𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐑 | 𝗯𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘀

twenty eight : trust

twenty eight : trust

      SEEING AS TONY LIVED REMOTELY BY A LAKE AND IN THE WOODS, IT TOOK A FEW HOURS FOR THE FOUR SUPERHEROES TO ARRIVE. There was always a reason Elaine and the others never visited Tony.

      He made it very clear that he put his duties of Iron Man behind him.

      Pulling up, the four stepped out of the newly cleaned car and spotted Tony holding his daughter on his side. She was cute, and looked around five years old. She had a bright smile on her face, obviously surprised to see new visitors. Natasha and Elaine both had their hair in a single dutch braid, and both had their arms crossed.

      Tony looked to them, but continued to walk up to his porch. He turned around and faced them, avoiding the intense stare of Elaine Maximoff. Natasha had a fond smile on her lips as she gave a nod, a movement Tony returned.

      Steve and Natasha looked to each other before all of them followed Tony to the seating on the porch, where Scott began his unstoppable rambling.

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"No, tru—. We know what it sound like." Scott fumbled over his last sentence.

"After everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Elaine asked him, with an underlying anger forcing out her original accent.

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale.. which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" He finished pouring his cup of whatever brown liquid it was and handed it to Steve. "In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

"I did." Scott rebutted.

"No. You accidentally survived." Tony corrected. This made Elaine scoff is disbelief.

"So did I." Elaine let a tight smile on her lips. "So did Pietro. Oh, and don't forget about Wanda. Unless, of course, you already have and are also forgetting the part that it was your weapon that killed my parents."

Tony stilled. Sure, it was a low blow, but she never truly got it out of her system. He cleared his throat and turn back to Scott. "It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a.. What do you call it?"

Scott took the glass handed to him and made a name on the spot. "A time heist?"

"Yeah, a time heist." Tony scoffed. "Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a pipe dream."

"The stones are in the past." Steve pointed out. "We could go back, we could get them."

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back." Natasha continued the argument.

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony mocked.

"I don't believe we would." Steve shook his head. What more could anyone lose?

"Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism." Tony mentioned. "However, high hopes won't help.. if there's so logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise."

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." Scot argued, taking a seat as Elaine already knew this would happen. She turned around and gripped the railing, looking out onto the lake. "All right? It means no talking to our past selves.. no betting on sporting events."

Tony put a hand up to stop Scott. "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? Is it?"

Scott gave a breathy laugh. "No."

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works."

Natasha spoke with a shaky voice. "Tony. We have to take a stand."

He looked at her, but it was obvious his mind wasn't changing. "We did stand. And yet, here we are."

"I know you got a lot on the line." Scott tried to convince as Natasha also looked out to the lake. "You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me. A lotta 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." Tony's voice was a mere whisper at the end as Elaine's nose scrunched up. Her eyes stung with tears as she faced him, shaking her head.

"You are so selfish." Her voice broke, and even Natasha's eyes were tearing up. "I lost everyone!" She shouted, stepping closer. "A lot of people lost everyone. Vision is dead! Wanda is half dead! Thor is sitting on his ass because even he has lost everyone! You—." She swallowed back her tears as she looked away from Tony's guilty face. "I trusted you."

She took a few steps back and turned around, wiping her tears as she walked back to the car. She opened the door, slid into the drivers seat, slamming the door closed. She slid down in the seat and gripped the wheel, her face scrunching up as she swallowed her powers down to prevent herself from screaming.

She knew Steve wouldn't give up, and so maybe there's a chance to get Wanda back. Maybe she'll be able to see her sort of triplet sister again, even though Elaine would be five years older.

And maybe she won't get absolutely crushed in the process.

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PAY ATTENTION TO THAT LAST LINE. ;)