The MCU: It's All Real

4. Map

You let yourself fall into the comforting plush heaven that was your hotel mattress. Kicking your shoes off you didn't waist a second before wrapping yourself in the freshly cleaned covers. Your E/C eyes wandered across the small hotel room before they landed on the beautiful evening sky beyond the window. 

The city was painted in a glow of orange and pink. You smiled and let your eyes travel to the clock that was on the bedside table. It was about seven o'clock but you weren't even hungry for dinner. 

You sat upright on the mattress and leaned over the side so you could reach your backpack. Once your fingers slipped around the top of the strap you pulled the item up and into your lap. You unzipped the largest pocket and pulled out your newly found treasures. 

You looked at the watch that you had earlier thought was broken but now noticed the hand had moved the slightest tick. You furrowed your eyebrows but quickly moved to the map. Once you unrolled the large piece of paper you quickly noticed that it was of New York.

Your E/C eyes skimmed through all the lines and chicken scratches until you figured out that it was a map of Long island. Or at least part of it, the map spread off into part of the ocean which didn't make any sense to you at all. 

You let the map roll back into itself and gently placed it on the bed next to the watch. The last thing you pulled out of your backpack was the diary. The spine had a few rips and it had obviously been used heavily. 

You flipped open the small book and began to read the pages your grandfather had written.

June 20th, 1937

Hello to the person who ever finds this,
I'm not really one to journal but something crazy happened and I felt like it should be documented. Last night I was out with a few of my friends on Long island, it was late and we were messing around like usual. We went out to the very edge of the doc and I was dared to jump into the water. I didn't know how to swim but I didn't want to admit that to them so I swallowed my fear and got on the edge of the railing. I figured it couldn't be that hard and I would figure it out once I got in the water. Although before I was ready, one of my friends shoved me in. The cold black water swallowed me up faster than I could process. I clawed at the water around me and flailed my arms but the moon kept getting further away. My lungs were burning and I started to panic because I felt like I was going to die. Well all of a sudden, my foot grew dry. I could feel air beneath me almost like the surface. I didn't understand what was happening but I needed air so I did the best I could to swim down. My face breached the other side and I was in some kind of air pocket or something because I found myself on the surface. I opened my eyes to see blue algae glowing on the top of the cave I had found. I dog paddled over to the edge of the cave and pulled myself out of the water. The cold air nipped at my skin and I did my best to shake the water off of myself. Having no other place to go, I wandered down a large tunnel that traveled through the cave. At the end of the tunnel was a room with two metal doors, one on each wall. I grew skeptical but picked the door on the right. My eyes were overwhelmed with a blinding white light and the world around me started to spin. I fell out of control in the air but somehow I landed softly on my feet. When I looked around I grew confused as to where I was. I looked around to see an open blue sky and a stage not to far from me. Different people dressed in uniforms were gathering around the stage with a big red ribbon on the top. I started to panic and looked for a way out of wherever I was. I quickly ran inside a small dressing booth when people started to walk my way. When there was no other exit to the booth I found a green uniform that matched all the others and quickly put it on. I came out of the booth and did figured I had to attend whatever even this was. I sat down in the back as I straightened my badges and waited for the man ok the stage to say something.

"Captain America!!" We all waited but no one came out of the curtain behind him. ".... Captain America that's your que!!!" He called again.

This time a short man dressed in a regular suit came out and whispered something to the man on the stage. "I thought he'd be taller." I joked, elbowing the person next to me. The man only shot me a glare.
Then the man on the stage told us all that Captain America couldn't make it today and we should go out to the open area and have some refreshments. We did and I began to talk to some of the men dressed in uniforms about who this Captain America was. They said he was a hero and began to tell me about all the amazing things they did. I couldn't find a way to get home so I asked for directions to the nearest city and got a place to stay there. I went alomg with the army act and they let me stay for free. I must have slept for days because when I woke up there were piles and piles of newspapers all with Captain America on the front page. I began to scratch my head trying to figure out what was going on. I closed my eyes and wished I could go back home and forget all about what has happened. When I opened my eyes I saw that the door to the hotel across the hall was metal and identical to the one that let me in here. I put the newspapers under my arm and when I went through I found myself back in the cave.

February 7th, 1938

Here I am again and this time it's for a similar reason. I work at a comic book shop and the writers and illustrators were fired so I was promoted. Once I finished the projects they had started I got an idea to write about the Captain America man, I still had the newspapers so it wasn't that hard. They were a big hit and the public wants more content but I ran out of it! The only thing u could think of was going back to that cave and trying to find that door so that's what I did, only this time I knew how to swim. I went back into the cave and this time it spit me out on a completely different place. I was at a party with lots of rich people surrounding me. This time I new I wasn't even close to my timeline. I ran into the bathroom and found a tux so I put it on and made my way back out to the party. After flirting with some hot girls and a few drinks I figured out this party was for a man named Tony Stark. He was a billionaire and from what I could understand, a play boy. They told me his story of how he escaped by making this suit made out of old scrap metal. They also told me how this man who called himself Iron Man had been flying around the city. I put two and two together and waited for a metal door to show up so that I could go back home and start my new line of comics.

You continued to read the diary and saw that your grandfather had kept returning to the cave underground whenever he needed a new super hero. He either got one or got more content for old superheroes and soon the Avengers came into play. Although one page caught your attention.

March 19th, 1957

It was the time when I needed more content for my comics, although when I went back to the cave something terrible happened. I went through the door I was spit out in a random place like usual, this time it was the Avengers compound, and quickly found my outfit and it was a janitor. Although I must have done something wrong because Tony-

That's where it stopped. You flipped the page over and saw that the remaining pages in the book had been ripped out. You frowned and let the book close on itself. You grabbed the map and watch and placed them on the bedside table. Your eyes were starting to grow heavy and as much as you wanted to put this puzzle together you needed to sleep.

You turned out the light and fell alseep to the sound of the wheels turning in your head.