Y/N was walking out to the quinjet with Fury, dying to ask a question.
"Are you going through with Theta Protocol?" Y/N asked, quietly.
"I am," Fury answered. "I believe we'll need it. Don't you?"
"As much as I want to believe we can end it in Korea, I have a feeling it won't end there."
"Coulson contacted me. Tried to get me to convince you to stay out of this. Any idea why?"
"He's worried."
"Nothing to do with the sudden ability to create portals?"
"Nick-"
"I'm just saying, I don't usually sit people out. But you should think about sitting this one out."
"It's too late. I'm already in this."
"Alright, just... stay safe."
~~~
Steve and Y/N were dropped off a few roofs down from Cho's lab, for safety measures. They headed towards the edge of the roof and looked towards the lab.
"Two minutes," Steve told Nat and Clint, who were on comms. "Stay close." He glanced at Y/N before looking back at the lab. "You know, I really wish that you could just open a portal into the building."
"You and me both," she replied.
Steve jumped from roof to roff as Y/N used her portals to get to each roof. When they reached the lab building and entered, it was clear that Ultron and been there but also wasn't there anymore. They found Helen on the floor, wounded.
"Dr. Cho!" Steve exclaimed as they ran to her. They knelt beside her.
"He's uploading himself into the body," she stated, clearly in pain.
"Where?" Y/N asked.
"The real power is inside the Cradle. The gem, its power is uncontainable.... You can't just blow it up... You have to get the Cradle to Stark."
"First we have to find it," Steve said.
"Go."
They ran out of the lab and towards the highway. They began to climb up the ladder to get to higher ground.
"Did you guys copy that?" Steve asked through the comms.
"We did," Clint responded.
"I got a private jet taking off, across town, no manifest," Natasha informed them. "That could be him."
"There. It's the truck from the lab. Right above you guys. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. I got three with the cradle, one int he cab. I could take out the driver."
"Negative!" Y/N quickly said. "If that truck crashes, the gem could level the city."
"We need to draw out, Ultron," Steve stated.
Steve jumped down onto the truck, getting Ultron's attention. Y/N rolled her eyes and formed a portal above the truck, accessing it that way. Trying to get through the doors of the truck, Steve and the doors are blasted back by Ultron.
"Well, he's definitely unhappy!" Steve commented, hanging onto the door as it got dragged. "I'm gonna try and keep him that way."
"You're not a match for him, Cap," Clint said.
"Thanks, Barton."
Ultron blasted at Steve as he tried to enter the truck. Steve hit the windshield of the car behind them. Y/N ran and flipped into the truck, dodging a blast from Ultron by creating portals. The blast came through a portal behind Ultron, hitting him in the back.
Steve found a way back onto the roof of the truck, Y/N appearing at the same time to avoid a blast. Ultron hovered at the end of the truck's roof.
"You know what's in that Cradle?" Ultron asked. "The power to make real change, and that terrifies you."
"I wouldn't call it a comfort," Steve commented.
He tossed his shield at Ultron. It hit Ultron and he started firing back. Y/N used the portals to use the blasts against Ultron, once again.
"Get in and protect the gem!" Steve ordered.
Y/N nodded. She appeared in the truck, where two Ultron bots were guarding the cradle. They began shooting at her. She used the portals again to her advantage, but she could feel her energy being drained. Natasha was now on a motorcycle, chasing after the truck. She noticed Y/N fighting off the two bots by herself while Steve was fighting off the main Ultron bot on the roof.
"Clint, can you draw out the guards?" Natasha ordered through the comms.
"Let's find out," Clint responded.
He flew the quinjet lower and fired at the main Ultron bot. That put the other two into protective mode, going after the quinjet.
"Thanks, Barton," Y/N panted.
She went over to the cradle's control panel, to see what she could do, as commotion continued through the comms.
"Heading back towards you," Clint warned. "So whatever you're going to do, do it now."
"I'm going in," Nat said. "Cap, can you keep him occupied?"
"What do you think I've been doing?" Steve responded.
Nat jumped into the truck as the Ultron bots lifted it off the ground.
"I can't access the panel," Y/N stated. "I can't stop whatever's happening. Unless..." Y/N looked at the Stone. "I could-"
"No," Nat stated. "Not here. Don't you dare and try to do something that could kill you in this truck."
"But, Nat, I could protect the-"
"I said no, Rogers!"
"Okay, package is airborne," Clint stated over the comms. "I have a clean shot."
"Negative," Nat responded. "Y/N and I are still in the truck."
"What the hell are you-"
"Just be ready, we're sending the package to you."
"How do you want me to take it?"
Nat cut through the straps holding the cradle in place. "Uhh, you might wish you hadn't asked that."
"I lost him!" Steve suddenly yelled over the comms. "He's headed your way."
"Guys, we gotta go," Clint said, lining up the back of the quinjet with the back of the truck.
"Nat, get on the cradle!" Y/N ordered. She slipped a small bomb she had from her belt and placed it on the wall.
"What?" She responded.
"Do it!"
Natasha did as she was told and laid on top of the cradle. Y/N pushed it towards the opening. It slid out of the truck and into the quinjet. Y/N portaled herself out of the truck and into the quinjet just as the truck exploded. Suddenly, Nat was grabbed by the Ultron bot.
"Nat!" Both Clint and Y/N screamed.
"Cap, you see Nat?" Clint asked, panicked.
"If you have the package, get it to Stark!" Steve ordered. "Go!"
"Steve, do you have eyes on Nat?" Y/N asked.
"Go!"
"Damn it," Clint muttered as he reluctantly took off in the quinjet.
"I should have portaled both of us in here," Y/N shook her head. "I should have done something to save her."
Clint was silent, but his thoughts were loud and clear, "Yeah. You should have."
~~~
Y/N portaled the cradle and Clint into the lab, but not herself. She wanted time to feel the guilt, and she didn't need the looks of blame from Bruce and Tony just yet. She was also tired. She had been practicing forming portals but she hadn't used them in combat like she had today. Leaning her head back against the seat, Y/N closed her eyes and tried to calm the noise in her mind. It failed as the loudest mind of all drew near.
"She can't be blaming herself over this," Tony thought. "He would have grabbed one of them to prove a point anyway. And, sorry Nat, better you then Y/N."
Tony came up and set a caring hand on Y/N's shoulder, rubbing it with his thumb.
"Heard what happened over the comms," he said, spinning the captain's chair around. "It wasn't your fault."
"Clint blames me," she replied.
"You don't kno-"
"But I do! I know it because I heard it. Yes, he didn't say it out loud, but in his thoughts he was blaming me. I-" Y/N gripped her hair. "I can't do this! This burden is too much! I don't want it anymore!"
"Woah, woah, woah." Tony's hands flew to Y/N's wrists. "Honey..."
"I can't do it!" She cried. "I can't do what they're expecting of me. They should have let me die!"
"What are you talking about?" Tony tried to pull Y/N closer to him. "No, they shouldn't have."
"Stop! Don't touch me!"
Tony's hands suddenly flew off of Y/N. His eyes widened at the action that he had no control over.
"Sweetheart...." He gently called. "What did the Maximoff witch show you?"
A loud, painful sob ripped through Y/N throat as the vision she was shown flashed through her mind. So much death and destruction. Crumbling in on herself, she slipped onto the floor. Tony's heart broke as he watched the strongest woman he knew fall apart. He slowly knelt down beside her, carefully reaching out to touch her. When Y/N didn't flinch away from his touch, Tony gently guided her hands out of her hair.
"Y/N... please tell me what you saw."
"Dust," she replied, barely a whisper. "Screams... so many screams..."
"It wasn't real, Y/N, remember?"
"It felt real.... So real..."
"I know the feeling..." Tony slowly pulled Y/N up and into him, cradling her softly.
"I shouldn't have been saved...."
"Whatever those alien objects are making you feel, I'm grateful that they've been saving you... or else I wouldn't have ever met you... and I can't imagine my life without you." He held a kiss to her head. "We'll figure this out. We'll get through it... we always do..."
~~~
Y/N gripped Tony's hand tightly as he led her back to the lab. Bruce was entering as well as Clint tried to open the cradle.
"Anything on Nat?" Bruce asked.
"Haven't heard," Tony answered, giving Y/N's hand a light squeeze. "But she's alive, or Ultron'd be rubbing our faces in it."
"This is sealed tight," Clint stated.
"We're going to need to access the program, break it down from within," Bruce explained.
"Hm," Tony hummed. "Any chance Natasha might leave you a message, outside the internet, old school spy stuff?"
"There's some nets I can cast," Clint responded. "Yeah, alright. I'll find her." And he headed off.
"How about you sit here?" Tony guided Y/N down into a seat, kissing her forehead. "Does that work?" She nodded.
Bruce eyes were laced with concern, but moved on, not wanting to say anything that would set anything off. "I can work on tissue degeneration, if you can fry whatever operational system Cho implanted."
"Yeah, about that..."
"No."
"You have to trust me." Y/N furrowed her brows.
"Kinda don't."
"Our ally? The guy protecting the military's nuclear codes? I found him." Tony pulled up a consciousness.
"Hello, Dr. Banner, Agent Rogers," JARVIS greeted.
"J?" Y/N gasped. She didn't realize how much she could miss an AI.
"Ultron didn't go after JARVIS cause he was angry. He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do," Tony explained. "So JARVIS went underground. Okay? Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there, until I pieced him together."
"So, you want me to help you put JARVIS into this thing?" Bruce asked, pointing to the body inside the cradle.
"No, of course not! I want to help you put JARVIS in this thing." Bruce shook his head. "We're out of my field here. You know bio-organics better than anyone."
"And you just assume that JARVIS' operational matrix can beat Ultron's?"
"JARVIS has been beating him from inside without knowing it. This is the opportunity, we can create Ultron's perfect self, without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to."
"I believe it's worth a go," JARVIS added.
"No, I'm in a loop!" Bruce exclaimed. "I'm caught in a time loop, this is exactly where it all went wrong."
"I know, I know. I know what everyone's going to say, but they're already saying it," Tony said, moving to standing next to Bruce. "We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. You gotta own it. Make a stand." Bruce shook his head again. "It's not a loop. It's the end of the line."
Feeling the sudden need to try something, Y/N stood up, the men eyeing her. She pressed her hand against the glass above the Stone and closed her eyes. She began searching it, as it searched her.
"You're the only one," it told her. "There's no other option."
"But what if I don't want to?" She responded.
"Then half of the universe will die... I will be safe in this body, as long as JARVIS is in control and not Ultron. And I will help guide and protect you."
"Y/N?" Tony called, growing concerned as the Stone had began glowing. "Y/N, what's going on?"
"Just tell me one thing, when?" Y/N asked. "When does this all happen?"
"Soon," the Stone replied. "But there are several things that must happen before then... You will be prepared though. We would not have chosen you if you weren't going to be."
"Y/N," Tony called louder, coming up beside her.
With a light gasp, Y/N removed her hand and looked at Tony. "Do it," she said. "Do it."
~~~
"This framework is not compatible," Tony stated. The men were experimenting with the cradle, trying to upload JARVIS.
"The genetic coding tower's at ninety seven percent," Bruce informed. "You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes."
Suddenly, Steve and the Maximoff twins appeared in the lab.
"I'm gonna say this once," Steve warned.
"How about 'nonce'?" Tony retorted.
"Shut it down!"
"Nope, not gonna happen."
"You don't know what you're doing."
"And you do?" Bruce asked, clearly angry. "She's not in your head?"
"I know you're angry-" Wanda said, stepping up.
"Oh, we're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."
"Banner," Steve called, "after everything that's happened-"
"That's nothing compared to what's coming!" Y/N shouted, surprising Steve.
"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda responded.
"This isn't a game, Y/N," Steve scolded. "How are you taking his side?"
"His side?" Y/N repeated. "This isn't about sides, Steve! This has more to do than just us!"
"The creature-" Wanda started but was cut off by Pietro using his speed to destroy the lab equipment.
"No, no. Go on," Pietro taunted. "You were saying?"
Suddenly, the glass floor Pietro was standing on shattered, sending him to the floor below. Barton was there, being the one who had shot the floor.
"Pietro!" Wanda yelled.
"What? You didn't see that coming?" Clint taunted.
The computers in the lab and the cradle began beeping. The sudden power loss was going to destroy everything they had done.
"I'm rerouting the upload!" Tony said.
Then a bang. Steve had thrown his shield at the equipment, trying to stop Tony. Tony called the suit to him, it quickly forming around him. He shot at Steve, throwing him down. Bruce went around to Wanda, holding her in a choke hold as her eyes began to glow red.
"Go ahead," Bruce whispered to her. "Piss me off."
Clint came rushing up the stairs, cocking his gun. Steve quickly jumped up and started heading for Tony. Tony heading for him as well. Y/N jumped in between the two men, getting frustrated at what was happening.
"STOP!" She shouted. Suddenly, everyone froze. Y/N could feel it was her doing, her energy draining.
"Y/N, how are-" Steve began.
"NO! You don't understand, this is needed."
Thor suddenly slid into the lab, making his grand entrance after 24 hours. Him and Y/N made eye contact.
"I know the truth," he thought, directly speaking to her. "I can help."
She nodded and he jumped onto the cradle. Thor lifted up his hammer and began to summon lightning.
"Wait!" Bruce yelled.
But it was too late. Thor hit down on the cradle with his hammer. He lifted the hammer once the cradle started beeping.
"Y/N, let us go," Tony said.
"No," she replied.
Everyone eyed her worriedly, while still trying to watch the cradle. They grew more concerned when they noticed that she was breaking a sweat and trembling.
"Y/N-"
But Steve was cut off when the cradle burst opened, throwing Thor off from on top of it. The red body appeared on top of the cradle, housing the Mind Stone on its forehead. Y/N panted as she released everyone from her hold. They all stared at the body.
Suddenly, the body flew at Thor. Thor tossed him through the glass wall and into the room below. Thor and Steve jumped out behind him, on the defensive, as Tony quickly came up to Y/N.
"Honey," he called, grabbing her to steady her.
"If you and Steve... ever try to attack each other like that again..." Y/N panted. "I'll kill you both myself..."
She shrugged off Tony and headed down the stairs, Tony slowly following behind her. The red body was hovering at the main wall of windows, staring at its reflection. Thor had his hand out, telling Steve not to attack. Thor set his hammer down and made his way toward the body. It flew down, changing its appearance to seem like it was wearing clothes, stopping when it was next to Thor.
"I am sorry," his voice sounded like JARVIS, "That was... odd." He looked at Thor. "Thank you."
"Thor," Steve's authoritative voice rang through the room. "You helped create this?"
"I had a vision," Thor started, glancing at Y/N. "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that." He pointed to the Mind Stone.
"What?" Bruce questioned. "The gem?"
"It's the Mind Stone," Thor continued, glancing at Y/N once again as she tensed. Steve noticed as well. "It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."
"Then why would you bring-" Steve started.
"Because Stark is right."
"Oh, it's definitely the end times," Bruce commented.
"I'm not the only one who knows this." Thor made eye contact with Y/N, causing everyone to look at her. "The Avengers can not defeat Ultron."
"Not alone," the body added, walking closer to everyone.
"Why does your vision sound like JARVIS?" Steve asked.
"We... we reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new," Tony replied. He walked around the man, studying him carefully.
"I think I've had my fill of new," Steve commented, shooting a glance Y/N's way.
"You think I'm a child of Ultron?" The body asked.
"You're not?" Steve questioned.
"I'm not Ultron. I'm not JARVIS. I am... I am..."
"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," Wanda stated.
"Look again."
"Yeah," Clint spoke up. "Her seal of approval means jack to me."
"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Y/N-" Thor stopped himself as Y/N frantically shook her head. Thor quickly continued, "Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash. But with it on our side-"
"Is it?" Steve asked. "Are you? On our side?"
"I don't think it's that simple," it responded.
"Well it better get really simple real soon," Clint growled.
"I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't, he will end it all."
"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.
"You."
"Where?" Bruce wondered.
"Sokovia," Clint answered. "He's got Nat there too."
"If we're wrong about you, if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be-"
"What will you do?" It questioned, silencing everyone.
"It's not a monster," Y/N responded, stepping forward. She kept her eyes on the Stone. "Trust me."
"I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique, and he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net, we have to act now. And not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are, and not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go."
Suddenly, the body lifted Thor's hammer, handed it to the god. Thor took and at the body walked off as everyone stared in shock.
"Right," Thor nodded. He walked over to Tony, patting him on the shoulder. "Well done."
"Three minutes," Steve ordered. "Get what you need."
Thor walked over to Y/N, grabbing her arm as he led her away.
"Hey!" Tony called out, causing everyone to notice. "What are you doing?"
"We need to talk," Thor responded, getting leading her away.
Y/N looked back at the rest of the team, who were hurt and confused. "We'll be right back," she said. Opening a portal, the two appeared on the roof of the Tower. "So... you know?"
"Yes."
"About what though, exactly?"
"The Infinity Stones are what give you your gifts. They are what is protecting you." Y/N sighed with a nod. "I'm getting that you haven't told anyone the full extent of everything."
"How could I? Tony had a vision of us all dead in front of him and that's why we're now going to fight a murder bot! If I told any of them that the Stones were saving me for a bigger threat...." She scoffed. "They would lock me up and throw away the key."
"They wouldn't do that to you. Stark and Rogers care a great deal about you."
"They wouldn't if they've seen what I've seen."
"Are you sufficiently practicing your abilities?"
"I only learn about them as the Stones see fit."
"Good, good." He nodded. "Do you feel up to fighting Ultron, Y/N?"
"Please don't doubt me too, Thor."
"I'm not. I just saw how much of a strain that was, stopping everyone. I want to make sure you have your full strength before heading in."
"I'll be fine, Thor. We should get back to the team... They aren't going to be happy about this."
"I will help you, Y/N. They won't be able to hurt you."
Y/N gave a small nod as she created a portal and her and Thor entered the Tower again. Y/N drew back as she saw the anger in Steve's eyes and the hurt in Tony's. Noticing it as well, Thor protectively stepped in front of her.
"This needs to stop," Thor ordered. "We have bigger problems than what's going on with Y/N at the moment."
"You don't know what you're-"
"I do know what's going on here, Stark. And I know it can wait until after Ultron."
"We're just asking her to be honest with us," Steve stated.
"And I'm just asking for some time," Y/N responded, meekly.
"I think you've had enough. How long have you known about the Infinity Stones?"
"Steve, please und-"
"How long, Y/N?! How long have you decided to keep things from this team? From your family? You are my twin, the only one I have ever really trusted! But now-"
"That's enough!" Thor roared, lightning cracking. Thor's Vision appeared behind Y/N before moving in front of her to protect her as well. "Like I said before, this isn't something we should worry about now. Ultron first, this later."
"Come on," the Vision said, urging Y/N to move. She did, slowly following him to the quinjet.