Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Eighteen

It takes a few days, but we manage to locate the rest of the Avengers. Natasha, Scott, and I gather around the briefing room table, joined by Barton, Rhodes, Thor, Rocket, and Nebula. Displayed on the monitors ahead of us are images of the six Infinity Stones, and Tony, Steve, and Banner stand beside them, ready to start planning our mission.

"Okay, so the 'how' works," Steve states. "Now we gotta figure out the when and where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Well, I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones," Tony corrects.

"I haven't..." Scott admits. "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"I envy you," I reply, leaning back in my chair and propping my feet up on the table.

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each," Steve continues, "and these Stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."

"Our history," Tony clarifies. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in."

"Which means we have to pick our targets," Barton states.

"Correct," Tony confirms.

"Let's start with Aether," Steve suggests. "Thor, what do you know?"

We turn to Thor sitting in the corner. Like me, he had a hard time coping with his loss, resulting in him putting on a bit of weight and letting his hair and beard grow out in matted tangles. He doesn't move at the sound of his name, and with his sunglasses on, it's impossible to tell if his eyes are even open.

"Is he asleep?" Natasha asks.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead," Rhodes answers.

"I've got him," I say, twirling energy around my hand with a flourish and phasing the chair out from beneath Thor. He wakes as he hits the ground.

"Where to start?" Thor asks as he clampers up off the floor and waddles in front of the group. "Umm... The Aether, first, is not a Stone, someone called it a Stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someone's gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the Stones from the Dark Elves..." Thor wiggles his fingers. "Woooh, scary beings. So, Jane," a photo of a brunette woman appears on the screen, "Oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... She... She stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... And she became very, very sick. So, I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my mother... who's dead," Thor's expression drops as his eyes begin to water, "and oh you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing lasts forever." Realizing Thor will continue to ramble, Tony steps in, trying to usher him back into his seat. "I'm not done yet. The only thing permanent in life is impermanence."

"Awesome," Tony states. "Eggs? Breakfast?"

"I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you," Thor replies.

Regardless, Tony pulls out his phone, ordering food for the group before turning to me. "Aurora Borealis, the Space Stone."

I straighten in my chair, placing my feet flat on the floor. "Right, the Space Stone. It's been around, housed inside the Tesseract. My first experience with it was during the war." My eyes flick to Steve, who crosses his arms and gives me a reassuring smile. "It fell into the Arctic Ocean right before Steve crashed the plane, and after Howard fished it out a few months later, it stayed in SHIELD's hands until Loki stole it in 2012."

Tony nods. "Once we got it back, we sent it off to Asgard."

"So, our best bet would be to grab it while it's on Earth," Steve reasons.

The team continues to discuss our stories and experiences with the Stones, and as the day lingers, we find ourselves surrounded by takeout boxes.

"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag," Rocket continues.

"Is that a person?" Scott asks.

"Morag's a planet," Rocket explains. "Quill was a person."

"A planet?" Scott enthusiastically presses. "Like in outer space?"

"Oh, look," Rocket mocks. "It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll get you to space."

Nebula cuts in. "Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir."

"What is Vormir?" Natasha asks, not looking up from the notes she's writing.

"A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence," Nebula replies. "It's where... Thanos murdered my sister."

An awkward silence fills the room, and Natasha looks up from her notes, taking a few seconds to process Nebula's words before writing them down.

Scott breaks the silence. "Not it."

After a few more hours, most of the others leave to get some rest, but not wanting to give up, Natasha, Tony, and I lay on the table, surrounded by papers, while Banner lays on the floor beside us.

"That Time Stone guy..." Natasha ponders.

"Doctor Strange," Banner reminds her.

"Yeah. What kind of doctor was he?" Natasha asks.

"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat," Tony answers.

"Nice place in the village, though," Banner informs us.

"Yeah," Tony agrees. "Sullivan Street."

"Hmm... Bleecker," Banner corrects.

"Wait, he lived in New York?" I question.

"No. He lived in Toronto," Tony replies. "Were you even paying attention?"

Suddenly, it clicks, and I shoot off the table. "Oh, my God. ...Oh, my God!"

"What?" Natasha asks as she and the others sit up. "What is it?"

"Hold on," I say, sifting through the papers to find out notes on the Space, Mind, and Time Stones. I quickly skim through them, finding the information I need. "Guys, if you pick the right year, there are three Stones in New York."