Everlasting • Tony Stark✔️

105 | when and where

TONY paced close to Pietro as he thought of what the plan would be to get the stones. Steve and Bruce were in the front as well as the computer monitors displayed the stones.

"Okay, so the how works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones," Steve started.

Tony scoffed. "Well I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones."

"I haven't, I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about," Scott added with a hand raised.

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each, and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history," Bruce said.

"Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in," Tony said.

"Which means we have to pick our targets," Clint pointed out, and Tony nodded.

"Correct."

"Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve asked.

They all turned to look at Thor who sat in a chair in the corner with sunglasses on his face.

"Is he asleep?" Natasha asked.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead," Rhodey answered.

After they had gotten Thor awake, he stood at the front while pointed at the screen. "Where to start? Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someones gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves..." He wiggled his fingers. Scott looked to be the only one enjoying the story. "Wooooh, scary beings.

"So Jane," An image of Jane Foster popped up on the screen. "Oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... 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. 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. I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead," Thor started to look on the verge of tears, "and oh you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever," Tony stood up to push him back to his chair, "I'm not done yet, the only thing permanent in life is impermanence."

Tony tapped his shoulder. "Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?"

"No," Thor said with a smile, "I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you."

Tony rolled his eyes as they decided to take a break to eat. As they were eating, Rocket was on the table,
pacing. "Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag."

"Is that a person?" Scott asked with furrowed brows.

Rocket looked at him stupidly. "Morag's a planet. Quill was a person."

"A planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asked excitedly.

Rocket stood in front of Scott with a condescending look on his face. He tapped Scott's head. "Oh, 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 get you to space."

After they ate, they were back in the briefing room while Nebula explained the next stone. "Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir."

Natasha was writing things down. She glanced up at her. "What is Vormir?"

"A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister," Nebula answered sadly.

Everyone was quiet as they took in what she said. Natasha went back to writing as Scott suddenly said, "Not it." Pietro smirked as he tapped his foot impatiently.

That night, Tony and Natasha were lying on a table while Bruce laid on the floor. They were now talking about the Time Stone.

"That Time Stone guy—"

"Dr. Strange," Bruce corrected.

"Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?" Natasha asked.

Tony was balancing a pen on his nose. "Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat."

"Nice place in the village, though," Bruce added.

Tony nodded. "Yeah. Sullivan Street."

"Hmm... Bleecker," Bruce said.

Natasha suddenly sat up, scaring Tony as he flinched at the movement. "Wait, he lived in New York?"

"No. He lived in Toronto. Were you even paying attention?" Tony said sarcastically.

Natasha's eyes flickered from Bruce to Tony. "Guys, if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York."

Bruce sat up next. "Shut the front door."

The next morning, all of the Avengers stared at the holograms showing where and when each stone was. The Soul and Power Stones in space in 2014. The Reality Stone in Asgard in 2013. The Space, Mind, and Time Stones in New York City in 2012.

"All right. We have a plan. Six Stones, three teams. One shot," Steve said suddenly, and Tony looked down at his phone where a picture of him and Lyra from Malibu stayed as his home screen. He felt Pietro grab his arm and squeeze it.

"We'll get her back," Pietro whispered because they all needed to continue to be reassured.

"Wanda, too," Tony promised with a nod as they all walked out near the time machine. He could see Pietro grow nervous as they neared it, but he was nervous, too. He did not want to screw up.

"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. 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," Steve and Tony locked eyes, "Whatever it takes. Good luck."

Rocket pointed to Steve as he said, "He's pretty good at that."

Scott grinned. "Right?"

"Lyra always thought so," Natasha added with a smirk.

Tony's lips twitched. "All right. You heard the man. Stroke those keys, jolly green."

"Tractors engaged," Bruce said.

Rocket pointed to the shrunken ship in Clint's hand. "You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?"

Clint smirked. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'll do my best."

"As promises go, that was pretty lame."

Natasha smirked, wiggling her hips and eyebrows excitedly. "See you in a minute," she said with a wink to Clint.