-12-

Pacing the floor of Tony's lab, Riley bit their nails- a habit they picked up from over the years. They began to, once again, overthink and create all these different scenarios of what Natasha may be facing right now.

"Anything on Nat?" Bruce nervously questioned Tony as he entreated his lab, the sleeves off his long sleeved shirt rolled up to his elbow.

"I haven't heard," Tony told him, "But she's alive, or Ultron would be rubbing our faces in it."

A grunt came from Clint as he jumped off of the Cradle. "This is sealed tight," he explained to the group, tapping the top of it as he spoke.

"We're gonna need to access the program," Bruce stated, "break it down from within." Riley moved closer to the Cradle and inspected what was in it: a human-like figure lay there with its eyes closed. They realised why Ultron needed all that vibranium.

"Any chance Natasha might leave you a message outside the internet?" Tony asked Clint, "Old-school spy stuff?"

"There are some nets I can cast," he offered as Bruce scrolled through information that he had up on his computer. Clint made his way to the stairs, muttering, "Yeah, I'll find her."

"I can work on tissue degeneration if you could fry whatever operational system Cho implanted," Bruce ordered Tony, not looking at him in the eyes as he pressed some buttons on the side of the Cradle.

"Yeah, about that..." Tony began, scratching the back of his neck. Riley looked up at him, their brows furrowing before realising what he meant.

"No," both Bruce and Riley sternly said in unison.

"You have to trust me."

"Kind of don't," Bruce protested, walking backwards as Tony walked towards him, this distance between them not changing because of this.

"Our ally, the guy protecting the military's nuclear codes, I found him," Tony flipped the tablet he had in his hand, presenting the same orange hologram-like orb that he showed after Ultron's first attack.

"Hello, Dr Banner, Mx Loftin," the voice of Jarvis greeted, his robotic voice filling the room. Both of the people mentioned had confusion painted all over their faces at the sight.

"Ultron didn't go after Jarvis because he was angry," Tony started to explain, "He attacked him because he was scared of what he can do. So Jarvis went underground. Scattered, dumped his memory. But not his protocols. He didn't even know he was in there until I pieced him together."

Bruce's scoffed, Riley still in shock, as he tried to put together the information Tony had just given him and put it in his own words. "So, you want me to help you put Jarvis into this thing?"

"No! Of course not. I wanna help you put Jarvis in this thing," he corrected his friend's summary, making him shake his head feverishly. "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 the inside without knowing it," Tony told Bruce, "This is the opportunity. We can create Ultron's perfect self without the homicidal glitches he thinks are his winning personality. We have to."

"Tony, I'm not sure this is a good idea," Riley began, not liking the idea of the two creating another walking, talking A.I.

"I believe it's worth a go," Jarvis agreed, making Tony smile slightly.

"I'm in a loop!" Bruce yelled out, his hands up in the air in anger as he did announced his emotions verbally, "I'm caught in a time loop. This is exactly where it all went wrong. Riley's right, this isn't a good idea."

"I know. I know. I know what everyone's gonna say. But they're already saying it," Tony agreed with Bruce slightly as he still tried to push him to agree with his idea, "We're mad scientists. We're monsters, buddy. We've gotta own it. Make a stand." Bruce let out a tired sigh, finally considering the billionaire's idea as he spoke up once again; "It's not a loop," he quoted what his friend said before, changing the words up to make it more positive, "It's the end of the line."

"Fine," Bruce finally agreed, sighing before answering. Tony clapped his hands and rubbed them together after patting his friend's shoulder. Riley didn't say much; the thought of the two scientists creating another A.I frightened them. They didn't want to have to deal with another fight against metal that could put their friends in harms way.

"You can stay in the lab and help if you want, but you better move out the way," Tony told them off playfully, swatting them aside so he could get to the Cradle. They did as he said, taking a few steps back. "So, are you staying in here?" Tony asked them again when they didn't respond, unsure where they were going.

"... Yeah, I'll stay here," Riley quickly nodded their head as they spoke, "as long as you don't annoy me and keep the jokes to a minimum."

"As you wish," Tony bowed slightly, a small smile on his lips as he did so. After this, Tony and Bruce got to work, occasionally asking Riley to hold something still or keep it beside them for later whenever the two men needed it. They enjoyed having something to do to keep themself occupied whilst not having to do much labour to achieve it.

Hours went by, the sky finally reaching the darkest shade of blue its been all day. Bruce and Tony were still hard at work, neither of them had spoken in awhile due to them concentrating. Tony was furiously clicking away on his keyboard hooked up to his computer as Riley handed Bruce a part they had been holding onto for a few minutes now.

"This framework is not compatible," Tony said with a frustrated sigh.

"The genetic coding tower is at 97%. You have got to upload that schematic in the next three minutes," Bruce ordered his friend, walking around the Cradle so his back was no longer facing Tony. An angry stomping could be heard, making Riley look up to see Steve and the two twins who were working with Ultron.

"I'm gonna say this once," he angrily told the three of them in the lab.

"How about none-ce?" Tony asked him, taking his concentration away from his keyboard.

"Shut it down!" Steve ordered them all.

"Nope, not gonna happen."

"You don't know what you're doing."

"And you do?" Bruce asked him, "She's not in your head?"

"Steve, you have to let them do this," Riley tried to calmly explain to Steve, not wanting to let their anger get the best of them like it may for the others.

"I know you're angry," the redhead twin spoke up, unhooking her arms off of her brother's and moving to the side of Steve (previously being behind him.)

"Oh, we're way past that," Bruce told her, "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade." Riley's hand went to reach out for his forearm, attempting to send a nonverbal message for him to calm down. He didn't react to the touch, keeping his eyes hooked onto Steve and the twins. Riley dropped their hand back down beside them.

"Banner, after everything that's happened..." Steve began to lecture the scientist closest to him.

"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony shouted at his blonde teammate, causing a chain reaction of anger throughout everyone in the room.

"You don't know what's in there!" The Sokovian girl shouted, her voice filled with her rage that was bubbling over the edge.

"This isn't a game!" Steve yelled once more. The silver haired twin had enough of all the yelling. As if he had paused time itself, he was at the opposite end of the room with all the pipes unhooked from the Cradle. 'Super speed' Riley thought to themself, only now meeting the other twin.

"No, no. Go on," he prompted everyone, dropping a smoking pipe he was holding, "You were saying?" All of a sudden, a bullet shot through the glass flooring, making it shatter under his feet.

"Pietro!" His twin yelled out for him, allowing Riley to finally learn his name. The sound he made when he hit the floor alerted everyone to how painful the landing was, the shattered glass not helping with it. Riley looked down at the floor below to see Clint standing above Pietro, a smug grin on his face.

"What? You didn't see that coming?" The archer asked him. Riley smiled at this, glad the one with inhuman speed was no longer able to disrupt the work; they immediately dropped their smile when they looked up to see Steve's enraged face. Beeping turned everyone's attention to the Cradle once again whilst Tony moved back to some of his computers around him.

"I'm rerouting the upload," he announced, his strides long to cover more distance. Steve wasn't having any of this, swinging his shield around the room, making it hit all kinds of machines the lab had to offer. Sparks flew from the contact as everyone ducked down to the floor, covering their heads and necks with their arms.

Retaliating at this attack, Tony called for part of his armoured suit, immediately shooting towards Steve as it wrapped around his hand. The super soldier got knocked back onto the ground, letting out a grunt at the contact of the blast.

Bruce went behind the magic-wielding twin, wrapping one arm around her neck and his other locking her arms in place. "Go ahead, piss me off," he could be heard threatening her. Riley got in the on the action, grabbing their gun they still had on them in preparation for an attack or a threat. Another gun could be heard being cocked, coming in the direction Clint was coming from.

Tony was calling for the rest of his suit, the chest part of it finally complete around him. Steve ran towards Tony, his fist in the air as he jumped up to attack; the contact that the suit and his fist made knocked them both backwards, more glass shattering at the impact. During this, Wanda used her powers to release Bruce's grip he had around her, spinning on her heel to knock him back further away from her.

Out of nowhere, someone came running into the room and they clearly had something they were aiming to do. Not being able to make out the muscular figure at first, Riley looked up to see Thor (the figure) now on top of the Cradle, his hand tightly gripped around his almighty hammer. He lifted his arm up into the air, lighting travelling into his weapon.

"Wait!" Bruce exclaimed quickly as soon as he saw the Norse God, his hand out in front of him.

"Thor, don't!" Riley yelled at the same time as Bruce yelled out his pleads for Thor to stop what he was doing. No matter how loud they both yelled, the booming sound of the thunder and lightening drowned out any other noises. The blinding light filled the room and brought pain to everyone's eyes, making them all instinctively try to bring darkness to their vision to ease their pain- be it squeezing their eyes shut or bringing their hands up to cover them.

A loud grunt came from the God as he flung his lightening-filled hammer towards the Cradle, transferring it all into it. Riley snapped their head towards the beeping computer, seeing a bright red box that read 'POWER OVERLOAD.' After a few more seconds of the lightening lighting up the room, Thor moved his hammer away from the top of the Cradle as everyone breathed heavily to catch their breath.

Silence filled the room as everyone waited for the outcome of Thor's plan after his sudden appearance. No more than three seconds passed when the Cradle began to break open. The whole broke open unexpectedly, giving Thor no time to get off of it, throwing him into the air. As a loud explosion went off, Thor flew back in glass, breaking it in process. He painfully fell onto the ground, large shards of glass falling on top of him.

Riley quickly ran over to Thor as soon as he made contact with the ground; they squatted next to him, attempting to avoid injuring themself on the shards, and looked over his already exposed skin for any cuts. Riley turned their head towards the Cradle, smoke similar to something you'd experience with dry ice, as a figure rose out of the now broken box. Thor now got up from the ground, Riley following, as he placed his hand on Riley's hand as a 'thank you' when he was off his knees, spotting the metallic being standing at the edge.

Confusion washed over the room as the unknown robot slowly stood up from its squatting position. The bot looked around at everyone, as confused as they were, its eyes landing on Thor. Without hesitation, it sprung forward towards the Norse God like it was attempting to attack Thor. Riley ducked down to the ground once more to protect themself from the unsolicited attack they were in the way of. Thankfully, like the trained fighter he was, Thor was quick to react. He grabbed ahold of the bot's arms and flung it away from him in selfdefense.

As soon as Thor let go of the red-coloured robot's arms, he quickly turned his attention to help Riley up off the ground, quickly brushing away some of the glass they had on their clothes. The short, but sweet, moment juxtaposed the God's typical harsh nature and brute strength in battle as he delicately helped his friend off of the pain inflicting debris.

During that tender moment, the bot crashed through another glass panel, continuing to make its unprompted way towards the window separating New York City from the Avengers Tower. However, the robot calmly stopped itself from making contact with the glass, putting its arms out in front of it, slowing down. The team didn't want to delay any longer, rushing down to the room where the bot looked peacefully out the window.

As Steve jumped over the railing to get down the the level below, Thor (who was the first one down there) put his hand up to stop everyone from moving any closer. Everyone put their focus back onto the being that came out the Cradle as it continued to stare out the window with its hand a few inches away from the material.

Moving its hand back down beside it, the bot turned to face everyone as 'clothes' appeared over its body. As it slowly made its way over to everyone, Thor placed him hammer down on a nearby surface. The twins, Riley, Clint, and Bruce all made their way down to everyone else to see what was happening, Pietro skidding to a halt as he kept close to his sister.

The bot floated down to the floor as Thor made his way towards it. When its feet gracefully touched the ground, it spoke up, "I am sorry. That was... odd." Its voice was deep, coated in a similar sounding British accent. "Thank you," it said to Thor, nodding its head towards the God. As it kept its eyes on the blonde Avenger for a few more seconds, a cape appeared around its shoulders.

"Thor," Steve called out to his teammate, "You helped create this?"

"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope and life, and at its centre is that," Thor explained to everyone in the room, as he pointed to the yellow gem at the top of the bot's head when he finished his sentence.

"What? The gem?" Bruce queried, stepping forward.

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities," Thor corrected Bruce, explaining what the stone actually was.

"Then why would you bring..." Steve began to protest, still angry that his orders weren't followed.

"Because Stark is right."

"Oh, it's definitely the end times," Riley sighed, placing a hand on their hip as they did so.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron," Thor told the group, his long hair falling off his shoulders they weakly lay against as he turned his head to face everyone.

"Not alone," the bot spoke up again, taking on an optimistic role in the conversation.

"Why does your Vision sound like Jarvis?" Steve questioned.

"We reconfigured Jarvis' matrix to create something new," Tony explained to Steve, stepping aside as Thor's vision walked by him.

"I think I've had my fill of new."

"You think I'm a child of Ultron," the British voice spoke once more.

"You're not?" Steve asked it.

"I'm not Ultron. I am not Jarvis. I am... I am," It calmly stated to everyone. Riley furrowed their brows, leaning over to Bruce to question further.

"Is it not gonna finish its sentence?" They whisper to Bruce, confused at what 'not Jarvis' had just said. He didn't respond, only looking at them for a split second before returning his gaze to the bot once more.

"I looked in your head and saw annihilation," the long haired twin, name still unknown to Riley, pointed out.

"Look again," It told her, it's face still having the same calm expression its had since it first rose up from the Cradle.

Clint scoffed, finally walking toward towards the group, adding his own thoughts to the conversation, "Her seal of approval means jack to me."

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came for the Mind Stone. And they're nothing compared to what it can unleash," Thor continued to explain his thoughts aloud to everyone, "But with it on out side..."

"Is it?" Steve asked, both him and Thor referring to the Norse God's vision, "Are you? On our side?"

"I don't think it's that simple," It stated, its voice still calm and collected.

"Well, it better get real simple real soon," Clint threatened.

"I am on the side of life," it continued, "Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow as he did so.

"You," the robot simply said.

"Where?" Bruce questioned further, attempting to gain more information.

"Sokovia," Clint answered Bruce's question, "He's got Nat there, too."

Bruce walked forward, his left hand holding his right wrist. "If we're wrong about you," be began, "if you're the monster that Ultron made you to be..."

"What will you do?" The bot asked the scientist, head tilting to the side slightly. Everyone stayed silent, anger prominent on some of their faces, making the bot speak up once more, "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," It walked as it talked, stopping near the small surface that Thor had put his hammer down upon, "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."

It looked down at its hands, the stone in its forehead admitting small amounts of light, "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." The robot turned around, raising its arm to Thor to pass him his hammer. Everyone was in shock as they all witnessed this, flicking their eyes from Thor and the hammer. Hesitantly, Thor held the hammer in his hand, taking it from the bot as it walked away.

Thor awkwardly hit his hand against the hammer, swaying from side-to-side slightly. "Right," he spoke, following where his vision had walked off to, patting Tony's shoulder as he passed him, "Well done." Riley chuckled as Thor walked away, keeping their eyes on him as he did so.

"Three minutes," Steve ordered everyone, "Get what you need." On queue, everyone headed to get what they needed, the twins being guided to a room full of potential outfits they could wear this battle. Riley caught Steve before he left to learn about the twins (mainly asking the question because they didn't know Wanda's name) and learnt about why they changed their minds about what side they were on.

"Looks like you don't have to search for a job anymore," Tony pointed out to Riley before they ran off to attempt to make their suit more comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

"What? No, this isn't a job. I'm just helping out," Riley defended, their hands up in the air as they did so.

"Well, when you worked for me, all you did was help out. This is basically the same, I'm just now no longer your boss," Tony explained, shrugging at the end of his sentence, walking off to get his suit ready. Riley furrowed their brows, taking in what Tony had just said.

"Do I still get payed?" They yelled out to him as he walked further away, not getting a response, "Tony, this is important. I need to know if I still get payed."