Hey, sorry about that wait. Just started a full time job and have little to no motivation for anything. However, I did edit and finally post this for you guys. It's not perfect, but it's the next level in Lincoln's adventures. Thank you all for waiting for me. I hope you get the escapism you need from this and it possibly brightens your day even a little!

T. Rycbar is okay, I guess. I hope they don't stress too much about all that work they haven't done yet :)

(Trigger Warning- slight suicidal thoughts and suicidal ideation)

IDon'tOwnMarvel

I didn't move very far from the cradle for the whole rest of the trip, even going as far as to follow it into the lab with Tony and Bruce.

"Tony's not very nice sometimes," I continued my side conversation, sitting on a stool beside the synthezoid while the two scientists worked around me. "Dr. Banner doesn't know how to be anything but nice. With him, you really just have to watch out for the Hulk."

TC had moved to sit on Bruce's shoulder after making it clear that he didn't approve of my desire to speak to Vision. My dear companion could be a bit sensitive sometimes, especially when it came to who I confided in.

"I'm actually not from this universe, if you could believe that." I continued, feeling a little better about having someone to talk to that wasn't walking around with four legs. "It was pretty crazy at first, I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I was just straight vibing in space and then I had to grab onto this huge caterpillar, only to be dropped down here from the wormhole in the sky. I met all these guys and got super freaked out- Okay maybe a little excited, but mostly freaked out.

"Then I went and spoke to this Lady- you don't know her," I waved it off. "She's called 'The Ancient One' but between you and me, she definitely said I could call her Yao. She was the one who told me that some big entity called 'Dormammu' ate my universe, so that was- that sucked. It still does. You know, especially when your 'ex-idol' yells at you."

I spared Tony a quick glance, getting him to avert his eyes and look back at his work. He definitely felt bad about the situation at Clint's house, but I was still pretty pissed that he thought accusing me of murdering my family was a reasonable thing to do.

That's a you problem, Tony. I gave a thoughtful look to Vision. "I don't think forgiveness is on the table at the moment."

"Why are you talking to it?" Banner asked, interrupting my impromptu therapy session.

I shrugged, leaning my elbow on the case with my head in my hand. "He won't talk back."

"She's been doing that for the whole trip." Clint added, walking out of the room for more interesting atmospheres.

"I can work on tissue degeneration, if you can fry whatever operational system Cho implanted-"

The idea of taking apart Vision worried me a bit, so I ignored the little debate they were having in favor of speaking to my new favorite Avenger. "I miss them a lot sometimes, Vis. My mom and dad yelled maybe once or twice, but never as much as the people here. Ellie was angry at me too for a while, or, at least, I'm pretty sure she was."

I rubbed the back of my neck and frowned. "I don't really know, to be completely honest. Mom tried to get me to read these little pamphlets about depression, but I never did. All I know for sure is that Ellie was mad at me for a while, and then about two months before she passed, she didn't talk much at all. Mom and Dad fought about it too. Dad wanted to get her a therapist, and mom was convinced it was just hormones. I think those two months really were worse than anything Tony could ever throw at me here. It's not like I've got much left to lose. Except maybe TC."

Jarvis's image lit up the space and I had to look up and away from the android, pausing my rant in favor of looking at what they were doing now.

"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS cause he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do." Tony explained, looking way too enthusiastic for a rational human being. "So JARVIS went underground. Okay? Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there, until I pieced him together."

Banner appeared to be a bit concerned. "So you want me to help you put Jarvis in this thing?

"No, of course not!" Tony grinned, "I want to help you put JARVIS in this thing. We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone."

I frowned at that statement. Helen Cho was better.

Banner was still very unsure. "And you just assume that Jarvis's operational matrix can beat Ultron's?"

"JARVIS has been beating him from inside without knowing it." Tony continued, looking more desperate for a yes from Bruce. "This is the opportunity, we can create Ultron's perfect self, without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to."

"I believe it's worth a go." Jarvis chimed in.

"No, I'm in a loop!" Banner tossed his hands up in defeat, only slightly jarring TC. "I'm caught in a time loop! This is exactly where it all went wrong."

"I know, I know. I know what everyone's going to say, but they're already saying it." Tony rounded the monitors to get closer to Bruce. "We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. You gotta own it. Make a stand. It's not a loop. It's the end of the line."

Banner looked down in thought before turning his gaze to me. "What about you?"

I shrugged, not taking my eyes off the cradle. "Steve's gonna be back soon with Pietro and Wanda, so I suggest you stop wasting time and bring Vis to life."

"You named him?"

I didn't answer Tony's question with an annoyed frown pointed at nothing. Nope, I am not talking to him yet.

Turning my attention back to the android, I jumped back into our conversation. "Anyways, when I was living alone, I met this guy who I already knew and I think I'm going to have to commit burglary with him. I'll have to ask Fury to set that up because I've never been an assist to a burglary before-"

I was in the middle of a chat about my adventures doing vigilante work in Mississippi and didn't notice right away when Steve walked in. Fatal mistake apparently, because he shouted and scared the life out of me.

"Shut it down!"

My eyes shot up to see the three of them.

Tony frowned and just kept working as if they weren't there. "Nope. Not gonna happen."

"You don't know what you're doing." Steve glared between them.

"And you do? She's not in your head?" Banner shot back.

TC had enough and scurried across the floor to me. He had a feeling of unease surrounding him that I picked up on as soon as he was back in my hands. He was watching the new people in the room carefully as this particularly stressful moment played out.

"I know you're angry." Wanda stepped up, keeping her confidence.

"Oh we're way past that." Bruce glared. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Woah, hold on." I held up a hand in his direction. "That's pretty dark. Everyone was fine."

Steve ignored my input and tried to sympathize with the guy instead. "Banner, after everything that's happened…"

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony shouted across the lab.

I moved protectively in front of the box. My gut churned nervously from the excessive amount of angry adults and TC was getting annoyed with all the fighting. He must have thought that was what was freaking me out.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda shouted, looking a lot more desperate than when we started.

"No, Wanda, he's safe I promise." I tried to reason, taking a step towards her.

"The creature...!" Wanda didn't finish her sentence before I was knocked over onto the floor away from Vision.

Pietro stopped several feet away, looking indifferent while I felt sick with worry.

Thor was supposed to show up and fix this, but I couldn't stop wondering if I messed with the timeline in an irreversible way that would change this moment. Maybe Thor wouldn't make it. Maybe Pietro just ruined our chances at winning this fight.

I turned a glare in his direction. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

He looked back, almost amused by my annoyance before the glass shattered below him and he fell.

"Rebooting the life support." Tony moved to the computer and I stepped back, relieved upon seeing Thor add himself to the picture.

Sure, I was happy to see him, but I also took cover momentarily after that, protecting TC with my own body as soon as his hammer came down on the cradle. The loud crackling of lightning was jarred to a stop when a boom enveloped the room. Vision had risen out of the cradle and landed on the edge of it when I looked up again. TC was watching too in complete wonder. Looking around the room carefully, Vision's eyes stopped on me only for a moment longer than the others.

Strange. I tried not to make a face. Way to creep a girl out.

Without much warning, he flew forwards then, crashing into Thor on his way and through the big glass wall. Vision stopped with a sudden amount of grace, hovering in front of the window to stare at his own reflection with great curiosity while the rest of everyone else looked on edge. I got up with the others and was the only one with a smile when we walked into the other room with Vision. Pietro stopped next to me too, giving me a quick once-over and taking one step away when he saw the lizard on my shoulder.

TC noticed this discomfort on Pietro's end and opened his mouth as if to mock the teenager before lighting it up with purple sparks. Pietro took a good many more steps away at that, giving us more space.

Finally, after a moment of staring at himself, Vision backed away from the glass and came back to us, landing on the ground beside Thor.

"I'm sorry. That was...Odd." He said, sparing me yet another glance before turning back to Thor with a nod. "Thank you."

They had a moment of silent conversation and staring before Vision took notice of Thor's cape and created one of his own. It rolled out behind him as if it had always been there, making me smile a little from such a strange sight. That was the kind of thing that would never happen on my home planet.

More so now, I guess, than...before….

Steve broke the uneasy silence in the room, nodding at them. "Thor, you helped create this?"

Referring to vision as a 'this' seemed a bit rude in my personal opinion, especially since they hadn't bothered to ask the android's pronouns yet. I kept my mouth shut on that subject though.

"I've had a vision." Thor explained easily, standing up straighter. "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that."

Thor pointed to the gem on Vision's head.

"The Mind Stone." I breathed, a smile growing on my face as something else warmed in my chest from the sight of it.

Infinity stones, while looking far cooler in person, also subtly reminded me of the looming threat of Thanos. That wasn't as fun to think about.

"Correct. The Mind Stone is one of the six infinity Stones," The god continued with a short glance in my direction since I was well aware of the previous Reality Stone situation on Asgard. "The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive qualities."

Steve gave him a skeptical look. "Then why'd you bring it to-"

"Because Stark is right." Thor looked to Vision next. "The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."

"Not alone." Vision added.

Steve looked between them, holding onto his skeptical stance. "Why does your 'vision' sound like Jarvis?"

"They reconfigured Jarvis's matrix to create something new." I replied with a smile, bouncing on my heels. "He's not Ultron or Jarvis. He's better."

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation."

Vision turned to Wanda confidently. "Look again."

"Yeah, her seal of approval means jack to me." Clint snapped, also standing with Steve's skepticism.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself," Thor stepped forwards into the ever-closing circle with the android. "They all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with this on our side…"

"Hold on." I held up a hand towards him. "Honestly. The disrespect. Vision?" I looked at the android, "Can I call you that?"

He nodded while I got estranged looks from the others. "That's acceptable."

"What pronouns do you use?" I asked, getting a sigh of defeat out of Bruce with Tony tossing his hand up in defeat.

"All due respect, Wisteria," Clint grumbled, "I don't think now is really the time to take everyone's personal comfort into account."

"It absolutely is." I defended myself with a small scoff. "Are we fighting anyone right now? No. That's what I thought. Now, you're all gonna be stuck with Vision for a good many years into the future, so you might as well put some effort into being nice. Vision's not an object."

"Uh, he and him are fine." Vision blinked, getting his first feeling of awkwardness around other people.

"Great," I smiled at Thor. "With him on our side. Continue."

"Okay," Steve blinked and shook his head before looking back at Vision. "Well, are you? On our side?"

"I don't think it's that simple-"

"This is exhausting." I sighed finally, giving in to how slow this was moving before I picked up the pace and put on several impressions.

"Well, it better get simple real soon." Clint and I said at the same time with me mimicking his voice.

I took another breath and used my best 'Jarvis accent' while I got weird looks again. "I am on the side of life. Ultron, however, isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked, trying to interrupt me but failing as I said the same thing with him with a finger pointed in his direction.

"You, Mr. RDJ." I continued, then turning my gaze to Bruce. "Mark Ruffalo says- 'If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster Ultron made you to be-'. Paul Bettany interrupts with his monologue. 'What will you do? 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 to make you trust me."

I pointed at Vision, but he just stared, not getting the cue that I was hoping he would.

With a small annoyed huff, I marched over to him and pulled him by the wrist to the hammer. "Pick it up. That's your cue, man."

He did so hesitantly, picking up the hammer with no clue what the significance of doing so was.

"But we need to go." I finished with the same accent, taking a deeper breath and looking around the room of people after my performance. Vision was just standing there confused, so I turned his shoulders so he was facing Thor and raised his arm as if he was holding the hammer out for the god to take. "Okay. Scene done."

"I feel like you're supposed to be on some kind of medication and perhaps forgot to take it today." Clint commented tiredly. "What the shit was that?"

"It was comic con, and I was thirteen with poor taste in movies." I waved a hand dismissively. "We don't have to talk about it- Where's Bucky? We need to be in Sokovia, like, yesterday, because Fury is definitely gonna be pissed if we're late."

Eventually, I managed to get everyone to move along after they got to brushing off my weird fan-girl moment.

We all have them. Don't judge.

Thor had a weird brooding moment outside on the balcony with Vision that I watched from afar for a moment before feeling creepy and turning around to go find some gear I might want to use in the fight. Wanda and Pietro were in the first room I found, however, making it difficult for me to just turn around and leave without being noticed.

Wanda made direct eye contact with me then and I could almost feel her trying to reach in before I, shockingly enough, pushed her right back out. She blinked at that, just as surprised as I was with Pietro just staring at the lizard on my shoulder.

"Your mind is heavily guarded." She furrowed her brow. "Who are you?"

"Uh, Lincoln?" I winced, accepting that I might be safe to come further in if she couldn't read my mind. "And you probably shouldn't be looking in my head. It's kind of dangerous."

"Why is it dangerous?" Pietro asked, keeping his eyes trained on the lizard while I looked over an arrangement of knives.

Hey, knives are fun.

"It's messy, filled with random facts and the future." I tapped my head with a knife before pulling it out of its sheath. After deeming it badass, I clipped the knife to my belt and covered it back up with my shirt, sending a short smile in Wanda's direction. "Just, um, don't. Please?"

"That's why you recited what was going to be said." She tilted her head at me as I surveyed the rest of the room and ended up just snatching a different pair of less worn black sneakers.

"Aw neat." I smiled, checking the size and then kicking off my old shoes in favor of the new ones. "Yeah, that would be a good explanation."

The knife was, of course, not entirely useful to me since I preferred to just shock things, but it might come in handy if I started to lose momentum or got a bad headache. If not, I could sell it to Kurt.

The others met up in the Quinjet and I joined them after checking with Fury on how things were going on his end. Needless to say, I was quite confident after that call and hopped right aboard, even with Iron Boy already there.

"Fury is evacuating the city." I explained, inviting myself in with them. "He's nearly done. They're just doing final house checks and dragging out stubborn people, but they said Ultron hasn't tried to stop them, so I'm thinking we're in the clear.

"I haven't even explained my plan yet." Steve protested with that 'disappointed face' he made sometimes that wasn't really frowning but felt like it.

"Yes," I smiled back, handing TC off to where Bruce was sitting. "And while you were busy combing Bucky's hair, I made the call."

He gave a halfhearted glare back, knowing that I was really only teasing while Bucky smiled to himself in amusement. Tony stared anywhere but in my direction, so I assumed he was still thinking about that time he accused me of genocide.

Good, I looked away too. He should feel bad.

"Now that we've finally achieved what we had to from this disaster, I can clear a few things up." I clapped my hands together with Steve taking a seat. "He wants to drop the city."

I looked around the room to make sure I got my point out there.

"He what?" Steve's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Mhm." I nodded in affirmation, the hanger door shutting behind me as we started to lift off. "An entire city is going to be used as an asteroid to wipe out life on your planet. I sped things up with getting people off the 'world-cancelling' city so we can fight the killer robots without the risk of hurting civilians."

"That's...nice." Bruce smiled a little with a slight tilt of his head.

"Great, well, someone appreciates my help." I smiled back, turning an obvious look to Tony who swiftly avoided eye contact.

"Anywho," I shook my head. "Vis, I'm gonna need you to block him out of the internet and satellites and stuff. My journal says you can do that. Can you do that?"

"That was the idea." He confirmed with a nod.

"Cool. Mr. Stark will be figuring out a way to shut it down before it takes off, but refer back to me if the air starts to get thin." I explained quickly, "Dr. Banner can go get Natasha and everyone else goes where they're needed especially if there are still civilians around. Kill any and all bots because if even one gets away- we lose." I clasped my hands together with a tight smile. "Any questions?"

There were a few shaking heads, so I sat down.

"I...have a question." Steve interrupted the moment of silence and pointed at my belt. "When did you learn how to use a knife?"

"Oh, I don't." I replied, feeling over the tool on my side as if to check it was still there. "I just thought that I could sell it when I need to find a new apartment. Kurt might fancy it."

It was a pretty tactical knife and fit very comfortably in my hand when I pulled it out to examine it. I flipped it in my hand catching it with ease. My dad had taught me that when we made dinner together that one time. The Chef's knife was easier to flip though.

"Who's Kurt?"

"A friend from work." I shrugged carelessly before smiling a little and tucking my knife away.

I was probably smiling a little stupidly now at the thought of the Antman crew. Steve might have gotten the wrong idea from how I was grinning, but he just huffed and ignored it. I knew that a 'friend from work' meant some criminal I'm pals with, but...Golden Boy probably didn't. You know, even after the whole 'I don't date people' chat.

"I too have a question." Pietro pointed to TC sitting on Bruce's shoulder. "Why the pet dragon?"

"Oh, that's just TC." I gave him a friendly smile. "Short for Thundercracker. He'll be staying in the jet where it's safe."

"Ah, yes, a name fit for a warrior." Thor smiled too at the small creature.

TC made his way over to Thor after being complimented and sat on his shoulder instead with a quick sneeze when he made it. Thor beamed at the sparks that were generated and looked at me for confirmation that it was a normal occurrence.

"Yeah," I hummed fondly. "He's quite proud of that trick."

The trip was long but it couldn't have gone by faster. I was twitching with anticipation and anxiety at the fight I was about to run headfirst into. I was scared. I mean, running into gunfire and weird energy blasts from robots is a far cry from the 1v1 and 1v2 fights I got into in the allies of the city I used to live in. It was a little nerve wracking. Instead of thinking of how easy it was for me to die here, surrounded by physically superior humans and a god, I attempted to push my mind onto a more positive subject; I was going to get to kick some ass alongside the Avengers. Who else can say they've done that?

The pent up anger from dealing with everyone's questions and whining was going to come in handy. Plus, I didn't have to worry about being mentally scarred because everyone I was fighting was basically a copy of a computer program. Nothing like that hydra guard...

The Quinjet landed on an empty street and I was silently thanking Fury for following through completely with his end of the deal. Streets and buildings were silent and empty with little movement outside of some wind as we put ear-coms on and opened the hanger door. Dr. Banner didn't waste much time and just turned and jogged off in the direction Bucky directed him to. Bucky had a tracker in hand for Nat's phone so he could find her with Bruce while we took care of the first round of ass kicking.

Chilly air hit me pretty quickly so I used what I thought was my better judgement and collected TC off of Thor, offering the lizard a cubby in the Quinjet. He got a small pat on the head and a smile from me before I fluffed up a t-shirt I found in there that probably belonged to Tony so that he could be more comfortable. I didn't care much if TC shit on Tony's clothes. The guy probably had six closets full of clothes, if not houses.

And you know what? I hated that decision I made. Nothing could console me into thinking there was a scenario where I didn't make that choice to leave my best friend in the jet. Yet, that choice was made here, and in the stress of the moment with about a thousand other things on my mind, I saw nothing wrong with it. I just walked away and promised him it'd be over soon. You know, like an idiot.

Stupid, stupid me.

Further down the street that we started walking, there was a church in view, and because of the distance, I couldn't fully make out the figure standing there, but I knew who it was. I think we all did.

"Fury, you there?" I asked into my earpiece as we got closer.

"The city is clear." He replied easily. "No civilians are left. Romanoff, Banner, and Barnes are on their way to you now."

I took a deep breath to try to relieve some tension, walking towards the monster in the distance while keeping close behind the others. As we approached, I felt both my arms itching to reach out and strangle him for the death of Dr. Cho's team with my legs telling me to run in the other direction. I felt sick, quite honestly. Bots emerged from the ground around us, and I restrained myself since they were not advancing in a threatening way. But by the way Thor was walking, I could tell he was just as on edge as me.

"I see you've made prior accommodations for the people." Ultron said, us stopping in front of him.

I moved away from the group, spreading myself out and moving around to his left. For some reason, Ultron only watched me as the other's circled around him too.

"It won't matter in the end." He added calmly, "They'll be the first to go. Right after you...so called 'heroes' of course."

His 'eyes' remained on me as I came to a stop, planting my feet in the ground and clenching my hands into fists at his words. Light glowed off them from the strong memory of my earth taking root in my chest. What he was planning was not unlike the fate of my home. Despite being twitchy around him though, I refused to break under the pressure. After all, I might not have been able to save my world, but I was sure as hell going to do my best in trying to save this one.

"You know, you've been quite the mystery." Ultron stated, his words directed at me with a step closer."I looked for you for a while, but it apparently...you don't exist."

The other's tensed at his sudden interest in me, but stayed in their spots. I felt the jab to my heart from his words that so effortlessly weaseled their way into my mind. I don't exist. I don't belong here.

I sucked in a deep breath, ignoring the panic for my long-standing curiosity over his mind. "I just have one question."

Ultron tilted his head at me. "You do speak. I was beginning to think you were a mute."

"Yeah, you'd be so lucky." I scoffed, rolling my eyes before turning to him with a more childish stance than before. "If I were to go back in time and kill my grandfather before he had my father, would I have existed at all? And if not, how would I have gone back in time to kill him in the first place?"

"I-" He looked at me, furrowing his brow'. For a moment, I thought I had broken him with my impossible question, but then he spoke again, disappointing me. "Did you just try to kill me with a paradox?"

The other avengers were giving me incredibly confused looks (Tony tilting his head in his suit), but ultimately didn't say anything.

I fought back a smile. "Maybe."

"That was...almost smart." He mused, turning away. "I'm more advanced than that, but still, you get credit for trying."

Getting a participation award from a homicidal robot was not on my list of wanted accomplishments, but if I was being honest -and I was- I didn't mind all that much. It was a funny moment while it lasted, and now, I was ready to obliterate him.

"My Vision." Ultron addressed the other synthezoid. "They really did take everything from me."

"You set the terms, you can change them." Vision's voice was calm but warning as if he was trying to comfort and threaten the AI at the same time. It was by far one of the most unsettling things I had heard in my lifetime.

Ultron changed his tone to a much less casual one. "Alright."

With a raise of his hand, the bots were upon us. I wasn't as prepared as I had hoped and immediately got thrown and landed hard on my back, sliding briefly to a halt. Luckily, I was able to recover fast, and as soon as the bot tried to pin me down, I wrapped my hand around its neck, sending a shock big enough to crumple him. I didn't have time to look around me at the others fighting and instead jumped at another of the bots.

I heard Ultron's cry of anger from behind me, but couldn't take the chance to look at what was happening because of another two bots charging in my direction. I took them both down with ease, along with a few others after finally having gotten my footing in this fight. It was when one of them raised their guns at me that I felt fear slide it's way into my system again. I dropped to the ground as the shot fired over me before rolling energy up my spine and cracking a bold over top of the bot. It electrocuted and killed three others near it, so I counted that as a helpful quark.

Soon, I wasn't paying attention to anything other than taking bots down one by one. The rumble under my feet went unnoticed too as I put all my quickly draining energy into wiping out Ultron's creepy clones. They were relentless. I had about 10 seconds of an opening as most of the bots directed their attention to someone else. I looked to see if the others were okay, seeing that most of them were doing just fine except…

"Wanda!" I shouted.

A bot had appeared behind her and I ignored my hoard and threw myself at it right as she looked back, wide eyed. I tackled it, much to the dismay of my more fleshy body. I brought my hands down on it, and shorted it out much more aggressively than necessary.

I was yanked off of it by the back of my shirt and flew several feet, hitting my head against something.

"Fuck- shit." I ignored the involuntary tears and found that I could produce not one, not two, but four bolts of energy at once. I allowed the anger to take me as I got up again, storming back at the robots while practically dripping with purple energy.

I plowed through my small hoard, sending them melting to the ground with more bots switching their main target to myself. Minute by minute and robot by robot, I was starting to falter, my head sending waves of pain that I pushed aside until a loud and distant roar forced almost everything to a halt. My hands came up to the sides of my head and let myself catch my breath while the enemy was now preoccupied. Sure, I would have cheered if my head didn't hurt so much while the Hulk came ripping through past me.

Bucky appeared in front of me and grabbed my arm rather harshly, dragging me away from the fight before sitting me inside a building nearby. He got right to looking over me like a nervous parent might. "You alright, kid?"

"I'm-" I nodded tightly, rubbing my temples. "Ouch."

Chaos ensued outside and Bucky gave it a glance before patting my arm. "Okay, take a breather. Quit buggin' out."

I took a breath at that and nodded again as he caught a bot that found us and crushed its neck before tossing it aside. The air felt thinner now and I was starting to understand why as I looked at the clouds outside. A few deep breaths and about six dead robots piled aside later, Bucky helped me to my feet again. I gave it a few bounces of encouragement and he offered me a small smile.

"You remind me a lot of Sarah." He reached out a hand to take my chin and turn my head to look over my face before I could swat it away. "Don't go killing yourself, alright? I can't lose another sister."

"Okay." I shook my hands out next and started out the door again, patting his metal arm as I went. "Don't die either. Steve and your husband will kill me."

"I don't-" He tried to protest with a confused frown as I just smiled and started to grab and shock the robots that thought they could make a run for it. "Lincoln-"

Steve, Clint, and Natasha were standing around and guarding the church now while I grabbed at and destroyed the hunks of metal trying to make a last ditch for the church. Thor and Tony were nowhere in sight, same as Ultron.

"Hey, guys?" I called, turning and chasing after the ones still on the ground. "They're making a run for it!"

"I've got them." Rhodey replied back through the comms.

I chuckled between labored breaths from my run. "If it isn't the one who...got away."

"I was NOT hitting on you!"

I cracked a bolt over an approaching bot, not liking the stab of pain it brought to my head. "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Honey Muffin."

I heard short laughs from the other people through the comms at my joke when I ran back to where they all were before. Most had gone off in their own directions with the exception of Wanda who was standing guard over the podium. I took down a bot that had run after me and was thoroughly out of breath by the time I reached her. I stopped several feet away as I watched the quinjet start to take off in quick realization of a forgotten fact. My heart sank to the floor.

How could I be so stupid?

"No, No! TC!" I yelled with a new sense of strength over the headache as I booked it towards the jet, but it was well into the air by the time I reached it. "He has TC!"

I knew what was going to happen...and I left him there. I left him on the jet.

The quinjet didn't make it far before, much to my horror, the Hulk launched himself at it, ripping Ultron from his seat and throwing him back towards the ground. Wanda and I both watched as the android crash landed hard against the side of a building and slumped, making no effort to get up. Wanda stayed and guarded the church while I stalked over to the slumped Ultron with a heavy glare.

"It's you."

"You don't get to talk to me." I snapped, placing my hands on either side of his metal skull with tears starting in my eyes at the thought of TC. "You know, I finally had something in this hellhole of an earth. You're the one who took it from me."

"No, I didn't." He smirked a little, thinking he had something on me. "You're the one who made your family drive out there. A soccer game, wasn't it?"

He was referencing not me...but, well, alternate me. I tilted my head with a small smile.

"Oh, buddy." I chuckled over the tears rolling down my cheeks. "You really thought you had something, didn't you? That's cute."

His smirk fell right before I dug my fingers into the side of his head with the purple energy melting through his skull as it sank down to his neck. I pulled my hands away finally with a shaky sigh, standing up and back again. The feeling of a pit buried in my stomach stayed though as I stepped back. TC was gone. I knew where that craft was going and he wasn't going to come back.

"We have a craft waiting for you on the east side of the city." Fury's voice came clear over the coms during my moment of piling grief. "Make your way there before we put Plan B into action."

Why can't I just have one thing?

"Yeah." I held my finger up to the button with shaky hands. "I'm coming."

My breathing became more strained as I came back to the church. It was most likely from the thinning air, but I was feeling the sunken heart at my lost friend too. A whooshing of air behind me snapped me out of my numb trance though. I wiped away the tears on my cheeks and sniffled, turning to see Pietro scoop up Wanda who, oddly enough, seemed closer than before as if she was trying to approach me.

Pietro only smirked over his sister's sympathetic look. "Try and keep up."

I shook my head to myself as he took off again and turned and walked in the direction Fury had said to go. After all, I had some will to continue living. I was living for my people, and that meant pushing past my own problems in order to keep their memory alive.

Jogging was hurting my lungs, but again, I needed to push past it. Just like how my thoughts and reminders of TC were constantly pushing past the barrier I was trying to put up as I jogged. The constant battle in my head was almost enough to distract me from how hard it was to breath up in fucking space. When I caught sight of the carrier though, I slowed to a stop a few yards away as Steve boarded before me.

What am I even saying? I hesitated, looking back at the shaken buildings. It's not like anyone on my earth would care. How could I spend this whole time 'living for them' when they clearly weren't doing anything for me? They're the ones who left me alone in the first place.

Bucky saw me stop and locked eyes with me from his seat on the carrier as the tears started again.

I looked back at the city again, wondering, really, who was going to care. No one really knew me here. I wasn't important to them. If I let myself get taken out of the equation, clearly there would be less for them to worry about.

"Let's go." Bucky appeared out of seemingly nowhere, not noticing my grief right away as he grabbed my arm and started to pull me towards the carrier. "We're not gonna stand around, kid."

I sniffled and wiped away new tears, keeping my crying to myself even as he pulled me onto the carrier with a deep groan from the ground we just stepped off of. It dropped, knocking the carrier a little aside and me off my feet from the whoosh of air that hit us. Others moved to the side to look while I just moved back behind some seats and pulled my knees up to my chest to hug them.

I wanted TC. Hell, I needed my friend to be there with me and he wasn't. Without him there to hum in comfort or worry, I felt sick.

Steve sat down beside me while I did try to keep my problems to myself. After all, I was burdening these people enough by being here. I didn't need them to think they were responsible for my stupid mistake that probably was going to cost TC his life.

"Sorry about T…C."

"You don't even know his name." I accused, not bothering to look up. "You don't care. It's not your problem."

"We'll get him back." Natasha added sympathetically, having appeared to my left somehow. "Fury is tracking the Quinjet now and getting in contact with the Hulk. I'm sure TC is just fine where you left him."

"The ship doesn't come back." I spat, mostly out of spite at this point. "I keep forgetting things."

What does it matter if they know that? It's not like they can change any of that storyline.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked worriedly. "They'll track him down. He can't go that far, can he?"

"Sakaar." I wiped away more tears, looking to Natasha. "Dr. Banner is okay, but they'll cook TC and eat him-"

I fell into a sob from just saying what I feared and buried my face back against my knees. I couldn't bear to think of my best friend, a conscious being, impaled through with a stick and eaten by some savage alien creatures. It was a horrible image that really just made me unconsolable, even as Steve sighed sympathetically and pulled me over to him in my fetal position. He wrapped his arms around me, securing me in place against his chest with his legs on either side of me.

"I'm sorry, Link." He murmured with Bucky sitting down too. "Maybe it'll be okay. Bruce knows that TC is there. He can watch him for you, okay?"

I knew that was a flat out lie, but nodded anyways, not making a move to leave the comforting embrace.

"Okay." Bucky repeated from beside me. "You did a good job today, kid. Kicked some major robot ass."

"It was only a lizard." Pietro muttered, standing not too far away. "I do not know what we are upset about."

I snapped my head so fast to look at him with fire burning in my gut from the comment. "HE WAS MY BEST FRIEND!"

"O-okay." Steve had to move his arms off me briefly as I glowed purple. "Let's-Let's ignore him."

"Come on, man." Clint gave him a look when I turned and fell back into tears. "Have some empathy."

"I was only saying." Pietro whispered quieter, moving away with his sister. "I do not get it. Do you?"

She smacked him upside the head. "Shut up."