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AN: For the record, with the recent appearance of the Time Stone in Doctor Strange, I have adjusted my plans for the Stone overall, but I worked out a plan that allows me to incorporate the Time Stone's role in Strange without contradicting anything I've already written already; hope you like the results

Tempus Fugit, Infinitas Manet

"Kang the Conqueror?" Wanda repeated, looking sceptically at the man in front of her. "You honestly call yourself that?"

"A fitting title for the greatest ruler of any age, Miss Maximoff," the man in green and purple said mockingly.

"You know-?" Wanda began before she realised the risk of such a statement

"Of course I know," the man smiled. "I am from the future, my dear; I know things about you that you have not even done yet-"

"Excuse me?" Merlin cut in, glaring incredulously between the two strangers. "You're from the future? As in, you've travelled in time?"

"Naturally."

"But that's-"

"Impossible?" the man called Kang finished with a smirk. "With your pitiful methods, certainly, but I have far more resources available to me than anything your pathetic time periods could master-"

His speech was cut short when Wanda struck him in the face with a blast of red energy, sending the new arrival straight to the ground with great force. For a moment, Wanda hoped that the battle was over, but then the masked man leapt back to his feet, glaring in outrage at Wanda.

"You dare?" he yelled.

"If you can't take the hit don't call yourself a conqueror," Wanda countered firmly, even as she readied new energy bursts in her hands; she might be the newest Avenger, considering whatever aspects of Stark's former artificial intelligence were used to create the Vision, but she knew a threat when she faced one even if she wasn't sure she believed his story. "I do not know who you are, but you cannot take the Time Stone-"

"And you feel that you are worthy of its power?" the man called Kang asked, glaring mockingly at her.

"Maybe not," Wanda said, before she fired the energy bursts at her foe. "But I know that you are not!"

It was a bold statement to make, but when this man showed up with weaponry that surpassed anything Wanda had seen Stark provide for the Avengers to attack knights with swords, she felt comfortable assuming that he wouldn't have good intentions if he got his hands on the Stone. For a moment, as her first blast struck Kang, Wanda had hope that this battle would be over soon, but that hope was quickly dashed when the second attack simply rippled around Kang without any more visible effect than knocking him back a few feet.

"Did you think that would really work?" the purple-and-green-clad man laughed mockingly. "I allowed you the opportunity to strike before to test your mettle, but-"

Behind Wanda, Merlin yelled something that she didn't have time to hear properly before he fired his own burst of magic at Kang. Unlike her own attempt, this one made a more obvious impression, seemingly tearing holes in whatever Kang was using to protect himself as small strips were torn from his armour. It didn't seem to actually affect whatever he was using, as Kang turned to fire another blast at Merlin who was only just able to stop it with a spell of his own, but it was enough of a distraction for Wanda to launch her own blast of energy at their strange foe. Caught off-guard, Kang was actually sent staggering backwards at this point, but the distraction was only enough for Wanda to send another blast before he raised his weapon and fired. Acting in unison, Wanda and Merlin simultaneously cast a shield spell that deflected the worst of the attack, but it was still enough to send them both backwards as Kang turned up the intensity of his weapon.

"You believe that your foolish power is a match for my brilliance?" Kang asked, laughing mockingly at his opponents. "I will-"

His rant was interrupted when a large circular object struck the side of his weapon, knocking his blast to the side before a figure in blue armour struck him in the side.

"Captain Rogers?" Wanda smiled in relief at the sight of the Avengers' leader, followed closely by the Vision, his robe falling to the ground to reveal his usual golden cloak and gold-and-green body. "But the battle-?"

"Natasha, Arthur and the knights have the soldiers on the ropes, and Vision sensed that we'd be needed here," Steve explained, glancing grimly at their new foe as he adjusted his grip on his returned shield. "I take it he's the one in charge?"

"Well well," the man called Kang said, looking at the new arrival with a slight smirk. "So Captain America is in this time now?"

"Should I know you?" Steve countered, adjusting his shield as he stared at his foe.

"Oh, not at this point, certainly, but in the future… well, that is another matter entirely," Kang replied, his smirk becoming contemplative as he studied the other man. "Of course, if you wish to make this interesting…"

"The only thing I want is for you to take your men away and end this pointless assault," Steve said firmly. "You call yourself a conqueror like it's something to be proud of and then attack an army that has no chance against your men?"

"And you believe that you have any chance against me?" Kang countered mockingly, slinging his gun over his back as he smirked at the Avengers leader. "You may be the finest warrior of your age, but Kang is a warrior for all the ages-!"

Steve cut that particular rant off by charging forwards to slam his shield into the side of Kang's head, knocking the other man off-balance.

"Get the Stone!" Steve yelled, adjusting his grip on his shield as he looked over at his allies. "I'll hold-!"

His words were interrupted as another small group of soldiers appeared on the battlefield, most likely broken off from the main group when they had noticed Steven and the Vision leaving their comrades. After a moment's silent communication with the others, Merlin and the Vision turned their attention to the other soldiers while Wanda ran into the cave.

She hated leaving her teammates behind, but of all four currently fighting Kang's men, she was the one with the least combat experience, which she had to admit made her fundamentally the most expendable at this point.

Taking a moment to shoot off one last burst of energy that forced back the soldiers immediately by her current position, Wanda turned and dived into the cave, ignoring the sounds of battle from behind her. As she ran through the darkened cave, Wanda soon noted the same strange crystals she and the other Avengers had witnessed in their first visit to the cave in the future, still glowing with some inner light even as she went further into the cave.

Finally, just as she was becoming concerned that the Gem still wasn't there, Wanda's eyes fell on a strange golden object, floating in the middle of the cave, that resembled two pyramids that had been put together after one was turned upside down. She couldn't define exactly how she knew it, but she could sense that this was exactly what they were looking for, reaching out to take the object in her hands. The sensation became even stronger as she came in contact with it, her hands glowing red as the object in her hands glowed gold, but the sensation faded to a less vivid degree as she turned to head back out of the cave.

Reaching the entrance, Wanda paused as she took in the fight still unfolding, Merlin hurling all kinds of spells at Kang's forces while the Vision relied on his physical strength to overcome them, leaving Steve to battle Kang. Even as the Scarlet Witch watched, Kang forced Steve's shield aside to strike him in the face with an elbow only for Steve to turn the move against him by throwing his foe over his head, Kang attempting to stab the Avengers' leader after knocking him to the ground only to lose his sword as the shield returned to its owner. With the shield returned to him, Steve lashed out with a powerful kick that knocked Kang off-balance, the conflict quickly degenerating into a series of punches so quick that Wanda thought only Pietro could have been faster. For a moment, the two were matched in their blows, but then Kang lashed out to strike her leader on his exposed chin and Steve was sent staggering.

"HA!" Kang laughed mockingly at the dazed Steve. "You are no match for my own prowess, Captain-!"

"But maybe this is," Wanda cut in, walking out of the cavern with her prize clutched in her hands.

"You- the Crystal?" Kang yelled, quickly turning to point his gun at her. "You would dare to wield my prize against me?"

"I think you'll find that you have not claimed it yet, and when I wield the power of an Infinity Stone myself-"

"The bastardised power taken by fools who had no idea what they were working with or how to use it; I have knowledge of sciences beyond anything your pitiful creators could comprehend!" Kang yelled, still aiming his weapon at her. "You will hand over that Crystal, or I shall-!"

Wanda raised the Cyrstal-

Steve could never be entirely sure what took place in the next few moments. He registered that the dual pyramids that Wanda was holding probably had some connection to the Time Stone they'd come here looking for in the first place, but he definitely hadn't expected the burst of multi-coloured energy that came from his teammate to strike Kang and his remaining men. He barely managed to duck to the ground before he was caught in the blast, glancing up to confirm that the Vision and Merlin had done the same as the sky above him basically glowed. Kang was just sent staggering back as the energy struck him, but his assembled soldiers seemed to collapse even as Steve watched, the strange crystal's energy enveloping their enemies while leaving Steve, Merlin and the Vision unharmed.

After the energy had enveloped the battlefield for a few moments, the glow vanished, leaving Kang's various soldiers all slumped on the ground, crumpled in a manner that Steve recognised as the pose of the dead almost without needing to confirm it. Quickly getting back to his feet, Steve hurried over to Wanda to check her pulse, sighing in relief at the steady throb beneath his fingers. With his teammate's health confirmed, Steve turned his attention to the golden pyramid thing that had just slipped from her fingers. Glancing back at the groaning Kang as their foe began to get back to his feet, Steve picked up the crystal-

-Erskine's life saved when Steve was just that bit quicker to pull him to safety-
-Bucky pulled into the present before Zola's soldier shot him off the train-
-The Skull's plane diverted to a safe location while he returned to New York and Peggy-
-Phil Coulson, alive and well, standing with Nick Fury as they saved the helicarrier-
-Loki's wormhole disabled before the Battle of New York could begin, all destruction averted even as the team assembled-
-Alexander Pierce exposed and destroyed before he could launch Project Insight as anything more than an idea-
-SHIELD still strong, its corruption torn out while its public reputation was unmarred-
-Sokovia intact and unscarred from Ultron's averted rampage, the Vision and JARVIS active in Stark Tower-
-Pietro Maximoff part of the team alongside his sister as they faced the next wave of HYDRA agents-

Those were just the clearest images, but there was more… so much more… so much he could make happen… so much this thing would allow him to control…

"NO!" he yelled, slamming his hands together and shattering it after taking a moment to attend to one last bit of business.

He could do everything he'd seen, save everyone he wanted, defeat every villain he'd ever even heard of, never mind faced…

But he'd accepted the role of Captain America to stand up for freedom and man's right to choose his own path rather than be governed by someone else… and even if that meant that letting bad things happen, the cost of using that Crystal would be too high for him to pay. For a moment, he saw a flash of green in the palm of his hands, and felt his only request slot into place, and then the energy vanished, leaving only a few strange fragments as any sign that it had ever been there.

"You… you fool!" Kang yelled, storming over to Steve as he stared at the other man's hands. "You mouth-breathing, unmitigated fool! How could you hold a power like that- know it for what it is- and destroy it?"

"If you have to ask that question, you'll never understand my answer," Steve countered, glaring back at Kang as he shifted back into a combat stance.

"And in any case, he destroyed nothing," the Vision put in, walking over to join Steve. "What he shattered was merely a container for the Time Gem in the same sense that Loki's Scepter and the Tesseract were containers for the other Gems we have encountered. The Crystal was destroyed, but the Time Gem itself has been thrown out of time for now, and will return, either in our present or at some prior date, whenever it… feels right."

"'Feels right'?" Kang repeated, glaring indignantly at the android. "You believe-?"

"I believe," Merlin cut in, stepping forward and raising a warning hand, "that right now, you have lost this particular struggle, so it's time for you to step aside and go back to wherever you came from before we have to make this even less pleasant."

"And we second that statement," the Vision confirmed, helping Wanda to her feet as she joined her teammates, all glaring at him despite Wanda's need to lean against the Vision to keep herself standing. "You came here to confront an army that would have been helpless against your men-"

"I sought the greatest prize of all-!"

"And you have been defeated," the Vision cut in firmly.

"Now," Steve said, looking firmly at their masked foe. "You've lost your men, and you've lost what you came here for, so do yourself and us a favour and get out of this time frame before we have to make this more… unpleasant."

Kang glared at the Avengers for a moment, but then nodded in grim resignation, tapping a button on his gauntlet and fading away even as he glared at the assembled heroes. Almost as soon as he had vanished, the sound of approaching footsteps filled the air, prompting the Vision to re-done his mask before the knights of Camelot and Natasha hurried into the field.

"What happened here?" Arthur asked, looking around the battlefield in confusion at the various dead soldiers. "Those men we were fighting all just… dropped?"

"Their leader appeared to be linked to his men through… some kind of spell," Wanda cut in, rushed but anxious to answer that question before things went too far. "When we eliminated the man who identified himself as the leader, it appears to have killed all of his fellows simultaneously."

"Why would someone do that?" Elyan asked, looking at the fallen men with a mixture of grief and uncertainty.

"It makes a good way to guarantee loyalty," Natasha noted grimly. "You are unlikely to face rebellion if your men believe that your defeat will result in their demise."

"Grim, but effective," Gawain noted, before he looked at Wanda with a slight smile. "So, if that's them dealt with-"

"We must be off," the Vision said, stepping forward with an edge to his stance that Steve could have almost considered jealousy if it came from anyone else. "We have driven these men away, but now we must… claim the Time Stone for ourselves."

"You can't trust outsiders with your secrets?" Lancelot asked.

"It's easier on all concerned if as few people as possible know about the Stones," Natasha cut in. "We trusted you with knowledge of their existence, but after that…"

"We understand," Arthur nodded, looking solemnly at the assembled Avengers. "If we should encounter another Stone…"

"We will let you know if a situation like that arises," the Vision nodded solemnly.

"It's been an honour to work with you," Steve said, stepping forward to shake Arthur's hand.

"The same here," Arthur nodded at Steve before looking at the Vision. "Your order is a very unique collection, Victor."

"We do our best," the Vision nodded at Arthur.

"Will we… see each other again?" Merlin asked, looking curiously over at Wanda as the knights turned to leave the field.

"I… cannot be sure," Wanda said, smiling slightly at Merlin as she shook his hand. "But… it has been a pleasure."

"Same here," Merlin replied, nodding back at the young woman, an awkward smile on his face as he turned back to join the knights. The four time-displaced Avengers watched silently as the knights of Camelot left the area, Steve waiting until the footsteps had fallen silent before he turned to look at Wanda.

"So," he asked, indicating the bodies lying around them, "what did you actually do to these men?"

"I used the Time Stone to make them all age to death," Wanda replied simply.

"You did?" Natasha and the Vision looked at Wanda in surprise.

"I cannot explain how I knew how to do that, but I knew at the time," Wanda affirmed. "Kang's armour had some kind of… defence that allowed him to deflect that attack, so he was not affected in the same manner…"

"Makes sense," Steve noted, looking at the bodies around them. "If I learned anything from Schmidt, it's that leaders like them tend to keep their best resources to themselves…"

He glanced over at Natasha. "And you said that the men you were fighting with the knights just collapsed?"

"The Stone must have reached out to find every one of Kang's forces and eliminate them in the same manner once Wanda issued that command," the Vision noted.

"Even if I couldn't see them?" Wanda asked in surprise. "It can do that?"

"There is a reason Thor's people fear these Stones," the Vision noted, removing his mask to indicate the golden stone set into his forehead. "Even they do not fully understand the power that any man would possess if he acquired even one of them, never mind all of them; I have been bonded with this Stone for months and still know little about its full potential."

"OK," Natasha nodded, her expression uncomfortable before she looked at the rest of the team. "So what happened to the Stone?"

"It's been… lost," Steve shrugged.

"Lost?" Natasha repeated. "Then how-?"

"Don't worry about getting home," Steve smiled, indicating the cave. "There's a way back in there."

"Pardon?" Wanda asked.

"When I held the Stone at the end, I used it to generate a portal back to our time," Steve explained. "I… obviously, I don't know what I was doing, but like Wanda said, I had… some understanding of it when I was actually in contact with the Stone, so I used it to create a portal in the cave so that we could get home once Kang was dealt with."

"And these?" Natasha asked, indicating their clothing.

"I… I can't explain how… but I've instructed the portal to send our clothing back to where we found it," Steve shrugged uncertainly. "We go through the portal, and I… asked it to restore our original clothes and send what we're wearing right now back to where it was when we first found it."

"So… our clothing becomes a temporal paradox?" Natasha asked.

"It would be fairer to call it a physical bootstrap paradox," the Vision noted.

"A what?" Wanda asked.

"A theoretical situation where information, or anything, is acquired as a result of time travel in a manner that means that it could not have existed without time travel in the first place," the Vision explained. "In this case, our current clothing is present where we found it because Captain Rogers 'arranged' for it to be there, but as a result there is no explanation for how it came into existence in the first place…"

"Unless time is going to collapse because we're wearing clothes that nobody actually made in the first place, I wouldn't focus on it," Natasha noted, turning her attention back to the cave. "So we go into the cave, go through this portal Steve created, and we're home?"

"From what I… remember, yes," Steve nodded.

"Right," Natasha nodded. "Let's go."

With those words, the group walked into the cave, a quick glance around the dark cavern all that was needed to confirm that there was now a glowing rift in the middle of the cave, the crystals in the walls now glowing the same strange blue colour as the rift. Exchanging glances with the rest of the team, Steve walked up towards the rift and walked through it, his body suddenly feeling lighter as the armour he wore for the last few days vanished, replaced by the lighter, more modern costume he had worn ever since he first met with Phil Coulson.

This had been an unconventional mission by any standard, but it was certainly one that Steve and the others would remember afterwards. Travelling to Camelot and fighting a man who claimed to be from the future to protect an ancient artefact that could manipulate time was certainly nothing he'd ever imagined doing when he'd originally tried to enlist, but he supposed that was the price he paid for being Captain America.

AN 2: For those wondering, the form of the Time Stone when Wanda discovered it is basically inspired by the Forever Crystal, a time-bending artefact that played a key role in the miniseries 'Avengers Forever'; since we have the precedent of the Cosmic Cube of the MCU containing the Space Stone, it didn't seem unreasonable to combine the Forever Crystal and the Time Stone at this point, with the assumption that it ended up in the past after these events to fulfil its role in 'Doctor Strange'