ACATALEPSY ➺ loki

10 , age of ultron?

Five minutes later I was sitting in the Quinjet, already hundreds of feet over Sokovia, and I wouldn't lie, I was pissed with Steve even though logically I knew what had happened wasn't his fault really. It was just almost painful to think about how close I had been to getting through to the twins, though. That was what was getting me so upset. If I had just had another two minutes with them, I could have been leaving the building with both twins, but no. I had no clue if I was going to see them again, and how much that would mess up the timeline accordingly.

"Hey, Elaina, I'm really sorry. Stark had just told me you had gone back in, and you hadn't come out for ages and weren't replying to us trying to get through to you from the intercom. I didn't realise..." he trailed off.

"Realise what? That I had everything under control? You guys really have to stop treating me as if I'm a child—I can handle myself fine." I sighed, seeing the almost guilty look on Steve's face at my words and instantly regretting them. "Sorry, Cap—I'm just being a bitch to you for no reason now. I Know you were just trying to look out for me, and I appreciate that, alright? Really... I'm sorry."

Steve placed a hand on my shoulder as I slumped into one of the seats on the jet. "I'm sorry as well. But try not to worry too much about it, alright? I know that sounds impossible—but we'll find another way to get in touch with the twins if they're so necessary to the future. It's not like they'll be dead if we don't have this battle in Sokovia, so we can track them down somehow later. Besides, if you really were so close to getting through to them and they've seen what happens, it should be easier to get them to listen anyway." I wasn't going to lie, his words did make me feel a little better—and he wasn't wrong about that last part.

I let my hair out of the pony I had tied it into, letting the dark brown locks cover my face as I leaned further back in my seat, watching the rest of the avengers around me. Thor, Clint and Steve were speaking about something in a little group, while Natasha and Bruce were huddled in their own little world, Tony too preoccupied with flying the jet to care about conversations going on in the jet—so I was left to sit and ponder in my thoughts, which never seemed to end well.

The Quinjet landed back at the avengers tower not long after, and I watched as Maria Hill briefed Steve on the history of the twins as he walked out of the jet. I was walking out when I heard Tony's voice call out to me. "Hey, kid... you sure I'm good to do whatever I was working on with this scepter?" he asked almost uncertainly, eyeing the thing that seemed to almost be alive, the way the light in the stone dimmed and brightened on its own accord.

I nodded. "Yeah, trust your gut on this one. It'll work out."

A few hours later, I was back in my room, preparing for the party where everything went to shit. Now, it may have been extremely selfish for me not to mention what would happen to Jarvis, but again, I didn't know how much Tony knowing he was going to lose him would do to the timeline. We needed Vision, and without Ultron, he wasn't ever going to exist. I knew that once Ultron had gotten the 'Vision' body made, we could take him down as soon as possible. Sighing, I slipped on my dress I had got for this party—it was a simple sleeveless black piece that fell elegantly to my knees, the cut at the end being uneven, making it look slightly more 'modern' along with a pair of plain matching heels. I had tried to keep my outfit as simple as Natasha would allow, knowing exactly what we would have to be dealing with later in the evening.

Before I really had enough time to start worrying about later, the party had begun and I found myself hanging around the bar so I could keep chatting with Natasha, sipping on a virgin margarita so my head wasn't all fuzzy when Ultron came bursting into the room later on. It was very very clear that I was somewhat of a sodden cat at parties—as not even half an hour had passed and I'd declined dances with at least four or five guys already. Natasha had apparently been watching me politely say no to the last guy who had walked up and offered me a drink, shaking her head as she moved closer to me from across the table. "You've got to lighten up a little, Deove. Have some fun—the worlds not ending today or anything. You said this was your dream or something like that... right? You've been watching us for years, wishing you could be in this world... well, you're here. Relax."