A/N: Finally! I got sick, so I've got the free time to write (productivity doubles with the sinus congestion).
The Avengers were dealing with a new threat, a cat burglar who called himself Strike. He (or she?) specialized in stealing 084's and selling them to the highest bidder. The latest "strike" had been against Dr. Stephen Strange. He refused to tell them what was stolen, though.
"Listen man we can't help you if you don't tell us what you lost."
"It's better if no one else knows. I highly doubt that he knows what he stole."
"All right. Whatever."
Three days later, the mail came. There were bushels of fan mail, as usual, a few tokens from grateful nations, and a box addressed to the Avengers. Allie was helping Clint sort the mail. "Steve's, Steve's, mommy's, Wanda's, mommy's, daddy this one's yours, this is Tony's, Tony's, Tony's, Steve's, mommy's, Thor, Thor, Sam, Thor, Rhodey, mommy…" She held up the box. "This one's for everybody. Can I open it daddy?"
Since the mail had been scanned and screened three times before it even made it to the Avengers loving quarters, Clint gave her the all clear.
Allie opened it carefully and pulled out the pretty green stone that was nestled in the wrapping paper. "Ooh, it's really pretty."
"Yeah it is." Clint picked it up. It clinked like a glass jewel. He rolled his eyes. "It's a fake."
"Can I show it to mommy?"
"Sure sweet pea."
"Cool." She abandoned him to his letter sorting and went off to find her mom.
Natasha 'oohed' appropriately, and Allie slipped the green stone into her pocket to show Wanda and Darcy later. She forgot about it soon after, when faced with the prospect of a jog with Bucky. As in, Bucky would jog, and Allie would sit on his shoulders and watch the streets of New York swoosh by.
They went for a jog, Bucky bought her an ice cream, and they went back to the Tower.
Allie remembered about the green jewel in her pocket later, and pulled it out to put in her toy castle. It would be an excellent treasure for a "dragon" to try and "steal." First, she'd have to find a "knight" to guard the treasure. She picked Tony, by virtue of his being in the living room.
"Hey Tony?"
"Yes peanut?"
"Can you be a gallant knight, and guard this?" She showed it to him.
Tony glanced at the green emerald, and turned pale. "Allie, where did you get that?"
"The mail."
"Who sent it?"
"I don't know. Daddy let me have it."
He knelt. "Allie, can I have it?" he asked solemnly.
"Why?"
"Because I think that's something very important and a teeny bit dangerous, so I need you to give it to me, please."
Her eyes grew wide and she started to hold it out.
"Wait, wait, containment," Tony said, holding out a hand. "Don't move, baby. just give me one second, okay?"
"Okay," Allie whispered, starting to get scared. "What is it?"
"I think it's the Eye of Agamotto, which Dr. Strange wouldn't tell anyone about," he said, bolting to the kitchen. "FRIDAY, get Bruce up here. Where in the world are the plastic Tupperwares!? Don't we have any?"
"No because we decided that glass ones were better for the envi-ron-ment," Allie piped up, still holding the stone. "And Loki said that if we wanted things made of liquefied dinosaurs it would be better if we let him make them."
Bruce and Natasha rushed out of the elevator. "What is going on?" Natasha demanded.
"I think she's holding the Time stone," Tony said quietly. He finally found a plastic bowl with a lid, and turned towards Allie. "Okay, sweetheart, we're going to put it in here, gently, okay?"
"Okay," she said shakily, and stepped forward. She tripped over a lego block on the carpet, and dropped the stone.
The adults all dove for it, but Allie was closer to the floor. She shaepshifted into a cat at the same time as she caught the stone in her fluffy paws.
There was a flash of light, and a green glow, and Allie was gone.
"Allie!"
A~A~A~A
Allie carefully opened her eyes, and uncurled from the little ball of fluff she'd created. She was no longer in the tower. She was standing on a manicured green lawn, in front of a very large house. The Time stone was on the ground in front of her, looking completely innocent.
She transformed back into her human form, and dug into her pocket for a folded piece of paper, a drawing of her and Pietro. She took a deep breath, and picked up the stone with the drawing. She winced in anticipation and when nothing happened, she dropped it into her sweater pocket, and zipped it shut. Now to figure out where she was...
She glanced at the street. There were tons of grownups walking on the streets, and it would not be a good plan to be a little girl. She shapeshifted carefully into a small Yorkshire terrier with a collar, and walked into the street. She walked to the corner, and looked up at the street names.
She let out a yip of dismay. She was exactly where the Tower was. But the tower wasn't there, so that meant... she was back in time? When back in time?
Allie trotted back to the mansion, and found the mailbox. It was labeled 'Stark.' So it was still Tony's house.
She went up to the front door, and sat down on the step to think about what to do next, scratching her ear thoughtfully. She noticed there was an open window on the second floor, and before she could get nervous about it, Allie shifted into a bird, and flew up to the window, and into the house.
No alarms went off. This must be pre-JARVIS.
She turned back into a puppy, and trotted off down the hall, following her nose to signs of life.
She found it all right, in the form of a hungover Tony Stark, barely old enough to drink, sitting on the floor, leaning against an expensive sofa.
Bad Tony, she scolded internally, and barked a couple of times.
He jolted upright, and frowned at the puppy. "How did you get in here?" he demanded.
She bounced up to him, planted her paws on his chest, and licked his cheek. So glad to see you, she thought silently, wishing she could hug him. But she knew it was a bad idea to mess with the timeline. She had to stay as a puppy. Tony and Bruce and Vision had talked about time travel enough to make sure she knew that.
"You're cute," the young Tony said, patting her head. "You have an owner?" He checked her collar. It was the amalgam of her clothing, little grey and blue strips, and the necklace from Wakanda. He pressed the piece of metal curiously. "This is interesting," he said.
She tugged out of his grip, (couldn't let him get curious), and deliberately nudged the bottle of scotch onto its side, spilling it on the hardwood floor.
"Hey," he protested.
She let out a soft whimper, and came back to nuzzle his ribs.
He huffed. "Yeah, whatever." He picked her up, and staggered to his room upstairs. He put her on the floor, and went to take a shower.
Allie took the twenty minutes and made a quick inventory of the house. There was no one else in the whole mansion, not even a butler or anything. She managed to find a newspaper, and checked the date. October 1992. It had been a year since the Winter Soldier killed Tony's parents and Jarvis. No wonder he was drunk and sad and alone...
Young Tony found her twenty minutes later, sitting in front of the fridge. "Hungry?" he asked. "Me too."
They had leftover pizza, and Tony took her outside to the backyard. "Go, do your thing," he said to the small puppy.
Allie went and hid behind a bush for a few moments. She didn't feel comfortable going outside, but to keep up the pretending... she waited another few seconds, and came out again.
"Good girl," he praised the tiny puppy. He let her run around a little bit, and they went back inside. "So," he said, "what should I call you?"
Allie replied by licking his face.
"Tiny," he decided. "I'm going to name you Tiny."
She giggled inwardly. For a genius he wasn't very imaginative.
Tony left her to her own devices, and she took a nap in the sofa. Hopefully Tony from the future would figure something out and she could go home soon...
A~A~A~A
"What. Happened."
Tony looked pale. "I think she's travelled in time."
"Where in time," Natasha demanded, her voice completely even.
"I don't know. Give us a few minutes." Tony held up his hands, deadly serious. "We are going to get her back, I promise."
"Don't promise. Just do."
"We will."
The mood was absolutely serious in the Avengers tower, as the scientists tracked the time distortion backwards ("yeah, it's definitely going back in time..."), and the non-scientifically-inclined paced and worried.
Clint kept staring at the Bucky Bear on the sofa. "I let her take it," he muttered, after a half hour of absolute silence. "I let, my child, take an Infinity Stone, to play with. What kind of idiot am I? I should have recognized it. I should have-"
Steve put a hand on his shoulder. "How could you know?" he asked firmly. "Strange didn't tell us what had been stolen, it looked like a fake. Not even our own sensors in the Tower could tell us it was an Infinity Stone, nobody sensed anything. It was a mistake."
"What if she's dead?" Clint asked miserably, dropping his head into his hands. "What if-"
"Clint," Natasha snapped, putting a hand on his knee. "Stop it. She's alive. We have to believe that. We have to."
Steve left the worried couple and went over to the twins. "How are we doing?" he asked.
Wanda shook her head. "The brains have hit a wall," she said, referring to Tony, Bruce, Vision, and Loki.
Steve looked at Thor, who sat grave and silent on the armchair. "Thor?" he asked. "Do you think Asgard could help us with this?"
Thor shook his head. "I already asked. The secrets of time travel are strictly regulated. The Allfather will not approve their use to retrieve Allie."
"You wouldn't happen to know..."
"No. Mjolnir was once able to control time, but that power has been lost, as well." Thor frowned. "Loki may be able to remember something, though. He was always getting into books he wasn't supposed to."
A~A~A~A
Allie watched in disbelief as Tony ordered two whole pizzas for himself, and an order of grilled chicken breast. "You eat chicken right?" Tony asked the puppy, chopping the chicken up as he spoke. "You're not gonna throw it up?"
Allie jumped on the chicken happily, as soon as he put it on a plate for her. She didn't like eating in her shapeshifted forms, since her animal stomachs weren't as big as her regular stomach, and she needed more energy than normal, but for now this would have to do.
Tony, after some thought, also put down a bowl of water.
Allie finished the chicken and nipped at his ankles until he gave her a piece of pizza.
After their dinner, Tony picked her up, and they went into what was obviously his office. It was insanely disorganized, and he had stacks of reports everywhere. But his computer set up... Allie recognized the way the screens were organized. This was how he worked with JARVIS and FRIDAY in the lab. It was all way more primitive, but it was still awesome. She watched in fascination as Tony did his job as heir to Stark Industries. She wondered when he was going to meet Pepper. He needed a Pepper to help him.
The door to Tony's office swung open, and an older man in Air Force uniform walked in. "Hey Tones," the man said, grinning.
"Rhodey!" Tony said, breaking into his second real smile of the day.
They hugged, and Allie stared in fascination from under the desk. That was Rhodey? He was so young... he had hair! As she scooched forward to see the two of them interact, she bonked her head on the edge of the desk and yelped in pain.
Rhodey jumped at the noise and stared at the puppy on the floor. "Tony, why is there a dog in your office?"
Tony grinned and picked her up, kissing her head. "This is Tiny. Isn't she cute?"
"Where did you get her?"
"She came into the house somehow," Tony said frankly. "But she's super well behaved."
"Tony," Rhodey started seriously, "you can't keep a dog. You can barely take care of yourself."
Tony held the puppy protectively. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"
"Tony."
Allie wriggled her way from Tony's hands to Rhodey's, licked his cheek in greeting, and nuzzled his hand for cuddles.
Rhodey couldn't help the smile as he pet the enthusiastic puppy. "Okay, she's cute. But c'mon man."
"If I can't do it, I'll give her away," Tony promised, taking Allie back. "C'mere Tiny, away from mean ole Rhodey."
"I'm just trying to look after you, kiddo."
Tony huffed. "I'm fine."
"Sure you are." Rhodey frowned at him. "Why don't you go back to California?"
"There's things to do here," Tony muttered, occupying himself in scratching Allie's ears. "Lots of R&D. Besides, Stane's got everything under control." He looked up abruptly and faked a smile. "Let's watch the game. I've got pizza."
"Sure. But what about the dog?"
Tony tucked Allie against his chest. "She's fine."
They watched the games, and Allie entertained herself by stealing pepperoni's off Rhodey's pizza.
Rhodey stayed over that night in one of the guest rooms, and Tony made a nest for "Tiny" on the floor in his room. She waited until he was in his own bed, before jumping up and curling up on the other pillow next to him.
"Hey," he protested, reaching out to pick her up. "Animals on the floor."
She gave him puppy eyes.
He scowled at her. "That's not fair."
She nestled into the pillow and whined beseechingly.
He groaned. "Fine."
She snickered to herself as she got comfy. There was no defense against the puppy eyes.
A~A~A~A
"Okay, we have a plan," Tony announced.
"Well part of a plan," Bruce amended.
"Give me a percentage," Steve said.
"Uh... 76?"
"I would calculate 79," Vision corrected calmly.
"So what is the plan?" Wanda asked, a hint of impatience coloring her tone.
"We're going to use the Mindstone like a magnet," Tony said, pointing at Vision's forehead. "Hopefully Allie is still holding onto the stone, so it should pull her right along."
"That's it?" Clint asked. "What if she's dropped it, or set it down, or-"
"I told you it's only part of a plan," Tony said. "If the stone comes back without Allie, we can use it to go back in time and get her. I think. We've put her location about twenty years in the past."
"You're going to invent time travel."
"If I have to."
Loki gestured towards the elevator. "Everyone vacate. We're going to test it."
"We're staying," Clint said firmly, holding Natasha's hand.
"Of course," Bruce said, his tone compassionate. "But stand over there so we have room to work."
They moved over, and the three scientists fussed over Vision's forehead.
A~A~A~A
Allie woke up the next morning as a bird, and checked hastily if Tony was awake. He was still asleep, and she used that time to go to the bathroom. She shifted back into a puppy after she was done and got back on the bed. She shuffled over to him, and plopped down on his chest. There was no reassuring hum of the arc reactor, but it was still the same heartbeat. She rested her head on her paws and sighed. She missed her whole family.
Tony woke up a half hour later, and stared blearily at the puppy on his chest before remembering what was going on. "Good morning," he said, scratching her ears. "Hungry?"
She licked his chin.
"Ew." He plopped her on the bed and got up. "All right. Today I've got a meeting with Microsoft, so you're going to have to stay with my driver, okay?" He huffed. "Look at me, I'm talking to you like I can understand you."
She batted at his house slippers. Okay, Tony.
They shared a breakfast of leftover chicken and pizza with Rhodey. The older man had to go back to work, so he left with a parting admonition about getting the puppy some proper food. Tony went upstairs to shower and shave, and get dressed. His version of business clothes was a pair of jeans, a motorcycle jacket, and tinted yellow sunglasses.
Allie shook her head. Where's your nice suits? she thought to herself, biting at his shoelaces. You really need Pepper. Or a personal shopper-person like on TV. Or JARVIS. When'r'you gonna build JARVIS, Tony?
Tony clipped a couple of lanyards together, and clipped them to Allie's collar. "That should hold," he said. "All right Tiny, let's go."
They walked out of the house and onto the street. Tony's driver (not Happy), was waiting for them with the car. "Morning boss," the driver said.
"Morning," Tony grunted.
Allie was about to jump into the car, when she felt a burning sensation near her neck. Her pocket. The Time stone? Was it activating? Were they bringing her home?
She reacted on instinct - don't let Tony see her vanish! - and jumped away from the car, ripping the lanyard out of Tony's hands.
"Tiny!" he yelled.
She ran around the other side of the car, hoping to hide behind it, and turned to see a huge truck bearing down on her. She let out a sharp yelp of terror, and then was blinded by a green flash of light. The last thing she heard was a terrified shout of,
"TINY!"
She opened her eyes cautiously once the light faded, and found Tony, Bruce, Vision, and Loki staring at her. She transformed back into her human form. "Am I back?" she asked. "How long's it been?"
"Less than a day," Loki said, relieved.
"Allie!" Her parents flew across the room and grabbed her in a hug.
She hugged them back tightly, feeling some tears start to fall down now that everything was over. "I'm okay, mommy. I'm fine." She tugged away from Natasha's embrace, and carefully pulled the Time stone out of her pocket, still wrapped in paper. "Here, Bruce."
"Thank you sweetheart," he murmured, putting it in the appropriate container and sealing it. He ruffled her hair. "How do you feel?"
"Normal-ish. I wanna take a bath."
"Where were you?" Clint asked, picking her up and hugging her tightly.
Allie glanced at Tony. "I don't know if I can say," she started.
Tony suddenly turned white as a sheet, and leaned against the console. "Don't tell me," he said faintly. "Tiny?"
She nodded.
Tony groaned and put his head in his hands. "I thought you'd been run over. Oh my goodness. That put me off pets for the next twenty years..." He groaned again. "Oh my goodness Allie."
She wriggled out of Clint's hold and ran to hug Tony. "I'm sorry," she said, kissing his cheek. "I was trying to keep the space-time con-ti-noo-um safe."
"No, you did good, sweetheart," he said, kissing her hair and hugging her tight. "You did perfectly. I didn't even suspect a thing."
Bruce cleared his throat. "Uh, guys? Would you like to fill us in?"
Tony kept his arms around Allie. "Twenty years ago, this spot was the Stark family mansion on 5th Avenue. I was here, when Allie got into the house."
Allie and Tony told them the story.
"I thought she'd been run over by the truck," Tony finished, his voice rough with emotion. "I cried like a freakin' baby."
Allie's eyes watered in sympathy. "I'm sorry Tony."
He squeezed her tightly. "It's fine, peanut. It was a long time ago." He grinned at her. "And now you're back safe and sound. Happy ending." He stood up abruptly, his emotional quota filled for the day. "All right. You wanted a bath, right?"
"Yup." She hugged Bruce and Loki and Vision in thanks for getting her back, and let Clint tote her down to the apartment for a bubble bath.
Throughout the rest of the day, all the Avengers made a point of giving her a hug and a 'welcome back.'
Rhodey got wind of the incident, and came by the Tower. "So you were Tiny, huh," he said, eyeing the little girl in pajamas.
She transformed obligingly.
He rubbed at his forehead. "Wow."
She transformed back into Allie. "Yup," she said, popping the 'p'. She held up the tub of Ben'n'Jerry's. "Ice cream?"
"No thanks, kiddo. You earned that."
She smiled. "Yup. I'm in the record books. First-est person ever to time travel-ish."
He gave her a high-five.
Steve took the Timestone back to Dr. Strange. "This is why we share information," he told the doctor crisply. "Next time you endanger one of ours, we will be having words."
"Captain," he said cordially.
A~A~A~A
A/N 2: Stay tuned for next chapter! Thanks for reading! Also, go check out my Bucky/Nat oneshot for Shakespeare Has a Quote for Everything universe.
Question: would anyone be interested in a Puppy Love/ Star Trek Original Series crossover adventure?
aAa
5/10/17 UPDATE: In response to reviewer's question about Tony knowing what the Timestone was, my rationalization is that Tony knows everything, because he hacks into everything, and Loki blathers about Infinity Stones once in a while, so...yes.
Also, if anyone is interested, I've posted a new complete Pride and Prejudice story that's got just a tad of time travel-y-ness in it.