"This is not what I wanted! You weren't meant for this!"

"You made him?"

"For peace!"

"And I shall bring about peace."

"Are you kidding Hank?"

"DAD!"

"When are we going to kill Tony Stark?" Pietro bemoaned, dropping pitifully into the seat beside his sister. Wanda said nothing, just stared down through the window to the trapped 'Avengers.' When Ultron had attacked Stark Towers in New York, she had been at his side. She had watched as he enacted security. When he had attacked Sam Wilson and James Rhodes in DC, she had been around. Had watched as their equipment got taken over and led them where he wanted them to go. And now, she was standing back watching as Ultron betrayed his creator to trap Hank Pym's daughter and inheritor of his original Ant-Man suit.

"Soon," Wanda muttered, pursing her lips. Ultron wanted to have all the Avengers together when he allowed Tony to die. But, Wanda didn't want to hurt the others. Especially not Hope, Sam or Scott. She hadn't really had much interaction with the others that were trapped in the tower with Tony but if they were anything like Hope or Scott or even Sam, then she... Well...

"Why don't we just go there and deal with him ourselves?" Pietro wondered.

"We wouldn't be able to handle him on our own. He is too strong and has too many friends. I told you that already," she countered, glancing toward her brother before looking back at the four Ultron had captured. Pietro huffed, kicking his feet up and pressing against the glass in front of them.

"This is really boring. I thought you said we'd-"

"I said we needed help. I got us help and as of now Tony Stark is stuck in his own building," Wanda interrupted, turning to look at him and putting her back to the heroes. Pietro shrugged before nodding his head toward the trapped people before them.

"And them? What do they have to do with us killing Tony Stark?" Wanda turned to look back to them as well. Ultron had explained their involvement as simply being friends with Tony Stark. That he had needed to trap them to keep them from helping him. But when she had watched Ultron deal with Sam Wilson and James Rhodes, she realized that none of them knew anything had happened. Stark hadn't called out for help. And yet, Ultron had still taken them. There was something bigger going on. But she wasn't exactly sure what that was yet.

"Do you really want to know? Or are you just questioning things because you want to rush through this like always?" Wanda wondered, looking once again at her brother. Pietro shrugged. While he did have a tendency to run head first into things due to his constant need for movement, he had been getting better. But Wanda's questions had him pause. Things had been strange between them since their run-in with that Barnes dude in Sokovia.

Wanda had shared with him what she had learned from the man's memory but it was confusing. He apparently hadn't really been there and much of the information he had was second hand on their start with the Avengers. Or, well, Wanda's start. From what she gathered most though was that there was only one man who truly had the answers she needed. Clint Barton. But, he hadn't been at the tower. Nor had Barnes. Wanda hadn't gotten close enough to the Avengers to find out what happened to either of them but Ultron hadn't found any signs of them as well. They were just... Gone.

"I don't know," Pietro finally admitted, shifting to a seated position rather than the relaxed one he had had moments before. Wanda tilted her head to the side in curiosity and he shrugged in response. "It's just. Things don't make sense. He got right into the tower. Took out that AI. They weren't prepared for him. All he had to do was attack Stark and he'd be down before the Avengers could do anything. Instead, he trapped them and then collected those deemed friends of his."

"What are you saying?" Wanda asked, though it was clearer now that they might have been turning to the same idea. As much as they wanted Tony Stark dead, Ultron might not be the answer to what they need.

"What else does he have planned?"

"Ya know. Comic books and TV doesn't really show this side of being a hero," Scott hummed, glancing about the cell Hank's robot had stuck them all in. He still wasn't really sure what had happened. Hank, or so he thought, had called him to the mansion for some sort of meeting. Likely some more training in the Ant-Man suit or something but when he arrived, he was rather quickly taken out by something like a speeding person that hit him like a freight train. Then, the bot arrived and mentioned something like how he intended peace on Earth or something. Scott had stopped paying attention as he had noticed that Hank and Hope had been captured as well and what seemed to be prototypes were standing over them ready to stop them from doing anything.

Ultron had then brought Hope and Scott to an abandoned warehouse or something. Somewhere away from Hank and locked them up. Hope and him were there for a few hours with no one checking on them before Ultron and his little minions arrived with Sam Wilson and James Rhodes. That was close to a day or two ago and outside of being given meals by a rather broken down version of Ultron that hardly seemed to be able to walk and could not really speak, no one had come to see them.

"Not everything is hearts and roses and victory. Even heroes in those have their struggles," Sam pointed out making Scott hum in agreement. That was true but the comics and TV never really allowed the heroes to be captured for long. Or, so it seemed. Maybe he was wrong but still, it had always seemed different. "But, yeah. They don't really go into the heroes psyche when stuck in a situation like this. They always have an answer on how to deal with it and get out."

"What, can't think of anything mister escape artist?" Hope mocked, glaring at Scott. The man turned to give her a bland look back. James shook his head and looked to Sam as if begging him to make them shut up. Pretty much since they got captured Scott and Hope had been picking at each other. Or, more Hope was picking at Scott about everything. Like this whole thing was his fault even though they all knew the true person at fault was Hope's father. If Hank had never made Ultron, then they'd never have been trapped. Scott glanced at her.

"Oh, like you can do any better miss know-it-all," he huffed back. Sam rolled his eyes and looked to James for help but James just shook his head again and looked about their cell. As much as they've all talking about coming up with a plan, none of them had even seemed to start working on one.

"Maybe I can. I've just been waiting on you," Hope sneered. Scott got to his feet and waved a hand around.

"Then please, enlighten us. How do you suggest we escape this mess?" the man asked. Hope stood a bit straighter as if she actually had a plan but said nothing. Sam sighed deeply while shaking his head again. He couldn't believe this. Ultron, for whatever reason, had collected all of them in some sort of effort of peace. But, he never exactly explained what he meant by that. And what he intended to do to achieve said peace. "Well?"

"I... Haven't had a real chance to look," Hope informed, hesitating for a moment. Scott laughed.

"You got nothin' too so don't give me any crap!" Scott snipped. Hope rolled her eyes in a very hauty way before turning her back on the man to look the cell over herself. It was true though, she hadn't really been looking around. Instead, she had been focused on why her father had built something like Ultron. Where had it come from? What prompted him to do this and why? He knew peace was impossible. There would always be someone out there to stop it from happening. So... It just made no sense to her.

A deep clanging from down the hall had everyone perk up. Someone was coming. Steps of metal on metal were heard moments later and everyone knew that it was Ultron coming to see them. The group all prepared for the arrival of the robot. So far the thing had given them pretty limited interaction. Just enough to tell them that he wanted them and that now he had them. Nothing else really given. Which meant it came as a surprise when Ultron was not the only one to arrive. Just behind him were two teenagers.

One of the teen had silver white hair and silvery blue eyes. He seemed jittery like all he wanted to do was run. But not necessarily run away. Just run for the fun of it. He just needed to move all the time. Beside him was the young woman that Sam had seen before James had arrived at the VA meeting he had been holding. Seeing her, Sam straightened even more in curiosity. She looked nervous, confused but angry. Something had happened to her. Something bad and it had changed her deeply. But, Sam wasn't sure what it could have been.

"Sergeant Wilson. Colonel Rhodes, an honor," Ultron greeted before looking to Hope and Scott. He was acting as if he hadn't kidnapped them and certainly as if he hadn't had a discussion with them before. "Miss Van Dyne, Mister Lang. I am honored to see you as well."

"Yeah, can't say I'm enthused," James retorted, his attention flicked to Pietro for a second before focusing on the giant silver robot that strode toward the four. Sam stared at the machine, awed in it's design for a moment before he caught the flash of something in a reflection. Hope huffed, crossing her arms over chest as she glared at Ultron. Scott snorted, looking toward the twins in curiosity.

"Yes. I assume you might have had a... Minor issue with my invitation," Ultron commented, unconcerned with James's feelings on the matter. It was clear that he would have done it all over again. Whatever was going on in the robot's mind deemed that this imprisonment was right. Pietro shifted a bit, moving himself closer to Wanda as if protecting her. All that did was draw attention to the two of them.

"Who are you?" Sam asked, staring at the twins. Ultron stepped forward, drawing Sam's attention back to him quickly. Scott also looked while James and Hope kept their attention on the twins. As odd as it seemed, they were all pretty sure that Ultron didn't mean them any danger as of yet. But who were they in the long run? And why would Ultron have them?

"My name is Ultron. I am a force of peace," the silver robot informed as if Sam had been asking him and not Wanda and Pietro. Sam frowned, glancing to the bot before back to the teens. James snorted.

"Forces of peace don't normally kidnap people," James pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest. Ultron glanced over to him.

"If the people are enemies, then is it considered kidnapping? Or taken prisoner?"

"So... Anyone got an idea on a way to get out?" Quill wondered, glancing about at his cell mates before across the way to Bucky. Since Rocket's question the Sergeant had gone silent. He had tucked himself into the back corner as if lost in thought but if one looked closely enough they'd see his eyes were focused on his surroundings. It seemed it was analyzing everything and trying to come up with a plan. But, there didn't seem to be one that could come.

"Well, I can get us out of the cell but leaving the ship might be a bigger issue," Rocket hummed. "Likely, they did something to the emMilano/em as a just in case we get free."

"We would need to find Clint," Bucky added as if anyone but him seriously cared about that. Though, Gamora really didn't like the idea that Ronan would have access to two stones if she allowed Clint to stay here. So, like Bucky, she wasn't going to want to leave unless they could successfully get Clint to come with them. And, the ship was large enough that she honestly had no idea where the archer could have been stashed away.

"That makes things even more complicated," Rocket informed, tossing his paws into the air. He had already been pretty adamant about the idea of leaving Clint to whatever fate Ronan had meant to give him as long as the rest of them were free. Quill hadn't mentioned much on his decision but he was leaning to helping Clint out as well. Drax... Well, he was vocal about still going after Ronan and his revenge and screw everyone else.

"I am Groot," Groot stated, looking to Rocket. The raccoon shook his head but didn't reply.

"I desire my reveng-" Drax started but was stopped when Gamora suddenly attacked him, pushing him roughly against the wall by his throat. Drax pulled for a punch in an attempt to attack back but Gamora use the heel of her free hand to hit him in the throat. He collapsed, grasping his throat and coughing. Bucky looked up, curious.

"It's your fault we are in this mess! If you had simply waited!" Gamora snapped before giving out a cry of rage and kicking him in the side before storming to the other side of the cell.

"Woah," Quill commented, holding his own hands out in defense as if she would attack him as well. "Calm down. We need to be able to work together."

"You want to work with that... That... ARGH!" Gamora cried waving a dismissive hand toward Drax as the man finally began to recover from her attack. He looked up at her with narrowed eyes.

"You would dare lay hands on-" Drax began again but this time was stopped by Groot wrapping vines around his legs, arms and then into his mouth. There were muffled sounds of protest but at least the man had been quieted.

"Gamora, we are outnumbered here. And out powered. Any help is worth whatever cost," Quill pointed out. "We can ditch him afterwards, but we need him to escape."

"And we are doing a wonderful job with coming up with a plan," Gamora hissed. "We cannot escape! Ronan has won and if he does not keep the stones for himself, he will soon return them to my father and all will be lost once more."

"Ronan seems power hungry," Bucky muttered, thinking back to the interactions from before. The Kree seriously believed that he was of the best race in the world and likely that he would be able to control the stones. But, Bucky also knew Thanos would hunt Ronan down. And given the fact that he knew Ronan had lost to the guardians before, he doubted Ronan would be able to stand up to Thanos. "Doubt he'd give any of them up now that he knows what they are."

"Nebula would tell our father of Ronan's intended treachery and give him the knowledge to track him down," Gamora replied, shaking her head. Bucky sighed. He knew that was true which meant that likely, Thanos could already be on his way to meet with Ronan. And Ronan likely had no idea.

"So, I guess we just sit here, relax and wait for the end of the world," Rocket mumbled. Before anyone could respond a rumble and then hissing noise echoed through the room. Bucky got to his feet as Rocket, Gamora and Quill headed toward the bars of their cell. There was a pause in the noise before it happened a second time though there was a minor change to it. And indication that the whatever had happened before was now reversing. A moment or two later, Nebula all but stormed into view.

"Nebula," Gamora greeted, her voice a sharp tone of disapproval. Nebula glared at her, eyes narrowed in contemplation and contempt. "You need to let us go so we may take the Stone from Ronan and hide it away."

"Ronan intends to kill our father," Nebula informed. Gamora furrowed her brows in surprise. Did he seriously think that with even one stone he'd be able to beat their father? Thanos was powerful and resourceful. He had been fighting for longer than Ronan had been born and knew of the Kree's way of fighting. Ronan honestly had no chance in hell.

"And you believe him?" Rocket wondered. Nebula glanced to the raccoon before back to Gamora. It was clear that she was dismissing him.

"You know how powerful those stones are. Do you really wish to leave them in the hands of a man who would destroy an entire race?" Gamora questioned. Nebula stood a bit straighter.

"We have helped our father do worse."

"Not an entire race," Gamora argued as if that made that big of a difference between the two villains. Bucky let out a nearly soft snort at Gamora's statement but otherwise didn't make a noise.

"Yeah, that's so much better," Quill whispered mostly under his breath. He had thought he said it softly enough but Gamora, Nebula and Bucky all heard him and Bucky couldn't stop the flash of a smirk from appearing on his face before he blanked it out once again. It was in moments like this that Bucky missed Clint because the archer would have loudly made that statement rather then trying to hide it like Quill.

"Ronan only wishes to destroy Xandar," Nebula mentioned as if that made that big of a difference. And honestly, in the big scheme of things, Xandar being destroyed was nothing. It would be like killing one single ant in a large colony. No one would really notice. But, they all knew that it wouldn't be right. Most Xandarians had done nothing and were completely innocent. None of them deserved the wrath that Ronan intended on them.

"And you honestly think he'd stop there?" Gamora countered. "Nebula, you are smarter than this. Please..."

"Thanos knows Ronan has the Power Stone. Even if you allow Ronan to keep it, do you think he can hold onto it forever?" Bucky added, looking up to her. Nebula turned to look at him in confusion. She couldn't figure out how Bucky knew that. Ronan had only recently informed Thanos that their bargain had been broken. An act with Nebula and Ronan's general had tried to stop him from doing but Ronan hadn't listened. "Thanos will end up getting it sooner or later. We intend to hide it so he'd never be able to find it."

"If it has been found once," Nebula warned. Bucky said nothing. It was true. If the Stone had been found once before than what hope did they have in hiding it again. Especially for as long as Thanos would be able to search for it. "Ronan intends to kill Thanos."

"And in doing so, how many more would be threatened? Are you sure Ronan could win? Are you sure you could take the stones back from Ronan when it was over to stop him from killing everyone but the Kree?" Gamora quickly asked no one truly catching that Gamora had used the plural form. Nebula looked back to her sister with a frown on her face. It was clear that she was beginning to crack. She was beginning to question the legitimacy of this.

"Ronan isn't the only one who wants to kill Thanos," Bucky stated, drawing the half robot's attention toward him. She frowned deeply now, waiting for the rest of what Bucky needed to say. "I have friends. Powerful friends that have defeated him before."

"No one has defeated Thanos before," Nebula hissed.

"In this time. But, we have. I promise you. We killed Thanos," Bucky insisted, moving toward the bars of his cell as if that would better convince her of what he was saying. Nebula shook her head. It was impossible. Thanos was too powerful. Many had tried before and many failed. No one could stop him.

"Here we go," Rocket muttered, putting a paw to his face. "More future talk."

"What?" Nebula demanded, her attention snapping to Rocket as the weak link of the team. Which, given how much information he had let slip so far seemed like it was the truth. And at Nebula's attention, Rocket winced but amazingly didn't speak. Bucky sighed. As much as he hated doing this (again), he knew that Nebula needed to know everything as well. All he could do was trust that they could convince Nebula to switch sides like before.

"Clint, the blonde with us, and I... We come from nearly thirteen years in the future. We've lived through a time when Thanos won but we were able to fix it all and end Thanos's life," Bucky announced. Nebula turned and stared at him for a minute or two before scoffing and walking away. "I promise you, Nebula! If you can help us get out of here, we can stop Thanos and keep the universe safe!"

Nebula didn't respond, nor did she return. Bucky sighed deeply. Hopefully that worked in some way to get her to question things. But, he almost doubted it. Slowly, he headed back to his corner to sit down. On the other side, Quill moved back to sit on the bench that was in their cell. Drax stood against the back wall (still mostly tied up in Groot's roots and vines) and Gamora on the side wall opposite of Quill. Groot was standing just about in the middle of the cell, watching everyone. Mean while, Rocket looked across the hall to Bucky.

"Well, that didn't work. Now what?"

Happy Holidays everyone, no matter what you celebrate. Though I don't know the exact dates for everything, sorry. But still, Happy Holidays.

Poor Darius spent most of this month begging my husband to put up the Christmas tree. I couldn't because it was too heavy. Sadly, my husband and I have seriously not been in the holiday mood. Haven't really been since 2017... In fact, I still haven't even finished wrapping gifts. Whoops. Thankfully Darius will be spending tonight with the grandparents, so I have tonight and tomorrow morning to wrap. Otherwise, Darius has been doing well in school. Still have some issues with attention problems which is really hard to figure out how to help him with. He's got MAJOR attitude problems with mostly the hubby and me. Some problems with the grandparents but so far the school has said he is a 'doll.' They are so lucky...

Still, once again, Happy Holidays everyone!