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Those that occupied the quinjet sat conversing among themselves. Marlena, on the other hand, found herself at the back of the jet with her attention on nothing but the voices of her children echoing through her phone's speaker. There were no words to describe just how much she missed them despite only being gone for the better part of two days. She'd spent years by their side, only leaving them with Greyson or Mason for hours at a time, never days, but she knew they were in good hands regardless of how long she was away. Who better to take care of her kids than their fun uncle and their idiot of an adoptive grandfather who just so happened to be one of Washington's brightest surgeons?

"Mommy, when are you coming home?" Jay's voice sounded through the speaker.

Marlena glanced over at the team and frowned before turning away. "I'm not sure, baby," she answered him truthfully. And she wasn't sure at all. She wanted nothing more than to be home with her kids, especially given Charlie's new condition, but her hands were tied. The threat the team faced was massive, but she was still unaware just how massive it was. This Thanos character everyone was talking about made her much more nervous than she ever anticipated, but she would never admit that.

"You have to come home very soon, okay?" Charlie spoke. "Uncle Mason took my popsicles away and he said he wasn't giving them back until you came home."

Marlena could practically hear the frown in her daughter's voice, but Charlie's words only amused the brunette. There was definitely a reason Mason confiscated Charlie's favorite sugar fixing, and Marlena wasn't sure she wanted to know why. "I'm sure Uncle Mason had his reasons, Charlie," Marlena said to her.

"Let's just say it took six hours to completely remove the blue from her face," Mason breathed out. "She woke up from her suppression nap and went straight to the freezer; I barely had the time to think before half the box was gone."

"Oh, god."

An approaching shadow caught Marlena's attention and she looked over to see Steve making his way towards her. He seemed more or less relaxed given the circumstances, but Marlena knew it was merely a facade. She could feel exactly what he felt because of her access to his mind, which let her know just how relaxed he wasn't.

"Uncle Steve will bring you all the popsicles you want when this is all over," Steve said with a smirk as he removed the phone from her hand. Marlena only smiled and leaned back against the wall as the sound of her children's excited squeals could be heard.

"Uncle Steve!" Charlie squealed happily. "You have to get the blue ones!"

"Of course," Steve replied. "I'll see you guys soon, okay?"

"Okay," Jay spoke quietly. "Will you and mommy please be careful being superheroes?"

Steve and Marlena exchanged glances before Steve turned his attention back to the phone. "We will, buddy."

"We love you guys," Jay said.

"We love you too," Steve assured him.

"Please tell daddy to call us," Charlie's voice came next.

"We will," Marlena answered. "We have to go, though, so I need you two to be on your best behavior for Uncle Mason and Pawpaw Grey, okay?"

"Okay!"

After another chorus of goodbyes and loving exchanges, Steve and Marlena hung up the phone. Steve handed the device back to her and she grabbed it, tossing it into one of the many lockers on board. She turned back to Steve and smiled, one in which he returned.

"You look awful," Steve said with a chuckle.

Marlena raised a brow and moved to sit down. "Considering we just took on two freaky ass alien creatures on top of flying to three separate continents in the span of 24 hours, I'm gonna take that as a compliment."

"Yeah, I can understand the exhaustion," Steve said to her.

"You got to sleep for seventy years," Marlena teased him. "You don't get to be exhausted."

"Says the mother," Steve scoffed. "I'm sure somewhere in that little handbook of yours it says the exact same about you."

Marlena only grinned and bumped his shoulder. She knew she could always count on him to brighten her mood even in the strangest of situations.

"I have something to ask you," Steve spoke seriously, his blue eyes boring into hers.

"Yeah?"

"Why were you headed to Edinburgh?"

Marlena pursed her lips and glanced over at Vision and Wanda, who were both lost in conversation with one another. It was only when Marlena's thoughts met Wanda's attention that she met her eyes, but Marlena's gaze didn't linger after she knew her cousin was listening. "It was something Tony said...about my abilities," she answered.

"When?"

"That night at Sam's after I told you guys about everything going on with Charlie," she said with a sigh.

"What'd he say?"

Marlena looked over at Wanda, who was watching her with curious eyes. "The Infinity Stones...I came from two of them rather than just one."

Wanda swallowed and looked back at Vision as she continued to listen in on Steve's conversation with Marlena.

"So, what does that have to do with you going to Edinburgh?" Steve questioned her. He was definitely shocked by her words, but he was still trying to make sense of everything going on. It seemed to be too much for him to process.

"On top of everything else Wanda and I can do, we have the ability to manipulate the energy inside ourselves," she started. "I was hoping she could use that ability to help me figure out what Tony was talking about so I could use that information to help Charlie."

"Are you sure now's the right time to spring that information on yourself or even Charlie?"

Marlena shrugged her shoulders. "Now is all we have, Steve," she replied.

"Not exactly," Steve stood up and headed to the front of the jet.

Marlena watched as he assisted Sam in maneuvering through Wakanda's protective forcefield. She'd been so caught up in everything else she hadn't even noticed where they were, but she was more than glad to know they'd finally reached their destination. If she couldn't see her children she was more than thrilled to see Bucky.

Wanda approached Marlena with a soft smile as Sam landed the quinjet. Wanda held her hand out for her cousin to take to which Marlena took without hesitation.

"You know I want nothing more than to help you," Wanda started, her grip on Marlena's hand never faltering. "I wish we could do it right here and right now, but I don't know if I'm in the right mind."

Marlena nodded her head and understanding. "I understand completely."

"You know when all this is over I'll be right there with you," Wanda assured her.

"I'm counting on it," Marlena smiled and squeezed her hand before standing up and heading over to Sam, Natasha, and Steve.

"It's about time you showed your face," Sam teased the brunette.

"And it's about time you hid yours," Marlena retorted. She ran a hand through her hair and started towards the back of the jet. Sam, Natasha, and Steve followed behind her, while Bruce, Rhodey, Vision, and Wanda followed closely behind them.

Marlena could see T'Challa, Okoye, and the remainder of the Dora Milaje waiting for them on the tarmac. She couldn't help but smile. It'd been far too long since she had seen them.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve spoke to T'Challa from his spot beside Marlena.

Steve reached out to shake the King's hand, while Bruce cleared his throat from behind them. Marlena glanced back to see what he was doing and chuckled when she noticed him bowing. Rhodey was quick to stop him, as was T'Challa, which only embarrassed the scientist. Marlena knew better than anyone Rhodey set him up, and the smirk on his face was only telling.

"So, how big of an assault should we expect?" T'Challa questioned the team as they made their way across the tarmac.

"Sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault," Bruce said to him.

"How are we looking?" Natasha asked T'Challa.

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and—"

"A semi-stable 100-year-old man," Bucky's voice sounded.

Marlena smiled widely and made her way over to him, closing the distance between the two with a kiss. "Hi, Buck," she greeted him.

"Marlena," he smiled widely and turned his attention to Steve. "Seems I just saw your face four days ago," Bucky said to Steve as he wrapped him in a hug.

"Yeah, well I just can't seem to stay away," Steve chuckled.

After the two were finished, Marlena kissed Bucky once more before taking off with Wanda and Vision to Shuri's lab. The remaining Avengers—apart from Sam, Rhodey, and Bucky—joined them, despite Bucky and Sam's pleas for Marlena to remain with them. She wanted to, but she was worried about Vision and worried about Wanda. There was no way she could leave the two of them alone, especially knowing what it was Vision wanted the two of them to do. It was only once Shuri and Bruce began speaking of synapses and neurons that she wished she had stayed with the two men. Marlena was an incredibly intelligent woman, but the science they spoke of was not within her realm of comprehension, or at least it hadn't been for a few years now. She figured she needed a refresher course on biology and chemistry, but there was no time.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Shuri questioned Bruce.

"Because we didn't think of it," he answered slowly.

"I'm sure you did your best," Shuri smirked, leaving a grin on Marlena's face.

"Can you do it?" Wanda asked Shuri hopefully.

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here," Shuri answered seriously. "One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time."

"How long?" Marlena asked from her spot beside Steve.

"As long as you can give me."

A sudden alarm grabbed everyone's attention. Marlena turned to Okoye and watched as she tinkered with the beads of the bracelet generating a holographic image of the Earth. "Something's entered the atmosphere," she alerted the team.

"What is it?" Marlena asked.

"I am not sure," Okoye's accented voice followed.

A glint in the window caught Marlena's attention and she hurried over, her eyes falling upon the bright fireballs barreling toward the Earth.

"Cap, we got a situation here," Sam's spoke through comms.

Marlena watched the weight of what she knew to be alien ships buckle down on Wakanda's forcefield, though there was no damage done.

"We got more incoming outside the dome," Rhodey alerted them.

Marlena hurried past her team members and over to the balcony door, wasting no time at all in jumping down to meet Sam, Bucky, and Rhodey. She slowed her landing with a blast of psionic energy and stood up, her eyes never leaving the bright orange that engulfed the perimeter of the city.

"This should be fun," Marlena breathed out.

"Scared, Claire?" Bucky smirked.

"Not so much at the moment, but I guess we'll find out."

"I guess we will."