"Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one." Bruce says as he fiddles with buttons on a panel. "Scott, fire up...the, uh, van thing."
Scott, in his Ant-Man costume, opens the back doors of the van to reveal the Quantum Tunnel. "Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby." Steve says as he strides over to Bruce, Natasha, Will, and me.
"Good, because if we blow the grid, I don't want to lose, uh, Tiny here in the 1950s," Bruce murmurs, pointing to Scott.
Scott gives Bruce a panicked look. "Excuse me?"
"He's kidding. You can't say things like that." Natasha says.
"It was a bad joke." Bruce stammers. Scott nods his head before turning around uneasily.
With my arms crossed, I turn my head to look at Bruce. "You were kidding, right?"
"I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here." Bruce answers. "Either it's all a joke, or none of it is." He gives Scott a big thumbs up. "We're good! 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," Scott says.
"Good luck, Scott. You got this." Steve says.
"We believe in you!" Will says.
"Thanks, guys!" Scott says. He shrinks and disappears into the Quantum Tunnel.
"On a count of three...Three, two, one." Bruce presses a button and an adolescent boy in Ant-Man's suit emerges from the tunnel.
"Uh...guys? This doesn't feel right." The teenager says.
"Uh-oh," I say.
"What is this?" Steve asks.
"What's going on?"
"Who is that?"
Bruce starts pressing buttons on the panel, trying to fix the problem. "Hold on."
"Is that Scott?" Will asks.
"Yes, it's Scott." Teen Scott says.
Teen Scott shrinks back into the tunnel, then an old man emerges in the suit. My eyes widen at old man Scott. "Oh, my back!" Old man Scott exclaims.
"What's going on, Bruce?" I ask.
"Hold on a second. Could I get a little space here?"Bruce asks.
Steve and I clear the area as we move near Will and Natasha. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?"
"I'm working on it." Bruce frantically presses the controls, and a figure in the suit comes out of the tunnel. This time, it was...a baby.
Will puts his hands on his head and wears a look of concern.
"It's a baby," Steve says. I facepalmed.
"It's Scott," Bruce says.
"As a baby!" Steve exclaimed.
"He'll grow!" Bruce says.
"We can't wait that long!" I say.
"Bring Scott back," Steve says.
"When I say kill the power, kill the power," Bruce says, motioning to Natasha. Doing as instructed, Natasha rapidly walks to the generator. "And...kill it!" Natasha pulls the lever and everything shuts down. Once Bruce presses a button, Present Day Scott appears.
"Somebody peed my pants," Scott says.
Will and I sigh with relief while Natasha puts her hand over her heart. "Oh, thank god."
"That was a close one," Will says. I nod my head in agreement.
"But I don't know if it was baby me or old me." Scott ponders. "Or just 'me' me."
Bruce holds up his hands in a dramatic way. "Time travel!" He breaks into a wide grin, and Steve shakes his head. "What? I...I see this as an absolute win." I shake my head also as Steve walks away.
This is the opposite of an absolute win.
•
•
•
I follow Steve outside the Avengers Compound. He stood by himself with his hands on his hips as he looked at the ground with a discouraged expression on his face. "You know, it was a good thing that we didn't let Will volunteer for the time travel experiment like he asked. That would have been a disaster." I laughed. Steve looks at me, and a small smile forms on his lips.
"He may be an Avenger, but he still has a lot to learn," Steve says.
"True," I say, nodding my head. "But his favorite movie is Back to the Future. I guess he wanted to know what it's like to be Marty McFly." Steve and I both laugh. "He can be such a nerd sometimes."
We look up when we hear the loud roaring of an engine in the distance. As we look, we see a gray Audi R8 speeding toward the Compound. The car pulls over to Steve and me, but goes a bit too far, then backs up to us. The window rolls down to reveal Tony Stark.
"Why the long faces? Let me guess, he turned into a baby." Tony says.
"Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?" Steve asks.
Tony ignores Steve's question. "It's the EPR Paradox." He gets out of the car and walks around to the back. "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," I say.
Tony acts like he did not. "Oh, did I? Well, thank God I'm here." I just roll my eyes. "Regardless, I fixed it." Tony holds his right hand up, showing us some sort of watch. "A fully functioning time-space GPS." Steve and I smile at Tony.
Tony throws a peace sign in the air. "I just want peace. Turns out resentment is corrosive, and I hate it."
"Me, too," Steve says.
"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 found, I have to, at all costs." Tony says. "And maybe not die trying. Would be nice." Tony steps closer to Steve and me.
"Sounds like a deal," Steve says, extending his hand out to Tony. I smile as the two shake hands.
Steve and I walk over to the back of Tony's car as Tony opens the trunk. Tony pulls out an object with a blanket and toys piled on it. He dumps them off, revealing Captain America's shield. Steve eyes it uncertainly. A small smile forms on my lips as I look at it. Boy has it been a long time since I've seen that shield.
"Tony, I don't know," Steve says. I was a bit surprised when Steve refuses to take it back.
"Why?" Tony asks. "He made it for you. Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."
Steve is still hesitant.
"Come on, Steve. You gotta take it back. It's yours." I say. Steve fits his arm into the shield.
"Thank you, Tony," Steve says.
"Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn't bring one for the whole team." Tony says. "We are getting the whole team, yeah?"
"Oh, that reminds me!" I say, running back inside the Compound.
•
•
•
Before we started our experiment with Scott at the Compound, Bruce mentioned recruiting Thor to help us with the time heist while Natasha went to get Clint. I asked him if I could tag along, and he said yes. I hadn't seen Thor since Wakanda, and the last time I saw Clint was in 2016. I was pretty excited to see them both and wondered what they had been doing for the past five years. While Bruce was in the kitchen, I was waiting outside for Rocket and Nebula. Scott was sitting on a bench nearby, having a taco and some nachos.
As the Benatar lands, the taco falls apart in Scott's hands. Nebula and Rocket walk out of the ship. "All right, Humie. Where is she? Where's Kaitlyn?" Rocket asks.
Scott points to me. I leaned against a pole as I waited for the ship to land. "Over there." He says. I smile as I walk over to Rocket.
"Hey, Rocket!" I say.
"There you are. Come here you!" Rocket says. I get on my knees and hug Rocket. "It's good to see you, kid."
"Yeah, you too," I say. I stand up when I see Nebula walking toward us. "Hey, Nebula. What's up?" I raise my hand to give her a high five.
"Glad to have you back, Kaitlyn." Nebula says as she continues walking past Scott.
"Thanks." I smiled.
Nebula speaks into an earpiece. "Rhodey, careful on re-entry. There's an idiot on the landing zone." She was referring to Scott.
"So, where's Big Green?" Rocket asks me.
"Oh, he's in the kitchen. But he'll be out in a minute. He wanted to make some tacos." I say.
Without warning, Rhodey lands right in front of Scott in his War Machine suit. Scott was so scared that he dropped his whole taco, making me laugh a little.
"Oh, geez!" He exclaimed.
"What's up, regular-sized man?" Rhodey asks as Bruce walks out with some tacos. He looks at me. "Hey, Kaitlyn."
"Hey, Rhodes," I say, waving. Rhodey and I already had a little reunion before I returned to the Compound. When news broke out that I was alive, Rhodey called me on video chat since he was away on a mission. We talked for a little while, and I explained what happened when I woke up. It was a sweet moment between us. I was so glad I was with everyone again. Well, almost everyone.
Bruce noticed Scott had dropped his lunch, so he walked over to him and handed him two tacos. Scott takes it while giving Bruce a puzzling look at this act of kindness. Bruce also hands me a taco as we walk inside the Benatar. I went through the cassette tapes that Peter left behind and picked a song to play. The song was titled My Supersonic Ship by the Kinks. We landed in a place called New Asgard. It was a small city located in a green countryside of Norway.
Since the ship was too big and couldn't go any further, we ended up sitting in the back of a utility truck.
Once we arrived, we got out of the truck and looked around at the Asgardians living like normal humans at a port. Bewildered looks fell on the Asgardians' faces when they saw me. Since I knew a lot of them, I waved.
"Kind of a step down from the golden palaces and the magic hammers and whatnot." Rocket says.
"Hey, have a little compassion, pal. First, they lost Asgard, then half their people." Bruce says. "They're probably just happy to have a home."
"You shouldn't have come." A familiar female voice says. I turned around to see Valkyrie.
"Val!" I exclaimed excitedly.
"Kaitlyn!" Valkyrie says as she and I hug. "I'm so happy to see you! I heard about what happened, but I didn't want to believe it. Was it true?"
"Yes, everything you heard was true. But I'm back now." I say.
"That's all that matters," Valkyrie says.
"Ah! Valkyrie. Good to see you, angry girl!" Bruce says, walking over to us.
Valkyrie sees that Bruce has changed since the last time she saw him. "I think I liked you better either of the other ways."
Bruce points to Rocket. "This is Rocket."
"How ya doing?" Rocket asks her. Valkyrie just looks at the talking raccoon.
"He won't see you," Valkyrie says.
"It's that bad, huh?" Bruce asks.
"We only see him once a month when he comes in for supplies," Valkyrie says. My face falls at the pile of kegs of stout and other beer on the side.
"It's that bad," Bruce says.
Valkyrie nods her head. "Yeah."
"He'll want to see me, right?" I ask.
"He'll be happy to know that you're alive. I know that for a fact." Valkyrie says. I smile at her. She leads us to where Thor was living, and I knock on the door. When no one answers, I use my powers to open the door. As we stepped inside, I covered my nose at the awful stench that filled the house.
"Whew! Something died in here!" Rocket exclaimed.
"Hello? Thor!" Bruce exclaimed as we heard a bottle break.
"Are you here about the cable?" Thor asks from another room. I wasn't prepared for what I was about to see when the three of us stepped into the living room and saw Thor. "The Cinemax went out two weeks ago and the sports are all kinda fuzzy and whatnot." My eyes widened with shock when I saw that Thor looked different. He was shirtless and had put on a lot of weight since I saw him last. Thor looks up and sees that Bruce, Rocket, and I were in the room. His eyes light up with joy.
Thor laughs. "Boys! Kaitlyn! It's so good to see you!" Thor hugs Bruce first. Once he steps away, he turns to Rocket and pulls him to his side. "Come here, cuddly little rascal."
"Yeah, no, I'm good. I'm good. That's not necessary." Rocket says.
Thor turns to me. "And Kaitlyn." He tries to hug me, but I back away, feeling a little uncomfortable, and give him a fist bump. He places a hand on my cheek. "I thought I would never see you again. I'm so happy you're here. But how?"
"I discovered a new power. I can't die." I say.
"That's wonderful! So you're kind of like me now. We both can live forever." Thor says.
"Seems like it," I say.
"Hulk, Kaitlyn, you know my friends Miek and Korg, right?" Thor says.
"Hey, boys! Kaitlyn! Good to see you again!" Korg says.
"Hi," I say, waving.
"Hey, guys. Long time no see." Bruce says.
"Beer's in the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously. Thor, he's back. That kid on the TV just called me a douchebag again." I looked over at the TV to see that they were playing a video game.
"NoobMaster," Thor says.
"Yeah, NoobMaster69 called me a douchebag," Korg says.
"I am sick of this," Thor says, grabbing Korg's headset. "NoobMaster, hey, it's Thor again. You know, the God of Thunder. Listen, bud, if you don't log off this game immediately, I am gonna fly to your house, come down to that basement you're hiding in, rip off your arms, and shove them up your butt! Oh, that's right, yes! Go cry to your father, you little weasel."
"Thank you, Thor," Korg says as Bruce, Rocket, and I looked at each other.
"Let me know if he bothers you again, okay?" Thor says.
"Thank you very much. I will." Korg says.
"So, you guys want a drink? What are we drinking?" Thor asks us. "I've got beer, tequila, all sorts of things. Kaitlyn, you want water?" Thor uses Stormbreaker to open a bottle of beer and starts drinking. I walk up to him.
"Thor. Are you all right?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. Why?" Thor asks. I could tell he was lying. "Why? Don't I look all right?"
"You look like melted ice cream." Rocket says and I give him a look. "What? It's true." He muttered.
Thor laughs. "So, what's up? Kaitlyn, I know it's been a long time. Did you want to catch up and talk?"
"We need your help. There might be a chance we could fix everything." I say.
"What, like the cable?" Thor burps. "'Cause that's been driving me bananas for weeks."
"Like Thanos," I say. Thor freezes at the mention of Thanos. He looks at me.
"Don't say that name," Thor says, his voice breaking. I give him a sad look as he backs away from me.
Korg gets up from the couch and walks up to me. "Um, yeah, we don't actually say that name in here."
Bruce placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and stepped forward to talk to Thor. "I know that guy...might scare you."
"Why would I be?" Thor scoffs. "Why would I be scared of that guy? I'm the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here kill that guy?" Bruce lays a hand on his shoulder. "Nope. Didn't think so. Korg, why don't you, uh, tell everybody who chopped Thanos' big head off?" Thor walks past Bruce, Rocket, and me to grab some food.
"Um, Stormbreaker?" Korg says.
"Who was swinging Stormbreaker?" Thor asks.
"Thor. You're in a rough spot, okay? I get it. I've been there too. But we need your help." I say, grabbing his arm. I tried to see if I could use my powers of persuasion to get him to come with us.
"My help? Why don't you ask...the Asgardians down there...how much my help is worth?" Thor asks. I sighed a little when Thor gently removed his arm away from me and walked toward the window. He sits down in a chair. "The ones that are left, anyway."
"I think we could bring them back," Bruce says.
Thor chuckles. "Stop. Stop, okay?" Thor opens a pack of M&Ms and sniffled. "I know you think I'm down here wallowing in my own self-pity...waiting to be rescued and saved...but I'm fine, okay. We're fine, aren't we?" Thor asks and looks at Korg and Miek.
"Oh, we're good, mate," Korg says.
"So, whatever it is you're offering, we're not into it," Thor says. "Don't care. Couldn't care less. Goodbye." I knelt down next to Thor and put my hand on his arm. I tried to use my powers on him again.
"We need you, Thor. I need you." I say. Thor shakes his head and chuckles quietly. He looks at me.
"Are you using your powers on me?" He asks.
I just look at him. "No," I say slowly, removing my hand from him and standing up. Thor takes a swig of his beer.
"There's beer on the ship." Rocket says.
Thor pauses and looks up when he puts the bottle down. "What kind?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: The team is slowly getting back together. There is still one more reunion left between Kaitlyn and a certain Avenger. I know that's going to be such a sweet reunion between these two and I can't wait for you guys to see! As much as I loved Endgame, I still never liked how they handled Thor in this movie. He is my favorite Avenger and I feel like they kind of dumbed him down with each movie. But that's just my opinion.
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