18 | ANOTHER WAY

"Sorry, buddy, we got a problem." Tony announced to Steve once they met up back in the same alley they arrived in 2014 New York.

Scott chuckled nervously. "Yeah we do."

Tony explained the situation on how Amelia lost the tesseract as kindly as he could, but Steve was still pissed off. "Well, what are we going to do now?" Steve huffed.

"You know what, give her a break, Steve. She just got slammed by a door from the Hulk." Tony defended her.

"We had one shot. This was our one shot. We shot it. It's shot. Six stones or nothing!" Scott exclaimed.

"Calm down. We can think of a new plan. There's always another way." Amelia calmed the boys down.

"How?! We only have one pym particle left, each." Steve scoffed.

"I could go by myself to another time—" Amelia began to suggest.

But, Steve and Tony instantly snapped their heads at her and gave her a death glare. "No!" They shouted at her simultaneously.

They were quiet for a moment until Tony piped up. "I got it!" He exclaimed.

"There's another way to retake the tesseract and acquire new particles. Little stroll down memory lane," Tony turned to Amelia, "military installation, Camp Lehigh."

Amelia shook her head. She couldn't remember that time period of her life. Mostly because she tried her best to block out her shameful activities. "When were they both there?" Steve instantly knew what Tony was talking about. The pym particles and the tesseract were at a SHIELD base at the same time in the 70s.

"I have a vague memory of it." Tony confessed.

"How vague?" Steve inquired.

Tony shot him a weary look. "Well, I guess we're improvising." Steve sighed then handed Scott the scepter he had taken.

"Get this back to the compound." Steve told Scott before walking back over to Amelia and Tony.

"When are we going?" Amelia asked.

"April 7th, 1970. New Jersey." Steve informed her.

"Guys, if you go, and it doesn't work out, you're not coming back!" Scott exclaimed.

"Thanks for the pep talk." Tony scoffed then turned to Steve.

"You trust me?" He asked.

"I do." Steve replied.

"Your call." Tony took a deep breath.

"Here we go." Steve pressed his button and Tony followed pursuit. Amelia whispered her incantation and met the other two exactly where they wanted.

* * *

Once they landed at the base, everyone geared up in inconspicuous outfits. Amelia and Steve were dressed up in military uniforms while Tony dressed professionally, like an official so he could sneak through and steal the tesseract. Amelia scanned the area and recognized a few familiar faces. She lowered her head to hide her ageless face from being  recognized by the people at the army base. Amelia stood watch up above on the ground as Steve and Tony went underground into the offices and labs to steal the tesseract and pym particles. She watched for people like Peggy Carter or Howard Stark going downstairs and distract them until Tony and Steve made it out.

Suddenly, the face of Howard Stark approached her. She stood there, staring blankly at him. She hadn't seen him in so long it was like she was looking at a ghost. "Amelia? What did you do? You look way better than when I saw you an hour ago."

Amelia nearly cried seeing him. He was her best friend. He loved her and she couldn't reciprocate those feelings to him because she was still in love with Steve who had been frozen for years by then. Amelia recalled that in 1970 he had partially moved on and married. Hell, his wife was even pregnant with Tony at that time. "N—nothing." She smiled.

"Huh, strange. I haven't seen you genuinely smile since... well since forever." He chuckled, engulfing Amelia in a hug.

Amelia felt a weight lift off her chest. She really needed that hug to reassure her that he was real. "Have you thought about my proposal from earlier? You seemed pretty out of it when I asked, though." Howard questioned.

"Your proposal?" Amelia worried she'd expose herself by not knowing what he was referring to.

"Look, I know you never wanted anything to do with SHIELD and we still made you a founder, but I really  think you'd make a great director of SHIELD." Howard offered her.

Amelia smiled small at him. Howard furrowed his brows and analyzed Amelia. "You aren't the Amelia I know, are you?" Howard raised a questionable brow.

"Yes, I am.." Amelia assured him, lying to his face.

"Are you a hostile?" Howard asked, lowly.

"I promise you, I'm not." Amelia shook her head, nervously.

Howard grabbed her face and squished her cheeks. "We learned to time travel." Amelia blabbered suddenly, then instantly covered her mouth. She widened her eyes, scared that she had just screwed everything up. She just couldn't help it. It was Howard Stark in all his glory and she couldn't even remember the last time she spoke to him.

"You're from the future? How do you look the same?" Howard gasped.

"Long story." She sighed.

"I knew you weren't my Amelia." Howard chuckled, glad that he was right, feeding his ego.

"I still am, just a little more beaten up." Amelia admitted. Howard looked at her in her eyes, seeing the darkness and terror she experienced through her long life reflect in her eyes.

"You take care of yourself, Stinson. You look like you need rest." Howard told her.

Amelia sighed. "I'm sorry, Howard."

"For what?" He asked.

"For never telling you how much I appreciated and loved you. It was never right of me to leave you hanging when I knew you always had my back." Amelia explained.

Howard was quiet. "You tell me, I mean my younger self," Amelia felt tears stinging at her eyes, "that everything will be okay."

"Tell her yourself." Howard pulled out a notepad and a pen from his jacket and handed it to her. Amelia wearily took the pen and paper and began to write.

My Dearest Amelia,

Remember when mom would start her letters like that to us when we were in the SSR? Although this note will be strange to read, I hope Howard explains well enough so that you can understand how you got this message.

I know you're going through some rough times now, and although these rough times may last decades, you will get through it. You will be okay. The worst has yet to come, so, stay strong. Although our life has been/will be a series of unfortunate events, your legacy will persevere. I wish I could tell you more.

Sincerely,
Yourself

Amelia hesitantly handed the paper back to Howard. "You will be okay, too, Amelia. I may not know what you've been through, but I can tell you've been through worse things than what you are suffering now." Howard gave her promising wisdom.

"Things you can't imagine. I wish I could stay and vent, but, I'm on a mission." Amelia informed him.

"A mission to do what?" Howard smiled, glad to hear Amelia was out doing activities she enjoyed very much when she was younger, before Steve was frozen in ice.

"To save the world."

* * *

Amelia met Tony and Steve back where they first arrived at. "You got it all?" Amelia asked the boys.

They nodded and mumbled some words back and forth but Amelia's mind was still on the words Howard had given to her. "You forget something?" Steve asked Amelia who was staring off in the distance.

"No, I've got everything I need. I'm ready now." Amelia told Steve.

"You sure?" Tony asked her.

Amelia took one last look at the base where she had met Steve at, then mostly avoided after he had frozen in ice. She didn't realize how ungrateful she was for her life at that time. It pained her how much she missed being alive during that time. She was very nostalgic about the whole thing. She just wanted to go back in time and redo everything all over again. Amelia nodded and took a deep breath. "Everything is going to be alright." Amelia pressed her lips together to stop herself from crying.

"It has to be." Tony grabbed Amelia's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Let's go." Amelia nodded curtly at the two.

They typed in their numbers into their time traveling wristlets and travelled back to their present. Amelia muttered her foreign words and leaped back with them to their present.

* * *

When they arrived back at the compound, nearly everyone was back, except for Natasha. Everyone shot Clint a worried look, and he only returned a mourning glance back at them. "No, no, no, no." Amelia began to weep.

Valdís reached over to give her mom a hug. They were all tired of the losses and needed to put it to an end before it broke all of them. "What is this shit? We're the fucking Avengers! We will use the stones or something to bring her back!" Amelia shouted.

"It can't be undone." Clint told.

"I can't do this anymore. We have to bring everyone back. It has to be worth it. I've been through hell and back but this is the worst pain I've ever felt. I don't lose. I'm not a loser! And we keep on losing! Everything! People, battles and our hope!" Amelia screamed at everyone. Valdís led her away before she could begin to say some hurtful things to everyone.