Long Ago and Far Away

11

Wanda found Ultron in the train.

"Wanda," Ultron called. "If you stay here, you'll die."

"I just did," Wanda retorted. "Do you know how it felt?" She used her power to rip Ultron's core from his body. "It felt like that."

---

One remaining robot turned the key in the church, and the city began falling.

Tony fired a powerful blast to the core underneath the floating city before saying, "Thor, on my mark." Thor brought on a blast of lightning. At the same time, Vision flew in, picked up Wanda and flew off with her as the city was being destroyed. "Now!"

Thor used his hammer to hit the Vibranium core in the church, destroying the core and the floating city.

---

Natasha said to Hulk from a screen as he remained on the jet he'd knocked Ultron from, "Hey, big guy. We did it, the job's finished. Now I need you to turn this bird around, okay? We can't track you in stealth mode, so help me out. I need you t-" Hulk turned off Natasha's camera, then sat as the jet flew to an unknown destination.

---

Vision found Ultron and said, "You're afraid."

"Of you?" Ultron asked.

"Of death. You're the last one."

"You were supposed to be the last. Stark asked for a savior, and settled for a slave."

"I suppose we're both disappointments."

Ultron chuckled. "I suppose we are."

"Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites, and try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that."

"They're doomed."

"Yes. But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. It's a privilege to be among them."

"You're unbearably naive."

"Well, I was born yesterday." As Ultron went to attack him, Vision used the Infinity Stone in his head to destroy him.

---

Clint returned to his family on the farm, followed by Tony driving to the new Avengers facility in upstate New York.

---

From a video of Clint's new baby on Natasha's phone, Laura said, "Say hi to Auntie Nat."

Natasha saw that the baby had been named Nathaniel Pietro Barton and commented, "Fat."

Fury came up to her and said, "One of our tech boys flagged this, splashed down in the Banda Sea. Could be the Quinjet. But with Stark's stealth tech, we still can't track the damn thing."

"Right."

"Probably jumped out and swam to Fiji. He'll send a postcard."

""Wish you were here." You sent me to recruit him, way back when. Did you know then what was going to happen?"

"You never know. You hope for the best and make do with what you get. I got a great team."

"Nothing lasts forever."

"Trouble, Miss Romanoff. No matter who wins or loses, trouble still comes around."

"The rules have changed," Steve said.

"We're dealing with someone new," Tony added.

"Well, the Vision's artificial intelligence."

"A machine."

"So it doesn't count."

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

Louise nodded slowly. "Right. Different rules for us." Especially different for her she felt.

"Nice guy, but artificial."

"Thank you," Steve said.

"If he can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone," Thor told them. "It's safe with the Vision and these days, safe is in short supply."

"But if you put the hammer in an elevator..."

"It would still go up."

"Elevator's not worthy," Steve joked, watching with concern as Louise snuck away.

Thor looked between them. "I'm going to miss these talks of ours."

"Well, not if you don't leave," Tony replied.

"I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. But once all these pieces are in position..."

"Triple Yahtzee?"

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

"I do," Thor answered, and said in reference to Tony, "Besides this one, there's nothing that can't be explained." Thor returned to Asgard and the Bifrost burned a sigil in the grass he was standing on.

"That man has no regard for lawn maintenance," Tony said. "I'm gonna miss him though. And you're gonna miss me. There's gonna be a lot of manful tears." They walked towards Tony's car.

"I will miss you, Tony," Steve told him.

"Yeah? Well, it's time for me to tap out. Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book and build Pepper a farm, hope nobody blows it up."

"The simple life."

"You'll get there one day."

"I don't know, family, stability. The guy who wanted all that went into the ice seventy-five years ago. I think someone else came out." Tony turned to get into his car.

"You all right?" Tony asked.

"I'm home," Steve replied before Tony got into his car.

Steve went to find Louise and asked, "Lu, are you okay?"

Louise shook her head. "No, I... Steve, you wouldn't understand. I did something terrible."

Steve cupped her face. "Louise, whatever it is, I promise I won't love you any less."

Her lips pursed and she nodded. "I hope you remember that. Steve, I... I need some time."

"Okay. I'll be waiting for you. No matter how long as it takes."

Steve found Natasha standing alone and said, "You want to keep staring at the wall, or do you want to go to work? I mean, it's a pretty interesting wall."

"I thought you and Tony were still gazing into each other's eyes. How do we look?"

"Well, we're not the '27 Yankees." He handed Natasha a tablet.

"We've got some hitters."

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

"Let's beat 'em into shape."

They gathered; Rhodey in his War Machine suit, Vision, Sam in his Falcon suit, and Wanda in a new outfit.

"Avengers...!" Steve began, trailing off.

---

A dissatisfied Thanos opened a vault holding the Infinity Gauntlet without any of the Stones and put it on before saying, "Fine, I'll do it myself."