A GODS WEAKNESS [l.laufeyson]

FORTY SIX

     All the avengers sit in the compound around a table looking at a bunch of screens showing the stones and their artefacts. Astrid looked at the picture of the tesseract, eyeing it. Sadness built up inside her. Why did Loki have to pick it up that day?

"Okay. Now we've got how, we're going to need where and when..." Steve's voice brought everyone's attention away from the screen. "Most folks here have encountered at least one of the six Infinity Stones-"

"I think you mean nearly killed by one of the six Infinity Stone." Tony interrupted him.

"I haven't!" Scott spoke up excitedly. Everyone glared at him and suddenly he felt uncomfortable. "Just... saying."

Astrid slightly smiled to herself. Everyone was so serious but Scott reminded her a bit of Thor. The group carried on discussing the stones as Astrid looked back at the red stone on the screen. She thought back to the time the dark elves invaded. What a rollercoaster of events that was.

"Exactly." Steve taps the Reality Stone on the screen, interrupting Astrid's thoughts. "Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do we know?"

Everyone looks towards Thor, slumped in his chair with sunglasses covering his eyes.

"Is he asleep?"

"No... I'm pretty sure he's dead."

Astrid wiggled her fingers effortlessly, bringing his glasses off his head and smacking him with it, waking him up. Once he caught on to what was going on, he stood up and sulked his way over to the screen.

"The Aethers not a stone, it's more an angry sludge. My grandfather hid it from the Dark Elves in a rock between dimensions that can only be assessed every 5000 years." Thor's robotic eye drifts off in the wrong direction. Astrid cringes as Thor bangs his head, resetting his eye. "Or... by Jane. She stuck her hand in a rock. Then the Aether stuck itself inside her. Then I took her to Asgard. We were dating... we're not anymore."

Everyone stared at the depressed God as he continued to stare at the stone. At least a minute went by and then it just became awkward. Astrid stood up and walked over to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and escorted him back to his chair, she soon gave him a tub of ice cream that seemed to lift his spirits.

~

It had been a long day and a long night of everyone figuring out the whereabouts of the stones. It had everyone stressed, but they had done it. They had a plan to get the stones. Everyone had their eyes on the screen, going over the plan again and again in their heads.

Steve stands up, breaking the silence. "We have a plan. Six stones, three teams, one shot..."

Astrid looks around the room at the heroes. Through their discussions of the stones in the meeting, she realises how much everyone else had suffered. She felt guilty for only thinking of herself and leaving everyone else behind. She thought she was the only one who had truly lost something dear to her. But in reality, everyone suffered just as much as she did, everyone had to deal with their own sort of pain.

~

Dawn rises outside the warehouse. The heroes march past in their time travel suits and head onto the Quantum Realm Tunnel. They stand in a circle preparing to leave as Steve gives a speech. Astrid starts getting slightly nervous and looks to her side to see Thor, he looks back at her noticing her nerves and holds her hand tight. Astrid looked back around the room looking to all her friends and saw Nat smiling at her. She smiled back at Nat and exchanged a nod, signalling to each other they were ready.

"...be careful, look out for each other. Improvise, if you have to. This is the fight of our lives, and we're going to win. Whatever it takes."

The platform stays quiet as Rocket whispers to Scott. "He's pretty good at that." Scott nods back enthusiastically.

"All right, you heard the man. Stroke those keys jolly green." Tony points to Banner who does just that. Banner taps his pencil on the screen. Lights illuminating each pad.

"Tracking beacons engaged." Banner steps back onto the platform, completing the lineup as the platform begins to vibrate.

"No one mess up." Astrid jokes with the team. She didn't realise though that it probably stressed everyone out more. Some chuckled back as others faces turned somber.

"See you in a minute." Nat says as she smiles at everyone.

Suddenly everyone stretches, shrinks and vanishes. The Quantum Tunnel stops vibrating and the group have disappeared. This was it. This was the moment they've waited for. Five years of dread have come down to this.

It was their one shot. They couldn't ruin it.