What's your favorite number? Mine is 3000 ;)

~~~

You'd think that riding in a car with three of my biggest idols would be fun and full of conversation, right? No, that's completely wrong. The atmosphere was tense, but I guess I'm used to it. The atmosphere of the universe has been tense for five plus years.

I never really wondered where Tony Stark lived for all this time. Didn't really have the chance to think about it. After Thanos was killed, he healed up back at headquarters and left with Pepper. The Avengers and I give him his space, but now I can't stop the flow of questions. What has he been doing? I haven't seen any sign of Iron Man for so long.

To my surprise, Steve drives up to a small, quiet, wooded area. I can feel my heartbeat quicken as my mind rushes with all possible scenarios in which we will find Tony. Has he been fighting bad guys in the forest? If he's been having trouble, why hasn't he called us to help him?

A small, delicate cottage sits in the middle of a clearing. I feel at a loss of words as Steve parks the car and gets out of the driver's seat. I smooth my jeans out nervously as everyone else exits the car. Right when I step out and close the door behind me, I almost faint.

Tony Stark is holding a girl. A girl. A small girl, no older than five, that looks exactly like him. I feel like I've been punched in the chest. Tony Stark's character development has basically completed its course. He started off as a selfish, rich playboy, and now has humbled himself into living in a small, forest house away from fame. And, he found stability in a family.

But what about his other family? Has he forgotten about Peter Parker?

Tony and Steve make eye contact, which I have to say is kind of awkward. Tony clumsily looks away before heading back into his house, the girl in his arms. Steve leads us to the steps of Tony's home.

Right when we get to the door, Tony opens it and steps outside. He gestures to the many chairs that line his front porch. "You guys look tired. Please, sit."

Slowly, myself, Scott, and Natasha lower ourselves into chairs. Steve leaves himself standing and leans on the porch's fence. Tony fidgets before saying, "I'm making some iced coffee. Hold on a second."

I watch as Tony enters his house again, clearly agitated. None of us say anything until he comes back out, carrying a platter of glasses and a pitcher holding the beverage. We each take a cup and Tony pours us some coffee.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark," I say as Tony pours liquid into my glass. I probably shouldn't have said that, as that is what Peter always called him.

Tony almost spills the rest of the coffee, but catches himself. "No problem, kiddo. So, what has brought you all over to my humble abode?"

Still has his playful attitude, I see. Scott is the one that mostly talks and explains his time in the Quantum Realm. I tell Tony how I found the van and started up the tunnel for Scott to come out. Natasha takes over to explain the plan, and asks if it could work.

"Messing with Quantum Physics goes against Planck's constant in the Quantum Theory. Can we agree on that?" Tony says and takes a sip out of his glass. He makes eye contact with Steve. "It means you're not coming back."

"I did." Scott points out, trying to prove the argument even further.

"No." Tony shakes his head, knowing where this is going. He knows the team is here to ask him to build a navigation device to help them travel through the Quantum Realm. "You were a microscopic accident that happened to survive."

"Mr. - uh - Tony," Everyone's eyes stare right at me, daring me to continue. I sit up straight, my posture proving that I know what I'm talking about. "With all due respect, if we had a way to navigate the Quantum Realm, we shouldn't have any problems."

Scott gulps down a bunch of coffee, still a bit hungry from the time jump he experienced. "Yeah, listen to Power Girl!" Did he just call me Power Girl? "All we have to do is follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sports events-"

Tony puts his hand up and cuts Scott off. "Let me stop you right there. Are you telling me that you're basing your plan off of Back to the Future?"

Scott shakes his head slowly, debunking the belief he had about time travel. Tony leans forward and says, "Good, you had me worried for a moment. All that butterfly effect bullshit is not how Quantum Time works. And what were you calling this?"

"Scott called it a... Time Heist I think." Natasha looks at Scott for confirmation, and he sheepishly nods.

"Look," Scott gains Tony's attention again, "you got really lucky. You got to keep your wife, and you have a daughter, but I lost someone very close to me. A lot of people did. And now we have a chance to fix everything, and you're saying that you won't even try?"

"That's right, Scott, I won't even. I can't-" Tony is cut off by the door opening, revealing his daughter.

Tony never told us her name, but I can take a wild guess. "Morgan looks just like you, Tony. Parker would be happy for you."

Someone had to say it. I could tell no one else was going to drop the bomb. I don't care if it makes Tony mad at me, as long as it lights a fire in his heart. I can feel his soul getting brighter by the second. Either I made him extremely angry, or he really misses Spider-Man. Probably both.

Morgan jumps into Tony's arms and mumbles, "Mommy told me to come and save you."

So adorable! Tony rests his head on top of hers and stands up. "Thank you, count me saved." He turns to us, ignoring my last statement. "The table is set for seven. If you don't talk shop, you can stay-"

Steve finally stands up straight and approaches Tony for the first time in five years. "Stark, I'm happy for you, really I am. But, this is something that I'm not going to back out on. Consider it."

With that said, Steve walks back to his car. Everyone follows, but I linger behind for a moment. I sigh, knowing it probably wasn't right of me to mention Peter in Tony's presence. I thought I could change his mind that way. "Sorry, Tony, about what I said. Just remember it's not over." I point to the fake Eye of Agamotto necklace. "We are the Avengers, not the Prevengers."

I meet Natasha, Steve, and Scott at the car. Scott grunts and opens his door. "So what now, we just give up?"

"We can't. We have to do this for everyone we lost." Natasha looks at Steve with a pleading expression. If anyone would know what to do, he would.

Sure enough, Steve shakes his head and says, "No, but I want to do it right. But, to do that, we are going to need a big brain."

"Bigger than his?" Scott points his thumb back at the cottage, completely shocked that Steve would know of someone smarter than Tony Stark.

"Not bigger, but just as big." I confirm and get into the car. Everyone copies me and we speed off to our next destination.

***

The sun has completely set now, and all that has been in Tony's mind is what the Avengers came to him for. How could they just strut up to his door and offer a solution to everything that has happened to them? How dare they cloud his mind with calculations and possibilities on what could happen to them if they attempted this. Don't they know he's over it? He's moved on, he has a child to take care of.

As he washes the dishes, Tony accidentally sprays the water upward, hitting some things on the shelf above him. He sighs and turns the water off, taking down the pictures off the shelf to dry them of the stray water.

A picture of him, Pepper, and Morgan, a picture of him and his dad, and then... Peter Parker. His, dare he say it, successor. Peter would have been proud.

(Y/n)'s words pound in his ears. Peter wouldn't be proud of him for backing away on Steve's plan to save everyone.

Tony walks over to a table where he installed a hidden work unit. He turns it on and types in a couple of calculations. His artificial intelligence, F.R.I.D.A.Y., helps him out with some things in case he overlooks a few numbers. Finally, Tony has a distructured, broken version of what he thinks is a Quantum Navigator.

"Alright, F.R.I.D.A.Y., run the numbers." Tony orders his artificial intelligence. He starts pacing calmly around the table. "And don't worry if it doesn't pan out, it's just a quick..."

Tony pauses as he watches his A.I. continue to run the numbers. He didn't think his model would make it this far through the process. F.R.I.D.A.Y. swaps around some parts of the model. "Rendering... Model successful."

If he was holding something, Tony would have dropped it. The inventor stands there in shock, his hands covering his face. After a moment, he finally processes what he just accomplished. "Shit!"

"Shit?" Tony turns around immediately to find his daughter sitting on the stairs. He puts a finger up to his lips, but Morgan doesn't get the message. "Shit?"

"You can't say that word! That's Mommy's word. She coined it, so it belongs to her." Tony desperately tries to get his daughter to stop saying that word.

"Why you up?" Morgan tilts her head in confusion, her brown hair swaying messily over her shoulders.

"Because I have some important shit going on!" Tony jokes, making Morgan frown. Tony chuckles and thinks of a way to explain what he's doing better. "Nothing, I've just got something in my mind."

Morgan folds her hands in front of her and stretches her arms out, the way adorable four year olds do when they're trying to act cute. Usually it's to act innocent when they've done something wrong, or when they want something. "Was it juice pops?"

"Yeah, it sure was..." Tony can't believe that his own daughter is trying to manipulate him into getting a treat this late at night. Well, that makes her a Stark for sure. "That's deceitful, that's what you are. I'll pin you on it, so that can be your word."

Tony picks up Morgan and looks back at his hologram one more time before going to the kitchen. After eating more than half of the juice pop, the two head up to Morgan's room. Tony lays Morgan in her bed and glances at the last bit of the orange popsicle. "You done? Now you are."

Tony takes the last bite off the popsicle stick and smiles jokingly. Morgan giggles, making Tony happy as he wipes her mouth to get the rest of the popsicle residue off her lips. "We good? Can you now go to bed?"

Morgan thinks for a quick second, not wanting Tony to leave just yet. "Tell me a story."

"Uh, once upon a time a little Morgan went to bed. The end." Tony stands up and Morgan grunts in frustration.

"That's a terrible story."

"What are you talking about? That's the best story I ever told in my entire life. Get some sleep." Tony gets his hand on the doorknob and begins to turn it.

Morgan speaks up again, making Tony stop his motions. "I love you three thousand."

A smile tugs at the corner of Tony's lips. He opens Morgan's bedroom door and looks at his daughter with loving eyes. "Three thousand? Wow." Before he can start to cry, Tony leaves and turns off the bedroom lights. "Go to sleep or I'll sell all of your toys."

Tony climbs down the stairs to see Pepper sitting on the couch reading a book. If it wasn't for the Avengers bursting into his home talking about time travel and whatnot, we would be at peace of mind. Instead, he's torn between the family he has now and the family he had years ago. So, which one is more important? This time, he'll ask.

"Not to make it a competition, but she loves me three thousand." Tony mocks Pepper, gaining her attention. "You fall somewhere in the six to nine hundred range."

Pepper laughs, grateful that Tony is getting along with his daughter. This is the life she dreamed of ever since the year 2008. Even if it did take so long to get here, she is happy that it came. Tony puts the used popsicle stick in his mouth and eyes Pepper's book. "Whatcha reading?"

"Oh, just a book on composting." Pepper waves off the subject, knowing it might bore Tony. He has never been one to be interested on those types of things.

"What's new with composting?" Tony's voice gets agitated, but Pepper doesn't seem to notice.

"Nothing much, but there is this new-"

"I figured it out, by the way." Tony cuts Pepper off, finally looking at her. He takes the stick out of his mouth and Pepper can tell how fidgety he is.

"And just so that I know we are talking about the same thing..." Pepper leaves the sentence open for Tony to explain what he's trying to say.

Finally, not seeing any more ways to avoid the subject, Tony looks back over at his desk where the model is shining. "Time travel."

A long pause leaks slowly throughout the room. Pepper looks down, half wishing she didn't hear what she did and half ecstatic that Tony figured out a way to bring everyone back. "Wow, that's a big deal."

Tony slowly sits down on the couch next to his wife, hoping that Pepper won't let him do this. "The problem is that I can't help everyone."

"It kind of seems like you can." Pepper makes eye contact with Tony and tilts her head knowingly.

"No." Tony's heart rate speeds up. If he still had the light in his chest, it would be bright enough to light up the entire house. "I don't have to. I can put a pin in it right now and stop. You just have to tell me."

Pepper smiles, holding back a chuckle. "Trying to get you to stop has been one of the greatest failures of my entire life."

"It doesn't have to be." Tony looks back at his hologram model of the Time GPS. "I kind of just want to lock it up and throw it into the ocean somewhere. Sleep it off."

"But, would you be able to rest?" Pepper puts a hand on Tony's shoulder, making him look back at her.

His eyes tell her that he wants to stop so badly. He doesn't want to lose everything he ever fought for, not again. However, he knows the answer to her question, and he knows that if he doesn't do this, it would haunt him for the rest of his life. "No, I won't be able to rest."