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AN: I was inspired to create some of the Avengers' 'new' costumes here from images of medieval-style Avengers from Deviantart; I put my own spin on things, but I think the overall looks work

Tempus Fugit, Infinitas Manet

Blinking his eyes open, Steve slowly sat up as he took in his surroundings, glancing anxiously around to take in what had happened. He and the other three Avengers were all gathered around what appeared to be the entrance to the cave they'd just entered, the two women only just regaining consciousness while the Vision was taking in their surroundings.

"What… what happened?" the original Avenger asked, looking uncertainly at the android as he stood up.

"I am attempting to determine that myself," the Vision said, glancing back at his team leader. "I have taken a quick survey of our immediate area, and not only has the Quinjet gone missing, but I cannot detect any wireless transmissions at all."

"The jet is missing?" Steve asked.

"There's no wireless?" Natasha interjected in surprise.

"Couldn't we simply be… out of range?" Wanda asked uncertainly.

"Not from my sensors," the Vision said firmly. "And besides, even if we were somehow beyond the range of wireless contact, that would not account for the lowered levels of pollution in the surrounding atmosphere."

"Lowered levels?" Wanda asked, looking curiously at the android.

"There is always a degree of pollution in the atmosphere, no matter how much we attempt to limit exhaust and Mr Stark's own work in clean energy alternatives," the Vision explained. "Right now, however, I am not detecting even the slightest degree of toxic contamination in this planet's atmosphere-"

"You have a theory about that."

"What?" Steve looked sharply at Natasha's statement.

"The Vision might not have started out as human, but he's picked up enough traits to show when he's completely confused," the Black Widow said firmly. "He's too calm to have found all that out while we were unconscious if he didn't already have some idea of what caused it all."

"You are correct," the Vision said, nodding at the Russian spy before turning back to Steve. "I believe that the Stone we nearly discovered in that cave was the Time Stone."

"Time?" the other three Avengers repeated in shock.

"It is one of the only two Stones whose locations are still unknown, based on what Thor told me before he left," the Vision explained. "The Tesseract was the Space Stone, I possess the Mind Stone, the Dark Elves' attack on London was aided by the Reality Stone, and Thor has informed me that the Power Stone was allegedly left in the custody of an alien security force after it was used to attack their world-"

"OK, we'll… talk about that later," Steve said, suddenly wishing he'd shown greater interest in the Infinity Stones when Thor had originally told him about them, rather than deciding to focus on the current threat posed by Ultron's plan. "So… I take it the Time Stone does what it says on the box?"

"But that means…" Wanda began, before looking urgently at the Vision. "Are you saying that we've travelled in time?"

"How far back?" Steve asked, his mind immediately shifting to thoughts of Peggy and Bucky; maybe he could still meet them-

"Not in any of our lifetimes," the Vision said, looking solemnly at Steve, as though he'd already guessed what Steve had been thinking. "As I said, based on the lack of transmissions and the lower level of pollution in the atmosphere, I believe that we are at the very least before the Industrial Revolution, if not significantly earlier than that."

"Technology couldn't have just cleaned things up and reached a point that you can't detect the transmissions?" Natasha asked.

"No," the Vision said firmly. "Mr Stark might not keep up-to-date with the fine details himself, but I was instructed to be fully aware of any major developments in all relevant fields that might impact his own work. No matter what we attempt, there is no way that the human race could completely purge Earth's atmosphere of what has been done to it; the only way for the air to be this pure is if we were in the distant past, and I doubt that technology could have reached a point where I am completely incapable of accessing any of the modern signals."

"OK," Steve said, indicating the cave behind him after taking a moment to think about what he'd just learned; he'd coped with a 'jump' forward in time when he was frozen so compared to that, being stuck in the past at least gave him a better idea what to expect from the rest of the world, as well as the nature of this 'jump' giving him a better chance to get home. "I take it, since we're still here, we can't just… try and repeat what sent us here and hope it gets us back to our own time?"

"No," the Vision said. "Even if I could be certain of what chain of events prompted the Stone to trigger this kind of transition, the Stone no longer appears to be in the Cave… although I can still sense echoes of its presence there…."

"Echoes, as in it's moved on?" Natasha asked.

"Echoes as in it isn't there yet," the Vision corrected.

"Yet?" Steve repeated. "You can sense that it's going to be there?"

"My connection to the Infinity Stones is too complex for me to explain in English without discussing higher mathematical concepts that I doubt any of you could understand," the android explained, looking apologetically at the first Avenger. "In the end, I am certain that the Stone will be here eventually, but it is not there at this time."

"So how long do we have until it gets here?" Natasha asked.

"Uncertain," the Vision said, after looking at the cave for a few moments of silent analysis. "I can determine that the Stone will be there soon, but my connection is too imprecise to be clearer; if it helps compare it to how atmospheric pressure and other factors can allow approximate predictions of the weather without being completely accurate."

"OK," Steve said, deciding not to press that issue any further; if the Vision could have given them more information, he had faith that the android would have done so. "So… what do we do now? Wait to find out when it gets here?"

"Hey," Wanda said, interrupting Steve's musings as she walked over to a small pile of objects near the cave. "What are these?"

As they joined the young woman, the other three Avengers were surprised to see four small piles of what turned out to be clothing that evoked memories of medieval-style attire rather than anything from the present. There was one pile with a dark blue jerkin and dark armour that looked like it was just large enough for Steve, along with a long tattered red-and-blue cloak. Another pile included what looked like a black corset and a long robe in a dark red that looked like it would fit Wanda, while a third featured black armour that looked like a heavier version of Natasha's leather outfit. The final pile consisted solely of a long dark robe and a strange dark mask that was evidently designed for the Vision, with even the mask looking like it was a perfect fit for the android.

"Huh," Steve said, picking up the blue armour and holding it against himself. "This is… odd."

"'Odd' is not the word," the Vision said, testing the mask on his face to confirm that it fitted. "These clothes all appear to be designed explicitly for each of us…"

"And someone just left them here?" Wanda sked, even as she curiously studied the dark red robe. "Why?"

"One of many things we shall need to investigate," the Vision said, as he placed the mask on his face before shrugging on the robe, which settled to not only cover his body but even cast enough of a shadow in the hood to hide the parts of his head that the mask didn't conceal. "After all, I doubt that someone would leave us these clothes if we are not meant to use them."

"And what makes you so sure that we should?" Natasha pointed out, even as she picked up the light black armour to examine it more closely.

"If someone was trying to set a trap, wouldn't they do something a more subtle than giving us clothing that wouldn't blend in?" the Vision noted.

"Good point," Wanda said, examining her own attire with a thoughtful smile. "We already know we're in the past; this gives us something to wear so we can take a look at the area, without leaving us… obligated to take action or interact with anyone."

"Fair point," Natasha nodded, shaking her head as she studied the clothing in front of her before she sighed in resignation. "Well, we can't exactly wait here hoping the Stone will arrive…"

"To say the least," Steve smiled, looking thoughtfully at the blue armour before looking up at the women. "Find somewhere to change, and let's start walking; the sooner we find someone else here, the better."


When she had become part of the Avengers, Natasha was never sure what she had expected would happen to her, but even her wildest imaginations hadn't prompted her to think of this. She'd come to expect that she would deal with unusual situations when she helped a Norse god fight off an alien invasion, but the concept of time-travel was something that she'd never seriously expected to have to deal with.

For the moment, it was easier to just focus on the idea that her latest assignment would require her to potentially infiltrate a renaissance-style LARP game; time travel might be cool as a concept, but when you were stuck in the past, the priority soon became making sure you could get back.

Still, even if the purpose and origin of their 'disguises' were still unknown, Natasha had to approve of the choice of whoever had made them. Steve's armour was fairly solid with just enough traits from his usual uniform to make sure that he was 'comfortable' without standing out from other suits, and the lightweight armour provided to her and Wanda reminded Natasha of things she'd read about in history books about female warriors as part of her training for the Red Room.

Even if she couldn't be sure why someone had provided them with these clothes, they'd clearly taken great care when putting everything together…

The sound of gunfire resembling the Chitauri weaponry ended Natasha's moment of reflection, the other Avengers only needing to exchange glances before they ran in the direction of the sounds. Pausing as they reached a break in the treeline, they witnessed a group of five men dressed like medieval knights trying to fight off another, larger group wearing some kind of green-and-purple armour wielding weapons that looked like a bizarre amalgamation of a laser gun and a lightsabre, the knights only just managing to avoid being struck by either weapon as they were hemmed in by their opponents.

"We help the knights?" Natasha glanced over at Steve, his resolute expression the only answer she needed.

"We help the knights," Steve confirmed as he slung his shield onto his arm before glancing over at the youngest Avenger present (Natasha knew that the Vision was younger, but it was hard to consider him that way when he had so much knowledge from his various progenitors). "Wanda, you may want to stay back; if the clothing reflects our current era, the last thing I want is to risk anyone trying to burn you at the stake because you revealed your powers."

"Understood," Wanda said, her tone sullen for a moment before the Vision moved closer to her, prompting a slight smile from the girl before the four Avengers leapt into action. As both sides turned to take in the new arrivals, Steve flung his shield at the nearest three men, his trademark weapon striking all three in the chest before it returned to his arm. Although the shield didn't crack their strange armour, the force of the blow knocked them all to the ground, allowing the nearest knight to stab his sword into their exposed heads before they could regain their breath.

As the armoured men turned to face the approaching Avengers, Wanda grabbed a weapon from one of the fallen attackers and lashed out with it, not even bothering to activate the weapon in favour of just using it as a blunt instrument against their enemy's exposed heads. Drawing her 'stun sticks', Natasha took care to use them only as blunt instruments as she struck their enemies as hard as possible, weaving neatly around their attempts to strike back as quick glances to either side confirmed that Steve and the Vision were acquitting themselves against their foes, Steve's shield and the Vision's enhanced density allowing them to knock their enemies down despite the armour.

Even with the need for the Vision to restrict his attacks to something that a human could theoretically unleash, he was still able to do enough damage to crack the enemies' armour, allowing the five knights to finish the job by exploiting the damage to fully destroy the armour before moving on. A part of Natasha noted that he was staying close to Wanda, but put it down as their strongest member taking automatic care of their most 'handicapped', and the woman who had adopted the name 'Scarlet Witch' still showed a surprising degree of skill despite her limited hand-to-hand combat experience as she flipped a couple of her attackers off their feet.

With the aid of the knights, it only took a few moments for the purple-and-green guards to fall, leaving the four Avengers standing over their fallen foes as they looked at the five knights, Wanda dropping her temporary weapon while Natasha put her sticks back into the holsters on her legs.

"We… thank you for your assistance," one of the knights said, looking slightly awkward as he addressed the four strangers. "We had expected… but we had no idea…"

"You knew those men?" Wanda asked before Natasha could stop her.

"We have been… investigating reports of strange activities in the forests, but we never expected… they fell on us without warning…" the knight shook his head in frustration before he looked back at the Avengers. "And… who are you?"

"Maybe you could… tell us where we are, first?" Steve asked, looking apologetically at the other man. "We've been… travelling for some time; we've… lost track of where we are."

"Of course," the knight said, nodding at the captain in understanding. "You are currently in the kingdom of Camelot, reigned over by Uther Pendragon."

It was only years of training, relative cultural ignorance, and a natural self-control that stopped all four Avengers gasping in shock at that revelation.

They were in Camelot?

Natasha wasn't sure what was the greater shock; the idea that the kingdom of Camelot had actually existed in this kind of state, or the fact that she and the other Avengers were actually there

AN 2: And there you have it; my crossover element is the BBC TV series 'Merlin', set between Seasons Three and Four of the show (More information forthcoming with the next chapter), which I hope will meet with your approval.