────── ✼✼✼ ──────

────── ✼✼✼ ──────

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟏
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐃'𝐒 𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍

────── ✼✼✼ ──────

It didn't take much longer for Wanda to manage to convince Steve that Tony was most likely up to something, especially since the Stark man wasn't responding. The four heroes quickly did what they could to help clean up their mess before heading back to U-GIN labs. Once they reached the research facility, they sprinted onto the jet Ultron left behind and used it to get back to New York in hopes of stopping another disaster from being created by the two geniuses.

What felt like an eternity passed before they finally made it back to Avengers Tower. As soon as they landed the jet, Charlie ran alongside Captain America and the Maximoff twins through the halls of the building and toward the one place they knew Tony would be. The two scientists' voices greeted their ears as they neared the lab before Steve pushed the door open and the four of them rushed in. Shock filled every inch of the Barton girl's body at the sight of Tony and Bruce working on the Cradle before the feeling was replaced by annoyance.

"I'm gonna say this once," Steve announced while sending a glare the Stark man's way while Charlie stayed beside Pietro and Wanda.

"How about none-ce?" Tony responded with a hint of irritation in his voice as he turned around to face the Man Out of Time.

"Shut it down!"

"Nope, not gonna happen," the Stark man responded in almost a child-like manner before he went back to typing away on his keyboard.

"You don't know what you're doing," Steve tried to continue to negotiate with the billionaire, only for Bruce to turn around and face them with a furious look on his face.

"And you do?" the Banner man retaliated before his eyes left the Rogers man and landed on the Maximoff girl. Bruce just stared at Wanda for a long moment then he used the tool in his hand to point at her as he looked back at Steve and Charlie. "She's not in your heads?"

"No, but I can see Tony's in yours," Charlie scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest while the man in question sent an irritated look her way.

"I know you're angry," Wanda calmly said to Bruce as she took a few steps toward him before stopping next to Steve.

"Oh, we're way past that," the Banner man announced as his attention landed back on her, "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Banner, after everything that's happened-"

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony interrupted Captain America, who simply let out a long sigh before he continued arguing with the two scientists.

Charlie's eyes left the four of them as they continued to argue before her attention landed on Pietro. The two of them just stared at each other for a moment before an idea flashed through the archer's head. A small smile formed on her face as she whispered her plan into the speedster's ear, earning a smirk from Pietro in response. As soon as she finished speaking, the Maximoff boy left her side and sprinted toward the Cradle. The Barton girl did her best to follow his blurry form as he unplugged all of the cables that were attached to the device.

"No, no. Go on," Pietro said while everyone stared at him with different emotions in his eyes as he tossed aside the large wire in his hand, "you were saying?"

A small laugh passed over Charlie's lips as she walked over to where the speedster was standing before turning around to address the heroes. Just as she was about to open her mouth to say something to the heroes, the Barton girl felt Pietro's arms wrap around her body before the world around her became a blur. The next thing she knew, the glass beneath them shattered and they fell through the hole and into the workshop below. After letting out a groan, the archer slowly opened her eyes to find her father standing over them with a blank expression on his face. Charlie's lips parted to speak, only for her words to get cut off when Clint grabbed her wrist and forced her to her feet. Once his daughter was out of the way, the Barton man placed a foot on Pietro's legs to keep him in his place.

"What? You didn't see that coming?" Clint said with a smirk as he stared down at the immobilized speedster.

"Get your foot off of him!" Charlie exclaimed while pulling her father off of the Maximoff boy, causing the latter to turn his attention away from Pietro to look at his daughter.

"You're defending him now?" her father questioned while staring at the Barton girl as if she had just grown a second head before he took a step closer to her so that they were barely a foot apart then whispered, "he kidnapped you. He took you to that giant robot so that they could use you against us."

A sudden wave of irritation washed over Charlie as she stared at her father before she found the courage to respond to him. "He also kept that giant robot from hurting me. He kept him away from me while I was being interrogated. And he got me out of U-GIN when he could've easily left me behind with Ultron."

Before the father and daughter could argue any further, a loud crash followed by a bang came from the lab above them. Clint sent Charlie a warning look before he sprinted upstairs to assist with whatever was going on. As soon as the master archer was out of sight, the Barton girl turned around and helped Pietro to his feet. The two of them quickly brushed the glass pieces from the window off of them then followed the Barton man upstairs.

They got back up into Tony's lab just in time to see Wanda hit Bruce with a red pulse just as Thor appeared out of nowhere and jumped on top of the Cradle. The God of Thunder studied the machine under him for a moment before he began using Mjolnir to gather electricity. Pietro didn't hesitate to grab Wanda and Charlie's arms and pulled them back a few feet until they were standing next to Clint. It wasn't long after that when the blonde man shot all of the lighting he collected at the Cradle. The next thing everyone knew, a bright light filled the room followed by the machine breaking open, sending Thor flying backward into the glass behind him.

Charlie unconsciously took a small step toward her father as a red and dark green man slowly stood from the Cradle. The man's eyes scanned over everyone standing around him until his attention landed on Thor. The two of them just stared at each other for a long moment before the red and dark green man flew straight at the God of Thunder, only for the latter to easily throw the threat through the window behind him and into the lounge. While the man stared out of the New York landscape in front of him, everyone gathered on the top landing to watch the interaction between Thor, Steve, and the red and dark green man. An awkward silence began to surround them before Charlie's eyes widened in awe at the sight of clothes beginning to form around the man out of nowhere. As soon as his attire finished forming, the red and dark green man turned around to address the Avengers and their allies.

"I am sorry. That was...odd," was the very first thing that came out of his mouth before he turned his full attention toward Thor, "thank you."

There was nothing but silence as the two of them had another staredown while everyone else gazed at the new man. Charlie's mouth slightly parted to match her shocked expression when a cape came out of thin air and formed on his back.

"Thor," Steve said, drawing the blonde man's attention to him before he continued speaking, "you helped create this?"

"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks hope out of life, and at its center...is that," Thor explained while pointing at the stone in the middle of the man's forehead before turning his attention back to his allies, "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-"

"Because Stark is right," the God of Thunder interrupted Steve, causing Charlie to stifle a laugh at everyone's surprised expressions while Bruce muttered about it being the end times, "the Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."

"Not alone," the red and dark green man declared as he took a step closer to the heroes standing in front of him.

"Why does your vision sound like J.A.R.V.I.S.?" the Man Out of Time questioned while continuing to study the red and dark green man standing a few feet away from him.

"We reconfigured J.A.R.V.I.S.'s matrix to create something new," Tony explained as he circled around the man to see him from every angle.

"I think I've had my fill of new," the Rogers man stated without taking his eyes off of the man in front of him.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron," the man stated as he turned his attention away from the Stark man to look at Steve once again, only to receive an unconvinced look from the supersoldier, "I'm not Ultron. I am not J.A.R.V.I.S.. I am...I am."

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," Wanda said while walking toward the man before stopping a foot in front of him.

"Look again."

"Her seal of approval means jack to me," Clint scoffed as he made his way into the room before stopping between his daughter and the speedster.

"What about mine?" Charlie questioned her father, causing him to turn to her with a look of disapproval on his face while everyone stared at the two archers, "they saved a lot of people when they didn't have to, including me."

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone," Thor continued speaking while the Maximoff twins sent the young archer small smiles at the same moment her father's face softened, "and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side-"

"Is it?" Steve cut off the God of Thunder before he turned his attention back toward the red and dark green man, "are you? On our side?"

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

"Well, it better get real simple real soon," Clint told him as he turned his attention away from his daughter and back to the situation at hand.

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

"What's he waiting for?" Stark questioned.

"You."

"Where?"

"Sokovia," the Barton man answered, causing shocked looks to form on Charlie's and the Maximoff twin's faces as they and everyone else looked back at Clint, "he's got Nat there, too."

"If we're wrong about you," Bruce said as he took a few steps closer to the red and dark green man before stopping a few feet away, "if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..."

"What will you do?" The man's question was greeted with nothing but silence as he looked around the room and made eye contact with each of them. That continued for another moment before a look of realization made its way onto his face.

"I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique and he's in pain," Vision finally responded as he began to pace around the room, "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."

A small gasp managed to escape Charlie's lips at the sight of the God of Thunder's vision lifting Mjolnir and holding it out to Thor. Everyone froze as they stared at the scene in front of them before the blonde man hesitantly took his prized possession. Once the object was returned to its rightful owner, Vision walked straight past the Asgardian without a care in the world.

"Right," Thor said in a tone as if nothing out of the ordinary happened while simultaneously breaking the silence as he walked over to Tony before patting the man's shoulder twice, "well done."

All eyes were on Thor as he exited the room until he was out of sight. Charlie exchanged a confused look with her father before Steve cleared his throat and turned to look at the rest of the team with a serious expression on his face. "Three minutes. Get what you need."

────── ✼✼✼ ──────

────── ✼✼✼ ──────