#I JUST WANNA SIT DOWN W BRUCE AND TALK ABOUT BIG VEHICLES

[hardrockshrimp]

I feel insane I just wanna talk abt trains with Bruce Dickinson

[multiverseofmiracleshq]

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME !!

STAGE I | PART VI ( bring scott back ) → time travel is complicated. especially when you don’t know what you’re doing. still, scott lang was a willing guinea pig and bruce banner had a big brain so it seemed like they at least had to try and see if they could crack the quantum code.

THIS IS THE OFFICIAL COMPLETE CHAT LOG COVERAGE OF THE IC

BRUCE: “Okay, here we go! Time travel test number one!” Bruce stood behind the panels of the machine, checking everything over, making sure they were ready. “Scott-- fire up the uh, the van, thing--” He motioned to the mentioned vehicle in front of them.

SCOTT: Scott approached the set of double doors on Bruce’s orders and popped them open. To say he was nervous was an understatement, but hey, whatever he could do to help, right?

STEVE: Steve came around from the periphery, determination aiding his walk. This was going to work, it had to. “Breakers are set, emergency generators are on standby.” He took his place behind Natasha and Bruce, hands pressed against his hips. He would be lying if he said he didn’t have tension building in his shoulders at the very sight of this experiment.

BRUCE: “Good, because if we blow the grid I don’t wanna lose uh-- tiny here-- in the 1950’s.” Bruce poked a thumb over at Scott, glancing over to see if he was listening while he spoke through gritted teeth.

SCOTT: “Excuse me?” Scott looked up from the helmet he was readjusting, blinking a few times at Bruce incredulously.  

NATASHA:  “He’s kidding.” Natasha didn’t miss a beat, eyes still trained down on the device she was fiddling with. The smile was supposed to soothe Scott, show him that it was okay. Glancing up at Bruce, her smile stayed in place. “You can’t say things like that.” her tone was light and pseudo chiding. 

BRUCE: Bruce turned around, feeling a bit guilty and panicked. “Just-- it was, it was a bad joke--” He did his best to pull it off. But he failed. He hadn’t been joking.

SCOTT: Joke or not, Scott felt the weight of his words as he turned towards the quantum machine, helmet in hand, his life completely out of them.

NATASHA: The smile fell. “You were kidding, right?” Her voice was hushed but urgent.

BRUCE: He leaned down to Nat, his voice as a loud whisper. “I have no idea! We’re talking about time travel here! Either it’s all a joke, or none of it is.” Then without a moment’s hesitation, Bruce turned back to Scott with an all-too-big smile on his face and a thumbs up reassuringly in the air. “We’re good! Get your helmet on!” In theory, this should work. But the truth was that he had no clue what he was doing. “Scott, we’re gonna send you back a week, let you walk around an hour and then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?”

SCOTT: Helmet on, his waved Bruce’s words off. “Perfectly non-confusing.” Because in a time life this, when wasn’t humor necessary? Especially when your body was about to be pulled apart by time itself and flung around like a pin ball machine.

STEVE: He gave a curt nod to Scott, “Good luck.” His voice was clear despite the adrenaline pumping through his veins. “You got this.” Because there wasn’t another option. He knew the moment Scott disappeared his demeanor would fall away, revealing the curiosity --- and fear --- that Steve Rogers felt.

SCOTT: “You’re right.” He gave the cheesiest grin his smile could muster. “I do, Captain America.” And before he could lose his grin, he was snatched back through time.

BRUCE:  Scott when in to the portal-- that was the easy part. Bruce leaned over the control panel, eyes glancing between the van and the switches at his hands, and began a countdown. “Alright in three-- two-- one--” And after a few clicks from the panel, Scott was back. Only, there was something off--

SCOTT: Scott could feel the prepubescence coursing through him. All he could think about was the original Pokémon on Gameboy color and girls. “Uh, guys? --- What’s going on? This—this doesn’t feel right.” 

NATASHA: Oh, hell. Bruce was saying to hold on, Steve was asking questions. Natasha had looked hopeful but now confusion painted her features. “What -- is that -- is that Scott?”

SCOTT: He felt the teen mood swing jilt him as he snapped at Natasha. “Yes it’s Scott!” And then he was pulled back in, forced through time..

BRUCE: Yeah, Scott was a kid. That wasn’t supposed to happen. “W-What’s happening--?” In a panic, Bruce began searching over the controls, trying to figure out what to do. He leaned down, flipping a bunch of switches almost as if he had no idea which one would work, and then sent Scott back in the portal and out again.

STEVE: “What is this?” the normal bravado to his voice had shriveled up. Scott had returned a teen, then an old man. What were they doing? He took off to circle behind Bruce.

SCOTT: “Oh, my back.” He sounded like his old man Georgio on his mother’s side as he clutched behind him, suddenly finding it harder and harder for him to remain standing. What was that warm trickle down his leg?

STEVE: “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he rushed through Bruce’s explanations and excuses. “Can you bring him back?” He stopped when he was next to Natasha; it wasn’t as if approaching the van would solve anything.

BRUCE: And repeat-- lots of switches flipped, buttons clicked. “I’m working on it!” This was definitely not going according to plan. Bruce took one of the screens and gave it a frustrated smack before sucking Scott back in again. He came out as a baby.

NATASHA: Once again the machine moved, once again something that wasn’t right came out. Under normal circumstances the baby would have been cute. Not when it was in Scott’s suit sitting there staring at them.

STEVE: “It’s a baby.” It would be funny if it wasn’t so ridiculous.

BRUCE: “It’s Scott!” Bruce was obviously frazzled. At least the guy they were sending through time wasn’t dead, and it was still him. Some credit was still due.

STEVE: “As a baby!”

BRUCE: "He'll grow!"

STEVE: He turned towards Bruce, “Bring Scott back.”

BRUCE:  Feeling his tension grow, Bruce turned to Nat, motioning her to go. “When I say kill the power-- kill the power!” He waited as long as he could to let her get into place, flipping more switches yet again, and then he was ready. 

NATASHA: “Oh my god.” Natasha was barely breathing as she quickly moved over to the machine and acted on Bruce’s command.

BRUCE: “And-- kill it!” One last time, Scott was out of the portal and as it powered down, they were able to see that the current Scott was finally back.

SCOTT: Scott shot out of the quantum generator on shaky knees, his eyes as wide as his stance.  “Somebody peed my pants,” he exclaimed. 

NATASHA: “Thank god.” Natasha grabbed her chest, fear subsiding.

SCOTT: “But I don’t know if it was baby me or old me.” There was a long pause, Scott still felt pretty shaken up. “Or just me me.”

BRUCE: “Time travel!” Bruce threw his arms up in celebration, finally able to relax since Scott was back alive and well, and they managed to actually accomplish anything at all. The rest of the room was not as enthusiastic, but he didn’t care. 

STEVE: Steve just shook his head, walking away from Scott and Bruce. What an embarrassing failure. Tony had been right.

BRUCE: He continued to be joyful even as they all walked away. “What? I see this as an absolute win!”

STEVE: Steve exited the Avenger’s Institute, both the realization of their failure and the loss of what they could’ve had weighing him down. He stopped just at the edge of the walk before it broke off into the road and let the sunlight bear down on him. They had to find another way.All of his brooding came to a halt as he heard the familiar squeal of an Audi and a stretch of curiosity piqued his interest. The car soared past him, eased onto its brakes, and then inched its way back to where Steve stood. Yup, it was definitely Tony.

TONY:  A dramatic entrance was overdue. Very, very much overdue. Not that Tony kept his cars locked up to collect dust, even now that he lived next to a beautiful lake, because he certainly didn’t. He liked taking them for a drive when he could, and Morgan loved when he drove the two of them along the water when it was nice out. But this was a special occasion. He hadn’t been in this building for years, and part of his still couldn’t believe he was actually back. So, a dramatic entrance was needed. His brakes screeched as he slowed down, just a little too late, and then had to back up to be next to Steve. After rolling down the window, Tony glanced up and did his best not to be smug. “Why the long face? Wait, let me guess-- he turned into a baby.”

STEVE: He let out a hard exhale. “Among other things yeah. What are you doing here?”

TONY: There was a hint of a smirk on his lips as Tony opened the door and exited the car. “It’s the EPR paradox-- instead of pushing Lang through time, you might have pushed time through Lang. It’s tricky. Dangerous.” Tony closed the door, taking a step closer to the other man. “Someone could have cautioned you against it. Or turned you against it.”

STEVE: “You did.”

TONY: “Oh, did I?” Tony feigned surprise, his hidden smirk not so hidden anymore. “Well thank god I’m here. Regardless, I fixed it.” He lifted his hand to show off a device wrapped around his knuckles. “A fully functioning time-space GPS.” He watched Steve’s reaction-- that soft smile enter his features-- and felt himself become both more relaxed and tense at the same time. Pepper was right. He wouldn’t have been able to rest if he hadn’t come here. But being here made him nervous. “I just want peace.” He held up two fingers for a brief moment and then let his hand fall back to his side.

STEVE: He really couldn’t have expressed how much they had needed this, and both the words and the sight of what could have fixed their problem brought a smile to Steve’s face. Also, Tony’s smug attitude was a familiar sight.

TONY: “Turns out-- resentment is corrosive, and I hate it.”

STEVE: “Me too.”

TONY: Tony inhaled and gave Steve a nod. Time to be serious. “We have a shot at getting the stones, but I gotta tell you what my priority is. Bring back what we lost? I hope, yes. But keep what I found? I have to. At all costs.” After everything, there was no way Tony was jeopardizing his family. He pushed himself off of his car where he had been leaning against it and made his way over to Steve. “And-- maybe not die trying. That would be nice.”

STEVE: Steve held is hand out. “Sounds like a deal.”

TONY: There was no hesitation after Steve offered his hand. Tony shook it, feeling a bit more at ease and grateful that even after all this time, the two of them could be standing here together. He smiled, knowing that he had made the right choice in bringing a specific something back for his friend, and motioned for Steve to follow him as he moved to the trunk of his car. After he opened it, he picked up something large covered in loose linens and then dumped the fabric off to reveal the shield. The exact one Steve had dumped at his feet in Siberia. The exact one that had been sitting in his garage for years on end, haunting him. Reminding him of things that had gone wrong. But now it was home. Tony flipped it so the colors were facing Steve and presented it to him.

STEVE: Steve looked at the shield Tony held before him. A lot of memories came with that, a lot of loss and destruction. “Tony, I don’t know.”

TONY: “Why?” It seemed like a no brainer to him. Tony was wrong-- it didn’t belong to Howard. And it sure as hell didn’t belong to him. Besides, they needed a bit of that Cap spirit going forward. “He made it for you. And honestly--” He flipped it again, moving to the slide the bracers on the back onto Steve’s arm. “I have to get it out of the garage before Moran takes it sledding.” And when it was sat right where it should be, Tony let it go.

STEVE: He fit his forearm through the straps, his arm immediately taking the weight of it as if it were merely a memory come to life. He didn’t know what it meant to wield it again, but he knew it felt right. “Thank you Tony.”

TONY:  “Will you keep that a little quiet? Didn’t bring one for the whole team.” Tony teased, grabbing one last thing out of his trunk before closing it.” “We are.. getting the whole team, yeah?”

STEVE: “We’re working on that right now.”