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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟏
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍

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"Time travel suit, not bad," Rhodey said after walking into the lab to see his teammates' progress. Charlie and Primrose were typing away on the two computers in the room while Trina, Bruce, and Nebula were checking Scott's suit. They were preparing the Lang man for their test run, but none of them knew what to expect. This was a new terrain for all of them and they hoped their combined intelligence would be enough to pull it off. While they were in the lab, Pietro and Freyr were helping Tony build the larger-scale Quantum Tunnel. They didn't know exactly what was going on, but they did a great job at carrying the heavier pieces of the machine.

"Hey, hey, hey! Easy! Easy!" Scott exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention toward him. Charlie was surprised to find him stopping the Hulk from placing a vial into the time travel suit, but she chose not to question it. Everyone was very tense at the moment.

"I'm being very careful."

"No, you're being very Hulky," the Lang man retaliated, earning an offended look from Bruce. It wasn't long after that when the former held up the small vial. "These are Pym Particles, alright? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more."

"Scott, calm down," Trina said in a surprisingly calm tone, causing Scott to let out a long sigh.

"Sorry. We've got enough for one round-trip each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs," Ant-Man continued before carefully placing the vial of Pym Particles into his belt. The next thing anyone knew Scott disappeared before their very eyes, only to reappear a second later. "One test run. Alright, I'm not ready for this."

"I'm game. I'll do it," a familiar voice said, causing Charlie's blood to run ice cold.

When she turned to face the newcomer, she found her father leaning against the doorframe with his eyes glued to her. A million thoughts ran through the Barton woman's head as she stared at Clint. She had thought he was a victim of the Snap for the last five years so seeing him in front of her made her feel a lot of conflicting emotions. There was a part of Charlie that wanted to run to him and pull him in for an overdue hug. She was so happy to see him alive. But there was another part of her that was angry. Her father had led her to believe he was gone for years, Natasha wouldn't even tell her the truth. He hid from her and there was no getting around that. So instead of a heartfelt reunion with the Barton man, Charlie handed her equipment to Primrose and walked out of the room.

Charlie ignored her father calling out to her as she quickly walked down the hall. Tears streamed down her cheeks on her journey to the hangar, where she hoped to find Pietro. But just as she was about to reach her destination, a hand wrapped around her wrist and forced her to stop. The Barton woman kept her eyes glued to the world in front of her, knowing Clint's gaze would greet her if she turned around. But her mission to avoid his eyes was proven futile after the master archer moved to stand in front of her.

"Char-"

"No," the Barton woman interrupted her father while tears continued to stream down her cheeks, "you disappeared for three months after Mom and Asher died. Now you're gone for five years. No calls. No texts. Am I not good enough for you?"

"That's not it."

"Then explain it to me."

Clint was silent for what felt like an eternity before he did something the Barton woman didn't expect. He pulled her in for a tight and very overdue hug. While his arms wrapped around her, Charlie's stayed at her sides. She was unsure what to make of the Barton man's actions and was very uncertain what to do. The young archer wanted to be mad at him, but her father's embrace was almost enough to melt her anger away.

"I thought you were done, Char," Clint whispered just loud enough for his daughter to hear, "I went to every safe house I could think of. Vancouver, Sydney, Cairo, Phuket, Bruges, Budapest. But you were never there. I thought Thanos took you from me too."

"I was at the farmhouse with Pietro," the Barton woman said while trying her best to fight back the tidal wave of tears threatening to escape, "all you had to do was come home."

The master archer tensed at his daughter's words before letting out a long sigh. "If I knew you were there, I would've come in a heartbeat. But I couldn't...I couldn't bring myself to go back there. Not when I thought it was just an empty house. I was already broken. I'm still very broken."

That was all it took for Charlie's dam to burst before she wrapped her arms around Clint. Tears she thought would never end streamed down her cheeks as she whispered into her father's ear. "We'll be broken together."

Matching smiles spread across their faces as they stayed in each other's arms. But despite wanting to have a longer reunion, they both knew they had a lot of work to do. They let another moment pass before ending their embrace and focused back on the situation at hand. Clint kept his arm tightly wrapped around his daughter's shoulders as they walked back down the hall.

When they finally made it back to the lab, they found everyone standing around waiting for the father-daughter duo to return. Clint gave Charlie's shoulder a quick squeeze before approaching the time travel suit. An indescribable emotion flowed through the Barton girl's veins as she watched her father prepare for the test run. She knew this was something that had to be done, but she didn't know how she felt about Clint being the one to do it. Charlie just got her father back and she wasn't ready to lose him again. But she also knew she wouldn't be able to talk the Barton man out of being their guinea pig.

"Clint, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift. Don't worry about that," Bruce said while Primrose and Nebula continued to look over the time travel suit's readings.

"Wait a second. Let me ask you something," Rhodey said, drawing everyone's attention toward him before he continued speaking, "if we can do this, you know...go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos? You know, and..."

After watching him do a few hand motions, everyone stared at the Rhodes man in shock. They let the uncomfortable silence surround them until Trina broke it. "That's a horrible idea."

"It's Thanos," War Machine retaliated, earning an eye roll from the Felicity woman.

"Also, time doesn't work that way," Primrose clarified while keeping her eyes glued to the screen in front of her, "changing what happened in the past won't solve our current problems."

"Look, we go back, we get the Stones before Thanos gets them...Thanos doesn't have the Stone. Problem solved," Scott explained, earning a nod in agreement from Rhodey.

"That's not how it works," Nebula muttered under her breath.

"Well, that's what I heard," Clint added while glancing over at Charlie, who simply shrugged her shoulders in response.

An irritated look appeared on Bruce's lips as he looked around at the people surrounding him. "Wait, but who? Who told you that?"

"Star Trek, Terminator, Timecop, Time After Time," Rhodey began listing off movies, earning bewildered looks from everyone in the room.

"Quantum Leap," Scott added with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time."

"Hot Tub Time Machine."

"Hot Tub Time Machine, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," the Rhodes man continued before letting out a long sigh, "basically, any movie that deals with time travel. This is known."

"You're right, Rhodey. Those are movies," Trina responded while crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the wall behind her, "they're meant to entertain, not give out time travel facts."

"I can't believe I left Jordan for this," Primrose muttered under her breath, clearly annoyed by their current conversation.

"I don't know why everyone believes that, but that isn't true," the Banner man retaliated without bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice, "think about it. If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future. And your former present becomes the past, which can't now be changed by your new future."

"Exactly," Primrose and Nebula said in unison while Charlie, Trina, and Clint exchanged confused looks.

The smile slowly faded from Scott's face after taking in Bruce's words. "So Back to the Future is a bunch of bullsh*t?"

Another hour passed over them tinkering and going over data in the lab before they determined they were ready. Now they were all standing in the hangar preparing for the test run. Charlie's eyes were glued to her father as he talked to Steve and Tony. She wanted to talk to him one more time before the test, but she knew she would try to talk him out of it if she did. So instead the Barton woman stood beside Pietro, who had his arm tightly wrapped around her shoulders. The speedster was doing what he could to comfort her, but he knew Charlie's stress levels were through the roof.

Beside them, Primrose and Nebula were helping Bruce go over the settings on the control panel. They wanted to double-check everything to ensure the test run went smoothly. Once everything was set, the Quill woman gestured for Steve and Tony to join them. It wasn't long after they took their places behind the control panel when the silence was broken.

"Alright, Clint," the Hulk said, causing the Barton man to glance over at his daughter. The two of them just stared at each other until Charlie forced a reassuring smile onto her lips. Clint was quick to return the gesture before pressing the button to bring the helmet over his head. A long sigh passed over the master archer's lips as he looked back over at Bruce. "We're going in three, two, one."

The next thing any of them knew, Clint disappeared before their very eyes. Charlie's heart pounded in her chest as she kept to her eyes glued to where her father once stood. Pietro pulled her closer to his side and whispered comforting words to her, but her brain couldn't comprehend any of it. She saw the trio typing away on the control panel out of the corner of her eye and heard Trina speaking, only for it all to go ignored. She was so focused on the Quantum Tunnel, waiting for her father to return. The Barton woman barely made out Bruce counting down before the platform lit up. Not even a second after that passed when Clint reappeared and collapsed to the ground.

Charlie didn't hesitate to untangle herself from Pietro's arms before sprinting up the ramp. Everyone else trailed behind her, eager to hear about the Barton man's findings. Clint took in deep breaths as he stared at the platform below him, only for a pair of arms to wrap around him and pull him to his feet. The Barton woman slung one of his arms over her shoulders to support him the best she could. She stared at her father with concern in her eyes before scanning over every inch of him for any sign of injury. Natasha soon joined them and stood on Clint's other side, equally as concerned for her best friend as his daughter.

It wasn't long before Charlie looked back up to meet Clint's gaze. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. It worked," the master archer said through labored breaths while looking down at the glove in his hand. It only took Charlie a second to realize who it belonged to. It was Cooper's glove. Not even a second after that passed when he looked over at the heroes in from of him. His eyes scanned over each of them before Clint tossed the glove to Tony. "It worked."

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The heroes sat in one of the conference rooms, waiting to discuss the next phase of their plan. Charlie sat at the table beside Pietro with Clint standing right behind her. Each held information on the Infinity Stones. Before Thanos, the only Stone the Barton woman encountered was the Mind Stone. And yet she still didn't know much about it. She wanted to know as much about them as possible but also knew they had minimal time.

On the other hand, Pietro was having a hard time sitting still as she stared at the picture of the Mind Stone. His mind replayed all the testing he, Wanda, and Alex were forced to go through during their time with HYDRA. All the pain he felt before he gained control of his abilities. The Maximoff man was grateful for the life he had, but he wished he didn't have to suffer to get where he was now.

Primrose sat on the other side of the room with Freyr and Trina. All three of them were silent as they stared at the images of the Infinity Stones. While the Felicity woman had never been in contact with one of the Stones before, Primrose would never forget her encounter. She could still remember the pain that coursed through her body when she and the Guardians shared the energy of the Power Stone. It was something she'd hope to never experience again.

Unknown to all except Thor, Freyr wasn't a stranger to the Infinity Stones. He was on Asgard when the God of Thunder brought Jane Foster to their home. The Njördson man would never forgive the destruction the Dark Elves brought to his home when they came for the Aether. And he would never forget watching the woman he had considered his mother all his life die right in front of him. If it wasn't for his sister, Freyr would've gone down a very dark path that day.

"Okay, so the how works. Now, we gotta figure out the when and the where," Steve announced, drawing everyone's attention toward him before he continued speaking, "almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Or substitute the word 'encounter' for 'd*mn near killed' by one of the six Infinity Stones," Tony said before letting out a long sigh.

Trina couldn't help but let out a humorless laugh at their words before opening her mouth to speak. "I can't believe I've never even heard of the Infinity Stones after all the time I've spent on Earth."

"Well, I haven't either," Scott announced while looking between the two men standing near the screens, "but I don't even know what the h*ll you're all talking about."

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round-trip each," Bruce declared while taking a few steps forward to get a closer look at the screens. After his eyes scanned over bits and pieces of the information, he turned his attention back to the heroes in the room with him. "These Stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."

"Our history," Tony corrected, "so, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"

"Which means we have to pick our targets," Clint said while crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the wall behind him.

"Correct."

"So, let's start with the Aether," Steve announced before looking over at the blonde man sitting in the armchair, "Thor, what do you know?"

Everyone instantly turned their attention toward the God of Thunder, only to find him unresponsive and unmoving. No one said a word as they just stared at him, that was until Natasha broke the silence surrounding them. "Is he asleep?"

"No, no," Rhodey sighed while leaning back in his chair, "I'm pretty sure he's dead."

"Thor!" Tony shouted, causing the Asgardian to jump and almost fall out of his chair.

The Odinson man simply looked around at everyone staring at him with a confused look on his face. It wasn't long after that when he let out a long sigh and approached the screens. He looked over every image they had on the Reality stone before turning his attention to the heroes closely watching him.

"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 thing, so someone's gonna need to amend that and stop saying that," the blonde man declared while keeping his eyes glued to Steve. Thor's actions caused Charlie to exchange a confused look with her father, but their attention was soon drawn back to the God of Thunder when he continued speaking.

"Here's an interesting story, though, about the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago, had to hide the Stone from the Dark Elves. Ooh. Scary beings. So, Jane...so Jane was an old flame of mine. You know, she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time and then the Aether stuck itself inside her. And she became very, very sick. And so I had to take her to Asgard, which is where I'm from, and we had to try and fix her. Remember that Freyr?"

All the God of Peace could do was nod in response, unsure of what to make of his friend. But before Freyr could even think about what he could do next, Thor continued his story. "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."

"I think you need to stop this," Primrose whispered just loud enough for Freyr to hear.

"Yeah," the Njördson man responded with a long sigh before getting to his feet and approaching Thor, "I think you should come sit down."

"Thank you, my friend, but I'm not done," the Odinson man said with a small smile on his face, "the only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence."

"Awesome," Tony sighed while clapping his hands together once as they watched Freyr escort Thor back to his chair, "Rocket. Primrose. You're up."

The two of them exchanged a look before getting to their feet and walking toward the screen. The Quill woman watched as the information on the Reality Stone was replaced by the Power Stone. Her eyes stayed glued to the screen while memories of hers and Peter's final adventure as a duo played in her head. It wasn't long before she was snapped out of her thoughts by Rocket, who was looking up at her with a hint of worry in his eyes. She sent him a quick smile before they turned their attention toward everyone in the room with them.

"Peter and I stole the Power Stone from Morag. Well, more like he stole it while I waited in the ship hoping he wouldn't get himself killed," the Quill woman explained, earning a few shocked looks from a few heroes sitting in front of them.

"We can all agree that Quill wasn't the best at making plans," Rocket added, causing Primrose to let out a small laugh.

"Is that a person?" Bruce asked after writing a few things down in his notebook.

"No, Morag's a planet," Primrose clarified before getting hit by a wave of indescribable emotions, but no one except Rocket and Freyr seemed to notice. She hesitated for another moment before shaking off her thoughts and continuing to speak. "Quill was a person."

"Like a planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asked with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

A hint of mischief appeared in Rocket's eyes as he turned to face the Lang man. "Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space."

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Night finally hit and despite them wanting to learn about the remaining Stones, Clint convinced the younger heroes in the group to get some sleep. He watched as his daughter walked out of the room with her fingers interlocked with Pietro's. He kept his eyes glued to them while a million thoughts ran through his head. That continued until they were out of sight. It wasn't long after that when Primrose and Freyr followed their lead, making sure to take Thor along with them.

A long sigh passed over the Barton man's lips as he turned his attention back to the screens in front of them. The image now displayed a picture of the Soul Stone. Silence surrounded them as they waited for Nebula to arrive and give them as much information as possible about the mysterious stone. But what Clint didn't expect was for Trina to take Charlie's place in the seat next to him. She let the silence fill the room for another moment before deciding to break it.

"She isn't mad at you anymore, you know," the Felicity woman said, earning a slightly confused look from the man sitting next to her, "Charlie. I asked how she was feeling after seeing you again. She told me she wasn't mad at you."

Clint couldn't help but scoff before crossing his arms over his chest. "I find that very hard to believe. This isn't the first time I've disappeared."

"And how long did it take for her to forgive you last time?"

The Barton man hesitated as he thought back to when he reunited with his daughter after the loss of his first wife and eldest son. He had gone undercover to learn as much information as he could about the people who killed them. He thought Charlie would be angry with him for leaving him in the care of Maria Hill, but she was just happy he was home.

"She forgave me as soon as she saw me."

A small smile appeared on Trina's lips before responding. "So other than the amount of time you were gone, what makes this time any different?"

"You're pretty good at giving advice for someone your age," Clint said after a matching smile appeared on his lips.

"I'm older than I look," Trina declared right as Nebula walked through the door to give them the information on the Soul Stone.

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