I press the button to allow him inside the compound. I take off to the entrance as Scott pulls up and gets out of his van. I stare at him in shock, tears forming in my eyes.
"Nick, is that really you?" I ask as I step towards the man and poke his chest. Yeah, he's real.
Scott looks at me confusedly and I lunge forward, hugging the man super tight. Scott is shocked by my reaction at first but then his fangirl side takes over and he hugs me back. I hear footsteps behind us and I already know it's Dad, Nat, and Maximus.
We pull away and I wipe the tears that slipped from my eyes while Scott looks at all of us.
"What the hell happened?" Scott asks. "And when did you get a dog?"
We take Scott inside and explain everything to him that happened in the last five years. He then starts pacing the room.
"Scott. Are you okay?" Dad asks him, getting him to stop pacing the room.
"Yeah." He places his hands on his face, taking in a sharp breath before removing them. "Have either of you guys ever studied quantum physics?"
Dad and I look at Natasha.
"Only to make conversation." She says.
"All right, so... five years ago, right—right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. 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... she was—she was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened and I got stuck in there." Scott explains to us.
"I'm sorry, that must have been a very long five years," Nat says to him.
"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours." He says to us.
Dad, Nat, and I share a bewildered look.
"Come again," I say.
"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 goes over, picking up Nat's sandwich and takes a bite of it.
"Scott. What are you talking about?" Dad asks him.
"So... what I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm." He says with food in his mouth. "The only problem is right now we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did?" Dad, Nat, me, and even Maximus share a look. "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 that we could enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit the Quantum Realm at another point in time? Like... like before Thanos."
"So you're talking about a time machine then?" I ask him.
"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. This is more like a... yeah. Like a time machine. I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be... some way... it's crazy."
"Scott. I get emails from a raccoon so nothing sounds crazy anymore." Nat reassures him.
"So what? Is this gonna be like Back to the Future?" I ask.
"Exactly like that!" He says. I smile and high five him. "So, who do we talk to about this?"
The three of us, well four because of Maximus, share a look. "Tony." Dad, Nat, and I say in unison.
"Well, let's go talk to him," Scott says.
We nod and go to the garage, hopping in a car and driving off. Dad was driving, Nat in the passenger seat, and Scott, Maximus, and I in the back. We were driving in silence, mostly because many thoughts are running through our minds.
"Can I pet your dog?" Scott asks.
I chuckle. "Yeah, he doesn't bite. He also gives hugs too."
"Really?" Scott asks as he pets Maximus.
I nod. "Maximus." I point to Scott and Maximus knew just what to do.
He walks on Scott's lap before standing on his hind legs and hugging Scott, a paw on either shoulder.
"That's amazing," Scott says as he hugs Maximus back.
"Yeah. Maximus has gotten me through some rough times."
"That and you couldn't sleep at night ever since Rocket left," Dad says as he looks at us through the rearview mirror.
"Who's Rocket?" Scott questions.
"The raccoon," Nat answers him.
We pull up to the lake house.
"You got a leash?" Scott asks, not opening his door because he's afraid Maximus will run.
"Don't need one. Max knows how to behave." I say as I open my side of the door and get out. The others get out as well, seeing Tony with Morgan in his arms.
"Maxy!" Morgan cries out when she sees Max. Max barks excitedly and runs up the porch to Tony as he sets Morgan down so she can greet the dog.
"I'll talk to him first," I tell them. They nod as I walk forward.
"Barry!" Morgan says, looking up at me. I give Tony a look and he just smirks. Only Tony Stark would convince his child to call me that.
"Maguna!" I say as I pick the 4-year old up and spin her around. She giggles uncontrollably and I set her back down, ruffling her hair.
"Hey Morgan. How about you and Max go on inside and play." Tony says to her.
"Okay." She says. "Come on, Maxy." She calls to him as they both head inside.
I hug Tony. "Hey, Uncle T," I say as we pull away.
"So, what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit?" He asks, nodding his head towards the others.
"Tony, we might have a possibility," I tell him.
"(Y/n), we've been waiting for one for five years now. I doubt there's a chance." Tony says to me.
"Please. Just listen to what Scott has to say." I plead with him.
"Speaking of which, how is he even here? I thought he disappeared with the rest of them."
"You'll know if you hear what he has to say."
Tony sighs. "Alright, fine."
I usher the others over and we all sit down as Scott goes over where he has been for the past five years and his plan to get everyone back. Tony just sits there listening.
"No. We know what it sounds like." Scott says after he's done explaining everything.
"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Dad asks.
"Yeah, we've seen aliens, murder bots, and a talking raccoon," I add on to what Dad says.
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony says as he hands Dad a drink.
"Thank you," Dad says as he takes it.
"In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Tony continues.
"I did," Scott tells him.
"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 hands Scott a drink.
"A time heist?" Scott says more as a question as he tries to hide his smile.
"Yeah, a time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a pipe dream."
"The stones are in the past. We could go back, we could get them." Dad says to him.
"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back." Nat adds.
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony asks.
"I don't believe we would," Dad tells him.
"Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism. 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 will be our collective demise." Tony says to all of us.
"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel," Scott says.
"Right. Like no talking to our past selves." I say.
"No betting on sporting events," Scott adds.
"I'm gonna stop you right there, both of you," Tony says, looking at us. "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?" Tony asks, leaning in to look directly at Scott. "Is it?"
"No." Scott answers.
"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works." Tony says.
"Tony. We have to take a stand." Nat says.
"We did stand. And yet, here we are."
"I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lotta people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back, to bring everyone back, and you're telling me that you won't even..." Scott says, raising his voice.
"That's right, Scott." Tony cuts him off. "I won't even. I can't."
"Not even for Peter?"
10 chapters left in this book. Y'all ready?
—ASE715