shards - pietro maximoff

chapter six ; visions and valor

Dahlia flinched at the sight. Scrapyards always made her stomach recoil, for a reason she didn't know. Whatever the reason was, it wasn't helping her in this situation.

Thor, Tony, Nat, Steve, Clint and Dahlia made their way around the building in the middle, heading the conversation that was occurring inside the walls faintly. Bruce was still waiting in the jet, only to come out in case of a Code Green.

"Now, so are you. It's all under your dummy holdings? Finance is so weird. But I always say, 'Keep your friends rich and your enemies rich, and wait to find out which is which.'" Ultron's scratchy, metallic voice sounded from within the building.

"Stark." An unfamiliar voice said.

"What?" The tone in his voice struck fear into everyone's hearts, even Tony's.

"Tony Stark used to say that... to me. You're one of his." The voice continued.

"What? I'm not." The sound of someone choking followed, and Dahlia had to resist the urge to break in their and save them, but Tony's orders were to stay still until he gave them the signal, so she restrained herself.

"You think I'm one of Stark's puppets, his hollow men? I mean look at me, do I look like Iron Man? Stark is nothing!"

A shriek followed the sound of a blade cutting through flesh, and no one dared to breathe.

"I'm sorry, I am sor... Ooh, I'm sure that'll be okay. I'm sorry, it's just I don't understand. Don't compare me with Stark! He's a sickness!" The artificial sorrow in Ultron's voice disgusted Dahlia, and she almost didn't see Tony's signal.

Dahlia took up her position in the rafters, just as Nat had said to do, and let Tony do the talking,

"Ah, Junior. You're gonna break your old man's heart."

Tony, Steve, and Thor were stood on the ground floor, Ultron, Pietro, Wanda, and a man she didn't recognize standing in front of them.

The man was missing an arm, and upon further inspection, the arm in question was lying a few feet away, obviously freshly cut.

So that's what the slicing sound was. Dahlia thought.

"If I have to." Ultron responded, turning to look at his creator.

"We don't have to break anything." Thor reasoned, trying to keep the fighting to a minimum.

"Clearly you've never made an omelet."

Mmm, omelets. Damnit Dahlia, focus!

"He beat me by one second." Tony said, more for his own benefit than anyone else's.

Finally, the one person who Dahlia had been formally introduced to spoke up.

"Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It's what, comfortable? Like old times?" Pietro spoke up, and even though they were on opposite sides, Dahlia felt calmer after simply hearing his voice.

"This was never my life."

Steve spoke up, and talked to the twins specifically. "You two can still walk away from this."