"Oh, sorry!" You exclaimed as you walked into the bedroom that you had been told you were going to spend the night in and saw Steve pulling a shirt over his head.

"Not anything you haven't seen before." He said as his head came through the neck hole.

"True." You moved further into the room, bending over your own bag to see what you could change into.

"Hey, are you okay?" Steve asked you suddenly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired and shit." You grinned as you looked up at him, "Oh, sorry, I said a bad word."

Steve's head dropped, "When is that going to go away?"

You returned to your search, "Probably never. It's too much fun."

At a sound from the door you looked up and saw Laura standing there.

Steve turned to see what you were looking at and she said, "I'm sorry to interrupt. Mr. Rogers, Clint was looking for you."

Steve sent you one last look before he nodded at her and left the room. Once he was gone she turned to look at you and you felt a curdling in your stomach. Laura examined you carefully as she rubbed a hand in small circles over her stomach.

"So, it's you." She finally said.

"I'm sorry?"

"You're the one that Clint fell in love with."

"I–uh–," You were at a complete loss for words. This wasn't at all what you wanted to be doing right now.

"You don't have to say anything I know." She rubbed her stomach again.

"How?" The word slipped out before you could stop it.

She smiled sadly, "Because, when you guys walked in they were all surprised and shocked. But you–your face was all hurt. Learning about us broke your heart."

"I'm sorry. You have to know I had no idea. I wouldn't have–" Your voice died.

"I know. No one knew about us. It's what Clint wanted and needed to be able to do what he does. You love him." She stated it matter-of-factly.

You didn't respond, nothing in your life prepared you for something like this. Laura looked at you one more time before she turned to leave. Suddenly you found yourself calling out to her. When she turned back to you you asked, "Why did you stay? If you knew why did you stay?"

"Because he was honest with me. And because I love him." She said before she turned and left.

When you finally headed downstairs it was to find Nick Fury in the kitchen. You blinked in surprise, "Director Fury? When did you get here?"

"I'm not a director anymore."

Tony pointed the dart he had in his hand at Nick and said, "Hill called him. He's come bearing information."

Steve handed you a plate of food as you sat down, rubbing his hand along your shoulder in an absent way. You could feel Clint's eyes on you as his wife took their kids upstairs to put them to bed. You did what you could to ignore them. Nick was informing the team what Ultron had been upto since he managed to get you to go into hiding.

You had to stifle a laugh when Clint tossed a dart from across the room, right by Tony's face where he was standing pulling his own darts out of the board. Clint shrugged playfully when Tony glared at him. He met your eyes and you immediately dropped your smile and your eyes.

As Nick continued to talk you realized that he was giving you all a pep talk. And it worked because suddenly Bruce said, "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

Everyone was moving. Sometimes it still surprised you how fast the team could spring into action.

"I'll take Natasha and Clint." Steve said, now in his uniform, and slipping his shield on to his back.

"All right. Strictly recon. I'll hit the Nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can."

You stood up and moved over to them, Nick slipped his coat on and said, "I'll drop Banner and Meremaid here off at the tower. You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill."

"She's all yours. Apparently. What are you going to do?" Tony said.

Nick shrugged causally, "I don't know. Something dramatic. I hope."

You dashed up to the room to grab your bag and before you could exit the room again, Clint stepped in the doorway.

"Clint, not now, I have to go." You said irritated.

He wrapped a hand around your arm, to stop you from pushing past him and said, "I know. We should talk when this is all over."

You looked into the face of the man you loved and shook your head, "I don't know that there is much more to talk about anymore. I need to go. You and Natasha be careful okay?"

"Yeah. You too. Take care of Bruce. Apparently, he's important to Nat in ways I had no idea."

You pushed past him, heading down the stairs to catch up with Nick.

In the Avengers' Tower, you paced around the main floor as you waited for news from both Tony and Clint, Natasha and Steve. You still didn't have any idea where Thor had gone either. When you heard the elevator doors open, you spun towards them, seeing Bruce coming in.

"Bruce. Hey. Heard anything from the others yet?" You moved over to him, searching his face to determine his condition. He still wasn't okay. And rather than answer you verbally he just shook his head.

You tried to ignore the clutch in your stomach as you turned towards the kitchen, "I'm going to make some tea."

Bruce still didn't respond. But he accepted the cup you handed him when you brought it to him. Sitting down across from him, you pulled your legs under you and waited.

You had fallen asleep with your head resting on your arms while still sitting at the table when a hand touched your shoulders. You jerked awake, apologizing immediately when you saw Bruce backing away with his hands in the air.

"Tony and Clint are back." There was a look in his eye.

"What happened?" You asked as you stood up, Bruce shook his head sadly, "Nat is missing."

In the lab, you turned when you heard Bruce ask, "Anything on Nat."

Tony was walking in and he said, "Haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it."

Clint and you were looking at the cradle. You because of morbid curiousity and Clint because he was trying to see if there was a way inside it.

"This is sealed tight." He said as the pair joined you.

"We're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within." Bruce said in response.

Tony turned towards Clint, "Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the Internet? Old school spy stuff."

Clint glanced at you and said, "There are some nets I can cast. Yeah. I'll find her."

He left and you had to tamp down the urge to go after him and provide comfort. Natasha was one of the most important people in Clint's life. He wasn't saying it, but you knew him well enough to know this was killing him.

Tony met your eye, his face a mask of symphaty and concern before he turned to pay attention to what Bruce was saying. You were brought back to yourself when you heard Bruce say, "No."

You have to trust me." Tony said.

Bruce was backing away from him, "Kind of don't."

You looked between the two men, trying to figure out what you had missed. Tony said, "Our ally, the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him."

Tony flicked his phone and a hologram popped up and a familiar voice spoke, "Hello, Dr. Banner. Miss."

"Jarvis?" You said in disbelief while Bruce looked on in amazement.

"Ultron didn't go after Jarvis because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So Jarvis went underground. Scattered."

Bruce was moving around the cradle away from Tony, his face intent as Tony continued to talk, "Dumped his memory, but not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together."

You didn't understand what Tony was getting at but Bruce clearly did because he scoffed, "You want me to help you put Jarvis into this thing?"

Tony grinned disarmingly, "No. Of course not. I want to help you put Jarvis into this thing."

His voice had turned conjoling and you could see how Bruce was wavering. You suddenly spoke up, "Hold on. Isn't this literally the same thing that got us here in the first place?"

The two men looked at you and Tony immediately answered, "No, this is different. That was trying to figure out a complete unknown. This, is taking a known and using it as a way to take down Ultron. Jarvis has been fighting against him this whole time. He did it before he even knew what or why he was doing it. This is the opportunity to fix it."

You and Bruce looked at each other and then Jarvis said, "I believe it's worth a go."

Bruce scrubbed his fingers through his hair before he threw his hands out, "I'm in a loop. I'm caught in a time loop. She's right. This is exactly where it all went wrong."

"I know. I know. I know what everyone's going to say. But they're already saying it. We're mad scientists."

You snorted and muttered quietly, "Damn straight you are." Tony ignored you know that the one he needed to actually convince was Bruce because Bruce was the one who had the skills necessary to do what he wanted to do.

"We're monsters, buddy. We've gotta own it. Make a stand."

Bruce wavered, turning away to stare at the cradle and the monitors before he looked at you.

"It's not a loop. It's the end of the line." Tony said.

You saw the moment that Bruce decided to go along with it. Shaking your head, you said, "You know, Steve is not going to like this."

You walked away and left them to it. Outside the lab you decided to search for Clint and see if he needed help. You were just as concerned about Nat as the rest of them. You tracked him down in a storage space under the lab of all things.

"Did you set all this up in five minutes?"

Clint looked up from where he was crouched in front of the monitors and equipement ranged around the small space he shook his head, "No. It's been set up for a while. Call it a safety nest."

You knelt down next to him, "Do you mean 'safety net'?"

When you got a good look at his face you noticed how blood shot his eyes were he smirked, "No, I mean nest. I'm the Hawk after all."

Snorting softy you said, "I'm pretty birds make nests in high places not under things."

"Not all birds. Some birds make ground nests. Some even make underground nests. Why are you here?"

You shrugged lightly, "Figured I'd see if you needed help. I am feeling pretty useless right now and the mad scientists are doing mad scientist things."

"I don't know what that means. But I'm glad you are here." He turned back to the screens and you settled in and watched them too. You didn't know how much time passed but there was a soft static sound and Clint straightened, picking up a pair of headphones and holding it to his ear. When you saw the small smile cross his face you knew it was Nat.

He grinned at you when the computer screen triangulated the location. You heard a commotion and you both looked up. Through the glass above you and realized that Steve had returned. And he had brought the twins with him. Pietro was standing right above your both.

Clint pulled a gun from somewhere and shot through the glass. He fell through the floor and Clint stepped foward, his foot on the man's leg as he said, "What? You didn't see that coming?"

You rolled your eyes at him, but lifted your hands and took over the restraint, holding Pietro in place as the sounds of a fight errupted above you. Clint dashed up the stairs to help. Pietro had his hands held up still as you held him in place, a smirk on his face as he watched you.

"You know, that is a very neat trick."

"Oh, shut up."

There was a loud crash above you and you flinched as a bright flash of lightning illuminated everything. Thor.

Before you had a chance to react, there was a loud explosion and Pietro had his arms wrapped around you as he set you on the floor in the lab next to his sister. You watched as a man–it looked like a man anyway–crouched above the destroyed cradle. He dove at Thor, who tossed him away. The being flew through the air, stopping itself suddenly before it could fly through the window. Everyone froze.