You sit down on the edge of Natasha's desk as she hangs up the group call. She gives you a quick glance before wiping a tear from her cheek. "Hey," You say gently, "You know we've done worse and come back from it."
"Yeah," Natasha nods, "I know." You hear familiar footfalls coming up the hall and Natasha quickly wipes away any remaining evidence of her tears before Steve appears.
"You know, I'd offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already," He says lightly. You turn around to look at him, a gentle smile on your own lips.
"He's lying," You tell Natasha, "He's a great cook, as long as the recipe exclusively uses the microwave."
"That I can believe," Natasha smiles.
"You know, I saw a pod of whales when I was coming up the bridge," Steve says conversationally.
"In the Hudson?" Natasha asks, surprised.
"There's fewer ships," Steve explains, "Cleaner water."
"You know if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side, I'm about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich," Natasha threatens.
"Sorry," Steve tosses his jacket on a chair and sits down, "Force of habit. How was the slumber party?" You extend your bare feet so he can see the glimmering red paint adorning your toenails.
"Pedicures and all," You tell him, "Honestly, you're kind of ruining the vibe."
"We can work him in," Nat grins, "Little mani, little pedi. Red white and blue, naturally."
"Ha-ha," Steve shakes his head, "I'm glad-" Whatever Steve was going to say is interrupted by a soft crackle, followed by a muffled voice.
"Uh-oh! Hi. Hi! Is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. You wouldn't recognize me."
"What the hell?" You slip past Steve to get a look at the security footage. "What is this?"
"Is this an old message?" Steve demands.
"It's the front gate," Natasha says, rising to her own feet.
"Ant-Man? Ant-Man. I know you know that," Lang continues, "I need to talk to you guys." As if in a dream Natasha slowly presses the door release button, and after a moment of surprise you all watch Lang enter.
Scott stands in the foyer, looking around. "Scott?" You call as you approach, "We thought you were dead. How are you here?"
"It's kind of a long story," Scott replies.
"Come on," Natasha tells him, "We can talk upstairs."
Upstairs Scott paces relentlessly across the floor while the three of you watch him. "Scott, are you okay?" Steve asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine," He replies without stopping. Finally he seems to decide on his next words and he pauses, "Have you ever studied quantum physics?"
You blink in surprise. Whatever you had been expecting him to say definitely wasn't that. "Only to make conversation," Natasha quips in response.
"Alright, so five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the quantum realm. The quantum realm is like it's own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small."
"Your specialty," You add.
"Exactly. Hope, she's my… She was my…" Scott hesitates, "She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."
"I'm sorry," Natasha says gently, "That must have been a very long five years."
"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't," Scott says, "For me it was five hours."
"What does that mean?" You ask slowly, glancing at your two companions.
"See, the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable," Scott looks around suddenly, "Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." Without waiting for an answer he crosses the room and grabs the sandwich, biting off a chunk.
"Scott, what are you talking about?" Steve asks.
"What I'm saying is," Scott says through a mouthful of sandwich, "Time works differently in the quantum realm. The only problem is right now we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it?" He swallows, "What if there was a way to enter the quantum realm at a certain point in time, but then exit at another point in time? Like… Like before Thanos?"
The room is silent for a moment as you all consider his words. Finally Steve breaks it. "Wait, are you talking about a time machine?"
"No, no," Scott says quickly, "Of course not. No, not a time machine, it's more like a…" He pauses. "Yeah… A time machine. I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way… It's crazy."
"Scott, I get e-mails from a racoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore," Nat says, a shadow of a smile on her lips.
"So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asks.
"Wait, wait," You hold up a hand, "Hold on a second. Let's say we can figure out time travel, how does that change anything? We get a second chance to fight Thanos?" You look at Scott, "I know you weren't there, but it wasn't a close fight. We didn't stand a chance."
"It's an idea," Steve sighs, "That's more than we had before."