Song: "Fall Into Me" by Forest Blakk, Lucas Estrada Remix

******

The next afternoon, I stood in front of the mirror in my dress for the Christmas party. Tony had insisted on getting me another one. The back was completely open, and it was perfect for my wings. It was a deep green color, and was short. My thoughts wandered to last night with Steve and I felt my cheeks begin to heat up, a smile stretching across my lips despite myself.

A part of me was scared still, but I knew it would be ok, because it was with Steve.

I paused and looked at myself in the mirror. I used the makeup Natasha and Tony had gotten me and curled my hair. I looked... pretty. Like a normal girl- that is if you ignored the wings. I released a breath and pulled on my heels. There were people here already- all friends of the others and people I had never met, or even heard of were here. New people. New experiences.

I looked over at the vase of flowers on my desk from Steve and smiled. And despite the fact that I knew Steve would be there and all my friends, there would be many I had never met before. I worried what they'd think of me.

I was an Avenger, right? I joined them. I went with them to Sokovia. I'm here to save the world. And Bruce and Tony and Clint will be at the party, and they'll introduce me to people. I get to meet Steve's friend Sam.

I released a breath, then opened the door to my room and made my way to where the party was being held. I kept my wings folded in tight to my body and tried to avoid eye contact with everyone in the room until Thor suddenly yelled,

"Avery! You came! It is so good to have you, and don't you look great!" He said and walked over to me.

I jumped when he yelled my name, my wings raising slightly and I felt my face heat up as it felt like every eye in the room was now trained on me and my feathered appendages.

"Th-Thank you, Thor." I said and patted his arm awkwardly as his other pulled me into his side.

"Come! Rogers, look!" Thor yelled, throwing his arm around my shoulders, and I felt my face go scarlet as I looked up and met Steve's eyes from across the room. His eyes widened, mouth parted slightly as he looked at me, and a smile appeared on his face.

I moved Thor's arm off of me and walked over to him as the rest of the party continued to chat. Steve moved away from where he had been talking with someone else, a man with a leather jacket.

Steve took my hand, lifting it to place a kiss on my knuckles. "You look amazing, Miss Avery Grace."

I smiled, squeezing his fingers and replied, "And you look handsome, Mr. Rogers." 

He smiled and entwined his fingers with mine and kissed my forehead. "Not as beautiful as you. I came in just what I had. The green suits you nicely."

I smiled and held his forearm with my other hand. "When I went dress shopping, Tony insisted I get this one, too."

He smiled at that, then asked, "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you. I don't drink alcohol," I say with a wince. "I do love club soda, though."

"My lady's wish is my command." He replied with a dorky grin and went over to get me a soda.

I smiled as I watched him go, then turned to see the man he had been speaking to stand in there with a smirk on his face.

"What?" I asked, feeling somewhat defensive.

He merely shrugged, a smirk on his face. "So, you're the Avery Grace Steve's been talking about for so long."

"He has been talking about me?" I asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, he has. He told me about you a few months ago. You were training still, healing maybe. But there was this whole issue with S.H.I.E.L.D. being compromised by some terrorists, and I helped him."

"Oh, are you Sam?" I asked. "Steve's mentioned you before. Called you a very good friend."

Sam seemed slightly surprised at that, but nodded, a small smile on his face. "Yeah. He's a softie. Puts on a tough face for everyone else, you know? It takes a special someone for him to be open and vulnerable. You mean a lot to him."

"He means a lot to me," I replied. "He needs to be able to be free to be himself.

Sam smiled at that, and Steve appeared again with a small glass with ice and a bubbling liquid. "I got you a lemon- I thought you might like one for your club soda." He hands me the glass and I smiled, accepting it and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you. I was just talking to Sam about some cool mission you went on to save S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Oh, were you?" He asks as he looks at Sam. His hand moved to take mine as he stood next to me. "That certainly was an experience."

"You should tell her more about it, Cap," Sam said as he crossed his arms over his chest, sending him a smirk. 

"I'd love to hear all about it," I said and looked up at him.

He nodded, laughing slightly before taking a sip of his drink. "I'll tell you later. It's not a cheery topic. C'mon, I want you to meet some people."

I let him lead me around the room and I held his hand as he introduced me to colleagues and Tony's friend Colonol James Rhodes, who he called Rhodey. There were several S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, and several other people, but I lost track of their names after a while. I stopped by Bruce and Nat to say hi and get another soda with a lemon.

Several people complimented my hair and a few said they wished they could have naturally silver hair. I merely smiled at the compliments, but wasn't sure they meant them.

It was late when everyone finally left. I sat curled on the couch next to Steve, wearing his jacket and my heels discarded on the floor. I rubbed at my aching feet and swore I'd never wear heels again. His arm rested across my shoulders as he sipped on a glass of water. I laid my head on his shoulder.

Thor set his hammer, Mjolnir, down on the coffee table and Clint scoffed.

"What? How?"

Thor shrugged. "It's an inanimate object. It can't be worthy or unworthy."

"Aw, c'mon. That has to be fake. Whats the rhyme? 'He whosoever be worthy shall have the power of Thor' or something like that?" Tony asks. "It seems childish to me. Weird conditions."

Thor grinned smugly and waved a hand at the hammer. "Be my guest, then."

I smirked into my mug of tea as I watched them all one by one stand and attempt to lift the hammer. Bruce even got up to try, even pretending to roar, but no one seemed impressed. Even Steve got up to try.

"Avery? What about you?" Tony asks and I looked up. "How about you try it."

I raised both eyebrows, but shrugged and stood, setting my mug of tea on the table, then walked over and grabbed ahold of the handle and pulled.

It didn't budge.

I released the handle and shrugged. "Guess I'm not Thor, either."

I sat back down next to Steve as his arm returned to wrap around me. Thor smirked. "No, it's quite simple really, you're all unworthy."

Then, the lights flickered above us and I frowned, looking up. There was a screeching sound and a thumping noise behind us. I stood, and Steve stood with me. I grabbed his hand and gripped it, hard.

The others stood up around us as a strange, limping robot lurched into the room grinding out, "Woooorrrtrhhhy? No. How could you be? You're all killers."

"Stark," Steve said standing up and I got up with him.

"Jarvis," Tony said.

I held onto Steve's arm and as the robot began to speak again. It began to mumble and I made out at the end, "I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

"You killed someone?" Steve asked. I carefully slid his jacket off my shoulders, tensing up and preparing myself for a fight. Steve held onto my hand protectively, standing somewhat in front of me.

"It was quite unfortunate really," The robot groaned, lurching another step closer. Wires sparked out of its joints and a few pieces of metal clanked onto the floor.

"Who sent you?" Thor demanded.

A sound like a scrubbing CD rattled from the robot's mouth and Tony's voice came out, "Peace in our time."

I sucked in a sharp breath and looked over at Bruce as he frowned. "Ultron..." He mumbled. He looked panicked and Tony's jaw was set.

"In the flesh," Ultron said. "Or no, not yet, not this chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" Natasha asked. She was watching Ultron closely. Steve's hand tightened around mine and I raised my wings slightly, getting ready to jump.

"Peace in our time," Ultron said and cocked his head to the side, and the wall exploded as suits came to life and began to shoot at us.

I yelped and dove over the nearest couch, Steve quickly behind me. Bullets shot through the air and I ran for the bar, creating a shield with my outstretched hand as Nat and Bruce made it on the other side.

I looked up at the robots flying around and lifted my hands and the robots in the room became trapped in white smoke-like tendrils. And then, they were crushed like paper, pieces of metal falling to the ground.

The others looked at me, then spun to Ultron. Steve met my eyes and nodded. He hefted his shield as he moved carefully closer to me.

"Well, that was dramatic," Ultron said and looked at us. "Oh well-"

He broke off when Steve threw his shield into his body and his voice faded away singing, "There are no strings on me..."

I clenched my jaw and said with an awkward, "Well, now I know I'll never be watching Pinocchio again."

"How did you do that?" Tony asked, turning to me. "That thing with the white smoke and the squashing the robots. It took you maybe three minutes."

I shrugged, looking down at my hands. "I don't know. I just didn't want any of you to get hurt, so... I guess I just did it." I closed my hands into fists as the residual glow began to fade away.

Everyone merely looked at one another, and no one spoke. No one would meet my eyes, either. I looked over at Steve and he offered me a small smile and held a hand out to me. I returned the smile and took his hand.

We moved to the Lab and and as soon as we were there, Bruce walked over to his desk and ran his hands over the cracked surface. The very desk he had been slaving over for the past few months. I frowned, watching him in concern as anxiety creased his brow.

"All our work... it's gone. Ultron is gone. He must have escaped into the Internet."

I walked over and put a hand on his shoulder and he smiled weakly at me.

"We're going to have to look everywhere. Files. Internet. He may know more about us than we do," Natasha said.

"Nukes. Weapons. He could start a war," Maria added gravely.

"And he killed somebody," Clint said, crossing his arms.

"But there was no one else in the building," Maria said. "And there's no bodies in here or anywhere else that we've found."

"Yes there was," Tony said and pressed a button and a hologram of an orange, shattered globe appeared. Jarvis.

Bruce frowned, walking towards it. "This is insane."

"Jarvis was the first line of defense. He could have shut down Ultron. It makes sense," Steve said as he moved to stand near me. I moved over and took his hand, my other holding tightly to the straps of my heels. His thumb caressed my knuckles as he held my hand securely. I leaned into him slightly, feeling nervous as the room seemed to grow more tense.

"No. Ultron could have assimilated with Jarvis. This isn't strategy this is... rage." Bruce corrected.

Suddenly, Thor stomped into the room and lifted Tony off of the ground by the throat. I stiffened and Steve squeezed my hand.

"It's going around..." Clint said snidely.

"Thor!" I shouted, panicked, as the whole room seemed to be at odds.

"Thor. The legionnaire," Steve said, winking at me. Thor set Tony down again and he looked at Steve and I. I sent him a disapproving look and Thor turned an angry expression back on Tony.

"The scepter is gone, too. Thor didn't have any luck finding it, and we're back to square one," Maria said. Thor seemed about ready to hit something. Or throw Tony across the room- whichever came first... as his thoughts were saying.

"We should have our focus be on Ultron right now," Natasha said. "We need to be focused."

"I don't understand," Dr. Cho said, looking between Bruce and Tony worriedly. "If you built this program, why would it want to kill us?"

Tony began to laugh, then, and Bruce began to shake his head at him.

"You think this is funny?" Thor demanded.

"No. It's probably not funny, right? This is terrible. It's so awful. It is. It's so terrible," Tony replied, all the while trying to hold in laughs.

"Tony..." I muttered, looking between him and Thor and wondering if I'd have to step in. Steve seemed to be the only thing able to hold me back at the moment.

"This could have been avoided if you didn't play with something you didn't understand!" Thor yelled.

I felt my shoulders beginning to tense as I watched my friends fight, my heart began hammering in my chest, pounding in my ears. This is what Ultron wanted.

Steve gently squeezed my hand and I looked up at him. He merely kissed my forehead, his grip tightened my hand reassuringly. I dropped the hells to the floor and moved my other hand to hold onto his forearm, taking only a little comfort from the gesture. I knew he didn't want me getting in the middle of it all.

"No. No. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this," Tony said and I winced.

"Tony, maybe this isn't the time you should-" Bruce began, but Tony interrupted him.

"Really? You roll over and show your belly now?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot," Bruce replied with equal sass.

"We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we even close to an interface?" Tony asks, holding his arms out to his sides.

"But you did. We're the Avengers. We're supposed to be different," Steve said, releasing my hand and walking towards Tony. I immediately felt more uneasy as I sensed their thoughts and began to fidget. I needed to hold onto something and picked up the heels again, my knuckles practically turning white at the grip I had on them.

"Anyone remember when I flew into a wormhole? Saved New York?" Tony asks.

Rhodey shakes his head and rolls his eyes. "Nope. Never heard that."

Natasha and Clint sent them annoyed looks. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Tony turns back to Steve and snarls, "We can bust our asses all the live long day and fight arms dealers and all that. But that up there? That's the endgame. How are we gonna tackle that?"

"Together," Steve says.

"We'll lose," Tony replied.

"Then we'll do that together, too," Steve said. He then turned to begin giving orders about what to do next about Ultron, but all I could do was look at Tony and Bruce across the room, frowning down at the tables and the empty space where Jarvis once was.

I couldn't help but fiddle with my hands, folding and unfolding my hands as I chewed on my lower lip. The room was filled with tension and I felt my eyes stinging. Was this my fault? Should I have said something to Steve about what Tony and Bruce were doing? No, but maybe if I did this wouldn't have happened.

Did I betray Steve by not saying anything? That thought alone chilled me to my core.

I clenched my fist around the straps of my heels as I pulled Steve's coat around my shoulders tighter.

"You knew about Ultron, didn't you?" Natasha asks, coming to stand closer to me. I spun around to face her to find Maria and Dr. Cho were also looking at me.

I shifted uncomfortably. "I did... but I believed in what Tony and Bruce were doing. They were just trying to help in the best way they thought they could."

"You weren't there for New York, so what would you know about any of this? About being the hero and making the tough choices? No offense, but you should have said something." Rhodey said.

His words felt like a kick to the gut, but I gave him a terse smile, refusing to let him see he had hurt me. "No. I was getting experimented on and tortured and turned half bird," I snarled. "But at least they were looking for another way to protect earth. We are humans. Humans die. Who replaces the Avengers if we're all dead, huh? Then who protects Earth from aliens and evil people like Strucker?"

Bruce walked over to the group and sent Rhodey a harsh look. "I personally don't see why you need to grill Avery. It was me and Tony, not her, that built Ultron. You also don't have any right to bring up her past like that."

I looked from Bruce to the shocked expressions on the other's faces and I felt my cheeks warm.

"We weren't grilling her- it's just we're under stress. We should all probably just go to sleep and come back to this tomorrow," Maria said cautiously. I noticed they all seemed to take a step back, or ready themselves in some way.

I looked up at Bruce, and there wasn't a hint of green, but I knew they were all thinking it. I moved a hand to Bruce's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I think it's late," I said tersely, looking around the room. "Fighting is not going to solve anything, either."

Steve appeared next to me, and he looped an arm around my shoulders. "I agree with Avery. Let's just try and get some sleep and we'll address this again tomorrow with clear heads."

I watched as everyone began to funnel out of the room slowly, and I looked over at Steve. I pulled his jacket around me tighter and looked at the floor, feeling my eyes mist with tears.

It wasn't until the room was empty that Steve spoke.

"Angel?" He asks softly, voice hardly above a whisper.

I looked up to meet his eyes. "Yes?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks finally.

"About what?" I asked, stiffening as I waited for the scolding. For him to tell me he was disappointed and that I had hurt him.

My heart began to hammer hard and fast in my chest. I was beginning to find it hard to breathe. "I-I'm sorry, Steve, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." A tear slid down my cheek, and then one more. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I-I didn't want to cause any more fights b-between you and T-Tony because I care for you both- a-and obviously you a lot more, but I just didn't want to-"

His hand moved to my face and I stiffened, my shoulders scrunching up. "It's alright, Avery, I'm not upset with you," he said softly. "Angel, don't cry. I'm not upset with you- not at all. Come here."

I looked up cautiously to see his arms were opened up, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. With a shuddering breath, I stepped in closer and wrapped my arms around him tightly, burying my face in his chest. His arms encircled me as he held me close, gently combing his fingers through my hair.

"But you are upset? Aren't you?" I mumbled against his chest.

His arms tightened around me, and one of his hands began to fiddle with a strand of my hair. "A little bit, yeah, but not with you, Angel. Not even a little bit. Tony and Bruce risked a lot doing that. And now the worst possible thing is happening. There's no telling what Ultron could do to the world as it is- to us. There's a lot of intel that S.H.I.E.L.D. has. Leaking it is dangerous and could empower our enemies with the tools they need to destroy us, and... I can't let anything happen to you."

I looked up at him and met his blue eyes. "Nothing is going to happen to me. I'm staying right here," I lifted my hands to his cheeks and he pushed his face into my hands. One of his hands lifted to cover mine as he turned his head to kiss my wrist.

"I'm sorry, Steve... I... don't do well with conflict and fights, and I get really anxious. And when I thought you were upset with me, I..." I squeezed my eyes shut.

I released a shaky breath, then said, "We'll take it on together. It's what we do. We're the Avengers, remember? Try not to be too angry with them, darling. They just wanted to help. So let's help them, now." I gently smoothed the collar of his shirt, my hands shaking slightly.

He smiled, his eyes shining slightly as he gently lifted his hands to cover mine and asked softly, "How do you do that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You... see people. You see them for their intentions and their hearts. You don't jump to judge. You are kind, all the time, even when people are unkind to you."

"I have gone through a lot of suffering in my life," I said softly. "I'd rather show empathy than bitterness because that's what people need."

He smiled and kissed my forehead. "It's one of the things I love most about you, Angel."

I smiled, merely closing my eyes and my arms wrapped around him.