📍Avengers Compound | October 2023
Days flew by, and they were nearing finishing the machine.
Sapphire helped Rocket tightened the bolts.
Thor was in a hoodie, drinking a beer and walking through the compound's Testing Chamber with Tony walking in from behind him, "Drifting left. On the side there, Lebowski."
"Ratchet, How's it going?" Tony yelled at Rocket.
"It's Rocket," he corrected him. "Take it easy. You're only a genius on Earth, pal."
Sapphire slid out from the bottom, "I'm gonna go check the inside."
She went in and saw Bruce, Nebula, and Rhodey, talking while Scott was in a white and red suit, similar to his Ant-Man suit as Nebula fixes it.
"Time travel suit? Not bad," Rhodey said.
"Hey, hey, hey! Easy, easy!" Scott exclaimed to Hulk, touching the suit and inserting the glass tube.
"I'm being very careful," Bruce defended.
"No, you're being very," Scott said.
"I'm being careful," Bruce argued.
Scott held up the red glass bottle, "These are Pym Particles, alright? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more."
"Scott, calm down," Rhodey motioned for him.
"Sorry. We've got enough for one round trip each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs," Scott said before he accidentally pressed a button, and shrunk, and then grew back to his normal size.
"One test run," Sapphire noted, crossing her arms.
Scott sighed, "All right. I'm not ready for this."
"I'm game. I'll do it," Clint spoke, leaning on the door.
Clint changed to Scott's suit before Nebula programmed it again.
"Clint, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift. Don't worry about it," Bruce informed him.
"Wai-Wait a second, let me ask you something," Rhodey interrupted. "If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos, you know, and..." He gestured, suggesting that they strangle baby Thanos with a rope.
Bruce stared at him in horrified, "First of all, that's horrible..."
"I'm game," Sapphire shrugged, leaning on the wall.
"It's Thanos," Rhodey said to Bruce.
"And secondly, time doesn't work that way. Changing the past doesn't change the future," Bruce told them.
"Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them... Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved," Scott suggested.
"Bingo," Clint spoke.
"That's not how it works," Nebula answered.
"Well, that's what I heard," Clint replied to her.
"What? By who? Who told you that?" Bruce asked in disbelief.
Rhodey started mentioning movies, counting them, "Star Trek, Terminator, TimeCop, Time After Time-"
"Quantum Leap," Scott added.
"A Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time," Sapphire mentioned.
"Hot Tub Time Machine. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Basically, any movie that deals with time travel," Rhodey listed.
"Die Hard?" Scott said, which earned a "Really?" look from Sapphire, "No, it's not one."
"This is known," Rhodey exclaimed.
"I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true. Think about it: If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past. Which can't now be changed by your new future," Bruce explained to them.
"Exactly," Nebula agreed with him, finishing Clint's suit.
"So... Back To The Future's a bunch of bullshit?" Scott whispered in stupefaction.
"Sometimes I wonder how you became a genius," Sapphire patted his shoulder, leaving the area.
They all walked out and went back to the garage as Clint took position on the platform.
"Okay, time for a jumpstart," Tony said towards the breaker.
Sapphire nodded as she lifted her sleeves and radiated her psychic electrokinesis to the breaker through her hands.
The machine started to light up and everyone gathered on the control as Bruce instructed Clint, "Alright, Clint. We're going in 3... 2... 1!"
The machine started to work as Clint disappeared into the compound.
Sapphire stood beside Steve, gnawing on her lip as she held on to Bucky's dog tags.
"It's gonna work," Steve reassured her.
"It has to," Sapphire answered sternly, while she turned her head to Thor beside her.
"Why didn't you ask him to do the jumpstart?" She asked Tony, pointing at Thor in bewilderment.
Tony looked at us back and forth before replying, "I don't know."
Suddenly, Clint rematerializes on the glass platform, breathing heavily and sitting on the platform.
They all ran to him up on the machine. "Hey, hey. Look at me. You okay?"
Clint nodded, standing up while holding up the baseball glove and throw it to Tony, "Yeah, it worked. It worked."
Sapphire felt hope bloom inside her chest as she looked at Steve with a hopeful smile while nodding.
Bucky will be home soon.
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Still | B. BARNES
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