Elixir snuck through the pillar forest, watching his step and looking all around for any sign of movement.

He had the disadvantage here. His opponent wouldn't knew this place well and planned his attack before hand, making even have a station where he waits for the unwary passerby to pick off. But Elixir liked challenges. The warriors back hom- Jotunheim, never even looked at him in the eyes after his first training session. All except Loki, who was smiling amusingly all along.

He looked up. A ladder he didn't notice before led up to an overseeing metal platform along the walls. Natasha looked down with her intense eyes, leaning over the railing to get a clear look.

An arrow zipped past his face and pinned itself on a pillar behind him. Elixir quickly ducked and hid behind it.

Where did it come from?

A second one fixed itself just above his head. He looked up and noticed Arrow Man leaping from the top of one pillar to another, then out of sight.

Of course. Birds feel best when they are higher up.

To catch a bird, you either wait for it to come down.

Or go up and hunt for it.

He did a quick run-up and pushed off one pillar to give him the boost to reach another higher one. He quickly crouched down when he saw the Arrow Man on another pillar not far off with his back towards him, still peering down for his prey.

As soon as one of the daggers left his hand, he knew he made a stupid decision in his heart. Trained people like Arrow Man could hear something flying towards them from behind louder than thunder.

Clint dodged the dagger on the last second and shot a few arrows in Elixir's direction. He dodged some and blocked another with his dagger.

Usually, he would be able to teleport his other dagger back, but Natasha said 'no magic'.

Elixir quickly closed the distance between them, knocking arrows aside as easy as swatting flies. Obviously, bow and arrows wouldn't do well in close combat.

Just as Clint was within arm's reach, he swung his bow under his legs, knocking Elixir off his feet. He missed the ledge and fell down onto the solid floor, hitting his head against the stone.

A dull ringing echoed in his ears.

Then everything turned blue.

OOO

Clint leapt down the pillar and landed lightly by Elixir's side.

Damn it Clint, he shouted in his head. You got carried away.

Elixir didn't move. He probably got knocked out hitting his head hard against the floor.

Natasha dashed through and knelt down behind Elixir.

'Elixir, are you alright?' She asked, but got no reply.

'I will go and get someone.' She said quickly then disappeared. The floor shifted, and the terrain started to turn back into the flat setting.

Clint looked up and saw Natasha slip out of the door.

He looked back down on the kid as he tried to process what just happened. He was cooler than he imagined, calmly strolling towards him and whacking arrows away like they are nothing.

Elixir's eyes fluttered open.

'Hey, are you-' Clint was cut off when a dagger lashed out, grazing his arm.

He backed up and notched an arrow. Elixir stood up shakily, swaying from side to side.

'Elixir?' Clint called out. Something didn't look right.

Elixir looked straight into his eyes for a fraction of a second, then he understood why.

'Elixir, shake it off.' Clint said calmly. 'It's the Tesseract controlling you.'

The unnatural blue eyes blinked owlishly.

'Really?'

The voice was harsh and hissy, and so familiar. Clint backed up a few more steps.

'Stop controlling him.' He tried in his most commanding voice.

'Or else what?' Elixir moved his mouth, but it wasn't his voice that came out. 'Will you shoot an arrow through him, or will you kill him in another more gruesome way?'

Clint shuddered.

'Just get out of him!'

'Is that so?' He narrowed his eyes and formed a sneer. 'You have no idea who you are actually looking at. I can see in his mind things he couldn't even see himself. His past was kept from him for what the one thought was for the better, but its backfiring.'

'What do you mean?'

'One cannot survive in one time that he doesn't belong in.'

'What?'

'Hmph. The fool, thinking he saved something. But he did the exact opposite. Soon, he will be the one that destroys the worlds.'

'You are lying.'

'Lying? Why would I lie, human?' He started advancing slowly, taking his time. 'Shall I be a bit more straightforward to make you understand?'

'You need to shut up.'

'This being you see is not human. He was not born four million years ago. His memory was manipulated to think so. He will be made to be a killer machine, a weapon that will be intended bring the ultimate destruction to the entire universe.'

'Why are you saying everything is future tense?'

He stopped within arm's reach of Clint's bow, and laughed softly.

'He is a being from the future, human.' He twirled the dagger in his hand, sending reflected light dancing across the walls and floor. 'The one will be foolish to think he did good, drugging him and taking him all the way to earth four million years before present in his curious machine.'

The door banged open to reveal Natasha and an agent. She froze when she saw a snarling Elixir turn on her.

'Nat!' Clint cried out.

The dagger left Elixir's hand in a flash. Natasha lunged and brought the stunned agent to the floor with her. The projectile impaled itself in the wall, sinking to the hilt.

Clint let the arrow fly. Elixir turned, only to smirk one last time before the arrow sank deep in his neck. The eyes turned back to its normal color and rolled back as his body tilted backwards, meeting the cold hard floor once more.

OOO

For a moment, Natasha was dumbstruck.

Her comrade just shot their trainee in the neck after their trainee attempted to kill her and another person with a flying dagger.

Right.

She snapped back to her senses. She scrambled forward and knelt down beside Elixir, panicking. Red gurgled forth from his mouth and the puncture in his neck. The smell of blood was sickening.

She tried to stay calm. She shot a look at Clint, who stood very still, only realizing what had happened.

'I…'

'No, Clint, apologize later.' Natasha snapped. 'Get help.'

Clint sprinted to the door and out, screaming incoherent words.

She felt something warm against her cold fingers. She raised her hand and see them already stained red, even dripping. Natasha didn't dare to look down.

How can you wipe away so much red?

Elixir stirred.

'Don't move.'

He slowly opened his eyes, but they were a dim green.

Elixir smiled weakly and mouthed something.

Mewling quim.

OOO

'Is that Elixir with an arrow stinking out of him I just saw pushed by?'

'Yes, Tony.'

'Why did Clint shoot him?'

'Elixir was trying to kill me.'

'Wait, isn't that what he was training for?'

'Throwing daggers at your trainer and another agent wasn't part of any training.'

'Right.'

'Clint said he was controlled by the Tessaract.'

'Like, last time when he tried to strangle himself?'

'Basically.'

They stood in awkward silence. Steve's cat batted at Tony's shoelaces.

'Its not Clint's fault.' Natasha insisted once more. 'He was trying to protect me and the other agent.'

Why is Natasha behaving strangely? Tony wondered.

'I didn't say anything, but-' He paced his way to the window. The city beneath him looked gloomy and dark in the foggy weather. 'Why? What does killing Elixir and everyone else he could get his hands on benefit him in any way?'

'Loki.' Someone replied.

The two of them whirled around and saw a dead looking Clint standing in the doorway.

'Oh, Clint.' Natasha gasped.

'Elixir was already awake. And I went to apologize, but he didn't remember a thing.'

'Like last time.' Tony repeated again.

'The Tesseract clearly wanted Loki dead, but I don't get something.' Clint strolled in and sat down on a chair. 'The Tesseract said something about Elixir coming from the future and being a weapon and-'

'Hold on, what?' Tony interrupted.

'Before Natasha came back he took control of Elixir and started telling me about, things. He said his memories were changed to make it look like he lived four million years, but its turns out he wasn't. He was created in the future by some people, and he was created to bring destruction to the world. But it turns out there was this someone carried him all the way to earth four million years ago and made Elixir forget everything that happened.'

'But, the only person able to do so is…' Natasha choked.

'The Doctor?' Tony and Clint stammered at once.

'I remember him when he last visited. Total showoff and stuff.' Tony added.

'Better than you, he's a Time Lord, you are not.' Clint retorted.

'Guys, I think its best not to tell Doctor Who or Elixir we knew of this.' Natasha cleared her throat and stated. 'It might do something bad, especially Elixir. We don't want him to remember anything unpleasant.'

He deserved to know who he was, Tony thought guiltily. But will it be for the better or worse is a very hard question.

Clint buried his head in his hands.

'This is just total crap.' He muttered.

OOO

Bruce leaned against the wall and pinched his nose again. After seeing Elixir all battered up and bandaged, he felt angry.

But he didn't know at whom.

Thanos? Clint? Natasha? Fury? Cosmic Cube? Loki? Elixir? The world?

He shook his head, trying to brush the thoughts away.

'Hello.'

He yelped at the sudden noise.

'Oh, sorry.' The woman said quietly. 'I didn't mean to scare you.'

'Nothing, Lady Hela, of course not.'

'Just call me Hela. So I heard from some of the nurses chit-chat that Elixir this time got shot with an arrow in his neck?'

'Yes.'

'Why won't he get out of trouble?' Hela whined. 'For goodness sake, my father is inside of him! He may as well be careful instead of trying to get himself killed!'

'Actually, Hela,' Bruce tried to point out. 'Elixir wouldn't remember anything about it because it was the Tesseract's power taking over his body-'

'How long has this been happening?'

'This is only the second time. The first is when we first brought him in.'

'And its doing more than just controlling the body now, isn't it?'

'It could talk through him.'

'Its getting stronger, feeding on Elixir's near-unlimited power.' Hela scowled as she paced up and down the empty corridor, her dress fluttered lightly. 'Soon Elixir wouldn't be able to keep him down.'

'Why does the Tesseract want Elixir dead?'

'Not him, Loki.' Hela corrected. 'And it would be stupid of him to waste away such a source of power.'

Bruce shuddered.

'So, it will try and kill Loki, and then take over Elixir completely?'

'That's the best guess.'

'Why is Elixir so, take-over-able?'

'He is a weapon from the future as I overheard from the conversation of your fellow Avengers. Doctor, think about what they would like a weapon to be?'

Bruce's eyes widened.

'To be make something with the power they couldn't have themselves and control it. Like Avatar!'

Hela frowned.

'Sorry, something unimportant Tony showed to me.'

'Well, you are right. That's how my father survived without intending to in the first place. Elixir was too easy to invade mentally, or in his case, spiritually.'

'Its hard to believe how people will achieve such a thing.'

'Not really people, more like what you called as aliens, with no religion or moral, they believe in power and total control alone. But you don't need to worry, its someone else's problems, and its technically solved -or will be solved- by this person stealing their ultimate weapon and transporting it to where it will be left alone for at least a few million years. Until now.'

'But what are we suppose to do then? Lock Elixir up?'

'No, I will deal with him. Oh right, The Other and Thanos is coming to town.'

'Who?'

'The people that sorta wiped out Jutonheim. They got a bunch of Chitari sholdiers behind his back as well.'

'Why are you telling me this now?'

'I just got a bit distracted!'

Bruce turned and ran.

OOO

Elixir opened his eyes. He felt dizzy and faint, maybe from the hit in his head when he fell?

Then he felt something tight around his neck.

He really panicked. Not the damn collar again!

'Shh. Its fine.' Someone whispered.

His eyes were still blurry, but he could make out a woman wearing black clothes.

'You just need some sleep.' She purred and stroked his forehead. 'And when you wake up, you will need to be ready.'

Drowsiness washed over him.

'Sleep.' The woman commanded, and darkness took over.