- Ruelle, Slip Away

New York seems abandoned. Abandoned boats sit in docks, completely abandoned. Sports stadiums are left empty and desolate. In an abandoned cafe, a poster reads ‘WHERE DO WE GO, NOW THAT THEY’RE GONE?’ Steve sits in a therapy session with seven others, sitting in a circle.

“So I, uh…” One of the members starts, a man named Joe. “Went on date the other day. It’s the first time in five years, you know? I’m sitting there at dinner...I didn’t even know what to talk about.”

“What did you talk about?” Steve asks softly.

“Same old crap, you know? How things have changed, and...my job, his job...how much we miss the Mets. And then things get quiet...he cried as they were serving the salads.”

“What about you?” Jim, another member, questions.

“I cried...just before desert. But I’m seeing him again tomorrow, so…”

“That’s great,” Steve reassures. “You did the hardest part. You took the jump, you didn’t know when you were gonna come down. And that’s it. That’s those little brave baby steps we gotta take. To try and become whole again, try and find purpose. I went in the ice in ‘45 after realising I was in love with my best friend. Woke up 70 years later, fell in love with my now ex-husband. On top of that, my eldest daughter got snapped. You gotta move on. Gotta move on. The world is in our hands. It’s left to us guys, and we gotta do something with it. Otherwise...Thanos should have killed all of us.”

--

In San Francisco, a metal fence shows the same signs with warnings. The largest of the words read ‘RESTRICTED AREA, DO NOT ENTER’, with the rest of the sign reading ‘AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT, SECURITY OR ID OR ESCORT REQUIRED’. This fence surrounds the New Avengers facility.

Inside, Nat cuts a sandwich into triangles. Her once blonde hair is now longer, her natural red hair growing from the roots and pushing the blonde dye out.

“Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged,” Rocket says about his status. Holograms of Nebula and Rocket, Okoye, Carol and Rhodey stand in a line.

“It was an infectious garbage scowl,” Nebula adds.

“So, that’s for the hot tip.” Rocket turns and smirks at Carol.

“Well, you were closer,” She replies.

“Yeah, and now we smell like garbage.”

Nat turns to Okoye. “You get a reading on those tremors?”

“It was a mild subduction under the African plate.”

“Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?”

“Nat, it’s an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it.”

Questions answered, Nat turns to Carol. “Carol, are we seeing you here next month?

“Not likely.”

“What, you gonna get another haircut?” Rocket teases.

“Listen fur-face, i’m covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth are happening everyone, on thousands of planets.”

“All right, all right, that’s a good point. That’s a good point.”

“So you might not see me for a long time.”

“Alright,” Nat answers. “Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways...anyone’s making trouble where they shouldn’t...comes through me.”

“Okay,” Rocket agrees.

“Alright.”

One by one, the Avengers on call end it. Nat sits down, exhausted. Then she realises that Rhodey is still on the call.

“Where are you?”

“Mexico. The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off.”

“It’s probably a rival gang.”

“Except it isn’t. It’s definitely Barton. What he’s done here, what he’s been doing for the last few years...I mean the scene that he left...I gotta tell you, there’s a part of me that doesn’t even want to find him.”

They share a moment of silence as Nat angrily eats a sandwich.

“Will you find out where he’s going next?”

“Nat…”

“Please.”

“Okay,” Rhodey reluctantly agrees, then cuts off his call. Nat starts to cry, unable to hold back her tears.

“You know I’d offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already,” Steve says out of nowhere, slumping over a bookshelf after returning from his therapy session.

“You here to do your laundry?” Nat asks as she wipes away tears.

“And to see a friend.”

“Clearly, your friend is fine.”

“You know I saw a pod of whales when I was coming up the bridge.”

“In the Hudson?”

“There’s fewer ships, cleaner water.”

“You know, if you’re about to tell me to look on the bright side...I’m about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich.” She smiles jokingly, which Steve returns.

“Sorry. Force of habit.” He throws his jacket away before sitting on a chair opposite Nat. “You know, I keep telling everybody that they should move on and...grow. Some do. But not us.”

“If I move on, who does this?”

“Maybe it doesn’t need to be done.”

“I used to have nothing. And then 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.”

Nat smiles. “You first.”

Camera footage interrupts their conversation, showing Scott Lang with his van behind him.

“Oh!” Scott yells into the camera. “Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn’t recognise me.”

Steve stands up. “Is this an old message?”

Nat stands up as well. “It’s the front gate.”

“Ant-Man?” Scott continues. “Ant-Man, I know you know that. I need to talk to you guys.”

--

Scott paces in front of Steve and Nat, a worried look on his face.

“Scott. Are you okay?” Steve asks him.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” He figures out how to say what he wants to say. “Have you ever studies Quantum Physics?”

“Only to make conversation,” Nat replies.

“Alright. So...five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own little microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she’s my...she was my...she was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there.”

“I’m sorry. That must’ve been a very long five years.”

“Yeah but that’s just it. It wasn’t. For me, it was like five hours.”

Steve and Nat share a confused look.

“See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren’t like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anyone’s sandwich? I’m starving.” He walks over and bites into it, not waiting for an answer.

“Scott, what are you talking about?” Steve questions.

“What I’m saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don’t have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can’t stop thinking about it. What if...we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit is at another point in time? Like...like before Thanos?”

“Wait, are you talking about a time machine?”

“No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It’s more like a...yeah, a time machine. I know it’s crazy. But I can’t stop thinking about it. There’s gotta be some way...there’s gotta be...some way...it’s crazy.”

Nat reassures him. “Scott, I get emails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore.”

“So who do we talk to about this?”