Author's Note: So I originally published this one AO3 in September and it's my 50th fic so I don't know why I never got around to publishing it on here. Too lazy I guess. Anyway the idea for this fic came from this tumblr post ( post/149872195032). I've never played Avengers Academy before so I don't really understand any of it's story or anything like that. But I like the whole premise of them younger and working on building their powers at this academy so I kinda want to keep all that plot point but obviously this'll be different than the actually Avengers Academy storyline cause I don't even know what it is. So basically inspired by avengers academy, keeping a similar setting and characters, but not following the actual storyline cause I don't know it. A lot of this fic will contain bonding between Tony and Peggy and the two of them discussing the past and the future and Howard and Steve and anyway I just really hope you all enjoy it!

Though it pains me to admit this, time travel is impossible. Despite all of our research we've only been met with countless failed experiments and thus we have reached the conclusion that time is the one plane which we cannot transcend. Effectively immediately Project Clockwork is shut down indefinitely.
- Howard Stark

Tony Stark can't help but laugh as he looks from the letter in his hand to the portals in front of him.

Portals created for time travel.

"Wait til you see this, Dad," he whispers to himself.

Howard Stark might have never been the greatest father to Tony but he certainly was the greatest motivator whether Tony wanted to admit it or not. He lived to outshine his father's feats and he was pretty sure this would definitely push him over the top. Time travel was labeled 'impossible' by Howard but nothing was 'impossible' to Tony.

Tony had decided to create the portals when he'd found an old file in some of his father's stuff that discussed his various experiments in Project Clockwork. The project had been funded to try to find a way to time travel so they could go into the past and try to stop catastrophic events such as World War II. However, all the experiments were failures and a few years into it Howard had decided to shut it down.

He'd kept all his research though and, with the help of J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony had found all the flaws in it that could be corrected with modern technology. And that led to the creation of his portals. One was created to bring things back from the past and the other was created to send them back to it. The two were connected, however, because the only way to keep them stable was by having both holes in the time-space continuum opened at the same time.

Tony had done some tests with a few random objects to make sure everything was working. A paperclip. A cell phone. A stray cat. All had been sent back a few years into the past and then retrieved so he could make sure both portals worked. So far everything had gone well but he had yet to bring a human being back from the past.

That was about to change though. Tony finished prepping the machines and went to fix the settings for his experiment: to bring his father back from the past.

Tony knew if he could bring his father back from the past and show him all he'd accomplished in the future then he knew he'd be impressed and proud of him. So he had to make sure everything was just right.

The portal to bring something back was a little more complicated than the portal to send something back. To send something back you just needed a date and a location to send them back to. However, to bring something back you needed a date, a location, and something that signified what you wanted to bring back (such as a photo, a piece of DNA, etc.). Tony had chosen a photo: one of his father and Agent Peggy Carter outside his father's lab around the time that Project Clockwork would've been going on. Tony had gotten rid of most of the photos of his father by himself after his death and the ones he kept of both of his parents he felt featured both of them too prominently that he'd accidentally bring his mother back too. This one of his father and Agent Carter showed mostly his father. Agent Carter was off in the background walking toward him so Tony assume it will be fine.

So he types in the date and location he'd found written down on the back of the photo and lays the photo over the scanner. He puts his goggles on to block out the light and then hits the switch.

In the blink of an eye, there's a flash of bright light, a horrible churning noise, and a then sparks coming from the machines. Tony hits the switch to try and stop the portals but it's pretty obvious they aren't listening to him so he ducks behind his desk as they continue to spark.

A few seconds later the portals have stopped, the sparks have died down, and a cloud of smoke has enveloped his lab.

He slowly peaks up from behind his desk to see a human silhouette in the smoke surrounding the portals.

"I can't believe it worked," he whispers as he stares at the figure.

As he rises from his hiding spot, he asks "Dad?"

But when the smoke clears, it's obvious that the person standing there is not Howard Stark.

It's Agent Peggy Carter, circa 1948.

Tony stops a few feet away to observe her. She looks exactly as she did in the picture: the wavy brown hair, the blue sailor top, the long white skirt, the bright red lips.

She coughs a little as she swats away the lingering smoke. Then she surveys the area around her, a confused expression forming.

"What's going on? Where am I?" she begins. Then her eyes land on Tony. "Howard?"

Tony shakes his head as he walks closer to her. "I'm not Howard. I'm his son, Anthony, er, Tony. I figured he'd be impressed if I used these time portals to bring him here and show him Stark Tower. I brought you instead Aunt—uh, I mean, Agent Carter. Not that I'm disappointed…"

And he isn't. Well, not completely. He is a little disappointed that it isn't his father standing there in front of him but he is pretty proud that it'd worked. He successfully created a machine that could allow time travel among humans.

"How many years have passed?" she asks him, clearly not to freaked out about the idea of time travel.

Tony rubs the back of his neck as he looks down at the floor. "...Seventy. Ish..."

She rubs her temple clearly trying to control her frustration then lets out a sigh. "Okay, well, how about you send me back now?"

Tony nods, agreeing that's probably the best option.

He steps over to the 'sending' portal to get it all set back up and that's when he notices the charred pieces of it. He then looks over at the portal she's standing on and sees pieces of it have been blown off. He immediately can feel his stomach sinking. The portals were made with vibranium, the rarest metal on earth. He wished he could've used any other metal but vibranium was the only metal he found could handle the opening of the portals and sustain them in a single area instead of sucking his lab up.

"Uh..." He can't think of what to say as he jumps up and checks the computer and scanner. Both are totally shot to hell as well and this situation is only getting worse.

"What?" she asks as she notices his expression drop.

"Um...it's not that bad," he begins as he frantically begins running around the lab in search of something.

"What's not?"

"I can fix it."

"Fix what?

"I can fix it," he repeats, more to himself than her.

Obviously she doesn't believe him because she demands an answer when she shouts out again.

"Anthony Stark, what the hell did you do?!"

So this is part one of the prologue and the next chapter is the final part of the prologue.