Hang In There// P.P.

Chapter 44: Inverted.

The following weeks were ones of intense training and practice. If I was to set everything right by manipulating time, then it needed to be done right, after all the fate of half the Earth depended on it. But as more weeks went by it seemed less and less likely that it was going to work, there was just no telling how we were going to solve the problem.
It was a long day at the Avengers Compound, another full day spent trying to figure out how to bring everyone back. Yes, I could manipulate time. Yes, I could control it to a certain degree. Yes, I could reverse things that had been done. Did that solve our problem? Absolutely not.

It was around five when Tony came into the lab to find me surrounded with various sheets of paper, some crumpled up into balls, others not.

"Hey, kiddo, what's all this?"

He motioned to the paper that carpeted the lab floor.

"Different solutions-"

I paused, searching for a specific page.

"But then I had a thought."

I handed him the page. His brows furrowed as he read it.

"Time travel?"

"I can tell by the look on your face that you think I'm crazy, but please just hear me out."

He motioned for me to explain.

"Okay, so, we thought that we had to rewind time in order to undo what Thanos did, right?"

Tony nodded.

"But then, after some thinking, I realised-"

I shuffled through some papers until I found the one with all the information about the Stones scribbled across it.

"It wasn't Thanos that was the problem, it was the Stones. Without them he couldn't have done what he did. The Snap never would have happened."

"So, you're saying that we need the Stones?"

"Exactly."

"Sof, Thanos destroyed them five years ago. They're gone."

"Oh, I know."

"How can we get something that doesn't exist?"

I chuckled at him.

"For a genius you're quite slow."

I hopped off the table, handing him yet again another page, tapping it with my pen as I began to explain.

"A list of all the sightings of the Stones in the Avengers' history. If we can manipulate time to go back to these times and collect the Stones, create our own 'snap', we could bring everyone back. Reversing what Thanos had done."

Tony sat on the stool behind him, holding the bridge of his nose as his mind ran wild with thought.

"This is a long shot, you do know that right?"

"But you think it'll work?"

"The logistics, yes. The physics? That's another story."

"I'll figure it out. Mr. Stark, I'll do anything to bring them all back. If there is even the slightest chance that this will work, then I'm gonna do everything I can to make it work."

"You mightn't have anything left to lose, but I.....I have everything right now, and I'm not gonna risk it."

He held the file of papers in his hand as he placed them on the lab table. My heart sunk.

"So, you're not gonna help?"

"The reason I'm here was actually to let you know that Pep was hoping you'd join us for dinner, not to create a time machine."