Ira hit the floor with a thud. Her body collided with the hard floor of the training room, knocking the wind out of her and causing a gasp to slip out of her mouth. She groaned as she rolled over so she was facing the ceiling.

A hand came into view, reaching down to help Ira up. She gratefully took it, and allowed herself to be pulled from the ground to meet Natasha's calm face. "Do you want to go again?" the spy asked, and Ira nodded.

She backed away from the redhead, and set herself into a fighting stance; lowering herself and spreading her feet slightly apart. A slow breath left her lips as she stood motionless, waiting for Natasha to make the first move.

She didn't have to wait long.

The assassin darted forward quickly, lithe and agile as she threw a punch in Ira's direction. She managed to block it with a forearm, but it left her stomach open, which Natasha quickly exploited by driving a punch into Ira's stomach. She gasped but quickly rebounded, kicking a leg into Natasha's, causing it to buckle underneath her. But Natasha only used it as an opportunity to sweep her leg under Ira's foot, causing the blonde to tumble to the ground.

She quickly stood back up, aiming another punch at Natasha. But the spy easily dodged it; feinting to the right before whirling around to face Ira again. Exhaustion crept into her bones, but she fought it off, rapidly throwing punches and jabs at Natasha, managing to land a few. But the fight quickly ended when the more-experienced woman lightly drove a kick into Ira's stomach, sending her crashing into the ground.

A sigh left her lips as she pushed herself back to her feet. Natasha smiled sympathetically. "You've improved since last week," she offered, and Ira managed a smile, giving a nod of thanks to the redhead.

"Thanks," she responded. "I think I'm going to be done for the day," she told her, and Natasha nodded understandingly.

As Ira walked out of the training room, it was difficult for her not to feel frustrated at her lack of skills surrounding hand-to-hand combat. She acknowledged that she was a million times better than when she had started training, but a nagging voice in the back of her head convinced her that she wouldn't have enough experience to stop HYDRA.

And this killed her inside.

The very reason that she threw herself into every training session, endured every grueling day and midnight mission, was so she could destroy the festering weed that was the corrupt organization. But if she wasn't able to destroy it, then millions of people would keep getting hurt. And she couldn't let that happen.

Ira walked through the halls of the compound, heading to her room so she could change. When she reached it, she walked inside, setting her water bottle on the dresser and walking to her closet. She found a pair of clothes and threw them on quickly, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

Tony has mentioned in the morning that he wanted her to come down to his lab for something, but she wasn't sure what. So as she left her room and made her way to the lab, she mused over what Tony could want her to do. Did he need her help? Was it regarding a mission? She would have her answer soon enough.

Ira arrived at the lab and saw Tony through the glass walls of the room. He was hunched over a table, obstructing her view of whatever was occupying his interest. She raised a fist and knocked on the door, seeing him jolt up and look around, his gaze finally landing on her.

She pulled open the door, walking inside to join him at the table. "What do you need me for?" She asked, resting her hands on the tabletop in front of her.

"This," he replied vaguely, stepping back from the table so she could see what he had been looking at. It was a small device of some sort, made of green metal and closely resembling a computer chip. Wires twisted in and around it, and shiny golden plating sparkled in the center of it. Near the edge of the device, a small clear tube was set, with wires poking out of it.

"What," Ira asked, pointing a slim finger towards the device on the table, "Is that thing?"

"That," Tony replied as he snatched a small screwdriver that lay amongst a scattered pile of tools, "Is a device that will locate those that have Enhanced abilities like yours. Or at least it will be when I finish it," he muttered, using the screwdriver clutched in his fist to make an adjustment in the device. Once it was fixed, he straightened up with a satisfied smile on his face, and tossed the screwdriver back on the table.

"You still didn't answer my first question," she pointed out. "Why did you call me down here?"

"That is a little more complicated," Tony admitted. "Using the files taken from the HYDRA base in Jersey, I figured out how HYDRA gives the Enhanced their powers."

"How?" Ira asked curiously, furrowing her brow as she looked at the man in front of her.

"That's where it gets more complicated," he answered, while grabbing a file from another table. "This," he told her, plopping the file open on the table in front of her and pointing to a picture, "Is called Terrogen mist."

Ira tilted her head, staring at the picture that Tony's finger pointed to. It was of a small photo printed in the file showing swirling blue mist, not unlike the color of Ira's powers. "It's what gives Enhanced their powers," Tony continued.

While Ira listened to him talking about the mist, her gaze drifted past the picture towards the rest of the file. Kora Thorne, a name printed in bold letters announced at the top of the page. She mouthed the name as she read it, wondering who this woman was. Set next to the name was a picture of a woman with dark hair and fierce hazel eyes. She glared at whoever was taking the picture, pure hatred indicated in the grim set of her mouth and the fire in her eyes.

Ira read underneath Kora's name, scanning the document for a glimpse into the woman's life. All she managed to read were the words 'abilities: invisibility', and 'location: unknown', before she remembered Tony talking and snapped back to attention.

"...HYDRA somehow harnessed the Terrogen mist and condensed it into a liquid state, which they injected into the subjects. This gave them their powers," he was explaining.

"Will it give anyone powers?" She asked, and he shrugged.

"I'm not sure. All of this is what I've learned from the files. But anyways, the mist is in the bodies of the Enhanced. It's in their blood, their cells, everything." Ira glanced down at her bare forearm, half expecting dark blue blood to be running through the beings under her skin.

"So this brings me back to why I need you here," Tony began, seemingly more hesitant. "The device will scan cities and find the traces of Terrogen in the blood of those that are Enhanced. But in order to do that..." he paused, but Ira realized where he was going.

"You need blood with Terrogen in it?" She finished, and he nodded awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck and avoiding her gaze. "So you need my blood," She told him.

"Yeah," he replied. Two months before, Ira would have felt apprehensive and scared, and definitely would not have allowed Tony to use her blood. But two months ago she had still carried resentment against him. And in the past few months, she had realized how wrong she was about him. He regretted all of his past actions, and he apologized for them. And she trusted him.

So Ira simply said nothing, but held out her arm. "Do it," she told him, and he nodded. He walked over to a table, carefully lifting a small syringe out of a case. He brought it over to her, and, with an apologetic look beforehand, pierced her skin with the syringe.

Ira watched as a small quantity of crimson blood flowed into the syringe. She almost thought that she could see minuscule specks of blue amongst the scarlet background of the blood, small azure dots reminding her of what she had gone through.

When the syringe was nearly full, Tony drew it out of her arm carefully, and brought it over to the device. While he emptied the blood into the tube, Ira quickly sent a small zap of energy through her and to her arm, and she soon couldn't even tell where Tony had pricked her.

She walked over to him, watching as he meticulously filled the tube until it was full, and carefully screwed the cap on until it was sealed tightly. He gave a sigh of relief, and straightened up, setting the syringe aside and picking up the device in his hand.

"What do you do now?" Ira questioned, looking at the small metal device over his shoulder.

"Well," Tony told her as he walked over to a computer. "If it's built correctly, I should be able to scan the compound and have four blips pop up on the screen. If it's not," he trailed off and instead focused on plugging the device into a slot in the computer.

Ira peered excitedly over his shoulder, watching  as he brought up an aerial and side scan of the compound. "Now F.R.I.D.A.Y will scan the compound," Tony explained. They waited a moment before the a.i's voice echoed through the room.

"Scan completed." Tony grinned, and pressed a button on the keyboard of the computer, overlaying F.R.I.D.A.Y's scan and the aerial map until they were the same. Ira waited, her eyes glued to the screen as Tony made sure that the device was properly plugged in.

"Alright," he muttered softly, took a deep breath and pressed another button. They waited with bated breath, intently watching the screen in front of them. But nothing happened.

Tony cursed and stood up, grabbing the device from the computer and bringing it back over to the work table. "Where's Bruce when I need him?" He muttered under his breath as he began to fiddle with the device.

Ira gave a sympathetic smile as she watched him try to fix the device. She walked over to him and studied the small device, trying to see if anything was amiss. Her eyes scanned it carefully, finally alighting on a small wire that had come loose and was barely attached to the rest of the device. "Is that the problem?" She asked, point to the offending wire.

Tony's eyes lit up, and he quickly fixed the wire before rushing back to the computer. He plugged it back in, paused for a moment, and hit the button. This time when he hit the button, four red blips appeared on the screen.

A bright smile crossed Ira's face as Tony let out a loud exclamation of joy. She watched the screen, looking at the blips in the different rooms of the compound. Her blip was placed in the lab, exactly where she was now. Two other blips were in the hallway outside the bedrooms.

But the fourth red dot wasn't in a bedroom. In fact, it wasn't anywhere Ira expected it to be: the training room, the kitchen, the living room. So while Tony rejoiced behind her, Ira's blue eyes flitted over the screen and searched for the location of the red dot until she found it in...

The archive room.

Her brow furrowed as she stared at the screen. The archive room was where both the physical and digital files that the Avengers had were kept; stored in cabinets and on memory banks. But the only reason someone ever went in there was to retrieve something for a mission. But there was no mission coming up. So why was one of the Enhanced in the archive room?

*****

These were the questions that ran through Ira's head as she made her way through the halls towards her room. She had left the lab soon after the breakthrough, leaving Tony still excitedly celebrating his victory.

She walked to her bedroom, exhausted after the long day. She wanted nothing more than to collapse into her bed and fall asleep, so she hurried along. When she arrived at her door, she reached out and grasped the knob. But she paused as a peculiar sound reached her ears.

It sounded like...crying, she realized. Her hand dropped back to her side as she turned around, straining to hear where the sound was coming from. She quickly decided that they were emanating from Wanda's room across the halls, and without another thought she rushed to her friend's aid.

Ira tentatively rapped her fist against the door, hearing a sniffled "Come in," in response.

She opened the door, walking into the room to find Wanda sitting up on her bed crying with tissues strewn around her. "Hey, Ira" she sniffed, managing a weak smile. Ira's eyes widened at the sight of Wanda pitifully crying, a fissure clutched in her hand as tears streamed down her face.

In a second Ira was at her side, clasping one of the girl's shaking hands in her own. "Wanda, what happened? Are you okay?" She asked, concerned.

Wanda tried to nod, but she broke into another fit of tears. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and Ira's heart ached for her friend. "What's wrong?" She asked gently.

"It's my fault," Wanda whispered in between sobs. "It's all my fault."

"What is?" Ira asked, trying not to force Wanda into more pain but craving answers all the same.

"Everything," she cried. "I helped Ultron, I unleashed the Hulk on innocent civilians. I've killed more people than I've saved."

'Wanda, it's not your fault', was what Ira wanted to say, but she knew that some of it actually was their fault. They had both willingly followed Ultron and had killed on his behalf. And that knowledge would follow them for the rest of their lives.

"That's not true," Ira began. "You helped save everyone in Sokovia-"

"But it was my fault that they were there in the first place," Wanda broke in, tears still streaming down her face. "Everyone who died there died because of me. Even Pietro..." her eyes welled up with tears again, and Ira placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It was my fault, too," she reminded her. "And Pietro's, and Emilia's. We all had a hand in what happened in Sokovia. And we can never change that. But what we  can do is make amends for it, and make sure that nothing like that ever happens again."

Wanda nodded, sniffing again and brushing hair away from her face. "But what about Africa?" She asked quietly. "All of those people were killed because of me. It was my fault," she insisted, but Ira shook her head.

"You had a part in it, that's true. But we all did. Every single person in this building has done something that they will regret forever. And this is one of yours. But the best thing that you can do own up to it and apologize for it," Ira comforted her.

Wanda nodded, wiping a tissue across her face and drying her tears. "Thanks, Ira," she sniffed, letting her hand fall to her lap, still clutching the tissue. "I feel a little better now."

Ira smiled softly, glad that she could help her friend. She pulled her into a hug before standing up. "You're sure you'll be okay?" She asked, and Wanda smiled faintly.

"I'll be okay," she promised, and Ira nodded. She left the room, closing the door softly behind her and heading back to her own room across the hall. She closed the door, leaning against it for a second before sighing and walking to the bathroom.

The things that Wanda had said had unearthed some of the dark thoughts that still plagued Ira; mostly guilt for her part in aiding Ultron. She had succeeded for a while in forgetting about the whole thing, pushing it to the back of her mind, but now it was at the forefront of her attention once again.

She changed out of her clothes and stepped into the shower, turning the dial until water pounded against her bare back. It was funny, really. All she wanted was to not focus on the thoughts that hung over her head like a dark storm cloud. But here she found herself with an abundance of extra time to mull over all the dark thoughts that whirled through her mind.

There wasn't a day that went by that Ira didn't feel guilty for her role in Ultron's domination attempt. It was her fault that people had suffered and died. And this fact plagued her everywhere she went. She wished that she could reverse time and stop herself from every committing the horrible acts, but it was not to be. She had done this, and there was no erasing the past, no matter how much she wanted to.

Only when the water ran lukewarm and her skin was wrinkled did Ira leave the shower. She wrapped herself in a towel before grabbing clothes from the closet, changing quickly and tossing the towel on the bathroom floor.

Ira sighed and laid down on her bed, turning on the television and lounging back against her pillow. She sighed contentedly as the TV droned on in the background, finding comfort at last among the chaos of an ordinary day. Soon her eyes fluttered closed and her breathing evened out, the white noise of the television lulling her into a blissful sleep in which she finally found peace.

*****

I actually kind of liked this chapter, surprisingly. It sets up some of the later plot, and introduces a future character. So watch out for the name Kora Thorne in a future book.

Another thing to add is that I did use the idea of Terrogen mist. I knew of it from some of the Marvel shows, and it fits in with the plot. But for those who don't know what it is, a basic run-down is that it's a mist that activates an Inuman's powers.

Anyways, I hope you're enjoying the story, and please tell me what you think.