"Vis? Is it the stone again?"
Wanda walked towards where Vision was standing staring out of the window of the hotel they were staying in. She had always told Scottie that she wanted to visit Scotland, and while she loved getting to spend time with Vision, it just hurt her to think about what different memories were supposed to have been made here.
"It's as if it's speaking to me," the android replied, his hand gently touching his forehead as the stone almost seemed to pulse. The yellow glow from the stone that usually was dim was now bright, a colour that Wanda couldn't help but associated with her dead lover.
"What does it say?" She asked calmly and gently, she knew that it was rare for the stone to ever cause him any pain.
"I don't... I don't know, but something, it's like there's something calling out," Vision murmured, squinting slightly as the stone glowed brightly again. Wanda lifted her hands, placing them gently on either side of her friend's face as she tried to keep him calm.
"Tell me what you feel," Vision told her, wanting an insight into what was going on with the stone in his head.
"I just feel you," she murmured, before titled her head slightly. "But there's something there, so familiar but I just can't figure it out."
Vision placed a soft hand on her wrist as he smiled gently at her. He knew that these meetings they had in private were the only reason that the two of them had been kept sane after the death of Scottie. The two best friends missed her dearly, and Vision still blamed himself for ripping their relationship apart.
"We can figure it out, together."
_______
"Tony Stark?"
Pepper, Tony and Scottie sprung apart from each other in their family embrace as a firm voice interrupted their reunion. Tony's arm stretched out and gently pushed Pepper and Scottie behind him, with Pepper grabbing on to the girl protectively.
"I'm Doctor Stephen Strange," the man informed them, his cape flowing gently in the New York breeze. His eyes widened as he looked at Scottie before turning back to the genius in front of him. "I need you to come with me. Oh, uh, congratulations on the wedding, by the way."
Scottie's jaw dropped turning to look at her basically parents. She scanned their hands and noticed the matching rings upon their fingers.
"You got married??" She asked, ignoring the appearance of the strange man and she grabbed Tony and Pepper's hands to examine the rings.
Tony rolled his eyes, gently pulling his hand away as he turned his attention back to the strange man.
"Engaged. I'm sorry, you giving out tickets or something?" He asked, the nano suit slowly powering itself up as he repositioned himself between his girls and the Doctor.
"We need your help. Look, it's not overselling to say that the fate of the universe is at stake."
Scottie flashed back to the strange creatures that had tried to kill her unless they explained where the so called stone holder was. She furrowed her eyebrows as she studied the man in front of them.
"Thanos," she murmured, causing Pepper and the Doctor to look at her in shock before Tony continued his interrogation.
"And who's "we"?"
And if Tony and Pepper hadn't already had enough surprises that morning, they were about to have another one.
"Hey, Tony."
"Bruce?" All three asked at the same time, amazed at their friends reappearance. The man had been missing for almost three years, and Scottie hadn't seen him since she had helped him to create Ultron.
"You okay?" Tony asked the man as he noticed the pain and desperation on his face.
Bruce moved forward quickly, grabbing Tony and pulling him into a tight hug. He had been through a lot in the past twenty four hours, not to mention the fact that he wasn't even sure if Thor was still alive or not. Loki was certainly dead and he had no idea about Valkyrie.
Tony said no more, simply turning to Scottie and Pepper with a soft look in his eyes.
"Go with Happy and tell Rhodey what is going on, I'll be back once I've determined what the hell is happening," Tony asked of them both, noticing the protest that was beginning to form on Scottie's lips. "Scottie, please."
Knowing that the man had been through a lot in the past five minutes let alone the past two years that she had been gone, Scottie nodded and allowed Pepper to grab her hand and lead her towards where Tony had parked their car.
"Rhodey is alive?"
____
"So there's a 10:00 a.m. to Glasgow which would give us more time together before you went back," Wanda said, her voice light as her and Vision walked through the cobbled streets of Edinburgh. There was a soft tension between them from not being able to place why the stone kept interacting with Vision so abruptly and violently, and they certainly were not sure of the familiarity that they both felt from it.
"What if I miss that train?"
"There's an 11:00," Wanda simply replied, not catching on to the double meaning in his words. She continued to keep her hands in her pockets as they moved slightly, the girl peering into a chip shop with a sign about deep frying on full display in the window.
"What if I missed all the trains? What if this time I didn't go back?"
She paused abruptly, her eyes narrowed in confusion as she looked back up to Vision. He was smiling gently back at her, the stone casting a soft glow over the two of them.
"But you gave Stark your word," Wanda reasoned with the Android, not sure where he was going with this.
"I'd rather give it to you."
"Well, there are people who are expecting me too, you know. We both made promises," she interrupted, knowing that she couldn't just up and leave the team she had been on the run with for the past two years. She was still healing from losing Scottie and she knew they were too.
"Not to each other. Wanda. For two years, we've stolen these moments... trying to see if this could work and... I don't know. You know what, I'm just gonna speak for myself. I think... It works. Stay. Stay with me. Or not. If I'm overstepping..."
He trailed off as her eyes seemed to widen at something in the shop window behind him. Turning around quickly, he followed her line of sight to a breaking news display with a photo of their ex friend Tony Stark on the screen alongside the words MISSING.
"Vis, something isn't right."
______
"Do you recognise this place?" Pepper asked as the car pulled up on the gravel at the front entrance to the building.
Scottie simply nodded, unable to tell Pepper that she hadn't stopped thinking about the headquarters since she had woken up from her two year coma. The warmth that spread through her at the familiar bench where she and Wanda had spent so much of their time caused a small smile to peak on her lips as she unclipped her belt and followed Pepper out of the car.
Their journey had mostly been filled with Pepper telling the girl what she had missed. She had suspected that the team had disbanded, but Happy had failed to go into the detail at how wanted her friends had truly became. She knew that she shouldn't go find them, but Scottie also knew without a doubt that it would be one of the first things she was going to do once Tony returned after solving whatever issue Bruce was having.
She needed Wanda. The accords meant nothing to her now, and she was kicking herself for even allowing a book of stupid rules to break apart her family.
Lost in her train of thought, Scottie barely had time to register Rhodey making his way towards where Pepper had stepped out of the car.
"Pepper, have you seen the news? It's Tony," he rushed out, passing her the tablet in his hands as he ran a hand over his head in panic. The blonde instantly took the tablet from his hand, her eyes wide as she tuned into whatever he was showing her.
Scottie got out of the car, moving to peer over Pepper's shoulder at the moving images on the screen. Just as she went to snatch the tablet from the woman, the ex military man finally noticed the girls presence.
"Scottie?"
______
"Please. Please leave."
Vision lay on the ground of Edinburgh train station as Wanda tried to pull him to his feet. The gaping wound in his stomach made them both very anxious since it was meant to be impossible.
The red head shook her head frantically at the Android. She had lost enough people she loved to last her a lifetime, and she would be dammed before she lost another.
"You asked me to stay. I'm staying. Get up," she begged, her hand gripping his forearm tightly as the mysterious alien that had attacked them began to approach the duo again.
"I can't."
Just when they both thought all hope was lost, the sudden whizzing of a train zooming by seemed to distract the aliens for a brief moment. Turning to see why the female alien looked slightly shocked, Wanda felt a large grin of relief spread across her face as Steve stepped forward from the shadows and plucked the alien weapon out of the air in front of him.
Wanda and Vision watched from the sidelines as Sam, Natasha and Steve continued to protect the vulnerable pair from the aliens. While they put up a good fight, it wasn't long before the Ex-Avengers had the attackers on the floor and crawling away.
"We don't wanna kill you, but we will," Natasha told them, holding their own weapon against them.
"You'll never get the chance again, nor will your friend."
Just before any of them could say anything else - or ask what the alien meant by friends - a blue light shout in from the sky and shout the aliens upwards and out of the station. Natasha rolled her eyes at the dramatic exit before the trio walked back over to Wanda and Vision.
"Can you stand?"
"Thank you, Captain."
"Let's get you on the jet."
_____
"Where's Vision now?"
Scottie looked impatiently at Rhodey as she waited for a reply from the man. He looked uneasy as he smiled gently at her, waiting for a conference call from General Ross about the exact same question.
"No clue. He turned off his tracker halfway across the Atlantic. My only guess is that he's gone to meet up with the others," Rhodey explained, having caught Scottie up with everything that had happened since her supposed death two years prior. Pepper had added in detail when necessary but there wasn't much time for extreme detail.
During their talks, Bruce had arrived at the compound. The man informed them of everything that had just happened with the aliens that Scottie recalled meeting previously and how Tony, Dr Strange and Peter Parker had all left the planet on the flying donut that Rhodey had shown them on the news. He was currently in the kitchen, brewing himself a coffee as he tried to stay away from any communication with the General.
Scottie nodded at Rhodey, a small sad smile crossing her face as she thought about the rest of the team. The stupid accords really didn't matter now: not when the whole world was under attack.
Pepper stood up as Rhodey's digital conference call started going off, reaching out a hand to the girl as she sent a quick smile to Rhodey. Scottie took her hand, knowing that it was going to be a lengthy conversation Rhodey would end up having with the man and since it wasn't public knowledge that she wasn't dead, they figured it was probably best to keep it that way for now.
"Come on, we'll go get you changed into something not as dated or dirty," Pepper told the girl. "Besides, I believe all your old clothes are still here."
_______
"Now, I thought we had a deal. Stay close, check in, don't take any chances," Natasha said to the girl, a harshness in her tone as she thought about how she couldn't lose anyone else.
"I'm sorry. We just wanted time, I just miss her so much," Wanda explained, causing the blondes eyes to soften at the statement.
"We all do kid, not a day goes by without thinking she'll appear round the corner," Steve told her, knowing that there would always be a Scottie Casey shaped hole in their lives.
"Where to, Cap?" Sam asked, turning his attention back to the task at hand.
Steve turned to look at Wanda for a moment before thinking about the recent news. He furrowed his brows for a moment before letting the word fall from his lips. It felt foreign, as they hadn't really been able to say it in a long time.
"Home."
________