47. Avengers: Endgame (2)

STEVE'S POV

I pulled the car up to the house, and the three of us spotted Tony carrying a little brown-haired girl. He turned to look at us as we got out of the car. Tony brought his daughter inside before coming back out on the porch to listen to Scott's pitch. Tony didn't say anything as he poured us some drinks. Scott spoke,

"Now, we know what it sounds like..."

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" I asked. Tony suddenly spoke up,

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony handed us the drinks, and I thanked him as he continued, "In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

"I did," Scott argued.

"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you want to pull off a... What do you call it?"

"A time heist?"

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?"

"The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them," I said, and Natasha added,

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back."

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony debated.

"I don't believe we would," I said.

"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise."

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel," Scott explained, "That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"

"I'm going to stop you right there, Scott," Tony interrupted, "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future?"

"No," Scott awkwardly assured.

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause, that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works."

"Tony..." Nat spoke up, "We have to take a stand."

"We did stand. And yet, here we are."

"I know you got a lot on the line," Scott told Tony, "You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. And now... We have a chance to bring her back. To bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even..."

"That's right, Scott, I won't even. I got a kid."

Tony's daughter quickly ran out to the porch and jumped into her father's arms as she explained why she came out,

"Mommy told me to come and save you."

"Good job. I'm saved." Tony faced the three of us again after he stood, "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys. It was... Oh, and the table's set for six."

"Tony, I get it," I said, stopping him from walking away, "And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance."

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."

Scott, Natasha, and I walked back to the car. As we walked down the porch steps, Nat stated,

"He's scared."

"He's not wrong," I added, but Scott spoke as well,

"Yeah, but I mean, what are we going to do? We need him. What? Are we going to stop?"

"No, I want to do it right. We're going to need a really big brain."

"Bigger than his?"

We decided that we would try and call Bruce to see if he could help us. The plan was to meet him at a cafe the next morning, and when we arrived, we were all surprised to see Bruce and the Hulk as one being. The four of us got a table and then ordered some food. As we sat, with our food now on the table, Natasha, Scott, and I were still in a bit of shock. Bruce started eating and encouraged us to have some,

"Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating. Try some of that. Have some eggs."

"I'm so confused," Scott plainly stated while sitting on the seat across from Nat and me.

"These are confusing times."

"Right. No, no, that's not what I meant."

"No, I get it. I'm kidding! I know. It's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now."

"Yeah! Wh...How? Why?"

"Five years ago, we got our asses beaten. Except it was worse for me. Because I lost twice. First, Hulk lost, then Banner lost. Then, we all lost."

"No one blamed you, Bruce," Natasha assured him.

"I did. For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then, I started looking at him as the cure. Eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together. And now look at me. Best of both worlds..."

Three children walked up behind Bruce, and the girl politely asked,

"Excuse me, Mr Hulk?"

"Yes?"

"Can we get a photo?"

"One-hundred percent, little person. Come on, step up. You mind?" Bruce asked Scott, holding the phone out to him.

"Oh, yeah," Scott replied, taking the phone, and Bruce thanked him before saying to the kids,

"Say 'green'!"

They all said 'green' as Scott took the photo. "Did you get that?"

Scott leaned forward to hand back the phone, then asked the kids,

"Don't you want to grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man."

The kids looked at each other with unsure faces. "They're Hulk fans, they don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does."

"Wait, no, no, he feels bad. No, he wants you to...he wants to... You want to take a picture with him, right?" Bruce tried to convince the children, but one of the boys shook his head vigorously.

"He's even saying no, he doesn't. I get it. I don't want it either."

"But, come on, the kid! But he...but you..."

"I don't want a picture with them."

"He's going to feel bad. They said they'll do it."

"I don't want it anymore."

"No, no...you feel bad."

"Just take the goddamn phone."

"Thank you, Mr Hulk," the girl said as the three of them started walking away.

"No, it's great, kids. Thank you very much. Hulk out!"

"Bruce," I said, trying to get his attention.

"Dab!"

"Bruce."

"Listen to your Mom. She knows better."

"About what you were saying..."

"Right. The whole time travel do-over? Guys, it's outside my area of expertise."

"Well, you pulled this off," Nat encouraged, "I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible, too."

It took a little more convincing, but Bruce eventually accepted the idea. We made plans and agreed to meet at the compound the next morning.

TONY'S POV

I was finishing up washing the dishes and accidentally sprayed a bit of water on the corner wall. Picking up some of the things on the shelf to dry them, I ended up grabbing the picture frame that held one photo of me with Peter holding a Stark Internship certificate and another photo of Katie and me at one of my parties. I swiftly wiped the frame dry before lowering it and thinking about the time travel do-over. Could this work? I realized that I wanted to at least try. For Peter and Katie.

The following morning, Natasha, Scott, Bruce, and I all met up at the compound to test our time travel theory. Bruce was working with the panel in front of him when he instructed,

"Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the uh... the van thing."

I saw Scott open up the van's back door as I walked over from the breaker panel.

"Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby," I informed everyone.

"Good. Cause if we blow the grid, I don't want to lose Tiny here in the 1950s."

We all gave Bruce panicked expressions before Scott asked,

"Excuse me?"

"He's kidding," Natasha laughed, then turned to Bruce with a hushed tone, "You can't say things like that!"

"Just... It was a bad joke," Bruce awkwardly assured, and Scott turned away.

"You were kidding, right?" Nat asked in a whisper.

"I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is." Bruce gave Scott a thumbs up and loudly said, "We're good! Get your helmet on, Scott. I'm going to send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?"

"Perfectly not confusing," Scott jokingly assured, and I wished him luck,

"Good luck, Scott. You got this."

"You're right. I do, Captain America."

Bruce pressed a button, and Scott disappeared into the Quantum Tunnel of the van. He then said aloud,

"On the count of three. Three... two... one!" Bruce pressed another button, and someone in the Ant-Man suit appeared. A teenager questioned with a scared tone,

"Uh, guys? This...this doesn't feel right."

"What is this?" I asked.

"What's going on?" Bruce inquired of himself, and Natasha asked as well,

"That...who is that?"

"Hold on," Bruce asked while pressing more buttons.

"Is that Scott?"

"Yes, it's Scott!" the teenager yelled in frustration before he got sucked back into the Quantum Tunnel. An old man then appeared and complained,

"Ow! My back!"

"What is this?" I repeated, and Bruce requested,

"Can I get a little space here?"

"Yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?"

"I'm working on it!"

After more button pressing, a baby appeared in the Ant-Man suit.

"It's a baby," I stated seriously.

"It's Scott."

"As a baby!"

"He'll grow."

"Bring Scott back!"

"When I say kill the power, kill the power."

"Oh my god," Nat said as she rapidly walked toward the generator.

"And... Kill it!"

Natasha pulled the lever, shutting everything down and causing the Quantum tunnel to spit our normal Scott back out again.

"Somebody peed my pants," Scott announced, clearly uncomfortable.

"Oh, thank God," Nat placed a hand on her chest as we all let out a breath of relief.

"But I don't know if it was 'baby' me or 'old' me... Or just 'me' me."

"Time travel!" Bruce yelled while holding his hands out for dramatic effect. I simply shook my head and walked away. "What? I... I see this as an absolute win!"

I walked outside the compound and stared at the ground in deep thought. The only possibility of getting everyone back had failed, and I felt defeated. Suddenly, a deafening noise could be heard in the distance. I looked up to see Tony's car driving into the compound. Once the car pulled up in front of me, Tony rolled down his window and asked,

"Why the long face? Let me guess: He turned into a baby."

"Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?"

He stepped out of the car, ignoring my question,

"That's the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should've cautioned you against it."

"You did."

"Oh, did I?" Tony sarcastically questioned, "Thank God I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it." He held up his right hand which had a device on it. "A fully functioning Time-Space GPS. I just want peace. Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it."

"Me too."

"We got a shot at getting these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities: Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. Keep what I got? I have to, at all costs. And... maybe not die trying will be nice."

"Sounds like a deal."

The two of us shook hands before Tony went to reach into his trunk. He pulled out the shield and offered it to me, but I hesitated,

"Tony, I don't know."

"Why? He made it for you," Tony assured, referring to his father. "Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."

I fit the shield onto my arm.

"Thank you, Tony."

"Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn't bring one for the whole team. We are getting the whole team, yeah?"

"We're working on that right now."

Tony and I started walking inside to wait for the rest of the team to show up.

The team was ready and waiting for Bruce to finish his prep so Clint could be sent into the past for our test run. When he was ready, Bruce checked with Clint,

"Alright, Clint. We're going in three... two... one!"

Clint's helmet popped on his head, and Bruce sent him into the Quantum realm. Clint soon rematerialized on the glass platform Tony and Rocket had built. He was breathing heavily, sitting on the floor. We all ran up to check on him, and Nat spoke first,

"Hey, hey. Look at me. You okay?" Natasha helped him stand with her hands on his face. Clint showed us the baseball glove in his hand before throwing it to Tony and telling us,

"Yeah, it worked. It worked."

We all celebrated for a moment before getting back to business. We moved into a board room to discuss the where and when of the Infinity Stones. Some hologram displays showcased each of the six stones. Everyone sat around the table while Tony, Bruce, and I paced at the front, leading the planning of the mission.

"Okay, so the 'how' works," I started, "Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Or, substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones," Tony said.

"I haven't," Scott stated, "But I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history," Bruce explained, and Tony specified,

"Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in."

"Which means we have to pick our targets," Clint knowingly added.

"Correct."

"So. Let's start with the Aether," I suggested. "Thor, what do you know?"

Thor had been sitting in a chair in the corner of the room wearing sunglasses. Everyone turned around to look at him, and when he didn't move, Natasha questioned,

"Is he asleep?"

"No, no. I'm pretty sure he's dead," Rhodey guessed, and Thor suddenly woke up. He stood up and walked over to the hologram display showcasing the Reality Stone.

"Where to start?" Thor began, "Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before." Thor pointed at me, and I gave him a questioning look as he continued, "It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someone's going to need to amend that. And stop saying that. Here's an interesting story, though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves..." He wiggled his fingers to imitate a spooky ghost, "Wooooh, scary beings. So Jane, Oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... She... she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... And, she became very, very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my mother... who's dead." Thor started to look broken and on the verge of tears, but he kept going, "And, oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, so... These things happen, though, you know, nothing lasts forever."

Tony got up to push Thor back into his chair,

"Why don't you come sit down?"

But Thor protested,

"I'm not done yet. The only thing permanent in life is impermanence."

"Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?" Tony offered.

"No, I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you."

We took a break and moved to go to eat some food. Rocket paced on the table that we were all eating at while he explained what he knew about the Power Stone,

"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag."

"Is that a person?" Bruce questioned as he ate Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

"Morag's a planet. Quill was a person."

"A planet? Like in outer space?" Scott excitedly asked, and Rocket crouched in front of Scott to mock him,

"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you want to go to space? You want to go to space, puppy? I'll get you to space."

The next day, Nebula talked about the Soul Stone,

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir."

"What is Vormir?" Natasha asked while writing on a notepad.

"A dominion of death, at the very centre of Celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister."

An awkward silence fell upon the room, but Scott made a joke to break the silence,

"Not it."