𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐎𝐍𝐄 — shut the front door

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 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐓, 𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 Nebula had combined their prowess and knowledge to create the perfect suit that would allow each of them to traverse the Quantum Realm without any negative effects; Emilia and Tony had dropped by here and there, a sandwich in hand as they gave their tinkering a break.

 The design was, as ever, quite flashy. Stark white crawled over the arms and legs, ebony covered the underarms, abdominal area as well as the inner thigh, and here and there were traces of reflective red. Tony had very obviously been a big part of the design process, yet surprisingly had forgone his familiar splash of gold.

 With both The tunnel and the suits complete there was but one thing left to do; a test run.

 The role of guinea pig had originally fallen upon Scott Lang's shoulders; the man had smiled and nodded as he rose his hand high into the air, pronouncing that he would be the one to go, after all, he'd done it before there was just another, extra step.

 That plan had crumbled rather quickly when Bruce, Scott and Rhodey had begun to discuss the intricacies; pulling reference after reference from any movie they could think of — particularly Back to the Future. From the butterfly effect — which Bruce had quickly rebutted — to meeting one's past self; Scott had crumbled under the pressure and begged for somebody else to take his place; Clint Barton had stepped up without hesitation.

 The man had been far too nonchalant about the entire process, accepting every warning and tip that the others had given him with a simple nod of the head. He had watched almost lazily as the suit crawled over his body, sealing him away from whatever dangers he was to face.

 Now, he stood at the very centre of the new and polished Quantum Tunnel. In his mind, it was a win-win process; he'd either travel back in time, catch a glimpse of his wife and children only to return with the means necessary to bring them home, or everything would explode in his face without him even knowing. He'd either have his family back in his arms or his grief and heartache would stop like the snap of a finger.

 Emilia was behind the controls with Bruce Banner at her side as they screwed their faces in concentration and flicked a switch here, and pressed a button or two there. Emilia's stomach twisted and turned, and she was almost certain her lunch was in her throat, or perhaps it was her hammering heart; if this worked, they'd have a real shot at collecting the stones and bringing everybody home where they belonged.

 She shook her head, drawing a small look of concern from Bruce as she swatted those thoughts away. Emilia couldn't allow herself to be sucked into a spiral of hope. Her fingers paused above the buttons, eyes glossing over each number, each switch and lever; they were in place. The test was ready to go.

 "You're ready?" Emilia called for the last time, her voice echoing like the chime of a heavy bell. Everyone stood at attention.

 Clint nodded firmly, his hands curled into fists that hung by his side. He could feel his chest thrumming with anticipation, with longing, "Yeah, ready."

 "Then we're going in three..."

 A heavy breath slipped from Clint's lips as a helmet came to cover his head whilst his teammates watched from afar, waiting for the man to disappear, only to appear before their eyes once more.

 "Two," Bruce called with a nod of his head, he remained focused even as a greying curl slipped before his eyes, "One."

 A final click of a button, and Clint was gone.

 Emilia teetered onto the balls of her feet, rocking silently for just a moment before Bruce nudged her arm. His hands were above the array of levers, buttons and switches that all blinked and flashed rapidly, ready to click them at a moment's notice. He swallowed harshly, knowing if this didn't work, if Clint didn't return to them when they needed him to, they'd be right back to square one all over again.

 "Okay," Emilia breathed, though her voice was hardly heard as the others kept their eyes on the empty Quantum Tunnel.

 Steve stood with his arms folded over his broad chest, his brows were curled together. Natasha chewed at her thumb, waiting for the man who'd been by her side longer than anyone to come back. Tony's fingers twitched against his thighs and Thor silently sipped on a glass of orange juice Emilia had handed to him.

 Everybody was on edge; they all knew what this meant, and they all knew what failure would entail.

 "Bringing him back in three..." Emilia continued, fingers already flipping switches as Bruce reached over to press a vibrant red button, "Two... One..."

 Another click of a button was all it took to bring Clint Barton back to the Tunnel; he appeared with a cry, crumbling to his knees as the name of his daughter poured from downturned lips. He clutched a worn baseball mitt to his chest, knuckles turning white as he held it like a lifeline.

 Natasha was the first to get to him, her hands immediately cupping his cheeks.

 Emilia sagged against Bruce and he did the same back, each leaning on the other as a puff of relief passed through their noses. Emilia looked up at him, and begrudgingly, a small smile began to curl her lips higher, "It worked."

 Bruce dropped his head atop her own, "It worked."

 "So the how works," Steve Rogers spoke as he paced before them all; after Clint had been so kindly offered orange slices by Scott and checked over by Emilia, Bruce, Tony and Nebula, their rag-tag team of heroes had trailed their way into the conference room. The Time Heist was fully underway.

 They had their way to the past, to the stones, but now they needed to pinpoint said stones. They needed to figure out the Stone's timeline, figure out where would be easiest, and most plausible, to grab them and bring them back.

 Emilia knew enough about the Time Stone to know it'd likely be the easiest of them all to grab; The Ancient One had worn the Eye of Agamotto around her neck for years before Stephen had taken the mantle.

 Beside her, Thor shifted in his seat; loosely grasped in his hand was yet another glass of orange juice; he'd made to grab at one of the alcoholic cans he'd brought with him, only for Emilia to crush them all and shove the glass of juice into his hand. He'd sulked, grabbed a bagel, and slumped in the chair beside her.

 "Now," Steve continued, his hands placed firmly on his hips as he surveyed them all, eyes passing past Tony who paced beside him, "We're just going to need the where and when. Most of us have had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones —"

 "You mean," Tony laughed, and for once in the presence of Steve it was a genuine one, he passed by Rocket and Scott, trailed around Rhodey who raised a brow, and much to Emilia's chagrin, he flicked her discoloured temple, "Almost killed by one of the Infinity Stones."

 Emilia glared at him, her hand easily swatting his own away; had it been anybody else — with the exception of Bruce, of course — she'd have batted them. Instead, Emilia twisted her hands and smiled a rueful smile as Tony fell through the floor.

 She waited a moment before opening the portal once more, though higher from the ground. Emilia clicked her tongue as Tony fell through, barely landing on his feet as he stumbled, "You're actually not funny."

 Tony narrowed his eyes, "I'm hilarious —"

 "Um..." Scott interrupted the two whilst he rose a finger in the air like a student. Even despite the confusion clouding his features, they could all still pick out the child-like wonder within his eyes from witnessing magic once more. He cleared his throat and placed his hand back in his lap, "I haven't encountered or almost been killed by an Infinity Stone... I actually have no idea what you're talking about."

 A beat passed; whilst Steve was, in fact, correct; almost all of them had encountered a stone, and not just when Thanos had invaded... Scott had never been near one. Emilia had been around the Time Stone for years, Tony and his fellow Avengers had plucked Loki's sceptre from his hands back in New York — Even if they had lost it again — not to mention the Tesseract. Emilia could recall Nebula speaking about the Power stone... But Scott knew nothing, and the rest of them had little information on each other's encounters.

 "Regardless," Steve said, "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," Tony amended, "So not a lot of convenient spots to drop in."

 Emilia nodded along; she and Tony had already previously discussed the stone situation whilst building the Quantum Tunnel; they needed to pick the best and easiest times; and if they could manage it, times in which teams could be allocated rather than splitting everybody up completely.

 "We have to pick the best targets and teams to go after them." She said, leaning back in her chair as Steve nodded. 

 The soldier moved his gaze to Thor, "Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?"

 Dead silence was all they received.

 All eyes trailed to the very back of the room where Emilia and Thor were sat side by side. Emilia sighed and twisted her neck to face him; Thor remained utterly still in his chair with his sunglasses still obscuring his eyes.

 Now that she thought about it, Emilia hadn't heard a peep from the Asgardian from the moment he'd stumbled into his chair; he'd settled his glass of juice on the ground, dangerously close to his own foot and had settled as comfortably as he could. Emilia was tempted to snap her fingers next to his ear just to ensure he was alright.

 The intake of air filled her ears, and Emilia just knew somebody would make some kind of off-hand comment about the state of him. The sweat seeping into the collar of his shirt, the stains on his joggers, the unkempt hair and beard... Before they could utter a word, Emilia swiped his juice from the ground and pressed the cool glass against his cheek.

 Thor shot from the chair, "What —" He hastily rubbed at his chilly cheek and pointed a Cheeto-dusted finger at Emilia, "That was cold!"

 "You didn't answer us," Emilia said flippantly; she might not have been willing to make jokes at his expense, but she certainly wasn't going to show him any pity; he didn't seem the sort that would appreciate it. So, treating him as she did everyone else was the best approach.

 "You've been around Stark too long."

 "Excuse —" Tony tried, only for Emilia to shake her head.

 "Do you not recall how we met?"

 Thor parted his lips, only to pause as he remembered the hair she'd plucked from his hair, or the way she laughed whenever he'd stumbled into a table after the wizard transported them around the building...

 Her brow climbed higher and the Asgardian slumped his shoulders, slowly trailing towards the front of the room. He let out a heavy sigh as he tore the sunglasses from his face and rubbed at his dry eyes, "Right... Right, where to start?"

 Thor had certainly taken his time when it came to divulging the information he held about the Aether; the poor man had cracked the second an image of his former lover, Jane Foster, had appeared on the screen behind him. His voice had broken, his shoulders had slumped, and then to make matters worse, he spoke of his mother and descended into tears that he swatted away with anger; Tony had been quick to clamp a hand on the Asgardian's shoulder and offer breakfast as a means of distraction...

 They'd taken a break after that. Thor had disappeared outside, his eyes solemn as he stared out at the green water of the lake surrounding the imposing compound. His fingers fiddled with his sunglasses; he'd broken them back in the conference room, clutching far too tightly with his Asgardian strength in an attempt to anchor himself...

 Emilia had joined him, sitting in silence as she watched him frown at the reflection he saw in the water.

 Surprisingly, Thor had been the one to break their silence though his eyes remained fixated on the greasy hair framing his face, the scar over his eye and the overgrown beard clutching at his rounded, flushed cheeks.

 "Sorry about your wizard, by the way." He had muttered softly.

 Emilia's heart had leapt into her throat, just as it always did whenever anybody brought him up. She couldn't say his name, she couldn't stomach seeing pictures of the two of them together and happy. She couldn't face a false reality and so she avoided it at all costs.

 Tony knew not to speak about him, as did Pepper and Bruce; they'd tried to get her to open up just a little bit... she would spiral with every attempt. Her chest would rise and fall until all oxygen refused to enter her lungs and her eyes began to glaze with tears. Her ears would ring and her palms would sweat until the world around her vanished.

 They'd stopped bringing him up after three attempts.

 But Thor didn't know. He didn't know that her heart had cracked all over again when he merely uttered the damned word 'wizard'.

 Thor finally looked over his shoulder, immediately swallowing at the look on Emilia's face. He'd only brought Stephen up because he'd thought of Loki. Back in the conference room when Jane flashed before his eyes, when his mother's face had appeared in his mind... Loki had followed soon after; that sly smile of his, the dangerous glint in his eyes...

 Emilia bobbed her head as a shiver wracked her spine. She knew the man in her company had experienced loss unlike any other, and yet still there he was, apologising for her loss. She looked up, and through her tears she could see the fresh burst of grief on Thor's features, immediately coming to the conclusion that he had been reminded of his brother.

 Loki might have left a sour taste in Emilia's mouth; the mere thought of the Asgardian — Jotun — who had brandished his knives and pointed one her way, the one who had caused countless lives to be lost... But even though she saw him that way, he was still Thor's brother.

 So she had pushed the bitterness away, "I'm sorry about your brother."

 Perhaps the solace of knowing somebody wasn't judging him — that somebody still felt the same pulses of utter despair had been exactly what Thor needed, for the Asgardian now sat attentively at the table they had all settled around.

 He's taken a seat beside Bruce, offering a fleeting smile towards the meeker man as he swiftly dove into the food piled upon his plate. Bruce had almost recoiled; it had been a sight for him to see, a genuine smile from Thor was rare, and he appreciated it wholly.

 Emilia had taken her seat between Tony and Bruce, her hands eagerly grasping at the various boxes of Chinese food. She'd scooped a pile high onto her plate, attacking each noodle and vegetable with her appalling chopstick skills.

 Tony snorted; for a woman who could conjure portals, cast spells and lift a damn boulder with a flick of her wrist without breaking a sweat, it was amusing to finally watch her face scrunch in utter exasperation as a piece of broccoli slipped from the wooden utensils and land back on her plate with a pitiful thud.

 Bruce slid a fork her way, but her stubbornness forced her to ignore it.

 Emilia swallowed a mouthful of noodles as her brows curled inwards, pointing her chopstick Rocket's way, "The Power Stone — the purple one, right?"

 Her temple pulsed at the mention, she could still feel the fire that had crawled over her flesh when that very stone had collided with her skin.

 "Yeah," He drawled out as he paced the table, hopping over the fork bruce had left beside Emilia's plate, "Quill said he stole it from Morag."

 "Is that a person?" Bruce asked as he carved another hole into his tub of ice cream; the label had been enough for Emilia to feel a small smile crawl over her lips, 'A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge' the very one Wong and... the one they'd both been rather taken with.

 Rocket paused, cocking his furry head at Bruce, "No. Morag's a planet, Quill's a person."

 Scott's head flew up as the raccoon spoke, a certain gleam within his warm eyes. He slowly grinned, tapping his chopstick against his plate as he laughed, "Like a planet? Like in outer space?"

 He almost choked as he swallowed a bite of his spring roll. His eyes widened further as Rocket approached him with narrowed eyes; poor Scott likely thought it was story time, that he'd hear of the Guardian's travels all over the galaxy... he was wrong.

 Emilia had to bite her lip as Rocket ruffled Scott's hair, coming as close to grinning as a raccoon possibly could. The creature's voice grew higher as he almost cooed at the man, "Aw, look at it. It's like a little puppy. You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space!"

 Tony snorted and it only served as a prompt for Emilia to cough into her hand, obscuring her own amusement as Tony elbowed her whilst his shoulders shook heartily. Even the soldier who'd remained stoic throughout their dinner had cracked a smile as Natasha hid a grin in the palm of her hand.

 Scott, however, wasn't remotely amused. He swatted Rocket away and swallowed a little too harshly. He choked on a bean sprout and all of the Avengers descended into chuckles, all the while Rocket folded in on himself, cackling at the man who had tears in his eyes and brightly flushed cheeks.

 Emilia tapped her foot impatiently as Nebula stood before them, ready to divulge what little she truly knew about the Soul Stone; the mere mention made Emilia bitter. She could still remember as clear as a summer's day what Thaos had looked like after arriving on Titan with the Stone snug in his gauntlet, but devoid of his daughter. There hadn't been a lick of emotion on his ill-favoured face; perhaps a hint of smugness when he'd exited the portal and eyed the Stone with hungry eyes, perhaps confidence and assurance. Maybe even pleasure. But not a single ounce of remorse.

 He could have simply hidden it well... But grief wasn't always easy to hide, not when it was fresh... and not when it was the fault of one's own actions.

 Thanos could have said it outright. He could have professed he felt guilt and shame; Emilia wouldn't have believed it.

 It was awful to watch as Nebula stood to her feet, yet kept her back to the team for a moment longer than necessary; few knew what had happened to her throughout her unfortunate past. Emilia did, and so did Tony; Nebula trusted them just as she trusted those idiot Guardians... She cared for them all, too.

 So Emilia couldn't help the twitch of her fingers that wanted to coax Nebula back to her chair. Still, Emilia remained silent as Nebula slowly twisted on her heel to face them all. To the others, Emilia was certain that Nebula looked just as she always did; stoic, blank.

 That wasn't the case.

 To Emilia, who'd spent countless hours getting to actually know the synthesoid, could easily see the taught line her lips had flattened into, the strain at her neck and the way her fingers flexed only to curl inwards.

 Even her voice changed as she finally spoke, "Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir."

 Nebula always had a deep rasp to her voice, akin to the sound of gravel scraping against gravel, but it never quite cracked the way it just did.

 Natasha peer up from the notebook that had been glued to her hands from the moment any mention of the Stones had been brought up. Her words were intelligibly scribbled and as Emilia peeked at them, she could make out a couple of hastened drawings of the various stones, each haphazardly coloured; a red one with little notes dotted around it. The blue one, the purple one and the yellow one had bullet points scrawled beside them... and now, as Nebula spoke, Natasha jotted whatever words flowed from the synthesoid's mouth beside the orange drawing.

 The only one completely blank was the green drawing — the Time Stone. The one Emilia would take the stand for. Her throat tightened at the mere prospect of having to speak about the damn thing that had once hung around the necks of two people she loved so very dearly. People no longer by her side.

 Natasha tapped her pen against the paper, brows rising, "What is Vormir?"

 "A dominion of death —" Nebula responded, a harsh lilt to her voice. She hardly noticed as the crew sat before her all slowly glanced at one another with grimaces on their lips. "— at the very centre of Celestial existence..." Nebula inhaled deeply, her eyes falling to the ground as she said in a mere whisper, "It's where Thanos murdered my sister."

 They were rendered speechless.

 Except for Scott, of course, who just had to raise a hand, "Not it..."

 Emilia threw a piece of discarded paper at his face; it bounced off his nose.

 Having an audience to witness a potential spiral into tears and heavy breathing was not something Emilia could handle, and she knew it. There was no way she could have taken her place at the forefront of a conference room as she spoke about her dead mentor and the Stone that would be around her neck. Nor could she even utter a word about him, and why it wouldn't be him they'd likely find if they were to chase after the Time Stone.

 Thankfully, with each of the other Stones on everybody's minds, Emilia was left with a small audience, one that made her feel comforted — safe, even. If she needed to speak about him, then she would because she knew those around her wouldn't look to the side with a grimace. They wouldn't rush to her side with pity nor would they coo at her as though she were a weeping child.

 Tony, Bruce and Natasha. The three of them were near to Emilia's heart; Doctor Bruce Banner had once been a beloved lab partner, only to turn into a distant memory... Now, he was her best friend. He had been such a relief to see when Thanos had invaded their home and stolen many lives, he'd been a moment of solace when she'd returned to earth as nothing but bones and a broken heart.

 Tony... Emilia didn't think there was a single person in the damned universe who could quite describe Tony accurately. He was both a walking contradiction and an open book. But to Emilia, he was somebody who had been there amidst her greatest fight, and toughest loss. They had been each other's crutch when they were left standing in a field of ashes.

 So it was difficult to really pinpoint what he was in her life.

 He was a menace, that was certain. He was a walking headache, an absolute annoyance... a sarcastic idiot... But he was... She needed him. They were one and the same; two broken people with horrible minds that tortured them with every waking moment, and even when the sun would set. They had lost people who resided deep within their hearts, and now, they helped one another to mend the gaping hole that had been left in their wake.

 A brother? Maybe that was an appropriate way to describe him; Emilia had never been blessed with siblings so she'd never really known what having one was supposed to feel like. But loving somebody, whilst simultaneously wishing to throw them into the ocean with rocks tied around their ankles... it sounded about right to call him something akin to a brother.

 Standing in front of them both brought nothing but comfort to Emilia.

 Now, whilst Emilia hadn't the fortune of knowing Natasha as well as the other two, Emilia knew enough. Natasha had a past, just as they all did, and she wanted nothing more than to make amends and finally allow her soul to give her a moment of peace.

 She had reached out, offering Emilia a place on the team and though Emilia had declined the offer, Natasha didn't leave it there. She'd join them at the cabin's dinner table, laughing and joking even despite each of their heavy hearts; she'd offered her condolences to Emilia, and she'd let it slip that amidst the snap, she'd lost someone very dear to her too.

 Nat hadn't said much else, for once she caught the slip, she'd straightened, wiped her eyes and offered a short sigh.

 They'd remained in a comfortable silence after that, watching as the light from the setting sun rippled along with the jostling water of the lake.

 So now, as Nat lay atop the conference table with her head resting on Tony's steadily rising and falling stomach with her notebook at the ready, Emilia didn't feel that swarm in her gut telling her to run and hide and stay utterly silent.

 "Just so you know," Emilia began as airily as she could, her wrist flicking through the air to appear as nonchalant about the whole thing as she possibly could; though she could already feel a cluster of hands clutching at the base of her throat, tightening her words, "It won't be..." Emilia cleared her throat, swiftly directing her eyes to the monitor that showed an image of the emerald-green Time Stone, "It'll be the Ancient One who has the Stone."

 Tony's brows curled together, as did Bruce's; they knew enough about Emilia to know the title of her old mentor.

 "The who?" Natasha asked, momentarily peeping up from her notebook.

 Emilia paced forwards, her hands hastily grabbing the papers Natasha had sprawled all over the table. Heaps had gathered, all with writing that became more intelligible and hastened as the pages lengthened.

 She flashed two pages at her audience and lifted one higher, "The Mind Stone; you wrote here that in twenty-twelve — when we had that lovely alien invasion, thanks for that —" Emilia ignored their indignant huffs of protest, "The Mind Stone was there, inside Loki's sceptre. But..." She lifted the other paper, "You also came into contact with the Space Stone via the Tesseract..."

 Emilia dropped the papers to the table once more before turning to point at the image of the Time Stone, "That Stone will be around the Ancient One's neck as she defends the New York Sanctum from the Chitauri. Three Stones in New York at the same exact time. It's our best bet."

 A beat passed as Bruce crawled to his feet, stabilizing a hand to his lower back as he groaned, yet even still he gaped at his old friend, "Shut the front door."

 Natasha lowered her notebook with a twitch of a smile tugging her lips higher.

 Tony clicked his fingers, pointing at Emilia, "I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

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DATE: 14/02/2023

:･ﾟ★ sorry for the late upload (and for the lack of a chap last week; i'll post another either tomorrow or Thursday to make it up, promise!)

also, lovelies,i'll be posting a joel miller fic real soon, so please let me know if you'd like a dt/ if you'd like to be tagged

i've also started to post edits on my tiktok again, so if you'd like, pls check out celestiels.wp

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