"Honey, I want to show you something." Scott calls out to Hope.
"I'm kind of busy right now, Scott." Hope grumbles as he concentrates on designs for his suit.
"That's fine, it can wait." Scott responds, somewhat disappointed. She turns back to her screen.
Hope continues to concentrate on his suit, trying to ignore the disruption. He pulls away at one of the seams, but is having trouble getting it to detach. "Grr... This wouldn't be so much trouble if we had some Stark Tech." He peaks over his shoulder and notices Scott trying to ignore his grumbles.
Scott seems to be tapping and sliding something along a touch screen. Her face looks somewhat flush.
"Alright, fine!" Hope exclaims. "What did you want to show me?"
Scott looks up, a little surprised. "Are you sure?" she asks. "You're not busy?"
"If it'll make you feel better, then show me." He does a hurry up gesture with his hand.
Scott smiles lightly as Hope moves in to see what she is working on. There is a small blue orb in the middle of a red like cloud and streams of black going in various directions. "What is it?" Hope asks, somewhat confused.
"I took the readings from the day I disappeared," She looks up toward Hope to emphasize her point, "more specifically, the moment I disappeared."
Hope looks at Scott with a little concern, but lets her finish.
"You see, this blue, this is me." Scott says pointing at the screen. "This red area, that's Quantum energy. More specifically, the healing energy that we needed. Now, this black area, this is the area that your mother told me to avoid."
"I remember, she said it could be unstable." Hope responded, somewhat interested.
"Exactly, so I did a scan for any anomalies in energy or general changes." Scott started sliding a small scale on the screen that would change the contrast of the screen. "At first I didn't find anything. Originally this area just stayed black, but after tinkering with the program a bit I saw this." The entire screen took on a slight yellowish tint. Some areas of the black turned vibrantly yellow."
"It's just yellow." Hope, comments.
"Now, that's what I thought, but then I noticed something." She zooms into the brightest part. "The yellow seems to dissipate before it reaches the red part."
"Ok?" Hope answers, not sure he understands.
"If it's just a yellow tint, then it shouldn't dissipate. It should just continue unchanged, into the red." Scott says.
"So you're saying something is there?" Hope asks, curiously.
"Not just there. Everywhere!" Scott says excitedly. She points at an orange-red area. "Here, and..." She points at the now blue-green area, "here."
"Are you sure it's not just tinted?" Hope asks skeptically.
"That's what I was wondering also, until this happened."
Scott presses a small play icon on the screen. "Scott, we read you." Hank says, through the speakers "I just wanna make sure." Moments later, the orange red surrounding the blue dot seems to vanish.
"Ok, healing particles secured for our new ghost friend." Scott says in a very deep voice.
"Preparing for entry in five.." Hope is saying, when Scott pauses the recording.
"That's when the snap happens, and by the time you get back on your feet, I am long gone." Scott says, "but if you look at the area where I was at," Scott moves the slider, "I seem to slowly fade out of existence, leaving nothing." Scott turns the screen to Hope.
"I remember Scott, I was there." Hope says a little unnerved.
"Right," Scott responds, feeling a little guilty for reminding him, "But if you look at the area around where I was, there is no longer any yellow either. It's just black." Hope is feeling a little unnerved but continues to listen. "Not just there, but even much further out, the yellow tint seems gone." Scott traces the area around her which is now vibrantly red. "Even part of the energy stream is missing." She points to a faded spot.
Hope raises his eyebrows in curiosity.
"Now, if you look at the readings the following day, when you found me." Scott closes the video and opens another. "There I am, clear as day, surrounded by quantum energy, and if you look here." She points at the yellow stream. "It's faded, almost broken apart."
"Are you saying we absorbed something else?" Hope asks curiously.
"Yes, and not just something." Scott says excitedly. "I think we absorbed time."
"What?" Hope asks, somewhat in disbelief. "That's silly Scott. You can't just absorb time."
"No, it makes sense." Scott protests "Your mother said that time vortexes exist. If they exist, then they must be made of something. Why not time? It would explain how I lost a whole day."
"This doesn't make sense, Scott. Even if we could absorb time, why would you want to?" Hope asks.
"If we can absorb it, then we can manipulate it." Scott says.
"Manipulate it?" Hope asks in disbelief. "Why would you want to manipulate it?"
Scott takes a moment to study Hope's face. She places her tablet on the nearest surface and reaches for Hope's hand. "Hope, my love..." She interlocks fingers with him. "Don't you want to change back. Undo all this?"
Hope takes a moment to remember when he was a woman. A sense of longing for his past body envelopes him. He looks at Scott and remembers when she was a man. He is too ashamed to admit that he prefers Scott as a woman, also. It surprises him that this is the first real moment that he has reflected on what he really wants, and his thoughts begin to confuse him. Realizing that he is reaching a mental conundrum, he forces the ideas out of his head.
"Even if this were true," Hope says, "we have no way of knowing what would happen. It would require tests and a control. This is all based on a hypothesis with very little supporting evidence."
"Hank seems to think it would be worth looking into." Scott says.
"Hank?" Hope seems offended. "You talked to my father about this, and he agreed with you? When was this?"
"Yes, we spoke right after we got back." Scott says, wondering why it's an issue. "She seemed excited about it. She even helped me adjust the sensors."
"And what about mom?" Hope asks, somewhat aggressively. "Did you think to ask her about this? She warned us about messing with the quantum realm."
"We didn't think she'd mind." Scott defends. "I'll be just going back in to collect more energy. No different from the last time, except maybe from a safer distance."
"You want to go back in there?" Hope is sounding legitimately angry now.
"Hope, I'll be safe. We already know what to expect..."
"Absolutely not!" Hope shouts. "Scott, we almost lost you the last time, I can't lose you again!"
"Honey, you're not going to lose me. We'll be careful." She tries to calm him down.
"No!" Hope protests. "After we lost you, I could see the fear and concern in Dad's eyes. I knew it all too well! It was just like when we lost mom."
"Hope, if we can just work together we can..."
"No, I'm gonna put a stop to this right now!" Hope turns away from Scott and stomps out of the lab. Scott follows. A few minutes later, they find Hank and Janet having tea and coffee in their kitchen.
"Why didn't you tell me you were sending Scott back into the Quantum realm?" Hope demands Hank to answer.
Hank and Janet both look up rather surprised at the outburst. Hank seems to regain his composure quickly before answering.
"I assumed it was a given, Honey." Hank says. "We need to collect more particles." She takes a sip of her coffee. "You're welcome to go in her place, if it'll make you feel better."
"Don't you even care about how dangerous it is?" Hope asks.
"It'll be ok." Hank sets down her coffee. "We can do it from a safe distance next time."
"Hope Honey," Janet calls out, "we knew we'd have to go back. With the data we collected, we can make sure we do it more carefully. We can even run some more tests if you're concerned."
Hope looks at his mother and contemplates what he is hearing, before starting to shake his head. "No, that's not what I'm worried about." He looks at his father. "They're not telling you everything, Mom."
Janet looks at Hank in confusion then looks at Scott, then back to Hank. "What is Hope talking about?"
Hank seems confused by the drama, and looks toward Janet. "I'm assuming she's talking about the energy source we found." Hank pauses a second before raising his eyebrows and adding, "Well Scott found it, but I helped."
"What kind of energy?" Janet asks, somewhat curious.
"We're not sure yet," Hank tells her, "but we're hoping to collect more and study it."
"That doesn't sound so bad." Janet says, turning toward Hope.
"They're talking about pulling energy from a time vortex." Hope says.
Janets face turns to concerned. "You can do that?" She asks.
"We don't know if it's from a time vortex." Hank responds. "We need to do more studies."
"But if it is," Scott interrupts, "we could in effect, manipulate time."
The concern in Janet's eyes seems to grow dramatically. "I don't like it. This could be very dangerous, Hank."
"This is just speculation, Janet." Hank says. "There is no proof that this had anything to do with Scott's disappearance, but if it does, we as scientists owe it to the world to study this stuff. This could answer a lot of life's big questions."
"Or it could open the doors to a world of troubles." Janet tells them.
"It could," Hank agrees, "but it's not like this stuff is going to just go away. Someone's going to discover it some day. Why can't it be us?" Janet stays very quiet but there is a clear look of worried fear in her eyes. "We'll be careful, Honey."
"It's not that..." Janet replies. "It's just... Too dangerous."
"Is there something you're not telling us?" Scott asks, picking up on Janet's unexpected hesitation.
"Time vortexes are too dangerous!" Janet snaps. "You have to stay away from them."
"I'm sorry Janet, but doesn't the scientist in you really want to know?" Hank asks. "We could learn how the Universe works. What if we could see into other times? Or prove the existence of another universe?"
"I forbid it!" Janet slams her hands on the table, catching everyone off guard.
Hank is surprised, but remembers that look Janet gets when she is serious. Hank looks down with defeated resignation.
"But what if we could change things, Janet?" Scott asks, oblivious to the sudden air of the room. "Don't you want things to go back to the way they were?"
"The risk is too high!" Janet snaps back.
"But we could change the world! Stop bigger bad things from occurring." Scott protests.
"The answer is no, Scott!" Hope snaps.
Scott Lang looks down in a fluster of emotions. "You don't understand." She pleads. "I can't stay like this. Things haven't been the same."
"Things haven't been the same? Is that what it is?" Hope asks. "You're just being selfish?"
"It's not like that!" She argues back.
"You'd be putting the fate of yourself and us at risk, because you don't want to be a girl." Hope grumbles angrily.
"No, that's not it." Scott protests.
"Then what is it?" Hope demands.
"Scott Honey, you'd be putting more than just us at risk. The entire world, even." Janet looks away as she says this. No one seems to notice.
"Fine," Scott relents. "Just forget about it." She turns to walk away, but Hope grabs her arm.
"No, wait!" Hope says. "Why are you so set on changing back?"
Scott tries to look into his eyes, but she doesn't seem able to. "It doesn't matter."
"No, I have to know." Hope refuses to let go."
"It's okay, Honey." Hank interrupts. "She's just having a hard time with the changes, that's all."
"No! I don't buy that." Hope snaps. "She wasn't acting this way at first. Something else is wrong. What is it?"
"It's nothing." Scott tries to pull away, but hope is still clinging to her arm very hard.
"Don't lie to me Scott! I know when you're hiding something!" He shakes her arm roughly.
"Hope, please." Janet says.
"Don't interrupt!" Hope snaps loudly.
Scott's eyes are closed as she winces in pain.
"Honey! Stop that, Hope!" Hank snaps as she stands up. She grabs Hope's hand and tries to pry it away from Scott's arm. "You're hurting her..." Hank draws attention to his grip.
The reality of the situation finally sets in causing Hope to release Scott like she was a burning piece of metal. He looks down at her arm and can see little cuts from where his nails were digging into her skin. He is about to protest when he notices another small bruise he remembered making the other day. He looks up at Scott wanting to apologize, but the words get caught in his throat. He looks at his female father who is now standing between them protectively, then toward his mother who looks extremely disappointed, worried, and scared. It suddenly dawned on him why Scott was so desperate.
"It's me, isn't it?" Hope asks, afraid of the answer. "You're trying to change me back?"
"Honey, it's been hard on all of us." Hank starts to explain.
"No," Scott interrupts her, "It's true..." She looks up and locks teary eyes with Hope. "I miss you." *Sniff*. "Ever since the changes, you've been someone else..." She wipes her face with the back of her hand, while still cradling her hurt arm. "It's not the you I love. I miss that old you."
Hope wants to insist he is the same, but feels like maybe Scott's right and he should let her finish.
"You were a little strict before," Scott tells him, "but you were loving. Definitely not like this. I don't know who this is, but he's not you."
Hope looks at Hank and asks, "And you two feel the same?"
Hank looks down but still answers. "Honey, you've been handling these changes harder than any of us."
Hope looks at Janet, who nods lightly to imply she agrees.
"So, that's it?" Hope asks. "You all feel the same?" No one answers him. "I didn't expect an intervention." He grumbles before pushing past Hank and Scott to storm out of the dining room.
"Scott..." Hope says, pausing at the door before he leaves. "I'm s..." He turns back to look at Scott. The sight of everyone he loves, standing there disappointed, afraid, and worried hits him hard. Against his better judgment, he continues to be defensive. "I still think it's a terrible idea!" He pushes the door and leaves the room.
"Scott, are you okay, sweety." Hank asks.
"I don't think he broke anything." Scott responds.
"He's right, you know." Janet interrupts. They both look up toward her. "Messing with time is too dangerous for something as selfish as this."
"Can we talk about this later, Honey?" Hank asks.
"No, we can't talk about this later." Janet insists. "I need you to promise me," He locks eyes with Hank, then toward Scott, and finally back to Hank. "you won't mess with time."
"We won't, okay." Hank responds, annoyed that this is still an issue.
"It's okay, Janet." Scott replies. "I promise." She rubs her arm. "Scott and I, won't experiment with time."
Janet studies their faces for a moment before accepting their answer. "I'll see if I can get some ice." She says as she stands up.
***A few days later***
Bruce walks into the lab. She is wearing an oversized blazer, t-shirt, and slacks. The lab is looking messier than usual, but she finds Tony exactly where she expected. He is hunched over, working on the same engine that he's been working on for nearly a month.
"Hey Tony, how're you doing?" Bruce asks.
Tony looks up and lightly frowns. "Busy!" is all he says.
"Tony, you need to take a break." Bruce tells him. "You've been at this non-stop. You'll exhaust yourself."
"Exhaustion helps me think," Tony responds.
"You can't ignore me forever Tony. We need to talk."
"About what?" Tony asks. "This?" He points up and down at Bruce's body. "I'm happy for you. I already told you that."
"Not about me, Tony." Bruce responds. "About everything." She waits for Tony, but he keeps working. "About you and Pepper?"
"I don't want to talk about that." Tony says, turning on the engine he's working on. While still loud, it's fairly quiet compared to any other engine of its size. "It's none of your business." Tony mutters, too low for Bruce to hear.
"Come on, Tony." Bruce pleads loudly. "You can't keep it all bottled in forever. You know this."
"You sure you're not just looking for help falling to sleep." Tony asks, turning the engine up a little higher.
"I won't fall asleep Tony." Bruce has to shout now. "I promise."
Tony isn't listening; he is studying the readouts for his engine. "It's still not small enough." He grumbles to himself. Bruce looks around the room and studies the mess. She seems to spot what she is looking for as she walks away. Tony continues to distract himself with work. After a few seconds, there is a loud crash and Tony turns off the engine to see what Bruce is doing.
"If that wasn't already broken, I'd have charged you for it." Tony scolds Bruce who seems to be pushing random parts and electronics away from the lounge area.
"I'm sorry Tony." she responds while lifting what looks like a piece of Ultron and tossing it on the large growing junk pile. There was a long circular lounge seat under the mess. Bruce grabs a nearby rolling desk chair and pushes it nearby. "There, that's better." she says.
"What are you doing?" Tony asks her.
"Have a seat Tony." Bruce gestures toward the lounge chair. "It'll be just like old times."
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable confiding in you anymore." Tony protests.
"Could you try Tony? Please?" Bruce gives him a sad look. "For me?"
Tony studies her watery eyes, soft curls, and petite figure hidden in the mass of oversized clothes. "Nope, still not comfortable enough."
"Okay fine!" she grumbles. "How about if I look like this?" Bruce's height begins to change and in a matter of moments she has reverted back to her male form. The suit he is wearing suddenly makes sense as it fits perfectly now. His hair is still long though.
Tony studies Bruce for a long moment before responding. "If I sit down, will you at least tie your hair back or something? I think we have a cap somewhere around here."
"That's fine, Tony." Bruce tries to hide his relief while he digs in his pockets for a hair tie.
Tony quickly crosses the room to the lounge chair and plops himself down. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?"
"That's not how this works Tony." Bruce responds, tying his hair back. "You're supposed to tell me what's bothering you."
"You mean besides you?" He looks up toward Bruce who is halfway to sitting down. He looks somewhat hurt. "I'm sorry, Bruce. I didn't mean that." Tony turns away and leans back. "I'm just so stressed out lately."
"Why are you stressed out?" Bruce asks.
"I'm stressed out at everything and everyone." Tony grumbles. "Nobody seems to know what they want. Aside from you, of course."
Bruce seems to think he picked up a hint of sarcasm, but decides to ignore it.
"And what does everybody want?" Bruce asks.
"That's just the thing!" Tony throws his hands in the air. "They don't know. It's like everyone turned into hormonal teens. Nobody wants to fix things, they just want to deal with their own childish personal problems."
"And you think Pepper's problems are personal and childish." Bruce realizes he shouldn't have asked that, a moment too late.
"Yes!" Tony answers loudly. "She doesn't know what she wants. She's so pumped up full of testosterone that she's forgetting she's a woman, my wife."
"Are you sure you're not pushing your ideals on her?" Bruce asks, against her better judgment.
"Hey, I thought I was speaking here, not you." Tony counters. "That's how this works!"
"I'm sorry, Tony." Bruce says. "Please continue."
"I just feel like, if everyone could change back, even for just a moment, they'd all realize how wrong they are." Tony looks up toward Bruce to see a somewhat hurt and upset face. "That came out wrong. I meant, if everyone could change back, they can see if they're wrong or not."
Somehow Bruce feels like Tony just lied about his feelings, but he decides not to pry.
"So you want everyone to have a choice?" Bruce asks, hoping this is where Tony is going.
"No..." Tony responds. "And yes... I don't know." He looks at Bruce again. "I just want them to be sure, and..." Tony looks down at the floor thinking for a second. "I just want my wife back."
Bruce can see what looks like a moment of realization come across Tony's face. He waits for Tony to assemble his thoughts.
"Is that selfish?" Tony asks.
Before Bruce can say another word they are interrupted by a loud doorbell chime. Both Bruce and Tony jump.
"This place has a doorbell?" Bruce asks.
"Yes, but I never expected anyone to use it." Tony says, pushing himself off the lounge chair and rushing to the nearest door panel. "Hello, this is a private residence." Tony says, into the panel. A small screen pops up with a familiar looking attractive woman.
"Hello, is this the Avengers compound?" The woman asks. "I mean, I know it's the Avengers compound, but I was hoping to speak to an Avenger." The woman sounds uncertain. "Tony Stark, if that's possible."
"Tony Stark and the Avengers are out of the office right now, please leave a message after the beep." Tony says, pressing a button on the intercom. Bruce can't help but frown at Tony's behavior.
"Oh, okay." The woman responds. "Uh, Tony Stark. This is Scott Lang, Ant-Man. We met at the airport... and in space... Anyway, I'm just calling to let you know, I may have a way of fixing everything."
"I didn't realize the building had structural damage." Tony jokes as he snacks on a handful of nuts. Bruce gestures for him to shush.
"Listen," Scott Lang continues, "I know this sounds crazy, but back when all this happened..." She thinks about what to say for a second. "I mean the boy and girl thing, that is. I was in a place called the quantum realm." Scott moves closer to the camera, as if she thinks they cannot hear her. "Perhaps you've heard of it. It's when you get really tiny, like the size of atoms."
Tony stops snacking for a second, looks at his engine, then looks at the intercom, now interested.
Scott shakes her head, and tries to get back on topic. "Anyway, when the snap happened, I was down there, and it didn't affect me."
Tony furls his brow, thinking about what he is hearing.
"Everyone else was affected," Scott continues, "but I was completely fine. Then when they pulled me out, it was twenty-four hours later, and that's when the changes took effect."
Tony's eyes start darting around the room as he thinks about these new details.
"Oh, I should probably add, only a few seconds passed for me, but a whole day passed for you. So, I might have time traveled." Ant-man continues to ramble but he seems to have gotten both Tony's and Bruce's attention. They both look at each other trying to understand what they are hearing.
"I don't know if it's possible, but I don't know who to turn to for help." Scott steps away as if preparing to leave. "We may have found a way to collect and manipulate time, maybe change things back..." She thinks about what she is saying some more then begins to step away. "It's stupid, I know." She turns away and begins walking toward her van.
"Ms. Lang? Ant-Man or whatever." Tony is at the intercom now pressing the two way button. "Wait right there. I'll be right up to speak with you." He runs off to the door before Scott can answer.