Voices Inside Me

An Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes FanFiction

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay! School hit me like a bus, I was in the hospital for a few days, and kicker debate tournaments have started. I've been kind of busy.

Um, maybe I could at least get one review on this chapter? Maybe?

Disclaimer: I do not own A:EMH.

Stifling a yawn, Annabeth stretched her arms towards the ceiling as she got out of bed the next day. Absentmindedly scratching her shoulder, she made her way into the bathroom and started to shower running. Waiting for the water to be hot, she returned to her room, grabbed the clothes Jan had lent to her, walked back to the bathroom, and stepped into the now steaming shower.

Letting the water beat into the sore muscles in her back, she started humming a tune, then broke into singing a random medley of Disney music. Bouncing in place, swaying slightly to the beat, she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower with a final "I won't say I'm in love!" Starting to hum "Go the Distance" from Hercules, she quickly stepped into the clothes, grimacing as the too-small top rode up slightly. Shrugging, as there was absolutely no way she was putting the sweaty, pungent, old clothes on from yesterday, she heaved the shirt down one more time before returning to her room.

To her surprise, she found a small bag and a note resting on her unmade bed. Picking up the note first, she read:

Annabeth,

I figured you would appreciate a few necessities.

The note wasn't signed. Oh well, she thought. If someone wants to offer me a toothbrush, I won't turn it down.

Setting the note down, she opened the small bag and smiled. A toothbrush, hairbrush, toothpaste, face wash… at least some thought had been given to her. Pulling her hair back and tying it with a ribbon she had found in one of the desk drawers, she made to leave the room in search of some food. Heaven only knows how hungry she was, as she hadn't eaten last night and didn't know when she had last eaten before that. Pausing at the door, a thought occurred to her that puzzled her. "JARVIS?"
"Yes Miss?" the AI answered without hesitation.

"Why is my room decorated for a girl? And a teenaged one at that?" she asked curiously.

The AI paused before responding. "Miss, Mrs. Stark prepared this before she died in the hopes that Tony would soon bring her daughter in law."

Nodding, she went downstairs to get breakfast and think through the situation.

Clint Barton awoke to the smell of sizzling bacon. Before he fully regained consciousness, he smiled, mumbling something about heaven on earth. When the scent finally set in, his eyes flung open and he dashed out of his bedroom, sprinting for the kitchen. "Jan!" he yelled. "Save me some bacon before the Hulk gets-" He stopped short when he realized that it wasn't Jan or Cap behind the stove. He immediately drew back into himself and hardened his look. "What are you doing?"

Annabeth gave him a rather unimpressed look, glancing down to his pajama pants, completely skipping over his bare chest. "Nice chicks, bird boy. And I think I'm making breakfast. Is that against the rules and regulations of my 'treatment'?"

Mumbling incoherently, Clint went to go sit down at the table until Annabeth smacked him on the shoulder. "No shirt, no bacon."

He practically growled at the girl before sprinting to his room to grab a shirt, pulling a random one off the floor, he pulled it on as he sprinted. Annabeth turned as he came back into the kitchen and immediately busted out laughing. Glancing down at his outfit, he shrugged. He was wearing a shirt labeled How to Pick up Chicks, and which showed a diagram of how to pick up a baby chicken. His pajama pants were spotted with little yellow chicks. He didn't see anything wrong with it. Her laughter subsiding, she placed a plate of bacon, eggs, and biscuits on the table in front of him before digging into a plate herself. Clint was just about to bite into a perfect crisp of bacon when Tony called out, "What the heck are you doing?"

Both Annabeth and Clint turned to look at Tony. Clint guessed that he had pulled another all-nighter, from the looks of his wrinkled clothes and the bags under his eyes. "Eating breakfast?" Clint answered, as if it were obvious.

When Tony walked into the kitchen at 7:30 in the morning, he did not expect the delicious smell of a warm breakfast, not did he think he would find Hawkeye about to dig into a breakfast made for him by a girl possessed by Ultron. "What the heck are you doing?" he asked, kind of cranky from lack of sleep and the whole situation in general.

Clint, Tony could see, was still in a sleepy blur. "Eating breakfast?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "That could have been made by Ultron?"

Clint paused and looked undecidedly at his bacon. Annabeth, though, flat out glared at him. "Ultron didn't make it. I did."

Tony shrugged. "Same difference." To be honest, he didn't know what was making him so wary of the girl. He couldn't put his finger on it.

Annabeth's face went carefully blank. "What, do you think I poisoned it or-" Her eyes went wide. "Poison! Poison!" She leapt from her chair, startling both Tony and Clint, who immediately pushed his plate away. She rounded on Tony. "Paper! I need a pen and paper!" When he didn't move, she began mumbling to herself, fiddling around the kitchen at a rapid pace, before digging out an old pen and a napkin. Still muttering, she began writing rapidly on the napkin. After a minute or two, she paused, sat back, and looked over her work. Smiling knowingly to herself, she nodded, satisfied. She seemed to have forgotten that she had an audience.

Sharing a glance, Tony and Clint simultaneously stated, "What."

Starting, the girl smiled sheepishly at them. "Sorry, just a hunch." Ignoring them for the time, she turned serious as she addressed JARVIS. "JARVIS, next time Ultron takes over, make sure someone gets a blood sample. I need to know how it affects my chemical balance."

"Yes, miss."

This made Tony come out of his stupor. "Whoa, whoa. What do you think you are doing? JARVIS is my AI. He doesn't have to do a word you say. And why on earth would you need to know your chemical balance?" he added as an afterthought.

A ghost of a smile crossed her face that somehow seemed more genuine than any she had previously displayed. "Let's just say that I have an idea, but I have no clue as to whether it will prove correct." The grin faded even more, so that just the corners of her lips were upturned. "When I figure this out, I'll tell you. Until then…" The fake smile, wide and masking, made a reappearance. "Do you want breakfast, or are you going to have someone taste test it before you?"

Tony grumbled but sat down to what turned out to be a rather delicious breakfast.

Later that day, Annabeth was going stir crazy. Turns out, she wasn't even allowed out on the grounds, so she was stuck wandering the house. Even she got tired of reading when only able to read the so-called classics that were required reads in grade school. What did a girl have to do to get her hands on some good high fantasy?

So far, she had found the gym, two home theaters, a library, and an overwhelming amount of living space. Somehow, she had found her way to the foyer, which was actually quite a miracle as she had an awful sense of direction. Munching on a granola bar she had swiped from the kitchen, she made her way down the hallway and found herself in the sitting room where she had first regained consciousness.

Pausing in the doorway, her nose crinkled into a sneer as she felt something insider her head. 'Yes, my dear,' the voice crooned. 'I am always her. You can't escape your own mind.'

Annabeth carefully controlled her entire body. Nothing out of the ordinary. She simply put up the mask she had had on ever since she had lost her first family. Sometimes, the mask seemed more like her than her actual personality. "Learned that a long time ago, buddy," she oozed back, taking a careless bite of her snack, trying to pretend it wasn't totally insane to have a literal, out loud conversation with the voices in her head.

Annabeth got the distinct feeling that if Ultron had a face, he would be grinning. 'I am in you; you can't hide anything from me.'

She tried in vain to hold in a snarl. "No. You're wrong. If I can hide things from myself, then I can definitely hide things from you."

'I'm not sure that's something to be proud of.'

With that parting remark, Ultron fell completely and blissfully silent. Looking down at her suddenly unappetizing granola bar, she quickly tossed it in a small trashcan in a corner of the room. What is it about this room? she thought. What makes this so appealing to Ultron? Unless it was purely coincidence…

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the sound of a doorbell registered, but she was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't react. She absentmindedly began wandering.

She didn't react that is, until she heard Thor bellow, "Lady Elizabeth! A package has arrived with your name on it!"

Her eyebrow twitched up. "The mail has arrived, miss, and with it a rather large trunk labeled with your name," JARVIS piped up.

Her eyebrows rose all the way to her hairline. "Yeah, I kind of figured that out for myself, oddly enough."

The AI remained silent.

A wicked grin crossed her face. "Sarcasm is my first language, JARVIS, get used to it." With that being said, she turned on a point and made her way back to the foyer.

Arriving in spacious room tiled with marble, she was unsurprised to find most of the Avengers there. Cap had hobbled down on his crutches, Jan offered a small smile and Tony glared at an unperturbed Thor. At this point, she noticed the trunk sitting in the middle of the floor. It looked kind if like the one that her dad had given her for her 6th birthday, in the promise that they would travel when she was old enough. She felt her face go cold as she felt the keen loss of that dream. Shaking her head, she glanced down at her blank wrist. For as long as she could remember, she had worn a rose-gold bracelet with a tiny arrow on a delicate chain on her right wrist, as well as a gold ring with the acronym CTR on it, choose the right, on her right ring ringer. Around her neck was usually a tiny silver necklace with a small owl pendant and a long locket fashioned after Captain America's shield. She had woken up in a panic this morning when she realized that her jewelry had apparently not made the journey with her, until she calmed down and realized that there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. If she had her trunk back, though…

Ignoring the watching crowd, she knelt down, plugged in the combination for the lock, and pulled open the lid. Though it was small, no more than 3 feet long and 1.5 feet wide, she fit a surprising amount of stuff in, due to years of practice with packing. No matter where she currently was, the trunk followed her, even if she had to lug it around herself. Digging past clothes and her private library, she pulled out armloads of stuff until she had access to the small secret panel in the back. Despite the fact that everyone was watching her, she pulled it open and sighed in relief as she spotted all of her most important belongings still in their slots. She grabbed her glasses and shoved them on her nose, sighing in relief when she could see distances again. Grinning at her small collection, she first pulled on the ring.

Her mother had given her that ring the Easter before she died. It had been hers in college, and Annabeth had held on to it until she was big enough to wear it herself. Mom had told her to let it remind her to always do what is right in every situation, and Annabeth tried to do so.

On next went the rose-gold bracelet. She couldn't help the small smile. Her dad has always thought she was a little absentmindedly, so he thought that the arrow would help. Arrow focus, he had said.

A cleared throat broke her sentimentality. She turned to find the gathered heroes watching her curiously and slightly awkwardly. She made eye contact with Stark, whose face was carefully contained. "Care to explain?" he asked.

Annabeth's reaction was just as carefully concealed. "This is my stuff. It's all that I have left of my family. Are you going to confiscate it?"

She felt a small victory, knowing her wording left Stark with no choice. "No, we aren't going to confiscate it."

A smirk spread. "Of course not, sir. If I happen to find anything out of place, I'll let you know," she tagged on the end, for once being completely truthful. With an AI stuck in her body, a girl could never be cautious enough.

When she received a nod, she again turned back to her things. She felt her eyes beginning to water as she pulled out her two necklaces.

The smaller one, silver, delicate, with a single tiny owl, had been given to her by her older brothers. Samuel and Aaron. Just over eight years older than her, the twin guys had been her idols. Sam had been funny, goofing, caring; Aaron, smart, quiet, kind. Both adored their sister. For her seventh birthday, they had pooled their money and bought her the silver necklace, telling her she was as smart and wise as the owl. She felt her eyes water; her brothers had been her rock. Losing them had been hard, almost harder than losing her parents.

After clipping that one on, she gazed down at the locket in her lap. Her grandfather had told her vague stories about Captain America, and he had been her dad's hero growing up, so when he wanted a symbol to remind the family to stand for what was right, he chose the iconic shield. Tarnished slightly with age, she wiped her thumb over the cool, metal surface before clicking the release.

Everything faded as she gazed down at the pictures inside. On the left was one of her parents' wedding photos. Her mom was grinning in a beautiful, modest white dress, her dad still looking shocked, as if surprised that this had actually happened to him. He still had hair then, Annabeth noticed with a smile.

On the right was a photo of her with her brothers. She was only five when the photo was taken, her brothers no older than thirteen. They grinned on either side of her, arms wrapped around their little princess. She felt the tears falling. They're gone; tears won't help anything, she chastised herself. Nevertheless, the tears still fell, and she suddenly felt the need to move. Panicking and desperate, she heaved a ragged breath, pushed herself to her feet, and took off running with no end destination in mind.

Stop it, stop it, stop it! They're gone!

She reached a closed door and pushed it open without hesitation. A cool breeze immediately hit her, and through the tears she registered that she was on the roof. Her breathing finally settling, she walked straight towards the edge and plopped herself down, swinging her feet off the side, looking into the strange, unfamiliar city. I've never been to New York before, she thought distractedly.

She didn't know how long she sat there, numb, before she felt someone walking up behind her. She listened to the distinct padding and rhythm of their movement, memorizing it for later. She had relied on her hearing for as long as she could remember, as her vision was bad for anything farther than 10 feet, and she forgot her glasses more often than not.

She heard a woman speak behind her. So it was Jan, then. "Annabeth?" she began cautiously.

Annabeth gave a small wave, not bothering to look, not even turning her head when the superhero sat down beside her.

Jan paused for a moment, then asked, "You okay?"

The only response was a nod.

The woman wasn't to be discouraged. "What happened back there?"
Sighing through her nose, Annabeth pushed her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose before responding. "It was nothing. Just some memories."

Liked I'd ever tell anyone just how weak I am, she thought bitterly.

Jan wasn't convinced. "You sure? 'Cause it seemed like a lot more than nothing." To Annabeth's surprise, she thought she could here general concern in her voice.

She tried to smile but knew it seemed like more of a grimace. "Yeah. I could just use some alone time."

The other women didn't respond. She simply got up and walked away, for which Annabeth was grateful. Once she heard the door click shut behind the woman, she flipped open the locket once again.

I miss you.

By the time Jan found Tony, her concern had grown exponentially. She found the genius tinkering in his lab and didn't bother to knock before striding right in. "Stark!" she called loudly when she walked in. To her amusement, Tony jumped at the sound of her voice, knocking his head on an overhead lamp.

She tried to hold back a giggle as he rubbed the back of his head. "Ow! Doesn't anyone knock anymore?"

Ignoring his slight, she plunged right into the heart of the matter. "Tony, I'm worried about our little guest."

Tony returned his attention to whatever he was doing. To be honest, much of it was over Jan's head. "Well, yeah. She has Ultron living inside of her. Who wouldn't be worried, both for the girl and for themselves."

Jan frowned. "That girl has a name, Tony, and it's Annabeth. She's a person, with feelings and thoughts and fears."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You've spent what, a total of 45 minutes with the girl? I don't think you can know enough about her by now to truly know her."

Jan's frown grew sad. "Why do you do that?"

He looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Why do you keep up the act when I know you care?"

He refused to make eye contact. "Of course I care; I'm part of the reason she's in this mess. I need to make it right."

Jan turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. "I think it's more than that. You haven't spent any more time with her than me, but I think that she reminds you of yourself when you were that age."

Tony didn't answer. He returned to tinkering.

After the door closed behind Jan, Tony let himself slouch a little it. Honestly, dealing with people, and emotions specifically was hard. And more than a little exhausting. He looked back at his preliminary sketches for his recent projects.

There was Thor's whole trans-realm travel fiasco. Tony needed to find a way to send the prince back to Asgard. Though Tony was brilliant, he wasn't extremely well versed in the realm of quantum mechanics, and magic was just a step further down the line. He knew that he really ought to look into the science as well as the beliefs held on energy and trans dimensional travel in various parts of the world. T'Challa would probably be a good resource.

Setting that problem aside for now, he looked at the latest model for his suit. This one gave him a headache. Technology was what he did. To have to step back to primitive tech, no computer systems, only analog programming… It went against everything he was comfortable with.

Finally, he glanced at the copies of the scans from Annabeth. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. He was the tech guy; Hank was the expert on organic life forms. We can't solve this problem alone; we have to work together, he thought carefully. If Tony found a solution, he would have to run it by Hank to make sure it wouldn't hurt Annabeth. If Hank found a solution, he would have to run it by Tony to make sure Ultron didn't have a fail-safe against it.

Absentmindedly, Tony tapped a random rhythm on the arc reactor embedded in his chest. Lots of work for his mind. This was what he liked. No problems, no mental stimulation, and his mind would revolt. The brain, like any muscle, needs regular exercise to stay fit.

Deciding to focus first on the issues of trans dimensional travel, partly because he was pretty interested in it, he pulled up a few papers and articles from well-respected scientists and began to delve into the time-space-mass relationship.

He had hardly started when JARVIS interrupted him. "Sir, there is a situation on the roof that is in need of your immediate attention." Without waiting for any questions, the AI pulled live feed from the security cameras.

Tony's eyes went wide when he saw Annabeth's face staring straight at the lens, as if she was able to see through it to him. He scowled when he saw the mismatched eyes refusing to focus. "Avengers!" Ultron crowed. "Your presence is requested immediately on the roof. I would not delay if I were you."

Swearing under his breath, Tony quickly called his suit to him and went to the roof.

Arriving on top of the mansion, he found Jan already there, as the Wasp. Dr. Pym was still in his lab coat. Thor and Hulk were simply Thor and Hulk. Clint was in his ridiculous purple costume. Seriously, Tony needed to give him an upgrade. A door clicked open and Cap thumped up on his crutches. Tony felt a twinge of sympathy as he noticed the slight scowl of frustration on his friend's face.

Once they were all assembled, there attention turned to Ultron, who was precariously perched on the edge of the building. "What do you want, Ultron?" Tony asked, dead serious for once in his life.

Annabeth's, Ultron's puppet's, its face was completely devoid of all emotion. Ultron scanned all of them. "Earth's mightiest heroes. Impressive, but… still human. Well, mostly, but I feel that Asgardians are more human than they care to let on."

Thor growled. "I shall take that as a compliment!"

"Oh?" Its voice had the slightest bit of infliction. "Even when it means you make mistakes? When it means you cannot maintain the peace? When it means you are not perfect?"

Wasp raised her hand uncertainly. "Um, I'm pretty sure the Asgardian definition of peace is pounding each other with weapons for fun."

It's face formed into a scowl. "They are flawed. Every form of life is flawed, but numbers and data are not. Numbers can be proven."

Captain America chose to speak up now. "Numbers can't replace human life. They can't be perfect if they can't feel the peace you are after."

"But what if they could?"

Ultron just let that question sit in the air for a moment. For reasons he couldn't name, Tony felt a chill go up his spine. Better, smarter technology… that was what he strived for himself.

"Machines, computers, Artificial intelligences. You humans are creating your own downfall. You have had so much warning from your own kind, in books, movies, essays, and yet you refuse to listen. Another inherent flaw."

Ultron took a step closer to the edge.

"This form. It is a mix of human and machine. It is far from perfect."

Another half step closer.

"Nevertheless, it will do." Ultron again paused, looking each of the Avengers in the eye. Tony resisted the urge to flinch when the unmatched, unfocused eyes met his.

"I control this form. I do what I will with it."

Another step brought Ultron to the very edge of the roof, so close that its heels were hanging off the side.

"For now… I think it is best to remind you that if this form dies, I still live on. I am not an organism. I live in the very world that has engrossed so many of your kind. If this form dies, I move to another."

The face went blank again.

"I think you could use a reminder.

"You can't save everyone."

With that, Ultron shifted its weight back and fell off the side of the building. At once, all of the Avengers took off, Thor, Iron Man and Wasp flying, Hawkeye and Hulk running, and Cap thumping (and grumbling).

Plunging over the edge of the building, Tony pulled back when he saw Annabeth clinging to a ledge for dear life. "A little help here?" she called.

Tony quickly flew down, grabbed her around the waist, and deposited her back on the roof, where she promptly sat down and drew her knees up to her chest.

Changing direction, Steve made his way to her. "Miss Rose, are you alright?" The girl quickly hushed him and instead focused on her knee.

Tony landed and lifted his faceplate. "Uh, what are you doing?"

After a little fidgeting, she stood up, a small piece of fabric gripped in her hand. "You didn't get a blood sample for me. Luckily, Ultron scraped me knee when he threw my body off a building, so I got one anyway. Get me to a computer, please."

How does she think that clearly after getting thrown off a building? That's not normal for teenaged girls, I don't think. Regardless, Tony led her to his lab.

Sitting down without hesitation, she placed the torn piece of her jeans beneath JARVIS's scanner. "JARVIS, scan the blood and run cross-analysis with all known sedatives."

"Yes, miss."

Tony frowned. "Why would you- oh, I get it. Why didn't I think of that?"

Clint frowned. "Hey. Care to enlighten us mere mortals?"

Before either of them could respond, JARVIS said, "Match found. Traces of Meprobamate have been found in blood sample." JARVIS kindly pulled up a few websites with information on the drug. Scanning through it faster than humanly possible, Tony and Annabeth read the information, had some kind of nonverbal communication, and then turned to the rest of the group.

"I think I know how Ultron is managing to control my body."