"Stark is...He's a sickness!" Ultron shouts, his back to the Avengers. Clara walked beside Thor and Steve, her navy blue suit covered hips swaying ever so slightly as she walked. Her face was already healed and her other injuries were practically gone as well. That didn't stop Steve from worrying about her.
"Aw junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart." Tony says through the suit as he lands in front of her. The blonde's eyes landed on the Maximoff Twins who looked as threatening as two infants.
"If I have to." Ultron responds, really trying to be menacing as they walk closer.
"Nobody has to break anything." Thor announces, his grip tightening on Mjolnir. Frost starts to cover the floor under Clara, slowly spreading. Steve can see out of the corner of his eye that her eyes were glowing.
"Clearly, you've never made an omelette." Ultron quips, making Clara roll her eyes. She just wants to get the fight out of the way so she can go home and maybe go on vacation for a few months. Bora Bora seemed nice.
"He beat me by one second." Tony mutters and Clara once more rolls her eyes. Gods, after this was all done, she was going to kick his ass and Bruce's ass. Fucking idiots. Asskicking and then vacation.
"Yes, he's funny, Mr Stark. It's what? Comfortable? Like old times?" The male twin, Pietro, says in a thick vaguely European accent, nodding his head towards the old Stark weapons that were below them. Clara pressed her lips together firmly, her eyes glancing at them.
"We can't help who stockpiles our old weapons." Clara speaks up, moving to stand in front of Thor. Pietro smirks and it makes Clara roll her eyes for the third time in that moment. She didn't not want to deal with this fucking asshole flirting with her.
"You two can still walk away from this." Steve tells them, not exactly enjoying the way Pietro is looking at Clara.
"Oh we will." Wanda responds, giving him a slightly puppy dog frown. Clara realizes in that moment that she wouldn't mind Ice coming out only if that meant that Wanda Maximoff's stupid face was splattered all over the ground.
"I know you suffered-" Steve starts his little speech, but it's quickly cut off by Ultron clearing his throat.
"Captain America. God's righteous man who fell in love with a murderous whore. Pretending you could live without a war and that you can actually have some normal life. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-" Ultron responds. His words make Steve's eyes land on Clara, whose body stiffens with the title that Ultron gives her. Clara could feel Ice scratching at her brain, begging to be let out so she can take care of Ultron.
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." Thor suddenly interrupts, trying to change the subject so his dear friend isn't hurt anymore by the robot in front of them. Clara's been through much worse than Ultron's stupid insults
"I think you're confusing "peace" with "quiet"." Ultron retorts as he takes another step forward. The frost growing to spread on the metal, making its presence known.
"And you're obviously confusing peace with murder. It's weird how those get mixed up." Clara's voice chills everyone with how clear and sharp it is. Wanda would be lying if she said didn't find Clara Stark terrifying. Somehow, it was possible for Ultron to smirk.
"You always get them mixed up. All of you heroes get them mixed up." He snaps at her, but Clara doesn't cower.
"Uh huh. What's the vibranium for?" Tony asks, his eyes glancing at his sister for a moment before returning to look at Ultron.
"I'm glad you asked that because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Ultron tells him before using some sort of weapon to pull Tony forward as three Ultron bots land in front of the three other Avengers. Within seconds, ice covered the robot in front of Clara and Steve hit it with his shield, shattering it. She dodged the bits of metal that Wanda Maximoff threw at her. A few of the bits slice at Clara's skin, drawing blood. The youngest Stark hisses in pain, really wanting to beat the shit of that damn bitch.
Another Ultron bot fires beams at Clara, which she dodges as she flies up into the air. Spears of ice traps the robot as Clara pulls moisture out of the air and shoved it into every little hole of the robot and fried it. Clara wrapped her legs around the robot's neck and snapped the head off of it. She jumped off the robot before it fell to the ground, her attention turning to look at Wanda Maximoff.
"I remember hearing about you. When Strucker had us. You were their prized possession." The twin purred at her as Clara snapped her hand up, sending a sharp spear of ice in her direction. Wanda tried to move, but it cut her across her cheek, so she sent a red ball of energy into Clara, throwing her back She smirked as a Ultron bot stood as Clara got up. The Stark shoved a wall of ice into both Wanda and the robot before flying off.
"It's time for some mind games." The robot tells her, making Wanda smirk.
Clara lands amongst Klaw's men, who immediately turn their attention (and weapons) onto Clara. Her cherry red lips smirked as she took the blood from the men surrounding her. The red liquid floated in the air until it turned into solid long needles. With a single movement from her hands, the blood needles shot through the next onslaught of men, taking them down instantly. Clara is admiring her handiwork when Wanda lands right next to her.
Clara is about to launch herself at Maximoff twin again when Wanda enters her mind. Clara falls to the floor as Wanda painfully drags Ice onto the center stage. Everything distorted as Clara's hair becomes almost platinum. Wanda Maximoff grins as she leaves Ice to do what she does best.
Which in this case meant tracking down Steve Rogers.
-
Clara, on the other hand, was trapped inside of her mind once more, but this time she was stuck in some type of memory or something like that. With the light hanging over her, the one that hurts her eyes. It always hurt her eyes.
She was strapped down to the table, an all too familiar table. There was a scientist-or was it a doctor-standing above her with a scalpel. He grinned at her, pressing the scalpel against her skin, slicing her open. Clara screamed out, toes curling as she tries to move, but she can't. She never could move.
"What is your name?" The doctor asks in a thick Russian accent, slicing her skin even more. Clara doesn't want to answer, because she knows what she is going to say is going to be the wrong answer. She tries to keep her mouth shut, but the doctor grabs a bottle of something and pours it into wound, making her scream. It feels like it's burning her from the inside out.
"Clara Stark! My name is Clara Stark!" She cries out hoarsely, eyes screwing shut. The man tsks and sighs. He tosses the scalpel down and sets the liquid aside.
"She needs to be wiped again." He announces and the restraints that were holding her down are removed as she's dragged to the chair. Her eyes shoot open as she kicks her legs.
"No! No! Please! Please, don't!" She screams out as the men throw her into the chair, strapping her down. Tears roll down her cheeks as she tries to fight against the ties. One of them shoved the mouth guard into her mouth before closing the pieces around her head. With a flip of switch, her body was filled with electricity.
The mouth guard barely stopped her screams from leaving her mouth.
-
Steve suddenly finds himself wandering around a party. Cameras flash and almost blind him in the process. A live swing band is playing happily and all around him people dressed in close from the forties are laughing and smiling. Champagne is being poured, but there's distant gunfire. The room is a buzz. They're laughing almost too much. There's men fighting, pushing each other. Another man is getting a wine stain-or is it blood?-blotted with a cloth napkin. It's almost too much for Steve. Everything is twisted as the partygoers dance.
"Are you ready for our dance?" Peggy speaks up, gently touching his shoulder. Steve turns around and looks at her, shocked. She smiles at him as she continues, "The war is over, Steve. We can go home. Imagine it."
And like that, he's all alone, but the temperature drops suddenly. He looks up and sees Clara standing there, wearing a long white dress. A wedding dress. Her hair is pulled up and away from her face and there is a veil tucked into her bun. Is this how she would've looked like if he hadn't messed up so colossally?
"Why'd you hurt me, Steve? I thought I did everything right." Her voice was almost innocent as frost travels up the walls. Steve heart breaks for the woman in front of him. God, she looks so beautiful in that dress.
"I-I didn't mean to and you did do everything right." He responds, trying to move forward, but his feet are frozen to the ground as she walks closer to him.
"Yes you did. You meant it. You wanted to hurt me. Maybe I don't deserve happiness. I am what I am. Assassins don't get happy endings." She says in a singsong voice as she walks closer and closer. She smiles and continues to speak, "But, do you deserve happiness, Steve? Do you? Nothin' but a cheater and killer. You shouldn't get want you want."
"Clara, please." The Captain tries, his voice pained. She stands right in front of him, inches away from him. A tear rolls down her cheek and he reaches out to wipe it away, but as soon as he touches her skin, she disintegrates. Steve's mouth falls open in shock as she turns into dust. The dust fills his airways and he chokes-
His eyes snap open and he sees neon blue ones looking straight back at him. Clara has her hand around his neck, tightening it even more so he can't breathe. Steve struggles, trying to pull her hand off of him. The empty, emotionless look on her face terrified him. Black spots cover his vision and she would have killed him, if it wasn't for the arrow that attached itself to her back. It electrocuted her, sending her to the ground as her body spasmed.
"You okay, Steve?" Clint asks, lowering his bow, standing a few feet away from the Captain. Steve coughed and rubbed his neck. He finally stood up straight when he had regained his composure, his eyes looking down at Clara. She reached behind herself and yanked the arrow off of her back. The youngest Stark was about to attack again, but Clint quickly jumps in punches Clara in the face to knock her out.
When Clara wakes up, she sits far away from everyone else on the Quinn Jet. Her eyes stay fixed on the ground and she puts a pair of gloves-which no one knew what she had-on. She wouldn't look at Steve because she felt so guilty over the whole thing, even though Steve knew that it wasn't her. Steve wanted to walk over and sit down to talk to her, but she was completely closed off from the rest of them. She wouldn't even let Tony sit next to her.
As soon as the Quinn Jet landed, she walked away from the group. Her arms wrapped around herself as she walked over to the barn. Steve really wanted to follow after her, but Tony just looked at him and shook at his head, which silently told him to leave Clara alone.
Clara carefully shut the barn door and sat down on really nasty looking old couch. Her hand covered her mouth as sob broke free. Tears rolled down her cheeks as cried. She felt so fucking dirty, having Ice take ahold of her mind. All of those memories, those thoughts of her time with HYDRA were all bubbling up. It made her feel so angry and terrified with herself. She quickly stands and walks over to a bucket, falling to her knees and vomiting violently.
Clara sat back onto her heels, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She unzips her suit, sliding her hands and arms out of the sleeves. Her hand runs through her hair as she felt the incredible amounts of guilt fill her. She hated the fact that she almost killed Steve. Of course she was mad at him. Of course she wanted to scream at him, but she didn't want to kill him. A part of her, a large part of her, still loved him. She hated herself for hurting the man she loved. That's what she wanted to went to the barn instead of following the others. Clara didn't want to hurt anyone else.
She couldn't hurt anyone else.