Hello my friends! I have decided that you have waited more than long enough for All Hallow's Eve's sequel. The sequel to Alternate is in the works- I promise.
I want to give you fair warning. I'm going to have some tough issues that the characters face in this story. I'm going to try and keep it down to 'T' rating, but if I feel that something needs to be rated 'M' I will warn you.
DISCLAIMER: If I owned the Avengers, PHIL COULSON WOULD LIVE. Not to say that he isn't still alive. Joss Whedon, I'm looking at you...
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Stephanie Rogers sprinted into her room and slammed the door behind her, ignoring her mother's shout of "Don't you dare-" It was cut off as Stephanie sagged against the door and began crying.
Two years.
Two long, hard years had passed since those few glorious weeks with the Avengers had ended. They had tried to stay together- tried to stay intact, but it wasn't easy.
Nathan and Claire had a falling out and were no longer boyfriend and girlfriend. They couldn't stand in the same room without attacking each other, sometimes physically, mostly verbally.
Lena had moved away and Lori had gone with her. Stephanie had taken that hard, as Brenda and Lori were her true friends. The rest were comrades- nothing more.
Tasha had completely lost contact with them. She had moved to God-knows-where in Asia with her missionary parents. She hadn't contacted them at all in the past year.
Stephanie herself had parent issues. Her father was often away on business trips and her mother was constantly trying to get Stephanie to lose weight, follow directions, and settle down with a nice man who had a good job and raise 2.5 kids in a house with a white picket fence. Stephanie wanted freedom, college, and to go back.
She wiped her tears and stood up, silently kicking her dirty clothes into the sideways laundry bin. She sniffled and sat down silently on her bed, picking up her family portrait and opening the back.
She drew out another photo. This one was the last one she had taken before the Young Avengers returned to their own time. Everyone was there, both old and young sets. She smiled sadly and touched her own older original's face- Steve Rogers, Captain America.
She had kept her looks when she returned- long blonde curly hair and snapping blue eyes. She didn't look like her parents at all anymore, which was why she was involved in a silent legal struggle to change her name legally to Rogers.
She close her eyes and put the picture away. Her eyes fell on her duffle bag, packed and hidden in a corner.
"If it ever gets too much, come visit," she remembered Lori saying as they hugged before she left. "Come visit for a week or something. Get away. You have my address."
That option was looking more and more appealing by the minute.
Suddenly Stephanie made up her mind. She grabbed the family photo out of the frame and tucked the rightful one in it's place, unzipped her bag and put it on top. She shouldered the bag and walked out the door swiftly.
The house was quiet, with a note on the table. "Gone to the store, be back soon. ~Mom" was written in clear lettering. Stephanie added a note of her own underneath.
"Off to visit Lori and Lena. Don't know when I'll be back. Don't care. ~Steph"
She walked outside and hit the button to unlock her car doors. Her credit card was safely in her wallet, along with ID and cash. She had several changes of clothes to use and a few other essentials- like her fighting uniform.
She plugged the address into the GPS and readied herself for the five hour drive.
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She was approaching the halfway mark and getting tired. Her eyes fluttered halfway shut and she jerked upright.
Her car shuddered. Stephanie frowned and checked the gas- she had filled up a half hour ago...
She looked up again and gasped. There was a pair of bright headlights heading directly at her, at high speeds.
Stephanie couldn't breath. She told her arms to turn the wheel over to the side, but she was frozen in fear.
She managed to whisper, "I'm sorry, Dad," before her head slammed into the steering wheel.
Her vision went black, and she knew no more.
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Tasha carefully looked out the window of her parents' apartment, making sure to make as few sudden movements as possible.
"What is happening?" a soft, scared voice whispered from behind her.
"Nothing," Tasha said hastily. "Nothing wrong, Leah."
Leah, a Chinese Christian, didn't seem convinced. "I hear shouting. Something is bad wrong."
"Badly," Tasha corrected absentmindedly. "It's badly instead of bad."
Leah huffed angrily. "Sorry for my English," she snapped.
"Shhhh!" Tasha hissed. "Keep it down. No one knows we're up here and we want to keep it that way."
"Ah ha! So something is wrong!" Leah whispered triumphantly.
Tasha hesitantly nodded. "Yes. There's a mob outside."
She turned around to see a fearful expression on her friend's face. "Are they hunting for us? Will we go to prison?" she whispered.
"As long as no one finds us, we'll be ok," Tasha whispered reassuringly. She kept close to the ground and snuck over to the couch silently.
"What are you doing?" Leah asked as Tasha laid flat on her back and started to wriggle her way under the couch.
"Shhh! I'm trying to-" she grunted- "make sure the Bibles are hidden!"
"I hope so," Leah murmured worriedly. "It will be bad if someone finds them."
Tasha shoved herself out from underneath the couch and wiped her hand across her forehead. "Yeah," she muttered. "I'd like to keep my head on my shoulders where it belongs, thank you very much."
"As would I," Leah said.
Tasha put her back to the wall and sighed heavily. "This is not good," she muttered. "Very, very not good."
Leah looked very scared. "My brothers- will they be alright?" she asked anxiously.
"They'll be fine," Tasha said wearily. "They'll be smart and take the long way home."
She closed her eyes for a brief moment- or what she thought was a brief moment. When she woke up, the room was empty and the sounds of rage and violence were louder.
Tasha swore and looked around wildly for Leah. "Leah!" she called softly. "Now's not the time for Hide 'n' Seek!"
No answer.
"Lin?" She resorted to calling Leah by her given name, instead of her Christian one.
Still nothing.
She muttered a few words and crawled over to the kitchen table, hesitantly rising onto her knees to see what was on it. There was a note, written on lined paper. Tasha grabbed it and hastily unfolded it.
"Tasha-
I have gone to find my brothers. I will be back shortly.
~Leah"
Tasha stared at it, then cursed angrily and tore the note into tiny pieces. She dumped it into the trash can and grabbed her housekey off the counter.
She needed to go and find Leah.
She carefully opened the door and slid into the stairwell. After a few hours of sitting on the floor, it was nice to stand up. Tasha stretched quickly and tiptoed down the stairs.
She slid out the back entrance to her apartment building and ran to the entrance to the alleyway. There was a mob, alright- she bit her lip. How would she find a group of people, let alone a single person, in this mess?
Tasha tentatively took a step out of the alleyway and found herself being carried along with the current. There were hundreds of angry people, screaming in Chinese at their Communist government. This was not good, not good at all...
She kept her mouth determinedly closed, and prayed she wouldn't be singled out because she was different.
There was a brief moment where Tasha found her feet on the ground. She sighed heavily and bent over to breathe...
Only for the crowd to surge, and her to topple.
Her eyes widened for only a split second, and then the crowd was trampling her.
Feet pounded over her, and she curled into a ball, trying to protect herself from the angry mob. She would've screamed, but it would simply have been another voice adding to the din.
Then suddenly, it was all gone.
"Miss?"
Tasha hesitantly opened one eye.
It was a man, wearing an orange plastic suit. He looked slightly concerned for her, as she uncurled herself and slowly sat up.
"What just happened?" she asked warily.
The man shrugged. "I dunno. But you might wanna figure it out soon. The boss'll be mad as a hornet if he finds you here."
"Uh... where is 'here'?" Tasha asked warily as she sat up.
The man pulled her to her feet and dropped her hand quickly. "SHIELD's Helicarrier, miss."
Tasha's eyes widened, and her stomach dropped.
"Oh, my..."
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Brenda slowly opened her eyes and groaned.
The world was a spinning mass of colors, and she immediately threw one hand over her eyes to shield them from the bright lights.
She laid in bed for a good 20 minutes before her head quit spinning enough to actually look around. There was still a throbbing pain in her temple, but she knew there would be aspirin, a glass of water, and her phone on her bedside table, and groped for them.
She found the two tiny pills and the glass cylinder and wasted no time in downing them. After 10 minutes or so, her headache subsided enough for her to sit up and check her phone.
One text. From... Tasha?
She stared at the phone in consternation for a few moments. Tasha was her Science Sis, sure, but they hadn't maintained a close relationship. She would've expected a text from-
Brenda cut herself off right there and started to cry silently. The pain in her heart was still raw, and she just couldn't force herself to move on...
She gathered herself together and typed in the password, written on a sticky note attached to the back of her phone. It clicked open and she pulled up the 'Messages' app.
Almost immediately she had to stifle a shriek.
"In the hospital, almost got trampled. Doing ok, broke my wrist."
Brenda hastily texted back, "OMG! HOW?!"
She had to wait for a little while before getting a disgruntled text. "Trying to sleep here. Political climate here is tense. Angry mob almost trampled me. I'm ok. How r u?"
She took a deep breath. Tasha was alive. That was what mattered.
"Fine," she texted. "Just sad."
"Why?" came back a few minutes later.
"U haven't heard?" she typed quickly.
"No. Enlighten me."
She went to type in the words, but something was wrong. Her phone was slightly transparent. That was... not a good sign...
She tried to type in her message, but failed. Her phone fell straight through her hands, and she was wrenched angrily from her world into another.
It was only a second before she felt her feet hit the ground with a very heavy *thud*. She wobbled on her feet and was about to fall when two hands reached out and caught her shoulders quickly.
She looked up in a flash and gasped.
"Brenda Banner," Agent Maria Hill greeted her with a cool smile as she released her grip on the young woman's shoulders.
"Hello, Agent Hill," Brenda said warily. She had never really conversed with the woman on her last... visit to the Avenger's universe.
"Nice of you to join us. We're just waiting for..." Agent Hill paused and put a hand to her comm. "Yessir. I understand. Miss Banner has just arrived."
She paused briefly and then said, "Understood. I'll send her up right away."
Brenda tilted her head slightly.
"There'll be a meeting in a few minutes. I need you to go to the gym on the 3rd floor and collect the Young Avengers there," Agent Hill instructed. "We'll talk more once all of you are gathered."
Brenda nodded and split off, moving towards the stairs.
"Miss Banner!"
She paused and turned around.
"The stairs are the other way."
She blushed and did as told.