Chapter 7: The concept of time travel

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The small group were in the car, driving towards Tony and Pepper's. Steve was driving with Nat beside him, Scott sitting beside Lily in the back. "Are you sure Stark's gonna be ok with us just turning up at his door, especially after Germany?" Scott voiced his worries, looking at the couple in the rear view mirror.
"They'll be fine. When you were in the Quantum Realm, we cleared everything up between us." Steve said, eyeing him in the mirror.
"Wait, they? Who else are we talking about?"
"Auntie Pepper and Morgan, of course!" Lily chimed, looking out of the window at the trees they were passing.
"What? Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries, is living with Tony?"
"They got married and have a daughter who's just younger than Lily." Nat explained, staring out her window as they pulled up outside the house.
"We're here!" Lily yelled, opening the door and leaping out. Steve stepped out of the car as Tony stopped, Morgan on the billionaire's hip. Nat and Scott followed his actions, Nat folding her arms across her chest, all standing outside their car doors. Tony continued his way up the stairs, before turning back round to face them. Nat nodded at him, which he returned, before turning back towards the front door. She motioned to Steve for them to make their way over to him.

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Tony began to pour the group drinks, with Nat drinking from a juice box. Lily had gone inside to play with Morgan. "No, tru- We know what it sounds like." Scott said, leaning on the porch fence.
"Tony, after everything you've soon, is anything really impossible?" Steve questioned, hands in his pockets.
"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale... which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony said, handing Steve his glass.
"Thank you." Steve said, taking the drink from him.
"In layman's terms," Tony continued. "It means you're not coming home."
"I did." Scott pointed out.
"No." Tony disagreed. "You accidentally survived. It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a... What do you call it?" Scott grinned goofily, taking his drink from Tony's hand.
"A time heist?"
"Yeah, a time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a nice dream."
"The stones are in the past." Steve reminded him. "We could go back, we could get them."
"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back." Nat added.
"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony countered.
"I don't believe we would." Steve voiced.
"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." Tony said, sitting down on one of the outdoor chairs. "I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise."
"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." Scott argued, moving over to the other chair. "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?" Tony interrupted. "Is it?"
"No." Scott scoffed.
"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works."
"Tony." Nat interrupted. "We have to take a stand."
"We did stand." Tony said sadly. "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. 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..." Scott raised his voice.
"That's right, Scott. I won't even." Silence fell. "I can't."

"Mommy told me to come and save you." Morgan said softly, making her way over to Tony, Lily going over to Natasha and Steve. Tony picked Morgan up.
"Good job. I'm saved." Tony murmured, resting his head on hers. "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I always am, I just... Oh, look, the table's set for seven- "
"Tony. I get it. And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance." Steve cut in.
"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 turned and walked down the stairs.
"Mommy, can we stay for lunch, please?" Lily asked, tugging at her sleeve.

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A few hours later, everyone piled into the car, waving goodbye to the Stark-Potts, as they drove away. "I can't believe that he wouldn't try. He could get the kid back, and he's throwing it away!" Steve fumed.
"The kid?" Scott asked, confused.
"Remember that kid with the webs, Spider-Man, from the airport?" Nat asked, facing forwards. "That's who "the kid" is."
"Ah, ok."
"Well, he's scared. Scared he's going to lose everything." Nat pointed out.
"He's not wrong." Steve agreed.
"Yeah, but, I mean, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?" Scott worried.
"No, I wanna do it right. We're gonna need a really big brain." Steve said, focusing on the road.
"Bigger than his?" Scott practically yelled.
"Who's smarter than uncle Tony?" Lily asked, rubbing her eyes slightly.
"No one is smarter than Tony, Lily." Scott said in a bored tone, looking out of the window.
"There's Banner?" Steve suggested.
"What's "Banner"?" Lily asked, hands on the window, her face an inch from the glass, her breath fogging it up slightly.
"Bruce Banner is a friend of your dad and I. You may not remember him, we haven't seen him in a year and a bit." Nat said, unfazed.
"Have you ever heard of the Hulk?" Scott asked Lily, turning to face her. She nodded. "Well, Bruce turns into the Hulk when he gets very angry."
"Oh." She said. "How?" Nat and Steve looked at each other, before either of them answered.
"Bruce is a scientist, and, uh, one of his experiments went wrong." Nat explained, trying to butter it up.
"Do you think he'll want to do it? I mean, after everything..." Steve queried, looking at Natasha, unsure.
"Yeah, he'll want to."

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