“Okay, okay, so I had just gotten back from the supermarket with some frozen waffles. I was super frustrated because I wanted the Eggos extra thick and fluffy, cuz you know, you get more bang for your buck that way—they’re my favourite waffles—but they were out and so I had to just get regular old chocolate chip.”
Scott cut his friend off with a sigh. “Luis… remember that conversation we had the other day about major details versus minor details? Ugh. Look, don’t worry about it.” He shot me an imploring look. “I can just tell you what happened. Really.”
“No, no,” I said firmly, shaking my head. “It’s important that we hear this from Luis, please.”
Nat had a pained expression on her face. “Is it? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“You know, it’s a bit freaky, Eliza said the exact same thing; she was like, ‘Yo, I like you Scotty, but I wanna hear it from Luis cuz he’s awesome’ in like the exact same tone and everything, how weird is that? I actually thought she might’ve been into me, you know, cuz it seemed like she really listened to me when I talked and, I mean, she was fine—like crazy-stupid fine—you know? I mean, of course you know, you look exactly like her almost. Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean that in, like, an objectifying way or anything; I’m a feminist, you know? Women are so much more than just their bodies, if you know what I’m saying. I appreciated her mental qualities just as much as her physical ones.”
“Luis,” Scott snapped.
“Sorry, Scotty, right, right, right. Okay, so anyway, I’d gotten back to the office with the waffles and some other stuff and was putting them in the freezer and then there was a knock at the door. My man Kurt gets up and goes and answers it and boom, Eliza’s standing there all, ‘Hey guys, I’m Eliza, I’m here to talk to Scotty’. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, it seems weird that she showed up like five seconds after I got back to the office; do you think she was waiting for me to show up?”
“Almost definitely,” I said, nodding. “She wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on meeting you.”
Luis grinned and tilted his head, flattered. “Aw, that’s really nice. I’m really glad I got to meet Eliza too, you know? She seemed cool. I mean, apart from all the ‘trying to kill the Avengers’ stuff, that definitely isn’t cool, but we didn’t know about that until just now. Uh, so anyway, Eliza says, ‘Hey, sorry to bother you at your place of business but I know you’re Ant-Man’ and Scotty says, ‘Whaaaat?’ and the rest of us all go, ‘Whaaaat?’, but then Eliza says, ‘You don’t have to act all sus, bros, it’s cool, I ain’t here to cause you any problems; I need your help’. Scotty was a little shifty and worried that she might not want to talk in front of the rest of us like, ‘Do you want to talk about this privately?’ but she says, ‘Nah, man, I know these guys are cool’, which was cool because we are cool, right?”
“The coolest,” I agreed.
“You guys have got this, right? You don’t actually need me here for this?” Tony said, looking around desperately for a moment before his eyes locked on the exit. “I’m just going to…” And he was gone.
“Oh! Bye, Mr Stark! It was really cool meeting you! Where was I? Oh, right, right, right, right, so Eliza told us what she knew about what had happened with Pym Technologies and Darren Cross, the CEO—that guy was some serious bad news, by the way, he tried to kill my man Scotty and sell tech to HYDRA and stuff but we totally stopped him—and it was super creepy accurate, bro, like she got everything down to a T, it was really freaky, you know? Like she’d been there the whole time.”
Nat shot me a long-suffering smile. “Sounds freaky.” She was getting into it, I could tell. Okay, no, that was a lie, she was hating every second of this.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! That’s what I’m saying!” Luis said, gestured emphatically with his hand. “So Eliza was talking to Scotty and she says, ‘My homegirl Ava was in an accident when she was a little kid that was kinda Hank Pym’s fault and she went all quantum with her molecules and was abused by SHIELD and stuff and now she needs more quantum or she’ll die’. Scotty’s like, ‘Uh, I don’t know, the quantum stuff’s super dangerous for real’, but Eliza says to him, ‘I know you went quantum and came back and Pym’s tryin’ to do it again but safe this time so he can find Hope’s mom who got lost down there in like the 80s’ and Scotty says, ‘Whaaaat? How’d you know that?’ and Eliza’s like, ‘I know everything’, all super-cool and mysterious.”
I was nodding along encouragingly. “I can literally picture her saying all of those exact words.”
“So Scotty was like, ‘Alright, but I gotta talk to old man Pym first, gimme your digits and we’ll set something up’. Fast forward a bit and they set up a meeting. Scotty told me that old man Pym’s all sus and stuff right from the start, and he comes at Eliza like, ‘Yo this is super sus for real, what’re you tryin’ to pull here?’ and Eliza tells him, ‘Nah, I’m being legit straight up, I’ll tell you what I know about the quantum stuff so you can save your wife but you gotta help Ava, bro’. But Pym says, ‘Nah, I’m not your bro, man, she’s an ex-SHIELD assassin and probably works for HYDRA or something’, but then Ava jumps in all defensive like, ‘Eliza’s not your man, buddy, fuck you; Eliza’s killed mad HYDRA like you wouldn’t believe’ and Pym’s like, ‘I’m not your buddy, I’m super grumpy all of the time; I don’t know you and I don’t like you, peace out’ and then…” Luis paused for dramatic effect, then punctuated the end of the sentence with an sharp flick of his hand. “He peaced out.”
Steve looked vaguely puzzled. “But I thought you were helping Ava?”
“Oh yeah, we totally are; I’m getting to that part. See Scotty wanted to see what was up so he followed Eliza and Ava after the meeting back to their secret hideout in that Stark Industries warehouse—I came too because my boy Scott needed some backup and I’d do mad things for him for real, so I was following in the van. I couldn’t drive in, though, so I had to follow on foot and dodge past some robots with my mad stealth skills…” Luis paused, then looked at Steve. “We actually do security penetration testing as part of our consulting services; do you know who’s covering off on the setup at the new Avengers digs? I know it’s the other side of the country but we have some pretty competitive pricing and maybe we could work out like a special Avengers deal. I think you’d really benefit from some experts that are used to dealing with unusual circumstances and, like, Enhanced individuals and weird technology and stuff, cuz like most won’t have experience with that sort of thing, like how we used Scotty’s super suit and ant mind control to infiltrate Pym Technologies. I mean, if you think about it, just how you’re the Avengers of like, the actual world, X-Con is kind of like the Avengers of the security consulting world and—”
Steve interrupted again. “I feel like we might be getting off track. Again.”
I shushed him, gesturing sharply with my hand before turning eagerly back to Luis. “We’ll pass on your details.”
Luis beamed at me. “Cool, cool, cool, that’s awesome, it’d be really cool to work with you guys. Uh, so, where was I? Oh yeah, I was sneaking around the warehouse trying to keep an eye out for Scotty but I sort of got turned around and didn’t really find much, but then I rendezvoused with him and he says, ‘These guys seem legit, Eliza says she’s trying to save the world, but I’m worried cuz they’re stealing from Tony Stark’ and I was like, ‘Word, but if they’re doing it to save the whole world it’s all good, right?’ and he says, ‘I guess, I do wanna help this Ava chick cuz it’s not her fault she ended up like she did’ and I was sort of distracted because I’d scuffed my Vans, which sucked, cuz you know it was my favourite pair and I always wear Vans, man. Like, I like Adidas, but Vans are breathable and they’re the way to go when I’m not wearing Heelys and I’m wearing those, you know?”
“I’m a Dr Martens girl, myself,” I said.
“Right, right, right, no doubt, no doubt—those look great on you by the way, you’re really rockin’ the big stompy boots.”
“Thanks! My brother got me these. They’re theoretically the stompiest, but I have yet to actually stomp on anyone with them.”
“You know, that’s funny cuz it reminds me of this time my cousin Ignacio was trying to get with this girl Lucia, who’s had the whole vintage glam thing going on—red lipstick, pin curls, the works, and—”
Steve sighed. “Luis, please…”
“Of course, Cap, sure thing, you got it, you got it. Didn’t meant to get side-tracked there; we can talk shoes later. So then anyway, Scotty and I get back and he goes to Pym and says, ‘Yo, what happened to Ava’s on you, are you really just gonna let her die?’ and they argue for a bit cuz Pym is all like, ‘This is super risky, bro, what if they’re working for HYDRA, or worse, what if they’re working for Tony Stark? They might be trying to steal all my secrets’, but then Hope butts in and says, ‘Nah, dad, it’s risky but you’re being a total paranoid freak, what if these guys are super legit? We can’t just not help her’ and Pym’s all grumpy but he sort of gives in like, ‘Fine, but I’m gonna say I told you so if they turn out to be heinous’. So, fast forward again a couple of days, Ava comes by and she’s like, ‘I’m standoffish and bitter about my traumatic past and I’m not here to make friends’ but then, turns out…” He paused for effect again, then grinned, emphasising his next statement with another sharp gesture. “She does make friends, she’s just bad at it! Won’t admit that she likes us, you know? But we all hang out now and she’s cool.”
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Natasha gave him an appraising look. “But you don’t know where she is now?”
“Nah, nah, she split like just before you guys showed up, like she knew you were coming or something. It’s hard to keep track of Ava sometimes cuz she can just sort of like phase out of reality and boom, she’s gone. Invisible and passing through the walls kinda stuff, you know? She didn’t really talk much about what she’d been doing with Eliza. I asked her the other night and she just says, ‘There’s this trick-ass bitch who keeps messing with my homegirl, she thinks she can step to us but we're too nasty’. That’s you, I think,” he said, nodding toward me with an apologetic grimace.
“They were, in fact, not too nasty,” I said quietly.
“How much trouble is Ava in?” Scott asked, sounding concerned. “She didn’t know what Eliza was doing, did she?”
Natasha shot him a sympathetic look. “We’re pretty sure she did. Ava was part of a raid in Wakanda; she killed two people there and tried to assassinate a member of their royal family. We can try to mediate with their government—she was in a bad place and there are some extenuating circumstances—but to really do that properly we need to be able to talk to her. Before Wakanda come looking.”
Steve and Nat were both glancing toward Luis with worried expressions on their faces, as if, at any moment, he might be provoked into another round of storytelling.
Scott’s face fell, but he nodded. “Okay. We’ll find her and convince her to talk to you. She can’t have gone far.” He turned to Steve, a pleading expression on his face. “Cap, listen, she really isn’t a bad person… she just wants to be able to live. Her condition’s killing her. A person isn’t supposed to exist like that. She’s in a lot of pain, all of the time. It’s not her fault.”
“We know,” Steve said gently. “We’ll do everything we can for her, but we really need her to cooperate or we won’t be able to help.”
While Steve and Nat sorted out contact details with Scott, Luis sidled up next to me. “Hey, so, I was wondering, are you doing anything after this? Cuz I don’t know, it might just be me but I feel like there might be a real connection here, something worth exploring a little, you know, if you’re, like, available?”
I gave an awkward sort of half-laugh. “Oh. Uh, sorry Luis. I actually have a girlfriend.”
“Oh, you’re gay? No problems. That’s cool, that’s cool.”
“Wanda’s bi, actually,” Natasha said, suddenly appearing at my other shoulder, an evil gleam in her eye. “And we have a bit of an open relationship. She can date other people; I don’t mind at all.”
I shot her a betrayed look but she just shrugged, a tiny smirk curling the corners of her mouth.
Luis grinned, then scrunched his nose a little and shrugged. “Oh! I get it, I get it, but nah, that’s not for me. I mean I get it! You got enough love to go around and that’s cool, but I’m like, personally, I just can’t handle that sort of thing, you know? I mean, I’m a one-person kinda guy. Strictly monogamous. I’d just get super jealous and stuff. But respect! You’re living your own truth and that’s beautiful.”
Steve nodded, relieved it was over. “We’ll be in touch.”
--
“Thanks again for letting me know about Maria. I owe you one,” Carol said. Her lips compressed into a thin half-smile and she nodded her head. “She’s set up some appointments and hopefully they’ll catch the cancer as early as possible.”
“Good.” I shot her an encouraging smile. “I really hope it makes a difference.”
“Me too. It was good, seeing them.” Carol paused, looking thoughtful for a moment as she turned to the window to look out over the grounds of the Avengers compound.
Carol had stopped by the compound for a little while—she was planning on heading off-world again soon, but I’d managed to catch her first. I wasn’t sure where everyone else was right now, but the two of us had the main common area to ourselves. We were standing at the far end of the briefing room segment, near the back corner. Carol was in her full blue, red and gold Captain Marvel regalia—the uniform she’d been wearing during the fight with Eliza had been trashed, so I guessed she must have had a spare. There was absolutely no sign of any of the injuries she’d taken, either, which meant she healed even faster than Steve and I did.
Thinking about injuries made me glance down at my hand. The bandages had come off already, with thin, freshly-healed pink lines all the evidence that remained of the fact that I’d nearly lost two entire fingers. It still felt weird to be missing the tip of my ring finger—it was a less important finger, but it was surprising just how often I noticed that I didn’t have it when I went to pick something up or touch something. I hadn’t had to type on a keyboard just yet, but I imagined that was going to be weird, too. I wondered how long it would take to get used to it.
“I don’t know why I kept putting it off, really,” Carol confessed quietly. She glanced toward me. “Something just… you know when you mean to do something, but then you take longer than you mean to, and if you do anything about it now it draws attention to the fact that it’s already so late, so you just keep putting it off and putting it off, but by doing that it just makes it worse and worse?”
I let out a small laugh. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I think I’ve been a bit that way with looking after myself properly. I’m trying to be a bit better about that, too.”
Carol nodded. “I’ll make sure I come visit regularly. I don’t want it to happen again.”
“You’re leaving, then?”
“Yeah, there’s still a lot to do out there,” she said, glancing back toward me. “There are a lot of other planets in the universe that don’t have the Avengers to look out for them.”
“Just… hold off on going after Thanos for a bit, okay? We should have a couple of years before he makes a play for the Stones. He’s probably off doing other stuff in the meantime, but he has a lot of firepower backing him up and we should be careful and only take a run at him when we’re ready.”
I knew that Carol was perfectly capable of taking down Thanos in a one-on-one fight, but throw in his Black Order, whatever other backup he might have, and on his home turf? Things became a little bit less certain, and I wasn’t keen to take any chances. Corvus Glaive’s weapon, at the very least, had stabbed right through Vision’s vibranium-infused body without difficulty, so there was a good chance it could potentially hurt or kill Carol, too. Now that I thought about it, Carol had only ever fought an unarmed and unarmoured Thanos, thanks to me—the Mad Titan’s personal blade had hacked through Steve’s shield so, again, could theoretically hurt her. It would be a little bit of a gamble for her to go in alone, and an utterly unnecessary one given how much time we had to prepare.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I won’t go after him on my own. I want to do my research first, anyway. There are some people I need to talk to.”
“Can you try reaching out to the Guardians of the Galaxy?” I asked. “It’s personal between them and Thanos. They’d be useful allies to have for the fight.”
Carol looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded again. “I have no idea where they are right now, but sure, I can look into it.”
“The Nova Corps on Xandar might be able to point you in the right direction. Otherwise, there’s a place called Knowhere—it’s a sort of former mining colony turned black market, inside the severed head of a dead Celestial. If I was looking for them, I’d start there.”
“I’ve heard of it. I’ll check it out.”
“Oh! And if it’s okay, I’d like to test if I can still portal to you, once you’re…” I gestured vaguely with my hand. “Off in space somewhere. Far away. I still don’t know how the magic works properly, so we’ll just have to experiment.”
“Yeah, sure, that sounds fine. I’m going to show Tony how to rig up something that can reach me properly, so we’ll be able to set up a time to touch base and test it out whenever.” The faint shadow of a frown passed across her face. “Actually, I wanted to ask… do you think anything bad would happen if I gave Tony a copy of my jump point nav data and told him what he needed to rig up a drive capable of using it?”
“Uh. I have no idea, to be honest,” I said, my expression turning pensive. I had a vague sense of ominous foreboding when I thought about Tony Stark getting involved in the space side of the things, but I couldn’t think of a specific concern I had about what he might get up to. Plus, getting the Avengers space-capable would be a big plus if I couldn’t work out the trick of being able to create portals at interstellar distances. “The only thing I might be worried about is the US Government catching wind and demanding access. The absolute last thing we need is to give America the opportunity to try to do a space imperialism. Uh, no offence.”
Carol smirked and shook her head. “None taken. It’s been a long time since I was in the Airforce.”
“Okay, um, there was one other thing I kind of wanted to ask you,” I said, feeling a little bit of nervous energy rising in my chest. The timing of this wasn’t super ideal, but I really didn’t think I’d get many better opportunities, especially not anytime soon with Carol jetting back off to space. I’d raised the idea with Nat and she’d been encouraging, so fuck it. Might as well go for it.
“Oh?”
“So… Natasha and I. We’re officially together now. We’re in a good space. But we’re… open. Like, not exclusive.” I hesitated for a moment as she straightened up, a faint, fleeting look of surprise on her face, before I bulled ahead and just said what I wanted to say, the words tumbling out of my mouth in a rush. “And I know I flirt a lot, with everyone, all the time, but I’m actually very attracted to you. I don’t know if you noticed that. I like you a lot. And I like to think that I’m pretty cool, too, so, are you, uh, interested?” I asked, making myself cringe a little bit. “Am I coming on too strong?”
I saw what I thought—or hoped, rather—was maybe the glimmer of a smile in Carol’s expression. “I have a lot going on. I move around a lot and I can’t really commit to anything.”
“That’s not a no,” I pointed out, my tone hopeful.
The corner of her mouth twitched. “It’s not a no,” she confirmed. “I just… we barely know each other.”
“For now,” I said. “I mean, I know they say ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’, but that’s actually exactly how you do judge a book. The cover looks interesting and fun, then you pick it up, get… get inside, and see if you really like it.”
Carol raised an eyebrow, looking at me appraisingly for a moment, then straightened up and took a couple of vaguely intimidating steps forward. On reflex, my body tried to step back, but I suddenly found that my back was pressed up against the wall. Her hand came up, planting itself firmly against the wall above my shoulder as she leaned forward, coming right into my personal space. I shrunk down slightly, my eyes widening with surprise. Her eyes flicked down briefly before she leaned forward even closer. “Get inside, huh?” she asked quietly.
I swallowed nervously and bit my lip; a small, involuntary sound escaping the back of my throat. My cheeks were burning—I must have gone bright red. I’d been nervous to start, but now my heart was hammering in my chest. Nat was right, wasn’t she? I got flustered way, way too easily. God, Carol was standing close. I could feel her breath, hot on my skin. She’d barely done anything and I was almost alarmingly turned on already.
Carol let out a small chuckle, obviously pleased with my reaction. “Well, I suppose I don’t have to leave right away.”