Chapter Three

"I'm sorry,"

Carol looked up at a young woman in a black suit. She had spiky, short brown hair and big brown eyes with freckles sprinkled all over her face. Her metallic, light blue gauntlets reached up to her forearms.

"Crap, you're up!" She looked startled, "Uh, how long were you listening?"

Carol shrugged. She was confined in some sort of interrogation room and secured in a holding chair. Her arms were locked in metal cuffs that were attached to the chair and her feet were locked in metal boots attached to the floor. She tried to break free of them.

"Vibrainium," the woman muttered, checking her phone.

"Hmm?"

"Vibrainium," she repeated, looking up, "strongest metal on earth,"

Carol sighed, "I know what vibrainium is,"

She smiled, "Good,"

When Carol didn't say anything back, she continued, "Look, I know you're probably mad at me, or something,"

"Why would I be mad?"

She looked like she would have liked to scream, "Dang it Carol! I thought you were dead!"

"Daisy,"

Daisy paced the room, "Don't tell me any crap S.H.I.E.L.D already told me on your 'disappearance' or give me any reasons why I shouldn't blame myself,"

"I was just going to tell you your interrogation skills haven't gotten any better," Carol teased.

"What makes you think this is an interrogation?"

Carol looked at Daisy, then down at the cuffs in an obvious manner.

"This was the only way they were going to let me talk to you,"

Carol was filled with dread, "Alright Sunshine, what's up?"

Daisy sighed, "S.H.I.E.L.D currently having a," she made quotation marks with her fingers, "'disagreement' on which side you and Scott Lang are currently on. When you both returned, half of us thought you and Lang had a perfectly logical explanation for your absence during the Avenger's battle against Thanos, and the other half thought you guys were helping Thanos behind-the-scenes or something. I hope by now it's fairly obvious what I thought. The attack on you guys at the bridge was completely unauthorized, and I'm still pretty ticked they used my tech! The compromise was bringing anyone involved in,"

"Where was Fury in all of this?"

Daisy hesitated, "There hasn't been word of him since before the Avengers took on Thanos."

Carol decided to wait until Daisy was finished to mention the beeper.

"Anyways, has anyone explained the Thanos situation to you yet?"

Carol nodded.

"Good. The government has been doing some weird stuff about it lately, so S.H.I.E.L.D has been stepping out a little more. After Hydra took over, no one was really for bring S.H.I.E.L.D back, but eventually, Nick couldn't stand watching things like this go down without a say in it, so S.H.I.E.L.D was just really in the shadows for a while," Daisy grinned, "Ok, now it's your turn."

Carol pretended to look confused.

"Ugh, you are such a bad actor,"

"That's why I joined the Air Force, Sunshine,"

Daisy sighed, "Look, I missed you, ok?"

"Me too," Carol looked at Daisy, and finally decided she could tell her the truth, "After I decided not to join the Avengers, and deal with 'space stuff',"

Daisy snorted.

"I found Thanos's mothership and, I'm pretty sure, this happened during the Battle of New York, so the ship was pretty empty, accept it wasn't exactly empty,"

Daisy slapped her palm to her forehead, "For the love of,"

"So then I took on a bunch of 'Thanos's little munchkins' who were trying to go through this portal, but I ended up being shoved into a different portal, which was to the quantum realm, and," she smiled at Daisy, "Now we're here."

"Woah, woah, woah, back up. You went molecular! Why would they do that? Wait, how did you get out?" a shocked Daisy asked.

"I'm pretty sure Scott Lang had some sort of interdimensional tether,"

"So, the miniature Hank Pym, in a literal and figurative sense, was in the quantum realm too?"

"Yeah, and his helmet was weird."

Daisy laughed, "That's really bothering you, isn't it?"

"Oh my gosh! Yes!"

"I still don't get why Thanos sent his 'flying monkeys' to shove you in the quantum realm. No offense, but if I were Thanos, I would have just killed you."

"Wow Sunshine, just wow. But for the record, the quantum realm has no sense of time or space, so you're basically just falling for entirety and there is, 'supposedly', no way out." Carol explained.

"Oh, ok! That makes sense then."

Carol raised her eyebrows, "You really scare me sometimes."

Daisy wore a goofy grin.

"So, what happens now?"

Daisy sighed, "I don't know. Someone else is talking to Lang now. You came around faster, but we think he might have a minor concussion from my electromagnetic pulse device," she inhaled sharply, "because the idiot using it set the wavelengths too high!"

Carol mimicked Daisy's voice from earlier, "That's really bothering you, isn't it?"

Daisy laughed, "Yeah, I was really hoping I could talk to both of you, but a bunch of people are convinced that Lang could possibly be a telepath, so they're keeping him away from anyone who could help him escape. Hence, you, Ava, and Luis."

Carol opened her mouth.

"Don't worry, their fine. Accept Ava refuses to talk to anyone with a S.H.I.E.L.D pin, and Luis can't tell the difference between necessary and unnecessary details. S.H.I.E.L.D is already planning to let them off."

"What about you?"

Daisy shrugged, "I've been trying to find any physical evidence that you and Lang aren't working for Thanos, but nothing yet,"

"Daisy," Carol attempted to reach for her pocket, but the remembered her hands were in restraints.

"Oh, um,"

"It's in my pocket, a while ago Nick gave me this beeper, and,"

"Here, I got it," Daisy awkwardly leaned over Carol.

"Woah, ok! I did not see that coming. Wow, this is awkward," Carol went on as Daisy crawled over her.

"Carol, you have to talk to me. Which one is it?"

"Oh, uh. The left one,"

Daisy reached into her pocket, "Is this hand sanitizer?"

"How should I know? You guys knocked me unconscious!"

"Thought you were all about getting your hands dirty and here's some cupcake flavored, oh my gosh I found it!" Daisy held up the beeper.

Carol snorted, "Cupcake flavored,"

"I was messing with you. What? You don't just eat you hand sanitizer while you fight space people and get stuck in the quantum realm?" She said sarcastically.

"Just read the message!"

Daisy gasped, "Oh my gosh! This is perfect!" she exclaimed after reading the message, "Can I take this upstairs?"

"Uh, sure, I guess so,"

"Thanks!" She hugged Carol.

As she pressed her thumb on the ID pad, Daisy turned around, "Welcome back, Captain."

The door slid upwards, and automatically came back down as soon as Daisy left. Carol sighed and looked upwards. It was a couple of hours before Daisy returned. When she came through the door, she held up a small remote, pushed the center button, and the cuffs restraining Carol released their grip. She stood up and held her wrist in her opposite hand circled it around to regain circulation. Daisy handed her the beeper and smiled.

"Huh, you're smiling. You don't usually do that. I assume it went well?" Carol teased.

"Yeah," Daisy laughed, "Can't wait to see what they'll do if or when Clint comes back."

Carol followed Daisy upstairs. They were standing right in the middle of what looked like a giant dome. There were people all around coming in and out of briefings and hallways from all sides. The tiles were white with gray splatters.

"This used to be a subway station, but we fixed it up a little bit."

"Woah," Carol looked up at the glass roof, "So, how do,"

"Planes miss a giant glass dome in the ground," Daisy finished, "We're under a nation park, but tourists never come out this far, and if people did find it, they would only see a hill."

"That's incredible,"

Daisy lead Carol to a hallway on the other side of the dome and she stopped at a nearly invisible door that was the same color as the wall. She held up her S.H.I.E.L.D ID and the door swung open. Daisy and Carol stepped inside the ginormous S.H.I.E.L.D storage vault.

"Think fast," Daisy threw Scott's helmet at Carol.

She smoothly caught the helmet as Daisy grabbed the familiar, neatly folded suit, plus another one Carol hadn't seen before. Its helmet and design were similar to the Ant-Man suit, but the major difference was its navy blue and yellow color scheme. There were many other weapons and artifacts in the storage vault too.

"Bigger than it looks," Carol commented at the large room that was almost the size of a warehouse.

"Yeah, we're planning on having a garage sale or something," Daisy grinned, "Let's go get Bug Boy,"

The door shut quietly behind them.

Daisy looked sideways at Carol, "Hey, uh, if you and Lang are up for it, we might just have a mission for you guys."

Carol smiled, "It's about damn time."

Daisy looked relived, "I was hoping you'd say that,"

They passed a couple of rooms with slightly murky windows that Carol assumed were one-way mirrors. Daisy stopped short and pulled out her phone.

"Wait, what is it?" Carol asked concernedly.

She grinned, "Nothing. I just owe a friend a favor."

She must have looked confused, because Daisy explained as they kept walking, "The government started rounding up kids whose legal guardians ceased to exist after the Avenger's battle with Thanos. It made sense for infants, toddlers, and younger kids, but some of the older ones didn't feel comfortable leaving their homes at this time and were being forced out by the government." She gestured to a girl at the end of the hall, "She's been interning here at S.H.I.E.L.D ever since she got powers from a terrigin mist incident. She's from New Jersey and was apparently the ringleader of a group of kids who were tried of trusting the government to solve their problems after Thanos won. Every single teen resisted the police in that neighborhood, and a couple of adults too, but when the police pulled out their guns, that girl acted as a human shield and disarmed all of them." Daisy paused, "She probably has an Inhuman somewhere in her family tree too,"

Carol looked down at her feet, "Daisy, you didn't have to come with me to fight those Kree. I told you they liked to mess around with the terrigin mist,"

"People would have died if I didn't," Daisy smiled, "Plus, my powers really help with combat when they want to."

"She fought alongside those kids, even though she could have left," Carol asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, I guess none of us here really have that mindset." Daisy looked at Carol with a knowing smile, "Hey, here's a crazy idea. Why don't you talk to her and I'll take the suit," she took the helmet that was loosely under Carol's arm.

Carol looked surprised, "Uh, ok. Do you really think that's a good idea?"

Daisy shrugged, "Why not? She's got strange abilities and lost most of the people in her life. She finds herself in the middle of battles that she's really only fighting to protect others. Sounding familiar yet? I think you two would get along. Plus, you're great with kids."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on! Everyone wishes you were their mom!"

"Daisy, you have no idea how wrong and weird that just sounded,"

"Hey Kamala! Over here!"

Kamala looked over at them, "Daisy! What is it you need me to," she trailed off and studied Carol.

Daisy held up her ID and then placed her thumb on the pad to Scott's cell, "Be back in a second."

"Oh my gosh! Captain Marvel!" She cried excitedly, then facepalmed, "Crap, I had this whole speech written out in case I got to meet you, but here you are, and I've forgotten my speech,"

"That would have been really awkward for both of us, so I'm glad we can move right past the speech part."

She was tan and had mid-length, wavy dark brown hair with bangs. Her warm, brown eyes were surrounded by a light blue mask. She was shorter than Carol, but about the average height for someone her age. She wore a navy-blue suit with a yellow lightning bolt stretching from her left shoulder down to her right leg. She had flat, red boots that came just up below her knees and a red scarf she wore with the ends hanging behind her shoulders.

"Woah, no one believed me," She ran her fingers through her own hair, "I knew you were real! I knew you weren't dead!"

Carol laughed lightly, "Kamala, right?"

Kamala blushed, "Yes! Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel!" She suddenly looked embarrassed, "Crap! Did I just say that?" She muttered.

"Ms. Marvel?"

"Uh," Kamala blushed, "It's kinda my made-up name I use when I'm fighting crime and stuff."

"Yeah, I heard about what you did in with those kids and the police in New Jersey."

"Oh, yeah," She sighed, "I would've been ok, I guess, but a lot of other people weren't so lucky. I had friends, and they didn't want to be dragged away by the government. That was their home! This is probably, like, the worst time to start breaking people apart."

There was silence before Carol spoke, "How long have you been Ms. Marvel?"

"Not too long. I've had powers for a while, but I've only really started using to do stuff other than getting things off shelves, and oh my gosh, I'm sorry I still can't believe I'm really talking to you!"

Carol looked confused, "Oh my gosh, this makes me sound so old, but I know you can't be old enough to,"

"S.H.I.E.L.D stuff," Kamala explained, knowing what Carol was trying to say, "My aunt was with S.H.I.E.L.D too and always would tell me about the Kree and Skrull War. You've been my idol ever since I started working with S.H.I.E.L.D and I found out how you saved Earth! And by 2012 I cosplayed as a different Avenger each day! Anyways, in, like, third grade, I dressed up as you and everyone thought I was insane, cause it was a Veterans Day activity or something and we were supposed to do something to honor our heroes or something. But then at recess, I could have sworn I saw you at the warehouse by our school, so I did something stupid and decided to check it out, and I saw you and this other lady fighting some Kree people, and then they blew up this weird looking smoke bomb, but after that I woke up in the hospital."

"So, you're an Avengers fan then?"

Kamala wore wide, proud smile, "That's just a little bit of an understatement."

Carol laughed, "Well, ok then,"

Suddenly, Daisy came through the door, looking at her phone followed by Scott.

"Well, I better get going," Kamala paused before turning away, "Thank you Captain Marvel! It was really amazing to finally met you!"

"Kid, call me Carol." Carol smiled.

Kamala went to hug Carol, and Carol went for a handshake. In response to each other, Carol then went to hug Kamala, and Kamala went for a handshake.

"Uh, how bout a high-five?" Kamala suggested.

Carol laughed, "Sure,"

Carol could have sworn Kamala's hand looked slightly larger than it had a moment ago. As she walked off, Carol turned to face Scott who was once again wearing his red-and-black suit. His brown hair that normally stood on edge was now ruffled and his face was bruised with a scar along his temple, looking as if someone had grabbed his head and slammed it against a wall. Carol figured that there was a high possibility of that at this point. He clutched the navy blue and yellow suit tightly to his chest. His brow was furrowed in confusion, making him look like he was lost in thought and his sea green eyes looked unfocused.

"Hey, um, are you ok?" When he didn't respond, Carol waved her hand in front of his face.

Scott's eyes dilated to their normal size, "Oh, hey Carol!"

Daisy stood behind Scott and shrugged at Carol.

"Ok," Daisy clapped her hands, and Scott flinched at the sound, "Let's go, shall we?"

Carol and Scott followed her back through the dome again. All the sudden, both Scott and Daisy's phones let off an obnoxious buzzing.

"Ugh, government alerts." Daisy groaned.

Scott still checked his phone, "Um, this actually sounds kinda important. They're trying to get the names of everyone who's survived and hasn't. S.H.I.E.L.D really doesn't care about this?"

Daisy shrugged, "All of our agents are either faking their deaths or creating false identities. Plus, we already have a count on that, so,"

Scott's eyes widened, "Cassie Lang!"

Daisy looked surprised, "Excuse me?"

"Cassandra Lang," Scott repeated, "Do you have her on your list thingy?"

An unamused Daisy crossed her arms, "Lang, that information is highly classified, and I'm not about to share it now. Do you have any idea how many agents a day ask us about their spouses, and they're not even allowed to,"

"She's my daughter!" he cried, "Please, I, I need to know if she's alive! She's ten, she loves rabbits and princesses, she plays soccer, she sleeps with the covers, but not the sheets because the sheets make her too hot, she is the most beautiful, kind young lady, and I need to be there for her, and,"

Daisy's face looked regretful, "Woah, ok, just calm down. I'm sorry, I, I didn't know,"

Scott looked down and closed his eyes, "It's ok," he said quietly.

"So, why didn't your phone go off?" Daisy asked Carol after an uncomfortable silence.

Carol smiled and held up her beeper.

"I'm getting you an upgrade for Christmas,"

Carol, Scott, and Daisy entered a large briefing room, but only one other person was in it. She had long red hair, pulled back into a low ponytail. She wore high heels, a mid-length pale skirt, and a slim black jacket.

"Danvers. Lang. This is Agent Potts," Daisy coughed, "Mrs. Stark," she muttered.

She rolled her eyes, "Daisy! For the love of, just call me Pepper,"

Carol gave a small wave. Scott looked anxious and didn't try to hide his confusion.

"We're in a state of crisis right now. The nation, S.H.I.E.L.D, and the entire universe. Everyone is scared, despite whatever Thanos may have intended. First thing we need to do is find the rest of the Avengers." Pepper explained.

"Has anyone found Tony yet?" Scott asked Pepper.

She hesitated, "No,"

"I'm so sorry,"

Pepper shook her head, "However, we believe the rest of the Avengers are in Wakanda."

Carol nodded slowly, "So, head to Wakanda, find the Avengers, then find Stark, then what?"

Daisy shrugged, "It's a working progress."

"If there's a way to somehow undo what Thanos did, we have to find it," Pepper said determinedly.

"And I completely agree, but just how are we," Carol was cut off when the doors behind her burst open.

"Ohmygosh! There'sthisaliendudeandhejusttriedtokillmeandiscomingforyou! Youhavetogetoutofhere!" Kamala gasped for air.

"Woah, woah, woah! Slow down kid!" Carol put her hand on Kamala's shoulder.

Kamala shook her head, "No time! This alien dude really wants to kill you guys! Like, Darth-Vader-using-the-force-to-slowly-suffocate-someone kill you!"

"What alien dude? Why wasn't there been a security notice?" Daisy asked concernedly.

"He just appeared out of nowhere and was all like, 'In the name of Thanos, I shall kill you,' or something, I wasn't really listening to him. So then he started, like, trying to beat me up and stuff, so I beat him up, but then he was saying he came to kill you guys and anyone who got in his way, or something stupid like that,"

Carol noticed something small and flashing on the end of Kamala's scarf. She reached for it, and heard a faint beeping coming from it. Realizing what it was, she snatched it off of Kamala's scarf, fired an energy blast at the ceiling, and threw the bomb up through the hole in the ceiling.

"Well, that was a bit dramatic, don't you think?" Daisy teased, looking up at the hole in the ceiling.

A voice coughed from behind them. Carol turned around to find a light blue alien standing under the threshold of the door. He had long, stick-like fingers, no nose, and wore a long, black robe.

He smiled, "Hear me, and rejoice,"

"Zip it, Voldemort," Kamala interrupted.

"Hooray, Thanos's little helpers are under new management," Daisy muttered sarcastically.

He smiled, "I am a descendant of Ebony Maw," he stated proudly, "And I will not let Thanos down so easily,"

Carol finally noticed Scott was nowhere to be found. She glanced over at Pepper, who was now pointing a gun at the alien's head. He sighed and chucks of cement from the ceiling transformed into daggers and began to rain down on them. Carol braced herself for the piercing pain, but it never came. When see looked up, she saw that Kamala's hand had become disproportional to the rest of her body and was acting as an umbrella from the daggers. The alien looked confused and stopped for a moment. Kamala's hand returned to its normal size and where Carol had suspected there to be bleeding wounds, there were faint, green-glowing scratches.

"Embiggen!" Kamala exclaimed as she launched her fist at the alien, her arm growing in length and stretching to reach him.

She hit him right in the face, and her arm retracted back to its normal length. Pepper began to fire at the alien. Carol fired an energy blast at him, while Daisy fired an electromagnetic blast from her gauntlets. Kamala grabbed him by the neck and held him up.

"Why are you here?" Carol demanded.

He gasped, "To kill you, and anyone who might try to destroy his reality," his voice grew fainter, "I thought the bomb I placed on the child would have finished you," he laughed, darkly and quietly, "Just like they'll finish your little friend."

Scott sprinted down a nearly abandoned street. He had quickly changed into his clothes he had been given in his S.H.I.E.L.D holding cell while his suit had been confiscated. He felt horrible about leaving and giving into his anxiety, but the second the door burst open was just the distraction he needed, and he had to know. He had used his suit to escape, and he would have liked to have to keep using it, but it would be harder for any agents who tried to search for him to find him in civilian clothes, so he stuffed his and Hope's suits into a black backpack he burgled from an unsuspecting S.H.I.E.L.D agent. He had pulled the hood of his gray jacket over his head, and the ends of the jacket trailed behind him. They hadn't seemed to have left town, but there was no time to call Luis. As he slid to turn a corner, he was thrown backwards by an explosion. Scott's head violently hit the cement. He slowly lifted his head when he heard someone screaming. They ran the opposite direction of a flashing light. Scott covered his head with his hands and brought his knees up to his chest. After the bomb exploded, Scott lept to his feet he dashed strait through where the explosion had just happened. Maggie, Paxton, and Cassie lived just down at the end of the street.

"Hold on Peanut! I'm coming!" Scott yelled, and then realized his mistake as another bomb exploded on his right.

He braced himself for the collision with the wall next to him. He tried to shake away the tiny spikes of pain injecting themselves into his arm. He successfully dodged the next two explosions and sprinted the rest of the way to the house. When he heard the sound of an airplane approaching behind him, he decided he had come to far to give up now. He skipped the steps leading to the front door, but it was locked.

"Sorry Paxton," he muttered as he swiftly picked the lock.

The inside of the house was empty and quiet. Scott flinched at the sound of a floorboard creaking from underneath him. Everything was in its place; however, a chess set had been knocked off a shelf and its contents were spilled across the floor. He pulled back on his suit as he raced up the stairs to Cassie's room. The curtains were pulled back and in the faint light, he could see dust circling and floating in the air. Unwilling to believe it was Cassie's remains, he raced back down the stairs and after two tries, correctly guessed Maggie's computer password. He knew Paxton had installed a rather complex security system with his help, but he was only able to recover audio from the front door at the time.

"Paxton! Where's Cassie? What's happening?" Maggie cried.

"Maggie!" Paxton yelled, and Scott heard the chess set fall to the ground, "What the," his voice suddenly disappeared.

Almost inaudible, a faint voice cried, "Daddy!" before fading away.

But to Scott, the voice was intensely pounding in his ears. So loud, he didn't hear one of the new Black Order members creeping up behind him.

"Aww," she purred, placing a death grip on Scott's shoulder with one scaly, boney hand and holding a knife up to his throat with the other, "I know it's sad. But you should be proud to know that her meaningless, little life has meant salvation for millions of others."

Scott's hand clenched into a fist and he furiously broke free of her grip and punched her right in the face.

She was taken aback and tripped over one of the knights from the chess set. Just then, a dark-haired teenager in a red and blue suit literally extended her arm to punch the alien in the stomach. Scott hastily put on his helmet and shrank as the alien recovered and attempted to hit him. He ran underneath her and as he grew back to his normal size, he jumped up and kicked her in the back. As she fell forward, the dark-haired girl's hand became larger and disproportional to her body. She pounded the alien into the ground with her hand, and then let it return to its normal size.

"Woah! That was so cool!" The girl exclaimed happily, "I just teamed up with Ant-Man!"

Scott retracted, and a puzzled look came over his face, "Who are you?"

"Ms. Marvel!" she smiled, "Or, you know, just Kamala."

"Wait, you're telling me there's a Captain Marvel and a Ms. Marvel now?"

"Kinda like there's a Black Panther and a Black Widow?"

Scott laughed, "Touché. So, I take it you're not with them," he pointed at the unconscious alien on the ground.

She shook her head, "And I take it you're not on board with S.H.I.E.L.D?"

He shrugged, "Who knows at this point?"

Kamala laughed, "Ditto."

"Kamala!" Carol flew over the chess set and landed by the alien, "Um, ok. I'm really proud and scared at the same time." She gazed down at the alien.

Daisy was just behind Carol, "What the heck were you thinking?" She annoyedly accused Scott, "You almost exposed this entire operation!"

"But I didn't!" Scott tried to sound optimistic.

Daisy's jaw dropped, "I cannot believe you."

"So, where's Pepper?" Carol said rather loudly to distract Daisy from wanting to straggle Scott.

Daisy smiled, "You'll see. We had to taken out the trash first."

"Oof," Kamala shuddered, "Do you always refer to people like that? Or, extraterrestrial beings in this case?"

Daisy shrugged just as a plane landed in the front yard of the house. It had been camouflaged but reveled its silver body as it touched the ground. Scott, Carol, Kamala, and Daisy met Pepper outside as the floor of the plane lowered into a ramp and she emerged from it.

"Oh my gosh, you've gotten as bad as Stark with your entrances." Daisy smirked.

Pepper rolled her eyes and looked at Carol, "Daisy told me you were a pilot in the Air Force. Do you think you can fly this?" She gestured to the plane.

Carol wore a daring smile, "I think I can manage."

Pepper smoothly tossed Carol the keys, "Good, cause I think autopilot believes it's a sin to go over 30 miles per hour." She laughed, "It would be a rather long ride to Wankanda."

Scott looked down at his phone, "Yay! Wifi!" he felt everyone staring at him, "And, you know, hooray for saving the world and stuff too." he added.

"Are you done?" Daisy asked annoyedly.

"Nope. Just gonna text Luis real quick," Scott began narrating, "Just, fought, some, creepy, alien, people! Wanted, to, let, you, know! BTW, did, you, and, Ava, break, out, alright?"

"Just so we're clear, you know we let both of them go, right?" Pepper puzzledly asked Scott.

"Oh, well. Tomato, potato!" Scott shrugged.

Pepper looked concerned at this point, "Um, I don't think… That's not the saying."

"10-year-olds. It becomes a force of habit." Scott groaned, "Ugh. Now there's the little bubble with the three blinky dots!"

"Oh my gosh! It's so annoying when that happens." Kamala commented.

Scott grinned, "I know right? Get it together you multimillion-dollar phone companies! Wait, here it is!" Scott quickly read the message, "Ok, so they're safe! Luis is trying to get Ava to stop cursing S.H.I.E.L.D for kidnapping us and he's also making waffles,"

"No one cares," Daisy groaned, "And S.H.I.E.L.D didn't 'kidnapped' you."

Scott and Carol both raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ok, it's just that 'kidnap' is a strong word."

"An accurate one." Kamala pointed out, who was now on her phone too.

"Who are you trying to support here?" Daisy asked her.

"Captain Marvel and Ant-Man," Kamala replied looking up from her phone, "Duh."

"Ugh, you're such a fangirl! What are you doing right now?" Daisy teased.

"Thank you," Kamala stated proudly, "I'm, uh," She paused, "Writing down ideas for my fanfiction before I forget." She finished sheepishly.

"Uh huh," Daisy looked satisfied.

"Ahem," Pepper coughed to get their attention and gestured to the plane, "Are you guys ready to go kick some Mad Titan butt or would you rather talk about waffles and kidnapping people?"

"Pass," Daisy smiled, "The Kid and I will make sure S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't do anything stupid."

"Or, she could come with us." Carol suggested.

Daisy laughed, then a look of realization came over her face, "Oh, you're serious?"

Carol shrugged, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"How about because she's a child?"

"I'm fourteen." Kamala corrected Daisy.

"Pepper, could please you tell these two that they are out of their minds?"

Pepper looked undecided, "I believe she's fully capable, but Carol, I'm not so sure about this."

"For the love of," Scott interrupted, "How is this any different from when Tony recruited that Spider-kid to take on Captain America?"

"The Iron-Man and Spider-Man team up? Awesome!" Kamala exclaimed.

Pepper smiled, "I think that might be the first thing he's said so far that makes any sense."

"Um, thanks?" Scott wondered if that was a compliment.

"But wait, how old is Spider-Man?" Kamala asked.

"I don't know, I think he's, like, fifteen or something," Scott suggested.

"Really? Wow, that's cool!"

"What do you think kid?" Carol turned to Kamala.

"So, basically, you want me to team up with you guys, go to some other country, reassemble the avengers, oh my gosh that sounded so awesome, and then go up against this crazy alien dude who killed half of everybody and will most likely kill us the first chance he gets with he's magic glove?"

Scott shrugged, "Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"Oh my gosh! Yes! This is the best day of my life!" Kamala exclaimed, jumping up and down with excitement.

"Well, that's settles that then," Carol smiled, "You sure you're not coming, Daisy?"

Daisy shook her head, "You kids have fun! I'll be at S.H.I.E.L.D. You know, people to yell at, buttons to push, faces to punch, butts to kick."

Carol laughed, "I'll miss ya, Sunshine."

"So long Captain," Daisy winked and saluted, then hopped into a black van that had been carelessly parked on the curb and drove off.

"Dibs on a window seat!" Scott exclaimed, racing up the ramp onto the plane.

There were a few rows, widely spaced, on the plane, and a large cockpit at the front. The seats were gray and cushioned, and there were two to a row with a window significantly larger than one on a commercial flight. Scott tossed the backpack and his helmet, his only belongings, onto the seat in the front row that was closest to the window and joined the others in the cockpit. It only took Carol about a minute to get the plane up in the air, and they passed above the ash and dust colored clouds.

"Onwards to Wakonda!" Scott cried in a goofy voice, pointing at the windshield.

"Wakanda." Carol corrected him, steadily holding the yoke.

"Whatever you just said!" He cried in the same voice again.

Carol raised an eyebrow at him and smirked.

"Yeah, ok. I'm done."

"If or when we find Tony, he doesn't know about this," Pepper gestured to her S.H.I.E.L.D pin, "So, just keep this between us because I want to keep him from finding out."

"Good luck with that," Carol teased her.

Scott walked back to his window seat and pulled out his earbuds to listen to some music. After a couple of minutes, he heard a frustrated sigh from Kamala behind him. He turned around and looked over his seat.

"What's up?"

Kamala looked up, startled, "Oh, um. I have this weird puzzle app on my phone, and I'm playing chess against some dude who's probably actually played before. You know, unlike me. But I can't complete the daily challenges if I don't accept and win a challenge from someone and it's really messing with my OCD."

"Well, that sure sounds complicated," Scott looked at her phone, "Oh, but you're in the endgame though!"

"Is that a good thing?"

"It depends. You have to use it to your advantage to win. Or, you know, it could just mean you'll be done playing soon."

Scott moved to the seat next to Kamala and advised her on were to move the pieces.

"Yes!" Kamala exclaimed, high-fiving Scott, "Thank you!"

"No problem. You just have to," Scott suddenly jumped out of his seat and gasped.

"What! What is it?" Kamala asked concernedly.

"Endgame! This is the endgame! We're in the endgame now!"