I have always wanted to do a story like this, where Toni is sent to the past during Steve's early years, so hang with me for about three or four (maybe more) chapters. Trust me, this section of the story is important. Enjoy!

Chapter Seven: Future Past part 1

Hydra was back.

It had all started like any other mission. The alarm at the tower went off, the avengers assembled on the helicarrier, and Steve and Toni bickered like an old married couple. It was normal and familiar to all involved, until it wasn't. Until Steve got hit with a strange ray gun that knocked him out and got him captured. Until the avengers had to go undercover upon finding him, to get him out. Until Clint and Toni noticed a strange device one of the scientists was working on and watched as it targeted hydra soldiers who suddenly vanished from the room. Until they tackled said scientist who accidentally triggered the device and sent Clint and Toni from the room.

That wasn't normal at all.

As the rest of the avengers struggled to get answers about where their teammates had gone, Clint and Toni faced their own predicament elsewhere or should I say, back when…

Toni groaned, her left side hurt where she had landed so roughly after tackling the scientist. It felt like she had slammed into brick. Her face hurt a bit too, no doubt someone's elbow had got her in that little tumble. Gingerly sitting up, she blinked open a slightly swollen eye and stiffened. Her mask was gone and the suit was shattered in various pieces lying around her. And if it felt like she had slammed into brick wall, she guessed it was because she had. In fact, she was on a rooftop surrounded by brick ledges and it was all very… unfamiliar.

But if she was here and Clint had been right beside her… she looked around for her teammate, but didn't see anyone.

"Clint?!" she yelled out. She stood up, her ribs aching as she pressed a hand against them and made her way slowly to the brick ledge. She peered over the top and her heart sank as she recognized the figures lying about twenty feet below on the street.

She looked around, but there didn't seem to be a door up here to go out of to get down. The entire building looked pretty old in style, though well kept up with. If that was the case, old buildings usually used a fire escape or a ladder.

Peering down the various sides of the building, she finally found the fire escape on the complete other side. Quickly, she grabbed the pieces of her suit and shoved them back into a shadowed corner of the roof. The fire escape was low enough that no one would be able to reach the roof very easily, so she figured it would be safe for now until she could return for it.

Hurrying to the ledge, she peered down once more and swallowed. It would hurt, but she knew she had to do it. Slowly, she sat herself down on the ledge and took a breath before allowing gravity to pull her down. She landed with a groan and took a moment to allow the pain to fade before starting down the stairs at a slow, even rate. When she finally reached the ladder rung, about three feet above the ground, she took another breath and prepared herself for the pain.

She jumped.

And landed roughly on her opposite side as her left ribs screamed in agony. Gasping in fresh oxygen, she stumbled to her feet and moved around the building, clutching her side as she went. As she rounded the corner, she hesitated. Two men were kneeling on the ground beside her friend and the hydra scientist. She couldn't see their faces from her current position, but she knew she had to risk it, she had to get to Clint and find out for herself if he was alive or not.

Stumbling forward, watching the two men carefully, they both stepped back as she drew closer. It was only when she saw their faces that she relaxed a bit. They were just teenagers and looked like hooligans, more than likely out smoking or drinking by the looks of it. It was their clothes though, that got her attention the most. They were dressed like it had been in the 40s, wearing slacks with button up shirts and leather jackets, their hair styled neatly.

Deciding the best way to go about scaring these kids into not saying anything, would be to blame them for what she knew was an accident. She needed them gone though, so she could asses the situation.

"Did you boys do this? Oh my god."

"No lady, we didn't do anything!" the one yelled, eyes wide.

"Honest, please don't call the fuzz!"

Toni blinked at the term, but ignored it as she dramatically covered her mouth. "So you are the killers… help! Please, help! Murder!" she screamed.

The two boys shared a look and took off running down the street as Toni stopped yelling and smirked. "Too easy."

She hurried over to the two men and stopped short of touching them. There was a lot of blood.

"Clint?" she whispered.

No movement, no sound.

"Clint?" she tried again.

A slight groan had her moving forward and slowly rolling the man over. Clint had scratches up and down his face and arms, but the biggest injury she could see was a piece of metal sticking out of his abdomen on the right side. He was losing a lot of a blood.

"Easy Clint, I'm here. It's Toni. Easy."

Clint went silence and Toni chewed her lip. She didn't know what to do. She had a feeling she knew what happened when that device went off and she was beginning to realize just how bad off that made them. Still, she knew a lot about this time from research she had done when designing Steve's room and it made her slightly more comfortable with how she might convince a local hospital they hadn't done anything wrong.

First though, she had to make sure she and the archer could pass for this time periods citizens. His black and purple skin suit and her black and silver under-suit wouldn't do it. They probably looked more like spies than anything.

The sound of footsteps had her moving quickly. She grabbed Clint under the armpits and tugged him back into the shadows. Luckily that movement didn't leave a blood trail. Watching from the alley, she noticed it was the police. No doubt her screams earlier had attracted some unwanted attention. They knelt beside the scientist and checked his pulse.

"Dead."

"This looks like a lot of blood. Perhaps a second man had been here?" they talked to one another.

"Possibly, but I bet he's long gone."

"Either way, we will send an alert to all officers and hospitals to be on the lookout for an injured man who might have committed murder."

"Did you notice his clothes? Weird…"

Toni frowned. That would make this a bit more complicated… unless…

Toni dragged Clint far enough away that she hoped if he did groan or make noise, no one would hear him from the street. Hiding him behind the dumpster, she knelt and softly swept some hair from his eyes.

"I'll be back, I promise. Hang on for me, okay?"

Toni hurried out the back of the alley and down the street. It was nighttime, so luckily it allowed her serious camouflage from prying eyes with her black and silver suit. She had gone nearly a block when she found what she was looking for. In the 40s, it had been common for families to put their laundry out to dry on lines. Hurrying forward, she looked at each piece, trying to match sizes. She stole a slip and a dress that wasn't entirely ugly and then a pair of slacks and a button up blue shirt before hurrying back the way she had come.

Clint was still out when she returned. Quickly she changed in the shadows of the alley. The dress was slightly big on her thin, athletic frame, but it worked. It was a black dress with some yellow and red flowers scattered across the material that buttoned both in the back and the front. It had a black collar that went up her neck with a white lace at the very top to crown it off. Luckily, the reactor couldn't be seen through the dark material; she wasn't sure how people of this age might respond if they saw that little beauty. She grabbed the band in her hair from her ponytail and let her hair fall around her shoulders. She glanced down at her black socks. She should have grabbed some shoes, but people didn't usually put their shoes outside.

She turned to Clint and hurriedly stripped him of his clothes and struggled to get the clothes on him without upsetting his injury too much. He was still bleeding and knew he would bleed through these clothes, but at least they wouldn't suspect them for anything other than murder. She scoffed and continued buttoning up his shirt before stopping. She eyed his black boots.

"Sorry Clint."

She pulled them off and grabbed both her and his body suits and stuffed them in the dumpster. They couldn't be wearing anything that might be considered out of time.

With that decided, she wrapped his arm around her shoulder and stumbled out of the alley, forcing tears to her eyes as she cried out. "Help, please! Help me!"

The cops both jumped and drew their guns before lowering them at the sight of the crying dark haired woman and the unconscious man at her side.

"Easy ma'am, easy."

They approached and Toni unconsciously tightened her grip on her teammate.

"P-Please," she begged, "he's hurt. I couldn't stop them… please…"

One officer quickly hurried to help her hold Clint while the other grabbed his radio and began to call it in.

"An ambulance is on its way, ma'am. Can you tell us what happened?"

Toni nodded, sniffing as loud as she could. She knew with her bruised face, swollen eye, and shoeless appearance she had to look like a mess, which for this tale she was about to spin, was perfect.

"M-My husband and I were heading to a hotel after a long trip on the train. S-Someone suddenly jumped us and C-Clint fought back, but… he couldn't. He fell and landed on some metal, I screamed and… and he hit me. He hit me…"

She cried harder and the officers frowned as they moved to comfort her. One thing she could say about the 40s, they were suckers for pretty women and more than that, they were hardly suspect a woman of being a criminal. It was nearly unheard of during this time.

"It's alright ma'am, take it easy. Did you get a good look at your attacker?"

Toni shook her head. "It was so dark…"

"Okay, it's alright. That you both are still alive, is good. Whoever attacked you, we think they attacked this guy here too."

They pointed at the scientist and Toni glanced at him. Huh, she hadn't intended that, but it worked out. They thought him a victim of circumstance.

"Oh my," she cried out and clutched onto the officer holding her.

The man grunted at her sudden movement, but didn't say anything as he calmly patted her shoulder. Toni smiled against his chest.

Clint was laying on a gurney in the emergency room while Toni sat beside him in a chair they had brought in for her. The emergency responders had luckily gotten the bleeding to stop on Clint's wound, but the archer had yet to wake up.

A doctor suddenly entered as he pulled back at the curtain and looked over the chart before looking to at her with sympathetic eyes. Looks like they had bought her story. Her ribs ached as she moved to stand, but she hid the pain. They would want to look at them if they knew and with the reactor, she couldn't possibly let them do that.

"So how is he?" she asked softly, trying to act like the worried wife. She definitely had the worried part covered if nothing else.

"He should recover nicely. I do have a few questions for you that I need you to fill out."

He handed her the paperwork and Toni took it, reading it over.

"A nurse will be coming in here soon to stich the wound and give him a shot of pain reliever. Right now we have him sedated. When we had tried to prod his other injuries, he had become aggressive and started yelling in a language we didn't know."

Toni hesitated. "Probably Russian, he was raised with a Russian family."

Toni thought of Natasha.

The doctor shrugged. "He also yelled a name, Toni?"

"Ah, that's me," she nodded, "My name is…" she hesitated, "Antonetta Bask."

"Antonetta?" the doctor questioned.

"Italian."

The doctor eyed her and Toni suddenly realized what she had just said. The 40s, world war II, Germany and Italy were allies.

"I have lived here in America all my life," she defended.

The doctor didn't say anything as he turned to leave. Toni frowned. She should have really thought things through a little more. She forgot how prejudiced and paranoid people really were back in this time period.

Toni sat there for nearly thirty minutes before a nurse came in and began stitching. The nurse didn't say a word to Toni until she was finished.

"Will he recover?"

The nurse glanced at her. "Yes."

Then she left and Toni sat there alone for another hour working on the paper work. Each question was difficult considering she wasn't sure exactly what to put down.

Patients name: Clinton Bask

Birth date. She couldn't exactly put his actual one, now could she? Hmm…

Birth date: 1918, September 18 (22 years old)

Occupation… hmm… she wanted him to be mobile and be able to bend his story however he wanted.

Occupation: Truck driver

Children: None

Spouse: Antonetta Bask

Spouse birth date: 1918, March 9

Spouse occupation: Scientist Inventor

She continued filling out the information until Clint suddenly groaned and began to move.

"Clint?" she hurried to his side as fast as her ribs would let her.

He opened his eyes and blinked for a few moments before turning to look at her. He stared at her a moment before gently cupping her face.

"Your eye…"

She smiled. "It's okay, you know I've had worse before."

Clint was silent as he studied her just as the curtain opened. He stiffened and winced as Toni calmly stood straight beside her 'husband'.

"Mr. Bask, it's good to see you up and about", the doctor replied, ignoring Toni completely.

Clint didn't even hesitate. "Thanks doctor. How is my wife?"

Toni blinked, surprised he had guessed it so quickly, but it did make sense. They couldn't be siblings as they looked nothing like alike and they wouldn't just be friends or it would be weird her filling out his information for him.

The doctor glanced at Toni and Clint frowned at the hostility and disgust he saw in the man's eyes. Still, he stayed silent about it. Toni said nothing and if they called him Bask, that meant she had created a name on the fly and didn't trust this place, whatever hospital they are in.

He suddenly noted her clothes. Unlike the somewhat slutty clothes she normally wore in the public eye, she looked… very old fashioned. He couldn't even remember a time he had actually seen her in a dress except for some of the large parties she held at charity events.

"She is fine, just some superficial bruises."

The doctor took the paperwork from Toni and looked it over before handing it to a nurse. Toni spied the uniforms standing just behind the curtain and frowned. Seems they didn't trust anyone with an Italian heritage. She should have said she was Spanish instead.

Clint also noticed them and glanced at Toni who didn't meet his eye.

"When can I leave doc?"

The doctor blinked. "You need time to recover, Mr. Bask. I doubt a hotel would do you much comfort. We will arrange to have you stay here for a night or two under observation."

Clint frowned and was about to argue, but Toni placed a hand over his. "That sounds good, right darling?"

He stared at her and noticed the forced smile. "Yeah…"

The doctor nodded. "I will send a nurse to get that set up and come get you in an hour or so. In the meantime, you have some visitors."

The doctor fled the room as the two military men stepped inside.

"I'm Major Laurence and this is Sergeant Barnes. Could you please come with us ma'am for a talk downtown?"

Clint sat up, his eyes fierce. "Anything you say to my wife can be said in front of me."

The two men glanced at Clint before looking back at Toni. She met their gazes without flinching.

"I'll be fine, Clint," she told him as she kept their gazes, "Heal and I'll be back to visit."

Clint wanted to protest. He didn't understand what was going on, but Toni did and he wanted to talk to her before she just left and was taken god knows where.

"Rest babe," she whispered and suddenly kissed him.

His eyes were wide before he slowly and gently kissed her back. The two stood there, their first true kiss as she held his hand and passed a note unseen into his grasp. Then she pulled back, blushed, and walked out of the room.

Clint followed her as far as he could with his eyes before looking down at the note in his hand. He opened it up and read it over.

Made a mistake and told them I was Italian. Whoops. Also, you were raised in a Russian family as Clinton Bask, married to Antonetta Bask, no children. This is the 1940s Clint, so sell it. September 18, 1918 birthday. Mine is March 9, 1918. You're a truck driver, do what you will with that. I'm a scientist and an inventor. I needed an in. We arrived earlier today by train and were mugged. you tried to fight him, but got pushed onto something sharp on the ground. You saw nothing. We are in town to enlist.

Clint absorbed the information before ripping it up and throwing the pieces away and hiding them deep in the trash can under a bunch of other trash.

1940s… Steve's time. He thought back on the scientist they had chased and the hydra soldiers that had vanished before they had. He had a nasty feeling he knew where they had gone now and why.

They didn't have a moment to spare.

Toni sat cuffed to the table, studying the mirror that was no doubt a window where people were studying her. The two soldiers had dropped her off in this room and left before she could even ask anything serious. The one called Barnes she kind of recognized. She felt for sure she had seen his picture someone where before, but she couldn't remember where.

The door opened and two men stepped into the room. One was an older gray-haired man, peppered black and white with a thick mustache and dressed in a high-ranking uniform. The other was also older and wore a white lab coat with a button up gray shirt and slacks.

"I'm Colonel Phillips and this is Dr. Erskine. We have some questions for you."

Erskine… she inwardly cheered, that was perfect.

"What is your name?"

"Antonetta Bask."

"Age?"

"22."

"Occupation?"

"Scientist and inventor."

Erskine eyed her curiously.

"Heritage?"

"American."

Phillips frowned.

"The doctor told us you claimed to be Italian."

"Well, I do have Italian in my family, but as I told the good doctor, I was born and raised in America. My mother was Italian and my father American."

The colonel scribbled it down before placing the pen on the table.

"You understand why we are suspicious when an Italian woman is found on the street near a dead body and a stabbed white man, claiming to be his wife and putting her occupation down as scientist."

Toni snorted and Phillips raised an eyebrow at the unladylike action as Erskine studied her curiously.

"Colonel, I am not claiming anything. I merely told you the facts."

Phillips stared her down as Erskine spoke up.

"What sort of science do you do?"

I am an expert in physics, chemistry, computer science, mathematics, electrical and mechanic engineering and astrophysics, she wanted to say, but instead said "I am a physicist and a mechanical engineer. I also like to dabble in chemistry."

Erskine smiled and Phillips frowned.

"You told the police you traveled here on the train, for what reason exactly?"

"My husband wanted to enlist and I thought if I could help, I might be able to do the same in the military science department. I hate the Nazis as much as anyone."

Phillips and Erskine shared a look.

"Excuse us for a moment," the colonel grunted as the two walked out.

Toni fought down a smirk. She had a feeling it was going just as she wanted it to.

Clint was going crazy. He had tired every maneuver he could to get out of the hospital early, but they wouldn't budge. He tried the worried husband act. He tried the 'I have rights' act. He tried the 'annoying patient' act that Toni usually does, but nothing. He was beginning to suspect the military had ordered the hospital not to let him leave.

Normally he would just sneak out, but he wasn't a spy in this time. He was a truck driver wanting to enlist into the military. Sneaking out would only make both he and Toni look more suspicious.

The one thing he could say about the hospital, they kept it clean and him attended too. They did their best to make him comfortable in his room or what he liked to call his hospital jail cell.

It had to be several hours later before another military man came to check on him. This man brought him a change of clothes, which happened to be a standard military uniform. He looked them over and was surprised to find his name stitched on the front, though no rank.

He changed into these and the boots they brought him before waiting patiently on his bed. Sure enough, a few moments later, the same man came back.

"The colonel wishes to see you. Follow me."

He was taken out to a jeep where he was asked to take a seat in the back. He rode in silence to a small military base and followed the man inside until he was taken to a small room and asked to sit. His side protested the bending, but he made no sign of it as he sat and waited for whatever was about to happen, to happen.

It wasn't long before two older men stepped inside. One military and one most likely a scientist.

"Mr. Bask?"

Clint looked at each of them. "Yes? Where is my wife?"

"In time. First we have a few questions."

Clint shrugged and laid back a bit in his chair. The epitome of calm.

"First off, I am colonel Phillips and this is Dr. Erskine."

Clint looked at the old man beside the Colonel. He knew about him and his part in Steve's transformation to Captain America.

"Pleasure, Clint Bask."

Phillips studied him. "It says here you're a truck driver. Care to explain for who and what?"

Clint paused and thought his answer out.

"I drove for commercial and for private hire. You needed me to transport something, I was your man, no questions asked."

Phillips huffed, but seemed satisfied with that answer. "So you're a mercenary?"

Clint shrugged. "I can fight, if that's what your asking."

Phillips was silent for a moment. "I know guys like you. They each have a specific talent to go along with their don't ask, don't tell rule of hiring. So what's your talent? Bombs? Weapons? Hacking?"

Clint smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Phillips narrowed his eyes. Clint didn't want to seem to open to giving away information considering what he just said his profession to be. Mercenaries were tough and stubborn, so he needed to play the part.

Erskine spoke up. "Your wife, she said she excels in physics, mechanical engineering, and some chemistry? Could you explain how you met her and what she does while you are off driving trucks?"

Clint thought Toni was pretty humble with her talents, but nodded his head, playing along.

"Yeah, sometimes my job requires a hacker or a mechanic. Toni can be efficient in these areas when asked, but most of the time I wanted to keep her out of harm's way so she stayed home and worked on her own experiments." Clint knew in the 40s women were looked down upon a bit more. He didn't want to make her out too tough. "She likes creating different things and lately," he looked right at Erskine, "has been working with biological components."

Erskine looked like he had discovered a hidden treasure as he seemed to zone out while sitting there, no doubt running over what he knew and what his own coming plans were for the super soldier serum in project rebirth. Phillips on the other hand looked suspicious.

"So your wife, she can fight too?" Philips questioned.

Clint shrugged. "She knows how to fight a little, yeah. I didn't want her going into a combat zone without the ability to properly protect herself."

"If we offered you and your wife the opportunity to serve America here and now with me, would you take it?" The doctor suddenly asked.

"Dr. Erskine…" Phillips started, but was interrupted as Clint answered.

"I'm not a scientist, doctor, but my wife… she would probably jump at the chance."

Erskine looked pleased and Phillips sighed.

"And if I enlisted you as a soldier, would you fight for me?" Phillips asked.

Clint studied the man. He reminded Clint a little of Fury with some of his mannerisms.

"I might have a shady past, Colonel, but I am loyal to my country. Yeah, I would fight for you."

The doctor and colonel shared a look.

"Then prepare yourself, Mr. Bask, you just joined the United States Army."

Review and let me know your thoughts! Please remember this is my own rendition of the characters and their stories, so not everything will follow the history of Captain America as it was truly written. Thanks!