First Light | Steve Rogers (Book Two)

Chapter Forty-Seven: The Plan

Thor had finally stirred, drunkenly staggering towards the screen. He removed his sunglasses and huffed quietly. "Uh, where to start? The Aether, firstly, is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before," he gestured over to Steve before continuing, "It's more of an angry sludge sort of thing, so someone's gonna need to amend that and stop saying that. 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"

I rested my head against the back of the chair, glancing sceptically up at Steve. He met my gaze and stifled a smile, nodding back to our friend. "So, Jane, actually..." an image of a woman popped up and he sighed heavily, "There she is. Yeah, so Jane was an old flame of mine. You know, 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... You know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore. These things happen. Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that-"

"Why don't you come sit down?" Tony asked gently, trying to approach the weeping god.

"I'm not done yet. The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence"

Rocket was up next, explaining the Power Stone to us as we ate our Chinese takeout. He cleared his throat as he gestured to the image on the screen, "Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag"

Bruce frowned, "Is that a person?"

"No, Morag's a planet. Quill was a person"

Scott was absolutely captivated with the story, accidentally missing when he went to take a bite from his prawn toast. "Like a planet?" he gasped in excitement, "Like in outer space?"

The raccoon cooed mockingly and patted his head, "Aw, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space"

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir" Nebula murmured, her dark eyes clouded over with sorrow. 

"What is Vormir?" Nat asked from the corner, taking notes on everything that was being said.

She stared at her curiously before answering, "A dominion of death at the very centre of celestial existence. It's where Thanos murdered my sister"

Steve and I had taken the small couch in the corner. He smiled down at me as I rested my head in his lap, absentmindedly running a hand through my hair as we stared back at the screen. I frowned slightly as the image of a bright green stone appeared on it, "Wasn't that from the Time Stone wizard guy?"

Bruce nodded quietly, "Doctor Strange"

"What kind of doctor was he?"

"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat" Tony suggested, twirling a pen around in his hand as he closed his eyes in boredom.

"Nice place in the Village, though"

The millionaire nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, what was it, Sullivan Street?"

"Bleecker Street"

Nat frowned and sat up abruptly, "Wait, he lived in New York?"

The two guys began to argue and I rolled my eyes, curling up even closer to Steve. He gave me a questioning look and I smiled, bringing his hand in mine and pressing a gentle kiss to it. Nat's voice finally brought us out of our moment, "Guys. If you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York"

There was a pause as we all stared at each other in surprise and excitement. Bruce turned to look at her with a wide grin, "Shut the front door"

We stood together in front of the screen, looking at the established times and locations of the stones. "All right," Steve huffed as he glanced around at us, "We have a plan. Six stones, three teams, one shot"

"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"

We all stood in a circle, exchanging nervous glances. I made eye contact with Nat, chuckling softly when she winked at me. Steve sighed and I gave him an encouraging smile, "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"

Steve glanced over me and I gave him an approving grin, "You're pretty good with your speeches"

"You ready for this?"

"Nope. But, hey, at least we'll be together when everything goes to shit. 'Come what may', right?" I joked, awkwardly looking away for a moment.

He nodded slowly, "Of course"

There was a beeping sound as the machine powered up around us and I drew in a deep breath. Nat grinned widely at us all, "See ya in a minute"

My helmet came down around my head and I closed my eyes, trying my best to stay still as the metal plates above us began to slowly spread out. I felt a tugging sensation in my stomach as we were all suddenly dragged into a strange tunnel-like place. We sped along, bright colours flashing and rippling around us as we were pulled through.

A blinding flash of light overcame my vision and I felt my feet hit the ground.