In Your Eyes // Steve Rogers

24

All eyes were directed on the new arrival, cautiously watching, unsure of how it would react.

"Thor, you helped create this?" asked Steve.

"Him, apparently," I mumbled, after a glance at its body.

Tony was the only one who heard. Despite the situation, I made him laugh. A glare from me silenced him.

"I had a vision: a whirlpool that sucks in all of life, and it's center..." Thor paused, pointing at the yellow stone on the robot's head, "...is that."

"The gem?" asked Bruce.

"The Mind Stone," explained Thor, "It's one of the six Infinity Stones. All are unparalleled in their destructive capabilities."

"Why would you bring it here?" asked Steve.

"Because Stark is right," said Thor.

"Oh, then it's definitely the end times," muttered Bruce.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," continued Thor.

"Not alone," added the robot.

"Why does your vision sound like Jarvis?" asked Steve suspiciously.

"We reconfigured Jarvis' matrix to create something new," announced Tony.

Steve grinded his teeth, turning his head back to the robot. "I think I've had my fill of new."

"You think I am a child of Ultron?" asked the robot.

"You aren't?" wondered Steve.

"I am not Ultron. I am not Jarvis," he explained, also killing the name I mentally assigned to him, "I am... I am..."

Wanda took a couple steps, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."

"Look again," he offered.

"Her seal of approval means jack to me," grumbled Barton.

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself... They all came from the Mind Stone. There is nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side--"

"Is it?" snapped Steve, interrupting Thor. He looked at the robot. "Are you?"

"I don't think it's that simple," he admitted.

"Well, it better get real simple, real soon," said Barton harshly.

Fed up with the lack of acceptance in the group, I snapped, "Back off," at Barton, successfully silencing him.

Glancing at me thankfully, the robot continued, "I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" wondered Bruce.

"You."

"Where?" asked Steve.

"Sokovia," said Barton, his tone revealing annoyance, "He's got Nat there, too."

"If we're wrong about you," Bruce started to say, eyes locked with the robot, "If you're the monster Ultron made you to be--"

"What will you do?" inquired the robot, knowing we had no real way of destroying him if it did happen.

"Are you going to help us kill Ultron, then?" I asked, tilting my head in curiosity.

"I don't want to kill Ultron," he insisted, keeping his eyes on me, "He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the Earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of him on the net... We have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others."

With those last words, the robot gained my full acceptance. Finally, someone believed in the importance of teamwork.

"Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I would know if I was. I am not what you are. I am not what you intended. So, there may be no way for you to trust me," he paused, gripping the handle of the hammer, "But we need to go."

I blinked once, and the robot was holding the hammer out to Thor with ease.

Thor took the hammer, eyebrows tilted scrunched in astonishment.

I didn't blame him. I don't think anyone could fully comprehend what happened.

"All right," muttered Thor.

"Three minutes," announced Steve, "Get what you need."

While the others, excluding Pietro and Wanda, who waited for me, left to the weapons hangar, Steve asked for me to hang back for a moment.

"Clara," he said, his tone soft, "Bruce pushed you, didn't he? Are you okay?"

I snapped my eyes to Steve's, squinting, although I wasn't directly angry with him. Thousands of thoughts ran through my head; everything I wanted to admit about the sudden dread I had for the team. I was second guessing my decision to join it. I hadn't felt such a level of anger in years, and it wasn't something I wanted to entertain.

I settled for saying a simple: "This doesn't feel like a team."

"Believe me, I know, Clara. I know. We have issues, as all teams do," he said. His words were leading into some type of inspirational message that I wasn't in the mood for.

"Look, I thought this is what I wanted," I cut him off, "I know I need to be helping people, using my skills... Honestly, I'm not sure this is the best place for me to be doing it."

Steve's face fell blank. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that after Sokovia... If there's an after... I don't know if I truly want this spot on the Avengers."