Chapter 130 – Lost in Space, Time, and Mind
130
New York City
Streets
2:34 p.m.
Two teams came together once more as to count their failures and gather their victories.
The aftermath of the Battle of New York took its toll on the city, the streets littered with decimated cars and shattered buildings. Dead Chitauri were scattered about everywhere, but other than that, there were no other lives present. The streets were as dead as a major portion of the city was at the moment. It would just be for a moment, the Avengers knowing the populace of New York would emerge to help pick up the pieces sooner rather than later. They didn’t have much time to converse.
Especially Matthew, the Daredevil entering the nearest alleyway he could after he got the call from Rogers on their location. He was decked out in his black Daredevil armor once again, having able to outrun and outsmart the agents that chased him out of Stark Tower. With eyes wide and alert, ears even more so, Murdock gazed about until he finally reconvened with his team.
“All right, I lost those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents…” Matt stated, his voice trailing off when he noticed the still silence overcoming the group of nine Avengers in the alley. They all appeared rather downtrodden, the beats of their hearts fast and heavy. Fearful. Murdock hardened his brow at that, holding his breath. “What, what’s going on?”
Sunset was trying to soothe Twilight’s injured rib cage, but the Alicorn waved her away, assuring Sunset that she was fine. The two mares sat near a pile of rubble, staring only to the ground. Rainbow Dash was flying back and forth, distraught consuming her features as she shook her head and grumbled silently to herself. Frank Castle stood silently in his burly suit of armor, he and Daisy Johnson having their arms crossed and defeated expressions heavy. Scott paced back and forth while Carol simply gazed weakly to him, hands on her hips, frown plastered on her face. Steve Rogers stood with the scepter in his hands, the glowing gem within its center giving Murdock that ease to know they at least acquired the Mind Stone. The Space Stone, however… was nowhere to be seen. No cube, no Tesseract, nothing.
Stark sat in the driver’s seat of a destroyed taxi cab, his head leaning against his fist as his elbow was propped up on the door. He gazed straight ahead, a haunting sense of failure evident in his eyes. “Boy, we really screwed the pooch on this one,” Tony sighed, laying his forehead down on his forearm.
“Screwed the pooch?” Scott exclaimed, turning fiercely to the taxi and approaching its driver’s side door. “We’ve done a lot worse than that. We’ve F’d the pooch!”
“Scott, calm down,” Twilight called to him, barely even lifting her eyes to meet his.
He wasn’t having any of it, already retorting while jabbing his gloved-finger at the Alicorn. “You calm down! You calm down! And you calm down especially!” Scott shouted, pointing to Daisy who only shot out her hands, confusion rippled on her face. “G-guys, like, are you not understanding what just happened?! We lost the Tesseract, the Space Stone! Sure, we got the Mind Stone, but without all six, we’re screwed!”
Upon hearing that wretched news, Murdock’s heart practically collapsed. It fell and he was trapped in that inky darkness of uncertainty and failure, finally joining the rest of his fellow Avengers in that pit of despair. If what Scott said was true—and considering every other Avenger not objecting to his claims made it out to be even more so—then that left them in quite possibly the worst case scenario they could have found themselves in. They lost an Infinity Stone. They made a mistake, and like Steve said, there were no do-overs. Not unless they wanted to risk the idea of some of them never going back to the present. Matthew raised a shaking hand up to his forehead, breathing out as he leaned against the nearest brick building, back pressed firmly against it as he tried to maintain his heavy breaths.
In the darkness, there came Captain Marvel wielding the torch to pull them out.
“So just send me back,” Carol stated, earning every eye amongst the team. She nodded to Rogers, saying, “A couple hours. I’ll get the Tesseract and meet you all back in the future.”
While others like Twilight or Daisy were caught on that glimpse of hope she offered, Scott, unfortunately, wasn’t. He was right there to stop her before she could even think of the next word, stating fiercely, “And what do you think S.H.I.E.L.D.’s gonna do when they see a glowing alien woman coming for the Tesseract, huh? You’re gonna cause a mass panic, Danvers!”
Carol stepped up to him, getting dangerously close in his face. “Unless you already forgot, Scott, that it’s the fate of the goddamn universe we’re dealing with here! I think we can afford a little panic!”
“No, you see, this is exactly what I was afraid of!” Scott retorted, taking several steps back to create that needed space between them, just in case things got any more heated than it already was. “What if you go back, huh? What if you go back and you end up lost in the Quantum Realm? We can’t save you! The Tesseract is lost forever and then we’re really screwed! We deviate from the plan and then everything goes to shit! Dammit!”
Scott Lang shot up his gloves and rubbed them through his hair, tightening them into fists as he bent down and contained his aggravated screams. As he continued to pace unevenly and emotionally back and forth within the alley, the rest of his team merely watched him with waning glances. Rainbow, especially, as she hovered just feet before him and crossed her forelegs.
“Scott, we deviated a looong time ago,” Rainbow said, earning Lang’s wild and terrified eyes. Considering she wasn’t really lying—what with her encounter with the 2012 version of Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff and picking a fight with the same Captain America—it was still a hard pill for Scott to swallow regardless. Rainbow shook her head, shrugging her shoulders. “Best we can do now is hope Banner’s theory was correct.”
“The timeline?” Scott asked, seeing that nod from Rainbow shoot his way. “What about us?! If we don’t get these Stones back, then it’s over! Some of us here don’t have enough Pym Particles for that kind of risk, and like I said—but no one seems to listen to me—these Pym Particles are all we have left!”
He emphasized every word, jamming his fingers to his belt and where the particles were stored. Merely two vials left, he and the rest of Carol’s team sharing that uncertain and frightful number. Though it was one more than Steve’s team had, Scott still had every right to be practically mortified in their failure. He was the only one among them who had experienced the Quantum Realm first and foremost, knowing of its treacheries and uncertainties. He had hoped everyone would see and feel exactly as he did, but they just couldn’t get it through their heads. Not yet, at least.
Twilight still didn’t feel that same fear that Scott held, because she knew the science backed up their journey. How she examined the Quantum Fields alongside Shuri and Banner assured her of their journey, the Alicorn lifting her eyes to the Ant-Man and declaring, “Scott, the probability of us getting torn away from our path in the Quantum Realm is a thousand to one chance. I don’t think we need to worry over tha—”
Her voice was silenced. It fell silent when Tony Stark interrupted her. But prior to that, Tony was just as distraught as everyone else, but more so to realize that they had broken away from his one-shot plan when Lang mentioned so. He no longer had that assurance that his future would be secured with what they had done. The best he could do—as Rainbow mentioned—was hope that Banner’s theory on time travel was correct. Then he heard Scott’s following words, his following warning on their particle count. Tony shot up his eyes from his forearm, widened when the realization struck him.
“I got it.”
His voice was a calming wind amongst the chaos, everyone turning to Iron Man and seeing what he would say next. They watched as he opened the door and stepped briskly out of the vehicle, slamming it shut and turning towards a certain Captain America.
“What?” Carol asked, taking that step closer his way.
Tony approached Rogers, the Captain’s brow furrowing when he witnessed that wild expression fill Stark’s face. He listened carefully and cautiously as Tony stated quickly, “You know what I’m thinking? Where else are the Tesseract and enough particles gonna be at the same moment in time? New Jersey.”
“Old S.H.I.E.L.D. training base?” Steve inquired. That realization that struck Tony slowly but surely struck him, too. “You’re sure they’re there?”
“My old man used to work there. Told me stories of the people he worked with. Last I checked the Tesseract was in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hands since the end of World War II.”
“Guys…” Scott called out.
His voice failed him, however, when Steve approached him and held out his right arm, ultimately handing off the scepter and the Mind Stone to Lang. “Here, Scott, take this,” Steve told him, retreating back to stand in front of Tony and his ramblings, especially as he started tinkering away on his Time Travel GPS.
“Wait, what?” Scott questioned looking from the scepter in his hand and back to Captain America. “No, guys, what are you doing? What are you talking about?”
As Tony and Steve adjusted their GPSes in sync with each other, Stark darted his head to his left, stating quickly, “Twi, Dash, with us.”
Though somewhat apprehensive to Stark’s inconsistent and downright frightening actions and words, the two mares turned to one another before either made their approach. The newfound adrenaline was high in the air over both Stark and Rogers, causing Rainbow to touch ground and trot forward alongside the Alicorn. Together, the two mares eyed their fellow Avengers curiously, Twilight eventually pondering aloud, “What’s going on, Tony?”
“Adjust your GPSes… to the date and location I’m sending you…” he replied without even looking. Curious at that, both Twilight and Rainbow raised their left hooves and watched as set of coordinates were being added into their GPSes. The very day, hour, location, and year. Raising her brow to that, Twilight lifted her eyes to hopefully meet and question Tony’s, but he didn’t look to her.
He was focused only on Steve, the two Avengers staring fiercely into each other’s eyes. Tony for purposes he needed to know when he asked, “Do you trust me?”
And Steve looking for reasons to find that trust, knowing full-well that if anything went wrong, that if they pulled off one more slip-up… it was over. They were lost in time and furthermore would lose much more than that if the horrifying possibility became real. All of risked for a chance. All of it hanging on the line by those two, simple words that came out of Steve’s mouth: “I do.”
“You guys!” Scott called out, interrupted, brought the eyes of the many back on him. He pointed the tip of the scepter to Tony and Steve, his eyes heavy and fearful. “If you do this… and it doesn’t work… you’re not coming back.”
Just what they needed to hear, more hopeless outcomes for a mission that needed more hope than any of them at the moment. Twilight and Rainbow both gulped at that, shifting their eyes back to Stark to see the blood practically drain from his face. “Thanks for the boost of confidence, Pissant!” Stark replied. “Scott, since you’re so damn protective of it, take the Mind Stone back to base. Everyone else can join us if they’d like.”
“Where are you going?” Daisy asked.
“Somewhere we know the Tesseract and some spare Pym Particles are hidden,” Steve said, looking from Daisy and slowly over to Lang. He nodded his way. “Scott… safe travels.”
It was the only thing he could really hope for, that and wishing the same thing for Tony, Steve, and all who followed them. Ant-Man nodded once to them. One last time for the best of wishes, for that final hope that they could manage to pull it off. “Good luck, all of you.”
He slapped his left palm, the Quantum Suit materializing and the mask overcoming his face. Gripping the scepter with both hands, refusing with all his strength to release it, the two of them practically vanished back into the expanse of the Quantum Realm. An Infinity Stone down and only four to go. Tony sighed at that, turning back towards the approaching Avengers which now consisted of the remainder of Carol’s team and Steve’s.
He looked to all of them, stating, “All right, are we read—?”
A horrifying cry of static filled everyone’s Time Travel GPS.
And from it came that terrified voice. “… This is Friday! Does anyone read me?!”
While everyone else took a moment to turn to one another, Tony slowly lifted his left palm, the GPS close to his lips as he replied with, “Go for Stark. What’s going on, Friday? Did you see Lang come home?”
“No! We lost contact with Scott Lang after he was sucked into a time vortex off the path!”
And just like that, everyone’s hearts darkened. They fell. They fell and not a single one of them could fathom how to get it back or where it went off to. That unholy panic filled everyone’s facial expressions, but Twilight’s most of all, realization striking her cold and dead in the heart when Scott’s consistent warnings of the Quantum Realm came flooding back into her in a wave of unstoppable horror. He warned them. He said the Quantum Realm was unstable. They all trusted the science.
But in the end, that uncertainty won. That uncertainty took one of their own. Twilight gasped because of that. Rainbow’s jaw fell and her pupils shrunk to microscopic size.
“What?!” Sunset screamed, her eyes wide with panic and adrenaline as she raised her left hoof and stared horrifically into the GPS, as if by some slim chance Friday would react more so to the expression she couldn't see.
“Where is he?!” Steve shouted, doing the same with his left hand.
“Sending his last coordinates now! You’ll need to hurry in order to retrieve him and the Mind Stone before we lose his signal for good!”
Suddenly, everyone looked to their GPSes and watched as a flurry of coordinates were added all at once. And just then, everyone already seemed to understand what needed to be done. Carol’s face hardened as she gazed to the unknown set of coordinates added into her GPS. Frank glared at his wrist, his breathing growing rather sporadic. Daisy gulped silently as she stared onto her left hand. Sunset Shimmer looked over to Matthew Murdock, the two of them gazing with rising uncertainty to the coordinates and then to one another. All those eyes slowly fell back to a certain group of four, to a certain Iron Man.
“Good thing we didn’t send you a couple hours back,” Tony shakily murmured.
Carol stared at him. Dropping her eyes, she adjusted her Time Travel GPS with the coordinates Friday sent them. With her left hand still raised, right hand slowly rising above it and holding at the ready, Danvers turned back to both Tony and Steve. To Twilight and Rainbow. She nodded fiercely to every last one of them. “We’ll get him back.”
“All of us,” Frank grunted, adjusting his stance to stand on Carol’s right. Matthew, Sunset, and Daisy joined them, the remainder of Carol’s team coming together, the only team in 2012 who had two extra vials of Pym Particles on their person. One to find Scott, save him, and get the Mind Stone. The other, and the last one… to go home. Together, they all added the coordinates into their GPSes, pausing just as Carol did and looking back.
Back at Steve as he told them, “Good luck.”
Knowing full-well they needed every ounce of it, Carol felt a very subtle but very real chill crawl up her spine. A chill she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. She put on a strong face, ignored it, and did what was necessary. “You too, Captain.”
The team of five vanished the second they simultaneously slapped their left wrists, the Quantum Suits overcoming their bodies and shrinking them down into the microscopic expanse. Leaving just four left. Just four more who knew what they were risking and what the circumstances entailed if all else failed in the end. They were standing on the edge of no return and slowly congregated back to one another, Twilight shakily raising her head to meet Steve’s eyes, hoping by some slim chance to find some strength that she desperately needed.
Steve could hardly offer any himself.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Tony,” Rainbow said, the Pegasus practically shivering in her metal suit. She didn’t show it, but she knew it, knowing more than anyone else the type of fear that clouded her courage. Knowing that they were about to risk it all and there being the possibility of no return. The most she showed was a solid gulp, shivering pupils meeting Stark’s.
And he asked, “Do you trust me?” He turned to her right. “Both of you?”
Rainbow nodded. It was the most forceful, most painful nod she could have ever managed, but it was still there. Still joining what little strength she had left to commit the impossible. Tony turned to Twilight, seeing that same unholy fear grip her features and successfully break through where it had failed with Rainbow. The Alicorn practically quivered.
She nodded, too, adding a soft but fierce, “Yes.”
Terrified, yes. Uncertain, definitely. Willing… absolutely. They had all agreed to take that leap and what they were about to do was just one more step. One more task. One last time. So much else was hanging on the line, and both ponies knew that. They needed to act or no one else would. They could have easily returned home emptyhoofed, ensured their safety while Tony and Steve risked their lives for a chance. They wouldn’t have stopped them. Steve and Tony would have let them choose their own path. But after hearing what happened to Scott, knowing where they were going had more particles, Twilight and Rainbow knew they really had no other choice but to follow. To trust.
“You all got the coordinates I sent?” Tony asked, fixing out Friday’s for his own. He saw the nods fill all three of them. From Steve, Rainbow, and finally to Twilight. “Good…”
He lifted his eyes to Rogers. “On three…”
Steve gulped. “One…”
Twilight dropped her eyes to her left hoof, her right hoof shaking profusely. “Two…”
Rainbow breathed in. “… Three.”
They all slapped their GPSes at the same time, the Quantum Suits materializing over each Avenger, the masks sealing shut, and all four individuals shrinking down all the way to the year 1970.
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Neat chapter! Curious on where Scott and the other folks went to. Someplace that Frank and Daisy know getting extremely tangled here and we haven't even gotten to the other stones yet!
Natasha's own video!
Ha Ha First!! Wow things are really starting to deviate, I like it!!!
I feel for you. Why can't society just be like Star Trek? Where the people of Earth just do whatever we want when we want.
Oh dear Scott. This is the peril of being portrayed by Paul Rudd. The universe will always take pot shots at you and make you its chew toy.
Holy crap, a deviation!
I'm anxious to see when and where Scott, the Mind Stone, and the others end up!
Meanwhile, Steve, Tony, Twilight and Rainbow are heading for 1970. This'll be interesting.
Good luck with your studies. We'll be (somewhat patiently) waiting for you.
He has entered another world, another time. A world of imagination. Welcome... to the Twilight Zone.
Interesting. Where will the Ant-Man wind up?
Bet its Thanos causing the deviations.
Also, I have to say, you write a much better Captain Marvel than the movies. I am enjoying her in this much more than the main MCU one.
What a really fun way to begin the Labor Day weekend, my friend.
Why am I thinking youre sending them to THE day that changed Frank Castle's life and started his journey to being the punisher, but please do go and surprise us with what you have in mind
This just unexpectedly got even more complicated. Not only have they failed to retrieve the Space Stone now that Past Loki has taken off with it, but now Scott has gotten himself sucked into a time vortex with the Mind Stone in hand sending him who knows where and when in time.
Which leaves Steve, Tony, Twilight and Rainbow to go back the 1970s to retrieve the Space Stone and some spare Pym Particles to get them back home, while Carol's team with enough vials on their hands are left to go and retrieve Scott and the Mind Stone. They're sailing blind into the unknown now.
Good chapter here! The tension is well written.
It's alright, take the time you need.
Oh frack it all, you HAD TO INVOKE MYRPHY’S LAW with TIME TRAVEL IN PLAY!?! Dang it Twilight! Never mention odds midjob on this type of thing!
Things just got more complicated.
Great mini chapter, and i wish u the best of luck in school!
This story is epic 🤩 I hope grubber and Luis get their moment and don’t let natasha die yet I want to see her in the final fight against thanos 😭😕 before she you know what happens 😕
9813354
I don't think natasha will be the Soul Sacrifice this time.
Aysh, Paul Rudd to a T.
Now, Howard Potts, time to meet your dad again.
A deviation from the movie ? Noice ! Especially a big one like that , and you manage to put it in so smoothly (there might be a meme to put here but I ain't up to date with modern memes) ! You really have this story done really well !
And while you already said that you where keeping it in earlier comments , it's nice to see that decided to keep the scene with Steve and Tony going back in the '70s .
Another thing, don't worry about the less frequent updates , 1 a week is already very nice , especially for a story that great (I don't know why you have so few views/likes compared to the number of chapters/quality of the story...) so don't stress yourself ! When it comes to writing , quality is way better than quantity .
9812641 Is it a place Frank and Daisy know? Maybe it's a place none of them know...
Damn... that Natasha video is sad, man...
9812658 This is just the beginning.
9812701 That's why I love Paul Rudd. Still able to get back up.
9812714 Some massive deviations heading your way!
9812741 It's just Twilight. Everywhere. Everything. Just our favorite pony princess.
9812805 Somewhere... familiar.
9812978 She only grows from here on out. Thanks!
9812986
9812992 Maybe. Or maybe something bigger than anyone of them.
9813077 That thought has to be terrifying. Sailing blind. Can't even imagine.
9813088 Thank you!
9813101 Should've listened to Han Solo.
9813122 You think this was bad? Heh... wait till next chapter. It's worse. It's so much worse.
9813211
9813354 I, too, would like to see a Grubber and Luis moment. Maybe I can sneak one in.
9813462 Let's hope he's not a beatnik.
9813587 Words to live by. Thanks!
9813691
Well, she is MINE
9813691
It just seem like they did by their reactions or maybe I misread that part.
And yup the video was a bit heartbreaking but still well fitting I think
9812741
I have a better question : WHY is he?
-
Maybe he has entered a multiversal, interdimensional crossing united society called Merodi Universalis... wait, wrong fanfic.
9813691
Now I can't help but wonder/hope that where Scott and the second team are going is the moment and place that Thanos threw the moon on top of Canterlot. But that's just a pipe dream.
Also anyone notice in the movie when Rocket and Bruce go to get Thor and they're all talking about getting everyone back and Bruce mentions about possibly bringing back the Asgardians that Thanos had killed when coming for the space stone? Because I think he did bring them back and not just the snapped people.
Really makes you wonder about all who he actually brought back.
9813777
9813777
Who knows? Maybe he ended up in an Equestria overrun with Autobots :3
(Brownie points because I was able to get in a TF: Fall of Equestria reference in there 9813691)
Don't jinx it, Twilight!
See? What'd I tell you?
Another amazing video!!!
Different person that made it but still amazing.
9813691
Surprise us
9813839
God Dammit Twilight.
Could Scott Lang and the others be heading to the Equestria Girls World?
9817369
They could be🤔 oh yeah is scarlet witch going to revive 😕the ponies know scarlet witch and vision are dead right😕
https://pin.it/uzlkkxe3pqvaqb
This would be a cool moment to happen at the last battle
9822068 Heh... it could now.
9822623
I was hoping so
Well things just keep falling apart don’t they?
Now Scott is lost in an alternate timeline and Sunset’s team gotta save him.
Oh, this is an interesting development. While Tony and Steve make the same plan from the film, to go back in time to when SHIELD had the Tesseract to retrieve it and spare Pym Particles, and bring Twilight and Rainbow with them as backup, Scott ends up facing some problems when trying to return to the Present with the Mind Stone.
Now, he is stranded in who knows what kind of alternate timeline, and Sunset, Captain Marvel, Quake, Daredevil, and the Punisher to save him from whatever dangers are in this unknown deviation from the plan while the others continue their mission to get the Stones.