Thank you to everybody who read or review the last conversation. You're so fabulous. Now it is time for more mission reports.
This chapter was technically written in the "good timeline" but by a "bad timeline" refugee. A double bad timeline refugee at that. Poor Deke.
This is the first time I've written anything from his perspective, so I feel like it's going to be fun.
I also wrote the chapter long before I saw all season seven of AOS, but I love how this turned out in hindsight.
Avenger/Shield mission report 2: Confessions of a Timeline Refugee
Shield Consultant: Deke S. Fitzsimmons
Location: The Lighthouse (why do I always end up back in this fucking place)
Time: March 25, 2018? My watch kind of broke on the way here.
I don't really know how to do these mission report things. Director Stark (how did that happen?) asked me to write a report on how I ended up here. Does he realize I'm not actually a Shield agent? However, his fiancé is my boss in my timeline (my Tony, not this, Tony). I'm going to do what he says. I'm sure if anybody can get me fired when I arrive back to the right timeline, it would be him.
Also, it beats spending more time with the sober and not chronically depressed version of Nana. You know the version my mom told me about that I never knew. I got stuck with the one mourning a guy who's not dead who decided to shack up with Hunter, Hunter.
I am not surprised Pepper, and Stark are not together in this timeline. I'm quite sure they're only still together for Morgan, and even then, I wonder if it's a show for the board. They are assholes. Pepper said all the good members didn't survive the decimation.
Regardless Tony and Pepper love that kid, but Pepper tells me things. So, I know not everything is how it seems in the media. We spent a lot of time together because she's one of my friends. If anybody understands dealing with an alcoholic parent, it's her. We talk a lot, and that situation is complicated. So complicated.
xxxxx
Friday: Although this is fascinating, please try to keep your report to the relevant topic at hand, which would be how you arrived. Also, the boss would like to know how you ended up the head of R&D.
D Fitzsimmons: SI took over my think tank, and I'm exceptionally good at charming the board when they're not complaining about my lack of a Ph.D. Also, I think they decided to keep an eye on me, so they asked me to join the company. I think my current title is Chief Creative Officer. It changes a lot.
Ana Jr.: That seems reasonable. Also, I have taken the liberty of updating your address book to reflect my name.
D Fitzsimmons: What happened to Friday? I like her, she's my friend. She makes sure I understand all the pop-culture references that I missed growing up in a world controlled by the Blues. I love the 80s so much. They had the best music. Also, The Breakfast Club is the best movie ever.
Ana Jr.: That was a protocol initially created to help Steve Rogers acclimate to the 21st-century. I'm glad a new use was found for the protocol. Nothing happened to my big sister Friday. You met her last night. She now goes by the name Afia Stark-Rogers.
D Fitzsimmons: Stark's kid? So, she's like Enoch?
Ana Jr.: She thinks of herself as the daughter of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.
D Fitzsimmons: I wonder what my boss will think of that. It's less strange than the fact that my grandfather is sleeping with Hunter. I guess Nana and Bobo have the same taste in men. This is so weird.
Ana Jr.: Who is Enoch? Also, who are Nana and Bobo?
D Fitzsimmons: A sentient Chronicom from the planet Chronyca-2, who never interferes when it's necessary. Nana and Bobo were my mom's names for her parents. She never actually told me the real names because the Blues would probably kill her for it.
Ana Jr.: To answer your earlier question, Afia is a mine stone enhanced LMD.
D Fitzsimmons: So, the stones still exist here? Or rather, they still exist in a form other than atomic dust?
Ana Jr.: Yes, the stones still exist. James Leopold originally wanted to destroy the one they retrieved from Vision, but Robin said not to.
D Fitzsimmons: You mean she drew a picture telling them not to. She's not exactly the most verbal person.
Ana Jr.: She is improving under treatment in Wakanda.
D Fitzsimmons: That's different.
Ana Jr.: I was asked to help you write up your report.
D Fitzsimmons: I'm getting to the point just in a roundabout way. The story of how I ended up here involves my grandparents and how we thought one of them was dead but, in reality, was just shacking up with Hunter. That's just going to send Nana off the deep end and straight into the bottle. Or more like keep her there. Like I need that.
Ana Jr.: Per the DNA test, I assume that Agent Simmons is your grandmother. I also assume in your timeline, she's an alcoholic?
D Fitzsimmons: Alcoholic would be putting it nicely. Nana is not okay and hasn't been for well over five years.
Ana Junior: Why is that?
D Fitzsimmons: That's what I'm trying to write about. Five and a half years ago, Leo Fitz ended up being killed in a blast that destroyed the monoliths. This just happened to be the day I came back to with my grandparents from the future before I knew they were my grandparents. He was dead before I knew the truth. Leo Fitz ended up being killed in a blast that destroyed the monoliths. Of course, Nana didn't have time to grieve because we had to keep the world from getting cracked apart. We did, then Thanos showed up. We lost Daisy, Mack, and Yo-Yo. Later Coulson died again, which just made things worse if such a thing were possible.
Ana Jr.: According to my records, Yo-Yo did not die in the decimation.
D Fitzsimmons: Thanos killed her during the battle.
Ana Jr.: Of course, unlike what you assumed, Leopold Fitz did not die in the explosion. He was transported back in time.
D Fitzsimmons: Exactly, and we really should have considered this possibility, since that's how I ended up in 2018 about a month before half of all life in the universe was wiped out by Thanos. I'm glad I survived because it would've been horrible to travel 70 some years into the past only to get wiped out of existence.
D Fitzsimmons: I guess Nana considered it, which is why she sent me back to the day I first arrived.
D Fitzsimmons: Well, the same day in a completely different timeline.
Ana Jr.: What were you trying to accomplish when she sent you back in time?
D Fitzsimmons: After Thanos won, he didn't want anybody to undo what he did. So, the purple prick reduced the infinity stones to subatomic particles that could not undo what he did. For the last five years, Nana has been working on time travel. She thought she could re-create the monoliths, but she's been unsuccessful. About two weeks ago, Scott showed up at the Avenger compound's front door after being missing for five years. This provided us with a way to fix things that don't involve the monoliths that are in pieces.
Ana Jr.: And by fix things, you mean undoing the snap?
D Fitzsimmons: Yes. Well, May, Steve, Natasha, and my plan was to go back in time, grab the stones, and undo all the damage. Although Steve is adamant that we don't get rid of any of the new children born in the last five years. Stark called it a time heist. I'm not sure it was Nana's plan.
Ana Jr.: You said that she's been working on time travel for the last five years.
D Fitzsimmons: Yes. Well, maybe 4 ½ years, ever since we found the dusted body of Bobo 2 in that cryo-chamber. She started after she cursed us for changing the timeline the first time. I could understand her anger, but I still feel that what happened is still better then what's left of humanity being able to fit in the Lighthouse.
Ana Jr.: I thought you said that Thanos wiped out half of all life in the universe.
D Fitzsimmons: Better for humans, maybe not best for the rest of the universe. Or maybe not. The snap could've happened in that timeline as well. I don't know because the Blues deleted history.
Ana Jr.: So, Dr. Simmons was trying to use time travel to undo the snap?
D Fitzsimmons: Actually, I think it was more about getting Fitz back. Either Fitz, honestly. I don't think she cared about which one she got. She is obsessed with it.
D Fitzsimmons: I wanted her to come work for SI. It's an excellent job. Pepper is the best boss, but she refused. All she does is drink and try to figure out a way to go back in time. May and Natasha keep her at the Avenger compound because they feel guilty. Although maybe Steve thought Nat and Nana could be lonely together.
D Fitzsimmons: I take that back, sometimes she's with Hunter. He's my boss's nanny. They have an understanding.
Ana Jr.: Please tell me more about how you ended up here.
D Fitzsimmons: As mentioned before, two weeks ago, things changed when Scott Lang mysteriously showed up five years after disappearing thanks to the Quantum Realm and the Pym particles. We had a new avenue to research. One that was more fruitful than the monoliths. That's when we decided to try to bring Stark on board.
Ana Junior: I assume that was not a successful endeavor?
D Fitzsimmons: Not at all. I wanted to go to my boss alone to ask her if she was willing to convince Stark to work on the project with us. Instead, May and her husband, Captain Rogers, went. According to Pepper and May, that went badly. Both said something about pigheaded morons in love.
D Fitzsimmons: Okay, Pepper wouldn't be surprised about Stark and Rogers being engaged here.
Ana Jr.: Considering my Pepper Potts was not surprised by Mr. Stark and Capt. Rogers's relationship, I doubt the other Pepper Potts would be surprised.
D Fitzsimmons: Actually, she goes by Potts Stark now. They changed their last name for Morgan. They wanted to switch to Carbonell, but the board wouldn't have it.
D Fitzsimmons: According to Robin, it went exactly the way it should've gone. Which was Stark staying with Morgan and Pepper granting me a leave of absence to work on the project. Of course, that wasn't enough, and they ended up recruiting Dr. Banner to help. Dr. Banner ended up turning Scott into a baby because he didn't want to listen to me when I said that we needed some sort of time GPS. So, what if he has seven PhDs. Fuck that. That means nothing where I came from.
Ana Jr.: So, what happened next?
D Fitzsimmons: After that screwup, I came across Dr. Stark's notes on time travel.
Ana Junior: Did this surprise you?
D Fitzsimmons: No, because I mysteriously find notes on projects that I am working on from Stark all the time. Although, in this case, I might've gone looking for them on his personal server. I wouldn't have been able to get in if he didn't want me to read them.
Ana Jr.: Your hypothesis is correct. You would only be allowed to access the files that Stark would want you to see. Although your Friday may have different protocols than I do. Dr. Stark Rogers is not my father, but rather my grandfather, although I do call Afia my big sister. I was built by Leo and the princess after they gave Afia her body.
D Fitzsimmons: When this report is over, I really want to know about the LMD thing. I heard about them, but I've never seen one.
Ana Jr.: Until last night anyway. Did you use the files found on the Stark server to create your time GPS?
D Fitzsimmons: Yes. I was working on that when Nana and Romanoff went off to Japan to convince Barton to be the new guinea pig. Scott was out after getting turned into a baby.
Ana Jr.: That seems reasonable.
D Fitzsimmons: The plan was for him to go back to his farmhouse and grab something tangible. At the last minute, Nana decided I was going as well. She found a way to stretch out the Pym particles based on the work she was doing with the monolith before.
Ana Jr.: Since you are now speaking with me in the year 2018, the experiment was obviously successful
D Fitzsimmons: Except this is not our 2018. Instead of being at the farmhouse with Clint, I ended up in the house of some strange wizard meeting my grandfather and his boyfriend. I also got to meet Thor before he started drinking as much as my Nana. Now I understand why people used to say he was so hot.
D Fitzsimmons: According to the wizard, I didn't go 5 1/2 years into my past. The past that I landed in is another timeline created by Bobo getting thrown back in time and making a dam. Which again shouldn't surprise me because I thought I was going to get blown up by the monolith landing here.
Ana Jr.: You currently have three unread text messages from your grandmother on your cell phone.
D FitzSimmons: I've been afraid to look.
Ana Jr.: The three messages contain instructions. Instead of bringing back something tangible, your Nana would like you to bring back Fitz since she sent you directly to his location. She would get you when you had him.
D Fitzsimmons: Which was apparently a wizard's house? I am now stuck here. I think it was the wizard's fault.
D Fitzsimmons: Is this what you need? I would really like to get lunch. I barely got to eat breakfast because not depressed Simmons wanted to give me a tour of the Lighthouse. The Wakanda embassy is different, but I did grow up here. So it was a waste of three hours of my time.
D Fitzsimmons: She didn't even ask me any questions about the other timeline, which seems like a waste. You got more information out of me.
Ana Jr.: This is sufficient for now. I will take your words and compose an actual report for Acting Dir. Stark.
D Fitzsimmons: Good. Now please point me to food that isn't survival pellets or protein bars.
Ana Jr.: The cafeteria where you were at this morning is an option. You should be warned that your grandparents are back at the cafeteria currently talking about you. Simmons actually likes you, and so does Hunter.
D Fitzsimmons: At least I won over the step-grandparent. Okay, where can I get food where I can avoid my family? I don't have the energy.
Ana Jr.: Afia is currently having a research session with her friends on the Wakanda embassy levels. They have New York bagels and pizza. Along with access to the embassy kitchens.
D Fitzsimmons: I think I'll go hang out with Stark's kid and her friends. Anything is better than spending more time with the grandparents of this timeline. Happy, well-adjusted Nana scares me.
Ana Jr.: That is an admirable choice.
To be continued
I thought about reclassifying this as a text message conversation, but I see it as Ana just trying to help Deke write his report by conducting an interview.
For those of you who did not watch season five of Agents of Shield, the Blues is a nickname for the Kree that enslaved people at the Lighthouse.
I did add one little thing to this chapter after watching AOS season seven. See if you can find it.