***NEW YORK(2012)***
New York. A great place to visit...but not today. On this particular, there was an invasion happening. But fortunately, it was being thwarted by the heroic group: The Avengers.
The six heroes stood in a circle, looking to the threat all around them before dispersing back into action. However, a block away, a flash occurred as six people came out of a portal. The six: Jamie, Peter, Harley, Ava, Maddie, and PJ.
As they looked around and took in their surroundings, their Quantum suits disappeared into the Time GPS on their dorsal.
"All right, we all have our assignments." Peter started, gaining their attention. "Two Stones uptown, one Stone, down."
"Stay low. Keep an eye on the clock." Jamie added.
Suddenly, the sound of a loud crash came down behind him and they all looked to see the Hulk slamming a car onto a few Chitauri soldiers. Then he proceed to jump on it like a kid jumping on the bed.
He did this a few more times before running off to deal with some Chitauri that were running away. This left the five time travelers stunned at that sight.
Feeling like this was somewhat of a cue for him, Maddie lowered his head sheepishly. "Oh boy."
"May wanna smash a few things along the way." Peter suggested to him, shrugging a little as he knew that was a lot to watch. "You know, just to blend in."
Maddie nodded at that and proceeded to take off his shirt. "Somehow, I saw that coming."
With that, he began to walk off and tried to do his best Hulk impression.
"Oh, how did he do it?...Grrr. Raahhh!" The big green teen dramatically made Hulk-like noises that, to be honest, weren't all that good. "Hulk smash! Rahhh!"
Seeing this made the others laugh a little but that would have to wait. They had a mission to carry out. Before they separated, Ava came up to Peter and pulled him into a hug, which he returned.
"You be careful, Peter." She whispered to him.
"I will. You too, Tiger."
Ava smiled and kissed his cheek before running to catch up with Maddie.
***Sanctum Sanctorum ***
Finally making their way to 177A Bleecker, Maddie and Ava, with her mask fully on now, checked out the Sanctum from the streets below.
"This the place?" Ava wondered out loud.
Looking at the address once more, Maddie nodded and looked up. "Yep, 177A Bleecker Street. Plus, that window isn't on just any building."
He was alluding to the unique window pane up top.
Ava huffed a laugh at that as she saw the large window as well. "I agree with you there, bro." Their view was interrupted when a crash from above came down half a block away from them. The sense of urgency sparked back up within them. "We better get in there."
"Yeah, you're right. Hang on."
Mad wrapped his arms around her and power jumped all the way above the building before landing on his feet. He let Ava down and watched how she hunched over and leaned on her knees. Almost like she was sick.
"You alright?" He asked her.
She waved him and nodded. "Yeah, it's just... that felt like a roller coaster, and my stomach...it's gonna take some getting used to."
"Sorry about that."
"It's okay. Let's go."
They made their way across the roof and to a door that would lead inside.
But just before they opened the door, "I'd be careful going that way." A voice called out, warning them. Looking behind them, they saw a bald woman, wise looking and in a long yellow robe. "We just had the floors waxed."
"Uh, we're looking for Doctor Strange?"
A look of surprise came to the woman's face at that. She spoke as she took a few steps forward. "Well, you're about... five years too early. Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery about twenty blocks that way. What do you want from him?"
Noticing the necklace, Maddie spoke up. "Well, that actually." He pointed to the Eye for emphasis.
Looking down to the Eye hanging from her neck, she understood. "Ah, I see. I'm afraid that's out of the question."
Hearing that, Maddie and Ava shared a look, knowing that they were now going to have to change their tactics. They began to step forward.
"Sorry, ma'am." Ava admitted, "But we're not leaving without it."
The woman sighed but still held her calm smile, knowing that these were children and they didn't know about her. "You don't want to do this," she warned.
Maddie bobbed his head at that as he got closer. "Ah, you're right. I don't. But we have to."
But as soon as he reached for the Eye, the woman pulled her arm back and push her hand onto Maddie's green chest, sending him backwards.
"Maddie!" Ava shouted for her friend, but froze upon seeing the ghost-like version of him back in human form, floating before it came down to the ground. Meanwhile, his actual green/gamma-ed body lay on the ground, unconscious. Turning back to the older woman, the latina's mood flared. "What'd you do to him!"
She stepped up to the woman and had planned to push her to the wall, but not before the woman did the same gesture and slammed her hand flat onto the Tiger's chest. Before she knew it, Ava was out of her suit and in her regular clothes, but in front of her was her real, suited-up body on the floor, unconscious.
"Ava?"
She looked up to see Maddie's "ghost" looking at her with the same look of horror that was on hers. "What the hell is this?!" she exclaimed.
The two friends/Avengers, speechless and shocked out of their minds, looked back to the woman who stood there with her hands clasped together and a patient smile.
"Let's start over, shall we?" she suggested calmly.
***Stark Tower***
Meanwhile, across town at Stark Tower, things were winding down.
Over on the tip of the Chrysler Building, Peter and Harley, in their suits, watched as the Avengers had Loki cornered on the penthouse floor.
"Better hurry, Jamie." Harley said to his friend over the coms, "Looks like things are wrappin' up up here."
From inside the helmet, Harley's HUD zoomed in to get a better view of the Avengers and Loki.
"I'm on it." Jamie replied from inside Stark Tower, "Approaching the elevator now."
"Copy. I'm heading down to the lobby now." Peter said before looking to Harley. "You two know the plan, right?"
Harley held up a metal thumps up. "Yessir." However, on his thumb, a shrunken PJ climbed and stood, holding up a thumbs up of his own. "Ready to go!"
Peter's laugh could be heard at PJ's enthusiasm. "Alright, see you there."
Then he jumped from the building and freefell, flipping a few times before shooting out a webline and swooping to the streets below.
"DANG, that's cool!" PJ exclaimed.
Harley chuckled in agreement and flew off the side of the building and towards Stark Tower. Flying up to a broken window of the penthouse, Harley's entire front of the suit opened up, allowing him to jump out and land safely on the floor of the room while the suit closed and flew up to stay out of sight.
PJ flew off the suit and landed on Harley's shoulder, watching as he crept behind a wall.
Staying low and quiet to the best of the their ability, the two watched from behind the wall when Harley noticed something.
"Whoa."
"What, what is it?"
"Good grief, Jamie. Your dad's suit is literally hugging his butt cheeks."
"Dude! What're you looking for?!" Jamie exclaimed through the coms.
"I wasn't, it was just right there in my face. It's crazy!"
"Dude, come on!"
"Don't feel bad, Jamie." PJ jumped in, "Your dad's cool. So really, those are America's Cheeks!"
He even gave a dramatic salute towards Captain America's backside for emphasis. Harley did his best to control his laughter, but he found that extremely funny.
"You guys are weirdos." Jamie stated on his end.
From behind, the DING of an elevator arriving was heard and Harley and PJ turned to see the doors open and saw men, agents, dressed in black and weapons strapped to their hips and legs, walk into the room with a briefcase.
Among them were Brock Rumlow, STRIKE Team commander, and S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Jasper Sitwell.
"So these are the evil SHIELD guys?" PJ asked.
"Yeah, HYDRA." Harley replied. "The Avengers just didn't know it yet."
"How could they not? I mean, they just look like bad guys! I know judging a book by it's cover isn't very nice, but look at them! Their faces just scream evil!"
"Speaking of screaming, think you can talk any louder, Peej?"
"Focus up there, you two!" Peter called to the them.
Listening to the co-leader, the two looked back up and watched as the agents walked in with a thin, long briefcase, obviously for the Scepter. It was taken by Agent Sitwell and placed into the case. And then, Tony Stark, now out of his Mk. VII suit, set a thicker, wider case onto a table, opened it and place the Tesseract into a slot that fit just right.
"Alright, little buddy. You're up."
"I'm going in!" PJ's wings extended out and he flew over to the Avengers and landed on the head of Tony Stark.
"The Waspling is in." Harley stood from his hiding place and ran to the open window and jumped.
As he felt the wind on him as he fell, he waited until his suit came down and enveloped around him. Now suited up, his palm repulsors fired and Harley flew up into the air.
Inside Stark Tower, the elevator dinged with each passing floor as it descended. Sitwell and the STRIKE team inside stood firm as they waited to reach the ground floor.
"Evidence secure." Sitwell said into the phone, "We're en route to Dr. List. No. No hitches at all, Mr. Secretary."
Or so they thought.
Outside, Harley hovered above the building and was trained on a certain side of it.
"Alrighty, Cap," He started, calling to Jamie on the coms.
(Harley's HUD POV)
"I got our Scepter in the elevator just passing the 80th floor."
His Heads-Up-Display showed an x-ray shot of Stark Tower and was focused on the elevator with the STRIKE team, Sitwell, and more importantly, the scepter.
Back in the tower, Jamie, with the shield in hand, now wore a blond hair piece and the Photostatic Veil with the face of Steve Rogers, ready for his part. He pushed the 'DOWN' button to summon the elevator and waited.
"Copy that," He replied, exhaling a nervous breath. He was surprised at his voice. It was like his father was right there. Heck, in this situation, he was his father. Wow. Coming back to the now, Jamie gave Harley one more order. "Head down to the lobby."
"Will do, see you there."
"Be careful in there, Jamie." Peter said to his little "brother" over the com-link.
"Thanks, Pete. I'll do my best." Jamie stood tall and put on a firm look that would match that of his father.
'Here we go.'
Finally, the elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal it full of STRIKE agents and Sitwell.
"Captain. I thought you were coordinating search and rescue?" Sitwell said in a surprised voice.
"Change of plans," Jamie replied as he stepped in, pressing a button for a floor.
The doors closed and the elevator resumed its descent.
"Hey, Cap," Rumlow nodded to who he thought was Captain America.
Keeping a straight face, Jamie looked to the STRIKE commander and nodded back. "Rumlow."
Then it went silent, save for the occasional ding from the elevator. Jamie took note of the men in the elevator with him and that they were beginning to tense up. He even saw a few of them either clench their fists or put their hands on their weapons.
From this, Jamie could tell where this was going. Letting out a sigh, a smirk came to his face as he spoke up.
"Before we get started...does anyone wanna get out first?"
There was no answer and the silence continued. Until suddenly, one of the STRIKE men pulled out an electric baton and thrust it at Jamie.
Acting quickly, Jamie blocked the attack with the shield and retaliated with firm punch, sending the guy backwards. Immediately seeing another attack, Jamie jabbed with the shield before another agent hit him with a shock baton, momentarily disabling him.
Then came a left hook from Rumlow, knocking the Veil loose and sending Jamie to the floor.
"Nighty-night, kid." He said before kicking Jamie in the face, knocking him out.
Jamie blinked out of his daydream, as vivid as it was, and continued as planned.
"I just got a call from the Secretary. I'm gonna running point on the Scepter."
Almost instantly, Jamie noticed the STRIKE team become a little defensive. Some even nonchalantly putting their hands over their weapons.
"Sir? I don't understand." Sitwell said, turning to the Captain with a confused look.
Noticing more eyes on him, Jamie kept calm and continued. "We got word someone might try to steal it."
"Sorry, Cap. I can't give you the Scepter." Rumlow interjected in a matter-of-factly tone, looking to the "Captain".
Hearing that, Jamie could feel the tension rising in the room and could tell it was about to get real.
"I gonna have to call the Director." Sitwell pulled out his phone and began to dial. But Jamie was ready for that.
"It's okay. Trust me." Jamie spoke up, gaining more of the men's eye. He motioned for Sitwell to lean in, which he did, and Jamie whispered to him two words. "Hail Hydra."
At that, Sitwell shrunk back in surprise with eyes wide as saucers. Not only him, but everyone else in the elevator were surprised at hearing "Captain America" say those words. And yet he did...or so they thought.
Though he, along everyone else was completely blown away by this, Rumlow handed the case with the Scepter over to Jamie.
As he took it, the elevator came to a stop, dinged, and the doors opened. With no further words, Jamie walked out with the Scepter in hand.
A smile came to his face as he walked on, leaving the STRIKE team and Sitwell in the elevator. And he waited until he was around a corner and out of sight and earshot, he let out a laugh of a kid who just pulled the best prank ever.
So far, so good...and a little funny.
In the words of the Collector, "One down, five to go."
One Stone acquired and five more to go. So far everything's okay...well, maybe not for everyone. Mads and Ava are running into a bit of a delay, but that'll work out...hopefully.
Hope you guys liked this first part of the Time Heist, it was pretty fun making the parallels and the jokes. PLENTY more of that to come.
Next up, Team Two: Asgard! THAT is gonna be a trip. TRUST ME!