chasing waterfalls [Peter Parker]

~37~

I was in one of the rooms at the Compound, looking in the mirror. I knew something was off since the test, but I couldn't figure it out. Obviously, they needed to work more on the machine, but I didn't know what they were going to fix. 

I heard noises outside, and I walked out to see the whole team together. Nat, Tony, Cap, Clint, Banner, Nebula, Scott, Rhodey, Rocket, and what looked like Thor, but he had changed physically. I walked over to Nat. 

"What's going on?" Nat shrugged. 

"We're testing the machine again with Clint." I nodded, looking at the machine. Nebula was getting Clint into the suit and Banner was fiddling with controls. 

"Clint, now you're going to feel a little discombobulated by the chronoshift. Don't worry about that." Banner said to reassure Clint but I don't know how much it helped. 

"Wait, let me ask you something." Rhodey started, his arms folded. "If we can do this, you know, why don't we go back in time, find baby Thanos, you know, and..." He then made a gesture with his hands to symbolize strangling. Everyone in the room gasped. Banner shook his head.

"First of all, that's horrible." 

"It's Thanos."

"And secondly, time doesn't work that way. Changing the past doesn't change the future." I nodded. 

"Right, cause the past already happened and changing the past just creates new timelines." Banner nodded. Scott sighed. 

"So Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit?" I chuckled.

We finished setting Clint up for the test, and he stood on the platform. Banner fiddled with some buttons. 

"All right, Clint. We're going in three, two, one." He pressed a button and Clint shrunk. I shuddered, because I knew exactly what was happening to Clint. 

Five seconds later, Clint reappeared, on the ground, screaming. Nat ran to help him. 

"Hey, hey. Look at me." She helped him stand up. "You okay?" He nodded, still a little out of it. 

"Yeah, yeah." He handed her a baseball mitt. "It worked." He then tossed it to Tony, repeating "It worked." I grinned. We were there. We were gonna get everyone back.