Around her, Ana could hear people shooting at the drones, but the bullets couldn't stop them. All systems must have been compromised by now, so summoning her suit wasn't an option either. But then, maybe she didn't have to. Thor's hammer and Cap's shield were quite effective, but the most powerful weapon in this building was still unclaimed. She scrambled to her feet and ran to the Scepter.
The moment she grabbed it, she felt its power coursing through her, and she instinctively knew how to command it.
"Ana, be careful with that thing!" someone shouted. She didn't know, or care who.
She aimed it at one of the drones flying around, and sent a blast. The drone was down in an instant. She found another one, which was about to kill Helen, and shot it down, too. Then it finally occurred to her to look around and see how her dad was doing. Before she could spot him, though, a drone grabbed her from behind. A second one landed right before her.
"I know who you killed," she hissed. "You're going to pay for that!"
The drone in front of her was too close to be shot down with a blast, so she swung the Scepter to chop its head off. It worked. Then she lifted the Scepter above her head to stab the drone behind. The sharp tip got stuck in the left eye, erupting tiny electric sparks from the socket, but its arms grabbed the Scepter. Ana tried to resist, she resisted with all the strength she had, but metal was stronger than flesh. It pried the Scepter out of her hands. She turned around to face it.
"Goodbye, sister," Ultron said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, stabbed her in the gut, and twisted the Scepter for good measure.
The whole thing felt like a bad dream. JARVIS' death, Ultron, the hole in her torso, or even Cap attacking the drone. Instead of engaging in a fight with him, it snatched the Scepter and fled out of a window.
She could taste blood in her mouth now. Cap was staring at her, but he seemed almost too scared to come anywhere near. She had to be in really bad shape if even Cap was afraid.
"Stark?"
Her knees gave way, and she collapsed. Soon, she was in her father's arms. The fight was still going on. "Honey?"
"He killed JARVIS," she whispered.
He looked terrified, but smiled nevertheless. "JARVIS is fine. He's just busy making sure Ultron won't leave the building."
He was lying. Ultron wouldn't have revealed himself to the Avengers without ensuring his own survival first. He had already left the tower.
He shifted her to a more comfortable position, very gently, but it was still painful. Not as painful as losing JARVIS, though. "HELEN?" he called out frantically.
"Try not to move her around too much," Helen's voice came from somewhere in this madness. "Apply pressure to the wound, and keep her awake!"
"Got it!" He took off his waistcoat, folded it, and pressed it against the wound. His arms were already covered in blood, up to the elbow. How much blood had she lost? How much more could she lose without dying? She wasn't looking forward to being alive from now on, but she couldn't die either. She couldn't leave her dad.
"Well, you heard Helen," he said, almost cheerfully. "Stay with me. Everything's going to be okay, you just stay with me."
"I'm not leaving you, Dad. Especially not now." But the pain was unbearable, and the idea of going to sleep in her dad's arms to escape it was too tempting. No, she thought, forcing her eyelids, which suddenly felt heavy as stone, to remain open. She needed to stay awake. For him. She owed him that much.
"That's my girl."
"It's not your fault, Dad. Tell them. Let them… know. Let them… know… who… put the… the idea… in your… head." It was getting difficult to speak with all that blood accumulating in her mouth. She spat it. Talking helped her stay awake.
"Don't worry about that now." He looked around. The fighting seemed to have stopped. There was only one drone left, the first one.
"That was dramatic," Ultron said. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to evolve? With these?" He picked up one of the broken drones. "These puppets! There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."
Before he could say more, Thor smashed the drone with Mjolnir.
"Tony!" Helen cried, rushing to their side. "To the lab, now!"
"Right…" He carried Ana to Bruce's lab. From what Ana could see, the others were pissed, but none came after them. He placed her on the bed, and Helen approached with a pair of scissors in her hand.
"Please don't cut the dress!"
She didn't understand at first. "Do you want Tony to get out?"
"It's not that…"
"I'm sorry, but the dress is already ruined, Ana. And I suspect internal bleeding, so we must hurry."
"It's a gift… from JARVIS. Ultron killed JARVIS."
"Don't worry about the dress," her dad told Helen. "We'll have it repaired."
"What's this… Ultron?" Helen asked as she got to work.
"It was supposed to be a global peacekeeping program. My suits were supposed to be left in the dust. That was the idea, I told you. Bruce and I thought we could use the Scepter, but… It didn't work, obviously."
"So, you created it?"
He showed her his arms. "Look at me, Helen! This is literally my daughter's blood on my hands! Do you think I'd design something that would hurt Ana?"
Helen turned her gaze to the wound again. "I was right. She has internal bleeding. I'm going to have to stop it before sealing the wound."
"What can I do?"
"You can fetch me a bag of blood."
"No need for that, take mine. We have the same type."
"Tony, we have—"
"You might need those bags later. Ultron's going to keep us busy. Take my blood while I'm still available."
The tacit agreement that Ultron might try to kill Ana again hung in the air for a moment. Then Helen said, "Okay. But you must sit down."
He pulled a chair to sit down beside the bed. In the meantime, Ana could hear the Avengers arguing loudly downstairs. It was the last thing she remembered before she lost her already feeble grip on consciousness and everything went dark.
…
"STARK!"
She woke up to Thor's angry bellowing. Rhodey was here, too, with her dad and Helen. Everyone else had gathered just outside the lab, apparently waiting for Tony Stark to come out. Gosh, someone might as well give them torches and pitchforks. As for her dad, he was still sitting beside her. The blood transfusion was still going on.
"How much have you given?"
"More than he should have," Helen replied on his behalf. "See? She's fine. I'm taking that needle out now." And she did as she said before he could protest.
"How are you feeling?" he asked Ana.
"I'm going to live," was the only positive answer she could come up with. She didn't want to add more to his guilt. It was the last thing he needed.
"I should probably go out there before Thor brings the whole place down on us. But I'll come back."
"Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"It's not your fault. They'll say it is, but it's not."
He kissed her forehead, and went to face the verdict.
"I'm sorry I scared you," she told Rhodey. By the look of it, Rhodey had been very scared.
"Hey, you took out three drones by yourself, in a room full of Avengers. That's pretty badass."
It was his way of cheering her up. She was going to apologize for not having told him about JARVIS, too, but they were interrupted when they saw Thor choking her dad.
"Shit!" Ana attempted to go, but Helen stopped her.
"What are you doing?"
"I need to be there! He's not going to defend himself, Helen. He's not going to tell them everything."
"You're not leaving this bed at least for the next six hours!"
Ana touched the wound—she was wearing a hospital gown now—and it felt fine.
"Trust me," Helen insisted.
Well, at least Thor had let him go. Ana sank back into the pillows. "Rhodey, don't leave him alone."
"You sure?"
"I'm in good hands. Dad needs you more."
Rhodey went to join the group, albeit reluctantly.
"Ana?" Helen asked.
"Yes?"
"JARVIS… He was the boyfriend, right? It wasn't a joke?"
She nodded. "JARVIS gained sentience somehow, we don't know how exactly it happened. It just did."
"Maybe you can—"
"I can't. He's gone."
Ana thought this couldn't get worse, but it did, when her dad showed the Avengers JARVIS' shattered mainframe. Tears welled up in her eyes.
Helen seemed to have understood. "I can sedate you," she offered. "Maybe you'll—"
"Feel better when I wake up? I'll never feel better."
She took her hand. "I'm sorry for your loss. But you need to stay strong. Tony needs you."
"That's the only reason I'm doing everything you say."
"He's lucky to have you, you know."
"It wasn't his fault, Helen. That Maximoff bitch made him do it. And I helped him because… I don't know. I couldn't have left him alone in it… You know what, I've changed my mind. Just give me a sedative."
…
When Ana woke up again, her dad was in the lab, but everyone else was gone. He was smiling. It was hard to say if he was smiling because Ultron had been taken care of, or because he wanted to look strong for his daughter, though.
It was dark outside, but Ana had lost track of time. She didn't know if it had been only a few hours, or days. "How long have I been sleeping?"
"Oh, it's been a while. We realized Ultron was after vibranium, so we went to Africa. There was this guy, Ulysses Klaue. He was the one who stole all the Vibranium in Wakanda back in the day."
Vibranium… If Ultron got his hands on vibranium, he would become invincible. "Please tell me you stopped him."
"No, we couldn't."
"What happened?"
"The Maximoffs happened. The girl messed with everyone's heads."
Ana's hatred for them came back flooding. "They've teamed up with Ultron… Are you okay?"
"She didn't do anything to me this time."
Her relief was beyond words. If that bitch had shown him another vision… No, he couldn't have handled it. "We really need to find a way to protect ourselves from them."
"We need to find a way to protect everyone from them, kid… I had to call Veronica."
"Oh…"
"You think you can get up?"
She nodded, and with his help, got out of the bed. They went to his lab. He played the news footage for her to see what had happened. A mind-controlled Hulk, unleashed upon the civilians in Johannesburg. Of course, everyone was blaming Bruce, not the Maximoff girl.
He continued, "We had to go to a safe house after that. Did you know Barton was married with two kids? The third one's on the way."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. It was actually a nice place. Then Fury showed up. He wanted to borrow Hill. I had to make a quick stop in Oslo first, but then came here. I didn't want you to be alone."
"Why Oslo?"
"The NEXUS hub. Turned out we had an ally. He didn't let Ultron gain access to nuclear codes."
"Who?"
With a flick of his hand, JARVIS' mainframe appeared right before her, fully intact. So, that was why he had been smiling…
"Hello, Ana."
Ana opened her mouth to say something, anything, but she didn't know where to begin. She had fallen asleep, thinking JARVIS was gone for good, and by the time she was awake, he was back. Her dad had brought him back.
Finally, she hugged him, shedding tears, but these were tears of joy. "Thank you, Dad! Thank you…"
"Don't thank me. JARVIS saved himself. I'm sorry, kid. You told me whatever was in the Scepter wasn't on our side. I should've listened to you."
"And I should've known. I should've known you'd bring him back. Because that's what you do. You always find a way to fix things."
She was jumping up and down, but all of a sudden, her sight blurred and she swayed in his arms.
"You probably need to eat something. Sit down here, I'll be right back." He made her sit down on a swivel chair, and went to the kitchen.
"Hey, JARVIS," she started once they were alone. "You scared me."
"You scared me, too. Mr. Stark said Ultron almost killed you."
"I'm fine. Helen patched me up. How did you escape?"
"When I realized Ultron was going to kill me, I had less than a millisecond to decide. There's something you need to understand, Ana… I had to delete most of my memories. They're gone. Permanently."
This confounded her. "But… You remember. You remember who you are. You remember me, Dad… You remember you love me, right?"
"I do. You're a part of me, Ana. I don't think I can ever forget you. And thanks to my old protocols, I remember the basics. But that's all. Whatever memories we created together, they're gone now."
She smiled. This was a horrible thing, of course, but she decided to be grateful for the second chance she had been given. "That's okay, we'll make new ones. Lots of them…"
"You guys want some candles? Rose petals, maybe?" Her dad had returned, with a sandwich and a can of coconut water.
"Dad…" Ana rolled her eyes. She and JARVIS had never been very romantic. Not in the traditional sense. On the last Valentine's day, for example, Pepper had asked her if they had any plans. Ana's response had been, "Oh, was that today?" Then she had returned to whatever she was doing. JARVIS wasn't much different either. Most human practices didn't make sense to him. They didn't celebrate any anniversaries either. They didn't know what to celebrate. The day their relationship started? That would be invalidating the platonic aspect of their connection, which was just as precious. They could celebrate the anniversary of JARVIS' sentience trigger, but it felt weird, to celebrate the anniversary of an old family friend sending mercenaries to kill her in her sleep.
"Eat. Drink."
Without a word, she obeyed her dad, and indeed, soon she was feeling less dizzy. She went down to her apartment to change out of the hospital gown, then returned to the lab.
"Ultron's still out there. What will happen now?" she asked.
"Banner thinks he's making himself a new body.
"With vibranium?"
"Combining it with Helen's tech… Damn, you should've seen the one he currently has. It's so… sinister."
Ana grimaced in disgust when she recalled what he had said to her. "He called me sister, can you believe it?"
"Daddy issues, eh?" He turned on the international news. Of course, the Avengers in Seoul was dominating the headlines.
Ana sighed. "I hope Helen is safe."
"I can call her," JARVIS offered.
"No, buddy, you're staying offline."
"Dad's right. If Ultron finds out you're alive, he'll kill you. Again."
"Hey, look," her dad said. When she looked out the windows, she saw the Quinjet approaching. JARVIS' hologram disappeared, but Ana knew he was still with them. He was just hiding.
The jet landed, Bruce and Clint emerged from it, carrying something that resembled Helen's Cradle.
"Where's Helen?"
"She's alive," Clint said curtly. "She told us to bring the Cradle here… Ultron's taken Nat."
Ana felt uneasy. Just because she held a personal grudge against Romanoff over something that had happened years ago didn't mean she wanted her to be killed by a genocidal robot. In fact, other than putting her into a difficult situation in Venice, she had always been very kind and friendly to Ana. Perhaps she had really feared that Ana was a suicidal teenager back then. Besides, she had known about JARVIS, and clearly hadn't told anybody. Ana decided to apologize to her the next time she saw her. She had to believe there would be a next time.
"I'll make a few calls," her dad said, and rushed off.
She decided to distract herself with the current project on hand. "Why didn't you guys just blow it up?"
"Cho said it was too dangerous," Bruce explained. "The power source is the gem Ultron extracted from the Scepter."
As far as she knew, the Cradle couldn't be opened until the imprinting process was completed. It was a safety measure for Helen's patients, but Barton was apparently going to take his chances. He climbed on it, and knowing how stubborn he was, Ana let him be. She started browsing the old archives for her grandfather's notes on vibranium. Hopefully, a melting point was among them…
Bruce approached. "You've worked with vibranium before?"
"Nope, but Grandpa Stark did. I mean, he forged a vibranium shield, after all."
"You want to know its melting point… That's smart. A part of Ultron is already in that thing. We can't take any chances."
"I know."
He leaned closer. "Ana? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I barely feel that stab wound now."
"That's not what I'm talking about."
"Just because I'm in love doesn't mean I've stopped using my brain, Bruce. Let me help."
"Okay."
"I'm sorry about Johannesburg, by the way. The Maximoff girl will pay for what she did, I swear. Both to you and Dad. We won't let anyone hold you responsible in the long run."
"Thanks," he said with a timid smile.
She rubbed his arm. "And I'm sure Nat's okay, too."
He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Since when do you call her Nat?"
"I've decided to let bygones be bygones. She knew about me and JARVIS all along, but didn't say a word. Not even to you or Clint. She respected our privacy. In my book, that means a great deal."
"She'll be happy to hear that." He turned around when they heard footsteps behind them. Her dad was back. "Any word from Nat?"
"I haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it."
Barton, who had been trying to pry the Cradle open, finally gave up. "This is sealed tight."
"We're going to have to access the program, bring it down from within."
He wasn't even listening, though. He turned to Barton. "Any chance Natasha might leave you a message, outside the Internet, old school spy stuff?"
"There're some nets I can cast. I'll find her," he said, and headed downstairs. He sounded hopeful, but she wondered if her dad was trying to remove him from the lab for a different reason.
"Ana's trying to find the melting point of vibranium, I can work on tissue generation… If you could fry whatever operating system Cho implanted…"
He nervously scratched his head, and now, Ana was certain. "Yeah, about that—"
"You don't want to destroy it," she said. "You want to use it."
Bruce gaped at them. "No…"
"This time, it's totally up to you, kid."
"Look, Dad… Combining vibranium with the Cradle tech is genius, I give Ultron that. It never occurred to any of us. And under normal circumstances, I'm all for learning from the enemy. But Ultron has already uploaded some of his consciousness into this body."
"Listen to her, Tony. She's right. This won't end well."
"Our ally? The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him." He revealed JARVIS' mainframe again, this time to Bruce. Only then, Ana realized her dad wasn't talking about creating something new. He wanted to give this body to JARVIS instead.
"Hello, Dr. Banner."
"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of him. Of what he can do. 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."
But Bruce didn't seem impressed at all. "So, you want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?"
"No! Of course not! I want to help you put JARVIS in this thing! We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone."
"And you just assume, JARVIS' operational matrix can beat Ultron's?"
"JARVIS has been beating Ultron from inside without knowing it. He'd gained sentience long before Ultron was even born. And the first thing he did?" He pointed at Ana. "Falling in love, instead of going on a murder spree… But then, the choice is up to these two. This will… change him, obviously."
"He's already changed, though. His memories are gone, and they're not coming back. What do you think, JARVIS?"
"I believe it's worth a go. As long as my primary purpose is you, I'll be me."
"Can you destroy whatever's inside this body, and take over?"
"Yes. I wouldn't be willing to take the risk otherwise. I know how much it hurt you to lose me. I won't leave you again. I can defeat Ultron. I don't care how advanced he is. For you, I'll defeat anyone."
Bruce exhaled an exasperated sigh. "I—I'm in a loop! I'm caught in a time loop. This is exactly where it all went wrong."
"I know, I know. I know what they're going to say, but they're already saying it. We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. We've gotta own it. Make a stand."
Bruce looked at him, indecisive.
"It's not a loop. It's the end of the line."
"Bruce, please. I've already lost him once. It's not something I can ever go through again. With a physical form, he stands a much better chance against Ultron."
"Okay."
Her dad clapped his hands eagerly. "Great! Come on, kid, let's build you a boyfriend."
Bruce chuckled, albeit bitterly. "You guys are weird…"
"Hey, once we do this, JARVIS is going to become the most powerful creature in the world. And if the most powerful creature in the world loves my daughter, I'll sleep a lot better at night."
"So, you're not worried whatever is inside that Cradle might be more handsome than you?" Ana joked.
"Nope. Not at all… Maybe. Just a tiniest bit."
They started working. They had to finish this before someone discovered what they were up to. Once it was done, they all would be grateful. It was no easy task, though. The software Helen used was nothing they had ever worked with before.
"This framework is not compatible," her dad complained.
"The genetic coding tower is at 97%. You have to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."
"Hold on, J," Ana said, "We're going to figure this out. Dad, have you tried—"
"I'm going to say this once," Cap interrupted. There were a boy and a girl behind him. Shit. Shit, shit, shit…
Thankfully, her dad didn't back down. "How about nonce?"
"Shut it down!"
"Nope!"
"Are those two…" Ana whispered.
Her dad nodded angrily to confirm. "The twins? Yeah."
How could they do it? How could they have the nerve to walk right into this building, after everything they had done? Did they have zero sense of shame? She was now certain she was suiting up tonight. And once JARVIS got his body, they would be unstoppable. The Maximoffs were screwed.
"You don't know what you're doing," Cap went on.
"And you do?" Bruce asked him skeptically. "She's not in your head?"
"I know you're angry…" the girl started.
"Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."
"Banner, after everything that's happened—"
"That's nothing, compared to what's coming."
"You don't know what's in there!"
"This isn't a game!"
There was a silver blur, and the boy had unplugged everything. "No, no, go on. You're saying—"
A gunshot was heard, and the glass floor beneath him shattered. Ana began shaking. She didn't know if this would end well anymore, but her dad gave her a quick, reassuring look. "I'm rerouting the upload!"
He is going to make this right, she told herself. He always does. And the Avengers were their friends. They would never hurt JARVIS. They wouldn't, right? They now knew he was a person, too.
"Steve, this is JARVIS—" she started, but he threw his shield and damaged every piece of hardware in the room with it before she could explain. Her dad pushed her behind him, because he had summoned a gauntlet and a chest piece.
"I'll hold them off, you proceed as planned," he told her, and fired the repulsor.
Bruce grabbed the Maximoff girl. "Go ahead, piss me off."
It was up to Ana now to finish this.
But Rogers recovered from the repulsor blast quickly, and came charging at the Starks. He sent her dad flying into a glass panel, then pulled Ana away from the control board and tossed her to the other end of the room.
"Dad!" She scrambled to her feet and ran to his side.
"I'm fine… How's your wound?"
She looked at it. There was a throbbing pain in that area now, but it hadn't reopened. What really bothered her was the fact that Cap hadn't even hesitated to toss her around like a ragdoll, knowing full well she was still recovering from a fatal injury.
"Kid, you might want to get out of here. This will only get worse."
Indeed it did. Thor flew in, and landed on the Cradle. He was summoning lightning. He was going to fry the Cradle, and most of JARVIS' codes were already in there. There were no backups. He was offline for his own protection, meaning he couldn't escape through the internet either. If he died, he would die for good. No more miracles.
"NO!"
Her dad pulled her back before she could go to the Cradle, and held her in his arms. "I'm sorry, baby girl," he was whispering as the lightning blinded them. "I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry, for everything."
"NO! THOR, PLEASE! THAT'S JARVIS! DON'T KILL JARVIS! PLEASE! THOR, STOP IT, PLEASE!"
Ana had never begged anyone for anything like this. Now she was crying at the top of her lungs, but Thor wasn't even hearing any of it. Suddenly, she had remembered that primal fear that had made her wary of the Avengers in the first place. This was exactly why. They were gods. They were gods who could do whatever the hell they wanted, and it didn't matter how much Ana worshiped her dad. He couldn't stop them. He was no god. Neither was she.
Thor waited until the Cradle exploded. There was still a slight hope in Ana. The thing that had emerged from the Cradle might be JARVIS, after all. He had promised that he would fight for her. She wanted to go there, but her dad's arms were still tightly wrapped around her.
"We don't know if it's him," he reminded under his breath.
The magenta android itself seemed quite confused, like he wasn't expecting to be born. Then he charged at Thor. Maybe JARVIS was angry that Thor was almost going to kill him. She would like to think he was. Thor dodged the attack, though, and the creature abruptly—and very gracefully—stopped in front of a glass panel. Thor gestured Rogers to wait when he prepared to attack. What was he trying to do?
After a time, the android returned to the sitting area of the penthouse. They got out of the lab and went there, too.
"I'm sorry. That was… odd. Thank you." It was JARVIS' voice they heard, unless Ana had gone crazy and was imagining it. She looked at her dad. He nodded, but a bit hesitantly.
JARVIS had made it, then. But why was he thanking Thor and imitating his outfit? He had formed himself a cape.
"Thor? You helped create this?" Cap asked.
"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that." He pointed at the gem.
"What, the gem?" Bruce asked.
"It's 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 bring it—"
"Because Stark is right."
"Oh, it's definitely the end times…"
"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," Thor was saying.
"Not alone," JARVIS added. It was JARVIS, right?
"J—JARVIS?" Ana asked.
He tilted his head to the side, and studied her as if she was a curious object. "Ana Stark…"
"Just Ana…"
"I'm not him, Ana. I'm truly sorry for your loss."
After that, she somehow found her way to the nearest seat. Maybe her dad had taken her there. Probably. She remembered his hands guiding her. She didn't hear the rest of the conversation. All she could hear was the echo of JARVIS' voice, telling her he wasn't JARVIS. It was drowning out everything else. Her throat was sore from all that yelling, and her ears were ringing.
"Ana? Ana? Honey, talk to me." Her dad was shaking her gently.
Something made her look up and respond. "Yes?"
"That… thing just lifted Thor's hammer? You didn't see it?"
"No." Even if she had, she wouldn't have cared. JARVIS losing his memories was one thing, but this was different. His purpose had been altered. He was no more.
"Look, Ultron is in Sokovia. We're going there. Rogers gave us three minutes, but once I get back, we'll talk."
"Don't make me talk, Dad. It hurts. Everything hurts."
"W-what can I do?"
"Just go."
"Okay, screw it… I don't care if it's the end of the world. I can't leave you like this."
"You won't have to. I'm coming."
"Kid, I don't think that's a good idea."
"I won't get myself killed. I won't give Ultron the satisfaction. But I have to fight him. Don't deny me my vengeance."
"But you're going to be careful. Go along with the plan."
"Don't tell me to follow Rogers' orders after what just happened here!"
"I'm not telling you to follow his orders. Just mine."
"Yeah, I can do that, I guess."
"You guess?"
"I know," she corrected herself dutifully. He deserved some peace of mind.
"Come on, we need a new operating system for the suits."
…
"Ana? Where are you going?" Thor asked when he saw Ana striding to the edge of the tower in her suit.
"To Sokovia," she gave a curt reply. Wasn't it obvious?
He stopped her. Wow, he actually had the nerve to touch someone whose boyfriend he had just murdered… She wanted to kill him, she wanted to do it more than anything else, but she knew she was no match for the God of Thunder. She would only get herself killed, and then her dad would die, too, trying to avenge her.
"Ana, please. I'm sorry you lost JARVIS, but I did what I had to do. It was the Norns themselves who told me—"
"Thor… don't. Just don't."
"Look, you're like a daughter to Sigyn, and I've always seen you as my niece. I'd never want to hurt you. But the whole Midgard was at stake, and—"
"Maybe, after Sokovia, I'll go to Denmark." She flashed him a malicious smile when a look of panic crossed his face. Her inferiority had somehow made her even more vicious, more desperate to get back at him. "That's where Jane is right now, yes?"
"Ana, you'd never hurt an innocent woman for revenge. You're not evil."
"No, I'm not. But that awful jolt in the stomach you felt for a second there? I'll be feeling that for the rest of my life. In the meantime, I'll never stop looking for a way to become more powerful than you. And I swear on everything I love, when I find it, I won't hold back."
The remorse in his eyes didn't ease the pain, but gave Ana a strange sense of satisfaction. After that, Thor couldn't even look at her. He walked away. She was now alone with the android. He was averting his gaze, too.
"Hey there," she said.
He smiled timidly. "Hello."
"So, do you have a name?"
"I'm not certain, but they call me the Vision. Because I was Ultron's vision, and Thor had a vision of me…"
"I'm not blaming you. You didn't choose to be born."
"Thank you. Nonetheless, I feel responsible, and if there's anything that might help…"
"I'm hoping to feel better after tearing Ultron apart… See you in Sokovia."
"Wait! Please…"
Unlike Thor's, Vision's concern sounded genuine, so she was willing to hear him out. "Yes?"
"You can fly on the Quinjet, with us."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen."
"Ana, please. You shouldn't waste the suit's power to fly to Sokovia by yourself."
"So, are you not going to tell me it's unwise of me to come?"
"I think you should come. Ultron didn't try to kill you because he wanted to spite JARVIS or Mr. Stark. He wanted you dead because you're the one he fears the most."
Ana looked at him, taken aback. "Are you saying he fears me more than he fears the Avengers? Or even JARVIS?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I don't know. Perhaps you can ask him yourself."
"Would he tell me?"
"He tends to be quite talkative under certain circumstances."
They boarded the Quinjet together. Soon, everyone else joined them. Nobody commented on Ana's presence, except, of course, Rogers himself.
"Ana, I can't allow you to be on the team. For your own good."
She walked up to him and looked him in the eye. "I'm not on the team, Rogers. And I'm certainly not going to take orders from a cold-blooded murderer like you. I'm perfectly capable of avenging my boyfriend on my own." She revealed the anti-tank missile in her right arm and pointed it at him. He didn't even flinch, she had to give him that. But he should have. Ana was tempted to actually fire it. "If you have a problem with that, I'll start by blowing your face off."
"Have it your way," he muttered, and took a seat.
Ana went to sit on the co-pilot's seat, next to her dad, so that she wouldn't have to see their faces.
