Flame

Chapter 40

Me, Steve, Nat, and Scott get out of the car as we get to Tony's house and he notices us walking towards him. "I don't think this will work" I mutter to Steve as we walk up the steps and stand in front of Tony who sighs in annoyance. "Just hear us out Tony" I say to him.

"Now, we know what it sounds like..." Scott says after he finishes going over everything

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

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony questions and I nod slightly

"Thank you." Steve says, quite puzzled

"In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Tony says

"I did." Scott says

" No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?" Tony asks Scott

" A time heist?" Scott answers a little unsure

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?" Tony asks us

"The stones are in the past. We can go back and get them." I say trying to reason with him

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back." Nat adds in

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony asks and he does have a point

"I don't believe we would." Steve tells him

"Gotta say, sometimes I 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 would be our collective demise." Tony says

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events -"Scott starts to say

"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 asks

"No." Scott answers embarrassed

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works." Tony replies

"Tony... We have to take a stand." Nat says

"We did stand. And yet, here we are" Tony replies

"I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter, a sister. But I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back. Bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even..." Scott starts to explain

"That's right, Scott, I won't. Even. Got a kid." Tony says just as Morgan runs to her dad, who picks her up

"Mommy told me to come and save you." Morgan says making me smile

"Good job. I'm saved." Tony tells her before facing us " I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I... I missed you guys, it was... Oh, and table's set for six." Tony says

"Tony, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance." Steve says as Morgan gets of Tony and faces us making me smile as I kneel down in front of her with a smile

"Auntie Kat" Morgan exclaims as I hug her

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." Tony says and the others get up and walk back to the car

"I missed you, beautiful" I say as I hug her and place a kiss on her cheek

"Can you stay?" Morgan asks me with a smile

"I can't today but I'll tell you what. If it's okay with mummy and daddy you can come have a sleepover at mine soon, yeah?" I ask with a smile

"Yeah" Morgan replies with a smile before running inside and I get up and face Tony

"Think about it, please?" I ask as I place my hand on his arm

"Sure" Tony says as he hugs me

"I love you Tony" I say as I walk towards the steps

"love you too Kat" Tony replies as I walk over to the others who are sat in the car ready to leave so I get in and join them.

"Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating. " Bruce says or the Hulk? I can't really tell now "Try some of that. Have some eggs." He says, pushing a plate forward

"I'm so confused." Scott says

"These are confusing times." Bruce replies

"Right. No, no, that's not what I meant." Scott says

"No, I get it. I'm kidding! I know. It's crazy. I'm wearing shirts now." Bruce says with a smile

"Yeah! How? Why?" Scott questions

"Five years ago, we got our asses beat. Except it was worse for me. Because I lost twice. First, Hulk lost, then Banner lost. Then, we all lost." Bruce explains

"No one blamed you, Bruce." Nat says with a soft smile

"I did. For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then I started looking at him as the cure. Eighteen months in a gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together. And now look at me. Best of both worlds..." Bruce explains as some children walk up to Bruce

"Excuse me, Mr. Hulk?" The little girl asks him

"Yes?" Bruce questions

"Can we get a photo?" She asks

"100%, little person. Come on, step up." Bruce says as he holds out the phone to Scott "You mind?" He asks

"Oh." Scott mutters as he takes the phone

"Say "green"!" Bruce says and the children and Bruce say Green as Scott snaps the photo "Did you get that?" Bruce asks him

"Don't you wanna grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man." Scott asks the children who just stare at him making me laugh to myself "They're Hulk fans, they don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does." Scott adds to the confused children

"Wait, no, no, he feels bad. No, he wants you to...he wants to.." Bruce says to one of the boys "You want to take a picture with him, right? Bruce asks and the boy shakes his head vigorously

"He's even saying no he doesn't. I get it. I don't want it either." Scott says

"But, come on, the kid! But he...but you..." Bruce says

" I don't want a picture with them." Scott says

"Okay enough. He doesn't want a photo so please take the goddam phone" I say getting annoyed and they hand the phone back to the kids

"Thank you very much. Hulk out!" Bruce says as the kids leave

"Bruce." Steve says trying to get his attention

"About we were saying..." I say to Bruce

"Right. The Hulk time travel do-over? Guys, it's outside my area of expertise." Bruce says to us

"Well, you pulled this off. I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible time, too."