—we took a hit

in the dark times you

don't have to question if

i'm a hundred with you.

through the spacious hallway. A heavy silence was lacing through the air, something that rarely happened when they were around each other. But Tony's mind was focused on Ultron and Ultron only.

He felt an overwhelming feeling of desperation. He wanted to avoid a fight at all costs. But there was nothing they could do to defeat Ultron except to put up a fight. And that fight just had to bring some kind of aftermath, as all fights do.

Aftermath.

An image of the Avengers-his team, his family-dead flashed through his mind. Broken guns, broken arrows, broken bones, broken hammer, broken armor, and a broken shield. Deep down in his mind laid fear. Fear of failure. Fear of failing to save his family. Fear of failing to save his daughter. And God, was he scared that his vision might come true.

Maybe, if he hadn't played with something he didn't understand, this whole thing could've been avoided. Maybe, just maybe, Thor was right. He should've trusted the Avengers to protect the Earth.

That didn't matter now though, what was done was done, and there was nothing left to do other than fight. Whether it brought the aftermath or not.

As the light came through and the hallway ended, the girl's slender fingers wrapped around his forearm, gently forcing him to turn around. And for a fraction of a second, Tony forgot about his worries the moment his eyes met hers.

A heavy blue was all he saw for a moment before a soft voice broke his gaze.

"Hey," She broke him out of his thoughts. "I know what you're thinking, dad, and it's not your fault."

A wave of relief washed over his shore of desperation. Those words were the ones he needed to hear. Even though he knew that his daughter wouldn't blame him for what happened, he still needed assurance. He still needed to know that her heart and mind were never on the move when it came to him.

Tony always thought that actions weighted more than words, so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he rested his hand on Arabella's shoulder and placed a light kiss on her forehead before he completely walked out of the hallway.

Stark cooed as he landed. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

The ride to Johannesburg had been silent, except for Steve talking about his plan for a few minutes. After that, silence took over again. And when they entered the sketchy ship, not a word was spoken. Leading Arabella to conclude that today was the day of silence between the team.

"If I have to." Ultron stepped closer with the twins behind him.

"We don't have to break anything." Thor tried to bargain.

"Clearly, you've never made an omelet." The robot deadpanned.

Tony lifted his hand and pointed at Ultron. "He beat me by one second."

"Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" The boy, Pietro, taunted the former Merchant of Death. He hadn't changed much, he looked tougher but his face remained the same.

"This was never my life," Tony answered bitterly.

Steve spun his head to the twins. "You two can still walk away from this."

"Oh, we will." And at that moment, when Wanda narrowed her eyes and displayed a small smirk.

"Yeah, dead." Arabella was quick to add. She then turned to Ultron with a sly smile. "Nothing like global extinction. Am I right, Ultron?" The bot just tilted his head to the side, amused by the young girl.

"I know you've suffered."

"Ugh! Captain America. God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war." Ultron disgustingly spoke. "I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but-"

"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it," Thor interjected.

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet." Ultron scoffed.

"Uh-huh. What's the vibranium for?" Stark asked.

"I'm glad you asked that," Ultron told Stark. "Because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Iron Legions came flying out of nowhere and started firing at them.

Ultron lifted his hand and attacked Tony's armor with a magnet and then he shot him with blasts that came out of his fingers. But he got up and flew lunged toward Ultron.

A Legionnaire came charging at Arabella and lifted her by the waist, only to let her fall and hover over her. Her hands phased through its metal chest and ripped it apart. She frowned at the kind of weird deja vu that had just happened and got back on her feet. Repulsors ignited from Arabella's boots and hands as she flew towards the enhanced girl that had just knocked down Cap. Her short flight came to an end and she landed gracefully inches in front of the girl, the way her father had taught her.

She stood up tall and menacing with her arc reactor shining bright, her hands balled into armored fists, and her usual smirk playing on her lips.

Wanda looked just like Pietro had described her back when they worked on that mission together. She just seemed a little older and perhaps tougher.

Wanda glared at the Stark standing before her and shot a pulse of red energy to the girl. But it never touched her because it phased through her and hit a robot instead. Wanda's eyes widened and her mouth opened for a moment.

"You twins aren't the only ones with tricks here," She shrugged. "Wanda, right?" Arabella started but was cut off by another pulse of red energy coming towards her. Once again, she phased through it. "Come on. You don't want to do this."

"Oh, I do" Wanda bitterly said. "You're his daughter." Her voice was thick with disgust.

"Damn right,"

The older scoffed and shot another beam of energy. Arabella lifted her fist and a high pitched sound emitted from her gauntlet and entered Wanda's ears. She fell on her knees, hands immediately reached to cover her ears.

"It's not too late. You can still come with us." Arabella turned around and flew away to keep fighting the turned-evil Legionnaires. And then bullets started to click against the metal as men started firing aimlessly. She exasperatedly sighed and rolled her blue eyes.

Light beams shot out of Arabella's repulsors and into the robots making them burst. A silver blur passed by her causing her to lose her balance and stumble back into some boxes. Grunting, she stood up from the ground just as the silver-haired boy crashed on the same boxes because he tried to grab Thor's hammer. Arabella couldn't help but laugh at the poor boy.

"You shouldn't have done that." Arabella shook her head, giving him a shrug. "Only he can hold it."

"Ah, Ari," The girl's lips turned into a barely noticeable smile at the nickname she hadn't heard in a very long time.

"Nobody calls me that, you know." Arabella offered a hand to help him stand up. Pietro gave her a look she couldn't quite figure out before standing up on his own.

"I'm special then."

"You wish," The boy laughed and set a foot backward, ready to speed off. Arabella was quicker though and punched him square in the face.

"If you're not changing your mind, stand down, Speedy." She flew over and shot a few bots, helping Clint who had been taking some down with his arrows.

"The girl tried to warp my mind. Take special care, I doubt a human could keep her at bay." Thor warned the rest. "Fortunately, I am mighty."

Arabella's eyes widened in worry and realization; Bruce. She had to get to him before the girl did.

"I'm going for Bruce." She announced through the ear coms and didn't wait to get a response.

She flew out of the ship to where they had landed the quinjet. When she got out she saw Tony and Ultron fighting, she wanted to help him out, but Bruce was her priority at the moment.

Her boots touched the grass as she landed before the Quinjet, the combat doors were open and Bruce was nowhere to be seen.

Her stomach dropped ten feet down when a loud roar was heard.

"Shit."

Her eyes looked passed the Quinjet and they caught an already hulking out Bruce. Arabella called out his name but he only looked over his shoulder with red eyes and a beyond angry expression, then he completely hulked out and ran away.

Before her feet could raise from the ground a hand touched her temple from behind. And then all she saw for a second was hot red.

Arabella felt sick to her stomach and fell on her knees out of dizziness. She closed her eyes and exhale deeply trying to stabilize herself. However, when she opened her eyes again she was no longer in Johannesburg.

mesmerizing, she couldn't deny it, so beautiful yet so terrifying.

Arabella didn't know where she was. She was obviously not i South Africa anymore. She wasn't even on Earth for God's sake!

She was in outer space.

Thousands and thousands of stars twinkling and colorful nebulas surrounded whatever planet she was standing in. Her lips parted in awe as she stared at the cosmic things. But her mouth closed when she turned around.

Never once in her life had she imagined seeing an alien up close, yet here she was, face to face with one.

Her blood turned cold and she was sure all the color from her face drained when the purple being called out for her.

"Arabella." She flinched when her name rolled out of his tongue ever so slowly in his extremely deep voice.

A golden gauntlet covered his left hand and she noticed it had six shining jewels. Her eyebrows furrowed as she narrowed her eyes at them.

"You know me?" She clenched her jaw and balled up her fists.

"I do, Little One. You're not the only one with the curse of knowledge."

A loud panicked scream left her mouth as she free-fell through the galaxy. Her arms spread out trying to hold on to something but it was useless. She tried to ignite her repulsors, call for Wednesday, call for her suit. But neither of those worked and she kept on falling.

And then she stopped abruptly in mid-air.

A red stone appeared in front of her eyes, followed by a blue one. And then a yellow, and green, and purple, and finally an orange stone. All the stones were aligned as if forming the gauntlet it had and then they exploded. A beautiful, colorful explosion.

Her hand flew to her face trying to cover her eyes as the extremely bright explosion took place. Even though her eyes were squinted and her hand was shielding them the light seeped through them for a mere second, then it faded.

Arabella took her hand off her face just to find herself standing in the middle of a cemetery. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as she stood before a casket.

She stepped forward to see if the casket had someone inside it. She regretted it instantly.

A pale-looking Tony Stark laid on the black casket, wearing one of his expensive dark suits. Half of his face was burned and his lips forming a thin line. The air caught in Bella's throat as she bent down to see her father closer.

The Avengers stood there, but they didn't seem to be moving. It was like the time was frozen and Arabella was left alone.

This was her second time in a funeral. The first time was her own mother's, but her dad was there for her so she didn't really feel alone. But now, Tony was the one inside a casket and everything seemed silent.

It was until now that she noticed she was wearing the same dress she wore at Nina's funeral. She was even wearing the same expensive black flats.

Bella bent closer to the casket only to jolt back in shock. Her heart seemed to skip not just one beat but various beats as a seemingly dead Tony Stark sat up from his casket.

Her hand flew to her mouth as she tried to regularize her breathing. "Dad?" She choked out.

"Why didn't you save me?" Tears were forming in his eyes as tears of her own we're building in hers. "You could've saved me, Belles."

Tear clouded her vision and making her eyes sting. Her head felt light, and her heart was pounding ferociously against her aching chest. She raised a trembling hand to touch his burned cheek and wipe away the stray tears. But she never got the chance to do so because when she touched him, he turned to ashes right in front of her.

Arabella didn't have time to process what was happening when she blacked out after hearing a sickening laugh and a loud snap.

kneeling on the grass with her back facing him when they were heading back to the Quinjet. Her head was hung a bit low and her eyes were fixed on the lemon-green grass. Fists were forcefully pulling at the grass as a series of regret-filled words left her mouth.

He was sure the Maximoff kid had shown her something awful, if not frightening. Something that had shaken her not physically but mentally. She had done that to him too after all.

"Hey," He knelt down before the girl who didn't move a muscle. "We need to get going." Still no response. He placed a hand gently on her shoulder and slightly shook it.

The touch seemed to trigger the girl, as she raised her metal clad hand and aimed her thruster at his face. Cap raised his hands in defense immediately, frowning at the dazed girl.

"Hey, take it easy, Bella."

Her head tilted to the side. A male voice. Was it his?

"Daddio?" No, that wasn't him.

"No, it's Steve." The voice spoke softer yet still cautiously.

Her blue eyes adverted to the side. Where was she? In the Academy, she was in the Academy. No, it wasn't cold. Was she in Warsaw? Yes, she was there, she was training. No, that wasn't right. He wasn't there.

"Kid, we gotta get going."

She jerked her head toward Steve, who still had his hands up in the air. "Going?"

Steve looked warily at the girl and simply nodded his head. She copied his action and rose from the grass, cleaned the dirt out of her knees, and held out her hand for Cap. All that without uttering a word. He took it and offered the girl a small smile which she softly returned.

" loving you guys. No one else is." Maria Hill had called the team right after the Hulk incident took place, just to inform how unstable things were at that moment. "There's been no official call for Banner's arrest, but it's in the air."

Everyone stayed silent, except for Agent Hill and Tony nobody uttered a word. The team was still fazed by the things Wanda made them see.

Arabella was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her arms crossed on the chair behind Natasha's. Her head rested on top of her arms and her eyes were fixed on the wall. Tony had tried to talk to her but it was of no use. She just sat and shut herself off the world.

The girl had taken off the repulsors from both her hands and feet, as well as her arc reactor. Her pitch-black catsuit was covered in dirt and all she wanted was to take a long shower. Hoping to get the vision away alongside the dirt.

"Stark Relief Foundation?"

"Already on the scene." She answered Tony. "How's the team?"

"Everyone's..." Tony turned back to look at the shaken heroes and let out a heavy sigh. "We took a hit. We'll shake it off."

"Well, for now, I'd stay in stealth mode, and stay away from here." Agent Hill advised him.

"So, run and hide?" He frowned.

Find and hide. Hide.

"Come on, Bella. We've been playing hide and seek for too long."

Arabella shuddered slightly at her father's voice echoing though her head.

"Until we can find Ultron, I don't have a lot else to offer."

"Neither do we." Tony switched the monitor and ended the call. He turned to Barton who was flying the Quinjet. "Hey, you wanna switch out?"

Clint shook his head declining his offer. "No, I'm good. If you want to take a kip, now's a good time 'cause we're still a few hours out." He told him not once taking his eyes from the sky.

"A few hours from where?" Tony asked quirking his eyebrows.

"A safe house."

Hi! First of all, thank you for reading! I hope the book is not that confusing

or anything like that. Like Tony, she's going to be plagued with visions of Thanos (like father, like daughter). She doesn't have a full suit, only repulsors on her hands and boots that are powered by her arc reactor. her colors are black and gold. The lyrics above are from Martin Garrix and Khalid's Ocean. I hope you stick around!

Love, Lili

tales of sacrifice ; issue no.1