Though Gracie would've been a good ice breaker, Todd had offered to keep her at the facility while the rest of us travelled to Tony. While Grace hardly understood why she had to stay behind, she seemed content with the idea that she had Todd to pester until we came back.

The cabin was cute enough, that much I could tell as we pulled up. It was near a beautiful, clean lake. The woods surrounding it made the cabin feel like a sacred place. I could understand the appeal here.

My eyes caught two figures—Tony and a little girl—heading towards the cabin. Steve stopped the black Audi we had taken, all filing out at once. Tony's blank expression told me this was not going to be a pleasant visit. Not that he was going to be hostile towards us...we just walked onto his turf after five years of little to no contact.

We were invading his space, his happy place that seemed to help him flourish.

Tony, I said tentatively.

Long time, no see. I don't mind that you're here...but the rest?

We'll explain.

I'm not gonna like this, am I?

I was going to let him find that out for himself.

After chilly formalities, Scott dove right into his idea. The rest of us allowed him the floor. Tony had insisted the conversation not get taken inside, so we opted to hang out on the wraparound porch on the cabin.

"Now, we know what it sounds like..." said Scott.

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" asked Steve.

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition," Tony explained. "Can we agree on that?"

We all just stared at him blankly.

"In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

"I did," said Scott.

"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a...What do you call it?"

"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?"

"The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them."

"We can snap our own fingers," I added. "We can bring everyone back."

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" countered Tony.

"I don't believe we would," said Steve.

"Gotta say, sometimes I 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 would be our collective demise."

Tony, I said warningly.

What, you want me to lie? I'm being honest here.

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel," Scott insisted to Tony. "That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events—"

"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?"

"No." Scott was embarrassed by how brazen Tony was.

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works."

"Tony..." said Nat quietly. "We have to take a stand."

"We did stand. And yet, here we are."

"I know you got a lot on the line," Scott said. "You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. 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. I got a kid."

And cue the little brunette I had seen from before, dashing onto the porch, running straight for her father.

"Mommy told me to come and save you," she said. Tony scooped her up.

I swallowed the lump down my throat. Are Steve and I so focused on saving the others that we're not taking into consideration Gracie's life? This little girl before me looked about the same age as my daughter.

"Good job. I'm saved." Tony glanced at the rest of us. This talk alone looked as though it exhausted him. "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I...I missed you guys, it was...Oh, and the table's set for seven."

"Tony, I get it," said Steve. "And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance."

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again. Are you forgetting your second chance? With your wife and little girl? Sure, I haven't seen you in ages, but Pepper still keeps in touch with Kiara. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."

Considering it would have been very difficult to not bring up work, it was a group decision to leave. A shame, too—I was really looking forward to seeing Pepper again. To maybe knowing her daughter. I knew her name was Morgan, at least. Pepper would talk about her, send me pictures. It was the closest contact I could get from the Stark family without feeling as though I stepped over a line.

I lingered while the other three made their way towards the black car. Tony noticed my presence.

"It really is good to see you," I said. My mouth tried a smile, it didn't last.

"It would've been good to see you too, Kiara, had it not been about work."

I dipped my head down. "I know, but we didn't know who else to go to."

"You know why I can't get on board with that."

"I do."

"I'm surprised that you and Cap are."

"He wants to right this so badly, we all do, it's just...I think he's on that path so hard that he doesn't realize it. I can't sway him, he's locked in pretty tight."

"And you?"

I exhaled. "I don't want to be persuaded to leave our friends as dust. I want to do right by them as well. But what we would be risking...I'm not forgetting that."

"Whatever you do, be careful."

"Are you saying that to just me or to everyone?"

Tony carried Morgan off before he could even give me an answer. Sighing, I left the porch to rejoin Scott, Nat, and Steve.

"He's scared," Nat said just as I came back within earshot.

"He's not wrong," I said.

"Yeah, but I mean, what are we gonna do?" asked Scott. "We need him. What, are we gonna stop?"

"No," said Steve, "I wanna do it right. We're gonna need a really big brain."

"Bigger than his?" Scott pointed to Tony's cabin.

Bruce? I asked.

Bruce.

Steve, I pressed as we all climbed back inside, should we maybe give this a serious thinking over? Tony has a point. He's got it made here. We've got it made, with our home and Gracie. If this somehow backfires...I can't even say what we would lose, together or separate.

So you want out?

I rolled my tongue over my teeth. No, I'm just...looking at it from both sides. I know our reputation, back in its glory days and its present. It's hard to say where this will lead us. I want to hope that it brings us fortune and not any pain, or sorrow.

We'll never know if we don't try.

To Bruce it is, then.