Tony watches from a nearby building as the past Avengers apprehend Loki. He tells Steve that they look like they're wrapped up and he heads inside. Past Loki says he'll have the drink if it's all the same to them.
"No... it's not 'all the same' to us. You destroyed the city, dude." Tony said.
"Must we bring that up?" Loki asked.
"It literally just happened!" Tony said. "Maybe not to you, but to us it wasn't that long ago."
Past Tony says to get Loki on his feet and they can stand around posing up a storm later and tells them to feel free to clean up.
"You know, honestly I expected the mess to be much worse." Tony commented.
Tony, over comms, tells Steve that his old suit did nothing for his ass.
"You're right." Maria said.
"Yeah... I kinda see it." Clint said agreed.
"Why... why are you looking?" Steve asked Tony.
Steve tells Tony that no one asked him to look.
Scott says he thinks Steve looks great and as far as he's concerned that's America's Ass.
Bucky started laughing so hard that he doubled over in his chair. "America's Ass." He laughed, voice falling into an un-naturally high pitch.
Steve looked over at his friend in annoyance. "Are you finished?" He asked.
Bucky giggled more and sighed a little wiping tears from his eyes. "No, no I'm good. I'm good." He snickered a few times before finally relaxing.
Past Natasha asks who's taking the scepter.
Past Steve says the STRIKE team is coming to secure it.
The SHIELD agents winced at the mention of the STRIKE team. They hadn't forgotten about Rumlow and Sitwell and the rest of the HYDRA agents that have apparently been hiding in SHIELD for years. Fury reminded himself to do something about that as soon as they were all allowed to go back to their own times.
Past Rumlow, Sitwell and some STRIKE agents exit the elevator. Natasha hands the scepter to Sitwell. Clint tells him to be careful with it unless he wants his mind erased and not in a fun way.
"Or use it to experiment on people." Wanda said, voice bitter. "Your choice."
"I almost wish it did erase their minds. It'd be one less thing we need to worry about." Clint said.
Scott asks Tony who the STRIKE agents are.
Tony tells him that they're HYDRA agents but they didn't know that at the time.
Scott says they look like bad guys.
"Apparently they didn't look enough like bad guys or we would've caught onto them and HYDRA sooner." Maria said.
Past Steve says he's on his way down to coordinate search and rescue.
Loki shapeshifts into Steve, mimics him and asks them how they keep their food down.
Thor tells him to shut up and puts a muzzle on him.
"That's the second time I've seen you do that? What do you have against the Captain?" Valkyrie asked.
"I have absolutely nothing against Captain Rogers. He's just too easy to mock." Loki said
Past Tony secures the Tesseract in a case. Tony flicks Scott over to him.
"Does that not hurt you?" Wanda asked. Scott was very small and being flicked like a bug seemed like it'd hurt. Being flicked when you're regular size hurts.
Tony's suit materializes around him and he jumps out the window.
Past Hulk tries to get into the elevator with everyone else. Past Tony and Thor try to stop him. Tony says maximum occupancy has been reached. Thor tells him to take the stairs.
"He's not gonna like that." Bruce said.
Hulk punches the elevator door as it closes then complains about having to take the stairs.
"He's... he's like a child." Gamora said.
"Well he is only a few years old." Bruce commented, maybe that had something to do with it. "I'm just surprised he actually listened. I didn't think he would."
Tony scans the building and tells Steve that the scepter is in the elevator passing the 80th floor. They agree to meet up in the lobby.
In the elevator, Sitwell is on the phone, he says there were no hitches and the scepter is secure.
"Not for long." Steve muttered.
Steve enters the elevator. Sitwell says he thought Steve was coordinating search and rescue.
Steve says there's been a change in plans. Rollins puts his hand on his gun.
"Way to not seem suspicious, Rollins." Natasha said, sarcastically.
"Right. I thought he was better than that." Clint said.
Steve says he got a call from the secretary and says he'll be running point on the scepter.
Sitwell says he doesn't understand.
Steve says they got word that there may be an attempt to steal it.
"Well... technically it's already stolen." Coulson said.
'What are you doing, Rogers?' Tony thought to himself.
Rumlow says he can't give Steve the scepter.
"Bold of you to assume you have a choice in that matter." Clint said.
Sitwell says he's going to call the director. Steve says to trust him then leans into Sitwell's ear and whispers 'Hail Hydra.' Steve leaves the elevator with the scepter.
Natasha smirked. "Nice work Rogers."
"You got it without a fight. Nice job." Peggy said.
Hulk walks down the stairs, complaining about how many there are.
"I'm surprised he's actually walking down them. I thought he's just jump down the center." Bruce said. There seemed to be a lot about Hulk that he wasn't aware of.
The elevator opens, Past Thor, Tony and Loki exit.
Tony is dressed as an agent and tells Scott, who he calls Thumbelina, that he has eyes on the prize.
"Thumbelina? Really?" Scott asked.
Scott drops into past Tony's shirt and onto the arc reactor. He asks if Tony's wearing Axe-Body spray.
Tony says he had a can in his desk for emergencies and asks if they can focus.
"You wear Axe body spray? What are you, a 13 year old boy?" Ned asked.
"That's embarrassing for you." MJ said.
"Also... you have money. You can buy better things than Axe." Clint said, laughing.
"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Tony said.
Scott says he's going inside Tony.
"Please never say those words again." Tony said.
"Yeah... I coulda worded that better." Scott cringed.
Scott drops into the arc reactor as Tony approaches Pierce.
"Him." Steve nearly growled.
Pierce asks them where they're going.
Past Thor says they're going to lunch and then Asgard and asks who Pierce is.
"He's an asshole." Bucky said.
"One of the worst." Natasha added.
"Alexander Pierce. A real piece of work, I'll tell you that." Clint said, angrily.
Past Tony tells Thor that Pierce is the man above the folks behind Nick Fury.
"The man who tried to have me killed." Fury said. "That didn't work out so well for him."
Bucky looked around awkwardly. "I'm sorry that I tried to assassinate you." He said. "Twice."
"I've had a lot of folks try to kill me over the years Sergeant Barnes, you weren't the first nor, I suspect, will you be the last." Fury said.
Pierce tells Thor to turn Loki over to him.
Thor says Loki will be answering to Odin.
Pierce says Loki will answer to them and Odin can have what's left.
"Good luck with that." Nebula said.
Pierce asks for the case and says it's been SHIELD property for over 70 years. Tony tells Scott to move it because things are getting dicey.
"And now I'm Stuart Little. Great." Scott said.
"Get used to it. Dumb nicknames are kind of his thing." Rhodey said.
Past Tony says he won't argue who has the higher authority.
"Good... because you'd probably lose that battle." Coulson said.
Scott tells Tony to promise he won't die. Tony says Scott is only giving him a mild cardiac dysrhythmia.
"Seriously?" Strange asked. "That's your plan?"
"Sometimes I really do worry for your safety. Your common sense just seems to come and go as it pleases." Rhodey said.
Scott says it doesn't sound mild.
"It probably won't be." Pepper said, looking at Tony. He could be such a reckless idiot at times.
Pierce demands Tony give him the case and tries to grab it from him. Scott finally disconnects something in the arc reactor and Past Tony drops the case and collapses.
"Tony!" Pepper, Happy and Rhodey gasped, despite knowing that their friend was fine and literally did this to himself on purpose.
Tony calls for a medic. Past Thor tells Tony to speak to him and asks if it's his chest machine. Scott kicks the case away, Loki watches.
"Uh oh." Scott said.
Loki silently hoped that his 2012 self did not do what he thought he was about to do. Yes, it would free him from Odin and his imprisonment but it also meant that the Avengers couldn't get the stone and Thanos would win.
Tony picks up the case. Hulk bursts out of the stairwell, causing Tony to drop the case and the Tesseract to slide out and stop at Loki's feet.
"Please don't do it. Please don't do it." Scott pleaded. They could not afford to lose that stone.
Loki takes the Tesseract and uses it to teleport away.
Everyone was silent for a moment, giving themselves time to process what they just watched and not just react. "No!" Clint gasped
"Sorry." Loki said, awkwardly.
"You know what, I really don't like you sometimes. How the hell are we supposed to find another Tesseract? Because it's not like 2012 you is gonna give it up so easily. And even if we did, it's not like there's enough Pym particles that we can use to get it." Tony spoke, getting increasingly frustrated. This was their one shot and they blew it. What the hell are they gonna do.
"Also not to mention, you just changed the past." Bruce said. None of this is supposed to happen and now because Loki took the Tesseract, they can't correct it.
Past Thor tells Tony that he's gonna try something but he doesn't know if it'll work. He uses Mjolnir to shock Tony and it works.
"Oh wow. We'll have to remember that." Tony said.
Past Thor says he had no idea that that was gonna work.
"Well it's a good thing it did because otherwise we'd have a dead Tony on our hands and even more things that weren't supposed to happen in the past." Natasha said.
Past Tony realizes the case is missing.
Thor realizes that Loki is missing too.
"It feels like the universe wants us to fail." Clint said.
Scott says that wasn't supposed to happen.
Tony says they blew it.
"Big time." Tony sighed.
Steve is in a hallway. He asks Tony what's going on and tells Tony to tell him they found the cube.
"Finding it wasn't the issue." Tony said. "Keeping it in our possession however..."
"How are we going to get another Tesseract? When are we going to get another Tesseract?" Clint wondered.
Steve finds Past Steve in the hallway and says 'you've gotta be shitting me.'
"Such language." Sam said, with a grin.
Past Steve says he has eyes on Loki.
"No you don't." Loki said.
Steve puts the case down and says he's not Loki and he doesn't want to hurt him.
"Steve vs. Steve." Maria said. "This'll be interesting."
Past Steve and Steve start to fight. Past Steve kicks Steve across the floor and says he can do this all day.
Steve says he knows that.
Steve blinked. It was weird hearing that line coming from him to him.
The Steves throw their shields at each other then start throwing punches. The scepter gets knocked down to the ground and the case opens.
"Better hurry this up, Steve." Tony said, nervously. They already lost one stone they can't lose two.
The Steves slip and fall from the 'bridge' to the floor.
"Ouch. That's a long fall." Rhodey said.
Past Steve grabs the compass and asks Steve where he got it. Steve goes for the scepter, Past Steve puts him in a chokehold. Steve tells past Steve that Bucky is alove. Past Steve lets Steve go in shock. Steve punches him in the face.
"Okay Rogers." Natasha said. "Clearly you've become better at getting yourself out of sticky situations."
Steve grabs the scepter and uses it on Past Steve to knock him out. He grabs the compass, stands up and looks at his past self. He says that is America's ass.
Steve sighed and shook his head. "See, Captain America himself agrees with me." Scott said, happily.
Bruce is still trying to get the Time Stone. Ancient One says she can't help him because she'll doom her own reality if she gives Bruce the Time Stone to fix his.
"That's... that's only right if we don't go back and correct the changes we've made." Bruce said.
Bruce says he's not sure that science supports that. Ancient One draws a line with magic and explains that the stones create the flow of time and if one is removed then the flow splits.
"Which... is what I did?" Loki asked. He didn't remove the stone from the time that it was in... but he did remove it from where it was supposed to be in that time. Does the same logic apply? He thinks it does.
Ancient One says it will benefit Bruce's reality but not her new one and says their world would be overrun without their chief weapon against the forces of darkness and asks if his science can prevent that. Bruce says it can't.
"Great." Natasha sighed. "So in order to save ourselves from doom, we'll be dooming millions more?"
Bruce says they can erase it because they can return the stones to their proper timeline the moment it would've been taken once their done with them so it'll be like they never left.
"Nevermind, then." Natasha said.
"That fixes one of the problems." Bruce said.
Ancient One says he's leaving out the most important part. And says Bruce needs to survive in order to return the stones.
Bruce promises that they will.
"That's a big thing to promise, Bruce." Steve said.
Ancient One says she can't risk her reality on a promise and says it's the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the stone.
"I warned you that she wouldn't give it up so easily." Strange said.
"It's starting to get a little frustrating." Tony said.
"Yeah, but I get it. A promise isn't good enough to warrant risking dooming her entire reality." Hope said. "I just wish there was a better way to convince her to give it to Bruce."
Bruce asks why the hell Strange gave it away to Thanos.
Ancient One asks if it was willingly and then asks why.
"It was the only way." Strange said.
"I really wish you would stop saying that." Natasha said. "Yeah, it may have been the only way to ensure a victory based on what you saw but we still lost."
Bruce suggests that it was a mistake.
Ancient One says that she did, and puts Bruce's astral form back into his body, opens the Eye of Agamotto and gives Bruce the stone, saying Strange was meant to be the best of them.
Bruce says he must've done it for a reason.
"Are they suggesting that- was this the outcome that we win in? Was this what you saw?" Carol asked Strange, who stayed quiet. Why would he give up the Time Stone when he knows that Thanos would've won unless there was a chance that by doing so, they would win later?
Ancient one says she fears Bruce is right. Bruce takes the stone and thanks her.
"Finally." Bruce sighed.
Ancient One tells Bruce that they're all counting on him.
"But no pressure." Tony said.
On Thanos' ship, Past Nebula is suspended midair. Thanos hooks her up to something and asks Maw to show him her memory file.
"Oh no." Nebula whispered.
Maw says the file is entangled and says it was a memory that they say but it wasn't Past Nebula's.
"My Consciousness must've connected with my past Consciousness." Nebula said. They run on the same network, it was the only explanation that she had.
Maw says there is another Nebula's Consciousness sharing Past Nebula's network and says the duplicate carries a timestamp from 9 years in the future.
Steve swallowed thickly. If 2014 Thanos finds their Nebula and figures out what they're doing, then they're done for.
"This is just going from bad to worse." Natasha sighed. First they lose the Tesseract and now Thanos is sniffing around their operations and it doesn't look like they'll manage to avoid him.
Thanos asks where the other Nebula is.
Maw says she's on Morag.
Thanos asks if he can access her.
Maw says he can because they're linked.
"Even when I think I'm safe I'm not." Nebula said. Thanos' imprint on her will never really be gone even if the man she once called 'father' is dead.
Thanos tells him to search her memories for Infinity Stones.
Nebula growled in frustration. Having her in the past was endangering everyone, especially if Thanos can access all of her memories. She doesn't know what he'll do with her if he finds her on Morag and she doesn't really want to know.
Nebula's memory of the Time heist meeting plays. Thanos tells Maw to freeze the images. Gamora recognizes them as Terrans, Thanos notes that they're the Avengers.
"It isn't just Tony that Thanos knows? He- he knows about all of us?" Steve asked.
'He sent Loki. The attack on New York. That's him.' Bruce remembered himself saying. "New York, that was him, right? So if he was the one behind it, it makes sense that he'd know about us."
Thanos calls the Avengers unruly wretches and sees Nebula's reflection in the memory.
Gamora says she doesn't understand how there's two Nebulas.
"Time travel at it's finest." Rocket muttered.
Thanos says it's the same Nebula from two different times, then tells Maw to set course for Morag and to scan Nebula's memories.
"I'm sorry." Nebula said, shocking everyone with how suddenly she started speaking. "I'm endangering all of you. He can access my thoughts and now he's coming for the power stone and I'm there. He'll-" She cut herself off. 'He'll come for me too.' She finished the sentence in her head.
"Hey no. That is not your fault. It's his and his alone." Gamora said.
Frigga and her handmaidens walk through the halls, Frigga stops and tells them to go ahead.
"She knows something's up." Rocket commented.
"Of course she does. We were never able to get anything past her before, why would that change now?" Thor asked.
Frigga sneaks up behind Thor and asks what he's doing. Thor screams. Frigga says he's better off leaving the sneaking to Loki.
"You really should, you were never good at sneaking around." Loki said, remembering when he and Thor were kids and used to sneak up on each other to scare one another. Thor only ever managed to get him once or twice, whereas Loki succeeded nearly every time.
Thor says he was just going for a walk.
"A terrible liar too." Loki added.
Frigga asks him what he's wearing.
Thor says he always wears that and it's one of his favorites.
"Maybe it is in 2023, but 2013 Thor wouldn't ever wear something like that, I don't think." Valkyrie said.
Frigga asks Thor what's wrong with his eye.
Thor asks if she remembers the battle of Harokin when he got hit in the face with a broadsword.
"She likely does remember and she knows that you didn't lose an eye that day." Loki said.
"Thor. Cut the bullshit. She's your mom, she can see right through you." Clint said.
Frigga notes that this is not the Thor she knows. Thor says he is. Frigga says the future hasn't been kind to him.
Thor frowned a little. Of course Frigga would know, no one- not even Loki, could ever lie to her. And she was right, oh was she right. The future wasn't kind to him, wasn't kind to any of them. They had all lost so much and this was their one chance to get it back. They couldn't afford to make any more mistakes.
Thor says he didn't say he was from the future.
Frigga says she was raised by witches and she sees with more than eyes.
Thor admits that he is from the future and says he needs to talk to her. They hug.
Thor felt a stinging in his eyes, happy that his future self at least got to have one last conversation with Frigga before he never saw her again. Or at least never saw her again for the foreseeable future.
Jane wakes up and gets out of bed, Rocket sneaks behind her with the device to extract the Aether.
"I imagine that was quite a sight for her." Maria said.
Thor tells Frigga about when he killed Thanos and says he was too late and he was standing there like some idiot with an axe.
"Thor... you're not an idiot." Steve said.
"Nobody... nobody blames you Thor. At least not now, I can't speak for our future selves but, I'm sure that they didn't either." Bruce said.
Frigga says Thor isn't an idiot and that he's there seeking counsel from the wisest person in Asgard.
"Wow, bold claim." Quill said.
"Not if you can back that claim up." Thor said.
Frigga says he isn't an idiot but is absolutely a failure.
"Wow. That's harsh." Tony said.
Thor says that's a little harsh.
Frigga asks if he knows what that makes him before saying it makes him just like everyone else.
"We all make mistakes, Thor. It's how we deal with those mistakes that matters." Steve said.
Thor says he's not supposed to be like everyone else.
Frigga tells him that everyone fails at who they're supposed to be and the measure of a hero is how well they succeed at being who they are.
"I guess she really is the wisest person in Asgard." Rocket muttered.
Rocket is being chased by the Einherjar, one of them says to get the rabbit.
"Do Asgardian rabbits look like raccoons? Do you guys just not know what a rabbit is...?" Quill asked. "I'm confused because that's the second time one of you called him a rabbit."
Thor says he needs to tell Frigga something.
"Thor-" Loki started, struggling to force the rest of his sentence out, because he knows that if he were in Thor's position he almost would've done the same thing. "You- you can't." The 'can't' came out barely above a whisper.
"I know." Thor whispered. "I know I can't but-" 'but she shouldn't have to die.' He finished the rest of his sentence in his head.
Frigga tells Thor not to because he's there to repair his future, not hers.
Thor says this is about her future.
Frigga says it's none of her business.
"She knew she was going to die." Valkyrie realized. Witches have the power of foresight, of course she knew.
Rocket interrupts, telling Thor that he has the Aether.
Thor says he wishes they had more time.
Frigga says this was a gift and tells Thor to become the man he was meant to be.
"Your mom seems like a very lovely woman." Gamora said.
They hug again, after they break apart Frigga tells him to eat a salad.
Thor nodded, he wasn't a witch but he did see that comment coming eventually.
Just as they're about to leave, Thor shouts at Rocket to wait.
"Oh what now?" Rocket asked impatiently. They got the Stone, Thor talked with his mom, what more does he need to do in the past?
Thor holds his hand out. Rocket asks what he's looking at. Frigga tells him that it takes a second sometimes. Mjolnir flies into Thor's waiting hand. Thor's happy that he's still worthy. They leave.
"Why wouldn't you be worthy anymore?" Steve asked. Thor said nothing, he thought the answer was obvious. He spent the five years after Thanos alone, neglecting his people and his kingly duties.
"How you grieved and your... depression doesn't-shouldn't effect your worthiness, Thor." Bruce said.
Quill sings and dances to 'come and get your love' on Morag.
A few others (Sam, Tony, Carol and the teenagers) started grooving to the music along with Quill. What? It's hard not to.
Nebula and Rhodey watch. Rhodey says Quill is an idiot, Nebula agrees.
"That's rude." Quill said.
"It's true." Rhodey said, defending himself.
Quill slides into Rhodey's fist, which knocks him out. Nebula takes something out of Quill's knapsack, Rhodey asks what it is.
Nebula says it's the tool of a thief.
"Think of it like a lockpick." Quill said.
Nebula uses the tool to open the doors to the temple while Rhodey holds the glowing sphere. Nebula goes to walk in but Rhodey stops her saying that this is the part where spikes come out with skeletons on the end of them.
"This isn't 'Indiana Jones', Rhodes." Bruce sighed. "I sincerely doubt that you're gonna find spikes and skeletons in there."
"You never know." Rhodey said.
Nebula asks what he's talking about.
Rhodey says there's gonna be a bunch of booby traps when you break into a place called the Temple of the Power Stone.
"I promise you, that type of thing only exists in movies." Quill said. He's never once walked into a place that's been booby trapped. Heavily guarded? Yes. But Booby trapped? No.
Nebula walks in and reaches through the forcefield protecting the orb, burning the her hand.
"Ouch." Rhodey commented.
"I can't feel it." Nebula said, voice carefully devoid of any emotion. Thanos took everything from her and most of it, she can't ever get back. Through sheer willpower, she was able to gain her conscience again but everything else... that was lost forever.
Nebula hands Rhodey the orb and says she wasn't always like that. Rhodey says he wasn't either but they've got to work with what they have.
"I guess so." Nebula agreed.
They prepare to leave, Rhodey does but Nebula freezes and clutches her head before collapsing.
"Nebula?" Gamora asked, worry evident in her voice.
"It's him." Nebula said. Everyone knew who the 'him' she was talking about was. She didn't feel the need to clarify.
On Thanos', Past Nebula plays the memory of the Avengers finding and killing Thanos at The Garden. Gamora asks what he did to them.
"Technically... he hasn't done anything yet. Or at least... hasn't done anything with the stones." Carol said, remembering watching Thanos' business with both Loki and Ronan.
Thanos says he hasn't done anything yet and realizes the Avengers aren't trying to stop something he'll do in their current time but they're trying to undo something he does in the future.
"He knows." Peter gasped. "Oh god, he knows."
Gamora realizes he's talking about the stones.
Thanos says he finds all of them and wins, tipping the cosmic scales to balance.
"Actually... it doesn't really seem like everything is as balanced as you claim it would be." Bruce said.
Gamora kneels. Maw says this is his future.
Thanos says it's his destiny.
"Destiny. That sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me." Clint said, angrily.
The memory continues and they watch future Thanos die.
Thanos says that is destiny fulfilled.
"I thought he'd be a little more pissed about watching his murder." Quill said.
"The only thing Thanos ever cared about was that plan, little else ever mattered to him." Gamora said.
Maw his telekinesis to choke Nebula with a chain and calls Nebula a traitor.
Past Nebula denies that and says she'd never betray him.
Nebula looked uncomfortable to say the least. A lot of her loyalty to Thanos came from a need to prove something to him. Prove that she was worthy of being his daughter and when she realized that she would never be that, she vowed to kill him. She wanted to make him feel her pain ever day of his miserable life. But now she'd settle for watching him fail, she wants to watch him watch as his plan crumbles to pieces before his eyes.
Thanos breaks the chain and says Nebula will have the chance to prove it.
"What is he talking about?" Sam asked, nervously.
Nebula gets up off of the floor and runs out of the cave and into the pod. She tries to contact Clint and Natasha to tell them that Thanos knows. She looks out the window to see Thanos' ship in the atmosphere. Thanos uses a tractor beam to bring the pod to the ship.
"No." Nebula whispered. "No no no."
"At least we got the stone. If nothing else, at least Thanos never got the stone." Rhodey said, trying to find a silver lining, but it wasn't working out so well.