2023 ― Upstate New York
"Only to make conversation."

Scott Lang now paced in front of Steve, Katherine, and Amaya Rogers, as well as Natasha Romanoff. They explained to him everything that happened with Thanos, the final battle. When they found him on the other planet and now it's been five years since all of that has happened, and Scott was still trying to wrap his head around all of the information.

"Scott. Are you okay?" Steve asked. Scott stopped pacing and rubbed his eyes with his fingers before nodding his head.

"Yeah. Have any of you guys ever studied quantum physics?" Scott asked.

"Only to make conversation," Katherine said with a serious face, and Scott didn't know if she was joking or not, but he still pointed to her anyway and nodded.

"Alright, so... five years ago, 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, um... She was my... uh, she was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened... and I got stuck in there." Scott said.

"I'm sorry, that must have been a very long five years," Natasha said.

"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours. See, the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich?" Scott got distracted by Katherine's sandwich that sat on the table. The other half that she offered to her husband but he didn't take it.

"Scott, focus. What are you talking about?" Steve asked as Scott picked up the sandwich and took a big bite out of it.

"So. . what I'm saying is... time works differently in the quantum realm. 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... 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." Scott explained.

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Amaya Rogers asked speaking up for the first time in a while.

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. This is more like a... uh, yeah. Like a time machine." Scott said realizing that what he was describing was indeed exactly like what a time machine does. "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 said shaking his head.

"Scott. Kat and I get emails from a raccoon... so nothing sounds crazy anymore." Natasha said.

"So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asked. Katherine and Steve looked at each other, knowing the exact person that they would talk to. It could've been Nikita, but she's not here. Katherine hadn't heard from Bruce in a while, so she didn't know where he was either. That only left one more person to ask.

Tony Stark.

―

The five of them made their way out to the secluded place where Tony lives with his wife, Pepper, and his daughter, Morgan. Katherine was excited to see them again and so was Amaya. The five of them got out of the car to see Tony with Morgan in his arms, and when Morgan saw Katherine and Amaya her eyes lit up.

"Auntie Kat! Maya!" She exclaimed and then she looked at her dad. "Daddy, down!" She said. Tony shook his head as he put Morgan on the ground and she immediately ran over to Katherine and hugged her legs. Katherine picked her up and gave her a few kisses on her cheek.

"There's my favorite niece. I missed you." Katherine said. Amaya leaned up and kissed Morgan's cheek.

"I missed you too," Amaya said and Morgan smiled at both of them as Tony gestured for Katherine to bring her into the house. Amaya and Katherine both followed behind Tony as Katherine still carried the young girl into the house and she set her down.

"Alright, you go eat lunch while your Aunt Kat and I talk," Tony said and Morgan nodded before looking at Amaya.

"Maya... do you wanna eat lunch with me?" Morgan asked and Amaya smiled as she nodded her head and took a seat at the table next to her.

"I would love to." She said. Katherine and Tony both went outside, as Tony brought a pitcher of a beverage outside and five glasses. Scott explained their idea to Tony, who didn't give much of a reaction to any of it, and Katherine didn't know what he was thinking.

"No. We know what it sounds like." Scott said.

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

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale... which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony asked the group before handing everyone a drink.

"Honestly, T... I have no idea what half of those words mean." Katherine said.

"In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home," Tony said.

"I did," Scott said.

"No. You accidentally survived. It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a... what do you call it?" Tony asked Scott.

"A time heist?" Scott asked.

"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." Tony said.

"The stones are in the past. We could go back, we could get them." Steve said.

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back." Natasha said.

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

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

"Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism." Tony said which made Katherine laugh a little and Steve shook his head. "However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist," Tony said.

"T... we have to try. I owe it to Christian to try and get him back. I owe it to Amaya to try and get her brother... and her boyfriend back. I owe it to Nat and Thor to get Nikita back," Katherine whispered. At the mention of Peter, Tony felt something stir inside. He hated that he had to break Amaya's heart and tell her that Peter didn't survive the snap. He sighed as he looked at his godmother.

"I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise," Tony said.

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. Alright? It means, no talking to our past selves... no betting on sporting events." Scott started to say but Tony held his hand out.

"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? Is it?" Tony asked.

"No," Scott said, shaking his head.

"Good, you had me worried there. 'Cause, that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works." Tony said.

"Tony... we have to take a stand," Natasha said.

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

"I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. Katherine lost her son. Natasha lost her sister. A lot of people lost people that were important to them. And now, we have a chance to bring all of them back, and you're telling me that you won't even...-" Tony cut him off.

"...-That's right, Scott. I won't even. I can't." Tony said, and then the door opened and Morgan ran over to her father and Tony picked her up.

"Mommy told me to come and save you," Morgan said, and Katherine raised an eyebrow. It's not like they were holding Tony hostage.

"Good job. I'm saved." Tony said as Morgan laid her head on his shoulder, and then he looked at the rest of the group. "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I just... Oh look, the table's set for eight." He said.

"Tony. I get it. And I'm happy for you. I am. But this is a second chance... for me to get my son back." Steve said and the words broke Tony's heart because he was devastated to lose Christian.

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. Can't roll the dice on it. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." Tony said, before walking inside with his daughter. Katherine looked at her husband and laid a hand down on his arm.

"I think I'm gonna stay." She whispered and Steve nodded his head before wrapping his arm around her.

"Amaya staying too?" He asked.

"Yeah." The couple turned around to see their daughter had walked outside and the first thing she did was wrap her dad in a hug which he immediately received and he kissed her forehead.

"You're gonna go find Bruce, aren't you?" Katherine asked and Steve nodded.

"It's our only chance." He said.

"I love you, Dad," Amaya said as they stepped away.

"I love you too, princess," Steve said before Amaya walked back inside of the house and Katherine looked at her husband before he wrapped his arms around her.

"We'll be fine. I love you." Katherine said leaning up to give her husband a kiss, which he immediately received and laid his hand down on her cheek.

"I love you, more."

―

What a cute moment.

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xoxo.