"So, what? It was too dangerous
for me to fight against Iron Man
and Black Widow last year because
I was too young and it was too
dangerous, but now some alien dude
wants to destroy the planet and I'm
suddenly totally cool to fight?"
Sequel to...
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CHAPTER TWENTY NINE | THE STONES
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optimism is radical. it is... the brave choice. and it is... most needed now, in the face of despair... history and fable have both proven that nothing is ever entirely lost. david can take goliath. a beach in normandy can turn the tide of war. bravery can topple the powerful... every day, we all become the balance of our choices—choices between love and fear, belief or despair. no hope is ever too small.
-guillermo del toro
__________
The decisions had been set. They knew where the stones were. Now, they just needed to turn back time and bring everyone back. Simple. What could possibly go wrong? Steve had gotten back from dropping Joey off at Tony's cabin to stay with Pepper and Morgan for the time being about an hour ago, and soon they would be taking off.
Unable to quell her nerves, Bella chewed nervously on her bottom lip like it was bubble gum. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking as she bagged her necessary supplies up, and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to stop herself from teleporting to the Arctic Circle in a fit of nerves.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Steve asked her. He had that worried look in his eyes again, the same worried look he always had when she was around.
Bella snorted and cracked her knuckles. "I feel like I should be asking you that. You gonna be able to handle it?"
They were going back to 2012, just after Loki's attack on the city. Loki had brought two stones with him, and it was up to Bella and Steve to get the mind stone. That meant there was a really good chance of them coming up face to face with Ashara. Bella didn't know if she could handle seeing her, so she couldn't even fathom what Steve was feeling. She also tried not to think about the fact that she'd be going back to a time when her mother was alive, when Alex was alive, when Peter was alive, when Liz and Abby and everyone else was alive. Her heart twisted and clenched, and she felt like her chest was being crushed in by ice.
"I'll manage. How about you?"
Bella smiled bitterly. "I'll manage."
Still, part of her wished she was in charge of a different stone. Why couldn't she and Steve be the ones to go to Morag to get the Power Stone. Or, why couldn't Thor take her to Asgard instead of Rocket? It was all very annoying.
"Bella," Steve said. "Cut the shit. I'm being serious. Are you gonna be okay?"
Sighing, Bella shrugged. "I don't have any options but to be okay."
He nodded and pulled her into a one-armed hug. They sat in silence for a moment, before Steve kissed the top of her head and stood up. "You should eat something. We leave in two hours."
[ ... ]
Looking around the platform, Bella made a face. The suits they all had to wear to keep them alive in the Quantum Realm were spectacularly ugly. Still, even the ugliness of the suits couldn't distract her from the task at hand.
