twenty seven : it's been a long time

FIVE YEARS LATER

NOTHING WAS EVER THE SAME. The world was cold, empty, and alone. Elaine had distanced herself from everyone when she began having constant nightmares, ones including Thor's brother, Loki.

      He stood tall, with long black hair, and Asgardian clothes. He always said how he didn't know how he was in Elaine's mind, but that he needed her to know something. But she always woke up and never knew what the man was trying to tell her. She lost contact with Thor, but remained optimistic he'd call her.

She lost that optimism when she found his Fortnight account.

She lost Clint two years ago, after he abandoned her at the compound. He had lost his entire family, and Elaine never held it against him. The only person she really had left was Natasha.

The assassin grew her hair out, the blonde remains still present at her tips. Elaine had something similar going on, the black dye from years ago remaining at her tips she had yet to cut off.

Tony had also left her, leaving to be with his family while Steve was coming and going.

Elaine had just walked into Natasha's office where Nebula and Rocket, Okoye, Carol, and Rhodes were on holograms reporting their recent news.

"Yeah. We boarded that highly-suspect warship Danvers pinged." Rocket was obviously highly annoyed by the tone of his voice.

"It was an infectious garbage scow." Nebula added in disgust, both looking over at Carol's hologram.

Elaine sat on Nat's desk, stealing half of her sandwich. Rocket made another comment. "So, thanks for the hot tip."

"Well, you were closer." Carol shrugged.

"Yeah, and now we smell like garbage."

Elaine dryly laughed at him while Nat walked around the desk and decided to ignore Rocket. "You got a reading on those tremors?" Natasha asked Okoye.

"It was a mild subduction under the African plate." Okoye answered in a formal stance. Since losing her leader, she also informed Natasha about any troubles.

      Elaine took a bite out of Nat's sandwich as the redhead questioned the Wakandan warrior. "Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?"

      Natasha became like that since Thanos was killed and she was in charge. She tried to protect everything and make sure nothing bad happens. But it sometimes became too much.

      Okoye sighed. "Nat. It's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it."

      Natasha swallowed the lump in her throat before turning to Elaine and taking her sandwich back. "Carol, are we seeing you here next month?"

      Carol kept her uniform stance before answering Natasha. "Not likely."

      "What? You gonna get another haircut?" Rocket quipped.

      Carol rolled her eyes and looked past Okoye's hologram to stare down Rocket. "Listen, fur face. I'm covering a lot of territory, and it's taking longer without Elaine. The things that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere. On thousands of planets." Natasha looked down as Carol looked to Elaine, who had accompanied Carol in the first year. "Elaine, will you be joining me anytime?"

      Elaine bit her lip and shook her head before hopping off of Natasha's desk. "No. I have to stay here, on Earth in case anyone comes back." Her mind repeated the same name: Bucky. Bucky. Bucky. "I took a risk by leaving the first year. I miss you, but I won't be joining you again."

      Rocket looked away from the two women. "All right, all right. That's a good point."

      "So, you might not see me for a long time." Carol finalized.

      Natasha finally looked up. "All right. Uh, well.. This channel's always active. So, if anything goes sideways.. anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't, comes through me."

      Okoye assented in Xhosa, and the others replied with a simple, "Okay."

      The others left while Rhodes stayed to report on Clint. Elaine left the room like always, never wanting to hear what the missing father figure in her life was doing. But she knew it wasn't good. She passed by a blonde man, giving a curt nod before doing a double take.

      Was that Steve?

      She followed him back to Natasha's office, where she caught the last sentences he said. "And to see a friend. I don't think Elaine recognized me."

      "Elaine didn't recognize the super soldier who hasn't been here in months." Steve turned around at the sound of Elaine's voice talking in the third person.

      "Clearly, your friend is fine." Natasha wiped any remaining tears and smiled at Steve.

      He paused and looked down at his keys. "You know, I saw a pod of whales when I was coming over the bridge."

      Elaine's head snapped up. "In the Hudson?"

      "There's fewer ships.. cleaner water."

      "You know, if you're about to tell us to look on the bright side.. um.. I'm about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich." Natasha joked, feigning a smile.

      "Sorry." Steve walked over and sat down in a chair next to Elaine. "Force of habit." There was a long moment of pure silence before Steve sighed and looked up. "You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on.. and grow. Some do. But not us."

      "If we move on, who does this?" Elaine wondered. With everyone gone, it was even harder than it was before.

      "Maybe it doesn't need to be done." Steve tried to tell her.

      "I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job. This family. And I was better because of it." Natasha had tears in her eyes. "And even though they're gone.. I'm still trying to be better."

      "I think we all need to get a life." Elaine's Sokovian accent protruded through her words.

      Natasha grabbed a the unloaded gun she got from Elaine's room and slid it across the table to her. But it wasn't any gun. It was one of his. One of Bucky's.

      "You first."

      Elaine scoffed and looked up. "That's a bit uncalled for."

      Steve raised a brow and finally asked a question that's been on his mind for years. "You barely knew him, but you keep the memory of him like it's the only thing that matters. I guess my question is.. why?"

      Elaine felt her lips twitch up. "Because it is the only thing that matters." She put the gun in her waistband behind her back. "Nobody else really matters when I think of him; who he is. I never told him what I felt, but, I was going to. I just never got the chance." Natasha and Steve both had knowing looks before she awkwardly cleared her throat. "Anyways, it probably would've freaked him out so I guess it was better that I never told him."

      The hologram chimed from the security footage, Elaine quickly swiping across to fill the silence.

      "Oh, hi, hi! Uh, is anyone home? This is, uh, Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport.." All three were basically drooling at the footage of Scott. He was looking up to the camera, a trashy brown van parked behind him. The one thing that didn't make sense, was the fact that Scott Lang didn't exist anymore. He disappeared from the Snap. "In Germany? I was the guy that got really big. I had a mask on. You wouldn't recognize me."

      Steve stood from his chair and stared at the footage. "Is this an old message?"

      Scott's desperate voice was an echo as Natasha answered. "It's the front gate."

      Scrambling to let him in, they finally got security to let Scott through. When Scott had finally appeared in Natasha's office, he began muttering to himself. He was pacing, making tiny hand movements as Steve finally spoke up.

      "Scott." Steve kept calm, but Elaine was practically smiling from ear to ear. "Are you okay?"

      "Yeah." The distressed man rubbed his face before finally speaking again. "Have any of you guys ever studied quantum physics?"

      Everyone shrugged but Natasha. "Only to make conversation."

      Scott pointed to Natasha and began his explanation. "All right, so.. five years ago, right before.. Thanos.. I was in a place called the quantum realm. The quantum realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope. She's my, um.. She was my.. She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened.. and I got stuck in there."

      Natasha said the one thing that came to her mind. "I'm sorry, that must have been a very long five years."

      "Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't." All three were completely confused. "For me, it was five hours. See, the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." Scott launched himself to the plate with the only food source in the office.

      "Scott." Elaine grabbed his attention this time. "What are you talking about?"

      His voice was a little muffled by the food. "So, what I'm saying is.. time works differently in the quantum realm. The only problem is right now we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it." Steve looked at Elaine, who looked at Natasha. "What if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it? What if there was a way that we could enter the quantum realm at a certain point in time.. but then exit the quantum realm at another point in time? Like.. like before Thanos."

      It took a moment for everyone to register what Scott was saying. But Steve finally understood and slightly let a smile onto his face. "Wait. Are you talking about a time machine?"

      "No." Natasha and Elaine furrowed their brows as Scott continued. "No, of course not. No, not a time machine. This is more like a um.. Yeah. Like a time machine. I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. B-but I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be.. some way.." Scott paused when he saw Steve's facial expression. "It's crazy."

      "Scott." Natasha caught his attention. "I get emails from a raccoon. So, nothing sounds crazy anymore."

      Scott nodded. "So, who do we talk to about this?"

      Elaine bit her lip. "I think I know." She then sighed. "But I don't think he'll like our visit very much."