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521A Palm Street.
Inside the living room.
Anya sat on the sofa, leaning forward, her eyes focused on Hawk sitting next to her.
Hawk smiled at her and began telling the story of his universe. He made sure to include every detail.
As Anya had mentioned before, they had all the time they needed right now.
After Thanos snapped his fingers five years ago and caused the Blip, everything on Earth came to a halt. Even after all this time, the world still hadn't bounced back.
If the surviving Avengers hadn't stepped up to hold things together, the world would have collapsed into total anarchy.
Honestly, it was pretty close to that already.
Beyond the five big superpowers, the rest of the world was falling apart. Even in the United States, things were bleak. People could be killed in broad daylight, and unless someone was caught on the spot, the police likely wouldn't even investigate.
A powerful sense of apathy covered the world.
Only a small group of people were still trying to keep things operating. Most others had given up and were just waiting for the end.
Even Tony Stark had put away the Iron Man suit and stepped back.
So... Before the Blip, time was the most valuable thing anyone had. Now, it didn't matter at all.
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Hawk kept talking, explaining the events of his world step by step.
Anya listened quietly, not saying a word.
When he brought up her death during the fight between Hulk and Abomination in 2008, she frowned.
When he described breaking into Hell and pulling her soul from Mephisto, her eyes twitched.
And when she learned he had discovered why their parents left them, and even found them alive in another dimension, she pressed her lips together.
The clock kept ticking.
When Hawk finally finished, Anya stared at him. For a moment, a small trace of grief showed in her eyes. "So. You really aren't my brother."
"No..." Hawk laughed quietly, looking at her warmly. "I am your brother. I don't care what universe we're in. You are Hawk Phoenix's sister."
Anya kept her lips pressed tight, staring at him. "But you aren't the brother from my universe."
"Heh." Hawk shook his head with a smile and reached out his right hand.
Anya glanced at his hand, then met his eyes. After a brief pause, she put her hand in his.
A moment later—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
Above the River of Time.
"Holy shit!"
Anya's vision blurred. She gasped and found herself standing in a huge, star-filled space. She stared at the River of Time below, brimming with countless broken memories.
The fragments revealed the past of Hawk's original universe, along with the history of the Hawk from Universe-616.
Two separate pasts played out at the same time in the river, impossible to pull apart. In the end, both timelines crashed together right below where she and Hawk stood.
"The me from my universe is me."
"The me from your universe is also me."
"Think of it like a single tree. It just grew two different flowers."
Hawk swept his right hand through the air. The image of the Anya from his native universe materialized.
Suddenly, he moved his hand again, and the River of Time changed, showing the Anya from this universe.
"And by that same logic, this Anya Phoenix is also my sister."
"There is no difference."
"Wait..."
Hawk suddenly remembered something. He glanced at Anya, who was still staring at the River of Time, and grinned. "Actually, there is one difference. You look a little older than the other Anya Phoenix. You lost the baby fat..."
Anya jolted, snapping her head toward him. "Baby fat is for kids. I grew up. I'm five years older than you now... You aren't my big brother anymore. You're my little brother."
"Haha." Hawk burst out laughing as she glared at him without blinking. He spread his arms wide. "So. Do you finally believe I'm your brother?"
Anya nodded. She closed the distance and threw herself back into his arms. "I believe you. Brother."
The cosmic scene faded, and they found themselves back in the living room.
At that moment, Anya suddenly jerked. "Wait a second. You said my sister-in-law is Gwen. Shouldn't it be Wanda?"
Hawk had his eyes closed, enjoying the moment, but quickly opened them when he heard her. He met Anya's curious gaze and gave a small smile. "And that would be the other difference."
Back home, Hawk never considered dealing with Hydra.
At the very least, he never sought them out.
But that was only because, when his sister needed surgery at age ten, he used his spot in the church choir to get help from a local, very religious city councilman.
This universe's Hawk didn't get that kind of charity. So, he turned to Hydra.
That was the variable.
And by extension. This universe's Wanda was another massive variable.
As for why that specific variable existed... God only knew.
Hawk looked down at Anya. She had the same look in her eyes—a mix of shock, confusion, and excitement—that his universe Anya had when she learned Wanda had given birth to three of his kids. He rubbed his temples hard. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
With that, Hawk turned and headed straight for the kitchen.
Anya blinked at his back as he walked away, then quickly followed and grabbed his arm. "When exactly is 'when we come to it'?"
"Trust in the future."
"What?"
"It means future problems are for future Hawk to stress over. Present Hawk doesn't care." Hawk pulled open the fridge and looked for something to eat. Maybe traveling through the multiverse used up a lot of energy. He was starving.
He saw a single slice of pizza on a plate. He took it out and looked at Anya. "Is this still good to eat?"
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Hawk wasn't the only one who was hungry.
After leaving his daughter Cassie's house, Scott Lang drove straight to the Avengers compound. Now, Ant-Man was quickly eating a sandwich Natasha Romanoff had made for dinner, trying to satisfy his sudden hunger.
In the compound office, Steve Rogers stood with his arms crossed. He had just listened to Scott give a rushed explanation of quantum physics. Steve watched Scott eat his sandwich and asked, "Scott, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Scott gulped nervously. He looked at Cap and the Black Widow.
"What I mean is, the Quantum Realm isn't just a way to travel between universes. Time moves differently there."
"If Hawk used it to cross into our universe..."
"So, in theory, we could use it to travel back in time. The only issue is figuring out how to navigate. But what if we could control where we go?"
"What if we entered the Quantum Realm right now and came out in a totally different year?"
"..." Steve frowned, holding up a hand to stop him. "Wait. Are we talking about a time machine?"
But Natasha caught the big reveal Scott had just mentioned during his explanation. She uncrossed her arms and looked at him. "Hold on, Scott. Who did you just say? Hawk?"
Scott looked at Steve, then at Natasha. "Yeah. Hawk. I ran into Hawk down in the Quantum Realm. But it wasn't our Hawk. It was a variant from another universe. He came back here with me..."
Steve frowned even more at Scott's rushed and confusing explanation.
"Scott, I'm getting confused. What do you mean 'Hawk'? And weren't we just talking about a time machine?"
"..."
"FRIDAY."
Natasha instinctively turned her head, calling out to the compound's AI. "Pull up all surveillance footage of Scott Lang's route today."
FRIDAY's voice was clear and definitely feminine, unlike JARVIS's deep tone.
The AI asked for a moment.
Security feeds from the Queens Blip Memorial Park flashed onto the holographic display.
There he was on the screen: 6'1", muscular, with short, messy hair. His hands were in his pockets, his face looked like stone, and his eyes were blank. Hawk was right there in front of them.
Natasha clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Hawk?"
"What?" Steve stared at the image, his face full of disbelief. "That's impossible. Thanos killed Hawk. He ripped the Mind Stone right out of his head."
Steve knew that for a fact... He knew because he was there when it happened. Cap had watched, unable to help, as Thanos took the stone.
But now?
Natasha whipped her head back to Scott. "You're telling me this Hawk crossed over from the multiverse?"
Scott nodded. "Yeah."
Steve looked at the sudden comprehension dawning on Natasha's face. "Nat, what is it?"
Natasha nodded quietly, turning to meet his gaze. "Remember when Bruce got back? Remember how he said it felt like he had been dumped into an alternate universe?"
Steve frowned.
"Bruce said it was just a hallucination. A dream."
"What if he wasn't dreaming?"
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