Upon returning back to the compound, I could see that Nat's entire mood and attitude had changed. This small, sprinkle of hope, really meant a lot to her. I quickly got changed into a white hoodie and my black cargos before we headed out again, this time to recruit Bruce. We had seen him do an advertisement on social media for this café not far from here so we all placed out bets that that was where we would find him.
We took separate cars, Scott and Steve in one and me, Nat and the kids in the other. Unfortunately, the kids didn't like being around others apart from Steve and Tony, so we couldn't call for a babysitter.
Pulling into the café, I could already see a large green man and I frowned. He wasn't being violent, or angry, he was... eating eggs? We entered and approached the table where Bruce/ Hulk was sat and Steve cleared his throat.
Bruce snapped his head away from his food and gave us all a massive grin. "Woah! Hey guys, take a seat, take a seat."
We all squashed past him and slid into the booth, Willow perched on my lap since it was a bit of a tight fit.
It was silent for a minute and then we started telling him about our plan/idea and he seemed to just be nodding and eating. Bruce started nudging the plate of eggs towards us. " Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating.Try some of that. Have some eggs."
"I'm so confused" Scott said with a gaping mouth. I think we all are, Bruce had struggled to contain the Hulk for a while so seeing him sat here, all big and green, talking and speaking like normal Bruce, was beyond confusing.
"These are confusing times" he replied with a serious nod. Scott frowned and shook his head with a small laugh.
"Right. No, no, that's not what I meant."
"No, I get it. I'm kidding! I know. It's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now!"
" Yeah! Wh...How? Why?"
Me and Nat snorted while Steve just looked completely fed up. Elijah was gawking at the Hulk while Willow sat with her hands over her eyes because she thought he was scary.
"Five years ago, we got our asses beaten. Except it was worse for me. Because I lost twice. First, Hulk lost, then Banner lost. Then, we all lost."
"No one blamed you, Bruce" softly spoke Natasha. Bruce sighed and shook his head.
" I did. For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then I started looking at him as the cure. Eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together. And now look at me. Best of both worlds..." he gestured to himself and we all slowly nodded in agreement.
Three kids approached Bruce and I could already tell where this was going.
"Excuse me, Mr. Hulk?" the girl asked.
"Yes?"
"Can we get a photo?"
"100%, little person. Come on, step up," Bruce gave the phone to Scott who basically looked offended,"You mind?"
"Oh, yeah" Scott said with a small smile, taking the phone and holding it up.
"Say 'Green!'," Bruce shouts and the kids repeat it as Scott takes the photo, "Did you get that?"
Scott nodded and leaned forward to hand the phone back. "Don't you wanna grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man." The kids looked baffled and the silence was excruciatingly painful. " They're Hulk fans, they don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does."
"Wait, no, no, he feels bad. No, he wants you to...he wants to..." Bruce tries to force one of the kids to take a photo, "You want to take a picture with him, right?"
"Stranger danger" the boy muttered and I couldn't hold back my laugh. Sadly, that got the attention shifted to me. "Woah... you're Ombra!"
I smiled sheepishly, most of my face being hidden by my hood. "I am."
"Can we get a photo!?" one of the girls says excitedly and I want nothing more than to vanish through a hole.
"Er. sure," the kids came round to my side and I gave Willow to a smirking Natasha. Scott looked appalled and in complete disbelief so when the kids finally left I flipped him off and started feeding Willow some sausages.
We had thankfully explained the whole idea of time travel so it was just the matter of getting Bruce to go through with helping us.
"Bruce, about what we were saying..." Steve spoke up, feeling a bit impatient.
"Right. The whole time travel do-over? Guys, it's outside my area of expertise."
"Well, you pulled this off. I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible time, too" inputted Nat and I can see that Bruce was going to agree with us.
And that he did.
Bruce ended up running alongside our cars to the compound which the kids thought was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. Willow eventually got over being scared of him and now thought he was a big cuddly teddy bear.
Straight away, Bruce and Scott started meddling around with trying to make this time traveling machine and we got to the point of a test run. Scott volunteered since he had experience of being in the quantum realm.
"Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the uhhh... the van thing" instructed Bruce, me, Steve, Natasha and the kids watching with anticipation.
"Breakers are set, emergency generators are on standby" Steve says and Bruce nods behind the table full of buttons, all connected to the time travelling van.
" Good. 'Cause if we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950's."
We all share a panicked look and Bruce smiles sheepishly.
"Excuse me?" Scott's voice wavers in stress.
"He's kidding," Nat assures and turns to Bruce, "You can't say things like that!"
"Just... It was a bad joke."
"You were kidding, right?" Nat says with wide eyes.
I snort and cross my arms over my chest. "He most definitely wasn't."
"I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is," Bruce gives Scott a thumbs up with his giant hands," We're good! Get your helmet on, Scott. I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Makes sense?"
"Perfectly not confusing" Scott mumbles.
"Good luck, Scott. You got this" encouraged Steve.
"You're right. I do, Captain America."
Bruce presses a button and Scott disappears which is a good start. I see Natasha starting to bite her nails which she does when she's nervous so I stand behind her and wrap my arms around her waist and rest my chin on her shoulder, giving a kiss to her neck. "It'll be okay, we will work it out" I whisper to her, to which she responds with a nod.
"On the count of three. 3... 2... 1!" Bruce exclaims and presses a button for Scott to come back, which he does, but not the same.
"Uh, guys? This...this doesn't feel right" Scott says and I can hear the change in his voice.
"Is that pre pubescent, Scott Lang!?" I snort and Nat elbows me in the stomach, winding me and shutting me up straight away.
Bruce starts panicking and presses the button to send Scott away and back again, only this time he's an old man.
"Ow! My back!"
"What is this?" Steve demands.
"Can I get a little space here."
"Yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?"
"I'm working on it!" Bruce shouts and literally presses nearly every button, making Scott turn into a baby.
I turn to Willow on the floor, where she's playing with Elijah and point to Scott. "Look Willow, there's a new friend for you."
Nat laughs but then wipes the smile off her face.
"It's a baby" Steve says with barely any humour.
"It's Scott."
"As a baby!"
"He'll grow!"
"Bring Scott back!"
Bruce quickly nods and sends an order to Nat. "When I say kill the power, kill the power."
"Oh my god..." Nat mutters and I wink at her, thoroughly enjoying the entertainment.
"And... Kill it!"
Nat pulls a lever and this time it works, normal Scott finally returns.
"Somebody peed my pants" admits Scott. " But I don't know if it was "baby" me or "old" me...Or just "me" me."
I burst out laughing and pick Willow up, her also letting out an adorable little giggle. "I think we deserve some food. What you thinking, princess?"
"Cookies!" she claps and I nod seriously.
"Very well, your highness. Cookies awaits!"
"Hey, wait for me!" Elijah shouts behind us, his footsteps quickening.
"Me three!" Scott yells and I chuckle to myself.
"We are surrounded by children" I hear Nat mumble but I know for certain there's that beautiful smile on her face.
Cookies seemed like a good way to pass time while we waited for Tony and it turns out we didn't have to wait too long.
HOLA MI AMORES
ITS SUCH NICE WEATHER AT THE MOMENT THAT I HAVEN'T REALLY FOUND THE TIME NOR MOTIVATION TO UPDATE BUT HERE IT IS
I'D SAY THERE IS ABOUT TEN CHAPTERS LEFT OF THIS STORY AND I HAVE MY PLAN FOR THE VERY END BUT STILL A BIT UNSURE WHAT TO DO ABOUT VORMIR
HOPE YOU ENJOYED <3