The White Wolf

XXXVI

The Quantum Tunnel was ready. It was built like a large, circular, glass-top stage with narrow, metal steps leading up to it. Under the glass were coils and wires and lights, similar to that of the Quantum Tunnel in the back of Scott's van, but much larger. Above, from the ceiling, were reflective panels and mirrors attached to mechanical arms that would adjust for the number of time-travelers. A large control panel was built out in from of the glass stage, with the proper buttons and generators and monitors attached. The suits were ready too. They were nanotech replicas of Scott's Ant-Man suit. However, they were white, with red ribbing and seams, and a large Avengers A on the shoulder pads. The gloves were equipped with the time travel GPS Stark put together, and the belt around the hips would house the Pym-Particles they needed to power the suits. Everything was in order. They just needed to see if it worked.

**********

Ava concentrated on getting the suit adjusted to Scott, her lips pressed together. She closed the display screen over his shoulder once she was done changing the settings and looked up at Bruce, giving him a nod to let him know the suit was ready. Bruce held the glass vial of the red Pym-Particles and reached forward to set it in place in the belt of the suit. Rhodey wandered in from the hall, his arms crossed as he smirked and inspected their work. "Time travel suits are looking pretty good."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Scott muttered, grabbing Bruce's wrist as he looked down. "Easy- easy." He frowned and looked up at Bruce as the nanotech helmet around his head regenerated back to reveal his face. 

Bruce stood upright, narrowing his eyes at Scott. "I'm being careful."

"No, you're being very Hulk-y." He huffed, taking the vial from Bruce's hands. He held it up, staring at Bruce sternly. "These are Pym-Particles, all right? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have! We're not making any more!"

"Scott, calm down." Ava said, placing a hand on his arm. 

He took a breath and nodded. "Sorry- We've got enough for one round trip each. That's it. Plus two test runs." He sighed, looking down as he placed the vial into the suit. He gasped, letting out an alarmed yell as he shrank as soon as the vial was inserted, growing back large a second later. He held his mouth open, blinking slowly. "One test run." Ava closed her eyes, shaking her head. She thought she was dumb when she spent so much time with Shuri in the past- but being around the idiotic chaos of Bruce and Scott in one room so much in the last two weeks was making her think they were the dumb ones. Bruce even had seven Ph.D.'s. Scott sighed, shaking his head. "All right. I'm not ready for this."

"I'm game."

Ava, Bruce, Rhodey, and Scott turned their heads to see Barton leaned against the doorframe, looking in with his arms crossed. "I'll do it." He said. There was numbing determination in his expression. One that said, what more do I have to lose? And really, he didn't have much left. Thanos had taken away his wife and three kids with a snap of his fingers. He'd lost his whole family. His whole world. Scott's daughter lived through the Thanos event. He had a lot to lose. But Barton? Well, Ava hadn't seen anyone else so run-down besides herself and Natasha. But he was colder. Harder. More broken. Ava and Nat helped each other heal even a little bit. But Barton had been alone for five years with his fury. There was a darkness to him. A type of fearlessness. 

So he suited up, and nobody argued about it with him.

**********

Ava worked on changing the settings on the suit to fit Clint, making the adjustments needed on the holographic display panel popped up from the shoulder pad of the time travel suit. "Clint, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift." Bruce said. "Don't worry about that."