familiar voice. "Well well, this is a surprise."

Behind them standing in the doorway, was a bespectacled Erik Selvig.

"Erik," Bruce greeted with a nod and wave.

"My friends, it's good to see you all. Please, come in."

He stepped out of they way so that they could all enter. Led by Darcy, they all walked in and stepped into the foyer of the house.

"So," Erik started, closing the front door behind him, "to what do we owe this pleasure?"

"Well uh," Bruce tried to find words on how to explain, but fortunately, Jamie spoke up.

"Something's come up. Something....big, and we were wondering if we could maybe see Torunn?"

That question brought about a silence within the hall. Darcy had looked to Eric and the two exchanged looks of worry.

"Everything okay?" Bruce asked, taking note of their concerned expressions.

Erik tried to find the words to tell them. But...."Uh, well it's like this, you see-"

"Torunn's kinda gone into a slump." She.......just stopped. Her grief's caught up to her in a bad way." Darcy shrugged her shoulders as she let that out, not know what else to do...or say.

"Can we still talk to her?" Jamie asked, not wanting to leave without at least saying 'hello'

After exchanging one more look, Eric and Darcy nodded.

"......You can try, she might actually be happy to see old family."

"She's upstairs," Darcy added, "Just go up and you'll be able to tell which room is hers."

Walking up the stairs, they saw a white door with a yellow Styrofoam 'T' on which told them that it had to be hers. They knocked on it, but the door wasn't fully closed and opened up, giving them a good view into her room.

Poking their heads in, a stench came to their noses which made the recoil out of the doorway.

"Whoa! Something died in there." Rocket exclaimed, fanning the air around him.

"Hello, Torunn?" Bruce called out.

"Are you here about the cable?" They heard a somewhat familiar voice reply from behind the. Following the voice, they came to an upstairs living room and saw a blonde girl walk across to the other side of the room with her back to them. "It went out a week ago and a few channels are all fuzzy and I'd like to watch the JESSIE reruns without a bunch of static on the screen."

When they looked closer at the girl, they noticed that she had a slight husky form. It caught them by surprise. "Torunn?" Jamie squinted his eyes before they went wide as the girl turned at the sound of her name.

As she did, they noticed that she was in a grey T-shirt with pajama pants and hair that looked like bed head.

When she was fully facing them, her eyes went wide and a huge smile came to her face. "Guys!!!" She exclaimed, running up to them with open arms. She saw Rocket and ran down and pulled him into a big bear hug. "Oh my god, Rocket! C'mere you cuddly little rascal!"

But the "raccoon" wasn't a big fan of hugs or being smushed against someone's belly. "Nah, I'm good! I'm good! That's not necessary!"

Finally letting Rocket go, Torunn then turned to Bruce. "Uncle Hulk!"

"Hey kid! Good to see ya again." He returned the hug and patted her back too.

"Oh, it's good to see you too!" She cheered as they broke the hug. Stepping back, she saw Viv standing there with a smile and waved at her. "Hi, I'm Torunn."

"Viv," the other girl replied.

And then finally, the blonde teen's eyes landed on a familiar redhead. Her dearest friend from childhood. "Jamie?"

Jamie grinned as he looked at her. Even with the few red spots on her forehead, or that nappy hair, she was still a vision of beauty. "Hey Torunn."

"Oh wow! Jamie!" He was pulled into a hug and hugged Torunn back, enjoying every moment of it and committing it to memory.

"I really missed you." He heard Torunn whisper to him as they still hugged.

Now Jamie was happy she couldn't see him because red began to make its way to his cheeks. He was happy to hear that from her that he couldn't help the blush attack. "Missed you too." He whispered back.

Behind them, a smirking Rocket nudged Bruce's large leg next to him and winked at him about the two huggers. Which made Bruce roll his eyes at the "raccoon"'s joke, whereas Viv just watched Jamie and Torunn hug with an expression one would make when watching a romantic scene in a movie. Put simply, she enjoyed watching them together.

Finally breaking their hug, Torunn turned back to Bruce and pointed past him to a couch in the room. "Oh! Uncle Hulk, you know my friends, Korg and Miek, right?

Over on said couch sat the Kronan, Korg and his insectoid best friend, Miek. Both of them waved at the visitors and Korg verbally greeted them, "Hey guys!"

"Hey guys," Bruce waved back at his fellow former gladitor friends, "long time no see."

"Sodas and beer's in the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously." Korg had rolled out the welcome mat for them before turning his attention back to his game on the TV. "Tor, he's back. The kid on the TV that called me a d***head again.

Torunn looked to the TV and seethed as she knew who it was Korg was talking about. "NoobMaster."

"Yeah, NoobMaster69. Called me a d***head." Torunn walked over and took the headset Korg handed to her as he muttered his last sentence.

Positioning it at her ear to where she could both hear and speak into the mic, she began to let the cyber bully have it.

"NoobMaster!" she growled, "Hey, it's Torunn again. Yeah, you know, the daughter of Thor? Listen, buddy. You better to quit hassling my friend RIGHT NOW! Otherwise, log off! And if you don't log off and keep on bullying my friend, I'm gonna fly over to your house, come down to that basement you're hiding in, take my father's axe, rip off your arms and shove them RIGHT UP YOUR BUTT!!!"

The four visitors looked at each other with wide eyes in silence after that. Torunn certainly had the fire her father had. And apparently, it worked because this "NoobMaster" was crying on the other end.

"Yeah, that's right, go cry to your father, you little weasel!" And then Torunn victoriously handed the headset back to Korg.

"Thank you, T." He thanked her as he put the headset back on, hoping to resume playing happily.

"Let me know if he bothers you again and I'll take care of it, okay?"

"Thank you very much. I will."

Having settled that little matter, Torunn turned back to her guests and resumed her smile. She noticed their shocked expressions as well. "What?"

"You okay?" Bruce asked her.

"Of course I'm okay. Why, don't I look all right?

"You look like melted ice cream wrapped in a rag." Rocket stared bluntly, but there was still some concern there.

Torunn just laughed at that and took a soda and asked, "So, what's up? Did you guys come by to hang out, catch up?" before taking a swig of it.

"We need your help." Bruce began.

Immediately, the blonde Asgardian nodded. "Whatever you need! What is it?"

Jamie spoke up next and continued. "Somethings come up. There might be a chance we could fix everything."

"What do you mean by everything?"

"Thanos." Bruce answered that time. But what happened next wasn't exactly the reaction he expected.

Torunn's smile slowly began to disappear and her hands started to shake. "Don't.......please don't say that name." She begged in a whispered tone, but it was obvious that she wasn't comfortable with it.

Behind Bruce, Korg had stood up and took off his headset. "Um..yeah, we don't actually say that name in here," He whispered to his green friend, "It's a big of a trigger word for her."

Bruce, hearing the Kronan's words, turned his vision back to Torunn, who's eyes had become filled with tears. Right away, he could tell that, like Nikki, the subject of Thanos and everything related with him brought back painful memories and a tidal wave of bad anxiety. "I'm sorry. Look, I know that... 'guy' might scare you-."

Trying to blink away her tears and hide her fear, Torunn scoffed at that and feigned confidence. "Scared? Ha! Why-why would, why would I be scared of that guy? He's dead! Gone! Headless and out of order!" The blonde Asgardian teen's eyes had turned into stressed anger and starred right into Bruce's, daring to rival the rage of the Hulk. Having gotten those words out and holding her stare for a little, she then broke it and walked past the Green Giant.

It was hard to try and reach Torunn since she was like this. Bruce knew this from having raised Jamie and Nikki. But he also know that she was hurting deep down, and wasn't really like this. So he decided to try again.

"Hey, I get it," he empathized, putting a large caring hand on her shoulder, "You're in a rough spot, okay? I've been there myself. But you know who helped me out of it?

Having slightly calmed down a little, Torunn shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know. Was it... Betty?"

Bruce almost said yes to that as he remembered how Betty had helped him tremendously back in 2008, but he caught himself and got back to the point he was trying to make. "It was your dad. He helped me."

Now that hit Torunn hard. To be honest, it was a bit of a low blow and Bruce knew that. But he had hoped it would be enough to reach her.

But Torunn couldn't hack it. She let her head lower and her shoulders sag as she uttered her next words with a heavy heart, "I'm not my father. He had the strength and the backing of his people and friends. Whereas I don't have that at all!" She caught herself and then corrected herself, "-except Korg, Meik and Auntie Darcy and Poppa Eric. And you guys too......Other than that, I've got no support system. ESPECIALLY not from my people! If you think I do, then go ask them. Ask the Asgardians down there, how much me or my help are worth......The ones that are left, anyway."

Jamie, who had been silent decided to try again. "Torunn, I think we can bring them back. The people you lost too."

"Ok, no. Stop! stop, okay?! Look, I know you think I'm probably down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I'm fine, okay? We're fine, right guys?

She had pointed over to Korg and Miek on the couch who nodded back in agreement. "Nah, all good here, mate." Korg replied positively.

"Right. So, yeah. Anyway, thanks for dropping by, but we're good here."

This was beginning to hurt on both Torunn and Jamie. But he couldn't give up on her. He just couldn't. "Torunn, please," he begged her, "We need you!"

Rocket, who had been silent as well, couldn't help but notice her fiddling with an empty chip bag, trying to get more out of it, and thought of something that could work. "There's tacos on the ship."

Torunn pauses at that and thought. "What kind?" She asked.

But Jamie, tired of this back and forth and wanting to stay on track, tried yet again. "Come on, Torunn! This isn't the real you. Where's the girl I knew years ago? The girl who was brave and full of excitement. The girl who wanted to see her father so badly. Where's that girl?"

"Jamie!" Bruce tried to calm the redhead boy down, but he was silenced when Torunn shot up from her chair and was face to face with Jamie, looking him in the eyes with a stare of death.

Torunn wanted to lash out at Jamie, but at the same time, she didn't. With no other alternative, she stormed out of the room and down the stairs, grabbing a coat and out the front door.

Jamie sighed and mentally slapped himself for what he said. What was he thinking? Immediately, he ran out downstairs. Followed by Bruce Viv, Rocket, Korg and Miek, they ran into Erik and Darcy when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"What happened?" Darcy asked.

"Ah, I said something I shouldn't have." Jamie admitted, still upset with himself. "You guys stay here, I'm gonna go look for her. I have to apologize."

Jamie headed for the door, but felt a large hand on his shoulder. Looking back, he saw a look of worry and concern on Bruce's face. But Jamie put a reassuring hand on his and gave him a confident nod.

"Be careful."

"I will."

And with that, he walked out and began his search for Torunn.

***Town***

Torunn had ran all the way into town and finally stopped. As she did, she tried to hold her frown, but couldn't as she felt tears coming on. Why was she like this? Why was she acting this way? Reality began to somewhat set in on her.

Looking around, she decided to go ahead and walk since she was already out. She hadn't been out like this for quite a while other than getting her "supplies" and the fresh air could do her good.

Putting her hands in her pockets as she walked on, her thoughts began to drift back to Jamie and her family. And then it drifted to her father, and then her mother. That's where it really hurt since she sorely missed her mother. What if......

"Well, looky here!" Torunn's thoughts were broken by the sound of something that she had tried to avoid. Teenage girls. Not ordinary ones though, 100% pure Asgardian teenage girls. They had always liked to pick on Torunn and roast her for being half human.

"Looks like the worthless princess has come down to mingle with the commoners." One of them teased.

"How's it going, your majesty?" Another asked, bowing in a dramatic, mocking fashion.

Not wanting to deal with or hear any more of it, she turned and began speed walking away towards the end of town. Tears were coming bad as she could still hear the cracks and laughter behind her as she distances herself.

"Yeah, run away!" "And never come back!"

She got to the end of town and headed to one of the only places she could go alone to get some peace and quiet.

Jamie was running down the path to town when he saw Torunn walking away from town and towards the cliffs.

When he saw that, a frightful thought came to him. But he noticed that she didn't seem to be in a rush to get there, so that calmed him a little. Still full of concern, he followed her with the intention of being there to help and or stop her from possibly doing anything rash.

***Cliff***

Jamie walked up the mountain and eventually saw his blonde friend sitting on a huge rock near the edge.

Torunn sat there with her hands in her hoodie and was staring straight into the horizon.

"Torunn?" He called her. But he received no answer. She just kept looking forward.

Walking the rest of the way up to her, he noticed that she didn't flinch of move at all at his presence. Taking that as reassurance that she wouldn't be hostile, he took the liberty of sitting next to her on the stone and followed her gaze at the open ocean and the horizon beyond.

A few minutes passed by and the sounds of the waves mixed with the soft wind and grass blowing had become to peaceful.

It brought a peaceful smile to Jamie's face. "It's beautiful up here."

Torunn, having taken it all in herself, nodded in agreement. "Yes, it really is."

That made Jamie look at her and feel remorse for his actions earlier. Now that she seemed in a better mood, he wanted to set things straight.

"Torunn, I'm sorry. For what I said earlier. I was out of line and.....I..-"

"It's ok, Jamie," she cut him off, putting a warm hand on his arm, "It's okay. Believe it or not, you may have actually helped me."

Helped her? That confused Jamie, but she apparently seemed in a much better mood. So whatever happened in her head, it must've been good. "Really?"

Torunn nodded at him with a side smile. "Mhm."

Still unclear at how he helped her, but happy that Torunn was calm and content now, he decided to let it go and turned back to the view.

"Ya know, this was where my grandfather died." She said matter-of-factly. Jamie's head swiveled in her direction before back out to the ocean in shock. "My father and my uncle made it just in time to sit with him for a short while and hear him tell that he loved them.........and then they.........they watched as he disappeared.....I never got to meet him, but from what I've heard from the people and Val...he was a great king."

Jamie stood next to her and looked out onto water below and horizon beyond it. "I know how you feel....I'm sorry."

"This idea you have...will it work?" Torunn asked, finally turning to look at her friend.

"We think so. We haven't exactly been able to fully test it yet. But if it does, then there's a chance we can bring back everyone that was wiped out ten years ago."

That stirred a feeling inside of Torunn's stomach. She immediately thought of her father, Thor. Then Jane, her mother! The thought of them being back, but also in the same place with her....together........that brought a tear to the blonde's eyes. She'd had dreams about the day she would meet her father and they'd bond. Make up for lost time. But she also dreamed of her father being with her and her mother.

Nowadays though, they usually ended in nightmares. The late night, waking up drenched in sweat type of nightmares........Torunn didn't like having those, and she wanted them to stop. And this idea, this new hope.......it could possibly bring them to a stop.

So, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, she made her decision. "I'll help."

Jamie's head lifted and his eyes were wide with hope. "You will?" He asked, slightly dumbfounded but still hopeful.

"Yes. If there's a chance to bring them all back, then I want to help. Make things right....."

"Great, tha-that's great! Thank you! And-and we will....make things right, I mean." Now he was beginning to blush. And Torunn noticed too.

She smiled, lightly shaking her head and giggled inwardly, looking down at the ground to prevent herself from blushing as well.

"I've missed you, Jamie." She fervently said to him. 

Suddenly, Jamie didn't care about the blushing. Because he missed her too, and he wasn't afraid to admit it. Crush or no. Yes, he had a crush on her and he wasn't afraid to admit it. To himself, that is. Anyone else? ......yeah, no.

So tossing aside any fear at the current moment, he walked up to her and enveloped her in a tight hug. One he had wanted to give her since the day they stopped talking.

"I missed you too, Torunn." He whispered.

She hugged him back slowly, but tightly. And boy, did it feel good. For the first time in ten years, she felt a sense of safety. Of home. Even love. Not that kind though........maybe 25% out of 100%, but that's it!

"Actually, I uh...I go by Tori, now." She stated with a nervous laugh.

Jamie pulled back to look at her, but didn't let go of her. Only just enough to be face to face with her. She looked at him with that nervous face. The same one she had ten years ago when they first met.

"Tori?" He repeated.

She nodded in response to that, hoping Jamie would like it.

"I love it." He stated with a smile.

That shocked her. She really only decided to go by Tori a few months ago, and only a handful of people like Erik, Darcy, Korg, Miek and Valkyrie called her that. But now, her childhood best friend/current crush, whom she hadn't seen in almost five years had heard it and loved it. That was overwhelming.

She was so happy, she re-engaged the hug, tightening a bit around Jamie's neck. But he didn't mind.

As he continued to hold her, he began to feel a slight wet sensation through his shirt. And then he heard weeping. It was Torunn. She was crying.

"Tori, what's wrong?" He asked, genuinely worried.

Torunn lifted her head from Jamie's shoulder to look at him with tear-stained eyes. There was pain in her eyes. But there was also a small smile on her lips....why?

"It's just.....it's so nice to be accepted...for who I am." She sniffled. "You're the first person outside of my family who's accepted me for me. Sure, Poppa Erik and Auntie Darcy are there. But the other Asgardians....especially those around my age........they hate me! They think I'm a pathetic half-breed and that the human side of me makes me weak....even the grownups."

Jamie was almost brought to tears himself at the sight of Torunn crying and hearing the terrible things that had happened to her. It was unacceptable! They shouldn't be hating on her, she was Thor's daughter!!! He just didn't like the idea of his friends being picked on by bullies. But that's where he came in. To comfort them when they needed it. And he wasn't gonna let this go. Or her.

He reached up and wiped away her tears. Torunn felt her skin warm under the smooth touch of his fingers. It made her feel safe like his hugs. When they were dried off, she looked at him with the same small smile.

"It doesn't have to be like this anymore, T." He cooed, hope in his voice. "We can stick together. And that's how we'll get through this. Together."

"Together," She echoed.

As Jamie told her that, Torunn got a look at his beautiful blue eyes. MAN, she missed those eyes. She missed everything about him. His confidence, his red hair, and his warm embrace. And now, within the time she'd seen him last, he's grown muscles. Quite athletically toned for a fifteen-year-old.

'Allfathers, I need to get a grip on myself!' She scolded herself.

"Thank you, Jamie."

The redheaded boy smiled before linking his hand with hers, which she immediately reciprocated. "Come on, let's head back."

***New Asgard, Town Square***

Torunn had given word for the townspeople to meet in the town square for an important announcement. At first they were annoyed, then they were surprised that their princess had "reached out to them from on high".

But still, their curiosity made them wonder what she would have to say to them. So they all, reluctantly, gathered in the town square and saw that a small stage had been set up. On it was Valkyrie, Erik, Darcy, Korg and Miek.

Now, on walked the princess herself, followed Jamie, Bruce and Rocket who took a seat with the others.

Torunn stood at the stand and looked out at the people. Suddenly, her breath hitched in her throat, and every heartbeat began to hurt.

But then, the feeling of a hand on her back brought relief. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that it was Jamie! He gave a look of trust and a nod of encouragement. And just like that, she felt motivated once again. That was the effect he'd had on her. She nodded back to him before facing the people once again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath..........then, she let it out.

"Asgard!" She began with a loud voice. That immediately caught the people's attention. All of their heads turned, eyes fixed on her. "I am Torunn, Daughter of Thor. And on this day, I have news...and a message."

The crowd looked upon one another in with the same thought and annoyed look before looking back to Torunn in contempt. They really didn't want to hear anything from her. This girl who was supposed to be their leader, to be a successor of the Might Thor. But no. As far as they were concerned, she was a disgrace to the family name. But, out of the love and respect they had for their previous leader, they reluctantly listened as their princess continued.

"Ten years ago, great tragedy fell upon our people, one after the other. First, Odin the Allfather, my grandfather,......died....then our ancestral home was destroyed. Then just days later, half of our people were slaughtered. And then.......we....." Tears threatened to come out once more, but Torunn didn't fight them. She let them flow. ".....we lost Asgard's greatest defender. My father, Thor Odinson..."

A more serious attitude came over the people as they listened. That hit them all close to home as they recalled back to that day.

"And now, ten years later.........here we are...................I know what you all think of me. I do...I've heard it all. 'A taint to the name of Thor and Odin', 'Princess Pitiful', 'Tubby Torunn'...even 'Puny Half-breed'."

After hearing Torunn say all of that out loud, the people even dared to feel a bit of remorse.

".....and you're right.....and I deserve to be called all of those things. Because I froze and let the pain.........the rage....the fear, swallow me up and toss me out."

Okay, now they for sure were feeling bad. Dare they say, even a bit of regret for the things they had said about her. It was one thing for someone to bring up terrible names that they've been called. But to admit to it, their mistakes, was an entirely different thing. It showed humility and a willingness to try and do better.

"For years, I've let my fears and the past encase me in a such a bad place, that I sunk down into nothingness. And by extension, I let you all sink too.....and I'm sorry for that. And up until an hour ago, I was tempted to keep it up.........but no more!"

What was this?

"Before he died, my father once again fought alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes, his teammates and friends, the Avengers, to try and stop the terrible events that happened....but unfortunately, they failed.... But now, out of the darkness and the ashes of that loss, there is light and hope."

Once again, the Asgardians looked at one another. But this time, it was in confusion and curiosity. What did she mean by hope?

"Thanks to a friend, and one of the last remaining Avengers, the Hulk," She gestured to Jamie and their huge green friend.

"Hey guys," Bruce lightly waved at the people below.

"-We have a chance to not only brining back those we lost all those years ago, but also to get back our lives that were taken from us as well."

Now Asgard began to nod at this. Cheers could be heard. Even some clapping!

"We will restore what was once lost, and be a thriving, happy, people once again!"

The crowd cheered and roared in approval. For the first time in ten years, they actually had hope. Hope for something better. More than that, they actually had trust. Trust in Torunn. Sure it may have seemed a bit of a long shot, but if there was a chance that they could get back the friends and family that they lost years ago, then it was worth it.

"So now, I must go to help with this mission. In my absence, I am entrusting the responsibility of your protection in the hands of Brunnhilde, our Valkyrie."

Val lifted her head at that, her eyes wide with shock. Not at the responsibility, but at the fact that Torunn had just referred to her by her real name..........not many people called her that. Especially not her. But it gave her a sense of love from the princess.....and trust. A tear escaped her eye as she nodded at the blonde princess in agreement.

"And I have no doubt that she will do well.....as she has for all these years."

Valkyrie smiled proudly and nodded in agreement, earning another cheer from the crowd.

Torunn looked out among the crowd and felt a sense of pride stirring up inside of her. She could now see, that these were and still are her people. And she was now exercising her duty to protect and defend them.

Excited and full of determination, she belted out a hearty cry, "FOR ASGARD!!!"

"FOR ASGARD!!!" New Asgard echoed, cheering their princess on. Energized by their new found hope.

Torunn nodded and waved to them one last time before stepping down and over to Jamie, Bruce, Rocket and Val and her Aunt and Poppa.

Darcy opened up her arms, to which Torunn ran right into them and the two hugged it out. "I'm so proud of you, sweetie." Darcy said sincerely.

Torunn lifted her head from the hug and smiled at her aunt's words.

"We both are," Erik added, giving her a loving pat on the back.

"Nice speech there, blondie," Rocket stated with a smirk. He meant it though, it was really moving.

"Thanks, Rocket." Torunn replied with a smile.

"He's right," Jamie added, "It was a good one. Very moving."

Now, it was Torunn's turn to blush. Hearing Jamie say that gave her a confidence boost. One she needed and appreciated.

"Thank you, Jamie." She cleared her throat and looked to the others. "So what now?"

"Well now, we have to make a few more stops on the way back to HQ." Bruce explained. "We've got someone else to pick up."

Torunn nodded at that. "Alright. Well, I have to go get a few things for my stay. So how 'bout I just meet you guys at the dock?"

"Sounds good!"

They all nodded in agreement and parted ways.

***Torunn's Room***

With an open backpack on her bed, Torunn had gathered whatever clothes and toiletries she'd need for her trip with the help of Darcy.

"Got everything?" she asked, making sure her niece was all set.

"Yep!" Torunn replied. Coming down from the high, she let out a sigh and shook her head.

"Ya know, I was your age when I first met your mom and Erik. She was super smart and I was trying to get credits for college."

"And now you're an awesome astrophysicist."

Darcy laughed and shrugged at that. "Guilty."

Torunn laughed along with her, but still listened as her aunt continued with her story.

"The first internship I got was with your mom and Erik. We were assigned to go to New Mexico and investigate reports on a series of spatial anomalies. And ya know what happened?"

"What?"

"We ran into your dad."

Torunn was wowed by this, she hadn't really heard the whole story of how her mom, Darcy and Erik had met her father. But now, she was both intrigued and happy to be hearing this.

"Wow!" She shook her head and just thought about that. 

"Yep." Darcy nodded before a smirk came to her face, "Well, more specifically, I ran into him. With the van."

That caught Torunn off guard. "What?!"

"Mhm!" Darcy had a proud smirk that soon turned into a toothy grin, "Then I tased him."

Now Torunn's were wide with shock and confusion. "Whoa, Wait! You tased my dad?"

"Yes, I did!" Darcy said this words in the EXACT same tone and with the same amount of pride she had in 2011. "Hey, he was freaking me out and I didn't know what else to do."

The two ended up laughing at that, with Torunn still thrown that Darcy had tased her father.

When they finally settled down, Darcy continued. "But when your dad needed help, your Poppa Erik was against it at first. But your mom, she was determined to find out what he was about. You couldn't tell her no, kinda like you."

A half smile made it's way to Torunn's lips as she heard those last few words about her mother. It made her happy to hear that. It reminded her of how much like her she was, as Darcy had mentioned.

"Tori," Darcy reached over and took the blonde teen's hands in her own, "your mom would be so proud that you're doing this. I know it hasn't been easy for you, and maybe I haven't exactly been a good auntie, but-"

"No, you're a great auntie, Darcy!" Torunn had cut her off, reassuring her of how much she cared. "And don't beat yourself up, I'm mainly one to blame. I let my fears get the best of me and got lazy. But I'm gonna try and do something different for a change. And I wanna thank you and Poppa Erik for taking care of me all these years..... I love you guys."

Darcy's lips quivered and her eyes welled up with tears at those words. She wouldn't trade this girl for anything or anyone.

"We love you too, Tori," she sniffled, pulling her into a hug. To which she hugged right back.

The two enjoyed their tender moment until a knock came at the bedroom door. Breaking the hug, they looked to see that it was Valkyrie.

"Am I interrupting anything?" She asked with her signature smirk.

"Nah," Darcy said, finally letting go of Torunn. "Just hugging my niece goodbye."

Val walked into the room, keeping her hands behind her back and stood in front of the two and directed herself at Torunn.

"I had this made for you, not long after we returned from our attempt to use get the stones. It will help you control and harness your powers. She pulled out from behind her a long object covered by a brown sheet and handed it to the princess.

Torunn took the object and removed the cover to reveal a sword. But not just any sword, this sword was big and it had a quite unique design. "It's made from the same metal as Stormbreaker and molded in the same shape of Heimdall's sword."

Torunn held the weapon  and ran her fingers along the shiny flat edge of the blade. It really did resembled the sword of Heimdall and felt like if fit perfectly in her hand.

Looking up to her friend, she gave a sincere smile. "Thank you, Val......thank you."

"Anytime, kid.....oh I'm sorry. Your Majesty!"

The three laughed at that. Valkyrie more so since it brought back memories of the blond lighting prince who was her friend, the God of Thunder. And now, his daughter held that title. Only for her, it was Princess of Thunder.

"Now go save the world with your friends."

***Dock***

Jamie, Viv, Bruce and Rocket were waiting by the truck when they heard Torunn call out to them. "Hey guys! I'm here!"

They saw the blonde Asgardian walking down the dock to meet them with a bag and a sword being toted on her back and Stormbreaker in hand. Behind her walked Darcy, Erik, and the Valkyrie.

"Ok, I'm ready to go!" She said excitedly, putting on a pair of sunglasses.

"Alright!" Bruce replied with a smile that was inferior to hers. He could tell she was excited about coming with them.

Torunn looked behind her to the three and waved goodbye once again and watched them wave back before walking past Bruce to join the others.

Looking to Darcy, Erik and Val, Bruce nodded and reassured them, "We'll take care of her."

They nodded and waved back as they knew they were going to miss the girl. Darcy wipes away a few tears as she missed her already. She was definitely a proud aunt.

The truck started and the five mounted in. As they stepped into the bed of the truck with them, Torunn couldn't help but ask, "So uh, Rocket? What kind of tacos did you say you had on the ship?"

Chapter Text

***Rio De Janeiro***

The setting sun brought a nice orange glow over all of Rio. It was quite peaceful. But what some didn't know was that that peace was thanks to a mysterious protector.

A protector locally known as "O Tigre Branco".

***Quinjet, In A Nearby Park***

A ways away from any towns or houses set the Quinjet, and inside were none other than Peter Parker and Sam Alexander.

They were here to investigate the mysterious "Tigre Branco", and if possible, recruit her. Yes, her. According to the file that Tony Stark had made on this mysterious assailant, she was a woman. A girl really based on her age, but still.

Currently, Peter was looking over said file and really getting absorbed in it. Her age, her family, and even her family's background. Apparently, her father was an officer. That would be a good motivator for her to join...maybe.

It was really hope Peter was flying on here, and again, hopefully, it'd go well.

Pulling himself away from the file, he turned his focus to the radio and listened carefully to the headset that he had on. So far nothing on the scanners but static.

"Anything?" Sam asked walking past Peter.

Peter shook his head. "Nope."

But he kept listening, because he had a feeling that something would come up tonight.

In a town, not too far away, things had gone quiet as the day had ending for some. The sky grew dark and only sounds were the passing cars on the streets.

However, the sounds of sirens tore through the night's peaceful silence. The sounds came from a pet store in a nearby town. Turns out it was a front for a kidnapping ring.

The local police had been called and notified of the disturbance and officers soon swarmed the streets and surrounded the place.

They all stepped out and took their positions.

"Quem fez a ligação?" (Who made the call?) One of them asked as they stepped out of their vehicle.

"Eu não sei, foi anônimo."(I don't know, it was anonymous.) the other replied with a shrug.

They had all taken their positions and had backup on standby.

On the roof, a man with a rifle army crawled towards the edge of the roof with the intention of "taking care" of the police.

But he was intercepted before he made it to the edge. Someone had come up behind him, stomped on his ankle, covered his mouth before he could yelp in pain and knocked him out.

The police on the ground below witnessed this but could only make out flash of white on the roof thanks to the headlights of their cars.

"O que foi aquilo?"(What was that?) one of them, a rookie asked.

"Problemas para aqueles que estão dentro."(Trouble for those inside.) His senior partner replied with a knowing look.

The white clad vigilante made her way into the shop as stealthily as she could, walking down the steps. Not long until she had entered into a supply room for the store.

She saw multiple shelves of stuffs and in between them, she saw perps with guns. Under the mask, her eyes flared with anger as she hid and began making her move.

One by one, she began to pick them off. And with each one, the screams increased and the guns fired.

Outside, the officers could vivid sounds of the events happening inside.

Sounds of gunshots, men screaming, cloth being shredded and banging against walls could be heard.

"É ela! Ela está aqui!!"(It's her! She's here!!) one of them exclaimed, firing away in all directions.

"O Tigre Branco!"(The White Tiger!) another screamed, holding onto his gun for dear life.

That was all they got out before they were pulled backwards and relieved of their weapons and consciousness.

In another part of the shop, the leader of the front had heard the screams and cries of his men through the radio. And now that they were gone, fear began to overtake him.

***Quinjet***

Since it had been a while and there was no sign of any action, Peter and Sam has switched shifts on the radio and it was now Sam's turn.

Sam was sitting there flipping through his phone whilst the headset was still on just in case anything came in.

Suddenly, his head shot up as the commotion from the radio came through the headset. Whatever was happening was really serious.

"Ok, we got something!" Sam stated. Focusing on the sound coming from within the headset.

Peter jumped up from his seat and ran over to him, anxiously waiting to hear what was happening. "Well?"

Seconds passed before Sam looked up to Peter and gave him a nod.

"It's her." He said firmly

***Basement***

Having taken care of the scum upstairs, the Tiger made her way down the steps into the shop's basement and saw no one. Not sensing any danger, she jumped down from the steps and landed gracefully on the floor below.

As she stood up fully, she sniffed the air. Taking it all in, she could smell gunpowder from bullets, pellets for parrots and rodents, and....a teddy bear. That was her target. Following the scent of it led her to what seemed like nothing but a wall. But the White Tiger wasn't so easily fooled.

She began to feel around on the wall for anything. A crack, a hole, anything that could give her a clue. Finally she found it when her gloved hands came over a thin line within the lines of the wall's design. From that line, she felt something, air! That was it, that was her clue! A fake wall! Putting her ear to it, she could make out the muffled sounds of sniffling and children's cries on the other side.

Needing no further convincing, she flexed her claws out and etched a big 'X' on the wall. Then, after retracting her claws, she took a breath before she began to punch at the fake wall. Thanks to the 'X' pattern etched in and aiming straight for the center of it, The Tiger was able to make good on her blows to the fake wall. With each punch, a small hole began to gape.

From the other side, at least a dozen kids were sitting there in the dimly lit room which shined against their bodies, the sweat and tears having mixed together.

Finally, the wall was being pulled on. They could see the white gloved hands clawing away at the hole before finally, the entire wall was pulled away and tossed aside. With their eyes adjusting to the light coming into the room, they saw a white hooded person with hair poking out of the side of the hood. And through eyeholes, they saw caring eyes as the Tiger knelt down to them with hands up and open.

"Está tudo bem, está tudo bem." (It's ok, it's ok.) she cooed, not wanting to alarm them. This was the first time they had ever seen the fabled 'Tigre Blanco', and she didn't want them to be afraid. Lifit up her mask so that the children could see and be calmed by her face. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

One of the children, a little girl, leaned forward and pressed herself against the "Tiger". Immediately, she embraced the child, comforting her in this very moment. 

Finally letting her go, she looked to all of them. "I'm going to get you out of here, all right?"

They all nodded in anticipation and hopeful smiles came up. The "Tiger" began to go to work on their binds when the sound of a gun being cocked make her freeze. She didn't think she'd be out of the woods yet, but she didn't expect it to come to her like this.

"Levante-se, agradável e devagar."(Get up, nice and slow.) the leader of the baddies ordered. He was the only one left, so desperation was all within him.

Tiger looked at the young ones all in front of her and the fear returning to their faces, the hope swiftly leaving. No, she wasn't going to let it go back to that.

Slowly, she reached up and pulled her mask back down before complying with the previous demand. The gun that was held to her head followed her as she stood and began to shake in the man's hand.

With a shaky voice, he made his bargain. “Agora você vai me tirar daqui, ou as crianças não vão viver para ver amanhã.” (Now you're going to get me out of here, or the children won't live to see tomorrow.)

'Big mistake.' The "Tiger" thought.

Looking back down to the children, she made eye contact with the little girl. "Close your eyes for me, ok?" she told her, looking to the others around her too. "It's going to be alright."

The little girl and the rest of the children nodded and obeyed the vigilante's words, clamming their eyes shut.

Now that she knew the children couldn't see anything, the "Tiger" let out a breath through her mask. Suddenly, her claws came out and with the speed of lightning she sprang into action.

Outside, the officers could hear vivid sounds of the events happening inside. Sounds of a man screaming for his life. 

They waited as they heard the bloodcurdling scream subside. And they knew what the reason for the screams was.

When the sounds finally stopped, the cops started to wonder what was happening. Then the front door opened. They readied their guns, and pointed them at the door.

"Tudo bem, oficiais! Sou eu, é o Tiger!” (It's ok, officers! It's me, it's Tiger!) A young female voice called out to them.

They saw the vigilante, dressed in white, stepped out with a little girl cradled in her arms.

The commanding officer there ordered his men to lower their weapons and to move in to tend to the children. They all flocked towards the little ones, but not too much so as to crowd them.

Paramedics were called as was a morgue for the dead mercenaries still within the building. Meanwhile blankets were given to the children as they all calmed down from this harrowing experience.

As for the little girl still in the arms of the white clad vigilante, who's named turned out to be Carmen, she has clung to her as a child would her mother. Though the "Tiger" hadn't much experience with children, she felt her motherly instincts take effect as she slowly rocked back and forth, patted her back and comforted the little girl.

She even went as far as to hum lightly in her ear so as to soothe her. A few minutes of this made the child doze off and finally feel a little peace.

Finally, an lady officer came to take Carmen to be squared away. Reluctantly, she let go of her rescuer to go with the the officer. And if she was honest, there was a lot of reluctance for her too as she had quickly grown attached to the little girl.

"Obrigado, Srta. Tiger,"(Thank you, Miss Tiger) Carmen thanked her.

The heroine's heart melting at the little girl’s thanks, she blushed under the mask as she replied, "De nada, Carmen."(You're welcome, Carmen.)

With that, the officer walked away with little Carmen. As they walked away, another officer, the chief,  walked up to her. 

"Muito obrigado, Tiger,"(Thank you so much, Tiger.) he said to her.

She replied silently with a curt nod before the chief looked away to get another look at the scene. Having taken it all in, he looked back to say something, but he saw no one there in her place. The 'Tiger' had disappeared.

***Rocinha***

The 'Tiger' parkoured across the rooftops of the favelas. She would run and then jump across the alley gaps.

Finally, she slowed down and came to a stop as she had made it to a certain rooftop. Standing at the edge over an ally, she flexed her claws out and jumped off the edge onto the alley wall and let the claws help her slide down the side to the alley floor below.  When she finally made it to the ground, she let go and her claws retracted as she walked out of the ally. However, as she did, she sensed something—someone watching her... watching from the shadows.

She turned and refaced the dark alley seeing nothing but crates, dumpsters and trash cans. But she wasn't easily fooled.

"I know you're there!" She yelled, readying her claws once again. "Who are you, and what do you want?!"

"Well for starters, I don't wanna fight." A voice said up above her.

Looking up, she saw the source of the voice: a figure sticking to the side of building that made the alley wall. Then it jumped down and landed on the ground in a squatting position.

As he stood, she noticed a few things. It had to me a man. He had just the right build, body shape, and the muscles to back it up. His voice sounded young. Probably about her age. Also, this person, whoever he was, was in a tight suit similar to hers.

Only his was red and blue with spider web like patterns on the chest, arms, boots, and mask.

He walked towards her slowly with his hands in a gentle, nonviolent way. As he did, she noticed that he looked familiar.

"Wait a minute, I know you." The white-clad girl stated. "You're that guy from New York. Um.....Spider-something."

"Right! Uh, Spider-Man. It's-it's Spider-Man."

The White Tiger nodded. "Well Spider-Man, what do you want?"

Before he replied, Spidey walked towards slowly. His hands still up. The girl watched his every move, ready just in case this was a trap. But she didn't sense any danger. So she stood there and watched as kept on towards her and stopped a few feet away from her.

The two of them were face to face now. Or mask to mask rather. Until, slowly, he reached for his head and pulled off his mask. When he did, the white clad female saw a young man's face. And if she was being honest, he did look a little cute.

She shook her head lightly and came back to reality.

"My name's Peter Parker. And um... we need your help."

"Who's we?" The girl asked in a more gentle mood.

There was a silence before Peter finally answered, "....the Avengers."

Peter couldn't see it, but underneath the mask, White Tiger was completely confused.

"The Avengers?" She echoed his words, "I don't understand. Aren't they dead?"

Hearing her say that out loud made Peter hurt a bit more, but he continued.

"It's a long story. Is there somewhere we can talk?"

The white clad female let her body ease up. Obviously, Spider-Man wasn't a threat. But he needed help.

But what did this have to do with the Avengers? They were supposed to be dead. Right? This whole thing had her both confused, but also interested.

Slowly, she lifted her hands to her head and began to take off her mask.

This shocked Peter, but it was better than her clawing at him. When she finally took it off, he saw the face of a beautiful girl with jet black hair and hazel eyes. Quite a vision. She certainly didn't seem like a monster. He almost got entranced but reminded himself of why he was here.

She looked right at him with a look that showed concern but also curiosity.

"Come with me." She said, motioning with her head.

***Ayala Apartment***

Peter followed Ava to her apartment and stepped in.

"You live here alone?" He asked curiously.

"Kind of," Ava replied as she headed into the kitchen, "This is one of my aunt's places. She's from New York-"

"Oh, me too!" Peter added with a chuckle and a shrug, "Queens."

Ava hummed in surprise and a small smile picked at the corner of her lips. "New York City. My aunt's from the Bronx, but she's away a lot. Always traveling."

"Travel agent?"

The Latina shook her head but kept her small smile and a knowing look at her guest. "FBI agent."

Suddenly, Peter's little smile went up a little at those words. "Wow, that's pretty cool!" He was genuinely intrigued by this girl and her family already. And she even seemed to be smiling along with him about it. This made Peter begin to have a sense of pride.

Early stages of good rapport: check!

But then Peter's curiosity got the better of him and he asked a personal question. "So why'd you move here?"

There was a bit of a silence. Ava's head lowered and she felt a bit of insecurity come up. The feeling of a lump growing in her throat came as she swallowed and took a breath. Carefully, but reluctantly, she answered him. "My mom was from here.... Puerto Rico, really. But, this is close enough."

"...oh..."

Peter suddenly felt a tug of remorse after hearing that. The way Ava answered that question made him realize he stumbled onto a sensitive subject.

He wasn't the only one though, Ava too mentally slapped herself. What was she telling him all of this for? She didn't know this person and now she was telling him parts of her life.

Peter felt a bit of regret with asking. He wanted to ask another question too. But given Ava's current demeanor, he figured he'd gone far enough.

"I'm sorry," he told her, his words quiet but sincere.

This made Ava start to feel a little caring towards him. Seeing him lower his head now poked at her heart. Almost like wanting to give him a hug to comfort him, but she didn't got that far. "It's ok....Peter."

Lifting his head at the sound of his name, the Spider-Man gave her a humble and appreciative nod and smile.

Deciding to take the reigns and get back to the matter of Peter's being here, Ava walked out of the kitchen with two glass bottles of Coca-Cola and popped off the caps on the edge of the table with ease.

The whole thing actually intrigued Peter even more towards the girl.

He watched as she set one bottle down for him on one side of a table while she took a seat opposite.

"Have a seat." She invited as she took a swing of her Cola. He obliged her and even took a sip of the bubbly soda which was quite refreshing to him. "Mm. Thanks!" He slurred, swallowing another gulp and almost spitting some out as he thanked her.

The Latina couldn't help but giggle at his clumsiness. "Hahaha, you're welcome." She deduced that it had to be a main quality of this one, but she also secretly found it a little cute. But that was between her and her thoughts. "So," She urged, getting her mind on track, "you said you needed help. Why come to me? Actually, why in general?"

"Ah, right," Bouncing off of her focus, Peter set his sofa down and got to it. "Well, it all began a few days ago. I was at Mr. Stark's cabin, when we got a visit from-"

And he laid it all out for her, explaining everything to the best of his ability. The unexpected return of Scott Lang, the idea of time travel, the Infinity Stones, the plan for the "Time Heist", and the idea for the assembling of a team.

This had definitely been a day for Ava. First school, TV, taking down a kidnapping ring. And now, an Avenger sat across the table from her and was explaining a crazy idea. She sat on the other side and listened as he explained everything to her. The plan, the assembling of a new team, and everything else.

When he finished, the room went silent as he awaited her answer.

"Ok," She began, trying to process the information, "so just so I have this clear...you have this plan to get this group of other teens..."

Peter nodded as she broke it down.

"-to travel back in time...."

"Right."

"-to different points in time,"

"Mhm."

"And once there, get these...?"

"-Infinity Stones."

"-Infinity Stones, which were used to destroy half of the universe..."

"Right."

"And use them to bring back everyone that was snapped away back in 2018?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah, that's about it."

Ava blinked as she sat back in her chair and ran her hands through her hair. This definitely isn't something she saw happening two days ago.

She was fine with taking criminals down, and out if need be. The life of a vigilante was fun, even though some people didn't like her. It didn't really bother her, being called a monster. After The Snap, she had become one.

So being White Tiger helped her with her rage, but it also kept her mind off the hurt that was in her heart.

The hurt of loneliness. The Snap had taken her father and her brother away from her. After that, she fell deep into a state of pain. Pain of loss. With these thoughts in her mind, she wondered if the young man across from her had experienced it.

"Did you....did you lose someone in the uh.....in the Snap?" She stuttered.

"Huh?"

"Well, I just figured that with this there had to be some personal motivation in this for you."

"You mean other than the millions of people who were snapped away?"

"Right."

".....I lost a man who was kinda like my father figure......Tony Stark."

That surprised her. "Iron Man?!"

"Yep....my uh, my aunt too. May....she was pretty much my mom to me."

"How do you keep going on?" She asked, genuinely curious, "I mean, how do you still find the strength to help others even though you're still hurting?"

Ava didn't know it, but she had just asked a loaded question for Peter.

"Well, before I became Spider-Man.....my uncle, he uh....he was killed."

That made Ava's eye begin to tear up. Had this boy ever had a break? That was her main thought as he continued.

"I had just gotten my powers and I was in a bad mood that night. I was out, trying to cool off. What I didn't know was that my uncle had come out looking for me...... Turns out, the man who killed him...I saw him before that, hurting someone else. And when he tried to escape, he ran into my uncle. He tried to stop him, but......"

Peter didn't say anymore after that, but he didn't have to for Ava to understand where he was going.

"I'm so sorry, Peter." Hesitant at first, she reached over and set her hand on his.

The warmth he felt from her hand sent goose bumps through him, which she felt. It made them both lush a little, but not too much due to the current conversation.

"Before he died, my uncle helped me understand the weight of responsibility that comes with great power...and then that made me realize: When you can do the things that other people can't, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, you'll feel like they happen because of you.........it's a responsibility. And that's when I decided that I would do my best to use my powers to live up to that responsibility. It makes me feel better too."

The whole story and the boatload of emotion with it had choked Ava up. Wiping away her tears with her free hand, she once again squeezed Peter's hand to comfort him. He really amazed her. The emotions flowing through her from his story brought some sincere words to mind, which she spoke out loud to Peter. 

"Your uncle would be proud of you, Peter. And your aunt too."

Hearing that gave Peter such comfort and a want to cry, which he let come. Lightly clearing his throat, Peter looked up to Ava and thanked her with tears starting up. "Thank you, Ava."

She in return smiled empathetically and lightly rubbed the spot on his wrist with her thumb, and he let her. 

Thinking about the sad picture of events that Peter just described brought tears to Ava's eyes....that's probably what the whole world felt. And yet, it was so similar to her story. So now, she became the White Tiger. To make sure that no one would have to feel that loss. Just like Peter.  Some appreciated it, some didn't.

But she didn't care. As long as she could make a difference in other people's lives by keeping them safe and protecting them. And with that, she realized that she and Peter had something in common. Wanting to help others and try to prevent them from more loss.

Come to think of it, that's what the Avengers stand for. Or stood for. They died trying to save people. And now, there was a chance to bring them back. But not only them, her family too!

And since she was being asked to help, she was definitely going to.

She looked back to Peter, her cheeks stained with tears but a look of determination on her face. "I'm in." She stated, her voice slightly scratchy.

A surprised, but glad look came to Peter's face when he heard this. "Really? Th-That's great! Thank you."

Ava nodded with another small smile. "You're welcome."

Peter nodded back. He was glad that she said 'yes'.

Then something caught his eye. Looking down, he saw that he had set his hand atop hers, which was still holding onto his wrist. Then Ava noticed it too. Swiftly, they both retreated their hands backwards and blushed madly.

Not wanting Ava to change her mind after she had just agreed, Peter remembered and told her the rest. "Alright, so this is gonna take a bit. We still have to build this machine, so you may wanna pack a few things."

Ava's blushing expression disappeared and turned into one of complete surprise. "Whoa whoa whoa, wait! So I'm going to stay at the Avengers HQ too?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. Yeah. Plus we still have to build the machine and test it, so it's gonna take a bit."

"Oh, and one more thing," he stated while standing up from his chair. Walking around the table to stand in front of her, he straightened his arm and tapped each of her shoulders with the edge of his hand as if dubbing her like a knight....just as Tony had done to him so long ago.

Having finished, he stepped back and looked at her with a proud smile, "Ava Ayala, you are now an Avenger."

Ava's breath hitches in her throughout as she gasped. She was truly flabbergasted. She had just been declared an Avenger. AN AVENGER!!!

She took a few heavy breaths as she felt a sense of pride within her. This was definitely gonna be an experience for the books.

***Quinjet***

So after another hour or so of packing, slight procrastination and help from Peter, the two finally arrived at the location where the Quinjet was hidden. In a park about five miles from where Ava lived.

"Alright, Sam," Peter said, talking through a com link, "open'er up."

Moments later, the ramp door to the Quinjet began to descend to the ground below. The sight was enough to send Ava into a state of awe.

"Ok, that's pretty cool." She admitted as the ramp finally stopped at the ground.

"Oh trust me, you haven't seen anything yet," Peter promised her, motioning for her to follow as he walked up the ramp.

Following suit, she noticed that the interior of the craft was deceiving you bigger than it looked on the outside. Multiple seats with seatbelts and a few windows on either side. Also a monitor on one side with a seat at it, and the pilot seat up ahead.

And from that seat stood another person. A boy seeming Peter's age, though he could still pass for a teenager. Tanned skin, possibly Hispanic or Latino like her.

'Must be Sam.' She thought as the boy walked

"Whoa!" The boy exclaimed quite dramatically as he stopped right in front of her, looking her up and down with a smirk, "Well, hello there! Name's Sam, Sam Alexander. And who might you be?"

"Sam," Peter interjected, and not a moment too soon, "this is Ava Ayala. Ava, this is Sam. Aka Nova. But also known as Bucket-Head."

"HEY!" The Hispanic defensively barked.

Ava snickered at that. Peter was definitely funny and witty. Sam, having been defeated this time around, walked away and rolled his eyes as he did. 
Looking back to Ava, Peter shrugged his shoulders as he walked away to prepare for takeoff.

The Quinjet's engines fired up and the craft lifted from the ground before heading off into the cloudy night sky.

Ava sat by a window and watched as Rio got smaller and smaller as they flew away from her home.

"You alright?" A voice asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

Peter stood there, concern written all over his face. Ava shrugged and bobbed her head in reply, not fully being able to answer. "I'm good. Just a little nervous, I guess."

"I can understand that."

"Just tell me, do we actually have a good chance to win?"

Peter understood her worry. And to be honest, he wasn't sure. This whole thing had him asking the same question himself. So he answered truthfully, "I don't know."

That didn't exactly reassure her, but at least it was the truth.

"But what I do know is that we're gonna do the best we can, and we're gonna do it together."

Now THAT was reassuring. Granted, it didn't lean towards a positive outcome. But it did give a lot of hope for a good outcome. And that gave Ava a small smile.

"That's good enough for me then," She said.

A feeling of accomplishment came to Peter with a hint of pride as he smiled at that. And with that, he figured she'd want to relax now.

"Why don't uh, why don't you get some rest?" He suggested, care apparent in his voice. "It's gonna be a bit of a long ride."

A smirk came to Ava's face when he said that. He was so cute when he showed care.

"Why, so you can watch me while I sleep, maybe take a picture?" She teased with an eyebrow raised.

Peter's eyes went wide. Did he accidentally give her some mixed signals or something? Did she misunderstand his suggestion? Oh boy.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" He tried to fix the situation, not wanting to make Ava uncomfortable since she just got here. "I-I-I just thought you might be tired and that you'd-"

"Peter, I'm just kidding!" She laughed, reaching out and holding him by the shoulders to calm him down. "Man, you're really easy to get. Ya know that?"

She laughed again as she let him go and got into a comfortable position and leaned against the wall behind her and closed her eyes. A smile stayed on her lips though, put there by Peter and his manners/innocence. Now she knew another area he was cute in: when he was nervous. Check!

Said spider man stood and began to head to the front of the Quinjet when Ava made one last statement.

"I wouldn't mind if you did. Just so you know." Her eyes cracked open a little to look at him standing there, red beginning to come to his cheeks.

She giggled as she once again closed her eyes and out a hum of contentment. Score another one for the Tiger.

Peter let out a nervous sigh and walked up to where Sam sat in the pilot seat, arms crossed and a confused look on his face.

"I just don't get it," He said plainly as Peter leaned against the window up above them.

"What's that?"

"She's going for you, and not me. And you're not even trying!"

"What?!" Peter exclaimed in a whispered tone. "You're crazy man!"

"Oh am I? Could it be that, maybe, you like her, Pete?" Sam teased his friend with a smirk.

"Dude! Just drop it, ok?! Besides, there's no way she could like me! And me liking her, it......it's not important right now."

Even though he knew better and wanted to hear more, Sam chuckled and decided to give Peter a break. "Uh-huh, yeah. You keep tellin' yourself that, Parker."

Peter rolled his eyes at the Hispanic in the pilot seat. But as he did, he began to think about it. Could it be possible? Could Ava possibly like him? He wouldn't lie, there was no denying that she was pretty. Her face was so mesmerizing to him, it reminded him of fire. Dangerous, yet beautiful. And that pretty much described her.

Deciding to take a chance, Peter turned and looked back at the sleeping Latina in the back as she slept. She sure seemed peaceful. But that peace's seemed to be disturbed momentarily by her shivering. It was then Peter realized it was a little bit chilly in the Quinjet. He was used to it though, being from New York. But that didn't help Ava any.

Then, he got an idea. Walking back over to the sleeping Latina, he unzipped his hoodie, took it off and placed it on Ava. Wrapping it around her torso lightly, careful not to wake her up. When he finished, he saw her smile return as she cuddle within the warmth of the hoodie. As she did, another hum came from her. Though it was more of a moan, really. Now, she was even more comfortable, and that brought a smile to Peter's face to see it.

Up front, Sam had watched while all of this transpired. His teasing smirk remained victoriously. "Oh yeah, he definitely likes her," He whispered to himself.

"Hey Pete!" He called in a whispered tone, to which Peter heard and walked back over.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Where to next?" Sam asked.

"Uh, Massachusetts."

"Oh, back home?"

"Yeah. We've got a potential ringer there who goes to MIT."

"Alrighty then. Massachusetts it is."

And with that, Sam charted the course towards the states and Massachusetts and course corrected, flying through the cloudy night sky.

Chapter Text

***Barton Farmhouse, Iowa***

The sun was almost touching the horizon, filling the sky with a beautiful orange and blue scene.

The wind blew lightly against the grass and the weeds as they swayed back and forth.

The house stood firm and clean thanks to the current resident.

***Kitchen***

In the kitchen, a girl tossed a wash rag over her shoulder as she turned the kitchen sink off, put the last dish on the drying rack, and pulled the plug to let the dishwater drain out.

She then dried her hands and went to the living room and plopped on the couch. That girl, was Kate Bishop.

She laid her arm over her eyes as she brought her feet up to the cushion, reclining into a more comfortable position.

"What a day." She sighed, relishing in her relaxation.

After a few moments of peace, the feeling of something wet and fuzzy nudging her free arm came. Kate knew just what, or who it was. Lifting her arm from her eyes, she looked upon a cute golden retriever who was staring right back at her.

A tired smile came to Kate's face as she began petting the canine. "Hey, boy!" She chirped, scratching behind the dog's ears.

The dog, who's name was Lucky, whined happily at his person as he jumped his front legs up onto the couch and leaned further into the scratching. He was loving it, and he loved Kate too.

Kate smiled at Lucky, happy to have him there to bring some light after her long day. "Ya hungry, Luck?"

The retriever's ears perked up and his head cocked to the side at that question before barking in excitement. Instantly, Kate already knowing and smiling at his response, she began to sit up from the couch and headed for the kitchen, Lucky barking and jumping up the whole way.

"I know JUST the thing for ya, bud. A little treat for you." She went to the fridge and opened it up before reaching for a large food container, pulling it out and setting it on the counter. "Pizza!"

Kate took a cold slice and held it up a bit for Lucky to jump up and grab, which he did before taking it over to his dog bowl and laid down to enjoy it. Taking one for herself, Kate reached back into the fridge and pulled out a Coke before heading back to her spot on the couch.

Reclining back on the couch, Kate propped her feet back up and took another bite of her pizza. As she relaxed and ate, she began backtracking and thought about her day.

Today, she'd been pretty busy. She had had school, then she had to cut the yard with the riding mower. Then she'd swept the floors upstairs and downstairs before dinner. Finally finishing up with the dishes to now.

Kate scratched her head as she looked around at her work. The house looked pretty good. From the floors to the bathroom, to the coffee table right in front of the couch.

Looking at the table, she saw an photo album on it. Seeing it brought a small smile to her lips as she set her drink down, reached for it and pulled it to her.

She opened it and looked at the pictures. It had pictures of the Barton Family. And some of them had her in them too.

One of her favorites was of her and Frankie together. Those were her favorite. She never admitted it out loud, but she always had a little crush on Frankie. Even now, she still had a special place for him in her heart. But now.......he was gone too.

A tear fell from her eyes and splatted against the page as she began to cry. She wiped away her tears and placed the album back on the table. Soon as she place it down though, the table began to shake. Then the whole house began to shake!

[BARK, BARK]

Lucky barked at the window and jumped up to look out of it. Kate ran to the window and saw what looked like a spaceship landing in the field in front of the house.

"What the?" She whispered in confusion. Who or what was this?!

She knelt down and shushed Lucky as she began to crawl along the floor until she reached the hallway closet, reached in and grabbed something.

Suddenly,

[KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK]

Kate felt her heart drop as she heard the sound. Lucky barked and growled as he faced the door.

With no other option, Kate shushed him once again, stood up and cautiously walked over to the door.

As she walked over, multiple thoughts ran through her mind. Who could be knocking at her door? Was it aliens? What did they want here? She didn't know, but she DID know she wasn't going down without a fight.

She unlocked the top lock and then grabbed the doorknob. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door as far as the chain would allow. When she did, she saw a tall redhead teen standing there and an apple-shaped blonde girl behind the him.

'Well, they don't look like aliens.' She thought to herself.

But behind them both though, was a person she'd only heard stories of or seen on TV, the Hulk.

She calmed down a little at the sight of him, but didn't let her guard down all the way.

"Uh, can I help you?" She asked, still cautious.

"Hi, is uh...is Frankie home?" The boy with the red hair asked.

"Who wants to know?"

"Oh right! Sorry, I'm Jamie. This is Tori."

"Hi."

"That's our Uncle Bruce."

The professor Hulk nodded and waved, "Hey, how's it going?"

"And that's Rocket." The "raccoon" raised an hand from his crossed arms and waved at her.

"And we're looking for Frankie for his help. He's kinda my cousin."

Hearing that stirred Kate's curiosity. She knew that Clint was Hawkeye since he'd mentioned it when he trained them, and they'd seen him on TV as an Avenger. But she didn't know that the other Avengers had kids.

"He's uh....he's not here." She finally said.

Jamie nodded at that but sighed as a look of defeat came to him. What now? Frankie wasn't here, so where could he be? "You wouldn't by any chance know where he is, so you?"

That was also a question that Kate was asking herself as well. Along with why these guys were looking for him too. This was something. Finally, she closed the door. Jamie and the others were confused now. Was this a sign that this girl didn't want them here or something?

But they soon got their answer when they heard a chain rattle and the door reopening all the way this time to reveal the girl with a bow and arrow ready in her hands and a golden retriever behind her.

"I'm Kate." She introduced herself. "Kate Bishop. C'mon in."

Jamie and the others followed suit through the door and into the house, all except for Rocket who had been stopped by a growling Lucky who was right in front of the "raccoon".

"Whoa, whoa boy!" He exclaimed, hands up, eyes wide and a bit of fear apparent in his voice. "Easy, easy there, pooch. You don't wanna do this, trust me."

But Lucky didn't back down any, only intensified his growling as he began to stalk slowly towards Rocket.

"Hey uh, ya ever hear of Cosmo the SpaceDog?" He asked the retriever, trying to calm him down any way he could, "Is he yer brother? Cuz he's a good friend, we know each other real well. GUYS!!!" Rocket's heart was racing, he was going to have to run!

"Lucky!" They heard Kate call from inside the house, "leave him alone, he's ok."

That made Lucky stop growling and turn his head to listen to his master. Hearing her words, his entire demeanor changed as he turned back to Rocket and whined happily at him like a friend.

Rocket was still cautious but glad the "attack mode" of the dog had been called off. Easing by him step-by-step, Rocket slowly made his way inside with Lucky right behind him.

***Living Room***

"Time travel?" Kate asked, slightly puzzled by what she had just heard.

"Yeah, I'm just as confused as you are," Tori stated, sharing the same look as Kate. This was actually the first time she'd heard the idea herself, and it sounded quite bizarre.

"I know, it sounds kinda crazy," Bruce said, scratching the back of his neck, "but it's not farfetched as it sounds."

Kate took a minute to try and process this new information. It sounded like something out of a sci-fi movie to her. But given everything that's happened throughout the years, aliens, flying billionaires, powerful hammer-wielding beings from other planets, giant gamma monsters, and a space raccoon in a suit in her living room, this didn't seem too crazy. "And you're looking for Frankie because... " she inquired.

"Well, we're mainly looking for him to make sure he's okay and possibly bring him home. And if possible, he could help us with this," Jamie replied, taking the reins for that question. Taking that in, Kate began to think hard about something.

At that, Jamie's phone rang. Standing up and excusing himself, he walked into the hallway of the house and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jamie," It was Rhodey. "Nikki said you and Bruce were out."

"Yeah, we are."

"Well, I figured I'd give you this info since you were probably out that way."

"What is it?"

"You at the Barton's place?"

"Yeah. There's someone here, but they don't know where he is."

"I do, I got his location."

"Really?!" Jamie exclaimed, surprised and curious, "What is it?"

"He's not even on this continent."

Jamie roller his eyes and nodded. "Heh, figures. So where is he?"

"....Japan."

"Japan?!"

"Yeah, and it looks like he's going on a rampage."

"Alright, we're heading there now."

"Copy that. And Jamie, be careful."

The teen could hear the colonel's concern through the phone and couldn't help but smile at it. "I will. Thanks Rhodey."

Then he hung up.

"Rhodey?" Bruce asked as Jamie came back.

"Yeah, and he said Frankie's in Japan. And it doesn't look good." Kate's head jolted up at the sound of her friend's name. They knew where he was now.

"How bad?" Rocket asked.

"Like 'we need to get there yesterday bad'."

Once those words were out, Kate stood up from her seat and looked at Jamie with a stern look. "I'm coming with you." She stated.

Bruce, being the surrogate parent he was, stood from his spot on the couch and turned to Kate. "Wait, hold on there. I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

But Kate just turned to Bruce and didn't lose her determined face. "If Frankie's there, I'm going. And if he's in trouble, then I'm DEFINITELY going! The Bartons were my family too....and Frankie, he's.......he's all I have left of them. And plus, if you guys think this plan of yours is going to work, then I want in too."

No other words were said as Bruce and Jamie exchanged looks and then looked back to Kate.

Torunn, who had been silent walked up to Kate and looked her right in the eyes, but the purple topped girl didn't shrink back at all, just holding her place as she and Torunn stared off.

After a few seconds, Torunn began to smile, to which Kate did too.

"I like her." The blonde said, liking back to the others. "It'll be nice having a third girl on the team."

Kate folded her arms and winked at Tori, whilst Jamie, Bruce, and Rocket just shrugged their shoulders.

Having packed a few things plus a bow of her own and leaving Lucky with the neighbors up the road and their kids, Kate made her way up the steps of the Benatar but stopped halfway up and looked back onto the Farmhouse and the land about it.

She wasn't leaving her own home of two and a half years, but she was also leaving the house that was he home of very close family friends. It was really all she had left of the Barton Family other than Frankie, and she was now worried about walking away from it.

As she continued looking at her home, she was met by Bruce who had walked down to where she was. Looking from her to the house and fields, he could understand how she was feeling.

"Don't worry, Kate," He said with a big green comforting hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay."

Looking up at him, she worriedly asked, "How do you know?"

That got Bruce, but it didn't really stump him. He knew what she meant, and he knew what his answer was too.

"Well, really, you never knew. You just hope for the best and work with what you got. And so far, we've got great team and it's still growing. And the more it grows, the more of a chance we just might have."

And like that, it began to make sense to Kate as she processed that. The more those thought about it, the more she realized Bruce was right. And with this chance they had, that was good enough for her.

"Thank you, Mister Hulk." she said with a reassures smile, "I really appreciate it."

"Anytime. And its Bruce."

Kate chuckled lightly and nodded back to him. "Bruce."

And with that, Bruce walked back up the steps. Kate looked out on the land once more with a smile before putting on a pair of thick framed purple sunglasses as she walked onto the Benatar and the steps came up behind her, the doors closed and the engine fired up.

"Hang on!" Rocket called out as the ship began to hover above the ground. "Next stop: Tokyo."

Chapter Text

***MIT, Labs***

🎶I go to work, I said hold up, wait a minute
I go to work, I get out there, I go get it
I go to work, and I'll leave and come home with it
I go to work, hey, hey, oh🎶

The song of Cee Lo Green played loudly through headphones and made the occupant's head bob to the beat. The occupant, a young girl, was heading into the labs towards her work area.

When she walked in, she passed a small label on the exterior wall. On it was the name: R. Williams. The 'R' stood for Riri. And that was her, Riri Williams. Eighteen year old genius, graduated school at age thirteen, and inventor extraordinaire.

Walking into her private workspace, she walked over to her desk and sat down while setting her bag on the floor. Once she did, she turned on her computer and waited as it booted up. As she waited, she glanced over to the pictures she had about her desk. Four altogether, they all held a special place in her heart. One was of her family. Mother, father, sister, her and her aunt. The other was of just her and her father, Demetrius Williams. To her, he was her rock and best friend when she was younger. And he just so happened to be her namesake. Demetrius. DemetRIus. RI. Riri. Crazy, but done with love. She truly missed him. The next one of her and her sister, Sharon.

But the last one was of her and her best friend...her only friend, Natalie Washington. The one who's stuck with her throughout the years. She had met her right after the Snap...which her father was caught in. Natalie was the only person Riri could talk to about tech and smarts growing up without the other person laughing. She was a true friend.

As she looked on at the pictures, her train of thought was broken by the door of her workspace being thrown open.

"Riri!" A dark skinned girl, about Riri's age, exclaimed as she busted into the lab. It just happened to be the girl in the picture, Riri's best friend, Natalie.

"Hey Natalie, what's wrong?" she asked, surprised by her bestie's sudden and unexpected entrance.

Throwing her hands up frantically, Natalie approached her with a look of annoyance and worry. "What did you do?"

"Uh, nothing that I know of."

"Oh really? 'Cause I just got stopped by campus security who said you stole something. Did you?"

"Of course not! I don't even kn-" she cut herself off when she realized what it could possibly be. "Oh no."

"What?"

"I gotta go." Riri jumped from her seat, grabbing her bag and headed for the door.

"You can't go out that way!" She halted at that and looked back to Natalie. "Security has the whole campus surrounded like a prison. You must've pissed someone off real bad."

"Ugh, great!" Throwing her bag down in aggravation and locking the door, Riri rubbed her temples and breathed. "What am I gonna do?"

She thought good and hard about alternative escapes. None were pretty, and some involved her getting hurt quite a bit. But then, one came to mind. A backup idea she'd kept secret from others, but now, seemed relevant. With no other option, she decided on it. But she knew she'd need help.

Once again taking in Natalie's presence, she walked up to her and looked her right in the eyes. "Can you help me?" She asked.

"...I don't know if I should." Natalie replied, leaning back a little.

"It's nothing illegal, I promise."

"Right, right, right. Other than consorting, and aiding and abetting a potential criminal."

Riri was silent at that, Natalie had her there. "Ok, other than that. C'mon, please Nat?!"

If it wasn't for the fact that the two had grown up together or that Natalie loved this girl and trusted her with her life, she probably wouldn't even consider helping her. But since she was her best friend, she reluctantly caved in.

Shaking her head, Natalie let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose before reluctantly asking, "What do you need?"

Riri's smile return and quickly became a smirk. "I'm gonna need to to button me up."

"What?"

That was all Natalie got out before Riri walked over and sat at her desk and began to type away at her computer.  watched as she went through files until she stopped at one labeled: 'Iron Escape Protocol'. Clicking on it, a confirmation option came up on the screen which read,

'ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO ACTIVATE THIS PROTOCOL?'

"What's the 'Iron Escape Protocol'?" Natalie asked. But Riri still didn't answer. The curly-haired genius jumped up from the desk, leaving the box unclicked, and walked over to a large metal table in a corner. Kneeling down along the side, she typed in a code on the button pad on the side of it.

"Riri, what's going on?"

Instead of answering, Riri just stood up and proceeded to give Natalie instructions. "Ok, we've got about three to five minutes before security gets here. The sequence takes about four, give or take, so it's gonna be close."

"What, what's gonna be-" Natalie was cut off by the sight of the table beginning to rise. One side lifted up diagonally until it stopped, standing upright. On the bottom that was now facing them, there was what seemed like an outline of a door and on it was a small black square which was actually a biometric hand scanner.

"What is this?" Natalie asked, becoming intrigued. 

"This..." she started before placing her hand on the scanner and let it scan her hand. After a second it chimed and the door cracked from down the middle and opened to reveal the inside. "-is my ticket out of here."

Natalie stood there, mouth agape as the doors fully opened, uncovering what appeared to be a suit of armor. But not just any suit of armor, this suit of armor looked just like-

"Is that..an Iron Man suit?" Natalie abruptly asked, eyes fixated on the finely crafted, metal suit which looked very much like that of the late Armored Avenger.

"Nope, but it's got the same details and functions of one."

"Wow...wait, where'd you get it?!"

"Well, actually, I built it."

Natalie's eyes nearly bugged out of her head at the sound of that. "Wait, WHAT?!! You bui-...but how...WHERE...WHEN?!!"

"Uh, well...remember back when that SHIELD/HYDRA stuff was going on and a lot is secrets got leaked onto the internet?"

Natalie thought back, vaguely remembering that from news stories and nodded.

"Well, one of the things leaked were some blueprints for Iron Man's suits. Which I was able to see and copy before it was retrieved and taken down. And I may have also used some "spare parts" from Stark Industries to help as well." Riri used air quotes when it came to "spare parts" bit.

Natalie's interest felt betrayed hearing this explanation. She began to chuckle as she processed this new information. "Wait....so basically...you stole Stark Industries property!"

Shrugging and bobbing her head, Riri's face showed like she was thinking of a way around it. Which she was. "More like 'secretly using', plus it's not like I used it to rob banks or something."

"And wait, SHIELD and HYDRA?...Wasn't that way back in 2014?"

"...yeah?"

"You had to have been a toddler! How could you have possibly know what those were or meant, weren't you like...what, four?"

"Three, actually. Well technically, three and a half. But..." Again, she shrugged and smiled innocently while Natalie stood there dumbfounded at the concept of Riri being that smart at that age.

It was a lot to wrap her head around. Too much, to be honest. So before she could reconsider, she stifled her rising stress and went on. "Uh-huh.....and, what is it you want me to do again?"

"All right, two things." Riri tapped a button on the inside on the wall of the armoire which resulted in both sides opening up and metal arm-like mechanisms, similar to those on an assembly line, appearing and began taking off the arms, legs and chest of the armor, opening it up, ready for the pilot to step in.

"Alright. First, you gotta initiate the virtual button up. I can't do it myself otherwise the suit'll close without me in it. On my computer, the confirmation box on it. Hit 'YES' when I step into the suit, and when I tell you, hit the blue button on the wall over there."

Riri pointed to said button that was on a wall across the room. Seeing it, Natalie looked back to the computer and the still waiting confirmation box and lightly shrugged. "Anything else?"

"Just run and meet me back at the house," the curly-haired genius replied with a trusting smile.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Natalie walked over to the desk while Riri did a few last minute calculations. Looking at the open suit and then to herself, she took off her jacket and slipped off her shoes, leaving her in socks. Anything that could potentially constrict her movement within the suit. Finally, she too let out a nervous sigh before walking up to and stepping into the open armor. The chilling sensation of the cold metal interior touching her skin as she stood inside sent a bit of a chill up her spine, mixing with the nervous jitters she had as well.

Looking over to her friend at the desk, she gave a her a final nod to start the virtual button up. Nodding back, Natalie took a few deep breaths before clicking 'YES' on the screen.

Once clicked, the chamber Riri and the armor stood in began to beep and whir as the mechanisms went to work and assembled the suit around Riri. First the feet and legs closed up, then coming up the quads and into the waist, more and more pieces began to encase the curly-haired genius.

Next was the abdomen which had some sort of exoskeleton go on before the exterior armor came on, the chest's exoskeleton following as well before the exterior breastplate came down and was tightened on.

The arms came next as the assembly mechanics allowed Riri to slip her arms into the armor's arms before they were connected to the rest of torso.

Finally, the neck piece was screwed on, leaving only the faceplate of the helmet, which slipped into place nice and easy.

No sooner than it did, a light flash appeared within the helmet and an orange glow as a Heads-Up-Display came up and began to light up the interior of the helmet.

"HAHA!! It worked!" Riri exclaimed happily, ecstatic to see her creation functioning perfectly, "This is awesome!"

When she said that, her voice had a bit of a metallic/robotic effect with it. The thanks for that going to the built in speaker Riri had included. It was still cool though.

In her excitement, she had stiffly turned her head to look at Natalie. And through the two eye slits, which vision's were improved thank to the HUD, she could see a shocked, but proud expression on the bespectacled girl's face. "Yeah! Yeah, I guess it does!"

With a new burst of adrenaline, Riri began to try and move her hands within the suit. Soon, she was opening and closing her fists...her METAL FISTS!!! Then, she tried to take a step forward, stumbling a little as she did. Also, she could make out that her steps had a bit of a metal 'CLANK' to them. Most likely thanks to the weight of the suit. But to her, even that was cool!

As she began to get the hang of it, the sound of doors flying open and indistinct yelling outside the lab broke the moment of excitement and accomplishment. It was the campus security!

"Quick!" Riri exclaimed, pointing to the button she mentioned earlier, "hit the button!"

Natalie ran over to the button and put her weight into it when she pushed it into the wall. Once she did, security burst through the door but halted at the shocking sight of...Iron Man?

As they stood there dumbfounded, a panel in the ceiling opened and revealed an opening to the outside.

(Riri's HUD POV)

As her escape way opened up, Riri looked up and again smiled through the HUD and the helmet.

"Here we go," she told herself, nerves rattled but ready to get out of there.

Stiffening her arms and her legs, Riri activated the repulsors/light stabilizers in the palms of the her armored hands and the thrusters in the heels of the feet. And little by little, she began to rise up from the ground before shooting up and through the square opening of the roof and into the open sky of the outside.

As she flew up, Natalie watched from her spot still in the lab in amazement. Still wanting to see her flying friend go, she ran out of the lab, leaving the two security guards clueless.

Exiting the building, Natalie immediately looked back up to skies and watched with a smile as she saw Riri floating in midair. That was her best friend, Riri Williams.

With Riri, she was taking in the beautiful view as she hovered up above the campus. Unaware of the curious and shocked eyes below.

No, her gaze was directed to the surrounding cities and buildings around her. She could see it all. From Back Bay to Boston University, from Boston Common to the New England Aquarium, she could see it all. All thanks to this suit.

Wait, the suit? Riri had been so awestruck by the view, she had almost forgotten the means of how she was watching it. Looking down, she looked at her armored hands, whose palm repulsors had automatically stopped, and her adrenaline took over as she positioned them back at her sides and all thrusters flared and sent her flying towards the city.

As she did, the vibrations from the thrusters gave her goose bumps as she flew through the air and into the high building area.

Soon, buildings zoomed past her. Building after building, she began to dodge them playfully like an obstacle course. Left, right, left, right, as gracefully as stork. Riri chuckled when she saw her reflection, or the reflection of her suit rather on the side of one of the buildings.

Coming to one, she flew circles around it, spiraling around it to the top until she finally passed it and flew straight up and above the clouds.

"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She let out a hearty cheer as she stopped and hovered there in the sky. Looking down among the city once again, the high of adventure came once again as she saw the beauty from her aerial position. It was now official, she was never taking the bus again. The subway? Maybe, but this suit was definitely gonna be her transport more so now. She had made up her mind.

"It's sooo beautiful." She could stay up here forever with a view like this. But her panoramic sightseeing was disturbed when a ping came up on her HUD.

(Riri's HUD POV)

"Huh? What is that?" She asked herself.

The HUD couldn't identify it. But whatever it was, it was coming up behind her and coming fast.

Riri just had time to turn around before a blast of blue energy was shot at her. It hit her and sent her flying backwards a little.

The crazy motion and flipping around made it a little hard for Riri to get her bearings, but regaining her flailing arms and her boot thrusters, she was able to stabilize her flight and was hovering once again.

Once she was stable, she looked in the direction of the thing that attacked her and saw that it...actually looked more like a WHO than a what.

It looked like a guy surrounded in a mist of blue power. He was flying towards her, but not with rocket boots like hers. He seemed to be flying on his own, and the energy seemed to be coming him. Must be a natural power. He also seemed to be in a dark metal suit of armor. Not like hers though. This one was more like a uniform and with a helmet that had the mouth visible and eyeholes to see through. And the person underneath seemed human.

"Who the hell are you, and what the hell was that for?!" She exclaimed to him. At least, she thought it was a 'him'.

"Name's Nova," he replied, his voice confirming that he was a 'he', "And sorry, nothing personal. Just testing you."

'Testing me?' Riri repeated in her head. What did he mean by that? "Testing what?" She asked out loud.

The guy, apparently called "Nova", replied with another blast of his power at her. One she actually saw coming this time. She managed to dodge it before another was shot at her. Dodging it and maintaining her hovering pose, Riri growled was beginning to get annoyed.

"Ugh! Alright,"

(Riri's HUD POV)

"-that's it! You wanna test me?!" She asked, a challenging look coming to her face, mixing with a smirk.

"You got it!"

Riri blasted off and Nova gave way to chasing her. It had become an aerial game of cat and mouse. Only with these two, Riri and Nova were no ordinary cat and mouse. In this case, they were Tom & Jerry. Tom for Nova and Jerry for Riri. And that was so because Riri had an idea of how to get rid of this joker, and she hoped that the suit was up to it.

As she flew one, her HUD alerted her to the power blasts that were fired at her, all of which she missed. Not to say that a lot of them weren't close, cause they were.

But Riri managed to use evasive maneuvers so she wouldn't get hit. Now, it was her turn. Flipping over to where she was flying with her back down and chest upwards, she looked to her pursuer, lifted her arm with her palm flat out and aimed.

(Riri's HUD POV)

"Aaaaannnd...fire!"

Without problem, her palm fired a repulsor blast STRAIGHT at Nova! One he didn't expect and flew right into.

"AHHH!" He screamed as the blast hit him and made him stop and fly backwards a little.

"HAHA! Yeah baby!" Riri cheered before turning back over and kept on flying. 

As she did, Nova had regained his focus and resumed his pursuit with an annoyed growl.

Gaining on Riri once again, he fired his blasts at her with a little more aggression. But she still managed to avoid them all, with a few close calls.

Turns out, she was buying time so she could find a way to exploit her idea. And soon, she saw one.

"Ah, what do we have here?"

(Riri's H eads-Up-Display  POV)

Her HUD magnified on a boardwalk down below and on a trash can in particular.

"Hehe! Goctcha."

"Time to take out the trash!" She stayed before descending in the direction of the boardwalk, aiming for the can.

Still flying after her, Nova could see her flying lower to the ground, confused as to why she'd go down and risk civilian life. What was with this girl? But he still followed suit.

Meanwhile, Riri saw her target getting bigger the closer she got to the ground. Within seconds, she was near the ground and pulled up a little so that she flew at least ten feet up above the boardwalk, not chancing harming any people walking down the walk. And then she saw it, her target. Waiting until she was right up on it, she grabbed the metal barred can with both hands. And with the suit's strength and the momentum of her flight, yanked the can from its bolted place on the walk. The sudden jolt from its being bolted down threw Riri off a little, but once it was ripped up from it spot, she took back to the sky with Nova still on her tail.

Now that they were back in the sky and no innocent people were in harms way, he resumed his firing at her and let it fly good.

"Alright, Nova. Let's see how you like this," Riri said to herself confidently.

Turning over once again with the can still in hand, she took a breath before she began charging up herself repulsors for a blast. As it charged, Riri saw that Nova was gaining on here. Ten yards away at most, perfect. With the charge now ready, she let it fire into the can and the item exploded, creating a small but bright explosive cloud of fire.

Seeing this, Nova instinctively evaded the mini explosion, flying right around it. But when he did, he didn't see his target anymore. She was no longer flying from him, in front or behind him. Looking all around, he was shocked to see that she was gone.

But what he didn't see was that while he was distracted by the blast, his metal encased prey had flown up and was now dropping to collide with him.

Riri's faceplate opened and she felted the swift wind hitting her face as she free-fell towards Nova.

"Haha! INCOMIIING!!!" She called out as she neared him, he faceplate closing as she did. But by the time Nova had heard her and looked up, she had fired her thruster once again and grabbed onto him, barreling towards the waters below. "Hope ya like swimming!"

And with that, she let him go before charging and firing her chest beam, sending Nova straight into the Boston Bay. Once the chest beam turned off, Riri readjusted her flight position by putting her hands out, her flight stabilizers doing their jobs and stopping her before she reached the water and letting her hover above the bay.

Her faceplate opening once again, Riri took deep breaths as she began to come down from the adrenaline rush and the chase she had just endured. That was definitely one crazy and unexpected encounter. But she had to admit, it was fun outwitting and disposing of that guy, Nova.

"So long, Nova," she said before her faceplate came back down and she flew up and away from the bay. Her destination: home.

But as she did, something shot up from the water. It was Nova! He took off his helmet and let it float as he spat out the bay water he'd taken in.

"Man, that girl was crazy." Sam stated before leaning backwards to float on his back. Lifting a wet hand to his ear, he called it in to his team. "Hey Peter? Yeah, I had her. But she damn near drowned me. I think she'll work though."

He waited for response before continuing. "Yeah, she's probably headed your way now...ok, I'm-I'm on my way."

When the call ended, Sam let his hand plop into the water as he continued to float for a bit.

"I wonder if Rocket or the other had days like this." He thought out loud.

——————————————————————————————————————————

***Riri's Neighborhood***

Thanks to the HUD, Riri saw the ping of her destination coming up. As she neared the house, she slowed down and began to hover once she was over the garage, aiming to drop through the skylight in the roof.

"Aaaaannnd...kill power." she vocally commanded and the repulsors and thrusters switched off and she went down and fell through the skylight, but nicked the edge of opening, throwing her balance off and causing her to flail a bit as she fell and landed on the garage floor, a table breaking her fall somewhat.

She didn't move for a minute or so on account of the fall she'd just taken. Letting out a groan, she sighed heavily before saying another command.

"Open up."

The suit opened up for her so she could slowly sit up and let out a good "Phew!" before stepping out onto her socked feet.

"Close back up?" To which the suit did. Watching it do so, Riri couldn't help but chuckle a little at it and at what she had just done. She had just tested out her suit, flew in it like Iron Man, AND had fought and bested out some superpowered punk, all in one hour!!! That had to be some kind of record. And she truly felt that way as she said to herself, "That was awesome."

"It definitely was." A voice added behind her.

The unexpected shock made Riri jump before turning and getting into somewhat of a defensive stance. When she did turn, she saw a boy and a girl, both probably around her age, standing there. "Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my garage?!" She exclaimed, eyeing both of them carefully.

"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy!" The girl said to her, her hands up in a neutral way.

The boy had his hands in the same position, not wanting to cause more alarm than had already been there. "Calm down, it's ok. We're not here to hurt you, Riri. I promise."

Now THAT alarmed her a bit more. "How do you know my name?"

"Oh yeah, right. Sorry, my name is Peter. Peter Parker, and that's Ava Ayala. She's with me. It took a moment for Peter to realize what he just said and how it might have sounded. "I mean, she's not WITH me, with me! I mean it like, she's with me as in she's here in the same place as me, ya know. We're not like, in a relationship or anything. We're friends. Partners! I-uh....yeah. Heh."

Peter's stuttering and the blush that had come to his cheeks had made the situation a bit complicated as both Ava and Riri had looks of surprise come to their faces. However, Riri's had a bit of confusion mixed with hers. "Okay? So what do you want?"

Peter was about to reply when outside, a certain someone landed in the driveway. A someone Riri immediately recognized. Nova.

"You again?!" She spat, walking right past Peter and Ava and right up to Nova. "Why you followin' me, man? I dun beat your a** once already, you wanna go for round too?!"

Her threats and spunk slightly frightened Sam into putting his hands up in surrender and made him take a few steps back as she neared him. "Whoa whoa, whoa! Hang on, I'm not here to fight!"

"Oh yeah?! With all that firing at me, I couldn't help but feel that way!" Riri retorted, a killer look in her eye.

"I told you none of that was personal!" Sam had taken off his helmet, his armor disappearing as he did, and his voice to go up an octave or two.

"Ok, enough!" Ava exclaimed, stepping in between the two with arms out and distanced them. Looking to Riri, Ava calmed herself best she could before continuing, "Now look, Riri, was it? I know this is all probably shocking, crazy and weird."

"Got that right," the curly-haired genius blurted, still looking over the Latina's shoulder at Sam.

"But we have something we want to ask you. Peter has something to ask you." She nodded over to the boy who had introduced them. Riri looked to Peter, who waved back to her nervously. "And if you could give him just a few minutes to explain what this is about and what we're her for, then we'll be out of your curly hair."

Hearing that, Riri smirked at the Latina's taking charge before looking to Peter once again and back to her. "What is it?" She finally asked, blowing a strand of her curly hair out of her eyes.

***Riri's Garage***

Well, as if this day couldn't get any weirder, Riri had just spent the past twelve minutes listening to Peter explain the whole situation. The time travel plan, the Infinity Stones, the recruitment of a young superhero team, all of it.

The part that stood out to her the most: the possibility of bringing everyone that was Snapped out of existence back. That was the real clincher. And it really made her think.

"So," Peter finally said, giving her the floor, "what do ya say? Will you help us?"

Thinking about it all, the part got her attention more than anything, and IMMEDIATELY her mind went to her father. The chance to see him again. Maybe even making some new friends along the way. Going off of just that, she probably would say yes right off the bat. But thinking more on the matter, she also considered the dangers of this. The potential risks. The possibility of losing this chance, but more as well...the thought made Riri's heart beat against her ribcage. Letting it set in, she made her decision. "No."

The sudden answer caught Peter, Sam and Ava by surprise and caused them to look at one another in confusion.

"'No' what?" Ava asked carefully, not wanting to push it.

But Riri elaborated on it. "'No', I won't help."

"Oh, are you kidding me?!!" Sam abruptly yelled, shooting up from his chair and the look of an cry coming on. "You mean I chased this girl and damn near got drowned by her for NOTHING?!!"

"Hey, that was your fault. Not mine!"

Sam was about to fire a comeback but Peter jumped in. "She's right, Sam. That's on us. Sorry again about that, probably not the best intro."

Riri chuckled lightly at that, "That's for sure."

"But I wanted to see how you'd react to the situation, and you did WAY better than I thought you would. Even acing a high powered superhero while at it. And on a TEST RUN of your suit too! THAT was incredible! It shows that you have a gift, and we could really use the help of it?"

"What gift?" Riri retorted, "I'm just really smart and I just happen to have a suit of armor. So what?"

"Ya know who else was really smart? Tony Stark." Riri had to give him that, that was a good point. "And he didn't have that armor before becoming Iron Man. He had his brain, his smarts. And with that, he made his own suit of armor, just like you, and became one of the worlds greatest heroes ever. Even without his suit, he was still going. He used that gift of intelligence to help others....you could too."

Hearing that moved Riri a little. This guy really had a way with speeches, and he was obviously driven by some fire deep within. Something that wouldn't give up, she had to commend him for that.....but is still didn't sway of her decision...or of her fears.

"Yeah...but I'm not Tony Stark," she replied, "and I'm not looking for a side gig as a replacement Iron Man. So thanks, but no thank you."

"But-"

"Look! You guys seem like good people, and that you're fighting for a good cause. But I don't wanna make more friends only to lose them the next day. I've lost enough already... I'm sorry, but my answer is no."

Sadly, that was the end of that conversation. This was the first potential recruit that had rejected the offer, and it kinda hurt. But there was nothing they could do.

With a look of defeat, Peter nodded and let out a defeated sigh. "Alrighty then. Sorry to uh...sorry for the intrusion. Come on, guys."

Motioning to the others that it was time to leave, Peter, Sam and Ava began to walk out of the garage, leaving the curly-haired genius be.

But as they did, for some reason, Peter stopped in his tracks while the other two went one. For some reason, he thought back to when Tony had come to recruit him. Initially, he had refused. He didn't think he could just up and go despite how cool it could be. And yet, Tony had, in a way, helped to see as to the why of being a hero. The importance of it. And right now, Riri was feeling the same way Peter had at the time. Fear being a part of it. So now, it was his turn to be the motivator and the comfort her.

"Hey, I uh...I know you already gave your answer," he began, turning back to face Riri, "and I can't make you decide. It is your choice. But if you don't mind, can I say something please?"

The calmer tone made Riri calm down a little, and she was glad that Peter had respected her answer. And since he did, she didn't see any harm in hearing him out again. Giving him a nod, she let him go on.

"I know it's a lot to ask of you, and again, I'm sorry for that. And I may not know much about you, but one thing I can tell about you is that you want to help people. And trust me, you've definitely got what it takes to do it. Ya know how I know?"

Riri shook her head but looked on at Peter, curious as to what he'd say. With no answer, Peter took that as a que to continue.

"'Cause you've got that look in your eye. I know that look. I had it a lot when I was your age, it means there's no stopping you....I could tell you to stop, to forget all of this, to never put the suit on again. But you won't... 'cause you're drawn to it. This gift you have, you wanna use it and wanna help people with it. And you know why?"

He paused and allowed Riri to think on his words, seeing that she had turned to look at him . Knowing he had her full attention, he simply stated, "'Cause you know you can do these things, and it makes you want to help. And like it or not, that makes you a hero."

And with that, Riri was left speechless by the Avenger's words. He sounded like he truly understood what she was feeling...what she was fearing. And yet, he was still encouraging her. As she contemplated his words, Peter bid her farewell.

"Take care, Riri." He said before walking out of the garage.

The curly-haired genius stood there, alone with her thoughts and a metal suit.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Peter had rejoined Sam and Ava outside and the three walked down from the house to the street and walked on.

As they did, a girl on a bike, who was actually Natalie, rode down the street and onto Riri's driveway. Jumping off the bike, she ran back into the garage and saw Riri there, leaning against a wall along the wall.

"RIRI!" She exclaimed with excitement, "you did it! You were actually flying! That was SO AWESOME!!! Wait, what happened to your table?"

Riri just scoffed and smirked at her best friend's expression. "Nothing, I just fell."

——————————————————————————————————————————

Back with Peter, Ava and Sam, conversation began to brew as they headed down the sidewalk.

"Do we really need her help?" Sam asked, half-whining, "I mean, you've got an iron suit."

Peter shrugged, ignoring the whininess of Sam's tone, "Yeah, but I'm not Iron Man. And though it would've been good to have her along, we're still gonna need more help."

"So, what do we do now?" Ava asked, directly looking at Peter.

Thinking for a minute, the spider man remembered another person on the list who could help them. "Well, there is someone else on the list we can ask. He actually knew Tony and worked with him too. Helped him out back in 2013."

"Phew! That was a long time ago. Where's he at?"

"...Tennessee."

Chapter Text

The Benatar flew through the cloudy night sky as it and the passengers inside neared Japan.

***The Benatar***

"We're about ten minutes out!" Rocket called out to the other passengers aboard the ship.

Having left the Barton Farmhouse in Missouri, they had gained a new destination: Tokyo, Japan. The objective: finding Frankie, an old friend of theirs, and bring him home.

Kate was nervous out of all of them. She hadn't seen Frankie in years and was genuinely worried about him. And also yes, there was the undeniable crush she had on him that kept coming back and mentally poking her nonstop, and she didn't even know how to feel about that.

"You alright?" Blinking and returning to reality, Kate looked up and saw Jamie stand above where she sat with a concerned look.

"Yeah, just....a bit nervous, that's all." She replied, rubbing her hands together and exhaling a nervous air.

"That's all?" Jamie repeated, taking a seat next to her. A smirk was on his face. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was the look of a girl who is about to see her long-distance crush."

"What?!" The brunette exclaimed, a cape of denial coming over her, "Nah! No way, you're-" but she was cut off by a knowing look from Jamie. His smirk signifies he'd seen right through her façade and to the truth. Letting out a sigh, knowing she could no longer hid or from him, she nodded. "How did you know?"

"My mom was Black Widow. She could read a person before they even said a word. I guess I kinda inherited it from her."

"Huh, no s**t."

"So, you like Frankie, huh?"

It was more of a statement than a question, but the effect it had on Kate was all the same. Choked up with a hard blush. Apparently it was obvious, at least to Jamie, so she couldn't deny it any longer. "Yeah...yeah, I do." she replied with a nod.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Jamie asked.

"About four years ago...He didn't even say goodbye, he just came by my house, left a small package with a note saying that he was going away and didn't know when or if he was coming back...that was the second worse day of my life..."

Hearing that, Jamie became empathetic towards her as he knew exactly what she meant. And he could only imagine what her version of the the same pain was like, but he could also probably relate.

"Well, now there's a chance to change all of that." He said optimistically, a reassuring smile on his face. This made Kate look up at him with worry in her eyes. "If this works, we'll be able to reverse all of the pain and loss. And also, we'll all be together."

The worry in Kate's turned into that of comfort at hearing Jamie's words. She really admired that about him. "You really have a way with words, Jamie." She stared with a new smile.

Jamie smiles back at that. "Well, that I probably get from my dad," he replied, lightly shrugging his shoulders.

The two shared a laugh as that until they heard the call of the "raccoon" up above. "We're here!"

When they found a landing spot, the steps were opened and Jamie, Bruce and Kate walked down the steps to the ground below. As they did however, the heard the sounds of gunfire going off in the distance.

Instantly knowing who the cause of it was, Jamie stated, "That's him...that's Frankie."

Kate replied with a silent nod as they all looked in the direction of the sounds. Somehow, she knew it was true. She just did.

Jamie took another step down but was stopped by a hand from Kate. "Let me go," she said.

A look of hesitancy and worry came to Jamie and Bruce as they shared a look before looking back to Kate. "Kate, are you sure?" Bruce asked.

With a light shrug, Kate exhaled and nodded as she mentally prepared herself. "It has to be me."

Not wanting to argue, Jamie handed Kate an umbrella, hoping she would be ok. The two shared a mutual nod, and off she went, running towards the danger as lightning struck above.

***Tokyo Streets***

Thunder clapped in the sky as rain began to pour. The sounds of gunshots and grunts were filled the streets outside of a club. Not something you'd usually hear at a club, but that was because this one had a special kind of visitor.

"Aitsu da, Rōnin! Akihiko-san wo!"(It's him, the Ronin! He's after Akihiko!) they cried out, continuing their firing. Bot not for long as their target had stopped them with shurikens.

This target, the "he" they were referring to, was a vigilante. Not just any vigilante though, this one had created quite a name for himself: Ronin. He had been tracking them and hunting them all down, one by one, working his way to the leader. Didn't take long him long t found him, and now, he was here to exact judgment.

Bursting through a window on the second floor was the one they called Akihiko, a Yakuza leader and the current target of this vigilante. This...Ronin. As he jumped, he landed on his feet on the ground below, his katana in hand.

But the sound of another landing on the street behind him made his spine stiffen. Standing upright and pulling out his katana, he turned to his pursuer and spoke, "Temē naze konna koto wo suru? Oretachi temē ni nani mo shitenē daro!" (Why are you doing this? We never did anything to you!)

Through the eyes of his mask, his pursuer glared at him with the look of a hunter in them. Unsheathing his own katana, one of unique design, the Ronin stood firm and replied, "Chikyū no hanbun sanosu ni yarareta... Omae wa naze buji nano." (You survived, half of the planet didn't. They got Thanos...you get me.)

Akihiko struck first, much ferocity in his swift movements, to which the Ronin retaliated and blocked his strike. Another blow came, and then another before he looped his opponent's sword around, elbowing his head, and kicking him away, but not before delivering a swipe to the abdomen. The cut leaving Akihiko to grab his stomach with gritted teeth. The cut wasn't deep, but still hurt nonetheless.

"Omae mo jūbun korshita daro." (You're done hurting people.) the Ronin stated.

"Orera ga dato?!" Akihiko exclaimed, he then gestured to all the scattered bodies of his henchmen around them and let out a sinister chuckle. "Ki demo kurutta ka! (WE hurt people?! You're crazy!)

He then stuck again, but was met with an equally hard strike that clashed his and Ronin's katanas as the two pushed behind their weapons. One that Ronin was winning until Akihiko used his other hand to smack down Ronin's, but he stopped by a punch to the chest and his opponent's sword pointed directly at his head. An act that made him step back a bit with hands out, almost surrender-like...almost.

Striking again, Akihiko wacked away Ronin's blade once again before bringing his own down. It was met with his oppenents again, and again, and AGAIN until the Ronin swiftly backhanded Akihiko's face, using the moment to deliver another cut, this time to the right love handle.

Stepping back a bit, the Ronin waited for his opponents to come again. To which, he did. But the Ronin was ready. As Akihiko charged at him, the Ronin waited for the right moment to move before swiftly delivering one final cut, this time to the neck.

The swift injury made Akihiko drop to his knees and reach to his throat. In desperation, he reached out to the Ronin and begged. "Mate! Tasukete kure! Omae ni nan demo yaru! Nani ga hosī?" (Wait! Help me! I'll give you anything! What do you want?)

But his plea fell upon uncaring ears, ones that were intent on finishing the job. "What I want... You can't give me." he stated before raising his katana and vanquishing his foe with one final swipe of his blade. He retracted it and wiped it on his gauntlet, relieving it of its new red stains.

As he did, he began to feel a presence, the feeling of being watched. Slowly turning his head, he saw someone, a girl, standing a few feet away under an umbrella.

At first, he thought it was a passerby, shocked by the actions just displayed. But he was surprised by her beginning to step towards him. As she did, he began to see her face more clearer from the streetlight until finally she stopped. Gazing at her intently, it clicked off in his head as he suddenly recognized her. "Kate?"

The brunette's heart halfway leaped for joy at the sound of her estranged childhood best friend saying her name and recognizing her as well. "Frankie..." she replied, a bit relieved.

Though he was genuinely happy to see her, Frankie's walls came up as he turned away and hung his heavy head.

"You shouldn't be here." he stated.

"Neither should you." she calmly retorted, "You should be home with-" she cut herself. She had almost 'with your family', but remembered the cold sad reality of that. Another part of her wanted to say 'with me', but caught it before she did. She really did want him back at the house where she was now living, to be with her. But her beating heart held her from opening up at the risk of the pain of rejection. "-you should be home."

With walls of his own, Frankie shook his head and looked away from the girl. "I'm working."

"Is that what you call this? Killing all of these people, it won't bring your family back."

Frankie knew that, but still didn't care. It slightly helped with his rage, slightly. And besides, they were bad people. "It's something," he retorted, "besides, there's nothing for me back home."

Hearing that made Kate think back to the why she was there, why her and those she came with were there. "What if there was?"

That made Frankie look back to her. "Some friends of yours came by the house, they said they'd found something. It might be a way to bring your family back...to bring everyone back."

The more he heard her talk, the more Frankie's heart ached. He did miss his family dearly, but he never really took the time to stop and grieve. He had bottled those emotions up and pushed them down so deep, never a once touching them. But now, those new words of hope from Kate were playing on the strings of his heart. "Don't...." he pleaded.

"Don't what?" Kate asked, slowly walking the rest of the way to him.

"Don't give me hope...........please..." His tears mixed with the rain as his emotions began to break free.

With tears of her own coming up, the brunette put a caring hand on her best friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner." And with that, she dropped the umbrella and pulled Frankie into a tight hug, one that he didn't take long to reciprocate. The two began to get soaked as they stood there, embracing in the rain. But that didn't matter a bit to them. "Will you come back....please?"

"...okay."

The moment he said that, Kate's heart lifted and beat even faster, and she let out a chestful of air, feeling a load of weight leaving her immediately and her heart racing from the relief that her crush...that her childhood best friend, was coming home. As she held Frankie in her arms and he held her in his, she couldn't help but let out her next words. "I missed you, Frankie."

Like floodgates opening, the blonde's tears came out and down and mixed with the rain coming down on them. "..........I missed you too, Kate..."

And they held each other in the rain, each a both a source of comfort for the other.

Having successfully acquired her best friend, Kate headed back to the ship with Frankie, hand in hand.

As they walked up to it, Frankie's confusion was coming up.

"Wait a minute," he said, halting their steps just before they reached the jet. "that's...that's a spaceship!"

"Yep."

"Wait, what friends were you talking about again?"

Kate never really got to explain the nature of the idea, they had just began to walk and not another word was exchanged between the two. But as soon as she was about to answer, the ramp of the ship began to lower to the ground before them and became steps to walk on.

A person with red hair came walking down the steps to meet them. Walking up to them, this guy had a smile on his face as he looked to Frankie. But the blonde warrior almost immediately recognized the kid thanks to the red hair. "...Jamie?"

The Rogers boy smiled even more at hearing his "cousin" again, even more so that he recognized him. "Hey Frankie, long time, no see."

He went in for a hug and embraced the blonde, to which Frankie soon returned.

"Well well, look who grew up!" They heard behind them. Breaking the hug, the two looked to a green giant behind them. Yet, the green skin, the voice and the face all together helped Frankie realize who it was. "Uncle Bruce?!"

"Heheh, yeah. That's me."

"But...but how?"

"Eh, it's a long story." Bruce shrugged,
scratching the back of his neck, "we'll explain it to you on the way back home."

Hearing that word made Frankie's eyes go wide and his heart beat as he thought of it. "Home..." a small smile came to him as he said it out loud.

And with that, they all walked up the ramp of the ship and the ship's engine turned over and they began for their next destination.

"Alright, hang on, guys!" Rocket called out, steering the ship upwards back into the night sky to their next destination. "Alright Jamie, which way to Wakanda?"

"Wakanda?" Frankie repeated, "where's that?"

"Africa," Jamie's replied before giving Rocket the coordinates, "Yeah, trust me, you're gonna love it. It's great."

Unsure but still curious, Frankie shrugged and sat back, settling into his seat. As he did, he felt a hand on his. Looking to his side, he saw Kate seated next to him, her soft hand on his gloved one. A smile coming to him once again, he lifted his hands, which worried Kate at first, but she was calmed by the sight of Frankie taking off his gloves and retaking her hand.

Safe to say, the ride was a really peaceful and enjoyable one for Kate and Frankie, the Ronin.

Chapter Text

***Rose Hill, Tennessee***

Touching down in Tennessee, Peter, Ava and Sam made their way into town and found their way to the Keener Residence.

Knocking did nothing as no one answered. Looking in through the windows, they just saw a living room that was free of its occupants.

"I don't think anyone's home," Ava said, backing away from the windows.

"Hey guys!" Sam called to her and Peter. He motioned for them to follow him around the back, to which they did. Little did they know that they were being watched from inside the house.

***Garage***

Walking around back of the house, the trio came to a garage.

"Should we check it out." Sam asked.

Ava shrugged and looked to Peter, to which he shrugged too but cautiously walked up to the doors of the garage, opening them to walk in. When they did, they saw a large work space with multiple tables connected and a desk, multiple monitors atop them. The three fanned out to explore the place, finding many things along the way. A couch, small cubbies for nails, nuts, bolts, and other assorted items. There were also boxes of tools all around, and Peter even found what seemed to be mechanical arm, like Dum-E 2.0 back at the Compound.

"Mr. Stark," Peter whispered to himself knowingly as he rubbed the tech, which didn't seem to mind. He was actually quite nice, replying with a handshake for Peter.

This made Peter smile. But that smile was by an unexpected feeling of alertness. Suddenly, his arm and neck hair rose up, meaning one thing: danger!

Swiftly, Peter jumped up and latched onto the ceiling of the garage, avoiding what seemed like a Nerf dart as it flew right through the spot he was just in. The swift motion made Sam and Ava look up at their friend in confusion until they were peppered by a shower of dart flying at them. The rapid fire of it and the hurt that came with it too made the two ducked behind desks and tables.

"You guys thought you could break into my garage?" They heard a little voice call out, "Ha, jokes on you!"

Peeking around the desk, Sam could see that it was a girl. A LITTLE girl at that! No older than maybe ten or eleven from the looks of it. And all the girl was armed with was just a Nerf blaster. This made Sam laugh and his confidence returned. "I got this," he said, cocky tone and all.

"No, wait! Sam!" Ava tried, but he'd already jumped up from his spot. No sooner than he had jumped out, he was once again hit with darts, but the effect was much more painful this time. Even shielding his face with his hands didn't help as the darts stuck into them as well. Outgunned and in pain, Sam retreated back to his hiding spot with Ava.

When he did, Ava was surprised to see that the darts were sticking to him. Reaching over and pulling one out, which earned a help from Sam, she examined the dart and realized that it had been modified. "Thumb tacks." She said, noting that the darts had thumb tacks glued to the tips of them, making them more dangerous.

"Nice try, doofus! But I'm no easy take! I'm surgical with this b***h!"

"Did she just quote Denzel in Training Day?!" Ava asked, more surprised than worried.

"This kid's nuts!" Sam exclaimed, attempting to take another dart from his face.

From above, Peter aimed his web-shooter and shot it at the blaster and another at dart cartridge. The cartridge slipped out easily, but the girl had a tight grip on the Nerf. She quickly reached in her back pocket and pulled out a Swiss army knife, and cut through the webline, ending the tug of war match.

Seeing that Peter had taken the cartridge, Sam looked out from the table and saw that the girl was out of ammo. "She's out, I got this!" He boasted jumping from his spot again.

Once again, Ava tried to stop him, "Sam wait!" but he ignored her call as he made his way towards the girl.

She was struggling with her cartridge, but they were both empty. Seeing this gave Sam more confidence as he jumped to pounce her, he was gonna show this kid who was boss.

But what he didn't know, was that she had a secret weapon. Throwing down her Nerf blaster, she reached and pulled up the weapon that had been hanging from a strap, pointed it to the unsuspecting nut coming at her and pulled the trigger, firing a shot of ammo which the size of a fist. The ammo: a raw potato. And it his Sam square between the eyes, making him lose his momentum and hit the ground with a plop, missing his target who had moved to the side just in time.

Pushing another potato down the gun's chute, she pointed it back at Sam and smirked. "Close, but no banana."

Pulling the trigger, another shot hitting Sam right on the cheekbone, causing him to let out a loud, babylike cry. "Was that a potato?!" The Hispanic whined, his hands up in surrender.

"Yep."

Suddenly, the potato gun was yanked up and of out of the girl's arms by a web from the wall-crawling man up above. Once in hand, Peter dropped from the ceiling and landed on his feet next to Ava who was now standing from her hiding spot and facing the little girl.

With her newly reloaded Nerf gun pointed at Sam, she asked, "Who are you, people?"

"Well for one, we're not here to rob or hurt you," Peter replied, his hands still up, the potato gun still in hand. "Nice piece of hardware you made here." Noticing a label on the side of the weapon saying: Potato Gun Mark II.

"I didn't make it."

"Oh...well then, who did?"

"My brother. I just made some minor adjustments to it."

"Well you sure know how to fire it." Ava stated. "Phew!"

"Thanks."

"Could you tell us where your brother is?" Peter asked her, hoping for the best despite the...shootout? Yeah, shootout that has just occurred.

"Hey, I asked a question first. Now answer the question!" She cocked her Nerf gun and held it closer to Sam's face. "Who are you?!"

"My name's Peter. Peter Parker. That's Ava,"

"Hey," the Latina waved with a light smile.

"And that guy you've got pinned down there is Sam."

Looking down to her victim, the girl kept her smirk as Sam nervously waved. "Yeah, hi. Could you maybe point that away from my face please?"

The sight and sound of Sam, the great "Nova" begging for mercy from a little girl brought a concealed laugh to Peter and Ava. But their introduction was cut short when,

"Sarah, what's going on out here?!" Another voice from outside called and gained the attention of the four.

Instantly, Peter recognized the young man before them. Even with the denim jumpsuit and bandana he had on. "Harley," he whispered to himself.

"I caught these yahoos snooping around in here, so I did what I had to do." The little girl, whose name was apparently Sarah replied.

"We weren't stealing anything, trust me," Peter interjected, "actually, we were here looking for you."

"Me?" Harley repeated confusingly. Why were they Looking for him? "You're not Child Protective Service, are you?"

Peter and Ava laugh and waved that off. Yeah, definitely not. Never wanna be in the job racket," Ava retorted with another laugh.

"Yeah, don't worry about that," Peter assure him, holding out his hand for Harley to shake, "Peter Parker."

Harley shook his hand respectively and then turned it to the Latina next to Peter.

"Ava Ayala," she introduced herself.

Then Harley's attention was drawn to the guy laying in the ground with his hands up, staring at the receiving end of Sarah Nerf gun. "Uhh.."

"Oh yeah, and that's Sam." Sarah stated in a sweet and innocent voice.

Harley encouraged her to stand down. "Sarah, I think you can take that off him now. They're all right."

Finally, Sam watched as the lethal toy was removed from in front of his face and scurried to his feet to stand next to Peter. As he did, he put a hand to his cheek, pain throbbing from close impact shot with that potato. A frickin POTATO!

"Sorry about that, Harley apologized to the three, "uh...how bout you guys come inside and we can talk about...whatever it was you came here for?"

"Yeah sure." "Sounds good." Peter and Ava both replied.

As the others followed Harley and his sister, Sam eyed Sarah with an annoyed face. And his mood only intensified when Sarah looked back to him and stuck her tongue out to him with a confident smirk. Momentarily stunned, Sam recovered and looked around the garage and found a wrench laying on a table.

Grabbing it, he turned around with his arm stretched backwards, ready to chuck it at her. But before he could, he was met by a glaring Ava.

"I know you weren't about to throw that, especially not at that girl."

"Dude, that is not a girl! That's Scarface's granddaughter!"

Ava's rolled her eyes at the boy. "Drop the wrench, Sam." She deadpanned.

Like a child about to whine some more, Sam groaned and reluctantly threw the wrench back into the garage before walking on with Ava into the house.

***Keener Residence, Living Room***

"A 'Time Heist'?" Harley had just listened to Peter explain the idea for time travel, a team, the Infinity Stones, and the possibility of bringing back everyone lost.

"Yep, that's why we're here." Peter replied, "We we're hoping you could come and help us out with this."

"But, but why me? I'm just a mechanic."

Be that as it may, Peter wasn't so easily out off by that. He saw potential within Harley, more than he let on. So not being too pushy but also being witty, Peter simply shrugged and replied with, "Well, maybe you could build something that could help us too."

This made Harley laugh a little, to which Peter did too. That last line truly hit Harley though, mainly because it sounded very familiar to something he'd said to an old friend a long time ago.

This them put Harley into deep thought. Sarah too. Suddenly, she slightly regretted the way she greeted these three...slightly. Her and her brother shared the same thoughts, but for Harley the weight was heavier. This was something he never thought he'd be asked to do. Going to help save the world. But now that it was here, he felt a certain...need to act. Almost like obligation.

The part about potentially bringing everyone back, that really caught his ears. Naturally, anyone would want to bring back a lost loved one, but with him it was his little sister that was the fire for this obligation. She was only two years old when the Snap happened, she never really got to know their mother or her older sister. All she had was Harley. But if there was a chance for him to give her the chance to be with her mother again, he'd definitely want to take it.

Though Harley knew it could potentially be dangerous, he was sure that these guys, would be there and have his back.

Plus, he could help with the assembly too. Peter made mention of building a time machine. That was a another possible way he could help.

The feeling of a hand on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts to see his little sister looking at him with a smile. That same smile that helped him get by, day after day every year. That smile was lethal. But it gave him the push he needed.

"I'm in." He stated.

"Really?" Peter asked, genuinely surprised by the response. After the rejection from Riri back in Boston, he was worried about receiving the same thing here. But apparently, that wasn't the case as he and the others watched Harley nod and chuckle nervously.

"YES! Awesome! " Peter seemed quite excited about this, and he had reason to. Believe it or not, this wasn't an easy thing to do; recruiting all of these people. But it helped and gave him more hope when they accepted, Sam and Ava noticed this and it !are them smile for their friend. "Sorry," he smiled, glad and slightly speechless. Slightly . "That's great. Thank you."

"Yeah. I just gotta make a call so I can get Sarah taken care of." Standing from his chair, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and made the call. A few seconds waiting, two and half rings before the other side picked up. "Hey EJ! How's it going, man? Good, good. Hey, I was wondering if you could do me a favor? Well something recently came up, a bit of a...job offering, and I've gotta go outta town for a bit. So I was wondering, could Sarah maybe stay with you guys while I'm gone...please?"

Harley waited for the reply, as did the others. But they were relieved she m they saw Harley smile and hold up a thumbs up to them. "You can? Oh, great! That'd be great, thanks bro...yeah, we'll be by later. Thanks again, Eej...alright, see ya then. Alright, later."

Pulling the phone from his ear, he looked back to the others and nodded. "We are a go."

After dropping off his sister at EJ's, Harley followed the trio of young heroes outwards from town and to the Quinjet. He would dearly miss her, but he knew she was in good hands. EJ lived with his girlfriend, and his little brother lives there too. Plus, they had a there year old baby girl of their own who Sarah just adored. So Harley knew she'd be safe there.

After at least a good seventeen minute walk, they had reached a clearing in a small patch of woods. And within that patch of woods was their transport.

The Quinjet's engines fired up and hovered above ground before taking off, back into the sky.

"Wow. Now this is cool." Harley stated as he looked around and walked about the jet.

"Oh trust me," Ava said with a smirk, "you haven't seen anything yet. Heck, I haven't either."

And then she walked off to her seat.

"So where to now, Pete?" Sam called out from his seat at the helm of the jet.

Checking the list, Peter saw just one name left. One Kamala Khan. And her address showed her to be in Jersey City, New Jersey. So that's where they were going.

"Make a course to New Jersey, Sam." He said confidently, feeling a bit more pumped now. "That's our last stop."

Nodding at the order, Sam charted the coordinates and began to head in that direction.

As they flew on, Harley couldn't help but think back to his childhood years to when he'd first met Tony Stark and saw his Iron Man suit for the first time. The memory of it and the fact that he was here now probably because of that, it brought a smile to his face.

"Ha. Big jump from the garage, eh Keener?" He said to himself as he looked out the window to the passing ground below.

Chapter Text

***Benatar***

"You sure about this?" Rocket asked nervously. The group had flown to Africa and followed the coordinates that Jamie had given. But those coordinates were currently telling them to fly straight into the tree filled side of a mountain, and that didn't sit so well with Rocket.

"What, didn't you do this when you first came back in 2018?" Jamie asked, confused at his hesitance.

"Yeah, but it was through that frickin' space portal Thor's axe back there made."

Looking over to Stormbreaker that was leaning against a wall, Jamie now understood. 'The Bifrost.'

"Oh...Well, don't worry. It'll be all right, trust me."

With an uncertain face, Rocket gulped as he turned from Jamie and looked forward. "Okay. I hope you're right. Or else we're gonna be landing a lot harder than you may want......oh boy. Strap in, everyone! This might be bumpy."

And with that, Rocket pushed his shift forward and the Benatar flew straight towards  what seemed to be a treeful mountainside. Just before they got close to hitting the mountain, Rocket squinted his eyes and waited for the upcoming crash. But surprisingly, instead of crashing into a mountain, they flew threw what seemed to be a camouflaged barrier and into a whole new country that was completely invisible to the naked eye earlier.

"Whoa!" Rocket exclaimed, amazed by the sights down below.

"You got that right, pal," Bruce added in agreement, joining them in looking at the beautiful country, "Welcome to Wakanda."

***Wakanda, The Palace***

"General!" One of the Dora Milaje warriors, Ayo called out to the general of the great warriors, "A vessel has just passed through barrier and is making its way to land here."

The stoic General Okoye processed the information with a glare and replied, "Unannounced?! Do we know who it is?"

"I have never seen it before."

A look of surprise came to the General, and she nodded to her lieutenant. "Get to the launch pad, I will notify the prince."

And the two parted ways.

***Throne Room***

Making her way to the throne room, the general ran in crossed her arms over her chest and bowed her head to the prince.

"My prince, it appears we have guests." She stated.

"Outsiders?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Hmm...are they a threat?"

With a shake of her head, Okoye replied, "I am not sure, my prince."

From his throne, the prince balled his fists and stood up with a firm look. "Let's give them a proper greeting."

The Benatar hovered over a big field before it descended and landed. It was actually the battlefield of the Battle of Wakanda way back in 2018. It had since then been rid of the dead Outrider bodies and debris of battle and resorted to its original fine-pastured look.

The ship's engines turned off and the ramp door opened and steps descended for the passengers.

Jamie, Bruce and Viv came out first with Torunn, Kate, and Frankie tailing behind.

"So do we, do we bow?" Kate asked confusingly. Jamie and Bruce had told them that they'd be seeing a prince

"Well yeah," Frankie replied matter-of-factly, "he's a prince!"

"Duh!" Torunn blurted with a smirk.

As they all walked onto the field and towards the palace, they saw a group of people moving toward them. Quite fast too.

"The Dora Milaje," Bruce said knowingly, instantly recognizing the spears, the uniforms, and the...well, the lack of hair.

Jamie recognized them too. And from the look of how they were approaching, they didn't look too happy.

Soon, the warriors were right in front of the group and surrounded them, their spears point to them in unison. And then they froze, holding fast and awaiting orders. Everyone's hands went up, Frankie though pulled out a jackknife and got into a defensive stance.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Bruce exclaimed, "Easy, easy! Let's all stay calm now."

He pushed Jamie behind him just in case something bad went down. And it seemed like it was about to, until-

"WAIT!"

A pair of hands poked through the walls of Doras and through walked a young African boy. He stood tall and proud, roughly the size of Jamie. He also had a good head of hair too. And yet there was something familiar about him. Looking behind this green giant, he noticed the boy with red hair and his eyes went wide. "Jamie?" He called curiously.

Upon hearing his name, the redhead poked his head out from behind his "uncle" and looked right at the boy and felt the familiarity from his face. Looking upon his face, for a second, Jamie thought he was looking at King T'Challa. But taking a closer look, he saw someone entirely different. Someone he hadn't seen in a long time. "Azari?"

The boy grew a smile so wide and happy and nodded. He was Azari. Azari T'Challa, and he was also Jamie's friend.

"Oh my gosh, Azari!" Jamie ran from behind Bruce to the prince as did he and the two childhood friends embraced one another.

"Bast! It is so good to see you! You've grown so much!"

"So have you! Your hair too, wow!"

The prince shrugged with a smirk at the compliment. "It's like a natural crown, isn't it?" He joked, playfully combing his hair back. Jamie laughed at that and rolled his eyes.

Reminded of having to step in, Azari ordered the surrounding Dora Milaje to stand down as these people were not threats, rather guests.

"Viv!" He recognized the dark sinned girl and her colorful hair-strands almost instantly and ran over to hug her too, to which she returned the gesture.

"Kuhle ukubona kwakhona, mhlobo wam!" (It is good to see again, my friend!)

"Ewe kunjalo, dade." (Indeed it is, sister.)

Behind still stood Torunn, Kate and Frankie. The last two stepped forward and awkwardly bowed, grunting as they did to get the princes attention. It worked and he smiled and let out his hands to put them at ease. "It's ok, we-we don't do that here." A suppressed laugh as he did.

"Glad to see you've all grown up, kid," Bruce said, putting a proud hand on Azari's shoulder.

"Thank you, Doctor Banner. It would seem as though we both have undergone an interesting change since we last saw one another."

Knowing he was his new green and cognizant form, Bruce chuckled lightly at that, bobbing his head a little.

"My friends, welcome to Wakanda! Please, come." He invited them towards the palace and they all followed him and the Dora Milaje as well.

***Throne Room***

"Look who's here!" Princess Shuri exclaimed when she saw their guests.

Smiles were everywhere as Jamie, Bruce and Viv engaged in a group hug with the Princess. "Hey Auntie Shuri!" Jamie replied back within the hug. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Good to see you too, Little Jamie." She replied with a giggle. "Well, not so little anymore."

Jamie chuckled at that and shrugged a little at that. He certainly had grown much since the last time they'd seen each other, so it was quite fitting how this turned out.

Shuri then turned to Bruce and took in his new form. "Doctor Banner." She kindly greeted.

"Good to see you, Shuri." He replied with a nod.

"You as well, my friend. And Viv!" The princess then turned to the dark skinned girl. "How are you?"

"Really good, Shuri!" She replied with a wide smile. Looking around, she felt so comfortable being here. "I'm happy to be back in Wakanda though."

Hearing that brought a closed smile to Shuri as she rubbed the girl's shoulder.

"So my friends," Azari began, gaining their attention as he sat upon his throne, "to what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Looking to Bruce, Jamie looked for a signal of what to do. And he found it within a nod of encouragement from his "uncle". Taking a breath, he began, "We came to ask for your help."

Without question, the prince replied, "Whatever you need. Name it."

'Well, here goes nothing,' Jamie said to himself. And he began to layout the whole thing. He told him about the idea, the time travel, and the goal of bringing back all who were lost in the Snap.

It had taken all of about eight minutes to tell it all, but it felt like eighteen every time for Jamie. The whole presentation of it was like a heavy weight on his shoulders, but it was one he was happy to bear for the time being.

When he finished, it went quiet. No one in the room spoke. Shuri and Okoye had gone silent from hearing it all as well. The only sounds made were those of Azari's footsteps as he stood from his throne walked over to the large transparent walls and looked out amongst his kingdom.

As he did, he contemplated the details of what Jamie had just relayed to him. His mind immediately went to his parents. To be able to see them and hold them again. That alone was something to convince him. But he also thought of everyone that was lost. All of the other people outside and within Wakanda. The more he thought about it, the more he could see his responsibility as the Prince Of Wakanda.

And with that, he made his decision. "I will help you." he stated. It was just plain, simple and with no hesitation.

The worry that Jamie had was cleared away with that response, though he was still surprised. "You will?"

The young prince turned back to his guests and nodded as he walked up to them. "Yes. If we have a chance of reversing this, then I will definitely help. Plus, it will be an honor to help my friends."

Putting a hand on Jamie's shoulder, he gave him a reassuring nod with a confident smile. That gave Jamie more hope. Especially the part about 'being with friends', that was a real boost. Behind them, Bruce, Viv and Torunn and Kate smiled, as did Shuri and Okoye. Meanwhile Frankie simply bobbed his head in a 'yes' like form.

That one more member for their team, that was one more piece of hope for them all.

***Field***

Shuri held her nephew tight, and he returned the embrace as well. Once they broke it, they brought their foreheads together and held the place there for a moment.

"Look after the kingdom for me, please." He said, knowing fully well she would,

"I will...take care, my Little Z." she said, smiling up at him.

A smirk came to Azari when she said that. "Like Jamie said, 'not exactly little anymore.' Heheh."

Shuri poked his forehead for that. But the two laughed and said their goodbyes.

"Sala kakuhle, umakazi uShuri,"(Goodbye, Auntie Shuri.)

"Usale kakuhle, mtshana wam."(Goodbye, my nephew.) A tear threatened to leave Shuri's eyes as she let her nephew go, but she knew it was his destiny.

And with that, Azari looked behind her to his friend and faithful general, Okoye, who bowed her head and showed him a proud smile. On that he returned before departing and ascending the steps into the Benatar.

As they watched their prince go, Okoye came up and stood next to Shuri and shared with her in shedding a tear. They heard the engines of the ship begin to roar and watched as the craft rose from the ground and flew off into the sky, leaving Wakanda behind.

Now that they were alone, Okoye let herself open up a little emotionally so that she could say, "T'Challa would be so proud. Of both of you."

Shuri smiled tearfully at her words, knowing how right she was. "Yes. Yes he would. Especially of his son."

***Benatar***

"Hang on guys!" Rocket called out to the passengers, "we're goin' home."

'Home.' Azari thought to himself. Instantly, he remembered the Avengers Compound. Thinking back to his memories of when he was there last, he was looking forward to going back. And this time, things. would be different.

Chapter Text

***Jersey City, New Jersey***

Peter walked down the suburban streets of New Jersey with Ava, and Sam close behind. Meanwhile, Harley had stayed behind to keep an eye on the Quinjet, while the others were currently headed to the address of the final recruit on their list. And it was a good time in Jersey to visit too, springtime. The weather was a nice 53.4° F with the sun occasionally poking out from the partly cloudy skies.

There was a slight breeze that came through and gave a nice chill for the four. Good kite flying weather, but that wasn't the kind of activity on the minds of these young ones.

As they continued to their destination, Sam had been in deep thought since they had left the Quinjet and an idea was forming. And with that idea, came a question. "Hey Pete?" he called up to his friend.

"Yeah?" The Spider-Man replied, looking back to the Hispanic.

"I've been thinking," A light scoff came from Ava when he said that and his face went deadpan, but he continued anyway, "Well, do you think maybe I could have a shot at doing the recruiting this time around?"

That made Peter and Ava stop and look at Sam surprised.

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"I was just wondering, 'cause you've had a go at the recruiting twice now and Ava's had...somewhat of one back with that Iron chick."

"Dude, that wasn't recruiting," Ava interjected, on the verge of laughing, "that was me standing between you and a whooping. Now THAT was twice! Except the second time, it actually happened and you got your a** handed to you by a ten year-old, with a NERF gun."

Ava couldn't help but laugh a little as she remembered how badly Harley's little sister beat Sam. Peter wanted to, but he held it back best he could, noticing Sam was beginning to seethe a bit. "Whatever! Point is, I think I should at least get a shot at this."

"Well Sam, you may just get your chance."

"What?" "What?!" Sam and Ava both exclaimed, confusion on their faces.

But Peter just shrugged, smiled and turned to walk up a small walkway and set of steps that led to this quaint little house they had stopped walking in front of. Apparently, this was the address for their final recruit, and they had coincidentally and unknowingly stopped in front of it. Quite fitting really.

The two followed suit and made it up onto the porch just as Peter had knocked on the door. A few seconds passed and no reply, but still waited. And their patience was reward when they heard the door locks become undone and saw the knob turn.

With their eyes on the door, they watched as a girl, most likely a teenager, opened the door and poked her head out.

"Whoa, hi!" She greeted nicely with a smile, looking amongst the four. "Can I help you?"

The group took in this girl's appearance almost immediately. She had on an olive green shirt with a light brown vest, and a pair of light blue jeans that seemed to hug her legs just right. And then there was the smile she had, it must've been contagious since Peter himself smiled kindly at her. "Kamala Khan?" He asked.

However, the girl laughed at that. "Oh, haha! No, she's my best friend. But she does live here though, we're roommates! Name's Doreen."

"Doreen, nice to meet you. This is Ava, and that's Sam." The two of them waved to the householder.

"Nice to meet you guys too," the redhead replied waving back, that smile still there. "Uh, Kamala's not here right now, but she'll be back in a few. You guys wanna wait in here for her?"

She stepped back and opened the door wider, gesturing for them to enter.

"Thanks, that'd be nice." Ava swiftly replied for all of them and walked in. As did Peter and Sam.

As they walked in, they found their way to the living room and upon entering, they saw a squirrel on the coffee table.

"Whoa!" Ava exclaimed, immediately surprised at the sight of the rodent. "Uh, Doreen? I think you left a window open."

"Hm?" Doreen was confused by that, but when she saw the squirrel Ava was pointing at, she laughed and shook her head. "Oh no, that's Tippy-Toe."

"You have a pet squirrel?" Sam asked, equally surprised as Ava.

"Eh, she's more of a partner/family member than a pet. Tippy, meet Sam, Ava and Peter." The ginger girl held out a hand towards the table for the squir-...Tippy-Toe, and Tippy-Toe jumped onto and crawled up Doreen's arm until she found a nice seat on her shoulder. As she did, they noticed a thin yellow bow with a mini acorn ornament tied around Tippy's neck, adding to the cute factor.

Tippy-Toe then looked from her human friend to the three guests and waved at them. And though they were quite surprised, they hesitantly waved back to her.

So after that introduction, they all sat down and chatted amongst each other while they waited. During that wait, the three became quite fond of Tippy-Toe, even petting her and feeding her cashews from her little bowl on the table. It was a very interesting experience.

Nearly fifteen minutes later, the front door opened and in walked a young girl. "Hey Doreen, I'm back!" She heard her roommate call out.

"Hey Double K!" Doreen replied back. "We've got company."

"Oh yeah?" Footsteps could be heard approaching the room until the girl entered the room, putting a face to the voice. But as soon as she did, Sam's eyes went wide at the sight of her. Right off the bat, he noticed this girl was beautiful. Her thin physique, luscious hair, and a captivating smile.

"Hi!" She kindly greeted the three, smiling as she did.

"Hi." Peter steppes forward and shook hands with the girl, "Peter Parker, nice to meet you."

"Likewise!"

"This is Ava," The latina stood and also shook Kamala's hand, to which the girl nodded and shook back. "And that's Sam."

Kamala turned to the stunned boy and her smile made him feel like he was melting. But he took her hand she held out and shook it. Not wanting to be awkwardly silent, he took note of her shirt and noticed that it was the exact logo of a hero he knew and had worked with once. Also noticing the red, blue and gold pattern among the shirt and the words 'CAPTAIN MARVEL' along the sleeves, he saw an in. "Huh. You a fan of Captain Danvers?"

At that moment, the girl's eyes went wide with surprise at the mention of the female hero. "You know about Captain Marvel?!" She asked, excitement clearly rising in her voice.

Sam nodded, recognizing the heroine's title. "Oh yeah, I do. I've worked with her before actually. She's pretty cool."

Kamala, who had not yet let go of Sam's hand from their shaking earlier, tightened her grip and pulled him in closer until they were but a lips distance away. Her eyes were fixed on him as if they were waiting for something, and he soon found out what it was too. "You've MET Captain Marvel?"

The sudden change in distance between them made Sam's breath hitch in his throat and he did his best to fight back a fierce blush. "Uh...yeah?"

"AHHHH!!" The Muslim girl screamed with joy and jumped like a child. This shocked Sam since he was right there, as it did the others. Except for Doreen, she seemed to just smile and shake her head at her best friend's behavior. She knew this would come if someone mentioned her hero.

"OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH, OMIGOSH!!!" Kamala exclaimed, finally having stopped her jumping. Facing Sam again, she fired off a round of questions like some sort of fangirl. And with each question, the closer she got to Sam. "What's Captain Marvel like? How strong is she? Is she strict or is she more laidback? Can she really breathe in space or is it some kind of air supply in her suit to where she doesn't need a helmet? Does she-"

"Whoa! Pump the brakes there, Kamala!" Doreen interjected, pulling her bestie back from a now leaning backwards Sam. "I'm sure Sam can answer all your questions, but I believe these guys did come here with something to ask you."

Coming back to earth, Kamala giggles as she realized she had been fan-girling...again. "You're right. Sorry about that. I just, ugh, I get so excited about Captain Marvel at times."

"Ya don't say," Ava said slyly with a grin.

Kamala shrugged before sitting down herself and calming down. "Okay, so what was it you guys wanted to ask me?"

Taking this as his que, Peter went ahead, but not before having an idea. "Well, we have some big stuff to talk to you about," he began, "But I'm gonna let my friend, Sam here, explain it to you."

That was just enough to pull Sam from his thoughts. He shot his eyes to Peter with a look that screamed "What the-!"

But he stopped when he saw Peter motion with his head to Kamala, and also the wink that Ava gave him. He was so thrown off, he forgot that he'd asked Peter if he could recruit this girl. But now, he had motivation....along with a nervousness. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he took a breath and began.

"Well...so basically we have an idea to reverse the effects of the Snap and bring back everyone that was wiped out. Including the Avengers. It uh, it's pretty much includes going back in time to get these Infinity Stones, so we're trying to put together this team and-"

"I'm in!" Kamala cut him off, her face loaded with excitement and cheer.

That drew silence from the three guests. Did they hear her right...well, obviously they did, but she seems so eager about it. Why though?

"Wait. So, just like that, you're in?" Ava inquired, completely surprised at the swiftness of the girl's answer.

"Yeah!" Kamala exclaimed, more eager than he last time, "Getting to save the world, time travel, and getting to save the Avengers?! What, are you kidding me?! OF COURSE I'm in!!"

Ava whistled silently at that before looking to Peter and shrugging, which he too did before turning to their "apparent" new recruit. "Wow...definitely didn't expect that reaction or that quick of a response, but uh...yeah. Welcome aboard, Miss Khan."

"Kamala." She kindly corrected, "Omigosh this is unbelievable! Wait, does this mean I'll get to be an Avenger?!"

The amount of joy this girl seemed to be holding back was so big, you'd need the Hoover Dam to hold it.

"Uh...lets put a pin in that," Peter tactfully replied with a nervous smile.

But that just made Kamala even more excited. "Ahhhhhh! I'm gonna be an Avenger!!!"

"Well, I can tell who's gonna be the cheerleader of the group." Ava whispered to Peter.

He snorted at that before turning back to Kamala. "Well, since you're in, we're gonna have you to come with us to the Avengers Compound, so you may wanna pack a few things."

"Seriously?!"

"Uh...yeah."

With that, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kamala let out a hearty/excited scream like that of a fangirl which filled the room and made the three guests jump in alarm. But the look of excitement in her face temporarily calmed them as they breathed to calm their now racing hearts.

Finally done with her scream, she ran out of the living room and up the stairs to her room so she could pack, too excited to excuse herself and leaving the four remaining people there.

"I'm uh, I'm gonna go help her," Doreen said, before heading up the stairs, doing her best to contain her excitement. And she was doing WAY better than Kamala had. But when she had gone and the door to Kamala's room closer, another scream of excitement came and it was now both her AND Doreen together.

This was amusing to hear for the three still in the living room.

"Well, well! Way to go, Alexander," Ava said, her voice full of tease, "your first time and you got not one but two girls screaming in excitement. Well done!" The latina gave a slow, sarcastic applause, again making Sam roll his eyes. "How does it feel?"

With no comeback for her clever innuendo, Sam blushed at that and lowered his head, letting out a groan as he pinched the bridge of his nose at that.

***Kamala's Room***

Up in her room, Kamala was packing with haste and adrenaline. "Can you believe this, Doreen?! I'm gonna get to work with superheroes!"

"I know!" Her best friend replied, handing her a shirt for her suitcase. "I'm happy for ya, Kamala!"

The fangirl squealed in excitement as she continued packing more eagerly.

Before long, she found herself packed and ready to go. "Well...I guess this is it." She said, nervous to the bone.

Doreen nodded in reply. "I guess it is, you ready?"

"Hey, why don't you come too?" Kamala offered. It was mainly her nerves talking, but the thought of her best friend coming along did calm them slightly. "Who knows, they might need your help too."

"Heheh, not this time Kamala. My day'll come soon, but this one's yours. These guys came here for you! So they obviously need your awesome powers and...well, powers. Hehe!" Doreen laughed at her own words, as did Kamala.

"Yeah, probably. But still, I could really use you there. "

"Ah don't worry about it, Double K. We're still a team, right?"

Kamala snorted at that and nodded. "Right." And with that, she hugged her bestie, who reciprocated the hug immediately.

"Plus, someone's gotta look out for the neighborhood. And I'm SG's on the job." She gave a wink after that and Tippy chittered on the lamp stand, giving a salute to further Doreen's words.

"Haha! Well, I guess it's all set then."

A little while later, the two girls came down with two bags for Kamala, one backpack and a suitcase.

"All ready?" Ava asked her.

Kamala merely smiled nervously as Doreen gave her her backpack and she put it over her shoulder, "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." A light shrug with it.

Peter nodded and gave a happy closed-lip smile. "Alright, well I guess uh...I guess it's time to go then.

Again, Kamala shrugged but nodded too with a smile. "Alrighty then!"

And with that, they all walked out. But as they stepped out the door, Sam nervously turned to the Muslim girl and cleared his throat. "Would you uh, (cough), would you like some help with your stuff?"

The gesture surprised Kamala at first, but smiled at Sam's gentlemen manners. "Sure, thank you...Sam." she replied with a giggle.

Taking her suitcase, Sam carried it and puffed his chest out a little. This did not go unnoticed by Peter and Ava who were suppressing laughter up ahead of them.

***Quinjet***

Once they got back to the Quinjet, Kamala looked like a girl at Comic-Con. She was extremely excited about seeing the Avengers Quinjet, let alone riding in it. "OH. MY GOSH!!! This is the Avengers Quinjet!!! We're gonna be riding in the Avengers Quinjet!!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down.

Ava nodded, a nonchalant expression on her face. "Yeah, yeah we are."

"Harley, we're here," Peter called into his com-link.

"Copy that." A reply came through.

Soon, the ramp door opened and came down, allowing them to board.

"So cool!" Kamala whispered out loud as she walked up the ramp into the craft.

As they boarded, an occupant already there, apparently Harley met them and Peter introduced him. "Kamala Khan, Harley Keener. Harley Keener, Kamala Khan."

"Nice to meet you," the mechanic nodded to the new recruit, shaking her hand.

She nodded back with a smile. "Nice to meet you too." She then looked around and smiled and laughed excitedly. This is gonna be AWESOME!!!"

Hearing that, Harley leaned over to Peter and Ava. "She's lively."

"No sh**," Ava chuckled while Peter merely shrugged.

When Sam sat in the pilot seat, Kamala clung to him like static as he worked the controls and started the jet up. But as they began the flight home, both Peter and Ava knew there would be plenty more of Kamala's excitement to come. BOAT LOADS more.

Change Of Heart

***Massachusetts, Williams Residence***

The sun was setting over Boston and dinner had just ended at the Williams home.

Walking into her room, Riri sat at her desk and let out a sigh. It had been one heckuva day. School, testing a new tech suit, beating a superpowered guy with a helmet and offered a chance to work with people for a time travel mission with superheroes. Yeah, classic Thursday. 

But now, it was over and time to wind down. She relaxed and leaned back in her chair, laying her head back.

"So who were your friends?" Riri opened her eyes and saw her mother, Ronnie Williams, leaning against the doorframe with a smile and arms folded.

"Who?" The curly-haired genius asked confusingly as she sat up in her chair.

"Well there was a boy and a girl here earlier today asking about you before you got home. Said they wanted to talk to you."

Almost instantly, Riri knew who she meant. "Boy with brown hair, plaid shirt, light blue hoodie and a Latina with an olive green shirt and blue jeans?"

Her mother thought for a moment and nodded to all of those. "Down to the exact detail, yes. So you do know who I'm talking about."

"Yeah, that was Peter and Ava. They came and asked if I could...." Riri caught herself just before she let slip the reason why the two in question were here. She couldn't tell her mom that she was being asked to help superheroes, let alone the fact that she had a suit now that practically made her one! So thinking swiftly, she thought up a good excuse. "Uh, they invited me to go to this summer camp with them. It's uh, in Upstate New York."

Ronnie seemed to buy it. "Oh really. Hmm. So why didn't you go?"

Now, Riri felt her walls begin to come up again. "Mom, you know why. I'm not a people person."

"But this could be an opportunity to change that, broaden your horizons," she encouraged, "who knows, you might even make some new friends."

"I don't have or need friends, Mom." Riri stated coldly.

"Well what about Natalie?"

That bit Riri right in the butt and it stung. How could she forget about Natalie? Her best friend, her ONLY friend. A bit of shame came over her as she pull her hood over her head before turning in her seat and facing the other way.

Ronnie's softened her face and walked over to her daughter, putting comforting hand on her shoulder. She could hear faint sounds of sniffling from her daughter as she did. "Sweetie, I know it's still hard for you after....after your daddy died." She felt Riri tense up a bit under her touch when she said that, she knew it was true though...and so did Riri. "Trust me, I know...it's been hard on me too. Sometimes, life can be hard hard and ruthless as hell. But that doesn't mean you have to let it make you that way. You've put these walls around your heart so that you don't get hurt again, which I can understand......but maybe it's time for something new, a change. And this camp, these people, they really seemed interested in you and who you are. Plus, they seemed like good people."

Riri wiped away a few tears and bobbed her head. She couldn't deny that they did seem good...even Sam. Thinking back to her shake of him to day made her snort a laugh out. "Yeah, yeah I guess they're all right."

"There ya go!" A smile lit up her mother's face at the sound of her daughter considering her words. "You see? They're having a good effect on you already, they made you laugh. Something I haven't seen in a long time."

That made Riri shrink a little, she realized that she really hadn't laughed much lately save for today. Was that really because of Peter, Ava and Sam?...Did it even matter now?

"Well, doesn't matter now...they're gone, so." She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

A knowing smile came to Ronnie as she held up an envelope she'd been holding the entire time. "Well, before he left, Peter left this behind. He said it was in case you change your mind."

She handed it to her daughter and began to leave the room. "Oh and by the way," she paused, turning back to see Riri listening to her, "if you still wanna go, you have my permission."

With a final wink, she smiled again and exited the room, leaving Riri alone. Alone with the envelope.

Curious about it and why Peter left it, she opened it and saw an address and a picture of the Avengers Compound and a Stark Industries note as well. The note read,

'Hey Riri! Just in case you change your mind, here's where you can find us. Remember, the world will always need heroes. And hopefully, you'll be one of them too.

- Peter.'

Setting the note down, Riri leaned back in her chair and thought hard. This was certainly something big, as she had previously established when Peter, Ava and Sam we're here earlier. Only difference now was that she was actually considering it and not focusing fully on the worries.

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She always did want to help people, and now these people needed her help...so this was, in a sense, her calling.

With that in mind, her eyes drifted upwards to the newspaper clippings of Tony Stark and her Iron Man Poster she she had on the wall above her desk.

Looking straight to it, she saw a man who didn't stop when the odds were against him and rose to the occasion. And that's what she needed to do now.

So, letting out a long sigh and huffing a laugh whilst shaking her head, she finally nodded and decided. "Alright..."

***Kitchen***

About and hour or so later, a sticky note was latched onto the fridge with a magnet.

It read,

'I changed my mind. Thx Mom ❤️ Love you!

Tell Auntie Gigi I said bye and I love her too pls!

- Riri.'

With a backpack strapped on outside of her suit, the iron-clad girl genius flew up from the roof garage and blasted off into the bright orange evening sky.

"Avengers HQ, here I come," she said, blasting faster through the air.

Chapter Text

The Benatar ship sailed cleanly through the sunny-cloudy sky.

***Benatar***

Inside, Bruce and Rocket sat in the pilot seats while everyone else was in their own seats, doing their own thing. Kate was watching a movie on her laptop and she had convinced Frankie to watch with her, this of course brought a smile to her face.

Viv seemed quite dormant as she appeared to be power napping, her entire body calm with eyes closed and as and hands resting on her legs. Her breathing also well down.

Torunn had headphones on as she was listening to music on her iPod. High School Musical to be exact. The song currently playing was 'Can I Have This Dance?' by Zack Efron and Vanessa Hudgens from the third movie. Torunn smiled as the song had come to the chorus once again and the two lovers harmonized, she had a real liking for the romance between Troy and Gabriella.

Meanwhile, Azari was gazing at a nanite-projection from his Kimoyo Bead bracelet. The projection was that of a family. King T'Challa, his lover Nakia, and their newborn son...him. This picture was taken when Azari had been only a few months old. Truth be told, it was one of his favorite. Things where much better then, not much peril to tear them apart.

"That's a nice picture." A voice from above and behind him broke him Azari from his thoughts and he looked to see that it was Jamie, leaning on his seat with an empathetic smile.

Azari nodded back with a small smile in thanks before looking back to the projection. As he did, Jamie could see the hurt in Azari's eyes, how much he missed his parents. More than that, he understood. "You'll get to take another picture with them, Z....I promise."

With that, the young Wakandan smiled at his friend's promise. Somehow, he believed in it. And if that wasn't enough, he at least believed that they'd try their hardest. "Thank you, Jamie."

"Wamkelekile, mzalwana."(You're welcome, brother.) Jamie spoke in broken Xhosa. This gained a laugh from the prince as he did not expect to hear Jamie speak his native language.

"I didn't know you spoke my language!"

"Was it clear enough? I'm still learning, but I've got a few things down."

"No, no. It's was actually quite fluent. Very impressive."

"Thanks!" The Jamie's ringtone went off, signaling him of his phone. Checking itt, he saw it was Nikki. "Oh, it's Nikki."

"Tell her I said hi!" Azari whispered to Jamie who gave him a thumbs up before answering.

"Hey Nikki!"

"Jamie, is everyone ok?!" Nikki asked, her voice sounding frantic and worrisome.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, all good here. We're heading home now, actually."

"Is Uncle Bruce all right?"

"Oh yeah, he's fine."

"The fire didn't hurt him any, did it?"

"Oh nah, it di-" and it was right there that Jamie stopped and actually thought about what he'd just heard. 'The fire?' What did Nikki mean by that, what 'fire'? "Wait, Nikki, what're you talking about?"

"The fire, you know. The burning building, the people inside that he saved?" Nikki listed all that she meant and yet not of it made any sense to Jamie. What was Nikki getting at?

"Nikki, are you ok?"

"Am  I  ok?! That's what I'm asking YOU!"

"Nikki, we're in Rocket's ship. Heading home right now... we haven't been around any fire at ALL."

There was a short silence on the phone and that worried Jamie. What if she was having another panic attack and was beginning to imagine things?! NOT GOOD! NOT GOOD! But what he heard next confused him even more. "Then why am I looking at a news report saying that the Hulk just saved a bunch of people from a burning building in The Bronx?"

The red-headed teen furrowed his eyebrows even harder at that. "Wait, what?"

"Hang on." He heard aight shuffling and waited until the notification ringtone pinged. Opening it up, he saw that it was a text message from Nikki in the form of a picture. The picture itself was of a TV screen with the news report Nikki was referring to. It read:

'HULK SAVES CIVILIANS FROM FLAMING DEATH'

"Whoa!" Jamie said to himself. Really, what more could he say? The whole thing was confusing. Bringing the phone back to his ear, Jamie asked, "Nikki, how long ago was this?"

"It said about thirteen minutes ago. What do you think this means?"

Only one thing came to mind to say, "I don't know. But I'm gonna check something, I'll call you back."

"Ok."

"And Nikki, thanks."

"Sure, bro."

"Oh, and one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Z says hi."

"Oh great! Tell him I said hi back and can't wait to see him."

"Will do."

And with that, the call ended.

"Nikki says hi back, and she can't wait to see you again."

"Everything alright?"

"I don't know..." Jamie thought for a minute before looking back to the picture Nikki had sent, and it got him to thinking. He gave Azari a friendly pat on the shoulder before heading to the front to talk to Bruce.

As he passed Viv's seat, her eyes abruptly opened and followed Jamie as he walked up there.

Coming up alongside his seat, Jamie held up the phone for Bruce to see the picture. "You know anything about this?"

Bruce examined the picture and saw that it was about...him?

"This almost looks photo shopped." He replied, looking closer.

"Only it's real. The report says that there were people there who confirmed that the Hulk was there."

"Where at, and when?"

"In The Bronx, about thirty minutes ago or so. Nikki just sent that to me."

"How could it be me in The Bronx when I'm sitting right here in the sky with you guys?"

"Because it's not you." The three looked back to see Viv standing there.

Though her input was expected, Bruce was still appreciative of it. "Exactly, thank you!"

"But it is the Hulk."

And that 'thank you' was somewhat retracted after that statement. "Wait, what?"

"I'll explain later," she said before turning to Rocket. "Rocket, can we make one more stop please? In The Bronx?"

The furry Guardian looked between her and Bruce in confusion. "Uh...sure, but why?"

"There's someone there who might be able to clear this whole thing up."

The "raccoon" looked from the girl to the Green Avenger and the redhead who merely shrugged their shoulders. That didn't help much. But Rocket saw that Viv seemed to know what she was talking about, so he decided to humor her.

"Ok, guess we're gonna stop in the Bronx."

Maintaining their course, the group had a new destination: New York in the Bronx.

***The Bronx***

In a semi-nice neighborhood was a quaint apartment complex.

The group walked through a halls with Viv at the front, searching for a certain apartment.

"Uh, Viv," Jamie called, "who're we here to see?"

"A gamer friend of mine." She replied. Finally, she found the apartment she was looking for. "Ah, here it is!"

"A gamer?" Frankie echoed, confused as ever.

"Like me!" Torunn proudly stated, raising up a hand with pride.

To this Viv nodded with a smile. "Precisely, Tori. Or like Korg and Miek, should you desire to go further."

And with that, she turned and knocked on the door. It took a moment, but soon the door was answered by an Asian kid with a headset on. "Yeah?"

Almost immediately, Viv smiled at the sight of the teen. "Gammaguy15?" she asked.

"...Uh yeah?"

"Don't you recognize my voice, Maddie? It's me, Viv."

The kid slid his headset off and onto his neck, thinking about her question. "Viv?" And then his eyes went wide as it came to him. "As in 'vizA01' Viv, my gaming partner?!

Viv smiled even wider and gave a shrug. "That's me!"

Now it was his turn to smile. "Wow, hey! Oh my gosh, how are you? Man, it's nice to finally put a face with the voice!"

"Indeed it is!" Viv turned and introduced her friend. "Guys, this is my good friend, Amadeus Cho. Amadeus Cho, these are my friends. Jamie, Tori, Azari, Kate, Frankie, Rocket. And that is my Papa."

He waved at them all, to which they all waved or nodded back. But almost instantly, Amadeus recognized the Green Avengers without even asking his name. "...Doctor Banner?"

"Hey, Mad." he greeted the young gamer, "Long time no see."

"Yeah, yeah I guess so. Uh, please! Come in, come in!"

He stepped aside and motioned for all of them to enter and they all walked in. But as soon as Rocket made it in, he was pounced on and became victim to a lick attack of a coyote pup.

"Ah! I- ah! Ok, ok OK! Someone get this slobbery mutt off me!"

"Kirby!" Amadeus whistled, calling the pup over. The pup then halted his lick attack on the "raccoon" and ran over to his master who knelt down and picked him up. "So uh, what can I do for you guys?"

Jamie was about to begin his pitch when Viv stepped up and interjected. "Actually, Maddie, if I could maybe talk to you alone?"

The proposal caught the gamer off guard, as it did everyone else in the room. But since there wasn't much objection, Amadeus simply shrugged and walked over into the kitchen, out of earshot from the others and Viv followed suit, leaving the others there speechless and dumbfounded.

"Well...that was unexpected." Kate bluntly stated.

"No kidding," Jamie agreed, "so wait, how do you know him, Uncle Bruce?"

"Well, he used to be my assistant. Bout eighteen months or so ago."

"That was him?"

"Yep. There was a small accident that happened, but nothing major. He seemed to walked away all right."

As Bruce told his story, a few of the others, especially Jamie, wondered what more there was to this young man whose home they were in. What ability, power, potential did he have that could help them? Maybe some scientific standpoint since he'd helped Bruce before. Whatever it was, Viv saw it and felt it and he were important enough for him to come and take charge of recruiting him. Even if she didn't give them many details about it, if any at all.

 Fifteen minutes later, Viv exited the room she and Amadeus had gone into with the householder himself right behind her. The only thing was he now had a gym bag strapped over his shoulder.

"Alright, I'm ready." He stated with a nod.

"Ready for what?" Torunn asked curiously.

"I'm coming with you guys. Viv explained everything and I'd liked to help."

"Help?" Torunn echoed, giving a slight nod of approval.

"What can you do?" Kate added, curiosity apparent in her voice.

A look of hesitance came to Amadeus until Viv put a caring hand on his forearm, giving a nod of encouragement.

With that, he lifted the sleeve of his hoodie, exposing what seemed to be a strange looking wrist device. It was dark blue and with a small screen on it, no bigger than two and a half inches max.

Holding it up, Amadeus tapped the screen on it twice before lowering his hand back to his side and closing his eyes. However as soon as he did, he began to...change. Everyone except for Viv instinctively backed up and went wide-eyed as they saw the teen begin to transform.

Veins began bulging on his well toned arms and from them, a bright green spread across the body, changing the entire body into a bright green. But that wasn't all, he was also growing. Not just in size but also in muscle! Soon, his entire body had grown as big as Bruce that his clothes had began to stretch and tear until finally, he stopped. His growth, his height, they had all changed. Tall, massively muscular, and apparently, green. Amadeus Cho had just turned into the Hulk. Or in this case, another Hulk.

Finally, it clicked in all of Bruce and Jamie's minds: Amadeus was the Hulk from the news report.

"Ta-da!" The new Hulk exclaimed with a stance of someone trying to impress an audience. It was then they realized that this Hulk wasn't like the other one...well, technically he was. But not like the ORIGINAL Hulk, the Hulk before Bruce turned into this new form, Professor Hulk. No, this one was like how Bruce was in his current state. Capable of normal speech and stronger handle of the mind, almost human like but not. "So, what do you guys think?" He asked, waiting for their verbal reaction.

Bruce would say something, but he was surprised to see a other person turn into the Hulk like him.

Out of all of the kids though, Frankie was the first to speak up. "Well, I'm sold." He gulped. And so was everyone else, only they were still too stunned to make words of it.

But coming from the shock, Jamie cautiously walked up to the new Hulk, to Amadeus, and smiled with surprise before holding up a hand. Seeing this made Amadeus smile and shake the hand before him, regardless of how much smaller it was compared to his own.

"Amadeus Cho,"

"Oh, Maddie. Or Mad."

Jamie smiled respectively at the correction and nodded. "Maddie, welcome aboard."

ASSEMBLED

***Avengers Compound, Courtyard***

The setting sun shone brightly across a beautifully painted evening sky. It also gave a nice shine upon the Compound.

A low rumbling noise could be heard as suddenly, The Benatar flew over the Compound and over the courtyard before slowly descending onto the lawn.

Greeters came out to meet them as Rhodey, Scott, Betty, Cassie, PJ and Nikki stood near the edge of the courtyard, watching the spacecraft as it landed.

When the doors opened and the steps came down, Nikki smiled and ran over to the craft on seeing her twin and "Uncle". Jamie saw this and smiled as his sister ran right up to him and the two shared a hug. They had never really been apart from each other this long, not a day in their life were they not together at some point. But three days was more than enough, now they were reunited and BOY did it feel good.

"What about me, do I get a hug?" Nikki smiled even more and laughed at that voice, letting go of her brother and jumping up to hug Bruce by the neck. The Green Avenger smiled too as he hugged his niece who hung from his neck, at least three feet from the ground. But Nikki didn't care, she was happy to see her family again.

"Well, this is quite the welcome wagon," another voice stated jokingly.

Looking over Bruce's large shoulder, Nikki's eyes went wide with excitement as she saw someone she hadn't seen in a good long while. "TORUNN!"

The blonde let go of the large green neck and ran into the open arms of the princess who hugged her right back. "Haha, Nikki! Ah, I missed you, my sister!"

"I missed you too, T!" Nikki replied, breaking the hug so she could look at her close friend. "My gosh, you've changed."

Torunn was about to reply when a hand came to her shoulder. "I think it's safe to say we all have."

Nikki almost didn't recognize this person until finally, she did. "Azari?"

The young prince chuckled and nodded at that. "In the flesh, Nikki."

Rather than braking her connection with Torunn entirely, she roped one of her arms around him and pulled him in for a three way hug between them. They hadn't been together like this in so long, they wanted to savor it. "It's good to be with you all again."

"You said it, Z!" Torunn agreed, giving the prince a hearty pat on the shoulder, knowing him forward a little. He winced lightly at this, not having taken into account Torunn's Asgardian strength now that she was older. But this all made Nikki laugh. Oh how good this felt.

But that smile was halted when she saw another descending the steps. That one was Frankie. A wave of emotion shot through her as she kindly broke from her two closest childhood friends and stood alone as her "cousin" walked down to her. Deep down, she knew who he was even though she hadn't seen him in forever. Be it the hair, the eyes, the face, she knew. She knew. "Frankie."

The young Barton did his best to hold back tears that were fighting to escape as he smiled lightly at his old friend/sister-figure. "Nikki."

Nikki didn't hold back her emotions as she wrapped the taller blond in a hug, one which took by surprise at first but he soon hugged back.

"Oh, this is Kate. Kate, this is Nikki. She's an old friend of mine from before I met you. She's...heh, she's like my little cousin."

There was a hint of breaking in his voice as Frankie introduced his "cousin" to his best friend. And it didn't go unnoticed by Nikki either who had tears of her own now.

"Nice to meet you," Kate nodded to Nikki. "It's a pleasure to meet another one of Frankie's old fr-... family."

Nikki couldn't help a chuckle at that as she shook Kate's hand happily. "Thanks, likewise. And thanks for being there for him."

Kate smirked as she looked at Frankie with a side eye. "I think it's my new job." She laughed at this as did Nikki who joined her. Frankie though rolled his eyes and shook his head, all the while holding a smile. Despite this, he had to admit, it felt good to be back... home.

As the two girls laughed, Viv came up and put a friendly hand on Nikki's shoulder. "Nikki, there's someone I'd like you to meet. Amadeus Cho, better known as Maddie."

Nikki looked up to the Asian teen and smiled, shaking his hand. "Welcome back, Maddie."

Maddie smiled and shook back. "Thank you, Nikki. Good to be back."

As soon as he said that, the sound of another aircraft above could be heard as they all looked up to see the Quinjet descending from on high. Seeing this made Jamie and Nikki both smile.

When it finally landed and the ramp door opened, Peter was the first to exit. And he was followed by everyone he and Sam had gone to recruit. A fiery Latina femme fatale, a mechanic from Tennessee and a superhero fangirl from New Jersey. Well, almost everyone. But three out of four wasn't bad.

As his "brother" before him, Peter was met with a tight hug from Nikki who was happy to have her other big brother back.

"Haha! Hey Nikki!" He laughed, hugging her back.

"Ahh, this is great! The blonde replied excitedly, "You guys are both back at the same time!"

Peter looked over to the others Nikki was referring to, seeing Jamie at the forefront. The two shared a look and a nod. "Yeah...yeah, I guess we did....Uh, hey Ava, this is Nikki. Nikki, this is Ava."

"Hey," the latina nodded to her before shaking hands with her.

"Hi!"

"Ava, would you mind introducing Nikki to the others? I gotta talk to my friend over there for a second."

Ava nodded and proceeded to introduce Nikki to Harley and Kamala. However when she met Kamala, the fangirl went ballistic when the blonde revealed she was Black Widow's daughter.

As that interaction went on, Peter walked over to Jamie, who had met him halfway. The two came together in a bro hug and with back pats.

"Well, what do you think?" Jamie asked, looking amongst the big group they had brought together.

Peter looked out to see the two different groups of recruits walking towards each other and meeting one another, almost like a family reunion of sorts.

Seeing it, Peter couldn't help but huff a laugh of surprise as he replied to Jamie, "Looks like we got a team."

Jamie looked to his "brother" and smiled with pride at that. Indeed, they had assembled a team.

"Nice job, guys," Bruce complimented as he walked past them, giving them a big green thumbs up.

"Yeah, real good," Rhodey added, patting their shoulders.

"Your parents would be proud!" Betty whispered to them like a proud mother, giving them a thumbs up as well.

"Gotta say, I'm really impressed," Scott too added, surprise and amazement on his face, "you guys have your own Young Avengers thing going on here. It's awesome!"

And he walked off to join Bruce and Rhodey after that, but he left Peter and Jamie in surprise too. If only he knew.

The meetings were quite interesting. Kamala was geeking out like she was at Comic-Con, shaking everyone's hand and smiling widely. Cassie and PJ introduced themselves amongst the mini crowd. But what Cassie didn't expect was that one of them caught her eye, and he was pretty cute. But to her surprise, she caught his eye too. Soon, they were introducing themselves to one another like high school kids.

"Hi."

"H-Hi! Hi, how's it going?"

"Good, I'm Cassie. Cassie Lang."

"Karley Heener. I MEAN-" The boy slapped his forehead and laughed nervously, earning a giggle from Cassie. "It's Harley Keener. There we go."

"Nice to meet you, Harley."

"You too, Cassie."

Things were going well until a certain little brother interrupted. "Hey." He gained the two's attention, holding out a hand to shake Harley's, "name's PJ, I'm Cassie's brother."

Harley nodded at the kid, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Same. FYI, she's single. Just so you know." The young Lang winked at Harley before running off quick.

"PJ!" Cassie exclaimed before groaning and rolling her eyes. "Oh my god, sorry about that."

"Haha, nah. It's ok, I got a little sister of my own so I know what it's like."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep. Plus, it's uh...it's  a good tip to know."

Hearing that made a little blush come to Cassie's cheeks as she lowered her head. This didn't go unnoticed by Scott who was watching from a ways away.

He wasn't necessarily upset, just surprised. It seemed like just yesterday he was playing Ant-Man missions with his little girl, and now, she was a full grown teenager, showing an interest in boys....

Letting out a small sigh, he whispered to himself, "Where does the time go?"

Surprisingly, that and Kamala's fangirling was the only weird part of it. The rest was wholesome introductions with normal questions such as "where are you from?" and "how old are you?"

Back with Peter and Jamie, they stood there wondering what to do next.

"Well, I guess we should probably say something, huh?" Jamie asked, slightly confused as to what to do now.

Peter, with nerves clamming up a bit now as well, nodded nervously at the question. "You wanna start or me?"

"Doesn't matter to me."

"Oh, well then go ahead, Captain."

Jamie roles his eye and laughed at that. "You're not gonna let that go, are you?"

Peter shook his head with a smirk. "Can't, it fits too well."

"Ok. Uh, hey guys!" Jamie called out, gaining their attention. It didn't take long for them all to walk over and congregate within earshot of the two co-leaders. "Thank you. Well, this is quite a turnout, huh?"

There wasn't much of a response to that except from Torunn who gave Jamie a wink and secret thumbs up to keep going. That girl had an effect on him like no other, cause it gave him just the courage he needed. "Anyway, it's good to see you guys were meeting and getting to know each other just now. That's gonna be important for what we have coming up. Uh, for those of you who don't know, I'm Jamie, and this is Peter. I'm gonna pass it over to him now."

Peter patted Jamie on the back before addressing the group and speaking up. "Hey guys. As Jamie already said, thanks for being here. So now that we're all here, I guess we can go ahead and..." the young arachnid hero trailed off when he caught sight of something moving in the sky. Jamie was confused until he looked up and saw what Peter saw, the same for everyone else who turned to see the incoming figure in the sky. Whatever it was, it was flying towards them and coming fast. A smile came to Peter as he began to recognize the figure as it got closer.

He walked through the group and came out the other side with Jamie right behind him. They all looked up to see the shiny figure come to a stop in the sky and hover high above them. As it did, the group below could see that the figure looked almost identical to an Iron Man suit.

For a moment, Rhodey had to do a double take as he stared at the person hovering in the suit. 'Tony?' he thought to himself. But no, it couldn't be...could it?

Suddenly, the figure's boosters cut out and the armored person fell to the ground and landed in a strong kneeling position. 

'Ha, nice landing.' Peter thought to himself, his smile becoming more impressed.

Standing from the pose, the armored person took off a backpack they had on before the suit opened up, faceplate and all. And from the now open suit, out walked the curly-haired genius herself, Riri Williams. One-strapping her backpack over her shoulder, she walked up to the two and looked to Peter. 

"Riri."

"Peter."

The curly haired genius acknowledged Jamie there and nodded to him, to which he did in reply. Turning back to Peter, Riri held up the envelope he'd left her. "Got your letter."

"Oh yeah! Heheh, cool."

"So this plan of yours, is it gonna work?"

Peter shrugged and looked to the others and the Compound, "Maybe. We're really hoping so."

"Hope....hmph. I'll go with that."

"Awesome." He held out his hand for a handshake which Riri stared at for a few, but finally, she took it and shook it in return. She figured if this didn't work, at least there'd be experience.

Once they let go, Peter turned and motioned to Riri for the others. "Guys, this is Riri Williams. One more member of our team."

Some of them waved, some nodded and others verbally greeted her.

"Sup." She replied before walking over to join them.

When she did, Jamie and Peter nodded to each other before going back to what they were going to say earlier.

"Well, as we were saying earlier, we want to thank you guys for coming with us here, you honestly don't know how grateful we are that you agreed to come and help up."

A series of nods and respectful smiles came from the group, to which gave Peter and Jamie a bit more ease.

"Right, so uh... well, it's been a long few days and I'm sure you guys must be tired and probably hungry. So uh, if you guys could look behind you. Yeah that's Bruce, Betty, Rhodey, and Scott. If you wouldn't mind following them, they'll show you inside the compound and where you'll be staying."

"And food too," Jamie added.

"Right, right, right! That too! So uh, yeah!"

And with that, they all turned and followed Bruce, Betty, and Rhodey into the Compound with Scott in tow as well.

However, Ava walked up to Peter with a but of a smirk on her face. "Nice pep talk, Parker," she said, playfully pushing his shoulder before rejoining the rest of the group.

When she walked away, Peter saw that Jamie had a knowing smirk on his face. "Alright, Peter!"

"Come on, man!" Peter blushed and tried to play it off, but it didn't work out in his favor. 

"Hey, like I already told you, your secret's safe with me." Jamie couldn't fight back the crap-eating grin coming up.

And all Peter could do was shake his head and roll his eyes with an embarrassed smile.

Back with the group, scooting alongside her, Harley whispered to Riri. "Hey, hi. Just wanted to say, I like your suit. Looks pretty cool!"

One look and Riri could tell this guy was either an inventor or at least worked with machines, she could recognize the genius in his eyes. From this, she smiled respectively and nodded back. "Thanks, made it myself. I'm Riri."

"Harley."

The two shook hands and just like that, a new friendship had been formed already.

While they all walked in, Nikki stayed back with Peter and Jamie who watched the recruits enter the Compound.

"Well, we did it." Jamie stated, slightly nervous.

Peter, equally nervous and quite surprised, shrugged his shoulders and sighed with relief. "Yeah, I guess we did."

"Great job, boys," Nikki said, coming in between them and hugging them both by the shoulders. "I'm so proud of my brothers! AHHHH!!!"

The blonde tightened her arms around their necks playfully and the two boys had to bend down and feigned pain. This was followed by fake punches and groaning amongst the three of them as they played like siblings would.

Truthfully, the three were definitely happy to be together again after the past couple of days. And they had good reason to be happy in this moment. The Quantum Time Machine was ready to begin constructing, and now hopes of the mission succeeding had just gone up. For they now had a team.

All here, all assembled.

Chapter Text

DAY ONE

"Good morning! It's a cool 62 degrees with partly cloudy skies. When you are ready, breakfast awaits in the dining room. Thank you."

The announcement from FRIDAY rang through the rooms of the new recruits. Some were already awake, some were still hugging their pillows, but they pulled themselves out of bed and they all made their way to where they were directed.

***Dining Room***

They were welcomed by Peter, Jamie and Bruce already there at a long table that was surrounded by chairs and laden with food. There was toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, fruit salad, some oatmeal, orange juice and milk.

"Morning guys!" Peter greeted with a smile.

"Hey bro," Nikki greeted. The rest came after her.

Viv waved as she entered. "Good morning."

Then Ava, "Morning."

Cassie and PJ. "Morning!" "Hey guys!"

Kamala. "MORNING!"

Sam. "Hey."

Riri. "Mornin'."

Azari. "Good morning."

Frankie grunted with a nod, still not fully awake. "Mmm."

Kate. "Morning, morning!"

Harley. "Mornin'."

And Amadeus. "Good morning."

They all came and sat in their seats and looked to Peter and Jamie at the head of the table.

"Well," Peter began, "again, good morning and uh, hope you guys got some good sleep."

"Could use a little more," Frankie groaned, holding his still half asleep head up. This earned a few laughs and hahas from the others, even Peter.

"Well you can always get some more later. But uh, yeah! So if you guys are hungry, there's plenty of food here. Trust me, you're gonna wanna get your strength up for today."

"Are we starting our training today?" Kate asked, curiously.

Jamie cut in and nodded. "Eh, somewhat, yeah. But for now, just enjoy, guys."  

And with that, they all dug in.

***Lab***

After breakfast, everyone had went to do their own thing. PJ and Scott went to help Bruce and Nebula with some designs for new suits for when they went to the Quantum Realm. PJ had some cool ideas, so he was definitely excited. Maddie also went to help.

Frankie went back to sleep while Kate went to do target practice with her bow. And Nikki, Cassie, Torunn and Kamala spent some time together. Girl time, you know.

And Harley went and walked around until he came to the lab and walked in, looking all around with curiosity.

"Hello, Harley!" FRIDAY's voice greeted.

The young mechanic jumped at that, he still was surprised by the Lady AI's voice at times. Any other person outside of this facility might think ghost, but that wasn't the case here.

"Hey, FRIDAY. How's it going?"

"Very well, thank you. And you?"

"Not bad, not bad." Harley trailed off as he looked around at all the tool and desks with holo-screens on them. But what caught his eye the most was that of a armor capsule that held the suit Riri had arrived in.

Walking over to get a better look, Harley awed at the shiny armor. Though there were a few scratches from Riri's tango with Nova when they first met, it was still a n awesome piece of tech. There attention to detail is what really grabbed Harley, how accurate and capable the suit seemed. It truly mesmerized him.

"Admiring Riri's suit, Harley?" FRIDAY teased.

"Heh, yeah I guess I am. I remember geeking out when I first saw an Iron Man suit up close. It was so cool and I was like 'I want one so bad!' Heh, but that was a long time ago."

"It could still be a reality, you know?"

Hearing that made Harley curious. "What do you mean?"

"You  could  make  your own  armor, should you still want one."

And that was when shock started to set in with a side of excitement. "Wait, I- I can?!"

"Of course!" A light shined on a certain part of the floor, a holographic arrow showing Harley where to stand. "Step here and allow me to measure you, and then I can commence with the assembly of it."

"Are you serious?" He asked as he walked over, excitement and disbelief written all over his face. He look up and around to address FRIDAY since she didn't really have a face. "No way this is real!"

FRIDAY's voice laughed a little at Harley's excited denial. "I assure you, Harley, this is all real."

With that, Harley stepped into the spot FRIDAY had marked for him and waited before a ceiling panel opened and a device that resembled a projector lowered down in front of Harley. Then, a blue light came from the it and began to scan Harley from top to bottom and left to right.

"Scan complete! Measurements acquired," FRIDAY confirmed. The device then ascended back into the ceiling with the panel closing back up. "We can now commence with the building of your suit, Harley. Is there any specific design or personal preference you'd like to include within it?"

As the AI asked this, multiple holo-screens came up over the desk near him. On those screens were multiple options and features to be chosen and added to the new armor in production. The young mechanic walked over and looked at the screens good and well before popping his knuckles and going to work. "Let's get to work!"

"You got it, boss!"

Thirty minutes in, Harley was so focused and having fun with the designs for his armor and had jotted down a lot of ideas for potential later suits. He was so into it, he hadn't taken any notice of the extra body that had just entered the lab.

"Retro-reflective panels?"

Harley jumped at the unexpected voice, only to find that it was Riri standing there.

"Oh, hey Riri," he relaxed, nodding to her before looking back to his holographic work station. "Uh, yeah. It's a little pet project. It's actually something I've wanted to see since I was a kid, so I figured 'why not', ya know?"

Riri bobbed her head to that. She could understand his thinking on it. "Yeah. You had an idea and now you wanna try it out...nice."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Do you have a backup plan?"

A furrow came to Harley's brow at that. "For-for what?"

Riri nodded her head to the suit design Harley was working on. "The suit. In case something happens and the suit goes out. You're thousands of feet in the air and you're dropping at at least 130 an hour, possibly 150 if you take in the weight of the suit. You keep free falling and by the time you his the ground, you'll be pancaked spam in a can."

The graphic description of the outcome the curly haired genius had just painted made Harley visibly shocked and speechless.

Obviously, this girl knew more than he did when it came to major technology and that area. He knew some, but to a certain degree. She obviously filled those holes. This made him think.

"Ok...so uh, with that picture in my head, you think you could help me? Make the suit better I mean." He asked her.

The "her" in question laughed a little before nodding. "Sure, Harls. I'll help ya. I need to do some modifications to my suit anyways, so it'll be a win-win."

"Awesome! So where do we start?"

Riri looked at the holo-specs and looked over the digital model for his suit so far. "FRIDAY, can you blow this up for me?"

"Sure, one second." The Lady AI replied.

Within the next few seconds, the holo-rig of the suit was enlarged so she could get a better view.

Taking a few seconds to look and think it over, the curly haired genius began drawing new pieces and adding them to the holo-rig. "Ok, so first, flaps. You're gonna want some flaps along here," she said, motioning along the shoulder blades, waist and quad area, "-here, and here. It'll help break that airspeed for when you're free falling. Buy you a little more time."

"Gotcha."

"Next, ailerons."

"Flight stability." Harley nodded, picking up on what Riri meant.

"Exactly!" She snapped with a smile adding the ailerons to the design. "By the way, how's your balance?"

Assuming she meant with flying, Harley swayed his head side to side, but that was all Riri needed to see to understand. "So you have none. Right." Then, she had an idea. "Ok, I can do this. We're gonna put your suit on hold, 'cause I got something else for you to try first."

"What?"

Riri looked back to him with a smirk. "Oh you'll see."

***Maddie's Room***

A little later after he had analyzed Scott's Ant-Man suit and the Quantum Exploration Suit Hank Pym had made long ago, Maddie was hard at work sketching the designs for the Quantum Suits. And to his pleasure, Viv was right there with him, guiding him along as he drew.

"So we have the compressed pack here, and the GPS goes here, right?" Viv asked, making sure she was keeping up.

"Right!" Maddie replied heartily. "And where do you think the Pym Particles should go?"

Viv looked the design over and then looked to her laptop that had a layout of the Ant-Man suit on it. She noticed that one that suit, the slot for the Particles was in the belt of the suit. This gave her an idea.

"Well, the Particles go into a slot within a belt on Scott's suit... but what if we-" "-put them in a concealed compartment in the hip of the suit!"

Maddie had joined her in speaking her idea as it seemed he had the same one too. This led to big smiles on both of them and laughs between the two. They really had good chemistry and worked so well together, they truly understood one another. And that was the best thing about them.

"We make a pretty good team, huh?" Maddie stated proudly.

Viv agreed all too well with a wink. "On the games and with the brains."

Maddie smiled even more at that and playfully bumped her shoulder with his, to which the dark skinned girl blushed and bumped him back.

After their little moment there, the two turned their attention back to the task at hand. 

"Ok. So now that he have the look look the suit, now we just have to make them. What's Scott's suit made of?"

"Steel mesh. Really good craftsmanship with how it was made. Woven carefully, but loaded with unstable molecules."

Hearing that made Maddie curious. That fact Viv just stated made some sense, but how did she know that though? "How did you know that?"

Viv's eyes went wide and her face showed that of someone who'd just been found out. But she tried playing it off. "Um, I uh...I asked Scott about...BEFORE we came and got you guys. And he told me then...yeah."

Her nervous demeanor threw Maddie off, but he shrugged and accepted it and they continued working.

"Pete, where are you taking me?"

Sometime after breakfast, Peter had convinced Jamie to come with him for a surprise, under one condition: blindfold.

"Sorry, Jamie. No spoilers," Peter replied, leading Jamie from behind to his surprise. After breakfast, everyone dispersed and went about their business. Some stuck together like Nikki, Cassie and Torunn who'd gone off to do "girl stuff" as they called it, whatever that meant.

He continued to lead him through the compound until finally, they exited through a door and entered the outside in the courtyard.

"Okay, we're outside now. I can tell that much."

"Yep, and you can take off your blindfold now."

Jamie did and when he looked around, he was met with a confusing sight. All around them were the trees of the courtyard and some portable columns. But that wasn't the part that was confusing...ok, not the ONLY confusing on. No, what was really confusing was that they appeared to be wrapped in mats. The thick, foldable kind you'd see in a gymnasium. Jamie's eyebrows furrowed at this puzzling sight.

"Pete, what's with all these..." He tried to ask Peter, but upon looking to him, he saw his "brother" was removing the shield, his father's shield from its strapped position on his back and holding it up.

"I told you I'd help you learn some moves with this, time to make good on that promise." Peter replied with a proud smile.

Surprised and at a loss for words, the young redhead eyed the shiny  smiled with excitement.

"So," Peter started before thrusting the shield away, sending it flying towards one of the trees. The circular projectile hit the tree dead on before knocking to another, and ricochetting off one more before making its way back too the two boys standing there. Peter did a side flip before sticking the landing and holding his left arm out, just in time for the shield to come sliding right back into his arm. Turning back to Jamie, he slid the shield off and held it out to him. "-ready to play with your shield, Captain?" That smile still holding.

Jamie took the shield and slid his own left arm into it before looking to Peter and giving him a definitive nod. And the two began to train with the shield for a whole two hours. With each minute, each throw and each catch, Jamie continued to keep on, not giving up. Even when the shield nearly hit him a few times, he still kept going. Just like his father.

However, as the two trained with the shield, they were being watched from inside.

***Lounge***

Inside, Ava watched from a lounge the two boys outside training. For some reason, it brought a smile to her face seeing Peter and Jamie spend time together like this. She could really see the brotherly love between the two, and it made her feel a certain way as she watched on. Mainly towards Peter.

"Enjoying the show?" A voice asked, breaking Ava's focus. It also made her jump a little, but she calmed when she saw that it was only Nikki who had sat down across from her. "Whoa! It's ok, Ava. No danger here."

"Sorry, you just surprised me there."

"So I saw. But hey, one spy to another, it's not a good idea if you only focus on one person within a crowd if you're eyeing your target."

Ava furrowed her eyebrows at that
"What're you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you staring at Peter down there."

The Latina's breath caught in her throat and she felt her cheeks flame up. "I wasn't staring at Peter."

"Oh really?"

"What's going on here?" Cassie asked curiously as she joined the two, Kamala and Torunn with her as well. Kamala leaned on the back of the couch Nikki and Cassie sat on whereas Torunn sat in a comfy lounge chair.

"NOTHING!" Ava exclaimed, hoping to shut down any further claims to her staring. Or not of it. But to no avail.

"Ava was staring at Peter outside just now." Nikki said to Cassie.

And from this, a smirk came to Cassie and she raised an eyebrow. "Really? Ooooh, alright Ava!"

Kamala looked as though she was thinking about it. "You and Peter...huh. I could see it."

"Nice choice, Ava," Torunn commended her new friend with a wink before folding her arms.

Ava tried to hide it, but she could feel the burn of her cheeks heating up from the conversation before her.

"Let me see...PeterAve?" Kamala asked, talking to herself out loud, "Nah, sounds like Gatorade. Uh....Aveter? No, that sounds worse."

"What're you doing?" Cassie asked confusedly.

"Thinking up a ship name for them."

"A what?" Torunn too asked.

"A ship name. It's for two that you could see being in a relationship. You ship them."

"You do that a lot?" Nikki queried.

"ALL the time. I write a lot of fanfiction. You should see the one for your parents."

That took Nikki by surprise. She had heard of fanfiction, but she never really looked into it much. "My parents, there's fanfiction for my parents?"

The Muslim girl nodded proudly at that. "Yep! LOADS of them. And they even have a ship name too, Romanogers."

"Roma-what?" Ava cut in, confused at what she said and at where this conversation had turned.

"Romanogers. It's a mixture of their last names, Romanoff and Rogers. Knock off a few letters and BOOM! Romanogers."

Kamala folded her arms proudly at that, leaving the others stunned.

"Interesting," Torunn said, "it sounds like an interesting concept."

"Yep. OH WAIT, I'VE GOT IT!"

"What?"

"Peter and Ava's ship name!"

"Oh come on!" Ava rolled her eyes and shook her head with a laugh she was trying to hold back. "Are we still on that?!"

"No, no! Shhhh, hang on!" Torunn shushed her with a giddy smile, "I wanna hear this!"

"What is it, Kamala?" Nikki encouraged.

Kamala took a breath and then went for it. "Ok, now keep an open mind. So Peter's superhero name is Spider-Man, Ava's is Tiger."

"White Tiger," Ava corrected the fangirl.

"Sorry, White Tiger."

Ava kept her head down and leaned on her knees as she awaited whatever crazy name was to come as Kamala continued.

"Ok, so taking their two names, I came up with, you ready?...SpiderTiger."

The fangirl did a mic drop motion before looking at the others, waiting for their reaction. There was a moment of silence before she saw that there were some heads bobbing and one thinking, meaning they weren't opposed to it.

"SpiderTiger....huh, I like it." Nikki stated with a firm nod.

Cassie nodded in agreement as well, "Yeah, me too! It's oddly kinda cute."

Torunn, still thinking it over, began to nod with vigor. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. "Yeah, I like how it fits together so well. It just sounds right."

"Right!" Kamala chirped proudly.

"You're very clever woman, Kamala."

"Back atcha, Tori!"

Meanwhile, Ava just shook her head and was still trying to hold back her laughter at this subject. "This is just....just wow."

"Ok, ok," Nikki interjected herself, trying to hold herself against a fit of laughter that wanted to escape. "Let's leave her alone."

"THANK you!" Ava exclaimed with a relieved smile before getting up and walking off. "Now can we please do or talk about something else?"

The other four stood and followed their friend, but not before saying a few things amongst themselves.

"Think you can show me those fanfictions on my parents?" Nikki asked Kamala.

"I gotcha, girl! I'll send you a link." She whispered back.

"Thanks."

That was still a cool name you gave Peter and Ava though," Torunn stated, whispering too.

"For real," Cassie agreed.

"I CAN STILL HEAR YOU!" Ava yelled back to them despite her being out of the room.

This made the girls all laugh as they left to room to catch up with Ava.

* **Garage***

Within two hours, Riri and Harley had outfitted a bit of a rig for the suit, but only the palm and boot thrusters so that Harley could learn to balance himself properly before putting on an actual suit. The Ones for the palm actually went all the way up to his biceps, almost covering his arms fully in a bit of an exo-suit like rigging with wires and mini hydraulics. And the same was for feet and legs, only those went up to his knees. And they were all connected to an arc reactor that Riri had made for Harley's suit and she strapped it onto him.

Right now, all of that was on Harley and has was ready. Nervous, but ready. Riri, sporting a pair of black framed-yellow lense sunglasses she brought along with her, was ready to from her spot at a desk that had a laptop and what seems to be like a remote control with dials that were set to specific settings.

Along with them in the room were also Cassie and PJ. Cassie stood behind a camera on a tripod while PJ stood with a fire extinguisher, next to a large hydraulic arm that had one as well. The name on the arm read: Dum-E Jr.

With everyone and everything in position, Harley spoke up and began. "Alright, let's do this. Phew! Ok. Harley's Iron Man Suit Test, number one. Cassie's on the camera, thanks again for that, Cass."

A thumbs up was sent his way and a cheerful reply. "You got it!"

"Riri's on the specs and thruster power control,"

Riri gives her thumbs up and a small smile from her station.

"And PJ and Dum-E Jr. are on fire patrol."

PJ fires off two puffs of the extinguisher with excitement. "Ready!"

"Ok, so what do you say we start off simple, like twenty percent thrust capacity?"

But Riri cut in. "Harley, you may wanna go a little easier on the thrust. The blowback from it is pretty strong."

"So what, like ten?"

Riri tilted her head in hesitation. "Since you're beginner...one. One-point five, max.

"What?" Harley exclaimed, "C'mon Riri! That's weak sauce."

"Trust me, you're gonna wanna start off easy."

"Come on. At least gimme five. Please?"

Not wanting to argue, Riri sighed and surrendered. "Fine, you want five percent, you got it.

"Alright!" Harley cheered victoriously before getting into position. He took a few breaths, wiggled his legs a little which earned a giggle from Cassie. But she held herself and held the camera steady. "Here we go. In three, two...one."

Riri pressed the control and the five percent thrust power sent Harley flying up and backwards and into a wall.

"Oh sh**!" Riri exclaimed, killing the controls and running over to her friend. Yeah, her friend.

Before she or Cassie made it over to him, PJ and Dum-E Jr. were there and the robot proceeded to spray the fallen Harley. Finding it funny, PJ joined in staying him as well, laughing as he did.

But this was stopped by Riri and Cassie who pushed the two back.

"OK! OK, he's not on fire, PJ! That's enough!" Cassie exclaimed, pushing her little brother back who then called off Dum-E Jr. "Harley, are you alright?"

The young mechanic spat some of the foam off his face before giving a defeated look. "Peachy."

FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES LATER

Harley, all cleaned of the extinguisher foam and somewhat recovered from his first attempt, stood back in his previous spot before he was shot across the room. A more humble and nervous look on his face.

"Ok, soooo.... after the outcome of the first test,"

"I told you," Riri cut in, typing away at her station with a smirk.

Harley looked back to her with his arms up. "Could you not rub it in, please?"

But Riri simply snorted at that and shook her head.

Harley rolled his eyes at that and shook his head as well before turning back to the camera and continuing. "Power has been lowered to...one-point five thrust capacity. And for lack of a better option, PJ and Dum-E Jr. are still on fire safety. If either of you douse me again when I'm not on fire, I'll throw you in the lake outside." He threatened jokingly.

This made PJ laugh and pat Dum-E Jr. on his top. To which the mechanical arm whirred cutely like a pet.

With that, Harley for into position. "Alright, ready?"

Riri gave him a thumbs up.

"Ok, in three, two, one."

The thrust came, but didn't send Harley flying around this time. No, this time it was just enough for him to hover a good three feet off the ground.

"You're doing it!" Cassie exclaimed happily, pointing the camera directly to capture it.

"Yeah, I guess I am!" He then began to move around the room, hovering at the same height as he did.

"Use your stabilizers to help you steer!" Riri informed him.

Harley complied and put his palms put forward, making him hover backwards a little. "HAHA!" He smiled, this was working! It was small, but he was doing it!

"That is so cool!" PJ exclaimed as he watched his friend go.

Harley kept this up until he made it back to the spot where he started and then he stiffened his body, putting his arms to his side and the stabilizers allowed him to hover in place. He truly had done it.

"Alright, kill it!" He said. Riri stopped the thrust and the young mechanic landed on his feet with a metal thud. "Whoooo!! I did it!"

Riri cheered and agreed. "Whoo, yeah you did!" Giving him a little applause.

"Great job, Harley!" Cassie cheered him on behind the camera.

A little confidence back, Harley nodded. "Yeah, I can fly."

DAY THREE

***Hangar***

Torunn popped open a can of Orange Crush and took a sip, walking through the hangar over to where the construction of the Quantum Time Machine was pretty much complete. Only a few finishing touches were needed.

"One side there, Tammy!" Harley exclaimed, coming from behind her with a large conduit in tow over his shoulder.

Torunn moved out of the way, but rolled her eyes at Harley's comment.

"Hey Rocket, how's it coming?" Harley called out to the "raccoon" who was working hard on the machine. 

"Eh, so far so good." He replied, "Hey go ahead and connect that connect that over there, would ya?"

Harley did, passing Bruce and Bill Foster who were standing in front of an array of controls for the QTM, discussing the the machine and how it would cooperate with the Quantum Realm. It seemed like it was all coming together.

All recruits, please come to the training room in full gear. Again, all young recruits to the training room. Please and thank you!"

With the Quantum Time Machine finished, now came the next part before the mission: training.

So a little later, the call went out for all to meet at the Training Room.

"So, what's this training room like?" Ava asked Nikki as they headed to where FRIDAY directed them.

Nikki gave a shrug. "I don't really know, I've never used it before. I've only used the gym and the firing range here. So this'll be a new one for me too."

***Kamala's Room***

[KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK]

"Come in!" Kamala beckoned.

The door opened to reveal Sam in his Nova suit and carrying his helmet. "Hey KK, you ready?"

"Yeah, almost! Just gotta put this on."

"Whoa, nice outfit!"

"Really, you like it?!"

"Yeah! Definitely, I'm especially liking the uh...the..."

"It's a burkini."

"Burkini?"

"Yeah, it's a part of my culture. Muslim girls use them for sports and stuff."

Sam nodded at that, finding it interesting. "Cool. But it looks like you'll be the first to use it as a superhero."

When he said that, Kamala breathlessly laughed with surprise. He was right! She was the first to do this, and that have her a sense of pride.

"One thing though, if I may," Sam walked over and Kamala did her best to mask the blush she felt coming on. He walked up to her and positioned her in front of the mirror. "This looks good, don't get me wrong. But you wanna give it some flare. Something that pops, you know."

"Flare," Kamala echoed, thinking to herself. But then an worry came to her. "But what if a look weird?"

Understanding how she could feel that way, Sam took her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. "You won't look weird. And hey, even if you do, don't worry about it. To be fair, it's kinda part of the superhero gig. I mean, look at the Hulk. All he wears...or, used to wear anyway, was just some super stretchy pants."

Kamala laughed at that and felt her spirits begin to lift again. Sam was funny, but he also had a good and noble side to him. This she admired about him. "Thank you, Sam."

"Anytime," he replied with a wink. "Now let's go before we're late for training.

"Oh right!" Kamala ran over to her bedside table to grab a simple blue face mask and put it on. "Ready!"

Sam chuckled at her cuteness and the two headed to the training room.

***Training Room***

By the time they got there, they saw that mostly everyone was already there.

Nikki was there in one of her mother's Black Widow suits. She had modified it to fit her and it did pretty well. She also wore a green sleeveless tactical hoodie with pockets, a holder for two batons that were on her back and on her waist was a utility belt and two hip straps with holsters that held two Glock 17s in them. And she also wore fingerless gloves that were connected to the two Widow's Bite gauntlets on her wrists. Lastly, on the buckle of the belt was the symbol her mother had carried for years. The Black Widow.

Maddie was barefoot and in a sleeveless t-shirt and a pair of dark blue shorts. He knew his regular clothes and shoes would rip the moment he transformed, so he figured he'd go simple.

Torunn was in her armor and a red cape with her sword in tow.

Frankie and Kate were in their gear. For Frankie, he wore his Ronin suit with his katana and quiver of arrows both strapped to his back and his bow in hand. Whereas Kate was in a purple leather bulletproof vest, purple cargo pants, some purple high boots, an old quiver that was once used by Clint, and her very own bow that she'd bought for herself. Purple of course. And for her own personal liking, a pair of Privé Revaux sunglasses. You can guess the color of the lenses.

Azari was also there, standing proudly in a suit that Shuri had made just for him. It had a similar design to that of his father with the teeth of the armor going across his chest and over and around his shoulders. There was also a light blue trim on it that stood out amongst the black. His auntie really went all out.

And they all stood in front of Peter and Jamie who were in their own respective suits. Peter in his Iron Spider suit, and Jamie was actually in a prototype stealth suit that was originally made for his father. It was black instead of blue and didn't have the iconic star on it anywhere. But there was a white colored Avengers logo over the left chest plate. And Jamie added a little star of his own in the form of red lines that went along with lines already in the suit, so it was almost the same. Either way, he liked it.

"Well, guys, thanks for coming," Jamie started, "I know you guys have been getting settled in the past few days and elsewhere, you guys have done a great job with helping with the time machine, the suits or with your own personal training. But, now it's time to try it as a team."

Then it was Peter's turn. "So we're gonna be training with these," He pointed to a silver robot that almost looked like it was front the movie 'I, Robot', just without the human like eyes. Instead there were two little lit up dots for eyes. "These are Life Model Decoys, LMDs for short. They will be what we practice on as will this lasers and projectile launchers up there."

Peter motioned to laser arms of laser cannons and the "projectile launchers" that were on the walls all around. "So let's get to it!" He said with a clap.

"Hold up, Peter!" A voice interjected. Looking, they all saw that it was Riri, clad in her Iron suit with her helmet in hand. Beside her were also Cassie and PJ who were in suits of their own. A thinner, sleeker design of the Wasp suit for Cassie that was a nice shade of magenta with a black trim. And for PI, he was sporting yellow and black for his suit with a little red trim here and there

"Hey guys," Peter greeted, nodding to them. "What's up, Riri?"

"There's someone we'd like to introduce you to." The armor clad girl-genius replied before they all stood back, making room in the entryway. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present, Harley Kenner 2.0."

The thudding of metal footsteps nearing was heard before a full armored suit walked in, shining in nice red and orange. Everyone stood in awe of it as the faceplate come up and then the suit's helmet folded back into the neck of the suit, showing the face and head of it's pilot, Harley.

The young mechanic smiled and waved at his team and they waved back, admiring his suit too as they did. "Hey guys!"

"Looking good, Harley!" Jamie stated, with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Very impressive," Azari too complimented.

"Thanks! It's not too bad."

Peter walked up to Harley and looked his suit up and down before looking Harley in the eyes. "Looks awesome, dude. Tony would be proud of you."

That made Harley tear up a little, but he fought it back and gratefully nodded back to Peter. "Thanks Peter. So, are we gonna do this?"

A confident smile came to Peter as he patted Harley's shoulder before turning to the others. "Let's go!"

The first training session went better than expected. Peter suggested they all start off solo to gauge how their skills and endurance would hold up.

Peter was able to disable the LMDs easily with his webs and agility.

Jamie was able to take out two with a slick move thanks to his father's shield.

Nikki killed it with a sick head scissor leg throw move, shooting one of the LMDs and then impaling the other with a baton. Deadly, but hot too.

Ava was after her. With her claws out, she went in flipping with the grace of a cat and slicing through the training robots like butter. More deadly, and even more hot. It definitely caught Peter's eye.

The next set was slightly upgraded for Riri and Harley's needs since they were in Iron suits. Going up against six of them, these LMDs were more armored and carried more firepower. But the two were able to blast and disable the bots after a good two minutes and pushing back hard.

Torunn too requested the upgraded bots for herself. Wielding Stormbreaker, Torunn went against twelve LMDs, bashing, punching, even throwing some of them with her strength. A light crackle of lightning came from her fingers as she came down from her high if the test

Sam came in, arms blazing and took out the bots without breaking a sweat. The cockiness was so apparent you could almost smell it.

For Cassie and PJ, it went by actually pretty quick. Since they had practiced this sort of thing before(and by practice, I mean need guns with Luis, Dave and Kurt), they insisted that the lasers be beefed up a tad. During their time, one would focus on the LMDs, and the other on the laser cannons. Evading fire from both before closing in and disabling. It was awesome.

Maddie came out and tapped his wrist device before turning into the Hulk. Or his version of the Hulk, to be more specific. And when he did, he took a breath before going to work. He took a few blasts from the cannons and from the bots before jumping up and ripping out the cannons from the walls and grabbing one of the bots by the leg and using it to take out the others like a rag doll. It was clear, he was, in a sense, the Hulk.

Next was Azari. And like Ava, he showed awesome strength with his reflexes, agility and a little help from the lighting power of his suit. A little addition/treat from his auntie.

Then came Kamala, who was understandably nervous. But a secret wink and thumbs up from Sam helped push her on. As she went on, they learned that her powers made her able to stretch abnormally which helped her evade fire from one LMD before whipping her long arm in a powerful backhand, and she could GROW too as she demonstrated by shouting "EMBIGGEN!!!" before growing up to fifty-four feet and stomping on the last two of her LMDs. Talk about a great first try, she loved it!

Finally, Frankie and Kate came after her, however the two asked for a few more LMDs though. A surprising request, but Peter obliged, nodding for Viv to send out more. So out came ten LMD bots that surrounded the two. Sharing a nod with each other, the two came back to back and took down the LMDs as they came at them. Frankie showed speed and skill with  his bow and arrow, even tossing down his bow, taking an electric arrow and plunging it into one of the bots. But he also showed speed with his katana blade as well. Kate on the other hand stuck to her bow and arrow, sometimes letting lose three at once. However they did it, the Barton & Bishop duo bested the LMDs well.

With their solo tryouts done, it was clear to see that this team had plenty of strength, variety, and endurance.

Then they were gauged with working together, and it really wasn't bad.

Sure, there was an accidental bumping into one another here and there. And that one time Jamie's shield accidentally ricocheted off Riri's back. Fortunately for him, she didn't hold a grudge.

So all in all, it was a good first time....but the worst was yet to come.

DAY F IVE

It was a new training session. The recruits were all in the room, training with the LMDs and the bigger, four legged robots with long tentacles called Octo-bots. Coined and designed after a villain Peter said he's been up against a few times. He figured the challenge would be good for them, and boy was it.

Right now, Peter and Jamie were outside training and Nikki was elsewhere doing her schoolwork, and Betty was at her job while Bruce, Rhodey, Scott, Nebula and Bill were working in the hangar of the Compound.

So this left the young recruits to go at it themselves. And it was going well... somewhat.

On the floor below, Frankie was dealing with quite a few bots. Of course, he took care of them, but he didn't see the one coming up behind him.

Azari did though.

"Down, Francis!" He exclaimed, pushing Frankie's head down just in time to miss a swing of the LMD's arm before grabbing and flipping it over his shoulder and tear the metal head off.

Letting the young Barton's head up, the two looked at the destroyed bot and let out a breath.

"Thanks," He said, pulling out three more arrows, "by the way, the name's Frankie."

"By the way, really don't care." The young prince retorted before jumping back into the action.

Frankie rolled his eyes before reloading his bow and firing again.

Meanwhile, Maddie was tackling an Octo-bot with Torunn, Harley and Riri attacking from the sides and above.

Torunn was about to bash again with Stormbreaker when own of the bot's large arms came and swatted her like a fly, sending her right into Harley.

"Watch it, goldilocks!" He remarked, pushing her away.

Torunn seethed at his words and actions and pointed Stormbreaker towards him, "Have care of how you speak, dumb metal lad!"

"Guys, we could use some help over here!" Riri called, trying to cut an arm front the large bot with her repulsors.

"Then stay out of my way!"

That was the final straw for Torunn. Setting the axe down, she held out her hand, calling for her sword. It soon came to her and she fumes with lightning before flying up and tearing into the Octo-bot, cutting through it with anger and ease. All of which made the large bot freeze momentarily.

Stopping and hovering to view her handiwork, Torunn watched as the giant bot fell over and collapsed to the ground, crushing all the remaining LMDs down below.

The blonde princess descended and landed, adrenaline still pumping through her like an engine.

Riri and Harley landed next to her, Harley being closest.

"Nice job," he complimented, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Immediately, she smacked his hand off and pointed a finger to his face with a look that could kill. "Don't touch me again!" She hissed.

Harley scoffed at that, unafraid of her glare. "Or what?"

"Oh trust me, you don't want to find out what."

"OOohh, I think I do." Harley began to step to Torunn, and she to him too for a standoff.

"Ok guys!" Ava cut in, walking up to them as did a few others to keep them apart. Cassie holding Harley back and Maddie holding Torunn, but Ava coming up in the middle of them both. "You guys need to calm down."

Though they were being held back, the two young fighters held their stare a little longer before Harley scoffed again and shook his head.

"Ya know what, it ain't even worth it." And he began to back up, away from Cassie and the others. "I'm out."

"Yes, walk away." Torunn spat, still being held back.

"Tori, calm down," Ava repeated with warning.

"Spoiled princess," he muttered under his breath as he walked away. But unfortunately, it was under enough to not be heard by Torunn. And that was the final nail in the coffin for her.

She stabbed her sword into the floor for it to stand before taking a breath and calling Stormbreaker to her. The axe flew towards her and as soon as it came to her hand, she twirled around and hurled at the leaving Harley.

"Tori, no!" Maddie exclaimed, but it was too late.

"Harley, look out!" Sam called out the warning.

Harley heard it and turned around to see the flying weapon coming right at him, his suit's helmet coming out and folding on just as the axe made contact with his chest, knocking him back several feet into the hallway.

A groan could be heard from his helmet as he slowly picked himself up.

( Harley's HUD POV)

With some deep breaths, Harley felt his adrenaline begin to flare up again as he looked up to Torunn back in the training room.

"Okay," he growled.

His repulsors and boot thrusters fired up, and he flew back towards the training room and right at Torunn. She saw him coming and flew towards him too, but he was going faster and he scooped her up and flew with her against the wall of the room.

"Guys!" Kate cried out to them, but to no avail.

Kamala too tried to call them, growing to try and pull them apart, "Guys, stop it!" but to no avail as she was cut by the sharp end of Stormbreaker. She retracted her hand and hissed in pain as she shrunk back to her normal size.

As Harley continued flying with Torunn against the wall, she gained some footing and pushed them off the wall and broke free of his grasp and called Stormbreaker to her. The axe swiftly came and she flew towards Harley with a loud battle roar.

She swung it at him, but he evaded it. Then he fired a few repulsor blasts which she blocked and deflected with the large axe. The blast that were deflected either hot the walls or hit the floor below, narrowly missing those standing there

Cassie shielded her brother momentarily from one of the blasts before she turned to him. "PJ, go! Go get Peter and Jamie! HURRY!" She urgently commanded.

PJ nodded and ran for the exit of the training room and the crazy cage fight within. Once out, he jumped and shrunk down before activating his wings and taking flight.

PJ flew through the halls until he found a door leading to the outside and went down to the ground and ran under it. Once he passed under it to the out side, he took flight again, going up into the air and looking around until he found the courtyard and saw Peter and Jamie training with the shield. Quickly, he zipped his way down.

He flew a little more until he was within walking distance, then he pressed his left button and grew back to his regular size and ran the rest of the way. "Peter! Jamie! He called out to the older boys.

The two turned and saw the young Lang running towards them in a cool looking suit.

"Hey PJ. Suit looks like it's working good for you!" Jamie complimented, truly admiring the suit his little friend wore.

"Thanks. But I came to tell you, we have a bit of a problem."

"What's wrong?" Peter asked.

Before PJ could answer, the sound of thunder clapping roared throughout the sky before something burst out from the side of the Compound. Make that two somethings, and one of those somethings had collided against the ground whilst the other one floated in the air. This all caught the attention of Peter, Jamie and PJ.

Almost instantly, Peter and Jamie could tell that the one floating was Torunn, and from the looks of it, it was Harley in his armor that had made a sizable swale in the ground. It was then that it occurred to the two: they were fighting!

Torunn, still floating in the air, raised Stormbreaker up to the already thundering clouds above, thus summoning the lighting to it which crackled into the large axe for a good while before the princess pointed it to the armored Harley down below and struck him with the lighting.

Harley felt a little of the massive shock of electricity as it hit him quite profusely until Torunn finally called it off. His armor, slightly scratched from the electric blow, sparked a little around the shoulders, chest, and head area. Fortunately, it had taken the majority of the blow.

(Harley's HUD POV)

Inside, Harley winced as he looked at the specs to see what damage was done. There wasn't much, thank goodness. But a meter for the power had come up, showing that not only was the suit restored to full power, but it was also a little more enhanced thanks to the boost.

"Power level at 400% capacity!" FRIDAY informed him.

This surprised Harley. "How bout that."

This caused a smirk to come to his face as he saw Torunn descending towards him.

The blonde princess landed softly on her feet and stilled over to the 'armored lad', as she had called him. He was still down but moving. She moved to tower over him, but just as she did, Harley moved slowly to pick himself up, but using this as a cover to fire a supercharged repulsor blast, sending Torunn flying way back and to the ground.

Harley wasted no time in firing his thrusters and flying towards Torunn who was already picking herself up, but she was pushed by Harley who flew her right into a tree, pinning her there.

Though this caught her off guard momentarily, Torunn began to regain the upper hand. She slowly began pushing her arms back despite Harley's pinning her.

Seeing this, Harley tried to regain his dominance by headbutting Torunn. However, that didn't seem to do anything but surprise her. But he was surprised when she headbutted him back, which actually hurt despite the helmet between them.

Seeing him momentarily incapacitated, Torunn took this opportunity to swiftly and unexpectedly slipped her wrists from his metal grasp and then grabbed his metal wrists. She then used her strength to squeeze the armor until it was squeezed to Harley's actual wrist of flesh and bone.

(Harley's HUD  POV )

The specs on the HUD showed the damage happening to the wrists of the armor, though they weren't needed to notice or feel the crushing feeling on them.

Harley winced at the pain on his wrists, feeling the armor beginning to splinter his skin.

Looking right at the mad princess in front of him, he noticed how close his hands were to her face. And that's when he got a a last minute idea.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The repulsors powered up and fired directly in Torunn's face, making her instantly let go. The blast didn't really hurt or do much damage to her face, it mainly just stung.

And it was enough for her to loosen her grip before she heard a whirring sound. Knowing it was coming from Harley's suit, she looked down to the arc reactor of the suit and saw it getting brighter. Her eyes went wide before a powerful blast came from that and sent her backwards into another tree. But she recovered quickly and summoned Stormbreaker to her and pulled it back before,

"HEY!" A voice shouted at them and they were stopped by a web line latching onto Stormbreaker, holding it back, and by the swift flying shield of Captain America. It had hit Harley and ricocheted to Stormbreaker before heading back to the one who threw it. Jamie. The sudden push from the shield made the princess and the mechanic to turn to him and saw him slip the shield back onto his arm before looking to them with a stern face. "That's enough! What the hell's going on here?"

"This one got in my way and proceeded to insult me," Torunn stated, pointing directly to Harley. "So I showed him how a warrior's response to such mockery."

"Is it really an insult if it's the truth though?" Harley quipped, shrugging his metal shoulders.

This made Torunn start to seethe again, but Peter cut it. "Hey, stop it!" He walked closer to them and stopped when he was within arm's reach of either of them. "Come on, guys! We're supposed to be a team here, learning how to fight together. Not each other!"

"We're trying!" Torunn retorted.

"Then prove it. Put the axe down." Jamie saw how tightly Torunn wielded Stormbreaker, and he also saw how mad she currently was. So he figured coming her down would be a good start.

"Yeah, princess. Put it down," Harley teased. But that quickly came back to bite him.

Hearing that, sparked Torunn's anger again as she tightened her grip on Stormbreaker and swung the blunt end of it to hit Harley, sending him back a few yards.

"Oh I'll put the axe down!" Torunn roared as she turned to the direction of the grounded mechanic.

"Torunn, no!" Jamie shouted, but she was already making her way towards Harley. She ran a few steps before jumping up and raising Stormbreaker, bringing it's blunt end down to hit the already down Harley.

But what Torunn didn't expect was to see the a star themed shield jump in front of her target as it hit the object, sending a massive shockwave and Torunn flying backwards.

The shockwave had also sent Peter, PJ, and even a few of the surrounding trees tumbling down to the ground.

Everything was fuzzy for a moment as Torunn opened her eyes. Slowly, she picked herself up and stood on wobbly legs as she saw the effects of the shockwave around her. She also saw Jamie standing but with knees bent, no doubt from the heavy hit of the hammer that had collided with his shield.

Harley had also picked himself off the ground and the faceplate of his helmet came up, showing a tired, winded face. And then, his whole helmet folded back and into the neck of the suit, leaving his entire head exposed.

Taking a few breaths, Jamie finally spoke again to the two. "Are we done here?"

From Harley, he received a defeated nod. And from Torunn, all he got was a look before she began walking back to the Compound.

Watching her go, Jamie looked over to the large hole in the wall of the building where she and Harley had busted out of. Watching from the hole were the rest of the recruits, all looking down to them.

A sudden wave of doubt found it's way to Jamie's mind as he took all of this in. Two members of their team had just fought, a good fight too. Both almost equally matched, but they were fighting each other. That was a clincher of the situation. How could they possibly take on a threat if there was a problem between them? Could they even really be a team?

The doubt began to worry Jamie as he thought more on the situation.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw it was Peter who gave him a nod. "I'll go talk to her," he said before running after Torunn.

As he watched his brother run after his crush, Jamie felt a hand on his arm which he realized was PJ. The young Lang gave his friend a smile and a nod. Jamie lightly smiled at the younger kid and put a hand on his shoulder and the two began to walk back to the Compound together with Harley right behind them.

***Jamie's Room***

Hours later, the redheaded teen plopped onto his bed and let out a big tired sigh.

It was six o'clock and the sky outside showed a nice orange sunset. This had been one crazy day. And after a nice shower, Jamie was ready to crash and start fresh tomorrow.

[KNOCK, KNOCK] A rap at the door came.

"Yeah?" He called out.

"Hey, sweetie." "Hey bud," the voices of his "aunt" and "uncle" greeted as he entered the room.

"Hey, Uncle Bruce. Aunt Betty."

The big guy and his girl had walked over and sat next to Jamie, whereas Bruce sat on the ground. Even then, his head and shoulders were still higher than Jamie. "So, big day, huh?"

Jamie scoffed and ran his hands through his red locks. "That's one way of putting it. I just can't believe it actually happened."

"Well don't let it get you down, alright?"

Jamie lightly nodded and lowered his head, still feeling weighed from the events of today.

"Hey," Betty said to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and getting his attention, "things don't always work out the way you intend to. I mean, look at me and Bruce! Neither one of us expected this when we first experimented with the gamma radiation, but this happened and it's working so far. No offense, honey."

Bruce waved it off with a smile, "None taken. But she's right, Jamie. And lemme tell you, the Avengers didn't work out at first either."

Now that got Jamie's attention even more. "They didn't, I mean, you didn't?"

Bruce shook his head in reply to that. "Nope. We all fought each other too when we first came together. There was a lot of craziness happening and the testosterone was through the roof! But, when the time came, we all put our differences aside and we're able to work together. And we won."

Hearing this truly intrigued Jamie since he hadn't heard about it before. "How were you able to do it?"

Bruce thought as to how to deliver it to his "nephew" and finally found a way. "We started looking at things differently. How we could work together instead of focusing on what could hold us back....but one of the biggest reasons....was because it was needed of us."

'Needed'. That word held in Jamie's mind as he contemplated it, seeing how very similar the situation was to theirs.

"Sure it wasn't easy at first, but when the next time came around, we came together and made it count. And right now, that's how it is for you. You and your friends, you guys are the 'next time' here. The 'next chance', if you will. And I believe that you'll make it count."

"You guys really believe that?" Jamie asked looking between them, a bit of hope in his voice.

Betty rubbed her "nephew's" back with a proud smile. "Not a doubt in my mind." "Mine either," Bruce added, nudging his "nephew" playfully.

Jamie smiled at that and thanked them for that. Soon after, the hulking professor and his nurse girlfriend stood from their spots and walked out. But not before looking back to Jamie and giving him a big green thumbs up from Bruce and a loving smile from Betty, to which Jamie gave one back too. And with that, they left the room.

Now alone again, Jamie leaned forward on his knees and thought about the words his "uncle" had just said to him. How the original Avengers didn't do so well at first, but the next time they did. And how they were "needed". Those words resonated with Jamie. And it really made him wonder, could that work out the same way for this group too?

[KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK]

Another rap at the door came as he thought on.

"Yeah!" He called.

The door opened and it was Peter who liked his head in. "Hey, you alright?"

Jamie sighed and shrugged some. "Just tired."

"I know what you mean. Guess we knew this was bound to happen at some point."

"...yeah, I guess." Jamie sighed again as he laid back and put an arm over his eyes. "I don't know Pete, maybe we're in over our head. Maybe....maybe it wasn't such a good idea recruiting all of them."

But Peter, he wouldn't let his "little brother" beat himself up like this. "It's not that, Jamie. And it's definitely not you if that's what you're gonna go for next. Every team's got their rough times, but I'm sure we can move on from this."

"Heh, you've got a lot of optimism in you too, Peter." This earned a little laugh from the two, it was true. Peter had a plenty of optimism, just like Jamie did. Just like Captain America too. And right now, Jamie wished his dad was here. Maybe he could help them. "I just wish we could talk to all of them...help them understand how important this all is. I mean, they already know why we need their help, but I'm talking about,"

"-about the whole motive behind it all. The 'why them', and how important they are." Peter cut in. And he had hit the nail right on the head.

"Exactly."

Suddenly, a thought popped up in Peter's head. "Actually, I think I've got an idea."

Jamie lifted his arms from his face and looked to Peter with curious eyes. "What is it?"

"Um....ok, so do you remember in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when they had that campfire scene?"

"The 1990 one, right?" Jamie asked, making sure he was on the same track.

"Right!" Peter confirmed. "Well, my ideas is..."

And he went on to explain the idea he had and after listening, Jamie thought it over and replied, "Well, it can't be worse than anything else we've tried. Let's do it."

THIRTY MINUTES LATER

"Good evening. Would all young recruits report to the courtyard with camping gear in-hand please? Report to the courtyard with camping gear please. Thank you! "

FRIDAY's message went to all rooms, the common room, the lab, the hangar, the kitchen and whatever room a young one was in. And all who heard it were confused by the instructions from it. All except for PJ.

"Aw yeAH!! We're going camping!!" He cheered.

Chapter Text

PREVIOUSLY

"Good evening. Would all young recruits report to the courtyard with camping gear in-hand please? Report to the courtyard with camping gear please. Thank you."

FRIDAY's message went to all rooms, the common room, the lab, the hangar, and the kitchen. And all who heard it were confused by the instructions from it. All except for PJ.

"Aw yeAH!! We're going camping!!" He cheered.

***Courtyard***

"So why're we here?" Cassie asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah, what's this all about?" Harley added.

All sixteen young ones, teens, young adults and PJ, were all gathered a nice campfire. They all sat on either some logs, lawn chairs, or crisscross applesauce on the grassy ground. It was a little chilly tonight so some of them had coats on or wrapped in a blanket like Kamala. Regardless of their seating arrangement, they were all sitting in a circle around the fire, curious and confused.

"Well," Peter began, "we thought it'd be a good idea to get out of the Compound. A little fresh air, you know. Plus, it'd be a good way to get to know each other better, clean slate."

"And what better way to do it that around a campfire under the stars" Jamie added positively, poking at the fire.

"Well, if anyone's hungry," Maddie pulled out a large cooler and a big box and opened them up to show the inside full of goodies, "I brought the grub for the night!"

PJ was the first to run over and look inside, and what he found made him excited like a kid on sugar. Inside were large quantities of barbeque meat such as ribs, sausage, and chicken. Cooked of course, just refrigerated. There was also at least twenty bags of marshmallows, three packets of Hershey's Chocolate, and six boxes of graham crackers. And if that wasn't enough, Maddie also pulled out two things of Gatorade, assorted sodas, and three large tank jugs of water. He'd brought out a full on buffet for the group...and himself.

"Wow, you sure don't kid around with food, Maddie." Nikki joked, tapping his shoulder. Tho which he replied with a proud smirk and a shake of the head.

And with that, they all grabbed something to snack on or drink, even grabbing a stick to put the meat over the fire. Yes, Maddie had even brought the sticks. He was definitely prepared.

"See, now isn't this great guys?" Peter offered with an optimistic smile.

"It's great."

"Mm-hmm!"

"So what do we do now," Frankie joked, fiddling with an arrowhead. There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone, but it was held back some. "Are we gonna sing kumbaya or something?"

"Heh, well that's a thought."

"Yeah, no thanks. I'm goin' in." The young Barton stood from his seat in a log and began walk away to the Compound when Jamie looked to the fangirl of the group.

"Uh, Kamala, could you please..?" He motioned to Frankie and she got the message. Stretching her arm out, she reached over the distance he'd walked, grabbed Frankie by the collar of his coat and lifted him up as she pulled him back over to the group.

He squirmed a little while in the air before being sat back down to his spot on the log. "Hey, what gives, Stretch?!"

Kamala cheekily shrugged as her arm retracted back to normal and she leaned back in her lawn chair proudly.

"No one's going in until tomorrow morning, Frankie." Jamie said to his "cousin".

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope."

"And if you try to sneak back in while any of us are asleep, don't bother." Peter added, "We asked Bruce to lock us out til morning. And even if he forgot, FRIDAY's got us covered. So you might as well get comfortable."

Frankie sighed and groaned at this, he was not a happy camper. No pun intended.

"Look Frankie, we're just trying to make this enjoyable for everyone."

"Yeah? Well seems like that's going real good, Jamie." That statement was dripping with sarcasm.

Kate put a hand on Frankie's shoulder. "Frankie, calm down."

"Why? Why should I calm down, Kate?" Frankie's tone was getting a little louder at Kate's attempt. "Huh? I mean seriously, am I the only one who's confused as to why we're even here?"

"We know why we're here," Azari stated, "they've told us the reason why."

"Yeah, I know, the whole 'plan to bring everyone back!' Yeah I got that, your highness! I'm talking about us, like why us? This whole deal here, this is clearly something for the Avengers or at least some grown ups. So why are we here?...Why us?"

"Actually, that is a plausible question." Maddie cut in, taking a bite from a link he had in his hand. "I'm surprised too that no one's asked that...or me."

"You see?" Frankie again blurted, gesturing his hands to the Asian teen. "Thank you, Mads. Well, Jamie, Peter?"

Jamie held a bit of a hurt and upset stare at Frankie before looking over to Peter. His "brother" let out a bit of a defeated sigh and shrugged lightly. But that gave Jamie all the answer he needed. "Yeah.... yeah, I guess it is about time we tell you guys the full reason of why you're here."

At hearing this, everyone gave the young redhead their attention, curious to hear what he'd say.

There was a lot to tell them, and not many if any easy ways to tell them. But still, Jamie struggled to get the words out.

"You see, guys...uh...I-...(sigh)our lives are crazy, let's be honest. And it's either because we have certain gifts, abilities, or that we somehow share a connection with the Avengers. Either way you look at it, it's always gonna lead to one of those three. So yeah, there's no going back to normal...but, maybe that's not such a bad thing." He looked to Peter and gave him a nod which was returned and Peter continued for him.

"You guys, you guys are special....and I don't mean that in that way. I mean it as in, you're different..unique. And that kind of different, it's been around a looong time.....Back in 2008, the world changed forever. Tony Stark became Iron Man, which opened a door for more heroes to appear. Captain America was found, and then Thor came to Earth for the first time...Unfortunately though, as the heroes emerged, so did trouble."

"Not that they were the cause of it, though." Jamie added for clarification.

"No, yeah! Right, most of the trouble was already brewing before they even showed up. But then, an idea came for a response team that could fight back against those threats that were too big for normal people to handle. And from that idea came the Avengers. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes'."

"You guys probably know the rest from there." Jamie added, "superheroes became mankind's great protectors, facing bigger and bigger threats each time."

The group all listened as Peter and Jamie spoke, some getting goose bumps from hearing them tell the origin of the Avengers.

"Right."

"Guys," Riri cut in, "no offense, but you said it yourselves. We already know all of this, so why're you telling us all this? What's this all about?"

The eyes of the group went back to the two leaders in expectancy, waiting for their answer. Quiet, the two shared a look before Jamie gave his "brother" an encouraging nod to continue.

Taking a breath, Peter mentally prepared himself as he continued. "Well, because it has more to do with us than you might think. You see, with those threats, people began to wonder if the Avengers would be enough. And that led to one of them wondering the same. But then...there was an idea. Tony Stark thought of it...it was called: The Next Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable young people. In hope that, if anything ever happened to the original Avengers, they would become something more...so that when the world needed them... they could rise and continue to fight the battles that normal people never could."

Hearing that brought more silence to the group, making some of them lower their heads. Honestly, that was close to the reaction he was expecting. But what can you do? "Yeah, I know it's an old fashioned idea, but it still has meaning...especially today."

"Why 'today'?" Maddie asked, breaking the silence of the group.

"Because...well for one, each of you were selected for this Initiative. Each of you has a certain gift and or skill set that gives you the potential to be an Avenger...that's why."

"And what more?" Torunn urged, knowing there had to be more to it than that. "What more is there to that 'why'?"

The wait for Peter's answer was full of anticipation and worry. The worry part of it because of Peter's troubled expression.

"... well, 'cause...uh..." The next words choked Peter up something awful, but he knew they were valid and essential. "-because....the Avengers died still fighting and trying to believe in that idea...in heroes."

That last sentence made Nikki jolt upright from her seat and walk towards the nearby trees, leaning against and letting out a silent cry as she did. Her anxiety had spiked right there listening to that speech, especially the latter end of it.  It made her think of her parents and that they died still fighting for good.......but the sad fact that they died still hit hard in her mind.

Jamie was about to jump up to go comfort his sister, but he was halted by the sight of Cassie and Ava who'd left their space from the group and ran over to the tree, kneeling down to Nikki's level with a caring hand on her shoulder. During the time that Peter and Jamie were gone, the two girls had gotten to know each other well, instantly becoming close friends. And with that time, Nikki confided in Cassie and told her about her anxiety and the frequent attacks that would come and go, so she knew how to be there for the blonde right now. And though Ava hadn't been there during that time, she still had become close with Nikki and the other girls during her time there, so she was there for her friend without a doubt.

Seeing this gave Jamie a smile and eased him to relax back into his chair. Not long after, the girls rejoined the group and they all had a more...softer mood. "Sorry about that..." Nikki squeaked.

"It's ok, Nikki," Ava said, patting her back and sending a reassuring smile her way. To which Nikki smiled back.

After that, there was a silence that was only filled with the crackling fire and sounds of crickets chirping around them. This went on for a few minutes before Harley, feeling much more humble than before, spoke up.

"Guys, I'm sorry for being...well, an a**hole, really."

That sparked a laugh amongst the group, even Harley laughed.

"And I'm sorry, Tori, for calling you a 'spoiled princess'.

Torunn replied to that with a respectful nod. "And I'm sorry for saying you're nothing more than a dumb metal lad."

"Hey you know, that's actually a pretty good name for him!" PJ spoke up, gaining the attention of the others.

"What?"

"Lad. Iron Lad!"

"Isn't that a little derivative?"

"Mmm, I don't know. I feel like Iron Boy would be more derivative."

"Eh, I guess."

"Iron Lad..." Torunn thought out loud, bobbing her head with it. "I like it. It suits you."

"Yeah, literally it does," Riri added jokingly, "both of us."

Again, the joke echoed through the group with a bit of laughter. Even Frankie was laughing a little.

It was then that Kamala spoke up. "Hey guys, I have an idea."

All attention was directed to the fangirl. "What's up?" Nikki urged her.

"Well, I thinking back to this one time when I went to summer camp. Our first night there, we were around a fire like this. Only it was this big. And the uh, the counselors, they had us go around in a circle, introducing ourselves one by one. I thought maybe we could do that, maybe a little about our powers or... something like that."

A nervous laugh came from her, but she was met with caring smiles and faces that were softer than earlier. "You know, since this is for all of us to get to know each other better...it's just a thought though."

"Sounds good to me," Sam agreed, rasing his soda to that and taking another swing. This earned a light blush from Kamala who was thankful the fire somewhat hid it. "I can start it off."

But Ava swiftly cut in, "Actually, since Peter and Jamie are the ones heading this group, it's only right that they start it off."

The heads of the Spider-Man and the Captain perked up at that. But Jamie's surprise faded quickly as he could immediately see why Ava did that. The tone she was speaking with, the little glare she gave Sam. It was almost like she was defending Peter. Sure, she mentioned his name too, but Jamie just couldn't brush of how that seemed.

His surprise was replaced with a knowing smile as he and Peter shared a look for a moment. On seeing his "little brother's" face, Peter became confused until Jamie gave him a wink and motioned to the Latina with his eyes and brow. That's when it clicked to Peter.

He then looked back to the group to see that they were all looking at him, waiting. Feeling spotlighted, Peter stood and staggered a little.

"Guess I've got the floor," he joked, which the others found amusing as well. "Thanks for that, Ava."

From that, the Latina smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at Peter. This didn't go unnoticed by Nikki or Jamie.

"But uh, heheh, I guess uh, hey everyone. My name's Peter, Peter Parker," He began, making it up as he went along, "I'm twenty-five years old, I love movies, LEGOs, basically I'm what you'd call a nerd. And for the last eleven years or so, I've been Spider-Man."

He gave a shrug, unzipped his jacket a little and pointed to his Spider-Man themed t-shirt for effect.

"The Spectacular Spider-Man!" Nikki said matter-of-factly.

Peter huffed a laugh at that and nodded to his "little sister". "Thanks, Nikki."

The blonde winked back with a thumbs up.

"Where are you from?" Harley asked.

"Queens. Lived there with my aunt, May."

"So how'd you get your powers?" PJ jumped in, asking curiously.

Peter took a moment, thinking back to the fateful day he was bitten. "Oh uh, it was during a field trip with my class. We were at this science lab and they were doing experiments with different spiders and had created a new genetic 'super spider'. And I didn't see it coming, but it came out of nowhere and bit me. And from that, I got spider powers. Like this..."

To show them, Peter stepped back before bending his legs and jumping over the whole campsite and landing near the trees right behind them. Eyes followed him until he landed and jaws fell at the sight.

When he landed, it was with a bit of style with a squatting position and a hand up.

"Whoa!! Nice superhero landing!" Kamala complimented, applauding as well. "What else can you do?

Standing up fully from his pose, Peter thought for moment before looking back to the trees. That's when he got it. He walked up to a tree and put his hands against it before leaping his legs up from the ground, resulting in him sticking to the trunk of the tree and holding onto it as if he were doing a handstand on the ground. Only he was sideways on a tree.

This brought a look of amazement to the group as they saw Peter perform this curious but cool feat. And they were even more intrigued when he switched and planted his feet onto the tree and let go with his hands. Now he was standing on the tree trunk....kinda. It was sideways that he was but it still looked cool.

"Wow! That's awesome!" PJ jumped in.

Finally, Peter jumped down from the tree and took a vow before walking back to the fire. "And yeah, that's pretty much it. Any questions?"

Kamala's hand immediately went up.

"Kamala?"

"Do you lay eggs?" She blatantly asked.

"Haha! Uh, no," He chuckled, remembering back to when his best friend, Ned asked him that same question long ago. "No, I don't. I think it has to do with the fact that I'm a guy, I don't know. Maybe if I was a girl, that'd be different. But for me, that's a no."

Kamala took in the reply, nodded and went silent with content.

"So, who wants to go next?" Peter asked to see who would take the baton next, but then he remembered what Ava said earlier. "Oh wait, Jamie! Right, you're next."

"Heh, yeah," Jamie chuckled as he stood, the attention of the group to him. "Well, uh hey guys. My name is James Steven Rogers, or Jamie as you guys know. I'm fifteen years old, and uh...my parents were Captain America and Black Widow. Aaaaand that's pretty much it." He nervously laughed, not knowing what else to say.

Fortunately for him, Torunn spoke up with a question, "Do you have any powers?"

"Uh, no. I-..." Jamie hesitated at that. Though he didn't really have any powers, he wasn't necessarily a regular human either. "Well, it's not really powers persay. But I do have some extra strength, some speed and I can heal pretty fast from some nasty wounds. But it's thanks to the serum that's in me. Actually, it's in me and Nikki."

A few eyes turned to Jamie's sister and saw the blonde nod in agreement. "Yep, it passed down from our parents to us, so we were born with it already."

"Right, so that's pretty much it. Uh, Nikki? Since you opened your mouth, you can go next."

Nikki's jaw dropped in feigned shock at her brother's remark, this gaining a few laughs from the group, but she took the stand nonetheless. "I'm gonna get him for that later, you best believe I'm going to."

"Oooh, I'm really scared."

"Mhm. Anyways, hey everyone. My name is Nicole Samantha Rogers, but you guys know me as Nikki. I'm fifteen, just like my brother, Jamie. Yet unlike him, I have more skill and can last longer in a fight."

Once that was said, Jamie's eyebrows scrunched at the bold statement of his sister before rolling his eyes.

"Yooo! She just called you out, Jamie!" Sam exclaimed, "Are you gonna let her get away with that?"

"Oh, we'll hash it out later," the redheaded boy replied, not phased in the slightest. "I'll just let her brag for now."

"I don't know, that was a pretty bold statement," Riri added with a smirk, "I stan it, Nikki."

The curly haired genius raised her soda and tipped it to Nikki who nodded and winked back at her.

"But yeah, that's pretty much it." Nikki continued, "Um...oh, I love books, Disney and I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I love training. But not off the handle like. And yeah, that's all for me."

"What's your favorite Disney movie?"  Cassie asked her.

Nikki had to think hard about that. Her true favorite was either Tangled, the live-action Beauty And The Beast, or the live-action Cinderella. She would watch those movies on repeat and sing along with all the songs, but she wouldn't let them know that. That was her guilty pleasure. Only Peter and Jamie knew of this. So she thought good and well and went towards other Disney movies she enjoyed. Finally, she found them.

"That's a tough one, Cass. But.....ok, my top five are The Incredibles, Brother Bear, Cars, Wreck-It Ralph, Finding Nemo, aaannd...Toy Story."

"Which Toy Story though?" Sam popped up.

"Hmmm, that's a toughie too." Nikki thought, ".....I don't know, the first one, maybe? They're all good, it's hard for me to decide!"

"You know they're making a sixth one now?" Viv knowingly added.

"Yeah, I heard about that. I'm looking forward to it. I'll say this though, the fifth one was better than the fourth. I'm glad they got Woody back with the gang again."

"Yeah, that and he's with Jessie now," Kamala tossed in happily, like the true shipper she was. "I was so happy about that, they deserve each other. Plus I think they make more sense than him and Bo Peep. That's just me though."

"I agree with that," Jamie said.

Peter nodded as well. "Yeah, I'm actually amazed that the actors are all still there and still have the same flare in their voices for the characters. Minus Don Rickles and Estelle Harris, that is. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen though, have aged really well, and their voices are really amazing."

Everyone agreed with that as well, nodding and speaking their approval.

When that does down, Nikki finished up. "So yeah, that's me. Uh...Tori! Why don't you go next?"

The blonde princess set down her drink and stood up. "Thanks, Nikki. Hello everyone. My name is Torunn Thorsdöttír, or simply Tori. I'm sixteen years old and I am the daughter of Thor Odinson and Jane Foster. Just like Nikki, I love Disney. I think JESSIE and Phineas and Ferb are my favorites. That and High School Musical."

"JESSIE is SO underrated," Maddie stated.

"It really is." Sam agreed, "Still gets me though sometimes about Cameron Boyce."

"For sure!" Nikki nodded. "I really liked him."

"Yeah. So what're your powers, Tori?"

"Oh, well for starters, I can fly." Torunn then levitated from the ground, hovering in place. "And like my father, I have the power of lightning."

Looking up up at the clear and starry night sky, Torunn flew up a little higher and focused her mind and thoughts. Suddenly, a low rumble in the distance before clouds began to swarm the clear skies. The thunder grew louder and lightning could be heard crackling. Then a momentary light rain came down, sprinkling the group and making them laugh.

Finally, Torunn made the clouds disperse and disappear without a trace before descending back to her spot on the ground with her friends. "And that's me."

"AWESOME!!" PJ and Kamala exclaimed together at the show of power Torunn had just displayed.

"Thank you. So who's next? Ah, Azari! You can go."

The prince nodded at his friend and stood and began his piece. "Everyone, hi. My name is Azari. I'm sixteen and I'm the Prince Of Wakanda. I like to run a lot, and play video games with my aunt. As far as powers go, I have pretty much the same powers as Jamie and Nikki. Strength, speed and my senses are pretty strong too."

"So could you use your sense of smell to sense danger?" Kamala asked, curious and excited at the same time.

Azari nodded at that. "That and my hearing, but yes."

"Eeeee!! That's so cool!!"

The prince laughed at Kamala's enthusiasm. "Thanks."

"What about the suit?" Harley asked curiously, "Is that some kind of nanotech, how does that work?"

"Yes! Yes, it is. My aunt, Shuri, she made them herself. And they work through somewhat of a neural Vibranium implant, so with a mere thought..." Azari paused for a moment and showed as the nanites of his suit emerged from his necklace and engulfed his entire body minus his head. When it finished, he held up his arms 

"Whoa!" "Wow!" "Cool!" "That's crazy!" With a mix of awed reactions from the group

"But that's pretty much it, is there anything you guys want to ask?"

"I got one!" Sam spoke up. "I notice that your voice kinda switches sometimes and turns into somewhat of an American accent."

"Ah, yeah. That you can blame on the movies. I've watched at least one movie a day for as long as I can remember. So I guess I listened to how they talked and it kinda stuck a little more than the Wakandan one. But like you said, they both kinda switch. And it's not me, it really does it on its own."

"Well it sounds pretty cool to me, Azari." "Same here." "Yep!" Ava, Kamala, and Sam vocally complimented, while the others all nodded or smiled.

"Thank you, guys." Azari smiled at them.

Then PJ piped up with a question. "So, do you like any movies?" 

"Oh yeah, definitely" Azari replied with enthusiasm. "Me and my auntie, we watch a lot of movies." 

"Like what?" Maddie asked, biting into what had to be his seventh hot dog.

"Oh there's a lot. Back To the Future, Transformers, Grown Ups...a lot of old spy movies that my grandfather enjoyed when he was alive. Also the Police Academy movies, the Beverly Hills Cop movies,"

"Oooh, one and two are THE best!" Peter stated.

"RIGHT!" The two high-fived on that. "Though, I did enjoy the fourth one. It was a nice reunion in that."

"Yeah I agree," Cassie added, laughter in her speech, "It was great seeing Taggart back again getting all worked up over Billy and Axel again."

"It really was, wasn't it? Just like old times!"

Azari laughed and nodded in agreement before speaking up again. "Yes yes...but my favorite movie that I love a lot, is 42."

"Chadwick Boseman?" Riri wondered out loud.

Azari nodded at that. "Yeah. I just really love the performance he gave and how he really did the man's, Robinson justice. It's something that really resonates with me, and I just hope, one day, I can make a difference like he did. Chadwick Boseman too."

When the prince said that, a silent smile came to Jamie's face. He remembered when they had seen that movie. Him, Nikki, Azari and Torunn with Darcy. It was before they knew the pain of loss, the day Peter and the grown ups had gone to "go get their parents". Yeah the after effect of it when they returned wasn't so good. But fortunately, they had that memory with them that stood out like a flower in a wasteland. It was the day they truly bonded, became more than just friends. They became family.

"Trust me, Z," He began, "You are, being here with us. And I'm sure you'll make an even bigger difference when this is all over and your mom and dad are back with you and the rest of your family."

Azari, on the verge of tears, nodded to his redheaded honorary brother with a grateful smile. "Thank you, Jamie."

Without words, Jamie replied with a nod and a thumbs up.

Everyone else had a smile as well from this moment. This was a really good moment here, and surprisingly, it was just getting better.

"So, who's next?" Azari asked, clapping his hands together.

"Mmm, I can go!" Maddie volunteered, setting down his soda.

He stood and saw that he had the group's attention. "My name is Amadeus Cho, Maddie for short. I'm eighteen, and I'm from Arizona-"

"Oh, me too!" Sam popped up.

This surprised Maddie and it showed when he looked to Sam. "Really? Wow, what part?"

"Carefree. You?"

"Tucson."

"Oh, I love Tucson!"

The two Arizona boys had fun over that piece of news, it was nice knowing someone from home even if it wasn't so close.

"So what do you like to do for fun?" asked Cassie.

"Uhh, I like science, and science fiction and I have a pet coyote named Kirby."

"A pet coyote?" Riri repeated, a look of surprise on her face.

"Yep."

"Almost licked Rocket to death," Kate laughed, recalling their first meeting.

"Yeah, he's really playful. But yeah."

"So how'd you get your powers?" Kamala asked.

"Well, it was actually here that I got them."

"Here?" Nikki exclaimed, "When, how?"

"Remember when I was here as Bruce's assistant?"

"I remember that," Jamie added, "That was almost nineteen months ago, then you left a month ago. So that's when you..?"

Maddie nodded before Jamie could finish, already knowing the rest of the question. "Mhm."

"What happened?" Peter asked, curious about Maddie's story.

"Well, we, Bruce and I, we were doing tests. Trying to examine his anatomy and seeing if we could experiment with it, maybe harness it again. We were using nanites to go in and take samples of his DNA so we could examine them. But one day, there...there was a slip up..."

"What kind of a slip up?" PJ urged him.

Maddie ran his hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh as he began to recount the story. "Well, then nanites were supposed to exit Bruce's system and enter this tube into a beaker for examination. We had on these suits and mine had the extraction tube on it to hold them until I could transfer them to the beaker. But one day, I grabbed a tube that had a cut in it and they got into my system through a bruise I had on my arm..." 

Maddie's voice trailed off as he looked to a faded bruise on his left forearm. He lifted his right hand to it, rubbing it with his thumb.  "I didn't really know at first, I thought it was just a cramp. But upon further examination, I realized that some of the nanites were missing and then I noticed the breach in the tube. I put two and two together, did a self blood check and learned that the nanites had not only gotten inside of me, but they had also dispensed the Hulk DNA as well..."

The group was silent and mesmerized by Maddie's story like a kid glued to a TV. Many "wow"s were heard from them, but more came from what happened next.

"And now," Maddie held up his left arm that had the wrist wrist device, he tapped the screen on it and soon began to transform again into his larger, more muscular, and greener alter ego. "I can do this." He stated.

Eyes were wide within the group as they saw this and looked at him not in fear, but more in awe. They were truly amazed at this.

"Your voice is still the same too." Cassie pointed out. "Just a tad deeper."

Maddie nodded at that before sitting back down on his log and, while still in his "Hulk" form, gently picking up his soda from earlier. "So that's my story." He said simply before drinking the whole can in a single swig and crushing the can with little to no effort.

"Wow."

"Incredible."

"I'll say." Viv smiled.

All the reactions to Maddie's story were positive, sympathetic, and understanding. "You're awesome is what you are." Nikki said to him.

"TOTALLY awesome!" PJ added excitedly.

 This made Maddie nod and brought a closed lip smile to his face. "Thanks guys. I really appreciate it...and you all."

 Smiles and nods of approval came from them all at that. And they appreciated him too.

"So since you're like the Hulk," Riri queried, "I'm curious...how high can you jump?"

Maddie looked around in thought. "Uh, I don't know. Maybe a hundred feet or so? Give or take."

"Have you ever just jumped as hard as you could to see how high you could go?" Kamala asked curiously.

The Asian teen shook his head. "Can't say that I have. But I'm always one for a good experiment, let's do it."

He stood and took a few steps back and leaped in a place a little, doing a few squats to ready his knee joints. When he finished stretching, he looked back to the group and nodded. "Ready!"

Kamala gave him a thumbs up before beginning a countdown. "Ok, here we go. One, two, THREE!"

During "one" and "two", Maddie had done a few short hops to get himself ready until Kamala reached "THREE", then he bent his legs and squatted before jumping with all his might, shooting up and through the night sky like a rocket.

The group watched as Maddie went higher and higher, quite fast too until they could no longer see him.

"Where'd he go?" Ava asked, looking all around the sky but not seeing anything but stars.

Two whole minutes passed and there were still no signs of Maddie.

"He's still not back yet," Nikki noted, "should we be worried about him?"

Sharing her concern, Sam slowly stood up with his helmet in hand. "Pete, Jamie, should I fly up and-"

"Oh, no. Don't worry, he'll be fine." Viv cut in with a confidently statement, stopping her gaze to the sky above.

"How are you so sure about that?"

With a light shrug, Viv smirked and simply said, "I know him."

That wasn't exactly reassuring or explanatory, but Viv seemed confident enough about it. Peter and Jamie shared a look before Jamie shrugged and Peter spoke up. "Uh, it's ok Sam. We'll give Maddie some, uh...some more time." He hesitantly said, looking up again one more time just to check.

"Yeah. But still, be on standby just in case." Jamie added.

"Right."

"Got it," Sam replied, sitting back down.

Turning his attention back to the group, Peter kept the ball rolling. "Uh, Ava! How about you go next?"

Ava nodded and stood from her spot. "Ok, hey guys. I'm Ava Ayala, I'm eighteen and I like reading and gymnastics.

"Oh, me too!" Nikki proudly exclaimed, her own liking for books coming through.

"She really does," Jamie agreed with a nod. "What kind do you like?"

"Oh, various kinds. Some nature, but I love novels. I'm actually in the middle of a classic one, The Mouse And The Motorcycle."

"Oh, I know that one!" Sam spoke up, "I mean, I haven't read the book but I've seen the movie. It's pretty good actually."

"It really is," Harley added, "my little sister watches it all the time. That and the other two sequels to it. It's one of her favorite kid things to watch next to Blue's Clues."

A light laugh amongst them all came from that. It was the moments and shared laughs such as these that added to the ever growing bond they were creating here tonight.

After that, Ava cleared her throat and continued. "Well, apart from that, as far as my alter ego side goes, I am also the White Tiger."

"The White Tiger?" Riri queried, an eyebrow quirked.

The latina shrugged and smirked. "It's the name of the mantle, I didn't choose it. But it's an honor to carry it, and I kinda like how it sounds too."

"Fair enough."

"So what's your power?"

Taking a moment, Ava collected her thoughts together, remembering all she had learned from her time as the White Tiger. "Uh, well it's kinda similar to Azari's. Only for me, it's tiger based. I have the strength, speed, agility and reflexes of a tiger. That and my martial arts skills are enhanced too. And it all comes from this amulet."

She reached underneath the collar of her shirt and pulled out the line of a necklace and the amulet hanging on it. With it now visible, the group could see that the amulet's color was white and it was in the shape of a tiger head with the ears and teeth of it long and pointy.

"It's beautiful," Peter stated, looking at the powerful trinket and to Ava as well. And so are you.

Ava caught his eyes on her more than the amulet and did her best to hide a blush as she smiled in thanks. "Thanks. It's been in my family for a generations. Passed down from father to son. Dating all the way back to my great, great grandfather, the first White Tiger....it was my father's last. And it would've gone to my brother, Hector, if not for.....for..."

Ava's voice had trailed off and she paused, but she didn't have to continue for the group to know what, or when she was talking about. They picked up on it right away from how hard it seemed for Ava to continue. That day was a tender subject for her, as it was for all of them. But still, she managed to recompose herself and soldier on in her story.

"-now, it's mine. And since I'm the last of my family, it is now my duty to carry the mantle of the White Tiger. So I do, and I do it with my father, my brother...and my mother...all of them in mind."

Tears had come to Ava's eyes as she had told her, clutching the amulet tight and close to her chest as well. She took deep breaths and tried to calm herself, not wanting to have a huge cry in front of the others. But her desire to cry didn't last much longer thanks to what came next.

"You are an honorable warrior, Ava." Azari said with certainty, this caused Ava to look to him with surprise. "Carrying the mantle of your family despite the odds, a commendable feat. Very good."

A smile from Ava came and she replied with a respectful nod. But the next commendation that came hit her even more in the heart.

"He's right, Ava." It was Peter, and he was looking right at her and her are him when he spoke. "You showed strength and courage when you took on the mantle and have been fighting for it sense then, you've earned it. And I'm glad you're here on our team with us....and I'm sure you parents and your brother...they'd be proud of you."

And with that, Ava began to tear up even more. Peter's words to her then and there hit her so hard, she felt her heart burst. She also felt her cheeks burn with anotuer blush, but this one she didn't try to hide as much. She let it show as she smiled at the co-leader of the team. "Thank you, Peter." She said softly, her voice a little scratchy from the tears and swelling in her throat.

He smiled and nodded back to her while now hiding a blush of his own. This didn't go unnoticed by Jamie, Nikki, or Sam or Kamala! They caught it immediately and smiled like a person with a juicy secret...which it kinda was. More so for Ava really.

  The compliment about her family being proud of her, and the part where Peter said he was happy she was here with them all, that did it for her. It sealed the deal and confirmed what she had been trying to deny for the past few days sine she'd arrived: she liked Peter. A lot! And his words to her just now were the final push for her to accept it.

Not wanting it to become too obvious, the latina cleared her throat again and carried on. "So, who wants to go next?"

"Ooh, I'd like to!" Kamala chirped, raising her hand like an excited kid in class.

Ava laughed at this and gestured to her friend. "Take it away, Kamala."

"Alright!" The fangirl stood as Ava sat and began with an excited smile. Again, like a new kid in class. Just with more smiling. "Hey guys, my name's Kamala Khan. I'm eighteen and I love LOVE superheroes!"

"Could've fooled me," Harley joked, earning a snicker from the others and a mock face from Kamala in retort.

"Ha ha, very funny. But yeah, I'm a big superhero fan and I write fanfiction."

"What's that?" PJ asked confusingly.

Kamala was about to answer him, but to her and everyone else's surprise, Torunn spoke up. "Oh that's a work that someone, a fan of a movie, tv show or book, writes a story based on that....did I get that right, Kamala?"

"Actually, yeah! Thanks Tori! Good job."

The blonde princess sat back in her seat with a proud smile at her explanation.

"But yeah, that's what I do. Write fanfiction, a lot. Hehe."

"Yeah, thanks for sending me those links to those fics, Kamala." Nikki added with a thumbs up. "They're actually pretty good. Didn't know I'd enjoy them as much as I am."

"Anytime!" The Muslim fangirl gave thumbs up to her friend. "But uh, yeah."

"So uh, how'd you get your powers?" Sam asked.

"Well, heh, I actually got it while I was out walking."

"Yeah, well actually there's a little more to it. It was about two years ago, I had snuck out to go to a party with a two friends from school. I had recently moved in with Doreen and her foster parents at the time, but the rule was 'be home by nine' and it was a school night. So, for a once in a lifetime chance, I decided to take a chance and snuck out. To be honest, the party wasn't much to be excited about so I decided to leave. While I was walking back, there was this...this truck, coming down the street towards me. It wasn't that big, more like U-Haul size. It had two trailers connected to it, and it was black two and it looked official. So it's coming my way.  But before it reached the block I was on, it crashed."

"Yeah, it had swerved and tipped over on it's side. It was a shock to see that, like right in front of my eyes. I'd never seen a wreck like this before in real life and up close, so I was a little scared I guess, but still I ran over to check on the driver. I was able to get him out and get him to safety, but I went back to see if there was anyone else in the truck, which there wasn't. Just to be sure, I checked the back where the cargo was. But all I found were a bunch of of these big metal canisters...and one of them was leaking. There was this...weird looking mist coming out of it but not too much. I didn't get to get away from it in time because the truck up front had exploded and it was enough to blow the canisters too, but not what was in them. When the canisters blew, it blew me away and that mist that was inside hit me. My guess is I breathed in whatever it was while I was unconscious, either that or it went in through the skin. But whatever it was, when I woke up I was back home and I could do this..."

Kamala held up a hand and it grow much larger than the other, almost the size of a trashcan.

Understanding it more clearer now, the group gasped and awed at the sight of the "embiggened" hand. It was honestly interesting. But not everyone was amazed.

Peter was in deep thought from hearing Kamala's story. There was a certain part of it that caught his attention. "Did you see a logo on the truck when you helped the driver?" He asked curiously.

Thinking back, Kamala tried but didn't remember that. "I don't think so, maybe there was and I just didn't notice it."

Peter nodded in understanding and didn't press any further. But what came next shook him.

"But I do remember seeing some letters." Kamala said, trying to remember. "They were these big gray letters on the side and top of the trailers. Uh...D-O-D-C."

At that, Peter's eyes went wide. It was then he realized the connection between Kamala's story and an event that happened about two years ago. Those letters, the truck that had been terminated and the contents that were lost....he couldn't believe it. It was his fau-

"You okay, Peter?" Kamala called to him.

Snapping from his horrified thoughts, the Spider-Man collected himself and played it off. "Oh yeah, I'm good. I'm fine."

"You sure?" Jamie asked his "brother", "You look a little pale?"

"I'm just shocked by story, what you went through... made me feel bad." And responsible... "I'm sorry, Kamala."

The apology wasn't just sympathy, it was also a subtle plea for forgiveness. But Kamala didn't really see it that way as she smiled and nodded back to Peter. "It's alright. And hey, look where it got me! I got to meet you guys!"

Smiles and a few happy scoffs came from the others and they all nodded, appreciating the optimistic and positive view of this girl.

"Well we're glad to know you, Kamala. You're really something." Ava commended, "Something amazing."

"Marvelous is more like it, but yeah. Ditto." Sam cut in, a light blush on his cheeks.  Kamala saw this and blushed a little herself, Sam had that effect in her.

"Thanks, Sam. Ava. All of you."

Once again, the bond between them grew stronger from that moment, and it was strong from every smile, nod, and thumbs up that everyone gave. This was becoming a real team.

"So," the fangirl started, "now that that's done, heh. Uh, Sam! Why don't you go next!"

The young space fighter was surprised that Kamala called in him, but still stood at her invitation. "Ok, sure. I guess I can-"

[BOOM]

Kamala was cut off when out of nowhere, a massive BOOM came as a huge object had fallen and landed behind them, sending a shockwave that flung the entire group from their seats. It shook the grounds and creating a massive crater as it did and a large cloud of dust floated in the air.

They all picked themselves up and checked for injuries before looking to the massive crater behind their camp.

"What the hell was that?!" Ava exclaimed, shock and slight pain in her voice. This from a sore feeling on her side.

"I don't know," Peter replied as he helped her up.

In alertness, Torunn held out her hand and called Stormbreaker to her in case they had to fight. The same went for Nikki as she reached behind her back and gripped the handle of a 9mm concealed in the strap of her sweatpants. Azari mentally called for his suit to engulf him over his clothes and extended his claws. Frankie and Kate both had their bows up and arrows at the ready, and Sam too had put his helmet on, activating his armor to come on as well.

Seeing this, Harley made a mental note to add something like that to his suit if he survived. In the meantime, he held one of the discarded lawn chairs up and readied himself to swing if necessary.

"Don't worry," Viv assured them as she walked closer to the crater, "it's alright."

From within the thinning dust cloud, they could see something really big begin to move. This caused them to tense a little, that is until-

"WHOOO!!" They heard from within it, and it sounded oddly familiar. When the dust finally cleared all the way, they saw... "That, was awesome!"

It was Maddie.

"Maddie?!" Cassie exclaimed unbelievingly.

"Yep! The one and only!" The green gamma-ed teen picked himself up, a look of exhausted excitement on his face, and dusted his shirt and pants off  and made his way out of the crater.

"What...I-how did you...what happened to you?!" Riri asked, confused to the max.

"Yeah, you were gone a long time, bro. Where'd you go?" Jamie asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Well, I was going up and I got pretty far, almost close to the atmosphere I think. Took a lot longer than I thought it would be. But after a while, gravity did it's thing and, well, here I am!"

"I can't believe it."

"Me neither, but I think I'll stick to my regular high jumps from now on."

"Sounds good to me," Harley said, "but if we ever enter the Olympics, you're a shoe in for the long jump".

This made Maddie laugh while others either huffed or rolled their eyes.

With that, they all worked together in sprucing up their campsite before sitting back down. Even picking and throwing away their trash into garbage bags that, conveniently, Maddie had brought as well. Once everything was back in order, they all relaxed back into place.

"So, what'd I miss?" Maddie asked as he sat back down onto his chair, opening another 3 Liter bottle of Coca-Cola.

Frankie spoke up and answered with "Well, Ava and Kamala told their stories and Sam was about to go until we got Airdrop."

Maddie, understanding the joke from the "Airdrop" part, laughed and nodded at that. "Ah, well then, by all means, proceed."

Sam, having calmed down and gathered his thoughts, nodded and began.

"Ok, I'm Sam Alexander, I'm 24 and I'm from Arizona. And for almost... fourteen years now, I have been Nova."

"Like the PBS show?" Kate asked.

"Uh no. As in the Human Rocket."

"Ooh, cool name!" Kamala complimented him.

This caused Sam to blush a little and lose his words. This was seen by everyone, now Peter and Ava weren't the only ones who saw it anymore.

"Uhh-..oh! Right! Uh so yeah, I'm Nova and....and...um..."

Sam mentally slapped and scolded himself, he truly had a loss for words right now.

Though she liked seeing him choked up like this, Ava decided to step in once again and save him.

"How'd you get your powers, Rocket Man?" She asked him, bring him back being stable.

"Uh, well actually," he started, "they come from this." Sam held up his black Nova helmet and showed it to them.

It was shiny as it glistened in the light from the fire. It was also quite beautiful.

"What does it do?"

"Well, it gives the wearer the ability to fly, breathe in space, energy blasts and it has a full map of the Galaxy...it's pretty cool."

"Sounds like it," Harley agreed.

"Sounds like Iron Man in a helmet, for space!!" The excited statement from Kamala made Sam think.

"Huh, I never really thought about it that way before. I guess it is, only there's no cool gadgets. It's just the helmet itself, and that's good enough for me."

There was some unexpected humility in that from Sam, something that he didn't always show. But he did have his moments.

"Where did you get it?" Kate asked him.

Caught off guard from the question, Sam's memories immediately went back to the day he received the helmet. "My dad gave it to me. He told me about his adventures in space with the Nova Corps. They're basically the police department of the galaxy, and the Nova is the top tier officer...that was my dad. But one day, he disappeared. Before he disappeared, though, he told me that when the time was right, put the helmet on.....and here I am, some fourteen years later. Still wearing it."

The silence after that was temporary on account of a whistle of amazement from Peter. "That's some real talk, Sam. Glad you're still wearing the helmet, bro.

Sam gave a small smile and nodded to his friend. "Thanks, Pete." 

"Your father would be proud too." Azari added, "As are we."

That did it. Sam wasn't one to cry in front of others, but those words could've done it. And he was grateful for them. "Thank you.....So, uhh...Harley, how bout you, bro?"

Harley set his water down, stood up and began thinking. Finally getting his thoughts together, he proceeded. "Okay. Hey guys, I'm Harley Keener. I'm 21 and I'm from Rose Hill, Tennessee. Uh...I got a little sister, Sarah, she's ten and feisty as ever."

"Pfft, that's putting it lightly," Sam muttered, gaining a laugh from Harley and Peter and Ava.

"Aw come on, Sam. You know you love her," Peter joked.

Ava laughed and added to it. "Yeah, you're not gonna let that little garage thing keep you down, are you?"

"Wait, what?!" Kamala exclaimed.

Nikki, completely confused as well, jumped in. "Okay, what're you guys talking about?" 

"When we went to go find Harley, he wasn't there. So we looked around and that's when we met Sarah. But she thought we were robbing the place and attacked us with a Nerf gun. Sam tried to rush her but, she outdid him."

Peter couldn't help the laughter that came with the story, neither could Ava.

"HAHAHA, WHAT?!!" Nikki laughed uncontrollably, "Nova got taken down by a ten year old? WITH A NERF GUN!! Are you kidding me, Sam?!"

"It wasn't JUST a Nerf gun!" Sam defended himself, "She modified that thing to shoot harder and faster! Plus, she glued these thumbtacks on the bullets! And those suckers hurt!!!"

At that, Nikki lost it and rolled onto her side as she continued to laugh. The same was for everyone else, they laughed at the story of Sam's first encounter with Harley's little sister. At first, Sam seethed in anger. But seeing everyone else laughing hit him to where he eventually gave in, cracked a smile and began laughing too. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it was funny. It still stung from the tacks, but was still funny.

"Alright, alright!" He said, catching his breath. "Enough of that. Finish your story, Harley."

The young mechanic called down and cleared his throat before continuing. "Right, right. Well, uh...not much else to tell. I just got a suit and I'm a mechanic. That's about it."

"Hey, it's better than nothing, bro." Jamie said to him, "at least you're here, trying to make a difference. That's something."

Grateful for the positive words from his friend, Harley cracked a smile to that. "Thanks, Jamie." He nodded to him with thanks and respect. "So, who's next?"

"Ooh, I know! How bout the second girl that handed your a** to you, Sam?" Ava suggested jokingly.

Already knowing it was her, Riri cleared her throat and stood up with a smirk. "Thanks, but it was nothing."

"Oh boy," Sam scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

"Don't pout, Sammy. It wasn't that bad."

"Yeah yeah, sure. Tell your story already."

"Okay. Hey guys, I'm Riri Williams, I'm seventeen and I'm from Massachusetts. Uh, not much else to tell. Same as Harls, I've got a suit that I made on my own anddd...yeah, that's about it. Haven't really done much."

Peter had other words for that. "I think you left out the part where you're really smart too. Actually, you and Harley. You guys both made your own suits and you're smart, just like Tony. And like Jamie said earlier, you're here trying to do something great. That's plenty right there."

Thinking about Peter's words, Riri realized how true that was. This made her smile at that. "Heh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so....thanks guys."

Smiles, nods and thumbs up came to her from that, and it gave her a feeling of peace... like she was home almost. It was then Riri realized how wrong she had been about not wanting to make new friends, about helping these guys. Now that she had gotten to know them, bonded some with them, she felt a certain connection, if not an attachment to them. And that made her smile.

"Okay. Uh, Kate! How bout you go next?"

Hearing her name mentioned, the girl archer set her chips down and stood from her chair.

"Alright." She started, "Hey guys, I'm Kate Bishop, I'm eighteen and I'm originally from Manhattan, but now I live in Missouri. Uh, I'm good with archery, like Frankie, and....yeah, there's not much else for me to say either, but uh....yeah."

"Why are you here?" Peter asked her.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry I didn't mean to sound rude or condescending. But I'm just curious, what makes you want to be here, what's your, your drive?"

Understanding his question more clearly now, Kate nodded and answered. "Oh, well, other than the chance at seeing my loved ones again, uh...I really like the idea of helping people. I really do. Yeah, I don't have any powers and not nearly enough training, but I'm doing it anyways. Being a superhero is amazing. And if they can, I think everyone should try it."

There was some fire behind that talk, they could tell. And it showed bravery on Kate's part, still being here despite not having powers. But that didn't matter to her, and that was worthy of being an Avenger.

"Well that's definitely the case here." Harley joked.

This earned a laugh amongst the whole group, Harley definitely wasn't wrong. Everyone here was doing it. They'd given it a try and we're going with it. And Kate liked that, they all did. "But yeah, that's my reason. Hope that's answer enough, Peter."

The co-leader of the team nodded and held up an 'OK' hand sign. "Perfect. And thanks."

The girl archer nodded back to him in respect. "So yeah, that's me. Uh..."

Kate looked to Frankie, hoping maybe he would share next. But that hope was halted when she saw him put his head down immediately. She knew that he still had his walls, but she didn't want to be distant from him like this. But she didn't want to make him push away more by prying. So she  took in and let out a breath before moving on.

Remembering how many of them there were, she went to the second and third to last among them. "Cassie, PJ, you guys can go next."

So the two Langs stood up and began talking simultaneously. That wasn't the original plan, but PJ's jumpy/happy persona was hard to contain.

"Alright. Hey everyone, I'm Cassie, I'm eighteen," "-I'm PJ! I'm eleven." "And we're from San Francisco, born and raised. And uh,-" "and our parents are Ant-Man and The Wasp!" "Hahaha, yes. Yes, they are."

Cassie laughed at her little brother's energy when it came to talking about his parents. He loved hearing stories of them as Ant-Man and The Wasp and wanted to be just like them. And now, he was. They both were.

"Your dad was that big guy at that airport in Berlin?" Harley asked them.

They nodded in reply. That surprised Harley and made him wide-eyed for a moment. "Wow...cool."

"So since you guys have pretty much the same abilities as them," Kamala interjected, a working smile on her face, "I guess that makes you Ant-Girl and The Waspling, huh?"

Almost instantly, PJ smiled at the sound of those names.

"I LOVE THAT, KAMALA!!! That's so cool!!!" He exclaimed happily.

"Did you just make those up right now?" Cassie asked her.

"You know, I actually did."

"Hmm, cool. But uh, yeah. Any questions?" She then asked, unsure of what to do or say next.

"Yeah, I actually have a question." Frankie said abruptly, raising his hand. "What's your story?"

He pointed to Viv, who was surprised at the action. "My story?"

"Yeah, I'm just curious. What can you do?

"Frankie!" Kate hissed at him.

"What? I'm just curious. I mean, we haven't seen her do much since we've gotten here. Other than the fact that that she's smart, she hasn't really shown any sign of being a superhero. I'm just curious as to what she can do."

If those words didn't hold some merit, Maddie would've smacked Frankie for talking bad about Viv like that. He may not have been exactly right, but he wasn't totally wrong either.

The dark skinned girl showed hesitance as she tried to find the right words for her reply. But fortunately, she had as saved from having to make something up by a hand on her shoulder. A hand from Azari.

"Viv, it may be time to show them..." He consoled her.

"Show us what?" Sam asked curiously.

Before she answered, Viv looked over to Maddie and saw the curiosity in his eyes and wondered how he'd react. But looking to the rest of them, she thought to herself. These guys, with all their different pasts and stories, they just might be the only people that would understand her situation. And that gave some comfort.

So taking in a deep and exhaling it, she nodded. "Okay."

Standing from her her seat, Viv took another breath before closing her eyes. After a moment of waiting, the group, aside from Azari, received quite the surprise.

In the center of her forehead, a small but shimmering yellow gem appeared. Then a swift Green flash went across her body and shone from underneath her clothes as the look of her entire anatomy changed. Now instead of dark skin, there was a red pink complexion. And as for her hair, it had gone from black to a beautiful lime green with purple ends.

Viv finally opened her eyes and saw the shocked and surprised faces of the group.

Knowing this would be their reaction, Viv shrugged lightly and gave a nervous smile. "Ta-daaaa!" She said nervously.

It took a lot on their brains, well not all of them, but still, it finally began to set in.

"You're...are you a robot?" Jamie asked, still trying to understand this.

Again, Viv shrugged but bobbed head in reply. "That's a bit of a basic term. Technically, I'm a synthezoid. But yes."

"Oh, sorry."

"No, it's alright. I'm honestly surprised at how well you guys are taking this."

"You're not the only one," Riri added, surprise very much still apparent on her face. But it was also mixed with a bit of... amazement.

"Well, since it seems I have the floor, I guess I can tell you all my story... My name is Vivian Vision, and I am two years old. I was made as a companion and assistant to Prince Azari and Princess Shuri of Wakanda. With the remaining parts of the Vision, my......my father...with bits and pieces from his database, Shuri was able to salvage a view memories and a few bits of his personality. They might even been able to fix him if these men in suits hadn't demanded my father's remains... Anyway, uh, fast forward a few years, the princess and Doctor Banner had worked together in powering up a new user interface with the help of one of Tony Stark's AI chips, one with the personality of a girl. He chose one labelled V.I.V.I.A.N. It stands for Very Intelligent Viral Interactive Assistant Network."

Peter huffed a laugh at this. "That's Tony for you, he loved his acronyms."

"Yes, he did that. Though, I prefer 'Nerd' as far as the N goes."

This earned a snicker or a smile from the group around her.

"I can understand that," Kamala nodded with a smile.

This made Viv smile too as she saw the understanding and caring faces coming from her friends, it put her more at ease as she continued.

"Fast forward to two years ago, Shuri and Bruce had used the program well, been kind in their work together...even calling her 'friend'. But then, something...interesting happened. The AI wished to know what it meant to human, to walk among them, the smile with them.  So one day, Shuri had called Bruce back to Wakanda, saying she had a surprise for him. When he arrived, he was surprised to find that the AI that he and the princess had worked with and and educated for a over a year, was being uploaded into a new humanoid vibranium body. A synthezoid, just like the Vision before me. Well, not exactly like him obviously. And that synthezoid....that was me. And from there, I went with Bruce back to the States as his 'daughter'. I met Betty and we instantly connected. Soon, I became Bruce's real life assistant and we drew closer and I began seeing him as a dad, and he's good at being one. More than he gives himself credit for. That's been my life for the past two years, and it's pretty cool. And because of the pieces of my father before me, I have the same name as him... I am Vivian Vision."

Once again, the whole group was left speechless. This girl, she was definitely more than just a robot. Or synthezoid. No, she showed much more than that. She was proof that humans and machines could coexist in peace. And what beautiful proof she was...at least that's what Maddie was thinking. Wait, what?!

The green gamma-ed teen shook his head and recomposed his thoughts, easing on the reigns of his crush. While he did that, the others began to express themselves.

Nikki had started it off when she stood and walked right up to Viv and hugged her. The gesture surprised Viv at first, but soon she returned the hug and did so tightly. As the two embraced, smiles came up all around. Smiles for Viv, out of love for her.

Finally, the two broke the hug and smiled to one another.

"We're happy to have you, Viv." Nikki stated proudly, almost on the verge of tears. "And you're one awesome synthezoid."

Viv wanted to cry, she really wanted to. Hearing such words, words of kindness and understanding, it could have that effect on you.

"She's right, Viv." Peter added, gaining their attention. "You're like Baymax in Big Hero 6, you bring a certain flair and heart to the group. And it's awesome."

"Yeah, and you were cool before, but you're even more cooler now! It's brings our whole team full circle as a next generation of Avengers! It's awesome! You're awesome!"

"And then some," Maddie finally spoke. "And then some."

Viv's cheeks warmed up a little at that and she smiled even more. "Thank you...all of you. For being so understanding."

"That's what family does," Peter stated, the Fast and Furious movies in mind.

Viv bobbed her head to that and smiled once again. A little later, Nikki sat back down and it was quiet for a few seconds. That is until Viv spoke up again.

 "Frankie, how about you?" She queried, looking across to him.

The young Barton was a little thrown off by the question. "What about me?"

"Everyone's gone but you. Why don't you go now?"

At first, Frankie wasn't even going to consider it. But a hand on his shoulder pulled him from his thoughts. Looking next to him, he saw the hand was from Kate, and he could see tears forming in her eyes. And it was those eyes, those pleading eyes of her that moved him to give in. 

Letting out a deep breath, he put a hand on Kate's before standing up and addressing the group. "Uh...hey guys. I'm Frankie Barton. I'm eighteen and Hawkeye was my dad....guess that kinda means I'm Hawkeye now."

"But what about Kate?" PJ cut in, "Isn't she a Hawkeye too?"

Before Frankie could explain, Kate spoke up.

"Oh no, I'm not Hawkeye. It's Hawkette." She stated, just as she had when her and Frankie were kids.

"Hawkette?....hmm, I like it!"

"Me too!" Kamala added.

Ava jumped in there too. "Same here. Sounds bada**."

Kate smirked and nodded. "Mhm, you know it."

She then looked back to Frankie and winked at him with a smile. This earned a blushing smile from him, though he tried his best to hide it.  In doing so, he decided to sit down and let the conversation flow on.

When he sat down, he felt a hand curl into his. It was Kate again, and she went even further by leaning against his side with her head on his shoulder. The warm feeling of Kate leaning on him gave him a feeling of comfort, like a security blanket. With that, he went ahead and leaned his head on hers. And in this moment, for the first time in almost ten years, he was at peace.

From his other side, Viv leaned over and whispered to him. "Now that wasn't so hard was it?" She asked him teasingly.

Frankie playfully eyed her and rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

And that was that. From this small amount of time they had spent talking, sharing each other's likes and past stories, all of them had bonded and gained a better understanding of each other. 

Now, they were more than a team. More than friends. They were family.

As the night went on and the fire died down and everyone winded down, Peter lay on his back in his sleeping bag, looking up to the stars. Smiling, content with the new state of the team. 

"Thanks for the idea, Mr. Stark."

Chapter Text

The next morning, the group woke up with a better mood than the evening before. It was like a burden had been lifted off their shoulders, they were all closer now. Confidants.

So when the time came to train, things went way smoother than yesterday. They were able to work with each other, in sync with their teammates, not getting in each other's way anymore. It was like a dance, and they had aced it.

Now, they really were a team. 

***Lab***

Around noon time, Cassie and PJ found themselves in the lab watching as Bruce, Maddie, Nebula, and Viv were standing around Scott, who was standing there in a white suit, very similar to the Ant-Man suit, but with a red and black trim. And the cherry on too was the Avengers logo over the top left side of the chest plate, right over the heart.

Currently, they were adding the finishing touches on it when Peter and Rhodey walked in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The Colonel admired, examining the suit up close. "Time travel suit? Not bad!"

"Yeah!" Peter agreed, walking around them and admiring the suit as well. "And it's got a little bit of everyone. The Avengers A for the team, similar Ant-Man inner workings and helmet for Dr. Pym, and holographic shielding for the visor for the Guardians of the Galaxy.... did I get the name right?"

Peter looked over to Nebula when he asked, and she respectfully nodded to her friend. Even going as far to give a small smile. "That was right."

As they admired it, Scott was on edge about how the Pym Particles were being placed into the suit. Namely, by Bruce.

"Hey, hey, hey! Easy, easy!" Scott exclaimed warningly.

Bruce, who had been trying to put the Particles in, backed away in light frustration. "I'm being very careful."

"No, you're being very Hulky."

"I'm being careful!"

"Look, these are Pym Particles, alright? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more!"

"Scott, calm down." Rhodey consoled his friend.

Realizing his own anxiety had spiked, Scott calmed himself and apologized. "Sorry. It's just, we can't waste these. We can only spare for two test runs, max." As he said this, he was fidgeting to insert the Particle viles. Only he accidentally pressed the button to shrink, which made him shrink down before growing back to normal size. When his helmet reopened, his face showed a deadpanned look. "Okay, one. One test run....phew! All right. I am not ready for this."

"I'm game." They all turned, except Scott, and saw Frankie there. Leaning against the doorway with his arms folded. "I'll do it."

A look of surprise and worry on their faces at that.

Peter walked over to Frankie and put a hand in his shoulder. "Frankie, are you sure about this?"

There was some hesitancy in Frankie's mood, but he put on a strong face and gave a firm nod.

"I got this."

Five minutes went by and Frankie now stood between Bruce and Nebula who were putting the required settings in the suit for Frankie.

"Frankie, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift. But don't worry about it."

The young Barton looked up to his green "uncle" and nodded in understanding. Mainly to the 'not worrying about it' part.

"Wait a second, lemme ask you something." Rhodey jumped, a thought clearly in his mind, "If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos, you know, and..." His sentence had ended, but he made the gesture of tying up and strangling something...or in this case, someone.

Peter was the first to react, turning away for a moment with wide eyes and letting out a genuinely surprised, "Wow."

"First of all, that's horrible!" Bruce stated, shocked as well and obviously not with that idea.

"Oh come on! It's Thanos!"

"And secondly, time doesn't work that way. Changing the past doesn't change the future."

"Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them... Thanos doesn't have the stones." Scott explained the idea like it was so simple...And it did seem as though it was. "Problem solved."

"Bingo." Frankie agreed, liking the sound of it.

"Sounds easy enough," Peter added, also agreeing. "plus it'd save on Pym Particles."

That part of it definitely sat well with Scott. But Nebula cut in on that note. "That's not how it works."

Frankie looked over his shoulder at her, slightly confused at her words. What did she mean? "Well, that's what I heard."

"By who? Who told you that?" Bruce prompted.

It was then that Rhodey jumped in and began counting on his fingers. "Star Trek, Terminator, TimeCop, Time After Time, -"

"Men In Black, Back To The Future." Peter quickly added to the list.

"-Quantum Leap." Scott also added.

"-Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time,-"

"-Hot Tub Time Machine!"

"Hot Tub Time Machine! Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Basically, any movie that deals with time travel."

"Die Hard? No, that's not one."

"This is known." Rhodey stated with firm conviction.

But Bruce contradicted it all. "I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true. Think about it: If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past. Which can't now be changed by your new future!"

"Exactly."

"So... Back To The Future's a bunch of bulls***?" Scott mused, not wanting to accept it.

Right then was when PJ jumped up and broke his silence. "Nope! No way, absolutely no way! I refuse to believe that!"

And with Cassie right behind him shrugging, the two walked out, leaving the older ones to their business.

***Hangar***

Now in the hangar, Frankie stood on the platform of the newly finished Quantum Time Machine.

"Alright, Frankie." Bruce called up to him from his station. "We're going in 3..." A helmet, similar to that of the Ant-Man helmet(but sleeker and a clearer visor), came up and encased his head, "2..." he took a deep breath and let it out before, "1!"

Suddenly, the floor began to disappear and it seemed as though everything had zoomed in and Frankie was pulled into a colorful void. He was now in the Quantum Realm. Within seconds, he was flying through what seemed like different dimensions. 

From within his helmet, he could see the constant chaos of the blue vortexes he was flying through. The sounds from it were like muffled ocean waves against his helmet, mixed with his heavy breathing.

And then, just like coming out of a highway tunnel, he saw a bright light. Fear began to spike, his head began to spin, and all he could do was scream.

"AaaahhhHHHHhHHhHhhh!"

As he finished screaming, his helmet went down and he took in a deep breath of fresh air, coming down from a major brain wave.

When he finally opened his eyes, he noticed that he was in firm ground. Only this ground was... dirt? It was dirt! Frankie then looked up and around and could tell that it was some sort of barn-slash-shed. But then, his memory was triggered! It was then that he recognized it. How could he not? He had run through this barn multiple times. It was the barn of the Barton Farmhouse.

Standing up fully, Frankie walked over to the door of the barn and saw a sight that brought him a relieved feeling: home. Seeing the house of his family made him smile a little, and with that smile he began to walk towards the house. As he neared it, he saw something on the ground outside the side door. He soon saw that it was a baseball glove as he knelt down and picked it up. 

Examining it, he smiled tearfully as he realized that it was his brother's. "Hah, Cooper." he whispered to himself.

 It was so overwhelming just to see something from his past like this, but it made him happy that it was close to home. Literally. Suddenly though, there was a voice. A voice that made Frankie's breath hitch and his heart skip a beat. A voice he hadn't heard in ten years... his father's voice.

"Hey kids!" The voice of Clint Barton called out from inside the house, possibly from the kitchen. "Lunch is almost ready!"

"Dad?" Frankie peeped. He was so surprised at the sound of his father's voice, he had become breathless. He needed to see him, he had to.

Suddenly, the time GPS on his wrist beeped, signaling his time was up. But he didn't want to go just yet.

Swiftly, Frankie ran for the door and called out to his father. "Dad! Da-" He was cut off as his helmet came up and he was pulled back to his time.

Meanwhile, Clint Barton walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. "Yeah buddy?" He called out, looking around for his son who he heard call him, but was nowhere to be found. "Frankie?" 

Receiving no reply, Clint shrugged his shoulders and walked back into the kitchen.

***Present Day***

"-aad!!" Frankie was on his knees, helmet down and catching his breath.

Peter, Scott, PJ and Kate all ran up the steps onto the Machine and Kate immediately knelt down to his side.

"Hey, hey. Look at me." She cooed with concern. It seemed to have worked as Frankie looked up and faced her, their eyes locked. "You okay?"

She helped him stand and held him close. He nodded in reply to her question. Then he looked down to his hand to see that the baseball glove was still there. It had worked!

"It worked!" he cheered to Kate, a smile finally coming to her. Looking back to the others, Frankie nodded to Peter and tossed the glove to him. "It worked, Peter."

Without even looking, Peter caught the glove and pumped the air with glee. "YESSS!! Okay, good job, Frankie. Good job. WHOO, this is awesome!! We've got a time machine now, people!"

Scott and PJ smiled next to him, happy with this achievement as well. From there, they all walked off the Machine. As they did, Scott walked alongside Frankie and held something out for him.

"Here you go, Frankie." It was an orange slice. What was this for?

"Thanks Scott, but I'm alright."

"No trust me, it'll help with your head."

"It really does.

Frankie looked down to PJ, looking for confirmation that his dad was serious.

"It's true," he agreed, "helped me and Cassie BIG TIME when we first started with our suits."

It seemed a little crazy, but Frankie obliged and took the piece of fruit. Upon biting into and tasting the juice from it, he realized that his headache slowly began to subside. All because of an orange slice? Who knew!

"Mmm! Not bad, thanks."

"You got it!"

***Living Room***

Now that they knew the Quantum Time Machine worked and they could bring items from the past with them, the team now needed to study up on their destinations for the mission.

"Okay, so we have the how." Jamie began looking from the hologram and back to the group, "Now we need to figure out the when and the where. Now pretty much all of Avengers had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"I haven't," Scott stated, "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"Regardless," Bruce cut in, "we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip for each of you, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history.

"So we have to pick our targets." Frankie said, following along.

Peter nodded at that. Jamie then took it from there.

"Right. So let's start with the Reality Stone, also known as the Aether. Tori, what do you know?"

Torunn stood from her seat and came up to the board and the others watched as she did her part.

"Ok, so first off, the Aether, it's not completely a stone like the others. It's more of a liquid type really but it can be solidified for use as a stone. So that's the good news. I remember being told a story that many years ago... My great-grandfather had to hide the Aether from a species called the Dark Elves. Turns out it was their main source of power, and they brought mass destruction whenever they used it. So my great-grandfather hid it. Then one day, Jane Foster,"

As Torunn mentioned her mother's name, an image of her mother came up on the screen with a slide of the Aether next to her.

"Oh, there she is! That's her. That's my mother! My mom."

It was clear that Torunn was happy to see the age of her mother and that it gave her a certain amount of comfort, so naturally, comforting smiles came from the group. Especially Jamie.

Torunn saw this and had to catch herself before blushing. She regained her focus and continued.

"So anyway, one day while she was looking for my father, my mother unintentionally stumbled upon the Aether's hiding place and it merged with her. So it became a part of her, slowly but surely draining her energy and life. Almost like a cancer. So it's important that with this one you deal with it very carefully."

A little later, food was ordered and the studying continued. They had moved on to examining what they knew about the Power Stone. Rocket took the stand. 

"Ok, Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag."

"Is that a person?" Cassie asked curiously.

"No, Morag's a planet." Sam chimed in, informing her.

Rocket nodded at his pupil's answer. "Yeah, Quill was a person."

"So, a planet?" Scott was very much surprised at that, "You mean like in outer space?"

"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll get you to space."

Rocket teased Scott and talked to him like a puppy, even going as far as to pet his head. Much to Scott's dislike. 

But others laughed at this.

Next on the list was the Soul Stone. For this, Nebula stood before the group.

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir."

"What's Vormir?" Nikki asked as she was taking down notes.

"A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister."

Nikki looked up from her notes to Nebula with a surprised and sympathetic look. Suddenly, everyone's face turned sympathetic...even empathetic as they all knew how she felt. 

Suddenly, out of the silence, 

"Not it." Scott said, trying to lighten the mood.

Later, the group had moved on to the Time Stone. But upon further investigation, and an awesome observation by Nikki, the group found a perfect point in time where two more stones, the Space and the Mind Stone, all met perfectly for a grab.

So now, they were developing teams and plans to retrieve the Stones. Two in particular were going to be tricky. Those being the Space Stone, at the time called the Tesseract, and the Mind Stone which would be in Loki's Scepter at that time.

From what Bruce could remember, the Tesseract was in Tony's care until Thor took it and Loki back to Asgard. And the Scepter would have been in the hands of the STRIKE team, or HYDRA agents as they would later be found out to be.

"So how're we gonna pull that off?" Harley asked.

"I don't know," Peter mumbled, thinking hard at it, "You said Tony had the Tesseract with him the whole time, right Bruce?"

Bruce nodded back. "The whole time. From when we left the Tower, went to go eat shawarma, right up until Thor used it to take Loki back to Asgard. It seemed like unless he had a heart attack or something, he wasn't letting that case go."

It was then that Peter got an idea. It was a stretch and a long shot, dangerous too, but it could work. He shared it with the rest of them and though it was risky, it wouldn't be too detrimental to them, the mission, or the victim of their plot.

So now that they had settled on the Tesseract, they moved on to how to get the Scepter. Bruce spoke up on that.

"Ok, so from what I was told, the STRIKE guys took the Scepter and we never found it again until about three years later after we leaned they were HYDRA."

This information immediately brought up the question: How to get it from the STRIKE team?

"I can get it," Jamie said firmly.

"Yeah but how?" Rhodey asked. "I mean, no offense, but I don't think these dudes are gonna just hand over the Scepter to a teenager. So how do you plan on getting it from them?"

"With these." a voice called out to them.

They all turned too see who had spoken, but when they did, they received a major shock. The person who spoke, was a woman. But not just any woman, no. It was-

"Nat?"

"...Mom?"

The woman that stood before them was none other than Natasha Romanoff. She walked the rest of the way into the room and placed a case on the table.

"How's this possible?" Peter asked, shocked and a little speechless.

"With this," she replied, pressing a finger to her temple which made her entire face seem to shift from one to another. It wasn't until she reached up to her face and pulled off what seemed to be a transparent mask and a red wig, revealing herself to really be-

"Nikki?!"

"Whoa! Ok, that was a lot." Bruce stumbled a little and held his large hand over his hear after the shock of that reveal.

Nikki reached down and opened the case, revealing a keyboard system and a touchscreen pad  as well. And on the other side were transparent masks with a light mesh pattern on them.

"Photostatic veils," She began, "Customizable masks with the ability to mimic anyone's face and voice. I found them in Mom's room."

Jamie's head perked up at that. He didn't expect to see his mother -- or what he thought was his mother -- ten seconds ago, let alone hearing something like this about her.

"Jamie can use them to get the Scepter from the STRIKE guys. He can use it to look like Dad."

Though it was a shocking notion, it didn't seem too farfetched. It sure worked earlier when Nikki walked in as their mother earlier. 

"Yeah, I... I guess I can do that." He nervously agreed.

The rest of the group and the adults nodded in agreement as well.

"Alright then," Peter spoke up, "sounds like we've got a plan. Anything else?"

Not one else could really think of anything, but Jamie did. "I have something, and this is for the whole group too. Um... can we all talk alone please?"

Jamie nodded his head to the recruiters he asked the adults for some privacy.

Respecting his request, Bruce, Scott and Rhodey walked out.

"What was that about?" Peter asked his "brother".

"Yeah, what's up, Jamie?" Kate added.

Taking a breath, the young Captain spoke his piece.

"It's just something I wanted to run by you guys personally. Since we have the how, the where, and the when to go to, I think it's only right to ask when you guys wanted to do this... Its a lot to take in and a lot on us, all of us. So if you want to do it today, fine by me. If you want to do it tomorrow, a week from now, whatever... but it's up to you guys."

There was a silence after that. Jamie's words held a lot of meaning, and he knew it. So he wasn't entirely surprised by their silence. But what came next did surprise him.

Torunn stood from her chair and walked up to him. She looked straight at him with those baby blue eyes and saw into him. And from that came a smile.

"Any other time, I would've jumped at the opportunity right away. But I've learned it's better to take a moment before going at it head on. I vote we make the most of today and carry it out tomorrow, first thing. Captain."

It's always the last thing said that does it. And that was definitely the case here. Jamie was already smiling at Torunn's words of agreeing to waiting, but her calling him 'Captain' make him break into laughter. She too laughed as did a few others if they weren't already smiling.

"I wouldn't mind using up the rest of the day, it'd probably be better anyway." "Sounds good to me too." Ava and Nikki both agreed as well.

"We're down for that too," Kate spoke up for her and Frankie who just nodded.

"Ditto here." Cassie raised her hand along with PJ's.

They all were in agreement. Harley, Maddie, Viv, Azari, Riri, Sam, and Kamala's "embiggened" thumbs up was more than enough confirmation.

"Seems unanimous, Jamie," Peter said. "Looks like it'll be tomorrow."

The redheaded Captain smiled and nodded back. "Tomorrow it is."

Now that it was all set, a layout  for the Time Heist was set on the holo-screen. The teams, their assigned stones, and the points in time they'd go to.

Time Heist

Team One: New York(2012)

(Space, Mind, & Time Stone)

Team: Jamie (Mind Stone, Harley (Space Stone), Peter (Space Stone), Ava (Time Stone), Maddie (Time Stone), and PJ (Space Stone).

Team Two: Asgard(2013)

(Reality Stone)

Team: Torunn, Rocket, and Viv.

Team Three: Vormir(2014)

(Soul Stone)

Team: Sam, Nikki, Frankie, and Kate.

Team Four: Morag(2014)

(Power Stone)

Team: Riri, Cassie, Kamala, and Nebula.

"All right!" Peter said with accomplishment as he stood next to Jamie, looking at their plan on the screen, "We have a plan, Captain."

"We've got a plan," he echoed, "Six Stones, four teams, one shot."

As they stood there, the rest of the team all stood behind the leaders and looked to the screen with their plan in mind.

And now, they were set to go by tomorrow. 

Chapter Text

(PREVIOUSLY)

"All right!" Peter said with accomplishment as he stood next to Jamie, looking at their plan on the screen, "We have a plan, Captain."

"We've got a plan," he echoed, "Six Stones, four teams, one shot."

As they stood there, the rest of the team all stood behind the leaders and looked to the screen with their plan in mind.

And now, they were set to go by tomorrow.

***Living Room***

A little later, they all sat in the living room and enjoyed a snack together. It was all good and fun, but soon, the topic of conversation drifted to what it would be like for them in a big situation.

"I think I'd be cool in battle." Harley stated.

Riri scoffed at that. "Oh yeah, like when Tori whooped your a** two days ago?"

That caused an eruption of laughter throughout the group, even Harley laughed before he defended himself.

"Hey, hey now. It was my first time, and I gave it the best I could."

"Yeah, that's what she said," Nikki snickered, quoting Michael Scott, before leaning forward.

That remark threw the whole group into a more hysterical fit of laughter. Ava raised her hand to give Nikki a high-five, which she obliged before getting on from Torunn, Cassie, Riri, and Kamala as well.

"Think you could've done better, Nikki?" Harley asked with the hint of a challenge in his joking tone.

She shrugged. "Probably not. But you're lucky it wasn't the sword she used."

"True, very true." Torunn nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but I got armor. So I've got some time to take her down."

"Dude, that's not gonna save you forever." Frankie added, "If you knew exactly where to strike, you could disable someone within seconds. Armor or no. Trust me. I work with a sword, so I know."

"You wouldn't be able to do it though." Torunn said to him.

Frankie looked to the princess and lifted an eyebrow. "What're you talking about? I've been working with swords for years, I know how to handle them."

"Maybe so, but you couldn't do it with mine."

"Oh why, cause I'm 'not worthy'?" Frankie used air quotes for the last bit of his comment.

"Exactly!"

"Oh PUH-lease!" Frankie laughed and waved that off, "I don't believe that, it's some sort of trick."

Then Torunn laughed and shook her head. "Haha, no. I assure you, it's much more than that my friend."

"Pfft, yeah right. Oh, 'whosoever, be he worthy, shall haveth the power.' Oh whatEVER, girl! It's a trick, I'm telling you!"

The group all chuckled lightly while Torunn gave a hearty laugh to Frankie's claim. With that, she stood and gave a smirk. "Well then please, my friend..."

The blonde princess reached out her arm and hand and soon enough, her sword came flying to her hand. Once it came to her hand, she took it and plugged in into the floor. Not too deep, but it was at least a good few inches.

She stepped back and gestured to Frankie, still holding her smirk. "..try and lift it."

All eyes went to the young Barton as they awaited his response.

He too looked to them before looking back to Torunn. "Seriously?"

Torunn nodded and gestured to the sword like a vendor at a carnival telling a customer to step right up. Frankie honestly hadn't expected it, but wasn't opposed to it. So shrugging his shoulders, he stood and walked over.

"Oh, this is gonna be good." Riri said before taking a sip of her juice.

"Frankie, you've had a tough week so we won't blame you if you can't get it up." Nikki added.

Frankie rolled his eyes at that but still laughed, as did everyone else. "Ya know I've seen this before, right?" He said to Torunn who had sat back down to watch.

She shrugged and held her smirk proudly.

Now that he was right at the sword, all eyes were once again on Frankie as he grabbed the handle of it and pulled. But it didn't budge, not even a little.

Finally giving up, he let out a strained chuckle. "I don't get it. I don't get how you do it."

"So much for being a master." Harley joked.

"Oh, well please, Harley! By all means." Frankie gestured for Harley to step up to the sword.

Without hesitation, Harley stood up and dramatically unzipped his hoodie. This resulting in more rolled eyes and "Oh boy"s from the others.

"Never been one to run away from a challenge." He cockily stated as he stepped up.

Grabbing the handle, Harley pulled up on it, but like Frankie before him, it didn't budge. But then, he had an idea.

"Be right back."

A few minutes later, he walked in with the arm and hand of his suit on his right arm.

"Whoa whoa, hold up!" Sam exclaimed, "You're using part of your suit? That's cheating, bro!"

"No it's not."

"It really is." Azari added.

Harley shrugged them off. "Well, I'm trying it anyway."

Repositioning himself at the sword, Harley lifted up on the large sword, but still gained no results. Not even when exterior mini jets expanded out of the arm and blasted with propulsion.

A little after that, Riri decided to take a crack at it and help Harley. Taking a page from his book, she too went and got and arm of her armor as well. Putting her hand just below Harley's, she pulled and her arm's jets came out too. But still nothing.

"Bro, are you even pulling?" She said.

"Are we on the same team?" Harley jokingly retorted.

"Obviously! Gotta represent. Pull!"

"Alright, let's go! Team Iron!"

They kept trying, but to no avail.

Next, Azari stepped up.

"I'm already a prince and I have a kingdom, so this would only add to my honor," He stated as he grabbed the sword and pulled. Nothing though. He tried and tried, but still nothing. "Well, as I said, already have my kingdom and my honor."

"Of course, Your Honor," Sam replied with a laugh.

Thanks to that remark, Azari chose Sam to go next. Which he did.

Naturally, nothing happened. Not even when he put on his helmet and used his Nova powers. The sword still didn't budge. 

Kamala went next and stretched her arms all the way around the sword hilt and pulled wit all her strength.

It didn't come out of the ground, but Kamala could've sworn she felt it move.

Next up was Ava. She growled and yanked with all her might, but no victory.

After her was Kate who did it just for the fun of it. Stretching a little before pulling, she did her best and strained to lift the sword. But it still stood firm.

Next came Cassie and PJ right after her. For a second, it seemed like they would be the ones to lift it. But it didn't move at all. 

Next, Peter stepped up, with Ava cheering him on. Hiding his blush, the Spider-Man grabbed the hilt and suddenly, the sword budged a little.

This shocked everyone, but none as much Torunn. Her face conveyed her surprise as it went from a smirk to one of worry. She waited, as did the rest, to see if Peter would lift it, but seconds later, Peter let go and exhaled a heavy breath. He hadn't been able to lift the sword. 

He smiled and put his hands up humbly. 

Maddie growled as he pulled at the sword, which didn't do much help. Then he got an idea. Tapping his wrist device, he turned into his Hulk-self and tried again. Veins began to bulge as he strained pulling it hard as he could His growling grew louder as he suddenly let go and let his arms go up and he roared obnoxiously.

This gained surprised and mildly worried looks from the others while Viv smiled sheepishly and shook her head.

"Too much?" The green teen joked, letting his arms down.

"Not gonna lie, you actually had me for a second with the growling." Sam said.

Maddie laughed at that as he took big step as he went to sit down.

Finally, Jamie stood and went around for his turn.

"C'mon, Cap!" Frankie cheered. 

The redheaded teen rolled up his sleeves before grabbing the hilt and pulling. The sudden sound of the sword shifting from its spot caught everyone's eyes and ears, especially Torunn's.

She was truly worried that Jamie might actually lift it. But she eased a little when Jamie seemed to try harder and finally let go, humbly giving up.

Sighing in relief on the fly, Torunn covered it with a laugh. "Haha! Nothing."

"Viv, Nikki?"

But Nikki shook her head and held up her hand. "Yeah, no I'm good. I don't need that answered for me."

"I'll pass too," Viv added.

"It's crazy though how hard it is to lift it." Ava said. "Reminds me of the Sword In The Stone."

"Exactly like that!" PJ agreed.

"It's gotta be encrypted." Harley said, thinking out loud, "'Whosoever is carrying Tori's fingerprint' is the real translation, I think."

"Well that's a very interesting theory, Harley. However, I have a simpler one..." Torunn stood and picked up the sword from its spot like it was light as a stick, flipping it and catching it again, "you're all not worthy."

She smirked as she said this, which earned groans and scoffs from the others. But with it all, they were just having fun with each other, laughing and talking like friends. Like a family. 

After that excitement died down, Cassie, feeling the need to say it, spoke up. "Guys?"

They all looked to her and listened.

"I just...I just wanted to say, whatever happens tomorrow....I'm glad to have met you guys."

From that, smiles and hums of approval came from the others,

"Same here, Cassie." Ava agreed with a nod.

"Yeah, it's great having you guys for friends." Kamala added.

Everyone nodded in agreement at this. With this close bond between them, it was clear that they were ready for what was coming tomorrow. They were ready to do it...together.

Reflection's flashed by on Jamie's visor as he rode his motorcycle into Washington, DC. He had left the Compound after the team had their friendly "competition" of attempting to lift Torunn's sword.

Afterwards, he felt the need for a ride. But soon, the ride turned into an important errand he had to run. Before the mission tomorrow, there was something he had to do first...somewhere he had to be.

Meanwhile, Peter was visiting a gravesite. The name on the tombstone read

'Anthony H. Stark'

Our Iron Man

Peter looked down to the grave and sniffled as he felt tears coming up. "Hey, Mr. Stark."

***Smithsonian Museum***

Jamie walked through the museum until he came to a particular exhibit that stood out from the rest.

It was Captain America.

"Hey Dad," he whispered to himself.

Walking on, he looked upon multiple pictures, information cards on the exhibits, and various memorabilia. But one thing that caught his eye was a certain exhibit that had a picture of not only his father, but his mother too.

'THE SOLDIER AND THE SPY'

'After years of partnership, Captain Rogers married fellow Avenger, Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. Bringing happiness and joy to not only their lives, but also to those who cherished them. Both in life and on the battlefield, Rogers and Romanoff were the definition of a power couple, staying at each other's side until their death in 2018.'

Smiling happily at the exhibit, Jamie wiped away a tear that came up. He was happy to see things like this for his parents; reminders of their love for each other. Somehow, it gave him a bit of hope. Hope that they were still together and there with him, somewhere.

Feeling the need to say something, Jamie again whispered, "Thanks Mom, Dad..." at the picture of them.

As he kept his eyes on them, a hand came to his shoulder. Turning, Jamie saw that it was a security guard. From the looks of it, he had to be in his late sixties....or seventies. Or heck, his eighties. Jamie didn't really know.

"Are you okay, son?" He asked.

"Oh, yes sir. I'm fine." Jamie replied.

"Yeah, I saw you from over there and you looked sorta down. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

Hearing the concerned words of the elderly man, Jamie smiled and nodded respectfully. "I appreciate that, sir. Really. I guess...I get a little emotional every time I see them."

"Oh I understand. Everyone loved the Avengers. My grandkids still do and they're in their twenties. They even dress up like 'em and go to those uh, those...ya know, where they have those big events for costumes and stuff."

Jamie thought for a moment, trying to get what the guard was talking about. Finally, it hit him. "Oh, Comic-Con?"

The man nodded vigorously and pointed at Jamie in glee. "THAT'S it! Comic-Con. Yeah but I like to see them have fun. You know, you could be a good Captain America. You've got the height, the build. I think you'd sell it, kid!"

This made Jamie laugh to hear, but he was happy to hear it nonetheless. "Maybe, I don't know."

"Oh sure you could!" The man jokingly retorted, "Heck, you even look like him a little."

Still holding that smile, Jamie bobbed his head in agreement. "Yeah, I've been told. He's actually my dad...or, he was, anyway."

"No kidding?" The elderly guard looked to the picture of Steve without his helmet on and then back to Jamie. He did this a few more times before he realized it had to be. It was true. "Well I'll be damned."

Again, Jamie laughed and dramatically brought a finger to his lips, quieting that man. "Shhhh, it's a secret."

"Safe with me, kid." He winked at Jamie and gave him a thumbs up. "Hey, if you ever need anything, just let me know. I gotcha covered."

The red-headed teen nodded back to him. "Well I appreciate that, Officer-- Lee. Thank you, sir."

Looking up from the badge the guard wore on his shirt, he gave one more thumbs up to Jamie and smiled again before walking away.

With that, Jamie gave one last look to the picture of his parents before he slowly began to walk on in the exhibit.

But then, he got an idea. Turning back around, he called our to Officer Lee. "Actually, sir..."

Officer Lee stopped and turned back to Jamie.

"-there is one thing you might be able to help me with."

This brought a smile to the elderly guard's face.

In another part of the Captain America exhibit, a mannequin that wore a replica of Cap's suit in 2012 from the Battle of New York had been relieved of the suit.

Officer Lee stood there looking at it with a calm mood about him.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about getting fired this time." He said, wiping his forehead with his sleeve and putting his hat back on.

Jamie had a smile on his face as rode his motorcycle back home. He had gone to the Smithsonian to see his dad and he had left with more than what he had hoped. This was just perfect.

***Compound***

Back at the Compound, everyone had dispersed to do their own thing. Some together, some alone. 

Nikki had gone to read a book in her special place, even inviting Ava to come along as well. Though it was really to read books and talk about them, some girl talk was thrown in with Nikki also acting about Peter to her. Naturally, Ava blushed through it all.

Cassie and PJ played video games with Harley. With Scott chaperoning, of course. Maddie and Viv had a talk about things. As in the news that she wasn't really human, rather a synthezoid. Also about his feelings for her. So that was quite the conversation, but it ended with Viv smiling and accepting, kissing his cheek. So you can imagine Maddie's surprise and glee. 

Torunn spent some time training, sharpening her skills with the sword, which she had dubbed "Sharpius", and with Stormbreaker. Afterwards, she called Darcy and Erik and talked with them for a while. They were happy to hear that she was doing well, making friends and about to go on a "big mission to save the universe." Big stuff for a teenager/princess.

Riri went and FaceTimed her mom and aunt, telling them how she was doing, the friends she had made, and what was going on. The best way she could put it without telling her the real reason was that they were "all going on a bit of a field trip". And that it was going to be "one heckuva time". Wasn't really a lie, and they seemed to buy it. So that worked out just fine.

Azari too called back to Wakanda to talk with Shuri and Okoye and let them know how things were, and also to see how things were back home. 

Frankie and Kate were outside doing target practice, naturally hitting all of their targets head-on. Later when they settled to take a breather, they reminisced about old times when they were younger and Frankie was a bit calmer and open with talking about it. 

But her next question surprised her even more when he replied easily.

"What was it like out there...alone?"

Though it caught Frankie off guard, he still obliged and answered. "It was wild. In a lot of different ways. Be it the surroundings, the people, the stuff I was up against...it was all crazy. But being here, it's the first bit of peace I've had in a long time...I can actually sleep now without hearing the gunshots, the screaming. It all fades away here...feels good to be home."

Though she was sad for Frankie with what he had to deal with out there on his own, she did feel glad hearing that he was doing much better being here with them than out there alone. It gave her more hope.

Leaning up, she kissed his cheek. "It's good to have you home, Frankie."

Leaving him in a dazed and surprised state, Kate walked off back to the Compound while Frankie stood there, still trying to comprehend her sweet gesture towards him.

Later on in the evening, Sam knocked on a door and waited for a response.

"Who is it?" He heard from inside.

"Its me. Sam."

The door immediately opened with Kamala there in her robe. Her signature smile was also there too.

"Hey!" She welcomed him happily.

"Hey, what's up? The text said get over here right away."

"Come in! Come in!"

Kamala motioned for him to enter and closed the door behind him.

"So what is it?" Sam asked again.

Coming away from the door, Kamala took a breath and answered. "Okay. So remember when you said 'give my suit some flare'?"

Thinking back to yesterday, Sam nodded. "Yeah, I remember that. Why?"

"Well, it took some thinking and sketching," She gestured to some scattered sheets of paper on her desk which had various designs for a symbol of some kind, "but I finally found one that works and fits my persona!"

"Alright, let's see it!"

Kamala smiled and proceeded to undo her robe. The action shocked Sam at first, but he did his best not to let it show. Soon, the robe was off and Kamala revealed her burkini which had a gold trim along the hem and arm holes of it. But the icing on the cake was in the form of a large gold-yellow lightning bolt that went from the neck down to the hem at the bottom.

"So...what do you think?" She said.

"Honestly?...it looks awesome."

"Really?! You like it?!!!"

"Yeah, its great! I love the bolt, that's your flare right there. And all the bad guys are gonna know it. The trim is good detail too. It really-"

Sam was cut off when Kamala ran, literally ran, right into him and enveloped him in a big hug. She even went a little farther by wrapping her arms around both of them, making the hug tighter and more meaningful...well, meaningful for her that is.

"Thank you, Sam." She said, almost ready to cry tears of joy, "I really appreciate your hype and support. You're the best."

As if hearing that wasn't enough to make Sam feel like a hero, it was amplified by a kiss on the cheek by Kamala. And with that kiss, Sam was back out in space. Floating happily thanks to his crush -- thanks to KAMALA.

Coming back to earth, Sam leaned his head onto hers and enjoyed the hug. And not just because he couldn't move his hands, but also because he genuinely cared for this girl. More than just feelings-wise.

"No problem, Kamala. I'm happy too. You deserve it, all the support."

Hearing that from Sam, and having him in her arms, Kamala felt safe and at home. She smiled and let her joyful tears fall, all because she was happy here.

By the time Jamie got back, it was already dark. The time was 8:17 PM so things were probably winding down. He parked his bike in the garage and headed inside with his backpack in tow.

As he entered, he made his way to the kitchen and could hear voices talking. It was Nikki and Peter.

"I think she'll love it, Peter."

"Ya think so? I hope it's good enough."

"Trust me, she'll love it. Just like you."

Peter's eyes went wide and red came to his cheeks.

"'Just like me' what?"

Nikki laughed at her "big brother"'s reaction. "Peter, she likes you."

"WHAT?!"

"Who likes who?" Jamie interjected as he walked in joining them. Peter and Nikki looked to him as he stepped up to the kitchen island where they were.

"No one! Nothing" Peter exclaimed, trying to get off topic quickly. "Where have you been?" 

"Went on a ride to the Smithsonian. What's going on here?"

Peter was about to object, but Nikki cut him off. "Peter made a suit for Ava and they've got a crush on each other."

"NIKKI!" Peter couldn't believe she just fired that out there. With no shame, she just said it plainly. Nikki just looked at him with a smirk and a shrug of the shoulders.

"Oh really?"

Jamie was intrigued by this. Though he already suspected something when Peter chose to go to Brazil to recruit Ava instead of him, he was still surprised at hearing the confirmation of it now. "That actually explains a few things."

"Oh boy."

"Don't feel bad, Peter." Nikki told him, "Like I said, she likes you too." 

Though Peter found it somewhat hard to believe, it did make him a little more confident to hear it. Huffing lightly, he nodded at his little sister's reassurance. "Well, I just hope she like this."

"I'm sure she will, Pete." Jamie added, encouraging his big brother.

Grateful for their words, Peter smiled. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it." With that, he picked up the box and headed out of the kitchen. "You guys sleep well. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, bro." "Night, Peter. You too."

And with that, it was just the two of them.

"Well, well," Jamie started, "our big brother's got a crush."

"I know, right! Crazy!"

"Yeah. How bout you, you seem to be doing a lot better."

"I am actually. Not as many panic attacks, so that's good."

"Yeah, it is." Jamie nodded, truly happy for his sister. "You know, if Mom and Dad were here, I think they'd be proud of how you're doing. Keeping on despite your... your-"

"Nervous breakdowns?"

"Yeah..."

"Thanks, Jamie." Nikki bumped his shoulder with hers. "But if they were here, I think they'd be more proud of you and who you've become."

"Heh. Well, I would hope so. And hey, if this thing goes well tomorrow...maybe they will be."

Jamie's words, the weight they carried, it normally would have brought Nikki's anxiety up. But this time it didn't. Instead, it filled her with hope and gave her a more open, positive view on it.

This made her half-smile and bob her head a little. "Yeah...maybe."

Hearing that positive agreement from her, Jamie smiled as well.

With that, Nikki picked up her sandwich and mug with one hand and side hugged Jamie.

"Well, GN bro. See you in the morning."

"Night, Nikki." He hugged her back.

And with that, the two parted ways and headed to their rooms for the night.

On the way to his room, Jamie passed by Torunn's and noticed her door was ajar. He paused and peeked in and noticed the TV in her room on and saw his crush watching on the floor on a sleeping bag.

From what he could tell, she was really enjoying the movie. Part of him really wanted to watch with her, but that was granted with what happened next.

"Jamie, can you come in and close the door behind you please?" She called to him, not looking away from the TV.

Jamie's breath hitched in his throat at that. How did she know he was there? Freaky. Not that he had room to talk since he was somewhat spying on her earlier.

Obeying her request, he entered the room and quietly closed the door behind him. Torunn looked to him as he did and smiled at him.

"Wanna watch with me?" She asked him.

With the nervous feeling still there, Jamie put his best chill face on and nodded. "Sure. If you don't mind the company."

"If it's you, never."

So Jamie went and sat on the floor next to her at the foot of her bed and looked to the movie playing on the screen.

"So what're we watching?"

"In The Heart Of The Sea."

"Isn't it that whale movie with Chris Hemsworth?"

"Yep!"

"Alright, cool!"

A little later into the movie, Jamie became invested. More than that, he noticed something.

"You know, I just realized...Owen looks a lot like Uncle Thor."

Torunn scrunched her eyebrows at that. "What? Nooo!"

"Are you serious? He looks just like him!"

"Nah, Dad's way taller and WAY more muscular than him. Now that kid, Thomas? He looks like Peter."

"Ok you're just doing what I did now. That kid is no where near to Pete. I mean, maybe, somewhere in the eyes or the cheek, but other than that, I don't really see it."

The two lovebirds laughed over that before going back to the movie.

After it finished, Torunn thanked Jamie. "Thanks for watching with me."

"It was fun, thanks for asking me to stay."

Torunn smiled at that and the two stared at each other for a while before feeling a certain pull. Like something deep down inside of them was calling them to do it.

Deciding to go with it, the two slowly started to lean in. Their nerves were both rattling but they kept coming closer to one another. Until finally, they met I the middle and their lips locked for the first time.

The moment they connected, they felt a spark between their lips. Of course, that could've been from Torunn, but it didn't change anything. In this moment, Jamie and Torunn felt their hearts soar as their lips shifted against the other's.

Soon, the time came for them to separate for air. They broke the kiss and leaned their foreheads together, breathing heavily for the air that left them during that special moment.

As they did, they caught one another's eyes and the blushes and smiled couldn't be stopped.

"T-Tori?" Jamie called her.

"Yes?" She replied after a moment, still trying to catch her breath.

"Do you think that uh...maybe when this is all over, we could...do something together?" He blushed.

The Asgardian princess laughed at his shyness, even though she had a considerable amount as well. But she nodded and petted the side of Jamie's head. "Yes. I'd love to 'do something' with you."

"Really?"

"Yes! I'd love to, Jamie."

The redhead smiled at her and she did sweetly back to him. And from that, they leaned their foreheads against each other once more and stayed there. They didn't plan to, but they ended up falling asleep in that position for the rest of the night. Similar to how they shared a sleeping bag as kids, but it was different now. There was more meaning behind it now, more feeling.

And like their strength and their bond, that feeling was super strong.

IT'S OKAY TO BE SOFT(PETER/AVA)

After almost an hour of procrastinating, Peter finally worked up enough nerve to knock on Ava's door.

He stood there, his nerves going off the charts. The last time he was nervous for something like this was with Liz before homecoming. But this was different. Ava was different. She was a superhero like him and he would have to hide that. He wouldn't have to worry about her getting hurt if.....well, he'd still worry because he cared for her. That's only natural. But still, he didn't have to hide from her. That made it all the more special. This gave him some hope.

But that hope seem to run when he heard the knob jiggle and the door opened.

Upon seeing Peter, the latina smiled. "Hey Peter, what's up?"

"He-Hey, Ava," He gulped before speaking. "I uh, I brought you something. It's something for tomorrow."

He held the box out for her and Ava, surprised as she was, smiled and took the box. Bringing it into her room and setting it on the bed, she opened it and couldn't believe her eyes. Her jaw dropped and she covered her mouth in awe.

"Oh my gosh! Peter!" She exclaimed with excitement.

"I just wanted you to have a little more protection out there and I figured a minor upgrade would help."

"A minor upgrade? This is TOP NOTCH! I can't believe it!"

"So, you like it then?"

"I LOVE it! Thank you, Peter." And with that, she hugged him tightly.

It took Peter by surprise, but he was comfortable with hugging her back. "Any time, Ava. Any time." He replied, holding her in that embrace.

They held that hug for a while before letting go halfway to where they were still holding one another.

They stared at each other with smiles and Peter could feel his heart beating like a jet engine on his ribcage.

And Ava had chills as she felt Peter this close to her.

Not wanting to make it weird, Peter slowly let go of her and backed away.

"Well uh...I guess I..better go. Let you rest for tomorrow."

Though she was a little sad he backed away, Ava nodded and played along. "Yeah, I...I better hit the hay myself."

Peter nodded back and began to walk out before he stopped. He mentally slapped himself for stopping that earlier. Why did he? Nerves. Fear. Those were what held him back, but they also protected him to a degree. But he'd never know if he didn't try.

Mustering up some courage, Peter turned back around and looked to Ava with confidence.

"Ava....I like you."

Boom! It was out there. He'd actually said it.

Ava's eyes went wide as saucers at hearing that. Did he really just tell her that? "Y-..you do?"

Peter nodded, confirming it even more.

Now all there was was to brace himself for the reaction from Ava.

Said Latina was dumbfounded by Peter's confession just now and found herself at a loss for words. But the joy of hearing him actually say it moved her to smile and breathlessly reply, "...I like you too...Peter."

Now it was Peter's turn to shocked. He just confessed his feelings to this beautiful warrior girl and she had just confirmed that she reciprocated them. It was unbelievable! Great, but still unbelievable.

Unable to speak because of overloaded joy, Peter nodded and began to walk out with the biggest smile ever.

"Night, Ava." Peter called to her before she walked to the doorway of her room.

She watched him as he walked out into the hall, even stepping out a little and smiled once again. "Good night, Peter!" She replied, and then she went into her room.

As the door closed, Peter blushed up a storm as he began to walk down the hall and got down about three doors before turning and walking back to the door.

But before he could knock, it opened and there was Ava with a determined look on her face.

She reached over and grabbed Peter's face before pulling him in to peck his lips with hers.

Letting go of his face, Ava giggled before backing away. "See you tomorrow, Petey!"

She then smiled giddily and closed the door, leaving Peter there in a dazed state. 

But that dazed state didn't last long as he clapped his hands, ran up the wall and did a backflip onto the floor in a stance. This was a great night. That had just made his night.

"Thanks a lot, Nikki."

He'd never doubt his little sister again.

As he walked on to his room, Peter's mind drifted from Nikki's support to the whole group in general. Over the past week, they had bonded with each other so quickly, despite some disputes, and had made a family together. And now, they'd be doing something potentially dangerous tomorrow.

That worried Peter. He worried for their safety, more than his own. Then he wondered, what if something happened to him? Or any of them! He didn't want to leave them feeling down and out and not continue on if something happened to him.

Granted, he was hoping nothing would happen, but you never could tell. You could just hope for the best and do your best...

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

With his mind set, Peter went to his room to finish one final task. Something he needed to do for the team. Just in case.

Chapter Text

The next morning came and just as the ones before that, the group came together for breakfast. It was a lot easier and more comfortable for them compared to when they first arrived.

The conversations were full of laughter, trust, and compliments. This made Peter and Jamie happy to see. They're team had become more than just friends, they had become almost like a...a family. And they all knew it.

After breakfast, the team had all moved to the living room and chilled as their food digested. They were all doing something either with someone or just sitting alone. Nikki was reading a book, as per usual. Peter and Ava shared a love seat as they watched a movie Peter suggested to her. On another couch was Frankie laying his back, catching a few more Z's and Kate was writing something in her journal.

Riri was working on something on a holo-tablet, something she was obviously invested in. Harley was writing a letter to his little sister.

Unlike the others, Azari sat calmly and quietly and meditated with music while Maddie and Viv played a friendly game of Chinese Checkers. And Sam watched YouTube on his phone while Kamala sat next to him with a comic book.

And Torunn was leaning on Jamie's shoulder, who was looking at something on his laptop. A little later, though, Torunn got up to got to the bathroom. On coming back, she saw PJ sitting alone on the steps in the living room and noticed he was listening to something on his phone.

Truthfully, she had grown to love the kid like a little brother, crazy as he might be. But she did like him and saw him as a good friend. So with that, she decided to interact a little with the Lang preteen.

"What're you listening to, PJ" She asked, sitting down next to him.