Steve's Diary

September 16, 2023

Dear Diary,

We talked, all of us, about what Tony had said. About all the possibilities and risks and dangers involved and the fact that Scott really only accidentally survived and how different that is from intentionally doing so.

After all of our inputs and weighing everything in terms of everyone's opinions on what we might lose versus what we might gain... we decided we really do owe it to everyone who isn't here to at least try, just as Natasha said.

We can't stop now that we know there's something out there with the potential to fix the wrong. It simply wouldn't be right and we wouldn't be able to live with ourselves.

—————

"Okay, here we go," Banner started on day one at the testing sight. "Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the, uh, the van thing."

"Breakers are set," I walked over. "Emergency generators are on standby."

"Good, because if we blow there grid, I don't wanna lose, uh, Tiny here in the 1950s," Banner pointed at Scott.

"Excuse me?" Scott questioned.

"He's kidding," Nat added. "You can't say things like that."

"It was jus- it was a... bad joke," Banner corrected himself.

Scott walked away and I heard them start mumbling to each other. "You were kidding, right?" she asked for real.

"I have no idea," he came back. "I mean- we're talking about time travel here, either it's all a joke or none of it is- We're good!" he sent Scott a thumbs up. "Get your helmet on... Scott, I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Make sense?"

"Perfectly not confusing," he agreed.

"Good luck, Scott," I added. "You got this."

"You're right," he replied. "I do, Captain America."

And, like that, he was sucked into the device and gone from our sight.

"On a count of three," Banner started. "Three, two, one."

He came back out of the machine and looked like a child. "uh... guys?" he sounded just as confused as we all felt. "This doesn't feel right."

"What is this?" I asked.

"What's going on?" Banner wondered, playing with the machine. "Hold on."

"Who is that?" Natasha questioned. "Is that Scott?"

"Yes, it's Scott," he replied angrily before being sucked back in and immediately pushed back out. "Oh, my back!"

"What's going on, Bruce?" I continued. "What is this?"

"Hold on a second," he answered, scatter-brained. "Could I get a little space here?"

"Yea, yea, yea," I walked over to Nat and away from him. "Can you bring him back?"

"I'm working on it!" he announced.

Scott was sucked back in and pushed out again. "It's a baby," I commented, looking down at him.

"It's Scott!" Banner yelled.

"As a baby!" I yelled back.

"He'll grow," Banner pointed out.

"Bring Scott back," I demanded.

"When I say kill the power, kill the power," he ordered.

"Oh, my God," Natasha walked over to the power breaker, shocked.

"And... kill it!" He shouted as she pulled the lever.

Scott came back out as his normal self. "Somebody peed my pants," he realized.

"Oh, thank God," Nat sighed.

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

"Time travel!" Banner announced proudly, as if he had just done all that without a single issue at all. "What? I see this as an absolute win."

I walked outside to get some air and to get away from all that modern technology I had no idea about. It was hard enough living in a world I didn't understand before we knew time travel was possible. But, now? This is so much worse!

I stood against a column with my hands on my hips and thought for a moment before I heard screeching tires and a roaring engine approaching me from within the facility. At first, I hadn't the slightest idea who it might be, then, it all hit me at once when he pulled up next to me and rolled down his window.

"Why the long face?" Tony asked. "Let me guess, he turned into a baby."

"Among other things, yea," I revealed. "What're you doing here?"

"It's the EPR Paradox," he answered, climbing out of the car. "Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky- dangerous. Somebody could have cautioned you against it."

"You did."

"Oh, did I?" he joked. "Well, thank God I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it," he held up his hand where there was some sort of device attached. "A fully functioning time-space GPS. I just want peace. Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it."

"Me, too," I agreed with a smile.

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

I held out my hand. "Sounds like a deal."

He shook my hand and headed to his trunk, opening it to reveal a bunch of clutter... underneath which resided my old shield. I couldn't believe he kept it.

I stared at it as he presented it to me, but I couldn't be sure that this was what I wanted. I forsook the Captain America mantle years ago to become the Nomad after feeling as though that was the only option I had left. No more doing what was right for everyone else first, no. I was finally living for myself and for those I loved, even after they quite literally bit the dust.

"Tony, I don't know," was all I could think to say.

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

He slid it onto my arm and, feeling the weight of it on my body again after all those years felt like home. I looked down on it and felt like me for the first time in what seemed like forever. "Thank you, Tony."

"Will you keep that a little quiet?" he requested. "Didn't bring one for the whole team... we are getting the whole team, yea?"

"We're working on that right now," I informed him.

—————

By that, I meant we were sending Banner and Rocket to get Thor in his up-until-now unknown location: New Asgard, Norway... also known as Tønsberg. Hell, where else did we expect him to be?

As for Natasha, we sent her to Tokyo to get Clint. She was the only one we could have ever imagined that could really help him out of this fog.

Hopefully, both pull through.

~ S.R.