"Okay, so the how works. Now, we gotta figure out the when and the where." Steve said, as he stood beside screen, showing the Stones that we were after. "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 corrected.
"Well, I haven't..." Scott said. "But I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."
"Regardless, we only have enough Pam Particles for one round-trip each." Smart Hulk reminded us. "And these Stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."
"Our history." Tony added. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"
"Which means we have to pick our targets." Clint said.
"Correct." Tony pointed at him.
"So, let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve asked.
"Is he asleep?" Nat asked if he looked back at Thor just sitting in the chair sunglasses covering his eyes as he did not move.
"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead." I tell her.
———
"Uh, where to start? Um... The Aether, firstly is not a Stone." Thor said, pointing at the thing on the screen, when he finally moved. "Someone called it a Stone before. Um, it's more of an angry sludge sort of thing... so somebody's gonna need to amend that...and stop saying that." Thor took off his sunglasses, rubbing his eyes. " Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago... had to hide the Stone from the Dark Elves. Ooh. Scary beings. So, Jane, actually... oh, there she is." He touched the screen showing a girl. "Yeah, so Jane was an old flame of mine. Do you know 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. And 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... and I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead and, um... Oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, so... Yes, these things happen, though. You know? Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that..."
"So Stone is in Asgard. You should sit down, now." I say.
"No, no." Thor shook his head.
"No, she's right, why don't you come sit down?" Tony grabbed his arm.
"I'm not done yet." Thor told him. "The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence."
"Awesome." Tony clapped. "Eggs? Breakfast?"
"No. I'd like a Bloody Mary." Thor said.
Next rocket stepped up and stood on the table as we ate breakfast.
"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag."
"Is that a person?" Smart Hulk asked.
"No, Morag's a planet. Quill was a person." Rocket told him.
"Like a planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asked.
"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything." Rocket rubbed Scotts head. "Do you want to go to space? you wanna go to space, puppy?" Scott moved his head away for markets hand. "I'll take you to space."
——
"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." Nebula told us as we sat in couches and chairs.
"What is Vormir?" Nat asked.
"A dominion of death... at the very centre of celestial existence. It's where Thanos murdered my Sister." Nebula told us.
We were all silent while.
"That sounds wonderful." I mumbled sarcastically to myself.
"Not it." Scott said quietly.
———
"That Time Stone guy." Nat said.
Tony and Nat lay on the table that was covered with papers, Smart Hulk was on his back on the floor and I sat with my legs up on the glass and my back on the floor.
"Doctor Strange." Smart Hulk told her.
"Yeah, what kind of Doctor was he?" Nat asked.
"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat." Tony groaned.
"Nice place in the Village, though." Smart Hulk said.
"Yeah, on Sullivan Street?" I wonder.
"Mm... Bleecker Street." Smart Hulk corrected.
"Wait, he lived in New York?" I realize.
"No, he lived in Toronto." Tony turned over.
"Uh, yeah, on Bleecker and Sullivan." Smart Hulk told him.
"Have you been listening to anything?" Tony asked him.
"Guys." Nat stopped them. "If you pick the right year, there are three Stones in New York."
"Shut the front door." Smart Hulk sat up.
I swung my legs off the glass and set up straight. "You're right."
————
"All right. We have a plan. Six Stones, three teams, one shot." Steve stopped in front of the screen, showing the Stones and their locations. Everyone stood up behind him.
————
We all together walked to the quantum tunnel in our suits.
"Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. you know your teams. You know your missions. Get the stones. Get them back." Steve told us as we put our fists in the middle. "One round-trip each. No mistakes... no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives... and we're gonna win. Whatever it takes. Good luck."
"He's pretty good at that." Lock it looked up at Scott.
"Right." Scott nodded.
"You heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green." Tony called to Smart Hulk.
"Trackers engaged."
"We can do this." I smile at Steve.
"See ya in a minute." Nat smiled at us.
As the quantum tunnel started to turn above us and the lights, reflective down. Our helmets formed around our heads, and we were gone.
(I was thinking about sending (Y/n) with Clint and Nat to see red skull but I feel like that should just be for them.)