The two teens sat on the couch, now surrounded by not only Tony and Bruce, but Thor, Natasha and Steve. Loki was off to the side, watching with amusement.

The girl was staring Tony down, occasionally glancing at Loki, finally she turned to the boy-Branden. "I think we came too early."

"Really?" the tone in the other teenager's voice made Tony grin, he liked this kid, he glanced at Bruce who was looking on with furrowed eyebrows.

The girl heaved a sigh, and moved a red curl from her face, then decided to just take her hair out all together and redo the tail it had been in, she looked very familiar to Tony and he just couldn't place it, and then from the corner of his eye he saw Natasha mimic the movement, she seemed to catch herself, and then her eyes narrowed.

Seems like Tony wasn't the only one who seemed to be making connections to things around here. Natasha pursed her lips, and then glanced at him, he shrugged and her lips went white, she was thinking hard about something.

"Alright, explain one more time what you mean," Steve said, frowning, the girl arched an eyebrow at him that Tony swore belonged on the other face of another red head in the room. Oh he was getting there.

"The man who was frozen in ice for seventy years is finding time travel hard to comprehend?" she asked and Tony tried hard not to snort in laughter but failed, earning himself a glare from Steve.

"That was different, Tal, he stayed while everyone else moved forward, we went back, it is hard to understand," Branden said, the girl nodded conceding the point.

"Alright, fair enough," she heaved another sigh, "You know we can't actually tell you anything…right?" she looked up, making eye contact with Tony and Bruce, she tried to avoid Natasha's eye however. Oh yeah, Tony was caught up.

"That will prove to be problematic if you require our assistance," Thor rumbled quietly, inspecting the youths with more interest than true worry as to what news they brought.

"Yeah, we know…it's just…hard to try and tell you what you need to know so you know we're telling the truth, but we can't really do things that will endanger the future…"

"Even though we're trying to change the outcome," the girl grumbled, "This is really complicated."

"Time Travel," Bruce said at the same time as Branden who coughed and looked anywhere but at him.

"And Doctor Who makes it look so easy," she murmured, "Right well, I guess we're sticking around until we do what we need to."

"Which we still have no idea as to what," Branden said and then was promptly elbowed in the ribs, "Ack! Violent!"

"Right, I'm Tali, this is Branden, we come in peace, do you have any frozen waffles?"

"At least she knows what she wants," Tony laughed, "Yeah, I think Clint may have left some, you'd better be careful, you might have to fight him for the last one."

A sudden; feral grin crossed her face, "I can handle my own when it is in the name of the Eggo, I will fight the glorious battle for the right to eat them."

"I like her," Tony said to the others, "She's quirky."

"Quirky, that's a new one, you've never called me that before…usually it's just sneaky," she hummed as she stood up and headed over to the kitchen.

"Before?" Tony asked even as Branden placed a hand to his forehead and let out a quiet groan.

"Why do I even…?" he murmured to himself and then looked up to find he was still being stared at by Bruce, he coughed again and then stood quickly to follow Tali into the kitchen.

"Tal, you can't just go and…well…you know, the whole point of being discreet is what was it you say? 'Shutting up'?" he repeated and she only grinned.

"But look at his face," she pointed to Tony, "He's so interested, like a puppy waiting so eagerly for his new toy he might pee."

"Interesting analogy," Tony said, but he was more amused than offended.

"I quiet agree, however a puppy is a bit too cute for my tastes," Loki said stepping over to the girl, Tony and the rest of the room tensed, she only leaned against the counter, waiting for her waffles to pop.

"Oh yeah, and what would you prefer? A worm..? Oh no, wait, it would be an ant right?" she asked, her grayblue eyes glittered with mischief, Loki automatically decided he liked her.

"Ooooh, perhaps a beetle, he does like to scurry about in his little den downstairs," he said easily. Tali took a waffle from the toaster, putting it directly in her mouth without a plate, just like someone else who ate them.

"Mm! Good point! He does scurry about, and his armor is like an exoskeleton!" she declared, and then shot Tony a grin.

"I have no idea what's happening anymore," he said, and Branden snorted.

"There's no stopping them when they get started, they're worse than Le-er…I mean, they're just bad," he said but of course he didn't miss the look Tali shot him, he flinched, "Sorry…" he murmured.

Tali cleared her throat, "So…okay, um…we…don't really know when it is we're supposed to do whatever it is, but I assume it is close, since this is when we were sent, and it was by magic so-"

"Magic?" Loki asked, perking up immediately, glowering at Thor who looked like he was ready to spring in case Loki decided to attack. Which was ridiculous, as Loki did not attack children, he never had and never would.

"Yeah, we were sent here by an…ah…extension of your magic," Branden said, nodding to Loki, "You said that it would be able to feel the cracks in time and because it touched us, we'd be able to feel when we need to make our move."

"I'm really hoping it's nothing too bad, I really don't need to see anymore dead bodies…" Tali said softly.

"Dead bodies?" Natasha asked, frowning and Tali flinched at the sight of it.

"It's…well…okay, we're in the middle of a war in the future, one that isn't supposed to happen…we need to fix it, we need to make everything right, so much has happened, so many people have been hurt and broken and killed…and well…we've both seen a lot, and…" Tali's shoulder's sagged, "We've lost a whole lot more."

"Hey, what's going on?" there was only a moment of silence as Clint walked in, it was rare to see everyone crowded together this time of day, they usually didn't get together until later to watch movies or if they were feeling adventurous, play games.

Tali's eyes snapped up and she looked at Clint wide eyes, it was hard not to notice such a reaction, but Clint seemed to be the only one oblivious, though he was taking in the sight of the two strange kids standing in the kitchen, he really hoped he hadn't missed anything exciting.

"Who're the kids?" he asked, and then Tali choked.

"Excuse me," she murmured before turning on her heel and fleeing the kitchen.

"Ah…I'm just…yeah," Branden wasn't far behind her, the door to the hall closed and there was silence.

"What the hell is going on?" Clint asked, and no one really seemed to have an answer, save for Loki.

"It would appear that magic has brought two…ah… children from the Avengers future to assist in the solving of a problem," Loki said, "Oh I do hope I am around to see what sorry shape you are in that you need to ask me and some children to do your bidding," he said his grin widening.

"Maybe you're on our side then," Tony said cheekily, Loki only rolled his eyes.

"As if," Clint snorted, "The moment Loki is on any side but his own I'll eat an arrow."

"I'll hold you to that, Agent Barton," Loki said, his grin reaching the point of madness.

"The real question is…whose kids are they?" Bruce asked, and shrugged when the other's looked at him, "What? It's pretty obvious…"

"Yeah, but…we probably shouldn't look into it, space time continuum and such," Tony said with a sigh, "Pity, I would make a mighty fine bet."

"Tony…"

"A wager huh?" Cling asked, grinning.

"A grand idea Man of Iron!"

"I'm going back to my room," Natasha sighed, she already knew, how could she not? But…she wouldn't think about it, she couldn't, bad things might happen right? But…even still…

Maybe she could help, Tali had looked pretty torn. Natasha couldn't bear the sight of it, and she refused to think why.