6
"Okay, so the how works," Steve started as he watched the holographic screen. On the screen were all of the Infinity Stones, what they were contained in, and different sections of information that Tony could break down later. "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."
Tony spoke up, adjusting the glasses on his face, "Or substitute the word 'encounter' for 'damn near been killed' by one of the six Infinity Stones." You raised your hand in response to that, glancing at Pietro who did the same. Tony pointed to the both of you, and then looked at Steve with a thumbs up. Steve rolled his eyes.
"That's the reason we have powers," you pointed out, raising a brow and smirking. Pietro backed you up with a little 'yeah'.
Scott added into the conversation, although not helpfully, "Well, I haven't...but I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."
Hulk rounded the table behind Scott, shrugging. "Regardless," he said, "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," Tony nodded. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"
"Which means we have to pick our targets," Clint spoke from his spot in the room, leaning against the wall.
"Correct."
Steve tapped the screen and then looked back over. "Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?"
You all turned to face the god. He was lounging in a chair with a beer in his hand and his huge belly sticking out from under his shirt. He had sunglasses over his eyes and his other hand was dangerously close to being buried in his pants.
"Is he asleep?" Natasha asked, clicking a pen in her hand as her brows furrowed.
Rhodey pitched in, "No, no...I'm pretty sure he's dead."
Pietro stood from his chair at the speed of light, smacking Thor up the side of his head before sitting back down as if nothing ever happened. Thor practically bolted upright, looking around to find what just assaulted him before swiftly giving up. "Hmm? What?" he questioned when he saw everyone staring at him.
"Steve asked you something," you murmured.
"Oh, yes. What?"
"What do you know about the Aether?" Steve repeated his earlier question, running a hand through his hair and putting his hands on his waist. Thor moved to stand, taking far longer than he meant to as he heaved himself to his feet.
He let out a heavy sigh and shuffled over to the glass board. He ran a hand through his tangled beard, droplets of food and drinks coming from it as you scrunch your nose. "Ew," you mumbled.
"Uh, where to start? Um..." he took off his glasses and started pointing it at the glass that held the holograms on it. "The Aether, firstly, is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before." He quickly pointed at Steve, who made a face and shook his head lightly.
"Uh, it's more of an angry sludge sort of a thing. So...someone's going to need to amend that—" he suddenly leaned his head back, sticking his fingers in his eye to fix it with a sickening squish sound "—and stop saying that." Pietro made a face of utter disgust.
"Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether," he continued. "My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves." He stopped and smiled a little, wiggling his fingers and looking around the room as he made a ghost sound like you were a room full of children. "Scary beings. So, Jane, actually," her face appeared on screen and he sighed with a smile, "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 stuck itself inside her, and she became very, very sick. And so I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from, and we had to try and fix her."
You glanced around the room at everyone listening in and saw Scott, who was very excited to be hearing the story. He had a smile on his face as he nodded along, catching eyes with you and pointing to Thor excitedly. You nodded slowly and looked back at Thor.
"We were dating at the time, you see, and I got to– I got to introduce her to my–my mother..." he suddenly stopped, letting out a huff of a breath as he looked down with a heavy voice, "who's dead and, um..." He took another breath, "Oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, so..."
"Wait, but didn't your mom die because she was protecting Jane?" you asked. Bruce started making a "cut it out" motion with his hand, trying to get you to stop as he shook his head.
Pietro ignored him, "She broke up with you after that? I hate to say it, but she has to marry you at that point. That just isn't right." You agreed with him with a shake of your head.
Thor nodded, clearing his throat. Bruce went to stop him, but he was already talking. "I mean, she didn't break up with me, we broke up with each other. We decided it was time and, you know–"
Natasha shook her head and muttered, "Damn...that's not right."
"Yes, these things happen though. You know? Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that–"
"Why don't you come sit down?" Tony suggested, walking over to grab his arm and ushering him to a chair.
Thor stopped him, shaking his head, "No, I'm not done yet. The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence." He was laughing, but everyone else was giving each other concerned looks.
Tony clapped his hands, "Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?"
He shook his head, "No. I'd like a Bloody Mary." You shrugged a shoulder, nodding a little at his request.
"Okay," Tony muttered, turning to everyone. "We can work on that today and...hope Oogie Boogie here doesn't have a mental breakdown in the process. Okay?"
You all agreed and stood to your feet. "I'm ordering pizza," you declared as you went to do just that.
~
Day Two.
It was lunch time—Pietro was very happy—and you were all focused on the Power Stone this time. Rocket was standing on the table so everyone could see him as he began talking. "Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag."
"Is that a person?" Bruce asked, his mouth stuffed with mint chocolate chip ice cream.
"No," Rocket replied. "Morag's a planet. Quill was a person."
Scott looked up, his mouth full of lo mein, "Like a planet? Like in outer space?"
Rocket tilted his head and gave an exaggerated look. "Oh, look," he moved to pet Scott's head, ruffling his hair. "It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space."
You snorted, hiding behind a carton of chicken as you laughed to yourself. Pietro glanced at you and hid a smirk, "You're supposed to be the mature one."
"Shut up."
~
"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir," Nebula started, pointing to the orange stone.
Natasha was writing notes down on a notepad when she muttered, "What is Vormir?"
"A dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence." You all looked up when she said that. "It's where...Thanos murdered my sister."
You all gave uneasy looks, glancing at each other and literally anywhere but Nebula. Steve sighed as he stared at the ground. The silence stretched for a while before Scott murmured under his breath, "Not it."
You looked at him, "Stop." He ducked his head and you shook your head.
~
Day Three.
In the living room now, you all laid across the couch, the floor, and the table. Pietro was passed out somewhere in the compound, so it was just you, Natasha, Tony, and Bruce.
"That Time Stone guy," Natasha pointed out.
"Dr. Strange," Bruce corrected.
"Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?"
"I've never met that man in my life," you said from your spot upside down on a chair.
Tony pressed his thumb to his temple as he nodded, "Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat."
"Nice place in the Village, though," Bruce nodded, fiddling with his glasses.
"Yeah, on Sullivan Street?"
Bruce hummed, "Mm, Bleeker Street."
"There's a cool frozen yogurt place near there," you murmured, tapping your lip with a pen.
"Wait, he lived in New York?" Natasha asked.
Tony and Bruce spoke over each other, Tony's sarcasm mixed with Bruce's clarification. "No, he lived in Toronto." "Uh, yeah, on Bleeker and Sullivan." "Have you been listening to anything?"
"Guys," she stopped them. "If you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York."
It got quiet as Tony and Bruce sat up. "Shut the front door," Bruce said.
You paused to do some math in your head before shaking it, "Can't get three. Can only do two."
"What, why?" Tony asked, looking over at you.
You sat up a little, propping yourself up on your elbows. "My vision, Stark. I'm supposed to go with Pietro to 2015 where the Mind Stone is with Ultron."
"Okay, I get that, but wouldn't it just be easier to go for a three-in-one?" Bruce asked, raising his hands to his side to try and reason.
"Wouldn't it be easier to only have to focus on two and not three?" you countered, sitting up entirely. "If my vision says 2015, it's probably because something goes wrong on your end." They thought about it for a moment, and you sighed. "When have my visions ever been wrong?"
They rolled their eyes and hesitantly agreed. "Alright, fine. You and Pietro will go back to 2015. Don't screw this up," Tony mumbled.
You rolled your eyes, "Wow, Stark, your trust in me is really welling up my soul."