Rogue: Annihilation (An Avengers Sequel)

19. One Test

Tony sighed, taking my hand and kissing it. "Theoretically... yeah, it makes sense. But practically, we won't get to the stage of combining the universes, because going into the Quantum Realm will kill us."

I shook my head. "Scott made it out. And this time, we'll have you."

Tony frowned again. "Me?"

I feigned surprise. "I'm sorry, I thought I was married to an expert in Quantum Mechanics. My mistake. Guess I'll have to ask Bruce..." I pretended to stand, and he pulled me back down, smiling.

"There's no guarantee that it would work."

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Then what's the harm in trying?"

He pointed in the direction of the stairs. "The harm is us thinking we can do it, and being wrong. Rogue, there's a version of this where our daughter ends up an orphan."

"And there's a version where she gets to meet the aunt that she's always looked up to," I reminded him, trying not to let my excitement get the better of me. "A version where I get to meet my mom." At this, his eyes met mine, sympathy written on his face. "If we can do this, Nati gets to have a family. A grandmother, and a bunch of aunts and uncles. You know, Rhodey, Wanda, Sam... Peter." At the mention of his protégé, his demeanor changed. After all these years, he still thought it was his fault that Peter Parker was taken by the Snap.

He sighed, Peter on his mind. "We can try. One test."

"One test," I agreed.

***

53 tests, a few hours and a shared tub of Ben and Jerry's 'Stark Raving Hazelnuts' ice cream later...

"Okay, this is the last one," Tony declared, staring at the holographic model. "When it fails, we go to bed and never speak of this again, deal?"

"Deal," I agreed with a mouthful of ice cream. "I was ready to go to bed after test 25."

He ignored me, addressing F.R.I.D.A.Y. "This time in the shape of a Mobius strip, inverted, please," he requested. "Give me that eigenvalue, that particle factoring, and a spectral decomp."

We watched as F.R.I.D.A.Y. worked.

"It's gonna fail," he prepared me. "Just like the others."

"If it's not possible, it's not possible," I shrugged, trying not to show in my tone how disappointing the statement was.

We waited in silence as the holographic image bent and changed shape multiple times.

"Model rendered," F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced. We both looked up at the same time, staring at the image in disbelief. Or, more accurately, staring at the words on the image.

'Model Successful.'

I stood up slowly, making sure that I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Tony collapsed into my seat, in shock.

"Successful?" I asked under my breath. "Does that mean what I think it does?" I turned to my husband. "Did we just... figure out Time Travel?"

Tony was still staring at the image, his eyes wide with astonishment. "Shit!"

There was a profound silence, before a small voice piped up.

"Shit!"

We both turned around in surprise to see Nati behind us, sitting on the stairs. She laughed at our reactions.

"Shit!"

"No, we don't say that," Tony reprimanded her. "What are you doing up, little miss?"

She stretched her arms out and I walked over to her, picking her up.

"I thought daddy put you to bed hours ago?" I asked, gently rocking back and forth with her in my arms. She leaned her head against my shoulder.

"Couldn't sleep."

"You have to sleep, you have preschool in the morning," Tony reminded her. She shook her head, giggling.

"Can we go upstairs?" she asked.

"Upstairs to bed?" I asked, to which she responded by shaking her head again.

"No. Upstairs."

***

The attic was the only place in the house where you could see the sky. Sometimes, before Nati went to bed, or when she was awake later than she should be, we'd take her up there to tell stories about the world above the clouds.

We lay on the ground with her between us, staring in awe at the stars, as she always did.

"We should put a skylight in her bedroom," Tony said, staring at her. "I think we have a future astronaut on our hands."

I smiled, ruffling her hair. "Well, it makes sense. Both her parents have actually gone to space."

She pointed at one of the stars. "Aunty Nat is a star," she told us. "And everyone else we can't see..." Suddenly something occurred to her, and she frowned, looking at Tony. "Are you and mommy gonna be stars too?"

Tony looked at me, before kissing the top of her head. "Mommy and I are gonna be around for a long time. You don't have to worry about us, okay?"

"Promise?" she asked.

I snuggled next to her, kissing her cheek.

"You know what we promise?" I asked. She looked up at me, her eyes intrigued. "We promise that, no matter what happens, we will always love you. More than the number of stars in the whole universe."

"Whoa," she said under her breath, looking at the sky again. "There's a lot of stars."

"There are," I agreed. "So every time you look up at the stars, you can think about how much mommy and daddy love you. Okay?"

She nodded, her wide eyes suddenly tired, slowly closing.

"I love you 3000," she said in a tired, half-asleep voice.

Tony and I smiled at each other, thinking the same thing. We were lucky. We had the perfect family, the perfect daughter. Going back in time to bring back the rest of the universe could ruin everything.

Was it worth it?

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I know this version of time travel is different to the version in the movie, but this one makes sense for the story.

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