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Marlena was laying across the row of seats sitting against the wall of the quinjet interior. She was staring at the ceiling, her mind drifting randomly. She was exhausted but had yet to fall asleep. It was hard to, though the hum of the jet should've made things incredibly simple for her. She wasn't sure why she was unable to get in a quick nap. She thought maybe it was because she was too wired to fall asleep, or possibly because the voices of those around her were keeping her awake. The anticipation was killing her, however, as well as her anxiety. She had no idea what she and the rest of the team were walking into. She had no idea what threat they were getting ready to face. She had no idea how deadly of a threat this threat was, and while she knew she would find out sooner or later, she wasn't so sure she wanted to.

"What are you thinking about?"

Natasha's voice ripped Marlena from her thoughts and she turned her head to look at the former redhead. She sighed and looked back at the ceiling, while Natasha simply lifted Marlena's legs and sat down before placing them onto her lap.

"Not much," Marlena answered. "I'm more or less wondering what shitfest we're about to get ourselves into."

"Whatever it is, it's nothing we haven't handled before," Natasha reassured her, but for some reason Marlena could bring herself to find comfort in her words. Those creatures had clearly not been of Earth, and Marlena couldn't help but think there was more of them coming.

"It's not that I'm lacking faith in our ability to save the planet, but I can't bring myself to believe that," Marlena replied nonchalantly.

Natasha raised a brow at her, but Marlena was paying far too much attention to the ceiling to notice. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It means it's not gonna stop with those two alien things," Marlena said, finally turning her attention away from the ceiling to look at Natasha. "There's gonna be more and there's literally only six of us if you take into account that literally everyone else on the team is MIA."

"Seven if you include Rhodey," Natasha reminded her.

"Six again if you consider Vision's current predicament," Marlena replied. "I know I wasn't the only one who saw the way he was glitching."

"Marlena—"

"Looked like my laptop screen after it fell off my bed," the brunette snorted.

Natasha rolled her eyes at Marlena. "I forgot what a pain in the ass you were."

"That's me," Marlena smirked and sat up in her seat. "Look, I told you I'm not lacking faith."

"Then what are you telling me, Claire?"

"That I don't think it's going to be as easy of a fight as you think it's gonna be."

"I never said it'd be easy."

"Touché."

The two women turned their attention to the front of the jet as it began to descend. Marlena stood up and made her way to the front. She stopped beside Steve and placed and hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at her. She could see the compound in front of her. It had been far too long since she had been back. After the trial that had left Bucky mentally incapacitated, the Avengers parted ways per Ross's request. Steve, Wanda, Natasha, and Sam disappeared across the globe due to the accords, Clint hadn't been heard from in years, Scott returned back home to his daughter, while Tony, Vision, and Rhodey were free to do as they pleased. Marlena was lucky things turned out the way they had for her family and the remaining Avengers. She preferred her lovely four-bedroom home over prison, though she was still very much aware of the consequences were she to return back to the compound. Ross made it very clear to not only her, but the rest of the team as well, that if they returned they would be arrested, but the situation was much too delicate for them to care.

"Been awhile, huh?" Marlena questioned Steve.

Steve nodded, and Sam landed the quinjet outside of the compound. Marlena walked to the back of the jet and released the hatch, wasting no time at all in heading inside. Steve and Natasha were on either side of her, while Wanda and Sam lead Vision into the building behind them. They followed Rhodey's voice into the conference room and slowed when they noticed the holographic figure of Thaddeus Ross standing in front of them.

"Mr. Secretary," Steve greeted him as the team slowed to a stop.

"You've got some nerve," Ross walked toward them, "I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right about now," Natasha retorted.

Marlena remained quiet; she only stared at Ross with a look of distaste spread across her face. No matter what happened and no matter what he did, she would always dislike him.

"The world's on fire," Ross continued. "And you think all is forgiven?"

"I'm not looking for forgiveness," Steve spoke firmly. "And I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender, so we're here to fight, and if you wanna stand in our way, we'll fight you too."

Ross only turned around to look at Rhodey, who seemed to be thoroughly displeased with the fact that he was still present. "Arrest them," Ross instructed them.

"All over it," Rhodey replied before swiping Ross's image away. "Been wondering how long it would be before I saw you guys again."

Natasha grinned and stepped toward Rhodey, wrapping him in a hug. "Hey," she greeted him.

"It's good to see you guys." Rhodey released her and turned to Steve, grabbing his hand and shaking it before hugging Marlena. "I say this with the utmost amount of love, but...you guys really look like crap. I'm guessing you've had a rough couple of years."

Marlena shrugged and pulled away. "Motherhood'll do that to you," she chuckled.

"And the hotels weren't exactly five star," Sam followed.

"Uh, I think you look great," a new but familiar voice sounded, grabbing the attention of the team. Bruce Banner stood at the opposite end of the room playing nervously with his hands. His presence shocked the team. They hadn't seen him since he disappeared in 2015 after the conclusion of the Battle of Sokovia. It'd been six long years. "Yeah, I'm back."

"Hi, Bruce," Natasha greeted him.

"Nat," Bruce nodded toward her and looked at Marlena. She was more than thrilled to see the man who'd been so determined to take care of her all those years ago, and a glimpse into his mind indicated the feeling was mutual. He was happy to see her—he was happy to see all of them. "You're a mother now?"

Marlena smiled and nodded. "To a handsome little boy and a beautiful little girl," she said to him.

"Have I really been gone that long?"

"You have," Marlena answered him. "But they're only three."

"So they're twins?"

"Runs in the family," Wanda said to him with a smirk.

"As much as I'd like for us to continue this conversation, we have something much more important going on," Rhodey said as he headed into the common room. The team was quick to follow after him. "These creatures, what were they?"

"We don't know," Steve answered him. "All we know is that they aren't of Earth."

"And they're after the stone," Vision added.

"So, we gotta assume they're coming back right?" Rhodey questioned.

"And they can clearly find us," Wanda spoke from her place in the kitchen.

"We need all hands on deck," Bruce stated. "Where's Clint?"

"We haven't seen him or Scott in years," Nat answered. "I guess the whole accords situation was too tough on their families."

"Who's Scott?"

"Ant-Man."

Bruce looked bewildered, something of which amused the team. "There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man? Whatever, look...Thanos has the biggest army in the universe, and he's not gonna stop until he—he gets Vision's stone."

"Then the only option here is to protect it," Marlena spoke matter-of-factly.

"No, we have to destroy it."

Marlena looked over at Vision, her mouth dropping slightly at the sound of his words. There was no way she or anyone else, especially Wanda, was going to let that happen. Vision had become more than just one of Tony's many creations in the years Marlena had known him. He'd become a friend to her, as well as the love of her cousin's life. She refused to let him destroy himself.

"I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head—about it's nature, but also its composition," Vision continued and turned to Wanda. "I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source similar to its own signature, perhaps its molecular integrity could fail."

"Yeah, and you with it," Wanda replied. "We're not having this conversation."

Vision glanced back at Marlena, who was more or less bothered by his words. "Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."

"No," Marlena shook her head and ventured over to Steve, whose focus was still on Vision. He wondered if Marlena could be the one to finish the job if Wanda wouldn't, but she wouldn't. She couldn't. "I won't do it."

"It's too high a price, Vision," Wanda added.

Vision looked between the two of them. "Only you two have the power to pay it."

Wanda turned away from him, while Marlena turned to Steve for help.

"Thanos threatens half the universe," Vision continued. "One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should," Steve looked away from Marlena to look at Vision. "We don't trade lives, Vision."

Vision started toward Steve. "Captain, seventy years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people? Tell me, why is this any different?"

"Maybe he has a point," Marlena muttered quiet enough for only Steve to hear; he simply rolled his eyes at the brunette.

"Because you might have a choice," Bruce chimed in. "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays—Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone—all of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked hopefully.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone there's still a whole lot of Vision left," he answered her. "Perhaps the best parts."

"Can we do that?" Natasha asked.

Bruce frowned and shook his head. "Not me, not here."

"Well, you better find someone and somewhere fast," Rhodey spoke sternly. "Ross isn't just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

Marlena and Steve exchanged knowing looks with one another.

"We know somewhere," the two spoke at the same time.

"Where?" Bruce asked.

"Wakanda."