Steve's Diary

September 13, 2023

Dear Diary,

It's been rough around here, all of us have separated despite all having the same mission.

Rhodey is in Mexico looking for Clint, Carol is helping other planets get through what we're going through, Okoye and Rocket and Nebula are keeping an eye on their respective areas for threats or issues of their own.

Nat stayed at the Avengers Facility; Thor left first, then Tony and I did, too. I had to deal with the grief alone... at least living alone back at my old place in Brooklyn.

It's a disaster and we're all still distraught over it all.

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"You know, I'd offer to cook you dinner, but you seem pretty miserable already," I commented as I watched her crying at her desk.

"You here to do your laundry?" Natasha asked, surprised to see me after all this time.

"And to see a friend," I smiled.

"Clearly, your friend is fine."

"You know, I saw a pod of whales when I was coming over the bridge," I commented.

"In the Hudson?" she sounded shocked.

"There's fewer ships... cleaner water."

"You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side, um... I'm about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich."

"Hmm," I mumbled, approaching her. "Sorry. Force of habit." I threw my jacket and keys onto the table and sat down across from her. "You know," started after a moment. "I keep telling everybody they should move on and... grow. Some do. But not us."

"If I move on, who does this?" She made my point further.

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done," I played devil's advocate.

She shook her head. "I used to have nothing. And them I got this. This job. This family. And I was.... I was better because of it. And even though they're gone, I'm still trying to be better."

"I think we both need to get a life," I replied.

"You first."

Natasha got an alert and swiped it over to the TV, we both looked over.

"Oh! Hi, hi! Uh, is anyone home?" I heard a voice on the monitor. "This is, uh, Scott Lang," he waved at us. "We met a few years ago... at the airport... in Germany. I was that guy that got really big. I had a mask on- you wouldn't recognize me."

"Is this an old message?" I stood and asked.

"Ant-Man? I know you know that. I really need to talk to you guys," he continued to explain.

"It's the front gate," she replied, sounding hopeful.

We went and got him from the front and he started pacing in the room and muttering to himself.

"Scott," I interrupted him. "Are you okay?"

"Yea," he put his hands over his eyes. "Have either of you guys ever studied quantum physics?"

"Only to make conversation," Nat replied.

He pointed at her. "All right, so... five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the quantum realm. The quantum realm is like it's own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my, um... she was my... she was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened and I got stuck in there."