Chapter Sixty-Three
✭

The connection in New York was a quick one.

It lasted all of twenty minutes. Enough for a bathroom break and a quick meal. As soon as the quinjet landed, I got to see what had become of the Avengers tower in the aftermath of ULTRON's takeover.

The building was running on limited power, its arc reactor power source separate from the city's main grid line. Convenient when they needed running water, but not so much when it drew the attention of every drone in a three mile radius. They weren't here very often, as Natasha informed me when we arrived. Of the few reasons they stopped here, one was access to their database.

I had thought that meant their computer database before we were actually inside. The living room had been more or less converted into a library — a paper library, filled with boxes upon boxes of files and documents. They couldn't get any WiFi up without it also being a beacon to where they were, so they had to transport themselves back in time in order to do research.

I recognized Tony Stark right away, in the center of the room, in the thickest field of papers. Steve was on the couch going through another box (who immediately. dropped what he was doing to check in on me), and Dr. Banner was futzing around with a laptop and not looking like he was making a lot of progress. Maria Hill, whom I only recognized upon a second look, was taking notes on a legal pad as she went through a much smaller pile at the kitchen table. Her dress was a little wrinkled, like she'd already worn it the past few days. But Maria Hill looked no worse for wear since the last I saw her, at the Avengers party almost a month ago. They all looked very busy and had been drinking a lot of caffeine.

Still exhausted, I could only make it to the bar before flopping down on a stool. It was a good vantage point, at least, allowing me a full view of the room. Natasha and Clint continued on, picking their way through the mess as Tony updated (complained) on what they were doing.

"It's like I'm stuck in the Nineties again," Tony grumbled, surrounded by over a dozen piles of different profiles. "And I hated the Nineties."

"You're just mad because you didn't invent the Internet," Clint snorted as he walked past.

"No, but I did invent the online database," Tony replied, holding up a finger. Then he scowled, and turned back to his work while muttering under his breath. "Not my fault that Flynn upstart had a better user interface..."

"What happened?" Steve frowned as he approached me, blue eyes scanning me up and down in deep concern. He tilted up my chin to see the bruising was the worst on my neck, and his brows furrowed even deeper. "Did the Maximoffs do this to you?"

I could already hear the judgement and pulled away, trying not to recoil. I almost let slip a "you're not my dad" kind of comment to combat his worry, before deciding that would be in bad taste. Instead, I said, in a rusty voice, "Yeah. They didn't — they didn't remember me. ULTRON was there and he convinced them that I was... that I was her. The Soldatka. And they believed him. I managed to convince them I wasn't, but not until after they kicked my ass for a bit."

"So they let you go," Steve surmised, checking beneath the bandages of my hands, the bloody knuckles starting to heal. "But they went back to ULTRON."

I shrugged. "I guess so. I think they're more interested in getting revenge. I just happened to be in the way."

"Revenge," Steve repeated, that grim tone that said he already understood. A quick glance to Tony, who wasn't paying attention, then back to me. "Well, I'm just glad you made it out. You're not too badly hurt, you don't need anything?"

"No, I'm fine," I shook my head. I was already healing, the bruises around my throat just starting to yellow at the edges. I was also a little embarrassed to ask for any aid, Natasha had already wrapped bandages around my split knuckles and ointments to the various scrapes and lesions I'd acquired. At this point, I was starting to feel a little coddled. "I've… I've had worse. And I know you don't like it, but I told Natasha that I wanted to stay with you guys."

"For these twins?" Steve didn't look surprised. The briefest of smiles lit upon his face, soft and fond, before it vanished with a sigh. "Alright, but only so long as you're a noncombatant. Hey, don't give me that look."

It was all I could do not to roll my eyes. I knew Steve would say that. I knew it was the ethical thing to do. I knew I shouldn't be chomping at the bit for more action and danger. And maybe I was. But they couldn't put minors on the Avengers team, not without every person with a shred of moral backbone in the known world going down their collective throat for it. And I didn't want to fight. Not really, not Wanda and Pietro.

But ULTRON? ULTRON was dead to me, and it wasn't really killing if it was just robots, was it?

At any rate, it was a moot point. I was a kid, I couldn't fight, I already made that promise to Aunt May and I was really going to eat it when I got back to her as it was. I decided my next words were better spent on other things besides arguing. "How have things been going on here? With Spider-Man and Falcon and… and my dad."

It felt awkward on my tongue and I felt even dumber for being pointedly vague, as if the Avengers wouldn't know who I was talking about. Natasha and Clint did, surely. The rest, I wasn't sure, and I really didn't want them to be a part of the conversation, either.

"It's been... interesting," Steve answered, his eyes squinting slightly as he looked out the windows, folding his arms. "They're helping spread the resistance across the other burrows. Sam and this Spider-Man fella have a lot of mobility, and your friend already seems pretty popular with the citizens. Communication is limited for obvious reasons. Buck tells me he's fine. And I'll make sure to let him — and your aunt — know you're staying with us for now."

For some reason, that surprised me, disappointment falling on my shoulders like a heavy blanket. "I won't be able to see them before we go?"

Steve gave me a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry. We're taking enough risks all being in the city as it is, and we'll be leaving within the hour. I can send them a message for you if you want, though."

Biting my lip, I pondered the offer and whether it would be cruel or not to do so. I could only imagine Aunt May's reaction getting a text or a phone call or whatever, saying "Mia says hi from Wakanda" and the fallout that would incur. And there would definitely be a fallout when I got back eventually. But Peter would understand, I hoped. Bucky would. Probably. I was worried about Aunt May's reaction, but not his, something that had me curious for a while. Maybe because it was May's rules I was going against. I wasn't seeking Bucky's permission in any aspect. I wasn't there yet.

But I hoped he'd still be here when I got back. My biggest fear in all of this was that the city would have gotten too dangerous for him to stay. Or hell, even fighting against the drones would be too much attention and he'd have to leave because of it. All valid reasons, especially if whatever news media still functioning caught wind of it.

But that was kind of a lot to put into a single message.

"Just tell them," I studied a half-empty bottle of scotch next to Tony Stark, ruminating on my next words. "I'll be back soon. And that I'm sorry."

Steve nodded, that sad sort of half-smile he had when he understood. He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a booming voice.

"I take it your venture with the dastardly twins did not end pleasantly," Thor's deep tone announced his arrival, setting down five boxes on a nearby table. Of the Avengers already here, he was the only one not dressed in civvies, dressed in gleaming armor and a sweeping crimson cape. His hammer was acting as a paperweight a few feet away. "Looks like they gave you a good trouncing!"

I wrinkled my nose at 'dastardly' but didn't comment. "I didn't want to hurt them, but the feeling wasn't mutual. What are you guys looking into, anyways?"

"We think ULTRON is building more than just Iron Legion drones," Maria Hill finally spoke up, her dark hair pulled into a loose bun. "Robotics labs, weapons facilities, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. He hides them beneath his general reign of terror, but these seem to be his real targets. He completely empties the place and kills anyone who gets in his way. Until now, we believe he's been working alone. Now, thanks to you guys, we know he's recruited the Maximoff twins. And he might be looking for more."

"Hill has been watching over the Tower while we've been gone," Steve explained. "She keeps us in the know."

"Good chance ULTRON wanted Strucker before the Wonder Twins killed him," Tony Stark added, not looking up from his work. He did hold up a file though, for Hill to take. "One Ulysses Klaue. Met him a few years back at a weapons conference. The guy screams 'illegal weapons merchant'. From what we know, he's currently operating on the coast of Wakanda. Which he has a habit of stealing from."

"And that's why we're going," I concluded.

Dr. Banner spoke up from his corner in the room. "Wakanda is also one of the countries ULTRON seems to have the highest concentration of drones, after Sokovia. We're not sure why, but it's also where he's faced the highest resistance. Guess Wakandans are better suited to fighting off evil world-dominating AIs than we gave them credit for."

"They're also the world's single resource of Vibranium," Maria Hill added, giving me a significant look. I didn't need to ask why that was important. Three guesses as to why ULTRON wanted to take control of the region so badly. "If he can't take the country, then he'll do the next best thing, and go directly to a seller. As to whether Klaue is up to trade is left to be seen."

"We don't intend to let ULTRON get it either way," Steve finished. "And now, we suit up."

~o~

As Steve had said, the Avengers were all ready to leave in under an hour. The quinjet felt a lot smaller when they were all inside, and I kept to my corner, staying out of the way. The flight was mostly quiet with some chatter between the Avengers, nervous tapping, what pacing could be done in the short walkway between cockpit and rear of the ship. Wakanda was far enough away that it built a sort of silent anxiety in the cabin. The Avengers had fought ULTRON once and failed — and had encountered his drones dozens of times across the world to little or no effect — and it seemed that this confrontation about to happen in Wakanda was going to be a big one. And I couldn't decide if I was relieved or not to not be a part of it.

Of the team, only Dr. Banner and Stark stayed in their regular clothes. I expected Iron Man to be in full gear, only for Tony to have a plastic tote bag filled with spare pieces of metal. Over the course of the flight, he spent the time attaching pieces of broken suit to himself and wiring to his arc reactor. No one else seemed to find this odd.

Clint took the pilot's seat like last time, and as we were taking off, I couldn't help but ask Tony Stark, "Where's the rest of your suit?"

"Are you kidding?" Tony Stark gave me a bewildered look. "I'm sorry, did you not remember what happened last Christmas, when I blew up all those suits? Iron Man hasn't been in operation for months. Forever, or that's how it was supposed to be. That's what the Iron Legion was for, and ULTRON, to do what I can't. And, well…" he threw up a hand in a gesture of helplessness, to the group of them all huddled in the quinjet, to the bag of spare suit parts. "Now I gotta rebuild a suit from whatever the hell I could find."

"So, those Avengers missions after Christmas, you just… didn't fight?" I asked, frowning a little.

"Yeah! I was supposed to be, I don't know, the man in the chair? I hang back, let everyone do their thing, and jump in when the mess needs to be cleaned up and computers hacked into."

That earned a snort from Steve. From the front, Clint said, "Yeah, and to gloat over a win that we got without him."

"Anyways," Tony shot them peeved looks. "I've been keeping my promise to Pepper. Best I can, at any rate."

Tony sounded a little snippy, like his pride had been bruised. Or just very inconvenienced by everything. Now I was starting to get why Peter quit the internship job. "And where's Howie?"

Tony's annoyed expression faded a little, the mention of his son dimmed the heat of his ire. His voice was softer, eyes averted, when he answered, "He's safe. Far away from all this mess. I'm not gonna mess it up like I did last time."

I wasn't sure what that meant. The last time? Did he mean the whole Mandarin thing, when Peter and I got involved in his business? Tony Stark had been a hot mess by then (and still was, a little), and I had taken his strained reaction to us with a grain of salt, that he was a man running on zero sleep. But maybe he really did feel guilty about what happened. Or was it something else?

I didn't have a chance to ask, however, as the conversation shifted.

"Closing in on the coast of Wakanda," Clint called up. "So what's the mood for this one, guys?"

"Bad." Bruce Banner said before anyone else could reply.

"Thanks for keeping things light, doc," Clint replied happily, before looking over his shoulder at Steve. "Cap, gameplan?"

Steve nodded, gesturing first to Natasha. "Widow and Hawkeye will be our scouts, first ones in and the last ones to jump into the fight. Stick to the shadows, I don't want Klaue or ULTRON or any of their allies to know we're coming. Thor, Tony, and I will confront ULTRON. Try to talk him down, though I doubt it'll work. And Dr. Banner —"

"Stays in here," Bruce raised a hand, before letting it drop again. "Waiting for Code Green, as usual."

"What's Code Green?" I asked, before remembering exactly what it was Bruce Banner could do. The way he averted his gaze was answer enough."Oh, never mind. And I'm staying in here."

"Yes, and —"

"Is that such a good idea?" Dr. Banner suddenly asked, frowning at Steve. He fiddled with his glasses nervously as the other Avengers started to look at him. "I-I don't mean to be rude, it's just — I mean, let's be honest. She might be safer with you guys than stuck here with me."

"We're stuck in here with you, right now," Natasha pointed out. "What does that make us?"

Dr. Banner opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. Finally, he just shrugged and studied the ground. "Don't worry about it. Forget I said anything."

"Mia will be safest here," Steve reaffirmed, although the look he gave to Bruce was sympathetic. "And we trust you. And the Big Guy."

Bruce Banner looked skeptical but didn't argue.

"He is a savage but noble beast," Thor added with a grin, clapping Bruce so hard on the shoulder that the smaller man almost crumbled like a soda can. "He can discern the innocent from the criminal and mete out swift justice!"

"No, he can't," Bruce said in a voice so tiny that Thor didn't seem to hear him.

"This will be a battle of legend!" Thor added, throwing up both his arms. I started to get the feeling that he was the morale booster of the team. Of the group, Thor seemed the most optimistic of its turnout. Or at least excited for a fight. "We will finally put down this metal menace, bring peace to Midgard, and have a feast for the ages! I am tired of living off of those puny little biscuits you mortals call granola."

That got a few eye rolls, but Steve, at least, seemed a little amused. "That's the spirit."

Tony Stark raised a gauntleted hand. "Attention, class, everyone should be informed that I do have flight capabilities. And combat function. What I don't have is getting-shot capabilities so if you don't mind, I hope we can finish this little brouhaha quickly."

"Before ULTRON turns you into paste, you mean," Clint said.

"Yes, exactly. May I remind you I am also the one writing your paychecks."

"You're all getting paid for this?" Thor frowned, at the same time Bruce pointed out, "Didn't ULTRON clean out your bank accounts?"

"Not the point!" Tony Stark tried to wave away the errant thought. "I don't even know why he needs my money anyways if he's just gonna steal everything. The point is, I'd really appreciate it if you guys don't let me die, okay?"

"Considering this creature is of your design, Stark," Thor said, folding his arms. "Considering it a favor."

Tony didn't look very comforted by that. "Well, I guess that's better than nothing,"

The quinjet fell silent again, the main conversation breaking up into smaller discussions between different parties. When Steve came to sit down next to me, I said, "You won't hurt them, will you? The twins? If they're there?"

Steve gave me a long considering look, slightly pained. Biting back an answer I didn't want to hear. "I can't promise that, Mia. But I can promise to give them a chance. If they're being taken advantage of by ULTRON, as you said, then it may be harder to sway them than we realized."

I knew what he meant. Diplomacy would only get them so far and I had no more hope than Steve did that this would end peacefully. ULTRON would fight, as he was programmed to do, and he would make Wanda and Pietro follow suit. And how hard would it be, when they already hated the Avengers? "They'll go for Tony first. They hate him the most."

Steve nodded, taking that under advisement. Seeing the look on my face, he added, "I know what it's like to fight your best friend when they belong to someone else. The Maximoff twins are as much victims in this as everyone else."

I tried to smile, but it didn't amount to much. Steve might be the only person here who really understood what it meant for me, giving Wanda and Pietro a chance. They weren't villains. They weren't monsters.

They were just kids.

"Alright, ladies and germs, we're landing now," Clint announced, as he flicked off some switches over his head. The sky outside had lightened, and my ears popped as the quinjet began its descent. "According to GPS coordinates, Klaue is about half a klick west of here. We've got cover in this foliage, but once we're out there we're open targets. Let's make this quick."

With that, the quinjet came to a stop with a rumble and a thump, everyone shifting as the aircraft found sure ground. The bay doors opened, the ramp extending out onto a sandy beach. Hot air rolled in, thick and humid, with the smell of salt air soon following. Everyone came to a stand, except for Dr. Banner and I. Watching them walk off as a group was kind of a neat sight. If only I didn't feel left out. And a little unwelcome with a man who protested my presence here.

Clint took a deep breath of fresh air before stepping off first. "Welcome to Wakanda."

~o~

The quinjet was silent for a solid ten minutes before either of us could say anything. All I could hear was the distant sound of waves crashing and strange bird calls of species I'd never heard before. Bruce Banner tucked himself as far away from as he was physically able, huddled up against the wall with his shoulders hunched and failing to look casual. If I didn't know better, I'd say he looked afraid. Of what?

The only voice came from the intercom, regular reports from the team as they updated their situation. Clint and Natasha were still sneaking onboard, getting a count for the number of Klaue's men on board.

At last, though, I couldn't take it. "Do you remember me?"

Bruce Banner jolted a little, as if woken from a reverie, to blink at me in confusion. "...I-I'm sorry, what? I, uh, I don't recall, no."

"You don't?" I frowned. "I had an interview at Stark Tower. For a tutor program. You helped me out when I had a panic attack."

"Oh," he frowned, and then his eyebrows shot up as he remembered. "Oh, right, you were the girl on the balcony. Sorry, I didn't —" Bruce Banner gestured vaguely around his head, looking mildly embarrassed. "Your hair. It's different."

Something said that was a lie, my hair couldn't have completely thrown off my appearance, could it? But I didn't pressure him. Dr. Banner came across as a man who had a lot on his mind at any given moment. Instead, I gave him a tiny smile. "I never got to say thanks."

"Oh, it was — it was nothing." Bruce only shook his head, eyes once more averted, head ducked down.

"No, it wasn't." I said. Because it was true. "That was the first time I had a panic attack. I didn't know how to deal with it. And you helped me. You didn't have to."

Seeing him now, I wondered what had compelled Bruce Banner to help me then when he seemed so desperate to avoid me now. If he was such a danger, why bother taking the risk? I wouldn't have even known he was there. I wouldn't have known the bit of selfishness he never indulged in.

"You were kind to me." I added, when he didn't say anything. And after everything I'd been through, I'd learned not to ever forget a kindness done to me. Not to take anything for granted.

Bruce Banner sighed a kind of sigh with a bone-deep exhaustion, running a hand through his head. "You were just some kid then, I don't know. I wasn't being an Avenger and you weren't — whatever you are now."

"Well," I could only shrug. "It meant a lot."

Another lapse in silence, and I thought that would be the end of it. Until Banner suddenly said, "It's not personal, you know. I'm not— it has nothing to do with you. About me. Being a danger. And just the wrong thing could trigger him and if you ever had the bad luck of being in his way, I couldn't—" Bruce stopped himself, shaking his head. "I just. I hate hurting people. But I hate hurting kids the most."

I didn't know what to say to that. "...Oh."

"And that's not to mention the gamma radiation," he added, holding up a finger. "Me or the Other Guy. We're chock full of it. And I don't — I still haven't figured out the full strength of it, how much it affects my physiology. If I'm irradiating everything I touch right now. It's like a poison, you know? It'll never go away."

I knew Dr. Banner was one of the most elusive members of the Avengers, whilst the Hulk was the exact opposite (and for some, a fan favorite). But I never knew how conflicted it made him. How much it really affected his life. He wrecked Harlem, after all. The Army has tried on more than one occasion to capture and/or kill him. I could only imagine what that could do to a person.

I did kind of know what it was like to be afraid of yourself, though. To be afraid of being around other people. "Well, I don't. Take it personally, that is. And you don't have to worry. I've already been irradiated."

Whatever Bruce was expecting to hear, it wasn't that. He threw me a bewildered look. "What? You've been — with what? When?"

"Vita rays," I said. I could still remember Strucker and that damn coffin like it was yesterday. If yesterday was a very bad fever dream that I wished I didn't remember at all. "Almost three years ago now."

"Yikes," was his very eloquent reply. Bruce Banner rubbed his jaw in thought. "I guess that makes you a super soldier, huh?"

"Yeah." I said, leaning against the seat. The metal was cool against the back of my head, soothing. "Is it true that's what the… the Other Guy was supposed to be? An attempt at making a super soldier?"

"Yes," Dr. Banner nodded, pulling off his glasses to clean them with his shirt. "You know how the Army is. Always chasing that perfect high. But they never could get it right. I was brought on by my friend Betty. She was half the brains of the operation. We thought we could replicate it with Gamma radiation. We couldn't get it to the testing phase, though. It was too dangerous. And I got desperate. I thought I could do it myself. I was wrong. And Betty paid the price."

"Is she —?"

"Dead? No, no," Bruce chuckled, but there was no humor in it. Only pain. And sadness. "But my first transformation put her into a coma that she might not have woken from. She did, eventually. Her father never forgave me, though. I've been a threat to the world ever since. And rightfully so."

"Her father?"

"General Ross, you might have heard of him," Bruce said wryly. And I had. He was Secretary of State now. The incident in Harlem had humiliated him but hadn't entirely ruined the man's career. "He was the head of the project we were working on. Didn't think he liked me much then, either. Was never good enough for Betty."

I was about to ask something else, but a crackle of voices interrupted me. It sounded like the team had finally been met with a fight, and we both fell silent to listen in. Wanda and Pietro were here, much to my sinking heart, and I hoped Steve had meant it. I knew the twins probably wouldn't give him much of a choice, but I still hoped they wouldn't get too hurt. That they were still within the realm of saving.

But as the fighting progressed, it started to become clear that the battle was not going our way. Confidence became distress as whatever Wanda was doing to them disoriented the team. Pietro couldn't grab Mjolnir but he was still too fast to stop in any other way. As far as I could tell, Clint was the only left remaining unaffected.

We stood at the entrance of the quinjet, looking out over the beach. It was impossible to tell what was going on over here, the fight still contained within the ship.

Bruce was starting to get anxious when he pressed the intercom and asked, "Guys? Is it time for Code Green yet?"

He wanted to help. But the apologetic look he was giving me said I should make myself scarce if he got the confirmation.

In the end, Bruce never got it.

The blast took us off guard. The bay doors had never been closed, in case the Hulk needed a speedy exit. It also meant we were completely open for when Wanda finally found us.

And of course, she would.

The hex filled the entire cabin, leaving no corner untouched, no place to escape. It knocked the both of us off our feet. I could only catch a glimmer of Dr. Banner's body convulsing on the floor of the quinjet, getting bigger and greener, before I recovered.

And when I got back to my feet, I found myself standing in the Crucible.

~o~

I didn't know how long I was in the nightmare. Only that Wanda was there when she pulled me out.

I was a shivering, sobbing mess. My body, covered in a cold, clammy sweat. Cowering in a corner, trying to hide from something that had been in my head. Inescapable.

She was kneeling in front of me, big brown eyes searching my own. The horror there, the guilt. Had she seen what I'd seen? Felt what I felt? My throat was raw and my chest ached from screaming. Had that just been in my head, too? I felt like a raw nerve, completely exposed. Had she seen me, the true me? Wanda and Pietro had never seen me when I was small. Only the Soldatka. But I never wanted them to see that part of me, either.

I didn't even notice Pietro standing behind her until he said moved. He hadn't said a single thing. I couldn't quite make out his expression from where I sat, my vision blurry with tears.

"I'm sorry," Wanda had whispered, in a voice that made my heart break.

And then they were gone. My cheeks were still warm from where Wanda had cupped my face.

Leaving me crying and confused, heart still pounding in my ears, chest muscles spasming as I tried not to let an oncoming panic attack take hold of me.

There were still voices in the air. Not in my head, but coming from the speakers, the Avengers radio frequency. It took me a minute to realize it was Steve's voice, calling my name, asking if I was okay, sounding desperate and worried the longer his calls went unanswered.

My legs were uncertain as I tried to move, knees buckling beneath me as I tried to get to the console. My whole body shook, my hand trembling so hard I couldn't activate the radio for a moment. I had to make a fist and slam down on it just to get the strength I needed. "I-I'm here. I — Wanda got to us. I couldn't stop — and then Dr. Banner, he —"

I didn't even know where he went. I looked out the still-open bay doors and all I saw was the giant footprints in the sand that the Hulk left in his wake. That went directly to the shipyard. Where the rest of the Avengers were.

"It's okay, Mia," Steve said. His voice sounded heavy with exertion, breathing hard. "We got him. We're still —" there came a loud crash, the sound of static. "— trying to get him to calm down! Your friend did a number on him, too."

My friend. Wanda. Steve had said it with no venom but I could only guess how the other team members must be, if they just endured the same thing I did. And yet all I felt was a strange hope. A lot of confusion, for sure. But Wanda had pulled me out. She hadn't meant to hurt me. Was she starting to remember now? "The twins? Are they—?"

"They're gone," Came Tony's voice, also sounding pained. "So is ULTRON. And like, three billion dollars worth of Vibranium. The King of Wakanda is gonna be pissed."

"He's the least of our concerns right now," Natasha said, voice tense like she was gritting her teeth. "Guys, a hand here?"

Eventually, the screams of rage and destruction in the background of their transmitters finally came to an end.

"Dr. Banner has been returned to his mortal form," Thor reported. He no longer sounded boastful, the God of Thunder yearning for battle. He now sounded like a god yearning for a nap. "We will return to you presently, Fletcher of Arrows."

"Anyone see where Klaue went?" Clint asked. "Not that we have the resources to lock him up right now, but I dunno. Maybe we could hand deliver him to the Wakandans with a little IOU note pinned to his shirt. Might help make up for the mess we made here."

"Klaue is small potatoes," Steve called a negatory. "We'll get him next time. Right now… right now, we need some downtime. To rest and recuperate and… and figure out what we're doing next."

No one put up an argument to that, and when the Avengers came back, I finally saw why. Everyone returned five shades worse than when they had left. I couldn't tell who looked worse, although Steve and Natasha seemed to have taken most of the beating, with Tony now missing a few more pieces of his armor and Thor had tears in his cape. The God of Thunder also had an unconscious Bruce Banner slung over his shoulder, whom he carefully set down in one corner of the quinjet. Natasha came by to wrap a blanket around Bruce, along with a set of headphones over his ears, while Clint got started with the quinjet.

"He'll be fine," Natasha said, when she saw my curious look about Dr. Banner. "The Other Guy usually wipes him out. And the music helps him calm down."

"He didn't hurt you?" Steve asked, looking me over. I was still a hot mess, huddled next to the center console. Aside from having all my worst fears made real, I hadn't actually sustained any new injuries, Hulk or otherwise. I could only numbly shake my head. Steve looked relieved before he slumped in a nearby seat. There was blood on his face and his suit was torn. "Good. It could've been… it could've been a lot worse."

I wasn't sure if that was true. Looking around the quinjet, everyone looked defeated, quiet, completely beat-up. Thor, especially, had lost his thunder, so to speak, standing listless in the center of the floor, swaying back and forth as the quinjet took off. Natasha had also slumped to the floor; her hair had been coiffed just so before we had left New York, and now it was all askew, a few strands sticking to blood on her face. Clint perhaps seemed in the best state, although he was covered in dirt and ash and blood as well, missing most of the arrows from his quiver.

I was too scared to ask what happened. I already knew. Wanda made them see their worst nightmares. Whatever that was for each of them. And that had hurt worse than any physical blow that could be dealt to them, leaving them rattled to their core. Tony seemed to be the only other not affected by it; but then he had been chasing ULTRON, apparently. And ULTRON got away. Again.

Their eyes were all vacant, staring at nothing. Night fell across the sky.

No one had won today.

At last, I finally managed to find my voice. It was rough and cracked and a little too thin to be heard across the whole quinjet. "Where are we going now?"

I wasn't sure who I was speaking to. Steve seemed lost in his own world, as this everyone else. It was Clint who answered. "Missouri."

"Missouri?" I repeated, frowning. Of all the places? "What's in Missouri?"

He cast me the faintest of smiles. "You'll see."