A/N: In case it isn't abundantly clear in this chapter I will never be over the loss of JARVIS. Also have y'all seen WandaVision?! I'm shook. Leave me comments! Thanks for reading!


Chapter #27:

On a Razor's Edge


"You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics." –Charles Bukowski


"All our work is gone." Bruce sighed. I glanced around the lab. The mood had switched from jovial to tense at the flip of a switch, or more accurately at the attack of a psycho robot. Tony stood at a table staring at the main Ultron drone they dragged up here. Bruce was shaking his head a little off to the side, flipping through screens looking for data. Maria was sitting with Sam who was helping her pick shards of glass out of her feet and legs. Just beside the two of them were Helen and Rhodey, the latter of which who was holding his wrist in pain. Natasha, who had changed into a jacket and sweats, stood by the wall with her arms crossed and her eyes focused on something in the distance. Clint sat in the chair beside her. Steve was standing a few feet behind Tony with his eyes downcast and his jaw tense.

My hands, still in my gloves, played with the edges of my dress. The tulle was torn and a part of it was even singed. I hadn't felt that happen. I also hadn't felt the glass dig into my skin at some point, but the side of my arm was definitely bleeding. My eyes stared at the armored gloves in my lap. I should take them off, let them fold back into bracelets, but a part of me couldn't. What if the drones came back? I still had leftover adrenaline coursing through my veins.

"Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch." Bruce sighed again and swiped the screen in front of him away in disappointment. Apparently, he had seen enough.

Tony had a weird look in his eyes. Distant. I could see it from where I sat. Steeling myself, I pushed up out of my chair and crossed the few feet between us to stand by his side. He didn't even seem to notice my presence. Not even when I set my hand on his arm.

Tony just stayed lost in his head.

"Ultron." Steve spoke up, and I glanced back at him. He had a hand on his hip and the other resting on the table beside him. It was a casual pose, but the look on his face was nothing of the sort.

Natasha spoke up, "He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Ultron officially knows everything about us."

"He's in your files." Rhodey scoffed and flinched when Helen began to try and move his injured wrist. "He's in the Internet. What if he decides to access something a little more exciting than Clint's social security number?"

"Nuclear codes." Maria looked up in alarm.

"Look, we need to make some calls." Rhodey announced. "Assuming we still can."

Natasha shook her head, "Nukes? You think that's his move?"

"He said he wanted us dead."

"He didn't say 'dead', he said 'extinct'." Steve corrected in a sharp tone.

I squeezed Tony's arm and whispered, "Tony? Please come back."

"He also said he killed someone." Clint continued the conversation. He hadn't made eye contact with me since the fight ended and something told me I was in trouble with him too. I was in trouble with a lot of people.

Sam shook his head, pulling out another piece of glass while Maria hissed in pain, "There wasn't anyone else in the building."

Tony suddenly pulled out of my grip and I stayed where I was with my hand still hanging in the air. He paused in the middle of the room and shook his head, "Yes, there was." He pulled his phone out, snapping it forward once, and the golden programming of JARVIS popped up like it had days before. I gasped audibly at the state of it though. Suddenly, Tony's state made full sense. I took a shaky step closer with my arms wrapped around my chest in a pathetic attempt to hold myself together. JARVIS's programming was shattered. It looked like it had exploded from the center. Like a beautiful, glowing planet that had an asteroid blow through it leaving nothing but golden fragments and dust. Tony's voice brought me back, "J."

Bruce shook his head and stumbled forward with hands outstretched. It looked like he was trying to hold the programming up. Tony took a step away from the remains and I wanted to go to him, comfort him, but I couldn't look away. JARVIS wasn't a human. He wasn't flesh and blood, but he felt real. I had lived in this Tower for a little over four months and in that time I had grown close to him. That's what it felt like at least.

JARVIS was my friend, and now he was gone.

I felt that absence.

That hurt me.

I couldn't imagine what it did to Tony.

"W—What?" Bruce finally managed to say. "This is insane."

"JARVIS was the first line of defense." Steve crossed his arms and glanced downwards. "He would've shut Ultron down. It makes sense."

But it didn't make sense. Ultron was programming, just like JARVIS, at the end of the day. Programming could integrate other programing. Assimilation. Ultron could've made JARVIS a part of himself, potentially even strengthening himself through it, but this…this looked like a crime scene.

This looked violent.

"You got it." Tony said softly and I looked up to see him staring at me. Pain in his eyes. He nodded, as if he could read my mind. "You're right."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, and Steve glanced between us, "Right about what?"

Bruce looked to me, and I pleaded with my eyes for him to explain it, he nodded and motioned to JARVIS's remains, "Ultron could've assimilated JARVIS. This wasn't strategy. This was…" A look of familiarity flashed in his eyes, "This was rage."

Heavy footsteps made me look over in time to see Thor storming into the lab in his full uniform. Tony spun just in time for Thor to grab him by the throat and lift. I lunged forward to grab at Thor's free arm, "Thor!"

"Use your words, buddy." Tony gasped out while Steve barked at him to set him down.

"I have plenty of words in mind for you, Stark." Thor snapped in anger. The loss of the scepter had been personal to him, and I understood that, but it didn't help. This didn't help.

I squeezed his arm, though I doubt he even felt it, "Please. Thor. Stop."

Thor dropped Tony, and the billionaire stumbled while trying to suck in a gasp of air. I scrambled forward to wrap my arm around his side and help him up. Steve came closer, "Thor. The Legionnaire?"

"Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but its headed north." Thor answered. He had flown after the drones that took the scepter. "It has the scepter, and now we have to retrieve it." He shot Tony a look of annoyance. "Again."

Natasha shook her head, "Genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present our focus is Ultron."

"I don't understand." We all glanced over to see that Helen had wandered over to the drone. I hadn't even noticed her leave Rhodey's side. "You built this program." She turned to look at Tony. "Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony pulled out of my grip again and I frowned. He crossed the room to his desktop, and I expected him to look something up, pull up data and answers, but instead he began to laugh. Oh no. It was Tony's coping mechanism. Humor. I had the same mechanism under my belt so I understood him almost too well. Right now, though? In this moment? I knew it wasn't going to float with the others. My main concern was still his state of mind though. Tony's tense shoulders and hysterical chuckles worried me greatly. Bruce stood beside him, shaking his head as discreetly as he could to his best friend.

"You think this is funny?" Thor took another step toward him.

I shadowed his step, putting myself halfway between Tony and Thor, just in case. Tony turned around with furrowed brow, "No. It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so…?" He laughed again and held a hand out to Thor. "Is it so…It is. It's so terrible."

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor snapped back.

My goal was to keep Thor from murdering Tony. I wasn't quite sure how yet, I hadn't got that far in my planning, but it was Tony who suddenly closed the space. I turned in surprise as Tony pushed past me to Thor, "No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny." Tony said firmly, right up in Thor's space. "It's a hoot that you don't understand why we need this."

"Tony", Bruce called out sheepishly, "Maybe this might not be the time…"

"Really?!" Tony whipped around with a raised eyebrow, "That's it? You just roll over and show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

Thor shook his head with a scoff and turned away from Tony while Bruce shot him a skeptical look and shrug, "Only when I've created a murder bot."

"We didn't!" Tony argued with his hands outstretched. "We weren't even close! Were we close to an interface?" Bruce shook his head with a sigh, and he turned to me with a pointed look. "Did we succeed, Aj? You were there. Tell them!"

I shook my head. From what I saw and understood, from what they walked me through, they really hadn't been. They were testing various algorithms and programs to see if one could fit the bill, but after 70 or so tries it still hadn't worked. I went to voice this, hoping maybe it would calm the tension a little, but Steve was the one who cut in, "Well, you did something right. And you did it right here."

Eyes shot over to Steve who had his arms crossed and there was nothing on his face except bitter disappointment. He took a step toward Tony, his arms falling to his side, "The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."

Tony stared at him for a moment, the tense room quiet, then he turned away from Steve and motioned to the room, "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"

The rooms' response was a chorus of groans.

Rhodey shook his head, "No, it's never come up."

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard it."

"Recall that?" Tony didn't let the room's mood deter him. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it." He paused, a haunted look on his features. "We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there…" Tony motioned up with his finger. "That's… That's the endgame." He shook his head. "How were you guys planning on beating that?"

Steve clenched his jaw, nodding his head firmly once, "Together."

Tony stepped toward him in a challenging manner, "We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together, too."

There was a pause where the words seemed to echo off the walls of the lab. Maybe it should've been uplifting. A promise that no matter what, win or lose, we would still go through it as a team, a family, but it felt wrong. It felt foreboding.

"Thor's right." Steve changed the direction of the conversation, still in Captain mode. "Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller." Tony drifted away from the center of the room and off to his desktop away from the others again. "Nat and Clint, get in contact with Coulson. Tell him to leave agents on Eugene in California but send his main team out to search for Strucker and the Reaper. Warn them of the enhanced kids. Hill…"

I tuned out the commands, knowing I was more than useless in this situation just like the one before, and walked over to stand by Tony. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were focused on a spot in the distance. I set my hand on his arm again, "Tony…"

Tony turned to look at me, gave me a tight-lipped smile that didn't reach his eyes, and shook his head, "Not now."

He pulled away out of my grip and left the lab altogether. I dropped down in the chair closet to me and went back to picking at the edges of my dress. Bruce walked over to me, to pick the glass out of my arm and quickly bandage it, then after a comforting smile he left me.

I felt like I was sitting in a haze. My brain was walking through the events of the last three days leading up to tonight. Should I have stopped Tony and Bruce? Everything seemed so innocent though. There were no signs that screamed 'hey this is gonna come back to bite you in the ass right away'. Hell, the last three days had been fun. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to trace this back to the moment it all went so terribly wrong.


Steve was furious and it had nowhere to go. A part of him wanted to wring Tony's neck for all this bullshit. How many times did he have to remind his team that secrets were going to do nothing but bring them down? Yet, here Tony was building homicidal robots in his lab. Steve would've ripped him a new one, he wanted to scream at his brilliant friend who was so damn stupid sometimes, but he knew it wouldn't do any good right now. Tony was a mess. He could see it in his friend's eyes. Between Ultron being a psycho and the loss of JARVIS… Steve knew nothing he said now in anger would help anything. So, he bit his tongue.

Sam crossed the room and set a hand on his shoulder, "Steve, man, maybe you should take a walk." Steve's jaw clenched and his eyes drifted over to where Aj was still in the lab with them. Others had drifted away, but she sat in a lab chair with her eyes focused on her lap. "I'll take care of her."

"No. I need to talk to her." Steve replied.

"Steve—"

"Sam." Steve snapped, his terrible mood lashing out. Sam held his gaze for a few tense seconds before shaking his head with a sigh. He knew that Sam thought this was a bad idea, but he also knew that Sam couldn't stop him, and he wouldn't be able to sleep without getting this off his chest.

"Go easy." Sam replied quietly before making his leave.

Steve turned his attention to Aj who still hadn't moved. Without thinking, he crossed the room to stand in front of her. She didn't react and he forced himself to kneel down. At the pained look of despair on her features, he felt his anger simmer. Like Tony, she was a mess too. Her dark hair spilled out of the bun it had been in, the lower half of her dress was torn and singed in some parts, she still wore her gloves, and there was dried blood smeared around on her upper arm.

He reached out to set a hand on top of hers, forcing them to stop playing with the material of her dress, "Are you okay?" Aj's eyes snapped up to meet his. Surprise in them. He watched as she lifted her gaze past him to look around the room. Steve reached up to take her chin in his fingers and dragged her face back down so her eyes were on him again. He spoke firmly, "Aj. Are you hurt?"

"No." She replied softly, shaking her head. "Well…" Aj glanced down at her arm where Bruce had patched her up. The man hadn't seem overly concerned by the injury, but the dried blood was still jarring. "I'm okay."

She was okay. Aj was okay and Steve felt a rush of relief slam into him. It was short lived though, unfortunately. All he could think about was that very last moment. Aj standing head to head with a drone, her only weapon spent, and the look of resolve on her features. A look that screamed 'I'm out of options and I know it'. He had gotten there in time. He had, but his mind kept forcing him to think of what would've happened if he hadn't. Images of Aj being shot point blank in the chest with a plasma round lived in the forefront of his mind. Steve had gotten there in time, but, Jesus, what if he hadn't?

Aj's eyebrows furrowed in concern and he wondered if she could see his anger settle back in place. Steve stood up abruptly, her eyes followed his movements, and he couldn't reign back his terrible mood any longer, "What the hell were you thinking!? Are you insane!?"

Aj stood up, shakily, and replied, "I'm not sure what you're yelling at me about right now, but can we save it until morning?"

It was a reasonable request. It was the smart choice. To take the night and then revisit this in the morning when they were both more stable minded. Steve couldn't wait though. They could've lost her tonight. He could've lost her tonight. He could've lost her, and that wasn't even the only thing that bothered him.

"No. We're doing this now." Steve snapped. "And you know what, I should've been clearer about what I'm talking about since there's apparently a laundry list of shit to go over."

That's all it took. Steve had successfully managed to push Aj from shock into being pissed off. Her eyes flashed and he was so sure that she was going to lash out, but instead she just tried to push past him, "I don't know what your problem is, but—"

Steve reached out, grabbing her wrist above the metal glove, and yanked her back to face him, "My problem is you could've died, Aj!" She flinched. "I told you to get to cover. To get the hell out of there but like with everything else you think you can just do whatever you want!"

"I tried to leave!" Aj snapped back. "But Tony was hurt—"

"Tony was fine! We all were. We knew what we were doing." Steve let go of her wrist to bury his hand in his hair. He shook his head, "We're the Avengers and you know that. You know what our job entails, and you know, you know, that in an emergency you need to take our commands to heart. This isn't your world."

"Isn't it?" Aj scoffed. "It sure seems like my world now!"

Steve shook his head, "You aren't prepared for this kind of shit. We are! We had the situation handled—"

"Well it sure as hell didn't look that way, Steve!" Aj yelled. Her hands were shaking, he could see it plain as day, but she crossed her arms over her chest to try and hide it from him. Steve's anger took a hit as he momentarily felt guilty about dragging these emotions out of her. "Every time I looked up somebody was getting thrown around or shot at! My entire family was getting their asses handed to them and you expected me to just tuck tail and run?"

Steve felt desperate now. He grabbed her by the arms, shaking her more than he meant to, and let his fingers curl around her skin, "Yes. God, that's exactly what I fucking want, Aj!" He could see her eyes begin to tear up, but he couldn't stop now. "We were trained for this and you were not. Do you think anyone would be happy you saved them if it cost you your own life? Aj, you could've died tonight—"

"That isn't true—"

"If that drone had fired a second quicker it would've been over for you." Steve didn't feel angry anymore. He just felt tired. He felt at a loss. Didn't she get this? "It doesn't matter if Helen had her cradle upstairs, that blast would've killed you immediately!" Aj mumbled his name and tried to lift her hands to set them on top of his own, but he didn't release her. Having his hands on her, feeling the life in her skin, it helped. "Aj, why don't you get this?"

She shook her head, "That isn't who I am, Steve. I can't just do nothing. I can't sit back and let y'all take all those hits for me." Steve lowered his head and closed his eyes. "I have to fight, Steve. I have to—I have to do something."

"Aj", He lifted his head to look her directly in her eyes, "I lost Peggy. I lost Bucky. I can't lose you too. Please. I can't…"

Aj pulled his hands away from her arms, but then she took a step forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Steve pulled her as close as he could, crushing her to his chest, but he couldn't help it. He kissed the top of her head and then rested his cheek on her.

Peggy was alive, but Steve was coming to the realization that he had indeed lost her. They never got their chance at a happy end and more often than not when he visited she didn't recognize him anymore. Bucky was alive, and they were so close to finding him now, but what would they find? Would it be his best friend or a stranger? He hoped, prayed, for the former, but his luck hadn't played out that well in the past.

Steve couldn't lose any of his new family. That was a simple fact. Aj was different though. He wasn't entirely sure he could survive through losing her. Between losing Bucky and Peggy, and then losing them all over again in this new time, Steve had his fill of heartbreak.

"You aren't going to lose me, Steve." Aj said softly, muffled by his body. She pulled back, but he refused to drop his arms away from her so she remained close. Aj lifted her hands to cup his face, the metal from the glove was cold, but her bare fingertips were warm as they brushed against his cheekbone comfortingly. "I promise. You won't lose me. I'm sorry."

He shook his head, taking a shaky breath, "No, I am. I shouldn't have yelled."

Aj gave him a small smile. It didn't reach her eyes, but it was enough to bring him comfort, "Sometimes I need the yelling. I'm thick headed like that."

They stood like that for a moment. Aj didn't meet his eyes, instead she stared at her moving fingers, and he wondered if she was memorizing his features the way he was to her right now. The crescent shaped scar under her right eye, the constellation of faint freckles over the bridge of her nose, the depth of the blue in her eyes.

"Hey", He said. Her eyes met his and Steve hesitated. He wanted to resume the conversation they were having on the couch. He wanted to confess everything, but it wasn't the time. Steve wondered if he'd ever actually get the time. He settled on something else that had bothered him, "Why didn't you tell me about Ultron?"

Aj's eyebrows furrowed, "I'm sorry about that too, but… Tony wanted to keep it secret until he had more solid data. He was serious when he said they were no where close. This isn't what he wanted, Steve, Tony—"

"I know." Steve nodded.

"Not to throw someone under the bus with me, but Bruce knew too." She twisted her lips into a pout.

Steve shook his head, "I expect him to keep secrets for Tony. They're close."

"Are you inferring that Tony and I aren't close enough for me to keep secrets for him?" Aj asked in a joking tone, but he could see the hurt in her eyes and feel how her fingers stopped moving on his face. That wasn't what he meant. Not at all.

Steve pulled her hands from his face and went about releasing the latch of both. Tony had taught everyone on the team to do it just in case of emergencies. All of the team knew one another's gear like the back of their hands. Her eyes widened slightly as they came off and Steve tossed them onto the table behind him. They needed to be repaired anyways since she had used the one blast.

"I wasn't trying to compare the two of you like that." Steve said but he kept his eyes on her hands. He looked them over for any wounds or injuries partly to make sure she was okay and partly to hide the blush he felt on his features. "I just thought… I thought we didn't keep secrets from one another."

It was quiet for a pause, too quiet, and when he looked back up he felt gutted by the look of absolute guilt written all over her face. Steve hadn't meant to hurt her by the statement. In hindsight, the secret of Ultron hadn't even been too bad. Yes, the robot was murderous and wanted them extinct, but they hadn't known. He was still upset that he wasn't looped in on the beginning so he could've voiced how terrible of an idea it was, but, still, his aim wasn't to hurt Aj. His aim was never to hurt Aj.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—" Steve cut himself off.

Aj pressed her lips together, swallowing nervously, and nodded, "I betrayed your trust. I kept something from you, and… and it's going to hurt you. God, it's going to hurt you." He didn't mention it already had. That wouldn't help anything. Aj buried her face into her hands with a wild gasp, "Oh God, I never wanted to hurt you and here I am— I—I—"

"No, hey, stop that." Steve pulled her hands away from her face. "You didn't betray my trust, Aj. You had no idea what could've come from this. I'm sorry, I really wasn't trying to guilt trip you. I just meant…"

Steve didn't know how to voice his thoughts without sounding sappy or revealing that he was falling hard for the girl in front of him. One of the many things he liked about Aj was her honesty. Just like with Bucky and Peggy, she respected him enough to be up front with him. Even when the truth was brutal and harsh, the three of them never beat around the bush.

"Steve, I am so sorry." Aj said quietly. "I'm sorry."

He lifted one of her hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. This time he let his lips linger there for a moment longer. "I'm sorry too." He gave her a stressed smile, "Come on, let's get you to bed."

Aj let him drag her out of the lab, and to his floor. With Thor here, she had been staying with him again. Jane wasn't here so she could've just stayed on her own couch, but she asked to stay with him and Steve could never tell her no. He didn't want to in this case.

They had been taking turns on his couch since Aj was too stubborn to just take his bed for all the days Thor was visiting. Tonight though, when he came out of his bathroom freshly showered, he noticed she hadn't gone to sleep like he told her to. Aj was in her sleep clothes, her hair still damp from her own shower before his, and she had her arms tightly wrapped around the knees that were pulled into her chest.

Steve stepped closer, to convince her to rest, but Aj held out a hand to him with a sad look on her face. He couldn't tell in this lighting, but it looked like she might've been crying. Aj didn't have to say anything and if it were any other night he might've put up a fight. Instead, he took her hand and let her pull him onto the bed. They both quietly settled under the sheets and Steve let out another breath of relief when she shifted closer to rest her head on his chest. They hadn't laid like this together since her nightmares and the situation then had been very different.

"Get some rest." He mumbled softly and let his hand trail up and down her spine comfortingly. Aj's arm, the one stretched over his abdomen, tightened just a fraction. Steve closed his eyes and let the smell of her shampoo wash over him. The upcoming days dealing with Ultron would be a shit storm, he knew, but he also knew that Aj was safe and alive in his arms and tonight that was all that mattered.


The streets were uncrowded, this late at night most Sokovians were nestled in their homes, but still it was a cacophony of noise. Wanda still wasn't entirely used to the new clamor that filled her world. Her eyes traced the streets and clouds of red mist circled the heads of everyone around them. Fear, desires, and thoughts of every person they passed suffocated her. She took in a steadying breath and let tried to push the noise into the background.

Her brother, Pietro, walked a step ahead of her. His eyes panned around them with furrowed brows of concentration. Wanda slipped her hand around the crook of his arm and spoke in their natural tongue, "We are not being followed. I would know. After he let us go, he didn't come after us."

"I don't trust him." Pietro argued. "He works for von Strucker."

Wanda didn't blame her brother. The man they had only known briefly, Vincent Morgan, looked the part of someone who should not ever be trusted. The air he breathed seemed to come out crooked. So, when he pulled them aside and said to them, 'Only a fucking idiot would stick with Strucker, he's a sinking boat', her initial thought was this was some kind of trap. The Wanda of before, the Wanda she could no longer claim to be, wouldn't have believed him. However, who she was now? She saw what he truly wanted, she saw his pain, and she saw the hatred he felt toward von Strucker. It was similar to how her and her brother felt about the man. They volunteered to his experiments to save their home, to right the wrong that happened to them so long ago, but never for one second did they align themselves with the man who gave them their gifts.

"He doesn't want us. He only wants the girl." Wanda said. "Our future with them has ended. This new man is our solution."

Pietro shook his head with a small smirk, "I don't trust him either. I feel we'd be better off on our own. We don't even know who this man is or how he found a way to contact us."

Wanda gave him a look and Pietro let it drop. They continued down the street to where a crumbling building sat at the end. It was an old church, but it was in disrepair. The ceiling had fallen out and the entire area was fenced off to prevent injury. When they reached the fence, Pietro yanked back a loose portion of it and Wanda slipped through. They were supposed to meet here, but she felt no sensation of someone being near.

Her brother looked to her and she shook her head. Cautiously, they pushed onward into the main sanctuary where only one chair sat in the center of the room on a platform. The chair was throne like, a broken down once regal thing, and someone sat in it with their back to them. A cloth covered his head entirely.

"Talk." Wanda demanded in English. That was the language the message to them was sent in. She stepped in front of her brother who stood tall and confident. "And if you are wasting our time—"

"Did you know this church is in the exact center of the city?" A deep, honeyed voice asked them. "The elders decreed it so that everyone could be equally close to God." Wanda stepped closer. The man spoke, but she got nothing from him. She couldn't hear anything from the mystery man. "I like that. The geometry of belief." Wanda focused her powers, trying to draw something out, to no avail. "You're wondering why you can't look inside my head."

"Sometimes it's hard." She replied, not giving up. "But sooner or later, every man shows himself."

The man stood, he was tall and broad, and as the shawl fell from him Wanda saw only metal where she expected skin. She stumbled backwards in surprise as the robotic man walked toward her, eyes glowing red. Pietro hurried to her side, still ready for a fight.

"Oh, I'm sure they do, but you needed something more than a man." The robot drawled. He stepped off the platform, but even on level floor with them his figure was towering. "That's why you let Stark take the scepter."

Wanda shook her head, "I didn't expect…" Her eyes trailed over his form. "But I saw Stark's fear. I knew it would control him. Make him self-destruct."

Tony Stark had been filled to the brim with nothing but anxiety, self-hatred, and a deep rooted fear of loss. She didn't have to pull hard to see it. The emotions screamed out at her. All it took was a little push and the man spiraled all on his own. His nightmares came to life before his eyes, the death of everyone he loved at his own hands, and she didn't have to do anything from there. Tony Stark was desperate to save his world. He was desperate to protect the people closest to him. It was all he wanted in life, and Wanda knew he would do anything to try and accomplish it. She also knew he would fail and self-implode before ever reaching his goal.

"Everyone creates the thing they dread." The robot chuckled. He turned to take a few steps away as he spoke. "Men of peace create engines of war. Invaders create Avengers. People create…" He turned to look at them with a puzzled look of thought. "…smaller people? Uh… Children!" The robot chuckled and the almost human way he spoke and reacted was shocking to her. "I lost the word there. Children designed to supplant them, to help them end."

"Is that why you've come? To end the Avengers?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I've come to save the world!" He announced and motioned for them to follow. He paused then turned with a nod and shrug, "But also…yeah."

The robot, who introduced himself as Ultron, led them back to their birthplace. Not where their parents brought them to life, but where von Strucker created what they were now. The castle was looming, but the lights were on. Pietro took her hand, she could see the distrust on his face, and kept himself close. Wanda liked the words Ultron said, but the fact that she couldn't see into his head was disorienting. It was funny. Around this new figure, she was back to guessing motives and it felt wrong.

"We'll move out right away." Ultron led them into the basement, motioning around him. "This is a start, but we need to begin the real work."

"All of these are…" Wanda glanced around to the drones moving about building more and more of themselves.

Ultron nodded in pride, "Me. I have what the Avengers never will. They're discordant. Disconnected. They play as a family, but that is their downfall. All of them are too different to truly find harmony." He glanced back at them. "Stark's already got them turning on each other. And when you get inside the rest of their heads…"

Pietro chuckled from beside her, "Everyone's plan is to kill them."

"And make them martyrs?" Ultron scoffed. "You need patience. Need to see the big picture."

"I don't see the big picture." Pietro cut in sharply. She reached forward and set her arm inside the crook of her brother's arm again. A reassurance that she was still there. They were still side by side. "I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it, every day."

Ultron nodded in empathy. Could he feel empathy? Wanda wished she could see. He continued, "You lost your parents in the bombings. I've seen the records."

"The records are not a picture." Pietro snapped.

"Pietro." Wanda said softly.

Ultron shook his head, "No, please."

Pietro turned to look at her when he spoke, "We were 10 years old. Having dinner, the four of us. When the first shell hits, two floors below, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in…" She could still smell the smoke and dust of crumbling walls. Wanda could still see the floor beneath her give way, disappearing, and she still remembered losing her parents. Wanda remembered them being there and then she blinked, and they were gone. Gone from her and her brother forever. "The whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed, and the second shell hits. But it doesn't go off. It just… sits there in the rubble. Three feet from our faces."

Sometimes at night, she got stuck in a dream where she was under that bed again. Wanda had Pietro, she always had Pietro, but nothing would ever compare to the terror she felt lying next to her brother waiting to die.

"On the side of the shell is painted one word." Pietro laughed without humor.

"Stark." Wanda growled. "We were trapped for two days. Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think, 'This will set it off'." She focused on Ultron and she could feel her powers broiling under her skin. "We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us."

"We know what they are." Pietro shook his head.

Ultron let his gaze drift between the two of them, "I wondered why only you two survived Strucker's experiments. Now I don't. We will make it right. You and I can hurt them…" He nodded to Pietro, then turned his full attention on to her. Ultron's cold hand traced the side of her face, "But you can tear them apart from the inside."

Wanda didn't know Ultron. She couldn't see his motives or true desires. However, she really liked the idea of shredding the Avengers into absolutely nothing.


There was something really upsetting about seeing the place I called home in shatters. Everything around me was destroyed. Glass covered the floor, furniture was in splinters, holes were punched into the walls. It was nauseating. If something like this had happened in my old apartment I wouldn't have even cared, but this? God, it was gutting. It looked terrible last night, but in the morning light it was even worse.

I kicked my foot around making glass slide around me. I had woken up in Steve's bed alone with a sticky note on his pillow telling me to wear shoes when I came upstairs. I had changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt then pulled on my sneakers.

I knelt down and picked up a few pieces of glass with the idea to clean some of this up. After picking up only four shards of glass though I realized the urge was absolutely idiotic. Still, I couldn't bring myself to stand up.

"Aj." Natasha's voice called out. I turned my head to see her standing up at the top of the first flight of stairs. She gave me a soft look and nodded for me to come toward her. I dropped the glass in my hand and hurried up the stairs. She looped her arm through mine and led me through the lab to a meeting room they had in the back. It was one I rarely visited. "Are you hungry?"

"Don't really have an appetite." I mumbled. "Why are we back here?"

"Ultron's on the web. He deleted any signs we might've had to find him. We're doing research the old-fashioned way." We stepped in and I saw everyone digging though boxes of papers. I realized then that everyone except Bruce, Natasha, and Clint were in the clothes they wore under their uniforms. It made sense. I knew they were leaving today, but it still dragged my worry out kicking and screaming. "Wanna help?"

I nodded and walked over to stand next to Tony and dig through a box. Steve was on his other side and having Iron Man as a barrier between us felt both wrong and right. I didn't want to separate myself in any way, but all I could think about was the fact that I was lying to his handsome face like the shitty friend I was.

Apparently, the enhanced kids had been seen helping Ultron. That made the group think he had maybe partnered up with Strucker and Vincent somehow which didn't bode well for any of us. So now we were looking for anything related to the German, psycho scientist. I kept my eyes on the papers, refusing to look up, as I flipped through folders. It took everything not to get lost in my own head as I worked.

"Baron Strucker had a lot of friends." Steve sighed.

Bruce, who was on my other side, shook his head, "And every single one is worse than the next."

"Wait, wait—" Tony said, and his hand entered my line of vision as he pointed to the folder in my hand. The name Ulysses Klaue was at the top, and he looked like the kind of guy who was running in the wrong crowd. "I know that guy." I handed him the file, and Tony took it. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast. Black market arms deal." I watched as Steve shot him a disappointed look, and Tony gave him a light glare back with a nod, "There are conventions. All right? You meet people. I never sold him anything." They looked away from one another, but the tension remained. Tony continued, "He was talking about finding something new, a game changer. It was all very Ahab."

Thor took the file from him to look over while Steve peeked at it as well, "This?"

He was pointing at something on the man's face.

"It's a tattoo, I don't think he had it."

"No, those are tattoos." Thor tapped his finger to the black marks peeking out of his shirt up his neck. Then he pointed to the next were he had an odd, burn scar under his ear, "This is a brand."

Bruce held his hand out, and Thor gave it to him. The scientist turned to jump on the computer on the desk off to the side. He input the symbol and waited as it tried to find a match. My eyes caught Steve's on accident. He gave me a small smile and I had to look away. I didn't deserve any shred of kindness from him. I didn't deserve anything from him.

"Oh yeah." Bruce called out, pointing to the screen, "It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief'. In a much less friendly way."

"What dialect?" Steve questioned.

Bruce looked back to the screen, "Wa-kan-nada." He shook his head and tried again, "Wakanda. Wakanda."

Steve and Tony suddenly turned to look at each other. This time instead of tension it was a look of recognition. Tony shook his head, "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods…"

"I thought your father said he got the last of it." Steve replied.

"What the hell comes out of Wakanda?" Clint asked.

Steve and Tony both glanced over their shoulder to where the Captain America shield was leaning up against the wall. Natasha raised an eyebrow, "Vibranium?"

"Vibranium." Steve nodded.

From there it was a flurry of the team prepping and getting ready. While they worked on that, I packed away all the files back to where they had been grabbed. It wasn't a long chore, but it was mindless. That helped. Sooner rather than later, they were moving down to board the quinjet. I stood in the room one had to go through in order to get onto the quinjet straight from the weapons and uniforms locker room.

Saying my good-byes to them this time felt different. Usually, there was humor in the air and a casual confidence. This time I could tell they were worried and God that put a rock in the pit of my stomach.

"Don't do anything dumb while we're gone." Clint pulled out of the tight hug we shared. The words should've been humorous, but the look in his eyes was deadly serious. "If anything happens, anything, you call us. Even if nothing has happened but you have an off feeling about something. You—"

"Call you. Got it." I nodded.

Natasha pulled me away from him and into another hug. She said something in Russian I didn't catch, but I tightened my arms around her all the same. When we pulled apart she didn't give me final goodbye words like Clint had. She just gave me a firm smile then grabbed Clint and dragged him away. As they disappeared out the door to where the quinjet was waiting I wondered if that could be the last time I saw them. It was a dark thought, intrusive, but it hit me hard. Even if it wasn't this time, was this how our goodbye would look? Me wishing them luck, sending them out in a quinjet, to never see them again?

Thor came into the room next. He spotted me and offered me a kind smile. I could tell he was still irritated from last night, but it had simmered greatly. Rather than our usual high fives and jokes, he let me pull him into a hug. His armor stuck into my side painfully as I gripped him tight, but I didn't give a damn.

"Bring them back home, Thor. Please." I pleaded.

Thor let go of me and gave me a serious nod, a promise, "I will return all of them to you in the state they leave in, little warrior. I give you my word."

"Keep your own ass safe too, big warrior." I offered him a smile that I prayed didn't look like a grimace. Thor chuckled and ruffled the hair on top of my head before slipping out the door and out of my sight.

Bruce and Tony came in a few moments later. Bruce hugged me as Tony stood off to the side and he offered me a quick goodbye. I could tell by the look on his face that he was mentally preparing himself for a code green. There was no telling what was going to happen out there, and it would be a last resort measure, but it plagued him none the less. He slipped out the door and it left me and Tony alone in the room. I noticed he had my bracelets in one hand.

Tony shook his head, not closing the distance, "Go to the Compound."

"Huh?" I questioned.

"Go to the Compound. As soon as we leave, I want you to grab Beth and leave for the Compound. Take one of my cars. Construction finished a week ago and all they're doing now is furnishing and last minute touches. Last night I activated security measures." Tony explained. "Get there, turn on the perimeter, and then don't leave. Do you understand me?"

I shook my head, "Tony—"

"Do you understand me, Aj?" Tony asked again firmly. I nodded once. "I haven't had a chance to update FRIDAY to have full access to the Tower or the Compound, just my suit for now, but—"

"FRIDAY?"

"Another natural language UI program. Since…"

There was a beat of silence. FRIDAY was JARVIS's replacement. Since JARVIS was gone and he still needed something to help him in the suit. The reminder of his absence made my heart ache again. I mumbled a soft apology to Tony. He looked like he hadn't slept at all last night and that made my concern for him grow. Not only was he going out on a mission, but he was going out with little to no rest.

Tony closed the space between us and grabbed my hands to clasp the bracelet and watch on, "I fixed them last night. Put another charge in." Geez, he really didn't get any sleep, did he? Tony pulled me into a tight hug, "Straight to the Compound. Alright?"

"Got it." I nodded against his chest. "But only if you promise to get a little sleep on the quinjet." He grunted out an acknowledgment. "About JARVIS, Tony—"

Tony let go of me and gave me a tired smile, "Yeah. I miss him too. Compound, Aj."

Without another word, he turned and left the room. The thought of driving out to stay in the newly built Compound was daunting. I always imagined move in day would involve the rest of the team and be a bit happier. Putting myself out of danger was the least I could do to help stave off some of the worry though. I took my phone out of my pocket and texted Beth to meet me in the penthouse within the hour and to bring a travel bag of clothes and necessities.

Then I waited. Nearly ten minutes passed before Steve came into the room dressed in his full uniform. His shield was on his back and his cowl tucked under his arm.

Steve gave me a kind smile and my entire chest ached. He trusted me, the kind of trust I never thought anyone would fully put in me, and I was betraying him. Sure, last night he had been talking about the Ultron secret, but he had no idea about Bucky. He had no idea that for the past three months I had been in contact with his long lost best friend on a daily basis. I needed to tell him. That was abundantly clear now, but in my attempt to wait for the right moment I had ended up waiting too damn long.

"We'll be back before you know it." Steve said trying to quell my worry. "You should—"

"Tony told me to go to the Compound." I nodded.

Steve, happy with the statement, crossed the space and wrapped his arms around me. The warmth from his hug was comforting, but the realization that I didn't deserve it struck hard. He had so much faith in me, he trusted me, and this is how I repaid that.

He released me from the hug, but his hands lingered on my waist keeping me in his reach. Steve paused, hesitated, then leaned forward and pressed his lips to my hairline. My eyes closed at the touch, guilt overwhelming, as it reminded me of a moment that felt so long ago. Bucky pressing a kiss in that same spot and then disappearing from my grasp.

Steve began to lean back, but I cupped his face to keep him close. Something felt different as I stood in this room alone with him, my thumbs dusting over his cheekbones, just like last night. I didn't know what it was. Hell, it was barely even there for me to notice, but it was there. I swallowed the nervous lump that had blocked up my throat from speaking.

"Please come back." I said weakly and shook my head once. "I can't… I can't lose you either, Steve. Please come back."

He nodded once, placed his hands over mine, and then slowly pulled out of my reach. Steve lifted my left hand and kissed the back of it. I squeezed my grip around his fingers and Steve didn't look away from me as he backpedaled toward the door.

"See you soon." He smiled and slipped out.

The moment they were gone I fell to a crouch and buried my face into my arms that rested on top of my knees. This wasn't goodbye. I'd see them again. They'd be fine. They'd be safe. They were the Avengers. There was nothing they couldn't defeat. I repeated the phrases in my head multiple times like a mantra in hopes that the more times I said it the more true the words would become. I stayed like that for longer than I should've and the fact that JARVIS wasn't there to ask if I was okay left a bitter taste in my mouth.

I rose, took in a sharp breath, and then focused on the task at hand. I needed to pack a bag so I'd be ready the moment Beth got here. For the next ten minutes, I was a hurricane rushing around my apartment gathering anything I would need. It all fit into a black duffel bag I had found buried in my closet. I stripped out of my pajamas, pulled on a pair of light colored jeans, boots, navy sweater, and then I tied my hair up into a ponytail before throwing on the hat Clint bought me for Christmas. In my haste to yank on my canvas jacket, the burner phone fell out and I froze.

In the disaster that was last night, I had forgotten to text or call Bucky. I hadn't had any of those terrible nightmares anytime we talked at night, and last night I hadn't run into that issue while with Steve, but even more guilt hit me at not even letting him know what was going on. I scooped it up and when I opened it I was greeted by a missed call and a few texts.

He hadn't left a voicemail, and the last text he sent had been, 'I'm glad you're having fun at the party, call me in the morning so I know you're okay. I won't judge the hangover.' I had told him about the party Tony had planned and joked that he'd be getting a call from drunk me at some ungodly time in the morning. But, that hadn't happened.

My finger hovered over the call button when my other phone began to ring from across the room. It was probably Beth wondering where I was. I shoved the phone into my pocket with the plans to catch him up on what was happening once we got to the Compound.

"Hey, Beth." I answered the phone without even looking at the screen.

"Sam, actually."

"Oh, hey." I said in surprise. I grabbed my duffel bag and headed toward the elevator. "I didn't see you leave last night."

Sam chuckled, "Well it was kind of a mess. Did they leave this morning?"

"Yeah, about thirty minutes ago actually." I got up to the penthouse and didn't see Beth waiting for me. "Are you coming to the Compound with us?"

Sam must have known what I was talking about because he didn't question it at all, "No, I'm not. Remember I told you about that Bucky lead?" All the blood in my body ran cold. "Nat worked some magic and got the guy to give us everything. I'm gonna be chasing him down."

"Y—You are?"

"Yeah, but I need a favor." Sam replied. "The lead sent in the info to Nat via the Tower. Usually I can just call in and JARVIS would shoot me the info but… you know…" He cleared his throat. "I just need you to log into the system and pass the information along."

Without replying, I jogged up the stairs to the lab. The only times I had logged into the system was for PA duties ages ago. Tony had told me I still had access in case of emergencies though. I dropped down into a seat and let the holographic screen rise to greet me. There was a flash of light, the retinal scan, and then I was logged in.

"See anything?"

There was a new message sent straight to the Tower. It had already passed through the screening process, but it remained unread by anyone. I opened it up and my breath caught in my throat. There was a picture of Bucky. His hair was a little longer than I remembered, half his face hidden by a baseball cap, and the picture quality was shit, but I knew. It was Bucky. My eyes danced across the information.

"Aj?"

"Huh?"

"I asked if you found it." Sam said again. I mumbled a quiet yes, and he sighed, "Good. We could use a win. Can you send it to me?"

Could I? Physically yes. I knew how to send it over, but… Sam would chase after Bucky. He'd find him, and bring him home? What if Bucky wasn't ready to come home yet? This needed to be his decision and I didn't know how I could explain this to Sam without admitting the truth of what I already knew. My eyes landed on the picture of Bucky again, and I was startled by how quickly my mind was made up.

"It won't send, Sam." I lied. "It won't let me send anything out, and I don't know how to fix it without JARVIS, Tony, or Bruce."

Sam cursed under his breath, then hummed, "I'm already on Tony's jet with the pilot. Just read it off to me. I got a paper and pencil to keep track of it."

"It says he's at an apartment complex on the corner of Strada Fratii Golesti and Strada Libertatii." I read the words, and when I got to the next sentence I lied through my teeth. My eyes glanced around the map of Romania on the screen, "It's in Oradea, Romania. It says he's been there a while."

"Got it." Sam replied. "Thanks, Aj. Get yourself to the Compound. I'll keep you updated, yeah?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Sam." I said softly and hung up. My eyes stayed glued to the screen. I could call Bucky right now and tell him someone found him. I could tell him I sent Sam to the wrong side of Romania looking for him. Would that come to a happy end though? We'd still be exactly where we were. The wheels in my head began turning. If Bucky saw Sam coming he would run. He wouldn't listen, I knew this. But what if it were me? What if I went to Bucky and convinced him to come home finally? Telling Steve the truth about the big secret I had hidden from him sounded like it'd be a lot easier if I had Bucky there in his sight to distract him. Maybe then he could overlook my betrayal.

"Aj?" I heard Beth's voice from the level below the lab.

I stood up while simultaneously googling the quickest flight from New York to Romania. By time I got downstairs to greet a confused Beth, I had my ticket purchased and loaded onto my phone. We got into the elevator and I hit the button for the garage and my apartment.

"Hold the door for me. I just have to grab something and then we'll head to the garage and I'll explain what's going on. Okay?" I said. Beth nodded quickly and stuck her arm against the elevator doors while I sprinted to my room.

I wasn't going to the Compound. I was going to Romania.

And, lucky for me, I already had a valid passport.