𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗 || 𝘋𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘐𝘵 𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘈 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦

"ARE HER VITALS STABLE?" Carter asked, brushing his fingers through strands and tucking them behind the woman's ear. Now, she looked far more relaxed than he'd ever seen her. Her lips slightly parted with her skin far paler than usual. But the pain that she had felt with the chin had been evaporated with a version of the girl he wasn't sure he was gladdened or guilty to see.

While most of the team caught up on rest for the littlest amount of time allowed under certain circumstances, Carter had held himself up in the lab. No matter what Steve, Clint and Thor said to the man, he kept his mouth shut and was attentive to Nova's state. And it seemed after the dispute between him and Tony, his interaction with the team seemed to have been fully spent. A breaking point the man had reached when confronting Tony.

Now, he was left alone in the lab with the occasional visit of Helen who checked Nova's state, taking notes. And that seemed like enough for Carter in the already short list of people he could tolerate in a single day.

Helen sighed. "She's stable, for now. But her Arc Reactor is in a dormant limbo. Neither giving her enough energy to wake up and not depriving her of the energy to keep breathing," she explained, waving her hand. "Whatever Ultron has done to the Chip has caused a virus to spread throughout her system, affecting the Arc and keeping her in this state."

Carter shook his head, scowling as he looked at the woman. "Is there any way to trace it? Create some sort of Icebreaker and destroy it?"

"Not without a proper diagnostic check, which I have no liberty of having to commence with Tony and Bruce having control over those files and systems," she replied, a reasonable explanation for her limited assistance to Nova's predicament.

But it only frustrated Carter as Tony and Bruce were nowhere to be seen. Neither had entered the lab and the Chip was still in this room on one of the tables. They were doing nothing to help her.

Biting his bottom lip, Carter nodded, offering a hum in thanks as Helen smiled sadly, walking away without another word. As she exited, Natasha entered, two cups of coffee in her grasp. Yet, Carter didn't care to look. Eyes fixated on Nova's sleeping features as he collapsed in the metal chair.

Approaching cautiously, Natasha stood by his side, glancing between him and Nova for a brief moment. "Eating some food might do you some good, you know?" She pointed out, motioning toward the plate of untouched scrambled eggs she had fixed up for the man.

The man took a moment to respond, but his eyes snapped to her when a cup was held out to him, steam blossoming from the rim. He smiled and clasped his hands around it, holding it between his parted legs.

"How can you stay so calm? So focused despite the person you love being placed at death's door?" He muttered, eyes squinting.

A soft laugh tumbled from her lips. "Your previous jumps and Natasha's never explained it?"

"No. You are still a painstaking mystery."

Natasha sighed, grabbing a chair and pulling it to Carter's side. Collapsing onto the cold metal furniture, she straightened her back and exhaled slowly, pressing her tongue to the inside of her cheek. "I'm not calm. I'm barely holding on at the seams," she confessed, earning a hum from the man. "But I know she would have my head if she knew I was losing my cool on the rest of the team. Nothing matters more to her than everyone here and she wouldn't want me losing out on something like that."

Nova had always been about "family" through and through. The idea of it had been a continuous feature in each timeline. But it was also the situation with her family that made the Avengers so important to her. Although they didn't share blood or any noticeable features, they mattered to her more than anything else.

Glancing at the man, she cleared her throat. "Why aren't you calm?" She asked, nudging the man with her shoulder. "You've been through something like this before, right?"

Taking a sip from his coffee, he swallowed the hot liquid before placing it down between his feet and crossing his arms over his chest. "I've seen every one of you die in all types of horrific ways more times than I can count. I grew numb to it, and still am because I know what happens if we fuck up."

A warmth hit behind his forehead, a burning sensation behind his eyes as his lips pursed. Blinking rapidly, Carter swallowed the lump in his throat, shaking his head. "But this... This wasn't something I knew could happen." His voice wavered, guilt dripping from the self-sabotaging statement. "And for the first time in a while, I felt...fear." His crystal orbs flickered to Natasha. "I was afraid I couldn't protect any of you."

It'd been implanted in his mind early on that he could only help as far as he knew the outline of the mission. He'd warned each group, and they followed them for a brief time. Although they were the cause of their damnation, Carter truly believed he helped as much as he could. His limitations were short because of the evaporated past he had with Wanda. Nothing he said or did could ever truly bring the girl back to him and stop her from destroying the universe. But the Avengers had decided to forget his warnings and directly destroy their worlds, not him.

But here, they had listened to his warnings and considered them. Even now, he felt like they considered his warnings with heavy consideration. Which protected them from a demise unfit for them. Yet, he'd never encountered Ultron in any past jumps and that left their safety vulnerable, and to be capitalized on.

And something about that irked him deeply. Which he thought he had left behind after the third or fourth jump. Yet here it was in full form, wavering his choices in a matter that he swore he stood in control of.

Natasha pursed her lips, placing her hand around his arm and gently squeezing, her eyes focusing on Nova. "What're your plans then?"

Regaining his composure, he exhaled heavily and shook his head. The answer to such a question still shrouded in a thick layer of smoke, dividing him from what would be his course of action was still up in the air. Everything once seemed so clear, but now with Ultron and Nova, he was lost. Likely more lost than he had been when given these powers by Wanda.

"I don't know. I am still trying to process fear after so long of being without it," he confessed just above a weak whisper. "When I find the answer, I'll let you know."

That seemed to satisfy the woman as she smiled, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. They stayed like that for a little while, watching over Nova like two guardian angels. And as it was going, they seemed to be the most concerned about the girl's state and what came next for her.

Eventually, after Natasha had finished her cup of coffee, she stood from her spot and squeezed the man's shoulder. "Originally when I came here, I wanted to tell you that Ultron had made a move with the Maximoff twins." That made Carter lift his gaze to the woman. "He killed Strucker and deleted all our files on the man. But everyone is grabbing S.H.I.E.L.D. documents and seeing if we can find any lead on his next move."

Carter had to stifle a laugh as he leant back in his chair with a sigh, lips curving in a faint smile. "So, you need a reading partner, right?"

Natasha smirked, shrugging. "You could say that. Your help would be appreciated. But I also think this could be a good chance for you to try and slowly mend things with Tony."

The man scoffed, taking his cup of coffee into his grasp as he stood up. "Fuck him. He knows what I said was true. This will be his chance to mend things," he corrected, walking past the woman with a wink.

Walking to the third floor of the lounge, they arrived just as documents were being pulled from boxes and delved into. Carter's contribution had been silent as Natasha handed him a random folder, a quiet order to aid in their search. And he had obliged by seating himself at the table and scanning the multitude of pages.

Most members of the team had taken notice. Glancing at Natasha in question, but she never gave them an answer. Instead, they focused on the task at hand than trivial problems that would have to be pushed aside for the time being.

After what had felt like hours of searching, Steve couldn't help but comment on all the connections people had with the man responsible for the creation of Wanda and Pietro's powers. "Baron Strucker had a lot of friends."

"Not the list of Boy Scouts you we would wish for, but, yeah. He's got a lot of friends," Carter agreed, flipping a page.

As Bruce was about to discard another useless folder, Tony spoke up. "Wait. I know that guy. From back in the day." Taking the folder, Tony began to distribute multiple photos that had been taken likely for surveillance. "He operates off the African coast. Black market arms."

Steve glared at his friend, and Tony was quick to defend himself. "There are conventions, all right? You meet people," he explained. "I didn't sell him anything."

Becoming reminded of the interaction, Tony scowled. "He was talking about finding something new, a game-changer," he commented. "It was all very ahab."

"This?" Thor pointed to the spot on the side of the man's neck.

"Ah, it's a tattoo, I don't think he had it."

"Those are tattoos, this is a brand," Thor corrected.

Handing the photo off to Natasha, she made it quick to begin scanning the photo and the brand through all databases at their disposal. Sifting through all dialects until finally stopping.

"Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning 'thief'. In a much less friendly," Bruce commented, looking back at the group.

"What dialect?" Steve inquired.

"It's Wakandan," Carter answered staring at the information tab that had appeared. "Mom used to major in ancient languages. I saw some of these symbols when I was a kid."

Both Steve and Tony looked at one another, a knowing look in their eyes. "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..."

"I thought your father said he got the last of it," Steve countered.

Bruce frowned, adjusting his glasses as he stood up from the computer. "I don't follow. What comes out of Wakanda?"

Everyone followed Steve's gaze as they landed on his shield. "The strongest metal on Earth," Tony stated.

Steve inhaled deeply, turning his gaze to Tony, asking, "Where is this guy now?"

"His last known location is a salvage yard off the coast, as Tony said," Natasha announced, eyes reading off the computer in front of her. "Probably where his home base is"

"Then we move out." The team began to disperse as they got their equipment ready. But before Carter teleported to his room, Tony's hand caught his shoulder.

He looked up at the man. "A momentary peace pact?" Tony offered.

Carter exhaled, laughing softly. "Yeah, sure. Fuck it." Slapping the billionaire's shoulder, he teleported out of sight, leaving Tony to quickly go grab his belongings and get onto the Quinjet.

ON EVERY JUMP HE MADE, CARTER DIDN'T SEE MUCH OF ANYTHING OUTSIDE NEW YORK. Sure, in each universe, the outside world differed. One universe was on the brink of a nuclear war and another was complete world peace. But the cities outside of New York hadn't ever been explored by Carter.

So the sudden change of weather did throw Carter off. The stuffiness in the air, the scorching sun, the lukewarm breeze, it all was new. But not at all taken for granted as Carter sat on the edge of the ramp, staring out at the beautiful views.

They flew over what was the salvage yards; old tankers of ships beached up on the coast and decommissioned. All of them were left to rust and be salvaged for whatever a man wished to do with them. There were far too many to search one by one.

But at his core, he could feel that faint tingling. Like an electric strand danced around each bone in his body. It was a telltale sign of Wanda's presence and the intensity depending on how close he was to her.

The phenomenon of it was still lost on Carter.  The closest explanation to it that the man could make out was the fact that his powers were partly hers. So, in some way, that caused a connection to be made between them.

Pressing his finger to his earpiece, he announced. "We're close. I can feel her."

"Can you narrow that feeling to an exact location, please?" Tony replied from the cockpit.

Shifting from his position, Carter sat up with his knee giving him balance. He slowly turned his head to each ship, trying to solidify the connection he had with Wanda. And as he turned to the last one labelled "Churchill, Great Britain" on the back, he felt the frayed wire connecting him and Wanda snap into place.

"The Great Britain. They're there," he announced, standing to his feet and walking to the rest of the group.

As they began to lower themselves, finding somewhere to land, Carter looked at Natasha and Steve. "She'll know I'm there. This isn't just a one-way thing, you know that, right?"

"That's why we're counting on you to pull her from the rest of the team. Do what you did with me," Natasha explained. "Try to convince her to side with us. Just buy us time to deal with Ultron."

Carter blew a raspberry, manifesting his rifle as the Quinjet lowered down to the edge of the main deck, Clint stepping off. "I'll do what I can. Just don't shoot the brother. That's all I ask from you."

Hopping off, Carter and Clint made entry on one of the many doors leading to the cargo bay. He continued to follow the connection, feeling like he was following a thread connected from him to Wanda.

Eventually, both men had found advantage points as Ultron's thunderous voice could be heard.

"Stark is... He's a sickness!

"Ah, junior." Ultron turned as Tony, Thor and Steve appeared. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to."

"Nobody has to break anything," Thor reasoned.

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

"He beat me by one second," Tony muttered, glancing at Thor, who only scowled at the statement.

"Ah, yes. He's funny. Mr. Stark." Pietro stepped forward. "It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?" He asked, looking down at the abundant number of missiles below.

"This was never my life," Tony stated.

"You two can still walk away from this," Steve suggested, looking at the siblings.

Wanda smiled mockingly. "Oh, we will."

"I know you've suffered."

Ultron scoffed, interjecting. He chuckled, "Captain America. God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war," he said. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," Thor said, continuing to try and defuse the situation.

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

"Uh-huh. What's the vibranium for?" Tony questioned.

"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan."

All hell broke loose as Ultron had somehow managed to pull Tony forward with two Legionnaires appearing and attacking Steve and Thor.

Carter took this as his chance to aim and begin to take singular and well-placed shots on each bot. In his peripheral, able to see Wanda had finally found him, eyes sharpening as she pushed Steve away and began to twist her hands in front of her. The surface he stood on began to twist and bend in on itself, trying to crush him.

Teleporting, Carter appeared behind Wanda and shoulder-checked her, causing her to roll across the ground. "Are you mad at me, sweetheart?" He asked, watching the girl get to her feet and growl, sending blasts of crimson toward him. "Okay. So, you are mad?"

"I'm annoyed!"

As she was about to send another blast, he teleported behind her, again. But he took his golden mask and pressed it to her face. "Then we should chat, yeah?"

Before they sank into the ink pool beneath them, he felt something press to his forehead. A faint sting caused him to blink rapidly before darkness welcomed them both.

As fast as Wanda had been welcomed into the darkness, the light had found its way back to her and she was all alone. She looked around, cautious of her surroundings which seemed to be the inside of the Avengers Tower judging by the large insignia placed on the wall. There was no sign of Carter, no sign of Pietro, and no sign of the Avengers to be seen.

There was a certain stillness in the air that could suck the life out of her.

"You want to know why you saw me in your dreams?" Carter's voice asked, causing the woman to look around, finding no sign of the man. "It's because we are connected. Bound by our connection from every universe before and next. A continuous strand that keeps us close no matter what. And my powers–which you gave to me–only solidify that unbreakable strand."

"You're a lunatic," Wanda spat aimlessly.

A long laugh echoed through the room. "Is that what you think of me, sweetheart?"

Wanda pursed her lips. "I think you're a delusional man. Clouded by the past and forcing together the pieces you want to fit."

"Oh?" The man laughed, appearing from around a pillar as he walked toward the woman, hands clasped from around his back. "Those may very well be true. But since we're being so honest, may I?"

When she sent a blast toward him, he teleported again. This time, on a landing above with him looking down on her from the railing. "You're clouded by your past just as me, Maxi. You are so absorbed by the idea of killing Stark that you are willing to work with a murderous bot of his creation. As if that isn't bad enough, you're fragile."

Carter sighed, pushing away from the railing and teleporting in front of her. Invading every inch of personal space between them as he looked down on her. "You can slap a sticker onto yourself saying 'I'm strong', but you're still going to break in transit."

He grinned, patting her shoulder before stepping away and looking out the window. Droplets of rain fractured the vision and the faint red glow that slowly was building in the distance. "You are capable of complete world destruction, Wanda. And for years, I've been trying to save you," he explained. "Tonight was the night you destroyed my universe. Killed the Avengers, our friends, and my family. Wiped the whole slate clean for our Earth."

Looking over his shoulder, Carter smiled beneath his mask. "You're going to want to see this. C'mon." He waved her over, placing a hand on her shoulder and pointed to the glow in the distance.

Through the rain, a red glow could be seen growing at an alarming rate as it brightened the night sky into a blood red. A loud echoing crack sounded out with a beam shooting up toward the sky as a blast of wind swept across the Blight, causing waves to shoot towards open land and destroy structures.

The scene had become numb to the man. After seeing it so many times or merely the aftermath, it didn't have that desolating feeling for him anymore. And that might make him twisted, but he accepted it a long time ago.

As the glow of red began to brighten, he was about to turn to Wanda until the red glow changed. His eyes snapped forward to see the beam shifting to a vivid gold.

"This didn't happen," Carter muttered, lips parting in shock.

Wanda hummed, lips etched into a grin as she moved from his side. "Oh. So that's your fear?" She chuckled, walking around the man. "To be the true reckoner of the world?"

He shook his head. "That isn't true." Closing his eyes, he groaned. An uncontrollable laugh fell from his lips nonetheless. "You're smart. I'll give you that. But this isn't real. It's those goddamn fuckin' illusions of yours."

Wanda chuckled. "As much as you want to deny it, the truth is absolute, Carter."

Her hands fell to his shoulders as she stood behind him, lips grazing his ear with her voice so soft and comforting that it brought a chill down Carter's spine.

"You will always be a monster."