"How could you?" Wanda asked with a pure terror in her voice, her eyes full of panic as she backed away from the cradle towards Pietro, who now looked equally concerned.

"How could I what?"

"You said that we would destroy the Avengers. Create a better world."

"It will be better," Ultron replied, his fists clenched tightly as he maintained a chilly control. He looked towards you while you guarded Dr. Cho, watching her every move to ensure that she was following his commands. You nodded in confirmation that the transfer was still working, and he turned his attention back to the twins.

"When everyone is dead?" Wanda gasped and clutched Pietro's hand. "(Y/N), did you know?"

"Wanda, I don't think you understand what's happening," you replied coolly, turning to look at her and away from the doctor for just a brief second, giving Wanda enough time to release her from the stone's control. "The human race will have every opportunity to improve."

"And if they don't?" Pietro pressed, glaring at you with a fire in his eyes that carried a sudden contempt for you, distancing himself from someone who had been his best friend for years. As he looked at you, the fire slowly died away, and all you could see was pain and disbelief.

"Ask Noah," Ultron answered, pausing as if looking inside of himself. "We have incoming. The quinjet," he spat, "we need to move."

"That's not a problem." You nudged the doctor to prepare to move the cradle, your eyes still locked on Pietro. He stepped aside and whispered something to Wanda, watching you for any sign that you understood and would come with them if they ran, but he saw none. He finally willed himself to break your gaze and lock any feelings towards you away, realizing in that moment that you were no longer the person that he had come to know for so many years.

The cradle alarmed and stopped the transfer, inciting Ultron's anger and lashing out with a blast that knocked Dr. Cho across the room. Pietro didn't even look at you before grabbing his sister and running, leaving you to watch the rest of the science team around you fall at the android's hands. You had warned the doctor to comply, and you felt no remorse other than that you couldn't stop your friends from running; that you couldn't convince them to stay and trust the plan.

"Do you want to run too?"

"No. I want to be there to see the Avengers fall, and you're the only one who can make that happen. Where else would I be but at your side? They've made their choice."

"What if the choice of survival needs to be made between us or them? Whose side will you stand on then?"

You stopped and waited for the robots to push the cradle past you, getting a glimpse of the android inside and the gem emanating a glow that filled the inside of the mechanism. If the choice had to be made, you would make it in the moment; you couldn't imagine being in a battle against your friends who had been your only family, but it was a very real possibility that you would be soon enough. Without giving him an answer, you took ahold of the cradle as it passed by and made your way to the truck.

"Hmm," Ultron murmured to himself, "this is going very well."

~~~

If you step out that door, you are an Avenger.

Just when you thought it was safe to advance, the archer barreled through the door of the broken down building, armed and ready to take you and your team of robots down single-handedly if he had to. You hadn't shown your powers yet in this battle, but the time had come so you could be a greater threat to the Avenger. Gathering a ball of fire between your hands, you approached the car that he was crouched behind slowly, pausing when you saw the glimpse of his boot and throwing the flame at him as he nimbly jumped away.

"You're gonna have to be quicker than that, sweetheart," he laughed, summersaulting and pouncing to his feet with an arrow already drawn and aimed with clear precision. "Give up?"

"Do you?" you spat back, thrusting both hands out and building a wall of fire between you as a shield from his weapon. "You might be able to push Wanda around and trick her into thinking that you're her savior, but I'm not so easily convinced."

The roar of flames echoed through the alleyway, the harsh glow stinging Clint's eyes as he tried to see you; He caught just a brief glimpse of your figure on the other side of the moving wall and took a shot. The arrow zinged just past your head, though its tail was now aflame as it speared into a nearby wall.

"Like I said," you scoffed. "I have yet to see anything close to impressive-"

An equally vibrant glow of red emanated from the building that Clint had just left, the doors flying open to bring Wanda into the alley with you; she was encasing the fire with her own power, controlling its heat and attempting to extinguish it, but you retaliated in kind. "Wanda, you don't want to do this."

"What choice do I have?"

"I don't want to fight you."

She let out a quiet whimper, struggling to maintain her hold as you pushed back with a stronger force than what she was offering. "I don't want to fight you either, (Y/N). But you've chosen...wrong," she grunted. "It's not too late..."

You turned for a second as another arrow passed by, this time much farther from its intended target than the first. "Seriously, Mr. Barton, now you're just embarrassing yourself."

"Made you look."

"Ooph!" you huffed, falling forward onto the ground, your flames extinguished from the force of Pietro slamming you down. Wanda's hands dropped to her sides as she watched sorrowfully when the two men grabbed you in a tight hold with your arms pinned behind you and your face pressed against the unforgiving earth with jagged rocks pressed into your skin. Clint stood and surveyed the area, feeling satisfied with the scattered remains of robots at his feet.

"We're all clear here."

"We are not clear," Steve called out, "we are definitely not clear!"

"Okay, comin' to ya," he replied, but stumbled at Pietro passing him with a nudge and grabbing Wanda in his arms, taking off into the distance in a silver flash.

"No one would know," he mumbled, sliding an arrow back into his quiver, reaching down to lift you by your bound hands, but he stopped abruptly at the sight of the metal ties melting away from your skin. He reached down again but was forced back by the immense heat you were producing. "Shit..."

"You've got a sense of humor after all. I like that, so I'll give you a head start. Five...four..."

Clint took a deep breath of contemplation, but opted to follow your estranged friends to the battle and broke into a run after them, leaving you on your own. It only took seconds for him to decide that the threat at large was greater than anything you could conjure, and you tried to not take immediate offense.

Once you had melted away the restraints, you stood and surveyed the scene with a heavy heart; Wanda and Pietro had been your family, and now they were afraid of you, treating you like the threat you never wanted to be. The robots around you were all destroyed, lying in pieces and motionless every where you looked; Ultron would have no way to know if you set out on your own and waited in the wings for it all to pass.

But what would be the cost if he figured it out?

~~~

Wanda's scream came first, piercing the air around her with a pain that could be felt across the city, and you would believe it if someone said they heard it on the ground miles below. Yours followed only seconds later, knowing exactly what had happened without having to see it with your own eyes. You felt it. Now the only thing filling your mind and taking your focus was the need to find her; everything that had happened up to this moment didn't matter anymore.

The floating earth beneath your feet began to shake and the air was as thin as it could get, making you slightly dizzy as you hurried towards where you thought her voice had carried from. Remorse for your alliance with Ultron began to set in as you moved, stepping over shredded mechanical parts from destroyed robots, seeing a lifeless hand protruding from under an overturned vehicle, and buildings on fire in each direction that you looked; buildings that were once people's homes.

You didn't even have a home to take, and look what you had done to theirs.

"Wanda, if you stay here, you'll die."

You arrived in time to watch her pull the mechanical heart from Ultron's chest, and the look in her eyes was pained but hollow; she didn't care if she lived or died; you knew that Pietro would never have forgiven you if you left her now, so you hurried to her side and tried to pull her away.

"We need to go, please, come with me."

"I have nothing to survive for, (Y/N). You go on, they're about to destroy the city. You have only minutes-" she gasped, knocking back onto the ground when the city shuddered around you and began to drop from the sky. She was wrong; you were out of time. You struggled to push forward, reaching out for her hand but missing as you floated near each other but just out of your grasp. You were able to push your foot against one of the seats, barely enough to propel you towards her so that you were finally able to connect.

"I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry, too!"

The moment was quickly gone when Vision swooped in from above and took her in his arms, shifting his grasp so that he could carry you on his back and bring you both to safety. This random purple...person had taken you away at the very last second, without words of explanation, but if Wanda trusted him, then you did as well.

It wouldn't take long for you to realize that he was Ultron's vision; the android that you had seen inside the cradle. You didn't know how he had come to be with the Avengers, and you didn't care anymore. You buried your face in his shoulder as he flew, and when you finally came to a stop, you were dropped at the feet of one very angry Captain Steve Rogers.

~~~

As your luck would have it, being around the angry version of the Captain would be commonplace for you. Even though Clint had convinced you to stay, and Wanda wasn't willing to leave your side, it was Steve who insisted on training you; you were beginning to think that he hadn't really thought it through.

"It's really not that bad," you cringed, using your fingers to lift body back into Steve's hair, trying to cover the newly singed areas from his inability to duck fast enough from your attack. "It's just hair, anyway. You can grow new stuff in like five minutes, right?"

"Woah, Cap," Clint interrupted as he joined the group, "what happened? That looks pretty rough."

"Okay, that's it," Steve huffed, pushing your hand away, "I need to see what you did." He stood to find a mirror but you pushed back against his chest, knocking him firmly again into the chair.

"Tell you what. Maybe it would be best to just...steer clear of mirrors for a few days. And maybe," you smirked, "stay in low lit areas, wear that baseball cap you love so much..." When all your words did was give him more anxiety, you couldn't help but laugh, quickly moving your hand to release him and turning away to run. You passed by an equally amused Wanda to scurry behind Clint to use him as a shield.

"If it makes you feel better, Steve, we could all wear our ball caps until that grows back in," Clint offered. "Kinda like a team...hey, Team Cap! I think that has a nice ring to it."

Part 2

"(Y/N), please make me understand this," Wanda urged, speaking as she leaned out of one of her bedroom windows and down to you on the compound lawn below, "how you can choose the wrong side so easily after everything that Steve has done for you?" She was trying to slow you down, to make you stay, but even though the look in her eyes was pleading and you wanted to appease her, you just couldn't give her what she wanted.

"I can't believe that you're asking me this, and that you don't feel the same."

"Of course I don't feel the same, (Y/N)! Do you even realize what they are proposing? We will be under their command with no choice of our own, just like we were in the lab for all of those years. The powers that you and I possess won't belong to us anymore; not fully. We will have no autonomy in helping people the way that we've sworn ourselves to do."

"Maybe if someone had taken control of me, then your brother-" You stopped short of the words spilling out into a painful reminder for both of you, though the damage was already done. Wanda straightened uncomfortably with widening eyes as she watched yours close in mortification of what you were about to say.

"(Y/N), you cannot still blame yourself for that?"

"Yes, I definitely can, Wanda. I blame myself every morning when I see you, and every night when we part ways. Because I chose to follow Ultron and not you, Pietro is dead." Opening your eyes to look at her again, she was difficult to see through the haze of tears that lined your lashes, but you could still see the pain she felt at what you were saying. "Maybe if the Avengers had better oversight, Tony wouldn't have made Ultron in the first place. Maybe we can prevent something like that from happening again."

"Maybe, yes," she sighed, dropping her voice to a whisper when she thought she heard Vision approaching. She waited for just a moment, holding a hand up to keep you silent until she was assured that the room was clear. "(Y/N), please, don't do this. Just stay here. Stay with me."

"I'm sorry, Wanda," you replied with a shake of your head, both in disagreement and to clear your mind of what she was trying to get you to believe, "but I've made my choice. Tony called for me to help him apprehend Steve, and that's what I'm going to do."

~~~

With T'Challa and Rhodey on your right and Natasha on your left, the four of you watched Steve throw something your way; before the truck materialized to its full form, you had already begun to run from it. When it crashed to the ground, sliding onto Rhodey and skidding to a halt a few hundred feet away, it exploded into a massive ball of flame that you were quick to contain with a shield to surround your teammates from injury. A moment later, you extinguished it and sat yourself on the ground in a heap at the immense amount of energy it had drained from you to do so.

"Alright, now I'm pissed," Rhodey groaned, pushing himself up.

"Was this a part of the plan?" you asked Tony as he landed at your side, offering a hand to help you up.

"My plan was to go easy on them," he replied, "you wanna mix it up?"

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe," you hissed, following his lead.

You followed the group towards the center of the tarmac as Steve's team approached from the other side; Tony grabbed yours and Nat's hands and lifted you into the sky, gently dropping each of you on either side of him as the rest of his group took their places. You watched with a heavy heart as Wanda took a stance directly across from you; she was your target, your mission to stop, and you were hers.

"Sestra, please," you mouthed silently to her, but she only stood firm and unyielding, giving you your answer. You each knew how to fight the other and how to win, though it wasn't what you really wanted. This war had gone on too long, and when this battle began, you faced her with regret and used nothing near your full ability even though she was hitting you with all that she had.

"(Y/N), you know that I don't want this," she groaned, trying to hold her barrier against the fire you were pushing towards her, "I never wanted to fight you again."

"But here we are."

"We can't let this person get to Siberia first, (Y/N). Steve and Bucky have to stop them, please understand." You could feel her power begin to falter slightly, but you weren't ready to back down or to give her an out just yet. "This isn't about the Accords, or even about you and I. This is much...bigger..." she struggled. "We're doing what the Avengers are meant to do."

In the corner of your eye, you saw Steve and Bucky run past, dodging T'Challa and finding safety behind the oversized Scott as they neared the hangar bay and the quinjet. Making the mistake of looking away for just the flash of a second, your focus was broken and Wanda's power overwhelmed yours, dropping you to the ground and immobilized so that she could run to assist them.

"Dammit," you hissed, pushing up to follow her. You watched her run towards them, stopping to support the weight of the control tower that Vision had toppled in an attempt to stop the pair; she was barely holding it on her own until Rhodey moved in behind her with a sonic blast to stop her, making her scream out in a tone that sent a shiver down your spine and a rage through your mind.

"Rhodes, stop!" you called out to him, rushing forward with a ball of flame building between your hands. He watched it grow but didn't back down, raising his other hand towards you with the threat of doing the same to you if you didn't step away.

"Stand down, (Y/N)," he warned. "I'll do it."

Taking his threat head-on, you released your energy and knocked him back, encasing him in a wall of fire so that he couldn't see either of you. "Wanda! Are you alright?" You hurried to her side, kneeling next to her, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to go so far. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," she panted, struggling to catch her breath. "But they'll come for you now."

"Let them try."

"You need to go, (Y/N), stay with Tony. Just do what he says, and stay safe."

"I'm not leaving you here," you insisted, but when you stood and tried to help her to her feet, Vision appeared behind you and held you firmly to the ground. Even when you tried to build up your fire, he grabbed your hands and encased you in a power field that you were no match for.

"I cannot let you leave, (Y/N)," he ordered flatly, "please don't attempt to fight me, or the consequences of your actions will be exponentially worse than they currently are."

~~~

When Tony arrived at the Raft several hours later, after the dust had settled and Steve's team had been apprehended, he hadn't prepared himself for what he was about to see. Steve's team used to be his team too; filled with people that he had called his friends, and one new guy that he couldn't really judge fairly other than by his disdain for the Stark name. He passed through the first set of security checks to reach the command center, pausing at the sight of Wanda, pale and emotionless, sitting alone in her cell with a collar to keep her powers controlled. For just a moment, the sight of her made him wonder if any of this was really worth it.

He continued out into the main cells, only to be greeted by Clint, followed by the new guy and then Sam. None of them wanted to talk to him, and for good reason, but he needed to find Steve and this seemed to be his last shot at doing it. Tony could be very convincing when he wanted to be, and once he had gotten what he needed from Sam, he turned his attention to another matter that he feared he already knew the answer to.

"Where's (Y/N)?"

"You don't know?" Sam scoffed. "That's rich. I thought you knew everything that goes on around here."

"I didn't see her on the way in. I only saw Wanda and that was just on a monitor. Where are they keeping them?"

"They've got 'em collared and locked up downstairs. Weapons of Mass Destruction, as you yourself called them. Treating them both like they're time bombs about to go off."

"I didn't mean for that to happen," Tony argued, "even I think that's too much, come on."

"Well you're the only one that needs to answer to your own conscience, Stark. (Y/N) was only protecting her friend, and you had her locked up for it. You're so out of control in this that you're taking down your own side now. That should tell you something about the state of things, don't ya think? They're kids, Tony."

Tony paced back and forth in front of Sam's cell, looking from him and to the floor as he moved, only to find himself facing his former teammate with a look of both guilt and regret. He may not admit it aloud, but Sam was right; the state of the team was so broken that it was likely beyond repair, but that didn't mean that he couldn't try to find a way to some sort of middle ground. Seeing Wanda collared hurt more than he would have ever anticipated, and a part of him was glad that he couldn't see you the same way.

"I'll come back after I find Steve," he whispered, "and I'll figure out how to undo this."

~~~

But Tony never came back as he had said that he would.

There were a few rumblings of the fight between Tony and Steve, but you had no way to know if there was any truth behind what you were hearing. Your mind was such a fog and a mess, locked down by constant surges of electricity into your nerves that you couldn't think much past the pain that was holding you in place. Wanda was kept in the cell next to you, and even though she never uttered a sound, you could feel her going through the same torment that you were.

You filled your time in the Raft with thoughts about how you would have and should have done things so differently. Maybe Tony didn't realize that this is what would happen, but what if he did? You had bought into the security of promises that were never kept, the most ardent flag bearer now nothing more than a battered leader with less power than he had before. Maybe Steve was right; maybe you should have seen this coming.

Or, maybe they were both wrong.

"Wanda?" you finally forced your words out, your voice barely a garbled and pained whisper, "Can you hear me?"

Nothing.

"Wanda, you don't have to say anything," you continued, each word hurting your throat more than the last, "just know that I'm sorry."

You were about to say more when the lights went dark, and the collar dropped from your neck with a resounding clang against the cold and hard metal floor. Rubbing the red marks that colored your skin, trying to soothe the ache left behind, you crawled towards the door to find that the lock was disabled; you pushed it open and stood to make your way to Wanda, but she was already there and waiting for you.

"What is it?" she asked, her own voice broken and strained as she looked cautiously around the dark room. "Do you think there's been an accident, or-"

"Or a rescue?"

"Steve," she gasped, running into his arms with a force that knocked him back a step, "I'm so relieved to see you. But what are you doing? They'll lock you up if they catch you."

"Then I'm glad that I have you," he smiled back, but quickly turned to you. "Do we have you too, (Y/N)?"

"Call it, Cap," you nodded.

"Great, first thing you're going to do is to get your butt back to Tony."

"Are you serious?" you snapped, completely in shock. "His narcissistic ass put us here in the first place! I drank the kool-aid at first, but I've vomited that up a long time ago."

Steve took your hand and led you upstairs with Wanda at his other side, making his way to the cells that held the rest of the team. You could feel that he was hesitant to be this close to you after it all, and the grip on your hand loosened just a bit until you held on tighter to let him know that you had made up your mind. Even as you thought that you were certain in your resolve, you wavered.

Once Steve had freed the guys, he took you all to the jet at the center of the prison to prepare for takeoff. "Listen," he turned to you again, his voice nearly a whisper, "Tony lost most of his team in all of this, and some things have come to light that may never be able to be fixed. He needs someone on his side, and I know that was you. I know that you understand how important second chances are, and he's on his fourth or fifth second chance, so he needs you. It's okay, (Y/N), I also know that you and I are still friends, right?"

"Of course," you sighed, "but I don't know if I can forgive this, Steve."

"It's okay if you can't; all I ask is that you give it a try. Maybe you can find a way to bring this broken mess back together again. If that doesn't work," he paused, taking an older phone from his pocket, extending it to you, "then I'll come and get you any time that you want."

"Wow, Cap, where did you find this? The Smithsonian?"

"That's hilarious," he groaned. "Now get your smart ass in the jet before I throw it in for you."

~~~

When Steve's phone finally rang, showing the number he had given you across his screen, nearly two months had passed. He had all but given up on you ever calling him, and had resolved to the idea that your efforts hadn't worked and that the team was irreparable. He took a deep breath and opened the line, pressing the phone to his ear apprehensively and not knowing what response he would get from the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Cap," you greeted eagerly, "you busy?"

"Um, no more than usual?" he answered in a questioning tone. "Why?"

"Well, you might recall that mission that you sent me on? I'm done with it."

Steve stood up for no real reason, but found himself pacing nervously in his small makeshift office, his empty hand running through his hair several times just out of habit and not with any purposeful motion. "What do you mean...you're done?"

"He wants to talk to you. Isn't that what you wanted? Talking without fear of incarceration?"

"I suppose it is...yeah."

"Well then, get your smart ass in the jet before I throw it in for you."