"It's so strange." Bruce Banner, who is still wearing her sundress, says to Shuri working on Vision's relays across from her. "I would have thought having access to his memories would be like living another life," Bruce continues. "but it's more like remembering conscious decisions I made which had made sense at the time."
"Can you remember what triggered the change?" Tony asks from his work area a meter away from Vision's feet. He is working on a small arc reactor, trying to shape it much like the mind stone. "Was there a certain thought process, or decision."
Bruce turns back toward Tony and thinks about the question for a moment. "No actually." She says. "It's a lot like I said in the battle of New York. I feel like I was always angry. Except, I would suddenly get the urge to start punching everything instead of solving the problem logically." Bruce looks down at the schematics she is working on for any relays that might be shorting out. "It's so wild."
"And you haven't had any luck trying to turn back?" Tony asks, looking up only briefly from his work.
"No, I..." Tony's desire to get the Hulk back seems to really bother Bruce. "I haven't even tried. I don't think I have even come across the time, nor the place."
"Well, if we're going to stand any chance at defeating Thanos," Tony grumbles. "We're going to need him."
Bruce's mind flashbacks to being the Hulk and being beaten by Thanos easily. She remembers the Hulk's shock and emotional hurt, like it was her very own. "I don't think that's such a good idea, Tony." Bruce says. "Those two years where I was off-world, I couldn't turn back. I was stuck like that. What if he takes over completely, next time?"
Shuri begins to lose concentration, noticing Bruce's worry.
"I don't think that's going to happen." Tony replies. "I think the reason you're normal now is every bit your decision, as much as it is his. I think he knows we need you more right now. I think subconsciously you and him try to do what's best. And I think, deep down, you and him are exactly the same."
Bruce's eyes begin to water as she takes in Tony's words. "You're not seeing the big picture here, Tony." She retorts. "We're not the same person. We never have been. It's always a struggle for control, and he's winning, Tony. He's winning."
"That's not what I saw in New York." Tony counters. "Nor in Wakanda." Tony hits a spot on his computer monitor and a 3D image pops up of male Bruce Banner slapping himself and arguing with the Hulk. Bruce looks on in shock. Tony lets the image sit for a moment before speaking. "I pulled that video from my suit, by the way."
Bruce watches the clip for another moment before speaking. "I don't know what's going on with him." She says, referring to the Hulk. "Ever since Thanos..." Bruce stops and thinks for a moment. "No, it started before Thanos."
"There was a point where I was talking to Thor, as the Hulk, when I or he realized that he was only ever used as an object. Kind of like Thor's hammer. I was only useful when you needed me, and other than that, the world always wanted Bruce. It hurt..." Bruce placed her hand on her chest, and for the first time ever, felt truly sorry for the Hulk.
Tony is giving Bruce a bit of a concerned look, and seems at a loss for words.
"I know why he doesn't want to come back." Bruce says, with a tear forming. "Would you want to go back to something like that?"
Tony takes in Bruce's words in the hopes of understanding them, but is having a hard time feeling sympathetic. "Bruce, I am a billionaire, borderline trillionaire." Tony informs her. "My whole life, all anyone has ever cared about is my money, and my weapons. Almost no one ever once saw me for who I was. My own face and image was nothing more than a label to them. I could have tattooed "Trade Mark" on my forehead, and no one would have noticed."
"Tony, I..." Bruce tries to interrupt.
"Until I was Iron Man!" Tony snaps, surprising Bruce and Shuri. There is a light gasp from the corner of the room, revealing Wanda has been sitting not far away the whole time.
"After I became Iron Man," Tony continues. "Everyone started showing their true colors. People who thought they were losing money, got angry. People who thought they could gain money, got desperate. And people who truly loved me and cared, became sad and scared."
Bruce Banner's mind flashes back to General Ross, and Betty. She felt Tony was making sense, but she couldn't quite see the point.
"Before Iron Man, I was a very selfish billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist. Who I was didn't really change. I just grabbed a hold of the monster I was, and chose to use it for good. The world may be in shambles half the time, but I think it's safe to say, it's a better place."
"But Tony." Bruce finally gets a word in. "The Hulk is hardly Iron Man."
"No he's not!" Tony snaps. "The fact that he wants to run and hide, and you want to cater to his wishes is very selfish, of both of you! Especially when the fate of the Universe is at stake." Bruce is very clearly crying now. "If you ask me, it looks very much like you two are one and the same."
"That's Enough, Tony!" Shuri shouts. "If she doesn't want to turn into the Hulk, she doesn't have to. How could you possibly understand how she feels?!"
Tony looks to Shuri and contemplates continuing the conversation, but chooses to end it. "I don't understand." Tony says. "It's just how I feel." Tony gets back to working on the small arc reactor in front of him.
There is an awkward silence as they all turn back to what they are working on, and Bruce sniffles as she tries wiping tears from her eyes. Her dress has no sleeves, so it's very difficult.
"He's right, you know." A deep male Russian voice fills the air. They all look up to see Wanda is no longer sitting, but standing across the table from Bruce. The computer display hovering above Vision makes it hard to see him.
Bruce wipes another tear from her face before asking. "In what way?"
"I've been in your mind Bruce." Wanda states. "I've seen the Castle, walked the library, and been in the dungeon."
Bruce watches Wanda with concern, wondering if what he is saying is a metaphor or if there really is a castle in her head.
"It was all you, Bruce." Wanda continues. "When I dove into your mind, I did not anger the beast, I only opened a few doors..." The computer display floating between them begins to flicker and sway as it takes on a reddish hue. Bruce is not sure, but she imagines she can see a hallway of stone arches with doors hidden in shadows. "What I saw in there, Bruce," Wanda continues. "Even I did not desire to stay long."
There is a heavy tension in the air as they all continue to look at Wanda.
"I-I, really don't think I want you back in my head again..." Bruce stutters, feeling legitimately afraid.
Wanda does not answer Bruce, but the terrifying tension suddenly seems to lift as his gaze shifts from Bruce toward Vision. "How is he?" Wanda asks, in an American accent now.
Bruce looks down at the display she was working on, noticing everything has returned to the soothing light blues she was used to seeing. Both Shuri and Tony look back to what they are working on, and simultaneously realize they had both been reaching for their concealed armor and weapons.
Shuri is wondering why he felt so unnerved, as he looks over his work. "I like to think this is going very well, but I have no way of testing it yet." He says.
Tony is still feeling on edge, remembering the amount of trouble Wanda had given the Avengers while working for Ultron. He always had a hard time trusting Wanda. His concentration returns to his makeshift mind stone. "It'll be a bit of a tight fit, but I suspect this'll work for now." Tony says.
"I can safely say, it won't burn a fuse." Shuri says to Tony. "I trust Bruce's work with my life." Shuri says with a smile, hoping it'll cheer Bruce up.
Bruce, happy to finally change the subject, shrugs before agreeing. "Yea, I think it's safe to give it another shot."
"Alright, I'm coming to you." Tony says as he lifts the stone out of its small workstation using precision tools protruding from a specialty glove. He makes his way around Bruce and stands alongside Vision's head. Wanda grabs Vision's right hand as everyone seems to hold their breath. Tony lowers the reactor into Vision's forehead.
Loose synapses and wires come to life as they find their way to their new power source and connect to the makeshift stone. It doesn't take long to settle, leaving everyone standing in absolute silence. This goes on for nearly fifteen seconds.
"I was kind of expecting a computer like hum." Bruce says, trying to break the tension. It gets a smile from Shuri.
Tony looks over Vision's body, which has not changed color whatsoever. "Vision? Can you hear me?" He asks.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Stark." Vision responds without moving his mouth or body. "I trust you are well?"
"I'm good, Vision." Tony Stark responds. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm as good as ever Mr. Stark, but I seem to have suffered some catastrophic damage to my central processor." Vision responds.
"Yes, you have." Tony responds. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Accessing memories." Vision says. The display hovering over his body suddenly cuts to the battle of Wakanda. They can see Wanda standing before him in one moment, then Thanos reaching for the stone in another. "It would seem, Thanos has gotten ahold of the mind stone. I do hope he was not able to succeed in his plan." Vision says this last line matter of factly, without emotion.
"Why does he sound like that?" Bruce asks. "Like Jarvis."
"I don't know." Tony answers. "The synapses are most likely properly connected, but it seems a large part of his personality must have come directly from the stone."
"It's not him..." Wanda says, as he takes a step toward Vision's inanimate head. Vision does not seem to respond in any way to their conversation. Wanda's puffy eyes begin to tear up again for perhaps the hundredth time this week as he strokes Vision's temple. He grips Vision's hand tighter.
Shuri scrutinizes over his screen for a bit before adding to the conversation. "I can try relaying a few synapsis here and there, but aside from getting mobility back, I really don't think it's going to make much of a difference."
All three of them look toward Vision and Wanda with sadness. They realize there is not much else they can do to change the situation.
"I'm sorry, Wanda." Tony says, feeling a little strange at the feeling of both success and failure. He turns to walk back toward his work desk but can only take one step before Wanda begins to speak again.
"I want to try something." Wanda says as he places his hand above Vision's forehead, hovering just above his new power source. Tony reaches out, afraid Wanda is going to try to remove the stone. Before he can do anything however, red energy begins to shoot from Wanda's hand into the stone.
"What are you doing?" Shuri asks, panicked.
Tony takes a step back and watches in awe, while Bruce moves in closer. "Is this alright, Tony?" Bruce asks. Tony just gestures for her to wait.
"You're gonna flood too much power into him!" Shuri loudly states.
"It's okay." Tony tells Shuri, confident in his handiwork.
They continue to watch as Wanda pumps energy into the imitation stone. Tony is fascinated by the colors as Wanda's red energy seems to change into the yellow hue that Vision's stone once had. He continues to do this for nearly a whole minute before leaning over with exhaustion, having to use Vision's body for support.
When Wanda is done all the color seems to have returned to Vision's body. His eyes are still white implying his sight has not yet been restored.
"Did it work?" Bruce asks.
"Hello, Wanda." Vision's voice says from the overhead display.
Wanda looks up, still teary eyed. "Vision?" he asks, worries his changed voice will be unrecognizable. "You can see me?"
"I can... feel you." Vision responds.
Wanda's eyes begin to water again as a slow smile forms on his face. "I can feel you too, Vision." He says. "I can feel you too." Wanda reaches for Vision's hand again and places his left cheek on Vision's temple. It feels a little strange that he is tall enought to reach both now, but he doesn't care.
"I seem to have lost function of all my limbs." Vision states. This somewhat makes Wanda laugh.
"We had to disconnect a lot of your circuits to get around to your central processing functions." Shuri answers.
"Ah, that does make sense." Vision answers, before a long pause.
"Did I die?" Vision asks hesitantly.
Everyone stays silent, waiting for one of the others to speak up. Not sure who would be best.
"It's a long story." Bruce finally chimes in. "It doesn't end with good news."
"I am sorry to hear that." Vision responds. "I do hope everyone is alright, Ms... ?"
Bruce blushes momentarily picking up on the veiled question. "It's Bruce, Vision. Bruce Banner."
"Bruce?" Vision asks. "I had heard you were back. What happened to your voice? You and Wanda sound different."
"Like I said," Bruce answers. "It's a long story. It's not just us either. That voice you were talking to earlier. That was Shuri."
"Shuri?" Vision asks in surprise.
"Hi, Vision." Shuri responds happily.
"Wow! Shuri?" Vision says. "It really does sound like a long story."
"I can tell you all about it." Wanda suddenly chimes in.
They all look to Wanda with relief that her sadness has finally started to lift.
"I would very much like that." Vision responds with a gentle and happy tone.
"Well Vision, there is a lot of catching up we have to do." Bruce says happily.
Tony puts his hand out in a stop gesture toward Bruce. Bruce is a little confused at first, but then Tony gestures toward Wanda who is happily stroking Vision's head.
Bruce watches for a moment longer then looks toward Shuri, who nods to her with a smile. She gets the hint.
"I think we'll let you two catch up, while we grab something to eat." Shuri says loudly. Wanda looks up toward him and smiles with an appreciative nod.
"I can agree with that." Tony says turning toward Bruce and gesturing to give them their privacy.
"Oh, okay." Bruce says, surprised by the sudden rush to get out of the room.
As they begin to walk away, Shuri approaches Wanda one last time.
"Hey, you haven't had anything to eat since this all went down." Wanda looks up at Shuri, teary eyed and nods. "I'm going to try to bring you something to eat, okay."
Wanda smiles, and almost instinctively her stomach growls.
"I think I heard that." Vision chimes in. They both laugh.
"I think I could eat." Wanda says with a smile and nod.
"See you later, Vision." Shuri says as he begins to walk away.
"And you." Vision responds.
After the others have left the room, Wanda takes a deep breath to get ahold of his emotions. "So, where should we start?"
"I seem to recall," Vision says. "Our conversation was interrupted, outside a train station in Scotland."
"Vision," Wanda says, taken aback. "I really don't want to remember that day."
"Not the events, just the conversation." Vision interrupts. "We were having a conversation about not wanting to steal little moments like this anymore."
"I remember..." Wanda answers a little hesitantly.
"The truth is, Wanda." Vision says. "That morning, I was preparing a little surprise for you."
"Oh really?" Wanda asks with a smile. "What was that?"
"I'll show you." Vision answers.
The overhead display above his torso changes to a small map with the words, "Property Deed," printed along the top.
"What's this?" Wanda asks.
"A place to grow old in." Vision says, quoting the words written within a heart drawn in the center of the page.