The Connection They Share

Chapter 1

I slowly walk into the room and sit on the sofa, I gesture for Steve to take the chair in front of me. Pietro sits next to me and looks at Steve with narrowed eyes. "What are you doing here?" I ask, tiredly.
He takes a breath "We've found a way, a way to bring everyone back that was snapped."
I sit back and release a breath, it can't be true, it's not possible the stones were destroyed. I shake my head "No, that's not possible" I stand up and so does Steve. "Avery..."
"No Steve and if you don't have anything else to say you can go" I point at the door.
"Avery..." he starts
"Ava" I interrupt glaring at him slightly.
"Ava...just let me explain" I nod and he sighs in relief "Tony is making a time machine so we can go back in time and collect the stones, then we bring them back and reverse the snap" Steve explains with a hopeful look. "We need to gather the remaining team, including you two"
"I can't I'm sorry" I say then turn away from him as Pietro escorts him out. I don't think the team would welcome me with open arms after I choked out one of their own. I'm assuming they are recruiting Thor and I don't want to cause tension and ruin the mission. Plus it sounds impossible.
"I know what you're thinking" Pietro says from behind me, I turn with a fake smile. "That you're too dangerous to join the team."
I fake a smile "No it's because it's not going to work, I don't want to false hope to build"
"But what if it does? They need us, they need you" Pietro pleads but I refuse to look at him. "Ava just take a chance"
I think for a second before slowly nodding then I turn serious "I will take a chance but I can't become that...monster again, I just can't"
He pulls me into a hug "I promise you will never have to become her as long as I live."
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Pietro parks outside of the Avengers campus and I look up with a sigh, it has been too long since I've been here. I got out of Pietro's car and he joins me, "Are you ready for this?"
I look at him "No but let's do it". I take a step but is suddenly thrown into a vision, I see Clint rocking a new haircut diving to go through a door before he disappears. The vision lasts a few seconds as Lila appears at the door, confused. I then see Clint appear on some sort of platform surrounded by the team. I stumble and Pietro stabilizes me by grabbing the top of my arm. "Looks like they figured out" I say smiling before he picked me up and sped inside.

"...It worked" I heard Clint say as he throws down a baseball glove. "Indeed it did" I say, making my presence known to the group. They all turn around at my voice "I thought you weren't coming" Steve states as he walks over to us. "Didn't want to give myself false hope but you've done it, well done" I say picking at my left hand feeling awkward. "I'm happy you've changed your mind" Steve gives me a reassuring smile and Tony walks up to us "We'll need all the help we can get, glad you're back, Psychic" he patted me on the shoulder then walked with the rest of the team. I waited until they all passed with my head down before following after them.

I sit down at a meeting table and on a screen shows the six infinity stones. "Okay, so the 'how' works. Now we gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost all of us has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones." Steve says as he walks in front of the screen.
"Well I'd substitute the word encounter for damn well near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones." Tony continues.
"I haven't. I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about." Scott interrupts looking bewildered.
"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 or should I say Hulk? It was certainly different seeing him like that but you get used to it. I sit back in my seat this is going to be a lot harder than I thought.
"Our history. So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in" Tony continues.
"Which means we have to pick our targets."
"Correct."
"Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" We all turn to Thor who was sat in the corner with his sunglasses on and not moving. "Is he asleep?" Nat asks when he still doesn't move.
"No, I'm pretty sure he's dead." I say, still slightly salty at what Thor said but he looks a lot worse than five years ago but I guess that's what happens to those who drink all day every day. Thor startles awake and stumbles to the front of the room, rubbing his eyes as he does.
"Where to start? Umm... The Aether, first, is not a stone, someone called it a stone before. It's more of a... an angry sludge thing, so... someone's gonna need to amend that. Here's an interesting story though, many years ago... My grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves..." Thor wiggles his fingers to imitate a spooky ghost "Wooh, scary beings. So Jane," he stops again as a picture of Jane shows 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 and oh you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever" Thor's voice breaks and he gets emotional so Tony tries to move him back to his chair but he persisted "I'm not done yet, the only thing permanent in life is impermanence."
" Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?" Tony suggests.
"I'd like a Bloody Mary, thank you." I sigh then Steve speaks up again "Ava, is there anything else like what time we could travel to, to collect the Aether."
I stand up and turn to the group "2013 definitely, as Thor said the Aether was hidden for hundreds of years, impossible to get to, before Jane got the stuff inside of her. You'll have to go to when she was on Asgard"
"Why?" Tony asks.
"Because then Thor, Loki and I take Jane to the dark world where the Aether is taken by Malekith and used during the convergence, an event where the laws of physics do not apply as all 9 realms align. Thor kills Malekith, I get some of the stone's power then it is sent to the collector. Then Thanos and we all know how that turned out. It would be easier to take it from Jane then any of the owners that come afterwards" I explain and the group nods in understanding.

At that moment some food was delivered and we all sat down as Rocket began explaining where the power stone came from "Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag."
"Is that a person?" Bruce asks in confusion.
"Morag's a planet. Quill was a person." Rocket explains.
"A planet? Like in outer space?" Scott perks up at the mention of other planets.
"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything." Rocket starts to play with Scott's hair "Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll get you to space."

After lunch we all sit back in the meeting room and the soul stone on the screen. "Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." I glance up, so that's what that planet is called.
"What is Vormir?" Nat asks in a serious voice.
"A dominion of death, at the very center of Celestial existence. It's where...Thanos murdered my sister." A silence falls over the group and I put my head in my hands, he sacrificed the one thing he loved for the soul stone, I look around at the group and see that at least one of us won't be coming back if we want to succeed. The group dissipates leaving me, Nat, Bruce and a stressed out Tony, "The time stone was guarded by Dr Strange, my mentor for a time, he lived in New York..." I trail off locking eyes with Nat. Tony sits up at my silence "What is it?"
"Guys if we get the right time, there are three stones in New York..." Nat explains. "2012" I complete with a small smile on my face. Bruce shoots up with a surprised look on his face "Shut the front door"

They call in the rest of the team but I go to get a drink as they sort who was going where. I walk back in and Steve calls me over. "We think it would be good if you went to Asgard with Thor and Rocket" Steve suggests but my eyes are on the soul stone, no one else knows what they are getting into. "Who's going to Vormir?" I question and Nat steps up "Me and Clint, why?"
"No" I shake my head "I'll go there instead. Nat and Clint can go to Morag or Asgard." I say with no argument in my voice. "In that case, I'll go with you" Pietro states speeding next to me.
"No..." I try to deny but he shuts me up "You can't go by yourself, so shut up and let me come along" I nod but couldn't find it in me to be happy. The rest of the team agree and Nat is going to New York whilst Clint is going with Rhodey and Nebula to collect to the power stone. Everyone exits to suit up and grab some weapons, I glance over at the screen and see my name and where I was going but failed to notice that on every other record, it still says Nat and Clint. We all walk to where Tony has built a giant time machine with the Pym particles safely stored in the suits.
Steve takes a deep breath before saying maybe his last speech "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. Whatever it takes. Good luck."

Bruce turns on the machine and Nat turns to me grinning "See you in a minute" I smile wanting to savour this moment. Pietro is given a shrunken down Benatar and we were all ready. Our helmets go over our heads and I look upwards as we get shrunk down through time.