↳ the team is back

less than a week after, the whole compound was busy building what had been tony's plan for a functioning time machine.

bruce had gotten thor, who was more than happy to see evi, even if he had been drunk and had lastly seen her eight years ago.

clint was happy too, even when it was harder for him to show that, evi knew though

"alright clint" bruce exclaimed "we're going in three, two, one"

clint disappeared, only to reappear in the middle of the platform about four seconds later. they all ran up to him, making sure he was alright

"you okay?" nat asked helping him back up to his feet.

"yeah, yeah" clint said "it worked"

———

"okay, so the how works. now we gotta figure out the when and the where. almost everyone in this room has had an encounter... with at least one of the six infinity stones"

"or substitute the word 'encounter' for 'damn near been killed' by one of the six infinity stones"

"yeah or given incredible powers by it" evi laughed sarcastically as all eyes went to her "but who's keeping count?" she muttered awkwardly

"well, i haven't.. but i don't even know, what the hell you're all talking about" scott said

"regardless" bruce walked forward "we only have enough pym particles for one round-trip each. and these stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."

"our history" added tony "so, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?

"which means we have to pick our targets"

"correct"

"so let's start with the aether. thor what do you know?" steve asked

everyone turned to look at thor, who was sitting on a chair in the very back of the room.

"is he asleep?" asked nat

"no, no. i'm pretty sure he's dead"

thor stood up and walked towards the tech stuff. "uh, where to start? um.. the aether, firstly, is not a stone. someone called it a stone before. um, it's more of an angry sludge sort of a thing.. so someone gonna need to amend that and stop saying that. here's an interesting story, though, about the aether. my grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the dark elves.. oooh, scary beings. so jane actually, oh there she is"

he tapped the imaginary screen "yeah, so jane was an old flame of mine"
evi let her head sink into her hands, sighing deeply

"you know she stuck her head inside a rock this one time and then the aether stuck itself inside her and she became very very sick"

evi made a disgusted face

"and 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 and i got to introduce her to my mother ... who's dead and, um, oh, you know, jane and i aren't even dating anymore, so.. yes these things happen though, you know. nothing lasts forever. the only thing that-"

"why don't you come sit down?" tony interrupted

"i'm not done yet" thor argued "the only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence" he laughed

tony clapped his hands "awesome. eggs? breakfast?"

"no i'd like a bloody mary"

an hour later they were all sitting at the conference table while they ate the takeout they had ordered.

"quill said he stole the power stone from morag" rocket explained

"is that a person?" bruce asked

"no, morag's a planet, quill was a person"

"like a planet? like in outer space?" scott asked confused

"oh, look. it's like a little puppy, all happy and everything" rocket patted scott's head
"do you wanna go to space? you wanna go to space, puppy? i'll take you to space"

"thanos found the soul stone on vormir" nebula said after they had finished the food

"what is vormir?" asked nat

"a dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence. it's where thanos murdered my sister"

silence errupted

"that's time stone guy" nat said

"doctor strange" bruce assisted

"what kind of doctor was he?"

"ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat" tony joked

"nice place in the village though" said bruce

"yeah, sullivan street?" asked tony

"no.." exclaimed evi "bleeker street, almost like sherlock holmes"

"wait, he lived in new york?"

"have you been listening to anything?"

"guys" nat said "if you pick the right year, there are three stones in new york"

"shut the front door"

"you're right" evi said excitedly

by the next morning, they had put together the right presentation of which time and place every stone was

"alright, we have a plan" steve said "six stones, three teams, one shot"

they walked up to the platform together. evi was coming to, she had been able to convince steve and tony, and was going to be help her father while on the mission

"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. that 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 go win" tony added

"whatever it takes"

they all got into their positions.

"see you in a minute" nat smiled

evi turned to look at bruce.

he looked at her too. a sorrow expression on his face, he seemed ridden with guilt.

"hey, bruce?" evi had asked him the evening before

"what's up little rogers?" bruce had been working in the lab, fixing a few issues

evi climbed onto the table next to where he was standing

"do you think there would be a way to bring me back to sokovia?" she asked, which made him pause in his work and set down the things he had held in hand

he stepped closer "what do you mean?"

"could i go back to the bombing? 2006?"

"you want to go back there? to do what exactly?"

"save them" she breathed out shakingly "evacuate my family out of the apartment"

"oh" bruce sat down onto a chair in front of the table evi was sitting on

"do you think that would be possible?" she asked again, still waiting for an answer

"it would be, yes. but i can't let you do that"

"what are you talking about? why can't you?"

"evi, the effects would be-"

"tremendous? yeah that's what everyone keeps telling me" she slid down the table "i thought you were my friend, i thought you loved me" she said through tears

"i am, i do, but you have to understand-"

"i always have to, don't i?" evi walked out of the lab, ignoring bruce's protest that followed her statement

even as he looked at her like that now, she didn't have any pity towards him. she had lost so many things and now there was a way to get them back, bruce had said so himself, and he wouldn't let her do it

that was part of the reason why she asked to come along. she time traveled on her own before. maybe she could do it again

atleast she would try. and maybe she would return with her family.

evina maximoff-rogers wasn't a normal girl.

she was still a witch

*