[Props to anyone who can guess the kids' middle names! Mya's will be revealed in book three early on.]
CABIN IN THE WOODS AT THE BANK OF A LAKE
Tony was sitting outside a tiny shed and clapped his hands to a beat. "Chow time! Maguna? Katerina? Nicky? Little M? Morgan H. Stark. Katherine G. Barnes. Nicolas J. Barnes. Mya N. Barnes. You all want some lunch?"
"Define lunch or be disintegrated," Morgan ordered as she put on a silver and blue helmet similar to Iron Man's while Katherine had a shield similar to Captain America's with a star similar to the Winter Soldier's. Nicolas and Mya both came out with another Iron Man mask on.
Morgan, about three to four, with long dark hair walked out in front of Tony, followed by Katherine, Mya and Nicolas.
"Okay, you should not be wearing that, okay?" Tony told his daughter. "That is part of a special anniversary gift I'm making for Mom. Katie, I thought you were watching them." He took the helmet off Morgan's head. She emerged out smiling mischievously.
"Okay. Auntie Katie was watching me and Mya and Nick."
Nicolas held his hands out in front of him and said, "Pow! You're down!"
"Pow pow!" Mya cried.
"There you go," Tony said. "Are you thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce."
"No," Morgan argued.
"That's what you want. How did you find this?"
"Garage."
"Really? Were you looking for it?"
"No. I found it, though."
"You like going to the garage, huh? So does daddy. It's fine, actually. Your mom never wears anything I buy her."
They started walking towards the house, but Tony and Katherine noticed a black Audi pulling coming to a stop a few meters away. Steve, Natasha and Scott got out of the car. Tony sighed.
After Scott had explained their plan to Tony and Katherine, he said, "Now, we know what it sounds like..."
"Tony, Katie, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve added.
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition," Tony said. "Can we agree on that?"
Scott, Steve and Natasha all looked puzzled.
Tony gave a drink to Steve and he replied, "Thank you."
"In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home," Tony explained.
"I did."
"No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?"
Scott, trying to hide his pride, said, "A time heist?"
"Yeah, a time heist," Katherine repeated in a disbelieving tone. "Of course, why didn't we think of this before?"
"Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?" Tony added.
"The Stones are in the past," Scott told them. "We can go back and get them."
"We can snap our own fingers," Natasha said. "We can bring everyone back."
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony retorted.
Katherine shook her head. "Don't give me hope."
"I don't believe we would," Steve replied. "Sometimes we need a little hope, Kat."
YOU ARE READING
Beauty From Pain
ActionSometimes the villain wins, leaving those who remain in struggle, anger and dismay. But not all is as hopeless as it seems. They may be able to find a way to bring back most of what was lost. All it will take is careful planning, knowing exactly wh...
