Celeste's POV
Steve and I escorted the twins back to the Avenger's tower, entering the lab at the tail end of Bruce and Tony's conversation. They were discussing uploading something to the cradle.
"I'm gonna say this once." Steve says sternly.
Tony turns to see all of us standing there. "How about "nonce"?" He quips.
I can feel the tensions rolling off Steve in waves, "Shut it down!" He orders.
"Nope, not gonna happen."
"You don't know what you're doing." I jump in insistingly.
"And you two do?" Bruce turns to us, "She's not in either of your heads?"
"I know you're angry..." Wanda says hesitantly.
Bruce widens his eyes in anger. "Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade." He threatens.
"Banner, after everything that's happened-" Steve gets interrupted by Tony.
"That's nothing compared to what's coming!"
"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda argues.
"This isn't a game..." I say.
"The creature...!"
All of a sudden, Pietro is standing next to the cradle, a tube in his hand and the lab equipment destroyed.
"No, no. Go on. You were saying?" He sasses.
Suddenly I hear a shot ring out, Pietro falls through the glass floor he was standing on as it shattered.
"Pietro!" Wanda yells out rushing towards her twin.
An alarm on a monitor went off, Tony turning around to address it. Steve takes the opportunity to throw his shield over to distract them from continuing the upload. Tony's Iron Man hand flies to him and blasts Steve backwards. I blast high pressure wind at Tony in retaliation to knock him back just as more of his suit makes contact with him.
Bruce grabs Wanda from behind, holding her back against his front, his arms holding her down. "Go ahead, piss me off." He growls.
Steve lifts himself up, rushing at Tony and punches him in his chest. The contact forces each of them backwards. I send ice at Bruce as Wanda uses her powers to push him off her.
Just then, Thor crashed into the room, standing on the cradle, sending an extremely powerful bolt of lightening down into the cradle.
"Wait!" Someone yells out.
Thor halted his lightening, all of us looking on in shock. A small explosion makes us all flinch, then a red body flies out of the cradle, crouching at the end of it. He slowly stands up looking around the room at each of us. I set my hands in flames, unsure of what his intentions are.
He shoots himself forward after making eye contact with Thor for a moment, as if to attack. Thor threw him across the room, before he stops himself just at the window, levitating in the air as he looks out at the city.
Steve and I jump over to assist Thor, who puts his hand out to stop us. We stand there, observing him. It looks as if he's looking at his reflection, as he tilts his head slightly to the side.
He then turns around, floating down to land next to Thor. He turns head in his direction, "I'm sorry, that was...odd. Thank you." He says to Thor. Thor just looks at him. The red man eyes Thor, then produces himself a cape to match.
"Thor, you helped create this?" Steve asks.
Thor turns to the room. "I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at it's centre," he points to the mans head, "is that."
"What, the gem?" Bruce asks.
"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 to-"
"Because Stark is right." Thor cuts Steve off. Everyone gives him a funny look.
"Oh, it's definitely the end times."
"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor states.
"Not alone." Our new addition says.
"Why does your "vision" sound like JARVIS?" Steve asks Tony.
"We...we reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new." Tony answers.
"I think I've had my fill of new."
"You and me both..." I agree with Steve.
"You think I'm a child of Ultron?" The Visions questions.
"You're not?"
"I'm not Ultron. I'm not JARVIS. I am...I am."
Wanda walks forward. "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."
He turns to her. "Look again." He directs.
Clint scoffs. "Yeah. Her seal of approval means jack to me."
"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side..." Thor trails off.
"Is it?" Steve looks to the Vision. "Are you? On our side?" Steve asks him.
"I don't think it's that simple." He responds.
"Well it better get real simple real soon." Clint says.
"I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't, he will end it all." The Vision states.
"What's he waiting for?" Tony questions him.
"You." He simply responds.
"Where?" Bruce asks.
Clint jumps in. "Sokovia. He's got Nat there too."
Bruce looks unsure. "If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be-."
"What will you do?" Visions looks at all of us, a look of realisation presenting itself on his face. All of us together would be capable of destroying him. I myself, have left my hands in flames, ready. "I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go."
He bends down, lifting Thor's hammer, handing it over to him, then walks off. All the Avengers, minus Nat obviously, look on in shock.
"Right." Thor says, walking over to Tony and pats him on the shoulder. "Well done." Then walks off.
Steve turns to everyone else remaining. "Three minutes. Get what you need." Everyone moves off to do what they need to. "Do you need anything?" He asks me gently.
"I've already got my one and only suit on, so I'm good otherwise. You?"
"Might grab a quick bite and a bathroom break."
"Not a terrible idea." I smile at him.
"Come on, I'll show you to the kitchen."
We walk to the kitchen and make up something quick to eat for everyone. We can eat on the flight to Sokovia.
"So what's the deal with Thor's hammer? Everyone was shocked Vision picked it up." I ask Steve.
"Apparently that's means he's worthy!" He laughs. I look at him confused. "You have to be considered worthy in order to pick it up. The party the other night? We all had a go of lifting it."
"Oh? How'd you go, did you get it up?" I question with a sly smirk. He raises an eyebrow as he smiled back at me. He picked up on my joke.
"It... shifted" he chuckled
"Ah, so only semi?" I continued to joke.
"You're terrible...!" He continues to chuckle, turning to walk away with the bag of sandwiches.
"Hey! I don't know what you're talking about! Get your mind outta the gutter!" I yell after him.
After running to the bathroom, we walk to the jet, where Tony and Clint are waiting.
"No way we all get through this." Tony says as Steve and I take a seat to wait for everyone else.
"If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost." I whisper.
"It's gonna be blood on the floor." Tony adds.
"I got no plans tomorrow night... yet." Steve gives a lopsided smile before looking over to me, winking. I smile gently as I look down, attempting to hide my blush.
"I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for."
"That's true, he hates you the most." Visions says walking behind Tony into the jet. Tony's eyes widen in a comical way.
"Okay, here come the twins and Thor, let's get out of here." I say chuckling.
We all load up, Tony piloting the jet as we head off to Sokovia. It feels good to now know for certain I'm on the right side of this battle.
I'm sitting down after I grab some spare weapons. Clint said there was always some on the jet, allowing me to grab whatever I need. I grabbed some handguns with spare magazines that I put into my utility belt, some grenades and finally a few throwing knives. Going into what we expected to be a large battle, I wanted to have some backups if I felt my powers were failing. If I overexerted myself, they'd often wane.
Cleaning one of the pistols, I felt someone sit next to me. One glance out the side of my eye confirmed it was Wanda. I look back to the weapon.
"Celeste... I just wanted to apologise..." she was hesitant. I sighed, my annoyance was building. "What you saw... I didn't think-" I snapped the magazine in, pushing the chamber slide back into place, cutting her off.
"Didn't think what, Wanda?" I couldn't help but snap at her. "That my terrible nightmare and fears that you forced me to see, would what? Be bad?" I look at her incredulously. "We all have our shit and you did exactly what you did to make me relive it all again, knowing what it would do." She actually has the decency to look ashamed.
I look up, seeing everyone looking in our direction. Pietro is biting his lip, like he wants to jump in and defend his sister. I sigh...
"Listen..." I start, "I'm the last person to judge you, Wanda. I've done terrible things, all because I was told it was what's right. And turns out, it was the total opposite." She looks up at me. "What you made me see... was a lot for me to handle... and a huge slap in the face."
"I am truly sorry, Celeste." She whispers. I can see her eyes starting to tear up. I pull her into my side giving her a gentle hug. She was just a kid after all.
"I know you are, kiddo. I'm just struggling with being faced with it all again. And between that and coming to terms with what I've done in my past because, basically my life is a lie, I'm just a bit of a reck." I look into her eyes.
"I understand, I'd feel the same way." She says.
"You're only young... both of you." I look up to Pietro. "And I did enjoy our short time together, in a way. Turns out we were all mislead to an extent, and I should be more empathetic to what you guys are also going through." Pietro walks over and I pull him into the hug. "We need to stick together, because this is all the family we have left." We look at each other, and gently smile.
"Okay, enough of this mushy stuff. Any food in here?" Pietro says, pulling away. Wanda and I both roll our eyes, typical teenage boy.
"Well if you get off your arse, Steve and I packed some sandwiches in that bag." I tease him. "You can stop being lazy and hand them out to everyone."
He chuckles at my directions. "Okay, will do mother." He jokes back.
Next Chapter is the Battle of Sokovia!
What do you think is going to happen with Celeste? Fighting side by side with the twins should be interesting, no? Wanda really threw Celeste for a loop with her nightmare.