"Alright we have a plan, 6 stones, 3 teams one shot." Steve said at the head of the meeting.
We had devised a plan to retrieve each of a stone in as few trips as possible. The Space, Time, and Mind Stone were all in New York around 2012, the Reality Stone was in Asgard in 2013, and the Power and Soul Stone were on Vormir and Morag in 2014.
It was going to be a tight operation, but I think between us all we could manage. Tony seemed sure the plan was going to work and I guess that's some form of comfort. I felt good about it but I still worried after the big loss we had taken I don't think we could afford to make another.
"Me and the Racoon will take on Asgard." Thor said and Nat nodded.
"Me and Nebula will take Morag." Don said and we all agreed.
"Steve, Bucky, Scott, Bruce and I will go to New York." Tony said and I nodded. I didn't like the idea of getting separated from Tony and Bucky, but they would at least be together. I know they would watch out for each other.
"Looks like we're taking on Vormir." I said looking at Nat and Clint said.
"We're set then." Nat said nodding firmly.
She looked to Clint and they nodded to each other. Clint had been missing since the beginning of all this and Nat had stayed in the shadows watching him from a distance. She knew when we started discussing the madness of fixing all of this she needed his help. He was hesitant to help, but he lost his whole family in the snap. He had frankly lost himself, so a chance to get them back was everything he needed to know to come along.
"What's left to do other than to suit up?" Steve said and we all semi-excitedly went to the lab.
Bruce and Scott had focused on getting together suits made for travel in the quantum reality. Wasn't my usual get up, but I had to admit they looked good and clearly worked. I found my suit and went to go change. It fit like a glove and there wasn't much else to it than taking a nice big deep breath before heading out to meet the others.
I left the lab and most everyone had left to go to the machine. I followed suit and made my way out there to join the others. I opened the lab doors and turned a corner and saw Bucky pacing. I watched him for a moment before he turned around and saw me. He was in his suit as well instead of his normal rugged wear.
"You alright Bucky?" I asked hesitantly because I had never seen him pace like this and surely it wasn't for anything good.
"Yeah, anxious." He said in a small tone. I walked closer to him and his hands went behind his back.
"I thought you said Tony was positive this would work, what are you anxious about?" I asked with worried eyes.
"It's not that Val." He said shaking his head.
"Talk to me." I said standing in front of him.
"I don't know- I wasn't planning on this but- I don't think it's going to sit well with me if I don't- I just feel like I need to do it now." He said fumbling over his words talking a mile a minute.
"Bucky spit it out, what's wrong? You're making me worry." I said with sad eyes.
His eyes looked to me and I could see he was conflicted. His jaw settled and he exhaled as he looked away. His hand came out from behind his back and a small black box was in his hands.
"I was going to do this at Christmas and make it a whole thing, but with everything going on- I mean we're risking everything right now- I would never forgive myself if I just didn't..." He said trailing off topic. "I talked to Tony already, I don't know just-"
He flipped the black box open and my eyes went to look at what was inside. A ring was in the box. A small dainty, but rather sparkly ring was looking back at me. I stood there just speechless for a long while. I didn't know how to react, I mean of all times for him to do this surely now was the furthest thing in my mind.
I looked up at him and I saw his worried expression. A blank look on my face turned to a soft smile as I looked at him. His expression was still worried looking down at me as we stood in this empty hallway seemingly in a world by ourselves. I reached up and closed the lid, the ring now out of the way now.
"Not today." I said shaking my head. "We're going to make it out and we can do this the right way."
"But Val, what if we don't-"
"We will, promise me. If you're going to promise me anything today let it be that." I said firmly smiling up at him trying to hold back the tears that so desperately tried to break free.
"Okay." He said nodding his head reluctantly. "I love you Valerie."
"I love you too Bucky." I said hugging him back.
His lips pressed to my head and I could feel him shaking as he held me so tightly as if I was just going to vanish. I loved him dearly, more than I'd probably ever love anything else. I wanted to be with him so badly, but not out of fear. If I accepted, then I was submitting to the fact that something may happen to us and I refuse to even humor the idea of that. A world without Bucky was not a world I wanted a part in.
"Come on, best not waste any time." He said grabbing my hand.
We walked out to the others who were setting up and getting ready. I walked up the platform and reluctantly let go of Bucky's hand as he gave me one last squeeze. I stood next to Nat and Tony. I looked over to him and he was looking cool and collected, but I knew better than to believe that façade.
"You alright kid?" He asked me and I nodded firmly.
"Alright you all know the rules, get what we need and get out, we'll worry about returning them later." Bruce said across from me and next to Bucky. I looked to Clint and Nat and gave them a small nod.
"Most of are going somewhere we know, that doesn't mean you should know what to expect." Steve said to the group. "Be careful and watch out for each other, this is the fight of our lives, and we're going to win. Whatever it takes."
Tony turned to me and I waited a long moment before speaking.
"See you in a minute." I said smiling at him softly.
"See you in a minute kid." He said reaching over and squeezing my hand tightly.
Everyone flipped their visors on and I followed suit. We all doubled checked the date and time we had set our GPS's to. I gave my group a nod and I took a deep breath to brace myself.
Nothing could made myself prepare for the confusion and pain that the quantum realm held. I nearly blacked out, but saw my friends around me traveling beside me. I tried to focus on the GPS and not the thousands of oddities surrounding me. This was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was absolutely gorgeous, but endless and that alone scared me.
I was scared. I refused to show that to anyone, but this was horrifying. Even before I knew what the quantum realm looked like. I felt like an ant traveling through space. I felt like nothing more than a particle in the air. My body however went through a tunnel and a moment of black abyss overwhelmed me.
However, nearly in a blink of an eye, I was on a dark barren looking planet. I let out a gasp and looked at Clint, Nat, Don, and Nebula. I took a deep breath and gathered my surroundings. This was no where any of us except Nebula had ever been here before.
The plan was to leave the Power Stone to Don and Nebula and the three of us would go to Vormir to retrieve the soul stone. We had brought along rockets ship to travel there. I was definitely nervous, but I was happy to have at least survived the travel back in time. That alone was a feat in itself.
"Quick in and out right guys?" Nat asked the two of them as Clint got the ship up and back to its normal size. Scott had shrunk it to make it easier to bring with us.
"As always. See you back at the base." Don said giving us a nod.
They went off on their way to gather up the Power Stone and we set off to Vormir. It was about 3 hours from here and I knew it was going to feel like a matter of moments once we went back to present day. I was in the ship with Clint and Nat and she flew the ship into the nearest star cluster and it was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
Even before I was taken by HYDRA I never saw much of space. Not from a first person perspective that was. My feet had hardly left the ground in my time with SHEILD. I saw Nat look to me as I was probably watching in amazement at the beautiful stars and colors around me.
"We're not in Kansas anymore." She said and I just giggled.
I was honestly almost breath taken by how unreal this all felt. I was in a space ship nearly 10 years in the past looking at stars few people on earth got to see first hand. I probably would have enjoyed it a bit more if I didn't have the Soul Stone on my mind. This was the one stone no one really had experience dealing with or Vormir for that matter. I couldn't help but be a little nervous.
"God, this is unreal." Clint said.
"I know." Nat said.
"I wonder what earth is like right now." Clint said.
"I wouldn't even know, I was probably somewhere with HYDRA. I would have much rather have been up here." I said shaking my head.
"I think we were in a lull after Loki and before Ultron." Nat said.
"It's insane to think we were just living in tandem with the Infinity Stones completely unbothered and not looking for them." I said shaking my head.
"That time felt so complicated and confusing, but now it feels so simple. Like we didn't have any real problems." Nat said.
I exhaled and sat back in my seat. We rode in silence for the next long while. The views were pretty enough to keep our eyes and mind entertained. Before I knew it could see the planet of Vormir. It looked smaller than I expected, but it didn't make it any less ominous. I shifted uneasily in my chair and I saw the change in energy shift between the three of us.
"I guess we couldn't exactly expect any happy landings." Nat said trying to cut the tension but it didn't exactly help.
"This place looks empty." I said coldly.
"These are the exact coordinates they gave us. I see something just over that ridge." Nat said shakily.
"I mean I guess if there's no people, there's no one to prevent us from getting that stone." Clint said behind us.
"Somehow that sounds too good to be true." I said chuckling.
The ship flew over the planet and Nat parked the ship just outside a large dark entry way. I had no idea where it lead, but this was where they directed us to go. The Soul Stone was somewhere near and it was up to us to find it. We all got to our feet and exited the ship. The air was thick and almost damp. It stuck to my skin like sweat despite it being a little cool.
We approached the dark entry way and I saw a long set of natural stairs leading up to the top of this mountain type structure. We all looked as uneasy as we felt as we slowly approached this place.
"Clint Barton, son of Edith." We heard and we all snapped around to see a cloaked figure standing in the archway. His face was bright red and hollowed out menacingly. "Natalia Romanoff daughter of Ivan... Valerie Zarkov daughter of no one."
I felt a ping in my chest, but held my gun at the mystery figure. I knew I was an orphan but I didn't exactly want to hear something like that. My last name wasn't one past down to me, it was just randomly assigned as far as I was concerned. I didn't like how he already knew us. I didn't like someone being here on this planet seemingly alone.
"Who are you?" Nat asked defensively.
"Consider me a guide for you, to all who seek the Soul Stone." He said in a low voice.
"Oh good, you tell us where it is, then we'll be on our way."