The Man My Father Always Talked About • A CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY

20

~20~

     The Avengers suited up once again. Clara zipped up her leather jacket as she followed Thor and Steve into the almost abandoned factory. The place gave her the creeps and the weapon crates she passed gave her the sick feeling she felt when she realized what her company was doing all those years ago. They walked up the metal stairs, meeting Tony as he flew down from his entrance in the ceiling.

"Ahh, Junior," Tony started. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to. Anthony and Clarissa Stark, the two hearts behind my very existence. I would say it's a pleasure to see you again, but I'm not one for lying." Ultron teased the siblings. Steve looked at Clara as she stared down her creation. He knew she was smart enough to know what Ultron was, but he had hoped in his gut she wasn't the one to bring it to life.

"We don't have to break anything," Thor said. Steve pushed his feelings aside and looked back at the metal being.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet." Ultron said.

Tony sighed and looked back at them. "He beat me by one second."

"This is funny, Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" The Maximoff twin said. It was the boy, the one from the woods.

"This was never our lives." Tony said, with a hint of sadness and Clara looked at them with shame in her eyes. If she could go back and stop it sooner, she would have.

"You two can still walk away from this." Steve said to the twins.

"Oh, we will." The other twin mocked.

"We know you've suffered." Steve said.

"Uuughh! Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," Thor interrupted as he gripped his hammer tighter.

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet."

"Yuh-huh. What's the Vibranium for?" Tony asked.

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan!" Suddenly the Iron Legions attacked. Tony went up with Ultron while the others fought on the ground. Clara shot at the robots and then at the twins. She watched as the fast one knocked Steve off his feet. It wasn't soon after that he was after her. She fired her reactor at him, but he was still to fast. With his quick speed, he elbowed her in the stomach and pushed her off her feet. When she was down, Wanda used her magic, making Clara live her worst fears.

***

Clara was reading a book while sitting on a couch in the living room that belonged to her parents. They had just left on a trip to god knows where, leaving a twenty-one year old Tony in charge of his thirteen year old sister. Tony was upstairs, trying to have some peace and quiet when Clara heard the phone ring. The ringing stopped, and the young girl focused on her book again, until the phone rang again. She sighed, tossing the book to the side and answering the phone.

"Is this Anthony Stark?" A voice asked.

"No, this is Clara Stark, his..." she started but was cut off by the caller.

"Miss Stark I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this." The voice sounded upset.

"What do you mean?" Clara asked, looking around to see if Tony was near.

"Mr and Mrs Stark...they...they were in an accident. Neither of them made it. I'm sorry." Clara held the phone in her hand. She stared at the wall, not knowing how to take it. "I'm sorry." The man hung up. She stood there for what felt like forever. Tony had picked up the phone just after Clara had, meaning he heard the whole thing. He had rushed downstairs to see his sister standing still. He was the one to break her out of her trance.

"Clara?" He asked. That's when she broke. She dropped the phone and fell to her knees, making Tony run to catch her on the way down. She began sobbing into her big brother's chest as he stroked her hair to try an calm her down. She couldn't breath, the world around her was shrinking.

Clara had always remembered that day, but seeing it made her flinch in her dream. The rest of the Avengers had already gone through their dreams and were having trouble recovering from them. Tony was fighting the Hulk in the city while the two twins used this chance to escape. Clint rushed over to Clara who was still dreaming. Her eyes were opened and her eyes moved as if she was watching her fears like a movie. "She's still out of it." He said to anyone who would here. When no one replied, Clint helped stand her up. By then, Steve had recovered enough to lift her up. He carried her to the jet and laid her down.

"C'mon Clara, wake up." He begged, holding his hand on the side of her head to see if she would wake up. Her eyes were still open as she began to sweat, the nightmare making her body panic.

She stood up from the floor to see that the world about her had changed. The sky was dark and dust filled the air as she looked around. She had to climb over a large piece of ruble to see further. Her eyes widened when she noticed hundreds of bodies littering the ground. She walked around slowly, scared to see if she knew any of them. She was confused at first when she the Avengers logo on the battlefield, shattered in half and buried under dust and rocks. It was the one that was on the wall of the new Avengers facility Tony was having built. She looked around again, until her eyes fell on something that made her heart shatter. She rushed over to a body that was wearing a half destroyed Iron Man Suit.

"Tony?" She asked, holding his head in her lap. Blood strained the side of his face and his eyes stared blankly back at her. "JARVIS, vitals?" She choked out. JARVIS didn't reply. His system only crackled as it tried to find a signal. Clara gasped as she feel backwards, landing on the hard ground. She turned her head in all directions seeing everyone she loved, Steve, Thor, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce all lying dead around him. She pushed herself away, frightened at the sight, but when she did so, she woke herself up.