TIME DISCOVERS TRUTH...
Disclaimer: I own no part of the Avengers (I wish I did). All rights belong to Marvel. I only own the character Tess Rogers / Tesseract / Amalia Schmidt and her plot and dialogue.
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO LuckyGo, NicoleR85, Angel1D98 AND Gwendolyn Yuki. I WANTED TO THANK YOU AGAIN FOR REVIEWING, EVEN AFTER THE WHOLE 'MISSED CHAPTER' FIASCO
The Quinjet landed outside the large farmhouse and the team walked towards the house. Natasha and Tess had been to the farmhouse before, as Tess was seen as a sort of sister to Clint. She was always like that – the little sister that needed protecting when, really, she was older than them all and could kick ass a lot better too.
"What is this place?" Thor asked, his voice gruffer than usual. He had seen something horrifying, like them all, but he was putting walls up to protect himself. Tess was trying to desperately tear down all of the walls, realising that part of Ultron's plan was to make each Avenger segregate themselves from their own teammates.
Tony frowned, questioning, "A safe-house?"
"Let's hope," Clint muttered as the team walked into the house, all worn and tired. Natasha was still being helped along by her best friend. "Honey, I'm home." Laura, Clint's heavily pregnant wife walked (waddled, Tess found more accurate and beamed at the woman) out from the kitchen and Clint smiled lovingly at her, "Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."
"Hey, Laura greeted and kissed Clint.
"This is an agent of some kind," Tony mumbled to Thor and Tess. Tess merely shot him a bored look, one of complete and utter impatience.
"Gentleman, this is Laura." Clint introduced to the male Avengers who didn't know Laura. Laura smiled beautifully at the group.
"I know all your names." Laura opened her arms and smiled, Tess immediately stepping into the embrace. "How are you, Tessie?"
Tess pulled back and smiled back at Clint's wife. "Better now. Barton hugs are the best."
"Ooh, incoming," Clint commented as he heard the patter of small feet and his son and daughter came into view. Lila and Cooper had grown since Tess had last seen them.
"Dad!" Lila cried and Clint picked her up.
"I see her!" Clint kissed the top of Cooper's head, "Hey, buddy! How you guys doing? Ooh..."
The others watched in surprise, and Tony commented, "These are...smaller agents."
"Look at your face! Oh, my goodness!" Clint continued to coo and Lila asked, excited, "Did you bring Auntie Nat?"
Cooper jumped up too, hoping to see his favourite aunt, "And Auntie Tess?"
Natasha stepped into view, "Why don't you hug her and find out?"
Lila ran to Natasha, who picked her up. Tess smiled, ready to join in the fun and she used a portal to appear behind Cooper, swinging him up into her arms. "Hey, kiddo! How are you?"
Cooper laughed loudly and swung around, the young boy basically attached to the young hero. Cooper loved Tess the best because she treated him like he was older than he was, not babying the young boy in the slightest. And Tess made Cooper fly with her powers, which was just the best thing the boy could hope for. The Rogers girl had always felt comfortable around children and, maybe it was because she knew Tony as a child, Tess had immediately connected really well with Cooper Barton.
These were the times when Tess wished that life was simpler and that she could settle down, maybe get married and have a few little people to toddle around a nice country house filled with laughter and paint. A nice place for her friends and brother to come over for a barbeque and not be called in for a mission or accidently read a friend's mind or start shooting things.
But as an Avenger that dream was quite unrealistic.
"Sorry for barging in on you," Steve apologized, ever the gentleman. Even when he was confused about how his sister knew Laura and the rest of Clint's family.
Tony snorted, "Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed."
That comment earned him a testy glare from his godmother, which immediately made him raise his hands in surrender.
"Yeah," Clint looked around his house, "Well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."
"Honey. Ah, I missed you," Laura greeted Natasha when she walked over, the assassin looking worse for wear.
Natasha touched Laura's swollen belly. "How's little Natasha, huh?
Laura smiled nervously, "She's...Nathaniel."
Natasha bent down towards Laura's pregnant stomach, muttering, "Traitor," while Tess tried to contain her laughter.
Thor suddenly turned from the room, stalking out. Tess and Steve exchanged a look before both Rogers followed after him.
"Thor," Steve called and Thor stopped.
"Where are you going?" Tess asked, her voice calming and the god felt his shoulders loosen. Tess was always so accepting—she gave them all that feeling that you could tell her anything and she would never judge and always forgive.
"I saw something in that dream. I need answers, I won't find them here." Thor swung Mjölnir and flew away from the farmhouse. Steve turned and walked back to the farmhouse. Peggy's voice slid into his mind for a moment.
Tess, from her distance away, felt a change in Steve's mind. "Are Wanda's visions still affecting you?"
"No." The female Rogers gave her brother a look, but Tess let the lie slide, having already seen what Steve was still experiencing. Peggy was still a sore subject for both of them.
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Tess had locked herself in her room.
No one could get her out and the young woman was left to fend off the memories by herself. She was also scared—more so than usual—that her biggest fear would come true. She was now more fearful as she had seen Laura, Lila, Cooper and baby Nathanial in her nightmare. Who was she to say that it wasn't possible that one day she would just lose it and then it would be the end of…everything? The blue-eyed girl shot her head up as someone knocked on the door, fingers tangling nervously in the sheets of the bed.
"Tessie?"
The hero didn't answer, she just shook her head and laid back down on the small bed, in the room she was sharing with Steve. She knew Laura had probably heard about the visions from Clint, and she didn't need anyone to 'help her work through them.'
"You must open the door, Amalia. I am your creator!"
Tess' eyes flashed open and she visibly flinched, as she heard the remnants of her father's voice in her head. She didn't want to admit it, but since her run-in with Wanda, she had been weaker than she had been in decades and her memories were beginning to leak into her life.
"Come—" When her voice broke, Tess cleared her throat and straightened her spine, pushing her hair away from her slightly tear-stained cheeks. "Come in." Laura opened the door, and Tess sighed at the kind look on her face. The blue-eyed girl patted the spot on the bed beside her, "I'm not glass, you know. I won't shatter if you accidently bump me."
"I know," Laura was so proud of Tess, feeling like a mother towards her, even though Tess was so much older. "Tessie, you're one of the bravest, strongest people I know. And you look after others before you even think about looking after yourself."
"Load of bullshit, that did everyone," Tess scoffed. "Wanda got to everyone and Bruce almost demolished an entire city because of her. And still, I foolishly believe that there can be some sort of redemption for both her and Pietro."
Hawkeye's wife reached out and grabbed Tess' hands, looking her straight in the eyes, "Tess. I remember someone very similar to that Maximoff girl doing almost the exact same thing on a mission in Budapest."
The hero called Tesseract winced with a tense smile, "We don't talk about Budapest."
Laura laughed. When Nat and Clint had returned from Budapest with a new ally, all three had immediately arrived in the Barton residence and confided in Laura, who was so welcoming, they couldn't help but feel safe. That was when Cooper and Lila had started treating Tess like an aunt and Nat and Clint saw Tess as family.
"I just…" Tess shook her head, looking at the woman beside her, "I just can't go out there. Not right now. I'm scared I'll…"
Tess trailed off and the Barton woman kissed her temple, knowing exactly what she meant even without saying it. "Whenever you're ready, sweetheart. We're all here for you."
"Thank you, Laura." Laura heard quietly as she pulled the door closed behind her with a small smile. Tess was so, so strong and didn't give herself enough credit for it.
Tess collapsed back against her pillows. The bright-blue-eyed woman frowned, knowing something was wrong – she felt it in her very bones. But emotional exhaustion won out, and the girl fell asleep, drifting into more nightmares and memories.
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"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."
Nick Fury's voice brought Tess out of her sleep and she heard Steve ask, "What about Ultron himself?" before she decided to sit up. Sound traveled surprisingly well in the Barton house but her enhanced senses probably helped her out too.
Tess opened a portal over her lap, so she could see straight through the floor and above the kitchen. Nick Fury was talking to the team, each of the Avengers fussing around Clint's homely kitchen as they listened.
"Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."
Tess frowned, thinking hard. Extinction of humans…but to what end? As Tess was swept away in her own world of strategy, she missed a bit of the conversation and she forced herself to focus properly. Now was not the time for daydreaming.
"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed," Nick told the team.
Tony raised a brow, "By whom?"
"Parties unknown." Tess snorted quietly in amusement. If Fury was consistently something, it was vague. That and, as of recently, dead.
"Do we have an ally?" Nat asked and Fury shook his head.
"Ultron's got an enemy, that's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is."
Tess suddenly closed the portal, eyes wide and she shot out the door, bounding down the stairs. Steve was telling the team, "To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies," when Tess shot into the room.
"Person bodies," Tony agreed, "The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."
"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed."
"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve." Bruce glanced at Tess, while he spoke, confused at the frustrated look on her face, "Ultron's going to evolve."
Tess stuck her hand in the air—like a student—as Fury asked, "How?"
"Helen!" The blue-eyed girl finally interrupted. Everyone in the room swung around to look at the girl who had locked herself in her room for almost an entire day. Obviously, she had noticed something they hadn't. "Helen Cho. Ultron kept her alive when he first attacked us at the Tower. She's going to use the cradle to make him a new, better, Vibranium body."
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"This is Vibranium," Howard informed the young German girl, running his finger over Steve's shield. He looked like a proud parent as he admired it with a loving look. "It's the strongest metal on the planet and it's going to be the future."
Tess pulled a face, "You are altogether too optimistic. What if something…better is found? Like a variation of Vibranium which is cheaper but just as strong."
The Stark man stared Tess in the face like he was seeing her for the first time. And then he smiled. "You're too smart for your own good. I like smart."
"I am also too young for you."
Howard tipped his head back and laughed, "Well, if you're not giving me a shot, you're my new little sister who can be smarter than me at times."
"I doubt that very much," Tess assured the Stark man and subtly stroking his ego. "But I can assure you that I am far more intelligent when it comes to illegal activity."
"Like murder, espionage and theft?"
"Like drinking, speeding and assault. But I'm sure that I am better at those other three too."
Howard smirked, "Want to make this interesting? I drink you under the table and you need to tattoo 'Stark' onto a part of your body."
"And if I win," Tess bargained, "you name me as the godmother of your firstborn."
The smirk widened and Howard stuck out his hand for Tess to shake. "You're on, little lady. I'm not gonna say sorry when I make you cry."
Tess shook the genius' hand. "Ditto."
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"I'll take Tess, Natasha and Clint."
"Alright, strictly recon," Tony instructed the captain. "I'll hit the NEXUS, I'll join you as soon as I can."
"If Ultron is really building a body..." Steve trailed off.
Tess hurried into the room, shrugging to adjust her clothes and called, "He is! I'm sure of it. I noticed the way one of his forms eyed her at the party."
Tony nodded, agreeing with his godmother, "He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."
"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me."
"Oh, please," Tess nudged Steve with her elbow, smiling, "I was created first and I am far weirder than you."
Steve sent his sister an adoring smile. He was just happy to see Tess smiling again and even cracking jokes. Tess was always good at bouncing back from bad things happening—even though sometimes she was faking it—and Steve could always depend on her.
"I'll drop Banner off at the Tower. Do you mind if I borrow Ms Hill?" Fury added.
"She's all yours, apparently. What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope," at Fury's words, Tess smirked and mouthed, 'Helicarrier' at the eye-patch-wearing man who smirked back. The Rogers woman assumed that he would've winked if it didn't look like he was just blinking.
"I'm gonna finish re-flooring that sunroom as soon as I get back," Clint was telling his wife as Tess walked over to them.
Laura nodded, "Yeah, and then you'll find another part of the house to tear apart."
"No. It's the last project. I promise," Clint kissed Laura and Tess smiled at the woman. Laura looked back at her in worry, hugging the girl.
"I promise you, Clint will come home. I swear it on my life," Tess whispered in Laura's ear, before she ran onto the Quinjet.
On Tess's life, yes, that was exactly what Laura was worried about as she watched the Quinjet take off.
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I added a little Tess/Howard bonding. I love that part and the whole Tess/Barton family bonding. I adore writing the parts where Tess is just a part of the family and she isn't a hero or a former weapon. I sound like an idiot, ignore me please!
Please review!
~ Raven