Real-Life Myth

Eighteen.

FIVE YEAR LATER

New York City is seemingly abandoned. There are a lot of boats gathered around a dock, all abandoned. A baseball stadium comes with no life present at all. The aftermath of the Decimation is evident, and Earth has not coped well.

There's an abandoned cafe with a poster on the wall labeled "WHERE DO WE GO, NOW THAT THEY'RE GONE?". A therapy session is taking place with Steve Rogers and seven other people discussing life as it is now. Right now, a man is talking about returning to normal life.

"So I, uh. . . Went on a date the other day. First time in five years, you know? Sit there, dinner. . . I didn't know what to talk about." The man, Joe, states.

"What did you talk about?" Steve asks, almost like he's prompting Joe.

"Same old crap, you know? How things have changed, and. . . my job, his job. . . How much we miss the Mets. Then things get quiet. . . He cried as they were serving the salads."

"How about you?" Another man asks.

"I cried. . ." Joe drifts off, trying to remember. "Just before dessert. But I'm seeing him tomorrow, so. . ."

"That's great. You did the hardest part," Steve compliments, "you took the jump, you didn't know where you were gonna come down." Another man during the therapy session is seen starting to tear up. "And that's it. That's those little brave baby steps you gotta take. To try and become whole again. To try and find purpose. I went in the ice in '45 right as the love of my life and I were actually starting to become a couple. Woke up 70 years later. You got to move on. Got to move on. The world is in our hands. It's left to us guys, and we have to do something with it. Otherwise. . . Thanos should have killed us all."

~~~

SAN FRANCISCO

There's a self-storage facility in San Francisco with a sign saying "U-STORE It, SELF STORAGE", with its interior filled with stored stuff and junk. Luis' van from is behind a metallic fence with a label named "LANG". A rat crawls over the van's rear windshield and accidentally activates the controls for opening the Quantum Realm and haphazardly activates it. The rear door busts open, flinging Scott outside the van.

Scott grunts as he pushes away a cushion out of his body and deactivates the helmet. He's still grunting in pain as he sweeps away sparks from an electrical failure out of his suit, then tries to stand up. "What the hell?" He manages to stand up, as another electrical failure sparks out of his gauntlets, and now looks around in confusion. "Hope?"

Inside a security office, a security guard, Ken, is reading a book. He looks upon his security screen, seeing something going on in one of the storage facilities. In the cameras, it shows Lang in his casual clothing, shouting, waving a sign with the word "HELP" written on it.

~~~

Outside the facility, he pulls out a pushcart and looks back seeing the guard giving a stern look from far. He walks around until reaching his hometown, finding a post filled with MISSING posters, abandoned houses, a wrecked car, nothing but desolation. He then sees a kid in a bike pass by.

"Kid! Hey kid!" He yells. The kid stops his bike as he stares back in all seriousness. "What the hell happened here?" The kid still stares at him and is almost about to tear up, but immediately turns away from him and moves on. Scott still gives the same confused look as he arrives in somewhat a memorial called "THE VANISHED", with all the names of the people who became victims of the Decimation. As Scott arrives on one of the engraved stones, he immediately drops the handle in shock. "No. Please. Please, please." He moves on to check the other side of the engraved stone. "No, no, no. No." Scott excuses aside a young couple as he keeps on checking another engraved stone to make sure his daughter doesn't have her name etched in stone. "Excuse me, sorry. No, Cassie, no." Scott continues looking. "Please, please, please, please. . . No, Cassie." Scott looks at the engraved stone in shock, revealing his name in it. "What?"