twenty nine : the smart hulk

WITH ALL THE NOISE, ELAINE WAS GROWING CURIOUS AS SHE WALKED CLOSER TO THE VOICES. But, she definitely didn't expect to see Scott's trashy van parked inside the compound level storing every jet and vehicle and Bruce, who was now a talking smart Hulk, messing with a setup that controlled the thing in the back of Scott's van.

      Elaine assumed that they were about to time travel. "Oh, what the hell?" She screeched, throwing her arms up as she stalked over to Steve, Bruce, and Natasha. "Are you guys about to time travel without me?"

      Bruce laughed as he continued. "Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up.. the uh, the van thing." Scott opened the back to the van, and a colorful tunnel appeared in some machine.

      "Breakers are set." Steve confirmed, walking back to them. "Emergency generators are on stand by."

      "Good, because if we blow the grid, I don't want to lose, uh, Tiny here in the 1950s." Bruce joked as Natasha handed her a tablet with the time travel info.

      Scott's head snapped up. "Excuse me?"

      Elaine had a scolding look on her face. "He's kidding." She glared up Bruce, but kept a smile on her face. "You can't say things like that."

      "It— it just—. It was a bad joke." Bruce stammered. Scott nodded with slight uncertainty and walked to the time machine.

      Elaine looked back to Bruce. "You were kidding, right?"

      "I have no idea." He told her, keeping his voice low. "We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is." He then gave a thumbs up to Scott. "We're good!" Elaine and Natasha both put on smiles when they faced Scott. "Get your helmet on. Scott, I'm gonna send you back a week.. let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?"

      "Perfectly not confusing." Scott waved off.

      "Good luck, Scott." Steve gave an encouraging nod. "You got this."

      "You're right. I do, Captain America." And then, he was sucked into the machine and disappeared.

      "On a count of three.." Bruce started. "Three, two, one." With a click of a few buttons, Scott was back, but it wasn't Scott?

      It was a kid, maybe around 9? "Uh.. guys?" Younger Scott asked. "This-this doesn't feel right."

      Elaine could barely make out everyone talking at the same time.

      "What is this?" Steve.

      "What's going on?" Bruce.

      "Who is that?" Natasha. "Is that Scott?"

      "It looks more like Steve to me." Elaine tilted her head to inspect the face.

      "Yes, it's Scott!" The boy hissed. He was suddenly sucked back into the machine before being spit out again.

      "Oh, my back!" This time, it was an old man.

      "What is this?" Steve asked again.

      "Hold on a second. Could I get a little space here?" Bruce began pushing almost every button.

      "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?" Steve questioned as he moved out of the way.

      "I'm working on it." Bruce replied. Scott was sucked back in before it spit him out again.

      This time, there was a baby.

      Steve stared at it, almost boredly. "It's a baby."

      "It is Scott." Elaine shrugged.

      "As a baby." Steve argued.

      "He'll grow!" Bruce also pointed out.

      "Bring Scott back." Steve demanded.

      "When I say kill the power, kill the power." Bruce ordered.

      Natasha shook her head as she began walking to the lever. "Oh, my god."

      "And.." A short pause. "Kill it!"

      Natasha pulled the black lever to the side as the machine procured the correct Scott.

      "Somebody peed my pants." Scott deadpanned, standing very awkwardly.

      Natasha put a relieved hand over her chest. "Oh, thank God."

      Scott continued. "But I don't know if it was baby me or old me. Or just me me."

      Elaine and Steve looked up at Bruce in unison, who outstretched his arms with a grin. "Time travel!" Steve and Elaine both shook their heads and walked a few steps away. "What? I see this as an absolute win."

▔▔▔▔▔▔

While everyone else had their jobs to re-recruit the remaining Avengers, Elaine had Clint. She flew the Quinjet to Tokyo, watching the neon lights pass by her as she landed the jet.

      Stepping out, the air immediately smelled of rain and cement, but the views were phenomenal. She grabbed the umbrella and lifted it over her head so she didn't get soaked, and began following the trail of bodies. Dead bodies.

Looking ahead of her, she saw Clint clean off the blood from his sword by wiping it on some kind of forearm guard. She saw the body in front of him and swallowed.

But it wasn't in fear. Elaine could never be afraid of Clint.

"You shouldn't be here." He sighed after pushing his hood down and taking off something on his head.

Elaine felt her lips twitch up, glad to hear his voice after so long. "Neither should you." Clint turned around, his face flooded with despair.

He quickly let all emotion drain from his face. "I've got a job to do."

"Is that what you're calling this?" Elaine was genuinely curious. For years, she didn't know what happened to him, and now she sees him killing what's left of the world. "Killing all these people isn't gonna bring your family back." Hesitantly, she walked closer to him. "We found something. A chance, maybe."

Clint looked so hopeless. Seeing him like this was absolutely heartbreaking. "Don't." He sighed.

"Don't what?" Elaine asked with no emotion in her face. She knew what he meant, though.

"Don't give me hope."

Elaine's eyes began to tear up. "I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner."

She saw his hand hanging by his side, and slowly, she reached her own towards his, linking her fingers under his palm and barely reaching out to hook between his thumb and index finger. Clint didn't pull away, or make any indication that he was going to leave.

"Let's go home." She gave a small smile before leading him back to the Quinjet.