Welcome to the first chapter of Forgotten Time and thank you already for the support this little sequel has gotten :) Please enjoy reading.
Odin Allfather sat on his golden throne in the palast of Asgard, alone, seemingly still mourning for his dead queen. But in fact, unbeknownst to all of the nine realms, Odin hasn't been quite… himself… lately as he was actually Loki, who had survived his own death once again. And not only did he impersonate the Allfather himself, no, he also was incredibly bored. The trickster had been on the throne hardly for a month and yet he was sick of the golden halls and the Einherjar following his every command. Just why has all this become so tiring now?
I'd say because you grow bored of being obeyed all the time. Isn't it dreary to always get what you want?
No, he was not going to go there. He just had to find a distraction. Something to take his mind off of… her.
So what? You want me to be your personal home-entertainment? Nope, not gonna happen!
No, no, no. No! He had to get away for a while. But where to? Jotunheim? Never. Vanaheim? Also no. He was too well known there. The same went for Alfheim or Nidavellir. Hel, Muspelheim and Svartalfheim also were not places he wished to visit. That left Midgard…
There he could wish her his last farewell… Hopefully. And humans could be tricked easily by his magic.
Most appreciated, thank you.
So Midgard it was. And it had been those Avengers' fault that he lost her. So he could just as well make them pay for it.
It was December again and only last month did Thor Odinson, god of thunder, save all the realms from the dark elf Malekith. Though the prize he had to pay for his victory had been high. Not only did he lose his mother, he also was responsible for the death of Loki, his own brother. Had it not been for him, the younger god could still be alive. In the dungeons, sure, but alive.
After the battle was over and he had told his father he couldn't take over the throne Thor had come to earth, seeking the soothing presence of Jane Foster. And she did manage to soothe him, but only for a little while. After a few days the Thunderer grew restless. Needing to do something he visited Tony Stark in the Avenger Tower, silently hoping that somewhere the team would be needed.
Arriving at the tower Thor was disappointed to hear that not a single thing was up for the Avengers.
"Sorry, Point Break. It was very quiet since you fought that alien emo guy in London. But hey, Brucey is here and the spy-guys and Cap will come tomorrow. So why don't you stay and we have a little reunion party?" Tony said while offering Thor a beer which the blond god accepted gratefully.
"That actually sounds very nice friend Tony. Let's have a feast!"
And so the two began planning the Avengers reunion party.
Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton just returned from their latest mission in Mexico. Ready to hand in the report they were headed for Director Fury's office. On their way, however, they were stopped by Maria Hill.
"Agents Romanoff and Barton you are expected in the Director's office immediately."
"Yeah, we already were on our way there." Clint answered his superior, "Thank you Agent Hill." Maria just nodded and made her way further down the corridor.
"I wonder what Fury wants from us." The archer wondered aloud.
"Either he wants that report really bad or something important has to be done." Though her reply sounded as if she didn't care, the Black Widow, too, wondered silently what this urgency meant.
Exchanging one last glance the two assassins made their way to the Director.
Dodging the shot, the young agent smoothly moved behind the shooter and rendered him unconscious and took his gun. Quickly, to avoid being seen by other hostiles, she took cover behind some barrels. Crouching she peeked around the corner to evaluate the situation. She could see four more men, two on the ground and to on the catwalks halfway up the outer walls of the great hall. Wouldn't it have been for the silencers on their guns, the guards would have heard her encounter with their ally, but she seemed to be lucky today. She crept around the barrels and, keeping inside the shadows, slowly took aim at one of the ground level guards.
The silent shot felled the man in front of the agent, who quickly caught the man to prevent the others noticing his fall. She laid him down behind the barrels and moved on to take down the second guard on the ground. Now the last obstacles to overcome were the guards above ground level. It was too risky to walk on the iron catwalk herself as it would definitely make a sound so she had to take another route.
Sneaking to one of the pillars that held the catwalk up she managed to avoid being spotted by either man up there. Silently and steadily the agent climbed up the pillar which was possible thanks to all the metal shelves that lined the wall. Reaching the top she waited for the armed man to walk by.
Finally standing right in front of her she quickly reached up and covered his mouth and nose, suffocating him until he was unconscious. For the last one she didn't make that much of an effort and just ran along the catwalk and jump-kicked him on the chest. Gasping he hardly realised the agent hitting his chin from below and smashing his head into the wall so he just slid to the floor and laid there.
An siren sounded, the bright lights went on and a voice was heard through the speakers on the walls.
"All right, training over. Good job Agent."
From the other side of the hall came a woman directly toward the agent. "Nice one, Agent Hunter."
Skye looked up at Agent Maria Hill and nodded. "Thank you ma'am."
"You're ready to go back to the field now. Report to Director Fury immediately."
"Yes, thank you." And with that Skye Hunter was on her way to Director Fury's office.
"Director Fury?"
"Yeah, come in." The one eyed agent said loudly and his office door opened. "Natasha, Clint." He nodded to both of them and gestured for them to sit down on the chairs in front of his desk. "I've got a mission for you."
The assassins only nodded in agreement and Fury went on. "We have detected strange energy readings in London so you and another agent will go there and find out what the hell has come to our planet this fucking time."
"Another agent, sir?" Hawkeye interrupted Fury's explanation.
"Who?" Natasha inquired, one eyebrow raised? "We usually work alone."
"I know, I know, but she needs to get in the field… again. And she is highly capable, so no complaining, understood?"
Hawkeye and Black Widow both opened their mouths as if to argue on this matter, but the Director silenced them with a sharp 'no complaints!' and then, as if planned, there was a short knock on the door. Nick Fury shot his agents a last warning glance and finally ordered the agent behind the door inside. The office door opened and a rather short brunette woman entered. As the assassins stood up turned around to see their newest team member they froze, gaping and utterly bewildered. That being a fairly rare sight Nick couldn't help but chuckle silently in amusement.
"Agents Romanoff and Barton, may I introduce to you Agent Skye Hunter." Agent Skye Hunter greeted her fellow agents by inclining her head.
As Natasha and Clint were still quite baffled, though they had both managed to hide it before Skye could see anything really, they just listened to Fury without interrupting again. That had to wait until later.
"So, as I was already saying, you three and a small team of scientists will fly to London and investigate the energy readings nobody here seems to be able to understand. You will go in two days' time, since our geniuses need to prepare portable sensors first. Prepare yourselves. Dismissed."
After his little speech, Director Fury shooed them out of his office. Standing outside Natasha turned to 'Agent Hunter'.
"I've never seen you around here, Agent Hunter."
"I have been stationed in England until recently, so I've never really been here." The brunette answered with a little smile. "But I have, of course, heard of the famous Black Widow and Hawkeye. I'm honoured to be working with you on this mission."
"Er… thanks. So what brought you to headquarters then?" Barton inquired with a hint of pride for himself. Just a hint but it didn't go unnoticed by either of the women.
"I almost got killed during my latest mission so I had to come to get patched up."
"And when was that?" Natasha was still suspicious of this whole situation. She had seen this girl die, for god's sake.
"About six months ago. It was pretty bad, so rehab took its time." Skye too began to become suspicious due to all these questions. Barton noticed the women's tenseness and tried to calm this situation a bit. Even rather end it.
"So it's really nice to meet you. Call me Clint. However, Natasha and me, we have to go and… do… stuff. Err… bye." He grabbed Natasha's arm and wanted to take her away with him, but she resisted.
"Yeah, nice to meet. Just call me Natasha. Bye, Agent Hunter." Then she mustered up a small smile and let herself be pulled away by Clint. Skye was still standing in the hallway in front of the door a little puzzled by this rather strange encounter but then she remembered her manners and called 'Just Skye is fine!' just loud enough for them to hear. Still wondering a little bit she turned around and walked down the corridor towards the living quarters.
"Stark!" A demanding female voice demanded.
"Hey sunshine, what can I do for you?" Playboy, billionaire, philanthropist Tony Stark asked a strangely readable Natasha Romanoff. Something was off then. Behind her came Clint Barton who seemed rather unsettled as well. "Hey guys, what's the matter? Did someone steal Birdbrains little bow?" Tony tried to joke as always, but halfway through his, admittedly rather lame, quip he lost the spirit as both assassins looked at him very seriously.
"Ok, for real now. What the flying fuck is up with you?"
"Guess who we just saw. Loki's dead girlfriend." Clint then started explaining the situation but Tony interrupted him.
"Wait, you mean like a zombie? And wouldn't she be his ex-girlfriend now? Though they didn't really break up, did they?" The Iron Man was about to continue his rambling and he would have, if Natasha hadn't brought him back to earth with a sharp 'Tony!'.
"Yeah, sorry. You were saying?"
"We saw Loki's 'dead' girlfriend, but alive. And somehow she didn't remember us at all. Or didn't seem to, at least. Only heard about us, she said."
"So your feelings are hurt, because Loki's girlfriend doesn't remember your fabulous selves? And wait. Didn't she… um… die?"
"She did. At least the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors told us so, but they must've done something in order to, I don't know, reverse it? Also, she had different memories than before her 'death'. I mean as long as she hadn't been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent before without us knowing so. She had been a student, hadn't she?"
"Whoa, whoa, wait. You mean your awesome doctor-dudes changed her memories? And not just about that winter, but her whole life story?! What the hell is wrong with you people?!" The engineer was finally really paying attention to their story.
"Hey, we only found out today when Fury assigned us a new mission, with her." Natasha sighed irritated. This didn't lead to anything. "Do you know where the others are? Maybe they have an idea what's going on here?"
"Bruce and Thor are in the Tower, Cap should be here any minute. We wanted to make a reunion party tomorrow evening for all of us." Tony sighed. They didn't get one minute off, huh?
"We could talk to the others and then invite her to the party to see if she remembers anyone. If not maybe we can just find out more about her 'life' before the accident." Natasha suggested with a shrug. She didn't show it, but she really wanted to know what was going on and the boys seemed to do, too as they nodded and agreed to wait for Steve to return to tell the rest what they knew.
"She's alive?!" Steve exclaimed and just stood there, mouth gaping open and staring at Natasha.
"Yes, we saw her, but she didn't seem to remember a thing about that winter and instead told us that she had been an agent, then got injured six months ago and is now going on a mission with us." Natasha sighed exasperated as she had to tell the others this over and over again.
"Are you really sure about this? You-you didn't maybe confuse this agent with Skye?" Banner wanted to make sure, not really believing that the dead just came to life again.
"Yes, we are. Damn sure. Could you just believe us, please?" She sank deeper into the couch. "We are going to invite her to Stark and Thor's reunion party. You can see for yourself then."
"I hope you are right Miss Natasha. I would be really delighted to see that at least one of them still lives." Thor, half hopeful, half sorrowful, exclaimed.
"Yeah."
"Hey! Skye!" Skye was just on her way to another training session when she heard Clint's voice behind her. Turning on her heels she almost collided with the archer as he just came to a halt right in front of her.
"Clint? What can I do for you?" She asked cautiously, still remembering the strange conversation of the previous day.
"Stark is hosting a party this evening and since you are now on our team we thought we'd invite you, too. So what d'ya say?" Hawkeye slightly panted but smiled at her nonetheless.
"I don't know. I hardly know you and I don't think you'd want a stranger at your party…" Truth was Skye just wasn't the partying type and felt uncomfortable in large groups of unknown people. Something she had to suck up working as an agent already so she rather not do that in her free time, too.
"Come on, everyone wants to meet you! They're all really nice people." Clint gave her an encouraging smile so, as Skye didn't want to let down her new team mates before the mission even started, she agreed to go to that party. Clint told her he and Natasha would pick her up at the south main entrance so they could go to the tower together and then let her go her way again.
Skye sighed but was kind of glad she had found nice people in New York.
Loki had been in London for only two days but he slowly grew to like the city. It was big and crowded, yes, but by night in some places it was rather beautiful. The mischief god stood on a bridge over the river Thames pondering on his thoughts. She would have loved this. Well, no wonder that she dreamed about this city so often (he had watched her dreams whenever he had have nightmares himself as he tended to grow bored at night).
He had chosen to come to London so that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't find him right away, but he knew they would and that would be the moment when the fun began. He chuckled softly at the thought of his revenge.
After the training Skye quickly showered and searched her wardrobe for something she could wear to a party of Tony Stark. She eventually settled for a knee-long dark blue dress, black wedges and a leather jacket, light make-up and her hair just loose. Relatively content with her appearance she went down to the south entrance where Natasha and Clint already waited.
"Sorry, did I keep you waiting?" She asked when she reached the assassins. Natasha looked stunning in her short black dress and Skye almost instantly felt self-conscious, but she fought that feeling down. She wanted to be friends with them.
"No, don't worry, we only just arrived here ourselves." Clint assured her and the motioned for the three of them to enter the black car that waited at the side walk. The agents got into the car and, with Clint at the steering wheel, they drove to the Avenger Tower.
Tony, Steve, Bruce and Thor already waited on the hundredth floor of Avenger Tower for the three agents to arrive. All of them were still a bit sceptical about the identity of their friends' new team mate, but therefore even more keen to see her for themselves. Finally Jarvis announced the arrival of Agents Barton, Romanoff and Hunter and the lift began moving.
"Hunter? Wasn't her name Holmes?" Steve wondered confused. Banner looked at him. "They must have changed it. Fitting with the new identity and all."
"Yeah right."
"Come on guys, party! J, play the playlist." Tony scoffed and waited for his AI to start playing Black Sabbath's Iron Man. The lift opened and the three agents entered the floor.
"Bit narcissistic Stark." Natasha stated but smiled almost unnoticeable. Tony laughed and the Avengers greeted each other heartily.
Skye had been standing back, watching the heroes being nice and friendly but she felt kind of out of place. She was just scheming her escape as a shadow appeared in front of her. Looking up the agent looked in the blue eyes of Captain America. He smiled warmly and extended his hand for a handshake. The brunette hesitated for a moment as she wasn't much of a handshaker, but eventually she took it and smiled back.
"Steve Rogers, nice to meet you."
"Skye. Skye Hunter. It's an honour, Captain."
"Just call me Steve. It's very nice to have you here."
"Oh, ok Steve, then. It was very nice of you to invite me."
They went on like this, sometimes just laughing nervously when no one knew what to say. Observing them Natasha hit Clint lightly with her elbow. "What?"
"She may have knew memories but those two together are still quite the awkward combination."
"Oh yeah, it's really funny to watch." While the assassins laughed silently Skye got to meet the rest of the Avengers. Thor pulled her into a suffocating bear hug for no apparent reason but it was a really nice evening in the tower. At the end every Avenger agreed that this Agent Hunter indeed was the Skye they met six months ago.
Thank your for reading! Please leave a review and tell me what you think :)
