Resilience | ✔

Chapter Forty

". . . I'm saying," Steve said. "It wasn't there."

"That's impossible," Tony said. "Clint said it was irreversible."

"Well I looked all over, and . . . it . . . wasn't there."

Marley rapped on the doorway with her knuckles. Tony and Steve jumped, both immediately trying to look like they weren't doing anything important.

"I just put Morgan down for a nap," Marley said. "Peter and I are gonna go hang out. Commiserate. You know how it is." She glanced at the kitchen table, which was covered in what looked to be star maps. "Anything I should know about?"

"Nope," Tony said, a tad too quickly. "Nope, everything's fine. Where are you guys going?"

"Just for a hike," Marley said. "Somewhere over by Wawbeek, I think."

"Okey doke," Tony said. "Be back by dinnertime, okay?"

"Yessiree." She mock saluted, then withdrew, turning to Peter, who was waiting by the front door with her purse and car keys.

"What was that about?" he asked once they were on the porch, apparently having heard everything.

"No idea," she said. "I didn't hear enough of their conversation. Maybe it had something to do with Steve returning the Stones?" He'd gotten back from that earlier today. Apparently Thanos had destroyed the 'ugly brown van' while Marley was unconscious, so they'd had to rebuild a quantum leap tunnel. They'd finished it a few days ago, done some tests runs, and then sent Steve off.

"This is so weird," Peter said abruptly, rubbing his forehead.

"The fact that my dad is willing to let me out of his sight after I got snapped?" Marley quipped. "Yeah, I agree."

"No—not that," he said. "Just . . . all of this. Five years, and some of us are still the same age but some of us are grown up . . . It's weird going to school and not seeing some of my classmates anymore because they're in their twenties now, in college, and I'm still in high school. It's just a lot to get my head around."

"Yeah," Marley said. "I'm—I think we're lucky that both of us got snapped, though. And Ned and MJ and Charlie. Not—don't look at me like that, I know it's not lucky that anyone got snapped. I'm just saying . . . if we had to get snapped, I'm glad it was all of us and not just some of us. Could you imagine Ned being grown up? Or Charlie? That'd be so . . ."

"Worse," Peter supplied.

"Yeah," she said.

They both stared at the driveway, neither of them moving off the porch.

"Something else that's weird," Peter said.

"Oh?"

"Four Captain Americas," Peter said.

Marley smiled. Not only was Steve Captain America, but so were Sam, Beck, and his friend Bucky. They'd all gotten similarly-designed suits, each with some unique perks (wings for Sam, the knife-gloves for Beck, a missing sleeve for Bucky to allow his metal arm better movement). Using vibranium gifted from T'Challa, Tony had made each of them a new shield, using his dad's specs. Apparently he'd offered to give them upgrades—lasers, detachable star, et cetera—but they'd all passed. Marley had painted the shields herself, and each paint job was different. Beck's had blue where Steve's had red; Sam's had a red star; Bucky's had silver instead of white.

"I'm not sure weird is the right word for it," she said to Peter. "Try . . . amusing."

"Amusing," Peter repeated.

"Yeah," Marley said. "Imagine you're like—first responders at a scene, and you get a call that Captain America is on the way. You're like—okay, cool, but which one am I gonna get? The original one, the sassy yet pacifist one with the metal arm, the incredibly obnoxious one with wings, or the intense, driven, young, happens-to-be-a-girl one?"

Peter laughed.

A car roared up the driveway, swerving to a halt perpendicular to Marley's car. A sleek black Corvette, not a speck of dirt on it despite the gravel driveway.

"Speak of the devil," Marley said.

Beck got out, leaving her door open. "Hey, nerds," she said. "Apparently there's a guy in a big metal bear suit terrorizing Albany. Up to teaming up on this one?"

Marley looked at Peter. "I'm down if you're down."

His Iron Spider armor was already slicking down over his hiking clothes. "Let's go, baby," he declared.

Marley opened the screen door and tossed her purse and keys back into the house. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah, kiddo?" Tony called back.

Marley smiled. "There's been a slight change of plans. Peter and Beck and I—"

"If it's dangerous," Tony interrupted, "you can tell me what it was when you get home."

She felt her smile grow wider. "Okey doke. We'll be back in time for dinner!"

She shut the screen door and turned to Peter and Beck, trotting down the porch steps to join them. "I get to drive."

Beck tossed her the keys.

The next generation of Avengers set out to save the day.