ERIK POV

Having found a secluded corner in the building, Erik was just about to try to call his children, even though it was still much too early in the U.S. for any sane person to be awake, when the power went out around him.

That can't be good.

He knew he shouldn't care. Whatever was going on, it wasn't his problem, but due to curiosity or maybe some other compelling emotion, Erik headed toward the sound of a commotion, which also happened to be the direction people were running away from.

Coming around a corner, Erik found himself in a large open room with a bunch of plain cafeteria tables. The furniture was in disarray, and there was a blond woman unconscious on the ground. Quickly scanning the rest of the room, Erik's eyes landed on Stark who was also on the floor, nursing a black eye and, probably wounded pride.

Erik paid him no heed and strode right passed the well dressed man, who looked like he didn't have enough energy to pester Erik anyway.

Going past a slightly out of it Stark, Erik approached the third injured person in the room: Natasha. The woman was lying on one of the cafeteria tables, and Erik noted that her neck was almost as red as her hair. He felt a flash of anger, which surprised him. It wasn't the blinding anger that overcame him when his children were hurt or in danger, but there was still annoyance there. Annoyance that someone had hurt the woman who was willing to go against her superior to help him.

"What happened?" he asked as he reached her, hoping he kept any sign of concern out of his voice.

"Barnes." Natasha replied, her voice hoarse from her injury. "The roof. Go."

Again Erik surprised himself by not even questioning Natasha or why he was listening to her, but instead he quickly made his way over to the stairs, taking them two at a time. He was thankful that he was in good shape. One thing Erik's time at Auschwitz had taught him was that one's body was something that should never be taken for granted, and if he was blessed enough to be able to eat well and exercise then he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to do so.

Erik bounded up the final flight of stairs that led to the roof. Reaching the top of the stairs, Erik wrenched the door to roof open with his powers, ripping it off its hinges in his haste.

The first thing Erik noticed when he reached the outside was the roaring sound of a helicopter and the movement of its rapidly spinning metal blades, but what stopped Erik in his tracks was not the sound or the feeling of metal, but the sight of the helicopter across the roof, at the of the landing pad, or rather the sight of who was hanging on to it.

Captain Rogers had a hold of the helicopter's landing skid with one arm and the roof's railing with another. His muscles were straining, but what was more impressive was that his effort was actually paying off. Despite the pilot's—who Erik registered was Barnes—clear efforts to leave, it wasn't making any progress. In fact, Rogers seemed to be pulling it back to the roof.

Stunned by the display of the man's inhuman strength, Erik had yet to act in any form. He knew from his first encounter with Steve that the man was abnormally strong, but he had not imagined how strong. Erik felt a newfound feeling of kinship arise in him. Perhaps if they did have to remain in this world, he and his mutant children wouldn't be so alone after all. If people like Steve, Wanda, and Vision, existed, maybe there were other mutant—or what was akin to mutant—brothers and sisters out there.

Recovering from his initial shock, Erik reached out with his powers to help Steve pull the helicopter back. Unfortunately, he hadn't anticipated Barnes sudden radical change in control of the chopper.

The helicopter went careening back toward the landing pad…and Steve. Erik just barely managed to prevent the tail rotor from making Swiss cheese out of the Captain, and if Rogers hadn't also rolled out of the way, he probably still would have been hit.

Erik tightened his mental hold on the helicopter, quickly stopping the blades before releasing it from his power. There was a moment of calm as the dust cleared, and he took a step toward the wreck. But before he could react or get any closer, Barnes reached out with his metal arm and grabbed Steve's throat in a death grip.

Erik responded quickly, pulling Bucky's clenched fingers away from Rogers, who promptly fell onto his back, while the chopper started inching in the other direction toward the water below.

Steve looked back at Erik for a moment in surprise before turning back toward his main focus: Bucky. The Captain leapt to his feet, keeping his eyes trained on Barnes in the teetering helicopter.

"Erik! Help me! Pull it back!" Steve shouted back at Erik as he tried futilely to find some sort of purchase on the landing pad to stop the sliding helicopter.

Erik already having raised his hand, intended to do as Steve asked, but then he hesitated, remembering something.

The power is out. That means the cameras are out of operation too.

No one would know, if Erik had made it in time to stop Barnes. Tony had seemed too stunned to even notice him as he had passed by, and Natasha might very well know Erik would have easily made it in time to confront the Winter Soldier, but something told him, she wouldn't rat him out.

And what would bringing in Barnes do? Ross couldn't deny that Erik had already done his job. It wasn't his fault someone else was inept at theirs and allowed the soldier to escape. All of these thoughts rapidly ran through his mind in the span of seconds, so fast did they come that he wondered if this was how Pietro felt all the time.

Erik wouldn't have to compromise his principles. He didn't have to work for Ross, and even if Ross somehow found out about what Erik was about to do, it didn't matter anymore. Erik was tired of being someone's pawn. He'd been done with that since he'd killed Shaw. No matter what the man said, he and his children didn't need Ross. Erik would go back to the U.S., retrieve his children from the Avengers' compound, and set off on their own immediately.

Erik's hope that his children could have a seemingly normal life here had held him back from refusing to help Ross, as had his fear that he wouldn't be able to protect his children in this unfamiliar world…but his children weren't normal. A normal life was never going to be possible for them, and all of the times his children had suffered was when he wasn't there to protect them.

That's not going to happen again.

He was going to be there for his children. He never should have left them to fulfill someone else's agenda.

Erik had made his decision.

Instead of pulling the helicopter back onto the roof, Erik gave it the push it needed to make its fall toward the water below, while he held on to Steve with his powers, using the man's belt buckle to keep him from falling along with it.

"ERIK!" Steve shouted at him in surprise and anger as the helicopter tumbled into the water below.

"Help your friend Captain. They won't let him escape twice." Replied Erik, just loud enough to be heard.

"What—" Steve started to say, but he barely managed to get the question out before Erik shoved him off the roof toward the water, making sure he wouldn't land on the helicopter's wreckage. The man was more than human, Erik knew he'd survive the fall.

As the Captain made a small splash in the water, Erik honed in on the metal frame of the helicopter now in the water below. Finding his hold, Erik ripped off the remaining side of the chopper were Bucky was seated. He trusted the Captain would take it from there. He didn't want to risk pulling to hard on Barnes's metal arm to free him from the wreckage and end up tearing the man's arm off from using too much force because he couldn't see into the murky water.

Captain Rogers might not understand that in pushing the helicopter and him off the roof, Erik was actually trying to help them escape, but it didn't really matter. Erik knew Rogers would be smart enough to use the crash as a means to get away from the government's hold.

He had done what he could. It was up to the Captain now.

Erik turned away from the ruined helicopter pad and jumped down onto the lower roof. He'd levitate himself down the opposite side of the building and re-enter it from below, disassociating himself with Barnes's escape and Rogers's departure. Then he'd find Natasha and see about that plane she'd promised. If all else failed, he'd commandeer a vehicle or maybe even Stark's metal suit, and find his own way to get across the Atlantic.

Wanda and Pietro weren't going to be without a father any longer. One way or another he was going to get back to them, and then they would leave…together this time.


CLINT POV

Some time later…

Clint didn't know why he was disappointing his children. Okay scratch that. That was a boldface lie. Clint was all too painfully aware of the reason he was disappointing them. The reason why he'd dropped everything and come out of retirement without any hesitation. He thought of the reason every time he hugged Cooper and Lila, or laid down by his wife at night.

But the reason was especially apparent every time he held his youngest child in his arms. Nathanial Pietro Barton.

Pietro.

The young man's face was on the forefront of Clint's mind each and every time he picked up his youngest son because he knew without Pietro's sacrifice, he would never have gotten a chance to hold his youngest boy, as every father should be able to…as Pietro never would, because he would never get the chance to have children. He'd never grow old. He'd never retire from whatever path his life would've taken.

All of the possibilities that lay in front of the young man died with him the day he saved Clint and the life of an innocent child, and that haunted Clint everyday. That didn't mean Clint wasn't happy that the kid he had tried to shield with his own body was alive or even that Clint wasn't happy to be alive. He was so happy to be alive. He loved his life, and he loved his children. But he hated that his happiness had come at the cost of the life of another, and one so young.

Yes, Clint's death would have been tragic, but it wouldn't have been a tragedy. His life may have been cut short, but not as short as Pietro's was. Clint had lived. Pietro had barely reached adulthood. And Clint's children would still have had their mother, but who did Wanda have?

Sure Clint and the rest of the Avengers' tried to support Wanda, but they didn't really know her, though they were trying to get to know her. They weren't her family. Her last family member was dead, and for all intents and purposes, she was alone, because no one would be able to fill the gaping hole that her brother had surely left in her heart. No one had been by her side since the womb, with her through all of the challenges and injustices life threw. Clint's inability to protect a civilian and himself had made sure of that.

So that's why, instead of loading up the minivan to go water skiing with his family, he was walking unannounced and uninvited back into the Avengers' compound to liberate one Wanda Maximoff from her captivity.

Clint made his way through the Avengers' compound, dressed in all black with his bow and arrows on his back. He encountered no one, but who would he encounter? It was the middle of the night, and it wasn't like he was banned from the facility. He still had complete access to it. He had retired. He had not deliberately disobeyed a direct order from the government and then ran off with a wanted man.

Nope. That description fit the one and only Steve Rogers, but he supposed after he broke Wanda out from under Vision's watchful eyes, he'd be well on his way to becoming a wanted man. But oh well. What was a little law breaking among friends?

Clint walked down the hallway that made up the Avengers' living quarters. He'd check the kitchen and common area for Wanda first since it was on the way to her room, and he had a feeling she might be prone to restlessness, even though some time had passed since her brother had died. He was just going to open the door to the communal living area, when he heard a brisk young voice behind him.

"whoareyou?"

Clint whipped around instinctively raising his bow and grabbing an arrow from his quiver. He thought he felt a small gust of wind, but when he turned around the hallway was empty. Clint scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion.

That was weird. Am I hearing voices now? Maybe retirement has made me crazy.

"Cool bow, man. Are you supposed to be Robin Hood or something?" The same voice asked from behind him again.

Clint whirled around once more, certain he felt another gust of wind this time. The hallway behind him was again empty, and this time, so were Clint's hands. His bow and the arrow he had pulled from his quiver were gone. Clint stared at his empty hands uncomprehending. When the voice spoke for a third time, once again from behind him.

"Dude, this bow is really rad."

Clint turned around once more, starting to feel dizzy from his persistent rotating, but this time when he turned around the hallway wasn't empty. Instead, Clint found himself facing a peculiar looking boy.

The kid was extremely pale. He had silver hair that stood up every which way, the darkest brown eyes Clint had ever seen, and he looked a tad too thin than could be healthy. There was also a fresh bandage on one of his wrist, and it looked like there was something else above it, as well as some marking on his other arm. But Clint was distracted by the fact that the kid was somehow holding Clint's bow and arrow to focus too much on any one detail.

How'd he do that? Is he enhanced? Who is this kid?

The boy had put a fair amount of distance between himself and Clint, examining Clint's bow in one hand and twirling one of his arrows in the other. The boy was also in his bare feet save for a brace around one foot, and to Clint's puzzlement, the kid was wearing black pajama pants that had little bow and arrows on them, along with a black t-shirt that had a bow and arrow crisscrossed on the front of it.

"Like, at first I thought, this guy's got a bow and arrow? That seems weird. Who has a bow and arrow nowadays, especially nowadays, if you know what I mean. You probably don't know what I mean. But Legolas's weapon of choice is a bow and arrow, and everyone knows he's the most badass character in The Lord of the Rings, so don't worry, I'm not about to underestimate the destructive power of a bow and arrow."

When the boy paused Clint opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it at a loss for what to say, still trying to grasp what the hell was going on. Seeming to take Clint's silence as a cue to keep talking the boy rambled on.

"Are you an Avenger? I'm guessing you are, because I think I'm wearing your logo, which is super embarrassing." Said the boy, pulling at his shirt a little as if to compare the bow and arrow on it to the one in his hand. "I mean, I'd like to at least know who a person is before I become a walking billboard for them, but the clothes were free so what can you do? Sorry for taking your bow if you are an Avenger, but if you're not I wasn't about to let you go on a murdering spree or whatever. So you're an Avenger? You're not an Avenger? What'stheverdictdude?"'

The boy had an air of nonchalance about him, but despite his confusion at his unexpected accoster, Clint had still been around the block enough to be able to tell that it was just a front. Beneath his carefree demeanor, the kid was—not terrified—but he was definitely nervous and perhaps just as surprised to find Clint wandering the Avengers' halls late at night as Clint was to find him doing so.

But despite the kid's underlying anxiety, on his last word, the silver-haired kid zoomed up to Clint, so he was just a few feet away from him, and for the first time, giving Clint a clear view of what he could. It was at that point that Clint nearly had a heart attack.

Pietro?

"Peter!" said a familiar voice emanating from the common area behind him. Clint turned to see Wanda emerge from the common area, interrupting the improbable—but maybe not impossible—theories, he was forming in his head after seeing the boy move at an inhuman speed.

"And oh my God, Clint! It's alright, Peter. This is Clint Barton." Said Wanda. Clint took note of her calm reassuring voice despite her obvious surprise at seeing him. "He's an Avenger too. Well a retired Avenger, or at least he's supposed to be. What are you doing here, Clint?" she asked coming around to stand between him and the boy.

Wanda took the bow and arrow from the kid, who had visible relaxed and handed it over without hesitating. Then she passed it to Clint, who wasn't entirely conscious of accepting it, but obviously he did because the next thing he knew it was back in his hands.

Clint looked between Wanda and the boy who was peeking over her shoulder curiously to look at Clint. Clint looked back and forth between the two young people before him, trying to find similarities in their features.

Nothing immediately stood out to him, their eye color was much different, but how could anyone have eyes as dark as the boy's? Maybe there was something in their bone structure, but nothing was overwhelmingly similar. They could be related; they could not be.

"Clint?" Wanda asked again just as Clint realized that he had been staring dumbfoundedly between the two of them and had yet to answer her question.

"Uh what?" he asked still taken aback.

"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" she asked again, more slowly this time.

Then Clint remembered why he was there. He was doing Steve kind of a time sensitive favor, but that didn't stop him from wondering who the hell this speedy kid was. Wanda had called him Peter, which was awfully close to Pietro, but he couldn't be Pietro. Could he? Could he? Was he some sort of clone? A deaged Pietro? A third younger Maximoff sibling? Clint had to know. He had to know if the Maximoff twin hadn't died saving him after all, but he also had to do what he'd come there for.

Forcing himself into action, Clint answered Wanda, "Disappointing my kids. We were supposed to go water skiing."

Clint turned away from Wanda and the boy, Peter. Though Clint was definitely still fixated on figuring out just who the kid was, he couldn't waste any more time. Heading into the common area, Clint looked around. Out the window, he spotted Vision outside in the distance. Using the arrow the boy had originally taken from him, Clint strung it quickly in his bow and shot it into the wall to his right. Then Clint swiftly grabbed another arrow from his quiver, whirled it around his head and shot it into the opposite wall.

Having done this, Clint turned around to find that Wanda and the kid had followed him into the room and were staring at him in bewilderment.

"What are you—" Wanda started to ask him, but he cut her off as he walked forward and took her hand, leading her from the room as the boy followed behind.

"Cap needs our help. Come on. There's no time to explain. I'll tell you on the way, and you can tell me who the kid is."

"I—" Wanda stated to speak again, but this time the kid cut her off.

"I'm right here dude. You could just ask me. Name's Peter Maximoff, not kid, and why'd you call her Wanda? I thought your name was Wilma." Said the boy sounding like he hadn't really thought that at all. "Did you not want to have two Wandas walking around now that my sister is here too? I guess that might get confusing, but you have a right to use your own name. I mean, I'm sure there are lots of other Peters out there, maybe not so many Pietros but—"

"Peter!" said Wanda silencing the boy.

There were a thousand more questions running through Clint's head. The kid's name was Peter—or Pietro—Maximoff did that mean he really was Wanda's twin brother? He just for some reason was younger and looked a tad different. But if so, why? And how was he alive? Clint had watched him die, had watched him sacrifice himself so he could live. And if he was Wanda's brother then how did he not know Wanda's real name?

"I have to talk to Clint." Said Wanda, derailing Clint's thoughts. "It's late, you need to go back to bed, okay?" she said in a soft voice.

"What! How can I sleep now? Exciting things are happening. A real life Robin Hood just waltzed in here! Or maybe he's more of a Susan Penvensie, I don't know, but I know I'm gonna miss out on something if I go to bed now! And I…I'd reallyrathernot." Said Peter looking down at his feet, and suddenly looking very small and even younger than his mid-teens and Clint wondered for a moment if he had misjudged the kid's age. "And you didn't answer my question, Wanda. And—And are really just gonna up and leave?" he asked as his eyes grew wide though it looked like he attempted to conceal the hurt in them, making him look younger again.

Wanda sighed sadly, "Yes. My real name is Wanda. And we can talk about that later, but please, Peter, I need you to go to bed. If I go anywhere, I won't leave without letting you know."

The boy looked at her for a second before answering in a huff. "Fine." There was a blur of movement and a small rush of wind blew by Clint, and then it was just him and Wanda left in the room.

Wanda sighed again. "He's going to hinder his recovery if he keeps that up. He's not supposed to speed around too much; he'll overwork his leg." Said Wanda as if Clint had any idea what she was talking about.

Clint shook his head to clear it. He was still overwhelmed by the existence of the young speedster and wanted to ask her all about him, but he had a job to do. First, he needed to get them on the road.

Clint started to pull Wanda toward the door again, figuring she had just promised to tell the boy that she was leaving before she actually left Just as a way to get him to go to bed. Vision could tell him they'd gone.

"Clint!"

Speaking of Vision.

"You should not be here." Said Vision who had phased through the window into the room.

"Really?" replied Clint. "I retire for what? Like 5 minutes? And it all goes to shit."

"Please consider the consequences of your actions."

"Okay they're considered." Clint snapped back quickly as Vision moved closer.

Just a little farther…

Tzzzzzz!

There was a crackle of electricity and visible electrical currents, as well as an oomph from Vision as he glided into the path of the arrows Clint had set up.

"Okay. We gotta go." Said Clint with a bit of nervous apologetic urgency, taking off toward the door again. He knew his trap wouldn't hold Vision for long, but Wanda still didn't follow him.

"I've caused enough trouble." She said, turning away from Clint dejectedly.

"You gotta help me, Wanda." Said Clint jogging back toward the girl. "You wanna mope? Go to high school. You wanna make amends? Then you Get. Off. Your Ass." Clint put as much emphasis into each word as he could. He knew even before his pep talk that Wanda would come with him. She just needed the push.

"Shit." Said Clint looking over Wanda's shoulder at Vision who had used the mind stone on his forehead to blast away one of the arrows and break free of his electrical trap.

That was faster than I thought. Okay, here we go.

Clint quickly pulled an arrow out of his quiver and attempted to shoot Vision, but the arrow just phased through him, and Vision grabbed his bow and shoved Clint onto the ground with his other hand.

Clint used the momentum of the hard shove to roll around and end back up on his knees ready to pounce.

This is not going to go well.

But out loud he said, "I knew I should've stretched." Then he pulled out an expandable stave, jumped to his feet and rushed Vision with all he had.

It did not go well.

Vision either let all of Clint's hits phase through him or took the punches as if Clint were nothing more than a pesky fly, and Clint felt like he had really put some strength into the three consecutive punches to Vision's face. Good thing Clint was comfortable with his own masculinity, or he might have felt a little demoralized.

Anyway, Clint ended up in a chokehold with Vision speaking calmly into his ear. "Clint. You can't overpower me."

"I know I can't." panted Clint. "But she can."

And I know she will.

At Clint's words, the two men both looked up to meet the eyes of the formidable young woman circling them, "Vision, that's enough. Let him go. I'm leaving."

There was a red ball of energy glowing between Wanda's hands as she made miniscule but graceful movements with her fingers to contain the orb.

"I can't let you." Said Vision not releasing his hold on Clint, but then Wanda made her move.

Thrusting her arms apart, the orb between them grew a little larger, and the stone in Vision's forehead glowed. Then Vision's arms became intangible and Clint slid through them. Vision looked shocked as Wanda said, "I'm sorry."

"If you do this, they will never stop being afraid of you." Vision's voice was strained under the pressure of Wanda's powerful hold, which had forced him to his knees. The tiles around him had begun to crack.

"I can't control their fear, only my own." Said Wanda with an air of finality, stepping forward closer to Vision and pushing her hand down as she did so. The floor beneath Vision collapsed and Wanda sent him plummeting deep into the earth, forcing him down and down and down…

Team Cap one. Team Iron Man zero.

"Whoa." Said Clint gazing down into the deep hole Wanda had created. He knew she was powerful, but knowing that and seeing it were two entirely different things.

"C'mon." said Clint again heading toward the door for what felt like the hundredth time. "We've got one more stop."

"Wait." Said Wanda. "I have to tell Peter I'm leaving first. I promised I would."

As much as Clint's thoughts were on the silver haired kid and wondering how he came to be, he was still going to respond that there was no time, when a long impressed whistle rang out from beside the hole in the floor.

Looking over, Clint saw that the source of the whistle came from the young Peter Maximoff. He had swapped his sleepwear for silver converses, black pants, and a silver t-shirt that had red wings on the back in homage to falcon. He had a silver jacket draped over one arm. A girl with long auburn hair wearing skinny jeans, black combat boots, and a plain white v-neck t-shirt under a red leather jacket stood next to him looking a little nauseated. She looked to be around the same age as Peter, but not nearly as awake. She shared the boy's dark brown eyes.

"Man! I knew I was gonna miss something if I went to bed! Like, holy hell—get it? Holely?—did you guys try to dig to China. Good thing I just changed and woke Wanda up. I would've been quicker, but someone is not a morning person." Said Peter, giving the girl beside him a pointed look.

"Shut up, Pietro. You were already up. I'm more of a morning person than you are. This is just way to early to be considered morning." Said the girl, tugging the boy back away from the hole, as though she didn't trust him not to go careening down into it.

Now who is this kid? Is this the sister, the other Wanda, he'd mentioned? My head hurts.

"So we're going some place, yea?" asked Peter—Pietro?—excitedly.

"No, not we, Peter. I have to go help Clint and Steve, but it could be dangerous. You two need to stay here." Replied the Wanda Clint knew.

"Nuh-uh. No way. You aren't leaving us here. Dad already did that. We want to help too. Right sis?" asked Peter, nudging the girl next to him. She glanced quickly down at his ankle before looking back up at him and answering with what seemed like a little reluctance, "Right. Whatever is going on out there in this world concerns us too."

Wanda looked like she was going to absolute refuse to allow the kids to come, and Clint didn't want to take kids with him either, but he knew Vision wouldn't stay incapacitated forever.

"There's no time to argue." Said Clint speaking before anyone else could and looking at the older Wanda. "Unless you plan on stopping them like you did Vision, we're going to have to let them come with. We'll figure something out about it later. Let's go."

Clint strode off toward the door, finally making it out of the room on this attempt with the three younger people in tow. Both of the girls looked a little exasperated, but Peter had a triumphant smirk on his face.


{Author's note: Clint has arrived! Finally. I've had the interaction between him and Peter running through my head for some time, and it was actually one of the reasons I was okay with doing this crossover. I hope you enjoyed the update. Thoughts? Please share. I love the feedback.}