Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last conversation. You are absolutely incredible. We are still in the gamma timeline for one more chapter before finally moving back to the beta timeline.

Conversation 65: Technically, three conversations are going on here at a minimum.

Mockingbird: Director Stark asked me to stay here. Even if most of the Russian government members angry with us are dead, we're still technically disavowed. I shouldn't show up to the playground. You at least have a nano mask and a new identity.

Mockingbird: However, I will go with you if you want me to. I don't want you to be alone if you're not okay.

Mr. Leopold: And I am definitely not okay. At all.

Mr. Leopold: I don't have to wear a nano mask anymore. I only need contacts now since my hair has grown out, and I have a beard.

Mockingbird: And highlights. Which do look good on you.

Mr. Leopold: I'm glad. Also, the tailored suits do help.

Mockingbird: I never thought I would see you in Tom Ford outside of an undercover mission.

Mr. Leopold: My entire life is currently an undercover mission. I'm just grateful I didn't lose my partner. I did not want to play the SI widow.

Mockingbird: That's understandable. Unfortunately, you feel really guilty that we lost May instead.

Mr. Leopold: I hate these moments where you understand me.

Mockingbird: It does happen occasionally. You shouldn't feel bad because your husband is still alive.

Mr. Leopold: It's hard not to feel that way when May had to be sacrificed for him to be alive.

Mockingbird: It was her choice. We dishonor her if we don't respect that.

Mr. Leopold: She thought it would be better for everyone if she was the sacrifice. I hate that the alternative was my Fitz. He always feels expendable because there's another version of him already in this timeline.

Mr. Leopold: Fuck, there's another version of him in the other timeline too. So, he feels like he's the version that doesn't belong. None of these are actually his timeline.

Mockingbird: He and Deke are from the same timeline, right?

Mr. Leopold: Sort of. Although another version of Fitz was Deke's biological grandfather. A stable time loop was involved. All the variants are starting to confuse me.

Mockingbird: That we agree on.

Mockingbird: I am keeping other Steve company if I don't come with you.

Mr. Leopold: By keeping company, you mean interrogating?

Mockingbird: Well, somebody needs to, and most everybody else here are scientists. Although if I leave, the Princess will call in one of her own operatives. Possibly her sort of sister-in-law.

Mr. Leopold: I could stay here if you need help.

Mockingbird:?

Mr. Leopold: I don't need to go to New York or DC. Actually, it might be better to not be there because I might just start crying in front of Coulson. I will get to have my wedding, and he's not.

Mockingbird: Survivors' guilt always sucks.

Mr. Leopold: Even if it's marriage survivors' guilt?

Mockingbird: Probably even more so than usual.

Mockingbird: The Princess is technically in charge since the Director and Mack are leaving. This is a joint Shield-Wakanda operation. She thinks it's better that you stay anyway because somebody needs to make an appearance at the Oakland Center today. She would rather keep working on the time travel GPS system. Although she's not sure if she can get out of it. At least it will be less tedious together.

Mr. Leopold: Of course, we still need to make an appearance at the center. We have to pretend everything is fucking normal when we are trying to get the ring pops away from the purple one. May is already dead. It might not matter because maybe we just made things easier for him. Do you know what happened during the final battle in the first timeline?

Mockingbird: I know Tony died. I was in the room for that confession.

Mr. Leopold: Because they managed to bring a Thanos variant from the past to them, and it fucked everything up. Tony was the one that ended it, and it killed him.

Mockingbird: We just have to make sure we don't do that.

Mr. Leopold: Because we're already dealing with the one from our timeline, and that's enough.

Mockingbird: We're going to get through this. We are going to win, and then you're going to have the most ridiculous wedding.

Mr. Leopold: Monkey ice sculptures.

Mockingbird: Champagne fountains.

Mr. Leopold: Maybe we'll go with a chocolate fountain instead. We have too many alcoholics in our friend group.

Mr. Leopold: I just locked down the liquor cabinet on Z 1.

Mockingbird: Did the Director ask you to do that?

Mr. Leopold: Mack did. He said we would drink to May once we're done but not before.

Mockingbird: That makes sense. After Hope died, he drank a lot. It didn't get better until Nicole left.

Mr. Leopold: I wish May wasn't dead.

Mockingbird: I know.

Mr. Leopold: But I'm still glad my Fitz is alive

Mockingbird: I know, and that doesn't make you a bad person to feel that way.

Mockingbird: You should write to your husband. Maybe you'll feel better.

Mr. Leopold: I will after the session with the other timeline. I want to give him the updates.

Mockingbird: Smart.

Xxxx

E. Rodriguez: Update: your neighbor is still in one piece.

Butterfly K: Good to know. How are my walls?

E. Rodriguez: Most of the conversation happened on the Princess's private plane/mobile lab. It's a fancier version of Z1. So, your walls are intact.

Butterfly K: Is he in the cell on that plane?

E. Rodriguez: No, guest room. And after the conversation with the other timeline, Hunter and Morris will speak with him again to get more details. We got an overview of what happened and access to his time travel GPS unit, but details are crucial.

Butterfly K: Together? Can they stop arguing for that long? I wanted to punch them the other night. They were being so stupid.

E. Rodriguez: They're doing better. They've called a truce. There's some stuff going on that I can't tell you about over the COMs. You'll understand when you get here tonight.

Butterfly K: Will my uncle and his fiancée be there?

E. Rodriguez: No, we're actually on our way back east. We just took off a few minutes ago. But you needed an update, and your uncle is too busy with everything else.

Butterfly K: Why are you headed back east?

E. Rodriguez: Something came up that we can't brief people over the COMs about. I just informed FitzSimmons to bring the kids to DC. After the briefing, we're headed to Wakanda.

Butterfly K: I assume we got permission and the Pyms agreed?

E. Rodriguez: Yes. Their team is preparing to relocate tonight. Hunter and the Princess just need to appear to maintain their cover.

Butterfly K: That makes sense.

Butterfly K: What about my neighbor?

E. Rodriguez: He's been invited to come to Wakanda to help.

Butterfly K: Will I understand why he received that invitation once I get read in? The fact he has a Time GPS unit already has me intrigued.

E. Rodriguez: yes.

Butterfly K: Great, and it's already going to be an extra long night because I'm dealing with the mess at work. It's probably gonna be days or even longer until the situation stabilizes.

Butterfly K: Another all-nighter, and I might take Uncle Tony up on his offer to go back to college.

E. Rodriguez: If you don't want to be an agent anymore, you should leave. It's better that you don't burn out or worse. Being an agent shouldn't be your entire life. You should live, not die, for this organization. Especially if you're not sure you want to stay.

Butterfly K: I know. I'll think about it when we're not in the middle of an apocalypse.

E. Rodriguez: This is the best time to make these decisions. To make sure there's nothing left undone or unsaid.

Butterfly K: That's true.

Butterfly K: I'll miss you while you're in Wakanda. I know I'm staying behind.

E. Rodriguez: Someone needs to.

E. Rodriguez: Also, the Princess is working on getting Scott's house arrest to end early.

Butterfly K: Of course she is. We're going to be the second wave?

E. Rodriguez: Probably. Although the Princess hopes Scott can leave with them in the morning.

Butterfly K: This really is going to be an all-nighter.

E. Rodriguez: Sorry.

Xxxx

Purple Princess: I hate school. Spring break cannot come soon enough. Only one more day of hell. Fuck Betty forever.

Genius Princess: So, this is when I tell you that you're skipping school tomorrow to visit Wakanda.

Genius Princess: Well, you, Flash, Peter, and MJ. I am still negotiating with both of Ned's parents.

Purple Princess: I don't think you'll get her to agree if she knows my father will be in the country.

Purple Princess: Will my father be in the country?

Genius Princess: Yes, he's just stopping in DC first. A Quinn jet will pick you up from the school in 20 minutes.

Purple Princess: So obviously, we don't have time to pack.

Genius Princess: You'll have clothes here. And one of my assistants would be happy to take you shopping. We have better stuff, anyway.

Purple Princess: Okay, what's going on? We usually get enough time to pick up our go bags.

Genius Princess: Yes, the situation has changed. Unfortunately, I am not authorized to give you the details. Your dad will tell you in DC.

Purple Princess: That's all I'm getting? Daisy is still okay, right?

Genius Princess: Per our last update, yes. Sharon's neighbor turned out to be a variant of your stepdad, and he created this timeline because the drawings of your dad dying actually came true in his timeline.

Purple Princess: Shit!

Purple Princess: Dad knows now?

Genius Princess: He is aware and was very angry at me for keeping this from him. He will probably be angry at you as well.

Purple Princess: I am expecting that.

Genius Princess: Thankfully, he's calmed down some. He even apologized for overreacting.

Purple Princess: Maybe I won't be grounded in Wakanda.

Genius Princess: Also, your stepdad knows and is now part of operation keep Tony alive.

Purple Princess: His solution isn't sacrificing himself instead? Because he would do that.

Genius Princess: They asked Ana to put together a list of who would most likely be able to survive the snap.

Purple Princess: Smart. Although if cap dad ends up on the list, that might be a problem.

Genius Princess: Although the superhuman is still human. He is on the list, but you and Benji are higher.

Purple Princess: I can use the ring pops?

Genius Princess: Wanda thinks that you and Vision can. Although Bruce, Robbie, and Carol all have a higher probability of survival than you. You and Peter are even. You're also even with Vision.

Genius Princess: Technically, Loki is also above the two of you, but we're still determining if we can trust him. Also, for obvious reasons, no one under 16 was considered.

Purple Princess: Prudent.

Purple Princess: Spidey Junior is higher than Spidey senior, isn't he?

Genius Princess: Technically, yes, but he's too little in this timeline and will stay in Malta.

Purple Princess: Thankfully we have another timeline where he is old enough to help.

Genius Princess: You are correct. In that case, beta timeline Spidey Junior is above you and Benji. Beta timeline K is right below you. She, Thor, Daisy, and Joey are between you two and the captain. There are other people from the Puerto Rico reserves that I need to consider, but that will take time.

Purple Princess: So obviously, we have a lot of options. Some options the other timeline didn't have. Especially if their snap went the same way as the beta timeline.

Genius Princess: There were a couple of differences, but most were the same.

Purple Princess: In that case, why did other dad use the gauntlet? Especially because he probably had a lower probability of survival than any of the other baseline humans. His heart is still a mess. I doubt that changed in the other timeline.

Genius Princess: Opportunity. He used his gauntlet to steal the stones from Thanos before he could snap it. At least, that's what I can tell from preliminary reports. We are planning to question Grant Roth about that later.

Purple Princess: So the dad variant was the only person that had the opportunity to do it?

Genius Princess: Yes. I'll send you the report when I send it over to the other timeline. I am planning to do that in a few minutes. Your father forgot to say I could not CC you on that message.

Purple Princess: Good. I have an idea, but I want to read the reports first.

Genius Princess: Special Nanotech gauntlets for everyone with a high survivability rating?

Purple Princess: Yes.

Genius Princess: I will work on it, but we may not even need that. If the ring pops are in the other timeline, he can't complete the gauntlet. That wasn't a factor in the other timeline. Read the report, and we'll talk in the morning. Or afternoon. I'm still determining when we'll get home. You might want some quiet time.

Purple Princess:

I'm not gonna like tomorrow? Or is the report going to be too much for me.

Genius Princess: I can't answer that for you. I have to prepare for the chat session with the other timeline in less than 15 minutes.

Purple Princess: Okay. We'll talk more later. I am going to get access to the conversation?

Genius Princess: Of course you are.

To be continued

Sorry. I know I want to move things faster, but there are so many characters. However, we really do need to check on everybody right now. We will be able to do some more jumps soon. We just have a bit more trauma to go.