Shield and Sword

Chapter 4

Authors note. I loved Paul Rudd as Ant-Man.

Steve Rogers x Jeannine Sauvage

Warnings: cussing and a rectal exam.

Scott paced back and forth as he tried to wrap his head around everything that he was told. Natasha and Steve stand and watch the man. Jeannine is sitting at the desk with her feet propped up. This man was tiring. He kept mumbling incoherent thoughts just under his breath and Steve had finally had enough.

"Scott. Are you okay?" Steve asked causing Scott to stop his pacing.

"Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?" Ant-Man asked the group. Steve and Jeannine just blankly stare at each other looking to each other for answers.

"Only to make conversation." Natasha deadpans.

Jeannine let's out a small giggle earning a glance from Scott and Steve. She quickly covers her mouth.

"Sorry" she mumbled.

"Alright. So... five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope, she's my... She was my .......She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there." Scott explained to the three as they felt his pain. Scott didn't have to clarify anything else. Hope had a piece of his heart.

"I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years." Jeannine remarked as she placed a hand on the stranger's shoulder. She doesn't usually open up to new people very easily but Steve and Natasha seemed to trust him.  Jeannine decided she was going to trust this bug man too.

"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours." Scott answered back. The three look at each other in confusion. This was way out of their league.

Natasha and Steve usually looked to Jeannine for answers. Being a child prodigy, she graduated with her first Ph.D. at the age of 18. Since then earning 3 more along with becoming an MD, she was whom Doctor Banner consulted when he had unanswered questions. But you would never know it by just looking at Jeannine. She was the last person to speak up in a group conversation and she never gave her opinion unless it was asked. Jeannine didn't dress like you would expect a genius would. Tony Stark would always have on his custom suits and Bruce was rarely seen without a lab coat on. Today Jeannine wore her ripped jeans, her military-issue combat boots, and a torn and tattered Motley Crew shirt. Her curly scarlet hues hair was pulled up in a messy bun atop of her head. These were the little things that Steve loved the most about her.

Jeannine returned to her seat at the desk and listened.

"See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." Scott continued as he bit into the peanut sandwich unleashing a satisfying grunt.

"What I'm saying is, 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. What if, we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos." Ant-Man continued between bites. Natasha looked at Steve and Steve looked at Jeannine.

Jeannine had her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned back in the chair. She played with her bottom lip as she stared out into the living room. Steve knew this look, this was Jeannine's thinking face.