Prologue
Clink-a! Clink-a! Clink-a!
The sound of rock hitting rock echoed in Steve’s ears as he approached the pad. In one hand he carried a briefcase. Within, the infinity stones from the past resided, held stable in nanotech casings. In the other hand, Mjolnir rested, perfectly molded to the palm of his hand.
He had said his goodbyes to everybody, saving the best for last. He wanted to savor the moment—The last time that he would see this Bucky. The Bucky that had gone through so much, who wasn’t the same man that Steve had always looked up to. But now that he would finally have the chance to go back to his time, Steve could make sure that Bucky would never fall into the hands of HYDRA. He would make sure that Bucky would not change. They could work side by side, Captain America and his right hand man.
It was time to rewrite history.
“Going quantum. Three—Two—One—”
And everything gave way to a blur of colors, reality warping at his fingertips. The taste of time and space coated his tongue as he flew faster than the speed of light. Faster than the ever-ticking clock that had determined his life.
Forcing his body to move under the current that assaulted him, Steve opened the briefcase and took out the stones, placing them carefully into the hidden compartment he had made only hours ago. The nanotech raced up his arm, much as it had with Tony’s the day Thanos had been defeated. But he had a plan, he would not be injured.
Gripping Mjolnir in his gauntlet, Steve channeled all the energy into the weapon, watching as it broke into a million shards, the Uru sending streams of energy in each direction.
Reality cracked and crumbled under the weight of this power. Spidery chasms opened up all around Steve as he let out a yell of primal fear. Tendrils of energy wrapped around his form. Whispers echoed in his head as he was pulled into the inky depths around him.
This was not supposed to happen!
The air was sucked out of his lungs, his skin felt as if it had been burnt from the inside out. There was blackness for all the eye could see—
And then—
The world spun back into focus.
He stood outside the building. Dressed impeccably with a suit and tie. How—?
And then he read the sign.
The Stork Club.
It had worked.
He had turned back time. It was his future now.
Steve did not see the crackly portal behind him close with a sharp snap. Nor did he hear the screams of the timestream he had left as they disintegrated into nothingness. Their anguished cries lost to the universe.
And as Steve Rogers approached a grieving Peggy Carter, he did not realize just what his actions had done.
On Asgard, the youngest prince flickered out of existence for only a moment before returning.
In the New York Sanctum Sanctorum, the appearance of an aggrieved sorcerer caused mass hysteria.
In the Stark Manor, a man, dead to the world, returned on his knees, hands in the pre-snap position.
And at the base of its roots, the very fabric of the space time continuum twisted and bent, stitching itself together in a completely different pattern. Reality, Space, Time, Soul, Power and Mind unified into one as the future was rewritten.
It was time for the universe’s second chance.