Green Hal37: Yeah, they do. Me to. It's always funny seeing them react to Stan Lee's cameos in these kind of fics. Yep.
Guest 1: I've been judging Tony's actions harshly because most of his actions, especially in the second half of the film, are objectively horrible and unacceptable. In the Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker was written horribly and so Mark Hamill called him 'Jake Skywalker'. I'm doing the same thing, Tony was written horribly in Civil War and Homecoming, because it wasn't Tony, it was Phony, his self-serving and manipulative doppelganger. Now you're just outright lying, Steve's decision was not 'brushed off' and everyone did not agree that he is right, that is false. They understood that Steve did not intentionally keep this from Tony, that he hid it from himself as well as Tony and they understood why he did that. If it was brushed off, it would have been shrugged off and Tony would have pated his shoulder and said something along the lines of 'its okay Cap, I forgive you', which did not happen. Steve not being a compelling character is not a fact, that is your opinion. Almost none of what Tony does in this film is justifiable. His reasons for backing the Accords were weak at best and completely OOC, and he only gets worse from there. His actions ae treated as crimes because they are. Off the top of my head, kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, unprovoked assault and attempted murder are all things Tony does over the course of the film, not to mention he violates the Accords he's so insistent on everyone signing when they prove inconvenient for him. I'm sorry if I come off as harsh to you, but Phony(Tony's doppelganger mentioned above) was a horrible character in Civil War and anyone backing The Accords is, IMO, not doing anything but taking a surface look, otherwise they would see how horrible they are. I you want an idea on how horrible they are, go to Legal Eagle's YouTube channel and see his breakdown of them. I apologize if I come off as harsh or salty in this response, like you, I am only stating my opinion.
Guest 2: Why thank you.
Strange led them all down the hall, each of them lost in their own thoughts, most of them overwhelmed by everything they had seen or learned. The only one who wasn't was Thor, who was curious about who the 'man in charge' Strange had mentioned was.
They entered the sitting room, where a table of food was placed in front of the couches with plates. A Caucasian man with light brown hair was setting some utensils down on the table when he saw them.
"Hey," Fitz said as he saw them. "We figured you'd we hungry, so we brought some of your favorites."
Natasha and Clint glanced at the food on the table and saw he was right. The table had all the favorites of the original Avengers, plus Rhodey, Sam, and Wanda.
"You must know us pretty well then, to know that," Natasha said wearily.
"We don't, but he does," Fitz said as Barton entered the room.
Complete silence washed over the room as the time travelers all stared in shock at Barton. If Natasha hadn't been so shocked, she would have noticed the flash of pain that entered Barton's eyes before he masked it. Barton was grateful for the time he'd been able to mentally prepare himself over the last two hours for seeing her. He probably would have blown his cover if he'd seen Nat as soon as she'd arrived.
"You guys look like you've seen a ghost," Barton quipped.
"But you're...this is…how…" Clint stammered in shock, at a loss for words for once.
"Do we still look this good after seventeen years?" Barton quipped, amused by his younger self's reaction.
"Seventeen years. That's where you brought us, seventeen years into the future?" Thor asked with a glance over at Strange, who nodded.
"Wait, doesn't this break one of the fundamental rules of time travel?" Scott realized as Strange and Barton rolled their eyes. "No interacting with our past selves, right?
"This isn't Back to the Future Mr. Lang," Strange said exasperated.
"Yeah, that's not how this works Scott," Barton said as he glanced over at Fitz. "Mind breaking this down for them?"
Fitz nodded and tapped what seemed to be a watch on his wrist. Immediately, a 3D hologram of what appears to be a roadway tunnel similar to the one Steve, Sam, Bucky, and T'Challa had gone on their car chase in the recording.
"Okay, imagine this tunnel is the timeline. The past is the entrance, the future is the exit, and the present is that turn off right there," Fitz explained.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Tony interrupted.
"Tony," Rhodey grumbled as Fitz sighed.
"I'm Leo Fitz, I work for SHIELD," Fitz explained and almost all of them started.
"I thought SHIELD fell during the Hydra uprising," Steve said confused.
"It did, but a group of Agents reformed it and Fury made someone he trusted Director," Barton explained.
"Fury doesn't trust anyone, not completely," Natasha noted and saw Barton and Fitz exchange a glance. "What aren't you telling us?"
"It's complicated Nat. I'll explain everything if you'll let Fitz do his thing and save your questions for after," Barton promised.
After a moment, Natasha nodded. Barton looked at the others and they also nodded. Barton gave Fitz a look and Fitz pressed his watch again and they saw a car enter the simulation from the exit.
"That car is all of you," Fitz explained as the car went in reverse towards the turn off. "We brought you from your present to the future, which is our present. But when we send you back, it won't change our present," Fitz pressed a button and the car turned onto the turn off, set on a new path. "It will instead create an alternate timeline, separate from ours, depending on what you do with what we give you."
"So Back to the future is basically a bunch of bullshit?" Scott asked stunned as Fitz ended the simulation.
"Then why do this at all? What do you gain out of this?" Wanda inquired, confused on what exactly Barton was hoping to accomplish.
At this, Barton gave a look to Fitz and Strange. Both nodded, turning and walking out the door, leaving the others alone.
"Sit down," Barton gestured to the seats. "I'll explain everything, but it's not going to be easy for you guys to hear. So let's sit down."
After an uncertain glance, they nodded, taking seats that were the same as the ones they had in the viewing room. Barton sat on a couch from all of them, trying to put his thoughts together.
"I imagined this moment thousands of times as we worked on this, but...it's a lot harder than I thought," Barton said as he looked at them all. "In New York, when Loki attacked…he wasn't the big bad. Someone else was pulling his strings."
"Someone was controlling my brother?" Thor asked shocked but Barton shook his head.
"Loki was in control, but he wasn't the brains, he was the brawns. The real mastermind was a genocidal maniac named Thanos. You saw his ship Tony when you went through the worm hole," Barton said as he looked over at Tony, who paled.
"What does Thanos want…" Clint trailed off. "I'm not sure what to call you."
"Just call me Barton," Barton said before he continued. "In order to know what he wants, you have to know his story.
"Thanos is the only survivor of a planet called Titan. He is the result of a genetic mutation, which made him horribly disfigured but also made him super smart and gave him super strength. Thanos worked with his father when he came to a realization about his planet: at the rate they were going, they would deplete Titan's resources. They would all die of starvation. So he came with a plan to stop it: Selective genocide."
"How is genocide selective?" Sam asked confused and Barton smiled thinly.
"He created a poison that would induce a painlessly and quick death and suggested that half the population be put down. Naturally, his people were horrified and cast him out, banished him."
"Thanos was proven right, wasn't he?" Thor noted as they turned to him. "I've heard of Titan, it is a wasteland, uninhabitable."
"Yeah, Thanos was right. About the problem, at least," Barton sighed. "His people died and Thanos took that as proof that his plan had been the only way for them to survive. Thanos thinks the flaw in his way of thinking was that he asked for permission. He now goes to planets and wipes out half the population out of a crazy belief that he's saving them from Titan's fate."
"That's…that's…" Tony was at a loss for words as they were all horrified.
"Insane? Yeah, because Thanos is a genocidal lunatic with a god complex," Barton sighed. "And that's not even the worst of it."
"Thanos is after the Infinity Stones, he's the one my vision warned me about," Thor realized and Barton nodded.
"He's after all six of the stones. Reality, Power, Soul, Space, Time…and Mind," Barton said with a pointed look at Vision. "With all six of them, he can wipe out half of all life in the universe with a snap of his fingers."
"Did we stop him?" Steve demanded as they all waited with baited breath for Barton's answer.
"Yes," Barton said but the grim look on his face stopped any feelings of joy or relief. "But we all paid a high price Steve. Some of us died. Others were left completely broken. Even though we won, in some ways it still feels like we lost."
"That is why you brought us here, so that we could prepare for Thanos' arrival," Vision noted and Barton nodded.
"Yeah, and to make sure you don't repeat the same mistakes," Barton said before his eyes went from Steve to Tony. "Thanos, he only got as far as he did because we were divided when he showed his ugly purple head."
"And we were divided because of The Accords," Steve noted with a look at Tony. "Among other things."
"Yeah. You both screwed up. Cap, you didn't try hard enough to reach Tony, to make him understand the problems with the way he was going about it. And Tony, you weren't listening to anyone or anything except your own damn ego. And we all paid for your mistakes guys," Barton said and the two flinched. "You have a chance to make things right, to learn from your mistakes. You need to work together in order to stop Thanos. You guys put aside your shit to stop Loki. You need to do the same with Thanos. You need to trust each other again. Find a way to do that, for everyone's sake. Because the team needs both of you to stop Thanos and survive."
"Barton," everyone looked up as Strange reentered the room. "You have a call."
Barton sighed before nodding.
"I need to take this. Just…eat something, talk. Whatever," Barton said awkwardly before getting up and walking out of the room.
For a moment, it was completely silent as The Avengers absorbed what they had heard.
"This would be so cool if it wasn't real," Peter mumbled.
"I miss the days when our biggest problem was Hydra," Clint sighed tiredly.
"My friends, Thanos will be the biggest threat we have ever faced before. We must work together," Thor urged them.
It was silent as everyone looked at Steve, Tony, and Clint, knowing those three would have the most issues with working together.
"I'll work with you, but I'll be keeping an eye on you," Clint told Tony. "Because this is more important than whatever went down in what we just saw."
Tony nodded in understanding before looking over at Steve. It was silent in the room as Tony tried to gather his thoughts.
"I don't know if I can get passed this Steve," Tony said with a sigh and Steve nodded.
"I understand. I'm not asking you to forgive me Tony. I'm asking you to put however you feel about me aside so we can stop Thanos," Steve said and Tony sighed tiredly.
"All I can tell you is I can try," Tony said and Steve nodded in understanding, knowing that was the best he could get from Tony.
"Hey, where's Nat?" Clint asked and they finally noticed Natasha had left the room.
"Okay, how does she do that?" Rhodey asked in shock.
"She's Nat," Steve said simply.
Barton walked into his office and sat down at his desk. He pressed a button and a holographic screen appeared in front of his desk, a dark haired woman in her twenties on it.
"Hey Hawkeye," Barton said fondly and she smirked.
"Hey old man," Lila said and Barton chuckled.
"Have some respect for your old dad, would you kid?" Barton said warmly. "What's going on?"
"Could you come by in a few days, Sam wants your opinion on something, a plan for a mission we're going on in a few days," Lila said and Barton frowned.
"We'll be pretty swamped over here. I think I can make it there tonight though," Barton said and Lila nodded.
"Good, I'll tell Sam," Lila said and it was quiet in the room for a minute. "Is she…"
"Yeah, she's here," Barton said the warm, casual atmosphere evaporating and Lila nodded, the room quiet for a minute.
"Can I see her?" Lila asked after a moment.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. I think this is gonna be hard enough for her to deal with without adding on that she's…can you honestly say you would be able to keep in together in front of her?" Barton asked gently.
"No," Lila said with a sad sigh. "I just…"
"I know," Barton said gently and it was quiet for a minute. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. Wanda wants to know if you're still coming this weekend," Lila said, appearing as eager for the change in subject as he was.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Barton said and Lila nodded.
"Okay, I'll tell her. See you tonight," Lila said before the screen vanished.
"So, she's all grown up now."
A lesser man would have jumped at the sound of Natasha's voice, but Barton simply looked over at her as she entered the room.
"How much of that did you hear?" Barton asked wearily.
"Everything after 'I'll tell Sam'," Natasha said as she walked in, looking around the office.
It was a rather simple office, she mused. Only a desk with a wall behind him, a shelf. As she walked up to him, she got a look at several pictures on the shelf.
One was of the original Avengers, taken just after the battle of New York. One she instantly recognized as being taken after she had been recruited by SHIELD of the two of them. Clint had his arm around her and she shot him a death glare as he laughed it off when someone, Coulson she thinks, took it.
There was another of his family. Must have been taken a few years down the line, Nate looks to be a few years older, maybe three or four, she mused. There was also one of Clint and Wanda that she knows wasn't taken from her time. A big give away is the fact that Wanda's hair is now dyed red and Clint seems to be sporting a Mohawk. They smile, but both of them also look sad, Natasha noted.
There was also a photo of Barton, as he looked now, with a young boy Natasha didn't recognize. He had dark hair and bright eyes, looked like he was maybe four or five. They looked like they were going fishing, Natasha mused.
"Who's the kid?" Natasha asked as Barton followed her gaze.
"That's Stevie, Wanda's son," Barton explained, taking her back.
"Wanda's a mom?" Natasha asked surprised and Barton chuckled.
"For about five years now. He turned five a few months ago," Barton said with affection.
"And the dad?" Natasha inquired.
"In the picture. He's a good man, treats Wanda and Stevie right," Barton said simply and Natasha nodded, knowing she wasn't going to be getting any more out of him
"I'm one of the people who die, aren't I?" Natasha said and Barton stiffened. "When you were telling us about Thanos, you never looked at me, not once. I know you well enough to see your tells."
"Yeah, you're one of the ones we lost," Barton said thickly, swallowing the lump in his throat.
"It wasn't your fault," Natasha said and he looked at her sharply. "I see the look on your face. Whatever happened, it wasn't your fault."
"Wait until you see what happens," Barton said with a tight smile.
"I don't need to. I know I make my own decisions. Whatever happened, it was my decision," Natasha said firmly and Barton smiled tightly.
"I've missed you Nat, more than you'll ever know," Barton said his voice raw with emotion.
"I think I do," Natasha said in understanding as she placed a hand over his. "That was Lila?"
"Yeah. She's all grown up, followed in our footsteps, became an Avenger," Barton said, his voice filled with pride.
"So you two work together?" Natasha asked but Barton shook his head.
"No, I retired from active duty after Thanos. But I still help out; I help train the new recruits and I consult on mission plans. And I get this nice office for my troubles," Barton added jokingly and Natasha shook her head at him in amusement.
"I'd like to see her to," Natasha said and Barton stiffened. "I heard she wants to see me, I want to see her to. Please."
"Okay, I'll see what I can do," Barton agreed after a moment as he stood up. "In the meantime, let's g eat. You must be hungry."
In case anyone needs to put a face to a name, Lila would be portrayed by Camila Belle. Thank you to Bl4ckHunter for his help with that.
I know it's been confirmed that Loki was brainwashed, but come on, that is stupid. The great thing about Loki's character Arc was that he went from a villain to a hero in a very realistic and natural way. Having him be brainwashed ruins that.
Yes, Wanda did move on from Vision and get a life, something that the MCU writers seem to have something against, given what we know about her new show. The dad will be revealed later on, just not sure when yet.