"Time travel suit, not bad." Rhodey says as he joins them. Bruce moves to place the Pym Particles in the suit, but Scott stops him.
"Hey, hey, hey! Easy! Easy!" He protests, taking the container from him.
"I'm being very careful." Bruce tells him.
"No, you're being very Hulky." He replies.
"I'm being careful!" He argues.
"These are Pym Particles, all right? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more." Scott says.
"Scott, calm down." Rhodey tells him.
"Has anyone told you that you have a very punchable face?" Aleks asks, staring at Scott. He stares back, scared of her. Rhodey clears his throat, getting their attention.
"Sorry. We've got enough for one round-trip each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs." He says. He loads the particles into the suit, yelling as he accidentally activates it. He returns a moment later. "One test run."
"Can I punch him now?" Aleks asks as Rhodey sighs.
"All right. I'm not ready for this." He tells them, making Aleks roll her eyes.
"I'm game." Clint says from the doorway. "I'll do it." Scott takes his suit off and Clint changes into a suit, taking his place.
"Clint, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift. Don't worry about that." Bruce tells him.
"Wait a second. Let me ask you something." Rhodey says. "If we can do this, you know, go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos? You know, and..." He suggests, miming killing him.
"Finally, someone comes up with a smart plan." Aleks replies.
"First of all, that's horrible." Bruce tells them, making Aleks roll her eyes again.
"It's Thanos." Rhodey argues. She nods in agreement.
"And secondly, time doesn't work that way. Changing the past doesn't change the future." He explains.
"Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them, Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved." Scott argues. Aleks nods again, though she likes this plan less than Rhodey's.
"Bingo." Clint adds.
"That's not how it works." Nebula says.
"Well, that's what I heard." He replies.
"Wait, but who? Who told you that?" Bruce asks.
"Star Trek, Terminator, Timecop, Time After Time, Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time, Hot Tub Time Machine, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." Rhodey lists. Aleks looks at the others, confused at the names. "Basically, any movie that deals with time travel." He clarifies.
"Die Hard." Scott suggests. "No, that's not one."
"This is known." He says.
"I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true." Bruce replies.
"If it's not true, explain it to us, Big Guy." Aleks says, crossing her arms over her chest.
"If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can't now be changed by your new future." He explains.
"Exactly." Nebula adds.
"So Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit?" Scott scoffs.
***
"All right, Clint. We're going in three, two, one." Bruce announces as Clint stands on the platform. He shrinks and disappears, returning a few seconds later.
"Hey. Hey, look at me. You okay?" Nat tells him as she and a few others rush to his side. Aleks rolls her eyes and scoffs. Dahlia pats her arm, knowing her pain has manifested as anger. Nat helps Clint to his feet, turning his head to look at her.
"Yeah. Yeah." He answers, showing her the baseball glove he'd grabbed. "It worked. It worked." He tosses it to Tony.
The group moves into the other room, gathering to plan the heist.
"Okay, so the how works. Now, we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones." Steve says.
"I think you meant to say near-death experience." Aleks scoffs.
"Yeah. Substitute 'encounter' with 'damn near been killed' by one of the six Infinity Stones." Tony agrees.
"Well, I haven't, but I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about." Scott replies.
"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 says.
"Our history." Tony corrects. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"
"Which means we have to pick our targets." Clint tells him.
"Correct." He replies.
"So, let's start with the Aether." Steve suggests. "Thor, what do you know?"
Thor sighs and moves to the front as Tony changes the screen to display all the information they have on the Aether. Dahlia stands and moves off to the side and Aleks rolls her eyes, knowing that Thor will likely get emotional, and not wanting to waste more time.
"Uh, where to start? Um...The Aether, firstly is not a stone." Thor begins. "Steve called it a stone before. Um, it's more of an angry sludge sort of a thing, so someone's gonna need to amend that and stop saying that."
"The Aether is sort of like an energy, but it's also like a parasite that infects people. It's kind of hard to explain without-" Dahlia clarifies.
"Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether." He interrupts. Aleks sighs, knowing it probably isn't actually that interesting. "My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves. Ooh, scary beings. So, Jane, actually..." He continues, pointing to the screen. Her picture appears and Dahlia sighs. "Oh, 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 infected her like my dear sister-in-law said." He explains, gesturing towards Dahlia.
"Thor, maybe I should-" She protests.
"She became very, very sick." Thor continues, ignoring her. "And so I had to take her to Asgard, which is where we're 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..." He sighs, tearing up. "Who's dead, and, um...Oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even together anymore, so...Yes, these things happen, though. You know? Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that-"
"Thor, let me take over." Dahlia suggests, stepping forward and placing her hand on his arm to lead him to a seat.
"I'm not done yet." He replies, patting her hand. "The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence."
"Come on." She tells him, grabbing his arm and dragging him back to his seat. She pauses as she passes Rhodey's chair and quietly speaks to him. Rhodey pats her arm and she takes Thor's place at the front of the room.
Dahlia tells the others all she knows about the Aether and their experience with it. Once she's finished and answered everyone's questions, they set the plan to retrieve it. They agree that she, Thor, and Rocket will go to Asgard to remove the Aether from Jane.
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The Spring Soldier | Bucky Barnes
FanfictionThe Spring Solider was HYDRAs secret weapon. As the only person able to calm and keep the Winter Soldier under control, she was an important asset. That was until they found out that the two had gotten closer than what was expected or allowed. Alek...
