Five Years Later
The world is seemingly abandoned. The aftermath of the Decimation is evident, and Earth has not coped well.
•
In a self storage facility in San Francisco, The rear door of a Van busts open, flinging Scott Lang outside the van.
Scott grunts as he pushes away a cushion out of his body, and deactivates the helmet, but still grunting in pain, as he sweeps away sparks from an electrical failure out of his suit, then try to stand up, "What the hell?"
He manages to stand up, as another electrical failure sparks out of his gauntlets, and looks around in a confused look, "Hope?"
Inside a security office, a security guard reading a book as he looks upon his security screen, seeing something going on in one of the storage facilities. In the cameras, it shows Scott in his casual clothing, shouting, waving a sign with help written on it.
•
Outside the facility, Scott pulls out a pushcart and looks back seeing the guard giving a stern look from far. He walks around until reaching his hometown, finding a post filled with missing posters, abandoned houses, a wrecked car, nothing but desolation. He then sees a kid in a bike pass by, "Kid! Hey kid!" The kid stops his bike as he stares back in a serious look, "What the hell happened here?"
The kid still stares at him and is almost about to tear up, but immediately turns away from him and move on. Scott still gives the same confused look, as he arrives in somewhat a memorial called the vanished, with all the names of the people who became victims of the Decimation.
As Scott arrives on one of the engraved stones, he immediately drops the handle in shock, "No. Please. Please, please" he moves on to check the other side of the engraved stone, "No, no, no. No" he excuses aside a young couple as he keeps on checking another engraved stone if his daughter's name is on one, "Excuse me, sorry. No, Cassie, no."
Scott checks the rest of engraved stones if his daughter's name was on one, "Please, please, please, please. No, Cassie" he looks at the engraved stone in shock after seeing his name engraved, "What?"
•
Scott runs across his frontline to his house, he rings the bells but also bangs on the door, he tries opening the door, but is found locked. Then, he sees a feminine figure appear out of a hallway inside. The figure gets closer, revealing a woman in a purple sweater, with her hand pushing towards the glass door's window, and her face filled with amazement, as she unlocked the door.
Cassie, who hasn't seen him for five years, holds up his face in an emotional sight and starts to smile tearfully. Scott does the same, "Cassie?"
"Dad?" Both of them emotionally hug each other as both dad and daughter had reunited.
Then Scott shoves her back, realizing that his daughter is now a full-grown teenager, "You're so big!" Both dad and daughter share a hug once more.
•
At the New Avengers facility, Natasha, now having red, long hair, over-colouring her blonde streaks, listens to Rocket Raccoon out about his status so far, "Yeah, we boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged."
A few of the Avengers surround a table in holographic calls, "It was an infectious garbage scowl" Nebula adds.
"So, thanks for the hot tip" rocket says.
The Racoon turns to Danvers who replies back with a smirk, "Well, you were closer."
"Yeah. And now we smell like garbage" Rocket states.
Natasha turns to Okoye, "You get a reading on those tremors?"
"It was a mild subduction under the African plate" Okoye replies.
"Do we have a visual?" Natasha asks, "How are we handling it?"
"Nat, it's an earthquake under the ocean" Okoye states, "We handle it by not handling it."
Natasha turns to Carol, "Carol, are we seeing you here next month?"
"Not likely" Carol answers.
"What, you gonna get another haircut?" Rocket scoffs.
"Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory" Carol says, "The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets."
"All right, all right, that's a good point" Rocket mutters, "That's a good point."
"So you might not see me for a long time" Carol states.
"Alright" Natasha sighs, "Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't comes through me."
Okoye agrees in her language.
"Okay" Rocket says.
The Avengers cut off their calls one by one, Except for Rhodey. Nat sighs exhausted, and sits down, as she notices Rhodeys still online in the call, "Where are you?"
"Mexico" Rhodey answers, "The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys. Never even had the chance to get their guns off."
"It's probably a rival gang" Natasha replies.
"Except it isn't" Rhodey states, "It's definitely Barton. What he's done here, what he's been doing for the last few years. I mean, the scene that he left" Nat starts to show signs of sadness as she gradually tears up, "I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even want to find him."
In an abrupt moment of silence, she tries to chew her tears and emotional feelings as she eats a sandwich, "Will you find out where he's going next?"
"Nat" Rhodey sighs.
"Please" Natasha begs.
"Okay" then Rhodey cuts off his end off the call.
Nat starts to cry as she tries to hold back her tears miserably, "You know I'd offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already" Steve smiles, as Nat wipes off the tears off her face.
"You here to do your laundry?" Nat asks.
"And to see a friend" Steve adds.
"Clearly, your friend is fine" Nat lies.
"You know I saw a pod of whales when I was coming up the bridge" Steve tells her.
"In the Hudson?" Nat questions.
"There's fewer ships, cleaner water" Steve states.
"You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side" Nat starts, "I'm about you to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich."
"Sorry. Force of habit" Steve throws his jacket, then sits down on another chair, opposite Natasha, "You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on and grow. Some do. But not us."
"If I move on, who does this?" Natasha asks.
"Maybe it doesn't need to be done" Steve tells her.
"I used to have nothing" Natasha states, "And then I got this. This job, this family. And I was- I was better because of it. And even though they're gone, I'm still trying to be better."
"I think we both need to get a life" Steve sighs,
"You first" Nat smiles.
A camera footage pops up in front of them, showing Scott Lang with his Van behind him, "Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me."
Steve stands up, "Is this an old message?"
"It's the front gate" Natasha states.
"Ant-Man?" Scott continues, "Ant-Man, I know you know that. I need to talk to you guys."
•
"Scott. Are you okay?" Steve asks.
"Yeah. I'm fine" Scott shrugs, He struggles to ask about something. He finally blurts it out, "Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?"
"Only to make conversation" Nat says.
"Alright. So five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm" Scott starts, "The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my- She was my-" he struggles to not tell the entire truth about their relationship, "She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."
"I'm sorry" Nat says, "That must've been a very long five years."
"Yeah, but that's just it" Scott continues, "It wasn't. For me, it was five hours" Steve and Nat share a quick bewildered glance, "See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." He strides over to pick up Nat's sandwich, and bites into it.
"Scott, what are you talking about?" Steve asks.
"What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm" Scott replies, "The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. 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- Like before Thanos."
"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Steve questions.
"No. No, of course not" Scott says, "No, not a time machine. 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. There's gotta be some- it's crazy."
"Scott, I get e-mails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore" Natasha states.
"So who do we talk to about this?" Scott asks.
•
At a cabin in the woods, at the bank of a lake. Tony Stark sits outside a tiny shed, he claps his hand in a beat, "Chow time! Maguna? Morgan H. Stark. You want some lunch?"
"Define lunch or be disintegrated" Morgan replies, She has on a silver and blue helmet similar to Iron Man's.
A girl with long dark hair walks out in front of Tony, Morgan Stark, Tony and Peppers daughter, "Okay, You should not be wearing that, okay?" Tony says, "That is part of a special anniversary gift I'm making for Mom" he takes the helmet off Morgan's head. She emerges out smiling mischievously, "There you go. Are you thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce."
"No" Morgan says.
"That's what you want" Tony smiles, "How did you find this?"
"Garage" Morgan answers.
"Really? Were you looking for it?" Tony asks.
"No. I found it, though" Morgan tells him.
"You like going to the garage, huh? So does daddy" Tony says, "It's fine, actually. Your mom never wears anything I buy her."
They start walking towards the house, but Tony notices a black Audi coming to a stop a few meters away. Steve, Nat, and Scott get out of the car. Tony sighs.
•
"Now, we know what it sounds like" Scott says, they've explained the plan to Tony and he doesn't seem impressed one bit.
"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve asks.
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition" Tony states, "Can we agree on that?" Scott, Steve and Nat all look puzzled as science is barely any of their fields, "In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."
"I did" Scott reminds him.
"No, you accidentally survived" Tony corrects, "It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a- What do you call it?"
Scott tries to hide his pride, "A time heist?"
"Yeah, a time heist" Tony scoffs, "Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?"
"The Stones are in the past" Scott states, "We can go back and get them."
"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back" Natasha tells him.
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony says.
"I don't believe we would" Steve says.
"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism" Tony tells him, "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 states, "That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott" Tony interrupts, "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future?"
"No" Scott sighs.
"Good. You had me worried there" Tony says, "Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works."
"Tony" Natasha sighs, "We have to take a stand."
"We did stand" Tony reminds her, "And yet, here we are."
"I know you got a lot on the line" scott states, "You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did" His voice gets louder as he tries to sell his desperation to Tony, "And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. We have a chance to bring your other daughter back. To bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even-"
"That's right, Scott, I won't even" tony interrupts, "I got a kid."
Morgan runs to her dad, who picks her up, "Mommy told me to come and save you."
"Good job. I'm saved" Tony smiles, he turns to face Cap, Nat and Scott, "Olivia told me to not save her. I feel like I failed as a father because I couldn't save my daughter but now I have another chance and she's exactly like Olivia. 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 six."
"Tony, I get it" Steve says, "And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance."
"I got my second chance right here, Cap" tony tells him, "I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."
•
Cap, Nat and Scott walk back to their car outside Tony's house, "He's scared" Natasha states.
"He's not wrong" Steve says.
"Yeah, but I mean, what are we gonna do?" Scott questions, "We need him. What, are we gonna stop?"
"No, I wanna do it right" Steve replies, "We're gonna need a really big brain."
Scott points to Tony's house, "Bigger than his?"
•
In a cafe a professional Hulk sits at a table with Nat, Steve and Scott, "Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating" he pushes a plate forward, "Try some of that. Have some eggs."
"I'm so confused" Scott says.
"These are confusing times" Bruce says.
"Right. No, no, that's not what I meant" Scott sighs.
"No, I get it" Bruce says dropping the act, "I'm kidding! I know. It's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now."
"Yeah!" Scott smiles, "Wh- How? Why?"
"Five years ago, we got our asses beaten" Bruce reminds them, "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" Natasha states.
"I did" Bruce says, "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."
Three children behind Bruce walk up to him tentatively, "Excuse me, Mr. Hulk?"
"Yes?" Bruce says.
"Can we get a photo?" The girl asks.
"100%, little person" Bruce replies, "Come on, step up" he holds out the phone to Scott, "You mind?"
"Oh, yeah" Scott says.
"Thanks" Bruce turns to the Children, "Say green" The children and Bruce say Green as Scott snaps the photo, "Did you get that?"
Scott forward to hand back the phone, "Don't you wanna grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man. They're Hulk fans, they don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does."
"Wait, no, no, he feels bad" Bruce says, "No, he wants you to- he wants to" Bruce turns to one of the boys, "You want to take a picture with him, right?"
The boy shakes his head vigorously, "Stranger Danger."
"He's even saying no he doesn't" Scott states, "I get it. I don't want it either."
"But, come on, the kid!" Bruce says, "But he- but you-"
"I don't want a picture with them" Scott states.
"Sorry. They said they'd do it" Bruce shrugs.
"I don't want it anymore" Scott exclaims.
"No, no, you feel bad" Bruce sighs.
"Just take the goddamn phone" Scott demands.
"Thank you, Mr. Hulk" the girl smiles.
"No, it's great kids" Bruce replies, "Thank you very much. Hulk out!"
"Bruce" Steve says.
"Listen to your Mom. She knows better" Bruce says.
"About we were saying" Steve starts.
"Right. The whole time travel do-over?" Bruce questions, "Guys, it's outside my area of expertise."
"Well, you pulled this off" Nat reminds him, "I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible time, too."
•
Tony Stark is in the kitchen washing dishes after dinner. As he finishes the last of them, stumbles upon a photo of both himself and Peter, with Peter holding his Stark Internship certificate. Tony puts the frame down and beside it is a picture of himself, Olivia and Peter, he smiles down at the photo. He looks over at his shelf and comes across another picture of Peter and Olivia's first kiss, with them taking a selfie of it in their suits, that he found on her laptop.
Tony then finally realises what he is fighting for, his daughter and her boyfriend which he loves like a son.
•
Tony talks to his computer, generating a holographic model of something he's working on, "look at a mod inspiration, let me see what check out. So, recommend one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a mobius strip, inverted, please."
"Processing" Friday says.
"Give me that eigenvalue" Tony demands, "That, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. That will take a second."
"Just a moment" Friday says.
"And don't worry if it doesn't pan out" Tony sighs, "I'm just kinda-"
"Model rendered" Friday states.
In a complete shock of amazement, the render comes back as 99.987% successful. Tony falls back, bewildered by this discovery, "Shit!"
"Shit" Morgan repeats
Morgan, who has been hiding behind him all this time, giggles as she repeats the word Tony just uttered, "What are you doing up, little miss?"
"Shit" Morgan says again.
"No, we don't say that" Tony tells her, "Only Mommy says that word. She coined it, it belongs to her."
"Why you up?" Morgan asks her father.
"Cause I got some important shit going on here" Tony replies, Morgan gives Tony a taste of the incredulous, "What do you think? No, I got something on my mind. I got something on my mind."
"Was it Juice Pops?" Morgan questions.
"Sure was" Tony smiles, "That's extortion. Great minds think alike. Juice Pops, exactly was on-" he looks back to the model, Then turns back, "my mind."
•
"You done? Yeah, now you are" Tony wipes Morgan's lips and pushes her head onto her pillow, "That face goes there."
"Tell me a story" Morgan begs.
"A story" tony sighs, "Once upon a time, Maguna went to bed. The end."
"That's a horrible story" Morgan giggles.
"Come on, that's your favorite story" tony smiles.
"Tell me about Olivia" Morgan begs. Tony had only talked about his teenage daughter a few times in front of his younger daughter but once was enough. Morgan found out what sister meant all she wanted was to know was everything about Olivia.
"Olivia" Tony sighs thinking of his oldest daughter, "Olivia was a good girl who always went to bed on time" Morgan looks at her father waiting for him to say more, "Olivia never put herself first she always put every else before herself. She wanted to impress everyone. She was always fine, but that was her problem. She always could turn a silent room into a room filled with smiles and laughter. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and laugh in the worst situations. She would go to the end of the earth to save he people she loved. She never spoke about her fears but her greatest fear was that she would turn out like the woman she hated the most, her mother."
"Wasn't mommy her mommy?" Morgan asks.
"Her mommy was a evil woman" Tony states, "her mommy left Olivia. Her mom left days after she was born and she never heard from her again. Olivia was scared that once she finally let her guard down the people she loved would leave. When she turned twelve she felt alone that no one understood her, so alone that she'd never talk. She'd always be in the gym kicking or punching. And when what happened, happened everything about raising a child got ten times harder. She'd argue about the most useless crap but underneath it all it wasn't just her not talking to me because I ate the last chocolate bar it was her letting go everything that she had been building up inside her for years. It wasn't her fault all that happened to her happened."
"Did she get her happy ever after?" Morgan asks, "did she find her prince?"
Tony looks down and then back up at his daughter, "she found her prince, her prince was amazing too. He just wanted to help people. The two loved each other but would never admit it. Then they both left. One night five years ago they both left."
"Is Olivia coming back?" Morgan asks with hope in her eyes.
Tony doesn't want to get Morgan's hopes up but doesn't want Olivia's memory to disappoint her either, "I don't know. Okay that's enough about Olivia for one night. I love you tons" he kisses Morgan on the forehead.
"I love you 3000" Morgan smiles.
Tony stops and looks at his daughter for a few seconds, I love you 3000, "Wow" he turns off the lamp, "3000. That's crazy" he Closes the door, "Go to bed. Or I'll sell all your toys. Night, night."
•
In the living room Pepper is reading a book sitting on the couch. Tony paces in front of the fireplace, "Not that it's a competition, but she loves me 3000. You were somewhere on the low 6 to 900 range" Pepper scoffs, "What are you reading?"
"Oh, it's just a book on composting" Pepper shrugs.
"What's new with composting?" Tony asks.
"Just-" pepper starts.
"I figured it out, by the way" Tony interrupts.
"You know, just so we're talking about the same thing-" pepper sighs.
"Time travel" Tony states.
"What?" Pepper stutters, "Wow. That's amazing, and terrifying."
"That's right" Tony smiles.
"You can get Olivia back" pepper states, "you can bring everyone back."
"No, I can't help everybody" Tony tells her.
"It sort a seems like you can" pepper says.
"Not if I stop" tony sighs, "I can put a pin in it right now, and stop."
"Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures of my life" pepper smiles, "and if you get Olivia back imagine her and Morgan. Morgan thinks Olivia is some sort of fairy she looks up to her even though she's metaphorically dead."
Tony sighs, "I sometimes feel I should put it in a locked box and drop it at the bottom of a lake and go to bed."
"But would you be able to rest?" Pepper asks.
•