fiction | Part of the journey is the end

3. Earth-838

Stephen and America walked out of the alleyway. The citizens of Earth-838 were wearing black and grey clothing.

"They're only wearing black and grey clothing? Strange," Scott noted.

Stephen started to cross the street but was nearly run over by a car and America pulled him back. The traffic light was red. "They go on red?" he asked.

"It's weird that they go on red, but it's a different universe so they have different rules," said Sam.

"Rule number one of multiversal travel, you don't know anything," said America.

"Yes, we know about that rule," said Loki.

"It is a bit hard not to know about that rule after everything we have seen," said T'Challa.

The crosswalk light turned red and the two crossed the street.

"Do they still slow down on yellow?" Steve wondered.

"Who knows?" said Bucky.

Stephen asked what rule number two was, but realized America wasn't next to him. He looked around, panicked. "America?!"

Panic surged through the Avengers.

"She was right there!" Stephen exclaimed. His status as a babysitter wasn't going very well if he already lost America.

America was behind him. "Rule number two, find food. Preferably pizza." She had a bowl of pizza balls.

They let out a sigh of relief.

Stephen stared at America in disbelief. "She ran away for pizza?!"

"I can respect that, and they're pizza balls! It's much more convenient than a pizza slice," Kate said.

Clint snorted. He knew what it was like to deal with a pizza-obsessed kid; Stephen was lucky that he didn't have to deal with a pizza-obsessed dog as well. "It's like you have to keep Kate and America on a leash when they go near pizza," he said, causing Stephen to chuckle and Kate to become very unimpressed.

"Multiversal travel probably takes a lot out of a person," Peter said.

The two started to walk down the sidewalk. America talked about how food was free in most universes and how it was weird that they paid for it in Stephen's universe.

"That doesn't make much sense, but it's good America's finding food whenever she travels through universes," said Bruce.

"Hey! You didn't pay for that," Pizza Poppa yelled. "Crap. Maybe it's not free here," said America.

"Or maybe America's been stealing food the entire time. She needs to survive somehow," Clea said.

"Pizza Poppa always gets paid," said Pizza Poppa. Stephen told him to relax as America was just a hungry kid.

"And who's been through a lot," Stephen added. "America deserves a couple of pizza balls to relax."

"Relax yourself, there," Pizza Poppa laughed. "Doctor Strange."

Peter's shoulders slumped. "So, this isn't Peter Two or Three's universe. They didn't know about Stephen in their universes."

"I wish it was one of their universes. At least they're reliable and familiar," said Stephen.

Pizza Poppa asked Stephen where he got the cape from as he touched the Cloak.

Stephen narrowed his eyes. "Don't touch the Cloak. And it's a cloak, not a cape."