Ash's POV

Once Fury dropped me and Bruce off at Avengers Tower, he took Maria with him to wherever he was planning on going while the others went to Dr. Cho's lab.

I had gone to change into my lab attire since I had been wearing the same dress from the party and it had gotten dirty and ripped from being abducted by Ultron and my jumpsuit needed to be cleaned quickly.

I was sitting on one of the workshop tables doing the power concentration technique Xay taught me to see what else I was now capable of doing when I felt my new marks heat up steadily and a stabbing pain went through my head before a vision of Earth being swiftly hit by a large fireball from outer space.

Gasping both in shock and pain, I lept off the table and held my head as the stinging started to go away, but the vision left me with a bad feeling of impending doom.

"You OK?" I looked up to see Bruce standing there looking at me worriedly.

"No," I admitted while shaking my head, "I think Ultron's planning on more than just the Avenger's extinction."

I tried to straighten up but I leaned forward and stumbled in place before I could fully stand up straight again.

"Maybe it's just the radiation overload, you haven't deposited into D.R.E.I. in a while."

"Oh yeah..." I looked to the tags on my wrists and realized that maybe I just needed to rid myself of the excess radiation energy that had no doubt been building up inside of me with all the traumatic recent events.

I walked over to the chair on the platform with two circles of metal on the armrests that had tubing leading to underneath the lab where it would be converted into clean energy, but after I sat down and connected the tags with the metal discs, the screen announced that there was no excess radiation within me.

"That doesn't make any sense..." I thought aloud to myself.

"Unless..." Bruce started to say and I realized what he was thinking so I finished his thought as I looked at the tags on my wrists remembering the platinum discs that had been over them earlier,

"Ultron took my extra radiation energy when he captured me for whatever he's planning."

"Are you... doing alright after... all of that...?"

I looked at Bruce considering his question before I answered,

"I don't know..."

"Do you... want to talk about it?"

"Yes." I answered honestly and I moved to face him as he pulled up a chair from a desk nearby.

"I just don't know... I know I should feel happy that we saved Xay and that I have my marks now and I know more about my home now but I just feel... emptier than before and I don't know why... maybe it's because I thought Wanda and Pietro were good and then they turned on me because I refused to let them hurt you and I still think they're good but Ultron's steering them the wrong way and a part of me wants to help Ultron but everything is just so confusing..." Towards the end of my sentence I started to sob and I was pulled into a hug as Bruce comforted me,

"Woah woah hey it's OK..." Patting my back and letting me cry onto his shoulder as I bawled out,

"I just... I wish I could make sense of everything... everything is so confusing right now... I feel like... I don't even know what to believe anymore..."

"Well, part of life is accepting that some things take a while to make sense if at all, but sometimes uncertainty can be a good thing."

"How?"

"It makes you more open to new ideas and things. Like how I should've been more open about what you are to me."

"What?" I asked as I pulled away from the hug.

"Nat told me about how you told her that you saw me as a father for all these years."

"Oh no..." I pulled my knees up to my chest and hid my face in them, embarrassment rising up in my face.

"Hey it's OK..." I could feel him patting my back again before asking, "Why didn't you tell me how you feel?"

"I just..." I took a deep breath and let my legs down before explaining, "I thought I was just your obligation after you took me in... and I never wanted to feel like a burden to you... that's why at first I did my best to stay out of your way but still help wherever I could... over time you did more than keep me hidden... you kept me safe, helped me learn and grow... You've always been there for me and I-" I was cut off when Bruce pulled me into a hug and I was startled at first but slowly hugged back as he told me,

"Ash, I will always be there for you, whether I'm here or not..."

"Thank you..." We hugged for a little longer before pulling apart and I started wiping my tears away with my sleeve saying, "I'm sorry for acting like such a coreling."

"What's-?"

"A little kid."

"Oh."

I laughed lightly before a voice rang out,

Hey you guys?

We went over to the computer to see Clint in the Quinjet on the screen.

"We read you Clint."

I'm bringing the Cradle in now.

I noticed the grim look on his face on the screen as he piloted the Quinjet to land.

"Clint? What's wrong?" I asked worriedly and my blood ran cold when he answered,

Nat's been taken by Ultron.

Short Time Skip

"Anything on Nat?" Bruce asked worriedly.

"I haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it." Tony answered as he walked into the lab.

"This is sealed tight." Clint told us and he jumped down from the top of the Cradle.

"We're gonna need to access the program, break it down from within." Bruce went over to a screen to start searching for a way to access the Cradle.

"Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the Internet? Old-school spy stuff?" Tony suggested.

"There are some nets I can cast." Clint walked away and I quickly walked after him,

"Clint?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell her to be careful, we don't know what Ultron could be capable of doing anymore..."

"Don't worry, I'll find her." Clint walked away and I walked back to Tony and Bruce just as Tony was telling him,

"Our ally... the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes, I found him."

Pulling up a very familiar hologram from the computer as he spoke,

"Hello, Dr. Banner, Ms. Ash."

"JARVIS?" I looked in surprise at the hologram in front of me with a relieved smile as Tony explained,

"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS because he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So JARVIS went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together."

"So, you want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?" Bruce questioned gesturing from JARVIS to the body within the Cradle.

"No! Of course not. I wanna help you put JARVIS in this thing." Tony corrected him and the rest of their conversation was drowned out as I felt some kind of pull coming from the Cradle and I was about to put my hand on it when I heard JARVIS say,

"Ms. Ash?"

"Huh?" I pulled away from the Cradle to face the three of them and I gave them a supportive nod before Bruce announced,

"Let's get to work."

Short Working Time Skip

"This framework is not compatible." Tony announced from his position by the computer while I was down by the Cradle with my tablet in hand.

"The genetic coding tower is at 97% and steadily rising." I informed them as the screen told me that the body was ready for upload.

"You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes." Bruce told him and we all worked to get it done right before a voice sounded from the entrance to the lab,

"I'm gonna say this once." We all looked up to see Steve standing there with Wanda and Pietro behind him.

"How about 'none-ce'?" Tony snarked as he demanded,

"Shut it down!"

"Nope, not gonna happen."

"You don't know what you're doing."

"And you do? She's not in your head?" Bruce questioned while pointing to Wanda.

"I know you're angry." Wanda spoke but Bruce cut in,

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

Right before everyone started to argue despite my pleas from them to stop,

"Banner, after everything that's hap-"

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!"

"You don't know what's in there."

"This isn't a game!"

When a blue blur whirled around the Cradle unplugging all the wires from it and making the whole thing start to spark up.

"No, no. Go on. You were saying?" Pietro told them right before a gunshot rang out and the floor beneath him gave in and he fell through the floor.

"Pietro!" Wanda shouted after her brother and I was about to run over to her when a beeping sound alerted me to the critical condition of the body within the Cradle.

"We're losing it!" I warned Tony as more red warnings showed up on my screen.

"I'm rerouting the upload." Tony was about to do so when Steve threw his shield in the direction of the computer, destroying it before Tony's glove came zipping onto his hand and he sent a blast to Steve as the rest of his armor started to come on and Wanda looked ready to attack when Bruce disarmed from her behind,

"Go ahead, piss me off."

"Don't!" I looked to him with a pleading look right before Steve took another shot at Tony and they were both sent colliding to the floor

"Stop it!" I yelled to the two of them but I went unheard as Clint came back up with a gun in his hand.

That gave Wanda enough time to free herself and blast Bruce away, ready to hit him again when I shouted to her,

"No!"

Right before Thor came into the lab and leaped up onto the top of the Cradle to raise his hammer into the air, looking like he was ready to bring it down on it.

"Wait!" Bruce yelled right before Thor brought it down to the Cradle to charge it.

All was quiet for a few seconds before the metal casing was wrenched open forcing Thor off to land next to me and to allow a being out to land in a crouched position. He was a humanoid with reddish skin with silver lines all over his form and there was a yellow stone in the center of his forehead.

The being slowly stood up looking at himself and everyone in the room before setting his sights on me and Thor. Abruptly he lunged toward Thor who threw him through the lab wall and almost out of the Tower if the being hadn't stopped himself by levitating right in front of the window to look out at the city below.

Thor and I jumped down after him and Steve followed with his shield in hand ready to attack when Thor held out his hand and I spoke to him telepathically as Xay taught me,

Stop! He's just confused...

Everyone gathered around, Thor put his hammer down and Pietro sped into the room, as the being floated down from the window and something clothing adjacent formed over himself before he spoke,

"I am sorry. That was...odd. Thank you."

Nodding to Thor before copying his cape but a bright yellow instead of his red.

"Thor. You helped create this?" Steve demanded to know.

"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that." Thor explained before pointing to the gem in the center of the being's forehead.

"What? The gem?" Bruce questioned.

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring-" Steve started to ask but Thor interrupted him,

"Because Stark is right."

"Oh it's definitely the end times." Bruce spoke but I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor explained.

"Not alone." The Vision added.

"Why does your Vision sound like JARVIS?" Steve questioned.

"We reconfigured JARVIS's matrix... to create something new." Bruce explained.

"I think I've had my fill of new." Steve seethed quietly before the Vision spoke,

"You think I'm a child of Ultron."

"You're not?"

"I'm not Ultron. I am not JARVIS. I am... I am."

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation." Wanda walked toward him with a distrustful expression.

"Look again."

"Her seal of approval means jack to me." Clint spoke up from where he was standing.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone. And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side-"

"Is it? Are you? On our side?" Steve interrupted Thor's speech to ask the Vision.

"I don't think it's that simple." The Vision spoke calmly and peacefully.

"Well, it better get real simple real soon." Clint told him.

"I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked and the Vision answering while motioning with his head to him,

"You."

"Where?"

"Sokovia. He's got Nat there, too." Clint answered.

"If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..." Bruce started to warn the Vision before he asked,

"What will you do?"

"He's good." I spoke up from my position and everyone turned to look at me in question before I added, "I can feel it..."

Closing my eyes I could feel the warmth around my marks and when I opened my eyes back up I could see that my core was glowing and so was the Mind Stone before they both dimmed back down.

"Somehow Ultron knew about my connection to the stone, that's why he took me, he thought I would be able to control or power it... but that won't happen anymore..." I looked to the Vision and I nodded to him as he started to address everyone while walking around the room,

"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. But we need to go." At the end of his speech he held up Thor's hammer to him and everyone's eyes went wide at the sight except for me, Wanda, and Pietro.

"Right." Thor spoke and walked off, patting Tony's shoulder to say, "Well done."

"Suit up." Steve told everyone and we all went to suit up for our next mission.

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