His Super Soldier // Bucky Barnes

Chapter 148

Within a few moments Barton had returned, holding a baseball glove....breathing heavily..... Natasha rushed towards his side.

"Hey! Hey, look at me. You okay?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, it worked! It really worked!" Barton smiled, throwing the glove at Tony.

"Alright! I say we get to work," Maddy said.

Everyone nodded.... and headed upstairs to plan the mission. They all sat around a large table, examining the holograms of the six stones.

"Okay! So the 'how' works... what is the next step?" Steve asked.

"Now we have to figure out the 'when' and the 'where'. Almost everyone of us had had an encounter with at least one of the six stones," Maddy said.

"Well I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the stones," Tony replied.

"I haven't! I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about," Scott spoke up.

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

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

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

"Correct!" Maddy and Tony both said.

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

Everyone turned to look at Thor.... he was sitting in a chair with sunglasses over his face, not moving.

"Is he really sleeping?" Natasha asked.

"Nope! Pretty sure he's dead," Rhodes said.

Suddenly Thor jumped up...

"Where to start? Ummm....The Aether, first...it is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a-an angry sludge thing, so...someone 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.... Wooooh scary being. So Jane! She's an old flame of mine.... s-she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck inside of her...And she became 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. And if you must know me and Jane aren't together anymore, these things never happen though.... nothing ever lasts forever," Thor said.

Maddy and Tony walk Thor back to his chair.....

"I'm not done yet! The only thing permanent in life is impermanence! Also Maddy..... I never told you this but my dead mother, really wanted to meet you... I told her I was in love with you...but you were in love with another... and now he's gone," Thor continued.

"Wow! Awesome! Eggs? Breakfast?" Tony asked.

"I'd love a Bloody Mary, thank you," Thor smiled.

Maddy just stood there....unable to speak, she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned around and saw Steve.... concern filled his eyes.

"I-I'm okay," Maddy smiled.