Beautiful Chaos

{part two | chapter eight}

"I'll take Natasha and Clint," Stave said, securing his shield to his back.

"Alright, strictly recon. I'll hit the Nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can."

"If Ultron's really building a body..."

"He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."

"You know I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me."

"I'll drop Banner off at the tower. You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?"

"She's all yours. Apparently."

"What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope."

Just as the door clicked shut behind Fury, Laura walked into the entryway with a sad smile.

"I'm gonna finish reflooring that sunroom as soon as I get back," Clint said.

"Yeah and then you'll find another part of the house to tear apart."

"No. Last project. I promise," he leaned down and kissed his wife gingerly. The moment was sweet until a thud echoed through the house and a pained shriek followed. Everyone snapped their heads in the direction of the sounds. Tony was the first to react, "Lilith."

Everyone moved quickly towards the kitchen where Lilith was lying on the floor, clutching her side and writhing in pain, breaths coming quickly and painfully.

"What is it? Nat, What's going on?" 

"I don't know, Tony, she just dropped."

"Lilith what's going on?" The girl didn't respond. He knelt down and lifted her into his lap, cradling his daughter carefully. 

Suddenly her gasps of pain stopped and her eyes rolled back. Her head lolled like a ragdoll's and she stopped moving all together. Everyone fell silent in shock and fear.

🥀🥀🥀

Lilith screamed as she plummeted towards the ground. When she landed, it knocked the wind out of her and she needed several minutes to catch her breath before she could stand. She was back in the field from one of her previous dreams. 

"Not again..."

"Sorry," a voice said. Loki.

"Why won't you get out of my head?"

"Why won't you get out of mine?"

"I asked you first."

"I don't know how to get out."

"Same here."

"Great." 

"Wonderful."

"I think something is wrong."

"Wrong? With what?"

"This place. I think... It feels different. Don't you think? Like someone else is here."

"I guess it does... It feels almost crowded, sort of."

A silence fell between the two. Lilith felt nauseous. Something was happening. She could tell it wasn't supposed to.

"Loki-"

"Yes darling?" He looked up to her from the piece of grass he had started to fiddle with but she was gone. A confused expression crossed his features. Where was she?

Lilith was falling again, but not like she had before, not from the sky. Just from a standing position to the ground. Could you faint in a dream?

As if he had always been standing there, Loki was by her side, catching  her and placing her gently on the ground, "Lilith, what's wrong, what's happening? Lilith?"

"He's... coming..."

"What? Who's coming? Lilith, Darling what's the matter?" She could feel herself slipping away from the dream. Everything felt... foggy. She reached up and placed a hand on the god's cheek and his own hand flew to hold hers in place. 

"Goodbye, Loki." With those final words, Lilith fell asleep. And no matter what he tried, Loki couldn't wake her up.

"Hello. What is your name?" The voice was familiar, but Lilith couldn't place her finger on where she had heard it before.

"Lilith," she answered, sitting up from the hard, white floors. The whole room was white, she couldn't even make out the corners and creases of walls meeting each other. She looked around and found a blurry figure a few feet away from her, hovering slightly above the ground.

"Hello Lilith... I am... Well I suppose I don't have a name," the thing said.

"This place... It feels weird. Like a dream. Or a vision."

"I like that word: Vision."

"Then that can be your name. Vision."

"I like it. Thank you."

"What's happening, Vision? Do you know why I'm here? With you?"

"No, I don't know...could it maybe have something to do with that?" It pointed to the left and a scene materialized before Lilith's eyes. A man, no, a machine standing next to a woman in a white coat. Ultron and Helen Cho. They were looking down at a metal box, a coffin. A chrysalis. Something was glowing from the inside. A stone. It was golden and beautiful. It was set in the head of the body inside. The mind stone. Lilith knew what it was. She had met it a year ago in New York, in her anesthetic-induced sleep as the doctors sewed up her wound. She had dreamed of it. 

"Thank you, Vision. You've helped me a great deal."

"You're welcome, Lilith."

She woke with a gasp, a breath that filled her lungs with life. She shot bolt upright and everyone around her sighed in relief. 

"Hey, Lee Lee, what the hell happened?"

"Passed out, I don't know. I- I had a dream. About... about Ultron. He's building a body. A real body."

"Yeah we knew that. You knew that."

"Dad! He has the mind stone. It was in the scepter- Loki's scepter. The, the um, it was in the blue glowy part. It's an infinity stone, I'm sure Thor would love to tell you more about them later but they're insanely powerful. And Ultron has one in the body he plans to inhabit. If we don't shut this down soon we are so, so screwed."

Everyone took the information in as best they could before quickly snapping back into motion. They moved quickly, gathering their things and finishing suiting up. Lilith, despite her fainting spell, had changed into her newly-washed suit and sheathed her blades. They thanked Laura and said goodbye to Cooper and Lila before boarding the jet and flying off. Less than an hour later the team crossed the boarder into Sokovia and split off.