𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒~ 𝐵.𝐵𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑠

FIFTY FOUR

"Okay, so the "how" works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones." Steve says as we all sit in an office ready to plan this perfectly.

"Well I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones." Tony says, "I haven't, I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about." Honestly Scott wasn't missing out on much. "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."

"Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in." Tony adds, "Which means we have to pick our targets." Clint says, "Correct."

"Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" We all turn to Thor Who sitting on a chair with his sunglasses on. It is impossible to tell whether he is awake or asleep, I think I hear him snoring so maybe he's asleep. "Is he asleep?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead." Dean looks up at me wide eyed at Rhodeys words, "dead?" He asks me making me shake my head as I smooth his butterscotch coloured hair from his face. "Rhodey is joking, uncle Thor's just asleep." I say calming the toddler as he relaxes against me and starts to doze off himself.

• • •

"Where to start? Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someones gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves..." He wiggles his fingers to imitate a spooky ghost, "Wooooh, scary beings. So Jane," An image of Jane pops up on the screen. "Oh, there she is. That's Jane... She's... an old flame of mine... She... she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time... and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... And, she became very, very sick. So I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see. I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead," Thor starts to look broken, and seems on the verge of tears, "and oh you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever," I get up and begin to push Thor back gently, "why don't you come and sit with me Thor." I say to him softly, "I'm not done yet," he tries to fight, "the only thing permanent in life is impermanence."

"Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?" Tony asks as Thor allows me to take him away now, "I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you."

• • •

"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag." Rocket explain as we all sit around the table and eat, "Is that a person?" Scott asks confused, "Morag's a planet. Quill was a person." Rocket tells him a hint of annoyance in his voice. "A planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asks wide eyed. "Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything." He then imitates talking to a puppy, "Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll get you to space." He says petting Scott who tries to shake his hands off.

• • •

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." Nebula tells us as we're all back in the planning room, "What is Vormir?" Nat asks as she takes notes, "A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where... Thanos murdered my sister." Well that got dark, fast. Nat looks up, and an awkward silence falls upon the room, Steve sighs as well all kinda look down or away, but Scott makes to break the awkward moment. "Not it." I let out a breath, "I'm going to see if Dean's up from his nap." I say standing wanting to get out of there as fast as possible.

"Let me." Steve says making his way to the exit, "he's my son Steven." I say before we begin running for his room. "He's my godson." He fires back like it would actually work. "There's a difference Rogers." I say, "hes named after me, I don't see your name as his middle name." I start laughing.

• • •

"All right. We have a plan. Six Stones, three teams. One shot." He and the rest of us walk up and look at the screens determinedly, we were gonna do this.

"Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends... We lost family... We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win." Steve tells us all as we get ready to go. Tony gives Steve a look, "Whatever it takes. Good luck."

"He's pretty good at that." Rocket says referring to the speech, "Right?" Scott says looking very excited, "it's kinda his thing." I tell them, "All right. You heard the man. Stroke those keys, jolly green." Tony says, "Tractors engaged."

"You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?" Rocket says to Clint who's holding his shrunken ship in his hand, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I'll do my best." Both Rocket and I look to each other unimpressed, "As promises go, that was pretty lame." He says, "it'll be fine." I assure him. "See you in a minute." Nat says smiling excitedly and her excitement is contagious because I feel it radiate through me. "See you in a minute." I confirm smiling back at her before we all shrink and enter the Quantum Realm. Each team going to a different point in our history.

"All right, we all have our assignments. Two Stones uptown, one Stone, down. Stay low. Keep an eye on the clock." Steve tells us as our team arrives back in 2012 ah the good old days. We all jump as the hulk from this time smashes some of the soldiers before just mindlessly jumping on the car and damaging things. Bruce puts his hand on his face, embarrassed, as we all turn to him eyebrows raised.

"Feel free to smash a few things along the way." Steve tells Bruce who sighs, "I think it's gratuitous, but whatever." He mumbles annoyed as he tears his shirt off  He lightly punches the car, making a small dent, all the while making light growling noises. He picks up a motorbike and throws it at a wall, wincing as it hits the wall. "That's pathetic put your back in it!" I yell out to him making the three men turn to me wide eyed in disbelief, Tony actually covers my mouth with his hand, "do you need to go back?" He asks making me shake my head.

"What? No, what did I even do?" He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, "you're gonna need to make sure that you don't blow our cover." I nod, "yeah I know, it's not my fault Bruce was being such a pathetic hulk, not believable in the slightest. If anyone's gonna get us caught it's gonna be him." Steve whacks me upside the head at me mumbling, "stick to the plan."