Even After Everything | Steve Rogers

Chapter 52

I walked out of the warehouse, seeing Tony and Steve talking. Steve was holding his old shield, looking at it proudly. I went and stood next to him, folding my arms and giving Tony a smile.

"So, you figured it out didn't you?" I raised my brow.

"Yes... Yes I did," He gave me a smile back, then nodded to Steve's shield, "Hey, will you keep that a little quiet? Didn't bring one for the whole team." Tony looked to me and gave me a wink, then hesitated, "We are getting the whole team, yeah?"

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

*          *          *

I walked inside the testing room, meeting Scott, Bruce, Nebula, and Rhodey. Scott was in a red and white suit, looking very nervous.

"Time travel suit?" Rhodey nodded, "Not bad."

Bruce attempted to put the red vials, the PYM particles, into the suit, but was stopped quickly by Scott, "Hey, hey! Easy, easy!"

"I'm being very careful."

Scott scoffed, "No, you're being very Hulky."

"I'm being careful!" Bruce defended himself.

Scott held up the vial, "These are Pym Particles, alright? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more."

Rhodey held up his hands, "Scott, calm down."

"Sorry," Scott sighed, "We've got enough for one round trip each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs." He then accidentally pressed a button. Shrinking, and then just as quick, returning to his normal size, "One test run."

I scoffed and shook my head.

"All right. I'm not ready for this," Scott said nervously.

"I'm game. I'll do it," I looked behind me, seeing Clint leaning against the doorway. Natasha had gotten him back, and it had been the first time I saw I'm in years. We caught up a bit, but I knew he didn't feel like talking about these past five years. When he saw my wedding ring, he just laughed, and said he knew it was going it happen the first time he saw us together.

Clint dressed in the time travel suit Scott was just in moments before, nodding confidently.

"Clint, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift," Bruce said, "Don't worry about it."

"Wai-Wait a second, let me ask you something," Rhodey stopped Clint before he could press the button, "If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos, you know, and..." He made a hand gesture, implying killing baby Thanos with a rope.

I nodded my head, "I mean he's right, kill him before he can even think about the stones."

Bruce looked disgusted, "First of all, that's horrible."

"It's Thanos!" Rhodey scoffed.

"And secondly, time doesn't work that way," Bruce looked to Rhodey and I, "Changing the past doesn't change the future."

Scott nodded with us, "Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them... Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved."

Clint looked to Bruce, "Bingo."

"That's not how it works," Nebula sighed.

Clint shrugged, "Well, that's what I heard."

"What? By who?" Bruce asked, "Who told you that?"

Rhodey counted off his fingers, "Star Trek, Terminator, TimeCop, Time After Time-"

"Quantum Leap-" Scott added.

"A Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time-" I nodded.

"Hot Tub Time Machine-"

"Hot Tub Time Machine. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Basically, any movie that deals with time travel," Rhodey's hand fell to his sides.

Scott tilted his head, "Die Hard? No, it's not one..."

"This is known," I shrugged.

"I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true," Bruce stated, "Think about it: If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past. Which can't now be changed by your new future."

"Exactly," Nebula agreed.

"So... Back To The Future's a bunch of bullshit?" Scott looked petrified.

We all stood around the structure that had been built in the warehouse, the 'Time machine' you could say. I stood next to Steve, and Thor walked next to me with headphones on. I looked at him, not recognizing Thor, and looking to Clint on the structure. I immediately did a double take, looking to him stand next to me.

"Thor?" I asked. He looked... different then when I had last saw him. His beard had grown out, he had gained weight, and his usual Asgardian armor was replaced with sweatpants.

He looked to he and smiled, "Cora! How nice to finally see you again!"

He pulled me into a big hug, and we stood there for a few moments. Thor was a close friend, he had been for a long time. But he had obviously changed since I last saw him. I could tell the weight of Thanos winning was on his shoulders like it was mine, but he got though it differently then I did. I could tell by the stench of beer that he had turned to alcohol.

We both released, and Thor noticed my ring, grabbing my hand, "Yes, finally! You know, the whole team was waiting for this to happen, and finally you two... Like I was waiting for Jane... and we- well, you know. She and I never did see each other again," His eyes began to tear up as he tried to give a laugh, and he quickly put his headphones back on.

"Alright..." I turned back forward, deciding to focus on the task at hand, then talk with Thor later. He obviously seemed like he needed a friend.

Bruce looked to the control panel, "Alright, Clint. We're going in 3... 2... 1!"

Clint's helmet appeared, and he disappeared into the quantum realm.

Not five seconds later, Clint rematerialized in front of us, breathing heavily as he fell to the floor.

I grabbed Steve's hand, squeezing it nervously, as Natasha ran up to Clint, "Hey, hey. Look at me. You okay?"

Clint held up a baseball glove, one that he wasn't holding before, "Yeah, it worked. It worked."

I sighed in relief, releasing my tight grasp on Steve's hand.

We were going to do it. We were really going to bring everyone back.