Six years ago, Saiki Kusuo—who had intended to travel back in time to prevent Thanos from acquiring the Infinity Stones—suddenly lost contact. The remaining heroes were no match for Thanos, who already possessed three stones.
Ultimately, Thanos snapped his fingers, eradicating half of all life on Earth, and indeed, across the entire universe.
Months later, the surviving Avengers tracked down Thanos, demanding he hand over the stones to resurrect everyone they had lost. However, Thanos informed them that he had already destroyed the stones.
Having expended immense energy destroying the very artifacts that granted him power, Thanos was left weak and vulnerable. He met his end at Thor's hand.
But no one felt any joy in slaying their enemy.
The Avengers disbanded. Thor left Earth. Bruce Banner, with the help of Saiki Kusuo's older brother, Saiki Kusuke, managed to merge his consciousness with the Hulk's, achieving a stable fusion. Since then, he had been living at the Saiki residence, looking after Kusuo's parents and working part-time at a local coffee shop to cover living expenses.
As for the others, the only one whose whereabouts Banner knew for certain was Tony Stark, Iron Man. He had reportedly entered a state of semi-retirement, married Pepper Potts, and welcomed a lovely child into the world.
Peter Parker, Wanda Maximoff, and Pietro Maximoff... they had all turned to dust in Thanos's snap.
Hearing Banner recount Thanos collecting all six stones, Saiki Kusuo immediately raised an objection.
"That's impossible, Dr. Banner. You know perfectly well that both the Space Stone from Asgard and the Mind Stone from S.H.I.E.L.D. were in my possession. And just before I left, Doctor Strange even gave me the Time Stone. How could Thanos possibly have gathered all six?"
"I don't know." Banner would never forget the absolute despair he felt watching Thanos, stones blazing on his gauntlet, perform the snap. For six long years, that question had plagued him. He'd even suspected, for a time, that Saiki had defected and handed over the stones. But Doctor Strange, just before disappearing himself, had assured him Saiki hadn't betrayed them. Yet, Saiki had vanished. Knowing how devoted Saiki was to his mother, Banner couldn't imagine him willingly causing her such heartbreak. So, Banner concluded that Thanos must have killed Saiki to get the stones—stones Banner had allowed Saiki to take.
Banner had carried the weight of that guilt ever since, staying with Saiki's parents as a form of atonement. Now, knowing Saiki was alive, that crushing burden finally lifted.
"It's just... good that you're okay," Banner stammered, tears welling up again. "Your brother, Kusuke, he's fine too. And your Mom and Dad are okay. They went back to their hometown recently, your grandparents are fine too. That's good... it's all good. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." Banner's eyes reddened as fresh tears fell.
He sniffled, trying hard to regain control. "Sorry, I'm just... I'm just so happy. Really. I thought you were dead all this time, but you're not, and I'm so happy, so happy the tears won't stop."
Banner started rambling, desperately trying to explain his crying, but his raw emotions—pain, despair, relief—transmitted clearly to Saiki. Without the Hulk's resilience propping him up, Banner's fragile psyche might well have shattered years ago.
The sheer intensity of these feelings unsettled even Saiki, whose own emotional spectrum was usually muted. "Don't worry, Doctor," Saiki said, his voice low but firm. "I won't let that happen."
Regardless of how Thanos had managed to collect the stones in this timeline, Saiki wouldn't allow that future to come to pass.
He stood up. Under Banner's questioning gaze, Saiki walked out of the coffee shop.
"Wait, Saiki! Where are you going?" Banner hurried after him.
Where am I going? Isn't it obvious? Saiki thought wryly. To find somewhere deserted and go back six years.
He had briefly considered going home first, maybe comforting his worried parents and giving Kusuke a stern warning not to cause trouble just because he wasn't around. Tsk, that phrasing sounds a bit off, he mused.
Saiki found an empty alley, ready to activate his time travel... and then he paused.
Something felt... missing. An emptiness within him.
Where's my stone? My ridiculously large stone?? Saiki stared blankly into space. Seriously?
This was even worse. Now the stone was gone too.
Wait, if the stone is gone, can I still travel directly?
Saiki focused, attempting to jump through time using his own power. Nothing. No response. His other abilities—telepathy, teleportation—worked perfectly fine.
What is going on? Saiki internally directed his frustration upwards. Author, are you out of plot ideas? Can't you come up with anything new? Are you really going to milk this one stupid gimmick forever?
Banner caught up to him. "Saiki, what's wrong? Why did you run off?"
Thinking back to his bold declaration just moments ago, Saiki felt a flush of intense embarrassment. He was immensely grateful for his typically taciturn personality; at least he hadn't actually said those confident words aloud.
Having been screwed over multiple times already, Saiki remained outwardly calm. He turned to Banner. "Doctor, did you say Thanos destroyed all the Infinity Stones six years ago?"
Banner nodded solemnly.
That doesn't make sense, Saiki thought. If the stones were destroyed back then, why did mine disappear just now? Did I somehow lose it during the trip back here? If that was the case, Kitty Pryde was definitely being added to his payback list.
"Is it possible," Saiki probed, "that Thanos didn't destroy all of them?"
Banner shook his head firmly. "Impossible." If there had been even a sliver of hope that a stone remained, the survivors wouldn't have fallen into such profound despair six years ago.
Hearing this, Saiki's heart sank. He desperately needed Kitty's help now. If he'd known this would happen, he would have swallowed his pride and said some nice things to her back then. Maybe then she wouldn't have retaliated like this.
Banner seemed to sense Saiki's determination. Thinking about the younger man's abilities, his eyes suddenly lit up with excitement. "Saiki, what are you planning? No, wait—what can I do to help?"
"Right now," Saiki stated flatly, "I want to go back to the past and chop off that giant prune's head. But currently, I seem to have lost my way back."
"What about your time tra—" Banner began, but trailed off as Saiki shot him a look so terrifying it made him physically shudder. He quickly swallowed the rest of his question. "Maybe... maybe we should head back first? Regroup, figure out a plan?"
For now, that seemed like the only option. The thought of seeing his parents after such a long time, of eating his mother's home cooking... Saiki felt an uncharacteristic warmth spread through him, his eyes stinging slightly.
Of course, first things first. He turned to Banner.
"Got any money? We need to stop by the supermarket first."
"Money? Sure. What for? You don't need to buy groceries, Saiki-mama should have dinner ready by now."
Saiki threw him a sideways glance. Why are you acting like I'm the guest here? Whose house is it, anyway?
"You," Saiki reminded him sternly, "previously promised me a year's supply of coffee jelly. It's time you fulfilled that promise."
When it came to coffee jelly, Saiki Kusuo's memory was infallible, even across decades.
However, Saiki was destined not to receive his coffee jelly from the Banner of six years later. Their trip to the supermarket was interrupted by the arrival of Natasha Romanoff, who had clearly come looking for Banner.
Natasha seemed momentarily taken aback to see Saiki standing beside Banner, though she quickly masked her surprise.
"Apologies, Mr. Saiki, I was rude to stare," she said smoothly. "You don't mind if I call you Kusuo, do you? Seeing as your brother is also a Saiki, it helps differentiate."
Saiki couldn't care less what she called him. What did capture his attention was a stray thought he picked up from her mind.
His head snapped up, his voice urgent. "What happened to Kusuke?"
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