I walked closely behind Pietro and Wanda as we approached the old church in the middle of town. Wanda said we'd been asked to come here to meet someone with similar interests to us, but that didn't mean we weren't cautious. As we walked in, I could see a figure in a cloak sitting in the middle of the room.

"Talk," Wanda said, "and if you are wasting our time-"

"Did you know this church is in the exact center of the city?" the figure asked. "The elders decreed it so that everyone could be equally close to God." I shared a confused glance with Pietro. What the hell was this guy on and where could I get some? "I like that. The geometry of belief." He paused. "You're wondering why you can't look inside my head." I looked at Wanda as she spoke.

"Sometimes it's hard," she said. "But sooner or later, every man shows himself." The man stood up, his cloak dropping to the floor to reveal nothing but metal. I stepped back out of instinct, and Pietro placed a comforting arm around my shoulders.

"I'm sure they do," the metal man said. "But you needed something more than a man. That's why you let Stark take the scepter." I looked at Wanda.

"I didn't expect," she responded, "but I saw Stark's fear. I knew it would control him. Make him self-destruct." I nodded.

"He is brilliant," I said. "But he is controlled by his fear of the future."

"Everyone creates the thing they dread," the man said, looking between us. "Men of peace create engines of war. Invaders create Avengers. People create...smaller people?" He chuckled. "'Children!' I lost the word there. Children...designed to supplant them, to help them...end." Wanda furrowed her brow.

"Is that why you've come?" she asked. "To end the Avengers?"

"I've come to save the world," the man said, turning to walk away. "But also... yeah." He led us down to the lab we had found the scepter in. There were dozens, maybe thousands of robots working to build...something.

"We'll move out right away," the man, who we'd learned was Ultron, the AI my dad had been working on, said. "This is a start, but there's something we need to begin the real work." I looked around at the busy robots.

"All of these are..." I trailed off.

"Me," Ultron responded. "I have what the Avengers never will. Harmony." I nodded, understanding. "They're discordant. Disconnected. Stark's already got them turning on each other." He looked at Wanda. "And when you get inside the rest of their heads-" Pietro sighed.

"Everyone's plan is not to kill them," he said. Ultron looked at him.

"And make them martyrs?" he asked. "You need patience. Need to see the big picture." The blond frowned.

"I don't see the big picture," he said. "I have a little picture. I take it out and look at it...every day." I looked at the ground. I had seen him look at the picture every night since I'd been with them.

"You lost your parents in the bombings," Ultron said. "I've seen the records." Pietro shook his head.

"The records are not the picture." Wanda placed a hand on his arm.

"Pietro," she warned. Ultron shook his head.

"No, please," he allowed. Pietro stared at his sister.

"We were ten years old," he said. "Having dinner, the four of us." He glanced at me before looking at Ultron. "When the first shell hits, two floors below, it makes a hole in the floor. It's big. Our parents go in...and the whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed, and the second shell hits. But it doesn't go off. It just...sits there in the rubble. Three feet from our faces. And on the side of the shell is painted one word." Wanda looked at Ultron.

"'Stark,'" she said. I looked at the floor, feeling guilty once again.

"We were trapped for two days."

"Every effort to save us, every shift in the bricks," Wanda said, "I think, 'This will set it off.'" She looked up again, anger visible on her face. "We wait for two days for Tony Stark to kill us." I took her hand in mine, and she squeezed it tightly.

"I know what they are," Pietro said quietly. Ultron nodded.

"I wondered why only you two survived Strucker's experiments," he said. "Now I don't. We will make it right." He looked at Pietro. "You and I can hurt them." At me. "You can make them question themselves." He stopped in front of Wanda. "But you will tear them apart...from the inside."

⇔

When we left Ultron to work, I wandered around the facility. We were told to find some place to stay while we worked, but I just needed some time to clear my head. Pietro said it was fine and that he and Wanda would find us a room while I was gone.

The building was extremely extensive. I could've explored the entire building if I wanted to. But for once, I didn't want to go fast. I simply wanted time to think. I know for a fact that I can't go back to the Avengers, and I can definitely never look at Tony the same. But they were still my family, or as close as I ever got to one.

I heard footsteps behind me and looked over my shoulder to see Pietro walking up. I guess this was the night to take things slow for the two speedsters.

"We found a room," he said, falling into step beside me. "Wanda's setting it up a bit. It's the only one we could find with three beds." I chuckled. "Are you okay?" I looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" He chuckled.

"You think you're unreadable, but we're the only two of our kind. It's not hard to figure you out. Not for me, at least. So what's bothering you?" I sighed, shoving my hands into my pockets.

"I don't know," I said. "I guess...I want to be able to help you guys with no hesitation. My d-" I sighed. "Tony screwed me over when he screwed you over and lied to me. But the Avengers, they were my family." He nodded.

"You don't want to hurt them." I sighed but nodded.

"I don't want to," I said. "But I will. If anyone hurts the people I care about, they won't get away unscathed." He smiled softly. "But it'll hurt. For a while at least." He nodded and wrapped me in a warm hug, rubbing my back comfortingly.

"That alone makes me glad you still decided to stay."