CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

I land down and the helmet pops off of me. It only takes a short glance around the room for me to know where I was. 

"Natasha backwards is ah Satan for a reason." I mutter. The room had posters of cars and motorbikes. A calendar sat on the desk next to the small bed. One of the dates outlined in a red marker pen. A fencing jacket with the name S H A W on the back of the desk chair looks older than I remembered. The bag holding the foil that I'd saved a lot of my money as a kid up for. Seventeen year old me handing out papers on main street until I could afford one of them was pretty funny to look back on, now. I step closer to the desk and look over at the calendar again.

In the same red pen, in my old, messy handwriting was written- FENCING TOURNAMENT [FINAL]

It was the same tournament that Maria Hill had found me at, and I'd won. But my dad hadn't come to watch me, and he didn't care if I'd won, either. I smile around the room at the nostalgic memories I had from the place. Right up until I heard it. Shouting. I open my old bedroom door quietly and walk out as I hear it continue.

Mom and dad shouting at each other wasn't uncommon. They'd always find something to get to the other about. When I got a glimpse of them I feel a part of me stop. Dad wore a suit with the top two buttons undone, very much hungover from the night before and mom... mom was just as much of a mess. I watch them shout at each other, saying whatever they wanted at each other. Not that it would matter. It all goes silent suddenly and I only realise what's happened until the helmet pops over my head, taking me back to the present day. 

I land on the podium and the helmet slips off again. Dad had slapped mom. And I never had seen it happen before. It had never been mentioned before when I'd lived with them. And here I was. I watch the floor for a moment, trying to get my breathing under control. 

I go to stand and I nearly fall back if it wasn't for someone being there. "Woah-" Yelena catches me and helps me stand up. "Hey, you okay?" She furrows her eyebrows at me, hand on my cheek.

"I uh-" Was all that came out of me. 

"Hey-" Natasha walks up and looks over and see's the state I'm in. "It was a bad idea. I know- I regretted it." 

"I'm fine." I insist, starting to walk down the staircase. "It works, Stark." I say, walking towards him, not daring to look over at Nat or Yelena. 

↠

"Okay, so the 'how' works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where." Steve says, turning to us all crowded in one of the rooms. "Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least on of the six infinity stones." 

"Or, substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six infinity stones." Tony adds.

"I haven't." Scott says. "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about." 

"Well, listen up." I tell him. "You're in for a ride." 

"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." Bruce says.

"Our history." Tony says. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in." 

"Which means we have to pick our targets." I hear Clint say from the door.

"Correct." Tony says.

"Let's start with the Aether." Steve says. "Thor, what do you know?" We all turn to Thor who was sat in an armchair in the corner of the room with his sunglasses on, very quiet. 

"Is he asleep?" Nat asks.

"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead." Rhodey mutters. 

↠

"Where to start?" Thor asks as the Reality Stone shows up on his screen. "Um.. the Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone, before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someones gonna have to amend that." I watch the drunk God continue his presentation from the back of the room, trying to stay as serious as possible. "Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves..." He wiggles his fingers to imitate a spooky ghost, making me nearly break my serious face. "Wooooh, scary being! So Jane," An image of a woman comes up on the screen. "oh, there she is. That's Jane... she's an old flame of mine... she... she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time and then the Aether stuck itself inside her... and, she became, very, very sick. 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. I got to introduce her to my Mother... who's dead." He looks down at the floor for a moment, a little broken at the thought of his mother. "And oh, you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever." Tony begins to try get him back to his chair but he refuses. "I'm not done yet, the only thing-" He turns to us again. "The only thing permanent in life is impermanence." 

"Awesome." Tony says. "Eggs? Breakfast?"

"No." Thor says. "I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you." 

↠

We ate the takeaway food while Rocket took his turn talking.

"Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag." He begins.

"Is that a person?" Scott asks from his food.

"Morag's a planet. Quill was a person." Rocket corrects him.

"A planet? Like in outer space?" He asks.

"Oh look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything!" Rocket ruffles Scott's hair a little as he talks in a higher pitched voice. "Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space." 

↠

The screen in the room changes to the Soul Stone and Nebula stands in front of all of us.

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." She says, looking down at the floor. She didn't seem to happy about the subject at hand.

Nat, sat next to me, was writing down notes as she asked questions. "What is Vormir?" 

"A domination of death." She says. "At the very centre of Celestial existence. It's where..." She pauses for a moment and I look over at her from Nat's own notes. "Thanos murdered my sister." 

Nat looks up from her writing and we all go into an awkward silence until Scott breaks it.

"Not it."  

↠

"That Time Stone guy..." Now... let's not question how it ended up with me, Tony, Natasha and Bruce on the table and floor staring up at the ceiling. It just... happened.

"Doctor Strange." Bruce adds.

"Yeah... what kind of doctor was he?" She asks him.

"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit from a hat." I hear Tony mutter.

"Nice place in the village, though." Bruce says.

"Yeah. Sullivan Street."

"Hmmmm. Bleeker."

"Wait." Nat says. "He lived in New York?"

"No, no." Tony says sarcastically. "He lived in Toronto." I roll my eyes. "Were you even paying attention?"

"Guys, if you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York."

I sit up, nearly hitting my head on the table. "Wait... seriously?"

"Shut the front door."

↠

We walked up and stood on the podium, all seeming a little nervous.

"Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends... We lost family... We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. But it doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're gonna win." Steve says, looking over at all of us. "Whatever it takes. Good luck."

Rocket smiles. "He's pretty good at that."

Scott, who looks pretty excited agrees with him. "Right?!"

"Stay safe, won't you?" I say to Yelena.

"I'm always safe." She scoffs.

"When we get back I'm gonna make a list of all the other times you've been safe." I say, making her smile. 

"All right, you heard the man. Stroke those keys, jolly green!" Tony shouts to Bruce. 

"Tractors engaged." 

"You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?" Rocket asks, looking over at Clint, of who was addressing the shrunk ship in Clint's hand.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay." Clint says. "I'll do my best." He smiles

"As promises go... that was pretty lame." Rocket says with his arms crossed.

Bruce stands next to Scott and clicks something on his arm, making it beep. Nat smiles over at me and Yelena before over at Steve.

"See you in a minute."

a/n- hehe