[Just some head-canon scenes from 'Avengers: Endgame' - and the immediate aftermath.]

MOMENTS UNSEEN

~~ Tony and Rhodey ~~

Much to his surprise, Tony had figured out how to make time into his bitch.

Just the night before, he'd had a very serious talk with Pepper. Now it was early morning and he was about to drive to Avengers headquarters. When he got there, he was going to talk to Steve.

Tony couldn't even think about Steve without remembering how he lashed out at the man right after getting back to Earth.

Right after Thanos murdered half the universe.

Tony closed his eyes and sighed as he remembered the things he'd said to Steve. And the look on Steve's face as he just stood there and took Tony's abuse, without even trying to defend himself.

"Shit," Tony muttered to himself. Then he quickly glanced around, hoping that Morgan was out of earshot. More and more, it seemed like his daughter was everywhere.

But before he did anything else, Tony decided there was a call he had to make.

Standing next to his car, Tony punched a quick-dial option and held his phone up to his ear. Rhodey picked up immediately.

"So you figured it out?" Rhodey asked before Tony could speak.

Tony hesitated before answering. He didn't know where Rhodey was or what he was doing, but was that a chain-gun firing in the background? And Rhodey sounded a little distracted.

But Tony couldn't help himself. "Yeah, I got it," Tony said.

"Good to have you back," Rhodey replied laconically. Tony could hear the sound of a missile - probably the War Machine armor's shoulder-mounted anti-tank model - roaring away.

Yeah, Rhodey was definitely distracted.

"What makes you think I'm back?" Tony asked.

"You never really left," Rhodey replied with irritatingly complete certainty.

Tony could hear a distant boom as the missile hit its target. There was a ripple of secondary explosions.

Tony pursed his lips and nodded approvingly. The sound suppression system in this version of the War Machine armor was doing a fine job.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tony asked.

"Looking for Clint. I found some guys who I thought he might be tracking. I tried to talk to them, but they started shooting at me."

Tony grunted. That made sense. Clint was tearing a bloody hole right through a long list of bad-guys. Finding him was essentially a matter of following the bodies.

"So why are you so sure that I never left?" Tony asked. Hey, it was a reasonable question.

"The world needs saving," Rhodey answered easily. "Y'know, after you took that ride on the big flying doughnut and went missing, Cap told Ross that Earth had lost its best defender. And he was right."

Rhodey paused a moment before continuing. "People can't walk away from who they really are. Tony, for the last five years you've just been waiting. Well, it's time to get back on the clock. We need you."

That left Tony silent for a long moment. As he considered Rhodey's words, he absently identified the quick thump-thump-thump of an automatic grenade launcher delivering a three-round burst.

"You're going to be with us?" Tony asked. He knew the answer, but he wanted to be sure.

Rhodey's laugh actually contained a rather grim note.

"Somebody has to keep you from getting killed," Rhodey told Tony.

~~ Pepper ~~

Pepper watched through the kitchen window as her husband drove away. He didn't look happy, just determined. There was no point trying to stop him. Pepper knew that someday Tony would leave and not come back.

After wiping her eyes, Pepper handed her daughter a peanut-butter and banana sandwich. As Morgan began happily munching, Pepper sat down at the table, picked up a complex-looking helmet, and fitted it over her head. It let out a warble to indicate that it had been activated. Then a set of fold-down goggles automatically covered her eyes.

"Morgan, mommy's going to be busy for a while," Pepper told her daughter distantly. "Go play Tetris."

Moran nodded eagerly, hopped out of her chair, and bee-lined out of the kitchen. She was still clutching what was left of her sandwich but had a look of willful determination on her face. Morgan's devotion to that ancient game puzzled Tony, but Pepper kept assuring him that it was just a stage.

"Hello, Mrs. Stark," the computer linked to her helmet announced. "How can I help you?"

Pepper considered her options.

Perhaps it would be best to start at the beginning.

"Mark I armor simulation," Pepper said into her microphone. "Scenario alpha-1."

"Yes, Mrs. Stark," the computer replied serenely.

The virtual reality system activated and suddenly Pepper was in Tony's very first suit of armor, and she was fighting her way out of a cave somewhere in Afghanistan. Bullets were pinging off her armor as she picked up an oil-drum and heaved it at a cluster of gunmen. The terrified gunmen tried to flee. One of them made it. Two others were squished messily.

Pepper quickly checked the status of her flame-throwers. She'd need them as soon as she got into a more open area.

Her boot rockets were also ready.

Power was nominal but dropping steadily.

Something clanged against her. Turning slightly, Pepper drove a punch into the face of a shouting man who'd been brave enough - or stupid enough - to come at her with a bayonet.

Normally, Pepper preferred search-and-rescue missions whenever she trained for suit operations.

But it was time to catch up on her other options. She might need them soon.

~~ Morgan ~~

Morgan played Tetris for about a half-hour. Then she used a password that mommy and daddy didn't know she had and logged into the secure server.

There was a hidden DNA-based biometric security system built into the network, but Morgan obviously had the right DNA.

Her eyes bright with eager curiosity, Morgan began to review the specs for the Mark 85 armor.

She had some ideas.

~~ Steve and Natasha ~~

Steve walked into the operations room... and froze.

Natasha was using the holographic imager to talk with what remained of the team. There were various problems happening all over the world and somebody had to deal with them.

She looked tired, but Natasha was still running things.

She wouldn't quit.

She wouldn't move on.

"The last true Avenger," Steve whispered to himself.

~~ Clint ~~

His katana whirling, Clint tore into the band of slavers.

Another day. Another fight to the death.

Long ago, Clint's wife had demanded that he not get himself killed by taking too many chances on some damn fool mission.

"Don't commit suicide!" Laura begged; her eyes filled with tears. She was holding Lila - just a baby at the time - in her arms.

At the time, Clint didn't think anything of the promise he made to her.

Clint put his sword through a slaver's chest and danced back into cover as another terrified bad-guy opened fire with a flurry of badly-aimed shots. There was a slaver occupying the pillar that Clint had dodged behind. The slaver fell away in two pieces. The biggest piece was screaming and writhing as it jetted blood.

Being careful not to slip on the blood, Clint stepped on the dying man's throat and crushed it. Then he leaned his sword against the pillar, drew his bow, and nocked an arrow. The guy with the gun was thirty-five meters away, at an angle of twenty-seven degrees, with half-cover behind a jeep. He wasn't wearing body armor.

More shooters were on the way.

This wasn't suicide, Clint told himself. He told himself that a lot. It wasn't suicide. He hadn't lied to his wife.

Leaning out from behind the pillar, Clint fired his arrow and ducked back. He didn't even have to look to see that he'd neatly put the arrow into the gunslinger's throat. The man was now choking his life out.

He hadn't lied to his wife, Clint assured himself.

This wasn't suicide.

It was just a fight to the death.

But why was death taking so damned long?

~~ Thor and Rocket ~~

Thor was a complete damned wreck, but Rocket didn't have a clue what to do about it. And that hurt. That hurt a lot because...

Because...

Even after all this time, Rocket had a hard time using the word 'friend'. But he saw the glee in Thor's face after Mjolnir rushed into his hand, and that made Rocket feel good. It was the first authentic-looking smile Rocket had seen on Thor's face since he and Banner dragged the thunder god out of that backwater fishing village.

After Thor reclaimed Mjolnir, they went back to Earth. Back on the platform, as they pulled off their time-suits, Rocket gave Thor a skeptical look.

"Hey, should you have brought that back?" Rocket grumbled as he nodded at Mjolnir. "You already have Storm-ass-breaker. And isn't your old hammer just something we're eventually gonna have to get back to the right time?"

Thor gave Rocket a long look - and just for a moment, Rocket could see the old Thor in his bleary eyes.

Damn, that was good to see. He wasn't all gone.

Thor hefted Mjolnir for a moment, then he looked at Rocket.

"It's not for me," Thor told Rocket distantly.

Rocket didn't have a clue what Thor was talking about.

~~ May and Carol ~~

Happy called and told her to check the news. May was at work, but she browsed over to CNN and...

"Do you want me to check on..." May heard Happy begin just before she dropped her phone onto the desk and ran for the door.

The office where May worked was falling apart. People were frantically making phone calls. Many were simply leaving. Out in the parking lot, May saw her shift supervisor almost run over a pack of employees as she raced her car out onto the street.

People were coming back. They were reappearing all over the world. And everyone was suddenly looking for someone they had thought was lost.

May left too quickly to switch her work-shoes with the more practical sneakers she wore when she walked to work. The work-shoes would just slow her down. Without a second thought, she kicked them into the gutter and dashed off down the sidewalk in her stocking feet.

May was running faster than she'd ever run back in her days of high school track-and-field. She was running like a madwoman, gasping for breath through burning lungs. All around her, dazed people were stumbling through the sidewalks and streets, obviously confused. A couple was locked in a frantic embrace. A sobbing woman was kneeling on the sidewalk with two puzzled-looking children desperately clutched into her arms. She looked like she might never let them go.

Five years ago, Peter had followed that bastard Stark up into a damned spaceship and vanished. Weeks later, a wrecked-looking Tony Stark had shown up at May's front door and told her that Peter had dusted away.

Peter had died fighting Thanos himself. Stark said something about Peter being a hero.

May screamed at Stark. She said things to him that she'd never said to another person. Then she attacked him, biting and scratching.

Stark fended her off and retreated.

A few weeks later, she had Happy arrange a meeting. She didn't apologize. She just asked for the details. A dead-eyed Stark gave them to her - and May had to admit that what happened hadn't been Stark's fault.

But that didn't matter.

"Please, oh please," May gasped out as she rounded the corner that led to her apartment building. If Peter were back, would he even be there? What were the rules for people coming back? Were there any rules?

Then May saw something that was so welcome, so incredible, that she almost refused to believe it.

It was Peter. Peter in his Spider-Man suit. And he was in the arms of a flying woman who was descending from the sky. She had short blonde hair and was wearing some sort of tacky blue and red leotard. What the hell was it with super-people and their outfits? And why did she have a hand on Peter's ass?

May lost sight of them as they landed on the roof of the apartment building.

May fumbled with the electronic security lock. After multiple agitated attempts, the door finally buzzed open. May didn't even try the elevator, she just ran for the stairs.

"He's grounded for life!" May kept repeating to herself.

That woman... the tall blonde in the mostly blue outfit... was walking down the stairs. She looked distracted and thoughtful. May almost slammed right into her.

The blonde woman - wide-eyed in surprise - stepped off to the side, trying to get out of May's way. May grabbed her by the shoulders, yanked her close, and planted a kiss on her face.

"Thank you!" May babbled. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Then May let go of Carol and continued running up the stairs.

Behind May, Carol touched her lips and smiled.

~~ Thor and Steve ~~

Thor was about to leave. He was hitching a ride off-planet with the Guardians. Steve would also be leaving soon, but while Thor would be traversing space, Steve's journey would be more esoteric.

Stormbreaker was slung across Thor's back. Mjolnir hung from Steve's belt.

It seemed to Steve that Thor looked better. Of course, it would be hard for him to look worse. Maybe all the big guy had needed to find himself was a fight. A win. Something that gave him purpose.

Steve understood that.

"So," Thor said suddenly, "back at that party - the one just before Ultron - why didn't you lift Mjolnir?"

"I couldn't," Steve admitted. "It kind of... shifted a little in my hand. But I couldn't actually lift it."

Thor nodded. "I remember that. Back when I was young and Mjolnir had yet to find me worthy, it would sometimes let me know that I was close. I suppose it didn't want me to give up."

Steve considered that. Then he nodded.

"What changed?" Thor added. He wasn't prying. It was honest curiosity.

Steve paused for a moment. Then he let out a sigh.

"I knew what happened to Tony's mother and father. After I came out of the ice, I did a lot of research on Bucky. I had old Army, FBI, CIA, and SHIELD files. Maybe I was the first one to read them all. Some of the things I read fit together. I kept reading. Kept cross-checking. And then I figured it out."

Then Steve shook his head. "I knew, but I didn't tell Tony."

Thor nodded ponderously. Steve had admitted what he'd done and there was no need to pursue that line of conversation any further. The two of them were warriors, not saints. Ultimately, they were flawed, but trying to be something better. It was all they - or anyone - could really do.

Steve and Thor shook hands.

Picking up his traveling bag - Steve briefly wondered what kind of packing a thunder god did - Thor turned to leave.

Then he paused and looked back over his shoulder at Steve.

He'd always seen the sadness within Steve. The part of Steve that regretted losing his own time. And, of course, there was a woman he'd left behind. It seemed that Midgardian women had a way of making themselves a part of your soul.

"When you travel to the past," Thor said quietly. "You'll have Mjolnir and the stones with you."

Steve nodded. He wasn't sure where Thor was going with this.

"Listen to Mjolnir," Thor continued very seriously. "It is old and unfathomable. Some part of Odin is within it. It knows things."

Steve was looking into Thor's eyes. Everyone made the mistake of thinking that Thor was just a big jock with a hammer. They forgot how old he was. They forgot how much Thor had seen and learned throughout the long, long, millennia.

They forgot who his father was.

"Perhaps we don't know all we think we know about time travel," Thor added. "Perhaps you will be able to bend a few rules. That will give you... possibilities."

Then Thor left.

Behind him, Steve hefted Mjolnir in his hand and seemed to stare deep into it.

~~ Hank and Janet and Scott ~~

It started with cosmetics. Hope thought Cassie was slathering them on a little too generously.

Hope also didn't think too much of the boy Cassie was seeing.

Scott, Hank, and Janet had finished breakfast and were sitting at the kitchen table of Scott's place. There were cups of coffee in front of them. Scott was reading a trade journal called "Breaking and Entering Quarterly". Hank was on his laptop, examining the response to the article he'd just published.

Nobody in the world of physics seemed to believe anything he wrote. Well, nobody except for that Richards fellow.

Janet had a sketchpad in front of her and was working on what Scott thought was a design for an evening gown. It turned out that Janet had a good hand for that sort of thing. She'd said something about returning to things she'd always wanted to do before being trapped in the Quantum Realm.

Second chances were like that. They made you reconsider a lot of things.

Out in the living room, the conversation between Hope and Cassie was escalating. Hank took a sip of coffee as the subject moved to the appropriate kind of bra that a teenager should wear.

Cassie lost her temper first. Since she was younger, that was predictable.

"Should we break it up?" Scott asked.

Hank shook his head. "As a scientist, I've always wanted to see what would happen if an irresistible force met an immovable object."

Janet gave the two men an amused look.

The argument was becoming personal. Janet waited until the first 'bitch' was thrown, then got to her feet.

"You two stay here," she ordered as she walked out of the kitchen.

"Yes, ma'am," Scott and Hank said simultaneously.

Then Scott glanced at the older man. "Dear God, I'm so damned happy," he said.

Hank nodded in agreement.

~~ Bruce ~~

The program took several seconds to process.

Then - in a rather Jarvis-like voice - the computer announced, "Run failed".

Bruce examined the source code carefully. Then he consulted a notebook on the desk beside him. After that, he changed some parameters in the code and...

"Run failed," the computer repeated.

Bruce wasn't discouraged. He simply reconsulted his notes. This would obviously take some time.

Heh. Time.

Bruce was going to get Natasha back. No matter what the price, he was bringing her back.

Hey, with Tony gone, someone had to be the team's mad scientist.

~~ Natasha ~~

Natasha's eyes blinked open.

She didn't really know where she was – everything looked strange - but she was lying on a rocky surface and her last memories were of falling...

Everything hurt. And where was Clint? Was he okay? Natasha had to get him home.

There was somebody crouched next to her. He was short, hairy, ugly, and powerfully built. Natasha recognized him. He'd saved her once, long ago. And he'd trained her beyond even what the Red Room could manage.

"Little Uncle?" she gasped as he helped Natasha to her feet.