𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 | parker²

xxxiv. six stones, one shot

Aster raised an eyebrow, still keeping her gaze on the screen. "Try multiple."

Scott's eyes darted between them. "I haven't, I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

Offering him a wry smile, Aster pushed herself up to sit on top of the table. "You haven't yet, Shrinky Dink. Prepare yourself."

Sinking into his seat, Scott nervously whispered, "Shrinky Dink?"

Pacing the other side of the conference room, Bruce cut in, "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 pointed out. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in."

"Which means we have to pick our targets," Clint clarified, voice low and thoughtful.

"Correct."

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

When nothing but silence followed Steve's question, everyone's eyes moved to Thor. The god was sitting in a chair tucked into the corner of the room with his sunglasses on, using his right hand to clutch a beer can while resting his left on his belly. Based on his lack of response and even breathing, he must have been asleep.

Natasha tilted her head at him. "Is he asleep?"

Looking concerned, Rhodey hummed, "No, I'm pretty sure he's dead."

Aster picked up a pen lying on the table next to her and flicked it at Thor, aiming right for his beer can. The pen hit the metal and startled the god awake, making him sit up with a yawn. Noticing everyone's eyes on him, Thor cleared his throat and asked, "Uh, where were we?"

Tapping on the hologram, Aster made the file about the Aether larger. "Morning. Can you tell us about the Aether?"

With a heavy sigh, Thor pushed himself to his feet. He swayed for a moment but was just barely caught by Tony, who pushed him toward the front of the room with a pat on his back. Taking off his sunglasses, Thor squinted at the intrusion of light. "Where to start? Um... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before." When Thor pointed at Steve, the blonde responded with a confused scrunch of his eyebrows. 

"It's more of a... an angry sludge sort of thing, so..." Sitting next to each other, Rhodey and Clint shared a look. "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." Pausing, Thor wiggled his fingers at everyone. Rocket put his head in his hands, while Nebula simply looked confused. "Wooooh, scary beings. So, Jane." Thor leaned over Aster to tap on the hologram, pulling up a picture of his old lover. His face dropped a bit. "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 voice wavered and Natasha looked up from her notepad to glance over at Aster, who was staring at Thor with a mix of sympathy and horror. Tony had a similar look on his face. Scott, on the other hand, was grinning, soaking in each and every word. "And, oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore. These things happen though you know, nothing lasts forever." 

When Bruce dragged a finger under his chin and shook his head at Tony, the billionaire sighed and walked over to Thor, holding out a hand. "Why don't you come sit down—?"