The Tempestuous Laboratory and Leisurely Holiday Time

Tony practically dragged and pulled Chen Tian into the cabin of the "Silver-Winged Ferocious Star".

"Hiss!" The hatch slammed shut, shutting out the smoke from the restaurant and the despair in Vergil and Ban's eyes.

"Takeoff! Friday! Destination: Pym Laboratory! Full speed ahead!" Tony slumped in the pilot's seat, panting as he fiddled with the charred, smoking "Tomato Charcoal Medal" on his chest.

"Damn... this smells even stronger than when Happy and I practice boxing!"

Chen Tian slumped in the passenger seat, let out a long sigh, and glanced at the porthole with lingering fear, as if he could still see 2B's indomitable blue eyes.

"Thank you, Tony, for saving my life."

"Don't mention it!" Tony waved his hand dramatically. "A second later, and we'd be the next 2Bs to taste 'artistic fried eggs'! Good heavens, that thing..."

He made an exaggerated gagging sound. "What haven't I, Tony Stark, seen? The Chitauri Army? The Justice League? A piece of cake! But 2B's fried eggs? I feel that if Superman's execution had been changed to 2B's 'food tasting party,' the scene might have been even more gruesome! Chen! Did she mistake engine oil for cooking oil?"

Chen Tian nodded frantically, his stomach churning at the thought of that "battle-damaged fried egg".

"Believe me, I'm desperate too. 2B is perfect everywhere, except in the kitchen! The smell... it's like a concentrated version of Hell's Kitchen!"

"More like biological weapon concentrate!" Tony rubbed his face. "Seriously, for everyone's sake, and to prevent your kitchen from needing another explosion-proof upgrade," he lowered his voice, "Should we send 2B to Dog Egg's for some training? His 'Even a dog wouldn't eat that!' line was practically tailor-made for her!"

Chen Tian imagined 2B standing expressionlessly in front of the roaring Gordon, his lips twitching.

"Tony ...are you sure Dog Egg's heart can withstand 2B's 'art'? I'm afraid he'll end up in the ICU on the spot! And," he shrugged, "Her obsession with 'perfect food'... Dog Egg might explode with rage!"

"Tsk, yeah." Tony stroked his chin regretfully. "What a great plan...it's just a shame for Vergil and Ban's stomachs. Ha! Just thinking about those two usually aloof people looking like that, their expressions completely falling apart, makes me laugh all day." Tony chuckled gleefully.

"That's right," Chen Tian slumped in his chair, looking at the white clouds outside the window, feeling relaxed and at ease. "As long as it's not us who suffer. Let them enjoy the 'breakfast of love'." He carelessly tossed the two of them into culinary hell.

The two cheerfully (and slyly) complained about 2B's terrible cooking and kitchen disasters, with Tony even projecting a "foolproof AI cooking system" to claim it would solve the problem.

The engines of the "Silverwing Fiendstar" hummed as it began its descent, and the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge came into view.

"Coming soon, Boss, Mr. Chen," F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced.

As the Golden Gate Bridge gradually comes into view...

Tony suddenly slapped the dashboard and burst out laughing, "You know what, Chen? I just remembered something interesting— Hank Pym might be the only person in the entire universe who thinks the Stark family isn't smart enough."

"After all, your dad back then..." Chen Tian was interrupted by Tony before he could finish speaking.

"Oh! That classic story!" Tony waved his arms exaggeratedly. "Howard Stark, the technological genius of World War II, one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D.. —was branded a 'plagiarist' just for trying to study the Pym Particles!"

He mimicked Pym's signature roaring tone, "The Quantum Realm is beyond the comprehension of you circuit-playing nouveau riche!"

As Chen Tian watched the laboratory complex drawing ever closer through the porthole, he suddenly noticed a prominent sign on the roof: [Stark Family members and dogs not allowed].

He raised an eyebrow and pointed in that direction. "Looks like the hatred level has escalated again?"

"Ha! This wasn't even here last week!" Tony whistled. "The last time I saw him, he kicked me off his lawn because he said my Eclipse armor was ugly and I mocked his suit for looking like a vintage wetsuit..."

On F.R.I.D.A.Y., someone suddenly interjected, "Boss, do I need to remind you that you said, 'Even sci-fi comics from the 1950s wouldn't dare use such an outdated design for this thing,' right?"

"Shut up, Friday!" Tony glared at the top of the cockpit. "That old man is as stubborn as Vibranium; he even sent people to secretly film the Quantum Laboratory I built in the basement."

"That old man definitely installed Anti-Stark Radar on the roof." Tony controlled the Silver-Winged Ferocious Star into Shizune stealth mode and slowly hovered above Pym's house, looking at Chen Tian.

"Tell me, how are we going to meet that old guy now?" Tony swiveled his chair and looked at Chen Tian.

"Emmm... After opening his fence gate, go to his front door and politely knock?" Chen Tian said, tilting his head in thought.

"A polite knock?" Tony scoffed. "You think you're going to your neighbor's to borrow candy? That's Hank Pym! That old man's mouth is more venomous than Natasha's Scarlet Needle!"

He grabbed Chen Tian, who was about to jump off the plane. "Listen, the old man's first words will definitely be 'Stark's lackey?' and the second will be 'You nouveau riche circuit enthusiasts...'"

"The third sentence, 'Get off my lawn'?" Chen Tian interrupted him with a laugh. "Don't worry, I'm not from your Stark Family."

Tony released his grip, his eyes suddenly lighting up. "Wait... you're definitely not from the Stark family." He grinned mischievously as he opened the hatch. "Remember to keep smiling, until he starts calling Tony Stark that megalomaniac—"

Chen Tian walked to the cabin door, turned to look at Tony, and said, "Don't worry, I'll curse you along with him."

With that, he leaped out of the hatch and landed steadily on the lawn of Pym Laboratory.

Tony immediately slammed his fist on the seat and yelled, "Friday! Record it from all angles! I'm going to turn the moment Chen Tian broke down into a meme!"

Before Chen Tian could even knock, the door was opened, and Hank Pym walked out with a grim face.

Chen Tian was about to speak--

"Halt!" Pym held up a remote control. "There are miniature mines on the lawn, specifically for blowing up Stark's lackeys!"

Tony in the cabin was laughing so hard he was slapping his thigh, "Hahaha, a royal flush right from the start!"

Chen Tian calmly pulled a USB drive from his pocket. "Pym, this is a security vulnerability report from Tony Stark Quantum Laboratory."

Pym's cursing stopped abruptly, and Tony's smile froze on his face, "What?! Chen Tian, you—"

"Including all the failed data on his reverse engineering of the Pym Particles," Chen Tian added with a smile. "In exchange, can we talk about cooperation?"

Pym narrowed his eyes, then suddenly flashed his first smile in decades at someone "related to Stark": "Interesting... Come in, kid."

"Friday! Turn off the recording! Now!" Tony jumped up and down in the cabin, furious. "That traitor! I'm going to lock him and 2B's fried egg in the same room!"

"Sorry, Boss, your expression of emotional breakdown has been uploaded to the 'Strongest Arbitrators' group chat and made into a GIF, which has been posted on your social media."

"Damn it!!! Friday!!!! You're a traitor too!!!!"

The living room of Pym was filled with the smell of old books and coffee beans.

He fiddled with the USB drive filled with "dirt" from Tony's lab, and unlike his cold, glaring attitude towards Tony, he actually smiled, "This thing... has good taste."

He looked up, his gaze sharp. "But if you want Pym Particles? Forget it."

Chen Tian picked up his coffee cup—carefully avoiding all the red buttons—and smiled, "Particles? No. I want to talk about the world behind the door."

He put down his cup, tapped his fingertip lightly on the table, and said, "That Quantum Realm that can make people shrink or grow, even... travel through time and the universe."

Pym raised an eyebrow, a mixture of wariness and interest in his eyes. "Oh? The Stark family's little lackey is actually interested in theoretical physics? Instead of figuring out how to fit my technology into his shiny tin can?"

"Let me correct you, Doctor," Chen Tian corrected, his tone relaxed, "First, I'm a partner, not a lackey. Second, my interest in the 'Tin Can' is limited to watching Tony ram it into a wall."

He leaned forward slightly. "The key is 'travel'. A stable, controllable passage that can be precisely anchored to another point in time or cosmic coordinates..."

Pym snorted, but his eyes brightened slightly. "Quite ambitious. What kind of spell has Stark cast on you? Or perhaps..."

He scrutinized Chen Tian. "Your 'The Snap' that could turn ruins back to their original state, in itself, allowed you to see... more?"

Chen Tian simply responded with a meaningful smile, tacitly agreeing.

"Hmph..." Pym leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers impatiently on the armrest. "The Quantum Realm isn't a sightseeing tunnel! It's chaotic, dangerous, and full of unpredictable turbulence! Just wandering around there? Theoretical models are a few pieces of waste paper, though."

He paused for a moment, as if weighing something, but ultimately, his recognition of Chen Tian's strength and his fondness for Tony Black's information prevailed.

"... It's like trying to navigate precisely to a cheeseburger joint in Queens in a parallel universe using a map that's been scratched to pieces by a cat—and you have to specify the exact cheeseburger that Tony Stark choked to death on!" he sarcastically remarked.

Pym was still gesturing wildly, spittle flying everywhere. "... Even if you manage to force your way in! The biggest problems are anchoring and closing the loop! How do you come back? How do you make sure you don't come back as a grumpy old man with a beard longer than mine, or even a baby still drinking milk?"

"The time turbulence in that godforsaken place is even crazier than the traffic in the Big Apple City! Your body's gone, but time flows through your veins more erratically than the Pacific Ocean! Not to mention how to complete that damned closed loop, how to prevent the whole timeline from becoming like a ball of yarn played with by a cat—"

"--Use 'Time Anchor'."

A voice suddenly broke in.

Pym instantly turned around like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his fur standing on end. He saw Tony leaning casually against the living room door frame, tossing a miniature energy core in his hand.

"Friday's stealth coating is pretty good, isn't it? Old man, your Anti-Stark Radar needs an upgrade." Tony grinned.

"You! Get out of my house! Now! Immediately!" Pym's face flushed red instantly, and he grabbed the antique coffee cup beside him, ready to smash it.

"Wait, Doctor!" Chen Tian quickly stood up, grabbed Pym's hand holding the cup, and cleverly stepped between the two of them, giving Tony a wink. "Go on with your 'Time Anchor,' Tony."

Pym was so angry his beard trembled, but Chen Tian's obstruction and those damned words "Time Anchor" made him stop in his tracks. He just stared at Tony with murderous eyes.

Tony Earth Flow nonchalantly and casually swiped his hand across the center of the living room.

On F.R.I.D.A.Y., an extremely complex holographic structure was immediately projected, with countless light filaments intertwined and forming a dynamic Möbius Loop. "Simple," Tony snapped his the Snap, and a stable blue dot lit up at the core of the Möbius Loop.

"We'll build a hyperdimensional anchor generator, not one of those temporary ones embedded in a suit, but a 'lighthouse' fixed at the entrance to the Quantum Tunnel. It continuously emits a spacetime coordinate beam at a specific frequency. No matter how long we've been jumping around in the past, as long as we follow this 'light' back, the time flow perceived by our bodies... well,"

He pointed to a separate time-flow simulation beside him, "It's like shielding this turbulent flow outside the external protective shield, only retaining the 'journey' that our consciousness experienced. The body? Always in the 'present' of the entrance coordinates."

He paused, looking at the barely suppressed but undying curiosity in Pym's eyes, and added with a wicked grin, "As for the time loop? Old man, remember you saying it's like finding a burger joint using a crappy map? Simple, set the starting point (now), the ending point (a precise coordinate in the past), and the mission objective (like, eating that damn burger) -- then the 'lighthouse' will guide us the whole way, ensuring we move along a closed-loop 'pipeline,' go out, grab something, come back, and the pipeline disappears automatically, leaving no trace."

(The concept of Quantum Tunnel, time travel, and time travel is based on my post on Baidu Tieba's Avengers 4 Alliance titled "Explaining Why Avengers: Endgame Doesn't Have a Time Paradox or the Butterfly Effect," which I wrote with reference to this post. So it has no scientific basis whatsoever, just take it as entertainment.)

He raised his chin defiantly. "Theoretically, this is much easier than navigating to the hamburger that's going to choke you."

A brief silence fell over the living room, broken only by the faint hum of the holographic projection's light filaments.

Pym stared intently at the animated model, his lips moving silently a few times.

He suddenly grabbed the untouched cup of coffee in front of Chen Tian, took a big gulp, and then slammed the cup down heavily on the table, instantly creating several cracks at the bottom.

"Hmph!" He snorted, his sharp gaze sweeping over Tony's face. "A naive, simplistic model! It's riddled with flaws! What about the energy supply? What about shielding against interference from high-dimensional spacetime tides? What about calculating the stability threshold of the closed-loop system?! This Stark brat, all he can do is draw pretty sketches!"

He stood up abruptly, his back to the two men, his shoulders heaving slightly with suppressed excitement. "... However," his voice trailed off, tinged with an extremely reluctant awkwardness, "The entry point... the direction... is barely... worth discussing." The last few words were practically squeezed out between clenched teeth.

Tony's smug smile, which seemed to say "I'm the smartest person in the world," instantly stretched to his ears. He winked at Chen Tian: See? The old man's tempted!

Pym stared intently at the intricate light filament structure on Tony's projection, his nostrils flaring as if he had caught a whiff of some top-tier bait but was resisting the urge to pounce.

He whirled around, his eyes, capable of piercing through the quantum fog, fixed on Chen Tian: "Kid, why did you go back? Or rather... why did you open that passage? Don't tell me it's just that this little Stark brat wanted to taste the cheeseburgers of his grandfather's era!"

The living room fell silent instantly. Tony, hands in his pockets, his smugness vanished, and he looked at Chen Tian, raising an eyebrow—was he really going to say something?

Chen Tian shrugged. "Just tell him. Hank isn't some meddlesome old fogey." He gestured with his chin toward Tony.

Tony took a deep breath and turned to Pym: "Old man, look out the window."

Pym frowned, glancing instinctively at the peaceful San Francisco street scene outside the window.

"Think again," Tony's voice deepened slightly, "Gotham's Batman, the destruction of Metropolis, and that... the 'Injustice' captured by us Arbitrators."

Pym's pupils suddenly contracted! "What do you mean?"

Tony scoffed. "Didn't you notice that many of these memories seem to have been forcibly crammed into our heads? Hank, we're all involved in cutting-edge physics; you should have sensed something's off about this world!"

Chen Tian picked up the thread. "Reality is like a tattered rag forcibly sewn together. Gotham, Metropolis, Injustice... they shouldn't be here. We live in a world forcibly 'stitched together,' riddled with flaws and chaotic rules. Collapse is only a matter of time."

"So you're going to travel through time?" Pym's voice was hoarse.

Tony timely spread his hands, giving way to Chen Tianyi: "Old man, the idea about how to safely drill holes in timelines or parallel universes wasn't mine," he gestured towards Chen Tian, "It was him."

Chen Tian did not hesitate at all. He casually raised his right hand, his five fingers slightly spread.

Buzz--

Five dazzling lights suddenly shone, spinning lightly on his wrist like a star ring!

Space, Mind Stone, reality, power, and time—five primordial elements intertwine and flow, radiating a breathtaking and powerful energy fluctuation.

Pym gasped, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. His previously hunched back straightened instantly, and he stammered as he pointed at the light, "This... this is...?!"

"The Infinity Stones, Doctor." Chen Tian's voice sounded exceptionally calm under the brilliance of the stones. "The energy crystals from the beginning of the universe. The Space Stone allows me to go anywhere I know where I am; the Mind Stone excels at manipulating minds; the Reality Stone can rewrite the rules; the Power Stone can destroy a planet with a single punch..."

He flicked his wrist, making the green Time Stone particularly eye-catching. "This emerald green one, in theory, allows me to travel freely through the river of time."

The only sounds in the living room were the spinning gems and Pym's heavy breathing.

He stared at the lights with a mixture of curiosity and astonishment, like a child seeing ants crawling through a crack for the first time.

"With all six gems gathered, theoretically any wish can be granted."

Chen Tian withdrew his wrist, and the light of the five gems disappeared, as if the strange sight just now was just an illusion.

"Now, all that's left is the last one, the most difficult one to deal with— the Soul Stone."

"The Soul Stone?" Pym repeated instinctively, then suddenly realized.

Pointing to the faint energy glow remaining on Chen Tian's wrist. "Wait! You have the Time Stone! It can manipulate time! Why not just use that green stone to go back to the point in time or parallel universe you want to get the Soul Stone? Why bother with this Quantum Tunnel?!"

Chen Tian gave a helpless yet slightly embarrassed smile, and shrugged, a rare occurrence for him. "Good question, Doctor. Because of this thing," he tapped his wrist, where the green hue of the Time Stone still seemed to linger, "I can only operate it in a simple way. There's no instruction manual for anything too complicated."

Seeing Pym's confused look, he explained, "The power of the Time Stone... well, it's subtle. Turning a rotten apple back to fresh, or rewinding some jerk ten seconds to make him fall flat on his face, no problem, simple tricks."

He changed his tone, "But to send my entire, living self, precisely and safely to a specific point in time in another parallel universe—sorry, that's like asking me to chop wood with a scalpel, the difficulty level is off the charts. My understanding of its 'macro-timeline travel' function is currently in the state of 'knowing it can do it, but not knowing exactly how to make it do it.' Recklessly? The consequences could be worse than Tony dancing in drag."

Tony immediately protested, "Hey! That's just strategic camouflage! It's a tactical necessity! Friday, delete that last sentence!"

Chen Tian ignored Tony and continued, "But I know who can, yet I can't ask them, because I'm worried she might die in a moment of agitation."

The shock on Pym's face was slowly replaced by a complex expression of "I knew it."

He looked at Chen Tian's candid expression, then at Tony jumping up and down beside him, and finally, his signature sarcastic tone returned, though his voice was still a little unsteady from the earlier shock:

"Ha! So, you, the 'Strongest Arbitrators,' have a bunch of cosmic-level cheat codes, but you can't even understand the instructions?! You have to ask this old man to pave the way for you with 'outdated' quantum mechanics?"

He gave a heavy snort, but his eyes gleamed with fanaticism.

"Stark! Stop banging on your metal plate! All the raw data from your lab on quantum entanglement and spatiotemporal positioning, immediately! I want to see for myself just how far you two have strayed from the truth! Oh, and by the way! Get my daughter to help me. You know who my daughter is."

Tony immediately dropped his joking expression. "Friday! Package it! Transfer with highest privileges!"

He watched Pym, who was "cursing under his breath while frantically clicking the receive button," and exchanged a triumphant look with Chen Tian —the secret to winning over this stubborn old man, besides showing him the cosmic-level "cheat device," was to complain with him about the other "cheat device" holder's inability to read the instruction manual.

Pym's antique-level experimental equipment (and himself) were packed up and airlifted by Tony to the underground base of the Arbitrator Tower in Malibu —a newly opened Quantum Laboratory filled with the latest cutting-edge equipment.

Once the door closed, the interior instantly became an arena for mad scientists:

Tony Stark: The holographic projections were dazzling, coffee was keeping him going, and his Bobby the reactor. "Old man! The energy matrix here must use my new configuration..."

Banner, adjusting his glasses and trying to find a Tranquility corner in the constants of physics amidst Tony's noise and Pym's roar, "Uh... Hank, regarding the shielding layer for time turbulence, perhaps we could draw inspiration from gamma..."

Princess Shuri: Her fingertips danced across the control panel, moving so fast they were just afterimages. Her eyes gleamed with intelligence as she occasionally threw out an optimization algorithm that surpassed Tony's existing framework, silencing both men at the same time.

Hank Pym, clutching his old Ant-Man Helmet like a lion protecting its cub, glared at Tony's design, his beard bristling. "Exaggerated! Energy loss is like a sieve! Go back to the stabilizer thinking from Howard's era!" But he nodded repeatedly at Shuri's proposal.

Hope van Dyne: Efficient, aloof, and precisely executing her father's and Tony's (sometimes contradictory) instructions, while also physically separating the two who were almost at each other's throats. "The coffee's over there, don't smash the equipment!"

The basement was filled with the acrid smell of welding, the overpowering aroma of caffeine, and the sparks of intense intellectual exchange.

Banner's dark circles are almost as bad as a vampire's, Pym's constant cursing of Tony has become the background noise in the lab.

Time here is compressed like Pym Particles.

Meanwhile--

Sunshine, sand, and waves.

Chen Tian, wearing sunglasses, lay comfortably on the terrace of a top-tier resort villa on a private island.

To the left is Bayonetta, wearing a sexy black bikini, elegantly sipping red wine, with several shopping bags bearing the logos of top luxury brands at her feet.

On the right is 2B, a mechanical girl meticulously trying to place a cherry precisely on top of an ice cream sundae, her eyes focused as if she were adjusting a precision weapon.

Not far away, Kiana was surfing energetically, wearing a white lace bikini. A big wave crashed in, and she cheered as she was swept up in it. The next second, she stepped onto her surfboard and broke through the wave, waving triumphantly towards the terrace.

"Phew... this is life." Chen Tian took a leisurely sip of his iced drink. A faint light flashed from the Space Stone on his wrist, and a rare dessert from a small town in the Arctic Circle appeared on 2B's table, earning her a barely perceptible, sparkling glance.

Beep beep beep--

Chen Tian's communicator rang, projecting a holographic image of Tony Stark with a stubble and sunken eyes, against a background of Pym roaring "Stark!"

"Hey! Vacation Emperor! Your 'Lighthouse' core is about to explode from the old man and my argument! Also, Hope asked if you could borrow 2B to help with some ultra-precise calibrations? She said mechanical lifeforms are much more stable than us clowns! By the way, hey, why is there no sound? Hello? Hello! Chen Tian! Don't pretend the signal is bad! I can see your eyes moving!"

Chen Tian calmly cut off the communication, shrinking Tony's image to a small, flickering dot and tossing it into the corner of the screen.

"Ah~~" He winked at Bayonetta, "Did Tony just message me? Never mind, let's play first. Kiana! Let's try one more!"

Bayonetta listened, covered her mouth and chuckled, then straddled Chen Tian, tapping his chest with her finger, "Darling, you're such a child who never grows up."

A vibrant response came from the sea.

The vacation has only just begun. The resentment from the lab? It's separated by thick floors and half the globe.