2018
"She hasn't checked in since last month." Steve said. "Can you track her, Piper?" The person in question was Wanda. Our teams, consisting of Steve, Natasha, Wanda, Sam, and me, had been on the run for two years. Wanda requested to branch off from us. We let her, but she was supposed to check in with us frequently, and she hadn't done so.
"Yeah, I'll try." I said. I closed my eyes and used my telepathy to try and find Wanda. The trick was to look for other telepathic signatures, because there were not many telepaths in the world. Eventually, I locked on.
"Scotland." I said. "She's in Scotland, with Vision." They looked surprised, and Steve was about to say something when we heard the ringtone of a phone.
Steve pulled an old flip phone, which was the source of the ringing. He flipped it open and accepted the call.
"Hello?" Steve asked. The voice on the other end was not the one I expected to hear.
"Steve." Bruce said. Natasha's eyes widened when she heard his voice. "Steve, you gotta listen to me. Thanos is coming for the Infinity Stones. You have to get to Vision now." Steve closed the phone.
"Convenient timing." Natasha muttered. It kind of was.
"I guess we're going to Scotland." Sam said. He and Natasha got in the pilot and co-pilot's seats, and we took off.
About 3/4 of the way through the ride, I felt a stabbing pain in my head. I clutched my head and yelled in pain.
"Pipes, are you okay?" Steve asked.
"Wanda just sent out a telepathic distress signal." I said. "We might be too late." We landed in Scotland, and I tracked Wanda to a train station.
"Alright, here's the plan." Steve said. "Sam, go left, Piper and Natasha, go right. I'll make the first move." We did as he said. Nat and I were lying in wait on the right side of the station.
Vision was propped up against a railing, wounded. Wanda stood in front of him, prepared to fight. She faced the two aliens, Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight.
A train passed by, getting their attention. I could tell that Steve was behind that train. He had waited so his entrance could be sensational.
"Steve Rogers, king of dramatic entrances." I muttered. Natasha chuckled quietly.
When the train passed, Proxima threw her weapon at Steve, but he caught it. He signaled to us, and we came out of our hiding places. Proxima ran at us, but I blasted her back, right to where Sam was waiting. Steve threw Proxima's weapon to Natasha, and she began to fight Corvus.
Proxima summoned her weapon back to her, leaving Natasha weaponless. I blasted Corvus' glaive out of his hand, where it was picked up by Steve. I blasted Corvus back, right into his own glaive.
Corvus inched away, his wound inhibiting him. Proxima stood over him. Sam pointed his guns at them.
"Get up." Proxima said.
"I can't." Glaive replied.
"We don't wanna kill you." Natasha said.
"But we will." I added. Nat grinned at that .
"You'll never get the chance again." Proxima said. A beam of light appeared, summoning Proxima and Corvus back to their ship. As soon as the beam disappeared, they were gone.
We ran over to Vision and Wanda. Sam helped Vision get up and supported him as he walked.
"Are you okay?" I asked Wanda. She nodded, keeping her head down.
"Thank you, Captain." Vision said.
"Let's get you on the jet." Steve said, after a moment's hesitation. Once we were all on the jet, we took off, knowing we couldn't stay.
"I thought we had a deal." Natasha said, addressing Wanda. "Stay close, check in, don't take any chances."
"I'm sorry." Wanda said. "We just wanted time."
"Where too, Cap?" Sam asked from the cockpit.
"Home." Steve said, looking out on the horizon.
…
Avengers Compound. It had been a while since I was there. We walked into the main building. Rhodey was there, and he was having a conversation with a hologram of Secretary Ross.
"Mr. Secretary." Steve said.
"You got some nerve, I'll give you that." Ross said.
"You could use some of that right now." Natasha replied.
"The world's on fire, and you think all is forgiven?" Ross asked, incredulous.
"I'm not looking for forgiveness." Steve said. "And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight. And if you want to stand in our way, we'll fight you too."
"Arrest them." Ross said to Rhodey. The hologram disappeared.
"That's a court-martial." Rhodey said. His face broke into a grin. "It's great to see you, Cap."
"You too Rhodey." Steve said. Rhodey turned, and his leg braces became more visible from when we were fighting each other.
"Well, you guys really look like crap." Rhodey said. "Must've been a rough couple of years."
"Yeah, well the hotels weren't exactly five star." I said, only partly joking.
"I think you look great." Said a voice from the corner of the room. We turned, and saw that it was Bruce. "Uh, hey. Yeah, I'm back."
"Hi Bruce." Nat said awkwardly.
"Nat." Bruce replied, even more awkward. It took all of my self control not to laugh.
"This is awkward." Sam whispered.
…
We were in a different room, trying to figure out what to do about Thanos.
"So, we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey said.
"And they can clearly find us." Wanda added.
"We need all hands on deck." Bruce said. "Where's Clint."
"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal." Natasha explained. "It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest."
"Who's Scott?" Bruce asked. I had forgotten that he wasn't here for the Sokovia Accords.
"Ant-Man." I explained.
"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Bruce asked. I nodded. Things had gotten a little more complicated since he went missing. "Okay look, Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he's not gonna stop until he gets… Vision's stone."
"Well then we have to protect it." Natasha said.
"No, we have to destroy it." Vision said. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its true nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps, its molecular integrity could fail." He looked at Wanda and me. Of course. Part of our power was from the Mind Stone, and we could possibly destroy it.
"And you with it." Wanda said. "We're not having this conversation."
"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it." Vision reasoned.
"That's too high a price." Wanda said, her voice breaking.
"Only you have the power to pay it." Vision said. No, not only her. Vision glanced at me. Wanda was more powerful, and I knew that. But I would be able to destroy it. "Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."
"But it should." Steve said. "We don't trade lives, Vision."
"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people." Vision said. "Tell me, why is this any different?"
"Because you might have a choice." Bruce piped up. "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another."
"You're saying Vision isn't just the Stone?" Wanda asked.
"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left, perhaps the best parts." Bruce said.
"Can we even do that?" I asked. "Can we remove the Stone safely?"
"Not me, not here." Bruce said.
"You'd better find someone, somewhere fast." Rhodey said. "Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."
"I know someone." Steve said.