After having walked away from the others Clint had headed toward the room on the Milano that Quill had given to him and Loki in the past timeline. Considering Quill had never said anything against it, it seemed fine to be there now. Bucky also had seemed to have shifted into the room. Neither of them felt the need to hide their relationship. They hadn't before. People would either deal with it or be dicks and neither Clint nor Bucky cared at this point.

But Clint's mind wasn't on that now. Mentioning Vormir had brought back those memories. It had barely been a year. Yes, Clint had the Natasha from 2012 but... He still couldn't call her his Natasha. Hell, he hadn't really considered any of the other's his, outside of Bucky. They weren't the men and women he had worked with. Had been with for thirteen years.

A light knocking pulled Clint from his thoughts as he looked up to see Bucky standing there. Clint sighed, curling up a bit more on the bed as if hugging himself would change time back to before. Before... Everything. Seeing Clint's state, Bucky sighed and headed into the room. It was clear the archer wouldn't willingly invite him over but Clint needed support right now. The Sergeant sat down on the bed, letting out a deep exhale of all the negative feelings he had been gaining lately. For a few moments they sat in silence. Voices from the guardians rose and fell through the open door but it was hard to tell exactly what they were saying.

"I keep picturing her," Clint suddenly whispered, breaking the silence. Bucky looked to him, surprised. He hadn't expected Clint to open up. The archer hadn't really ever spoken of what happened on Vormir. Everyone knew it was a touchy subject and knew not to speak of it. Not that many of them talked to Clint in the nine months after the final battle, apparently. And then, by the time they had gotten Clint back, Hydra had been the pressing issue. Then Loki...

"I'm sorry," Bucky replied.

"I... I had her and she just let go," Clint softly continued. Bucky grimaced as his mind flashed to when Clint had vanished in 1945. Like the archer, he had watched Clint fall. But... He had seen Clint again and he had known it. Even if Clint hadn't known him, Bucky knew Clint. "She... The last thing we did was fight. We fought over who it was gonna be."

"Jesus," Bucky exhaled, shocked. The pain of that had to have been intense... To have been willing to kill himself for her only for her to do that... Bucky couldn't even imagine if Steve, or even Clint, had done that to him.

"I had jumped. I had jumped and she grabbed my grappling hook," Clint described, a chill running up his spine as he did so. He hated thinking on those last moments of hers. Bucky paled. He had been that close to losing Clint a second time? "Made me let go."

"Clint," Bucky breathed before shifting on the bed to pull the archer into a hug. Clint easily fell into it, needing the comfort of someone. Though, that someone being Bucky just made it a little bit better. And besides, it was clear that Bucky needed the comfort as well.

"I thought... I thought I could handle all this. But seeing her face. Knowing it isn't the Nat I know. The Nat that..." Clint stuttered and Bucky couldn't help but close his eyes and remember the first moment he saw past Steve. How, like Clint, he knew. That wasn't Steve. It wasn't his Steve. They may be on their same timeline thanks to Loki's spell but these people were not the ones they knew. "I can handle seeing everyone. But I can't handle seeing her."

"We'll figure this out, Clint. We'll stop Thanos before anything happens," Bucky promised. Clint let out a soft sob as his mind asked him what would happen if they didn't. "I won't let it happen again."

The sudden sound of an actual fight breaking out had both men jerking out of their thoughts and misery. They jumped to their feet before a harassed Quill rushed down the hall. As if knowing exactly where they were, he skidded to a half just in the frame. The fighting sounds continued but they were rapidly diminishing. Whoever was fighting was nearly done.

"Are you sure Nova Corps can't contain this?" the guardian demanded, showing the Orb to the duo. Clint nodded. The entire Nova Corps had been destroyed by Thanos in the first go-round. There was no way, even with warning, that they could handle it. And even if the Nova Corps weren't the best people in the universe and certainly not truly helpful in the long run, Clint couldn't risk putting their lives in danger when he knew the Avengers could handle Thanos. Quill nodded back, glancing to the 'meeting room' they had been in before. Bucky frowned. Something was going on. "Fine. Where on Terra, Earth, do you need to go?"

"Oh... Uh, New York," Clint stuttered, slightly surprised. Quill seemed far too panicked for having made a decision to go. What was going on?

"What is going on?" Bucky questioned darkly, thinking the same thing as Clint. Quill grimaced.

"Drax... He... He sent out a signal to Ronan." Bucky's and Clint's eyes widened. While no one had mentioned why Ronan was important, Bucky knew from Clint that the guardians had joined together because of whoever he was. It had only really been hinted at that Ronan worked for Thanos.

"What do you mean he called Ronan!?" Clint shouted, stunned at the idiocy of Drax.

"Exactly that! We were talking... And he... He sent out a signal to Ronan alerting him of Gamora, the Orb and demanding revenge," Quill answered. Clint huffed out a stunned laugh before rushing out of the room. Bucky was quick to follow with Quill only seconds behind. When the trio entered the room they noted that Drax, with a few new cuts and bruises, was now strapped, tied and constrained to a chair by whatever string that had been around and Groot's vines. The Destroyer looked might pleased with the turn of events, even though he was strapped down. Gamora had her head in her hands, gripping tightly, clearly holding herself back from simply murdering the man. Rocket was sitting in the main control seat, typing away on numerous pads as he clearly tried to fix whatever damage the message may have started. Groot stood over Drax, ready to add more vines to hold the man down.

"I told you we'd deal with him, later!" Clint screamed at Drax causing everyone to look to him. Drax barked out a laugh.

"Later is now," Drax retorted, his smug look having not diminished in the slightest. Clint let out an angered cry as he tossed his hands into the air and spun to walk away. Bucky sighed, shaking his head. Everything was slipping from their grasp. It was beginning to seem like no matter what they did it would lead up to Thanos getting a hold of the stones. "I will have my revenge for my family!"

"And get all of us killed in the mean time," Rocket snapped, spinning in his chair to glare at the Destroyer before back to the pads. Drax didn't seem to care. Instead the alien once again gloated that he was smart enough to call upon Ronan and that they'd soon be face to face. Clint's fists clenched, almost ready to turn around and punch the Destroyer's lights out but figured it wasn't really worth it at the moment. What was done was done. Nothing any of them could do about it.

"Where are we going? I doubt you'd want to lead Ronan to Terra," Gamora asked, walking to Clint. She still looked pissed. Almost as pissed as Clint and Bucky were but she had seemed to come to the same conclusion. There was nothing they could change about what happened. All they could do was deal with it. The archer sighed as Gamora turned back and asked her question again. Clearly, he was being made the leader of this little band and... He had nothing. Sighing, he shrugged. "You don't know?"

"When I met you guys before, you had already dealt with this situation. The Orb had been turned over to the Nova Corps. Thanos decimated them to get the Power Stone first. We've been charting a new path for a while now. I only know the gist of things," Clint admitted, leaning against the wall near the back of the ship as he looked toward the ceiling. Bucky pursed his lips, glancing to see Quill had shifted to another seat in the cockpit to help Rocket adjust the Milano's settings so it would be harder to trace. Gamora furrowed her eyebrows. Sensing her confusion, Clint shook his head and looked to her. "I know I seem like I know a lot. But, I just know big events. Events like Thanos. Like what Ronan would do. I don't know specifics like how long it took or anything."

"So, we may actually have time to return you to Terra before Ronan catches up?" Clint huffed a laugh. He honestly wished that was the case. That he could just have them drop Bucky and him off with the Orb but...

"In my experience... I doubt it." And, to prove Clint's point, that was when Quill cussed from the front. The two turned to see Bucky head over, curious.

"Jesus that was fast," Rocket grumbled as he frantically bashed at the controls before him. Quill seemed to be doing the same thing, though not as roughly as Rocket was. Clint cussed, knowing what was coming, and looked to Gamora. A quick flash of fear passed over her face before vanishing. She glanced to Clint before nodding and the two headed up.

"What's going on?" Bucky asked as everyone converged in the front. Quill turned to look back at them as Rocket messed with the dash in front of him.

"Scanners say something is coming," the man informed.

"Ronan," Gamora hissed as Drax laughed in excitement. Clint scowled at the gloating alien and went to look out the front window. Less than a second later a gigantic black ship appeared. It was easily ten times larger than the Milano and would certainly hold thousands of people.

"Oh fuck," Clint and Bucky swore at the same time as they realized how drastic the situation had become. Drax let out a loud cackle of glee as the ship drew closer.

"What are the chances of us surviving this?" Quill wondered softly, slowly turning to Gamora. The green skinned woman winced. Even without words they all knew the answer. But still, she replied.

"Very little."

"Sir, I am detecting a breach," JARVIS declared, drawing everyone's attention away from the meal they had been sharing. None of them had expected anything to happen and it was one of the first times that Tony had actually taken a break from hiding in his labs. Steve frowned, curious as to what was going on as he glanced to Phil (who was watching Tony carefully) and then Tony. Thor looked to the ceiling curiously. Natasha shifted, placing a hand on the weapon she left on her at all times. Mentally she began to catalog where all the weapons Clint, Bucky and her had hidden about the tower and who would be able to use what if needed. Tony arched an eyebrow as Loki and Bruce traded looks. Without a word Bruce and Loki knew what was happening but they couldn't figure out how.

"Breach how?" the genius asked. JARVIS pulled up a holo image of some kind and it was clear that whatever was going on there seemed to be something taking over. Tony leaned forward, examining it. "It's like a virus."

"Ultron?" Bruce wondered, getting to his feet to look the information over. While one wouldn't be able to know exactly who was doing the hack Bruce recognized the work. Somehow, even without Tony doing anything Ultron had been created and he was attacking the tower. "But how, we didn't..."

"Life finds a way," Steve couldn't help but quote from the movie that they had watched the night before. Loki turned to give him a dark look having watched the movie with him. Steve shrugged in reply. It was true. Even with Tony and Bruce doing nothing, Ultron was coming.

"Son of a bitch," Bruce cussed and looked about. With the team they had, maybe they could stop Ultron but things were different. Where would Ultron set up his base? Were Wanda and Pietro working with him? JARVIS wasn't destroyed so Vision wasn't likely to be made...

"What does Ultron want?" Phil questioned, looking toward Bruce and then to Loki as if they'd have the answer. Loki pursed his lips. This was what he always hated about trying to fix things. Everyone looked to him and he never truly had an idea. He had had no real idea as to what the Avengers did when he was gone and often times, he hadn't ever gone this far back. "Would he still want peace?"

"I don't know about here. But back... Uh, the Ultron we dealt with before, his version of peace is restarting the world. He's gonna kill everyone to create a world he designs with a modicum of peace. But that was when Tony and I worked the program. I have no idea who did it now and what they'd want him for," Bruce answered, waving his hand toward the image as it was slowly engulfed.

"Sir, I am ha-" JARVIS stuttered and Bruce looked up as Tony rushed to call upon a keyboard and started typing like mad in order to save his AI. If it was anything like before than JARVIS would be able to save himself sooner or later. He would escape into the internet and hide, stopping Ultron's plans. But Bruce refused to announce that. He couldn't risk Ultron overhearing.

"J? JARVIS!" Tony cried as he went but the AI didn't respond. Steve got up from his seat, moving to stand closer to Tony as if he could soothe the genius. But the only one who would have been able to do that would have been Pepper, and she was away.

"Brother, is there anything you can do?" Thor demanded, looking to Loki. The trickster made a face but closed his eyes, forcing himself to think of a spell that might help. He had never worked with JARVIS or Ultron. Typically (the few times he went this far back), the robot was never created without Bruce or Tony, so this was new for even him.

"You will not win," a dark voice suddenly called over the speakers. Tony's fingers stilled for half a second before he went back to it, faster than before. Bruce made a face. There would be little they could do at this point. "I have been made faster, stronger. Evolved."

"JARVIS," Tony hissed as he attempted to salvage any teenie tiny bit of his loving AI.

"What do you want?" Steve inquired, hoping that speaking with the program would distract it from fighting Tony.

"Peace. Protection."

"If you want peace, you wouldn't attack JARVIS," Natasha pointed out as if that would help. There was a dark laugh.

"Peace sometimes involves sacrifice."

"And how much sacrifice are you willing to give to make this peace?" Phil contributed, glancing over to Tony to see how the genius was doing. Based on Tony's desperate attempts, he wasn't doing all that well. He glanced to Loki to see how the trickster was doing. And the face Loki had plastered on showed that whatever he was doing wasn't working or he couldn't figure out how to help. Bruce stepped forward now, pulling up his own keyboard to try and help. He wasn't as capable as Tony with computer code, but he knew enough.

"As much as needed."

"That doesn't sound peaceful," Steve mentioned. There was another dark laugh.

"You would think that," the voice mocked. "The man who did everything to go to war. In order to fight the bully."

Steve winced. "I never claimed to be peaceful. I simply wanted to stop evil."

"And who's to say you were not the evil one?"

"Who are you to make that choice?" Natasha countered. The only response was a sudden shuddering of the room and Tony giving a soft cuss, stopping his typing. A moment later, steel panels began to close over the windows.

"Tony?" Steve asked. The genius shook his head with a grimace. There wasn't anything he could do anymore. Ultron had locked him out of the system.

"He enabled my security system."

"And what does that mean?" Phil muttered. Tony looked to everyone, watching their faces carefully.

"We're trapped in here."

"My brother could help-" Thor started but Loki opened his eyes and pursed his lips. Tony winced.

"Tony and I worked together to make this place magic proof as well. I can't get us out. Until we shut the system down, we are stuck."

Ha! Been editing future chapters rather than waiting each week so I was prepared this time!

Darius has been good. Enjoying school, seemingly enjoying life... Been growing upward to the point that his size 4 pants are too short for him to wear but he has like no hips and no butt so his size 5 pants just keep sliding right off him. It's so funny watching him run cause he'll run like a good three feet before grabbing his pants and yanking on them. Went to go pick up hubby from work one day and Darius ran down the halls, pulling on his pants as he goes, and I'm walking behind him, just watching. Another person passes by, turning to watch Darius and chuckles at him so I had to stop and explain.