Author: Black Dragon on the Rocks/animealam

Rating: T

Pairing: None so far, mentions of one sided Steve/Peggy

Summary: The Universe stared at the boy for what seemed an eternity to him, only to change into a decrepit, dirty alley, and that was the last thing Steve saw before loosing consciousness. The small frail boy banished in a flash of blue flames. Be warned VERY AU Young Time Travelling genius tech savvy Steve.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, I'm just borrowing them. I'm using a good number of the movie dialogs, even if I added bits and pieces so some of them. So if something looks familiar they are obviously not mine, and belong to their respective owners.

Warnings: NOT SLASH, AU, Completely totally AU, Time Travel, Younger Steve, Violence, Adoption, Smart Steve, Technopaths, Technopath Tony, Technopath Steve, Canon Character Deaths, Minor Character Deaths, OOC-ness, there are quite a lot of movie dialogs which I decided not to change but I did add my own twists and turns to make them a bit more interesting.

Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Thor, Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Sarah Rogers, mentions of Bucky, mentions of Peggy Carter, mentions of Howard Stark, mentions of Colonel Phillips, mentions of the Howling Commandos, Jarvis, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey

Timeline: Pre Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers, Post Avengers

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay guys. The chapter was ready when I posted chapter 12, but RL has a way of taking your full attention, and I actually forgot I had not posted it.

I have all the way to chapter 17 done, which it's massive (nearly 11,000 words, and still going), so I'm probably going to divide it. I also have several notes for the following chapters, and I really need some time to re-watch Iron Man 3 a few times because I need to find a way to link the Avengers with it, and get Steve in there. Still not sure about linking to the Winter Soldier, but the muses seem to be warming up to the idea.

I'm not sure if I'll keep posting on Thursdays/Fridays, or will post on Wednesdays.

Anyway, here it is.

Total size without notes: 3,407

Keys:

"Speaking aloud."

'Thoughts'

'Name: /Mental interfacing between technopaths and/or tech\'


Calling home

New York City was going to be the epicenter of an alien invasion. Steve needed to get his mother out of the city and to safety. He also needed to actually speak with her, just... just in case something did happen to him this time. But... there were no phones he could use without SHIELD tracing the call, only Stark's.

Steve decided then, he would have to trust the older technopath. From the previous connections he had shared with Tony, he felt he could trust him. Then there was the fact Stark did not trust SHIELD, so Steve was certain the older technopath was not going to reveal his secret to them.

Even in the off chance Tony did inform SHIELD, making sure his mother—the only family he still had left—would be safe was more important to him than hiding his time travelling. He was simply not willing to put her at risk, and lose her again. Being in New York City when Loki was about to unleash an army from outer space, was too dangerous. She could get hurt, or worse, killed.

"Tony, wait," he called the man before he left the cell room. "I... I need a favor before you go. I have to make a phone call on a line SHIELD can't tap. There's... there's someone I need to warn."

Tony looked at the kid, and could see in his eyes both the fear, and the concern. He knew who he was going to call, so Tony might as well tell Steve he and Bruce knew not only about his time travelling secret, but his real age as well. Tony took out his phone and dialed Mrs Rogers number.

"Here," he said handing him the phone. Shocked baby blue eyes stared at him.

Tony: /It's already dialing, kid. Bruce and I know where that gem took you.\ He told him, and saw the youngster freeze and actually stop breathing. He chose to use the mental link to keep SHIELD in the dark about Steve's Time Travel and only family. /Breathe Steve,\ he instructed the kid. /I had JARVIS do a search, and we found you. It was not really hard to do.\

Steve: /How? How did you find out?\

Tony: /It was Bruce who actually figured it out, so yeah, we know. We both agree not to tell anyone else, because no one else needs to know,\ he said trying to reassure Steve his secret was safe with them. /Right now is not the time, or place, for this conversation, so we'll talk about it once this is over.\

Steve did take a couple of deep breaths, and just nodded. There was not much he could say since his mother answered the call. "Hello?" His eyes became suspiciously moist at hearing her voice. How he had missed her.

"Ma?" he said softly, voice full of emotion.

"Steve! Oh dear God! You... you sound so much like your father now." The sound in the few movies he made for the USO did not do justice to his voice, it sounded so very different. "When are you coming home, son?"

"Not yet, but hopefully soon. Listen, Ma, I have little time but it's important." His tone was rather urgent. "Pack some clothes and any necessary documents, then take the next train out of the city. It doesn't matter where, just as far away from New York as you can."

"Why?" Sarah asked alarmed. "Are you in danger? Can't you come with me? I've just got you back after thinking you died, baby boy!"

"Not a baby, Ma!" he protested like any self respecting teenager would—although he really did not mind her calling him that, Steve had actually missed her endearments, even the embarrassing ones, more than he would ever admit aloud—but then went on seriously. "You know who I am now. I... I have a duty. I'm a soldier, and have been for nearly two years. I just can't go back to who, and what, I was before."

"But you're still a child!" she protested, although she knew her son would go through with what he had already decided. He had always been very stubborn. "You're just a kid, Steve. Let an adult handle whatever it is and please come home!"

Sometimes it was not a good thing to have a very determined and stubborn son. True, those traits were how he achieved as much as he had despite the handicap his ill health had been, but they were also the reason why he always got himself in trouble.

"I'm Captain America now, Ma, not a child, not anymore. Not after the war," he said the last softly. "Right now I should be twelve, but I'm sixteen, looking like I'm twenty-three, and chronologically I'm a senior citizen." He looked at the older technopath with trepidation as he realized he had not made sure SHIELD would not spy on them.

Tony: /Don't worry kid, I'm scrambling all signals coming out of this room, except from the phone.\

Steve: /Thanks, I should have blocked them before I started speaking with her.\ That had been a mistake he could not afford to make, thankfully Tony took care of it.

"It's... a mess, Ma. Specially because there's no way things can ever go back to the way they were before I left. Then there's the fact war changes you, it did me, and I had to grow up in a hurry." Steve sighed wishing he could give in to her request, but knowing his conscience would not let him. He had a duty to do his best to stop Loki and the invasion.

"It doesn't matter how old you are, Steve, you'll always be my baby genius. Please come home," she entreated not wanting him in danger.

"I wish I could, Ma. I really do, but I can't. Look there's something really bad coming, I'm hoping my team can stop it, but we're not sure if we'll be able. Whatever the case, it would ease my mind to know you're safe, please. I"—his voice broke a little, and he had to take a deep breath to go on—"I lost you once, when I... when I left. I don't want to lose you twice, please leave the city, Ma."

"Okay," Sarah sniffled giving in. "I'll try to leave the city as you ask. But you know I'm a nurse, as well as a paramedic, and my first shift starts in an hour." She took her duty just as seriously as she knew Steve took his. It was something she had done her best to instill in her son since he was little. "If I can find someone to cover my shift I'll leave, Steve, but if I can't then I'm staying. Either way, I promise to do my best to be safe, but you have to promise me you will do the same."

Steve sighed, she was right, her duty was important to her, and he was not going to convince her to leave it. "I can agree to that," he said sounding resigned. Steve would rather know she was safely away from New York City, but was aware he was not getting more than her promise to be safe. "I gotta go, Ma, be safe. Love you." He had not said that enough to her after he turned nine, and it was something he had regretted once he found himself in the past without her.

"Love you too my, genius boy. Please be safe for my sake, I... I don't think I can take losing you again, Steve." Sarah sniffled again doing her best not to openly cry, and worry him unnecessarily.

"I'll"—Steve could not keep his voice from breaking, and neither could he keep from sniffling, even when he was trying so hard not to cry—"do my best, Ma. Love you," he said again, "please be careful."

Steve ended the call, and wiped away a few stray tears from his cheeks, then he took out a handkerchief from his utility belt to blow his nose. This got him a raised eyebrow from Tony, and he just shrugged.

It had been Bucky who always made him keep a handkerchief in his pocket—while Kleenex were available back then, they were not very cheep, and they could ill afford them with their limited budget at the beginning— and after two years of nagging, the lesson stuck.

He had so wanted to speak with his mother, and during a crisis was not the best of times, but it would have to do. Then he took a few deep breaths to get his emotions under control. He needed all his focus on the battle ahead.

"Thanks, Tony"—he walked towards the older technopath and handed him the phone back—"I really needed to speak with her," Steve admitted, "and with SHIELD keeping such close tabs on me it was too risky."

"No problem, kid," Tony wave it off. If Pepper and Rhodey—who were really his only family, even if it was not by blood—had been in New York City, he would have warned them to leave as well. "Will your Mom be safe? I can have someone pick her up and take her out of the city if you want," he offered.

"Thank you for the offer, Tony, but it's okay," he said gratefully. Had she agreed to leave with no conditions Steve would have accepted the offer without thinking it twice. "My mother is a nurse and a paramedic. She's going to try to find someone to cover her shift so she can leave, but if she can't, she promised to do her best to keep safe.

"So... her promise to try to keep safe is the best I'm going to get. Her duty's very important to her, and it's something she taught me. If we don't manage to stop Loki before he opens the portal, there's going to be... collateral damage, and civilians will be hurt."

Steve cringed at the thought of the possible death toll, as well as the number of injured bystanders. Tony did as well, they both knew it was not realistic to believe they could avoid casualties. The best they could do was hope to save as many as possible.

"Don't remind me, I rather not start worrying about that just yet," he told the kid. They needed to focus on stopping Loki, and keeping Selvig from opening a portal to bring those Chitauri to Earth.

"Sorry," Steve said with a shrug, "I always factor the civilian population when devising a strategy, Tony. I really can't help it."

"I'm not criticizing, Steve. In fact, it's good that you do. Too bad we can't have SHIELD ask the Major to order an evacuation, between the ones who panic, the sceptics refusing to leave, and those in the middle who actually listen, it's going to be too chaotic to be of any use."

"Too true," he agreed.


Gathering the team

Knowing Loki planned to use the arc reactor in Stark Tower, Steve left to gather what remained of the would-be Avengers, while Tony took care of patching his suit so it could fly him back to the tower.

Steve was not happy he was going there without backup, but he could see there was no other choice; and Tony would try to keep Doctor Selvig from opening the portal, or stall Loki until the rest of the team arrived. At least Steve got Tony to promise to keep a live connection going while he flew to the tower, just so Steve knew what was going on.

He found Romanoff with Barton in the infirmary. There was a guard posted outside the room, but Steve did not expect to be detained should Barton be well enough to join them for the fight. He would be needed.

"Time to go," he said without preamble once the door to Barton's secure room opened.

"Go where?" Natasha asked a bit surprised to see the Captain there.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" He rather not involve any of SHIELD's regular pilots. His trust in the agency was practically non existent at this point. Although he had to grudgingly accept a shaky alliance until the crisis was over.

"I can," Clint said coming from the bathroom while drying his hands.

After what happened, he needed a way to prove himself, to show what he did was because of the alien bastard, and not because he truly wanted to. The Captain gave him an appraising look, which surprisingly held no hostility. It was not what Clint expected after leading the attack on the helicarrier, still, he did his best to stand tall, and awaited the other man's decision.

Steve looked at the assassin, taking in his condition, as well as his stance, and his eyes. Barton clearly needed to prove he was not Loki's minion anymore, and was in fact one of the good guys again. Then he looked at Romanoff—who knew her partner best—for confirmation, although he was already thinking of accepting Hawkeye as a member of their team. She gave him a tiny nod, he took it as confirmation the other assassin was ready for action and could be trusted.

"You got a suit?" Steve enquired.

"Yeah," Clint confirmed with a nod feeling relieved. The question let him know he would be allowed to join them.

"Then suit up," Steve instructed.

His mind was already working on cataloguing Barton's skills from what had been in his file. He needed to know the strengths and weaknesses of his team members to better plan their strategy, and utilize those skills to their advantage.

Once suited the trio left for the armory, where they picked their weapons and went in search of a quinjet they could commandeer to make their way to New York. As they went, Steve talked to the tech of several quinjets until they found one in good flying condition. Of course neither Romanoff, nor Barton knew that was the reason why he chose they one they did.

"Hey guys, you aren't authorized in here," the mechanic still servicing the jet told them when they boarded.

"Son," Steve said in his best Captain America's authoritative tone, "just don't."


Damage report

Nick stood on the bridge deep in thought—absently playing with Coulson's Captain America trading cards—while all around him the staff was trying to keep the crippled helicarrier in the air long enough to reach the coast and lower the ship on the water.

They would have better chances of doing repairs once they were out of the air. Engine one was still down, but according to the technicians' reports, the mainframe's security was already working on searching and destroying the virus Barton had deployed. Once that was done they could try to get the engine back on line.

"Sir?" Maria called her boss, and waited for him to acknowledge her. There were a few things she needed to say, most were official business, though not all.

"Agent Hill," Nick acknowledge his second in command. He was expecting a report on the damage done to the cargo holds, as well as the detention block, but it was probably still too soon for them to have anything but a preliminary assessment.

"Those cards," she began slowly, deciding to start with them. They were Coulson's most treasured possession, besides Lola—his specially modified car. "They were in Coulson's locker, not his jacket."

Nick took a good look at the cards, he did know what they meant to Coulson, but desperate times required desperate measures. "They needed the push," he admitted softly. He saw no other choice.

"We have an unauthorized departure from Bay six," a technician reported through the speakers on the bridge.

Nick was looking outside, and he was able to see Stark fly away, but he knew Iron Man had the freedom to come an go as he pleased. It had been one of the things he had granted Stark, so it was not his departure which the technician reported. Following close behind was a quinjet, and he did not need to ask to know who was on board.

"They found him," and there was no need to say who. He was actually surprised they had found either Loki, or the Tesseract, so soon after the attack. "Get our communications back up, whatever you have to do. I want eyes on everything." He moved away from the large windows.

"They are already on Sir," Maria reported, and saw Fury stop dead on his tracks.

"They are?" He could not believe that.

It was shortly before he spoke with Stark and Rogers when the communication's officer reported the systems had been too damaged by Barton's virus. The man had not known when they would have them back up, but he estimated several hours at the very least, and only after the virus had been either contained or removed.

"Yes Sir, our communications and I.T. staff are rather baffled they were able to do this so fast. I was coming to inform you."

"I see, is there anything else you need to report Agent Hill?" He turned to face her, and was surprised by the look on her face. Maria Hill was an unflappable woman, yet she looked a mixture between sadistically satisfied, and sick.

"Yes Sir, the damage Hulk wrecked to the detention block was not what we expected. There were also three casualties in the detention block, all of them prisoners."

"Do tell Agent." By the look on her face he was beginning to think it was not, as he initially thought, done to the area closer to where Loki was contained. He had not found evidence of the Hulk when he went to check on the cell where they kept the Asgardian, and found a dying Coulson instead.

"The Hulk went specifically after Kraft, Wilkins, and Frampton," she paused seeing Fury's eye open wide in surprise. "He did not outright kill them, but he made sure they were in terrible pain before they died."

"So Stark hacked the mainframe again, and not only found out what those three did to the Cap, he actually had the stupid idea to share it with Banner?" Nick asked aghast.

The fact Stark once again snooped around where he was not wanted angered him. Although it might actually explain why the annoying billionaire was so confident an argument was not going to set off Banner. Because the doctor had to have known about it before the attack, and the Hulk only came out after.

It bear to question, did the Cap know not only those two, but a few others, were aware of what those motherfuckers did to him? Nick hoped the younger man did not, because if he did, it might affect his ability to lead. Truth be told he had never seen Coulson and Romanoff so angry... enraged was probably a better word to describe them.

"I believe he did Sir. Agent Romanoff also reported the Hulk... Well he speaks Sir, he told her he would not hurt her if she was not in his way. He had been heading in the general direction of the detention block at the time."

"Hmm..." Now that was very interesting information. It appeared the green motherfucker was not as mindless as they believed. "Anything else?"

"The Hulk made sure all of the prisoners heard the other three scream. Told them, and I quote Tell all, Hulk protects Cap, touch Cap Hulk not smash. Smash too good, not suffer enough. Hulk do to you what Hulk do to bad men." Fury's eye almost bugged out of its socket.

Maria knew speaking like the Hulk might have sounded silly, but it was really the only way to convey the threat he issued. It had been a shockingly long sentence, from a monster they thought was only guided by his uncontrolled rage.

"What did he do?" Nick could not help but ask.

"Well, the crew sent to check on the detention block are quite traumatized Sir," Maria reported, and taking a deep breath to fortify herself she began her report. She had seen the result of the Hulk's actions as soon as the security feed from the operating room had been reestablished. It was not pretty.