Requisite and Sensibility

Chapter 12 - Time Travel 101 : Turn Scott into a Baby

Megan crossed her arms as she saw Bruce grinning and pushing at, to her seemingly random buttons, on the control panel. "Okay, here we go. Time travel test number one. Scott, fire up the uhhh... the van thing." Scott turned on the portal and Megan nodded, "Breakers are set, emergency generators are on standby." Bruce smiled and nodded at her, "Good. 'Cause if we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose Tiny here in the 1950's." Natasha, Scott and Megan gave Bruce a look of pure panic and he chuckled to himself.

"Excuse me?" Scott shrieked and Natasha sighed, looking over at him, "He's kidding." Walking over to Bruce she harshly whispered to him, "You can't say things like that!" Bruce shrugged and pouted slightly, "Just... It was a bad joke." Natasha worriedly glanced over at Scott, then at Megan who was toying with her Captain America shield necklace that Steve had given her. "You were kidding, right?" Bruce lowered his voice to a whisper, "I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is." He looked up, smiling brightly at Scott and giving him a thumbs up, "We're good! Get your helmet on, Scott. I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Makes sense?"

Scott sighed, "Perfectly not confusing." Megan smiled sympathetically towards him and clapped his shoulder, "Good luck, Scott. You got this." He smiled, relaxing, "You're right. I do, Femme Fatale." Megan pursed her lips, there's a name she thought she'd never hear again. Bruce pushed a button and Scott disappeared into the tunnel, "On the count of three. 3... 2... 1!" Scott came back... but younger. A teenager in Scott's suit was standing there and Megan blinked.

"Uh, guys? This...this doesn't feel right." "What is this?" Megan asked, "What's going on?" Bruce panicked, "That...who is that?" Natasha inquired... all of the people in the room now had spiked anxiety levels. "Hold on." Bruce spoke as he panicked and pushed random buttons on the panel, trying to fix the problem. "Is that Scott?" "Yes, it's Scott!" The teenager yelled at Natasha, "Hey, watch it. You're younger than me now." "Nat- not the time." Megan groaned. Scott disappeared again and came back as an old man.

"Ow! My back!" Megan sucked in her cheeks, "What is this, now?" Bruce hissed, actually hissed at her, "Can I get a little space here." Megan nodded, holding up her hands, "Yeah yeah. Can you bring him back?" Bruce gritted his teeth, "I'm working on it!" Scott got pulled back into the tunnel and came out again, except as a baby this time. Megan growled, "It's a baby." "It's Scott." Bruce spoke calmly, "As a baby!" "He'll grow." This time Megan hissed at Bruce, "Bring Scott back!" Bruce gulped, he had forgotten how utterly terrifying mad Megan was.

He looked over at Natasha, "When I say kill the power, kill the power." "Oh, God." She groaned, walking over rapidly to the generator. "And... Kill it!" Natasha pulled the lever and the entire portal shut down as normal Scott stood there, his eyes wide and his skin pale with fear. "Somebody peed my pants." "Oh thank god." Natasha mumbled, "But I don't know if it was "baby" me or "old" me...Or just "me" me." Bruce spread his hands dramatically and grinned at Megan, "Time travel!" Megan said nothing, simply shaking her head and walking away. "What? I..I see this as an absolute win!" Bruce mumbled.

Megan stood outside the compound, leaning back against the bricked building and sighing, looking down in defeat. The only possibility of victory now not an opportunity. She looked up as a deafening noise broke the silence in the distance. She saw an Audi R8 speeding towards the entrance. The car pulled over to her, but went a bit too far, then reversed to Megan. She saw Tony roll down the window and look at her. "Why the long face? Let me guess: He turned into a baby." Megan nodded seriously, "Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?"

Tony ignored her question, getting up and out of the car. He moved towards the back and opened the trunk, "That's the EPR Paradox. Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should've cautioned you against it." Megan rolled her eyes, "You did." "Oh, did I?" He asked smugly. "Thank God I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it." He held up a hand with a small device in it, "A fully functioning Time-Space GPS. I just want peace." He bent three fingers and held up his two fingers to make a peace sign. "Turns out, resentment is corrosive, and I hate it." Megan sighed, "Me too."