Postremo

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Chapter 1

"Wake up! One of your stupid machines worked! It's sparking and I think it's about to blow up!" The dark haired boy, dressed all in green and black, dashed inside and began shaking the lumpy form beneath the blankets. His bright green eyes sparkled with barely contained panic, as he practically shouted, "Come on! Get up!"

The figure shot out of the narrow bed, banging her knees, hard, against the desk in front of her. She brushed back her tangled, curly, shoulder length, chocolate brown hair. Her deep green eyes widened and flashed wildly as she nearly tripped. She grabbed a pair of baggy gray trousers and began tugging them on as she stumbled out into the hall. The boy ran after her, sweeping his black hair away from his face as he ran. "What was it supposed to do?"

"I have no idea. As far as I know most of them aren't even operational. At least, they aren't supposed to be." She almost tripped as she finished fastening her trousers. She bounded down the hall, letting her long legs take her down the halls in quick bounds. She made it to the end of the hall and threw open the door to the small, but well equipped, laboratory open violently. It slammed into the wall, leaving behind a rather large dent. She winced when she noticed the dent, but let it slip her mind when she saw what was going on inside. She stopped dead, eyes wide when she saw the machine.

She heard the boy coming in behind her. She grabbed his arms and twisted him in front of her as she turned her back on the machine and jumped back out into the hall. She crouched, keeping the boy cocooned safely in front of her. There was a thunderous crash; sparks flew out the still open door followed by several large pieces of twisted metal. The boy muttered, "You're going to be in so much trouble."

She released him as she murmured, "This really isn't my fault. Someone must have messed with it."

"Or maybe you didn't turn it off properly." They both looked up at the old, imposing black man who walked toward them. His long coat fluttered as he came to a halt and clasped his hands behind his back. His dark skin gleamed in the dim, flickering lights. He glared down at them, "You did turn it off properly, didn't you?"

She blinked three times in quick succession. "I think so General Fury."

Fury sighed, putting a hand on his forehead and massaging his temples, "You 'think so'?"

She shrugged; face inscrutable, "I think so. I don't remember. I started thinking about how I could modify my scooter so it can go over water. I figured out that if I can get the –" There was a crash from inside and she broke off, "Wait."

She was on her feet and back inside the lab in seconds. There was a crash, a small whimper. After that there was a long silence, and then she came out again. She looked up at Fury, "If I tell you something scary, will you be mad with me?"

"That depends on what it is." Fury considered going into the lab.

She began twisting her fingers in tight, quick circles. "The machine that malfunctioned was my," her voice trailed off as she mumbled, "experimental time and displacement machine."

Fury blinked. The boy opened his mouth as he scrambled back down the hall. "Wait till the guys hear about this! This is so bad, it's cool!"

When the boy had disappeared, Fury swallowed, "What are you telling me?"

She blinked three times, "I'm really sorry about this."

His eye narrowed and she swallowed, actually starting to feel uncomfortable, hunching her shoulders as she rested her back against the wall and looked down, trying not to catch Fury's eye. He continued staring at her, not letting his gaze drop. She swallowed hard, gathering her courage and breathing deeply. She looked up at him, meeting his eye squarely, "I had the machine pointed toward Stark Tower. Mr. Stark let me take away small objects from the top. Shoes, the occasional animal, prototypes of Justin once or twice, but that's about it." Her eyes fluttered shut three times in quick succession. "But I'd never tried it on anything from the past. When the machine malfunctioned, it somehow went back to the past and took something."

The lights in the station flickered out. Fury stiffened when he heard the startled shouts echoing around the base. The whole hallway began to shake. Glass fell from the ceiling, shattering on the floor and shooting out in all directions. The girl yelped, putting her hands up to shield her face as the glass caught her on the cheek. The base continued shaking, the vibrations getting stronger and faster, knocking the girl to the ground and almost causing Fury to fall as well.

Quite suddenly, the vibrations ceased and everything seemed to go back to normal. The lights came on again, but their light was weak and barely made a difference in the darkness. He felt the girl move close to him in the dark, getting up off the floor and slipping her hand into his. Fury considered pulling his hand away, but she sensed his intention and tightened her grip.

The bones in Fury's hand clicked.

They heard three sets of footsteps pounding down the hall. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. He shone it at the boys as they appeared in the gloom. The tallest boy skidded to a halt, dark blond hair gleaming in the faint light as he also pulled out a flashlight and held it up, "General Fury, what happened?"

"Ask her." Fury shook his hand loose and stalked off down the hall.

The boys stared at her as the light danced across her face and lit up the hollows of her thin face. Her bloody cheek was smarting, but she smiled slightly as she confessed, "I think I just screwed up history, by a lot." She actually seemed excited by the prospect.

The tall boy sighed, "Your dad is going to kill you."

"Your dad is going to kill me." She pointed at the other boys. "And your dads are going to kill me." She paused as she looked at the last boy, "Actually, your dad might thank me, then kill me."

The green eyed boy nodded, "It's true."

The lights flickered on and off for a moment, then went out again. Another flashlight was turned on and shone directly into her eyes. She turned away as she sighed, "Terry, does SHEILD have any rules against changing the past, then fixing it and possibly destroying history as we know it?"

"You know they do." Terry sighed, "What are you planning?"

She ignored him and slipped back into the lab. Terry followed her. The other two followed them both, shoving one another roughly as they both tried to get inside the lab first. Terry yanked them back as they stared at the remains of the lab. Twisted hunks of metal lay scattered on the smoke blackened floor. The girl picked her way around the wreckage, occasionally pulling out something that she'd apparently deemed useful. When she had finished rooting though the mess, she knelt and pulled out a small bag. She kept it in her lab at all times, in case of emergencies or needing to make a quick getaway. She stuffed several large guns inside it, followed by a net and several grenades. Terry realized her intent. "You're joking."

The girl looked squarely at him. His deep, blue gold flecked eyes were troubled and his brow was furrowed in a worried frown. The blue shirt, with the black star on the chest, he wore was ripped on one sleeve and he had grime smeared on his cheeks. His muscular arms were folded on his chest. His expression changed from concern to disbelief and annoyance.

She picked up the golden scepter, the blue gem at its tip glowing faintly. She held it up and the boys stared at it, instantly recognizing Loki's fabled scepter. The blue gem flared violently when Terry tried to touch it; he pulled back hurriedly, gazing at it nervously. Terry blinked, "When did you pull this out of the time stream?"

She paused for a moment, inspecting the machine's display panel. When it stayed blank for a few seconds longer than she deemed necessary, she slapped it as hard as she could. The machine hummed, and the display lit up. "A few minutes before Natasha used it to close the portal."

Terry's jaw tightened, "What are you saying?"

"If you're too dumb to get it," The black haired boy rolled his eyes, "You really shouldn't be in charge."

"Terry's not dumb, you jerk!" The boy's grayish blue eyes snapped angrily as he rounded on the green eyed, slightly taller, boy.

Bailey shook her head at the two younger boys as they were about to begin arguing, "I don't know for sure what happened. But if it's what I think it is, then we're in serious trouble." She frowned, biting her lip roughly as she muttered, "We may need back up."

She shoved the scepter into the bag, fastening the drawstring securely before she tossed it over her shoulder. The two smaller boys stared at each other, then looked up at Terry. He had shut his eyes and seemed to be contemplating shouting. She pushed the boys out of the way, heading for the time machine. It was blackened by smoke and part of the machine had melted in one corner. Another part had broken off completely, exposing the wire and circuit boards beneath. She began turning dials, making certain the machine was still operational and not paying attention to Terry as he began talking, "Bailey, you're not going back. You can't. You've already messed up history."

"Are you sure? Nothing appears to have happened." The green eyed boy looked around. He looked up at Terry, "I don't think anything that bad could've happened."

Bailey looked at them, "It might. If you're coming with me, go get what you'll need. If you're not, then don't tell anyone where, and when, I've gone, for a few hours at least."

The boys disappeared. Bailey continued fiddling with her machine. She lifted it off its stand and made sure it was light enough for her to carry easily. It was small enough to be carried in both arms, almost like a baby. It made her double over under the weight, but only for a moment, then she straightened up, adjusting to the weight easily. She put it down on the counter, turned it over, pulled out the strap that had been trapped beneath it and slipped it over her left shoulder and let it rest on her chest. The boys reappeared after a moment, each with a bag strapped on their back. They went over to her, eyeing the contraption warily. Bailey smiled at them.

That was when Fury suddenly dashed back inside. He had his gun drawn and was covered in grime. He stared at them, "Who the hell are you?" He leveled his gun at Terry before waiting for an answer. His finger began pulling back on the trigger, obviously not caring for an explanation.

Terry stared at Fury, not incredibly shocked, before moving quickly. He grabbed Fury's gun and spun the older man into the wall. He pressed his forearm against Fury's neck, holding it there as gently as he possibly could.

Fury was strong despite his age, but he was no match for Terry. Soon the one eyed man went limp. Terry caught him as he fell forward and leaned him against the wall. He grabbed the shorter boys and shoved them in front of him. He glared down at the girl, "You'd better not screw this up Bails."

"She won't. I bet she does this all the time, don't you Bailey?" The slim red headed boy wriggled away from Terry and grinned at Bailey.

She looked down at him, blinking three times in quick succession. She looked back at the console. "Actually, this will be the first time it's been used on anything human."

"What?" All three boys stared at her.

She smiled.

Terry sighed, "Do we hold onto anything?"

"Just make sure you can hold onto me and we'll be fine." Bailey looked down as a pair of arms snaked around her chest. "A little lower, Justin."

Terry swatted the shorter boy across the ear. "Don't be an idiot."

The green eyed boy laughed and Justin glowered at him as he rubbed his ear tenderly, "Shut up Lofi."

Lofi smirked, "I don't see why I should." He rested a hand gracefully on Bailey's shoulder, ignoring the others completely as he stared off into the distance.

Justin stuck his tongue out, but when Lofi refused to acknowledge him Justin simply grabbed Bailey's hair and tugged on it slightly. Bailey considered shaking him off, but instead let him hold on. After a moment, Justin grabbed her waist with one arm and began poking Loki with his free hand. Terry held onto the Lofi's shoulders, resting a hand on the gun holster at his waist and looking over his shoulder to make sure no SHEILD agents were about to run in.

"Hang on." The boys tightened their grip as Bailey hit the glowing green button.

Lofi spoke up suddenly, "Wait, how are we going to get back?"

Bailey started to answer, but the machine whirred and they were sucked into a tunnel of light. To the teens, it felt as if they were simply lifted into the air. Really, their bodies disintegrated rapidly and disappeared into the tunnel. The colors alternated in a blur. Blue, white, purple, black all flashed past and were so bright the teens had to shut their eyes against the glare. Bailey felt the grip on her waist tighten and squinted down at Justin. He grinned at her, shouting over the white noise that crackled around them, "Do you think we can get grounded in the past?"

XXXXX

This was written on a whim. And I've been on an Avengers kick of a while now. Remember, if you like it, review it.