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Tempus Fugit, Infinitas Manet
"Dragons?" Natasha looked sceptically at the other two Avengers as they explained what had just taken place. "You met a dragon?"
"Merlin claimed that this dragon was the last of his kind," the Vision explained. "This may account for the lack of archaeological evidence of their existence in our time; other dragons may have been able to dispose of their remains in some manner that prevented them from leaving any trace, and this one may have simply… decided to pass on somewhere private."
"It's as good a theory as any," Steve said, shaking his head with a slight smile. "Wow… dragons were real."
"I do not know if we should feel depressed or relieved that they aren't around in our time," Wanda noted. "If this one was anything like the species as a whole, they were… an intimidating race."
"Which raises the question of how they went extinct if they were that big," Natasha put in.
"Something that I doubt anyone here is going to be willing to share with us," the Vision added solemnly. "The general populace would wonder why we are asking, and it is most likely a sensitive issue for anyone who knows that one dragon survived, so it is hardly a topic anyone is going to be interested in discussing in depth."
"True," Steve said, nodding in acknowledgement at the android. "Besides, even if I'd like to know more about the dragons, we still have more immediate concerns; if we can't find the Time Stone before our enemies… well, things could get ugly."
"To say nothing of whether we will be able to get home."
None of the Avengers responded to Wanda's observation, but they all knew they didn't have to. The issue of getting back to their own time was one that concerned all of them, no matter how fascinating they might find their current opportunity to see Camelot at its height, but for the moment protecting Camelot from whatever their unknown foe was up to had to be their main concern.
"Which is why I shall attempt to implement the dragon's suggestion now," the Vision said, as he sat down on the floor and crossed his legs, hands on either side in a classic meditative pose. "The sooner we can determine what we are looking for right now, the better for all concerned parties."
"You think you can do this?"
"I think it is worth an attempt," the Vision noted, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. "Here I go…"
For a few moments, the other three Avengers sat in silence as they stared at the meditating android, the gem on his forehead occasionally pulsing but otherwise giving no sign that it was 'in use'. Glancing over at Wanda, Steve noticed a faint glow in her eyes that he normally only saw when she was using her powers, but the calm expression her face dispelled the thought that she was preparing for any kind of battle; Natasha had given Wanda what training she could, but it was still hard for the 'Scarlet Witch' to control her emotions in a crisis.
After few a moments, the Vision opened his eyes, his usual blue eyes now surrounded by an orange glow that surprised his three teammates before it faded again.
"Found anything?" Steve asked.
"I… have detected something," the android confirmed. "It seems to be from the direction of the cave we arrived in…"
"At least we know we were right about that," Natasha noted.
"True," the Vision nodded at the assassin. "I admit that I am not programmed for the complexities of time-travel, but I do believe that something… will be there soon."
"Complexities of time-travel?" Wanda asked.
"Is this like 'we will have been here before'?"
"Pardon?" the witch asked, looking at Steve in surprise.
"It's from a book one of my old S.T.R.I.K.E. team loaned me before… well, we learned the truth," Steve said with a wistful shrug. "Time-travel story; the main character used that phrase to describe the idea that he'd just landed somewhere that he would visit at an earlier date in his own personal future."
"Complicated," Wanda noted.
"Regardless, your basic idea is correct," the Vision nodded at Steve. "I can confirm that the Gem will be at the cave soon, but apart from being certain that it is not there now, I cannot define how I know the future in a manner that the English language can adequately describe."
"So long as we can find some way to justify this to Arthur and the knights, that should be enough."
"Hold on; you want to bring them into this?" Steve looked sharply over at Natasha. "I know we need help, but we've already seen what these people are capable of-"
"And we also know that they must be working under some sort of limit or they would have already won," Natasha countered. "I don't know if the reasons for them not mounting an all-out attack on Camelot are practical or they have some kind of personal reason, but we can all be sure that anyone coming back in time would have come equipped with everything they would need to deal with local resistance."
"And if they haven't done anything big yet, they probably won't?" Wanda asked.
"When you're looking for something big, you go all-out to ensure that you bring your biggest weapons to the party from the beginning," Natasha explained. "The fact that these people have advanced weapons but have limited themselves to sneak attacks suggests they're more interested in a subtle campaign of terror rather than mass conquest."
"Most likely they wish to avoid causing too many changes to the timeline," the Vision noted. "An increased sense of security in Camelot for a period of time may not have much impact on the future, but killing someone would create a greater risk."
"But they have been attacking people-"
"But not killing them," Natasha noted as she glanced over at Wanda. "The knights mentioned that they were investigating attacks, but we haven't heard anything to suggest that they were killing people at the same time."
"Good point," Steve nodded. "If we wanted to, we could have easily taken out all of those knights when they appeared, and if these people have access to time travel as a regular thing, we can probably assume they're even more advanced than we are… so why draw out that fight for so long?"
"They want to keep Camelot contained while they wait for the Stone to appear," Natasha answered firmly.
"This… seems a bit elaborate for that," Wanda noted.
"After what we have seen the Stones achieve in the past, I think we can assume that anyone seeking to control one would go to great lengths to harness it," the Vision noted.
"True," Steve noted. "Schmidt unleashed an entire Hydra division on one small town because he'd traced rumours of the Tesseract to the local church before he even knew for certain that there was anything to those stories. I don't think anyone would travel this far back in time unless they knew what they were after, which means they also have a plan that they've probably been sticking to so far."
"Even with our presence?"
"We haven't had much of an impact yet, so we shouldn't have given anyone a reason to adjust their plans, particularly if they can't control when the Stone will appear," Steve noted. "Right now, where the Stone's likely to be, which means we can assume we know where those men will be; we just have to get there before they see us…"
Steve paused in silent thought, the other three Avengers waiting on his decision before he looked resolutely over at Natasha. "Think we can bend the rules by giving the knights a lesson in camouflage?"
"I doubt they earned their reputation by playing by the rules all the time," Natasha noted. "Of course, it would be best if we run it by someone else first."
"Camouflage?" Merlin repeated uncertainly as he looked between the four Avengers gathered in Gaius's room, turning over the idea they had just presented to him. "And that's… not a spell?"
"No, it's an… adaptation of a technique used by the Romans," Steve said, hoping that he was remembering his military history correctly. "They used to paint their ships blue and green so that they would blend into the sea and make it harder for enemies to see them as they came to the shore; associates of mine have… adapted the concept for clothing to use in stealth attacks on land."
"It seems a curious way to fight…" Gaius noted.
"Sometimes the best chance of victory is a sneak attack," Natasha put in. "Camelot can't have won all its victories by charging in with weight of numbers."
"No, but… this seems like a more underhanded method of victory than Arthur would prefer…"
"Believe me, I'd like it if wars could be won through purely honourable methods, but sometimes life just doesn't work out that way," Steve said, looking at Merlin in solemn understanding. "The people we're dealing with are dangerous, but they've been underestimating your own soldiers from the start and I have a feeling they don't think we're be able to do that much to help you; if we can catch them off-guard, we might be able to turn the tables and get the Stone away from them for good."
"But surely your Order-"
"The Order's too far away to help us now, and we don't know what kind of numbers we might be up against," Steve cut in. "Your concern is appreciated, Gaius, but we have to act quickly or we might miss our chance; Victor is fairly sure that the Time Stone will be accessible soon, so it's vital we force their hand before then."
Looking around the mysterious group, Merlin wondered what it was about them that made it so easy for him to trust them. They had come here with a vague story about ancient artefacts that not even Kilgharrah had heard about before they arrived, and he knew for a fact that they hadn't told the rest of Camelot the truth about Wanda, which left him wondering what other secrets they were hiding behind Victor's mask and their vague description of the other five Stones…
But at the same time, there was something about them he found familiar in a manner that he couldn't define. It went beyond Wanda's magic and Victor's own abilities, as Steve and Natasha had done nothing to suggest that they were anything other than skilled fighters, but even when he felt suspicious, he also felt a strange kinship when them that he couldn't identity.
"I'll… talk to Arthur about this," he said at last, looking solemnly between the other four. "I can't make any promises…"
"All we ask is that you try," Steve nodded reassuringly at Merlin. "Convince Arthur that we need the knights' help for a difficult situation, and we'll deal with everything else."
