A/N - Sorry for the delay - it's summer and the weather is finally beautiful out.

Anna sighed and leaned back in the chair in front of the desktop computer and stretched. She reached for her coffee mug and brought it to her lips. Anna winced upon tasting the cooled bitter coffee and put the cup back down on the desk. She ran her hands over her face and noticed the early morning light beginning to lighten through the blinds. Anna was thankful that her hangover headache was starting to subside since she took more aspirins an hour earlier. The light would have been havoc for her head.

She considered getting up for more coffee when she heard the sound of snoring coming from the futon behind her. She looked over her shoulder and chuckled.

Bruce Banner had laid down at the same time as when she took the aspirins with the promise to just close his eyes for a few minutes in order to digest what they had been reading before getting up to give her the chance to rest. When he had pulled off his glasses and then covered his face with his forearm, it was only a matter of time before he had fallen asleep. They had gotten up to speed as to what Tony had been theorizing and started to break apart the algorithm by each figure. Dr. Banner had been a big asset for things she simply didn't understand and they actually started to make some headway. It began to seem to Anna that all that seemed to be missing was some sort of power source. Not surprisingly, the power source that she had in mind didn't even exist.

Anna saved what they did do and closed the program. She was about to pull out the USB drive when that video file caught her eyes. After a moment hesitation, she clicked on it and the screen opened up to a frozen image of a room. A few cars sat in the background. Anna clicked on play and watched as the static image began to widen.

"Jarvis, how does it look?" a voice asked loudly off screen. "I don't want any cropped heads. We may only get this one chance today."

Anna turned down the volume in order to not disturb Bruce behind her. It wasn't a voice she recognized but still she watched, curious to know why it would be included on the drive.

"The angle is perfect, sir," replied a voice with a light British accent.

Suddenly a dark haired man walked forward towards where the image of a matted area which Anna assumed to be in a garage, considering the row of fancy and most likely expensive cars in the background. When he turned, it was then that Anna saw that he was carrying a small child on one arm, possibly no older than a year. It was obvious by the pink camo t-shirt and polka dotted leggings that it was a little girl. Her hair was nothing more than dark wisps on her head that would barely make a small ponytail.

Anna's heart was pounding. She knew that was her - she'd seen baby photo's of herself countless times.

She watched as the man quickly sat her down on the mats before darting offscreen. She barely sat there for more than a second before she began to crawl off in the direction the man had disappeared.

"Anna, honey," the voice off screen said before she heard footsteps and the man reappear onscreen. He scooped her up and sat her back on the mats. "Just do this one thing for me today."

Her hand paused the screen on the man as he passed by the camera.

Tony Stark.

Anna finally saw his face clearly. The moustache, goatee and dark hair making him instantly recognizable.

She began the video again and watched as Tony knelt down on the mats in front her.

"J, I'm trusting you that you've got us in the frame," Tony called out, as he encouraged Anna to stand on her feet before he quickly scooted backward; all the while keeping his eye on the baby. A few times, she lost her balance and touched the ground before pushing herself back up to stand.

Over and over, she heard Tony encourage and speak in high tones, causing the baby to laugh and smile at him.

"Come on," he cooed. "We're going to prove to Mommy that you can walk. No more of this crawling on the floor stuff."

Realizing that the distance between them was too daunting for Anna, he slid on his knees closer to her, closing the gap to a mere two feet. Tony reached out with one finger which the baby grabbed ahold and took a step forward, her other arm in the air for balance before she quickly took another two before falling onto Tony's lap triumphantly.

"I call that, close enough!" Tony exclaimed before he rolled onto his back, holding the baby up before sitting her on his stomach. The baby laid her head down on his chest, right under his chin. Anna watched as Tony ran his hand over the baby's head.

"Did you get that Jarvis?" Tony called out from where he laid on the ground.

"I did sir," came that same voice as earlier.

"What's going on here?" came a happy voice from off screen, yet Anna recognized it immediately. It seemed the baby did as well since her head resting on Tony's chest suddenly shot up.

Her Mom.

"Uh oh, kiddo," Tony said, pushing himself up to sit on the mats with Anna on his lap. "We're busted."

Anna watched as he regarded the woman as she approached them on the mats and crouched down in front of them. For the first time, Anna realized that it was indeed her Mom. "I thought you were working late. You had that meeting with the guys from Hong Kong, I think it was."

"It was moved to tomorrow," Pepper told him, reaching out and taking the baby from his lap and stood up. "Storms in their area caused some flight cancellations. So, I am home early so I can spend the evening with you and Anna."

Tony pushed to stand up beside Pepper.

"Thank you Hong Kong," Tony said with a smirk as he leaned in and kissed Pepper.

Pepper smiled and broke the kiss, as she felt Anna put her head on her shoulder.

"Someone is getting tired," Pepper commented.

"Yeah, I tuckered her out," Tony admitted, as he reached over and rubbed Anna's back with his hand. "But I did get her to walk."

"What?!" Pepper exclaimed, excidely. "She's walking?"

Tony shrugged. "More like falling with style, but it was close. Yeah, I had Jarvis film it for me and then maybe later you can see it for yourself."

"You filmed it?"

Anna watched as Tony and Pepper walked began to walk offscreen, Tony's hand on Pepper's back as they walked.

"Of course! What kind of Dad would I be if I didn't film my daughter's first steps?"

The video suddenly ended and Anna closed the file. It left her with so many mixed feelings. Seeing the kiss and obvious attraction between Tony and her Mom was a little uncomfortable. She had only ever seen her Mom kiss her Dad. It was evident that they were in love and that Tony really loved her. It was still strange.

"I never thought I'd hear that voice again."

Anna looked over her shoulder where Banner was now sitting up and his glasses were back on his face.

"I'm sorry if I woke you."

He shrugged it off and leaned forward on the futon.

"You should have woken me up. And you really should get to bed," Bruce said, standing up to take her spot at the desk. He looked at Anna sitting at the desk and glanced up at the clock. "You were up this whole time?"

"I think I'll just work a little longer on that program," Anna stated, as she began to open it up. "I was just taking a break and I was curious about that one file. I'll get to bed soon."

In fact, Anna simply needed something to distract her. The knowledge of earlier in the evening was still raw and seeing Tony with her Mom made her feel even more awkward.

Bruce nodded, and grabbed the empty coffee mug with the intention to refill his own before coming back to help her.

"Uncle Bruce?"

He paused on the steps and turned upon hearing Anna call him.

"Yeah?"

"You knew Mr. Stark, right?"

Bruce walked back towards her, hearing in her voice that there was more she was wanting to know.

"Tony and I were friends and had a good working relationship," he told her. "Although some of his methods were unorthodox, he meant well."

"You worked together?"

Bruce nodded and chuckled. "On more than one occasion. When he found out that your Mom was pregnant with you, he was so concerned that he called me. Pepper had been injected with something called Extremis a few years prior."

When Anna looked at him with a confused expression, he explained.

"It alters the DNA and although Tony had managed to cause it to go dormant within your Mom, they were worried about how it would affect you. He and I did test after test for a good six months and then continued well after you were born for a few years. We found it a miracle that Pepper carried you to term. Either than your allergies and asthma, you were perfect. In fact, we believed that the allergies were simply your system's way of dealing with the Extremis coding within your own DNA."

Bruce paused, allowing Anna the moment to digest the information he was telling her. He could see her mind turning.

"I guess I should be lucky that those are the only symptoms I have," Anna said, glancing up at Bruce. She had heard about the connection between her 'Uncle Bruce' and the Hulk that evening. It was something that she still couldn't fathom. "I couldn't imagine what you go through."

Bruce crossed his arms and looked down. He nodded. "In a way, we aren't very different. We're both aware of what can trigger our reactions and realize what situations to avoid to best overcome them."

Anna thought of her next question, not entirely sure how to ask it. She was slightly unsure whether it was a sensitive topic. Her voice was soft as she spoke.

"Did you ever consider doing something like Stark had done for my Mom? Maybe somehow cause...him...to become dormant."

Bruce nodded. "I did look into it but all trials that I had done were failures. So, I've learned to live with...him." He smiled when he finished speaking which caused Anna to grin. "The last time the other guy showed up, he was a bit more even tempered than previous years...but just a bit."

"How many years has it been?"

"Eight years this coming September," Bruce replied without having to even think about. "My longest dry spell yet."

He paused and turned to head up the steps with the mugs in hand. "And I intend to make it another eight years."

Bruce went about refilling the coffee maker, keeping his actions as light and soft as possible as to not wake up the other occupants of the small home. He knew that both Pepper and Happy had gone to bed late as well and Rhody was currently sleeping on the couch in the den. He looked out the kitchen window into the backyard and past the trees where on the horizon, the sun was just beginning to peek through the clouds. The sky promised to be a beautiful day again; a good day to start fresh and new.

Bruce closed his eyes and took a deep breath upon hearing the familiar crackling of the coffee maker beginning to brew. He reached into the fridge and pulled out the milk when he heard the rumbling begin. It startled him and he grabbed ahold of the fridge door. The rattling continued until one of the coffee mugs reached the edge of the counter and fell onto the tile floor; breaking into a dozen pieces.

Not only did the mug fall to the floor, but soon photo frames began to slide off where they sat and crashed onto the floor.

Instinctively Bruce rushed for the nearest doorframe. He had lived long enough in earthquake prone areas to know exactly what to do, but for some reason, it didn't feel like an earthquake to him. The sounds coming from outside that were rattling the house resembled that of explosions. The house groaned and cracked as dust fell from the ceilings.

"What is that?! What's going on!?" Anna shouted as she ran up the stairs. Bruce grabbed her by the arm and pulled her beside him in the doorframe as the house continued to rattle.

A moment later and both Pepper and Happy ran into the room, looking panicked as Rhody rushed in as well.

Happy quickly turned to the front door and opened it and saw the horror being displayed right in their neighbourhood. People ran in the streets as horns blared and cars smouldered. Screams echoed and were overpowered by the loud engines of the alien spacecrafts that flew over them, firing their weapons at anything that moved.

The Chitauri were back.

Happy's eyes widened as he saw something coming towards them.

"Get down!" he exclaimed, just as the explosion hit their front lawn. Grass, stones and dirt flew at the front of the house and shattered the windows, sending shards of glass throughout the room.

"We have to get out of here!" Rhody stated as they all pushed themselves off the ground.

Anna ran over to the open front door where Happy had fallen from the impact of the explosion. Pepper was already at his side as he coughed.

"Dad, you're bleeding," Anna said, concern for more than just the blood she saw evident in her voice.

Happy put his hand on Anna's hand as he sat up.

"I'm fine," he stated a few times over and over. "They hit the yard."

With Bruce's help, Happy got to his feet and they quickly raced down to the basement. Anna watched as Rhody tried his cell phone only to find that there was no service. The house continued to rattle, sending dust raining down on them. For a moment, Anna wondered how safe they could actually be in the basement. Surprisingly, the computer was still on. Anna rushed over to it and pulled the USB drive from the computer and shoved it into her pocket.

"You're not going to hulk out on us, are you?" Rhody asked Bruce nervously from where he stood against the wall of the basement.

The doctor shook his head, keeping his eye on the ceiling. "I'm not planning on it."

"We need to get a plan to get ourselves out of here," Rhody commented loudly. "We can't stay here for too long."

Bruce agreed and quickly acted. He ran over to the basement window and reached up to slid open the glass before pushing out the screen. When it became evident that the doctor was about to climb through the window, Happy quickly made his way over to him.

"The moment they see you, you know they'll kill you," Happy told him.

Bruce grinned as he peered back at Happy. "Oh, they won't kill me. If anything, I'll draw their attention away from you so you can all get out of here and get to safety."

Happy was about to protest but knew that Bruce was right. Bruce looked back at them from where he crouched outside by the window.

"As soon as it's clear, you need to go."

Happy nodded, the last thing he saw was Bruce pocketing his glasses before he stood up and walked from the window. A few seconds later, a thunderous roar that rivaled that of the rumbling that assaulted the house echoed into the basement.

"I'd say that's our cue," Rhody quipped.

Steve looked out the front windows of the quin-jet overtop of where Clint Barton was piloting the machine. It had been years since he had seen Barton and he had only wished that it had been under better circumstances. Either than a quick hello when he, Natasha and Daniel boarded the quin-jet, they hadn't said a word to each other.

"My God," he breathed, taking in the view of the cityscape of Miami in the far distance. Plums of smoke rose into the atmosphere as the city burned.

"And that is only Miami," Coulson said solemnly as he stood beside Steve. "I'm afraid that every major city in the world is under attack."

Steve looked at Coulson, shock evident on his face.

"What plans does S.H.I.E.L.D have for a situation such as this?"

Coulson shook his head. "We don't have a plan. This situation is so far out of our control. World governments are falling. We're looking at global domination. As for S.H.I.E.L.D, it has only one remaining base that is still secure and operational."

"One?"

Coulson nodded. "But we have to make one quick stop before going there."

It didn't take long for Steve to realize where they were going. He saw Hulk towering on the street as he was being assaulted from every angle from Chitauri. Behind him against the house that he had visited just the night before stood Pepper, Happy, Rhody and Anna. It was evident that Hulk knew of their presence and was using his body to shield them.

"Hang on!" Clint exclaimed as he began opening fire on the Chitauri, taking some heat off of the Hulk.

The quin-jet swerved as it avoided yet another shot from a Chitauri. As another was about to open fire, a sudden thunderclap erupted in the sky as lightening rained down from the heaven above. The Chitauri around them dropped to the ground as Clint smiled.

"Just in time," he said softly as he landed the quin-jet on the street. The rear opened up as Rhody ushered Pepper, Happy and Anna across the lawn. Anna glanced at the man who had appeared out of nowhere before she saw Daniel standing on the edge of the lowered door to the quin-jet, shouting at them to hurry. When they were within reach, he grabbed ahold of Anna's arm and pulled her onto the jet. Before she could even protest, he had strapped her into a harness against the jet wall and sat down beside her. It was then that she finally saw her parents sitting on the jet across from her.

Everything happened so fast. She could feel her stomach lurch as the quin-jet climbed into the air. Anna didn't need to know that they were moving quickly through the air. Her stomach told her enough. Wanting to get the thought of her inside's doing circles and knowing that they were currently flying hundreds of feet in the air, she looked to Daniel sitting calmly beside her.

"Where's Uncle Bruce?"

"He's...he's...uh..."

Anna got it.

"We left him behind?"

"Dr. Banner is unable to come on board when he's the Hulk," Coulson answered for him from where he sat by Barton. "He'll be able to take care of himself."

The quin-jet quickly rose in the atmosphere and Anna knew it. She pinched her eyes shut and held onto the straps that held her securely in her seat. She was white knuckling the straps. It was obvious to everyone that she did not like to fly.

After a few more minutes of flying, Barton spoke up.

"Uh, director?"

Coulson looked up and saw what Barton had been looking at.

The last S.H.I.E.L.D base was under attack. Coulson turned to Thor.

"Do you think you can hold them off for us long enough for us to get inside?"

Thor nodded. "I will certainly try."

Anna watched as Thor jumped out the open rear hatch of the quin-jet. Around them the clouds seemed to cover them. She could hear the rumbling of thunder and the lightning exploding around them. The lights within the quin-jet dimmed as it was obvious that Barton was simply using the jet's instrumentation to bring them in. It wasn't until they landed that she felt someone grab her by the arm. Again, Daniel had her by the arm.

Alarms rang out in the air as they were quickly rushed inside. Dimmed tunnels turned into stark white hallways as they were brought deeper and deeper under the ground. People rushed around them as lights flashed and sirens blared. With all the chaos happening around them, no one seemed to notice the group of people being pushed down the hallway in their pyjamas. It wasn't until they reached a large room filled with monitors and people shouting over each other that they stopped. Coulson stepped forward and began yelling orders to various people.

After a moment, he turned to Daniel.

"Agent Rogers," he stated. "Bring our guests down to the lab and get Anna set up on a computer. I'll be there in a few minutes. The Relativity project just got pushed to being priority."

"Yes sir," Daniel replied before turning to his parents, Anna, Happy, Pepper and Rhody.

He was met with looks of confusion and surprise. Without saying a word, he walked past them asking them to follow him.

Steve walked up quickly beside his son. "So, you're working for S.H.I.E.L.D?"

He was audibly not happy about it. He could hear it in his father's voice. It wasn't asked just as to start a conversation.

"I know you're upset," Daniel began as they continued to walk down the hallway, being followed by the others who were just as shocked.

"Of course, I'm upset," Steve interrupted. "You could have at least told us about this."

"Told you? The man who has S.H.I.E.L.D to thank for his survival and then suddenly abandoned the organization completely."

"We left because of you," Natasha countered, hearing the jibe aimed at Steve. "To keep you safe. We saw what it did to Pepper and Anna. The last thing we wanted was to have you experience what Anna had."

Daniel took a deep breath.

"Well, if all goes well," Daniel began as he quickly pushed open another door. "If this works, it'll change all of that."

He stepped aside as everyone walked in to the large room. Daniel slid past his parents and switched on the computer terminal, instantly bringing the algorithm to life in 3d on a table in front of them.

"That's the program," Anna said, stepping forward.

"It's not done," Daniel said.

Anna rolled her eyes. "No kidding."

Daniel silently invited her up to the 3d model. They watched as she slid numbers and figures around, giving a different sum of numbers. Anna focused so much on the algorithm that she didn't even notice when Coulson and Thor walked into the room.

"I don't mean to rush but how are you doing?" Coulson asked.

Anna looked up, the light from the table illuminating her face.

"Honestly, this is far above my scope that besides knowing that it needs a major source of energy to work, we're screwed," she stated blatantly.

"What kind of energy do you require?" Thor asked, stepping forward. "If this machine can alter time, I would be willing to do what it takes in order to save this planet."

"Something powerful. Like, maybe...I don't know...the sun?"

They knew it was sarcastic but still they couldn't believe that Tony Stark would create something that would need energy that would be unattainable.

"Mjolnir," Thor suddenly said. Everyone turned to him as a smile appeared on the god's face. "It is possible."

The others seemed to get what Thor was saying and even Coulson smirked before he left the room with the promise to return with the two agents who were assigned to follow through with the project.

Anna still had no clue as to what Thor was implying. She turned to Daniel beside her.

"I'm sorry...what is he talking about?"

"Mjolnir," Daniel repeated. "His hammer."

"It is not just a hammer," Thor exclaimed, obviously offended. "Mjolnir is one of the most powerful things in all the realms. Only the most worthy has the honour of wielding it's power."

"Forget that I asked," Anna mumbled as Thor walked over to her.

"You are the child of Stark, are you not?"

Anna looked up and over at where Pepper and Happy stood together by the wall. Finally, she shrugged. "That's right."

"I have once conveyed this to your Mother many years ago following the death of your father," Thor began as he stood in front of her. "You were too young when I saw you then for you to comprehend. But I wish to express it now."

He paused before looking into Anna's eyes.

"On behalf of all of Asgard and the realms that are within our borders, I wish to extend my deepest apologies for the errors of my brother, Loki, against your father," Thor stated, dipping his head slightly.

A moment of silence followed and Anna wasn't certain what she was to say. Finally, she quickly replied with a soft, apology accepted. It seemed to satisfy Thor enough that he smiled. The smile fell when the lights began to flicker and the sound of distant rumbling was heard in the large room.

"What was that?" Pepper asked as Daniel made his way over to a monitor.

Steve walked up beside him, recognizing the codes that were being displayed in front of them.

"This can't be right," Daniel said softly, tapping the controls.

"Level's 3 and above are gone?" Steve asked.

As hard as it was to believe, when Coulson ran into the room with a gun under his arm, they knew it to be true.

"Change of plan," Coulson gasped.