「10」

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Alyssa leaned against the table, watching as her father, Bruce, and Clint observed the Cradle.

She had an awkward flight back home with Clint, who didn't talk once. Alyssa knew he was upset about Nat. She was too.

So when they finally arrived back at the tower, she wasn't surprised that Clint immediately took on the task of finding out where Ultron had taken her.

After he had left, Alyssa zoned out until she perked up at a quarrel between Bruce and Tony.

"...You have to trust me," said Tony.

"Kind of don't," Bruce shot back.

"What's going on?" Alyssa asked, her arms crossed.

The men ignored her, circling the Cradle as Tony activated JARVIS.

"Our ally? the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him," he said, pointing at the hologram. "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."

"Dad, you can't seriously be saying you want to-" Alyssa was cut off by Bruce, who said quietly; "You, want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?"

Alyssa scoffed.

What's with people ignoring me today?

"No! Of course not. I wanna help you put JARVIS in this thing," replied Tony.

Bruce shook his head, pacing around the cradle, listening to Tony try and convince him.

Alyssa just rubbed her temples and said nothing. She knew that in the position she and Tony were in that she could do nothing to stop him.

"It's not a loop, Banner. It's the end of the line."

ꕥ

Nat slowly stirred, lifting her head when a voice rang out.

"I wasn't sure you would wake up. I hoped you would. I wanted to show you. I don't have anyone else," Ultron said, his voice echoing in the dark caves of his station.

Nat groaned as she tried to sit up and Ultron continued.

"I think a lot about meteors. The purity in them. Boom! The end. Start again. The world made clean for the new man to rebuild. I was meant to be new. I was meant to be beautiful. The world would have looked to the sky and seen hope, seen mercy. Instead, they'll look up in horror because of you. You've wounded me. I give you full marks for that," he said, taking heavy steps toward Nat.

"But, like the man said, what doesn't kill me, just makes me stronger." Ultron finished as he pulled the cage doors closed, his red, menacing eyes being the last thing Natasha saw.

ꕥ

In Tony's lab, Bruce and Tony were concentrated on transferring JARVIS into the cradle's body. Alyssa didn't want to stay, so she left and tried to find Clint. He was in a secluded room, but he had all the things that he would need in order to catch a signal from Nat. Sadly he didn't receive one yet.

Alyssa stayed with Clint, picking her nails while she was watching him fiddle with the radio over and over.

"Clint, you should eat something. Or at least drink something. It's been two hours," she said, concern evident in her voice. But Clint merely shook his head, grabbing the headphones and holding them to his ear.

"Can't. She could message something any minute," he replied.

Alyssa sighed and stood up, patting him lightly on the shoulder.

"I'm gonna go see if my dad created yet another murder bot. Tell us when you hear something," the girl said, exiting the room and slowly making her way back to the lab.

She entered the room and Tony looked up briefly before looking back at his scans, sighing.

"This framework is not compatible."

"The genetic coding tower is at 97%. You've got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes," Bruce said, pacing around the cradle.

Alyssa stepped toward the large glass tube, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she looked down at the process. She was about to ask something when suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she turned around just in time to see Steve walk in; the Maximoff twins right behind him.

"I'm gonna say this once," Steve stated.

"How about 'none-ce'?" Tony countered.

"Shut it down," the captain ordered.

"Nope, not gonna happen," replied Tony.

"Dad..." she warned, looking at him pointedly. Tony ignored her once again, stepping around the cradle to face Steve.

Alyssa noticed the subtle face of disgust coming from the twins at her remark. She noticed the tension getting thicker, and her hands lightly drifted over her guns.

"You don't know what you're doing," said Steve, his demeanor getting more serious by the second.

"And you do? She's not in your head?" Bruce said, pointing at Wanda, who was standing close to her brother. At Bruce's words, she took a step forward.

"I know you're angry," she said, her words laced with her thick accent.

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

"Banner, after everything that's happened-"

"That's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony interrupted Steve, continuing with the upload.

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

"This isn't a game."

In all the arguing, Alyssa didn't take her eyes off Pietro, who sighed and rolled his eyes.

He's not gonna-

Her thoughts got interrupted when Pietro suddenly ran around the room, unplugging every cable and stopping every transaction.

The cradle powered down and everyone looked at the blonde-haired man in shock.

Oh, he was gonna.

"No, go on. You were saying?" he said mockingly, when a shot rang out.

The glass under Pietro's feet shattered and he fell, landing roughly on the floor with Clint standing above him.

"What, you didn't see that coming?" he smirked.

"I'm rerouting the upload," Tony said, facing the computers.

Steve, however, took the opportunity and flung his shield across the room, damaging the computers and cutting off any available power.

Immediately a fight broke loose, and Tony blasted Steve on the ground as Bruce took Wanda in a headlock. 

Steve and Tony ran towards each other again but had to stop because Alyssa ran between them, one gun in each of her hands, pointed at each of their faces.

"Stop it! How the hell is this gonna end? With you two beating each other to death because of some stupid decision?" she yelled angrily and looked at her father.

Tony's face wavered for a moment as his brows furrowed. Steve sighed as he grabbed his shield tighter.

"Ally, I can't have-" Steve got cut off when someone jumped on the cradle.

Everyone's eyes went wide when they saw Thor standing there with his hammer in hand. He conjured a mass of lightning; bright enough to blind anyone who looked directly at it and directed it straight at the cradle.

For a moment, everything was silent.

Then the cradle exploded, and Thor got flung across the room. Glass shards flew everywhere, and Tony quickly pulled Alyssa with him behind some crates, covering her so she wouldn't get hit.

They all stared as something... no, someone emerged from the cradle. His skin was red, his eyes were closed, and the mind stone was embedded into his forehead, shining brightly.

He stood up as his eyes wandered across the room, stopping on Thor. Suddenly, he lunged at the god, but Thor quickly deflected him, throwing him through the window, when suddenly he stopped mid-air. It seemed like he was observing himself in his reflection. As everyone got in their fighting stance, Thor held a hand out, signaling everyone to stay where they are.

The red figure slowly floated towards the ground again, materializing a grey suit and an orange cape as he stopped before Thor. "I'm sorry, that was odd. Thank you," he said, his voice surprisingly deep.

"Thor," panted Steve, "you've helped create this?"

"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that," the god responded, pointing at the glowing stone in the middle of the figure's forehead.

"What? The gem?" questioned Bruce.

"It's the mind stone. It's one of the six infinity stones. The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities," Thor explained.

"Then why would you..."

"Because Stark is right. The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," Thor interrupted Steve.

"Not alone," added the figure.

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

"We... we reconfigured JARVIS's matrix to create something new," Tony said, looking at Vision with wide eyes.

"I've had my fill of new," Steve scoffed.

This is getting weirder by the second. 

Alyssa was standing behind the twins as she observed the odd-looking man. His eyes cut to hers and Alyssa couldn't help but feel uneasy as the yellow shine of the infinity stone seemed to lure her in.

"You think I'm a child of Ultron," said Vision, breaking eye contact and turning to Steve.

"You're not?" the captain asked, the fact that he doesn't trust the man very clear.

"I'm not Ultron. I am not JARVIS. I am... I am," Vision concluded, looking around the room.

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," Wanda spoke up, approaching him warily.

"Look again," Vision offered, and Clint scoffed.

"Her seal of approval means jack to me," the archer said, crossing his arms. Alyssa looked at him as he entered the conversation, and judging by the grim look on his face, he still hadn't made progress in locating Natasha.

"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..." Thor stated, and this time it was Steve cutting him off.

"Is it? Are you on our side?" he questioned.

"I don't think it's that simple," Vision replied hesitantly.

"Well, it better get real simple real soon," Clint huffed, arms still crossed.

Vision heard him but didn't reply. Instead, he slowly stepped forward, his gaze steadily flowing across the room. "I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all," he declared.

"Well, what's he waiting for?" Alyssa asked, her eyes narrowed as she took in the man.

Vision looked at her for a moment, his eyes widening just barely as he observed her, before answering with one simple word; "You."

"Where?" Bruce asked.

No one answered and all the gazes went to Clint, whose stance shifted uncomfortably.

Alyssa took over as she saw the frown on her friend's face. "We don't know yet. We're still having trouble locating him. Or Nat," she said. "But Ultron's bound to make a mistake. We just have to keep looking," she assured and Clint flashed her a small, grateful smile.

"If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..." Bruce continued, a threat clearly lacing his words.

"What will you do?" Vision asked lowly. "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," said Vision, once more circling the room. 

"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," he said, ending his speech on a dramatic note.

He stepped towards Mjolnir, picking it up and handing it to Thor. Everyone's eyebrows shot up as they saw Vision holding the god's hammer effortlessly. Thor looked at him but then reached out hesitantly and took his hammer.

Everything was silent, and Vision didn't seem to notice what just happened as he quickly left the room.

Alyssa's brows were furrowed as she turned to Bruce and Tony. "So, Elmo can lift Mjolnir. What did you two do in there?"

Bruce shrugged with widened eyes as Tony cracked a confused smile. Alyssa could hear Pietro sniggering as Wanda hit him lightly on the arm.

Thor tapped his hammer on his palm a few times before following Vision down the stairs. Steve cleared his throat and turned to the team. "Okay. Everybody do what they can. Let's find Ultron."