Wanda and Pietro stood towards the back of the lab, watching Dr. Cho, who was currently under mind control, work on Ultron's new body.

The room was desolate, with only the large metal cradle standing in the center. The only sound in the room was the horrible screeching sound of Helen's metal chair scraping across the floor.

As much as you might think that the twins' last encounter with the Avengers would leave far fewer marks on them then on the other party involved, the emotional and physical damages that the two had suffered were still immense, despite having the upper hand.

Of course, Pietro was greatly concerned for his sister's wellbeing. They were both very protective of each other, but as he loved to remind Wanda, he was twelve minutes older than she was, so he considered himself to be the older sibling. Along with that title, he felt the weight of trying to protect her on his shoulders.

Simply the thought of Wanda's injuries in the last fight made Pietro want to punch the living daylights out of Ultron for putting her in that situation in the first place. The fact she was so close to dying scared the hell out of him. In fact, if it wasn't for Dahlia, the two would probably be in much worse shape.

Dahlia.

Pietro couldn't seem to stop thinking about the girl, and it was getting awfully annoying. Here they were, two people fighting on opposite sides of what could end up being a vicious war, and he was thinking about her, of all people. Why did his heart never pick anyone easy? How much easier would it have been to find practically anyone else? Unfortunately, as Wanda liked to say, Pietro always wanted the things that were out of his grasp. He was told that he needed to slow down, and he sped up, quite literally at that. He was told that he and his sister would never amount to anything, but here they were, changing the course of the world, but for better or worse? They couldn't be sure. And now, the impossible feat that he had taken on was winning the affections of a woman who was on the opposite side of the battle, and whom he was sure wouldn't hesitate to kill him in the right circumstances.

But if that was true, why did she help them? Why would she let them go, when it could mean punishment of her own?

Even if she did, by some miracle, feel the same at some point in time, the odds were that the other factors of the situation wouldn't let that slide.

Wanda was a big one, for example. It had always been the two of them against the world, against Stark, against any adversity. Pietro couldn't imagine that Wanda would easily trust and accept another person. even if she had helped them in the past.

Damn world. If only things were simpler, if he could transport them into a ridiculous 2000's coming of age movie, where their only obstacles would be popularity levels or nerves about asking her to prom or something. Now that would be something. Unfortunately, they lived in a world where she was practically a trained assassin and he had super speed. You win some, you lose some. You don't get the girl, but instead get increased metabolism and improved thermal homeostasis. Strange trade.

Pietro was shocked out of his train of thought as Dr. Cho began speaking.

"Cellular cohesion will take a few hours, but we can initiate the consciousness stream. We're uploading your cerebral matrix."

Wanda took a step forward and examined the cradle, a surprised smile making its way onto her face. "I can read him. He's dreaming."

"I wouldn't call it dreams. It's Ultron's base consciousness, informational noise. Soon..." Dr. Cho corrected her, trailing off.

"How soon? I'm not being pushy." Ultron asked defensively.

"We're imprinting a physical brain. There are no shortcuts. Even if your magic gem is..."

Pietro's attention was turned from the doctor as she talked to Wanda, who, as soon as she touched the cradle, shrieked and fell to her knees. He rushed go her side, letting her use him as support.

"How could you?" Wanda's voice shook as she spoke.

Pietro was utterly confused, but this wasn't anything new. Wanda was always the smart one and he was left to play catch-up.

"How could I what?" Ultron tensed up, if robots could even do that.

"You said we would destroy the Avengers, make a better world."

"It will be better."

"When everyone is dead."

He finally understood what the hell was happening and immediately stood defensively in front of his sister, ready to take anything Ultron might figuratively or literally throw at them.

"That is not- The human race will have every opportunity to improve." Ultron tried to reason with her but her mind was made up.

"And if they don't?" Pietro asked harshly, knowing the answer but not wanting to believe it.

"Ask Noah."

His fist clenched at his side, trying to hold back his angry emotions at the robot in front of him.

"You're a madman." Wanda tried to stand up, but almost collapsed again before Pietro caught her.

"There were more than a dozen extinction level events before even the dinosaurs got theirs. When the Earth starts to settle, god throws a stone at it, and believe me, he's winding up. We have to evolve. There's no room for the weak."

Pietro shook with anger, managing to mutter a few words. "And who decides who's weak?"

He noticed that Wanda was trying to release Dr. Cho from her mind control, so he tried to stall Ultron for as long as possible.

"Life. Life always decides." Ultron turned his head, as if he was hearing something they couldn't. "There's incoming. The Quinjet. We have to move."

"That's not a problem." Helen said, cancelling the upload of Ultron's subconscious.

In anger, the robot shot the doctor, leaving her bleeding out on the floor. Wanda grabbed Pietro's hand and pulled him out of the room, running off to as safe a location as they could find in close proximity.

Dahlia Anelace was a force to be reckoned with, especially today. After almost a whole day spent glaring at Tony in every situation possible, she was on a warpath.

"Remember what we discussed, Dahlia." Clint's voice was full of concern as it came across the comms.

Their discussion was about the mission today, and what Dahlia was to do of certain things happened. The team feared the twins, that much was rational to do, but they had noticed that neither of them seemed to harm Dahlia, apart from the vision she had seen. So, as she understood, Dahlia was on Maximoff duty. If Pietro or Wanda became a problem, she was to seek them out and engage in hand to hand combat, to keep everyone safe.

Truthfully, the plan made Dahlia a bit sick to her stomach. They weren't animals, they didn't need to corralled, but she understood why it was necessary. They were unpredictable, and that wasn't a factor that the Avengers wanted in their equation. It was logical, she was aware of that, but her gut told her otherwise.

As for now, though, she didn't have to think about it. She was being sent out with Steve, to go distract Ultron so that they could find a way to get the cradle.

Distracting a murderous robot away from a human-like form he was trying to put himself in was not what Dahlia expected would come of her life, but you know, you don't always get what you want. Sure, she'd rather be sitting on her couch, laughing at the stupid things they were doing on the Bachelor, with a bowl of popcorn in hand, but when you work with the Avengers, your life is never dull.

And she had a feeling that it wouldn't be for quite a bit.

At least not with this Terminator ass bitch still alive.

"Two minutes. Stay close." Steve called out as he ran into the building to find Dr. Cho. Dahlia, in the meantime, climbed up to the top of the tallest building she could find and kept a lookout for any vehicle that might holding the scepter.

A voice came over the comms, but it wasn't Steve or Clint, not even Nat. It was Dr. Cho.

"He's uploading himself into the body." Her voice was tense and heavy, and it sounded as if she'd been badly injured.

"Where?" Steve's voice sounded.

"The real power is inside the cradle. The gem, it's power is in containable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the cradle to Stark."

"First I have to find it." Steve grunted.

"Go."

Dahlia cleared her throat. "Hey, Spangles! I've got eyes on a truck from the lab, right above us. On the loop by the bridge. Clint, could you give me a headcount?"

"Working on it... Okay! Three with the cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver."

"Negative!" Steve shouted, climbing up next to Dahlia. "If that truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We have to go through with the other plan. We need to draw out Ultron."

Dahlia groaned loudly, causing Cap to shake his head tiredly at her.

"What? You can't tell me you're not sick of this metal bitch, too."

"Dahlia, I love you, but this is not the time." Nat had to hold back a chuckle.

"I mean it's always time to make inappropriate jokes, if you know me at all, but I'll shut up for now."

Steve jumped onto the roof of the truck, and Dahlia followed close behind, the two making a large noise as they landed.

"No, no, no, no, no. Leave me alone!" Ultron whined like a child.

"No can do, murder bot!" Dahlia grinned and hopped onto the tail light of the truck, falling down when Cap got knocked down with the truck door.

"Well, he's definitely unhappy! I'm gonna try and keep him that way."

"You're not a match for him, Cap." Clint said i've the comms.

Dahlia snorted and Steve grimaced. "Thanks, Barton."

Dahlia and Steve tried to enter the truck through the back, but Ultron blasted the door off, and she landed on the roof while he was hanging by his hand on it.

A she pulled himself up, Ultron jumped on top of the roof as well.

"You know what's in that cradle? The power to make real change, and that terrifies you." His metal voice screeched.

"I wouldn't call it a comfort." Steve grunted.

Dahlia attempted to kick his feet out from under him, and smirked as she succeeded. "Right? Like what am I supposed to do, jump for joy? It's not like you just promised me that you'll be wiped off of the face of the earth, metal asshole. If you had, now that would be cause for celebration."

"Stop it!" Ultron simultaneously blasted Steve and Dahlia, and while he landed on his shield, saving him from harm, Dahlia wasn't so lucky. She landed on her side, and the scattered remains of what seemed to be a beer bottle left deep cuts in her side.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it's up to you to decide, Dahlia was stubborn as hell. You couldn't stop her if she was intent on doing something, everyone knew that.

So, even with deep gashes on her abdomen, she hopped up onto a car and jumped onto the back of Natasha's motorcycle, which was passing her at this moment.

"I'm always picking up after you boys." Nat smirked. "Hold on kid."

Nat made her way over to the truck where Steve was fighting Ultron singlehandedly, and threw him his shield as Dahlia climbed back on.

She pulled out one of her knives and engaged in combat with the metal monster, trying to distract him from Steve, who was creeping up behind him, ready to strike.

"Come on!" Steve yelled as Ultron threw him aside like a doll.

Dahlia caught sight of Clint, who was flying above in the quinjet, and began to fight with Ultron once more, making his back face the jet.

"Is this really the best you can do, Dahlia Anelace?" Ultron sneered.

Her guard dropped for just a second at the mention of her name, and that one second would be her downfall. Ultron seized this moment and knocked her to the ground, well, it's really the roof but you get it.

He leaned over her and continued. "I know who you are. You think I wouldn't research every single one of my opponents before I faced them? I've heard of your life. Truly tragic."

His hand wrapped around her throat, and her breath became strained as he did so.

"It's a shame you chose to fight for the wrong side, really. You would've been a great asset on my team, but alas, as things happen, I must kill you. What's that expression?" His face turned thoughtful, well as thoughtful as one could be while choking a person. "Either kill them or join them? No, that doesn't sound right. Well, you understand my point."

As he went off on that tangent, she took this as an opportunity, and wrapped her legs around his neck and used the momentum to swing herself around so she was upright.

Pushing his head to the ground with her foot, she let Steve take over and the two jumped off of the truck onto a train, and he tackled Ultron onto it as well.

"Cap, Dahlia, I'm going in, can you keep him occupied?" Nat asked.

"What do you think I've been doing?"

As Dahlia chopped off one of the sentries' heads, a flash of blue and red appeared before them, and Steve shot her a warning look, one that said, 'Keep an eye on them or else'.

Wanda threw one of the sentries out the window, and Pietro knocked Ultron to the ground.

"Please. Don't do this." Ultron whimpered, looking like a lost puppy.

Dahlia scoffed loudly as she stabbed another robot where their heart would be and watched it drop to the ground.

"What choice do we have?" Wanda said fearfully, worry shining through her voice.

Ultron flew off and Cap grumbled with annoyance, walking off to the side to talk to Clint for a moment.

It was quiet for a moment as he did.

"How is your wound doing? I'm sorry if the stitches didn't stay, I had a limited amount of time and if I was back at the tower I would have a better chance of getting it to stay but-"

Wanda cut her off with a smile. "Thank you."

Pietro looked shocked that his sister was opening up to her so easily, but they didn't have much time to dwell on it as Steve returned and informed them of tht situation.

"Clint's got the package, but this train isn't stopping. You," He looked at Pietro. "Civilians in our path."

He raced off and began taking pedestrians out of the way as the train barreled through the city.

"And you," Steve looked towards Wanda. "Can you stop this thing?"

Wanda nodded and started to conjure a bright red light, using all of her energy to try to stop the train.

Steve gestured towards her and she knew what to do. She launched herself through the emergency exit on the roof, and began fighting off the few Iron Legion bots that Ultron had left behind.

Finally, after what seemed like centuries, the train came to a halt and Dahlia could finally breathe.

She climbed off the roof and walked towards Pietro and Wanda, both of whom seemed completely and utterly exhausted.

"Are you guys alright?" Dahlia asked, concern evident in her voice.

"I'm fine. I just need to take a minute." He said, panting.

Steve came up behind her and said, "I'm very tempted not to give you one."

Dahlia hit his arm when he said that. "Without them, so many more people would've died, come on Steve."

"Yeah and without them, maybe Ultron would be less powerful at the moment."

Wanda interrupted him, not caring about the petty argument. "The cradle, did you get it?"

"Stark will take care of it."

Wanda and Pietro both visibly tensed up. "No, he won't."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Steve's eyes narrowed. "Stark's not crazy."

Dahlia shot him a glare, trying to tell him to shut the hell up through her eyes, somehow.

"He will do anything to make things right."

Steve ignored her and turned away, talking on the comms.

"Stark, come in. Stark. Anyone on comms?" He asked, seemingly no one.

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?"

It was as if Dahlia didn't hear her words, everything was fuzzy as her brain came to a grotesque conclusion.

"Steve," She whispered. "Where's Nat? Why isn't she responding?"

He remained silent, and that was all she needed to know what was wrong.

Dahlia crumpled to the ground, and a heavy sob escaped her lips involuntarily.

Pietro didn't understand why he rushed to her side so readily, it felt like a reflex, like it was what he was supposed to do and he had no choice in the matter.

Her breath quickened and she couldn't comprehend anything around her except for the strong arms wrapped around her.

Wanda crouched beside her brother, feeling his anxiety about her state, and placed a hand on his arm.

She looked up at Steve. "I know you don't trust me, but my powers could help her, I could make her calm down. Please let me."

Wanda feared for his response. She usually didn't jump to help anyone, even when she felt she could do so easily, but her brother was freaking out at the moment, and she knew the only way he would stop was if Dahlia stopped too.

"And how do I know you're not going to hurt her?" Steve's eyebrows creased.

"You don't. You have to trust me."

One look at the shaking girl on the ground before him, and he did what he never thought he'd do. He agreed.

"Fine. But if she gets hurt I swear to you I'll never let it go." His voice was uncharacteristically threatening. Usually he was all 'righteousness and honor, blah blah blah' but when it came to Dahlia, pretty much the whole team was fiercely protective.

Wanda nodded and a burst of red light came from her hands, and as it reached Dahlia's head, she stopped shuddering and became still. Her breathing slowed down to a normal pace and she released her death grip on Pietro's hand, but she left her head resting in his chest, where it was.

It was only for support, okay?

Totally only for support.

"Dahlia?" Steve asked.

"Five more minutes." Dahlia groaned, burrowing her head in Pietro's chest.

Pietro chuckled and the movement made her open her eyes.

"Where the fuck am I?"

Wanda laughed for the first time in quite a bit.

"We've gotta get back to the tower, Dahlia." Steve explained.

"Ugh, fine."

"There's a ship waiting for us back at Dr. Cho's lab."

She was silent.

Cap groaned. "Don't ask what I think you're gonna ask."

"Is there popcorn on the ship?"

"Of-fucking-course."

"Language!"