Beautiful Chaos

{part two | chapter ten}

Lilith had paced back and fourth in the quinjet the whole way back to the tower. When they finally arrived, they moved the cradle carefully into the lab. As soon as her father walked into the room, Bruce by his side, she ran towards him and wrapped him in a hug. Tony hugged her just as tightly, as if he was trying to keep his daughter in one piece. As if he was keeping her from crumbling all together.

"Any word on Nat?"

"No. But she's alive," Bruce said, "Otherwise Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it."

"This thing is sealed tight," Clint said, hopping off the top of the cradle where he had previously been perched.

"We're gonna need to break it down from within." Lilith pulled away from her father's arms and moved to sit down at a nearby desk.

"Is there any chance Natasha would've sent a message outside the internet? Old-school spy stuff?" Tony asked Clint.

"There are some nets I can cast. Yeah, I... I'll find her. Lilith?"

"Yeah?"

"You coming?"

"Yeah." They headed down the stairs and began their search. Meanwhile, just up the stairs they had descended, Tony was making a very dangerous, very stupid decision.

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"Dad," Lilith called, climbing the stairs into the lab, "We got some...thing... What is happening?"

"Shut it down!" Steve was saying angrily, the two enhanced, Wanda and Pietro, stood behind him, " You don't know what you're doing!"

"And you do?" Bruce countered, "She's not in your head?"

"I know you're angry..."

"Oh we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Bruce," Lilith whispered harshly. The man only looked to her for a moment before turning back to the others.

"Banner after everything that's happened... "

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony interrupted.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda shouted.

"Dad, she's right, you don't know."

"This isn't a game!" As the angered voices continued to over lap and overwhelm the room, Lilith caught Pietro's eye and nodded subtly to the wires and tubes connected to the cradle. He smirked before zipping around the room. In less than half a second the machine was unplugged from everything.

"No no," the heavily accented teen said, "Go on. You were saying?" The second he finished his remark a gunshot sounded and a bullet shattered the glass beneath Pietro's feet.

"Pietro!"

"What?" Clint asked, his tone mocking, "You didn't see that coming?" A high-pitched beeping sounded through the lab as the power the machine was losing became dangerously low.

"I'm rerouting the upload," Tony said, turning to his computer screen. The moment his back was turned, Cap's shield was already mid-air and flying towards the monitor. It crashed through glass and broke some very expensive pieces of equipment. Tony's hand was suddenly enveloped in an Ironman glove and his energy repulsor was blasting Steve off of his feet. The rest of the metallic suit followed soon after. Wanda moved to help Steve but Bruce was behind her, his arm wrapping around her throat.