a simple encounter

look on the bright side

In the past five years, I've been staying at the Facility with Nat as we continued to do all we can for our lost loved ones. Not much could be done but we all tried our hardest to keep things at peace. We would occasionally have a quick meeting call with Okoye, Rhodes, Rocket & Nebula, and even Carol. It was hard to get everyone in for each call but we made do with what we had. Steve moved out to the city, he started a therapy group to help people cope with the people they had lost in the snap. He was good at helping people. I attended a few of his meetings and it was interesting... inspiring even to see him in action, helping people and relating to their problems to make them feel a sense of comfort. He was selfless, People needed that. Nat and I had just finished a call with everyone, sadly we had nothing that could help us. Nat looked at me in pure sadness as the call ended. The air grew cold as the room became silent. Nat looked at me and simply began to cry, her eyes filled with tears and her face became red. She held her head in her hands as she leaned over to me, resting her head on my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around her to comfort her.

"We will find something, Nat. I promise you we will figure this out one day," I say while holding her close

"It's just beginning to feel so impossible," she mutters

"I know, I feel that too," I reply

Nat and I sat in silence until we hear footsteps coming from around the corner. We both look up only to see Steve, leaning against the wall with a sympathetic smile.

"I'd offer to cook you ladies dinner, but you seem pretty miserable already," Steve states

"You here to do your laundry?" I chuckle

"And to see some friends," he smiles

"Clearly, your friends are fine," Nat replies sarcastically

Steve just looks at the ground in response

"You know, I saw a pod of whales when I was coming over the bridge," Steve states, completely off-topic

"In the Hudson?" I say in disbelief

"There are fewer ships, cleaner water," Steve replies

"If you're about to tell us to look on the bright side, I will throw this peanut butter sandwich at your head," Nat states while looking up at the ceiling, trying to prevent the tears from falling

"Hmm, Sorry. Force of habit," Steve chuckles while sitting on the other side of the desk, across from Nat and I

Steve and I make eye contact as he sits down, the eye contact is alluring. It was almost like the entire world around us didn't exist anymore, like he was trying to reach me and understand how I was feeling on a deeper level. He knew I wanted to be here for Nat, which meant I wouldn't let my emotions get the best of me. I had to be here for her, she needed a friend. As long as I have known Nat she has always been this strong, intelligent, empowering woman. She didn't often let emotions get in her way, but after all of this, after all of this loss. She just couldn't hold this one in.

"You know, I keep telling everybody that they should move on, and grow. Some do. But not us," Steve states

"If we move on, who does all of this?" I ask

"Maybe, it doesn't need to be done," Steve replies

I don't reply to him, I just look down at the ground to avoid all eye contact. The silence is broken once Nat looks down from the roof and clears her throat to speak.

"I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job. This family. And I was better because of it. And even though they're gone. I'm still trying to be better," Nat chokes out.

"I think we all need to get a life," I chuckle

"You first," Steve chuckles

We all laugh along together, bringing the mood up slightly. Once the laughing dies down, an alert comes up that someone is at the front gate. Nat quickly opens the front gate camera and we all stiffen in our seats when we see the footage. It was Scott Lang. He died in the snap, at least according to the census he did. Apparently, the census was wrong because Scott Lang is very much alive. He stands at the front gate waving his hands to get our attention and let him in.

"Is this old footage?" Steve asks, sitting up in his seat

"It... It's the front gate," Nat replies

Nat quickly reaches for the button and opens the front gate. We all get up and rush downstairs to meet with Scott. We welcome him in and he enters, muttering random nonsense to himself. We take him up to the lab so we can all talk, maybe we can even get something out of him that makes sense. He paces back and forth until Steve breaks him out of his own world.

"Scott. Are you okay?" Steve asks with his arms folded, leaning against the table behind him

"Yeah. Have any of you guys studied quantum physics?" Scott asks as he stops pacing

"I did a little bit in college," I reply

"Perfect. 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. You have to be incredibly small to get in there. Hope, she's my, um... She was my... She was supposed to pull me out. And then, Thanos happened and I got stuck in there," Scott states frantically

"I'm sorry, must've been a crappy five years," I reply

"That's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours. 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 states as he walks over to the sandwich sitting on the desk.

Nat made that sandwich before our meeting but still barely even touched it. She even brought it down to the lab with her like she was going to eat it. With everything going on, she was so stressed that she was barely eating or sleeping. It was a lot to see her go through it but I helped as much as I could.

"Scott. What are you getting at?" Steve states as Scott eats the sandwich

"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 that we could enter the quantum realm at one point in time, but then exit at an entirely different point in time?" Scott replies as he paces back and forth, talking a lot with his hands

"Time travel? Like a time machine?" I ask

"No, no, no. Of course not. No, not a time machine. This is more like a... yeah, like a time machine," he settles

"I know it's crazy, but I can't stop thinking about it," he continues

"Scott. I get emails from a raccoon. Nothing sounds crazy anymore," Nat replies

"So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asks

"I know just the guy," I reply

Nat and Steve look at me in confusion until they realize who I mean. We needed Tony. The last we had all seen of Tony was when he had just gotten back from space when he was malnourished and very upset. We still kept in contact, I knew he now has a daughter, her name is Morgan. He and Pepper moved far out to a lake house. He domesticated himself, which was quite the surprise. We all quickly headed outside, jumped in the car as Steve drove. The ride was silent until Nat broke the silence from her spot in the passenger seat.

"Do you think he will see us?" Nat asks

"He has too, we need him," I reply