As my team materialized on a side street in uptown New York, I shifted my feet to regain my balance and held my hands to my stomach. It felt like my body had been thrown into a blender, then pieced back together again in one second and I was doing my best to keep myself from vomiting. Once the sick feeling subsided, I stood upright and got a good look at the familiar scene before me. Chitauri aliens flew overhead on their vehicles, their screams echoed down the streets. 

"All right, we all have our assignments," Steve stepped forward as our suits retracted, revealing our old suits underneath, aside from Scott who wore his Antman Suit and Bruce who was wearing pants and a long-sleeved shirt. "Two Stones uptown, one Stone down. Stay low. Keep an eye on the clock." 

His orders were cut short as 2012 Hulk passed by us, smashing everything in his way. Bruce put his hand to his forehead in embarrassment and seconds after that, a Chitauri leviathan flew past with 2012 me on it's back, frost spreading down the armor. 

"When did that happen?" Tony pointed and looked at me. 

"How come no one saw that!?" I exclaimed. 

"Feel free to smash a few things along the way," Steve said to Bruce. 

"I think it's gratuitous, but whatever," Bruce huffed and walked forward. 

Bruce then pretended to smash things in a sarcastic way. He tore his shirt off and walked over to a car. He lightly punched the car, making a small dent, all the while making growling noises. He picked up a motorbike and threw it at a building, wincing as it hits the wall. 

"Wow," I said. 

Steve then turned to Tony, Scott, and me. "Alright, our goal is the Avengers tower. Ellie, stick with me; Scott, you're with Tony." 

Scott shrunk down to ant-size and climbed onto Tony's shoulder as he powered up his Mark 85 suit. Steve and I turned down the alley and made our way towards the tower, avoiding contact with anyone that came by. If a Chitauri came by, we'd kill it as fast as we could before continuing. Despite the number of years we had spent away from each other, our teamwork was seamless. We came across a Chitauri on the ground, Steve was quick to react and hurled his shield at it. The shield hit the alien's head, stunning him for a minute. As the shield ricocheted back to Steve, I lept over his shoulder and caught the Chitauri's neck as he lunged at us, swung around him to sit at his back and plunged an icicle through its neck. I stood as the Chitauri fell to the ground and wiped its blood on my pants. Steve approached me and glanced at the dead alien. 

"You would have never done that 11 years ago..." 

"Done what?" I asked, continuing down the empty street. 

"Get up close like that," Steve replied. 

"It's an old HYDRA trick," I admitted. "Sometimes you have to be the one in control." 

The rest of the way was silent, but it was not long until we reached the back of the building, snuck in through a back door and got into an elevator. I laughed quietly to myself and Steve glanced at me. 

"What?" 

"I just find it funny that we have to sneak into our own home." I smiled. 

"Got to hustle, Team Popsicle," Tony said over the comms. "Things look like they're just about wrapped up here."

"Why are we Team Popsicle?" Steve questioned. 

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" I commented as we got off the elevator and approached a second one. "We're approaching the elevator now."

There was a bit of silence before Tony spoke again. 

"Uh, Mr. Rogers. I almost forgot that that suit did nothing for your ass." 

"Say again?" I pressed my earpiece. 

'No one asked you to look, Tony," Steve muttered and turned to look out a window, hiding his embarrassment. 

"It's ridiculous," Tony whispered. 

"I think you look great, Cap. As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass." Scott spoke up and I covered my mouth to stifle my laugh. 

"Who are these guys?" Scott asked and I assumed someone else had entered the top floor. 

"They are SHIELD...Well, actually HYDRA. But, we didn't know that yet," Tony answered and I turned my head towards the top floor. 

"STRIKE is there?" I asked, my heart rate increasing. "I forgot about that." 

"Seriously, you didn't?" Scott asked. "I mean...they look like bad guys."

"You're small, but you're talking loud," Tony murmured. 

If I remember correctly, at this point, 2012 Steve and I were going to split up and coordinate search and rescue through the tower. Giving me and Steve someone to be on the lookout for. I don't think I had reached this floor until later. Hopefully, if our timing was right, we'd miss 2012 me.

"All right, you're up, little buddy," Tony whispered to Scott. "There's our stone."

"Alright. Flick me," Scott said and I gave a confused look. 

"Did he just say 'Flick me'?" I looked at Steve and he slowly nodded. 

Out the window, I saw as Tony jumped down and activated his jets to fly upwards. "All right, Popsicles. I got our scepter in the elevator just passing the 80th floor."

"On it. Head to the lobby." Steve nodded and clicked the elevator button. 

"Alright. I'll see you there," Tony said.  

After a few moments of standing in front of the elevator doors, they opened up, revealing the STRIKE Team and Agent Sitwell. I took in a deep breath to calm my nerves and Steve and I walked into the elevator. Steve hit the button to go down and the STRIKE team looked at us in confusion. 

"Captain," Sitwell spoke. "I thought you and Flint were coordinating search and rescue?"

"Change of plans," Steve said and I continued to stare straight forward. 

My heart was beating fast and if my palms could sweat, they'd be doing that right now. I never planned to be surrounded by members of HYDRA again, and yet here we were. I glanced at the case in Rumlow's hand that held Loki's scepter. Different scenarios were flowing through my head of how we were going to obtain the scepter from these guys. One of them being very similar to the elevator encounter Steve and I had with the very same team 9 years ago. 

"Hey, Cap," Rumlow said and I went stiff. 

"Rumlow," Steve returned. Slowly the tension rose and each of the STRIKE members began to have their guard up. "I just got a call from the Secretary. I'm gonna be running point on the scepter." 

"Sir?" Sitwell questioned. "I don't understand."

"We got word there may be an attempt to steal it," Steve continued his lie. 

"Sorry, Cap. I can't give you the scepter." Rumlow turned to him. 

"I'm gonna have to call the Director." Sitwell reached for his phone and I almost gasped. 

"That's okay. Trust me." Steve stopped him and leaned over to Sitwell's ear. "Hail Hydra."

My throat went dry and there was no movement from my body. I was just as surprised as everyone else in the elevator, and slowly I felt their eyes on me. Steve lightly nudged me, signaling that it was my turn to say those damn words, which I don't think I had the heart to do. Even if I were to force myself to spit it out, my throat was so dry that I couldn't even form the words with my lips. Sitwell slowly reached for his phone again and I blurted out the first words to come to me. 

"Готовы соблюдать." Ready to comply.

Everyone shifted on their feet, sweat beads formed on Sitwell's forehead and I turned my head to look at him with a deadly stare that came almost naturally. 

The elevator doors opened and Steve I walked out with the case in Steve's hand. A smirk spread across Steve's lips but my expression remained flat as I thought. 

"Steve that could mess up everything for the both of us in the future..." I said. "Why the hell did I say that?" 

"It'll be fine, we just need to get this to Tony and get back," Steve said. He continuously clicked his earpiece, having trouble with his communicator. "Tony, what's going on? Tell me you found that cube." 

I glanced behind us to make sure no one was following when I heard a groan from Steve. 

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me."

"What- Oh, shit..." I looked in front of us. 

Dressed in red, white, and blue, the Star-Spangled Man stood in front of us, his face full of determination as he pressed his finger to his earpiece. 

"I have eyes on Loki. 14th floor." He then looked at me. "Ellie, that is not me." 

"Oh, God..." I groaned. 

Steve put the case down. "I'm not Loki. And I don't wanna hurt you." 

"Ellie, run!" 2012 Steve was the first to engage and the two Captain Americas began to duel. 

I looked around expecting 2012 me to appear, which never happened, thankfully. 2012 Steve threw 2023 Steve to the ground and huffed. 

"I can do this all day."

2023 Steve stood up and sighed irritably. 'Yeah, I know. I know." 

Both Rogers' frisbee their shield's at one another which clang away as they brawl, inadvertently kicking away the case containing the scepter which falls down a few levels. I jumped down onto the next glass platform below us, chasing the scepter. 2012 Steve got the upper hand on Future Steve as they both fell down to the same level as the scepter and me. Future Steve's locket of Peggy fell out as they hit the floor. 2012 Steve noticed this and I ran towards the case and scepter. 

"Where did you get this?" I heard 2012 Steve ask. 

As I reached the scepter that had fallen out of its case, I heard 2023 Steve choke out three words. 

"Bucky... is... alive!" 

I whipped around in shock with the scepter in my hand, seeing that 2012 Steve had 2023 Steve in a chokehold. 

"What?" 2012 Steve loosened his grip. 

Future Steve took this chance to sucker punch his counterpart. I ran forward with the scepter and pressed it to 2012 Steve's chest. 

"Pass out, pass out, pass out!" I repeated and 2012 Steve collapsed onto his stomach. 

2023 Steve stood up and panted, I scowled at him for messing up another thing for our past counterparts. Now HYDRA thinks we are on their side and 2012 Steve is going to tell 2012 Ellie that Bucky is alive. Steve gave me a guilty look then glanced down at his knocked out counterpart, specifically his behind.

"That is America's ass," Steve confirmed and I hit his arm. 

"Come on." I put the scepter back in the case. "Before we come across 2012 me." 

To avoid another confrontation, Steve and I found a broken window and jumped down to the roof of a neighboring building. We climbed down the fire escape and reached the street. I was about to press my earpiece to ask Tony his location, but it seemed that we had already found them. 

"Cap–" Tony began. 

We turned around to see Tony and Scott sitting in a broken car, both of them look very disappointed in themselves. Tony was resting his head on a SHIELD bullet-proof vest and looked up at us. 

"Sorry, buddy," Tony said to Steve. "We got a– problem." 

"Huh. Yeah, we do." Scott got out of the car and put his hands on his hips. 

I looked between the both of them and saw that neither of them had the Tesseract. I closed my eyes and sighed. 

"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Steve asked and I opened my eyes again. 

"You know what? Give me a break, Steve." Tony lifted his head. "I just got hit in the head with the Hulk." 

"You said that we had one shot." Scott pointed at Tony. "This– this was our shot. We shot it. It's shot. Six stones or nothing. Six stones or nothing–"

"You're repeating yourself, you know that? You're repeating yourself," Tony said to Scott. 

"You're repeating yourself. You're repeating yourself." Scott mocked Tony and my eyes unintentionally rolled. "You know– No." 

"Dude, come on." Tony tried to stop him.

"You never wanted a time heist, you went on board with the time heist–" Scott fired back. This childish banter continued between them for some time. 

"I dropped the ball."

"You ruined the time heist."

"Is that what I did?"

"Yeah!" 

"Stop! Both of you!" I shouted. "I feel like I have to mother you all, God!" 

Tony and Scott looked at me, both showing faces of guilt. 

"Are there any other options with the Tesseract?" Steve asked, keeping his voice calm. 

"No, no, no. There's no other options. There's no do-overs. We're not going anywhere else," Scott rambled. "We have one particle left. Each. That's it, alright? We use that– Bye, bye. You're not going home." 

"Yeah, well if we don't try, then no one else is going home, either," Steve added. 

I put my hands on my hips, trying to think of any possible way to do this, but I had nothing. Tony glanced away for a minute, thinking as well before looking back at Steve. 

"I got it." He stepped out of the car and walked up to Steve. "There's another way. To retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. We'll stroll down memory lane. Military installation, Garden State." 

I furrowed my brow and looked down in realization. "Tony, you genius." 

"When were they both there?" Steve asked. 

"They were there at a– I've a vaguely exact idea," Tony said. 

"How vague?" Steve asked. 

"What are you talking about? Where are we going?" Scott asked. 

"Tony, do you mean...?" I began.

"Yes, I know for a fact they were there–" Tony replied. 

"Who's they? What are we doing?" Scott looked around, becoming more confused. 

"And I know how I know," Tony added. 

"Guys, what's up? What is it?" Scott continued his game of 20 questions. 

"Well, it looks like we're improvising," Steve said.  

"Right. What are we improvising?" Scott pushed. 

"Am I going, too?" I asked. 

Tony turned to me. "No, you'll be recognized too quickly." 

I furrowed my brow for a moment, then understood. 

"Scott, get this back to the compound with Ellie," Steve ordered, handing us the scepter case. 

"Suit up," Tony said. 

"What's in New Jersey?" Scott looked at me. 

"Lots of things," I sighed. 

Tony turned to Steve and began giving him the time coordinates. "0-4." 

"0-4– -"

"Uhh, 0-7."

"0-7. -"

"Excuse me..." Scott began, still needing answers. 

"1-9-7-0." 

"Are you sure?" Steve looked up.

"Cap. Captain." Scott went on. "Steve, sorry, America." Steve and Tony looked up impatiently. "Rogers. Look, if you do this, and this doesn't work, you're not coming back."

"Thanks for the pep talk, pissant," Tony said before turning to Steve again. "Do you trust me?" 

"I do." Steve nodded. 

"Your call." 

"Here we go." Steve glanced at me and I nodded before the two of them disappeared, leaving me and Scott alone in a back alley. 

I breathed out and looked around. Scott was still confused. I pressed my earpiece to contact Bruce. 

"Hey, Bruce. What's your status?" I asked. 

"I got the stone," Bruce answered. 

"Great." I nodded. 

"What about you guys?" Bruce asked and I looked at Scott, his expression said it all. 

"We've... had a setback," I breathed out. "Steve and Tony are sorting it out, we're heading back to the compound." 

Bruce breathed impatiently on the other line. "Okay. I'll see you guys there." 

"Right." I let go of the earpiece and looked at Scott. "Let's sync up." We held up our time watches and our suits engaged. "3...2...1" 

~1970, New Jersey~

Steve hurried down the hallway, the Pym particles in his pocket. He slipped into the first doorway that was unlocked and quickly closed the door. The shadows of his pursuers passed by the tinted window and he breathed out. Steve glanced up at the backward lettering on the window and squinted his eyes to read. 

"CRYOCHAMBER ROOM. PRIVATE." 

Steve's heartbeat quickened as his ears attuned to the sound of energy humming behind him. He turned around and the blue light that shone from the round window of the tall vessel reflected in his eyes. He took a few steps forward, stopped and narrowed his eyes to get a look at the silhouette in the window. He took more steps until he was standing in front of the window and staring straight at Ellie's sleeping face. He could tell that she was exhausted. In fact, he knew that she was exhausted. Part of him was fighting the urge to shut off the chamber and get her out of there, but he knew that wasn't an option. He also knew that he had to get out of there fast. Steve slowly pressed his hand to the window and took in a breath. 

"You're going to be okay, El..." He whispered. "19 years to go, alright? Hang in there." 

~Avengers Compound, 2023~

Everyone materialized on the Quantum platform and we looked around to see all the recovered stones. I looked at Steve and Tony, relieved to see that they made it. 

"Did we get them all?" Bruce asked. 

"You telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey looked around. 

I laughed with excitement before stopping. There seemed to be a common realization among everyone in the room. Someone was missing. Clint stood alone, his jaw tight and his eyes red. My heart pounded in my chest and I slowly shook my head. 

"Clint, where's Nat?" Bruce questioned. 

The silence from Clint told us all we needed to know. A lump formed in my throat and sadness overtook the atmosphere. The mission was completed but at a dire cost. Natasha was gone.