Chapter 1
At a first glance, the computer didn’t look like anything, save some sort of a half-abandoned project of the FitzSimmons’, especially the CPU, which, at a closer observation by Grant, shown to be sawed almost into two, so that the innards of the computer would be half-replaced by completely different technology. Some of it seemed to be directly out of the post-WWII era, probably used by Peggy Carter and her SSR allies, back when they were young.
“Cor blimey, but what is it?” asked Naomi, as she, among the others, observed how Grant and Kebo unpacked and put down the bastardized device. Werner was there too, but he opted to stay next to her and to observe what their superiors were doing.
“This is the von Strucker family McGuffin,” Grant replied cheerfully, seemingly unbothered by the skeptical curiosity in the youngsters’ eyes. “Basically, this the first plan as to how to resurrect Kara. Otherwise, we’ll be working with Malick to go to the alien planet after all.”
“Exactly,” Kebo nodded: right now, Gideon Malick and his people were not very popular in Grant’s organization; in Kebo’s case it was his decision to choose Grant over his opponents in order to save his own life. He saved it, Grant owed it, and Gideon Malick wanted it – well, he wanted Kebo to suffer for some time before he died, for the betrayal of Carmichael and his camarilla.
“Right,” Grant nodded and looked around as he and Kebo assembled it, joined, reluctantly, by Werner. “It isn’t in the best of shape, admittedly – Werner’s family have neglected it for the last 25 years, but it should work long enough for us to succeed.”
The others exchanged sceptical looks, but, given Grant’s rate of success so far, they were not about to openly challenge him on this either. Maybe it would work, who knows?
“Well, thanks for helping me set it up,” Grant meanwhile continued, unshaken. “Kebo, want something to drink?”
“Pass,” Kebo shook his head. “Any news from S.H.I.E.L.D.?”
“No,” Naomi shook her head. “Coulson is still busy with Ms. Price, and without him, the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. won’t be making any moves, especially not after their Andrew-slash-Lash misadventure.”
“Good,” Grant sounded genuinely pleased with this. “For the moment, S.H.I.E.L.D. is useless to us, so let them simmer. Maybe Gideon will provoke them by kidnapping the FitzSimmons or something. Anyone wants a beer?"
“Can I?” Werner spoke brightly. Naomi elbowed him. “Ouch! Just kidding!”
Naomi shot him a look. “Okay, that and procrastinating. This is both exciting and scary – the von Strucker family had not used this since, well, ever – especially after Carter has captured Whitehall right after WWII. I don’t know if it works, honestly…”
“Nobody here does,” Grant agreed, looking around the room. It was almost stark, certainly simple – Grant did not want to risk anything expansive; he did not like unnecessary risks, period, but necessary risks were something else. He also, at the point, did not feel like killing anyone – unnecessarily. He had plans for Coulson, which included going full Sith on the director’s ass, he already executed his plans for the Cavalry, and as for Hunter and Morse? Yes, he was going to be killing them…eventually.
…Or maybe he would do something worse to them – as Morse should know from her tenure at Whitehall’s, killing sometimes was the merciful option indeed.
“There,” commented Kebo, as he put the display on top of the rest of the assemblage. “I reckon that it might be crazy – but it just might be crazy to work.”
“How so?” Grant inquired.
“I looked at the back as we were loading the thing,” Kebo confessed. “The von Strucker family really were Americaphiles, by Hydra’s standards. We have parts from IBM as well as from RadioShack in there, as well as some sort of an electrical motor that looks as if it came from a kiddie construction set. Will it even work? I don’t know.”
“It will,” Grant replied quietly, but Kebo immediately fell silent: out of the two of them, Grant was the better fighter by far. “The man who created it was a genius with everything electrical, including computers. He was out of his time…metaphorically speaking, but he did create some interesting toys for Hydra…until he got suborned into A.I.M. instead…”
“This was a day that would forever live in ignominy,” Werner agreed.
Grant shot the younger man a look. “True. Unlike the man in question, who died not soon afterwards. Where are we in the present?”
“Well, Trump and Hillary are running for president, Britain isn’t a part of the EU anymore, Crimea is still Russian-“ Kebo fell silent as Grant shot him yet another look:
“Oh, you mean on our own level? So far we got a nuclear accelerator made out of two tin cans and electric rubbish like what we’ve got, we’re negotiating with a scientist, specializing in tachyons, in regards if she can use it, and we’ve made enough celluloid-based bombs to blow Rio straight into the troposphere,” Kebo amended hastily.
“So, let’s start negotiating with the Brazilian government about us demolishing their mess,” Grant shrugged, “and tell them that we don’t want money, but land rights. If they are difficult, add some cash and see what develops. What of Bollo?”
Naomi smiled, briefly acquiring her more InHuman appearance, (usually she looked more-or-less human, save for two fully functional featured wings on her back – but Werner did not mind; he was much more worried about his potential in-laws than about genetics: after all, InHumans were still humans, with just some alien DNA, while his in-laws were something else…).
“Okay then,” Grant nodded in response and activated the McGuffin (by flipping a switch, appropriately enough). There was a buzzing sound, and the screen lit green, signifying that the McGuffin was up and ready.
Grant and his inner circle looked as the McGuffin did nothing else. “So, we got a nuclear accelerator?” Grant asked Kebo out of the blue.
“Yes! Alongside a bunch of zombie alligators, as well as several agents in area 51 in Nebraska!” Kebo replied brightly. “Now what?”
“We’re going to change the world due to possessing a bastard from RadioShack, Western Electric, WestWorks and an electric set from Lyonel trains – and all of it was made in Taiwan,” Grant nodded solemnly. “Anyone has any ideas what to do for a trial run, or should I just go with my own ideas?”
Silence fell.
“Yeah, we’re scared too,” Naomi admitted. “Either it won’t work, and we’ll be sorry that it failed – none of us like to see you upset, or it will work…and what then? Is it worth it-“
“No,” Grant shook his head. “It isn’t. However, abandoning Kara in Limbo? It is not worth the cowardice either. People, listen to me. When we got together, at first, none of us was really going anywhere. Some of us could work for S.H.I.E.L.D.-“
“No, mum made sure of that,” Naomi grimaced. “Speaking of mum, did you see dad?”
“Yeah, we knocked his powers back on, as we were leaving,” Kebo grimaced. “He promptly began to toss Hydra agents – even more explosively than he did before. Boss, we hear what you are saying – some of us could work for S.H.I.E.L.D., others – for Hydra, but, honestly? We like what we’ve got here best.”
He paused. “On the other hand, this is because that without you and your plans, we didn’t have any of our own, some of us still don’t, so the idea of your plan nearing completion is scary for us. Whether you mess-up or not-“
“Let’s do it,” Grant said flatly. He sat down at the computer and typed:
Kara’s photo hangs on the western wall of the office.
And then he pressed INSERT.
There was a pause as the others looked at the western wall in question. Sure enough, Kara’s photo, now framed and all, was hanging there, with the woman depicted there looking somewhat forlorn.
“Okay,” Grant spoke carefully, as he turned off the McGuffin to let it cool down for a minute. “The McGuffin works.”
“Yes it does,” Werner nodded, while Naomi commented, unexpectedly:
“She is really pretty, you know?”
“Um, thanks?” Grant looked cautiously at Naomi: “Is it a female logic thing?”
“Mm, only slightly,” Naomi shrugged. “Can we try it?”
There was a pause. “How great are the odds that you will try to do something irresponsible and reckless, kind of like what the latest Rowling play has shown in London recently?” Grant asked with a look of a person who knew that he would regret the answer.
Naomi visibly drooped. “Half of the one, 50% of the other?” she suggested, meekly.
“Well, fair enough,” Grant nodded. “Go ahead and try it.”
Moreover, Naomi tried:
Napoleon never became the emperor of the entire France and beyond. Rather, he carved a do-main out of most of Italy, southeast France, and bits of Austria and Spain.
And then she pressed INSERT.
Everybody just looked at the globe that stood in a corner of the office, (just beneath Kara’s portrait photo). Sure enough, there was a greater Corsica that encompassed a greater part of southern France and Italy, with pieces of Austria and Spain. There was no France, not really, and instead of Germany, there was many smaller countries instead. With Russia-
Elsewhere…
The Avengers were officially in shambles. The battle in the German airport has destroyed the last of the illusions. Some of the Avengers had quit. Others – arrested by general Ross and his people. Captain America and the Winter Soldier has fled – on the Black Widow’s watch.
“Once a double agent, always a double agent,” Tony told Natasha regarding this question.
“Fuck you,” Natasha told flatly her (former) friend and turned around to leave.
“Natasha, wait,” the Iron Man made a different choice. “I shouldn’t have said this; I’m sorry; I just – don’t know where to go anymore, and I don’t mean just literally. I’m – sorry.”
Natasha gave him a good long look. “I should probably say that ‘sorry’ isn’t good enough…but it is,” she finally confessed. “Now what?”
‘Now’ became something of a trip to general Ross’s underwater prison, and then – to Eastern Europe, where things went down almost as did in the mainline universe: Bucky still lost his arm, Captain – his shield, Tony – his nuclear reactor. And Natasha ended up recovering right next to the War Machine, after Captain hit her in the ribs just slightly too hard in the face-off.
After this, the Black Widow became very firmly a part of team Stark…
“Naomi,” Grant finally caught his breath and looked at the others, (who were still here). “Next time, try to narrow your scope – just slightly. Either that, or-“
“I’m sorry,” Naomi looked away, embarrassed. “It’s just that Werner told me so much about his family-“
“Naomi!” Werner twitched. “I, I… yes, I have. I just, I don’t know-“
“No, the two of you don’t think,” Grant said wryly, “and now Kebo is the one with the hair-“
“What?” the others immediately turned to Kebo, who was as bald as he always was. “Boss man!!”
“Got you,” Grant smiled wryly and turned back to the McGuffin. “Now, where were we?”
He looked at the screen, thought about what he wanted to right for a while, and typed:
Kara is alive. She is here with us, and she knows exactly what has happened in her absence.
And he pressed INSERT.
“…Grant Douglas Ward, you’re an idiot,” Kara Palamas spoke, startling everyone. “But you’re my idiot, and you did bring back from the land of the dead. Thank you.” She kissed him on the cheek – very nicely, with a promise of greater things to come.
“Ah!” Everyone else spoke at once, startling the pair and causing them to glare at the speakers.
Elsewhere….
Raina inhaled with a gasp, as she realized that the world has changed and she was alive, and no one remembered her being properly dead, either.
“Now what?” Naomi collected herself first.
“Excuse me?” Kara looked at the younger woman. “Can you be more specific?”
“We aren’t stupid; we know that the boss man started this to have a base – of resources and otherwise – to resurrect you. Now that you’re resurrected, what are we to do now?” Naomi asked, carefully choosing each word.
“I have no idea,” Grant confessed. “We – keep on going, and besides, we still have a McGuffin,” he pointed to the construction in question. “Maybe we can get some ideas from it?” he added, in a less certain tone of voice.
“How does it work?” Kara asked with some genuine curiosity, (and a facial expression not unlike that of Naomi after she had changed the course of European and global history).
Grant explained it.
“Hah,” Kara said thoughtfully and quickly typed:
Since the end of the Byzantine Empire, Greece became a non-entity – political, cultural, and otherwise.
And she pressed INSERT.
Elsewhere…
“I’m grateful – honest,” colonel Zemo told his disguised, cough, rescuer, who held some strong similarities with Wanda ‘the Scarlet Witch’ Maximoff. “But did you have to do all that?”
“No,” the anonymous gifted, cough, replied in a completely unimpressed voice. “I could’ve let the Avengers go around in their shiny-happy verse and everything would’ve been swell. Only it would not. And now, colonel, while Sokovia is grateful for what you’ve done to the U.S. and UN forces, it needs you once more. Are you ready?”
“A Sokovian is always ready to serve their country!” Zemo replied in a similar tone of voice. “What does it want from the two of us?”
The person who may or may not have been the Scarlet Witch told him.
“…I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Kara told Grant and the others as they all silently looked at the small pile of dark, black, stinking ashes that the McGuffin had turned into, due to an overload. “I really didn’t.”
“Okay, done,” Grant shrugged. “You’re back, the McGuffin is gone, we changed the global, or at least the European history again, and it’s just another regular day for us. The end.”
“It is?” Kara blinked. “Really?”
“Really,” Grant nodded, as he promptly grabbed Kara and stood up. “People, come on. Kebo, what you and the others were telling me about the demolition job in Rio earlier?”
There was an atmosphere of relief, and the group of (now) five left the office to face the rest of their lives, after dumping the remains of the McGuffin into an appropriate recycling bin.
The end?