▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐲-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 ━︎━︎ 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 with her arms crossed over her chest, staring at what was before her. They had pulled Scott's van inside that had the built in quantum portal. Bruce had run diagnostics, setting up a whole system. Scott stood in his suit, opening the back of the van as it came to life. Oliva and Natasha stood there watching. Just then, Amethyst and Ivory walked up to them, Ivory standing on the other side of Natasha and Amethyst standing on the other side of Olivia.

     "So, what am I looking at?" Ivory asked, her long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail.

     "Time travel? Honestly, I don't even know myself." Olivia mumbled.

     Amethyst smiled. "Cool."

     "Breakers are set." Steve informed, walking over to them. "Emergency generators are on standby."

     "Good, because if we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose, uh, Tiny here in the 1950s." Bruce replied.

     Scott snapped his head up. "Excuse me?"

     Natasha smiled. "He's kidding." She looked at Bruce. "You can't say things like that."

     Bruce stuttered. "It was a bad joke." Scott nodded, walking over to the van.

     "You were kidding, right?" Natasha mumbled.

     "I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is." He turned to Scott, giving him a thumbs-up. "We're good! Get your helmet on."

     "This is gonna go so bad," Olivia softly chuckled. "Alright girls, let's stand back." The twins listened, taking a few steps back and letting Natasha and Olivia stand in front of them.

     "Scott, I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?"

     "No," Ivory mumbled.

     Scott waved a hand. "Perfectly not confusing."

     "Good luck, Scott." Steve offered. "You got this."

     Amethyst hummed. "Does he though?"

     Natasha nudged her before looking at Olivia. "You are where they get the pessimism from."

     Olivia scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm always optimistic."

     Scott smiled. "You're right. I do, Captain America." Then, he was sucked into the protal.

     "Steve, I think someone has a crush on you." Ivory joked, cracking a smile, earning a chuckle from her sister.

    "On a count of three," Bruce announced. "Three, two, one."

     Scott appeared again, except it wasn't the adult Scott they knew. He was a teenager. "Uh. . . guys? This doesn't feel right."

     "What is this?" Steve muttered. "What's going on?"

     "Who is that?" Natasha asked. "Is that Scott?"

     "Yes, it's Scott." Teenage Scott replied.

     Bruce sent him back through and when Scott came back, this time he was old. Again, Scott got sent back through and this time when he came back he was a baby. "It's a baby," Steve muttered.

     "It's Scott," Bruce tried.

     "As a baby!" Steve yelled.

     "He'll grow," Bruce argued.

     "Bring Scott back."

     "When I say kill the power, kill the power."

     "Oh, my god." Natasha muttered, walking away to prepare herself to kill the power. Bruce gave her the cue and she shut the power off just as Scott came back.

     Scott stood there in shock. "Somebody peed my pants. But I don't know if it was baby me or old me. Or. . . just me me."

     Bruce held out his arms with a wide smile. "Time travel!" Steve just closed his eyes and shook his head. "What? I see this as an absolute win."

     "That all went hilariously wrong." Olivia commented. She glanced at the twins who both wore amused looks. "Alright, girls, let's fix some lunch, yeah?" They both nodded, following after Olivia with Natasha joining them. They made it to the kitchen and Olivia made everyone sandwiches, handing them out one by one.

     "So, what exactly are we trying to accomplish?" Ivory asked, taking a bite of her food.

     "Something with the stones." Amethyst answered, shrugging. "I was kind of half listening when Scott showed up."

     Ivory hummed before looking at her parents. "So, we're trying to get everyone we lost back?"

     Natasha nodded. "That's the idea, yeah. It's not going so well, as you can clearly see."

     "You'll figure it out." Amethyst smiled. "You always do."

     "If we do figure this out," Olivia started, "you two know you have to stay here."

     Ivory loudly groaned. "Why don't you ever include us in the fun stuff?"

     "Because, I'm still alive to protect you. You can do the fun stuff when I'm dead and gone."

     Ivory rolled her eyes. "That'll be like twenty years from now."

     Olivia looked at her in disbelief. "Twenty—how old do you think I am? I've got a good forty years left, maybe even sixty if I'm lucky."

     Natasha rose a brow. "With how reckless you are, you won't even get ten."

     "I am not reckless."

     Amethyst pressed her lips into a thin line. "You kind of are."

     Olivia looked at her daughter in disbelief before looking to Ivory who only nodded. "I can't believe this. I am not reckless."

     Natasha placed a hand on her shoulder. "Of course not, honey." She pressed a kiss to Olivia's cheek, giving her a small smile and a pat on the shoulder.

     Olivia lifted her chin. "I'm gonna ask Steve."

     Natasha smiled, shaking her head. "Don't drag Steve into this."

     "Well, all of you are liars and Steve doesn't like lying so at least I know he'll tell me the truth."

     "Hey," Steve walked into the room. "We're getting the team. Liv?"

     Olivia looked at him. "Do you think I'm reckless?"

     Steve pinched his fingers together. "Only a little."

     "I'm surrounded by liars."

     "Don't you have something to do?" Natasha asked, raising a brow.

     Olivia stared at her, blinking. Natasha sent her a look and Olivia snapped her fingers. "Oh! Right. I'll be back."

     Amethyst sat up as Olivia began walking away. "Where are you going?"

     Olivia called over her shoulder, "Gotta bring your Uncle Clint back." Then, she left.

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐘 in Tokoyo, a heavy breath leaving her lips. She had to find a way to convince him. Years ago Clint had brought her back, he gave her a better life, now it was time for her to do the same for him. She walked through the streets, umbrella in her hand as the rain poured. Her ears were on high alert, following the sound of fighting. She came to a stop, watching as Clint fought another guy before killing him and wiping off the blade, she walked up to him and came to a stop behind him.

     "You shouldn't be here." Clint said, having yet to turn and face her.

     Olivia hummed. "Neither should you."

     Clint turned to her. "I've got a job to do."

     "Well, you are right about that." Olivia nodded, taking a few steps closer. "But this isn't it. Killing all these people won't bring them back, Clint. But, we've found a way. A chance, maybe."

     Clint sighed, shaking his head. "Don't."

     "Don't what?"

     "Don't give me hope."

     Olivia frowned. "I wish I could've given it to you sooner." She held out her hand and softly begged, "Come on." She stared at him, hoping, begging that it would work. That he would come with her. She needed him to. For her sake, for Natasha's. She needed him. "Come on," she gently repeated. After a long moment, he finally grabbed her hand and she held in her relieved sigh, and instead gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

     They made it to the jet and Olivia took off. Clint was quiet for a long moment before finally breaking the silence. "How are the girls?"

     Olivia glanced at him, offering him a small smile. "They're okay. They miss you."

     Clint nodded before there was another long stretch of silence until he started saying, "I'm sor—"

     "Don't." Olivia cut him off. "Don't apologize. Not for this. I get it." Again, he only nodded.

They made it back to the Avengers facility and Clint walked away. Olivia softly sighed, making it to the main room where they had set up the time travel platform. Olivia walked over to Natasha who met her eyes and Olivia only nodded. Now, all they had to do was a test run, and it turned out that Clint offered. Now, Clint stood in the middle of the platform with the suit that had been specially designed for this.

     "Alright, Clint." Bruce called. "We're going in three, two. . ." Clint disappeared.

     Olivia held her breath, even if it was for only ten seconds, and when Clint appeared again he yelled, falling to his knees. Olivia and Natasha shot forwards, running onto the platform with Olivia grabbing onto him. "Clint? Hey, are you okay? Look at me."

     Clint stood, looking around, taking a moment to breathe. He looked at Olivia before taking the baseball glove in his hand, which he hadn't had before he left, tapping it against her chest. "It worked. It worked." He tossed it to Tony who quickly caught it.