Any and all C+C appreciated. You can contact me the I don't own any of the Marvel characters or other characters from the numerous animes which are within.
[ forward These events take place during Act III, after Chapter 2. Yet before it as well.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[16 Years Ago
Kozue Morishima made certain to hold the newborn properly. Fresh out of nursing school, she had only been working in Yokohama General for a week, and still tended to think about every little detail since nothing was automatic to her yet. Still, she was impatient since she should have been finished with her shift fifteen minutes ago. She was going to be late for her a date with the sexy young doctor that had asked her out last night. One of Kozue's co-workers claimed he was a playboy that hit on all the nurses, but Kozue was certain she could win him over and land him. Then it would be retirement, marriage, and babies of her own in the future. Hell, it was one reason she wanted to be a nurse in the first place. Hospitals were the best ponds to fish in to land a doctor, and sexy nurses' outfits made great bait.
Visions of wedding ceremonies danced in Kozue's head when an older woman's deep voice said, "Oh, let me see that cutie."
Kozue turned to see another nurse, at least in her late forties, cooing at the baby. She didn't recognize her, but then she was still new and didn't really know many of her coworkers. The nametag said, 'Nurse Akagi'.
Kozue offered the baby to her. It was true. The girl was adorable. Seeing so many infants made Kozue want one of her own more than ever.
"What's her name?" Akagi asked.
"Haruhi Suzumiya."
The nurse's smile broadened. "May I hold her?"
Technically Kozue probably shouldn't, but then pissing off an obvious superior by citing rules would just make the job bad for her. The woman was probably a friend of the head of the nursing department, of maybe even the chief executive of the hospital. She held out the baby to Akagi.
The older woman accepted the child and looked down at her cherubic face. "Have you ever looked at a baby and just known they're someone special?"
Kozue couldn't say she had. Then again, she hadn't had any of her own, or been a nurse very long.
"You look like you're in a hurry," Akagi said.
"Ah, well," Kozue didn't know whether to be honest or not. Would it seem unprofessional?
"Why don't I take her to the ward and you get on with what you wanted to?" Akagi suggested.
Kozue knew she shouldn't, but it was all but an order from a superior. Sort of. She bowed in gratitude and left. She'd have just enough time to put on the proper make up before the date, rather than rushing through it.
Once Kozue was out of sight, the Nurse Akagi continued walking with the child in her arms until she entered the newborn's ward. She lay the child in her assigned crib and cradled the infant's cherubic face.
In a soft voice, she said, "Yes, Haruhi, you'll be special. Very special. Sixteen years from now, while you're on a trip to England with your parents, you'll be present when a momentous event occurs. A madman from an alternate universe, Sir James Jaspers, and his reality altering 'Jasper's Warp' will strike London when you're visiting. Luckily, he'll be repulsed by Captain Britain and Excaliber before he has a chance to destroy our universe like he has so many others.
"Unfortunately, your close proximity to the Jasper's Warp will soon trigger your own reality warping abilities. It'll take several months, but eventually they'll be tapped on a subconsciously level, and you have such an active imagination. Normality has no place in your life. Time-traveling waitresses, alien magicians, your own version of Jasper's 'Crazy Gang', baseball games with the fate of the world in the balance, and some many bizarre things, all your doing as you change and shift the world to suit your every whim. Your constant tampering with reality threatened to unravel the very fabric of our universe. In my past, you were only stopped a hairsbreadth away from destroying all by a variety of powerful beings.
"In fact, looking at a number of alternate timelines, you did succeed in destroying our universe. Far too often. And there's no guarantee that you wouldn't succeed this time, with my┘ alterations having changed things. Necessary ones, but I must be careful lest I prevent my becoming what I am today. I can only affect things at certain junctures, not changing the key elements in my future creation, all the while preventing the Tragedy from occurring.
"But, ironically, despite your encompassing the entire world in your reality warping powers, once you're defeated, everything snapped back to normal, with only a handful at the center of your defeat remember only the faintest of details of your tampering. Meaning your death today will change nothing of consequence in the future."
Done talking, Akagi removed her hand from Haruhi's mouth and nose. While she had struggled at first, she had stopped moving several minutes ago. A quick check showed no pulse in the tiny infant. The work was done. Reality saved from potential destruction at the hands of the small child, Haruhi's passing attributed as another crib death.
'Nurse Akagi' left the room and hospital. The moment she was outside, 'she' dropped her cloaking device, revealing a decidedly male figure in purple and green armor, a blue face mask hiding his features.
Only one elderly patient saw him for a brief second before Kang disappeared from sight, or more appropriately from time.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Kang sat in the stone throne in the Citadel of Time. Observing. Planning. One possible obstruction had been removed. But it was a minor one. He needed to destroy the Avengers. His Fourth Sleeper and Hulkbusters projects might have failed, but he was confident in the next one, already moving pieces into position. Surely his Champions could defeat their counterparts. Just another few months, and he'd be ready to propose the idea to the president. And then┘
And then the Avengers would be dead, and all would be well.
Xxxxxx
[End fic
This one didn't really fit in the proper Avengers story, so it became a side story. It also shows Kang's still active and manipulating events. It also uses the age old moral question of 'if you could go back in time and kill Hitler as an infant, before he committed the atrocities he did, would you do it?'