[ xxx. thirty ! ]
❛ 𝙷𝙾𝙿𝙴 ❜

❝ I'm sorry we couldn't give it to you sooner. ❞

𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐏 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐘'𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄, 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐖 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐌. He walked through his big garden as he spotted the group who stood besides their car watching him.

Anastasija nodded at him smiling and so did he before he quickly brought his daughter inside.

They all sat at the terrace as Tony poured them a smoothie from his bottle, "No. We know what it sounds like", Scott stammered as he looked at Stark.

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really-", Steve spoke up but Tony interrupted him. "Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale which the triggers the deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?"

He handed Steve his smoothie which made the man node at him, "Thank you."

"In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Stark looked at Scott. "I did", the man argued with him. "No. You accidentally survived", Tony sighed as he poured, "it's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a- What do you call it?" He handed Scott his drink.

"A time heist?"

"Yeah. A time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before?", He asked the others sarcastically.

"Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a pipe dream", Tony went on like his usual self. "The stones are in the past Tony", Ana spoke up for the first time.

"We could go back, we could get them", Steve added as he looked at Stark. "We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back", Natasha went on as she eyed Tony.

"Or screw up worse than he already has, right?", Tony asked her sarcastical. "I don't believe we would", Steve replied to him convinced.

Tony looked back at him, "Gotta say Sometimes I 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 on a chair, "I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise."

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-", Scott sat down as well.

Tony held up his hand, "I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on "Back to the Future?" Scott chuckled amused as Tony asked him again,"Is it?"

"No"

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

Natasha suddenly spoke up again, "Tony, we have to take a stand."

"We did stand. And yet, here we are", he answered her simply.

"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 bringe them back, to bring everybody back and your telling me that you won't even-!", Scott started to lash out at him angryly but Tony interrupted him.

"That's right, Scott. I won't even. I can't." In that moment the door opened and Morgan run towards Tony.

"Mommy told me to come and save you", the little girl spoke up as Tony lifted her up and sat her on his lap. "Good job. I'm saved", he answered her as she hugged him.

"I whished you come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I'm happy to see you guys, I just-", he stood up and walked past them. "Oh, look. The table is set for six."

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

"I got my second chance right here, Cap", Tony told Steve as he looked at Morgan who still hugged him. "I can't roll the dice on it."

He then looked at the others, "If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch", he turned around but Ana quickly spoke up. "It was good to see you Tony. She's cute", she nodded at Morgan who gave her a shy smile.

Tony nodded at her, "It was good seeing you too." And with that he made his way back inside as. The group put back their glasses and quickly went back to their car. "Well, he's scarred", Natsha spoke up first.

"He's not wrong."

"Yeah. But I mean, what are we gonna do?", Scott asked them as they got closer to the car. "We need him. What, are we gonna stop?", he rammbeled as he watched the others.

"No, I wanna do it right", Steve answerd him as he opened the door.
He looked at the others, "We're going to need a big brain."

"Bigger than his?", Scott asked them disbelieving.

The only one that had a bigger brain than Tony was no other than, Bruce Banner. So the group had decided to not waste time and immediatley visit the Doctor.

"Come on I feel like I'm the only one eating here", Bruce told them as he chewed on his breakfast.

"Try some of that. Have some eggs", he pointed at the bowl that laid in front of Scott who just watched him with a dark look.

"I'm so confused", Scott spoke up for the first time as he still eyed Banner.

Bruce chuckled at him, "These are confusing times."

"Right, no, no. That's not what I meant", Scott stuttered as he leaned on the table.

"Nah, I get it. I'm kidding", Bruce interrupted him chuckling. "I know. It's crazy", he looked down on himself. "I'm wearing shirts now!"

"Yeah, what? How? Why?", Scott asked him not understanding.

"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 at him as she sat next to Scott, "No one blamed you Bruce."

"I did", he answered her sadly which made Natasha look away.

"For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of diseas, something to get rid of. But the I started 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", he explained to the happyly as a small group of kids approached them.

"Excuse me Mr. Hulk?"

"Yes?"

"Can we get a photo?", the girl asked him excited.

"100% little person", Bruce assured her as he grabbed her phone and handed it to Scott.

"You mind?"

Scott grabbed the phone from his big green hand, "Oh, yeah, yeah."

"Thanks"

"Say, green"

"Green", the kids repeated as Scott took the photo of them.

"That's a good one. Did you want to grab one with me? I'm Ant-man", he asked the kids as he wants to hand them the phone back.

They looked confused and didn't said anything, "They're Hulk fans. They don't know Ant-man", he said more to himself than to the others.

"Oh, no. He feels bad", Bruce told the kids who looked pretty uncomfortable. "No. I don't want a picture", Scott told them as he tried to hand them back the phone.

"I mean I would", the girl said as the little boy said, "No." Scott was now a bit annoyed, "No, I don't want a picture. Take the God damn phone", he smiled at the kids.

The kids grabbed the phone smiling awkwardly before they left. "Bruce", Steve tried to get his attention as he took a sip from his smoothie.

"Listen to your mum!", Banner shouted after the three. "Bruce!", Steve repeated himself as he looked at the green man. "-she knows better."

"About we were saying", Steve brought the theme back up which they had discussed before the kids came.

"Right", Banner nodded at the group.
"The hole time travel do-over?", he leaned back in his seat. "Eh, guys. It's outside of my area of expertise."

Anastasija looked at him as she shrugged, "Well, you pulled this off."

"I remember a time were that was pretty impossible, too", Natasha added as she smiled at him.

After a while the doctor had agreed to try it at least, so they now stood in the headquarter together. "Okay here we go. Time travel Test number one. Here we come!", Bruce exclaimed as they looked at the van that stood infront of them.

"Scott fire up the uh- van thing!" Scott opened the van and revealed some strange looking device. "Breakers are up", Steve informed them as he approached the group. "Emergency generators are on standby."

"Good. Because of we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose uh, Tiny here in the 1950s", Bruce muttered to Natasha and Anastasija who both looked at him sceptical.

"Excuse me?", Scott asked him worried. "He's kidding", Natasha assured Scott with a wide smile on her face as she was tipping on her tablet.

"You can't say things like that", Anastasija chuckled at him shaking her head. "It just was a bad joke", Bruce assured him hesitating as he looked around nervously.

Scott nodded his head as he walked towards the van his helmet in his hand.

"You were kidding right?", Nata asked him worried. Bruce turned towards her immediately, "I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here! Either it's all a joke or non of it is!"

He looked at Scott again smiling, "we're good! Get your helmet on!"

Anastasija and Natasha smiled at him as well. "Oh God", the russian muttered throu greted teeth as she stood next to Steve.

"Scott, I'm gonna sent you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make Sense?", Bruce asked him friendly and Scott nodded his head at him.

"Perfectly not confusing!", he answered as he held up his thumb. "Good luck, Scott! You got this!", Steve shouted over to him faithful.

"You're right. I do, Captain America." Scott smiled at him like a dork before he got soaked into the device.

"On the count of three", Bruce told them as he looked at his computer.

"Three, two, one", he laid over a few counters and pressed a button. And suddenly Scott reappeared out of the device, but not as Scott as a young boy. "Uh- Guys? This doesn't feel right"

"What is this?"

"Who is that?"

"What's going on?", Bruce pressed a couple of buttons. "Hold on?"

"Is that Scott?", Anastasija asked them disbelieving as she eyed the young boy. "Yes, it's Scott!", The boy answered her before he disappeared again. After a second he was back but as an old man.

"Oh- my back!", he exclaimed as he held his back.

"Bruce what's going on?", Ana asked him worried as she looked at the green man.

"Could I get a little space?", he asked Steve and Ana who now walked over to Natasha.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?", Steve asked the green, big man who hectically started to press buttons.

"I'm working on it!" He clapped against the monitor and sudden a baby Scott appeared infront of them.

"It's a baby", was the only thing Steve said as he looked at Scott. "It's Scott!", Bruce exclaimed as he pointed at the Baby. "As a baby!"

"He'll grow"

"Bring Scott back!", Steve demanded as he looked at Bruce.

"When I say kill the power, kill the power!", Bruce instructed Natasha who now made her way over to the generators.

"And- kill it!" Natasha killed it and Scott reapered as his normal self.

"Somebody peed my pants-"

"Oh thank God", Anastasija and Natasha exclaimed at the same time.

"But I don't know if it was baby me or old me", Scott continued, still not moving from his position.

"— or just me me."

Bruce streched his arms out as he looked at Steve, "Time travel!" He let his arm sink to the side as Steve shook his head disbelieving and slowly left.
"What? I see this as an absolute win."

"Scott could've stayed a baby!", Anastasija told him with big eyes.

"He would have grown! As I said!", Bruce exclaimed as Anastasija walked away from him as well.

She made her way through the big hall and saw Tony and Steve standig outside. Steve had his old shield in his hands as he smiled at the Stark who smiled as well.

Anastasija smiled, she hadn't seen them so friendly with each other in a while. It made her happy that the two overcame their differences.

Later that day the team made it their mission to bring the team back together. So Anastasija and Natascha volunteered to get Barton to join them, he had sadly lost the most. 

The two russians' immediately made their way to Tokyo were their old friend was last tracked by Rhodey.

As they arrived the two could heard loud screaming and fighting noises as several men were flying through the windows of the building Barton was in.

Suddenly another man flew through a window destroying it before Barton jumped after him.

Anastasija and Natasha were watching them from afar, under two back umbrellas that shielded them from the rain that pelted down onto the city.

"Why are you doing this?", the man asked Clint who still had his hood and his mask on. "We never did anything to you!"

"You survived- Half the planet didn't. They got Thanos. You get me", Barton answered him and with that the two fought again.

"Your done hurting people!", Clint told him as they looked at each other their swords in the air. "We hurt people?", the man asked him as he looked at all the dead bodies around them.

"You're crazy!"

They fought again until Clint sliced his throat. The man slowly fell to the ground as he held his throat gasping, "What do you want?"

"What I want you can't give me", and with that he ended the man's life for good. He took of his hood and mask off as he looked down at the dead body infront of him.

Anastasija and Natasha had made their way down the ally as Clint had his back turned towards them. "You shouldn't be here", he told them without turning around.

The twins stopped walking and looked at each other before Natasha spoke up first, "Neither should you."

Clint turned around to them with a dark look, "I've got a job to do."

Natasha scoffed at him, "Is that what you're calling this? Killing all these people isn't going to bring your family back."

There was very long pause as they just listened to the rain pelting down on the streets and their umbrellas.

Anastasija slowly walked towards him as she spoke up again, "We found something. A chance— maybe—."

Clint voice broke as he looked at her with tears in his eyes and stopped her, "Don't."

Natasha who had followed after her sister spoke up again, "Don't what?"

Clint shook his head as he looked at them a tears leaked from his eyes, "Don't give me hope."

Anastasija's eyes started to tear up as she slowly grabbed his hand, "I'm sorry we couldn't give it to you sooner."

❝ Whatever it takes ❞