Till the End|MCU|3

thirteen

   The drive to the Starks cabin was a long and awkward one.  And on top of that, I had this nagging feeling I forgot something.

   We park in the driveway just as Tony Stark steps up onto the porch with his daughter in his arms.

   Steve is the first one out of the car, followed by Nat, Scott and I.

   Tony sends his daughter in as we step onto the porch.

   I sit on the railing swinging my legs in front of me as everyone explains to Tony Scott's idea.  Tony pours glasses of smoothie as they talk before handing me and Nat a glass.  We nod our heads in thanks before both taking a sip.

   "Now," Scott continues.  "We know what it sounds like-"

   "Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible."  Steve tries before Tony cuts in.

   "Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale."  He says as he folds a towel.  "Which then triggers the Deutsch proposition.  Can we agree on that?"  I knit my eyebrow in confusion as Tony hands Steve a drink.  He then sits down, noticing my expression.  "In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."  He explains, gesturing to me.  I nod my head in understanding and gratitude.

   "I did," Scott argues.

   "No," Tony says with a shake of his head.  "You accidentally survived.  It was a..."  He pauses as he waves a hand in the air.  "It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke.  And now you wanna pull off a... what do you call it?"

   Scott opens his mouth before closing it in embarrassment.  "A... a time heist?"

   I facepalm at the stupidity of the name.

   "Yeah, time heist," Tony says with a cheesy smile, but it vanishes when he turns to Steve.  "Why didn't we think of this before?"  He asks before blinking in fake realization.  "Oh, because it's laughable?  Because it's a pipe dream?"

   "The stones are in the past," Steve explains.  "We can go back and get them."

   "We can snap our fingers.  We can bring everybody back."  Nat adds.

   "Or, screw it up worse than he already has, right?"  Tony argues, glancing around at us.

   "Tony, we have to try," I say, giving him a shake of my head.

   "I don't think the stones could wipe out the other part of the world.  You said that Thanos wanted to balance the universe, not wipe it out-"

   "We don't know that," Tony argues.

   Steve glances at Tony.  "I don't believe we would."

   "Gotta say this, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism."  Tony comments, giving Steve a look.  "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."

   I roll my eyes as I give a quick shake of my head.  I can't afford to think like that.  I have a chance to bring everyone back and I'm going to take it.

   "Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel," Scott argues, shaking his fist with determination.  He sits down next to Tony and glances around at the rest of us.  "That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-"

   "I'm going to stop you right there, Scott."  Tony interrupts, holding up a hand.  "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?"