Chapter 2

After losing his children and Wanda disappearing shortly after, Vision was left with almost nothing. However his programming did not allow for grieving, rather, it left very little time for it. Logically, it was both careless and irresponsible to waste time so he returned to his team and threw himself into his work. There was always something to be done and his brain was capable of completing several tasks in a timely and progressive fashion. However. . .

It had not gone according to plan.

The days spent tracking down Captain Steve Rogers and his friend former Lieutenant James 'Bucky' Barnes had proven a greater task then Mr. Stark or Secretary Ross had first anticipated. Captain Rogers was resilient, normally a trait that proved quite valuable to the team, now worked against them. Vision knew that Captain Rogers was a good man, that hadn't changed. His actions came from a good place. But, Captain Rogers was guilty of one thing: nearsightedness. He failed to see the greater picture, something Vision's mind could compute in seconds and quite clearly. Captain Rogers acted out of emotion, he allowed empathy to drive him to help people who were suffering, his compassion translated into brave acts that saved millions. Acts he did that put him in danger and he never hesitated to run into headfirst. His gratitude for being the one to receive the serum pointed his life down a path of constant repayment, using his gifts to protect the innocent. To destroy the biggest bullies in the world, to help the good and the just, to tip the scales in their favor.

Vision knew there was something about protecting his friend that must correlate into those values. However, he was missing too much information and it left an incomplete puzzle in his mind.

More pieces of the riddle came during the conflict at the airport.

"Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday –"

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor get to them first Tony, I can't."

Five more super soldiers. Naturally the Winter Solider had made such a reputation for himself as an assassin that the idea of five more under the control of a madman was cause for distress. But if Captain Rodgers had such faith in people, that good would triumph over evil, why not turn himself in? Give a debrief and allow the intel he knew to be shared among not only their team but the military as a whole? Surely the more people who backed his notions meant greater probability for success.

Vision sighed, he knew the answer just as soon as his mind formulated the question.

Washington D.C. Everything that had happened with Director Nicholas Fury and Alexander Pierce. The details that had come to light. Hydra using S.H.I.E.L.D. to grow and sabotage the good right from under their noses. Allowing their wickedness to thrive. It had taught Captain Rodgers to not simply take orders and trust the ones making those calls. It taught him to judge a situation for himself and take the necessary countermeasures. And he believed what Secretary Ross was doing was wrong. Perhaps he thought Ross would be revealed as another Pierce. That he was giving orders to detain, or possibly kill, Bucky Barnes because he wanted to weaken Cap. Or to hide information the Winter Soldier might know.

Another sigh, Vision did not believe the Secretary of State was a Hydra member. He was simply an individual who had his ego hurt by his experiences with the Hulk and now wanted to ensure past mistakes could not happen again. Sadly, Ross seemed to think the only way to obtain this was to maintain as much control over the Avengers as possible. And he had 165 countries siding with him. Those odds did not hold to their favor.

Now Vision stood there watching as Colonel Rhodes was slid into an MRI machine to assess the damage Vision had caused him. Vision who had fought alongside him. Vision who had made a mistake. A severe mistake. One that would cost Colonel Rhodes dearly. Oversight. Vision contemplated. He'd warned the others of oversight and the dangers of overlooking it. Yet, somehow, Vision had also fallen victim to the very neglect he'd cautioned of.

Footsteps padded along the tile floor behind him as Mr. Stark joined him at the window looking into the exam room.

"How did this happen?" he asked breathlessly, keeping his voice low so it would be less likely to crack.

Vision paused for only a moment before he admitted, "I became distracted."

"I didn't think that was possible."

"Neither did I." Vision replied. With nothing more to say Mr. Stark left him alone.

Vision continued to stare through the window but his thoughts were no longer on the sight before his eyes. His mind was elsewhere. Mr. Stark wouldn't know what could possibly be distracting an android, but it was no mystery to Vision.

Billy. Taylor. His sons.

It seemed no matter what else was going on his mind always circled back to them. Them and Wanda. But at least Wanda he knew could take care of herself. Wanda he knew was still out there somewhere in the world trying to get back on her feet. But the twins. Yet another sigh. Flashes of their deaths kept playing over and over in his head like his inner mechanisms were jammed and none of his thoughts could progress without getting stuck to that moment like a wad of gum in his memory files. The surges of magic, the blasts he'd created, the flying bullets everywhere. Not to mention other things being thrown around like cars, news stands, park benches and trees. They'd thought the twins were safe. They thought they'd been stashed away somewhere hidden. But some way somehow, they'd ended up being found and were forced to run from the chaos.

But it wasn't enough.

Vision wasn't sure what had actually done it. Had it been their foe? Had it been Wanda? Had it been him? That was one of the worst things he'd had to live with. The not knowing. The only thing he did know was one minute he and Wanda were fighting with everything they had and the next there were two identical screams.

By the time he'd turned to look he saw nothing but a flash as the twins were destroyed, still holding hands as they'd been running. He kept trying to assure himself that it was their enemy's fault. That some grenade, or missile launcher had caught the twins in the crossfire. He also tried to tell himself that death had come so quick that the twins hadn't felt a thing. That there had been no pain, that death had been instant.

But those screams. Those screams haunted him like a nightmare, even when he was awake.

He was supposed to be capable of saving billions of people on this planet. He was Mr. Stark's second attempt at a 'suit of armor around the world'. But how could he live up to that when he'd failed at keeping his own children alive, yet alone safe.

However, this was not the only distraction Vision had been grappling with. Now that the others - except for Captain Rodgers and James Barnes - had been arrested and detained, Vision now had access to the files of the high security prison they'd all been sent to. And his computer-like mind hadn't stopped at a quick download of only his colleagues status. He had a copy of everything.

He closed his eyes and could almost see the dots of light behind his eyelids. The electric currents as they moved through his mind bringing up the files.

William J Kaplan. Born at Lenox Hill Hospital. Five pounds three ounces. To Jeffrey and Rebecca Kaplan of the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York. Currently a high school freshman. Hair Color: Black. Eye Color: Brown. Height: five feet eight inches. Weight: 155 pounds. Charges for Arrest: utilizing super human abilities without authorization. Other distinguishing attributes: Convict has displayed use of neuro-electric interfacing. Telekinesis. Mental manipulation. Levitation. Astral Projection.

Taylor M Shepherd. Born at Atlantic Health Hospital. Five pounds seven ounces. To Frank and Mary Shepherd of Springfield, New Jersey. Currently a high school freshman, newly released from juvenile prison. Hair Color: Bleached White. Eye Color: Green. Height: five feet eight inches. Weight: 155 pounds. Charges for Arrest: utilizing super human abilities without authorization – destruction of public property – manslaughter. Other distinguishing attributes: Convict has increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Faster then the speed of sound. Can cause atomic disruption resulting in implosions and explosions.

What were the odds? He asked himself before he got his hopes up. William's powers were so like Wanda's that even the description they kept on file nearly matched hers. And Taylor, well, Vision hadn't forgotten about Pietro. And not just because he was incapable of forgetting.

Same names. Same powers.

He focused on Taylor's file and dove deeper into the information. Taylor Shepherd had been picked up and detained shortly after an incident that resulted in the vaporization of a high school, killing hundreds. There was already a history of indiscretions, petty theft, breaking and entering, tagging, car theft and joy riding, underage drinking and . . . public indecency? All of which added up to a not so surprising amount of time spent in juvie. But it was the date of the vaporization incident that caught Vision's attention. It was the same date of that battle that had claimed his twins.

He looked deeper into William's file but there was no date that determined when his powers had manifested. Although Vison would gamble that the dates were all the same. What were the odds? He asked himself again.

He didn't know the specifics of how exactly Wanda had become pregnant, given his less then human status, and he regretted not asking her more questions about it. He'd just been so happy – and nervous as all new fathers are – that he hadn't wanted to pry. Of course now not having such information left a wide array of questions even he was ill equipped to answer.

Was Wanda powerful enough to just create human life out of thin air? From her own sheer will? Possibly. But what if she wasn't? His mind combed through everything the human race knew about artificial intelligence, after all humanity had been striving towards that achievement for decades and only Mr. Stark had so far accomplished it. Why? What was the one thing missing that no human could create?

He rose his hand to his forehead as he opened his eyes looking at the floor. Gently he touched the gem imbedded into his skull.

Yes, humanity could replicate human tissue and form human bodies but life required more. Life required a soul. For him he had this strange entity in his head, this thing that allowed him to have emotion that other artificial intelligence like Ultron had lacked. He had empathy, he felt things like happiness and sadness, joy and fear. But the twins hadn't had infinity stones, so therefore it must have been souls. Souls which were made of something even modern science could not detect, could not replicate, could not study. And if Wanda shared science's limits in this regard then. . . had she taken the souls from somewhere? And had she been aware that's what she'd done? Or had she simply wanted children so badly that her powers just made it so and she was so happy she didn't ask questions as he had?

He thought of the photos attached to William and Taylor's files and he thought hard, committing the images to every database in his mind. The ages simply did not add up, the locations of birth, the biological parents. But at the same time. . . they did resemble Wanda in many ways, and they were almost identical to each other.

The same names. The same powers. The matching dates. What were the odds?

Well, one part of his mind supplied, the exact odds would be 0.000000096527945828579. . . . . . .