Oh, you thought it was over, not quite. You know I always give you more. Thank you for all your comments and kudos. You are all fabulous, but you know that.
Think of this as your Disney plus extra feature
After being married to a Shield agent for well over a decade and now being an agent herself for over a year, Laura has seen a lot of crazy stuff. However, having her estranged husband show up unexpectedly in her apartment at the Avenger compound was not something she was expecting at all.
It was mostly because of the teleportation aspect of it. One minute Laura was alone, and the next, he was standing in front of her and attempting to hug her. It was very disconcerting.
There's also the fact that this Clint was covered in tattoos and had ridiculous hair. She hasn't seen Clint since he picked up Nikki for his time with the baby back in February. Laura is pretty sure one of the kids would've mentioned dad's new tattoos after their numerous video calls with their father. They talked to the man almost daily during their trial separation.
The constant crying also makes her extremely suspicious. That alone is why she text messaged Tony. Ok, the fact that he said he is from the year 2023 and asked why she is not at the farmhouse made her message Tony and send out an Avenger alert. Her real husband knows full well that she hasn't been back to her former home since Ross arrested (kidnapped) her from it almost 2 years prior. Something was obviously wrong.
Thankfully, years as a mom and a guidance counselor made her an expert at typing one-handed while cuddling someone crying. You'll be amazed at how often she had to utilize this skill before.
Counselor Laura: So not to alarm you, but a version of my estranged husband just popped up in my living room with a new tattoo that covers most of his arm and midlife crisis hair. He also says that he is from the year 2023.
Counselor Laura: He also won't stop hugging me or crying.
Boss Tony: That is concerning. Ana says that Clint is currently sitting on the couch of the new Malibu house with Nikki. Apparently, they are now blueberries on the ceiling because lunch went badly.
Counselor Laura: Yet he's here, and he says he's from five years in the future. Is this Leopold all over again?
Boss Tony: He could be an imposter. It wouldn't be the first time because, apparently, shape-shifting aliens exist.
Counselor Laura: Are you saying that this Clint could be an alien imposter like the "Ian Quinn" that turned out to be an alien imposter?
However, right as Laura pressed the send button, she saw a flash of light and felt as if her whole body shrinking. Moments later, it was over, and she found herself in the lab section of the Avenger compound. Except it didn't look like the lab space now. One, there were nowhere near as many teenage friendly science experiments. The kids had their own space.
Instead, there was a van parked in the middle of their usual lab space, and standing next to it was Scott. Although she hasn't met the man in person, Sharon has given her many updates on her charge, complete with pictures, so she instantly recognized the man. What was he doing on the East Coast? His house arrest wasn't up for a few more weeks.
Laura also recognized Simmons and May in the room. Of course, this Simmons was dressed in all black and seemed colder for some reason. She also saw Steve. Thankfully there was a wedding ring on his finger, so at least that was reassuring. At least it was reassuring if Laura did not acknowledge the fact that the wedding was not happening for another month. Also, his beard was gone, and he was back to being blonde.
She also sees Bruce on the platform, except he is now Hulk size and staring at her in complete bewilderment. The fact that he's there at all surprises her because he hasn't been seen since about two days after he and the rest of the Avengers crashed her old farmhouse back in April 2015. She was starting to believe that maybe this was 2023. This was all very weird. What the hell was going on?
"You weren't supposed to bring her back to 2023." She hears May chastise the not her husband, who might be her husband in the future. Because apparently, she really is in the future. Maybe they were divorced because there's no way she would allow Clint to have that hair if they were still married.
"Are you okay?" Steve asked her as he pulled her away from Clint. She could see Natasha now. She now had an arm around Clint or at least was trying to. He pushed her away. Of course, this Natasha had red hair again with blonde ends.
"I'm fine. What's going on?" Laura asked, but nobody answers her. Everybody's attention is focused on May and Simmons.
"Actually, that was the plan. Our plan, anyway." Simmons explained, and May's eyes became filled with concern.
"What did you do?" May asked, the worry evident in her voice.
"Don't give me that look. Do you really think we're going to be able to find all the infinity stones and then magically snap our fingers and bring everybody back?" Simmons asked bitterly.
"Yes, actually." Laura heard Steve respond from beside her.
"Then you're delusional because that's just not feasible. At best, your plan was wishful thinking. We are low on Pym particles that we are unable to reverse engineer despite Deke being able to reverse engineer anything. Regardless of Bruce's help and Deke coming across some old notes on the SI servers, we barely figured out how to create a time guidance system. That's only because we had the residue energy from the monolith to help. No one else may be willing to admit it, but there's no way we're going to be able to reverse what Thanos did, but we could at least get Fitz and Laura back." May looks like she is near seconds from punching Simmons, but Steve quickly leaves Laura to physically hold May back.
"Take a moment." Laura hears Steve whisper. "She is still grieving."
"We are all still grieving. However, we've learned to move forward, but Simmons hasn't. That's not an excuse to be so obsessed about Fitz. You're being very selfish. You even risked your own grandson." Laura mumbles the word grandson under her breath as she continues to look on extremely confused. What the hell is going on here?
"He volunteered," Simmons argued. "And since Stark won't help us, maybe Fitz will when Deke brings him back." Okay, who is Deke? Laura thought to herself. "If anybody can reverse engineer the Pym particles, it's him.
"Except he's not here, and neither is Deke," May yelled back.
"Just because you moved on doesn't mean the rest of us have. We need Fitz, and I had to take this chance to bring him back."
"I've adapted to our current circumstances, but that doesn't mean I've given up hope. Robin says we can do this. I believe her. You could have Fitz back." At the name of the six-year-old, Laura almost relaxed.
"Not the one that was blown up by the monolith. Coulson and Yo-Yo died, and Daisy and Mack turned to dust; you married Captain bloody America and adopted two kids." Simmons yelled.
Laura realizes at those words she is not in Kansas, or rather her own timeline, anymore.
To be continued in Infinite Messaging to the Endgame.
I was hoping to start uploading the chapters for Unlimited text messaging to the endgame on Valentine's Day, but that just didn't happen. I ended up moving in January, and that took up all my energy.
However, I will begin posting later today. The first 8 chapters are already off to proofreading.
See summary below:
Title: Infinite Messaging to the Endgame
Part three of the Use Your Words universe. Sequel to I Hope You Have Unlimited Text Messaging and Text Messages from the Edge of High school.
Summary: They say that the best way to communicate in an emergency is via text message. A giant purple alien bent on wiping out half of the universe's population with the help of six infinity stones qualifies as an emergency. This fact is even more apparent now that Laura Barton is currently trapped in a timeline where that happened because the Avengers (read: Tony and Steve) never mended fences. Now the last remnants of those Avengers are trying to fix what happened. What's going to be easier, stopping Thanos from wiping out half the universe with the infinity stones, undoing the damage he already caused in another timeline where he succeeded, or getting that timeline's Tony and Steve to get their shit together? Two timelines, one mission, and an infinite amount of text messaging.
Coming March 1, 2020
Proofreading took longer than anticipated. So, at least you won't have to wait very long.
