A/N: PHEEEEW! I'm seriously been typing this most of the day. (chuckles) This chapter turned into a MONSTER. We'll see if it's any good soon…

THANK YOU, so, so much, for all your reviews, love and support! They SERIOUSLY make my day. (HUGS)

Awkay, because the chapter is gonna be LONG and there's a MASSIVE author's note waiting afterwards… LET'S ROLL! I REALLY hope that you'll enjoy the ride.

SONGS FOR INSPIRATION: 'Monster You Made Me' from Pop Evil (listen to it from the POVs of Clint and Steve) AND towards the end 'Revolution' from The Score

THIS CHAPTER AND THE NEXT ONE (SECOND HALF) KICK-START THE FINAL BATTLE!

All Roads and Alliances…

Two pairs of solemn eyes observed how Tony's robots scanned the forest near the now abandoned Sokovian Hydra base. Eventually a hand rose and red energy wrapped around the robots. They froze for a while, as though confused. Then flew away.

"You should've destroyed them", Pietro growled.

Wanda's eyes narrowed for a while, years upon years of pain and grief nearly overflowing. "Then Stark would've come here. We will deal with him. But not now." She winced and groaned when a slash announced that a monster named Edith attempted to reach out for her again. She struck back, with all her might.

Pietro was instantly there to support her. Worry radiated from her brother in waves. Despite still lingering discomfort she gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand. "I'm alright. In need of rest, that's all."

"Go inside", Pietro urged. His tone became a great deal harsher when he went on with a frown. "I'll keep watch. Stark may send more robots. What is he even doing here?"

"I don't know." Wanda clenched her jaw. "But we are not letting any monster find us."

It would've been an excellent idea to leave Sokovia behind as quickly as possible. Hydra had left the base behind but there was a good chance that they might return. And the place definitely wasn't doing the remaining Avengers' somber moods any favors. The recent events had been too much on them all.

Thirty-nine hours and forty minutes after the footage of Clint's death started spreading Bruce approached Tony. With a heavy sigh the scientist found the billionaire still working furiously. He didn't think the other man had stopped moving for even a second, since… "Tony?" He couldn't tell if he managed to get the other's attention but went on. "We… We've gotta go. We need to find Steve before Ross does." Because with his own past experience, he didn't want to even imagine what Ross would do to Steve if the man ever got his hands on the Captain. And the thought of losing another friend was more than he could stand.

The look in Tony's eyes revealed immediately that he hit a sore spot. The billionaire's face contorted from nearly exploding rage that made the scientist think about the Big Guy. "Are you serious, Bruce? Did we watch the same news clip?" The Iron Man took several deep, shuddering breaths that clearly did nothing to soothe his temper. "Weighed against Bucky's, our lives mean nothing to him. He made his choice. Now he gets to live with it."

Bruce's shoulders slumped. He was frustrated and felt dangerously out of control. The fact that he hadn't slept in days didn't help. Nor did grief. "Tony, we can't just abandon him!" Yes, he was also… conflicted, tried desperately to accept the Captain's decision. But the need to save a friend was stronger than the grudge over a friend they lost, failed.

Tony snorted. "Yeah? Like he couldn't abandon us?"

"Please! I can't…" Bruce gritted his teeth, almost biting his tongue in the process. "We can't lose him, too. We… We already lost Clint. We can't…"

"Clint isn't dead!" The words were as much of a shockwave as Tony's loud and desperate, almost hostile tone. The billionaire breathed hard through his nose and looked away for a moment before meeting his eyes again. "He's not dead, Bruce! So I'm not leaving him here!"

Bruce… had no idea what to say to that. How to break his friend's delusions without shattering the man. "You saw the same footage I did", he pointed out, trying not to let his frustration be heard. "You saw him…" He couldn't say the rest.

"Yeah, yeah. I saw the whole goddamned thing." Tony's eyes flashed. "But I haven't seen the body. Have you? Think, Bruce!" The man tapped at his head with two impatient fingers. "They had to know that we'd get here eventually! If there was a body… Wouldn't they have left it for us to find? Wouldn't they be rubbing the loss in our faces?"

Bruce sighed heavily. As much as he would've wanted to believe… "I'm sorry I have to say this. I am. But…" He blinked when his eyes stung and rubbed at his face roughly. "No one would survive the injuries Clint got. Edith asked for a lethal shot. She got one."

The pointless argument might've continued for a very long time if Thor's voice hadn't boomed through the ear comms. "I haven't found anything from the north side." No body. No Hydra agents. Nothing.

Tony clenched his jaw. Clearly getting headache. "Okay, okay, right… Check east next."

"Tony", Bruce tried. "He's been out there for almost a full day, now! He's… not from this world. But he needs a break."

Tony darted a glare at him.

Thor sighed but offered no objections. "I will keep you informed."

"Thanks." Tony took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Romanoff? How does south seem?"

"There was nothing." Both men jumped at the sound of Natasha's voice. Her eyes were red and puffy, full of sadness and something far darker. "We could keep looking from here for the rest of our lives. But we'd find nothing. Don't you understand? That's… That's what Edith wants. This is what she wants. Us divided, exhausted, distracted, at each other's throats. This is why she killed him the way she did." Her grief and wrath were palpable. Mentioning Clint's name was obviously out of the questions. "We need to think, we need to rest. Then we need to destroy her. Before she strikes again. Because I, for one…" She swallowed, all her facial muscles tightening. "I can't lose another friend." The two of them didn't notice the needle she'd been holding until it pierced Tony's skin.

Tony's tired, red-rimmed eyes widened, betrayal flooding into them. "… the hell …?" he slurred. Then slumped into Natasha's waiting arms. She guided him gently to the floor before meeting Bruce's shocked gaze. "Don't worry, it was just a light sedative. He'll wake up in a few hours, probably almost as pissed off at me as he is at Steve. According to the report his AI gave me he would've crashed pretty soon." She inhaled deeply and sharply, struggling visibly to maintain her nearly emotionless façade. "Look after him and Thor. And yourself. I… meant, what I said. I can't lose another friend." She'd straightened and started walking away before the scientist could blink.

Bruce frowned. His heart ached and his stomach squirmed uncomfortably. "What about you?" Was she just… walking away from them? What was she planning?

"I'm going to find Steve", she announced, not looking towards him.

Bruce gulped. Something about her tone… "What are going to do when you find him?" He called out again when she didn't respond. "Nat…!" He trailed off, not wanting to say something he might not mean. "I'm… sorry. About Clint." Saying the name filled his mouth with the bitter taste of failure.

Natasha shuddered like she'd been shot at or electrocuted. "So am I." Her sharp intake of breath carried all the way to him. "Bye, Bruce. Tell Stark that I'm sorry, but it was for his own good." It sounded a little too final. Then she vanished like a ghost.

Quite close yet frustratingly far away, Wanda woke up with a jolt. She sought with her powers, determined to spot even the faintest trace of Edith Barton's interference. Relief washed through all of her when she felt nothing such.

She took a stupid risk with her nap. But she was in a desperate need for some rest. It was a happy coincidence that apparently Edith had exhausted herself as well.

Shaking of the remnants of restless dreams, Wanda turned her head. On the other side of the tiny room Pietro was keeping an eye on their patient. She pushed herself up and stretched. "How is he?" She was almost scared to ask. But at least the man was still breathing. It had to be a good sign.

"His fever is breaking." Pietro yawned gloriously. It was clearly his time to get a nap. "I think he's in pain. He's frowning a lot."

Curious and a little worried, Wanda approached. Sought. What she found made her eyes well up, even if tears didn't spill. "He's dreaming. Of his family. Of his children."

Maybe it was just the exhaustion. Thor had been walking longer than he could keep track and felt ready to fall down on his knees. Which was why he didn't dare to stop. Considering his current condition, when he thought he saw the shadow of a teenage girl he was certain that he was hallucinating. He didn't notice the red energy creeping towards him. Only blinked slowly as it took hold, blurred his mind even further than fatigue.

He didn't hear Bruce's voice. "I don't think we'll find anything." The scientist sounded pained and frustrated. "We should go back home. You know, to… to rest, and… process."

'Go away', the wind or something else whispered. It didn't sound kind. 'There's nothing here for you or the rest of Stark's people.'

"Thor?" Bruce sounded panicked. Which was never a good thing. "Thor!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Do not panic!" Which one of them was he trying to convince? Thor looked around, feeling paranoid while his skin crawled. Where he thought he saw a shadow before was nothing. "I… thought I saw something." He then frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Bruce groaned. "You… could say that, yeah. Nat left and Tony's… indisposed. Do you think you can fly his jet?"

Thor snorted. "Of course I can!" He started marching towards the base, eager to get away. (He never noticed Wanda's sharp eyes observing his departure.) "How hard can it possibly be?"

Very hard, apparently. Thor's first attempts made Bruce gag and scream shrilly, several times over. Tony was fortunate enough to be knocked out and spared from the experience.

But eventually the aircraft was floating steadily. A somber silence lingered as they took off towards New York, neither looking down on what they were leaving behind. The sense of immense failure weighed heavily on their shoulders.

I'm so sorry, Clint, both mused, grief squeezing at their hearts.

Clint had been dreaming and floating for what felt like a very long time. For a while he was sure that he was dead. Then he heard a voice calling out to him.

'Can you hear me?'

Once more he heard his own mother's words, giving Steve that cruel, unimaginable choice to make. Once more he saw the look of anguish on Steve's face before the soldier pulled the trigger. The bullet, shot by someone who was supposed to be a friend, burned like no fire ever could. Clint screamed, howled at the top of his lungs.

And came back to life. He surged to a sitting position and howled again when the ensuing pain seemed to tear at his very insides. His eyes flew wide open, darted wildly around the dimly lit small space. Finally his attention locked on two startled teenagers, who were staring at him.

The boy tensed up protectively when the girl began to approach him slowly, hands raised placatingly. "Move carefully", she advised. In a daze he realized that hers was the voice heard earlier. "Your wounds…"

Yes, the wounds. He was inspecting without giving her the chance to finish the sentence. With a gentle hand he opened a bandage someone, most likely the girl, had made. The wound had bled and hadn't closed fully yet. But at the moment it was closed enough to be called stable. He… was alive. How was he alive?

And how was he able to think and function freely?

"My brother and I… We helped you", the girl explained. She looked at him and tilted her head. "We didn't know that there are… others like us. They said there aren't others."

They? Oh, yeah. Hydra. Of course. "Mutants? There's quite a bunch of us." He gave the two a glance. "Thanks, for saving me. I'm…"

"… Clint. I know." She shifted with discomfort when a jolt of alarm went through him at her admission. "I'm Wanda. My brother is Pietro."

The way Pietro folded his arms and glared at him with protective mistrust was almost adorable. (They reminded him of Lila and Cooper.) "That woman… According to Wanda she's a monster."

Clint's mood dropped significantly and he shuddered, looking away from the siblings. What his own mother did to him, what she made him do… What she turned him into… "She is a monster." So am I, now. "And I've gotta stop her before she destroys the world as we know it."

"We'll help", Wanda announced immediately. Fear, rage and horror were all in her eyes. "What I saw in her mind… We must do something."

Pietro didn't seem as eager. But he shrugged and produced a grin when his sister darted a glare at him. "Yeah, yeah, we will help. It's… not like we'd have more important things to do. And you seem like the type that gets into a trouble all the time, old man. You may need help."

The flight home was gloomy and silent. Tony woke up just a few moments before they landed. Bruce shifted and swallowed. "Look, Nat was just…"

"Shut up", Tony growled.

Bruce and Thor offered to keep him company. Tony announced in no uncertain terms that he wanted no company. Even if a voice in the back of his head pointed out that being alone would do him no good. One of his friends was missing, who knows in what condition. Abandoned by his supposed comrades. Another friend was a traitor and a third drugged him against his will, then pulled a disappearing act. After all that Tony needed a few damned moments to think, alone.

Unfortunately fate wasn't going to grant him such mercy. He was told that he had visitors the second he entered the Tower. Bracing himself for something extremely unpleasant, he made his way to one of the conference rooms.

Waiting for him there with a far too smug expression on his face was Thaddeus Ross. "I've been watching the news intently lately. You little team… has had a quite interesting few days", Ross mused conversationally.

Tony's left eyebrow twitched. His headache from before escalated tenfold. "What do you want?" he snapped.

"In case you're still harboring fool's hopes, agent Barton is dead. Consider it confirmed. Which is why I urge you to focus on more urgent matters." Ross went on before Tony could say a thing. "Lately I've been going through quite a bit of material, on both Barnes and Rogers. Because they're clearly a major threat to our country, perhaps to the entire world. And currently missing. During the investigations I found this." The man started a video recording.

The footage was grainy. But the events were still far too easy to see. Tony watched, dying a little more inside with each second, feeling like he was falling down, down, down, down…

His parents' car crashed. And then the Winter Soldier was attacking them viciously. Slaughtered them both in cold blood. By the time Bucky took down the camera Tony was barely breathing.

"It's come to my attention that Rogers knew about this." Ross sounded almost sympathetic. Almost. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

Tony couldn't respond because he couldn't breathe.

"The reason I came to you… is that I need someone with the resources to find Barnes and Rogers, and bring them to custody." A very official document was pushed towards him. "Sign the Accords… and I'll give your manhunt full authorization. Dead or alive, doesn't matter." A pair of sharp eyes bore into his. "Take this opportunity before Barnes kills more people you care about."

Ross did his best to hold back a triumphant smile as he watched Tony signing. Making a deal with Edith Barton was a regrettable error of judgment on his part, he admitted now after seeing her toying with Steve and Bucky. He knew, all too well, how stubborn Tony could be. Sooner or later the billionaire would dig deep enough to discover his dirty little secret deal with the devil. Unless there was a distraction such as these recent events and revelations to keep Tony too preoccupied to think clearly.

If Ross was lucky, all his… little problems might destroy each other with him observing from the sidelines.

It took four days before Clint could even think about leaving the supposed safety of the cabin. His wounds were pretty much healed but getting his strength back was another matter entirely. Pietro, who made him want to smack the arrogant brat far too often, was a priceless motivator.

Sleeping was a problem. Whenever Clint tried to close his eyes for longer than a couple of seconds he dreamt of his mother. Of the things he committed to under her control. Of her undoing him even more easily and painfully than Loki had. (It made him sick to realize that his mother was back from the dead, but he wouldn't sleep soundly for as long as she was alive. He wouldn't have anything of his life or himself back for as long as she was alive.) Or then his nightmares were of Steve. There weren't a lot of people he would've trusted completely in his life. To have one of them taking a shot at him, even if it was to keep Bucky from facing the same… It shook him to the core. The third option to guarantee restless nights was his powers. Far too often he dreamt of burning everyone he cared about, of them screaming from pain, terror and betrayal.

In a sickeningly short amount of time he'd faced so many shocks, some of which nearly killed him, that his mind couldn't decide where to start processing them. During the long, painful hours and days of recovery, far away from everything and everyone he'd known, he realized that he'd never be the same again. And it hurt. How was he supposed to put himself and his life back together after… this?

He didn't have the time to think things through yet, though, even if holding the whole thunderstorm in made his head hurt.

At least he finally had something of a plan. Perhaps it was a stupid plan, but it was a start. After a dream of thunder he knew what to do.

"I used to work for this organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. They had tiny headquarters here, because Sokovia's location is ideal", he explained. "Since none of us can fly, we need a plane."

The twins didn't seem thrilled by the idea. "We… have never flown before", Wanda revealed.

It pained Clint to realize just how young the twins were. How little they'd seen and experienced. And now they were willing to risk everything for him.

"Don't." Wanda shook her head fiercely. "I… see that you want to leave us behind. Don't. What is going on… It's bigger than Hydra. Or us."

"Yeah." Pietro shrugged. "Facing ridiculous monsters sounds like fun."

How was Clint supposed to not smile at that? "Buckle up then, you reckless idiots." Takes one to know one, a voice that sounded comfortingly lot like Laura's whispered in his head. "And don't go telling me later that I didn't warn you."

As soon as Bruce heard that Tony had agreed to sign the Accords he knew that he couldn't go anywhere near the Tower. Not with Ross' shadow looming everywhere. Not knowing what the man would've used Big Guy for, if an opportunity ever presented itself. And he couldn't help Steve because Edith would probably make Hulk kill the man as soon as he'd get near. So he did what he'd done before. He went hiding.

Since the Accords were presented there'd been what sounded like a million altercations between mutants and humans. Influenced by fear, prejudice and false information. When Bruce heard that there was a literal underground organization fighting to help sick or injured mutants who could no longer go to a hospital in fear of being marked… He knew where he was needed.

Entering the place gave him chills. A tunnel after a tunnel, a turn after a turn, deeper and deeper underground… Until he reached a massive, brightly lit hall. He groaned and shielded his eyes against the light. He was just about to start seeing again when he bumped into a woman with shortcut, burgundy hair. She reacted instantly and with a flick of a wrist a purple, protective forcefield appeared between them. In seconds it'd knocked him to the floor.

"Sorry!" they said together. Bruce went on faster. "I…" He trailed off. "Laura?"

Laura seemed equally shocked. The forcefield she was holding up with one hand still shimmered between them. "Bruce?" Grief had left immense traces on her pale face. But she was still recognizable. The forcefield finally disappeared.

Bruce swallowed. "You're…?" … a mutant, too? He shook off the stupid question. "What are you doing here?"

Laura gulped and looked away. "They… came and searched through the Farm, almost right after…" She trailed off when her voice broke. "Someone must've told them where to find us. We… We had nowhere else to go. Especially when Cooper… His powers activated."

Bruce nodded slowly, a lump forming in his throat. Unfair, all of this. "Laura… I'm so sorry."

Laura snorted but it sounded more like a sob. "Yeah. Me, too." She then checked the space behind. "Where's everyone else?"

Bruce knew immediately what she meant. He scratched his hair with discomfort. "I haven't seen Steve since that day." The way Laura remained tense urged him to go on. "Look… He didn't mean…"

"My son had to watch him killing his dad on TV!" Laura hissed. Her eyes blazing like Clint's powers once did. "Don't you dare go defending him!"

"Okay, okay." Bruce decided that he'd need to switch topics quickly. "Is there anything I can do? I mean… To help you?" Because he needed something reasonable to do.

Laura nodded slowly, anger melting away and worry taking over. "Coop… He's not adapting to his powers very well. Do you think you can help?"

"I'll try", Bruce promised immediately. He failed Clint, miserably. But maybe he'd be able to do something for his friend's son.

Natasha's head and her blonde-dyed hair flew as a hard punch landed to the right side of her face. The man who'd cuffed her to the chair sighed heavily. "I've gotta admit that I'm disappointed", he confessed. "The infamous Black Widow… Getting this sloppy in her hunger for revenge… I expected better of you."

Natasha sneered at him. "You killed my friend", she growled. "It takes less than that to upset a girl. Not… why I'm here, though. I came for Steve."

The Hydra agent looked surprised. Then laughed. "Rogers? Oh, you're really getting sloppy!" He shook his head. "Cap ain't anywhere near here. He's boss' new favorite puppy. She even took him with her to Siberia." The man smirked. "He's Hydra's Captain America, now."

Natasha smirked, too. "You get that?"

"Loud and clear." A single gunshot took the supposed torturer down before the man had the slightest chance to see it coming. Then Sharon Carter appeared to her line of vision. There was a bruise on the woman's face. "You took your time. This place is going down in four minutes."

Apparently the man wasn't quite dead, after all. Because just as the two of them were about to leave he emitted his last chuckle. And final words. "You… have no idea… what you're dealing with… You… will all die."

"Maybe." Natasha tapped at the man's cheek almost gently, then kicked it hard. "But until then we'll fight."

Neither woman spoke until they were out of the building. There was new tension on Sharon's shoulders. "What do you think there's in Siberia?"

"I don't know", Natasha admitted. She hated almost nothing more than not knowing. The Hydra base exploded behind them. "But we'd better call Fury for backup."

As soon as Nick Fury hang up the call from Natasha Maria Hill rushed into the room. The look in her eyes promised bad news. "Your phone-line was compromised. Someone was listening in almost the whole time." And that someone now had the location of Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers.

Fury's brow furrowed. He didn't like the sound of that, at all. "Was the attention friendly or hostile?"

"I don't know." Maria's jaw clenched. "It looks like the work of Stark technology."

In Seoul, Dr. Helen Cho did her best to not think about how much of a mess everything was. So she hadn't opened the TV in days. Nor had she spoken to a lot of people. The room she worked in intently was so quiet that she yelped with surprise when a voice spoke. "I… was told that I'd find you here."

Helen spun around and lost her breath at the sight of Thor standing at the massive room's doorway. Heat rose to her cheeks. "What…?" She trailed off, embarrassed, when her voice didn't come out right. "What are you doing here?"

When Thor stepped into light she finally noticed how tired and strained he looked. And the man in his arms. "I… didn't know where else to bring him."

Helen's eyes widened. There, in Thor's hold, was none other than Dr. Karl Malus. With a vicious, badly bleeding cut on his abdomen. "Put him on one of the tables", she urged, her professional instincts taking over.

Thor was in the process of doing that when Dr. Malus regained consciousness. Or a hint of it. The man shuddered before gasping barely audibly. "… find her …"

"Edith?" Thor nodded fiercely, his eyes darkening. "I will. And I will destroy her."

Dr. Malus shook his head. "… stop her … worse, than you know… why I left…" The man winced, nearly slipping out of consciousness. "… if she succeeds … it's the end … the end of everything …"

Since he'd been dragged to what was nothing short of hell, Steve had spent every opportunity he got to try and talk to Bucky. Desperate for proof that his best friend was still there, within reach. That there was still hope. But Edith's hold was too strong to be broken in the few minutes they occasionally had alone. Especially when she was starting to get into his head as well, no matter how hard the Captain fought back.

That morning Steve was terrified to notice that she didn't even need to speak before he followed her. He walked two steps behind her like an obedient puppy and realized that he wasn't able to fantasize about striking her down anymore. What hope he once had of winning this battle of strength and wills… It'd vanished inside the massive building's bleak walls.

At least he had what little there was left of Bucky walking beside him.

"Where are you taking us?" Steve demanded, trying to sound like the man he once was.

"There's a business meeting", Edith announced almost merrily. "And you two… are magnificent samples of my merchandise."

Steve felt sick. Was that all he was, now? A piece of meat, a monster in chains, she paraded around as she pleased. Then again, was it more of a punishment than he deserved…?

They reached a massive, oval shaped room Steve had never been in before. He tensed up upon noticing that there were five people waiting for them. His eyes strayed and remained on a naked, blue skinned woman longer than he felt comfortable with. Another one of the guests, clearly the leader, was a rather old man wearing a metal helmet.

Edith smiled. "Hello, Erik." She nodded towards his headwear. "I see that you brought your little security blanket along. Adorable how you seem to imagine that it'll keep you safe."

The man's face tightened. "Why do you always try my patience?" he sighed. New, threatening electricity filled the room as he and Edith looked at each other. "You and your puppies made it to TV the other day."

Edith snorted. "You disapprove? Since when has subtle been your style? In case age is doing tricks on your memory… You're the one of us who tried to kill a president on live TV."

"Back then I was a young fool. I've learned a few lessons." Erik's eyes narrowed. "You could've endangered the whole plan."

Edith arched an eyebrow. "By giving my son his final lesson? By showing the world what Captain America really is, deep down? Hardly. You see…" She walked closer, every step perfectly calm and free of tension. "You have your own childish plan. I have mine. And mine… is going exactly the way I want it to."

"Mystique."

The blue-skinned woman moved and had a firearm pressed against Edith's head. The latter didn't even flinch. "She pulls the trigger… and you will never get the product." She nodded towards him and Bucky. "I have fifty more of those like them, almost ready for active duty. And before I reprogram them otherwise, they only answer to me. Are they really something you can afford to lose?"

Erik gritted his teeth. One movement of a hand, and Mystique pulled away the gun, reluctantly but still. "What do you want?"

"Don't look so affronted", Edith chuckled. "You can have your silly mutant revolution. Your new world order. But let me teach you a lesson, too. See, you lack one very important thing you'd need to rule the world. You need me for that, more than for anything else."

"And what, pray tell, is that thing?"

Edith watched calmly how metallic objects floated everywhere around them. "Control." She lifted her chin. "Kneel!" In a flash everyone in the room, including Mystique and Steve himself, obeyed. Leaving only Edith and Erik standing. She smiled. "Do you feel in charge, Erik?" She walked close enough to brush Erik's cheek with her hand. "You may have your silly little helmet." She caressed the said item but didn't remove it. "You may have both the little group of anarchists you've gathered and the small army I'll give you. But how do you arrange a successful revolution if you have no control in your hands?" She tilted her head. "Rise!" And everyone did. "See, Erik… Control is the key for everything, and most of the time you can't even control yourself. Because deep down, even after all these years, you're still that sad, angry little boy seeking vengeance for his poor parents. Even now as a feeble old man." Erik's rage was palpable and in a flash a blade made its way hazardously close to Edith's neck. She only laughed. "By all means, go for it. But remember… I'm the only one who can give you everything you've ever wanted. The world… The destruction of humans… Your pathetic vengeance… An army… And your twins. I can give you everything you want. But I'll be the one in control."

The blade dropped with a sharp ping.

Edith smiled serenely. "Good boy." She snapped her fingers. "Steve? James? You're dismissed. The presentation is over."

Steve was so rattled by what he just saw that he nearly missed the word Bucky whispered outside the room. So quietly that no one else could've heard, with their mind or ears. "Sarah."

And just like that, a feeble but stubborn spark of hope lit up in Steve.

Pietro had a lot of guesses as to what their location would be. He expected some sort of a battle. Or some top secret… agent headquarters. Instead Clint landed them close to a school that seemed to have been hidden from the rest of the world.

Pietro frowned. His mind jumped through possibilities with his usual speed. "What are we doing here?"

Clint's jawline tightened. "We're here because the only person in this world my mother fears is here." He finally understood that stormy night from his childhood, when his mother met that mysterious man in a wheelchair in their living room. He understood what she felt, then. The emotions he'd imagined to be his own, which seeped from her then… They finally made sense. Her fear. Her biggest secret. "He's the only one who can stop her."

Before they'd reached the door it opened. A man who'd covered his eyes with bizarre sunglasses stood behind it. "Come in. He's expecting you."

TBC

A/N: (In case you're wondering… Sarah is the name of Steve's mother. And to those who remember the 'Bucky comes back to himself' scene from 'Civil War'… This means what you think it does)

(ALSO, in case you're wondering… We won't be seeing Magneto and his posse anymore, I think. This battle is between the Avengers – or what's left of them… - and POSSIBLY some X-Men, and Edith. Poor Magneto was so humiliated by Edith that he needs to sulk and lick his wounds for a while. Have mercy on the Grandpa of Magnetism.)

(AAAAND, in case you're wondering… OF COURSE there has to be a little bit of X-Men touch! If not with an enemy like Edith, then WHEN? X-Men, where were you when Thanos attacked? Shame on you!) (Yes, I know that they were missing for real-life reasons. But a girl can't help but dream of Avengers and X-Men joining forces.)

(ONE MORE in case you're wondering! In the X-Men world, this takes place between the second and third movies of the original trilogy.)

(This is turning into a REALLY long author's note, LOL!)

SOOOOO…. WOAH! A LONG chapter. AND, we officially have the whole Avengers-team in SHAMBLES. Torn apart, with VERY divided intentions… Will they be able to join forces and stop Edith? Will everyone make it through this alive? WE'RE REALLY CLOSE TO THE FINAL BATTLE!

You guys still alive after this mad ride? Thoughts, comments? PLEASE, do let me know! I LOVE hearing from you.

Until next time! I REALLY hope that you'll all stop by for that one.

Take care!

SomeRandomHuman: Torture IS the word! Those poor, poor things. (whimpers) Let's hope that this can somehow have a happy ending!

I'm THRILLED that you enjoyed the chapter! (BEAMS)

Colossal thank yous for the review! Until next time.