Forever and Always

Chapter 26

"Let's start with the Power Stone. Rocket or Nebula, what can you tell us about it?" Everyone had gathered back in the conference room, and Steve stood at the front giving a little introduction again before taking a step to the side.

          "I'll handle this one." Rocket said as he hopped onto the table. Clara watched as he avoided stepping in plates or having his tail rub up against anyone's food. He had a small clicker in his hand, which controlled the holograms, and a new screen zoomed in, replacing the screen with the reality stone, or Aether, and now displaying an image of a purple stone.

             "Quill said that he stole the Power Stone from Morag." He showed a picture of this guys Clara has never seen before, and next to that picture a gray orb thing that was glowing purple.

             "Is Morag a person?" Bruce asked as he ate a tub of his own ice cream flavor from Ben and Jerry's. Rocket shook his head. He clicked a new button, and the image of the man and the orb was replaced by a dull looking planet.

             "Morag's a person. Quill was a person." The way that Rocket referred to this man as "Quill', which must be his last name, and used the word "was" as opposed to "is", Clara figured that this Quill guy must've been someone close to him, and that he also didn't survive the snap.

             "A planet?" Scott's voice dragged Clara away from her depressing thoughts. She looked over at him. He was shoving some Lo Mein into his mouth with chopsticks. "Like in outer space?" Clara looked from Scott to Rocket, who had this funny look on face. He snickered and walked over to Scott and stared down at him. Clara watched, holding in a laugh, as Rocket bent down in a knee and started petting Scott.

            "Oh look, it's like a little puppy." Rocket mocked Scott, who just sat there. "All happy and everything. Hey puppy, you want to go to space?" Clara saw that Scott wasn't sure how to react. Clara felt a smile build up, but she forced herself to stop, but around, she saw that she wasn't alone in forcing down a chuckle. She saw Nat smile and look down, and she even saw Tony release a small laugh. "Anyways..." Rocket took his hand off of Scott's head and made his way back over to the hologram. He pressed another button, showing the Power Stone revolving. "The best bet to get this stone would be on Morag because after it's taken by Quill, that thing is everywhere. And we would have to get it in 2014. That is around the time Quill stole it in Earth time." Rocket jumped off the table, and Steve took his place back in the front of the room.

"Thank you, Rocket. Next up, we have the soul stone. Nebula, do you think you could fill us in?" Nebula, who seemed to always be standing in corners at this point, emerged from the shadows and took Steve's place in the front. She had all her weighted shifted to one side, and her one arm was crossed against her stomach while the other arm was being supported. Nebula was examining her hand as she spoke.

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir. To retrieve the stone, we would have to travel anywhere before 2018." Clara watched the screen as the Orange-gold stone rotated on the screen.

"What is Vormir?" Clara looked over at Nat, who was writing notes down in a notepad.

"Vormir is a dominion of death..." That doesn't sound pleasant, Clara thought as Nebula spoke. "It's at the very center of Celestial Existence. It's where..." Nebula paused. Even though she had all black eyes, Clara could tell that she was getting to a dark spot. "It's where Thanos murdered my sister." Clara could feel the room get silent. As if...as soon as she said that, everyone had stopped breathing at the same time because they were so shocked. Clara didn't even realize Nebula had a sister. She never talks unless it is to give us information, so hearing her go this personal as to say her sister was murdered, it was different. Everyone looked around at each other, not sure what to say or how to react.