A/N: Fluff, visions of thingamabobs, and from reader request: a 'splosion! :)
Allie introduced the twins to everyone in the tower, and the twins were amazed to find that no one really grudged them the whole fight thing. Everyone was quite blasé about it.
The twins sank into the shelter of a comfy sofa in their two-person apartment. Allie was a snoozing grey kitten between them, worn out from all the excitement.
"So," Wanda said slowly, "this is... not what we expected."
Pietro laughed wryly. "You can say that again." He zipped away and came back with two cups of hot tea. "Here."
They sipped quietly for a moment and a soft purr made them both look at Allie.
"She's cute," Pietro said fondly. "I was not expecting them to have a child."
"She loves them all very much," Wanda said softly. "She has already begun to think of us as family. So have the rest of them. They're already thinking of us as Avengers. The captain, Steve, is trying to figure out how to ask us."
"Do we want to be heroes?" Pietro asked.
"Can we be anything else?" Wanda asked.
"Just don't decide to be villains," Clint advised them, dropping in through the vent and startling them both. "Anything else but that and we'll support you to the hilt."
"What if we decide to be villains?" Pietro asked snarkily.
Clint shrugged. "Then we'll stop you." He nodded to the snoozing kitty. "Just came by to pick up my kiddo."
"She's adorable," Wanda told him.
He tucked the kitten into the crook of his arm and shot her a grin. "Yeah." With a friendly nod, he strolled out of the apartment.
The twins shared a glance.
A~A~A~A
"The thing in this thing is alive."
"Eloquent as always, Stark."
"Hey, you're still on probation."
"At least I know my Infinity Gem terminology."
"Then enlighten me, o wise trickster." Tony made a sweeping bow.
Loki pulled up a hologram of the insides of the scepter. "The thing that's alive is the Mindstone. The crystal around it is just a container, or rather a focuser, to give other objects its power, or control them through it. It's not alive, per se, but it can be likened to a consciousness I suppose."
"So like an AI that's not quite self-aware yet?"
"Somewhat yes."
Tony studied the pulsing, shifting, scan. "Do you think we could copy the way it's set up? Make our own AI?"
Loki eyed him warily. "For what purpose?"
"For science."
The trickster raised an eyebrow. "If you can do it in less than three days."
Tony's eyes lit up. "Is that a challenge?"
Loki's eyes widened. "No. In no way is that a-"
"Too late!" Tony shoved him out of the lab, eyes lighting up with a manic glee. "J! Get Bruce up here, we've got work to do."
No one saw hide nor hair of the two scientists for the next three days.
Steve, and unsurprisingly Bucky, with his infinite mother-henning tendencies, took the twins under their wings and introduced them to all of America's delights. Sam joined these expeditions as the mom-friend who actually knew how to work a Metro card and get the discounts from the special offers online. Clint and Allie went with them to Coney Island.
Natasha and Wanda bonded almost immediately over their shared pseudo-Russian upbringing. Clint and Pietro argued like three-year-olds before falling abruptly into a father-son relationship. Natasha teased her husband for picking up another stray. He retorted with, "And who spent all day talking about exercise gear with the other red-head?"
Allie, for a second, misunderstood their conversation and thought they were adopting the Maximoffs, and nearly rocketed into high orbit with glee.
They explained it was a pseudo-adoption.
"Like, we're all family, but I's the only Barton?" Allie asked.
"Exactly like that baby."
"Cool. That works too."
A~A~A~A
He was in a dark, dimly lit room. The only glow came from the scepter sitting in the center of the room. He approached it cautiously. Where was the lab?
A voice spoke, echoing around the room, emanating from within his own mind. "What do you seek?"
Somehow, he knew it was the Mindstone asking.
"A way for us to keep people safe," he said. That was the whole point of the AI - help the Avengers help the rest of the world. Somehow, he knew the Mindstone could see what he wanted. And it was so close... he stepped closer to the Mindstone, trying to see the picture forming in its center...
"Tony?" Steve asked cautiously, as a dazed inventor shuffled into his room at three in the morning. Steve turned on the light. "Everything okay?"
"Need the vibranium," Tony muttered, grabbing the shield from its place on the armchair and shuffling back out again.
"JARVIS, is he awake at all?" Steve asked, worried.
"I believe so," JARVIS replied. "Perhaps you should follow him."
"Yeah." Steve got out of bed, tripped on a trailing sheet, and just missed the elevator.
He hiked up his pajama pants and took the stairs up to the labs. He got there just in time to see Tony grab the scepter from its perch and smash it into the floor. "Tony!"
The billionaire froze. And blinked. And dropped the scepter and the shield with a Clang! "What just happened?" he asked, rubbing his hands over his face.
"You grabbed the shield out of my quarters," Steve replied, frowning at the other man worriedly. "Said you needed the vibranium."
"Wh- okay, J, why didn't you stop me from sleepwalking all over the place?"
"You were not asleep," JARVIS replied, bewildered.
The two men shared a glance. "Then what was that?" Steve asked.
Tony edged away from the scepter. "My eyes aren't blue, are they?"
"No."
"Kay. Good. Just checking."
"JARVIS, alert the others. Common room, ten minutes. Tony, get your scans," Cap ordered.
Ten minutes later everyone was gathered, sleep-rumpled but ready for action. Even Allie, adorably nestled into a flannel-covered metal arm.
It was Wanda who provided the answer when Steve explained what had happened. "It showed you a vision of your future," she said. "It does that sometimes."
"But I can't even remember it," Tony complained.
Wanda held up a hand, fingertips glowing with energy. "May I?"
"Sure."
She frowned. "This?"
And suddenly they were all standing in the dimly-lit room from before.
"Yeah," Tony said, shivering.
They watched silently, feeling what Tony felt, as the dream played out, and they all looked through Tony's eyes as he stared into the depths of the crystal, and they all saw what he saw, the answer to their questions, Tony's mind supplying the what the how.
Wanda broke the dream-state, and they all shifted uneasily.
"That was different," was all Sam said.
"An android," Bruce said. He looked at Tony. "Can we do it?"
"Between you and me, totally." He looked at Thor. "But we'll need the scepter for longer."
Thor frowned. "Very well. But be wary of staring into the jewel. One vision of the future is enough."
"That was going to be my line," Loki snarked.
With that the group dispersed. The scientists went back to the labs, Pietro went on a brief run of the Eastern seaboard out of sheer joie de vivre, and the rest went back to bed. Allie went to cuddle with her parents and watch How to Steal a Million. "Ah, the old days," Clint sighed.
A~A~A~A
Nobody came from Asgard to take the scepter back, so the Avengers took it as tacit approval.
The Science Bros made a shopping list and handed it over to Steve. He assigned retrieval teams.
"Sam, Tasha and I will get the vibranium. Bucky, you and Clint will get the Cradle components from Dr. Cho in Tokyo. Everyone else you're on babysitting watch. Don't let Tony die or Bruce Hulk out, and make sure Allie gets her naps."
Pepper, glorious woman that she was, got Steve an audience with T'Chaka, king of Wakanda, the only source of vibranium on the planet. T'Chaka agreed to trade them the vibranium in exchange for their services as protection when Wakanda made state visits.
So Steve, Sam, and Tasha headed to Africa to escort the vibranium shipment home.
A~A~A~A
Both her parents gone, Allie continued her daily routine. School, hanging out with the three "probie" Avengers, convincing Tony to have snacks.
Loki, unsurprisingly, had taken a shine to Wanda and was teaching her how to refine the control of her powers. He was also still teaching Allie how to control her shape-shifting, and over the next few days the three of them could be found in the gym, practicing.
Thor started teaching Pietro hand-to-hand combat. They stayed on the other side of the gym, away from the flying basketballs and the morphing objects.
A~A~A~A
Allie was being a calla lily when Natasha came home from Wakanda. "Allie?" Natasha called, going into the living room. She passed the flowerpot twice before pausing in front of it. "Allie?"
The calla lily turned into a girl. "Mommy!"
Natasha hugged her tightly. "That's a cute outfit," she said, eyeing the shimmery leggings and the silky green tunic.
"Pepper took me shopping. She wanted new shoes cuz de board are being butts. We got ice cream too."
"Ah." Tasha kissed her hair. "Where is everybody?"
"In the gym. Thor's teaching 'em to play paintball."
Natasha's eyes widened in amusement and horror. "Sounds fun."
"Dey broke a weight machine first round so they sent me away just in case," Allie informed her.
"Good. Why were you being a flower?"
Allie shrugged. "Just cuz."
Natasha pulled a small box from her pocket. "This is for you, from Wakanda."
Allie opened the box. Inside was a delicate silver chain strung with bean-sized brightly colored beads of stone and wood. A smooth metal plate the size of a quarter hung from the middle.
Allie tapped the metal curiously. It made no sound. "Is this like Steve's shield?" she asked.
"Yep. But it's a hundred percent pure vibranium." Natasha lowered her voice. "But don't tell anyone okay, because it's really expensive."
"Kay mommy," Allie whispered. She put the necklace over her head and hugged Natasha tightly. "Thank you lots."
"You're lots welcome," Natasha replied, kissing her cheek.
When Clint came back from Tokyo he raised an eyebrow at Natasha and complimented the necklace. "That's really pretty. Pretty expensive?"
TWO DAYS EARLIER:
"Captain."
"Your Highness."
King T'Chaka nodded to the other two. "Mr. Wilson. Agent Romanoff."
"Sir."
They oversaw the movement of the shipment and got a tour of the public square. Following that, they got to share a meal with the royal family.
Natasha was impressed with Steve's aplomb speaking to both king and prince. She startled when she realized T'Chaka was staring at her.
He said nothing, simply turned away to eat some more.
Later as they were leaving the palace, the king pulled her aside. "You have a child," he said.
Natasha nodded cautiously.
He pulled a beaded necklace with a vibranium pendant from his pocket and held it out. He smiled at her befuddled expression. "A 'souvenir'," he said. "One that might save her life if need be."
"How?"
"The same way it saved my son's." He placed the necklace in her hand and moved to talk to T'Challa and Steve.
Sam raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged.
PRESENT:
Natasha just smiled and kissed her husband on the cheek. "It was a gift," she said.
A~A~A~A
BOOM!
The floors and ceilings rattled, chandeliers and knick-knacks clattered, and Allie's clay pot from Clint's Guatemala mission died a tragic death off the edge of a table.
There was a silence following the explosion. Then the intercom clicked on, with the sound of coughing. "We're okay!" Tony declared in between hacking coughs, and the intercom clicked off again.
The intercom came on again. "Cleanup crews to Lab 4," came Bruce's tired voice. "Thanks J."
"That's the wrong button," Steve's voice said helpfully over the speaker.
"Oh. Woops." The intercom clicked off again, not before everyone heard a slightly deranged giggle coming from the background. "Tony, are you sure you didn't hit your head-" Bruce started. The speakers went silent.
The twins shared a glance of concern and looked at Clint and Sam, who were playing 3D Virtual Battleship in the corner and hadn't even flinched. "Is this normal?" Pietro asked, pointing at the ceiling.
Clint nodded. "Yep. B4."
Sam smirked. "Miss. C5."
"Miss."
Sam looked up at the ceiling. "JARVIS, everyone okay?"
"All reactions to the explosion read normal," JARVIS reported.
Clint caught Wanda's questioning look and explained, "PTSD. Sometimes explosions'll set one of us off. But JARVIS has our backs, right buddy?"
"Correct, Agent Barton."
A pouting Allie came into the common room, holding the fragmented remains of her clay pot. "Daddy lookit."
He saw what it was and drew her into his arms. "Aw, did it get broken? I'm sorry baby."
She put the pieces on the table. "Can we fix it?" she asked hopefully, giving him puppy eyes.
"Uh..."
The pieces began to glow red and reform themselves into the shape of the pot, their edges melting together when they touched. Within a minute, the pot was sitting whole, if slightly off-center, on the table.
Everybody turned to look at Wanda.
She smiled.
"Wowwww," Allie breathed, reaching out to touch the pot. She hefted it and looked inside. "It's just like new!" She ran over and threw her arms around Wanda. "Thank you thank you!"
"You're very welcome, Allie."
A~A~A~A