Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

07

"Somebody peed my pants," Scott said.

"Oh thank god," Natasha stated.

"But I don't know if it was "baby" me or "old" me... Or just "me" me."

Bruce held up his his hands in a dramatic way before exclaiming, "Time travel!" Steve said nothing. He shook his head and walked away. "What? I... I see this as an absolute win!"

---

Steve was sitting outside the Avengers Compound, staring at the floor, deep in thought. He looked beat, the only possibility of victory now not an opportunity. He looked up as a deafening noise broke the silence in the distance. As he looked, an Audi R8 sped towards the entrance. The car pulled over to Steve, but went a bit too far, then reversed to Steve.

Tony rolled down the window and looked at him before asking, "Why the long face? Let me guess: He turned into a baby."

"Among other things, yeah," Steve replied. "What are you doing here?"

Tony got out of the car, and walked around to the back. He ignored Steve's question. "That's the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should've cautioned you against it."

"You did."

"Oh, did I? Thank God I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it." He held up his right hand, with a device on it. "A fully functioning Time-Space GPS. I just want peace." He made peace sign with his fingers. "Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it."

"Me too."

"We got a shot at getting these Stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities: Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs. And... maybe not die trying will be nice."

"Sounds like a deal." Steve reached out his hand to shake in the deal, in which Tony replied in the same way.

Tony reached back into his trunk to pull something else out; Captain America's shield. He made to give it to Steve, who hesitated.

"Tony..." Steve began.

"Why?" Tony interrupted. "He made it for you. Plus, honestly I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."

Steve fit his arm into the shield. "Thank you, Tony."

"Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn't bring one for the whole team." He hesitated. "...We are getting the whole team, yeah?"

"We're working on that right now."

---

The Benatar landed in the yard of the Avenger's Compound. Scott was sitting having a taco and some nachos at a bench, and everything fell out of the taco as the Benatar landed. Nebula and Rocket walked out of the ship, and past Scott.

"Hey, humie!" Rocket greeted. "Where's Big Green?"

"Uh, kitchen, I think," Scott replied, speaking to himself as he saw Nebula. "That's awesome."

Nebula spoke into an earpiece. "Rhodey, careful on re-entry. There's an idiot on the landing zone."

She walked away. Moments later, just as Scott was getting back to his senses, Rhodey landed right in front of him without warning. This time Scott was so surprised, he dropped the whole taco.

"Oh, God!" Scott cried.

"What's up, regular sized man?" Rhodey asked.

As Rhodey walked away, Bruce walked out of the Compound. Seeing that Scott dropped his lunch, he handed two tacos from his own lunch to Scott. Scott took them while giving Bruce a puzzling look at this act of kindness.