girl genius ¹ ≫ young tony stark

sixty eight

POST-SNAP, 2023

UPSTATE NEW YORK

Shelby remembered the first time she'd met Steve Rogers.

He'd been out of the ice for a little over a month when SHIELD brought him to the Stark Industries headquarters in Manhattan. He was dressed like an old man and walked around their building, looking scared and confused at the new technology that surrounded him.

She'd heard stories about the captain from Tony, who'd been told them over and over again by his father. As Shelby prepared to meet him, she didn't think he would live up to the stories.

He did.

He was a lost man out of time, in a city he knew but no longer recognized. The people he once loved were long gone, and everyone around him was a stranger. Yet, he was strong. He was optimistic. He was kind. He was Steve.

Even then, as Shelby sat quietly on Mary's bench, grieving her daughter for the millionth time, Steve Rogers lived up to the stories.

He watched her with an empathetic sort of smile, one that knew the feeling of being lost and alone. He sat next to her on Mary's bench as the others went inside to talk to Tony, silently taking in the scenery of the garden.

"This is a beautiful place," he finally said after a few moments.

"I think so," Shelby replied.

Steve turned to look at her, sadness in his eyes. He and Mary had been close. Despite Steve and Tony's frayed relationship — they'd never really even been friends, more so colleagues — Steve had grown close with both Shelby and Mary. He was a reliable friend, someone they could always count on.

Mary thought the world of him, and she had since the moment they'd met, when she was still a gap-toothed elementary schooler and he'd just been pulled head-first into the twenty-first century.

"Are you going to tell me why you're here?" Shelby asked. "Clearly, you want something from us."

Steve sighed and shook his head, letting out a small chuckle. "There's no sneaking anything past you, is there, Shelby?"

A flicker of a smile crossed her face. "Not in the slightest."

Steve cleared his throat and turned to her, suddenly serious. "There's been a development."

Shelby shook her head and began to stand. "Look, Steve, Tony is retired. He's not going to jet off to fight aliens anymore —"

"I mean about Thanos. About the Snap. We have something new. Something that could work ... but we need Tony, and we need you."

"What do you mean, something that could work?" Shelby asked.

"Something that could reverse it. All of it."

A flicker of hope passed through Shelby's chest, but almost as quickly as it appeared, she shoved it back down. "That's not possible, Cap."

Steve smiled. "That's where you may be wrong. There's someone I want you to meet," he said, gesturing towards the cabin. "His name is Scott Lang."

Scott Lang.

The name echoed in Shelby's brain. Where had she heard it before?

Suddenly, it clicked. Germany. A giant man in an ant suit.

"Your ant friend?"

Steve chuckled and stood, offering a hand to Shelby. "I promise Scott can explain the details better than I can. You know all this science stuff just goes right through my old brain."

Shelby remained seated on the bench, her arms crossed over her chest. "It's optimistic, even for you, Steve. I can't imagine any sound science that would allow this to be possible. You can't reverse what has already happened. You can't go back in time."

The look on Steve's face told Shelby that that was exactly what he and his ant friend planned on doing.

"You can't be serious."

"Shelby, just hear him out, please. You know I wouldn't be asking this of you if I wasn't serious about it. Do it for you. Do it for everyone who lost someone that day. Do it for Mary."

Shelby knew Steve wouldn't have mentioned Mary if he wasn't serious. A lesser person would throw Mary's name around to get what they wanted. But not Steve. That wasn't him.

Shelby took a deep, ragged breath, tears filling her eyes once again. Her heart in her chest suddenly felt so tight that it might burst. She pictured Mary's face in the last moment she'd seen her, grinning over Scrabble. What if she could have her daughter back again?

But what if she couldn't?

"I'll hear him out," Shelby said, standing. "But I will not help, and neither will my husband, unless we are certain that it could work. I don't ... I don't think I have it in me to fail again."

Steve smiled. "That's all I'm asking."

They headed inside to where Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, and Scott Lang sat at the kitchen table with Tony. Shelby was taken aback at the group's rag tag appearance. Natasha's hair was longer than Shelby had ever seen it, streaks of blonde coating the tail ends of it. And Bruce — well, he was green.

They all stood as Shelby and Steve entered the room.

"Dr. Colewell!" Scott's eyes lit up as he met Shelby's face and he eagerly walked over to shake her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, officially. An honor, really, from one electrical engineer to another. I read your paper on —"

"Rogers, please remove your Ant-Man from my wife," Tony said, though a joking smirk danced across his face.

Shelby's eyes drifted to Steve, her eyebrows raised curiously. He had neglected to mention that Scott was also an engineer.

Shelby sat at the table, finding the mug that Tony had offered her before and taking a long sip. It was lukewarm now, but she felt that she would need the caffeine.

"Okay, tell me about your plan."