📍AVENGERS COMPOUND
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"Still no word from Vision?"
Over at the almost empty Avengers compound, Rhodey stood in the middle of a workshop/conference room, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Secretary Ross's hologram was being projected on an empty space in the room, also showing the image of the rest of the court along with the other men sitting in their chairs.
"Satellites lost him over somewhere over Edinburgh."
"On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world's most wanted criminals."
"You know they're only criminals because you've chosen to call them that, right, sir?"
"My God, Rhodes," Secretary Ross scoffed while organizing a paper file. "Your talent for horseshit rivals my own."
"If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would've been right here."
Secretary Ross stood up from the chair he was sitting in to get a better look at him. "I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel."
"That's right," Rhodey nodded in agreement, but then looked down at the prosthetic that was made for him."And I'm pretty sure I paid for that."
"You have second thoughts?"
"Not anymore."
A faint beeping noise was heard from the distance alerting the man from a sudden movement in the facility. This startled him and made Rhodey turn his head to the side just in time to hear footsteps approaching. Into the conference room walked in the 'four most wanted criminals' that Ross had referenced before, including Steve, Natasha, Sam, Wanda, and a limping Vision.
"Mr. Secretary," Steve was the first to speak, breaking the silence and stopping before taking a step inside the room.
"You got some nerve," Secretary Ross turned his head to him. "I'll give you that."
Natasha gave him a cold look of her own. "You could use some of that right now."
"The world's on fire. And you think all is forgiven?"
"I'm not looking for forgiveness," Steve shook his head, eyes not removing their gaze from the secretary. "And I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight."
Steve took a step forward, an inch closer to the hologram of Secretary Ross as a way to challenge him. The rest of the group stood behind him, all in silence and hoping they did the right thing by coming back to their home.
"And if you wanna stand in our way. . .we'll fight you too."
Secretary Ross faced Rhodey. "Arrest them."
"All over it."
Rhodey made a hand motion and ended the video-conference, making all holograms disappear in the room. He stayed silent for a second and anxiously fiddled with a gadget in his band before speaking up again.
"That's a court-marshal."
He dropped the serious facade and extended his hand for a handshake. "It's great to see you, Cap."
"You too, Rhodey."
Steve accepted the handshake with a smile and Natasha took this as an opportunity to step forward and greet him. Rhodey turned his attention to her and hugged her with a pat in the back before facing his gaze to the group behind.
"Wow. You guys. . ." he paused. "Really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple years."
"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five star," Sam spoke up for the first time, his arm still around Vision for support.
Another, familiar voice joined the conversation.
"Uh, I think you look great."
All heads snapped to the direction of the voice, but instead of just seeing one person, they saw too. Bruce was awkwardly taking his time to walk forward for the team to see him clearly, and (Y/N) had a confidence in her walk yet she looked rather shaken up. All eyes widened at the sight of the two, mostly because it had been different periods of time when either of them had seen them.
"Came at a bad time? We can come back later if you want," (Y/N) crossed her arms over her chest.
"(Y/N)," her name left Steve's lips, eyes ridden with a sense of guilt and relief of seeing her after a long time.
Bruce played with the rough ends of his sweater. "Yeah, I'm back."
Natasha seemed in shock. "Hi, Bruce."
"Nat."
"Well, this is awkward," Sam whispered under his breath to the ones near him.
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The group gathered together in a main living room, where Bruce and (Y/N) told their sides of the story on the attack early this morning, meanwhile Wanda and Vision recalled that they were attacked by other two aliens that claimed to be 'Children of Thanos' back in Edinburgh.
Rhodey stared at the security footage of the attack back in Edinburgh. "So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?"
"And they can clearly find us," Wanda spoke up with a hand cradling her chin.
"We need all hands on deck," Bruce announced, then turned toward Natasha, who might have the answer. "Where's Clint?"
"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families. They're on house arrest."
"Who's Scott?"
"Ant-Man," Steve answered him.
"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?"
Rhodey nodded along like it was a thought that he had once came up with.
"Thanos has the biggest army in the universe and he is not gonna stop until he gets," Bruce looked at everyone in the room before pausing to break the news. ". . .Vision's stone."
Natasha stood firm on her ground, stepping forward. "Then we have to protect it."
"No, we have to destroy it," Vision corrected. He was leaning his weight onto a window and all eyes turned to him, looking for an explanation to his words. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature. But also its composition."
He removed himself from the window and faced Wanda, walking to her. "I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps. . .its molecular integrity could fail."
"Yeah, and you with it," Wanda responded seriously. "We're not having this conversation."
"If it's not you, then. . ." Vision's eyes landed on (Y/N)'s form, who had been watching the exchange from afar with crossed arms.
She perked up when she felt his eyes on her, and firmly shook her head when she realized what he was implying. "No, absolutely not."
"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."
"Even if I did accept, which I won't," (Y/N) placed her hands on her hips now. "We don't know what might happen when two different power sources come together. What if I blast you to pieces?"
"That's too high a price," Wanda agreed, forcing Vision to lock eyes with her.
"Only the two of you have the power to pay it."
Wanda removed herself from Vision's arms, giving her back to the group as she took time to collect her thoughts. (Y/N), on the other hand, pressed her lips together as she tried to come up with an alternative solution. If only Tony was here, she thought to herself.
"Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."
"But it should," Steve cut him off. "We don't trade lives, Vision."
"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people?" Vision questioned moving across the room to see him eye to eye. "Tell me, why is this any different?"
"Because you might have a choice."
All eyes turned to Bruce, who looked like he just cracked a huge idea. "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. JARVIS, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another."
"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked out loud.
"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left," Bruce responded to Wanda's question. "Perhaps the best parts."
Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. "Can we do that?"
"Not me, not here."
"Well, you better find someone and somewhere fast," Rhodey cut in, strictness in his tone. "Ross isn't just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."
"I know somewhere," Steve's voice declared.
you know what i'm hinting at if you're smart lol
anyways, my goal is to finish this book before october 17, because, you know. but i have exams these weeks hooray
- see you soon, bex <3