From the Abyss of the Heart

Disclaimer: I do not own MCU or Kancolle Collection

Chapter 2: Bonds

A little heads up. I noticed some formatting issues and fixed them, sorry if you thought this was a new chapter. But never fret a new one is on the way. But it may take a while as I lost the original draft of chapter 3. Hopefully I'll have a new one up this week. Thank you for understanding.

Okay little heads up the chronologically speaking Tony hasn't developed the time devices yet. so there will be a three week gap between now and the time heist. Also due to lack of input, I have to make both Laura and Cooper Barton into abyssals. Just remember it is an unspoken rule that all ships are female. So bear that in mind. I might decide to change Cooper back in the Epilogue, I might not. But my decision on this is final. In regards to future story length, I am unsure as to how many chapters it will take to get to the final battle. But I intend to leave the Abyssals out of the Time Heist. The potential for collateral is too high and that part of Endgame had too many moving parts for me to really follow. Introducing an Abyssal to that mess is like using a pneumatic hammer to drive in a thumb tack. So without further ado let's get this proverbial train wreck moving.

Time Unknown, Location: Soul Stone Dimension

The Abyss was ecstatic, all these desperate mortal souls that had appeared not so long ago had finally begun to ripen. The weak ones had already been reduced to ethereal mist, leaving nothing but the strongest of souls to choose from. It had already 'gifted' four such souls with the abyss, and was looking at two new potentials. A mother and son selection, though the problem of gender was easily rectified as the previous soul that had accepted the Abyss had already found out.

To the Abyss's surprise and mirth the two before him were related to the first soul that it had chosen. Ah, the Barton family was full of surprises now wasn't it? It wondered breifly what the two would choose if they knew that the daughter had chosen to live as an abyssal. The mother would make quite the Demon, while the son, well it had a special form for him already lined up. A dark chuckle went through it. Oh yes this would be quite entertaining indeed.

New Avengers HQ, Upstate New york, One week after Tokyo incident

Tony Stark hated this place, too many bad memories, too many regrets. But one week ago he had gotten a strange message from Natasha, saying that one of the Vanished had come back. That Barton's daughter had come back from the dead with some strange changes. He just didn't realize how strange.

That changed when Bruce handed him an x-ray of the girl's chest. He had seen a lot of things since that cave in Afghanistan, including the Smart Hulk standing next to him. But this took the cake. "This is a joke right?"

Banner shook his head, "I'm afraid not Tony."

Shaking his head Tony gestured at the x-ray "It's an x-ray of a battleship Banner. A 1920 South Dakota class if I'm not mistaken."

The Hulk hand Tony a tablet with a grin. "It gets better, or worse depending on how you look at things."

As he scrolled through the report Tony's eyes widened. "She's the one who sank those destroyers in Tokyo Bay? I heard the official reports state it was self defense or something along those lines."

Bruce chuckled. "Yeah, apparently she pulled a ME. They shot first, she responded in kind with a much bigger gun.

"No Bruce, in order to pull off something akin to your debut, she would have had to do a little urban renewal to Tokyo itself."

Bruce groaned with a facepalm. "Gee. Thanks for reminding me."

"Anytime Banner. Still doesn't answer the $5 billion dollar question. Why the hell did the JMSDF shoot? There's no way they could of detected her entering the harbor."

Bruce pointed at the X-ray. "Because like the X-ray machine, their radars didn't see a girl. They saw a 47,000 ton battleship that wasn't answering their calls. Headed straight for Tokyo."

Tony stood there dumb struck. "Oh."

"Oh is right." Bruce said. The green man chuckled. "Granted, the fact that she was using a telegraph didn't help matters."

That earned him a quizzical look from Tony. "She's still using a telegraph?"

Bruce grinned. "Yep. Turns out they hadn't perfected ship radios at the time of her design. We are talking the 1910's here."

"Ah. That would explain her not answering now wouldn't it?" Tony commented, with a new understanding of one of girl's issues. He decided to file that little tid-bit away for the time being.

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, modern radio's and telegraphs don't mix. Take it your already thinking of a solution?"

The billionaire grinned, "You know me too well Banner. I've already got a dozen ideas on how to upgrade the kid."

Bruce reached for a glass of water on the countertop and took a sip, before saying. "Just make sure to get Clint's approval before doing any major upgrades to the girl." The Hulk chuckled, his eyes full of mirth. "Wouldn't want him filling you with arrows now would we?"

As he sat down in one of the office chairs, Tony winced. "Yeah, I don't think I could pull off the porcupine look all that well." That earned him a laugh from Bruce. Looking at Bruce, Tony finally asked the question that had been on his mind since he got the news. "Did she say how she. You know returned from the dead?"

Bruce's smile faded and he too sat in a chair. "She escaped Tony. Where ever it is that Thanos sent the souls of all those people he killed, she escaped it. For a price."

"Let me guess. She sold her soul to the Devil?" Tony said with chuckle only to notice that Bruce's eyes only darkened. "She didn't. Did she?"

Bruce gave Tony sad look and shook his head. "She wouldn't give me all the details about the being that she bargained with, other than it asked her to join something it called the Abyss in exchange for freedom." He kneaded his temples. "She decided that selling her soul was better than the alternative and staying dead. Considering what she said that place does to people, I can't blame her."

"Oh it can't be that bad." Tony said trying to convince himself that he hadn't failed the kid three times in a row.

"It's worse than you can imagine. When Thanos snapped his fingers he sent them to a hell of unending pain. Even worse it sound's like their souls are being absorbed by that place. We're running out of time Tony."

Tony collapsed, loosing the kid once was hard enough. But to think that he along with everyone else they failed that day might cease to exist altogether was whole other story. "How long do we have?"

"A year at the most according to the entity that she bargained with. If it wasn't lying to her."

The two geniuses paused for a moment. The possibility was there for it to have lied but at the same time Bruce's interview with Lila had confirmed that there was a possibility it wasn't.

Tony grinned. "We'll have them back in four weeks."

That earned him a raised eyebrow from the Green giant next to him. "Four weeks? That soon huh?"

Tony nodded. "I'll have the first quantum device ready in a week but it will take four at the minimum to make enough for everyone.

"So, we're really going to do this? Aren't we?" Bruce asked, slightly stunned at what he was hearing.

Tony's grin got wider. "Yeah, we really are. And if we're lucky, we'll pull this off without a hitch."

"You do realize you just jinxed us right?" Bruce said with a frown.

"Damn I did. Didn't I?" Tony said with horrid realization. "Well I'm sure I can find something made of wood to knock on. Right?"

Bruce just shook his head, and a thought came to mind. "Hey Tony, if you do give her an upgrade make sure to give the kid an Arc reactor."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Bruce let out a nervous chuckle. "The girl has the appetite of a battleship. She cleaned out two whole buffets and Clint's wallet in a one night. An Arc reactor should cut down on her food needs. Otherwise god help us if her and Thor meet. The two of them put together would probably bankrupt the Avengers fund in a few weeks."

A look of horror crossed Tony's face. "Have you considered the possibility that she's Thanos's idea of a cruel joke?"

Water shot out of Bruce's mouth, him having been in the middle of sipping on his glass of water. He glared at Tony as he wiped the spittle off his face. "Don't even joke about that. Especially around Clint. He'd crucify you for the insult."

"I'll keep that in mind." Tony said as he began to collect the files on the desk and placing them in his briefcase.

"What are you up to?" Bruce asked the man.

Tony smirked and nodded at a window over looking the river. "That's her out there isn't it?" He asked, referring to a figure that was practicing archery while standing on water.

Bruce nodded. "Yes that is. But just so you know Clint is also out there." He said point a green finger at a figure cooking over a grill.

This earned him a wicked grin from Tony who began walking backwards out of the room. "Relax. Hey, if I managed to survive Pepper when she was carrying Morgan, then dealing with Papa Bear should be a walk in the park."

Bruce laughed. "Just don't do anything to get shot. Please. I don't feel like dealing with an Angry Pepper today."

"No promises pal." Tony said with a laugh before disappearing down the hall.

Bruce stared at the empty doorway and then looked out the window, shaking his head with a grin. "One of these days. Tony. One of these days."

Hudson river next to Avenger's HQ

Lila POV

I stared at the target, my bowstring pulled taught. My fire control began working the numbers.

Range to target: 200 ft. Elevation: 5 meters. Wind: SSW 5 knots. River current speed: 12 knots.

Satisfied with my adjustments, I loose my arrow and watched it bury itself into the target.

"That's my girl. Nice shot little Hawkeye!" Dad said from the river bank causing me to glow at the praise.

'What are you so happy about? That's not even a challenge.' A feminine voice said from the depths of my mind. 'Look daddy I can hit the broadside of a barn at point blank range. pffft! Besides weren't you doing this when you died?'

'And there goes my happy mood, thanks Mona.' I thought back to the ship spirit with a scowl.

'No problem! Always glad to help!' Mona responded cheerfully. I could almost picture the battleship grinning ear to ear.

Mona it turned out was not a just a voice in my head but a whole other soul. She was in many ways the snarky twin sister that I never knew I wanted. But there were moments where she could be a complete bitch. Not to mention the urges she occasionally tried to get me to fulfill.

"Hey, back off you little heathens!"*Whack!* "I said back off!" *Whack! Ting!* Lila! Come get your lunch before your turrets do." Dad hollered from the grill.

'Told you they'd cause trouble if you took them off.' Mona said with hint of contempt in her voice.

Mentally flipping the battleship off, I looked over to where dad was at. We had decided that a little father, daughter time was needed now that I was back. So dad had found a portable grill and we had set up one of the picnic tables that were scattered about the compound for lunch. Dad, having picked up his bow again, had set up an archery range for the two of us near the bank of the river. Wanting the extra challenge, I had decided to try practicing my aim while I was on the river. That meant deploying my rigging, but fortunately I was able to remove my hands from my shields. Shields which turned out to have mouths hidden on their ammo boxes and had been watching dad as he cooked lunch. Which led to the very funny sight of dad whacking them with a spatula and my shields whimpering like a pair of demonic puppies. Giggling at the absurd sight, I brought my engines to one quarter, and slowly skated across the waters surface.

As I stepped onto dry land and recalled my rigging and shields, which caused dad to sigh in relief and utter "Thank god for small miracles." As I walked towards dad, I looked down at the bow in my hand. 'Mona does have a point though. I died practicing with a bow and arrow in my hands.' I thought solemnly, 'My entire family, with the exception of dad, died along with half the damn universe. All because of some alien asshole who thought he had the right to play god.'

'Yeah, and what really sucks we can't even get revenge on the bastard.'

'Maybe not, but we were avenged.' I thought back as I set my bow and arrows beside the table and made my way over to the grill.

"Hot dogs or burgers?" dad asked.

"Hot dogs!" I replied as I grabbed a plate.

"Two hot dogs coming up." Dad said with a grin as he put the hot dogs in the hot dog buns before passing them to me.

But as I went to accept the plate I paused and thought back to the night before, where I cleaned out an entire buffet by myself. Dad along with the restaurant's staff and manager had been both horrified and morbidly curious as to where all that food had gone to. Needless to say we had been told, and in some not so very polite terms, to never come back again.

"Everything okay sweetie?" Dad asked.

"Yeah. Just thinking about how small this is compared to what I actually need to consume." I responded as I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

As he put together his own plate, making a burger and a hot dog for himself, Dad chuckled . "Well Kiddo, we can't all eat enough food to feed an army in one siting."

Before I could respond, another voice spoke up from behind me."I might be able to help her with that." I turned and saw Tony Stark coming down the path from the main building, with a particularly wry grin on his face. "So the rumors are true. One of the little agents came back."

As I placed my lunch on the table and sat to eat I sighed. "Not now Mr. Stark. I've already got one snarky person to deal with and that's a permanent arrangement."

The billionaire raised an eyebrow at that. Probably thought I was crazy, hell after experiencing what hell was like, I probably was. He sat down across from me and reached for one of my hot dogs. "How attached are you to that hand?" I asked as I pulled my plate closer to me.

Retracting his hand he looked at me. "Very. But I've got a better question."

"Tony." My dad growled as he set his own plate aside.

Mr. Stark held his hands up. "Let me finish." He said with a smile as he pulled out my x-rays out of a briefcase. "How would you feel if I told you I could give you a modern upgrade?"

"An upgrade? In what way?" I asked curious about his proposal.

"Oh nothing much, an Arc reactor for starters, new communications gear, and a modern radar system. And that's just the basics."

I was practically salivating at the thought and Mona, well lets just say a learned a few things about my other half that I could of done without. The man was over three times our age and she was talking babies. Ew! But I managed to hide my disgust at my ship half's dirty talk long enough to hear the sound of dad bringing me back to reality. "That's great and all, but I if I'm not mistaken that would require my consent. Which I have not given yet."

"Please dad. An Arc reactor would actually make feeding me affordable. Unless you secretly like being thrown out of restaurants and having an empty cupboard all the time."

Dad's eyebrow twitched a bit, and Mr. Stark barked out a laugh. "Banner told me she cleaned out a buffet or two, but he left out the part where you two got thrown out!"

"Please don't encourage her." Dad said with a groan, holding his hand to his face. As he removed it he raised his pointer. "Okay. You win that one, what about the other two."

Placing my hand under my chin in the thinking position I grinned. "Well, considering the fact that my only radio system right now is a TELEGRAPH! A communications uplink would be nice. Not to mention it would prevent another incident like the one in Tokyo.

Dad held up a second finger. "Alright another good reason." He looked at Mr. Stark with a wary eye. "Just so we're on the same page, what exactly is included in the communications system?"

Mr Stark's smile grew wider. "Oh, just the basics. A ICCS or Integrated Command Control System link, a VHF Radio, Satellite Phone, a IFF transmitter, GPS, and a secure Internet connection just to name a few."

Dad looked at me with a funny look and then looked at Mr. Stark. "As long as I can check her browser history and have some parental controls over her Internet Access, I'll accept that."

"DAD! I'm thirteen not eight!" I complained. "Does he have to have control over my internet usage?" I asked Mr. Stark.

Mr. Stark shook his head with a grin. "'Fraid so kid. I actually agree with him on this one. How 'bout that." He said thoughtfully.

"What!?" I all but screeched in surprise.

My dad on the other hand simply raised an eyebrow. "Really? You actually agree with me on something? If I didn't know any better I'd say the world really was ending."

Mr. Stark barked out a laugh. "Hah! You can blame my daughter for that one. Got to watch her like a hawk."

Dad chuckled at that. "You ever need a baby sitter, just let me know. I'm sure Lila won't mind earning a few extra bucks."

My mind froze. Since when did Mr. Stark have a kid?

To my surprise I heard answer my question with. "She was born about fiv..." He paused and I was mortified, having not realized I had spoken aloud. But apparently so was he, having remembered WHY I didn't know he had a kid. "Oh I forgot, you've never met Morgan before, have you Lila."

My dad coughed into his hand, breaking the awkward tension that had filled the air, and changed the subject back to my upgrade. "So Lila, you've explained why I should sign off on the other two upgrades Mr. Stark mentioned. Now what about the radar?

I nodded my head. "Right! As for the radar. It wasn't installed when my ship half was scrapped, so I have to rely on visual aiming only right now. Not to mention the fact that it let's me see in inclement weather, like fog or rain. Overall a radar would make me feel a lot safer." I argued, and judging by the thoughtful look on my dad's face, he agreed with me.

"Kiddo you sure know how to make a hard sell, don't you?" My dad said with a hint of pride before turning to Mr. Stark. "Alright, I approve of those upgrades but what about the others?"

Mr. Stark simply grinned, and something inside me started to scream 'RUN!' A cold sweat started to form on my forehead, and I felt a nervous. He pointed at my propulsion system on the X-ray. "What would you say if I told you I could give you the ability to fly?"

'Uh un! NOPE! Not happening! I was meant to rule the seas. Heights are a no go!' Mona said in a tone that all but said she wasn't having any of it.

'But Mona!'

'But nothing! We weren't built to fly.'

I scratched my head nervously. Mona was going to give me hell for what I was about to say. "That sound's pretty awesome Mr. Stark. I'd like that."

"WHAT!?" I physically winced as Mona screeched like a banshee with my mouth. "WHAT DID I JUST SAY? NO FLIGHT SYSTEMS!"

I beat her back into the recesses of my mind with a mental broom, but the damage was already done. If the way Mr. Stark was looking at me as though I had grown a second head was anything to go by. He turned to my dad and gave dad a questioning look. "Uh huh. Hey Legolas, has she always been bi-polar?"

Dad just sighed and shook his head as he chewed on his hot dog, before swallowing. "Tony meet USS MONTANA BB-51. She's Lila's other half."

The billionaire gave me a funny look and I sighed before standing up and deploying my rigging. Mr. Stark leapt away from me as though I had caught fire. Fortunately, he calmed down rather quickly, after realizing I was showing off. "First things first. Before you do that in front of Steve, let me know. I want pictures." he said with a grin before gesturing at me with both hands. "So this is your true form is it?"

I nodded. "All 47,000 tons of it. I'm sorry if Mona startled you, but she is apparently afraid of heights. Shame though, I really was looking forward to racing that Helicarrier SHIELD has." I said with a sigh, before retracting my rigging. 'Hook'

I sensed Mona's surprise in the back of my mind. 'Helicarrier?' She asked me surprised. 'It's a flying aircraft carrier, not that it matters. We'll never be able to' I thought back to her feigning sadness.'Line'

I heard a wail of despair come from Mona. 'I take it back! Make him give us wings. If a stupid flattop can fly then I want to fly too!'

'and Sinker' I thought to myself as a smirk crossed my face and dad immediately knew something was up. 'What did you do?' He asked.

To my surprise it was Mona that answered. "If a stupid carrier can fly then I want to too! Give us wings and make us fly!"

Blushing furiously, I rubbed the back of my head. "I may or may not have bribed her with a race. Still, it worked and she's no longer against us getting flying equipment."

Blinking owlishly, Mr. Stark nodded his head slightly before looking at my dad for help. Dad just held up his hands and laughed. "Don't look at me! I'm still getting used to the idea of having two daughters in one body."

Mr. Stark blanched at the thought of being in my dad's position, before he looked back to me and groaned. "Good god, what have I done?"

I shrugged and Dad started laughing even harder. As dad calmed down from his laughter, I looked at Mr. Stark and asked. "So when can we do these upgrades?"

Dad went back to being all business, as Mr. Stark pulled out a holographic computer. "Hmm. How about next Wednesday at eleven? If your dad has no issues with it, that is."

I gave Dad a pleading look, and with a sigh Dad nodded. "Alright Kiddo. We'll do it. Just do me a favor and don't use any of the flight gear in the house. Okay?"

With a nod of my head and a grin on my face I went. "Sure dad, anything you say."

Time: Unknown Location: Soul Stone Dimension

Abyss POV

The woman looked at me with hope in her eyes as I showed her her husband and daughter. "Both of you can rejoin them and save the one that faded away." I informed them. "All that is needed is for you to accept the Abyss into you." I 'faced' the young man before me. "Granted in your case, I am obligated to inform you there is no such thing as a male Abyssal. So if there is a sacrifice to be made it would most likely be that."

The boy glowered at the entity. "Does it really matter at this point?" The boy said through gritted teeth as he fought the destruction of his soul. "I had to watch my little brother's soul fade out of existence while he cried for mom and me to save him!" He choked back a sob. "If the price of getting him back is my manhood so be it. I'll happily give it up."

"Cooper!" The woman cried out in horror before screaming in pain once more.

I chuckled. Oh yes, the boy would do just fine. "I see you've made your decision Cooper Barton." I 'turned' to face the mother. "But what about you Laura Barton? Have you made yours? Are you willing to accept my offer? To accept the Abyss into you and join your Husband and Daughter once more?"

As the woman looked at her eldest and sighed. Curious as to her thoughts, I probed her mind. Immediately I could tell that she was upset, as she knew that the boy had already made his decision. 'Damn it Cooper. The first chance I get, you and I are going to have a long talk about making deals with strange beings.' I heard her groan internally, 'Well in for a penny, in for a pound.' I heard her think. I couldn't agree more myself. As either way she was going to end up with two daughters before this was over with. 'How the hell am I going to explain to Clint that I let our eldest trade his manhood and soul without a fight? How will I explain that I also traded my soul. Shit!' She thought to herself when a shock of pain went through her, reminding her of the alternative. 'Oh, Damn it to hell! I can't say I really blame him. Alright! Fine!' She made her decision and I retracted my probe. "I Accept! AhHH!" She screamed as another intense blast of pain coursed through her. As it subsided she steadied herself. Through gritted teeth she declared to me. "I Accept the Abyss Into Myself!"

If I was capable of smiling I would have had a face splitting grin for certain. With mother having accepted my offer, I turned to the boy. "And you? Do you Cooper Barton accept the Abyss?" I asked.

The boy nodded. "I too Accept the Abyss! Just end make the pain stop!"

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Funny. Your sister said the same thing to me not to long ago." I said as I opened up the Abyss. "And I will tell you both the same thing I told her, Laura and Cooper Barton. Just remember, you begged for this." And with that declaration. I swallowed them both into the transformative Abyss.

As the two underwent their transformations my thoughts turned to the being that provided me with a wealth of souls to choose from. I let out a dark laugh. After an Eons long imprisonment I was no longer alone in this place. I couldn't help but feel a desire to find this Thanos and thank him personally for this wondrous gift. As none of this would have been possible without his... Stupidity, yes that's a good word for it. Stupidity. Granted, who would of ever suspected that the Soul Stone itself had been long ago been corrupted by an outside influence? Or used by Odin himself to seal away a being that had, at one point, corrupted over a thousand worlds?

I chuckled once more and continued my search for other souls who were just as desperate as the two I had just claimed. 'So many deals to make. So little time.' I thought amused, as the mother and her son-turned-daughter finished their changes.

I opened the Abyss in the mortal world and deposited the two in the Graveyard of the Atlantic, before closing the portal once more. A shriek of agony caught my attention, and I was off once more. As I did so, I had no doubt in my mind that I would have been smiling ear to ear if I had a face. "Oh, what a lovely day! What a lovely day indeed!"

AN: Okay don't rip into me in the reviews but I decided to turn the rest of the Bartons, with the exception of Peitro and Clint, into Abyssals. I was hoping for Reviews before I posted this chapter but I wanted to get to some abyssal vs. abyssal action. And I changed my mind on the princess classes. The reason being that after the upgrades, Lila will pretty much be a low tier princess level battleship. an Arial battleship no less! Still do not expect any installation types. They are still a no go.