STEVE ROGERS

I walk off of the quinjet after Clint lands it in a field.

"What is this place?" Thor questions as I notice the house in the center of the field.

Tony looks around as we walk towards the house nearby. "A safe house?"

"Let's hope," Clint comments as he helps Natasha up the stairs of the porch.

Clint opens the door and we all enter into the house as he yells, "Honey, I'm home!"

A woman walks into the room, pregnant with a baby.

"Hi. Company. Sorry didn't call ahead," Clint explains to his wife.

"Hey," the woman says before she kisses Clint.

This must be his home.

Tony surveys the woman and says, "This is an agent of some kind."

Clint turns to us. "Gentlemen, this is Laura."

"I know all your names," Laura awkwardly comments before looking around for someone. "Wait, where's Avery?"

I immediately look down at the ground, sadness enveloping my being. Clint whispers something in his wife's ear and her eyes widen. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, ma'am," I assure as I pick my head back up.

"Ooh, incoming," Clint exclaims as two kids invade the room.

"Dad!" Clint's daughter exclaims as he picks her up.

She shows him something. "I see her!"

"Hey, buddy! How you guys doing?" he asks as he kisses his son's head.

This is what I could've had with Peggy. This is what I wanted to have with Peggy. This is what Bucky and Avery deserve to have together.

Tony looks over at us, gesturing to the children. "These are...smaller agents."

"Look at your face! Oh my goodness!" Clint gushes at his children.

"Did you bring Auntie Nat?" his daughter asks.

That's when I notice Natasha isn't with us. She suddenly walks through the doorframe. "Why don't you hug her and find out?"

Clint's daughter rushes over to Nat who picks the girl up in her arms.

I avert my attention back to Laura. "Sorry for barging in."

"Yeah, we would've called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed," Tony comments. I roll my eyes at his rudeness. His sassiness is worse than Avery's sassiness.

"Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low," Clint responds.

Laura hugs Clint again. "Honey. Ah, I've missed you."

Nat gestures to Laura's stomach. "How's little Natasha?"

Laura looks at her with a sheepish smile. "She's...Nathaniel."

"Traitor," Natasha says as she bends down to Laura's stomach.

Thor suddenly walks out of the house. I rush outside after him. "Thor!"

"I saw something in that dream. I need answers. I won't find them here," Thor explains. He swings his hammer and flies into the sky.

I sigh and turn towards the house, about to head inside when I hear a voice. Peggy's voice.

"We can go home."

Where is home anymore?

()()()

"Thor didn't say where he was going for answers?" Tony asks as we chop wood in front of the house.

"Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things," I say as I chop a piece of wood in half. "I was kind of hoping Thor would be the exception."

"Yeah, give him time. We don't know what the Maximoff kid showed him," Tony comments.

I shake my head. "'Earth's Mightiest Heroes.' Pulled us apart like cotton candy."

"Seems like you walked away all right," Tony retorts.

I scoff. "I just looked into the eyes of my best friend and saw nothing. The real Avery seemed miles away. I wouldn't call that walking away alright."

"You do know she's too far gone, right?" Tony voices. "She's just like Ultron, Steve. She's nothing but a monster."

I stop mid-chop and turn to him, anger rushing through my body. "I'm not just gonna give up on her, Tony. She's my friend."

Tony shakes his head and changes the subject. "I don't trust a guy without a dark side. Call me old fashioned."

"Well let's just say you haven't seen it yet," I say as I pull apart a piece of wood with my bare hands.

()()()

AVERY EVANS

"I can read him. He's dreaming," Wanda comments.

"I wouldn't call it dreams. It's Ultron's base consciousness, informational noise. Soon..." Helen Cho informs before getting rudely interrupted.

"How soon? I'm not being pushy," Ultron asks, adding the last part to be sort of nicer.

Dr. Cho looks over at him. "We're imprinting a physical brain. There are no shortcuts. Even if your magic gem is..."

Suddenly, Wanda jumps back from reading Ultron's mind and a horrified look appears on her face as she looks at Ultron. "How could you?"

"How could I what?" Ultron asks in genuine confusion.

"You said we would destroy the Avengers, make a better world," Wanda retorts.

"It will be better," Ultron exclaims.

I step forward, thinking things will get ugly. Wanda immediately fires back, "When everyone is dead."

"That is not...!" Ultron defends, trying to find the right words. "The human race will have every opportunity to improve."

"And if they don't?" Pietro asks.

"Ask Noah."

"You're a madman," Wanda insults.

Ultron looks so done with the twins. "There were more than a dozen extinction level events before even the dinosaurs got theirs. When the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it, and believe me, he's winding up. We have to evolve. There's no room for the weak."

"And who decides who's weak?" Pietro questions further.

Wanda suddenly breaks the scepter's hold off of Cho as Ultron continues. "Life. Life always decides. There's incoming. The Quinjet. We have to move."

Dr. Cho presses a button on her computer, canceling the upload to Ultron's mind. "That's not a problem."

Ultron blasts Cho while I go after her lab technicians.

This will be easy. They have no training. They're just lab technicians.

A few punches and kicks later, all the technicians lay on the ground. Too easy.

I look around just to see the Maximoff twins running off. Ultron notices too and starts yelling after them. "Ah! Wait, guys!"

()()()

I fly above the truck in the sky, waiting for Ultron's call to help him. He's currently fighting with Steve on the roof of the truck.

When Ultron seems to be struggling against the Captain, he calls for me. "Aftermath! I need your assistance!"

I rush downwards, hitting the truck's roof with such a force it causes a dent.

I throw a punch at Steve, natural instinct kicking in, but he ducks. He hits me in the stomach with his shield, making me groan. He pushes me away as if he doesn't want to fight me.

Too bad that's not gonna happen.

I break into action by delivering a high roundhouse kick to his head. While he doubles over, I jump onto him. I wrap my legs around his neck and bring him to the ground before landing on my own two feet.

Steve reaches for his shield, but comes up with nothing. I look behind me just to notice it falling off the truck.

"No shield, Captain. You must be worried," I comment as Steve gets back up. "You know you're gonna lose. I always complete my missions."

He holds his fists in the air and looks up at me. "I can do this all day."

A fresh roll of rage goes through my body and I let out a yell that's sounds more like a growl as I make my way towards him.

I whip out my knife and throw it in the air, catching the hilt of it in my hand skillfully.

I rush forward and slash at Steve's shoulder just for him to move out of the way. I don't give him time to counteract.

I lash out with my knife relentlessly. Swing left, swing right, swing left, swing right, swing left. He narrowly misses each blow. I eventually back him against the edge of the truck, a sadistic look appearing in my eyes as I place my knife back in its sheath on my side.

I pull out the handgun from my holster on the side, cock it, and aim it at Steve's head. His eyes go wide with fear. "Avery."

"For the last time, my name isn't Avery!" I shout as I put my finger on the trigger. I fire the gun, but before the bullet can hit him, a shield is in his hands blocking the force of the bullet.

I look down from where the shield came from just to see Black Widow on a motorcycle. I raise my hand, picking up multiple cars with people in them, and place them in her way. She immediately stops.

I turn back to Steve just for a shield to be knocked into my face. I fly off the truck and slide across the pavement, scraping my arm in the process.

I slowly get up and groan as I smell the familiar metallic scent coming from my left arm. I pull up the sleeve of my uniform to survey the damage and wince slightly. Blood covers the huge scraped area and is starting to drip on the ground. I turn my arm over to make sure nothing happened on the other side. It's clear, but there's an old long scar from a knife of some sorts.

How long has that been there?

I'm interrupted from looking at my scar when I notice a commotion on the train up ahead and quickly fly over to it. A huge hole on the side of the train looks like it's from Ultron, so I land inside.

Captain America and Ultron stand in the center fighting each other. As I'm about to help, I'm knocked over by a blue blur.

I groan as I land on my scraped arm, a sharp burning going through it. I look up to see Wanda blocking Ultron from Steve.

"Please. Don't do this," Ultron pleads.

"What choice do we have?" Wanda retorts.

Before Ultron can do anything, adrenaline runs through my body. I stand up, eyes turning red and electricity surrounding my hands. I let the energy loose towards the front of the train and fry the seemingly important wires, including the brakes.

I then fly out of the train just as Ultron blasts a hole through the front of it.

Good luck saving the world now, Avengers.