Phoenix Haynes
"Scott, are you okay?" Steve asked after we let him inside, and he nodded, looking stressed.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, pulling me in for a hug.
"It's good to see you guys."
"It's good to see you too, Scott." I smiled softly, and he twiddled his thumbs while we drifted into silence.
"Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?" He blurted out, and I shrugged.
"Only to make conversation." Nat said, while Steve and I were in the dark.
"Alright, so two years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm."
"What exactly is that?" I asked, and Scott looked at me.
"The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe."
"Damn." I whispered, and he nodded.
"To get in there, you have to be incredibly small."
"Okay, so what happened?" Nat asked, making Scott sigh.
"Hope, she's my- she was my-" he struggled to get it out, and I knew Hope had been dusted in the blip.
"She was supposed to pull me out, and then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."
"I'm so sorry." I whispered, and Nat nodded in agreement.
"That must've been a very long two years."
"Yeah, but that's just it, it wasn't." Scott said, and I traded a confused look with Steve.
"What?"
"For me, it was two hours."
"No way." I whispered, and I knew Nat and Steve were just as bewildered as I was.
"See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here." Scott ranted, eyeing off Nat's sandwich.
"Everything is unpredictable."
"Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." He said, rushing over to the food and taking a big bite out of it.
"Scott, what are you talking about?" Nat asked, and he turned to look back at us.
"What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm."
"This is insane." I whispered, but Scott shook his head.
"The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it."
"But what if we did?" I asked, and Scott pointed at me, as if I'd hit the nail on the head.
"Exactly! I can't stop thinking about it."
"So, you want to somehow find a way to control it?" I asked Scott, and he nodded.
"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, when?" Steve asked, and Scott put the sandwich down.
"Like before Thanos."
"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Steve questioned Scott, who shook his head.
"No, of course not."
"Then what?" I asked, and Scott sighed.
"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- it's crazy." He ranted, but Nat stoped him.
"Scott, I get e-mails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore."
"The lady raises a brilliant point." I agreed, and Scott looked excited.
"Okay great, so who do we talk to about this?"
"I can call Tony." I suggested, and Steve nodded while I picked up the phone.
"Hey Nix, what's up?" Tony asked, and I smiled to myself at the sound of his voice.
He was always happy to see me.
"Oh, are you cancelling on dinner?" He questioned before I could say anything, making me laugh.
"No, I was just wondering if I could move it to lunch?" I asked Tony, and he paused for a moment.
"Yeah, Morgan will be excited to see you, and you could stay for dinner too, if you wanted."
"I'm sure I will." I responded, and I heard him chuckle on the other end.
"That sounds on brand for you."
"Would I be able to bring along some friends?" I asked, and Tony seemed surprised.
"You have friends?"
I let out a fake, exaggerated laugh, before clearing my throat.
"I meant more like Scott, Steve and Nat."
"Oh, yeah sure." Tony said, sounding surprised.
He hadn't really spoken to any of the others since he and Pepper moved away.
"Great! We'll come soon." I said happily, and Tony chuckled.
"I'll tell Pep to start cookin' now."
"Adios." I said, hanging up the phone and grabbing Steve's car keys, making a dash for the door, making him race after me while Nat and Scott laughed.
"Let's go!"
•••
We arrived at Tony's place, and I saw him walking up the porch with Morgan in his arms.
"I'm here to report a stolen child!" I exclaimed, jumping behind Tony and taking Morgan out of his arms, hearing her squeal out of excitement and hug me.
"Nixie!"
"Nixie?" Steve asked teasingly, and I gave him the middle finger, while Morgan wasn't looking.
"Only Morgan can call me that."
"Hey, kiddo." Tony said, and I smiled brightly at my father figure.
"Thanks for letting us drop in last minute." I said, making him wave his hand dismissively.
"No sweat."
Scott, Nat and Steve approached us, and I watched Nat hug Tony, who the two boys stood a foot back.
Scott was next, taking Tony's hand to shake, leaving Steve slightly uncomfortable.
I don't think they'd spoken since Tony's outburst at the facility after the blip.
"Hey, Tony." Steve said, and Tony gave him a nod of acknowledgement.
"Hey, Cap."
"For those of you who haven't met my favourite person in the entire world." I said, turned around so Morgan could face my friends.
"This is Morgan."
"Hey guys, wanna come in for some lunch?" Pepper asked, popping her head through the door, and I smiled.
"I thought you'd never ask."
•••
"Now, we know what it sounds like-" Scott said, and Steve cut him off.
"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?"
After having chicken salads for lunch, we all stepped outside to discuss the idea of Time Travel, while Morgan sat on my lap, fiddling with my phone.
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition." Tony said, and I felt the words go through one ear and out the other.
"Can we agree on that?"
"Did you understand what daddy just said?" I asked Morgan, who looked at me and shrugged, holding up her hands.
"I dunno."
"Me neither." I sighed, turning to look at Scott, Steve and Nat, who all looked at puzzled as me.
Pepper walked outside, handing us all glasses of lemonade, each of us thanking her as we were given a glass.
"Thanks, Pep." I smiled, and she winked at me before sitting next to Tony, taking his hand in hers.
She wanted to be here for this conversation, and I didn't blame her.
"In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Tony said, and Scott raised his hand.
"I did."
"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke." Tony shot back, and I snorted.
"And now you wanna pull off a, what do you call it?"
"A time heist?" I asked, and Tony gave me a look.
The disappointed father look.
"Yeah a time heist, of course, why didn't we think of this before?"
"He's being sarcastic, isn't he?" I asked Morgan, who nodded excitedly.
"Yep!"
"Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?" Tony answered his own question, but Scott wasn't ready to give up.
"The Stones are in the past, we can go back and get them."
"We can snap our own fingers." Nat said, looking determined.
"We can bring everyone back."
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony asked, making Steve shake his head.
"I don't believe we would."
"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism." Tony smiled, and Pepper pat his leg comfortingly.
"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 said, and I nodded in agreement.
"That would mean no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-" I ticked them off my fingers, and Tony held his hand up to politely interrupt me.
"I'm gonna stop you right there, love." He said, turning to look at Scott, knowing it was mainly his plan.
"Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future?"
"No." Scott said, and Tony let out a fake sigh of relief.
"Good, you had me worried there, because that'd be horse shit."
Oh.
"That's not how quantum physics works."
"Tony, we have to take a stand." Nat said, making Tony shake his head.
"We did stand, and yet here we are."
"I know you've got a lot on the line." Scott said, looking at Pepper and Morgan before speaking again.
"You got a wife and daughter, but I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did." He said, raising his voice, but only slightly.
There was a child present, after all.
"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 cut him off, making Scott sigh.
"I wish you'd come here to ask me something else, anything else." He said, sighing.
"Honestly, I missed you guys, it was-"
"Tony, I get it." Steve cut him off, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm happy for you, I really am, but this is a second chance."
"I got my second chance right here, Cap." Tony said, gesturing to Pepper and Morgan.
In extension, he gestured to me.
"I can't roll the dice again."
Pepper took Morgan inside, and Tony hugged me goodbye before joining them, leaving us to walk to Steve's car.
"He's scared." Nat said, and Steve sighed.
"He's not wrong."
"Yeah, but I mean, what are we gonna do?" Scott asked, looking at me.
"We need him."
"We're gonna need a really big brain." Steve pointed out, and Scott looked confused.
"Bigger than his?"
"You guys go get Banner," I said, looking back to the house before locking eyes with Steve.
"I'll stay with Tony." I said, and they nodded in agreement, giving me hugs before they left.