- I hope you're all doing okay. There isn't much to be said on my part so let's just get into the story.
Enjoy.
...
"Okay, so the how works." Captain America said. Behind him, there were six screens that showed images of the Infinity Stones.
Most of the Avengers were gathered in a meeting room so they could think of a good strategy to find the Infinity stones. The only Avenger not here was Carol, who obviously couldn't come for a good reason. Jane and Darcy were present too despite not being part of the team. Both of them had encountered the reality stone several years ago...which was actually trapped in Jane's body at one point in the form of the Aether.
"Now, we gotta figure out the when and where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the Infinity stones."
"Or subsitute the word "encounter" for "damn near been killed" by one of the six Infinity stones." Tony added, waving around a near empty cup of coffee.
Peter recalled his own experiences with the stones. He was the only individual in this room who actually used one in battle, namely the power stone. That had been an unpleasant experience...for while it did augment his strength enough to hurt Thanos, the overwhelming energy surging through his body nearly tore him apart. It was why he couldn't wield the gem for very long and was forced to throw it aside before it burnt away his entire arm.
Ant-Man shook his head. "Well, I haven't...but I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about.
Bruce stepped forward. "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." The billionaire specified. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"
Clint understood what they were getting at. "...Which means we have to pick our targets."
"Correct."
"So, let's start with the Aether." Cap said, turning his attention to the back corner of the room. "Thor, what do you know?"
Everyone looked over at the God of Thunder...who simply sat still in silence. With a half-drunk can of beer in his hand and his sunglasses covering his eyes, he looked like every stereotypical middle aged couch potato.
"Is he asleep?" Natasha asked.
Rhodey let out an amused snort. "No, no. I'm pretty sure he's dead."
Obviously that wasn't the case since Peter could still hear Thor breathing. He gently elbowed the God of Thunder in the shoulder to wake him up. He didn't stir at first and Spidey elbowed him again with a bit more force. This time, Thor woke up right away. The can of beer fell out of the chubby God's hand but Peter reached down and caught the drink just before it could hit the floor.
"W-wha's going on?" Thor mumbled, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
Peter placed the can of beer on the table. "We're having a meeting about the Infinity Stones. Cap wants you to tell us what you know about something called the Aether."
"The Aether? Oh...I remember it."
Thor stood up from his chair and stumbled his way forward to the front of the room. The young Spider looked at Jane...who pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a little embarassed for her ex's drunk behavior during this important meeting.
"Uh, where to start? Um...the Aether, firstly, is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before." The God of Thunder said, fidgeting around. "Um, it's more of an angry sludge sort of thing so someone's gonna need to amend that and stop saying that."
Thor grabbed an eye dropper from out of his pocket and squeezed a couple drops of water into his eyes to clean them. Rhodey and Clint just watched him before they glanced at each other, wondering if he was actually going to tell them something useful.
"Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves." Thor wiggled his fingers dramatically. "Ooh, heh. Scary beings."
Peter sat down next to Jane and leaned into her ear. "It's probably best if you tell everyone what you know about the Aether. I don't think Thor is going to say anything that can help us."
Dr. Foster nodded with a sigh. "You're right. I'll let him finish talking first though...maybe he might reveal something that we don't know about."
Thor removed his sunglasses and pointed to her with a smile. "Jane here actually wielded the Aether. She stuck her hand inside a rock this one time and then the Aether stuck itself inside her and she became very very sick."
Most of the folks in the room understood what Thor was trying to say but he could've worded that in a less awkward way. Steve seemed like he was actually trying to picture such a scenario. Jane just hid her face behind her hand out of embarassment, prompting Darcy to pat her on the back sympathetically. Scott was fascinated by Thor's story and listened with childlike wonder to all the details.
"And 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, and I got to introduce her to my mother..."
Thor's expression suddenly grew sad as he thought about Frigga. Even now, the loss of his mother still haunted his memories. Jane felt her heart break upon seeing the pained look on her ex's face...Lady Frigga had treated her with more kindness than Odin did and she sacrificed her life to keep her safe from Malekith.
"Who's dead." The God of Thunder muttered with a sad sigh. "Oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore. Yes, these things happen though, you know? Nothing lasts forever..."
His voice trailed off into a bunch of indecipherable mumbling. Hulk gestured for Tony to get Thor to stop talking now before he got too caught up in his grief. Jane stood up instead and went to the God of Thunder's side.
"Why don't you go sit down?" She asked, holding his arm. "I'll tell everyone what we know about the Aether."
"But I'm not done yet. The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence." Thor finished before he chuckled.
"Alright, thank you." Tony said, clapping his hands. "Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?"
"No, I'd like a Bloody Mary."
Darcy got to her feet. "Alright then, I'll go make him one. Let's go, Thor."
The God of Thunder followed the brunette woman to the kitchen. Dr. Foster just sighed before she turned to address the others. "I'm sorry about that. It's been a rough few years for Thor and as you might've guessed, he doesn't like to think about what happened too much."
"It's okay." Natasha reassured. "So how did the Aether get trapped inside you?"
Jane pointed to the screen and began to explain everything. She told them the exact date of her first encounter with the Aether and the reason why it attached itself to her. How the Aether later became the reality stone though was unknown even to her for it had been left in the hands of the Asgardians after Malekith was killed. The Avengers eventually decided their best chance of grabbing the reality stone was to extract it from Jane's past self while she was still awaiting treatment on Asgard.
...
Their brainstorming session for the time heist lasted for most of the day. The plan to claim the power stone was more easier to figure out. While they were eating Chinese take-out for dinner, Rocket explained how Star-Lord stole the power stone from a planet from Morag on one of his solo adventures. That had been one of the more funnier parts of the meeting for the Raccoon took a moment to joke at Ant-Man's expense after he asked about an obvious fact of the universe...that other planets were indeed in outer space.
Considering Scott had never been to outer space though, his statement may have been just made out of nervousness at the idea of traveling beyond Earth.
Things took a slightly dark turn the next morning though when they discussed the soul stone. Natasha had asked what Vormir was after Nebula told them it was the place where the soul stone was located. The cyborg woman answered by saying it was a planet that many considered to be a dominion of death...and that it was also at the very centre of Celestial existence. Nebula then took a second to catch her breath before she revealed it was the place where Thanos had murdered her sister, Gamora.
There was a silent pause at that moment as the Avengers were slightly horrified by what she said. Scott eventually was the first to speak by claiming that he wouldn't be the one to go there. Nobody could blame him either...Vormir sounded like a place every sensible being would avoid. There wasn't any choice on the Avenger's part though. They needed the soul stone for their plan to work.
The brainstorming session became less stiff and tense when they talked about finding the time stone. Bruce was sprawled out on the carpet floor, cleaning his glasses while Tony lazed about on the table. Natasha had the most comfortable spot though...for she was laying in a makeshift web hammock Peter made for her that hanged just above the table. The webslinger himself was dangling upside down from the ceiling with his webbing, looking deep in thought and thus barely paying attention to the conversation that was happening below.
"So that time stone guy..." The Black Widow muttered, shaking her pen back and forth.
"Dr. Strange." Hulk corrected.
"Yeah, what kind of Doctor was he?"
Tony rubbed his tired eyes. "Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat."
Dr. Banner smirked. "Nice place in the village though."
"Yeah, on Sullivan Street?"
"Hm...Bleecker Street."
Natasha was starting to get a little confused. "Wait, he lived in New York?"
The billionaire scoffed. "No, no, he lived in Toronto."
"Uh yeah, on Bleeker and Sullivan." Bruce reminded.
"Have you been listening to anything?"
"Guys...if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York." The Black Widow pointed out.
Bruce froze for a moment, realizing she was right. How such an important and rather obvious fact escaped his and Tony's notice was beyond him. "Shut the front door."
"Why the hell didn't we think of that earlier?" Tony grumbled before he sat up and slid off the table. "C'mon, Bruce. Let's go tell Capsicle the good news."
Dr. Banner followed the billionaire out, leaving the two Spiders alone in the room. Peter hadn't said a word at all and Natasha was starting to get a little worried about him.
"Peter!" She called, clapping her hands to get his attention. It quickly worked as the young Spider snapped his mind back to the present and looked at her. "Are you okay? You've been unusually quiet."
Spidey let go of the webbing in his hands and gracefully landed on his feet. "Yeah, I'm fine...just been thinking about something."
"What is it?"
"What Nebula said yesterday about Vormir...it's been bugging me for a while. I'm not sure why but the idea of one of us going there gives me a bad feeling."
The Black Widow reached for Peter's hands and held on with a gentle grip. "You're not alone on that. I don't like the sound of this place either...but we don't really have a choice. It's the only place where we'll be able to get the soul stone."
He sighed. "I know. I just wish that wasn't the case."
"Don't worry, we'll be extra careful when it comes time to go to Vormir."
Spider-Man still didn't like it but taking extra precaution was about the only thing they could do for now. The two Spiders quickly rejoined the other Avengers as they talked about who to send to the destinations they've picked.
Cap, Ironman, Hulk, and Ant-Man were traveling back to New York of 2012, when the Chitauri invasion began and the Avengers first came together as a group. Their mission was arguably the most difficult as they had to grab not only the tesseract but also Loki's sceptre and the time stone. Nebula and Rhodey would head to Morag in 2014 to acquire the power stone just before Starlord could.
The group that would acquire the reality stone from Asgard consisted of Thor, Rocket, and Peter...which left Clint, Natasha, and Bucky to go to Vormir to retrieve the soul stone.
Jane and Darcy were staying behind to monitor their progress. If anything went wrong, they would bring them back to the present.
"All right. We have a plan." Captain America said, looking at the screen that listed where and when the stones were located. "Six stones. Four teams. One shot. Everyone suit up...we'll regroup in the hangar."
…
Peter went to his lab and grabbed not only his web-shooters but also the time space GPS watch Tony had made for everyone. He wrapped the watch around his right web-shooter and pressed down on it with the palm of his hand. The nanomachines contained within the watch spread from his arm and covered his whole body in the form of a red and white advanced looking suit. It was more or less the same time suit like everyone else's but instead of a helmet, his trademark Spider-Man mask covered his face.
The young Spider went to a nearby mirror and checked over the suit. Nothing seemed to be out of place...there was a big "A" insignia located in the corner of the upper right chest. The Black Widow walked in a second later, donning the same time suit. She had tied her hair back into a braid and left it hanging down by the side of her neck.
"You ready?"
"Yeah, just making sure nothing's wrong with my suit before we head out."
Natasha nodded before she smirked and suddenly pinched Peter's ass, making him yelp in surprise. "Doesn't seem like there's anything wrong to me. You look real fine in the suit...it frames your ass well."
His face blushed a twinge of red as he chuckled and hugged her close. "I could say the same about you. Then again, you could look good in anything."
"Always such a sweet-talker, aren't you?" The Black Widow teased, giving Peter a quick kiss. "...Good luck in Asgard."
"Good luck to you as well. Please, be careful on Vormir."
Bucky cleared his throat to get their attention. He was standing by the doorway to the lab. Slung on his back was an assault rifle. "Don't worry, Peter. We'll watch each other's backs."
Spidey turned to look at him and nodded in thanks before they walked down to the hangar together. The other Avengers were already there, standing on top of the quantum tunnel. All of them were decked out in the same outfit, with the exception of Rhodey...who simply wore the time suit over his armor. Jane and Darcy typed away on the controls...they would activate the tunnel once the team were prepared to leave and gave the word. Jessica stood beside them, watching everything unfold with an impatient yet worried look on her face.
Darcy stepped away from the console for a moment and threw her arms around Peter for a big hug.
"Come back safely, okay?" She whispered.
Peter moved his head forward and pressed his lips against hers. "I'll be back before you know it."
The others watched them with various degrees of interest. Tony in particular seemed a little envious. "Lucky kid...makes me wish Pepper were here so she could see me off with a kiss."
"I think she'd probably just remind you not to do anything stupid." Bruce deadpanned.
Darcy reluctantly let go of her boyfriend and moved to embrace Natasha while Jane spoke with him. The astrophysicist looked into his eyes with a warm smile.
"Like Darcy said, you better come back to us safe and sound. Keep an eye on Rocket while you're all on Asgard...make sure he doesn't hurt my past self."
Spidey was a little confused by the odd request. "Uh, okay. Why do you ask?"
Jessica answered this one. "That trash panda showed us this tool earlier that would help to extract the Aether from her body...it's basically a fork with needles that come out of the ends."
"...You're afraid of needles?"
Jane frowned. "No, especially when they're being used by a raccoon of all things."
"I'll make sure Rocket doesn't try anything funny. Could you do me a favor while we're gone?"
"Of course. What do you need?"
"Call Carol and let her know what we're about to do." Peter said. "FRIDAY should be able to get in contact with her for you."
The astrophysicist nodded her head. "I'll call her. Be careful in there."
"Stay alive, Peter." The private detective ordered, looking at him and the Black Widow. "You too, Ms. Romanoff. There's no way in hell I'm losing you both."
Natasha placed her hand on Jessica's shoulder. "We'll be fine, I swear."
The two Spiders hugged them both before they headed up to the top of the tunnel. Tony nudged his intern by the arm as they stood next to each other.
"You got here just in time, kid. Cap's about to get us hyped up with one of his old fashioned speeches."
Steve overheard what the billionaire just said and simply rolled his eyes before he began to speak. "Four 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."
He paused for a moment and raised out his arm. The others copied his action, forming a small circle with their arms. Their fists met each other in the middle.
"One round trip each. No mistakes...no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, that 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."
Tony looked at Steve with a little smirk. One thing he missed about working with the super soldier was his optimistic attitude towards everything.
"Whatever it takes. Good luck." Captain America finished.
Rocket felt a bit moved by his speech. It was certainly better than Quill's bad attempts at pep talks. "He's pretty good at that."
"Right?" Scott asked with a grin. The former house burglar was obviously very taken with Captain America's words.
"Okay, Dr. Foster. We're ready." Tony said. "Strike those keys."
While Jane pressed the right buttons to turn on the machine, Hawkeye pulled out a shrunken down version of the Benatar from out of his pocket. All of the gear they were bringing with them had been shrunk down as well for easy movement.
Rocket stared at him expectantly with his arms folded. "You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'll do my best."
"...As promises go, that was pretty lame." The raccoon muttered.
"Trackers engaged." Jane said, ready to send them through time.
Natasha smiled at Peter. "See you in a minute."
Spider-Man nodded with a smile of his own as the machine whirred to life. The reflective panels hanging above them rotated and spread out wide. Their helmets or mask in the case of Spidey covered their heads. The tunnel beneath their feet opened up with a golden glow of energy. Dr. Foster pushed one last button before the Avengers shrunk down and vanished into the quantum tunnel.
…
It was difficult for the Avengers to see anything. They were flying through the quantum realm at a very fast pace. Even Spider-Man and Thor had a hard time keeping track of where they were. The team soon split up into their assigned groups and flew off into different tunnels. Peter veered to a tunnel on the left with Rocket and Thor. There was a bright light at the end of their tunnel and they quickly passed through it. The light was so bright that the lenses in his mask activated their filters to dampen the glare so he wouldn't be blinded.
Once Peter was able to open his eyes again, he found himself standing on solid ground. There were stone walls and pillars all around him with little braziers hanging from above that lit up the dark hallway. The young Spider realized he was inside the palace on Asgard. His time suit quickly collapsed back into his GPS watch, revealing the Asgardian warrior's outfit that he was wearing underneath.
"Nice threads you have there." Rocket said from behind. "Where'd you get those clothes, webs?"
Peter nodded towards the God of Thunder as he tightened the bracers around his arms. "They were a present from him. Thor, you okay?"
Thor was stumbling on his feet, a little disoriented by their trip through the quantum realm just now. "I-I'm fine, Man of Spiders. Give me a moment."
It took a minute for Thor to regain his bearings. The nauseous feeling in his gut gradually disappeared. There was nobody else around yet but they had to move quickly and find Dr. Foster so they could extract the Aether.
"Alright, let us go."
"Do you remember where Jane was staying at?" Spidey asked.
Thor nodded before he began to walk down the hall. "I do. Follow me and stay close."
...
- Aside from Peter, Bucky, Darcy, Jane, and Jessica being present, things don't really deviate too much from what happens in the movie. The tool that Rocket uses to extract the reality stone from Jane looks like a fork with the three prongs at the end of it.
