────── ✼✼✼ ──────

────── ✼✼✼ ──────

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟖
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐒' 𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐍

────── ✼✼✼ ──────

Despite knowing Tony would be furious with her for involving him, Charlie reluctantly told them where he was. And that was only because she knew that he would have answers to their questions. Her only condition was that they gave her time to prepare him for their arrival. The Romanoff woman tried to argue but Steve shut her down, knowing that it would be better for them if the Stark man knew they were coming. There was a small part of the Barton woman that wanted to sit down and talk to Natasha. She wanted to know why she shut her out for four years. But Charlie knew this wasn't the time nor the place.

So instead Charlie found herself sitting in the passenger seat of their rental car. They had just landed in New York about a half-hour ago along with Natasha, Steve, Scott, and Trina. After giving them Tony's address, Pietro and Charlie immediately began their journey. They had a half-hour head start before their allies would follow them. The Barton woman didn't know if a half-hour would be enough to convince Tony to help them, but she knew that they wouldn't give her any more time. They were desperate to find a solution to bring back their missing friends, and desperation brings out the worst in everyone.

It wasn't long before they found themselves driving down the road that would lead them to their destination. While Pietro remained silent with his eyes on the road, Charlie fidgeted in her seat. Her mind was working against her as she thought about everything that could and probably will go wrong. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she failed to notice her knuckles were turning white in her lap. That was until the Maximoff man placed his hand on top of hers. His touch alone was enough to calm Charlie, at least to a point that she could bear. They let the silence surround them for a moment longer before Pietro finally broke it.

"Care to tell me what's bouncing around in that head of yours?"

The Barton woman hesitated for a moment, unsure of exactly what to tell him. But after letting out a long and much-needed sigh, Charlie opened her mouth to respond. "I just got back on good terms with Tony after...you know. Things are starting to feel normal again. This is just gonna damage the progress we've made."

"Do you want me to turn around?" the Maximoff man asked while tightening his grip around Charlie's hand.

Again, the archer hesitated. She desperately wanted to say yes and have Pietro remove her from the situation. But she knew that would just be taking the easy way out. "No. I can't let them ambush Tony like they did to us."

Pietro simply nodded in response as he continued to drive down the road. It wasn't long before a familiar cabin came into view, causing Charlie's nervousness to double. Despite hearing the engine turn off, the Barton woman didn't move from her seat. Instead, she kept her eyes glued to the lake while listening to the thoughts bouncing around in her head. That was until she spotted movement in the trees and soon a familiar face came into view. A small smile appeared on Charlie's lips as she watched Tony walk toward his house with Morgan in his arms.

That was all it took for the Barton woman to get out of the car, Pietro quickly copying her actions. The sound of the car doors closing instantly grabbed the Stark man's attention. The confusion he felt soon vanished when he saw the familiar couple walking toward them. A grin instantly appeared on his lips as Morgan called out to Charlie and Pietro. Tony waited until they were a bit closer before setting his daughter down, allowing her to run over to their guests. The Barton woman didn't hesitate to scoop the young girl into her arms and hug her. They stayed like that for a moment before ending their embrace, allowing Morgan to look between the couple with a large smile on her face.

"Aunt Charlie! Uncle Pietro! I missed you!" the Stark girl said as the smile on her face did nothing but grow.

"We missed you too, Moe," the Maximoff man responded after letting out a long overdue laugh.

"Not that I'm not thrilled by this little surprise, but what brings you two here?" Tony questioned after stopping a few feet away from them.

Despite the smile on the Stark man's face, Charlie could see the skepticism in his eyes. And she knew why. She and Pietro always made it a point to at least send a text that they were coming to visit. After all, she was never fond of surprise visits ever since Sokovia. The Barton woman couldn't recall if they ever showed up at the cabin unannounced. If the roles were reversed, Charlie would think something was going on too. And that was enough to make her nerves return.

As if sensing her change of emotion, Pietro cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention toward him. "Why don't I take Morgan to skip rocks while you two talk?"

"Actually, can you take her inside? Pepper has lunch for her," Tony responded, earning a nod from the speedster. Neither the Stark man nor the Barton woman said another word as they watched Pietro take Morgan inside. It wasn't until the door closed behind them that the billionaire turned his attention back to the archer. "Care to tell me what's going on, Katniss?"

Charlie just stared at him for a moment as her nervousness continued to grow. The silence surrounded them for what felt like an eternity before she swallowed the lump in her throat and began speaking. "Just promise me you won't get mad."

Confusion instantly returned to Tony's face as he studied the woman standing in front of him. "What are you talking about?"

Just as the archer opened her mouth to explain, the sound of an approaching vehicle cut through the air. The pair instantly turned toward the source of the noise to find a silver car coming up the driveway. A wave of annoyance washed over Charlie as she watched Natasha, Steve, Scott, and Trina get out of the car. While Tony turned and made his way inside the cabin to do who knows what, the Barton woman stormed toward her allies who were a lot earlier than planned.

"You said I'd have a half-hour to talk to Tony," Charlie said without bothering to hide the irritation in her voice as she checked her phone, "you're twenty-five minutes early."

"In my defense, I told them this was a bad idea," Trina told the archer while crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the car.

"We don't have time to waste, Charlie," Natasha responded in a calm tone, which only seemed to annoy the archer even more.

"I know it's hard for you. But if you want my help, you need to be honest with me," the Barton woman retaliated, earning shocked looks from the four people in front of her. However, before their conversation could continue, Charlie turned her back to her allies and began making her way toward the Stark's cabin.

After quickly catching Pietro up on Steve, Natasha, Scott, and Trina's early arrival, Charlie found herself sitting next to the speedster on Tony's front porch. They listened to Scott explain his plan to the billionaire while the latter made iced coffee for them. Hearing the plan a second time sounded a lot more crazy and chaotic than the first time. It made the Barton woman feel insane for thinking it actually might work. And on top of that, the look on the Stark man's face made her feel even crazier for thinking Scott's plan could actually work.

"We know what it sounds like," the Lang man said after seeing Tony's disbelief once he finished his explanation.

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve added, fully aware that it would take a lot of convincing to get the Stark man on board with their plan.

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony retaliated, earning blank stares from everyone surrounding him before sighing, "in layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

"Scott did," Trina announced from where she sat on the railing.

"No. You accidentally survived. It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke," the Stark man said after handing Charlie and Pietro cups of coffee and turning his attention back to the Lang man, "and now you wanna pull a...what do you call it?"

Scott hesitated for a moment while taking a cup from Tony. It wasn't long after that when a forced smile appeared on his lips. "A time heist?"

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before?" the billionaire sighed before turning around to face Charlie and Pietro, "you guys are seriously buying this?"

"Well honestly, after hearing everything a second time, I'm starting to have doubts," the archer responded while avoiding Steve and Natasha's eyes.

"I always had my doubts," the speedster announced before wrapping his arms around Charlie's shoulders and pulling her closer to his side, "I only came because my anđeo thought this plan had a chance of succeeding."

"Next time you can answer without that little pet name. Thanks," Tony told the Maximoff man, earning an eye roll from the latter while Charlie did her best to suppress her laughter. It wasn't long after that when the Stark man turned back around to face the rest of their allies. "Your plan is laughable. It's a pipe dream."

"The Stones are in the past," Trina stated while trying her best to hide the desperation in her voice. But she knew she failed when all she could think about was Orion. The Felicity woman was always horrible at masking her emotions when she was worried about her family. "We could go back, we could get them."

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back," Natasha added after looking away from the Rogers man to meet Tony's gaze.

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

"I don't believe we would," the Man Out of Time declared without an ounce of hesitation.

"Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism," Tony responded with a hint of irritation in his voice before sitting down in the chair on the other side of Charlie, "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."

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel," Scott countered with determination in his voice as he began pacing around the porch, "alright? It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"

"Wait, wait. Hold on," Pietro said, cutting the Lang man off and drawing everyone's attention toward him, "this is all sounding vaguely familiar."

"Yeah. That's because we watched Back to the Future a few weeks ago," Charlie told him, slightly annoyed that Scott was defending his plan with details from a movie, "wish you told me this part before we agreed to help you."

"Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on a movie?" Tony questioned while staring at the Lang man with a hint of disbelief in his eyes. That continued for another moment before Scott shook his head and muttered "no" under his breath. "Good. You had me worried there. Because that would be horsesh*t. That's not how quantum physics works."

"Tony," Natasha called out, drawing everyone's attention toward her before she continued speaking, "we have to take a stand."

The Stark man just stared at the redheaded woman in silence until he finally responded. "We did stand. And yet, here we are."

Natasha and Steve instantly looked away from their friend, not knowing what else to say to persuade him to help. But Scott wasn't done trying to convince the billionaire. "I know you got a lot on the line. 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 you won't even-"

"That's right, Scott. I won't even. I can't," Tony interrupted the brunette man with an unreadable look on his face, "oh, and just some friendly advice. I would make sure Charlie's fully caught up on the plan next time you send her to convince me of something."

It wasn't long after that when the faint sound of approaching footsteps cut through the air. Morgan soon came running out of the cabin and into her father's arms, who welcomed his daughter without a second thought. "Mommy told me to come and save you."

"Good job. I'm saved," the Stark man told her as he stood up while keeping Morgan in his arms, "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I just...look, the table's set for nine-"

"Tony. I get it," Steve interrupted, drawing the billionaire's attention toward him, "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 on it," the brunette man said before glancing around at everyone on his front porch, "if you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."

They all watched as Tony walked inside his cabin before letting the door close behind him. Charlie just stared at the screen door for a moment before her attention fell on Pietro. Just by the look on his face, she could tell they were thinking the same thing. They were both irritated that their allies withheld some information from them, enough to make their plan sound even more fictional. And yet what they learned still wasn't enough to make them stop helping with their plan. After letting out a long sigh, the Barton woman looked up at the four people in front of them.

"Look, we aren't happy that you didn't tell us that a big chunk of your plan was based on a movie. And we're especially not happy that you cut our time before you showed up short," Charlie told them, earning four blank stares in response before she continued speaking, "but lucky for you, we're still willing to help. So what's gonna happen now is Pietro and I are gonna stay for lunch and hang here for a while. We'll meet you at the Compound tomorrow."

"And please try not to keep more details or secrets from us," Pietro added without even attempting to hide the annoyance in his voice.

After receiving a small nod from Steve, he, Natasha, and Scott began making their way back to their car. It didn't take them long to realize Trina wasn't following them, making the Man Out of Time glance back at her. "Are you coming?"

"No. I think I'll stay here too," the Felicity woman responded before letting out a long sigh, "I need a break from finding nothing but dead ends."

────── ✼✼✼ ──────

────── ✼✼✼ ──────