Red, White and Black

Northern Light

Nat was barely listening as Pietro talked about seeing whales in the Hudson River. It had been five years. Five years and she was still struggling with her grief. With losing so much. Plenty of the others seemed to have moved on with their lives; creating new relationships, new lives. But she couldn't.  

There was a beeping sound, and the two of them looked at the security screen that popped up.  

"Oh. hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is 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."  

They both stood up in surprise. Pietro looked over his shoulder at her. "Is this now?"

Nat nodded faintly. "It's the front gate."  

Scott was pacing as he muttered to himself. Pietro and Nat watched him for a moment before Nat said, "Scott? Are you okay?" 

The man stopped pacing and looked at them before pressing his hands against his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. "Yeah. Have either of you guys studied quantum physics?"

Pietro rolled his eyes and Nat said. "Only to make conversation."

The attempt at humor fell a little flat, as Scott was too preoccupied to pick up on it. "All right, so, five years ago. Right befor Thanos. I was in a place called the quantum realm. It's like its own microscopic universe. To get in   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." 

"I'm sorry, that must have been a very long five years." Nat said. 

Scott shook his head. "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 anyone's sandwich? I'm starving."  

He strode across the room, snatching up the sandwich and biting in. Nat called out to him, "Scott. What are you talking about?" 

With his mouth full, he gestured with the sandwich. "So, what I'm saying is..." he swallowed thickly. "...time works differently in the quantum realm. The only problem is right now we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it." 

Nat and Pietro shared a look as he continued, moving around the room in agitated excitement as he spoke. "What if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it? What if there was a way 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." 

"Wait," Pietro held up his hand. "Are you talking about a time machine?" 

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. This is more like a..." Scott tried to figure out a better word, but nothing came to him. "Yeah. Like a time machine."

Nat and Pietro stared at him and he hurried on. "I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. But I-I can't stop thinking about it. There's got to be some way..." Scott sighed and shook his head as he mumbled. "It's crazy." 

Scoffing, Nat said, "Scott, I get emails from a raccoon. So nothing sounds crazy anymore." 

"So, who do we talk to about this?"

*** 

*** 

Tony hesitated when he saw the car in the driveway, watching the three people who climbed out wearily. This would not be good. He took Morgan inside before coming back out to deal with them.