Maddison Romanoff-Stark

Five Years Later

A lot has happened since Thor killed Thanos. My dad built a cabin a few hours from the compound and he, my mom, and I moved in together there. He has lots of technology there. It's great! He built me a tire swing and everything! It's high enough so I can still use it when I'm a teenager. I can tell that my parents aren't just doing this for me. I can tell that they love each other and not just because they have a kid together.

I get to spend lots of quality time with my parents and I really enjoy it! My mom likes to joke that I'm a mini version of my dad and my dad likes to joke that I'm a mini version of my mom. I guess I have lots of traits from both of them. My favorite one is the double dose of sarcasm.

Things have definitely changed even more than moving out of the compound. I turned 12, and my mom dyed her hair red again, and she is growing it out. She left the tips blonde, though.

My mom goes to the compound to see what's going on with everyone else. She's the one who's been holding everyone together. The way my dad explains things to me privately is "Your mom is doing a job that doesn't really need to be done but she's doing it because she needs something to take her mind off the world. Trust me when I say she loves you more than you could ever know, but right now, she's purposely keeping herself busy." I always ask the same question. "Why can't she work from here? We have almost more technology than the compound and besides, it's home." My dad responds with "I know, Maddie, sometimes she just needs her space like you and I do after an experiment doesn't work or something. Sometimes your mom goes to the compound to blow off some steam and train. Believe me, when she needs to blow off some steam, it's better that she does so at the compound rather than destroying this house." I always laugh at his last sentence. I can imagine my mom wrecking our house because Rocket or Carol didn't get back to her within three days. It's funny and scary at the same time.

Sometimes I go to the compound with her, but most of the time, I stay at the house with my dad and we do things that my mom doesn't let us do. For example, we have five juice pops in a row, we suit up and play fight with each other to test our suits abilities to see how well they work. We also make an absolute mess of the house and we spend two hours cleaning it so she doesn't find out.

Right now, I am sitting in my room at the compound just watching TV like I normally do. Tonight I am watching Friends, which is one of my favorite shows. My mom is letting me watch it even though it's meant for adults and teenagers. I finish the episode, and I walk into the kitchen to see if my mom's meeting with Carol, Okoye, Rhodey, Nebula, and Rocket is over.

I see my mom and Steve talking and I announce my presence. Then a device chimes and my mom swipes it, and we see camera footage. "Oh, hi, hi! Uh, is anyone home?  This is, uh, Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport in Germany? I was the guy that got really big. I had a mask on. You wouldn't recognize me." says Scott Lang. "Is this an old message?" asks Steve. "Ant-Man? I know you know that," adds Scott. "It's the front gate," says my mom. "I really need to talk to you guys," says Scott. My mom clicks a button and lets him and his van in.

We bring Scott to the kitchen where we are, and he paces, muttering to himself. "Scott. Are you okay?" says Steve. "Yeah. Have any of you guys ever studied quantum physics?" asks Scott. "Only to make conversation," says my mom. "Yes! I find it very interesting," I say. "All right, so five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the quantum realm. The quantum realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope. She's my, um... She was my... She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there." says Scott. "I'm sorry that must have been a very long five years," says my mom. "Yeah. But that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours. See, the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." says Scott. He grabs my mom's sandwich and takes a bite. "Scott. What are you talking about?" asks Steve. "So, what I'm saying is time works differently in the quantum realm. The only problem right now is we don't know how to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way that we could enter the quantum realm at a certain point in time but then exit the quantum realm at another point in time? Like...Like before Thanos." says Scott. "Wait. Are you talking about a time machine?" asks Steve. "No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. This more like a... Yeah. Like a time machine. I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be... some way... It's crazy," says Scott. "I think it's worth a shot," I say. "Scott. I get emails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore," says my mom. "So who do we talk to about this?" asks Scott. "My dad, Tony Stark! Together he and I could figure it out!" I say.