Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this story, nor do I own the Avengers storyline. I'm just having some fun with it while waiting for the last movie to come out.
Also, I miss Loki… okay?
This is the intro to a little idea I had with all the theories about time-travel going around. Like I said, this is just me having a little fun. You guys can decide how far this goes and how the story progresses. If you want me to include things, be sure to let me know!
Of course she went with them, although it scared her more than she could put into words. Walking into your own history was dangerous, you might chance things you didn't want changed. That's why they asked her. She had never been near any of them during the big events. Her only connection to the Avengers was that she had been Clint's (or she guessed she had to call him Hawkeye now… ) neighbour. Well, she was his closest neighbour. Their house was quite a distance away from everything else. She used to babysit for them. Actually, she had been with the kids when… well, you know. The look on his face, when he had stormed into the house later, had haunted her for months. She had tried to talk to him but he couldn't be reached. He just sat there and stared and then he had left.
She had gone home to find the house empty and she had cried and raged and cried some more because whatever had happened, it was so unfair. The kids, Clint's wife, her father… half the people on earth some sources said, wiped out. How was that even possible?
She needed to know. What? Everything! She needed to know everything. So, she used what little skill she had and hacked her way to that everything. It was surprisingly easy, or was she just getting better at it as time went by? Maybe there simply wasn't anyone left to keep her out.
She learned about the fight and who had been there, who made it out and who didn't. And then one day she found him again. Clint, or Ronin as he called himself, seemingly gone mad. Seeking revenge. No doubt trying to fill the hole that losing his family had created. She understood, she had tried to fill that hole with information, he tried filling it by killing bad guys. Same difference, she guessed, in a way.
Contacting Natasha had been tricky. Apparently, some places were still near impossible to get into, but she had been honing her hacking skills… it was all she did every day… so it was more a matter of time before she got a message through. The Black Widow had appeared outside her door the same day. A man called Bruce was with her. He asked her if she would consider joining them. They were trying to make things right.
How could she say no? There was nothing for her in that house. And any possibility to give Clint his family back and for herself to see her father again meant she never really thought twice about the proposal. She packed up her things and went with him.
Plans had been made. Risks would have to be taken. Details changed, history altered. All to change their present. They asked her to go and she said yes. She was, after all, 'their only hope' as they sugar coated it so nicely. She didn't really mind. Of course they tried to sweeten up the deal. Who in their right mind would willingly step into the quantum realm?
That's where they were now. Scott and Bruce had built a sort of ship that could carry all five of them. Bruce, Scott, Tony, Steve and herself. Thor and Natasha had stayed at the base. Nat to look after Clint and Thor because he couldn't be allowed to step on his own timeline.
You see, they had come up with this plan, or rather they had decided steps needed to be taken to make sure everything turned out okay. Tony told them how Stephen Strange had been sure this was "the only way". So there had to be something they were missing. Then one day, she had been trying to cheer Thor up and she had said what her father always told her whenever she had a bad day. "No matter how dark the night gets, the sun will shine on us again." And he had completely broken down.
After the questioning, again and again, they had finally accepted that she was not, in fact, Thor's brother. Apparently, Loki was rather good at illusions. It was Clint who eventually vouched for her. The others believed him and in turn also believed her. That Loki had said those exact words to Thor right before he died couldn't have been a coincidence. And on top of that, after this revelation, no one had any doubt that the God of Mischief was still alive. He was out there, somewhere. That would be the other challenge for the ones who remained. They would try and find him.
As for Alice and the others. They were going to make sure everything happened the way it was supposed to. And that meant, that she was going to have to push a certain God in the right direction.
More to come soon!