A/N: This one is long as shit and guess what? The next one is gonna be LONGER. I'm sorry to those who don't like long chapters, but I couldn't split this chapter or the next. ANYWAYS, tell me your thoughts! Again, y'all will see some differences from AOU and i'd love to hear what y'all think!


Chapter #28:

A-SIDE


"Don't leave me alone with my thoughts. They'll kill me." –Timothy Khawlhring


[2015-03-09] [09:32:12] [35.006205, -64.585011]

The quinjet atmosphere was tense and awkward. Tension was normal. This wasn't the first time the inside of this jet saw that kind of strain either before or after a mission. The awkwardness though? That was new. Even at their most stressful moments, Steve could always count on Tony or Clint to crack a joke or drag the rest of them into some lighthearted argument. Right now, Tony was sitting at the cockpit with his back to the group, despite the quinjet most definitely being on autopilot, and Clint was near the back fiddling with his arrows alone. Steve knew why Tony was pouting, but he wasn't entirely sure what had Clint in a mood.

Steve tossed aside his cowl and glanced over at Natasha. She was sitting a little ways away from Thor and Bruce, who were speaking quietly to one another, and she turned to catch his gaze. He nodded his head in Tony's direction. Natasha shook her head. He nodded to Clint, and she gave him a small smile. There were some situations where Tony needed a Natasha speech and sometimes he needed a Steve speech.

He sighed to himself. Apparently today was a Steve day.

Steve crossed the space towards the cockpit and took his place behind Tony's right shoulder, "Tony—"

"It's dangerous to distract the pilot. 9 out of 10 plane crashes happen because a 'more righteous than thou' ass distracts the pilot with a lecture."

Steve smirked, "I'd like to see the study on those statistics."

"Seriously, Steve." Tony replied. "I'm not in the mood."

"Well having this talk here rather than when we get to Johannesburg sounded like a good idea to me." He said. Tony didn't reply even when he gave the man a few beats of silence to do so. Steve sighed, "Tony, I get it you know—"

Tony turned so his seat shifted and it nearly sent Steve stumbling down the few steps that led up to the pilot chair. He leaned forward in his seat, eye to eye with Steve, "No, Rogers, I don't think you do. Because you still think I regret what I did."

Steve's eyes widened slightly, "Tony—"

"Stop saying my name in that tone of voice."

"—you made a robot who is now hell bent on bringing us to extinction." Steve's gaze hardened. "And you're telling me you don't feel a little bit responsible?"

Tony shook his head, "Ultron came out of my lab. That's on me, I get it. I fucked up, Cap. Sorry I'm not perfect like you—"

"I never claimed to be perfect!"

"—but don't you see what I've been trying to tell you?" Tony snapped. Steve felt himself losing his cool again and bit down his thoughts. This was the opposite of what he wanted to accomplish. "The Avengers are fallible. We need something, something that won't make mistakes or fail, we need—we need—"

"Ultron?" Steve scoffed.

Tony blinked at him once then turned his chair to face out the front again. Steve sighed in regret when he saw his friend's jaw clench in anger. He glanced out at the blue and white that flew past them. Steve wondered if he should back off now and try again after Tony had time to cool off. However, Tony surprised him by speaking up, "I know I'm responsible. Ultron was there, in our home, waging war. If Bruce had gotten hit and hulked out into New York, that would be my fault. If that fall through the glass had done more than sprain Rhodey's wrist, that would be my fault. If that drone had killed Aj and Helen—"

"Tony."

"It would be my fault. I got that." He continued. "But I can't stop trying, Steve. I can't because if I do… if I stop, we all die. Maybe not today or tomorrow but eventually and I…" Tony shook his head, "I can't lose you guys. I can't be the last man standing. Not when I have the ability to stop it."

Steve reached out and set a hand on Tony's shoulder. His friend didn't break his gaze from the jet's windshield. Still, Steve didn't let that deter him, "I know we aren't invincible. I know the Avengers can fail, I get that, but I also know our hands are still the safest hands. Trying to shift the responsibility of protecting this world to a program or perfect being… Yes, it sounds like a good plan. And—and God, do I wish we could do that without any kind of worry, but… I don't know if that's in our future, Tony. At least not in the foreseeable one."

"So that's our fate? To keep throwing ourselves in the fray and praying that if we do lose the entire world won't collapse with us?" Tony questioned. He finally turned to look at him, "I can't accept that, Steve. I have to keep trying. It's who I am. I can see a better future, for us, for the world, and I'm not going to stop trying to build it."

Steve chuckled to himself, "And I see what we have in front of us. I see that right now our only solution is us and I trust my team, this family, enough to get the job done. I have faith that together we can pull through the toughest of situations."

Tony nodded a bit and the two of them just stared at one another. Finally, Tony smirked and let out a small laugh, "This argument is never going to end, you know? We'll always be on opposing sides of this issue. You're a soldier with priority in the now, and I'm an inventor with my head stuck in the future."

Steve's shoulders tensed a bit at his words. Tony called him a soldier, and in this situation he was entirely accurate. He knew that was the reason why the two of them butted heads, and why they, like Tony said, would always be at odds about this topic. Steve couldn't help but think back to when Vincent also called him a soldier though. You could take the solider out of the war, but the soldier never stops being a soldier.

"Looks like we have a long future of bitching at one another ahead of us." Tony said dryly.

Steve smirked, "You know what? I'm okay with that." He held out his hand to him. "Maybe next time we can bitch at one another before you go and decide to build something else. Just so I can guess what happens next."

"Yeah." Tony laughed and clasped his hand with a quick shake. "I guess I can send out a memo next time. Add it to our monthly email chain."

"We're also adding a new rule to the charter." Clint's voice called out. Steve turned and Tony swiveled the chair around to look as well. The archer was leaning against the dividend in the middle of the quinjet with a smirk. Natasha was behind him and gave Steve a quick wink.

Tony stood up and walked down the steps, "I feel like a new rule is excessive. Bruce and I obviously just broke rule number 4."

"Yeah, but I think rule number 12 should be that all parties must give the team a 3-4 business days heads up if they plan to build a supervillain."

Tony rolled his eyes and Bruce raised a hand, "I thought we were on rule 11."

"Rule 11 is no grape flavored beverages in the main living space." Thor shook his head.

All of them paused in thought then nodded in remembrance. Tony continued to argue against a new rule being created at his fault, but Steve dropped back down into his seat to watch in amusement. His thoughts trailed back to being a soldier. For so long, that was all he wanted in life. Now, he had it. More than that, he was good at it. Were Tony and Vincent right though? Would he ever be able to stop being a soldier? Years down the line when he's finally ready to retire and hang up the shield, start a family, would he even be able to?

Could he ever give up that mantle?

Thor crossed the space to sit beside him with a smile. He motioned to the argument in front of them, "Is it odd that this is preferable to before?"

"No. I like it a lot better too." Steve chuckled.

The god of thunder glanced at him and suddenly slapped a hand on his shoulder tightly. Steve raised an eyebrow at the motion, but Thor just spoke, "Are you thinking of Aj?"

Well, he hadn't been, but he was sure he would now. That was a whole other dilemma he needed to manage. Last night had, without a doubt, been the biggest fight they had. It seemed like it ended on a forgiving tone though. Aj wouldn't make eye contact with him in the conference room but saying goodbye to her was better. The way she looked at him… Steve couldn't speak for her, he had no idea what was going on in that pretty head of hers, but her gaze felt different. That was a good sign, right?

Thor let out a booming laugh and Steve realized he hadn't answered the earlier question, "Have no fear, Rogers." He shook his shoulder. "Your lover is formidable. Aj will be fine while we are gone."

Steve blinked in shock, "Aj isn't my lover."

"She isn't?" Thor questioned. He paused then shook his head, "No, I am quite certain the two of you have been dating for some time now. Like, Jane and I." Steve shook his head with a smile, and Thor's own smile faltered. He squinted at him, "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. Last I checked at least." Steve replied with a chuckle. Thor pondered on this a moment longer. It was funny to him that Thor had just assumed the two of them had been seeing one another this entire time, but it didn't push him into a stuttering, nervous mess at the thought anymore. Mostly because, if things worked out how he had planned, he'd come back from the Ultron mission and correct that error in judgement.

Clint dragged Thor's attention back to the argument at hand. It sounded like a new one, but that didn't surprise him. Steve knew him and Tony had an endless list of pointless things to argue over. He crossed his arms and settled back in his seat to watch them throw points and facts back and forth to one another. Like many arguments they had, it went on a tad bit too long and Thor ended it by claiming god status and saying he knew best which sent everybody else into groans of exasperation.

The Avengers were an absolute mess. A train wreck. A trashcan fire family, at best, but they were his and Steve wouldn't trade them for something functional any day of the week.


[2015-03-09] [18:14:49] [-26.205, 28.049722]

Ulysses Klaue ran his operations out of an abandoned cargo ship that had run aground right outside of Johannesburg. The river had dried long ago and left behind a mess of rusting ships. They had chosen to park the quinjet right on the riverbank with Bruce waiting inside. Nobody was eager to release the Hulk inside a closed, metal ship. It just screamed 'bad idea', and Clint would know. He was very good at bad ideas.

It had taken a good chunk of time getting to area, it was approaching sunset, but from what they could see their targets were here. Klaue was inside the ship as per usual and he had guests. Guests in the form of two enhanced toddlers and a giant, creepy ass robot. The mission hadn't officially started yet, and Clint was already tired.

He got to his location, a perch near the top of the inside of the hull and clicked his earpiece once to let the others know he was ready. From where he crouched, he could see Ultron, who had definitely upgraded since they last saw him, standing with the gray-haired boy and his glowing red twin sister. They were arguing with Klaue about something. A tone in his ear told him that Natasha had just reached her own position.

"Finance is so weird." Ultron's voice echoed through the hull. "But I always say, keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which."

Tony scoffed over the comm line, "Now he's using my lines?"

"Is that really a line you wanna lay claim to, Tony?" Natasha questioned.

"Stark." Klaue spat out the name and Clint flinched in fear that they had been spotted. The man was glaring at the robot though. He shook his head, "Tony Stark used to say that. To me. You're one of his."

"What!?" Ultron roared and grabbed Klaue by the arm. "I'm not—" The nearby henchman grabbed his gun, but Wanda Maximof made a quick motion with her arms sending a blast of red that froze the henchman in place. "You think I'm one of Stark's puppets? His hollow men? I mean, look at me! Do I look like Iron Man!? Stark is nothing!"

As Ultron yelled, he swung his other hand down and in one swift motion Klaue lost his arm from the elbow down. If the guy wasn't an evil bastard, Clint might've felt bad for him.

"I'm sorry! I'm…oh!" Ultron said sheepishly. "I'm sure that's gonna be okay. I'm sorry. It's just that I don't understand." Steve clicked the earpiece twice. The signal to drop in. Clint notched an arrow and took in a steadying breath. "Don't compare me with Stark! Stark is— he's a sickness!"

Steve, Thor, and Tony dropped down on the railing across from Ultron and the twins. Tony was the first to chime in as per usual, "Aw, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to." Ultron countered, the three of them squared up.

"Nobody has to break anything." Thor said firmly.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet." Ultron chuckled.

Tony shook his head, his voice clear over the comm unit, "He beat me by one second."

The gray-haired boy, Pietro, stepped forward, "Ah, yes. He's funny. Mr. Stark. It's what? Comfortable?" He motioned to the area around them. To the various missiles and weapons scattered around. "Like old times?"

"This was never my life." Tony replied and Clint knew that comment had hit below the belt. Tony never reacted well to accusations like that. Even at the height of Stark Industries creating weapons, Clint knew Tony had never delved into this side of it.

Steve stepped forward, "You two can still walk away from this."

"Oh, we will." Wanda said in a patronizing tone. Where her brother was stone faced with anger, Clint could see the seething look of hatred on the girl's face. Every once in a while, her eyes would flash a threatening red.

"I know you've suffered—" Steve tried to reach them.

Ultron just scoffed at the attempt then followed it with an amused laugh, "Captain America. God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war." Ultron motioned to himself. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but—"

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." Thor bellowed.

"I think you're confusing 'peace' with 'quiet'." Ultron took a step forward.

Tony made a sound of mock acknowledgement, "What's the vibranium for?"

"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Ultron replied with ease. Great. It was a villain with Tony's snark. Clint only had a second to think the disgruntled thought when Ultron shot a magnetized hand out to yank Tony's suit forward then followed it with a bright red laser blast that sent him slamming into the metal door behind them.

Two drones jumped onto the railing, attacking Steve and Thor, while Tony activated his rockets and slammed forward into Ultron. The two flew through the air, tangled in battle, slamming into the sides of the hull. Clint aimed for the drones only to be interrupted by gunfire. Klaue's men had finally showed up to the scene and now it was time for all of hell to break loose.

Natasha, on the level below Clint, was tied up in taking down as many of Klaue's men as she could reach. The archer just above her fired at the ones who slipped away and tried to get to the others. Above them, Tony fired a blast sending Ultron through the metal ceiling only to follow him up and out of sight.

Steve, who was still on the railing being swarmed with Ultron drones, took out one out with his shield only to immediately be hit in the face with a fist that sent him sprawling. Pietro Maximof. He grunted and rolled back up to try and spot the blur of blue and gray. Luck was on his side when Steve spotted him being thrown through the railing of their level and into a pack of storage boxes. He turned to grab the nearest drone with his shield and slid the side of it under the robot's neck so Thor could take off the head like a baseball bat to a ball.

Thor turned to fight the next and Steve leaped from the railing down to where Pietro was struggling to get up. The boy shakily got to his feet just in time for Steve to slam his shield into his chest sending him back to the floor.

"Stay down, kid."

The battle raged on, and Thor found himself storming down a hall to where he could hear Steve fighting either Klaue's men or more drones. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted movement, but when he turned to find the source it was too late. A flash of red washed over him, momentarily blinding him, and when it faded he was left staring at a young girl with dark hair pulled back and glowing red eyes. He reached forward, but she slipped into the shadows and away from him.

"Thor, status." Steve barked over the comm line.

The god shook his head and pushed forward, "The girl tried to warp my mind. Take caution with the witch." He turned the corner to meet one of Klaue's men. Thor grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him to the ground. He shook his head again, "I doubt a human could keep her at bay. Fortunately, I am mighty."

As the words left his lips, the metal walls and floor turned to stone bathed in candlelight. Thor whipped around dizzily but was only met with the revelries of Asgardians. He turned again in a tight circle, but the ship and his teammates were gone.

"Fuck." Thor let the very human curse fall from his lips.

Only quiet on the comms from the god.

"Thor? Thor!" Steve called out but got no response. With a grunt, he slammed the edge of his shield into the abdomen of the soldier in front of him then threw him aside so he could get to his missing teammate. Suddenly, something solid crashed into his front sending him flying backwards and hard into a corner of metal pipes and guns. With a grunt, he sat up to glare at Pietro who smirked down at him. Before Steve could stand a blast of red hit him in the face blinding him.

Natasha, who had seen Steve go down, and knocked the henchman in front of her out via kick to the head then jumped down to the level below her to try and get to the Captain faster. She quickly told Clint the plan over the line and raced around the corner bringing down every gunman she crossed. She was caught off guard when something fast knocked her onto her back. Natasha followed the momentum and rolled to her feet, but when she landed in her crouch a flash of red blinded her.

"Motherfucker." Clint cursed under his breath. The bad news was that every single Avenger was not responding over the comms anymore. The good news was that meant nobody could get onto him about cursing. Clint was a glass half full kind of guy. He rotated out the usual arrowhead to switch it to a pulse bomb. Clint notched the arrow and fired. It shot forward and went off mid-way down taking out every single one of Klaue's men on that level. Clint lowered his bow with a tilt of his head, "Maybe I should've started with that one."

He could feel someone hovering over his shoulder. Wanda had come for every other Avenger and he knew he'd be the last since his location was out of convenient reach. His fist tightened around the taser arrow he left in his hand. When he felt the girl surge forward, Clint spun in a tight circle and slammed the non-sharp end to her forehead. It stuck there and the electricity had her shaking where she stood with wide eyes. The red on her hands simmered away to nothing.

"I've done the whole mind control thing, kid. Can't say I was a fan." Clint said. He raised his hand to pull the arrow off, it had already done its job, but a sudden force slammed into his side sending him through the window that had been to his right. He landed hard on a table with glass surrounding him. Pietro scooped his sister into his arms, shot him a dirty look, then zoomed away. Clint groaned and let his head rest against the table for a second, "Yeah, you better run, you little shit."

After giving himself 4.5 seconds to feel like death warmed over, Clint rolled off the table and called out over the comm line, "Anyone still standing? We gotta get out here. Guys?"

Clint was met with nothing but silence.


[date unknown] [time unknown] [location unknown]

Natasha stumbled down a very familiar set of wooden stairs. The logical side of her said this was impossible. Very shortly after finding her own path, finding her freedom, she had come back to burn this cursed building down to nothing but ashes. The moment her feet landed on the tile floor of the lobby that thought was gone. She was back. She was back in the Red Room.

Her feet carried her forward to where an old woman stood outside of a double door staring inside. Natasha came to a stop and watched a line of ballerinas plie while holding onto a wooden bar connected to a wall of mirrors. In the corner a group of young girls stared at them in awe.

"Stop." Natasha mumbled softly. "Stop. Let them leave." Her eyes landed on a young red headed girl in the front of the group of children staring back at her without emotion on her face. "You're going to break them."

"Only the ones who are breakable." The old woman said from beside her.

The ballerinas began to bleed profusely. The dark red blood starting under their tulle skirts and leaking down their stockings to pool around their pointed toes. It didn't deter the dancers from continuing their moves. Blood just smeared across the wooden planks with every turn they took.

The old woman turned to look at her with a smile that was too large for her face. One that had too many teeth, and the longer she stared the darker the woman's eyes turned, "We've been waiting for you to come back, Natalia."

She didn't want to come back.

Natasha didn't want to be here.

The woman, the monster, took her by the arms and led her across the vast room. Every step echoed loudly, and it matched the beat of her heart as it pounded painfully in her chest. She was taken into another room and took in a sharp inhale at the sight. This was the room she was raised in, this was the room where the Black Widow was born, and on the light wood floor kneeled six familiar faces.

"We're so happy to have you with us again." The woman cooed in her ear. Natasha stared at her in fear as the woman placed a pistol into her hands. "But you came back with weaknesses, Natalia. What do we do to our weaknesses?"

"We destroy them." Natasha replied in Russian. A statement she had said a million times in this building. To this woman. "We destroy them."

"Then destroy them." She shook her head with that same devious smile. Natasha turned to face her friends, her family, and she hated the fact that her heart didn't race. That the gun didn't shake in her hands. "Do it, Natalia."

Steve was first. He held his head up confidently. He was still in his uniform though it was bloodied and battered. Steve shook his head, "This isn't you, Natasha."

"Yes, it is." Natasha replied unwillingly. A bag was placed over his head, and her body raised her arm to aim. Every single inch of her brain screamed to stop. She didn't want this. She didn't want to be this. Her body acted on its own accord though. She pulled the trigger and Steve crumpled to the ground dead.

Tony was second. His eyes burned with passion. He had on his favorite band shirt, the AC/DC one she could never get him out of. Tony didn't blink, "You're stronger than this, Nat. Natasha!"

"Strength is destroying weaknesses." Natasha heard her own voice say. Another brown bag. Another gunshot. Another dead body.

Bruce was third. He looked tired. Worn down. The poor guy wore the gray sweats he was always forced to after a code green. Bruce sighed, "Natasha, stop this. We're your family."

"I have no family." Bagged. Shot. Dead.

Thor was fourth. He looked angry. The god was stripped of his armor and hammer. Thor snapped at her, "Natasha! You are a warrior! Fight this!"

"A warrior has no weakness." Bagged. Shot. Dead.

Aj was fifth. She looked broken, disappointed. The young woman's bright blue eyes were clouded with tears and she wore an outfit Natasha had picked out for her with love. Aj sucked in a shaky breath, "Please. Nat, please."

"There is no room for pleading, no room for weakness." She replied. The sob as a bag was pulled over her head didn't falter her stiff movements. Another bullet, another dead body.

Lastly was Clint. Clint. It was Clint. He was on his knees in his uniform, beat up and bruised, but the man just smiled at her warmly. There was nothing but soft love in his eyes. No malice or anger. Just love. Clint's smile widened. It was the smile he'd give her in the early morning light when she woke up to find him already awake and looking at her. It was the smile he'd shoot her from across a crowded room. Clint nodded once, "I love you, Tasha. I love you. You belong here, with me. Your place is by my side. I'll always love you."

"I—I—" Natasha stammered. It was like she was trapped in her own head. Every atom of her being was on fire, screaming, but her body didn't react. Her soul was burning alive, but her body didn't care. She opened her mouth and a cold voice that she recognized as her own spoke, "Love is weakness. I have no place in the world."

Clint's smile never faltered as a bag was roughly shoved over his head. Natasha could feel hot tears running down her face, but it didn't matter. It didn't matter. She pulled the trigger, her aim was true, and Clint was dead. Clint was dead. Her Clint was dead.

Cold hands gripped her shoulders and the woman whispered in her ear, "Welcome back, Black Widow. You belong here, with us, and you'll always come back. You'll always come back to us."


[date unknown] [time unknown] [location unknown]

Steve stumbled forward and stared at his hands. Ungloved. Dark green sleeves. It took him a second for him to recognize his service uniform. He hadn't seen it since he went under the ice. A gunshot made him jump. Steve turned to find the shooter, but his eyes landed on a man laughing with a champagne bottle in his arms. The champagne soaked him and the others around him, and then pooled on the floor around their feet.

He took another step forward. He was standing on the edge of a dance floor. Bright red victory banners hung from the ceiling with garlands and décor. Happy, jazz music played loudly around him as everyone in the room laughed and celebrated. The war was over. Everyone was overjoyed, but he couldn't find it in him to feel the same way. Something was wrong. That edginess he felt in the field sat at the back of his neck. A foreboding warning.

Steve pushed forward through the dancers. Photographers rushed around him, their flashing lights too bright and making him flinch. Each shutter sounded like a grenade going off. The flash a warning that he was too close to survive the blast. He shoved past them desperately and spotted two men shoving and fighting one another. A dancer whirled past them, and now they were just laughing. Holding onto one another's arms for support.

Another gunshot. A cork popping? The band playing? All he could hear was gunfire. That's all his brain could recognize. Steve felt lost as he came to a stop at the center of the dancefloor. On his left a man was on the ground bleeding, but after a blink all he saw was wine spilled on a shirt. On his right was a woman sobbing over a dead child, but dancers passed in his vision and now she was laughing while helping her fallen child stand up.

More gunshots. More bottles. More grenade flashes. More photographers.

It was overwhelming. Steve felt like he couldn't breathe. Everyone here was so happy and they celebrated because the war was over. It made perfect sense. It's what you were supposed to do when a war finally ended. So why wasn't he? Why couldn't he join in the party? Why couldn't he celebrate too?

His eyes landed on a familiar face. Way in front of him, off the dancefloor, Aj sat at a table in a pristine white dress that didn't match the timeframe. Tony, in a white suit, laughed beside her while Clint, also in white, stood behind them talking loudly. Bruce and Natasha sat across from them whispering with matching smirks, and Thor cheered while pouring drinks for all. Aj suddenly turned and her bold, blue eyes locked with his. A slow smile, just for him, filled her features and she motioned for him to come over.

Steve breathed in relief and took hurried steps toward his family, toward Aj, but with every step he took he only got further away. It was like the dancefloor was growing. Every time he thought he was getting close they looked further away.

Sound began to dim, and Steve felt left behind. He was lost in a crowd of faces while his family drifted away. A gentle hand lightly tapped on his shoulder and when he whipped around, he felt his heart stop. Peggy. She looked just like she had the day he said goodbye to her. Her hair was done up perfectly and she wore a soft blue dress.

"Are you ready for our dance?" Peggy asked.

"Peggy…" He breathed.

She stepped closer to him and his hands naturally drifted to take her in his arms. The dim music around them was quickly paced, but he just pulled her flush against him as they slowly swayed. The world around them began to blur. Steve still felt lost, left behind, but it wasn't so bad here. He didn't mind being lost here if he had Peggy in his arms.

"The war is over, Steve." Peggy said softly. "We can go home. Imagine it."

It sounded nice. It sounded like heaven.

Steve watched as Peggy's beautiful hair began to slowly turn gray. Her skin aged before his eyes, and he clutched at her tighter while shaking his head. She was moving forward without him too.

"Are you going to live in the past forever?" Peggy asked. "Do you really believe that you can only thrive in a war?" Steve opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Peggy gave him a soft smile, "That's why we're leaving you behind."

"Peggy—" Steve said, but Peggy disappeared. A second later the music stopped. The world stopped. Suddenly, he was alone on the dance floor. All the party goers were gone, and he was left alone in the vast, warmly lit room.

Steve slowly turned and stopped when he noticed there was one other person in the room with him. Aj was sitting where she had been before. The others were gone, it was just her, and her smile had disappeared. Steve took a hesitant step forward, scared he wouldn't make any progress, but when the distance began to close, he picked up his pace. Aj stood up to meet him and they both paused a few feet away from one another.

"Aj." He said. "You didn't leave."

She shook her head sadly, "I've been waiting. But… you always leave me waiting, Steve."

"That wasn't my intent. I wanted—" Steve paused. There was plenty of things he wanted, but she wasn't wrong. "Aj, I want…"

"You can't say it, can you?" Aj asked.

"No. I can." Steve said firmly. "I want—I want—"

It didn't matter how hard he tried to get the words out. They stayed stuck in his throat and his heart ached as Aj's face filled with more and more disappointment. She shook her head and took a step back.

"You chose to fight a war. It's who you are, Steve. I get it."

Just like with Peggy, Aj began to change right before his eyes. Her white dress began to turn a blood red. Bruises coated her skin. Her knuckles turned a splotchy red and purple. Steve watched as the light left her eyes and her cheeks hollowed out. Aj turned and began to walk away.

"Aj, no." Steve said. "Aj!"

He reached forward to grab her, to stop her, but his hands slammed into an invisible wall. A barrier he couldn't cross. He punched at the wall as hard as he could, called out to her, but she just continued to walk away. A deep chuckle made him realize Vincent Morgan was who she was walking to.

Vincent winked at him, "I told you. If you don't take what you want, the world will take from you." He grabbed Aj roughly and laughed. "Do you even have anything left for the world to take, soldier?"


[date unknown] [time unknown] [location unknown]

Thor was surrounded by noise and dizzying motions. The structure of the plaza he was in was recognizable. It was Asgard. The south wing of the castle. Never before had this area seen revels like this though. Masked men and women danced in odd repetitive fashions. Fire breathers filled with air with smoke and embers.

As he pushed through the space, hands grasped as him. Fingers raked against his armor and skin. Another tangled in his hair and tried to drag him toward a group of scantily clad women. His eyes landed on a friend and his eyebrows furrowed in disbelief.

"Sif?" Thor drifted toward them. His dark haired friend, one of the greatest warriors Asgard has ever seen, was lounging in a seat with men and women catering to her. Armor had been replaced with ornamental, bold red robes and hands caressed her bare skin. "What is happening here?"

Sif leaned forward, giving him a wide grin, "My King! Where have you been? The festivities have begun without you. We couldn't wait."

"Festivities for what?" Thor demanded looking around him.

She rose from her seat and set her hands on his chest, "My King, since when did we need a reason to enjoy ourselves? Join me."

Sif grabbed his hand and tried to drag him forward, the others behind her motioning for him to join, Thor stumbled forward a step. This wasn't what Asgard was supposed to look like. Thor pulled his hand away and turned to rush away. Sif called after him, but he had to find the answer.

"Thor, where are you going?" Heavy hands slammed down on his shoulders and he came face to face with Volstagg. His thick, red beard dripped with wine and his eyes were distant as he grinned. "We've only just begun!"

Thor grabbed his friend's arm, "Volstagg, this isn't right. Sif, she was… What is the meaning of this?"

"You've pushed Asgard into a golden era! An era of nothing but enjoyment and celebrating!" Volstagg cheered. Thor watched as Fandral and Hogun drifted over, both drunk and weaponless. Thor couldn't understand this. Sif and the Warriors Three were not the type to lose themselves in a celebration like this.

Thor broke free of them, "Father!"

How could his father let Asgard fall to these depths? Once upon a time, this would've been the kind of revel he would happily fall into, but he had grown. Thor had learned the error of his ways. He learned the lessons he needed to one day be a rightful King. An honorable King. One worthy of ruling Asgard.

"Father!?" Thor cried again.

"Thor Odinson!"

He blinked in surprise as Heimdall slammed a goblet of wine onto the table and rose to greet him. Thor couldn't stop staring at his friend's pale white eyes. Heimdall's greatest strength, his gift of sight, were gone. Golden, warm eyes replaced with milky white ones.

"Heimdall, what happened to you?" Thor questioned.

Heimdall pulled him into a tight hug with a booming laugh, "I am living the good life, my friend! Finally, I can see."

"Your eyes—"

"I can see." Heimdall repeated, cupping Thor's face roughly, "I can see everything, Odinson."

Thor, desperate to understand, grasped the back of his old friend's neck, "Heimdall, where is my father?"

"Odin?" Heimdall laughed loudly. The laugh was cold and put ice in Thor's veins. "He is with your brother and your mother. They stood in the way of your throne, my King!"

Thor shook his head, stumbling back and away from the blind man, "No, no. Loki and my mother's death they weren't…" It hadn't been his fault. It hadn't been his fault. Right? The amusement on Heimdall's face told him otherwise. That was the sad reality though, wasn't it? Thor could've done more. He was Thor. He should've been able to save his mother, to save his brother. "My father isn't dead. I saw him before I left for Midgard. He's protecting Asgard."

"Does Asgard look protected?" Heimdall questioned with arms thrown wide. "You have brought Hel to Asgard, my King. Our streets burn, but our wine flows freely!"

This wasn't the kind of king Thor hoped to one day be. What kind of king couldn't protect? What kind of king let his land burn? Let his people burn? Thor stared out over the stone half wall that separated him from his home. Asgard burned around him. Streets filled with fire and the air was filled with desperate screams and cries of pain. There was nothing the fire didn't touch.

Desperate, Thor spun around and grasped at Heimdall, "I can fix this. I can still save you!"

"Save us!?" Heimdall laughed cruelly again. His dark hands lifted to wrap around Thor's neck. Thor couldn't breathe, but he also couldn't let go of him. It couldn't be too late. Heimdall's smile turned to something angry and mean, teeth bared, "You can't save us! We're already dead! Don't you see!?"

Heimdall shoved him away, and Thor could now see. The dancers had fallen to the ground motionless. Sif's red robes turned to blood as she lay on the ground looking up at the sky but not seeing. Volstagg, Frandal, and Hogun were only steps away lying in their own pools of blood. A crack of lighting startled Thor and he stared down at his hands to see blue light dancing up his arms.

"You're a destroyer, Odinson!" Heimdall yelled and the lightning increased. "See where your power leads you!"

The lightning shot from his fingertips, crackling in the air, and striking Heimdall leaving the blind man as nothing but a pile of dust. Thor screamed out, but his voice was drowned out by the sounds of electricity around him.

A flash of red. A flash of orange. A flash of yellow. A flash of dark blue. A flash of purple. A flash of green.

Heimdall's voice echoed in his head, "The god of thunder is nothing more than a bringer of death!"


[2015-03-09] [19:13:23] [-13.46471, 4.099527]

The Avengers had taken a lot of bad hits both collectively and individually. It was, unfortunately, part of the job description. This was one of the worst though. Actually, if Clint voiced his own opinion this was without a doubt the absolute worst. Physically, everyone was doing well. They hadn't taken many injuries in that sense so they had that going for them, but the mental blow they took was devastating.

Bruce was curled up in a ball on the small cot they had for medical emergencies. This was the most damage the Hulk had done since Harlem, and the doctor was not taking it well. Steve was sitting stiffly in his seat. He was hunched over, his elbows resting on his knees, and his head bowed low. Only a few feet away, Thor stood, leaning against the wall, with his gaze unfocused. Natasha was sitting on the floor, back to the wall and knees pulled into her chest, with a face of stone. She wouldn't speak to him. Hell, she could barely look at him.

Things were not looking good.

Tony let out a low whistle and walked over to where Clint was sitting in the pilot's seat. He spoke quietly, "I can't get any of them to talk to me."

"The glowing Maximof did a number on them." Clint replied.

The two were silent for a moment as they stared out the windshield at the dark sky ahead of them. Clint had set a course to the only safe house he could think of going to right now to hide and lick their wounds. Still, it would take most of the night for them to get there. At the fastest speed they still wouldn't get there until early morning tomorrow.

"Aj called me while I was in Veronica." Tony said.

Clint's head snapped to look at him, "Is she okay?"

Tony nodded in reassurance, "Yeah. She saw us on the news and panicked. Just wanted to check in. I couldn't talk to her much on account of the Hulk trying to tear my head off."

"I was going to call her soon anyways. Let her know that we won't be making it back to the Tower." Clint replied. The plan had been to use the Tower as HQ on the Ultron hunt while Aj and Beth stayed at the Compound safe and sound. Then when Ultron was six feet under, or in this case wiped off the face of the Earth, they would move to the Compound officially. "You should get some sleep, Stark."

Tony clapped him on the shoulder, "You need some too. Want me to take controls?"

"I'm fine for now. I'll switch out later." Clint said, and based off the look Tony shot him the genius knew Clint didn't plan on switching out at all. Luckily, Tony wasn't in the mood to argue and drifted away from the cockpit. A soft sigh slipped Clint's lips as he let his mind drift away for just a second. Things could've gone so much better today, but he had to remind himself that it also could've gone so much worse.

"JAR—" Clint began but stopped. A lump in his throat made him realize what the loss of JARVIS actually meant. It hadn't actually hit him until now. He shook his head, "FRIDAY, call Aj Bradshaw for me."

"Of course, Mr. Barton!" FRIDAY's calm, feminine voice replied.

The phone rang for a little bit too long. Clint actually felt his nerves begin to fray toward the end of the sixth ring, but then Aj's voice came through the speakers to him, "Clint?"

"Hey, kid." Clint sighed in relief. "You okay?"

"I should be asking you that, Clint. I saw Bruce on the news and…"

"We're alive." Clint said.

He could picture the look of worry and annoyance on her face when she spoke again, "I'm happy to hear that, but that's not entirely what I meant. Clint… Are you guys okay?"

Clint turned in his seat slightly to see that nobody had moved an inch from the position they chose in the quinjet. He bit back another defeated sigh and turned back around, "We… We took a hit today, kid. A pretty bad one."

Aj cursed over the line and for a second neither said anything. Finally, Aj began to talk again, "What can I do? Do they need to talk? Just put them on the line and I'll—"

"They're not really in a talking mood yet." Clint said. He shook his head, "Don't worry about us. We always bounce back."

"Clint, that's not as comforting as you might think it is."

He chuckled, "Fair enough. Hey, I also needed to tell you that we aren't gonna make it back to the Tower tonight. We're on route to a safe house right now."

"Clint…"

"Just—Just focus on the PR work for us. We made a big mess for you to clean up." Clint tried to joke, but he didn't hear the woman laugh. He continued, "Just promise me you'll stay in the Compound." It was quiet for a second too long. Clint felt his heart clench at the thought of Ultron getting to her. "Aj?"

"Yeah, okay. I will, Clint. Don't worry about me. Just focus on y'all."

They shared a quiet goodbye where she made him promise to bring them all home safe and sound then the line went dead. Clint leaned back in his seat, but only for a moment. He sat back up, "FRIDAY, call Coulson."

Clint didn't have to wait as long for him to answer. The agent's voice answered, "Coulson."

"It's Barton. Where are we on Strucker, Eugene, and the Reaper?"

"I have a team of agents on Eugene in California. They're following his movements and so far he hasn't left LA at all. The moment he steps off Hollywood Boulevard though I'll know it."

"I want to know it a second after you." Clint said. "The others?"

Coulson cleared his throat, "We tracked them to Germany, but then they split up."

"Strucker and the Reaper parted ways?"

"Looks like it. The enhanced kids spilt a while ago, you know that—" Clint nodded along as he spoke, "—but around 1300 today Vincent Morgan went his own way with a group of his own men. Looks like they're heading to Romania. I have Daisy, Mac, and Fitzsimmons tracking them. May, Hunter, Bobbi, and I are staying on Strucker. He's moving to Greece for some reason and we're looking for an opening to cut him off."

Clint sat on this knowledge for a moment. He had zero guesses as to why Vincent was in Romania. He had less than zero guesses on why Strucker needed to be in Greece. Clint assumed the kids left Strucker to join Ultron because his goal of murdering the Avengers aligned with what they wanted. That meant Strucker and Vincent had a different goal? Strucker was still working on something, experimenting with enhancements and the super soldier serum, and Vincent wanted Aj.

It was like they had collected all these puzzle pieces but had no idea where to start putting them together.

"How are you doing on your side, Barton?"

Clint slumped in his seat, "We've been better, Coulson. We've been better."


[2015-03-10] [05:26:02] [38.78303, -79.716887]

Steve hadn't known he fell asleep until the quinjet landing jarred him awake. He lifted his head to see Clint jumping out of the pilot's seat and grabbing his gear. The windshield showed early morning light, the sun must've just started rising.

"Where are we?" Steve asked and rose to his feet. He had spent enough time stuck in his head. He needed to focus back on the mission on hand.

Clint pulled Natasha off the ground carefully, "Safe house."

"Yeah, we got that part." Tony replied and activated the quinjet's ramp.

The group of them walked out of the quinjet at a slow pace. The jet was surrounded by dense trees and it took a few minutes of walking down a dirt path to get to their destination. It was a farmhouse. Two-story, white, and older in style. A wrap around porch surrounded the home. Enough light had filled the sky to make the entire scene clear, but the surrounding yard was still covered in a layer of dew and mist.

"Where the hell are we?" Steve questioned.

"It's not much of a safe house if I give out the location is it?" Clint replied. "Come on."

Clint led them across the yard and up onto the porch. Steve still felt tense, his shoulders ached from it, but he followed the archer without hesitation. Clint opened the door and pushed inside with the others right behind him. Inside was just as warm and homey as the outside. The living room was to the right and in front of them was a hallway and the staircase that led upstairs.

"Honey, I'm home!" Clint yelled loudly and Steve shot him a look of confusion. Seconds later an arrow hit the wall right by Clint's head. Steve ripped the shield off his back at the ready. Everyone other than Clint and Natasha seemed ready for a firefight. Clint waved his hands at them, "It's okay, she's a friend."

"Friend is a strong word right now." A woman's voice replied. Emerging from what Steve assumed was the kitchen was a brunette woman. She was young, 20 or 21 at the most if he had to guess, and her hair was pulled back into a sloppy ponytail. She had on a tank top, jeans, a flannel around her waist, and in her hands was a bow. "You've had me in this damn safe house for months. We are not friends until you clear me, Barton."

Tony was the first to speak up, he lifted one hand, "I, uh, I have a few questions."

Clint crossed the space to open his mouth, but a blur of golden fur sprinted into the room and slammed into his legs. Clint stumbled, but had nothing but a grin on his face as he greeted the dog, "Lucky!" He rubbed behind the golden retriever's ears as he cooed, "At least one of you missed me."

"Clint." Steve said firmly.

"Oh, right." Clint jumped up and pulled the woman into an unwilling side hug, "Guys, this is Hawkeye."

There was a beat of awkward silence.

Finally, Tony groaned, "Jesus, there's two of them."

"How can she be Hawkeye if you're Hawkeye?" Steve questioned.

"It's a remembrance thing. In honor of me, you know?"

"Don't you have to be dead before you get people naming things in honor of you?" Bruce added.

Clint scoffed, "Can't you guys let me have anything?!"

Suddenly, the girl's dark brown eyes widened, "Holy shit, wait, you're—you're the Avengers."

They all sheepishly raised a hand to greet her. Clint turned to look at her skeptically, "How are you just now noticing that? Your observational skills are still shit."

"Well, you're my mentor so I get that from you." She snapped back. Steve lifted his hand to cover his mouth as he cleared his throat. The girl glanced back at him and quickly crossed the space to offer her hand to him, "I'm so sorry. My name is Kate Bishop. It's an honor to meet you guys. Clint's told me a lot and, also, you're like all famous. I follow you guys on Insta."

She went down the line and shook the hand of everyone before backpedaling away from them. The dog, Lucky, circled around her once before sitting by her side. Steve glanced around the space they were in again. This was a really weird way to start this day.

Tony dropped down onto the couch with a groan, "You know, Barton, when you dragged us in here the last thing I expected was an arrow shooting teenager."

"I'm 20." Kate mumbled under her breath.

Clint scoffed and sat down into the single seat recliner. Lucky left Kate's side to jump onto his lap making the man grunt as the large dog settled on top of him. He shook his head, "What were you expecting? A wife and three kids?"

Kate laughed loudly, "In order for that to happen it would mean some poor woman had to be dumb enough to have sex with this idiot three times."

Tony smirked, "Oh, I like you."

"She's my girlfriend." Clint said proudly while pointing at Natasha.

The red head gave the girl a small smile, "Unfortunately, he's my idiot."

"So… I just inferred… that the Black Widow was dumb?" Kate said slowly. She nodded her head once, "Yeah, I'm just gonna go kill myself in the kitchen. Help yourselves to anything."

Kate spun on her heel and hurried to the kitchen as Clint laughed. Steve noticed Thor turn to the door on his left and watched as the god stormed out suddenly. He glanced back at Natasha who shrugged then quickly followed after the blond.

"Thor?" Steve set his shield onto his back again and jogged down the porch steps.

Thor paused and turned around to look at him, "I saw something. A vision."

"Wanda made us all see things." Steve said and tried not to let his own mind slip back into his nightmare.

Thor shook his head, "I need answers, Rogers. I won't find them here."

Steve wanted to argue, try to keep him here to rest with the others, but he had nothing to say to convince the god. Thor gave him a quick nod then with the spinning of Mjolnir he disappeared into the sky. Steve set his hands on his belt and closed his eyes. Today was supposed to be a good day. He had made plans with Aj weeks ago to spend this day in Brooklyn sightseeing. It was Bucky's birthday. As much as he tried to shove that fact to the back of his head, to focus only on Ultron on the mission, it wouldn't stay back there. Nothing would. It was like Wanda Maximof had reached into his head and ripped the door off the closet where he kept all those dreaded thoughts. Now anytime he tried to stick something back there it just tumbled forward pathetically.

He slowly turned, set on going back inside, but instead he found himself staring at the house in front of him. This had been his dream once upon a time. Finding his dance partner, settling down, getting a nice home in the countryside. White picket fence, 3.5 kids, the family dog. Captain America had craved the typical American dream for as long as he could remember. Was that in his future though? Steve wanted to walk forward, but part of him was scared that if he reached forward his hand would hit another invisible barrier. He knew that was a foolish thought. He had just been inside, but it hit him all the same.

A man built for war, a man who couldn't get the war out of his head, didn't get to enjoy this kind of life in the countryside.

"We can go home." Peggy's voice whispered behind him.

Steve turned back around and walked away.


[2015-03-10] [06:21:51] [38.78303, -79.716887]

Clint had set up this safe house ages ago. SHIELD had stocked it with furniture and all the furnishings it needed. He had only been here a handful of times though. The last time was four months ago when he dropped off Kate Bishop. Based on the way she was glaring at him, she was still upset about that.

"Say it." Clint sighed as he stripped out of his gear.

Kate, who had been leaning against the doorframe, stormed into the room. Her ponytail swishing around her head angrily, "132 days. I've been here for 132 days. What the hell, Barton?"

"I left Lucky with you for company." Clint shrugged.

"Do you want me to shoot you again?"

"You missed." Clint reminded her. She rolled her eyes and he continued, "I know you weren't happy with this decision, but it was for your own safety. We got rid of the Matador—"

Kate groaned, "Can we just call him by his name? Manuel Eloganto?"

"The man picked a villain name for his career the least we can do is honor it. Especially since we blew up his office and, you know, killed him." Clint replied. Kate didn't reply. "He might be gone, but others are still after you. I did this to protect you, Kate."

She crossed her arms in annoyance, "You say that and it makes me feel bitchy for being angry." Clint shrugged and she scoffed. "Still, do you know what being alone for four months can do to a girl? I was a day away from painting a face on a volleyball."

"I left Lucky with you!" Clint argued.

A knock on the doorframe made them look over. Natasha stood there freshly showered and in a t-shirt and sweatpants. Kate chuckled sheepishly and gave her a slight wave, "Hi! Black Widow. I've heard great things, and I, uh, wanna just apologize for what I said earlier."

"It's fine. It's nice to finally meet you. Clint told me about you." Natasha replied and Kate looked starstruck by the idea that the redhead knew about her. Clint told Natasha about everything so of course he would mention the arrow wielding child he adopted a year and a half ago. This was the first time he got around to introducing them though. "Mind if I steal him for a bit?"

"Please! By all means!" Kate replied and began to leave the room, "I sure as hell don't wanna talk to him anymore."

"Rude." Clint said and she stuck her tongue out at him before disappearing down the stairs.

Natasha shut the door softly and crossed the room to reach him. She set her hands hesitantly on his arms. Clint hated the look of pain etched on her face. He lifted his own hands to cup her face and spoke the only Russian he knew, "I love you. Return to me."

She set her hands on top of his and met his gaze. In English, she pleaded, "Tell me where I belong."

"You belong right beside me." Clint replied softly. He didn't have to ask her what fear Wanda pulled out of her. He knew. He knew that Natasha was terrified that deep down she would always have that Red Room mindsight. She was terrified that she would betray the people she loved. Hurt them. As if she could. Clint knew Natasha would bite a bullet before letting any of her loved ones get hurt.

Natasha took in a steadying breath, "I belong by you. My place is with you."

"Damn straight, baby." Clint winked. He was rewarded with her lips twitching up into a small smile. "You're my ride or die."

She chuckled, "You are so dumb, you know that?"

"Yeah, but you love it."

"I do." Natasha's voice wavered for only a second. She leaned forward and pressed her lips tightly against his. Desperately. Natasha pulled back just so she could whisper, "I love you. I do. I really love you, Clint."

Clint dropped his hands to her hips and traced them back so he could grab her thighs. Natasha responded and jumped just as he lifted her up. Her legs tightened around his abdomen as her hands tightened around his neck. Clint captured her lips in a kiss and carried her over to where the bed was. They fell onto it in a heap and Clint grunted when he landed on one of his larger bruises. Natasha's hands tracing the skin under his shirt was a good distraction from the pain though. Her hand ran across his side where Helen had used the portable cradle to fix him up. She leaned out of the kiss to smirk at him, "I can feel the difference."

Clint chuckled and flipped them over to press her into the bed.

God, he loved this woman.


[2015-03-10] [16:39:37] [38.78303, -79.716887]

Tony had taken a quick shower then changed into some spare clothes the safe house had. He was literally wearing flannel right now and if Aj saw this she would never let him live it down. Tony would be more than content raiding the fridge then crashing on the couch to use his phone to try and find Ultron's next move. It was both relaxing and productive.

However, on his way to the kitchen he had looked out the window and spotted Steven Grant Rogers chopping wood as if his life depended on it. Tony knew turmoil when he saw it, and this was Steve's version of whiskey and loud AC/DC in the lab.

"So, Thor didn't say where he was going for answers? Or when he might be back? Or anything at all??" Tony asked and grabbed another log to set on the tree stump. It was midafternoon now and hot as hell. He had tied the flannel around his waist, and he hated that Steve wasn't even breaking a sweat as he worked in his blue t-shirt and jeans.

Steve shrugged and grabbed his own log, "Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things." Tony had to physically resist the urge to roll his eyes. He knew it wouldn't help. "You and Banner with Ultron, Clint and his archer daughter in a farmhouse, and now Thor…"

"Ok, first off, I already apologized for the Ultron thing. Sort of. It was settled at the very least." Tony replied and Steve scoffed. "Second, of course Clint has a secret safe house with a secret adopted daughter. The guy's probably got twelve more houses with twelve more kids. It's his hobby. And Thor?" Tony slammed his axe down into the log splitting it. "Who knows what Wanda Maximof showed him."

Steve cut his log into two and then moved to grab another. He ended up cutting three more logs before speaking again, "Maybe you're right, Tony."

The words made Tony miss the log he was trying to cut entirely, and the axe got stuck in the stump. He tried to tug it upward, failed, and then decided to focus on the doppelgänger he was talking to because there was no way this was his Steve.

"I'm sorry. Wanna run that by me again?"

"Don't make me repeat myself. It was hard enough the first time."

"Yeah, should've recorded that, but right about what exactly?" Tony pressed.

Steve stopped, his gaze on the log and the axe in his hand, and shook his head, "I'm stuck. Everybody is moving forward, growing, and I'm getting left behind. I'm a soldier out of his time and that isn't going to change. I can't trust my own opinion if all I can think of is the battle I'm stuck in."

Tony tried to pull his axe out again, but it didn't budge. He sighed, "Look, you know I love being right—" Steve shot him a look. "—but I'm not. About this at least. Neither of us are right, I think. We talked about this, Steve. We need someone looking to the future—" He motioned to himself, then pointed to Steve. "—but we also need someone focused on the here and now, and nobody does that better than you do. Unfortunately for both of us, I think we're destined to just argue over this forever, but somehow I think it'll balance the world out?"

"Great." Steve replied dryly.

"And you're not stuck, dumbass." Tony added and Steve's eyes shot to his. "You've made a life for yourself here in this century. You found a home, you found a family… Hell, you're even trying to get yourself a girlfriend which I still strongly disapprove of, by the way." Steve looked surprised for a second and he wondered if this was the first he had heard about Tony not liking the whole Steve and Aj thing. Usually he just argued with Clint about it. "Is that what Wanda put in your head?"

Steve nodded once, "I'll always be a soldier. Even when the war ends."

"So what? You're a soldier. So is Sam. He seems pretty cool when he's not eating my gummy snacks."

"This is all I'm built for." Steve argued. "Even if we do finally get the opportunity to retire, which at this rate we won't, but…I don't think I could ever leave the war behind. I think I'm just gonna get left behind."

Tony thought it was funny. He knew him and Steve were opposites. That was blatantly obvious. They disagreed on nearly everything. They did have this in common though. Steve was afraid of being left behind. Tony was afraid of being the last man standing. They shared the same fear.

Neither of them wanted to be alone.

"I think you'd be surprised." Tony said firmly. Determined to get his friend out of his own thick head. Steve stared at him intently and he just shrugged in response. "All I know is you are the most stubborn, hard-headed, goal orientated jackass I've ever met."

Steve motioned to him, "Well, thanks."

"And I mean it as a compliment." Tony finished. "I think right now it's hard for you to picture ever being able to let it go but that's because our lives are battle after battle. That's my fault right now. I fucked up." Tony admitted. "But one day, it's gonna be quiet, and I think you'll find it really easy to walk away. You just gotta wait for the right moment."

Steve chuckled once and nodded. He went back to chopping wood, but the air was less tense around the man for now. Steve tossed his axe down and went to grab another log, "You know sometimes you're pretty smart, Stark."

"I'm sorry, sometimes?" Tony replied. He pointed to his axe, "Come over here and use your dumbass brawn to get this axe out of the stump for me."

Steve smirked and ripped the log in his hands into two separate pieces before walking over and pulling the axe out of the stump with absolute ease. Tony just stared at him for a minute before shaking his head, "You're such a fucking show-off. Who are you even trying to impress?"

"Aj called me a show-off once."

"Yeah, we all have because you are one." Tony scoffed. He snatched the axe out of Steve's hand but then just used it to lean against. There was enough wood here to heat the fireplace of this house for 100 years. Steve was still cutting though. Tony cleared his throat, "Today's his birthday isn't it?"

Steve's axe faltered and the log was cut unevenly. He glanced up at Tony in surprise, "How'd you know?"

"I pay attention." Tony shrugged. "You know, I designed an arm for your elderly partner in crime."

Steve's moments stilled and he straightened up, "What?"

"I designed him an arm." Tony repeated. Tony knew that Steve was the kind of guy, the kind of friend, who would tear the world apart for someone he loved. So, the question of finding Bucky was more of a 'when?' rather than an 'if?' in his mind. Tony liked being prepared and from what he saw in video footage the arm HYDRA gave him was abysmal. "I mean, it's only a blueprint. I gotta actually see what the hell HYDRA did to his shoulder, but I have a skeleton to work off of once you bring him home. And you will, you know."

There was a brief flash of guilt that crossed Steve's face. Tony assumed it was because he felt bad about any digs the man had shot at him before the admission. It was gone as quick as it had come though.

"Tony…" Steve began.

"Come on, you know I don't do chick flick moments and I'm sure as hell not gonna make an exception for you." Tony replied and held his hand out. "Now give me the axe and go take a shower. You reek."

Steve chuckled and handed him the axe. He took only a step away before pausing, "We're 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' and one enhanced girl tore us apart like cotton candy. Where do we go from here?"

Sometimes he forgot that Steve was young. Yes, he was born in 1918 and that technically made him 97 years old, but mentally Steve was still in his twenties. He was mature for his age. Being raised in the Great Depression and then being brought into a war had made sure of that, but at the end of the day Steve was still just 27. When Tony was 27 he was spending every other day drunk off his ass and buried between the legs of the girl of the week. That's what the twenties were for. Making stupid ass decisions, having fun, and maybe finding yourself along the way.

"Aj told me something once. She said… the moment when she hits the floor for what her opponent thinks is the last time… that's when she does her best work. It's the time when they don't expect her to get up that she's the most dangerous." Tony said. He shrugged. "I teased her for it, but maybe she's onto something. We hit the ground hard, we'll get back up and hit Ultron back even harder. Together."

Steve nodded once then turned and continued toward the house. Kate who had been sitting on the porch facing them sat up a little higher, "Wait, are you guys done chopping wood?"

Tony chuckled and made his way toward the barn to put the axes up. The wooden building wasn't far from the house at all and inside looked like a typical farmhouse barn. There was hay, a tractor, farm tools, a one-eyed missing director of SHIELD, and—wait.

He glanced over his shoulder then looked forward again to where Nick Fury was leaning against a tractor. He had on a long black coat, one that wasn't leather like his past one had been, a ratty gray sweater, jeans, and a black beanie over his head.

Tony pointed at him with an axe, "Were you just standing in here waiting for someone to walk in? That's creepy, patchy."

"I was waiting for you."

"And you picked a barn?" Tony scoffed.

Nick Fury pushed off the tractor and stepped aside to motion to it, "I figured you'd make it in here eventually. Try to bring the tractor to life or some shit."

Tony chuckled to hide his grimace. He should've known Nick was just here to rip him a new one. He crossed his arms, "Who called you? Hill?"

"Artificial Intelligence." Nick whistled, ignoring his question entirely. The man stepped forward and pointed at him. "You never even hesitated."

"Look, it's been a really long day." Tony replied then mumbled under his breath, "A long week actually." He pointed to the door behind him. "So, can we just skip the lecture, say I learned something from it, and go get a drink? You gotta meet Clint's arrow kid. She's hilarious."

Nick took another step closer and Tony took that as a resounding 'no' to his suggestion. The man shook his head, "Look me in the eye and tell me you're going to shut him down."

"You're not the director of me." Tony shot back and he was fully aware that he sounded like a toddler on the playground arguing with some other kid.

Nick shook his head, "I know I'm not. I'm just an old man…" He sat down on a bale of hay in front of him and laced his fingers together, "…who cares very much about you."

There was a lot of things Tony expected Nick to say. He expected yelling, some cursing, jabs at his character, but this? This was honestly worse. Tony knew Nick cared. The guy was distant, never came around for family dinners, but there was no doubt he cared about this rag tag group of idiots. If he ever needed actual evidence of that it was in the man's eye right now. Tony felt like a disappointment, but that's what he was right now so maybe it was apt.

Tony glanced away, swallowing the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat, and nodded once, "And I'm the man who killed the Avengers." Nick's features didn't change. "I saw it. I didn't tell the team. How could I?" Tony threw his hand out, motioning to nothing. "I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world too."

At the words, Tony felt that cold sweat build up at the back of his neck. He could smell the smoke from the world burning in front of him. Tony turned on his heel to put some distance between him and Nick's steady gaze. He found himself in front of a small workbench and his hands reached out for a wrench. It helped to just have something in his hands. Something that grounded him. Tony leaned against the bench and looked back over at Nick.

"And it was because of me." Tony said firmly, bouncing the wrench against his palm. Admitting the truth aloud. "I wasn't ready. I didn't do all I could."

Nick stood up, sticking his hands into his coat pockets, "The Maximof girl, she's working you, Tony. Playing on your fear—"

"I wasn't tricked!" Tony snapped. "I was shown. It wasn't a nightmare, it was my Goddamn legacy. The end of the path I started us on."

Nick came closer, "You come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony." He shook his head, glancing away, but Nick continued. "War isn't one of them."

Tony felt his jaw clench as he let his eyes drift down to the tool in his hands. He tightened his fist around it and tried to keep his voice as steady as he could, "I watched my friends die. My family. Every single person I love. And—And you think that'd be as bad as it gets, right?" Tony glanced up at Nick and let out a humorless chuckle then shook his head. "Nope. It wasn't the worst part."

"The worst part is that you didn't." Nick finished for him.

Tony turned and threw the wrench back onto the workbench loudly. He set his hands on the edges and leaned forward against it to try and steady himself. His heart was racing. Tony recognized the beginnings of one of his anxiety attacks.

Being the last man standing was his absolute worst nightmare. What did he matter in comparison to Steve? To Natasha? Bruce? Thor? Clint? Any of them. How could he live without Pepper? Without Rhodey? Aj? Harley? Peter? Happy? The fact of the matter was that Tony would choose his death over theirs any day of the damn week. Anything to keep the people he loved safe and breathing. He'd do fucking anything.

A hand clasped his shoulder startling him out of his own head. Tony turned his head to see Nick had crossed the room over to him. The mysterious man gave him a firm nod, "Come on. We need to have a family meeting."


[2015-03-10] [20:21:48] [38.78303, -79.716887]

Dinner had been a quiet affair which isn't something Clint could often say about dinner with the Avengers. Bruce and Natasha, the only two from the Tower who were actually capable of cooking anything, made a pasta meal with the help of Kate. Though Kate mostly just pointed to where all the pots and pans were.

The sun had sunk below the horizon and now everyone was spread around the kitchen area either cleaning or talking. Fury was at the sink drying dishes that Kate washed. Natasha was seated at the kitchen's island counter beside Bruce and across from where Steve was leaning in a doorway with his arms crossed. Tony was also standing, but he was casually throwing darts into a dartboard hanging on the wall. Clint was sitting in a dining room chair that was half set into the kitchen combing his fingers through Lucky's fur as the dog laid his head lazily on his thigh.

"So, there are a few things to discuss here." Fury said while setting down a dried plate. He turned and set his phone out onto the island counter for everyone to see. "I figure we can start with the baby Avenger."

Steve raised an eyebrow at this, but Clint nodded once in understanding, "What about Aj?"

"I figured you guys weren't paying much attention to the news. This hit the media sometime this afternoon." Fury tapped on his phone and a projection of some news channel filled the air above it. They were talking about Aj, that much was clear from the photo they used, but it took him a second to realize what they were saying exactly.

"Fuck." Tony breathed.

The news anchor was talking to an investigative reporter named Preston Smith and the guy was bringing up all of Aj's murky past. The foster homes, the illegal fighting ring, the multiple arrests. They even brought up a new picture of the woman they knew but it was a headshot from a police station.

"Hey, I follow her on Instagram." Kate pointed at Aj.

Fury glanced beside him, "Who are you again?"

"I'm…I'm Hawkeye. Kate Bishop. We already did introductions like an hour ago, man." Kate replied. "We did dishes together." Fury shrugged nonchalantly and Clint cleared his throat to hide a laugh. Kate went back to the dishes and mumbled, "No respect in this house."

Natasha was the next to speak up, "She probably didn't take that well, but we knew someone would dig out that information eventually. I hate to say it, but maybe it'll take the focus off what happened in Johannesburg with the Hulk."

"Oh no, they're using her criminal history as a way to try and say that the Avengers are an organization of thugs that hire from the pool of people they should be putting in jail." Fury retorted.

Steve dipped his head down, taking a deep breath, and when he lifted his head again Clint could see the barely concealed rage in the Captain's eyes. Clint cleared his throat, "Aj is a PR wizard. She'll deal with it. Let's focus on the real issue here. Ultron."

Fury bobbed his head once in agreement, "Well you're going to hate this information even more." There was a collective groan around the table and Tony threw a dart at the board hitting the outer rim. "Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. "My contacts all say he's building something and with the amount of vibranium he made off with I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve questioned.

"Oh, he's easy to track." Fury turned away from the sink, throwing the kitchen towel over his shoulder and setting his hands on the island counter, "He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit, but it still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."

Tony threw another dart, it hit middle near the center but didn't stick, "Is he still going after launch codes?"

"Yes, he is." Fury answered. "But he's not making any headway."

Tony turned around from the board with a shrug, "I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."

Fury shot the man a light glare, "Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that."

"Nexus?" Steve asked.

Bruce was the one to answer, "It's the world Internet hub in Oslo. Every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth."

"And what did the Nexus nerds say?" Clint questioned and scooped up a lost dart on the floor by his foot.

"He's fixated on the missiles." Fury said. Clint waited until Tony walked up to the board to pull out the darts he had managed to stick. When he raised his hand, Clint threw his dart from where he sat and it hit the dead center with ease. Tony flinched and turned to glare back at him. Clint shot him a smirk and just shrugged. They needed to get a dart board at the new Compound. "But the codes are constantly being changed."

Tony threw his darts aside with a glare and stepped closer into the room, "By whom?"

"Parties unknown."

"Do we have an ally?" Natasha asked. It sure as hell sounded like it to Clint, and considering they were desperate for a little help he wouldn't turn down their mystery ally. Hell, he'd by them a bouquet of flowers.

Fury pointed at her, "Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing."

"Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is." Tony stuck his hands into his pocket with a tilt of his head. "I might need to visit Oslo. Find our unknown."

Natasha shook her head then raised an eyebrow in Fury's direction, "This has been a real blast, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."

"I do." Fury scoffed then motioned around the room. "I have you."

"That's an inspiring line." Kate clapped her hands a couple of times. Eyes shot to her and she sheepishly pointed to the door, "I'm just gonna take Lucky out. Let you guys talk."

She whistled and Lucky bounded away from Clint to follow Kate out the back door. Fury glanced around the room again, "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears, everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up." Fury walked around the counter. "Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. Now whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All of this—" He motioned around the room. "—laid in a grave."

Fury took the time to meet the gaze of everyone in the room.

"So stand." He said firmly. "Outwit the platinum bastard." There was a pause where everyone soaked in that statement. Clint rested his elbows on his knees. "What does Ultron want?"

Steve pushed off the wall, "To become better. Better than us. He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies." Tony added. "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded, but he keeps coming back to it."

Natasha leaned back in her seat, "When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed."

Tony opened his mouth to retort, but Bruce's calm voice interrupted him, "They don't need to be protected." Eyes shifted to look at him. "They need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury demanded.

There was a beat of silence then Bruce's eyes widened a fraction, "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

There was a flurry of movement as Tony pulled out his phone and stepped away to try and get in contact with the Korean woman. Bruce began to catch Fury up on the Regeneration Cradle and all of Helen's work. Clint glanced over to where Steve had taken out his own phone to look at it. The Captain frowned and stuck it back in his pocket.

"Bad news?" Clint questioned.

Steve shook his head, "It was from Sam. Bad news on Bucky, but…that's not really important right now."

"Course it is. He's important to you." Clint stood to clap Steve on the shoulder in comfort. Everyone knew today was Bucky's birthday and it hit the guy a little harder. "The lead fall through?"

Steve nodded, "Yeah. Everything has been a dead end. Sam's gonna spend tomorrow looking some more, but if he doesn't find anything he's leaving Romania and coming back to New York." Clint felt his shoulders stiffen. "I'd rather he be at the Compound right now anyways with Ultron still out there."

"Mhmm." Clint replied. He slapped his hand down on the broad shoulder once more. "I'm….gonna go make a call of my own. Unrelated."

"Are you okay?" Steve raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yupp." Clint said then backpedaled away from Steve and he didn't stop until he was jogging out the front door of the house. Sam was in Romania looking for Bucky. Vincent, who was hunting Aj, was now also suddenly hanging out in Romania. Clint's gut was telling him there was a connection here and he did not like it at all.

He tried to call Aj first, but the call went straight to voicemail. Clint tried four more times with the same response. He cursed under his breath and dialed Daisy's number instead. After a few rings she picked up.

"Clint?"

"You're going after Vincent, right? You're in Romania?"

"Yeah, about that…" Daisy said slowly. "I was gonna call you, but I was waiting to see if I'd have better news. We ran into him today. It ended in a pretty bad fight. If you google 'Shootout in Bucharest' you'd see the damage."

Clint had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, "Daisy. Daisy, I need to know. Was Aj there?" It was silent over the line and his hand tightened around the phone. Clint wanted to snap, but instead he gritted his teeth and repeated himself as quietly as he could manage. "Daisy, is Aj in Romania!?"

"Yes." Daisy replied and Clint lifted a hand to cover his eyes in frustration. She was grounded forever. He was going to build a shed out back and lock Aj in it every single time they had to leave for a mission. "She told me not to tell you guys—"

"Where is she now?"

Daisy hesitated again and Clint was a second from losing his mind. She finally answered, "I don't know. We lost her in the fray."

"What the hell do you mean you lost her in the fucking fray, Daisy!?"

"She was with some guy. I don't know who, but…" Daisy sighed. "I tried to grab her, drag her with us, but she took off after him."

Footsteps made Clint whip around, but it was just Kate walking up to him with Lucky. She was stiff and had concern in her eyes. She could read his tension with ease. Kate raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"Clint, I… We're gonna find her. I promise, but I need to tell you…" Daisy paused before finally spitting it out. "We think she was shot. I'm pretty sure I saw her get hit."

Clint didn't wait for pleasantries. He hung up the phone and immediately turned to Kate. He hated it, but he couldn't put a hold on the Ultron thing to go after her. Clint also couldn't tell the others. It would only distract their already shattered minds.

"I need you on a mission." Clint said firmly.

Kate nodded without hesitation, "Name it."

"There's a spare jet parked five miles out from here for emergencies. Get to it and activate the autopilot protocol. All you'll have to do is enter the location and it'll do the rest."

"Where am I going?"

"Bucharest."