Twelve

Bruce and Stark had been mumbling technological nonsense for much too long to seem even remotely interesting, and I didn't know the code to open the door- not that Stark would have been too happy with me wandering his home unattended either way- so I had resigned myself to looking around the lab I was stuck in. I was studying at a glass screen that displayed seemingly random numbers and letters when Stark drew my attention back to him.

"Hey, Grumpy." I looked back over my shoulder at the man pointing his finger at me, but left my hand hovering over the glass. "Don't touch my stuff."

I considered touching the screen again just to irritate him, but decided against it in the end and lowered my hand to my side. I was much too distracted to argue with him for the moment. My thoughts had been swirling around in my head since Clint left the room and I had been left to my own devices. Despite the fact it had only been a few hours, not being near the twins was making me increasingly nervous. My stomach twisted in knots, my palms were coated in a thin sheen of sweat, my thoughts revolved around them suffering at the hands of Ultron. Any number of things could have happened to them, and I would never be the wiser.

I took to pacing as a way of trying to clear my head, seeing as it worked so well for Pietro. Luckily, other than throwing an annoyed glance my way every so often, Stark didn't mention my nervous tendencies. He instead kept the majority of his focus on helping Bruce do something with the Cradle. I paid them very little attention until I overheard one whispered statement I am positive they did not want me to hear.

"Genetic coding is at 97 percent. You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes"

I froze in place, staring at the two men with almost disbelief. While I could not fathom why they were bringing Ultron's body to life, it did not exactly surprise me either. "I should have expected no less from the two of you," I huffed only barely loud enough for them both to hear me, but still they both turned to face me like two children who had just been caught by their mother. "You have no idea what you are doing!"

"Can it, Goldilocks." Stark quickly recovered from my scolding, and returned to tapping away at his screen. "We know what we're doing. Why don't you just go back to your incessant worrying and leave this to the big boys, huh?"

A familiar sense of rage built up from the pit of my stomach as I glared harshly at Stark, my fingers reflexively twitching to light every nerve in his body on fire. It took every ounce of restraint I had to not harm him right then and there. "If you do not shut the Cradle down in the next five seconds, I will force you to."

Bruce took that threat none too kindly, turning his full body towards me, his face set in an eerily calm yet threatening expression. "You really don't want to try that."

"Yeah, you wouldn't like him when he's angry," Stark half-joked.

"I could have you both writhing in pain on the floor before you took a single step." I narrowed my eyes further, switching my gaze back and forth between the two men as I raised my hands in front of me to show that I was completely serious. "I do not want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. Shut the Cradle down. Now."

Before any of us could carry through with our threats, the lab door slid open and three more people joined us in the newly tense room. I turned to face the arrivals, but my eyes were only on him for half a second before I was taking in the other two arrivals.

Stark and his poor attempt of a plan were immediately forgotten. I dropped my arms to my side, and rushed to meet the twins halfway as we hurried towards each other. The second they were within arm's reach, I had one hand on Wanda's cheek and the other on Pietro's. Never had I been more glad to see them, to feel them beneath my fingertips, to sense that comforting buzz that assured me they were alive and well. Soon enough Wanda had pulled me into a tight hug, quickly followed by Pietro's arm around my waist and his lips pressed against the top of my head. For the first time we'd left Sokovia, I felt at home. At peace.

But of course, these were not peaceful times, and our reunion was short lived. The three of us separated from our embrace at the sound of the Captain's voice, but stayed close enough to each other to still be touching. "I'm only gonna say this once."

"How 'bout nunce?"

"Shut it down!" The Captain demanded, but Stark simply continued what he was doing.

"Nope. Not gonna happen."

"You don't know what you're doing!"

"And you do?" Bruce asked, speaking for the first time since the others had come in, pointing at Wanda. "She's not in your head?"

Wanda took a slight step forward. "I know you're angry-"

"Oh, we are way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

The anger that the sight of the twins had calmed flared up again, and I shifted my stance ever so slightly in front of Wanda. If he wanted to touch her, he was going to have to get through me first.

"Banner, everything that's happened-"

"Is nothing compared to what's coming," Stark interjected.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda yelled, though I could see the hidden pain behind the rage. She was the only one of us who had seen what was inside the Cradle, and she knew that it could be nothing good. That was enough for me to be willing to turn on the Avengers at any second should they not be willing to reason.

Everyone's voices raised as they tried to get through to each other, but despite the screaming filling the room I still heard Pietro let out a sigh on my right before he dropped his arm from my waist and sprinted to the other side of the room. All that was visible was a streak of blue followed by Pietro standing next to the Cradle, holding the thick cord that had connected it to all of Stark's computers.

When they saw this, the three Avengers stared at Pietro in stunned silence. "No, no, go on," he deadpanned. "You were saying?"

The next thing we all saw was Pietro falling through the floor, accompanied by the shrill shattering of glass and a gunshot. Wanda and I shouted at the same time, but our voices were drowned out by the high-pitched beeping of every computer in the lab.

"I'm rerouting the upload," Stark explained as he began working on multiple monitors at once. However, before he could do much of anything, the Captain threw his shield into the wall, causing it to ricochet across three different surfaces before breaking Stark's computers. Stark retaliated by pulling on the arm to one of his suits and blasting the Captain clear across the room.

Everything after that happened in a blur of activity, every person in the lab scrambling to stop the others.

Stark's suit came flying out of nowhere to attach itself to him. The Captain struggled to push himself off the floor and run back towards Stark. Neither of them were of any concern to me however. My initial intention was to check on Pietro, but I took only a few steps before I heard Wanda gasp.

I turned back and saw that Bruce had wrapped his arm around her neck and was uncomfortably close to choking her. "Go ahead," he practically growled. "Piss me off."

Hatred. This was the only word strong enough for the feeling that replaced every bit of logic I contained. I wasted no time, reacting out of pure instinct to protect my adopted sister at all costs. Within a span of mere seconds, I had every nerve in his body under my control with my tensed hands whirling. I twisted his arms out and away from Wanda before pinning them down by his sides and forcing him to his knees.

The Avengers were too busy fighting each other to even notice me keeping Bruce on the ground. Ultron was a fool. He wanted to use Wanda to pit the Avengers against each other, but little did he know that they were perfectly capable of ruining themselves.

I continued pushing Bruce down until he was pinned completely against the floor. I could sense the part of his brain that the Hulk had claimed struggling against me, and focused most of my attention on keeping him from turning. If it were anyone else, every part of them would be in immeasurable pain right now, but I was still smart enough to keep that small part of him free of any discomfort. I would not give him the satisfaction of becoming stronger than me. Bruce would remain himself.

My hold on him was disrupted when I was unexpectedly tackled to the ground by Clint, who I had not even seen come back from downstairs. We both landed in a tangled heap on the ground, and I had to push him off of me so I could breathe. When I looked over the room, I saw that Stark was half-clad in an Iron Man suit, the Captain was pushing himself out of a pile of broken glass, Bruce was shivering as he sat back up, and Wanda was holding her throat with wide eyes.

I wanted to run to her, but the sight of Thor flying in from seemingly nowhere and landing atop the Cradle caused me to falter. "Wait!" Bruce yelled when Thor raised his hammer towards the sky, but was ignored by the god who summoned lightning so bright everyone except him had to look away.

The computers' beeping melted into incomprehensible screeching as the electricity caused a power overload. When the lightning stopped, there was only barely enough time for Clint and I to stand before Thor himself was knocked off the Cradle and sent flying across the floor by the top bursting open in a show of bright light and fog.