𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 // 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐀 𝐌𝐀𝐗𝐈𝐌𝐎𝐅𝐅

| 16 - 𝐈 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 |

꧁༺ ༻꧂

"Still no word from Vision or Calista?" Secretary Ross asked.

"Satellites lost them somewhere over Edinburgh," Rhodey recalled.

"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," he groaned. "Your talent for horseshit rivals my own."

"If it weren't for those Accords, both Vision and Calista would be right here."

"I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel."

"That's right. And I'm pretty sure I paid for that," he motioned his legs.

"You have second thoughts?"

"Not anymore."

The six walked in, seeing Secretary Ross.

"Mr. Secretary," Steve spoke.

"You got some nerve," he told him. "I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now," Natasha spoke.

"The world's on fire. And you think all is forgiven?"

"I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight. And if you wanna stand in our way... we'll fight you too."

"Arrest them," Ross ordered.

"All over it," Rhodey said as he swiped the hologram away.

"That's a court-martial," he said as something beeped. "It's great to see you, Cap."

"You too, Rhodey.

"Hey. Wow. You guys... really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple of years."

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five-star."

"Uh, I think you look great," Bruce said. Calista hasn't seen him in three years, and he still looked the same. "Yeah, I'm back."

"Hi, Bruce," Natasha smiled.
"Nat."

"This is awkward," Sam said as the other three looked at him.

-

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Calista asked.

"And they can clearly find us," Wanda pointed out.

"We need all hands on deck," Bruce said. "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation," Natasha started, "he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families. They're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?"
"Ant-Man."

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man? Okay, look... Thanos has the biggest army in the universe... and he's not gonna stop until he gets... Vision's stone."

"Well, then we have to protect it," Steve said.

"No, we have to destroy it," Vision said. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature. But also its composition. I think if it were exposed to sufficiently powerful energy source... something very similar to its own signature, perhaps... its molecular integrity could fail."

"Yeah, and you with it. We're not having this conversation," Wanda defended.

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it."

"That's too high a price, Vision."

"Only you, Wanda, have the power to pay it," Vision said as Wanda walked away.

"I'll go see if she's okay," Calista said, following her girlfriend.

"Hey," she smiled at her girlfriend.
"Hi."

"You okay?"
"We can't kill Vision. The stone, maybe. But Vis?"

"I know. But maybe they could figure something else out. Have Vision still be Vision, but take the stone out."

Calista held her hand out for Wanda to take and they went back to the area everyone else was. They were talking about just what Calista told Wanda.

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?"

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone... there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."

"Can we do that?"

"Not me, not here."

"Well, you better find someone and somewhere fast. Ross isn't just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

"I know somewhere."