Avengers of the Future

Laura shook her head as she stared at James who wouldn’t look at her. “You don’t understand-“ James began to say and Laura shouted. “What don’t I understand?! You told me you had never killed a human and now the man that abandoned me is telling me that you have killed people and you are not defending yourself?!” Laura’s voice cracked and Robert turned to her. “You will not talk to me like that!” he shouted and Laura glared at her father. “You have no say in what I do! You left me to die!” She screamed at him, her eyes turning completely green and her skin tinting, something Tony had never seen happen and everyone backed up. Robert saw that Hulk was in his daughter and his worst fears came true, that his precious baby girl had the monster inside her. Laura had never been this mad or upset in her life so no one ever really knew what would happen if she would get this mad. “I told you that bringing them here was a giant mistake but you didn’t listen to me!” She shouted at Tony, her voice was lower then normal. Laura’s skin was tinted green even more and Bruce and Robert were horrified in seeing this. Soon Laura’s nose began to bleed as her eyes glowed brighter green. Her blood pressure was through the roof and her body wasn’t used to that and soon it was pouring out her nose. James went to take a step towards her to help calm her down as she turned on him. “Did you or did you not kill people!” she shouted at him, her voice still lower then usual. “Yes, alright!? Yes! I killed people but you have to know why! The resistance I joined when I was 11 and when I was accepted into the elite group, I found out that Ultron had infected people with nanomites and the only way to stop the people from dying by the nanomites eating them from the inside out was to kill them! I didn’t want to do it but the General told me that it was for the greater good! If I didn’t kill them then the nanomites would kill them painfully. Everyone was tested 3 times in order to be sure they weren’t infected and for those who were infected, we had to kill and burn the bodies!” James cried and Robert spoke up “Then why did you slice their throats and shoot them in the head at point blank?” he asked. “They told me to make sure they were dead all the way! I had their blood on my hands! I felt the life drain from them! I didn’t want to do it but I had to! No one could find a way to get the nanomites out!” James had tears flowing down his face. Steve and Natasha were outside the lab, listening. “I didn’t want to kill those people but the nanomites were evolving to spread to the other humans! I had to kill them before they evolved enough to spread! I can heard their screams at night in my nightmares when you are working late and not there with me! You are the only thing that keeps the nightmares away! When you are not there then the nightmares come back and I can hear them screaming and begging and I can see their faces and see the blood on my hands! That is why I went AWOL and came back here! I couldn’t take it anymore!” James yelled and Laura’s state still didn’t change. The two young adult’s lives were now turned upside down and shaken like a rag doll because of Tony’s plan to bring them here. Tony had to sneak up behind his daughter and stick a needle into the side of her neck to sedate her. Laura’s skin went back to normal and her eyes turned brown before she closed her eyes. He picked her up and laid her down on the small cot in the lab. Everyone was quiet, not knowing what to say. James’ breath was ragged as he tried to calm down. Natasha knew all too well what James was going through, as did Steve. PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, most commonly found in returning soldiers from war. Shell Shock was its first name but it has increased over the years. James shouldn’t have had to go through PTSD at such a young age. Bruce, Robert, Natasha and Steve were now starting to get that they needed to stop Ultron soon as their children’s minds were being twisted and extremely damaged due to their actions and their failure to stop Ultron in the first place. James looked at his wife on the cot and dried his eyes. He was actually scared that Laura would beat him up. The two of them kept each other calm and that made their love strong. Laura would keep James’ nightmares away and James would calm Laura down when she gets upset. When Laura was pregnant, James did everything he could to keep Laura calm but a few times, Laura tossed him around, bruising him up pretty good. Now, their marriage might be in jeopardy because of James’ lies about not killing humans. They promised each other they wouldn’t lie and now that trust they had was broken. James would do anything and everything to stay married to Laura. Tony looked at James with a hard expression, as he didn’t know about James killing people. “I told you to tell me everything about what happened with General Ross and you lied. I told you that you could not return if you had killed innocent people as Ross had ways to twist your mind into doing things his way. I knew about the nanomites and found a way to cure those infected. Following Ross’ orders have made you a murderer.” Tony said and James knew what was about to happen next. “Tony, please, don’t-“ James began and Tony shook his head. “Leave the base and you are not to return.” Tony told him and James had a look of horror on his face. “What about Sophia? I can’t leave her!” James tried to argue, his voice cracking. Tony turned to him. “You know damn well that we are not to kill each other as we are each other’s only hope-“ Tony said and Steve stepped in. “Tony, he was 11 when he did that. He was just a child and he didn’t know any better not to follow Ross.” Steve tried to convince Tony not to let his son be kicked out of the base. “He knew killing was wrong and yet he did it anyways.” Tony shook his head and James spoke up. “He threatened to kill Laura as he saw how much I looked at her picture. He told me that if I didn’t do what he said that he would kill the girl in the picture and that he knew where she was.” James said and looked at Tony. “Please don’t make me leave Laura and Sophia…” He begged and Tony shook his head. “You can plead all you want. You know the rules.” He said and James shook his head. “Please Tony! Please!” He said and Steve yanked Tony out into the hall. “You will not banish my son from the protection of the base because of something he did when he was just a kid. He didn’t know how twisted Ross could be.” Steve defended his son. James was having a severe panic attack inside the lab and Bruce was trying to help him through it. “Deep breaths. In through your nose and out through your mouth slowly.” Bruce said calmly as James cried and panicked. Everything in his world was falling apart and he was about to lose his wife and daughter forever. Sophia would have her father ripped away and think he left her because he didn’t love her. “Don’t make me leave them. If I lose them then I don’t want to live.” James said and Natasha rushed over to her son to help calm him, Bruce stepped away. “You listen to me, James. You don’t give up on everything because of one tragic event. If you kill yourself then Sophia will only remember her father dying by his own hands. We will not let you get kicked out of here.” Natasha told James and comforted him, something that was completely out of her character. Clint and Francis looked at each other before Clint asked. “Do you have…?” he trialed off. “I have a few nightmares from fighting but I can manage. It’s the war around us that is damaging our minds to the point where we sometimes feel like we will go insane. We are only kids and our minds are so damaged that it is irreversible.” Francis said softly. All the kids were very much aware of what was happening to their minds. PTSD tormented their minds, some worse the others. That is why they stick together; they are like siblings, not by blood but by heart. They helped each other no matter what. Tony and Steve were going at it outside. “You will not banish my son from safety after everything he has done.”. Steve said. “The rules are simple Steve. We do not kill, steal or lie to each other.” Tony said before Clint and Francis left to go up to the rafters. A few hours later of fighting, everyone had calmed down and were separated from each other. Laura was awake and looked pale with bags under her eyes. She wouldn’t talk to anyone as she locked herself in her lab. Sophia had no idea what had just happened and no one planned on telling her. James was asleep in his bunker, Tony was in the control room, Robert and Bruce weren’t speaking to each other and at different parts of the base, Francis and Clint were up in the rafters and Steve and Natasha were in a private bunker talking. Once a month, JARVIS is shut down to replenish his systems and rest so Sophia is left to entertain herself for an hour. She normally goes and spends time with Francis up in the rafters or in her mommy’s lab but today, she wanted to see what was on the other side of the big black door at the far end of the base. Since everyone was tired and separated, Laura, James, Francis and Tony all forgot about JARVIS’ shut down. She saw the keypad and a thumb print scanner so she got on a stool and looked at it. “1 3 5 7. Those are odd numbers.” She said happily before saying “2 4 6 8 are even numbers.” What she didn’t know was that 13572468 was the passcode to get on the other side of the door when JARVIS wasn’t there to open it. “What does this do?” She asked herself before pressing her thumb against it. Since she lived in the base, her fingerprints were already uploaded so the door unlocked. Sophia gasped softly and giggled before getting off of the stool and pulling the door open. Sophia had never been outside of the base before and started to walk up the small ramp to a rusted door. She went up on her tiptoes and looked out and saw the green forest and a large purple flower. She knew her mommy loved purple so she got the rusty door open and ran up to the flower to pick it. It was a harmless flower and she picked it, giggling loudly. The little girl’s giggle attracted the attention of far off Drones and the HydraMegaDrone that were scanning the area.