"Alright, we have one Stone uptown and two Stones down." Steve says as everyone's Quantum Tunnel suits fade away into their 2012 uniforms. "You know your targets, no mistakes. We meet back here in exactly-"

"CIRCLE SHOT!" I squeal and peek behind the wall of a building to see the six original Avengers looking at their enemies, standing in a circle back to back. "I'm sorry, but this is the greatest moment of my life! Tony, when you flew down and looked around - and Clint with his bow and arrow raised - oh my gosh Natasha loading her gun - THOR HAS MJÖLNIR - Hulk's roar of rage - and Cap just looking so determined. You guys are so cool!"

"(Y/n)! Focus please." Steve says with a surprisingly amused face.

"Oops, sorry. Fangirling when I shouldn't be. My bad." I turn around just as the younger Avengers run off to defeat some Chitauri. "So, where to first?"

"I thought you understood the plan." Scott says as his helmet melts off his face.

"I'm joking!" I smile to relieve some of the tension, but no one seems to be laughing. "Tony and Scott gets Space, Bruce is going for Time, and Steve and I get Mind."

Suddenly, the 2012 Hulk rushes by our hidden alleyway and picks up a wrecked car. He lifts it over his head and starts smashing some alien Chitauri to the pavement, leaving them motionless. I glance at the 2023 Hulk to see him wince as his past self roars loudly and jumps away.

Steve turns to our present time Hulk and shrugs. "And maybe smash a few things along the way."

Hulk sighs and rips off his shirt like it's an annoying spiderweb. "I think it's gratuitous, but whatever."

The present Bruce roars weakly and pretends to smash some things in a sarcastic way. He picks up a motorcycle and throws it against a brick wall, wincing again as it explodes upon contact. Everyone scrambles away to their stations, and Hulk uses his strength powers to climb the side of a building.

The Ancient One protects the New York Sanctum, using her magic abilities to keep the Chitauri from entering the building. The Hulk lands on the roof, sneaking to a door while trying to keep the Ancient One from noticing. She, however, can not be so easily fooled. "I'd be careful going that way. We just had the floors waxed."

"Ma'am, I'm looking for Doctor Strange." Bruce admits his defeat and fully turns toward her.

Bruce doesn't notice it at first, but once the Ancient One turns to face him, a golden necklace shines around her neck in the shape of an eye. "You're about five years too early. Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery about twenty blocks that way. What do you want from him?"

"That, actually." Bruce points to the Eye of Agamotto where the Time Stone is kept safely out of the reach of those who seek to abuse its power.

"Ah, I'm afraid not." The Ancient One looks down at the golden pendant, her voice leaving no room for negotiation.

"I wasn't really asking." Bruce starts advancing toward her, willing to do anything to get that Stone and save half the universe.

"You don't want to do this." The Ancient One has to take a step back as Bruce makes a grab for the necklace.

"You're right, I don't, but I need that Stone and I don't have time to beat it-" Bruce was going to say 'out of you', but he gets cut off by the Ancient One punching his chest. Bruce's Astral Body gets pushed out of his physical one, revealing his human form.

Bruce looks completely shaken, but the Ancient One keeps her composure. "Let's start over, shall we?"

I watch as Tony flies up and around the Avengers Tower. I stand next to Steve on one of the lower levels of the tower, waiting for our cue. As we wait, I sigh and try to roll by shoulders to relax them, but my right one gets caught in the motion. "Ow..."

Steve looks at me with a worried expression. "Still hurts?"

I nod and rub my right shoulder with my left hand, helping it get back into its correct position. "Yeah, but it's better than before."

About two years ago during the years of the snap recovery, there was a riot that broke out somewhere in northern Germany. I went to go and help stop the fighting since I could get there the quickest. Steve and Natasha told me to wait for backup, but I thought I could handle it.

The riot was bigger than I thought it was going to be. There were fires everywhere and it was nighttime, so I could barely see anything. At one point, someone grabbed my right wrist and started pulling me. I tried to use my Mind Stone powers to settle them down, but it all happened too quickly. My shoulder got dislocated and I fell to the ground. Then, to make things worse, I got trampled on and part of my shoulder broke. Honestly, it would have healed by now if it wasn't for that. Now I wear a protective leather glove over my right arm up to my shoulder with metal encasing it. It's great for protection, but there's just one problem. I can't use my powers with that hand now since the glove is covering it. I need my hands to be exposed to use my powers. It's a small weakness I found out, but it can be devastating. Now, I have to use my powers with my left hand and fight with my right.

"Got to hustle, Cap. Things look like they're just about wrapped up here." Tony says through my earpiece.

As Steve starts walking, I shake my arm one last time to relieve the pain, and then I take a few quick steps to catch up to Steve. The Captain puts his hand up to his own earpiece. "Got it. We are approaching the elevator now."

As we stand behind a wall outside of the elevator, a few floors down from the past Avengers. I can hear Loki say, "If it's all the same to you... I'll have that drink now."

"All right, good one. No standing around, I'm closing up this door for later." 2012 Tony Stark says to 2012 Steve Rogers. "By the way, feel free to clean up."

I hold back a laugh a I see the present day Steve roll his eyes at past Tony's behavior. Our Tony keeps his voice low, but I can still hear it in the communicator. "Uh, Mr. Rogers, I almost forgot that suit did nothing for your ass."

"No one asked you to look, Tony." Steve turns as red as a tomato, and I have to turn away to keep from cracking up and ruining this entire time heist.

"It's ridiculous." Tony is now just milking the situation to make it worse.

"I think you look great, Cap." My heart skips a beat because for a second I forgot Scott was even here. "As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass!"

I take a deep breath and wipe the sweat from my forehead. Holding in laughter takes a lot of work. "I always wondered why they used comedians as the actors for the main cast. And now I know. You guys better stop making me laugh before I jeopardize this mission!"

"Uhh... magic wand?" I can hear past Natasha say. I can't be sure, but I think she is referring to Loki's scepter.

I hear the elevator that we are hiding by shoot up to the top floor and then past Tony says, "Strike team is coming to secure it."

I turn to Steve with wide eyes. "You never told me you handed the scepter over to Hydra!"

"First of all, you never asked." Steve says smartly, but then his face deflates of all the cockiness and he scratches the back of his head. "And... we didn't know at the time."

"Well, that's the biggest plot hole explained. Only took them about seven years to reveal it." I mumble, disappointedly. So that's how Strucker got the scepter before the events of Age of Ultron happened. Maybe it was for the best, anyway. I mean, we did get Wanda, Pietro, and Vision from the Mind Stone.

I blow some strands of (h/c) hair out of my face, some shorter ends starting to fall out of my braided ponytail. Steve must have noticed because he starts pulling my hair back to retie it. "Thanks."

"There." Steve finishes tying up the ponytail, the braid resting on top of my head. "Hmm... one more thing."

I stand there, confused as Steve pulls a blue ribbon from his pocket and loops it around the ponytail. I'm not sure what to do, so I just stand there awkwardly until he finishes. Finally, he steps back and smiles. I feel the silky texture of the blue ribbon and raise an eyebrow at him. "A ribbon, really? I'm (f/a) now! I'm not a kid."

Even through my claim, Steve just smiles more and shakes his head. "Nah, you're a hero."

His statement takes me by surprise. I can feel myself blush, so I look away from him bashfully. Why is he acting so weird lately? He's acting like I'm his kid, unless... that's how he views me. Now I think about it, he's probably always wanted to be a dad. Well, I didn't see that coming.

"Alright, you two." I can hear Tony's voice in my ear once again. "I got our scepter in the elevator just passing the 80th floor."

"On it." I say and leave my hiding spot. I press the down button on the elevator, my heart starting to beat faster. "Head to the lobby, Tony."

"Okay. I'll see you guys down there." Tony disconnects the communicators, meaning that for now Steve and I are on our own.

The elevator door opens to reveal a bunch of Hydra agents. They all freeze when they see Steve, but at least they don't have a clue of who I am. Steve and I slowly walk into the elevator and stand in the middle of the crowd.

And oh my goodness, the tension could cut through the sky. All I can think of right now is Winter Soldier and the elevator fight scene. Agent Sitwell turns to the Captain just as the doors close. "Captain, I thought you were coordinating search and rescue?"

"Change of plans." I say. I'm confident that my voice isn't too fast or too suspicious. The reason why I went with Cap to get the Mind Stone is because of my powers.

Let's pause for a moment to go over them real quickly, shall we? Power Stone: I can create purple fire and sometimes use their force to fly up a couple feet. Space Stone: I can create portals that go halfway across the Solar System. Reality Stone: I can create illusions and change perception of reality, but I can NOT make something real. They are only illusions. Time Stone: I can reverse time three hours in the past and I have choppy visions of the future. There might be more that I haven't unlocked about that Stone yet. Soul Stone: I can sense if someone is going to die, or has died. I can also tell others where I am based on what I call "soul signals". Using the signals, I can also sense where someone is. There might be more to the Soul Stone that I haven't unlocked yet as well. Finally, Mind Stone: I can ease people's minds and make them relaxed, I can see a limited amount of thoughts, and I can put ideas into other people's minds.

So, back to why I went with Steve in the first place. Sure, I should have went to the Ancient One and gotten the Time Stone, but I genuinely believe that Bruce can tell her what happened and get her to give him the Stone. Scott and Tony have a very solid plan on getting the Tesseract. As for Steve, we knew we'd have to get it from secret agents, I just didn't know it'd be Hydra agents. Steve didn't really have a plan, just a goal. To get that scepter.

"Hey, Cap." Crossbone's cold, dark eyes stare menacingly at Steve. I stretch out my left hand at my side, ready to use my powers if they make any sudden moves.

"Rumlow." Steve's tone surprises me. It sounds like he is actually angry at Crossbones. What if... Steve blames Rumlow for starting the events of Civil War?! After all, it was the explosion that Crossbones made that sparked the Sokovia Accords later on in the movie. It was the last straw.

Steve makes eye contact with me and I nod at him confidently. He takes a deep breath and keeps his voice level, "Just got a call from the Secretary. I'm going to be running point in the scepter."

"Sir? I don't understand." Agent Sitwell knows something is up. His hand brushes against his hip, which I'm guessing is where a gun is hidden.

"We got word there may be an attempt to steal it." I cross my arms, my eyes showing a dangerous amount of purple in them.

"Sorry, Agent. I can't give you the scepter." Rumlow turns to face me and my blood runs cold. Sure, he was scary in the movies, but that's because he's one of Captain America's main nemeses. Standing not even a foot away from him in a closed elevator with about ten more Hydra agents is a different level of scary.

Agent Sitwell reaches toward his pocket and pulls out an old looking phone. It would be very hard to hack into because of how old it is. "I'm going to have to call the Director."

My heart starts beating fast as Sitwell dials the Director's number and hits the speed dial button. I have to think of something, something outlandish that they would never expect. I can't take it by force because then they would know that we know they're bad guys. We know they're bad guys.

It's risky, and I probably shouldn't do it, but what choice do I have? Taking an idea from one of the most controversial Captain America comics, I flick my left hand fingers and use the Mind Stone's powers to give Steve the idea.

Steve puts his hand on top of Sitwell's phone and lowers it. "That's okay, trust me." Steve leans his head close to Sitwell's ear and whispers, "Hail Hydra."

The doors open, and leaving everyone shocked, Steve and I exit with the case. We try to connect our communicators back to Tony's and Scott's, but all we hear is static. I catch Tony saying something like, "Oh, we blew it," but I'm not sure I heard him correctly.

I just can't get over the fact that I told Steve to say Hail Hydra to those bad guys. Now, in this timeline, they're going to think that Captain America is on their side! I hope we didn't mess anything up for this timeline by doing that. Nah, as long as this timeline's Steve is still loyal to the Avengers, we will be fine.

Speaking of Steve, he keeps poking at his earpiece, trying to get communications up with Tony. "What's going on? Tony, tell me you found that cube." Steve looks up and immediately stops walking. I turn to see what the deal is, and I freeze myself. Steve groans, "Oh, you've gotta be shitting me."

On the other side of the walkway, 2012 Steve faces the present day Steve, and 2012 Natasha faces me. Young Steve still has his mask on, but he can still use his earpiece. "We found Loki. He seems to have captured a woman and used the scepter on her."

"Loki?" I ask, kind of confused. Why would they think that Steve is Loki? Did he escape somehow?

"I'm not Loki." The Steve next to me slowly puts down the brown case that houses the scepter. "And I don't wanna hurt you."

Past Steve rushes at the present one and lifts his shield to strike. My Steve blocks the attacks with his own shield, making a deafening banging noise that resonates throughout the entire building. I flinch at the noise, but the two super soldiers keep fighting.

I'm taken by surprise as Natasha jumps up and extends one of her legs, kicking me in the ribs. I fall on my back and Natasha leans over me. "Nothing personal, I'm just going to have to knock you out."

Natasha lifts her fists, but before it can connect with my skull, I shoot purple fire out of my left hand and singe her leg. The momentum of the blast sends me sliding on the floor backwards. I hear a crash and see both Steves fall down the walkway a couple of floors downward. I wince when they hit the ground, knowing that must have hurt.

I can't continue to watch though, because Natasha shakes off the burning sensation in her leg and uses her spy fighting skills to throw punches and kicks at me. Now, I'm no spy expert, but I do have the powers of the Infinity Stones. Using the Reality Stone, I make one fake of myself so that she attacks it. However, her attack goes right through the illusion and the real me kicks her hard in the back. Natasha recovers and spins around, kicking me in the nose. I fall back, but this time I take that to my advantage. Using the Space Stone's powers, I create a portal on the ground and fall backward into it. "Sorry, Nat!" I yell as the portal closes.

My portal opens on the floor right beside the present day Steve. He is holding the scepter and looking at his knocked out past self. "That is America's ass."

Steve pockets his compass that has the picture of Peggy Carter inside it, and turns around to face me. Steve jumps a bit when he sees me and I chuckle. "Come on, let's get your American ass regrouped with the others."

I take Steve's arm a portal us back to the alleyway where Tony and Scott are waiting. I look between Scott and Tony, a bit worried because they don't look too happy. "Where's the Tesseract?" Then it clicks. The past Steve thought the present Steve was Loki. "Don't tell me Loki took it?!"

Now this timeline is very messed up. We definitely screwed up big time. I take a deep breath and try to look on the bright side. "Well, at least this timeline's Steve can still fight Hydra. What happened with him, anyway?"

Steve looks at the scepter like he just won a great prize. "I used this to control his mind so that he would stop attacking me."

The realization hits be like an avalanche. "Steve, do you know what you just did?!"

Before I can continue, my chest and my head starts to hurt all at the same time. My knees get weak, but I manage to keep standing. And there's voices, so many voices...

It will create a rift in my reality. The Ancient One explaining to Bruce the consequences of taking the Time Stone. Consumed by darkness. Again, she's explaining. You have to move on. Steve at his counseling meeting. Don't give me hope. Clint when Natasha comes to bring him back. Chronologically, it never left. Bruce was able to persuade the Ancient One. Hail Hydra. What I told Steve to do. Six Stones, three teams, one shot. Steve explaining the plan.

"Urg..." I hold my head and try to think clearly. Were those all the quotes from before when I heard voices? I don't get much to think about it because I notice my entire body is being surrounded in a green mist.

"(Y/n)!" Tony and Scott jump out of their car and run up to me. I don't understand what's going on. At one point, I'm in New York, and another there is a rainbow glowing in the void of space. Steve, Scott, and Tony start glitching out, and my body is probably also starting to glitch out. My mind gets fuzzy, but then again I also know exactly what's going on. Right before I faint, New York completely disappears.

2013 Asgard.