Lovely Chapter Image by kjp at TDA
They were at Stark Tower when six Avengers were sitting around, each minding their own business, unaware of their new journey that awaited them.
Clint Barton, who was sitting at one end of a couch, was fiddling about with some of his arrow heads while Natasha Romanoff sat on the other end, reading a book on ancient language families. Steve Rogers, meanwhile, sat crisscrossed on the floor, his back against the wall, flipping through a stack of dried, blood-stained Captain America trading cards; his eyes read that he was lost in his own train of thoughts.
Making some noise at the bar counter was Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, tampering with scraps of metal and trinkets. Of course, being “science brothers”, they were standing side by side in deep concentration, occasionally moving about, back to back, handing each other screwdrivers and muttering things that didn’t make sense to the rest.
Scuffling restlessly about in a chair at the far end of the bar counter sat a defeated, tied up, Loki Laufeyson. His sleek black hair would float in front of his frustrated face, but being tied by his hands, he could do nothing but squirm in the chair he was bound to. Occasionally he would steal deathly glances to his enemies, but Stark would only chuckle smugly at his helplessness.
One day, he thought to himself angrily,
one day I would show them all! This defeat will be the last, and I will show them!
Tiredly looking up from her book, Natasha swiveled around in the couch, turning to face Bruce and Tony. She felt slightly ticked by their noises, and all she wanted to do was read. Was that such a bad thing for them to offer?
“What
are you both making exactly?” She asked, her eyebrows furrowing. Bruce only granted her a shrug of modesty before looking back down at his work. Tony however, grinned at her cheekily.
Great. Natasha thought to herself.
Mister, bastard highness has that look on his face. Do I even want to know?
“This, Tasha,” He said, holding up a chain with a small, flat, circular piece of metal clinging to it, “is going to be a time turner sort of deal. It’ll bring us to the past, to any point of time we’d like.” Tony eyed the uncompleted piece of work with complete marvel, while Natasha just rolled her eyes.
Another silly invention? Give me a break Stark... She snorted to herself.
“And when you go back, you go in the form of your younger self, in whatever age you would be in that period—or at least, something like that…in a way.” Tony blinked, faltering, as if he wasn't sure of his words.
He doesn't even know what he's talking about! Natasha scoffed in disapproval.
“And what if you weren’t born in that period?” Loki asked. He had finally stopped squirming in his seat and was eyeing the pendant-like object with interest. Tony sighed impatiently and in annoyance, as if it was the most stupid question that could’ve been asked.
“Then you remain at the same age,
obviously.” He said. “Right, Bruce?” Tony asked, turning to Bruce who looked up. His glasses slid to the tip of his nose and he gave him a huge grin.
“Right, Tony.” He said and they both slapped exuberant high-fives, bursting out saying, ‘Science Brothers’, before returning happily to work.
Loki rolled his eyes in annoyance and began to look around. Now where was his oaf of a brother? His brother’s lacking presence sort of irked him. Usually Thor would be there, tormenting him and swinging that ridiculous, mighty hammer of his. That's what seperated Loki from Thor. Whilst Loki was silent and thoughtful, his mind on overdrive, Thor was loud and obnoxious. He was boastful and showered his peers with charisma. The two brothers were like fire and ice.
“It’s finished!” Tony cried out triumphantly. “It’s finally finished!” Rushing from behind the counter, he held the swinging, metal pendant in the air proudly. Bruce remained at the back of the counter, putting tools away while Clint, Natasha, and Steve stood up and approached the delighted Tony, all eyes locked upon the Science Brothers’ creation.
“Well,” Natasha began, looking partially amused. “You two did seem to make it look realistic.” Clint stifled a slight snicker, but was unsuccessful. Tony meanwhile, snapped his eyes onto Natasha, all signs of pride gone from his face. Natasha cherished his look. It was nice to see his ego deflated whenever possible.
“What?” He asked as he turned to face all of them, reaching to a final conclusion. “You don’t believe me? You don’t believe that this can work?” He demanded. Natasha shook her head.
“Time travel,” She began, “Is impossible.” At this, Tony’s eyes widened, partially out of being offended. His face became sour, as if he swallowed a lemon.
“Oh, so you’re saying a man
can turn into an enraged green beast but time travel is
impossible?”
“Hey! I heard that!” Bruce snapped from behind the counter. He was now watching them, arms crossed against his chest. He didn’t like people mocking his transformations. He didn’t find it funny at all. When Natasha too folded her arms and looked away, Tony continued.
“Are you saying that two gods can appear out of the sky but time travel is impossible, because if you do, you know that's hypocrocy." He smirked when he saw Natasha flush, her face turning a dark crimson, her eyes flashing dangerously.
One knew better than to cross Natasha Romanoff, but Tony was too proud to tread carefully.
“Steve, Clint. Back me up please!” Natasha hotly demanded, stepping two steps back. She looked somewhat pleadingly into Clint’s eyes, hoping for assistance from her best friend, but Clint merely shrugged. Angrily, she turned to Steve who just stared back.
Steve should have something to say! She thought desperately.
Steve and Tony are polar opposites, they argue in a snap!
But when Steve only continued to stare, she felt a surge of anger ignite inside.
Well, it seems as if I'm going to deal with this conceited pig on my own. She thought.
“
And,” Tony said, resting his eyes on Steve. “A man can be turned into a
super-soldier and still be alive under the ice for
seventy years but there cannot be such thing as a man inventing time travel?” When Natasha just stood there, fighting the temptation to sock him hard on the face, Tony gloated.
"You see Tasha? You can't say anything, because you know I'm right. Therefore, your arguments are invalid!"
"They are not!" Natasha hissed, stepping forward fiercely. "Your invention cannot turn back time! You're not a genius! And you are most definately a stupid, arrogant, good for nothing--"
“Well I’m back with some shawarma, if that’s what you call it!” said a voice at the light illuminated doorway. They all turned around to see a dirty blonde haired, tall man with a small take out bag in his hand. His delighted smile faded, however, upon seeing that there was a commotion between his comrades. He allowed his eyes to dart between the infuriated, red-headed lioness, and the terrified Stark.
Forgetting that he and Natasha were butting heads, Tony strided over to Thor, leaving Natasha to scowl at his swaggering gait. “Ahhh, Thor, you sir are the man!” Tony grinned, thumping Thor on the back.
He grabbed the bag from a bemused Thor and helped himself to a wrapped shawarma before handing the bag back to him. Taking the wrapper off, Tony tore through the shawarma, which looked somewhat like a burrito, and opened his mouth to speak.
“Gish ish goosh schtuff!” He proclaimed, pointing at mouth, revealing a compound of brown mush. Clint wrinkled his nose and Steve grimaced. Loki paid no attention and Bruce stood at his corner, slightly smirking.
That's fucking gross, shut your trap Stark... Clint though in disgust.
“I think I’ve lost my appetite, thanks!” Natasha said collapsing back at her spot in the sofa, arms still folded across her chest. She was determined to look anywhere and at anyone but Tony.
“Chute yourshelf. You’re misching out.” Tony replied, taking another bite. He allowed himself to close his eyes in pleasure and let out a small moan. Natasha growled at Tony's noise while the men just raised eyebrows and exchanged looks.
That would've so gone onto Facebook! Clint thought, shaking his head.
“You men have utterly no manners at all, have you not?” Thor asked, looking disgusted by Tony’s etiquette. Tony opened his eyes and blankly stared, frozen in mid gulp and then shrugged, returning to his meal.
“Yes, well, we can all agree that Tony isn’t a man. More like a pig. A billionaire, playboy, philanthropist of a pig!” Steve said, rolling his eyes, and he too joined Natasha at the sofa, his eyes still on Tony.
“No, no, no. You forgot
genius. It’s actually
genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.” Tony corrected.
“Whatever.” Steve snorted, fixing his eyes at the wall. Thor only shook his head dejectedly. He seemed piqued by their annoyance towards one another.
“Why must men always fight? We just defeated my brother and an evil army together, and here we are, quarreling like children.” He said, sounding exasperated. "Have we not learned our lesson? Did our battle today not just teach us the morale of unity and teamwork? United we stand, divided we fall!"
“Adopted. I’m adopted, Thor!” Loki called out, sending a seething look to Thor who just rolled his eyes.
“Yes, but that is beside my point.” Thor snapped.
"It's Natasha who won't cooperate!" Tony cried out, crossing his arms. Thor rounded to Tony, an impatient look blazing in his eyes, but then, as if forgetting about what was going on, focused on the metal pendant that hung below Tony’s glowing chest reactor.
“And what may I ask, is that?” He pointed. Tony, thankfully, gulped before he spoke.
“Oh this? This sir is Bruce and I’s finest invention. The time pendant.” He said mystically, taking it off, and handed it to Thor to examine. Natasha snorted.
“A time traveler?” Thor breathed. “Does it work?” He asked quietly, looking up at Tony. Tony shrugged.
“We haven’t tested it. Bruce and I just finished it before you came in.”
“Then perhaps we can…?”
“Absolutely not!” Bruce said, coming from behind the counter. “We can’t just play trial and error. Time travelling can be dangerous. One wrong button or travelling now can leave us stuck in that time period forever!” He scolded sternly, stretching out his arm. Again, Natasha snorted. “Thor, I think its best you give it to me.” Bruce continued, but Thor gave a bark of laughter and grinned recklessly.
“What? But certainly with the wit of both you and Stark, your invention is—“
“Absolutely not.” Bruce cut off. This time he took a giant leap forward, making a snatching movement for the time turner, only for Thor to raise his arm, far from Bruce’s grasp.
“You do not want to see me angry.” Bruce said quietly.
“You honestly don’t think I’ve forgotten about our showdown, do you?” Thor asked grinning happily. He remembered fairly well when Bruce turned into the Hulk back in the Helicarrier and all hell broke loose.
“Please don’t make him angry!” Pleaded Loki in his seat, watching Bruce with a weary face. He could vividly remember the monstrous green giant screaming, ‘Hulk smash puny god!’ as he bashed him repeatedly into the floor. Bruce turned to him, sniggering smugly.
Then, at that, the world began to spin and swirl before all their eyes, and within a minute, they all came falling down with a crash. Everyone was perhaps pre-occupied, allowing Thor to fiddle with the pendant like a baby playing with a toy.
~*~*~*~
“Wh-wh-what happened?” stammered Natasha groggily. She sat up, and noticed that they were no longer at Stark Tower. Instead, she was sitting on cool earth; the smell of the outdoors had filled her nostrils. Blinking, she looked around. They were indeed outside, but not outside where she was familiar. Panicking, she looked around and heard a soft moan not far from her. It wasn’t exactly night yet, but the sky was indeed getting darker, and the moaning figure she spotted was of a blonde headed seventeen year old. He was athletically built, wearing vintage clothing, as if he was from the 40’s. His face looked so familiar…
Oh god! It can’t be! Natasha thought to herself.
It is! It’s Steve! Looking around, she spotted Clint a few feet away. He too looked younger, about the same age as Steve. His hair was darker and fuller than Natasha imagined it to be, and he was wearing tight fitted, black clothing. His agent uniform. And like Steve, he was squirming about.
So it works? It really works? But damn, what do I look like? Standing up shakily she looked around at the surrounding, moaning bodies.
Bruce was fidgeting around the most. His glasses were askew, and his face seemed to look the youngest of them all. His complexion looked soft and one would never know that a monster hid beneath just a few emotions away. He was mumbling something about ‘Thor’ and ‘time’, and his face twitched manically.
Tony’s reactor was glowing, illuminating his face. Teenage Tony. He was only seventeen and there was no second guessing that he was the all-time partier and player of his age. His dark brown hair was untidily sticking up. He was wearing his dark blue jeans and his Black Sabbath shirt. For a moment, he looked peaceful, which Natasha couldn’t believe.
Ah well, I'll throttle his neck later...
Thor and Loki were a small distance away. Natasha could secretly say that Thor was the most dashing looking out of them all. His dirty blonde locks were a pure golden and shorter. His strong fingers were wrapped tightly against his hammer, holding it close to his chest. Natasha giggled, noting how he held it so close like a teddy bear. His body was draped with his burgundy cape. His facial beard was replaced with stubble. He basically looked like a younger version of his future self.
As for Loki, his skin was an icy pale and his long, black, slick hair was spiky. He was wrapped in his green cape; the chair he was sitting on was broken of its legs. He made no movements, nor uttered a sound.
“Natasha?” A voice called behind her.
“Clint,” She said, rushing and kneeling down to her friend who was sitting up, stirring.
“Damn, you look young! Or am I just delusional?” He asked, confused, his head was cocked to one side. Natasha chuckled and helped him to his feet. Clint staggered a little, but gained his balance within a few seconds.
“No, you’re not being delusional. You’re young too.” She smiled shyly.
Wow, Clint was cute back then! She thought to herself. But she pushed the thought away. They were just friends. She refused to allow any romance to blossom between her and Clint. Love and Natasha did not mix well at all. It would be like mixing fire and water. Fire most certainly did not love water.
“So does that means we’re…back in time?” Asked a bleary voice. Natasha and Clint jumped, and then turned to Steve, who was sitting there, looking around. Natasha hid a soft smile of sudden reminiscing. Steve reminded her about the boys back from high school, all muscular, and athletic—competing for wrestling and such. He could pass as any other high school jock, only Steve wasn’t a bastard. He was smart with a good heart—just a tad bossy if anything.
“Bruce. Hey, Bruce, wake up!” They all turned to look at young Tony who had crawled his way to Bruce’s side, shaking him obnoxiously. When Bruce sat up stirring, he blinked and squinted his eyes in disbelief.
“T-T-Tony?” He asked. Tony nodded his head elatedly. “Holy shit!” Bruce whispered, running his hands through his hair. Noticing how thick his hair felt between his fingers, he turned to find Natasha, Clint, and Steve gawking at him. They too he noticed, looked young. “Holy shit!” He yelped, standing up, grabbing fistfuls of his dark, curly locks. Tony laughed.
“We did it! It worked Bruce, it worked!” Tony ruffled Bruce’s hair in delight. “Up high man!” He cried enthusiastically and Bruce slapped him a high five, a frail smile on his face. “Yeauh, Science Bros!” Tony said pelvic thrusting with much bravado. Natasha, Clint, and Steve couldn’t help but share Bruce’s wide grins, for it was funny to see the young Tony Stark pelvic thrusting while the sky slowly turned black.
There was a staggering sound and they all turned to look at Thor who had stumbled his way clumsily to the awakening group. His arms were supporting the young Loki who was also clumsy on his feet.
“You—blasted—oaf.” They could hear Loki curse his brother under his breath. “I felt as if I was slammed against the ground again.” He hissed. Looking up, his face went from twisted anger to shock.
“We went back in time?” He cried indignantly. Turning to Thor, he howled. “Thor, look what you’ve done. You damn, blasted, good for nothing lout!” Loki watched as his brother’s eyes narrow.
“Me, a lout? Why you blithering little…” The five watched as Thor wrapped his fingers instantly around his hammer, while Loki braced himself for the worst. In a heartbeat, Steve managed to hurl himself between the conflicting brothers.
“No. We are—not—fighting—this –out.” Steve growled through clenched teeth, his arms waving outstretched. Thor tried to shove him, Loki was bouncing on his tiptoes, jutting his tongue out, and Steve only threw him back. When both brothers gave up, still seething, Steve said, “Not yet at least. Come on, what year are we in?” He looked at Thor, his arms finally dropping to his side, breathing heavily. Thor growled.
“What are you looking at me for?” He snarled, trying to find his way to get to Loki who sneered.
“Because you had the time turner last!” Loki jeered, jumping up and down, scornfully looking at his older brother. “How our father made our mother bore such an insignificant son—”
“Shut up!” Steve roared. “If you don’t, well, Bruce can take care of that!” He snapped. Loki’s taunting face turned frightened. Bruce pondered whther he should be flattered or offended.
“Scotland. 1978.” Thor announced. “Scotland? What’s Scotland?” A cloudy expression of confusion blanketed his once fierce face.
“Scotland. It’s a place. It’s a country to be exact. Like America.” Natasha explained, walking towards Thor. “1978? Well, that’s quite a while back.” She took the time turner from Thor’s hand and tossed it to Bruce.
“I think it’s only right for the time turner maker to keep it. That way he can figure out how he can make things go back to normal.” Natasha caught the look on Tony’s face before adding, “The maker who is the more responsible of the two.” Tony sulked, looking away. His eyes then opened widely in shock.
“It’s a castle.” He pointed. They all turned to look at where Tony’s finger indicated to. There, not far off, sat a huge castle, yellow light illuminating from its windows in the almost black sky.
“Where exactly in Scotland are we?” Steve asked, turning to them all. He was only granted numerous of shrugs before a booming voice erupted out of nowhere.
“Why, yer at Hogwarts. The school of witchcraft and wizardry!” The voice boomed merrily. With those to their back to him, they turned to look into the eyes of a giant.
Natasha gasped while Tony and Steve's eyes opened in shock. Bruce and Clint took a couple of steps back. Loki looked like he was struck by lightning and Thor was grinning ear to ear, standing his ground.
The giant had a straggly beard, and course, straggly hair as well, but a small glint in his eyes, showed the teenagers that he was safe, friendly, and approachable.
"A giant in Midgard? But, surely..." Thor looked surprised and in joy. Meanwhile, the giant looked down at him in interest.
“Me name’s Hagrid. ‘Suppose it’s best if I lead ya’ all to the castle. Not much of yer folks be wandering to this part of Britain. Actually, muggles like yerselves shouldn’t be seein’ this castle at all, blimey!” The giant called Hagrid explained.
Muggles? What are those? And witches? Wizards? Time travelling? The teenagers interchanged thoughts, each wondering about the same thing. What have they meddled with? Was the pendant right about it being 1978?
Not wanting to be left out in the darkness with lord knows what; they dashed after Hagrid, making their way to the castle gates.
Author’s Notes:
Here you go, the newly edited and revised version of chapter one. My laptop broke down, so I lost all of my pre-written chapters up to 12. While dad's getting it fixed, I'm editing my previous first five on mum's computer. Welcome, to new readers. I hope ya'll enjoy.
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