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0=change focus to a different character
00=scene change (no matter how big or small)
000=timeskip
F000=this means that we move back to the next avengers time.
P000= No this is not poo. it's moving back to the past.
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Chapter 6: The Age of Tony Stark Part 1
Hawk perched himself on a tall building that had perfect view of Avengers Tower, keeping an eye out for the heroes. Rogue was inside the tower, stealing from Jarvis' database everything they had on the infinity stones. Of course with the advanced tech he had curtesy of Ultron, Jarvis had no idea he was doing this.
"Come on come on! Work faster," he whispered. The Avengers could be back any minute and the last thing he needed was to get caught.
"Rogue you better hurry up. You're about to have company," Hawks voice came through the com. Rogue cursed quietly in his head and hurriedly scanned the area.
"I'm almost done!" He said.
00
Hulk laid Tony's suit of armor down on the lab table so Jarvis could scan it. The other Avengers stood around him, Cap at his head. The arch reactor looked like it had some kind of hole or pebble in it.
"The armor is perfectly functional sir, but it doesn't recognize your specific body signature. It thinks someone else is in the armor," Jarvis informed Tony after he finished scanning.
"Who does it think I am?" Tony said, obviously very annoyed. His voice sounded...different however. "Get it off me! I'm so done with this!" Cap raised an eyebrow at this strange behavior.
"Aren't you being a little impatient?" Cap asked suspiciously.
"You get trapped in a tin can and we'll see how patient you are," Tony snapped, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Hulk! Faceplate. Off. Now."
"It's gonna get crushed," Hulk warned.
"I don't care just get it off me!" Tony said, clearly miffed. Hulk shrugged and tore the faceplate off before crushing it in his hand with a satisfied smirk on his face and a laugh.
"Tony's beard!" Thor said in both awe and shock when he, as well as the others, saw Tony's face. Jarvis used a mirror to show him what he looked like.
"Worst. Day. Ever," was his response.
"It appears you have reversed age into a teenager sir," Jarvis pointed out the obvious.
"I have eyes Jarvis."
"You wanted to know why the armor didn't recognize you. It was designed for an adult Tony Stark," Jarvis' explanation was cut off when the glow in Tonys arch reactor got brighter and seemed to explode out of him. Everyone covered their eyes for protection. Once the glow faded, another surprise could be seen. Tony was even younger now.
"What's causing these shifts?" Cap wondered out loud and looked at Falcon for answers.
"His arch reactor is attached to his heart. Maybe heart rate triggers it," Falcon suggested.
"Not worried about the why guys! Worried about the how do I stop this? These time shifts have to end before I-" Tony looked in the mirror again. "Is that a zit?!"
"Every time that stone deages you the temporal waves draw in stuff from other eras," Falcon said as he looked at the screen.
"What kind of stuff?" Hawkeye asked cautiously, unsure if he wanted to know or not. A security video Jarvis had pulled up suddenly showed three Tyrannosaurus Rex's in the middle of New York chasing people.
"Oo! T-Rex!" Hulk said excitedly before running out. Hawkeye sighed.
"Okay maybe this is worse than Grade school," he admitted before following with Widow, Falcon, and Thor.
00
Rogue was hiding in the vent system once again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately, but it paid off. He had seen and heard everything.
"Hey Hawk, I think we've got the perfect chance here," he whispered into his communicator, a satisfied grin on his face.
00
"You sure this'll work?" Hawk asked, doubting his leaders abilities. There was a pause on the other end of their communications and he took this time to watch the T-Rex's wreak havoc on the city below. A T-Rex roared at a tour bus, obviously about to eat the people on it. An urge pulled in his mind. It was the urge to help, no, to save those people and one he was unfamiliar with.
"It has to," Rogues voice broke through his thoughts before he could crack where this urge came from. Hawk shook his head and stood up from his crouched position, watching as an arrow release a rope that wrapped around the T-Rex's mouth, preventing the animals feast. "Just keep them busy."
"You're the boss," he said, bringing out his old homemade bow and arrows.
00
Rogue took out the vent cover in the prison room and looked around before dropping down and landing as quietly as he could, drawing the attention of the Red Skull who was still pacing around in an insane manner.
"Hey Skull," Rogue said with a smirk as he walked up to the cage that held the man with no brain. "Wanna get out of here?"
00
Hawkeye landed on the tour bus and took out another arrow.
"Welcome to New York Ladies and Gentlemen! Arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times if you wanna keep them," he quipped and fired another arrow at a second T-Rex headed for the tour bus. It exploded in its face. "Dino's like fire right?"
"Not as much as hammer!" Thor exclaimed as he flew up, hitting the same T-rex with said item twice, knocking it over the bus and making it hit the other one.
"Show off," Hawkeye mumbled.
Hawk was above them, aiming his arrow at Thor. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the triceratops running ramped. One ran towards a bus full of kids. His eyes widened and before he could stop himself he aimed the arrow at the dinosaur.
"Avengers, herd them to midtown. Create a perimeter!" Cap ordered over their coms. Hulk grabbed the Triceratops tail before it could hit the bus and threw it in the opposite direction, wiping off his hands when he did. A T-Rex walked up behind Hulk and roared at him when he turned around. The big green wiped the slobber off his face and roared back. The T-Rex turned and ran as if he were a chicken instead of a deadly carnivore. Falcon landed in front of Hulk right after this happened. Hawk had snapped out of his strange stupor by this time and moved his aim to focus of the winged avenger as he spoke to the big green.
"Wow that was impressive," Sam admitted.
"Speaks my language," Hulk responded, pointing to himself. Black widow whizzed behind them in her flying car, a T-Rex following her.
"I'll help her," Falcon said and started flying up. However, an exploding arrow hit him in his shoulder mid-flight and forced him to the ground.
Hulk quickly looked up and saw Hawk just as he moved back.
00
Javis helped Tony get the last of his armor off while Cap watched the other Avengers fight the dinosaurs.
"Thor six o'clock," Cap warned the Asgardian. Said person used his hammer to stop a T-Rex from eating him.
"I so enjoy this," He said with a laugh before punching the dinosaur and withdrawing his hand and hammer from its' mouth.
"There's more at stake than bashing dinosaurs," Cap reminded him before making the holographic screen disappear.
"I don't need a baby sitter Cap. I'm still brilliant even if I'm a teenager," Tony said with arrogance as he tapped the armored glove in his hand a few times.
"I'm not baby sitting. I'm here to help," Cap said as he approached the teenage Stark.
"Don't need it," Tony insisted, moving the glove to his other hand, ready to put it on. "Watch this."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Cap asked suspiciously.
"Yes!.. Maybe. I've never had a time stone stuck in my chest before, but whatever. Here we go!" Tony answered and stuck his hand inside before Cap could do anything. Not even seconds later Tony was on the ground from being shocked by the glove. "WHY'D YOU LET ME DO THAT?!" He snapped at Cap immediately after regaining his senses.
"I tried to warn you but-"
"Don't act like my dad!" Tony cut Cap off as he stood. "He thought you were so awesome that I should just be like you. Guess what! I'm not the great Captain America-" Another time blast resounded from his chest, turning him into an 8 year old boy in clothes way to big for him that somehow stayed on. Cap looked at him in amazement. He had previously thought that letting Tony vent like that was a good idea, but obviously he had been wrong. He found himself half mindlessly walking towards the young boy.
"I need your help Cap," Tony admitted after getting over his initial shock. His voice was living proof that he was to young to have reached puberty yet.
0
Rogue smirked to himself, once again in the vent system. "That was easier than I thought," he mumbled proudly. He had come there to get Tony's heart rate up so it'd be easier to take him down, but it looks like the billionaire had managed to do that for him. "Phase 1 complete." If Jacosta's calculations were correct then Cap should soon find a surprise in the prison room.
00
Widow flew around a T-Rex that was chasing a father and his daughters to gain its' attention.
"Hey you! This way!" She yelled for good measure. It worked. The T-Rex was right behind her and nearly bit off the back of her hover bike. "Time to re-introduce you to some old friends," she said as two Tric's emerged ahead. She fired a grappling hook that allowed her to get out of the way in time, forcing the three dinosaurs to collide with each other. Hawkeye ran out at the same time and fired an arrow at them, releasing a foam that effectively trapped them.
"Taking down dinosaurs-Master," He said cockily as Widow steered her bike up behind him. Another flash caught their attention before she could make a comment.
"What now?" Natasha asked, her voice portraying annoyance, as robots landed all over the streets and rooftops of New York.
"Time Stream disruption detected. Primary objective-destroy," one robot said after scanning the area.
"Thoughts on deadly robots from the future?" She asked Clint.
"Always up for something new," He replied and they fist bumped before charging into battle.
00
Pym didn't know what had happened. One minute he was panicking and about to get shot, the next minute he was panicking and falling out of the sky. It took him a minute to remember he could fly and quickly shrunk down so as not to go splat on the concrete. Then it took another minute for him to remember that he hadn't been alone. Looking down he saw Azari was dangerously close to hitting the ground.
"No!" He yelled and dove for him, even though he was to small to hold Azari and him.
0
Hawk had moved to another rooftop, looking for a better aim on the Avengers below and hoping Hulk hadn't seen him after he had hit Falcon. "No!" A small voice yelling barely caught his attention. He turned to see where it came from and saw a little yellow light going downward after... His eyes went wide and suddenly turned brown. He shot an arrow with a rope tied to it at the lowest building that was nearest to the falling person and used it to slide down toward them. He barely caught the edge of the obviously injured African boy's shirt and got them both to safety. The yellow dot paused a second and then followed him. He saw he was about to hit a window and quickly turned around so that he would take most of the damage. He felt himself hit the glass. He felt it shatter around him and he positioned himself in the air so that when he landed, neither of them would hopefully land on it. Then Hawk hit the floor and felt pain explode in his right arm. It wasn't unbearable pain, because he had already been through that, but it was enough to make him grunt and grit his teeth. An 'oof!' sounded with a thud and caused him to look at the African boy. He had his eyes closed for a minute, but when he opened them...
"Hawkeye?" He said in both bewilderment and happiness. The brown eyed archers brows furrowed at the name, a headache coming on.
"Azari? W-what's going on?" he asked, looking around at the glass and feeling the throb in his shoulder.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Azari said in a quiet and hoarse voice as he pushed himself up. Hawk, or Hawkeye, as he was just called, sat up with one arm, hugging the other one to his chest. He grunted, but managed to get to his knees. He had taken most of the damage when saving Azari. Saving Azari... Why had he done that? Wait, why was he questioning why he did it? Azari was his family! He had to do it. The yellow dot flew in and stopped mid air. Hawk turned his head to look at the boy as he grew to the size of a normal person.
"Hawkeye? Is that you?" Pym asked in amazement. Hawk gave a small smile.
"Yup, every pained inch of me," he said. Pym got a grin on his face and he helped the Archer up, who in turn helped Azari up while Pym supported him again. "What are you doing here? Have you been here the whole time?" Hawk listened to the youngest question as he walked over to the wall. He positioned his arm before slamming it into the wall, knocking it back into place with a few pain filled choice words.
"Wish I could answer those Pym," He grunted out, messaging his arm. "But I don't know myself." They looked at him in more bewilderment.
"What do you mean?" Pym asked, partially afraid of the answer.
"I mean I don't remember. The most I can remember is...is that mission where I got ambushed and then it's as blank as a clean sheet of paper," Hawk said, scratching his head now. It was pounding slightly. Azari winced as the memory of that place came back, starting when Francis had first arrived. Pym opened his mouth to pry further, but was interrupted by a loud crash that caused the building to shake. They barely managed to maintain balance, Pym finding it harder as he was keeping balance for two. The young archer looked out the broken window and saw that a triceratops had run into the building.
"What the heck? Is that a dinosaur?!" He said bewilderment. An image flashed across his head of a triceratops and t-Rex clashing on the street. He shook his head and looked beyond the dinosaur and saw none other than the Hulk. A much younger Hulk than he knew... And he looked mad. Hawk backed away from the window, getting the feeling that this place wasn't safe and turned to Pym. "We should run."
0
Torunn was just slashing through one of the robots when the orange light pulse had sucked her through. She felt her senses spin and her grip on her sword tightened. She saw colors explode around her and suddenly felt wind whirling around her. Was she...falling? She forced herself to focus and managed to pull up before she could hit the ground. Gravity caused the robot her sword was stuck in to be ripped apart by her sudden flight up. She took several deep breaths and looked around. She had no idea where she was.
Hawkeye took down a robot with an explosive arrow and smirked. "Another one bites the dust," he said. He jerked and whirled around when a large half robot hit the car beside him. He jumped again when the other half hit the ground way to close to him. He stared at it a minute and looked up. He was surprised to see a blond haired girl wearing armor. She was looking around like she didn't know where she was. He found his eyes drawn to the sword. It had the same symbol that Thors hammer did. He narrowed his eyes at it. Who was she?
"Hawkeye! Look out!" Widows voice came as she aimed to fire at the robot aiming at him. Torunn snapped her head down. Before either Avenger could react she had sliced the robot in half, saving the archers life. She stood there a moment, glaring at the robot peices. Widow looked her with a raised eyebrow. "Thanks for the help." She looked up from the robot and smiled.
"Of course, anything to help rid the world of these robots," Torunn said, looking down at said robot in disgust before back up at Widow.
James really does look like her...
"Torrun!" Hawk yelled as he ran towards her. She immediately recognized the voice and turned to him.
"Francis!" She said, joy lighting up her eyes as she easily abandoned the two Avengers. They watched her with suspicion when she hugged the boy. Both noted the quiver full of arrows on his back. Torunn hugged Francis, practically raising him off the ground. He was a little surprised but otherwise smiled and slowly hugged her back. "You're here! I can't believe it! We've been looking everywhere! After that stealth mission and Azari I-I...I'm glad your okay."
"I'm not going to be okay for long," Francis said. Torunn pulled out of the hug and gave him a look that said 'what did you do?'. Her silent question was answered by a rawr sounding from around the corner. A moment later Hulk came barreling round it, angry. Torunn looked at Francis and then at Hulk before sighing.
"Boys," she mumbled, shaking her head. Hulk spotted Hawk and ran towards him. Francis, on instinct, grabbed her arm and started running.
"Come on!" He said. He hadn't even noticed that Hawkeye and Widow were staring at them with raised eyebrows or that Hawkeye was even there. The two Avengers however soon became preoccupied with keeping the robots and dinosaurs at bay.
00
Pym gently laid Azari down to let him rest from the hard track up to the roof of one of the buildings. Both were winded but Azari was more so than Pym. Now that he was in a relatively safe place he could take a look around them. His eyes widened at what he saw. The whole city... It looked as if Ultron had never touched it.
"Wow... Azari look at this place!" Pym said in amazement. He received no answer and looked down at his African brother. His eyes were closed. "Azari? Azari!" He said, trying to wake him up, to no avail. Panicking, he checked for breathing and a pulse, relieved when he found one. It seems that Azari had simply passed out. Pym didn't blame him. He's had a rough year.
00
Torunn flew up and out of the way as Hulk tried to grab Hawk. She swerved a moment to avoid another swiped and flew as quickly as she could to the nearest building rooftop.
"What did you do to piss him off so much?" Torunn asked the white haired boy as she sat him down. Francis rubbed the back of his pounding head and shrugged.
"I wish I knew..." He said, trying to concentrate and remember. Hulk reached the building they were at and jumped up to them. When he landed Torunn stepped between the big green and Hawk after gaining her balance back. Hawk was rubbing his head by this time, the pounding getting worse.
"You will not harm him!" Torunn said firmly as she held up her sword.
"He hurt my friend!" Hulk said, pointing his finger and Hawk accusingly.
"What? No I-I didn't-gah!" Francis clutched his head with both hands, the pounding worsening by the second. Torren looked at him in worry and Hulk in slight confusion.
"Francis, what's wrong?" She asked and Hulk watched him with uneasy eyes.
"I-I don't know! Gah! Damn it! My head feels like it's on fire!" Francis said, his voice portraying how much pain he was in. Hulk stared at him a moment and opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by a quick whistle from above them. Torren and Hulk looked up while Francis tried to. The knight himself, Iron Man, was just flying down to them in black and red armor.
"It's okay big green, I'll take care of these two. You need to help the others with the Dino's and robots," Iron Man said. Hulk looked him up and down suspiciously.
"You fixed your armor?" He said, knowing Tony was supposed to be a teenager with armor problems.
"Actually I'm remote controlling it from the tower. Now go...smash things or something?" Iron Man said, hoping Hulk would listen. The big green didn't seem to buy it, but after a few moment leapt off the building to find more dinosaurs. Iron Man sighed with relief and turned to the kids, his face plate coming up.
"I thought he'd never leave," the white haired Tony Stark said, his voice no longer sounding like his past self.
"Tony!" Torunn said, glad their guardian was there. Tony looked relieved to see her.
"I'm glad you're alright Torunn," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Have you seen Azari and Pym?" She shook her head.
"No, the first person I saw that I knew was Hawkeye," she said and then realized that she hadn't told Tony that yet and remembered what had happened to Francis moments earlier. She quickly looked behind her at the white haired archer and saw that he had collapsed to his knees and was clutching his head. Torren knelt by him, concern taking over the features on both their faces. "Hawkeye what's wrong?" She asked as Tony tried to scan him. Francis didn't answer, he was too busy fighting off this pain as a feeling of dread overcame him. She reached out to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he suddenly and swiftly pushed her hand back, eyes wide as he looked at them.
"N-no. Stay back please!" He begged, just knowing that if they got close something bad would happen. Torunn gave him a concerned look. This wasn't the way the Hawkeye she knew acted.
"Francis..."
"No!" Hawk shouted, standing up suddenly. "Just stay away!" He yelled at them and immediately jumped to the next building.
"Hawkeye!" Torunn yelled, but he continued running. Future Tony put a hand on her shoulder after recovering from the initial shock of the outburst.
"Go after him but be careful. I don't think he said that because he was scared of us," he warned her. Torunn looked in the direction Hawk went in worry but nodded, determining to help her brother. She flew into the air and after the white haired archer. Future Tony watched her a minute before bringing his mask down and flying off himself to find Pym and Azari.
00
A young girl about 15 years of age was lying on a rooftop and seemed to be unconscious. She had very tan, almost brown, skin. Her black hair was long and spread out around her head, red highlights poking through. She had on a blue tank top and pants that had little red stains on them. She was also strangely barefoot. However, the most stunning thing about her was the large metal wings sticking out from her back and lying almost as if they were a random piece of art and not a mechanical device.
A slight breeze blew some of her hair, causing it to tickle her face a little. Almost as if the wind was saying get up young one, it's time to join me in the air. She groaned softly and opened her eyes, revealing their sky blue color. She was dazed and laid there a moment more before pushing herself up.
Confusion lit up her eyes as she looked at her surrounding areas. "What-am I dreaming?" She muttered out loud, staring at the city in awe and wonder. The joy that lit up her face was indescribable. She stood up, folding her mechanical wings in, and closed her eyes. She was taking in the feeling of the sun on her skin and the gentle breeze that swayed her hair. She opened her eyes again and a smile found a way onto her face.
"I'm...outside..." She said slowly, letting the sentence sink in. Then she started laughing, full of joy. "I'm outside!" She exclaimed, leaping up in the air and spreading her wings, activating the flight power in them. "Wahoooo!" She shouted as she flew up to the clouds, enjoying every second that she was in the air-the real air. She let herself go as high as she could before tucking her wings in, allowing herself to fall back. As she got close to the ground she squinted against the wind rushing around her. She saw the chaos now. The dinosaurs running wild. She saw the robots trying to do harm...robots that she recognized. One was going towards a child and her mother. On instinct she opened her wings, pulling herself up before making them fire projectiles at the robot, causing it to spark and fall over. She looked surprised that that worked as she hovered and the mother and daughter ran.
"I better find Viral," she muttered after thinking and flew off to find said mystery person.
00
A girl looking to be about 16 years of age was lying smack dab in the middle of the street, unconscious, and completely unaware of the chaos going on around her. Her brown short hair fell gently around her relaxed face. Her tan skin gave her a slight glow, offset by the worn out blue shirt and pants she was wearing. They were almost like something someone in a mental ward would wear but different. A black glove that covered her right hand extended all the way up to just passed where her sleeve ends and she was barefoot.
One of the avengers, Falcon, was running up to her since he was having a little trouble flying due to the explosive arrow that had hit his pack. He had seen her after putting a few of his feather shards into a robot and had feared that she had been injured.
"Hey are you okay?" He asked as he knelt down on one knee to examine her. She was breathing and she had a pulse so she was just unconscious, but something seemed different...
"Back away from the human," a robot said drawing his attention upwards. It had its guns pointed at him. "Cease your position and back away." Falcon kept a steady eye on it and slowly let a shard grow at the palm of his hand and grabbed it.
"Why should I?" He asked, both curious and trying to take it off guard, if robots even have guards.
"She must be protected from humans. She is to be the next," it answered, gun powering up slightly, trying to threaten him.
"The next what?" he asked, pushing in pure curiosity now. Neither the robot nor the Avenger noticed the girl open her brown eyes a crack. She had been listening to both and only just now decided to open her eyes. She was disoriented, but she understood enough.
"She is to be the next-" the robot stopped in its speaking as the girl suddenly turned over from, being on her side, and grab it's legs. Blue lines spread from the top of the glove, down her arm, and across the robot. Flacon watched in amazement as he let the shard he was holding go back into its slot. The robot began to shake. She sat up and looked at Sam. He could've sworn that a glow was leaving her right eye, but within a millisecond it looked normal so he brushed it off.
"We need to run...now!" She said and stood up, currently keeping her disorientation back with adrenaline in her system. She grabbed Falcons arm and ran away from the robot, pulling him with her. He nearly a stumbled a moment but managed to keep up with her none the less. The robot self destructed once they were far enough away and he had to shield himself from the heat. "That was close," she said, leaning against the building by them as the adrenaline drained. He turned to her.
"How did you do that?" He asked one of the many questions on his mind. She looked at him, her eyes slightly unfocused.
"I'm a...sort of a hacker. I have the ability to invade and overwrite a computers programming just by touching the computer and thinking about it," she answered, rubbing her head a moment.
"You okay?" Sam asked, seeing that she didn't seem well. She smiled at him.
"I'll be fine," She answered and looked around at the buildings and the sky. "So this is what the outside looks like huh? It's ni-no-nick-niece-" she hit herself in the side of her head and Falcon could've sworn he heard rattling come from it, but pushing it aside as that sounded absurd. "Nice!" she finally got out.
"Yeah I guess. Haven't you been outside before?" He questioned. She shook her head and looked at him again. The expression on her face changed.
"Look out!" She shouted as she jumped over him. She put her hand on the robot that was just about to shoot Sam and the lines spread once again. Only this time when she let it go it turned around and started firing at two other robots that were there. She turned to Falcon. "Can you fly with those wings?" she asked quickly.
"No, someone hit them with an exploding arrow earlier," Sam answered.
"I can fix that. For now we need to run," She said and ran by him. He looked at the robots and decided it'd be best to follow her.
00
"Pym! Azari! There you two are. Are you alright?" Future Tony asked as he landed on the roof, drawing their attention to him. Pym's face lit up.
"Tony! You're here!" He said happily, hugging the man clad in iron. Future Tony smiled slightly and patted Pym on the back before the young teen withdrew. He looked over at Azari.
"Is he alright?" He asked as he had Jocasta scan the sleeping boy.
"Yeah, he's just sleeping. Oh hey! We found Hawkeye!" Pym said, his eyes lighting up. The white haired man nodded.
"I know. I found him and Torunn before coming to find you two. He had a...problem. Torunn's dealing with it," he said, looking at the young boy as he tried to mask his worry. Pym didn't buy it though.
"What's wrong?" The young boy asked, concerned for their friend. He didn't want to have found Francis only to lose him again immediately after. However, he didn't know that he had already lost the archer.
"Nothing, I'm sure he'll be fine," Future Tony assured, though it was partially for himself. He switched topics as he looked from Azari and back to Pym. "Pym, where did you find Hawkeye?" He asked, a possibility slowly coming to him. Pym pointed down at the roof they were standing on.
"I found him in there. I had been trying to catch Azari because he was falling, but I wasn't fast enough. When out of nowhere an arrow whizzed by. Next thing I know I see a white blur go by that had Azari. They crashed into a window in there. When I flew in Azari was alright and Hawkeye was on the floor. He saved Azari," Pym explained. Tony started thinking on this before a vague memory came to him. He remembered a red haired boy from ages ago in the tower. This image was gone after a moment and it left a headache, but it gave him an idea.
"Pym, I need you to do something," he said, looking at the small boy. He looked confused.
"What?" He asked, wondering what the old man could need.
"Go fly around and see if you can find James. If Hawkeye was here then it stands to Reason that James is too. Check the tower first, there may be something there," The white haired man said and added in his mind 'and hopefully James is in better shape than Francis.' Pym nodded and shrunk down, flying off but not without a worried glance back at his guardian and teammate.
00
Hulk was holding two Triceritops at arms length to keep them from causing more havoc when he saw the robots marching in line. He looked at both the triceratops and smirked. Taking both by the bone that gives their skull its shape, he ran at the robots and threw both dinosaurs. The bowled over the robots like they were nothing.
"I really need to go bowling again," Hulk said with a satisfied grin. He was soon distracted however when he heard a robotic voice next to him.
"Maestro detected. Eliminate," one of three robots said, their guns charged up. They started firing at the big green. The lasers didn't affect him, but they did push him back. He protected his face with his arms as he backed up to a turned over and empty bus. Thor was flying above and saw the scene. He began swinging mjulnir around, summoning lightning.
"No matter what era they are from everyone fears lightning!" the asguardian exclaimed, sending the lighting at the robots, causing them to explode. Thor then got distracted by other robots on a nearby roof firing at him. He flew away to escape being hit by the lasers, and circled in front of the tower as he tried not to get hit.
"Uh Thor! Lead them away from the building!" Cap said over coms.
"That is a superior plan!" Thor agreed, flying away from avengers tower.
00
"Oh man, I need to get back out there," Falcon said as he watched the Avengers fight from the of the warehouse the strange girl had had them hide in. The city was being attacked and he was stuck in here while his wings are being fixed by a girl he barely knows.
"Yeah well, I almost got your wings fixed so sit still will ya?" she said, obviously annoyed with his fidgeting. It was hard enough to work under the pressure of the possibility of a dinosaur crashing through the wall and nearly killing them. Falcon sighed and held as still as best he could. A few moments passed before Falcon decided to make small talk.
"So what's your name?" he asked awkwardly.
"Viral," She answered simply, looking up for a second. "Man this stuff is old school," she muttered as she worked. Falcon was confused by this.
"Old school? This is the latest from Tony Stark himself!" he said in surprise. She shook her head.
"Who?" This was a real surprise. She said she hadn't been outside before but he didn't think she was completely cut off from the world.
"Tony Stark? Billionaire playboy philanthropist? Kinda a show boat?" Sam described. Viral shook her head.
"Wow, how is that possible?" He questioned. Viral paused a moment and swallowed hard as a flashback hit her. She shook her head to clear it.
"I've never been outside before remember? I've been completely cut off from the world for pract-t-t-tically my whole life," She said, her voice cracking and sounding like a broken speaker for a minute. Sam looked back at her, not sure if he heard that right. Her voice sounded like it had just...glitched? She didn't seem surprised though. "I'm done. You're okay to fly." She stood up, dusting her hands off. Falcon tested out their movements after standing up himself.
"Thanks," he said when he was satisfied with how they worked. She nodded.
"No problem. I need to find a friend, but I don't need those robots around. It okay if I join you as eyes on the ground?" Sam considered the strange things he's noticed about her since she met him. She wasn't normal, he could tell. However her hacking ability could be useful.
"Alright, but stay close to me okay?" He agreed. Viral grinned.
"I'll stay as close to you as I can with you in the sky," She said.
00
Rogue was in the actual prison room this time, out of the vents for once. He was waiting for Jacostas calculations to come true. As long as he stayed away from the side walls and door he should be safe. He was watching footage from the cameras in Tony's lab. Cap was looking at the damage assessment of the tower and a 8 year old Tony was making adjustments to his armored glove. It sparked and fizzled at him, causing him to stop.
"Why can't I get this to work?" Rogue heard Tony say on the holographic screen. "This is so lame!" Cap smiled at him and put a hand on the pouting boys back.
"Try to have patience Tony," Cap advised. Rogue looked up at Skull and motioned for him to get away from the glass of his cell. The mindless man did so and the red head threw a small device at it. Within seconds an explosion went off that rocked the tower and left a hole in the cell for Skull to get through. Looking back at the security footage he saw that Jarvis was alerting Cap and Tony to the intrusion. Good.
"Everything is falling into place," Rogue said as he looked up at the camera he was directly under. It was pointed towards the cell and not at him. So Rogue walked out and waved at the camera with a devious smirk.
"Rogue!" He heard Cap say from the hologram on the gauntlet hidden from the camera. "I'll handle it, you focus on rebuilding the armor." Rogue stepped away from the camera and waited for Cap to show up. When the doors opened Rogue was hidden.
"Red Skull. Avengers we have breach, Rogue-" Cap was cut off as a familiar hologram looking shield came at him. He blocked it with his own shield and took a step back towards the door. Rogue stood there and waved.
"Have a nice nap," he said and two triceratops burst through the door. Rubble from the door fell on Cap and one of the triceratops stepped on the shield Cap was using to protect his head, knocking him out. Rogue jumped out of the way of one of the dinosaurs before motioning for Skull to come out of hiding. Skull watched the triceratops bust up the prison room for second before looking at the fallen captain. "He's down. I keep up my end and you keep up yours," Rogue said to him. Skull nodded.
"Stark," he said as he left the room. Skull found the elevator and stepped inside. "Stone, Mine!" he said menacingly as he looked up at the camera in the elevator.
00
Tony stared at the footage of skull on the screen. "What a freak. Jarvis can't you shut off the elevator or something?" he asked the AI.
"The damage to the tower put the defenses offline sir," Jarvis informed the child.
"Remind me to invent you better next time," Tony said in a 'seriously?' tone.
00
Pym flew through the tower. He got in easily due to the defenses being down. The small boy flew into almost every room on the floor he was on before deciding to use the computer. He was the hacker of his team after all. He started working immediately.
00
"Young Sir we have a slight problem. I am being hacked," Jarvis informed Tony. The boy threw up his hands.
"Oh sure, why not? A hacker, as if we don't have enough problems already," he said.
00
Robots made their way down the street, aiming their fire at Hawkeye and Widow as he flew in on his hover cycle. The archer took out his bow and fired several explosive arrows while widow drove, but they had no affect.
"There's too many of them, we need a new angle," Widow said as she turned the corner, only to see more robots waiting for them. She stopped the hoverbike for a moment. However, before the robots could fire a single shot two were taken out by a T-rex flying into them. Hulk roared as he threw another one and it smashed a robot into the building next to it.
"Now that's my kind of bowling," Hulk said, dusting his hands off. Falcon flew in at this time, finally joining the fight again as he held Viral by her arms. He had said to stick close.
"Bowling robots with dinosaurs? You'd smash half the city," he said before flying around the big green.
"You're no fun," Hulk retorted before jumping off the ground. "And who's the kid?"
00
The elevator stopped and Skull stepped out as the doors opened. "Stark," He said and began walking in a direction. "Time Stone..." His foot stepped on something small and round, causing him to start slipping. He tried to regain his balance, only to find that they were all over the floor. "Marbles?!" he exclaimed before he face planted. He lingered like that for a second before he looked up and picked up one of the marbles to examine it.
"Watch where you're going ugly!" Tony said, drawing Skulls attention to him. he waved before running down the hall with the jar of marbles in his hand. Skull let out a frustrated yell as he got up and chased after the young Stark. Tony looked behind him as he ran down the hall, his eyes growing a little wide when he saw Skull following him. Quickly he ran into the first room he came upon, Skull following in suit.
"No where to run," The red faced man said as he walked towards the boy. Tony turned around with a scared look on his face. Skull leapt towards the boy, but was surprised when he went right through him and landed on more marbles. He looked up at the boy in surprise, not understanding what had just happened. The lights came on in the room, revealing, not one, but two young Tony Starks in the room. One was the one he'd just gone through, the other was by a computer.
"Classic hologram trick, gets them every time," Tony said with a smile as the holographic one disappeared.
"Stone!" Skull said, glaring at the boy.
"Why do you want this thing so bad? It's nothing but a pain in my butt!" Tony asked and then paused. "Well actually my chest."
"Mine!" Skull answered and ran towards Tony, careful not to slip on the marbles surrounding him. Tony threw the empty jar at him, cause skull to stop to catch it. Then he typed something in on the computer and ran.
"Activating Captain America training sequence," Jarvis said. The door shut behind Tony as floating mechanical balls came down and started targeting Skull. Unlike cap however, he didn't have a Shield and had to dodge as best he could, which didn't work out-at all. He got hit in several places and even wound up falling on the ground. As quick as he could he got out of that room and ran around the pillar outside to catch his breath. As he stood there he noticed the shadow of the young Stark down the hall. He focused on it as it moved and ran after it. He had to get that stone.
He paused as he saw a golden door with strange markings on it. The markings weren't what caused him to stop. There was a sign on the door that said 'Do Not Open.' Skull pulled it off and looked at it before crumbling it up. "Stark" he mumbled and pushed the door open. Inside was a large hall filled with gold and wondrous light. Something else drew his eye though. A large green beast with spikes around it's face and down his back as well as large claws on its feet was laying behind the door. It let out a breath and turned to the Red Skull. He began backing away slowly. It bared its teeth and rawred at the man. Tony was hiding between two plants outside the door and saw Skull run away with the beast chasing after him. The young boy came out of his hiding spot with a smile.
"Punking skull is actually kind of fun," he said with a small laugh. Then he ran down hall.
00
"Ah Ha!" Pym exclaimed in triumph. He had just successfully located James. An image came up and showed James as he walked towards a downed Captain America. Except he had a helmet on, which was weird since Pym had never seen him in one. "Where is this?" He wondered out loud. He saw that it was in the prison room and quickly shrunk down, flying off to get to the red head.
00
Torunn was flying after Hawk, determined not to lose him. For some reason he was pulling any move he knew to help him disappear. She wondered how he could've known these rooftops so well. Has he been here the whole time? Unexpectedly, Hawk jumped into an alleyway, causing Torunn to over shoot him. She looked back at the alleyway as she slowed down. However when she looked back up she was nearly bowled over by someone else in the air.
"Ack! Sorry!" The person said after Torrun had stopped spinning in the air. She looked up to see a girl with black hair and red highlights and...were those wings? And what is she wearing.
"It's alright, I wasn't harmed," Torrun said, unable to stop glancing at the girls wings. She seemed to take notice and she blushed a little in self consciousness as her wings flapped to keep her in the air like a bird, making large mechanical whooshing sounds as they did.
"I-uh-I'm looking for a friend of mine," she squeaked out. Torrun realized the girl was nervous.
"What's she look like?" She asked, looking from her wings to her eyes, thinking that would help.
"Um... She's about 5'3" with kind of tan skin and shoulder length brown hair... She's wearing something similar to what I am except she has a black glove on her right hand," the girl described, stuttering every so often. Torunn looked where she had seen Hawk go, but didn't see him... She'd lost him...but she wouldn't give up.
"I'm looking for a friend of mine too as a matter of fact. How about we look together?" She suggested. The girls eyes lit up and she nodded.
"What does your friend look like?" she asked. Torunn described Hawk to her. The girl nodded, taking in the details as they were described.
00
Tony ran into his room to see if there was anything he could use. He opened his closet and pulled out some old skates and a helmet. "Sweet," he said with a smile as he threw them behind him and looked back in the closet. He saw a shoe box inside and picked it up. Jumping onto his bed, he sat down and opened the box. He pulled some papers out and looked through them. Some were old tests that he got A's on, but then there was a picture of him at the real birthday for when he was turning the age he is now. It was sad. He was sitting at a table, alone, being fed cake by a mechanical arm. He was frowning at it with a faraway look in his eyes. Tony frowned at the picture and opened the card behind it.
"Sorry I missed your party again this year -dad," he read off, though on the signature the name Howard was crossed out above dad. Tony felt terrible, as he remembered what it was like back then. "Ugh, why did I keep this junk?" he said and flipped the shoe box off his lap and onto the floor, allowing the papers to scatter. He held his head in his hand and closed his eyes with a sigh. When he opened them again he saw something sticking out of the mess of papers. "Whoa," he said, picking it up and looking at it with a smile. "My first armor design! Brilliant, but never worked." He looked all along the paper and realized what had been missing at the time he'd drawn it. "Without an arch reactor!"
00
Rogue stood over Cap, a smile tugging at his lips. He could feel it, the feeling of accomplishment. His mission was about to be complete. He activated his shield again and kicked away Caps shield that covered his head. He raised his arm to bring the edge of the soligraphic shield down.
"No!" a small voice yelled. Pym had arrived and saw what James was about to do. He flew up to the red head and grew to normal size, grabbing his arm to hold him back. Rogue looked back at the fourteen year old boy and glared at him.
"Let. Go. Right. Now." He said slowly. Pym stared at him with wide eyes. This was not the James he knew. His voice lacked emotion and his eyes. He didn't know if it was the red lenses in the helmet or not but it looked like they were blood red.
"No, not unless you stop. Don't you remember who that is?" he asked, holding tightly to James arm. He didn't know what had gotten into him. Rogue glanced at Cap before looking back at Pym.
"Of course I do! Now let go so I can complete my mission!" Rogue said, letting frustration seep into his voice. He jerked his arm away and brought it back towards Pym. Thanks to his training, Pym shrunk immediately, growing a pair of wings on his back that allowed him to fly. He could tell by the way James spoke he wouldn't stop until he killed Cap. What had happened to his friend? He looked up at Rogue and felt determination flood through him. He flew up and started firing his stingers at Rogue as he did. He wouldn't let his friend do this.
00
Skull ran down the hallway, the beast from Thor's room still chasing him. He turned into a stairwell and jumped over the railing, hanging onto it. The beast barreled past him and fell down the stairs. He climbed back over the railing and went out of the stairwell, yelling "Staark!" He angrily walked down the hall and kicked down the first door he saw. This was Hawkeyes room. He found a high-tech crossbow on a pool table and picked it up with an evil smirk.
00
"We're not going to last forever," Widow said as she shot another robot. Hawkeye fired another arrow at a robot to keep it from hitting her. A robot was about to hit him and Viral, who was in the air with falcon, saw it.
"Drop me!" She yelled to Falcon. The winged Avenger looked surprised.
"What?" he said. Viral knew she didn't have time and her right hand released a small shock to his hand. He let go immediately on reflex. She wasn't that far from the ground and even closer to the robots. She landed on the one about to shoot Hawkeye. She hacked it's systems and made it turn on the other robots before jumping off.
"What the heck?" Hawkeye said in surprise. Viral took a fighting stance at the robots. She had some training on how to fight. It was one of the only good things to come out of her life.
"You're welcome," she responded. Hawkeye fired an arrow at a robot to keep it from hurting her.
"You shouldn't be here kid! Find somewhere safe!" Hawkeye said, as he hadn't actually seen what she could do. He thought she was a civilian and that she'd get hurt. Viral smiled and laughed, earning a strange glance from widow.
"You kidding? I've been waiting to take out these tin-cans for years!" Viral said happily. Her eyes sparkled as she jumped at another robot and hacked it so it short circuited. What she said about waiting for years stuck in the three Avengers heads.
~
Muahahaha! The first episodic chapter of the story. Who are these girls? What is Torunn going to do? Will Pym be able to keep Rogue at bay? How will this chaos go?
Let's see!
~January 16, 2021~