(AN: This is a bonus chappie dedicated to nariaki_kinugasa. Enjoy! )
The city didn't heal overnight.
But it moved on—because that's what it always did.
Within hours of the invasion's end, government agencies poured in like ants to a carcass.
The Department of Damage Control took point, just as they would later claim they always had.
Alien corpses were collected, tagged, and sealed away.
Chitauri tech was boxed up under heavy guard, rushed into black vans and cargo planes, destinations classified and deniable.
Streets were reopened in phases.
Buildings deemed unstable were cordoned off, then quietly demolished.
Others were repaired just enough to be called "safe."
Insurance companies collapsed under paperwork.
Construction crews worked day and night. News anchors called it resilience.
Politicians called it recovery.
The people just called it going home.
When the all-clear finally came, New York flowed back into itself.
Shops reopened. Traffic returned. Street vendors set up carts as if alien warships hadn't hovered above them days ago.
Families stepped carefully around scorch marks in the pavement and pretended they weren't there.
Elias returned with them.
Queens was no longer under quarantine.
His shop was intact as if nothing extraordinary had ever passed through its doors.
His house, too, stood untouched, quiet, familiar.
Life returned to normal.
Or something close enough to wear the mask.
He unlocked the door, swept the dust, brewed coffee.
Opened the shop on schedule.
Greeted customers who didn't know how close the world had come to ending—or how close it still was.
And when the day was done, he went home, trained his control over his Telekinesis which shows improvements.
He even added a session of soar with Kristen to enroch his experience with combat.
That was how he lived, rinse and repeat.
The Avengers didn't involved his ass with the HYDRA problem.
However there was a difference to what happened in the original plot than now.
It was still the year 2012.
And the Avengers already went to Sokovia.
After what happened to them when they disobeyed Arthas' task, they learned.
His last sentence was a clue that they can bypass, for now they must focus on retrieving the twins, then Bucky, then they would face HYDRA and maybe visit camp Lehigh along the way.
Besides looking for the twin siblings, Sokovia was also one of the places that kept surfacing in the intel they've gathered.
What was unforgivable though was that, the two enhanced that survived an experiment.
Were exactly whom they were tasked by Arthas to extract.
The twins were fooled by HYDRA. Yes, they've found out it was HYDRA who used the weapons from Stark Industries.
And it was also HYDRA, who used the fact that the weapons used was from Stark Industries, to fuel the people's feelings of revenge to volunteer.
And so, Tony wanted to prioritize the twins and at the same time destroy the HYDRA base in Sokovia, Clint didn't let the chance get away, since he couldn't even imagine his children being on the same situation.
Bruce was there in case something unexpected happens and also to help with Tony's technical stuff, not that Clint is an idiot but the guy prefers watching from afar.
Back in the United States, the others lived smaller lives—for now.
Steve did his workout every morning, the same route, the same pace, the same quiet discipline.
That was where he met Sam Wilson whom he kept saying 'on your left' every time he passed him by circling the same track, it ended with Sam giving suggestions to him on his list.
Natasha kept moving.
Missions came and went. Names changed. Faces blurred. She worked as she always had—efficient and fast.
Nick Fury stayed in his chair.
Publicly, nothing was wrong.
Privately, everything was.
Behind closed doors, Phil Coulson and Maria Hill were already moving pieces into place.
Quiet and careful investigations, away from suspicions.
Secured assets.
Redundant plans layered on top of contingency plans.
They weren't exposing HYDRA yet.
Not until they could finish it.
Not until they were sure there would be no place left for it to hide.
.
.
.
Sokovia was quiet in the wrong way.
Not peaceful, it felt empty despite it's people still there.
Snow clung to the rooftops of houses, unmelted, untouched.
HYDRA liked places like this. Forgotten places. Places no one would look too closely at.
In the original plot, the twins were ready to face the Avengers but that was 2014.
It was still 2012.
Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff were probably stil understand tests and observations.
Tony Stark stood at the edge of the compound, helmet retracting just enough for his jaw to tighten.
Thermal scans confirmed it.
"They are underground," Tony said quietly.
Bruce's hands clenched at his sides.
Then the door exploded.
The Hulk didn't wait for a signal.
Steel caved inward with a thunderous crash as green muscle tore through reinforced steel like wet paper.
HYDRA alarms screamed to life a heartbeat too late.
Tony launched forward in a roar of repulsors, armor fully deployed now, red and gold filling the hallway with blinding light.
HYDRA agents barely had time to turn.
They never stood a chance.
Clint had a different path than the two. While they deal with the enemy, he was tasked with locating the twins.
It didn't take Clint long to locate where they were. They are the only remaining survivors of the experiment after all.
Two figures sat behind reinforced glass.
Ragged clothes. Bare feet. Bruises layered over scars that hadn't fully healed.
Wanda Maximoff lifted her head first.
Her eyes locked onto Clint, fear clearly etched on his face.
Pietro surged to his feet, fingers curling into fists as his breath hitched. His words barely audible.
"Leave... my... sister... alone..."
Clint froze.
For just a second, the battlefield noise outside faded.
Then Wanda screamed.
Not aloud—but inside.
The air trembled.
Cracks spiderwebbed through the reinforced glass as her emotions surged, raw and uncontrolled.
Pietro slammed a fist into the barrier, knuckles splitting as if pain didn't matter.
"Get..." he snarled. "get.. away from her.. Monsters.."
Clint moved.
He stepped into their line of sight, bow lowered, hands open and empty.
No weapons raised. No sudden movements.
"Hey." he said carefully.
"I'm not with the monsters, I'm here to help you out of here."
Both twins turned toward him—suspicious, feral.
"The monsters? They are called HYDRA, and my friends are taking care of them so I can get you both out lf here."
Silence fell between them after hearing Clint's words.
Wanda and Pietro stared at Clint.
Doubt warred with instinct—but the alarms kept wailing, and the building was coming apart.
Whatever else Clint was, he wasn't lying about one thing.
Someone was fighting for them.
Their expressions changed.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
Both of them looked at Clint with pleading eyes now.
Help
There was no scream, no sound, no words came out. Just expression.
And that expression almost broke Clint.
For a heartbeat, he didn't see two prisoners.
He saw shadows of his own kids—small, scared, trusting him to make the right call.
He reached for the comms.
"This is Barton, I found the siblings." His voice was almost soft, no, it was calm.
In fact, to calm for even him. Tony's voice came in.
"Good job, go to the extraction point we'll be with you once you've confirmed they are safe. Hulk and I will—"
"Tony," Clint cut in gently.
"How many volunteers were here?"
A pause.
Tony pulled the data mid-fight, armor clashing violently in the background.
"Uh… logs say… forty-seven."
Clint closed his eyes.
"Volunteers," Tony added, quieter now.
"Most didn't survive the first round."
Clint looked back at the twins.
At the chains.
At the bruises.
"I'm sorry," Clint said—not to them, but into the comm.
"But I can't let these monsters die peacefully."
There was no anger in his voice.
Just certainty.
He reached into his inventory.
"Deploy all facehuggers," Clint said.
On the other end of the line, Tony didn't argue.
He laughed—short, sharp, and vicious.
"You know what? I like how you're thinking."
A second command echoed through the system.
Tony followed suit.
The air shifted.
Two system prompts flashed simultaneously.
[Enemies detected!
Facehuggers under Generals Clinton Francis Barton and Anthony Edward Stark are automatically deployed on the rooftops!]
[Objective: Eliminate all enemies.
Enemy Count: 235 ]
Clint didn't even look at it.
He was already moving.
The barrier dropped with a hiss as Clint disabled the power.
He shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around Wanda's shoulders before she could protest.
"Can you walk?" he asked.
She nodded.
Pietro stepped forward instantly, placing himself between Clint and his sister, even now. Clint didn't push it.
"Good," Clint said.
"Stay close. Don't look back."
They moved as fast as they could with their condition. Clint just behind them, arrows readyt of fly at any danger that comes their way.
However that doesn't seem necessary as they heard some HYDRA screaming at one moment and stopped the next.
They simply moved and no one seemed to take them into account.
It was a good thing the siblings hadn't encounter any Facehuggers. They continue until they saw a quinjet at the distance.
Back at the HYDRA base
Facehuggers dropped from vents, ceilings, walls—silent, efficient.
Soldiers barely had time to shout before something latched onto their faces, tails coiling tight.
Minutes later, the real hunt began.
Xenomorphs burst forth.
Sleek. Black. Perfect.
Tony spotted one leaping from a wall and grinned inside his helmet.
"Okay, that's terrifying. And awesome."
Repulsors flared, pinning fleeing soldiers directly into claws.
The Hulk roared, smashing through barricades and hurling HYDRA agents straight into waiting maws.
If Bruce hadn't been restricted, he would've unleashed his own.
Hallways turned into slaughterhouses.
Small squads vanished in seconds.
Larger groups held for moments—then broke.
None escaped.
235 enemies went down fast for there was a total of 200 facehuggers, what could the remaining 35 do against 200 xenomorphs plus Ironman and Hulk?
One thing for sure though. The leader Baron Strucker fell.
.
.
.
Clint ushered the twins aboard first.
Only then did he turn back and said.
"The siblings are secured. Are you guys done?"
"Almost, just a few more minutes, we'll be there. It's not like we're in a hurry or something."
True to his words Clint saw Iron Man land beside him, armor scorched, and the Hulk looming behind.
Tony glanced back at the burning compound and at the 200 xenomorphs standing in front of them.
"…Yeah," he muttered.
"Definitely not writing this one up for SHIELD."
Clint just nodded. Both of them unsummoned the Xenomorphs.
(AN: Summoning Realm of MC is shared by his subordinates. Xenomorphs can't be returned to their inventory. Facehugger ggs are different matters.)
Inside the quinjet, Wanda held Pietro's hand not even knowing that the object of their revenge was there.
Though no one really can blame her after what she and her brother went through.
The quinjet cut through the clouds, engines humming steadily as Sokovia shrank into a scarred patch of land far below.
Inside, the air was heavy.
Tony stood near the rear ramp, helmet retracted, arms crossed.
He didn't speak at first.
He just looked at them.
Wanda noticed.
Pietro noticed faster.
The hatred hit instantly—raw, unfiltered.
Wanda's eyes burned red at the edges, grief and rage twisting together.
Pietro stepped forward half a pace, fists clenched, body vibrating with restrained violence.
You.
Tony didn't flinch.
"If you want to yell," he said quietly, "go ahead. I won't stop you."
The words only made it worse.
Clint moved without thinking, stepping between them—not blocking Tony, not shielding him.
Just there. Present.
"Easy," Clint said gently.
"No one's trapping anyone here."
Pietro snarled.
"Move."
Clint didn't.
"I will. After you hear this."
Bruce's voice came from the cockpit, calm and distant.
"We've got about six hours to the States. No turbulence expected."
Good. Plenty of time.
Clint turned back to the twins.
"I won't ask you to forgive him," Clint said.
"Not yet. Maybe not ever. But you deserve the truth—all of it."
Tony swallowed but didn't interrupt.
"HYDRA used Stark weapons," Clint continued.
"Someone sold them behind his back, and used them against your people. And when your parents died, HYDRA made sure you knew whose name was on the shell."
Wanda's breath hitched.
"They fed your anger," Clint said softly.
"Pointed it. Groomed it. They needed volunteers who wouldn't ask questions."
Pietro's jaw tightened.
"He still made them."
Tony finally spoke.
"I did. And I shut it down when I found out. Too late."
His voice cracked.
"I won't pretend that makes it better."
Silence.
Clint crouched slightly so he was eye-level with Wanda.
"Tony lost his parents too. Murdered. By the same people who locked you in those cages."
Her eyes flickered—confused now, torn.
"And he didn't know." Clint added.
"HYDRA buried the truth deep. Even from him."
Pietro looked away.
Minutes passed.
The engines hummed.
Finally, Wanda spoke—quiet, exhausted.
"If… if HYDRA hadn't used his name…"
Clint nodded.
"You might've never volunteered. Or It might be someone else you wanted dead. Just another name."
Tony didn't argue.
Wanda's shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of her all at once.
Pietro caught her before she could sink, pulling her close.
They didn't apologize.
They didn't thank Tony.
They simply… stopped hating him enough to breathe.
That was enough. Both felt sleepy.
Clint draped another blanket over them as they settled into the seats.
Within minutes, exhaustion claimed them—deep, dreamless sleep for the first time in years.
Bruce glanced back from the cockpit.
"They'll be okay."
Clint nodded.
Tony didn't answer but his expressions says it all.
He'll make sure they'll be okay. Order or not.
End of chapter
2 of 3 done!!!