Thor walks through the compound, drinking a beer. Tony tells him that he's drifting left and says to keep it to one side, calling him 'Lebowski.' He asks 'ratchet' how it's going.
Rocket corrects him and reminds Tony that he's only a genius on Earth.
Tony looked ready to protest, Rocket gave him a look. "Yeah, actually that's fair." Tony said. From what he's seen there is a whole other world of science in space that he and the other Earth scientists don't really understand all that well.
Bruce, Rhodey and Nebula help Scott out with his suit. When Bruce goes to insert the Pym particle, Scott tells him to take it easy.
Bruce says he's being very careful.
Scott says he's being very Hulky.
"Well seeing as I am the Hulk..." Bruce muttered.
"Can't exactly not be Hulky." Bucky said.
Scott reminds him that the Pym particles they have are it and they only have enough for 1 round trip each and 2 tests. He inserts the Pym particle and accidentally sets the suit off. He says they now have 1 test run.
"Idiot." Hank said.
Scott says he isn't ready for this.
Clint, who's standing in the doorway, says he's game.
"Tattoos." Coulson commented. "Those are new."
Clint is now in the suit. Bruce tells him that he'll feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift and tells him not to worry about it.
"Can't worry if I don't know what you just said." Clint said. What is a chronoshift?
Rhodey asks why they don't go back and kill baby Thanos is they can go back in time.
"Have you ever seen the videos explaining why we can't just go back in time and kill Hitler?" Peter asked. "Because I'm sure the same type of rules apply here."
Bruce says that's horrible.
Rhodey protests, saying 'it's Thanos.'
"I mean... he's got a point." Carol said. "You could stop this all before it happened but... it's still a little inhumane."
Bruce says time doesn't work like that and explains that changing the past won't change the future.
"So even If we killed Thanos the snap would've still happened?" Ned asked, feeling super confused. Time was confusing.
Scott says they can get the stones before Thanos gets them and Thanos doesn't have the stones anymore and the problem is solved.
Nebula says that isn't how it works.
"Then how does it work? Someone please explain it to me in the most basic terms you can preferably." Scott said. "Changing the past doesn't change the future blah blah blah. But why?... or how I guess."
Clint says that's what he heard.
Bruce asks who told him that.
"What do you mean?" Clint asked. "Everything I know about time travel comes from movies, dude."
Rhodey lists a bunch of movies that deal with time travel including Star Trek, Terminator, Timecop, Time after Time, Quantum leap, Wrinkle in time, somewhere in time, hot tub time machine, Bill and Ted's excellent adventure. Scott adds Die Hard to the list.
"No, that's Christmas." Tony said.
"No it-" Natasha sighed. "No it isn't."
"It takes place at Christmas. It's a Christmas movie." Tony protested.
"That's not what makes a movie a Christmas movie." Pepper said.
"Then what does?" Tony asked.
Bruce says he doesn't know why everyone believes that but it isn't true and says that if they travel to the past, that past becomes your future and the former present becomes the past which can't be changed by your new future.
"So... we can't change the past because the past is our present- because all current time is the present- and because we already lived through it, the future- former present- is the past?" Peter asked.
"Yes." Bruce said.
Scott asks if back to the future was a bunch of bullshit.
"No, it's just fictional and completely scientifically inaccurate." Bruce said.
"So yes then?" Scott asked.
Clint is alone on the platform. Bruce sends him into the past. Clint comes out in his barn.
"Holy shit." Clint said.
He walks up to the house and picks up a baseball glove. He hears Lila inside the house asking Cooper where her headphones are.
Clint squeezed his eyes shut as he remembered watching his family disappear.
Clint tries to go inside but Bruce yanks him back to the present. After gathering his bearings, Clint holds up the glove and said it worked.
"Damn right it worked." Natasha said, smiling. Now all they had to do was figure out when/where the stones are.
Hologram screens show each of the stones. Steve says they need to figure out the when/where and says that almost everyone there has had an encounter with an infinity stone.
"Most of which were unpleasant to say the least." Clint said, glancing at Loki.
"You could say that again." Rocket said, remembering his and his teams business with the orb- the Power Stone.
Tony says to subsititue the word 'encounter' for damn near been killed by.
"or 'mind controlled by.'" Clint said.
"'Given powers from.'" Wanda and Carol said simultaneously. "Jinx!" Carol said.
Scott says he hasn't and he doesn't know what the hell they're all talking about.
"Oh yeah." Natasha said. "You really stay out of everything... good for you."
Bruce reminds them that they only have enough Pym particles for 1 round trip each and the stones have been a lot of different places throughout history.
"All except one." Gamora said. As far as she knew once the Soul Stone got to Vormir, it stayed on Vormir.
Tony corrects him saying it's throughout their history and there's not a lot of convenient places to drop in.
"That shortens our window by a lot." Rhodey sighed.
"Not to mention that most of the places we actually know where the stones are are highly dangerous." Natasha said. Remembering each and every time she watched someone on that screen use the stones-a stone for destructive purposes. Shhmidt, Loki, Malekith, Ronan, Strucker. Ultron even.
Clint says they need to pick their targets.
"And we gotta be real careful." Steve sighed.
Steve asks Thor what he knows about the Aether.
Thor is lounged in a chair. Natasha asks if he's asleep.
Rhodey says he's pretty sure Thor's dead.
"He's not dead." Natasha said. "...Right?"
Later, Thor starts telling everyone about the Aether. He says the Aether is not a stone but someone called it a stone before. He tells them that it's more of an angry sludge.
"I honestly can't think of a better way to describe it." Bruce said. From what he's seen of it, the Aether was an angry floating sludge thing... it didn't really obey the rules of nature or physics or anything really.
Thor says someone's going to need to amend that and stop saying it's a stone.
"I agree." Ned said.
Thor tells them that his grandfather had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves.
"Ah! You called it a stone." Peter said. "Hypocrite."
He says Jane, who's an old flame of his, stuck her hand inside of a rock one time and the Aether stuck itself inside her and she became very sick so they took her to Asgard, where he's from, and they had to fix her. Scott is hanging onto his every word.
"You're so invested." MJ commented. "I bet you'd watch part 2."
Thor says he got to introduce her to his mother who's dead and he and Jane aren't together anymore.
Thor felt like part of him was sucked away. He hadn't even realized just how much he lost until now. His family, friends, his home, his people... It made sense, why his onscreen future self was the way that he was. He didn't think he had anything left to fight for- to make him actually want to try.
Tony tries to get him to sit down. Thor says the only permanent thing in life is impermanence.
"He's right about that." Clint said. Nothing lasts forever.
"You know, nonsense story and irrelevant details aside, he's actually giving us good information about the Aether." Tony said.
"Tony don't call it nonsense please." Pepper sighed.
Tony asks Thor if he want's breakfast.
Thor says he'd like a Bloody Mary.
"No you wouldn't." Loki corrected.
"Day drinking is a bad habit to get into." Valkyrie added.
Rocket tells them about the Power Stone. He says Quill stole it from Morag.
Bruce asks if Morag is a person.
Rocket tells him it's a planet and Quill's a person. Scott gets excited about space.
"You're like a little kid." Hope said. It was almost endearing. Almost.
Rocket says Scott is like a little puppy all happy and everything and asks him if he wants to go to outer space.
"You don't have to patronize him, Rocket." Quill said.
Nebula tells them about the Soul Stone. She says Thanos found it on Vormir.
Natasha asks what a Vormir is.
Nebula says it's a dominion of death at the center of celestial existence and it's where Thanos murdered Gamora.
Gamora froze as she remembered watching her father throw her off a cliff like she was nothing just so he could get the stone and kill half of the universe.
"One of us isn't making it out of this." Natasha said, softly. "The only way you can get that stone is through sacrifice, Red Skull said it himself."
"There has to be a way around that." Steve protested.
"I don't think clever thinking can get us around this one, Rogers." Tony said. "We're talking about a Nazi Super-soldier who shot himself into space and guards a magic rock."
Scott says he's not going.
"Understandable." Drax said.
Natasha, Bruce and Tony discuss the Time Stone. Natasha asks what kind of doctor Strange was.
Tony says ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat.
"I was a neurosurgeon." Strange corrected.
Tony and Bruce talk about the sanctum. Natasha asks if he lived in New York. Bruce says he lived on Bleeker and Sullivan. Natasha says that if they pick the right year there are 3 stones in New York.
"What year could-?" Steve wondered before sighing. "2012."
"That'll be fun." Tony muttered, looking at Loki as he said it.
"If you go to 2012 looking for the Time Stone, you'll find that I'm not the one who has it. And I'm not so sure she'll give it up so easily." Strange said, referring to the Ancient One.
"What, like you did?" Clint asked. "And before you go all 'I did what I had to.' I know why you made the decision you did. Doesn't mean I have to like it."
"Gotta say Doc, it's not really getting the Time Stone I'm worried about." Natasha said. "It's everything else."
The Avengers, now suited up with a plan, walk onto the Time Travel platform. Steve says they lost friends, family, and themselves 5 years ago and now they have a chance to take it all back.
"And we will." Tony said. Careful to leave any doubt in his mind alone, sacred that if he did start doubting himself, doubting the team, it would all go to shit again and things would end up worse than they already were.
He says they know their teams and missions and says to get the stones back. He tells them that there's no mistakes or do-overs.
"That's a lot of pressure, Cap." Clint said.
Steve says most of them are going somewhere they know but it doesn't mean they know what to expect.
"That fact cannot be stressed enough." Strange said. "Don't be reckless."
He tells them to look out for each-other and that its the fight of their lives and they're gonna win. 'Whatever it takes.'
Rocket says Steve's pretty good at that.
"He really is." Bucky agreed. Steve had a way with being able to inspire optimism in even the most pessimistic of people. It was quite a remarkable trait, actually- one of his favorite things about the guy.
Bruce prepares the Time Machine. Clint has the shrunken Benetar in his hand. Rocket asks if he promises to bring it back in one piece.
Clint says he'll do his best.
Rocket says that was lame as far as promises go.
"It didn't really sound like a promise. More like a half-ass assurance." Natasha said.
"Please don't destroy our ship." Quill said.
As they get ready to go into the past, Natasha says she'll see them in a minute.
They travel through the quantum realm into the past. Bruce, Steve, Tony and Scott are in New York, 2012. The Chitauri are invading, the past Avengers prepare for battle.
"Here we go." Tony sighed, wondering what obstacles they would run into trying to get the stones in the aftermath of an alien invasion. They were under pretty secure supervision after they'd finally stopped Loki.
The future group appears in a street. Steve says there's 2 stones uptown and one down and reminds them to keep an eye on the clock. Past Hulk smashes a Chitauri in the street and leaps off. Bruce covers his face.
"Wait." Scott said. "What do we- What are we supposed to do if we run into our past selves. I mean... I guess not me, but like... how do we handle that?"
Steve tells Bruce to smash a couple things along the way.
"Gotta stay in character, I guess." Bruce sighed.
Bruce rips his tank top off and half-heartedly punches a car and tosses a motorcycle.
"Wow... I almost can't tell the difference." Tony joked. Bruce rolled his eyes.
Bruce lands on the roof of the sanctum, the Ancient one is fending off aliens.
Strange smiled a bit, glad to see his mentor again even if it was onscreen and in the past.
He tries to go inside, Ancient One tells him to be careful because they just had the floors waxed. Bruce says he's looking for Strange.
"Good luck." Strange said. "You're probably gonna need it. She's stubborn."
"Yeah, thanks." Bruce said.
Ancient One says he's 5 years too early and Strange is performing a surgery 20 blocks away and asks what he wants with him.
Bruce points to the Eye of Agamotto and says he needs it.
Ancient One says no.
Bruce says he wasn't asking.
"Bruce, I don't think she's someone you want to start a fight with." Clint said. "Intentionally or not."
Ancient One says he doesn't want to do this.
"Is she not gonna ask why he needs it? It seems like that would be the first thing she'd do." Pepper said.
Bruce says she's right but he needs the stone and he doesn't have time to debate it.
Ancient One pushes Bruce's astral form from his body.
"And that's why." Clint said, having made his point.
'Asgard: 2013' appears on the Screen. Thor and Rocket sneak past Loki's cell.
"Oh, you look so bored." Valkyrie commented, laughter in her voice.
Thor watches as Jane speaks with a handmaiden. Rocket tells Thor to charm Jane as he pokes her with his device and extracts the reality stone and then they'll leave.
"Great plan." Nebula said, sarcastically.
"We're on a time limit here." Rocket protested.
Thor says he'll be right back and tells Rocket that the wine cellar is down there and Odin used to have a huge barrel of Aakonian ale and says he'll go and get a couple glasses.
"No, you're gonna stay right there and suck the Reality sludge out of your ex-girlfriend with the talking raccoon." Rhodey said. "You're not gonna run off in the past and get drunk."
A door opens and Rocket and Thor hide. Frigga talks with her handmaidens before walking off alone.
Loki and Thor each felt a lump in their throat that they were afraid to swallow because if they did they would start to shed tears.
Rocket asks who the 'fancy broad' is. Thor says it's his mother and tells Rocket that she dies today.
Loki let out a shaky breath, he could feel the guilt rolling off of him in spades. In a matter of hours his past self would tell the Kurse just where to go to get to-. No. It was best if he didn't think about it anymore. He knows what he did and he can't change it, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this day has haunted his dreams nearly everyday since it happened.
Thor closed his eyes sadly, but opened them immediately as he saw flashes of Kurse stabbing Frigga, and her funeral. He shook his head to snap himself out of it. The past-or his future?... it was all very confusing now- was not a place to get lost in right now.
Thor starts to freak out, saying that he can't be there and shouldn't have come. Rocket beckons him closer. Thor says he's having a panic attack and shouldn't be there. Rocket slaps him.
"I am Groot." (You can't just hit someone when they're having a panic attack.)
"Well I don't know what I'm supposed to do... It seemed to snap him out of it quickly enough." Rocket said.
Rocket asks if he thinks he's the only one who lost people. He says he lost the only family he ever had and lists them: Quill, Groot, Drax and 'The Chick With the Antenne.'
"Mantis." Gamora reminded. "Seriously, you don't know her name?" Mantis frowned.
"Yeah dude, she's been with us for a little while now, I'd think you'd at least remember her name." Quill said.
He says he gets that Thor misses Frigga but she's really gone and the others are only kinda gone and Thor can help them. He asks if it's too much to ask for Thor to brush the crumbs out of his beard, distract Jane and help him get the stone so he can get his family back.
"Talk about tough love." Bucky muttered.
"He has his moments but, he's still Rocket so-" Quill shrugged.
Thor starts crying, so Rocket tries to calm him down. Rocket walks toward Jane's room and tells Thor that she's alone so this is their shot. Thor runs off in the opposite direction, saying that he can't do this.
Thor frowned, it was getting very strange to see himself acting so unlike himself. Thanos took away more than just his brother and his people.
"I think it's gonna take a lot more than a slap to the face and a half-assed pep talk to get Thor back to being... Thor." Clint said.
'Morag: 2014' appears on screen. Nebula releases the pod from the ship. Clint and Natasha stand there. Natasha kicks a creature and tells them to hurry up because they're on the clock.
"Real helpful coming from the woman just standing there kicking around little dinosaur looking things." Rhodey said, sarcastically.
Natasha hugs Rhodey and gets on the ship with Clint. Rhodey tells them to watch each other's six.
"Always do." Clint said.
Clint and Natasha leave. Nebula says the coordinates for Vormir are in so all they need to do is not fall out.
Natasha and Clint glance at each other. They were going to Vormir... and one of them wouldn't be coming back. "Tasha." Clint whispered.
"It's gonna be okay." Natasha said, not entirely believing that herself.
In the Benetar, Clint tells Natasha that they're a long way from Budapest.
"Oh yeah." Natasha agreed with a smile.
"What happened in Budapest?" Bruce asked.
"Absolutely nothing." Clint said, flatly.
On Morag, Rhodey asks Nebula if they just wait for Quill to show up and he'll lead them to the Power Stone.
"Is there no other way you could find it?" Peter asked.
Nebula says they should take cover because they aren't the only ones in 2014 looking for the stone.
Rhodey asks her what she's talking about and asks who else is looking for them.
"It's pretty obvious." Steve said, feeling like his blood suddenly turned to ice.
Nebula says Thanos, Gamora and herself are looking for them.
"If you thought Gamora was bad... I was worse." Nebula said. 2014 Gamora could be reasoned with... persuaded to leave Thanos and his plans behind. 2014 Nebula was not so agreeable.
Rhodey asks Nebula where her past self would be.
Gamora and Nebula glanced at each other.
Nebula and Gamora fight creatures. A bomb goes off next to Nebula, leaving her vulnerable as a creature comes up to her, Gamora kills it. Nebula says she never asked for her help.
Gamora says she always needs it.
"I didn't." Nebula protested. "I could do it myself but you always had to-." No. Now was not the time to bring up old hurts.
Gamora holds up her hand to help Nebula up but Nebula slaps her hand away.
Thor chuckled sadly, their relationship reminded him a lot of how him and Loki behaved when they were younger... what feels like a lifetime ago now.
Gamora tells her that Thanos wants them back on the ship because he's found an infinity stone.
"Shit!" Rhodey swore. "Oh, that's not good."
On the ship, Nebula asks where the stone is.
Gamora says it's on Morag.
Nebula and Rhodey each tensed, hoping that they didn't have to suffer a run in with Thanos.
Nebula says Thanos' plan is finally in motion.
Gamora says one stone isn't six.
"More than none." Tony muttered. "Which is what I wish he had."
Thanos goes down to them and tells them that Ronan's located the Power Stone and he'll dispatch them to his ship.
Gamora says Ronan won't like that.
Thanos says his alternative is death.
"Figures." Carol said.
"He wasn't above threatening to kill- and killing- even the people he 'worked with.'" Gamora said.
Thanos says Ronan's obsession clouds his judgement.
"And yours does what exactly?" Sam asked. "Because it certainly clear it."
Nebula bows, swords drawn, and tells Thanos that they won't fail him and that she'll make him proud. She stands and clutches her head suddenly.
"Wait what?" Rocket asked. "What's happening to you?"
Past Nebula shares a projection of Rhodey and Future Nebula's conversation in Morag.
'How is that possible?' Nebula wondered.
Gamora asks Nebula who that was.
Nebula panics, saying she doesn't know.
Gamora tells Thanos that Nebula's synaptic was likely damaged in battle.
Thanos lifts Nebulas head with his sword and tells Gamora to bring his to the ship.
"He doesn't know... right?" Peter asked, panicking. "I mean how can he know there's no way he can know."