When a person's consciousness sank into a dream, it was often difficult to realize exactly when they had entered it. Steve was the same. By the time the pattering rain gradually stopped and he opened his eyes again, he had already arrived somewhere vaguely familiar.
He narrowed his eyes, shielding them from the light with one hand. After getting to his feet, he surveyed the surroundings and found that this seemed to be a somewhat old laboratory.
Even though Steve was not a researcher, he could tell that this laboratory was not a product of the twenty-first century. Its equipment had been advanced by the standards of the previous century, but that could not hide its somewhat cramped layout or the marks worn into the well-used lab benches.
Suddenly, Steve spotted something extremely familiar: a lab bench. What made it familiar was the dent in one of its cabinet doors, which he had personally repaired once.
Back then, Howard had made that Vibranium shield for him. Neither of them had ever used a weapon like that and had not realized how destructive it was. Steve picked up the shield and threw it straight out. With a loud clang, it struck the opposite wall, and when it bounced back, it sliced through the Chandelier's cord with a whoosh.
With a smack, the Chandelier crashed to the floor. Steve instinctively dodged backward, and with a bang, he slammed into the cabinet door of the lab bench behind him, denting it. Howard had flown into a rage, and Steve could only stay up all night repairing the cabinet door he had damaged.
As he walked around the lab bench, many familiar things appeared before him: parts for the hovering car Howard often bragged about, all sorts of models piled in the corner, and