Dreams Best Left Alone - Book 4 (Age of Ultron)

Chapter 13 - Saying Goodbye

 Annabelle stood at Pietro's grave, a jade vine in her hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered, kneeling down and placing the flower at the bottom of the stone. "Thank you. Thank you for everything."

***

Annabelle watched the business of the new Avengers compound. Helen worked with her team to set up a new medical facility, training areas and work out spaces were set up, and there were spacious labs for Tony and Bruce, even though Bruce was still missing. There were still rooms for each of the Avengers, but they knew many of them wouldn't be using them. Clint had retired, going home to be with his family. Thor was headed back to Asgard and Tony was stepping away for a bit. Annabelle, Steve, Tony, and Thor walked the hallways of the compound, looking at all the progress that had been made.

"The rules have changed," Steve continued their conversation.

"We're dealing with something new," Tony agreed.

"Oh, the Vision's artificial intelligence."

"A machine."

"So it doesn't count." Thor and Annabelle only smiled as they listened to the two.

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

"Right. Different rules for us."

"Nice guy, but artificial."

"Thank you

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

"Can we stop calling him 'the Vision?' He might be artificial in some way, but he's still a person. Just Vision should suffice," Annabelle said and they nodded, uncharacteristically quiet.

"But if you put the hammer in the elevator-"

"It would still go up," Tony finished for Steve.

"Elevator's not worthy."

"Any person who can lift Mjolnir is worthy," Thor told them, his eyes coming to rest on Annabelle, pausing for a moment before putting a hand on Tony's shoulder. "I'm gonna miss these little talks of ours."

"Not if you don't leave."

"I have no choice," he said as they continued walking. "The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. It's not a coincidence." They made their way outside, the new SHIELD recruits training on the outdoor track. "Someone has been playing an intricate game and made pawns of us. And once all these pieces are in position..."

"Triple Yahtzee?" Tony proposed.

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

"I do. Besides this one," he patted Tony's shoulder, "there's nothing that can't be explained." Annabelle chuckled before Thor gave her a quick hug. "You're getting there though," he said, only so she could hear. She glanced up at him as he walked a few feet away, giving them all one last look before raising his hammer and disappearing into the Bifrost.

"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance," Tony let out as he saw the burnt grass where Thor had been standing. "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," Steve told him honestly.

"I think everyone's gonna miss everyone."

"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," Tony told him.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Family, stability... The guy who wanted all that went in the ice seventy five years ago. I think someone else came out."

"What about you?" Tony asked, looking at her.

She shrugged, looking at the compound in front of her and the training troops. "This is where I need to be right now. Who knows about tomorrow though."

Tony nodded, opening his car door. "You alright?" he asked Steve who stared at the sights in front of him.

He nodded, glancing down at his sister before looking back up. "I'm home." They watched Tony drive away before going inside and finding Natasha. "You wanna keep staring at the wall or do you wanna go to work? I mean, it's a pretty interesting wall."

"I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes."

"Oh, plenty of that was happening," Annabelle smiled as Natasha joined them.

"How do we look?" she asked, taking the tablet from Steve.

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

"We got some hitters."

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

"Isn't that what we're here for?" Annabelle asked, looking between them.

"Let's beat them into shape," Natasha agreed, walking through the door into the training space where Rhodey, Vision, Sam, and Wanda were waiting.

Steve looked out over them. "Avengers..."

We made it to the end, guys! I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. I haven't finished writing the next one yet, so another shorter book is gonna take the posting slot of this one until I am done. Hope you all enjoyed though! Go ahead and give me your theories for Civil War!