▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐲-𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 ━︎━︎ 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐬𝐭 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐍 the passengers seat of the car, Steve driving and Natasha and Scott in the backseat. Her leg kept bouncing up and down, knowing this conversation could go one of two ways. Good or bad. She was betting on the latter. The cabin came into view and Steve parked, the group of four climbing out of the car. Tony turned from where he stood on the porch, eyes instantly going over to Steve who gave him a slight nod.

     They walked over to Tony, explaining the situation. Tony poured them all drinks—at least, Olivia was pretty sure they were drinks, she wasn't quite sure what she was looking at if she was being completely honest. She glanced at Scott, leaning against the wooden porch railing, arms crossed over her chest as he stumbled over his words. "No. We know what it sounds like."

     "Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible." Steve tried.

     "Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony asked, giving them all drinks. Olivia accepted it, placing the glass to her lips and sipping it, humming in surprised delight. "In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

     "I did," Scott argued.

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

     Scott hesitated. "A time heist?"

     "Yeah, a time heist. Of course." Tony nodded. "Why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a pipe dream."

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

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

     "Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony asked and Olivia pressed her lips into a thin line, hating that she knew Tony was right. This could end very badly, and if Olivia was being honest, she couldn't handle anything else going wrong.

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

     "Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist." He sat down. "I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise."

     Scott disagreed. "Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." He sat down across from Tony. "Alright? It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sports events."

     Olivia furrowed her brows. "Hold up." Scott stopped, turning his head to look at her. "Are you basing this insanity off of Back to the Future?"

     Scott scoffed, shaking his head. "No."

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

     "Tony." There was a solemn tone to Natasha's voice that made Olivia turn to her. "We have to take a stand."

     Tony looked at her. "We did stand. And yet, here we are."

     "I know you got a lot on the line," Scott gently said. "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."

     That's when footsteps approached them and Morgan Stark ran out, instantly going for her dad who lifted her into his lap. "Mommy told me to come and save you."

     "Good job. I'm saved." Tony held Morgan close, looking at them over her shoulder. "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else." He stood, Morgan still in his arms. "I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I just. . . oh, look, the table's set for seven."

     Steve stopped him. "Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance."

     Tony shook his head. "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 walked inside as the four of them made it to the car.

     "He's scared," Natasha reasoned.

     "He's not wrong," Olivia offered.

     "Yeah, but, I mean, what are we gonna do?" Scott asked. "We need him. What, are we gonna stop?"

     "No, I wanna do it right." Steve answered. "We're gonna need a really big brain."

     Scott stared at Steve in disbelief, throwing his thumb towards the house. "Bigger than his?"

•❅───✧❅✦❅✧───❅•

━︎━︎━︎━︎"𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐍, 𝐈 feel like I'm the only one eating here. Try some of that. Have some eggs." Bruce Banner sat at the head of the table in the diner they were all at. Natasha and Olivia were on one side of the booth, Steve and Scott on the other. Olivia was just staring at Bruce. Somehow, someway, Bruce had managed to merge himself with the hulk. So now he was the hulk, but with glasses and that ability to say full sentences. Olivia was too busy trying to wrap her head around it to eat.

     Scott shook his head. "I'm so confused."

     Olivia nodded. "Mhm."

     "These are confusing times," Bruce answered.

     "Right, no, no. That's not what I meant."

     "Nah, I get it." Bruce chuckled. "I'm kidding! I know, it's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now."

     Scott furrowed his brows. "Yeah. What? How? Why?"

     "Five years ago, we got our asses beat. Except it was worse for me 'cause I lost twice. First, Hulk lost, then Banner lost, and then we all lost."

     Natasha shook her head. "No one blamed you, Bruce."

     "I did. For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then, I start looking at him as the cure. Eighteen months in the gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together and now look at me. Best of both worlds."

     Olivia rose her brows, earning an elbow in the side from Natasha. She turned to look at her as three kids walked up to Bruce asking for a picture. "What?"

      "Stop it," Natasha muttered.

     Olivia scoffed. "I didn't even do anything."

     "Your face has subtitles. Stop."

     Olivia rolled her eyes and tuned back in to what was happening in front of her. Scott took the picture for them and as he went to hand the phone back he asked, "Did you want to grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man." The kids just looked at each other. "They're Hulk fans. They don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does."

     "No, he wants you to take a picture with him." Bruce tried.

     "I don't want a picture." Scott decided. The exchange continued back and forth for a moment before Scott finally said, "Take the goddamn phone."

     "Bruce," Steve said, grabbing his attention in attempt to get back to the conversation at hand. "Bruce."

     "Listen to your mom," Bruce called as the kids walked away. "She knows better."

     "About what we were saying."

     "Right." Bruce nodded. "The whole time travel do-over? Eh, guys, it's outside my area of expertise."

     Natasha shrugged. "Well, you pulled this off. I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible, too."

     "It wouldn't hurt to try," Olivia offered. Finally, after some convincing, Bruce agreed.