CHAPTER NINETEEN, time travel?

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STEVE AND NATASHA had rushed to get Scott into the building, he seemed like a wreck as he made his way into the main room. Steve watched him with concern and Natasha put a jacket on, keeping a close eye on Scott as he rambled. Scott was pacing, still trying to make it clear to Natasha and Steve as to who he was. Steve furrowed his brows.

"Scott. Are you okay?"

Scott finally paused, looking to Steve, "Yeah. I'm fine."

Steve and Natasha watched as Scott held his hands out, searching for the words he needed. He struggled with what to say, and then eventually blurted it out, "Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?"

"Only to make conversation," Steve caught onto the sarcasm in Natasha's tone, glancing sideways at the red head before returning back to Scott.

"Alright. So..." Scott stopped again, then continued on, "five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my... She was my..." Scott halted again, his eyes widening while Steve raised his brows in expectation, "She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."

"I'm sorry," Natasha said softly, "That must've been a very long five years."

"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't," Steve and Natasha both grew confused and Scott corrected himself, "For me, it was five hours."

The pair watching Scott shared a bewildered look. Both entirely lost on what Scott meant.

"See," Scott began, "the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving."

Steve spared a glance at the sandwich in question, Scott started toward the table. He welcomed himself to the sandwich, taking a bite while Steve returned to the main subject.

"Scott, what are you talking about?"

"What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like..." he stopped, finding his words, "Like before Thanos."

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?"

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a..." Scott stopped, realizing Steve was correct and nodding, "Yeah, a time machine. I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way... There's gotta be...some w... it's crazy."

"Scott," Natasha's arms were crossed and she had a hand tucked under her chin. She was listening intently to Scott, and stared at him like it was obvious, "I get e-mails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore."

"So who do we talk to about this?"

Steve sighed as realization settled on him, looking down to the ground and then sending a confirming glance to Natasha. The red head nodded, seemingly as against the idea as Steve.

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Steve was the first out of the car, and to make eye contact with Tony. Tony barely gave Steve a second glance as he continued walking to the porch with the young girl in his arms and a blue helmet. Steve sighed and looked toward Natasha, who had managed to earn Tony's attention while the two exchanged civil nods. Steve turned his head by to Tony, watching him heave a sigh: Tony wanted to have this discussion just about as much as Steve did.

Natasha gestured with a nod for the group to follow after Tony, which Steve reluctantly did. They approached the porch and watched as Tony continued into the cabin. He took the girl with him, and left the group to wait outside. Steve sighed, seeing already that they were getting nowhere with this.

After a while, Scott had explained his plan over again to Tony. Tony looked as if he thought Scott was crazy, and Natasha and Steve silently stood by while they listened to Scott all over again.

"Now, we know what it sounds like..."

Steve interrupted Scott, hope in his tone and look as he spoke, "Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?"

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition," Tony looked amongst the group, "Can we agree on that?"

Steve, Scott, and Natasha had no knowledge of this type of thing, and exchanged puzzled looks. Science wasn't what they were known for after all.

Tony held a drink out in Steve's direction, and he took it , "Thank you."

"In Layman's terms," Tony continued his explanations, "it means you're not coming home."

"I did," Scott spoke up.

"No, you accidentally survived," Tony interrupted harshly, "It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?"

"A time heist?" Scott said and Steve noticed him hide a proud smile of sorts, but remained silent as Tony began speaking again.

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before?" The question was clearly rhetorical, and caused Steve to stir with some annoyance, "Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipe-dream?"

"The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them," Scott continued to defend his plan, and Natasha nodded in agreement.

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back," Natasha opened her mouth to speak again, but firmly closed her mouth and waited for Tony.

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?"

"I don't believe we would," Steve spoke softly, his eyes on the ground.

Steve had his reasons for why he wanted this, and his main one being similar to Natasha's. They both wanted the same person back, and it was clear to Steve that Natasha wanted more to come out of the reverse snap.

"Gotta say," Tony was unimpressed, "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. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise."

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel," Scott shook his head, "That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events -"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott," Tony interrupted Scott and everyone stared at Tony in disbelief, "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future?"

Steve shook his head and lowered his gaze to the ground while Scott grew embarrassed, "No."

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works."

"Tony..." Natasha was ready to begin pleading with the man, "We have to take a stand."

"We did stand. And yet, here we are,"

"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," Scott was growing louder, desperation in his tone. Steve could understand where Scott was coming from, as he had lost people extremely important to him as well, "And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. To bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even..."

"That's right, Scott, I won't even," Tony agreed, "I got a kid."

Steve's attention was pulled to the sound of the footsteps running on the porch. The little girl, Morgan, was running in Tony's direction. Steve watched Tony focus on the young girl instantly. Picking her up off of the ground, Tony held her closely.

"Mommy told me to come and save you,"

"Good job. I'm saved," Tony and Morgan rest their hands against one another, and Tony sighed as he rose to his feet, "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys, it was... Oh, and table's set for six."

"Tony, I get it," Steve spoke finally spoke up, "And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance. All of us could get back what we're missing."

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again," Tony didn't even seem phased by anything Steve had said, "If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."

Steve wanted his second chance. He desperately wanted it, because his second chance would have Ivanna, Bucky, and Sam by his side once more. And that would be better for Steve than anything else in life.

Steve, Natasha, and Scott made their way back to the o. Steve had his hands in his pockets, watching the ground as he took his steps.

"He's scared," Natasha finally broke their silence and Steve sighed,

"He's not wrong."

"Yeah, but I mean," Scott seemed as lost on what else to do as well, "what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?"

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

Scott was evidently confused as he pointed toward Tony's cabin, "Bigger than his?"