- Zach Hemsey, The Way

A cosy, two storey cabin sits in the woods, on the edge of a lake. Tony walks out towards a small shed, clapping to a beat.

“Chow time! Maguna? Morgan H. Stark. You want some lunch?”

“Define lunch or be disintegrated.” A small, brown haired girl steps out of the shed, holding up her hand as if with a repulsor. On her head sits one of Blythe’s old helmets.

“Okay, you should not be wearing that, okay?” He took the helmet off, and Morgan smiles back at him. “That was Blythe’s, remember?”

“Am I ever gonna meet her?”

“I...I don’t know. I hope so, but I don’t know.” He stands up, taking a deep breath. “Are you thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce.”

“No.”

“That’s what you want. How did you find this?”

“Garage.”

“Really? Were you looking for it?”

“No. I found it, though.”

“You like going to the garage, huh?”

“Yeah.”

Tony takes Morgan’s hand, and they begin to walk back to the house. Tony spots a black Audi pulling up, sighing as he knows who will be in it. Steve, Nat and Scott get out, with Morgan running up to Steve when she sees him.

“Daddy!”

“Hey, Morgan.”

--

“Now, we know what it sounds like…” Scott trails off, having just re-explained his plan to Tony.

“Tony, after everything you’ve seen, is anything really impossible?” Steve asks.

Tony replies as he grabs drinks for the others. “Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?” The three others give confused looks, not being experts on science in the slightest. “In Layman’s terms, it means you’re not coming home.”

“I did.”

“No, you accidentally survived. It’s a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a...what do you call it?”

“A time heist?”

“Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn’t we think of this before? Oh, because it’s laughable? Because it’s a pipedream?”

“The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them.”

“We can snap our own fingers,” Nat continues. “We can bring everyone back.”

“Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?” Tony snaps.

“I don’t think we would,” Steve says softly.

“Gotta say, I miss that giddy optimism. Best part of that 20 year marriage, wasn’t it? 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.”

“Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel,” Scott speaks up. “That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting even-”

“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?”

“No.”

“Good. You had me worried there. ‘Cause that’d be horse shit. That’s not how quantum physics works.”

“Tony…” Nat starts. “We have to take a stand.”

“We did stand. And yet, here we are.”

Scott speaks up again. “I know you got a lot on the line. You got a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me too. A lot of people did. And now...now we have a chance to bring her back. To bring everyone back. And you’re telling me that you won’t even…”

“That’s right, Scott, I won’t even. I got a kid. And I don’t want to get my hopes up just for my other one to never come back.” Morgan runs over to Tony, and he picks her up. “I wish you’d come here to ask me something else. Anything else. Honestly, I...I missed you guys, it was…” He couldn’t finish.

“Tony,” Steve says softly. “I get it. And I’m happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance.”

“I got my second chance right here, Steve. I can’t roll the dice again, and I won’t. If you don’t talk shop, you can stay for lunch.”

--

After lunch, Steve, Nat and Scott walk back to their car.

“He’s scared,” Nat points out.

“He’s not wrong. He’s just...Blythe getting snapped really hit him. Our relationship was already on the rocks and that just pushed him over the edge. I can’t blame him.”

“Yeah, but I mean,” Scott interrupts. “What are we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?”

“No, I wanna do it right. We’re gonna need a really big brain.

“Bigger than his?”

--

Steve and Nat sit next to each other in a cafe booth, Scott on the other side of the table. Next to Scott sits a Bruce, now genetically modified to be both Bruce Banner and Hulk.

“Come on, I feel like I’m the only one eating.” Bruce pushes a plate forwards, into the centre of the table. “Try some of that. Have some eggs.”

“I’m so confused,” Scott says.

“These are confusing times.”

“Right. No, no, that’s not what I meant.”

“No, I get it. I’m kidding! I know. It’s crazy. I’m wearing shirts now.”

“Yeah! Wh...how? Why?”

“Five years ago, we got our asses beaten. Except it was worse for me. Because I lost twice. First, Hulk lost. Then Banner lost. Then, we all lost.”

“No one blamed you, Bruce,” Nat spoke up.

“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…”

Three children cautiously walked up to Hulk, one girl and two boys.

“Excuse me, Mr Hulk?” The girl interrupts politely.

“Yes?”

“Can we get a photo?”

“100%, little person. Come on, step up.” He holds the girl’s phone out to Scott. “You mind?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Thanks.” He turns back to the kids. “Say ‘green’!” Bruce and the kids say green in unison as Scott takes the photo. “Did you get that?”

The girl smiles as Scott gives back her phone. “Thank you, Mr Hulk.”

“No, it’s great kids,” Bruce grins. “Thank you very much. Hulk out!”

“Bruce,” Steve tries to catch the large green man’s attention.”

“Dab!”

“Bruce.”

“Listen to your mum. She knows better.”

“About what we were saying…”

“Right. The whole time travel do-over? Guys, it’s outside my area of expertise.”

“Well, you pulled this off,” Nat says, gesturing to the combination of Hulk and Bruce. “I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible too.”

--

Tony stands in the kitchen of his lake cabin, washing dishes after he and Morgan ate dinner. When he finishes, he places the last dish into the drying rack and pulls the plug. He glances up at the shelves next to the cabinets as he waits for the water to drain.

One of the photos is of a younger Blythe, smiling as she hangs upside down on a pullup bar in the Avengers’ gym. The photo next to hers is of Tony and Peter as the Stark Internship is handed over, with the certificate upside down.

--

Tony talks to his computer, which F.R.I.D.A.Y. is enabled on. He uses a slightly different version to Blythe, though they are basically the same. He generates a holographic model of something.

“Look at a mod inspiration, let me see what checks out. So, recommend one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a mobius strip, inverted, please.

“Processing…” F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice speaks from the computer.

“Give me that eigenvalue. That, particle factoring, and a spectral decomp. That will take a second.”

“Just a moment.”

“And don’t worry if it doesn’t pan out. I’m kinda just-”

“Model rendered.”

Tony stares at the model in amazement, seeing the reader come back 99.987% successful. He falls back into his chair, shocked at the discovery.

“Shit!”

“Shit,” A voice repeats, followed by a giggle. He turns around to see Morgan sitting on the steps behind him.

“What are you doing up, little mess?”

“Shit.”

“No, we don’t say that. Only Blythe says that word.”

“Why you up?”

“‘Cause I got some important shit going on here. What do you think? No, I got something on my mind. I got something on my mind…”

“Was it Juice Pops?”

“Sure was. That’s extortion. Great minds think alike. Juice Pops, exactly was on…” He glances back at the model, then looks back to Morgan. “...my mind.”

--

“You done?” Tony asks, watching as Morgan finishes off her Juice Pop in her bed. “Yeah, now you are.” He wipes her lips and then pushes her head onto her pillow. “That face goes there.”

“Tell me a story.”

“A story...once upon a time, Maguna went to bed. The end.”

“That’s a horrible story,” Morgan giggles.

“Come on, that’s your favourite story. I love you tons.” Tony kisses Morgan on the forehead.

“I love you 3000.”

“Wow. 3000. That’s crazy.” He turns off the lamp and walks towards the door, getting ready to close it. “Go to bed. Or I’ll sell all your toys. Night, night.”