New Chances

Unexpected Reunions

(From here on the story will have some... mild spoilers for the Black Widow movie, so if you haven't watched it, don't say I didn't warn you.)

The next morning we got up early, suited up and set the date to which we wanted to travel. Steve thought it would be a good idea to travel to 2024 instead of back to 2023, because we had spent a year in the 50's, "so we're the age we would be if we lived in 2024". "So, you ready?" Steve asked her. "Well, as ready as one can be to go... back to the future." Steve glanced at me, I just smiled back at him as he mouthed the word, "Nerd." I winked at him and he rolled his eyes, "So you're ready to go back to a time where you're supposed to be dead. Are you sure about this?" "Yeah, it's gonna be fun." Steve smiled at that, "Some parts of you really haven't changed at all, huh?" "Yup, still as charming as ever, can we just go now?" "Ever heard of patience?" "Ever heard of I don't give a damn, I wanna go home, Rogers." "Fine, fine, let's go." We activated the Pym particles, and off we went through space and time.

Time travel is a strange sensation. First you feel lighter than air, then it feels like you're being pulled apart and at the end, when you are when you want to be, it feels like you're being slammed back together. All in all it's quite awful and I would not recommend it. Just stay where and when you belong.

"Well... this is... not where I thought we would end up," Steve said as we looked around to take I the scenery. "Where did you expect we'd end up? The Avenger's compound?" As far as I knew, that's where the time travel machine was. Steve shook his head, "No, we moved it to the uh... Stark residence backyard... and this clearly isn't it." "Well... then where are we?" "If only I knew." I looked around us again, the scenery seemed a little familiar to me. It was almost as if I had been here before, "Hmm..." "Is that a helicopter?" Steve suddenly spoke up. "Yeah, it looks like it," I replied. "Let's see if it works," Steve sad as he walked towards it. "It looks like it crashed, Steve..." "Well... maybe there's food in it, or equipment." He has a point there.

"Well... there's quite some weapons in here," Steve said after three minutes of searching. "There's even a rocket launcher." "Hmm, whoever crashed this thing's got style," I mumbled. "Really? It could have been our enemies." "I wouldn't be so sure of that..." I said. The scene of this crash was starting to look very familiar to me. "Hmm?" "Nothing, please just look for food." "Well, I found some food... but it looks quite old." "It's better than nothing." "That... is true. And I am kinda hungry." To his own regret, Steve tried some of the food. "Well, how is it?" "It's... very very dry." I chuckled, "That was to be expected, but at least it's food. However, I'm afraid there's no water in here." "Yeah, I didn't see any of that either." "Maybe we should look for some," Steve nodded, then he suddenly said, "Wait." "What?" "Didn't you see that this place is covered with snow, we could melt it." "That... would turn it into water... but how do you want to do that?" "With this," Steve held up some matches, "and some of this incredibly dry food." "Then what do we eat." "Nat, I'm a soldier, I'm a pretty good survivalist, and I'm quite certain that you ae as well."

I am indeed quite the survivalist, and as Steve was looking for clean snow, I was looking for food. Of course this was a lot harder to find during winter, since all plants were basically dead, not in bloom or snowed over, so I had to focus on the wildlife. Luckily for me and Steve, I know how to walk as silently as a Hobbit, and so I managed to sneak up on a group of deer. I carefully aimed and shot a doe. "That should be enough for a while," I said to myself. "Hey, Rogers, you around?!" I yelled. This might have been a bad idea, had I not been certain that there was nobody around here but the two of us. "Coming," Steve's voice sounded distantly. I walked up to the deer and bound her to a big branch with some rope we had found in the helicopter. "How did you manage to shoot that?" Steve asked me as he came walking to me through the trees. "You know, sneaking, aiming, pulling the trigger. Are you going to help me carry this bag to the helicopter or no?" "Sure."