Chapter 3: The Avengers

"Wait! It's too dangerous! Don't go in there! Don't go!"

Tony watched as the live feed went out. "No!" He cried as the two boys vanished. "Everyone, load up the Quinjet! We're moving out!" The old man who had once been known as Iron Man leapt up out of the massive leather chair that sat in the center of a circle of holographic monitors and served as a command center.

He sprinted through the halls that made up Avengers Tower, the new headquarters for the Avengers since Ultron had been defeated a year and a half before. They had turned the robot's fortress, the Citadel, into the Avengers' private home. Currently, Tony was cursing its incredible size as he traveled down the seemingly endless halls towards the hanger.

He passed through the metal sliding doors and onto the roof just as Toruun let off a massive boom as she broke the sound barrier as she flew off towards the location that the boys had begun their mission, Laura clutching her ankles. The old man leapt into the jet that was just beginning to levitate above the ground, Gwen and Griffin helping him inside.

The Quinjet had been repaired just like it had been before Ultron's security drones had blown it out of the sky on the outskirts of Ultra City. Its sleek black form flew through the air at incredible speeds, guided by Azari and Pym in the pilot seats. The two boys were tense as they moved towards the location, maxing out the jet's boosters. Even so, the girls had long since vanished from sight.

When the jet began to slow as the enemy base came in sight, all those present couldn't help but give a gulp.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned thought Tony as he stared at the wreckage left behind by the girls. Guards lay scattered about the yard, unmoving, and frankly most likely dead, with torn clothing and wreaked weapons. The building that the machine had been located in had a gaping hole in the roof, obviously the location Toruun had landed in. Cars were tipped on their sides, claw marks running across their surface and their tires had been busted open. Clearly Laura wasn't happy either.

Landing the jet, the group ran out and followed the girls inside. As they stepped into the hanger, they saw total devastation. Where the portal had stood there sat a pile of rubble, metal bending inwards. Tony's first glance told him that the portal had collapsed in on itself, most likely caused by it losing its power source when the doctor had gone through with the Tesseract. It had probably created a vacuum when it collapsed, transforming into a miniature black hole.

The scientists that had built the portal cowered on the ground as the two girls stepped forward, eyes blazing in fury. "What did you do?!" Screamed Toruun angrily. "Where are they?!"

"We don't know!" Came the squeaky reply from a woman. She had long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and glasses planted on her nose. A white lab coat hung over a green tee-shirt and old, paint stained jeans. "We just put it together! Each one of us had a specific job! We only built one part of it! Dr. Gordon was the only one who had the full schematics! We don't know where the portal was supposed to go!"

"Well you'd better figure it out now," replied Laura menacingly as she unsheathed her claws.

"Calm down!" Yelled Tony as he stepped between them and the scientists. "Attacking them won't get us anywhere! We'll just have to save the boys ourselves!"

"How?" Said Toruun angrily. "We have no idea where they went!"

"I said from the start that this mission was a bad idea," growled Laura.

"Oh really?" Said Griffin sarcastically. "It sure as heck sounded like it over the comm." Suddenly, everyone was arguing. It was obvious that they were all worried about their friends, but none of them knew what to do about it.

Reason came from the most expected place.

"ENOUGH!" Screamed Azari as lightning blasted from his body, silencing all of them as they turned to face him. "I get it, we're all worried, but arguing won't help anyone! Especially not Cap and Hawkeye. Right now, they don't need us panicking. They need us figuring out a plan to save them! So you can either stand there and yell until your throats bleed and we never find James or Francis, or we can calm down and figure out a plan to rescue them! Pick one."

Reluctantly, the others nodded, muttering apologies to each other.

"Good," said Azari, satisfied. "Besides, there's no need to worry. The two of them are too strong to get taken down by something like this. After all, how many times have any of us beaten either one of them in a one-on-one fight?"

None of them met his eyes.

"No one? Then I'll tell you. Never. Not once. The two people who haven't got any special powers beyond James's abnormal physique and Hawkeye's extreme vision have beaten each one of us every single time. Even though Griffin can freeze everything within twenty yards of her, even though Pym can transform into a giant, even though Gwen has near instant reflexes, even though I can shoot lightning, even though Laura can heal any wound instantaneously, and even though Toruun is a descendant of a warrior race and the daughter of a god, each and everyone of us have wound up flat on our backs every time."

He stared at each of them in turn. "Those two are the strongest of us all. No matter what happens, they can handle it. They'll be fine."

000000

"We're doomed."

"Thanks for the optimism," said James with a roll of his eyes as his partner paced the floor of the large cell they were in, eyes flickering to the door on the other side of the thick glass wall. The cell was circular, roughly fifteen yards in diameter and surrounded on four sides by glass walls, maybe eight inches thick.

"I'm being realistic here! In case you haven't realized, those were the Avengers! As in the Avengers, Avengers! You know, our-" Francis hesitated, realizing it might not be a good idea to reveal their identities to the cameras that their parents were definitely watching them through. "-uh, you know! The Avengers! I have absolutely no idea what the heck is going on! I'm having a mental breakdown over here!"

"I noticed," said James calmly as he smirked.

"How the heck can you be so calm right now! You're crazier than Ban- the Caveman!

"No, I'm not. I simply recognize that panic won't help anyone, especially not ourselves. We have to think clearly."

"Oh?" Said the archer sarcastically. "And what has that revealed, huh?"

"Do you remember what Gordon said back at the hanger? He said something about a space-time vortex stabilizing. That being said, what does that imply about the reason that the Avengers are here?"

Hawkeye paused as he processed that information before his eyes widened. "You mean-?"

James shook his head and placed a figure to his lips. "Yeah."

"But- But that's impossible!"

"Impossible? No. Improbable, maybe. But not impossible. It's the only explanation that makes any sense. And To- the Knight has already told us about people doing it before, so we know that it's possible. Maybe the Skull figured out how."

As much as Francis wanted to deny it, he had to accept the possibility. James was right, it was the only explanation that made any sense. It was just too unbelievable.

They had traveled back in time.

"This is huge," whispered Francis as he leaned back against the wall and slid to the ground. "Do you think we should tell them?" It was obvious who he was talking about.

James fixed him with a glare. "The last time I tried to go running to one of them I nearly got everyone I cared about killed. We'll handle this on our own."

Before Francis could reply, the metal door on the other side of the glass slid open. Several people stepped through, three of them the ones that they had met on the bridge, out of uniform. The one leading the way was a man in a suit with dark hair and a trimmed beard with a face they knew well. Tony Stark took a seat in a chair on the other side of the glass as a table rose up in front of him carrying a bottle of scotch and a couple glasses. Following him were the three from the bridge, Steve and Clint both in muscle shirts and jeans while Natasha wore a light brown jacket.

The next was a tall man with long blonde hair and a beard. A steel breastplate hung over his chest while dark leather pants sat tucked into his boots. The hammer he had strapped to his waist marked him as Thor.

After him was a small man with dark hair in a long sleeve shirt and dark pants. He seemed so out of place that if they hadn't recognized his face they would have wondered what he was doing there. Bruce Banner moved over to stand beside Thor off to the side.

Moving in after him was a large, scowling man with thick sideburns. A white muscle shirt sat beneath a bikers jacket and touched the tops of his worn out jeans. A pair of combat boots sat snuggly on his feet. His black hair was combed up at the back to look like ears. The scowl alone let them know that his was Laura's dad, Logan, more commonly known as Wolverine.

Finishing up their little group was a teenager, surprisingly. He had messy, dark brown hair and a blue tee-shirt hanging over some jeans. His old tennis shoes made little noise as he walked across the floor. Peter Parker was somewhat unimpressive, despite his alter-ego's reputation as Spiderman.

Tony waited until the boys allowed their gazes to settle back on him. "Want a drink?" He offered as he lifted the scotch. "Oh wait, I guess you're under aged. That would cause some awkwardness now wouldn't it?"

He paused to stare at them. "You know, normally we just toss the bad guys into a police truck and then go to a strip club while we wait for them to break out again, or at least I do, but you two have caught our interests. Do you know why?"

"Does it have to do with our devilishly good looks?" asked Francis sarcastically before glancing at James. "Or at least mine?" James glared at him.

"I like him," said Tony as he turned to the others leaning against the wall. "But no, it doesn't. There are three reasons. One: neither one of you show up in any database on the planet. There are no facial records, no fingerprints, no DNA, which means one of two things. One: You two don't exist which obviously isn't true-" The boys glanced at each other. "-or two: you've got some friends out there who are powerful enough to make it seem like you don't. The second reason you've caught our eye is Ariel's weapons. Those pistols of yours seem pretty ordinary at first glance, but pick 'um up and it's a whole different story. Most people can't even lift them, much less fire them. You, however, went one handed in each arm. The only ones out of all of us who could that are Thor and Cap here. So that means that either you do a heck of a lot of push ups or you're like them. For some reason, I doubt that you're going to start saying that you're the god of thunder anytime soon, so that leaves the super soldier."

He paused to watch James's reaction, which bore no fruit seeing as the boy remained expressionless. "The final reason is that when Snow White over here hit the ground, you called him 'Hawkeye'. Care to explain?"

"It's a nickname," replied the redhead. "If I need to say why then I guess you aren't the genius everyone makes you out to be."

"Oh I understand why, I simply want to know why you picked that particular name. I'm pretty sure that we could sue you for plagiarism if you weren't in, you know, prison."

"What Boy Scout trying to earn his archery badge doesn't want to be called that?" Asked Francis.

Tony stared at them both quietly before responding. "For some reason, I don't think you learned in the Boy Scouts." He took a swig from his glass. "You know, I think we're going to be here a long time, so why don't we get some names out of you? That is, unless you prefer to be named after Disney princesses?"

James watched him silently as he considered how to answer before a memory hit him. He thought of names that would serve them well for the time being.

"I'm called the Soldier, and this is the Archer."

End of Chapter

Ok, so this is officially POST- WINTER SOLDIER! Please review