"All right. We have a plan." Steve starts as they all stand around him. "Six stones, three teams, one shot...

The new team of heroes walk towards the machine; their beacon of hope.

...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...

Fists in the middle, they were ready for this. Ready to bring everyone back.

...One round trip each, no mistakes, no do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That 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 going to win...

They look around at each other. Elara takes a sharp breath. She was ready.

...Whatever it takes. Good luck." Elara realises why Steve was the Captain by the time he'd finished his speech. She wonders if he practices in the mirror. 

"He's pretty good at that." Rocket says.

"Right?" Steve's super fan agrees. 

"You heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green." Elara questions everything that just came out of Tony's mouth, but can't help the small smile appear on her face. 

She hears Bruce say something back, but her (and Rocket) are too focused on their miniature size ship in Clint's hand. 

"You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'll try do my best." Clint replies.

"As promises go, that was pretty lame."

"Nu uh, trying isn't good enough. That ship is coming back in the exact same condition that its in right now. Or if you're feeling generous, it could do with a deep cleaning, maybe a polish job. Especially in Quill's room." She pulls a face of disgust at her last comment.

"We'll get it back to you, safe and sound." Nat reassures.

"That's all we ask."

"Se ya in a minute." Nat says to Steve, before turning to Elara and winking. She responds with a smile that definitely does not reach her eyes. 

The machine powers up and their helmets appear. And Elara doesn't really know how to describe the next few seconds (was it even seconds?) as she follows the same path as Rocket and Thor. If she couldn't go to Vormir, then she was definitely going to a different planet. One that didn't scream death and doom. 

🌌🌌

ASGARD 
2013

The main thoughts running through Elara's head as they sneak through Asgard is: wow, oh my fucking god and do we really have to extract this shit out of Thor's ex? Watching Thor tiptoe around his childhood home is a pretty funny sight, she had to admit. Thor creeps past the prison cell of his brother, Rocket does a little run and Elara walks slowly, trying to take in as much of the breath-taking architecture as she possibly could. 

As they stood behind a pillar, they watch as Jane talks to maiden. "Oh, that's Jane."

Elara hums in acknowledgement. "She's pretty." She felt a small hand slap her head. "What? She is."

"All right. Here's the deal, tubby. You're going to charm her and I'm gonna poke her with this thing and extract the Reality Stone, and get gone lickety-split."

Thor just sniffs. "I'll be right back, okay? The wine cellar is just done here. My father used to have this huge barrel of Aakonian ale. I'll see if the scullery has a couple of to go cups."

"Hey, Hey! Aren't you drunk enough already?" Rocket protests.

A door suddenly opens and shuts causing the trio to duck. Well, Rocket and Elara duck. Thor seems to be in a stance as he walks closer. 

"Who's the fancy broad?" Rocket asks.

"That's my mother. She dies today."

"Oh, shit."

"Oh, that is today?"

Thor starts breathing heavily. "I can't do this. I can't do this. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have come here. This is a bad idea."

"Come here." Rocket tries to coax him.

"No, no, no. I think I'm having a panic attack."

"Come here." The slap Rocket plants on his face echoes through the open building. "You think you're the only one who's lost people? What do you think we're doing here? I lost the only family I ever had. Elara too. Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna, all gone." Elara doesn't bother to correct Rocket. "I get you miss your mom, but she's gone. Really gone. And there are plenty of people who are only kind of gone, and you can help them. So, is it too much to ask that you brush your crumbs out of your beard, make schmoopy talk to Pretty Pants, and when she's not looking, suck out the Infinity Stone and help us get our family back? Cause if you won't do it, Elara will do it, no hesitation."

"Uh huh, zero hesitation. I will charm the socks off her." Rocket looks at her strangely. "Its an Earth term apparently."

"Okay. I'll do it." Thor agrees, but Rocket and Elara are too focused on what's coming out of his eye sockets. 

"Are you crying?"

He manages to get a 'no' out through the cries. "Yes. I feel like I'm losing it."

"Get it together! You can do this. You can do this." Thor turns to Elara.

"Yep, you can 100% succeed." She puts up an awkward thumbs up and hears Rocket softly curse her. 

"Yes I can." 

The two Guardians start to walk towards Jane's room, thinking Thor was with them. "All right, heartbreaker, she's alone. This is our shot." They to see an empty hallway and both groan in annoyance. "Guess we're going with 'charming the socks off her' plan." 

Elara grimaces. "Better yet, I hold her down, you extract."

Rocket grins, "I like how you think." 

🌌🌌

Unknown to each team, people were aware of what they were doing, people they really didn't want knowing. 2014 Thanos and Gamora, along with Ebony Maw, stood around their version of Nebula as they accessed present Nebula's memories. "Avengers. Unruly wretches. What's that reflection? Amplify this, Maw."

"I don't understand. Two Nebulas." 

"No, the same Nebula. From two different times. Set course for Morag. And scan the duplicate's memories. I want to see everything." The clip resumes as Thanos watches. "Stop it."

Everyone seems to move in closer to see the face on the projection. Gamora has to hold back a gasp. "Is that?..."

"Princess."

🌌🌌

Rocket and Elara stay hidden as they watch Jane awake and move to the other side of the room. They quietly arise from their spot and follow. Elara tackles Jane to the ground, shouting apologies to the screaming woman and to Rocket to 'hurry the fuck up!'. 

They rush out of the room, Rocket running on all fours until he climbs up Elara's legs and sits on her shoulder as she sprints from the guards. "Thor, we got it!"

"Get that rabbit and its keeper!"

"Keeper?!" Rocket exclaims as he notices Elara holding in a laugh. "Don't you dare."

They finally find Thor and his mom as they both huff out of breath. Elara looks to Rocket. "Why are you out of breath, you didn't do anything physical."

"Out of sympathy. Hi. You must be Mom. We got the thing. Come on, we got to move."

"Oh. I wish we had more time." Thor says to his mother.

"No, this was a gift. Now you go and be the man you're meant to be."

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you."

"So that's what its like to have a loving, devoting parent." Elara whispers to Rocket. 

"And eat a salad." His mom says. 

"Come on, we got to go. Three, two..."

"No, wait!" He dramatically sticks his arm out. 

"What are we looking at?"

"Oh, sometimes it takes a second."

A hammer flies into his and and he laughs in disbelief. "I'm still worthy."

"Oh, boy."

"Bloody hell."

They vanish. 

🌌🌌

They all arrive back and their suits disappear. Elara felt as though something was wrong. She could feel eyes piercing the side of her head. She turned to Nebula and she couldn't figure out what was off. She heard someone drop to their knees and she faces Clint. And Elara presumed that was the thing that felt wrong. Natasha wasn't there. Everyone else becomes background noise as taunting thoughts appeared. 'You knew. You knew something was going to happen. You didn't try hard enough to stop her from going. She's gone. She'd dead. The same fate as Gamora.' Eyes burning holes into the floor, she doesn't register Bruce smashing a fist into the floor, she doesn't notice how everyone solemnly starts to leave. 

🌌🌌

The now five Avengers process the loss that they face, well try to. "Do we know if she had any family?" Tony breaks the silence.

"Yeah, us. Elara."

"Shit." Tony replies. As they continued to talk, well try to, it became noticeable that each remaining Avenger, each remaining hero represented a stage of grief. The whole point of this was to get back to people they lost, not lose any others in the process. What the now five Avengers didn't know was this wasn't the only loss they'll face, their time as a team of heroes was running out. Were they truly ready for their last fight?

🌌🌌

Elara had pushed all her feelings deep down (like always) because that nagging in her chest was still there. There was definitely something off. As she paces around her empty bedroom (she moved her things to Tony's cabin when the heist was a go because you can never be too careful), her mind kept going back to Nebula. It was like she was staring right into her soul. Knowing by now that their gauntlet should be ready, she makes her way to the lab to see Bruce stepping forward. "It's gotta be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos. They almost killed him. None of you could survive, and we don't know the extent of Elara's healing abilities. The radiation's mostly gamma. It's like, uh, I was made for this."

"Good to go, yeah?" Tony asks as Bruce holds the gauntlet in his hand.

"Let's do it."

"Okay, remember, everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago, you're just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years."

"Got it."

Everyone was in their suits. Thor puts an arm out in front of Rocket as Tony move Elara between him and Clint, right behind the shield. 

"Friday, do me a favour and activate Barn Door Protocol, will ya?"

"Yes, boss." All the windows and doors are covered. 

"Everybody comes home." The gauntlet starts to expand over Bruce's hand as he puts it on. He groans in pain and the Stones start burning him arm. 

Elara covers her ears to block out his cries as the others check on him. He manages to snap his fingers and he falls to the floor. "Bruce!" Clint kicks the gauntlet away as Tony sprays a coolant on his burned arm. 

"Did it work?"

"We're not sure. It's okay." Light starts shining through the room as the doors open. Elara can hear birds chirping and a phone vibrating. Clint answers his wife's call as Elara watches with a smile on her face. Then suddenly its all black. 

Let's pretend it hasn't been a month since I last updated.