Right after Tony Stark's brief phone call with Steve, Rhodey, and Thor had ended, a spaceship arrived on the premises, hovering over the electromagnetic shield before any three of them had a chance to explain what was going on.

Naturally, there was a defensive response from the Wakandans, given the events of the day. The tribes made note of the unknown vessel looming over their borders, many of them racing out to get a different vantage point. Steve spoke into his earpiece hoping to defuse what could be an ugly misunderstanding.

"Nat! Shuri! Someone!" he yelled in a commanding tone. "That ship's not a hostile, Tony's in there and he needs medical assistance! Get them to lower the shield!"

"Doing it right now," Shuri's voice came over the comm. "I just had to establish contact first to be safe."

The three of them heaved a sigh of relief, scrambling to the ground level of the main building to greet Stark and whoever else he was with. "Shuri, tell them to land in the main area next to our Quinjet," Steve instructed. "Make sure your people are ready to take Tony to the medical bay as soon the ship lands."

The elevator shot down to the first floor in seconds, just fast enough for Steve, Thor, and Rhodey to see the ship land in front of the main building. They raced out to greet the new arrivals, the ramp of the spacecraft dropping unceremoniously onto the ground. A blue, machine like woman stumbled out, practically dragging the unconscious Iron Man forward. She must've been the voice they heard over the call.

Steve and Thor instantly ran forward to aid the ailing billionaire, Rhodey falling just a little behind due to not having augmented physical abilities.

"How is he?" Cap asked with urgency, grimacing at Tony's blood tainted face.

"He insisted he was fine," she said, shaking her head as they rushed him forward. "But I tried stabilizing him regardless. He woke up with an adrenaline rush, sweating, and I think that drained the last of his energy."

Damn you Stark, always saying you can handle it, it's no big deal, Thor thought, knowing the mortal always willed himself to push beyond his limits.

Shuri rushed forward with a group of medics, holding a set of beads in her hand. "Where is the wound in question?" she inquired.

The woman nodded to Tony's midsection, and Shuri quickly ripped open his shirt, placing the beads where the nanobots had sealed the puncture earlier. "This will stabilize him," she explained, Tony's breathing growing steadier and less ragged the second she implanted the device.

"We will work on him as efficiently as possible, but he will likely need at least a day before exerting himself further," Shuri cautioned, motioning to the medics to take Tony onto the gurney they had brought out.

With that, they rushed him inside to the subterranean level medical bay, where only a few ailing Wakandan warriors still remained, as they hadn't suffered many casualties from the Outriders. Steve snuck in one last glance at the man before he and the medics disappeared around a corner.

A silence ensued between the four left standing outside until Thor spoke, "Let's head inside. Standing in this blistering heat won't do us any good."

Everyone could agree on that at the very least, trudging inside the grand building. The silence trickled on a little more, eyes darting between one another.

"I'm gonna… go keep an eye on him, make sure he's alright," Rhodey spoke awkwardly. "Steve, Thor, uh, you, you guys want to come along?"

"Just a moment," Thor told him, his eyes settling on the blue lady, questions filling his head.

The colonel nodded, as if expecting that response. "Steve?"

The former Captain America hesitated, memories of their last exchange burning through his mind. He wasn't sure if he could even watch Stark in his current state without regret and remnants of anger coursing through him. Still… "I guess it'll be a start," he finished his thought out loud, turning to Thor before he moved to leave. "Try to get our new arrival acquainted."

Nebula shot the aforementioned Steve a deathly stare in response to his discussing her in that matter, but he had already turned to walk down to the medical bay with his friend, leaving her and this Thor standing in the main hall of the lavish building.

"Hello there," he began with a polite wave before extending his arm. "I'm Thor, Son of Odin, God of Thunder. It's a pleasure to meet you. Glad to see you were able to bring back Stark in one piece."

She half snorted at the greeting, making no move to extend her hand. The man had seemed oddly familiar to her, though that made sense considering he apparently was a God. Maybe he was one of those who Thanos had kept tabs on in his hunt for the Infinity Stones, though Nebula couldn't recall any mention of Thor while she had discreetly listened to her father's plans.

"… where Thanos is," Nebula realized the man had continued talking once she had ignored his gesture. "Any information you have on him would be nice, we're only just starting to assemble the beginnings of a plan."

"Right," she said neutrally, unsurprised that the group on Terran didn't know the Titan's location. For a second, she contemplated heading back to the Milano and so she could hunt her father herself, but quickly shut the idea down. The last time she had tried, it resulted in her having the worst year of her life as a prisoner. And it had cost her Gamora, one of the only people who didn't look at her differently. Gamora…

"Hey, are you alright?" Thor asked her, a sincere look of concern in his different coloured eyes. His voice had a strange touch to it. "You seem distressed, on edge a bit. But maybe that's just your regular look."

Nebula groaned at the God's persistence; impressed, yet annoyed, and shockingly a bit relieved by it. He was offering himself as an outlet to vent, and she would gladly take it. "My father was the most manipulative, evil, genocidal man in the universe, and he just succeeded in his life long goal of balance. How do you-"

He cut her off, realizing the gravity of her words. "Wait, Father?" he questioned, and Nebula reprimanded herself for that mistake. Why had she let out her emotions to this man? I really cannot deal with more attitude today.

"So you're the sister of that green woman, Gamora," he continued, taking the conversation a different direction than she had anticipated.

"Wait, you knew her?" she demanded, unable to hide the shock in her voice.

"Yes, after Thanos had destroyed my ship, she and her group found me in space. She was the one who informed me of his intentions, to kill half of all life in the universe. I only… knew her for a few minutes really, before I had to go forge my Thanos killing weapon. Is she…" he trailed off, not wanting to say the word. He had enough of death for even his lifetime already.

Thor didn't bother with giving another 'I'm sorry' speech to her, he understood that in the moment she just needed her space to compose her thoughts, pushing her about it wouldn't help. Much like how he opened up to Rocket in that pod, the creature didn't really probe him for answers aggressively, he simply let Thor explain at his own pace, keeping his questions brief.

"I… never saw before how much she meant to me recently," she started, eyes full of resolve and a sliver of regret. "I had only sought revenge in the past, she had bested me in every fight Thanos put us up to, and then she had the audacity to leave… Well that was what I thought at the time."

"When I tried to kill her again, naturally she bested me. But… she saved me as well, and it was then I realized that we were both just survivors, under the eye of our stepfather. Only difference between us really was that she had a plan to escape and I didn't initially. Gamora was the only sibling I didn't loathe, and now my ambitions for vengeance has…"

Nebula didn't want to say it out loud, that her sneaking onboard Thanos's ship had gotten Gamora killed, but she knew it was true. She didn't want to reveal too much to Thor, she was surprised she divulged as much information as she had, but after the day's events, she was breaking down. Was it a weakness or strength in admitting your faults?

"It's fine, you don't have to continue," Thor told her, understanding on his face. "We should get you acquainted, I haven't really gotten around the place myself anyways. We'll be having another meeting tomorrow, you're free to come if you please."

Nebula frowned at how easily he seemed to turn over his trust. Given that he was centuries old, she was astonished that he hadn't been wary of her initially. She didn't question that though. "What exactly goes on with these meetings and why should I be interested?"

"Well, what's left of leadership in this territory and the Avengers convene and we mainly just discuss world crises, some politics I tune out, and we speculate on Thanos's whereabouts and how we can find him. You seem to be a strong willed ally, you have knowledge of Thanos, and after all, if the rabbit is there, you certainly can be as well."

"Rabbit?"

"Oh, that's right," Thor said, a realization coming to him. "You said you knew Gamora and her friends? Rocket will at the very least be delighted to see you."

Nebula groaned internally, the upcoming dilemma not even occurring to her until now. Why did the task of telling him that the remaining the Guardians were dead fall on her? She had left Rocket on better terms than before, but to explain this? She shook her head coldly, trying to gain the conviction for what she had to say next.

"Tell him to keep his distance," she decided making it short would do it.

Thor looked surprised, giving her a sideways look that evaporated quickly, remembering not to push her. Though he wondered what history laid between the two. "Alright, I'll make note of that," he obliged, pointing to the elevator. "We should make our way up now."

But then the elevator door dinged open, revealing the raccoon. Nebula stopped dead in her tracks behind Thor, willing herself to not move.

Of course, she thought. The universe has a sickening sense of fate.

"Hello, rabbit," Thor began, all smiles. "What brings you down here?"

"Heard from your hot, scary assassin lady that we had some new arrivals. I've always been a great welcoming committee," the raccoon scanned the main lobby for a sign of them. "Where are those asshats anyway?"

"They're both down in the medical bay already," Thor lied, and the smile became less genuine.

Rocket snorted. "You can cut the crap, Thor. I already hacked into the feeds and saw you two chatting it up," he retorted, holding a tablet showing live footage of the lobby.

"Didn't know you were such a tech wizard," Thor chuckled at the thought of it.

"When you get arrested as much as I do, it's pretty much required to be skilled in that area," he explained. "Now could I speak to Nebula please?"

"Oh, you mean her-"

"Yeah, doesn't surprise me you didn't tell you it that fast. Based on past experience, she can be pretty distrusting even when we're on the same side."

Nebula pushed by Thor after this latest comment, planting herself in front of Rocket. "What do you want, Rocket?" she asked, her voice colder than normal.

"Well for one, I'd like to catch up. And two, we can get to the rest of it later," he told her.

Thor looked around at the two, opting to give them some one on one time, against his better judgement. Both of them seemed like they had fuses ready to go off, but he was hoping they had enough composure to prevent it from escalating too far. "I'll leave you two to… talk about whatever you guys are able to talk about. I'm going to go check on Stark."

And with that, he headed down to the medical bay, already hearing a bit of testiness in the two estranged acquaintances' voices.

Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne continued to explore the depths of the quantum realm. Not because they wanted to, but due to the fact that it was dreadfully boring to remain stationary at their entry point and that it couldn't hurt to search for a nonexistent secret exit. The two had discussed their predicament for what felt like an eternity before deciding to do something they at least thought would be productive. They weren't even sure how long they had been down there, Janet seemed to be the proof that time worked relatively similar in the quantum realm, but it didn't mean much when they couldn't perceive the concept in the moment.

After they secured the thermoses containing the quantum energy to their suits—it was the reason they were stuck there in the first place, might as well keep it—the two opted to wander aimlessly along the immense dimension. Wander was a generous term though; the quantum realm had its rules about motion apparently. They discovered the most efficient way to go about it was by kicking out with their legs to propel themselves, while using their arms to control their direction. It was tedious, almost like swimming in an endless sea.

It soon became a bleak, fruitless journey, the two of them only coming across a few subatomic life forms. The colours of the region had at least changed while they ventured, offering a change of scenery on occasion.

Suddenly, without warning, Scott caught up to Hope, grabbing her covered hand with a worried look in his eye. "The hallucinations," he began, a look of concern on his face. "Have you seen any yet?"

"No, I haven't," she replied, feeling a bit more on edge. That was one aspect she hadn't considered when diving down there. "Hank told me about them, how they seemed to consume you with fear, manipulate your brain to shut down. He said it was impossible for the human mind to comprehend… Scott, are you… have you had any?"

He shook his head, replacing Hope's concern with confusion. "I… I just remembered what I saw the last time I was here. The voices, I just heard one, Hank's, but it still drowns you out Hope, makes your sanity a plague, twists everything you know. It lulls you into a sense of complacency, makes you want to give up. The only reason I snapped out of it was because of Cassie…" he took a deep breath, locking eyes with her. "If it does come Hope, fight it, don't give in."

"Okay," Hope responded, still shaken by the fear he had shown. Until something else clicked into place for her. "But wait, how do you remember this now? Did returning to the quantum realm trigger something in your mind?"

"Huh, I guess so," he said, putting a thoughtful gloved hand on his covered chin. "Coming back to the source of the memory and all."

"Do you think you can remember how you got out the first time?" she asked, a touch of hope reappearing in her voice.

"That would make sense..." Scott replied, wondering how to go about it. "I guess I have to let it come back to me, just a second," he closed his eyes, attempting to recall the sequence of events. First Hank's voice came, an endless mantra entailing his fate should he go subatomic. He remembered dashing through the quantum realm and an inordinate number of atoms, becoming smaller than an atom, his existence reduced to essentially nothing. When he heard Cassie's voice, what had he done? It was like a hazy picture slowly coming into focus, as light shone on it. Another one of Hank's lectures had come to his mind, something about messing with the suit. The suit.

"Do not mess with the regulator," he mumbled in realization.

"What?" Hope asked quizzically, turning to him.

"That's what I remembered Hank's voice telling me. It gave me the idea to implant an enlarging disk into the regulator, and it was enough to bring me back. We could do it again, cou-" he stopped his excitement when he saw Hope looking dejected.

"Hope, what's wrong?" he asked, before frisking his pockets to discover no enlarging disks. "Oh no."

"Not only that, but Hank made sure you wouldn't be able to tamper with the regulator now with the new design," Hope added, her face showing dismay as she opened both their regulators. "Completely dependent on the Pym Particles, no possibility of externally altering the design."

"So that leaves us…"

"Back to square one," she finished.

"Okay, we'll take it easy then, definitely not going to find an exit like this. Conserve our energy," Scott suggested.

"Scott, we are basically just pure energy right now," Hope countered.

"Huh, good point," he admitted, rethinking their approach. But what else was there to do but continue searching? "Alright, just stick to our original plan, keep looking for-"

A burst of static interrupted him. "You've gotta be kidding me!" he cried out, yanking the comms device from his ear. "Hope, is yours-"

"It's malfunctioning too, we must've entered a part of the realm that's interfering with the signal," she explained, putting hers in the small storage compartment of her suit. "Now we're completely cut off from the outside." Her face scrunched up into thought at the words, she was clearly thinking of something odd that had transpired while they had been stranded.

"Hope, I know that look. What's on your mind?" Scott inquired, moving to keep pace with her.

"I was thinking about what had happened well, out there," she said without hesitation, motioning towards the outside world. He nodded, the thought having crossed his mind as well, but it hadn't come up in conversation until now, the two of them wanting to focus on their current situation. "I didn't want to talk about it before, I know, but going over how it went down, it seems… bizarre. Like something doesn't add up."

"You mean like it had happened too fast," he said, a statement, not a question.

Hope looked surprised and pleased their thought process had led down the same path. "Exactly, if Mom and Dad were being attacked, we would've heard some sign of it. A gunshot, screaming, or at least a voice. Not to mention, if they were in imminent danger, Hank would've pushed that button to bring us back instantly. Instead, the comm goes dead without even a trace."

"What do you think it means? They were attacked by ninjas, some covert, highly trained agents?"

"I don't know, maybe," she admitted for the second time that day. If it was even the same day. She then tapped the wrist of her suit, which had displayed a holograph of the status of the quantum tunnel until the signal couldn't be retrieved. "The good news is, the tunnel was still intact with no damage when the system was still transmitting, surprisingly, so if someone did get the jump on my parents, they're probably keeping them alive for intel and the tunnel for their own purposes. Meaning we'll have to be ready for a potential rescue mission if someone decides to let us out."

"Okay, let's see what we're dealing with here: Best case scenario, Hank and Janet were taken as hostages by some highly trained people who have fast enough reflexes that they could take them down before either one of them could push a button to let us out," Scott reiterated, grimacing as he went on.

"Pretty much."

After that, there was a pause in the conversation as the pair continued to search the depths of the quantum realm. They soon began to feel as though they were drifting, not in as much control of their motion as before, but it was only slight. Still, it was enough to draw their concern.

"You feel that?" Hope inquired.

"Yeah, it's like something's dragging us further," Scott replied, a bit puzzled at the new development. "Something with its own gravity."

"I don't like this, we need to be in control of our motion," she stated firmly. "Whatever's pulling us forward can't be good if it has a strong gravitational force, it could be like the quantum realm's version of a black hole. We could end up being lost here forever if we get sucked into an inescapable area."

Scott nodded, the prospect of being trapped forever not being very enticing. "Okay, let's head back. Uh, wherever back is," he said.

But before they could even begin to break free of whatever was tugging at them, a vortex rippled into existence within very close proximity, pulsating with energy. It pulled at them with a menacing force to it, immediately threatening to suck the two in. The vortex threatened to drag in the closer Hope, swirling her body around the surface as it began to consume her.

But before it could completely, Scott's hand intertwined with hers, desperately looking for something to grasp with his other. He pulled with all the strength he could muster, to no avail. He felt like the vortex was dragging them in with an immeasurable force, but he refused to concede. No, this can't be happening.

"Scott." Her voice was calm, almost like a whisper. He wasn't sure how he was able to hear it.

"Hope, don't give up yet, we can-"

"Scott, I love you," she managed to say, as the vortex began to drag them in. "I had to say it at least once, before the end…"

"I-I love you too, Hope," he said with all the feeling he could muster, still fighting against the unstoppable force. "But it isn't over yet, there's still-"

"Always optimistic, you never lose faith," she said, a dreamy smile on her face. Was she going delirious? "Even… even now. It was always the best part of you Scott."

Was it best to just give in? There's no way we're getting out of this, he thought.

No, that's just the quantum realm messing with your head. We can fight this.

But she seems so at peace right now, like there's nothing to worry about.

This place is manipulating her mind, like it's doing to yours. Don't.

What's so bad about that? he was vaguely aware that his mind was beginning to succumb to the supernatural of the quantum realm, he wouldn't be able to resist for much longer.

Finally, there was a thought both parts of his mind agreed on for a split second: Why keep fighting an inevitability? You could join her, finally rest.

So he let go, stopped struggling before he could think better of it, his hand still locked with hers, memories flashing to the forefront of his mind. Waking up in Hank's house to begin his journey as the Ant-Man, Hope teaching him how to punch, communicating with the ants, earning Hope's respect and eventually her love, redeeming himself by making the ultimate sacrifice against Darren Cross, kissing Hope for the first time only to be caught by Hank, the cycle coming full circle when he broke Hank and Hope out of prison with the ants, Hope resuscitating him and kissing him once more, playing with Cassie all those times while he was under house arrest, kissing her goodnight…

Cassie. Oh no, what had he done? How could he just give in like that? A moment of weakness had just cost him his life and meant that Cassie would grow up without a daddy. Why hadn't he fought harder? Now he would never see her again, his life over just like that.

I'm sorry, Peanut, he thought as his head began to submerge into the void. At least Maggie and Paxton will be there for you.

His heart heavy with guilt and regret, together, he and Hope caved in to the darkness.

As Steve Rogers observed his former friend Tony Stark lying prostrate on a Wakandan bed, resting from the brief operation he had undergone, a flurry of emotions encapsulated him, but sadness was the one that stuck out the most.

While he didn't regret saving Bucky, he wished he could have gone about it a different way, at least once the conflict had begun. Hiding the truth about Tony's parents and then damaging his arc reactor before abandoning him were things he wanted to take back every day. Sure, he could say that it was just a matter of conflicting viewpoints in regards to the Accords, but their nonexistent communication for the next two years was all the proof confirming otherwise.

It was personal, every last bit of it.

It left them at the lowest of low points for the conflict they had just fought, disbanded, their team scattered around. With the rest of Earth's heroes, Steve couldn't help but wonder about the outcome if they had still been a working unit once Thanos had arrived, even against the voice that told him to focus on their current situation. If only…

"Steve?" Rhodey returned to the upper level of the medical bay after being reassured of Tony's condition by Shuri.

He nodded to the colonel, filing away his thoughts. "How's he doing?" he asked, his voice sounding neutral.

"Same as before. Probably won't come out of whatever haze he's in for a couple of hours, at the very least. But he's definitely going to make it."

Steve let out a sigh, relieved that he at least wouldn't have another death on his conscience. "Good, we're going to need all the help we can get."

Rhodey must've noticed something tense up with Steve, as he gave him a questioning look. "Steve, I know you two left on horrible terms—understatement really—but we can't have this hanging over us when he wakes up. Whatever tension is between you, him, and the rest of the team can't continue."

"What should I even say to him at this point?" he murmured. "'Sorry for leaving you to die out in Siberia, let's move on?'"

"Well, here's a tip from his lifelong friend. He usually prefers people to be blunt, straight to the point. Acknowledge the events just once, and then focus on reintegrating him back into the swing of things. But you probably thought about doing that already," the colonel told Steve, his voice lowering. "And your situation isn't just any ordinary conflict between friends."

Steve remained staring at the unconscious billionaire, admitting to himself that Rhodey's approach would likely work best. No need to drag things out and make things even more awkward or tense, being direct was the most viable solution. But even that idea had flaws; could they really let bygones be bygones so easily?

In a time like this, we'll have to one way or another, he thought.

"We'll work it out," he stated simply, before moving to change the subject. "Any word from Bruce yet?"

Rhodey shook his head. "His jet is just over the mid Atlantic right now, I think he's taking it easy."

"Don't blame him, he looked about as sleep deprived as I've seen anyone. He'll be able to track down Scott," he said, trying to sound reassuring.

"Like you said, we need all the allies we can get," he nodded, eyes shifting to the area behind Steve. "Speaking of which…"

Thor strided into the observatory overseeing the medical bay as Rhodey nodded towards him, joining the two men.

"How'd it go with the new arrival?" Steve asked, hoping for some good news.

"Better than I expected, she seemed pretty pissed off at first, but she did tell me a bit about herself," Thor said.

"Did she tell you how she ended up fighting with Tony on whatever planet he got to?" Rhodey questioned.

"No, I was going to nudge her in that direction, but didn't want to risk setting her off," he explained, before giving details. "Her name's Nebula, she was taken in by Thanos at a young age, and she had a stepsister she was close with, who I met briefly. She was pretty cold to me initially, but I think patience is the key in talking to her. She's carrying around a lot of pain."

"Where is she now?" Rogers asked.

"Oh, I left her with the rabbit," Thor said. "Apparently they have some catching up to do."

Thor was right: The two definitely had things to discuss in the years Nebula had no contact with the Guardians.

But it would have to wait until later, as the woman stormed down the ramp towards the medical bay, shaking her head the entire walk. If Thor had to guess, they had probably conversed for a whole thirty seconds, tops.

"I didn't want to have to be the one to tell him," she told the three men, a cold look on her face, heart pounding furiously.

A/N: Thanks for reading guys! Took me a bit to get this chapter out, but it definitely felt worth it. So, now that Scott and Hope fell into whatever abyss they went into, where does the story go from here? Be on the lookout for more chapters to find out, because frankly, even I'm not sure what the endgame is for this story yet. Be sure to follow, fav, review, etcetera, etcetera, all that good stuff, it helps the story a ton, so just do it! ;)

I should be posting Chapter 4 within the next few days, Eastern Standard Time, so until then, farewell readers,

-BasketballIsFun