Two Days Ago:
San Francisco, California:
The San Francisco Bay was busy with both pedestrians and officers, many civilians trying to get closer to see the crime scene that was made after yesterday's hectic events.
"Keep them away. We don't need someone contaminating the crime scene," Jimmy Woo, the lead investigator, called out as the officers pushed the people back, turning his gaze back to the crater that was made by Hank Pym's lab.
His eyes traced the rubble along the outskirts of the large crater in the ground, a grimace adorning his face as he thought back to when they had gone to Lang's house only to find him there as though he did not partake in the chaos.
'He most definitely did. The suit had grown just like it did in Berlin...unless there's a second Ant-Man now? No. No, it was Lang. He just managed to trick us,' Woo thought with a shake of his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Officer Woo, sir," Jimmy looked over as Agent Pearson, one of the agents under his command at the San Francisco FBI Office, walked over with an iPad in hand.
"Tell me you got something for me here, Pearson."
"I do, sir."
"Oh, thank god," Jimmy let out a relieved groan before he cleared his throat awkwardly as the female agent frowned in confusion. "I-It's nothing. What do you got?"
"Well, Burleigh and I were looking back at the footage from the security cameras within a two mile radius and we saw something...bewildering, I suppose is the word I'm looking for."
"After everything we've seen from the Avengers and the other heroes? I don't think anything can surprise me."
"We said the same thing, sir," she replied as she turned the iPad while pressing play. Jimmy looked on at the camera footage from one of the cameras stationed at a cafe not too far from the bay that was aimed at an alleyway, but the insistent look from Pearson as he looked up made him look back down.
That was when he saw him appear, his eyes widening at the sight of a familiar and should-be-dead speedster appearing from thin air behind two people with their backs turned to the camera.
The footage then ended and Woo gave a slow blink of his eyes, looking at Pearson who waited for him to speak.
"Was...was that Pietro Maximoff? The older twin brother to Wanda Maximoff?"
"Unless the cameras were faulty that day and that was footage from four years ago, that was indeed him, sir."
"B-But...that's impossible. He's dead. Captain America and Hawkeye gave detailed reports that contained news of his dead...unless they lied?"
"I do not believe Captain America to be the type to lie, sir," Pearson replied and while Jimmy knew it no more to be hero admiration that was twisting her mind somewhat, he couldn't help but agree.
Captain America was a soldier first, but the man was not one to lie on a report nor did he joke about the passing of fellow heroes. Also, from Jimmy's time under Melinda May in S.H.I.E.L.D., he had heard the stories of Hawkeye and the man's honesty compared to most agents.
'But that just means that Pietro Maximoff...is alive. Oh god, who else knows?' he thought as he crossed his arms with a frown. He didn't want to get the hopes up of anyone that knew him, especially Wanda Maximoff given the versatility of her ability, but she had to at least be informed by having the video footage sent to her.
'Who knows? She might just know and Pietro might be in contact with her,' Rubbing his chin with a contemplative look, he shook his head and looked to Pearson.
"Send that footage to Mr. Stark and let him take it from here."
"Shouldn't we also pursue this, sir?"
"No. One thing you'll learn while working with heroes, Pearson, is that involving yourself leads to nothing but trouble," he replied with a shake of his head, to which the female agent nodded before she turned to walk away.
She frowned though at the sight of an elderly man walking hunched-over with a cane in hand stepping past the officers, whom looked conflicted between stopping the man and not wanting to hurt him.
"Sir," she called back to Jimmy, who looked over before he rolled his eyes and walked over.
"I'll handle this. Sir, I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave," Jimmy called out as he walked over, but he blinked when the old man just walked past him towards the outline of rubble that was made by Pym's expanding lab.
"It appears that this is the correct timeline," the coarse, gravelly voice of the old man surprised Woo, but what happened next made his eyes widen as he stumbled backwards.
The old man's flesh rippled and bulged outwards, the skin darkening with colour and gaining a metallic sheen as he stood tall. The clothing he wore burned away to reveal a simple, dark-blue bodysuit under it, a distinctive triangular emblem on his chest that was glowing with a light blue hue while thin, purple bands wrapped around his wrists and biceps.
He grew taller, rising higher and higher until he towered over everyone that stared at him. Finally, his hair fell away as the skin of his scalp bulged outwards, taking the form of a metal helmet that left only his face open for view.
"Initiating primary mission. Target's location found," the man spoke as he turned, crouching down while ignoring Woo and his men raising their pistols at him.
"Sir! I'm gonna need you to sta-Shit!" Woo fell back as the man leapt, a shockwave tearing through the bay as the synthetic android rocketed through the sky with a single leap.
Woo watched as his figure became nothing but a dot in the sky that grew smaller and smaller, letting out a soft sigh before looking to the stunned crowd.
"Well, this has just gone to crap."
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"So, you're Pietro, but another Pietro from another timeline?"
"That's right."
"Our Pietro is still dead?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"So, you're a time traveller?"
"Pretty much. Oh, missed a spot," I murmured as I finished colouring in the hair of the Hulk figure before holding up my page to Nathaniel.
The four year old had a serious expression as though he was expecting it and I hid my smirk with a groan as he shook his head.
"Nope, Hulk'sh hair is grey,"
"Really? I always thought it was like a dark dark green," I replied with a shake of my head, chuckling as Nathaniel just gave an eyeroll and walked away. "Real sassy, huh?"
"Well, he is named after Nat and you, and you are both very sassy," Clint replied and I paused before giving a shrug.
"True, true. Anyway, what you been up to? The Avengers still a thing?"
"You haven't told him?" I already knew, but seeing Wanda's apologetic smile at Clint's raised eyebrow more than made up for faking my ignorance as my little 'older' sister shook her head.
"It's a bit of a messy issue for Vis and I."
"Right, right," he nodded as he turned to where I was sitting on the sofa, Vision and Wanda sitting on the other one next to Cooper who was too busy staring at me with awe to say anything.
Lila on the other hand sat at the dining table in the next room with her mom, but I blinked as I saw her subtle blush and the way her mom looked both amused and exasperated.
...Huh, wonder what that's about?
"Well, to start with, the Avengers are no longer a thing," I turned back to Clint as he began speaking, the man taking a page Nathaniel handed him with a smile. "There was this big fight between us that the media's calling the supposed 'Civil War', which was just Tony and Steve arguing and the rest of us getting caught in the middle of it."
"I...see? Honestly, I don't considering the Steve and Tony I knew from my timeline were the closest of friends," I murmured before shaking my head. "No, wait. There was the one incident with Ultron, but they worked through that."
"You had to fight Ultron too?" Clint asked with a smirk and I groaned.
"Oh, I had to fight Ultron who had the Infinity Stones and who could run as fast as I can. Let me tell you. Getting punched at the speed of light, and getting sent flying through a sea of acid and into a pit of magma is not fun."
"...What?" I just chuckled at Clint's wide eyes and shook my head.
"You guys have those, right? I can see the Infinity Stone in Vision's forehead."
"Thor mentioned them, but...what makes them Infinity?" the archer asked and I noticed the subtle shift in his demeanour as the laziness was gone.
Vision himself looked as though he was paying more attention to my words as well, gripping Wanda's hand beside him as I raised an eyebrow.
"Well, the fact that they're the building blocks of all of existence in the universe is a big part. With the Mind Stone, you can read, manipulate and control all minds you want without needing to worry about any consequences, which is the stone that Vision has."
"Okay, so that is dangerous," Clint murmured and I let out a sigh as I noticed the dangerous shift in the atmosphere.
"And I just made things awkward. Sorry, I tend to do that."
"No worries. Just...tell us about the other stones."
"Well, there's the Tesseract or the Space Stone that allows one to manipulate space. Then, there's the Soul Stone, which allows you to perceive and manipulate souls, the Reality Stone that lets you create illusions so real that others can only perceive them as reality itself, the Power Stone that contains nigh-infinite power and finally the Time Stone."
"Let me guess, manipulate time?" Cooper chimed in and I smirked as Clint palmed his face.
"Yeah, Cooper. That's pretty much it. From fast-forwarding time, reversing time, stopping time, eliminating points in time, creating time loops, perceiving alternate futures, etc. Just like with the Space Stone, you could teleport someone to the core of the Earth or into space and leave them there."
"And this Ultron had all of them?" Wanda asked, looking at me as though I should not be sitting and speaking so nonchalantly about it.
I just gave a soft smile and shook my head before I spoke, "Thankfully, no. You and I had sealed away the Time, Mind and Power Stones, but even with just the three, it took me, cosmic speedster god and her allies to take him out."
"Great, that's...honestly, I thought nothing could baffle me with the stuff I've gone through, but you just found a way."
"Eh, I'm used to subverting expectations," I replied with a shrug, standing up from the sofa. "In any case, I just came here to show you that I'm alive, you know? Make sure you're not depressed and all that."
"Well, I'm not depressed, but it was a very nice visit," he spoke as he stood up, giving me a one-armed hug which I returned. "You're more than welcome to come over again."
"I will. You two need a lift back to Edinburgh?"
"Later. I wish to spend time with little Nathaniel," Nathaniel squealed and giggled as Wanda tickled him, though Vision giving me a subtle nod.
"Okay, then. I'll just head off for a bit and then I'll come."
"Where are you going?" Wanda asked as I walked to the door, to which I just gave a shrug.
"Not much. Just-" I paused in my words as I opened the door, watching as a dot on the far horizon grew larger and larger with every passing second.
"Uh, do we have a hero now that looks like that?" I asked and Clint looked out the window, his narrowed eyes telling me all that I needed to know.
"Laura, kids, cellar. Code Red," he spoke as he pulled off the pillows of the sofa I was sitting on, raising an eyebrow when he pulled out a bow and a quiver of trick arrows.
Vision and Wanda themselves walked out with me and I frowned as the figure was much larger than I expected. They crashed into the ground near the forest line with a loud thump, a frown adorning my face as they stepped out of the crater of their impact.
'Huh, can't say I know who that is.'
"Pietro Maximoff. Designation: Target. Orders: Extermination."
"Another time-traveller like you?" Clint asked, an arrow already notched as I shook my head.
Silver-blue sparks danced across my skin as I shot forward, my fist sparking with energy as I stopped in front of him and swung forward.
I expected a counter or for the attack to miss. What I didn't expect was for the stationary figure to tank the blow with ease and the lack of impact made my eyes widen a smidgen before I rushed back.
It was as I came to a stop that his fist swung through the empty space where I had stood, making me grimace as the man looked up at me with piercing red eyes.
"Well, I Just hit him at full speed and nothing happened."
"Did your blow physically miss him?"
"No, I hit him, but it felt like I punched empty air as there was no recoil or anything."
"Perhaps, he's immune to physical attacks?" Hawkeye suggested and I blinked before turning to Wanda.
"I distract while you three attack him?"
"Just stay out of trouble, please," Wanda spoke and I gave a wink, vanishing with another lunge and racing around him.
I had to keep at a speed where the others could keep up, which meant that everyone could barely follow me. Well, barely only applied to those without sharp eyes and unfortunately, our foe had very sharp eyes.
I raced forward and stopped at the last second, which was good as he swung another fist that whistled past my face and nearly took off my head.
At that moment, a concentrated yellow beam of energy ripped through the air, impacting his side. Yet, I stepped back as the man just took the blow, even going so far as to walk towards me while ignoring the energy beam.
'Okay, so I'm dealing with DBZ Broly here. Well, I'm about to get my shit rocked.'
A/N: And we're done!! Pietro hung out for a bit with Hawkeye, but unfortunately, the weapon sent by the Council of Kang is here.
Next chapter: Infinite Mass.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!!