Once Upon a December

04

At the New Avengers facility, someone was cutting the two bread with peanut butter filling into a couple of triangles, as someone else was speaking. Natasha, with long red hair, over-coloring her blonde streaks, heard Rocket out about his status so far. Nessa sat nearby with a mug of tea.

"Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged," Rocket said.

A few of the Avengers were in holographic calls from the left to right, respectively: Nebula and Rocket, Okoye, Carol with a tomboyish haircut, and Rhodey.

"It was an infectious garbage scowl," Nebula told them.

"So, thanks for the hot tip," Rocket said, turning to Carol and replied back with a smirk.

"Well, you were closer," Carol shot back.

"Yeah. And now we smell like garbage."

Natasha turned to Okoye and asked, "You get a reading on those tremors?"

"It was a mild subduction under the African plate," Okoye replied.

"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."

Natasha turned to Carol. "Carol, are we seeing you here next month?"

"Not likely," Carol replied.

"What, you gonna get another haircut?" Rocket teased.

Carol, irritated, retorted, "Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets."

Rocket murmured to himself, "All right, all right, that's a good point. That's a good point."

"So you might not see me for a long time."

"All right," Nessa said. "Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me or Natasha."

Okoye agreed in her language.

"Okay," Rocket stated.

"All right," Natasha and Nessa replied.

The Avengers cut off their calls one by one.

Carol said to Rhodey, "Good luck." She cut off the call.

Rhodey was the only one left. Natasha sighed, exhausted, and sat down before noticing Rhodey still online in the call.

"Where are you?" Natasha asked.

"Mexico," Rhodey replied. "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," Nessa guessed as she sipped her tea.

"Except it isn't." Natasha realized something. "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..." Natasha gradually teared up. "I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to find him."

In an abrupt moment of silence, she tried to chew her tears and emotional feelings as she ate a sandwich.

"Will you find out where he's going next?" Natasha questioned.

"Nat..." Rhodey began.

"Please."

Rhodey reluctantly replied, "Okay." Rhodey cut off his end.

Natasha began to cry as she tried to hold back her tears miserably. Nessa placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"You know I'd offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already," Steve said. Out of nowhere, he slumped over a bookshelf, in the same mood as he was in the therapy session as Natasha wiped the tears from her face.

"You here to do your laundry?" Natasha questioned.

"And to see a couple friends."

"Clearly, your friends are fine."

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

"In the Hudson?" Nessa asked.

"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 you to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich, " Natasha said as she jokingly smiled and Steve did the same.

"Sorry. Force of habit." He threw his jacket, then sat on another chair, opposite Natasha and Nessa. "You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on and... grow. Some do. But not us."

"If my mother and I move on, who does this?" Natasha asked.

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done."

Natasha, deep in her thoughts, replied, "I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job... this family. And when Nessa showed up... 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 each need to get a life."

Natasha smiled. "You first."

A camera footage popped up in front of them, showing Scott with his Quantum Realm van behind him.

"Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home?" Scott asked. "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 recognize me."

Steve stood and questioned, "Is this an old message?"

Natasha and Nessa also stood and replied, "It's the front gate."

"Ant-Man? Ant-Man, I know you know that," Scott said. "I need to talk to you guys."

Scott was inside the Avengers Compound pacing worriedly in front of Steve, Nessa and Natasha.

"Scott. Are you okay?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine," Scott replied, struggling to ask about something and finally blurted it out. "Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?"

"Only to make conversation," Natasha answered.

Nessa nodded. "I've done my best to understand it. It's... It's complicated."

"All right," Scott said. "So... five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my... She was my..." He struggled to not tell the entire truth about their relationship. "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 five hours." Steve, Nessa and Natasha shared a quick bewildered glance. "See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." He walked over to pick up Natasha's sandwich and bit into it.

"Scott, what are you talking about?" Steve wondered.

"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 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 w... it's crazy."

"Scott, Nessa and I get e-mails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore," Natasha told him.

"So who do we talk to about this?"