Hero [L.L]

Chapter One Hundred Twelve

"hi is anyone home? this is Scott Lang, we met a few years ago at the airport in Germany. I'm the guy who got really big"

"is this an old message?" Steve asks

"its the front gate" Natasha states in shock

-

"Scott are you ok?" Steve asks as they watch the man pace back and forth, clearly trying to work out something in his head.

"yeah, have either of you guys ever studied quantum physics?"

"only to maintain conversation" Eden shurgs

"alright so five years ago right before Thanos I was in a place called the quantum realm, and its like its own microscopic universe. to get in there you have to be incredibly small, Hope - she's my, she was my - she was supposed to pull me out and then Thanos happened and I got stuck int here" Scott explains

"sorry that must have been a very long five years"

"that's just it, it wasn't for me it was five hours. see the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are here, everything is unpredictable"

"what are you talking about?"

"what I'm saying is time works differently in the realm, the only problem is right now we don't have a way to navigate it, but what if we did, what if we had a way to control the chaos, what if there is a way we could enter the quantum realm at a certain point in time and exit at another point in time, like before Thanos"

"wait are you talking about a time machine?" Steve asks holding his hand up

"no of course not, not a time machine this is more like uh yeah- like a time machine it's crazy there's gotta be someone-"

"Scott we get emails from a racoon so nothing sounds crazy anymore" Eden nods

"so who do we talk to about this?" Scott asks

"I might have an idea but I'm not sure how he's gonna feel" Eden responds

-

Eden gets out of the car and walks next to Steve as they walk over to his porch, she smiles slightly as he takes his daughter inside. Tony sits down in his chair and pours drinks for everyone as Scott explains his plan, and just as she'd predicted he wasn't too excited about it at all. But she knew that with the right amount of push they could get him on board, and though she didn't want to she knew that she'd have to play dirty, hit him in the heart.

"quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch proposition can we agree on that?" he asks handing Steve a drink

"in layman's terms, it means you're not coming home"

"I did" Scott interrupts

"no you accidentally survived, it's a billion to one cosmic fluke, and now you wanna pull a - what do you call it?"

"time heist"

"yeah a time heist, of course. why didn't we think of this before? oh because its a pipe dream?"

"Tony just hear him out" Eden adds sending him a look of annoyance

"the stones are in the past, we can go back and get them"

"we can snap our own fingers we can bring everybody back" Natasha states

"or screw it up worse than he already has, right?"

"I don't believe we would" Steve says

"gotta say it, 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 belive the most likely outcome will be our collective demise"

"not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel, no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events - "

"I'm gonna stop you right there Scott, are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on back to the future?"

"no" he says quietly

"good you had me worried there because that would be horseshit, that's not how quantum physics works"

"Tony we have to try" Eden says, staring at him sadly, all of the emotions she fought to bury rising up.

"We did try, and yet here we are"

"I know you got a lot on the line, got a wife and 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 you won't even-"

"that's right Scott I won't, I can't, I wish you'd come here to ask me something else, anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys"

"Tony I get it and I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance"

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. Can't roll the dice on it"

As the rest of the team exit back to the car with slouched shoulders and broken hearts Eden walks over to Tony with glazed-over eyes, he sets his daughter down and she scurries off into the house. Tony places a hand on her shoulder and stares at her sadly.

"you look well"

"cut the shit, I know you and I know you aren't gonna be able to keep yourself away from this. why delay the inevitable?" she asks

"reading my mind I see? what have we talked about with privacy?"

"I didn't read your mind I just know you Tony Stark"

"why do you care anyways, it's not like we could bring him back"

"I know that! but that doesn't mean that the rest of the world should suffer because of my own selfishness, what about Peter Parker, Tony? shouldn't he have a chance to live, or Wanda or T'Challa? all of them can come back, it's on you whether you decide to help or not, I won't force you. I would kill to have what you have and I know you don't want to risk it"

"Eden I'm so sorry" he says sadly, the girl nods and wraps her arms around him.

"It's ok, now go be with your family" she smiles before walking down the steps. As she gets into the car she knew for a face that Tony Stark would be back, it was only a matter of time.