〚 GENIUS 〛
Darla gave Tony a sympathetic look as she got out of the car, followed by Steve, Briar, Natasha and Scott.
"Auntie Darla." Morgan cheered excitedly as she squirmed out of Tony's arms and ran over to the girl.
"Oh my, look how big you've got." Darla smiled as she picked the girl up. "Give me two minutes." She looked back towards the others before walking towards Tony. "Can we go inside?" Tony nodded and followed the girl, who held his daughter, into his house.
"What the hell?" Tony questioned throwing up his arms. Morgan had gone to play in her bedroom whilst they talked.
"I'm sorry, T, but we need your help." Darla whispered.
"I trusted you with the whereabouts of my family, Darla, you promised you'd keep it a secret." Tony pointed towards the girl.
"What about my family, Tony?" Darla questioned, her voice cracking slightly. "I need them back. My parents, my siblings, my friends. Our friends." She angrily tapped his chest. "You walked out on us, the least you can do is listen to us."
Tony lightly slapped the girls hand away and pulled her in for a tight hug. He could tell that she needed it.
"I need this to work, Tony." Darla whispered into his chest. "I need it to work."
"I know, kid." He muttered into her hair. "It's okay." Tony hushed. He pulled away and looked down at the girl. "Somethings different about you."
"It's her ring daddy." Morgan said as she peered around the corner. Tony let out an over exaggerated gasp and grabbed Darla's hand.
"So, he finally did it, aye?" Tony grinned teasingly. "He finally popped the question. Only took him what? Twelve years."
Darla glanced down at her ring with a smile. Tony was right, it took Steve a long time to ask. But she wouldn't have changed it for the world. Every year they spent with one another made them closer. It strengthened their bond.
~
They all sat on the front porch as Scott just finished explaining their plan to Tony, who was currently pouring everyone a fresh drink.
"Now, we know what it sounds like-" Scott half heartedly chuckled.
"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve questioned, his arms wrapping around Darla's shoulders and pulling her closer to him.
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony questioned, looking around at everyone and handing them all a drink.
Nobody seemed to understand what Tony had just said, but they allowed him to continue anyway.
"In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Tony shrugged, putting it simply.
"I did." Scott interrupted.
"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a-What do you call it?" Tony questioned looking to Scott.
Scott tried his hardest to hide his smug smile, but it didn't work so he just said,
"A time heist?"
"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?" Tony questioned looking at the group.
Darla let out a heavy sigh, she just wanted everyone back. She wanted her family back.
"The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them." Steve stated calmly.
"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back." Natasha nodded in agreement.
Briar looked down at the girl, he linked their hands together and smiled. He liked when she was optimistic about something.
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony questioned, talking about Thanos.
"I don't believe we would." Steve spoke up.
"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism." Tony chuckled. "However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist." He looked across to Scott as he took a seat. "I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise."
"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." Scott said as he sat beside Tony. "That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"
Darla smiled softly at the man. No matter what he always tried to do what was right. She couldn't imagine how hard it must have been to have disappeared five years ago when his child was still a kid, now she was all grown up. That must have been terrifying.
"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'?" Tony questioned leaning toward.
"No." Scott responded, slightly embarrassed.
"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works." Tony turned to look at Darla. "What are they saying? The voices?"
Darla looked at the ground guiltily. They hadn't been saying much, she had tried to push them aside in case this plan was wrong.
"T, this is something we need to try." Darla whispered softly. "My family, our friends, everyone in the world. We owe it to them to try."
"Tony, we have to take a stand." Natasha said in agreement.
"We did stand. And yet, here we are." Tony uttered, looking towards Darla and Steve.
"I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did." Scott paused as he tried not to get angry, but it wasn't a secret. He was desperate to make this work. "And now, 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." Tony shook his head, he couldn't bare to look at Darla. He hated letting her down. No matter how much he hated letting them all down, he had to think about Pepper and Morgan. "I got a kid."
As if on queue, Morgan ran up to Tony and jumped onto his lap saying,
"Mommy told me to come and save you."
"Good job. I'm saved." Tony smiled as he hugged the girl tightly. "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I-I missed you guys, it was-Oh, and table's set for eight."
Darla pulled away from Steve as Tony stood up. She placed a soft kiss on Morgan's head and smiled at the girl.
"Auntie Darla loves you." She whispered, tapping her nose lightly.
"Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance." Steve said as he watched the blonde girl interact with the child. He wouldn't mind starting a family with her.
"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again." He whispered softly before turning to everyone. "If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."
Darla knew that they weren't going to stay, so she stepped up to give Tony a hug and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.
"I love you Tony, you're like a dad to me. Have been since the very start. So, I'm sorry for bringing them here and hopefully you can forgive me." She paused. "I just miss my family."
"I know." Tony nodded as he watched the others walk back to the car. "I love you too, kid."
Darla walked back to the car without another word, faintly hearing Natasha say,
"Well, he's scared."
"He's not wrong." Steve said as he wrapped his arm around Darla's waist.
"Yeah, but I mean, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?" Scott questioned frantically.
"No, I wanna do it right. We're gonna need a really big brain." Steve uttered, looking at the group.
"Bigger than his?" Scott questioned as he motioned back towards Tony's house.
"How about Bruce Banner?" Briar suggested hopefully. Steve turned to face his future brother in law with a grin.
"You. You're the genius." He pointed towards Briar happily.