Quantum Test

Tony Stark stood before the lab bench, watching the last drop of pale blue liquid slowly fall from the test tube into the storage vial.

The glass bottle already held about two hundred milliliters of liquid, glimmering faintly under the lights.

He set down the test tube, removed his goggles, and turned to Banner, who sat at the other end of the workbench.

"It's done." Tony's voice was calm, but his eyes shone with a mixture of exhaustion and excitement.

Banner looked up and adjusted his glasses. Strings of data flickered across the monitor before him, every value stable within the safe range. "Stability is ninety-seven point three percent. Energy output fluctuation is below zero point five percent. Tony, we actually did it."

Tony did not respond. He merely stared at the bottle of blue liquid. Forty-eight hours, one hundred and thirty-seven failed attempts, and three accidents that had nearly blown up the entire laboratory. In the end, they had finally cracked the formula Hank Pym had spent decades perfecting.

It was not an exact copy. They had reconstructed its molecular structure using Balder Alloy and created a more stable version.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., calculate the yield," Tony said to the air.

"Sir, based on current raw material reserves, approximately six hundred milliliters of Pym Particles can be produced, enough to support thirty complete round trips through time." The AI's voice rang through the laboratory.

Banner whistled. "Thirty times. Enough to collect the Stones ten times over."

"Assuming we make it back alive." Tony walked over to the coffee machine, poured himself an espresso, and downed it in one gulp.

The laboratory door suddenly opened, and Natasha walked in. She had changed into a black combat suit and dyed her hair back to its signature red. She looked far sharper than she