- Bea Miller, i can’t breathe

In the Avengers Compound, Bruce fiddles with buttons on a large panel. Scott stands in her Ant-Man costume in front of his van, the back doors open to show the Quantum Tunnel. Nat and Steve stand beside Bruce.

“Okay, here we go,” Bruce starts. “Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the uhhh...the van thing.”

Scott fires up the portal behind him.

“Breakers are set, emergency generators are on standby,” Steve calls out.

“Good. ‘Cause if we blow the grid, I don’t wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950’s.”

Scott, Nat and Steve give Bruce a panicked look.

“What?” Scott asks.”

“He’s kidding,” Nat says quickly, then turns to Bruce. “You can’t say things like that!”

“Just...it was a bad joke.”

“You were kidding, right?”

“I have no idea,” Bruce whispers to Nat. “We’re talking about time travel here. Either it’s all a joke, or none of it is.” He begins to talk louder again and gives Scott a thumbs up. “We’re good! Get your helmet on, Scott. I’m gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Makes sense?”

“Perfectly not confusing,” Scott responds.

“Good luck, Scott,” Steve says. “You got this.”

“You’re right. I do, Captain America.”

Bruce pushes a button, and Scott gets pulled into the Quantum Tunnel. “Oh the count of three. 3...2...1!”

He pushes another button, and Scott comes back out. But it doesn’t look like the Scott people know, more like a version way before he met any Avenger. He looks like a teenager.

“Uh, guys?” The teenage Scott asks. “This...this doesn’t feel right?”

“What is this?” Steve questions.

“What’s going on?” Bruce starts to panic.

“That...who is that?” Nat asks Bruce.

“Hold on.”

“Is that Scott?”

“Yes, it’s Scott!” Scott yells. He gets sucked back in, coming out as an old man. “Ow! My back!”

“What is this?” Steve pressures.

“Can I get a little space here?” Bruce fires back.

“Yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?”

“I’m working on it!” Bruce pushes some buttons, and the old Scott is replaced with a baby Scott.

“It’s a baby.”

“It’s Scott.”

“As a baby!”

“He’ll grow.”

“Bring Scott back!”

Bruce motions towards Nat. “When I say kill the power, kill the power.”

“Oh my god.” Nat walks quickly towards the generator.

“And...kill it!”

Nat pulls a lever down, the whole machine shutting down. Normal Scott gets spat back out.

“Somebody peed my pants,” He says.

“Oh thank god,” Nat breathes.

“But I don’t know if it was ‘baby’ me or ‘old’ me...or just ‘me’ me.”

“Time travel!” Bruce yells in triumph, throwing his hands up. Steve silently shakes his head and walks away. “What? I...I see this as an absolute win!”

--

Steve sits down outside the Compound, staring at his feet while deep in thought. He feels defeated, as their only option now wasn’t a possibility. A car’s revving cuts through the silence, and he looks up to see a black car zoom up and stop behind him.

The window rolls down to reveal Tony. “Why the long face? Let me guess: he turned into a baby.”

“Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?”

Tony steps out of the car and walks to boot, ignoring Steve’s question. “That’s the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might’ve wound up pushing time through Lang. It’s tricky. Dangerous. Someone should’ve cautioned you against it.”

“You did.”

“Oh, did I?” He acts surprised. “Thank god I’m here. Regardless, I fixed it.” He holds his right hand up, a device sitting on it. “A fully functioning Time-Space GPA. I just want peace.” He makes a peace sign with his fingers. “Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it.”

“Me too.”

“We got a shot at getting these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities: bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs. And...maybe not die trying will be nice.”

“Sounds like a deal.”

Steve holds out his hand, and Tony shakes it. The latter then reaches into the car’s boot and pulls out Steve’s shield. Steve hesitates to take it.

“Tony…”

“Why? He made it for you. Plus, honestly I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding.”

Steve slides his arm into the shield’s holds. “Thank you, Tony.”

“Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn’t bring one for the whole team.” Tony hesitates to continue. “We are getting the whole team, yeah?”

“We’re working on that now.”

--

On a bench outside the yard of the Compound, Scott sits trying to eat a taco. The Benatar begins to land, the air created blows all of the topping out of the taco. Nebula and Rocket step out, walking past Scott.

“Hey, humie!” Rocket says. “Where’s Big Green?”

“Uh, kitchen, I think?” Scott sees Nebula. “That’s awesome.”

Nebula rolls her eyes and begins to talk into her earpiece. “Rhodey, careful on re-entry. There’s an idiot on the landing zone.”

A few moments later, Rhodey lands down in front of Scott, who gets so scared that he drops what is left of the taco. “Oh, god!”

“What’s up, regular sized man?” Rhodey laughs, making fun of Scott’s persona.

Rhodey walks away, leaving Scott slightly dumbfounded. Bruce walks towards him, then gives Scott two tacos. As Bruce begins to walk away, Scott is doubly dumbfounded.

--

Bruce sits in the back of a ute as it drives through the countryside of Norway, passing a sign that reads ‘WELCOME TO NEW ASGARD, PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY’. They end up at a small town beside a port. Bruce hops off the back of the ute while Rocket gets out of the front. The Asgardians are going about their business, living like normal humans.

“Kind of a step down from a golden palace for an Avenger highness and whatnot,” Rocket says.

“Hey, have a little compassion, pal. First, they’ve lost Asgard, then half their people. They’re probably just happy to have a home.” Bruce spots Valkyrie looking at him and walks over.

“You shouldn’t have come!” She hisses.

“Ah, Valkyrie! Great to see you, Angry Girl.”

“I think I liked you better either of the other ways.”

“This is Rocket.”

“How you doin’?” Rocket asks.

Valkyrie stares at the raccoon. “He won’t see you.”

“That bad, huh?” Bruce questions.

“We only see him once a month, when he comes for…” She looks at a pile of kegs and beer to the side. “...supplies.”

“It’s that bad.”

“Yeah.”

--

Rocket opens a door, and Bruce walks through it behind him.

Rocket winces at the smell. “What the...woo! Something died in here.”

“Hello? Thor?” Bruce yells out.

Thor shouts back from another room. “Are you here about the cable?” He begins to walk into view, shirt off. He has a very obvious pot belly, and has clearly put on a few pounds since five years ago. “The Cinemas ran out about two weeks ago, and the sports were all kind of fuzzy.” He grabs a beer.

“Thor?” Bruce asks.

Thor realises that Bruce and Rocket are the ones who entered his house, and his face cracks with joy. “BOYS! Oh my god! It’s so good to see you!” He goes towards Rocket and tries to hug him. “Come here, you little rascal!”

“No, I’m good,” Rocket pushes him away. “I’m good. That’s not necessary.”

“Hulk, you know my friends, Miek and Korg, right?”

Miek and Korg sit on the couch, eating chips. They hold PlayStation controllers in their hands, playing Fortnite.

“Hey boys!” Korg waves.

“Hey guys,” Bruce waves back. “Long time no see.”

“Beer’s on the bucket. Feel free to log on to the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously.” He turns back to the game. “Thor, he’s back. The kid on the TV that called me a dickhead again.”

“NoobMaster,” Thor growls.

“Yeah, NoobMaster69 called me a dickhead.”

Thor walks over and takes Korg’s headphones, speaking into the mic.

“NoobMaster? Yeah, it’s Thor again. You know, the God of Thunder? Listen, buddy. If you don’t log off this game immediately, I am gonna fly over to your house, come down to that basement you’re hiding in, rip off your arms AND SHOVE THEM UP YOUR BUTT! Oh, that’s right. Yes, go cry to your father, you little weasel!”

“Thank you Thor,” Korg takes his headphones back.

“Let me know if he bothers you again, okay?”

“Thank you very much. I will.”

“So you guys want a drink? What are you drinking? We have beer, tequila, all sorts of things.” Thor uses Stormbreaker to open a bottle of beer and starts to drink it. Bruce walks over and places a hand on his shoulder.

“Buddy, you alright?” Bruce asks.

“Yes, I’m fine! Why, don’t I look all right?”

“You look like melted ice cream,” Rocket says.

“So, what’s up?”

“We need your help,” Bruce explains. “There might be a chance we could fix everything.”

“What, like the cable?” He burps. “Cause that’s been driving me bananas for weeks.”

“Like Thanos.”

Thor’s smile disappears. He puts a shaky hand on Bruce’s shoulder and points at him. “Don’t say that name.”

Korg stands up and takes his headphones off. “Um, yeah. We don’t actually say that name in here.”

“Please take your hand off me,” Bruce says quietly, brushing Thor’s hand off his shoulder. “Now, I know that...guy might scare you.”

Thor puts on a fake look of bafflement. “Why would I be? Why would...why would I be scared of that guy? I’m the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone else here killed that guy? Nope. Didn't think so. Korg, why don’t you tell everybody who chopped Thanos’ big head off.”

“Um...Stormbreaker?” Korg attempts.

“Now, who’s swingin’ Stormbreaker?”

“I get it,” Bruce interrupts. “You’re in a rough spot, okay? I’ve been there myself. You wanna know who helped me out of it?”

“I don’t know. Is it...Natasha?”

“It was you. You helped me.”

Thor walks over, looks out the window and points, fingers still clasped around his beer. “Why don’t you ask the Asgardians down there, how much my help was worth.” He sits on the sofa. “The ones that are left, anyway.”

“I think we can bring them back.”

“Stop. Stop, okay?” Thor opens a packet of M&Ms. “I know you think I’m down here wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved. But I’m fine, okay? We’re fine, aren’t we?”

Korg and Miek sit eating pizza, continuing their game. “Nah, all good here, mate.”

“So, whatever it is that you’re offering, we’re not into it. Don’t care, couldn’t care less. Goodbye.”

“We need you, pal,” Bruce says. Thor shakes his head and ignores the big green guy.

Rocket crosses his arms. “There’s beer on the ship.”

Thor pauses, putting the bottle down but not looking up. “What kind?”