Into the Fray {Marvel} ||4||

14. Vision

Let's hope we're not too late.

If we're lucky, we're just about to stop it.

We were taking a huge risk, by trusting the Maximoffs in what they told us back in Korea. We got ourselves back to New York, and now we were running up the tower, finding the lab.

Thank Gods that we did, because Tony and Bruce looked as though they were almost done completing an upload to the body in the Cradle. Aria was watching in apprehensive curiosity.

"I'm gonna say this once," Steve interrupted.

"How about 'nonce'?" said Tony.

"Shut it down!"

"Nope, not gonna happen."

"You don't know what you're doing."

"And you do? She's not in your head?" questioned Bruce.

"I know you're angry," Wanda told him.

"Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Banner, after everything that's happened..." Steve tried.

"That's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony shouted.

"This isn't a game," I voiced. "You don't know what you're about to do."

"The creature...!" said Wanda.

Pietro zoomed through the room, disabling the equipment that enabled the scientists to finish the upload.

"No, no," he said. "Go on. You were saying?"

"Pietro!" Wanda cried as her brother fell through the glass floor he stood on. Bruce grabbed hold of her and threatened her. I put myself between Tony and Steve, and I had a fire ready to go. Aria remained in the background, quiet and confused as to what she should be doing.

"Go ahead, Tony, piss me off," I snarled to him.

"Now, Kia, be reasonable," he told me carefully. "This is for the good of the world here."

"No, it's not. Do you not remember what that kind of power has done to people? Done to me?" My mouth warbled. "You won't be able to control this, and it will bite you! It'll get all of us!"

Just before we went for each other, out of nowhere, Thor entered the game. He pounded the Cradle with his hammer, sending a powerful lightning bolt through it.

"Wait!" Bruce shouted.

We all backed off as the body, a mixture of metallic green and red, floated out from the Cradle. It bore no clothes, but it bore no male anatomy—I guess it was a plus. It looked at all of us.

And then it attacked.

It got to me first, and Thor pulled the body away, tossing it to the opposite end of the tower. Just before it could crash through the windows, it stopped itself. It suspended in midair, looking at its reflection in the glass.

Thor, what is the meaning of this? No contact. No explanation.

I've been...away.

Well, I knew that. Why decide to come back now? Why let this...this thing come to life?

The new being slowly turned, floating towards us. He landed on the ground, and I took note of the yellow gem imbedded in his forehead. Bruce let Wanda go, and we all stared in awe.