Insane in my Russian Brain - P. Parker

Chapter Thirty Two

Kat closed the door to the cabin-like home behind her and leaned against the wall. She watched as Natasha, Steve, and Scott approached her, commencing quietly to themselves.

"Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad." She hugged Natasha and Steve, who smiled at each other at the names.

"Did you genuinely just call me dad? Like without pretending to gag?"

Kat sighed and teasingly rolled her eyes. "Don't make me regret it." She turned to Scott, who was standing awkwardly behind the group. "Good to see you."

"You... you look a lot older."

Kat laughed, though the sound died in the back of her throat. "It's been... seven years now, right? Quite some time, I suppose."

It was quiet outside for a few moments before Kat spoke up. "I think there are a few things we need to discuss."

They followed her up to the house, where she welcomed them to sit on the furniture outside. Kat popped into the house, yelling for Tony to come outside. When he did, they explained the situation to him.

"We know what it sounds like."

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?"

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?"

Kat raised her eyebrows. "What am I agreeing to exactly?"

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. "In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

"I did."

"No. You accidentally survived." He sighed, pouring himself a glass of alcohol. "It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pul a... what do you call it?"

"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 pipe dream."

"The stones are in the past. We could go back, we could get them."

Kat nodded at Steve and smiled. "We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back."

"Or screw it up worse than he already has."

"I don't believe we would."

"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. I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise."

"Tony, what else do we have to lose? We've been sitting around for years, waiting for something to happen. If we strictly follow the rules of time travel, we won't have anything to fear."

"And what are these rules of time travel you speak of?"

"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?"

Kat nudged Steve in the side, whispering under her breath. "What's Back to the Future?"

He glanced at her, furrowing his eyebrows. "For once I don't feel old and clueless."

"No, it's not based on that."

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause, that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works."

"Tony." Natasha interrupted him, her voice cracking. They had all lost so many things because of Thanos, and he was blowing their only opportunity away. "We have to take a stand."

"We did stand. And yet here we are."

"Tony, that wasn't the final battle. It's not over."

"No. You've been going on about that for years, and where are we now? Has anything happened, have we won?"

Kat sighed and shook her head. "You have a wife, and a daughter, I understand that. There are many risks. But look at us. We've all lost someone, and aren't you dying to have them back here with us? You won't even try, because you're a coward."

"That's right, Kat. I am. I can't."

The door to the house opened, and Morgan walked out. She went up to Tony, who picked her up. "Mommy told me to come save you."

"Good job. I'm saved." He turned to them, his gaze still focused on his daughter. "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else? I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I just..."

"Tony. I get it. And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance."

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. Can't roll the dice on it." He walked backward, opening the door to the house. "If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."

Kat sighed, grabbing her backpack from the side of the house. This is how she had expected things to go, and since the weekend was over, she was going to be heading back to where Natasha had been staying with her. She loved her visits with Morgan, she really did, but she couldn't stand to be around Tony when he didn't have an open mindset.

"He's scared, I get it. He's got a daughter, I wouldn't trade that for the world."

Scott looked from Kat to Natasha, furrowing his eyebrows. "You adopted her?"

"It's more of a blood thing. That was Steve who actually signed the papers."

"Captain America adopting a Russian assassin... I would have never thought. But, getting to the point, what are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?"

"No, I wanna do it right. We're gonna need a really big brain."

Kat bit her lip, trying to list off the people who might be smarter than Tony. "Bigger than his? Who?"