Natasha found herself slinking into the gym, tracing the distinctive clang of metal on metal that happened about once every thirty seconds, followed immediately by groans, curses, and taunts. She smirked at the sight of Barnes and Wilson playing an intense game of frisbee with none other than the shield of Captain America, in all of its shiny, spangly glory. She was waiting for Steve to come out any second now, roll his eyes with a grin, and either send them off to dinner or on a series of increasingly difficult drills. Barnes flung the shield back at Sam, who caught it just in time to raise it against an onslaught of beanbags. Sam dropped the shield to glare and stick his tongue out at Bucky but immediately took a beanbag to the head.

"Shithead." Sam cussed.

"Language, Cap!" snickered Bucky, who caught the shield to the stomach with an 'oof.'

Cap? Where was Rogers if Wilson got the title? Natasha wondered. I'll have to stick around to get to the bottom of this.

"You're improving, but if you want to see over the top without getting your head blown off it's all in the way you hold the damn thing," said Barnes. "Machine gun looking your way. What do you do?"

"Get cover if there's nobody to cover first," answered Sam automatically.

"That hunk of painted vibranium is your damn cover if nothing else is an option. It currently isn't," Barnes grabbed a paintball gun. "Embrace your inner turtle, Wilson. Get down."

He started shooting as fast as he could, barely giving Sam enough time to drop into a crouch behind the entirety of the shield. Paintballs danced across the metal, pinging as they burst open and splattered their payload everywhere. Natasha looked on with a smirk, impressed at how well the soldier was adapting to the new weapon. Thank God that the two were getting along…

When Bucky finally ran out of ammo after yelling directions for Sam to roll under the cover of the shield, Sam dropped it and lunged after him in a massive tackle. The two started yelling and then it turned into a wrestling match, with Bucky's metal arm making loud clanging noises after each hit to the floor.

Well, maybe they weren't getting along perfectly. At least they didn't have to squabble over space in a tiny car again.

The door to the gym opened and a rather familiar looking old man walked in. Natasha could see more years than she expected on his face despite his well-kept build. Whoever it was certainly aged well. She frowned, unable to place where she had seen him before, and she found that very unsettling.

The man merely snorted at Wilson and Barnes, who looked up with shit-eating grins on their faces.

"Hey, Cap," said Sam.

"Hey yourself, Cap," replied the old man, smiling wryly. "Nice to see that you two haven't killed each other yet."

Cap? That's him?

Bucky rolled out from under Sam and put him in a headlock with his metal arm, rubbing the knuckles of his free hand all over Sam's head as the other man kicked. "Yeah, well this crazy birdman-" Bucky grunted, cut off by a particularly powerful kick.

"Kicked you right where it hurts. How's it going, Rogers?" Sam replied, slipping out of the headlock and pinning Bucky to the floor.

"Good. How are you two whippersnappers doing?" chuckled the old man.

Bucky heaved Sam off and sprung at the him in a tackle. "Just fine, punk. How's the wife?"

"Jerk," said Rogers automatically. "She's doing well. I talked to some people, pulled a few strings and she's almost cured of her Alzheimer's. The drugs that did it should actually hit the market in a month or two. It's 2023, I saw it all coming, and I still can't get over the miracles of science, medicine, and all these new-fangled doohickeys."

Natasha hovered closer to the group and couldn't help but stare. This was Steve Rogers? Did he get stuck in the past at some point, presumably after returning the borrowed infinity stones? And what was this about a wife? Oh. Oh. She put the pieces together. If he was this old now, it would be about the same age as Peggy Carter if she had survived Alzheimer's, and it seemed as if she did. It made some sense to Natasha. Steve had never really gotten over her and had maybe used the last of the Pym particles that were meant for the return trip to find her. She was really going to have to ask Tony about how the time heist turned out, because she was going off of more assumptions than she preferred in her narrative.

Sam snorted and continued wrestling with Bucky, grabbing beanbags and pelting him in the face with as many of them as he could. "Congrats, man. Hey Ducky, you're welcome to join him in retirement."

"Fat chance, Wilson," Bucky stood and picked Sam up by the collar with his mechanical arm, lifting the winged Avenger over his head. "Hey Stevie, want to play some catch like we did back in the good old days?"

"PUT. ME. DOWN. Or so help me, raccoon man…"

Steve grinned. "I'll pass, but are either of you young men up for a game of frisbee with this crazy old coot?"

Natasha smiled and watched the game, surprised at the old Cap's strength and teaching ability. He was performing similarly to Sam and giving him both pointers and examples to learn from. While she was alive, she had never really had the chance to learn from him. There wasn't much that she needed to learn from him, and he just needed to play team leader if they were working together. But with someone to pass the torch to, she could see Steve was doing a good job of teaching someone how to hold it. There wasn't much for her to do besides wait for an opportunity to reach one of them or wait for them to drop some intel on Clint. She really didn't feel like sneaking into his quarters to find them bare and miss out on something or walk in on him ruining the very concept of music by singing in the shower.

There are only so many times someone can listen to a terribly sung version of 'Sweet Caroline' on a stakeout before they feel like snapping whenever they hear it again.

Tony was getting impatient, as most pranksters do when the very best of their pranks are being delayed. Would he ever get the sweet, sweet satisfaction of giving his dear Platypus a real platypus on his very first day of haunting the shit out of everyone? He just wished there was someone else to see it and enjoy it with him…

Natasha! Of course! Tony thought, soundlessly smacking himself in the face. He had to find Natasha quickly, before Rhodey came back, so they could both see it.

"Natasha! NATASHA! NATASHAAAAAA!" Tony shrieked, tearing through the hallways in search of the gym. Unbeknownst to him, there would be two victims and ghost witnesses for the price of one if he wound up getting the timing right…

Author's Note: Yes, I delayed the platypus prank reveal for another chapter, but I had an idea to sweeten the deal and expand it to the focus of an entire chapter. It's almost like this whole thing is writing itself, but it's the story that's moving slowly. Expect a chapter or two to reintroduce everybody and give our 'ghosts' an action plan.