AN: I don't own the Avengers.
The next day, they all returned to Asgard and settled into their seats.
"What was happening when we left yesterday?" Clint tried to remember.
"Lou had just told everyone that Jules was trying to repair the suit." Bruce said. "They weren't happy."
Heimdall started the show.
"You shouldn't have done that without telling us." Alex said, shaking his head slightly. His face was still calm, but his voice had an undertone of annoyance or disbelief. "Besides, I thought only the Starks knew how to repair the Arc Reactor, and it was thrashed on H-Day."
"What's H-day?" Clint wondered. "They've mentioned it twice."
"Perhaps it would be easier if I were to take us back, closer to our point in time." Heimdall offered, the image on the screen freezing.
"Perhaps that would be best, Heimdall." Thor agreed. "To when all this matter started."
"A year and a half earlier, I think." Heimdall said. The image changed to show the Avengers tower. It was in ruins.
On the screen, the top five floors of the Avengers tower was in ruins, windows smashed and the whole building looking like it might fall over. The name was smashed, and occasionally a loud groan came from the rubble as the metal settled.
"Dear Lord," Steve whispered. The others wanted to say a few stronger things.
"July 16, 2031. H-Day." Heimdall said gravely. "The day the heroes died."
The image changed to the street in front of Avengers tower. Cars were tossed to the sides, and people were pulling themselves out of the rubble of surrounding buildings. Sirens blared from every direction. Standing there on pavement was a teenage girl in a silver-and-purple Irongirl suit. It was badly damaged-most of the arm was missing, the arc reactor in the chest was cracked, and dents and bangs and dirty covered the rest of it.
She didn't move. She just stood in the middle of the street, staring at the wreckage of the Avengers tower.
There was a shout from behind Jo. She didn't turn, but Lou rushed up behind her. She wasn't in much better shape. Her clothes were singed and torn, her hair was tossed and scratches ran along her cheek. She held a round metal shield with her right hand, the white star in it's middle proudly telling the world who she was. But it was badly damaged as well. "Jo!"
Lou stopped next to Jo. "Jo, who was inside? Jo, talk to me."
Jo reached up, and lifted her helmet off. Her face was dirty, and one of her eyes looked bruised. Tears weren't on her face, but her expression told the whole story. It was pain, hate, fear, agony in every measure. She didn't look away from the wreckage. "My dad."
Tony leaned forward, desperate to see what was happening. The others cast him worried looks, though most of them hid it.
"I was in there?" He asked softly. "But there's no way-"
"Oh my God-" Lou's eyes widened as she looked up at the wreckage. "Jo, are you sure-"
"I'm sure." Jo swallowed. "He didn't have his suit on. Oh my God, Lou, he didn't have his suit on." Then suddenly she was sobbing, sinking to her knees. Her suit folded itself up into one metal gauntlet, but she didn't seem to notice or care. Lou lowered to the ground with her, wrapping her arms around Jo. Lou was crying, too, and her shield clattered to the street.
"I'm dead." Tony whispered. Then he shouted, louder, "I'm dead!"
"We do not know that for sure, man of iron!" Thor shouted. "Jo may be wrong!"
"You heard her!" Tony shouted. "I'm dead! What the £$%%£~}#]&* !?"
"Stark!" Steve bellowed. "Language! That won't help! We just have to watch and see!" When Tony didn't start shouting again, Steve nodded to Heimdall and the video kept playing.
Alex and Jules came running towards them. When they saw Lou and Jo sobbing in front of the wreckage of the tower, they must have guessed what it meant. "I don't believe…." Jules muttered, eyes wide. They were both in bad shape. They looked battered, their clothes torn and their faces scraped and scratched. A white cloth was tightly tied around Alex's forearm, a bandage. It was stained red slightly, like from a bulletwound.
"We have to keep going." Alex muttered, but he avoided looking at the tower. Both boys looked like they were trying to keep from crying. "We may still be able to help others." Jules nodded, pressing a hand to his mouth. He rubbed the peace pendant around his neck, taking a deep breath, and nodded again, more sure this time.
The two boys helped Jo and Lou to their feet. Jo looked like she might fall over. She fought against them, screaming with loss, but immediately slackened again, sobbing silently.
"She loves me." Tony said, as if it had only just occurred to him. Heimdall stopped the screen again, as he had with every interruption. "Does that mean I'm a… a good dad?"
"I think you must be." Bruce said softly. Tony rubbed his eyes tiredly, in one of his rare moments of weakness.
"I'm dead. My daughter is on her own. And, from the looks of it, the world is coming to an end." Tony said miserably. "Everything is falling apart."
"The rest of us are still out there." Clint said, glaring at the screen. "It's not over yet."
"Except we know that we lose." Steve said. He shook his head. "This is before the scenes we already saw. And if we weren't around in those, if HYDRA was in control… then H-day is the day we die."
"That is what the H stands for." Thor realized, face grim and almost… set. Like he was accepting his death. "Heroes day. The day the Avengers fail."
"I'm so sorry, Jo," Lou whispered, cradling Jo's cheek with one hand. "Please. We still have a chance to save the rest of the heroes. HYDRA can't win."
Jo managed to nod, struggling to pull herself together. The metal gauntlet unfolded itself, spreading across her into the damaged silver-and-purple suit. The four of them sprinted away down the street.
The screen changed to a hotel room. The hotel was run-down and dirty. There were two twin beds and an overstuffed couch. The curtains were drawn over the night outside, and the only light was a bedside lamp somebody had switched on.
In the room, in silence, was the children of the Avengers. Josephine Stark, Louisa Rogers, Julian Banner, Alexander Romanoff, Finnigan Foster, and Abigail Barton. They wandered the room, not moving very much, some of them sitting or standing. Finn had his metal helmet in his hands, twisting it nervously.
"Anyone heard from the Maximoffs?" Abby asked finally. Nobody moved or said anything. "Oh."
The Avengers shifted nervously. This was after the fighting was over. They were already dead.
"I just thought maybe they… I dunno, got away." Abby continued. Nobody responded to her talking in any way, so she kept going nervously. The words kind of spilled out of her, like she didn't have a choice in saying them. "I mean, it doesn't seem real. It just can't be true. Yesterday we were just a handful of new heroes out of the dozens. We were a part of something, changing the world. And now…" Her voice cracked, but she drew up her resolve. She looked up at them, all of them clearly listening.
"Every living superhero in the world is in this room. Right now. In this minute. We are the only ones left."
"No." Steve said, shaking his head slowly and then more forcefully. "No!"
"Steve-" Natasha tried, but she looked like she wanted to scream or shoot something.
Tony was rubbing Bruce's arm, trying to keep him calm. Bruce was taking deep breaths, his hands pressed to the sides of his head. Clint stared at the screen, muttering his breath. Thor's grip tightened on his hammer, and his jaw set.
"Oh my God-" Clint said loud enough for them all to hear. "Every hero in the world dies. Good just got it's ass kicked. How is this even possible?"
"Our kids are still alive, though," Steve protested. "We still have a chance."
"It's not like they can resurrect us, Steve." Clint snapped.
"Not what I meant." Steve shook his head. "We still have a chance against HYDRA."
"But we've seen almost two years into the future, and they haven't done anything." Tony said. Bruce was calmed down enough now to nod in agreement.
Steve didn't answer. Thor nodded to Heimdall, and the screen kept playing.
None of the other kids answered, except for Jules who asked dully if anyone had heard from the Guardians of the Galaxy.
"The who now?" Tony asked.
The others shrugged.
"Nothing from anyone." Jo shook her head. She and Lou were sitting side-by-side on one of the beds, and Lou had her arm around her. Jo's eyes were puffy and red, though none of the rest of them looked any better. "We really are the only ones."
"We have to stop HYDRA." Alex said. He was standing by the window, peering out between the curtains. "Ideas?"
"We can't stop HYDRA. Three dozen heroes ago we couldn't, how could we now?" Abby asked, twisting her bow in her hands. "They've taken over everything."
"We cannot just give up!" Finn protested. He set his metal helmet on the table, standing up. "HYDRA has taken everything from us! We cannot let them get away with that. We have to…." He hesitated. "We have to avenge our families."
Jo snorted. "How could we do that?" Jules asked. "Inventory check, people. We have the Irongirl suit, but it's badly damaged. We have one Asgardian broadsword and one mini hulk." She was counting on his fingers. "We have an indestructible shield except we don't know where we dropped it and two glock 22's. Plus a bow and around six remaining arrows."
"And my lucky boomerang arrow." Abby interrupted. "Don't forget that. Always comes back to you."
"I'm beginning to like her." Clint nodded approvingly. "Never underestimate the boomerang arrow."
"Why would you want an arrow that comes back to you after you shoot it?" Steve asked.
Clint shrugged. "There's lots of things that can be done with it, some really awesome one-liners. There was this one time where I shot the boomerang arrow over the guy's head, and he was like, 'you missed', but I-"
"Thanks, Clint." Natasha interrupted. "Heimdall, keep playing."
"That's not enough against HYDRA. They're in too deep." Jo shook her head.
"We cannot let them win." Finn protested.
"What choice do we have?" Alex asked, letting the blinds flick closed. "We're not trained. We can't even drive, and I don't think Finn and Abby are legally teens yet."
"We're thirteen!"
"Case in point."
"Then what are we supposed to do? Go into hiding?" Jules asked. Nobody answered. "Oh."
"I don't want to go into hiding." Abby shook her head, twisting the bow so tightly her knuckles turned white. "I just want… I want everything to be the way it was when I woke up this morning. I don't want this."
"None of us do, kiddo." Jules rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Does anyone… does anyone have any family left? I don't like to ask, but if you do then you go find them and you don't ever come looking for the rest of us again."
Finn tentatively raised his hand. "My mom and my grandpa, and my uncle Loki. But I'm not leaving you guys."
"So Jane survived." Thor said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I had feared…"
"But none of the others are volunteering." Steve observed. "So Pepper, at least-"
Tony swore. Steve shot him a glare, but couldn't bring himself to reprimand him.
"I think it's best if you spend some time in Asgard, Finn." Abby said sadly. "The rest of us aren't going anywhere. Probably."
"I am not leaving all of you." Finn insisted.
"If he wants to stay with us, we shouldn't make him go." Jo said, glancing up at the rest of them. "It's his decision. And I think we should stick together."
"Fine." Jules sighed. "I don't even have the energy to argue right now. Anybody else got a place to go?"
Nobody moved. Nobody said anything.
"Then we must all be dead, and all of our spouses." Steve said with a note of finality. "That's it."
"Our kids are still going." Bruce nodded. "We know they're fine after a year and a half."
"We have to find a safe place for all of us to stay." Lou decided. "Jo, the Stark family accounts are still opened, right?"
Jo nodded. "I'm the heiress to the whole company, but there's no way to take money without being traced by the government, and HYDRA."
"I should do something about that." Tony said, making a mental note.
"We should take as much as we can take at once, then find some other way to make money when that runs out." Alex suggested.
"Alright. Jo, Jules, and I will get the money. Abby, Alex, and Finn, you find us a good place to hide. Somewhere nobody would look for the children of superheroes." Lou directed. "Somewhere dark and run down."
"We can do that." Abby nodded. "I always wanted a warehouse. Good for shooting things in. And plenty of boomerang arrow room," She added, smirking slightly at the groan from the others.
"One day I will burn the stupid boomerang arrow." Jo sighed.
"Why do they all hate it so much?" Clint protested. "It's really reliable."
Abby snickered. "Alright, alright. Get going. I'm sick of this hotel room."
Jo, Lou, and Jules left the hotel room and started down the hall. They were all now dressed in civilian clothes, and Jo pulled her red beanie low over her forehead as they left the building. "How does she do that?" Jo wondered as they walked. "Abby, I mean. The world ended this morning and she doesn't even seem bothered anymore."
"That's what she does." Jules shrugged, stopping for a newspaper. "She's just a kid. And if she's smiling, she doesn't have to feel sad like all the rest of us. We shouldn't fight it. Look at this." He passed the newspaper to Lou, who scanned it. The headline read; H-DAY CRIPPLES NATIONS. Underneath that was the line; With no heroes, HYDRA overthrows government.
"As if we didn't all already know that." Lou sighed. Jo took the newspaper, unfolding it. On the front page was a blown up picture of the ruined Avengers tower, and next to that a row of headshots of every Avenger, the Fantastic Four, the X-men, and Guardians of the Galaxy. The caption read; Dead and missing, the world mourns the passing of these heroes.
"I can't believe this is really our future." Bruce mumbled. "It doesn't seem possible. We can't just lose like this."
"I have a feeling," Clint said suddenly. "I didn't want to say anything before, but I have a feeling we aren't dead. I don't think it's true."
"Clint, everything we've seen suggests that the heroes were massacred and HYDRA takes over the governments of the world." Natasha said gently. Actually, not that gently.
Clint shook his head. "I can feel it. Somehow, this is all a lie."
"This is all for today," Heimdall told them. "Return tomorrow."
"And on that cheery note." Clint grumbled, following the Avengers through the portal.
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