3490 AU fic part 1

[mozzarellaroses.livejournal.com]

 This is me testing LJ cuts.

Because people commented, especially one of my inspirations, glasgowsmiles, here's the first part of the AU fic.

Title: Bridged Gaps (a 3490 fanfiction)
Author: Mozzarellaroses
Rating: For now, G
Warning/Spoilers: Alternate Universe, Original Characters and Stark-Rogers kids. And partial canon Pym-bashing and character death.
Pairing: Eventual Steve/Tony
Word Count: 1460
Beta: I AM a beta. (.... no one. Mistakes are all mine)
A/N: I've been stewing this idea in my head for weeks now, but I was too scared to put it down on anything til now. Please forgive any mistakes about continuity and behavior, but feel free to tell me if someone's out of character. I'm not entirely sure about the accuracy of the portrayals.
Summary: A hero codenamed Super Soldier appears out of nowhere from another universe to stop her world's Hank Pym. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who took the bridge.

Enjoy!
Part 1: "With multitudes bent toward some flashing scene." --Hart Crane, "To Brooklyn Bridge"

~~~

It had to happen, today of all days. Super Soldier had long since accepted that being an “Agent of SHIELD” had its share of inconveniences (to say the least), but this was just pure BS on their part.

 

They should have informed her.

 

They should have taken the necessary precautions, if they knew what the man, the man they had let escape, wanted.

 

At that moment, all Super Soldier, listed Maria L. S. R. under the Super Human Registration Act, wanted to do was jump out of the damn jet. Forget that it was 700 feet above New York.

 

At least they WERE in New York, Maria decided. They were close. She should be patient. She should—

 

“James. Come in. Do you read me?” Maria tapped into the Iron Warrior’s frequency as she strapped on one of the carrier’s parachutes.

 

“Maria? How did you get this signal? Aren’t you supposed to be in Alberta—” “No time to explain, Junior. Are you patrolling?” Maria demanded quickly. “Yes, but—”

 

“Goodie.” The hatch was released. “I’m jumping. Mind catching me?” she shouted above the jarring sound of the cabin pressure being released at that altitude.

 

“Catch- WHAT? Maria!”

 

It was fifty feet into the dive when Super Soldier’s communications link was accessed once more. “Maria, what the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

 

“Should I pull the chute now, you think? I’m aiming for the Baxter building, but I’m a few hundred feet too far to land it even from here.”

 

“Pull it! I’ll intercept you.” James responded, sounding thoroughly defeated as the line went silent. The chute was released, pulled this way and that in an attempt to ride air currents just as a dark gray shape approached Super Soldier’s slow-falling form.

 

The suit, shining eerily subtle in the city lights, hovered by her. The visor was retracted to reveal a blond young man, his face set stonily as he glared at the masked face. Super Soldier pulled her own back for good measure, producing short black hair and a similar face to the blond’s, though stretched into a grin as opposed to the frown of greeting.

 

“Hey, Junior. Mind giving me a hand up?” Maria quipped. James took a hold of the harness and cut the chute itself off, holding the woman up with his gauntlet. “What were you thinking?” James began, flying them both in the direction of Baxter Building. “I thought you were through pulling stunts like that, Maria. Couldn’t you have waited for the jet to land?”

 

Maria frowned. “No, I couldn’t. That’s why I’m here, James.”

 

She looked up at him gravely. “Hank Pym escaped from SHIELD’s holding cells. If I’m not mistaken, I’d say he’s after Reed.” she informed. James’ expression seemed to harden even more. Their velocity increased as they neared the site. “How could—He’s been kept away for almost two decades, hasn’t he? Why now?” James asked.

 

Maria’s eyes widened as they sailed over mid-Manhattan. There was a fire spreading, a ring encompassing the area of the Baxter building, too uniform to be a simple ignition. The building itself seemed to be deserted from the outside. When they neared, the flames flew upward, nearly making contact.

 

“Oh god… James, can you contact Franklin?” she demanded. James shook his head. “I’ve been trying. There’s something interfering.”

 

Maria gritted her teeth as she watched a Super Human task force attempt to put out the flames, to no avail on their part. The building itself was calm, unnaturally so. She pulled her mask down over her face. “Throw me.” she said.

 

“This isn’t a good idea, ‘ria.” James said, already in position anyway. “Might as well try. I’ve always wanted to do this anyway.” Maria said brightly, masking her seriousness with a grin. James smiled for a moment before setting himself.

 

Energy levels were raised, power focusing on Iron Warrior’s right gauntlet as he shifted. With all the strength he could muster, he threw. The speed had the smaller Super Soldier cannonballing right into the building, crashing through the glass before the fire could even lick her.

 

It took her a moment to recover, the glass falling from the dark blue of her suit. “Ugh. Damn.”

 

The security system hadn’t gone off. Notwithstanding that being a good thing for Super Soldier, having just plowed through what might have sparked a few dozen traps, the inactivity of the well-guarded building worried her.

 

She made her way through the halls, charting the familiar paths in her head. Someone should have intercepted her by now, but she wasted no time in reaching her destination, the strange shifting room where Reed Richards would usually perform his experiments.

 

Even there, it was quiet. Nothing was making sense.

 

“Maria? Are you all right?”

 

“Yes, James, I’m…. I’m inside, but no one’s here. No Fantastic Four, no Val or Franklin or Jay.” Maria responded, once again removing her mask as she made her way through another hall. “Only place left to look is the storage for Reed’s old experiments, but—”

 

She was cut off when she spotted the bodies littering the end of the hallway. “Wait.”

 

Maria approached cautiously, relieved and worried when she recognized the faces of Valeria and Franklin Richards, unconscious and sprawled on the cold metal.

 

She checked them, found their pulses and steady breaths. “Val and Frank are here. Fine, I think. Alive, at least. I must be on the right track if---”

 

An explosion ripped through the hall. Maria didn’t have time to think as she threw herself over her friends’ bodies, her suit suddenly coming alive as it covered them like wrap, shielding them from the brunt of the blast.

 

The shape righted itself as Maria gasped. Beyond her, Ben Grimm was groaning in the crater his body had created, Johnny Storm not far from where he was. “…. Kid……. ‘hind you…” Ben warned difficultly.

 

Maria started, jumping back when a metal hand grabbed at her.

 

She jumped over the robot, dodging every attack, focused on getting to Reed and the man she was allowed to kill if necessary. Lucky her if it didn’t have to come to that.

 

She felt a shot rip through part of her arm, but she ignored it. He’d given his position away with that shot. She found him.

 

“Henry Pym!” Maria barked, raising a gun with her uninjured hand.

 

The man turned to her with a mix of relative surprise and anger. “SHIELD? You people move fast.” he said, raising his own weapon in defiance. “Unfortunately, you were shot, and this isn’t just a gun.” he informed.

 

Maria paled as she felt herself pulled down, her weight suddenly too much to bear. She found herself pinned to the ground before she could make a shot.

 

“Sorry kid, you’re out of your lea—” Pym stopped midway as sudden realization hit him. “I know you. Maria.” he said. “Little Maria Rogers. I haven’t seen you in years.”

 

His voice sounded almost nostalgic. Maria might have been touched, if not for the underlying mockery in that tone, the cocksure manner that she had hated even as a child.

 

“You don’t remember me, do you?” Hank continued, now standing right before her.

 

“Yes I do, Uncle Hank.” she responded, as bitingly as she could manage. “How could I not remember? You killed Aunt Jan and Aunt Sue. You took away Val and Frank’s mother.” she hissed.

 

Pym seemed to tense. “It wasn’t my fault. Reed had a hand in it, same as me, and yet he was able to go free while I’ve been kept in a cell for eighteen years!” Maria winced. “Where is he?” she demanded, struggling to get a better position.

 

Hank stepped away. “Don’t sound so concerned. He ran, like the coward he is. He activated one of his creations just now. I think you noticed the explosion. The bridge, he called it.” he said.

 

“I can’t follow him to where he is, but he left me a little gem.”

 

Maria managed to tilt her head enough to see the pedestal-like activation chamber, and Hank standing on it. “Realities. Different ones, thousands he could have hidden in. He didn’t realize that he’s given me what I need. Continuities that stem from events different from our own universe.”

 

He put on the helmet.

 

“And in hundreds of them….” he began, “I have power. Scientist Supreme, ruler of the world, god…”

 

“Everything better than this.”

 

Maria was silent throughout all this, her suit digging the micro-machinery out of her right arm, loosening the hold gravity had on her. She had to move fast. Reed had done something unthinkable, but it was too late to go after him now. She could only stop Hank now.

 

As he activated the machine, she leapt.



 

Comments

[clair3.livejournal.com]

interesting!

[glasgowsmiles.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'm intrigued... (and I love the mix of Tony and Steve showing up in their superheroing offspring)(and we all know I am completely addicted to alternate universe shenanigans...) And oh yay, I don't actually have to wait to read more!

Also, *blushes* oh, wow, no, I'm too new to the fandom to be someone's inspiration! But thanks for mentioning me, I feel all special *more blushing*

Now, to skip off to read the already-posted second chapter! *skips*