"Helen!" I breathed out, rushing over to our fallen doctor. She was laying down in one the portable cradles as her assistants zipped around her worriedly. They looked like frantic bees hovering around a honey pot. The poor doctor was paler than I'd ever seen her and she looked truly awful. Her hair was a bird's nest, her clothes were stained a dreadful red and the haggard expression on her face just tore at my insides. But at least she was alive.

"How do you feel? Are you ok? No, that's a stupid question you were shot with a laser of course you're not! But you're going to be fine!" I fretted, nervously moving my hands around her in a useless manor. Well, no one said I had a perfect bedside manner.

The whole place was completely trashed, there was debris everywhere, smashed windows, broken doors, blood splatters here and there. I wondered if it was Ultron himself that tore the place apart or if the Maximoffs had anything to do with it. Not that it mattered now anyway, what's done is done and they were on our team now apparently.

"I'll be fine. Did you get the cradle back from Ultron?" Helen asked weakly. I cringed at her crackly voice.

"It's with Tony, we're actually going to head back to the tower soon."

"We were hoping you could help us with that." Cap interjected as he and the Sokovian siblings made their way into the room. The second we arrived at the facility, I bolted towards the med bay to check on Helen. Cap and the twins stayed behind to clear some rubble from a blocked door so they were just now coming in.

The twins looked highly uncomfortable being here, they stood close to one another with their body language closed off and guarded. They weren't the only ones though, Cho's assistants gave the Maximoffs a wide berth and practically ran out of the room fearfully. Only a couple stayed behind to monitor their boss, I couldn't help but wonder if it was brave of them or if Steve and I's presence reassured their feelings of safety.

"Of course, anything you need." Dr. Cho replied immediately.

"We need to use your jet." Steve said cutting to chase. I sent Cap an unimpressed glare. Really? No, 'how are you Helen?' 'how you feeling Helen?'

"You don't even have to ask, it's the team's." Cho replied logically. Her face pulled into a tight grimace and a low groan of pain escaped her lips. Worriedly I reached forward and grabbed her hand reassuringly, helping her lean back on the bed.

"Have they given you anything?" I asked. She nodded her head sleepily and blearily blinked her eyes as they lost their usually sharp focus for a moment. This was probably the worst pain she's ever experienced in her life, she wasn't a fighter so this was all new to her. And the only reason she was in this situation was because of us, I thought guiltily.

"We should get going." Steve said. What? We just got here! I looked back down at Dr. Cho who was staring up at us with glazed eyes.

"I'll be fine. Go find Ultron and make him pay." I opened my mouth to argue, to say that I would stay with her in case that Ultron came back but Steve beat me to it.

"Ultron doesn't need her anymore, she's safe here. We need to get going."

"But what if he sends more of his robot friends to 'tie up loose ends'? She'll need someone who can-"

"He won't. He only needed the cradle from her, but since you have it now there's no reason for him to go after her. He won't waste his time." Wanda informed us.

"And SHIELD has already dispatched agents to this location, she'll be fine Sarah." Steve told me in a gentler voice than before in an attempt to persuade me. I didn't like it, just leaving her here unprotected, yeah. We've never been best friends or anything, but she was part of the team.

"I'll come visit you when all this is said and done." I promised her, conceding to Steve. We didn't have a lot of time to argue with each other, no matter how much I wanted to. I did want to stay with Helen but I reasoned internally that I should help the majority of my team instead, they always needed all the help they could get.

"Get well soon, Dr. Cho. We'll check on you in a couple days." Steve said, shooting her a charming smile.

Helen gave us a forced smile, that bordered more on the grimace side, but I smiled back at her none the less. I backed away from Helen feeling oddly heavy. Too many innocents were managing to get caught in the cross fires, and it was only going to get worse from here on out.

"Wait," Pietro said as we turned to head out the door, catching all of us, except maybe Wanda, off guard. "Dr. Cho, I want to apologize for what happened to you. I feel terrible and I..." He trailed off, seeming at a loss for words. But the regret was clear on his face. Wanda placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"We both regret our decisions and if we could, we would take it all back in a heartbeat." She finished for him. Pietro nodded, agreeing with his sister.

Helen had a conflicted look on her face, I could tell that she didn't trust the twins at all. But regardless she gave then a terse nod that the two siblings relaxed to slightly. I caught Pietro's eye and was met with an unreadable expression. It was unsettling, so I turned away and followed Steve out of the room.

Take off wasn't the smoothest one I've ever experienced before, but Steve didn't crash us into the ground so I call it a win. Although I did have my eyes squeezed shut and a death grip on my seat, but that's not because I'm afraid of flying. I have no problem with flying when I know that the pilot's good.

"God, are we dead yet?" The Maximoff man groaned from the back once Steve levelled the plane, albeit shakily.

"Pietro." His sister chided quietly.

"Ha ha. Hilarious, I'm getting us there aren't I." Steve grumbled, he looked mildly peeved but mostly relieved that we had made it up in the air.

"Barely." I mumbled to myself, knowing full well that Cap's enhanced senses could hear me. I unbuckled from my seat and meandered to the storage unit in the center of the jet and pulled out a few water bottles. I think the last time I had something to drink and eat was at Clint's house, and that felt like days ago now.

I began to think about what it would be like if Ultron found his way to the Barton's home, but quickly shoved the stray thought as far into the back of my mind as possible. We had to find Ultron and stop him because there was no way in hell that I could allow those sweet little kids to get hurt.

Tossing one of the bottle to Steve, I made my way hesitantly towards the twins and handed one to Wanda. I didn't know if Ultron had cared about hydration and all that, seeing as he was a robot that didn't need anything like that, so I figured I should try to be nice.

The brunette woman looked at the bottle warily and it was obvious she was debated whether or not to drink it. I sighed and snatched it out of her hands before taking a swig myself.

"It's not poisoned." I told them dryly tossing the bottle back to her. I doubt that, that was what she was actually thinking, she could read minds and all so of course she would know if I was trying to kill them or not. She had the grace to look embarrassed though.

"Here." I said, and handed the extra to Pietro.

"Thanks." He muttered before promptly chugging the whole thing. Wanda glared at him and took a couple sips herself.

"You gunna change your shirt?" Cap called out from the front of the plane.

"What's wrong with my—oh." I glanced down at my shirt and found that there was a large tear from roughly my right hip up to just below my rib cage. "This is one of the new ones." I complained quietly to myself.

I dug through the cabinets again and had to push through a sea of red, white, and blue tops before I could find an extra grey uniform. I must have caught my shirt on a random sharp point during the fight, I don't really remember Ultron clawing at me at any point, but who knows.

Without thinking much, I gingerly pulled off my shirt leaving on my black sports bra and threw the torn piece of cloth in the disposal, careful not to upset my injury. It had been pretty numb throughout the fight, whatever Mrs. Barton had given me this morning was some powerful stuff. It still looked terrible though, the bruising looked like abstract art and the new cuts everywhere really added to the drama.

"How come your clothes always make it out with only dirt on them, and mine get destroyed?"

"Maybe I'm just more careful than you." Steve joked.

"Well, we both know that's a lie." I snorted.

I couldn't count the number of times I've had to change in front of the guys because of a situation just like this. Of course Banner had to change his clothes frequently too, but only when it was a Code Green, so not very often. Thor's clothes were probably made of magic so there was that, but I've only ever seen Steve's clothes trash worthy a couple times.

My pants would be fine for now, some holes here and there but nothing terrible. I turned towards to the back of the jet to tug on my shirt and saw Wanda's eyes as large as saucers. Oh, I didn't even think about their take on modesty.

"Sorry, I'm used to changing in front of the team." I apologized, my cheeks taking on a pink hue. It was never embarrassing to change in front of people unless others found it embarrassing. And now it was definitely awkward.

"Your stomach…" Wanda said in a shocked tone. I glanced down and saw the black and purple mottling that took over most of my abdomen. Shrugging I replied nonchalantly,

"Oh, yeah." I turned away feeling uncomfortable, and struggled to lift the shirt over my head due to the soreness.

"Does it hurt?" Pietro's voice said much closer than I expected and I jumped in surprise causing pain to shoot up my abdomen. He lifted a hand as if to touch it, but I slapped it away.

"Yes, so let's not touch. Ok?" I replied crabbier because the medicine was starting to wear off. I should have grabbed something from Helen's facility. Steve turned around in his seat at my outburst and sent me a look of concern. I moved to pull it on, but stopped when I found it was going to be more difficult than I thought.

"Did I do that?" Pietro asked with a touch of disgust, "Back in Africa when I…" He had an appalled expression on his face, but I shook my head.

"No, it happened when I was fighting the Hulk."

"So you caught up with him then." Wanda concluded.

"He wasn't that hard to find. He's a giant green rage monster." I replied apathetically, trying to stifle my smothered anger on what happened in South Africa. It was still sore subject for me, all I had to do was think about the broken look on Bruce's s face and I was mad again.

"But you have your shields, why did you not protect yourself?" Pietro asked.

"Yes, well it's hard to protect yourself and all the civilians at the same time, especially when you're only one there." I huffed, trying not to let my agitation get to me.

"You took him on alone!? That's insane, why would-"

"The alternative was to let him destroy the city, what was I supposed to do?" I countered back angrily.

"You could have-"

"We're not having this discussion." I finalized, effectively ending the conversation. "Steve?" I asked, gesturing for him to help me with the stupid shirt. The super soldier stood up and took the grey shirt out of my hands. I sucked in a breath when he helped lift my arms but he was quick about it and in no time I was fully clothed. I mumbled a thanks before carefully lowering myself down into the chair next to him.

The twins had identical frowns on their faces and they looked like they wanted to say more. But I wasn't in the mood to deal with all of their questions, especially since I didn't have to give them any answers.

They didn't bring up South Africa again, and for that I was grateful. We spent the rest of the flight in silence, with radio chatter breaking up the quiet every now and again. Cap looked exhausted, I could see the dark bags forming under his eyes and it really aged his youthful looking face. I knew he was older than my grandparents but rarely did he ever look older than thirty-five.

Luckily and much to our relief, Jarvis was able to land the plane at Stark Tower. Steve grumbled about being able to do it himself, but he wasn't quick enough to hide his relief. It felt nice to be back at home, even if this wasn't my actual home it still got rid of the tension in my shoulders and gave me a lighter walk just by being here. After missions, I would take a head count even if I knew the whole team made it home. It was to give me an extra peace of mind.

But today was different. Even if I felt better being somewhere familiar again, not everyone was here with me. Thor still hadn't checked in with us, and of course there was Nat.

"Do you think Natasha is still alive?" I asked Steve bluntly. He glanced back at me in surprise and slowed down to fall into step with me.

"I don't know kid. It doesn't seem like the smart move to keep her around." Cap told me honestly, he was never really one to beat around the bush. I nodded, trying to keep my composure and not completely break into a giant ball of tears. If I was Ultron, I wouldn't want to keep a master spy in my lair either, who knows what kind of detrimental things she could do to sabotage him.

"Why take her in the first place and not just dump her? It doesn't make sense." I rubbed my cheeks in frustration, I hated this not knowing, this stupid guessing game.

"Who knows, Ultron is a crazy, murderous robot who plans on destroying the world. Only God can tell us what he's thinking." Steve tilted his head heavenwards and had a slight smile on his face. It did little to make me feel better, if anything, his expression looked hopeless.

If the Maximoffs had any input on the situation, they kept it to themselves. I doubt that they had any idea on how Ultron's thought process worked either. They just trudged behind us, letting us lead them around.

I could hear the machines whirring and low unintelligible voices before I actually saw the entrance to the lab. Walking in I noticed that Stark and Bruce had hooked the cradle up to just about every machine in the room. I hadn't realized before how large the cradle actually was. It was like a huge metal coffin.

It only took a seconds thought as to why they had that thing all hooked up. They couldn't possibly be thinking about creating another artificial intelligent life form? They're not that stupid. I glanced over at Steve and he had the same disapproving look plastered on his face as well.

"I'm gunna say this once-" He started.

"How bout nunce?" Stark interrupted snippily.

"Shut it down." Cap commanded. I stopped a few paces behind him, crossing my arms over my chest. These idiots were going to be the death of me or all of us really. The Maximoff twins warily came to stand by my side, watching Tony suspiciously. This was a great way to get an alliance started, show the people who already hated Tony Stark that really is as stupid as they think.

"Nope, not gunna happen." Stark said continuing on whatever it was he was trying to do. I shifted uncomfortably, I had a bad feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

"You don't know what you're doing." Cap urged, stepping closer.

"And you do?" Bruce commented, "She's not in your head?" He asked frustratedly gesturing towards Wanda. It hadn't occurred to me that they might think Wanda was using her mind control over us. That thought made me shiver, she could have easily done it at any time.

"I know you're angry-" Wanda started, walking towards Bruce.

"No, we're way past that." Bruce said narrowing his eyes dangerously. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade." My heart dropped to my toes at that statement, there was so much malice that I could practically feel the temperature dropping.

"Bruce." I called out quietly in minor horror, he would never do something like that. He was the good one. He glanced over at me and his expression softened ever so slightly.

"Sarah, I can't take back what happened." He told me, guilt thick in his voice.

"No, but you can get passed it." I basically pleaded, striding over to him. I didn't like this side of him, it bothered me to see him this way. He was never one for violence, sure he was the glass is half empty kinda guy but this…

Bruce shook his head, his unruly curls bouncing back and forth and let out a humorless chuckle as if that wasn't even a possibility.

"Banner after everything that's happened-" Steve tried again.

"Is nothing compared to what's coming." Tony cut him off. Steve sent him a glare that was duly ignored.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda argued, getting angry herself at the useless back and forth.

"Tony, fighting fire with fire isn't going to put it out!" I rebutted, hoping to knock some sense into him. Stark smirked and added smugly,

"Good thing I've got an extinguisher this time." Always the smart ass. As we continued to argue with one another, a rush of air blew past me, throwing up papers in the air and I had to take a step to keep my balance. What in the world?

"No, no go on," Pietro baited tossing an unplugged cord to the floor haphazardly, "you were saying." An unbelieving laugh escaped my mouth before I could squash it down. Well that's one way to do it. He smirked over at me, but then suddenly there was a loud pop, the glass flooring cracked underneath the speedster and then he was falling through the floor.

"Pietro!" Wanda shrieked fearfully, dashing forward towards the hole to peer down at her fallen brother. I looked through the broken glass and saw Clint standing over the Maximoff boy, pinning him down with a foot on the Sokovian's leg. The silver haired man looked a little dazed but uninjured. Oh, right. We didn't tell Clint they were on our side now. Whoops.

"What, you didn't see that coming?" Clint mocked. All previous humor had been wiped from Pietro's face as he stared up at the archer angrily.

I about jumped out my skin when warning alarms went off in the lab and I whipped around to look at Tony. Oh good Lord what now? Did Clint's bullet hit something important? Glancing around at the computers I found that the cradle had entered critical power loss since Pietro has unplugged everything.

"Dr. Banner." Tony said moving his hands over the computers to try and fix the problem. Steve, no longer willing to be patient, threw his shield into the equipment causing it to ricochet around the room. I gave a shout in alarm as it sailed over my head.

"A little warning next time Steve." I grumbled in annoyance. Then quick as a whip Tony had on one of Iron Man gauntlets and fired at Cap, sending him flying backwards and shattering glass in all directions.

"Stark are you crazy!" I yelled as he proceeded to put on the rest of his suit. A startled gasp drew me to look at Wanda where Bruce now had his arm around her throat.

"Go ahead, piss me off." He muttered darkly. My eye were probably bugging out my head, our whole team was falling to pieces right in front of me. What the hell was going on!

"Banner let her go." I demanded firmly, stepping towards the pair. I may not particularly trust her, but that didn't mean I wanted her dead. And I certainly didn't want another death on Bruce's hands.

Cap chose this time to ram back into Stark, only to be propelled backwards where he promptly blindsided me. I tumbled to floor and grunted as I rammed into a table. I was going to kill somebody. Seriously.

I pushed myself up with great effort. Whatever was going on, I needed to stop it. Now. I pulled in the energy around me and tried to concentrate it to the frequency at which Tony's machines were working. If I could overload it, hopefully the system would shut down. After a few moments I release a quick pulse of energy and prayed that my make shift EMP worked. Blue energy flew across the room, with me as the epicenter. The others jerked in a panic as the energy moved through them, but it was only aimed to damage electronics.

But for some reason, when it collided with the cradle, the energy reverberated and boomeranged back at me. I yelped in surprise as my own energy yo-yoed back into me. It didn't hurt, but the blast slid me back a couple yards and I had to kneel to stop myself from sliding further. That was new. I rubbed my chest anxiously where the energy had rebounded back.

Then to my surprise Thor flew across the floor stopping in front of the cradle. He chose now of all times to show up? He lifted his hammer and summoned an enormous amount of lighting, I could feel the electricity in the air causing my airs to stand on end.

"Wait!" Banner shouted. But Thor rammed the cradle full of lighting, warning sirens filled the room as the machine reached max input. I had to squint to keep my focus on Thor's figure because the lightning had blurred my vision considerably. And then anticlimactically, the Asgardian pulled back from the cradle but nothing happened. Did he short it out?

Then in a burst of light, the cradle shattered spewing glass shards and blasting Thor to the ground. Instinctively a barrier appeared out in front of me as chunks of glass clattered around, bouncing off my near invisible shield. As the dust and light clear away, a man with dark red almost purple coloring gracefully lifted out of the bed and onto bended knee.

"Oh my God." I whispered. They had done it, they made a man! That was-how did they—how was this possible? Everyone around the room stilled in shock and amazement, myself included. Slowly the man rose and looked around the room. Then suddenly he flew at Thor and the Norse god reacted by throwing the red man over his shoulder and through another glass wall. We really needed to take out all this glass. But before the man could crash into the outer window, he stopped, hovering in midair.

Without hesitation, we rushed over our earlier arguments forgotten for the moment. Cap ran up behind Thor who was already near the man, but the god held a hand out causing the super soldier to stop in his tracks. Thor carefully placed his hammer down on a side table and cautiously he walked over to the red man who had glided down to our level to per curiously at us.

"I'm sorry, that was…odd." The artificial man stated. My eyes widened, he sounded exactly like Jarvis. British accent and everything. "Thank you." He said graciously to Thor. The red man looked over the god and a golden cape similar to Thor's slid down his back, it looked it grew out of his shoulders.

"Thor. You helped create this?" Steve asked still trying to take in the whole situation. Honestly it was unclear if he was trying to bring it to life or over power the system like I was. But why didn't Thor's lightning have the same effect my energy did?

"I've had a vision, the world, where its starts, all hope and life and at its center, it that." He said pointed to the gold stone in the middle of the purple/red man's forehead.

"What the gem?" Banner asked in confusion. Thor nodded.

"It's the mindstone, one of the six infinity stones, the greatest power in the universe and it is unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring it to life?" Steve asked. Good question because that sounded like an awful idea.

"Stark is right." Thor admitted.

"Don't say that." I muttered, looking over at Tony who had a pleased expression.

"Oh, it's definitely the end of times." Bruce commented.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."

"Not alone." The red man added, walking forwards in my direction. I didn't realize I had my shield up until the artificial man easily passed through it as if it were fog. I gasped in shock and stared at the man in rapt amazement. That had never happened before, ever. Yes things have broken my shield but not just phased through it. When a hand tugged on my wrist, I didn't resist as it pulled me backwards and out of the way.

"Why does your vision sound like Jarvis?" Steve asked. Better question, why can it walk though my force field? No one ever asks the important questions.

"I reconfigured Jarvis' matrix, to create something new." Stark replied walked up towards his masterpiece and checking it out.

"I think I've had my fill of new." Cap commented.

"You think I am a child of Ultron." The red man stated. The hand on my wrist tightened briefly and I glanced back to see that it was Pietro who had moved me out of the way. This didn't surprise me much, he had a bad habit of being handsy apparently.

He peered down at me and raised an eyebrow. Not knowing how to respond I did the same, he blinked his blue eyes at me couple times before releasing my wrist and looking away. I furrowed my eyebrows at him and turned back around. What a weirdo. Wanda let out a quiet laugh but when I looked at her, her face was plain.

"You're not?" Steve replied suspiciously.

"I am not Ultron." He said simply, "I am not Jarvis. I am…I am." Well that certainly cleared things up. The others didn't seem too convinced either.

"I looked in your head," Wanda stated, stepping towards him, "I saw annihilation." My eyes narrowed at the new comer. Was he going to be yet another enemy? We had enough of them as is.

"Look again." He said simply.

"Ha, her seal of approval means jack to me." Clint snorted walking up beside me.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the mindstone. And that is nothing compared to what it could unleash if it were on our side." Thor explained, stepping up.

"Is it?" Cap questioned, turning towards the red man, "Are you on our side?" there was a tense moment as we waited for his response.

"I don't think it's that simple." He answered truthfully.

"Well it better get real simple real soon." I said seriously, taking part in the conversation. The man watched me for a second, and I was filled with the need to produce another barrier, even though I knew it would do nothing against him.

"I am on the side of life," He continued, "Ultron isn't, he will end it all." He sounded sad at that fact.

"What's he waiting for?"

"You." He stated easily.

"Where?"

"Sokovia." Clint filled in.

"Sokovia?" I repeated, confusion clear on my face.

"He's got Nat there too." Clint informed, handing me a tablet with her location pulled. "Found her through old spy frequency." My hands tightened, so she was alive. This seemed to Bruce's attention, he walked forward and got close to Ultron.

"If we're wrong about you…" Banner trialed off. The red man took a step forward.

"What will you do?" the two stared at one another for a tense few second. Bruce didn't answer, I don't think he had to. The artificial man broke the silence,

"I don't want to kill Ultron, he is unique, and he's in pain," The man paced slowly around the room, "and that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed." So not an enemy then, I concluded. "Every form he's built, every trace and presence of him. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the other." He said turning back around to face us. Then he did something, no one expected, he picked up Thor's hammer like one would pick up a cup.

"There may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to go." He finished lifting the hammer for Thor to take. Thor looked over at him and with leery eyes, he took back his weapon and awkwardly said,

"Right, well done." I watched dumbfounded as Thor walked out, following the mysterious man.

"Boshe moi." (Oh my God) I muttered in Russian rubbing my cheeks. Today has been a little too eventful for my taste.

"Ten minutes, get what you need." Cap told us breaking the stunned silence, leaving to whatever it was he had to get down. Clint grabbed his tablet back and hurried off downstairs where I knew he was going to stock up on ammo, I on the other was going to my locker to stock up on pain medications.

"Sarah." Stark called out. I stopped in the doorway and turned to him. "Take the kiddos with you and get em some clothes would ya?" He said rather than asked before he disappeared in the elevator. I glanced over at the twins who were looking at me, expecting an answer.

"Oh, ok um this way." I said awkwardly gesturing in the direction I was headed. The locker room was only a floor below us and catty corner were the extra suits, shoes, belts etcetera. I think Tony makes our uniforms by the dozen considering they don't last very long.

"So he can walk through your shield." Pietro stated when he fell into step beside me. "Does that happen often?" I huffed in annoyance, I'd rather not talk about the faults in my abilities, I already had enough reserves about using them to begin with.

"No, it's never happened before." I replied. He looked like he was going to say more, but I caught the look Wanda was giving him and he remained silent. Thank God. He had a weird ability to make me talk about things I really didn't want to.

We separated briefly as I went for my locker and they stayed behind to find suitable clothing. I downed a couple of strong pain pills and prayed for the best.

In the mirror I could see my shoulder length hair falling out of the ponytail I had it in earlier, I pulled out the band slowly, trying not to upset my bruised abdomen and quickly resituated it as best I could. I also changed out of my black pants and traded them for a more durable charcoal pair that matched my uniform top. I traded in my running shoes for a pair of more durable black ankle boots.

I looked at myself one more time in the mirror and couldn't help but notice how young I looked. Maybe it was the wide green eyes that screamed 'I'm terrified', but whatever it was I was reminded that I was only in my early twenties. I had been in lots of fights before with the Avengers, but the sense of mortality hit me like a brick wall stronger than it ever had.

I sighed and took a couple of deep breaths before steeling myself and leaving the locker room. The twins were waiting outside for when I left the lockers, I was surprised they hadn't just gone back upstairs instead of waiting for me. Wanda had put one of Nat's red jackets on over her clothes and Pietro had new running shoes and a tight light grey long sleeve. I raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Seriously, could he found a tighter shirt? It was distracting.

Clint was the last one on the plane, right behind the Maximoffs and I, no doubt because he called Laura. I hope she was doing ok, all this stress surely wasn't good for little Nathaniel. If any of us have to make it back, it has to be Clint. He has people depending on him. Thor has a whole world that needs him, but he's a lot more durable than Clint so I wasn't as worried. That reminded me, I should probably call my mom.

"Tony, do you have a phone?" Stark turned to look at me and fiddled with his pockets.

"Uh, yeah what's up?" Previously the plane ride had been silent and now everyone had stopped to listen to my request. I've never talked to my family in front of the team before, and I've certainly never asked to call them, but there a bad feeling weighing in my chest. It made me want to talk to my mom.

"I want to call my mom." I told him bluntly. His eyes soften in understanding and he tossed me his own model of a cell phone.

"No problem." He said before turning back around to talk to Banner. With a shaky breath I dialed he familiar pattern. It rang a couple of times and I feared that she wouldn't pick up.

"Hello?"

"Mom?" My voice crackled. Mom knew I was an Avenger, but she didn't know I was on active duty for it. She thought Stark was paying for me to attend grad school right now.

"Oh, Sarah honey, how are you?" She chatted excitedly, it has been a while since I checked in. I cleared my throat a couple times in an attempt to remove the lump I felt.

"I-I'm good, how are you doing?"

"'I'm doing fine! Just got a new haircut, I sent you picture but you never responded." Mom added pretending to be upset.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I've been really busy lately." I told her lamely.

"Yes, yes studying hard my little college kid. How's grad school?" I grimaced, I hated lying to her.

"It's good. Loving every minute." I managed some fake enthusiasm in that last one, enough to appease her anyway. I caught Wanda's gaze and she raised a questioning brow at me. I turned away, not needed her silent judgment for lying to my mother.

"That's wonderful! Did you hear what happened in South America with the Hulk? Can you believe it? I am so glad you're not involved with all that anymore. Was your team ok?" I froze for a minute, hadn't seen any of the footage yet so I wasn't sure if I was on it. Hopefully not, that is a terrible way for my family to find out I'm an Avenger.

"Oh yeah, South America, yeah that was crazy for sure. It worked out in the end, the team's A-Okay." Bruce's head whipped around when I mentioned South America and I cringed. "Listen, mom is Dylan there?" I asked hopefully. It was a long shot, but if I could talk to my baby brother too, I could go out there with no reservations.

"No sorry Hun, he's still in school. Are you ok you sound like you've been crying?" Mom asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, just stressed, I've got a lot going on." I told her.

"Well if anyone can get through it, you can!" she sounded so happy, and I felt like the most terrible daughter in the world for lying to her. But if it kept her safe than it was worth it.

"Thanks, Mom I got to go." I paused and let out a sigh before adding, "You know I love you right? Even though I don't call as much as I used to, and I don't visit a lot. You-you know I love you guys?" For some reason, at that moment I was terrified that she didn't know, that she assumed I never thought about them anymore.

"Of course I do baby, now what's wrong? You sound like something's wrong."

"Nothing wrong, Mom. It's nothing I can't handle. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that." I hurriedly told her, hoping she couldn't hear the way my voice caught at the end.

"Of course I know you love me, and we love you too ok?" Even though no one was looking at me, I felt like they were all intensely listening in and it made my uncomfortable even if they weren't.

"Thanks mom. Ich liebe dich, Dylan zu sagen, dass ich ihn auch lieben. Und geben Sie ihm eine Umarmung für mich." (I love you, tell Dylan I love him too. And give him a hug for me.)

"Ich, liebe dich. Rufen Sie mich an, wenn Sie eine Chance bekommen." (I will, love you. Call me when you get a chance.)

"Ok, tschüss." (Ok, bye.) I whispered as I ended the call. I had to look up at the ceiling for a moment to stop the tears that had formed in my eyes from falling. I passed Tony his phone and leaned back in my seat, hooking up a fresh comm in my ear to distract myself.

"You are crying." Pietro stated. He was seated on the opposite side of the isle next to Wanda.

"What?" I asked staring dumbly at him as he leaned over and reached forward to wipe the pad of thumb over my cheeks, when he pulled away his finger was wet.

"See?" He said. I reached up with my own hand and swiping my fingers across my cheeks. I knew I was crying, I was just wondering why he was bringing it up. Why couldn't he just ignore it like everyone else? But what surprised me even more was that he pulled out a filtration mask and headed back towards me. I stared at it, wondering what he was doing.

"Here," He said extended the filter towards me, "for your asthma. Sokovia can be dusty when it wants, so this should help, yes?" I felt a twinge of something in the pit of my stomach just then, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling but I couldn't place it. I was touched that he even thought about something like that. I didn't even think of it which was really stupid on my part.

"I- uh, thank you Pietro." I said graciously taking the mask, it would only cover the important bits, my mouth and nose but it would certainly do the trick. Tony specially designed these for me and had them stashed all over the Tower and in the jets. Pietro smiled at me, not a smirk like normal, but a real actual smile.

"What is your name?" He asked abruptly enough to startle a laugh out of me. "I mean I know it of course because I have heard the others use it, but I would like introduction." I hadn't even thought of introductions, I already knew their names so the thought had escaped me.

"Sarah Byrd." I replied, he grinned and gripped my hands shaking it lightly.

"Pietro Maximoff. And that is my sister Wanda." I rolled my eyes and took my hand back.

"Yes, I know who you are." I said with less malice than I had been speaking to them with. Being a little more polite wouldn't hurt. He grinned looking pleased with himself and this time he did go sit back in his seat with his sister. Those two were an odd pair. They were trying to kill us not two days ago and now they were being all nice. It was…weird.

Cap didn't start his pep talk until we were about an hour out of Sokovia and the closer we got, the more nervous I became. It like right before running a race in track. In high school when I would get down in the blocks, the waiting would build up so much adrenaline and anxiety. That's how it felt to be sitting on this plane. It was all just building up in anticipation.

"Ultron knows we're coming, odds are we'll be running into heavy fire," My favorite words, "and that's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia they didn't. That's why our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them and get the job done. We find out watch Ultron's been building, we find Romanoff, we clear the field and keep the fight between us." Steve paused and stared at the ground for a few beats, it was a bit like our plan in New York. Keep the fighting focused on us, it was our main goal always.

"Ultron thinks we're monsters," I glanced over at Bruce, who gave little reaction, "and that we're what's wrong with the world, but this isn't just about beating him, it's about whether he's right,"

"Maximoff, you go to the police and see if we can get them to help clear the city. Can you do that?" Steve asked.

"Of course." Was Pietro's immediate reply. Steve nodded.

"Wanda, I need to go use your abilities to get the people to leave." Wanda gave him an affirming nod.

"Good, Sarah you keep the people safe as best you can ok? Don't worry about us."

"Of course, but I'll watch out for you guys as-"

"No, just the Sokovians." He commanded firmly, I sighed but gave a nod in agreement. The civilians were the priority, can't argue with that.

"Alright, the rest of will find Ultron and save Nat."