One | Steve Rogers

7

" No? What do you mean no?" Bruce asks in his astral form.

" You know, I kind of prefer you the other way now," Lauren says.

" If you do not want the stone... then why are you here?" The Ancient One asks.

" Lauren... we've been working on this for weeks. As a team. Think about everything we've lost," Bruce says.

" Think about everything we could lose," Lauren says.

" We couldn't have had this conversation before I became a ghost?" Bruce asks.

" It's called astral projection, genius," She says as she crosses her arms.

The Ancient One begins to walk away, but Bruce follows after her and pleads.

" If I give up the time stone to help your reality, I'm dooming my own," She says.

" I'm not sure the science really supports that," Bruce says.

Lauren chuckles at his words.

The Ancient One creates a line with her orange/gold magic, along with an illusion of the Infinity Stones surrounding the line.

" The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones, " She says, then removes the time stone from the line, " and that flow splits. Now, this may benefit your reality, but my new one, not so much. In this new branch reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness our world would be overrun. Millions will suffer. So, tell me, Doctor, can your science prevent all that?"

" No... but we can erase it, because once we're done with the stones, we can return each one to its own timeline at the moment it was taken," Bruce says as he puts the time stone back on the line," So, chronologically, in that reality it never left.

" Yes, but you're leaving out the most important part. In order to return the stones, you have to survive," The Ancient One says.

" We will. I will. I promise," Bruce says.

" I can't risk this reality on a promise," She says, " It's the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone."

"

The Ancient One tries to walk away once more, and Bruce motions for Lauren to do something. She rolls her eyes, but quickly and effortlessly creates a forcefield around the Ancient One.

" Your powers have certainly grown, " The Ancient One says as she turns around.

" Why the hell did Strange give away the stone?" Bruce says.

Finally, they caught the attention of the most powerful sorcerer... in this time.

" What did you say?" The Ancient One asks.

" Strange. He gave it away, he gave it to Thanos," Bruce says.

" Willingly?"

" Yes."

" Why?"

" I have no idea. Maybe he made a mistake."

" Or I did."

At that, the Ancient One moves her hand to connect Bruce with his physical body. She opens the eye of Agamotto, and removes the time stone.

" Strange was meant to be the best of us," The Ancient One says as she holds the stone up to Bruce.

" So he must've done it for a reason," Bruce says.

" I fear you might be right," She says, then hands the stone to Bruce.