In Your Eyes // Steve Rogers

C & S

At the Compound, I took a seat at the computer desk. I slipped an earpiece in and turned to the Avengers' channel, asking if anyone could hear me. I was met with no response.

I logged into the computer, slightly surprised when it still accepted me easily. I went straight into the security camera logs, inserted a quick, "Smiles," voice recognition and began to check footage in the common areas of the Compound.

In the very spot I was occupying, I saw footage of my friends only a mere two hours prior. I saw Rhodey, with a contraption over his legs to help him walk. I saw Sam with a beard; Natasha, who's hair had turned blonde; I saw Wanda's ginger hair cascading down her back and her holding up a severely wounded Vision.

I saw, at long last, my love. I didn't have to picture what our time apart had made him look like any longer. I could tell it had been so long. He had dirty blonde hair that was longer than I'd ever seen it, he grew a beard. He was dressed in his old Avengers suit, the darkened one, and he had it rolled up his forearms. I noticed he had ripped off the 'A' on his suit. It was different, a good different. It only hurt to see him and know so much time had passed.

I jumped through camera footage as I watched them leave towards the yard. They left in a jet not identified by the Compound, no tracking device on it, no anything. If there's one thing Natasha knew how to do, it was remain untraceable.

"Aggie, please," I whispered, laying my hand on the computer screen. "I'm two hours behind him. Please. I know you're mad I left, but I need to warn them, they need me. The faster I do this, the faster I can return to the Stone."

He sighed heavily. "You care too much of humanity, my love."

"I care about lives. What is space, what's time without lives to measure that? If he gets all six, half of the universe will be wiped out. I can do something about it," I pleaded. "This isn't about seeing Steve or any of my family—it's bigger than all of us, anything we've faced before. This is the first time I've ever felt like we're taking in something bigger than we can handle."

"Clara, you will live for millions of years. You will learn life plays out as it does."

"If that was true, every world ending disaster we prevented would've happened regardless of our interference," I argued.

"Have you ever stopped to think that your prevention has caused this?" said Agamotto.

I paused. I didn't want to think into it, because none of it could be proved. Causation vs correlation— it didn't matter anymore. Fate dealt what it did; evolution brought people with abilities. Fate was confusing and unpredictable, but nothing in the universe could once make me believe fate crafted Thanos and the Gauntlet without also creating an opposite reaction.

"Your job is to ensure the Stone is safe and time is intact, that the only being traveling through time is you, that time vortexes don't occur, that Dark Energy isn't being used by the Stone. I could go on, Clara. But your job is not to be a hero."

"Then take me wanting to save the universe out of it. If he wants to destroy half the universe, he has to get our Stone. If he gets it, it's not safe. You have to, at the least, know that," I argued. "Why aren't you giving me my full capabilities if you know that?"

"Because maybe Thanos is the way for you to see what really matters!" snapped Agamotto. I fell still, silent. He continued, "The Time Stone is the source of your power, if you care nothing about it keeping time intact. Should it be destroyed, Clara, I die, and you lose your powers. You become mortal. That's it."