Project Raven

Avenger

Harley's POV

We headed to SHIELD's headquarters, which had been recently fixed. Stark had made a suit for me, with pouches to hold small items strapped to my legs and arm bands. I also got two arm attachments that acted as my weapons. They could shoot discs that expanded into electrified nets, and were made of vibranium along with blades. They amplified my strength and the serum's effects. The suit also included a place for my wings and some vibranium to work as added structure for the tops. I shook out my wings and moved them around, testing them. "Thank you, they're amazing." Stark laughed. "Wings are not my expertise, though I've made artificial ones for Falcon. They're amazingly unique, though I prefer rockets to help me fly. How did they make them?" He asked. I shrugged. "I think they took my DNA and some DNA from a raven to make the base, then made the feathers and added them on. And then they grafted them on by connecting the bones and nerves." He nodded. "Don't try to replicate them. We'll probably have to kill it, like your last living experiment." Steve grimanced. Wanda looked down. "They're extremely painful to put on. I was under heavy anesthetics, but still woke up. If they hadn't been preparing me for it for two and a half years, I would've died. I was lucky that they'd done it right. Forty nine people died before they got it right. Then again, I was the only fighter. The only one with the will to live. The only one they had to shoot to capture. I'm warning you, don't make wings. Ever." Stark just shrugged. "I don't have experience with actual living beings. Ultron was AI, and an accident. I'm a mechanic, not a bio-enginer. You need to worry about Banner, not me."

~

We left a while later. I decided to ask Steve about Ultron. He sighed and explained. "Around a year ago, we obtained Loki's sceptor. Stark and Banner replicated the brain-like intelligence from the crystal of it, which happened to be an infinity stone. Stark was nearly done with it and left, leaving Jarvis, who was just an AI system at the time, to notify him. Ultron was completed while he was gone, and attacked Jarvis. Then, he started controling Stark's soldier suits' repair system and made his own body. He moved into it and started reaking havoc, which ended up killing Wanda's brother and a lot of innocents. A whole town was destroyed. Ultron tried to use the Cradle, a box made by Dr. Cho, to create a living body for himself. We stole it back and used the uncomplete body to make Vision, who merged with the infinity stone." Wanda looked down again. I patted her on the back. "I'm sorry." She looked at me. "I can't change the past. No one can do that. But I can live on for him, and avenge him. That's why I'm an Avenger." I nodded. I realised we each had someone to avenge. A few of us already had avenged them, but had still continued to avenge the innocent. Wanda had avenged her brother. Vision avenged the innocent, though I'm not sure if he had someone to avenge. Sam was avenging his friend, who had also been a Falcon. Steve had avenged his best friend, Bucky Barnes, but learned that he was alive. I avenge my parents, and my lost experiments. Despite the distant years, their screams were still fresh. I quietly said, "No matter how much time passes, I can never forget those forty nine people. They never deserved to die. Each scream signaling the end was distinct. Each of them died with no one but me to cry for them. 

But even I never cried.

I had to stay strong to survive. I was the only one left. Because of their deaths, I lived. I was never meant to be the success. They knew they couldn't control me, but couldn't risk taking more people. They were getting impatient. Call it denial or the things they did to me, but I never cried. Not until I broke free. Not until I flew for the first time, not until Sam died. The last time I'd cried was when my mom died. But I've learned that crying is good. 

If I'm crying, I'm still breathing."