I cradle Fin in my arms as Steve talks with Maria and Clint finishes a phone call from his "girlfriend." Steve reaches the table with a tablet showing Strucker's corpse.

"A message. Ultron killed Strucker," Steve informs us.

" And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us," Tony remarks.

"This is a smokescreen," Natasha points out. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

A lightbulb goes off in my brain, "Strucker knew something Ultron wants us to miss." I check my hunch on the computer, "...And Ultron erased everything we had on him."

"Not everything, " Tony says, I blink confused for a second before it dawns on me. We're going old school which means a lot of reading.

I groan as I read through another file on Strucker. "These people are all horrible."

"Wait, I know that guy," Tony points to the picture attached to the file I picked up, I hand it to him.

" From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms." Steve sends him the eyebrows of disappointment. " There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very "Ahab."

Thor points to something on Klaue's neck, "This brand here."

" Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way," Dad reads from a computer screen.

"Which dialect?"

My dad looks closer at the screen, "W-Wakanada-"

"Wakanda," I correct with a soft glance in his direction. I acted like a complete brat yesterday.

" If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony trails off.

Steve's eyebrows knit together, "I thought your father got the last of it."

That sounds familiar...what if Wakanda had a secret stash of vibranium that they're not sharing with tne rest of the world. I mean how else could get it?...Probably not, right?

"I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?" Dad questions.

I look at Steve's shield as Tony answers, "The strongest metal on earth."

I roll my eyes, "Stop being so dramatic, he means vibranium. It's what the shield is made of."

"You are a buzzkill," Tony pouts.

I stick my tongue out in response.

"Wheels up in 30," Steve tells us before walking away.

Everyone leaves, leaving my dad and me alone. I shift my weight uncomfortably as I prepare for an awkward conversation, "I'm sorry for last night."

"No, it was my fault. I didn't even realize how much I was ignoring you. And then this whole mess with Ultron..."

"Ultron is the result of the Mind Stone, its not your fault, "I assure him.

He looks at me confused, " Mind Stone?"

"Nevermind. I'm just sorry for how I acted."

He smiles anyway, "I think I owe you a day out after all of this is over."

" I don't think I've gotten the chance to visit the British Library, I heard it's one of the biggest in the world," I suggest with a grin on my face.

"Sounds like a plan, as soon as Ultron is a pile of dust, we'll go, "He tells me.

"Promise?"

He throws his arm around me, "Promise."

***

I didn't even let Steve begin to protest as I suited up for the mission, I shoot him a defiant glare and get into position.

Steve, Tony, Thor and I are above where Klaue is giving Ultron vibranium. We listen in as Ultron speaks to Klaue. "-Stark is a sickness!"

"Now," Steve commands and we jump onto the bridge.

"Ahh, Junior. You're going to break your old man's heart," Tony quips.

Ultron chuckles, "If I have to."

Thor steps forward slightly, "We don't have to break anything."

"Clearly, you've never made an omelet," Ultron retorts.

Tony sniffs, "He beat me by one second."

" Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" Pietro sneers.

Tony looks away, "This was never my life."

"Please stop. You two don't have to do this," I warn. "You can still walk away."

Wanda purses her lips, "Oh, we will. I just wish you were with us but you chose your side."

"I know you've suffered," Steve tries.

Ultron groans dramatically, " Uuughh! Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."

"If you believe in peace, then you will let us keep it," Thor negotiates.

" I think you're confusing peace with quiet," Ultron observes.

Tony rolls his eyes, " Yuh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?"

"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan!" Robots drop down on top of us.

I shoot at the legions with my twin guns until I run out of ammo then I start blasting them with photon rays.

More robots show up and I do my best to keep them at bay.

A blue blur passes by and suddenly I'm underneath the bridge.

I whip my head around and see a flash of red. The room starts to transform into...something new but familiar.

A metal arm holds me back as bullets fly past us. "It's okay now, младшая сестра."

"большой брат, я могу позаботиться о себе," I protest.

"Quiet, be careful as we proceed," He scolds.

"I know, большой брат."

The scene fades away to another one. I'm sitting with the Soldier on the ground, we're going over a new mission. No words are spoken between the two of us that would lead to punishment, just subtle hand movements.

'Don't let them make you forget.' He signs to me.

I sign back, 'I won't.'

"Remember the words. They help you remember."

We start signing in unison, "Longing, stainless, fourteen, sunset, ocean, benign, six, departure, zero, freight car."

A Hydra agent walks in, "Girl, Pierce wants to see you."

I share a glance with Soldier as I stand up, he nods and signs, "Don't forget."

The scene changes again to the night that haunts me, the night I escaped. There's a huge crash as a man with dark long hair and a metal arm blows a hole in the house. My handlers are both shot down. The man that I didn't recognize back then but the one that I always knew, unlocks the concrete door that separated me from humanity.

He only looks back once to say, " Good luck, little sister."

I look on silently as a mist begins to disperse throughout the house and rock begins to form around me.

My eyes flutter open, still dazed, "большой брат..."

I'm laying with a blanket over me on the floor by my dad. His arms are hugging himself in a sweater as if it were a straight jacket. There's only one thing that could make him like this, a hulk out.

My head lifts up slightly, "What happened?"

"The Maximoff girl played with your minds. We had a code green, it wasn't pretty. We're heading to a safe house we should be there soon, so strap in," Tony informs me.

I wrap the blanket around my body. Fin cuddles next to me, having an emotional support animal is actually pretty helpful. I stare into the passing countryside outside, lost in the mess that I call a brain.

James Buchanan Barnes rescued me. He's the only reason I'm where I am right now. Bucky killed my handlers. I owe him everything, definitely way more than a few plums.

It's like Wanda knocked down a wall in my brain. I get flashes of my previous life, people who tried to help...people I killed.

So many corpses....

I remember meeting Wanda and Pietro and how we were held in the same compound. I remember Agent Carter, she would never fight me but she'd always win.

I don't remember everything, just fragments. A few conversations, a few fights. Snippets of the memories that have been robbed from me.

I look up as we land on a farm. I notice something is off the moment we step in the 'safe house', this isn't traditional. In fact, if I didn't know better I'd say it was...

"Honey, I'm home," Clint calls out and a very pregnant woman steps out and kisses him on the cheek. " Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."

"This is an agent of some kind," Tony mutters to me.

"I don't think so..." I whisper back, eyeing the woman, that is obviously his poor misguided wife. I can't believe she married Clint.

Clint holds the woman around the waist, "Guys, this is Laura."

"I know all your names," She waves awkwardly as two small children run in the room. Oh, he has kids too. I feel bad for the kids.

"Dad!" Clint picks up the boy.

" These...are smaller agents," Tony mumbles in denial.

The girl jumps up and down, "Did you bring Auntie Nat?"

Natasha crouches down, " Why don't you hug her and find out?"

"Sorry for barging in on you," Steve apologizes after taking everything in.

"It's no problem," She assures.

Tony finally accepts the truth, "Yeah, sorry we were busy having no idea you existed."

" Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off SHIELD's files, I'd like to keep it that way," Clint explains with the slightest warning."I figure it's a good place to lay low."

Natasha leans over Laura's stomach, "How's little Natasha?"

"She's...Nathaniel?"

Natasha scowls slightly, "Traitor."

There's a small crunch as Thor steps on some legos. He then strides out of the house and Steve follows him.

I look around the cozy home, I've never been in anything like this. There are child pictures on the fridges and small toys scattered around. I can't help but think this is what my life could've been. A happy normal life. I guess it's just not for Banners.

Dad goes upstairs to shower and Tony joins Steve in cutting logs. No one is really in the mood to talk.

Lila tugs on my shirt and points to the barn, "There's a pirate in there that wants to talk to you."

"Okay...why not? I'll be back." I walk past Tony and Steve aggressively arguing, I swear one day they're going to get into a big fight and everyone else will pay the consequences.

The barn is low lit and there's no pirate in sight.

"Long time," A voice speaks out from behind me, a voice that I know all too well.

I scoff, "Should've known."

Nick Fury steps out of the shadows, "Had to see it for myself. The infamous Crimson Devil became a little teenage girl. My wish has come true.

"I haven't been called that in a very long time, I'd like it to stay that way. I'm guessing you knew about my true parentage for a while."

"Of course I did," He confirms, "I heard rumors of a girl that could only be you, I told Hill and she told Cap to pick you up. It was time for you to meet your dad."

I shake my head a little, "The spy has a heart, huh? Nice to know."

"I just wanted you to stop being controlled by psychopaths and killing people. You also help keep Banner calm, no incidents," He candidly explains.

I arch an eyebrow with a glint in my eye, "Whatever you say, Uncle Fury."

"Get out and send Stark in. And never call me that again," He orders.

Before I exit I pause and say without looking back, "Thanks for everything."

I tell Tony to go check out the tractor and then head to go to talk to my dad about everything that's happened lately.

I can't even imagine what he must be going through right now, he was forced into code green and people ended up getting hurt.

I run up the stairs to the room we're sharing when I hear Natasha's voice, " I'm running with it, with you. If running's the plan, as far as you want."

" Natasha, where can I go? Where in the world am I not a threat?" Dad responds.

Wait...what?

Natasha scoffs, "You're not a threat to me or Emily."

" You sure? Even if I didn't just...there's no future with me. I can't ever...I can't have this, any more kids, do the math, I physically can't. Emily's the only one and she's basically her own person already. Sometimes I think think she would be just fine without me."

He doesn't think he can ever have a future with anyone...including me. If he leaves, I think he'll leave me too. Would he? Would he actually leave me behind? What did Wanda show him that was so bad that he would leave me?

" Emily does need you and she's all I can have too. In the Red Room, where I was trained, where I was raised, um, they have a graduation ceremony. They sterilize you. It's efficient. One less thing to worry about. The one thing that might matter more than a mission. It makes everything easier. Even killing. You still think you're the only monster on the team?"

Dad doesn't respond for a while, "What, so we disappear?"

"Emily doesn't need to be trapped in this world of constant fighting. We can take her and go," Natasha suggests. "She can live a semi-normal life."

Clint sneaks up behind me, "You know, if they're talking about you, you should ask them about the full conversation before running away in tears."

"What do you want?" I scowl, turning around and away from my dad.

"Fury called a team meeting, by the way, he's alive," Clint lets out a long sigh, "I swear if one more person fakes their death, I'm going to kill them. It's like no one dies anymore."

I roll my eyes, "Let's go."

***

" Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing," Fury tells us.

" What about Ultron himself?" Steve asks.

" Ah. He's easy to track, he's everywhere. Guy's multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though," Fury replies. "He's still after nuclear codes but he's not making any headway."

Tony scoffs, " I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."

" Yeah, well, I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that," Fury alludes.

I answer Steve's question before he can say it, " It's the world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there, fastest access on earth."

" He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed," Fury concludes. "Ultron's got an enemy. I'd pay folding money to find out who it is."

" I might need to visit Oslo, find our "unknown," Tony comments.

Natasha sighs, " Well, this is good times, boss, but I was kind of hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that."

" I do, I have you," Fury gestures to us. "Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. Here we all are, back on earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

I look at Steve, "He doesn't like that kind of language."

"You know what Banner?"

I tune out of the conversation as my head begins to pound. Someone's hurt. They need help.

"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve."

Fury's eyebrows furrow, "How?'

I wince in pain as my eyes turn light blue, "Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

Natasha enters a number into her phone and lets it ring, "She isn't picking up her phone."

"Are we just ignoring her eyes and the fact she just happened to know Helen Cho is on trouble?" Tony asks and no one pays attention to his question.

"We split up in teams. Tony, you hit Nexus. Fury, you drop the Banners off at the Tower, and I'll take Natasha and Clint," Steve lays out the plan.

I raise my hand slightly, "I'm going with you too."

"No-"

"I am going to go with you, end of discussion m."

Steve sighs, "Bruce?"

"I won't stop her if she wants to," Dad decides with a hand on my shoulder.

"We can't waste any time, get ready."

I place Fin on my dad's shoulder, "Take care of him for me."

"How did you know about Helen?" Dad asks as he takes Fin off of his shoulder.

"I don't really know. Just a hunch," I kiss him on the cheek, "See you later, Dad, don't go green while I'm gone."

He gives me a look, then laughs, "See you later, sweetheart."

I smile at him before going to the jet.