2012 Loki's POV
I saw them both escape without the cube. Now I was worried. However, I knew that if they'd made it this far, they weren't going to give up. I trusted her, despite what a bad idea it most likely was. However...nobody had ever been so kind to me before. At least, not like that. It had warmed my heart. Not to mention she was quite the kisser. It was just then I began to realize how attractive she was. It was a lot easier to see how she had captured my attention now. If I was being entirely honest, I liked that fact a lot.
The other version of her, my version of her, came back over with the case and the cube. She looked proud of herself. If only she knew what was going on. Not that I would tell her even if I could.
"I got it!"
"Hey, wait to go, Izz. Proud of you, kid. Do me a favor, don't let anybody touch that anymore." She nodded, keeping the case firmly clasped in her talons.
"Did you see their face, Izetta?" Thor asked. She shook her head.
"No, I have no idea who that was or how they just disappeared." He turned to me.
"Do they work for you?" I paused. Should I...? "Answer me, Loki!" ...I don't have a choice. I have to trust her. I shook my head and Thor calmed down. I mean, even so, that wasn't actually a lie.
"You sure he's telling the truth?" Stark asked.
"No, but it will have to do for now. They didn't get the Tesseract, that's all that matters. Izetta, guard it until we're sure it's safe. That's something I hope everyone here can agree on." They all backed off as Izetta growled.
"Alright. Fine. She can keep it safe for now." Things progressed as what I hoped was 'normal' as I waited to forget everything she'd told me. Wherever you came from, whatever is coming, I hope you can fix it. ...See you in the future, Izetta.
Izetta's POV
Tony, Scott, and I met back up as we waited for Cap in the alley. Now we had to figure out a way to get the Tesseract, but it would be impossible without alerting anyone else. We'd already screwed up badly, so trying again was even less likely to work. Scott was pissed at Tony.
Once Steve arrived, Tony called out to him. "Cap," He turned. "Sorry, buddy, we got a problem."
"Tch. Yeah, we do." Scott scoffed. I sighed, knowing the boys were going to start fighting. To be honest, I didn't even feel like trying to waste energy controlling them.
"We missed our chance for the Space Stone. We have to find it somewhere else." His shoulders sagged. "Sorry, Steve, but we need a new plan."
"Well, what do we do now?" He asked, wondering if anybody had any ideas but also kind of angry at Tony.
"You know what? Give me a break, Steve. I just got hit in the head with the Hulk." Scott scoffed again.
"You said that we had one shot." He said, agitated. "This! This was our shot! We shot it! It's shot! Six stone or nothing! It was six stones or nothing!"
"You're repeating yourself, you know that? You're repeating yourself." Tony mocked, but Scott mocked right back.
"You're repeating yourself! You're repeating yourself!"
"Dude,"
"You know, no! You never wanted a time heist!"
"come on!"
"You weren't on board with the time heist!"
"I dropped the ball!"
"You ruined the time heist!"
"Is that what I did?"
"Yeah!"
"ENOUGH!" I shouted at both of them. "Listen! While you two argue like idiots, we need a new plan! We have to think of something!" I scolded them.
"Are there any other options with the Tesseract?" Steve asked.
"No, no, no! There's no other options! There's no do-overs! We're not going anywhere else! We have one particle left each! That's it! Alright? We use that, bye-bye, you're not going home!"
"Yeah, well, if we don't try, then no one else is going home either." Then, Tony suddenly got out of the car. I could tell he had an idea.
"I got it! There's another way to retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. Little stroll down memory lane. Military installation, Garden State." I was stunned.
"Dad, are you sure? That's majorly risky." Steve didn't seem to care about that.
"When were they both there?"
"They were there at a time. I have a vaguely exact idea."
"How vague?"
"What are you talking about? Where are we going?" Scott asked. I turned.
"Back to Steve's era." His eyes widened.
"What!?"
"I know for a fact they were there and I know how I know."
"Who's they? What are we doing?" Scott asked, but he was pretty much being ignored. Steve looked around, unsure, but everybody knew this was our only option.
"I'm coming with you," I told them.
"You sure?" Steve asked. I turned to Tony.
"I can't let you two run off on your own."
"Kid, this could be a one-way trip."
"Well then, I really can't let you two go alone. You two stuck together is a recipe for disaster."
"Guys, what is it?" Scott asked again to no avail.
"Well, looks like we're improvising," Steve said.
"Great," Tony added. The two of us got ready as Steve gave the scepter to Scott.
"Scott, get this back to the compound." Scott looked confused as the three of us input the date into our watches.
"Suit up."
"What's in New Jersey?"
"0-4."
"0-4..." We mimicked Tony.
"Uh, 0-7."
"0-7."
"1-9-7-0." We both looked at him.
"Are you sure?" Steve asked. Tony nodded. I shrugged.
"Never thought I'd seen the seventies."
"Excuse me? Cap? Captain? Steve?" We turned toward Scott. "Sorry. America...Rodgers. Look, if you do this, and it doesn't work, you're not coming back."
"...Thanks for the pep talk pissant," Tony replied.
"We'll come back, Scott," I promised.
"You trust me?" Tony asked Steve.
"I do."
"Your call."
"Here we go." We all got ready and then we left. We arrived and the first thing we had to do was get changed into proper clothing. I conjured up what the boys needed with my spell, but we all had to change manually or I would get rid of our suits on accident. Luckily, the boys didn't really care about seeing each other, but they had to turn their backs and cover me while I changed in our secret area. I hated it, but it was what had to be done.
"Izz, you almost done back there?"
"Back off! These clothes are weird! I'm used to 2010's or 2000's at least! Every style I've ever tried was still nothing like this!"
"Hurry it up, will ya? Standing here is gonna start looking weird if anybody sees us."
"If anybody peeks at me, screw the timeline, I'm gonna kill them for peeking. That includes you two."
"Stark, let the lady change in peace."
"Yeah, got it." I finished and I joined them quickly. I stayed by Tony's side since I was going with him. Steve knew this place a bit better than us, so he would be going off on his own and I would be Tony's back-up.
I adjusted the stupid tight suit shirt or whatever before Steve led the way. We made it and I kept my hair in a bun, hoping buns weren't a weird style back in the '70s. But gosh were the outfits for women weird. I grumbled a little uncomfortably.
"Jeez, this feels weird. I'm so glad women's style changes in the future."
"Let's just focus on the goal, everyone," Steve said as we headed off.
"Clearly you weren't actually born here, right?" Tony asked.
"The idea of me was," Steve answered.
"Right, well, imagine your S.H.I.E.L.D. running a quasi-fascistic intelligence organization. Where do you hide it?" Steve nodded to an old bunker right ahead.
"In plain sight." Tony scanned it quick, confirming it was the right one before we heading inside and took the elevator down. A woman was in there with us. Her gaze made all of us nervous. Tony stepped in front of Steve to block her view.
The elevator dinged at our stop and we got off together. I followed Tony as he turned to Steve. "Goodluck on your mission, Captain." It's a good thing that's not too on the nose in this scenario.
"Goodluck on your...project, Doctors." We both left together and I quickly followed Tony as we started scanning for the Tesseract.
"Come on, you bastard..." Tony muttered.
"Real classy, Dad."
"Just keep scanning." We soon found what we needed and Tony lasered the thing open as I kept watch. He sighed in relief once he saw it. "Back in the game."
"Then let's not screw it up and get that damn cube the hell out of here." He grabbed it and I gave him a suitcase I found. He began to put it away when we heard a voice, making both of us jump a bit.
"Arnim, you in there?"
"Close the case!" I whisper shouted. He quickly snapped it shut and locked it.
"Arnim?" We soon saw a man and I had no idea who it was. Tony, however, seemed stunned for a moment. He began to walk the wrong way. "Hey!" Tony paused and turned around. "The door's this way, pal." We both walked over to him, playing along.
"Oh! Yeah." Tony replied.
"Looking for Doctor Zola. Have you seen him?"
"Yeah, Doctor Zola, no. Haven't seen a soul." Oh brother, I hope this works. Tony bumped a chair. "U-uh, pardon me."
"Do I know you?" The man asked.
"No, sir. I'm, uh, well, we're, um..." He pulled out his fake card. "We're visitors from MIT." I nodded.
"Yeah."
"Oh. MIT..." He said. "Got names?"
"...Howard." Tony answered.
"Well, that will be easy to remember." The man replied.
"Howard...Potts." Great one, Tony.
"And you, Ma'am?"
"Izetta Potts, Sir."
"Oh, related?" He asked.
"Uh, yes. This is my daughter."
"Daughter?" He asked.
"Adopted," I explained.
"Ah, I see. Well, glad you found a family, Miss Potts." I smiled.
"Yeah, me too." Tony and the man shook hands.
"I'm Howard Stark." I stopped, completely shocked. THAT'S TONY'S DAD!? Holy shit! Wait, that means...THAT'S MY GRANDFATHER!! I never thought I'd meet him!
We shook hands and this day instantly became the craziest day of my life. Then again...I'm honestly not sure any one day can win that title. I'm totally telling any kids of mine stories about this. This is so awesome! I mean, it's weird because he doesn't and won't ever know who we really are, but still pretty cool to see the legend like this.
"You look a little green around the gills there, uh, Potts." Howard stated.
"I'm fine. Just long hours." Tony replied.
"That's why I'm with him. Gotta keep my old man from working himself too hard."
"I see you're in the family business then. Noble thing to take up, kiddo." I grinned a little at the nickname. They really are so alike.
"Yeah. Our family is pretty crazy." You have no idea. He nodded, luckily not suspecting a thing. Now we just had to keep it that way.
"Well, anyway, you two wanna get some air?" Tony didn't answer, but I did.
"Yeah, that'd be great." We started to head off, but Howard grabbed Tony's case.
"Need your briefcase?" Tony grabbed it from him.
"You're not one of those beatniks, are you, Potts?" Howard asked. I chuckled a bit.
"No, he's not. He just sometimes leaves his head in random places. Once again, that's why I'm here."
"Well, you're definitely a good daughter then. He's lucky he got someone as devoted as you."
"Tell me about it," Tony agreed. "Wouldn't trade this kid for the world."
"Thanks, Dad."
We headed into the elevator together. I was honestly really enjoying this. Of course, Howard noticed my hair since I hadn't noticed it had started to loosen and become a messy ponytail.
"Whoa, um, Izetta, was it? Your hair is really weird, how'd that happen?" I panicked for a second before an idea came to mind.
"Oh, uh, well, I was exposed to some strange chemicals. You see, before I met T- uh, I mean, my dad, I was a volunteer at a lab. And we all know how experiments go sometimes. Nobody was hurt, but you know." I said, gesturing to my face scars and hair. "Stranger things have happened, I'm sure." He nodded, understanding exactly what I meant by that.
"You can say that again."
"Yep, so after that, I found her and she's never left my side. She's a great kid and an even better partner for my work. Takes in everything like a sponge." Tony said and I smiled, slightly proud of myself and grateful for his praise. "Anyway, so flowers and sauerkraut. You got a big date tonight?"
"Uh, my wife's expecting." I paused as I realized what that meant. Oh my god that's so weird to think about. It's even weird to think that I'm currently alive and frozen on Johtenheim. ...I'm going to stop thinking about this now. Howard then held up the flowers. "And uh...too much time at the office."
"Congratualations." Tony told him semi-awkwardly.
"Thanks. Hold this, will ya?" He asked. I took the flowers and the can.
"Sure thing!" He fixed his tie and straightened out his suit.
"How far along is she?" Tony asked.
"Uh, I don't know. She's at the point where she can't stand the sound of my chewing. I guess I'll be eating dinner in the pantry again." I chuckled a little, feeling somewhat bad but more amused than anything else.
"Sounds like an ordeal."
"Yeah, well, what can you do?" He replied with a smile. I had to admit, it felt good to bond with him a little. I had always wondered what it would be like to have a Grandfather. This was probably the closest I would ever get considering all of my grandfathers were dead and one of them had been a maniac who'd wanted to cast the universe into eternal darkness. ...I have a VERY messed up family tree...
"I have a little girl," Tony stated. Well, at least part of is it normal. Then again, we're still Starks. I don't know how normal that can be. "I mean, an actual little girl. Her little sister, my biological daughter." I snapped out of it as Tony brought up Morgan. I smiled as I thought of my sister.
"Oh, yeah. She's the sweetest. I love my little sister. She's a bit too curious for her own good, but I don't know what you'd expect with this guy as her father. He rubs off on you." I added, smirking at Tony. He bumped me playfully and I chuckled a bit.
"A girl would be nice. Less of a chance she'd turn out exactly like me." I grinned a little at that.
"What'd be so awful about that?" Tony asked.
"Let's just say that the, uh, greater good has rarely out-weighted my own self-interest."
"Well, sorry to say, Sir, but biological or adopted, girl or boy, if your kid is gonna be like you, your kid's gonna be like you. I met my dad when I was seventeen and in a really hard place, but after just one year I became exactly like him. And now there are parts of me that are hard to believe are adopted and not given straight from this guy."
"You two have a strong bond. I admire that. It's nice to see in such a late parental relationship. I'm surprised you even wanted a father figure at that age. Weren't you ready to break off on your own?" I smiled somewhat sadly.
"No, I wasn't. In fact, it's no stretch to say that meeting this guy saved my life. His father really raised him well. A lot of good came out of it." Both he and Tony smiled as we walked out together, each for different reasons, of course.
"Sounds like a really powerful story. Wish I had more time to hear it. Gotta say I'm interested."
"Well, who knows? Maybe you will someday."
"But so, where are you at with names?"
"Well, if it's a boy, my wife likes Elmonzo." I had to give it all of my willpower not to laugh. I am NEVER going to let Tony forget that! Hahahahaha!
"Huh. Might wanna let that stew awhile. You got time," Tony told him.
"Uh-huh," Howard agreed. "Let me ask you something, when your kid was born, were you nervous?"
"Wildly." Howard seemed relieved by that answer as if he wasn't crazy.
"Did you feel qualified? Like you had any...idea how to successfully operate that thing?"
"Ehem, thing one is right here."
"Sorry. You know what I mean." I chuckled, knowing that I was just giving him a hard time.
"It's alright, Sir."
"I literally pieced it together as I went along. For both cases. However, this one needed me and...when the second came, I needed her." Howard nodded. "I thought about what my dad did." Howard sighed a little.
"My old man, he never met a problem he couldn't solve with a belt." We saw Steve in the background, giving us the good to go signal. Phew. That's good then.
"I thought my dad was tough on me. And now looking back I just remember the good stuff."
"Well, I couldn't ask for a better father."
"Thanks, Izzy." Tony said, giving me a side hug. "But you know, he did drop the odd pearl."
"Yeah? Like what?"
"No amount of money ever bought a second of time." I smiled at that one.
"Smart guy," Howard stated. These two together are so sweet!
"He did his best."
"I'll tell you, that kid's not even here yet, and...there's nothing I wouldn't do for him." Aww~! Tony looked happy as he said that.
He walked back to his car and Steve looked over to see if we had the Tesseract. Tony gestured to the case and Steve nodded right before Howard came back over. I handed him his things after he shook Tony's hand.
"Good to meet you Potts, and Potts Jr." Probably the strangest nickname I've been called, considering that's not my name.
"You too, Mr.Stark."
"Yeah." Tony smiled at him. "Howard...everything's gonna be alright." Then, he gave him a hug. "Thank you for everything you've done...for this country." He quickly saved himself before we both headed off together. I looked over at Tony, noticing his slightly misty eyes.
"You okay, Dad?"
"Yeah, uh...just...let's...let's get going."
"Well, at least you heard what you wanted to hear." He smiled a bit.
"Yeah. I guess I really did."