Holly POV

A few days later, Holly found herself in a specially made wheelchair that had no wheels but floated with the use of repulsor technology first invented by Howard Stark. It was like a portable recliner, form fitting and responding to her commands, allowing her to move around as she needed. Tony had told her that after everything with the Chitari Invasion, in addition to building suit after suit of Iron Man armor, he'd also dabbled more in medical and recovery technology. Then after Pepper had been given Extremis, he'd widely expanded the medical section of Stark Industries to try and find a way to purge the whatever it was from his girlfriend's body. But strangely, unlike most the other subjects who'd ended up imploding or going insane from the procedure's effects, Pepper's body seemed to simply accept it. It worked out since any process for removing it was more complicated with how it had melded with her DNA.

Figured that it would be something that Tony helped perfect while drunk.

Now she was using that tech to join Tony and Bruce, as he insisted, in their Playroom as they called it, giving feedback on their plans to build her a new saber that would last a bit longer than the last one. Her condition had improved enough that Banner thought she could handle seeing more than just the medical floor or her own loft apartment that took up half a floor itself.

"We should do something so that if it gets knocked away from you, it comes right back to you. Like Thor can call for his hammer from whereever it might be. We've been working on something similar for Cap." Bruce commented, glasses low on his nose as he reached up to the holographic representation and opened up it's inner casing. "DNA recognition?"

"Wouldn't someone just need to get their hands on my blood or skin cells to get a hold of it? All they'd have to do is take my hair brush and I'm in trouble."

"Good point."

"Easy kids. We just inject nanites into her that are connected to her sabers and respond to her commands. Program them to respond to brain signals as well as proximity of the saber, her blood pressure, breathing, etc."

"So her saber comes to her the moment her body begins to react to danger?" Bruce questioned, bringing up another screen showing prototype nanites.

"Or if I have a rather spicy burrito." She snarked, grinning as Tony flipped her the bird. "Argue your case, boy genius." It was something that her father would always say when the kids got into an argument or even when agents didn't agree with each other on how to handle a situation. Argue your case.

"You can't call me boy, I'm older." He moved his hands to push away the holographic saber and then brought up a screen. "Watch the footage from the fight in Bavaria. We can create a new saber that reacts to proximity threats as well as being separated from you."

Holly watched the fight from Tony's point of view in the Iron Man suit, commending herself silently at how well her vault behind the Bots had gone, the machines going down before her feet had even touched the ground, even faster when Natasha joined her. She noted how quickly she took out the bot that had thrown Steve but her heart pounding as she saw the other coming up behind her. The bot was massive on top of strangely stealthy. There was no way she could have broken free. The sound of her shriek of pain and the sight of her saber being yanked away and destroyed as the bot moved backwards toward the room beyond, other bots moving to keep the group from rescuing her. She saw everyone redoubling their efforts, Clint using concussive arrows, Natasha smashing one bot with the arm of another while Bobbi used her bo staffs to smash the face of another, Thor and Sif moving together to take out bot after bot. The bright light from the hands of the Iron Man suit as Tony blasted one bot after another.

"We have to get her before they can close the doors! Stop the doors!"

She could see the information from Jarvis and the point of view focusing on getting to the doors, Tony taking one side and Thor the other with Sif defending. What really intrigued her was how Steve was fighting like he was possessed, furiously smashing robots, teeth gritted. "HOLLY!" A throw of his shield and another shout. "BANNER! Get in here now! They have Holly!"

She watched as she could see herself getting thrown up against the wall and gasped at the sound of her own scream of pain before watching her head be bounced off the wall. It was painful to watch and her arms unconsciously wrapped protectively around her midsection. She was still bruised and aching, but felt infinitely better than she had when she'd been on The Bus.

She had vague memories of what had happened next, but to actually see them was another thing all together. The whole team moved as one, Thor and Sif yelling in rage and the sight of seeing the repulsor blast from the arc reactor in Tony's chest take out six bots at once, Jarvis taking charge of the suit for a moment then from the readout on the screen as Tony was angrily yelling "Motherfucker, get away from my sister!"

Back during their days of Strike Team Delta, there was a place that each of them could get to when it came to defending each other if they were hurt or in serious danger. They'd joke and call it going "Full Delta" but in reality, it was a brutal, mindless place where all your focus was getting to your teammate and making the enemy pay for whatever transgressions, usually in a very painful and often fatal way. Now, both Natasha and Clint had the look of going Full Delta and neither were holding back as they fought in tandem with Bobbi who covered their backs as they had tunnel vision on their objective, getting to her.

Steve's reaction was a very profound enraged, NO as he fought against the seemingly overwhelming tide of bots that threatened to swarm the team. She wondered if this was the Cap that Uncle Dum Dum had talked about, the more serious, more determined one that had existed after Bucky had fallen from the train, seemly to his death.

Strange, how seeing the group react to her being taken and hurt made her almost feel warm inside. She could understand Nat, Clint, Bobbi and Tony reacting because they knew her. Steve hadn't known her a day, the Asgardians only a few hours.

Then, out of nowhere, green came down through the roof. The Hulk. She watched as he took out the bot that had taken and smashed her and then cradled her to his chest before turning his back to the blasts from the robots that'd been fighting the team before leaping out of sight.

Tony stopped the video then. He turned to her. "Sparky, I'm sorry. I just meant to focus on your saber. You didn't need to see that." She could seen the genuine concern in his eyes. Coulson had commented that few people ever saw that side of Tony. It was always a little strange to her to hear that because this was the Tony she'd always known. She knew about his drinking problem and womanizing before Afghanistan, but whenever she was around, he always focused on her as much as he could. She was one of the few people besides Pepper who could just hang out in his working playroom and he had no issue with it.

Unless you messed with his music, which Holly did on purpose just to be a pain in the ass. Nothing beat the day when she'd had his music go from alternative grunge to Broadway showtunes and he'd been working so intently, he didn't realize until he caught himself singing under his breath to one of the songs from Chicago.

She shook her head, pulling herself back from the trauma of that fight and forced herself to move her arms. That was the past and she was safe and healing now. "You called me your sister."

He gave her a gentle smile and moved over to put a kiss to her forehead. "Because you are, you twerp. Maybe not by blood, but by everything else that matters."

She smiled and carefully leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "Love you too, Ony."

When he moved back she held her hand out to Bruce who took it very gently for a man who could become an 8 foot tall green raging Hulk. "Thank you again for saving me. I know you don't like letting the other guy out if you can help it. I'm sorry you had to."

Bruce shook his head, taking off his glasses. "No apologies. I'd do it again. So would The Other Guy. He's fond of Tiny Jedi." He put his glasses back on. "Sorry, I sound schizophrenic, but he's always there and likes to make his opinions known. I'm sorry we didn't get there faster."

"Which is why we are going to make the ultimate saber so we can prevent this in the future." Tony seemed practiced at deflecting Bruce's inherent need to put himself down because of the Hulk.

Holly nodded. Then there was a gentle prod at her good shoulder. She turned to see that Tony's very first AI bot, U, nicknamed Butterfingers, was holding a throw blanket in it's claw. It squeaked at her and then squeaked again with an inquisitive tone. "Aww. Thank you Butters! Such a sweet bot. Good Butters."

She wasn't cold, but took the throw anyway just to make the bot happy. He had probably seen her wrap her arms around herself and his logic programming led to the conclusion she was chilled. He wasn't the smartest AI out there but had a sweet personality, which was amazing considering Tony built him in his 20s at the height of his ego. The bot trilled a happy tone before rolling out of the room.

"You shouldn't encourage him like that, Holly. He's practically a rolling scrap heap."

"Tony! Don't talk about your first child like that. You know I've always loved U and DUM-E. Don't forget that he saved your life!"

He sighed, letting his head drop. "I know, I know. Must you remind me?"

She smirked. "Must you need reminding?"

"Hey Hot Lips, how ya feeling?"

Holly looked up from the pad in her lap to Clint perched at the top of the stairs leading to the secondary lounge area of the Assembly floor. Holly felt the need to get out of her own apartment but didn't want to bother anyone with whatever they were doing. It was much easier now to move around than it had been only two weeks earlier. She figured sitting in the more public area would lead to some company. She'd be right. "I'm alright. Just taking it easy, per Dr. Banner. I didn't realize you were back."

Clint nodded, vaulting the steps and landing on the floor in a crouch, no doubt having been perched up there observing for a few minutes before speaking. He made his way over to her and plopping down on the couch careful to not jostle her too much but at the same time slouching like a teenager. Clint took advantage of time when he wasn't on a mission or fighting to just relax. "Yeah, Nat and Rogers are still in Washington with Coulson's team. They didn't need me for the time being so I took a Quinjet back to see how you were."

"Aww, thanks. That's sweet. I'm alright. Thankful that Bruce felt I was okay enough to move around on my own. I was getting a bit stir crazy."

Clint nodded. "Yeah, that's one doctor you don't dare to argue with."

"Apparently the Other Guy likes me, so I think I'm good. Bruce is a good man. I feel bad at how scared people are of him. The Hulk isn't bad, it isn't trying to do bad things. It's just...pure reaction. Like how you and Nat instantly killed that guy who shot me in London. I barely had time to realize I'd been shot and you'd gotten him and Nat emptied a clip into him."

Clint sighed, turning a bit on his side and gently touching the scar of that encounter, the cut of her tank top showing it. His brow furrowed, his fingertips typically rough from using his bow. "That's not something I like to think of, Hols."

"Or Uganda?" That had been another time they'd found themselves in mortal danger. It had been something that she'd thought of a few times in the last few days, being back in the fight, having to be rescued. The potential for a very messy and painful death. Of course Uganda could have also led to a very traumatic fate for herself and she'd always be thankful to Clint for being willing to sacrifice himself to make sure that never happened.

He looked down and then looked back. His eyes were serious, intimate. Uganda wasn't something they would ever bring up in front of other people. "You know I don't regret Uganda. Do you?"

She shook her head. "No. Not at all. You know that." She nudged him so he would move and she followed so she was more resting against him, glad to be able to spend some time with one of her best friends again. The smell of leather and the oil he used to treat his bow strings was strangely comforting, probably because of it's familiarity. It was something that stuck around even when he was wearing jeans and a flannel. "Thankfully I have very few regrets in my life."

"Not even Bavaria? Hols, that fucking bot could have killed you. Scared the shit out of me." He hugged her gently, careful not to jar her or squeeze too tightly, his head resting against hers. "That Doom prick is going to get my entire quiver one by one when we get the chance to get at him in person for that."

She chuckled, imagining Doom as Clint's target back in the center ring of the circus Eddie had recruited him from. Tied to a giant wheel that spun as Clint shot at him. "I'm alright, Clint. Honest . You don't need to go caveman archer, even though it's very sweet that you want to." She patted his hand. Always her protector, no doubt something Eddie had ordered him to be when they had first been paired together. She lost count of the number of times he instinctively pushed her behind him when someone started shooting at them on missions. It used to get her so angry but now, she understood.

"Doesn't change anything. Just a matter of who gets to him first. Me, Nat or even Stark. Hell, didn't Jarvis take over the suit and use the chest repulsor?"

Holly smiled, remembering the video. Tony trusted the AI implicitly and while most people wouldn't understand it, Iron Man really was the both of them. "He did. He's such a loving nephew."

"Hols, you know it's weird that you think of a computer program as a nephew, right?"

"Clint, come on. You should know better. Jarvis isn't a program. He's a person just without a physical form. You weren't there when Tony first created him or seen him grow and get his own personality and sense of self. It was just like with a person, just without diapers and with access to all human knowledge. He has emotions and feelings, likes and dislikes." She sat up a little. "Jarvis, knows he's family to me, right?" She spoke out to the room.

"Of course, Holly. I've always been very thankful for that." The AI responded.

"Sorry Jarvis, I didn't mean to offend you." Clint said sheepishly. "We're good, right?"

"Of course, Agent Barton. My status as an individual is not traditional, to be sure. I appreciate the apology."