Rapid Love | P. MAXIMOFF

[8] keep it to myself

"I'm gonna say this once," Steve stated, announcing his presence. Tony turned to see him with the twins and Beatrix standing behind them.

"How about 'nonce'?" Tony suggested. He stood in front of the Cradle, wires connected to it.

"Shut it down!" Steve ordered.

He shook his head, "Nope, not gonna happen."

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

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

Wanda frowned, "I know you're angry."

"Oh, we're way past that," he replied, a scowl on her face. "I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade."

"Even if she can get in his head, she can't get in mine," Beatrix reminded them. "After everything that's happened-"

"That's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony shouted.

"You don't know what's in there!" Wanda exclaimed.

Steve shook his head, "This isn't a game."

"The creature-" Wanda began but Pietro sped through, unplugging the equipment.

"No, no. Go on," Pietro suggested. "You were saying?"

Before anyone could process what was happening, a bullet shot up through the glass that Pietro was standing on sending him falling through.

"Pietro!" Beatrix and Wanda exclaimed in unison.

"What?" Clint mused. "You didn't see that coming?"

"Go ahead," Bruce suggested as Wanda tried to get passed him to help her brother. "Piss me off."

"Guys, shouldn't we-" Beatrix began but she was cut off as Thor appeared, pounding the Cradle with his hammer. A bolt of lightning shot through the body, sending Thor backward.

The body emerged and everyone stared at it with wide eyes. It looked around at everyone before suddenly it attacked. Beatrix quickly shot a force field at it, sending it crashing through a glass wall and toward the end of the building.

It came to a stop as it examined itself in the mirror. The Avengers moved to attack but Thor stopped them, slowly approaching it instead, "Wait!"

"I'm sorry," it apologized, sounding like JARVIS had. It lowered to the ground, "That was...odd." It turned to Thor as clothes began to grow onto it, "Thank you."

Steve shook his head slightly as a cape formed on the back of the suit, "Thor, you helped create this?"

"I've had a vision," he explained, gesturing toward the gem in it's head. "A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that."

"What, the gem?" Bruce asked.

"It's the Mind Stone," Thor explained. "It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring it to-" Steve began but Thor cut him off.

"Because Stark is right."

Bruce huffed, "Oh, it's definitely the end times.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron."

"Not alone," it added.

"Why does your 'vision' sound like JARVIS?" Steve asked.

"We...we reconfigured JARVIS' matrix to create something new," Tony explained.

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

"You think I'm a child of Ultron?" Vision asked.

"You're not?"

"I'm not Ultron. I'm not JARVIS," he answered. "I am...I am."

Wanda stepped forward, "I looked in your head and saw annihilation."

Vision turned to look at her, "Look again."

"Yeah," Clint huffed as he walked through he glass and joined the group. "Her seal of approval means jack to me."

"Their powers, the horrors in our heads," Thor began, "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 before turning to Vision. "Are you? On our side?"

Vision shook his head, "I don't think it's that simple."

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

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

"What's he waiting for?" Tony asked.

"You."

"Where?" Bruce asked.

"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..." Bruce trailed off.

"What will you do?" he asked as he looked around at the group. It dawned on him that they would end him, "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," he stated. "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."

Vision held up Thor's hammer and handed it to him. He walked off, leaving everyone in a mix of confusion and shock.

"Right," Thor nodded before patting Stark on the shoulder. "Well done."

"Three minutes," Steve informed them. "Get what you need."

"Here," Tony said before tossing a box at Beatrix. She caught it and looked up at him in confusion. "Your honorary Avengers uniform."

She smiled tightly at him. "Thank you," she said and he nodded.

She walked off to go change when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her to a side room. They pressed her up against the wall and she looked up to find Pietro. "What now?" she inquired. "We don't have much time."

He shrugged, "I'm fast." He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She placed her free hand on his neck and pressed herself closer to him. He pulled away, a smirk on his face.

"What was that for?"

"A good luck kiss."