✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ a.k.a. Part II - Endgame✔

12

Dozens of designs later Scott finally wore a new suit and the last two test runs could begin. Was Jyn now convinced that time travel was possible? Not particularly. There was still no proof for it and as long as there was no proof, it remained nothing more than a wish.

"Time Travel Suit", Rhodes, impressed, joined the group in the lab and took a closer look at the suit.

"Hey, hey," Scott suddenly got louder and immediately took the tube of red fluid out of Banner's hands, "Careful, careful."

"That's coming from you of all people, Scott," laughed Jyn, put her data sheets aside and folded her arms in front of her chest in amusement, because caution wasn't one of Scott's strong points, "Gotcha."

"No, you're extremely hulking", no Scott, Banner was careful, as careful as a two meter tall green giant can be, "These are pygmy particles, obviously. And since Hank Pym is no longer with us, so is everybody. This is all we have, and this is all we're gonna get."

"Chill out, Scott." If Rhodes hadn't said anything, Scott would've gotten more worked up.

"Sorry. It'll be enough there and back for all of us for once. "That's all. No do-overs. Plus two trial runs..... No!", and how could it be otherwise, it was Scott who screwed up the first trial run and not Banner, "One trial run... okay, I'm not really ready for that."

"I am", Barton clicked himself in, who suddenly stood in the doorway and leaned against the frame, "I am."

"Absolutely not", there were dozens of reasons that came to her mind right away and more when Jyn had five more minutes to think about it, "Maybe I'm a big question mark for most people because I'm me and a certain Titan was standing by her side, but you Clint, that's a completely different number. You're lucky that there are still people standing between you and me, otherwise you'd have disappeared from the picture long ago and your corpse wouldn't be found anymore. You're a prime example of why people like me are necessary, who see rules as a necessity, because otherwise we wouldn't be any different from animals."

"That's good to know. You must not have forgotten who picked me up in the temple at that time and showed me the other world", was a bit exaggerated in this case, because Clint had long since immersed himself in this world when Jyn picked him up, "No, you must not, because it was you who finally brought me to these people."

"If I were them, I would have made sure your life was forfeit. Like you, I'm someone's creation, but unlike you, I'm not a bottomless pit of disappointment. Feelings and emotions have no place in what we do. It's the reason for stupid and ill-considered decisions", a good example for the enormous effects this can have, Star Lord Obertrottel might be and to experience this once was enough for Jyn, "Life is not fair, we all have to drive in shit again, otherwise we would never have landed on this path, but it has rules and you don't know any. What is the saying? What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas? Yeah, but the sad thing is, when dozens of mangled bodies are left behind, it just goes around asking questions. "And we don't need questions. That's why we have these rules."

"Come on. It's still Clint we're talking about," as if Rhodes' words could change Jyn's mind, "There's no reason why he shouldn't...."

"I've dealt with hundreds of people; took responsibility for them because I didn't want to watch this community perish after Thanos, and one man, could be responsible for making that happen. Moments like these require someone to act, to take the unpleasant, the necessary. The one who gives him the suit will regret it, because it will be a mistake", it had become clear to Jyn after less than a year why Mister Cambler was never to be envied and yet, he had complained because nothing would change, but only if action is taken, "What kind of trust bonus does he get from you? Family man? S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent? It's gonna go wrong because he's always gonna act emotionally. You'll take responsibility in this case."

"No, I don't think so," which gave Scott a sobering look from Jyn, "You got a confidence bonus too, if not two or three. The biggest one probably from Tony, because you know each other and even though, you left him in space despite all this. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Mistakes a person usually regrets. I do not regret the five million dollar bounty on the Maximoff nor Thanos", never forgetting that it is always in the eye of the beholder what is now considered a mistake and what is not, "At least they know my only mistake, as you know Scott. So call multiple slaughtering not a mistake, because it is a conscious decision. A murder? Can happen but as soon as it is repeated, it doesn't pass as erroneous behavior, but much more, a conscious behavior and the question of remorse doesn't arise. When you say that you regret one murder, but then commit a second one, the whole thing looks a bit strange, doesn't it? Since you want him to take over for Scott, I'll just have to live with it. Whether or not it's a wise decision I highly doubt."

Tolerate, not accept. Anything that can be changed, like stupid people in government, will be tolerated. The sea is blue, is acceptable, because it has been scientifically proven why this is so. This decision was to be tolerated no matter how little Jyn liked it.

Of the time difference Clint would be a little confused, but there was no reason to worry, because this will be completely normal. Also known as jet lag. If the time travel worked, why not kill Baby Thanos? Since it would be cruel, as Banner Rhodes explained, but it didn't change the fact for the soldier that it was Thanos. At least Banner explained that time wouldn't work that way and took up exactly what Jyn had said a while ago. Changing the past would not change the future, because what happened, happened. On one point Scott and Rhodes agreed, because if they get all the stones from the past before Thanos does, Thanos has no stones. It's as simple as that, and Clint will join the castle. The only other person who also understood it was Nebula and that it was not that simple. And so we arrived at the point that time travel is more of a fictional thing? at least it should be. Movies like Star Trek, Terminator, Timecop, Back to the Future, Quantum Leap, Time Puzzles, Hot Tub Time Machine and many more are proof of this and have shown how it works so why not here? Listen up. The keyword was 'just listen'. The Die Slowly fell in the same context, we all prefer to forget very quickly. Who hasn't seen the film? John McClane, the burning high-rise and his journey into the past. When you travel into the past, this past becomes your future and your former present, becomes the past, which cannot be changed afterwards by your new future. A lot to process and what stuck with Scott was the sad realization that 'back to the future' was just nonsense.

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In a few seconds, they should all know if Scott's plan was possible and Tony's invention worked.

"Half a million says it won't work," Jyn threw in the towel after Clint fell off the face of the Earth.

"A signature that you're wrong," Tony replied confidently and looked at Jyn who ran her tongue across the inside of her left cheeks and looked up at the empty platform.

"Well sure", gurgling, as someone was probably quite sure of himself, Jyn looked knowingly into the face of the inventor, "You know that the relation is not there? Put something of less value."

"Since when is a signature worth more than half a million dollars?", a valid question, which Scott asked and which might raise the same question for many people.

"Depends on the signature or what needs to be signed," but the next moment Clint appeared back on the platform, Natasha ran straight to him and the archer told them that it worked, "This can't be true."

It should be obvious what kind of look Tony gave Jyn. Just keep your mouth shut, no matter how hard it might be.