Apex Avenger: Till The End

Ch 6

5 Years Later

I cut my peanut butter and banana sandwich in half then make my way over to my desk. 4 holograms infront as I was in a meeting.

"You get a reading on those tremors?" I ask turning to Okoye.

"It was a mild subduction under the African plate." Okoye informs.

"Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?" I cross my arms over my chest.

"Apex, it's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it." Okoye says and I look down.

"Carol, are we seeing you next month?" I ask turning to the blonde.

"Not likely." She replies.

"What, you gonna get another haircut?" Rocket asks and I fight back a smirk.

"Listen fur face, I'm covering a lot of territory. Things that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets." She tells him with irritation laced in her voice.

"All right, all right. That's a good point, good point." Rocket murmurs.

"So you might not see me for a long time." Carol speaks up to the rest of us.

"Alright. Uh well, this channel is always active. So if anything goes sideways, anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't, it comes through me." I say crossing my arms over my chest.

Okoye agreed in her language.

"Okay." Rocket nods.

"Alright." I nod.

They all disconnect except for Rhodey and I turn my attention to him as I go around to sit in the desk chair.

"Where are you?" I nod at him as I go to slide my plate infront of me.

"Mexico. The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off." He sighs.

"It's probably a rival gang." I shrug.

"Except it isn't. *I look up* it's definitely Barton. What he's done here, what he's been doing for the last few years, I mean the scene that he left, I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to find him." He shakes his head and I start tearing up.

I pick up my peanut butter and banana sandwich taking a bite, slowly chewing as I try to hold back tears.

"Will you find out where he's going next?" I rasp.

"Y/N-

"Please." I tell him and he nods reluctantly.

"Okay." He sighs and disconnects.

I start to cry as I try to hold back my tears miserably.

A presence leans against the door frame and I turn to see Steve as I wipe the rest of my tears away.

"Here to do your laundry?" I ask Steve with a slight sniff.

"And to see a friend." He says stepping in further and I roll my eyes with slight playfulness.

"Clearly, your friend is fine." I sigh.

"You know, I saw a pod of whales when I was coming up the bridge." Steve comments as he comes over to take a seat infront of me.

"In the Hudson?" I raise an eyebrow.

"There's fewer ships, cleaner water." He says and I nod as it gets quiet.

"You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on and, grow. Some do, but not us." He says.

"If I move on, who does this?" I ask expectantly with a shrug.

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done." Steve states.

"I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job, this family. And I was, I was better because of it. And even though they're gone, I'm still trying to be better.." I say before looking down.

"I promised her I wasn't going to go bat shit crazy, Steve...I promised her." I rasp as I wipe my eyes towards the bridge of my nose.

"She would be proud of you." He says and I get more emotional.

I then reach down to play with Natasha's ring on my chain.

"I miss her a lot Steve. My therapy sessions with Harry, they don't work." I whimper.

Steve gives me a sympathetic look.

The security camera feed then pops up on a screen getting our attention.

"Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang-"

"How old is this recording?" Steve asks turning to me.

"Uh I-I'm Antman, from the airport, I know you know that." He says.

"That's the front door." I answer, quickly leaving the room.

~

Scott was pacing around looking distressed. Steve and I look at one another before Steve decides to speak.

"Scott you alright?" He asks him.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He responds but opens and closes his mouth after as he struggles to speak.

"Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?" He asks us.

"Only to make conversation." I shrug.

"Alright. So, five years ago, right before Thanos. I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like it's own microscopic universe. To get in there. You have to be incredibly small. Hope, she my, she was my *sighs* She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there." He explains.

"I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years." I tell him.

"Yeah, but that's the thing. It's wasn't. For me, it was five hours." He says making Steve and I look at each other confused.

"See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybodies sandwich?" He asks pointing to the plate on the desk and goes over to pick it up taking a bite.

"Scott, what are you talking about?" Steve asks.

"What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like, Like before Thanos." He paces around eating the sandwich.

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" I ask with a mix of amusement and disbelief.

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a... Yeah, a time machine. I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There gotta be some way, there's gotta be some wa- it's crazy." He tells us.

"Scott, I get e-mails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore." I tell him.

"So who do we talk about this?" He asks looking between Steve and I.

Then Steve and I share a look.