𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑 𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐒𝐄 ➳ 𝙥𝙟𝙤 // 𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨

iii

"He's gone." Natasha said, stunned. The three stared at the spot Nico di Angelo had just been in.

"I... what the hell? How?" Steve stammered a bit before rubbing his temple. "I shouldn't ask. It's no stranger than what we've seen."

Bruce was studying the pavement closely, a questioning look on his face. Nat seemed to notice.

"What happened, Bruce?" She asked, walking towards him. Steve raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

"There's blood on the ground..." Bruce said slowly. "It might be the kid's. We can test it to see if he's a mutant."

"We already know he's a mutant." Steve turned around again to look at Bruce.

"We don't, actually," Natasha crossed her arms and studied the blood drops on the ground. "So far, we've seen gods, mutants, aliens, science gone wrong, and some really advanced engineering shit. We already know he's out of time. Who knows what he is?"

Steve pondered this for a moment before nodding at Bruce, who took a plastic container out of his bag and collected some of the blood into it, most of it already dried. It was really a strange sight to see, Bruce - now Smart Hulk - gently handling a DNA sample. 

The three boarded the Quinjet before quickly scanning the area to make sure no one saw them, and closed the hatch door.

— time skip sponsored by small bob —

"Everyone, get in here!" Bruce called from his lab. His eyes, however, never left the screen, as what he was reading perplexed him. "I got the results!"

Natasha and Steve both entered the room a few seconds later, half of a peanut butter sandwich in Nat's hand.

"So?" Steve asked. His looked distressed, worried for this kid, but at the same time kind of excited to meet another person who was from his time. Bruce clicked the reload button on his screen three times. 

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you already got the results?" She asked him after she'd swallowed a bite of her sandwich. 

"There was probably some mistake, it didn't look right," Bruce reassured them, before returning his attention the screen. His eyes widened. Steve put his hand on the back of Bruce's chair and leaned in to look closer. 

"It is his blood, not anyone else's." Bruce confirmed before he said anything else. Steve looked disturbed. There was a lot of blood on the ground, and when they saw the kid, he was bleeding. Was di Angelo okay?

"So half his DNA is normal..." Bruce started slowly. Nat nodded and prompted for him to continue.

"But the other 50% of his DNA..." he rubbed his eyes, exhausted, as if to say 'is this my life now?' "Well, it's missing."

Steve looked puzzled. "What do you mean, it's missing?"

Natasha frowned and stared at the computer screen. "Is something... wrong with your system?"

"I ran the numbers six times, Nat," Bruce spoke softly. "Half the DNA just isn't there." 

"So he's not a mutant.." Nat murmured. "Well, he can't just be human."

"So he's an alien?" Steve wondered, confused as to what exactly was going on. 

"Not quite." Bruce left-clicked on his abnormally large mouse (to go with his abnormally large green hands) and the screen changed to compare two DNA models. 

"The one on the left is Nico's DNA. See how half's missing?" 

Bruce pointed to the model on the right. "This is DNA I got from one of the alien humanoids we fought in the Battle of New York. True, they can't blend in, or have normal human features, but they have all of their DNA. Same with the aliens we fought a few days ago. But with Nico? Half of it is gone." 

"Shit," Nat said under her breath. It hadn't even been a week since Thanos' snap, and now they had another problem.

"We haven't even heard back from Tony yet," Steve sighed, closing his eyes, deep in thought. 

Bruce grimaced. "Are we sure he's alive?"

Nat locked eyes with Steve. "He has to be."

Alright! That's chapter three for you :) sorry it took so long! I've been on a hiatus, but I'm back now! You can expect frequent updates now. The next chapter is going to be a time skip of five years, to where the majority of Endgame's plot begins. Nico has gone off the grid for this time, but returns after something catches his attention. From here, the real fun begins!

Keep reading, commenting, and voting! 

Thanks, Siena