BUM BUM BUM BUM! They open the box Parker mentioned earlier in the story!
sconesRtasty - Aww :3 Thanks! UPDATED!
noodlefanatic (guest) - Thank you
-(::)-
Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
-(::)-
The next day, Lily worked on a soufflé in the kitchen with Parker sitting on the floor, playing with a variety of pots and pans. "Ms. Falda," JARVIS said, "there's a young man in the lobby requesting to speak to you."
Lily set down the bowl of batter and brushed her hands off on her pants. "Okay, JARVIS. Tell him I'll be right down." She turned to the door leading to the living room. "Liz," she called out, "can you keep an eye on Parker? I have to step out." She slipped into the elevator and tried to decide if she was doing the right thing. She knew who it was but figured the others wouldn't be pleased.
When the elevator halted, Lily took in a deep breath before stepping out. She strode confidently out of the elevator. Lily spotted a young adult leaning against the front desk. He looked up as she approached and looked around uncomfortably. "Lily," he said with a nod.
Lily sighed and shook her head. "I still can't get over the fact that you're younger than me." The boy's face went red. Lily gestured him to follow her. "Come on, I need to introduce you to the Avengers."
-(::)-
Elizabeth was sitting on the couch with Parker on her lap, looking at a picture book. All of the others began to trickle into the room. Loki just stayed in his chair in the corner, shields up with a book. "Why're we all gathered?" Elizabeth asked.
Clint shrugged. "JARVIS said that Lily needed to explain something."
The elevator door opened and two people stepped out. Lily, and the young man from the lobby. All color drained from Elizabeth's face. "Lily, why is Wesley here?" she asked.
Lily shuffled her feet nervously. "I-I didn't know who else to call…" Elizabeth stood up abruptly, holding Parker in her arms. "We can't continue this forever!" Lily said. "We need–"
"What, so you call Wesley! Sure," Elizabeth snorted, "that'll help!" Parker blinked at Wesley for a moment then reached out towards him.
Tony raised a hand and all eyes turned to him. "Sorry, but did I miss something here?"
Wes cleared his throat. "Er…My name is…Wesley Kiehof. I'm…Marie's…brother…"
Everyone blinked. "Your her brother?" Clint asked. Wesley nodded. "You're…actually…her brother? No offense, but why are you here?"
"I called him here," Lily confessed. "We need someone who is good with kids and knows Parker." She gestured towards Wesley. "You can find no one better."
"Why didn't we just stick with Sam Berensen and Joanne Doven?" Natasha asked.
"'Cause that isn't gonna work forever, guys," Lily said. She put her head in her hand briefly. "Elizabeth," she said quietly. "When Parker was first de-aged she told us about a box." Elizabeth nodded. "I think it's time we get it."
Elizabeth looked in the general direction to Parker's room. There was a long silence as Elizabeth contemplated their options. She eventually turned back to Lily. "Alright," she said quietly.
-(::)-
The two friends put the box in front of Steve. He looked up and made eye contact with them. "She said to give it to me?" he asked.
Elizabeth nodded. "We haven't looked in," she said, "so we don't know what's in there." She exchanged a glance with Lily. "But we have our guesses."
Steve looked down at the innocent looking box then looked over at Parker who was snuggled up next to Wesley, eyes drooping. He looked back down at the box and heaved a large breath. 'Well,' he thought to himself, 'here goes nothing.'
Steve reached down and took off the lid. He peeked in and the others leaned over, trying to get a look. Steve reached in and pulled out an iPod in a pink case. He turned it over in his hands, looking at it. The case was rubber, cheap. It had been stretched out and was torn at the top. The lower left had corner of the device was cracked pretty badly, but the screen itself had only one long, thin crack across it.
"What's the matter, Cap?" wondered Tony. "Can't turn it on?"
Steve glared at the billionaire. "I know how to turn on an iPod," he said. "I'm just looking at it." He glanced over it one more time before taking off the case. There was an engraving.
HMVE
Parker Kiehof
Below that there was a number he didn't recognize. "Well…" Steve said, looking up at Lily and Elizabeth, "…why is this so important?"
Elizabeth sighed. "This box has evidence from our origins," she said. The Avengers looked up at her with wide eyes. "Mostly Parker's though."
Steve looked back down at the iPod. "Does this iPod have information on it?"
Lily pondered the question. "I suppose it does, yeah. Mostly it just has things from her childhood."
"From her childhood?" Bruce asked. "Why would you upload evidence onto a device like that?"
"We didn't," Liz said. "Parker's had it since she was twelve."
Everyone looked at the Duo in confusion. "But how?" asked Natasha. "They weren't invented when she was that young."
"Yes," said Lily, "they were. They were in existence in 2012."
The six heroes looked at the other two heroes blankly. "…I don't understand," Steve said.
Elizabeth nodded towards the box. "Just keep looking."
Steve looked down into the cardboard box and took out a drawing notebook. He opened it and looked at a random page. There was a carefully drawn sketch of his Captain America shield, Thor's hammer, and Iron Man arc reactor. In the middle of all these drawings there was the single word: Avengers, done in block letters with proper shading. The super soldier looked to the lower left corner and saw:
HMVE
10-4-2012
Age 12
He looked at Elizabeth and Lily in confusion. "Who drew this?" he asked.
"Parker did," Lily said quietly.
Steve looked at the first page and saw a drawing (not very well done to be honest) of Iron Man. Above it, it said: Iron Man rocks! in all caps. He looked in the corner again and saw:
HMVE
1-11-2010
Age 9
Steve flipped a few pages and saw another sketch. It was a bit better than the Iron Man drawing and was a picture of his very own shield and cowl. It was even colored with colored pencil. At the top it said: My new favorite superhero. Once again, in the corner there was:
HMVDE
12-9-2010
Age 10
Steve flipped through and saw more pictures of each team members symbols. The further back he went the newer the picture was. There were also a few random pictures of dragons, the Enterprise, a very good drawing of Altïar and Elise, and some simple doodles.
"Parker drew these?" Steve asked, closing the notebook and looking at Elizabeth. Both Wonder and Crystal nodded. "But the dates don't add up. She drew a picture of some things that relate to us in 2012, which would make sense, cause that was the year the Chutari invasion was. But she was twelve? That doesn't make sense."
"Just keep looking," Elizabeth said.
Steve looked back into the box and took out a large, thin, rolled up piece of paper. From what he could tell it was a poster. Elizabeth and Lily had stony expressions on their faces. Steve unrolled it and looked at it in shock.
The poster was a poster of the Avengers. In the front was Iron Man in full suit except for the helmet. To the right was Black Widow, then further back was Hawkeye, Nick Fury, and himself. Then furthest back was the Hulk. At the top there was a list of names.
Robert Downey Jr.
Chris Evans
Mark Ruffalo
Chris Hemsworth
Scarlett Johansson
Jeremy Renner
Tom Hiddleston
Samuel L. Jackson
Steve looked at the poster at shock and confusion. At the bottom the word: Avengers was in large font.
He looked up at the Duo with confusion as the others crowed around to get a look. "What is this?" he asked.
"A movie poster," Lily said, "duh."
"But…how can…we're…how?"
Lily gave Elizabeth a look that said: You explain. Elizabeth sighed. "The three of us were born in a different dimension then here. Lily and I were born in 1999 and Parker was born in 2000. When we were at a period of time when we were all sixteen, we were in an accident. When we woke up we had ended up in 2003 with the powers we have now."
Lily took over. "Sam and Joanne were there as well. They had superpowers too. But due to a certain villain Parker is well aquatinted with – the one she has nightmares about – they lost their powers."
"What did they have?" asked Clint.
"Sam could control the elements and Joanne could turn invisible and had enhanced senses," said Liz. "Once they lost them we kind of just…drifted apart."
There was a moment of silence in the room. Steve glanced over to his miniaturized girlfriend and saw that she had fallen asleep in her brother's arms. "What about you?" Steve asked.
Wesley looked up. "Pardon?"
"You're Parker's brother. How does that work? And do you have powers?"
"I was just sent here a few months before the Chutari invasion. I ran into…Marie…out on the street just about a year ago." He looked down at the slumbering child in his arms. "That's when I learned her backstory." He looked back up at the heroes. "To our world, she was missing for a mere two months. Then I ended up here and I've been here for two years. Then I found…Marie…and I guess you can consider her my older sister now. And yes, I do have powers. Telepathy, just like…Marie…teleportation, and electricity. The last one meaning I can control it, manipulate it and literally become it and travel through any conductor."
Steve nodded slowly and looked back at the iPod engraving. "So what's HMVE?"
Liz closed her eyes briefly. "Her initials." Everyone looked mildly confused. "Parker's real initials. Her real name back from when we lived in our real dimension. We had to change our names because there were still versions of us here of the proper ages."
Steve breathed deep breaths. "You mean Marie Kendra Kiehof isn't her real name?" Crystal and Wonder shook their heads. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm assuming we're not allowed to know your real names?"
"No," said Lily, "sorry, but you're not. The more you know the more you're at risk."
"Wait," said Steve, "that doesn't make sense, I've meet one of Parker's cousins."
Liz and Lily exchange glances. "We're…not exactly sure how that happened. We think that our dimensions partially merged. Not entirely sure how it works though…"
The Avengers all exchanged glances. "Is that it?" Clint asked.
Elizabeth nodded. "Just about." she gestured towards the box. "The rest of the things in there are just random things from her childhood."
There was an awkward silence in the room suddenly broken by the wailing of an alarm. This made everyone jumped and look about. Loki – just about forgotten in his corner – dropped his book in surprise. Parker awoke suddenly and began to cry. Wesley tried to shush her to no avail.
"What's going on?" Lily asked.
The alarm began to quiet down. "It's a red alert mission," Steve said. "We've got to get to the quinjet." He turned to Lily. "You coming?"
"Heck yeah!"
"Then suit up."
"Whoa, whoa, wait," said Liz and the others began to go get their suits on. "I'm not invited?"
Steve turned back around. "Sorry, Elizabeth. You need to stay and watch Parker with Wesley." He looked at the said young man. "You wouldn't mind, would you?"
Wesley shook his head. "Not at all."
Steve glanced at Loki and looked at Luz again. "And keep an eye on Loki." He hurried off to suit up.
"I'm not going to try anything," Loki said. "You do know I'm stuck as a child as well and I'd very much like to get out of this state."