𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃

24. 𝗮 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁

Steve and Darcy walk through the busy hall of the underground building. The two continue until they turned into a small room, finding a phone booth off on the side. Steve picks up the phone as Darcy glances back at the main hall, keeping an eye out without making it obvious.

"Doctor Pym?" Darcy glances back at the blond man, he paused for a moment, and she assumes Pym is speaking. "This is Captain Stevens from shipping. We have a package for you . . . That's the thing, sir, we can't . . . Well, it's just--sir, the box is glowing, and to be honest, some of our mail guys aren't feeling that great . . ." The brunette glances back at Steve, smirking at his lie. "Uh, yeah, they did. You better get down here."

Steve removes the phone from his ear, Darcy perks a brow. "Did it work?"

Loud footsteps were running down the hall, a voice shouting. "Excuse me! Out of the way!"

"That answers your question?" Steve grins like a Cheshire Cat. He walks around the woman and opens the door, watched as Pym ran down the hall. "Okay, let's go."

Following closely beside Steve, the two snuck into the room and started searching for the Pym Particles; Darcy splits from his side, going in the opposite direction as she informs him that she will look on this side while he was on the other. Darcy scans the room in hopes of searching for the particles, but she didn't see anything. The woman huffs quietly, shaking her head when she doesn't find anything.

"Darc," Steve calls from behind. Darcy turns around as she was about to look at him confusingly, but when her eyes drift to the particles in his hand, Darcy grins in triumph. "Let's find Tony."

💜

Tony entered the elevator with a younger version of Howard Stark, his father. It was still weird for him to see his dad after his father's passing years ago; Tony missed him a lot. Although the two men always bumped heads and never seemed to see eye-to-eye, Tony will cherish this moment--a moment where he and Howard can bond, even though the man had no idea who Tony even is.

Howard held a bouquet, which Tony seemed to notice, so he points it out. "So, flowers and sauerkraut," the man wanted to converse with his dad. "You got a big date tonight?"

"Uh, my wife's expecting," Howard corrects, not seeming to catch the look Tony was giving him; the realization had hit him. How could he have forgotten? "And too much time at the office."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks," he hands the flowers over to Tony. "Hold this, will ya?"

"Yeah, sure," Tony obliges, taming the items out of the man's hands so that he can fix his suit. "How far along is she?"

"Uh, I don't know," Howard holds his hand out to show how big his wife's belly is but gave up when he didn't know. "She's at the point where she can't stand the sound of my chewing. I guess I'll be eating in the pantry again." Howard informs, but Tony was grinning at that--he never knew about this, and it was kind of funny.

"I have a little girl," Tony says proudly. "Two, kind of. The other is kind of like a foster child."

Howard hums. "A girl would be nice. Less of a chance she'd turn out like me."

"What'd be so awful about that?"

"Let's just say that the, uh, greater good has rarely outweighed my own self-interest," Howard says but quickly changes the subject to a more uplifting one. "But, my niece is excited that we're having a boy. She's been wanting a friend since she's been the only child of a friend of mine."