Apparently, Tony had built an AI called Ultron that tried to kill them all. The thought was laughable but true. They were all currently in the lab as they tried to figure what exactly went wrong. She sat in a chair with her legs pulled to her chest.

             Nat noticed that Eira seemed a bit spaced out. It was like her mind wasn't really there. But now wasn't the time to bring it up.

              "All our work is gone," Bruce said after he checked the computers. "Ultron cleared out, used the internet as an escape hatch."

        "He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other," Nat commented.

         Her eyes widened at that. If he was in the surveillance, he probably knew that she was pregnant. She let out a panicked breath and Clint noticed her struggle. He gave her a soft look and rubbed her arm. She gave him a grateful look.

        "He's in your files, he's in the internet," Rhodey said. "What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?"

        "Nuclear codes," Maria Hill realized.

           "Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can," Rhodey said.

          "Nukes? He said he wanted us dead," Nat stated.

         "He didn't say dead. He said extinct," Steve clarified and she put her head in her hands; this was not a good day.

          "He also said he killed somebody," Bucky said.

         "But there wasn't anyone else in the building," Clint stated.

      "Yes there was," Tony corrected as he brought up a 3D image of the destroyed consciousness of Jarvis.

         "Jarvis," she uttered sadly as tears built in her eyes.

        "This is insane," Bruce studied the image.

         "Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down, it makes sense," Steve said.

          "No, Ultron could've assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy, this is...rage."

           Thor came back from going after the escaped Legionnaire. He stomped through the room angrily towards Tony. 

        "It's going around," Clint commented.

          No one would've dared stepped in front of an angry God. But she sighed and quickly moved to block his path despite being much smaller than him.

          She pushed against chest, telling him to back off, "We don't need anger amongst ourselves."

             Thor considered her carefully before he stepped back with a clenched jaw, "The trail went cold about a hundred miles out but it's headed north, and it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again."

            "The genie's out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron," Nat said.

            "One thing I don't understand is if you built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?" Bucky asked.

              Tony started to laugh and Bruce shook his head subtly at him. She gave Tony a look.

           "You think this is funny?" Thor glared slightly.

         "No. It's probably not, right?" Tony answered in disbelief. "Is this very terrible? Is it so... is it so... it is. It's so terrible."

        "This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

         "No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

         "Tony, maybe this might not be the time to..." Bruce warned.

           "Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly, every time somebody snarls."

          "Only when I've created a murder bot."

          "We didn't. We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?"

         "Well, you did something right. And you did it right here. The Avengers were supposed to be different than SHIELD," Steve said.

        "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"

           "Oh, please, don't bring that up," she put her face in her hands.

            And he brought it up, "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing three hundred feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live long day, but, that up there? That's...that's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating that?"

               "Just because the odds aren't in our favor doesn't mean we'll lose. Not everything has to be fixed, Tony," she argued. "Now you've created a murder bot..."

          Tears built up in her eyes as she thought about her pregnancy and she started to cry, "And you created it at the worst possible time."

            Everyone stared at her like an alien as she started to sob. Tony spoke softly, "Snowflake..."

          "Don't talk to me," she cried before she ran out of the room.

         Nat started to follow, "I got it."

           Steve sighed sadly, "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

              _____

           "Here's another tissue," Nat offered. "Now are you gonna tell me what this is about? Because we've faced world-ending threats before."

            "It's different now," Eira sniffled. "And I can't deal with it."

             "How is it different?"

             Eira frowned before she looked carefully at Nat, "You have to promise you'll keep it a secret."

           "My lips are sealed."

           Eira hesitated before she spoke the words ever so quietly, "I'm pregnant."

            Nat smirked, "I knew it."

           "Nat!" Eira complained. "This is serious."

           "Well, obviously, you don't need to worry because you're not going against Ultron," Nat said. "It'd be too dangerous."

                She was silent and Nat gave her a look, "Eira?"

              "I'm not going to let anything happen to Tony," Eira defended. "If I lose the baby, then...then I lose it."

            "You can't be serious?"

            "It's Tony," Eira said like it was obvious.

            Nat stared at her, shaking her head, before she sighed, "Please, be careful."

              "I will."

             _____

           Nat calmed her down and she finally came out of her room. She decided she wasn't going to tell Tony about the baby yet because if she lost it then there would be nothing to tell.

           Once she came out of her room, Tony confronted her with a kicked puppy dog look, "Are you still mad at me?"

          "I'm not mad at you," she confessed as she approached him and looped her arms around his neck. "I'm mad at the situation."

           "That I put us in?" Tony remarked.

            "No, stop," Eira scolded. "Please, don't do that. I love you even if you create a thousand murder bots, okay?"

         Tony formed a small smile before he leaned his head against hers, "You love me that much, huh?"

             "Always," and she kissed him sweetly.

             _____

               The team was now gathered together again as Steve showed them info he had gathered. It was images of Strucker being found dead with the word peace on his body in blood.

        "What's this?" Tony asked.

         "A message. Ultron killed Strucker," Steve said.

        "And he did a Banksy at the crime scene, just for us."

       "This is a smokescreen. Why send a message when you've just given a speech?" Nat questioned.

          "Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss," Bucky thought.

         "Yeah, I bet he..." Nat typed on the computer. "Yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased."

        "Not everything," Tony said as he looked at the physical files.

          They all went through the files on Strucker. They dug through info of his known associates.

         "Well, these people are all horrible," Bruce commented before Tony saw the associate he was looking at.

          "Wait. I know that guy," Tony said and Bruce passed him the photo. "From back in the day. He operates off the African coast, black market arms..."

            Steve gave him an accusing look and Tony defended himself, "There are conventions, alright? You meet people, I didn't sell him anything. But he was talking about finding something new, a game changer, it was all very ahab."

        Thor pointed to the scar on the back of Klaue's neck in the picture, "What's this?"

        "Uh, it's a tattoo. I don't think he had it..."

        "No, those are tattoos, this is a brand."

         Bruce looked up the brand on the internet, "Oh, yeah. It's a word in an African dialect meaning thief, in a much less friendly way."

         "What dialect?" Eira asked.

          "Wakanda."

          "If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony said.

         "I thought your father said he got the last of it?" Steve said.

          "I don't get it," Bucky said. "What's in Wakanda?"

              They were all just as clueless as Bucky. Only Steve and Tony seemed to know.

               Tony looked at the shield, "The strongest metal on earth."

          "Where is this guy now?" Steve asked which gave them their destination to find Ultron.

_____

They found Ultron in Africa in a ship yard with Klaue and the Maximoff twins. They confronted him just as he got angry.

"Don't compare me with Stark!" they heard Ultron say. "It's a thing with me. Stark is, he's a sickness!"

"Ahh, Junior," Tony landed down beside her, Steve, and Thor as the rest we're scoping out Ultron's drones. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."

"If I have to."

"We don't have to break anything," Thor said.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet."

"He beat me by one second," Tony defended.

"Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" Pietro said and she frowned.

"This was never my life."

"You two can still walk away from this," Steve offered.

"Oh, we will," Wanda said patronizingly.

"I know you've suffered."

"Captain America," Ultron said in disgusted tone. "God's righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..."

"I don't understand," Eira frowned. "You want peace but you're fighting people to get it. You don't have to."

"Eira," Ultron said a bit softly. "The mother of the group. Perhaps, if it was only you, peace could be achieved..."

"Right," Tony rolled his eyes. "So what's the Vibranium for?"

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan..." Ultron said before firing a blast at Tony and the fighting began.

Drones dropped down and started attacking them as the rest of their team came out. Klaue's mercenaries starting shooting at them. She flicked her hand out and some of them got thrown back into the walls so harshly that they lost consciousness.

But then Wanda fired a red blast at her and she fell over the side of the crosswalk. She hit the ground roughly before she groaned.

The other Maximoff got thrown down to the level with her when he tried to grab the hammer Thor had. Steve dropped down and hit him again with his shield, "Stay down, kid!"

Steve then helped her up, "You good?"

"Yeah," she muttered before a drone flew down towards her and she sent a lightning blast through it.

While they were down there, Wanda started playing mind games. She used it on Thor first.

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

Then Thor stepped into his own vision. Wanda then played mind games on Natasha and Bucky before she tried Clint who electrocuted her before she could and her brother ran away in a blur with her. But it turned out that playing mind games on one member was enough.

"I'm going to need you to give the big guy a lullaby, Snowflake," Tony was heard through the comms.

"Okay."

She made her way up to the top level with Steve when the lights went out. There was only red, flashing emergency lights.

"Guys?" she called out for anyone else on the comms.

Suddenly, she was grabbed and flung against the wall. Then she was lifted up as her neck was squeezed. She found her attacker to be a very familiar face but he contained a blank stare now; the one he used to have.

"Bucky," she pleaded.

Then Steve crashed into him with his shield. She fell to the ground coughing as the two of them started fighting.

"Eira, go!" Steve shouted. "Get to Banner."

She hesitated before she started running to the top of the boat. She called out to Tony, "I'm going to need a lift."

"Already on it," Tony said.

As soon as she got out to the deck, Tony flew down and scooped her up by her forearms. He flew away with her and towards wherever Banner was.

"What happened?"

"The witch got to him," Tony explained as he flew her into the city where the Hulk was already wrecking cars.

Tony set her down on the ground gently near him, "Be careful. He's not in his right mind. I'll be on standby."

"Okay," she said before she carefully approached the big guy.

"Hulk," she called out and he turned with a roar.

But he calmed slightly once he saw her. He was still in defense mode as the authorities were pointing guns at him. He roared at them.

"Hey," she smiled. "Don't worry about that. It's okay. Nothing is going to hurt you. I promise."

Hulk considered as he tilted his head before he reached his hand out slowly. She placed her palm against his softly.

Hulk sighed, "Goddess."

"Big guy, what did I tell you about all this anger?" she said softly and he looked around at all the cars he destroyed before he grumbled. "I need you to calm down now."

Hulk surprised her when he knelt down in front of her. He took the deep breaths she had told him to do as he stared at her, "I like calm...with you."

"I'm glad you do, buddy," she smiled. She thought someone with that much anger deserved a bit of calm.

Then he closed his eyes as he'd done many times before and the real calm set in. He started to shrink back down to Bruce Banner.

_____

They were all currently back on the quinjet. Bucky was back to his normal self after Steve had hit him really hard on the head.

He stared at the handprints on her neck and tears gathered in his eyes, "Eira, I'm so sorry."

"Bucky, it wasn't your fault," she said softly and rubbed his arm. "It's okay."

Bucky could only look down as he did feel like it was his fault. Those damn words were still stuck in his head and that witch made him relive them. She could see that Bucky wouldn't listen to her so she sighed before she got up and went to Tony.

Clint was piloting the aircraft so Tony was free. She stood in front of him with a sigh as she fiddled with her marigold necklace which made Tony quirk his lips. But then he reached out and his hands ghosted over the bruises on her neck.

She gave him a look, "Don't be mad."

"I'm not," he said before he corrected himself. "Well, I am because you have literal bruises on you but..just not at him."

She breathed in relief before she hugged him, "They'll fade and you can just kiss them better."

He hummed with a small smile, "Just tell me when, angel."

AN: okay so we have just three chapters left and then the epilogue. I definitely expect to have those three done tomorrow but the epilogue might not be till Tuesday

Also, Tony will find out about the pregnancy in the next chapter