CopyCat | Bucky Barnes

72

3rd Person POV

Steve walked in just as Nat began to cry. He leaned up against the bookshelf, finally making his presence known.

"You know I'd offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already." He says trying to lighten the mood.

"You here to do your laundry?" Nat asks, wiping the tears from her face.

"To see a friend." He corrects her.

"Clearly, your friend is fine." She says unconvincingly.

"You know I saw a pod of whales when I was coming up the bridge." Steve says impressed.

"In the Hudson?" She questions.

"There's fewer ships, cleaner water." He says with a positive tone.

"You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side. Um... I'm about you to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich." She tells him jokingly, with a small smile forming on her lips.

"Sorry, force of habit." He sighs, taking a seat across from her. "You know, I keep telling everyone they should move on and... grow. Some do. But not us."

"If I move on, who does this?" She asks.

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done." Steve suggests.

"I used to have nothing. Then I got this. This job... this family. And I was... I was better because of it. And even though... they're gone... I'm still trying to be better."

"We both need to get a life."

"You first." She smiles.

"How's she been?" Nat asks after a few moments of silence.

"We haven't talked in a few months...." Steve admits. "Dimitri says having me around might actually be making it worse."

"Do you believe that?" She asks doubtfully.

"I don't know..." He sighs. "I think I remind her too much of them."

"She just needs more time, she'll come around eventually." Nat tries to convince him.

"I hope you're right...." He says looking down.

A security notification pops up in front of them, and a monitor showing surveillance footage plays. Outside the front gates, is Scott Lang.

"Uh...Oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me." Scott rambles.

"Is this an old message?" Steve asks standing up.

"It's the front gate." Nat tells him.

"Ant-man? Ant-man, I know you know that. I need to talk to you guys." Scott pleads.

The two of them open the gate in a hurry, and bring him inside. The two of them looking at him confused as he paces back and forth whispering to himself.

"Scott. Are you okay?" Steve asks concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Scott says, taking a few seconds to think of how to explain everything to them. "Have you ever studied quantum physics?"

"Only to make conversation." Nat says.

"Alright. So... five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is 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 in there."

"I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years." Nat says apologetically.

"Yeah, but that's just it. For me, it was five hours." Scott says. "See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable."

Scott's eyes wander to a sandwich on the table, and rushes over to it. "Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving."

"Scott, what are you talking about?" Steve asks, completely confused.

"What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos."

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Steve asks.

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a... Yeah, a time machine. I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way... There's gotta be... it's crazy."

"I get emails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore." Nat shakes her head.

"So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asks.

"Tony is our best bet, we just gotta make one stop first." Steve says.