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In a desolate corner of rubble near SHIELD headquarters in New York City...
"Steve, wake up, Steve, come on!"
Lying on the ground in a daze, Steve faintly heard a familiar voice in his ear. He struggled to open his eyes to see Natasha anxiously watching over him.
His heavy consciousness emerged from the darkness.
Steve awoke with a start, his eyes wide as he saw Natasha crouching beside him. He looked around at the debris of the fight and winced as he rubbed the back of his neck. "What happened? How did I end up on the floor?"
"Captain, that's a question for you to answer," Natasha replied while reaching out to help Steve up. "I received your signal and rushed here. I looked everywhere and finally found you in this corner of the ruins."
"Oh, right."
At Natasha's reminder, Steve took a deep breath, his eyes showing thoughtful concern as he spoke earnestly, "I saw someone identical to me, probably Loki in disguise, escape. Caesar was there, too, and then Loki and I began to fight."
"You lost?" Natasha blinked curiously.
"No, I had him under control, but someone took advantage and attacked me from behind. That's when I got knocked out."
Steve grimaced as he touched the back of his neck. Even with his Super Soldier physique, it was surprising that someone could knock him out with a single punch. It had to be someone with extraordinary strength, perhaps someone like himself.
But how was that possible?
After all, Caesar was there too, and in terms of physical prowess, there were few who could match Caesar, who once lifted a Helicarrier.
Listening intently, Natasha's expression grew serious as she looked at Steve. Sensing her concern, Steve asked, "What is it? Did you find Loki, or did something else happen?"
"Master Caesar... he's missing!" Natasha's face turned grim.
"What?" Steve furrowed his brow. He had seen Caesar not long ago!
"It was a message from the Carl family, delivered personally by Raina. There's no mistake. Caesar has mysteriously disappeared from New York, or rather from the earth itself!"
Natasha looked solemnly at Steve as she spoke. "Steve, you were probably the last person to see Master before he disappeared. Since then, he's completely disappeared. Eddie is still desperately searching the city. Every member of the Carl family has been mobilized."
She paused, then continued, "They didn't even intervene in the recent battle in New York, but this involves Master, so it's a different story."
"I see."
Steve nodded solemnly, deep in thought. "It could be the work of someone behind Loki, who knocked me out and took Caesar. Of course, this is all speculation. We must investigate thoroughly."
"It's strange, though," Natasha sighed in frustration. "There are no significant signs of a fight here. I find it hard to believe that someone could quietly take Master Caesar away."
"Let's regroup at SHIELD headquarters. Loki escaped with the Magic Cube, and now Caesar is mysteriously missing. We have a lot to sort out," Steve decided.
With limited information and no intelligence, Steve and Natasha couldn't come to any conclusions, so they headed back to SHIELD headquarters.
Unbeknownst to them, these events had been set in motion by the future heroes who had entered this timeline, causing a ripple effect of change and influence.
The future trajectory of this timeline had quietly shifted, just as the Ancient One's wizard had predicted.
Now.
1943, New York.
In the heart of the city's modern architectural streets, devastated by World War II, the economic downturn was stark. Compared to the prosperity and technological beauty of decades later, the difference was vast.
On the streets of New York, next to SHIELD headquarters, in a secluded corner of ruins...
A flash of light and figures appeared.
A mysterious man in an Ant-Man uniform suddenly materialized on the third-floor terrace of a central church. He pulled back his Ant-Man helmet and leaned against the railing, looking down at the dimly lit streets below, populated mainly by scattered pedestrians, mostly women. He couldn't help but sigh with relief.
"1943... I never thought we would actually make it."
This was none other than the future Ant-Man, Scott.
Without much ado, Scott retrieved a toy van from his person and placed it on the terrace. Using his device's resizing technology, the toy van quickly expanded from a palm-sized object to a full-sized van.
The doors on both sides swung open.
Future Steve, Future Tony, and Caesar stepped out of the vehicle. As they took in their surroundings, their faces relaxed with relief.
Scott admired Caesar and said, "With just one Pym Particle, the four of us have successfully traversed time and space. Caesar, you really are a hidden genius!"
"Godfather, what do you think?" Tony glanced at Scott, then looked down at the street below, which was filled with vintage cars. "At this time, my father should be working at the military base?"
"That's right. That's also where Kyle and I showed up as new recruits," Future Steve mused, gazing at Caesar hovering in mid-air. "Caesar, we've arrived in the World War II era. What's our next step?"
Caesar shrugged indifferently. "Simple. It's late September 1944. At this point, both Steve and my original self, Kyle, are still in basic training. All we have to do is storm the Hydra base, and seize the Tesseract from Red Skull Schmidt's hands since the Space Stone is still inside the Tesseract at this point."
"Captain America, the tyrant has not yet risen - this is the true Dark Ages," Tony remarked, exchanging glances with Steve. Scott scratched his head in disbelief. "Is it really that simple?"
"Yes, it is that simple. However, we need to pinpoint Red Skull Schmidt's exact location on the World War II battlefield," Caesar explained, spreading his hands. "Friday, can you find out?"
Tony didn't hesitate, immediately querying the artificial intelligence system embedded in his armor configuration. "Friday, can you find him in this era?"
"Boss, the network hasn't been set up yet in this era. I'm afraid I'm powerless," Friday's female voice apologized gently.
Scott pursed his lips and suggested, "Then we'll have to find him on the battlefield. A target is better than none."
"Are you sure we want to appear openly on the battlefield? We could seriously disrupt the historical timeline of the current era!" Steve warned, shaking his head slightly.
Before they could reach a consensus, Caesar suddenly spoke up, "All right, someone's coming."
"Who?" Steve and the others immediately tensed, scanning their surroundings but seeing no one but themselves.
Caesar pointed to the empty space on the terrace.
*Swoosh...*
A spark of light ignited and spun into a wheel, from which emerged a figure.
(End of Chapter)