Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

77

After reuniting with the team, discovering that Back to the Future was a bunch of bullshit and a test run of the time machine with Clint Barton as the guinea pig (at the idea of guinea pigs, Percy shuddered), the Avengers sat in the conference room, sat around a screen showing the six infinity stones and what they were placed within before Thanos found them. 

"Okay, the 'how' works. Now we need to figure out when and where," Steve said, opening the meeting. "Almost all of us have had an encounter with one of the six infinity stones." 

"I'd substitute the word 'encounter' with near being damn killed by them," Tony murmured.

"I haven't," Scott Lang stuck up his hand as if he was in a classroom. "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about." 

"Congratu-fucking-lations," Percy whispered, envying the man sat a few feet away for his obliviousness. At this, Loki grinned, wrapping his arm around him. 

"Regardless," Bruce 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. Not a lot of convenient spots to drop in," Tony commented. 

Clint nodded, "which means we have to pick our targets." 

Tony nodded "correct."

"Let's start with the Aether," Steve pointed to the screen, then to Thor. "Thor, what do you know?" 

Thor, meanwhile, had a pair of sunglasses, and it was a bit hard to tell if he was asleep, awake, dead or zoned out.

"Is he asleep?" Nat asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"No," Rhodey said. "I'm pretty sure he's dead." 

"Stealing my thunder," Loki muttered, making Percy burst out laughing. The room whipped their heads around to him, especially Tony. Percy hadn't laughed openly in so long, it was almost a foreign concept to everyone there. It must've made Thor snap out of it, for he stood up and stumbled to the screen, gesturing and explaining. 

"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 have to amend that," he trailed off, then perked up again. "Here's an interesting story though! Many years ago, my grandfather had to hide the stones from the Dark Elves," he made large gestures with his hands. Percy turned to Loki, who had his head in his hands. "Very scary beings. So Jane-" an image of Jane popped up on the screen at the mention of her. "Oh, there she is. That's Jane. She's an old flame of mine. 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 is um... who's dead," Thor was trailing off again, tears forming in his eyes as he rambled. Percy looked at Loki, who was now looking at the ceiling but, at the mention of Frigga, he stood and started to push Thor back to his seat. 

"Brother, that's enough. I'll take it from here." 

"And you know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore, these things happen though you know, nothing last forever," he continued, then fought against Loki. "I'm not done yet! The only thing permanent in life is impermanence."

"Awesome. Eggs? Breakfast?" Tony walked over and tried to distract Thor. 

"I'd like a bloody Mary, thank you," Thor said, his tears falling now. Loki walked up to the screen.

"As my dear brother was saying," he shot him a look. "The Aether is the home of the reality stone. I'd say our best time of finding it is when Jane Foster is on Asgard and being treated to have the Aether extracted from her. This way, we can take it just before Thor fetches me from the dungeons so that the guards are distracted."