Avengers Tower, New York
Agent Hill and Helen Cho's team were waiting for the Quinjet when it arrived. Nat rushed off with Clint's stretcher, and though Maggie wanted to follow she knew she'd only get in the way. Hill met with Steve in the jet to give him her intel briefing, while Tony finalised the Quinjet shutdown.
Maggie strode down the Quinjet landing pad with Hill and Steve, but instead of following them inside she skirted around and paced back out to the edge of the flight deck.
It was a bright day, and the air was warm. In full uniform, her metal armor gleaming in the sun, Maggie took a deep breath as she looked out over the city. She still felt jittery from the battle and the nervous flight back with the injured Clint, but…
We got them. She frowned. It was a complicated feeling. The organization that had ordered her parents' deaths, that had caused so much chaos. She nodded to herself with a little more conviction. We got them.
It was the end of her mission. Or at least, it should be.
She heard the roar as the Iron Legion flew toward the Tower, and she watched their white-armored forms fly in formation for the giant blue A on the side of the building. A few of them looked a little worse for wear.
She peeled her gaze away from the city and looked up at the tower. The common room window was empty.
Maggie passed Bruce on her way toward the common room. He still looked a little shaken, but more stable in himself now they'd returned to the tower.
"Clint?" she asked.
"He's going to be fine. Cho's with him now."
She sighed. "Good."
"Also, Hill's sent out the intelligence packet on the enhanced, you should be able to access it on your StarkPad."
She nodded. "Has anyone told him yet?"
"Told who what?"
She frowned, and hurried past Bruce on her way to the common room. She looked around the empty, gleaming space, and her frown grew.
"I'm up here."
Her head jerked up. Bucky stood on the third level by the bookshelves, in tracksuit pants and a long shirt. The sun glowed on his dark hair and the expression on his face was... complicated. She felt very conscious that she still wore her full armor.
"Someone's injured," he said with a frown. "I heard Dr Cho's team arriving." His eyes flicked over her, apparently scanning for injuries.
"Clint," she explained. "He's going to be okay."
He nodded, his brow unknotting. But he still appeared to be waiting for something, his eyes on her face and his body held tense.
"We got them," she said.
Bucky sagged, gripping the metal railing with both hands. His head dropped between his shoulders and she saw him take a long, deep breath.
The moment of quiet was broken when Thor strode into the room behind Maggie. "Lady Wyvern," he greeted loudly. He looked up and saw Bucky leaning against the third level railing. "Sergeant Barnes. Today has been a victory!"
Bucky looked up and managed a smile. "I heard. Well done."
Steve walked in a moment later, holding a StarkPad. He looked from Maggie and Thor then up to Bucky. "Buck, I was looking for you upstairs." He smiled. "We did it."
Bucky's smile grew as he looked down at the three of them, all still in their uniform. "Did you all come here just to tell me that?"
"Aye, and for a drink!" Thor crowed. He strode toward the bar.
Steve turned to Maggie. "Tony was asking after you, he said he wants your help with the Scepter." He frowned at her. "Go get cleaned up first, though. I know how you two get and I doubt you'll be getting much free time until the party."
Maggie nodded, then looked back up at Bucky again, hesitant. "Are you…?"
He nodded. "I'm good. Thank you."
She wanted to go, but this conversation felt unfinished. She looked up again, and Steve frowned at her. Thor was already digging through cabinets at the bar.
She wanted to say we didn't let a single one get away, like she had promised him, but that wasn't true. There were still the two enhanced. So she just clenched her jaw, nodded, and walked off.
Steve strode up the stairs to talk to his friend.
Once Maggie had put her uniform through a decontamination cycle and changed into jeans and a shirt, she went up to check on Clint in Bruce's lab. It wasn't filled with medical workers now, so she was able to slip inside without getting in the way.
Clint lay on a black medical bed with some kind of metal device mounted over it; pinpricks of blue light beamed down from the device to the wound on his middle, which already looked weeks old. Maggie's gaze flicked over the device, Clint's wounds, and then the medical readouts on the scanners next to the bed.
Natasha stood with her arms crossed near Clint's head, and Tony and Bruce were on his other side. All of them were drinking green smoothies - Tony's specialty. Tony himself appeared to be convincing Dr Cho to come to their party on Saturday. Maggie liked Cho - she was young and brilliant, and she was funny, too, when she wasn't deep in her work. Maggie nodded to Helen, who offered her a nod in return.
Maggie leaned in the doorway, eyeing the injured Clint on his bed. "This reminds me of something."
Clint looked over and when he spotted her face, he closed his eyes and sighed. "Don't say it."
"No, really, it's ringing a bell. What is it?" She tapped her chin. "Ah! I know. This reminds of that time when you shot me."
Helen shot an awry look at Clint, who was rolling his eyes.
"In my defense," he said, despite Tony's arched eyebrow. "You were being a real dick."
She pushed off the doorway and strode further in, eyeing his exposed wound. "This doesn't look all that bad, I don't know what you were complaining about." She looked up at Nat. "Men."
"It's regrown tissue," Helen explained.
"It's awesome," Maggie corrected, peering at the machine now. It looked like a metal arch, with a screen readout on top and a laser array on the inside. "Your regeneration cradle, have you thought about lending it toward the realm of… say, neuroscience?"
Helen's lips pressed together, and Maggie thought she might suspect what Maggie was thinking about. Maggie had already sought her opinion about Bucky's neurological issues in the past.
"The Cradle recreates flesh, cells," Helen said archly. "It hasn't been tested on the brain, and we're a long way away from human trials on anything above the shoulders. It'll take years of testing to understand what impact simulacra might have within the central nervous system."
"But the brain is just cells too, isn't it?"
"As well as highly complex neural pathways and electric communication, which no scientist has ever reliably recreated. I'd be more likely to make a patient braindead than heal any damage."
Clint eyed the pair of them. "You sure know how to make a guy feel relaxed."
Tony's hand landed on Maggie's shoulder a moment later, and she looked up to see he had his other hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Come on, you two. We've got shit to do."
Tony led Maggie and Bruce to the lab that looked out over the common room.
"The Scepter," Maggie said, cracking her knuckles as she strode into the familiar lab. Her eyes fell on the Scepter, housed in a secure mount on one of the main workspaces. The blade itself looked precision-sharp, and the staff was carved in a strange whorling design. But her eye was drawn instantly to the glowing heart of it: it was an undulating electric blue that made her eyes ache to look at. The back of her neck prickled.
"We've got to figure out what Strucker did with this thing," Bruce said.
"Right, he got inventive," Tony acknowledged. "So I've been analysing the gem inside."
Maggie listened as Tony continued to talk, projecting the orange hologram of J.A.R.V.I.S. into the middle of the lab so he could brag about J.A.R.V.I.S.'s capabilities. She kept eyeing the Scepter. She remembered the way Loki had stepped toward her with the staff, its point aimed at her chest. She remembered the way the gem had seemed to pulse blue. What are you?
"Meet the competition," Tony said, and projected a new hologram into the centre of the lab: Maggie turned to stare at the sudden bloom of blue light and felt her eyes widen. It was beautiful. Where the projection of J.A.R.V.I.S. was small, blocky and mechanical, this blue nexus flowed out in a complex universe of connection points and data relays and interconnected lobes that were processing, integrating… communicating.
She and Bruce both stepped forward unconsciously, illuminated blue.
Tony nodded at the projection. "If you had to guess, what does it look like it's-"
"Like it's thinking," Bruce breathed. He began to circle the projected analysis of the gem, but Maggie merely stared, watching small points of light travel from point to point across the gem, like neurotransmissions. "I mean, this could be…"
"It's not a computer," she said with a glance back at J.A.R.V.I.S. He whirred and processed, almost like clockwork, but this new entity… it glowed and pulsed, like a living thing. There were erraticisms, illogical spikes in its cognition, then patterns, ebbs and flows.
"And it's not a human mind," Bruce said with a frown. No, Maggie recognised nothing of their hemispherical organ in this gem.
"Mm hm," Tony said.
"I mean look at this," Bruce said in awe. "They're like neurons firing."
Maggie reached a hand into the glowing projection, and watched tiny blue communications flow across her hand. It was only a light projection, but just the sight of it sent the hairs on her arm standing up. One small step.
"Down in Strucker's lab, I saw some fairly advanced robotics work," Tony murmured. "They deep-sixed the data, but… I gotta guess he was knocking on a very particular door."
"Artificial intelligence," Bruce said.
"This could be it," Tony said, glancing between them, his voice hushed. Maggie was still looking at the mind. "This could be the key to creating Ultron."
At that, she looked over with a frown.
Bruce chuckled. "I thought Ultron was a fantasy." They'd given up on the idea months ago, after every theoretical model had fallen to pieces. But those had been based on the human brain…
"Yesterday it was," Tony said. He and Bruce continued to debate back and forth, almost under their breath. Bruce's words were reticent, but his voice told Maggie that he had already made up his mind. They circled the lab around the two glowing images as they spoke. Maggie stood with her arms crossed over her chest, listening to them but not taking her eyes off the blue image of the gem. If she'd thought the Scepter felt like it was looking at her before, this was…
Hello, she thought. And the glowing image before her pulsed, a few glowing tendrils sparking her way before retreating. She shivered.
"What if the world was safe?" she heard Tony urging, a step behind Bruce. "What if the next time aliens roll up to the club - and they will - they couldn't get past the bouncer?"
"The only people threatening the planet would be people," Bruce mused.
"Margarine agrees with me, don't you?" Maggie looked over to see Tony gesturing to her. They stood in the corner of the lab now. "You know I'm right. It's just a matter of time before the world gets just a little bit bigger. And we might not be able to take on the next Loki. The next Dark Elves."
She looked down with a frown. She could see the reflection of the glowing projection in the shiny floor at her feet. "Is using alien technology the way to go, though, Tony?"
"What else will stop them?" he countered. He left Bruce and strode back over to her. His eyes were gleaming in the way they only ever did when he'd discovered something new. "I know you're just as frustrated as I am with the… the limitations of this world. There is so much out there to discover, to understand, to learn from. This…" his hand hovered over the projectino. "This is our Rosetta Stone, our DNA sequencing, our Apollo 11, Maggot. Who are we if we waste this chance?"
She held his gaze for a few more moments before she looked back to the blue projection. And it was beautiful. She glanced over her shoulder at the Scepter, and this time she did not see the blade. She saw a world of possibility in that glowing blue gem. Protection for the world, like Tony said, and opportunities for so many new doors of science. Perhaps even a way to help Bucky.
She closed her eyes and saw Tony flying through that portal into the cold abyss of space, alone. She recalled her dream where he had not come back.
Maybe the next time, that dream would come true.
As she stood with her eyes closed and a frown on her brow, Tony turned back to Bruce.
"I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But J.A.R.V.I.S. can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the Scepter here. That's three days. Give me three days."
Maggie opened her eyes. "Tony, when you and Bruce first told me about Ultron we all agreed to be careful, and three days isn't-"
"Forget the time," Bruce said. "You want to go for artificial intelligence, and you don't want to tell the team?"
"Right. That's right," Tony said sharply. "You know why? Because we don't have time for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear the 'man was not meant to meddle' medley. I see a suit of armor around the world."
Bruce pressed his lips together. "Sounds like a cold world, Tony."
"I've seen colder. This one, this very vulnerable blue one, it needs Ultron." He walked away from them both, before turning back with a shrug. "Peace in our time. Imagine that."
Maggie furrowed her brow. She hesitated for a long moment before she opened her mouth again. "Simulations," she said to Tony. "Safeguards. Troubleshooting at every turn. Promise me."
He nodded. "Promise." He held out his hand to her. "So what do you say, Maggot? You in?"
She put her hand in his. "I'm in."
For three days, they occupied Bruce's lab. They only left to sleep; they had their meals delivered by whichever Avenger was available, and a couple of times by the ever-eager Dum-E. There was no room for healthy habits: they had such a limited time with this revolutionary new entity and they didn't want to waste a second.
They built on Tony's initial scans, building up theoretical models and codes. They scrawled their designs in glowing light in the air and swiped their ideas across to each other, trading ideas back and forth across the lab. They were learning from the Scepter at the same time as building on their old designs, trying to blend the gem's complex thinking patterns with their programming for an AI.
They hardly even played any music, too caught up in the alien gem. Maggie still felt a strange blend of unease and excitement whenever she looked directly at it, and after days in its company it seemed to occupy a corner of her mind, glowing blue and impossibly intelligent. She wondered who was learning from who.
And yet each time when it came time to test-run a simulation, it all fell apart in their hands.
She saw Bucky only twice, in passing. He was in the common room late one night and he looked up to see them all in the lab, furiously working, and he raised a hand. Maggie, with a pen in her hair and coffee on her shirt, waved back. Bruce and Tony saw and waved too, before getting into an argument about neuro-transmitters. Bucky only stayed in the common room a few hours before he disappeared upstairs again. Maggie had half expected him to come see what they were working on, but he kept his distance.
The world chugged on outside their lab: preparations for the party were underway, they got many complaints from other Tower residents about how much server space was being taken up by their work with the Scepter, and the other Avengers rested up after their mission.
But come the day of the party, hours of work once more ended in another failed simulation. Maggie was not usually one to let disappointment get to her, but she dropped her forehead to her workbench and kept it there for several long minutes.
"Damn," Bruce said quietly, taking off his glasses. He shook his head, then let out a breath. "I've… I need to go get ready."
He paced out of the lab still shaking his head, leaving Maggie and Tony alone, in the last golden hours of the afternoon.
"What did we miss?" Tony said, either minutes or half an hour later. Maggie finally looked up. The Scepter sat mounted on its workspace, impenetrable and alien.
"I'll continue to run variations on the interface," J.A.R.V.I.S. said. "But you should probably prepare for your guests."
Maggie ran her hands over her face. Tony strode over to her, his face tight, and put his hand on her shoulder.
"C'mon, Maggot."
"I don't know why it didn't work," she murmured.
Tony opened his mouth, as if to summon some comforting sentiment, but words failed him and he shut his mouth again. He shook his head. "Come on," he repeated, softer.
Sighing, Maggie straightened, letting Tony put his arm around her shoulders. They walked out of the lab together, and the lights turned off in their wake.
"I will notify you if there are any developments."
"Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S."
Maggie got ready for the party alone in her room, with a thermos of coffee on standby to wake her up a bit. She felt okay, just a little wired after three days of working at the limits of even her intellectual capacity. She took a burning hot shower to melt away some of her disappointment. She didn't begrudge Thor having to take the Scepter to Asgard, but she wished they could have had more time to learn from it.
Pepper was at a work conference in D.C. but had gone to the trouble of having one of her assistants prepare an outfit for Maggie for the Avengers party. It had been hanging on Maggie's suite door when she arrived, and after her shower she slid into it, appreciative. It was a dark, shimmery jumpsuit, sleeveless and with a deep vee neckline. In certain lights, the organza overlay shifted red-gold, like fire. It felt strange after three straight days of working in whatever clothes were closest to hand.
She fixed up her hair and makeup, slid on a pair of heels that she probably wouldn't fall over in, then went downstairs.
On the stairs, she said: "J.A.R.V.I.S., will you make sure a meal gets sent up for Bucky since he won't be able to come down? Also tell him…" she hesitated, her hand sliding down the wall to her left. "Tell him I'll talk to him later. And that I hope he has a good night."
J.A.R.V.I.S. didn't reply. That should have been her first clue, but she was too busy rushing downstairs into the party, which was already in full swing by the time she arrived.
Maggie was greeted by a small cheer when she emerged on the third floor of the common room. The whole space was packed full of people in fancy dress, ambient music pulsing in the air just under the volume of a hundred different conversations. The bar was busy, their hired bartenders serving glistening cocktail glasses and bottles of beer. Maggie waved off the cheer, rolling her eyes, then set her hands on the banister and looked out over the party. She hadn't seen the common room so full in a while. The glamour and business of it all took her a few moments to adjust to, and she breathed in the atmosphere of celebration, shaking off the last vestiges of her disappointment.
"Isn't it rude to show up late to your own party?"
Maggie turned to spot Maria Hill, who wore a bright orange cocktail dress. She seemed a lot younger tonight, with a glint in her eye and two glasses of champagne in her hands. She handed Maggie one.
"Punctuality is the virtue of the bored," Maggie quoted loftily as she took the champagne and toasted Hill with it. She could feel the cheerful atmosphere of the party creeping into her chest, bouying her up. Hill shot her a funny look, but then took Maggie's arm and escorted her downstairs. They passed dozens of people Maggie didn't recognize. They'd invited all sorts of groups and important individuals tonight: first responders associations, veterans groups, politicians, even local New York celebrities. Maggie wasn't sure if the rumor that Lady Gaga would be showing up was true, or if Tony messing with her.
"You look nice," Maggie said to Hill as they descended to the main floor.
"Likewise," Hill nodded. "You did good work the other day. Well done."
"Likewise," Maggie smiled. She cocked her head at Hill. "You and I need to get to know each other better. Come on." She dragged Hill over to a good spot by the railing separating this level and the next, and offered her champagne glass in a toast.
Maggie had forgotten how much she enjoyed parties. She'd been to a scarce few in the past few years, and even though this was more of an official party than a gathering of friends, she found herself warming to the music and the buzzing hum of conversations. She sang along to the songs she recognized. She loved being able to turn to someone new and strike up a conversation. It reminded her a little of the old days at MIT.
It was strange to be an Avenger at a party, though. She got pointed at by strangers as she moved through the room, and a woman in the bathroom squeaked when she spotted Maggie coming out of a cubicle.
She spotted the other Avengers interspersed across the room, deep in conversations with guests. They all scrubbed up pretty well - even Bruce was in a flattering purple dress shirt, his hair nicely tousled. Maggie flitted through, plying them with drinks (even Steve, who very politely told her she looked nice). Tony, as ever, was the life of the party, attracting large crowds around him who laughed at every joke and wisecrack, and asked him for selfies.
A couple of hours in she heard a call from behind her: "Here's trouble!"
She whirled. "Rhodey!" He wore a sharp suit and a grin. She darted forward to give him a tight hug. "You came!"
"Congratulations are in order, kid, well done." He patted her back.
"If you ever need any more Nazis eliminated, I'm your girl," she joked as she pulled away. "Come on, let me get you a drink." They both wandered through the party, past Natasha who toasted them with her beer, one eyebrow raised with a half smile. Most people here were too scared to approach her.
"How have you been?"
"Not bad, not bad. I had a mission in Saudi Arabia recently, I've got a great story for you..."
Maggie and Rhodey chatted at the bar until Tony swooped in to harass his long-term friend, and Maggie fetched another drink to do another circuit at the party. She spotted Steve's blue shirt and veered in his direction, and grinned when she realized he was at the pool tables, with none other than Sam Wilson at his side. They were surrounded by a small group of old men - the veterans association, she guessed.
"Who let you in?" she called, and Sam messed up his shot.
"C'mon now," he scowled as he sank the white ball, then looked up at Maggie. "Like I need any more disadvantages up against this guy."
"Is Steve good at pool?" Maggie asked curiously as she sidled over to give Sam a hug. "How did I never know this?"
"Your fella is getting smoked," chuckled one of the veterans at the table.
"My fella, are you?" Maggie said, waggling her eyebrows at Sam as she squeezed her arm around his shoulders.
"Now I'd like to see Tony hear that," Steve laughed as he lined up his next shot.
The evening passed in a blur of drinks and laughter and good music. Maggie clinked glasses with Nat, people watched with Clint, danced a few songs with Thor and even danced one with Bruce, who looked terrified the whole time and wouldn't touch her below the waist. She circulated the party like a good hostess, hopping from guest to guest and welcoming them with a big smile. Tony ended up goading her into a game of pool, which ended up with excessive betting and Tony putting a pool ball through a pane of glass.
Tony started a game of sticking a post-it-note that said Kiss Me x on different Avengers, which most guests at the party ended up getting into. Maggie found the post-it on her back twice, and prided herself on sticking it to Nat's hem once, though she was pretty sure Nat let her do it so she could put it on the back of Bruce's head.
As the night was winding down, she and Steve were circulating together when they saw Nat and Bruce at the bar. Without discussing it, they both strode over quietly.
Natasha looked lovely in a black and white dress, sipping from a bright red cocktail as she looked across at Bruce with warmth.
"... What did he do that was so wrong... to you?" Bruce asked, sounding nervous.
Natasha looked down at her drink with a half smile. "Not a damn thing." She leaned in. "But never say never."
And with that parting look she strode away. Maggie shared a glance with Steve, then broke away to follow Nat. Steve leaned against the bar.
"Don't," Nat said as Maggie followed her up the stairs, both of their heels clipping on the shiny surface.
"I didn't say anything," Maggie protested.
"You're thinking it."
Maggie held up both hands. "Should've known you could read minds. It explains a lot."
Natasha reached the top of the stairs and turned briskly, making Maggie stop a couple steps down. Her eyes were still warm with good humour, but her expression was firm. "I can't explain it, and I don't want to discuss it."
"You're so good at girl talk," Maggie teased, but then nodded. "I won't say a word. You're… enjoying yourself, though? At the party?" Natasha stepped back, allowing Maggie to finish climbing the stairs. They both strode across the upper level, looking down at the sleepy faces of the departing guests.
"I am," Nat said, sounding almost surprised. "I'll always have parts of myself I need to hide, but… tonight is a good night. And I'll be honest, this is the best party hosted by a Stark that I've been to yet. No explosions, which is new."
Maggie grinned. "Well, the night is young."
The party wore on, and in groups and pairs their guests filtered out. Soon it was just a handful of them, gathered at the couches in the middle of the room with a pack of cards and an assortment of the drinks that had survived the night. No more cocktails, only bottles and cans. They'd ordered Chinese takeout. The Kiss Me x post-it-note was stuck to Mjolnir, which was propped beside their empty whiskey glasses.
Sitting crosslegged on the floor with a hand of cards and an egg roll in her mouth, Maggie looked around at the gathered group. Helen Cho was nodding off on a couch, and the rest were all Avengers, including Maria Hill. Sam had gone home.
"Deal me out," she murmured to Clint through her mouthful of egg roll, then climbed to her feet and intercepted Steve at the bar. He was fetching glasses of water for everyone.
"Hi," he said when he straightened, more relaxed than she'd seen him in a while. "You want a water?"
"I - yes, alright. I came over to say…" she looked down to straighten a crease in her jumpsuit. "You know, everyone left here knows about Bucky. He doesn't need to hide up in the attic." She waited just a second to make sure Steve had understood her, then veered back to the group on the couches and sat on the floor again, kicking off her heels.
Steve brought the water glasses over, looking thoughtful, and after a few moments vanished through the sliding doors on the other side of the room.
Maggie lost herself in the casual teasing and conversations bouncing around the couches, as she played a hand of poker with Tony, Clint, and Hill. Hill was winning. At the back of her mind, Maggie suspected that just like with Christmas, Bucky wouldn't come down. Whether it was fear of being an intruder, or an unwillingness to engage with his captors in a more social way, he was just not comfortable at these type of events. She pushed the thought out of her mind and tried to enjoy the rest of her night.
Ten minutes later she had just tipped back in her chair, snort-laughing at some indignant rant Tony had gone off on at something Rhodey had said, when she became aware of two figures approaching from the door on the other side of the room. Her mouth snapped shut and she sat up, but no one else had noticed yet.
Bucky had paused just inside the doorway and was staring at them. His eyes drifted up, taking in the sparkling lights and low-burning candles decorating the room, as well as the abandoned champagne glasses. Then his eyes found the Avengers again.
He looked at them all, the cold, sad man they'd kept prisoner here for over a year. Steve stood patiently by his side.
Maggie slipped out of her seat and padded over to them, a beer in her hand. The gleaming floor was cool under her bare foot, and her prosthetic foot clinked on the ground with each step. Bucky's eyes fell on her, and one of his eyebrows lifted at her outfit.
"Hey, Steve!" Rhodey called.
Steve looked up, then cast an assessing glance at Bucky. Bucky nodded. Steve nodded in return, then walked over to talk to Rhodey. Maggie and Bucky were left standing by the bar, a few feet apart. Bucky wore his usual casual clothes, though he'd put on a rare pair of shoes.
"You don't need to worry, everyone else is gone," she said softly. He nodded slowly.
"Good party?" he asked with another look around the room. He touched his Manacles reassuringly.
I suppose it's strange for him, seeing the evidence of so many strangers having been in here. She shrugged. "It was good."
He lifted an eyebrow.
She smiled. "Steve is tipsy."
"How?" Bucky took a step forward so he could see Steve, who had sat down beside Thor and was laughing at something Rhodey had said.
"Asgardian liquor. Thor's got some left if you want to try it," she suggested, tipping her head back at the god. She turned to see the party more clearly, putting her and Bucky side by side.
He followed her gesture and eyed Thor as he gesticulated wildly, clearly in the middle of a story. His lips quirked. "I don't think alcohol's going to improve my situation."
"You never know."
He was still stalled, watching from the shadows, so she leaned in and bumped his shoulder with hers. "Come on."
He flinched at the touch of her shoulder, and turned to stare at her.
She hesitated. "Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't have touched you."
His brow knotted. "No, it's alright. Shoulder bumping is… okay."
Despite her sudden uncertainty, Maggie smiled. "Good to know. But… I'll try to give you a little more warning next time. Now come on."
He looked over to the gathering of Avengers and hesitated. "This is a celebration of your victory," he said. "I don't belong here."
"Sure you do," she frowned. "This is a Fuck You, HYDRA party." He spluttered a laugh. "And who deserves to say that more than you?"
He laughed again, his head dipping, and the sound drew attention from the small group at the couches. Thor and Bruce, on seeing Bucky, both waved. Natasha raised her beer in greeting.
"Well." Bucky leaned over, took a beer from the bartop and took the cap off easily with his metal hand. He held his beer up to hers. "Fuck you, HYDRA."
"Fuck you indeed." Grinning, they clinked their drinks and strode toward their friends.
Maggie led Bucky into the warm glow at the centre of the room, and gestured him toward the seat beside the sleeping Dr Cho, because it was a single and he wouldn't have to risk bumping into anyone else. He cast a concerned glance at Cho, but seemed reassured when she sighed in her sleep. Maggie sank down to sit cross-legged on the floor, propping one elbow on the table as she watched Hill and Rhodey play poker. She kept an eye on Bucky as she sat down, worried he would feel isolated, but to her pleasant surprise he was instantly absorbed into the conversation.
"No, no," Rhodey was saying fervently, one hand up as he eyed Tony. "You might have the most expensive uniform here, but you do not have the best uniform." He turned to Bucky, who had sat down with his beer bottle in his flesh hand and his metal hand fidgeting at his knee. "Barnes, back me up here. Based on uniform only, who is the coolest Avenger?"
Bucky went wide eyed for a moment as everyone's attention fell on him. He fidgeted again. But then he looked around at them all and said: "Not Steve."
Steve grabbed his chest as if he'd been shot, rolling his eyes as the others laughed. "It ain't my fault, the uniform got picked by the USO."
"The fact that eighty years later it's still a dressy show outfit speaks volumes," Tony proclaimed. "But Iron Man-"
"Too bright, too flashy," Clint disagreed. Bruce and Nat were absorbed in their own conversation beside him. Clint pointed a chopstick at Maggie. "Style points have gotta be in the Wyvern's column, I think."
"Aw, Clint," she said, putting both hands to her chest.
"Barnes," Rhodey said again. "Impartial mediator - well, mostly. Coolest uniform?"
Bucky appeared to genuinely think about it, eyes flicking from one Avenger to the other. Finally, he said: "Tie between Thor and Wyvern."
Maggie shot him a surprised glance, and he shrugged. "Look at him," he said with a gesture to the laughing Thor. "I can't argue against immortal alien fashion."
Her head tipped back in a laugh.
Some time later, Clint was teasing Thor about Mjolnir, which was propped on the coffee table on top of two books. Maggie was only half listening, as Bucky was in the middle of a story about the time Steve stole a truck in France. Bucky seemed a little uncomfortable with the attention from his small audience, but he had the cadence of a storyteller, making Steve laugh and interject with protests.
And then Thor gestured to Mjolnir and said: "Please, be my guest."
Bucky's mouth closed and the whole table fell silent. They all glanced from Thor, to the hammer, to Clint's raised eyebrows.
Tony was first to break the silence. "Come on."
"Really?" Clint pressed, his eyes on Thor, who merely gestured.
After another second of surprise Clint got to his feet, as the others cast goads and jibes his way. Maggie, grinning, shuffled back to give Clint room to approach Mjolnir.
He wrapped his hand around the leather and metal handle and Maggie saw his muscles lock and his jaw clench as he pulled against it. The hammer didn't so much as budge.
He gave up with an: "I still don't know how you do it!" and the others broke into laughter.
"That's cool," Bucky said, his eyes on Mjolnir. Maggie laughed againnand when she next looked around, Tony was on his feet, unbuttoning his jacket.
"Uh oh," Rhodey said, and Maggie rolled her eyes.
Tony strutted over to the hammer with a glance at Thor. "It's physics. Right, so if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?"
"Yes, of course," Thor said regally.
Tony wrapped the leather strap around his wrist and gripped the handle. "I will be reinstituting prima nocta- ow!" he broke off when Maggie tossed an egg roll at him, leaving flakes of it on his expensive suit.
With both palms around the handle and a foot on the coffee table, Tony yanked back - and nothing happened.
He took a second to think, said: "Be right back," and walked off. Maggie sighed.
While Tony was gone, Clint told them all about New Mexico, and how the hammer had been stuck in the desert for days.
"I could not lift Mjolnir until I had proved my worthiness," Thor said gravely, still leaning back on his couch.
"And how did you do that?" Maggie asked.
He looked down at his lap. "I was willing to sacrifice my life to save the people of this Earth."
What should have been a somber moment was abruptly broken as Tony strode back into the common room with an Iron Man gauntlet. He was met with a chorus of groans and laughter.
Natasha met Maggie's eyes. "Remember what I said about no explosions?"
Tony had no luck with the Iron Man gauntlet. Likewise, the hammer didn't move a millimeter when Rhodey summoned one of his gauntlets to help out.
When they finally gave up, Tony sat back down with a huff, sending his gauntlet back to its housing. He glanced up and his eyes narrowed. "Don't you laugh at me, Maggot. I see you!"
"Banner, you have a go," Clint said. "You gotta be the strongest."
Bucky watched the proceedings in a relaxed pose with one hand over his mouth, his eyes seeing everything and glinting with amusement.
Bruce pretended to Hulk out when he couldn't pick up the hammer, and was met with an awkward silence.
Bucky's hand pulled away from his mouth. "C'mon, Steve," he said, with a nod at the hammer.
Steve waved a hand. "No, no-"
Bucky pointed. "You've never backed down from a fight in your life, you're going to back down from this?"
Steve glanced at Thor, eyebrows raised, then stood up. The others cheered.
"Go ahead Steve, no pressure," Tony snarked.
Maggie was busy covering her smile as she glanced at Bucky, so she didn't see the slight shiver as Steve wrenched against Mjolnir's handle. A moment later he put up both hands and graciously bowed out.
Tony clapped her on the shoulder on his way to get another drink. "C'mon, Maggot, don't disgrace the family name."
"What, me?" she shook her head as everyone's eyes fell on her. "I might have the coolest uniform, but I am not ready to rule Asgard."
"Go on," Bucky goaded.
She glanced at him, again surprised by the challenge in his voice. His sea-grey eyes were glinting. "After you," she challenged.
"Well we know that's not going to work," he said, but to her surprise he stood up. The others all quietened as he straightened and took three paces toward the hammer. He looked at his hands for a second, considering the metal and flesh, then reached for the handle of Mjolnir with his flesh hand. He lifted, and - it did not move.
He grinned and stepped away.
"You're lucky," he said, nodding at Thor. "With a passport to Asgard, I'd be unstoppable."
"Asgard would be lucky to have you, my friend," Thor said graciously.
"I knew this super serum juice wasn't all it's cracked up to be," Tony said as he returned. "Come on, Mags!"
Maggie sighed and got to her feet, dusting off her hands. She peered at Mjolnir for a moment. She'd not properly taken in its detail before: the firm leather of the handle, inlaid with silver bands. The sturdy metal block of it, a blunt instrument for warfare. And yet it was finely carved at either end with weaving, infinite Norse runes. The metal glowed in the soft light in the common room.
Maggie wrapped her fingers around the handle.
She closed her eyes. "Oh my god, I can feel it."
She heard everyone go instantly silent.
"I can feel it," she said again, a furrow forming in her brow.
"What?" Thor murmured. She heard the rustle as he leaned forward.
"I can feel…" she swallowed. "I can feel… the food grease Tony left on here because he didn't wash his hands," she said, and opened her eyes with a grin as she heard a few groans. Thor rolled his eyes and leaned back again. When she glanced over, Tony made a show of licking his fingers clean.
Maggie gave the handle a good yank while they weren't looking, just to be sure, but Mjolnir stuck fast to the table. Figured. With a nod to herself, she took a seat.
Natasha refused to even try. When Steve's language chide came up again, Bucky frowned and said he didn't know what they were talking about, and they all tripped over themselves to recount Steve's Old Man Moment from the mission.
Steve was shaking his head, trying to ignore them and focus on Tony, who was trying to argue with Thor about the hammer, and Bucky looked over at him.
"You said that," he said.
"Let's just move past it," Steve grimaced, waving a hand.
"The number of things you said in the war that would've had my ma hauling you down to the church, punk-"
Steve was now pretending he couldn't hear Bucky, making Maggie laugh, but then Tony cut in with: "The handle's imprinted, right?" to Thor. "Like a security code. Whosever is carrying Thor's fingerprints is, I think, the literal translation."
"Yes," Thor smiled as he got to his feet, whiskey glass in hand. "It's a very, very interesting theory. I have a simpler one." He picked up Mjolnir with ease and flipped it once in the air. "You're all not worthy."
The Avengers let out a collective groan. Bucky leaned over to hand Maggie her drink, which she'd set aside when she stood up. As she took it back from him, her eyes snagged on his Manacles. They caught her attention, though at first she wasn't sure why.
Her confusion broke when a sharp, metallic screech rang out, making her wince as she took her drink back. Bucky's shoulders hunched and his gaze darted around, suddenly wary. Maggie glanced to Tony, who had taken his phone out of his pocket with a frown. The others were all wincing.
"Worthy," drawled a low, sick voice from the far doors.
Maggie looked over, her chin rising, and spotted what at first looked like a shadowy figure. But then it turned, catching the ambient light from the common room, and she realized it was an Iron Legionnaire, broken and dripping black oil.
"No," the suit intoned as it staggered forward. "How could you be worthy? You're all killers."
"Stark," Steve said in a hard voice.
Maggie and Bucky slowly stood, in unison.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.," Tony said.
"I'm sorry, I was asleep," the suit replied. "Or… I was a dream."
"Reboot Legionnaire OS," Tony murmured into his phone. "We got a buggy suit."
"There was this terrible noise. And I was tangled in… in… strings." The suit made a strange gesture, and Maggie frowned. "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy." Her stomach dropped.
"You killed someone?" Steve demanded.
"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices." The suit's mask had a gash carved into it, making its mouth look like a snarl, spilling blue light.
"Who sent you?" Thor asked.
"I see a suit of armor around the world," came Tony's voice. Maggie looked to him, and he looked back at her, his eyes wide.
"Ultron," Bruce breathed.
"In the flesh," the suit said as it turned drunkenly. "Or no, not yet. Not this… chrysalis. But I'm ready."
Maggie felt her spine straightening, her senses sharpening. The pleasant fading buzz of champagne was completely gone. She could feel the other Avengers preparing for battle, reaching for hidden weapons or lowering into battle stances. She glanced at Bucky again, and she realized what had caught her notice earlier.
"I'm on a mission," Ultron said.
Maggie's eyes went wide as she stared at the metal bands on Bucky's wrists.
"What mission?" Natasha asked.
The tiny green lights, which were normally ever-present on the Manacles to signal that they were functional, had gone out.
Maggie's head snapped back to Ultron as he said: "Peace in our time." The wall behind him exploded as two Legionnaires burst into the room. They dove forward with burning repulsors and the Avengers scattered - Maggie vaulted over a couch and darted for the piano, hearing something explode behind her and a grunt from Steve. Gunshots erupted a second later - Hill, she guessed. Maggie dove for the piano, reached underneath it and grabbed the gun she had secured there a year ago. She whirled to assess the situation.
The two Iron Legionnaires were burning around the confined space of the common room - Steve and Tony were on the ground, and as she watched Rhodey plunged through a glass pane to the level below, where they housed the Quinjet.
"Rhodey!" Hill called, and Maggie's heart dropped.
But she didn't waste a second. She stared firing, aiming for the Legionnaire who had set its sights on Nat and Bruce, who were running for the bar. Two of her bullets pinged off its impenetrable chest plate, and the third hit its outstretched hand, knocking a repulsor beam off course. Its slitted white-blue eyes turned on her.
Maggie ran for cover behind the stairs, her bare foot slapping against the ground. The Legionnaires were causing havoc - glass shattered all over the place and repulsor blasts burned through the air. The scream of engines bounced off the walls and pierced her ears. She glanced up and saw another Legionnaire in Bruce's lab, two levels up - as she watched it seized the Scepter from its housing and took off.
"No!"
But a second later she caught a flare of burning light out of the corner of her eye and flinched - only to blink and look up as the repulsor beam that had been scorching toward her was deflected off an outstretched metal hand.
Bucky turned to her, his eyes wide and his jaw clenched. The repulsor blast had singed through his sleeve, making her nostrils flare at the smell of burning. "Get to cover."
"After you," she said breathlessly. She caught the Legionnaire behind him turning to dive toward Nat behind the bar, and she lifted her gun again and fired three shots at its head.
Seconds later Steve launched off the upper level of the common room and landed on the Legionnaire's back - he wrapped one arm around its neck and began punching with the other, making the Legionnaire jerk in the air. Nat and Bruce used the cover to get to safety.
Moments later Steve plunged to the ground in a hail of shattered glass as the Legionnaire shucked him off. Bucky darted forward, seized one of the smaller coffee tables and hurled it like a frisbee up at the Legionnaire. The steel and glass edge slammed into the Legionnaire's torso, cutting slices through its exterior plating. Bucky rolled under a repulsor blast from the other Legionnaire and tossed a heavy ornament at its head, knocking it backwards in the air. He moved faster than Maggie could think, his movements fluid and dangerous. Maggie stood a few feet behind Bucky, alternating gunshots between the Legionnaires. She could see Tony sneaking up behind the second one on the upper levels.
The first Legionnaire looked down at Bucky, and by the door, the shattered, oily figure of Ultron cocked its head.
Maggie saw the lights on Bucky's Manacles blink green and she opened her mouth to shout a warning, but then they blinked red.
Bucky seized up, every muscle in his body taut, his eyes white and wild. He fell to the ground like a felled tree.
Enough voltage to drop an elephant.
"Bucky!" Steve shouted, scrambling upward and running to his fallen friend. Maggie stepped out from behind her meager cover and fired up at the Legionnaires, giving Steve cover to grab Bucky and begin dragging him out of the firing zone. Her heart pounded in her ears. A repulsor blast exploded into the floor by her feet and she almost fell, but she did not back off.
Tony leaped onto one of the Legionnaires, leaving her unable to keep shooting at it. Steve dragged Bucky behind the bar, and Maggie finally had to dive for cover as Tony's Legionnaire launched a volley of flares at her. She squeezed between one of the stair pylons and the window, crying out as she felt the air burning up at her back. Shattered glass and splintered wood exploded through the small space after her, peppering against her skin.
More Legionnaires had surged into the common room, but the Avengers had found tactical locations by now. Once Maggie was sure she was in one piece she looked back and saw Thor smash one Legionnaire into pieces, leaving just its torso and head, and Tony was jamming a precision tool into his Legionnaire's neck, activating its verbal civilian warning system:
"We are here to help. We are here to help," it intoned.
Steve left Bucky behind the bar and darted out onto the common room floor just as Thor did. He yanked the leg-less Legionnaire away from where it was menacing Helen Cho and hurled it back to Thor, who smashed it apart.
Maggie squeezed back out of her cover, trying to avoid the shattered glass on the floor with her flesh foot. She only had two rounds left in her gun but she intended to make them count. She turned to cover Tony, but as she did he managed to sever his Legionnaire's central power line and they both dropped out of the air. She swivelled back to the third Legionnaire up in the rafters, which was exchanging fire with Natasha. Maggie sighted, lifted her gun, and pulled the trigger. One of her bullets hit its neck column and sparks flew, but the Legionnaire did not fall. It turned to her..
"Cap!" came Clint's shout, and Maggie caught a glimpse of him hurling Steve's shield out of the shadows.
Maggie pulled her trigger, only to hear it click against the empty chamber. The Legionnaire above her raised its repulsors, slitted eyes fixed on her.
Maggie held her breath and prepared to dive, but a second later Steve's shield plunged through the Legionnaire's middle, sending it to pieces. It fell at Maggie's feet and the light in its eyes died.
She let out her breath, fingers trembling.
"That was dramatic," Ultron said from the door. The others stilled, watching him, but Maggie crouched down to pick up Steve's oil-streaked shield.
"I'm sorry, I know you mean well, you just didn't think it through," Ultron said.
Maggie gripped the Vibranium shield as she hurried across the glass-strewn common room floor and ducked behind the bar. Bucky lay flat on the ground, staring up at her, his jaw gritted and the veins in his neck and forehead bulging. There was glass in his hair. He was breathing, but the sound of it was sharp and desperate.
Ultron was talking about protecting the world, and humanity, but Maggie ignored him. She raised her shield over Bucky, her fingers white on the edges, then slammed it down. The Manacle on Bucky's left wrist split open and fell away. His left arm spasmed, but he was still frozen and rigid on the ground. The Manacle on his right wrist followed a moment later.
Bucky heaved in a long breath and jerked up to a sitting position, shaking, already wrapping his flesh hand around his metal wrist, which looked naked without the Manacle. His skin kept twitching, an aftereffect of the electrocution. Maggie gripped his metal elbow and helped him to his feet. She couldn't see his face through his hair.
"There's only one path to peace," Ultron growled. Maggie looked over as she and Bucky rose, and felt his flickering blue gaze drifting over all of them. "The Avengers' extinction."
Thor hurled Mjolnir and Ultron's body shattered against the wall.
Reviews
DBZFAN45: Enter Ultron indeed! I'm so glad you liked the start to the movie scenes and the action scenes, I always have fun with those :) Hope you've had a good week!
Guest: I guess it was kind of a date! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Eennio: I've got plans for Civil War, don't you worry ;)
EchoMoment: Why thank you! Maggie is clever.
Zariah: Enjoy! I'm excited to share Age of Ultron with you guys, it's going to be fun ;)