I don't own any MCU characters, they belong to Marvel/Disney, as well as any other element of any other work, creation that appears, credits to whomever it may be.
"Thoughts"
"Speaking"
"{Other Language}"
A thank you to "alcimines" for letting me use "Down Through the Years"
Everyone could hear the sulking billionaire muttering words like
"With friends like these…"
"Rhodey..."
"Traitor friends..."
"Cap"
"Ungratefuls"
"Delators"
"How do they betray me like this"
Then most simply shook their heads at Tony Stark's attitude, rolled their eyes or looked at him unimpressed at his drama and they focused on the screen that changed again.
But the image that was shown worried them a little, as well as confusing them.
Van Helsing, 2014 - Scotland
The girl scrabbled backwards into a hollow between two trees, her eyes wide and terrified. She was wearing nothing but a nightdress. There was a light coat of dark brown fur on her face, arms, and feet. Also, the nails on her hands and feet were unnaturally thick and elongated, her ears were pointed, and her eyes were strangely golden.
Van Helsing had managed to get to the girl before the oncoming mob. They could both hear the roaring and shouting slowly increasing in volume. Van Helsing knew he had to kill the werewolf before it tore into the mob - killing many and leaving others to carry the taint of the beast.
"Werewolf?" Lang said at the peculiar appearance of the girl, as well as the narration that could be heard.
"Wouldn't werewolf woman be more appropriate?" It was Sam who said it.
"It matters?" Bucky added.
"She doesn't look dangerous," Rogers said at the scared appearance of the girl on the screen.
First problem: contrary to all appearances, the girl wasn't a werewolf. She didn't have the aura of bestial blood-lust about her that Van Helsing knew so well.
"If she's not a monster then what is she?" It was Rhodey who asked that question out loud.
"The world gets stranger and stranger every year..." Sam said with some complaints at how problematic his life has become.
The others on the other hand now that they knew that the girl was not really a monster were now worried for the girl's safety, especially Lang, Peter, and Steve.
Second problem: it was a girl. She was maybe thirteen years old.
Third problem: the mob was still blundering its way through the woods. And they certainly wouldn't be inclined to listen to reason.
With a soft curse, Van Helsing put away his silver stake and crouched next to the girl.
"What's your name?" he asked gently.
"Rahne," the girl said tremulously.
"Rahne - you're a mutant, aren't you?"
At the term 'mutant' they frowned, since it was not one used regularly, because the one they used was 'altered' or 'enhanced', as it was with Pietro and Wanda when they met them, or for Peter when Tony was looking for individuals to stop Steve and Bucky.
With tears in her eyes, the girl shook her head miserably. "Ah dunno know what ah am!"
Van Helsing frowned. "Can you change back?"
Rahne hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. After closing her eyes and concentrating, her flesh seemed to shimmer and ripple as the fur withdrew and the oddly proportioned parts of her body shifted back to normal.
Van Helsing quickly gave Rahne a hand up and then wrapped her in his long coat. Otherwise, Rahne's white nightdress might catch some stray flicker of light. Then the two of them slipped away into the darkness.
—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
Logan, 2014 - Westchester County
Logan, Charles, Ororo, Scott, and Jean were in the Professor's office. It was the weekly senior staff meeting.
"They are the people we saw before and the man in the wheelchair is the Doctor in genetics, Charles Javier" Vision said to the people who were on the screen, recognizing them as the young people they saw before "Only they are older than in the moment they was in that peculiar room"
At the android's words the others made a note to keep an eye on Westchester County.
"Thank you for saying it Vis," said Wanda, who was interested in meeting other people who had developed powers like her, but worried about the possibility that they had to go through the same thing as her and her brother, especially given Xavier's specialty, but she wasn't the only one with that last concern.
"We have a mutant kid who needs help," Logan said after the usual business had been dealt with. "Her name's Rahne Sinclair. She's a Scottish girl who can shift back and forth between a human and wolf-like form. We need to pick her up."
That was the most Logan had ever said at once in a staff meeting. Everyone stared at him as if he had grown a second head.
"Logan... how do you know of this?" the Professor asked slowly.
"A contact gave me a phone call."
"A contact?" Scott asked abruptly.
Logan picked up his coffee cup and looked at Scott expressionlessly. "Yep. A contact."
Jean and Ororo gave each other an amused glance. The Scott and Logan show was starting earlier than usual today.
"Don't the two of them get along?" Peter asked, feeling a peculiar sensation between the two men.
"How are we going to know, kid?" Sam responded with another question, but he, like the rest, thought similarly to Parker regarding the two men on the screen.
"Where is she?" Scott asked through gritted teeth.
"London. Rahne is staying with the staff at Saint Paul's Cathedral. A guy named Van Helsing is keeping an eye on her until we show up."
"Logan, do you want to go get her?" Professor Xavier asked.
Logan hesitated before answering. "You know, that might not be a good idea. She's confused enough as is."
The Professor wasn't entirely sure why Logan considered that to be a problem, but he accepted his opinion. He glanced inquiringly in Scott's direction.
"We'll do it," Jean said immediately.
"I will go with you," Ororo added quickly. Something was going on and she refused to miss it.
"I guess no one knows about his 'monster' hunting twin," Shuri said, still trying to think of some scientific explanation.
But her brother noticed that her voice had a certain change in tone, which made him look at her for a moment.
"Without a doubt," said Natasha and Hill, noticing that none of the others present in the office shown on the screen seemed to recognize Van Helsing's name.
"Then you'll be surprised to see your Doppelgänger," said Tony, who had stopped sulking in his seat, while the screen changed to the interior of a church.
—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
Van Helsing, 2014 - London
Years ago, the Holy Order had taken a long look at the burgeoning mutant and supers situation and decided that it really wasn't in their purview. However, they did maintain extensive dossiers on all of the major players. It was all too easy for the uninformed to decide that a super-power was actually the work of the devil, and the Holy Order didn't like to make that kind of mistake.
"History does not say the same"
"Tony," some of the others said.
"Hey! Just watch documentaries about witch hunts, crusades and other religious things," the billionaire defended himself.
"Perhaps this Holy Order was not like the rest of the Christian religion, perhaps it was more fair and sensible, Mr. Stark?"
"Child, don't help"
On the other hand, those who worked for SHIELD at some point were wondering how the church compares to SHIELD, they couldn't be better informed, right?
Those dossiers made for interesting, and sometimes entertaining, reading. The one on Thor consisted of two pages of a dry and professionally detached discussion of his observed powers and recent history - and something like fifty pages of an angry, sputtering, denunciation of the idea that he was a god. And Magneto would have been surprised to know just how close of an eye the Holy Order was keeping on his activities.
"Magneto? Who the hell would use that name?"
"Shuri," T'challa said.
Wanda, for her part, like some of the others, thought about the man they had seen with a metal helmet, and she, like the rest, was quite curious to know the Vatican's opinion on Thor, given the description in some of the files. . .
On the other hand, the file on a retired medical doctor named Stephen Strange was well over two hundred pages in length and even Van Helsing wasn't cleared to read it.
So while Van Helsing was a bit disappointed that Logan didn't make the pickup, it was a pleasure to finally meet Jean, Ororo, and Scott. He'd read a great deal about them.
For their part, Jean, Ororo, and Scott were utterly flabbergasted to meet Van Helsing.
"HAHAHA, look at their faces," said the African princess before the trio's glances, especially the man's when he met Van Helsing.
Her brother let it go this time, as he too found it somewhat amusing, while at the same time he and several of the others thought that Perker was right about Loggan and Scott.
"Christ... there's two of them," Scott said to Jean in utter disgust. He was so shocked that he didn't even try to keep his voice down.
Van Helsing didn't respond to Scott's outburst. He seemed to be examining Jean and Ororo's earrings.
—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
Logan, 2014 - Westchester County
Rahne was nervous at first, but Marie and Kitty were an enthusiastic welcoming committee. In no time at all, Rahne was warming up to the idea of attending a new school.
"Thanks for picking her up," Logan told Scott. Scott nodded abruptly, turned on his heel, and stalked away. As he headed out of the hangar bay, Logan heard Scott mutter, "One is more than enough."
Fury snorted, agreeing with what was said, if the little he had about Logan was true, which seemed to be the case considering the attitude he and the others had briefly seen, especially against monsters, but he also muttered, "Stark is worse"
Only Hill, along with Romanov heard it, and agreed, this Logan seemed like someone more tolerable than the billionaire. However, some still found the attitude that this Scott showed after meeting the monster hunter amusing.
Logan grinned cheerfully. It was shaping up to be a great day.
"You could have warned us," Jean said reproachfully.
Logan shrugged. "The whole thing is kind of hard to explain."
"So just who is that man?" Ororo asked curiously. "Your son? He looks younger than you."
"Actually, it's the other way around," Logan said dryly. "He's been around for a long time. I'm his great-great-great grandson - or something like that. The number of 'greats' is kinda up in the air."
Jean and Ororo both blinked in surprise.
"I don't blame them, it's still hard to believe," Ant-man said because in his opinion it was still hard to believe the kinship between the two men.
"I agree," both Clint and Wanda said.
Then Jean frowned. "Is he a mutant? He doesn't have a Cerebro signature."
Logan hesitated before replying. "Maybe he's a mutant. Maybe he's something else."
"Something else?" Ororo repeated. "What kind of something else?"
Logan took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. He looked at Jean, then at Ororo, and then he said, "He might be the Archangel Gabriel in human form."
Jean and Ororo stared at Logan.
Logan gave Jean and Ororo a sympathetic look and then walked over to introduce himself to Rahne. The girl seemed puzzled as he approached. However, Marie and Kitty immediately included Logan in the conversation and quickly helped sort out any confusion.
"It was obvious, like water is wet," Tony said and no one said anything about his sarcasm, because they still found it hard to believe.
—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—|—
Van Helsing, 2015 - Stockholm
The mission was over. It had been yet another maniac experimenting with Frankenstein's mad reanimation science. Fortunately, he hadn't gone too far. Van Helsing settled for burning the man's laboratory to the ground and handing him over to the local authorities. Grave robbing was still a crime.
With the new change on the screen, Nick Fury groaned internally and he was not the only one who did so when hearing about someone trying to emulate Doctor Frankenstein, mainly because of the idea of reanimating or giving life to bodies made of different people.
It was not a pleasant idea.
"I need a drink," Sam said before the images that were generated in his mind.
"Me too," said some of the others like Bucky's hunt, Hill, Rhodey, Tony, Shuri.
"Shuri!" it goes without saying who said the name of the African princess in a scolding manner"
That left Van Helsing with nothing to do. Things actually seemed to be under control. So he was sitting in a downtown park, enjoying a moment of peace and quiet. A Vatican jet was scheduled to pick him up tomorrow.
Then his phone rang.
It took Van Helsing a sizable part of the twentieth century to get used to telephones. He finally managed to adjust to both the usefulness and intrusiveness of the device. Then they went and invented those damned cellphones. Now there was no escape.
"We found your soulmate Cap," Tony joked, remembering the difficulties that the World War II veteran has from time to time, although it is no longer as bad as when they met on the Helicarrier and it was attacked by Loki's men.
Rogers for his part just rolled his eyes.
With a sigh, Van Helsing put the phone to his ear.
"Hey," came a familiar voice. Van Helsing instantly began to worry. Logan wasn't given to unnecessary conversation. If he called, it was important.
"Logan, is something wrong?"
There was a long pause before Logan replied. "We've run into something. Something that's more on your end of things than ours."
Van Helsing tensed. "What do you have?"
"We were checking on this woman in Budapest. She's a cop. Tough as nails and really fast. So tough and so fast that at first we thought she might be a low-powered mutant."
Although it was not as worrying as other things that some of the members in the room have had to deal with, it was enough to attract everyone's curiosity or interest.
"Something like the super soldier serum?" Sam commented worriedly, which again brought to Cap and Bucky's minds the existence of the other Hydra super soldiers.
"But magical," Tony said, ignorant of the thoughts of the other 3, but worrying the rest about the possibilities of something like that.
Logan ground to a halt.
"Get on with it, Logan," Van Helsing ordered.
"What's your opinion of reincarnation?" Logan finally asked.
"Oh, come on," several people complained about how annoying the supernatural was.
That was certainly was an odd question, but Van Helsing tried to answer honestly. "It's not a part of my faith, Logan. But there are many in the Holy Order to take the idea for granted. I respect their opinions."
"Okay. Look, I don't know what to make of any of this, but this cop says she knows you from... before. She says her name was Anna and that you and she have some catching up to do. And if you have any doubts as to if it's really her, I'm supposed to ask you about the time you went to the Count's ball and Carl brought down the house. Does any of that sound..."
"I'll be there tomorrow," Van Helsing interrupted.
"Where are you?" Logan asked
"Stockholm."
There was a pause on Logan's end of the conversation. Then he came back.
"Ororo says she can pick you up in the Blackbird. You can be here in three hours."
Van Helsing smiled to himself. It was certainly good to have friends.
"I would appreciate that."
They dealt with a few more details and then the conversation ended.
Van Helsing stood up and gathered up his bag. He had to get to the airport.
He had always known that he would see Anna again someday. He just hadn't expected it to be this way. And so soon.
Just before he boarded a bus, Van Helsing looked skyward and said a quick word of thanks.
"Great, there's another monster slayer, so there's less worries for us," Tony said, with others agreeing on certain aspects.
"But if she was reincarnated? What is the reason for that?" Wanda said, making some of the others moan or grunt in pain or annoyance, since in the face of the supernatural they really didn't know what all the possibilities could be.
They didn't even understand them
If you are interested in reading more chapters of this fanfic or the other fanfics, before they are published here on fanfiction, AO3 and Wattpad
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Thanks to Alexander Cullison, Jose Castro, Sergio Avila Jr, Charles, Edavila, Doom 7bz, Robin DiWinter, Yorda, Red, Wesbrook, John Smith, Bear, DuranteEmrys, Kingjames2332, Hollow_d_wrld, Wat3rF0xKail, D3m0nRulerZ, Stephen Odom, Enrique Cristobal Luna, Christophe Dean, Jake, Leo Clark, Shrimp, Nicholas Fritz, Connor, Lachlan, Aiming, Brandon Ossandon, JamesNic20, Forgotten Frost, julio vega, Connor Lloyd, Godaken, Alex Hawthorne, Roger Gaulke, Kitsune, Jose Vazquez, Brad Rieman, Charles Beecham, WhoisMitch, Ken Harris, Ravunz, Stefan Gottlieb, joshua scroggins, Benji, Rocket22, Luis, Chronicle Clock, God of Wind 200, Alchem, Orioles Enjoyer, Raj, James Cavazos , United Federation, Daniel bridges , XVenomX159, Voidful 911, Malignance, luis a. v. r., Henry, Daniel R. and OettamLass for their support on P treon
A thank you to "alcimines" for letting me use "Down Through the Years"
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