The shadow Hunter

chapter 62

"These are Pymms particles." Scott explained to the room. "Now we have to be very careful with these, we only have enough for a round trip each and an extra for testing." In his hand he held a vial of small red pin-like objects. "So whose gonna go on a test run?" We all glanced around at each other, hoping someone else would volunteer. "I will." Clint said, leaning up against the wall.

"Ready?" Bruce asked as he prepared the machines. Clint stood in the middle of the platform in a red paneled, white suit. "As ready as i'll ever be." He replied. "Ok, remember you travel back for a couple minutes and then bring yourself back in a few seconds?" Scott reminded him. "3..." Bruce started. Some of us shifted nervously on the spot. "2..." Our eyes fixated on Clint as the machine wired up, the solar panels flexing and the claw structures closing in. "1" And like that, Clint was gone. I heard sharp inhales from around the room as we waited those dreaded seconds for him to return. There was an audible breathe of release in the room when he was standing on the platform again. He was breathing heavily, his eyes darting around the room. "Clint, Are you ok?" Nat asked suddenly. His body slowly relaxed and his breathing became normal. "Ye, yes, i'm fine. It worked."  Tony grinned proudly and the others smiled with excitement. "Now we get the stones." Steve announced.

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"We know how it works." Steve announced. "Now we just got to figure out the when and where." The surprisingly more difficult part of the plan.  "Most of us have encountered at least one of the infinity stones in our lives." Shared glances went round the room we were now scattered across. If by encountered he meant near damn killed by it. The memory of the yellow overpowering light and the pain that came with it sprung to mind. "We only have enough particles for one round trip each- and these stones have been in a lot of different places through out history."

"Our history." Tony noted. "So not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in." Steve leant against the table. "So, lets start with the aether, Thor what do you know?" I peered over at Thor slumped in a chair, a beer can in his hand- and I couldn't quite tell if he was asleep or not. But then he suddenly sprung up from his chair- well more rolled out of it with a groan. A picture of the reality stone popped up on the screen.

"Where to start?" Thor questioned, taking off his glasses revealing two very blood shot eyes. "The Aether firstly is not a stone it's more of an angry sludge sort of a thing." We all glanced at each other, puzzled, as Thor took another gulp of beer. "Here's an interesting story though." Thor announced. "My grandfather, many years ago had to hide the stone from the dark elves." He added a sort of sound effect and then started chuckling. "Scary beings." He noted. Thor turned back to the screen and swiped at it with his finger. "So Jane, oh there she is," He exclaimed as a picture of a woman with mousy brown hair and a fox like face sprung up. "So Jane was an old flame of mine." Thor told us with a smile. I looked to my right, at Tony, and wasn't surprised to see him roll his eyes. "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." I looked over at Scott and was equally not surprised to see him hanging on to every word. "We were dating at the time you see and I got to introduce her to my mother...who's dead." He suddenly took on a very solemn tone. "Oh and Jane and I aren't even dating anymore." Thor started to silently weep. We all looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Tony leaped out of his chair and placed a hand on Thor's back. "Why don't you come sit down?" He guided him towards a chair but Thor pushed him away. "I'm not done yet- the only thing permanent in life is impermanent." He chuckled in a way that didn't feel appropriate for his statement. "Awesome!" Tony declared. "Come sit down, would you like a glass of water?" He asked. Thor shook his head, "No, i'd like a bloody mary." 

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Rocket explained to us how Quill had come across the power stone on Morag and then Nebula told us how the soul stone was found on Vormir whilst Nat took notes ferociously. By the time we got to the time stone, Thor and Rocket were slumped in chairs asleep and the rest of us were fighting to keep our eyes open. "That time stone guy?" Nat questioned, her pace of notes having slowed as her arm ached. "Doctor Strange." Bruce told her. "What kind of doctor was he?" Nat asked, twiddling the pen in her hand. "Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat." Tony remarked sarcastically- his arms crossed across his chest clearly not wanting to be here anymore. "Nice place in the village though." Bruce added. Nat sat up suddenly. "Wait he lived in New York?" The rest of us perked up slightly. "If we pick the right year, there are three stones in New York." The time stone, the space stone and the mind stone. But Tony shook his head. "To get all three stones in the given time would entail at least 5 of us." He explained. "To have so many of go back to one place and time could cause a collapse in space and time." 

Tony leant forward in his chair. "Two stones would only take three people so it's do-able." He remarked. "Which one is left over then?" Steve questioned. I wasn't an idiot, I knew what came next. Everyone's head slowly turned to me. "I have to go back to Sokovia, don't I?" I muttered with limited emotion. Steve stepped forward, "Are we sure that's a good idea?" He asked skeptically. "I mean no offense Clara." He said, turning to me. "But after what you have done in Russia..." He trailed off. It was the first time anyone had mentioned it or even alluded to it. The big elephant in the room- mine and Clint's bloodied hands. "What are you implying Rogers?" Nat said suddenly, jumping to my defense. "He wants to know if i'm mentally stable enough to handle a trip down memory lane." I muttered sarcastically. Steve didn't deny it.

 We were all asking the same question but I just didn't feel like Steve understood. He didn't understand what it was like to lose all hope, to realize there was no God looking out for you, no God that cared. He didn't realize what it was like to be a widow, a ticking time bomb in your head. He could preach his 'you have to move on' bullshit all he wanted in his star spangled suit but it was meaningless coming from him because he never moved on himself. He was still stuck in a war, he was still a soldier fighting for his country. And I was still the enemy. I would always be a killer in his eyes because his kills were heroic, mine were evil. "If you can't, we'll find another way." Tony muttered to me. "I can." I told him bluntly. "we all no this is the only way." But even then i felt the dread creep up on me. "When?" I asked. They all looked to me still. "You'll know better than any of us." Bruce said. I nodded once. I knew there was only one time when the stone wouldn't be guarded, only a small interval of time. "The day Ultron came."