"She was afraid of heights, but she was much more afraid of never flying."
Aphrodite Stark.
Tony, Nat and I were lying on the desk, surrounded by papers, and Bruce accompanied us, on the floor.
The time stone popped up on a hologram, and my thoughts drifted to Doctor Stephen Strange and why he would have given up the stone.
"That time stone guy-" Nat said, and Bruce coughed, interrupting her.
"Doctor Strange."
"Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?" Nat asked, and I felt the rise and fall of Tony's shoulders as he shrugged.
"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat." He said, making me chuckle.
"Nice place in the village, though." I commented, and Tony nodded.
"Yeah. Sullivan Street."
"Bleecker." Bruce corrected him, and Nat gasped, making me turn my head to her.
"Wait, he lived in New York?" She asked, and I nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
"Guys, if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York." Nat said, and we all sat up, surprised.
"Shut the front door."
•••
After we informed the others, we picked teams, and looked at the holograms of the stones and their location in time.
Soul Stone: Vormir (2014)
Power Stone: Morag (2014)
Reality Stone: Asgard (2013)
Space Stone, Mind Stone, Time Stone: New York (2012)
"Alright, we have a plan. Six stones, three teams, one shot." Steve said, and we suited up, walking up to the time machine Tony and Rocket built, wearing the suits Tony had designed for us.
Tony stood next to me, holding my hand tightly, knowing this was dangerous and we may never see eachother again.
He was going with Bruce, Scott and Steve to New York.
I was going with Nat to Vormir.
"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. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs." Steve said, and I squeezed Tony's hand tightly, feeling the worry settle in.
"Most of us are going somewhere we know, but it 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." He continued, looking over at Tony who smiled back at him.
"Whatever it takes. Good luck."
Rocket leaned over to Scott, looking impressed.
"He's pretty good at that."
"Right?" Scott responded, looking extremely excited.
"All right. You heard the man. Stroke those keys, jolly green." Tony said, looking over at Bruce while he typed some things in.
"Tractors engaged."
Rocket looked at me, slightly concerned as I had his shrunken ship in my hand.
"You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?" He asked, and I nodded.
"You have my word."
"As far as promises go, that was pretty good." I grinned, and Nat turned to look at everyone, smiling excitedly.
"See you in a minute."
We shrunk down, and I closed my eyes.
When I opened them again, Rhodey, Nat and I had landed in Morag, with Nebula landing Rocket's full sized ship behind me.
"Alright, bring it down low. Right on that line, that's it. Down." Rhodey ushered Nebula, and I chuckled.
"Hey, can we hurry it up?" I asked politely, and Nat nodded in agreement.
"Guys, chop-chop. Come on, we're on a clock."
Nebula walked out of the ship, telling us she punched in the coordinates to Vormir, and we just had to let the ship take us there.
"All that, is really helpful." Rhodey said, and hugged Nat.
"Take care, okay?' he asked, and Nat Pat his back comfortingly.
"Yeah."
"Take that stone and come back. No messing around." Rhodey said, and I jokingly saluted.
"Yes sir."
"Hey, you got this." Rhodey said, pulling me in for a hug.
"We're a long way from the bar." I said, making him smile at me.
"Let's get it done."
We bid farewell to Nebula, and I pulled her in for a hug.
She was uncomfortable at first, but she pat my back in response, making me smile.
"See you back!" Nat exclaimed to them as we walked back to the ship, and Rhodey nodded.
"You guys watch each other's six." He instructed, and we just smiled as the hatch to the ship closed.
We buckled ourselves in, and took off, speeding out of the atmosphere of Morag, and flying straight to Vormir.
Let's hope this goes okay.
•••
We landed safely in Vormir, and stepped off the ship, gawking at the mountain in front of us, shroud in an orange hue.
We're definitely in the right place.
"Wow. Under different circumstances, this would be totally awesome." I said, making Nat chuckle.
She took my hand in here, interlocking our fingers as we began our trek towards the mountain to climb it.
"I bet the raccoon didn't have to climb a mountain." Nat grumbled, making me chuckle lightly.
"Technically, he's not a raccoon, you know." I corrected her, and she shrugged, giving me a look.
"Whatever, he eats garbage." Nat shit back, and I opened my mouth to respond, but someone else interrupted us.
"Welcome."
Nat drew her weapon, and I quickly put my hands up, ready to attack.
It was a man with a red face, his body covered by a large black clock.
Not creepy at all.
"Natasha, daughter of Ivan. Aphrodite, daughter of Clementine."
"Who are you?" Nat asked, and he looked blankly at us.
How did he know my mother's name?
"Consider me a guide." He said, and I lowered my hands.
"To you, and to all who seek the soul stone."
"Oh, good." I said, turning to Nat, who still had her weapon drawn.
"You tell us where it is. Then we'll be on our way."
"Ah, liebchen. If only it were that easy." The presence responded, and began leading us to the top of the mountain.
In front of us, was a cliff.
With a really, really long drop.
"What you seek lies in front of you, as does what you fear." He said, making Nat look at me, her excited nature disappearing.
"The stone is down there." She said, and I nodded, knowing she was right.
But how do we get it?
"For one of you. For the other, in order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange."
What?
"A soul, for a soul."
Nat walked away, sitting on a log as I watched the stone keeper in disbelief.
"Jesus. Maybe he's making this shit up." I said, and she shook her head, looking defeated.
"No. I don't think so."
"Why?" I asked, walking over to Nat and meeting in front of her.
"Because he knows your fathers name?"
She just looked at the ground.
"I didn't."
Oh.
"Thanos left here with the stone, without his daughter." She said, and I shook my head, finally understanding what had to happen.
"It's not a coincidence." I breathed out, and she let out a dry breath.
"Yeah."
"Whatever it takes." I said, and Nat stood up, looking at me.
"If we don't get that stone, billions of people stay dead." She said, walking over to me.
"Then I guess we both know who it's gotta be." I said, feeling an ache in my heart, knowing I had to be the one to do it.
Tony would be so broken, he'd be a single father but I need to do this, for the sake of billions of people.
Maybe this is why I had my powers.
Maybe this is where I needed to be, this whole time.
"I guess we do." She responded, and I took Nat's hand, and we stood in silence for a second, looking at eachother with small, broken smiles on our faces.
She thinks she's going to jump.
"I'm beginning to think we mean different people here, Nat." I said, and she looked at me with hope in her eyes.
"For the last five years I've been trying to do one thing, get to right here."
I shook my head to tell her she doesn't need to do it, but she put a finger on my lips to keep me from interrupting her.
"That's all it's been about. Bringing everybody back." She said, and I chuckled.
"Oh, don't you get all decent on me now."
"What, you think I wanna do it? I'm trying to save your life, so you can go back to your family, you idiot." She said, and I gave her a sad smile.
"You're a pain in my ass, you know that?" I asked, and she leaned her forehead on mine.
"Do you remember when you tried to lift Mjolnir, and I told you I'd owe you a kiss?" She asked, sounding amused, and I nodded.
"Yeah."
"I never did kiss you, did I?" Nat asked, making me smile.
"No, you didn't."
"Would Tony be mad? One kiss for the road?" She suggested, and I laughed lightly.
I knew there were no feelings between us, and a kiss would be purely a goodbye.
Nat took my cheeks in her hands, lightly kissing my lips.
I pulled away after a few seconds, leaning my forehead on hers again.
"Okay, you win." I said, smiling at her, and abruptly knocking her to the ground, holding her there.
"Tell my family I love them." I said, but she quickly tackled me to the ground.
"You tell them yourself." She responded, electrocuting me.
I groaned in pain, feeling the effects of the shock, watching Nat get up and start running towards the cliff.
I reacted, sending a gush of air her way, knocking her into a rock.
Her face contorted into an expression of pain at the impact, and I sent her an apologetic look, stumbling to me feet and running to the edge of the mountain.
I jumped off the edge, but Nat tackled me, and we fell together.
"Damn you!" I shouted, and we began the fast descent to the hard ground below the cliff.
"You can push yourself back up. I can't." Nat said, and I cried, knowing she was right.
"Let me go."
"No. Please, no." I started sobbing, and she looked at me, scared and sad.
"It's okay."
"Please-" Nat cut me off by pushing herself off me, plummeting to the ground faster.
I screamed in anguish, sending myself flying back to the top of the cliff, landing on my hands and knees by the cliffside.
Dragging myself to the edge of the mountain, I looked at the ground below, seeing Nat, dead.
I screamed as a boom in the sky sent colours and hues flying into the air, and I fell on my back, defeated.
The next time I opened my eyes, I was sitting in a pool of water, the mountain sitting on the horizon.
I opened my palm, feeling something in it, to find the glowing orange soul stone.
The sight of the stone, and the thought of what it cost to get it, made me start sobbing again, hitting the water to release some of the pain.
Nat was gone.
My suit began beeping, and I, along with the ship and everyone else, was shrunken down, and thrown back into the tunnel.
We grew back to our normal size, and I quickly threw Rocket's ship outside, and it grew to its normal size out there.
Everyone held their infinity stones out, and I took the soul stone, holding it in my palm again, the tears falling down my face.
"Did we get them all?" Bruce asked, and Rhodey laughed.
"You telling me this'll actually work?"
I fell to the floor, sobbing at Tony ram towards me, holding me in his chest and rocking me back and forth.
"Aphrodite, where's Nat?" Bruce asked, and I continued sobbing into Tony's shoulder, making everyone realise who we'd lost.
She wasn't coming back.