agent rogers returns • j.thompson

this is me trying.

it's hard to be anywhere these days
when all i want is you

C A L I F O R N I A
—
C H A R L O T T E

At the SSR office, Mr. Jarvis and I watched as Samberly, Dr. Wilkes, and Howard argued about big brain science things while we waited for them to work through the pictures of Whitney's work from Peggy and Daniel.

Peggy, finally fed up with their jabbering, asked them if their plan would even work.

"She is describing two different four-dimensional space-times — one for our universe, one for the zero matter world. This design is a machine that connects the two," Howard explained. "If she weren't a homicidal maniac, I'd be in love."

This earned an eye roll from each of us.

"It'll work," Howard continued. "But there are issues."

Samberly and Dr. Wilkes went on to explain said issues, before Peggy buttered them up.

"Yes, there a many obstacles, but I'm standing in front of three of the most radiant minds on the planet. Surely you can find a way to overcome them," she finished as the three men stroked their own egos.

"I believe you can actually hear the sound of their egos growing," Mr. Jarvis said to Peggy and I quietly.

I chuckled at this as the science boys continued to turn the cogs in their minds.

Ultimately, we decided to open the rift at Howard's movie set. Until then, we had to get to work on the machine.

Soon enough, a group of us were in the lab, working on getting the aptly named Rift Generator to transform from paper to reality. I was quietly helping Samberly when someone else walked through the door.

"Okay, look, I'm not a scientist, but I'm here to help," said none other than Jack Thompson.

"How about collecting the dinner orders?" Peggy said coyly.

"You know what, Marge?" He pointed his finger at her and paused. "I'm gonna do that for you."

Peggy and I exchanged a smile as Jack asked what we wanted.

C A L I F O R N I A
—
J A C K

The following day, the entire gang was standing around the movie set, rehashing our plan.

"... and Peggy, Jack, Charlotte, and I will be on the lookout for Frost," Daniel finished.

"Alright, let's do this!" I called out, most of us ready to go.

"Hold on!" Dr. Wilkes stopped us. "Safety meeting. From the Isodyne atomic tests, we know that moments before that rift closes, anything within a certain radius will levitate and instantly be drawn into it. For a rift this size, we've calculated that the no-go zone to avoid being sucked in is 20 feet from the generator. Once that rift begins to close, you don't want to be on the other side of this line."

With the safety lecture out of the way, we were ready to put matters to rest once and for all.

We watched anxiously as Howard turned on the machine and opened the rift.