It had been a few months since Tony had his outburst if you could even call it that. The fallout had left cracks quiet tension in the air, but time had a way of softening even the sharpest edges. And today wasn't about that.
Today was about something far more endearing.
The brownstone in Brooklyn stood modest and unassuming, but inside, warmth radiated from every corner. Arden stepped up to the door, the morning light casting long shadows behind him. He paused, eyes scanning the street as if expecting some unforeseen threat beyond his control Behind him, Annie tightened her coat, the chill in the air reminding her of missions long past.
Matt Murdock arrived shortly after, his cane tapping lightly against the concrete. He tilted his head as though he could already hear the heartbeat inside small, rapid, and new.
Peggy opened the door before anyone could knock. "You're just in time," she said with a grin that could disarm even the most stoic of agents.
Inside, the house smelled like fresh bread, warm wood, and something sweet cooling on the windowsill. The baby Sarah Carter Rogers slept in a bassinet near the fireplace, wrapped in a knitted blanket too big for her tiny frame. Steve stood nearby, cradling a cup of tea, looking more relaxed than anyone had seen him in years.
"It's good to see you," he said to Arden as they embraced. "Didn't think you'd make it."
"I don't always make time," Arden replied with a half-smile. "But this? I'd slow it down if I could."
Auggie and Annie moved to the kitchen to help Peggy with the dishes, while Matt remained near the bassinet, quiet, hands folded. He didn't need to say anything everyone could feel how still he became in the child's presence, like a statue letting the world spin around him.
As the afternoon wore on, stories were shared of the war, of SHIELD, of time lost and gained. Steve told one about Howard Stark drunkenly trying to design a baby stroller with rocket propulsion. Arden countered with the time a he once pulled off a mission impossibly with the use of a ping pong ball Even Matt cracked a smile.
Peggy eventually brought the baby to Arden. "Hold her," she said gently. "She's not afraid of anything yet. Let's keep it that way."
He hesitated but only for a moment. He took the child in his arms. She was impossibly light. And in her eyes, still foggy with the haze of newborn wonder. Only potential. He had long stopped leaving at this world was anything but fictional after all Sarah was never a thing in the original timeline.
"She's beautiful," he whispered.
"She's hope," Peggy replied.
And in that small house in Brooklyn, with old wounds still healing and old legends trying to live new lives
"Found him locked in a lab full of needles and . AIM called him an asset. I call him a kid." Arden shrugged. "Figured it was time he met family."
Matt turned from the window, tapping his cane on the floor. "He doesn't say much."
"Neither did I," Antonio finally said, soft but sure.
Peggy looked over from where she rocked Sarah. "Neither did Steve."
Steve glanced back with a mock glare. "I talked."
"Grunted," she corrected.
Bruce's voice joined from the kitchen except it wasn't quite Bruce's voice. There was a deeper resonance layered into it now, like another tone humming behind each syllable. "Where is your spirit"
"Okay,okay enough of that what about you" Steve muttered.
Bruce stepped into the room, arms crossed, clearly himself visually, anyway. "We're doing better. Hulk's... more of a roommate now."
A second voice echoed from the walls, gruff and amused: "Hulk is the strongest roommate there is!!"
That got a laugh.
Even Sarah gurgled.
Matt took a seat beside Annie, who'd found a spot near the bookcase. His fingers traced the top of his cane absently. "You know, I used to hear a heartbeat like hers and wonder if I could keep it safe."
He turned his head slightly, aiming the thought more toward Arden. "There was a time I ran rooftops with bloodied knuckles and broken ribs every night because I believed justice came from pain. But this?" He motioned subtly to the quiet warmth of the home. "This might be the real win."
"Didn't you go through twelve suits?" Tony asked.
"Thirteen," Matt corrected. "One of them caught fire. Don't ask."
"Daredevil?" the frost boy asked suddenly, curious.
Matt didn't react, just gave a faint, crooked smile. "Depends who's asking."
Snow grinned. It was the most emotion he'd shown all day.
"Hey," Auggie piped up from the corner, "I heard TQ and Jean are expecting."
Heads turned.
"Wait, that TQ?" Annie asked.
Steve sat up straighter. "Jean Grey?"
"Yeah," Auggie confirmed. "Apparently they're not hiding it anymore. Kid's gonna glow like a lighthouse and read your thoughts before she's out of diapers."
Arden's brow furrowed in a mix of hope and wariness. "A mutant and Triethen hybrid. That... that's going to change things."
"Everything's already changing," Bruce added. "We just don't know into what yet."
Silence lingered. Not an awkward one just thoughtful. Heavy with possibility.
Sarah shifted in Peggy's arms, then sneezed.
The laughter hadn't even faded before the air shifted.
No knock. No footsteps. Just presence.
It was like gravity changed direction. The warmth of the room didn't dim, but somehow, it felt… hollowed. Like the space itself had remembered something terrible.
A man stood in the entryway, though no one had seen him arrive.
He wore a dark suit that didn't wrinkle and shoes that hadn't touched a speck of dust. His face was unreadable neither young nor old, neither kind nor cruel but his eyes… his eyes felt like judgment.
Steve dropped the photo frame he was holding. The clatter was sharp, startling.
Suddenly, he wasn't in a living room surrounded by friends. He was in Belgium. Gunfire. Screams. Cold mud seeping into his boots. Orders shouted across blood. Bucky's scream when he fell.
Tony stumbled back a step, hand to his head. "No no, not again" His arc reactor flickered as the faces returned. Yinsen. Visions of his weapons landing in small villages and many deaths that followed. The Chatari warship glaring.
Arden's breath caught in his throat. He blinked and saw fire in the sky. Kintari tearing through Chronobits. Loxarans folding cities in half. He was a different person a different Chronobit were these his memories, watching a world burn slower than time should allow. And all of it the screams, the betrayal played in slow motion.
Natasha gripped the back of a chair so hard it cracked. Her eyes flared wide, unblinking. Cold tile. Screaming girls. Syringes. Voices teaching her not to feel. To kill. To smile afterward.
Only the baby didn't react. Sarah stared at the man with curiosity, unaware of what he was.
Matt flinched, cane trembling. He couldn't see the figure, but he felt him. An echo of violence. An ancient scream in his bones. "What is he?" he rasped.
The man stepped forward, each movement silent but absolute.
"Do not be afraid," he said and it was worse than a threat. It was true.
Because no one could be afraid. Their fear had already happened. Already been used.
He looked at Arden first. "Chronobit. The man wondering if he was ever human at all"
Then to Steve. "Soldier. You mourn peace, but war is your shape."
To Tony: "You invent, not to build but to redeem. That is why it always breaks. Like your body soon will"
To Natasha: "You survived. That is your punishment."
Antonio backed behind Arden, clutching his sleeve.
The man's eyes finally turned to him.
"I am not here for who you are," he said softly. "But for what you remember."
The room held its breath.
And somewhere, deep beneath them the world turned.