Sunshine | Pietro Maximoff

CHAPTER 6

"I don't understand. You built this program." Dr Cho's gaze shifted between myself, Bruce and Tony. "Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony began to chuckle as he faced his computer. Bruce shook his head at him.

"Stark..." I began.

"You think this is funny?" Demanded Thor.

"No. It's probably not, right?" Tony asked, turning around to face Thor. "This is very terrible. Is it so... Is it so..." He laughed slightly before continuing. "It is. It's so terrible."

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor said, sounding exasperated.

"No. I'm sorry. It is funny." Said Tony, approaching Thor as he spoke. "It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"Tony, maybe this might not be the time." Bruce piped up.

"Really?" Asked Tony, turning around to Bruce. "That's it? You just roll over, show your belly any time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot." Answered Bruce.

"We didn't. We weren't even close." Tony stated. "Were we even close to an interface, Madden?" Tony asked me.

I opened my mouth to respond when Steve spoke up, drawing closer to Tony.

"Well you did something right." He said. "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Tony asked.

"No, it's never come up." Rhodey stated sarcastically.

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that."

"Recall that?" Tony asked again. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but... that up there, that's...." He pointed a finger to the sky. "That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together." Said Steve.

"We'll lose."

"Then we'll do that together too." Steve paused for a moment and Tony backed away towards his desk. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller..."

~*~

The team and I were currently making our way through a cargo ship where we suspected to find Ultron. The news of Strucker's death led us to dig deeper into his associates when we landed on someone Tony recognised; Ulysses Klaue, an arms dealer with a keen interest in vibranium. Ultron wouldn't have erased everything we had on Strucker without a motive. He wanted to hide something from us. A contact with access to vibranium seemed like an opportunity Ultron wouldn't pass up.

"Stark is.... He's a sickness!" I heard Ultron yell, his voice echoing off the metal walls as we drew closer to the centre of the ship.

I hung back with Natasha and Barton, waiting behind the pair of large metal doors. The others continued into the room and moments later, I heard them confronting Ultron. I kept my back pressed to the door, ready to jump in if the interaction went south, which I highly expected it would. Then, a voice began to speak that made my heart rate speed up ever so slightly.

"Ah, yes." The Sokovian accented voice began. "He's funny. Mr Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" He asked.

From across the doorway, Natasha met my eyes. Her eyebrows were furrowed at the way I seemed to breathe a little faster.

A loud blast coming from inside the room snapped me back to reality in an instant. Immediately, I rounded the doorway with a ball of light moving between my hands. Without even a second to observe the situation, one of Ultron's robots charged straight for me. I threw the ball of light from my hands and missed by a fraction. Then, something entirely strange happened. One second, the robot's fist was headed straight for my face and the next, its broken body lay on the floor beside me. I lifted my head in confusion. My eyes met with none other than Pietro Maximoff.

He stood in front of me, a certain glimmer in his eyes. I tried to move, but it was as if my brain wasn't listening. Pietro gave me a wink, a crooked smirk on his face. Then, he sped off. I felt an unwelcome blush creep onto my cheeks as I grit my teeth at the all too charming speedster. A second later, I felt the most horrible sensation come over me; like my mind was in someone else's hands. I turned around in an attempt to face whoever it was. Yet, I wasn't on the ship anymore.

I looked around in confusion over my new surroundings. At first glance, it seemed like a park. Then, I lowered my gaze and felt my stomach drop. A tombstone.

'Here lies Clint Barton. Hero, Avenger, friend.'

Tears instantly streamed down my face. I sunk to my knees and wept harder than I ever had.

"You..." Hissed a voice from behind me. "You have no right to be here."

I turned my head to face the speaker. I wiped my cheeks, yet that didn't stop the tears from flowing down my face. Laura Barton looked at me with a mixture of rage and disgust in her eyes.

"Laura, I...." I stammered.

"Don't." She said. "You know what you did. How dare you come here."

I opened my mouth in an attempt to speak, yet remained utterly speechless. My mind was too clouded by my grief to process what she was saying.

"Don't look at me like that." She spat. "Murderer."

My stomach dropped once again. I shook my head, tears continuing to stream. Suddenly, the face of Laura transitioned into Natasha.

"I never should have found you that day." She said. "If I hadn't, maybe Clint would still be alive."

"No...." I shook my head more and more violently. "I-I didn't... I didn't... I couldn't of..."

This continued for what felt like forever. The figure before me cycled between Laura, Natasha, Cooper and Lila. Each one spoke to me with such disgust or sadness that I could hardly bare it.

"Hey, kid?" I heard a voice ask.

I turned my head and suddenly, I was on the quinjet. Tony Stark looked down at where I sat. I instantly got up and backed away, afraid he would accuse me of something horrific too.

"Hey, hey, calm down." He said, slowly approaching me. "That girl messed with your mind, whatever you saw wasn't real."

My breathing was still ragged and my heart pounded against my chest.

"You're okay now, I promise." Stark reassured me.

Ever so slowly, so as not to alarm me, he placed a hand on my shoulder. I met his eyes and my breathing slowly began to return to normal.

"We're here!" A voice called from the front of the jet.

As soon as I heard it, I practically ran to where Clint stood and flung my arms around him.

"You're here..." I whispered, a single tear falling down my cheek.

"I am." He replied, holding me tightly. "I'm here."