𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 — model successful

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 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 at it all day; the tiny little basement that Tony had converted into an at-home lab was stuffy and smelled like the Kung-Pao chicken Emilia and Tony had previously been picking at. Stray papers littered the table and floor with scribbled equations that would have sent most grown adults into a tizzy if they so much as glanced at them.

 It had been hours of continuous tests and formulas; all of which had ended in foretold failure.

 The intuitive tech that Tony had developed called out to them with every passing hour; rattling off in a stoic voice that their equations had failed, that if they even dared use what they'd developed; the Quantum Realm would swallow them whole and refuse to spit them back out.

 Tony had lost count of how many stray crumpled-up balls of paper had been tossed at his head, nor how many times he'd tossed them back, hoping to catch Emilia off guard. It never worked, and each ball would be found suspended in the air as Emilia's fingers wiggled with a coating of blue.

 They spoke in hushed whispers as they called out tweaks to make to their project, and they uttered defeated groans with every glaring red ERROR! that graciously popped before them in a blinding light.

 Night had crept up on them without the pair so much as noticing; that is, of course, until Pepper trailed down the stairs with a pitcher of lemon water, and a plate of cookies she'd made upon returning home. Morgan had been the one to brandish the cookies with a wide and toothy smile.

 Emilia had kissed her cheek while Tony ruffled his daughter's hair and pecked his wife on the lips before the duo promptly got back to work. There were crumbs on the desk and the pitcher was empty come one in the morning; delightful purple bags had graced Emilia's under eyes, and Tony couldn't help but twist his back every now and then, trying his best to stretch out his stationary muscles.

 "One more?" Tony spoke through a yawn as he tapped his blunt pencil on the edge of the desk, "I think Pep might start a manhunt if we don't pop our heads out soon."

 Emilia almost snorted; it wouldn't be unlike Pepper to do such a thing; after all, Tony was an impeccably dramatic man, somebody had to match his attitude every now and then. She nodded and tossed yet another crumpled piece of discarded paper into the air, watching as blue mist erupted around it and carried it to the bin. It landed perfectly on top.

 "Show off," Tony mumbled, "Okay so... How 'bout this?" He leaned over, almost toppling out of his chair as he flashed his work to Emilia.

 It was still odd, even after five years of working beside both Tony and Bruce on multiple occasions, that Emilia found herself surrounded by numbers, fact and magic, rather than one or the other. She hadn't realised just how much she'd missed slipping her arms into a stark-white coat, or scribbling mindless formulas onto stray pieces of paper.

 Emilia studied his work, lips moving as she barely breathed the numbers. Her head cocked ever so slightly as she dug through one of her previously discarded formulas, holding them next to Tony's work.

 They looked at one another, a certain spark in their eyes. One long since lost to Emilia. She scrambled for a pencil whilst Tony hopped from his chair and leaned over her shoulder, a finger pointed towards the two papers.

 "If we combine —" He began.

 Emilia nodded and trailed the. pencil over the papers, "— Uh-huh, and if we remove this from here, and replace it with —"

 Tony pointed to a section of Emilia's former attempt, "— With that..."

 Emilia dropped the pencil and leaned back, admiring their work. It was hastened, almost unintelligible writing sprawled on the page despite the fact that both Emilia and Tony had pristine handwriting.

 Tony clapped his hands together, receiving a swift and light swat to the arm from Emilia who flinched at the sound, he laughed her off and swiped a hand above the desk to illuminate his workspace once more, "Let's give it a go, shall we?"

 They waited with bated breath. Emilia's nails dug into the skin of her knee and she was almost certain she'd soon tear through her trousers. Tony chewed at his thumb, eyes moving to and fro erratically as he watched his tech digest their combined efforts into something a little more... Polished.

 Seconds ticked by and all Emilia could do was watch as the hologram spun on an axis. Numbers flashed by and with each minute that scraped past, Emilia could only think about the what-ifs. What if they failed again? She had tried her hardest not to hope they'd succeed in their attempts; to do anything to stave away the disappointment of their inevitable failure... Yet now she stared at the flashing hologram with a spark of hope in her eyes, while her nails dug into her knees.

 They waited, and waited, and then unlike their many other attempts, no red blinded them. No ERROR! flashed at them with triumph as their shoulders sunk... Instead, the helix spun, the equation fluttered by and a multitude of hurting colours whizzed by only to be replaced by glaring green letters that read MODEL SUCCESSFUL.

 Tony fell backwards, a resounding crack sounding out as his palm collided with his parted lips.

 Emilia had to blink twice and pinch her own knee just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Successful. Successful. They had done it. She would have laughed in disbelief, or perhaps let a word that Pepper Potts would glare at her for a slip from the tongue; only Tony beat her.

 "Shit!" He breathed, hands raised high in the air as he kept his gaze on the letters. He was almost scared they flitter away and force the two back to the drawing board.

 Emilia nodded, her own lips parting to repeat his exclamation but somebody beat her to it.

 "Shit!" Came an adorable little voice; one that made Emilia's heart drop into her stomach. She and Tony were dead if Morgan repeated that word in front of her mother.

 "No, no, no!" Emilia rushed as she hopped from her seat and scooped Morgan into her arms, she grinned at the little girl — a grin that was so rare nowadays — and hastily placed her pointer finger to the little girl's lips, "That word is not for you!"

 The girl tried her hardest to frown, but unbeknownst to her, her lips were tugged in a wide grin revealing her gapped teeth, "Daddy used it."

 Tony groaned as he hauled himself to his feet, arms rising high above his head as he tried to loosen his muscles, "Daddy made a mistake... Now, what are you doing up, little miss?"

 A beat passed as Morgan remained silent within Emilia's arms, the little girl toyed with her printed pyjamas and both geniuses in the room could sense the tiniest of them was presently pondering what her next words would be.

 Emilia had to stifle a laugh as Morgan grinned at her father, "Shit!"

 "Nope. We don't say that." Tony hastened as he plied his daughter from Emilia's arms, "Only mommy says that word. She coined it. It belongs to her."

 His gaze narrowed as his daughter shrugged at his words; a trait she seemed to have picked up from Emilia... They were partners in crime, after all.

 Morgan cocked her head rather adorably, a cluster of dark hair falling into her eyes as she poked her father's cheek, "Why are you up?"

 "'Cause I've got important shit going on here!"

 "Tony!" Emilia chastised and her fingers waved in the air... A crumpled piece of abandoned paper collided with the side of Stark's head. He tossed her an unimpressed look, to which she ignored, "What happened to Pepper coining it?"

 Tony rolled his eyes, delighting in the giggle he spurred from his daughter as he hoisted her higher, "Nah, we just had something on our minds."

 "Was it juice pops?"

 The hopeful glint in the little girl's eyes was enough for Tony to bob his head in confirmation, and to be entirely honest, he needed something to fill his stomach, "Correct. Great minds..." He tapped the tip of Morgan's nose and she laughed as she wound her arms around her father's neck, "... think alike. What kind do you want?"

 "Orange!"

 "Orange sounds great," Tony nodded along, ignoring the creak of the stairs as he began to make his way up. He cast his gaze over his shoulder, catching Emilia watching them with a spark of a smile, "What do you say, Em? Orange?"

 Emilia shook her head and a bundle of short hairs brushed by her cheeks; her hands fell to her neck, swiping them into her palms as she twisted one of Morgan's shimmery blue scrunchies around her hair.

 This was a nightly occurrence — Morgan stomping her little foot and demanding a juice pop, that is. The little girl knew that whilst her father couldn't be swayed to change his mind on many things, she was an exception. As much as Tony liked to think he had a steely resolve; as soon as his daughter batted her lashes at him and curled her arms around his neck softly wishing she could have another juice pop, he'd cave.

 He'd always groan as though she was requesting far too much from him. He'd act like crawling his way to the kitchen to retrieve her favourite snack was such a demanding job, but then Emilia would catch his smile when Morgan munched away with a glint in her eyes. She was just like him.

 "You two go ahead, I'll finalise all of this," She nodded to the glinting image that hovered above the table, reminding them of what they'd managed to accomplish in under eight hours, "... See if any more rendering needs to be done, and have the materials ready for when that little monster —" Morgan stuck out her tongue, a giggle erupting as Emilia copied her actions, "— is in bed."

 "Gotcha. We'll take it to the compound in the morning, no doubt those idiots will try to attempt their little 'time heist' even after everything I said. I bet Lang'll turn into a baby." His words ended in a light chuckle.

 "Or an old man"

 There was a beat and the pair looked at one another, each shrugging a shoulder as they spoke in sync, "Or both."

 Tony snorted at the thought before finally hoisting Morgan higher on his hip, "Alright, Morguna, say goodnight."

 Morgan peered over Tony's shoulder; her hair was a mess, likely from tossing and turning in her bed until she finally realised it was a juice pop that she needed. Her eyes blinked owlishly, and even though she tried to conceal it, a small yawn slipped past the little girl's lips as she waved with wiggling fingers that were still stained with ink, "Night Emmy."

 Emilia caved and a small, fond smile glossed her lips, eyes scrunching at the sight of Morgan nuzzling into Tony's neck and giggling when his stubble tickled her cheek, "Goodnight, sweetheart."

 "Love you."

 It was like a punch to the gut each and every time Morgan uttered those silly little words — words that had become so very rare within Emilia's life. She hadn't uttered them to anybody after her parent's deaths, not until he came along and somehow helped to patch the hole left in her heart.

 Then he left, and it was as though each bandage he'd carefully wrapped around her battered heart had slipped off, revealing the long-lasting cracks and permanent damage that marred the organ steadily beating in her chest. She loved Bruce, Tony, and Pepper... Of course she did, but none of them ever said it to one another. They just knew.

 But Morgan had been insistent. She would crawl onto Emilia's lap and latch onto her like a koala whenever Emilia hesitated to speak the words back. It shouldn't have been that hard, to speak just three little words, and yet it always felt as though Emilia would crumble if she did; a sick reminder that the very person who had finally allowed her to speak such words freely, to truly feel what they meant... was gone.

 "I love you too, Morgan." She uttered softly, her heart warming when Morgan grinned and held onto her father even tighter.

 She watched them go, leaving Emilia behind alone in the basement filled with various pieces of tech that would likely cause Pepper to have a heart attack if she really knew what everything did.

 Emilia's hip met the table, her arms crossed snugly over her chest as she let out a silent breath. The glaring image before her was taunting her.

 MODEL SUCCESSFUL.

 Those words seemed to glower at her. The model was successful, their calculations were correct, they'd be able to enter the Quantum Realm and pop out on the other side unharmed... But would they really be able to gather all of the Infinity Stones and bring those they loved back?

 Emilia slipped into the chair, steadying herself as it threatened to roll back.

 It wasn't just gathering the Stones either; they had to figure out where each of them would be and if it would be possible to pluck them up and stuff them into their pockets... There was the return journey too; Emilia had learnt more than enough during her time with the Ancient one.

 Messing with time, reality... and the Multiverse was dangerous and never without consequence.

 They had to be certain that they'd be able to return the Stones back to the time they'd been taken from; who knew what kind of branch in the timeline they'd make if they didn't. 

 Emilia shook her head, banishing all thoughts of the following day and the potential chaos they could all cause. For now, all there was to do was save everything they'd done, and prepare themselves for the day to follow.

 "Do you know how embarrassing it'd be if you died speeding?"

 Emilia's words had been light and airy as though she hadn't really meant what she'd uttered, but as Tony continued to drive like an utter maniac, she piped up once more, "I'm not kidding, Tones, 'Iron Man dies in tragic car crash' that'd be really embarrassing," She tossed her gaze to the man in the driver's seat, promptly ignoring the way her stomach twisted as the scenery outside whizzed by, "A tech genius, a superhero dying because he drives like an over-zealous teenage boy who just got his permit."

 "Oh please," Tony scoffed as he tested her patience and took a hand off the wheel, waving it through the air as though they were merely sipping mimosas by the beach on a hot day, "I'm an excellent driver."

 "I could have portalled us."

 "I don't like your portals."

 "What? That doesn't even make sense —"

 Tony grinned to himself as he heard the woman beside him scoff in distaste and twist her gaze from him, electing to peer out the window, "Listen, Sabrina —"

 "— I'm not a teenage witch, Tony."

 "You do magic, ergo you, Emilia Clemente, are a witch." From his peripheral he could see her lips twist into a grimace, "But that's beside the point, you always complain about my driving, and I think it's rude."

 He wasn't wrong... About the 'always complaining', that is. Emilia despised the way Tony raced down each and every road as though he was competing in a race; with every road he turned down, Emilia truly thought they'd end up on two wheels before flipping over entirely.

 Emilia shook her head, inhaling a deep breath of fresh air as she lowered the car window, "It isn't rude, you drive like a maniac."

 "Not always."

 "The only time you don't is when Pepper or Morgan are with you... Because you know that Pepper would kill you."

 "Exactly." A crooked grin rested on his lips, "You wouldn't kill me."

 "No?"

 Emilia waited as Tony pondered his next words; they were always like this and always seemed to bicker back and forth as though they were siblings that had grown sick of one another. More recently, in the past couple of years, Emilia had... adapted to Tony's personality. Everybody knew him to be witty and sarcastic, with a multitude of references to spit at you, and now Emilia was the very same.

 Though, admittedly she had to sit down with a bundle of movies to expand her repertoire of references — after all, living in Kathmandu trying to train her abilities, only to move into the sanctum as she aimed to protect the world hadn't exactly been ideal situations for Emilia to sit down and pay attention to the names of niche characters.

 Emilia clocked Tony's mouth as he moved to speak once more, he'd no doubt fill the silence with some stupid comment that would spur the duo to argue further; luckily for Emilia who was presently wishing for nothing more than to swat at the smug mans face, the Avengers compound came into view.

 "Oh, thank God." She breathed and slumped further into her chair, "Being in a confined space with you is hell."

 "You, Doc, are a bully."

 Emilia ignored him, and Tony promptly pushed his foot harder on the gas pedal, grinning like an idiot as they flew through the gates and zipped closer to the compound entrance. As they grew closer, they could both see a tall and broad figure with a flock of golden hair standing by the doors. Their hands were on their hips with their head tipped t the ground; it was Steve, that much was obvious.

 Emilia, despite not knowing the man personally nor properly, could feel a bitter sting build on the very tip of her tongue; perhaps over the years she'd grown to resent the man she'd never truly met well enough to judge... But the words that Tony had uttered regarding their 'falling out' were more than enough for Emilia to hold her own grudge.

 "You sure you're ready?" Emilia asked, her foot tapping impatiently atop the hot-rod red car mat beneath her shoes, "You've reached out over these past years, he never reached back."

 Tony hummed, his fingers drumming on the leather steering wheel. It was a familiar sight for Emilia to see; Tony could never sit still in the best of times, but when his anxiety flared up? He became utterly restless, "Well, guess I'm not one for grudges, huh?"

 "That's such a lie."

 "Now wait a minute —"

 "You never went back to that one cafe because they made your coffee too sweet."

 "That's a valid reason!"

 "For a drama queen." Emilia scoffed, though it was evident she found the entire situation amusing as she recalled how Tony had moped for the rest of the morning as he begrudgingly sipped on his sugary drink, "Maybe, you know, as a billionaire, you could have gotten your own coffee machine, and made your own damn coffee."

 "Can you stop attacking me?"

 "No. It's fun."

 The fully-grown, adult man blew a raspberry in response and pushed his silly little glasses up the bridge of his nose, huffing as he did. The unlikely duo remained in silence for the few spare seconds Tony raced his all too flashy sports car down the road, growing ever closer to a brooding Steve.

 They came to a prompt stop and Tony slowly reversed the car, bringing him face to face with his old friend. Emilia kept her eyes forward as Tony planted his head against the headrest, lazily rolling down his window, "Why the long face?" He left no room for Steve to respond and so the soldier only stared with confusion written on his chiselled face, "Let me guess, he turned into a baby..." He glanced over at Emilia for a moment before raising a brow at Steve, "Or an old man?"

 Emilia dipped her head in an attempt to conceal her laughter; they had spoken at length the previous night of dangers that they needed to avoid when developing their 'Time-Space GPS' as Tony had so aptly named it. Tony had leaned back in his chair with an almost dreamy smile as he chuckled, stating that they'd likely arrive at the compound only to find baby Scott Lang drooling over himself... Until Emilia had chipped in that they'd probably find him hunched over a cup of tea, muttering about the 'good old days' as his hip gave way.

 Steve seemed almost disturbed at the accurate guess Tony had supplied, and the soldier nodded hesitantly, "Yeah... Both actually. What are you —" Steve lowered his head slightly, finally seeing Emilia with his own eyes; she looked far different from the day they'd sparingly met and she'd quashed their hope with her hypothesis that proved correct. Her face was fuller, her hair healthier and shinier... Her bones were no longer poking at her skin like a needle trying to push through cloth, "— Both doing here?"

 "It's the EPR Paradox," Emilia called out, her voice flittering through the open window and meeting Steve's ears. This certainly did not wipe the confusion from his face, for he merely cocked a brow at Tony.

 Tony rolled his eyes at the soldier as he pushed his door open, Emilia copying immediately, "Instead of pushing Lang through time..."

 "... You pushed time through Lang," Emilia finished, her hand planted on the sleek metal of the car door, eyes peering over the roof to finally look at Steve, "Hence the baby, the old-timer... and whatever else you got."

 Emilia blinked, breaking eye contact with Steve as she met Tony at the trunk of his car and the billionaire heaved a heavy, snarky sigh, "It's dangerous, tricky... Somebody would have cautioned you against it."

 "You did." Steve nodded and Tony did as he always does and pressed a dramatically flared hand against his heart, gasping at the soldier's words.

 "Oh, did I? Well, thank God —" He glanced to his side, "— We're here. Regardless, we fixed it." Tony flashed his hand and Emilia followed; the pair each had a prototype of the little device they'd managed to create by combining their minds. "A fully functioning time-space GPS. I just want peace."

 Emilia swatted the peace sign Tony made with his fingers, her eyes rolling skywards as she did. Whilst the words rang true; Tony certainly still had some choice words he used when talking about Steve... On the rare occasions that he did.

 Even though the past five years Emilia had gathered very little information about Steve Rogers, from Tony, at least. Natasha and Bruce had been more than happy to spill whatever gossip they had on their teammates.

 But Tony Stark still struggled to speak of the man; he'd described what had caused the rift between the two, the rocky start their relationship had... But little else had been revealed. There had been long stretch of time between the bigger missions the Avengers had previously been sent one; time when the team were all stuffed inside Stark Tower, operating as one... So it only stood to reason that the information Steve had withheld had caused Tony to deeply resent the man standing before him.

 Emilia had never thought herself to be a judgmental woman; often opting for seeing the best in people when she could only find the worst in herself... But then again, Emilia had never had a friend that had been hurt — betrayed — so deeply by somebody else.

 She might have been somebody to find the positives in others, but her loyalty was far stronger than her desire to find the good in people. Especially when she had lost so much already.

 So maybe that was why Emilia couldn't keep her eyes on the soldier who spared Tony a small smile, maybe because she was so damn loyal and desperate to keep those she loved safe and happy, did she look the soldier up and down before plying the trunk open, gesturing towards it flippantly as she parted her lips, "Give him the dinner plate already, Tones."

 Tony snorted and swiftly dove into digging around the trunk. Tony Stark was by no means a tidy man. He liked clutter and frankly, he thrived in it. 'Organised mess' he had called it once whilst shuffling through a stack of papers taller than Morgan, only to find what he needed on the shelf behind him.

 Emilia shook her head as the billionaire brushed away a stuffed toy, a small frisbee that could have easily been tossed Steve's way and called a shield, and a fluffy blanket before he finally curled his calloused fingertips around the large metal circle.

 He pulled it free, brandishing it like a sword, "Listen... We got a shot at getting these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities." Tony glanced down at the shield, his thumb running over a small scratch in the metal, "Bring back what we lost, I hope, yes. Keep what I found, I have to, at all costs... And maybe not die trying."

 Emilia felt her shoulders finally slump from their tensed state, her head slipping ever so slightly from the high position in which she'd held it. Even after their success, Emilia still tried her damn hardest to fight off any and all hope that came with the premise of retrieving the stones. They could very well gather them all like easter eggs and snap their fingers... But would everyone come back?

 They didn't know the intricacies of the snap; did Thanos wish for something to happen? Was his unmovable resolve enough for his dreams to come to fruition or was there something more? Something else they needed?

 It was all... Guesswork.

 So she couldn't hope. She couldn't believe that she'd finally get to see him again; because if it didn't work... Emilia was already so tired, so damn tired of waking up each morning from a restless sleep filled with taunting images, flashes of fire and pain and ash only to traverse her day like an animated corpse just trying to survive, trying to appear okay for the sake of those around her. Helping other people was a distraction, she had hoped that she could find a purpose... No, a desire for life within hel[ping others, but that hadn't happened.

 Surviving something that had taken so many, that had taken the lives of those she cared for most... It made Emilia feel undeserving of the air she breathed. Why her? Why did she deserve to stay when so many others deserved it more? Or maybe it was just the universe's way of punishing her for failing time and time again.

 Maybe she deserved to live, just to suffer.

 "Em?" A swift knock came to her shoulder. Tony's hand had clamped down heavily, almost grounding her as she finally snapped her eyes up. There was Tony peering at her with undisguised concern, Steve stood a mere pace or two away with the shield Howard Stark had created settled back where it had been designed to be. "You good?"

 "Fine." Emilia grimaced at her own response; a tight voice that almost cracked, still she merely shook her head and trailed forwards, keeping her eyes on the building in front of them, "Come on then, Rose."

 "I told you not to call me that..." Tony hurried forth, jogging his way to her side whilst Steve was left to follow behind then, bending a confused ear to their conversation once more, "But... If I am Rose, then who's the fossil?"

 Emilia cracked a smile then, "An Ood?"

 Tony found himself snorting.

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DATE: 24/01/2023

:･ﾟ★ mhm, Em and Tony's dynamic is absolutely the best, thank yew.

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