Chapter 58

Layers of Gauze

Emily stared at the cradle. Her senses whispered about life inside it, the same odd feeling she'd had during the party, right before Ultron showed up. She frowned. If only she'd investigated then. Jarvis might… Natalia might…

Rage warred with guilt. Nails bit into the palms of her hands, had been digging in for most of the day. Trading Nat for the twins was never in the plan. She almost hoped they stayed down in the locker room forever. Looking at them, while Ultron -the monster they'd helped- had her little fox, she wasn't sure if she could keep her rage in check.

"Anything on Nat?" Emily heard Bruce whisper to Tony as he entered the lab where they'd secured the cradle, that Ultron had stolen Loki's scepter from.

"Haven't heard." Tony stumbled when he met Emily's gaze. "But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it."

Was that supposed to comfort her?

"This is sealed tight." Clint gave up trying to force the cradle open and set to pacing. Since he'd set the quinjet down at the Avengers Tower, he hadn't been able to sit still; he couldn't look Emily in the eye either, and she wasn't sure she could let him without trying to rip his chest open for allowing Ultron to take Natasha.

"We're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within." Bruce said.

"Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the Internet?" Tony caught Clint as he paced. "Old-school spy stuff?"

Clint paused. "Yea. Yea, that's a thing. I'll find her," he touched Emily's shoulder, jogged out of the lab.

"Maybe you can help Barton?" Tony asked Emily.

She wanted to. More than anything. But she didn't have contacts who could find Ultron. She didn't have skills in that sector. "Nothing I can do," ripped her heart into pieces. She stood on trembling legs.

"I can work on tissue degeneration." Bruce poked at the controls, got them to switch to English. "If you could fry whatever operational system Cho implanted."

Tony was scratching his head. "Yea. About that." He cast a guilty look at Emily.

Her hackles rose.

Bruce looked up from poking at the cradle. He eyed Tony, his expression shifting from thoughtful to wary. "No."

"You have to trust me."

"Kind of don't."

Liquid pooled in Emily's hands. Maybe Tony wasn't saying what she thought he was, was he? "Our ally, the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes, I found him." Tony lifted one of his control pads, flicked it at a screen. Jarvis' big, orange digital projection appeared.

Emily gaped. "Jarvis!"

"Hello, Dr. Banner. Ms. Fortune."

"Ultron didn't go after Jarvis because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do."

Bruce was shaking his head, tonguing his cheek. Emily tried to focus on the joy of a friend returned, but couldn't get her hands to unclench.

"So Jarvis went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together!"

Bruce scoffed.

What was Tony building up to?

Tony stared. Bruce stared back.

"You want me to help you put Jarvis into this thing?" Bruce demanded.

"No! Of course not." Tony denied. "I wanna help you put Jarvis in this thing."

The joy vanished, rage roaring back to fill its place.

Bruce shook his head. "No, Tony."

"We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone."
"And you just assume that Jarvis' operational matrix can beat Ultron's?"

"Jarvis has been beating him from inside without knowing it." Tony's voice was all determined assurance. "This is the opportunity. We can create Ultron's perfect self without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to."

"I think it's worth a go," came softly from Jarvis.

Bruce threw his hands up. "I'm caught in a loop." They dropped to the back of his head. "A goddamn time loop. This is exactly where it all went wrong."
"I know," Tony glanced at Emily, some of his confidence flagging at her expression. "I know what everyone's gonna say. But they're already saying it." He gathered himself, put a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. We gotta own it. Make a stand."

Again, Bruce was shaking his head, but she could see that he was being swayed. He wanted to be the hero.

"It's not a loop." Tony insisted. "It's the end of the line."
They both looked at the cradle. Bruce fumbled with his hands, then looked at Emily. "I thought we'd agreed to do things as a team. This isn't our decision, Tony."

Guilt returned to Tony. He frowned at Emily. The frown deepened as his eyes flicked down. "Em."

"No!" A hand was up, finger pointing at his chest, shivering and dripping blood. "Don't you dare go back on what you promised."

"I…"

Fury switched to desperate pleading, "Please."

Tony's eyes danced from her to Bruce to the cradle. He scratched at his head, took a step forward, back. He sighed. "No. You're right. Team vote."

Liquid streamed down her face.

"Will you let someone take care of your hands now?" Tony grimaced. "Bruce, wrap her hands in six thousand layers of gauze, would you?"

"Me?" Bruce objected. "It's definitely not a good idea for Emily to have to the Hulk at her fingertips while she's looking at you like that."

"How can you still love him after he betrayed all of you?" A new voice interrupted them.

Walking calmly into the lab was Wanda Maximoff. All sixteen years and five feet of her, the poster child for teenage rebellion, with her bracelets and necklaces, raccoon eye liner and punk demeanor. And the sleek red leather jacket she was wearing.

Natasha's jacket. The one Emily had gotten her for last Christmas.

Wanda stopped cold. At her shoulder, her taller twin stopped too, and his head canted. Were they telepathic? Wanda obviously was, could probably hear the hurricane inside Emily's head, but could Pietro and Wanda speak on another level? Or was it just a twin thing?

Wanda shrugged off the jacket and held it out. Without its tailored lines, Wanda looked even younger, vulnerable and delicate. Her exposed shoulders and collarbones were sharp, too sharp, and scarred. And her brother wasn't any better. He was all knees and elbows, skinny even for a beanpole teen.

"Has anyone offered you a meal?" Emily asked. Or had they shoved the kids on the quinjet when they'd offered their help taking out Ultron and treated them like prisoners since?

Pietro's eyes narrowed, but his sister's widened.

Emily made herself look at the jacket. "Keep it." Maybe it might give the girl an ounce of protection. Besides, Nat wouldn't fit in it again for months.

"We thought it was a show for the cameras." Wanda said. She slid the jacket back on. It hung loose.

"That Emily is our resident supermom? No, that's her default." Tony said. "You get used to it."

Wanda's piercing gaze settled on him, hatred prominent, yet it softened, nearly vanished after another look at Emily. "When Ultron was connected to the body, I could see what he was dreaming about. That is why we are here. We cannot let Ultron realize that dream."

"How did you even get in here?" Tony demanded.

Wanda's lips crooked.

"Dear God. She's a mini-Romanoff."

That smirk really was a mirror image of Nat's. Always exuding an air of utter competence, superiority, and complete control. But underneath was a delicate heart, sweet compassion, and a burning desire to prove herself. Emily's hands shivered and relaxed. She brought them up to see the damage. Blood oozed from sharp crescent wounds. Nat was going to fuss over them later, then give Emily a manicure, all sharp words and irritation to hide her worry.

If they found her and could bring her home.

Her hands trembled.

"Come on, Emily." Bruce was in front of her. "Let's get you cleaned up."

She allowed herself to be turned to the elevator. "Tony." She snapped when they got to the doors. "You're not staying in here alone. Twins, you too."

She expected a fight, not the immediate, docile submission she got. Tony strode in ahead of her. The twins followed after. On the common level, Bucky and Steve were in the kitchen with Pepper. She looked up and frowned, quickly replaced it with a smile that could cut glass.

"Tony, set the table. Lunch will be ready soon."

"How can you be so calm?" Pietro shouted. "Making lunch and preparing to sit down like some happy family while Ultron is out there, planning our extinction?"

"Pietro." Wanda said.

"No!" He barked. There was a blur, and he was putting a large kitchen knife through Tony's throat. Or would have, but his blur buckled, and he was rolling across the carpet, knife flying harmlessly to a corner. He grabbed at his leg.

"I can help." Emily knelt. "Let me help."

Disbelief glared at her. "I just tried to kill your friend, and you offer to help me? Why should I trust you?"

"Because her offer is true." Wanda was kneeling too, touching his shoulder. "I can hear Stark remembering the Avengers fighting over how to keep Emily from trying to help us. They lost the fight, and we are here."

Emily held out a hand, grimaced at the blood there.

Pietro sneered. "Don't touch me with that."

"Pi-"

"Wash your hands first."

Emily smiled. "Okay. Bruce, you still want to doctor me?"

"Yea. Of course."

"Tony!" Pepper called over. "Set the table!"

Intense, stabbing pain woke Natasha. Groaning, she assumed it was something new with her pregnancy. Laura always talked about how it killed her back, made her legs weak, turned her feet into giant sausages. Between Natasha's enhanced body and Emily's gift, she hadn't experienced much of the negative sides of pregnancy, was almost envious of the travails that other women had. This pain wasn't one she wanted to keep experiencing. It felt like she'd taken a serious beating from Steve.

She reached for Emily.

Her hand met cold stone. In fact, there wasn't a bed at all, only the cold, unyielding stone. She was still in her mission armor. Her mind switched from pregnancy wonders to cold deliberation. Where was she? How had she gotten there? Were there guards? She stopped moving in case she could still feign sleep and delude her captors for an advantage. Sounds made themselves known. Machinery. Electronics. Welding?

Large machinery and small. Footsteps approached. Heavy, metallic footsteps.

Ultron. Shit. Her being yanked out of the quinjet, kidnapped by an Ultron minion, flooded into her mind. Suddenly frantic, she touched her stomach. Nothing felt wrong, but wha-

"I wasn't sure you'd wake up." Ultron's main body walked up. "I hoped you would. I wanted to show you."

She focused beyond him, saw a hive of activity. Ultron and his minions working at what appeared to be an assembly line of more robots. Ultron's main self looked heavily damaged. Good.

"I don't have anyone else."

All about him and his ego. Damn Tony.

"I think a lot about meteors. The purity in them. Boom! The end."

Pure? Drama queen. Was Emily okay?
"Start again. The world made clean for the new man to rebuild."

She sat up, made to stand, but her leg howled. Broken. She sagged against a stone wall.

"I was meant to be new. I was meant to be beautiful. The world would have looked to the sky and seen hope, seen mercy."

He was seriously deluded.

"Instead, they'll look up in horror because of you." His voice became angry, and he advanced on her. "You've wounded me."

Unconsciously, she pressed back into the wall.

He paused. "I give you full marks for that. But, like the man said, what doesn't kill me…" His head exploded, the body shattered on its way down, replaced by a bigger, sleeker Ultron. "Just makes me stronger." Serious drama queen. He should have a Broadway production.

"All this talk about change and evolution is total bullshit." Natasha drawled. "You don't care about humanity evolving. You don't care about us at all. You simply wish to remake the world as you see fit. You want a world shaped to your whims and desires." She watched Ultron's fists curl, decided to push a little farther. "At least Tony tries to give a damn about other people."

"Don't compare me to Stark!" He punched the cage, dented the metal bars.

"Humanity is already evolving. Look at Emily, the Inhumans, Steve Rogers," she gestured at her round belly, "The new life inside me."

He tilted his head. "Not fast enough."

She held her follow up comment and watched him quietly. Ultron eventually went back to his project. She found a handful of tools, wires, and equipment that had been cast aside. Had the cage been a small workshop once? This was clearly Strucker's old lair in Sokovia. That meant the SHIELD agents supposed to be guarding the place were dead, or worse: turned. She would t-

No. Focus on the now. She needed to contact her team. There was plenty here to build a transmitter from, and her armor could provide power. Not much, hopefully not enough for Ultron to notice, but enough to transmit old-school Morris code on a frequency that Clint should be monitoring.

Layers of gauze made Emily's hands look like they had diapers on them. Bruce and Tony were insistent on the extra layers to keep her nails from doing further damage. Then Pepper had taken over, clipping and shaping Emily's nails to barely-there stubs.

Pietro glared at her from the chair he'd hobbled into. Petulant child, distrustful and angry, yet desperate for help, for warmth and shelter. Like Emily had been before Hafid. She didn't have to look up to know that Wanda was staring as well. Emily was fairly certain Wanda's gift worked like hers, in that she had to focus to receive specific details. The girl hadn't stopped staring since Korea. Was she waiting for the other shoe to drop despite her words to her brother? Of course she was. Poor kid.

Emily offered a kind smile and wiggled her fingertips at Pietro, who was sitting on a couch. "I don't need much contact, but I do want your consent."

"I already agreed."

"I want to make sure you still do."

His frown twisted. Quick motion drew the leg of his sweatpants up, exposed angry red swelling, old bruising, and ragged scabs along his thigh. Infection was causing the redness and swelling. She couldn't cure that. "This isn't a simple fix. Infections are difficult."

"Wh-"

"Pietro, why did you hide this?" His sister scowled.

"It was nothing."

"Infections kill. We watched enough people die of them."

He shrugged. "Sorry." He turned his glare back on Emily. "Are you going to fix me or not?"

Emily nodded. "I can start the process. You'll need antibiotics."

He thrust his leg at her. "Get on with it."

Fingers touched skin. "Bruce will need a blood sample to see what kind of bacteria is in there."

"Whatever."

With Emily's help, he took an easy sample that he immediately took back to the lab. With all the resources he had access to, results would come in a fraction of the time it took normal doctors.

"Keep in mind. This will hurt." Emily warned.

"Pain is nothing."

Stubborn child. Emily pushed those thoughts away to focus, delved deep. The injury went almost to the bone. She was surprised the infection wasn't worse than it was, even with the malnutrition. Lucky. She did a thorough scan before starting to push the infection back as much as she could, boosting his immune response, reducing the swelling, stitching up the wound.

"You've got a few fractured bones too. Ribs, left arm. Want me to deal with those?"

"Do it."

Through it all, only a few hisses escaped his teeth.

"I can't do anything for your bruised ego, but your body's as good as it gets." Emily stood.

Bruce appeared. "I'll have results in a couple hours."

"Everyone to the table." Pepper announced. "Lunch is served."

Baked chicken, pesto, noodles, and salad. Typical Pepper.

Emily was halfway through when Clint burst in.

"I know where she is."

Emily's fork clattered to her forgotten lunch.

Natasha lounged as best she could on the wooden box in her cage. Stashed in a pocket, the transmitter was buzzing away with its brief message.

"You know if you kill us all, you'll be completely alone with your thoughts."

Ultron scowled. "Better to be alone than surrounded by cockroaches."

"What's wrong with cockroaches? They're scavengers. They clean up after everyone else."

"Says the cockroach."

"Yet here you keep me."

"Maybe I shouldn't." He threatened.

Natasha shrugged. "Then you can't use me as bait or meat shield, and the Avengers will be coming for revenge instead of rescue."

"They're no threat to me."

"Clearly."

He punched her cage again, broke an iron pole. "Just shut up."

She shrugged again. He growled and spun away. An hour later, a minion brought her a cold meal.

"Thor." Emily blinked up at the god.

"Lady Fortune." He looked her over. "You're in armor. Going after Ultron again? Have you discovered a way to defeat him?"

"We have the twins now. And Tony came up with EMP weapons that should work." A few stickies to throw at murderbots and upgraded zap sticks for Natasha.

He frowned. "It is not enough."

"It doesn't matter. He has Natasha."

The flames of war burned in his pretty eyes. "Where is the body?"

"What?"

"The body he was creating. Where is it?"

"In the lab. The team decided to leave it there until we can destroy it."

Thor stomped toward the stairs, his long legs quickly leaving Emily behind. She ran to catch up.

"Hey, what's going on?"

He didn't answer, only picked up pace.

"Thor!"

"Em?" Steve was at her side, suited up and ready for battle. "Thor? When did you get back?"

"Stop him." Emily ordered. She had a terrible feeling.

Steve blinked once, then jumped at Thor. The god twisted, dodged, used his hammer to knock Steve through a wall. Bucky was there next. He got the same stunning treatment.

They arrived at the lab door when Iron Man flew in front of it. "Hey, buddy. Where you off to?"

"Get out of my way, Stark. This must be done."

"Look, let's talk about this. What must be done?"

Thor huffed. "I've had a vision. We need it."

"It?" Tony asked. "The body Ultron was creating?"

"Yes. Now move."

"Sorry. Team voted. We're going to destroy it. After we go get Natasha."

"I do not wish to hurt you." Thor threatened.

Emily jumped at exposed skin on his arm. Her fingers brushed, but he whirled away, went on the offensive, trading blows with Tony, then Steve and Bucky. Glass and walls exploded. Computers sizzled. Emily was tackled behind a desk, Pietro on her back. Exposed wires zapped the space Emily had been in.

The fight was quick. Thor only had to knock the boys away long enough to lift his hammer and charge it with lightning that he drove into the cradle.

"No!"

Clint arrived to see the cradle explode and a red figure emerge from it. It was man-shaped and naked, lacking man-bits, yet sporting a glowing yellow gem in its forehead. Glass clinked as Thor rose from where he'd been blown. Boots and leather creaked as fighters readied themselves.

Its eyes opened. They were a strange blue, grey, metal. Robot. This was a robot. Sleek and organicish, but a robot. Her senses buzzed. The robot exuded life, presence. It looked around, at himself, at the lab, at the people staring at him. His expression shifted, and he was flying across the room at Thor.

A quick movement sent him spinning away from the god, through a wall, across a sitting room. He came to an abrupt halt in front of windows that overlooked New York. There he stayed, staring silently into the city until someone shifted, caused noise that had him turning around. His form changed. His exterior shifted to look like skintight clothing. A grey suit from feet to collar and wrists.

"I'm sorry. That was… odd." He looked at Thor. "Thank you." A breath later, a cape mimicking Thor's fluttered down his back.

"Thor." Steve accused. "You helped create this?"

Thor took his eyes off the delicate, translucent cape. "I've had a vision. The whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that." He pointed at the glowing amber gem in the center of the … being's head.

"The gem?" Bruce asked.

"The Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."
"Then why would you bri-"

"Because the Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor said.

"Not alone." The new being added.

"Why does your vision sound like Jarvis?" Steve asked.

Emily's feet moved toward the being, her fingers twitching to scan him.

"We reconfigured Jarvis' matrix to create something new." Tony explained.

"I think I've had my fill of new." Steve grumbled.

The being was slowly walking from Thor to Tony to Steve. "You think I'm a child of Ultron."
"You're not?" Steve countered.

"I'm not Ultron. I am not Jarvis." He looked confused. "I am…" He looked at Emily. "I am."

Wanda took stage, imperious chin lifted up. "I looked inside your head and saw annihilation."

He was a bastion of calm. "Look again."

"Yea…" Clint scoffed. "The kid's seal of approval doesn't have much merit right now."

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone. And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash." Thor gestured.

That sense of something pulsed from the being. That must be what she'd been sensing all the time, something strong enough to not need her direct touch. This Mind Stone.

"But with it on our side…"

"Is it?" Steve cut him off. He focused on the being. "Are you? On our side?"

His expression shifted to thoughtful. A tactical choice? A human reflex? "I don't think it's that simple."

"Well, it better get real simple, real soon." Clint said. He was fingering his handgun.

The being's lips pursed. Determination settled his features. He took a step toward them. "I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

She couldn't help but trust the soft tones of Jarvis. She stepped up to him, lifted a hand with slow care, touched his face. Strange sensations came through the connection. Life, yes. Different, alien, stranger even than Asgardian. It would take a long, long time to sort it out.

"What's he waiting for?" Tony's voice was soft.

The being lifted his strange gaze off Emily. He gathered the group in his gaze. "You."

"If we're wrong about you." Bruce said "If you're the monster that Ultron made you to be…"

"What will you do?" was the calm question.

No one had an answer.

"I don't want to kill Ultron," sounded sad. "He's unique and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth. So, he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others." A pause. "Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one." He looked at his hands. "I'm not what you are, and not what you intended." He turned, moved to where Thor had set his Mjolnir down. "So, there may be no way to make you trust me."

Emily gasped. Mjolnir was in his hand. The same hammer that no one else could lift.

"But we need to go." Mjolnir was proffered to Thor, who stared at it. Everyone stared at it.

Dumb expression plastered on his face, Thor accepted his hammer.

Steve recovered first. "Emily?"

She looked at him, her hands, the being. "He's alive."

"I see life in his future." Wanda said.

Steve checked the rest of their silent opinions. No one gave argument. He looked at Thor. "Twenty minutes. Get what you need."

A/N - Surprise! Three days in a row!