A Place In This World (Beginnings and Goodbyes, #1) {Completed}

one word from you

I hesitate at the threshold of the Quinjet Bay. An anxiety unlike anything I've ever felt before keeps my feet stuck to the floor, but I can hear the voices of Steve, Tony, and Bruce drifting through the metal interior of the bay. The sheer size of it baffles me, and I'm back to considering myself a puny mortal in the presence of towering gods.

"Thank you."

A soft voice to my left spooks me back to the present, and I jump to the side as I watch Vision phase up through the floor. He solidifies himself and tilts his head at me.

I take a deep breath and ground myself. I was not trained in carrying on conversations with androids but I can think on my feet here.

"Oh, you're welcome," I say.

"You are quite young."

I dip my head in confirmation. "I'm aware."

"And yet, you are being allowed to join a battlefield. I do not agree with this occurring."

I really don't want to argue with a walking, talking supercomputer. "Why did you thank me?"

"You allowed me to speak the truth to the others, make my case when they seemed keen on destroying me instead. May I ask why that was?"

I shrug. "It seemed unfair. You can speak and think, not to mention carry Thor's hammer, and I'm pretty sure anyone evil wouldn't have been able to do that. Anyone deserves a chance to explain themselves, even if they are a robot." I smile up at him.

He copies me, a smile of his own spreading across his face. He steps forward only to stop and look back at me.

"You will be careful?"

"I promise." I give him a scout salute. He puzzles over the hand gesture, some part of his processor seeming to whir within his eyes, and then his smile clicks back into place as if he now recognizes what I'm doing.

"This is my first fight too, and I am afraid." His voice holds a surprising amount of emotion, of truth within it. My eyes widen, but we remain face to face, and I take a step towards him. "I can calculate as many possibilities as I see fit, but I cannot factor in human error. Mistakes might be made, atrocities certain, but we have hope in us. Maybe, that is what you saw in me." He smiles a little wider. "I see that in you."

I stand beside him, and it seems like a bridge has been crossed. I glance to the open quinjet, a larger model than the one I stowed away on, my dad's voice now a part of the mix. I hear my name a couple of times, but I remain in this quiet moment between me and Vision.

I hesitate for a moment before I lay a hand on his forearm, the texture skinlike, but rough in places. I squeeze, and I am unsure if he feels it, but I look up at him, my eyes swimming with gratitude.

"Thanks, I needed to hear that." I begin to walk away, but then I pause, look at him over my shoulder. "And it was. Hope, I mean."

I walk up the plank, Vision at my back, and when the others come into view, sitting near the entrance on a couple of crates, I pick up the tail end of their conversation.

" . . . Iron Man's the one he's waiting for," Tony is saying.

"That's true. He hates you the most," Vision says as he brushes past me.

I hide the laugh behind a hand, but Tony looks up at us but scowls at me. "Don't encourage the robot. We're still not too sure about him."

"You aren't sure about him, but I think Vision is alright."

Thor chuckles at that, and I share a smile with him, my heart picking up pace.

"'Vision'? Shall we officially call him that?" He nods his approval. "I like it."