Assemble | Avengers | Second Part

Chapter (42) Forty Two ~ ...we built a time machine

~Olivia~

"You're drifting left," I called out to Thor as Tony and I brought some new parts over to our "work area".

"Yeah, one side there, Lebowski. Ratchet, how's it going?"

"It's Rocket. Take it easy. You're only a genius on Earth, pal." Rocket told my nephew as he hung upside down from the machine, Thor letting out a loud belch behind us.

The three of us finished up our work as Bruce/Hulk, Nebula, Rhodey, Steve, Scott, and Clint in one of the time suits walked in.

"Wait, I thought Scott was gonna do it?" I asked, whipping my hands of the grease I got on them.

"He got nervous. I'm doin' it instead." The archer walked past me, moving to get onto the platform.

"All right, Clint. We're going in three, two, one."

I watched with wide eyes Clint disappeared in front of my eyes, my hands gripping the towel in them as my nails almost threatened to tear through the fabric. Ten seconds later, the machine spit out Clint, who was yelling Lila's name as he landed on all fours.

"Hey. Hey, look at me." Nat said as we rushed toward the man, Scott, Tony, and Rocket close behind us. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Clint looked at her as they stood. He looked down at his hand, and that's when I noticed he was now holding an old baseball glove, taping Nat with it.

"It worked. It worked." Clint tossed the glove to me, and Tony and I shared an excited look as I caught it.

"Then let's figure out the hard part." I tilted my head, making Tony follow me off the platform.

"Building this wasn't the hard part for you?" Scott asked me with wide eyes.

"Scotty, I built a flying car 'cause I was bored. This was nothing."

"So then what's the hard part?" Rocket asked, following us down the ramp.

"Figuring out where the hell we're going."

~~

"Okay, so the how works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where." Steve said as we all looked at the images pulled up of all of the stones along with their information. "Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Or substitute the word "encounter" for "damn near been killed" by one of the six Infinity Stones," Tony added.

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

"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."

"Our history." Tony passed Bruce, interrupting him. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"

"Which means we have to pick our targets," I added, causing Tony to point at me as he circled the table.

"Correct.

"So, let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve asked the god, and we all looked at the man with sunglasses on, one hand halfway down his sweatpants while the other held a beer can.

"Is he asleep?" Nat asked.

"No, no. I'm pretty sure he's dead." Rhodey shook his head beside me.

"Thor!" I yelled, using my power to control the god's arm, getting him to hit himself in the face.

"Huh? What, what's happening?" He slurred, sitting up a bit.

"What do you know about the Aether, princess?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, the Aether." He nodded, standing and walking toward the image of the stone.

"Uh, where to start? Um..." Thor took off his sunglasses using them to tap the glass. "The Aether, firstly, is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before." He pointed to Steve. "Um, it's more of an angry sludge sort of thing... so, someone's gonna need to amend that, and stop saying that. Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves."

"I thought he just said it wasn't a stone?" I whispered to Clint beside me, who just shrugged.

"Scarry beings. So, Jane, actually... Oh, there she is." Thor clicked on the picture of the woman. "Yeah, so Jane was an old flame of mine. You know, she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time, and then the Aether stuck itself inside her, and she became very, very sick. And so I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from, and um, we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see, and I got to introduce her to my parents and Loki, and Alex... who's gone, as well as my older sister, and um... Oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, so..."

Bruce got my attention, his hand moving over his neck to ask me to stop this train wreck.

"Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that..."

"Okay, buddy, why don't you come sit down?" I stood, walking over to the god.

"I'm not done yet." He shrugged me off. "The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence. You'd know all about that, wouldn't you Oliv?"

My eyes widened as Tony clapped his hands, walking up between us and clasping Thor on the shoulder.

"Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?"

"No. I'd like a Bloody Mary."

"Hey." Steve reached out to me. "You alright?"

"Yeah." I nodded, snapping out of whatever daze I had just been put in. "Yeah, I'm good. Um, what's the next one? Let's continue."

~~

"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag," Rocket told us, walking along the table as the rest of us ate Chinese food.

"Is that a person?" Bruce asked.

"No, Morag's a planet." Rocket harshly corrected. "Quill was a person."

"Like a planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asked, his mouth stuffed with food.

"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space." Rocket petted the man's hair, making me chuckle.

~~

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir."

"What is Vormir?" Natasha asked, Nebula, taking notes.

"A dominion of death, at the very center of celestial existence." The woman stated, causing everyone to look at her. "It's where Thanos murdered my sister."

"...Not it."

~~

"That Time Stone guy."

"Doctor Strange." Bruce filled in for Nat.

"Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?"

"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-drom-hat." Tony rubbed his temple beside me.

The two of us were laying side-by-side on the "L" shape table, his feet near my head. Natasha was using my legs as a pillow as she lay on the other part, and Bruce was laying on the floor, papers surrounding all of us.

"Nice place in the Village, though." The giant mindlessly mumbled.

"Yeah, on Sulivan Street?"

"Mm... Bleecker Streat." Bruce corrected Tony.

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

"No, he lived in Toronto. Had you not been listening to anything?" "Uh, yeah, on Bleecker and Sullivan." Tony and Bruce said at the same time, making me roll my eyes and slap my nephew's chest.

"Guys, If you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York."

The room went silent at my comment, all three hero's sitting up to stare at me.

"Shut the front door."