Athena || Peter Parker

Tony

"Scott. Thena. Are you okay?" Steve asked finally, after their trading of stories Athena had gotten more determined to bring everyone that was snapped back. She knew she'd never be able to live with herself if she didn't bring Peter, Bucky and the rest of them back. 

Right then Scott and Athena were whispering theories while pacing, their theories had started when they gotten out of the Quantum Realm and now it seemed more and more plausible. 

"Yeah, we're fine" Athena answered. 

Scott was about to ask something but thought better of it, Athena motioned for him to continue though, so he blurted it out. 

"Have you ever studied Quantum Physics?"

"Only to make conversation." Natasha answered, but Athena knew she was smarter than she gave herself credit. Athena had heard about how Nat had tricked the god of mischief. 

"Alright. So... five years ago, right before Thanos, I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Somehow Thena entered it too, but a few days after me. Hope, she's my... She was my..." Scott paused, struggling to not tell the entire truth about their relationship, so Athena stepped in. 

"She was supposed to pull him out. And then Thanos happened, and he got stuck in there... and later I joined him"

"That must've been a very long five years." Natasha said, but she stared at Athena... if it had been five years... how come Athena looked the same?

"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours." Scott stopped pacing. "And then an hour or so later... this pod appeared and I saw Iron man's suit except it wasn't Iron Man- it was Thena"

Steve and Nat shared a quick bewildered glance. 

"The rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable" Athena told them. "So for the first hour that Scott was in the Quantum Realm- it was about ten days in real time... then the next four hours were five years- I know it doesn't make any sense."

"Is that somebody's sandwich? I'm starving- I'm sure Thena is too" Scott said as he picked up two halves of a peanut butter sandwich, offering one half to Athena who accepted it. 

"Where are you going with this?" Steve asked. 

"What I'm saying is, 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?"

Athena stepped in, "What if we could enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point of time... and then exit at another point of time- Like before Thanos and.." Athena's voice broke so she stopped letting the two in front of her think it over. 

"Wait, are you talking about a time machine?" Steve asked. 

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a..." Athena cut Scott off again, 

"Yeah, a time machine"

" I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way... There's gotta be...some w... it's crazy." Scott spoke. 

"Scott, I get e-mails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore." Somehow Nat said it with a straight face which made Athena's mouth curve upwards. 

"Did you say talking raccoon?" Steve nodded. "I met his friends.."

"You really think you can pull this off?" Steve asked Athena who was basically like his daughter by now. 

"Theoretically, but for the materials and... I think I might need another mind" Athena admitted. "I mean I need Tony... no one else" 

"He would want to meet you too" Steve smiled. 

.....

Athena got out of the car and stared at the beautiful cabin where Tony lived, she saw him walking back toward the house, but when he saw her he froze. He had a small girl in his arms. which Athena guessed was his daughter. 

Good... he deserves this

"Tony" Athena greeted. Her walk turned into a jog and then into a run as she flung her arms around Tony who had let the girl stand next to him. Tony wrapped his arms around the teenager and might have gotten a bit teary eyed, though he would never admit it to anyone. 

"Thena... but how?" Tony asked as he took his daughter's hand. 

"My pod disconnected... I thought I would never see you again- any of you... and I entered the Quantum Realm where I met Scott and we have this plan, but it can wait." Athena rambled, "I'm so sorry I didn't speak to you or Nebula after Titan... It's just Peter and-"

"It's okay, all that matters is that you're alive" Tony smiled at her, he seemed older, which he obviously was. Five years had greyed his hair and gave him some new wrinkles but he was still the same Tony. 

"This is Morgan by the way, say hi Moguna" He pointed to his daughter, who shyly lifted a hand. 

"Hi Morgan, I'm Athena" 

"Thank God I didn't name her after you- I almost did though" Tony admitted. 

"Tony, we have a lot to talk about" Steve spoke up. 

.....

"Now, we know what it sounds like..." Scott started, he knew Tony wasn't convinced with their plan. 

"Tony, you know me. I wouldn't have given this idea if it wasn't plausible" Athena tried. 

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony said. Athena looked at the other's confused faces and elaborated. 

"Which means we might not come home if we mess with time" 

"How you two survived is still a mystery- It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?" Tony paused for a lack of appropriate word.

"A time heist?" Scott asked, he was clearly proud of coming up with the name. 

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?"

"The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them."Scott said. 

"And then bring them back to the exact point in time we took them from so no branches of alternate realities" Athena added.

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back." Natasha said. 

" Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony countered.

"I don't believe we would." Steve looked at Tony with pleading eyes, this was his chance to get Sam back- to get Bucky back. 

"Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise." Tony was still unconvinced. 

"Listen Tony- we don't want you to come with us... just help me, yeah I admit I might need your help" Athena pleaded. "I lost my dad Tony, and P-P" Athena didn't need to speak more though because she couldn't. 

"You're gonna pull the Parker card? Really?" Tony's expression grew guarded and cold. 

"I'm not pulling any card... just- I need to get them back Tony. I understand that you've got your family, now I need my own."

Tony paused, he seemed to be calculating something and then spoke up, "I'll think about it... but only for you Thena, and only if you stay for dinner" 

"Of course" Athena smiled. 

"But thinking's not gonna-" Scott was cut off my a small jab to his stomach courtesy of Athena. 

"Why don't you guys explore other options... while I- stay here?" Athena suggested.