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Chapter 4 Allens: Am I Living In The Past?
🕑 Added 2025-08-27 10:58:49 +0000 UTC“Hail Hydra.”
Allens looked at the old Rogers with a half-smile. He had already recognized him—this was definitely Captain America. Even though Steve Rogers was well over a hundred now, his face still bore a striking resemblance to his youth.
“Boy… you seem different,” Rogers said.
The old soldier, who had been hiding in peace for decades, didn’t believe an ordinary kid could know anything about his past. That HYDRA salute Allens threw out? Rogers figured it was nothing more than a kid’s edgy joke. For a moment, his instincts had kicked in, but he quickly calmed himself.
“Different? Everyone’s different,” Allens replied with a chuckle.
But inside, his mind was racing. 2008 is when superheroes are born—Iron Man, the first spark. Yet here in 2007, before Stark even builds the suit, I’m face-to-face with an elderly Captain America. That means…
He thought back to what he knew. Avengers: Endgame. The final battle, five years after Thanos’ snap. The Avengers regroup, travel through time to recover the Infinity Stones, and in the end, Tony Stark sacrifices himself to defeat Thanos.
At the very end of Endgame, Steve Rogers had returned the Stones… but chose not to come back to 2023. Instead, he stayed behind to live out his life with the woman he loved. When he finally reappeared, it was as an old man. He passed on his Vibranium shield to Sam Wilson—the Falcon.
So if I’m seeing him here, in 2007… does that mean Endgame already happened? That the Battle of New York, Ultron, even Thanos’ snap—they’ve all already taken place?
The realization hit him like a hammer. Damn it… this timeline I’m in is just the past. 2023 has already happened. For Rogers, 2007 is nothing but history.
Allens rubbed his temples. “Wait, what was the theory again in Endgame? The rules of time travel…?”
He forced himself to remember. Unlike the X-Men movies, where the future could be rewritten, Marvel’s quantum theory made the past immutable. The Avengers couldn’t change their own history. Their actions in the past only created branching timelines. Every small deviation could spawn a parallel universe.
So no matter what, 2023 existed as the “main” future. Everything before it—2007, 2017, didn’t matter. They were just points on a fixed line.
Allens stood and looked Rogers squarely in the eyes. “It’s an honor to meet you. If it’s convenient… could you leave me your contact information? It might be useful to keep in touch.”
He raised his phone slightly, activating his persuasion ability. “We’re friends now, right?”
Rogers hesitated. Normally, he would never reveal his number—any contact, any exposure, could cause an accidental branch in the timeline. But the sincerity in Allens’ eyes… and the subtle push of that uncanny ability… swayed him.
Steve took the phone, typed in his number, and simply entered Steve into the name field. To anyone else, it was just an ordinary name, like John Smith. Nothing suspicious.
“Steve? Nice to meet you,” Allens said, nodding. “You’ve made me realize… this world might not be as simple as I thought.”
His words carried a strange weight, and Rogers, for all his experience, couldn’t quite make sense of them.
“Well then, goodbye, Mr. Steve. Maybe we’ll meet again.”
Allens gave him a meaningful glance before turning to leave. He now knew for certain—his persuasion worked even on Captain America. Of course, it had limits. He couldn’t push Rogers to betray his own morals, or to kill. But smaller things—like handing over a phone number—were fair game.
After parting ways, Allens ducked into a nearby café, needing time to process everything. He picked a quiet corner, near the window, where he could still see Rogers sitting calmly on the plaza bench outside.
“Excuse me, sir, what would you like?”
The waiter’s voice pulled him back. Allens smiled faintly. “Just a mocha. Thanks.”
Once the waiter left, his thoughts returned to the bigger picture. The presence of old Captain America had thrown off all of his plans.
In Endgame, the Avengers had jumped to multiple points in history to collect the Stones. Doctor Strange had once said there were over fourteen million possible outcomes of their final battle with Thanos, and only one led to victory.
But now, Allens knew—his current 2007 wasn’t exactly the same past from that film. This was one of those branch timelines. Every choice, every action, could set things drifting further from the “main line.”
He frowned, pulling a napkin closer, and began to sketch. A straight line—2023, the fixed future. At the base, he wrote 2007. From there, he drew countless branching lines—each one a different future.
“This is it,” he whispered. “Doctor Strange saw ten million futures. Each one, a branch. I’m standing right at the divergence point. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up in some dead-end future. I need to find the correct path—the one that leads back to the mainline.”
Just then, the familiar ding of his system echoed in his head:
Ding! Host has encountered Rogers, the future Captain America. Condition met: unlock insight into future mission. Reward: three special lottery draws.
Ding! Main mission triggered: Establish contact with future Steve Rogers and obtain Ant-Man’s time-travel suit. Completion reward: one additional lottery draw.
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