EVERYTHING SEEMED TO be coming together. Civilians were lead into the lifeboats by the Avengers, who were now joined by War Machine.

At the church, Thor was battling Ultron by the Doomsday Trigger. The robot landed a right hook across the demigod and grabbed him by the throat.

"You think you're saving anyone?" He asked as Thor struggled in his grasp. "I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that."

Thor grunted. "I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast..." He stalled while being held by Ultron. "I am running out of things to say! Are you ready?"

Ultron looked back and was hit with Mjölnir by Vision.

The homicidal robot crashed through the wall and hit the side of a bus outside.

Vision handed Thor his hammer. "It's terribly well-balanced."

"Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing, so..." Thor replied.

More Ultron sentinels arrived at the church with Thor and Vision fighting them off. Pietro and Wanda showed up not long after with Steve and Clint reaching the church moments later. Hulk stormed towards the building while slapping away bots in his path.

Tony flew into the church and landed near his colleagues. He looked around and realized two of his friends were missing.

"Romanoff?" He spoke into his comms. "You better not be giving Forrest his Jenny moment while all this is going on."

"Relax, shellhead. Not all of us can fly." Natasha replied while driving a truck towards the church. She and Y/N got off and ran up to join the team.

Y/N glanced at Vision and raised a brow. "Woah. Who's that?"

"Lieutenant L/N." He greeted.

"Double woah. Why does he sound like Jarvis?"

They ignored his questions and started to discuss the matter at hand.

"What's the drill?" Natasha asked.

"This is the drill." Tony pointed at the Doomsday Trigger. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

Ultron hovered above the church and looked at the Avengers.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor yelled.

The robot raised his arm and summoned an army of sentries that ran towards the church.

Steve panted and turned to Thor. "You had to ask."

"This is the best I can do." Ultron declared with a boastful tone. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

Tony glanced at Rogers. "Well, like the old man said..."

Steve looked back and gave a nod to Stark.

Tony continued. "Together."

Hulk let out a roar as the Ultron sentinels charged into the church. Together, the Avengers started fighting them off.

Iron Man shot repulsor blasts, Captain America deflected beams and threw his shield, Thor attacked them with his hammer, Wanda used her psionic abilities, and Pietro used his speed. Black Widow shot from her guns and used her Widow's bites while Freedom Fighter wielded his batons. Vision flew around pummeling the robots, Hawkeye shot from his bow and weaved, while Hulk stomped through and ripped the sentries apart.

The team worked together in harmony as they kept Ultron's forces from touching the Trigger.

The Avengers weren't going to let him win.

Ultron glared as he witnessed many of his sentries being dealt with so easily. He flew in to activate the Trigger himself but Vision stopped him and started fighting the robot. The synthezoid ultimately used a laser beam from the Mind Stone in his head to blast Ultron out of the church.

Thor and Tony joined in with the demigod shooting lightning from Mjölnir at Ultron while Tony shot repulsor beams from his gauntlets. Their combined attack with Vision's beam started melting Ultron's vibranium armor and brought him to his knees. The three Avengers stopped and stared at the seemingly defeated robot.

Ultron slowly got up as his mangled body let out sparks. "You know, with the benefit of hindsight—"

Hulk ran up and uppercutted Ultron, sending him into the sky. Ultron's sentinels witnessed this and chose to flee.

Many of them try to fly away and leave the floating city, but Rhodey and Vision took it upon themselves to deal with the fleeing sentries.

Steve spoke to the team. "We got to move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you."

"What about the core?" His son asked.

"I'll protect it." Wanda answered as she stood by the trigger. "It's my job."

Y/N nodded then looked at Clint and Natasha. "You heard the Captain. Let's go."

"Aye, aye, Lieutenant." The archer remarked as they followed. Y/N chuckled with an eye roll and continued on.

• • •

THE LIFEBOATS WERE loaded with Sokovian citizens. Y/N was assisting the remaining civilians up the ramps with Clint while Natasha went to calm down the Hulk.

A woman on the lifeboat started yelling out for her brother in which Clint took notice of. He looked to his left a saw the boy stuck under debris by the market. Clint looked on, determined to not leave the child behind.

Y/N saw his friend run back into town. "Clint!" He helped the last few people up onto the aircraft and leaped off to go follow.

As he neared the market he heard the Quinjet in the sky. Ultron was piloting it and rained gunfire into the streets.

Thor and Steve jumped away to avoid the bullets and Y/N dived behind a van to take cover. Clint picked the boy up and turned, seeing that he was in the path of the gunfire.

Clint crouched down and closed his eyes as he shielded the boy, preparing for the inevitable...

He felt weightless for a moment, then after a few seconds he opened his eyes and realized he wasn't in spot he was before. He looked at the boy still in his arms and turned back to see Pietro, who was on the ground panting.

The speedster had run in and carried the two to safety in what seemed to be nanoseconds. Pietro barely reacted fast enough and was on the ground because he tripped trying to place Clint and the boy down safely.

The silver-haired man finally caught his breath and looked at Clint. He chuckled.

"You didn't see that coming?"

A/N: Quicksilver lives??? BOOM! You looking for this?

Ultron left the scene and Thor flew back towards the church. Y/N ran out of cover and joined Clint and Pietro.

"Nice work." Y/N complimented his heroics.

"Can't replicate that. Right, old man?" Pietro replied as he got back up.

Y/N chuckled. "And now I take back my compliment."

They ran back to the lifeboat and reunited the boy with his older sister. Meanwhile, Ultron was thrown out of the jet by Hulk and crashed back down into the city.

The Doomsday Trigger was unfortunately left unattended after Wanda went to help a family to a nearby lifeboat. One of Ultron's mangled drones crawled up to the Trigger and activated it.

Sokovia started to fall.

Before he can plummet with it, Steve jumped onto one of the lifeboats. Iron Man was below the falling rock trying to stop it.

Y/N looked over the railing and witnessed the city in a free fall. Immediately, he remembered Natasha.

"Cap? Where's Nat?" He frantically radioed.

"Nat is on the hellicarrier." He replied, which relieved Y/N.

"Wanda?" Pietro asked walking up to him, in which Y/N remembered afterwards.

"What about Maximoff?" He asked Steve.

"Is she not with you?" He communicated back with a hint of shock in his tone.

"Damn it..." Y/N muttered to himself, then radioed one of the fliers. "Tony! I think Wanda is still on the rock."

Stark didn't report back as he was preoccupied with the falling city, but Vision did.

"I have her location, Lieutenant. I'm on my way."

"Thank you, Vision." Y/N replied back. He turned to face Pietro. "Vision's got her."

Pietro exhaled, still pretty worried about his sister. Y/N placed a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be fine. I promise."

Iron Man and Thor waited for the right moment to strike. After a countdown, Tony shouted.

"Now!"

Thor brought Mjölnir down onto the core which emitted a large shockwave across Sokovia. The city began to crumble and the entire rock ultimately exploded into millions of pieces.

The two Avengers flew away as debris fell into the watery crater where Sokovia once stood.

Vision had saved Wanda before the city could collapse one them. The synthezoid placed her down onto the lifeboat where she reunited with her brother. Clint smiled, the moment mirroring when the boy they saved hugged his sister.

"Great work, Vision." Y/N spoke. "I've only known you for about an hour but you've definitely earned a spot on my awesome list."

He didn't know how to respond to that, so he ignored the statement.

"I have something I must do." He spoke before flying away and descending towards the crater.

Y/N looked at Clint, who simply gave a shrug.

"Awesome list?" He asked.

"Yeah." He answered. "Something you're obviously not on."

Clint rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. And I don't care. But what's first on it?"

Y/N chuckled as he thought. He wanted to mess with the archer even more.

"Back at your place, there was this thing Nat did that really turned me on. She—"

Clint started shouting random gibberish to keep himself from hearing.

"Okay! Okay! Please stop."

Ultron, now possessing one of his worn down sentinels, climbed out of the crater. He looked up and faced the Vision, who flew to the exact area he expected him to be at.

"You're afraid." Vision spoke.

"Of you?" Ultron replied.

"Of death. You're the last one."

"You were supposed to be the last. Stark asked for a savior and settled for a slave."

"I suppose we are both disappointments."

Ultron chuckled. "I suppose we are."

"Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites and try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that." Vision said.

Ultron walked closer. "They're doomed."

Vision glanced down. "Yes. But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. It's a privilege to be among them."

"You're unbearably naive."

"Well..." Vision paused for a moment. "...I was born yesterday."

Ultron pounced at Vision but the synthezoid used a beam from his Mind Stone to disintegrate Ultron, ending the rogue A.I once and for all.

• • •

A MONTH AFTER taking down Ultron, Tony Stark opened up the new Avengers Facility in upstate New York. It was quite a change from the Tower, but a good upgrade nonetheless.

Natasha was on her phone watching a video of Clint and Laura's new baby boy, Nathaniel.

"Say hi to Auntie Nat!" Laura said in the clip as the baby cooed.

Y/N walked into the room and heard Laura's voice on the phone. He went over to Natasha and saw what was unfolding on screen.

"Awww." Y/N said as he pointed to the screen. "They even got a shirt with his name on it."

"He's pretty fat." She replied before putting the phone back in her pocket. "But like the cute kind."

Clint had retired after the Battle of Sokovia. Y/N and Natasha missed him, but they were also happy their friend got to be with his family full time.

"So am I like an uncle now? You're Auntie Nat so I think Uncle Y/N would be fair." Y/N stated.

Natasha chuckled. "That's something you'll have to discuss with Barton."

"I'm not taking no for an answer when I do." He replied. "Or else he won't have the honor of being called Uncle Clint when the times comes."

"When the times comes?" She asked with a brow raised.

Y/N ran his hand along her side. "Yeah. I said we'd figure it out. There's other ways...like adoption off the top of my head." He thought for a moment. "Has society had a breakthrough with cloning while I was asleep?"

Natasha let out a light laugh before pecking Y/N on the lips. Y/N chuckled as he repeated what he just said in his head.

"I'm just saying things, I know."

"We don't need to worry about that right now."

"You're right. We still gotta save the world and all. And as long as I'm doing that with you, I'm straight."

She pecked him once more. "I love you."

Y/N smiled and kissed her again. Suddenly, Nick Fury walked into the room and saw the two Avengers in their embrace.

"PDA in the workplace? Not as shocking come from you two." He called out.

"You didn't see anything." Y/N chuckled as he looked back at Fury. "Or maybe you half-saw."

Natasha nudged his shoulder at his joke but Fury surprisingly laughed.

"You make jokes about my eye I'll make some about your age, Fortunate Son."

Y/N laughed back. That was something he thought Tony would say.

Fury walked up to the two and showed them a tablet that showcased a map. "One of our tech boys flagged this. Splashed down in the Banda Sea."

They looked at the markers on the map. For the past month, they've been trying to track down Banner after he seemingly disappeared. Natasha explained how the Hulk saved her when Sokovia fell before taking the Quinjet and leaving.

Fury continued. "Could be the Quinjet. But with Stark's stealth tech, we still can't track the damn thing."

"Right." Natasha simply replied, still worried about their friend and his whereabouts.

"He probably jumped out and went to Fiji. He'll send a postcard." Fury said before walking away.

After a moment of silence, Y/N spoke. "Maybe he's right. With everything's that's been happening, Bruce probably wanted time to himself. Fiji doesn't sound bad."

Natasha nodded even though she didn't really believe that excuse. Inside, the young man didn't either, but it was the only logical explanation on his mind to why Hulk would leave.

Y/N put an arm around her, and the two looked on at the wall in front of them as they thought.

Tony, Steve, and Thor walked down the hallway as they conversed.

"The rules have changed." Steve stated.

"We're dealing with something new." Tony chimed in.

"Oh, the Vision is artificial intelligence." Steve added.

"A machine." Tony replied.

"So, it doesn't count?"

"No, it's not like a person lifting the hammer."

Steve gestured toward Tony. "Right, different rules for us."

"Nice guy. Artificial." Tony responded.

"Thank you."

Thor spoke next. "He can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone. It's safe with the Vision. And in these days, safe is in short supply."

There was a brief moment of silence before Steve spoke again. "But if you put the hammer in an elevator..."

"It would still go up." Tony finished.

"Elevator's not worthy." Steve added.

"Then I guess your son's secretly an elevator." Tony said, still wondering how Y/N was worthy. "Or some kind of robot."

Steve shook his head. "I think I would know if he was."

Thor slapped Tony on the back. "I'm going to miss these little talks of ours."

"Not if you don't leave." Tony told him.

"I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. It's not a coincidence."

They walked outside and onto the lawn as the demigod continued.

"Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. And once all these pieces are in position..."

"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony asked.

"You think you can find out what's coming?" Stele asked Thor.

"I do." Thor glanced at Tony pat him on the chest. "Besides this one. There's nothing that can't be explained."

Thor bid his friends farewell and lifted his hammer to activate the bifrost, transporting himself out of Midgard.

Tony looked down at the singed grass. "That man has no regard for lawn maintenance."

The two men continued walking and Stark spoke again.

"I'm gonna miss him, though. And you're gonna miss me. There's gonna be a lot of manful tears."

"I will miss you, Tony. We all will." Steve replied.

"Yeah? Well, it's time for me to tap out. Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book. Build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up."

"The simple life."

"You'll get there one day."

"I don't know. Family, stability...the guy who wanted all that went in the ice 75 years ago." Steve paused. "I think someone else came out."

Tony nodded and walked over to his exotic car. He opened the door and looked back at Steve.

"You came out, yes, but at the same time as someone else. Your son. Ain't that something?"

Steve smiled as he glanced over at the facility, seeing agents doing their training exercises. He thought of the team he had, his friends, his family, and the mission.

"It is." Steve answered. "That's what makes this home."

• • •

NATASHA STOOD IN the room beside Y/N, the two talking with one another. Steve walked in and saw them.

"You guys want to keep chit-chatting or do you want to get to work?" Steve asked. "Unless you fill me on the recent gossip."

Natasha walked towards Steve with Y/N following. "I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes."

Y/N laughed as they walked out of the room. "How do we look?"

Steve handed him a tablet which displayed the current roster of the Avengers team.

"Well, we're not the '27 Yankees." Steve stated.

Y/N handed the tablet to Natasha.

"We got some hitters." She replied.

"They're good. They're not a team." Steve said.

"Let's beat them into shape." Y/N responded.

Captain America, Black Widow, and Freedom Fighter opened the double doors and walked up to the platform looking over the training area.

James Rhodes, the War Machine, retracted his face-plate and looked at the team leaders.

The Vision turned around, looking up at the trio as well.

Sam Wilson, the Falcon, landed on the pad and retracted his wings.

Wanda Maximoff descended onto her spot using her magic.

Pietro Maximoff ran into the room like a blur and stood beside his sister.

Steve, Y/N, and Natasha surveyed the new recruits below. Together, they were going make them into better heroes...better Avengers.

Steve stood tall and called out to his teammates.

"Avengers..."