𝕻𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖚𝖑𝖚𝖒 - [𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲]

𝐱𝐥𝐢. 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐎𝐍𝐄 — shut the front door

━━━━━━━

 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐓, 𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 Nebula had combined their prowess and knowledge to create the perfect suit that would allow each of them to traverse the Quantum Realm without any negative effects; Emilia and Tony had dropped by here and there, a sandwich in hand as they gave their tinkering a break.

 The design was, as ever, quite flashy. Stark white crawled over the arms and legs, ebony covered the underarms, abdominal area as well as the inner thigh, and here and there were traces of reflective red. Tony had very obviously been a big part of the design process, yet surprisingly had forgone his familiar splash of gold.

 With both The tunnel and the suits complete there was but one thing left to do; a test run.

 The role of guinea pig had originally fallen upon Scott Lang's shoulders; the man had smiled and nodded as he rose his hand high into the air, pronouncing that he would be the one to go, after all, he'd done it before there was just another, extra step.

 That plan had crumbled rather quickly when Bruce, Scott and Rhodey had begun to discuss the intricacies; pulling reference after reference from any movie they could think of — particularly Back to the Future. From the butterfly effect — which Bruce had quickly rebutted — to meeting one's past self; Scott had crumbled under the pressure and begged for somebody else to take his place; Clint Barton had stepped up without hesitation.

 The man had been far too nonchalant about the entire process, accepting every warning and tip that the others had given him with a simple nod of the head. He had watched almost lazily as the suit crawled over his body, sealing him away from whatever dangers he was to face.

 Now, he stood at the very centre of the new and polished Quantum Tunnel. In his mind, it was a win-win process; he'd either travel back in time, catch a glimpse of his wife and children only to return with the means necessary to bring them home, or everything would explode in his face without him even knowing. He'd either have his family back in his arms or his grief and heartache would stop like the snap of a finger.

 Emilia was behind the controls with Bruce Banner at her side as they screwed their faces in concentration and flicked a switch here, and pressed a button or two there. Emilia's stomach twisted and turned, and she was almost certain her lunch was in her throat, or perhaps it was her hammering heart; if this worked, they'd have a real shot at collecting the stones and bringing everybody home where they belonged.

 She shook her head, drawing a small look of concern from Bruce as she swatted those thoughts away. Emilia couldn't allow herself to be sucked into a spiral of hope. Her fingers paused above the buttons, eyes glossing over each number, each switch and lever; they were in place. The test was ready to go.