The Quantum Tunnel was ready. It was built like a large, circular, glass-top stage with narrow, metal steps leading up to it. Under the glass were coils and wires and lights, similar to that of the Quantum Tunnel in the back of Scott's van, but much larger. Above, from the ceiling, were reflective panels and mirrors attached to mechanical arms that would adjust for the number of time-travelers. A large control panel was built out in from of the glass stage, with the proper buttons and generators and monitors attached. The suits were ready too. They were nanotech replicas of Scott's Ant-Man suit. However, they were white, with red ribbing and seams, and a large Avengers A on the shoulder pads. The gloves were equipped with the time travel GPS Stark put together, and the belt around the hips would house the Pym-Particles they needed to power the suits. Everything was in order. They just needed to see if it worked.
**********
Ava concentrated on getting the suit adjusted to Scott, her lips pressed together. She closed the display screen over his shoulder once she was done changing the settings and looked up at Bruce, giving him a nod to let him know the suit was ready. Bruce held the glass vial of the red Pym-Particles and reached forward to set it in place in the belt of the suit. Rhodey wandered in from the hall, his arms crossed as he smirked and inspected their work. "Time travel suits are looking pretty good."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Scott muttered, grabbing Bruce's wrist as he looked down. "Easy- easy." He frowned and looked up at Bruce as the nanotech helmet around his head regenerated back to reveal his face.
Bruce stood upright, narrowing his eyes at Scott. "I'm being careful."
"No, you're being very Hulk-y." He huffed, taking the vial from Bruce's hands. He held it up, staring at Bruce sternly. "These are Pym-Particles, all right? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have! We're not making any more!"
"Scott, calm down." Ava said, placing a hand on his arm.
He took a breath and nodded. "Sorry- We've got enough for one round trip each. That's it. Plus two test runs." He sighed, looking down as he placed the vial into the suit. He gasped, letting out an alarmed yell as he shrank as soon as the vial was inserted, growing back large a second later. He held his mouth open, blinking slowly. "One test run." Ava closed her eyes, shaking her head. She thought she was dumb when she spent so much time with Shuri in the past- but being around the idiotic chaos of Bruce and Scott in one room so much in the last two weeks was making her think they were the dumb ones. Bruce even had seven Ph.D.'s. Scott sighed, shaking his head. "All right. I'm not ready for this."
"I'm game."
Ava, Bruce, Rhodey, and Scott turned their heads to see Barton leaned against the doorframe, looking in with his arms crossed. "I'll do it." He said. There was numbing determination in his expression. One that said, what more do I have to lose? And really, he didn't have much left. Thanos had taken away his wife and three kids with a snap of his fingers. He'd lost his whole family. His whole world. Scott's daughter lived through the Thanos event. He had a lot to lose. But Barton? Well, Ava hadn't seen anyone else so run-down besides herself and Natasha. But he was colder. Harder. More broken. Ava and Nat helped each other heal even a little bit. But Barton had been alone for five years with his fury. There was a darkness to him. A type of fearlessness.
So he suited up, and nobody argued about it with him.
**********
Ava worked on changing the settings on the suit to fit Clint, making the adjustments needed on the holographic display panel popped up from the shoulder pad of the time travel suit. "Clint, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift." Bruce said. "Don't worry about that."
"Wait, wait, wait-" Rhodey muttered, watching them work. "Wait a second- let me ask you something. If we can do this, you know, time travel thing... why don't we just go back in time and find baby Thanos, you know, and..." He moved his hands as if he was tying a rope around his neck, pulling it tight.
Bruce's brows shot up his forehead. "First of all, that's horrible-"
"It's Thanos." Rhodey rolled his eyes. He had a good point. But Ava and Bruce both knew better. So did Tony and Rocket and Nebula.
"Secondly, time doesn't work that way. Change in the past doesn't change the future."
"Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them- Thanos doesn't have the stones, problem solved!" Scott shrugged.
Ava sighed as she finished with the suit and shut off the display, crossing her arms as she turned to look at Scott and Rhodey. "That's not how it works."
"Well, that's what I heard." Clint mumbled.
Bruce scoffed. "By who? Who told you that?"
Rhodey chuckled, holding up a hand to count on his fingers as he named off movies. "Star-Trek, Terminator, Timecop, Time After Time, Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time-"
"Hot Tub Time Machine." Scott added.
"Hot Tub Time Machine." Rhodey nodded. "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Basically any movie that deals with time travel."
"Die Hard!" Scott said, pausing after he said it. "No, that's not one." He shook his head.
Rhodey narrowed his eyes at Bruce, talking with his hands. "This is known."
Ava rolled her eyes at the men in the room. Of course, Americans used movie logic. Because movies are real life, she thought, in quite a sarcastic tone.
"I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true." Bruce shook his head.
Ava agreed, tilting her head and peering at Rhodey. "Think about it- if you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. Your former present becomes your past, which can't now be changed by your new future." She explained.
"Exactly." Bruce nodded once, crossing his arms.
Rhodey went quiet, brows pulling together as the realization hit him. It made sense. Scott began to frown, glancing around the room as he processed the news. "So, Back To The Future is a bunch of bullsh*t?"
"Bast, help us. Or else I'm going to die surrounded by the biggest idiots in the universe." Ava muttered under her breath, shaking her head with a heavy exhale before she motioned to the door. "Can we finish here and actually see if this works?" She puffed toward Rhodey and Scott.
**********
Ava stood back, next to Nat, as she looked up at Clint on the platform, dressed and ready to go. Everyone was gathered nearby, biting their lips or their nails or rocking back and forth on their feet as Bruce pushed different buttons on the control panel. The helmet generated around his head, and he looked up as he took in a shaky breath and then let it out all at once. Bruce stood at the control panel, taking a breath too. "All right, Clint. We're going in three... two... one-"
Clint shrank down in a flash, disappearing from sight as the platform lit up, much like the Quantum Tunnel in the back of Scott's van. Ava bit her lip nervously, hoping this test went better than the last one. They needed this to work. They needed a win. She clenched her hands together in front of her lips, fingers laced between each other as Bruce began a count-down she could barely hear over the beating of her own heart to bring Clint back. "Three... two... one..."
A flash and Clint was back, yelling out as he landed on his hands and knees on the platform, sweat beading on his face. For them, it was ten seconds. For him, nearly sixty seconds. Natasha ran to his side, kneeling down to help him up as he gasped for breath as if he'd just run a marathon. Ava jogged up the steps to the platform with the others, unsure of what to expect from Clint as he sat up on his heels, holding onto Nat with one hand, holding up a dusty, leather baseball glove in the other. "It worked." He heaved. "It- it worked."
Ava felt herself start to grin as her fingers worked their way to the dog tags around her neck. They did it. They found a solution. After five years, they had found a way to win. A way for her to see Bucky, and for so many others to see their long-lost loved ones as well. Ava turned her head toward Tony, mouthing a 'thank you' that he smiled and nodded at before she went to Steve, her chest heaving with heavy breath from the excitement of it all. "Cap? Give the orders. What do we do now?"
Steve smiled down at her, then looked out to everyone else as they all looked to him for an answer. "We get to work."
**********
Ava titled the program Operation Time Heist, and slotted it into a Brainstorming Session file on her tablet, displaying the screen onto the hologram screens hanging in front of the sofa in the lobby. Each of the six stones was shown with their names labeled underneath. The Space stone in the form of the Tesseract, a bright blue cube. The Time Stone inside the golden, eye-shaped necklace called the Eye of Agomotto. The Reality Stone flowed like water in what was called the Aether. The Power Stone remained inside a metallic, engraved orb, and the Mind Stone was displayed as a golden stone in Vision's head and as the power source of Loki's scepter. The Soul Stone was simply an orange, jagged stone, having no other form to display.
Natasha sat beside Ava at the right, a notepad and pen in hand. Thor lounged back in a chair in the corner on the other side of Natasha with sunglasses on, and Rhodey was on Ava's left, with Scott to his left, followed by Nebula and Rocket. Bruce stood near the door, his arms crossed as he focused on the conversation, same as Clint.
"Okay, so the how works." Steve said, standing at the front of the room with Tony, both of them facing everyone sitting on the sofa. "Now we gotta figure out the where and the when. 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 cocked his head, coffee in his hand.
Scott frowned, scanning over the display screens. "Well, I haven't. I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."
"Regardless," Bruce said, "We only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of places throughout history."
"Our history." Tony confirmed. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"
"Which means we have to pick our targets." Ava said.
Tony pointed at her. "Correct."
Steve put his hands in his pockets, looking at the screen for a minute before turning his head to the God of Thunder. "So, let's start with the Aether." He said. Thor had told him in the past, years back, that he'd encountered the Aether before. So, it made sense to ask him about it as he was the only one in the room to have ever come across it. "Thor, what do you know?"
Everyone turned their heads toward him, the room falling silent when he didn't budge or respond. He looked almost homeless. He wore dark sunglasses, had dirty, fingerless gloves on, one hand in his sweatpants under his bulging belly, and one hand around a beer can on the arm of the chair. "Is he sleeping?" Natasha muttered.
"No, no." Rhodey shook his head. "I'm pretty sure he's dead."
Ava chuckled lightly and reached over with her foot, kicking his foot. He gasped awake suddenly, the glasses falling down his nose from his jerking and jostling. "Hm? What?" He slurred.
"Tell us about the Aether." She said, motioning to the screen. She did feel bad for him. Had it not been for Natasha, she would have ended up in his shoes- and she began to wonder if she should have reached out to the Asgardian sooner after what happened with Thanos. She had spoken to him once about it all, but after Thor left to reside in New Asgard, she felt she'd been mistaken in not contacting him again. He was an Avenger. A Hero. A part of the team, and she let him down.
Thor sucked in a deep breath and rubbed his eyes with both of his hands before he stood up and took off the sunglasses, playing with them in his hands as he approached the screens. Ava looked down at the tablet in her lap, tapping on the Aether icon to bring up all known information associated with it onto the screens for all to see.
"Uh, where to start." He muttered, pointing at the stone on the screen. "The Aether, firstly, is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before. Um, it's more of an angry sludge sort of thing, so someone's gonna need to amend that." He said, digging a bottle of eye drops from his sweatpants pocket. He took off the lid and leaned back, dropping a few drops into his eyes, and blinked a few times before he put the lid back on and shoved the bottle into his pocket again. "Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves. Ooh-" He laughed to himself, "Scary beings. So, Jane, actually," He said and looked at the display, noticing a small picture of Jane Foster in the corner. He tapped on it and her photo zoomed in to fill the screen. "There she is. Yeah, so Jane was an old flame of mine. She- she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time, and the Aether stuck itself inside of 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."
Ava frowned while she listened, curious why any of this actually mattered to what they were trying to do. Scott, on the other hand, was smiling and nodding, truly enjoying Thor's rambling story. "We were dating at the time," Thor went on, "and I got to introduce her to my mother," He paused, face turning sour, "Who is now dead-" His voice cracked as tears built up in his eyes. "Oh, you know, Jane and I, we... aren't even dating anymore, so... These things happen, though. You know? Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that-"
Tony stood, grabbing Thor's arm lightly. Everyone could see that talking about all of this was only bringing up bad memories and emotions for Thor, and Tony wanted to stop it before he completely derailed the focus of this conversation. "Why don't you come sit down."
"I'm not done yet." Thor shook him off. "The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence." He said, starting to chuckle again.
Tony clapped his hands before patting Thor's shoulder. "Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?"
Thor smiled at him and shook his head. "No, I'd like a Bloody Mary."
Ava frowned up and him and Tony and leaned over the arm of the chair she was in, patting the cushion of the chair he had been sitting in before. "Thor, come sit. I'll get you something to eat and drink." She remarked, intending on getting him fruit and water to try to help him.
**********
Ava stood to Steve's left and Rhodey to Steve's right. They stood in front of the holographic screen display of the tesseract, nodding quietly as Steve told them the story of how he first encountered the Space Stone. He'd been on the Valkyrie, the plane made for Red Skull to use to fly to the American East Coast, carrying bombs for different cities. Steve had infiltrated the plane near the end of the war and fought Red Skull who was in possession of the Tesseract. When Red Skull picked it up, it burned Red Skull alive, killing him as it opened up a portal into space. Red Skull was gone, and the portal closed. The Tesseract landed on the floor and burned through the metal layers of the plane and fell out, plunging deep into the ocean where it was later discovered by Howard Stark.
"So, what happened to the Tesseract after that?" Rhodey asked. His arms were crossed, and his eyes were set on the display.
Steve's thumb and forefinger rubbed together as he thought back to all those years ago. "Bottom of the ocean." He sighed. "Fell out of the plane before I had to crash it."
Ava nodded, pursing her lips before she turned to look up at the taller blond man beside her. "About that, actually... I've been meaning to ask," She paused, cocking her head and narrowing her eyes. "Why did you have to crash the plane, anyway? Couldn't you have turned around and landed somewhere?" It was a question that both she and Bucky had contemplated in the past, but never remembered to ask him.
Steve's brows shot up his head and he drew in a hissing breath between his teeth, his eyes remaining on the display. "Bombs on board. Didn't know how to land it safely."
"Righ, right..." She nodded again, looking up at the display once more before another question crossed her mind. "And you couldn't have jumped out of it before it crashed?"
Steve paused, nodding slowly. He gave her a glance, one that let her know that he hadn't actually thought of that idea. It would have been easy to turn the plane downward and jump out into the ocean to wait for rescue. Mission success. But, no. He stayed on the plane and ended up frozen for seventy years. Hero complex, right?
"You always gotta do the most, don't you, Cap?" Rhodey chuckled.
**********
Bruce stood near the doorway while Tony sat on the couch nearby the door, Ava to his right on the couch. Nebula stood to the right of the couch, and Rhodey sat at the desk in front of her with Rocket to his left and Nat on the other side of Rocket. Steve stood against the wall by Bruce, his arms crossed tight. Scott sat at the end of the table, and all of them peered up at the screen as the footage played of the attack on New York from 2012. The video showed the original six Avengers facing off with an army of aliens, the Chitauri, and Rocket scoffed at it.
"How long did you fight these guys?" He asked.
Nat shrugged, glancing back at Tony for confirmation. "I don't know. Two- maybe three hours?"
Tony nodded.
"Hours?" Rocket snorted, looking at her like she was crazy. He waved a paw at the screen, trying not to laugh. "The Chitauri are the suckiest army in the galaxy! Why didn't you just blow up the mother-ship?"
Steve frowned, glancing at Rocket with an awkward gleam on his face. He looked at the screen again and opened his mouth, almost afraid to speak. "We didn't know that was a... thing."
Rocket burst out into laughter, wheezing out his words. "You didn't know that was a thing! Everyone knows that- HEY!" He suddenly screamed out as Tony rose from his seat and turned on an electric razor he had hidden in his shirt, buzzing it up the back of Rocket's head.
Ava slapped a hand over her mouth, doing her best not to burst into a laughing fit of her own.
**********
Everyone sat around the table eating. Most of them chewed away at chicken or noodles in to-go cartons of Chinese food, but Bruce was already onto eating his Hulk-sized Ben And Jerry's. It had been over two days now of planning and sorting information, getting an idea of when and where their best targets would be. Even as they ate, they were plotting.
"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag." Rocket said, standing on the table as they all ate.
"Is that a person?" Banner asked, mouth full of Hunk-A-Hulk-Of-Burning-Fudge ice cream.
"No, Morag is a planet. Quill was a person." Rocket sneered at him.
Scott swallowed his bite of noodles, looking up at Rocket with raised brows. "Like a planet? Like in outer space?" He asked, sounding like an excited little boy.
Rocket turned to face him, tilting his head. "Oh, look. It's like a little puppy all happy and everything." He teased, reaching out to pet the top of Scott's head. "Do you want to go to space? Do you want to go to space puppy? I'll take you to space."
Scott scowled and pulled away from him to continue eating.
**********
"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." Nebula said, staring up at the screen.
Natasha wrote down notes in her notepad, licking her chapped lips. "What is Vormir?"
Nebula turned on her heel to face them, her black eyes showing no emotions. "A dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister."
A hush fell over everyone as they took in her words. Ava glanced at Nat, not quite sure what to say. But Scott spoke up first. "Not it." He mumbled, glancing around at everyone.
**********
Natasha and Ava lay opposite of each other across the length of the table, their feet pointing at each other's heads. Tony lay across the office chairs that were lined up next to the table on the left, and Bruce lay on the floor to the right. It had been an exhausting few days, and they had most of the stones figured out along the timeline. Just not the Time Stone. Everyone else had either gone off to bed or off to get something to eat, leaving the four of them contemplating together.
"That Time Stone guy-" Ava muttered, rubbing the drowsiness from her eyes as she suppressed a deep yawn.
"Doctor Strange." Bruce mumbled from where he lay on the floor with his eyes closed.
"Yeah- What kind of Doctor was he?"
Tony rubbed his forehead in thought. "Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat."
"Nice place in the Village, though." Bruce sighed.
"Yeah, on Sullivan Street?" Stark asked.
Bruce hummed, taking off his glasses to wipe the lenses clean. "Bleecker Street."
"Wait, he lived in New York?" Nat frowned, taking a sudden look at her notes in the notepad that had been laying on her stomach.
"No, he lived in Toronto-" Tony started to say, just as Bruce was saying, "Yeah."
"He lived on Bleecker and Sullivan." Banner said and put his glasses back on.
Tony sat up, his brows pulling together. "Are you even listening to anything?"
Bruce started to chuckle as Nat smacked her notes with her hand, looking up at the lights in the ceiling. "Guys- if we pick the right year, there are three stones in New York."
Ava, Bruce, and Tony suddenly sat up to look at her, mouths wide open as they began to realize she was right. "Shut the front door."
**********
It was early morning before the sun had risen, and everyone was gathered in the meeting room to hear the news. They had figured out the plan, and it was time to put it into action. Ava put up the display on the hologram screen of the information so Steve could give guidance. The screen was titled Time Heist, which made Scott smile happily. Underneath showed a New York category, where the Space, Time, and Mind Stones were slotted for the year 2012. Next to it was the Asgard category, where the Reality Stone was placed in 2013. Lastly, Vormir and Morag were titled with the Power and Soul Stones listed for 2014. It was ready. Ava smiled, glancing over at Nat with hope shining in her eyes.
Steve gave them the run-down. Natasha, Clint, Nebula, and Rhodey would travel to 2014 Morag where Nat and Clint would split off in the Milano to Vormir for the Soul Stone while Nebula and Rhodey recovered the Power Stone from Morag. Thor and Rocket would travel to 2013 Asgard to retrieve the Reality Stone. Bruce, Ava, Tony, Scott, and Steve would set out for 2012 New York where they would split up; Ava and Bruce were going to get the Time Stone while Steve got the Mind Stone, and Tony would work with Scott to get the Space Stone.
"All right," Steve said, looking at the screens with satisfaction. "We have a plan. Six stones, three teams, one shot." Everyone stood behind him, looking at the mission on the screen. Ava brought her hand to her chest, fingers brushing against the dog tags. Within the next day or two, she could be reunited with the man she truly loved. She took a deep breath, suppressing her grin as Steve gave the final order. "Suit up."
**********
Everyone stood circled on the Quantum Tunnel, just as the sun was rising up from the horizon, peeking red and orange into the picture windows of the compound garage. Bruce stood at the control panel, getting everything prepared. Everyone wore their time travel suits atop their usual suits, and their GPS systems were strapped into the gloves on their hands that were part of the suits.
"Five years ago we lost," Steve said, drawing the attention of everyone around. "All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves." Steve's crystal blue eyes scanned the circle of faces, lingering on each person before moving to the next. "Today we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams. You know your missions."
Nebula turned her head to Rhodey, adjusting her posture to stand tall as he looked at her.
"Get the stones. Get them back."
Thor and Rocket shared a look for a moment, acknowledging one another before they looked to Steve as the Captain spoke.
"One round trip each. No mistakes, no do-overs."
Scott smiled toward Steve, his heart thundering like a battle drum in his chest.
"Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn't mean we should know what to expect."
Natasha held her head high, hiding her smile as Clint's chest rose with a deep breath in.
"Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives and we're gonna win."
A powerful warmth spread through Ava's chest. She felt like she could do anything. The nervousness in her was gone. She was sure of herself. She was sure of the Avengers. They were capable of righting the wrongs that Thanos created. She was secure in that thought, that feeling. She was going to see T'Challa again. She was going to see Shuri again. She was going to see Bucky again. And she was proud to know that she was helping to get them back.
"Whatever it takes." Steve looked at Tony. Tony smirked, sharing Ava's same confidence. "Good luck." The Captain said. He put up his hand to the middle of the group, and everyone joined, placing their fists together in a circle that almost replicated the design of the arc reactor in Tony's Iron Man suits. One by one, everyone dropped their hands and moved into position in the circle of the platform, Ava being the last to do so.
"Stroke those keys, Jolly Green." Tony said, looking over as Bruce used a pen to hit the buttons he needed to get the machine working and ready.
He hit one last switch, one side of his mouth curling up into a smirk. "Trackers engaged." He said, climbing the steps of the platform to take his place beside Ava.
Clint looked down at his hand, checking on the shrunk-down Milano tucked into his palm. Rocket scowled at him from across the platform, crossing his arms. "You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?"
Clint started to smile, chuckling as he closed his fingers around the miniature ship again. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'll do my best."
Rocket rolled his eyes, starting to mumble to himself. "As promises go, that was pretty lame."
Bruce tapped the time travel GPS in his suit's glove, activating it and all the others. Natasha smiled wide, giddy with excitement as she turned her head at Ava. "See you in a minute."
Ava grinned back at her, drawing in a deep breath as their helmets generated onto their heads. Bucky and Shuri both would have loved this- time traveling. After seeing it in so many movies, she felt like this was just a dream. A thrilling, adrenaline-pumping, heart-racing dream. So much so, Ava felt like she was floating, her skin tingling with excitement like millions of needles dancing on her flesh.
The machine powered up, and the reflective tiles above them began to adjust and rotate to accommodate for the number of people traveling. And in seconds, the floor opened up in a yellow vortex that sucked them through as their bodies shrank into microscopic sizes. The sensation was unlike any Ava had felt before, her limbs going numb as her stomach churned and she did her best not to puke. Swirling blues and whites filled her eyes through the helmet around her head as she was sucked down different tunnels and paths along with Bruce and a few of the others, each of them splitting into their own paths. Just as quickly as it began, Ava felt the ground slap against her feet and she could breathe the free air again.
The blinding lights were gone and the sounds of a city filled her ears as the suit degenerated into a small housing unit in the belt of her black and gold suit. She looked up, seeing Steve, Tony, Scott, and Banner as they huddled all together in an alley of 2012 New York. It was real. They'd gone back in time. Ava chuckled, bringing a hand to her head as she looked around. The main street in front of them was cluttered with debris and rubble, crushed cars, and broken chunks of the buildings nearby. Sirens blared in the distance, among the screeching calls of the Chitauri and zooming sounds of their speeders through the air. She'd only seen this on the news all those years ago. Actually being in it was surreal.
Steve looked out at the main street and squinted, checking to see if they were seen. His Captain America suit from 2012 fit him poorly and looked uncomfortable on him, especially after Ava was used to seeing his most recent suits. "All right, we all have our assignments. Two stones uptown, one stone downtown." He said, turning to face the group. "Stay low, keep an eye on the clock."
Ava jumped at a sudden thud coming from the main street only a few feet away, as did the others. They all looked forward as a roaring, screaming Hulk came crashing down into the asphalt with a smashed car in his grip. He swung it down over the top of the head of an alien, growling as he crushed the creature with the hardly-recognizable vehicle. Ava frowned and tilted her head as she watched the Hulk continue, throwing the car onto the ground before he jumped up onto it, jumping up and down on the broken glass and twisted metal like a trampoline. He let out one last roar before he turned away and took off in search of something else to destroy.
The four of them turned their heads slowly toward Bruce, mouths wide open and eyes narrowed. He visibly cringed, covering his eyes with his hand out of shame and embarrassment at the creature he once was. "Maybe smash a few things along the way." Steve exhaled.
Bruce sighed, ripping off the tanktop he wore as he walked through their group to go out to the main road. "I think it's gratuitous, but, whatever." He mumbled. Ava followed him, winking back at Tony, Steve, and Scott.
"Break a leg." She muttered and looked up at Bruce as he let out weak, fake growls, holding up his hands in fists to pretend to be the Hulk- but he wasn't even slightly convincing. She couldn't help but smile and shake her head as he punched the top of a nearby car, hardly with any force. He reached over to a motorcycle and tossed it aside lazily.
Ava followed him down the road a few blocks, doing her best to blend in. Soon, Banner came to a stop and looked down at her, taking a deep breath. "Are you ready?"
"Promise you won't drop me?" She turned her head up to meet his eyes with hers.
"Promise." He gave a single nod and held out a hand to her. She smiled and took his hand, allowing him to pick her up and hold her tightly to his chest with one arm. She hooked her arms around his neck as far as she could, holding on tightly as she hid her face against his shoulder.
Bruce leaped into the air, soaring hundreds of feet toward the nearest building. He caught on with his feet and his free hand, digging his grip into the concrete wall before he pushed off, leaping up again. And just like that, he leaped from one building to the next, soaring through the air toward Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorium. It was exhilarating. Breath-taking. Scary. Exciting. Adrenaline boosting and more. Ava felt like she was flying. She looked out across the city with a grin as they soared through the maze of buildings, wind whipping across her face and filling her lungs with the coldness it carried. Thrilled, Ava let out a laugh, only gasping when Bruce landed hard on his feet upon their arrival to their destination. Bruce leaned down and set her back onto her feet carefully.
"Thanks, Bruce." She said, her smile still on her face. She was thankful her hair was braided back so it didn't blow into her face for that entire trip through the air.
"No problem." He smiled back at her. His eyes moved up from her figure and looked at the rooftop door behind her. Ava turned, noticing his gaze. There, the door, it must have been the easiest way inside.
Bruce reached around Ava to try to open it, pausing when a woman's voice drew both of their attention to the right. "I'd be careful going that way." There, on the rooftop, stood a slender, pale woman dressed in yellow robes, her head shaved clean. She tilted her head at them, smiling with her thin lips as if welcoming a friend. "We just had the floors waxed."
Ava eyed her curiously, taking a few steps closer, Bruce beside her. "We are looking for Doctor Strange." She said, watching as the stranger stepped closer herself, her hands held behind her back. The stranger seemed amused instead of concerned; like she had complete control and confidence in the situation. It seemed like an odd reaction to have when coming across the random presence of the Hulk and some blonde woman with a Wakandan accent.
The woman started to smirk instead of smile, her blonde eyebrows lifting as she came to a stop a few feet away from them. "You're about five years too early." She announced, pointing a thin finger out to her left. "Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery about twenty blocks that way." She lowered her hand again and lowered her chin to look at Bruce and Ava more straight on. "What do you want from him?"
"That, actually," Bruce said, pointing to the metallic, eye-shaped necklace she wore. It hung low, over her stomach, and hung from a thick cord. The Eye of Agomotto. Inside, they knew, held the Time stone.
She looked down at it, only half surprised by their wants. "Ah-" She hummed and looked back up at them, clicking her tongue. "I'm afraid not."
"We aren't asking." Ava said and stepped closer. It came off more threatening than she intended, but they needed the stone. Whatever it took. This woman seemed kind and was probably just doing her job to guard the Stone, but Ava didn't care when it came down to the success or failure of the mission.
The woman didn't move or change her expression. "You don't want to do this."
"You're right, we don't," Bruce sighed as he walked toward her. He felt the same as Ava in this situation. He reached out his hand to take the necklace from her. "But we need that stone and we don't have time to-"
The woman thrust one hand out, smacking her palm against Bruce's chest. A yellow light flashed, and his large, green body collapsed as a transparent, human version of Bruce flew out. Ava's eyes went wide as Bruce's seemingly ghost floated in the air, looking at his hands in shock.
"Let's start over, shall we?" The woman asked, tilting her head again with a quaint smile.
Ava stared at her, eyes wide, jaw dropped. Never had she seen anything like it. You'd think seeing crazy things wouldn't surprise her anymore, but this was just simply odd. "How did you- did you kill him?"
"I pushed his astral form out of his physical body." She shook her head. "He is not dead."
**********
"Please, please!" Bruce begged her as he and Ava followed the Ancient One across the roof.
"I'm sorry, I can't help you." She sighed, growing frustrated with their constant asking for the Time Stone. She couldn't just give it up- her job was to protect it. "If I give up the Time Stone to help your reality, I'm dooming my own."
Bruce jogged ahead to get in front of her, stopping her from walking away. "With all due respect, I'm not sure the science supports that."
The Ancient One narrowed her eyes at him before tracing a line with her hand between them, a shimmering, golden line stretching through the air as far as the eye could see. Ava looked down at it in awe, listening as the woman spoke, images of the six stones encircling the golden trail. "The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones," She said as she raised a hand, flicking away the Time Stone from the illusion, a black trail branching off of the golden one. "And that flow splits. Now, this may benefit your reality, but my new one... not so much. In this new branch reality without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world would be overrun." She explained, shaking her head at the two of them. "Millions will suffer." Her lips pressed together in a grim expression as she turned her piercing eyes to Bruce again. "So, tell me, Doctor... Can your science prevent all that?"
Of course, none of them wanted that to happen. Make one reality suffer to benefit another? It was selfish. Ava frowned at Bruce, looking to him for an explanation that could benefit both sides. Bruce wrang his hands together in thought before he took a breath to talk. "No-" He admit honestly. "But we can erase it. Because once we're done with the stones, we can return each one to its own timeline at the moment it was taken," He said, plucking the Time Stone illusion from thin air, and placing it back with the other five. The black branch evaporated, returning the visual timeline to normal. "So, chronologically, in that reality it never left."
She turned away, walking toward the edge of the roof with tight shoulders. "Yes, but you are leaving out the most important part." She said, pausing to turn to them. "In order to return the stones, you must survive."
"We will." Ava assured and followed her to the edge of the rooftop with Bruce. "I will. I promise."
"I can't risk this reality on a promise." She muttered, blinking at them as if they were children. "It's the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone."
Ava scoffed, tossing her hands in the air. Strange was the Sorcerer Supreme, too... in the future. He surely didn't protect the Stone. "Then why the hell did Strange give it away?"
The Ancient One froze, her shoulders dropping as she stared at Ava still. "What did you say?" She asked, her tone easing up. Her already pale skin went more white and the tension in her face melted away like ice under hot water.
"Strange- he gave up the Time Stone. He gave it to Thanos."
She began to frown at the blonde woman before her, her brows pulling together and causing a crease above the bridge of her nose. She stood up taller, her eyes flickering back in forth with thoughts running through her mind like Olympic track stars. "Willingly?"
"Yes." Ava nodded.
"Why?"
"I have no idea! Maybe he made a mistake."
The Ancient One stepped closer to the shorter blonde, her expression grave. She could have passed off as a skeleton, thin and eery. Her hazel eyes searched deep within Ava's, sending an uncomfortable chill through Ava's spine. "Or I did." She whispered. Her eyes fell to the concrete roof below their feet as she held up a hand, turning her fingers like she was turning a dial. Bruce's physical Hulk body came flying forward, rejoining his astral form at Ava's side. Ava looked up at Bruce as he took in a deep breath, returning to his new Hulk-hybrid self again. The Ancient One then moved her hands in front of the Eye of Agomotto, opening the intricate holding device. A bright green light seeped out as it opened, the glowing stone floating out from the Eye and into the woman's bony fingers.
She looked up at Bruce, obviously hesitant as she held the stone out to him. "Strange is meant to be the best of us." She said.
Bruce peered down at the stone solemnly, taking it into his palm. "So he must have done it for a reason." He nodded.
"I fear you might be right." She mumbled, trying to keep her hands steady as she returned them to her sides.
Ava let out a calm sigh, watching the Ancient One try to understand what Strange intended. "Thank you."
The Ancient One's eyes shot across to Ava as she swallowed, tipping her head at her. "I'm counting on the both of you. We all are."
The two Avengers understood the weight of her words. If they failed, her world would crumble as well as their own. It was their duty to now save both. It wasn't only trust that allowed the Ancient One to give them the Time Stone. It was courage. Courage, knowing that they may fail. But, Doctor Strange was a great enough sorcerer that the Ancient One trusted him more than them and had the courage that he would not fail.
Ava and Bruce nodded again before they turned toward each other. Bruce put on his GPS tracker again and the two of them tapped the devices, the white and red time travel suits generating over them again. Bruce kept the Time Stone deep in his palm, in a tight grasp, and they synced up. "Ready?" He asked her.
"Ready." She said, and they each hit the devices on their hands again. A flash of light, and they were gone from sight. That nauseating feeling filled Ava's body again as blue and white lights swirled around her in long tunnels. Her limbs felt numb, and her stomach did flips while her head spun. She was beside Bruce through it all, and soon the trip was over.
The dizzy feeling subsided as she landed on the solid platform once more, returning to reality at the same time as everyone else. Anxious to see if they succeeded, her eyes flew from one person to the next- all of them searching each other for answers. "Did we do it?" Bruce asked, trying not to prematurely smile as their helmets all degenerated back to show everyone's faces.
It was a good thing he didn't smile, too. Clint dropped to his knees, slamming loud and hard against the floor of the platform. They all looked at him, he whose face was tense and flushed. He whose cheeks were stained with tears and fists were clenched. Then, it hit her. Ava frowned, looking at the empty space where Natasha was meant to be standing. "Clint... where's Nat?"