One-shot I just found in my files! Age of Ultron; Ace returns to the tower after Sokovia has fallen, has a nice moment with Natasha, but a bad introduction to Wanda.


- June, 2015 -

What scared me most when I returned were the poker chips and cards sprayed across the floor. Then the Chinese takeout, champagne glasses, someone's expensive jacket, and other evidence of the party still present a week after the fact. The scheduled cleaning crew must have been warned away.

Maria was coy, sending me word via postcard. It took a second of staring at it to realize Ultron had no idea who I am and she was keeping it that way. I wondered if he could put the digital pieces together to craft who this seventh Avenger might be, but Sokovia was already suffering by that point.

When the quinjet returns I leave them alone, spending another hour scraping up the mess inflicted on the place. The coffee table looks like it was thrown across the room, and one of the windows above the hangar bay is completely gone. The bookcase is in splinters, so I stack the books carefully next to the rancid fondue pot, sweep up food and glass. Don't touch the holes in the wall figuring Tony will want to address those personally, but I get tape and tarp from the supply room and cover that window.

It's Natasha who finds me, walking in wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, crossed arms and a glazed look. "Messier than high schoolers I take it."

I lean the broom handle against something. "I guess that's all I've been doing lately. Maria–"

"Steve felt you'd been through enough." She presses her tongue into her cheek. "Didn't think we should direct Ultron your way."

He knows I don't need him to do that. I bend down to pick up another chopstick. "And Tony's reasoning?"

There's a sigh that sounds tired, defenseless. She starts gathering up shell casings and putting them in her pockets. "He's been through a lot too."

I set the chopstick on the pool table— the trash can's too far away for me to care right now. "Please tell me the video I watched was a hallucination. That he didn't drop a city."

I'd expect a sharper response on most days, but this one takes its time. "It's already online?"

"There's this app, live videos from anywhere in the world."

"Right." Her hand goes to her hip and she arches her back with a grimace. "Hulk's MIA."

I stop cleaning.

"He took the quinjet in stealth mode. We're still looking." She arches her brow. "You found him once."

Xavier found him once. "No. If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be found. Is Barton going home after this? Little Natasha's due soon."

Natasha smirks. "It's Nathaniel apparently."

"What? Poor Lila. Then again, poor Nathan. Nate. Hey, on the bright side there won't be any confusion when someone yells 'Nat' and you're both in the same room."

The corners of her mouth turn up, but her brows kneel. Her thoughts remain on Bruce and mine revert to Vince, so we continue to exist near each other at least. I start cleaning again.

Finally she stretches her arms. "Stop doing that and come downstairs. There's someone you should meet. A couple someones."

I don't want to meet anyone right now. I want to make this place look like it did when I left, chic and inviting. Now it's a dump. Natasha never invites me anywhere though, so I go. The elevators are out, like last time, but the automatic lights flutter on as we descend the stairs. Something unnerves me about the whole building, like it's…wrong, somehow.

We're approaching an open door by the hangar when I hear sobbing and stop dead in my tracks. Natasha stops too, looks sidelong at me, and steps lightly into the doorway to have a look.

The crying is female, adult, maybe young maybe old. It's wretched and I recognize it by the way it puts a hard lump in my throat. My chest hurts, my knees are weak, so I turn and run back up the stairs. I make it back to the party deck, tears streaming my own face, and biting my hand to make them go away. Just go away.

My cell phone trills and I cover my ears. I can hear it over that so I rummage through the debris I've touched to find it and shut it off. You're technopathic, what the hell?

I shut it off that way and sit down on a damaged piece of furniture. I can still hear her crying, or I think I can, if I sit quietly.

"JARVIS, can you play something?" I ask to cover the sound. He doesn't reply.