unspoken thing |STEVE ROGERS 2|

9

I was at Steve's side instantly, touching his forearm.

"Worthy..." The voice was eerie and unfamiliar, nothing like I had ever seen and energy I had never felt before. "No... How could you be worthy? You're all killers."

"Stark?" Steve questioned as Tony tried to get ahold of Jarvis on his tablet. It was one of Stark's iron legion protocol suits, but wires were hanging out of it and it looked damaged.

"I'm sorry, I was asleep. Or...I was a-dream?" The suit stumbled around like it was just getting used to walking. "There was a terrible noise...and I was tangled in... in...strings. I had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy."

My stomach clenched and I gripped onto Steve's hand and he pushed me behind him slightly so he was in front of me. "You killed someone?" He questioned, his jaw taut.

"Wouldn't have been my first call. But, down in the real world, we're faced with ugly choices." 

"Who sent you?" Thor spoke.

"I see a suit of armor around the world." It played a recording of what sounded like Tony.

"Ultron," Bruce said, his voice full of disbelief.

It perked up at its name. "In the flesh. Or, no, not yet. Not this...chrysalis. But I'm ready. I'm on a mission."

"What mission?" I questioned.

"Peace in our time." Tony's bots broke through the wall and everyone went their separate ways. Steve kicked up the table, but it just crashed into us and we both went flying through the air. I skid onto the ground farther than Steve.

"Steve!" I yelled, instantly in the air, using my powers to rip apart a bot. I landed next to him. "Are you good?" He got up and checked my face for any major damage.

"I'll be right back." He ran past me and jumped onto a bot in mid-air. He tried to rip its head off, but the bot slammed him against a wall. I flew up and swung a lasso of golden light around the bot's neck and slammed it onto the ground.

I felt fear radiate through the room and my head whipped around to see a bot cornering Dr. Cho. I lassoed it. "Thor!" I called, chucking it towards him and he smashed it to the ground. I skid across the ground to avoid getting shot and found Steve's shield.

"Steven!" I yelled and his head whipped towards me from across the room. I hurled it from across the room and he caught it effortlessly, slinging it at the last bot in the air, shattering it to pieces.

"That was dramatic," Ultron said, almost sarcastically. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world, but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to...evolve? " He picked up one of the dismembered Iron Legions. "With these? These puppets? There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction."

"God, will someone shut this guy up?" I growled, manifesting a ball of energy and flung it at Ultron. The body shattered, but the head still sung.

I had strings, but now I'm free. There are no strings on me, no strings on me.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked, going to each person, checking to see if they had any major wounds. People just shook heads, shocked at what had just happened. I made my way back to Steve and cupped his cheek.

His eyes met mine and I stroked my thumb over his cheekbone. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" I asked, looking over his arms and face. I lowered my voice. "You did great out there."

His hands went to my face and touched my hairline. I flinched at the pain that blossomed there. "You're bleeding, Mae." I went to open my mouth to tell him not to worry but he lifted his hand. "Just let me take care of you."

"Okay, if you must know, I think I have many shards of glass in my feet and I can't walk," I informed him and he instantly picked me up bridal style and looked at my feet.

"I should've gotten you shoes." He growled, starting to carry me up to the lab. It was just us in the lab, everyone went to change into their clothes or treat scratches and wounds by themselves. Thor took off after changing to see where the trail lead.

It was just Steve and me in the lab, he had picked the shards out of my feet and put one of my healing ointments on the cuts so they were almost gone by the time he started washing the blood off my face. 

"You did amazing out there." He said, smiling softly as he dabbed a wet cloth against my forehead. "I always loved seeing you in action." I grinned back at him.

"You know I always like an honest challenge," I replied, squeezing his arm.

He chuckled warmly. "That you do." There was a pause in his movements and his eyes met mine. "I know you didn't sign up for this. You only wanted to stay a couple of days and it's been a week already. If you don't want to fight--"

"Don't even finish that thought," I said, touching his lips with my fingers. "I'm with you now. We have to save the world and there is not a chance in hell you're doing that alone."

"You're not an Avenger, Mae. We can handle this on our own." Steve's eyes didn't break from mine, but I didn't need my powers to tell he was begging me to stay in his mind. 

I just shook my head. "I'm staying. We've saved the world once, we just gotta do it again." He took my hands and intertwined our fingers. "Second time is a charm, right?" He just dryly chuckled. I think that's when we both realized how close we were to each other, I was propped up on a desk and he was standing between my knees.

"Second times a charm," he agreed, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I hate to break up your romantic little moment here, but I'm afraid there are more important matters to discuss here." Tony barged into the lab and Steve and I jumped apart.