"We need to talk about the stones."
All the Avengers were sitting down in the common space of the Wakandan Palace. Some of the heroes had to leave though since the battle had finished, like Carol who went back into outer space to try and get different planets back in order, same with the guardians with a reluctant Nebula following them.
The former daughter of Thanos didn't want to leave earth when her best friend was possibly on his death bed, it didn't feel right to her, especially since she was technically responsible for what happened to him.
If Thanos never captured her, none of this would have happened...
But after much debate, and a lot of convincing from Natasha, she eventually relented and went along with the other Guardians.
The people who were in the room were Steve, Tony, Bruce, Thor, Natasha, Yelena, Sharon, Sam, Ana, Gwen, Rhodey, and Wanda. The rest of the heroes were in the guest rooms that were given to them by the King. Clint was with his family, Pepper was with Morgan and Scott and Hope were in the other room getting in contact with Hank.
"Way to bring the mood even further down Banner." Tony rolled his eyes, staring at the Stark Tablet that was in his hands, still working on the final kinks to the arm.
"I'm just saying Tony, we need to get the stones to their timeline, they're not meant to be here."
"Don't forget the hammer that Point Break brought back. You need someone to wield thy hammer. And the only two people who can do that is Thor and Peter. One of which, happens to be incapacitated at the moment and the other really isn't in the best of mental health to do something like this." Tony said, raising his eyes from the tablet to look the doctor in the eyes.
"Wow...You're more of an asshole today. Who shit in your breakfast this morning?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow at his long time best friend.
Tony only waved him off, "I'm just being realistic Platypus, stating facts if you will. I'm sorry if you can't handle the truth."
"No, Tony is right, but we still have to bring these stones back. If we don't, all our work would be for nothing." Steve said.
"We'll incase you didn't hear, we kinda can't. There's no way I'm trusting Thor by himself with the Stones, no offense, and no one else can wield the hammer, so like I said, we can't at the moment, end of discussion." The genius said.
"Tony we may not have a choice on the matter. The longer these stones stay here, the worse it can get, you know that."
"Actually I don't because a few certain assassins decided to leave me out of the loop with this mission." Tony replied, glaring at the other heroes.
Natasha scoffed, "Please, we all know you're not mad because of that, you're mad because you couldn't help Peter. News flash Stark, neither could I and I'm his mother. So how about you stop wallowing in your self pity and help the rest of us come up with a solution."
"You know, I don't like your tone Romanov."
"I don't fucking care Stark, my son is in the other room half dead! So the least you can do is stop bull shitting everyone and fucking help!" She exclaimed, getting out of her seat to glare at Tony.
"Well looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Quick question Romanov, who's building your son an arm at the moment, hmm? Cause it sure as hell isn't you. You want your son to be disabled his whole life, cause if you don't I need to finish the final details to his goddamn arm!"
"Alright enough!!" Steve said, quickly getting up and standing in between the two fighting members of their family.
Everyone was kind of on edge, they hadn't seen Nat this mad at anyone in such a long time. Her eyes were hardened and they couldn't see any other emotions across her face except anger that was directed right at Stark.
You never...ever wanted to make The Black widow angry...
But it seemed that Tony loved playing with fire...
"No, I'm not done, she needs to hear this. Just because your fucking son is injured, and you don't know how to deal with the emotions, doesn't mean you can take it out on the rest of us!"
"Oh, and you're the king of dealing with emotions in a healthy way." She said sarcastically while rolling her eyes.
"You know what, your right, I'm not the best at it, but at least I know that. I don't try to hide behind fifteen different masks so people can't see my true emotions, I..." Tony didn't even get to finish.
"Bullshit!! You're the king of masking your true emotions. You have no goddamn room to talk!"
"Says the trained spy who was raised to see emotion as weakness and love some stupid concept."
"Oh yeah, does the phrase 'Stark men are made of iron' mean anything to you, hmm? You're the biggest hypocrite in the room Tony, trying to lecture me about emotions and weakness when you do the same exact thing." Natasha glared at him. Tony paused when she said that and in the confines of his head, admitted that he might have went a bit too far.
"Alright, sure I'll give you that one, but at least I'm not an emotionless assassin who killed her way to where she is today." Stark glared back. But his face soon turned to a look of fear when Natasha suddenly lunged at him.
Steve and Bucky were close though, waiting for the fight so they could stop it. Steve grabbed Tony to drag him back while Bucky grabbed Nat's hands and restrained her from clawing the playboy's eyes out.
"Let.Me.Go." The assassin punctuated every syllable in the three words that she spoke. They were calm, collected but anyone could here the deadly venom seeping out of them.
Tony may have come to the conclusion that he overstepped just a little.
"Not gonna happen." Bucky apparently had a death wish because he met her glare with one of his own.
"Now.Barnes."
"Is this what Peter would want you to do? Stop and ask yourself that right now before you do something you're gonna regret." Bucky said. Natasha was about to flip out on the man but her sister quickly stepped in and grabbed her.
"Yelena, let me go."
"No can do sis, you're about to make a terrible decision and I'm not gonna let you do so. You need to stop and think about what you're doing. What would Peter want?" She said. Natasha's eyes grew sad at the mention of her son but she quickly covered it up and composed herself.
Natasha still looked like she was gonna pounce at Stark and Barnes at any second but they could tell she was thinking about what Yelena said. After a couple tense seconds, she scoffed and stormed out of the room without another word.
Everyone in the room sighed in relief, glad that they dodged that bullet.
"Should we...go after her?" Sam asked hesitantly.
"No, it's best to let her cool off for the moment. No telling what she might do to you if you go after her." Ana replied, Gwen nodding in agreement from her left too.
"Yeah, my sister has a quick temper, she needs a couple seconds to herself." Yelena said, moving over to lean against the wall.
"Tones...what the fuck was that?!" Rhodey exclaimed, glaring at his best friend.
"I...may have overstepped...just a little." Tony winced when he remembered the anger that one of his long time friends had across her face...the anger that was directed right at him.
Sharon scoffed, "You think? How would you feel if someone said all that stuff about Morgan right to your face?"
Tony's eyes widened, "I...uh, didn't think of that."
Bucky rolled his eyes, "No shit Sherlock."
"Alright no one asked you Elsa, so how about..."
"Oh my god, enough!! Stop the fighting, there are more important things to worry about then this." Steve said, irritated by his friends behavior.
"Now, Thor, Since you're the only one that can lift the hammer, and we have more particles now that Hank is back alive, I believe that you and I should go and bring the stones back to their timeline." He said, Steve could tell that some people were about to interrupt so he continued.
"I'm serious ok? Firstly Thor can come with me for the hammer, that takes care of that problem, secondly so he's not alone taking it back he'll have me and incase I need backup when I'm there, lastly...it never hurts to have a God around when things can get messy." He said, Thor smiled gratefully at the Captain, glad that he could still be trusted with something.
"I don't know Steve..." Sharon said with a frown across her face. Steve walked up to her and brought her in for a hug.
"I'm gonna be fine." He whispered in her ear, resting his head on top of hers. She snuggled up closer to his chest to soak in his warmth. After everything that has happened, it was a lot to take in, him having to go back to put the stones in their correct timeline.
She didn't want to lose him...
"Alright, well I guess that settles it, I'm just gonna go then and finish up this arm in the lab, see you all later." Tony said quickly, trying to escape the room.
"Not so fast Tony, I want you to apologize to Nat by the end of the day or else when Peter wakes up, I'll tell him exactly what you said to his mother." Bucky said with a smirk.
Tony stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around, "You wouldn't dare."
Bucky smirked even wider, "Try me Stark."
—————
Tony wasn't the best at apologizing...
One of his many faults.
And he knew that, but he was trying to be a better person and he'd be the first to admit that what he did was probably shitty, and no doubt uncalled for.
But he did it, and now he had to face the consequences.
Which could be catastrophic considering he made a highly dangerous assassin very angry at him.
Lucky him...
He knew that Natasha would only be in one place and that would be with her son so he put his pride aside, just this once and started to walk over to Peter's recovery room.
As soon as he got to the young man's room, he gently pushed the door open and was surprised when he only saw Natasha sitting next to the bed.
"Where's, um...where's Mary Jane?" He asked hesitantly, slowly walking over to sit on the other side of the bed. The spy barley acknowledged his presence, she only looked up for a split second before her eyes moved back over to her son.
"Staying with May in one of the bedrooms." She said, not bothering to say anything else.
"Listen, I um...I might've said some things that I didn't mean, and...it wasn't really nice of me." He admitted to her. If she was surprised by his apology she didn't show it across her face, she just kept on staring at Peter's still body on the bed.
After a few seconds of silence and Natasha still didn't talk, Tony sighed and rubbed his hand down his face, "Ok, I'm sorry, is that what you wanted to hear? The great Tony Stark, apologizing? You definitely wanted to hear that didn't you? Who am I kidding of course you did." Tony rolled his eyes, trying to banter with her. When Natasha scoffed and rolled her eyes though, he let a smile play along his lips.
Maybe he was getting somewhere...
She turned around to look him in the eyes, "You're an asshole you know that?"
"Yes, I most certainly am."
"And a dick."
"That too."
"And a bitch."
"Alright, now we're pushing it a little Red." He said which caused her to softly chuckle, just a little bit.
"Maybe, but you should've seen your face, totally worth it." She smiled up at him with a mischievous twinkle behind her eyes which made Tony shake his head.
"I come and find you, risk my life, risk facing your anger to apologize to you and this is how you treat me? Unbelievable, this is why I don't apologize to people, ungrateful the lot of you." He said.
Natasha snickered into her hand before she composed herself and looked at Tony, "I'm sorry too, for snapping at you. I've just been wound up with everything that's happened, it's no excuse for my behavior though."
"Hey, I get it Red, I do. If my daughter was on this bed I would probably be way worse than what you're doing, I understand, no need to apologize."
Natasha huffed, "Thanks Tony, you're a good friend."
"Yeah well, anyone would be lucky to have me as a friend, you know that."
"Aaand I'm instantly regretting my words."
"Nope! No take backs, I have proof, you said I was a good friend, Friday heard you, didn't you baby girl?"
"I don't know what you're talking about boss." The AI said from the genius' watch.
Natasha laughed, "Yeah, how'd that work for you Stark?"
Tony glared, "Shut it Romanov."
—————
"Don't do anything stupid 'til I get back."
Bucky laughed quietly, looking away for a second before he met Steve's eyes, "How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you."
Most of the Avengers were in Shuri's lab where she and Bruce helped make a miniature version of the quantum tunnel that had gotten destroyed along with the compound.
Thor was already standing up on the platform with his hammer held in his hand, bouncing back and forth waiting for Steve to finish his goodbye to his friend.
As the two soldiers hugged, Steve closed his eyes tightly. He felt his best friend's warmth for what felt like the first time in a century. He can't believe he's finally got him back after all these years, that he's got back the other half of his family.
He's really missed his brother...
"I'm gonna miss ya buddy," Bucky admitted, squeezing Steve's shoulder one more time before he pulled back from their embrace.
"It's gonna be okay Buck," Steve said with a smile and a gentle look behind his eyes. Bucky was watching him with a slight smile too though, he knew that Steve had to do this, he's always had a knack for being the one smack dab in the middle of trouble.
It only seemed fitting that Steve was one of the people who completed the final part of the plan.
After their goodbye, Steve walked over to where Sharon was waiting for him right next to the platform.
As soon as he got right in front of her, she brought him in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders while he encircled his arms around her waist and let them rest there.
They stayed like that for a few seconds before they pulled apart and Sharon leaned up to press a gentle kiss on his lips.
"Make it back in one piece yeah? I still need you." She whispered into his ear.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. This is my home, I'd never give that up." He whispered back to her.
"Good, cause I at least want one child to call my own. Everyone else already has kids, I want a baby soon." She whispered huskily into his ear which caused a shiver to run down his spine at her implication.
He liked the sound of that...
Steve then moved away and walked up the platform and tapped his quantum GPS. As the nano suit grew around him, he took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself for what was gonna happen next.
Thor looked over at the soldier, "Ready Captain?"
"Ready as I'll ever be Thor." He smiled at the god.
Sam still looked unsure though and he didn't have a problem with voicing his concerns, "How long is this gonna take?"
"For him? As long as he needs. For us, five seconds," Shuri said from her place next to Bruce who was tapping a few buttons on the control pad. Steve watched the doctor's fingers glide across the panel so fast that he had a hard time keeping track of his movements.
This was it. This was the end of the mission. The final part and they could all finally rest. After this, everyone and everything could get back to their normal lives and back to living. But at the moment, his normal life would have to wait for a couple more seconds because the universe needed a Captain America one last time.
Steve turned so he was facing his family. His best friend, his brother, his wife and his family. He wanted to see them when he went back into the tunnel, he wanted them to be the last thing he saw.
"You ready, Cap? Thor?" Bruce asked. When he received nods from both of the heroes, he continued, "All right, we'll meet you back here, okay?" Banner said with a little bit of worry in his voice.
If there was one thing that Steve was confident in, it was his ability to complete his mission whatever it took. No matter what year he was stuck in, he fought and made sure that his family would always be safe. He knew that he could finish this mission with the help of Thor by his side.
He knew that he'd make it back.
But first he had to mend his very reality so it didn't fall apart. Not that he understood what that meant, he just nodded his head and moved on.
He was done trying to understand all this science mumbo jumbo anyways.
He had his objective and failure wasn't an option. No matter what, he would make sure everything was back to how it was supposed to be.
Steeling himself, he plastered on a smile to try and calm his worrying family down before he replied, "You bet."
As Banner began to count down, he met the eyes of his best friend, Sam. The man who has helped him just as much as Bucky had back in the day. The man who was just as worthy as the shield as he was.
He might have to apologize to Peter when he woke up, it looked like there was gonna be a new Captain America and the young man wouldn't be able to play with his shield.
Steve could only hope Peter wouldn't be too mad about not playing with the shield.
"Going quantum in three..." the scientist started.
He locked eyes with Bucky, his brother who knew him better then he did sometimes. A man who has never given up on him no matter how messed up his mind was, he always held a certain loyalty to him that he was externally and internally grateful for.
"Two."
He smiled at his wife and nodded. There was no words that needed to be said, she knew how much he relied on her and how much he needed her. Plus, Steve really hated goodbyes, he wasn't gonna be gone for long, it's really just a...
See you in a few seconds...
"One."
With that, Steve and Thor made eye contact one last time and nodded at each other. They knew what needed to be done, they had their mission and they'd make sure that they wouldn't fail, not when they were already so close to victory.
With that being their last though, Captain America and Thor Odinson, God of Thunder went into the quantum realm to finish what they all started.
—————
Saint Petersburg, Russia
He looked out his widow in silence, planning his next move.
This did cause a little bit of a set back for him, he didn't expect the man he was after to go and almost kill himself to be some hero.
To be someone who he is not.
Because whether the Spider wanted to admit it or not, he was trained to be a killer and only a killer.
A machine.
A weapon.
Nothing more, nothing less.
The old man walked over to his desk to sit down, he needed a new strategy, he now had to wait longer than he wanted to. But if there was one thing he has learned over his life, it's how to be patient when the time called for it.
Madame's pet project was becoming a rather annoying pain in his side.
"Taskmaster, come." He called out.
Out of the corner of the room, walked the person in question. They stood still, waiting for the man to speak again.
"You've brought me great honor, inflating Madame's academy, telling me about her widows and overall, leading me to the answer I've been looking for for years." As he was speaking, the pictures of Peter Parker, AKA the Spider popped up on his screen.
"We have all the failsafes implemented in the trio like all the others, but I need him to be under my control, I could care less about the other two, but I could use them as an incentive for him. If we capture them first, gain control of them, The spider will follow quickly after."
"What about Romanov and Belova?" The distorted voice of the person underneath the mask spoke in an emotionless tone.
He's glad that he put that voice modulator in that nano mask that he stole.
The old man hummed, "I don't need them, they are traitors to their home, their real family. I will dispose of them once I get The Spider, or better yet, I'll have him do it."
After a second of thought, he spoke up again, "Dispose of the loose ends. Hunt down Beck and his team, we no longer need their skills. While he's gotten good information from stalking him, I can take it from here. Check in with Melina too, make sure she's making more of that drug, we need enough for the Spider once we get him...Oh and one more thing," The man paused and turned to look directly at the mask that his daughter was wearing.
"I think it's time to bring out the lost sister, see how well the Spider reacts to her, see what he'll do when he finds out she's still alive and still under my control." Once he was done, he waved off his prized weapon as of right now.
He watched as Taskmaster walked out of the room and he waited a couple seconds before he opened up his desk drawer and slid his ring across the pad to unlock the information on the projector.
As soon as the screen popped up onto his wall he got out of his chair and walked over to it. He stopped a couple feet from the map and crossed his hands behind his back.
He smiled.
Soon...very soon and he'd rule the world...