Ch. 2. Anybody still here?
Scott Lang was pacing in the Avengers compound lounge. Steve and Natasha were looking at him, while waiting for Tony to show up. They haven’t been in much of a contact with Tony after Thanos’ death, but now they had called him to tell that Scott Lang, who had been presumed as vanished, had shown up alive with little to no knowledge of the past six months. That had gotten even Tony’s attentions.
Scott seemed nervous, obviously dying to tell his story while still trying to wrap his head around on everything Steve and Natasha had told him. Finally, the door slipped open with Tony Stark walking in.
“Okay, I’m here.” Tony glanced over the people in the room.
“Nat, Capsicle.” He greeted his former teammates. Then turning to look at Scott.
“Doctor Szalinski, I presume.”
“Yeah, we’ve actually met before.” Scott answered.
“Yes, but this is still somehow our first formal introduction.”
“Scott.” Steve spoke in. “Why don’t you tell us what happened to you.”
Scott began to explain how he had been on a place called quantum realm when the first snap had happened. His complicated explanation of the nature of the quantum realm was cut short by Tony notions that they all obviously understood that he meant a basic theoretical subatomic micro-verse (though Steve and Natasha weren’t as confident about their grasp of the concept). Scott had been stuck there because Pyms had vanished in the snap nobody was there pull him out.
“So, wait. How did you then get out?” Natasha asked.
“That’s where I think out story crossover.” Scott said. “After I got no response from the outside and had been just floating there for a…while. It’s kind of hard to tell the passage of time there, something happened. There was suddenly this huge spectrum of energy that flowed throw the quantum realm. It was like being inside a jet engine made of rainbow. Everything was rambling and then I got blasted out there. I was suddenly growing and the next thing I know is that I’m flying out from the quantum tunnel at the back of my van.”
Scott took break to get drink before continuing. “I was thinking that might’ve had something to do with those stone snaps you were talking about.”
Tony was leaned forward suddenly without saying a word. His eyes were moving quickly as his mind raced.
“Tony?” Steve asked carefully.
“The second snap.” Tony said as he got up.
“Thanos said to you that he had destroyed the stones. But you can’t just simply destroy matter. When he snapped the second time, the stones were destroyed into tiniest of pieces. Reduced into atoms, essentially. The energy released from the stone as they were broken must’ve passed through this quantum realm.”
“So, what does that mean?” Steve asked.
“It means the infinity stones might not be gone for good.”
They all startled and turned to look at the direction of a new voices. Out the corner shadows walked a bald stern looking man.
“Wong?” Tony was first to speak.
“Stark.”
“Tony, you know this man?” Natasha asked.
“He’s one of the Strange’s sorcerer friends. We fought together back in New York.”
Tony turned to look back at Wong. “How did you get in here? I have the most advanced security system on the planet.”
“Really.” Wong mused. “Well, then I guess you need to take your portal detector back to the shop.”
“Okay. What are you doing here, Gandalf?”
“I was looking for you.” Wong answered. “I need talk with Avengers and since you and Banner are the only ones I’ve met, I thought your home was good place to start.”
“I’m sorry, you went to my house?”
“You weren’t there, but your lovely fiancé told me to look from here.”
“Great. Well you if you wanted Avengers, we got three superheroes here plus an Ant Man.”
“Hey!” Came from Scott.
“Yes. I was actually listening your conversation there a bit.” Wong spoke. “And I came to talk about the same topic. Infinity Stones.”
This got attention from all four people in the room. Steve looked at Tony, who seemed be trusting Wong by the looks of it.
“What do you know about the stones?” Steve asked.
“Our order has looked after the time stone for centuries. We have studied the nature of the stones for generations.”
“Yeah, Wong and Strange actually gave me my introduction lesson on the stones.” Tony cut in.
“I’ve gone through the studies of infinity stones in our libraries and come to conclusion that is supported by Mr. Lang’s experience.” Wong explained.
“Which is what?” Natasha asked.
“That when Thanos destroyed the stones, he only destroyed their physical forms.”
“Elaborate, please.” Tony said.
“The stones are manifestations of different aspects of the universe. If Thanos had destroyed them completely, the whole existence itself would’ve started crumble. The mad titan may have reduced the physical stones to atoms, but the essence of each stone still exists somewhere in the universe.”
“Wait.” Steve interrupted. “Does that mean that the power of the stones could still be used?”
“I believe so.” Wong answered. “They could even be compressed back physical objects. Form of the infinity stones has never been absolute. Reality stone existed as liquid until Thanos forged it into a stone.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Could this be it? Had they actually found something that might still help them to turn to situation? The hoped seemed tempting but also dangerous. At this point anything positive seemed too good to be true. Tony was again the first to speak, pointing at Scott.
“You. You’re gonna help me to get into that quantum realm of yours.”
“Why?” Scott asked.
“I don’t know if there is anything here yet. But what I do know is where the stones were when they were destroyed and then they passed through quantum realm. Doing a little tracking there is our best chance to figure out where they went after hitting the bedrock.”
Tony turned to Steve and Natasha.
“I hope you two know where your address books are. If we actually, by some miracle, find something, then you guys need to call up everybody we know who have had something to do with those stones.”
Tony then turned to look at Wong.
“You, magic man, need give a layman’s advance course on what you know about the stones.”
**********************************************A week later. Florida.******************************************************
Natasha stepped out of SUV and walked pass a crime scene tape. There were cops and CSIs still all around. One of the non-uniforms walked up to her.
“Ms. Romanoff? Black Widow?”
“Yes. You’re the agent who called me?”
“Yes. I’m special agent Gyrich from FBI. I called you here because of this scene. A local cartel hot spot that was suddenly struck by last night. No one was left alive.”
“Tragic, but why call me? Avengers don’t usually handle gang violence.”
“This was not a single incident. There have been a few cases in different states, where crime organizations have been struck violently. Doesn’t follow the normal rival gang violence profiles. Almost like they were all personal vendettas. And this time we found something very interesting on the crime scene.”
Agent Gyrich held up an evidence bag. Inside of it was an arrow. Natasha recognized it immediately. Special made carbon fiber arrow.
“I did some digging.” Agent Gyrich said. “And according to our files, Clint Barton is currently on the run after violating his parole.”