Champion

Best Laid Plans

Planet Titan
Deep Space

"That's only like... Half of a plan." Willow said, crossing her arms and frowning a little.

"It's more like 12% of a plan." Hope argued. "Why are we letting this random guy decide everything. He hasn't even fought Thanos." Quill glared at her.

"I have! He took my girl and he killed her to get that Soul Stone if there's even a chance of getting her back, I want to take it." Mantis put her hand on his shoulder and attempted to calm him down but Quill was too riled up and shook her hand away. "You said you could sense her in the Soul Stone, if that's true then she's still alive."

"Even if we shatter the Soul Stone." Loki spoke up. "There isn't any guarantee that she will come back. We could just be destroying her along with it."

"I can go subatomic." Scott offered again, causing Hope to elbow him in the ribs. "Look, if I find her in there in some Quantum realm or Soul World or whatever, then I can probably bring her back safe and sound."

"We can't ask you to risk your life like that Scott. You barely got out the last time." Steve said with a sigh. They'd already gone over this argument. They were now just running around in circles.

"I know it's a risk but if I bring back Gamora, Thanos' sacrifice would be null and the Soul Stone will head black to whatever corner of the universe it came from. I can do this. I just have to get close enough to the Stone and think of my daughter to help pull me out of the quantum realm. That's what helped me last time. Just thinking of her was able to pull me free."

"And what if that doesn't work Scott. What if you got lost in there?" Hope demanded.

"Then we shatter the Time Stone." Scott said gesturing to Dr. Strange.

"That's off the table." Stephan said dismissively.

"Well put it back on." Scott said, gesturing to the imaginary table. "Thanos has four infinity stones. He's already the most powerful being in the universe and you don't want to stop him from finishing his shiny rock collection because of some dumb oath?"

"If Stark can get that Stone out of Visions head then..." Stephen began.

"And what if he can't Doc?" Natasha demanded. "Vision is alive. If we shatter his Stone it's like... Killing a person. If we shatter your Stone, you what? Get sent to magic prison?" An uproar began again and Willow rolled her eyes.

"Enough!" She shouted, boosting her voice with her powers and blowing back people's hair and clothes. Everyone stood silent and ready around her. Willow took a deep breath. "A lot of these plans aren't ideal. There's a lot of what ifs that people are thinking about but we won't know if something will work or not if we don't try." Willow sighed and looked down at the red soil beneath her feet, staining her black boots.

"We all have people we want to protect, people we want to save but we have to remember that we're not just doing this for them, we're doing this for everyone everywhere. The fate of the entire universe is in our hands." Steve said, putting his hand on Willows shoulder lightly. "Quills plan is a good idea. It might just work but we also need a plan B, C, D..."

"All the way down to Z and then we need to start the alphabet over again." Willow interrupted. "If we can't get Gamora out of the Soul Stone, if her and Scott both become trapped then we need to destroy the Time Stone Dr. Strange because in my opinion, it is the most powerful stone of all. Even if we shattered the Soul Stone or shattered the Mind Stone, if Thanos gets the Time Stone, he can reverse all of that."

"The Time Stone..." Stephan began.

"Is not more important than the any of our lives, or the lives of the people on earth or in this galaxy or in other galaxies."  Willow said cutting him off. "I understand that you have a duty to protect that Stone but don't you also have a duty to protect everyone on earth?" Dr. Strange swallowed hard but nodded. "This is just plan B Dr. Strange. We all need to make hard choices right now and think about what is worth preserving, saving." Willow took a deep breath. "Some of us are Avengers. Some of us are Guardians and some of us are unaffiliated. And the one thing we all have in common, is that we don't want Thanos to win." Willow looked around the circle of friends, of allies, of heroes and was relieved to see that everyone was nodding, everyone was in the same mindset.