ERIK POV

As soon as Erik's feet hit the tarmac back in the U.S., he felt a huge amount of relief. On the short car ride up to the Avengers compound, he considered trying to call Wanda and Pietro again. He almost did, but at that point he figured he might as well just surprise them, so instead he made an impulsive decision and gave Al a call, updating him on their lives as best he could.

The farmer didn't say much, but he did let Erik know that he and his children would always be welcome in Al's home, and though neither of them said it, they both seemed to know that Erik, Pietro, and Wanda wouldn't return there, unless there was a chance that being close to where they entered this universe would help them get back to their own.

Though this realization was a surprisingly difficult one to come to terms with for Erik, who despite his inherent distrust of others, he had come to believe that Al was truly a selfless person whom he and his children could rely on. But in the end that realization was something Erik could accept.

Erik valued Al's kindness and acceptance more than the farmer could ever know, and though for a moment Al's, Erik's, Wanda's, and Pietro's lives had become intertwined, he knew it couldn't be that way forever. Their lives had crossed and they had all helped each other start to gain back something they had lost, but now they had to go their separate ways. It was just how it had to be. Erik and his children didn't belong in this world, and Erik knew that Al recognized that.

A few short minutes after he hung up with Al, Erik made his way into the Avengers' Headquarters toward the area where he and his children had been staying. Erik walked by quite a few faceless government agents scrambling about, probably trying to deal with the fiasco of Barnes's escape and Captain Roger's AWOL status, but the only person he recognized as he strode through the building was Agent Hill.

Erik did not stop to chat. He had no desire to talk to the woman who, along with Stark, was chiefly responsible for bringing him and his children into the Avengers' custody against their will in the first place and likely causing unnecessary and irreparable stress to Wanda and Pietro…especially Pietro.

Though Erik had to admit there did exist a positive side to their internment. Pietro had been able to receive proper medical care and a legitimate recovery plan, but it still didn't mean that Erik had forgiven the kidnapping.

Yet for the moment, none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was getting back to his children. That was his sole focus, which wasn't a bad thing, but it did prevent Erik from noticing that Agent Hill had followed him into the Avenger's quarters, trailing just far enough behind that should his focus stray for a moment, he wouldn't notice her.

Erik glanced briefly into Pietro and Wanda's rooms as he passed, since the doors were already partly open. Finding both rooms empty, he continued on into the common area, but they weren't there either. No one was. There was however a giant gaping hole in the middle of the room. The relief that Erik had felt as soon as he touched down in America was quickly fading.

Erik stepped forward cautiously and peered down into the hole. There wasn't much to see. It was too dark and seemed to go down forever. Now Erik was confused, worried, and somewhat fearful. What sort of altercation could have caused such destruction? But more importantly, where were his children? Erik's heart began to beat dangerously fast. What if they were lying injured at the bottom of the hole?...or…or dead?

Desperation growing, Erik called out, "Wanda? Pietro?" as if simply speaking their names would make his children appear instantly and completely well and whole before him. It wasn't so farfetched a hope. With Pietro having recovered a little bit more, it was actually a true possibility that the boy might come flying into the room, even though Erik had been trying hard to get his son to listen to Dr. Cho's orders and take it easy.

Surprisingly, a voice answered him, but it didn't belong to either of the people he was hoping to find. "They're not here."

Erik turned around to find the dark haired woman he recognized as Maria Hill standing in the doorway.

"What. Do. You. Mean. They aren't here?" Erik growled out emphasizing every word, even though part of him was relieved. He wasn't entirely sure what the woman meant, but if they weren't here, then that also meant they weren't lying at the bottom of the endless pit.

"Surveillance video shows that after Wanda—the Avenger's Wanda—" Hill clarified, "incapacitated Vision—I see you've noticed the hole—she and your kids left with Clint."

"What?!" demanded Erik still thoroughly confused. "Who is Clint?! WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN!?" Erik yelled out the final question unable to contain his anger and frustration any longer, pulling Maria toward him by the zipper of her jumpsuit as his words rang out.

"Calm down Mr. Lensherr." Said Maria calmly and seemingly unperturbed by the angry father and his tele-magnetic abilities. "Clint is a former Avenger, and though he arguably may not be making the best choices right now, he is no danger to your children. It looks like he and Wanda have chosen to assist Captain Rogers in any way they can, and it seems as though your children refused to be left behind."

Erik processed this information but did not release his hold on Agent Hill, even though he believed she was telling the truth. His mind was reeling as the familiar feeling of guilt and regret began to rise up in Erik's chest. Maybe he shouldn't have let Rogers leave with Barnes. Then there wouldn't have been anyone for his children, with their unparalleled drive to do good, to run off to help.

But Erik knew that wasn't the action he should be regretting. No the bigger issue was that he had left his children behind in the first place. If he wouldn't have left them, they might not have felt the need to try to leave, or he could have at least gone with them, and who's to say that Captain Rogers wouldn't have been completely capable of escaping with Barnes without Erik's assistance.

Though Agent Hill had explained who his children were with, she had not yet truly answered the question of their location, which was just as important to know, so Erik persisted in his questioning. "Where are they?!" he demanded again only slightly calmer, though he could feel silverware and other metal objects rattling about in drawers and cabinets. The fact that his children were in the company of the other Wanda was helping retain some semblance of control on his emotions because he knew that their safety would be of the utmost priority to her, even though he cursed her silently for letting them accompany her in the first place. It was still difficult to resist the urge to impale the only person who may be able to tell him were his children were.

"We believe Rogers and Barnes will try to leave Germany soon, so they'll need a plane. The most logical place they'll be headed to obtain one is the Leipzig/Halle airport. That's where the rest of the Avengers still acting under the orders of U.S. government have set off for, and that's where Clint, Wanda, and most likely your children will be too." Answered Hill.

Erik muttered something incomprehensible in German. It would be his luck—no not luck, fitting punishment for all his sins and mistakes—that he'd come back to America only to find his kids had taken off for the country he had only just left.

"Take me there. NOW." Said Erik in a commanding voice.

"I can't just hijack one of our jets and take you there without an order to do so, as I'd like to keep my job." said Hill to Erik. Still very calm in the face of his rage.

Erik pulled the woman even closer to him so that they were eye to eye and said in a scarily calm voice, "I don't care what your orders are. You will take me to my children or—"

"If you'd let me finish." Said Hill quickly continuing before Erik could interrupt or quite possibly kill her. "I can't take you there…but I think I know someone who can. She owes me a favor, and it's time to collect."

CLINT POV

When they landed in Germany the twins were very much awake and despite the circumstances, Pietro was particularly excited about being overseas.

"I feel so worldly! I've never been out of the country before! Well, I guess I did run to Canada and Mexico once when I was looking for…anyway those don't really count, so basically this is my first time abroad!"

"Peter, you do realize we were born in a foreign country and spent like the first few years of our lives there, right?" asked his sister sounding a tad exasperated and Clint thought perhaps a little guilty, but he wasn't sure why she would feel that way. He didn't have time to dwell on it though as Wanda continued on, "And how are you so excited about this? We're already in a foreign universe and a foreign time period. Doesn't that trump being in a foreign country?"

"Pffft America is America no matter the universe or time, and we were like barely out of diapers when we came to the U.S. I hardly even remember life before that, so that time doesn't count either. Hence, this is the first time." Reasoned Pietro.

With all of the chattering the teenagers were doing, Clint was starting to wish he could have slept through the plane ride along with them and Scott. Speaking of which, though Wanda and Pietro were talking fairly loudly, it did not seem to be loud enough to wake their newest recruit. Unfortunately, the man was still dazed and somehow already jet lagged, even though he had slept throughout the majority of flight there. Clint had had to half drag the man, while he was mumbling incoherently, to the van they had 'borrowed' before Scott passed out again. At this rate, it seemed to Clint that the man would sleep for days, and that would not be very helpful to anyone.

"First things first, we need to get coffee in this guy." Said Clint interrupting the teenagers as he jerked his thumb back toward Scott who was lying across the middle row of seats. "or he's not going to be a very useful reinforcement for Cap."

"And we need donuts!" Pietro added from the back of the van where he was seated with his sister. "I'd say we need at least two dozen. Wait. Are you guys going to eat too? How many donuts will you eat? Maybe we should get more just to be safe. I'm sooooo hungry, and I need to fuel up before we go have our epic superhero faceoff or showdown or fight or whatever you're calling it."

"Two dozen donuts? Really?" asked Clint impressed by the kid's appetite. "And you are not fighting."

Nope. No fighting would be done by underage individuals, not on Clint's watch. He already hated the fact that the elder Wanda would most likely have to fight, but there was nothing he could do about that. She had experience and as much as she was still a kid in his eyes, in reality she was legally an adult, so she was allowed to make her own decisions. But the twins currently residing in the very back of the vehicle were still very much children, and did not belong anywhere near a battlefield, regardless of their abilities, and since they were for the time under his care, it was his responsibility to keep them out of harm's way. He also would never be able to live with himself if was responsible for the death of another Pietro Maximoff.

But Clint had yet figured out how he was going to stop them from getting involved, since keeping them back in the U.S. had worked out oh so well. How was he supposed to control a couple of super powered kids? All he had was a bow and arrow, which would not be very helpful in dealing with spirited teenagers.

I guess I'll have to rely on my super persuasive parenting skills.

Pietro's voice pulled Clint from his thoughts, "Hey! No food shaming! I need the extra calories to keep this lean mean fighting machine up and running. And, dude, we're totally going to fight if this showdown comes to that. Face it. You need us. Right now you've got a guy with a sleeping disorder, adult Wanda—who yea, okay seems like a total bad ass—and yourself equipped with just a bow and arrow, which you seem like you'd be pretty skilled with too but it's not really a century relevant weapon, so back up is definitely in order. Trust me. You want Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch on your side. Those are our code names by the way. Pretty cool, amIright?" finished Pietro hardly pausing to breathe.

Clint decided not to try arguing with the kid just yet, thinking maybe it would better to have the Captain around to help him convince the twins to stay behind. Beyond noticing that this younger Pietro and Wanda had chosen the same codenames as the Maximoffs in this world, Clint also noticed that Peter's sister remained curiously quiet during her brother's rant, and as Clint occasionally glanced in the review mirror while the kid was speaking, Clint noticed the girl had a pained look on her face when her brother mentioned fighting.

But the girl still beat him to the punch when it came to responding, though unlike her brother she didn't mention fighting at all, instead focusing on the matter of food, "It's true. Even though his sweet tooth might be atrocious, Pete does need quite a bit more food than a regular person."

The older Wanda, who was riding shotgun beside him added, "My brother had a similar issue. We really should get Peter food soon." Clint thought she sounded rather guilty at not having had the foresight to remember this fact about speedster's metabolisms, but then her tone changed into that of a scolding voice as she spoke loud enough to be heard in the back of the van, "But I did tell you to bring your Ensure shakes, Peter. You know you need those to help you gain weight. Why didn't you bring them?"

"I forgot! Which is not my fault. I got distracted. You shoved Vision down a giant hole! Yea Wanda and I figured out that's what had to have happened because spending the past few days with you and him we noticed he's pretty close with the Stark guy, who it seems is disagreeing with the Captain, who just wants to help his friend…Anyway, it bigoggled my mind, okay!" Pietro explained quickly.

"Bigoggled isn't a word, Pete." His sister answered before the other Wanda could. "The word you're searching for is boggled."

"Oh isn't it a word though? You knew what I meant, soooo I'd say I just invented a new word, and I haven't even had breakfast yet." Countered Peter giving his sister a sly look and sticking his tongue out at her.

"You're impossible." Said Wanda giving him a gentle shove "You can't just declare something a word. That's not how it wor—"

"Okay! Stop arguing back there or I swear I will turn this car around!" said Clint loudly silencing the twins. Beside him Wanda barely tried to cover a laugh with a cough.

Clint knew he should probably be embarrassed by his dad moment, but he really wasn't. Once you became a parent, nothing much embarrassed you anymore. Besides his little outburst had worked to momentarily control the teenagers, so now he could think straight for a moment. One mission accomplished. Clint didn't think about it before, but dealing with Wanda and Peter's antics was actually good practice for when his kids became teenagers themselves.

"We can get donuts too." Clint finally announced, resulting in a victory air punch from Peter that Clint caught in his review mirror. "If there's no more fighting back there that is."

"Done." Said Wanda and Pietro together.

"Good." Said Clint. Though he was a little unsettled by the creepy in sync twin response, he would never actually withhold food from them, not even if they started arguing again. He didn't use food depravation as a form of punishment with his own kids, and he was definitely not about to do it to a kid who needed a lot more food than a normal hungry teenager.

"Though we weren't really fighting. We were just having conversation." Pietro added.

Clint just rolled his eyes and said, "Just somebody start trying to rouse sleeping beauty so he can actually drink coffee when we get it."

ERIK POV

It took longer than Erik would've like to get back in the air headed toward Germany. Not for the first time, it crossed Erik's mind that it'd be a lot easier and he'd be a lot less helpless if he learned how to pilot a plane or jet. It wasn't practical to think he could actually use his powers to compel a plane across an entire ocean. It would be tiring and entirely too slow. Erik made a silent vow to himself to politely ask Hank to teach him how to fly when they were back to their own universe.

Erik supposed he could ask his current acting chauffeur for a quick rundown on flight basics as there wasn't much to do during the flight, besides of course go out of his mind with worry for his children, but he quickly took that idea off the table. His pilot wasn't the most personable or approachable person—which was saying something coming from Erik—so he wasn't about to ask her for a favor.

Though the two occupants of the jet had not conversed very much at all, Erik didn't really mind. He actually greatly appreciated the pilot's focused and no-nonsense demeanor.

Not that Erik was ever one to think that women weren't just as capable as men, but he had to admit, it did still throw him when he his would be pilot turned out to be a small Asian woman known only as Agent May. The woman didn't seem overjoyed to be acting as Erik's personal source of transport, but she kept her complaints to herself.

"How long until we reach Germany?" asked Erik frustrated by the distance separating him and his children.

"As long as it takes to get there." Answered Agent May unhelpfully. "I didn't ask questions as to why you need to get to Germany, so don't ask me questions."

"It's a fairly simple question." Erik muttered under his breath, remembering he shouldn't anger the person who was ferrying him to Germany. He was surprised that Agent Hill hadn't told May why he needed to get to Germany, but he was glad she hadn't. It was no one's business but his own, and enough people in this world already knew about his children.

"It's really not. You're obviously inhuman, so that adds an unknown variable to the mix. Whether or not you have made enemies, as an inhuman, there is already an increased threat on your life, which means there's a greater chance will encounter hostiles, thereby delaying our flight." Replied Agent May.

"How—I'm not—why would automatically reach the conclusion that I am inhuman?" asked Erik. He hadn't been planning to reveal his powers to this woman unless it became necessary for some reason, but she seemed so certain that he wanted to know for future reference why she had made that inference.

May just raised an eyebrow at him without taking her eyes off of the empty sky in front of them, before releasing a quick huff of air that might have been her equivalent to a laugh, "Normal people do not dress like that." She nodded at Erik's outfit and he glanced down his eyebrows furrowed together.

Before their departure, he had quickly changed back into his battle attire, cape included, and helmet in hand. He grudgingly had to admit that she probably had a point.

"And you've been messing with that coin since we took off." Added May.

Erik looked down at his hand, and sure enough he had been revolving a coin around his fingers without touching it. He let the coin fall into his palm, cursing himself for so carelessly displaying his power. He knew why he hadn't noticed he was doing it. It was a habit he had picked up years before in his search for Shaw. Though Erik no longer had the same coin he had failed to move in order to save his mother's life and that he had eventually used to kill Shaw, when he was on the hunt for Shaw he would often rotate the coin around one hand when he was feeling particularly stressed.

Apparently, neither his time in prison without metal nor his discarding of that particular coin had freed Erik from his habit. He'd once again resorted to twirling a coin, this time of the American variety, about when he was feeling stressed, and with his children gone, Erik was definitely stressed.

But Erik didn't share any of these feelings with May, instead he just said, "You don't seem particularly concerned by that revelation."

"I've dealt with inhumans and I've worked with inhumans." said May. "Just like humans, some are good and some are bad. I don't know which category you fall into, but right now it's not in your best interest to kill me, so why should I be concerned? Besides I can take care of myself."

Erik didn't doubt it. Despite probably being human, based on how she spoke about inhumans, Erik could tell she would put up a fight if someone tried to take her down. But regardless of her abilities, Erik couldn't help but focus on her words. Was he a good person? Was he a bad person? He'd certainly done horrible things in the past, but Erik realized it didn't matter what he thought of himself. It only mattered what his children thought. And he couldn't help but wonder, when he finally reached them would Wanda and Pietro see a man that they thought could be a good father? Or did they leave for a reason other than the desire to help people like themselves? Did they leave, because…they didn't want Erik to follow?

{Author's Note: Good news! I had more time and got further than I thought with writing, so there will be at least one more update in the coming weeks before updates become few and far between. Reviews are welcome in any form. Thank you everyone so so much for all of the support! It is greatly appreciated. Also, do you all think I should try to give a better description of the story or update the story's summary in any way? I know the current summary doesn't reveal much, and it might be confusing because it's not a typical joint universe crossover.}