This Is Stella's Reality

July 14, 2015 PT 2

Steve, Bucky, the Maximoffs, and I landed our quinjet on the compound's helipad.

The boys had caught me up to speed. We had the cradle. Natasha had been taken by Ultron. Tony and Bruce were inspecting the body Ultron had been building. Thor was still not back.

Wanda and Pietro had apologized to Steve and Bucky, asking for forgiveness in exchange for their knowledge. Wanda also made her concerns clear about Tony and his motives with the cradle.

I sighed as we stepped into the lab. This would be another fight.

"Shut it down," Steve ordered.

Tony and Bruce looked up, startled. "Don't," Tony said as Bruce moved to tap on a screen. "What are they doing here?" He asked.

The twins shuffled their weight around. Bruce looked angry as he stared at Wanda. "She needs to leave," he said.

"We're not going to do anything until Road Runner and Red Letter get the hell out of my lab." His eyes narrowed at us. "You know, I thought the three of you together was a bad idea," he waved at Steve, Bucky, and I, "but this is a new low."

"You don't know what you're doing," I said, anger boiling up in my chest again.

Tony laughed, "And you do? You don't even know who you are."

"Enough," Pietro said as he sped around the lab and unplugged several wires that connected to the cradle. "It's done."

Glass broke, and I covered my ears. The floor Pietro was standing on fell through. Wanda screamed, and I tried to catch him, but it was too late.

We scrambled forwards to see Clint standing over Pietro. At that same moment, the lab's equipment started beeping with critical errors.

I looked over at Bucky. He was staring at me, concerned. What should we do?

I don't know anymore.

Tony moved towards the screens, and Steve threw his shield at the monitors, destroying them.

The Iron Man gauntlet flew to Tony's hand, and he shot Steve square in the chest.

Anxiety rocked through me, and Bucky gathered me in his arms, pulling me towards the door. He grabbed Wanda and pulled her with us as she screamed for Pietro.

Steve and Tony continued fighting, throwing each other into walls and destroying the compound.

Tears brimmed in my eyes which I knew was stupid, but I had never seen the team like this. I had never seen Steve like this. I felt so disconnected from him.

Loki and Sam appeared in the doorway, startled from all the noise. They crouched beside us and started to ask what was happening. I didn't know. I had no answers for them.

And then like a flash of lightning, Thor appeared. He landed on top of the cradle, and the rest of us stopped to stare.

There was too much happening. My head hurt. My heart hurt. My whole body hurt.

This was not the team I knew. The family I loved. I hardly recognized them.

Thor's hammer fell to the cradle with a crash of lightning. It exploded, and we were all thrown away as the world turned bright white.

Bucky was pulling me away from debris when my eyes opened again. There was a figure covered in thick smoke crouching over the cradle.

My heart stopped.

Thor had given life to the thing inside.

He was bright red and synthetic. His eyes pierced through me as he looked at each of us in turn. There was something in them that intrigued me.