Hello everyone,

Sorry for the lengthy delay. Here is Chapter 84, enjoy.


August 10th, 2023

Avengers Compound

Soon after Coulson convinced Three to at least come up for a drink, telling her she did not need to celebrate anything just have a drink and spend time with Daisy and the SHIELD team. Strangely enough, the LMD version of him convinced her to join them. He may not have been the real deal but all too quickly that issue was forgotten in light of the fact that he convinced Three to join them. To Three she didn't really understand it either but chalked it up to her insanity. She often did that when things didn't make sense to herself. Even before returning to the others she heard their thoughts, some of them were surprised that Coulson managed to pull it off. Entering Coulson smiled faintly as he entered saying. "Guess who is joining us."

Meanwhile, Three forced a smile wondering how the group knew she had agreed to join them, then realized that the building was most likely wired with cameras. Shrugging it off, Three was offered a beer and was seated by Daisy and May. Soon the group began chatting away as Three quietly sipped her beer, and at some point, the conversation veered to reminiscing about old times. Different incidents or funny moments that both groups remembered. There had been some really silly moments as the Avengers all at one time tried to lift Thor's hammer Mjolnir at an after-party.

"Barton tried first, but since he had a tough day he couldn't get it up." Tony added as the different team members added to the account of what happened.

"Then, of course, Stark tried too wanting to rule Asgard, even needed his tech..." Steve added as Daisy snorted.

"Sounds like Stark really couldn't get it up."

"Even with special equipment." Three added and the two clinked their beer bottles together.

"Just wait it gets better.." Banner pointed out, "Next both Stark and Rhodey tried lifting the hammer with their armor's suit arms."

"Who's side are you on?" Tony asked Banner.

"So, in other words, neither of them could get it up." Yo-yo added, as Mack, and Fitz took a drink of their beers and Jemma tried not to spit out what she drank.

"Can we get back to the story?" Rhodey asked embarrassed.

"Sure, go ahead," Daisy replied.

"Great so next was Banner who tried to lift it."

"And I am guessing he made a more valiant attempt than the one's using bionic arms for assistance?" Jemma added, more snickering followed.

"HaHa! Very funny. Followed by Cap." Now everybody looked to Steve eager to know if he did actually lift the hammer.

"And did you?" Coulson asked.

"No, I didn't," Steve answered.

"Damn, thought Cap out of all the Avengers could get it up." Daisy replied and by then Mack was shaking his head as a number of the group tried to contain their laughter. It took a couple of minutes for them to recover when Rhodey continued.

"Next was Nat who chickened out."

"As said that was a question I didn't need answered," Nat replied taking a swig of her beer.

"Neither would I given the chance." Three said after giving a snort.

"Though I still find it funny that both Stark and Rhodey tried to use their Iron Man suit arms to try to lift it." Daisy added

"Compensating!" Three pretended to sneeze and made May smile.

"Haha okay, funny story time... go Galadriel," Tony replied and Three sat there a moment. It was then at this time she had forgotten just how miserable she was. Sighing she grinned.

"Funniest memory... tricking Nick Fury while pretending to be a Stark employee sent to 'remove a hacker'." The last three words she used air quotes.

"You're shitting us." Tony replied leaning forward as Three smiled, "The Nick Fury? Eye-patch Nick Fury? The Ultimate super-spy Nick Fury?"

With each question, Three's smile grew as she nodded. "What was even funnier he bought the entire line of bullshit I fed him about how a hacker got in..."

By the end of it, Three was laughing as she remembered specifically every detail of the encounter.

"Alright, full details now. I need to hear this." Tony said practically hanging on the edge of his seat on every word. So many times Fury had pulled the wool over the Avenger members' eyes it felt hilarious to learn that Three had tricked him. As she recounted everything done to sneak into the Triskelion she explained what exactly she did and why it was needed for clarification.

"From there I had Aida hack into the Triskelion triggering alarms and purposely drawing attention. Meanwhile, I hacked in waiting for when a Stark technician was called since some tech issues back then were better handled by Stark. Cue me showing up after gently knocking out the actual technician... I got him drunk. From there snuck in via fake ID: Leslie Sanders. Was taken to the main hub by one Jasper Sitwell... whom was HYDRA and I really wanted to snap his neck in the elevator..."

A couple of the SHIELD agents were smiling into their drinks and trying hard to keep from laughing as Three continued. "Meantime he is chatting me up and asking if a certain rumor about Stark and female employees is true."

"We can skip this part-" Tony replies but Nat adds.

"No no, I so want to hear this."

"I said: 'No, no look at me.' Keep in mind I am dressed like a Stark technician and a geek, 'Tony Stark goes for supermodels, besides no ill will towards my boss but I would be worried about catching something." It was then Barton choked a little on his drink while Lang tried to keep from spitting his out.

Rhodey looks up at Tony, "I am so remembering this story."

"Yeah yeah yeah back to the story..." Tony urged not wanting to linger on that part.

"Alright, so I am taken to the main hub thinking Sitwell is going to keep an eye on me. I pretend to take a look and say it looks like some teenager's computer after looking up too much porn. Then Fury appears and asks if I can fix his hacker problem. This is where I give him a complete line of BS."

Taking a swig of beer Three continued, "I say: 'Yes, but first I need to know if remote access is granted to any other locations in the building because it looks like someone might have come in and uploaded the hacker directly'."

Right then Daisy being a hacker bursts out laughing and unable to believe Fury bought that crap. "He bought that?"

"Yeah."

"That is too funny!"

"Just wait it gets better." Three replied as Daisy tried to contain her laughter, "Sitwell asks how you can upload a hacker and I launch into this BS explanation saying: 'Easily. If remote access is granted to other employees, the employee might have unwittingly allowed in the hacker. This is done by an execution protocol. It is why Stark firmly discourages employees from taking their work home with them then bringing it back the next day.' Daisy was still shaking with laughter as Three paused to take another drink.

"You alright there giggles?" The question came from Stark.

"She's a hacker too so she knows what I am talking about. Anyway, at this point, Fury and Sitwell look like I just spoke in another language so I give them an example. 'One of your agents does work at home like a report on something. They type it out at home where security is minimal. The hacker could send an e-mail that the agent opens and bam! The hacker now has full access to the agent's computer including items such as reports or even simple USB cards. The agent will never know because the hacker simply uploads its...I guess you could call it a virus onto the USB card. The agent then takes this card, comes here, and plugs it in. BAM The hacker now has access via that window and can infiltrate the systems'."

"Okay, so you tricked Fury..." Rhodey said after a moment failing to see how hilarious it is to Daisy or Three. It seems the punchline is lost on them until Daisy explains.

"Kat sat there in front of Fury and told him how a virus is uploaded. You can't upload a hacker into a system."

"It's like trying to put a blu-ray into a DVD player and expecting it to play, it won't read it." Three added thinking that was the simplest way to explain it. The analogy worked as now they imaged Fury accepting everything Three said and not thinking twice about it. "Anyway I asked if anyone had remote access and Fury mentioned high ranking agents and executives did, so I convinced him to shut down and disconnect those offices from the main hub. While I 'isolated that hacker'." Again Three did air quotes. "They left me alone to go do this not thinking twice about it. Sure there were other agents at the computers but they weren't paying attention. That and I knew I was being closely monitored by security, so I just typed in random numbers and letter into a window letting Aida know I was in. Since entering and causing disruptions Aida knocked out security giving me the window to plug in a USB drive. It quickly uploaded and once it reached a hundred I took it out. It was basically a protocol to allow us permanent access to the systems without ever needing to hack into SHIELD or HYDRA again."

Taking a drink Three continued. "From there I made a pretty light show of booting their hacker from their systems. Then I made a show of regaining control of their systems saying: 'Alright the hacker is purged, but I still need to check for any Easter eggs he or she might have left. Full system and diagnostic scans complete with a side of please do not do this again.' Fury said: 'We will try to refrain from calling Stark again over the issue.' I ran a full diagnostic and scans that normally a Stark technician would do. It took about ten minutes and gave a clean bill of health to the systems. Then said to a rather annoyed looking Fury: 'Alright you are cleared, please ask your employees to keep work at work. All work and no play make for boring agents'. He signed off that the repairs had been done and looked like he wanted me out of the building asap."

"Hey cap, we undo this... we can never let Fury live this down," Tony said as now they had something to severely tease Fury about.

"And he never suspected a thing? Just let you walk out of there?" Barton asked.

"Yep, most likely he realized his mistake later when the real Stark technician showed up." Three said getting some smiles and laughs then it was another's turn to tell their own tale.

"Oh, I got one..." Fitz said remembering Hunter breaking him out of jail, "So after six months in a military prison Hunter and Kat broke me out. Remember?"

"Course I do," Three replied, "Even hired some guy named Rusty... the best getaway pilot Hunter's money could buy. He crashed the helicopter and I had to save you both from the army guy that almost caught you."

"Well he did distract them," Fitz pointed out.

"After crashing the 'copter, and us escaping in a camper trailer." Three pointed out.

"Are you serious?" Rhodey asked unable to believe that the military was so easily duped.

"Yep," Fitz answered.

"Wish we weren't, but Hunter insisted he stage the rescue as I was too easily recognizable." Three added.

"Then we had to break back into the same military installation to get the cryogenic capsule that I would be put in and sent into the future."

"That sounds... insane," Rhodey argued.

"Wait it gets better... we used Ferrets to trick the sensors of the compound. After getting on base." Three added, leaving Rhodey stunned surely military personal were not that stupid, right?

"Okay, you gotta be making that up. No way would the U.S Military be that..." Rhodey trailed off trying to find the right word, and others supplied various words to describe the military.

"Idiotic?" Nat asked.

"Stupid?" Coulson supplied.

"Moronically slow?" Kat added.

"Okay! I get it so the U.S military are not the brightest bulbs in the shed." Rhodey relented.

"More like a flickering bulb," Yo-yo mumbled.

"Ha Ha! Very funny, I still can't believe that you used ferrets to throw off the U.S Military." Rhodey argued.

"It's really not that hard, the ferrets naturally would seek out drainage pipes kicking off the perimeter sensors which sent the base into lock-down. Since Fitz, Hunter, and I were already incognito on the base it just made things easier for us to have the personnel scrambling trying to discover the intruders that tripped the sensors." Three pointed out and as everybody stopped to think about it, it was a plausible tactic that worked beautifully making the military out to be the biggest morons of all.

"You were saying about the military not being so..." Tony said looking over at Rhodey purposely teasing him.

"If it makes you feel better Rhodey you can go next. Any funny stories?" Jemma asked, and Rhodey thought a moment before looking at Stark. Immediately the look told Tony he was apart of this story.

"No."

"Oh yes," Rhodey replied, "Okay this one happened shortly after our fight at the Airport in Germany. I was recovering here at the compound, Tony was helping me get used to walking again."

"This sounds more depressing than funny." Rocket pointed out.

"Well, a delivery guy showed up. The old guy wore thick glasses and could not quite read the name on the box. He asked if one of us were Tony Stank." This got a number of them laughing, and after a second Rhodey continued. "So I said: Yes, this is Tony Stank. You're in the right place and pointed at Tony. Then as I walked away I called back thanking him for the new opportunity to mess with Tony and promised to never drop that. Lastly, I said: Table for one Mr. Stank. Please by the bathroom."

"You just had to bring that one up," Tony said then looked at Steve, "And you. Did you have to make you're 'R's look like 'N's?" Meanwhile, a number of them were trying to keep from laughing.

"Maybe he got you confused..." Daisy pointed out getting Stark's attention. She tried hard to keep a serious face then asked. "Was Pepe le Pew living here too?"

A Number of the SHIELD agents and Avengers were trying hard to keep from laughing. Sadly Nebula and Rocket didn't get the reference.

"Or maybe he was wearing Eau de perfume Stank? I hear that is a popular one, but the general public wants you to sit downwind." Scott added as the jokes continued.

"Very funny Tiny." Eventually, the takeaway arrived and while eating and drinking some beers the two groups continue telling stories. It's near the end of their meal that Tony pointed out Daisy hasn't talked about a funny memory.

"I have one, but I am not sure if I should." She then looked at Three seeming to be seeking an okay from her. Three did a quick mind read and nodded.

"Go for it."

"You sure?" Daisy asked.

"Yeah..."

"Okay," Daisy replied then looked to the others, "Okay this one took place shortly after we got Jemma back from the Monolith, but before Bobbi and Hunter were disavowed. Kat had struck out on her own again, and we tried to maintain contact with her. Keep in mind she is about six months pregnant with Tess when suddenly one morning out of the blue she calls Coulson. We are fearing the worse... HYDRA found her, she's in danger... so when Coulson gets the call he calls us all into his office because Kat looks one-hundred percent serious."

"Oh boy, I remember this one..." Mack replies taking a drink while Kat eats her noodles with chopsticks.

"Coulson immediately asks Kat what is wrong, and she says in an all-business tone. 'I need your help for a critical mission.' Coulson thinking the worst-case scenario says. 'Anything.' Still dead serious Kat says: 'I need agents Johnson, May, Simmons, and Morse for a critical mission.' Right then we're all confused as to why she needs just female agents, so Coulson asks as much. Kat says it's critical that she gets our help, so Coulson asks if it's an infiltration mission or something like that where only female agents are required. Kat says yes, then Coulson remembers Kat is pregnant he won't let her go out on any dangerous missions period. So he starts arguing with her about it, but Kat says it's not a dangerous mission, but it is critical." Daisy pauses to take a drink before continuing, "Eventually it comes down to Coulson promising to send us on this critical mission, but he wants to know what mission it is, so after promising to send us he asks. What is this critical mission? Kat by then is trying hard not to crack up as she says 'Baby shopping'."

"The moment she said that May was shaking her head no," Jemma added laughing a little.

"But by then it was too late, Coulson promised to send us and so May was under orders." Daisy pointed out.

"And it only gets better..." May said smiling a little. Meanwhile, Three has pulled out her phone and is typing into it.

"We complete our mission, but now it's the guys' turn. Kat again calls Coulson all serious and says she now needs Coulson, McKensie, Fitz, and Hunter for a critical mission. Obviously, by now Coulson is better prepared, or so he thought. He agrees then asks what the critical mission is. Kat says trying to be serious. 'Assembling a crib'."

"By the end of it, Mack and Fitz are arguing which pieces go where, Coulson is turning the instructions over and looking at them as if they were written in Latin, and Hunter is sitting back drinking a beer because he as he said: 'Doesn't want to enter that battlefield'." Jemma laughed.

Suddenly a recording pops up on the middle table showing the Director of SHIELD and three agents trying to assemble a baby crib.

"Who put this on here?" Mack asked, as Kat discretely put her phone away and they watched the amusing show of four highly trained agents failing to assemble a baby crib. Meanwhile, Daisy, Jemma, and Kat were laughing as May gave a smile.

Coulson turns the large map-like instructions over, frowns, then does it again. "These instructions make no sense."

Meanwhile, in front of him, Mack and Fitz have laid out the pieces and are just as confused. As Mack lays down one side Fitz says. "No, that side it upside down and goes there."

"The screw holes are at this end, so this is where it goes."

"No, I have the side piece for this side!" Fitz argues, then Mack looks over at Hunter.

"You know you could help us."

"I am helping... by staying out of the way and offering verbal support while I drink a beer mate." Slowly the group assemble the crib and think they have done it right, only for them to add the last piece and the crib falls apart with a crash.

"What the hell?! Who designed this?!" Fitz yells.

"See? I told you that was the wrong side..." Mack points out, while Coulson tries once more to consult the instructions.

"We must have missed something."

"I need another beer." Hunter sighed shaking his head and walking off-screen.

A moment later the video ended. "Just an FYI, it took them four hours, thirty-seven minutes, and fifty-eight seconds to assemble the crib. After realizing they were missing some screws."

"Baby crib-one, SHIELD agents-zero." Rhodey pointed out, "U.S Military might be outwitted by Ferrets and some jokers in a camper trailer, but assembling a crib...ouch!"

"She hid the screws." Fitz pointed at Kat.

"Oh, Fitz! For the dozenth time, she did not hide the screws." Jemma argued.

"So where were they?" Steve asked amused. It was then Mack quickly mumbled something out.

"Come again?" Nat asked.

"Taped inside the box," Coulson replied making them bust out laughing.

"Wait so you were outwitted by tape?" Scott asked, that just made it even more funny.

"Well, it is a safe bet that if they encounter a dangerous foe like a piece of IKEA furniture that needs to be assembled... we're all doomed." Tony pointed out. The conversation continued for a time until the hour grew late. Since the SHIELD team were set to depart in the morning both groups headed for bed. They would have a long day tomorrow, but Three was not one for sleep if she could help it. As everyone else headed off to bed Daisy stayed back and came to sit across from Three. Now alone in the quiet room, the mood shifted from joking around to a more serious atmosphere.

"Hey, you okay?" Daisy asked.

"They know don't they?" Three said, and Daisy looked surprised, "You're thinking about it even as you push it to the back of your mind."

"Just tell me you're okay?"

"I have not been okay in years, Daisy." Three replied honestly and it left a heavy silence in the room.

"How long has she been there?" This question had been hard for Daisy to ask as she looked up at Three.

"At first my mother didn't appear directly. When I tried to end it, when I..." Three looked down at the twin scars on her wrists running one thumb over the other wrist's scar. "Shortly after I tried to take my life, whenever I thought about ways to end it. I thought I would see a figure out of the corner of my eye but chalked it up to a trick of the light. It wasn't until a couple of months in a psychiatric hospital that I knew my mother's former allies were coming. I intended to force them to kill me off... then she appeared urging me to live. She has been making regularly unscheduled appointments in my life since then."

"What does she want?" Daisy asked warily.

"For me to live. For some reason she wants me to keep breathing." Daisy nodded as she took the words on board, but Three sighed. "I'm not me anymore, you know that. You keep hoping I am still me, but I may never be who I used to be again..."

Three looked down saddened, "Even if we succeed, I keep thinking neither Bucky nor Tess will recognize me or want me in their lives. I mean why would they want someone as mentally fucked up as me talking to my HYDRA mother."

"Of course they will want you back, Kat-"

"But maybe it will be safer for them if I stay away." Three pointed out, "Daisy I know I am insane. I know I am seeing an illusion of my mother. I am not right in the head anymore. Why do you think you all put it to a vote? You know as well as I do that I am not safe." Three sighed she had learned of the vote when Scott made the mistake of thinking about it.

"What are you saying?" Daisy asked worriedly. Three reached across the coffee table taking Daisy's hands in hers.

"Thank you for putting so much faith in me, you and the others that have voted for me to be apart of this time heist have more faith in me than I do. I'll do my best to help them... bring everybody back. After that though..." Three trailed off then looked up at Daisy, "Bucky once said he couldn't trust his own mind. Now I am the one that can't trust mine, but it's not because of any HYDRA programming put in there... it's because my own mind has snapped. I see a dangerous figure, a person that shouldn't be there at all and it scares me. I am scared of what I might do... and I can't face Bucky or Tess like this."

"So you'll help with the time heist then just leave?!" Daisy asked shocked that Three would do that.

"I'd watch them from a safe distance. Make sure they are okay-"

"No! You've spent five years without them, and you'd just walk away-"

"I am seeing my mother!" Three yelled at Daisy then took a moment to calm down, "But you knew that. The same woman that tried to take Tess away. How comfortable would that make Bucky and Tess?"

"She's an illusion inside your head. She isn't real." Daisy pointed out.

"She's real enough for me, and what will she want when we undo Thanos' snap? What will be her agenda then? I can't risk that..."

"Why are you telling me this?" Daisy asked realizing there was a reason she was being told this.

"Because when the dust settles, when everyone is brought back... I need someone I know and trust to explain why I couldn't stay. I need you to make sure they understand that I left not to hurt them but to protect them from myself." It was then Three pulled out a small cube and gave it to Daisy, "It's a recording for Bucky and Tess. Can you give it to them for me... if this time heist really does work?"

Daisy looked down at the device in her hands hating what Three was asking of her, but at that moment felt nothing else could be done. It was kind of a good thing they were leaving in the morning it meant she could formulate a strategy when not around Three. For now, though she would agree to do this for Three, but that did not mean she wouldn't help Bucky locate her if she did manage to slip away.

"Okay," Daisy said then got up and the pair shared a hug then Daisy went to her room, the cube heavy in her pocket. Meanwhile, Three sat back down and sighed, she knew Daisy wouldn't let this go but at least if they succeeded Daisy would give the message to Bucky and Tess. As it was recording that message had been hard to do. Sitting back on the couch Three tried to stay awake but eventually dozed off. At some point in the night Banner had gotten up and come out of his room. He noticed her sleeping on the couch so he covered her with a nearby throw-blanket to keep her warm, but didn't want to disturb her further so he left her be.


August 11th, 2020

Avengers Compound

The very next morning after breakfast the SHIELD team was preparing to leave the Avenger's compound to see to other upcoming situations. With the Quinjet prepared and fuelled all that was left was for them to bid farewell.

"We should only be a few days. We'll be back before you know it." Coulson said to some of the gathered Avengers there to bid them farewell. While it wasn't clear what exactly the SHIELD team would be up to, it was clear it was an issue that could not wait or be ignored. If it were they would have stuck around to help out. As it was Daisy was very reluctant to leave Three, but since this issue was highly important the need to head out and deal with it took priority.

"Hopefully by the time you get back, we'll have the stones and be ready to undo this mess," Tony replied.

"Well we wish you the best of luck and hope to meet up again soon," Mack added.

"You too, good luck," Steve replied, from there different ones individually said their goodbyes. With May saying to Clint and Nat she hoped everything went to plan when they would go back to get the stones.

"We'll get you a t-shirt." Nat joked.

Meanwhile, Fitz said his goodbyes to Stark, Banner, and Rocket. The four geniuses seemed to have gotten along quite well. This left Daisy to come over to Three. "Try not to have too much fun without me."

"Well, it won't involve puffies that's for sure." Three teased remembering Jemma's funny story from last night about eating alien food and getting high from it.

"Yeah that was fun," Daisy laughed then gave Three a hug, "We'll be back as soon as we can."

"I know."

"Daisy time to go," Mack called out as most boarded the Quinjet.

"Right, be right there." Daisy called back then looked to Three, "Be safe out there okay?"

"You too." With that Daisy boarded the jet and the Avengers backed up to allow the SHIELD agents to take off safely. Soon the jet flew off leaving just the Avengers to once more plan for the time heist.


With the Quantum tunnel working it was time to discuss the Infinity stones. Thus soon after the SHIELD team left, a meeting was called in the main conference room of the Avengers compound. Around them, on display screens, it read:

Operation: Time Heist

Brainstorming session.

Then the screens changed to display the various stones that the group would be going after. The group sat at the table to talk about where and when to retrieve the Infinity Stone with Steve starting the meeting. "So the how works, now we gotta figure out the when and the where," Steve said. "Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six infinity stones."

"Or substitute the word 'Encounter' for 'damn near been killed' by one of the six infinity stones," Tony added.

"Well I haven't, but I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about," Scott added from his seat.

"You and me both Scott, but if it helps I did hear about the Tesseract when studying HYDRA." Three added so that Scott didn't feel left out.

"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," Banner added as he moved around the room. For such a big guy he seemed well in control to not break anything.

"Our history, so not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in yeah?" Tony said as he moved around too and past Clint.

"Which means we have to pick our targets," Barton said calmly as he leaned against the wall.

"Correct," Tony replied.

"So, let's start with the Aether." Steve said, "Thor, what do you know?"

Everyone looked to Thor who sat in the corner with sunglasses on. Stark was right, he did look like the Big Lebowski. However Thor neither moved nor responded making Three frown, how had the God of Thunder that every other woman Three knew swooned over let himself go so horribly?

"Is he asleep?" Nat asked after a moment of no response.

"No, no. I'm pretty sure he's dead." Rhodey pointed out.

"He's not, I can hear his thoughts. He passed out." Three replied, wanting to groan.

"Can you wake him up, Galadriel? We need the information." Tony asked, and Three nodded. While it wasn't a mental attack it was a sharp enough thought to jolt him awake. 'THOR! Loki's here!' Immediately Thor jolted upright and looked around.

"Loki! Where?! Where-" Thor seemed to regain his bearings as he looked around and realized his brother was not there. However, Thor seemed too drunk to be angry about the lie as he belched loudly, then spluttered some words in his drunken haze.

"Thor we need to know what you do about the Aether," Steve said trying to get Thor responding coherently. Three groaned as she was quickly losing patience with Thor. She understood he lost all his family and half of his people, but he seemed to forget that they had lost too. They needed him sober... at least a little bit. Pulling her mug of strong coffee to her, Three had not really drunk much of her drink when she had an idea. While Thor continued to spout rubbish, Three popped a couple of small white tablets into her coffee, then got up and went over to Thor.

"Drink this." She told Thor.

"What is it?" Thor asked looking down at the mug and sniffing it, the sharp scent of coffee made him pull away. "No, no I don'tsss..."

"Drink it! Or I attack your mind until you do!" Kat said sharply. In his state, Thor looked at her scared since he never heard her talk so harshly. He took the mug and drank some then made a face.

"Ugh! This stuff is vile!" Thor complained, then when Three gave him a look he held up a hand. "All right. All right!" He chugged down the coffee which helped to wake him up a little more and while he was not sober it did help to make him more coherent.

"Thank you, now about the Aether?" Three asked retaking her seat and looking to Thor expectantly.

"Right. Right... Uh, where to start? Ummm..." Thor said taking off his glasses as he stood and moved to the computer screen showing the Aether, "The Aether, firstly is not a stone. Someone called it a stone before... Ummm it's more of an angry sludge sort of thing."

Thor poured some drops into his normal eye as he spoke, "So someone is going to have to amend that and stop saying that. Here's an interesting story though, about the Aether. My grandfather many years ago had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves. Ohhh..." Thor chuckles, "Scary beings. So Jane actually..."

Thor clicked the screen to bring up a picture of Jane Foster, "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. We were dating at the time you see and I got to introduce her to my mother..."

Thor sighs, "Who's dead and um. Oh you know Jane and I aren't even dating anymore so... Yes, these things happen though you know? Nothing lasts forever."

"Why don't you come sit down?" Tony spoke up thinking that they would not get much more from Thor at this moment.

"I'm not done yet." Thor continued as he gestured to the others. "The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence." He laughs.

"Awesome," Tony clapped then looked to Thor with a toothpick in his mouth, "Eggs? Breakfast?"

"No, I'd like a Bloody Mary."

"Oh, I would not recommend that, Thor." Three spoke up as she smiled.

"Why not? A good drink would do me good."

"Thor, have you ever seen 'The Exorcist'?" Three asked looking at the Asgardian.

"Oh you mean that movie Korg had nightmares about? Yes... yes we watched it." Thor replied, "Why?"

"You know the scene with the projectile vomit?" Three asked innocently, but inside she was trying desperately not to burst into laughter.

"Yeah what of it?"

"Well I might have added something to that coffee to help sober you up... and well if you drink any alcohol in the next twenty-four hours..." Kat grimaced, "You'll experience your very own exorcism..." Thor visibly paled at the thought then gave a nervous chuckle as he stuttered out.

"Wha—what do you mean?"

"Well there'll not just be clean up on aisle five, but all aisles. Asgardian Projectile vomit as far as the eye can see... Aida is gonna need to quarantine you with blast shields for our protection. You will never want to even look at alcohol again after vomiting so much... but it might help you lose that beer gut, so... silver lining."

"Yo—you must be joking." Thor chuckled.

"Am I? Or are you only hoping I am?" Three asked, then looked to Tony, "My condolences to the janitors that have to clean up..." Then she looked back to Thor. "Look if you don't want to know what it felt like for the girl in the Exorcist... do yourself a favor. Eat the breakfast... and whatever you do..." Three whispered the last part, "Don't drink any alcohol for twenty-four hours."

For a moment they were all stunned until Tony asked. "So breakfast?"

"Yes... yes I'll go get breakfast," Thor said leaving the meeting room still shocked that Three would do that to him. Then once Thor was out of sight, Three began shaking with laughter.

"What was that?" Tony asked, "You are forcing him to sober up..."

"At least for the next twenty-four hours he will be sober." Three replied then began laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" Rhodey asked then remembered seeing her put something in her coffee, "And did you really spike his coffee?"

"She put something in there," Scott added.

"Oh, you mean these?" Three held up the small plastic dispenser and rattled them. It was a sweetener alternative to sugar for drinks, "They taste like shit in coffee, but... I found a use for them."

This time Rocket burst out laughing at the prank Three had pulled on Thor. "That's awesome!"

Tony put a hand on her shoulder, "That was pure genius. Friday make a note... Galadriel is my new best friend."


Author's Notes:

First off thank you all for the lovely reviews and am sorry it is taking so long to get these chapters out.

However, since most of us are stuck at home due to recent events I should be able to work more on this story even if I am just staring at a blank screen. Yeah, I know it should not take a pandemic to get my butt moving on writing more and trying to post these chapters. But at least while we can't do much else I hope to at least keep my readers entertained by adding to this story. I also hope you all are keeping healthy, fit, and active.

In the meantime, onto the chapter. The only main thing to note is the fun little celebration between the Avengers and Agents of SHIELD. This is effectively the last time we will see these two groups together. We already know what happened in the Endgame movie, and I never deviate far from the source material. I always try to keep the continuity, so it felt important to have this relaxed time much like the Avengers had in Age of Ultron. With both groups sharing their experiences and funny moments. Later obviously the Agents leave to do their own missions/assignments which could be events from the next two seasons of the show or just some unmentioned threat/issue. Either way, I could not continuously write for both groups. Hence them leaving before the brainstorming session/time heist. As a writer, it will just make things easier moving forward to write strictly for the Avengers.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and also hope to hear from you all in the reviews.

Thanks again,

Lesliezin