The Final Initiative

35.

"Time travel suit? Not bad" Rhodey admired the brand new suit that Scott Lang was wearing in the laboratory. It was molded slightly after his Ant-man attire. The model had just been finished that very morning. He would be the first one to test out the suit to make sure that it's an actual, functioning, and operating piece of tech. Jessi stood at the table beside Bruce, handing him the red pym particles that Scott brought with him when he first arrived at the compound. Bruce went to go place them inside of the compartment on Scott's suit.

"Hey, hey, hey. Easy, easy!" Scott halted with paranoia in his voice, gently taking the particles.

"I'm being very careful!" Bruce argued.

"No, you're being very Hulky. These are Pym particles, all right?" he held the particles up in their tiny tubes to display them "And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more!"

"Scott, calm down" Rhodey raised his arms up, attempting to ease his anxiety.

Jessi leaned her chin against her palm, watching as Scott placed the particles into the belt of his suit "We've got enough for one round trip, each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus, two test runs..." as soon as he closed the compartment to his suit, his body shrunk into oblivion for a millisecond. Jessi blinked, feeling unsurprised. She knew that something like this was bound to happen, especially with Scott Lang. She exhaled in boredom. He reappeared back to full size, an awkward look on his face which was under the mask "One test run" he corrected himself. Rhodey shook his head in disappointment. Jessi shared a look with Nebula who was also in the room.

"All right" Scott breathed "I'm not ready for this"

"I am" Jessi found herself saying quicker than she intended. Everyone turned to see her sitting at the table. She lifted her chin from her palm and leaned her elbows on the table "I'll go"

Within minutes, she was wearing the time travel suit. It was bigger on her body, but doable. Nebula was adjusting the holographic mechanics of the suit on her shoulder. Her hair had been pulled up in a half up, half down style. Not an inch of fear was present in her eyes "Now, Jessi" Bruce held a tablet in his green hands "you're gonna feel a little bit discombobulated from the chronoshift. But don't worry about it. And... are you sure that you want to-"

"Yes"

"Okay"

"Wait a second, let me ask you something" Rhodey interrupted, crossing his arms and stepping closer to Bruce "If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos, you know...?" he motioned to tying a noose around Thanos's neck and tightening it, essentially killing him right then and there.

"I second that" Jessi nodded, lifting her finger.

"First of all, that's horrible" Bruce shot down the idea.

Rhodey rolled his eyes "It's Thanos"

"-And secondly" Bruce continued, disregarding the murder plot "time doesn't work that way. Changing the past doesn't change the future" Jessi scrunched up her face in confusion.

"Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them..." Scott added "Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved"

"That's not how it works" Bruce shook his head.

"Well, that's what I heard" Rhodey muttered.

"What? By who? Who told you that?" Bruce asked, now sounding annoyed.

"Star Trek, Terminator, TimeCop, Time After Time" Rhodey listed off with his fingers, Jessi was biting back a smile "A Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time" he went on.