The Final Initiative

36.

      "Okay, so the "how" works, thanks to you" Steve circled around the table that the Avengers all sat at, tapping Jessi's shoulder momentarily as he passed by her. She sat with her legs crossed in the seat next to Rocket, and Natasha sat on the other side with her feet kicked up on the table. It had been a day since the time travel test and her head was still spinning. Holographic images of the infinity stones appeared on the screens in front of the group. Steve stood in front with Tony and Bruce casually strolling by as they explained the time heist plan "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-"

"Well, I'd subtitute the word 'encounter' for 'damn near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones.'." Tony interjected, passing by Scott.

"I haven't. I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about" Scott said out loud.

"Regardless" Bruce waved his hand "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 clarified "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in"

"Which means we have to pick our targets" Clint said plainly, he was leaning up against the wall with his tattooed arms crossed at his chest.

"Correct" Steve nodded, looking to Thor "So. Let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?"

Everyone turned to see the Demi-god leaning lazily back in his chair, his fingers scratching his extended stomach. He still wore the sunglasses that he took from atop from Jessi's head back in New Asgard. Jessi rubbed her eyes and pinched her nose
"Is he asleep?" Natasha questioned as Thor remained unmoving in his seat.

"No" Rhodey shook his head "I think he's dead"

After about a minute, Thor stood up in front of the group and prepared to talk about the reality stone. He was also half drunk. Jessi and Tony shared a look of quiet concern "Where to start? Umm... The Aether" he removed the sunglasses and pointed to the screen "first, is not a stone. Someone's called it a stone before" he motioned to Steve who narrowed his eyes in return "Ahem... It's more of a... an angry sludge, sort of thing. So... Someone's gonna need to amend that, and stop saying that" Jessi leaned back in her chair as Thor continued "Here's an interesting story, though. About the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves. Scary beings. So Jane..."

An image of the brown haired woman named Jane appeared on the screen. Jessi had met her maybe once before, a long time ago "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" he demonstrated with his hands. Scott was the only one who seemed intrigued with his story "-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 umm...." his tone darkened, and fell at the mention of his mother. Jessi pressed her lips into a thin line at his sadness "Oh, you know. Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, so..." he concluded "These things happen though, you know. Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that..."

"Why don't you come sit down" Tony offered, stepping up beside him, and placing his hand on his arm. That was enough for now from him.

"I'm not done yet" he brushed him off "You see" he went on "the only thing that is permanent in life, is impermanence"

"Awesome" Tony patted his arm "Eggs? Breakfast?"

"No, I'd like a Bloody Mary"

Once Thor had settled back down, Steve returned to the floor and he spoke to Jessi next "Jes, why don't we move on to you? Anything on the time stone that we need to know?" he asked, leaning his palms on the table.

      She pushed the seat back and stood up, tucking a few strands of brunette hair behind her ear "Well, I'd say it pretty much speaks for itself" she walked up to the holographic screen and tapped on the image of the time stone. Doctor Strange and Wong's images popped up, along with a few foot notes and some limited information on the stone.

"It's a power that can be as damaging as it can be beautiful. It can turn back time, reverse events, like what we saw with... with Vision" Jessi dropped her gaze down to her feet momentarily at the mention of her old friends name "I remember one time when Strange told me how he reversed the bites into an apple, so he- he turned back time on the apple individually" she tried to explain, but found it hard to remember exactly what he had done "-but not on the rest of the world. I mean, that sounds random but, if we're gathering the stones to bring everyone back then, that's how we're gonna do it. We'll effect their time but not ours. We'll reverse the damage done on them but not on us"

Natasha sat at her seat, writing down everything that Jessi was saying. Her blonde and red braid hung down the front of her shoulder "Can you tell me a little about this Doctor?" she asked.

"Yeah, um" Jessi looked to his holographic image "Before he became a sorcerer, he was a surgeon, a neurosurgeon in New York. We went to him-" she directed towards her father "-awhile ago to have the extremis removed from me... it didn't work, but we met him then" Tony nodded, remembering that time "and uh, I-. One night about two years after that surgery, by chance, I rescued him from a car accident. From there, he must have began his wizard journey at Hogwarts or wherever the hell he went. Tibet, I think that's what it was, Tibet"

"Love the biography, but, what exactly is it that he does?" Natasha questioned further.

"Right, um, he is the sorcerer supreme, keeper of the time stone, master of the mystic arts" she listed off all that she knew about his job description "protector of the New York Sanctum, which is that place on Bleecker Street. What else..." she thought "He kept the time stone in the... I think it's called the eye of agamoto? And he's the sole protector of the stone"

"But... didn't you have the stone?" Rhodey asked "some sole protector"

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I did. It doesn't make sense" she shrugged.

      "In this world, nothing ever really does" Tony came to stand beside her, sipping his drink "We live in a world with 100 year old super soldiers and purple, universe erasing titans"

      "And now we're about to add time frekain' travel to the mix" Rocket leaned against the surface of the table.

      "We need to find out where these stones are in our time, but not until we know more about them and the power they possess" Jessi looked to the image of the green time stone on the holographic screen "We're playing with fire here, guys"

"I don't mind getting burned" Clint said confidently.

      "Jessi, do you know where the time stone could possibly be in our time?" Steve shoved his hands into his front pockets, rocking back slightly on his heels.

      She thought for a moment, pressing her fingers to her chin and resting her elbow into her other palm "Well, I, I know that Strange had been at the Sanctorum with the stone for about two years or so before Thanos came. So somewhere between 2016 and 2018. But..." she glanced to Scott, remembering his frustrating speech about having limited access to the Pym particles back inside the lab yesterday "As mentioned before, we don't have that many particles to spare so like Clint said, we need to pick our targets. It would be nice to find a time where we could collect two or more stones at once"

"That's certainly the predicament" Bruce agreed.

"Looks like we got some brainstorming to do, folks" Tony finished off his drink and set it on the table.

      Jessi walked back to her chair at the edge of the table beside Rocket, sitting down heavily as she pondered to herself. The image of the time stone on the screen blinked away, along with Strange's photo.

A/N : Sorry this chapter was mainly dialogue, it'll pick up from here. Thank you for reading! Do y'all have any predictions for the end? 🤔