Chapter 24 The Digital Age

When they got back to the base, they found that a few of the Hoods had tried to take Strange, Wanda, and I again, but they laid knocked out on the ground in front of the three of us near the conference room.

"I went through that whole thing," I said. "Not a fan."

"Now we know this is real," Strange said.

"If it was fake, then we would've opened our eyes and been back there, not finding them trying to kidnap us," Wanda said.

The others looked at each other, amazed, both in how quick we were to take them out and that we all agreed that this was our reality.

"Thor, what are you doing here?" I asked, confused. "Isn't there a war going on in Asgard?"

"A lot has happened since we last talked," Thor said. "The war ended long ago, with the Asgardians coming out as victors. I came to defeat that joke of a beast that was summoned."

"How did you guys defeat it?!" Wanda exclaimed, surprised.

"Lightning," Tony said. "One of you has a weakness to lightning."

"That would be me," I said. "I found that out a long time ago when Thor and I had a sparring match with no limitations to our powers."

"It was still a formidable battle," Thor said. "And I was barely holding back. A rematch should be called. You have improved much since then."

I nodded in agreement. "Maybe I might actually be able to get a victory against you."

Since it was obvious that Wanda, Strange, and I didn't need to be cooped up in the infirmary anymore, we joined that others as they went for dinner.

XXX

Since he was there and it had been awhile since my last upgrade, Tony upgraded mine and Vision's programs, also adding a little bit of Wakandan tech with T'Challa's approval and watchful eye during installation. Along with the normal increase of strength, speed, and stamina, this one made it easier and faster for us to perform scans on enemies, and like his suit, we were able to find weaknesses and weak points.

A couple days later, both Thor and T'Challa returned to their kingdoms. A day after they they left, Tony returned to New York, Wanda, Pietro, and Strange a few weeks after him.

And for the next few months, we didn't have anything to do besides busting small-time criminals.

Everything was peaceful.

Until we got another surprise visit from the Enchantress.

"Ok, first she sends us back in time, how much do you wanna bet we'll be sent to the future?" Rhodey said.

"We know her tricks this time," Clint said. "And this time, no one's staying back. We'll head out as team and put an end to her quickly."

"Should we at least contact Thor?" I asked. "He did say that if she made a second trip to notify him."

"JARVIS, contact Thor," Clint said. "We're going out."

"Yes, sir," JARVIS said.

"Time to see just how good these upgrades are," Vision told me as we left.

"Hopefully they can actually show an Asgardian's weaknesses," I said. "I didn't think to try with Thor."

"Neither did I," Vision agreed.

We reached the Enchantress' location and I shot a plasma bolt at her to distract her.

"Here for round two?" she asked.

"Enough Amora," I said. "Whatever you're planning, it isn't going to work."

"Says you," the Enchantress replied. "You don't even know what it is."

Before we could reply, she sent a flurry of spells at us, causing us to have to take cover in order to not be hit.

"I'm going in at the next opportunity," I said to the others. "I'll force her to take a break to give you guys the chance to attack."

The others nodded and I positioned myself to be ready to break cover at a moment's notice.

As soon as I found an opening, I broke cover, charging at her with a plasma ball in my hands. I kicked her squarely in the chest and released the plasma ball as she stumbled back, causing her to go flying back into a tree.

The others came out of hiding as soon as I laid the kick, all coming in for an attack against her, forcing her to go into defense.

We could tell that she was starting to get really annoyed by the air around her, becoming more aware, but not letting up on our attacks.

She suddenly sent a pulse of pure energy at us that sent us all flying back.

"Ok, new tactic," I said as we slowly got back to our feet.

"Oh you won't have an option for a new plan," the Enchantress said. She cast a spell at Tigra and Simon as they went to charge at her but they suddenly disappeared.

"Simon! Tigra!" we exclaimed.

"What did you do to them!?" Bonita demanded, shooting fire at the Enchantress.

"The same thing I'll be doing to the rest of you," the Enchantress replied, blocking the fire and sending a spell at Bonita and then at Bobbi as she charged forward with her staff.

They disappeared as well.

"Ok, it's only us four now," Rhodey said.

"We have to be careful," Vision said.

"Where did you send my team?" Clint said.

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" the Enchantress answered, shooting the spells at us but I put up a shield that blocked it.

"How about you just give us our team back!?" I retorted, shooting a plasma ball at her.

"Oh, but that would be too easy!" she said, starting to shoot a flurry of spells at us.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rhodey get hit and disappear, Clint after him.

Vision phased into the ground and the came up behind the Enchantress, but before he could hit her, she spun to him and used the spell at point-blank range, causing him to disappear.

"One on one," I growled.

"And this will be easy," the Enchantress said. She disappeared and I immediately looked around my area, trying to find her.

I heard her behind me but before I could spin to her, she struck me from behind with a spell and I found myself in a place that looked like LA, but everything seemed more...technical. There were still the buildings and streets, but everywhere I looked, there was something that used technology, like self-driving cars, robots the cleaned the streets, or people that walked around with jet packs or hover boards.

I put a hand to my communicator, walking down the street. "Avengers, come in," I said.

"Rose, where are you?" Clint asked.

"Just left Lincoln Park, heading south on Soto," I said. "Where are you guys?"

"I'm at the Civic Center," Clint said. "But we're all split up."

"Why did I have to land in the water?" Tigra pouted. "I'm at Echo Park."

"Tigra, I'm at the cathedral that's right there," Simon said.

"I'm by city hall," Bonita said.

"Bonita, I'm coming your way," Clint said.

"Rose, go back to the park," Vision said. "I'm heading your way from Ascot Hills Park."

"Will do," I said, starting to walk back.

"I already found Bobbi, and we're all the way by LAX," Rhodey said.

"Where should we all meet up?" Bobbi said.

"Everyone get to the base, we know that's a secure location," Clint said. "We have to figure out what exactly happened and how far ahead in the future we are."

We all started to the base once we made it to who we were looking for.

"Are you hurt?" I asked Vision once we were in the air.

"No, are you?" Vision replied.

I shook my head. "Just confused," I said.

"I am, too," Vision said.

We made it to the base where the others were except Rhodey and Bobbi.

"They're close by," Clint said when I asked.

Once the two arrived, we sat down in the conference room.

"Ok, so what time are we in?" Simon said.

"I saw a newspaper while waiting for Clint," Bonita said. "The year 3019."

"So 1000 years ahead of our current time," Rhodey said.

"I highly doubt we will be able to find Wanda this time," Clint commented.

"So right now, we're stuck," Vision said.

I thought of something. "No, we still have a possible solution," I said.

"What's that?" Tigra asked.

"I promised Wanda I wouldn't say, but right now, there's no choice," I said. "If nothing changed, then Wanda and Stephen married and would have a , the manipulation gene transferred through the bloodline."

"So, how do we find this descendant?" Clint asked.

Before we could give ideas, JARVIS suddenly said, "You are trespassing. The police are on the way. Leave now or you will be arrested."

We all looked at each other, confused.

"JARVIS, it's us, the West Coast Avengers," Vision said.

"Databases show nothing of the West Coast branch of the Avenger team," JARVIS said.

"Overrule voice-confirmation Rosalina Barton," I said.

"Voice confirmation denied," JARVIS said. "Last warning. Leave or be prosecuted."

"Guys, let's try to not get in trouble with the law," Bobbi said. "Let's get out of here, find another place to talk."

The rest of us nodded, not in the mood to be dealing with this right now.

We began to leave but we were suddenly fired at.

"Do not engage!" Clint called as we all took shelter where we could to keep from getting hit.

"We'll call peace!" Vision exclaimed.

"Hold fire!" a woman's voice called that sounded a bit familiar to us.

The gunfire stopped.

"If you do mean peace, come out with your hands up," a man's voice said, who also sounded familiar.

Our hands raised above our heads, we walked out into view.

We hid our surprised reactions as we saw two people who looked a little bit like the twins. The woman had Pietro's hair and the man Wanda's eyes and Strange's build.

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

"You look like the people in the pictures that have been passed down the generations," the man added.

"We're the West Coast Avengers," Vision said. "We working along with Pietro and Wanda Maximoff and Stephen Strange. We were sent forward in time."

"That's a thousand years ago," the man said. "Our ancestors had to struggle to stop what had happened when you disappeared."

"There was a giant war that broke out," the woman added when she saw our confused faces. "After the West Coast Avengers disappeared, everything grew difficult. Like my cousin said, it was a difficult fight, but they did turn out on top. Since then, when they couldn't get you back, they erased all information on the West Coast division from every single file possible, including everything JARVIS had and all the news articles, the good and the bad. The only thing that remains is the base."

We looked at each other, surprised.

"Is anyone from the team that is still alive?" Clint asked. "I know it's been a thousand years."

"Thor, but he hardly ever comes to Earth anymore," the woman said.

"Plus Banner has a lab," the man added. "Hulk doesn't die, meaning the Banner can't die. He hasn't aged much."

"Everyone else died a really long time ago," the woman said. "Some died in battle, others died peacefully with their families."

Even though I knew that it was something that had to happen, it still struck me like a pile of bricks, making me feel weak.

By the way the others looked, I could tell that they felt the same way.

The cousins looked at each other, knowing that we were hurt, but also knowing that they had to take us from the base.

"We're really sorry that we have to do this, but we have to arrest you guys," the man said.

We only nodded, not resisting as they came to us and handcuffed us, leading us to the back of the van.

We were completely silent as they drove, trying to wrap our minds around the fact that our friends, who we basically called family and were around every day, performed perilous missions with, went into battles that could've meant our deaths, and just in general became close to, were actually gone. We all knew it had to have been the truth, but it still didn't make it any easier.

I stared at the floor blankly, not even processing the van stopping or the cousins and other guards coming into the van and bringing us out. I just let them guide me with the others to the holding cell, where they removed our handcuffs and left us alone.

Finally, I whispered, "Gone."

"I don't care, before we leave, we need to visit them," Rhodey said. "We have to."

"They are our family," Vision confirmed.

Clint sighed, sitting up and wiping his face. "No, we can't talk about this now," he said. "We can't let the grief get to us. We have to keep focused, starting with being here. We're going to have to defend ourselves in trial before we do anything else to get out of here."

"Do you think they'd listen to us?" Bonita said. "They might think we abandoned them."

"They know the Enchantress sent us away," Tigra said. "We had no choice. Surely they would know that."

"Actually, our team doesn't exist in their minds," Simon corrected. "So to them, besides Clint, Vision, Rose, and Rhodey, who are Avengers, and Bobbi, who's a SHIELD agent, we don't exist."

I looked at Vision. "Do you think AI ever went through?" I said to him.

"Maybe, maybe not," Vision said. "We were supposed to lead them. I would assume that if it did go through, then it would've broken up a long time ago."

"Avengers AI was a go," said a voice and we turned to find a woman standing there. "We were successful in defeating our enemies. I was one of them."

"Alexis," Vision stated. "Protector."

"Correct," Alexis said. "Myself, Victor Mancha, Scott, and Doombot were the defenders."

"How did you get a Doombot on your side?" I asked.

"If I said that, then when you guys are sent back to your time and Avengers AI is formed, it may not be the same," Alexis said. "I see disastrous consequences proceeding with the team if I tell you that information."

The two of us nodded, accepting that.

"But I have come to say that you are released," Alexis said, opening the door. We filed out but before Vision could step out, she added, "Except you, Vision."

"Why?" Vision said, confused.

"Because you are not human and humans can learn from their mistakes," Alexis said, though we could tell she struggled to say that. "You have to go to trial to prove that you can also learn from your mistakes. Robots, unless proven otherwise, are not sentient. You need to show that you are."

"Then how come I'm not being held back?" I said. "I'm an android like him."

"Wrong," Alexis replied. "You were once a human and made into an android. Vision has been an android his whole life."

"Then I will be his defense," I said.

"I am not the one you have to persuade," Alexis said. "I wish I am not the one who has to say this, because I believe that Vision is like us."

"Rose, go work on how to get us back to our time," Vision said. "I will be fine. I know what I can do."

I shook my head. "It won't be enough, Vision," I said. "You can't do this alone. They won't believe what you're saying. You need help."

"We'll all going to help you," Clint said. "We'll be your witnesses, your defense."

Vision nodded after a moment. "Alright," he said. "Thank you."

"You're our teammate, our family," Simon said.

"We have to stick up for you," Bobbi added. "It's our job."

"Do you know when the trial will be?" I said, turning to Alexis.

"Tomorrow morning," Alexis said. "I suggest you find something appropriate to wear. That will help you tomorrow."

"I don't want to leave you," I said to Vision.

"I'll be fine on my own for a little bit," Vision said. "Trust me." He grabbed my hand through the bars and gently squeezed it. "I trust you. I know you'll get me out of here, safe and sound."

"I'll be back in a few hours," I said. "We'll have a plan made. We won't leave you hanging."

"And I'll be waiting," Vision said.