Story of Lion Man

Chapter 30

This is the thirtieth chapter. Hope you enjoy it. I'm getting this chapter out early because, like I said in the last chapter, me and my family will be going on holiday for a week or 2.

Rogers and Romanoff then drove Ryan (wearing a grey shirt and jeans) and Lang to Tony Stark, aka Iron Man's house out in the countryside, where to his surprise he and his girl Pepper Potts have married and now had a little girl called Morgan. They arrived at the house and got out of the car. They all saw Stark holding a Morgan is his arms, then went inside the house. 

A minute or two later, he came out to where Ryan and the others were gathered out on the balcony and they told Stark of their plan. "Now, we know what it sounds like..." Lang began saying, before Rogers cut in. "Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Rogers asked. "Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agreed on that?" Stark asked them, and Ryan just shrugged in response, though he hadn't understood a word he'd just said, as Stark gives Rogers a drink. "Thank you." Rogers replied. "In laymens terms, it means you're not coming home." Stark explained. "I did." Lang spoke, And Ryan nodded in agreement. "No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a...what do you call it?" Stark asked, referring to the plan, giving Lang a drink. "A time heist." Lang said after a second. "Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of it before? Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's pipedream?" Stark spoke. "The stones are in the past. We can go back, and we get them." Rogers said back. "We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back." Romanoff added. "Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Stark asked rhetorically. "I don't believe we would." Rogers replied. "Gotta say this, 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." Stark said, sitting down.

"Not if we strictly do this by the time travel book. And I think we all know what that means, right?" Ryan asked the others, Lang sitting in front of Stark. "Yeah, Ryan. That means no talking to our past selves, betting at sports events..." Lang began saying, which reminded Ryan of something from TV, which made him turn to face him. "I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that you're plan to save the universe is based on Back to the future?" Stark asked him. "No." Lang answered hesitantly, clearly embarrassed. "Good. You had me worried there. Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how Quantum physics works." Stark replied. "Mr Stark, we have to at least try." Ryan pleaded. "Tony,... we have to take a stand." Romannoff spoke. "We did stand. And yet, here we are." Stark said back. "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 bring her back, to bring everybody back. And you're telling me that you won't even.." Lang began saying loudly in desperation, the way he kept referring to this Hope girl reminded Ryan of Jess, and I was then he realised how much he missed her. "That's right, Scott. I won't even. I got a kid." Stark said, before Morgan came out and towards him. "Mommy told me to come and save you." She said, which made Ryan smile, as Stark picked her up before he stood up. "Good job. I'm saved. I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I...I missed you guys, it was... oh, and the tables set for 7." Stark told them as he walked away from them. "No thanks, Mr Stark. We're not hungry." Ryan replied. "Tony, I get it. I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance." Rogers said. "I got my second chance right here, Captain. I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." Stark said, before he went back into the house.

Ryan followed the others off the balcony back to the car. "He's scared." Romanoff spoke. "He's not wrong." Rogers said back. "Yeah, but I mean, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?" Lang asked them as they approached the car. "No, wanna do it right. We're gonna need a really big brain." Rogers answered. "Bigger than his?" Ryan and Lang both asked incredulously in unison, Lang gesturing to Starks house. Soon, they were at a cafe, where, sitting down, they all faced the only brain bigger than Stark. Dr Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, only now he seemed to now be half man, half Hulk. Ryan sat in front of Lang, looking at Banner with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.  "Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating. Try some of that. Have some eggs." Banner said, pushing a plate forwards. "Not hungry." Ryan spoke, lost for words and confused. "I'm so confused." Lang said, just as Confused. "These are confusing times." Banner replied seriously. "Right. No, no, that's not what I meant." Lang said. "No, I get it. I'm kidding! I know it's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now." Banner said with a smile. "Yeah! Wh...How? Why?" Lang uttered, still confused. "What he means is, how did you become like... this?" Ryan asked, gesturing with both hands at Banners large body. "5 years ago, we got our assess beaten. Except it was worse for me. Because I lot twice. First Hilk lost, then Banner lost. Then we all lost." Banner explained. "No one blamed you, Bruce." Roma off said to him. "I did. For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of discease, something to get rid of. But then I started looking at him as the cure. 18 months in the gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together. And now look at me. Best of both worlds." Banner said gesturing to himself. "And serving tacos for a living." Ryan spoke as 3 kids came up to them. "Excuse me, mr Hulk?" The girl asked Banner. "Yes?" Banner asked, turning his head to look at them. "Can we- can we get a photo?" The girl asked. "100%, little person. Come on, step on up. Do you mind?" Banner asked Lang, taking their phone and holding  it towards him. "Oh, yeah." Lang replied as he took the phone. "Thanks. Say "Green"!" Banner said. "Green!" He and the kids said. "Did you get that?" Banner then asked Lang. "That's good. Dont you wanna grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man." Lang asked, holding the phone forwards to hand it back. The kids just looked at each other. "Their Hulk fans, they don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does." Lang said in response. "Wait, Nono, he feels bad. No, he wants you...he wants to... you want to take a picture with him, right?" Banner asked one of the boys, who then shook his head. 

Ryan then stopped listening to the conversation, as he was bored with it. His attention then got back up when Rogers asked Banner about what they were saying. "The whole time travel do over? Eh, guys, it's outside of my area of expertise." Banner said, which surprised Ryan. "Wow. Just wow. The brilliant Bruce Banner actually has an area of science he's lacking." Ryan said sarcastically. "Well, you pulled this off. I remember when that seemed pretty impossible." Romanoff said to him. Banner then agreed to help them. And so, a few days later, they were gathered in the large space of the Compound, with Langs van with the Quantum Realm machinery he'd used to go in and out was parked in the centre. Ryan stood in the centre, holding up his iPhone, which he then set on video, facing the van and pressed Play. "Okay. Camera is rolling. Time travel test one commence now." Ryan announced dramatically. "Scott, fire up the, uh... the van thing." He heard Banner say. Scott, wearing a grey suit, opened up the back doors and the machinery then came on, a glowing orange and blue circle in the centre with blue lights coming from it. Ryan then turned around to face a banner at the control console. "Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby." He heard Rogers say, guessing he was coming to them from the equipment he'd set up. "Good. Cause if we blow the grid, I don't want to lose tiny here in the 1950s." Banner replied. "Excuse me?" Lang asked in slight panic. "He's kidding. You can't say things like that." He heard Romanoff say to Banner. "Just... it was a bad joke." Banner stammered to Lang. "You were kidding, right?" Romanoff asked Banner softly with concern. "I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke or none of it is." Banner replied softly to her, though Ryan filmed it all. "We're good! Get your helmet on. Scott, I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Makes sense? Banner explained, as Ryan walked over to the others and focused the camera on Lang.

"Perfectly not confusing." Lang replied, gesturing with his rigth hand. "Good luck, Scott. You got this." Rogers said encouragingly, Ryan giving a nod. "Your right. I do, Captain America." Lang said back, before he then shrank and went into the machinery in a second. "The on the count of 3. 3...2...1!" Banner spoke, Ryan focusing on the van. Lang then appeared, but Ryan's eyes narrowed in confusion as Scott looked like a teenager somehow. "Uh... guys? This... this doesn't feel right?" Lang spoke, in a teenage voice. "What is this?" Rogers asked. "What's going on?" Banner also asked. That... who is that?" Romanoff asked. "Hold on." Banner spoke before Ryan heard the sounds of a lot of buttons being pressed. "Is that Scott?" Romannoff asked. "Yes, its Scott!" Teenage Lang said, before he was then shrunk into the machinery again. Ryan turned his head rigthwards to look at the others when he heard the machinery go off again. He looked back and his eyes widened when he saw Lang was an old man. "Ow! My back!" Old man Scott spoke in pain. "Guys..." Ryan started saying but was lost for words. "What is this?" Rogers asked. "Can I get a little space here?!" Banner asked. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?" Rogers asked.  " I'm working on it!" Banner answered. Ryan watched as Old Man Scott shrunk into the machinery, and then came back as a baby! The sight made Ryan could barely contain his laughter. "It's a baby." Rogers spoke. "It's Scott." Banner said. "As a baby!" Rogers said back. "He'll grow." Banner actually said. "Bring Scott back." Rogers demanded. "Real Scott this time." Ryan added. "When I say kill the power, kill the power." Banner instructed. "Oh, my god." Romanoff muttered. "And... kill it!" Banner cried. Ryan heard the sound of a lever being pulled, and a moment later, normal Scott returned. "Somebody peed my pants." He spoke. Ryan breathed a sign of relief before he stopped the recording and put his iPhone back in his right trouser pocket. "Oh, thank god." Romanoff said in relief. "But I don't know if it was "baby" me or "old" me... or just "me" me." Lang added. "TIME TRAVEL!" Banner yelled victoriously, holding his hands and arms up in a dramatic way. "Did he seriously not see any of what's just happened?! That wasn't time travel!!!" Ryan said in his head, as he saw Rogers shook his head and walked off. "What? I-I see this as an absolute win!" Banner spoke. "Wel, I guess it's back to the drawing board." Ryan muttered as he too walked away.

And that's the thirtieth chapter done. Hope you enjoyed it. By the way, I do find that time travel test part funny.