In My Eyes

Ch•5- The Endgame

"Genie's out of that bottle" Nat nodded her head up "Clear and present is Ultron"

"I don't understand" Doctor Cho, who I almost forgot was here, whispered quietly from the corner of the room. She was standing by a demolished Iron Legion suit that was lying on the table "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Dad, for some strange reason, decided that it would be a good time to laugh. He chuckled to himself, but everyone heard. I squinted at him through my glasses, not understanding how he could laugh at a time like this.

"You think this is funny?" Thor asked angrily. He was getting more heated by the minute.

"No. It's probably not, right?" Dad looked around the group.

"It's really not" I shook my head, shifting the ice pack on my arm.

"This is very terrible?" Dad said almost as if it was a question "Is it so... Is it so... It is. It's so terrible?"

Thor took a step towards Dad. Rhodey almost jumped in between them but he stayed back "This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand"

"No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny" Dad snapped "It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this"

"Tony" Bruce warned from behind him "maybe this might not be the time"

"Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot" Bruce fired back at Dad.

"We didn't" Dad glared at him.

"Well Dad" I shook my head slowly from side to side "it murdered Jarvis"

I extended my hand to the dismantled holographic A.I. I was so irritated with him right now, it's not even funny. I wish Thor would choke him again "So uh... yea, you did"

"We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Dad asked.

"Well, you did something right" Steve unfolded his arms from his chest and walked across the lab towards Dad "And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D"

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?" Dad raised his eyebrow, and also raised his voice as he asked the question.

"No, it's never come up"  Rhodey shook his head.

"Saved New York?"

"Never heard that"

"Recall that?" Dad leaned against the table "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it" he pointed to the ceiling "We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but... that up there, that's... that's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

Steve didn't skip a beat as he answered "Together"

"We'll lose" Dad looked to Steve.

"Then we'll do that together, too"
Steve really sounded like a Captain in that moment (even though he was). I automatically felt a sense of relief. Knowing that he was here always made me feel safer "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller"

***

"Deleted, Deleted, Deleted" I searched through every file involving Ultron, but everything was gone. Ultron erased everything. I was growing anxious to try and find a file that was intact. "Everything was gone, deleted... has Hilary Clinton been here?"

I was sitting in my room at the computer, using all of  my skills to try and find this guy. "Jarvis?" I asked "can you-" I stopped myself, suddenly feeling depressed "ugh!" I leaned back in my seat and hung my head back. Jarvis is gone as well. A light knock sounded from my bedroom door. I glanced up from the computer screen to the sliding door "oh, uh, yes?" I called with little interest of who it is.

"May I come in?" A low voice asked from the door which was cracked open. It was 4 in the morning and I had not slept at all. The sun was just about to peak over the horizon of the city.

I could see Steve's blue eyes from the little light shedding from my screen.

"Sure" I slid the holographic computer keypad away and it disappeared "What are you doing up?"

Steve smile softly and entered the room, closing the door as quietly as he could "I was about to ask you the same thing"

I removed my glasses and rubbed my tired eyes "This isn't working Steve. I can't do anything right. Ultron is out there and I can't find him, I can't find him, I can't find your friend Bucky. Nothing is working!" I pushed away from the desk and stood up from the chair.

"It's not your fault Jes, with this, and Bucky, in fact, don't worry about him. You've done enough and I'm glad you've help me. But this thing with Ultron, trust me, you haven't done a thing"

"I should have found out about Dad's little Ultron project before it got this far. I should have stopped this, I could have... but I-"

Steve lowered his eyes to the floor "but you were busy helping me in finding Bucky"

"I got distracted" I rephrased it "but, yea. I don't regret helping you Steve" I sat down on the edge of my bed "I know how much Bucky means to you. If I had found out that my best friend from seventy years ago was still out there, I'd be doing the exact same thing"

"How about we focus on Ultron right now, he seams to be our main concern" Cap suggested, pressing his back to the wall and he crossed his arms over his muscular chest.

"You'd think that since he's everywhere that it would be easy to catch him"

"We'll find him" Steve assured "he can't hide forever"

"He's not exactly hiding" I raised an eyebrow.

"You look tired"

"I feel tired"

Steve dropped his arms to his aides and headed for the door "you get some sleep Jessi. You need it. We'll wake you if anything comes up"

"Okay" I nodded, crawling under the covered as Steve shut the door, separating me from the rest of the world.