Avengers Imagines Book

What If...

What If... Steve Came Back?

As with the others in this series, this is not a reader insert, but still worth the read :)

They had to bring the stones back. That was the deal Bruce made with the wizard lady from New York. Of course, none of them expected to be doing so directly after Tony's funeral, but who knew how much longer they'd all be together.

Steve had been the one to volunteer to do it. In his mind, this would be his last service to the Avengers. They didn't all know that, but that's what this was.

He stepped up onto the platform, the case holding the stones in one hand, Mjölnir in the other.

Bruce was talking about the whole process, but Steve already knew what to do and put his helmet on. He made eye contact with Bucky one more time before he pressed the button.

As Steve traveled through time, he thought about the look on Bucky's face. How he knew what Steve was planning on doing. Or at least, one of the many plans Steve had thought about. There was still a possibility a different one could work out.

His first stop was the Tesseract, where he stole a couple more Pym particles, just in case, and managed to avoid suspicious eyes again, even though there were people all around looking for him.

Then, he went to Asgard. This one was going to suck just a bit. He didn't really want to stab Thor's ex-girlfriend and re-infect her with this Aether, but he had to. For the sake of the timeline.

When he got there, she was already on high alert after seeing the raccoon. Steve's top skill wasn't espionage- especially not in the daylight. So, he had to rely on his speed. He also decided to leave Mjölnir there, since that's where Thor got it from. Or, when really.

The moment she fully turned her back to him, Steve hurried out and used the device to give her back the aether, jabbing it into her bicep.

She let out scream and jumped, but Steve was already successful. Asgardian guards were hurrying around a corner to him, so Steve took the device and hurried as fast as he could.

"Captain America?!"

He didn't care to stop and explain anything.

Steve turned a corner and had just enough time to get the next spot loaded in, and leapt just as the guards turned their corner.

(Unbeknownst to him, they all thought Loki had something to do with it somehow. It was the best explanation that required the least amount of actual searching.)

His next stop was New York. First, he found his knocked-out self and replaced the Mind stone. When he went to leave, his shield stopped him. He had left Thor's hammer, as promised, and he kind of wanted to have his own shield back.

It had barely even been gone, and he already missed the damn thing. It was an object, and yet to Steve, it meant so much more. To everyone it meant so much more.

Steve grabbed it quickly, then hurried off to find the keeper of the stone- the one before Stephen Strange. According to Bruce, she'd be expecting him.

When he got there, she was still on the roof, waiting. "I see you've kept good on your promise," she said once Steve got onto the roof.

He shrugged. "We had to," was all he offered. He held out the case with the Time stone waiting inside for her to grab.

Steve watched as she opened the eye-shaped necklace around her neck and then took hold of the stone. Once it was safely tucked in, she looked up and nodded. "Thank you."

Then, she looked down at his shield and raised an eyebrow. "I hope I'm not breaking too many time laws with this," Steve said, gesturing with his head to the shield in his hands.