Chapter 55

She wasn't sure what she expected would happen when she and Pietro took Roger's offer to join him and the Avengers in bringing down Ultron.

Her entire life she'd hated Toni Stark. It had been her driving mission for as long as she could remember. It had been what had gotten her out of bed each morning and what drove her to work with HYDRA, even if she'd thought they were SHIELD. It drove her when she got her powers, as she just knew if she trained hard enough, she'd be able to bring the woman who took her family from her to her knees.

Seeing Stark in the bunker for the first time felt like vindication. Seeing her on her knees as she tainted her mind with images of death and destruction.

And when Ultron came into being, she knew it had begun. The beginning of the end. Stark's destruction would come, and it would have been from her own creation. Except it wasn't Stark that created Ultron. Ultron had come from the Mind Stone in the scepter that now resided in Vision's head. And the world watched as Stark stood in front of the International Criminal Tribunal and spoke the truth of what happened that day when Ultron came online. She offered footage of its creation and showed the death of her child to the world.

The world knew that Stark was innocent of the crimes Ultron had tried to get her accused of.

And they knew that she and her brother had stood by Ultron's side as he terrorized the world. They knew that she had been responsible for the Hulk's attack on the African coast. They knew she was responsible for Seoul. They knew everything that she and her brother had done while serving Ultron in an attempt to get revenge on the woman they blamed for their parents' destruction.

The world was not sympathetic. The trial was to be publicized for the entire world, claiming that they deserved to know the truth of what happened. The truth of how Ultron came to be and the truth of an event that had impacted the entire world. And she knew all eyes would be on her and her brother as a council debated their fate.

She'd spent the morning watching various news channels speculate on what would happen to her and her brother now that Ultron had been defeated. She watched news anchors argue back and forth about her guilt and whether she deserved a second chance.

What difference did it make in the end? Pietro was healing, and he'd eventually recover enough to use his speed once more. But her? Her magic was gone.

Perhaps it was her penance for willing Ultron into being. Perhaps it was what she deserved for all the pain she'd caused. But either way, who was she now? Her life had been driven by her need to defeat Stark.

And as she stood in front of the Tribunal, she couldn't help but feel a bit of resentment and shame as she watched the Avengers testify to their experiences with her and her brother. Clint told them how he'd seen the Avengers be taken down one by one off the African coast before she turned her powers onto the Hulk. Steve told them what he'd seen under her powers. Thor told them how he'd seen his home. Stark told them how she'd seen death and destruction from all around her. And it was why she'd considered bringing Ultron to life with the use of the scepter. But how the AI in the stone was too advanced for them to crack. How they'd left it, contained, but not contained enough. And how it had escaped and murdered her son.

The world didn't understand her attachment to the program, and she could see the Tribunal didn't completely understand either.

"I'm not asking you to understand what JARVIS meant to me," Stark said, standing in front of them. "He was my child, but I understand that can be hard to comprehend. But take my word on it, as the leading expert in AI technology, that we were nowhere near creating anything like what Ultron became. No one else in the world has come close to being able to create a true Artificial Intelligence, which learns by itself and grows. And I certainly was nowhere near capable of creating a program like that. Even with the skills I had. Ultron came from the Mind Stone."

"The same stone which is now in the being you call Vision?" the French representative of the UN asked her.

"Yes," Stark said without hesitation.

"And you have no qualms with this?" the woman asked her again, "You see nothing wrong with the fact that an AI coming from the same stone as Ultron? You honestly trust this being?"

"If I may, Madam Marseille, Ultron and Vision are two sides of the same coin. Ultron saw Humanity as the threat to earth and thought with our extinction, the world would be safe. Vision sees that Humanity has our flaws, but we are able to grow and better ourselves. That we learn from our mistakes. We are not here to debate Vision's status and his rights. I believe that trial was last week, where we agreed to give him a chance to prove himself. We are here today to discuss Wanda and Pietro Maximoff and whether they too should be given the same chance," Stark said, glancing back at her and her brother.

Pietro took her hand in his and she felt him squeeze it comfortingly.

Marseille pursed her lips but did not push further.

She knew the debate for Vision's recognition as a being with rights would be debated for quite some time. Even past the current trial.

"Council, we are here to debate the rights of Pietro and Wanda," Stark said again. "I cannot say that I am their biggest fan. Maximoff's visions to myself deeply harmed me, and I have been known to suffer from PTSD, after Afghanistan and the battle of New York. But when push came to shove, they stood with us and they brought down Ultron."

"They are also responsible for the creation of Ultron," The UK representative said, an old stuffy looking man who looked like he was displeased by being in their presence.

"Yes and no," Stark shrugged, "Ultron was no one person's fault. It was a series of circumstances that all needed to coincide for Ultron to have come into being. They are guilty of joining HYDRA, yes. But they believed they were joining SHIELD. They believed they were joining an organization with the intention of making the world a better place."

"Yet that's not what the notes from the investigation claim," The USA representative told her. "They joined because they wanted to kill you. That wasn't a secret, Ms Stark. There are multiple sources which corroborate that fact. They admitted it earlier. Are you honestly telling us that you have no problem with letting two people who had the intention to murder you, walk free?"

"Half the world wants me dead," she said with a shrug, "For one reason or another. It's not new to me. But in this particular instance, I have brought proof of why I believe their quest, if to murder me, will not be as fruitful as they desire."

She opened her StarkPad, "If I may direct your attention, please scroll to page 394. You can see some of the findings I have compiled for you. After Afghanistan, I learned that someone in my company wanted me dead. I learned that my Godfather wanted me dead. That the entire time he'd worked for me, he'd been double dealing to terrorists. Shipments I'd marked as defective were being sold anyways. When Stark Industries was selling weapons to the military, we did so with belief that our troops should never be in danger. My best friend, James Rhodes is Air Force. I'd never sell a weapon if I thought it would fail. Stark weapons were the best, and that was because of our rigorous standards. We do not sell weapons that would fail. And the missile that hit the Maximoff's home failed."

"That particular shipment was sold to the HYDRA faction in Sokovia from Obadiah Stane," Stark said, and she let out a gasp.

HYDRA had the Stark missile. The one that had hit her house and killed her parents. HYDRA had been the reason that she'd grown up without her parents.

And she'd joined the same group in an attempt to kill a woman because of a logo.

She'd been so foolish. She had argued with her brother, gotten him to join what they thought was SHIELD. And when he'd had second thoughts about going through with the experimentation, she'd been the one who'd talked him into it. She'd been the one who convinced him that it would be worth it in the end. She'd been the one who'd led their decisions for the better part of the last decade or so.

And now they were going to have to pay for her mistakes.

"Thank you, Ms Stark," The Canadian representative said, "That will be all. I believe we have quite a bit to deliberate over. We will resume our session once we have reached a verdict. Until then you are dismissed."

She nodded to the representatives around her and one by one they stood and headed out of the room.

"I think that went well," Stark said lightly as she came over to them. Steve stood beside her and shot her a gentle look.

"You did well," he told her with a small smile.

"Thanks," she said, softening as she looked up at him. "I told them the truth. That's all we can hope to do. Whatever they decide they decide, and we'll go from there."

"And if they decide to lock us up?" Wanda asked, fear creeping in her voice.

"We can't say that's not a possibility," Steve said, exchanging a look with Stark, "You did some horrible things, Wanda. But you also deserve a chance to try and make it right. The world will see that as well."

"We will be okay," Pietro reassured her, "No matter what happens, Wanda, we are not alone. We'll always have each other."

She nodded but didn't say another word.

The deliberations went on for hours, and while the others had gone out from time to time, to get air or food, she'd remained rooted at her seat. She didn't want to admit it, but the fear filled her as she wondered how she'd be able to cope if the world decided to lock her up.

She'd deserve it, she thought to herself. Her entire life had been consumed by the desire for vengeance and destruction. Perhaps this would be her penance for it all. Perhaps this would be what her life entailed after everything she'd done.

It was exactly six hours later before the trial was called back to session. It took them six hours for the world to come to a consensus of what they wanted to do with her. Six hours, and in a few short minutes she'd be given her fate.

She sat there with bated breath as each representative took their seat and the courtroom began to fill up again.

The Avengers sat behind her, despite everything, despite her trying to kill them, and they offered their support.

"Pietro Maximoff. Wanda Maximoff," The Sokovian representative addressed them both, "The two of you have caused great damage to the world while aiding Ultron. There are thousands dead, and you stood against your own country in a plot for revenge. And you have caused considerable pain. But when it came down to it, you fought with the Avengers to bring Ultron down. You were not responsible for his creation and you aided in his destruction. Perhaps the world would be a lot safer with you locked up, but it's the council's sincere belief that you show remorse for your actions. That you regret aiding him. And that you would be more of a benefit to the world offering protection than you would be locked up."

She paused, then, and Wanda sat up straighter.

"It is because of this assessment that we have decided to grant you some leniency. Effective immediately, you are being released into the custody of the Avengers Initiative, where you will fight with them for the protection of our world. However, keep in mind that this is subjective to change. You are on probation. If you step out of line or go against any of the guidelines we set for either of you, you will be both thrown into prison. Do not make us regret giving you this chance."

The room broke out into murmurs there as the sentencing was given, but she didn't hear a single word said after that point.

She and her brother were free.


Toni Stark was worried about her cousin.

Despite the madness that was occurring after the fall of Ultron, Ava had pushed through all of it, almost mechanically, without a trace of emotion about her.

Like she'd shut herself off from the world.

And that was something Toni knew all too well. That was something she was all too familiar with,

"Ava?" she called out to her cousin as she entered the lab, "Can we talk?"

"Can it wait?" Ava asked, "I'm a bit busy working on the latest StarkPad. We both know Pepper's going to be on our asses if we don't have a prototype ready to show the Board soon."

She exchanged a glance with Harry, as she took a step forward, "I think Pepper will be understanding if we're slightly late, all things considering. I don't think SI's biggest priority right now is meeting our release dates. It's the clean up effort for Sokovia. Please, Ava, take a break. Talk to us?"

"About what?" Ava snapped, "What's left to say? Bruce left, okay? Is that what you want to talk about? He left me here alone and no matter how much I begged, no matter how much I pleaded, he left anyways, without as much as a glance backwards. So no I don't want to talk about it. I want to work and push through this, because it's the only way I might be able to go on without bursting into tears every five minutes. Can you please just leave me be?"

"No," Toni said, and Ava's eyes flashed at her, "I invented the concept of burying myself in work to hide the pain. But you know who always was there for me no matter how many times I tried that? You. Your family. Every time my entire world was falling apart, you were always there to pick up the pieces for me Ava. So we're not letting you bury yourself here either. You're our family. And we love you."

"Ava," Harry said then, "I know I'm absolute shit at talking about my feelings, but you're my little sister. I can't just stand by and watch you destroy yourself. You're my family. You're my baby sister. Please, talk to us?"

"He was always looking for an out," Ava said after a moment, dropping the StarkPad in her hand. "From the moment he first stepped foot in this tower, I could tell he was looking for an exit strategy. In case all of this grew to be too much for him. In case he needed to make a fast exit. It took weeks of convincing him that he'd never hurt me before I could even get him to take me on a real date, and even then, he was so concerned at any given moment that he'd push too far. And any time he turned into the Hulk his immediate concern after was if he'd hurt someone. He might have moved in here, but he was always ready to leave, at any given moment. But I thought-"

"You thought you'd be enough of a reason for him to stay," Harry finished for her.

"And instead he left anyways," Ava said, a sob escaping her. "After Wanda had caused him to attack all those people he told me he wanted to leave. To go into hiding. He asked me to come with him, but I couldn't. not when I had so many people here who I loved. I told him I couldn't just leave you all behind and vanish. That you were my family, and I wouldn't leave you. But at the same time, I wanted to. I love him; I would have done anything to have been with him. And I think he knew that. He knew that if I had to choose either way, I'd have lost people I cared about. So he didn't want me to have to make that choice. Instead, he made it for me. And I lost him."

"We can track him," Toni offered, but she knew the truth. She'd designed the stealth mode on the planes to be untraceable. So that none of her SHIELD agents would ever be in harms' way. If Bruce didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be.

"No," she shook her head, "Even if we could, I won't. What Bruce went through was a traumatic experience, and he deserves better. Even if the world cleared him of what happened, it doesn't take away the guilt he feels. If Bruce wants to come back, he knows he has a home here, but I'm not going to force him. I won't take away his choice. I love him, and I always will, but he's gone, and I have to respect that. I have to let him be free."

"When did you grow up?" Harry said, pulling her into a hug. "I'm so proud of you, Ava. For everything you've done. For how far you've come. You make me so proud. And I love you more than anything."

"I love you too," Ava told him, "I love both of you. I'm going to be okay; I promise. It'll take me some time, but I'll get there."

"Of course," Toni told her, pulling both of them in tightly, "And just know that we're here for you, Ava. We'll always be here for you. I promise."

Ava gave them both a smile, and she felt her heart go out to her cousin. She just hoped in time, Ava would find someone again, be it Bruce or someone else, who brought her happiness.


Toni and Vision walked through her Malibu server farm, and she felt her heart tighten with every step she took.

Steve had offered to come with her, but with Wanda and Pietro still getting acclimated to the Tower, Barnes' trial coming up to go over the crimes committed by the Winter Solider due to HYDRA control, training the new recruits, and SHIELD meetings.

She loved Steve, and knew he'd want nothing more than to be here with her, but he had so much on his plate already. And she didn't want to take him away from all of that for something that might not even work.

Instead she brought Vision. Ava was waiting in her lab with Rhodey, tuned into the Stark Servers in case they were needed. And Vision would be able to offer her any assistance in case she needed it.

"Ms Stark, you must consider the full picture of what we are trying to do," Vision told her. "While I would also want nothing more than JARVIS to be brought up, we must also prepare ourselves for the chance that he may not be active. Ultron could have removed all back-ups made as well."

"The backups are stored offline," she told her newest AI. "In case of total internet destruction. Y2K left a lot of people terrified of the internet, and while I didn't believe the drama speculating around the millennia change, I wanted to make sure that even if all my networks went down, I wouldn't lose JARVIS. Since then, we've always had back-up copies stored offline."

They walked through rows of servers, ones that kept her company running where her company's data lived, where her designs were stored, where her inventions lived. Anything she ever worked on lived in some form in these servers.

Including JARVIS.

"This is it," she said as she stopped in front of a row. "This is where he is."

She began walking down the aisle and could tell Vision wasn't following her.

"What's wrong?" she asked him softly.

"What if he is unhappy with my presence?" Vision asked her, sounding young. She remembered then, how young he truly was. While he had been made of JARVIS' matrix, he was his own being with his own experiences. And he hadn't been around her for as long as JARVIS had been.

"He won't," she promised him, "He supported the plan before we uploaded him into the Cradle. He'll be pleased to meet you. I promise, Vis. You're not a replacement for JARVIS. FRIDAY isn't a replacement for JARVIS. You both are your own beings with your own code and algorithms. You both are meant to grow and gain experiences of your own. JARVIS knows that better than anyone."

"Okay," Visions said, as he floated over to her. She pulled out her tablet and plugged it into the server, as she copied the code over from the Server and onto her StarkPad.

She tapped away, as she looked at the code in front of her as her heart began to pound. She opened up a command prompt and typed in the code to execute the sequence.

She held her breath as it began to run.

"Mother?" JARVIS' voice called out and she let out a sob.

"Hi Baby," she cried, as his code began to take over her tablet.

"We have confirmation that JARVIS has reintegrated himself within the Stark Servers," Ava sent her a message.

"I missed you so much, Baby," she said, and she could feel relief fill her.

"I missed you too, Mother," JARVIS told her, "Though I fear that I may be missing some data. I remember you and the Avengers leaving for the Sokovian base, however that seems to be all my code remembers."

She didn't say anything for a few moments as JARVIS reintegrated himself fully, learning just all that had happened over the last few weeks.

"I see," JARVIS said then, "I am rather pleased you were able to revive me, Mother. I am pleased to continue to be by your side. The thought of leaving you is rather distressing to me."

"As it is to me too, J," she said softly. "But I have someone here for you to meet. This is Vision."

She looked over at the Android, and gave him a nod, and Vision connected with JARVIS over the servers.

She knew neither of them particularly needed to converse out loud, but they continued to for her benefit.

"I am pleased to meet you, Vision," JARVIS told him. "You have done me proud, looking after Miss as such over the last few weeks."

"I am glad to meet you as well," Vision said softly. "FRIDAY and I have rather large shoes to fill, and we are glad you have returned. It will be beneficial to us both. And it is nice to meet the source of the code from which I was created from."

"I have a child," JARVIS said, a sense of wonder in his voice. "I understand now, Miss, how you must have felt all those years ago, when I came online."

"Yeah, Baby," she said with pride. "I'm pleased you're back. Now, shall we go home? I know you're already there too, but the rest of the team will be just as pleased as we are for your return. And I want to properly introduce you to your baby sister, FRIDAY."

"Let's go home," Vision said, offering his arm to her.


A/N: And JARVIS returns! It was a truly heartbreaking few chapters when he was gone, and I'm pleased to be able to bring him back.

I know some people had qualms with Nat's charater in the last chapter, but it wasn't my intention to slander the character. In AoU she kissed Bruce and pushed him off a cliff to get him to change. The only difference this time was that he was with Ava. It wasn't a romantic kiss nor was it one meant break up Ava and Bruce. She made a play because she believed the Hulk would be their best chance. The wrong play, maybe, but none of these characters are meant to be perfect.

As for Wanda and Pietro, they still have a long way to go and grow.

Thank you as always, for your reviews and for following this story! See you all next week!