The Meaning of Infinity

THE TIME IS… TWO HOURS AGO.

She ended up going home with the rest of them. That is, the Avengers who remained. 

Half of her copies had turned to dust, along with the rest of the world. It was interesting, she thought- if you’d asked, she’d probably have predicted it’d be none of them, or all. But they weren’t really connected, she supposed, after she made them. It made sense.

It took a while for everybody to regroup, and for the battle to truly be over. Carrie spent the time shuffling over the field, coming together with the remainder of her surviving copies. The dead ones lie ignored- no copy attempted to retrieve or examine them. The living came to pairs, again and again, one tapping the other on the forehead and watching them disappear before moving onto the next, ‘til only two of them remained. If they were injured, the less-injured stayed alive. If they were equally unharmed, they played rock-paper-scissors- best of three. 

The one who had a slowly purpling bruise on her cheek lost out to the one with a small cut through the eyebrow, at the end of it. The final copy sighed, hung her head, and sat down in place. She untied her apron and set it on the ground, removing her phone, wallet, and a sleek black checkbook full of credit card receipts and cash. She counted out the money. Then she set it on the ground. 

***

THE TIME IS… SIX HOURS AGO.

“We might need backup, can you come!? Go find the Hulk! Gotta go!”

“Wait, wait- wait! Parker! Spidey!? Tell me what’s going on!” 

There was no reply on the other end- just the tell-tale click of an ended call before the burner phone in Carrie’s hand began to sizzle with heat. She hissed, dropping it and watching with weary eyes as it melted from the inside out. 

It wasn’t every day you got a call from Spider-man, and on the super-duper emergency-only one-time-use for world-saving or life-and-death matters only burner phone, no less; despite the fact that Carrie was at work, there was no way she’d ignore it.
“Bruce Banner,” she hissed to herself, abandoning the jacked-up phone and dashing straight out of the front door of the pizzaria with a hard-set grimace. “Bruce fucking Banner! This better be good. Stupid fucking kid- knows I don’t mess with the big leagues, Jesus Christ!” 

For all her frantically muttered complaints, though, Carrie’s legs seemed to move on their own. She fished her normal, more modern cell-phone from the pocket of her apron as she ran, pulling up the first news feed recommended on Google. If something big was going down, and help was needed, she was positive there would’ve been live coverage.

We might need backup, can you come!?

Parker’s words, crackling and muffled through the shitty speaker of the plastic flip-phone rang over and over again in her head. This must have been serious- really bad. And if there hadn’t even been time to rendezvous with Spider-Man himself, then Carrie was sure the battle was already on. 

“Bingo,” she hissed, eyes narrowing at a recently uploaded feed of a scattered handful of the Avengers- but not live. They had already left to regroup, but where was Peter? 

There- swinging in- and… a tractor beam? Well, that was worrying. Carrie huffed in frustration, swiping out of the news to pull up her contacts. It would be easier to comb through her contacts than try to randomly locate heroes in the midst of a mission.
Good thing she had saved Scott’s name under Ant-Man- saved her from having to search way down to “S.” What she had done mostly as a joke was paying off, she guessed. 

It only rang three times- he was probably watching the news, too. 

“ Scott , ” she hissed, before he even had time to speak. “You an Avenger?” 

“Uhm, maybe,” he replied, not missing a beat, although he didn’t sound too sure. “I’m not out there, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I know. I saw the news,” she grumbled. She skidded to a halt and took a turn into some back-alley- it wouldn’t do her any good sprinting down the street with no direction. “I need a favor.” 

“Usually I’d ask if I owe you one,” Scott quipped. Carrie rolled her eyes- even in an obvious crisis, this guy had no filter at all. 

“You’ll get your money,” she snapped in return. “Call up the Hulk. I’m joining the fight.” 

Scott sucked in a sharp breath, obviously surprised by the development. Carrie paced the alleyway impatiently, knuckles white around her phone. After a moment, his voice came back on the other end- slightly softer than before.
“You sure about that?” he asked her. Scott knew as well as she did what the risks of being on the larger government radar was- especially when your record wasn’t clean. Carrie groaned in frustration. 

“Someone’s called me in. I can’t ignore,” she grumbled. 

“Spider-man,” he guessed. She really didn’t have to say it- they’d spoken briefly about him after the Civil War, two years ago- when Scott had needed money following his plea deal. 

“Sure,” Carrie confirmed, her voice impatient. “So make that call. Better yet, just send him my main number.”
“Your wish,” Scott sighed. “You out?”
“Yup. I’ll call you after,” Carrie promised, her voice soft even though the addendum was mostly an assurance that he’d be paid for the favor. He hummed back in return; the line went dead.

It took another fifteen minutes before the call came in. Carrie made her way to Stark Tower- Avengers Tower?- she never remembered anymore. She had been pacing the lobby for a few minutes, growing ever antsier, when her phone rang. 

She didn’t check the caller, just picked up. 

“This who I think it is?” she asked, her voice strained. “You’re still on Earth?”
“This better be important,” the voice on the other end of the line was clipped with stress and exhaustion. 

“Your Spider-friend called in a favor,” she mumbled. “Directed me your way as he was being air-lifted. I’m in Stark’s fancy tower lobby, I’m ready to fight.” 

There was a low whistle from the other end. Muffled conversation that was quickly muted, then unmuted. This time, it was a different voice that spoke. 

“We need the backup, you’re a-go,” a woman’s voice snarled. “Someone’s coming down to get you.” 

The (remaining) Avengers didn’t look all too impressed at the frazzled woman who followed Happy out of the elevator onto the helipad. She wore black pants, an apron, and a red polo t-shirt with a pizza slice embroidered on the chest. Her black hair was pulled into a low ponytail, but strands of it were starting to come loose.
“Carrie Greenwall,” she mumbled bitterly, glancing between the group before she sidled up a step behind Natasha. “Your numbers advantage, courtesy of Spidey.”

Nobody asked any questions. They were already ready to board the quinjet, and it seemed Scott’s text had reached Bruce just in time for Carrie to be ushered on with them. She didn’t ask who they were fighting or where they were going- it seemed Spider-man’s call had been enough for her. If the Avengers found that intriguing, they didn’t ask, all far too concerned with setting out the path to Wakanda. 

*** 

THE TIME IS… THREE HOURS AGO. 

Carrie ended up with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, in the end- the rest of the group hustled off shortly after landing. Something concerning Vision and a stone. 

“What’s with the waitress?” 

Carrie side-eyed the metal-armed man leaning over Wilson’s shoulder, but he didn’t pay her any mind. Wilson let out a deep sigh. 

“Beats me. Apparently someone called in help.”
“Well?” Bucky turned to face her, a grim, skeptical expression set over his face. Carrie stared back, looking almost equally unimpressed. 

“I don’t know,” she replied simply, her tone dry. “Like the Falcon here told you, someone called me. I don’t even know what’s going on.”
“Jesus Christ,” Wilson mumbled, running a hand over his face. 

“You fight?” Bucky pressed, and Carrie shrugged. She pulled out her cell phone, tapping away on some off-brand messenger app without looking up. She sent one message, copied it, then sent it to what seemed to be some forum. Then, she opened another contact, typed up a different message, and hit send. 

MAIN COV: Favor for Spidey, tell Antonio not to wait up for me. Might need to replace me after this one.

“Not really. I think I’m mostly joining you to die.” She replied, in the midst of her typing. Bucky’s lip pulled back, and Wilson whipped back around, eyebrows furrowed. 

“What? You-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. The assault began right then, UFOs or whatever the fuck they were- Carrie had no clue- bashing into what was apparently a protective forcefield hovering over Wakanda. Wilson got on the comms, and the three of them stood beneath the shield, watching it carefully. 

“God, I love this place,” Bucky mumbled, watching as one of the ships went up in embers trying to break the atmosphere. 

“Yeah, don’t start celebrating yet, guys,” Wilson sighed. “We got more incoming outside the dome.”

When the battle really started, it was clear why she’d been called there. Two… aliens? Demons? Broke through the trees. From there, all hell broke loose. The frontline became a real frontline, and soon there was a mess of bloodshed on all sides. 

There was a brief moment when Bucky worried for her. She looked normal, after all- straight off a waitressing shift, and claiming she’d come there to die. In the end, though, there were more important things- a stone to protect and aliens to slaughter. 

And, he supposed, as he caught sight of her in his peripheral vision, steeling herself for the impact of the enemy wave with a grim, resigned expression- it didn’t seem she needed saving. Carrie raised her hand. Two fingers to the wind- almost like a scout’s honor. For a moment, it reminded him oddly of Steve. 

She crossed her fingers, disappeared. Again, and then, again- and suddenly, without warning, Bucky found himself surrounded.
“ Damn , ” he hissed. “Fucking cloning.”

The closest copy, standing around where the original had been, seemed to have heard him. She snorted, her grim expression fading as she glanced over at him, a small smile on her face. Around them, the rest of the copies were either charging forward amidst the Wakandans, or standing with their hands raised, re-multiplying. 

“You get it now? I’ll be the shield,” she said. Despite the smile, her eyes looked flat- already dead. Bucky felt his gut twist at her words. Not fifty feet from them, there were exact replicas of her body beginning to litter the field. 

“You’re sick,” he said. And then he joined the fight. 

***

THE TIME IS …NOW.

“We’re leaving.” It’s Natasha who finally retrieved her. The red-haired woman’s eyes were cold and far away, and she hardly spared a glance to Carrie as she spoke to her. Carrie nodded, hauling herself back up. She stuck her phone into her pocket, leaving the small stack of cash on the ground behind her as she turned to follow Natasha back to the jet. Steve Rodgers and Colonel Rhodes waited for them in the cabin, and after a moment, they were joined by Thor and Bruce Banner- as well as a raccoon in a little jumpsuit, a gun slung over its back. In any other moment, Carrie thought, she might have been a bit more reactive to that. Now, she sat in the seat next to the thing without a word. 

“My part is done,” she mumbled, breaking into the thick silence after the quinjet landed and the doors had been opened. She stepped back onto the rooftop of the tower, taking in a deep breath. The air here in New York was pretty dirty, compared to where they had just been. It’d grown dark out in the time they had been gone. Nobody tried to stop her as she shuffled off, and left them all behind.

She made her way out of the tower, trudging back across several blocks until she was back where she’d started- Antonio’s Pizzeria . The front bell jingled as she pushed through the door. The customers were gone, some of the tables left with food and drink still sitting out. 

She could hear noise from the back- at least some in the kitchen had survived. She unmuted the TV over the bar, letting the news wash over her as she began clearing off the tables which had been abandoned in the chaos. 

“Half the world.” She looked up. Will, one of the younger kitchen guys, leaned on the doorway leading to the back, looking up at the screen. “Where’d you run off to earlier?”

All things considered, Carrie thought to herself, she’d made it out of this okay. She’d done her part as Spidey asked, and maybe in the aftermath of all of this she could slide back under the radar. 

“Got bad news,” she replied. Her voice was hoarse, barely louder than a whisper, but he seemed to hear. He nodded.
“Worse than this?”
“Not anymore.” 

He watched her carefully as she moved between tables. She took her time- after all, there were no more customers to be seated. She gathered the glasses first, depositing them all on the bartop. She brought a black trash bag out from the supply closet, scraping the food into it before stacking the empty plates on the table closest to the kitchen. Will joined her, wordlessly arranging the glasses into the dishwasher under the bar. He rotated it, started it up, then started stacking more into the empty segment to go through next.
“Antonio’s gone,” he informed her quietly, after they had been working silently for a while. Carrie sighed. 

“Figured. He would’ve been yelling.”

 
Will studied her silently. He put down the glass he’d been holding, moving to lean against the counter of the bar.

“Why d’you still work here?” he asked. Carrie stilled, her hand hovering for a moment where she had been reaching for some cutlery, abandoned on the seat of a booth. Her eyes slipped shut. 

“That’s complicated,” she replied. Her voice was weak and shaky. 

“You don’t need the money.” It wasn’t a question, but Carrie nodded in confirmation anyway. Will moved out from the bar, coming to her side. He gently guided her to sit in a chair at the table nearest to her, and she blinked wearily. She hadn’t even realized she’d been swaying.
“Tell me what happened,” he urged her quietly, and settled into the seat across. 

“I’m a mutant.” That was how she began. “It’s- well, essentially it’s cloning. Technically, it’s instantaneous mass cell replication…”

Will didn’t say anything, even as Carrie paused to wait for his reaction. She huffed a short breath out of her nose, then continued.

***

THE TIME IS… THREE HOURS AGO. 

…Hello Miss Greenwall,

Can you please put me into contact with the Senator? This is an urgent matter, so I would like to schedule a call at his earliest convenience. If you could…

She clicked off of the email, pulling up a tab that showed a spreadsheet full of numbers. Her eyes skittered over the most recent entries, and she huffed in annoyance, finally turning her attention fully to her phone. “Fuck, we need to sell.”

Carrie pushed her chair back from her desk, one hand still stretched out to her computer mouse. The other tapped away on her phone, an encrypted private messenger open on the screen. 

FSM REP: Scandal going to break this week. James is trying to meet with that shady ass senator again. Sell?

ST IND REP: Agree. Stock has only been up here & we buy conductors from Taiwan. Competition coming in hot on top of a publicity issue, will tank. 

TES REP: James is the CEO?

FSM REP: CFO. But he micromanages publicity. Logged into his email to see what the reason is- not pretty. Democratic party will probably sink teeth into this one, too.

ST IND REP: Yeah, Senator visit is always bad news. We’ll sell. 

The chat buzzed again as a poll was uploaded. The responses poured in quickly, six of the ten representatives in the trading forum responding immediately. Carrie sighed, typing out a reply.

FSM REP: Yeah, it’s gonna get stupid. That's majority- everyone sell when you see this. 

She swiped out of the app, switching over to one of the several investing platforms on her phone. Well, at least FSM was up right now- they’d make some profit before it tanked.
She sold the stock, slumping in her chair and shoving her phone away again. Fucking semiconductors . FSM was supposed to be one of her safer branch choices, and here they were with a child labor scandal. Fuck, even Hammer would probably be doing better after this got leaked.
Who else bought from FSM? Some companies would probably make quick switches, she mused.

FSM REP: Could buy more from Taiwan?

ST IND REP: New contract drafts are looking good. Sounds fine. 

Another poll. It took longer that time, but after an hour or so, seven of the ten had replied in the affirmative. Carrie pulled the trading app back up, going into her portfolio and buying a few more shares from the Taiwanese semiconductor company that dealt with Stark Industries. 

MAIN COV: Watch news. Avengers. Peter comped. 

Carrie’s eyebrow knit with sudden worry. She diverted her attention back to her computer screen, pulling her chair closer to the desk so that she could type into the search. 

"God, I'm fucking glad I have my own office..."

*** 

THE TIME IS …NOW.

Will whistled, a low, impressed sound. His elbows were folded over the table, and he hunched forward, listening on the edge of his seat. 

“Little Greenie, a white-collar criminal? Who would’ve known?” he mused. Carrie glared at him, straightening her back in her seat. 

“It’s just some insider trading,” she huffed bitterly, and Will barked a laugh. “At this point, everything’s gonna dip- my phone died, so I’m not really sure what they ended up doing. Hopefully sold everything that won’t become essential, until we can regroup.”

Will studied her for a moment. She looked at least a bit less like she had seen a ghost, now that he’d sat her down and gotten her talking. Maybe the shock was wearing off from wherever she’d just been. 

“So you just… have these copies out there, all the time? Basically leading separate lives from you?” he asked, carefully. Carrie nodded. 

“Got dual degrees in finance and engineering, back when I was in uni. Hired this class-A hacker to put a bunch of shell identities into the system as people graduating in my same year, used them as fronts to work in the finance departments of a bunch of high profile companies. Tech, medical, stuff like that. It was pretty easy from there to access information that helped me play the market.”
“So why keep working here?” He asked. If she had been putting in all that effort to some financial scheme, it wasn’t like she needed to work a shitty waitressing job in Queens to survive. She had started there years ago, when she’d only just turned sixteen. Will had started around the same time, but he’d never gone off to school- just settled into his role in the kitchen, learning how to run things so he could help out when Antonio got too old to keep up. He and Carrie had been working together at that stupid pizzeria for almost ten years now. 

A soft smile came over Carrie’s face. Her nail trailed small circles over the tabletop.
“I needed to have a cover-up copy to balance my personal life out,” she admitted, “And I’d already been here so long I just decided that this would work. As far as anybody in my life is aware, I saved all my tips in a fund as a down payment on a shitty apartment complex in Hell’s Kitchen, then took out a loan for the rest. Split my time between this and being a landlord, so I had a good excuse for having more money than I should’ve. But most of my tenants are actually just me,” she huffed. Her smile twitched slightly in amusement as she admitted it. 

Will blinked in surprise. He leant his back against the chair, taking in her explanation. 

“So a good chunk of their separate living expenses are covered, if there’s no rent to pay,” he mused. “Damn, Greenie. You really thought this through.”
She barked a laugh. It echoed bitterly in the empty, dark dining room of the pizzeria.

“I did,” she confirmed. “I do.”

*** 

THE TIME IS… TWO HOURS AGO. 

TES REP: Sell everything?

ST IND REP: Sell ours- Keep the medical supply index?

FSM REP: Med and army supply indices should be fine. What’s going to be scarce?

APPL REP: Get rid of anything entertainment related for now. 

EXON REP: Did any of us dust? My supervisor just disintegrated.

ST IND REP: No way to know. Everyone head home, not like the work day will matter.

FSM REP: Everybody check in with Homebody. 

ST IND REP: Right.

EXON REP: Medical and army. Anything else to keep? 

TES REP: Who cares? Just sell. 

FSM REP: Agreed. 

ST IND REP: Anybody else a bit concerned on op status?

TES REP: Yes

FSM REP: Yes

EXON REP: Yes

APPL REP: Yes

JPM REP: Yes. “Peter comped?” Cov getting caught up with Avengers?

APPL REP: With JPM that’s 6/10 reps confirmed. Wouldn't the other four have checked in by now? Can we confirm Homebody?

EXON REP: I think dusted. She would’ve called.

TES REP: Hate to say. But I agree.

FSM REP: Alright, come on. Sell and then leave. If Homebody and Cov are both gone, we’ll need to regroup and make a decision.

TES REP: Copy

APPL REP: Copy

JPM REP: Copy

EXON REP: Copy

ST IND REP: Copy

***

THE TIME IS…NOW. 

ST IND REP: Can confirm Cov, Avengers just touched back at tower. Think she went back to Tonio’s.

JPM REP: Saves a lot of trouble. Hopefully nobody will be breathing down our necks.

ST IND REP: I’m not supposed to be up here, consider me comped unless you see me back at home later. Bigwigs seem a bit preoccupied though.

JPM REP: Peter?

ST IND REP: No.

*** 

THE TIME IS …NOW. 

“Phone charged yet?” Will asked. The two had finished cleaning by now- Will had picked up the kitchen by himself in the time Carrie had been gone, having sent the surviving staff home after the snap. It was quick work resetting the dining room with two hands, and now there was nothing left to do but sweep. That was a task for tomorrow, though- they had wordlessly abandoned the broom against a wall, after the clock had struck eleven PM, moving instead to the area behind the bar. Carrie moved seamlessly, pulling out glasses and shakers to mix them each a drink. Will stopped her as she reached for the shaker to begin making them, gently removing the bottle of vodka from her hand and pouring out a couple of straight shots, instead. Carrie replaced the shakers and glasses, taking one of the shot glasses from him and clinking it against his own. The two of them knocked back their share in tandem. 

“Enough,” Carrie mumbled, glancing wearily down at her phone where it was still plugged in under the bar. She’d only opened it for long enough to scroll through the forum and see what her other copies had decided to do, sending a quick message that she was safe and had indeed returned to Antonio’s before closing it again. She didn’t worry too much about the anxiety of her copies- after all, they were her, too. They would probably be able to guess what she was thinking even without her giving a good explanation. 

“Are you gonna head home, then?” Will pressed gently. 

Carrie frowned at him. “Are you?” 

 Will cracked a smile. He shook his head slightly in amusement, dipping it down to avoid her stare. He poured out two more shots. 

“Nah,” he replied, and knocked his back. “I live alone. It’s gonna feel like I lost someone even though there wouldn’t have been anyone in the first place.”
“You did lose someone,” Carrie replied. Her tone was frank, not bothering to be gentle. “It’s gonna be rough to figure out the ownership situation of this place.”
“It’ll be alright,” Will sighed. Carrie downed her own shot. “I’m on Tonio’s will.” 

Carrie’s gaze softened. She pried the bottle of vodka from Will’s grip, pouring out another round. They drank. Carrie considered the bottle for another moment, before carefully replacing it where it usually rested amongst all the other liquors on the wall behind the bar. She could feel the warmth seeping through her from the liquor, and she was sure Will was at least tipsy already. She knew from countless post-closing shot competitions and poker nights that he was somewhat of a lightweight. They’d probably end up more miserable, if they got too drunk, rather than being loosened up. 

“You could come back with me,” she offered quietly. Will’s gaze shot up to hers- slightly weary, slightly hopeful. “But I might not be good company. Got stuff to sort out, and all.” 

“No time off for the Don?” he joked, weakly. Carrie rolled her eyes. 

“I’m not the leader , there is no leader. All the copies are me , we make choices together.” 

He considered her for a moment, eyes flickering over her. She looked dead on her feet. Her apron had been missing when she’d come back, and her hair was no longer in her ponytail, tangled and with dried bits of blood on some of the strands. She had a cut on her eyebrow- it had stopped bleeding hours ago, but the blood was still caught in her eyebrow.
“Can’t believe you fought with the Avengers,” Will mused. He heaved himself up so that he could sit on the countertop. Carrie moved to lean against the edge of the shelf opposite, kicking one leg up to poke at his knee for a moment after she did. 

“Me either. I’m not much of a fighter. Might’ve screwed myself over, too.”

“What’d Spider-man even do for you that you were so willing to go?” Will asked, and Carrie’s nose wrinkled in a sort of fond, half-grimace. 

“He’s a dumb kid,” she huffed. “The rep I have at Stark Industries met him. I started out in accounting there, but ended up getting moved because one of my coworkers found this old video of me working in an Engineering lab at school and thought it would be a good idea to send it straight to R&D.”

Will raised an eyebrow. “Promotion?”

“Promotion,” Carrie confirmed, lip quirking up in amusement. She picked slightly at the dirt beneath her nails. “Ended up meeting the kid a couple times. Very briefly. I wasn’t supposed to know he was Spider-man, but, as the shady criminal I am, I’m usually snooping where I shouldn’t be. And I like to keep an eye on S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers stuff in New York so I can avoid it.” 

“I see,” Will hummed, his eyes searching Carrie’s expression. “That’s it? You just met him, and that was enough?”

Carrie’s smile cracked wider, and she ducked her head slightly. 

“He caught me snooping,” she admitted. “When Mr. Iron Man started coming back down, he panicked and ended up covering for me. At least, I thought he was- turns out, he didn’t even know I was supposed to be there, and he wasn’t trying to divert Stark at all. He’s just that anxious.” 

“You just hit it off?” Will joked, grinning. Carrie barked a laugh. 

“He came to see me in the labs- looked at the phones and whatnot. Even let me look at his suit, but I wouldn’t have known what to do with it. Then one day when I was leaving, some lunatic tried attacking the tower. He saved me, so I just… took him down here. Got him so pizza; don’t know what I was thinking. We just became close, y’know? Eventually I told him about my own powers. He’s come by every once in a while ever since. Sometimes if he’s in real deep shit he calls me in for backup.” 

“Like today.” 

Carrie’s lips set into a thin line. “Like today.” 

***

THE TIME IS …NOW. 

MAIN COV: Yes, I did go to Tonio’s. Someone sell for me. Be home later.

ST IND REP: Word on Peter?

MAIN COV: No.