Eight
"Evelyn... Evelyn, we are at Stark Tower. Wake up..."
I sat up, eyes flashing open, grimacing when my neck clicked. I looked to my left, and saw Wanda standing there, looking at me warily.
"Hey, thanks. Ugh, I hate sleeping in chairs..."
I smiled at Wanda before getting out of my chair and stretching. I picked up my heels, made sure Tiny was shut down, before leading Wanda out of the plane.
We walked into the Tower from the Helipad, and I just had time to make out Steve and Pietro talking to someone, before that someone materialised in front of me and pulled me into a tight hug.
"Hey Loki," I breathed, wrapping my arms around his neck.
"Has anyone told you how deliciously tempting you look right now?" he asked in a silky smooth whisper, lips rushing over the skin of my neck. I shivered delicately, and drew back slightly.
"No, but I'm assuming you would have murdered anyone who had..."
"How did you know?" he smirked at me, and I just rolled my eyes, and turned him around to face the twins and Steve.
"Loki, meet Wanda and Pietro Maximoff; he's fast, and she's powerful. Maximoff's, meet Loki, prince of Asgard and Jotunheim, God of Lies and Mischief, failed conqueror of Midgard. That about cover everything?" I asked sarcastically, looking up at him. He pretended to think, before nodding.
"Just about."
"Great, well, let's head down to the labs. Follow me."
I walked across the room, and headed into the elevator, pressing the level for the labs, still barefoot. A tense silence reigned in the confined space, and I had to quash the urge to whistle a show-tune. After a minute the doors opened, and I lead our small group along the hallway, emerging in the lab in time to hear Bruce speaking.
"The genetic coding tower's at ninety-seven percent. You've got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."
"I'm gonna say this once-!"
"How about nonce?" my dad interrupted, glancing over at us, eyes landing on me. Before he could say anything, Steve was speaking again.
"Shut it down!"
"Nope, not gonna happen. Evie, you wanna give us a hand?"
"Sure." I walked over to the two, and Dad was quick to fill me in. I moved over to the computers and began typing, starting to upload Jarvis' schematic.
"You don't know what you're doing. Evie, stop."
"And you do? She's not in your head?" Bruce asked, gesturing at Wanda.
"I know you're angry-" Wanda got cut off.
"Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade!" he gritted out, and I tensed instinctually, ready for a fight if one should break out.
"Banner, after everything that's happened-!"
"Which is nothing compared to what's coming-!"
"You don't know what's in there!"
"This isn't a game, alright?!"
"The creature-!"
I was suddenly, but gently, pulled away from the computers by my waist, and found myself standing next to Loki as a silvery blue blur zipped around the cradle, yanking all of the wires out. Pietro finally came to a stop, a thick cable in his left hand.
"No no, go on..." He dropped the cable, and looked in between Cap, Bruce and my dad, his eyebrows raised inquisitively. "You were saying?"
"I like him," I decided under my breath, feeling a new-found respect for the Sokovian speedster, even if I was angry at him for stopping the upload. There was suddenly the sound of a gunshot, and he went falling through the shattered glass panel he had been standing on.
"What, you didn't see that coming?" I heard Clint ask, and I sniggered, recognising the line from the HYDRA battle. Alarms began to blare on the computers, and I ran over, and began typing quickly as I said to my dad,
"I'm rerouting the upload."
Steve's shield came ripping past me, smashing into some of the computers and catching me hard on the hip. I grunted, and dropped to one knee, while my dad shot a blast at Steve using his Iron Man gauntlet. I staggered to my feet, and pressed a hand over my broken pelvic bone, pushing magic into the injury.
"Evelyn, are you alright?" Loki was next to me, a cold hand laid over mine.
"Fine: bit sore."
"Go ahead, piss me off..!" Bruce had restrained Wanda, and Clint had pulled himself up through the hole in the floor. Steve was sent back through a panel of glass by my dad, whose suit was clamping onto him piece by piece. Wanda sent a pulse of energy back at Bruce, who staggered away, before she turned around, and shot a bolt of red energy at him.
"Stop!" I yelled, throwing out my hands and holding them all in place. Thor skidded around the corner, and leaped on top of the cradle, summoning lightning and sending it into the head of the box. I dropped my hands, and everyone was free, gaping at Thor while I turned my eyes to the computer monitors. All of them were flashing red, showing 'POWER OVERLOAD', and I was sure everything was going to short out in the next few seconds.
Thor ceased the lightning, and gazed down at the cradle, slightly out of breath. There was a moment of tense silence, before he was blown backwards, the lid of the cradle blasting off. A red figure soared out, and crouched at the foot of the box. He stood slowly, examining his hands and the rest of his body, before looking around at us in slight shock.
His eyes fixed on Thor, and he flew forwards, but Thor grabbed him around the middle, and slung him out of the room. I quickly lifted myself into the air and sped after him, watching as he came to a halt in front of the large panelled windows which looked out upon the city.
Thor and Steve were quick to follow, and Thor held his hand out to the Captain, gesturing for him to wait. A gray spandex suit melted onto his body, and he turned around, floating over to where the rest of us now gathered, before alighting on the floor.
"I'm sorry, that was... odd. Thank you." He regarded Thor for a moment, before creating a golden cape for himself.
"Thor... You helped create this?" Steve asked, staring intently at the blond.
"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its centre, is that." He pointed to the golden gem imbedded in the red dude's forehead, and I reached out, sensing its energy structure.
"What, the gem?" Bruce asked, stepping forwards.
"It's the Mind Stone," I replied absently, vaguely remembering the short talk Loki and I had had in the Helicarrier while he was locked away.
"It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the Universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities." Loki continued, standing next to me and gazing at the golden gem.
"Then why would you-?"
"Because Stark is right," Thor interrupted, casting a searching glance at me, most likely questioning my knowledge of the Mind Stone.
"Oh, it's definitely the end times," Bruce said uncomfortably, looking at my dad. I smiled quickly, before falling back into seriousness.
"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."
"Not alone," the Vision said, walking forward a few steps.
"Why does your vision sound like Jarvis?" Steve wondered, and Dad stepped in, walking towards the Vision.
"We reconfigured Jarvis' matrix... to create something new."
"I think I've had my fill of 'new'..." Steve said gravely.
"You think I'm a child of Ultron."
"You're not?"
"I am not Ultron. I am not Jarvis, I am... I am."
"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," Wanda said, moving closer to the Vision.
"Look again."
"Her seal of approval means jack to me," Clint muttered, walking over to us.
"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone," Thor put in heatedly. "And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side-!"
"Is it?" Steve snapped, looking intently at the Vision now. "Are you? On our side?"
"I don't think it's that simple..."
"Well it better get real simple real soon..!" Clint pressed.
"I am on the side of life... Ultron isn't. He will end it all."
"What's he waiting for?" my dad wondered.
"You."
"Where?" I asked sharply, my body tensing as the tension of the upcoming battle settled into my mind.
"Sokovia. He's got Nat there too," Clint informed us, and I let out a silent breath of relief.
"...If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be-"
"What will you do?" the Vision asked curiously, regarding Bruce calmly. No one spoke, so he took the opportunity. "I don't want to kill Ultron; he's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth... so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now, and not one of us can do it without the others.
"Maybe I am a monster; I don't think I'd know if I were one... I'm not what you are, and not what you intended, so there may be no way for you to trust me. But we need to go."
He offered Mjolnir to Thor, and a charged silence filled the room as we regarded the pair. Thor gingerly grasped Mjolnir's handle, staring at a spot on the floor as the Vision strode past him, a look of dubious confusion reigning on the Asgardian's face.
"Alright," he muttered uncomfortably, tapping Mjolnir in his palm few times. "Well done..." He clapped my dad on the shoulder, then followed the Vision out of the room, while the rest of us shared uneasy glances.
"3 minutes." Steve's voice broke the awkward moment, and we were all back in battle-mode within the blink of an eye. "Get what you need."
I squeezed Loki's hand reassuringly, before leading the Maximoff twins away from the others, and into a side room where they could suit up. And even though I knew we had a strong, seasoned team, along with the aid of the Vision, the Maximoff's, and the God of Lies and Trickery, one thought couldn't help but play on repeat in my head.
We are so not ready for this...