↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

The trio of rich kids screamed as the unknown figure forced them through the orange portal. One might have referred to it as a Pocket, but it was much too big and strangely coloured to be classified as such. Though when Diana and her acquaintances rolled onto the mahogany flooring, she really didn't think it mattered that much.

"Oh my god! Thank heavens you're all okay!" A voice quickly exclaimed as they started to groan.

Slowly blinking, Diana began to process her new surroundings. Being met with an open room that looked to be an entrance to some sort of library. Bookshelves lined the walls with small seating areas here and there. With the most interesting part being a grand staircase that put the one at the academy to shame.

The multicoloured eyes of Diana Rogers-Stark widened when she glanced to the side of her, seeing just who was hugging to Colette and Harry. There checking them over was Colette's father, Glenn Zimmer, but he looked nothing like what the avenger was used to.

Usually the man was in a much less formal wear. His clothing was always covered in holes and mud from wherever the hell he worked. He was more casual than his wife Mindy, who never wore anything but business formal attire. But now he was here. In a red robe.

The patter was glorious, containing a vast amount of shades of red and purple with a black trim. He had a blocky gold ring covering his left hand and a vast amount of knives and other blades over his brown belt.

This was not the Glenn Zimmer, who once wore a Dream Team shirt with his Steve's and Sam's faces to a formal dinner, Diana Rogers-Stark was used too.

"Dad, I'm fine," Colette huffed as he continued to check her over.

"I'm just making sure! You were attacked!" He exclaimed, "You're lucky The Ancient One alerted me otherwise the three of you would still be in that mess!" He glanced at me, "What the hell happened out there?!"

Harry huffed, pushing his uncle away, "It's a long story and I don't know if we have much time but where is she? We could use her help right about now."

"She?" Diana raised her brow.

"I believe the she they're referring to is me," a new voice echoed through the room.

Looking back up the stairs a woman in a yellow robe that was somewhat similar to Glenn's cascaded down the steps, "Hello Miss Rogers-Stark, it's nice to see you again," she removed her hood to reveal a middle aged woman with no hair.

She stood strong. Head up high as if the soot and grime painting her face was part of her. Diana wasn't sure why the kind looking woman seemed so intimidating with a smile alone.

Even though the teen had many questions about what was going on and who her two accomplices and Glenn spent their time with, the only proper thing Diana could ask was, "I've met you before?"

The woman chuckled, "Not yet."

The pink-haired girl's head went back a bit as she tried to properly understand the woman's cryptic words. Not that she'd get a chance to ask as Colette ran into the woman's arms, "Oh thank the Gods you're both okay! I was so scared neither of you would be here! You didn't answer any of my calls!"

Harry stayed with his uncle as the strange woman ran a hand through Diana's rival's hair, "I'm sorry the battle is taking longer than even I predicted. The Fin Fang Foom is a slippery opponent, I had to call all of the others from London and Hong Kong just to keep it in check... speaking of which, Harry?"

The boy quickly stood at attention for the woman in yellow, "Yes, Ma'am?"

"Set a timer for five minutes."

He nodded and pulled out his phone, "Yes, Ma'am."

Colette suddenly let out a small gasp, "You need all hands on deck? Can I help? I-I-I know my way around a sword and you know how skilled I am at hand to hand combat," she smiled.

Even with everything going on Diana was rather surprised by the girl's sudden jitteriness. For as long as she'd known the poised princess of the NAOA Academy, Diana had never seen Colette stumble over her words before. Let alone look scared to ask questions. Who the hell was this woman who made the calm and collected girl act like this?

The woman patted Colette on the head, "We can discuss that in a moment. But first..." she turned her attention to Diana. "I'm sorry for having Glenn grab you both in such a barbaric manner. I know you have a lot of questions-" the woman was about to reach a hand out but her eyes quickly widened.

She suddenly moved her hand back and started waving them in a strange way, making signals of sorts, before her palms started to glow orange, "There we go," she tapped the weird necklace around her. "Now you won't be able to gain those abilities yet. Part of me wants you to risk it since they would severely help you with your teleportation considering what's going to happen when you and the others try to Pocket out of that car chase in a bit but... it's not your time yet."

The young avenger stayed still as the woman reached a hand out, "It's nice to see you, Diana."

The Runaway hesitantly took her hand as Colette introduced them, "Diana, this is The Ancient One, she's my mentor and the Sorcerer Supreme."

"The... the what?"

"I am the leader of the sorcerers of the mystic arts. We protect the world from mystical threats," she explained. "While your family protects the world from physical and outer worldly threats like Loki and Ultron, we- they protect the world from things like the Emprirkul or the Fin Fang Foom."

Colette beamed with pride as she grabbed The Ancient One's hand, "Auntie, please we need your help. Diana had an accident and-"

"And now the two of you are on the run," she nodded. "I've played this day over before," she took a step forward. "Harry, how much longer on the timer?"

"Uh..." he checked his phone, "Two minutes and... thirty-seven seconds."

The Ancient One nodded, "So the police will start banging on the door in three... two... one," and right on cue the front doors began to be pounding with noise.

Diana gasped and scrambled backwards as the noise increased, "Okay Diana, I understand you have millions of questions but they're not gonna be answered right now," Colette grabbed the bottle pink's shoulders.

"We have only three minutes until those doors are going to break and a herd of armed officers are going to enter the septum," The Ancient One stated.

"We need to focus on the task at hand. Auntie do you think you can make a portal to-"

"Wait! Hold on! Hold on!" Diana stopped her, "You said you were the leader, correct?"

She nodded.

"Okay. Look," Diana pushed Colette to the side and began to try and work something out. "I have some very bad people after me and I don't know where my family is. My original plan was to go to Rose Hill, Tennessee, but if you have an army of magical people at your fingertips, do you think you could help me out?"

She sighed, "Diana, I wish I could help but right now all of my people are fighting Fin Fang Foom in the Mirror Dimension. Being here with Glenn right now is already putting all of my people in danger."

"One minute, thirty seconds!" Harry yelled, as he and Glenn threw their backs against the door. Trying whatever they could to keep it from breaking open.

Diana's breathing started to increase as she played with her necklace charm. Many fears and emotions were circling her mind like a tornado. What would happen? Where was her family? Why did everything have to happen on her birthday?

Again?

Pushing tears away Diana Rogers-Stark turned back to The Ancient One, "Can you please help me out and get me off of this island?"

She nodded, "Yes, I can."

The fifteen-year-old let out a large sigh in relief, "Thank you," she turned to Colette. "Thank you for getting me here."

"Forty-five seconds!"

Diana's eyes widened even more as The Ancient One grabbed both the girls by the shoulder and pushed them away from the door, "You two need to get going before those doors open."

"Wait, what?" Colette looked at the woman strangely.

"Colette, you aren't staying here."

The two girls looked at the woman in even more confusion as Harry was too focused on the door to listen, "Thirty seconds!"

Colette looked as if her entire world had shattered, "What do you mean? You said I was ready to help fight?"

"What about Harry?" Diana then asked.

"Twenty!"

"Harry isn't meant to partake in the next part of the journey. He must stay behind and help another way. The journey is meant for just you two," The Ancient One stepped past the two teens and created a large orange portal that put any of Diana's to shame. "Colette, your mission is more important than the others in your age division."

The girl's jaw dropped, "Wh-what do you mean? My job is to help you protect the stones!"

"Ten!"

"And you will," she grabbed both Diana's and Colette's wrists and pulled the girls forward. "The two of you will go to Tennessee and you will honour your oath. You will protect Lady Liberty, the ghost of an infinity stone."

They had no time to question her as time was running out, "Five!"

Colette struggled in her aunt's hold, "No! I'm supposed to be with all of you! I'm supposed to help the Sanctum!"

"OH, SHIT!" Glenn gasped as the doors bursted open.

Colette and Diana watched swat begin flooding in, led by that bastard spider, as The Ancient One said one final thing, "You two are meant to go together and you will. You may not understand it yet, but one day very soon, you will both understand the reasoning behind this. Good luck and don't give up!" She demanded before pushing them through the portal.

Leaving Diana with a bruise on her cheek when she slid across the dirt of their new surroundings. A small lining of webbing being all that remained on the pair as the portal closed.

The girl's mouth was still gaped open as Colette properly got to her feet, "You have magic?!" Diana shouted.

Colette quickly turned around and threw her hand over the girl's mouth, "What the hell are you doing?! Someone could hear you!"

Though that didn't stop the stronger of the two to push her hand off and pointed up at her, "You. Have. Magic?!" Resulting in a suddenly sharp pain on her left cheek.

"Snap out of it!" Colette slapped the avenger's daughter.

Getting back to her feet, the apparently magic girl let out a very strong huff. Her hands digging into her messy black hair, "Oh my god this can't be happening right now. This cannot be happening."

Diana watched in awe as the most calm and collective person she had ever met looked to be on the verge of a full out breakdown. Lifting herself up into a seated position, Diana was able to get a better view of where they were transported. Nothing but trees. Her butt rested against what looked to be a walking path meaning the town probably wasn't too far away, but she had a feeling getting there would have to wait.

It seemed as if whatever the bald woman had told Colette was a real kick in the teeth. She had never suspected Colette to be a person who would want to fight, but she from how upset she seemed, it was a tragic reminder that appearances could be deceiving.

It almost reminded Diana of the Battle of New York, which the anniversary was ironically days away, "Are you okay?" She couldn't help but ask.

Colette stopped her heavy breathing and looked back at the teen, "Yeah," she stood up straight once more. "Yeah, I'm just great."

"You know, for an actress that wasn't convincing," Diana told her.

Colette rolled her eyes, "We were just chased by the entire NYPD and a Spider-man before being portaled to some rinky-dinky town in the middle of bum fucking nowhere Tennessee," she pushed her back into a tree near by and slid the the ground. "How do you think I'm doing?"

Her annoyance didn't waver, "They didn't even tell me they were fighting this morning, can you believe that?" The girl asked as if Diana knew what she was talking about, "Before you showed up my parents came in and said they had to go to work before rushing out the door. I thought mom had some emergency at her car company but no. They were just fighting some damn dragon without me."

"Dragon?" Diana whispered as the girl continued on with her rant.

Colette's head rested against the tree. Ghostly tears dripped down as she whispered, "They didn't even ask me if I wanted to help."

The girl was at a loss for words. Unaware of what to do in this situation. Seeing her rival in a completely different light. She didn't like it. The Colette Diana was used to was very different. She was confident, pristine and never showed any negative emotions. This was not what she should have been seeing.

It seemed as if helping her parents and cousin fight Fing Fang Foom was extremely important to her.

Diana was never really the greatest at comforting people. When she finally got to properly meet Wanda, the poor woman was still deeply grieving her brother. Diana tried her best to cheer her up... which only made it worse. It took a while before she initiated contact with the young girl and asked if Diana wanted to watch a movie; but that was after she'd done over a month or so of therapy. There was no way Diana was in any good at doing any sort of comfort, "I'm sorry," is all she could think of to say. She was still a Stark after all.

She sniffed, "Don't apologize. It's not like it's your fault," she rubbed her nose, bringing her knees to her chest. "It's not like I could've done anything anyways."

Diana's brow raised as Colette took in another deep breath and turned to the avenger, "I wasn't lying. I'm not magic, but my family is. My entire family is."

"What?"

"The sanctum sanctorum is a barrier against mystical threats. My family has served The Ancient One for generations protecting the earth from all mystical anomalies like your family with robots and aliens," she explained. "The Zimmer's have been serving her for centuries... and I'm the first one unable to create a simple portal."

"So you were born without magic?" Diana quietly asked.

She shrugged in a defeated manner, "I don't know. I guess so?" Colette rubbed her eyes. "Everyone supposedly has the ability to do so. My mom learned when she married my dad and they taught Harry a few moves when he moved in, but he prefers tech. While for me? Nothing seemed to work. Nothing I did worked."

Diana moved a little closer, "So you were just born different?"

"That's what my parents say," she sighed. "But I've heard what my elders have been saying behind my back. Some think I'm just not applying myself, others call it a curse but the kids at Kamar-Taj take it a step further and call me a jinx."

Diana could feel the anger radiating off her tongue once she called herself that. Colette's hands ran against one another as she went on, "I used to get picked on like mad. They'd call me names, hide my belongings, vandalise my room, use their magic during simple training exercises or just... tag teamed me during training. It was so brutal my parents had to pull me out."

Her lips parted as Colette opened up, "Oh my god, that's terrible."

She nodded, "Yeah, I know. But it gave me a chance to do something else. I always liked singing so my dad convinced me to get lessons, and I was pretty good. It felt good to be the best for once... and then you came along," she frowned. "You were so good and I hated it. I was finally the best in the room and then the legendary Lady Liberty had to join my age division," she huffed. "A magical girl gifted by the stones was at my level. The worst part was that you were nice."

Her head tilted, "Nice? I called you a bitch to your face."

"Only after I insulted you and said you only got in because of nepotism; but could you blame me?" She asked, "You didn't even attend the school but got the lead in our musical."

Diana cringed, "Well when you put it that way... but at least you still got to go on."

"It was terrible," she crossed her arms.

"What? But-"

"Diana. I didn't deserve the part. You did. I mean, at first I did think the same as most of the other kids, but when I saw all the work you were putting into the script alone I knew you weren't there just because you were an Avenger," she explained. "I was actually upset when they handed me the dress that morning. It didn't feel right."

Diana frowned, "You were still great. I watched you perform online and it was stellar."

"I know, I just hated every second of it," Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "And when you go on these rants and tell me how perfect my life is, it makes me want to punch you in the face. My life is far from perfect. Nobody has a perfect life, Diana. The only difference between us is my dirty laundry isn't taught in school."

Soon the woods were filled with nothing but the sound of the occasional bird chirping. The two heiresses both took the opportunity to just simply enjoy the silence. The thought of being discovered was far the back of Diana's mind, considering they were in a different state and they probably thought she was still on the island.

Diana thinks that's was the moment she truly realized she wasn't fully alone.

That others could also have problems and insecurities. They may be very different but the feelings were still the same. Just because their dirty laundry wasn't out for the neighbourhood to see didn't mean they couldn't have some hidden inside their closest.

"Can I tell you the worst part though? I still work my ass off to prove I'm good enough to The Ancient One. Can you believe that?" Colette chuckled, "I've memorized every single spell possible. I'm not even joking, I know them all. I'm also a black belt and don't even get me started on my gymnastics. I can do some crazy shit."

"Really?"

Colette grabbed the hem of her shirt and wiped her eyes one final time, "Geez, I'm sorry about ranting to you. You've got enough going on. You didn't need to hear all of that."

"No, no, it's fine," Diana quickly told her. "It's kinda like having a friend."

Sam once told Diana that having a friend is like a give and take system. Maybe this was kinda what that was. Diana listen to Colette and she listen, and she'd do the same.

"Oh, okay. I've never had one of those before."

"Bullshit."

"I'm being serious," she told the avenger. "Most of the people I talk to suck."

"They truly do," Diana snickered slightly. "But if we're apologizing so am I. I'm sorry for bringing you into this. I could tell you didn't want to be here in the middle of 'some rinky-dinky town in the middle of bum fucking nowhere Tennessee'."

She breathed out a laugh, "It's not like I had much of a choice. You were clueless out there... besides The Ancient One decided to make you my first assignment."

"Why am I an assignment? I remember your aunt saying something about an oath. What oath did you take?" Diana moved closer, "Because I know it wasn't to protect some random clone like me."

Colette's hands stopped fidgeting as she took a second to respond. As if she was calculating her next words very carefully, "How much do you know about the Infinity Stones? Did Thor tell you anything?"

"Not much really. Just that they hold the greatest power in the universe."

She nodded, "Okay."

Colette moved so the two of them sat completely in front of each other. "When the universe began six elemental crystals were created and each controlled an essential aspect of existence. Space, reality, power, soul, mind and time," she listed off. "They can give the holder immense powers beyond anyone's reach. It's how you and Wanda both gained your abilities."

"Pockets from the Tesseract, the Space Stone," she pointed to her blue eye. "And Command from the Mind Stone," she then pointed to her yellow one.

Diana nodded and continued to listen, "The Ancient One holds the time stone and we are sworn to protect it. To protect them all for that matter. My family, along with many others, made an oath to protect the stones from harm or falling in the wrong hands with our lives. As of now three technically remain on earth. The Mind Stone with Vision, The Time Stone with The Ancient One and you. Diana Rogers-Stark, changed from the Space Stone."

She huffed and went back to resting against a tree, "When The Ancient One deems a person ready she gives them an assignment. Usually it's something mystical to help her, but for some reason she put me here with you. So while my entire family is helping her take on a dragon... I'm here. Being useless as per usual."

Diana didn't know what to properly say to her, but for some reason she felt like she could relate. It was as if she had the exact opposite problem of her own. Wanting to fight for a family that didn't want her to, while Colette had a family to fight for when Diana just wanted a break. She just wanted to prove herself, and she couldn't blame her. Diana used to be just like that before she realized she hated fighting.

That's when a devious idea came to mind.

Diana was very against other people wanting to become heroes, but Colette didn't want to be a hero. She wanted to fulfil her family legacy.

Key word, wanted to.

"You know... my dad once told me that one day I'd find a reason to fight. A person to fight for," her head tilted as Diana continued. "I still don't have a reason, but I think this could be yours."

"What do you mean?"

She smirked, "Okay, so hear me out. Only if you want to. You help me find where my family is and in doing so means you help me find Vision, the holder of the Mind Stone."

Her eyes began to widen, "Helping two stones while my class is only protecting one."

"Exactly!" Diana leaned forward, "If you think about it, Vision and I are both technically mystical anomalies. So you would be doing what your group was. Let's see what those assholes in your first school think when they see you helping the Avengers."

The girl smacked her lips apart and let out a chuckle, "They'd freak out that a magicless girl did more than them."

"So..." she put her hand out for the magicless sorcerer, "You in? For real? You won't be an Avenger but you'd still get some credit."

The girl looked down at Diana's hand before smirking, "I'll need a thank you letter from your family so I can show it off around the Sanctum... but I'm most definitely in."

Colette slapped the girl's hand, "Let's grab that laptop and find where your family is hiding," Grabbing Diana's hand, Colette helped her to her feet and the pair begun their journey.

It seemed as if The Ancient One knew exactly where to send them as only after a few minutes of walking they came up to a house near the edge of town.

It was in rather okay shape. Nothing to probably write home about, just a simple house with a barn like garage with the wood peeling off in many places. It was so cool, "This is the place."

"How can you tell?" Colette asked.

The girl simply pointed to the mailbox not to far from us that read in bold text, 'COPPER-KEENER RESIDENTS'.

"Copper-Keener? I thought you said this kid was named Harley Keener, who's the Copper?" Colette asked.

Diana shrugged, "Who knows. Maybe his mom remarried or something? Uncle Tony said this guy didn't have much," she theorized as they walked up to the big garage near the back.

She pressed her hand and face against the dusted glass panel to try and get some view of the inside, seeing nothing but an empty workspace inside. Perfect.

Colette jiggled the handle before giving the door a quick slam, "Locked. Great," she glanced around. "You see a crowbar or something?"

Diana shook her head, "Hold on, I've got this."

Putting her hand out, Diana made a small Pocket and placed her hand inside. Blindly feeling around the area until she felt the handle. After a few seconds a click could be heard and the door from the inside, "Ta-da!" She closed the Pocket and gave jazz hands.

Colette rolled her eyes, "Showoff," she entered the garage.

"Oh come on you gotta admit I'm getting better than I was months ago," Diana followed her inside.

"You mean when you terrified the entire stage when we sang Wannabe together? Yeah I say you have," she huffed as they closed the door. "Let's just find that laptop and get out of this place. It smells like B.O." Diana raised a brow before the smell hit her nostrils. Having a gag follow close behind.

The place looked like the before picture on an episode of hoarders. The ground was covered in shagged carpeting to cover the cracking concrete as the walls weren't that much better, somehow looking less stable than outside. Random pieces of scrap metal littered the entire area ranging in all sizes as the girls struggled to find any place to stand. It was as if some unstable kid was living here full time.

The only thing that seemed to be in any way kept tidy was the tools near an old Dum-E robot model.

"My Odin, that's gross."

"You did not just say 'My Odin'?"

"Oh I'm sorry, but when you get hypnotized by a god you tend to pick up some unwanted sayings."

Colette rolled her eyes and picked up two red bandannas, "Here," she threw one at the girl. "They don't seem to be that dirty."

"Thanks," Diana strapped it over her face to mask the smell, allowing the teen to intake only the smell of motor oil, which was surprisingly much better. "Now let's find that laptop."

After a bit of searching they couldn't help but be annoyed by the amount of crap that filled the area. Diana understood that people have different levels of cleanliness, but this just made her very uncomfortable. There was no reason there should be a ton of pizza boxes stacked to look like the leaning tower of Pisa, or a area dedicated to a pillow fort.

But their searching was quickly put on hold when we both heard a loud scream from outside, "God damit Nathan!"

The two froze when the door was suddenly busted open, revealing a shaggy blonde with a sneer chiselled onto his face, "I told you to stay out of my fucking garage. You don't even like cars-" his sneer quickly morphed into a look of shock.

The blondes shocked expression didn't waver as he scanned the situation. You couldn't blame him for his confusion however, considering two girls that look to be the same age as him we're just casually scavenging his messy garage.

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