Acquittal

Chapter 3

A half hour later the Avengers were all congregated in the living room, ignoring the furniture and instead standing to face the stranger in the room.

She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. She would have been the picture of a surly teen it weren't for the dark and ancient look in her eyes.

Natasha was the one to break the silence that had settled over the group.

"What do you want from us?"

The dark-haired girl raised an eyebrow at the assasin.

"What makes you think I want anything?"

"Loki's dead." She said, ignoring the wince that statement earned. "You didn't come here just to tell us that, so why are you here?"

She raised both eyebrows.

"Clever Miss Romanavi."

She actually flinched.

"But to answer your question, yes I do want something, I just don't think you'll do it."

"Oh skip the theatrics and just tell us already." Tony said, already on edge. He ignored the glared thrown his way and looked expectantly at the girl.

"Tell me Avengers, if you had a chance to save Loki, would you take it?"

The room was silenced once again, looking at her in a mixture of disbelief and suspicion.

"Yes."

The team stared at their archer in shock. He was looking at the stranger with a steely determination. She nodded her head in thanks.

"The dead can't come back, once the cord between the body and the soul has been cut, it cannot just be re-tied."

Clint slumped onto the couch.

"So we can't save him." He said.

"No." She said, observing his defeated position. "But we can stop it from happening in the first place."

As Clint's head shot up, Tony stepped forward.

"You're talking about time travel."

She tilted her head and smirked.

"But how? We've been trying to figure it out ever since the concept was introduced, but we've gotten nowhere." He rambled.

She wiggled her fingers.

"Magic."

Tony's face fell.

"Oh come on!"

That sparked a real laugh out of her, punching through the tendon in the room.

"Have you ever heard of the Infinity Gems?"

They shook their heads no and she explained.

"They are the most powerful items in the realms. By themselves, they're powerful enough to completely obliterate a large planet. Together, they are omnipotent. There are five of them: Soul, Power, Mind, Space, and Time."

Steve, resigned to the inevitability of what they were doing, said, "So we need to find the Time Gem?"

"On the contrary Captain," she said, smirking, "I currently posses the knowledge of all five gems. The Time Gem is in a place called Kamar Taj, the Power Gem has recently come into my possession, the Soul Gem is being held by a law enforcement group called the Nova Corps, you knew the Space Gem as the Tesseract, and you saw the Mind Gem when Loki invaded."

Clint flinched at the reminder of the scepter and the teen looked at him sympathetically.

"Yes you and Loki are personally acquainted with the Mind Gem aren't you?"

She sighed and rubbed her hand over her face.

"Unfortunately, I am not capable of time travel, which is why I came to you."

"Wait." Said Cap. "Why can't you do this yourself?"

Her face twisted into a sneer.

"Because dear Odin All-Father passed a law stating that I may not directly interfere with matters of life and death. If not for the magic he imbued into the command, my father would be alive by now." She fumed.

"Wait, DAUGHTER!?!?" Tony yelled. Everyone stared wide-eyed, while the teen just looked amused.

"I am Hela Lokidottir of Helheim, formerly of Asgard." She narrowed her eyes. "Now do you understand why I will see this done?"

Tony gulped at the intense stare she leveled at him. No way did he want to see what she did to them if they refused.

"I'm in." He said, his voice at least two octaves higher than usual.

Hela looked at Natasha, who just raised an eyebrow. Nodding, she took it as confirmation.

"If you wish, you may enlighten Doctor Banner to the situation. I leave the decision to you." She said.

The Avengers turned to Tony in sync.

"Yeah yeah I'll call Brucey in the morning." He said, rolling his eyes.

Nodding to herself, the queen of Helheim stood up and all eyes landed on her.

"Mr Stark, if it alright with you, I'd like to request a room for me to stay while we plan to steal the Time Gem."

Captain Rogers sputtered as Tony began to led Hela towards an empty guest room.

"Wait! what do you mean steal it?"

Hela turned around with a very familiar mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"Why Mr Rogers," she grinned, "You didn't think that they would just give us the gem did you?"

She exited the room and left the sputtering Captain in her wake.