First Light | Steve Rogers (Book Two)

Chapter Forty-Four: Morgan

The four of us got out of the car, anxiously staring around. A large wooden house stood in the middle of the forest, overlooking a lake. I smiled, taking in the earthy scent of pine and dirt.

We watched in silence as Tony made his way towards the house, a young girl in his arms. He sighed heavily and turned to face us, hearing the sound of a car door closing. My eyes landed on the girl and I felt my heart sink, seeing how her eyes lit up with curiosity when she noticed us. Tony nodded to us slowly before taking her inside.

"We know what it sounds like" Scott chuckled nervously as we stood on the front porch, watching our old friend pour some drinks for us.

"Tony, after everything you've seen," Steve sighed, "Is anything really impossible?"

The man shook his head slightly and passed him a glass of juice, "Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that? In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home"

Scott shrugged, "I did"

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

"A time heist?"

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

I rolled my eyes as I set my glass down on the table, "The stones are in the past. We could go back, we could get them"

Nat nodded as she continued on, "We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back"

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

"I don't believe we would" Steve protested, his glare fixed on Tony.

The man laughed at his argument, glancing around at us with doubt in his eyes. He smiled sadly, "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. I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise"

Scott huffed at the prediction, "Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. All right? It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"

"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? Is it?"

"No..."

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

My eyes landed on Nat, who was anxiously pacing. She finally stopped and turned to him with desperation in her eyes, "Tony, we have to take a stand"

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

I opened my mouth to speak, but Lang beat me to it. He sat down in front of Tony with a heavy sigh, "I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost something 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"

The door opened and the girl from earlier made his way over to him, letting him pick her up and set her on his lap. Steve must have noticed that I had tensed up, because he took my hand in his and gently squeezed it. "Mommy told me to come and save you" she said quietly, resting her head on his shoulder.

I knew that smile. Despite how upset he probably was, that little kid could make it disappear in an instant. I used to have that smile. 

"Good job. You saved me," he whispered before looking at us again, "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I just-"

"I understand," Steve cut in as his eyes flickered to the little girl, "And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance"

"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"

"He's scared" Nat huffed as we headed back to the car.

I shook my head, "He's a lot more than scared. And he's not wrong. If this goes wrong, she could lose him"

Scott nodded in agreement, "Yeah. But, I mean, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?"

"No, I wanna do it right" Steve paused in thought before turning back to us. I could tell that he had made a decision, "We're gonna need a really big brain"

"Bigger than his?"