Project 2512125: The Crusade of a Team of Heroes

Chapter 7: A Bittersweet Reunion (With Quicksilver)(Featuring Nick Fury)

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is a progress. Working together is a success.

"Speed, stop blurring. Your attracting too much attention, and right now, attention is something we really don't need."

"So, what's your plan then, Patriot?" Tommy said, slowing down as the team headed/stormed through the Manhattan towards the over-looming tower ahead. The Sentry's watchtower that was positioned on top of the glass building stood out in the clear blue sky sky that was pounding a 30+ degree heat that day. Eli and Billy were starting to feel the first wave, as they were wearing leather. "-make an entrance and a complete fools of ourselves as we go crashing through the windows of Avengers Tower?"

Kate drew her bow and arrow, her eyes set on the tower. "No," she corrected sarcastically. "We're going to ask Tony Stark if it's totally cool with him if we break into his own personal tower and steal Belle from him. What do you think?" she shook her head. "Seriously, your even stupider than usual..." And I know why.

There were a few whispers in the crowd of civilians as the team, fully in costume ran through the superhero city of New York. The flashes blinding their eyes were the flashes of camera's, but the team stormed through, wanting to get Belle back before anything happened to her. She was important to all of them. In more ways than one.

When the team got to the tower. They stood there, looking up, trying to figure out what to do. This was Avenger's Tower. Avenger's Tower. How where they supposed to prove that they were heroes when here they were breaking into their building? Ah, well.

"...Wiccan, can you...um-" Tommy flailed his arms around trying to show his brother that he wanted a hover disc to get him up higher. It seemed like the only sensible and clever option. Wow, he was starting to make sense.

"Right on on it, Speed." Billy said as he created a blue disc out of thin air. He eyed the people behind them. "Hurry up will you?"

They clambered hurriedly aboard whilst Teddy's green mutant wings came out behind him and he hoisted himself into the air. Rescue Mission, Part 1: Get into the building without getting caught.

"There's no other way." Tony stated, slamming his hand hard onto the table in Reed's office. "Just get some god damn anesthetics and keep her out. She's not going to make it easy." he ranted, pacing around the meeting room of The Baxter Building. Reed was sitting on the chair opposite, watching the genius go crazy over this whole fiasco.

"It's inhumane!" Reed protested, shoving the pile of complicated papers he had been holding into Tony's face. "Look at the stats we got from her DNA,- the current version that is- She's breaking apart from us, sooner or later we're going to have no control over her and her structure, her DNA is setting, after a month at the most it'll be done. Tony. Face it, she's a- a Young Avenger, and we've lost her. It was interesting while it lasted. I learnt a lot and-"

"No!" he shouted. She was his. She was important to him, and Reed didn't understand.

She was like his daughter, but she never thought of him more than her evil kidnapper.

And if she ever found about the truth about her real parents, the 2 parents who died because of a simple mistake that he made, she would kill him. And succeed. It was as simple as that. But she didn't understand, that Reed and himself had saved her. She was an orphan, and she had no relatives. He took her in, and yes, he did some terrible things to her, but she was never in danger. It was the Avengers. They made a deal out of it, wanted her to grow up normally. As if she ever could. She was doomed with a complicated and disastrous life as soon as she was in the bundle of blankets in his arms as he walked into Avenger's mansion all those years ago. Everyone thought it was his illegitimate child or something. Clint had made some stupid comments. But they accepted her into the team like their own child, and it was okay until Sinister came into it. Now, he was sorry.

"I'm not giving up on this. Reed, just get the needle!" he ran a hand through his hair. "This is so screwed up! Why didn't we keep her in suspended animation like I suggested when we first started this? WHY!"

Reed took another look at the stats, his brow scrunched in confusion. "Fine." he muttered inaudibly. "You're going to seriously regret this, Tony. I'll go get the needle, but you need some serious therapy of some kind."

"Don't tell me what to do! I hate this!"

"They're going to drug me out." Belle whispered silently to Pietro. She had her ear pressed hard up against the door, her superhuman senses warning her of what was to come. Her life was so screwed up.

"Don't worry, Belle." Pietro put a hand on her shoulder, he could feel her heart racing underneath her thin costume. "You can hear see the crowd outside. I assume that it's your team. Even The Avenger's didn't get that much attention when they walked down the street."

"I hope it's them," she said. "This place sucks."

"It's not that bad," Pietro said. "If you got rid of the 'Hall of Tony' downstairs, I think this place is pretty cool."

"I suppose." Belle said, thoughtfully. "Hey, Pietro?"

"Mmm?" he lounged back into his chair. "Yeah?"

She sat up straight. It was a perfect plan. Oh, she was good. "Do you want to stay with the Young Avengers for a while?" she asked, a grin on her face. She could fix all this. It all depended on Pietro. "We can all go and try to find Wanda together, if you want."

"We'll see, I don't want to put you guys in danger-"

"They're going to do it regardless. I overheard Billy and Tommy talking about it the other night, I could hear them from my room."

"In that case...I don't see why not." Pietro said. "What are they like? The twins" he asked. He wanted to know more about them if he was going to try and rebuild his family.

Belle shrugged, a smile on her face. "Just like their family I guess."

"And that means?"

"Their just like you and Wanda."

Wanda. His sister. The sister he loved, the one whom he protected with his life. He wanted to find and help her, of course, that was the most clearest question that anyone had ever said to him. He just never knew where to start. He could run to every house in the world, searching for her, but maybe she was waiting for someone else to find her. Maybe she didn't even want to be found. So this could be the start to his new life. Reunite with her 'sons', find his sister, and-

SMASH!

"AVENGER'S PROTOCOL INITIATED..." The sound of glass shattering all over the floor and an alarm beeping annoyingly made Belle and Pietro jump and turn their heads, interrupting their deep thoughts.

"Ouch," Billy said, back turned to them. The Young Avengers hadn't noticed that Belle and Pietro were in the room, all of them looking at Billy. "That hurts. I think I'm bleeding," he continued, looking at his arm. "It is bleeding, why isn't anyone speaking?"

Belle crossed her arms, a smirk on her face, as she watched all the team not notice her presence. They were so cute. "You tell me."

The team whipped around, smiles of shock on their faces. They had got to her, without getting caught. Well, that was always a good sign. Now the alarm was going off, the next stage was to get out.

"Belle!" Tommy exclaimed. Before Belle could say a thing, Tommy had her wrapped in a hug, his arms tight around her surprised body. "Oh, my god, it's you." he whispered, looking into her eyes. She raised an eyebrow, clingy much.

"Hey, guys." Kate said slowly. "You do know that Quicksilver is standing right behind us."

Belle who was still in Tommy's warm, yet kinda awkward embrace. "Oh, yeah about that. Young Avengers, Pietro Maximoff." she pointed the team and then at a very silent looking Pietro who was just standing there, taking the scene in. "Pietro, Earth's next generation of mightiest heroes."

Billy was looking at Pietro so intensely, more than Teddy had never seen before (except for when his own shirt was off) "So, your our...um...uncle." he managed to say. His recent dream of finding the Maximoff Twins was closer than he thought was possible, because right now, his uncle was standing before him.

Pietro nodded stiffly, they looked like Wanda so much up close. He had only ever seen them on tv, but even then, the resemblance to his sister was startling. "Looks that way-"

"Wait-" Belle said urgently, her eyes flickering to each hero. She pulled herself off Tommy almost like she didn't want to. "Tommy, get off."

"Huh?" Tommy said. "Why?" He looked hurt. Wasn't she happy to see him? Did she even want to be saved? Than this would be a complete waste of time.

She pointed to the door like he was dumb. "Because if I need to, I can't make a force-field that could save our lives when you're all over me. I mean, seriously? It's been an hour?"

Tommy shrugged dismissively. "I missed you."

"Yeah, I can see that." she punched him in the arm light-heartily.

"Vision!" Pietro said, the alarm getting irritating. The android turned at the sound of his name. "That is your name right? Geez, you just like the old one, except you aren't married to my sister."

"That is correct, why the urgency, Mr. Maximoff?" Vision said. "Would you like me to disable the Avenger's alarm system, preferably before we get caught?"

"That'd be kinda helpful." Belle rushed as she looked out the window, making sure no horde of ex-Avengers were coming in. "So, Young Avengers, are we leaving or not? I assumed you came here to rescue me?"

Teddy threw his arm over Belle's shoulder, grinning. "Of course we came to rescue you. If we didn't Tommy would force us out the door until we did."

Billy peered out of the broken window, looking down. "Right," he said as he created a blue disc, motioning for everyone to get aboard. "Let's go."

Pietro stood still as he watched the team clamber aboard. The archer, the witch, the speedster, the soldier, the size-changer, the android, shape-shifter and the now genetic-project. They were a perfect team. They couldn't see it, but they were. They could easily become the Avengers.

"Quicksilver? Are you coming?" Billy asked.

The team was out on the disk, waiting for the speedster to decide his fate. Help his nephews find his sister, or sulk around feeling sorry for himself. And he's done a bit too much of the latter. "C'mon, we can have a family reunion when we get back to HQ."

Pietro grinned, he was liking this team already. "I'd like that."

"So, William and Thomas," Pietro said nervously. He never got nervous. But this was a life-changing moment. "You're the reincarnated sons of my sister."

Smooth, Pietro. Real smooth.

Tommy pointed at Billy accusingly. "That's his theory. Honestly, I thought if you could tell us that."

"To be honest, " Pietro said, looking at the eager twins. "You do look like Wanda, and you seem to share our powers, Tommy's a lot like me, at least in the looks department-"

"Aren't we just stunning." Tommy said.

Pietro shook his head, they were too much like him. "Yes," he said, confirming the twins suspicions. " I do think you are her sons. But, it's not something you're going to want to parade around. Being a Maximoff is a very dangerous game to play."

"Okay," Billy said as Pietro pulled both of them into a tight hug. "You do know I'm gay right? So this is a little awkward."

Pietro pulled back, a look of shock on his face.

"Your...gay?" Billy winced. Way to come out to your uncle slowly, Billy. "That's cool. I thought Clint was gay for ages..." Billy sighed in relief. "Let me guess the shape-shifter? Hulkling, isn't it?"

Teddy and Billy blushed in unison, the red staining their cheeks. "Uh, yeah." Billy stuttered. "Good guess."

"Nah," Pietro said nonchalantly. "It's obvious really, everyone is sort of paired up on this team and then your the only ones left. Plus the fact that you blush every time you touch- even on national television." he shrugged. Taking a deep breath, he studied his surroundings. "Nice HQ, very undercover."

Belle, who was perched on the couch took a look at the situation. 3 reunited members of a family, and 4 completely confused Young Avengers...and an android. "Right. I think introductions are in place, don't you." she said as she rubbed her hands, momentarily causing a flame to flicker.

Kate stepped forward and shook Pietro's hand. "Kate Bishop. Hawkeye," she said. Pietro gave a pointed look to her bow and arrow. "Yeah, I'm kinda stating the obvious. But it's a pleasure to meet you, Quicksilver."

"Ah." he said, smiling. "Clint's female replacement. Well, you do better than him on the looks department."

"Thanks?"

"Don't mention it." he said. Eli stood up about to introduce himself. Pietro waved him down. "And let me guess, Eli? The Young Avenger's Captain America?"

Eli had a look of worry on his face. "You know alot about us, Pietro. How did you know our names?"

"You have no idea how popular you guys are. Your names? Your the hot gossip of the superhero empire. Tommy-" he looked at his nephew with a smirk. "Goggles do nothing for you. As for the others, I only know your first names. Kate, Eli, Cassie, Tommy, Billy, Teddy, Vision and now...Belle. Let me say, The Avengers have some competition."

Belle who was happy that Pietro was getting along with everyone, maybe a bit too well, stood up and headed for the door. "I'd like to say thanks for getting me out, but I'll see you guys later. I"m going to go for run. I need to get the anger out of me."

Pietro and Tommy nodded in agreement as she headed upstairs. Running to get your feelings out of the way was one of the most effective ways. You concentrated on the ways your muscles moved you forward, the way the world blurred around you. And then you forgot why you were running in the first place.

She left, with her head hung low.

As soon as she left, Tommy looked to Pietro with a look of worry. "What happened back at the Tower? She seems really...different."

"Tommy, actually, all of you," Pietro announced. He was going to have this conversation with all of them sooner or later. If you were going to have Belle on your team, you needed to full-background story. "You have no idea what's she's been through. She might've told you something, but she's hiding a whole piece of it. I remember her from when she was a child-"

"You knew what was going on," Tommy said, appalled. "And you didn't stop or do anything about it?"

Pietro put his hands up in surrender. "It wasn't that bad!"

Cassie folded her arms. "Define...bad."

"Okay, it was bad, but at least she was controllable, she only had 2 or 3 injections or transfers- what ever Stark had called them, she was harmless. Then Stark went a little too far. I remember him siding with the geneticist Sinister who gave him the X-Men's genetics. Really, Belle grew up with the Avengers at the Mansion." Pietro said, thinking back to his Avenger days. "She was like a daughter to all of us I suppose, Wanda and I especially, but it didn't make a difference on what we felt. It was up to Tony and Reed."

"So this means Cassie's met her?" Kate said. "She lived at Avenger's Mansion for like 1 weekend a month. Cass?" she looked at the young blonde who was sitting next to Vision.

Cassie shook her head. "I never met her. I think I'd remember. Though, everytime I used to venture around the mansion, there was one place in the downstairs lab that not even Hank would let me go in."

Eli tapped his finger on the table, looking between them all. "But who would go for this scheme? I doubt everyone would let Tony and Reed get away with this, it's crazy."

Pietro shrugged. "It is. See, Eli, everyone was in on it. Just not everyone agreed for their genetics to be sampled-"

"Why did you?" Tommy said, arms crossed.

"I wanted to fit in." Pietro replied simply and somewhat guiltily. "People like Thor and your dad, Cass, wanted nothing to do with it at all." he continued.

"Who went for it?" Kate asked. "So maybe we can guess what we're up against?"

"Well, all I know is that they managed to get most of the Avengers, X-Men, Deadpool, Mystique, Magneto, even Adrienne Frost into this..."

"So in other words, she's lethal?" Teddy remarked. "And Adrienne Frost? As in Emma Frost's sister?"

Pietro nodded. "Yes. She was murdered by the White Queen herself, but she had the gift of Psychometry when she was alive."

"Psychometry?" Billy said, confused. "What is that?"

"It is the ability to able to touch an object and instantly know a history of many events concerning the object, such as all of its previous owners, events that took place around the object, and the possible future of the object and its future owners." Vision said. "It is a very powerful gift."

"Well, she might not want to touch your bed then." Kate grinned at Billy and Teddy.

Tommy looked upstairs for a moment. All this talk about her past, and no-one seemed to notice that she was alone by herself upstairs. From what he heard about her past- being alone was something she grew up with. And he didn't want her to feel like that all over again. "Should I..." he trailed off.

"Go ahead." Pietro said, nodding knowingly. "She needs to know that she exists, and she acts differently around you than any of us."

I wonder why. Eli thought as Tommy stood up and headed up the stair case. And I don't expect him to come down for a while.

Belle was laying on her stomach relaxed on the bed, whilst flipping through an 900 word +encyclopedia about psychology at a impossibly fast rate, flipping pages every 3 or 4 seconds.

She paused. Her ears listened to soft and slow breathing and a steady heart-rate, which she assumed was someone on the team, or Pietro, to come and check on her to see if she was okay after the whole 'about to be recruited by Magneto' fiasco this morning. She was glad they made a big fuss. When she was with Tony, no-one did. So all this attention was quite overwhelming. Nothing she couldn't handle, that is.

There was a creak of the doorframe and Belle sighed, rolling over to face the figure leaning in the doorway, white hair falling in his eyes.

"Did you mean it?" he said, trying to keep his emotions in check. As she left him to join Iron Man, he wanted to know if those words she whispered to him were true. He might have a snarky exterior that he puts up, but he was still vulnerable to his heart breaking, and he was worried that Belle might to the same.

She didn't say anything.

Well, she wanted to. But she didn't simply understand the laws of love. Why else do you think she was reading a 900 page encyclopedia on psychology?

All that time she sat there, staring at him, trying to open her mouth to say something. What could she say? Was it the right time? Was it to early? How should she say it-

Tommy took her silence as a no. Well, that was an obvious answer. Of course she was joking. "Don't say anything." he said.

He was going to finish whatever they had together now and here. "It didn't matter if you do or don't. Cause I don't. I never did." And as he said this, it started to kill him inside. He was lying to her, to make himself look tough. Why couldn't he be like Billy. Pure and nice to everyone, never lying...why did he have to do this to himself? Why hurt him and Belle at the same time, by denying his own feelings and letting her sort out her own.

"Tommy...I-" she tried to say. What the hell was going on, it wasn't supposed to go like this. But her stuttering must of made her sound like she was apologizing. And that was the opposite of what she was doing.

Tommy put a fake smile on his face. "No. It's fine, I knew you just needed me to save you and so you tell me that you love me. Cool. Whatever," he started to turn around. He swore he heard her mutter: But I do love you...asshole. But he shook his head and held the doorknob. Taking one last look at Belle who had sat up straight in her bed, her dark brown hair falling in loose waves, framing her face. He could see a silver tear in her eye as he stepped outside the door.

"Tommy," she said slowly as he walked out. "You don't understand."

"Wow, you have a crap life." Billy said to Pietro as his uncle finished his up to date life story, explaining Crystal and the Inhumans, his life as an Avenger and as terrorist. "Sorry." he apologized, "It's just, I thought I had it bad-"

"Why, because you're gay?" Pietro said, laughing. His life was better now that he had a connection to Wanda, one that his father didn't. "That should be the least of your worries, Billy. The fact that your now part of the most hated family in existence that should be your primary concern."

"Yeah. I figured it would."

"Um, Pietro, I have a question." Eli announced. "If Tony still has remaining genetic material left, could he simply create another 'Belle'?"

Kate nodded in agreement. "That's what I was thinking too. We really don't want this happening again."

"Well," Pietro said. "It's a very distinct possibility. I'm pretty sure that it's all kept under lock and key in Avengers Tower..."

"Goingouttothinkdon'tfollowme." Tommy muttered to the team as he headed down the stairs, still in costume. He picked up his black zip up hoodie from the rack and threw it over his costume and taking his goggles off.

"Tommy?" Pietro said, confused. "What's going on."

Tommy didn't answer as he slammed the door behind him, his body urging himself forward to run, to feel the wind tangle in his white hair, for his legs to move at a blur, not feeling the ground beneath him. And that's what he did. He didn't know where he was going, but he let his body decide.

"I hate him."

"No, you don't."

"Actually, I do. He can't make his mind up. Of course I like him, but he didn't even listen to me trying to explain. So, therefore, I'm not going to talk to him."

"That's a bit harsh."

"Is it? Really? He deserves it. Why did I have to fall for him, of all people. He's the most arrogant, stuck up, selfish-"

"Calm down, Belle, your hands are glowing red and your eyes have turned gold, and it's creeping me out."

"I can't take this anymore! I can't handle this. I wasn't meant to deal with things like this, I was made to be a weapon- to kill people."

"No, you weren't-"

"I have similar genetics to Deadpool."

"I heard about that. But it doesn't mean-"

"He's a mercenary."

"...Good point. But you can't be angry at him."

"Can you find a reason not to?"

"He's my brother?"

"Billy, that's the lamest thing I've ever heard."

Outside Avenger Mansion...

Avenger's Mansion. Apparently, the one place he wanted to be right now. Yeah, right. The ruins of Avenger's Mansion looked amazing right now.

The mansion looked like it was in mid-stage of being rebuilt, but the sight of it was still depressing. It once stood for everything that was happy, good and pure- and seeing it like this just showed how many people had lost faith in The Avengers. He didn't, and he knew the Young Avenger's wouldn't- but he could help but think about how many civilians were hating the Avengers right now for all the crap the had put the world through.

Wait...back on track. Why was he here? Why did his stupid self drag him to the dump of bricks and grass?

Belle.

Okay. Right. He was just going to sit here and sulk about her...cool.

"You've got to go back." a voice said from behind him.

Tommy jumped and quickly spun around to see Nick Fury standing behind him, gun in hand. "Wait- what?"

Nick nodded stiffly. "I'm here on watch of Avenger's Mansion, making sure that you guys who are still refusing to register aren't coming into the Mansion and breeching security."

"So, shouldn't you arrest me?"

"Do you want to be arrested for violation of the Superhuman Registration Act?"

"No."

"Good, now go back to your team of teen Avengers and sort your issues out."

"What issues? What do you know?"

Nick chuckled. "I've seen nearly every hero, Avenger, Mutant or whatever they are, come and sit outside this mansion, Speed."

"Why?"

"It seems this place is a good place to sort your issues out. My agents have seen Quicksilver here a couple of times. It isn't unusual. Just go back and pretend nothing happened. Hopefully the person who made you come here will notice something and speak up about it. And if they don't, do something about it yourself."

"Well...okay then. I'll be off." Tommy stood up and saluted to Nick. It was a strange piece of advice, but it might work. And he was willing to try it out. "Um...thanks?"

The S.H.I.E.L.D agent saluted back. "Tell your uncle I said hello."

The next chapter should be up by now. If not, you can review and wait for the next one.